MAX CRUS: Holgate on horographic watch list

'Poor Christine Holgate. Of course that’s a contradiction but you know what I mean'

Australia Post chief executive Christine Holgate during Senate estimates in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Poor Christine Holgate. Of course that's a contradiction but you know what I mean.

Installed as a champion of free-market business practices by champions of free-market economics, the government, immediately she shows initiative and rewards her charges, the government slaps her down.

She must be scratching her head, isn't this what free market is all about? But that depends on why she has been stood down.

As Ms L. points out, if Christine dropped a lazy $12,000, sorry $20,000, um, do I hear… on four Cartier watches they're obviously entry level stuff, which begs the question, is that reward or reprimand, perhaps to say "boys lift your game and you could have one like mine", where a cool $20,000 barely buys the band.

Plus, the Cartiers were a gift for a deal done with the big banks which leaves one curious what the banks execs got for screwing a good deal out of Aussie Post.

It's funny too that had Ms Holgate bought those watches using her own money, she would barely have noticed the change in her pay packet…THAT WEEK! After all, she earns roughly twice that…EACH WEEK!

Maybe if the government is worried about wasting taxpayers' money, she could just pay it back out of the loose change in her glovebox.

So what's wrong with bonus watches when the execs got possibly 100 times that at the end of the year anyway? It's not as if the lowly posties missed out.

Remember they were asked to volunteer their time early in the covid crisis to uphold the old credo "the mail must get through" and were later rewarded handsomely with $600. That would have bought a battery for the Cartiers…unless you went original.

No, this is trickle-down economics at its best, which in this case works thus : The execs get a watch, three of whom pass it on their kids because they've already got a better one but the fourth gets lost in the undies draw and tossed out in a bitter divorce landing in Vinnies who think it's a knock-off and put it in the window with a $5 price-tag and subsequently bought by a postie's wife as a joke for her hubby.

Is that too generous for ya' Scomo?

Now, if only Christine had bought them wine instead, no one takes that to Vinnies.

Young Poets Mudgee Shiraz 2018, $10 

The Young Poets' society motto is Carpe Vino, 'seize the wine', and with a pencil you can make up your own from the printed coasters. What fun, well, after a few (extremely good value) glasses. 9.2/10.

Young Poets Mudgee Shiraz 2018. Picture: Simon Hughes

Young Poets Mudgee Chardonnay 2018, $10

Sort of a Paris café vibe about the name and what better wine to philosophise with than chardonnay? Go the sipper set. 8.9/10.

Young Poets Mudgee Chardonnay 2018. Picture: Simon Hughes

Shaw Vineyard Estate Canberra District Reserve Isabella Riesling 2017, $40

There's a lot of Isabella's floating around the wine world, all but one of which are whites, which is a bit patriarchal really. Lovely wine but what about a big tough Isabella? CEO or Prime Ministerial material? 9.4/10.

Shaw Vineyard Estate Canberra District Reserve Isabella Riesling 2017. Picture: Simon Hughes

Shaw Wines Canberra Shiraz 2018, $34

It can take a while to adjust to cooler climate shiraz sometimes. Usually about ten minutes. 9.2/10.

Shaw Wines Canberra Shiraz 2018. Picture: Simon Hughes

Twisted Sticks by Salena Organic Cabernet Sauvignon 2019, $24

Pretty solid cabernet for one so young, and would go well with pretzels or vermicelli. 9.2/10.

Twisted Sticks by Salena Organic Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. Picture: Simon Hughes

Twisted Sticks by Salena Organic Shiraz 2019, $24

Clever stuff, specially for those like me who often don't have two sticks to rub together, twisted or not. 9.1/10.

Twisted Sticks by Salena Organic Shiraz 2019. Picture: Simon Hughes

Originally published as MAX CRUS: Holgate on horographic watch list