On the subject of dear Bruce Guthrie: some fun, in retaliation for the blokes at the old Jim Gerald running a ‘ Miss Herald Lovely Legs’ competition. We in ‘the women’s department ‘ (yes, can you believe it?) ran a ‘ Mr Herald Quest.’ I think Bruce won the award in its second year. From what I hear from ferrets on the ground in News Ltd, Bruce has more people barracking for him from within News than without it. Perhaps it’s time to revive the awards. Have a feeling he would win hands down…

Apparently Manly-Warringah have asked some caterers to provide some interesting receipts not entirely reflective of the food purchased. One caterer who refused to play the game after not being paid has made a complaint to the NRL. The NRL have not shown much interest, but maybe they will now…?

As those who currently run childcare in DEEWR (think abandonment of the Childcare Revolution of 268 new centres; ABC soaking up millions) slide off to run the ‘independent’ body looking into the Education Revolution, the secretary of DEEWR has let staff who were building the revolution know that they have done a wonderful job. What would it take to admit an error?

The web scene in the run up to the election is getting a bit surreal when it comes to the two main political parties. The days of the downloadable discrete policy seem to be gone. The ALP has its party platform document broken up into separate downloads but with no index. Elsewhere at its Where We Stand campaign site, the options include several direct links to government web sites. The Liberal site seems to be close to a policy free zone with a quick search revealing only two discrete policies available. Direct Action on Paid Parental Leave is filed under both Economy and Community headings, but they’re still not sure if it’s a policy as the document describes itself as a consultation document on the cover. The second is the questionable and ineffectual Direct Action Plan on the Environment and Climate Change. This one solves the problem of what it is by not having a cover. I wonder what the Revolutionary Socialist Party think of the Libs appropriating ‘Direct Action’. Check out the website — the Nats probably love it.