Mrs FEEG and I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Singapore and Australia. We had a great time and travelled around quite a bit.
We were in Sydney while the state elections were on and Labor (the Aussies do most things right, but they cannot spell Labour) party, a totally corrupt, scandal ridden and incompetent government if ever there was one, got the kicking it deserved. Even AV did not save it from ignominy. A corrupt, incompetent Labour government, now where have I heard that before?
One thing that struck me while all of this was on was the prime minister, the appalling Julia Gillard (now beginning to be known as Juliar, another flashback), kept making “impromptu” TV appearances. She is really awful. She even makes Gordon Brown seem erudite and a loquacious orator. In order to hold the position she does, she must be even better at plotting and back-stabbing than our very own Gordon.
Maybe some of the Aussies on here might like to put me straight on this. Will have a few more things to say about our trip, but this is something that really struck me.
Boadicea's Chariot 
We did the same trip as you some time ago, Sidders via Singers, all cultural contact was done in bars, clubs and over tinneys on Bondi Beach, any memories of deep and meaningful discussions evaporated in a boozy haze.
As I understand it, the decision to leave the ‘u’ out of Labor was deliberate to separate them from the UK Labour party – we still put a ‘u’ in labour, or labourers.
I’m not saying that the Labour party here is not corrupt, or incompetent – as far as I’m concerned Politician = Corrupt + Incompetent. The biggest problem here is that there are so many back-room power brokers and factions who control Labor policy and how the party is run and who can and cannot do things. One may vote for a party – but it is not the party who determines what happens.
It is a shame that you did not see Gillard when Labour won the election from Howard a few years back. She and Rudd were a breath of fresh air – both were great speakers – and she actually answered questions with no prevarication! Because they had won the election so spectacularly, they were in a position to make changes and Rudd made it clear that he was going to appoint his own cabinet and was not going to be bound by the behind-the-scenes power brokers and faction groups. And he did. But, before long it seemed that Rudd was long on promises and short on action… whereas Julia seemed able to deliver.
Both Bearsy and I were in England when Rudd was ‘removed’. We were both delighted that ‘Julia’ had taken over. We’ve since come to the conclusion that the back-room boys managed to push Rudd out – and replace him with Gillard – and they have been pulling the strings ever since. Rudd has made some wonderful comments, especially about Assange, but now he seems to have been pulled into line.
As you rightly say, Gillard is now awful – looks and talks like a Plasticine Model of a real person. She did do right by the electorate in going back to the country after Rudd’s tumble – but she didn’t get the outstanding mandate that Rudd and she got earlier. She is only PM by courtesy of several Independents and is busily digging her political grave by caving in to pressure from the Greens and allowing the factions to control her policies. In some way I am sorry for her – she is extremely intelligent and I am sure that she knows that she’s on a hiding to nowhere – on the other hand I have no sympathy whatsoever – anyone who wants power that much should never be given it.
Being that horror of all political parties – floating voters – it is unlikely that Bearsy and I would vote for the Labor Party again until they sort out their back-room bullies.
Boadicea: the Australian Labor Party chose the US spelling as they were convinced that Australia would sooner, rather than later, adopt the “modern” US spellings and they wished to be ahead of that. It did not really happen, but…
FEEG: it sounds like you had a lovely time, seeing any left-wing party getting drubbed in an election is always a reason for the heart to sing, isn’t it? (Pity poor Germany) I look forward to reading more stories about your holiday.
Labor’s gone troppo, they’ve lost their way somewhere between corruption, and turning socialist, they lost 4.8 Billion in NSW and what they did to Ruddy was a fascist political Putsh!! 😦