Leadership Brawls Moving Emotions: Sound Familiar? A Smirk, a Censored Parliamentary Foto and Talk of Disloyalty

When a man as outstandingly colourless as John Howard decides to postpone his retirement you know that Australia will continue to live in interesting times. For those who haven't read Down Under, Bryson reveals that he often forgets the name of our Prime Minister, a consequence of John Howard being by far the dullest man in Australia. Imagine a very committed funeral home director – someone whose burning ambition from the age of eleven was to be a funeral home director, whose proudest achievement in adulthood was to be elected president of the Queanbeyan and District Funeral Home Directors Association – then halve his personality and halve it again, and you have pretty well got John Howard.(Gustav Husak, former Czech President, used to be described in similar terms
According to Mike Carlton, Peter Costello, without his enfamous smirk, looked as if he had swallowed a weapon of mass destruction at his media conference this week.
Emotions seem to also govern the new Labor Party
Earlier I'd had a phone conversation with Mark Latham, unsuccessful right-wing candidate and staff member [on Carr's staff]. He in tears. Hung up on me. He later phoned in to resign. Bugger him.
· Bugger Him [Sydney Morning Herald]
Kim Beazley will challenge Simon Crean for the ALP leadership on June 16. But Labor needs more than a change at the top to solve its problems. Internal power struggles have become so bitter that even the factions are divided within themselves. Talented candidates with bright ideas find their way into Parliament blocked by factional favourites who put group loyalty ahead of fresh policies. Voters are deserting in disgust, no longer knowing what Labor stands for. John Lyons reports on a party that's tearing itself apart...
· Guerrilla War, Hard Labor & Simon Crean has left the building? [Sunday: Jana Wendt]