The law is an artificial construct erected by the capitalist class to ensure the system protects their own interests and maximises their own profit. -- Greg Combet character in ABC Television's Bastard Boys.

The patriarchal museum pieces who rule Australia are furious with this four-part miniseries, not to mention a few of the blokes on the side of us proles.

To a corporate spokesperson, they are one tiresome stuck record. In Phillip Adams' Don't lose plot over 'true' stories, Michael Duffy (Radio National's Right Wing Phillip Adams) says:

"The series is the most blatant union propaganda ... A very strange use of public money by the ABC and other government agencies ... What makes it worse is that a lot of the time is devoted to the private lives of the union characters, with many scenes of them falling in love or reading to their children so they emerge as warm, fully rounded people. In contrast, Corrigan is played as a gawky and ridiculous loner without friends, or even associates."

If you remember those heady days you also recall the very Chris Corrigan portrayed in this series. As nasty a cold piece of work as every drew breath in this country. Indeed Geoff Morrell, the actor who plays Corrigan, deserves Best Actor for his chillingly accurate performance.

The reason the only private lives portrayed are on the union side is because they are the only real people in this drama. Can you imagine the horror if the family life of John Howard and Peter Reith were shown? Or, God help us, Peter Kilfoyle? (Played superbly by Michael Robinson, in the Ray Winstone tradition.) Talk about boring (as the real Corrigan says of the series) at best or horrifying at worst. As there is a Monty Python sketch for just about everything there is also a snippet of these kinds of families at the end of "Most Awful Family in Britain" in Series Four.

As Phillip Adams says above, the unions won the battle and lost the war. And as the Combet character succinctly says at the beginning of this post, the laws are made for one reason only. That's why the odious John Howard is not only still in power but, with another election victory, will seal the fate of working people for damn near ever, or until a revolution finally takes place. And that would have to be worldwide, as populations across the globe have bought the line that Masters know better and servants should just accept their pittances.

Howard was union-busting then and he's union busting now. With his handing to business of unprecedented power with WorkChoices, they are now taking turns on a daily basis to threaten Labor over its changes to the legislation, with the subtext of trying to scare the shit out of the population.

Behind every word from these Masters of the Universe and their hired Government is an utter contempt for humanity; it's part of their collective DNA. Indeed, the word "business" could be another synonym for misanthropy.

Working day and night to destroy the credibility of the fair go for working people, they are too busy to take note of the greatest of all ironies -- that they do not now have, nor have they ever had, the slightest hint of credibility themselves.

Will Kevvy and Julia hold the line against this onslaught? Or will they cave in? The polls are consistently showing that the electorate is fed up with John Howard's trademark lies, spin and bribes. In short, his utter lack of character.

In sum, it was a brilliant series, well acted, extremely well cast, with excellent dialogue. Congratulations to all involved.

-- Tommy Pendejo