Almond latte brings small corner of the nation closer together

Michelle Grattan tweeting about Scott Morrison, yesterday:

Morrison uses “sipping almond lattes” as insult. How does he take his coffee, please?

Former South Australian MP Mich­ael Pengilly tweeting in response:

He is the Prime Minister not ­“Morrison”.

The Sydney Morning Herald, ­Nov­ember 24, 2011:

Liberal MP Michael Pengilly rapidly back-pedalled after calling the prime minister “a real dog” on Twitter. The South Australian MP, who tweets under the handle @PengillyMP, sent the News Limited journalist David Penberthy a message that said: “she’s a real dog” in reply to a tweet by Penberthy about Julia Gillard.

Grattan soldiering doughtily on:

Don’t usually like reporting on what (I) eat/drink but Peter Martin and I just ordered first-ever almond lattes. Not good. Maybe Scott has a point.

The Australian, yesterday:

Mark Latham to join Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

Latham in The Daily Telegraph,February 19, 2001:

If the public had no reason to hate politics then One Nation would not exist. Pauline Hanson’s political talent lies in the way in which she ­embodies this mood, not so much through her ideas or opinions but through her personality. The Hanson persona is a perfect match for the One Nation constituency: resentful, distrustful and overwhelmingly ­negative.

Latham continuing in TheTele:

The only type of welfare Pauline Hanson supports is hand-outs for the corporate sector. The milk industry is a case in point. Twelve months ago a clear majority of dairy farmers voted for deregulation, backed by a large restructuring package. This was Australia’s first democratic deregulation. It has produced lower milk prices, with consumers saving millions of dollars. And Hanson’s position? She opposes deregulation. She wants to reverse the democratic decision of the group she claims to represent. She wants to re-regulate the industry and increase the price of milk. Thank goodness the electorate is only casting a protest vote. If we were governed by this sort of nonsense the country would soon be in receivership.

Maybe he’ll improve it from the ­inside? The Latham Diaries (2005):

By their nature, political parties ­attract authoritarian types of people, those comfortable with top-down models of control, with themselves positioned at the top. The Greens are no exception. In many respects they are a mirror image of the One Nation Party — one dominated by the ­authoritarian Left, the other infested by the fascist Right. Just as One ­Nation fell apart under these organisational pressures (attracting many hundreds of members who envisaged themselves as the Fuhrer), the Greens are likely to face chronic instability once their long-serving leader, Bob Brown, retires from Parliament.

Latham/One Nation headline on The Australian website, yesterday:

Enjoy the honeymoon, it will outlast the marriage.

Actual headlines on the ABC News website, yesterday:

Paper towels or air hand dryers: Which is better for the environment and hygiene?;

The secret experiment to see what happens to all the office teaspoons;

Why do vegans have such bad ­reputations?;

Why Miriam lives in the wilderness, killing animals to survive.