Comments on: John’s message to Kim

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 22:59:59 +0000

Gillard would be alright too, although she probably needs a token hubbie to soothe the punters

I’ll volunteer. Anything for the cause :)

By: cs

cs — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 13:25:05 +0000

Fair enough Ken. There’s no accounting for impressions, and everyone has them, and is of course entitled to them. I worked with Kevin for a couple of years, and then invited him to be a contribute a chapter to one of my books. In all my dealings, I’ve never found him to be anything other than very bright, diligent, trustworthy and good humoured. In other words, I’ve always found he delivers the goods, and never in an arrogant way; on the contrary, he is always a delight to work with: he has always made my jobs easier, even when I have been flatly opposed to his position (and he is certainly to my right, politically), rather than the reverse – the reverse being the mark of the prima dona he isn’t. I suspect this also has a lot to do with his easy media access, as I’m sure journos also find him a (fresh) breeze. Still, I acknowledge the perception. You are not Robinson Crusoe in this. If it holds him back, It will be a terrible shame in my book. My view is not only formed by his personal attributes. His career concentration on China makes him the man of the moment content-wise in my book, and I would be proud of an Australian pm who can converse with all our regional neighbours in their own languages. But there you go. We’ll see, of course.

By: Ken Parish

Ken Parish — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 02:55:29 +0000

I find Rudd’s personal manner intensely irritating (smarmy and robotic – the ultimate tehcnocratic who thinks he’s superior to everyone else). I find Howard just as irritating but for very different reasons. Howard has perfected the faux humble ordinary suburban nerd and elevated it to an art form. The ultimate sin for a politician is to give the appearance of being up yourself. Howard is very careful never to give that impression (his care not to seem “triumphalist” last week is just one tiny example). OTO Rudd ALWAYS appears to be so far up himself he’s in imminent danger of choking. Pity really, because I agree that he’s smart and capable.

I reckon Lindsay Tanner is the best of the current crop, although being a member of the left like Julia Gillard almost certainly means he’s got Buckley’s chance. Gillard would be alright too, although she probably needs a token hubbie to soothe the punters, just as Billy McMahon needed a token wife.

By: Ron

Ron — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 02:32:51 +0000

“WYSIWYG functionality of the new Wordpress installation”

You can turn it off under Users > Your Profile, Ken.

By: cs

cs — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 11:42:59 +0000

There’s a lot there Ken, to which my shorthand answer has long been Kevin Rudd. But what I really wanted to say was, yes, Judith Brett did a very nice piece of work in the SMH. Nothing like research to make wallies also look like wallies.

By: Homer Paxton

Homer Paxton — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 03:30:05 +0000

the only core value John Howard ever believed in was becoming PM.
I doubt that Kim has that!

Howard has moved Australia to the right?
Welfare is bigger despite 15 years of economic growth. Government spending larger and taxation are both higher as a % of GDP.
90% of families get the Family tax benefit!

If this is right-wing government heaven help us when we get left wing governments.

What will they do ?
Deregulate the economy?

By: Tiny Tyrant

Tiny Tyrant — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 12:20:40 +0000

“Australians have not moved to the Right during the Howard era nor been “alienated”

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 09:40:15 +0000

Just to make it clear, I’m not Kim Beazley :)

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 07:44:26 +0000

Excellent post, Ken.

By: Ken Parish

Ken Parish — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 06:13:52 +0000

Apologies to readers for the crappy formatting of this post, especially a distinct lack of paragraphing. I’ve spent the last 30 minutes trying to fix it, with a complete lack of success. There appears to be something badly wrong with the WYSIWYG functionality of the new Wordpress installation. I’m starting to think we should have stuck with the old version. Anyone have any ideas how it can be fixed?