Consolidated memories

IT was the end of an era yesterday when James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings flogged off its head office at 54 Park St, Sydney, an address rich in memories for anyone who followed the adventures of James's father Kerry.

IT was the end of an era yesterday when James Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings flogged off its head office at 54 Park St, Sydney, an address rich in memories for anyone who followed the adventures of James's father Kerry.

This was the building that saw the 1995 theft of $5.4 million worth of gold bullion from Big Kezza's office, along with a Vegemite jar stuffed with gold nuggets. It was followed eight years later by the illegal liberation of a 9mm Glock pistol from a desk drawer. The building is also home to the Hyde Park Club, the gym that was managed by Kerry's long-time mistress Julie Trethowan. Still, what price memories? About $50m it would seem, with AMP Capital Investors the new owners.

Telstra on the line

WHILE one era ends another may - possibly - be dawning at Telstra. On Monday we mentioned the travails of Alastair Marshall of Hall, NSW, and his two-year struggle with Telstra to get the internet connected at his home, despite being just up the road from Canberra. Upon hearing new Telstra chief David Thodey's vow this month to make customer satisfaction and swift complaint resolution the telco's top priority, Marshall opted to email Thodey directly. A week dragged by and still nothing, apart from the mention in Strewth. Then, on Monday night, Marshall received a call from none other than Thodey, who apologised for Telstra's stuff-ups and assured Marshall he would personally review the situation and get back with solutions within a day or two. Marshall is speechless, but we suspect he'll recover.

Ashes are still burning

EVEN as a cricket agnostic, Strewth understands our fair land has been plunged into a time of darkness. So we salute The Sydney Morning Herald's Peter Roebuck for refusing to quite let go, writing: "Had the (Australian) team played well enough for long enough, Dame Fortune herself could not have stopped them." Er, quite. Meanwhile, our own Mitchell Bingemann found his words making an appearance in British broadsheet The Times' round-up of Australian media reactions to the Ashes. But as Bingemann explains: "The excerpt they chose to run is from a review I wrote of the Ashes video game for the Xbox and PlayStation. I've never written an article about real-life cricket in my life."

Rudd plays Mr Darcy

WE'VE always sensed serious electricity in the air when Therese Rein and Kevin Rudd are in each other's vicinity; when their eyes meet, there's so much spark we expect to hear the emergency phwoar-ning sirens going off. Turns out we didn't realise the half of it, with Rein telling The Australian Women's Weekly that when they were courting at Canberra's Australian National University, the young Kev played Mr Darcy to her Elizabeth Bennet. Thanks to the good offices of AAP, we know Rein told the mag: "It was in the best traditions of Jane Austen. Actually, it was very Pride and Prejudice. We would get into these heated debates about politics, philosophy, films, the meaning of life ... We came from very different backgrounds and yet we were so very similar."

Get to know the boss

WHO wrote this? "Perhaps more than any person in Australian corporate circles, Malcolm Turnbull's name inevitably provokes reaction. He can be courteous, charming and flattering one minute, and bursting with dark volcanic rage the next, depending on whether or not he is getting his way in negotiations." Pat on the back if you picked it as a quote from Mark Westfield's 2000 book The Gatekeepers. That was then, of course; Westfield is now Turnbull's new spinmeister, but it would seem he knows what he's getting into.

SA's frosty reception

SOUTH Australia's Liberal opposition has been through a tumultuous time recently over the use of fake ALP documents in an attempt to discredit senior Labor figures, the fallout of which resulted in Premier Mike Rann going hammer and tongs on Twitter, and Martin Hamilton-Smith losing his leadership. During weeks of leadership tension, media crews were camped outside the parliamentary office of the leader, with one glass-door entrance a popular spot as it provided vision for TV cameras of awkward behind-the-scenes moments. Alas, it has all come to an end. One of the last acts of the Hamilton-Smith administration was to ensure the Opposition Leader's office now has frosted, rather than clear, glass doors. Another bastion of transparent government gone.