Category Archives: Politics in the Pig's Arms

That’s ENOUGH ! Take Your Hat and Hit the Road

30 Thursday Jun 2011

Posted by in Emmjay, Politics in the Pig's Arms

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It’s been a long time coming, but yesterday I think our politicians hit the bottom of the barrel – but they somehow seem always to be able to head further south.

The ABC reported an outraged Peter Reith and ran a clip of him being interviewed wherein he said that he was encouraged to run for the leadership of the Liberal party by none other than Tony Abbott – only to have Abbot abandon him and lose the contest by one vote.  The TV footage of Tony smarmingly showing his voting paper to whatever his name is who was the incumbent (recumbent) showed naked skullduggery as far as I can see.  Reith was ropable and embarrassed to the max.  Ouch !  Poor diddums.

So to get square, Pete threatened to talk up Workchoices 2 – guaranteed to lose Tony the unlosable election coming.  Nice.  Party solidarity.

The sad thing is that there was no surprise here.  I for one have come to expect no less than lying, cheating and whatever-it-takes to gain and hold power behaviour from Tony and his team. I described the lower primate as “a shit sandwich” – and got away with it in the olden days of Unleashed.  The other half of the quip was that it didn’t matter how Tony changed the bread – the exterior appearance –  the contents always stayed the same.

Worse than that, it’s the state of play for Labor as well.  Kevin had his little snit with the proposed anniversary of “when I was knifed – a sitting PM assassinated” party, put on hold on advice from large men in dark glasses.

I have seen some serious political shit go down in my 40 years as a NSW voter.  For a while I put my trade union son political beliefs into gear, joined the ALP, went to branch meetings (despite the risk of actual physical harm), voted on resolutions that went no effing where, handed out how to vote cards at election times and did my share of scrutineering.  I had the dubious pleasure of seeing their woman (Dawn Fraser) do our man (Peter Crawford) like a dinner.  It was a salutary lesson.  Peter was a one parliament parliamentarian.  So, it turns out was Dawn.  She was and is a much loved local identity and a trusted NRMA board member.  Both took their defeats on the chin and retired gracefully.  Not a  sore loser in sight.

But those were the days when people who ran for office actually believed in something other than their own self-interest and the headlong rush to grab power at any cost.

Stephanie Dowrick wrote in her 2004 Book ” Free Thinking” a few hundred words on public and private lying – and the corrosive effect of both.  She talked about how it has become the norm and that bare-faced lying or as we have come to know it “offering non-core promises” hardly raises an eyebrow.  Children Overboard, Reith’s mobile phone, No GST and the latest “No carbon tax” fiasco and reversal after reversal of policy as a matter of expediency if the polls even threatened to head south  are all de rigeur today.

But not for me.  I have had it with the big parties.  I just don’t know about the Greens or the independents.  I was imagining a day when parties become banned and that all elected representatives have to be independent.  Did I hear a wail of “that way NOTHING would ever get through the parliament” ?  Are you reaching for your favourite Steve Fielding non-sequitur or some pure and simple Bob Katter madness ?  OK, you win.

Maybe a party-free every vote-is-a-conscience vote still is a better approach than the useless abuse and character assassinations that we see so often filling up our governments’ sitting time.  It’s a disgrace.  I’ve had enough.  Time for Ten Gallon Bob and the rest to do us all a favour, take their hats and head off into the sunset.

Euronews/NoComment

23 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms, The Public Bar

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I posted a comment over at the Crikey video of the day, praising the work of ordinary folks who filmed the Christchurch disaster live from their mobile phones and posted faster on Youtube than any of the mainstream media.

More than that, there was no offensive bullshit halfwit news reportage a la ABC 24 hours.  There were the images – use your own mind to assess what you see.  No explanation needed.  Not helpful for some talking head to say how awful it all was.

“Lambkins” added a useful tip – that Euronews has a comparable segment called “no comment”.

So I had a peep – for example – surprised to hear what’s happening in Egypt as far as the important ancient site tourism.  I was wondering if I might ever get to see the pyramids and Valley of the Kings – and catch up with both the Emmlets who have been there independently….

“At euronews we believe in the intelligence of our viewers and we think that the mission of a news channel is to deliver facts without any opinion or bias, so that the viewers can make their own opinion on world events.

