Crikey

Launching a book for ‘Spaghetti Brains’. “A former Rudd insider finds it curious that the foreign minister has agreed to launch a book by Troy Bramston, a former speechwriter who Rudd used to routinely refer to as “Spaghetti Brains”, and who was shifted out of his office to the Siberia of Tony Burke’s then-agriculture portfolio as soon as arrangements could be made. At least they share a love of Rupert and a related new-found disdain for the Labor Party.” Ouch.

Your rent info, home delivered. From a Crikey reader and unhappy renter. It speaks for itself …

“I rent through Sarah Lorden Real Estate, an inner-city estate agency whose email sign-off proudly proclaims in huge letters ‘REINSW awards 2011*excellence* finalist’.

“On Friday morning, the senior property manager sent an email to all tenants (and possibly landlords) which was supposed to advise the Christmas closing period. Instead, attached was the agency’s entire rental database, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails of all tenants, along with details of monthly rental, bond paid, last payment date, any arrears, and last inspection date. Also included were the names, home address, phone numbers and email address for the owner of each property. I can only image every recipient of that email have done exactly what I did, which was to check how my rent compares to the detailed records of the other 477 listed tenants in the database, see if I know anyone with tardy rent payments, and have a street-view stickybeak at what the house of my landlord looks like.

“It’s now been three days, and apart from the seven frantic attempts to retrieve the email message (and, hilariously, the email sent saying “please delete the message you recently received from me it was sent in error, very sorry” which had another copy of the database attached to it), as yet we’ve heard nothing from Sarah Lorden to apologise for distributing all our personal details to everyone on their email list.”

Qantas loads up on missing London link. The decision by Qantas to can the QF299 Hong Kong-to-London route is already having effects if PAX (the number of flight passengers) is anything to go by, according to one insider: “The loads recently have been horrific with crew being paxed back to Melbourne rather than continue to London as per their roster. Not one or two crews either.”

NSW history awards in whose hands? We note — because no other media has — the NSW government is reviewing the range of literature and history awards it hands out each year. It’s all to, they say, “ensure they continue to provide appropriate recognition of our best writers and enhance NSW’s reputation as a vibrant, creative and leading intellectual environment”.

An independent panel has been appointed by Barry O’Farrell to examine governance, selection criteria and judging processes. We found the names of the panel curious: writer and former Liberal Peter Coleman, News Limited journalist and former Australian Literary Review editor Shelley Gare, psychiatrist and author Dr Ida Lichter, state solicitor-general Michael Sexton SC and chaired by long-time history wars soldier Gerard Henderson. Is that a stack?

Labor: play it safe on uranium. Our vintage subeditor Mick Vaughan remembered he had this badge hidden away from Gough Whitlam’s 1972 campaign. Perhaps they’ll get another run at the Labor Party conference next month?