LATELINE: Ticky Fullerton delivers us a rollicking interview with Sir Harold Evans; a delight, a treat, a bonbon; come back again Sir Harold!

Is Death by Cleavage a Crime?

What a welcome relief it is when our highly talented ABC journalists get to interview a truly interesting person outside of politics! Ticky Fullerton brought we the Australian public of discerning taste (Aunty’s faithful) a treasure of an interview this night with Sir Harold Evans, who holds the distinction of having been sacked by Rupert Murdoch, and I congratulate the old knight for this rare honour.

Ms Fullerton clearly enjoyed this opportunity to speak with Sir Harold, as did Sir Harold, and the resultant chemistry was joyetry in motion.

How many folk are left who read some of the first output from Gutenberg’s press, read by mammoth fat candlelight? Sir Harold has seen and done it all, covered in his memoir, ‘My Paper Chase’.

I would advise Ms Fullerton to conceal her cleavage next time she wins an interview with the old treasure, lest she be the cause of his expiry, albeit with a smile on his face, on screen. His missus, Tina Brown, would not be amused.

[Caption text: Radiating yet again, Ticky Fullerton gave us a treat with her interview with Editor at Large of The Week magazine, 81 year old Sir Harold Evans, on Lateline on 22nd October 2009.

It was a rollicking chat about Sir Harold’s life in newspaper publishing, thoroughly enjoyable, but I did sustain a low level of stress lest the dear old treasure should expire, not helped by Ms Fullerton’s inch and a half of exposed cleavage.

Somehow the old origami oracle made it through to the end, but I suspect he had to lie down to recover from Ms Fullerton’s abounding charms.

Congratulations and thank you to Ms Fullerton for drawing such pearls of wisdom, humour, direct speak, and appealingness from this doyen of newsprint; thank you Sir Harold for giving of yourself so generously for we Aussies’ enlightenment and entertainment; look after yourself and come back again!]

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MEDIA WATCH: Jonathan Holmes, radical, shocks audience by putting on a necktie

Jonathan Holmes messing with our heads?

As mentioned in the text on the accompanying image, I was thrown so suddenly when I walked into the lounge and beheld Jonathan Holmes wearing a tie, that I hit the floor – fortunately carpeted – bumping my head, and was out like a light that’s just been turned off, or if you’d prefer, a low wattage flouro that just blew.

Well, perhaps that account is not entirely accurate: let’s say I had a frisson-like reaction, and upon recovery was left with a warm fuzzy feeling, but not sufficient to render me incapable of wondering what might have possessed the man to do such a sensible and simple thing; the answer might have something to do with his interviewing of ABC Managing Director Mark Scott, and so Holmes’ boss would likely watch his show tonight; then again, it may have been unrelated.

All I can say is, regardless of the serendipitous intersection of events that had Mr Holmes tying the Windsor Knot (unless he resorts to those elastic looped fakes): Jonathan, please make it a habit, for even though many of us of the hairier gender don’t like the things (we’d prefer to breathe), they are the iconic sign of well dressed men; human psychology will see to it, whether we like it or not, that you will be taken a bit more seriously in your presentation of what at times are – and often fairly so – scourging critiques of the inhabitants of the media jungle.

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Lateline: Iran’s pursuit of nuclear arms and its desire to drive Israel into the sea make for gloomy but salient interview

The elegance of Ms Sales’ appearance belied the seriousness of the subject matter she discussed with Mark Fitzpatrick of the International Institute for Strategic Studies tonight on Lateline, or did it? for perhaps the gravity of the topic called for a degree of formality nothing less: the pursuit of a nuclear weapons capacity by Iran.

With gravitas throughout the almost ten minute interview, these impressive interlocutors covered the dispiriting developments, and the possible consequences, of nuclear arming a regime publicly committed to the annihilation of the state of Israel.

Truly awful aftermaths hang on but threads as Israel witnesses the clear pursuit by a sworn lethal enemy of nuclear arms. Hatred and stupidity, mixed with the hallucinogen of divine sanction, are deeply embedded on both sides of this sorry state of affairs in the Middle East.

Wisdom, maturity, forbearance, and love are needed to effect the sharing of the Levant between Jew and Palestinian; generations on both sides have been born there now; they are essentially identical racially; must they shed oceans of blood again?

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