Rock and a hard place

IT'S heartening to see The Australian's eternal quest to expand its readership is paying off.

IT'S heartening to see The Australian's eternal quest to expand its readership is paying off.

Now even shock rocker Marilyn Manson is perusing our pages, not least Polly Coufos's even-handed if less than entirely flattering review of one of his concerts. Writing on his MySpace page, Manson reflected thus: "Paula (sic) Coufos tried to (engage in an intimate physical act with) me. And when I said no, she wrote an embarrassing review in The Australian. I hope no one harms her in any creative, violent way. She isn't really smart and her writing is worse than her looks." Polly, like Marilyn, is a bloke, but never mind. Canada's Rockstar Weekly was just one publication to ponder why Coufos had been singled out for such a reaction: "Manson has been getting flak for not living up to expectations on the current world tour ... Reviews for the tour have been mediocre at best and have left many dumbfounded audiences wondering what went wrong."

Royal wave

IS it possible Neptune (the sea god, not the planet) is trying to send Prince Frederick a message? On Tuesday, rough weather kept him from sailing at all. On Wednesday, his dinghy capsized during the World Masters sailing regatta, dunking him and his crew in Sydney Harbour. Undeterred, Denmark's Crown Prince took to the water again yesterday, only to score a bop on the bonce from the boom. Those of a more nervous and/or superstitious disposition may at this stage be tempted to turn landlubber once and for all. But not the husband of Our Very Own Princess Mary, who is made of sterner stuff and sailed on. We'll be watching carefully to see how Neptune tries to get the message across when Fred sails again today.

Leave to disagree

JOURNALIST Michael Shmith of The Age has taken issue with Strewth's spies who (a) disagreed with his assessment of the applause at a Melbourne performance of the opera Medea as "long and loud", and (b) said Shmith left before aforementioned applause. Writes Shmith: "There might be some fundamental semantic point between what is 'long and loud' or shorter than long or not quite as long as long implies, but to me the applause at Medea was just that. For the record, if I'm not guilty of semantics, I did not leave before the applause but just as it was finishing. If it's one thing at which I'm expert, it's leaving a theatre in that fine split-second before the rest of the audience does. Yes, there was a deadline, but I stayed round long enough to gauge the reaction." We sit corrected and shall spend the remainder of the day locked in a small room listening to the Bee Gees.

Famous last words

STREWTH has long been a fan of disclaimers at the end of late night television ads, verbal equivalents of a warning asterisk and read in a low voice at high speed. So we can only express our regret that this gold-plated monster of a disclaimer from the Minerals Council isn't on TV rather than merely taking up space on the part of their website that declares: "There's a better way to cut emissions and save jobs." And probably just as well. Try reading this edited extract aloud and in a hurry without passing out: "Disclaimer: The contents of the web pages are provided as general information only. Before relying on the material in any important matter, users should carefully evaluate its accuracy, currency, completeness and relevance for the purposes, and should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. ... No reliance should be placed on the information provided when making a decision affecting your own interests." And that's only half of it. But it's wasted where it is; come on, Minerals Council, it could be a star.

Dollars and sense

CONGRATULATIONS to our columnist Henry Ergas, winner of the Economic Society of the ACT's inaugural Enemy of the State/Friend of the People Award. Presenting the gong, Leo Dobes compared Ergas to Nikolai Kondratiev, the Soviet economist who suggested to Joseph Stalin that the central planning agency, Gosplan, be replaced by market forces and was eventually executed for his advice. We're hoping no one has similar plans for Ergas.