Archive for July 2013
A blog on babies and family history
Posted on: 26 July 2013
My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
A blog on babies and family history
If you think I’m going to talk about George Alexander Louis the baby recently born in London you’re mistaken though perhaps the heading of the blog is slightly misleading. It’s misleading because this blog is about more than one baby.
In fact the blog starts with twins Rohan & Audrey, 6th&7th most recent additions to the Larson family, of my nephew Wayne and his wife Lynda King – Larson from the U.S. members of the extended Scottish Allan and King American families. However if the birth George did nothing else it stirred my mind into thinking how many branches of different families have joined with the Allans to create a world of new family trees.
I don’t know if there are there are any famous people on the new family trees; perhaps like most families in the world they’re famous for not being famous. Mind you that’s not to say none will ever achieve fame. Perhaps some will become infamous a status I confess to finding attractive.
Let me confess to one of my greatest disappointments: I haven’t met all of them and what I know of them is less than extensive. Indeed I know more about departed ancestors such as great grandad William Allan, a former military bandsman, who in 1896 as a member of the Carl Rosa Opera Company was, I am given to understand, the first man to play the slide trombone in a public orchestra. Apparently slide trombones weren’t used because it was thought they would knock the hats of the heads of lady orchestra players. True or false I don’t know but from time to time it has made for interesting conversations.
And from around the same time there’s my Great Aunt, (Saucy) Sal – McCusker who trod the stage in Glasgow Vaudeville of the early nineteen hundreds before moving to Manchester where she disappeared into history as one of the Vaudeville’s great unknowns. I rather think I would have liked her.
Apart from grandparents Bob and Rose Morris and Donald and Elizabeth Allan More recently were my parents Rose Morris and Donald Allan who had eight children split evenly between the sexes in order of seniority: Catherine (Katie)-dec; Elizabeth – (Betty); Donald (Junior)-me; Rose-dec; Robert; William – dec; Patricia; and Gerald. Of the many great memories of my mother and father, my favourite is the picture of grace and elegance they presented as they danced together in the local community hall to the music of a piano-accordion. For me they will always.
Of their children none has become famous although one of Katie’s sons has made a name for himself as a sculptor nor have any of Betty’s children. Robert, long retired, was moderately successful in business while Rose who had had a touch of the Aunt Sal about her was at the same time a lady of compassion was much loved in the community where she was born and lived out her life.
William apparently had talent but why it didn’t blossom I don’t know as I had left the family behind while he was still a schoolboy and saw little of him afterwards. He was father of three boys I didn’t know as children although I have since met two of them (each married a very charming Japanese lady) briefly when they visited and stayed with Valerie and me in Canberra, Sadly, the youngest of his sons, whom I never met, also married with children, died early too early though I like what I read of his wife.
Patricia overcame many difficulties her in life and has a fine family of four she can be proud in the same way as I am proud of my family. Gerald has never married and has no children. I don’t care either that if any of their children – if fortunate to have them – make headlines in the same way as the Royal George but whether they do or not I hope they will grow up not only to be healthy but love and be as proud of their parents as I am of mine.
As It now unlikely I will ever meet them I‘d like to send them a message. A fortunate life will be a good life and an even better life if you love your neighbours and help others without thought of reward.
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Q&A: a political TV snack
Posted on: 23 July 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Entertainment | Government | Politics
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My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Q&A: a political TV snack
Although it took a long time, friends (yes I still have some) persuaded me to watch Q&A a panel show on ABC Television., which is chaired by prominent political commentator Tony Jones. They assured me this was a must watch programme for people, like me, who are interested in politics. Taking them at their word I sat down today, Tuesday, 23rd July, to watch the repeat of the show of the previous evening.
Question master Tony Jones chaired a panel of prominent people: Associate Professor Dr Michelle Foster, Director of the International Refugee Law Research Programme in the Institute for International Law and the Humanities at Melbourne Law School; Bill Shorten, Labor MP and Minister in the Rudd Government; Arthur Sinodinos, Liberal Senator; Louise Adler, prominent publisher; and The Hon Tim Fischer former National Party MP and Deputy Prime Minister and former Australian Ambassador to the Holy See.
Because the audience seemed mostly young people, and with the Government mired in controversy over the Prime Minister Rudd’s latest display of his own genius on how he guaranteed stopping people smugglers from selling passages on decidedly on savoury boats to asylum seekers that would give them unauthorised access to Australia, I expected the panel to face passionate and fiery questions.
