I was also touched by Mark Latham's first media conference as leader and in particular his reference to the 'ladder of opportunity'. The concept resonated and seemed heartfelt. At the same time Latham stressed the need for individual responsibility.

But then it started to come apart. And by the time he parachuted the rock star into the seat of Kingsford Smith the 'ladder of opportunity' seemed to have been well and truly dismantled

Those wary of Latham but tempted by Lathanism are sadly in the minority. While the Liberals get scarier by the day, it was Labor, not Latham who most frightens voters.

Comedy Relief.Starring Julia & Mark.
Julia; Mark werriwere you?
Mark; In terror gal.
Julia: You'll have to give up the grog Mark,your pancreas is getting
livered.
Mark; Pancreas my arse.I tried to crush the hand of that rodent
and he returns my bravado with an electoral flogging.
Julia; Why didn't you say something about Acehi?
Mark; Didn't John abandon Acehi?
Julia It's Banda Acehi the capital.
Mark; Banda Acehi Aid, is Bob going too?
Julia; Bob Geldorf?
Mark: No.Bob carr.He's my only threat..Encourage Bob to fix their
infrastructure.I'll be in like Flinn.
Julia; We have to ride the great wave of of public generosity.
Mark; Soon army will come an wipe out all those who voted Liberal.
Julia; But it's already been!Thailand,Sri Lanka,Acehi,India.
Mark; No, the Army.
Julia: The salvos are already there!
Mark: No; my army of Howard haters.We will rise again and smite
them down as predicted by Gough the Prophet.
Julia; We lost Mark.
Mark; Oh my panacea feels worse.How should I resign?
Julia: With deft brevity Mark.
Sonjhos
We need a stronger opposition to keep the Coalition on their toes.We however don't need soft option Left wing option that appeals to our weakness rather than our courage to achieve.

David's comments on Mark Latham's demise capture some of the tragedy that most of the mainstream media cannot see. But at the end of the day, Mark's problem from about 1997 was that he was in the wrong party. Civilising Global Capital was a manifesto for a new political movement in Australia, and as I first read that book I knew in my bones that Labor could never be a vehicle for this political program. Labor does not get ideas of social capital and civil society, they are missing from the political minds of its apparatchiks and its politicians. Mark Latham was the only Labor MP who understood these ideas, and he was absolutely alone in his party.

But David is wrong on one thing: Mark should not go to the academy. That is the graveyard for idealists. Mark Latham should keep trying to reconnect the real world with the political world - and do it from outside parliament.