Another week has flown by. The time really does fly when I’m writing, and that’s what I’ve done. Another Dryden story is under construction, entitled “Ella and the Admiral”. It’ll be a bit more romantic than some of my other work and consequently it won’t be very long.
Meanwhile in the real world Britain has a new prime minister.I’ll have to say, I would have voted to exit the EU. I think it was a good start that has deteriorated into a messy, undemocratic, expensive, self-serving, Brussels bureaucracy. Although I’ll admit I don’t know all the facts. I was absolutely gobsmacked to discover, the day after the vote, that not one British politician had given any thought at all to what would have to happen should the British people vote to (er) LEAVE, I mean, really??? It was so unlikely (despite the polls) that nobody gave it any consideration? I suppose the subsequent fall-out was inevitable. Cameron resigned, Boris Johnson shied away, everybody looked stupid – and it has been left to a WOMAN to pick up the reins.
And it occurred to me that happens rather a lot in western style politics.
Back at the end of the 80’s when the lid finally came off Brian Burke’s WA Inc in Western Australia the male politicians in the Labor party ran a mile. It was obvious that the Labor Party would be decimated at the next election, and nobody had the balls to pick up the poison chalice. Carmen Lawrence stepped up and took over, providing (I believe) strong leadership until the inevitable electoral defeat. Then there was Joan Kirner in Victoria. John Cain resigned after a political and financial scandal, leaving Joan Kirner to pick up the pieces. Again, the subsequent electoral defeat was inevitable. When Anna Bligh took over from Peter Beattie in Queensland the state wasn’t in crisis – yet. But I can’t help but think that Beattie disembarked before the ship of state hit a predictable storm. Maybe I’m wrong. Anna Bligh at least managed to win the first election – but not the next, when Queensland decimated Labor, leaving the party with only six representatives. Who stood up from that debacle? Annastacia Palaszczuk. This remarkable woman actually led Labor back to power at the very next election.
So far, Mrs May is making the right noises in Britain. I wish her well. But it’s clear to me that the western ‘democratic’ system is increasingly falling apart. The Trump phenomenon is an indicator of how much the American people trust their politicians. The votes for more and more minor parties (resulting in the Lib Nats having a precarious hold on power) after the double dissolution election in Australia shows the mood of the Australian people. Everywhere, democracy has been replaced with plutocracy. In Australia we get to choose between the lawyers and bankers, or the Labor union apparatchiks who have never had any other job. Pardon my cynicism. I’ll watch with interest to see what the next generation does.
As I write the press is dissecting the latest atrocity in France. The death toll from a rampaging truck driver after the Bastille Day fireworks in Nice is eighty-four. Eighty-four people enjoying a fireworks display on a holiday. The world is becoming a very dangerous place. And all too often these murders are committed in the name of somebody’s god. I’ll leave it at that.
Let’s end with a pretty picture.
Jenine
Yes, there was a blizzard in Washington DC this past winter and only the women showed up to the Senate to work.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/01/26/post-blizzard-sen-murkowski-notes-that-only-women-turned-up-to-run-the-senate/
Greta
Why doesn’t that surprise me?
Nya Rawlyns
I hope, in our case, it’s Hilary. because Trump is… unthinkable.
Julia Barrett
I’m super happy for Britain – and hopeful! They are charting a new course, building a new future. So exciting for them!