"There's more chance of me becoming the full-forward for the Dogs than there is any chance of a change in the Labor Party."This kind of statement should always be taken with a grain of salt, and (if you ask me) belongs in the same category as ‘the leader has my full support’, which, at least in NSW politics, indicates that the knives are out, and a leadership change is imminent.
According to Suetonius, the Roman Emperor Caligula (aka Gaius) was once told a similar thing by the emperor Tiberius' astrologer – that he had as much chance of becoming emperor as riding a horse across the Gulf of Baiae. So, when in due course Caligula did become emperor in 37 AD, he apparently constructed a huge temporary floating bridge out of ships, spanning the two miles from Puteoli to Baiae, and rode his horse across it.
