The mining tax is like that tricky stage at the end  of a long boozy Christmas lunch where everyone’s trying to dodge paying their share of the bill. Chances are they’ll still be arguing about it next Christmas.

There is nothing more divisive in Australia than the way we treat refugees who come here in boats, so you’d hope that a tragedy like yesterday’s might result in a more thoughtful debate on the topic than we’ve seen so far. Of course, we all know that’s not going to happen, so good on our politicians for at least keeping it to themselves for a short period of time before the political point scoring begins.

One of the great institutions of Hobart used to be the annual drinks outside Knopwoods on the Friday before Christmas Eve. Naturally, all attempts have been made to ruin this by forcing a large fence to be erected around the area and now the council has decided that it would be far more convenient to have it a week early, which is no doubt totally correct, but does somewhat spoil the vibe.

There’s no doubt a balance exists between having a good time and a complete bloody shambles, and as I have two children and thus no idea what goes on outside the house after sunset any more perhaps heavy-handed bureaucracy is the way things get done these days, but it is sad to see a uniquely Hobart event get strangled in red tape like this.