I was disappointed. The audience questioned the panellists with less passion than the panellists answered, particularly Foster and Adler, while Mr Shorten and Mr Sinodinos carried on their own battle based on the political positions of their respective parties with regard to stopping the boats.
At the end of the programme when I totted up my score of the battle between politicians Shorten and Sinodinos, I had the latter ahead on points on the basis of his responses to questions. On the other hand I had Foster and Adler ahead of them by a mile.
That said it seems to me the panel was missing an important ingredient: why no Greens panellist? Had there been a Greens panellist not only do I think the session would have been feistier and more interesting it also mitigated Mr Jones’ many irritating interruptions.
At the end of the program the suggestion was made that Q&A could be seen as being in the mould of a town hall debate. When I heard that suggestion my immediate reaction was that to think that with programs like Q&A, little wonder people are apathetic about politics.
I have since spoken to some of the friends who persuaded me to watch the show: some agreed with my views, some didn’t. No doubt some readers will have the same views.
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- In: ACT OPINIONS | Government | media | Politics
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My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Pragmatic or Principled? Australia’s next PM
Now you might think that picturing Australia’s next PM would be easy. No doubt the zealots in every party contesting the election and a number of people with limited knowledge of what each party represents will do so with ease. The former will find it easy because in a sense whether right or wrong like sheep they will follow the party’s bellwether.
The latter are more problematic. Real bellwethers among them will be few and far between because their flocks are rarely to be found on what is now recognised as politics main paddock, Radio, TV and Newspapers.
In Australia the bellwethers are: Kevin Rudd, Labor leader and PM; Tony Abbott, Liberal/ National Coalition’s Leader; and Christine Milne, Greens Leader. The latter is an exception to the rule of bellwethers being castrated rams. But bellwether or not is there a real leader among them?
Indeed if voters are relying on television to help them decide they could end up even more undecided. At the same time although the official election campaign hasn’t started it is clear that Kevin Rudd is already campaigning. Is this just politics or is it cheating?
In his TV ad he says, among other things, that he will give Australians first class health and education services something he says Tony Abbott won’t. He describes Tony Abbott as the Mr Negative of Australian politics because he opposes everything he (Mr Rudd) proposes.
It is said the age of miracles has not yet passed. That having been said, it would be nothing short of a miracle for a political leader to congratulate their opponent on matters he/she proposed. Indeed, why a new leader if everything they proposed was thought OK?
As to Mr Rudd’s advert, his performance seems less than impressive. While Mr Rudd might see himself as a great performer, the advert lacks sincerity. He also looks like a Billy Bunter with mannerisms that put me in mind of old time advance men in the entertainment field who spruiked a coming show as the greatest show in the world.
I have seen Mr Abbott on TV many times, but not in an election advert. While no Billy Bunter, unfortunately for him, the aggressive image he tends to present, his accusations of Mr Rudd as a politician without principal and his continual rejection of proposals put forward by Mr Rudd, tends, subconsciously, to make some voters endorse the latter’s opinion of him as Mr Negative. Are they right?
All I will say is that I have always understood that principle underlies policy in a democracy be it in Australia, Britain, U.S., Canada, France, or wherever else democracy is said to exist. Sadly, and too often in politics, pragmatism displaces principle, a situation to which Australia is no exception.
To explain what I mean, let me use same sex marriage as an example of political pragmatism displacing principle.
Until recently Kevin Rudd has been an opponent of same sex marriage as was Prime Minister Julia Gillard. However in the tortuous world of Labor Politics, Julia Gillard had deposed Rudd as Prime Minster although Rudd claimed Julia had his full support as PM.
Suddenly he changed tack on same sex marriage action many people think an attempt to gain support for him to again become Prime Minister action many people think an attempt to gain support for him to again become Prime Minister (or was this an attempt to put himself in the same class as President Obama?).
Ultimately his attempt proved successful although many are of the view that Rudd’s support of same sex marriage was based more on pragmatism than belief.
Abbott, however, despite poor poll ratings, has declared that his opposition to same sex marriage remains though if he changed his mind no doubt some of the antipathy towards him would disappear. However, it has to be said that, I can only add that if you were in an army and had the choice of appointing a leader, out of Abbott and Rudd, who would you pick: Abbott the principled leader or Rudd the pragmatist?
