farmdoc's blog post number 618

Worms. There are two types of them: good worms (e.g. earthworms. Isn’t the Daylesford Organics one in the photograph a beauty) and bad ones (e.g. computer worms, tapeworms, ringworms). You’ve probably heard of the aphorism ‘even a worm will turn’. It comes from this line in Shakespeare’s Henry VI: ‘The smallest worm will turn being trodden on’. Whilst that line and the aphorism refer to turning from good to bad, meek to angry, there’s no rational reason why a worm can’t turn the other way. Enter stage right the Institute of Public Affairs. The IPA calls itself ‘an independent, non-profit public policy think tank, dedicated to preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom’. I call it right wing. In 1992 when that right winger Jeff Kennett became Victorian premier, his legislative program was implemented so fast it must’ve been pre-planned. And I’ll bet the IPA, for all its self-proclaimed independence, was a prime mover. Including poaching the F1 Grand Prix from Adelaide in 1993, as the jewel in the crown of Kennett’s major events strategy. I’ve known from day one that this strategy’s a dud. But it’s taken the IPA 16 years to hear the penny drop. This article in last Sunday’s SMH is evidence it has. Reverting to the original metaphor, the IPA worm has turned. Surely now, finally, the days of the Grand Prix in Albert Park are numbered. Surely.