Do we really have to have women’s boxing included in the Olympic Games schedule, and for that matter do we need it to happen at all?

No I’m not anti-women at all but having them line up in a boxing match just doesn’t go down with me.

And having this new sport included in the Olympic Games is just another step in the wrong direction by those who run this prestigious event.

It’s bad enough the number of minority sports that have been added in recent times, but this is the last straw.

We might as well go the full hog and include marbles!

Pollies cost us too much   

The latest suggestion that federal politicians, in particular, are rorting millions of dollars a year in taxpayer funded entitlements under a scam believed to have been uncovered by the Auditor General again raises the question of do we have too many pollies in our country?

Using printing allowances to excess is the latest rort, which comes on top of recent claims about travel and unnecessary overseas trips.

Naturally our pollies vehemently deny the charges but it would be interesting to see an itemised list which might tell us what – when the parliament is sitting – their weekly costs are for accommodation, travel to and from airports, flights, food and drink and office rent and staff.

And when you broaden the costs to include our over–abundance of state pollies, the final figure would be frightening.

Oh, and don’t forget the cost of the public service.

And talking about them 

And on top of the pollies’ rorts we now read that the NSW Government will pay 10 bureaucrats an average of $100,000 a year to micro-manage the rosters of all our nurses, junior doctors and allied health staff.

According to the government it’s all about saving money in the long run.

What I’d like to know is why the public servants who have had this job haven’t been able to handle it properly?

Let’s just point the finger at the State Minister of Health and question why this person has let the side down for in reality the minister is supposed to be the king/queen pin where health is concerned and should be keeping the public servants on the ball.

I once worked for a State Minister south of the border and within weeks of him moving into the job he had reduced the Housing Commissioners from seven to four, moved another four top public servants around, and told everyone he was going to run the show.

And he did.

We need more of this type of action from our State Ministers, and Federal ones, too.

Not just the pollies   

Then there are the executives who head up organisations like Telstra.

Everyone’s friend, the Mexican Sol Trujillo, milked us for more than nine million dollars for 10 months of the 2009 financial year and then there’s a fellow American Greg Winn who allegedly received $666,666 for two month’s consultancy fees as well as receiving $5.3 million for his seven months’ work as an employee.

Now the head of our Federal Government’s broadband network will earn $2 million a year along with the $3.5 million being paid to Telstra’s chief executive.

And would you believe it, the very day I wrote this I went home from the office and there in the mailbox was my latest Telstra bill!

Not an all Saints weekend  

There they were sitting pretty with a great record of wins, particularly those AFL Saints, and along came a weekend when both the Saints didn’t come marching in.

And what made it somewhat embarrassing for St George–Illawarra was that one of their stars, Wendell Sailor, was quoted in a Saturday newspaper saying the team wasn’t over cocky.

I believe, however, that the losses came at the right time and now both teams can realise they are not invincible and that a premiership is not won until the season is over.

Oh, and by the way, I reckon we can take with a grain of salt the Dragons’ president Peter Doust’s comments that the home semi-final due to the team may be played at WIN Stadium!