Was he another one given a fake name? I just looked him up on wikipedia, and it still has him listed as Alex Christie there, which is what I remember them calling him at the time:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_Australia_2002
I think you are correct,
pecan.
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Not sure if this is the correct place to post this? Or a new thread? Mods|Ben please move if you wish.
In the third of a Herald series of commentaries on the state election,
Gretel Killeen wonders what difference it will make.
Achievements? Don't make me laugh
March 23, 2010
Sometimes huge events take place and they somehow pass you by. It happened to that soldier allegedly found in the jungles of Vietnam, unaware the war had finished more then 20 years ago. It happened to my mother when the driving guidelines were published regarding ''use of a roundabout''. It happened to me when everyone else in the world unanimously started to floss, and when female pubic hair became illegal, and it seems to happen to me every time a NSW government does something constructive. Yep, it just somehow passes me by, which could make voting problematic in the state election next year.
It's possible that I missed 20 years of state government achievements because I was a single working mother raising two children and therefore in a functioning coma. But in the past few years my brain has returned, I'm no longer putting the kids in the dishwasher and driving their breakfast bowls to school, and yet I can still only think of five state government achievements:
Causing much of the driving population to incite road rage because they have only got one point left on their licence and are driving at seven kilometres an hour (can you get booked for that?);
The construction of a desalination plant to allow us to survive in our damaged environment by further damaging our environment;
The implementation then alleviation of water restrictions that will be re-implemented as soon as we've used up all the water the restrictions have saved;
The federal government assisted delivery of thousands of free computers to teenagers (even though the last thing you should give a teenager is something that is free, precious and breakable);
The possible construction of an enormous private monolith on Sydney's public harbour foreshore to finance the development of the public foreshore, which will consequently not be fully accessible to the public because of the private monolith. Que? (Could this site not be developed free by the state's entire population turning up one Saturday in July with a shovel and a pair of washing up gloves? Working bees have served the public school system for years.)
See, I know virtually nothing of the state government's achievements, and the question must
be asked, why not? Is it because the subject matter and presentation are too dry and unsexy to be tantalising to my ears? Or does my brain instinctively not absorb such info in an effort to protect me from some form of pain?
Maybe I just think state politics is a version of Revenge of the Nerds. Then again, perhaps I'm ignorant of the state government's achievements because it has a hopeless PR machine, because it really has achieved nothing, or because governing is an incredibly hard job and I just don't understand the nuances.
How hard is it to be the government of NSW? Seriously, how hard is it? We're a state that, by and large, has a population that has a growth rate that is predictable; we're a population that contributes a predictable income to the government through innumerable versions of taxes; thank God we have not recently suffered a catastrophic emergency.
So what is so hard about organising and achieving things? Isn't governing just a case of writing a simple list of expenses and incomes, prioritising according to your party's morals and values, and then actioning your conclusions? Why is state governing so flummoxing when the only massive variable in the equation is the longevity of the parties' leaders?
Despite having declared my ignorance, allergy or immunity to state politics, I'm breathless for the election, yearning to once again experience the intoxicating logic of political campaigns telling us of grand and vital programs proposed, which cannot help but raise the simple question: if they're so great, why aren't you already doing them?
The real winner of the election will, of course, be the advertising industry, which has almost to endlessly rewrite and re-record TV and radio advertisements, which costs a lot of money.
Ah yes, bring on the state election. I only hope for two things. First, that the competition for leadership be between two divorced mothers. Women are good leaders because they are tireless workers. Mothers are good leaders because they happily tell inconsequential lies for the greater cause, i.e., ''Yes, there is a Santa'' or ''Of course I've never taken drugs.''
But a ''divorced mother'' is even better, because she is used to keeping a steady course while being bombarded with criticism from the opposition.
Second, I hope the election includes a referendum on the notion that any premier be required to wear P-plates and not be permitted to make any decisions of any consequence whatsoever for the first six months in power.
(Is this too long? Do NSW premiers stay around for six months? OK, maybe we should make it a week. After all, what would I know? I've only just learnt how to floss.)
Gretel Killeen's new novel I Love You, Zelda Bloo, is not about politics (Penguin $19.95).
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/achievements-dont-make-me-laugh-20100322-qra6.html