I just skimmed the report - what stood out is how the arguments here on Jez and other 'female' sites I like to read, are absolutely supported in the data.

My last office building shared its toilets with a couple of Asian restaurants - the area has a lot of Asian students and recent immigrants - footprints on the seats were the least of the mess. (We wouldn't have minded if the building actually had decent cleaners, but they were shoddy as, so the mess could be there for…

Me too! That's the one that made me go all gooey.

there are two kinds of people, those who like pineapple on their pizza, and those who are foolish misbegotten wretches who mock the sublime tangy sweetness and will burn forever for their transgression.

I am constantly surprised by the number of people who think that (that Sydney is the capital). But then I have overheard tourists on Bondi Beach asking where the koalas were.

In Australia, over the last few decades, the government has been slowly decreasing money to Medicare/public/'free' healthcare, and public hospital funding, and finding ways to make private individuals pay. Most of these extra levies and tweaks are means-tested (eg if you earn under a certain amount, you don't get…

awwwww! That's adorable!

My mum looked after Nan a lot, but to be fair, Mum is/was an aged care worker (nurse then management). One uncle is disabled but called Nan regularly, the other uncle visited and called regularly but also helped his wife with her parents. Mum got Nan a bed in the facility she ran at the time, and Nan quietly faded…

I was nine. In hindsight, white denim shorts (that were getting a little small) and oversize white tshirts probably contributed, but still. (I loved those shorts, growth spurts be damned, I was not giving them up, and my brother gave me the tshirts for Christmas and I wore them all summer.)

Daaaaaawwwwwww! Okay, the world is not that horrible, last weeks hi jinks notwithstanding. I'm gonna go lie in the sun and dream about kitties now.

That's exactly the metaphor I use - you wouldn't tell someone with a broken leg to 'walk it off', so don't tell someone with depression to 'cheer up', or someone with anxiety to 'get over it'. They can't.

same - Tasmania is slightly provincial at the best of times, but not even a mention of this in our MSM. One article so far on one of the two major online sites, just posted. My brother had no clue, I had to tell him all about it. Good work all, please keep it coming.

yeah, I was ready to go, c'mon, that's clearly just a squiggle of sauce, or an unfortunate pattern off the crisscrossing grill, but that's too perfect to not be deliberate. I hope the dumbass got told off at least.

hah, yes! But replace 'their' swimming pool with 'our' swimming pool.

it's always nice to find a Heinlein fan. (I find I have a different opinion of Poddy every time I read it, sometimes I'm disappointed she falls into the 'girly' nurturer role despite her initial beat-the-boys attitude, other times I'm proud she realises what she really wants and goes for it. I wonder how things would…

me three! Always wanted to have a little girl so I could name her after St Podkayne.

oh my effing... That's awesome. As in, I am full of awe at the magnificence of this moment.

oh wow. Much much sympathy to all those who struggle with the right bc. I am eternally grateful for my little yellow pills - I had the worst experiences as a teenager with my periods and begged my gp to let me go on the pill so that at least I had some regularity. He refused as I wasn't sexually active and there was…