Bernard Keane writes today on the G20 phone call affair, and the Prime Minister’s bizarre reluctance to just cop his lumps for self-serving indiscretion and move on:

This mini-saga is all about the Prime Minister’s ego. It was about his ego when his office leaked the story, designed to puff him into an international leader. And it’s about his ego now, in his unwillingness to acknowledge the role his office played in the story despite the fact that every refusal to answer the question gives it away. All Rudd need do is declare that yes, his office provided background for the story and, on reflection, that was not perhaps the smartest thing to do. But that would involve admitting a mistake — something Rudd seems to be incapable of doing. 

It is however something he ought to do and save the rest of us from the bizarre spectacle of our federal parliament obsessing on this moment of extraordinary pettiness while the rest of us face down the substantial issues of the day. Which, last time we checked, were slightly on the serious side. Certainly almost as weighty as the PM’s sense of self worth. Almost.