Alas poor Malcolm, dodging sticks and steak knives as the court jester studies Hamlet

Stay away from sharp knives. Eryk Bagshaw, The Age, August 19:

Labor Senator Kristina Keneally said … “The government is hopelessly divided, it is at war with itself … I don’t care how many dinners they have, let’s hope there are no sharp knives there.”

And big sticks. Olivia Caisley, The Australian, August 17:

(Christopher) Pyne said … the government was … employing a “big stick approach” to tackle soaring energy prices. Labor MP Anthony Albanese … said the issue with the government’s … approach was that they were using it to “self-flagellate themselves and hit themselves in the head”.

House of Representatives, Register of Members’ Interests, August 16:

Pyne … Christopher Maurice … Tickets to the performance of Hamlet in the Adelaide Festival …

Alas poor Malcolm. Tony Wright, Sydney Morning Herald, August 20:

We’ve seen this play before … court jester Christopher Pyne chose Sunday … (to declare) the gift of a ticket to Hamlet … the Shakespearean tragedy about backstabbing, betrayal and a murderous plot to steal the throne. You’d forgive ordinary Australians … (for) failing to see the joke.

Don’t give up you blithering chimps. Elizabeth Farrelly, The Sydney Morning Herald, November 25:

Malcolm speaks to us not as a rabble of blithering chimps wanting their buttons pushed but as grownups, capable of considered argument, reasoned reflection and conscientious decision … So here’s my prediction. Malcolm — who like Beyonce is known universally by his first name — will be the longest-serving prime minister since Menzies. Possibly ever … But this is more than a prediction. It’s a judgment. Malcolm’s political longevity will be a Very Good Thing.

Proud Stalinist. Mark Aarons, The Monthly, May 2011:

Lee (Rhiannon) joined the Socialist Party of Australia in 1971 and (led a) delegation to Moscow at the invitation of Leonid Brezhnev’s neo-Stalinist regime … (she) lauds “my youthful past, of which I am proud”.

Bye-bye and keep up the resistance. AAP, The Guardian, August 13:

Outgoing Greens senator Lee Rhiannon has warned her party must resist careerism, leaking and bullying to guarantee its future. Rhiannon is leaving federal parliament at the end of the August sittings …

Don’t worry, Stalinism will intensify! Michael Koziol, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 18:

University of Sydney senior lecturer Tim Anderson — who … (supports) Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un — came to the defence of ex-Sydney University staffer and current PhD candidate Jay Tharappel, who tutored human rights in the same department. Mr Tharappel was …(wearing a) jacket bearing (a badge) … that said “Death to Israel” … Dr Anderson defended Mr Tharappel as a “great friend of Syria” … who was “under attack from Zionists” and “friends of Israel”. … Dr Anderson this month returned from his second trip to Pyongyang … (in a year with) Mr Tharappel. Before the trip, Mr Tharappel … (wrote on) website Fort Russ News and pledged to “write the rest after I come back from North Korea where my Stalinism will intensify”.

Whose Culpa? Latika Bourke, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 18:

Jamie’s Mea Culpa. Celebrity chef blames Sydney lock-out laws for the collapse of his restaurant chain.