Shortbread

This recipe is not so much 'traditional' as straightforward or simple. It is no fail

Here is the recipe:
200 gms plain flour
200 gms butter
100 gms icing sugar
100 gms cornflour

Let butter soften to room temp
cream butter and sugar
add sifted flours
roll to 1/4" thick and cut into desired shapes
Bake in oven 350F (175-180) for 15 mins
Sprinkle with castor sugar when warm

My 'hints' are: allow butter to soften naturally (not in microwave) and if making gluten free replace plain flour with rice flour and make sure cornflour is gluten free.

When the party turns sour!

A curious concatenation of articles in today's Advertiser (pp 22-23). The occasional legal article by Richard Mellows , president of the Law Society, is entitled "Who to blame when party turns sour" and sits opposite the weekly article by former Liberal Minister Alexander Downer.

But Mellows' fairly innocuous article is not about the implosion of the Liberal Party, but rather about the duty of care that clubs and licensed premises might have towards their patrons if a fracas breaks out.

A. Downer's article is perhaps less outrageous than his usual weekly provocations; it reminds us that this particular crisis is an important one: Not all is lost for the Liberals at the next election, he says, but they had better make the right decisions this week. If they don't, it could take quite a few years to return to the treasury benches.

As is often observed our system of government depends on strong Opposition and it would be good if this could be re-established.

What, however, it seems to me is the problem for the Liberals (or any politicians for that matter) is how do you balance idealism or initiative with political expediency.

On the one hand if we are to address difficult issues then initiative needs to be encouraged (muddling along just won't do), but in order to be able to implement innovative policy you have to be able to have grass roots rapport and support.

The Liberals in the last decade seemed to master this identification of what rang bells with the electorate.

At times this was nasty. The illegal immigration fiascos worked as a scare-mongering tactic. Still do! And they worked as a vote winner as they appealed to insecurity.

The electorate is pretty conservative, and this works against innovation and idealism.

So I suggest that forces within the Liberal Party have decided "Blow the idealism" we need to create a clear sense of difference between us and the Government. It is the beginning of a scare tactic in essence. And will get grubbier.

Gay marriage

There has been a sort of Great Leap Forward in Australia in the last little while, the ACT has allowed same-sex unions to be recognised. Though they are not necessarily or narrowly "marriage".

Probably doesn't matter what you call it, though it does matter that we not deny people the reality of the committed relationship. My take on this is that is that it is better that people are in committed rather than uncommitted sexual relationships.

I do not think that sexual relationships are neutral. If you have sex with someone then it has consequences. Although you can play all sorts of interesting games, ' friends with benefits ' or 'this is just sex', the reality is that as soon as you touch your naughty bits (I am trying here to be delicate for the sake of the community of faith ) then you elicit more than just fun!!!

Who is in charge?

The curious suggestion that one of the young princes William and/or Harry could be a candidate to be the next Governor-General prompted me to write to the local Paper

The answer to the question posed yesterday in The Advertiser: "Could one of these blokes be our next head of state?" is twofold.

First, no matter who is the Governor General our Head of State is actually these 'blokes' grandmother, the G-G is merely her viceroy.

Second, the first question I would be asking of someone who aspired to the viceregal position is: "Are you an Australian citizen?"

Clearly neither of these 'blokes' is!

The suggestion has received little interest, so it would seem. But the more I have thought about it the more I have wondered who had such an idea. And will we ever get over our British cultural dependency, or even worse the latent belief that some how 'aristocracy' confers an inherent ability to rule.

Were the GGs job to actually go up for application, surely two rich kids in their twenties would not be seriously considered for such a significant position. Unmarried playboys with very limited life experience...what are we on about.

The luckiest

Ben Folds has a great song called the Luckiest. I love this song, I am reminded that it's a song I suppose he wrote when he lived at Unley, and the personal references are all the more pignant because of it.

I don't get many things right the first time
In fact, I am told that a lot
Now I know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls
Brought me here

And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

What if I'd been born fifty years before you
In a house on a street where you lived?
Maybe I'd be outside as you passed on your bike
Would I know?

And in a white sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize
And I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you

Next door there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away

I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know

That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest

This week's luckiest is Mike Rann! Lucky that in a week in which he could have gone down that there was more spin for Malcolm Turnbull in the other direction. I imagine he won't be quite so teflon-coated in future. Can't wait to see what Alex will make of it on Monday!!!!

Things seem to be a little better

I am not quite sure what I have removed from my blogpage but things seem marginally better.

If you continue to have trouble then please let me know.

Not sure what's going on

A number of people have complained that they haven't been able to access my blog.

I have tried to take self-loading stuff off to see if this makes a difference.

If you are having problems then let me know either through comments, or you could email me (coro35@bigpond.net.au)

Interesting

Interesting conversations in the last 24 hours about the tawdry stuff in State politics. My impression is that most people think it's a waste of our time and we have better things to be doing.

It's not, I think, that people don't think it's serious. It's that they they think there are more important we could be doing.

I am inclined to agree!

