Sunday 20 January 2008

How the mighty are fallen or the would-be memoirs of JW Howard

It appears in the case of John Winston Howard, that when the country turns its back on you it turns it for good.
This was Google Trends' reply when looking for January 2008 Australian searches using the term "john howard" yesterday.
"Your terms - "john howard" - do not have enough search volume to show graphs."
Google Trends result for Howard:
 
While an all-years Google Trends comparison with another recently retired prime minister, Britain's Tony Blair, shows that the world is losing interest in Howard at a faster rate than with Blair.
Google Trends result for Howard & Blair:
 
Howard's memoirs may be a no-go as well, which might explain his flirtation with The Washington Speakers Bureau. Perhaps he feels that if he says a thing often enough that will make it historical fact and compensate for his lack of a Churchillian autobiography.
 
"Richard Walsh, consulting publisher with Australia's biggest independent publishing house, Allen and Unwin, said the prospect of books from any of the three was "not creating a lot of excitement" in the industry.
"I think we'd feel that any memoir by Howard would be too self-serving," Mr Walsh said.-----------
Literary agent Margaret Gee, however, was singularly unimpressed by the idea.
"I don't think they are blockbuster material," she noted drily. "I mean, what would you call their books? Perhaps Peter Costello's could be Bridesmaid Revisited, John Howard's could be The Feather Duster Diaries."
The Age article last week:

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