Latham's lamentations bring one question to mind; qui bono?
Timed to perfection, his poisonous, bitter diaries have knocked the massively unpopular sale of Telstra - actual news - off the front page. It will also continue to serve as a stick with which the Liberals may beat their opponents. So Biff sells his book, Howard's off the hook and Labor, and more importantly the Australian people, suffer.
Latham is the worst of all the rats, at least Billy Hughes believed in conscription and Joe Lyons got the prime ministership. Biff just gets a few dollars in royalties, and believe me Biff it will only be a few.
If the country desperately needs an end the Howard administration, Mr Latham, as you said it did during your brief stint as leader of the opposition - why fling a load of personalised and ultimately irrelevant muck on to the only alternative government?
Honestly - Kevin Rudd gets some stick because he cried the day after his mother died? Beazley has no integrity - so Latham put him on his front bench? The diaries are a demonstration of the politics of a desperately sore loser.
Biff never could handle the fact that his belief in his own hype proved to be misplaced, and now lashes out like an angry child at the people who he thinks stole his favourite toy.
It makes you wonder if he ever believed in anything other than Mark Latham.
Or at least, that's what I wrote to The West and the oz. I know Latham never believed in shit - there's no wondering about it. And yeah, Beazley is a fucker, but what's there to gain now? Revenge? What a cunt-throat.
ms lee says:
I think he'll get more than a few dollars, Geeves. People love to pay to watch a train wreck. Witness: The Australian is publishing the diaries in serial form, having negotiated a price of around $80,000.
And let's face it, the Labor Party was already looking pretty dead in the water. Maybe now that Mr Bovver Boots has "disembowelled" it, they will finally be forced to make some real changes.
Giovanni says:
I got into The Oz - the first letter on the letter pages with my "stick to beat Labor" line run as the headline on top of the section.
Top o' the world ma!
Well fuck him, he's a cunt. People might get some real changes in 2010 when the ALP next have a chance of taking office. It's funny, the last two newspolls before this shitstorm had the "dead in the water" Labor Party at 51% - and that's despite an allegedly dud leader, no positive press and seemingly without any policies.
Who should lead the ALP? Kate Ellis, member for Adelaide. She's intense, she's intellectual and she's clearly the most talented member of parliament.
http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/member.asp?id=DZU
KL says:
Geeves,
Nice action on the letter writing mate.
Speaking of such things, we all know Barnaby proved himself to be a bit spineless over Telstra, but his heart was in the right place.
However the man is against the Liberals VSU legislation, and that has to be a good thing (for WA footy).
So if you want him to follow through on his promise to "ring up Brendan Nelson and tell him to stick VSU up his jumper", then why not send him an email?
senator.joyce@aph.gov.au[email=mailto:senator.joyce@aph.gov.au]senator.joyce@aph.gov.au[/email]
I'm sure he'd appreciate it.
KL says:
Ah yeah. That email is:
senator.joyce@aph.gov.au
KL says:
Ms Fits has nailed it:
[url=http://reasonsyouwillhateme.blogspot.com/]The Secret Diary of Mark Latham, aged 13 3/4*.
[/url]
The Reflex says:
I think you should all forget about Latham, Telstra, VSU etc and focus solely on The Politics of Dancing.
Yes that's right - The Politics of Oooh Feeling Good.
KL says:
Is this message understood?
fancy dave says:
Scritti Politti = political writing. Is that right, Geeves?
You lovable old wog you.
fancy dave says:
Well, they're a good band, too. So there.
KizzL says:
Fancy, thought you might like this. It's from the KLF's "The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way":
"When song writers were craftsmen that sat in front of their pianos, heads filled with melodies and hands searching for chords and long before multi-tracked recording studios became a vital aid in modern song construction, they would call this part of the song the "middle eight" (it had eight bars). They would entertain themselves by introducing a different chord structure at this point with a refreshing new melody. This technique still has its charms but you can leave it to the people who take a pride in writing songs for the sake of their craft. Even Elton John doesn't bother with them these days. It's the sort of thing that Green from Scritti has a go at."
It is a brilliant read. Email me if you want me to send you a copy.
Crikey -v- Biff says:
Some interesting reading - Crikey is letting readers send q's direct to Latho:
(ALL BELOW QUOTED)
The questions for Mark Latham are rolling in to Crikey – questions like these:
Are you the living embodiment of the theory that pancreatitis affects the brain's ability to process cognitive functions?
Is the sexism in the book reflecting your own values or are the Madonna/whore depictions of women in the book just a reflection of the culture you were operating in?
How did you manage to handle some of your interviewers so expertly in view of the fact that some were attempting to nail you to the wall?
Is Bob Hawke drinking alcohol again?
Do you think the ALP has yet lost enough support to create the imperative for change?
You describe Paul Keating as "a comic genius." Who is the next funniest person you came across in politics?
Will you apologise to me and the thousands like me who campaigned for you, for lying to us before and on election day?
Will you in the fullness of time delve deeper into your archives to produce a companion piece directed mainly at the stinking morass which is the political Right in this country ?
1. Mark Latham answers Crikey readers' questions
The first day of a series in which former Opposition Leader and diarist Mark Latham answers questions from Crikey readers – unedited and unadulterated:
Craig Duckmanton: What really was the deciding factor in your quitting politics – pancreatitis or the Labor Party? If you had won, would you have quit based on the answer to the above?
