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Run, Johnny Run
- GenresPolitics
Paperback
Published January 1, 2004
6 people want to read
About the author
Mungo MacCallum
32 books5 followersMungo Wentworth MacCallum (21 December 1941 – 9 December 2020) was an Australian political journalist and commentator.
From the 1970s to the 1990s he covered Australian federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery for The Australian, The National Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nation Review and radio stations 2JJ / Triple J and 2SER. He wrote political commentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs and news analysis program The Drum, frequently wrote for the magazine The Monthly, and contributed political commentary to Australia's national Community Radio Network, columns for the Byron Shire Echo and The Northern Star, and a weekly cryptic crossword for The Saturday Paper.
He also authored several books, including Run, Johnny, Run, written after the 2004 Australian federal election. His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene, Mungo: the man who laughs – has been reprinted four times. How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002, and Political Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004, Duffy & Snellgrove published War and Pieces: John Howard's last election.
From the 1970s to the 1990s he covered Australian federal politics from the Canberra Press Gallery for The Australian, The National Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Nation Review and radio stations 2JJ / Triple J and 2SER. He wrote political commentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) current affairs and news analysis program The Drum, frequently wrote for the magazine The Monthly, and contributed political commentary to Australia's national Community Radio Network, columns for the Byron Shire Echo and The Northern Star, and a weekly cryptic crossword for The Saturday Paper.
He also authored several books, including Run, Johnny, Run, written after the 2004 Australian federal election. His autobiographical narrative of the Australian political scene, Mungo: the man who laughs – has been reprinted four times. How To Be A Megalomaniac or, Advice to a Young Politician was published in 2002, and Political Anecdotes was published in 2003. In December 2004, Duffy & Snellgrove published War and Pieces: John Howard's last election.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 28, 2015
A Labor View of the 2004 Election
18 May 2012
This book is a reflection on the 2004 Australian Federal Election and is written by somebody who doesn't seem to particularly like the Liberal Party of Australia (the Australian conservative party – the liberal in the title refers to them being economically liberal). However it is not really objective to criticise the Liberal Party, but then again it is very hard for a supporter of one party to be objective when writing about politics (and our true colours tend to come out sooner or later). I know because I can be like that as well, however I am now trying to be a lot more objective, not because I believe that our current Prime Minister is a walking disaster area, but rather because I have been on the wrong side of personal Liberal Party attacks, and have come to realise that when it comes to politics, one must weigh up each party against the other and decide which party puts forward the better leader, and which party puts forward the better policies.
Now, take for instance the Greens. I used to be a member of the Greens however chose not to renew my membership over one policy, and that is putting sex-change operations on Medicare. The reason that I oppose that policy is that it is a life-style choice and I do not believe any medical operations that come down to mere life-style choices should be on public health insurance. I do admit that there are some situations where it is a health decision, but in most cases it is a life-style choice and thus I would oppose it. To me, the same thing applies to circumcision. Once again it is a life-style choice and the operation should not be on Medicare..
Now, let us consider the two sides in this election. On one side we have the Liberal Party led by John Howard and on the other side we have the Labour Party led by Mark Latham. We all know the result of this election and in many cases it was quite clear what the result was going to be even before the election. In the end Mark Latham was unelectable, and this became more and more obvious after the election as he, while still leader of the Labour Party, pretty much withdrew from public life, and even disappeared during the Boxing Day Tsumani.
I won't go into too many details on what I did not like about Howard's rule, because there are many, and I do not want this to simply turn into an anti-Howard rant. Yes, granted, many Liberal Party supporters look back at these years as the glory days, and wishing them back, and posting blogs on Facebook suggesting that we all long back to Howard's rule. However, he undermined himself after this election simply through workchoices. While some supporters rewrite history saying that he did flag these changes, the reality is that many of us, especially those who voted for him (I wasn't one of them, I voted Green) screamed in anger because these laws suddenly came out of nowhere.
Honesty, in 2004, people voted for low interest rates and a leader that they could trust. Yes, you can trust John Howard to do what he has done all along. However, that whole issue of trust was completely undermined when he introduced workchoices. Okay, he didn't lie, but people like to feel secure in their jobs, and if it came out that their rights were going to be stripped and more power given to their employers, then they had a right to be angry. In fact, the perception is, and still is, that employers have way more power than we are comfortable with anyway. Just listen to the common statement made everywhere that prices go up but our wages don't. The thing is that it is true (especially during this period of wage stagnation).
