Neville Wran’s classic line ‘a blowtorch to the belly’ could not be more apt now that Julia Gillard is experiencing a backlash against her honeymoon of approval. While enjoying overwhelming support from women and Gen Y voters, the media are biting at her heels to prove she has a chequered political past. It seems she was vociferously against parental leave and pension increases, belatedly for the cost, but in reality, because they were vote losers.
Not a good look for the new PM who uses the ‘jazz hands’ to ensure us she has the interests of ‘all Australians’ at heart. While these shenanigans by the dirt diggers may not be entirely ethical, they certainly open the curtains of a Cabinet that needs exposure if we, the general public, are to get beyond the spin that is this election.
Today Peter Hartcher, Herald journo, throws in with the suggestion that Labor have asked Kevin Rudd to campaign outside of his electorate for the Labor Party. It belies belief that they would do this, but given their desperation for re-election nothing is surprising.
Possibly the strongest, most detailed speech Tony Abbott has ever made came in the form of a ’12-point plan’ delivered yesterday at the Liberal party’s federal council meeting. Obviously prompted by the Shakespearean-like shenanigans that have overwhelmed the Labor Party this week and given Australia its first female prime minister, he has rallied to the call and told us what he will do if elected Prime Minister.
While continuing to lambast Labor, and Gillard, for the failures of the past two years, he has nonetheless put some teeth into the Liberals’ strategy.
His programme is a pragmatic, archly conservative short list; strong on substance and devoid of spin. Given Tony’s well publicised beliefs, and the direction the Liberal Party has taken recently, this initial outline of policy is unlikely to meet with overwhelming support from the general public.
Polls on Friday showed that the electorate is in a honeymoon period, a euphoric afterglow following the decapitation by Labor of their esteemed leader in favour of his deputy.
Tony Abbott has an uphill climb ahead of him this week and throughout July. With the election fated for late August*, he has a slight window of opportunity to level the playing field.
Is that time for the euphoria to wear off? Is that time for Labor to once again fail to deliver on both services and outcomes? Only time will tell, and as Booker T once said, ‘Time Is Tight’.
Instead of budgie smugglers and running shoes, perhaps the Bovver Boy needs to put his skates on.
There has been, as of 8pm tonight, a move on the leadership of the Federal Labor Party. While Julia Gillard hasn’t formally challenged Rudd, the right wing faction are supporting her. As I write this, there is turmoil, not only within the Labor camp, but also the Liberal Party. This challenge will, in an instant, change the landscape of the upcoming election.
In one fell swoop, by installing Gillard as PM, Labor can erase its past mistakes, blaming them, perhaps unfairly, on Kevin Rudd. Equally, in one fell swoop, Tony Abbott has lost most of the ground he has recently gained. Labor will have cleaned the slate, and gained another chance. Gillard is undoubtedly a more convincing leader than Rudd ever was. Rudd’s job was to oust Howard. He did that with alacrity and aplomb. However his subsequent performance has been lacklustre to say the least.
On the other hand, by installing Tony Abbott as leader, the Libs have put all their money on returning a government along the lines of the Howard government. This has been a mistake of massive proportions. There will never be another long-serving conservative government along the lines of the Howard regime. He was a fitting end to an era.
Like Obama, Rudd was a herald of the new century, yet, unlike Obama, perhaps Rudd is merely a seat-warmer. The hours will decide.
The leadership challenge has been posted. Rudd has given a press conference.
Soon after 9am, we’ll all know who is going head to head with Tony Abbott.
Look in the Herald on any given day and you get a range of paid opinions. Leaving out salaried analysts, most opinions seem garnered from whichever out of work celeb or high profile professional needs the bucks or the kudos most.
Charles Waterstreet has to be one of the worst. Though he is a barrister, his articles sound like he ingested too much LSD in the 60s and is only now working out which way is up.
Lisa Prior, a GenY journo yet to reach twenty five, has the audacity to propound on issues that only affect people much older than herself. This is comforting to older people who are glad she’s a journo and not in the Labor Party.
