Snitter crisis deepens.

SNITTER (n.) One of the rather unfunny newspaper clippings pinned to an office wall, the humour of which is supposed to derive from the fact that the headline contains a name similar to that of one of the occupants to the office.

-Douglas Adams & John Lloyd, The Meaning of Liff, 1983.

I feel sorry for AWB. No, not the Australian Wheat Board, my friend Andrew Wallace-Barnett, of course! Since this ‘Wheat Sales to Iraq’ kickbacks scandal exploded, the newspapers have been crammed with headline after headline for story after story on the dirty deeds of AWB.


Talk about denigration by association. Talk about ruining a reputation. Where once those three letters would conjure up only the best and most noble of thoughts, now they also evoke ones of sordid, duplicitous behaviour and moral standards in decay.

Take this selection of headlines from The Age newspaper.

First came a stunning revelation (as seen above):
    'AWB 'a disaster waiting to happen'’

I’m not sure what he said to start it all, but it couldn’t have been good:
    'Doubts raised over AWB’s statements'

Powerful forces weighed into the situation:
    'US, Canada viewed AWB with suspicion'

in what eventually became the:
    'Shameful AWB saga'

John Howard eventually stepped in to support AWB:
    'PM demands US apologise over AWB comments'

but he only made things worse:
    'US farmers want AWB prosecuted'

and ended up on the back foot defending himself:
    'PM denies turning blind eye over AWB'

And if things weren’t bad enough, there was the most damaging guilt by association revelation of all:
    'Saddam helped to fix AWB delays'
It’s no wonder AWB takes so long to reply to his emails if he’s got Saddam there “helping” him.

And finally, just when you thought things couldn’t get any muckier:
    'AWB, abortion to dominate parliament'

Glory be. What a mess.