Category: [Politics]

January 26

It’s nothing if not a complicated day here in Australia today, what with our complicated history and our… mixed response to that in the present day. I confess my own response has been blunt in the past, given my own Scottish ancestry; England has been fucking over my folks’ old country for several centuries longer than this one. You’d think I’d be more sympathetic to our indigenous cousins on that account but no, I wasn’t, which is something I’m not proud of…

Anyway, I found the above image on the Aboriginal Tent Embassy FB page nearly ten years ago, it turned up in my FB memories today, and, well, it offers a perspective I’d never considered before that time. I’m still somewhat indifferent to Australia Day as such cos, let’s face it, I’m not affected by it, but there’s a lot of people who are affected by it and I have more sympathy for them these days than I once did. To be perfectly honest, I don’t think the majority of people here give a fuck about the national day itself and wouldn’t care about the date being changed as long as they don’t lose a public holiday…

Well that’s encouraging

The Doomsday Clock has apparently never been this far advanced in the 75 years since it was first conceived of, mostly thanks to the invasion of Ukraine. (I do feel there’s an element of fingerpointing in how the website specifically offers Russian and Ukrainian translations…) Looking at the history of changes to the clock over the decades, that means it’s not even quite as bad as the 80s when I think we all just expected nuclear war as a matter of course, something Reagan would get around to whenever his astrologer said it was a good time to do it. I love living in the modern world…

Ardern/Abbott

Still a bit perplexed about Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as PM of NZ. Caused shockwaves here and there when that news came out the other day, and a lot of people are speculating as to why… I suspect this piece nails the matter. In any case, the reaction seems to have been largely regretful, lots of people wishing she wouldn’t go, except obviously for Rupert Murdoch’s tools. Some headlines I grabbed via Google:

Stinging! That’ll teach HER to run a country where Rupert has a minimal presence, unlike the monopoly on the Coalition that he has here…

Continue reading “Ardern/Abbott”

Am I the baddie?

Yeah, a “life journey” all the way to the fucking Premiership of New South Wales…

So glorious leader (NSW branch) Dominic Perrottet made a somewhat extraordinary admission:

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has apologised after revealing he wore a Nazi costume to his 21st birthday party.
Mr Perrottet said he was “deeply ashamed” for wearing the uniform to a fancy dress party, saying it had caused him “much anxiety” through the course of his life.
He told a press conference in Sydney that he decided to come forward after receiving a phone call from a cabinet colleague two days ago.
“When I was 21, at my 21st fancy dress party, I wore a Nazi uniform,” he said. […]
Mr Perrottet said he was “not aware” of any photo depicting him in the uniform, denying the announcement was made to pre-empt any political attacks ahead of the March election.
“I thought this was important, that this is my truth, that I should be the one to explain that to the people of our state, not someone else,” he said. […]
The premier said he was “naive” at the time of the incident and “didn’t understand the significance of that decision”.
He said the party’s theme was “uniforms”.
“It was stupid,” Mr Perrottet said.
“It was just a terrible mistake where I, at that age in my life, I just did not understand the gravity and the hurt of what that uniform means to people, not just in our state, but around the country and around the world.” […]
Mr Perrottet said he acknowledged his “mistake” the day after the party, after his parents told him it was “wrong and insensitive”.
“It’s been something that I’ve had to carry with me for my life,” he said.

Dominic has been so haunted by his “mistake” that it’s taken him 19 years to admit to it, during which time he’s had a flourishing career as a Liberal politician in which he is currently the Premier of NSW. He would’ve turned 21 in 2003, only 58 years since the end of World War 2, and somehow he came to adulthood with apparently little understanding of what happened during that war and why cosplaying one of the Bad Guys from that war might be considered… inappropriate at best.

Continue reading “Am I the baddie?”

A sad story of not much interest

I can’t bring myself to be glad as such at a person’s death, cos I normally find that to be kind of ghoulish. But there are some people who I can’t be sad about either. The world is not poorer for their having left it. And I won’t judge people who *are* glad about that person’s death. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Some of my best friends are Bengali

On politics, the singer denied he was far-right – a charge that arose after controversial comments on race and racism, as well as his support for now defunct far-right anti-Islam party For Britain.
“Although the left changed and deserted me many years ago, I am most certainly not far-right, and I have not ever met anyone who claims to be far-right,” he wrote.
“My politics are straightforward: I recognize realities. I am therefore sorry to report to some of you that I am absolutely not far-right.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/07/morrissey-says-miley-cyrus-exit-was-nothing-to-do-with-his-politics

Yeah, you know who else uses words like “realism” in this sense? Racists. Honestly, Steven Patrick has been dodging accusations of far-right sympathies since the 80s, you’d think he would know better by now than to think this would be enough to convince people. Especially after lending credence to the late and not especially lamented For Britain party, which even Nigel Farage, NIGEL FUCKING FARAGE, said was full of Nazis and racists…

Straight Lathams matter

Alas, Mark Loathsome has been discovered by by George Takei, which means Australia has failed to keep this piece of shit within its borders and thereby protect the rest of the world from him. Sorry, other countries. We evidently did not do our best.

This is the article on George’s site, which quotes Mark thus:

“We love the gays but it’s overdue to recognise the Heteros with our flag, parade, International Day, UN evoys [sic], special footy round and jersey and Welcome to Bed ceremonies.”

“Welcome to Bed” indeed. Couldn’t help but slip a bit of racism into the mix, could we, Mark? Heteros are great, especially when they’re white…

I was reminded of the famous “straight lives matter” rally here in Sydney in 2017, which only about 20 people showed up to. I don’t know, maybe people realised the event was being run by crypto-Nazis and didn’t want anything to do with it because of that. Or maybe not all straight people are as insecure and paranoid about their sexuality as the likes of Latham are…