Miranda Devine, on the other hand, presents a severely right wing solution to every situation. Whether or not you agree with Miranda, at least she doesn’t write drug addled commentary or speak in three letter syllables, lol.
And you thought this lot were boring…..
On the supposedly entertaining side of commentary, the dross takes over from the droll and presents us with ‘celebrity’ opinions. These are opinions formulated by any celeb who can spin two words together and needs a buck. It’s a marriage made in heaven for both tabloids and unemployed celebs; a guaranteed eye-catcher is an article expounded by anyone who has ever been on the front page.
This isn’t journalism, this isn’t even reporting, it’s called feeding the chickens*, it’s chaff for the masses, it sells newspapers, captures eyeballs on TV, gets clicks on the web, outrage in the letters columns, and very little else.
A vacuous conduit behind which the real world of politics, business and creativity function unhindered and unheard of. Is this a bad thing?
A schoolboy in short pants attempting a man’s job, who could that be? I’d hazard a guess that our milquetoast PM fits that bill. Along with his schoolyard playmates, Swanny, who can’t do his sums, despite being our Treasurer, and their gal pal, Gillard, the carrot top who reckons that by erecting a few overpriced shelter sheds, minus the walls, constitutes an education revolution, we’ve got a debacle that can only be exacerbated by inviting the only cool guy in school, the one who sings in a band, to actually do something. Unfortunately, Knucklehead was only ever good at cavorting on stage, not climbing into the roof to check the insulation.
Fortunately the triumvirate realised this and enlisted Lindsay Tanner to complete the Gang of Four. As Finance Minister he proposed a tax on the only sector of Australian business that is actually prospering after the GFC.
Killing the goose that laid the golden egg is certainly one way to achieve a windfall, but certainly not the way to ensure Australia’s economic future.
While the previous regime shackled us with an unworkable ‘Work Choices’ policy, yet left us with money in the bank, this group of political neophytes seems intent on leaving us with a Whitlam-esque sized debt, an open border policy, and a complete lack of concern for any in the community who aren’t classified as ‘working families’.
Today, May 31st, is Quit Facebook Day. The increasing anxiety about Facebook’s lack of concern for, and overwhelming interest in, members’ personal details has irked more than a few devotees of the social networking site. Whether or not today will see a decrease in the number of stalwart followers remains to be seen, but the impetus of the online campaign has certainly awakened people to the risk of posting information on such an open network.
The wake-up call came for me when I joined Facebook. Apparently ‘gigdiary’ wasn’t a real name, so, unwittingly, I gave my real name. This was a prerequisite. Mistake #1. I then went through some options and gave my birthday. Mistake #2. I posted some pics. Mistake #3. Those details are now recorded forever.
And then I realised that while Facebook is a wonderful networking site, it is driven by a corporation intent on mining information from all and sundry. I have since deleted all information save for my name, but I bet Facebook haven’t.
I won’t be quitting Facebook. Their social networking site is awesome. I’ve met so many people from my past, and I’m going back decades, it is an invaluable site, as long as you only list your name.
It is not a place to chat and reveal your innards to the world.
Twenty four hours after Channel 7′s burning at the stake of NSW Transport Minister, David Campbell, for the alleged crime of being a homosexual visiting a gay club, the beleaguered politician fronted the media with a contrite statement absolving all but himself of any responsibility in the now sordid affair. Aside from family issues, Campbell has no case to answer. The man had clocked off from work, he was discrete insofar that no-one would be confronted with his after-hours activities, save for a parasitic Channel 7 journo intent on sullying the man’s reputation. The positioning of the cameras was for security, not scrutiny as the journo seemed to think.
The whole situation reaks of a stink greater than the agenda presented by Channel 7. Campbell may not have been the most worthy of government ministers, but this forced outing was undeniably brutal, unnecessary and seemingly politically vindictive.
