Nine lives A fair bit of trepidation and muttering has sprung up in the hack ranks of
The
Age and
The Sydney Morning Herald following a few days of deckchair swapping, including some that were simply tossed overboard. First, there was the departure of John Hewson and Amanda Vanstone as columnists and the arrival of Niki Savva. Savva, who worked for Nine chair Peter Costello back when he was treasurer in the Howard government, needed a place to land after leaving
The Australian in protest at the thought of sharing a page with Peta Credlin. So far so good: Savva does a readable column. And it's hard to imagine too many tears being shed for Vanstone's reactionary thought bubbles. The same remains to be seen for Hewson, after his pupation into something of a dapper climate change warrior gave the former Liberal leader a point of difference.