Philobiblon

I have to celebrate the fact that John Howard, the man who culturally took Australia back to the 1950s, while presiding over an orgy of materialism, is finally, finally gone.

I think my mood is best captured by this audio-visual presentation from the SMH, of the victory speech of Maxine McKew, who unseated Howard in his home constituency, Bennelong, in which I grew up.

I can’t say Kevin Rudd, the new PM, excites me exactly, but at least he is going to sign the Kyoto protocol, and bring Australian troops out of Iraq.

And Australia does now have a female deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard, I believe the highest political office ever held by a woman in Australia.