Saturday, September 28, 2013

David Kippin's take on diplomacy: the wacky theory of the week goes to The Kipper. And Johnathan Thurston’s secret life in PNG.


Also, The Pie sees a certain symmetry in the push for Tasmania to legalise euthanasia – seems a good fit.

Also, bits of language fun and games from around the place – including The Mad Katter and the Daily Astonisher (what a surprise!), before The Magpie goes into harrumph mode about boot camps, late night trading and sister-bloody-cities.

And Bentley really chucks the rattle out of the pram, taking the media to task for what he sees as an unforgivable lapse – all here in the nest at www.townsvillemagpie.com.au
Tasmania is thinking of legalizing euthanasia, and why not? . Euthanasia and Tasmania make a good fit, since this is state that has given us Bob Brown ...


.... and Christine Milne


whose barking-mad policies have led more than one or two among us to dark thoughts of ending it all with a needle full of what the vets call ‘green dream’ . oh, the irony.

Ah, Tassy , it would certainly put you in the mood. A lonely night in Launceston in winter would make the transition from this vale to the next barely noticeable. Unless you’re a politician, then you’d be headed for much warmer climes, and would be condemned to an eternal afterlife in Townsville. (Ewen Jones probably wouldn't notice the difference).  Could be a good sideline for Andrew Wilkie. If you were having second thoughts about dropping off the twig, he could be called in to drone on about the terrors of poker machines. You’d be reaching for the needle in no time. Or if you’re really being obstinate about shuffling off the old mortal coil, a knock on the door by Christine Milne dressed in torture-chamber leather would surely do the trick. no need for the needle, it'd be a heart attack for sure.

Back across Bass Strait, The Mysterious Sign of the Week comes from far distant Melbourne , now the domicile of Magpie reader Mystified of Mysterton. She snapped this directive in the kitchen of the RSL hall in Footscray.



But maybe a little rumba around the refrigerator?

And the mystery for our resident doodler Bentley is what he sees as a dastardly plot by the Australian media in ignoring what is noiw a celebrated victory.

Here’s some of foam-flecked words that splattered across the email screen today.

Thanks oz media, for the great coverage of the America's Cup. We hear all about every little injury, hypodermic needle, wags' cleavage, and example of antisocial behaviour in the football industry, but sweet FA about the most spectacular yacht race in history, where Aussie sailors won the series, until it was all over. I'm disgusted!
B





Send get well cards via The 'Pie.

Closer to home …

The continuing casual approach to matters of language isn’t just the bane of the Daily Astonisher’s editorial side.

This from today’s Bulletin …



One would guess that the mention of ‘cruiser’, reinforced by the word ‘snorkel’ in there somewhere, had someone in a bit of a nautical mood. Keep an eye out for a tinny with a bull bar. (Was this the work of the much-missed and much-loved erstwhile columnist and ad flogger Amanda Gray?) 

You’ll remember the wrassle with reality this section of the paper recently had, where it couldn’t distinguish between a lost dog and a second had car for sale.

The rugby league world has been dazzled by the mercurial Johnathan Thurston for some years now, nowhere more than in PNG, where he is seen as almost a god. So it will come as a surprise to a few of us to learn about the food of the gods, Thurston-style.

Ever onward.

Maths test for Sydney refs; 'How many boots am I holding?'


Johnathan has taken to the PNG TV screens, letting everyone there in on his secret diet to keep fit. One imagines it is a secret he has kept from his personal dietician, and certainly from his delightful missus. Thurston’s has always seemed a likeable bloke who enjoys  a bit of cheeky mischief off the field, so The Pie wonders how long it took for this ad to be shot  ... look closely at his expression after he has shoveled in a mouthful of his ‘special diet of bully and Trukai rice'.

Speaking of ‘special’, The Mad Katter been dazzling us for years with his linguistic lip-work, and his narrow squeak in Kennedy hasn’t slowed the flow.  This startling image has been doing the rounds for a while now ….