We also think that sometimes images need no explanation or commentary, which is why we created No Comment and now No Comment TV: to show the world from a different angle…”

And so we have   Euronews no comment

Check it out

Wiki Wiki Wiki (reprise)

16 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms, Scott

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Some dude makinmg a court appearance

Story by Scott

You know, it astounds me that it was more than six months ago that I sent a piece about young Julian Assange and Wikileaks into the Pigs Arms. It literally seems like yesterday that he and they came to prominence – probably the fact that there is a story about them in some press, somewhere, nearly everyday keeps it seeming that way.

Since then I’ve learnt some things about Julian A and Wikileaks; some of them are probably true but it’s difficult to know which ones. He has been to Sweden; I’m sure that much is true. He is staying in England at the moment; again this seems certain. Really just about everything else is debatable.

Wikileaks now has competition – Openleaks. And in our profit-driven, competition-crazed society surely this is a good thing. If WL won’t publish your leak, shop it to OL. I just hope that it won’t lead to less caution in publishing some material, because up to now Wiki and the papers selected to publish material at the same time seem to have done a good job of redacting potentially dangerous information and protecting individuals from danger, except of course the danger of embarrassment.

More recently Julian Assange is under pressure to return to Sweden, not because he is facing charges but because some Swedes want to ask him questions. Questions have also been raised about the background connections of two women who have made allegations about him. Of course, the US wants Assange in some sort of gaol in a country they control, whether that be in Australia or the US, Egypt currently being offline for rendition purposes due to – of all things – an outbreak of democratic feeling. This seems particularly poignant in Australia, as it has emerged during the detention of Mr Habib in Egpyt, he was visited by Australian officials, who were later tragically afflicted by a virulent strain of memory loss. Now Egpyt is at least temporarily out of reach.

But back to Julian A and the main story.  Since being denounced as a criminal by some in Australia, denounced as not-a-journalist by some in the US, denounced as a ‘bit of a weirdo who likes having sex’ by an ex-colleague, and denounced as a cad by some women in Sweden Julian’s fortunes have soared and sympathy with his cause is at levels he would not have dreamed about since being a pimply hacker trying to evade the Feds back here in Australia.

I almost feel sorry for the US – how many times do they have to see their best efforts to vilify a person or declare ‘war’ on a cause result in the exact opposite happening before they see the pattern?

Pistol Palin’s AMERICA

29 Saturday Jan 2011

Posted by in Neville Cole, Politics in the Pig's Arms

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The Pig’s Arms welcomes our new North American Correspondent

Miss Pistol Palin

Hiya everyone! I’m Pistol Palin from Alaska and I’m proud as punch to be the new official North America correspondent for the The Pig’s Arms (I can’t wait to try one of them famous pink drinks)

Now before you even go ahead and ask “no” I’m not related to the ex-governor of Alaska and all-round super woman, Sarah Palin. People up here would laugh at that because it’s a well known fact that Palin is a real common name in Alaska, as common as Smith is in the lower 48, or Chong is in China, or Hitler is in Germany. No, seriously doesn’t it make you sad to think that there are probably thousands of little boys in Germany who are nothing like Obama at all but still get teased every day just because of their name!

Anyway, I know that people all over the world look up to Sarah Palin and I’m not saying I don’t (of course I do, duh) but still my bestest hero in the whole world is my own mom, Sara! She taught me everything I know! She showed me how to shoot and skin a moose, how to make beaver pie and caribou stew, how to drive a dog sled team and how to keep my truck running all winter. Love you mommy! But Pistol Palin’s America is about more than the great state of Alaska because you see in my capacity as the National spokesperson for the Abstinence Now and Forever Foundation I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over and see lots of things and meet lots of Tea Party Patriots.

There’s just so much that I want to share. About things that can make America great again. About things that can fix the whole world and that’s my hope. My hope is that soon we won’t be just talking about how great is it to live in Pistol Palin’s America we’ll be talking how amazing is Pistol Palin’s World!

Boo too Obamacare!

It is a super great day in My America! The brave super smart godfearing Republicans in the senate house (yay!) have unanimousely repealed the job-destroying Obamacare Health (so called) Plan. (boo!)

Obama (double boo) and his communist croneys wont be able to give free doctor care to lazy welfare mothers and illegal Mexicans and make good Americans like me pay for hundreds of millions of abortions a year and peddle free drugs to drug addicts. Also, no old grannys and pappies will have to go before a death panel and have some high priced Washington insider lawyer decide weather they should die or not.

