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Post by bormes on Jan 21, 2015 11:53:35 GMT -1
A voted in for a term second house perhaps with proportional representation? We ARE STILL a CLASS RIDDEN SOCIETY OUR FORCES ARE STILL. We should try to change that from the classroom onwards.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 21, 2015 18:56:35 GMT -1
Our Upper house consists on 12 Senators from each state elected for a 6 year period with half elected every 3 years simultaneously with the Lower House. The voting for Upper House is Proportional and preferential. It is in this house you get the odd balls like the Shooters party and the Greens as well as other way out individuals
WE have a few who think they are above the hoi-poloi, but not many, generally they are either ignored or laughed at. Similarly we have some extreme idiots who are still fighting a class war that doesnt exist. Bit like Don Quixote jousting with the wind turbines
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Post by ozneil on Jan 21, 2015 19:49:27 GMT -1
Funny thing about your class thing. It seems to vanish when they visit here privately. One minor royal, cant remember her name, Anne's daughter I think is out here for some horsey thing and was spotted by some stupid magazine in Woolies shopping wearing a a pair of shorts and thongs (flip flops)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 0:13:12 GMT -1
What you say about the perception of women in the workplace is unfortunately true. In my case being brought up by a widow (ex legal secretary) I know its wrong. As a result of my acquired knowledge of watching women in action when I had a woman, a Kiwi of all things, apply for an Engineer's job I didnt raise my hands and say a woman couldnt do that But if I take her on I will be able to pay her less (scrooge syndrome). Most of my peers would have done that! I checked her credentials and got grudging "she seems to know her stuff" from her last employer who had retrenched her (silly bugger) I took her on at the full wages the job carried and in a short time, coupla years, realised she was more than competent so I took her on as a full partner, best business decision I ever made! It became obvious she was technically better than me. (As was my other partner a Chinese Malayan who could swear in 6 languages). Life can be unfair I did find out that men fell into 2 types. The ones that accepted her as an equal and accepted her opinion and the ones who were jealous of her success because she was a woman and couldnt be better than them. They tried to denigrate everything she did. The latter were usually pretty mediocre themselves. She was known on the sites as the "hatchet lady" if she hadnt been popular believe me the word lady would not have been used. I got this second hand from someone who was at the meeting. The meeting was about a big proposed hotel. The architect was laying forth to the owner (His company owned several Hotels) who would occasionally turn round to his PA and say "Get M***** to check that" . The architect was very curious to find out who M**** was and find out why she seemed to hold so much sway. My point, Oz, was nothing to do with the competence of working women! It was more about how we are "judged" compared to men in the workplace when it comes to all the other roles women are expected to fulfil---- as mothers, carers, lynchpins of family life in a way men are not. What i mean by that is that women who emigrate away from family are perhaps just a bit more guilt-tripped than men and more likely, maybe, to want to come home. Just a personal observation, is all. ?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 0:21:16 GMT -1
A voted in for a term second house perhaps with proportional representation? We ARE STILL a CLASS RIDDEN SOCIETY OUR FORCES ARE STILL. We should try to change that from the classroom onwards. That might be better than our current Peers for Life scenario. To me the House of Lords is very much grace and favour as opposed to appointments being made on merit or even relevance. H of L has NOT worked to contain certain excesses, Oz. Bliar Iraq for one example! The Lords still falls generally into two camps, reflecting the two main political parties, that is not democracy.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 0:32:09 GMT -1
Funny thing about your class thing. It seems to vanish when they visit here privately. One minor royal, cant remember her name, Anne's daughter I think is out here for some horsey thing and was spotted by some stupid magazine in Woolies shopping wearing a a pair of shorts and thongs (flip flops) It's not OUR class thing. Scotland is far less in thrall of upper class twits than some parts of the UK. Most of us have no truck with our Imperial Masters and all they stand for. Far easier to invent a new classless political system like Aus than to overturn countless centuries of Empire here in the UK. I'm far from alone in trying.... ?
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Post by notanimby on Jan 22, 2015 5:13:17 GMT -1
It is perfectly possible to run without to "houses/chambers" of parliament - it's called the unicameral system. Many smaller countries function a lot better than we do using that system - Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand for example -but of course one needs a proper written constitution for that to work too - we don't have a written one but some mysterious unwritten one that changes as the wind blows
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Post by bormes on Jan 22, 2015 8:13:18 GMT -1
Yes Nota is quite correct, we STILL have no constitution!!
