Vinegar Tits

Australians are generally not very keen on fellow-countrymen and women who make good abroad, particularly when they’re Germaine Greer, who is frequently a topic of derision in the media, which keeps a close watch on her for material to stoke their sense of outrage.

It will be interesting to see the reaction to her latest reported remarks about Princess Diana, calling her "a devious moron." They’re not keen on the Royal Family here but I remember one Queensland shopkeeper telling me (without any prompting) that she used to like the Queen but went off her because “she was so vinegar tits about Di.” I don't expect them to take Germaine's side on this one, and we might even see that splendid epithet turned on her.

Still Black and White

The debate about the Federal Government’s take-over
of Aboriginal land in the Northern Territories to address the problem of child abuse continues. The gulf between the Government’s “something must be done” position and those who say that what is proposed is paternalistic, opportunistic and purely political is caused by the conflict between those who still feel guilt at what happened when the European settlers arrived, and what has happened since, and those who believe that feeling guilty will not turn back the clock or improve the lot of a single abused child; and between those who believe that a traditional way of life can be resurrected or preserved and those who believe that integration is the only way forward.

These articles by Noel Pearson and Germaine Greer
(I don’t think the latter has appeared in the Australian press) sum up the debate.