Strewth
Protect us, please
Graeme Leech WE'VE had Thatcherism and Reaganism, but is the world ready for Katterism?
(Not) losing focus
James Jeffrey AS unlikely as it was beautiful, the dream of politics without focus groups was lifted into the light by a journalist at the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday, and there it sparkled for roughly three seconds until Julia Gillard snuffed it out.
Devil's advocate
James Jeffrey THERE was a period of gloom, brief but profound, that descended once it was confirmed Wilson Tuckey had been given the flick by his electorate.
All eyes on Jerry
James Jeffrey WE'D like to think all those Perth theatre patrons filling the seats at His Majesty's for The Graduate are doing so out of their dedication to the arts.
Over it
James Jeffrey EVEN in the pre-hung days of our democracy, there were moments when Queensland Labor would fly free of the spin cycle like a loosened nut.
Karaoke Katter
James Jeffrey WHEN Strewth thinks of Bob Katter, which is often, many words spring to mind: popular, rowdy and boyish are just the first few.
Food for thought
Graeme Leech WHEN Adam Bandt won Melbourne for the Greens, he could not have imagined sitting down to lunch with independent Bob Katter the following Wednesday.
Family gems
STREWTH: James Jeffrey BOB Katter's overdue ascent to the pinnacle of power makes us tingle with excitement, not least after his magnificent return to Canberra yesterday.
Tuckey-free zone
James Jeffrey BACK in our federal parliament's pre-hung days, there was some amusement to be had from the Liberal Party's decision to give its ousted leader Malcolm Turnbull a pew in the blast zone of heckle-happy Wilson Tuckey.
No time to lose
James Jeffrey ONE of the more comically cruel spectacles of Saturday night was one television station after another pulling the plug on Kevin Rudd's victory speech; rumour has it he's still going.
Draw the line
James Jeffrey WE could, we suppose, get sentimental about the campaign that now lies in the past.
Red-eye special
James Jeffrey ONCE upon a time, Strewth found itself - through a combination of youthful exuberance and excessively hospitable Russian engineers - awake for 30 hours.
Cave mentality
Graeme Leech THE men and women of Australia have spoken on who they really want to lead the country.
Go to the sauce
James Jeffrey DISTRACTED as we are by Zsa Zsa Gabor's parlous health, we were relieved when a reporter in Townsville brought things into focus.
Hawkie schtick
James Jeffrey WE have rarely experienced a sense of void as utterly empty as the one created by Mark Latham's 60 Minutes report.
People person
James Jeffrey MAKERS of fine musical instruments often stamp their identity somewhere on the body, so why don't makers of dog whistles follow suit?
Liberally derided
Strewth: James Jeffrey JOEL Scalzi has been on reality TV and on the receiving end of talkback radio; guess which was harder?
Marking mad
James Jeffrey LOOKING ever more like W. C. Fields's less whimsical, long-lost brother, Mark Latham has now chalked up "successful" "interviews" with Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
Battle pauses
Strewth: James Jeffrey THERE was an outbreak of bipartisanship in inner Sydney's Redfern yesterday.
In Malcolmland
James Jeffrey WE were amused to see a photo in this august organ yesterday of Malcolm Turnbull seated beneath a screen proclaiming him to be "Malcolm Turnbull, federal minister for Wentworth".
Bob Brown is capable of blatant hypocrisy
THE end of the Greens' facade of independence was not the only significant revelation in yesterday's announcement of a formal Labor-Greens alliance.
Dumb and disgraced
ANY footballer who is so dumb that he cannot stay in the limits of the AFL's lenient three-strikes drug policy no longer deserves lenient treatment
Revisionist ruminations
FURTHER to Malcolm Fraser's performance on Q&A on Monday night (Cut&Paste, 1/9).
In praise of good patriots and reasonable people
Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor BARACK Obama deserves credit for wisely following the path laid by George W. Bush.
Pitchforks and pork are no way to run a country
Gary Johns A return to tariffs and protectionism mocks political trailblazers such as Bert Kelly, says Gary Johns.
Hung parliament in wartime was one of our best
Rodney Cavalier THE 1940 election was messy, but much would be achieved in the term that followed.
Learn to speak Italian in four easy decades
Helen Trinca OUR new Italian teacher tells us grammar is for life. He's a stickler for correct nomenclature as well as endless exercises, says Helen Trinca.
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Bleak's cartoon gallery
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