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Post by ozneil on Jan 22, 2015 19:25:58 GMT -1
My point, Oz, was nothing to do with the competence of working women! It was more about how we are "judged" compared to men in the workplace when it comes to all the other roles women are expected to fulfil---- as mothers, carers, lynchpins of family life in a way men are not. What i mean by that is that women who emigrate away from family are perhaps just a bit more guilt-tripped than men and more likely, maybe, to want to come home. Just a personal observation, is all. ? my point was it was easier for the guys to blame their wives than to admit they made a mistake Even so I do believe its much harder for women than men. You know yourself when going overseas its different though a laugh trying to figure things out. Its not so bad here we do speak a brand of English but even that has its drawbacks, same words different meanings, different words for common articles, bus routes etc it is very confusing. Common very confusing one is Durex; here its sticky tape which leads to local chemists thinking that English men have most peculiar sexual habits.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 22, 2015 19:26:49 GMT -1
It is perfectly possible to run without to "houses/chambers" of parliament - it's called the unicameral system. Many smaller countries function a lot better than we do using that system - Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand for example -but of course one needs a proper written constitution for that to work too - we don't have a written one but some mysterious unwritten one that changes as the wind blows Kiwi Government works well. Doing well and with a slightly smaller population than Scotland (4.5 Million) Like us it has Centralist governments both National and Labour Very stable country, politically that is. Its not for nothing is called the Shaky Isles.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2015 23:17:18 GMT -1
By complete coincidink, Oz, tonights show,. From Scotland With Love, included vintage clips from the Clyde departure point for ships taking tens of thousands of emigrants to US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand.
Just so so moving watching the scenes as folks waved their loved ones off, so many in the audience teary tonight, me included. I was thinking about my aunt who left for Vancouver as a young woman in the 60s and my cousin who travelled alone age 4 to join her father who'd gone out to start a new life in New Zealand after the death of her mother.
And I was thinking about you and Mrs Oz too.
I hope you can find a way to see the film on the bbc iPlayer, it 's marvellous and beautifully done.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 22, 2015 23:50:43 GMT -1
By complete coincidink, Oz, tonights show,. From Scotland With Love, included vintage clips from the Clyde departure point for ships taking tens of thousands of emigrants to US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Just so so moving watching the scenes as folks waved their loved ones off, so many in the audience teary tonight, me included. I was thinking about my aunt who left for Vancouver as a young woman in the 60s and my cousin who travelled alone age 4 to join her father who'd gone out to start a new life in New Zealand after the death of her mother. And I was thinking about you and Mrs Oz too. I hope you can find a way to see the film on the bbc iPlayer, it 's marvellous and beautifully done. Damn it wont let me but not defeated yet When on our grand tour we visited a place, or rather a site, in Caithness, my own family is from Bower, where the crofters had been moved to by the land owner to make room for sheep. I think the Duke of Sutherland but not sure. It was impossible to croft there and they had to go down a cliff to get to boats to fish. There was no real harbour. Life must have been hell! As a result the whole village, holus bolus, boarded a ship directly from the village en-route to Otago in NZ, took their personal possessions and just walked away. One of their descendants erected a monument on the site relating the above. We felt a melancholy atmosphere about the place felt so sad. But on the bright side they got the best of the deal in the long run. The guy that erected the monument was a merchant in Dunedin so his family at least obviously prospered. We were different I was going home but it was a wrench for Mrs Oz . It took her 10 days to decide she had done the right thing and she has never regretted it, like a duck to water. Though I do understand why people dont. Life is different and you have to adapt to it or you will hate it. On first day I was at work Mrs Oz went to buy some summer clothes. She was a bit disconcerted by the shop assistant calling her sweetie but was won over by her friendliness. PS the village was Badbea
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2015 0:28:19 GMT -1
The film reflect the hardships only 50 years back, plus scenes of daily life that most of us here will remember, whether we lived in the Central Belt or more remote parts. It's truly humbling. Have you found a proxy server way to see it yet, Oz? I've spent the past few days in the company of new friends from Dunedin. Named by Scottish settlers after Dun Eidhinn (Edinburgh). We don't hold it against them.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 24, 2015 2:35:58 GMT -1
50 years ago
Working in 26 Blythswood Square. When working late used to say hello to a lady who used to shelter in porch. Later that year working in 2 Park Circus Place. Living in Bishopbriggs. Drove an Austin Cambridge. Cant remember any notable projects. perhaps council housing Prince Albert Drive somewhere in West End. Maybe early planning for Red Road. Curlers pub in Byres road about that time. Cold wet weather, wondering if I could talk Mrs Oz into going to Oz. (47 years ago I succeeded) Oz opened Trade Commision in Jamaica Street .. I used to pop in to see Brizzie papers on a Wednesday. Took boss, a rusted on Rangers supporter to Murrayfield to see All Blacks beat Scotland 44 nil. I was an adopted Kiwi that day
There are one hell of a lot of Scots and their descendants in Dunedin and further south in Invercargil. The surroundinng areas are Otago, which I mentioned elsewhere, and Southland with MacKenzie country to the West. They say people from that area still speak with a slight burr
This weekend is the Australia Day weekend so my geek relatives are else where. will yell at them when they return
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