The Australian 19 Febtober 2011

This cartoon appeared on the front of the Oz on the weekend accompanying a story about the Labor review’s recommendation that the ALP keeps the unions inside the tent.

Now, the cartoon does indeed obliquely reference Paul Howes’ genitalia, so as well as apologising to the country in general for what must have been a bit of an unpleasant surprise over breakfast, I would like to specifically apologise to Paul Howes, who turns out to be more of a sensitive chap than some of his public language might indicate.

Sorry for making jokes about your genitalia mate, it won’t happen again until the end of this sentence, though I should warn you that politics is quite a tough game and if you really want to be Prime Minister one day, you might want to harden up a bit.

The Australian, 17 Febtober 2011

It’s nice to know that Scott Morrison has learned his lesson and has started to display some sensitivity and compassion, at least to himself, describing his comments about the refugee funerals as going a bit too far, which is a truly masterful and magnanimous understatement.

The word is that he’s getting his ideas from One Nation, but let’s face it, Pauline pretty much wrote Australia’s recent and current refugee policy, though to their very tiny credit, Labor at least has the grace to occasionally look ever so slightly ashamed about it.