Saturday 21 February 2015

Remembering a significant life

Today is the fourth anniversary of my husband's death. All today I am thinking about him, and our lives, both separate and together. And I miss him. It is a sad day. He was a remarkable person who made significant contributions to society and to politics, being one of the founders of the movement to protect civil liberties. He never lost that passion. An immigrant himself, he believed in assimilation rather that multiculturalism, participation in the political process, and in the democratic system. He was a most intelligent and interesting man. Overall, I am glad we were part of each other's lives.



Friday 6 February 2015

Who is doing what to whom?

One must be glued to the airwaves at the moment, as there is trouble and dissatisfaction in the rarified environment of the government. This makes me quite happy, but one must never rejoice too soon. A spill motion in the government parties is bruited. What will transpire? Well, what would I know, far removed these days from the immediate political environment. Perhaps it is too much to hope that our PM is facing imminent dethronement.  There is grouping and regrouping going on apace. Our glorious leader has evoked a quaint theory that only voters can remove a leader, and that only by means of an election. Goodness me, this theory cannot hold water. It has been disproved many times in our political history. The simple fact is that leaders may be removed if their parties so decide, and there are very many instances of this in the history of our federation. As an erstwhile historian and political scientist, I can point to many such events, and for our leader to pretend otherwise is blatant dishonesty. Why am I not surprised?

Who knows what will happen, and while the deck chairs are being rearranged, I can only ponder the political history of our Commonwealth government, and indicate the dubious factual errors and imaginative analyses of the political situation. There are indications of a certain displeasure from Above, as my internet connection mirrors the uncertainties of the political situation.

Never mind, I have had a good day, with the knitting group, where we make blankets to be sent to refugees. We, at least, produce things which are useful to those in need. And we enjoy what we do.