So, we are faced with a “fork in the road”. Presumably this is where one arrives after scaling “the ladder of opportunity”.

Kevin Rudd declared in his first major speech as opposition leader yesterday that he will win the next election with ideas. “Right now this country is engaged in a battle of ideas for Australia’s future,” he said. “We intend to prevail in this battle of ideas, on the ground, right through to the next election. We intend to prevail.”

So Rudd will be offering several forks. A multi-pronged strategy, if you like.

Rudd certainly offered plenty of references yesterday. Everything from Marx to Menzies got mentioned. But he left out the obvious bit of poetry that complements his theme. Odd, really, given its political pedigree, the way in which its author turned up at the inauguration of John F Kennedy. He didn’t recite “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…”