Alexander Downer stands down.
Does anybody with more time - and fortitude - on their hands care to do a trawl to get some Downer quotes on the uselessness of the UN during the Howard era.
They weren't keen on the UN were they, as I recall.
Nicosia's a nice place, I once had to go to a dentist urgently there. They can put a temporary filling in the with the best of them.
Anyway it'll keep
Maybe they were inspired by the Harold Holt Swim Center, or maybe they wanted to get in before Grover Norquist’s happy crew named it after Ronald Reagan. In any case, the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco wants to ensure that George W. Bush is remembered in a manner appropriate to how the majority of San Franciscans felt about the man. Read more »
DOCUMENTS have revealed the department of former prime minister John Howard became involved in the Mohamed Haneef affair less than 48 hours after the Indian doctor was arrested in connection with a British terrorist attack last July.
Lawyers for Dr Haneef said the early involvement of the Prime Minister’s Department raised the possibility that Mr Howard may have colluded with then immigration minister Kevin Andrews to politicise the issue.
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Let's start with Ms Pants' comment on the last post about similarities between the early days of the Rudd and Blair governments. Of course Blair sent his emissaries to Oz to study the success of the Hawke/Keating era, just shortly before the Australian public decided it was far from similarly enchanted and got itself 11 years of whining and disdainful indifference, unless you happened to be a bit
Of the many, many things I didn't like about John Howard, one was the perception that he was always snarling and scowling but moreso always 'on' as Prime Minister. Well, the story was that he'd wanted to be PM since he was ten years old, so you can imagine that once he was PM, he didn't want to miss a minute.
Anyway with today's Queen's Birthday honours there he was again and the networks
Yeah, you might have noticed already. I’m in a Truthiness mood tonight, as Stephen Colbert might say. Remember all the loud denunciations I copped from harry clarke (of organism fame), Tim Blair et al et al etc. Read more »
I was intrigued yesterday to see Assistant Treasurer Chris Bowen writing one of the more substantive pieces in the Sydney Morning Herald’s regular feast of op/eds written by pollies. Bowen argues that social liberals within the Liberal Party are as marginalised now as they were under John Howard, and concludes: Read more »
One of the most striking things about the Rudd era is the virtual disappearance of terrorism as a political issue. Aside from a passing reference in his 2020 Summit introductory speech, I have barely heard the words mentioned. While this can be partly attributed to the passing of time, it’s not the only reason. Read more »
I’m waiting - in vain - for someone to point out that every former Prime Minister is offered an honour in the Order of Australia. Paul Keating refused his. John Howard hasn’t. Read more »
There’s been some comment here on a previous thread about why Australia’s withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq has stimulated so little debate - either in the media or in the blogosphere. My comment on why that might be so is here, and I’d add that the rather narrow concept of the political in Australian public discourse tends to mean that issues which are “politically neutralised” are quickly forgotten. Read more »
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