The government claims it is not responsible or getting extra tax benefits from the rise in fuel prices to record level. 'All the increased GST goes to the states!' We have not increased OUR Federal revenue take says JH! Can some one tell me IF revenue is a percentage of wholesale price or a fixed amount per litre? I dont care if you call it excise or tax - it is still TAX. Further to that, has anyone looked at whether the old 'Import Parity Pricing Policy' is still in force and what impact IT has on the retail price of Fuel? No-one seems to mention that when it comes to fuel pricing issues!

Everyone is angry at John Howard. It's pathetic. I walk by Epping Station every day and I see you guys hand out these crap bumper stickers to people - do you think people will take a bumper sticker seriously? It's really sad handing 'em to high school students. By the way John Howard doesn't run Australia for financial gain, he runs it with the will to make it better. Although not all policies I agree with, who else can run Australia? You? Your neighbour? People seriously think he's like the worst thing to happen to Australia but he's not He's reduced debt accumulated by unwise Labor spending.

NHJ!(HA): The idea of a democracy is that all of us have a hand in running Australia. John Howard has utterly lost touch with this principle, and no amount of making the trains run on time will redeem him for this.

Not Happy John now has a theme song

click here

This is very cool.

We at Margo

I came to Australia in the 1950's as it seemed to offer opportunities that were unavailable in the Europe of that time. Democracy or the power of the people to determine their own fate socially and economically seemed to me to exist in a stronger way in Australia than anywhere else in the world. Unhappily during the last few years the influence and unaccountability of 'big business' and other pressure groups has become increasingly prevalent in Australian politics, due to the attitudes of both major parties towards campaign funding.

Your book has at long last disclosed the way in which our democratic rights have been subverted by a band of extremist politicians who have forgotten that they owe a responsibility to the people for their actions and not just their paymasters. It's up to the voters to show their displeasure at Howard's actions - I only hope that it's not too late...

I think Australia needs to have a new Prime Minister and a new team, more than ever to PRESENT to our neighbours and the rest of the world that we are a sovereign nation and can think for ourselves.

With a new face and new team we can loose the tag of deputy sherrif to the USA.

We need to hear a new way of looking after our security. After all what has john howard saved us from? NOTHING. He sent us to Iraq and gave us a high profile; that is about all he has done. It is so sad to see the death and suffering on the front pages of the papers.

But children in Iraq die every day and not just in one picture. Also I have heard a figure I cannot get over (correct me if I am wrong): that up to 15 thousand people die every day from poverty, lack of food, AIDS etc. And never a picture on the front page. I rang our Daily here several times an ask them to put a picture of a child from Sudan on the front page. 'No', I was told - that is not a local issue.

What is wrong with

Dear Brian,

Proposing to negotiate with those who threaten to hurt us is the bravest political move any potential politician could make and I applaud you for it. I'm watching Sunday morning television and the right wing journalists are having a field day and I'm so sorry Brian that they have such simple viewpoints.

I and my son have suffered terrorism of a very domestic nature and the only beneficiaries who gain from 'don't negotiate' are of course solicitors who make money from people who are too afraid to talk. Even though you don't ever get what you want when you do take the risk to meet, to appear vulnerable, you glean information. You get to know your so called 'enemy' and those who represent them. My son's future has become just a little more secure every time I force situations where my ex has to front me. I have had to use every source of legal, political and hidden networks to keep my son safer than he would otherwise be. Closing the door closes opportunity.

Glo

HAMISH: I've politely replied by email - he is wrong. Hi there! Great book isn't it? Got me fired up. On page 34, says (regarding the function list for the Lodge BBQ) there was no university vice-chancellor. But on the list it says 'Mr Paul Ramsay AO - Vice-Chancellor, University of Sydney' Regards Neil

Margo, I always enjoyed your spot on radio with that great democrat Phillip Adams. Thank you for articulating in your book all of the frustrations that many of us Australians feel. I feel disenfranchised and embarrassed by our present government.

