Thursday January 8, 2009
Talk about exceeding the limit!
Heckler: Last weekend my girlfriend and I went out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. After a nice meal we ventured across the road to a well-known eastern suburbs pub, writes Tom McIntyre.
Wednesday January 7, 2009
Let he who is without sin …
Heckler: OOPS, he's done it again. The Reverend Fred Nile has caused another stir, this time with a proposal that topless bathing be banned on beaches in NSW. Nile appears to be concerned that the sight of a woman's bare breasts may offend, writes Claire Chaffey.
Tuesday January 6, 2009
'Tis the silly season to be jolly
Heckler: The silly season around Christmas and new year is well named. Maybe it is the sun or the festive spirit, but we do things over the summer break that we wouldn't dream of doing during the rest of the year, writes Matthew Gibbs.
Friday January 2, 2009
Judge faces his judgment day
Heckler: So off went my friend's 87-year-old dad for his annual driving test. He had the usual unblemished record of careful seniors and had never lost a demerit. This man was a judge, conservative, quiet and a competent driver, writes Dorothy Kamaker.
Thursday January 1, 2009
Probe encounters of the worst kind
Heckler: WHY is it that doctors feel that they have some divine right to keep their patients waiting, asks Shane Curran.
Wednesday December 31, 2008
Melodies that keep haunting us
Heckler: I heard this great song on the radio the other day. Pity I don't know what its name is, or who sings it, writes Aravind Krishnan.
Wednesday December 24, 2008
And the most ridiculous gift is . . .
Heckler: EVERYONE has their favourite Christmas traditions. Some enjoy trimming the tree and decking the house; others love the parties and festive foods, writes Denise Harrison.
Tuesday December 23, 2008
I see a pyre of vanities in '09
Heckler: Various arms of the media are starting to overflow with "The year that was" features. This is too easy. The big trick is to foretell the year to come, so here goes.
Wednesday December 17, 2008
Hideous jet skis should buzz off
Heckler: To understand my angst, you need to understand what the river means to me. I was born on a river and not far away from my every memory of childhood lies a wide expanse of languid brown creeping its way across the coastal plain, blown out, belly full and contentedly moving on, writes Craig Faulkner.
Tuesday December 16, 2008
Big stink over dog droppings
Heckler: Is it just me or has anyone else noticed a sight that is becoming almost as prevalent as sunburnt backpackers on Coogee Beach: discarded dog poo in a little black bag?, writes Claire Chaffey.
Friday December 12, 2008
Driven mad but going nowhere
Heckler: I STOOD frozen in panic, wondering if I'd be trapped here forever. Would I ever see my friends and family again?, writes Phil Goyen.
Thursday December 11, 2008
It's only an insidious game
Heckler: Who invented the insidious "game" which is now upon us, sudoku? It appears in every magazine and newspaper, in varying degrees of difficultly. Booklets and books are dedicated to it. People are doing it in waiting rooms, on buses, trains and planes, totally engrossed and barely aware of their surroundings.
Wednesday December 10, 2008
Why tennis is down the gurgler
Heckler: Australia's summer of tennis begins with the Hopman Cup in Perth and, as has been the custom for several years, Tennis Australia spokesmen will issue the usual glowing reports as to how well the sport is doing and why we should be looking at another bumper year.
Tuesday December 9, 2008
Pedophilia on the bestseller lists
Heckler: It's everywhere: in bookshops and libraries, on posters and at the movies. The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer has become a worldwide phenomenon, and girls, boys and adults alike have become obsessed. Some say it's the "new Harry Potter", but is it?
Friday December 5, 2008
Shorties suffer in cattle class, too
Heckler: Yet another complaint in the travel pages! I'm weary of the whines and whinges from tall people that their knees bump up against the row of airline seats in front of them and that they really should be given an exit row so that they can stretch their legs.
Wednesday December 3, 2008
The middle ages, they are upon us
Heckler: I'VE heard it said more than once in this new-millennium, postmodern era that 40 is the new 30. This is especially heartening since I am at the zenith of my 30s and on the cusp of commencing a new decade - middle age, here I come, writes Mel Krenmayr.
Friday November 28, 2008
Half a mo, things are getting hairy
Heckler: Gentlemen, let your whiskers bristle and your testosterone fly - it's Movember, an opportunity for men around Australia and the world to grow a facial accoutrement that might, at other times of the year, be described as pathetic or a bit suss.
Wednesday November 26, 2008
Sales pitch the ultimate turn-off
Heckler: As I come to the bottom of the escalator at my local mall, the smiling girl in the extremely short shorts extends her hand and smiles toothily at me.
Tuesday November 25, 2008
You can take a street upmarket …
Heckler: THE upgrade and makeover of Glebe Point Road in Glebe has been a slow work-in-progress, that has dragged on for more than 15 months, despite claims the project is now three months ahead of schedule, writes Joseph Palmer.
Friday November 21, 2008
Ignore the signs, take it to the limit
Heckler: How fast are we going now? Well, that depends on where you are motoring. If it happens to be in Australia, probably not very fast at all. We Aussies have inherited a great many things from our colonial forebears - a language, driving on the left and a love bordering on devotion for traffic regulation, writes Brendan Watson.
Wednesday November 19, 2008
C'mon, you Swans, how much for a little loyalty?
Heckler: I WAS dismayed to hear that the Sydney Swans supremo Miles Baron-Hay is considering a levy on reserved seating, writes Paul Johnstone.
Friday November 14, 2008
Note to self: this is a stick-up
Heckler: "Beat - $50." I've no idea what this cryptic note means, though it's clearly my own handwriting and I recognise the green ink of my bullet-head pen.
Friday November 7, 2008
English lose the plot of Brian's life
Heckler: As an Australian living in England, I find myself constantly baffled. I don't understand why the English invent sports they cannot play. Why raisins are in Picnic chocolate bars. Why commuters can't move down in a carriage on the Tube.
Thursday November 6, 2008
Quickie ends up in a sticky wicket
Heckler: WORLD cricket has been through tough times: Bodyline, match fixing, underarm bowling, World Series Cricket, Ian Botham breaking a bed in the West Indies, Michael Slater jumping on stage to sing Jimmy Barnes during a broadcast of the Allan Border medal and Brad Hogg's Test selection, writes Stewart Robertson.
Tuesday November 4, 2008
A case of crossed wireless
Heckler: The idea is that new technology should make our lives less stressful but this is not always what happens.
