I'm inclined to take Telecom at its word with respect to yesterday's announcement that it will separate its retail and wholesale businesses, even if it doesn't fully follow the example of British Telecom, whose executives were reportedly recently flown in to advise on separation strategies.
BT's voluntary separation involved the creation of two separate boards (but not separate companies), and Telecom hasn't gone that far. But where it has gone is not the all-your-base-are-belong-to-us place it has hitherto been heading.
Theresa Gattung said on Morning Report today that: "You could say we've been reading the tea-leaves." Indeed. The Dom Post's two-monthly poll of Wellington businesspeople found a striking 86% of them in favour of this year's regulatory announcements, and only 7% against. The cheerleaders for the old way are thin on the ground.
The good behaviour clause in the Telecommunications Amendment Bill - which could actually see Telecom avoiding elements of regulatory reform by undertaking to reform itself -will also have helped concentrate minds.
Question: does the newfound cross-party will to concentrate on Maori family violence mean that race-based policies are okay again?
The Chronicle of Higher Education's Human Trails In Cyberspace is well worth a look (although it would be nice to have seen more detail). It covers several attempts to socially map the Internet. Pretty pictures.
No Right Turn has a dabble with one of those online surveys that tell you what box you fit in. This one comes from a Canadian marketing company and is thus more demographic than political. I washed up as an Autonomous Rebel with a bit of Connected Enthusiast, which rather flatters my prejudices about myself.
And that's all. A few big days from here on in: danah boyd arrives today and will be on Campbell Live within a couple of hours of touching down (I'm considering making an offering to the traffic gods). There's a been a huge degree of media interest in her, and in addition to various print interviews, she'll also be talking to Kim Hill on National Radio at 11.25am on Saturday.
Both the Wellington and Auckland Karajoz Great Blends officially kick off at 7pm, but we should have the doors open half an hour before that. I've made a couple of additions to the Auckland bill (it's a Saturday, so we can run a bit later). Robyn Gallagher will join us on the panel there, and there'll also be a brief presentation with respect to Freeview that some of you will find very interesting, in a practical sense. I'm all excited.