Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

David Hicks' journey from the backroads of Afghanistan to the streets of Adelaide has ended.  Has justice been served, or only the political interests of John Howard and Dick Cheney?  I've written a few verses to commemorate the day.

She risked everything in her attempt to win democracy in Pakistan and she has been assassinated by cowards afraid of democracy. (Gordon Brown)

Webdiarist extraordinaire Hamish Alcorn is about to celebrate a very important birthday...

Webdiary's resident astrologer, Alphonse de Ponce, delivers his inimitable - some might even say quirky - predictions for 2008.

This is a lullaby from the emerald island of Taiwan, beautifully sung by an American Chinese singer Vienna Teng. It is beautifully soothing, haunting, drifting by the Green Island.

The latest update from the Democratic Audit program at the ANU - and about to move to Swinburne - on how our democracy is working.

The question that needs to be posed today [about immigration] is not the conventional one, is it Left or is it Right? But rather, do we accept that there are Limits, or do we continue to persist in the fantasy that this country, and others, is a massive treasure trove of boundless resources waiting to be unlocked by an endless number of people who can exploit them without ecological consequences?

Where will the data from the Labor government's plan to record the weight of every Australian child when it turns four be held, who will have access to it and how will it be integrated with other data that has been collected, such as immunisations? At the root of all questions about health informatics is the ability to assign data with supreme and incorruptible accuracy to the correct individual.

Webdiarist PF Journey surpasses himself...

At this time - the end of the year, a time of feasting and thanksgiving - what do Webdiarists want? You may have three wishes: one for the world, one for your loved ones, and one for you.

He came from nowhere, stands for nothing, is going nowhere, will get nowhere and the real contest that we deserve is nowhere in sight. How can the Liberal Party got it so wrong?

What, in the modern world, is the accountability of Ministers, should be the accountability of Ministers and where are the origins of that accountability?

Just three days after many people started contacting new immigration minister Chris Evans to raise the issue of the swathe of refugees holed up on Nauru, he declared his hand.

"A few weeks ago my wife, frustrated at the amount of time I spend onWebdiary, said ‘They’re really your community, aren’t they?’  I hadn’treally thought about it in those terms before, but it’s true. Webdiarists are part of my community – my virtual community, anyway(although cyberspace and meatspace have become increasingly blurred asI meet various diarists face-to-face or over the phone)." David Curry

Please feel free to comment on or review the book, correct any errors I've made, and let others know what's happening where you live.

“I’m Julie. I’m a friend of Brendan’s and he’s sent me to save the world for the workers by giving them the same choice they deserve and sticking it right up that red-haired Welsh bint.” From Chapter 2 of the Chronicles of Nadir – Tale the Second – Prince Crispian, as told from the grave by Tom Lewis.

Every child that enters kindergarten embarks on a process that is meant to prepare them for active participation in our culture. Education is an embodied vision of the future. Thinking about the future really could lead to an “Education Revolution”.

Bernie was an ordinary bloke who decided to become something extraordinary and through that became an extraordinary hero in our age, an age where we feared we would no longer have heroes anymore. (Kevin Rudd)

You have come to power at a time of a looming worldwide economic crisis; a time when we desperately need new leadership to deal with the immense problems ahead of us and an end to the deception, denial and neglect that characterised the Howard era. The news is in and it is very bad news indeed.

"As for Rudd I hope he is no dud, indeed! The only highlight of his speech was the mention of Bernie Banton and indirectly through him the role of the unions and the importance of a fair go as a key value for Australians. Unfortunately no mention of the YR@W campaign, or the importance of Greens preferences." Carlos

One of the many things that distressed me about the Howard government was its politicising of the Commonwealth public service, and its subversion of the spoils of office to its own party-political ends. So when Mr Rudd said "I'm very much wedded to the restoration of Westminster and that means the restoration of a continuing independent public service" I was pleased - but how serious was he?

To the average punters in Asia, the perception of Australia has been coloured, if you excuse the pun, by the White Australian Policy (THE WAP) and its remnants. The contemporary Australia might have a hot economical engagement with the Asian region, but politically and socially, there are still nagging questions being asked about Australia. First, has Australia completely jettisoned the WAP? or it is still lurking just beneath the surface. Second, is Australia an Asian country? or a Western country? or an Eurasian country? or none of the above? Sometimes, I think we don’t know the answer to this question ourselves.

The business leaders of 150 global companies have today published a communiqué to world leaders calling for a comprehensive, legally binding United Nations framework to tackle climate change. The initiative represents an unprecedented coming together of the international business community and includes some of the biggest companies and brands from around the world. The leaders hope that the initiative is likely to have a significant impact on the UN climate negotiations starting next week in Bali, Indonesia.

November 07 our strongest month ever ... Must have been something happening ...

Farewell to two great Australians - PF Journey's tribute to Bernie Banton and Matt Price.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 30: When Brendan got elected, I thought the Hornet/F1-11 scandal could bring him down. I wonder if Labor will pursue this? See New Defence Minister questions jet fighter purchase and Labor promises air combat review. As I said in this piece, there should be a judicial inquiry into this scandal. But would Labor be game? I don't think so.

How time flies when one is having fun – almost a year since we thought we’d heard the last of Tale the First of The Chronicles of Nadir. Malcolm B Duncan, channelling the late lamented Tom Lewis, tells what really happened after the book finished.

There has been a complete clash between the Liberals' worldview and that of key members of the electorate living in the larger world. In the wake of this a new identity and modification of ideology may be essential for the Liberals to regain credibility and relevance. To stay in denial is to stay clinging to alienation from the electorate. But can they do this?

Australians, finally able to rejoice at the demise of the hated federal Government of John Howard, can count themselves lucky that the Queensland Labor Government's undemocratic local government amalgamations program enacted at the behest of the Property Council of Australia did not fatally undermine Federal Labor's election campaign in Queensland.