Why is it so?

Why dear friend, does it require a politician to leave the parliament for them to start sounding like a serious, knowledgeable and capable person? Why indeed?

Today I watched and listened to Robert Manne's interaction with Mark Latham - here. And it was a fantastic show - anyone who is interested in recent Australian political history will gain much from this.

Everyone else should turn the page now.

And if you have a negative view of Latham - possibly formed by listening to and relying on our mainstream media - you will be pleasantly surprised. Mark comes across as a capable thinker and analyst - with a good understanding of our polity - and a particularly comprehensive understanding of the "deep doo-doo" that the Labor Party now finds itself in.

I think his assessment is "spot on". And it looks like there is no way out of the mess for the Labor Party and its leadership. This is an unfortunate situation that previous Labor leaders will probably be "p*ssed off" about. Not so much that Mark has told it like it is - but because the current leader seems intent on trashing the Labor legacy - for no good purpose.

I was going to document my opinion about how the Labor Party has lost its way - basically suggesting that they don't believe in anything and have been lured into chasing the conservatives down a rat hole or three.

Mark got in first with a much better version of events.