Unlike Keating’s ‘recession we had to have’, this election is becoming the election we wish was done and dusted, home and hosed, so we can get on to voting for the real politicians. Whether Abbott or Rudd wins the top seat this November, it will seem like an also ran affair that most of us wish we didn’t have to attend.
Bright and shiney Kev has tarnished his ‘milky bar kid’ persona by failing to oversee almost all of Labor’s initiatives; a disappointment to many who voted for him. Unfortunately attending a conference in Copenhagen and saying ‘sorry’ to the indigenous are not initiative enough to inspire confidence. The rest of Labor’s attempted initiatives appear to have fallen flat, if not self-destructed.
Bovver boy Tony Abbott, on the other hand, has come out punching without any real agenda, any cohesive policy, and displaying a reckless disregard for the trust of the Australian public. Whether he’s appearing in budgie smugglers or shooting his mouth off, the electorate is right to feel a certain apprehension about his aspirations to become prime minister.
Is there any relief in sight? Quite a lot actually. Both parties have potential superstars hidden in the wings. The effable Julia Gillard, whom I’ll describe as definitive, decisive and determined, and the magnanimous Malcolm Turnbull, a man prepared to cross the floor on the issue of global warming.
Could Julia restore core values to the Labor Party, and can Malcolm drag the Libs kicking and screaming into the 21st Century? On both counts I would hope so, and also hope that this sham of an election is done and dusted as soon as possible.
Are you a ‘glass half full’ person or a ‘glass half empty’ pessimist realist? A ‘cock-eyed optimist‘, or a dour naysayer. I am certainly one of the former. Back when the internet was a blip on the screen of reality, the seemingly magical Netscape Navigator, with its splash screen of the galaxy, felt like the promise of another world experience. It didn’t matter that it was slow; software downloads taking eight hours; what mattered was that it even worked at all.
We were ‘glass half full’ people. As internet technology progressed, with every advance there came naysayers. Google won’t make a profit. Twitter is a waste of time. Sometimes the naysayers got it right, sometimes not. The latest naysaying concerns the much vaunted iPad. It doesn’t have Flash, or a USB port. The most damning thing, it seems, is that ‘it’s just a larger iPod’. Having used the Touch for the past few months, the only wish I have for it is that it could be bigger!
Glass half full, glass half empty.
Seems there are two types of people, those who live in belief, and approach it with expectancy, and those who count every move, anticipating a hitch at every turn. This generalisation fits with Francis Littauer’s theory, based on Greek philosophy, that there are four personality types. While generalisations a society don’t make, they can offer an insight.
Littauer’s ‘Personality Profile‘ divides people into four personality groups. The Sanguine, the Choleric, the Melancholic and the Phlegmatic.
In simple terms, the Sanguine is more happy-go-lucky, and most likely to see the glass half full. The Choleric, an ambitious and passionate go-getter, will determine if they want the glass to be half full at this moment. The Melancholic, not to be confused with today’s sad person is a thoughtful, creative person who would prefer to consider whether it’s better that the glass be seen as half full or half empty.The Phlegmatic is happy either way, just so long as we don’t vacillate between the two. Stability here is the keynote.
Are there two types of people, or as Littauer and Greek philosophy suggest, four personality traits? It does seem a trifle over-generalising. Astrology divides us into twelve categories, or generalisations. I’m a Libra, but why am I so different to other Librans? The answer is perhaps that we share some traits and not others. Chinese astrology defines us by our birth year. The Year of the Rat, and other attractive animals. Given that I’m a Libran born in the Year of the Monkey, it almost makes sense that I’m of the Sanguine disposition. I strive for balance, even when pressing an opinion; I can’t help but see the funny or quirky side of life and prefer to view the world through rose-coloured glasses, except of course in politics and other issues that make me angry.
Glass full, glass leaking.
A wonderful example of someone seeing the glass half full is Virginia Campbell, a 99 year old American lady. Although suffering from glaucoma, she has begun using an iPad to rediscover reading and her creative urge. Rather than give in to the frailties of old age this remarkable woman is exploring the joy of computing for the first time with her touch-screen iPad.
