Christmas
For sale: One cute animal that will help you save the world… or will it just make you feel better?
Charity gift packages that offer you the chance to buy a friend a goat, some chickens or even a pile of poo for a poverty-stricken family in the developing world might make us feel warm and fuzzy, but they can also be misleading.
On the plus side, they offer a tangible way of giving someone the gift of charity donation for a present. Buying a “goat” might come with an e-card, a receipt and a funny picture of the creature packed with his suitcase and ready to go. In short, a relatable image of what you may have contributed to.
Merry Christmas from everyone @ The Punch
Wishing you a safe and happy Christmas day.
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steve says:
Thank you all for your efforts over the year in providing news and opinions and a forum that plebs like me can bark at. BUT It is Christmas SO go home and spend time with your family The world will still be turning on Tuesday Read more »
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Eric says:
Merry Christmas, and a happy new year to all! Read more »
Christmas is an odd time of year at Parliament. It’s a ghost town populated by a few grumpy staffers who inexplicably have to work and a few merrier journos who spend a rather long time at lunch.
But with such merriment one also has to keep an eye out for the Government dumping the trash when nobody is looking.
On Tuesday night at 6:30 the Government put out a press release quietly announcing that the controversial Men’s Health Ambassadors program, of which Julia Gillard’s partner was the marquee signing, had met for the final time and was being scrapped.
Continue reading "Tis the season to bury bad Government decisions" »
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Leonid says:
The comments above by IT’S JUST ME about the NSW musical chairs premiers are most unfair. Every member of the Sussex Street government thinks they are entitled to their turn as premier, so they can all score a flash pension and a chauffeur driven limo for life. Lucky taxpayers. And… Read more »
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IT'S JUST ME. says:
Ideas and manner of thinking between the NSW Ministerial individuals with a bourgeois ideology of modern politicians are all about power but choose to conduct them like power hunger Actors. Rather then getting on with the job of true representative government, a fixation of who should or should be the… Read more »
The Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union say they’ve been trying to negotiate with Australia Post for months and have been left with no choice but to strike three days before Christmas.
Australia Post says they’ve been forced to bump up the numbers of their Christmas casuals to deal with the all the joy and good tidings landing in post boxes around the country. One man’s “Christmas casual” is another man’s “strike breaker”.
Talk about bad timing. Unions clearly go for the holiday season to maximise the impact of their actions. Last week in Sydney the bus drivers walked off the job. British Airways had to scramble to avert a 12 day strike. And now the posties have given themselves a bit of extra time to get the last minute shopping done.
Continue reading "Who’s the grinch, Australia Post or the union?" »
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Ben G says:
“The union says the dispute is about job security, not pay.” One way to feel secure in your job is to keep at it. It’s no coincidence that they go for the holidays, thankfully the majority of the public is able to see through it. Unions are a dying movement,… Read more »
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Annika says:
To ‘N’ the contractor doing it all on his own. No doubt you are claiming every damn thing on tax such as the wifes Audi (she’s a Company Director afterall), the kids Xbox slipped into the tax return as an office computer, the trip to Euro Disney, oh yes that’ll… Read more »
There’s a high-risk derivative of the time-honoured “Secret Santa” that has become quite popular in recent years. All the carefully (and not so carefully) selected gifts are pooled and one by one participants get to select and open a present. They then face a choice: keep the present they’ve just opened or forfeit it and go for another, the contents of which are unknown but with which they will be stuck.
Ornately wrapped, carefully presented gift boxes adorned with bows and baubles are, unsurprisingly, first picks. But they don’t often yield the best results.
However, it’s human to be tempted by the promise of something better, to be lured by the illusion of a grander prize.
Continue reading "Beware the electoral Santa bearing gifts" »
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Andrew Goff says:
Sophie. I’m pissed off at Rudd breaking his promises. Anyone reading the Punch already knows about them. Kindly now please offer an alternative set of policies. Merry Christmas. Read more »
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Wombat says:
Well said, T.Chong! It’s great to be rid of the Lying Rodent and his slave-traders. And Julia will make a great PM. She’s already doing most of the work anyway. Of course we will have to see what happens over the next few years, but how about Penny Wong for… Read more »
Update 8.05am: The early birds have triumphed. All ten passes are accounted for. Sorry if you missed out - go see the movie anyway. Tors.
