'Here's Daddy's mate John!'... says a certain 5 year old boy!

PA150007.JPG, originally uploaded by Pennie David.

'Who's this?' he asks after opening 'Daddy's Mate', 'That's Paul.' I tell him, 'Who's this one?' 'That's Bob, then Malcolm and Gough.' 'Mmmmm...' says the boy, then repeats their names as he packs my John Howard Babushka away! I am not surprised that Jackson knows John Howard but I am surprised he recognized this Babuska!!
The Explanation... I know you're dying for one!!
When Tim became an Australian Citizen on Australia Day in 2002, John Howard and Philip Ruddock were the Government Representatives so when Tim had to get an Australian Citizen to witness his papers for him he asked John, who very happily obliged, a queue formed of course but Howard's minders shuffled them off and him off to the next Australia Day Ceremony. So the family joke is that John Howard... (I almost did JH?? ooooohhh spooky that's Jackson's initials!!!!! ) ... is referred to as Tim's Mate!!
This is not a political statement, the voting preferences in this family are a mixture to say the least... lets just call us a bunch of Swingers!