- The Guardian
- Issue #2144
Friend
In the hands of Donald Trump, pretty much any word can be weaselly, also meaningless. The US President has called Anthony Albanese “A friend of mine.” We all know what friends are, but it’s unclear if Trump does. What “a friend of mine” means here is that someone asked Trump about Albanese, and ‘The Donald’ made noises in response.
Amazing
Like ‘awesome’ and ‘excellent,’ ‘amazing’ has had a journey from meaning something extraordinary to just ‘good’ or ‘okay.’ Former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (now working from home if he can find a job), has said of the Liberal Party that “We have an amazing party.” It’s kind of amazing that an outfit that promises to serve the rich better than Labor can do so badly in an election here, but that’s probably not what Dutton meant. He added “we will rebuild,” begging the question of why, if it’s so amazing, the Liberal party needs changing.
Pedigree
We know that this word can refer to dogs and people, and that it can be metaphorical, but it’s still funny to read that Michaelia Cash, wrong as ever, has praised WA MP Andrew Hastie for his “great pedigree.” This isn’t a way of telling us that Andrew Hastie has a nice cold nose, a shiny coat, and sits when he’s told to. No, what she means is that Hastie was once in the SAS. Cash didn’t clarify whether Hastie is a good boy or a very good boy.
Opportunistic
John Kehoe, at the Australian Financial Review says that Labor “opportunistically exploited” the Coalition’s plan to stop public servants working from home as “anti-women.” Weasellishly, Kehoe implies without spelling it out, that Labor invented the anti-women effect of the policy.
The Liberals wanted to implement a policy which would disproportionately affect women. When that policy was called out as anti-women, Dutton said women could just job-share (ie settle for half the work and half the pay).
Yes, Labor saw an opportunity, but – this paper doesn’t say this very often – it looks like they got it right.
(not) the time
Weaselly because ‘now is not the time’ suggests that there will be a time when it’s okay to talk about the topic – but there never is. None of the people who spring up during bushfires to insist that “now is not the time” to mention climate change have a time in mind when it would be fine. Likewise in the US, the serious people who say that a massacre of children is ‘not the time’ to talk about gun control never tell us when would be ‘the time.’
If there is a better time to dance on Peter Dutton’s (political) grave than just after he’s lost his seat and a general election after failing to sell some awful policies, we’d love to hear about it.
The (left) media
Mining magnate and inherited wealth fan Gina Rinehart is Australia’s richest person. That’s why her opinions get aired and yours don’t; it’s that kind of democracy here. Rinehart has thought deeply about the Coalition’s history-making loss and decided that insufficient Trumpiness is to blame. Not everybody sees it that way, but according to Gina, that’s down to “the left media” (boo), and not the fault of those annoying non-billionaire voters.
