Antipodean Allegory

An allegory of the British Conservative Party has played itself out at a Queensland lake, where two species of deadly reptile were caught on camera in a vicious death-struggle. One of the combatants was a crocodile: a confirmed Old Tory, legendary for its hypocritical displays of compassion but also known for being intelligent enough to refrain from devouring the birds that clean its teeth. Its opponent was a less than usually vocal representative of the Bullingdon Club. Some canoeists and a woman with a camera were fortunately on hand to embody the bemused public and press as they witnessed the snake embrace and then strangle its thick-skinned but relatively undersized rival. Having devoured the crocodile, the snake partly took on the shape of its prey; but this was certainly a temporary effect, which will dissipate as the legless strangler's natural form asserts itself. The snake is now likely to remain torpid for a while before attempting to swallow anything more; which is, of course, where any resemblance to the Bullingdon Club ends.