John Laws, the man born with a voice (and a face) for radio, has announced that he will retire from the airwaves in November.

He’s been called a pioneer of talkback radio in Australia, although he’s hardly been a pioneer of free-thinking or open mindedness. The 71 year old relic with the ‘golden tonsils’ is well known for his acidic manner – gay rights activist Gary Burns even tried to take him to court over derogatory comments that he aired in 2004 about Queer Eye’s Carson Kressley. The matter was unfortunately thrown out of court.

Even more nauseating than that miscarriage of justice is the conversation Laws had with John Howard only an hour after Laws announced his resignation. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Johnny called up to congratulate him on the ‘momentous decision’. Their exchange reads like a corny, bodice-ripping love story.

“I know you’ve given a lot of thought to this and the momentous decision – you’ll be very greatly missed,” said Johnny.

“I have to say that out of all of [the Prime Ministers I have interviewed] you have been one of the most enjoyable and certainly one of the trickiest,” replied Laws. “You’ve got a wonderful brain. When I ask you questions that you don’t want to answer you have the cleverest side-step.”

“You bowl a pretty deceptive inswinger too.”

“We’ve had many interviews, some of them lively, some of them not so lively, some of them harmonious, some of them not so harmonious. But that is exactly how it ought to be.”

Not to be outdone, Kevin Rudd also called to be part of the ‘love in’.

Could 2007 be the year when Australia swept the cobwebs out of its corners and gave things a good shake and an airing? The talking Brillo pad is packing up, Alan Jones has left his morning slot on Channel Nine’s Today program and if all goes well, John Howard might be out the door by the end of the year as well.

The country waits with fingers firmly crossed.