Alexander: Lovely report, but whodunnit???

The Christchurch Prison Goon Squad inquiry report is a whodunnit that leaves everyone guessing, United Future law and order spokesman Marc Alexander said.

“Real people made real decisions and did real things wrong, but there is no accountability here,” Mr Alexander said.

“And coming just a day after the Steve Maharey’s TVNZ board snow-job, you really have to ask is there any accountability in public institutions in this country any more?

“This report is thorough but it doesn’t carry through.

“It talks of no clear explanations, contradictory explanations, structural management failure, excessive funding; failure to account for that funding - and no one goes. What is going on here?

“Lessons learnt, says the report. Yes, indeed, lessons learnt, says Corrections Minister Paul Swain. And basically let’s just all is quiet and go away.

“Well, it’s not good enough. We really don’t have accountability in this country today. And the public are badly served for that fact,” Mr Alexander 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>>