Modern educational theory some years ago embraced the notion that the problem with little boys is that they are not little girls. Roughhousing in the playground? Evidence, surely, of incipient testosterone poisoning. Rambunctious in the classroom, which can make a teacher's job somewhat more difficult? Quick, off to the school nurse for the daily dose of calm-'em-down pills. A near-instinctive urge to turn pencils, fingers, even bite-sculpted sandwiches into imaginary guns? Clearly yet one more example of the male urge to dominate and destroy. Fortunately, thanks to the feminist sensibility that shapes Big Chalk's agenda, strong women are on hand to make sure the boys behave themselves. Other threats to peace and tranquility are, as Zeg notes, somewhat problematic.

If the ancients were correct in advising that the gods first grant the wishes of those whom they wish to destroy, Bill Shorten may have more than Tanya Plibersek to worry about. Now that his desire to see the high-flying Bronwyn Bishop banished for the Speaker's chair has been fulfilled, there will be one less distraction when the Opposition leader resumes the witness box at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption

It's almost a case of bringing down the chopper, so to speak. Or, as Speaker Bronwyn Bishop herself might put it were she  more inclined to howling puns and colloquial speech, they 'copter fair and square.

You pays your dues and you gets ... Bill Shorten's innovative approach to making sure AWU workers get what is good for them (or good for someone, anyway). Now that he has moved on, aspiring to lead not just a union but the entire nation, is his grip any less clammy?

Life's just not fair. There you are, a famous Hollywood actor who gets to hob-nob with the Obamas, and you turn up in country where the locals should be awestruck by your stellar presence, but instead they raise a stink about a pair of yappy Yorkies evading quarantine requirements. The absolute gall of Barnaby Joyce to insist that the law applies to all, even celebrity dog smugglers!

Once upon a time -- quite a few years ago, actually -- the climate was cold and the gift of a juicy loin of mammoth was the way to a cave maiden's heart. Now that things are somewhat warmer, well, things have changed.....

Adam Goodes, a man with a unique talent for kicking a piece of inflated leather, really does deserve the full measure of sympathy -- although definitely not the sort the packagers of tokenism and shallow cliches imagine. To their eyes, the business of booing a footballer is as simple as their own thinking: Man is black. Man gets booed. Man is victim of "racist disgrace".

Apparently, once it has been taken to the panel beaters, an amended Constitution will do much to remedy the ills of Aborigines. Fancy that! All these years, so much misery, so many wasted lives -- and few words here and there would have made all the difference

At Nuremburg they would have used a rope and a short, sharp stop to remedy Herman Goering's inclination to consider himself a prime example of the Master Race, before which he and his kind demanded the entire rest of humanity prostrate itself. His own solution -- a cyanide capsule hidden in a jar of cold cream -- saved the hangman any trouble. But that was then. Today, as Zeg observes via the link below, the preferred cure for those imbued with bloody contempt for lesser mortals is a publicly financed course in "de-radicalisation"

On Budget Day it is good to remember things are rather different on Struggle Street in Canberra. Instead of waiting for cheques, the locals sometimes get to write them. Strangely, the more they spend, the worse the neighbourhood gets

New South Wales goes to the polls tomorrow, with the latest polls suggesting Labor leader Luke Foley's union-assisted efforts to gain a boost by opposing privatisation of the electricity system just isn't working

A government that can't sell its budget and disappoints its friends. An Opposition that has made a virtue of ignorance. And a country brimming with potential that is going nowhere. Welcome to Australia, 2015

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has had a few words to say about Joe Hockey's latest budget. Trouble is, apart from his promise to re-instate a carbon tax, those thoughts came across as a muffled muddle. That's what happens when you help to dig a monstrous hole, stand proudly at the bottom of all that debt, and lecture those on higher, firmer ground about their fiscal and moral deficiencies.

How do you become a "world respected climate expert"? Well, you could study old bones, like paleontologist-turned-public spectacle Tim Flannery. Or you might win a Nobel for revealing the mysteries of T-cells, like medico Peter Doherty, who is now another go-to authority on climate change, punitive tariffs and Bjorn Lomborg's eco heresies. It's great work, if you can get it! Scare politicians into squandering billions of dollars on white elephant desalination plants and, as Zeg observes, you still get quoted by admiring reporters.