There's a beer in there ...

THANKS to Steve Fielding, it's possible Strewth will never be able to sleep again.

THANKS to Steve Fielding, it's possible Strewth will never be able to sleep again.

During his latest denunciation of the alcopops tax, booze culture and the tipple-sport nexus yesterday, the Family First leader concluded thus: "Picture this: you are at home with your young children watching the football on television. The doorbell rings. A man stands at the door, his arms laden with alcohol products. He says he is there to sit with your children. He is dressed in sporting gear. He assures you the children can't drink the products he has with him but they can look as much as they like. Would you invite him in to sit on your couch, next to your children?" Erm. Moving right along ...

Obscene phone bill

STREWTH knows it's not polite to talk about money, but after hearing the latest details of Sol Trujillo's pay packet, we want to take to the streets with a megaphone. Seriously, a shade over $9million for the last 10 months? Let's call it $9m (for we are in a rounding-down frame of mind). That works out at (roughly) $20.83 a minute. For that sort of lolly, Strewth would be willing to cop all manner of amigo talk and unflattering cartoons (as opposed to Bill Leak's lovely handiwork that adorns this column every day). Fear not, Sol, we come not in spite butawe.

Trip the light bombastic

GIVEN that wars help sell newspapers, we thank NSW Treasurer Eric Roozendaal for doing his level best (a term one uses with a certain reticence in NSW) to stir one up at a press conference yesterday when, with a Dubya-esque flourish, he described Queensland and Western Australia as an "axis of evil" trying to swindle NSW and Victoria out of their cut of GST revenue. "Are you sure it's wise to use that term?" the Treasurer was asked. He answered by using it again. "Does this mean NSW and Victoria are going to form a coalition of the willing?" he was asked as a follow-up. "We are working very closely with Victoria," he replied. "We don't think it's appropriate for NSW families to be funding the Gold Coast lifestyles of Queenslanders and Western Australians." Which may or may not be a valid pretext for invading them.

Gunning for the Duke

ROOZENDAAL'S boss, meanwhile, was on the receiving end of some fairly vigorous praise at the Committee for Sydney business lunch. In what must have been a welcome break from the relentless tide of less-than-effusive press, Premier Nathan Rees got to enjoy the glittering view of the harbour from the 34th floor of the Clayton Utz building while NRMA group chief executive Tony Stuart explained to him and the 100-plus audience that he was a great leader. Not a Nelson Mandela, Stuart explained, more of a John Wayne, a man of true grit. Some of Strewth's panel of experts lean more to the former, arguing that Rees is a prisoner of the NSW Labor Right. (We can't wait to see Rees played by Morgan Freeman!) Incidentally, this is the first time we've seen Mandela and Wayne in the same sentence; the occasion will be marked instyle.

Desert island risks

GIVEN the Queensland government's recent dramas concerning cronyism and mates, we are in awe of Premier Anna Bligh's devil-may-care flair in putting out a press release yesterday headed "Wanted: best mates in the world". The press release stated that Tourism Queensland wanted another four people to join the bloke toiling away in the self-styled "world's best job", which involves living on an island on the Great Barrier Reef and writing about it. But mates is something of a loaded word north of the Tweed River at the moment. Given that in the past two weeks Labor mates such as Terry Mackenroth have had to resign from lobbying and other Labor mates such as Con Sciacca and Jim Soorley have had to resign from their government positions, maybe here's another calling for those who've been cheerfully sailing along on the Mateship. If nothing else, it would at least be interesting to see the look on the face of world's best job winner Ben Southall.

... And a fear as well

WE probably did have something else to say here, but to be frank, Strewth remains stuck on Steve Fielding's image of that booze-wielding, sports gear-clad bloke sidling up to our kids. Is it just us, or is it feeling strangely chilly in here?

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