The Oz has developed a new wheeze in its ongoing exploring of whiny victimhood — graphing the number of words spoken by panelists on the ABC show Q & A to show that surprise surprise the Tories do badly out of it. Hardly a shock when a government minister is usually on the show, and thus has to field questions about the actual exercise of power — and also when so many conservatives simply can’t muster the energy these days.

The words ratio they should really be looking at is on Insiders where Bolt the Comic Dog (he’s never on the sofa, always on the chair at the end. Why? Because he’s not allowed on the sofa. They should get him a basket and a chew toy) regularly talks over and talks down the other panelists, particularly women, with only Annabelle Crabb, the Fairfax Medusa, able to pacify him somewhat. Though his blustering reveals his desperation and is welcome for that, it’s high time someone told him to be a good dog.