DEBTOR'S PRISON

DEBTOR'S PRISON

No more schlock'n'toll

I AM sick to death of hearing that this geriatric band or that has-been singer is arriving on our shores (always during summer so the arthritis doesn't act up) to provides us with 90 minutes (if the Zimmer frame can stand the pressure) of nostalgia.

If the shoe fits

IT'S been said that I am an early adopter. A bit of a fashion forecaster, if you will. Secretly I think that I am so slow at adopting that there is a very real possibility that I just luck out at getting things the second (or fifth) time around. Take the humble clog, for instance. They were hugely popular in the '70s, and you can thank my mother for teaching me how to walk in them before I could actually walk. Then with a brief resurgence in the '90s I seemed to have picked them up again. More recently I happened to fall in love with these Funkis ones, designed in Australia but made in Sweden. I have had a pair from Gorman for a few years now. And what did we see last month? Chanel models stomping down the hay in fancy wooden clogs - exactly like mine! Does that make me a fashion forerunner or so slow I got them on the roundabout? Who cares; I won a running race in them the other day and, although I have a chip of bone floating around in the ball of my foot, I thanked my mother and Gorman for giving me the head start.

England humiliated by Dutch courage

A RAMSHACKLE Dutch team, featuring a journeyman Victorian fast bowler, has scrambled to one of cricket's great upsets in the first game of the Twenty20 World Cup, igniting another crisis for English cricket.

Kids-in-crocs Safety Concern

CHILD-safety experts have issued warnings about popular ultra-light, rubber-soled clogs, as child-care groups move to discourage youngsters from wearing them.

Odd Spot

Vienna's hospitals are banning Crocs plastic clogs as too risky for patients. "Technical evaluations have shown that they're not anti-static and could interfere with the proper functioning of precision electronic equipment, or even cause explosions," hospitals director Peter Woelfl said.

Quick And Dirty, Is That The Plan?

WITH a State Government so reliant on the generosity of developers, the community is entitled to mistrust proposals to streamline planning. At the same time, however, the need for reform is undeniable. No less than 120,000 planning proposals worth $21 billion are processed each year in NSW. The figure can only grow as housing in particular faces the pressure of surging immigration. The Government is right to pursue a sustainable reduction in the permanent backlog that clogs council planning ...

The Tree Of Wooden Clogs

5/5 The Tree Of Wooden Clogs (G, 186mins) Umbrella

Purchasing Power Put To The Test: It's Nanonomics

WHEN you chomp on a Big Mac, sip a Starbucks coffee or listen to your iPod, you're also holding in your hands a way to tell whether the Australian dollar should be going up or down. The emergence of global brands like these have not only homogenised people's consumption habits the world over but allowed clever-clogs economists to bring to the masses the joys of exchange rate theory.

Have Clogs, Will Travel ... Astrally

Clogs music transcends borders even they never imagined, writes Bernard Zuel. PADMA Newsome, the Australian principal composer of the trans-national quartet Clogs, would rather we didn't try to explain what kind of music his group plays. It's not that he wants to be difficult, it's just that he seems to be in no better position to explain than critics who have likened the band, made up of (but not limited to) bassoon, violin, percussion and guitar, to acts as diverse as Icelandic dramatic ...

Classical Out Of Fashion And Out Of The Festival

Has the Sydney Festival abandoned classical music? Or, to put it another way, has classical music become so terminally unfashionable that image-conscious publicists have run out of ways to pretend it is something it isn't? Crazy Penis, Ugly Duckling, Violent Femmes, the Necks and Clogs all grace this year's program.

Chance To Land An Early Blow To Poms

THE ICC Champions Trophy has never really counted for much in cricket's broader landscape, its reputation being that of an experimental tournament which further clogs the calendar, has an ever-changing format, and which has included teams of such ill repute as the US.

The List Tycoon

One of the most successful ventures in the history of the internet doesn't take ads, doesn't charge for most listings and has all the design finesse of a pair of clogs - and it's just opened a Melbourne branch. Gerard Wright met Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist.

Memory And Loss In Arab Odyssey

The artefacts - from camel-hair coats to wedding clogs - drag up the past. For Marie Bashir, the NSW Governor, they evoked memories of a 12-year-old self in Narrandera, reading The Arabian Nights and dreaming ``of being Scheherazade".

Sad Scenes From A Traffic Jam

The road to Baghdad is a traffic jam that clogs the six-lane highway.

Oil Spill Stalls Surf Tour

THE European leg of surfing's world championship tour is in jeopardy as the region's worst oil spill clogs beaches in France and Spain.

How To Pick A Constant Dieter

HANDS Knock back food at dinner parties then proceed to grab leftovers from everyone else's plates. NEGLECTED TROLLEY Clogs supermarket aisles as she studies fat-free ingredients on labels. LOVER'S TIFF Blames partner for pushing taboo food on her. KNIFE Cuts bite-size cakes in half befo

Hats On

Our top chefs swapped their kitchen clogs for party shoes at the 2003 Good Food Guide awards.

Nobody Was Here, Clogs And All

THE LIFE OF AN UNKNOWN The rediscovered world of a clog maker in 19th-century France By Alain Corbin Translated by Arthur Goldhammer Columbia University Press, 269pp, $68

More To It Than Sex In The City

SOMETIMES it's the sights, architectural beauty, food, atmosphere or even the people that make a place. In Amsterdam, the attraction is a combination of all those things. The tulips, windmills, clogs and cheese are a compulsory part of a visit to the city which is also known for its relaxed la