News Corp is in full cry against Q&A questioner Duncan Storrar — principally because Q&A panelist Kelly O’Dwyer made a goose of herself in responding to his question, blathering on about $6000 toasters — industrial-strength, as it turns out, but the sort of thing the public will imagine Malcolm Turnbull keeps in his “harbourside mansion”.

This gaffe added to the perception that the Coalition was just a liiiiiitle out of touch, and so the flying squad scrambled, finding a few disturbing episodes from Storrar’s past. The implicit proposition appears to be that people with a few demerit points racked up don’t get to have an opinion. Well maybe, but if so is Caroline Overington really the person to be leading the charge in The Australian?

The never-boring Overington’s career hit a speed bump a few years back, when a complex entanglement with would-be MP George Newhouse ended with Overington either slapping or shoving around the diminutive Newhouse at a polling station. Now, after a stint at the Australian Women’s Weekly, she’s back. Apparently journos are allowed a few more strikes than people like Storrar, who get targeted when the right is too incompetent to score any points against the actual opposition.