I miss Paul Keating

I spent four and half years in Australia. It was, if you'll forgive my Dickensian description, the best and worst of times: a beautiful country where I couldn't get a job, a romantic place where my husband became my ex.

At least I can still go back in time and remember the ex-Prime Minister, Paul Keating. He was no less than genius with insults. They've been archived here at the Paul Keating Insults Archive.

Here are a few quotes to whet your appetite.

On now-deceased Labour politician, Jim McClelland (over the phone):

"That you Jim? Paul Keating here. Just because you swallowed a fucking dictionary when you were about 15 doesn't give you the right to pour a bucket of shit over the rest of us."

On Prime Minister John Howard (insults traded before Howard was elected PM):

"What we have got is a dead carcass, swinging in the breeze, but nobody will cut it down to replace him."

"...the brain-damaged Leader of the Opposition..."

"I do not want to hear any mealymouthed talk from the Member for Benelong."