« 12 Sept 04. Falmouth | Main | 17 Oct 04. ESF »

14 October

Well, I'm back. Back from a month in Australia, which has been great. I've been walking in the mountains, laying on beaches, spotting birds (feathered, mostly) attempting to surf (don't laugh) and generally relaxing. It's been pretty successful, I must say. I've even got a tan.

Now I'm back, to work, rain and an empty bank balance. But what the hell. It would be churlish to complain.

And anyway, I've got plenty on. First on my list is writing a piece for The Ecologist about the logging of Tasmania's old-growth forests. I spent a week in Tassie before I returned, some of it in the forests themselves. It's a remarkable place, and a great story, especially since I spent almost as much time with loggers as I did with environmentalists. Never have I seen such a polarised environmental debate. It should make a good piece. Watch this space.

In fact, I was in Oz at a pretty interesting time. The general election was going on, and it looked like a close race. It's always fascinating to be in another country at election time. I'm always surprised at how attached I can get to the outcome, even though it's not my country and the result won't, ultimately, make a difference to me. This might be the difference between a political junky and a normal human being.

The result in Oz, anyway, was a depressing one. The neoliberal government of John Howard was returned for a fourth time with an increased majority. This despite his involvement in the Iraq war (which most Australians opposed) and his Labor opponent's promises to provide free healthcare for pensioners, redistribute money from rich private schools to poor public ones and protect all of Tasmania's old-growth forests from logging. There may be some lessons here for us - or indeed the US, currently facing its own terrifyingly close election race. I'm not sure what they are though. Maybe time will tell. But if there is a global backlash against neoliberalism, it ain't apparent Down Under yet.

I'd better go. I'm off to the European Social Forum in London tomorrow and have a lot of preparation to do. I'll be interested to see what direction it's going in: not everything I have heard about this event has been good. We'll see. There'll be an article or two about this appearing too, so keep your eyes open if you're interested.

More anon.

Posted by paul at October 14, 2004 10:42 AM

Comments

Post a comment