Labour MP Trevor Mallard said today Richard Prebble was right out of court in his vicious allegations against Labour Leader Helen Clark.

"Richard Prebble defended Jenny Shipley when she admitted lying in respect of the Hawkesby affair, which makes it rich for him to be raising questions about others' integrity.

"Mr Prebble is well known for making wild allegations which cannot be substantiated. What can be more telling than his allegation that a Marlborough farmer was mucked around by the New Zealand Wool Board, when the farmer denies he ever told Mr Prebble that such a thing had happened.

"The Act leader shares with Mr Peters and Mrs Shipley the habit of making things up. He has never retracted stories when they have been later shown to be untrue.

"Helen Clark took up on behalf of a constituent a case of an operation which had a poor outcome. She called for an investigation. When it became clear to her that the surgeon could not be said to be at fault for the poor outcome of the operation, she immediately took steps to offer an apology and a retraction.

"Neither Mr Prebble nor Mrs Shipley have proved capable of such prompt action when they have been found wanting on the facts," Mr Mallard 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>>