In the Name of God, Go!
A marriage can survive many things.
It can survive arguments, disappointments, financial hardship and even periods of unhappiness. What it struggles to survive is the loss of trust.
Once one partner begins to think, "I no longer believe you," or, "I no longer think you have my interests at heart," the relationship changes. Every action is viewed with suspicion. Every explanation is questioned. The marriage may continue on paper, but something essential has been broken.
Nations are not so very different.
Every democracy rests upon an unwritten agreement between the people and those who govern them. Citizens accept laws, pay taxes and participate in civic life because they trust that, however imperfect the system may be, it broadly works in their interests and applies its rules fairly.
That trust is the invisible mortar holding society together.
Read more: The Great Divorce: When Governments Lose the Trust of the Governed
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News
User Rating: 5 / 5
Roderick’s Reality Crisis
By Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble
Senior Correspondent
Dusty Gulch Gazette, Food Division
I had thought the matter settled.
Australia exists. Its Food exists. We Australians exist.
Or at least that was my understanding until earlier this week....
The trouble started when an American reader took one look at a Chiko Roll in its own little branded bag and declared:
“Nobody would eat that. It’s clearly fictional.”
What he did not know is that Chiko Rolls are indeed very real. In fact, there is even a national song dedicated to them.
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News
User Rating: 5 / 5
The Mystery of Redhead's Afternoon Nap
By Roderick McNibble, Chief Investigative Correspondent, Equine and Transport Division, Ratty News
I've investigated some peculiar stories in my time.
There was the Great Lamington Disappearance of '24.
The Kangaroo Coup that never officially happened.
Trevor's missing knees.
And, of course, the regrettable incident involving three jars of marmalade, two CWA ladies and an experimental drone. I remain legally unable to discuss that one.
But none of those prepared me for the mystery of Redhead's afternoon naps.
It started with hoofprints.
Fresh hoofprints appeared on the beach every morning. Not hundreds of them. Just one neat trail, beginning nowhere in particular and ending nowhere at all. And so my tale begins.....
Read more: Redhead’s Secret: The Flying Horse and the Midnight Council
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
User Rating: 5 / 5
Some films entertain. Some provoke. A very few leave you sitting in silence after the credits have rolled, unable to reach for the remote because you know that whatever comes next will feel strangely trivial.
Citizen Vigilante is one of those films.
I had expected another modern Death Wish: a competent revenge thriller in which justice is delivered at the end of a gun barrel and the audience leaves satisfied that the bad guys got what they deserved. Instead, what I found was something far more unsettling.
When the screen finally faded to black, there was no triumph. No relief. No sense that order had been restored.
Only loss.
That is both the film's greatest strength and the reason it is so difficult to watch.
Read more: Citizen Vigilante: When Fiction Stops Feeling Like Fiction
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
User Rating: 5 / 5
The School Bully and the Declaration of Independence: Why Australia Needs Unity Now
Some thoughts have been rattling around in my head lately.
How many of us remember the school bully? Not the popular kid. Not the one everyone genuinely admired. The bully ruled the playground for a different reason: people were afraid of him. He gathered favourites with treats and threats, rewarded loyalty, punished dissent, and relied on everyone else being too divided to stand together against him.
Most of us knew what was happening. We grumbled about it among our friends. We quietly cheered when someone stood up to him. But when the moment came to act, we often found ourselves looking at our shoes and hoping somebody else would take the risk.
The older I get, the more I wonder whether politics sometimes works in much the same way.
Read more: The School Bully's Greatest Weapon: Why Division Keeps Winning Elections
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
User Rating: 5 / 5
Once we debated. Now, " they" accuse.
And who are they? Talk about diversity. They come in all colours, all causes, and all hashtags. Some scream for justice, others for tradition. Some are young, loud, and online. Others are older, bitter, and wield bureaucratic power. What unites them isn’t belief - it’s certainty, and the weaponisation of offence. No debate required. Just accusation, echo, and cancellation.
From playgrounds to parliaments, the art of debate is being replaced by hashtags, headlines, and hostile mobs.
