Virgin territory
IT is the year 2010. The world is still reeling from the global financial crisis.
Strewth
Galled at the mall
WHEN Milton Cockburn was editor of The Sydney Morning Herald in the 1990s, it would have been a safe bet that he’d have thundered against any ban on politicians campaigning in shopping centres.
A croc for Kevin
THAT vivacious daily journal of renown, the Northern Territory News, has responded to Kevin Rudd’s disappointment.
Website outrage
AS amused as we were by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s cavalier attitude to the strict embargo on one of its own releases (Strewth, Monday), we were even more taken with the effort by the Governor-General’s office with the Australia Day honours list this week.
Seven’s early star
KEVIN Rudd has been snapped up to appear weekly on the Seven Network’s Sunrise show, the program that gave him such wonderful exposure when in opposition.
Witch hunt
THANKS to the zeal of the police on duty yesterday, it wasn’t an awful lot of fun for those loitering outside Admiralty House in Sydney’s Kirribilli hoping for a glimpse of Prince William; but then, it wasn’t necessarily that much better for the insufficiently famous on the guest list.
Badger watch
AT yesterday’s launch of Jasper and Abby and the Great Australia Day Kerfuffle, the book that can only enhance the burgeoning showbiz careers of the prime ministerial pets, Kevin Rudd inadvertently gave hope to lobbyists the nation over as he spoke of his co-author.
Will on the way
STIRRED by the sense of excitement that drove, ooh, a dozen supporters to welcome Wills to Auckland, Strewth hit the streets of Redfern.
Kevin under-7
THE initial still photographs of Kevin Rudd trying out his bowling arm in Hobart yesterday looked encouraging enough.
Rann recycling
JUST days after John “You can’t be serious” McEnroe accidentally mucked up his nickname and addressed him as Randy rather Ranny, South Australian Premier Mike Rann must have thought he was on safer ground with his Twitter chum and bromantic interest Lance Armstrong.
Whale of a salary
IN a good scoop yesterday, News Ltd’s metropolitan dailies revealed that former Sydney Olympics chief Sandy Hollway had earned a handy $200,000 for 100 days’ work, and spent an impressive $342,000 on travel in his role of whaling envoy to the Rudd government.
Troubled Turkeys
BOXING Day greetings to you all from the Strewth embassy in northern NSW’s Coffs Harbour, where we sit. possibly appositely, within spitting distance of the Big Banana.
Saintly soap
AFTER the big announcement from the Vatican, Strewth was anxious to learn what was available in the world of Mary MacKillop souvenirs.
Rudd’s sainthood
DID Kevin Rudd set off for the northern hemisphere with this basic plan: If the climate thing doesn’t work out, can he at least come home with a sainthood?
This is no joke
TONY Abbott’s rise to the opposition leadership appears to have rattled the Rudd government.
Zip it
HE may have refrained from shaking sauce bottles, but that doesn’t mean Kevin Rudd has stepped back from his ambitious program to reshape the language in his own image.
Give him a break
THE swearing in of NSW Premier Kristina Keneally’s new ministers at Sydney’s Government House yesterday was a generally sullen affair.
Rees ail value
FORMER NSW premier Nathan Rees may have been rolled this week, going down while lobbing hand grenades, but he’s still leader where it counts.
Know thy thin laugh
STREWTH predicted all that spare time on Malcolm Turnbull’s hands would eat into the time that Tony Abbott had set aside for his fitness regime.
Too much monk business
AT Tony Abbott’s and the Dalai Lama’s press conference yesterday, the latter was asked what he thought of the opposition’s stance on climate change.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/strewth/page/127