from Crikey .....

Essential: how determined are voters to throw Labor out? Very.

There are some words and phrases that almost inevitably crop up in politician-speak across the ideological spectrum. No matter how fond one might be of one’s own relatives, for instance, by the conclusion of an election campaign we’re all heartily sick of families, be they ‘modern’, ‘working’, or otherwise. Some words, though, are a little more abstract, such as community and the mainstream.

We are taught that the laws of the market are as certain as the law of gravity, that capitalism is the natural order of things and that the system generally works. But while a tiny few are doing very well out of capitalism, the vast majority face a day-to-day struggle for survival.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Treasurer Wayne Swan were bent on a progressive thinking educated Australia which would be built from a fairer disbursement of sovereign wealth, according to credible parliamentary sources. The Stringer was told that Mr Rudd and Mr Swan were both adamant that other business sectors of Australia could not be hit for tax hikes till the resources sector was finally brought into line.

Awstrayla’s mighty midget Metternich, Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, has walked away from a written undertaking to raise the case of Julian Assange in talks with the Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, next week.

In the bewildering battle of ideas, ideology and spin, facts are important.

If you're inclined to take a long-term view of politics, the hand-wringing on whether Julia Gillard should stay or go is really just so much white noise.

Labor is in crisis, but not principally for the reasons that occupy the commentariat.

A week before Cardinal Timothy Dolan is set to leave New York for Rome, where his name is being floated as a contender in the conclave to elect the next pope, he was grilled for hours behind closed doors in a legal deposition concerning child sexual abuse by priests.

Julia Gillard's lack of leadership has spurred on her inevitable demise.

To paraphrase Labor's campaign slogan in 1972, it's only a matter of time. Politically, Julia Gillard is a dead woman walking. The Prime Minister may dismiss the latest polls, but the trend is clear. With a trio of polls all pointing in the same direction, they spell her certain demise.