It swells the heart to read that shoppers in Australia's 'allies' have been urged to buy a bottle of Australian wine. This is a campaign to stand up to the bullying of Australia, especially our winegrowers, by Emperor Xi Jinping and his palanquin of xenophobic sycophants.

Trump may get the DCM from his Mar-A-Lago resort: he now cannot use it as a private residence. The council permit Trump signed in 1993, when he built the members' club, stated that he could spend no more than 21 days per year there. Back to New Yoik?

Strapped to his recliner, Wry & Dry is now beholden to the increasingly soapy soap opera called The Crown. With only the solace of a glass of Fever Tree bitter lemon, extravagantly diluted with Hendrick's gin, to dull the rising cringe-ometer.

I-Won-I-Really-Won-Trump fired Defense Secretary Esper on Tuesday, a week after the election. The summary dismissal was in a Trump tweet: “Mark Esper has been terminated”. There were no reports of funeral arrangements.

What sort of constipated political system throws up as candidates (a) a huckster and (b) everybody's aging grandfather; with a process that lasts for over a year; for an election where there is no national uniformity on voting; and where the outcome might be more about counting Supreme Court votes than voters votes?

In a bad channeling of Captain Louis Renault, PM Jimmy Morrison said that he was "shocked and appalled..." to find that AustPost's CEO had rewarded its senior executives with Cartier watches.