Borders staff hassled over gift cards. Not only are Borders book store staff being spat on, and potentially losing their jobs and entitlements (annual leave and other entitlements will be paid “in due course” to staff that resign, according to store management). They also have to take the full brunt of the gift card debacle. A Melbourne worker was threatened with a metal rod and had to be removed by security, while a Brisbane worker had to explain to a flood victim that her $600 gift card from her contents insurer wouldn’t be accepted unless she bought $1200 worth of stock.

Mia takes to the Sky? Mia Freedman, the lifestyle blogger, former ACP editor and Nine Network producer (The Catch Up, which failed), has got a gig fronting a talk show on Sky News. Sky has been looking for programs to replace the now aborted Ray Hadley effort on Tuesday nights. The Freedman-fronted program will be a panel (just like, well, The Catch Up, which was a local version of the US female-skewing talkfest The View).

Expect to see The Australian Women’s Weekly editor Helen McCabe end up on the panel at times, or permanently. There’s a widening panel of admirers for McCabe at the Nine Network, especially among some of those who oversee 60 Minutes.

Following last week’s Irish election, various members of the conservatoriat (including TNBWCBNBS/HWS) were quick to note with glee that Ireland’s Green Party had been wiped out, their vote falling under 2%. Yeah, uh, not so fast there Droitards. The Green vote fell because the Irish electorate moved to the Left not the Right. Not only did Labour nearly double its vote (from 20 to 36 seats), Sinn Fein (a socialist party) tripled theirs (from 4 to 13 seats), and the United Left Alliance gained 5. Moreover half the 15 or so independents elected are well to the left of the political centre. The Greens were dumped because they allied with Fianna Fail, something for those closer to home to remember.