Pundit

I've been sick the past week, so I hope you'll forgive the tardy response. But Brian Edwards, the man who not so long ago declared he would stop blogging, wrote a blog last week about Shane Taurima and his decision to put himself forward for the Labour candidacy in the Rawhiti-Ikaroa by-election. It got under my skin, not least for the observations quoted by other 'media commentators'.

After two and a half years, the Serious Fraud Office wound up its extensive investigation into Hanover Finance yesterday, deciding they would not lay criminal charges against those leading the finance company. The company's owners, in what's become typical bad taste, couldn't wait to gloat at the outcome.

Now for something completely different – a blog about the Falkland Islands.

When global events happen, some in our media hit the cultural cringe button and head out to find the New Zealand angle. We can’t just be citizens of the world.

You would have thought Fonterra might have sharpened their crisis management after the tainted milk scandal in 2007, which illustrated the extreme sensitivity around the integrity of their products. Instead, Fonterra have made a ham-fisted mess of the DCD issue.

My favourite book as a child was a Berenstain bears book called ‘The Bear Scouts’. Daddy bear is a feckless outdoor guide who thinks he knows best. But the little bear scouts who follow the guide book know better.

Last month, business force-for-good Pure Advantage launched their latest Green Race paper. “A race has begun, and we are in it,” they said, and they showed a short film.

Each time I go walking near my home I pass an old war memorial inscribed with the words "magna est veritas, et praevalebit": Truth is great, and will prevail. The words date from 1917, in the middle of the First World War, and were obviously attempting to reassure the locals that their sons and brothers were dying in a noble cause.

Three years ago this month, the Nobel committee awarded its vaunted Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama. While many dubious names appear on the prize’s long list of winners, this decision was met with near-universal approval at the time.

Yesterday I was arrested on a protest action for the first time since before I was elected to Parliament in 1999. It’s been a while.

Those who make us laugh have a gift. I don't mean just the talent for conquering their nerves and walking out on stage at some comedy festival to crack jokes and draw a polite - or genuine - ha ha from the audience.

About a week ago I did an interview for Nine to Noon about the state of the National Government’s privatisation programme in which I stated the obvious; that it was in serious trouble.

Whether we like it or not, we judge a person according to their appearance and what they're wearing, in terms of making snap decisions about what their occupation might be, where they might fit in society, or what sort of person they may be in relation to us.

So Ewen Macdonald is found not guilty. That will surprise a lot of punters, I suspect, but not a lot of lawyers or journalists. Early confidence in a guilty verdict has ebbed throughout the case as the evidence has looked weak and Greg King's attacks strong. And within an hour of the verdict, the mood is turning.

Has ever so much time and money been spent on gaining so little clarity? Even with Tame Iti and Te Rangikaiwhiria Kemara now behind bars, no-one seems to be able to say what was going on at the Urewera training camps and who was at risk.

Kim Dotcom recently spent a month on remand in Mt Eden prison after the police agreed to act on behalf of US authorities. The police took away his cars and froze his bank accounts.

Good grief. Piri Weepu is shown bottle-feeding his six-month-old daughter Taylor on an anti-smoking ad, and somehow this image of nurturing and positive fathering is construed as an attack on breastfeeding. As my nearly-three-year-old would say, "What?!"

So the first stage of the Pike River Royal Commission has wrapped up in Greymouth today, and what a difference a few months has made for Pike River Coal CEO Peter Whittal.

Phil Taylor at the Herald yesterday revealed Mark Hotchin's half million dollar losses in a 2002 get-rich-quick scam, a fact the courts chose to keep from the public.

Justice Clifford's judgment in favour of Hells Angel member Philip Schubert, who sought judicial review overturning Wanganui City Council's bylaw banning gang insignia in public places, is a small blow for freedom of association and expression.

All I wanted was an apple, when I woke the other night. I craved its crunch and could taste its juice; had Eve held it in front of me — cruel trick — I would have snatched and devoured it. But not a supermarket apple.

A few weeks ago, the Sunday Star-Times ran a front-page story about a fairly routine case in which a High Court judge varied the sentence of a woman convicted for drink driving, quashing her disqualification and instead tripling the amount of community service she must per

So, the Pork Industry Board decides the Official Information Act kind of sucks.

It's been a quiet controversy, but last week's decision by Commerce Minister Simon Power that software should not be patented - at least not unless it's "embedded" (ie, software built into a device) - was

Sometimes I find it in books, sometimes in the garden; always, I find it by chance.

The story goes like this: Following publication of the 4th Assessment Report in February 2007 and the completion of the Special Report on Renewable Energy, the member countries of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agreed in April 2008 to undertake a 5th Assessment Report (AR5). It's intended to be released in February 2011 after the final review process has been completed.

Five kilometers west of Martinborough, I’m sitting in my car, looking across the valley at Nga Waka o Kupe — Kupe’s Canoes.

Our son thinks he is a dog. It stands to reason--his best friend is a Jack Russell-mini schnauzer cross named Scout who has lived with us for two years. Our son is only 14 months old, so as far as he is concerned Scout is part of what it means to be home. He is a tail to pull and a beard to tug and very often a source of fulsome baby giggles.

