Earl Hood

Agree totally but can someone explain how that assassin ever won a Brownlow? What were the umpires thinking? We all know why the greats never won one like Barrassi, Whitten, Matthews. They knew they could not win one the way they played. Somehow the biggest thug did? Please explain.

I see Tony has given his Government gold medal mark on its first 100 days of office! Well really! In opposition he set the bar at absolute perfection in his demands of the then Government. In Government I would say the bar is somewhere now in the sand, if you can find it. A stuff up is good enough for Tony now. We have had the ministerial travel rorts, the spying problems and Tony's inability to really say sorry, Julie Bishop and the Chinese. The Christopher Pyne double backflip on Gonski and then sell it out anyway. Holden heading out after being goaded by Joe Hockey to take the plunge. Oh and we have the reports of Oz negotiators playing spoiling tactics at the Warsaw climate talks and now in tabacco talks in the Pan Pacific Free Trade Talks where we are apparently willing to sell our soul for a sugar deal with the US. Who gives a Shyte about sugar really. But in return we may open up the opportunity for US Companies to sue us for any legislation that is detrimental to their interests!!! Citizens please stay vigilant with this mob in charge is all I say.

I think the roller coaster depended on David Neitz in those years. He held that mob together. You could add Jeff white as well. If hose two were out or struggling the rest just went into shutdown. Perhaps exclude Robbo who stood up when Neitz went down in 2005? Neitz led by example and was a great player perhaps without being a really great leader. If he had been he would have demanded more and got more commitment from TJ, Yze, Robbo, even White in that era. That said I take nothing away from Neitz who single handedly kept us in the game. Oh for a forward like him who loved smashing a pack to take a mark or set up a goal.

I take on board your points but I still don't like to see one of our economic options go out the door for ever. For instance you cough up a few hundred million $ over the next five years and in that time the AUS $ drops to 80 cents US and we then have a seious export industry worth billions. Holdens to the the US and middle east, tnis happens now. This has happened in the past all dependent on the dollar. The high dollar had destroyed this industry more than some of the other factors that we know are working against the industry. Is it a wise strategy to try to nurse the industry through to a lower dollar era when they can become competitive? I tend toward that strategy myself. The mining boom has caused much of this problem. A trillion invested to dig up our resources and ship them out as soon as possible. The mining tax wil only kick in when production ramps up following the invested expansion, but the tax is being withdrawn so we get little benefit from the invested expansion but cop the negative effects in the higher dollar. its called Dutch Desease.

I for one are sorry to see the car makers go myself. I don't think I have interviewed or employed a young mechanical engineer over the past 20 years who hasn't cut their teeth at GMH or Ford. Where do they get their first university work experience or their first grad position now? The fact is kids will walk away from engineering because there are limited job opportunities. If they follow the market trends they will become financial advisors or lawyers, instead I suppose. That will add value to the national economy! Victoria will feel the economic effects no doubt in the coming years. If we can't afford to prop GMH up well as you say Biff let's get some consistency so we can stop subsidising the mining companies with their diesel costs; nd we can stop giving industry assistance to the foreign multinational health funds via the private health rebate. This all adds up to several billion dollars that adds SFA to our exports or skill development. If you are going to do go down this track lets do it properly. Of course the current LNP Government is a mix of hard economic dries, agrarian socialists, flat earth loonies and religious zealots that there is no way of predicting what decisions they may make except the ones to dismantle any former Labour policies. It will be interesting to see how Tony keeps this lot in check and how Big Joe deals with the very real prospect of an economic downturn at least in Victoria and SA when these manufacturing companies walk. It would be great to see an industry strategy for the future so we have some confidence that there is a future for engineering and manufacturing in some form.

Interesting list Jazza. The first one is about Chritopher Boyce? And his work,for the CIA and allegations about Whitlam. Am I right? The poor bastard is still in jail I think. Holy blood and grail is a real eye opener, a great read especially if you were a poor catholic kid brought up by the Chritian Brothers. The last two books I haven't read.

Is that why I now live in Fitzroy? there is a pub or bistro on every second corner. Not sure how they all make a quid but then that is why they all want 3 am licences.

I only ventured into Richmond in those early days on a Sunday morning in summer. You could always pick up a dozen bottles of Abbotts Or Carlton from the back street behind the The Royal Eagle pub. Load up, pay in cash and head down to Kerford Road beach. I lived in Port Melbourne at the time, not sure why I was going to the Royal Eagle in Richmond when there would have been ample out of hours supplies in the pubs around Port. But the Pubs in Port were very clickey as I remember in the early 80's. they had their regulars and anybody else was a potential police informer.

When Earl Spalding, Warren Dean and even a young Alan Jackovich were running around the WaFL. Not bad talent!

