Uh... Mr Turnbull...?

So Malcolm Turnbull in his Federal Budget 2009 reply thinks that an increased tax on cigarettes would be equivalent to means testing Australian workers on the private health insurance rebate. Hmm.

Looking at the 2007-08 National Health Survey 4364 (pulled from the Australian Bureau of Statistics), I get: "Smoking rates for the 2007-08 NHS are lower than those reported in the 2004-05 NHS. These differences are statistically significant." This has been on a downturn since 2001.

So smoking rates are going down. Why base your revenue stream on a declining revenue base? It means you want people to continue or take up smoking... thereby increasing their chances of cancer, heart disease, lung disease etc; then heading into hospital to keep all our doctors, nurses and pharmaceutical companies employed. Oh I get it, you're stimulating the economy!

Hot Chocolate: Koko Black's

Having made a lightning dash to Melbourne over the weekend, I thought that I should pay a visit to Koko Black's, and sample their hot chocolate. I have been past before on previous jaunts to the city, and all I can remember were the long long queues stretching out the door.

There wasn't much choice: you could get a hot chocolate - with full cream milk, 70% dark chocolate, and cream; or you could get the light version, with "skim" milk. $5.75. I got the full cream version.

And it was nice. For the first 10 or so sips. Then it started to get almost sickly: too creamy for my tummy. I managed to finish the cup off. End result: me rushing through St Kilda about 30 minutes later hunting for a public toilet!

I wonder how it compared to the hot chocolate that I tried in Paris near the Louvre? I do remember that one being very very sweet and creamy as well... and I also remember we couldn't finish the pot!