….. and when it was shown to Bob, he called on his inner hipness to ask ‘Has this gone feral?’  Ummm, we think he meant viral.

Speaking of time travel, do we have a Henrietta Kissinger walking amongst us?

Seems TEL's David The Kipper Kippin thinks so. 



Not satisfied with gaining widespread applause for his mirthful clowning about linking the NRL refereeing disgrace to the push for a new super stadium - a great thigh slapper, that - he now is definitely having a shot at being Kipper the Comedian.


In the Astonisher during the week, this cut-price Seinfeld commented on his disappointment that ...


Clr Colleen Doyle before she heard the news ..


... and after.

.... Labor councillor Colleen 'Boo Hoo' Doyle was voted down as an official member of a junket to China - a fiscally aware Townsville First majority correctly knocked that wasteful Mullet-inspired idea on the head. 

The Kipper, the man who wanted to be mayor until he got a better back-door offer from his TEL chums, called it a 'narrow minded decision'. Saving the ratepayers $5500 is hardly narrow minded, especially for a negligible return.



But the real hoot is the reason for the Kipper's disappointment. (Are you ready for this?)



'If we are serious about this (trade delegation) we have to make sure our delegations have the diplomatic clout,' he told the paper.

(Gasp, wheeze, chortle) 

Boo Hoo Doyle and diplomatic clout? Now there is a form of words one wouldn't often - that is, never - hear in the same sentence - except from the puckish comedian boss of the Dudley Do Nothings. 

Just as rib tickling is the inadvertent admission that our man thinks he and Mayor Mullet don't have 'diplomatic clout' without Boo Hoo along for the ride. - oh, stoppit, ya killin' me.  

Of course, The Kipper is going on the China junket, too, and we will all be agog waiting for his report on the trip to tell us what he's achieved at the cost to and on behalf of the ratepayers. 

Oh, wait a sec ... that's right, we aren't allowed to be told, that sort of fiction isn reserved for a closed-door workshop for councillors only.

This whole sister city thing is a world-wide perk of local government everywhere, and we would be well shot of it. No matter what they say, there is precious little benefit of any sort to the ratepayers.

Other matters:

Uh oh, The Pie senses the theory of unintended consequences lurking in the background of all this political window dressing about naming and shaming juvenile offenders.

Just what is this measure meant to achieve? The ‘Pie doesn’t give a continental whether  these shiftless little hooligans are named, but you rest assured they won't be 'shamed'. They will soon be vying for their gutter culture’s top dog honours, a title belonging to the little snot who gets the most mentions in the media. It will immediately become a badge of honour, exactly the opposite of a deterrent, and it will spur some to even more capricious expIoits. The Townsville Bulletin is so adept at polishing these little turds into derring-do daredevils. In fact, that’s the way it happens now, except for the names The Pie saw it every day doing eight years of court rounds.

There is little political will for serious social solutions floating around in George Street, and there are no real meaningful initiatives emanating from that august bastion of all things conservative.

The Nanny State lives on in Queensland across a number of issues. These much-hyped boot camps are but one example. Sounds tough but in reality is just another touchy- feely exercise in outdoor holidays, which will simply reinforce juvenile arrogance regarding law breaking. The dictionary defines ’boot camp’ in this sense as  ‘a prison for youthful offenders, run on military lines.’ And that means discipline, but heavens my sainted aunt, that  apparently might be too emotionally confronting for the poor dears. That’s the popular catch cry obscuring real world solutions to juvenile crime.

Some time ago, The Magpie did a story testing out his suggestion that all juvenile offender’s sentences should include at least one mandatory half-day tour of the adult prison at Stuart  -including lunch, eating prison food might be a greater deterrent than any other factor. It would be a mini-scared-straight program, showing the realities of what lies ahead for them as adult crims. Stuart inmates could earn brownie points for agreeing to talk to the kids about life inside, and what they miss most in the outside world.

And do you know what the official reply from the then Labor government was? Not on.  Because – ready for this – it would traumatise the ickle dears.

