After his loss to Gough Whitlam in the 1974 election, Sir Billy Snedden, former Liberal Party leader and superlative psephologist of yesteryear pronounced: “We didn’t win but we didn’t lose.”
Sadly Sir Billy came and went in 1987 without having been pressed to peel back the onion on that paradox but in a far off windswept Mahayana monastery, clinging perilously to the northwest face of Mount Everest, a small army of orange suited monks are still trying to work it out.
Without wanting to add to their philosophical toil, last week’s UK election provided a rich rota of Sneddenisms. Theresa May lost but still calls No. 10 Downing Street home. Jeremy Corbyn had a thumping victory but fell 64 seats short of forming government. Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon lost a full third of the seats her party carried in 2015 but was still babbling in front of a bank of microphones like her every word was gospel. Even Nigel Farage put a cheery face on UKIP’s predictable slide into political oblivion.
Full column here.
Jack, I believe some broadcasters have fallen foul of community standards for the way they have expressed themselves. Three of them, apparently, have discovered some merit in telling the Judge they are regretful, but not apologetic. The other, Red, has yet to be heard by his following, but he doesn’t seem the kind of chap to backpedal, either.
Red’s apparent crime was committed in a podcast, a means of broadcast I do not find useful. So, Jack, I wonder if more public utterances from grandstanding pollies could be put into podcasts and archived from the get-go. On the arithmetic that would cause far less offense.
Podcasts get huge audiences, HU. I don’t know of Red’s does but my friend Richard Fidler gets a million downloads a week for Conversations even when I’m not on it. Incredible.
Has anyone mentioned the Nations now half a trillion $$$$$ debt? Under the coalitions settings it is heading to $750 Billion in the next decade probably sooner. The last 12 months of Labor debt grew at $1.89 billion per month. The last 12 months of the coalition debt has grown at $7 billion a month. Better economic managers? Pigs Arse. Are we winning or losing by having our debt grow astronomically under the coalition even though infrastructure spending has plummeted.?? Before the cons flock of sheeple chime in Welfare spending is going down except for the Age Pension and rightfully the NDIS.