HAMPTON: "Tipsy with the numbers, yet he found the smoking gun," PLInkletter notes, "and no blood money, against death before old age, a living doll."

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

28^th October 2010

Thursday: What a wonderful day! Way too tired, I forced myself up, having been working on another edit of 'Man's Best Friends' aka 'After the Rain' in the wee smalls, after Baby Peggletter kindly gave me a whole hour and a half of critiquing advice by phone till after midnight last night. I set to and applied the majority of his suggestions, which were really helpful.

Janny had organised the local Mormon elders to wash our car, bless their cotton socks, and so at about ten Elders Tindel and Weber duly arrived and did so. We enjoyed a lunch with them later, and they left with a small mountain of goodies that Janny created in the kitchen. (A huge proportion of the billions of long termer daily visitors to Fool's Paradise – Infinity on a Shoestring could be forgiven for thinking that we or Janny are/is /a Mormon/s, but if so, they'd be mistaken. We simply have no fear of any sincere religionists, while holding no allegiance to any particular flavour. Myself, I am known for being a cherry picker among the orchard that is organised religion, while delighting in hiking among the breathtaking mountains of non-organised religion, feasting upon the abundance within the invisible realm of the spiritual economy.)

Before the elders arrived Baby Inkletter arrived, and spent till mid afternoon with us, which was a blessing.

And shortly after the elders left there was knock on the door, and lo and behold none other than Reeve Chocson, a geek bearing gifts: four potted Herb Robert plants, their bitter little leaves bobbing about in excitement at coming to a new home.

Now to apprehend one Reeve Chocson, alone and free of his little green bag, dear and matchless though she is (like all wives, Chocci keeps Reeve on a shorter leash than he would choose), is an opportunity too good to pass, so we lured him in with a cocoa made the way it should be, Lindt chocolate of two flavours, and several sweet baked offerings from the oven of my irreplaceable affectionate pretty tailed Jayne Coon, the greatest cook in the southern hemisphere. For those wondering, that title for the northern hemisphere is held by one Cumbrian known as Gladys Hobson, not known as 'slick cook-draw McHobson-Graw' for nothing.

Reeve remarked today that he has scientifically proven that he gains about one kilogram after every visit to our place.

The More O’Kerry (O’Brien) Volume: I greatly enjoyed Kerry O'Brien's interview with James Wolfensohn this evening on The 7.30 Report. Both men presented themselves with an excellent sartorial aura – old men can look so damn good! (And I am firmly rooted in the heterosexual camp, mind you.)

Mr Wolfensohn has a wonderful clean and precise manner of expression, and he used this talent as he explained his side of his work as special envoy for Gaza disengagement for the Quartet on the Middle East.

He also gave a brief negative but doubtless close to the mark assessment of the current economic woes of the United States. I don't share his "enormous faith" in one of several things he mentioned, namely the "university system", but I won't give up hope in it yet. Throughout the Western World it can turn out experts in narrow fields, but is still failing badly at producing balanced sensible broadscoped global citizens.

I could not stay awake after 8, but of course once in bed it took me ages to fall asleep. And of course, I was awake a few hours later, and back, insomniac that I've become, writing, reading, titivating about, walking, canoodling Cadbury, all after midnight.

My niece Elizabeth's baby Indi May was due yesterday, but is still keeping us all guessing. Oh, and speaking of babies, Reeve and Chocci Chocson became 6 times grandparents two weeks ago with the arrival of Brontë, and 7 times grandparents yesterday with the arrival of Ryder.

+paytontedwithlove+

QUFU: …say, "He who keep making up mystelious clyptic brog headrines of plecisery 150 chalacters, either velly stupid or must be Payton L. Inkretter."

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

28^th September 2010

Tuesday: 'Yesterday' blurred for me into a typical evening, night, day, and it wasn't till noon that I finally lay down to sleep. And so, come half six in the evening, I was not well rested, when I arose to do my first 'job', and deliver hot vittles to The Dear Leader., fresh from being phlebotomised this morning.

It had been a warm spring day, and Cadbury is certainly in molting mode, with a long winter coat that is of reducing use to her. I must use the Furminator again on her tomorrow in daylight and outside. Anyway, with minimal fur ruffling, she spent over two hours on my lap watching Aunty with me, until her meowing messages convinced me she needed a spell outside, about half ten.

I always enjoy Tony Windsor interviews, and Kerry O'Brien gave us another on The 7.30 Report. What a dream if every politician in Australia, state and federal, had his restraint, composure, and bearing. Both men looked excellent in their dark suits and boldly striped ties.

Pictures coming…

The one point I'd highlight from that interview is Mr Windsor's calm observation that Tony Abbott is "missing an opportunity to be constructive", in his leadership of the Opposition for our 43^rd Parliament.

I could easily be persuaded to call Tony Abbott the incredible shrinking politician, due to just how small minded he is behaving. I'll say more on this in my Lateline observations below.

Lateline: The (Leigh) Sales Graph: Leigh Sales chose a casual look tonight, and looked wonderful, in a double pocketed longsleeved dark blue shirt, her only jewellery a set of gold ring earrings, subtle-effect makeup, and attractively flaring hairstyle. Her eyeshadow strength and shade was ideal.

