Aussie mates

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Now I wonder if this post will get deleted , having lived in OZ back in the 60's I hope Boris diverts the millions of English pounds we give to countries that don't even like our way of life to the Australian people that are going through their night mare down under, they have always turned up for the mother country hopefully Boris will do what needs to be done to help our cousins our allies and our mates down under,
 
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Damian

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The post will not be deleted .

I fully agree that the overseas aid contributions are archaic and that the funds to some places never gets to those who need it and that some goes to countries who simply do not need it.

Personally I would like to see that money put into a fund and paid out to those who are in desperate need of help at times such as those being endured in Australia and other places devastated by floods.
 
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Parksy

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As the 5th largest economy in the world I'm sure that the UK is in a position to help to prevent real famine, deprivation and infant mortality in developing countries where a helping hand is genuinely needed.
At the same time I'm sure that no one would argue against helping one of our staunchest friends in any way possible including financial aid.
Boris would do well to ensure that our overseas aid budget is spent on those in real need, not on countries that have space programmes and nuclear weapons.
 
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Mel

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I also lived briefly in Oz in the sixties. My thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the terrible fires. I hope that we continue to give money and to all people in need.
Mel
 
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If ever a thread needed to be deleted it is this one, not because of its sentiment that people in distress need out help, but because it is clearly political in nature.

I have strong views on the inept politicians that have been elected into power both here and in most other countries currently in the news, and would be delighted to use this platform to air my views. But that is not the purpose of this forum, or have the rules changed?
 
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I can understand people having strong feelings regarding where help should be sent to but I agree with previous persons views that this isn’t really the place for political arguments, already it’s drifting off the subject and on to who has been elected to govern this country and others, how long before this becomes more a discussion about immigration, religion, medical ethics, global warming, politics (god forbid) the list of topics that have no relevance to our shared interests is endless, maybe there should be a new topic heading for each of the subjects I mentioned and for the 100+ other none caravan topics, maybe we could have a discussion as to the overall website name, I could start by saying PRACTICAL CARAVAN FORUM should be renamed
letssorttheworld.com

BP

PS I regularly give donations to a number of charities to help people less fortunate than myself but I don’t come on here to try to get everyone to do as I do..
 

Hobbyt600

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The post will not be deleted .

As a forum Moderator, can you not just move this thread to the Chit-chat forum?

Hovering a computer mouse (or whatever pointing device is being used) over the title of each forum should reveal that forum’s stated objective.

The objective of the General forum is “Express your views and let off steam about general caravanning issues” - which is not what camel does in his original posting on this forum thread.

The objective of the Chit-chat forum is “For non-caravan nattering - jokes, trivia, gossip and more!” which would seem to be more appropriate to camel’s posting and follow-on comments.

(I have Moderator privileges elsewhere and these permit me to move threads between forums, delete threads, and delete or edit postings. I can’t ban a user - that’s an Administrator-only responsibility - but I can carry out most other forum oversight tasks. Might be useful to know what the Moderators on the ’new’ Practical Caravan forum can or can’t do.)
 

Parksy

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There are two voluntary forum moderators, Damian and myself, who try to keep this forum running smoothly and in a reasonably friendly and polite way.
We both have full moderator permissions (a.k.a. global) which means that we can edit or delete forum content and, subject to established procedures, we can suspend forum accounts either for specified periods or permanently.
We have many software tools to help us, but unfortunately what we don't automatically have in our online tool kit is the ability to foretell what fellow forum members may or may not think on any given subject.
I'll agree that the subject matter under discussion has strayed very slightly into what some may regard as the political arena.
Personally I'm not 100% certain which message board this thread initially appeared on, I have to be honest and admit that I didn't notice but I'm not really an OCD sufferer, and anyhow the thread is now on the Chit Chat non caravan specific message board so perhaps Damian moved it, I don't know.
I can't reply for Damian although having worked in tandem as a moderator on this forum for the past ten years I know that both he and I have the interests of this forum at heart above all else.
We try to treat people as adults, it would be oh so easy to jump onto every little thing that somebody might disagree with, so we resist the temptation to nit pick with constant edits or deletions.
Treating people as adults also involves allowing people to express opinions when something happens that might provoke interest or discussion amongst forum members, our personal beliefs or feelings shouldn't enter our judgement when this happens.
The Australian bush fires are a case in point, news headlines are dominated by this cataclysmic event and a forum member decided to discuss the allocation of overseas aid funding in connection with the bush fires.
Neither Damian or myself saw anything particularly wrong with this important subject matter being discussed, in fact we both put forward our own personal views on this thread.
Nobody from what I've seen is denigrating any political party or advancing argument in favour of one or the other which is why this topic survived our first scrutiny.
Apologies if some forum members find the subject matter uncomfortable, if the overall consensus is to completely prohibit grown up discussion within the rules, thats fine, we can do that.
Damian and myself are in regular off forum communication and he has made minor edits to keep this thread within forum rules, he has just contacted me to let me know.
As moderators we know that we're not infallible by any means, we are happy to accept and to learn from members criticism but we don't moderate the forum by committee.
Every decision is a quick judgement call, so if we get it wrong - oops, sorry.
 
