From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 13 March
I have, over the years, spent a total of months in the old USSR, and what is now the Russian Federation. It...
What is the Question – March 2022
For March’s What is the Question Roland Rocchiccioli talked with Adrian Misseri. What is your name? Adrian Misseri What is your occupation? Podiatrist. What brought you to Ballarat? I was...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 6 March
The non-stop bombardment of news - which has become infotainment - is problematic. Unreasonably, politicians and public figures are expected to be...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 27 February
I am salivating in anticipation of The Queen’s Jubilee Platinum Pudding competition!
AN official component of The Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, the pudding competition...From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 13 February
Are you one of those yobbos who boos sporting champions because you think it is funny and part of the experience?
I’VE got...From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 6 February
If, on opening your eyes first thing in the morning, and before pulling the doona back over your head, you immediately remember,...
What is the Question – February 2022
For February’s What is the Question Roland talked with Ballarat born and bred photographer, Greg Karslake. What is your name? Gregory Michael Karslake. What is your occupation? Former...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 30 January
Are you absolutely SURE you want 225 x 5.5-metre aluminium lampposts surrounding Lake Wendouree? It is a profound question which MUST be...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 26 January
Once upon a time, in another century, women’s most popular knickers were cottontails, and men wore baggy, white underpants, called Y-fronts. Both...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 16 January
An army of Martians, visiting Ballarat as part of a reconnoitre for a proposed imminent invasion of Australia, could be forgiven for...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 9 January
Beer loomed large in the lives of kids who grew-up in the heat of the north-eastern goldfields of Western Australia, where the...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 2 January
When I think about it I shake my head incredulously. The notion is too absurd to be true! This year, 2022 marks...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 25 December
Christmas is that time of year when, around the world, Christians gather together in towering cathedrals and small parish churches, to celebrate...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 19 December
Victorian Senator David Van’s yobbish behaviour in the Federal Senate, and for which he later apologised, is an unsettling manifestation of power-drunk,...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 12 December
“It’s un-Australian”, whatever that means? Erroneously, one hears it from politicians wanting to condemn a situation, or a happening, which does not...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 5 December
What the Australian test cricketer/wicketkeeper, Tim Paine, does in his private life is categorically none of our business. We have become a...
What is the Question – December
For the final What is the Question for 2021, Roland Rocchiccioli talked with Trevor Walker, a Ballarat specialty baker, about his new home-delivery bakery...
Turn off the current lake lights plan
-OPINION
THE proposed installation of two-hundred and twenty-five, five-and-half-metre-tall aluminium lamp posts on the perimeter of the lake is both wrong and regrettable. It...Third parties in the health system
Over the last four weeks ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI has looked at different aspects of our health care. So far he’s discussed chronic disease,...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 28 November
It used to be said that ‘manners maketh man’ - and women, in this egalitarian age. Somehow, somewhere, along the line, good...
Health system funding and challenges
Over four weeks ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI is looking at different aspects of our health care. So far he’s discussed chronic disease and our...
The medical boom: hospitals post war
Over four weeks ROLAND ROCCHICCIOLI is looking at different aspects of our health care. Last week it was chronic disease still to...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 21 November
The Labor State Government is to be applauded for providing the necessary funding to light the perimeter of Lake Wendouree. Clearly, the...
From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 14 November
War is not the opposite of peace. War is a breakdown of civilisation. War is what happens when language fails, and leaders...