(Image: Private Media)

You got him pegged Our primary response to The Australian’s youth offshoot The Oz has generally been “Who the hell wanted this?” But late on Friday it (briefly) had a piece up that a lot of people would want to read: an investigation into whether Prince William, a fine modern gentleman, was into pegging (FYI, if you need any clarification on this term we recommend you don’t seek it via your work computer).

Not only did it run it, it fully committed to it, adding some delightful Queen Elizabeth content to its TikTok account:

But the parent company was struck, perhaps by a conviction that regardless of verisimilitude this was no one’s damn business and could open the door to lots of gross kink-shaming, or perhaps by more practical legal concerns — either way, just as it was decided that a headline was no place for the word “cum”, the whole story was shelved.

Optical confusions Elsewhere in Crikey today we have some insights into the staffing choices in the New South Wales government’s media relations department, which might shed light on some recently made decisions. However, there’s nothing explaining why Dominic Perrottet agreed to the following photo-op on Friday:

At the time, Perrottet was standing by John Barilaro, Stuart Ayres and Eleni Petinos through their respective — and in some cases interlinked — scandals (Petinos has since been sacked), despite internal rumbles about his leadership — and yet there he is on camera, digging himself a great big hole.

Paying the piper “Best pay rise in WA” thunders The Sunday Times over in Western Australia. Seems as though wage stagnation is no issue for WA’s crims, as they received a whopping 7.6% pay rise — three times what the cops have been offered by the very same government:

(Image: The Sunday Times)

And look, it’s pretty standard right-wing outrage bait — we particularly like the added detail that it comes just days after Corrective Services Minister Bill Johnston refused to apologise for allowing hardened criminals to have a late-night soccer party (they watched the Champions League final, which is on in the early hours of morning, WA time). But what that pay rise actually looks like is probably significant: inmate gratuities, received for working or studying while in prison, are now a whopping $78.76… per week (up from $24.72), deposited into an account that has a maximum allowable balance of $200. This is a fairly salient point before one gets all worked up, and it comes in the story’s 10th paragraph.

We’ve previously given The West Australian credit for producing more considered and nuanced coverage (on certain topics, at least) than one might have expected from its shift to out-and-out tabloid coverage — this appears to be the kind of thing people were initially worried about.

But at what cost? Greg Sheridan, The Australian columnist least likely to make us break out in a cold sweat, still needs an editor from time to time. Check out his work in the most recent Weekend Australian:

The push for renewable energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is overwhelming in developed countries and strong in developing countries. However, if the world, or Australia, is to get anywhere near net zero, this will come at enormous financial cost and reduced living standards. This may be a sacrifice worth making to save the planet, but enormous costs are inevitable.

It seems a little equivocal — exactly what sacrifice isn’t worth making to “save the planet”?

Many, many happy returns Finally, Tips and Murmurs would like to wish a very happy birthday to the following racehorses: Aabraxas, Aarons Rod, Abacus Boy, Acacia Surprise, Adeline, Aether Mist, Affability….(29,178 names omitted), Ziporax, Zuleika Dobson, Zymurgy. Full list is on our website. Hope you all had a happy day.