“The defence is not suggesting Ms Millane is to blame; she is not to blame,” so defence counsel Ian Brookie assured the Auckland Court in the Grace Millane murder trial.
Well that’s good to know that Grace didn’t strangle herself and somehow during a brief Second Coming, squeeze herself into a suitcase, get herself to the Waitakere Ranges, dig a hole, bury herself, then resume being dead.
For many people New Zealand’s remoteness where nothing much ever happens holds huge appeal.
On the other side of the ledger we do miss out on a lot. For example, while we’re daily told of the rest of the world basking in global warming, once again we’ve miss out, the national weather agency (NIWA) reporting two record cold months in a row.
Readers will be familiar with the age-old advertising wisdom that half of all advertising is wasted. The problem is knowing which half? That said, numerous advertisements these days increasingly seem to be a total waste of space, meaningless and having no relevance to the advertiser.
Take this example.
An expensive colour back cover advertisement on a recent New Zealand Herald supplement magazine was filled with a photo of a young woman, naturally clutching a cell-phone, sitting cross-legged before what appeared to be a bowl of popcorn.
As never before Trump is now looking panicky. God only knows how he sleeps at night, presumably, I imagine, with the aid of sleeping pills.
For there’s no doubt he’s in increasingly big trouble. Another Ukraine revelation, and apparently there’s more to come, and the Republican senate will inevitably start breaking ranks making impeachment a real possibility.
But most of all, if I’m reading him right, the New York court decision to reveal his last 8 years tax returns is his principal concern. He’ll take it to the Supreme Court, but it’s an elementary issue and won’t eat up much time. He can probably count on at least 2 of the 5 judges to back him, being his appointees.
Someone (allegedly) called Vera Alves, almost certainly a pseudonym given the nonsense that followed, writing in the NZ Herald about abortion, unbelievably claimed “to be the voice of reason” and added, (brace yourself) “ Here’s what the issue is not; whether you think abortion is a good or bad thing.”
Really! Well what the hell is it about? Vera then tells us; specifically, “should it be in the Crimes Act and people go to jail for it. Abortions occur every day. No-one goes to jail.” Where’s the bloody editor?