What began as dialogue has hardened into dogma - and truth, once pursued through reasoned argument, now risks exile in favour of certainty without substance.
In this reflection, I ask:
What have we lost?
And what must we regain before the noise becomes all we know? Today, disagreement ends not in understanding but in accusation.
Read more: The Decline in Public Reason and the Lost Art of Debate
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Shaydee Lane
User Rating: 5 / 5
Read more: A Story About When the World Was Kinder and a Better Place - Nurse Nice Day
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Ratty News
User Rating: 5 / 5
From Dulcie, CWA Dusty Gulch. Filling in for Roderick (Whiskers) McNibble
Australia's Outback has a new menace, and it's not venomous snakes or drop bears - it's a rogue kangaroo infected with the so-called "Woke Virus". Dubbed the Rooganic Plague, this overly conscientious marsupial has been hopping through bush towns, canceling hunting parties, demanding vegan alternatives to vegan alternatives, and holding impromptu sit-ins near waterholes. It has even spread to Washington DC where supporters are now protesting to " Free the Algae. "
Locals were calling it "Skippy meets social justice on steroids," but it has suddenly turned dangerous. Our local hero Trevor, the Wallaby, has come out in condemnation. " He has single handedly put marsupial rights back generations. "
Yes, ladies, a giant Kangaroo has been terrorising the residents of an isolated outback Australian Community and locals fear it is the first of a new super breed of Rogue Roos infected by a mutant strain of what is now being referred to as Rooganic Plague.
A devastating plague that could destroy Australia.... when our wildlife go woke, things are not going to end well.
Read more: Skippy Meets Social Justice on Steroids: Rogue ‘Rooganic’ Kangaroo Goes Full Feral
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
User Rating: 5 / 5
"The small boys came early to the hanging."
So begins Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, one of the most memorable opening lines in modern fiction.
What follows is even more unsettling. Follett describes medieval boys:
The passage has remained with me for years.
Not because it describes medieval England, but because it describes something timeless.
The boys are not reformers. They are not builders. They are not seeking truth or justice. They delight in destruction. They find amusement in suffering. They wear contempt as a badge of honour.
The uncomfortable reality is that the small boys never disappear.
They are not defined by age.
Some are twelve. Some are fifty. Some occupy positions of authority. Some gather in crowds. Some hide behind anonymous screens.
What unites them is not youth but attitude.
Read more: The Boys Came Early to the Burning - Today's Sunday Sermon
- Details
- Written by: Op-Ed Monty
User Rating: 5 / 5
The Day I Killed My Own Words
I sat down to write about what’s happened to Australia.
About the bacon in the supermarket that’s “Made in Australia” from imported pork.
About shipping our coal and iron ore overseas so China can sell it back to us in the form of solar panels and clothes.
About the old Australia I love and do so as a migrant. The one that laughed at The Castle loved Steve Irwin and Dame Edna without apology.
I wrote it straight. No punches pulled. The way we used to talk in the pub.
Then I read it again… and started cutting. Because I was concerned about Hate Speech Laws.... and getting a knock on the door from the Thought Police....
