PATTERNS

"From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns I must follow
Just as I must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies. "

Lyrics from “Patterns” by Simon and Garfunkel

There's a rumour going around that Fairfax is about to axe the Editor-in-Chief of the ailing Melbourne Age newspaper, Andrew Jaspan. The man is apparently set to return home to bomb-threatened Britain where he will no doubt feel far more at home among Israel boycotting journos.

One wonders whether the changes at the Age are not already being rung in because there has been a discernible change in pattern at the newspaper in recent weeks. The letters section has toned down considerably and anti Israel hate mail has been limited to roughly one letter per weeek - close to an all time low (although pro Israel letters have maintained a steady averge of one below the "anti's").

The proof of a changing pattern at the Age came today when Farfour, the racist Mickey Mouse look-like leapt out of the blank pages of the Age and gained recognition in the print section of the broadsheet for the first time since the story of how Hamas controlled Palestinian TV used the rodent to indoctrinate Palestinian kiddies first hit the world news services. Farfour was shunned for two months by Jerualem bureau reporter Ed O'Loughlin and by the others who intermittently report on the news from the region. We heard not a squeak from them until today when his obituary was finally published in the form of an article written by an anonymous New York Times reporter - Hamas TV decides to keep its mouse shut.

The article must have appealed to whoever edits the Age these days because it still contained plenty of the classic understatement that characterises this newspaper's reportage.

"The character drew wide international criticism for what some said was incitement."

Right then, some say "incitement" as if our anonymous friend from the NYT doesn't have the capacity to judge blatant anti-Semitic incitement for himself/herself.

"After leaving his grandfather, 'Jews' went after Farfour and asked him to hand over the deeds and the key. When he refused, he was beaten to death."

The Mickey Mouse saga has been an embarrasment to the Hamas PR effort just as the Age's Basil Fawlty approach to this conflict (we mustn't talk about Hamas atrrocities dear) during Jaspan's stewardship has been but one example of the Fairfax descent into the appalling journalistic standards that it now upholds.

Thankfully, the pattern will now alter with the demise of the rat.