CANBERRA (Rooters agency) – The new Australian Prime Minister has decided to change his name.
Responding in Parliament last week to charges by the Opposition that there had been “no change in substance” in the Government’s policies since its change of leaders a month ago, the PM said, “Substance is for losers. Style is what matters.”
He then underlined his answer by announcing that henceforth his name would be Malcolm Knott-Abbott. This produced only a slight rise in his approval rating in opinion polls, probably because most Australians already thought of him in that way.
The idea of changing a leader’s name did not, of course, originate in Australia. The most recent instance internationally occurred in the United States in 2008, when the newly named Barack Knott-Bush was elected President.
News From Somewhere 