"We are going to win the next election...

with an increased number of seats." 
Oh...."and we'll do a deal with... if we have to."
Such is the confidence of politicians. 
We are ten weeks out from the state election but the Premier has already informed us of the result. Why bother to have an election?
Come to that, couldn't the public servants run the place?
I suspect it is public servants running Germany right now. Ms Merkel still hasn't managed to form a government. The Germans, if I remember correctly, went to the ballot box in September last year didn't they? 
I know Belgium spent months and months without a government at one point. The country seemed to survive. I know someone who lives there and he told me that "things just kept going along".  I think Spain was a bit the same while the politicians fussed around - although lack of central government there probably encouraged the Catalan separatists.  And Italy? Is Italy really governed? How many Prime Ministers have they had since the end of WWII?
Somalia was, and still is, a total mess. They had no government for years and the one they now have is not very effectual...hardly surprising when the country had descended into complete and utter chaos. I wouldn't want to live there.
There are other places with ineffectual governments - or governments in name only. I don't think I would want to live in any of them.
Here I know who is supposed to "represent" me in parliament. I am even told I have the opportunity to choose him or her.  It's actually a good deal more complex than that and the notion of "choice" isn't quite what it seems to be. I could even try to get others to "choose" me if I so wished. No, let's not go there. I am much too old a cat to contemplate putting a paw up for parliament.  I can do more good elsewhere. I can attempt to influence policies by listening to others, raising concerns, and writing "letters to the editor" (these days an email).
So living here sounds like a good option. I am still puzzled though. Why are we having an election if the Premier already knows the outcome?