Nero walks in Western Australia

In 64 AD a great fire swept through Rome, destroying much of the city. The Emperor of the time, Nero, decided to blame the Christians for starting it, and launched a violent persecution against them. Since they were unpopular, they were an easy target. Nearly 2,000 years later, it seems little has changed. Politicians will do whatever it takes to escape blame.  

When a major political party suffers an election defeat in a landslide, and the finger-pointing begins, those responsible – party leaders and their close allies – tend to blame everybody else but themselves, losing all sense of reason and, above all, touch with reality. Look at how John Hewson behaved after he lost the “unlosable” election in…