Take that Nancy Pelosi! (boo times infinity) Go back to Soviet Russia where you belong! I am sooooo glad you got fired and that nice Mr Boehner got your old job. He is so much more better a speaker than you it’s not even funny. Anyone can tell how much he cares about America because he cries about it all the time. Have you ever cried about America, Nancy Pelosi? Only about their not being enough taxes I’m sure! The only time Nancy Pelosi cries is when she has to look at herself in the mirror (because she’s so ugly).

Speaking of ugly…I’ll tell you what is ugly with a capital U and 2 double Gs…the job-destroying spending binge Obama has been on for the last two and a bit years! All it has done is leave America with nothing but the most historic unemployment and the most hugest debt in the history of the world and he wasn’t even born in this country. That’s what you all get for voting in an African as president! Go back to Kenya Obama! (boo boo boo)

But now for some of the good news I promised America. Guess what? I’m going to be on another TV show! This ones called “Dancing With The Tea Party Patriots!” I’m going to be paired with Brain Darling (can you imagine – how dreamy is that?) but I am sure to face a BIG challenge from Christine O’Donnell who has only been paired with Tea Party co-founder and all round heartthrob Mark Meckler (as if she wasn’t popular enough already!). The awesome Sarah Palin is going to be one of the judges but even though we are both from Alaska and have the same last name even she might have to vote for the O’Donnell/Meckler team. After all, wasn’t it O’Donnell who proved that teaching sex education in schools was just plain and simply wrong? She pointed out that if kids get comfortable talking about personal yucky things to there teachers, “then suddenly talking to that stranger with candy on the playground is not so creepy.” I know I never talked to anyone about how to do sex and I did just fine! Little Colt is doing great by the way…thanks for asking! I saw him just last week when I was back home during a break from my “Abstinence Now and Forever” speaking tour.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Here’s something my mom used tell me all the time before family shooting time. She’d say: The only thing that can protect us from bad people with guns is good people with more guns! I don’t know that I ever heard a more smarter thing in my whole life.

Until next time…See ya 4 now!

Pistol

Stay Loud and Proud America!

EDITORS COMMENT

As noted by the author herself, Pistol Palin should NEVER be confused with Bristol the daughter or Sarah Palin and world’s most famous teen mother who has since become an abstinence speaker. It is important to note that for one thing Bristol is NOT scheduled to appear on Dancing With The Tea Party Patriots (although she did do quite well on Dancing With the Stars)

OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES:
Nancy Pelosi is the ex-speaker of the house. She was the driving force behind getting Obama’s Health Care plan through the house and senate. She is currently the most hated woman in America…having recently wrestled the crown away from Hillary Clinton.

John Boehner in the new Speaker of the House. He is solidily right of right, has a bright orange tan and has broken down and cried numerous times on TV since becoming speaker – especially when discussing America, the flag, puppies or brave fighting men overseas.

Christine O’Donnell nearly won the Delaware Senate Seat even though Delaware is a traditionally liberal state and O’Donnell is an ultra-right-winger who used to be a witch but who now rallies Tea Partiers against sex-education (she says, for instance, that maturbation is adultery). She also is a staunch creationist; all in all you’re typical Tea Party Patriot.

Brian Darling is a brilliant Tea Party strategist. Enough said.

Mark Meckler is the co-founder of the Tea Party (the most powerful political force outside the NRA since the Moral Majority)
The Tea Party is against any taxes or the government doing anything about anything ever – except for banning abortion, going to war, putting prayer in schools, and, of course, making guns freely available to any god fearing American. Tea Partiers believe that the US Constitution is a sacred document passed down from Jesus to the founding fathers. They also believe that the 2nd Ammendment – the right to bear arms – is the only really important part to worry about. Tea Party is, of course, all in favor of limitless military spending.

Tea Party Theme Song is: War! What is it good for? Huh! Absolutely America!

Programmatic Specificity is Bullshit

17 Friday Dec 2010

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms

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Over at “The Monthly” on Slow TV, lives a great two-part video taken from the Sydney Writer’s Festy discussing the abuse of language.

In the past, I’ve been sarcastically critical of Annabel Crabb’s work on Twitter (which, let’s face it IS rubbish like most if not all Twitter content).  But here in this panel discussion, with Nathan Rees and Christopher Hitchens (may be overcome his present travails), she shines.

