Mr. Downer's bad language

Get ready for the confected outrage as the easily shocked members of the Fourth Estate gather up their skirts: Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has referred to eminent Melbourne QC Robert Richter as a 'creep', for suggesting the Australian government didn't do enough to save Nguyen Tuong Van. Apparently, vigorous demotic expressions like this are forbidden to silvertails like Downer, while much coarser epithets are perfectly okay on the lips of plebeian aspirationals like Mark Latham.