Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"I think the Bill is a disgrace, but it is also an opportunity to show to the better informed how the fight to the death between politicians in the Howard administration and the "refugee lobby" is a callous one, and that for the politicians, backed up by the best of their legal advisors and legislation drafters, this fight is one they're fully prepared to fight - and it seems there's no limit to the budget. No doubt they, the politicians, are set for another win in the context of a Senate majority, but it will not necessarily be a win for public opinion of those politicians." Jack H Smit

"I come to this forum as a consumer of media and as someone who’s been fortunate enough to sit a little on the inside and observe aspects of how it appears to work. At my first real job at the Small Arms Factory in Lithgow I bought the Daily Mirror every afternoon on my way home. I used to savour the football and cricket think pieces from the likes of Phil Tressider and Ian Heads and Geoff Prenter and they brought me up to speed with the notion of cliché. At the time I had no idea that this would be my career-making preparation ... " John Doyle

"Brendan Nelson? To be fair, he did not begin the game of Squeeze and Hassle the universities. John Dawkins, Minister for Ed in the Keating government, did a fine old job of pushing universities into mergers and into marketing. He had vice-chancellors, deans and professors writhing in knots. Did they deserve Dawkins? Were they so stodgy and protective of privilege that they had to be tortured and forced to mend their ways? Probably -- a little." Harry Robinson