Tim Blair

ok, so now we're relying on a paper to accurately report on their own circulation. according to the report, the hun's weekday readership was, over the last 12 months, up by 8000, while the age's fell by 9000.

taking a different yearly period [the 12 months to june 2003], as you can bet fairfax does in its media sales propaganda, we find a drop in the hun's readership of 21000, and a rise of 24000 at the age.

presumably the quality of the age's cartooning has collapsed in recent months.

Everybody else has to go through the lines, and many are pulled out at random* for extra scans and/or strip searches. Why do politicians think they're special?

*"Random" actually doesn't have its common meaning here. It seems to mean "obviously could not be a terrorist but we have to look like we are not racially stereotyping anybody". And sometimes it just means Wow, I'd like to see THIS babe strip searched".

Pay attention, roop. The link was to a report on a Roy Morgan survey.

pay attention, tim. the age's sales kit also cites roy morgan.

From a year ago, right?

Or, sorry, a "previous yearly period".

the age says the figures are for the year to June 2003 [the sub-heading of the graph is a clue].

and for pete's sake, it's not like it's an uncontroversial fact that papers slant the coverage of their own circulation, even if they do cite morgan as the source of the data.

Public officials ought to be always subject to the most intrusive forms of security. Every politician ought to have his bags hand searched at the airport, just to inconvienence the bastards.

Let's not bring Pete into this. He's suffered enough.

The Morgan data is hard to slant, although The Age tries hard by presenting an AB-demographic graph that obscures the overall gap in readership between it and the Herald Sun. Otherwise we're comparing one bunch of Morgan with a subsequent bunch. On latest figures, The Age continues to tank. Been happening for a while.

Otherwise we're comparing one bunch of Morgan with a subsequent bunch.

well no, we're not, since the 12 months to today includes many of the same months as the 12 months to june.

On latest figures, The Age continues to tank. Been happening for a while.

uh, yeah. perhaps this explains why in the 12 months to june their readership went up by 24000. obviously it "continues to tank".

You're seriously telling me that The Age isn't tanking?

That'd be news to The Age.

well it would be news to whoever believes what the age reports about their own circulation. which is the point i've been trying to make.

Oh, I see. Maybe you should research this.

So did this cartoonist take drawing lessons from Ted Rall, or is it the other way around?

Although at least this cartoonist figured out how to work the pencil sharpener.

Allah be praised, the blogmire is free.

Personally, I think ALL politicians should go through the same security B.S. that we, the great unwashed masses, must endure.

Actually, requiring cavity searches of politicians would be an excellent idea.....

....with a cattle prod.

Thank God our men and women on the front line are defending us from terrorist scum like Clark. Who could trust a New Zealander in these days of optional alliances? Especially a mere week after we knocked them out of the World Cup??? If anyone is likely to self-detonate at an Australian airport in a gesture of crazed revenge, Clark is.

TFK

No doubt she also has to endure such hardships as waiting in line at the supermarket, waiting for petrol, waiting on hold on the phone until answered - all this waiting!!! There should be separate shops and services for politicians since their time is so more valuable than us plebs.....what a load of crud.

Clark and her minders are still a bit sensitive about Australian airports after unions stranded Clark's 'plane for several hours on a runway (Sydney?) in 2001. Something to do with the sale of Ansett to Air NZ as I remember and Clark's role in screwing it up.

I think the interesting point in all of this is that Clark herself appears to have accepted the check with equanimity. She didn't raise any objection or protest and the incident would probably have gone unreported had Kevin Rudd not decided that it might have a political payoff.

Well consistency would suggest that an apology is due, even though logic doesn't.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3535122&reportID=54013

"The head of the Australian-led intervention in Solomon Islands, Nick Warner, has been forced to apologise to the country's Governor General, Sir John Ini Lapli, after he was searched by two police officers over the weekend."

"Clark and her minders are still a bit sensitive about Australian airports after unions stranded Clark's 'plane for several hours on a runway (Sydney?) in 2001. Something to do with the sale of Ansett to Air NZ as I remember and Clark's role in screwing it up."

