Mirabella’s SBS appointment frighteningly plausible 

Peter Nevin writes: Re. “The day when media organisations knowingly lie to you” (yesterday). I enjoyed your recap of the day’s April Fools’ Day pranks in today’s edition, save for the chilling and wholly plausible idea of Sophie Mirabella heading SBS.  Isn’t tragedy supposed to come before farce, and not the other way around?

A closer look at regulation

Joe Boswell writes: Re. “Essential: thumbs down to knights and dames, but RDA splits voters” (yesterday). Crikey regularly summarises the latest polling, and this Essential poll included the familiar topic of government regulations, appraising the quantity and applying the Goldilocks test: is there too much, too little, or is it just right? Nobody ever seems concerned about whether the regulations or their implementation are fit for purpose, still less about comparing the costs to the benefits. It’s always, “Never mind the quality, feel the width.” Does this make any sense?

Coalition attacks going stale

Peter Matters writes: Re. “Fiscal fools: give us a break on the budget BS, Joe” (yesterday). Joe Hockey’s is the umpteenth Coalition attempt to blame Labor budget management, and the attempt has gone well past use-by date. Indeed, it has by now acquired the stench of rotten meat — I trust that while preparing his budget, he keeps the office windows open.