Employers do have other ways and means of protecting themselves through contracts and casual labour. Casual labour is great because you don't actually have to sack anybody, just wind back their hours. If your hours are getting wound back then there is generally a very good reason for that. However there are unscrupulous employers out there, and in the end, employees, who rely on their wages, especially good employees that have done nothing wrong, do need to be protected. We have come a very long way since the factories of the 19th Century with poor working conditions, though one can argue that the pay wasn't that bad. If the Irish in Manchester could afford accommodation, and then drink the rest of their earnings away, they obviously were being paid well. There is a lot more that I can write about this, but I am going to the pub to watch the third quarter of the football, so I will end it here.
18 May 2012
This book is a reflection on the 2004 Australian Federal Election and is written by somebody who doesn't seem to particularly like the Liberal Party of Australia (the Australian conservative party – the liberal in the title refers to them being economically liberal). However it is not really objective to criticise the Liberal Party, but then again it is very hard for a supporter of one party to be objective when writing about politics (and our true colours tend to come out sooner or later). I know because I can be like that as well, however I am now trying to be a lot more objective, not because I believe that our current Prime Minister is a walking disaster area, but rather because I have been on the wrong side of personal Liberal Party attacks, and have come to realise that when it comes to politics, one must weigh up each party against the other and decide which party puts forward the better leader, and which party puts forward the better policies.
Now, take for instance the Greens. I used to be a member of the Greens however chose not to renew my membership over one policy, and that is putting sex-change operations on Medicare. The reason that I oppose that policy is that it is a life-style choice and I do not believe any medical operations that come down to mere life-style choices should be on public health insurance. I do admit that there are some situations where it is a health decision, but in most cases it is a life-style choice and thus I would oppose it. To me, the same thing applies to circumcision. Once again it is a life-style choice and the operation should not be on Medicare..
Now, let us consider the two sides in this election. On one side we have the Liberal Party led by John Howard and on the other side we have the Labour Party led by Mark Latham. We all know the result of this election and in many cases it was quite clear what the result was going to be even before the election. In the end Mark Latham was unelectable, and this became more and more obvious after the election as he, while still leader of the Labour Party, pretty much withdrew from public life, and even disappeared during the Boxing Day Tsumani.
I won't go into too many details on what I did not like about Howard's rule, because there are many, and I do not want this to simply turn into an anti-Howard rant. Yes, granted, many Liberal Party supporters look back at these years as the glory days, and wishing them back, and posting blogs on Facebook suggesting that we all long back to Howard's rule. However, he undermined himself after this election simply through workchoices. While some supporters rewrite history saying that he did flag these changes, the reality is that many of us, especially those who voted for him (I wasn't one of them, I voted Green) screamed in anger because these laws suddenly came out of nowhere.
Honesty, in 2004, people voted for low interest rates and a leader that they could trust. Yes, you can trust John Howard to do what he has done all along. However, that whole issue of trust was completely undermined when he introduced workchoices. Okay, he didn't lie, but people like to feel secure in their jobs, and if it came out that their rights were going to be stripped and more power given to their employers, then they had a right to be angry. In fact, the perception is, and still is, that employers have way more power than we are comfortable with anyway. Just listen to the common statement made everywhere that prices go up but our wages don't. The thing is that it is true (especially during this period of wage stagnation).
Employers do have other ways and means of protecting themselves through contracts and casual labour. Casual labour is great because you don't actually have to sack anybody, just wind back their hours. If your hours are getting wound back then there is generally a very good reason for that. However there are unscrupulous employers out there, and in the end, employees, who rely on their wages, especially good employees that have done nothing wrong, do need to be protected. We have come a very long way since the factories of the 19th Century with poor working conditions, though one can argue that the pay wasn't that bad. If the Irish in Manchester could afford accommodation, and then drink the rest of their earnings away, they obviously were being paid well. There is a lot more that I can write about this, but I am going to the pub to watch the third quarter of the football, so I will end it here.
February 4, 2012
This book looks at the 2004 Federal Election and from the outset you know that MacCullum is not a fan of Liberal Party (think Republicans for non-Australians) and certainly is not a fan of John Howard (the then Prime Minister). The humour is biting in the book and venomous, yet for me that cleverness is overused. I really wanted that election pulled apart bit by bit, in some detail. I kind of got that but more often than not, I read opinion pieces on Howard's leadership.
It was an interesting read but for some reason it just failed to completely engage me.
It was an interesting read but for some reason it just failed to completely engage me.
May 15, 2013
Really hilarious. Gives everyone a good serve.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews