In the film adaptation, Barry describes I Just Called To Say I Love You as ''sentimental tacky crap''.

''Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s and '90s? Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticise a formerly great artist for his latter-day sins? Is it better to burn out or fade away?'' Barry says.

The same question can be asked about former Australian prime ministers. Should they stay in the wings or make guest appearances on stage? Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating are in the band. The newest member is John Winston Howard the second longest serving prime minister who lost the election and his seat last year.

In Parliament House's Great Hall this week, the Canberra Liberals hosted a soire{aac}e for Howard, who returned to the spotlight.

Arthur Sinodinos who served as Howard's chief of staff and closest adviser for a decade listed the top three words to describe his former boss.

1. Courage. 2. Resilience. 3. Decency.

''This is a very decent individual in what is a very indecent trade. Look, he's not Mother Theresa in a suit. He has strengths and he has weaknesses,'' Sinodinos said.

''But for a top level politician who has to deal with the temptations and the stresses and strains of political life remarkably well behaved and decent towards other people.''

The Canberra Liberals nominated the top five Howard hits. 1. The GST. 2. Gun control. 3. Increased immigration. 4. Industrial relations reform. 5. Support for the national capital through projects such as the National Museum of Australia and National Portrait Gallery.

Howard made two additions to his retrospective album increasing spending on defence and taking on the ''cultural dietitians''.

''We endeavoured in our 12 years to ... maintain a sense of national self-belief. One of things that really bothered me in the middle 1990s was that we seemed to be having a perpetual seminar about our national identity,'' Howard said.

''You'd have these cultural dietitians coming along saying, 'You've got to do this and you've got to do that'.''

The Liberal Party is in the political doldrums and has a vacancy for a statesman.

Labor has Whitlam, who recently celebrated his 92nd birthday and is still composing ideas for political reform.

''The biggest single obstacle against sound policy and good decisions is that Australia has become stuck in permanent electioneering mode,'' Whitlam said.

Fraser a former Liberal prime minister has been an outspoken critic of the Howard government's policies.

Comrades and foes are fair game for Keating who will soon launch the book Unfinished Business: Paul Keating's Interrupted Revolution.

Last year, the former Labor prime minister launched a scathing attack on the team behind Kevin Rudd's election campaign.

His predecessor Hawke, 78, hit the hustings to help Rudd.

Keating and Hawke were involved in one of the top five political break-ups in this country.

But just like Paul McCartney and John Lennon from The Beatles, the pair has buried the hatchet after their bitter split in 1991.

''Obviously, when Paul challenged me and finally won, we weren't bosom buddies,'' Hawke said this week on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton.

''We didn't get into lengthy social intercourse for some time but we're friends now and he's coming to dinner shortly.''

More than 20 years after pledging that no Australian child would live in poverty, Hawke was concerned about food shortages, global warming and ''massive'' population growth as well as poverty.

''I do despair when I see the prioritisation of issues presented by the media. I just literally cringe whenever I see the name Paris Hilton. Who wants to know about what bloody Paris Hilton is doing when you've got half of the world living in, you know poverty?'' Hawke said.

Howard was also reflective, saying it was a difficult, unpopular and right decision to send Australian troops to Iraq.

He criticised ''silly people'' who wanted to reverse his change to unfair dismissal laws and took a swipe at the Rudd Government.

''I look back over our 12 years and every major decision we took with the exception of uniform gun laws ... was opposed by the Australian Labor Party,'' Howard said.

''Yet they now have the gall to convey upon the Opposition that they instantaneously fall into line with every announcement they make on the political challenges of today.''

He unofficially auditioned for band manager, urging the Liberals to use their time in opposition to be ''creative and productive''.

''That doesn't mean that now that we are in opposition, we must be a slave to every single position that the former government had,'' Howard said.

With the ACT election looming, Howard attempted to rally the party faithful.

''We are out office federally and we are out of office in every state and in the two territories,'' he said.

''We've not been in that situation before. It might be easy to get a little depressed, to think what's gone wrong and to lapse into a bit of wrist slashing. The other thing of course you can do is to keep it all in perspective.''

Ex-prime ministers should play a part in shaping debate, proposing policy and strengthening their parties. They have held the highest political office in this country and developed a unique set of skills. Opening envelopes and posing for photographs is hardly a stretch.

With time, Howard is likely to be more comfortable in the statesman role after he recovers from the resounding election defeat. The Canberra Liberals were clearly eager to embrace Howard and his legacy.

In High Fidelity, Barry eventually delivers his verdict on Stevie Wonder's legacy when a middle-aged man walks into Championship Vinyl. He wants to buy I Just Called To Say I Love You a birthday present for his daughter.

Barry: Yeah we have it.

Customer: Great great well, can I have it? Barry: No, you can't.

Customer: Why not?

Barry: Because it's sentimental tacky crap that's why. Do we look like a store that sells I Just Called to Say I Love You? Go to the mall.

Customer: What's your problem?

Barry: Do you even know your daughter? There's no way she likes that song. Oh oh oh wait. Is she in a coma?