Strewth: Praise be to Vlad

Insiders debut for Pauline Hanson.

The outsider delighted to have made it on to Insiders.

Ding ding ding! In the red corner, making her debut in the Insiders ring, Pauline Hanson. In the blue corner, long-time host Barrie Cassidy. No marks for guessing who Vladimir Putin was cheering for as the Queensland senator professed her admiration for his leadership. Hanson warmed up by posting a pre-show photo on her Facebook page with the caption “I thought I better go on the show before I start calling for cuts to the ABC budget….#lefties #LimoLefties”. Others will judge who won the stoush, but for Strewth’s money the best line came when Cassidy asked Hanson if she had forgiven Tony Abbott for fighting One Nation in the 1990s. “Oh Barrie,” she glowered. “I’m like a bloody old elephant. I don’t forget what’s happened in the past. Never.” Yikes.

Nick’s Best gamble

Pollies try all sorts of tricks to stand out on the ballot paper, but Nick Xenophon has latched on to a new one by branding his new political party with the country’s most cringe-worthy name, SA Best. The South Australian senator yesterday made it clear, if it wasn’t already blindingly obvious, that the name had not emerged through any focus group testing. “To quote Dennis Denuto, we think it’s the vibe, we think it’s a pretty good name, and that’s what my colleagues have thought and we’re running with it,” he said. Xenophon reckons removing his surname from his political team name will ensure it survives longer than his own career in Canberra, but surely it also opens the door for an exciting new range of political parties. We reckon Queensland Bonzer, Tassie Terrific and NSW Not So Bad would get a slew of first preferences.

Inspired by The Wire?

The phones are hot at Trump Tower, or so Donald Trump believes. We’re not sure if it was the little clicks that tipped him off, but he shouldn’t act so surprised given Barack Obama’s favourite TV series is The Wire, that brilliant drama in which Baltimore’s boldest (and usually boozed-up) police officers bring down the city’s drug lords through wiretaps. Just imagine whiskey-soused detectives Jimmy McNulty and Bunk Moreland hunkered down, headphones on, eavesdropping on the Donald …. sheeeeeeeeeit.

Flight cancellation

Under sunny skies, the crowds turned out to the international air show at Avalon Airport yesterday, ears ringing with jet noise and Malcolm Turnbull’s declaration that the Joint Strike Fighter F-35A was “the most advanced fighter in the world”. Sadly for the avgas fans, the RAAF scrapped the public departure of its first two planes from the much-criticised Joint Strike Fighter program, citing “bad weather” at its Amberley base outside Ipswich, where the planes were due to land. A possible thunderstorm was forecast for Ipswich last night. We hope for clear skies when the $17 billion batch of 72 jets officially joins the fray.

It doesn’t smell right

There’s a special place in hell for pests who tie up 000 operators with prank calls and nonsense requests for ambulances. Victorians are now being educated by an official awareness campaign telling them when it’s appropriate to call 000, aiming to crack down on the 95,000 unnecessary calls made for an ambulance every year. Health Minister Jill Hennessy says the nuisance complaints range from insomnia to grazed fingers to (wait for it) not farting for 24 hours. One of Strewth’s commanding officers keeps several cans of baked beans in his office and may be able to assist.