Adding to their grief

STREWTH had a very pleasant Fathers Day morning yesterday, but would like to thank The Sun-Herald for elevating the paternal celebration vibe.

STREWTH had a very pleasant Fathers Day morning yesterday, but would like to thank The Sun-Herald for elevating the paternal celebration vibe.

It did so with a front-page ad from Telstra in the form of a Post-it note urging readers to "Make Father's Day. Call mum as well". Touchingly, the note was stuck across a photo of the face of Michael McGurk, the Sydney developer gunned down last week in front of his 10-year-old son. The traumatised boy ran calling for his mother, so the Telstra ad isn't entirely unfitting. However, it did still make us dry retch.

Bumping the gun

STILL with The Sun-Herald, we thought it was a very nice photo they ran of NSW Premier Nathan Rees and his wife Stacey Haines, looking like two people happy to have each other's company. But The Sun-Herald's reporter saw more, kicking off the piece thus: "Is she? It seems so. Premier Nathan Rees appears to be a father-in-waiting today after twice failing yesterday to deny his wife, Stacey Haines, is pregnant with their first child." Twice failing to deny, eh? Mention was made of a "baby bump"; we couldn't see one, but, as Strewth's special agent in the field points out, it could have something to do with the fact she isn't pregnant yet.

Gracious Queensland

IN Queensland, of all places, it appears Labor MPs want the option of not swearing allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. A parliamentary committee has found mixed views on the matter and recommended anyone giving the oath - and that includes the Governor - be able to instead swear allegiance to Australia's head of state (Rove McManus?). The Liberal-National Party members of the committee, in a dissenting report, described the move as a "latent republican exercise". Strewth is not so sure; it doesn't really sound all that latent.

Da Freemason Code

THE latest group to have the wind put up them by The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown appears to be Australian Freemasons, who have been moved by the impending release of Brown's latest book to put out a release: "The book's publisher promises a thriller based on the role of Freemasons in US history and politics, a subject charged with sufficient mystery to provoke widespread interest in the Masonic Craft. Freemasonry is not a secret society. It has long been misunderstood." Excitingly, they're throwing open the doors of Sydney's United Grand Lodge Centre this week to assorted hacks, who will be given "excerpts of a soon to be released book on Freemasonry in Australia, It's No Secret ... Real Men Wear Aprons. Strewth's correspondent, who possibly isn't a Brown fan, observes: "This is like the AFP having an open day because Police Academy is on telly and they are worried people will get the wrong idea." And if you're either young enough or old enough to not know what Police Academy is, consider yourself blessed.

It's Mintconflorinats

QUESTION time notwithstanding, how much excitement can Canberra cope with in one hit? Are we talking one major event at a time, or can the national capital risk fun in plural form? We're about to find out, with Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry announcing that the city will not only host the XXVI International Mint Directors Conference in Canberra in 2010, but that it will coincide with Floriade. If only they could throw in the Summernats as well, it would be perfect, even if Springnats sounds more like a type of pest.

Salient tweetments

WE are delighted to discover that Samuel Johnson is no longer kicking around on Twitter alone (Strewth, last week) and has been joined by a suitably prolific James Boswell (RealBoswell), who writes: "Accepting I will always be COLDPLAY to Johnson's RADIOHEAD. And now to SOHO, in search of WHORES." Twitter now also boasts, among others, Jonathan Swift and Charles Dickens, as well as Alexander Pope, whose rhyming tweets include: "The Slogan runs: 'BIG BROTHER WATCHETH YOU'. / 'NOBODY WATCHETH HIM' would run more true." It may be beginning to get out of hand.