For Christ’s sake, that’s the whole bloody idea!! You know traumatise, don’t you - that’s the feeling people experience who have burgled, mugged or had their car stolen by these little cretins.

While we’re in the harrumph department, another area that shows that this government is no different to previous jellybacks is the question of nightclub closing times.

Despite clear evidence from the extensive trial in Newscastle showing a 37% drop in alcohol related violence by closing at 3am, this government, like all before it,  is in the thrall of the liquor industry advocates who see a nice little earner is selling piss to those already as full as a barrister's wallet. The rorts that go on would be enough to buy another spinnaker for the yacht every week.

But it is costing a disproportionate amount of tax payers dollars for extra wallopers to keep things in check.

here's the obvious answer to any politician with any balls and sense of social responsibility. Turn back the clock and '1am, time ladies and gentlemen' and that’s it, the piss is off so piss off. If 3am means a 37% drop in violent fu#kwittery, it stands to reason 1am would drop the incidence of street problems to over 50% of current levels.

And ya gotta love the sheer brazen effrontery of local boozerarium spokesman Greg Pelligrini and his risible arguments against banning 5am closing. Top marks for consistency, though.

Far from the madding crowd:
Greg Pellegrini outside his much praised Avenues Hotel ... several kilometres away from his FSE clip joints.

For ages, Greg's mantra has been’ People ring me and thank me for keeping people here so they don’t go back home or their hotel and create noisy parties disturbing the neighborhood’ and ‘ a uniform closing time will create a mini-Armageddon with all these drunk people spilling out on the street at the same time violence will be worse not better.’ And ‘public transport and taxis won’t be able to cope’. (What's a piss weak argument got to do with you, anyway, Greg?)

So we are to take it that Greg is not an avaricious owner of a tacky couple of seedy night spots, but really, a public benefactor, in the interests of a well regulated community. He no doubt  selflessly puts aside his desire to personally be settled in at home and hearth with a hot cocoa reading John Stuart Mill on The Principals of Political Economy  - with some of the social applications of social philosophy'.

But Pelligrini the Pontificator’s the best line of the lot, fed to The Magpie when he was at the paper, was that the average working punter nowadays is so knackered from a day at the coal face he or she has to go home, eat and shower and have a bit of a nap before coming in to town for the night. So by the time they get ready to hit the strip, it is 10-ish, and with early closing, that limits their time for a night out, and operators’ chances to be ‘viable’ … read: rip off drunks.

Again full marks to Greg for keeping a straight face while peddling all this self-interested twaddle. But keeping a straight face is easy when you’re talking through your wallet. The sad truth is that the poor benighted workers he is championing actually arrived more than half tanked on take away booze to avoid the swingeing prices in Via Vomitorium’s clip joints.

And it just might be the case that they’re knackered because they stay out until 5am on the turps.

But what about Newcastle, Greg? Your thoughts on the success down there will be interesting, to say the least.


Other matters.

for councillors only.

33 comments:

  1. Great one Pie. At least when the Stuart State School becomes the Stuart Boot Camp, the inmates won't have far to go to see how they will live when they become adults.

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  2. agree with the councillors for not approving Collen Doyles travel as Tel and the mayor(who i dont think has delivered one of her many election commitments)she has made is sufficent.Spend the money on the cctv cameras the council cant seem to find the funds to keep operating and assist the police in catching the lawbreakers and make the community a safer place.

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  3. Mayor Mullet should be denied any further overseas "fact finding" junkets until she can show any positive results from previous trips. Starting with that farce with IBM.

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  4. I have observed David Kippin at public functions for some time and he is as useless as a one-legged tap dancer in quicksand.
    Spin and bullshit are his specialties, much needed to hide the fact that if he were to suddenly fall off the perch, nobody would notice any difference in what is achieved (or to the point, not achieved) by TEL and its overpaid leader.
    As they say out west, he wouldn't get a kick in a stampede.
    That we, the ratepayers, pay his salary is hard to cop.