But Christine Milne, Leader of the Greens Party also has a role to play in Government until election time after which her reduced role might be further reduced or disappear altogether. Whether or not you like her policies Mrs Milne displays a very steely determination to stick to them. For her, principle also seems to win over pragmatism. I should add that the Greens are supporters of same sex marriage.
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- In: ACT OPINIONS | Global Warming | Government | Politics | Science
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My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
This article has been written in response to a request from a Florida reader who, unlike me, believes Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is the driver of climate change.
Man’s innovation will save the world, not a carbon tax
The International Panel on Climate Change heads in the clouds, say a carbon tax would not be necessary if countries stopped using fossil fuels to produce, energy, heat, food and many other things considered essential for life. To achieve their ends they would stop the use of fossil fuels because they cause CO2, a greenhouse gas that they say contributes to global warming and cause cataclysmic and catastrophic events that will make much of the world uninhabitable. Speaking plainly, they are prophets of doom.
As prophets of doom they scorn the views of people who don’t agree with them cast them as deniers of climate science. Like zealots they would deny to others the right to express their opinions while saying anything they liked, true and false, about those opinions.
This is the tactic religious zealots used against two famous sceptics, Copernicus and Galileo, whose scepticism was later shown to be right. In the process of not even considering their ideas the zealots of the purported correct science caused harm to a great many people and also held back the cause of science and reason.
In my view the fears generated by the Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) zealots are similar to the fears generated in the public by the advice dished out by unscrupulous religious at the time of Copernicus and Galileo. If you don’t follow our advice you will be doomed to a fate worse than death. The AGW movement make the same predictions.
Indeed AGW has become religion with a hierarchy of climate scientist who pay obeisance to The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This organisation, which is part of the International Church of Bureaucracy known as the United Nations, headed by international bureaucrat, Rajendra K. Pachauri, has a carbon tax as one of its commandments.
Unfortunately, the IPCC, despite it being a UN subsidiary, seems to have little control over the various plans of members for a carbon tax. It also seems to have little control over its published material so much so that it has had to admit that some recent reports it published on Global Warming were inaccurate.
That apart the reader’s request came at an opportune time as Australia is in the middle of a pre-election campaign much of which much is centred round a carbon tax which, in a sense, puts Climate Change into its proper place. Carbon taxes are also in the political spectrum of other countries which should be a warning to voters everywhere that they should examine very carefully any policy relating to carbon tax. Indeed before the last Australian election the Prime Minister at the time said there would be no such thing as a carbon tax then went on to impose what would be the highest carbon tax in the world.
With an election already scheduled following the PM’s deposing as leader by the former PM whom she deposed, the rebadged PM announced, in a statement that can only be described as a political damascene conversion on the way to polls, a reduction would be made in the carbon tax. The reason: to reduce the burden on families.
Speaking personally, I think these statements were made in an effort to keep his personal high popularity rating in the opinion polls as he strives to remain PM.
Shortly after the announcement of the carbon tax reduction the PM then announced a series of ‘efficiency’ measures, a kind of what I’ve lost on the roundabout I’ll gain on the swings action, to recover budget money lost by the carbon tax reduction. Not that the carbon tax will disappear altogether. A carbon tax in another style, an emissions trading scheme, is to be introduced in 2014.
Finally, let me disabuse everybody of the idea that I don’t believe in global warming: I do! What I don’t believe in, are the predictions of global warming alarmists. I subscribe to the view that fear is a poor system of getting people to believe in anything apart from which I believe that if there is to be such an event as doomsday I think it will arrive without warning.
I also think it likely that our descendants, if we are lucky enough to have any will be living elsewhere in the universe on another planet far from earth.
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- In: ACT OPINIONS | ACT Politics | Government | Planning | Politics
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The future Canberra: dream city or nightmare?
In recent blogs I focused on Federal Politics and Federal Politicians; ACT Politics and ACT Politicians were overlooked. If nothing else, these words show just how easy it is to be distracted from really important issues by flashy and meretricious arguments from self-appointed and selfish federal politicians engaged in vote catching exercises.
