Margo, I'm currently making my way through Not Happy, John! and I have to say it's bloody brilliant. You're one of the only people out there that's actually taking the country by the neck and shaking some sense into it with a deadly fact-based dressing down. Good one.

It kind of puts my own book Dear John,also pubished by Penguin, to shame! It's a collection of letters I wrote to John while living in London for the past four years. I don't have a political journalist's background or much of an understanding of the game so I did the only thing I know how to do and that was to take the piss! The response was quite good over there among young Aussies living away from home who probably would never have discussed the leadership of their country otherwise.

Now I'm starting on Mark Latham, counting on John losing the election and him getting in. Well, I hope Not Happy, John! is selling like cakes that are hot, and most of all scaring the wits out of a few people.

Hi. I'm back from Switzerland and in Brisbane. Strangely enough, I am wondering if this is our winter of discontent. The last time I was in Australia was for not much more than a week at Christmas. It seemed to me that everyone was happy and at least on the surface a picture of contentment. This time though all I hear is grumbling. My friends and family are not necessarily a barometer of the population but I can't help but feel Christmas was an illusion. The biting reality of winter has arrived.

Of course winter in Queensland is a reasonably warm and sunny affair so none of it seems much like the British Winter of Discontent in 1978-1979. That winter heralded the end of Labour rule. What will this winter mean for us?

I am hearing the same tune where ever I have been this past week. People are tired of the way that institutions are treating them. In one sense that seems like nothing new. We've been hearing that for years. People have lost faith in institutions

Where can I get stickers here in Melbourne.? Michelle Grattan mentions tee shirts in her article in 'The Age' Is there a range of merchandise available? Good luck with your campaign. The man is immoral.
Margo: Send your postal address to defendingourdemocracy@yahoo.com.au and we'll send you some stickers. Re the T-Shirts, the John Valder led 'Not Happy John!' campaign against John Howard in Bennelong is producing them now, and they'll be available soon. Stay tuned.

Have just put down 'Not Happy, John'. Congratulations on such a strong piece of work. You've shifted me out of the smug, 'Coonawarra Red', 'I didn't vote for the little blighter' avoidance and elitism (that had been becoming so bloody uncomfortable) back to thinking about specifics and looking for better ways. Thanks.

There's one step that I'm thinking about adding to your 'What to do' list at the end of the book. Buying shares. Not many. Just enough Fairfax and NewsCorp shares (and other media companies - IF I CAN FIND ANY) as will permit me to turn up to any of their AGMs and ask 'interesting' questions. Given the demographic of your readers, I'm sure they can scrape together a few hundred bucks to take back their media.

This isn't about profit, it's about democratising media and other large companies. It's not just my ABC ...

PS - I've taken the liberty of recommending NHJ to some dissident friends in the US.

Sometime Webdiary poet, fulltime artist, creative teacher and all-round Australian Dreamer Robert Bosler drops by with his beautiful review, in fine time to send everyone's spirit-person soaring skywards for the weekend. I know I'm hopelessly biased - and I know he'll be embarrassed by my exhuberance here - but in my mind Robert's that rarest thing: a humble, gentle, genuine Australian genius. His visionary poetic interludes for Webdiary have often entranced and inspired us to better things, but it was only after I met him in person at the Sydney NHJ! launch, and then got myself lost in his visual work on a long Dreamtime walkabout through his website, that I realised what I'd been missing for so many years.

Pay a great Australian teacher a cyber-visit. Let him help you unlock the doo

G'day. If you feel like it, wander into Dymocks bookshop at the corner of Hunter and Pitt Streets in Sydney next Tuesday, August 3 between 12.30 and 1.30pm, when I'll be hanging around to sign books and have a chat. And if you want extra stickers, I'll bring the few I've got left to hand over. I haven't had a chance to publish the manifesto of John Valder - one of the blokes behind the 'Not Happy John!' group - but will do so next week.

Crikey's national affairs editor Christian Kerr filed this wonderful report yesterday on the launch of Brian Deegan's campaign to unseat Alexander Downer in Mayo. It was in the subscriber only daily email sent by crikey.com.au. Worth the money, I reckon.

G'day. If you feel like it, wander into Dymocks bookshop at the corner of Hunter and Pitt Streets in Sydney next Tuesday, August 3 between 12.30 and 1.30pm, when I'll be hanging around to sign books and have a chat. And if you want extra stickers, I'll bring the few I've got left to hand over. I haven't had a chance to publish the manifesto of John Valder - one of the blokes behind the 'Not Happy John!' group - but will do so next week. Crikey's national affairs editor Christian Kerr filed this wonderful report yesterday on the launch of Brian Deegan's campaign to unseat Alexander Downer in Mayo. It was in the subscriber only daily email sent by crikey.com.au. Worth the money, I reckon.

