In June 2014 a very distinguished scholar was publicly wondering: “Is the Abbott government Fascist?” He felt justified in asking the question by the observation that “Since the last Federal election, people have been shocked at where Australia seems to be heading. So where is Australia heading? Towards fascism? There are straws in the wind.”

Fluffus clouds passing low through the city of Sydney, like "fog" patches. Unlike fog though, fluffus clouds are low altitude dependant, are not at ground level and are not dispersed by windy conditions. Picture by Gus Leonisky

The UN Security Council rejected on Tuesday a Palestinian resolution calling for peace with Israel within a year and an end to the "Israeli occupation" of Palestinian territories by late 2017.

What a winner! Billboard Bill sitting in an empty hall with that ‘WTF am I doing?’ look in his eyes.  That image alone is sure to inspire millions of people. [Sarcasm for those who can’t spot it.]

The Abbott government says they are all about jobs and growth, but for who?

In 2012, unions were outraged by a decision to allow Gina Rinehart to import more than 1,700 foreign workers on 457 visas for her latest project in Western Australia.

As usual, News Limited were the only MMMM media following Abbott's racket about Xmas...

The magnitude of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's "woman problem" has been underlined in new research which shows women rate the government very poorly across all policy areas and are harsher than men in their assessment of the government's overall performance.

Female voters are also more pessimistic about the economic outlook, according to the new polling analysis.

Joe Hockey said “We are going to give economic reform a red hot go in 2015.”

Christmas and the New Year is a time of hope. Yet all this Abbott government and its media spruikers offers is fear – fear of terrorism; fear of asylum seekers and fear of the unemployed are its current playthings.

Thus Abbott tells us about terrorism ‘chatterings’, fitting well into his initial narrative of the Sydney siege as our ‘ brush with terrorism’ and the Daily Telegraph lyingly painting the hostage crisis as being carried out by the IS death cult.

Increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter; increased chatter ................

There could be an argument in favour of using the illusion of Santa Claus to jollify our lives — especially when we don't know what we're doing or what the future shall bring us. At least we can fudge things for a few moments, though for some people, Christmas can be a time of sadness and loneliness...