The Air Force specialisation called Air Defence, which is basically radar controllers who guide fighter aircraft during “dog fights”, was getting a little twitchy and feeling unloved because many of their compatriots in other areas (fighter pilots, supply officers, air traffic controllers) landed a Middle East gig. After lots of lobbying, rumour is they will be going to Afghanistan to do a “surveillance role” so they get a turn in the sandbox. Word is they wanted Iraq but PM said “maybe after the election.”

I was at uni with Peter Costello and the reason he wanted to keep Union funding then was because he had his “nose in the trough”. He was the Christian Unity leader spouting about anything and everything he could to get votes — prissy blue and white business shirted student that he was. Then once he got his votes he moved across to the Young Liberals. Oh, and don’t forget he would find it difficult to criticise the Union too much because some of his best mates ran the “Turf Club” which received money from the Union to bet on horse races each week. Then at the end of the year they had a p-ss-up in a Caulfield hall at the Union’s expense!

Each year the best drama performances by Year 12 students in NSW are performed as part of a showcase called Onstage Week. The rumour is that the NSW Board of Studies censored two Year 12 students by dropping their performances from the program at a late stage because one piece looked at Aboriginal deaths in custody and the other looked at issues surrounding being a young female Muslim.

Why was there traffic chaos in Sydney yesterday? Could it be that too many NSW police personnel are taking up three floors of a CBD building in Margaret St busily planning for the APEC leaders in September, instead of dealing with more pressing, here-and-now needs? You should be asking just how many police are sitting behind desks at the APEC taskforce?

A staff member of the Today Show was caught red-handed, and recorded on video, stealing personal belongings from several other Nine staffers. The person wasn’t sacked and staff are livid.