Yet another British political party is seeking a new leader – Menzies Campbell having been pushed on to his sword by the Liberal Democrats. What’s depressing is that there isn’t a single woman even being mentioned as an outside possibility for the leadership.

Indeed, was the last woman being seriously considered for the leadership of one of the three biggest British political parties Margaret Thatcher? (I wasn’t in the country all of that time, so I’d be interested to know if there were any other runners.)

But the good news is that Caroline Lucas was overwhelming elected female principal speaker of the Green Party, and is clear out standout individual – and might even be our leader soon.

Well the Australian election has been called and finally, _surely!_ Australians will get rid of John Howard, the man who dragged the country back to the 1950s. Landing in my inbox is a reminder that if you’re overseas you can still enrol if you aren’t enrolled already, but only until Wednesday, 17 October at 8pm (Australian EST). (The form or if you already have your name on the roll, but need to change details you have until Tuesday, 23 October, 8pm.)

But that’s only if you “have been overseas for less than three years and intend to return to Australia within six years of your date of departure”. So, no, I haven’t got a vote: Australia has very restrictive rules about overseas electors – surely not unrelated to the fact that Australians overseas are certainly on balance more liberal (with that vital small “L”) than their homestaying compatriots.

Tis a pity, since it would be nice to vote in a proper election – i.e. one where you have some chance of actually demonstrating your preferences through PR. Voting for the Senate was always fun: most people vote “above the line”, so you just follow an order of preferences selected by your party of choice, but you can also vote “below the line” – numbering as many as you want. I always put Fred Nile as the highest number, then worked my way backwards – the middle got a bit boring, but each end was fun.

(I suppose at this point I should apologise to poll workers across the land…)

And it would seem that the Greens are in with a significant chance of holding the balance of power in the Senate – although they are going to have a hell of a job given just how far Australian politics has been dragged to the right by Howard.

It is all fish and chip paper now, but this is one for the record, to look back in two or so years’ time, when Labour loses the next election, or, more hopefully, when there’s a hung parliament followed by a change to a system of proportional representation: Gordon Brown ‘would have won snap election’.