The Everything-New-Is-Old-Again Labour Party wasn't expected to win the Henley by-election. It was, after all, an extremely toffy-nosed Tory seat, made vacant when Boris Karloff became Lord Mayor of London. But how many people expected Labour to (a) come fifth, behind even the Greens and BNP, and (b) score less than five per cent of the primary vote, thereby losing its deposit, so to speak?

At least Richard McKenzie (Labour, 1066 votes) outpolled such lumninaries as Bananaman Owen (Monster Raving Loony Party, 242 votes) and Harry Bear (Fur Play Party, 73 votes).

But my Second Reason Gordon Brown Is Cactus is the real killer. Basement Books in Sydney's Railway Square has put "Moving Britain Forward: Selected Speeches 1997-2006" into its $1.00 clearance bin. You can see all the procession of price cuts in the stickers on the cover... starting at $29.95, reduced to $9.95, then $2.95, and finally down to one solitary Oxford Scholar, thereby placing it on par with the Anna Kournikiova coffee table book and 2006 Australian Idol Damien Leith's first (and presumably last) novel.