Johnson cut off We have our differences with Britain’s Daily Mail, but they probably summed it up best with their front page regarding the situation UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson finds himself in:
Ten ministers have now quit his government (Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak, Andrew Murrison, Bim Afolami, Saqib Bhatti, Jonathan Gullis, Nicola Richards, Virginia Crosbie, Theo Clarke and Alex Chalk) following the revelations that Johnson had known about the history of sexual misconduct allegations against deputy chief whip (and man with a Dickensian villain’s name) Chris Pincher at the time he was appointed to the role. Surely he cannot survive this, but then that phrase has never been far from the “greased piglet” during his time in public life:
- Pre-politics, Johnson was a distinctly British type of journalist: the kind that has absolutely no standards of decency or truth. He was sacked by The Times for fabricating quotes in a front page story regarding Edward II.
- In 1998, while at The Daily Telegraph, he called gay men “tank-topped bumboys” and in 2002 he described African members of the Commonwealth as “picaninnies”.
- In 2018, writing for the same publication (receiving $275,000 a year to do so, despite already being a backbencher), he described women in burqas as “looking like letter boxes”.
- In 2004, by now an MP for Henley, Johnson was sacked as Tory vice chair and Shadow Arts Minister after he lied about having had an affair.
- A series of ethics probes were launched into Johnson in September 2019 over his friendship with tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri after the relatively inexperienced American went on three trade missions Johnson led when he was London mayor in 2014 and 2015.
- And of course partygate — the UK PM barely survived a no-confidence vote over the ongoing and roiling controversy surrounding the series of parties Johnson’s office had while UK citizens where unable to visit dying relatives during the UK’s COVID lockdowns.
We’ve had to skip a few, believe it or not. But surely, surely he cant survive this one.
Hiring spree Following the outcry over the new government’s decision to slash the number of staff available to Parliament’s swelling number of crossbenchers, it appears that the promised bolstering in other areas is happening. A tipster has pointed out that it’s possible that these two new positions in the Parliamentary Budget Office are in anticipation of crossbenchers without enough advisers swamping this office with information and research requests. But it’s only two new positions, and there are seven new MPs (along with the three that were already there) who will likely want to make serious use of these resources — something to bear in mind if you’re thinking applying.
Voller of abuse The legacy of Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller on Australia’s “publishing” industry continues to make itself felt in unexpected ways. In 2019 Dylan Voller, a former detainee at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre, sued various publications for some of the vile abuse he received in the comments sections of those publications’ Facebook pages. In 2021, the High Court affirmed that media outlets were publishers of defamatory comments published on their social media pages, a decision that completely altered Australian media’s relationship with social media.
Now, the echoes of that decision are being heard in what should be a sacred and safe place: our nation’s bulletin boards. The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal has awarded $15,000 in damages to Louise Curtis, owner of Canberra business Pink Frosting and Lollypotz, after what she alleged was severe trolling between January 2019 and September 2020. Jason Victor Bishop, the registered owner of Canberra Notice Board, had to pay up on account of comments in the Board’s Facebook group that called Curtis a “grub” and “a horrible person” and accused her of obtaining fake reviews for her business and scamming customers, among other things.
Let’s hear it for the hustler Barry Dickins, Melbourne-based national treasure and the hardest working man in the writing biz, has recently emerged from Austin Hospital after several weeks in the ICU and wards with COVID and related complications. Dickins is well-known for his capacity to pull paid writing gigs under any circumstances, but he has outdone himself this time, getting a commission to write an account of his stay for the Austin’s ICU magazine (yes, they have a magazine). We are standing, applauding, as we write this. Tips and Murmurs wishes Barry a full recovery and many pages to come.
Hi Charlie, if you are not familiar with APS job ads, both PBO jobs are listed as “several branches”, meaning these are bulk recruitments (hiring several people at the same pay level). Therefore they are likely hiring more than just two people.
I thought the comment ‘looking like letterboxes’ was funny in the the vein of Punch magazine humour – but if Punch was published to-day it would be sued, bombed, fined by the Human Rights Commission at each edition. People don’t laugh anymore the immediate response is Offence and attack – not sit back and laugh
Yes, isn’t it weird the way these ‘minorities’ just can’t laugh at themselves any more? Not like the old days, when a good belly laugh could be had at anyone’s expense. What’s wrong with people today?