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Parksy

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........... how long before this becomes more a discussion about immigration, religion, medical ethics, global warming, politics (god forbid) the list of topics that have no relevance to our shared interests is endless, maybe there should be a new topic heading for each of the subjects I mentioned and for the 100+ other none caravan topics, maybe we could have a discussion as to the overall website name, I could start by saying PRACTICAL CARAVAN FORUM should be renamed
letssorttheworld.com

BP .....
Please be assured that immigration, religion, medical ethics etc; are not subjects that we can or will deal with on this forum BP.
Caravanners in common with most other people have an inbuilt ability to speak with each other, often regarded as putting the world to rights, but on here we generally try to avoid subjects that are highly controversial and more suitable for other online platforms.
Put simply, its one thing to casually discuss the ins and outs of sending help to places which are clearly in trouble but we dont try to influence or form government policy.
Perhaps when the weather is warmer more of us will have caravan related subject matter to talk about? 😊
 

Damian

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Parksy has summed up the situation well and I fully agree with all he has said.

The topic is about the fires in Australia, something which is devastating, not only to the people but also the wildlife and that is all it should be about.
The mention of money , which is the only help that is quickly available does draw some offerings of where that could come from, but it is not a denigration of any political party, simply a view.

Being a live forum postings are instantly viewable, which is a good thing, but if the membership wish all postings to remain strictly within Forum rules, with no leeway for human sympathy, then that could be arranged with all posts being put in an approval queue and only posted after myself or Parksy monitored them, which may take some considerable time as we are not full time employees, not paid and have a life outside this Forum.
 
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Nowadays all news is instant and here in the UK we have been kept fully up to date with the bush fires in Australia and we are viewing events through European eyes and parameters.
It should be born in mind that Australia is a vast continent .......the whole of Western Europe can easily fit into Western Australia which is only one of the 6 states that make up the whole country.
Australians live their lives with far more awareness of danger than we do..... they often live with poor communications......the nearest food, fuel or fresh water maybe 100's of kilometers distant. They have to contend with dangerous animals and catastrophic weather events on a regular basis.
Bush fires have always occurred in Australia......they become a big problem when they encroach on the more densely populated coastal areas as is occurring at the moment.
These fires are a huge disaster but just one of many of widely varying types suffered over the years.


Sydney Giant Hailstones .........1947 devastating hailstorm
Sydney Hailstorm .......1999 hugely costly.
Cyclone Tracy ..........the destruction of Darwin 1974
Queensland Floods ..........2011 and 2013

Australians just pick themselves up and carry on.


Moderator Note: I have removed the external link relating to the floods as it has, twice, caused my computer to crash and need a full reset.
The other links are Ok and go to Wikipedia.
Damian-Moderator
 
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Nov 11, 2009
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I was in Canberra just after the 2003 bush fires and it’s hard to envisage the devastation. Going again in 2005/6 the hills had started to regenerate but there were still water restrictions in place and things like self washing of cars was banned. Gardner’s were being encouraged to plant native species and not to have containerised plants. The reservoirs were still full but the ash from the fires had clogged the pipe systems hence the restrictions on water use.


The photo shows the speed of regeneration in an area just outside of Canberra.

100_0253.JPG
 
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