I knew Karl before he was famous. He came into the Nine Sydney newsroom as a young man who’d paid his dues: Rockhampton, Auckland, Brisbane. The best kind of instant success – built on grind.

He was immediately likable. A larrikin; funny but hard-working and serious about his craft. One of the striking things about his sudden shift into martyred hero of the far right is the way people feel it’s a stage act. Almost as if the donkey costume will fall off any minute and there will be Karl, grinning, smirking – “gotcha there!”

“I like Karl,” said the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, when asked for his reaction to the split from Nine. The gleam of tears in the eyes of Today Show co-host Sarah Abo as she announced his exit was not confected. Even the Asio boss, Mike Burgess, referred to Karl – chummily – by his first name.

“I’m free!” declared Stefanovic in his video release. Free from the tyranny of the 4am alarm, for sure. Free to make podcasts. But free from what else? Free to do what, exactly?

Let’s make no mistake about Tommy Robinson. The man rose........

© The Guardian