A tip for the PM. Stick to North America,
the UK and those Asian neighbours with a good Confucian tradition of respect
for authority when travelling overseas in future. “Part of the joys of
democracy is the peaceful and lawful dissent,” John Howard told his hosts in Dublin on Monday.
“The Irish brought many things to Australia
and one of them is dissent.” But does he like it applied this way?

Meanwhile,
what’s with the reports of the last week or so that John Howard’s visit to the US didn’t get any serious local coverage.
Look at what Jay Leno had to say: “Bush met with
the prime minister of Australia at the White House the other day. The Australian prime minister
asked President Bush, ‘When was the last time you were down under?’ Bush said,
‘Oh, you must be thinking of the other president, President Clinton.’” That’s
worth more than a run in the East Coast liberal elite media.