What are they putting in the coffee over at Myer's Docklands HQ? Laudanum? Having already foreshadowed his partiality for CEO Richard Umbers' sinking "New Myer" strategy before he'd even walked in the front door, chairman-designate Garry Hounsell has now officially strapped himself to it. "I am convinced that the New Myer strategy is the right one," Hounsell wrote in the notice of meeting lodged with the ASX on Monday. "I come to this role very motivated by how much progress the management team has made in delivering New Myer ... The strategy is working."

It's no more outlandish than anything else this mob has said or done lately, but there you have it: vote for me for more of the same. Hounsell's election, and that of his fellow directors, is now a referendum on New Myer, making irate predator Solomon Lew's job – swinging disillusioned institutions – far easier.