Manne power

DAVID Manne will be giving a talk at the University of Western Sydney tonight on "the crisis of current refugee policy and law".

AFTER successfully lecturing the nation on how Australia should treat (or not) its burgeoning population of trans-Indian Ocean asylum-seekers, Left super solicitor David Manne will be lecturing to actual students tonight when he gives a talk at the University of Western Sydney on "the crisis of current refugee policy and law".

Julia Gillard, who could be forgiven for thinking it was Manne who precipitated the "crisis on current refugee policy and law", could do worse than pop along. Manne might be playing coy on whether he will challenge any government tinkering with the Migration Act, but it's interesting to note he lists the government's plan to "circumvent the High Court's ruling" high on his list of topics for tonight.

No refuge

MEANWHILE, it seems Gillard's embattled Immigration Minister Chris Bowen can't seem to please anyone any of the time. A visit to his electorate of Smithfield in western Sydney on the weekend led to him being heckled mercilessly during a press conference and pursued in his car for a kilometre down the street by angry protesters from the Refugee Action Coalition shouting "shame Bowen shame" (the press pack must have looked positively tame by comparison). Despite his predicament (did we mention he could barely be heard above the clamour?), Bowen managed to throw down the gauntlet to Tony Abbott, calling on the Opposition Leader to "work with the government in good faith" to amend the Migration Act. Abbott's response: "I am not a bleeding heart, but ... " Phew, glad we cleared that up.

Trading blues

WHAT is it with rogue traders and pale blue cashmere sweaters? Kweku Adoboli, who lost UBS $US2 billion after making bets of $US10 million that went horribly wrong, rocking UBS and the European banking system when they least needed it, is captured on the left leaving London Magistrates Court on Friday in the attire so loved by bankers the world over. The following day, Nick Leeson, who famously brought down British financial house Barings with billion-dollar bank-busting trades in the mid-1990s, was snapped arriving at Heathrow with a similar toned and styled sweater. Uncanny coincidence or is Leeson into trading jokes these days?

Consolation prize

DRUM roll please. Wayne Swan, though a different beast entirely from former Labor treasurer Paul Keating, could be going the way of his predecessor as speculation grows he will be crowned Euromoney magazine's finance minister of the year, a gong that went to PK in 1984 and led to the former PM's all-time favourite moniker, "world's greatest treasurer". Swan's accomplishment? As well as being credited with steering Australia through the financial crisis, he will be almost alone at next weekend's gathering of finance ministers in Washington in looking forward to a healthy increase in growth. But according to The Australian's economics editor David Uren (Business, P21), not everyone is treating the news with national pride and some less-than-kind folk say it equates to a "Steven Bradbury award", after the Olympic speed skater who won gold in the 1000m in the 2002 Winter Olympics when most of his opponents were involved in a last-corner pile-up.

Entertaining move

COULD it be that federal Labor MP Craig Thomson is lining up an alternative career? Just in case? Although we're not sure if it's one and the same man as the member for Dobell, Strewth thought it in the public interest to bring to your attention a company called Craig Thomson Entertainment, which advertises itself online (www.craigthomsonentertain ment.com) as "the driving force in the supply of quality live entertainment" in this country. Hmm. Let's not go there. (On a more personal note, we think it's a little vicious of the NSW Police Force to have named its investigation into alleged corruption at the Health Services Union, Strike Force Canarvon. Are police implying a link between the town of that name in Western Australia and nearby Shark Bay?)

Pollies on the trot

RIVALRY can take many forms, on and off the political battlefield, and so it was yesterday in Adelaide when Premier Mike Rann and premier-in-waiting Jay Weatherill both limbered up for the annual City to Bay Fun Run. But Labor's finest were left in the shade by Liberal Steven Marshall, who covered the 12km to the sea in a manly one hour, 10 minutes. Weatherill did the half-race, finishing his 6km in 37 minutes, slightly down on a pro rata basis from Marshall, while Rann did not live up to his name at all and walked the race in 1 hour, 58 minutes. Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond finished the 6km in one hour and nine minutes, as did Transport Minister Pat Conlon.