Look, I have a few things to say about IWD, the International Day of Women. For my sins, I enjoy the odd cupcake. I care about equal pay for equal work (legislated but not enacted in many workplaces).

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So, you blokes who claim to be allies? Bake me a cupcake and show your friends your pay slip. Especially your women friends. Especially especially the ones who do exactly the same job you do.

Right. Got that out of my system, although believe me, more equality tips to come.

Now I'm pretty sure the Coalition is holding its own IWD breakfast.

The absolute best way to honour the International Day of Women is to give said women a giant bollocking. Obviously. Makes sense, right?

That was clearly - clearly - the intention of property developer Peter Dutton and his sidekick Jane Hume who this week insisted we must all return to the office for the sake of productivity, especially you lot in the public service. No goddammit! Return to the office full-time for the sake of the nation.

Hume even cited a paper from Stanford University, the university ranked number seven in the world, backing up her claim. Hey, Hume staffers, may I request that you please read right to the end of papers before you put them in your boss's public utterances? The good bits are often at the end. To give Hume credit, she did apologise for her inaccuracies.

These days, it's almost impossible to trust what comes out of a conservative politician's mouth. It's not just the US Secretary for Contagion RFK jnr, who this week recommended vitamin A and good nutrition as a way of avoiding measles. It's also homegrown manure spreading. Apparently, Temu Trump (expert description, courtesy of the Australia Institute's Amy Remeikis) loves a bit of copycatting.

But there are reasons for this particular round of manure. For what seems like an eternity now, Dutton's been spruiking the necessity for us all to return to the office. Now this must honestly be the bidding........

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