In which the pond has a Yeatsian moment with nattering Ned ...

The pond has been alarmed by a recent temporary rise in pond traffic.

This needs to be corrected immediately, as the pond wishes to trade its way into oblivion by sharing the reptiles' failing, flailing business model...

And what better way to achieve oblivion, nirvana, and a decline in hits - or at least a sense of existential crisis - than by watching nattering "Ned" wring his hands and moan, seemingly oblivious to one of the key causes of his discontent ...

Now it should go without saying that Yeats said all this, and said it much more succinctly.

See here,  but as we're waxing poetical, how strange it is on the part of "Ned" to imagine that he's somewhere near the centre ...

He works for the evil empire, the man who ordained that Republicans should rally around behind the President elect, who still, even to this day, uses Fox News, the Hannitys and the Orallys, to endorse the new world order ...

Yes, this is the rough beast which has helped that other rough beast slouch into Washington to be born ...

If only Shelley had the clout of Yeats, but all the same, the resemblance, as billionaires take over the US government, is unnerving ...

Of course it would be too much to ask nattering "Ned" to talk of these things ...

He's determined to be gloomy about the few signs of hope ... like recognising the reality of climate science...

Waiter, a dose of that climate denialist kool aid for nattering "Ned", if you'd be so kind ...

And therein lies an explanation of why nonsense is not restricted to blogs and tweets but infests Murdochian la la land, which fancifully imagines it's somewhere to the centre, in much the same way, no doubt, as Genghis Khan was a centrist ...

The pond was actually quite mild and expletive free, a true suburban conservative, before it became dangerously radicalised by coming into contact with chairman Rupert and his rabid minions, spouting hate, fear and Bill Leak cartoons to the manor born ...

It takes some rich cheek to blame this debasement of discourse, this vile abuse of civilised standards on others, when the rogues campaign for 18C to be removed so that they can get even more vulgar, descend even lower into the gutter in their ultra-verbal violent droog way ... pave the way for even more Leakian atrocities ...

Let's not pretend that the Donald is a child of anything but the Republican party, Roger Aisles, Rupert Murdoch and all the other cronies that gather around the rich to do what cronies must do ...

How is it that a solemn, portentous, pompous and righteous git can moan about the rise of the new populism and the decline of the political centre ... while working for a rag that gave its full support to the onion muncher and regularly features far right populists of the Cory and George kind?

Climate denying, black bashing, border hysteria, gender psychosis and slander, assaults on individuals who dare to disagree ... you name it, it all turns up on a daily basis in the lizard Oz ...

The pond suspects that "Ned" might be thinking about doing a late life switch into stand-up comedy. 

Don't do it "Ned" ... it's better if you're conscious of the jokes you're making ... that way people won't mistake it for senility, and will instead enjoy the rich ironies you peddle... 

And if all this doesn't reduce the pond's hits to a trickle, then it's badly misjudged humanity's capacity to absorb endless suffering ... well played, stoic few, spartans of Oz.

And now, speaking of civilised discourse, what better way to discourse than with an infallible Pope, and more infallibility here ...

If nattering "Ned" were serious, he'd persuade the powers that be to sack Bill Leak and employ the Pope on a handsome stipend.

Thank the long absent lord, he's not serious, and nothing that he scribbles - 'Incoming!!' - needs to be taken seriously ...