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  5. Angry Ratepayer - we ratepayers don't in fact pay his salary - TEL pays and yes council makes the largest of all "sponsorship" contributions. But others also contribute financially and quite significantly too. As for what TEL achieves- why not check their annual reports and let's substantiate it once and for all instead of this personality bashing and negativity. If TEL is such a lemon what has the model been adopted Australia wide? Or is this just a whinge about Kippin?

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  6. Interesting lead story in today's (Monday's) Bully on their web site at least about Ingham girl Amy Aquilini and her recovery from a terrible quad bike accident driving in fog. One medical fact revealed - she's off life support and has opened her eyes -well I guess that is good news. And clearly this is human interest story - but we've never heard of her until her accident and repeated Bully stories - Facebook journalism. That aside I thought who is this girl to warrant such attention. I found her page on Facebook and she's a "normal" Jo like you and I it seems except for her propensity for foul language like FU Optus suck dick etc or perhaps the photo of a Gnome positioned between a bikini clad girl's legs. Mum and dad must be so proud.

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  7. Just for the record ...

    Sloppy word isn't just the province of the Astonisher.

    This from the on-line Sydney Morning Herald today.

    Deciet, debt and lawsuits

    Just in case it's automatically corrected at a later time, yes, that is 'deciet'. And in a story only of interest to educated readers. To paraphrase Peter Paul and Mary's song 'where have all the subbies gone, long time passing'.

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  8. Everybody wants to be a comedian. And a despot
    .
    Latest in line is the stone-in-the-hoof braying of resident jackass Les Walker, who is obviously seeking the hee haw vote. He's made a stirring clarion call for a Walker Street dictatorship, with the astounding statement in today's Astonisher.

    Honking on about the decision of a majority of councillor's to vote down a suggestion of ratepayer funds for Clr Colleen Boo Hoo Doyle to join Mayor Mullet and The Kipper on an Asian 'trade mission', The Wizard of Wulguru opined it was a decision 'based on party politics'
    'It's very disappointing that we've got to the point where you can only have what Townsville First approves or what they want to get through council.'!!
    Umm, polite inquiry, me ol' Messagebank: what alternative to do have mind other than a majority decision of legally elected councillors?
    You and Mayor Mullet granted a 'presidential veto' like the US president? A council ruled by fiat? Other councillors there only to stand and applaud The Beloved Leader's wise and unquestioned decisions?

    If that's the case, why bother having councillors at all? Especially lazy dead-weight retrograde inept political players like yourself?

    And talk about hypocrisy - where was this 'clarion call' when Tony His Radiance Mooney rammed through - with your acquiesence - all sorts of things that were decided behind closed caucaus doors? Matters not always in the interests of the community?
    You're a shape-shifting waffler promoting phony dissension in a compliant paper wishing to halt flagging sales with faux issues. No mention in the Astonisher that 98% of council matters are unanimous or passed by a sizeable majority.
    And The Pie has spotted an irony here - you represent an area which contains the letters 'guru'.

    Did the voices you're hearing in your head unwisely mention this to you? That's one explanation.

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  9. I'm surprised that the TB isn't barracking for the vile juvenile crims it seems to always manage to dress up as Saints.
    This name and shame, sham-farce; If it ever got off the ground would have the TB's circulation skyrocketing as these vermin would buy up heaps just to pass on to their mates.

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  10. “Name and shame” has all sorts of ramifications and consequences. There are many reasons proffered why these little darlings so enthusiastically engage in anti-social behaviour. Lack of decent role-models, poor upbringing, abuse/neglect and so on (and on and on and on). Mix any one of these with boredom and you have trouble just awaiting to happen. Most of these little creeps have no hopes, no prospects and are destined to live their lives as an anonymous member of the under classes. They will never achieve any individual recognition, nor will they ever stand out from the crowd. The rest of society walks past them in the street, unseeing and uncaring.

