Battle tested

COULD we be witnessing a case of digital deja vu?

COULD we be witnessing a case of digital deja vu? Malcolm Turnbull yesterday issued a cyber missive asking his followers to advise him on problem gambling.

His invitation to participate in the online survey piques our interest for two reasons: a) Tony Abbott is on the other side of the world; b) public dissatisfaction with him has reached an all-time high of 57 per cent. Strewth is reminded of a tweet in a similar vein sent by Joe Hockey in November 2009 canvassing views on another hot topic, the emissions trading scheme, right at the moment partyroom numbers were moving against Turnbull's leadership. Hockey: "Hey team re the ETS. Give me your views please on the policy and political debate. I really want your feedback." His tweet was read as a de facto challenge signalling he would stand if Turnbull fell. Could it be Turnbull learned a thing or two from his friend (nearly ex-friend) Joe about laptops and smart phones being the new weapons of political mass destruction? Or is Malcolm really seeking the advice of Andrew Wilkie, with a non-too-subtle message of his own?

Odd couple

TO adapt a phrase from Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle, "Ah, the irony!" Strewth spy Chris Kenny, arriving at drinks for Liberal staffers at a pub in inner-Sydney on Wednesday night, was at the bar when he ran into a well-known ABC television reporter, an old pal of his. After swapping war stories over free drinks (the best kind), Kenny realised his mate was actually attending a different function, in an adjoining room: a strategy event for Australians for Marriage Equality, the group spearheading the campaign on gay marriage. Two functions sharing the one bar. Reports of function-slippage, we are told, are greatly exaggerated.

Date for Nigel

AS you may have noticed, today's date is a little repetitive: 11-11-11. Without wanting to take anything away from Remembrance Day (we wear our poppy with pride), Strewth has heard rumblings of moves to rename the day Spinal Tap Day to commemorate a different set of fallen heroes. As children of the 1980s will recall, the band Spinal Tap was the subject of a cult mockumentary in 1984. In one scene lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest) attempts to explain the advantages of the band's modified amplifier dials. Tufnel: "The numbers all go to 11. Look, right across the board, 11, 11, 11 and . . . " Interviewer: "Oh, I see. And most amps go up to 10?" Tufnel: "Exactly." Interviewer: "Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?" Tufnel: "Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not 10." The printed word may fail us on this occasion. Find the clip on YouTube. It's worth it.

Past tense

A GOOD example of how the electronic media can fail appeared yesterday when a click on to the home page of Fairfax newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald hurtled Strewth into a Dr Who-style time warp. The date was correct (November 10, 2011), the time was correct (11.56am), but the stories were from February 9, 2009. While no matter for levity (the main headline, "A Tragedy Beyond Belief", was about the Victorian bushfires, with a photo of devastation and a display quote from "deputy prime minister Julia Gillard" about Black Saturday being "one of the darkest days in Australia's peacetime history"), it was interesting to see a story about "opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull's alternative stimulus plan" and another about "prime minister Kevin Rudd" planning to meet a coalminer "before he decides to spend billions of dollars on carbon capture and storage". We can't say we enjoyed our trip down memory lane (Gillard was right, it was a very dark day), but our re-entry to 2011 at 12.23pm, when we happened to glance again at the SMH home page, was no bed of roses either. Main story: "$37 billion wiped off market". Home.

Going troppo

TWO images to take away from the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Honolulu thus far: Treasurer Wayne Swan giving a press conference loomed over by Hawaiian-strength birds of paradise and accompanied by sunset-by-the-pool-with-cocktails ukulele strumming (Sky News yesterday morning) and Prime Minister Gillard as a commemorative teddy bear (pictured). Cuddly maybe, but where's the coconut bikini top?

Famous last words

NEWS Limited reporters and editors from The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, and everyone in between, needed no arm twisting to join retiring chairman and chief executive John Hartigan at the Aurora Hotel in Surry Hills, Sydney, last night following the announcement the legendary reporter, editor and boss was leaving the fold after 41 years. When asked which of the truckload of media requests for interviews he would accept, Harto told corporate affairs director Greg Baxter: "I'm going to the pub." And off he went, where he was serenaded into the night by the not unusually vocal Nick Tabakoff from The Tele.