July 11, 2022
1

There will be a lot of talk in the coming days about [Boris] Johnson’s achievements - how he ‘delivered’ Brexit and ‘took the right decisions’ during the pandemic. Yet Brexit has only been delivered in the sense that a flat-pack piece of furniture is delivered. It hasn’t been assembled yet because it won’t fit through the front door, several of the pieces are missing and the instructions are in Russian. More ominously for Johnson, the public inquiry into the pandemic will soon be up and running and the bereaved will want to know why he presided over one of the highest Covid death rates in Europe.

Billy Bragg
July 8, 2022
1

The unbridled joy that comes with knowing we will never again have to deal with the entity formerly known as Prime Minister Scott Morrison is leavened by the fact that we had to put up with him in the first place. Not just put up with him but act as if the destruction he was wreaking was somehow invisible. That the studied neglect which was the hallmark of the way in which he pursued what can barely be called ‘governance’ was not obvious. Now they tell us about the problems with the energy markets. Now they tell us about funding holes in the NDIS. Now we hear that the National Gallery in Canberra is falling down, falling down because of underfunding. Now we hear they stopped funding recovery programs for endangered plants. Now we hear all the things. Sure, the media reported many of these instances over the last few years, but even as they did, their methodology resisted drawing conclusions. They showed us the dots, but they don’t join them. [https://meanjin.com.au/blog/scott-free-but-still-in-chains/]

Tim Dunlop
June 21, 2022
0

[Greens leader, Adam] Bandt believes the election of more Greens and climate action independents means voters want the Parliament to act more in line with the climate science calling for more ambitious emissions reductions. He may be right, but at the same time, would these same voters prefer to see no legislated targets delivered by an unholy alliance of the Greens, the Coalition and Pauline Hanson? https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/06/21/paul-bongiorno-peter-dutton/

Paul Bongiorno
May 16, 2022
1

For [Scott] Morrison, words are just distracting noises that come out of a hole in his head. They are not connected to any logic or fact or principle. They are not constrained by anything he has said or done in the past, nor do they commit him to any future course of action. To expect otherwise is to make a categorical error. Morrison’s political career provides no grounds for believing that he will ever give a straight answer to any question, offer a cogent and consistent argument, explain himself in any way, or do anything he says he will do. He has never baulked at any hypocrisy, small or large. He speaks in order to make the very act of questioning him an exercise in futility, addressing no concrete reality beyond the immediate imperative to generate static. It is a form of anti-oratory: the rhetorical equivalent of avoiding an awkward conversation by starting up a leaf blower. [https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/amen-snorter-rotten-fish/]

James Ley
May 13, 2022
0

When Christians talk about how they are being ‘persecuted’ what they really mean is that they are discontent at no longer being able to use social and political power to force their views, their morality or their dogma onto other people the way they once did. They can no longer burn people at the stake, prosecute people for blasphemy, and have much less of an ability to oppress minorities and ‘keep them in their place’. The dogma, ignorance and authoritarianism that is required for Christianity to maintain control has greatly diminished and religious authorities and their institutions no longer have the power nor the respect that they once had. This makes them feel that they are being unfairly persecuted, though they actually have no real understanding of what that word really means.

Ephraim C. Brown
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