For many years, I was a big, big fan of the musician born Declan Patrick MacManus. Every album he released would be a big event in my little world. Eventually, however, familiarity and a string of duff platters ended our relationship. He'll never be a stranger to me, though. I still love his early long players, especially those recorded with his backing band, The Attractions; This Year's Model and Get Happy!! being the twin zeniths of the period. So, when I saw in a Google news alert the headline 'Costello defends tax record', my mind immediately went to the Englishman named Elvis. Had he been reduced to making music simply to pay off a hefty tax bill, I wondered. At least, I thought, if he ended under the thumb of the taxman he'd be in the good company of country and western master Willie Nelson. Imagine my relief, then, when I visited the full online story to discover it was about former Australian government treasurer Peter Costello getting all defensive about his career. I couldn't give monkey's about him. He didn't write Pump it Up.