There is a wall of federal election coverage out there today. This isn’t more of it.

A glance at the list of most popular stories on any major website shows Australians are talking about a bunch of other things aside from politics. So alongside our daily campaign coverage we’ll be bringing you a daily potted summary of the non-election issues grabbing voters’ attention, trying not to draw unnecessary parallels with federal politics unless it involves budgies, forward movement, or other parallels too obvious to resist. Today, let’s start with sporting WAGs.
What makes a good WAG?
The indisputably stunning girlfriend of Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury, Alex Davis, is a rising star of the WAG world but is at a loss to explain why.
She was ranked third most-glamorous WAG in a Herald Sun / Seven News fan survey, but says she was surprised with the label. “I’m pretty casual,” she says. “I’m not glamorous by any means.”
Your honour, um, please see exhibit A above: that dress.
The short report on the WAG glamour league (I know, they survey people in detail about this stuff now?) was the most popular story on the Herald Sun this afternoon.
A sports story getting deserved attention today is the extraordinary performance of the Sydney Roosters in yesterday’s NRL game against Canterbury. The story focusing on the Roosters’ iron-nerved hero Braith Anasta was the most-read on The Australian’s website for some time today. It’s a great read.
A sporting personality in the headlines for the wrong reasons is ex-cricketer Dean Jones, whose 2007 Father of the Year award has been stripped after it was revealed he had a nine-year affair with a flight attendant and had a love child with her.
Elsewhere Mel Gibson is reportedly considering moving back to Australia (if only there were celebrity TPVs for stars whose careers are imploding) and Boeing’s new 787 has made its first international appearance, at a UK air show.
You can see from this video that with its wings, engines, and upright tail it, er, looks like most other passenger jets. The report is the most-read on the SMH website this afternoon.
But the day’s best stoush involves (drum roll) Masterchef, with celebrity stirrer Neil Perry claiming he was misquoted in a report in which he appeared to poo-pooh the hit show’s contestants as “nobodies”.
Perry’s strategy for dealing with the story has been to email Masterchef judge Matt Preston and posted the message on his Facebook page. On Twitter, Perry said he didn’t see what the problem was “other than arsehole editors trying to sell papers.”
Have a read of what Perry said here and decide whether he has egged this particular pudding appropriately.
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RT @popculturechris: Meanwhile, Gotye holds no.1 for a sixth massive week in the US - "that" song has now sold over 4 million copies there.
I like how a tip erodes so only you can use it MT “@paulwiggins: BBC News - Why are fountain pen sales rising? http://t.co/0hk2MRtf”
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