Allowing ourselves to be distracted is wrong because in many ways, the ACT Legislative Assembly and its MLAs play a greater role in my life and that of Canberrans in general, than what politicians say in Federal parliament. Not that all federal politicians’ arguments are meretricious, but even serious ones tend to be overwhelmed by the flood of rhetoric from self-appointed important politicians, who treat voters as chooks waiting to be fed. Have they forgotten the fate of the last Queensland politician who did that regularly?
To bring me up to date on what has been happening in Canberra, I turned to the letters page of the Canberra Times only to find the same names gracing the letters page with the same opinions about the same issues and opinions of other regular letter writers and reports by the newspaper’s’ journalists.
The newspaper cannot be blamed for publishing them: it lies squarely with Canberra’s citizens. Curiously in an allegedly literate and articulate city where politics is a major business, the wider community seems apathetic about events in their city. The result the letters’ page has become a propaganda medium for narrowly based political views probably totally unrepresentative of the wider community.
To some extent the newspaper encourages this apathy by focusing on some issues it seems to hold dear but are little discussed in the wider community. Two examples: gay marriage and climate change. However, I have to say that as local branch of the National broadcaster also seems to focus on these issues it too, grants them an importance they do not deserve.
These issues aside, the caption above contributors’ letters page, Saturday 13th July, said:” Rudd fiddling with Facebook while the rest of us burn.” However, not being a Facebook user I learned little about what was happening in Canberra other than a letter of complaint from Victoria no less, about the culling of Kangaroos which the writer said was shameful; another letter about what is an important issue “Abuse of law; a letter about the price of electricity and a letter about American Edward Snowden and his self-imposed imprisonment in Moscow’s airport and of the US being a terrorism nation and the writer’s view that Daniel Ellsberg was the last true (US) patriot.
Much as I found the letters’ page uninteresting, the article ‘Vision of our second century’ on page 3 of Forum, stirred my interest because author David Ellery wrote, that in 2113 Canberra would be a very different place.
He wrote petrol stations will have gone and electricity will come from renewable resources without saying what the renewable resources. Nuclear energy did not rate a mention. Effectively what he described as second century Canberra’s was first century Canberra re-incarnated, with a few alterations.
Aon the question of renewable resources I am surprised that Ellery made no mention of the fact that by 2113 on the basis of ITER (‘the way” in Latin) project at Cadarache, France, in which 34 nations representing over half of the world’s population are co-operating, ‘nuclear fusion’ reactors will likely be producing limitless supplies of cheap, clean and safe energy.
However, he may well be right that the population will live in smaller houses and still live in comfort because of advanced technology. Indeed the artefacts we use today will be obsolete as will many building materials. We will also live closer together because we will want more space for our new recreational needs. Indeed I am doubtful if Rugby, Rugby League or Cricket will still be in vogue because our physiognomy will have changed.
However, I do not agree with Professor Shirley Gregor, Director of the National Centre for Information Research who is quoted in the article as saying that Parliament House will continue to exist as place for politicians to congregate.
In fact I suggest that by 2113 Parliament House might no longer be necessary. Indeed my view is as technology advances that if a Parliament House is still needed it will be necessary to move it to a more central spot and use technology to service it. The current Parliament House could become a tourist attraction, accommodation and hospitality centre.
But when talking about a vision for a future Canberra let’s go out on limb and show some vision rather than continue to imitate the past. If we continue on our current course I feel sure the future will not just catch us up but will overtake us and leave us behind so that in the future Canberra will join the ranks of once great cities because the politicians that governed it had restricted vision.
Having said that it perhaps Members of the current Assembly will really start to look at the future so that instead of Canberra‘s history being the story of a failed experiment in social engineering, it will be a continuous story of grasping every opportunity.
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Posted on: 12 July 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
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Politics has become a variety show
Much as I am interested in politics and not just Australian politics but politics across the world, there are times when I get fed up when I hear the word. I am also curious by nature and though fed up with politics I felt should watch Q&A a show on ABC TV hosted by a man called Tony Jones that featured a panel of so called celebrities who, even if they didn’t merit the celebrity soubriquet, thought they were.
Many of the panel come from the world of politics although it has to be said that members of the Australian Labor and Liberal parties, Australia’s two biggest parties, usually formed the bulk of the panel who were asked questions.
