Newcastle Herald short takes January 19 2018

TO Wendy Webb: don’t take life so seriously. I would love to have a beer or 10 with Dave McTaggart and Brad Hill. Not into coffee with mates, that’s a Sydney thing.

IT looks like the butcher from the Bay has won another heart. A bird in the hand is better than two Bobs in the salt bushes.

A WALLABY has been found crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge! This is unusual, but scientists predict that we can expect more of this extreme event in the future with climate change.  When wallabies are swarming across the Harbour Bridge life may be become untenable in Sydney.  A climate scientist has said though, that such extreme wallaby crossings may not become more frequent.  Instead wallabies will become bigger and nastier unless we reduce carbon emissions now.

IT’S official. It is harder to travel into the Newcastle CBD by train, car and now by bus. On the basis of the policies of the NSW State government the situation will only get worse. For the sake of the CBD businesses I hope that the increasing number of city dwellers will be enough to improve their bottom line because it is increasingly difficult for everyone else to frequent the city.

WHILE families in Australia are struggling to make ends meet with the lowest wage growth in 25 years, the Prime Minister uses his special powers to give a wage increase totalling $820,000 to 30 parliamentary staffers already on unbelievable salaries. If there is one thing that signifies what this Prime Minister thinks of ordinary wage earners in this country this must be the defining moment. And he wonders why he has had something like 25 negative polls.

THE poll appearing in Short Takes on Wednesday asks which is scarier between spiders, snakes, sharks or others. It should have included Peter Dutton on the list.

SHOULD mobile food carts and vans be regulated by the same rules as permanent-location cafes?

CAN the Knights win the 2018 NRL premiership?

WILL the rail strike affect you? 

Does the next stage at Nobbys fix the issues?