Living as ‘the star’ in such heady times, you could understand Rudd figuring that if he speaks, people will listen. It’s that simple.

No, it’s not.

He might like to consider the review one audience member gave his recent speech to business and foreign policy types in Berlin.

In Canberra, the urge to suppress information is alive and well — sadly — and with their excuses for the secrecy, the bureaucrats are treating Australians as stupid.

A couple of Freedom of Information (FOI) applications I wrote about last year have now largely run their course.

These reports on Australia’s capacity to cope with disasters should have been released to the public back when they were completed years ago.

Kevin Rudd adores benchmarks – which must make managing Australia’s military commitment in Afghanistan infuriating.

Problem is Afghanistan defies benchmarks. Wars defy benchmarks.

No doubt acutely aware of this, Kevin Rudd has left out of his finely-honed benchmarks one essential gauge for measuring progress.

In the making for months now, Australia’s increased troop commitment for Afghanistan is about to be announced.

The question switched long ago from whether the Rudd Government would commit more troops, to how many more it would contribute.

Now we’re about to find out

It is simply myopic to believe that Afghan nationals would be driven to take such extraordinary personal risks because of an Australian government's tinkering with policy rather than by their own desperate circumstances at home.

And it has been ‘tinkering’: far from a radical new and compassionate approach, Rudd has largely hung onto the Howard government’s asylum seeker machinery.

Remember when Kevin Rudd appeared in a pre-election ad to tell us all he was ‘an economic conservative’?

The Prime Minister’s plan to reinvent Australian telecommunications – stunning in its scale and cost - is so far from ‘conservative’, it makes the memory of Kevin 07 selling his ‘no risks’ approach to the economy laughable.

People rarely cheer when the power goes out.

So why is one Sydney doctor calling Monday night’s CBD blackout and the gridlock that followed it, ‘a blessing’?

Joel Fitzgibbon might deserve to be dumped but the Rats of Russell don't deserve his scalp.

He'll hang onto his job, but for all the wrong reasons.

Dear travelling TV colleagues: a note to wish you all a happy, easy and enjoyable two weeks following Kevin Rudd through Washington, New York and London.