Good news! Claire Fenwicke is back, meaning Murtagh's evil reign has come to an end.

And just in the nick of time.

This week, the owl's talk about where to next for voluntary assisted dying now that it's been passed, which inevitably brings us to slippery slopes. And all was going well until Murtagh decided to mention Zed (you remember him?)

Murtagh's argument is basically that if you think a law is immoral, as Zed and Kevin Andrews did when VAD was first proposed in the territories, then it's your duty to stop it. That's what you'd do, right? And don't we want politicians to do what they think is right, not expedient or in their self-interest?

Maybe, but Murtagh knows he is - again - in the minority and won't be winning many (or any) friends in the Territory, although Edmund Burke might be smiling.

Then attention is turned to the gold-plated speechwriter in the office of Bill Shorten. Once you get past the astronomical salary ($310,000 a year, thank you very much), does it give clues to the problem the government will have in its efforts to cut contractor costs? If it has to pay more than double APS rates to get a pen for hire, how are they going to get IT specialists?

And finally ... we go to Kambah! The biggest suburb in the southern hemisphere (if you don't count the bigger ones).

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You've heard about CSIRO's analysis of nuclear power, right?

And you remember when the ACT Government told you how great the next stages of light rail would be (although not the cost ... which is odd ... but we digress).

And you saw the Treasurer deliver the Budget (gee, you really are a sucker for punishment, aren't you!)

How reliable are the figures and their 'analysis'?

Do you really trust them?

Is CSIRO right when it says a nuclear reactor would cost $8.6 billion? No. They're wrong. Nothing against CSIRO, but predictions are hard - especially about the future! (It'll be waaaaay more than 8.6 - you can take that to the bank.)

Remember, Snowy 2.0 was meant to cost $2 billion and could now be edging to (if not over) $13 billion. And it's about four years late.

The truth is, they have no idea. No one does. Yet we place all our faith and make decisions based on what they swear is their reliable crystal ball.

This week on The Hoot, Murtagh takes the reins and tackles the 'experts'. What could possibly go wrong?

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This week on The Hoot, David Murtagh and Claire Fenwicke delve deep into Jack's Law, a move by the Canberra Liberals to combat knife crime. Hard to disagree with, right?

But there's a problem.

The law would allow police to use metal detection wands on people "without reasonable suspicion in designated areas". And that's where it gets complicated because it could result in profiling some marginal groups and increase police interactions. Where do you land on this issue?

When it comes to supermarkets, of course, we're all profiled as thieves, if the new checkout regimen is anything to go by. But shouldn't there be a payoff for the customer if we're going to be put through the humiliation of suspicion? We have an idea.

And finally, THAT painting. Everyone's got an opinion and it seems Gina doesn't have a lot of fans. Except Murtagh. Because someone should stick up for the (multi)billionaires. And in a no-way-related matter, sponsorship slots for The Hoot are available ...

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