In an effort to show that Q&A was unbiased it was filmed before an audience though it must be said that even the majority of the audience seemed to be Labor or Liberal supporters. But no matter how unbiased Q&A says it is, opinion generally says it is and that it seems biased towards Labor as does its Moderator (a euphemism for Master Of Ceremonies) Tony Jones.
In this case MC better fits the bill as Mr Jones conducts the show in a manner reminiscent of old time variety where MCs often saw themselves as bigger stars than the artists on the bill, something he does on Q&A. At the same time, some of the celebrities on the bill not only see themselves as better politicians than the politicians but also as better comedians.
The show makes some attempt to get a balanced view by asking some members of the audience to ask questions of the panel. In most cases the questions asked expose the political bias of the questioners which generally is in favour of Labor thus adding to the overall perception of the show having a Labor bias.
However, I do have a problem when on the national stage the Prime Minister becomes MC of a quasi- variety show called the Federal election with a number of people hoping to become panel members on Australia’s biggest variety show, the Federal Parliament. More to the point, one in particular will also be trying to oust him as PM.
While the latter’s wish seemed like a lay down misere a few weeks ago, the last shuffle of the political pack has changed players hand so that the lay down misere now seems less than certain. Indeed if a week in politics a long time and a time when anything can happen, then a few weeks ago is a lifetime and many things can happen.
And with Australia’s federal election seemingly still weeks away, clearly there is time for lots of things to happen. The current PM clearly wants to keep the job so perhaps he might be wise to remember that he gained his position due to panellists (MPs) picked by individual electorates. The only votes for him were cast in his own electorate and not all were for him. However, it is more likely than not that a sufficient number of them will vote for him again though it can’t be certain candidates in individual electorates will enjoy the same support.
Clearly he is popular but what he is not is a Solomon or messianic politician with the cure for all the ills currently affecting Australia. Indeed some people think he was the cause of the ills and if he stays as PM the ills will return.
On that basis, I also think they will let him know in no uncertain terms that being Prime Minister is not award for being popular and that good one liners are not enough to keep them happy and that they want a serious parliament not a political variety show with him a MC.
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Posted on: 9 July 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | elections | Government | Politics
- 4 Comments
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Allan Takes Aim is still in Free Speech Mode
When this blog started it was meant as a replacement for a weekly column of mine that for 19 years had been published every Tuesday in The Chronicle, Canberra, until 28th August 2012. Unlike The Chronicle, the blog has been published almost daily and while I don’t like to admit it, like other mass produced products, at times the blog’s quality has been poor. When that happened, I began to question if I should continue writing it but was persuaded by friends to continue. Their argument: they thought it was an important avenue of free speech.
However, the original intention of the blog also was to give people wherever they were from and the opportunity to give their opinion on any subject ,provided it wasn’t slanderous or libellous . My own blog is apolitical so if I feel a political party or a politician needs criticising I say so and I do the same if I think praise is called for.
Although this can cause problems with friends fortunately they are people who know that without criticism or praise society will not progress. Indeed without criticism or praise, proposed solutions to some problems, if implemented, could lead to unintended consequences.
It would be hard to think of a previous time where free speech was needed more than it is now. As man’s knowledge of the world and different peoples expanded so too did the need for free speech else totalitarianism fed by nepotism would have flourished. That it has not is due to free speech promulgating new ideas.
However that is not to say that many people in the world haven’t endeavoured to practice what can be described as benevolent dictatorship, the essence of politics. Can you think of a political party, Labor, Liberal, Democratic or Republican, the appellation doesn’t matter, that doesn’t say to people, support us and we will do what is best for you yet rarely, if ever, accept ideas from outside the party.
At the moment in Australia, Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is attempting to persuade people that he is the answer to their prayers by proposing that rank and file members of the Labor Party will have their say in who will be party leader. This, it is said is a new idea and part of a modernisation process.
But is it a new idea? As I recall, the Australian Democrats canvassed the views of every party member as to who they thought should be their leader. Perhaps this merely goes to show that Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) was right when he said: “there’s no such thing as a new idea.”
That apart, perhaps the saddest thing about this proposal is that it seems to have been developed on the basis that PM Rudd is so confident of remaining PM after the next election that he wants to protect himself from being deposed in the same way as he was deposed in the past and how he, himself, deposed his deposer. But if only to show the venality of many party politicians members will likely fall into line behind each other and support the proposal, even if they don’t agree with it, merely to protect their status and power.
