It's hard to see the latest furore bringing down Pat O'Shane. She's faced complaints about her judgements before and survived them all. Here's a quick history of her greatest spits.

It's safe to assume left-wing legal eagles Michael Lavarch and Larissa Behrendt wouldn't have made it onto Andrew Bolt's Christmas card list.

No-one is more despised by Melbourne's property tycoons than Bill Oliver. In Victoria's $25 billion construction game, the stubbled Scotsman can shut down rogue building sites in a flash and, builders say, hold their projects to ransom.

Constitutional reform is in the headlines again. This time it's not the Republic, but how to recognise Indigenous Australians in our founding document.

There's one thing clear about Julia Gillard's cabinet reshuffle yesterday: Robert McClelland really, really didn't want to have to hand over his Attorney-General portfolio. But unfortunately for the low-key minister, his greatest achievements in the role didn't carry enough zest.

Everybody loves a bit of schadenfreude, so here we present seven of the most memorable power fails of 2011. Think names like Thomson, Forrest and Overland.

The past year has provided a smorgasbord of power snatching opportunities for those looking to increase their influence. Here we present eight of our favourite 2011 power grabs.

Not long ago ACCC Chairman Rod Sims was talking up how he planned to further strengthen the powers of the competition watchdog. Following yesterday's Metcash decision, he's instead now working on how to ensure it has a say at all in mergers it deems uncompetitive in the future.

Not long ago, former Tasmanian MP Terry Martin was a respected man who couldn't put a foot wrong in the eyes of his electorate. Now he's been found guilty of having sex with a 12-year-old girl and producing child exploitation material.