Oztalgian

Sounds like an Everest ascent up the South Col. Did you take your ice axe and crampons? I was curious about Billing Hill and found there were two. One near St Helens and one near Blackburn? According to Wiki the one near Blackburn is the tallest at 807 feet whilst the one near St Helens is only 507 feet high.

We don't have Lidl in Australia, we do have Aldi though. the supermarket giants of the grocery world in OZ are the Woolworths (not the old UK Woolies) and Coles duopoly who have 65% market share and ripping us off right royally whilst making mega profits. What did we expect, that's capitalism at work. ALDI has a 10% market share with around 600 stores across Australia. Coles have 846 and Woolworths have 1,114 stores. Our Prime minister recently announced a 12 month inquiry into the Supermarket industry by our Consumer and Competition Commission. The remainder are independents or independent g

Tomato season is coming to an end here in Adelaide, the tip here is not to plant outdoors before the soil temperature reaches 16 degrees and all threat of frost is past. It is really strange that the best time to plant sweet peas here is in March/April as we head into our cooler months. Here they recommend a minimum of 6 hours a day sunlight. Seems a bit strange that we are planting sweet peas at the same time as you when our seasons are opposite.

The funding of the stadium is known, AU$375milion from the Tasmanian government and AU$240 million from the Australian Federal Government. this does not include the inevitable blow out in costs. The Tasmanian and all other states/territory health services are jointly funded by both State and Federal governments. Federal funding of hospitals is round about 50% of the costs. Since 2011 the Federal government agreed to fund 45% of the growth of delivering hospital services but in 2017-18 capped this growth at 6.5% per year. This leaves the state or territory governments with increasing costs

In plain English please what is the "triple lock" and how does it affect the average Joe?

Mary, apparently you can get Aussie Tim Tam biscuits at Waitrose and Ocado (whatever that is) for two pounds fifty a packet and you can do your own Tim Tam Slam and a blind test to see which is best. My favourite is Salted Caramel or Double Choc. They will be available in all major supermarkets soon.

County - Sadly back to their losing ways and fall to 14th position after a 1- 2 loss at Meadow Lane to now 19th placed Salford City. Conor McAleny put Salford ahead in the 32nd minute with goal that went in off the post after Sam Austin was dispossessed. Dan Crowley equalised for the Magpies 9 minutes after half time. Both sides could have added to their tallies in the second half until McAleny got his brace in the 87th minute to give Salford the points and deny Maynard his first home win since becoming Counties coach. After a brilliant start it looks like an also ran season for the Magpies an

The State of Tasmania has voted today. Before this election Tasmania was the only state with a Liberal (Conservative) government in power. It is a third term Liberal Government and now bidding for a fourth term. One quarter of the voters used their option of a pre poll vote. The main issues are :- The building of the Macquarie Point Stadium. This is planned to be a roofed stadium that is being insisted upon by the AFL football national body before Tasmania can field a team in the national competition. It is expected to start being built in 2025 and finished in 2029 at the stagger

As we all know the MSM abhors a vacuum and will fill it with any old rubbish, supposition, conjecture, and blatant lies to fabricate a story and get readers to click on them or buy a paper. No-one royalty or otherwise deserves cancer, I hope she and Chiller both make a full recovery.

Can someone explain to me how someone who was implicated in the Greensill Capital lobbying scandal can rise to become Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. 'Dodgy Dave' is now in South Australia glad handing our pollies as they give him AU$4,6 billion dollars in support to British industry to clear bottlenecks in production of nuclear reactors for ultimate use in Australia's new nuclear submarines that are likely to be obsolete before they are even started. He was also responsible for initiating the Brexit referendum that in part has left the UK in the mess it i

Thanks Stuart.C What a crock of crap the decision to freeze pensions is without regard to the impact it is having on many older people especially. It feels good to be "out of sight, out of mind". Could I have some of the money back that I contributed to NI as I am not getting the full value of those contributions? I wonder if I am still eligible for a vote?

Summary so far EPL- Clubs in the EPL have only 9 or 10 games left. The champions will come from Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City. If it comes to the crunch Arsenal have the best goal difference. Relegation, Sheffield United and Burnley look doomed and as it stands the last spot will go to either Forest or Luton. Don't discount that Everton could be penalised some more points. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that both Manchester City and Chelsea could both be relegated for repeatedly breaking Financial fair play rules. Championship - Promotion, any two from three, Leed

The soundtrack of my youth grows ever quieter. Make me Smile was one of my few Glam Rock favourites, released in January of the year we emigrated to OZ. Thanks for Glam Rocks greatest song RIP Steve Harley.

