Something’s fishy. Yesterday morning, this fascinating graphic from The Washington Post (pictured at left) did the rounds. It’s a to-scale representation of just how deep MH370’s black box is, and it shows, like perhaps nothing else has, just how difficult it will be to recover. It’s simple and ingenious. And by yesterday afternoon, News.com.au had a very similar one (pictured at right).

When queried about it by fellow journalists on Twitter, News.com.au morning editor Rob Stott just said it was “built by [the] network”. He didn’t rise to the bait when told it was a rip-off.

News Corp’s gut-busting humour. It is no secret that Clive Palmer hates News Corp and its owner, Rupert Murdoch. The feeling is mutual — and News Corp is not holding back from the fat jokes. Daily Telegraph columnist Miranda Devine began her column (which looked more like an ad for TV show The Block) yesterday:

“THE Abbott government has a big problem. He weighs up to 165kg, has a private jet and controls four senators. Someone needs to wrangle Clive Palmer, and fast.”

“Up to 165kg” — we have no idea where she got that figure from, or if it is accurate. And is it necessary? Is Palmer’s weight related to the threat he poses to the Abbott government’s legislative agenda? The cartoon accompanying her spray wasn’t helping …

palmer cartoon

But it’s not just the Tele. The Australian loves political cartoons that play on Palmer’s weight as a nasty form of fat-shaming. Here’s one from today’s Oz:

palmer cartoon

And here are two that appeared on facing pages in Monday’s Oz:

palmer cartoons

And another, from last Thursday (and the setup is basically the same as this week’s effort):

Clive Palmer cartoon

That’s enough, News Corp. We’re putting you on a strict no-fat-jokes diet.

Greens a major party now? “I’m counting the Greens as a major party. They’ve been around for two decades and deserve to be treated as part of the mainstream,” a major right-wing commentator notes. Huzzah! Some sanity at last?

Well, not exactly. Chris Berg, for it is he, gives the Greens the nod in a piece in The Drum, in which he argues that the most important take-away from the WA Senate election re-do is that the vote against all major parties, and in favour of the micro-parties, was an expression of deep dissatisfaction. The IPA mascot intoned:

“In September, 19 per cent of Western Australian voters voted against the major parties in the Senate. On Saturday that figure increased to 25 per cent.”

Yeah, but er, hang on. The Greens’ vote went up in this election — and quite substantially, jumping from 10% to 16%. How to possibly play down this success by those tree-hugging fringe-dwellers? Of course! Promote them to major party status, and lump them in with the parties that lost voters hand over fist — the Libs and Nats especially. One wondered how the Right would possibly find new ways to marginalise the Greens. Berg’s solution? Doing it by putting them at the centre. Brilliant. Javelin-through-the-head-crazy, but brilliant — Guy Rundle

Carr in his jim-jams. The Daily Telegraph and The Courier-Mail have collaborated on their front pages this morning, with Bob Carr wonderfully photoshopped into ALP pyjamas. Our hats go off to the News Corp tab graphics department …

Bob Carr

Front page of the day. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, first lady of comedy …

Julia Louis-Dreyfus