The Year in Review: May 2009

May 2009

1. Daylight savings is defeated in Western Australia.
The latest referendum in Western Australia on the issue of daylight savings got voted upon and once again was voted down. The message seems pretty clear - if you put daylight savings to a vote, it will go down - but I seriously doubt this will stop the issue raising its head once again in the future.

Pro-daylight savings publications, i.e. the two main newspapers in WA, were quick to point out that the majority of people living in Perth wanted daylight savings, and by implication that our thriving metrop was being held back by our bumpkin provincial cousins.

While it's true that a large portion of country residents voted "no" - just over 70% - it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that the majority of Perth voted "yes". In a literal sense, this is true - but with results of 50.6% "yes" and 49.40% "no", it's hardly a landslide to be bragging about.

In the lead up to the referendum, there was a lot of pressure being put on by the "yes" campaign that took a "for the greater good" line. It's economically bad for WA to be another hour behind, they cried. To which I thought, well, we've coped with that handicap for a good few years now. And anyway, aren't many of our most lucrative economic dealings with China, who are in the same timezone as us?

It's good for families, allowing busy parents to spend more time with their kids, they said. To which I thought, well I don't have any kids anyway, and if I did I seriously hope I wouldn't be keeping them up until 9.30 just because I'm unable to prioritise my family/work situation.

But the best thing about a referendum like this is, I don't have to consider the bigger picture. I, as an individual, am being asked whether I, as an individual, like daylight savings or not. I don't, and so I voted "no". Democracy in action!

2. "I'm in looooooooove/with a fairytaaallllllle".
The Eurovision Song Contest was once again everything you might hope it would be - with the notable exception that Terry Wogan had resigned his post as commentator. Having commentated every year since 1980, Wogan was as much an instituition as the competition itself, with his trademark sarcasm and snideish comments.

In the UK, Wogan was replaced by Graham Norton. However for the Australian broadcast which also usually used the Wogan commentary, SBS sent over two of its own "personalities" to cover the event. Being neither as witty nor as interesting as a) Wogan or b) the each thought themselves, this was something of a fail for me, and I expect I will have to be disappointed again this year too.

And after the controversy in 2008 of French entrant Sebastién Tellier having sung his song in English (for the first time ever from a French entrant, in a move that was considered blasphemous by pretty much all of France), 2009's entry was a return to a familiar French Eurovision theme - a ballad by a woman in a pretty dress, sung in French. Which appeared to work, with France placing 8th, although to the casual observer (i.e., me) there was little difference between this song and the female French ballad-with-pretty-dress of 2006 (22nd), 2003 (18th), 2000 (23rd - although acutally this was one of my favourites), 1999 (19th), 1998 (24th - also a favourite, those seem to end up down the list . . . ), or indeed even 2001 (4th) and 2002 (5th). Possibly one has to be European to distinguish whether it's crap or not.