Sikamikanico Blogs

I discover that my tastes have changed in the years I was in Sydney. I'm rather less interested in pubs than I once was, and more interested in parks. Also, I've a taste for heritage and architecture I lacked in my feckless twenties. All this means is, there's parts of Newcastle I've never really explored before - and I'm having great fun doing so now. Today I headed to the East End (please click on pics to enlarge). Customs House Hotel Quirky bench Laneway houses Foreshore park, once a railway goods yard. The shed has been preserved, the turning circle reclaimed. Heaven for a rail fan! This is what actual damage done by tree roots looks like. NCC? Playground reflecting the area's rail heritage A swing for children who use a wheelchair - what a wonderful idea I wish Felipe's was a real thing; then Newcastle really would be hipster central

Max Brenner , am I right? Their hot chocolate is delicious. At upwards of $6 a cup, it would want to be. Life can be kind of uncertain and sucky these days and a hot chocolate at Max Brenner is a harmless treat, surely? Actually, no. Here's what you should know before deciding to shell out your hard earned for a steaming cocoa treat. The Max Brenner chain is owned by the Strauss Group, Israel's second largest food and beverage company. And, whilst they've recently removed all references to it on their website , Strauss is a major supporter of the Israeli Defence Force, amongst other support supplying platoons of the IDF with Max Brenner chocolate gift packages. Now, of course Israel has a right to defend itself, which requires a defence force. The problem decent people have with the IDF is their actions in Palestine, which Israel has been illegally occupying for 45 years, committing sometimes terrible acts to maintain its illegal occupation. One of the brigades sponsored by

In all the noise over the sex worker who claimed she'd serviced Craig Thomson until it turned out she hadn't - but not before A Current Affair aid $60,000 for her never-aired interview - there was another story tonight, overlooked but in its way, just as nasty as anything Mr Thomson is subjected to. ACA reported with breathless outrage on dole bludgers on the Gold Coast, interviewing a small group of young women who cheerfully claimed they were happy being Centrelink bludgers. They didn't want to work, and they're not alone - the unemployment rate on the Gold Coast is 12%. A whole city full of these bludgers! Well, I was furious, and it seems I'm not alone - the young women in the story have received death threats on Facebook.  My outrage lies with ACA though. Kids say silly things. Kids in groups say even sillier things. Kids in groups with a camera in front of them, being egged on by a TV producer coaching them to get the appropriately shocking line, say downright