Gladys all over In the United States it’s called a “boomlet” — a sudden, even wholly unanticipated, surge in interest before fading. In the case of the “Berejiklian for Warringah” boomlet, the entire thing has been orchestrated by a desperate Scott Morrison and his media allies, with journalists discussing how inordinately popular the former premier is despite being under investigation the NSW ICAC. “Game changer”, one gallery journalist cried. But now that Berejiklian has indicated privately she’s reluctant, the “game changer” is that Berejiklian is somehow required to fix the problem — with a government source telling Nine that she shouldn’t let the speculation continue.
So let’s understand this properly: Berejiklian has done nothing to encourage the idea she might run, but now must fix the problem created for themselves by Liberal Party men who said she might run? Another minor example, perhaps, of how, when it comes to the Morrison government, the fault always lies with someone else.
National lampoon Senator sports rorts herself, Bridget McKenzie, has always been an expert room-reader — who can forget that hee-larious pose she struck at a national obesity summit in 2019? So I’m sure the attendees of the Resilient Australia Awards were absolutely delighted to hear the following after the events of 2020-21:
We spend 97% mopping up after disasters and 3% getting ready for the next one, and I can tell you in this nation, there is going to be another one just around the corner…
Going interNational Elsewhere in the malfunctioning clown car that is the National Party, leader Barnaby Joyce has only gone and got COVID during his US trip. Why did we pay for him to fly there and get ill in the first place? The deputy prime minister was on a tour of the US and UK, saying he was determined to work with US congressional leaders to curb Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s power. Pretty standard stuff, we guess, but — for reasons that are only too apparent now — could he not just have done it online?
Joyce joins Defence Minister Peter Dutton, Liberal senators Andrew Bragg and Susan McDonald and independent Rex Patrick among the political COVID victims in the country.
Pray for BoJo In some ways mocking Boris Johnson for looking a right royal berk on purpose for a photo op is like shooting a whale in a barrel. But seriously, look at the fucking state of him:
It was part of his government’s new tough-on-drugs stance, which is a brilliant idea which has always worked in the past. In a particularly inconvenient bit of timing, it coincides with a report in The Washington Post which said a “dozen sites” inside the Palace of Westminster — where one finds the House of Lords and House of Commons — tested positive for traces of cocaine.
And we’re certainly not making any direct connection here, but still in Europe, the prime minister of Finland has had to apologise after missing an important text regarding whether she had to isolate after being a close contact of a COVID case because she’d left her work phone at home — to go out clubbing until 4am.
FireFox We’re not sure what the man who set the Fox Christmas tree in New York City ablaze had in mind. A protest against the network? An act of wanton destruction? But we can’t deny the image — the merry flames dancing and feasting on what should be a symbol of reassurance and togetherness — seems to fit with how we all feel in December 2021. Merry Christmas, everyone:
“BoJo” – what better symbol for the shambles that is the present UK?
Johnson must be well aware of the effect produced by his shambolic appearances. It contributes greatly to his popularity, which remains remarkably high. It works very well as a distraction from the reality of his government which is a combination of breath-taking incompetence, privilege, impunity and growing authoritarianism, undermining the rule of law and the institutions of civil society. Dressing up as a gormless clown is a superb disguise, and he’s very good at it.
His entire persona is ‘dress-up’.
From the use of ‘Boris‘ (his given first name is Alexander as everyone in his family and personal life calls him) and the mussed up hair is done, by him, before he fronts a camera and combed back afterwards.
His dishevelled, unmade bed appearance of his clothing, dangling shirt tails and the Billy Bunter bulging belly are all carefully staged.
Sure is deliberate, but the poms are truly weird. There are so many of them to choose from, you would think they could choose a better leader, but they can’t seem to even choose a winning cricket team! (I however am barracking for them as I can’t stomach two crooks in our team while our indiscreet captain got the flick.)
Zuckerberg breathes huge sigh of relief, safe for 14 days.
Re Joyce’s junket to the USA: why didn’t Oz taxpayers pay for commercial flights instead of footing the substantial bill for an RAAF plane? I heard this reported on ABC radio but cannot yet confirm it is correct, does anyone know?
“why didn’t Oz taxpayers pay for commercial flights instead of footing the substantial bill for an RAAF plane?”
Probably because they were not offered the choice. But give Joyce some credit, at least he spared some poor long-suffering ordinary members of the public (and their flight crew) the trial of finding themselves sharing a long-haul flight with him.
It’s a perplexing look to see senior, and not so senior, LNP figures rushing off to London and/or Washington/NY for instructions on how to run an ‘Anglosphere’ modeled on the 18-19thC; ditto UK Tories also rushing off to Washington and NY too.
So the largest Xmas tree in the holiest than thou ‘Christian’ nation in the world had the ‘sponsored’ name of hated Murdoch’s Fox? No wonder someone burned it down!