1. Just when I think I have a handle on how much sexism outweighs every other rational consideration in some parts, I am shown to have underestimated the situation yet again ( Read more... )

And here we all are again. For the purposes of completion, and in the same sense of 'How bad can this get?' that saw me sit through the first Sex and the City movie (on video, with friends who could mock it with me, but still ...), I have once again readied the iPad, prepared beverages and cleared my early afternoon schedule to take in the horror ( Read more... )

Roll up, roll up, the circus is back in town ( Read more... )

Because I am not completely immune to self-harm, I thought this would be a good idea. I'm going to lay my cards on the table at the start: I'm With Her. Trump is so divorced from reality that he is a danger to the international economy and I will have to send cards of sympathy to every American diplomat. As for the other candidates, the Libertarian ( Read more... )

You may have been wondering what’s been happening in Australian politics lately. Haven’t we all, kids, haven’t we all.

One or two people too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia have been waiting longer for a sequel to this post than I’ve been waiting for Jo Rowling’s Potter Encyclopaedia. The difficulty has been that the recent government has been ( Read more... )

I read a great number of articles every month, and have for many years. When I was a young person, I had bulging folders of articles I had been so impressed by that I cut them out for rereading or reference ( Read more... )

Nearly ten years ago, there was an election in Ukraine. It was a ballot for president between Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych. Yanukovych won, in a ballot riddled with corruption. Yushchenko was ill: poisoned by dioxin. Rumours were spread that the horribly ill and facially disfigured Yushchenko had made up his poisoning as a stunt. ( Read more... )

There is an Australian federal backbencher named Cory Bernardi, who is almost entirely ignorant of history outside of the Famous Five books and for whom the phrase Utter Mup Mup might well have been invented ( Read more... )

So, this morning, your PM was Julia Gillard, right?
Correct.

And, this evening, it's Kevin Rudd?
Sort of. He is the new leader of the parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Julia Gillard has resigned the Prime Ministership in his favour, but he is only the Prime Minister designate at the moment.

So might he not be in the morning?Eh, there are ( Read more... )

I try not to judge people on their politics.

Oh I disagree with them, I disagree hard and frequently. But usually I can see that there would be a reason, however dodgy I personally find it, why a rational person would vote for a particular candidate ( Read more... )