Losing It. The Inside Story of the Labor Party in Opposition - Annabel Crabb

I'm still really crap on Australian politics, so I was glad to read this zippy account of why the ALP has failed so dismally under the Liberal government. There seem to be three main factors: unlucky timing, John Howard's ruthless exploitation of Labor divisions and, especially, the insane balkanised nature of the organisation. That last point, factionalism, is certainly the main issue and a seemingly intractable one; this is no way to run a progressive party. It's enough to make one yearn for a pre-Iraq Blair to arrive and sort things out.

Well, it's either that, or the fact that they can't spell Labour.