Sydney’s Nullarbor, that international wasteland fringed by car yards that masquerades as the Parramatta Road, has few peers in the communications business. Driving back to my airconditioned oasis at the cultural Broadway end of the tatty ribbon, I passed drought-stricken telegraph poles all festooned with a stark (Koo?) message, black on yellow: “Fergie and Andy its official”. That’s what instant communication is all about … and let us look forward to similar treatment for book promotion: “A Fortunate Life – a million sold”, “Keneally nabs Nobel Prize”, “Illywhacker joins space probe mission”. You can sense my optimism tinged with yearning.

I was wrong about ABC Television’s State of the Arts. It is adopting the Oscar Wilde approach to culture, seeing the artistic world as a witty florid pastiche. Here is lack of audience involvement. Once again it is for the converted, with no stops to pick up passengers on its road to Damascus.