silly shirts and rumpelstiltskin, page-35

Probably only one element deserves an apology.
I misunderstood your post. I understood you to suggest that Tim wore a silly shirt ... quite easy to do given the way you wrote the piece. I wanted to see a photo of him in a silly shirt ... but your post can be read two ways.

Tim ("Mr. Gillard") lined up alongside Julia in the stock in trade "silly shirt" offical event photo, which is de rigeur for these international talk fests for leaders, I found galling. Surely others do too!
Never saw Jeannette Howard in a silly batik or other ethnic print shirt standing alongside Howard in similar official leader's photos!

Politics may be of no consequence to some;

Well, politics is important to me but ear lobes and shirts and accents and 1940's cultural attitudes are not.

And your pretence that you understand international protocol while all of Julia's advisers do not is absurd and smacks of delusionalism.