Putting the Slipper in. I’m really getting to like this Peter Slipper. The man might have had some faults in a past life but giving the world’s most boring Treasurer and the most light-weight shadow Treasurer the flick yesterday proves why the House of Representatives should always have an independent Speaker.

I, me, my, mine. The ego of political leaders seems to be getting more and more out of control. Last week it was former Treasurer Peter Costello with my sovereign wealth fund, funded by me. Yesterday it was Prime Minister Julia Gillard with I have had a victory with my mining tax. Quite nauseating.

Getting to 50:50 The late entries in our Crikey Queensland election contest are beginning to look much more like the polls. This week the verdicts on Ashgrove are favouring a Campbell Newman victory while the early bird selections went strongly towards the ALP. And as for the overall election winner it’s hard to find a Crikey reader who thinks Anna Bligh will still be Premier on Sunday morning.

Entries to our contest close at midnight on Friday.

There are annual subscriptions to the Crikey newsletter to be won so click the links below to enter.

Passing a monkey bill. The more things change, the more they stay the same down in Tennessee, USA.

The State Senate this week passed a bill bringing back memories of the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. The bill, which now goes to the Tennessee House of Representatives, would encourage teachers to present the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” of “controversial” topics such as “biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.”

Colonisation continues. An illustration this morning of the continuing Australian takeover of New Zealand culture. Vegemite has edged in front of Marmite in popularity.

The evidence comes in the form of a New Zealand Herald poll prompted by the country’s Marmite shortage as a result of damage to the Sanitarium factory in last year’s earthquakes.

Quote of the day: Green Party member for Melbourne on Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer’s assertion that his party is in cahoots with a foreign power and the CIA:

“It just goes to show you don’t have to be smart to be rich.”

Some news and views noted along the way.