While Kevin Rudd rails at his now-traditional targets — Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten, factions, unions, the party that once made him leader — in an op-ed for Fairfax, we think it’s incumbent on all those who care for the former prime minister to see his latest missive for what it really is: a cry for help from a man stricken with the debilitating disorder known as Limelight Deprivation Syndrome. And here at Crikey we’ve seen too many good men and women succumb to this affliction. We say “enough is enough” — so we’ve launched a change.org petition calling on the federal government to invest in research into LDS and its treatment to combat this scourge. We’re calling on Malcolm Turnbull to finally take REAL ACTION on a REAL ILLNESS. We hope you will support this important cause — for Kevin’s sake, and for ALL our sakes.

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‘Limelight Deprivation Syndrome’, very good. I suppose ‘welfare-farming’ the UK’s social safety net and the NSW worker’s comp system just didn’t bring the patrician dividend he expected. Where are the Gracchi when you need them?
Is Kevin worse than other ex-PMs in this regard? It seems as though Hawke, Keating and Howard all pop up in the papers a couple of times a year to put in their respective $0.02.
Poor bugger must be getting rickets of the ego.