A tale of two Gordons
I'm just back from a break in Britain, where the sniff of political blood has been vying for nostril space with the stench of democratic decay.
The ongoing MPs' expenses scandal, along with the Labour leadership crisis it helped precipitate, has almost completely monopolised the British media.
But there was one day last week when Gordon Brown came close to being nudged off the front pages by Gordon Ramsey - "a low-life" in the headline-grabbing estimation of Kevin Rudd.
When the Australian prime minister weighs in on popular culture, as he did with his gallant defence of the Channel Nine presenter Tracy Grimshaw, he often seems to capture the public mood.
When Gordon Brown does it, as he did after the Scottish songstress Susan Boyle was taken to a clinic following the final of Britain's Got Talent, he's accused of populist gimmickry.
The two prime ministers are good friends, ideological soul-mates and, I'm told, regular texters. What Gordon Brown would give right now for Mr Rudd's still high ratings, political self-confidence and popular touch.
On that front, so much for my pre-holiday prediction that the comedy troupe, The Chaser, might start to dent Mr Rudd's popularity. Instead, the Australian viewing public appears to have declared war on them.
The Chaser team is spending two weeks in the satire sin bin, after ABC decided to suspend the show because of public outrage over the team's Make a Realistic Wish Foundation sketch, which depicted dying children being told to rein in their deathbed wishes.
Mr Rudd said the Chaser team should hang their heads in shame, another soundbite which appears to have chimed with public opinion (although there has been the suggestion that the prime minister runs the risk of "outrage fatigue").
As we arrived back in Australia this morning, we were reminded of the main story of the moment by the health registration forms we had to fill in, the quarantine officials who boarded the flight and the heat-detecting cameras we had to walk past before reaching immigration.
Victoria has been dubbed the "swine flu capital of the world", and a flu expert quoted in has said that up to one-third of Victorians might be infected by the virus.
In other news, as they say, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has resigned after violating the government's code of conduct, thus becoming the first minister to quit since Kevin Rudd became prime minister in November 2007.
Andrew Symonds, the troubled Australian all-rounder, was sent packing after breaching Cricket Australia's code of conduct.
He was being 'too Australian,' according to the former Aussie cricketer, Dean Jones. All he wanted to do, after all, was to have a beer and watch the footie, the State of Origin match between Queensland and New South Wales. Cricket Australia took a dimmer view.
There have been the , which has damaged relations with India, and the abandonment of the Rio Tinto/Chinalco deal which will disappoint the Chinese.
So lots of talking points. Did The Chaser go too far? Should Joel Fitzgibbon have resigned? Is Gordon Ramsey, indeed, a "low life"? And is Tracy Grimshaw the early front-runner for Australian of the Year?
And the news just keeps on coming. Peter Costello, the former treasurer and longtime prime ministerial wannabe, has today announced he is quitting politics at the next election. More on than later...
I'm 
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