In which, pending an entertaining attack by birds, the pond must make do with an attack of silly bugger Caterism ...

The thing the pond loves about the Caterists is the lack of irony, as if age has got anything to do with being a silly bugger. 

Silly buggers come in all shapes and sizes, including the Caterist and others who generally go without mention on the pond ...

Okay, no need to break a taxi-driver's arm today, but before we proceed with the Caterist, perhaps we should get the pond ritual out of the way, a bit like Hitchcock, who liked to turn up early in his films ...especially with an attack by birds pending ...

And so to the pond's ritual mention of the Caterist government sponsorship ...

Ah that feels better. 

Not as funny as a couple of cute pooches, but it gets the ritual out of the way so we can get on with serious silly bugger Caterist business ...

Actually, can the pond stop right there ...because funnily enough the pond remembers it playing out a little differently, thanks to a silly old bugger by the name of John Stone and assorted other silly old bugger Liberals ... (click to enlarge)

Inevitably that led to the inevitable ...

Inevitably it was all the fault of the ABC ... yes, even in those days, it was all the fault of the ABC ...

Commentators commented, and while the pond has included it, and it can be clicked on to enlarge to read, those into nostalgia can also find it in more readable form at the invaluable Trove here ... (and just why has the Turnbull government done its best to fuck Trove? Never mind, that's another tragic story of a government incapable of understanding digital wealth).

It came to haunt Hawke in much the same way as the laughable notion that no child would live in poverty, and Tony Wright returned to have another go in The Canberra Times on 23rd June 1990:

And here we are in 2017 and the Caterists are still talking about it, and thinking it a good thing, when in reality it was just another little bit of ammunition tucked under the cap by Paul Keating, as he got ready to take the silly old bugger down ...

Oh okay, it's as clear as day that the pond is deeply bored with the Caterists and wanted to break the mood, there being no chance of an attack by birds this day ...

Hey nonny no, on we go ... and sure enough, what do you know, these days John Stone and the Liberal party work for the ABC, because it's still all the fault of the ABC.

Why is the pond surprised?

It's always the fault of the ABC ...

The pond isn't sure what calendar age serves as the point in which the "old" kicks in so that anyone can earn the sobriquet "silly old bugger", but the pond reckons that when it comes to a Caterist, you can be any age and still qualify as a "silly fuckwitted bugger" ...

Well there are small mercies - no mention of putting squashed avocado on toast with a dash of lemon and a hint of pepper as we used to do way back when - but right at the moment, the pond is begging for it to end ...

There's an enormous stupidity at work here, not least the assumption that age provides the best reason to favour one or another side in politics.

It's condescending to not just the young, but also to the old, and it's a pathetic attempt to distract from issues ... like why the federak government gives cash in the paw to the MRC.

But that's what you have to expect from a silly Caterist bugger, no doubt in urgent need of something to distract from the current parade of policy cock-ups, the latest involving the Orwellian persecution of people living in the west in Sydney, but with others ensuring that Malware is richly on the nose. Oh there goes the pond again, off down the NBN copper-clad rabbit hole...

Even more bizarrely, the tenor of what the Caterist is saying seems to be that the Liberal party should be beware of the wrath of the silly old buggers, because they're no longer rusted on ...but apparently without the first clue about how to get them back. Try helping an old bugger with Centrelink for an hour and you might want to scream at the Malware robots ...

So there you go, it's about what you'd expect as analysis from a silly bugger who picks up a tidy amount of cash in the paw from the government. That's what socialised Pravda style commentary will get you ...

And so, as if the silly Caterist bugger hasn't already provided enough light relief, here's a dose of papal infallibility on the matter of the 'bots, with more Pope here ...

And now with thanks to DW for the suggestion ...