Well that explains it then, not! Thanks David Doesn't make much difference as the thieving barstewards in Australia deduct any UK pension from any payable Australian pension anyway. If I got any more it would just be taken off me. Wonder if I moved to the Philippines would I get both my UK and Australian pensions at the full rate? I hear it is cheap to live there. What was the logic behind "freezing" the pension anyway? Was it just to save money?

Sadly, I think it may well be demolished. Never get between a developer and a big bucket full of cash. The Kinks, Come Dancing, brilliant, how come I have never heard that one before? It must be on a later album as it is not on any earlier LP's I have. Max Bygraves "Fings Ain't What They Used To Be" comes to mind as well

How bizarre, who thought that one up and what is the justification for it? I'll await with interest the outcome. Wonder if those of us overseas who receive a British pension or part thereof will see any changes. I am pre-April 1952 my wife is post, so we will be able to see if anything changes.

I see a male Acting Inspector and a female police constable in the Merseyside police force were caught having sex by the police constable's estranged husband, a former police officer, in a "Screwfix" car park in Feb 2021 during the covid pandemic.

County - "That man", Macauley Langstaff, helped in stopping the rot by scoring in the 12th minute and Alassana Jatta added a second in the 57th and a third in 90+4th minute to give the Magpies a comprehensive 0-3 away win at Valley Parade, Bradford. The home side was issued 5 yellow cards to County's one. Finally they move up the table to 13th position reversing the catastrophic slide that has seen them slip from 1st in weeks 5 and 8 through 12, until the real slide began in week 31 and this win reverses that plunge. Who knows what went wrong? Hopefully this is a welcome return to form and the

Talking of Luton Town who will play a crucial part in Forest being relegated or staying up I see that Luton's goalkeeper in that game Ron Baynham has recently died aged 94. He was the oldest living England international footballer. That mantle now passes to Frank Blunstone aged 89. Former outside left at Chelsea after starting his career at Crewe Alexandra in 1951. He played five times for the senior England squad.

Forest - After being given a 4 point penalty for infringing profit and sustainability rules they now fall into the relegation spots, third from bottom on 21 points. They are now one point behind Luton having played the same number of games and 4 behind Everton who have a game in hand. Thank goodness they did not lose at Luton last Saturday. Forest play their next two games at home against 14th placed Crystal Palace next Saturday and 12th placed Fulham on Tuesday 2nd April. These are both winning chances. Meanwhile Luton are away at 5th placed Spurs on Saturday and the top of the table Ar

Our glorious state leader has today announced that the government is using state major events attraction funding (taxpayer monies) to bring the British and Irish Lions Rugby Union touring team to Adelaide in July 2025. Tickets go on sale from today, this means that the promoters have the punters money for 16 months interest free. Of course, as usual, he won't tell us how much it is costing, claiming commercial confidentiality. It may have escaped their notice but South Australia is not a "rugby union state". We do not have a team represented in the top level competition. The best teams are in

The Nottingham Post has just published an article about "8 Nottinghamshire pubs serving exceptionally good food They were :- Dovecote Inn, Laxton The Blacksmiths, Retford The Lambley, Lambley Black Bull, Blidworth Martins Arms, Colston Bassett Tap and Run, Upper Broughton The Reindeer, Hoveringham Unicorns Head, Langar Has anyone eaten at any of these and if so what was your experience? We await philmayfield's review of the Reindeer with interest. I only have experience of two of these pubs from 40+ years ago. The Black Bull at Blidworth w

For those of us that don't have Alexa, why?

County - Managed to halt the run of 5 successive defeats by drawing 2-2 against the team one place above them on the ladder, Accrington Stanley, The perpetual cellar dwellers of my youth. The crowd was a paltry 2,499. The Magpies opened the scoring in the 4th minute with a goal by Jim O'Brien. Accrington levelled in the 17th minute when the County 'keeper Slocombe could only parry a header and Whalley blasted the ball into the roof of the net. Alassana Jatta gave County the lead on the stroke of half time. Accrington salvaged a point after a handball in the area by Kyle Cameron gave them a pen

At the last Federal election in Australia many of the population did what you suggested, and many seats went to the so called "Teal Factor" who are mainly independent candidates. This came as a shock to the two major parties and has necessitated some deals on aspects of legislation in the upper house but in the lower house it changed very little as they still held a workable majority. in the lower house 12 seats were held by Indpendents versus 78 Labor and 54 Opposition seats. To get legislation through our upper house the Government has to rely on support from the Independents and minor parti