For a few years now, we in the Crikey bunker have been lovingly collecting tabloid monikers, the descriptive epithets journos turn to when they get bored of official titles. Sometimes they’re snappy nicknames or ideological characterisations designed to persuade. Sometimes they’re shorthand histories, recalling past controversy without needing to go into them. And sometimes, they’re coded messages to the reader — it’s a lot easier to get “controversial” than “dodgy” through a pre-press lawyer.
This year has brought a whole stack of new identities to the forefront of the national consciousness, and plenty of them have gotten new nicknames to go with their newfound fame. Think you’ve been paying attention to the news? Well, tell us who these people are, using only their monikers. Click here for the answers.
- Cup queen
- SAS hero
- Human headline
- Spy chief
- Chief mandarin
- High-profile publisher
- Dr Death
- Construction boss
- Troubled actor
- Hardline union heavyweight
- Disgraced sports scientist
- Aboriginal leader
- Rogue senator
- Mining magnate
- Liberal turncoat
- Trollumnist
- James Packer’s girlfriend
- Preference whisperer
- Muesli queen
- Colourful businessman
- Melbourne underworld figure
- Iron ore heiress
- Libertarian senator
- Multi-millionaire gambler
- Baby-faced MP
- Renowned republican
- Flamboyant deputy mayor
- Former terror suspect
- Self-confessed union bagman
- Tabloid terror
- Fallen Bombers legend
- Cricket legend
- Former NSW Labor powerbroker
- King of the Cross
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