While the Americans have chosen a (wise) fixed-term system, our election is yet to be called. It's surely about time Australians think about implementing a Constitutional change towards a more mature democracy. How many of us would love to dispense with the on-going guessing games being waged by our media over John Howard's mind? Will he or won't he call the election in September, October or perhaps even after the November 2 American election?

Today, a small selection of writers and themes occurring in the US over the culture wars and the politics of John Kerry. Many of these discussions provide interesting food for thought here, especially for those arguing towards a strengthening of a two-party system. Is Latham truly the only option? And how much do we really know about him? As NHJ argues, thinking beyond an ALP/Liberal dynamic is central to the future of a healthy democratic system.

First up, a website).

With attention already directed toward Howard in Bennelong and Downer in Mayo, why not make it a Trifecta and knock off Abbott (who denied the majority a republic) in Warringah. For that matter, let's make it a Quadrella and include Ruddock in Berowra. We would then be a long way down the track of reclaiming our democracy and true 'liberal' values.

NHJ! Good luck, mate. (See the NHJ!-Blog for more.)

Great book Margo! I am only halfway through the book but I feel my rage growing as I read each chapter. In the eyes of many, John Howard is far from being the statesman-like figure he imagines himself to be. I believe he will be remembered as being the most divisive Prime Minister in our history - one who has scant regard for the democratic process, the very process he puports to uphold and protect. I am appalled by the continued assault on those journalists who dare to be truly investigative rather than toeing the 'party' line. I am angered by Howard's continued use of pejoratives in order to demonise those who dare to criticise him. I am furious that he seems to have hoodwinked the majority of the electorate.

I only hope that enough of us can 'maintain the rage' for long enough and in great enough numbers to see 'regime change' at the next election.

Margo I finished your book finally. I previously wrote when I was up to the chapter on John Dubya Howard's attack on charities. The chapter written by the economist ex-patriate left me a little flabbergasted by the way this self -confessed lib cannot break the mould of its trend-setters. It is fine to express a point of view, but a view should not contain a lie. This guest writer of yours was going on about companies going broke (HIH, Ansett etc) due to its directors. In the next breath he stated that Kim Beazley's 'black hole of 1996 for $8 billion almost sent Australia broke. This is such rubbish especially coming from an economist. The facts are that the economy was going through its cycle at the time the libs won in 1996. The deficit was no big deal as it was self-correcting as history shows. If this writer is going to keep making the same cheap shots about Labor's black hole then, he and all Libs should know that when Labor won in 1983 the budget deficit was $12 billion dollars

For quite some time now, I've been noticing a number of American citizens determined to spread the message of taking back their democracy seriously wounded in the last years. Novel ways of communicating is the key.

Some write books, some blog, some simply spread the message to friends and family.

But some create wonderfully artistic interpretations on the web. This is one such creation.

It's about the last US American election and the fraudalent removal of voting records in Florida. It's fun, powerful, visually striking and exudes anger. More importantly, however, it's about motivating people to stand up and not let the mistakes of the past happen again.

Words in the presentation are from Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, and one of Britain's best investigative journalists.

How about people creating something simi

Neil Francey, Independent 'small l' Candidate in Tony Abbott's NSW seat of Warringah drops by with a review of NHJ!, poking all-interested potential voters to his rather flash website hub.

Have a swizz around his cyber-empire and check out Neil's democratic pitch - especially if you're a north-shore local who's fed up with Mr Abbott's arguably less-than-honest brand of 'Honest Politics'. NHJ! readers will be bemused to learn that, according to MK, the AEC has (apparently) now decided to drop the whole AHPT Trust fund pursuit. (Keep an eye on Webdiary for more on this soon; I haven't checked out the AEC website yet myself, so if anyone's got more on this, let us know.)

Meanwhile, cheer yourself up by having a look at Barrister Neil's legal work on health and tobacco issues. His campaign slogan

This is not just a book. This is a document nailed to the hall of Australian history.

Author Margo Kingston's 'Not Happy, John' is a snapshot of the national moment. We needed it. Our country's children will be able to look back on this moment and see whether we learned, which path we took.

For all the effort taken in writing it, and for all the damage it uncovers, there is cause for hope. We must view this work in that light.

I am hopeful in that now that we have been given this gift of knowledge, we can each in our own way take a step towards the light. That it exists is cause for hope. That it is charting is tremendous cause.

You go girl.

And thank you.

Personally, my first impression is that this book is eminently readable. That surprised me, because I held with trepidation the nature of the subject matter, and wondered silently if I could as a citizen play a role in its understanding. No problem, the book rollocks along and the comple

A very interesting piece of news has just crossed my desk.

Amazon.co.uk has reportedly barred the release of a controversial book on the relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud.

House of Bush, House of Saud is, strangely, currently available at bookshops around the UK, but Amazon is claiming legal issues is forcing their hand.

Never let it be said that Amazon stocks every book.