May 14, 2003
JOHN BIRMINGHAM in the Bulletin:
JOHN BIRMINGHAM in the Bulletin:
Of course, there's nothing the punters love more than a good literary stoush - and, until the lawyers got between us, I was kind of hoping to get into a punch-up with a former columnist on The Australian (now resident of The Bulletin), Tim Blair. It went back to comments I'd made about the politics of drug laws in Queensland under Bjelke-Petersen, and Blair's comments on those.
It was gratuitous to stir it up. But I figured he wouldn't be able to help him himself, and his vicious spit-flecked howl of protest would set off a minor ground war in the opinion pages and be worth elephant bucks in unpaid publicity - and a couple of thousand sales. But the defamation lawyers could not be convinced, so the offending section was pulled at the last minute.
I'd love to read it. E-mail me, John!
Posted by Tim Blair at May 14, 2003 02:36 PM