Mark Latham: As the Diaries record, I left because of a combination of health, family and political reasons. I'm one of the few pollies to say that I wanted to spend more time with my family and then actually do it. Come hell or high water (and even The Lodge) I was out of there if I got sick again. I have no doubt that retiring from politics has added years to my life, beautiful time spent with the best family a man could hope for. You can't beat that.
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Shaun Micallef: Enjoying your diary enormously. Read out the nice things in it on radio for a week (as a contrast to the other stuff that the press were putting out there). Just wondered whether you got an okay from Keating to quote the passages of private conversation you had together. I ask this given your perfectly justifiable lambast of the press for invading your own privacy?
Mark Latham: I'm glad you enjoyed the book Shaun. And yes, like most parts of Australian politics, the real thing is different to the media reporting of it. In practice, a diarist cannot ask permission to publish material – my book would have had an introduction and not much else (probably just a few Joel Fitzgibbon yarns). All the diary entries concerning Keating relate to public affairs, issues and personalities. I had several long conversations with him about private matters but at no stage thought they were suitable for inclusion in the Diaries. I think that's a fair cop.
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Brian Walsh: Know I am showing my tabloid roots, but what about asking Latham to do a couple of top 10s? We have seen the people that Mark doesn't rate but I would like to see the people he does rate. We know he thinks Julia Gillard could be ALP leader but who would make up his top 10 “good” political operators. Those he thinks have talent, courage, intellect and leadership potential and a brief sentence explaining why they make his list. And if we are doing a top 10 or top 5, it would be interesting to see who he would rate as the top 5/10 journalists that he has dealt with – and why?
Mark Latham: How about I stick to the top five in each category Brian?
TOP FIVE POLLIES:
1. Julia Gillard for the reasons I have outlined publicly. Now she's all the rage. I'm told that even Jabba is writing her up big time. No doubt about it, my endorsement still carries huge weight in Canberra.
2. Carmen Lawrence because she is one of the few pollies to admit that our democracy is in crisis, riddled by public apathy and disengagement. She has thought seriously about the problem and suggested some remedies (steadfastly ignored by the system). Not surprisingly, she has said she now regrets pursuing politics as a vocation and will retire at the next election.
3. Duncan Kerr for much the same reasons as Carmen – a serious thinker, author and advocate of cultural change in Australian politics.
4. Joel Fitzgibbon because he's a great bloke – one of the few normal Australian males left in Canberra, not infected by the self-important wankery that overtakes most people in Parliament House. The last of the larrikins.
5. Kevin Rudd – a surprise packet, yes, a real smokey. But let's face it, the more treacherous types plotting to get the numbers against Beazley, the better. I've always had a soft spot for Heavy Kevvie, especially if he can (finally) push himself into the starting gates and run past the Bomber.
TOP FIVE JOURNOS:
1. Alan Ramsey – the great man of the Canberra Press Gallery, even if he can be a cranky old bastard. He has a magnificent sense of political history. An Australian original – fair dinkum and down to earth.
2. Michael Duffy – irreverent, unaffected by the self-importance of the media, an outsider who thinks and writes with style and originality.
3. Peter Roebuck – I love his reflective, stylish pieces on the cricket. Writes a spanking good column.
4. Roy Masters – the Roebuck of rugby league. Go the fibros!
5. Mungo MacCallum – a very funny man, so funny that he had to get out of Canberra and now writes a column on the north coast of NSW. Always worth reading. Sadly, there are no Mungos left in the Canberra Press Gallery.
——————————————————
Alex Dunnin: Mark, I love the book. This is my 3rd in your trilogy. The hysterical reaction of people mentioned in the book seems way out of proportion with what the book actually says about them (though I'm only half way through so far). Why do you think the reaction has been so intense?
Mark Latham: Well Alex, the book challenges the reputation and authority of the commercial media at several levels. It exposes their unethical behaviour and voyeurism. It challenges the notion that the media actually know what's going on in politics (most of what they report, of course, is bullshit). Plus the Diaries puncture their self-importance – the strutting, big-noting style of your average journalist, personified by the likes of Glenn Milne and Peter Hartcher. One other factor: the book goes up the Murdoch mob for the rent and, naturally enough, the Evil Empire responded in kind. Mate, you need to get out of the habit of regarding the commercial media as objective, factual and committed to the public interest. They are, in fact, full of personal agendas, incompetence and crass, profit-driven commercialism. Funny thing that.
——————————————————
Nigel Wilson: For some time now I've been puzzling over the ALP's policy on the sale of Telstra. The main argument seems to be in regard to the telecommunication service levels in the bush. Why be concerned about voters who never vote for the ALP? It seems to me that if the ALP were to reverse their policy, and then this would place pressure on the Nats to change the Libs stance, or to cross the floor, leading to coalition disagreement. So why does the ALP persist in standing up for the bush which will never deliver a single vote for them?
Mark Latham: Good question. Most Right-wing Labor MPs think that privatisation is a good and logical thing – they opposed it purely on perceived electoral grounds, a poll-driven approach. But it's a bit like Beazley's policies over the years to appeal to the so-called sugar seats – it never works, the Nat farmers still vote for the Nats. But I must say that the Labor Left-wing opposed the privatisation of Telstra for what they saw as sound policy and ideological grounds. They tend to be more genuine in their beliefs and values. Let's give them credit for that.
Send questions for Mark Latham to boss@crikey.com.au <mailto:boss@crikey.com.au>.