We were hit with some interesting thoughts in my recent blog how we do things. I thought we should discuss some of the ideas you were spitting out like goobers on a 3 km jog.

Apparently and overwhelming percentage of you think the states should be abolished and this country should be dropped back to a council / national government set up as is prevalent in many other countries.

My concern is that things like hospitals, police forces etc are to big to be run by a local council and to small to be run by a national government. Qld Police can’t afford a helicopter now heaven knows how they would do this on a council by council basis. I would also have concerns having hospitals run at a national level, its hard enough for our politicians to understand the situation at the moment, imagine including another 2 –3 levels of ‘health department management’ impairing the message from nurse / doctor to health minister. The last thing the health system needs is more management.

In my humble opinion of course….

What about you, what advantages can you see by nationalising or regionalising the above examples, or other examples as you see fit?

I decided I needed to purchase a couple of things yesterday which means I had to face the dreaded shopping centre. I hate the joints, full of niffs who aimlessly walk around like the whole facility is there own personal bedroom. My thoughts are you get in, go to the shop you need and get out in the shortest possible time.

If you are looking to drift along like time means nothing, looking from store to store like a crack whore looking for a score its time I made you aware of a little invention. About 19 years ago a bunch of nerds created the popular version of the internet. I suggest you sit on your fat duffs and browse stores on that bastard and leave walking the malls to people with a purpose.

Anyway, back to me. First I went into a men’s clothing store (not to be named for fear of embarrassment) I looked at a few items, picked a few and paid for them. I don’t try stuff on in the store for the same reason as above re ‘impatient shopper comments’. I walked out with a half sense of accomplishment.

Second I spent a solid 37 seconds in an Angus & Robertson book store choosing the ‘perfect gift’ for a friend of mine (no I didn’t know what book I was buying before I went in the store but it really isn’t that hard to choose a book now is it?). The book was placed into the clothes bag for ease of transport.

I then went into a chemist first looking for some pills to help me sleep re: songs-for-the-sleepless. Unfortunately the silly pog behind the high counter told me that I can’t be helped. As I tiredly trundled out of the chemist I tiredly lifted my head to figure out where to go next, as I did my eyes instinctively turned to the solution, the trusty bottolo.

Ahhhh sweet liquor, eases the pain. On completion of the purchase of a bottle of rum I placed it the bag I had received from the clothing store. I whacked that bad boy in the boot of my car and set off for home. On arrival home I opened the boot to the sweet smell of rum, nectar of the gods.

Apparently not trying the clothes on in the store has cost me more than $150 dollars in undersized rum smelling shirts and polos. My friend appreciated the rum soaked autobiography and I cried myself to sleep at 3 o’clock in the morning again due a severe lack of alcohol.

From now on a just order everything on line and include extra shipping insurance!!

We are coming up to the Christmas period and I am fairly certain that the normal road safety ads are just around the corner. No matter where you live in this country there will be a number of messages provided to us through the media, some of which being.

Don’t drink and drive
Don’t speed
Don’t drive tired

My question refers back to the statement above “No matter where you live” you will hear basically the same message. Yet each state (and possibly territory) is spending individual state dollars to create marketing campaigns to ‘educate’ us about these subjects. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The only people who win out of this are the multitudes of companies around the country earning money creating slightly different marketing campaigns.

I doubt an anti speeding ad would work differently in NSW as it would in WA (happy to hear arguments to the contrary). Based on this assumption I think that the states need to come together (would take 2 hours) and decide which messages they want to spread this year. Then pool their cash and pay ONE company to come up with a national campaign.

The end result would still be a suitable marketing campaign and a little more money for the states to spend on other pressing matters.