Prime Minister Jenny Shipley's comment that National MPs who participated in a recent tour of rural electorates 'now have a better grasp of the things rural people are concerned about' will be greeted with a hollow laugh in the heartland, according to Labour rural affairs spokesperson Jim Sutton.

"She should have sent them sooner. They might have helped National avoid such idiocies as the increased costs of driver licences and motor registration, which strike vicious blows on rural people," Mr Sutton said.

"And she should send them out again, and go herself. It might help her avoid National's next round of planned stupidity, like producer board and road reforms.

"Mrs Shipley should also tell her National Party colleagues to be selective about who they talk to when on tour. It might help her avoid spouting such ill-informed rubbish as her claim on Thursday that a typical Canterbury dairy farmer pays $77,000 a year in interest costs.

"That implies a mortgage of ¾ of a million dollars, at least, and probably land worth $4 million.

"It probably is typical of National's few remaining supporters, but it doesn't represent most of the rural community," Mr Sutton 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>>