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judgefloyd

Listed below are comments made by judgefloyd between Sunday, 19th April 2009 and Thursday, 22nd October 2009.

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Seeking asylum by boat or by plane 02:46am on 22 Oct 2009 I liked this blog - very informative. I'd be interested in more detail about the 50,000 'plane people'. How many of them stay for a long time?
The requirement for any political party to be seen to be tough on asylum seekers is a national disgrace.
A good Australian read 08:25am on 17 Oct 2009 I've only started the book, which seemed particularly Melbourne-ish to me, rather than about Australia all over (it mentions my local gym in the first chapter, woo hoo!), but the blog seems fair enough. Me, I'm biassed towards Tsiolkas because I'm sick of Tim Winton.
But...."the book provides insights into the tensions, anger, frailties and prejudices of an inner suburb of Melbourne in the Howard era - although it could just have easily been written in the present" - is sloppy - the Howard era isn't that long ago, but you're writing about it as if it were the 1950s.

ps to get a feeling for how attitudes towards 'wogs' have changed, get out the old Aunty Jack series on dvd
Rudd unlikely to do as Romans do on Rio 12:14pm on 12 Jul 2009 It is of course possible that the guy did something that's illegal under Chinese law. I'm not saying I think that this is what happened or even that it's likely.
I'm with Holmes16 on the source used. It is alarming seeing "Greg Sheridan Foreign Editor of the Australian" quoted on the subject. I'm worried that British readers might get the impression that Sheridan represents what Australians think, or that he has a shred of objectivity on the issue. Sheridan is a frenziedly one-eyed commentator who peddles the Murdoch world-view as though it has just been handed to him on tablets of stone. His main concern on this issue will be as a stick to beat Rudd with. The Sheridan pieces that I've read so far have been:
- snooty dismissal of any idea of giving West Papuans rights as being not the realpolitik thing
- Greg getting all heavy breathing about the Australian Armed forces because they're so tough and all
- And I'm pretty sure I remember a whole bunch of 'Iraq's going better than everyone thinks' and 'Iraq's all about opposing tyranny' articles from him. Apologies if I'm wrong on that.
Should Poms be denied the vote? 12:34pm on 26 Jun 2009 Well, I was wrong (it happens) about Australians being able to vote in the UK. I still don't think non-citizens should be able to vote here regardless of where they're from.
My wife has worked here for four years and does a lot of voluntary work. But she's from Japan, so unlike AussieLester's deserving friend can't vote no matter how nice she is. If AussieLester's mate was not as nice as described, he'd still be able to vote by virtue of being from the UK (kind of like how the Royal Family get to be heads of state by virtue of being descended from the right German family rather than from any personal merit). I do think there's something in the idea of 'no taxation without representation' being applied to the situation, but that would need to apply to all non-citizens who live and work here, not just the British ones.
Should Poms be denied the vote? 09:33am on 24 Jun 2009 I assume you're asking the question just to get a rise out of us. Of course ex-pat British citizens shouldn't be able to vote in Australian elections. Put it another way, which citizens of other countries are allowed to vote in British elections?
Thank you for an interesting list of decaying ties to the country that we used to call 'home' (I remember an old Australian guide to London my grandma had which talked about what to do when you visit 'Home').
The best prime minister Australia never had? 2:18pm on 16 Jun 2009 Clive James is a premium export because we're well shot of the narcissitic overrated nong.
As for Costello, the funniest part of the affair has been Howard's niggardly tribute
Will the Chasers go to war on Rudd? 11:47am on 22 May 2009 I wouldn't describe Rudd's popularity as 'Hawkie like', although I guess his approval ratings have been pretty high. Something the Chaser team (never referred to as 'the Chasers') made a lot of fun of was Rudd's resemblance to Howard. As one of them said "whatever happens, Australia will be governed by a social conservative with a bad haircut". They also did a send up of the 'I'm an Windows, I'm a Mac' ad, in which the 'I'm Labor' character ditches his cool clothes and puts on the same suit as the Liberal.
It would be great if The Chaser could give Rudd some flak, but I wouldn't think it would make much difference to his electoral chances. ABC viewers are mostly labor voters anyway. While I know a lot of people who like The Chaser, I don't know anyone whose vote was swayed by watching it. The vote changers I know were Liberal voters who were disgusted by the Iraq war.
I'm a Treasurer, Get Me Out of Here 12:24pm on 13 May 2009 I like this blog, but today's entry has a bad habit of blandly quoting commentators without explaining where they're coming from. The Australian is an extrememely biased Murdoch paper with a strong neo-conservative slant. I'm not saying you shouldn't quote them, just that it would be better to do so with a grain of salt
Australian Republic back on radar 12:33pm on 28 Apr 2009 Davebandit the Monarchy apparently protect us from a dictatorship, you know the way having a Kaiser stopped Germany from falling under the control of an autocrat. The Monarchy does nothing for Australia and were I a pom, I wouldn't want them in control of my country no matter how constitutionally they did it. Yet, I can't get very excited about this issue. It's not as important as our government doing something useful about Climate Change, that's for sure. I can't get into the Republican idea that the rest of the world will pay us any more respect or attention than they do at the moment if we stop pretending that the Queen and her family matter.
Making arguments on race 08:07am on 19 Apr 2009 Your article captures both sides of our history on race very fairly; ie, we have a long history of xenophobia which is not over. We also have a tradition of tolerance, fairness and egalitarianism which in many ways puts the UK to shame.
In my experience racism is by no means a thing of the past. Howard may have apologised for his comments as a backbencher, but by means of the 'dog whistle' approach, he signified to the electorate that he was very much on-side with Hansonism*. I went to school in Melbourne and remember other kids saying that the Vietnamese boatpeople of the 70s and 80s should be used by as target practice by the navy.

*Howard did a lot by what he didn't say - ie his ostentatious silence about Hanson and by saying about Cronulla that he would never condemn anyone for wearing the Australian flag (not saying that in this context the wearers were trying to beat up Australians with Middle Eastern backgrounds)

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