Have a look.

I hope you enjoy it.

Christopher Hitchins, Nathan Rees and Annabel Crabb

Julia Gillard: Her Welsh political heritage.

09 Tuesday Nov 2010

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms, Susan Merrell

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Four Ten Pound POMs

By Susan Merrell

Although I’ve never met our Prime Minister Julia Gillard, her background is so similar to my own that I think of her as ‘our Julia’. It’s how she would have been known to those closest to her in the vernacular of South Wales from where both she and I hail and where, for a time, we lived seven miles apart before both our families migrated to Australia – mine two years after hers.

In the Australian vernacular we were ‘ten pound Poms’. But ‘Poms’ were the English and although used to refer to people from Britain generally, we Welsh knew we were different and that applied particularly to politics. For when England and Scotland voted Conservative last century, Wales never did.

The Welsh novelist and humorist Gwyn Thomas, who hailed from the Rhondda Valley in south Wales once explained to an interviewer that he was born with socialism running through his veins and that it would take the efforts of a whole blood bank to shift him to the right. As for Gwyn Thomas, so it was for many of us.

Although Ms. Gillard hardly had had the time to absorb the political context in Wales before her fifth birthday, her parents, nevertheless, were well versed and clearly imbued Ms. Gillard with this commonplace Welsh political outlook judging by her own rise through the ranks of the Australian Labor Party via the union movement.

In Wales, it was the issues of the coalfield that created the political mindset that has lingered even through shifting paradigms. Coal miners were some of the most exploited and oppressed of all workers even though the mine owners were the some of the richest men in the world (and yes, they were mostly all men).

Welsh miners became militant. Having nothing worth conserving, political conservatism was never a viable option. They organised and unionised to improve their sad lot. They embraced socialism and the Labour Party and they took the rest of Wales to the political left with them.

How ironic then that one of the first issues that Ms. Gillard faced as Prime Minister was the mining super profits tax.

For she was born in the shadow of the docks in Barry built by David Davies Llandinam who was one of the richest men in the world thanks to the ownership of South-Welsh coal mines. He built the docks in Barry to ensure a cost-effective and efficient passage for his coal, in preference to relying on the nearby Cardiff docks.  Davies’ super profits must have been huge!

But it’s not the entrepreneurial Davies – who had risen to his position of wealth from a very lowly beginning (his father was a sawyer) – that Ms. Gillard has identified as her Welsh hero, but one Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, who was one of the architects of Britain’s ‘Welfare State’.

It was our Nye that designed and implemented Britain’s National Health Scheme as part of the 1945 Labour government of Clement Atlee.

Bevan’s move to political prominence in Britain was very similar to Ms. Gillard’s, firstly through the union movement as an official of the very powerful South Wales Miners Federation and then latterly through the British Labour Party.

Yet Bevan often found himself at loggerheads with the unions later on his career, deracinating him from his own union roots as a miner. Did Ms. Gillard’s winding back of the ‘super profits tax’ similarly deracinate her from her natural constituency?

The major difference in the trajectory of both careers resides in the fact that Ms. Gillard was successful in wresting control of the party away from her predecessor and gaining the ultimate political power in Australia whereas Bevan never succeeded in Britain.

For Bevan alienated many in his party. He was authoritarian and difficult.  The press dubbed him the ‘Tito from Tonypandy’ (invoking the authoritarian leader of the then Yugoslavia, Marshall Tito, and Tonypandy where a miners’ strike provoked Winston Churchill, then home secretary, to controversially send in the army to quell it). Hugh Gaitskell, the politician who was the Labour Party’s preferred leader in a two-way tussle against Bevan nicknamed Bevan a ‘Cymric Hitler’.

So are there lessons for Ms. Gillard here?

With so many changes of leadership in our two major national political parties lately, there ought to be.

So, our Julia, heed the lessons well. The legacy of the militant Welsh miners is yours too.  Pob hwyl i chi (Good luck to you.)

 

Good Afternoon – Address to the Poor Club

04 Thursday Nov 2010

Posted by in Politics in the Pig's Arms, Sandshoe

≈ 51 Comments

Pic borrowed from the Conservative Wahoo

By Sandshoe

Good afternoon, my name is Louise.  I am a member of the Poor Club.

