Witch hunt

THANKS to the zeal of the police on duty yesterday, it wasn't an awful lot of fun for those loitering outside Admiralty House in Sydney's Kirribilli hoping for a glimpse of Prince William; but then, it wasn't necessarily that much better for the insufficiently famous on the guest list.

THANKS to the zeal of the police on duty yesterday, it wasn't an awful lot of fun for those loitering outside Admiralty House in Sydney's Kirribilli hoping for a glimpse of Prince William; but then, it wasn't necessarily that much better for the insufficiently famous on the guest list.

Singer and performer Lucy Durack, who plays Glinda the good witch in Wicked, arrived in her car for lunch with Wills and Governor-General Quentin Bryce, only to discover that the wallopers possibly weren't regular patrons of musical theatre. They ignored Durack's waved invitation and protestations that she was on the list and sent her on her way. Durack had to do a few laps, finally getting in on the third attempt. Perhaps if she'd just waved her magic wand or turned someone into a newt, it would have all been more straightforward.

Prince among men

THE Prince's arrival on a jet belonging to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (the armed division of Air New Zealand?) gave Strewth a chance to admire the Kiwi humour, namely their use of a flightless bird as the emblem for their air force. Our own sense of humour was tickled by Sky News commentators as they filled in time while the plane taxied along the runway, especially the unheralded comic genius who dismissed criticism of Will's three-day visit for being too short to get to know Australia, declaring that they'd been to Europe and other places and got to know them very well indeed in just two days. But the oleaginous outpouring from the commentary box as Wills finally emerged was too much for us. "He holds himself very well" was the official assessment as the Prince made it down the stairs without falling over, followed by, "He really is a charming prince." Strewth ran away for a while at this stage.

Pot shot at Tuckey

CHINA may have its army of terracotta warriors, but Canberra has its army of terracotta pots. Roughly 600-strong, this potent force lines the corridors in federal Parliament House, albeit in a desolate state of emptiness since the rented plants that filled them were recently sent back to their owners as an economic measure. Could it now be said that parliament [caution: low quality pun ahead] is no longer yielding to a hired flower? According to our opposition sources, the end of leased vegetation represents a saving of $135,000 a year, but as the pots - bought 20 years ago - have been deemed to be of heritage value, they'll have to be stored for a hefty fee. Perhaps they could be left where they are: not only could they become a tourist attraction, they could also disprove the saying that empty vessels make the most noise. When it comes to 600 vacant pots v Wilson Tuckey in the decibel stakes, our money's on Iron Bar.

Rave from the grave

TWITTER may be dead to Ricky Gervais (Strewth, yesterday), but for the dead, it seems it's the place to be. We've already explored the tweeting adventures of Samuel Johnson and Alexander Pope. Now we can add Mary MacKillop. She may be jumping the gun ever so slightly by having @stmarymackillop as her Twitter identity, but bugger it, she's nearly a saint: "My birthday today . . . if I were still on earth I would be 168 years old! God is good and has done wonders!" That said, the invitation to either "block stmarymackillop" or "report [her] for spam" makes us feel slightly uncomfortable.

Race on for Fraser

BOB McMullan's decision to rob politics of his owlish presence as of the next election is likely to spark an intense preselection race among Labor hopefuls to succeed him in the safe Canberra seat of Fraser. McMullan, the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, announced yesterday he would bring to a close a political career that has spanned three decades, including a stint as a Keating government minister in the '90s. Despite being handed a relatively junior role by Kevin Rudd, McMullan says he's hooked on international development and will stay in the role until the poll, and hopes to continue in the international aid arena in his life after politics. McMullan's seat has been eyed with keen interest by political hopefuls including constitutional lawyer George Williams. Labor figures say Williams faces a tough fight but, undeterred, he says he's still considering it.

Tony rules the waves

WHILE our photographer Dean Dampney was photographing Tony Abbott the other evening surfing off North Mollymook beach on the NSW south coast, the nations's most famed smuggler of budgies observed, "You wouldn't see Kevin Rudd out here, mate." It may be one of the few patches of the earth's surface where such a statement might hold true; the PM's just about everywhere else.

Reporting for duty

STREWTH was impressed when an ABC reporter found a bushwalker who'd been missing in the central desert for two days. But the bar has been raised so much higher by CNN medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who has performed brain surgery on a 12-year-old Haitian earthquake victim - while on a US warship. OK, he also happens to be a practising neurosurgeon, but still. And to think we were so proud of ourselves recently for carrying Bronwyn Bishop's handbag three city blocks without mishap.