Ah...no. Ansett was owned by Air NZ and the unions therefore - for reasons not unrelated to great publicity - decided that the NZ PM was fair game for a blockade. Others might point to overstaffing and myriad other longterm inefficiencies having at least as much negative impact on Ansett's bottomline as Air NZ's relatively brief ownership. Whatever, Clark's role in Ansett's downfall was nil.

If you were a security officer at Melbourne airport, and possibly not well up on international affairs, and you saw approaching what appears to be a dangerous transvestite, or perhaps a cross-dressing escaped mental patient, either of whom could have a bra filled with semtex, wouldn't you have a closer look?

No, I'd yawn and wave them through like most of them do.

The funny thing is, Tasmania's regional Launceston airport - where you still get off the plane by climbing down the steps and walking across the tarmac - has the most stringent security of any airport in Australia - a fruit-sniffing Beagle.

On a recent visit, we carried through several potentially 'dangerous' items - bits of camera equipment - while several very upright and prim matrons were sniffed out by the beagle and had to surrender the apples, oranges and bananas secluded in their carry-on luggage. They were completely mortified - obviously unaware of Tasmania's fruit importation ban.

"While several very upright and prim matrons were sniffed out by the beagle and had to surrender the apples, oranges and bananas secluded in their carry-on luggage"

These ladies were smuggling apples into the Apple Isle? There's a Darwin Award in there somewhere...

Where did they have the bananas concealed?

i work at SIA and EVERYONE gets a random explosives test. i dont know what the cow is mooing about. all they do is touch your shoes, palms of your hands, shirt and pants with a rod that looks much like that lazer thing in star wars. it doesnt even take a minute for the computer to register the information.
what a whingey bitch.

Tim scores a home goal -

If Mr Cut and Paste bothered to actually do any research on behalf of is moronic fan club he and they would now know that Clark did not complain during or since the incident.

http://smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/24/1069522518155.html

Learn to read Tim and you might come close to reporting the whole story instead of your latest attempt to slur people with comments that get the facts wrong. But then again as a former Truth cadet Tim knows all about how little the facts actually matter.

Who said she complained?

It's your own own goal, Crocky.

I too scanned Tim's post in vain for any indication that he said Clark "complained." I don't know, English is my native language, and his post read to me to be making fun of the Melbourne Age's coverage of this little story. Perhaps our basement trollboy read these words after the aliens from space beamed them directly into his head. Time to make a new tinfoil hat, lunchie.

It's called by implication Andrea. Tim always likes to imply something without saying it directly. Why the fuck have a story about Clark at the customs gate if it's not to give an opportunity to his fan club to misrepresent the facts and beat up on Clark. This is how you fucks always conduct debate today. A bunch of lies and half truths that set the scene for the next head kicker to take up where you left off.

But the Trolls are in your face now and you fucking can't stand it. Why don't you and Lisa Oldfield do lunch together and compare notes on how to be a right wing wacko.

Oh -- and I see that that big hand just passed the "3" on the clock, which means your fifteen minutes are over. So long, crock of tard! See you when you spoof a new IP!

Crock of Tim? Isn't truth in self-promotion grand?

Hell, I'm no fan of Clark but, for once, I think she's actually done New Zealand some good in Australia by giving this stupid non-story the attention it deserves - next to none.

BTW, this Kiwi would be rather more annoyed if our head of government was killed because Oz airport security weren't doing their jobs. I guess having hundreds of your citizens murdered by terrorists would make you a little more sensitive about security checks.

(By the way, who the hell is Lisa Oldfield?)

If Clark didn't exist it wouldn't be necessary to invent her, except for The Age that is, to use as a stick to hit the Howard Government.

Who cares anyway? This experience might teach her to know NZ's place in the world - as a minor appendage of Australia.

nz's place in the world - a giant sheep pen

also, why don't their sheep ever get rejected by the saudis, surely being buggered by kiwi farmers is less halal-friendly than the odd bit of ham being chucked in their feedlot

Pooh, the difference is one is ham, the other is hambone.

Apparently the officials were looking for concealed crack.