Kevin Rudd, Dolchstoßlegende

(its pretty cool to be able to use a ß/Eszett in a title because since the 1996 reforms the Germans have been using it less and less, since all it means is double s you can kind of understand it though)

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd failed to deliver on most of his major campaign promises and with an election looming in October his party, the Australian Labour Party, (please note I omit the U only because it is a proper name and a few years ago the party officially removed the U from their name.) took note of his increasing unpopularity with the electorate and replaced him. This was a remarkably clean, rapid and well carried out transfer of power so there's very little meat to get into, he stood aside and seems thus far not to have reacted with much rancour to his ousting. Indeed the main focus of reports seems to be the fact that his replacement, his former deputy Julia Gillard, is Australia's first female PM. Still you've got to try and create some kind of drama and thus photo archives have been scoured to find evidence of past conflict:


from the guardian, an attempt to illustrate how Rudd and Gillard were pulling in different directions


Al Jazeera go for an attempt to show Gillard as an evil plotter lurking behind a forlorn Rudd


finally the NZHerald goes for the same picture as the guardian but cut up to emphasise how they're looking different ways...sorta