Just as our beleaguered PM Anthony Albanese last week was being excoriated in a political maelstrom, overwhelmed with a litany of misery, including the spiralling cost of living, home ownership pipedreams, a defecting senator, the Palestinian quandary and the Indigenous cashless card crisis, optimism was surely in short supply. Who better should come to his rescue than our two finest international allies like avenging cavalry over the horizon. Best friend Keir Starmer proved that even bad news can be turned into luck, winning a landslide of Commons seats in the UK election while actually getting fewer votes than predecessor Jeremy Corbyn (“Seismic shocks amid a landslide” Sunday Telegraph, 7/7). Also, in Washington DC, Joe Biden is making all Australians grateful to have even Anthony instead of Joe. (“Only God can stop me running… and he ain’t coming”, Sunday Telegraph, 7/7). Incidentally, such a boast from Joe ignores the fact that we go to God, not the other way, even if you are the US President. Dark times and grim prospects should not trigger our politicians to despair. But the first step to improvement is surely to appreciate that things are not magically better on the other side of the world. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 14July2024
Comment. On the morning that this was published, news arrived that an assassination attempt was made against Donald Trump, suggesting the truth behind that last line of the letter.