Smith mourns the loss of WOW show to WLG

"The decision of the World of Wearable Art to relocate its show to Wellington is a body blow for Nelson", says Nelson MP Nick Smith.

"The WOW show pours millions of dollars into our economy each year and the show has put Nelson on the map for cultural tourism. The commitment to Wellington is for five years but we should not give up on bringing WOW home in 2010."

"This negative decision for Nelson is a product of provincial small-mindedness. I have watched in frustration as the councils have grizzled about the small grants made to support WOW each year. Our councils have never fully appreciated the contribution of WOW to our regional economy and the Wellington City Council has completely outmanoeuvred them.

"This decision is a sharp wake-up call for our city. There is aggressive competition for events like WOW amongst cities and we need to change our thinking. We lost the Crusaders Super 12 rugby game through the same sort of small mindedness.

"The only consolation for Nelson is that the WOW museum stays here and that the WOW creative team, including founder Susie Moncrief, will still work and live here," Dr Smith said.

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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>>