In which the pond goes extremely populist with the ever-popular dog botherer and portentous, pompous, ever so popular Ned Kelly ...

O unhappy reptiles, O sodden, saddened, reptiles with a siren song of suffering ...

Now usually the pond would be called to pay attention to prattling Polonius on a Saturday ...

... if only to disagree, because there's a very acceptable reason to mark the passing of Mao. 

Mass murderers should be remembered, in much the same way as Stalin should be remembered, especially as Stalinism is once again rampant in Putin Russia with neo-Stalinists everywhere...

But this sadly is hair-splitting, because, sob, the pond has no time for Mao - oh except for its classy collection of Mao clocks - nor for Stalin, and so the pond looked further afield, which was to say towards reptiles fixedly gazing up their fundaments, and sure enough, there was the dog botherer and portentous, pompous Paul "Ned" Kelly ...

Now here's the easy bit, with the dog botherer moaning and hand-wringing, and such a killjoy he's not even prepared to let the pollies have a dance (by golly he's probably a reincarnation of the killjoys who dragged Marie Antoinette off to the guillotine ...)

O the Bacchanalian decadence of it all, and how astonishing that the Bacchanalia has been around since perhaps 200BC and how rewarding that the dog botherer, having seen the light, flung off his clothes, shrugged on monk's gear and joined St Francis in a vow of abstemious poverty ...

Oh well, maybe we needn't rush it. 

Maybe next week will be time enough for the modern day dog botherer to join Simon up the tower preaching righteousness, because right now, there's more preaching to be done this day by the killjoy, as a way of helping flog tree killers to unsuspecting punters...

The coming months are bound to be ugly and fetid ...?

He's baaaaaccckkkk ...

Now a couple of trends emerge here.

Clearly the new go-to word of abuse is "populist". 

If you embrace a popular policy which has popular majority support, you are a mere populist ...

It also helps if you've developed complete amnesia, which has enabled a total memory wipe of the Abbott years. 

This way you can be routinely outraged at the disgraceful behaviour of an opposition which dares to oppose, as opposed to rolling over and being good dogs. 

Here it is wise to cluck about unfathomable arrogance, and tut about practical implications, and just in case anyone should have an acid flashback to the Abbott years, best to slip in a slap over the wrist with a warm lettuce leaf about the good old boy once upon a time "overstepping the mark."

Of course at the actual time there was no need to remark on the 'ofersteppan', then it was just a valiant opposition leader doing what opposition leaders do ...

As for the plebiscite, it is of course mere populism, which makes it wrong, but yet somehow makes it right.

As for high opinion of the way the debate and even the vote might go, is it wrong to note that it's not the generality of Australians that counts, but rather the nest of embittered worms that find expression in News Corp publications, so grumpy that they can't even stand the thought of anyone enjoying a dance ...

The pond was recently moved to tears when Crikey reminded it of Freedom Boy's strong stand ... (and there's more strong standing here) ...

Never mind, the second round of "bah humbug" on the pond this day is really going to push boundaries. 

People will discover whether they have the inner strength to go on.

Many will drop like flies caught up in a Maoist four pests campaign ... but it's not the pond's duty to worry about the weaklings and the starvelings. 

They must remember Nietzsche's injunction, and buckle up their belts, or pull up their stockings, or do whatever must be done to survive the onslaught of pompous, portentous Ned Kelly deeply concerned at populism becoming too popular...

Phew, that hasn't killed anyone, so they must be feeling stronger, right? 

Which is just as well, because once the pompous portentous Ned gets on a roll, he rolls on and on and on ...

Now who could he be talking about?

Oh dear, chaos unleashed, and what is that rough beast slouching towards Canberra?

Never mind, on we go with a hey nonny, oh noh, noh and the openly mocking and the suffering yadda yadda ...

Only half way?!

Here, have a sip on a Moir cartoon, and more refreshing Moir here ...

Okay, let's put the band aside - the pond confesses to conducting along with all sorts of conductors thanks to those damned YouTube logarithms, but we must focus on the gloom and the suffering, while aware that some therapy sessions take an inordinate amount of time ...

Can we at least have a vote for the most popular "populist" word of the reptile week?

Damn you ABC, damn you Fairfax with your easy cheap tales of woe ...

Damn you Jack Lang ...

Come on reptiles, do your duty, stand up, stand up ...

Indeed, indeed, stand fast, hold firm ... remember the happier days when things were working well ...

Dear sweet long absent lord, how did the pond end up back with Jack Lang and the great depression?

Oh that's right, the pond was reading prattling, portentous Ned moaning about populism and then everything went white and blank and feeling dizzy and faint and ...

Well the pond has been assured that the last gobbet will be short ... otherwise the Henry C. Miner routine of "give 'im da hook" will regrettably have to come into populist play ...

Please, please, have mercy Ned, and keep it short, and yes, you can start off with a "populist" ...

That's it, there's no point defending the banks, won't someone think of the banks ...

Thank the long absent lord, there's always the valiant reptiles ...

Okay, if any brave soul made it this far, they desperately need a Rowe cartoon, and more Rowe here ...

Lights out! No wanking. Yes, that includes you, pompous portentous Ned ... and as for that disgraceful wretch indulging in hanky panky with the redhead ...