Historian Michael Bassett, a former Labour Government senior minister is a national treasure.

Radio NZ ostensibly has egg on its face over the discovery that a pro-Russia, anti-Israel employee has tampered with news releases.

Once again famine reports are coming from North Korea, outside the pampered capital. One explanation for this is that the grotesquely obese dictator Kim Jong- un has eaten all the food. Notwithstanding the unhealthy fat content imagine if he was chopped up and served as Kim fried rice. It would be a memorable banquet for tens of thousands and represent the only act of public service in this massive lump of lard’s life.

A fortnight back I returned (briefly) to New Zealand in supposedly mid winter to find, my hundreds of poplar trees aside, my property ablaze with normally mid Autumn red and golden leaves. Add to that lots of hydrangeas and the like, still in full flower etc. Climate change per chance? No.