The Herald appears to be obsessed with the fact that the Attorney-General is seeking almost $14,000 in costs from Bradley Ambrose, the journalist who made an unauthorised recording of John Key and John Banks during the private part (i.e. the part where all the journos were firmly asked to leave) of their otherwise public meeting. The [...]

I see Melissa Lee has been cleared of any wrongdoing concerning NZ on air funding and in the making of election videos. So much for Labour’s usual ploy of smearing candidates rather than addressing the issues. While I do not expect Phil Goff or Trevor Mallard to apologise for any of their unfounded accusations in [...]

Some strange headlines from Sunday papers: Masters of the blooming obvious Tax cuts will help economy – Govt.  (Nah, really?) NZ power consumption tumbles during Earth Hour. (No shit, Sherlock) Masters of the misleading Man charged over driveway stabbing.   But why was he stabbing a driveway? (I think they mean “stabbing in driveway” , [...]

The controversy about MidCentral Health gagging it’s doctors continues. Another doctor has confirmed that the DHB has warned them not to speak to the media about it’s ailing oncology service. MidCentral denies this. I believe the doctors. It is my experience that DHBs do not like their bad news paraded about in the media. In [...]

Lee at Monkeyswithtypewriter quotes a lengthy passage from Gwynne Dyer on the Gaza conflict a few days ago. Dyer is talking about the poor outcomes of the conflict and postulates at one point that Israel may have been enticed by the prospect of a high 70:1 “kill” ratio. Military commanders seem quite (understandably) enthused by [...]

I am no great supporter of George W. Bush. I think, in general, he has been a man of good heart but bad friends. Bob Geldorff reports that Bush has done more for Africa than any other president before him, saving perhaps 2 million lives. However, his advisers, operating mostly from ideology rather than common [...]