Howard chooses sport over friend Bush

I'm impressed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard's decision to avoid meeting US President George Bush when he flew into Sydney last night and instead attend the NRL's Rugby League Awards Dinner. "You gotta get your priorities right, said Howard, "no disrespect to my very good friend - but it's rugby league, after all."

I agree with his decision, not because I'm a fan of rugby league, and nor because I think Bush deserves to be be snubbed, but because choosing sport over politics is a pointer to a more rational world when politicians are put in their place behind those who actually get on with running the world.

In a more rational world, we'd read newspapers and watch TV news not to see who's killing whom or to read what political insanity had been inflicted on us today, but instead to see which team won, and how your shares are doing. In a more reasonable and self-aware world, you'd read blogs like this one not for the evisceration and lampooning of politics and politicians, but for the architecture and the jokes.

In the meantime, blogs like this one will continue to work towards making that more rational era possible, and applauding politicians like John Howard who sometimes show they understand their place in the universe.

Onya John.