Thursday, June 2

I've just finished reading Road to Ruin, the story of how Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin 'destroyed their own government'.  It's not joyful reading but it does show how low Australian politics has fallen when the qualification for becoming PM is that you are a destructive bully.  This quality might have been OK in an Opposition leader but it didn't translate to being PM". It's hard to sum up the book in a few words but one Liberal Minister commented, ' Tony knew he wasn't up to the job and Peta knew he wasn't up to the job.'  It was a creepy relationship and I don't know how Mrs Abbott dealt with it.  

I heard the author Nikki Savas being interviewed on Insiders when the book was released and wondered whether she was just another Labor stooge stirring the pot.  However, she has a long career as a journalist with The Australian and worked for Peter Costello at one stage.  For years, she was regarded as 'the darling of the Conservatives'.  You'd have to expect, then, that the book is written with some honesty and probably a sense of despair about the damage being done to the Conservative cause by Mr Abbott and his cronies.

As I was reading it I was amazed at the deep divisions within the Liberal Party and it reminded me of the UK Conservative Party when Maggie Thatcher was in power.  She talked about the 'wets' and 'drys' and gave all the best jobs to the drys.  The Liberal Party boasts about being a 'broad church' that accommodates a wide variety of views.  I can't help wondering whether that is its weakness.  Traditional Liberals like Mr Turnbull can't get on with the job because they have to accommodate extremists like Cory Bernardi and Eric Abetz.  The long-term alliance with the Nationals must also be a handicap.  Wouldn't life be easier if Barnaby wasn't knocking on your door every five minutes.

I love new words and, on QI today, I heard aptogram which is apparently an anagram which has roughly the same meaning as the original word.  The example they gave was 'moon starer' which, reshuffled is Astronomer.

Dropped in to the conversation was Apple Macintosh, which I am astounded to discover can become laptop machines.  Brilliant!