Ostrich — sorry, Pork — Industry Board stalwarts have buried their heads in the sand, threatening legal action against higher animal welfare standards. Meanwhile, the market shops elsewhere, where the chickens and piggies roam free.

I January 30, 2010
The road to Pahaoa is for dawdling on. There is no traffic, and no hurry.

The road to Pahaoa melts and gasps in the sun. Anyone foolish enough to walk upon it will ruin their shoes. I am, and I do. After that, I drive barefoot.

As has been well reported recently by the media, several errors have emerged from the IPCC 4th Assessment Report (AR4) published in 2007.

Our little house in the hood is on the market. It smells like orange zest and window cleaner, and I don't see how it could look any cuter—it is a plastic red Monopoly house brought to life, squatting on a prominent corner, palm trees and agaves gathered round it like disciples.

All we can do now is wait for those cashed-up buyers we were promised to come rushing through the doors.

I’m living in a Victorian house of ill repute. Well-buttoned whaleboned Victorian energies were channelled into breeding some very sexy roses – wanton voluptuous fragrant old roses, that lean unbuttoned and bawdy on walls, tumble into hedges, and grope at passers by.

Congratulations to new member Peter Martin, winner of the Pundit First Birthday wine draw. A bottle of fine French Madiran wine is in the post.

Wielding the pumice stone, scrubbing my grubby carbon feet clean, I fretted over this dilemma: is it possible to live both “normally” and sustainably, when life as we know it is inherently unsustainable?

My, but Barry Colman has put a cat amongst the online pigeons. The owner of the National Business Review has decided to charge a subscription fee for "the best news stories, scoops and commentary" on the paper's website – roughly 20 percent of NBR's online content. In doing so he took a swipe at bloggers, many of whom have bridled at his criticism. Thing is, Colman has a point.

I have a perennial problem. It’s called July. I ride the train in the dark, and watch myself disappear. I count the days until August. They are too short, and too long. I want to blanket myself in earth and leaves, and hibernate for a month or two. My garden lies fallow.

Last Thursday the Privy Council dismissed John Barlow’s appeal. It held that the case against him was overwhelming, and the Board felt sure of his guilt. The case marks a change in the law governing criminal appeals.

Here's one for the ethicists to get their teeth into. Should New Zealand Olympians be chosen purely on their sporting excellence or is poor off-field behaviour worthy of a veto?

There is no doubt about what is the greatest casualty of the just released Ministerial Review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.

Business commentator Bernad Hickey and I share the same low opinion of the impact the baby boomer generation is having on the politics of our great country.

While the David Bain trial was still running, I tried my best to avoid getting captured in its myriad of details. I feared it would be the legal equivalent of Uncle Remus' tar baby, with the slightest contact inexorably trapping me as surely as Brer Rabbit.

There's a reason why so many movies and TV shows are set in the criminal courtroom. Trials not only revolve around the seamiest, hence most enthralling, of human activities (sex, violence, deceit and greed), but they operate in a neatly packaged format involving clear and predictable procedures. The prosecution has its say. The defence has its rebuttal.

I read the other day that Britney Spears is close to realising her life’s ambition—becoming a stay-at-home mum. According to NW magazine, which I adore in all its trashtastic glory, she will soon marry her manager Jason Trawick and give up the career to keep house.

Showing that his political judgment hasn't gone completely to the dogs, John Key last week announced that the government is willing to pay some or all of the cost required to preserve Sir Edmund Hillary's family home in Remuera, Auckland.

I went to the mall yesterday. That's what new mums do. We go to the mall and test drive our new prams, simultaneously getting a bit of postnatal exercise and reacquainting ourselves with the world outside our front doors.

Sandra Dickson has lost her faith in journalism.

UPDATE: Remuera Heritage wants Hillary home to be bought by government.

Charles Darwin, founder of the theory of evolution, was born 200 years ago today. Events around the world this year celebrate not only the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth but 150 years since the publication of his seminal work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

The opponents of genetically engineered foods are celebrating a victory today.

A long weekend is a good time to get some newsprint on your fingers, but having read comments by a couple of our supposed leaders in the past 72 hours, I'm wishing I went fishing instead.

This is a magical time. Really. I have to keep reminding myself, because my legs ache and my stomach is stretched as tight as a bongo drum and I can't sleep through the night anymore. But I am lucky to be seven-and-a-half months pregnant in the height of summer. I am lucky.

It seems that we can't get away from stories of accountability this year. Globally, the war in Gaza raised again questions once more about where the blame should lie for the continuing misery in the Middle East. In the Pacific, regional leaders have been trying to decide how to hold Fiji's coup leaders to account for their failure to hold democratic elections.

Living as I do in rural rustication in the Horowhenua, this time of year is a particular delight. Everywhere the eye glances crops are ripening. Seasonal foods abound and, best of all, my own garden produces a small harvest of edible produce. But this is no time to dally along the verges of the vege beds.

It's showtime... Dog shows, that is.

The largest party on earth is over, and what a party it was.

