Osama drama
SPEAKING to an American Chamber of Commerce lunch yesterday, Aunty boss Mark Scott said the ABC received one complaint about it not crossing immediately to the news of Osama bin Laden’s expedited exit.
Strewth
ABC kid gloves
WE have noticed, from time to time, a tendency to accuse the ABC of being soft on Labor and, when it comes down to it, soft on the causes of Labor. But an outsider sees things with a fresh eye.
Abbott, our bad
GIVEN Tony Abbott has spent a sizeable chunk of his working life in the vicinity of Wilson Tuckey, we suspect moments of silence still have the power to surprise him.
Banquo’s bill
IT was, as expected, a fine night at the Walkley Foundation’s Press Freedom Dinner in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Friday night.
Chased out
REACTION to the Windsors’ banning of the Chaser chaps from commenting on the royal wedding can generally be divided into several distinct types:
Tweet forgiveness
HE may be a relative novice on Twitter, but that was one of hell of a splash Australian Christian Lobby managing director Jim Wallace made on Anzac Day.
Egg on their face
THE Refugee Action Coalition, the group of handwringers who see only goodness and light among refugees who burn down their accommodation, appears to be confused about the Easter religious festival.
Thor point
FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd has revealed on Twitter he’s tossing up (figuratively speaking) whether to see the new flick Thor.
All fired up
TREASURER and Acting PM Wayne Swan may be the man taking care of the nation’s bottom line, but he may be taking something of a devil-may-care approach to his own.
Travel tips
LET’S hope the protocol experts in Canberra have given Julia Gillard and First Bloke Tim Mathieson a careful briefing for their big trip to Japan, South Korea, China and London.
Pine for Kev
WHEN Julia Gillard planted a cutting from the Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge at the National Arboretum in Canberra yesterday, it brought back happy memories of Kevin Rudd planting a seedling there from Gallipoli’s Lone Pine in 2008.
Ouch, that smarts
IF there’s one thing journalists really know how to do, it’s how to bugger somebody’s afternoon.
Colt turns stallion
FOR all Shirley MacLaine’s talk about Andrew Peacock, there’s only one line that’s snagged in our brain.
Bum rapper
BACK in the days Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott were on it, the Today show’s Friday political slot was a hotbed of screwball comedy, sexual tension and, courtesy of co-host Karl Stefanovic, endearingly inept expressions of admiration.
Bearing gifts
WE suspect Julia Gillard isn’t unused to opening her front door to find a visitor whose smile may or may not be masking hostility deep within their heart, but it must make for a nice change when it isn’t Kevin Rudd.
Heart stopping
IT was perhaps a case of life attempting partially to imitate art during Opera Australia’s premiere of La Boheme in Melbourne on Tuesday night when, as Mimi prepared to draw her last consumptive breath, an audience member had a heart attack.
Jarring moment
AS the nation’s resolve weakens and hordes of women mass at the gates of the Australian Defence Force Academy, gagging for combat, it’s comforting to know there are less faddish souls manning the barricades.
Captain caption
AS if it weren’t bad enough stacking his motorbike and copping a rock through the kneecap last week, Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce’s recovery suffered a bit of a hiccup on the weekend.
Boofhead back
POLITICS in NSW has never been particularly elevated so it seems natural for Barry O’Farrell to describe opposition leader John Robertson as a “boofhead”.
Knee’s up
NEWS that Barnaby Joyce had come a cropper on his motorbike while mustering cattle (not a euphemism) filled our head yesterday with terrible visions of him hurtling over the handlebars a la Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/strewth/page/113