WASHINGTON: "It's hardly rocket science," PLInkletter maintains, "more like a singalong: 'Oh give me space, lots of space, under starry skies above…'"

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

01^st October 2010

Friday: Uber 'late' to bed (sunrise), so uber late up. And with a disturbance, an hour before my one p.m. rising, when Missus Inkletter came in to let me know she was taking our over the road neighbour Deelia, who's approaching her eighties, to the doctor, for she had become quite ill.

I also had the alabaster dragon phone Bob's people (my people got in touch with Bob's people) to see if he wanted to go to the city today, as I had not planned to see him this week, and Bob was keen, so when I surfaced it was a mad rush for me to get crank up and get ready and arrive at Guildford before three.

And so we spent three hours doing the things Bob enjoys in Perth CBD, which is changing at a rate of knots again these days, with so many new skyscrapers and other projects steaming ahead. They've even ripped up half of St Georges Terrace (I can't quite get over the missing apostrophe, while also on the same terrace is St George's Cathedral, where my parents married) out front of London Court! (Some historically formed typos are worth keeping, but some aren't, and I for one wish Perth City Council would rename it.) I was struck by how thin the road base is.

And so I was rather whacked when I got home about half seven, and by half eight, after din dins, Cadbury spent the next four hours on my lap as we watched news and docos on Aunty and SBS. That cat will be the best informed feline on current affairs and politics in Australia, before the year is out.

Lateline: The Missing (Leigh) Sales Graph, instead The Tick(y Fullerton) Check Mark: Ticky Fullerton anchored Lateline tonight in Leigh Sales' stead, who is gallivanting around the United States for a while, where she will doubtless rediscover that North America has an abundance of political pricks and dickheads just as does Australia. Speaking of political pricks and dickheads, Ms Fullerton's guests tonight for the Friday night fight club were Shadow Attorney-General George Brandis and, well, I could stop there.

I won't keep you in suspense for long as to the identity of the other politician, but first, a note on Ms Fullerton's appearance: she looked fantastic, and was a just-controlled fire, as the photo demonstrates:

Her bright red jacket only failed to ignite Ticky Fullerton's hair because it is so much shorter now

The other polly was Minister for Trade Craig Emerson. Both men were on-screen, and both looked superb.

Mr Brandis opting for a black and white theme (Freudian slip?), with even a bold striped tie in black and white upon his white shirt and surrounded by his dark suit jacket; Mr Emerson came close to imitating Mr Brandis, except that Mr Emerson's tie had a dash of fire in it also:

There's nothing quite like black and white in politics: Craig Emerson and George Brandis were predictably starstruck by their own side's performances

This interview highlighted to me the fact that practice makes perfect, for these two boys got stuck into each other with overtalking a few times while completely ignoring Ms Fullerton's attempts to pull them into line. Leigh Sales is getting so much practice at controlling unruly politicians that she would have pulled them into line more quickly and probably with good humour; Ms Fullerton's interlocutors over at Lateline Business are usually in a more docile frame of mind.

Some delights for me were the use of the term 'shirtfronted' by Ms Fullerton in reference to Peter Slipper's acceptance of the Deputy Speaker role, as well as her rhyme "despairing of pairing", in regard to the obstinance of Tony Abbott's stand on pairing with the Speaker.

Mr Brandis kept up the imbecilic Opposition line that Prime Minister Gillard broke a pre-election commitment to not introduce a carbon tax: George, like I advised Joe Hockey the other day, do your best to understand what a hung parliament means and the changes it forces upon the whole of the new Government's agenda, and when you've done that, stop insulting our intelligence with your side's stupid and disingenuous line. Had you formed government you would be in the identical predicament.

Mr Emerson is spot on with his early remark that Tony Abbott (and his cohorts) "…is still sulking as a result of the Australian people not electing him, he's obviously angry with that." I haven't an abundance of respect for any Opposition we've had for decades, however, the Coalition in opposition over the last three years have been the pits of bitterness, petulance at being turfed out, and smallness of many kinds. And that has been under three different leaders, which suggests the problem is deeper than their leaders.

Sadly, yet again, I have to award the interview to Mr Emerson in terms of mature behaviour and believable statements, but not by a country mile. I say 'sadly', because Australia would be far better served by a higher calibre Opposition, which also implies, of course, by a higher calibre Government.

Well done Ms Fullerton, being thrown back into the bear pit of Lateline and performing professionally.

Oh how nice it would have been to sweeten things up with a chat with Stephen Long; hurry back Mr Long!

I managed a slower than usual late walk, on this humid cool night, around four a.m. Some hoons appeared to be yelling out at me from the local shops carpark at one stage of the walk. I am pleasantly surprised at how little untoward behaviour I encounter in the dead of night around this patch of our suburb.

Very late, well, time is so blurred and smeared around my life these days, very early, till and after sunrise, I wrote more on 'After the Rain', exhausting myself but feeling strangely alive.

+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+

SLEEPY HOLLOW: "And if you should survive to 105, you'll be able to epitaph 'I had a wonderful life', spreading manure around," suggests P.L.Inkletter

Be all that as it may, meanwhile:

'In other news…'

13^th August 2010

Friday: I was too unwell to take Bob to Perth. I realised about one in the afternoon that a combination of factors, including having been unable to turn my mind off this morning to accrue badly needed time in Mistress Nodette's embrace, and a mobble phone call halfway through what sleep I'd had, had made it unsafe for me to consider driving. Janny phoned and broke the news for me, and Bob's people took it well. (Turn the mobble off, did I hear someone say? The Dear Leader won't countenance that option for a moment: we are his 24/365 emergency line, at his insistence.)

