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FormerlyOldHermit

Listed below are comments made by FormerlyOldHermit between Wednesday, 25th February 2009 and Thursday, 19th November 2009.

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If you thought it was all over... 12:36pm on 19 Nov 2009 I hope Brown does become EU President in a dramatic twist of events. Or even Milliband in the Foreign Affairs role would be good too. Both of them are so awful the EU might kick us out for putting them on the EU payroll. Everyone's a winner then.
Shamed into an apology 12:49pm on 18 Nov 2009 Hackerjack is right. The apology doesn't shut the door and the lack of one wouldn't have left the door open either. All the rubbish about the Westminster system too is wrong; no Parliament binds itself EVER. The laws and precedents of a previous Parliament can always be overturned by a new Parliament. And that's just not a Westminster rule either. Apart from the Constitution, the same applies to the Washington model.
The Republican Referendum: Ten Years On 12:49pm on 09 Nov 2009 Ignorant Brit who knows nothing about Australia? Having visited your country a number of times (to visit family there I might add) and also being a historian who is studying and writing on Imperial relations in South East Asia I do happen to know a fair bit about the Second World War era and afterwards. And I can tell you clearly there was NO great betrayal.

The historian Carl Bridge has described this great betrayal myth as a travesty of truth and he's an Australian like you for goodness sake. Australia did not get abandoned to its fate by Britain when the Pacific War erupted. If that was the case, why attempt to honour the pledge to send a fleet to Singapore in the form of HMS Prince of Wales, one of our most modern battleships, HMS Repulse and HMS Indomitable (an aircraft carrier that never got there because it ran aground. Obviously the Captain was acting on orders from Churchill to screw Australia over...)? Surely you know of the situation Britain and the Royal Navy was faced with in 1941? The way the RN was committed to fighting 2 campaigns almost entirely unaided in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean as well as smaller campaigns in the North Sea and burden of the Arctic Convoys becoming apparent? If we didn't value Australia, why bother depleting our forces in those two campaigns to bolster the defences at Singapore?

As for the deployment of the Diggers during the Second World War, and the lack of Australian forces on the Australian mainland, you need to take the blinkers off and consider the wider world. If Britain had fallen or sued for peace in 1940, what would have happened to Australia? 90% of your trade would have been cut off, the standard of life would have fallen dramatically and the guarantor of Australian security would have been rendered impotent. You only need to look at French colonies in SEA after it fell in 1940 to see what the Japanese would have done. If the Suez Canal had fallen too, the impact on Australia would have been dire with the increase in travelling times between Britain and Australia increasing. America certainly would not come to Australia's aid without British coaxing. On the arrival of R.G Casey as Australian Ambassador to the US in 1940, Roosevelt told him Australia was a very long way away and not a direct American interest. That's not mentioning the trade war you initiated in the 30s against the Yanks either. Australia was asked to bolster the outer defences of the Antipodean Dominions by sending forces to Malaya, which it did in the form of the 8th Division. At secret talks in early '41 also Britain urged the US if it were to come into war to take up responsibility for war in the Far East but the US instead (Admiral Harold Stark to be precise) urged the Atlantic First policy. Britain, in these talks, said of Singapore and Malaya that they were only second to Britain in Imperial defence because they protected Australia, India and New Zealand. Why consider the defensive lynchpin of Australia as only second to the defence of Britain if we were determined to throw you to the dogs?

As for the fall of Singapore itself, it wasn't a betrayal but more a gigantic cock up. The plan for the defence of Malaya was not put immediately into action for fear of provoking negative US feelings for it involved seizing Thai territory, something the Japanese did. Once it was put into action, it was too late and the Japanese outclassed both our nation's forces in the region. The failure of Force Z was a shock and was the first time that air power had truly trumped the Battleship in war. And if Churchill was determined to abandon Australia and Singapore, why issue a message ordering defence to the last man? And remember, it wasn't General Percival who deserted his command and fled back to his homeland unlike Bennett.

So please do not accuse me of being ignorant of your history when I'm well aware of it. The Great Betrayal Myth IS a myth which does not stand up to serious consideration.

And Oldnewshound on some of your points,
1. Yes it is for you to decide. I see nobody from Britain telling you to what to do otherwise, officially or unofficially. I merely offered a comment and suggestion.
2. I suggest you read "Munich to Vietnam: Australia's relations with Britain and the US since the 1930s" by Carl Bridge.
3. Then educate them on Australia's relationship with Britain.
4. Sounds like a good enough compromise.

On 11/11 , I was referring to the fact that it was Remembrance Sunday, which despite not being the 11th November has in recent years taken up the status as the more primary of the remembrance events...at least in Britain anyway.
The Republican Referendum: Ten Years On 9:00pm on 08 Nov 2009 Looking at this from two perspectives, as a Brit I can't understand the need to get rid of the Queen as Head of State because Australia enjoys all the same constitutional benefits (if not more as yours is codified into a single document!) that the Monarchy bestows. Yet looking at this rationally I can sympathise with the Republican view.

