Sometimes it helps to be a little patient. Coalition hack Scott Driscoll, head of the alleged ‘Retailers Association’ openly mocked by other industry groups, is a serial critic of Labor and inclined to the occasional inflammatory statement, like calling for hijabs to be banned. Today Scott got a little excited about the national curriculum and shot out a press release condemning it. The new national curriculum is “one of the most absurd and politically correct pieces of public policy in living memory”.

Only problem — apart from Driscoll’s remarkable hyperbole — was the media release came out at 9.54am, and the curriculum wasn’t launched until 10.30 this morning by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in Canberra. Driscoll told Crikey via Twitter his criticism was “based off actual quotes and actual data from the Ed Curric which was published over the weekend by mainstream media outlets”. Look out if the media ever reports on hijabs in schools — Driscoll will explode. — Bernard Keane

The review that changed its mind. I notice that the Sydney Morning Herald’s review of George Michael’s Sydney concert on Friday night has changed quite significantly in the last day — although both reviews were written by the same journalist. Most interestingly the last line of the first review has been removed: “Someone make sure Whitney gets to see this show while she’s in town.”

Has Whitney been on the phone, using those precious vocal chords to vent her displeasure? While the original review is no longer on the SMH website, it was in print on the first part of the paper on Saturday and is on a fan site (minus the journalist’s name). The new review is here.

As someone who was at the gig, perhaps there were a couple of factual problems with the first review in terms of George’s new material (there wasn’t any, really, although some stuff was more recent than others). But is it REALLY that slow a news week? — a Crikey reader

Hitchens: My “mildly enjoyable relapse” sleeping with Thatcher-ites.

“Christopher Hitchens has claimed that while at Oxford he slept with two men who went on to become members of Baroness Thatcher’s government.” — The Telegraph

The exile of Russia’s angriest newspaper.

Subversive English-language newspaper The Exile died after 10 years in production in 2008. Now the full story of its demise is emerging. — Vanity Fair

The spy who grabbed The Independent for a steal.

“Alexander Lebedev, the former KGB agent turned media mogul, will this week pay a token pound stg. 1 to take control of Britain’s The Independent newspaper — the same price as buying a copy of the paper from the newsstand.” — The Australian