    However, getting their name on the front page will make them – if only for 15 minutes – famous. They have burst out of anonymity and proven that they are, in fact, individuals. The fact that they are the subject of scorn and opprobrium matters not – real people are now aware their existence. You may be looking at me with hatred and contempt, but at least you're now taking notice of me.

    Like the doof-doof car owners who proudly display noise infringement notices on their windscreens, a newspaper report shall be a badge of honour, demanding respect from your cohorts.

    Think on this, as well – most of the parents of the little treasures are not overly endowed with brains and have no concept of civilised behaviour or responsible parenting. They will confect outrage at seeing the family name in the paper and bash the kid silly… and we know that won’t help the situation at all. Oh, and never mind that Dad was named in the paper last month for the meth lab thing…after all, that's his work, you know.

    And ‘Pie – the prison visit for young people running off the rails has been tried before. The kids would spend a few hours in a cell, eat a hearty prison lunch and then get an expletive-laced lecture from a big and tough looking lifer about how he had turned away from a life of crime and was now a paragon of virtue. Trouble is, the big, scary and intimidating crim became a hero in the kids’ eyes and they all wanted to be just like him. Step 1: get yourself into gaol…

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    Replies
    1. Grumpy: First The Pie has heard of this (juvenile prison visits) being tried before ... anywhere. The American model is somewhat more drastic and involves a certain amount of deprivation that wouldn't be tolerated by the hanky wringers which perpetuate the lawlessness of legally clued-up yoof. The Americans have scaled back on it now because its excessses didn't work.

      Where was it tried, Grumpy, and what were the comments at the time it was wound up?

      And it appears you're jealous of Messagebank Walker and want to also be a comedian - 'a hearty prison lunch'? Hope you never have to try one. (Best advice a lawyer mate had on a prison visit in Brisbane a few years back came from an inmate, a former client who was kindly disp[osed towards the legal eagle. The lag said 'You always did the right thoing by me, mate, so I'll return to the favour ... don't eat the banana custard at lunch.' True story.

      Here's a legal horror story from the future for you.

      A prisoner gets traumatised - and probably sodomised, too - by going to jail and sues the government because as a juvenile offender he wasn't warned what prison was like.

      Far-fetched? Don't count it, there's plenty of criminal lawyers (take that any way you like) which would take it on, you can bet.

      Delete
    2. Geez, 'Pie...I remember seeing it at a law conference quite a few years back now. From memory, it was a re-broadcast of an NBC/ABC show (was a USA trial). Given the fascination with the gangsta culture by some of our local home boys, I have no doubt that the result would be the same here.

      I spent twelve long years practising in the Childrens' Courts all over SE and SW Qld. I would have to think very hard to find a success story to tell you. By the time I retired from the Kiddies Kort game, I was actually representing children of previous juvie clients. But you know what? I never once said to a Beak "Your Worship, my client is an incorrigible little turd because his family loved him too much."

      I have had lunch at Stuart several times now - in the Officers Mess. It actually was very hearty - choice of hot or cold dishes from memory. All you could eat. I hear that the inmates' fare is not quite so flash, but hardly bread and gruel. Did you not read the comparison between what a prisoner eats on a daily basis as compared to an old age pensioner? Now, that's a bloody disgrace and a shame upon our nation.

      Delete
    3. Grumpy is correct, Scared Straight did not work. Longitidunal studies conducted on the participants showed that they continued offending at the same rate as a contol group.

      Boot camps can work, however, the current models will not. To change behaviour, the scarebs need to be held in them for about three months. The QLD Govt will be running the usual cut-rate model of one month. Therefore, one of these heathens could have the first week of the school holidays, do a month in slipper camp and still have a week of the holidays to get back into action.

      Delete
  11. I agree with Bully boy, although I wish this young girl all the best, the original story was this girl was ridding the Quad bike in thick fog at 2am in the morning whilst on a camping trip with friends. It would seem a bit of silliness has ended in a accident.

