Very good article, especially the second-last paragraph.

LEGO

Thatcher did NOT 'really ... stick it to her "wet" male colleagues'. She did everything according to the book on how to please a Tory male. She became more Tory-male than the Tory-males themselves - racing off to war, inviting mass-murdering right-wing dictators to tea, slamming those uppity working-class miners, stealing all that North Sea oil (which really belonged to un-Tory Scotland) to fund tax cuts for the Tory rich.

For a female PM to receive the long-term seal of approval in Australian politics, she would most likely have to be another Thatcher - an ultra-conservative woman of the hard Right, who knows how to kick working-class arse in public while kowtowing to her born-to-rule male minders in private.

Hi Killarney.

If you ever bothered to pick up a history book, you would find that pre Thatcher Britain was called "the sick man of Europe" because it's economy was in ruins. And all because of the Socialist unions who were doing their damndest to wreck the place. And I say that as a union member myself who has worked on coal mines in NSW and seen the way our own overpaid coal miners behave.

The previous Labor Prime Minister (Callahan) had simply resigned because the country had become ungovernable. Into that chaos stepped a remarkable woman, a daughter of a grocer who earned a law degree, became a scientist, and eventually, the best Prime Minister of Britain since Churchill. If only you trendies could attract somebody that good. But you can't, because what Thatcher had was common sense and brains.

Scotland is part of Britain, so Margaret Thatcher did not "steal" anything. You sure have a vivid imagination.

She stood up to one of your hated "right wing dictators" who invaded British sovereign territory and she sent the Socialist depleted British armed forces to get back British territory. I would have thought that even a leftie like yourself would respect somebody who defended their own country against attack? But you people live in a parallel universe.

General Pinochet in Chile did exactly the right thing by kicking out the idiot Communist government which had ruined the Chilean economy. You remember Communisms, don't you Killarney? Not only did this economic system turn entire countries into giant prison camps, it was such a bad idea that even the inventers of it in Russia gave up on it.

The middle classes of Chile sat on the balcony of the stock exchange sipping champagne as the Chilean Sabre jets bombed the presidential Palace and killed that idiot Allende, who could not run a lamington stall at a school fete. And before you cry over the poor little Communists who got murdered, pick up another history book and read what the commos did to everyone else once they got into power.

The author says ....Do we the people vote for the prime minister? No we don't. We vote for a local member and the members themselves appoint a leader.

I disagree, as it is my opinion that many do vote for a prime minister, but their only option to do this is to vote for their local member.

Proof of this is reflected in the polls, as there are simply not enough people in K Rudds electorate to make the swing in the polls so large.

Put simply, the swing is soley due to Kevins popularity, yet only a very small percentage can actually vote for him personally.

Killarney,

Spot on with your analysis of Thatcher.

Rehctub is mostly right, a large part of the vote for a local
candidate is influenced by the leader.
However if a local member is hopeless it is difficult for him to get elected.

The effect is why the show pony has made such an impact.
However like a rock landing it can have a very short term effect.
He is already grating on my nerves, but it will take a little longer
for him to grate on the nerves of the average labour voter.

Interesting to see Bob Carr tell everyone that Rudd does not know that
most of the illegals are in fact economic migrants and not under
threat by their country.

I meean, we all knew that but was Rudd that stupid that he did not know ?
Then if he did know, was his weakening of the border controls deliberate ?

That is the choice he is either stupid or duplicitous and wanted large
moslem immigration.

That is the choice no other option available.

Vote for a local candidate, you've got to be kidding. For the last 3 elections, state & federal, I haven't even known the name of any of them. They are totally irrelevant.

Hell it is hard enough getting enough information on council candidates, let alone federal & state.