The American Bible Belt wants to start a Nazi style book-burning of 'Harry Potter' books on the grounds that Potter is a 'wizard and a Satanist'. "I think the Christian Heritage party's new pin-up boy Philip Sherry should either confirm or deny whether his party wants to consign the Harry Potter books to the flames here in New Zealand," says Libertarianz Deputy Dr Richard McGrath.

The prize-winning series of children's books written by Scottish author J K Rowling have sparked a worldwide resurgence of interest in reading by children. "She has enthralled a whole generation of children in much the same way as Alan Duff has with his Books In Homes programme," says Dr McGrath, and Libertarianz applauds Ms Rowling's achievement.

But of Sherry and his party he wonders: "Will they endorse the paranoid views of their American counterparts, or will we see a split from mainstream Christian thinking? I wonder if Mr Sherry truly understands the inquisitorial nature of the party he now stands for. He and his party should stop sitting on the fence and either endorse the three Harry Potter books or condemn them," says McGrath.

I await Mr Sherry's comments with interest."

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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>>