Party's over, young man

FORMER Australian Liberal Students Federation president Tim Andrews's pictorial spread of conservative hotties didn't last long after its outing in Strewth yesterday.

FORMER Australian Liberal Students Federation president Tim Andrews's pictorial spread of conservative hotties didn't last long after its outing in Strewth yesterday.

Readers eager to check out the post on his blog yesterday were met with the internet equivalent of a bouncer shaking its head and muttering, "Nah, members only tonight"; now visions such as a bikini-clad babe reading Ayn Rand by the pool are denied to the masses. That didn't stop NSW Liberal MP Pru Goward going to town on Andrews on the wireless: "I'm disappointed that he's misjudged the importance of a political party like ours that for so long has defended the dignity of men and women. We do need to recruit young people ... and I commend Tim for having a go, but I think that we have to remember that people join political parties because of the facts, not the figures." Strewth commends Goward for working such a solid pun into her argument.

No comrades in charms

WHILE the fireworks went off on the Liberal side of the fence, Strewth wondered whether their opponents were planning to respond with Babes of the ALP. Young Labor president Janai Tabbernor made it clear to Strewth that this was unlikely. "We're pretty disgusted. The women in Young Labor are there not for their looks but for the contribution they can make." Tabbernor concluded it was typical behaviour for a party that had produced the likes of WA Treasurer Troy "The Snedger" Buswell and Noel "Screw Your Tits Off" Crichton-Browne. We know that sort of thing never goes on in Labor.

Flush with anticipation

ONE of Strewth's theatre-loving agents went to Shane Warne the Musical the other night and happened to sit near two of Aunty's employees: Lateline host Tony Jones and his spouse, Four Corners reporter Sarah Ferguson. Not so sotto voce, Ferguson told another companion about the tonnage of abusive voicemails left on her mobile in the wake of her story that lifted the lid on the Matthew Johns affair. But by a stroke of good fortune, Ferguson accidentally dropped her phone in the toilet; if the messages endured by one of our female colleagues are anything to go by, we hope she flushed twice.

Out of perspective

STILL on the shagby league front, Strewth regrets to report an email headed "Sport's very own 9/11". How does this dizzyingly complete loss of perspective come about? Let's find out: "Griffith University Sports College manager Michael Jeh says the recent Matthew Johns sex scandal has changed Australian sport forever. 'It's not the first controversy and it won't be the last,' Mr Jeh said. But thankfully, hopefully, necessarily, the culture of sport will change forever after 5/11." Certainly, unquestionably, that's quite enough for us.

Brendan tunes up for kids

NEWS that the normally unstoppable Malcolm Turnbull was ejected yesterday from Perth's Karrinyup Shopping Centre on the grounds he hadn't obtained permission to meet and greet shoppers was amusing enough; Mal's big enough to take care of himself. But we sometimes fret about his predecessor, the guitar-slinging Brendan Nelson. As he prepares to leave the political stage, we're delighted to hear he's off to a better, and presumably far more appreciative, place: the board of the Australian Children's Music Foundation. We just know our only pollie with a separate guitar reserved solely for playing in the car will be a good fit.

Rudd quiet after ABC chat

ANYONE waiting for the usually transcript-happy Prime Minister's Office to cough up the black-and-white version of Kevin Rudd's not entirely successful Monday night interview on ABC1's Lateline may be waiting for a while. But, if you're the impatient sort, the happy news is that the transcript is available as per usual at www.abc.net.au/lateline. The video is much more exciting, though, from Kev's magnificently thin-lipped "Good to be with you" expression onwards.

Out of the shadows

WE sometimes like to paint The Sydney Morning Herald as nothing short of a latte-crazed hotbed of pinkos. But there could be something of a shift going on, judging by this Freudian slip at the start of its main editorial column yesterday: "It has been dispiriting to watch the bluster about the budget from the Finance Minister, Joe Hockey, this week." Congratulations on your promotion, Joe.

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