Foley falls

"STOP all the clocks, cut off the telephone/ Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone." You'll have to bear with us for a moment. Due to Kevin Foley's resignation as South Australian treasurer and deputy premier yesterday afternoon, W. H. Auden has momentarily got the better of us. "He was my North, my South, my East and West,/ My working week and my Sunday rest." Where will we ever again find gold that glisters like Big Kev? "The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,/ Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,/ Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;/ For nothing now can ever come to any good." Oh, hang on a moment. Our Adelaide colleague Michael Owen reassures us Big Kev will remain in cabinet. Best relieve that dog of its juicy bone, then; we may need it later. Meanwhile, Foley's cabinet colleagues Paul Holloway and Michael Wright also pulled the pin yesterday, the latter giving a none-too-subtle hint by deleting his Twitter account a few hours ahead of the official announcement. Happily, Premier Mike Rann's account remains active, and was put to one of its accustomed, glass-half-full uses: "Their decision to step down means that only five of original 2002 ministry remain. A good mix of experience and new blood."

Whistle in the dark

MEANWHILE, NSW Labor gently kicked off its election campaign with, among other things, a fine slice of what may be termed unreality TV. Yes, it's a new ad starring Premier Kristina Keneally, who opens proceedings with an apology and the suggestion the state government has gone "off-track", which sounds perilously close to "a good government that lost its way". (Although that particular adjective is not used.) Perhaps it's just us, but it seems somehow fitting that in the ad, she's dressed like one of those White Lady undertakers. And Bob Hawke (a self-described Strewth fan and clearly a perceptive man) has said Labor can't win. Touching as it is, why they persist is as much of a mystery as the identity of much of the opposition other than leader Barry O'Farrell. All in good time.

No paddle, either

IT'S time for Spot the Answer. Today's round is brought to you by ABC1 Insiders host Barrie Cassidy and his very special guest yesterday, Tony Abbott.

Cassidy: "The gun levy - what's the difference between that and this [flood levy]?"

Abbott: "Well this is a government which can't be trusted to spend money wisely, which means that it's all the more important for the government to reorder its priorities and to find savings. The Prime Minister herself admitted at the Press Club that there were further savings that could be found. And that's where the government should be looking, to the fat in the budget, to meet reconstruction costs."

Well, we suppose there is something in there, sort of. It's possible the Iron Monk was distracted, for reasons spelled out by Brisbane Strewth reader Dean Parker: "The problem was that Abbott appeared to be interviewed with the Brisbane River as a backdrop. We all know that he was probably in a studio, but at least the background video could have been changed to something that did not have CityCats buzzing back and forth. They have been out of action since January 11."

Low interest

AS our colleague Ewin Hannan has reported, the Commonwealth Bank wants to get tough on employees who fail to tell the boss about people being rude about the bank on social media. High time, we think, to tap into the old Which bank? sentiment and coin "Witch Hunt Bank" as a slogan. While it's a small start, it is at least a start. And probably less cumbersome than: "The Commonwealth Bank - Now drawing inspiration from the Stasi". (This has been a free Strewth corporate service.)

Off the peak

WE had some fun recently when The Australian Financial Review's executive property section starred a Brisbane River-side mansion on the day its street was submerged in the flood; ah, we said, the perils of printing sections in advance. Award yourself 10 points if you saw this coming, but we had our own moment in the Homehunt section of The Weekend Australian Magazine, where one of the main properties was a hillside mansion at Second Beach, across the bay from Cairns. To be on the safe side, we rang the owner, an extremely relieved-sounding Julia Fulford-Kirby. "The house went really well, thank God," she tells Strewth. "We didn't know what to expect. We're well sheltered and you can see the wind lifting from the sea 200m out to climb over the hill. There was no damage to the house at all, just leaf litter and branches scattered about."

Banana drama

READER Peter Bassett was struck by our item about a Sydney man who bought bananas only to find they'd become $3 a kg dearer - due to "the floods" - by the time he reached the cash register (Strewth, Saturday). Writes Bassett: "Now that prices are again moving towards the roof, I expect to see more signs like the one that appeared in a Nambour shop window after the last cyclone did its destructive best: 'No bananas kept on these premises overnight.' "

James Jeffrey