Get Yer Tall Poppies Here!

This one has got it all. Football players behaving badly, the evil machinations of the hamburgery-industrial complex, and poor defenceless kids! Won’t someone please, please, please, please think of the chiiiiiiiiiiiiildren!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FAST food giant McDonald’s has been accused of running a covert marketing campaign in schools.
Famous footballers employed by the hamburger chain have plugged the McDonald’s [...]

La Qantas Nostra

Michael Jennings has an excellent article on the history of Australia’s aviation industry at the UK-based Transport blog.

Ban The Board

One of the most unworthy and inefficient organisations in Australia, the WA Potato Marketing Board, has been intentionally marketing their fattening food directly to children in this disgraceful campaign. They’ve even gone so far as to create cartoon-style mascots in order to make their fat-causing products more appealling to impressionable young children.
In addition, the Potato [...]

Experiment

Look directly at this picture for 30 seconds:

If, by election time, you find yourself to be obscenely fat, then it’s probably a good sign that Mark Latham is right, and you should vote for him.
If, on the other hand, you are not obscenely fat, then do the right thing and put the paternalistic commie [...]

Qantas Still Sucks

The ongoing farce that is the Australian government’s support of Qantas is a continual source of misery to all of us. Another story on Crikey regarding Qantas today - their frequent flyer program is increasingly becoming a joke. Racking up points is easier than ever - but actually using those points to fly anywhere? Good [...]

Media Watch

The Herald Sun today offers news of a stunning discovery:
ONE of Crown’s Casino’s biggest gamblers says he has developed a casino-beating blackjack system.
Ron Parsons - a member of the Melbourne casino’s Mahogany Room and rated among Crown’s top 200 punters…
Whatever the hell that means. They make it sound like he’s one of the 200 best, [...]

Rage Against The Taximeter

Last Saturday night, on our way from Scarborough to Northbridge, myself and 2 fellow punters lined up at the cab rank on The Esplanade. There were no cabs in sight. There were, however, 2 young Italian looking guys in a tricked up Commodore sitting in the taxi rank.
“Fuck off you cunts! How are the [...]

Pub Gaming - Australia’s Shame

All around Australia, pub, nightclub and RSL punters are surrounded by gaming machines. These devices provide a bit of cheap thrill in exchange for your hard earned cash. Cash that could be better spent feeding your family or saving towards the accumulation of assets.
Many of my friends are addicted to them. Night after miserable night [...]

Spud Socialism

Today’s Australian contains a lengthy article panning WA’s outdated system of potato regulation:
Western Australia has the last horticultural marketing monopoly in the country, the Potato Marketing Corporation, which trades under the name Western Potatoes. Only farmers authorised by the corporation are legally entitled to grow potatoes. It then purchases at a set price all the [...]

Capitalism Still Alive In WA

Despite Dr. Gallop’s attempts to kill it off, you just can’t stop capitalism.
About 500m from my house there is a supermarket and deli run by an asian family which is well known to many in Scarborough for the notable fact that they have a policy of selling cigarettes as a loss-leader. A packet of [...]