Constitutionally, Australia does benefit far more under a Monarchy than it would under a Presidency. There have been posts quoting the Constitutional powers of the Monarch and the huge remit of powers the Monarch and its representative in Australia retains. Using this as an argument against Monarchy though is a red herring. Firstly, no modern (British) Monarch has ever exercised those powers without being advised to by their Prime Minister. The Constitutional Crisis of 1975 is an exception which proved the rule as the Monarch did not exercise the power she had to dismiss the Governor General or the new Prime Minister as it was a matter for Australia. The Governor General is bound by convention to exercise their power on the advice of the Prime Minister and that Prime Ministers are supposed to command the support of Parliament (usually the Lower House). Its the fact that the Monarchy doesnt use their powers without being advised by the democratically elected Prime Minister gives far greater freedom. Monarchs know they have no electoral mandate while if an elected President were in office, they would the electoral mandate to interfere in ways improper to the Westminster/Washington hybrid Australia uses.

Yet, the fact the Queen resides in Britain, along with the rest of the Royal Family, it does seem to be an anachronism for modern Australia to still have her in the position she's in. I do think Australia benefits from this royal linkage, and contrary to what no.34 says, the world's nations do not see Australia as a colony. It is incredibly naive to think that world powers do not know the status of Australia in relation to Britain. Okay, so maybe the average American doesn't understand the relationship. The average American may also ask whether, because I'm from Britain, I know the Queen. The world knows Australia is its own nation and has been for decades; getting rid of the Queen as Head of State to simply prove a point everybody knows is foolish.

Perhaps an elected Governor General may be best? Or one appointed by the Australian Parliament as a whole?

P.S
Nick, about the mentioning of the Great Betrayal of WW2 in the article and subsequent mentionings. Why can't people accept that this is a myth perpetuated by romantic nationalistic historians? Its a ridiculous concept that Britain "betrayed" Australia in the course of World War Two and especially on today, Remembrance Day, can we remember the many Britons who died in defence of Australia and the many Australians who died in defence of Britain. Please can this myth just be debunked!
The Pom influence 11:55am on 01 Jul 2009 I think a lot of people are essentially taking Australia-British banter a bit too seriously and moulding it into Government policy. Of course British people occasionally throw the convict tag at Aussies and Aussies then throw the whinging pom tag back at Brits but its just the manifestation of an essentially friendly rivalry between two nations and peoples which are fundamentally similar. When Government policy is drawn up on the basis of a darker and more sinister view to this banter and joshing then it is absolutely ridiculous. The UK and US are often said to be two countries separated by the same language. Australia and the UK are two countries separated by a common culture.

P.S For those who say Australia has been consistently moving away from Britain since 1941 and abandoned Britain as its main strategic partner from 1951 (ANZUS) onwards is wholly wrong and really does not understand any Australian (and wider Commonwealth) foreign policy in the Far East for the middle of the last century.
Should Poms be denied the vote? 11:24am on 24 Jun 2009 Surely this is all a bit jingoistic? Britain and Australia (and the rest of the old Dominions too) all share a common heritage and honestly, until Britain removes the right of Commonwealth AND Irish citizens too to vote, then I can't see why Australia would want to exclude a cultural, political and social relative/ally's citizens from an historic association such as shared voting rights? I have no problem with Aussies, Canadians, South Africans, Kiwis or Irishmen voting in UK elections.

Can't Australia get over Pom-Bashing?
The best prime minister Australia never had? 3:21pm on 18 Jun 2009 Mackem81, you're speaking as if Gordon Brown has already ended his premiership. If only!
A tale of two Gordons 3:17pm on 18 Jun 2009 OliviaMelbourne,

If the Liverpool Echo casts negative aspersions on Australia, I must not have read it properly. Practically half the city is in love with Australia due to Tim Cahill. I don't see your point at all in the criticism of Nick's Blog, nor the mention the of the Echo. I think its informative and it certainly gives people a wider understanding of Australia (the Blog that is, not the Echo).
Fortress Australia 4:58pm on 02 May 2009 Just to counter some assertions made by Beijing 2008:

Firstly, China has occupied independent nations and one only needs to look at Tibet to understand that. Yet that's a completely different issue.

Secondly, China DOES have an aircraft carrier though it is not commissioned and its use and abilities are questionable (see all about the ex-Soviet carrier Varyag). It is also planning to build further aircraft carriers.

As for the Aussie defence build up, its fair play to them. They should have a more independent minded force, not one geared to merely supplment US forces in the region. Though on that note, surely it would be wise if Australia was truly seeking to increase its military independence it should purchase its own aircraft carrier(s), something the RAN has been lacking since the 1980s. It would make sense also with the purchasing of the F-35s which the UK are planning to use from their new carriers (if they ever come to exist)
Ivan's death 12:21pm on 25 Feb 2009 Its a shame that in the case of some, politics cannot be forgotten on the death of a child.

To lose a child is a terribly devastating event in one's life and we should all respect the decision to cancel PMQs in light of that fact.

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