The big man goes for a medical check-up with a few buds

In the aftermath of the recent Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, with the death toll in the six figures and millions left homeless, not once did I think, “Gee, I wish Mark Latham would chime in with yet another pointless, vacuous, and redundant statement from a public figure.” So his absence, although certainly surprising, has been somewhat refreshing.

It did occur to me briefly that in a situation like this, the leader of the opposition would usually express his party’s condolences and magnanimously agree with everything the government is doing, but it seemed like shadow cabinet was already handling that quite well.

The reason why Latham has not made any comment, it has since been revealed, is that he is suffering from acute pancreatitis, and is on strict doctor’s orders to take a rest. Now, bored right-wing troublemakers at The Australian say that he has blown it, and have invented a story that he is under immense pressure to resign.

Firstly, the title of the article, Latham should ‘do right thing and go’, places words in quotation marks that are not part of a quotation, thereby falsely representing an editorial opinion as something someone said.

[...] Many hope the increasingly isolated Labor leader will “do the right thing for the party and his family”.

Is that right? In that case, I’m sure the authors will provide us with some examples of who the “many” are, and attribute the quotation to someone. Oh wait.

Big fella, til you get back to health, you can rest as long as you want, and wherever you want. Shame on you journalism students for kicking the man while he’s down.