I remember – I think it was an early speaker post by Dave Hayward – where he analysed the energy policies of all the major parties in the leadup to an election, and found, to his surprise, that the Greens had the most sensible [policies].

While that was a bit…

But that diversion would obviously just be pedantry. And “guns are dangerous” is a more sensible starting point for a conversation about guns & gun use than “such-and-such power source is intrinsically evil”.

Ah, you need to spend some time talking to NRA lobbyists. "Sensible? Guns don't kill people! People kill…

The guy was describing a form of energy as “intrinsically evil”. I very much doubt he was meaning to say: “nuclear fission power is intrinsically evil. Though let me be clear, that fusion power... much respect. I’ve gots me a lot of time for that fusion.”
He was displaying an…

Why? They're doing a fabulous job as the PR wing of the National party.

That's what they are, right? A party political organ?

And it would have worked too... if it weren't for those pesky kids! And Scooby-Doobie-Doooooo Too!

I'mm sure the more excitable Kiwiblog regulars would agree with you…

Could the Herald possibly get someone with some credibility to write on this issue?

Why? They're doing a fabulous job as the PR wing of the National party.

That's what they are, right? A party political organ?

Nuclear fusion is a wholly different process to nuclear fission, and one with a completely different hazard profile.

Does its hazard profile include being intrinsically evil?

Yes they [fission & fusion] both involve atomic interactions, but that is about where the similarities end. Failing to "qualify" between the two is a…

The response that you quoted is a reaction to someone saying nuclear power (no qualification) is intrinsically evil.

Nuclear fusion is a wholly different process to nuclear fission, and one with a completely different hazard profile. There are no fusion reactors generating power at present, and there will likely be…

RB: James is funny, leave him be.

Wot, no telling off for me? Are all my efforts in vain?

Sorry K-dog. You da man, but your posts have too much going for them for me to even hint you should ease up. I feel your pain regarding Hoagland, badastronomy.com being…

Steve: "Does this guy know how that life-sustaining ball of fire in the sky works?"

Philip: "Well yes. Last I looked at the science, Big Yella is supposed to be kitted with a nuclear FUSION reactor under the hood, runs on hydrogen, and burps helium out the tail pipe. Very…

This astonishing (and possibly unreliable) "outing" of Paul as a regular in white nationalist circles by a fellow traveller is amazing (read the comments!).

And there's a bundle in Ron Paul vs. the New World Order.

He's a John…

This guy has based his whole blog around pulling apart arguments made by denialists of many stripes

Good comments too. The first one for this post explains the Ron Paul thing quite well:

Ron Paul is a paleoconservative, the most mainstream American political tendency ideologically closest to neofascism. Other paleocons…

This is getting ridiculous. Could the Herald possibly get someone with some credibility to write on this issue?

How would they tell?

Indeed, there seems to be a consistent pattern among the various pseudoscientific cults.

This guy has based his whole blog around pulling apart arguments made by denialists of many stripes.

He shows that it doesn't matter which colour the stripes are the arguments stay the same. Creationists argue like holocaust…

nulcear

Oh damm, I'll never be able to say anything bad about GWB ever again...

Does this guy know how that life-sustaining ball of fire in the sky works?

Well yes. Last I looked at the science, Big Yella is supposed to be kitted with a nuclear FUSION reactor under the hood, runs on hydrogen, and burps helium out the tail pipe. Very green and…

There's an article here by a space journalist attending a presentation by Richard Hoagland, the Face on Mars guy. The parallels are obvious, and overall it's actually pretty sad and dreary:

This was a major problem for the anti-GE lobby here. I had a bit of contact with them, and…

This is getting ridiculous. Could the Herald possibly get someone with some credibility to write on this issue?

I'm definitely tempted [to vote Green], but I have the feeling that they'd try to ban the Sun if they found out that it was nuclear powered.

Careful, Kracklite. You never know when a Green might be reading.
Seriously, their stance sometimes reminds me of the attitude expressed in a…

You see the same things...

Indeed, there seems to be a consistent pattern among the various pseudoscientific cults. On one hand they claim the authority of science and bring up whatever studies they can find and misrepresent them, and other times, because they can't find acceptance among the scientific community…

Via RealClimate, The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change, a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security.

I'm not so…

Truthiness!

"What we're doing is bringing democracy to knowledge."

D'oh!

Vote Green. Etc.

I'm definitely tempted, but I have the feeling that they'd try to ban the Sun if they found out that it was nuclear powered.

I've said this before, but I've found my experience in trying to get to the bottom of the GE issue very helpful in…

James, you sound like an adolescent.

I'm reminded of something James Oberg said about debating UFO cultists, although he may have been quoting someone else: it's like wrestling a pig – you assume undignified positions, get covered in mud and in the end you're left with the suspicion that the…

The National Journal article is pretty silly too, the best critique of the lancet study being that it was misreported in media headlines, much like all statistical data is. Error bars are there for a reason, and that study had some big-ass error…

So we plebs should just bow down before your great wisdom and let the wise scientists dictate to us what is right and what is wrong as they look down on us from their great ivory towers? No thanks.

James, you sound like an adolescent.

RB, your comments on the National Journal article? You have cited the Lancet study number frequently in your posts.

It's interesting and apparently fairly damning, but perhaps you should wait a bit before describing a single article as "proof positive" of "destruction".

One of the most vocal critics of the…

Well, your beloved scientific process certainly appears to have broken down in the case of the Lancet study doesn't it?

