Don’t make Prince Edward our Governor-General!

“Richard Worth’s promotion of Prince Edward as our next Governor-General is simply surreal, replacing a long-term tradition of appointing New Zealanders as Governor-General. I am surprised that he hasn’t started to scratch around the English countryside for other minor royals and aristocrats who could “set an example” for us,” said Republican Movement president, Dave Guerin.

Mr Worth floated the Prince Edward idea in a written question to Helen Clark several weeks ago (see below).

“Richard Worth states on the National party’s website that he wants “a country that offers equality of opportunity”, but strangely he wants our Governor-General to be chosen from an aristocratic family on the other side of the world.”

“Maybe Mr Worth wants to create an indigenous monarchy, with Edward and his wife Sophie being the first king and queen. Or maybe Mr Worth just got terribly excited at having a minor royal in the country and had a rush of blood to the head.”

“To be fair to the National Party, it looks like Richard Worth has gone on another one of his tangents, but Don Brash should clarify whether Mr Worth’s ‘back to the future’ strategy represents the party line.”

© 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>>