As for the next election, according to the latest opinion polls that every politician says are of no relevance, the battle to become Prime Minister seems to be hotting up. Indeed if politicians are serious about the reformation of government and with opinion polls now becoming the voters’ measure of who they want to lead parliament, perhaps the Prime Minister should be elected separately to other parliamentarians.
The result could be a better Democracy
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- In: ACT OPINIONS | Community | elections | Government | Politics
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Time to rid parliament of political Noddies
According to the almost daily rhetoric of political pundits, ‘ordinary’ people are not interested in politics. I grant you that some people are not interested in politics but based on the daily number visitors to the Allan Takes Aim blog, I think the pundits are wrong. No doubt the pundits would argue that because the source of the blog is Canberra, Australia’s political capital, that’s only to be expected. I don’t agree.
A few years ago the pundits might have been right, but because the world’s political climate has changed so too has the way that people view politics and politicians, the latter in particular. In fact some citizens think political parties are fans of Caligula who allegedly put his horse “Incitatus’ in the Senate, which is why today they put a lot of ‘neddies’ in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. A point of clarification: as politics changed the Neddies became ‘Noddies.’
But Noddies are not the only thing we have to thanks the Romans for. We should also thank their descendant who in 16th Century Naples created the commedia dell’arte and gave us Pulcinella (Punchinello) the genesis of todays’ Punch and Judy Show. Now if you think this has nothing to do with politics, be aware that Punch is the manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Tricksters, two ancient mythological figures.
When one takes a look at various Governments in Australia over the last three years the connection becomes clear. Both the Prime Ministership and Premierships have been used as if items of barter between people who want to use the power they confer without having to take the responsibility for any damage they cause. This power help these people create policies and elect ‘noddies’ that advantage them more than they advantage the community.
Sadly, many Noddies have been seduced by the fame and status that being in parliament brings them. Indeed most of their time is spent in trying to present an image in their electorate so that they can keep that power.
But who are these ‘Noddies you ask? If you can stomach it, take a look at the next TV broadcast of parliamentary business. You’ll see them sitting behind speakers nodding their heads and trying to look serious as if they were thinking about what the speaker was saying.
At this stage, and only to show how politicians abuse the electorate in their efforts to advantage themselves, the only talking heads you will see on TV are those of the contenders for the position of Prime Minister and possible cabinet posts.
Despite deposed Prime Minister Julia Gillard having announced 14th September as the date of the next election, her deposer hasn’t seen fit to tell the electorate if that date still holds and if it doesn’t, when will it be held. However, you can be sure that when the election date is announced it will be on the basis that it suits the current Prime Minister not the electorate
At the same time and until that date is announced the electorate will hear a barrage of political invective from each side. Indeed as I write the Prime Minister is on TV news saying his opponent only speaks negatively. Doesn’t he realise that in saying this about his opponent he is also indulging in the same negativity.
As a final comment I ask you to examine the conduct of government over the past three years and decide if you want to take the chance of electing a Government that might indulge in the same conduct for the next three years or choose to start afresh with a new parliamentary team? I would also ask you to heed the fact that at the election you will not be voting for a Prime Minister but a local candidate.
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Success=Stress-Psychology
Posted on: 6 July 2013
- In: ACT OPINIONS | Government | Humour | Politics
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Success = Stress= Psychology
I’ve come to the conclusion that all candidates for parliament should undergo a mandatory psychological examination to see if they can withstand the stress that being a politician often brings. And perhaps candidates for senior positions in the bureaucracy should undergo the same examination because when all is said and done they supply the information that politicians rely on to make their decisions.
It seems logical to me that such examinations should take place because it is now common for candidates applying for senior managerial positions in industry have to face such a test. Not all the tests are carried out face to face but judgment is made on what candidates said in their written application and answers given to question set by psychologists.
Theoretically this is supposed to weed out the wheat from the chaff so avoiding candidates being selected because they are part of the same old boy or old mate network. Unfortunately, it doesn’t avoid the ‘he’s a good bloke’ system. (Bloke, by the way is gender neutral.)
With nature becoming an important aspect of life today and just in case someone sneaks through the psychology test, it’s good to know that according to the experts ‘a return to nature will relieve stress.’ Comforting as the experts assurances are, I wish the experts would do their homework first, before opening their mouths.