I was out at the Artisan vineyard in west Auckland yesterday to watch the latest episode of Media7 being shot, and on the back of the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire One News' Paul Patrick and TV3's Angus Gillies were discussing coverage of the war in Gaza.

Although he has not received widespread public recognition, either in Britain or his native New Zealand, Sir Keith Rodney Park has a claim to be one of the greatest commanders in the history of aerial warfare.

I'm old enough to remember childhood games that were often based around war. Whether we were Allied soldiers against the Nazis, cowboys bringing down Indians or humans fending off alien hordes, there was always a clear distinction between goodies and baddies.

We just moved to a "transitional" neighbourhood, one of those affordable patches of Auckland that is on the up, but slowly enough that most capital gains-focused home buyers can't be bothered waiting for gentrification to happen.

Goodness, aren't we all in a flummox over Noelle McCarthy's plagiarism? Interesting that what would seem like a fairly cut-and-dried example of professional theft would elicit such varying views. And that so much debate would centre on issues which are not about journalistic ethics at all.

On November 26, a coordinated group of gunmen terrorized the city of Mumbai, the financial capital of India, attacking prestigious hotels and other popular destinations in the city.

When the murderers of Nia Glassie were sentenced last month, there was a lot of talk about shame.

One of the toughest aspects of being a columnist-for-hire is having to be ready by deadline with an instant opinion rather than a well-considered one, and I suspect it's that sort of pressure lies behind Deborah Hill Cone's piece in today's Business Herald.

During the election campaign, government dollars were promised in record amounts to protect and improve the health of New Zealanders, and now within the first 100 days of the new administration, funding for the breast cancer drug Herceptin will be extended from nine weeks to a full year.

As a quasi-American, this may be a risky and genetically surprising statement, but I am starting to think the recession has a bright side.

Last Tuesday’s election (ed: was it only last week?) witnessed a realignment of the American electorate, which, if it endures, could produce substantial changes in the country’s politics and policies over coming decades.

When I got married three years ago it didn’t occur to me to change my name. I figured that debate was done and dusted, at least for most reasonable people, and I didn’t actually care what the unreasonable people thought.

As the global financial crisis has deepened, the number of fingers pointing accusingly at the habits and practices prevalen

Tony Blair and the now oh-so-appropriately-named Material Girl breezed in to Montreal for the same days this week, each charging bucket loads for the privilege of their presence right in the middle of the economic tsunami. One was clad in fishnets, thigh-high boots, top hat and little else. The other was not.

Around the globe, people are anxiously following the U.S. financial crisis as it evolves into a worldwide meltdown. For all the debate about decoupling, people nearly everywhere realize that what happens in the American economy can have a big impact on them.

Richard Worth is on the phone to the mayor’s office. He’s trying to clarify some points of protocol for an up-coming do, patiently explaining to the person on the other end of the line that “we want to run it the old way”. In his blue and white striped shirt with its crisp white collar, the 60-year-old former lawyer has a lot of the old way about him.

Let the cry ring out, "we're all Socialists now". That thought has been running through my head for a week or so now, and while it's a little flippant it reflects a remarkable few weeks that has undoubtedly changed the course of capitalism for some years to come. Given the markets' plunge overnight and today, the governments look to have more work to do yet.

The world financial crisis has brought the usual talking heads out of their offices and into the spotlight. Prime among them locally is economist Gareth Morgan who has been heard in various quarters invoking the D-word.

The always impressive Brent Edwards on Radio New Zealand has this morning reported that the wage gap between Australia and New Zealand hasn't widened in the past nine years. (That link is to the Quicktime version of the story on Morning Report today.

As I was considering crawling out of bed this morning at 6.30am, I heard screaming from somewhere down the hall. We live in an apartment building and at first I put it down to some early morning romance.

As you may have heard, America will soon be holding a presidential election. Americans don’t like to rush into these things, so preparations for the final event have been drawing media attention for the better part of two years. (To many in the public, and no doubt to some of the direct participants, it seems even longer than that.)

With three winners in four Republican primaries so far, and John Edwards hoping against hope for an upset in Nevada or South Carolina that would make it three winners on the Democratic side, this year's presidential race has highlighted the diversity of political opinion in the US.

When America's prominence in the world is discussed, it's usually attributed to its open democracy and free market policies, to its military might and economic heft since the second world war, to the sheer size of its population and landmass and to the American idea of liberty and opportunity for all.

As George Bush strolls into the leaders' meeting at Apec, I half expect to see him rubbing his eyes in a somewhat sleepy, surprised manner, like a bear coming out of hibernation.

I cancelled my San Francisco Chronicle subscription last week. When it came it was an easy decision - they had rolled over my annual subscription and upped my rate without telling me, so the phone call to cut off the paper was made as an annoyed consumer. Now, the morning after, the disappointed journalist in me has taken over and is feeling guilty.

It hasn't been a great year for biofuels so far. They had been sold as the solution - or at least one significant solution - to the problem of peak oil and the need for alternative, less polluting energy sources. As oil became more expensive and harder to come by, biofuels would make up the difference, providing a greener fuel source.