I’ve long harboured what’s now an unfashionable affection for the politician, diarist and columnist formally known as The Real Mark Latham. His frustration with the way identity politics has subsumed what passes for political discourse in Australia and his rancour that class is a subject almost entirely absent from mainstream commentary are important issues that are largely ignored by the mainstream media. The irony is that he tries to make this point by attacking individuals – that’s to say, engaging in the very identity politics he says he distains. Similarly, he’s long been an advocate for the kind of neoliberalism that has ensured class has become a dirty word while, at the same time, exacerbating the gulf between the richest and poorest members of society.