It’s hard to believe it’s Christmas Day this Friday, and The Punch is nearly 7-months-old. We’re here because of you, so thank you for that.
You may have noticed we’re a bit politically obsessed here, as it seems, are most of you. In the Loop is a movie for political tragics with a robust sense of humour (to call the language colourful is an understatement).
It’s out in cinemas here from January 21 - and the first 10 people to email me and ask (8.10am: they’ve all been allocated now, sorry) will get a double pass to see it.
Continue reading "A little Christmas present from The Punch" »
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Kevin Rennie says:
Like most top British comedy it relies primarily for its humour on dialogue rather than visual gags. When the film was introduced at MIFF 09 it was described as a mixture of Monty Python, The Office and Yes Minister. It certainly lived up to this accolade with lots of laughs… Read more »
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ACTOldFart says:
As to this site, I like the content, but it really has to be technically one of the worst, most incompetent sites on the Web. Slow, clunky, serious problems with actually trying to add a comment or read comments, overall a technical disaster. Get your act together or you will… Read more »
After four or so months in New York City, I am heading back to Australia this week for a quickie eight-day Christmas break. And I’m already dreaming of a bright Christmas. I might not get it.
In true made-for-TV movie style, a massive snow storm is crawling up the east coast of America this weekend, delaying flights and disrupting travellers heading home for the holidays.
My flight from JFK is scheduled for about the time the blizzard’s supposed to hit New York.
Continue reading "Postcard from a snow-bound New York City" »
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Shawn says:
Hey Sherlock: Global warning doesn’t mean there will never be cold days or snow. Why don’t you educate yourself about the facts, drop the desperate reactionary childishness and get a life? Read more »
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jp says:
I love New York - I have family there, and have visited it several times from the 1980’s to my last visit in 2006 and can’t wait to go back again. There have been so many changes over the past 30 years. But I think it’s really the frenetic energy… Read more »
Surely it’s some kind of peer reviewed joke. A researcher at Monash university has published a paper in the British Medical Journal saying it’s time to re-think Santa because he’s an obese, speeding drink-driver who spreads disease and is therefore a bad role model.
Ditto, obviously, for the tooth fairy who is doing a roaring trade in body parts. And the Easter Bunny must be a bad role model too because he brings chocolate and also makes no sense. And the bogeyman, who has questionable hygiene and engages in the potentially deadly activity of climbing up on rooftops to make things go bump.
There are too many bad role models around kids, but they’re much more omnipresent than Santa. The morbidly obese, the lazy, the cheats and liars of the world are everywhere and tragically some kids see this behaviour in their homes 365 days a year. And that’s before you get to rugby league players and drug-addled Hollywood starlets.
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Rod says:
Fair enough, people believe the fat man is a bad example. However, how can a made up person who lives in the north pole be used to suggest that young children obesity is Santa’s fault?? If your child is overweight, then i guess the problem comes from head office….i mean… Read more »
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Troy says:
If Santa’s weight were a problem with little children why do they believe that he can actually fit down a chimney. Read more »
Ok so you’d never call them fashionable. And they’re really time-consuming.
You feel guilty when you get them from people you never see and they’re definitely not good for the environment.
But can we please not get rid of giving Christmas cards? Especially the ones that come with a yearly update and family photo stapled to the inside.
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phil says:
If you wanted to keep christmas real, there wouldn’t be one. The whole thing is based on a fantasy Read more »
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Humbug says:
‘Scuse me. This piece had nothing to do with keepin personally in touch at all. It’s a plug for Hallmark , plus free market research. Send 80 personal emails, all written for the individual, plus a hand-made personal pdf card. Takes care, time, thought, and creativity - but no airmail… Read more »
The 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche put before people a choice: Dionysos or the Crucified?
He saw with clarity that there were two starkly opposed views of life being lived out around him. One followed Dionysos, or Dionysius, the Greco-Roman God of wine, who championed hedonism. The other was the Christian way, the way of the crucified saviour who gave his life for others. God taking on flesh to save the world — that’s crazy, said Nietzsche. Many today seem to agree with him.
