OT- ping anybritish/aussie sewers

LOL! No, we UK taxpayers get no help from Canada or Australia :-) Not that we should! Nor does any other country have represenmtation in Parliament.

Have a looko at

or Google for other sites by searching for 'Commonwealth'.> I am going thru my sewing room and getting rid of all evidence of pigs in> preparation for the new year!! Too much work!! I can understand trying to get rid of moth but PIGS???

Mary

Have you googled for commonwealth? It's a good starting point......

PIGS projects in paper sacks-stuff I started and have never finished, nor will I. They are just taking up room. There aren't tht many, but it is a god excuse to finally clean out my sewing room. thanks for the info. My daughter will not be happy! :o she thought I wouldn't come up with any info Sue

Richard, See what happens when we decide to start our own little country-we tend to forget such things as-commonwealth! thanks, Sue

This site might tell you something:

(at least about Australia - I know next to nothing about Canada).Liz

Hi

This is an interesting question. Perhaps one thing to investigate is the Privy Council. I had a quick look and found theses references

scroll to the bottom it seems that the apron strings are mostly cut, but we are still members of the Commonwealth (unless we are naughty) and the Queen is our sovereign. Legally there may still be some avenues of appeal, but they are not used now.

Chris NSW

I will just add onto my previous note, having a bit more of a think about this. You should try to look up "Australia Act, 1986". I remember the Queen signing something then but I was occupied with other things and couldn't quite recall when it was. :-)) This tells you when England officially couldn't legislate for Australia anymore.

Depending on the parameters of the project you could also look up CHOGM, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which just happened last week. You may find some background information on how the whole thing works.

Hope this is of some help Chris, NSW

Australia hasn't allowed appeals to the Privy Council for many years - some other Commonwealth countries still have it but not Australia.

Probably the best site to begin this research is the CIA World Factbook. I always use it when I want to know something about a country I've not visited. It can be found here:

's not too bad with the info it gives on Australia but there is one Section which is a little odd. I suspect it is because it is written in American English and thus doesn't quite make sense to my reading of it in Australian English - it's the section headed "Executive Branch", sub section "elections". Our Government members are all elected (ie Prime Minister and Deputy PM), but our Governor General is appointed And the current information about our Head of Government (Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and which party holds govt is wrong - we've just had an election which led to a change of Government).

One thing that the CIA don't mention is that Austalia's Constitution is actually an Act of the British Parliament. See the "Preamble" at the following site:

abovementioned site also gives lots of information on aspects of our Federal Government in the red lines immediately under the header with the falg on it.

The main ties to Britain these days would be ones associated with migration but more particulalry the main ties would be sporting ones as it is with other members of the Commonwealth. Cricket is a great way to maintain ties across all sorts of disparate cultures right round the globe.

Ah - I see! I'll try to remember that, I have styes in every room :-(

Mary

Chris, THis is very interesting. I myself have always wondered the about the ties that bind with Britain and her "appendages". :o My daughter on the other hand is not! :) Sue

Thanks for the sites. Heidi (youngest daughter) will have lots of sites to work with. Now, about that game cricket.......... :) Sue

Yes, Sue, what would you like to know?

Mary

To *appreciate* cricket, you need a warm sunny Sunday afternoon, a village green, two local teams - one short of a player or two and who have to 'borrow' a player from the other team, the birds singing in the trees, the village pub on the edge of the green, and a pint of two of real ale. [1][2]

Of course, you won't *understand* it any better when you wake up after dozing off.......

:-)

[1] There is a truly wonderful description of a typical village cricket match in the satirical novel England their England, by A.G. MacDonell [2] There is - or was - a delightful village, Baldon on the Green just a few miles from Oxford, where just these conditions could be found, and the village pub discretely served a crafty pint through the back door to those in the know years and years before all-day opening.

(snip)

Cricket is rather addictive. Nothing better than watching a Test series in the heat of Summer. Lie on the couch and if it's dull, fall asleep, if exciting, watch and cheer. Each game of a Test can last for up to 5 days and there are 5 Games to a Test series so that can give a total of 25 days of play but they usually don't last for the full 5 days if one team is a lot better than the other. The 2 American Continents don't seem to have discovered Cricket but it is a world wide game beyond the Americas.

FarmI wrote: The 2 American Continents don't seem to have

Hey, hang on a cotton-pickin' minute! Up here in the Great White North cricket is very much known about and played every summer. We even have our own national side who took part in the Cricket World Cup matches this past summer.

We also get all the international matches on satellite TV (thanks mostly to all the Asian immigrants) so I get to see my beloved England team lose on a regular basis! ;-)

And Hrumph!

Although, when I think about it, once every ten years is regular :-)

Mary

While I would like to see a Cricket match, as long as I knew what was going on, just out of curiosity. Baseball is the national pasttime. And there is nothing like watching one live. Our city, actually three city area, has finally gotten a minot league team and the brand new stadium is near finishing. The team name leaves something to be desired....Iron Pigs. Alas it is just part of our local heritage. One of the three citys is Bethlehem which was the home of Bethlehem Steel. Allentown had both a major pork brand and plenty of beer makers. Iron Pigs they couldn't pick something more........refined???

A Chevrolet ad years ago pegged it right... Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. National standards.

AK in PA

How long have you got?

:-)

Mary