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  12. And disagree with Bully boy on TEL, we the ratepayers do contribute to Tel via our rates, this is used to pay wages, expense's etc. And I bet you that the businesses that you talk of would not contribute anywhere near the amount of money that the ratepayers do. So its TEL that should be telling and proving to the ratepayers of Townsville what they have done to better the city, not doing it behind closed doors to the council.

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  13. Ok Pie this one I do know a thing or two about. The advice given to your lawyer mate may very well be correct, as meals are prepared by the inmates for staff and some visitors. Now the prisoners have fresh food delivered daily this consists of chicken or steak, cold meat for lunches,bread,milk,veggies,cereal,eggs,flour and the list goes on. They also have what is known as buy ups, this is where once a week prisoners can purchase anything from chocolate biscuits to toiletries,with money they earned by taking a job in the jail as a cleaner etc. So the myth that the food is somewhat poor is very incorrect and my personal view is they eat better than some pensioners do. And how do I know ? I work in the prison system for a few years

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  14. Without being repetitive (and now the Council Election is 18 months ago it is of note that 3 Directors of Townsville Enterprise donated $5000. each to the Townsville First campaign does a conflict of interest exist when the ^ tsv First Councillors vote on TEL"S funding... By the way Magpie who is the Commercial Manager from the T/Bully who has been appointed to The bags mans Contario position at TEL>>>>

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  15. I would presume that Kippen will claim TEL imput into the $500.million Mill at Ingham signed with a Chinese Company and once again rue the decision of the Council not to allow Cr Doyle to go on the Junket to the said Country...

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  16. We have a renamed model Tsv/B tda 2Oct P 12 Miranda KerrY It's only old blokes like me that look at these pictures...

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  17. So the Hospital Board Chairman fiancée scored a top job in Qld Health while he was still in the LNP appointed but never advertised position....today's Townsville Bulletin story - shock horror some real news for a change and not media release based. I have faith in Qld Health's recruitment process and procedures - I know, call me silly but...And of course Ms Warrington was the Deputy CEO of TEL under the former CEO and her relationship with Bearne as TEL Chair was in full swing then and known by all staff. Wonder why the former CEO left so quickly? Bearne's micro management style and personal relationships with female staff had a lot to do with it! And as for Warrington as Deputy CEO material - wouldn't have thought so as I worked with her when she was a bean counter years ago. Good luck to her but it's not a good look for Bearne - yet again.

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  18. You can't keep a good judge down, Clive Wall is at it again down on the Gold Coast. And the applause from a frustrated community can be heard across the state.

    For a second time within a few years, Judge Wall has demonstrated that unlike his peers, he isn't afraid to use the rarely invoked provision in the Queensland Youth Justice Act which allows judges to hold parents accountable for compensation if they are found to have failed to adequately supervise their offending children.

    You may remember a few years ago, Judge Wall became the first judge to use the provision to order Charters Towers parents to pay compensation to a vagrant their teenage children had twice set on fire.

    Now he's fired a warning shot across the bows of recalcitrant parents on the Gold Coast. As tiresome yoof would say, Yo, Clive, go dude.

    http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2013/10/01/459091_crime-and-court-news.html

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  19. Now we know why Labor councillor Colleen Boo Hoo Doyle was so keen to go to China. The ratepayer paid trip was going to double as a buying mission for her new shop in Flinders St. Clever girl I'm sure the ratepayers wouldn't mind.

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  20. Cripes!!

    The numerical horror story continues for the Townsville Bulletin, with the latest quarterly circulation figures causing further buttock-clenching down at the Astonisher.

    The latest Audit Bureau of Circulation figures for April-June were down 8.3% on the same period last year, shrinking from 24,594 readers each weekday then to 22,551 now. And Saturday's flagship is in even worse strife, steaming speedily towards the readership reef with an 8.9% drop in circulation, down from 38,323 in 2012 to 34,898 now. This in a circulation area of roughly 250,000 - good work guys.

    And the carnage on the Coast is even worse.

