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Archive for June, 2010

Julia Gillard; The Lady’s Not For Spurning

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

There’s nothing like a political coup, it’s equal parts destablization and exhilaration. The winner suddenly becomes a loser and bows to their challenger.

And there’s nothing like an Australian political coup – especially when it comes to the Australian Labor Party.  The ALP knows how to do the ruthless, rolling maul of backroom politics more than any other political party of the OECD.

Just ask Kevin Rudd – and before him, Bob Hawke.

So, how could an Australian Prime Minister last less than one term when he had come to power on such a wave of popularity 2 ½ years ago?  After all, six months ago Rudd was a man who was one of two of the most popular Prime Ministers in the 40-year history of the Sydney Morning Herald’s Nielsen poll.

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Tears For Fifty Years

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

It was poet and philosopher George Santayana who said, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”  Such is the case with TVNZ’s homage to its own history, the jauntily named “Cheers To 50 Years.”

This was a programme touted as a celebration of all that we’ve known and loved on the box for the past half-century but which resulted in the boring vying with the banal for two excruciating, culture-cringing hours.

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