F E A T U R E S

Interview: Power and the Passion
ALP's star recruit Peter Garrett shares his views on unions, forests and being the Member for Wedding Cake Island

Unions: Tackling the Heavy Hitters
Tony Butterfield became a State of Origin gladiator at the unlikely age of 33. Even that, Jim Marr reports, couldn�t prepare him for the knock-down, drag-em-out world of modern IR.

Industrial: Seeing the Forest For The Wood
Proposals to flog off NSW�s forests have raised eyebrows and temperatures amongst some of the key players reports Phil Doyle.

Housing: Home Truths
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton argues for a radical solution to the housing affordability crisis.

International: Boycott Busters
International unions have issued a new list of corporations breaching ILO sanctions to do business in Burma.

Economics: Ideology and Free Trade
The absurdities of neoclassical economic assumptions has never stood in the way of their being trotted out to justify profiteering and attacks on the rights of citizens. The AUSFTA is the latest rort we are supposed to swallow, writes Neale Towart.

History: Long Shadow of a Forgotten Man
Interest in JC Watson's short time as Labor's first Prime Minister should not detract from his more substantial role as Party leader, writes Mark Hearn

Review: Chewing the Fat
As debate rages in Australia about Fast Food advertising, Julianne Taverner takes a look at a side of the industry that Ronald McDonald won�t tell you about in Supersize Me.

Poetry: Dear John
Workers Online reader Rob Mullen shares some personal correspondence with our glorious leader.

C O L U M N S

Politics
The Westie Wing
As the NSW Labor Government sells its first budget deficit in nine years, the real concern for the union movement is the devil in the detail, especially when it comes to procurement agreements, writes Ian West.

The Soapbox
Rubber Bullets
Labor's IR spokesman Craig Emerson launches a few characteristic salvos across the Parliamentary chamber

The Locker Room
Tears After Bedtime
Phil Doyle says that it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye

Postcard
Postcard from Vietnam
APHEDA's Hoang Thi Le Hang reports from the north of Vietnam on a project being fund by Australian unionists.,

E D I T O R I A L

A Place To Call Home
These days the Great Australian Dream is closer to a fantasy, where the chances of owning to your own home depend on either inheriting property or winning lottery.

N E W S

NRMA Reverses Over Turnbull

Privatisation Kills

Crikey: Irwin Feeds Staff AWAs

Nurses Telegraph Fight Back

"Sexiest Man" Plays it Safe

Eureka: Bug Swats Hadgkiss

Macdonald Ponders Asbestos Blue

Latham Gets Late Mail

Murdoch Faces Discrimination Rap

Boss Goes Postal

Oberon Survives Bomb Threat

Howard Out On CD

Telstra Hangs Up On Staff

Activists What�s On!

L E T T E R S

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Tears After Bedtime

*****

Cricket in the dry season is a scary prospect.

It's unnerving to see the Australian Cricket team in full flight mid-winter. It doesn't feel right.

It would all make sense if it was two in the morning and it was a rain delay from Old Trafford, but this is all going on in Central Standard Time and must be fading the curtains and putting the cows off their milking to be sure.

The dry season has also struck the rest of the continent in the form of The Drought. Water restrictions across the eastern seaboard and business as usual elsewhere mean sporting fields are as hard as cement.

As a result someone has finally asked "what about the kiddies?" who seem to be getting the odd knee graze and bruised elbow.

The short answer is that it's good for them.

Running around like a headless chook is a terrific thing for kids.

The daytime arrival of winter cricket means that at least we don't have to put up with the gutless tediousness of Wimbledon interrupting the tea session of the third test from the Oval.

Instead we have the gutless tediousness of the Olympic Cigarette Lighter winding its way towards the impending doom of the Athens Olympics.

That accident-waiting-to-happen shot to prominence last month with allegations of drugs in sport targeting, shock horror, Australians. This was hard for the public to digest as the television coverage from the last Olympics informed us that Australians never cheat, are absolutely brilliant at everything and are all round good sports.

The Locker Room knows that there are drugs in Australian sport, but invariably there are not enough of them and they are the wrong kind.

The good news from last month was plumber Kevin Sheedy signing on with Essendon until 2007, which will mark his 278th year as coach of the Bombers.

"I wasn't going to be a boring person," said a disappointed Sheedy. "I don't want a boring footy side that doesn�t win games and wont fill stadiums."

This goes a long way to explaining why he never coached at Richmond - the club he played for until the early seventies.

Regular readers will know that the Locker Room is not enamoured by the concept coaches, and is even less gruntled by the increasing number of hangers on associated with sporting teams, such as the Queensland Reds hiring a physio to massage Wendell Sailor's ego.

Speaking of ego, reports from the rah-rahs test last month say that John Howard was roundly boo-d when he made his appearance - almost as much as the news that Wendell Sailor would be omitted was cheered

England's sporting pride lifted briefly during the Euro 2004 palaver when Roomania swept the land following the performances of the teenager Rooney, the working class Liverpool lad

It all came unstuck after they'd reached the final eight. When it came down to penalties David Beckham bent it like Beckham in a tragedy of celebrity proportions.

It's hard to see how a shattered Beckham could possibly come back from this, but this column's girlfriend has offered some suggestions.

Staying up to watch a winter sport being played during the northern summer in the middle of the night while a summer sport is being played in the middle of the day in winter has confused everything. No wonder kiddies are getting hurt down at the park.

Someone will have to get to the bottom of this. It would be nice if they just stopped playing soccer I the middle of the night and got it back to a Saturday afternoon where it belongs.

At least then we'll all get a good nights sleep.

Phil Doyle - screwing one off the side of the boot for a behind

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005