Blogging and coughing and postponing starting the day’s renovations. I see from a comment by Tex that he’s from Darwin. He probably won’t thank me for this, but the penny’s finally dropped. Tex is the brother of Mark Textor, senior federal Liberal Party pollster and John Howard’s guru/architect of wedge politics strategies.
It’s a small world really. Mark is married to Davida Walker, a good friend of ours when she lived in Darwin. In fact her son Lindsay was Rebecca’s very best friend when they were small children. Lindsay was Davida’s child by her then long-time partner John Stirk, a lawyer colleague who now runs a firm in Alice Springs. When Jenny and I first arrived in Darwin at the end of 1982, John and Davida found us our first accommodation, in a granny flat under the house of their next door neighbours Russell and Mary Gluck. And that’s a story in itself.
Mary was a long-suffering Kiwi, while Russell was a recently born-again Jew and public servant. Picture a slightly anorexic Joseph Gutnick (although Russell supported Footscray as it then was). Russell was also a weekend neo-hippie, who’d decided to turn his yard into a productive suburban ecosystem. The family attempted to live entirely on what they produced in their own garden. Russell and Mary and their 4 year old son Sam were the most malnourished middle class people I’ve ever seen.
Russell had turned their swimming pool into a self-sustaining aquaculture system. As far as I could see, it only bred mosquitos, frogs and noxious green slime.
He also chainsawed all the mature palms in the garden and replaced them with exotic tropical fruit trees. Unfortunately Russell decided to leave the fallen trunks in place to rot down and provide mulch, or so he claimed. What he failed to realise was that this simply attracted white-ants, who didn’t differentiate between the palms and fruit trees, and also began munching happily on the main bearers of the house.
Russell also kept free range chooks, ducks and geese, most but not all of whom became quite adept at avoiding the local dogs. He fed them on kitchen scraps, which attracted free range rats who roamed at will through our granny flat every night. Jenny and I quickly found other accommodation. Russell and Mary divorced soon after. Mary and Sam returned to New Zealand, and Russell was transferred back to Canberra.
I bumped into Russell a few months ago, at a Greek restaurant in Manuka. He looked much the same, but considerably better fed. He’d wisely decided that neo-hippiedom wasn’t for him.
Footscray as it then was? What are they now?
Western Bulldogs I think.
“Well, that certainly explains a hell of a lot about Tex”
Including why I voted Labor in the last ACT election? You twat.
You’re right, Tex. He is a twat. I knew I’d get others using that word eventually.
I suppose I should explain that last comment. First, assuming anyone’s political views are the same as those of a sibling is silly. My views, for instance, are quite different from those of my brother, who’s a management consultant and has never voted Labor in his life.
Secondly, I wouldn’t have thought you could draw any conclusions at all about the views of Tex’s brother from his occupation. The skill of a pollster (especially a qualitative one who runs focus groups) lies in identifying what the public are thinking, and translating that into saleabe messages and strategies, not imposing one’s own opinions on the group. Thus, the fact that Textor has come up with some fairly potently divisive strategies over the years doesn’t necessarily say anything at all about his own political views (although I suppose it’s reasonable to infer that they’re probably right of centre).
BTW If you want a preview of Labor’s wedge messages for the next election, read this speech by Mark Latham posted on Margo Kingston’s Web Diary. These sorts of messages are every bit as divisive as any of John Howard’s propaganda, so let’s not get too sanctimonious. Politics, whether we like it or not, is inherently an amoral game: “whatever it takes”, as Richo once famously said.
Ken
has it taken you this long to figure out that Mark Textor might be Chris Textor’s brother? (same age group, same surname, looks roughly the same)
Tex, is is true that your father was the Northern Territory policeman who took the call from Lindy Chamberlain about the dingo and her baby? I heard this rumour a long time ago but have never been able to check it.
Ah, but Tex, *anyone* would’ve voted Labor in the last ACT election after the way the Libs ran things. (Can’t say I’ve any opinion of Labor’s job one way or the other, but at least there’s no major disasters this term).
Must confess my reaction was initially the same as Niall’s — “ah, so *that* explains it!” — then I thought for a while and realised what a stupid reaction that was.
Jason,
It’s true it hadn’t occurred to me before. A bit thick I guess.
“Since when is voting labor in the last election any qualification for anything in life? For that matter, so did I…..big deal!”
You must be part of the secret Liberal cabal too then.
What a knob.
Hi,
I was a friend of Davida’s in the 1970’s when we both attended Darwin High School. I would love to know how to contact her (e-mail address) so I could just say hi. Can anyone help me?