Mal-function?

WHEN Malcolm Turnbull used Twitter to pull the pin on his political career yesterday, he provided a link that directed his followers to a possibly symbolic message: "Service Temporarily Unavailable - The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later."

WHEN Malcolm Turnbull used Twitter to pull the pin on his political career yesterday, he provided a link that directed his followers to a possibly symbolic message: "Service Temporarily Unavailable - The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later."

Temporarily unavailable? Try again later? Could this possibly be a signal to his supporters that all is not lost, that he could at least be contemplating a Lazarus-with-defibrillators scenario? Perhaps that was the reason for Mal's enigmatic smile as he posed for photos on the wharf at Sydney's Rose Bay yesterday (between apologising to local anglers for scaring away the fish). Mal's son was being not at all enigmatic, updating his Facebook status yesterday to read, "Alex Turnbull won't be voting for the Coalition at the next federal election."

Healthy scepticism

DURING the obligatory deluge of sudden goodwill for the recently politically deceased, there were hopeful murmurs about the possibility of Mal entering NSW politics and presumably going off like a depth charge. While we imagine such talk falls squarely in the category of optimism flying in the face of the facts, state Liberal leader Barry O'Farrell went out of his way to let Mal know he would be welcomed with open arms. This was generally viewed as diplomatic, friendly even, but we suspect O'Farrell may have been misconstrued and that when he said arms, he was thinking of the type that emits lead. Though we could be wrong. While we're in the realm of the NSW Libs, former opposition leader Kerry Chikarovski has bounced back into the spotlight with a new company, Chika Health, and a new dietary supplement designed to reinvigorate women aged 40 and older, boost their metabolism and help them lose weight. We were rather hoping it would be a kind of cheesecake with a built-in tapeworm (a win-win situation, surely), but it is instead something with the mildly unnerving name of Supprexxa. Still, she does look very sunny in the photos that have been sent out.

Wheel of misfortune

TODAY, as Tony Abbott embarks on the first day of Pollie Pedal, the 1000km charity fundraising bicycle odyssey from Melbourne to Sydney, he'll be riding into those parts of Victoria ravaged by the Black Saturday bushfires a year ago, and in all probability passing the survivors on the road as they head in the opposite direction. It won't be anything personal, we gather, just a case of unfortunate timing that will see the Iron Monk weaving into the hills of Kinglake just as the people of Kinglake motor down the hill for a 10-hour Thank You Melbourne concert. Hopefully there will be someone left in town for Abbott to talk to.

Noble prize for PR

THE term "corporate speak" tends to be deployed in a perjorative way, but we're feeling more in favour of it after reading the official reaction from Noble Group to a US takeover offer for Queensland's Macarthur Coal, which is part of Noble's own takeover and merger aspirations. Some edited highlights: "The board of directors of the Noble Group have noted with interest the recent developments regarding an unsolicited offer by the US-based Peabody Coal for Macarthur. The board of Macarthur reacted to their bid with the same enthusiasm as a lost and hungry hiker who stumbles across a road kill roo that had been in the sun too long, and not surprisingly said `no thanks'." The reasons for the robustness are made even clearer a little further down: "Life was great until a few days ago when, instead of jumping on their horses, the Americans charged into town on a Gulfstream jet for the afternoon and plunked a bid down that was a great deal for them, and not, in our view, anywhere near what was already on the table. Hats off to them for being opportunistic and crafty; it ruined our Easter weekend. So now, instead of looking for eggs with our kids, we have to draft this release and inform the market that the Noble Group will have to give long hard thought as to whether we will try to chase these chaps out of town . . . What we would really like is for the Americans to go back home. We busted our tail to put together a good fair deal that will build a great company. All they are doing is trying to throw a wrench in a well thought-out deal with a chequebook and try [to] turn people's heads with a short-term pay-off." They even chuck in an amusing Kerry Packer anecdote for good measure. We hope other companies follow Noble's fine example.

Foreign affairs

IT was a slightly breathless tweet by Aunty's standards: "What could be better than ABC2 tonight? The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, The Young Ones, Durham County and The Wire!" All good stuff, but with three of those from the US, one from Canada and one from Britain, we can't really chalk it up as a top night for local content on the public broadcaster.

Not shy, just retiring

WE hear Virgin Blue's outgoing chief executive Brett Godfrey has done the sensible thing and, rather than leave the task to others, bought himself a retirement present: a silver-grey Aston Martin DB8. Strewth can only salute the man's taste. Not only does it knock a gold watch into a small, cocked hat, it also means he has something in common with Lara Bingle.