Janny left me to sleep, which I did till eight in the evening, still feeling far from rested.

Cadbury on my lap, belly up and allowing me to tickle and stroke her, made me feel a bit better, while I watched Aunty's The Collectors, an SBS documentary on WWII, SBS News, and then back to Aunty for Lateline, before a repeat of one of my favourites and the funniest of shows, The IT Crowd.

Lateline: The Tick(y Fullerton) Check Mark: Before I comment on tonight's program, let me thank NYU's Journalism Professor Jay Rosen, Leigh Sales' guest interviewee last night, for the neutrality in his comments on his Twitter page regarding my assessment of his interview, in which I gave a mixed review, but came down on the side of a thumbs down, and I finished by saying, bluntly and perhaps unkindly, that it would have been ten times more grabbing had Professor Rosen interviewed Ms Sales. He simply stated: "This Aussie blogger says reverse it: I should have interviewed Lateline's @ leighsales http://jr.ly/ucvx Judge for yourself http://jr.ly/7tni". A lesser man would have laid into me personally. His website is called 'Pressthink'.

Would the ABC consider allowing Professor Jay Rosen to interview Leigh Sales about the modern media landscape?

It is unfailingly a delight to sit down to a program anchored by Ticky Fullerton, and all the more so when she has a chat with the likes of Laura Tingle, George Megalogenis, and Peter Hartcher, as well as when she or Leigh Sales bring us the absolute highlight of the week, the weekly (too brief) wrap from the ABC's Economics Correspondent Stephen Long, who, if my failing eyes informed me correctly, was wearing a different set of glasses; however, I am jumping the gun…

Ms Fullerton chose an ivory jacket alone, pearl earrings, and subtle-effect make-up: she has long demonstrated that she is aware of the power of less is more. Her recent shorter hair style is helping her radiate the more.

Proving that subtlety with dress and make-up can enhance a woman's beauty, Ticky Fullerton glowed through tonight's LATELINE

Ms Fullerton's longest interview out of three was with the political editor of the Australian Financial Review, Laura (Eucalyptus frissonii vr blondus) Tingle, and George (Greek god) Megalogenis, journalist with the The Australian newspaper, both on-screen from the great beyond, Melbourne for Mr Megalogenis, and Canberra for Ms Tingle. Ms Tingle's choice of attire was suggestive that when the Amish women take their bonnets off they can look really hot, while Mr Megalogenis' selection, as rakish as it was, still could not hide the fact for many that he would look even better standing naked, slightly posed but dispensing with the fig leaf, on a block of marble (not me of course).

Laura Tingle showed how to make the religiously conservative women in the world look hot, while George Megalogenis could not, despite his dapper dungarees, hide the Greek god just waiting to spring naked onto a plinth of marble

They each had the opportunity to give their assessments of the last four weeks of the federal election campaign, and they were both a pleasure to listen to. I've said it before here, and I hope to be able to say it many times again, that despite whether or not one agrees with all the detail of some interviewees' opinions, there is a hearty satisfaction in listening to intelligent and articulate people discuss political matters without the political shrillness we suffer from so many of our elected representatives. Ms Fullerton provided the third leg in this solid platform.

I have to dip my hat to Mr Megalogenis for the expression "I'm suffering small beer announcement fatigue at the moment", referring to the numerous small spending promises flying thick and fast from both sides.

Ms Fullerton next spoke in-studio with Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald's political editor. I must admit I'm beginning to warm to his odd high shirt collar effect outfits, this week leaving it to a white shirt to rise high above his pinstriped taupe suit, and his tie was of an almost medieval patterned appearance, and all working well together.

Photo coming...

(It's caption will be:)

Still setting his own fashion style with high neck effect collar (it's growing on me), Peter Hartcher's golden tonsils charmed Ticky Fullerton tonight

His subject was Nielsen polling, due out in the marnin. (Not that it matters, but the ABC's online transcript page of this short interview mentions the word 'Nielsen' four times, spelt two different ways, neither of which is correct.) Mr Hartcher gave his opinions of why things have changed since last week, and it sounded quite believable; he also has no reason, surely, to be biased in his analysis of the results of a poll. I repeat that Mr Hartcher's voice is golden: subtly cultured, warm, and just a delight to listen to; he should, if he hasn't already, do audio books. I'd have him on every week on Lateline to discuss anything on the strength of his gorgeous voice alone.

And the highlight for me: The (Stephen) Long and Short of It: Ms Fullerton called Mr Long 'Dr Doom', with a twinkle in her eye, after his 2½ minutes of economics analysis glory. Mr Long had glasses on tonight, after a two week sabbatical from his sarsaparilla bottle lenses, but I reckon these spectacles are a different pair. I don't know how much store to put into the stories circulating at the Ultimo studios that Mr Long has been going to the photocopier and taking out the toner bottle and putting it in his coffee, and returning the toner to the fridge, ever since ditching his glasses.

Photo coming...

(It's caption will be:)

Look again, it's a different set of glasses Stephen Long is wearing tonight. Okay, I wouldn't bet my left testicle, but I think they're different

Ms Fullerton let Mr Long loose on the latest growth numbers out of Europe, which look good on the face of things; until, that is, Mr Long's incisive analysis put it into perspective, and gave us all a lot to keep worrying about, hence his Dr Doom appellation from Ticky when he finished his breakdown. He also highlighted the risks of potential U.S. deflation dampening consumer spending, and all the flow-on vicious cycle effects that would result. I think he's spot on, and as usual.

+paytontedwithlove+