Telling Melburnians that the standard of coffee in this town leaves a bit to be desired is kind of like telling them the MCG is not all it's cracked up to be. It strikes at the heart of who we think we are. But as our cover story explains, some..read more

WHATEVER happened to the global financial crisis? The shops are full of crazed people with a desperate look in their eyes, buying whole trailer-loads of useless stuff. Christmas stuff. Stuff like a cat calendar, purchased because Aunty Patricia has a cat; a golf ashtray, purchased because Uncle Terry plays golf;..read more

TEMPORARILY Two-armed Australians (TTAs). You will undoubtedly have seen at least a couple if you drove to work this morning. Smokers, right arm extended languidly into space (rather in the fashion of the representation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel), casually flicking ash into that part of..read more

There are many expensive gifts from world leaders in the Jacques Chirac museum - and an ashtray from Tony Blair. Kevin Pilley reports.

Terry Smyth is witness to an Eternal City miracle - the eternal ciggie. The Trevi Fountain is just an oversized ashtray to the locals