Review: Sex, Lies and Question Time by Kate Ellis

Former member for Adelaide Kate Ellis explores what it means to be a woman inside one of the most volatile workplaces in Australia--Parliament House, Canberra. Leveraging on her own experiences as a Member of Parliament in Opposition, in Cabinet and as a Backbencher, and with interviews with other MPs past and present across all parties, Kate Ellis paints a picture of the unique struggles faced by female politicians--sexism, malicious gossip and the expectations by the public and the media of how each individual juggles their career with motherhood (or the choice not to be a mother at all.)

My interest in this one was piqued in part by the recent, disgraceful scandals that have rocked Parliament in recent times, ones that I'm sure need no introduction or further commentary here. I was keen to see what a former politician, one who left on her own terms, would have to say about working in Parliament House. The picture Ellis paints isn't pretty. There is sleaze, the expectations of the public and the media, rumours and some nasty internet trolls. However, the work is a long way from being a scandal rag. Ellis offers insight into her experiences, has accompanied it with research and most important of all, she interviewed a number of other female politicians, from across parties, eras and all who have their own unique experiences, stories and coping methods. 

Although written in an intelligent, conversational style, this one isn't always the easiest of reads due to the heavy subject matter. Still, it's an important subject and one well worth educating yourself about--don't forget, these are the people who are essentially running the country.

Recommended.

This book counts toward my reading goal for the Aussie Author Challenge 2021

This book counts toward my reading goal for the Non-Fiction Reader Challenge

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peppermint Patty: I Cried and Cried and Cried

Image
Unrequited love is a common theme in the Peanuts Comics and is one that I have previously explored on this blog. We know that Lucy loves Schroeder, Sally loves Linus and Charlie Brown has a crush on the unseen, unnamed and utterly unattainable Little Redhaired Girl. But perhaps the saddest unrequited love stories from the comic is that which ran in late June 1972. It was the series of strips where the usually self-confident Peppermint Patty came face-to-face with the Little Redhaired Girl with the intention of thumping her and then something surprising happened: Here we have a usually self-confident girl, who is funny, unashamedly herself and talented at sports reduced to tears by the realisation of who she is not and never can be. I really feel for her in this series of comic strips. She knows that Charlie Brown can never love her, when he is so hung up over a girl who represents a supposedly ideal feminine beauty. Fortunately Linus, the most spiritual member of the Pean
Read more

Phrases and Idioms: Tickets on Himself

To have tickets on himself: (Australian slang.) To be conceited or vain. To have an overinflated opinion of oneself.  He's got tickets on himself if he thinks that any woman would fall for that. I was thinking about this particular bit of Australian slang the other day, after my boss said, "He's got tickets on himself," to describe the actions of a particular individual. At the time, I smiled, knowing exactly what the boss meant. Later on, I started to ponder on this unusual phrase and wondered where it might have come from. A search on google helped me find the definition, but that was about all. There are no references to it being used in pop culture or literature (if you find one, let me know,) and at the time of writing this post, Tickets on Himself was not listed on Urban Dictionary. (I tried to add it, but the fuckers rejected my definition. They probably think I have tickets on myself or something for trying to add a relatively common piece of A
Read more

Who Else Writes Like V.C. Andrews?

Image
Are there any other authors out there who write similar novels to V.C. Andrews? This is a question I see asked frequently in excellent fan run V.C. Andrews Facebook groups like Attic Secrets and The Dolls Club. In times gone by, The Complete V.C. Andrews webpage (which is no more, but the best bits are archived by Lorraine at the Attic Secrets blog,) had a comprehensive list. Today, I thought I would put forward a few of my own thoughts and recommendations. (Note: This will focus mainly on the series and novels written by the actual V.C. Andrews and not ghostwriter Andrew Neiderman, who has a distinctive writing style of his own.) The Classics This is probably the best place to start, as it is likely that some of these novels influenced V.C. Andrews herself. Andrews was a fan of Charles Dickens, mentioning the author in the prologue of her most famous novel Flowers in the Attic. I have yet to read all of Dickens novels (I've read about half,) but I can feel a slight V.C. Andrews vi
Read more