Escape from Toytown

Yesterday I let Billy Bragg explain what life was like under the rule of one of Britian's most divisive politicians, Margaret Thatcher.

Today I bring you a tribute to an equally divisive politician, but this time from the Australian Sphere: one Pauline Hanson.

Pauline Hanson, for those who don't know, stood on a platform of hard-right conservatism with a minor party named One Nation. She raised the ire of the other right-wing party in this country, The Liberal-National party, as she encroached a little too vehemently on their ideological turf, but that's a story for Margo Kingston to tell...

She got her start in the public eye by running a small Fish and Chip shop in the rural Queensland town of Ipswitch. Some of her political office staffers were known to remark in her absence that the fiery redhead was "The Fish and Chip Bitch from Ipswitch", no doubt in reference to her temper. Once she became notorious for her outspoken radical beliefs, a young Brisbane band called Escape from Toytown took the nickname, crafted a state-of-the-nation-circa-1996 address around the theme, scored some airplay on legendary alternative station 4ZZZ-FM and they quietly went off into history books.



Enjoy!