Students Make Green Leap With Frog Bog

WHEN Mount Evelyn Christian School won funding to restore a frog habitat on the edge of its property this year, it was not just an opportunity to make a lasting improvement to the local environment.

Wild Colonial Shoots Off At Quay Squatters

THE Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay has become "infested" with the "bog-standard Sydney restaurateur" and should be partially demolished to open up views of historic buildings on George Street, the former prime minister Paul Keating says.

Ruling Likely To Have Far-reaching Effect On Legal Complaints System

VICTORIA'S legal complaints system has been thrown into turmoil because of a court ruling that could bog down the process of hearing grievances against lawyers.

Lees Filly Must Produce Under Pressure

TRAINER Kris Lees is certain the moment of truth will come for Samantha Miss when jockey Hugh Bowman "let's her head go" on a bog track in today's Sires' Produce Stakes (1400 metres) at Randwick.

Miss Set To Impress As Wife

JULIA Galvin is fresh from bog snorkelling in the muddy, artesian waters of Julia Creek in Queensland and ready to wow the crowds at CountryFest's wife-carrying competition at Singleton this weekend.

Departure Lounge

Plenty on in the outback From bog snorkelling to yabby races and Australia's toughest rodeos, there are plenty of events in Queensland's outback planned for 2008. At the Julia Creek Dirt 'n' Dust Festival (April 4-6), in north-west Queensland you can join in the cowpoo throwing competition or compete in the outback bogsnorkelling race at a festival famous for the Outback Triathlon, Australia's Best Butt Competition and PBR Touring Pro Bull Riding Rodeo.

The Search For The Holly Grail

Well, yes, it's spindly and nondescript, but King's holly is also one of the oldest, rarest and most endangered plants on earth. So surely the hike through a snake-infested bog to see it will be worth it ... won't it?

Moments In Time

A Lake Oval bog, 1981

Hands Off The Phones, Supporters Tell Howard

As the Howard Government runs into a bog of voter resentment, the sale of Telstra has taken on a new prickliness with the latest Herald Poll finding a leap in the resistance of Coalition supporters.

Beazley's Ticker Wanting, Again

Back in the Labor saddle, Kim Beazley wanted everyone to know his ticker was not suspect and that he alone could resist the tide of Howardism and march his people to the promised land. Mr Beazley must do more than play the role of tough guy in name only. Hopelessly wrong-footed on the budget tax cuts because he could not be seen to back down from a prospectless strategy, Mr Beazley stepped from bog into quicksand.

Oh, The Bog Vanstone's In

THE Howard Government's immigration detention policy has turned into quicksand for its political masters. What a great irony, given the policy was such an election card in 2001 and an effective instrument in cutting off the people smuggling trade.

Sea Of Red Tape

LEGAL notices are flying like confetti around Shellharbour City Council as the proposed Shell Cove marina starts to bog down in a quagmire of court cases.

Holly Hardly Cuts It To Be Sure

HOLLYWOOD actress Holly Hunter's attempt at an Irish accent on the stage in London's West End has drawn scorn. Not since Dick van Dyke "tried to do Cockney for Bert the chimney sweep have so many diphthongs been bent out of shape", one reviewer said in reference to the 1964 film Mary Poppins. An excerpt from the Texas-born Hunter's performance in By the Bog of Cats was played on BBC radio, drawing adverse comment. One presenter asked whether anyone had done a worse imitation of an Irish woman.

Looking For Tax Circuit-breaker

The stakes do not get higher in Australian politics. Mark Latham's $11 billion tax package will propel him to frontrunner in the race for the prime ministership or bog Labor's wobbling chassis. If ever Mr Latham needed a circuit breaker, it is now. Labor began official campaigning wanting to highlight the issues of the Prime Minister's credibility and rats within Coalition ranks. But John Howard has lifted the Government to its best polling of the year, mainly by provoking voter concerns about ...

Bog Standards

While gardeners who are blessed with rich, deep, well-drained loam (reminiscent of chocolate cake) are to be envied, we should all take heart in the fact that every site is suitable for an array of plants. It is simply a matter of working with your site and using those plants suited to the conditions. How far you wish to extend this range of plants will determine the degree of soil modification.

Irish Rebellion

Your bog standard corner theme pub is facing some stiff competition.

Bog Is Back, Dams Are Up Bush Risks A Smile

When Ned Kelly descended on Jerilderie in 1879, he rounded up the townsfolk, robbed the bank of ##2000 and left his famous manifesto, the Jerilderie Letter, which referred to land that could ``bog a duck".

Now, The Real Challenge

Fifty-eight federal Labor MPs yesterday made the wrong choice. Their support for Simon Crean over leadership challenger Kim Beazley is going to make it very difficult for the ALP to hold its ground at the next election. Voters will not see this as an emphatic vote of confidence in Mr Crean's ability to lead Labor from the bog. They have decided that they do not much like Mr Crean and are not much interested in hearing from him.

Abbott Rocks Land Title Boat

Tony Abbott makes an important step in his observation of the failure to raise the living standards of many Aborigines. The federal Employment Minister attempts to articulate at least the beginning of a solution. Its merits and shortcomings will be debated vigorously. Already the Abbott suggestions, after a Cape York visit, appear underpinned by a prerequisite for dragging the Aboriginal struggle for economic independence from its bog of despair and hopelessness. Progress demands acknowledgement of the foo

Saturday January 11

TURN ON, TURN OFF The Lost Legions of Varus, SBS, 7.30PM ``Fear the forest and stinking bog," said Tacitus, a Roman fond of foreboding epigrams. Wise would have been the 17th, 18th and 19th legions of the imperial army to heed him. In 9AD the legions, consisting of 20,000 men and hangers