The members of the Poor Club are the dregs of society. [Rabble rousing Cheers]  I first became a member [Rabble rousing Cheers] when I belonged to the Rich Club. [Rabble rousing Boos].  I heard about the Poor Club [Rabble rousing Cheers] at a dinner at the Rich Club [Rabble rousing Boos] and the next evening when I got home from work [Boo] I wrote to the Secretary of the Poor Club [Cheer] to get her to send me the form I just knew I would have to fill in to apply to become a member (Yeaaaah! Clap).

Thank you all for the welcome. Reserve your judgement for when I tell my story. The Secretary found my telephone number in the telephone directory to verify I exist. She said she would ring me because that is less costly than replying by snail mail (or by a fancy French letter, she joked) although she said straight off I did not qualify to be a member of any Poor Club. She said the gilt edged linen finish stationery I wrote my letter to her on with the matching envelope, not to mention the classic Indian Ink and a fountain pen flourish at the finish was fishy. And she wanted to know how could I afford postage.  I didn’t like the idea of being rejected and I lied.  I said the stationery and the pen was a box set I won (I ignored the query about postage).  She asked where and I said it was a door Prize at my Church and she hung up on me.  I even wondered if she was a Christian, which was silly of me.  I wrote another letter using a dozen different biros as if they were all old ones that kept running out.  I didn’t even put a postage stamp on the envelope when I sent this second letter.

She was really nice when she rang back. And she even said she found a trace of butter on the butter wrap I used for stationery.  I could be a member.  It was that easy.  That’s how I found out lying can get you anywhere (but best to be blameless and tell the truth when you think you can get away with it, really!)   When I told her because I thought she should know that I belonged to the Rich Club, she said she didn’t believe me.  Why would I apply to join the Poor Club if I belonged to the Rich Club.

That’s a good question, Many ask it. Friends, neighbours, family as well. Why would I apply to join the Poor Club if I was a fully paid-up member of the Rich Club: a Diamond Status Pass Card holder at that.

It’s simple. I felt deprived. When I heard about the Poor Club and I only belonged to the Rich Club, it was like I was missing out on something more important than anything.  I got to thinking. In the Rich Club it’s money, money, money. If belonging to the Poor Club means no money, no money and more no money, I knew I needed to be there, find out what it is like.  If those people are still alive, I wondered, I wanted to know how they do it on nothing.  If I had nothing, I would kill myself.

My grandmother said, the poor have got spirit. My grandfather said Grandmother didn’t know squat. Faith, my accountant said, the poor have got faith that one day they will learn how to balance the books. The building manager said it depends where they live. If they have a roof over their heads, it doesn’t matter where they live, and three square meals a day, her husband thought. And so it went on. I had to find out for myself the answer to something obviously nobody knew for sure or could agree on. How can the poor get by. How do they live when others in the same situation kill themselves.  This is the enquiry that means I stand here before you now, making a petition, now, of the Poor Club. It’s a triumph. The poor live on thin air and hope. [Huzzah. Bravo.] Inclined deprived of chance to the ingenuity of genius.[Loud Cheers.]. I cannot do other than consider the well-to-do Beauclerk, that fashionable wit, who despatching a letter to the Earl of Charlemont claimed of Samuel Johnson ‘confined’ to the Isle of Sky (sic) he was reckoned ‘obliged to swim over to the mainland taking hold of a cow’s tail’.

 

 

 

 

 

Manne Takes a Stand – Withdraw Australians Fighting in Afghanistan

19 Tuesday Oct 2010

Posted by in Emmjay, Politics in the Pig's Arms

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I have stood against war since I was able to understand what it means. As a schoolie I filled in dozens if not hundreds of bogus Vietnam draft registration cards.  I was surprised to find myself  to suddenly be a geriatric  protester – once more at the barricades – far later in life than I had grown to expect – against the then coming war in Iraq.

Australian Jacqui de Gelder on patrol in Afghanistan

My take on Afghanistan is the same as my take on Iraq.  As evil as a government is, civil wars are for people of that nation to sort out on their own.  These are not places for Australian working class kids to die and be horribly injured.  Are there sons and daughters of the wealthy, privileged and powerful in our society fighting in these foreign wars ?

