Michael may have been shrunk, but at least he wasn't disappeared, as Glenn Milne's column was from the Australian online last Monday.
Much of the story behind The Australian's abject apology is detailed in a long article in the Weekend Australian.
There's a link to it on our website.
... are ancient, and have been rehashed numerous times by critics of Labor and Gillard over the past 16 years.
The allegations concern Gillard's relationship, while she was a lawyer at Slater and Gordon in the early 90's, with a union official, Bruce Wilson.
At the time Wilson is alleged to have been embezzling large sums of money from the Australian Workers' Union.
But Hannan's article glosses over, or ignores, the role of several players in last week's saga, which we think are interesting.
... the most heavily lawyered article I have ever been involved in writing.
What the lawyers would not allow to be reported was the fact that Gillard shared a home in Fitzroy bought by Wilson using the embezzled funds.
Well, the lawyers wouldn't allow Milne to report that in 2007 because it wasn't true.
That's the understatement of the year so far. And who was responsible for not getting it legalled? The Australian's Opinion editor, Rebecca Weisser, that's who. And she also let through several other glaring errors. For example, Milne claimed Bruce Wilson was convicted of fraud. He was never even charged.
It's amazing that Ms Weisser is still in her job.
On Monday, I'm tipping, a witness with a statutory declaration will come forward and implicate Julia Gillard directly in another scandal involving the misuse of union funds ... I suspect a friend of mine in the media will be authorised to release it first.
That blog post prompted Julia Gillard to call News Ltd boss John Hartigan on Saturday morning.
Gillard apparently believed Bolt's "friend" was Steve Price, as they work together at Melbourne radio station MTR.
So John Hartigan asked the editors of his Sunday and daily tabloids in Sydney and Melbourne whether Bolt or Price were planning to pursue the story.
found that neither journalist nor their mastheads were intending to publish anything on the matters raised by the Prime Minister. John called the Prime Minister and informed her accordingly.
But some time on Saturday, Andrew Bolt posted an UPDATE on his blog which did take the story a lot further. It revealed, for a start, that his 'friend' was not Steve Price.
Michael Smith of 2UE has read out from this statutory declaration, drawn up by Bob Kernohan, the former President of the Australian Workers Union, in August last year.
There is no suggestion at all that Julia Gillard has done anything illegal or condoned any illegality by anyone ... The issues go entirely to her judgment, and, more widely, to a union culture that helps better to explain the Craig Thomson affair.
Andrew Bolt: Kernohan says when Gillard was a Melbourne solicitor she set up bank accounts used by her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson, the AWU branch secretary, to siphon money from employers for himself.
Andrew Bolt: So there's no allegation of misbehaviour by Gillard. The issue is her judgement, and whether Labor can afford more bad publicity of this kind.
Bad publicity? Who's giving the PM bad publicity? Remember, the boss of News Ltd had told the Prime Minister that Andrew Bolt was not planning to pursue the matter.
... she believed Bolt and Milne had worked together to circumvent her understanding with Hartigan and get the allegations back in the public arena.
News Ltd have denied that to Media Watch. But it's certainly true that long extracts from Milne's column immediately appeared on Bolt's blog.
In the circumstances, News Ltd had little option but to cave in to the Prime Minister's demands, take down the column, apologise - and take down Andrew Bolt's posts too.
But Bolt was furious. In his column last Wednesday, he essentially accused his employer of caving in to the threat of a media inquiry.
I have not the slightest doubt that Gillard's suggestions of an inquiry greatly worried News Limited, and influenced its overreaction to the Prime Minister's fury these past days.
Whether Gillard specifically mentioned the threat of an inquiry in her "multiple" calls to News Limited executives I do not know.
The Prime Minister did not make threats to John Hartigan or Chris Mitchell about a media inquiry.
There is no concerted campaign by News Limited against the federal Government in general or against the Prime Minister in particular.
Well, believe that or not as you choose, one thing is sure: the prime mover in reviving the Bruce Wilson affair was not Andrew Bolt, or Glenn Milne. In fact he doesn't work for News Ltd at all.
Michael Smith: Now, Ms Gillard, if this isn't true, if Bob Kernohan's sworn statement is untrue, would you please come on and explain it for us?
"Each and every allegation raised about me is absolutely untrue, there is not a shred of truth in any of it," Ms Gillard said.
These things aren't true I mean absolutely untrue and it gets raised in state Parliament and it gets raised without any notice to me ... but nothing you can do about it except sort of just issue the denials and move on.
Same thing on Wednesday and Thursday. Over the previous weekend, Smith had interviewed Bob Kernohan. Day after day his listeners were promised a bombshell. Day after day, 2UE's lawyers stopped him from airing it. Smith was outraged.
Michael Smith: I think it impugns his integrity to suggest that there is something that he has to say that should not be heard.
... we do not have sufficient evidence at this time to support the interview.
See Michael, that's how defamation law works. However honourable your source, if you make defamatory allegations in this country you have to be able to prove that they're true. It's a tough hurdle, but it's been that way for a very long time.
Late on Thursday, we sent Michael Smith some questions. And there was a dramatic change of tune.
Michael Smith: The story is gonna be told, you know, whether you like it or not it'll come out. It's much bigger than just the Prime Minister, she's really a, she's a bit of a side issue in it.
I just want to help a good bloke who wants to get his union members their money back.
... it's about working men and their money and getting their money back to them. There are peripheral issues including the Prime Minister's involvement in it - that'll come out, that'll all come out in the wash, these things do. But that's not the focus for me.
Peripheral. Not the focus. Well goodness me! What a change of tune! For days, Julia Gillard's role was almost all he could talk about.
Andrew Bolt will be deeply disappointed with this program.
Lately, the issue has become the Prime Minister's attempt to close down some reporting. It is the responsibility of every journalist involved in political commentary to note this.
Laurie Oakes: The question is why it's been dredged up again and the answer to that, I think, is people just are trying to, people who don't like Julia Gillard and want to bring her down are beating it up.
The irony, of course, is that they didn't need to. The High Court has, with its decision this week, raised far more pertinent questions about Julia Gillard's judgment and authority. What happened sixteen years ago has indeed become peripheral.
We've posted some long and interesting responses on our website.
Pay it a visit, and leave your comments. We always read them.