Around the blogs

• Bryan Palmer presents evidence that Labor’s vote systematically declines from January onwards in an election year. Perhaps this is an extension of Andrew Norton’s mummy/daddy hypothesis. Voters trust Labor when they’re all happy and relaxed in January, but as Christmas draws near and the stress and bills pile up, they turn back to the Coalition.
• Peter Martin writes up a speech last Friday by Ken Henry, in which he discusses the institutional factors that make public servants overly loss-averse. It should resonate for anyone who deals with the Australian bureaucracy.
• And lots of people have a chuckle as John Howard gets comprehensively trounced by Barack Obama in the international political one-liner competition.