The wholesale slaughter of thousands of pigs has predictably drawn the protests of animal welfare and rights groups.

From the moment he had become opposition leader following the defeat of Lindsay Thompson's government in 1982, Jeff Kennett had been viewed as a political larrikin.

Lonely her fate was, / Environed from sight / In the house where the gate was / Past finding at night.

Lord Gifford, deep beneath the ground, / Heard Alexander's bugle sound, / And tarried not his garb to change, / But, in his wizard habit strange, / Came forth, a quaint and fearful sight; …