I grew up in the eastern suburbs, Box Hill actually. No pubs so we had to travel. The Fitzroy pubs were a no go for us when I played footy by order of the coach as I remember. We went east to such upstanding establishments such as the Burvale, the Blackburn, the Whitehorse and the Manhatten. Watered down beer and brawlers in the car park as I remember it. 0.05 when did that start? Somehow me and all of my footy team mates over 15 years managed to survive those days. Not just drink driving but also the punch ups between the Boxhill and Blackburn guys. Totally mindless stuff but I don't remember any ambulances being required. We were not as vicious back then as they can be today. Maybe we were jut wimps.

TBF it is not that clear cut these days because people move around, but you could still make a general division based on whether you live north or south of the Yarra in Melbourne. Some things die slowly. Robbie moved to Brighton for whatever reason, who knows, maybe he had a gutfull of the lefty protesters who used to hang out in Fitzroy's pubs after a hard days work in my time spent in Richmond, trying to save Richmond High, a local community school, now a public but elite school for girls as likely to come from Brighton as Richmond.

Gee Robbie you jumped from one extreme to the other, Fitzroy to Brighton back then was big move. These days I know there are a lot of trendies, greenies and hipsters in Fitzroy and there are a lot of high income neo bogans hiding out in mansions in Brighton. Most of the Footy Show lives there and till recently Warney and you could add Grant Thomas, Rod Butters, the list goes on. We could have a discussion about the relative calibre of people in both districts. But at least you know they are all pure Liberal over that side of the river. By the way I have been a Fitzroy resident for 25 years now and yes it was a more interesting place in the those days, if sometimes challenging when you had a drunk accosting you while you are trying to have a coffee at Marios.

well at least there are about three or four matches I can see in and around civilisation. It is just too far to go to Casey for me unless of course there is someone special playing. The last time I went outof my way to see Casey was to check out a guy called Jurrah! It was worth it that day, kicked a lazy five as I remember and he had me hooked.

Robbie So you say about Julia. But the point has nothing to do with me or what I may think. Fairfax is free to make its own decisions on editorial content, surely. That is a basic tenet that you stand for I assume, freedom of the press. I can not intervene surely if I disagree with an article.

Sorry to hear this news! Life can be cruel.

Well I suppose it is only just starting to look dodgy because most of us had never heard of this punters club until this week. The price of bananas is dependent on quite different criteria I think. Maybe climate in the key growing areas, who knows I am not an expert. Maybe TGP you can inform us of more detail on the punters club and what determines the price of bananas?

Yes good point who is Jayden Pitt?

Robbie We can debate the priorities of Fairfax and their front page decisions in this very real time digital media. If they go for the "it just happened" news item who could blame them. Remember they are trying to sell newspapers, they are not obsessed with what Julia may have been involved with 20 years ago.

Robbie Interestingly it got a prominent run on ABC prime time TV news tonight! Complete with file footage and interviews. That's the outfit you want shut down because you don't want to pay for its output. But you now want to dictate another free enterprise outfit's editorial decisions. I think it is concievable that an editor might think well this all happened 20'years ago and has some association with a former prime minister who is not in Public Office. But front page of the Age or SMH, hmmm maybe not when we have QANTAS, Holden issues, diplomatic problems with China, East West Tunnel reports etc, etc. After all people with your priorities are not going to buy the Age are they. Its just business trying to survive!

Not sure who Pitt is supposed to be? Harmes, Max King? Interesting about Nicho I can't understand how full time footballers can not learn to kick a ball accurately over say 25 to 30 metres! I agree it is a real skill to deliver a ball over 50 meters to a target but 25!

It is all starting to sound very dodgy. An assault and a car being torched down at Connewarre, unpaid bills for horses and payments to tax havens in Bermuda! Promises of 25% returns on punting? A sensible person wouldn't go near it unless you are interested in tax avoidance, money laundering or alternatively you are just plain stupid? In Don's case it could just be the latter.

Or Brisbane (Fitzroy)? How old is this kid anyway?

Hmmm I am sensing the old problem, stereotyping people based on jack Shyte evidence based on lefties versus hard rights, don't let that stop an entertaining exchange of opinions. I am enjoying the posts. There's plenty of insults coming back from the right I think.

I take issue with these negative comments about Roy and HG. Listening to them on triple J radio in the 90's was hilarious stuff taking the [censored] out of our obsession with sport and sports commentary. The had a brilliant low cost show on ABC TV, this Sporting Life that was brilliant stuff, just two talking heads, a desk and a microphone, not unlike the old League Teams, people talking absolute rubbish can be very entertaining if they are supremely talented and these two are. Thay are also successful as individuals in other areas.

Robbie I think you need to lighten up a bit. Poor judgement by the ABC in this case yes but that's not a case to sell off the whole company surely. They haven't been accused of phone hacking and destroying peoples lives yet as far as I know. What would you think of a media company that did that I wonder?