h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That's funny, I always thought I was straight

Oh well, you live and learn

Not only that HI, but she has no children and she appears to wear the trousers in her relationship and at work. And she's got a man's job. Definitely must be lesbian.

Her partner's a hairdresser. I'm just waiting for some cretin to spin that somehow.

I'm also wondering how many more journalists are going to present the fact that Julia looks a bit like Tilda Swinton as an original thought. (My lesbian friends have been fans of Julia for years now, for precisely that reason.)

Iceland has done it again

The island state's premier married her partner the second it was possible

Iceland was also the first nation to democratically vote a woman as head of state

Iceland are the only country to elect an openly gay head of government (strictly speaking, the Icelandic president is head of state).

So the recession hasn't been all bad.

The head of state I was referring to was Vigdis Finnbogadottir (president from 1980 to 1996)

The premier I was referring to was Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir

Nooooo! I have been outed

Please show mercy my new, all-knowing Lord

Sycophants - make the pirate disappear

hehehe, it was an honest mistake, methinks, I trust it we can still be friends?

No, sorry, I cannot live with the shame. My sycophants will be with you shortly.

I'm sorry it had to come to this.

so am i - for your sycophants

I'm just reading the (rather odd) wiki on NZ culture and see that Helen Clark, while PM, once wore trousers when she met with the Queen. I guess that confirms her as a lesbian. According to wiki she also holds her own in Parliamentary debates (shock horror) and likes to climb mountains.

This is in part of the article about how NZ women lack femininity

Hurrah for Iceland.

Meanwhile, back here, Julia has gone on the record as an atheist. This has some of the right-wingers in a minor tizzy. But she's also said that she will not be supporting moves to allow gay marriage here. This is a bit of a disappointment, of course, but she doesn't seem to hold straight marriage in high regard either inasmuch as she's not married to her bloke.

The less intellectual bits of the Australian media (that is, about 95% of it) is still having a field day with the first-female-PM story. It's all getting a bit tiresome. Julia must surely be getting sick of it all herself.

Does she live with her bloke?

Yes, she lives with her bloke in a state of non-marriage. Could Julia be the first female head of government to live with a bloke outside conventional marriage? (Apart from Catherine the Great, of course.)

Well, the aforementioned Johanna Sigurdoardottir of Iceland: she only married her wife this week.

Well, Tarja Halonen, President of Finland, had to marry her man when she was elected. Protocol troubles during visits abroad was said to be the reason - if I remember what the media wrote about it correctly.

The Iceland example doesn't count because, by definition, the PM wasn't living with a *bloke*. (Yes, it's a petty technicality. )

The Finnish example is interesting. I wonder if Julia will come acros such issues, or maybe she'll just leave Tim at home when she travels..? I expect we'll find out in due course.

Iirc Angela Merkel's husband doesn't do much political, he doesn't accompany her on state visits or anything like that.

It's said that this Tim chap is essentially non-political; he might prefer to stay out of the limelight.

I'd never wondered whether Angela Merkel had a partner or not. I'd like to think the whole issue will become irrelevant for politicians one day, regardless of gender or preference. Or would that just be flying in the face of human nature? Us humans are terribly nosy things.