PM conducts off-key Symphony Bill

New state controls on the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will unnecessarily curb its artistic freedom, says National's Arts and Culture spokesman Dr Paul Hutchison.

He says the Bill imposes upon the NZSO a necessity to 'develop a distinctively New Zealand cultural environment' - "whatever that means".

"National strongly supports the NZSO and is dedicated to seeing its artistic independence and excellence flourish.

"The Prime Minister has been full of praise for the NZSO's track record, yet she is now stifling its artistic freedom with prescriptive requirements and functions," says Dr Hutchison.

"It is ironic that while Labour is hell-bent on keeping a corporate governance model for the NZSO, even to the extent of excluding player representatives on the orchestra's board, it is making our health system increasingly dysfunctional by insisting on majority elected health boards.

"As the Prime Minister skips to the tune of her own finale, she is wasting $1 million on useless legislation when the money would be better going to the musicians," says Dr Hutchison.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>