I have a work colleague.  I didn’t know his son was a soldier.  Until my colleague and his wife flew to Germany because the military said they thought the boy was dying.  He had lost both legs and one hand and had horrific facial injuries from an IED.  The fierce heat of the blast cauterised his major arteries, otherwise he would have been dead in minutes.  He pulled through and now has the luxury of a pair of bionic legs worth about the same as a Ferrari.  In the hospital, his Mum held the hand of an American Mum whose boy was not so lucky.  He died four days later.  Slowly.  In a morphine fog.

I totally reject the notion that to withdraw now is to betray this man and our other fallen and wounded soldiers in Afghanistan.  I am in favour of not suffering another casualty.

This is not a just war.  This war is not fighting for the free world against Hitler.  This war is bullshit, lies and spin.  It costs Australia – according to one of the writers on Unleashed $6 billion a year.  Your tax and mine funds this pointless farrago and at the same time contributes to the death and wounding of countless civilians.

Our leaders say things like “stay the course”, “defeat the Taliban”, “deny a safe haven for Al Qaeda” – in case Al Qaeda can’t figure out how to get into Yemen, Somalia or Pakistan.

As far as Australia being reluctant to make the first backward move on the chess board is concerned, the Russian grand masters have resigned decades ago and have not the Dutch already castled ?  It’s my guess that like compulsive gamblers this coalition of the willing western governments just cannot face the fact that there will never be a win in Afghanistan. Blood and treasure.  Blood and treasure.

I think I’d better run up my flag at the pub.  I’m ready for a discussion and a good argument …. Argument- where the point is not to prove oneself right and superior, but to bring out the truth.

I say withdraw Australian troops now !

Over to you, Patrons.

Honk Honk Honk

06 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by in Emmjay, Politics in the Pig's Arms

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Independents enjoying the sunshine

It doesn’t matter whether one has a genetic predisposition towards what the the old school describes as the left or the right of the political spectrum, when voters are forced to choose essentially between moral bankruptcy or incompetence one has the prospect of voting for mainstream parties that are both unspeakable in their own unique way.

Sometimes the major parties exhibit a particularly toxic mix of both incompetence and moral bankruptcy – he said, almost skirting any mention of NSW.

So there is a natural tendency to think well of candidates who profess no allegiance to the mainstream.  And it was with a modicum of expectation that the small clutch of independents currently holding the balance of power in the Federal lower house would exert a magic power and renovate Federal politics, turning back the desperate decline of national government characterised by the Howard government and perpetutated by the Rudd government.

Not to suggest that the Rudd government was as morally bankrupt as the Howard coalition, but with the exception of the response to the global financial crisis, not a lot happened to suggest that we had turned the corner.  Under Rudd and Gillard we walked away from asylum seekers, carbon trading, mining tax, indigenous health, water……..  Stayed in the game for wrangling marginal electorates and sucking up to rednecks.

So to the independents.  A clear message to the main parties that we, the electorate are not happy with either of you.  But what is the message we hold for the independents. ?

Should we expect more from them than extracting the most obscene papered-over pork barrelling in living memory ?  Is it OK for them to be interviewing as many bureaucrats as they wish to get a handle on whether the red team or the blue team are really on top ?

How long are we expected to watch the so called independents sifting through a million and six reasons for anointing Tony or Julia as the next PM ?  Have they had their 15 minutes of fame yet ?

Could they have just tossed a coin and come up with as good an assesment ?

I would argue that they may be independent for a day but as soon as they flip the coin, they are as dependent as the rest of us.  They depend on the anointed government to do the right thing, to not bite the hand that feeds and to at least affect some semblance of competence and civil responsibility.  If they think they can make and unmake a king on a whim, they are more dangerous than the faceless numbers men and they deserve to be discarded with the same energy.

I had big hopes for the independents – until I tired of their sickly smiles on TV and their assurances that they would make a decision soon,  soon, soon.  These are the people who hold the balance of power and they struggle with the simplest of decisions.

For years they have seen the best and worst of both the red team and the blue team and there is no empirical evidence for making a distinction.  The rest is just putting pressure on the majors and leaving the country in limbo.

What is the aphorism – power corrupts – and absolute power corrupts absolutely ?  And apparently corruption doesn’t even require a majority of votes any more – only a balance of power.

So to the independents, I say “Just make a call, you geese”.

Because if either major party does a spit and we have another election, you will not be judged well for your equivocation, for wandering around looking clueless, for inventing whacko terms and conditions and for flaunting naked self-interest.