But will this action relieve stress? Having now researched the subject intensively, I don’t think returning to nature is the answer. Indeed, as I watch some of the proselytizers, I think some of them need to be tested psychologically, but not necessarily for stress.
On the other hand during my research, so impressed was I with the research of Robert Evans, a Canadian and leading authority on baboons, I feel able to advise the experts that sending people suffering from stress to join the baboons of the Serengeti Plain, the distant cousins we left behind in the evolutionary race, could exacerbate their stress problem.
The fact is, that based on Evan’s research, politicians, senior bureaucrats and senior executives would be mistaken if they thought that joining the baboons would help them. Indeed, according to Evans and a study carried out in the early ‘90s by the Serengeti Consulting Group from Canada, human and baboon society have the same hierarchical structure and contrary to common belief, the people who suffer most from stress are those at the bottom of the heap, not those at the top.
Contrary also to popular belief, the principal cause of stress is not fear of being sacked, the boss bawling you out, or making you look foolish in front of your workmates, it’s the simple fear of being ignored. And while my research didn’t throw up a definitive cure for stress, I might be able to help you avoid it using the experience of my friend Cedric as an example of what not to do.
Eighteen months ago, Cedric deciding the public service was an honourable occupation, thought he would try and climb to the top instead of just plodding along. To show he meant business, Cedric vowed that from that day on he would get to work on time. He vowed also that before setting off for work and conscious of the fact that, in the course of the day, it was likely he’d meet meet some of his employers (taxpayers) he would shower, shave, put on a clean and ironed shirt, polish his shoes and make sure his trousers were pressed.
Sadly for Cedric, instead of his actions being the first step on what he thought would be the path to success, it led to a nervous breakdown, brought on by stress. And so it was that during the morning on the first day of Cedric’s new, “I mean business,” program, the secretary of the department called in at the office where Cedric worked.
On previous occasions when the secretary had called he had noticed Cedric and nodded to him. On this day thought Cedric, the secretary seeing him dressed and looking as if he meant to work, not the usual public service garb of T-shirt, jeans and runners, would mark his card for promotion.
Cedric might as well have dressed in mini-skirt, low cut blouse, high heels, put on a blond wig and false eyelashes (in fact it might have been better for him if he had) because despite all his efforts he was still ignored. And the more he was ignored the more stressed he became to the extent that visiting his distant cousins would be ill advised.
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Apology
Posted on: 5 July 2013
Editing corrections to blog: “ Beware the quality of political leaders.”
Due to tiredness brought on by attending on someone who is ill, the above blog contained a number of grammatical mistakes. These mistakes have now been rectified.
Apologies
Don Allan.
- In: Government | Politics
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My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Beware the quality of political leaders
To some extent the major political parties model their structure on that of mainstream churches of different beliefs. In Australia the main stream churches are Catholic, Protestant and Jewish while the mainstream political parties are Labor and Liberal. Interestingly, and make of it what you will, the latter describe themselves as broad churches.
At the same time there are minor political parties. For example: the Nationals, the Greens and many other parties that although they take politics very seriously the major parties see them as pests. On the minor religious front are Scientology, Mormon, Unification and many others plus branches of Islam, a two in one combination of political and religious belief, which many Australians not only view as suspicious but dangerous.
Like churches, the history of political parties is awash with stories of conspiracy, internecine war, the imposing and deposing of leaders much like what happened recently in Australia. Indeed evidence that internecine war is alive and well in the Australian Labor Party was demonstrated clearly in 2013 when leadership of the party could be likened to the prize in the last unwrapped parcel in the children’s game, pass the parcel.
As to why this happened has been reported ad nauseum by every branch of the media I don’t intend going through the tortuous process again. Instead I shall join the multitude of people who have commented on the prize in pass the parcel.
In case you don’t know the prize in the parcel was Kevin Rudd, a man who loves talking about himself. He also speaks Chinese, a talent few, if any of his colleagues possess, which, since his replacement as Prime Minister in 2010 by Julia Gillard, a change approved by many in the ALP and many voters because they thought his dictatorial style of government was bad for Australia.
But whether or not you agree with me I favour the suggestion that Kevin Rudd has a messiah problem and it was this problem in 2010 that made a cabal of what he thought principled colleagues, feel he was not the stuff of which leaders are made. Carried away with the idea but at the same time exhibiting the lack of qualities needed by followers of a messiah, the cabal disposed of him in an action worthy of a Chinese Triad.
