Latest The Hard Word

• A message to all Aussies: take my lead, move to the UK

  

  THE HARD WORD | After two years living abroad in London, it’s time to call it a day. But I’m testament to the fact that anyone can do it, and more importantly everyone should do it.

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• Julian Assange should face his accusers

  

  THE HARD WORD | Blurring Assange’s possible extradition to the US with facing the same legal processes as the rest of us is unhelpful and the ensuing scaremongering has been completely overblown.

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• Melbourne’s #1 (again) but is it a fair reflection?

  

  THE HARD WORD | So Melbourne was again voted the world’s most livable city beating Vienna, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth to the post.

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• Despite it all, Australia stands tall at London 2012

  

  THE HARD WORD | What have the performances, the reaction and the euphoria revealed about our fiercest rivals, and what has Australia’s stinging response to our campaign shown about these two, great nations? Plenty.

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• Five things I’ve already learnt at London 2012

  

  THE HARD WORD | Some of them painful, some joyous and some I’m more than happy to admit. With the first week down of the 2012 Olympics, these are the five things we at The Hard Word have learnt about this year’s Games.

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• Don’t be so tents, go and get your camp on

  

  THE HARD WORD | A recent study found travellers who go on camping holidays in the UK will find their break less stressful than those who head abroad. So why such vehement opposition to the whole thing? Why do some deplore the idea of finding the camper within us all?

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• Time for Australia’s green and gold to shine

  

  THE HARD WORD | Must Australia’s summer of sporting misery continue? Must we continue to be the laughing stock of those cheeky Brits, who have all manner of things to sing about? Bring on London 2012 and come on the Aussies!

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• Why are the Poms so unhappy?

  

  THE HARD WORD | Having lived in the UK for some time now, I’m constantly amazed at how rude people are here. It’s quite an anomaly though, because the Brits are actually incredibly nice people. So Britons, why the sad face?

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• Has the Aussie voting public disengaged?

  

  THE HARD WORD | Australian MP Craig Emerson’s rendition of the Sky Hooks classic ‘Horror Movie’ went viral. But why the ridiculous, pre-meditated nonsense? Is it cheap PR? Or a desperate, far-fetched attempt to gain traction with a message, in an ever-demanding 24 hour news cycle?

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• The wane but rise of the fourth estate

  

  THE HARD WORD | Australia’s media industry has been handed some massive shake-ups in the last fortnight – what with the Fairfax cuts and the News Corp split – but how will this affect our media landscape?

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• All hail the king and queen of Ascot

  

  THE HARD WORD | Please can we give up on the misguided attempts to pigeon hole incredible animals like Black Caviar and Frankel, and refrain making unfair comparisons. Can’t we simply just celebrate their striking beauty and phenomenal achievements and leave them be.

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• Dollar for pound, Australia’s cities are ludicrously overpriced

  

  THE HARD WORD | Are we expats really surprised by the fact that three Australian cities are now rated as more expensive than London? Surely not. But if and when we choose to return to the motherland, we can head home with the knowledge that $1 is actually worth a lot more than we once appreciated.

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• A two-fingered Jubilee salute to those republicans

  

  THE HARD WORD | The Monarchy just gave a great big two-fingered salute to the doubters, the haters and the critics… and I loved it!

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• I confess, I’m a Leveson addict

  

  It has suddenly dawned on me; the Leveson Inquiry won’t go on forever. But my cravings are only getting worse.

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• UK summer begs the question: why can’t Oz be just like the UK?

  

  THE HARD WORD | Australians are being short-changed during summer months by over-zealous Local and State Governments and us Antipodeans know all about it when the UK turns the heat on. Why is it OK to drink alcohol in public places here, and not in our fair shores?

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• Ricky Nixon’s contribution to popular culture: spare us all

  

  THE HARD WORD | Ricky Nixon is not a celebrity. Far from it. He’s just an average man who has made all kinds of serious errors of judgement. He’s what some would refer to as a D-grade celebrity, a man clearly possessing an over-inflated sense of self-importance. So why turn his life into public viewing?

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• Why are we so obsessed with the life and times of politician’s partners?

  

  THE HARD WORD | Why our obsession with our leader’s partners? Is it terribly vain to be so interested in those who are in relationships with our elected politicians? Or is this knowledge a crucial piece of the puzzle in swaying our vote?

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• Australia’s olympic uniform: My grandpa will love them

  

  THE HARD WORD | In the space of a few short months, Australian athletes can walk into London’s Olympic Stadium with pride, knowing that for the first time in a long time, their uniform is pitch perfect. It’s not over-the-top sporty, nor is it too formal.

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• A-League must learn from it’s year from hell

  

  Soccer is supposed to be the ‘beautiful game’ but in Australia at the moment, it is nothing but ugly and chaotic.

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• Australian shoppers are being ripped off

  

  Australian consumers now realise it is far cheaper to order their own goods from overseas online, than to pay for the excessive mark-ups in the nation’s stores. Soon enough those intelligent buyers will become the majority of the country’s shoppers, so long as exorbitantly priced goods remain on shop floors.

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