I wish I could do it well.
Half of that paragraph could probably go as it is.

I’d already read somewhere else that the distinctiveness of Australian English pronunciation was set not so much by the mix of English, Irish and Scottish immigrants (convicts and their guards and administrators) in the first wave, but by their children developing their own common form. Twitter, or whichever “ambient intimacy” tool(s) become standard, will be no different.

And as an aside, I reckon these forms will continue to use the 140-character limit as a common base, even when they move into technologies which won’t require that limit, for the same reason that the standard railway gauge of 4 feet 8.5 inches is (roughly) what it is due to the physical constraints of horse-drawn vehicles even though horses are no longer involved.

Some of us are better than others at both creating and reading those emotional signals, of course. Rudd’s background is similar to mine — grew up on a dairy farm and learned the value of hard work, lost his father before adolescence — and so he’ll similarly feel the need to be “in control” of the outward expression of his emotions. Nevertheless, they will emerge.

Of course if the spin doctors take over and try to ensure that every little tweet is “on message”, the recipients will soon tired of the artificiality and attention will move on.

Perhaps the same people who are advising Kev on his social media interaction are advising conroy?

Howard devalued and usurped “mateship” to the point where I gagged everytime he memtioned it, Kevin will do thesame with social media. He’s no more interested in engaging with the Austalian public than Howard was sincere about mateship.