The Outsider will be casting a gimlet eye over the federal election campaign. Every weekday, check back here for out unique take on the federal circus.

Calm and measured

The 24-hour news cycle means that mainstream media outlets will need to fill endless hours with election content – even when there isn’t any policy meat on the bone.

As the old newspapers get more and more desperate for readers, expect more gambits like today’s Daily Telegraph front page with its headline screamer: “Finally you now have the chance to…. KICK THIS MOB OUT”.

Traditionally, newspapers wait until the final day of an election campaign to make their pompous editorial judgement about who to vote for – the Tele, in an ostentatious “look at moi” moment, has turned this convention inside out.

Hilariously, they justify their decision in this way: “It is traditional for newspapers to deliver their verdict on the eve of the election, but we would like to offer our judgment in a calm and measured way now, unaffected by the relentless spin and sloganeering which is about to cloud the coming campaign.”

Calm and measured? Mmmm.

The good thing is that there is now no real point in reading the Sydney tabloid for the rest of the campaign – you can safely predict the content before they publish.

The Tele, however, might have overestimated their readers’ interest in politics.

The most popular two stories on their website this morning have the following headlines: “Nurse fired for sex with jail teen” and “TV host: they’re just boobs”.

Referendum death knell

The referendum on local government recognition in the Constitution won’t go ahead as part of the campaign because time constraints won’t allow it.

This means the referendum is effectively dead for the foreseeable future.

The reason? Running a referendum as a stand-alone event is incredibly costly – only marginally cheaper than running a full federal election process.

The Electoral Commission confirmed in a briefing to Adelaide journalists a few weeks ago that the full election costs it about $113 million, and that a stand-alone referendum would cost about the same.

Labor would be very brave to spring that bill on the public, simply because its politically preferred election date was earlier.

Spin Doctor Who

On day one of the election campaign – and on the auspicious day when the new Doctor Who has been announced – it seemed appropriate to revisit the greatest hits of Malcolm Tucker.

Tucker is the vile fictional spin doctor at the centre of the British political comedy “The Thick of It”, portrayed by the new Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi.

Warning: the language is more than fruity (and the shaky camera work might make you motion sick).

WATCH: The best of Malcolm Tucker