On your bike...former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson. OH NO, MR McGURK NSW's Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos, is a well-known law and order hard-liner, but it appears that the former barrister is not enjoying the experience of his own government being under scrutiny over the Michael McGurk affair. Quizzed at a budget estimates hearing by a Liberal MLC, Marie Ficarra, about whether he had ever met McGurk, the state's first law officer bridled. ''These are becoming like McCarthyist inquisitions,'' Hatzistergos fumed. ''Have you ever breathed the same air [as McGurk]? … I've never dined, wined, anything with Mr McGurk, unless it was completely coincidental and if it was I wouldn't recall.'' MOLLY FOLLIES A mighty tug-of-war is shaping up between Foxtel CEO Brian Walsh and resurrected variety show host Daryl Somers over who has the rights to Ian ''Molly'' Meldrum. ''Not happy Daryl'' was the response from Foxtel yesterday to a press release from Channel Nine trumpeting the appearance of the man in the Akubra on its upcoming Hey Hey It's Saturday reunion special. Last week Meldrum received the blessing of Seven's boss David Leckie to appear on the show but apparently forgot to get the all clear from his other bosses at the pay TV network - where he has enjoyed a lucrative arrangement for the past 14 years. ''It is still under consideration,'' a Foxtel spokesman said yesterday of the Hey Hey appearance. ''But nothing has been confirmed.'' With a new Foxtel contract in negotiation, Meldrum's manager, Mark Klemens, was also quick to label Nine's statement as ''premature''. ''At the moment he hasn't signed any agreement. He still has to get the nod from Foxtel,'' Klemens said. Which was all news to Nine and Somers. ''I can assure you that Molly is over the line,'' Somers said yesterday. ''I even spoke to him over the weekend where he is in London filming a segment for us.'' Foxtel's response: ''Perhaps a conference call to London with Daryl, Molly and his manager is in order.''

SOUP DU REES Elsewhere in estimates, Nathan Rees, was being grilled about the really big issues. The Premier's office was the subject of a report in the The Daily Telegraph earlier this year, which revealed that the office regularly shopped for its groceries, used to feed guests, at the David Jones food hall. Yesterday, Rees was quizzed about his office's expenditure now that he had begun sourcing groceries from less glamorous establishments. His answer revealed that under Bob Carr the average annual cost of food was $61,000, under Morris Iemma it was $37,000 and only $8500 under Rees. ''It's a soup kitchen,'' quipped Liberal MLC Mike Gallacher. ''It's very good soup,'' said Rees. GOT A TIP?Contact diary@smh.com.au or 9282 2179 STAY IN TOUCH WITH RADIO RATINGS

LISTENERS to 2DayFM tuned their radios elsewhere in droves after the Kyle and Jackie O Breakfast Show lie-detector stunt. Nielsen radio ratings out yesterday found that the scandal-plagued program's audience share fell from 12 per cent to 9.8 per cent. The Austereo network is still the Sydney FM market leader, but the ratings will come as a blow, with 2DayFM also hurting in other timeslots. The station's share of the audience from 5.30am to midnight fell from 10.7 per cent to 8.9 per cent, the biggest drop of any Sydney station. The worst hit was the Hamish & Andy drivetime slot, which fell from a share of 17.2 per cent to 14.2 per cent. The last ratings period, from June 28 to September 5, covered the now infamous lie-detector incident when a 14-year-old girl was quizzed live on air about her sexual experiences, leading her to reveal she had been raped two years earlier.

Following a public outcry, media backlash and pressure from advertisers, the show was taken off air for three weeks. Kyle Sandilands also lost his gig on the Australian Idol judging panel. This month Sandilands was in hot water again after comments about Magda Szubanski losing weight in a concentration camp. Sandilands, who was broadcasting from Los Angeles at the time, was last week suspended from the network, with the Australian Idol host Andrew G and Danni Minogue co-hosting this week with Jackie O'Neil Henderson. Yesterday 2DayFM's general manager, Adam Lang, downplayed the ratings dive. ''We are not disappointed, we are actually really proud … we are still the No. 1 FM station,'' he said.

Lang would not confirm when Sandilands will return from Los Angeles to discuss his future with Austereo bosses, but said sacking the shock jock was not ''a consideration at this stage''. 2GB maintained its position as the No. 1 Sydney station with a 13.1 per cent audience share- down from 13.8 per cent in the last survey due in part to the absence of its breakfast host Alan Jones- followed by the ABC's 702 with 9.8 per cent and 2DayFM running third. The ABC's Triple J made some of the biggest gains in listeners, rising 4.6 percentage points in the 18-24 demographic and 1.2 points overall to 5.2 per cent. WITH DREAM PRIZE WINNERS TWO Sydney filmmakers were among the five winners yesterday of the British Council's 2009 Realise Your Dream awards. Sascha Ettinger-Epstein from Double Bay, who won an AFI award in 2003 for best direction in a documentary, and Mark Robinson, a budding feature maker from Potts Point, won flights to Britain to meet mentors in their chosen fields and $8000 in spending money. Other winners included Lally Katz, a playwright from Victoria. The Sydney Theatre Company's artistic directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton made brief appearances last night for the presentation of the awards, which are open to candidates in creative fields including visual arts, fashion, design and music.

WITH OBAMA'S 'JACKASS' BARACK OBAMA has joined those criticising the rapper Kanye West - but not on the record. The US President was asked in an off-the-record portion of an interview what he thought of West - who interrupted teen sweetheart Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for best music video at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday to say he thought singer Beyonce's video was better. Obama responded that he thought West was a ''jackass''. A reporter with the US ABC network overheard the response and posted it on Twitter, only to receive a swift reprimand from the White House for breaking one of the cardinal rules of journalism and also, no doubt, from his ABC bosses, who were forced to issue a statement apologising for the tweet.