The Vietnamese Government has been remarkably generous in the time and effort put into repatriating the remains of missing US soldiers and also a number of Australian servicemen’s remains. Until recently there has been less emphasis on the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese ‘missing’.

Approaching that time of the year when the words heroism, selflessness, sacrifice, courage sometimes get used in apposite contexts, we have a Defence Minister who might just challenge some of the assumptions which have been left unchallenged as a result of PR and fear.

Anyone imagining that the nuclear industry is reeling in disarray and on the defensive after the Japanese disaster ought to think again.

Why did Klim, Thorpe, Trickett and Hugell return to swimming for the money or the glory? And why were their decisions reported the way they were in the media?

If Kevin Rudd had approached his mining tax, and the emissions trading system, in the way Julie Gillard is approaching the carbon tax he might still be Prime Minister.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a US newspaper is either turgid beyond belief or a source of the many fantasies which so many US citizens seem to believe. Yet there are exceptions.

The recent Royal Wedding is instructive for many reasons, but probably mainly for illustrating the effectiveness of using tradition as a framing device.

This Christmas remember the best Christmas greeting - Bah Humbug – and don’t forget to blame it on the PR people, from the early Christians onwards, who created the monster which is the festive season.

As the annual political round-ups start to roll out it is fascinating to watch how they are all obsessed with ‘leadership’ and activity, and how the respective political parties’ PR people work to shape how that leadership and activity are seen.

Insight about the conventional wisdom is one which tells us much about how attitudes are shaped, how hard it is to change them and how the general consensus influences political debate.