Wow, another long time between drinks! It's interesting to look back over previous posts and see them as a kind of selective diary and personal aide memoire - of no great interest to anyone else, and I really don't care how few people read this blog. So you can stop reading and go away now :-)
What has been happening since my last post? (composed a year ago but only published earlier today). Well the criticism of our first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has continued unabated. I had high hopes for Prime Minister Gillard, but right from the start she has been subjected to a relentless barrage of biased and sexist media reporting, gossip and mud-slinging. She hasn’t always made wise choices and decisions but has shown enormous resilience under pressure, caught between a rock and a hard place, amidst some pretty awful and unsupportive colleagues. Who’d want to be a politician? What has been particularly disappointing to me is the criticism of her personal appearance and dress, especially from well-known feminists not widely renowned for their own fashion sense (shame Germaine shame). The level of debate has often been dragged away from the important issues down to trivia about the cut of the PM's jackets. I don't recall a similar obsession with male PMs' dress sense.
Media ownership and the future of Fairfax and The Age newspaper have been much in the news lately. Gina Rinehart's bid to buy seats on the Fairfax board, presumably to influence the paper's editorial policy, has been hotly debated. Like our PM, Mrs Rinehart too has been subjected to a lot of comment on her personal appearance, and again this is totally inappropriate and misogynist. I most definitely don't support any of Mrs Rinehart's views, her political stance or her opposition to the mineral resources rent tax, but the debate should be based on facts, not physical attributes or (lack of) fashion sense. It is so easy to disparage public figures, whether on the left or right of the political spectrum, for their physical shortcomings. The good-looking among us rarely receive such scrutiny. Having said that, many of our political, business and community leaders, both male and female, could spend a bit more time at the gym!
The much debated carbon tax has just been introduced, with little apparent impact so far, apart from the odd attempt to use it as an excuse for price gouging (shame on you Brumby's bakeries). There's been a lot of disinformation and scare-mongering, and many people may actually find themselves better off financially through the compensation payments. We're unlikely to see any real climate benefits in the short or medium term, and as economists love to say, in the long run we're all dead. So this tax is really for the benefit of future generations, always a difficult selling proposition.
Not much to report on the fashion front lately, other than another lovely day at the Bendigo Art Gallery recently, this time to see the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition, which ran from February to June 2012. Seemingly Grace had it all - gorgeous looks, stunning tall slim figure, movie star, princess, wife and mother. The media largely portrayed her life as the classic princess fairytale, but obviously she had her problems like everyone else. Perhaps it's as well she didn't live to see all the mistakes and exploits of her children. One of the most poignant photos in the exhibition was the one of Princess Grace with Prince Charles and the then Lady Diana Spencer, taken at their first official evening event after their engagement. Diana was wearing the décolleté black dress designed for her by the Emanuels, who went on to design her wedding dress. Very sad to reflect that both princesses in the photo would die in tragic car accidents. As usual, the dresses in the exhibition were all beautifully displayed and reflected the classic quality of couture in the 1950s and 60s. However not all of Grace's clothes were made by haute couturiers. One dress was from a McCall's dressmaking pattern, demonstrating that women without a lot of money could still dress with style - provided they could sew.
On that note, it's time to sign off again, who knows or cares how long till the next post! Two posts in one day, now that's a bit rash.
Pip pip, RoseRed
PS Melbourne's dams are now 70% full, West Barwon reservoir at Forrest in the Otways, is now reportedly 100% for the first time in many years.
What has been happening since my last post? (composed a year ago but only published earlier today). Well the criticism of our first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has continued unabated. I had high hopes for Prime Minister Gillard, but right from the start she has been subjected to a relentless barrage of biased and sexist media reporting, gossip and mud-slinging. She hasn’t always made wise choices and decisions but has shown enormous resilience under pressure, caught between a rock and a hard place, amidst some pretty awful and unsupportive colleagues. Who’d want to be a politician? What has been particularly disappointing to me is the criticism of her personal appearance and dress, especially from well-known feminists not widely renowned for their own fashion sense (shame Germaine shame). The level of debate has often been dragged away from the important issues down to trivia about the cut of the PM's jackets. I don't recall a similar obsession with male PMs' dress sense.
Media ownership and the future of Fairfax and The Age newspaper have been much in the news lately. Gina Rinehart's bid to buy seats on the Fairfax board, presumably to influence the paper's editorial policy, has been hotly debated. Like our PM, Mrs Rinehart too has been subjected to a lot of comment on her personal appearance, and again this is totally inappropriate and misogynist. I most definitely don't support any of Mrs Rinehart's views, her political stance or her opposition to the mineral resources rent tax, but the debate should be based on facts, not physical attributes or (lack of) fashion sense. It is so easy to disparage public figures, whether on the left or right of the political spectrum, for their physical shortcomings. The good-looking among us rarely receive such scrutiny. Having said that, many of our political, business and community leaders, both male and female, could spend a bit more time at the gym!
The much debated carbon tax has just been introduced, with little apparent impact so far, apart from the odd attempt to use it as an excuse for price gouging (shame on you Brumby's bakeries). There's been a lot of disinformation and scare-mongering, and many people may actually find themselves better off financially through the compensation payments. We're unlikely to see any real climate benefits in the short or medium term, and as economists love to say, in the long run we're all dead. So this tax is really for the benefit of future generations, always a difficult selling proposition.
Not much to report on the fashion front lately, other than another lovely day at the Bendigo Art Gallery recently, this time to see the Grace Kelly: Style Icon exhibition, which ran from February to June 2012. Seemingly Grace had it all - gorgeous looks, stunning tall slim figure, movie star, princess, wife and mother. The media largely portrayed her life as the classic princess fairytale, but obviously she had her problems like everyone else. Perhaps it's as well she didn't live to see all the mistakes and exploits of her children. One of the most poignant photos in the exhibition was the one of Princess Grace with Prince Charles and the then Lady Diana Spencer, taken at their first official evening event after their engagement. Diana was wearing the décolleté black dress designed for her by the Emanuels, who went on to design her wedding dress. Very sad to reflect that both princesses in the photo would die in tragic car accidents. As usual, the dresses in the exhibition were all beautifully displayed and reflected the classic quality of couture in the 1950s and 60s. However not all of Grace's clothes were made by haute couturiers. One dress was from a McCall's dressmaking pattern, demonstrating that women without a lot of money could still dress with style - provided they could sew.
On that note, it's time to sign off again, who knows or cares how long till the next post! Two posts in one day, now that's a bit rash.
Pip pip, RoseRed
PS Melbourne's dams are now 70% full, West Barwon reservoir at Forrest in the Otways, is now reportedly 100% for the first time in many years.
posted by RoseRed @ 3:18 PM
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