Christian
Kerr writes:


Gillard’s great contribution. Julia Gillard is out today in The Australian
fighting “lying cowards” for white-anting her over past days. We at Crikey believe it’s time to go on the record
and acknowledge a very significant contribution to the political life of this
nation the shadow health minister has made, in the fear it may be lost amongst
the hurly-burly. Tony Abbott is “a deeply eccentric human being,” she told
Australian Story last Monday. Finally,
on the record.

The Gallery’s gladiators. Virtually every angle of the Labor feints and feuding
has been covered over the past week – with one vital omission. A very simple fact remains unreported. The Press
Gallery doesn’t like the Prime Minister, doesn’t like his ascendancy and is
bored. They like nothing better to write about than a leadership stoush – other
than a new leader. Look at the extended honeymoon they gave Mark Latham. As for
the idea of a woman leader…

Family feud. Biffo – blow by blow. It mightn’t be
entirely objective, but the Victorian ALP’s Non Aligned enews for
Friday, 10 March 2006 provides some of the most colourful fight
coverage we’ve seen since
Norman Mailer dropped by the Rumble in the Jungle. All the numbers are
there. “The Right and their allies wanted
to defeat every contested sitting member regardless of the local vote
and they
almost did,” the report reads. The full document is here –
but beware, lest the blood splatters that nice white shirt you’ve donned for the
start of the working week.

What
bloody planet are you on! Fran Bailey heading to the UK to save our bloody tourism ads?
Aren’t they supposed to promote travel in the opposite direction?

Nice
work. Former New South Wales premier Bob Carr has come under fire for
taking a consultancy job with packaging giant Visy Industries on top of his
work with MacBank just months after leaving parliament.
There’s even talk on Macquarie Street of finally implementing a cooling
off period before former ministers can take jobs in related areas. But who’s
helping Carr with his negotiations? There are some hilarious old tales about
Carr’s Bulletin days when the toiler’s friend had to turn for help with pay
deals from a bloke named Turnbull.

Charming
company. Who rates where on the Top 10 Dictators list?

David
Clark – more popular than God (botherers). Here’s a quirky from the Christian
Democrats website. Have a dekko at their survey and you’ll discover that CDP members rate coalition conservatives David Clark
and Andrew Stoner more highly than their own Fred Nile and Gordon Moyes.

The
campaign in poetry. When not placing bids in the law and order auction, the
South Australian Liberals and the ALP are vying to outdo each other in building
more roads as Saturday’s election looms, Democrat candidate for the state’s most
marginal seat of Norwood and campaign poet David Winderlich observes:

Parties of most colours and codes

Have a curious addiction to roads.

It’s odd ‘cos you fill them

As soon as you build them!

It’s time for some smart transport modes!

Recipe of the Day. With the Commonwealth Games
almost upon us, why not kick up your heels with the rest of the realm
by cooking up another kind of game. There are plenty of options, from Deep-fried quail for a taste of the motherland to Alligator Sauce Piquante and Sweet and Sour Elk for something a little more exotic.

Send your
snippets to christian@crikey.com.au