Prime Minister Jenny Shipley's decision to avoid leaders' debates in the South Island is utterly unacceptable, says Labour's campaign spokesperson and Dunedin North MP Pete Hodgson.

"Both the Christchurch Press and the Otago Daily Times gave clear notice that they planned a leaders debate but in both cases the Prime Minister alone pulled out.

"The reason is that Mrs Shipley wants to get through the campaign without actually having to meet the public. She will run a hermetically sealed campaign because she is scared of meeting ordinary New Zealanders on their own turf. She is behaving like a control freak.

"It is ironic indeed that as a South Islander Mrs Shipley has scuttled two key opportunities for public participation in the South Island."

© 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>>