Read more: Australia’s New National Dress: Cotton Wool and Compliance
Page 7 of 274
-
Rebels In Need of…
As young folk, didn't some of us feel like rebels without a cause? I am…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane91 hits
-
There’s Meat on the…
There’s Meat on the Bone A Ratty News Investigation By Roderick “Whiskers” McNibbleChief Investigative Correspondent,…
by Op-Ed Ratty News114 hits
-
The baton we carry,…
The baton we carry, and the history we must pass on For twenty-five years, I…
by Op-Ed Monty65 hits
-
The Great Dog-Fence Summit
DUSTY GULCH GAZETTE Special Political Correspondent EditionFiled from the wrong side of a perfectly ordinary…
by Op-Ed Ratty News175 hits
-
The Timeless Strategy of…
I’m a teacher who’s spent years studying history and who cares about using words honestly.…
by Op-Ed Blythe161 hits
-
All Available Boats
When I was a child, I loved a story about little tugboat called Little Toot.…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane234 hits
-
You Either Get It…
You Either Get It or You Don’t People have lost their sense of humor. Not…
by Paddy198 hits
-
The Hole in the…
The Alfred Graving Dock - a monument to Victorian engineering and Australian shipbuilding Most readers…
by Op-Ed Happy Expat213 hits
-
I am not a…
I was 12 years old when "The Prisoner " came out. Sometimes, I would sneak…
by Op-Ed Monty221 hits
-
Twelve Angry People
Twelve Angry People What 12 Angry Men can teach us about the hardest job in…
by Op-Ed Monty132 hits
-
The Strange Case of…
THE GREAT MULBERRY VACCINATION SCANDAL A Ratty News investigation by Roderick “Whiskers” McNibble I knew…
by The PR Blog237 hits
-
Does Australia Pass the…
Is Australia Becoming a Pub With No Affordable Beer? Oh, sure, the beer is still…
by The PR Blog303 hits
-
The Road to War
The War Did Not Begin on 1 September 1939 The details of Adolf Hitler’s rise…
by Op-Ed Happy Expat261 hits
-
The Weimer Republic Mk…
In the shadow of a shattered empire, the Weimar Republic rose in 1919, promising democracy,…
by Op-Ed Monty265 hits
-
A Moment in Time...
There are memories that refuse to grow old. The 29th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane274 hits
-
From Eureka to Extinction…
The result of the recent bi election in Secret Harbour in WA sends a powerful…
by Op-Ed Monty292 hits
-
A Dispatch From the…
A Dispatch from the Pointy End Foreword By Roderick (Whiskers ) McNibble, Senior Investigative Rodent…
by Op-Ed PP278 hits
-
The Dunny Dilemma -…
PLUMBING! The Mayor Has Finally Met a Pipe He Can't Fix A Special Medical -…
by Op-Ed Ratty News301 hits
-
Milne Bay - Australia's…
“Some of us may forget that, of all the Allies, it was the Australians who…
by Op-Ed Monty339 hits
-
The Grave Where Nothing…
Where Do the Children Play? I have no opinion to offer publicly on the Lindsay…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane278 hits
-
The 1951 Waterfront Lockout…
In early 1951, New Zealand’s waterfronts weren’t just bustling ports - they had become battlegrounds.…
by Op-Ed Monty267 hits
-
The Difference Between Understanding…
What badly behaved cats might teach us about excuses, responsibility and the people we sometimes…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane295 hits
-
"It's a Mini!" -…
Few cars trigger as much nostalgia as the iconic Mini. Born in post-war Britain, the…
by Op-Ed Shaydee Lane296 hits
-
Look Where You Are…
What falling over at seventy taught me about scars, consequences and the dangers of rushing…
by Op-Ed Monty286 hits
-
How we Saved the…
And Why Trevor the Wallaby Is No Longer Allowed Near the Taj Mahal An exclusive…
by Op-Ed Ratty News333 hits
-
The Birth of the…
In the 1880’s shearers wielded a lot of influence on our country. Despite us not…
by Op-Ed Happy Expat321 hits
-
Country or Cause? The…
During World War II, Australia was a vital cog in the Allied machine, sending troops…
by Op-Ed Monty363 hits
-
Lest We Forget The…
The Battle of Long Tan took place on August 18, 1966, in the Phuoc Tuy…
by Op-Ed Monty341 hits
-
Stop the Presses! No,…
The Gazette May Be Slow, But Roderick Isn't Giving Up By Roderick (Whiskers ) McNibble. …
by Op-Ed Ratty News326 hits
-
Parliament and Government
I have been reading about the state of affairs in the United Kingdom and what…
by Op-Ed Monty334 hits
-
Selective Governance: Is It…
Democracy: Now With 97% Less Majority Rule Because who needs the will of the people…
by Op-Ed Monty333 hits
-
Is Australia at War…
The Emu War is one of Australia’s strangest historical events. In late 1932, the government…
by Op-Ed Monty389 hits