The art of offence

WOULD Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd approve of the political stunts of his nephew Van Rudd?

WOULD Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd approve of the political stunts of his nephew Van Rudd?

At the Melbourne Museum yesterday Van Rudd was ejected by security guards for installing a dummy of a child in a pram as an "art piece". Rudd's intention was for the dummy - with an outstretched hand and fear painted on its face - to make people think about a refugee boat that sank in 2001, drowning 353 people. (The museum is holding a Titanic exhibition.) But Rudd's political art served only to mystify museum patrons. He is an activist with the Revolutionary Socialist Party, which may offer an explanation for what seems to bear no relationship with the sinking of the Titanic or the disappearance of the refugee boat. We suspect Kevin Rudd would sigh quietly and repeat the comment his nephew made after dressing in a Ku Klux Klan hood to protest against violence towards Indian students. The then PM defended the right to protest even if he disagreed with the opinion. "There's no doubt I'm going to cross paths with my uncle, but what am I supposed to do, remain silent?" Van Rudd asked.

An alien concept

WHEN the British government released secret files in August on thousands of UFO sightings, one of Strewth's key investigators decided to wheel out a Freedom of Information request to find out the extent of alien UFO movements in Australia. (The British files included a letter from Winston Churchill ordering a cover-up of a World War II encounter between a British pilot and a UFO.) Our investigator discovered that the Defence Department (cue spooky music signalling conspiracy) stopped recording sightings in 1996 - a peak year for sightings in Britain - and (rising intensity of conspiracy music) all its previous records had been destroyed. Of course, 1996 was the year John Howard (middle name Winston) become prime minister. Was this just a coincidence? You be the judge.

Lame prediction

SOUTH Australian finance spokesman Rob Lucas had some fun yesterday at the expense of Premier Mike Rann, a large target these days. Lucas, as dedicated to the art of tweeting as is Rann, noted that Rann's Melbourne Cup tip Descarado "ran last and pulled up lame!", the exclamation being a grammatical dagger into the Premier's tipping ability and surely a piece of wishful thinking about his political future. Actually, technically speaking, Descarado did not finish.

A tip too Phar

WHILE Rob Lucas was having his Twitter fun, London's The Times racing correspondent Alan Lee was experiencing satisfaction of his own: "Australia was a nation besotted and brainwashed, not only convinced of the winner but persuaded that [So You Think] was the best horse in the world, perhaps the best there had ever been. The toughest two miles in racing is a graveyard for such delirium." Lee noted that one newspaper - OK, it was The Australian - had suggested So You Think could be better than Phar Lap. "This lust for a legend, an Aussie emblem for the outside world to envy, was trampled into the last 100 yards of rain-sodden Flemington turf."

Bob Down Under

RESIDENTS of Byron Bay should prepare themselves for hordes of unwashed invaders from the south next Easter when the annual Bluesfest comes to town. The greatest songwriter of the 20th century, Bob Dylan, is coming. It's a coup of immense proportions for Bluesfest director Peter Noble, who has been trying to entice Dylan since 2003. The legend is that Dylan would always refuse to perform in a town he had not heard of. Perhaps the repeated requests finally lodged Byron Bay in the great man's mind. Noble tells Strewth that the "three Bs" slogan - Bob, Byron and Bluesfest - may have helped. Of his efforts to get Dylan's signature, Noble says, "it's bit like having a baby". He's clearly still a bit starstruck. "I'm thinking, oh my God, I've actually got him." Also on the bill will be Elvis Costello and B.B. King.

Witching hour

THE mid-term elections in the US have provided plenty of colour. And if it demonstrates nothing else, the Tea Party movement has added vim to the Republican Party and re-energised American politics. Among the successful candidates is Joe Manchin, a Democrat who distanced himself from Barack Obama by using a rifle to shoot a hole in the cap-and-trade legislation, the equivalent of an emissions trading scheme. The gun lobby looked on with approval. That's taking cross-party politics to the edge. "As your senator, I'll protect your second amendment rights. That's why the National Rifle Association endorsed me," Manchin says. Sadly, witch lady Christine O'Donnell failed to weave any magic. Tea Party cover gal O'Donnell got into strife with rad fems and liberals for her anti-abortion, Christian activism. But people started to think she was nuts when she denied dabbling in witchcraft and advised young people against masturbation as part of a crusade against pornography and abortion. In her campaign video she declared "I am not a witch."