    The Gold Coast Bulletin is down 14.7% on weekday averages (36,378 down to 31,017) and Saturday in a train wreck, shedding a massive 16.6% (dropping from 54,206 to 45,182). Circulation region roughly 600,000.

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    Replies
    1. and the common denominator is...?

      Delete
    2. Paul Anderson of PimlicoOctober 2, 2013 at 8:31 PM

      I'm always put in mind of that old (rhetorical) question, 'what if they threw a party and nobody came?'. What if all the advertisers (OK, not those in thrall to the place, like the supermarkets and car dealers and the folks that get a piece in the 'News', or even (ugh!) 'Business' pages, a blatant, puff-piece advertisement masquerading (badly, so very badly) as 'news' if they also run a paid ad) just said - nay, bellowed (even if just for awhile) - 'ENOUGH!!', and withheld their shill-ing shilling from the once-mighty Admonisher (and hey, speaking of, are they no longer 'for' The North?? I'm taking that as a total 'shout-out' to the 'Pie, if so...!)? Why is it that the Astonisher is the automatic go-to guy to get one's message out, if fewer and fewer are bothering to receive it?

      Delete
  21. Looks like their new (recent) method of calculating circulation has not performed as expected !!!! I suppose its like trying 2X2 by any method known you're still going to get 4!!

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    Replies
    1. You've got readership and circulation mixed up.

      Circulation is backed by strict legislation and is carried out the independent Audit Bureau of Circulation. It requires correct figures from publications under heavy sanctions for fibbing, because papers and magazines can be value judged by advertisers on these figures. his doesn't stop papers from traditional rorts of doing deals at events and the like. Indeed, if it wasn't for the Bulletin's activities in this area, doing dubious deals with the V8s and other events across the calendar, their numbers would be even worse.

      Readership is at best an inexact science - an informed guesstimate of how many people read each single copy of a publication. The Gary Morgan outfit has been the mainstay of this methodology for years, but when the News bosses didn't like the numbers and panicked, they decided to form their own readership company, which promptly and magicaly discovered more readers than ever before. Advertisers were very quick to jump all over that, and News was told in no uncertain terms if those figures were used for a rate hike, then they'd take a hike ... to the nearest TV and radio station.

      Delete
  22. Another beaut from the Australian Breaking News people.

    'Top UK Tory figure arrested for rape'

    'THE vice-chairman of the UK's Conservative party, Alan Lewis, has been arrested over claims he raped a wopman in the late 1960s'.

    The politically correct mob should have a field day. It would be hilarious if the subject matter was not so vile. Still seems in this case, that's the way dagos.

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  23. The Astonisher must think that insulting what readers they have left,is the way to go. Anthony Galloway was in first, followed by Ben Vernon in his column today. No wonder the numbers are dropping.

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  24. Loved the stats.

    Down, down, readers are down
    Down, down readers are down.

    Any wonder?

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  25. There must be a lot of hair pulling and gnashing of teeth in Ogden St (OK Flinders St now) with these downward spiraling circulation figures. Stand by for a marketing blitz to try and boost circulation cos the journalism won't cut it and they can't put on more staff. I wonder what the break even circulation figures are? Long term staff must yearn those heady days of the 90's !

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  26. What are everyones thoughts on the TCC having the saint on Castle hill trademarked. No matter how it got there,I think that we could agree that the person who done this did not have permission. So is this classed as vandalism and graffiti? If the answer is yes then why would we want it as a trademark. If the answer is its not graffiti,then why was old mate charged for painting a rat on a pipe just outside Townsville.

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  27. In yesterdays TB on page 5 there's a nanny article warning "the danger of thongs" and a photo of a your lady displaying a great pair.

    But in today's TB on page 43 there's a veiled comment regarding the suitability of the photo and the pair. BUT the photo accompanying the "writers" comments is not the same as that published yesterday, its a much less revealing pic and you can actually focus on the subject matter i.e. thongs!!

    Also in today's TB on page 3 (what would Freud make of that) is another young girl in an inelegant pose, whilst the article is supposed to be about her forthcoming modelling episode.

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