Best newspaper? What a Crikey

Daniel Oakes, justice editor at The Age, writes: Re. “2012 Crikeys: the best and worst journalism this year” (yesterday). How tiresome, another journalism academic announcing that The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are “shadows of their former selves”. What will all these people — none of whom seem to have covered themselves in glory during their own journalistic careers — do when we slip below the waves?

A surplus surplus

Barry Welch writes: The Mayans got it wrong. I woke up and realised that it was 21/12/12 and the world hadn’t ended.

Then I saw The Courier-Mail headlines decrying the Gillard government’s predicted failure to deliver a surplus budget in 2013. I realised that the end of the world will be on Budget Day 2013.

So all you Doomsday “preppies” pack up your raisin brownies, make sure you have plenty of batteries so you can listen to your collection of Barnaby Joyce speeches and head for the bunkers, for the end of the world is nigh. At least that is what Tony Abbott and his megaphones in the Murdoch press would have us believe.

Andrew Haughton writes: Abbott has screamed about a sensible government response to economic realities. He disregards the reality that business is happy with what the government is doing.

Apparently Abbott still hasn’t read the Federal Judges’ judgment on Ashby, Slipper/Brough. Well why would he? it’s not a good look. Can this man be reasonably regarded as Australia’s leader? Our next prime minister? His only ambition is for himself. Australia comes a long way second.

I am old, 74-years-old and I have never seen a politician less interested in his country and more interested in himself. God help us.