But, boy, he can write. His columns are original and lively, thought provoking and unpredictable. He offends every sacred cow and politically correct shibboleth, from left-wing feminism to AFL’s boo-patrol. He dubs himself the “Outsider” and, amid the spittle, tackles important subjects from the viewpoint of a suburban Australian dad, whose voice is increasingly marginalised. Well he used to, until the Australian Financial Review sacked him this week for being too offensive. After a year of complaints from twitter’s fem-activists, the AFR finally succumbed to advertiser pressure. Westpac, co-sponsors of the 100 Women of Influence Awards, declared it would not tolerate his “anti-women remarks”. How pathetic. Since when does Westpac make editorial decisions at Fairfax? So much for editorial independence. Hah! I hated Latham’s more hurtful jibes, and especially his twitter rants against Cate McGregor. But Fairfax columnist Clementine Ford has called me a “f**ing c**t” on twitter and she still has a job. Convicted criminal and terrorist sympathiser Zaky Mallah can incite gang rape and threaten the safety of female journalists and he is feted by the ABC and SBS. Musician Tim Minchin can write a song saying “f*ck the motherf*cker Pope” and he is lauded on ABC’s 7.30 program. Latham’s crime is that he offended twitter’s frightbat set. So it’s fine to call him “a festering, sweaty, pus-filled boil that was sitting on the a*** end of the Australian media landscape,” as news.com.au did this week. But he’s the one who is beyond the pale. Hypocrites.