The Prime Minister has dismissed a call by the Labor elder Bob Hawke to slash the power of unions within the ALP.

Julia Gillard defended the factional and union influences that were responsible for the destruction of Kevin Rudd's leadership in 2010.

Leaders of Canberra's Muslim community were surprised and saddened by offensive anti-Islamic pamphlets distributed to homes throughout Queanbeyan over the Christmas holidays.

Householders in Queanbeyan received the material depicting a Muslim man physically abusing a woman and a child and an Islamic elder condoning the violence as acceptable to his faith.

One local Muslim leader has questioned the legality of the material and said it was un-Christian to distribute such offensive literature.

The pamphlets were published by Chick Publications, a United States-based evangelical company.

Few people will have been looking forward to the end of 2011 more keenly than the Gillard government, and the rather-less-than-mighty Australian Labor Party. Indeed, the only thing that might have dissuaded them from celebrating is the possibility that this year might be worse.

Foreboding and warning. Egypt should have felt it coming. This was the worst so far. Hope is gone. The people are in despair. As our imam shouted Friday at noon prayer: Will it get worse before we have cleansed the land of Satan?

A large metallic ball has fallen out of the sky on a remote grassland in Namibia, prompting baffled authorities to contact NASA and the European space agency.

With violence and government crackdowns making headlines from so many familiar parts of the world, there's hardly been a peep in the media about the biggest and ugliest massacre of all: Last Friday in Kazakhstan, riot police slaughtered up 70 striking oil workers, wounding somewhere between 500 and 800, and arresting scores.

The soft-roader in front sports one of those ridiculous ''baby on board'' signs that makes you want to shove its exhaust pipe up its rear-vision mirror. (Like, sure, I was going to rear-end you, but since you have a BABY on board I'll save my murderous impulses for the next person.)

The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has said Nauru isn't the only option for offshore processing and the Coalition would be ''perfectly happy for boat people to go to Manus Island''.

You’ve just gotta love our supreme media …..

The Prime Minister will spend Christmas doing ''very ordinary things'' with her family at home in Adelaide, she told the broadcaster John Laws last week.

''[We] watch DVDs together, have family meals, read books, you know all of that kind of stuff. Just very normal, quiet, at-home activities,'' she said.

As most Australians contemplate a traditional Christmas of over-indulgence and recuperation, we should spare a thought for one of our less fortunate compatriots. He lives in exile under house arrest, awaiting one last hopeful court appeal. He faces a perilous future should that appeal fail.