A part of me died during that performance, when most of my tweet stream spent the whole time telling KDC to shut up, stop giggling, where's-the-moment-of-truth, isn't-Assange-an-alleged-rapist, etc.

A party leader calling an alleged rapist a political prisoner is no minor issue.

Also interesting to read Scott Long's piece on the fake viral photos not coming from ISIS.

In terms of regulation, the prohibitionists have yet to convincingly explain why existing public order statutes like the Summary Offences Act 1981, Litter Act 1979 et al cannot be invoked in this context.

I would say that is because there is virtually no police presence in the area. They turn up in a team once every few months and blitz the area for a few hours, but mostly they just drive past that particular strip at full speed. I don't see how a new law would change their resourcing.

I lived at Hunters Corner for a couple of years (just moved), and found the sex workers the least of the problems. The liquor stores seemed to encourage boot parties that often turned violent, dealers would approach me at the bus stop, day-long power cuts every few months, insane driving (esp dangerous coupled with the power cuts at night), groups of teenagers assaulting strangers in the eastern blocks, and rolling fights when people got kicked out of Club Raro.

It's hard to take Rev Low seriously when she denies workers' genders and considers the NZPC media-savvy. I'm also bewildered why she would assume needles were left by sex workers, instead of any of the other people using that area at night time.

While all of the local politicians who've spoken on this issue have given lip service to the workers' rights, the only solution they seemed to have come up with is asking for police harassment.

What happens at Hunter’s Corner is outside the law, because the people who drafted it, in all good faith, thought street prostitution would simply disappear.

I'm a little unsure what this means Russell - I understand the impetus for the law change was convictions of male workers in Latimer Square. I even remember T Barnett saying in parliament the law change wouldn't get them off the streets.

There was some odd behaviour from the security at the MIA show; trying to take her microphone off her when she was jumping in to the audience and trying to kick audience members offstage between encores.

Once I found out that AI refused to support gays and lesbians imprisoned simply because they were gay or lesbian, I have never given them any time or money.

I think your information may be out of date. from http://www.amnesty.org/en/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity :

Amnesty International considers people detained or imprisoned solely because of their homosexuality – including those individuals prosecuted for having sex in circumstances which would not be criminal for heterosexuals, or for their gender identity – to be prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

AI started out solely campaigning on political prisoners, and decides which human rights issues to campaign on by international consensus, so it can sometimes be slow to expand its remit.

From the great movie of the same name:

No you're not special.... Same problem here

Those cunning Chinese! Not only are they taking over the worlds manufacturing, but soon they'll take over the world's tourism. Imagine it: a seven day tour of Rotorua, Devon, Madrid, New York, etc etc all from the comfort of one coachliner!

There's a couple of themeparks where you can just walk around all the major tourist attractions; and see the Eiffel Tower, the pyramids, Uluru, an African safari (with a John Coltrane soundtrack and fornicating elephants), pre-11/9 NYC and a "traditional Maoris Village" all in one day. See the wonderful film The World, and some of my photos here.