Luckily, outside of Australia I feel that very few countries are actually aware of Australia's role in Iraq. Australia was not mentioned in Farenheit 9/11 and when I was in Ireland & Britain in May and I was very surprised at the complete absence of comment in the media and among my friends and relations regarding Austrlia's role in Iraq.

I agree with the deterioration in democratic activity and regret the fact at the moment our political system is producing very few men and women with vision, principles and integrity. Under the leadership of John Howard the Liberal Party name is an oxymoron in more ways than one. Our public service must be strenghtened to support their right to advise politicians without fear or favour. Hist

I have been reading your book and devouring it with vigour. I'm a 22 year old student/married mother of 2 and long time dreamer of PMship (I don't know that I want it anymore) and a simplistic idealist somehow caught up and thrilled by the complexities of our politics. I appreciate reading this story from your perspective, with journalistic form and dignity to show the truth to all of us.

I am very much a small - l liberal, I have friends I agree with in the Socialist Alliance, Greens, Labor etc but to read a story from an 'average Aussie', if I can call you that, really helped me to see the validity in my own fears for the future of this country under such a PM as John Howard.

Thanks for Webdiary, where I first discovered you and your book, and thanks for the book. I plan to buy a few copies to distribute to people I know need to know this. I wish it was compulsory reading, but I also wish that everyone in this country relished in their right to be informed and did s

Thank you Margo for such a compelling and emotive book. It has inspired me to be a more vocal citizen. As a journalism and economics student it has given me a new way to view my studies - I only hope one day I'll be able to be half the journalist you are. I'll be giving your book to all my economics friends. And then secretly putting your bumper sticker on their cars.

Dear Margo, Thank you for the much needed exposee of Mr Howard's failures to lead this country in a just and fair way for ALL. Australians. Ever since the 'Tampa' incident I have felt a sense of hopelessness and isolation; this lead to total darkness when Mr Howard went to war 'IN OUR NAME', even though the majority view was opposed to this action unless sanctioned by the UN.

Then I read your book and realised I was not alone; you have brought to the surface my anger towards a man and a government hell bent on destroying 'the fair go' ethos that this nation holds so dear. I have been a Labor supporter all my adult life but even my beloved ALP has lost its way in the confusion that we now finds ourselves in, so much so that I consiously cast an invalid vote at the last poll.

Thank you again, Margo, keep up the good work. No S.O.B. must not be allowed to destroy our democratic rights!!!

I have now purchased, read and circulated the book and am back in Iraq. It is a blo*dy good story and the timing is great. You have also bequeathed the country a great election slogan - maybe 2nd after 'It's Time'.

As someone who has spent the last nearly five years working for an American firm funded by the US government to do 'post war reconstruction and democratisation'' in such salubrious places as Kosovo and Iraq and a long term student of American politics as well as our own, it had great resonance.

A friend who has now purchased several copies to send to friends described it as 'scary'. Like me, she finds much to link our glorious leader to the less attractive features of the current US administration. This extends in no small measure to the current election campaigns and the use of scare tactics on both the terrorism and economic fronts to substitute for any meaningful discussion of future direction or (dare I say it) policy. Ruddock and Cheney are about as

For a controversial analysis of the latest in Jakarta, written from the relative political safety of an anti-Bush site, have a look at blogger Gandhi here: http://bushout.blogspot.com

Don't look if you don't want to be deeply politically disturbed.

Margo, I find reading NHJ really difficult. At the end of each chapter I slam it down and walk off steaming, only to come back to it in a couple of days. You remind me how angry I was about the war and many other things.

I don't just want Howard out of office. I want revenge. Of course this is absurd as I won't even use fly spray at home. Maybe that is the problem. The meek aren't managing so well at inheriting the Earth. Lying rodents seem to be doing pretty well though.

I've become active in politics for the first time ever, not that I have any faith in Labour which is the only alternative we have at present. This system of government is a crock. There has to be be a better way of finding the right people to run this country.