Why did Jolly John Key need to hire these triple AAA rated people? His election campaign showed that he knew how to start with the solution, not the problem. More cheese anyone? And now his rival Bitter Bill English has to deal with the clouds which are blocking the view of that lovely blue sky. It is still there of course, in the big picture, obscured by clouds but I can see clearly now.

I just hope that nobody has been texting at any of these concerts.

I have been an old curmudgeon for most of my life. There has always been plenty to be curmudgeonly about and technology always creates lots of opportunities to be grumpy. I hated the way Mr Bell's telephone used to interrupt us when we were drinking the port after dinner back in the day.I enjoy reading discussions such as this one.
But I find it hard to accept that in a discussion on the etiquette of texting in a particular venue some of those posting comments are forgetting the etiquette which makes this forum so much more pleasant than others. I do not think people should be called rude cunts under any circumstances. Personal abuse, apart from anything else, usually indicates that one's case is not strong.

" a modern, dynamic, aspirational leadership form" was Key's description of what he has to offer. What on earth does that mean?
I looked up aspirational and definitions offered included ambitious, yearning, craving and desiring of success.
We might be better off with a leader who is inspirational rather than aspirational.
And he doesn't inspire me, even though he was brought up in a log cabin.

I hadn't realised that Dr Ropata, fresh from Guatemala, was attempting to stem the tide of elective caesarian birth back in his home country.

Wouldn't it be nice if every post had a real name. There are plenty of toilet walls, real and metaphorical, where the anonymous can express opinions which they don't want their mothers or their children or their workmates or their partners or their students to connect with them.

An opinion should not be furtive, it should be bold.