Judgement of poor Mike's poor judgement!

It will be a free-for-all in State politics this week as SA Premier Mike Rann finds his private life exposed. We will be reminded of why the 'private life' of a politician in this country has traditionally been regarded as off limits. Will the Labor Party take the opportunity to mudsling in the other direction?

I noticed a brief clip of Liberal Chris Pyne saying yesterday that private lives of politicians have by and large been left alone. In these latter more desperate days this tradition seems to be evaporating before our eyes.

One can see little good come of this. Despite the fact that Rann has been highly successful (well at least he has managed to stay in office for a long time) we, the public, will see his legacy reduced to some grubby little stories about an alleged affair.

Is this appropriate? does it matter?

To my mind it does matter whether a person lies or not. It does matter if they treat other people (however consensually) poorly!

This was the problem with the Lewinski affair. Clinton lied. He treated Lewinski poorly,and his wife even worse.

There seem to be some elements in this present business that may have the same sort of thing.

All in all, were I Mike Rann I would be inclined to think that enough is enough, and it's time to go. But I won't hold my breath!

Amazing Grace

The most terrifying thing about this picture of my friend Alison Gent is that it could be a picture of her daughter L. We should not be surprised about heretofore unrecognised physical family likenesses, they become evident at funerals (Alison's was on Tuesday)

Alison was a very extraordinary and eccentric person, tenacious to the end and ever one for a good argument. In the eulogy, son Chris attesting to this truth told the story about how days before she died the children were huddled away from her bed having one of those sorts of discussions you have when your mother is dying and she raised herself up and said "I don't know what it is you are discussing, but I'm opposed!"

Throughout her funeral I could envisage her joy at being welcomed into the heavenly kingdom and given her crown. Meeting again her & my friend Spencer Dunkerley, who enjoyed sparring with each other and each other's company. He would welcome her too.

Royal obsession

On this anniversary of the defeat of the Republic referendum we are all reflecting a bit about monarchy.

A couple of articles in the press this week reminded me of this bizarre obsession we all seem to have worldwide with the idea that leadership and the right to rule is some how an inherited characteristic.

Touring Australia is a "Crown Prince" of the former Indian State of Rajpipia (here). How can you be a "Crown Prince" of a former state. I mean there is nothing to rule.

However the good prince, an openly gay man, is touring Australia and Asia to campaign against laws which criminalise homosexuality. His argument being that this aggravates the AIDS problem, I mean you are unlikely to admit to being gay if you are going to be executed!!!

I suppose the 'royal' status is a hook to grab attention. And why is it any different from a joke I might tell at the beginning of a sermon?

Likewise the Institute of African Royalty is meeting this week( see Associated Press's report here). At least these people may have some claim to represent some regional and sectional interests, though it is yet to be demonstrated that birthright is necessarily the best determinant of who might or might not represent the interests of a group of people.

There is a good photo of some leaders in traditional dress here....look at the footwear!

Meanwhile the ever smug Mr Abbott reminds us on RN this a.m. that we have 'evolved' our conception of monarchy by not focussing on the Windsors any more but rather on who the GG is.

Well, isn't that precisely what the Republican Movement wanted?

Koala Blue

Last night as the middle S Clark was driving me to choir as we pulled out of the drive she said "Ooh there's a duck on the lawn!"

We almost tried to take a photo, but couldn't overcome our lateness and clumsiness.

And anyway as we turned on to the road there was a koala about to brave the traffic.

We pulled over and fortunately they can belt along when they want to and so cleared the road in 2 seconds flat.

I often think about Edwin Muir's poem The Horses when I see a koala. The symbol/sign of the restoration of hope after disaster. Returning Koalas remind us that maybe we are being slightly more caring for our environment.

Extraordinary

It is extraordinary to think that (as reported today) the number of plastic bags saved in SA since the plastic bag ban six months ago, comes not in the thousands but in the millions (some suggest 6 million in six months). The return to the more responsible solution seems timely .
Strange little turn to the story though. In wanting to suggest that we need to guard against other dangers, the cleanliness of reusable bags is mentioned.
Wash them often, one shop owner says! Good idea!
Or buy replacements....rather defeats the purpose!

Schadenfreude

Here in our family we love 'Schadenfreude'. The peculiarly human trait of (secretly) delighting in the misfortune of others. It was interesting to see Mr A Downer expressing his Schadenfreude towards the Australian Government in today's paper.

Mr Downer's obvious delight in the inherited suffering of this present Government with regard to the difficult refugee plight (what he tells us is Schadenfreude) is a bit sad. He misunderstands that Schadenfreude is essentially kept to oneself and is not smug.

Perhaps it was the Smuggenfreude of the Downers, Abbots and Pynes that the electorate finally decided it had had enough of.

As for Downer extolling the virtues of using Nauru, it just serves to remind us that he still doesn't get it!! At least he admits that Nauru was particularly his unfortunate suggestion.

See the "Schadenfreude" song from AvenQ here ...in the version When Harry met Schade!!(language warning!!!)