"The climate is important, but so are our jobs and growth" <- PM

Two great things in this morning's Australian:

on the Opinion page, the 'Cut&Paste' section had a headline "The Climate is important, but so are our jobs and growth". A John Howard (who else!) speech in Brissie yesterday. And that's it in a horrid little nutshell, I think it really captures the essence of Howardism perfectly. I used to marvel when I first came back to Australia at the depth of feeling among the Howard-haters but now I completely get it. And of course the "Outstanding Broadcaster" thing was a disgrace, but not a surprise. What was a bit surprising, however, was that Mr Rudd went along. Can you imagine Paul Keating doing that?

The other one was a throwback, p7 "Journalist pulled Gun". Two very well-lubricated jounalists, 515am outside a pub in Surry Hills. One called the other a "poofter", and there was this priceless bit of dialogue "just come outside you f..cking c...". Then a gun was produced. Marvellous.