DEAR News Of The Area, ARE there secret plans for an AUKUS nuclear submarine base in Newcastle? It would appear so, according to documents obtained under NSW Freedom of Information (“Nuclear Sub Base Secrets”, Newcastle Herald, Friday, May 8). Apparently, Newcastle is on a short list of potential east coast bases for nuclear-powered submarines, but […]
JUST over 40 years ago, on 26 April 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, blasting tonnes of radioactive debris one kilometre high into the atmosphere over the Soviet Union, Europe, Britain and North America. The clouds of fallout spread 200 times more radioactive material than the Hiroshima […]
DEAR News Of The Area, IMMIGRATION is seen by some as our most important issue, not just now, but for some years. However there have been some rubbery figures tossed around recently. It’s not too difficult to find the facts. Following the closure of the Australian borders due to the pandemic, the Coalition in 2022/23 […]
DEAR News Of The Area, BORN at the start of the war and throughout the war, life was pretty tough. So like most countries, luxuries were few and far between. As children our needs were simple. Between the bombs and rationing we still managed to have fun. As you may have guessed we are not […]
DEAR News Of The Area, ON behalf of all the members of SeaSide Singers Community Choir, past and present, I would like to respond to Diana Souter’s letter to the Editor (published 19/03/26) announcing her retirement from the group. Diana in her inimitable style, has beaten me to the punch by her public announcement! However, […]
DEAR News Of The Area, HAPPY Easter! Do you feel loved? We all want to feel loved! But even when human relationships let us down, God never stops loving us. And he demonstrated this by sending Jesus to be with us – to save us and give us life to the full! Easter eggs and […]
Diana Souter, pictured with her husband Ron, is retiring from the SeaSide Singers Community Choir.
DEAR News Of The Area, YES, I am retiring! So it is with some trepidation and regret that I sit down to write this letter. For those who do not know, the SeaSide Singers Community Choir began after I placed a tiny advert in The Examiner newspaper in February 2009. So we started with 50 […]
DEAR News Of The Area, It seems the newspaper is flogging the dead horse to resurrect another shot at addressing the unacceptable risk of two infamous intersections, Bucketts Way and Medowie Road, as well as roasting Labor politicians. “Funding promises for highway intersections” (NOTA 17 April 2025) informs me of one certainty, the paper knows […]
DEAR News Of The Area, It is curious that in the 6 March NOTA article titled “Port Stephens Council reaffirms stance on offshore wind” that a union representative backed by the Labor Environmental Action Network asserts there was consultation. Justin Page even described it as “absurd” that councillors were unaware of any consultation. Yet I […]
DEAR News of the Area, All wars are tragic, inevitably causing unnecessary death, destruction, chaos and misery, at great financial and social cost. Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter prohibits war, calling for member states to: “refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political […]
