Howard-counting obsession recurs

The Muftim Tim Blair has suffered a recurrence of an obsessive condition in which he compulsively counts the number of times Australian Prime Minister John Howard is mentioned at Tim Dunlop’s Blogocracy blog.

It will be recalled that Mr Blair last performed such an ‘audit’ on February 15, in which he noted the number of mentions of Howard at 115. He now notes that the mentions have “declined” to 41.

If this obsession recurs yet again, Mr Blair may be well advised to seek help in suppressing these compulsive episodes. There’s a danger that the condition could become a full-blown mania, in which the compulsion broadens to counting mentions of Howard by other political commentators, such as Michelle Grattan, Matt Price and Dennis Shanahan.

The poor man would simply burn himself out.