*Crusoe*

*Crusoe* is continuing to be ridiculously slashy. To paraphrase the conversation in the last episode:


Bearded lady medic who is randomly on the island says: Everything has a natural pair.


Crusoe: Yes, for instance, this plant which cures the illness looks like the animals whose bite caused the illness. Please use the plant to cure Friday because he is the centre of my life.


Bearded lady doctor: Errr, yes. Actually I meant you and Friday – obviously a natural pair.


Crusoe: I do have a natural pair….. My wife back in England. Now get busy curing Friday from this illness because I cannot live without him.


Bearded lady medico: So, no chance for me then? Sigh.

Election blues

I have never been so apathetic about an election in my life. I have been thinking about my best case scenarios:


1, a fatally hung parliament with the Greens with a great deal of power and the Nationals with an increased number of seats. Best case, if the Greens managed to curb the worst impulses of the major parties, little would be achieved but perhaps no disastrous policies introduced.


2, the next worse option is a Liberal win. Yes, I am so disillusioned by the Labor refugee policy that I am actually reduced to hoping for a Liberal win. The best case here is that Labor take a long, hard look at themselves and regrow their hearts and redevelop some vestige of leftist policies. It is imperative that they learn that they will be punished electorally for lurching to the right. (I fear this will not happen).


Meanwhile, of course, the evil Liberals will be busily destroying the economy, the environment and our society.


Basically this means that I am sacrificing myself, because I am in a better position to take a booting than refugees are. And this really ticks me off because, frankly, I don’t feel enormously well off, what with being a single parent to two kids with special needs. And yet I just cannot vote for the Labor refugee policy because that locks us in to a choice of racist evil or racist evil as our boat people policy forever.


3, worst case, Labor’s policy of out-doing the Liberals on racist refugee policies is rewarded.




I see absolutely no good way to vote. Obviously I’ll go Greens but then my preferences go to Labor which I don’t want. But can I actually bring myself to list the Liberals above Labor? When push comes to shove, I think I won’t be able to do it.


One of the eight Independents in my seat seems OK, and the rest are raving nutbags who want to ‘restore Australian values’ which means reintroducing the White Australia policy or ‘restore Christian values’ which means bullying gay people.


I am literally left contemplating a donkey vote.

I am definitely not enjoying *Crime and Punishment*

Dostoyevsky makes Dickens look like a laugh a minute. And, really, Dickens’ titles say it all - *Hard Times*, *Bleak House*.