Bye-bye pulp mill. The Tasmanian pulp mill planned by Gunns must be a near certainty to end up on the scrap heap. The financial instability which is making it difficult for even the strongest of companies to borrow money at a fair price will be enough to destroy Gunn’s hopes. So at least there will be some happiness for some to come from the current crisis.

The Crikey election indicators. The Crikey election indicator certainly has David Cameron’s Tory Party the clear favourite to become the Government when Labour finally drags itself off to the polls. And in New Zealand and the United States as well, the Indicator is pointing towards a change in the ruling party.

A time for careful tongues. The story on the London Times website this morning about the run on Irish banks which led the Irish Government to make a rapid decision to guarantee all deposits in six of its local banks should be enough to persuade Malcolm Turnbull that this is not a time to be trying to score points on whether banks can and/or should be lowering interest rates on housing mortgages. The Irish crisis, it seems, just emerged from nowhere but when the mob panics only a government with the printing press has the capacity to stop it.

An intriguing fellow jogging on to victory. The Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition in the British House of Commons is clearly an intriguing fellow and David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) has now cleared another hurdle on his way to the top. In the last week he has given a performance at the Conservative Party annual conference that delighted the critics and which seems certain to keep him well clear of the Labour Government in the opinion poll rankings.

What a wonderful CV David Cameron has to become a Tory Prime Minister. Bred in the purple,as it were, as the son of a distinguished family of stock brokers; 1979-1985 Eton College; 1985-1988 Brasenose, Oxford, 1st Class Hons in Politics, Philosophy and Economics; 1988-1992 Conservative Research Department, Head of the Political Section; 1992-1993 Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; 1993-1994 Special Advisor to the Home Secretary; 1994-2001 just a smidgin of work in the private sector as Director of Corporate Affairs, Carlton Communications Plc; and then in 2001 – MP for Witney.

All too good to be true really which is why the spin doctors have taken him in hand to roughen up a few of the edges. In modern Britain it is important that a politician have a little of the common touch about him. As is the way of modern politics, the method of persuasion is not words but the pictures.

The key ingredient the image makers have seized upon is to show their man tieless. For several years now David Cameron has appeared at all manner of public functions with an open neck shirt. Nothing can illustrate the point better than this:

Here is our man fronting up on 8 February 2008 at the Conservative Party’s Black and White Ball clasping his charming wife Samantha with absolutely nothing around his neck. If that is not a sign of a politician trying to show that “I can be a bit of a yobbo too” then I don’t know what is.

It was no different this week when Opposition Leader David Cameron turned up at the Conservative Party annual conference.

Whatever is going to get better it it clearly not his dress sense because dressing down is clearly deemed by the spin doctors to be an essential ingredient for victory.

So let’s take a walk in the park

And stroll off to vote

Before riding off to work

while ignoring those ignorant voters

as he jogs onto victory.