Tim Blair

Hey mate, today's the 26th, not the 27th.

Hey Tim (or readers),

Can someone explain to me the relationship (government wise) between Australia and the UK?

Also, what are the major political parties in Australia and whether they are generally more conservative or liberal. I've been reading here for a couple months, and would like to better understand Australia politics.

Thanks

Hey Sean, you ever hear about the concept of "time zones"?

Time zones? Drat! I thought I was getting tomorrow's news today.

In the U.S. the opposition candidate meets with foreign leaders at dining establishments where they root him on to victory. Perhaps your opposition leader can find a quaint bistro to meet with Mr. Blair. Or maybe he can just bullshit like Kerry.

Steve,

AUstralia and the UK are two independent countries that have very close ties, mostly through the fact that Australia was founded by the British in the 18th Century. The two countries share a Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II and are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations (an organisation of countries who were part of the British Empire).

There are three main political parties in Australia: The Liberal Party, the National Party and the Labor Party (or ALP). The Liberal and National Parties are both Conservative (the first mainly urban and the second mainly rural). For about 80 years these two have acted mostly in concert. Thus, when these two together form a majority in Federal Parliament they will rule as a Coalition, with the head of the larger Liberal Party as Prime Minister and the head of the National Party as Deputy Prime Minister. Hence, a reference to "the Coalition" is a reference to the combined COnservative parties in Australian politics. AS you can guess the Liberal Party was formed as fusion between Conservatives and old fashioned Liberals, thus in some ways it sits to the left of the Republicans in the US. However, under John Howard the Conservative wing of the party has been predominant.

The Labor Party stared off as a socialist party and has gradually evolved into a social democratic party. It is strongly affiliated with the Trade (Labor) Unions. The ALP has institutionalised factions of Right, Centre Left and Socialist Left in its ranks. Mark Latham is from the Right faction, though many in that faction find him abhorrent. As a whole the ALP would be termed "Liberal" in the US.

Steve,

AUstralia and the UK are two independent countries that have very close ties, mostly through the fact that Australia was founded by the British in the 18th Century. The two countries share a Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II and are both members of the Commonwealth of Nations (an organisation of countries who were part of the British Empire).

There are three main political parties in Australia: The Liberal Party, the National Party and the Labor Party (or ALP). The Liberal and National Parties are both Conservative (the first mainly urban and the second mainly rural). For about 80 years these two have acted mostly in concert. Thus, when these two together form a majority in Federal Parliament they will form a Coalition Government, with the head of the larger Liberal Party as Prime Minister and the head of the National Party as Deputy Prime Minister. Hence, a reference in the media to "the Coalition" is a reference to the combined Conservative parties in Australian politics. AS you can guess the Liberal Party was formed as fusion between Conservatives and old fashioned Liberals, thus in some ways it sits to the left of the Republicans in the US. However, under John Howard the Conservative wing of the party has been predominant.

The Labor Party,which is strongly affiliated to the Trade (Labor) Unions, stared off as a socialist party and has gradually evolved into a social democratic party. The ALP has institutionalised factions of Right, Centre Left and Socialist Left in its ranks. Mark Latham is from the Right faction, though many in that faction find him abhorrent. As a whole the ALP would be termed "Liberal" in the US.

Shouldn't the headline of this post read LATHAM GASPS AT "FOREIGN LEADERS"?

Thanks for the great overview, Toryhere! More than two viable parties is beyond the ken of alot of us Yanks. We just have the good guys and the bad guys with an occasional third party spoiler.

If Latham needs a foreign endorsement, why not Zapatero? He has expressed interest in engaging in domestic political campaigns outside of Spain and may be available, now that Kerry has had to turn him down. The two seem to have similar views on downsizing commitments.

The least Latham could do is wait untill a few hundred of us are murdered by islamic fanatics-oops! That already happened.

I think what the Australian people are really crying out for is a leader who will quell our thirst for revenge by running away and pleading for mercy from people we consider lower than child-molesters. And if that pisses on our national honor and our Anzac tradition? Hey, it's not like we care about those things.

Good thinking, Latham, you woke up one morning and thought you were in Spain, a country with a flag that actually has a yellow stripe up it's middle. You're on a winner there, buddy!

Tim's crusdade to ensure accurate reporting of Australia in the US press obviously does not extend to pointing out to the WSJ that Australia does not have 2,000 troops in Iraq. Altogether, around 850 personnel are currently stationed in the Gulf, of which only about 300 are actually stationed on Iraqi soil.

Hi.

Mork is right on the numbers: well spotted!

Toryhere is right on the parties. Steve, you can take that as the best quick summary you'll get.

And Amos is dead right on the alternative Latham is offering us: a new Australia with our own yellow streak.

Mork, sorry, you are still banned. You will have to continue bothering others with your tedious pedantry.

Take the medicine because it makes you strong, Andrea.

Mork is right that Tim frequently points out minor factual errors made by lefty dorks, though they make them in 'reputable' print rather than a personal blog, so I guess it's not really the same. Uh-oh, now I'm banned t-

Amos, I left Mork's post up because a) someone had already replied to it, and b) we can benefit from whatever useful if pointless fact Mork may have dredged up without the comment thread devolving into yet another Mork-gets-attention fest, as they always do when Mork is around. That is why I banned him and will continue to ban him, though nothing is stopping you and he from starting up an email discussion on your own.

I think I'll decline this opportunity to get into a lengthy correspondence with mork.

Your loss is -- uh -- your gain!

Hey Latham, don't feel too bad... when BillyBob Clinton was over there in that London place some months ago, spoutin' out 'bout how he'd knew'd Blair had this here medical problem cuz Tony done told him 'bout it... then Downing St. went: "Umm, don't know how Mr. Clinton could've known about this before the PM's doctor did.."

Do Lefties everywhere read from the same damned playbook, without checking the net for updates? Jeebus... if you're gonna puff yerself up, the least you could do is watch yer arse, eh?

Buggar - Labor tries to arrange a Blair visit and I missed the ABC report on this lunacy.
Of course it could be that the ABC did NOT report on this - NAH! perish the thought as this kind of thinking could lead to claims of ABC BIAS and we know this aint true 'cos David (I'll screw Alan Jones if it is the last thing I do!) Marr told me so.

Hi.

Andrea Harris said: "Amos, I left Mork's post up because a) someone had already replied to it, and b) we can benefit from whatever useful if pointless fact Mork may have dredged up without the comment thread devolving into yet another Mork-gets-attention fest, as they always do when Mork is around. That is why I banned him and will continue to ban him ..."

In this case I thought it was worth drawing attention to a fact well spotted, but in general I'm all for squelching trolls. Ban away, and thank you for it.

(scribbles "tedious pedantry" in stylebook...)

In the U.S. the opposition candidate meets with foreign leaders at dining establishments where they root him on to victory.

Fair warning: the term 'root' has somewhat different connotations in aussieland. Expect to get some amused looks from the locals if you use it down there.