Graham you argue cleverly but I wonder if not overly so.
There is a forest out there in the world of Sydney broadcasting but you seem determined to see only individual trees and even worse, parts of trees. What the Jones, Laws & Howard affair all points to is the dire state of public discourse in Australia. There is no way of proving that what Laws said about Jones and Howard is true. But I tell you straight Graham, I would like to have the same chance of winning the lotto this weekend as of it being true, very true. Moreover I have more than a sneaking position that you would not say no to the same chance.
When I listen to Jones pour out his right wing rants, I realise how far we have moved to the Right in Australia. That is so far that someone like Robert Manne is regarded as a leftist. I would laugh but I am too busy weeping.
As for the good Professor Flint should he resign? Well I personally hope that like the Pope he hangs on and on and on. The survival of the pope is wonderfully damaging to the Catholic Church. Three cheers for that say I!
Similarly Flint’s refusal to fall on his sword is doing incredible damage to an institution (the ABA), and a Party (Liberals) and a Prime Minister (Howard), all of which for Australia’s sake should be swept off the public stage.