Picture coming…

Her long interview subject was the first day of our new Parliament, with the finely tuned numbers and their consequences. The sucker from the Opposition who fronted up, on-screen from Canberra, to discuss the day's developments, was Shadow Treasurer, Joe Hockey, whose dark pinstriped suit and white shirt, enhanced with a white tie with medium width black stripes, cut him a handsome figure.

Picture coming…

This interview's mood was sombre. And that was the right tone, for here we had the Shadow Treasurer giving away the sad truth of the state of mind of his side of politics, with regard to the recent election and their failure to form a government. I don't believe that even Mr Hockey believes that the non-cooperative stance his side has adopted, under the leadership of Tony Abbott, is the best thing to do.

It became evident through Ms Sales' thorough and researched questions, that Mr Hockey was the latest harbinger from his mob that this Opposition has not got sufficient goodwill towards the Australian nation, to help make this latest Parliament as productive as possible.

Tony Abbott is demonstrating that he hasn't got the greatness to accept that, according to the rules we've been running on for a century and more, his side did not form government, and he did not become Prime Minister, which sadly, might be as much the point.

I reckon Ms Sales is very aware of the smallness that is oozing out of the Opposition from all angles, and her questioning indicated this. She thus let Mr Hockey indict himself and his colleagues. How spot on Ms Sales was with the spirit in the following question: "Is there a risk that that (the 'wrecker' appellation) will resonate with the public if the Opposition does pick fights over comparatively minor courtesies like pairing?"

His lame comeback included the following non sequitur: "And how ironic it is, Julia Gillard accusing us of breaking a deal, whereas before the election she promised the Australian people there would no carbon tax." Mr Hockey and your cohorts, listen carefully to Tony Windsor and, if necessary, get someone with more intelligence than you are displaying to the public to explain the implications of the following: IT'S A HUNG PARLIAMENT. Thus, many campaign commitments are thrown into doubt automatically. The Coalition would be in an identical situation if it had formed a government under the current balance of numbers; some of its promises would doubtless have to be purged.

How easily most of our politicians are prepared to keep insulting our intelligence with irrelevancies, redundancies, and falsities. Give us more Tony Windsors, Rob Oakeshotts, Bob Katters, Nick Xenophons!

In years to come, I would not be surprised if Mr Hockey looks back to these days, even this interview, and cringes.  He, at the bidding of the small-spirited leader he works under, demonstrated that he can talk and defend smallness also.

However, I am not confident that the Australian people will punish the Coalition for its tactics born of bitterness, formulated through the distortion of their smarting eyes. That remains to be seen. I hope the Coalition is punished electorally for its ongoing puerile and nasty behaviour, only to impress upon our politicians, and aspiring politicians, of every flavour, to behave with a far higher level of maturity towards the honour they are awarded to represent and lead us.

I was impressed with the fact that Ms Sales had a good grasp of the history of the situation 70 years back when we last had a hung parliament. She is a studious researcher, and it shows. I wonder when she sleeps.

Thank you Leigh Sales for an interview which had Joe Hockey exposing as much of what the Opposition doesn't stand for and which it should, by omission, as for the same by commission.

Lateline Business: The Tick(y Fullerton) Check Mark: Ticky Fullerton looked great when she anchored tonight's program. She wore a dark jacket and a simple Carolina blue camisole, with subtle-effect makeup and just tiny earrings for jewellery, her new shorter hairstyle suiting her very well, with its full forehead exposure and convex flaring at the sides.

Picture coming…

I get a chill whenever I think of big foreign businesses buying food production assets in our country, and so I was not the most comfortable I've ever been during the long interview Ms Fullerton had with Sunny Verghese, the Managing Director of Olam International. Mr Verghese looked like a new dollar, billions of them to be precise, but with a dark blue theme to his jacket and tie.

Picture coming…

The topic was about the plans by Olam International to double its business, already a $2.6 billion enterprise. I cannot help but think that this business and most like it are not first and foremost dedicated to feeding people while being profitable, but rather to make profits first and foremost, and all else being secondary. I hope I'm wrong with Olam International.

Ms Fullerton did raise the concerns of the various countries about their farming assets, including water rights, being sold to overseas interests, with Mr Verghese, and while he spoke a lot of words back, they didn't amount to addressing the basic problems of local insecurities, in my opinion. He interestingly gave a reply including this line: "…for us the more important licence that we need to seek and get is the licence from the communities and where we operate."

Well, that prize will depend on the greatness, the character, of Olam International, and will best be evidenced over time and under duress. Specifically I speak of the duress of the locals in the countries his business operates in, when food prices rise above manageable needs for the poor. Just how his company behaves at such times will be the acid to determine the above mentioned licence of which he claims he seeks.

It's a big issue, and a big problem. We've all got to eat. And of course, agricultural business has to be profitable, and – especially – sustainable, ideally continuously improving the health of the ecosystems in which it operates.

A litte more story coming…

+paytontedwithlove+