Following his disposal, the cabal replaced him as Prime Minister with Julia Gillard, a woman who allegedly shared its belief that Kevin Rudd was not the kind of leader needed and that she was the woman for the job. The cabal believed her, but at the next election it was clear that many voters didn’t see her in the same light with the result that Labor ended up as Leader of a minority Government with the support of the minor parties and Independents it thought were pests.
And while the cabal was patting itself on the back for being so clever clearly they had forgotten those famous words of Poet Rabbie Burns: the best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft agley and leave us naught but grief and pain for promised joy.”
It has to be said that PM Gillard certainly gave them grief and pain, so much so that the same principled cabalists found themselves in the same situation two years and ten months later, when after two earlier attempts by Kevin Rudd to depose her had failed, the cabal finally removed her and replaced her with Kevin Rudd.
As PM Rudd says he is a changed man and will now consult with his colleagues when decisions need to be made. Whether or not voters will believe him, what is more important will they vote for the people in the cabal with the power to help keep him as PM? As this won’t be known until the close of the next election, which isn’t far away, it will keep the ALP and the cabal on tenterhooks.
In the meantime Kevin is conducting his campaign in the following guises: that of an old time evangelist, an ancient Roman Emperor who claimed divinity and a popular game show host. The substance of his campaign is based on recounting the success of various Labor policies as if they were his although Julia Gillard originated them and his castigating of Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition for lack of courage because he won’t rise to his taunting that they engage in debate and that Abbott’s policies will lead the country into misery land.
As for me I think his main hope lies not in taunting Mr Abbott but in persuading voters that his change of attitude is real. I don’t think much of his chances because many voters I know seem to be adhering to the age old advice of: once bitten twice shy.
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- In: Government | media | Politics
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My latest blog is always available at: https://donallan.wordpress.com. To make direct contact e-mail me at: dca@netspeed.com.au
Truth should be a permanent value in politics
The more I watch politicians on TV, listen to them on radio and read their opinions in newspapers, the more I wonder why so many of them had been elected to parliament. No doubt by way of assurance they promised to tell voters the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth even though the voters who pay them to represent them in parliament think they do that already.
Today, for example, I watched the replay of yesterday’s Q&A on ABC television, which had two serving politicians, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Health in Kevin Rudd’s alleged new, collegiate and consultative Labor Government and Sophie Mirabella MP, Shadow Minster for Innovation, Industry and Science in the Liberal/National Coalition Opposition, on the panel. .
I’ll be honest. I didn’t manage to watch the whole program but, from the part I did see, I concluded that had viewer voters been polled at the end of the program as to which of the two politicians had answered the questions truthfully, I suspect most would have called it a draw. Now I’m not saying that some of the answers weren’t truthful. No doubt some were, but because they were so convoluted, trying to decide if they were truthful was difficult.
As for the rest of the panel, on the bits I saw, spin doctor Sue Cato having shifted support from Labor to the Liberals on many occasions, now seemed supportive of Kevin Rudd. However, regardless of whether or not she is a spin doctor she will have to work hard to persuade many people who hope his resurrection is but temporary to support him but hope fervently that, after the next election, he will need to be re-interred.
Tom Sampson and Neil Lawrence the other two panelists are in advertising and public relations. In the past both worked on Kevin Rudd’s political campaigns. Indeed it’s possible that one or the other could be involved in Kevin’s next campaign. Mind you I’m doubtful they would try a campaign similar to that when Kevin first became Prime Minister. I can’t imagine a new Kevin 13 campaign if only to prevent bingo callers shouting lucky for some Kevin 13, the unlucky number not having quite the same cachet as the 07 of James Bond.
The only thing I shall say about Tony Jones is that his performance is reminiscent of the 07 Kevin of the past three years.
But today, because truth in politics today seems scarce, I can do no better than end with the words of Alexander Solzhenitsyn a man who knew about truth better than most and spelled it out in an address he made at Harvard, Thursday 8th June 1978.
“truth eludes us if we do not concentrate with total attention on its pursuit. And even while it eludes us, the illusion still lingers of knowing it and leads to many misunderstandings.
Voters around Australia should bear that in mind when voting at the next election!
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Allan Takes Aim Blog 