A friend was completely taken to the cleaners in a divorce, losing his home, totally denied access to his two children and has only recently been allowed to stop paying maintenance.  It is a true saying: “there is nothing as happy as a happy marriage and nothing more unhappy as an unhappy one”.

Yes, the wedding ceremony may be wonderful, but what comes after as the couple face life together that really matters.  I wish all who are brave enough to embark on marriage, well.

JUST how low the Trump administration is prepared to go has surfaced in the form of a doctored video making it appear that CNN journalist, Jim Acosta “interfered” with a female White House aide. Despite the whole world and a room full of fellow journos seeing what actually happened, with Trump, as usual talking over and verbally sparring with the CNN journalist, the problem being of course that CNN print factual news.  

The Trump team, often accusing others of “fake nooz” has created their own piece of pure fiction. This is what happens when you have a president with the mind of a six-year old (with apologies to any parents of six-year olds out there), who lives in a fantasy world of his own creation and objects violently to any criticism whatsoever.

The biggest problem with all this is that there are many rednecks in the “disunited states” who’ll believe this falsification regardless of what the actual truth is.

ON NOVEMBER 3  I had a cardio event at home. My partner (Max Wadley) called the ambulance and thanks to their quick and caring attention they saved my life. I could not name them all and won’t even probably recognise them even if I see them, but my partner and myself are truly grateful to the wonderful service they had given to keeping my heart ticking until I was handed over to the Cardiac Unit in the Launceston General Hospital.

During my stay in the LGH I couldn’t ask for better medical attention than they have given me. From the ambulance volunteers and personnel who has given me this chance to write this thank you message, to the emergency unit, to the cardiologist that performed the coronary angioplasty in my heart, to the nurses that works tirelessly to keep me comfortable in the best possible way, the nurses who answer the call the quickest way possible every time the bell rings for them, to those who cleans the rooms and beds to keep the bacteria away, to those that works in the kitchen preparing foods so that patients won’t go hungry.

My partner and I thought they are a true representation of the humanity, their professions exudes.

GREENS leader Cassy O'Connor, and Speaker Sue Hickey are spot on in saying our parliament should be restored to 35, so it's  disappointing both Premier Will Hodgman, and Opposition Leader Rebecca White are reluctant to support a bill that would see this happen (The Examiner, November 12).

It’s no secret the 1998 decision to reduce the size of the house to 25 was a deliberate and self-interested ploy by Labor and the Liberals to eliminate the influence of the Greens. It was an arrogant and high-handed decision that belittled democracy, and did the major parties no credit. It also signally failed to achieve its objective.

The Greens are here to stay, and are likely to be joined in the future by other political players and independents, so it’s high time the other 10 paliamentary seats were replaced so a more vibrant representative democracy can be resumed. 

WHEN Tasmania reduced its lower house numbers 10 years ago the 25 members left received a pay rise of $40,000 to cover the extra duties. It would be fair that the taxpayers would want members pay reduced by that amount if a move to revert to 35 members was successful. Tasmania is overloaded with government, politicians and the 29 local councils as it is and another 10 MHAs is something we cannot afford.  The Greens are bringing the move on and I would think that it is in the hope that they can bolster their own numbers.

THIS week’s parliamentary mayhem over the fate of the gender law reform bill speaks as much to the long-held comfort and complacency felt by the Hodgman Government as it does about Speaker Hickey’s potential for independent or “rogue” action.

Let it be a marker for governments of all stripes that the passage of party-sculpted policies – particularly those impacting on personal and civil liberties – from inception to legislation, should never be presumed to be of foregone conclusion.  The electorate expects parliamentarians – voted in on promises of tailored attention to constituency needs – will have the courage to take bold stands when party lines trample on those heartfelt issues. Governments will ignore Sue Hickey’s obviously headline-grabbing action at their peril in future and attend more assiduously to one of the most basic of parliamentary processes – crunching the voting numbers before the vote.