Cullen on GDP result

“Strong growth of 0.6 per cent in the September GDP data means that the economy has grown almost 20 per cent in the last five years,” Finance Minister Michael Cullen said today.

“This translates in real income per person to an increase of 15 per cent. That is a good result for New Zealanders and is reflected in high household consumption, up 6.1 per cent over the September year.

“Although the figures show the high dollar is beginning to affect export performance, it should be remembered that a large part of the 5.7 per cent drop was due to dairy exports which were down 24 per cent over the quarter. But much of this drop was due to the late start to the season,” Dr Cullen 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>>