After last night's debate between Mark Latham and John Howard, I received a letter at Counterspin which articulates a view of many, I bet:

'I found the most interesting point of the debate to be the plethora of 'big issues' that did not get any air time. What happened to the 'big issues' of the last few years, such as:

- environment
- reconciliation
- welfare reform
- Telstra and regional service levels
- immigration, asylum seekers and mandatory detention
- aged care
- child care
- anything to do with workplaces
- red tape killing small businesses
- etc etc

Either the items listed above are no longer issues or the panel steered both players to discuss only the current media agenda. After all, for the media these issues are only yesterday's news.

I think these items are all still real issues.'

PLUS: NHJ is sprinting back up the book charts, now sitting at Number 8 on the national non-fiction charts. Thanks for your continued support.