Amidst this war-of-attrition election, spare a thought for the foot soldiers, such as Tim Lyons (@picketer), Percapita gunslinger and ex-union honcho. Back in Fitzroy, he tells Twitter, he is horrified to see Adam Bandt posters, “Kim Jong-un” style, all over the joint. “Yes, the hood is now full of folks who vote Green … and I find it alienating,” he laments. Da ‘hood’s been that way for a long time, Tim. The Green voters aren’t an influx, they’re a shift, from Labor, on trees, refugees, uni fees, and much more. What makes it all the more piquant for @picketer is that his timeline is a stream of arch jokes about Baudrillard, mondo culture shots trolling Q&A, snaps of his book collection (“lots on political violence”) and sloppy use of the word “hermeneutic”. He’s a one-man cultural studies seminar, circa 1995. Ah, the tragedy of Labor intellectuals: their lives, loves and mental habits are so Green, you could use them for movie back-projection. Their own party does not particularly want them, and they cannot bring themselves to admit what they have become. No wonder he doesn’t like Adam’s posters — they are staring deep into his viridian soul. Before the era is out, he will love Big Bandt.