I’ve identified a similarity between John Howard and myself; we’re intolerant!

One thing he did achieve though, was defining the gap between the cosmopolitans and the conservatives.

Decry the social divides of his own efforts to do this as he will, his was an efficiency of divide and rule above most I can think of that came before him.

Dan.

John Howard is one of the only two politicians I have ever respected as human beings. But he is one of only two Australian Prime Ministers who have been kicked out of their own seats. He is well past his use-by date, and I do not wish to read his books; nor do I want to hear his opinions and 'after' advice. Like Bob Menzies, who some conservatives are talking up with 'Menzies 2.0', Howard would not last five minutes in today’s vicious politics; nor is there anyone among the current rabble, including the embarrassing Prime Minister or the cowardly Leader of the Opposition, capable of holding a candle to Menzies or Howard

My take on Howard and his "book" is a whitewashing of his political history. He was both divisive and autocratic, tin eared and intolerant and an animal of the extreme right in moderate's clothing.

His most enduring legacy is the number of non-core promises (BS) he used to win and hold power. He was in my view a power junkie.

And John, having a very different view does not equate to hate.

I despise John Howard the politician and very autocratic leader.

The only thing about him that drew my admiration and agreement was his stand on East Timor. And lost it again by involving us in the war against Iraq.

Even then when we should have completely defeated and removed the Bath party and their armed forces, we and the coalition vacated the field with the job less than half done and resulted in the torture and murder of many opposing Iraqis

His GST increased the cost of living for ordinary Australians and introduced to lower the tax liabilities on those with the largest incomes/profits/income.

He was not a PM for all Australians, just the usual conies and the overprivileged!
Alan B.

Well said Alan B.

My earliest recollections of Howard was his dogged support of the Vietnam War, yet in cowardly fashion, like his idle Menzies he dodged military service, and like Menzies preferred to let other young Australians die in his place.

2001 was the year Howard's Coalition government, enacted the “Pacific solution” of offshore imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers, thumbed its nose at the Aboriginal stolen generations, joined the US-led “war of terror” on the innocent, and participated in the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. With 9/11 Howard was able to enact some of the most draconian national security laws in the Western world. Granting greater powers to the nations secret police to enact surveillance, warrantless searches and detention without charge as routine acts.

There was the Tampa scandal where by Howard and his government, with Labor Party support purposely lied to the Australian people. For political reasons Howard lied about refugees, claiming they were going to throw children overboard, which was nothing more than a bastardy lie.

The best thing about Little Johnny Howard, like his hero 'Pig Iron' Bob Menzies is the fact he, like Menzies, is no longer relevant in Australian politics.

But, at the first opportunity I'll read his new book.

I was never a fan of John Howard. He was divisive.
And his policies did a lot of harm. He got kicked
out for good reasons. Yet, to see him on television
today - he appears like an old fragile man that
presumably he is. His days are long gone. I'm sure
that there are some who will miss him. But balanced
he definitely wasn't!

I consulted Amazon Australia to garner how many people (including Everald) read Johny's book.

And there are at least 20 readers. The longest reader review being http://www.amazon.com.au/Sense-Balance-John-Howard/dp/1460762622/ref=asc_df_1460762622/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=564661976088&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16275292371573080234&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9072183&hvtargid=pla-1653251303705&psc=1#customerReviews

"[one out of five stars]

"Wilful blindness Reviewed in Australia on 23 August 2022

Verified Purchase

Hard to encapsulate in words Howard’s blindness towards historical accuracy, science, and voter dissatisfaction with the path Liberal party has taken in recent years. To name a few….

Howard makes the claim that Australia has “… long practised an open and non-discriminatory immigration policy” (kindle ed, p1) Surely, he must be aware that for most of our history, Australia operated under the 1901 ‘Immigration Restriction Act’ better known as ‘The White Australia Policy.’

He also claims that Australia “….rejected class distinctions of any semblance of an Aristocracy” (kindle ed, p2). Clearly, there was no landed aristocracy in Australia; since we were ignoring the first peoples, who did actually ‘live with the land’; however, there were certainly significant class differences between free-settlers and ex-convicts, and the Macquarie family and other landed squatters acted like an aristocracy in their own right.

In the final chapter reaffirming the concept that quotas for women is not a Liberal tradition due to their commitment to ‘merit’, (kindle ed, p274), displays a blatant ignorance of the concept of systemic gender bias and the historical exclusion of women from positions of power based solely on their sex and gendered role.

Both this book and ‘Lazarus Rising’ deserve a book length expose of the fallacies they contain.

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