Games of brinkmanship

Clues to promises to come. When you are seen as the representative of the rich there’s nothing like a little populist tall poppy lopping especially when the targets are public servants. Thus British Conservative Leader David Cameron has made one of his early election campaign promises a commitment to cut the pay of senior managers in the public sector by saying they will not be allowed to earn more than 20 times more than the lowest paid full-time person in their organisation.

If actually put into practice up to 200 senior public service executives would get pay cuts. Jolly good stuff for the Eton educated and very privileged Mr Cameron and the kind of policy that could well be turned to in Australia by a Tony Abbott searching for ways to appeal to Howard’s battlers that don’t actually cost any money.

And another thing to look for. There’s nothing extraordinary about male politicians trying to court the women’s vote but the internet is certainly providing them with a new way of doing it. Live web chats by politicians on a site called mumsnet.com are now so prevalent that the daily papers have taken to calling this the “mumsnet election.”

One lot who’d be happy.  There are surely one lot of employees who would be thankful for a shakeup of public hospital administration — at the Gold Coast hospital workers haven’t been paid for a month because of a computer bungle. The Gold Coast Bulletin gave the story appropriate treatment this morning:

A great display of brinkmanship. Full marks to Tasmanian Labor Leader David Bartlett. He played the waiting game perfectly. The Premier lived up to his promise to advise the Governor to give the Liberal Party the opportunity to take government and saw the Greens bow to the wishes of the majority of those who voted for them and decide they would not guarantee to support such an administration. That left the Governor with little option but to tell Premier Bartlett to continue in office.

Playing to the grandstand. The stakes are different but Afghan President Hamid Karzai is another who seems able to play politics on the brink. His show of independence in criticising his allies is a prerequisite to being able to stay in office when the Americans and their allies beat the inevitable retreat from his country.