A new book called The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas (Ariane Sherine (Ed), The Friday Project, 2009) agrees with Nietzsche, but wants to tell even him to chill out a bit when it comes to Christmas.
Continue reading "Nietzsche and Simon Le Bon: Do they know it’s Christmas?" »
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Libby says:
Hey I_Exist, Many of us form our views on God as children: Christians, Atheists and others. An informed view can not be developed on such a thin layer of information. I wonder why you are so moved to read and then comment something that is a ‘waste of human effort?’.… Read more »
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Bwian says:
No Ben, I don’t assume that nature is all there is. If you can provide me with sound evidence for the existence of something supernatural, I’ll believe it. I accept that there are phenomena not explained by science and perhaps inexplicable to science – that which existed prior to the… Read more »
Welcome to another week of tales from darkest suburbia, where we ask: “When will the relentless march toward Christmas stories stop?” Not until the last fake tree and fairy lights are packed away, apparently.
Thus, we start in Sydney where St Nick has been banished from Sydney Airport following allegations of misconduct. The Southern Courier reports the man hired to wear the big red suit was fired for what a Qantas worker described as possible “inappropriate gestures to the elves”.
A new Santa has already been hired, so the ho ho ho-ing chain will hopefully continue unbroken.
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SLF says:
@RT, it is not a childcare centre this year, it is a council http://noosa-journal.whereilive.com.au/news/story/council-sidesteps-the-word-christmas/ Read more »
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Liz says:
Dressing up ‘in silly consumes”? Whow that’ll get them in the soup! Hope it’s not tooo hot! Read more »
Ever wondered what would have happened if Santa forgot to turn up one year? Well Copenhagen may not be quite the North Pole but that’s the scenario that looks like playing out this Christmas.
While 73 per cent believing that the Copenhagen conference is important, only 19 per cent think its likely a deal to address global climate change will end up in their stocking.
In the midst of this misery, Santa’s Little Helpers at the Punch today attempt to spread a little joy with our inaugural Christmas Gift List for the Undeserving.
Continue reading "A Christmas wish-list for the undeserving" »
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Glen says:
I want what David C 10:07am | 15/12/09 wants. All I want for Christmas is no Virginia Trioli. Read more »
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Joel B1 says:
6cclego: “Whack-job conservatives around the world either get brain transplants, or are smite’d from above.” Actually, you might be onto something there. I’m hoping for the Rapture. Really, the Rapture is the solution for everyone! The true Christians get taken away. Leaving the Earth to the Greens and the Sex… Read more »
‘Tis the season to pretend there’s nothing wrong with starting Christmas celebrations this early in December, as we wind our way through the shopping malls and homemaker centres of suburbia.
We start in the southeast corner of Melbourne, where one council has decided to change up its approach to the festive season. The Mordialloc Chelsea Leader reports that Kingston council, sick of squabbling over public liability insurance rates, has packed up the tinsel streamers and hanging fairy lights – safe in the knowledge that no plastic stars can fall on the heads of passers by.
Instead, they’ve chosen to cover rubbish bins in Christmas wrapping. For the price of $26,000, some 200 bins in the area get to be wrapped with reusable Australiana-themed livery.
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TB says:
First it started with Easter Eggs in supermarkets as early as January, and now it’s Christmas in (late) November - I was mortified to see ads for “Christmas specials” on TV as early as mid-November. I’d never thought that a time would come where I would be harking back to… Read more »
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davido says:
Good old councils the breeding ground for ‘b’ grade politicians. Read more »
The so-called “festive season” needs a new name.
Because as it stands right now with it’s smug connotations of happiness, relaxation and general mirth-it’s terrifically misleading.
Take for instance, this incident one night last week.
Continue reading "Five ways to make Aussie Christmas better" »
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Maree says:
I have a niece and nephew (from one particular branch of the family) who fit into the number three category. I don’t buy for them. The rest of the family does a limited cash amount Secret Santa and we’re all happy with that. I used to buy my kids very… Read more »
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Michellemac says:
@ Marley - LOL re# 4. When I lived in Europe and used to come back to Oz for Christmas one of my favourite things was going to the beach for a Christmas morning swim and listening to all the UK expats ringing home on their mobiles…“Hi Mum, guess where… Read more »
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