Mitchell Pham, my main man from 'Nam, sent me this collection of icons that aim to capture the different ways in which significant concepts are perceived by Asians and Europeans.
They're the work of Yang Liu, a gifted graphic artist born in China and educated in Germany (apologies to those who saw them when they appeared late last year).
Mitchell's cover note was "Hi Russell, What do you think of these?" And I think that's what I like about them: they're concise, effective (you'll recognise the colour scheme) and they do actually make me think.
David Farrar has been at his number-wonking best digging through the New Zealand Electorate Profiles released by the Parliamentary Library. He wrote the Herald on Sunday a two-page feature which doesn't seem to be online (why, along with Keith Ng's Just the Facts, is the very content bloggers would like to link to not making it to the Herald website?). And he has now followed up with a list of "mosts" and "leasts" -- from "Most 50 – 64 year olds" (Coromandel) to "Least Catholics" (Nelson) and "Most residents born overseas" (Botany).
David gets marked down, however for taking up the silly claim that the One News' story on what appears to be a less than wholehearted personal commitment to climate change action by Maurice Williamson and Lockwood Smith is like "the Salem witch trials".
It was a thin lead story, but to claim that two senior MPs giving private briefings counter to their own party's official position is not news at all -- and is in fact evidence of collusion between One News and the government, as Matthew Hooton claimed yesterday -- is just silly.
David demands to know:
So why has One News not furiously chased down Labour MPs and asked them to all state on camera what their *personal* views are on reducing taxes?
Er, because no Labour spokespeople with relevant policy responsibility have been sharing those views with audiences in a private but official capacity and then playing sillybuggers when asked about it afterwards by a reporter? That'll be it …
It all seems to point to a remarkably sulky attitude from National's cheerleaders when the news doesn't run their way.