Kev's the one

ACCORDING to a search of Strewth mentions during the past 12 months, Kevin Rudd is still the most newsworthy person in the nation.

ACCORDING to a search of Strewth mentions during the past 12 months, Kevin Rudd is still the most newsworthy person in the nation.

Congratulations, Kev, you have been mentioned 236 times in Strewth since January 1. This must be attributed to your untiring efforts, combined with our enduring fascination for all your convoluted utterings and, of course, the pathos that surrounds the recent developments in your career.

Bubbling under

SECOND in our list of mentions is Tony Abbott (and not all were about his swimwear), as one would expect of a balanced column. His score of 207 is a fine effort, but Abbott needs to lift his game because Julia Gillard had 176 mentions: added to Rudd's score, this indicates Abbott is coming up short in terms of the required number of faux pas. But to give credit to the opposition, Abbott is well supported by Malcolm Turnbull (74), Christopher Pyne (37) and Julie Bishop (32).

Foley's fighting fit

SOUTH Australian Premier Mike Rann had 52 mentions, a score that is heavily weighted by his incessant -- and, dare we say, dreary -- tweeting. In Adelaide yesterday there was much speculation about the future of Treasurer Kevin Foley (31), with electronic media predicting he will resign by mid-January. Foley quickly got in touch with Strewth so that the truth could emerge: he is going nowhere, he asserts. Foley is on leave somewhere in Southeast Asia (he refused to give a location), where he is "with friends, relaxing, working out, getting fit and keeping off the booze". He'll be "back fitter and better than ever". Fewer mentions in Strewth should be his new year's resolution.

Undeserving gong

FAIRFAX foreign correspondent Paul McGeough can add another gong to his collection, which includes a Walkley award this year for his account of the Turkish convoy to Gaza that was intercepted by Israeli forces. Honest Reporting, an organisation that monitors media coverage of Israel, has awarded its Most Undeserving of Honour award to McGeough, an award that has been welcomed by the Zionist Council of Victoria. The Walkley judges praised McGeough for his journalism and commended the story for its newsworthiness and degree of difficulty. The ZCV alleges "he was nowhere near the action". Strewth supposes that award does not come with a cheque.

Assange takes rap

WIKILEAKS chief Julian Assange has scored a role on the internet hit Rap News. Giordano Nanni and Hugo Farrant from Melbourne have a blossoming reputation for satire set to rap. Assange offered to help with a new episode. He could become the Leonard Cohen of rap.

A hit for Kudelka

OUR Tasmania-based cartoonist Jon Kudelka is an unassuming bloke who draws brilliant, wry toons for our Review section and a couple of times a week for the editorial and letters page. He thought a Kudelka calendar might sell 100 copies if he was lucky and his website had enough visitors. To his amazement, there was an immediate clamour, a demand that has led him and wife, Maggie, to work through the night getting back their investment in a top-range laser jet printer. At a modest $15 a pop, Kudelka is very happy with his cottage industry.

Caught at first slip

ENGLAND batsman Kevin Pietersen is an irresistible target, as Mitchell Johnson would readily agree. Lovely batsman, but a sucker in the words department. He reckons Australia is under pressure (duh) to perform and that's why they are talking so much. "When you're under extreme amounts of pressure, you talk a lot more," says Pietersen, who then proceeded to talk as if he would never stop.

Dishing it out

ARMED only with a ladle, Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib, the man who helped knife Kevin Rudd, fronted up at a Salvation Army soup kitchen in Sydney to serve Christmas lunch to the homeless yesterday, a half hour late. He strolled in and made a beeline for a couple of youths, leaning over to shake their hands. "I'm the Minister for Homelessness," he said before backing away when a girl at the table grew teary-eyed at all the attention from camera crews. Whipping off his jacket and donning an apron, Arbib joined the line for five minutes of ladling. In a back room, between shelves of pasta and instant mashed potato, he faced the cameras flanked by two homeless youths to plug the government's social housing achievements. "This is Matty, by the way," he told the media, thanks to a quick briefing in the hallway by his adviser. "Let's get back to the kitchen!" he cried, but by the time he found his apron again, it was all over.

We'll be back

IT has been a great year for this column. We'd like to thank all those whose eccentricities and acts of folly have helped us make it possible. Strewth returns on January 10.