Two Triads of 2 (Bouquets):1 Brickbat (each) - Five of Which Are Not As Per Usual: Plaudits for Bill English and Julie Bishop; even the Papacy and the European Union themselves; and Serving it to the Peoples' Republic of China, and the British Division's Unofficial Representative (not!) thereof

Confused? Well, this blogpost is just gonna be a veritable mishmash of bits 'n bobs...enabling me to catch up (on events worldwide) so's I can sooner than later move on to those issues consuming me.

Firstly, a belated commendation to recently-retired NZ National Party leader (and recently 'deposed' P.M.) Bill English - and his good wife Mary - for their forthright and unapologetic, down-to-the-veritable-guts-of-the-matter, personally delivered 'submission' to the Commission of Enquiry on the 'Death with Dignity' Bill/Parliamentary Select Committee recently. That the proposed legalization is logically the equivalent of sanctioning suicide for youngsters/the younger generation (the largest proportion of suicide attemptees/'performers') was an insightful and perceptive take upon the matter. Not that the do-or-die, died-in-the-wool proponents thereof could really give a toss, though, however worthwhile the particular argument presented/proffered...

From a former New Zealand Prime Minister to a former Deputy P.M. - and could-have-been P.M. - of Australia, the 'late, great' Julie Bishop. Though far from a supporter of her unique brand of kiwi-bashing and inter-Tasman political relations, vis-a-vis the recent, latest round of political shenanigans of the particular political beast known as the Aussie Prime Ministership, I'll simply say the following...

The Australian Liberal Party scored an own goal in its handling of the recent fiasco representing the latest instalment in the Game of Political Musical Chairs (and Chair(wo)manship) that is the revolving door of Aussie political power. It was surely a no-brainer, following all the recent carfuffle in Australia's Prime Ministership, to (democratically) install the *popular as Foreign Minister/Deputy P.M. Julie Bishop...seeing that the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had obviously effectively lost his mandate - if only among his parliamentary colleagues, if not among the wider electorate.

But now - it need hardly be stated - they've well and truly signed their political death warrant. Yes, the death-knell is sounding - loud and long - and one can hardly blame  'Jubi' (to adopt that net-age approach to political nicknames evidently current in Aussie politics) for getting off of the sinking ship while she's ahead... 'Good riddance to bad rubbish' is the none-too-subtle message thus conveyed...from JB to her erstwhile Government colleagues...and who can possibly blame her?

*One - yes, unscientific as, anecdotal - street poll conducted the very afternoon that the coup d'etat installing Scott Morrison over Peter Dutton was carried out showed around four/five/six of the five/six/seven people sampled choosing only one of the three aforementioned contenders as their personal pick for the nation's top job. No guessing who that one political figure was, eh...

TO BE CONTINUED...