What a sporting feast I am in the middle of. On Thurdsay morning went to a Sydney pub to see Spurs (just) win a League Cup semi final. On Friday went to Blacktown to see the Blue Sox in the play in the Australian Baseball League playoffs. On Saturday it was out to Olympic Park to see the Socceroos become the champions of Asian football and then followed that up by staying up to see Spurs beat West Brom. This weekend the Auckland Nines have been on as have the finals of the Australian Open tennis. The Wanderers are playing in Melbourne tonight and I believe Australia play England in the final of the one day cricket triangular series in Perth. And on Monday there is the Superbowl. Such a fantastic sporting smorgasbord that only occurs once in a lifetime. Or at least only once every 2 or 3 months.
Edition 2
Queenslander!
A Courageous Decision Prime Minister
A Ladies Man
Humdrum
Do Yourself a Favour
Queenslander!
In 1975, in what turned out to be the last days of the Whitlam government, Senator Ron McAuliffe invited Gough Whitlam to attend the Brisbane rugby league grand final. As they made there way out to the middle there was a chorus of boos and beer cans were hurled in their direction. As they walked off Lang Park, Whitlam turned to his companion and said 'McAuliffe don't ever invite me to a place where you are so unpopular'.
During the recent Queensland state election campaign the LNP wanted Tony Abbott nowhere near Queensland. Indeed I think they would rather have had Paul Gallen campaign on their behalf than the Prime Minister. And anytime a PM is effectively banned from a state election campaign, it signals that their reign as PM is drawing to a close.
At the last Queensland election the ALP got routed, winning just 7 of 89 seats. Today they look likely to be back in government following Saturday's election. No undoubtedly state issues have played a major part in the downfall of the Campbell Newman government. However so has the unpopularity of the Federal Government.
Tony Abbott is an altogether different type of politician than say Bob Carr or John Howard, where their desire to get votes seemed to over ride any strong beliefs that they held. I can imagine them shipping of their elderly mother off to a Siberian gulag if they were advised there was any votes in it. I can picture their discussions with their pollsters 'So 100 people said this would cause them to vote for us and only 99 said they would turn against us. Interesting. And what were the results in the marginal seats?'
On the other hand if Tony Abbott made such a decision regarding his mother it would be for very different reasons. Now I still don't fully understand all of Tony Abbott's reasoning, but I can see him discussing the decision with his family 'Look I tried to get Nanna a scholarship in a nursing home, but I couldn't find one. Now it's expensive to put her into a nursing home and let's face it old people don't contribute any economic worth to Australia. On the other hand it will only cost us a few rubles to put her into a Siberian gulag and they have told me that they have comprehensive work program. And you know Nanna likes to stay active'.
Ok that is a bit far fetched. Because we know Tony Abbott doesn't like to consult with people before making decisions. Which gets us onto.
A Courageous Decision Prime Minister
I'm not a fan of the Imperial award system. It's a horrible relic of the British class system and is a constant reminder to us commoners of who our betters are. Luckily Australia scrapped this system decades ago.
However last year Tony Abbott reintroduced them. I was upset because not only was this not only made us look like a bunch of backward looking colonial hicks but this had never been raised during the previous election campaign and was not Liberal Party policy.
As it turned out the Prime Minister did not discuss this with his cabinet or party. Now it did upset some people but as an issue in terms of importance it lags well behind national security issues, or education policy or health polices or environmental issues etc. It's hardly an issue that would cause people to change their votes and most of the people it upset were unlikely to vote for the Liberal party anyway.
The first people to receive their knighthoods and...what is the equivalent for dames? Surely it isn't a damehood? Anyway the first recipients were past and present Governor-Generals and this caused little public discontent.
Then on Australia Day two more were announced. The decision to award Angus Houston has received little public comment (and I think his name will be an answer at a few trivia nights in the next few weeks). However the decision to give a knighthood to Philip Windsor attracted much more comment. Now a knighthood of Australia is a prestigious title that would be a huge honour to a lot of people. I'm guessing it would mean more to an Australian than to say to a Greek man who lives in the UK. Also whilst it's a significant honour I'm not sure he will use the title when he's already known as Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron of Greenwich and Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. In fact he's got about 20 aliases. I thought only conmen used that many names.
