We are a city not a town. There's an argument for you right off the bat, given all of the people that keep referring to Newcastle as a town. I want to go to town on the people that insist on calling this city a town. Calling Newcastle a town might be well-meaning, but it is also condescending.

Many of this city's key advocates who get called on by the media to comment about anything and everything - men and women about town if you will - express frustration when it comes to how the city is treated by state and federal government when it comes to grant eligibility. Sometimes regional. Sometimes not regional. Calling us a town helps add to that confusion.

It still peeves me when I drive through Belmont that a newsagent on the main drag displays an advertising hoarding carrying this newspaper's slogan from a couple of decades ago. Remember "Our town, our paper"? And then there's "Our town, our team" referring to the Newcastle Knights.

Just on the Knights, your correspondent was at a charity auction for the Men of League Foundation (Newcastle Hunter Branch) last Friday at Toronto Golf Club. Among auction items was a Knights' strip signed by the 2022 men's squad and a football in Knights' colours signed by the 2022 premiership winning women's team. The jersey went for $200. The football pulled in $1000. Just sayin'...

Back to the city/town caper. Even the terrific documentary series revealing key parts of Newcastle's past is called "Stories of Our Town".

At least the locally launched beer Steel City gets the City bit right. Steel Town beer would have totally blown my fragile fufu valve.

How hard can it be? We are the City of Newcastle not the Town of Newcastle. "I'll just tie my horse up outside the post office when I'm next in town looking to send a telegram," said the nostalgic town clown.

But not on a Saturday at the Market Street post office.

Australia Post have decided that particular post office will no longer operate on a Saturday morning. Popped down there last Saturday to see a notice on the door advising no more Saturday openings.

But on the positive side, the old post office is now brandishing a sign on a Hunter Street hoarding advising that stage one will be completed by the end of 2023 and be open for business. We'll see.

Revitalisation was sold as being about more people, more services, more jobs. But no post office on a Saturday morning?

Are there lots more people living in the apartments built in the past decade in the city? It is noticeable that many of the apartments built in the past decade in the city don't have any lights on during weeknights. Maybe they are just doing their bit for the environment or perhaps reacting to electricity prices. Perhaps they eat out every night. Or maybe they are investors rather than full-time residents. Oh-oh, there goes the siren. Imminent incoming from the Property Council.

Perennial arguments in Newcastle? Letters to the editor in the Herald is as good a barometer as any. Both for and against, of course, in the interests of balance.

This city was destroyed when the rail line was removed. The light rail was a waste of money, and it was always about developers getting their grubbies on the rail corridor. The light rail will never be extended. Height limits in the Hunter Street mall should never have exceeded eight stories.

The benefits to the city from Supercars are totally bogus. The Newcastle ocean baths should have retained their natural bottom.

Licensing laws have swung too much in favour of the industry.

The Knights men's team are consistently disappointing.

Why can't people pick up their dog's poo?

A container terminal for shipping is necessary. This specific research has credibility when it comes to climate change.

Coal-fired power stations must be retained. Nuclear should never be an option for electricity supply. Renewables will never meet demand.

The council should concentrate on roads, rates, and rubbish.

Speed cameras are the work of the devil. The Australian flag must not be changed.

The national anthem must be changed. Football players should be made to sing the words of the national anthem when they have a television camera right in their mug.

Same ol', same ol'. Thank goodness for consistency.

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