Glenn Milne and Stephen Mayne had both reluctantly agreed to participate in a stunt at tonight’s Walkley Awards, which would involve them walking onto the stage and reconciling Camp David-style at the end of a comedic routine about media wars. SBS were said to be excited but, alas, those who run the Walkleys canned it last week.

Fairfax must be preparing to enter the gaming industry.  In Sydney there is the daily gamble on the odds of the Sydney Morning Herald being delivered on time, having all sections included or being delivered at all.  Betting on one miss a week would have put me far behind this week.  So far it has been two deliveries on time and two being hours late.  All that the customer service staff can offer is an apology with no indication when the problems will be fixed. Gaming might be the only way for the company to survive.  It certainly won’t if it cannot get its publications to the customers.

Much laughter in the Queensland branch of the ALP with Labor Party apparatchik and now member for Bulimba Dianne Farmer expressing her “distress” and feeling intimidated by former Spence chief of staff Simon Tutt. Farmer made these claims in her appearance at the sports grants inquiry. Farmer, a hard-edged former Labor Unity state organiser, is known for her ruthless personal ambition and has never been considered to be a shrinking violet. Farmer, also formerly a senior executive officer in the Beatty/Bligh government, experienced a meteoric rise in the public service from where she finds herself under scrutiny in this CMC inquiry.