Anyway whilst the decision to reintroduce these titles upset only a few people, the decision to honour Prince Philip uspet a larger group known as 'Everybody in Australia not Called Tony Abbott'. I didn't even hear David Flint come out and support the decision. It also took the focus away from Rosie Batty being announced as Australian of the Year. It also came just after Tony Abbott promised his backbench that he would consult them more. After the discontent about Prince Philip, Tony Abbott has again promised to consult more with his colleagues. And this time he means it. He really does.
A Ladies Man
Our Governor-General Sir (hmmmpff) Peter Cosgrove missed the Australian Day ceremonies as he was in Saudi Arabia to pass on the government condolences following the passing of King Abdullah. The King received many tributes. Christine Lagarde the head of the International Monetary Fund called him 'a strong advocate of women'. She did qualify this by saying he did so 'in a discreet way'.
In Saudi Arabia there is a strict dress code for women that is rigorously policed. Women are not allowed to vote (although apparently they will be allowed to do so in the next municipal elections). There are no organised sport for women. Women need a man's permission to marry, open a bank account or see a doctor. Women's employment is severely restricted (although there have been a few minor improvements in recent years). And famously Saudi Arabia is the only country that bans women from diving. There are also serious allegations of mistreatment of a number of his daughters who advocated better rights for women in the Kingdom.
I'm not sure he really qualifies as strong advocate of women'. It sounds as ridiculous as making the Minister for Women a man who says thing like 'what the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing...'. Or the World Wildlife Fund having a man who likes to shoot birds as their first ever President. But that couldn't happen, could it?
Humdrum
The Queensland election was the second biggest poll in Australia this week, with the latest Triple J Hottest 100 being announced on Australia Day. Apparently it is the biggest such poll in the world.
The J's became my station in the late 80s. It was the only major station in Sydney that played acts like the Smiths, The The or Billy Bragg. And they ran some really interesting stories. It also had a strong left wing leaning. Not like some people find the Sydney Morning Herald or ABC TV news to be left wing. It wasn't even Guardian style left wing. It was a hard core left wing station.
Then it changed to being a youth station and became a national station rather than just a Sydney station. This changed the station but it was still my station. Then a more serious change continued to occur and that was that I got old, and being a youth station it was no longer my station. I might hear it for a minute or two when the alarm goes off but that's it for 364 days a year (although I have started listening to Double J on digital radio). However it still my station for one day of the year, Australia Day.
The big controversy this year was the decision to ban Taylor Swift from making the countdown, following a campaign by Taylor's fan, a fast food chain and some internet activists. Now Taylor Swift had never had a song played on the J's. To have allowed her to have made the list after the campaign that was run would have made a mockery of the poll. Also it would have encouraged similar campaigns in future years (as an aside it turned out the song that finished at #9 by Sia had never been played on the J's, even though plenty of her other songs had).
Anyway congratulations to Chet Faker for winning with Talk is Cheap. Can't say I've heard it but I will be buying the Hottest 100 cd. And I'll be listening to the song later today, because it's certain to be a question at trivia on Monday.
Do Yourself a Favour
And for no apparent reason here is my list of the best 20 pop songs from the 1980s from UK acts that did not make the top 40 in Australia. I've limited it one song per act.
| 20 | Imagination | Belouis Some |
| 19 | Happy Hour | The Housemartins |
| 18 | 2-4-6-8 Motorway | Tom Robinson Band |
| 17 | It's My Life | Talk Talk |
| 16 | Reward | The Teardrop Explodes |
| 15 | Somewhere In My Heart | Aztec Camera |
| 14 | Ghost Town | The Specials |
| 13 | Forbidden Colours | David Sylvian & Ryuchi Sakamoto |
| 12 | Papa's Got A Brand New Pigbag | Pigbag |
| 11 | New Gold Dream | Simple Minds |
| 10 | I'm In Love With A German Film Star | The Passions |
| 9 | Welcome To The Pleasuredome | Frankie Goes To Hollywood |
| 8 | Save A Prayer | Duran Duran |
| 7 | Penthouse & Pavement | Heaven 17 |
| 6 | Don't Talk To Me About Love | Altered Images |
| 5 | (Wishing) I Had A Photograph Of You | A Flock Of Seagulls |
| 4 | The First Pictures Of You | Lotus Eaters |
| 3 | Big Mouth Strikes Again | The Smiths |
| 2 | Open Your Heart | The Human League |
| 1 | Buoy | Mick Karn |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMOVfmJz_gA
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