By Kevin Healy
The week of the great debate, full of excitement and political relevance and ... stretch ... yawn ... snore. Actually, I was sitting there only half asleep, and a friend said, "Look at that worm on the telly", and I said, "Yeah — and what's that white line wandering across the bottom?"
However, on the positive side, there was some good news for the government: unemployment in our Mother Country has soared over the big 3 million mark. And when that happened the markets that matter — on the stock exchange floor — soared as well.
See: unemployment is good for us. It must be; they're all telling us sacking workers is the solution to everything wrong with the economy.
And also a week in which we had a very sensible comment from Sir Bruce What's-good-for-the-bosses-son, of the True Blue Aussie Institute of Company Directors, as responsible and ethical a bunch as you can imagine.
Sir Bruce said the reason business wasn't taking off — never heard this one before; Sir Bruce is obviously a thinker — was "government red tape". And what particular red tape, you might ask. Well, the red tape that placed "too much emphasis on corporate crime".
"All the rules in the world can't stop dishonesty", Sir B explained, "but they can stop the honest businessman from doing business".
So, readers, this week's competition is to list who, in your opinion, are the two most honest businessmen in True Blue Aussie. Anyone who comes up with a list of two will be named in this column next week and exposed as a liar.
Governments were trying too hard to combat white collar crime, Sir B went on. Business didn't mind rules being developed, he said, as long as they weren't actually made law.
But I don't know that old Sir B has a great deal to worry about. As long as he considers all who practise business are "businessmen", then their crime record is pretty good. The only corporate criminal to have copped more than a carefully considered warning is a "businesswoman", and I'm sure old Sir B and the True Blue Aussie Institute of Company Directors would agree that may teach women a lesson about dabbling in something that is none of their business.