Who’ll replace Julia if she loses? Much to the dismay of ALP parliamentary members, there have been behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings over the past few days where some Lords of the Backroom have been working out who is to succeed Gillard as leader if (and when) the ALP loses this federal election. It’s understood that Bill Shorten, a man still having Lady Macbeth moments washing Kevin Rudd’s blood from his hands, is privately furious that he was not promoted by Julia for his efforts in delivering her the prime ministership and is very keen to put up his own hand for the role of Opposition leader.

Shorten will find he has a strong opponent in current deputy PM and Treasurer Wayne Swan, who is of the view that he has been the ALP’s strongest performer and most on-message in this otherwise lacklustre campaign. That these conversations are even occurring must be indicative of some horrendous private polling in NSW and Queensland.

Look to staffers for source of leak. Why would either Kevin Rudd and Lindsay Tanner be the leaker? They have nothing to gain by leaking as it upsets Rudd’s chances for a cabinet position and would give Tanner a bad name in his next life in the business community. Why isn’t the finger being pointed at the obvious: a Rudd staffer who is full of bile at the way Rudd has been treated and who will be kicked out of a job on August 21? Those staffers see cabinet documents, they know nearly everything that goes on and they all talk to each other. Besides, as all pollies will attest, which politician remembers all the “she said” stuff that has been leaked?

Rudd not sorry about Howard’s cricket dreams. Alexander Downer’s observation that Kevin Rudd is “a f-cking awful person” is no doubt shared by his former boss, John Howard. As Howard is recovering from the disappointment of not getting the vice-presidency of the International Cricket Council, a precursor to becoming president of the ICC, one of myriad of people he can thank for being robbed of this prize is Rudd. In an act of bastardry, Rudd instructed Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith to discretely let countries such as South Africa, Sri Lanka and India know that the Australian government would be in no way be offended and would make no protestations if Howard was denied the post.

Swipe card service on the blink for business. Many of the businesses that rely on HiCaps swipe card services have been unable to electronically bill their customers for a week now? This seems to be due to a failure to properly test their new system and is compounded by their failure to provide a solution. Small business is hit hard by this. The company has posted an apology on its website. Despite the web page statement, it started early in the month and still nothing is happening.

What about the herbs, watchdog? If price fixing is illegal in Australia, how come the ACCC does not stop Coles from selling its “sleeved” herbs — all tiny amounts but all for the same price of $2.49 (recently adjusted up from $1.99)? Everyone knows that certain herbs are more expensive than others — parsley, for example, compared to basil. So why does the ACCC let Coles rip customers off in such a blatant manner?