How Is Webdiary Doing?

Since Margo fled Fairfax in typical self righteous fashion and set up her own hilarious pantomine, many speculated that the old SMH blog was doomed without its nutty drawcard. Fairfax duly installed the ambitiously titled "Contrarian" who, far from being contrary, picked up the fiddle and started playing exactly the same tune as Margo. What a surprise! For example, check out the blog's blurb:

Consensus, bipartisanship, unity. . . Spare us! The essence of democracy is debate, sometimes the angrier the better. The Contrarian will dissect politics, lies and the abuse of power. And we will shatter the cosy consensus among our leaders.

Ridiculously overambitious aims, references to "real democracy", impotent iconoclastic waffle. Sound familiar? This non-contrarian's name is Andrew West, and SMH Webdiary MkII was widely touted to flop. Not so. He hasn't been in the saddle that long, and he's already whacking up posts at several times the speed of Queen Webdiary. He's also getting a surprising number of comments. Honeymoon or here to stay? As the weird photoshopped banner on Margok's site says - Focus on Fairfax! The Young Turk is nipping at Webdiary's heels!