Michael Winterbottom Brian McFarlane and Deane Williams Manchester University Press $132

WHAT has Americans talking after the first day of Barack Obama's Hawaii vacation is the President-elect's fine form. "FIT FOR OFFICE: Buff Bam is Hawaii hunk", the New York Post gushed on its cover on Tuesday above a photo of the future president strolling without a shirt in the state..read more

AFTER a promising first day at the Adelaide Oval in which big centuries were scored and the ground work was laid by Victoria for a rout, the second fell into a drudge.

You have an idea for a new business. A killer idea. Soon you'll be free of the daily drudge of the salary slave. No more bad-tempered bosses, no more overtime and very shortly (you think as you stare out the bus window on your way to work) your bank balance..read more

A new book finds much Canberra political reporting predictable drudge, overflowing with cliches and mangled metaphors. YOUR columnist, Canberra's hard man, is recovering from illness. We will go fishing when he is well - if he is still talking to me. I am filling Alan Ramsey's space - though..read more