No, not at all. The point is is that it is in the process. Again (and again and again...), no single paper is important. It is the accumulation of a…

So we plebs should just bow down before your great wisdom and let the wise scientists dictate to us what is right and what is wrong as they look down…

just proof positive that we should always be skeptical of scientific studies.

"Always". No discrimination suggested.

You used the "destruction" of the Lancet study because, supposedly:

This link may appear to be way OTT at first glance but it is relevant to the discussion on…

Kracklite,
Go back and read what I wrote. I never said anything of the kind.

I wrote
__that "scientific studies" by respected organizations that appear in respected publications that are taken very seriously and impact…

the article on the Lancet study [...] is a devastating destruction

Not exactly.
The article raises a great many questions (some admittedly well worth asking) — but it does not provide definitive answers. That must await detailed peer review, and attempts by other researchers to replicate the Lancet study's findings.…

Doesn't it bother you that the study is apparently a load of crap?

I've read it, I'm reading it again.

It bothers me that it is apparently dubious, but I am not a statistician, I do not work in media studies and the National Journal is not exactly a disinterested…

Did you read the article on the Lancet study? It is a devastating destruction of a study that has received a lot of play in the media over a period of years and has certainly aided in shaping opinions and perhaps in developing policy options on one of the…

This link may appear to be way OTT… I wonder how many GW studies are as badly flawed as the Lancet study. Quite a few would be my guess.

A non-sequitur in fact: ‘I have counted no cattle in the field, therefore there are no oranges in the orchard.’

"scientific…

And then there was Malcolm McPhee: Climate of fear starting to make my temperature rise in Fridays Herald ...

Which was given a brisk fisking by Hot Topic, where it was described as "breathtakingly nonsensical".

Jim Hopkins shared his boundless wisdom on the topic of climate change on Friday too.…

The frequency of hurricanes is uncertain and not taken as a major make-or-break issue. The suggestion that it is is misinformation.

New Scientist's summary says,

General climate models are not detailed enough to…

And guess what the above average prediction is then met for…

well, that's because millipedes don't have opposable thumbs.

You don't need thumbs to fire any kind of gun I can think of.

Armed millipedes, one for DARPA

Erratum/Addendum: one for the Ignobel prize too, I'd think. I can see the papers now: 'Self-harm and suicide incidences among millipedes: an investigation.' 'Marksmanship and potential military applications among the arthropoda' War games and exercise with army ants (of course) against commando squads of...

Yes,…

well, that's because millipedes don't have opposable thumbs.

Well, a decent ergonomist could probably design a gun that could be used with opposable legs – after all a millipede has plenty to spare. It would take nanotech to achieve though.

Armed millipedes, one for DARPA

Re the 'new ice age',…

"Hothouse gases may not be to blame for global warming. At any…

The hurricane predictions for the past 2 seasons have been way off

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/320606.html

__A different team at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted 13 to 17 named storms, seven to 10 hurricanes and three to five intense hurricanes.

The actual results for the 2007 season: 14 named storms,…

http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20080103/94768732.html

__Earth is now at the peak of one of its passing warm spells. It started in the 17th century when there was no industrial influence on the climate to speak of and no such thing as the hothouse effect. The…

Which is more than you can say for most of those donating to the National Party.

You're quite right, Idiot/Savant. I've donated a little under two grand to the National Party this millennium through membership dues and various fundraisers. Oddly enough, National – like every other political party in this…

Whilst I agree that simply providing funding to a political party in exchange for an honour is unseemly this is not what is at issue in the UK. In fact, that aspect of party funding was investigated and a decision taken not to prosecute.

The fact that the UK's ever-flexible…

A millipede couldn't shoot itself in the foot more often...

well, that's because millipedes don't have opposable thumbs.

Google it. State of Fear is endlessly cited by "sceptics" as if it were something other than an airport novel. It's bizarre.

I know, hence my incredulity. I await Doctor No being used as an insightful and authoritative analysis of Chinese foreign policy.

A millipede couldn't shoot itself in the…

It is the secrecy of donantions, the hidden paybacks and then the subsequent lying about that funding that is "smells" and "reeks".

Yeah, that's an interesting one. The original Herald story stated Robertson's donation to National as a fact, but National's campaign manager told TV3 in 2005 that "There are no…

Whilst I agree that simply providing funding to a political party in exchange for an honour is unseemly this is not what is at issue in the UK. In fact, that…

And now you're using a partisan review of a work of pulp fiction by Michael Crichton?!

Google it. State of Fear is endlessly cited by "sceptics" as if it were something other than an airport novel. It's bizarre.

Peter Doran's NYT op-ed about Crichton's misuse of his research is worth reading.

Bozhe moi. What next, The Chronicles of Narnia?

http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/abstracts/v19n2a5.php

David Deming ,Journal of Scientific Exploration
Book review of State of Fear
...An example is provided by revisionist efforts of some researchers to extinguish the existence of a Medieval Warm Period. The politicization of science is a threat to the process of…

Just in case some missed that 50% is one half

Your point being...?

(i) 50% is actually a pretty high proportion of variance to be captured by a principal component.
Depending on how many variables went into the analysis, it might be possible to interpret a PC with only 10%…

Evidence for a modest undercount bias in early historical Atlantic tropical cyclone counts

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2007JD008385.shtml

Mann and Sabbatelli 2007

The influence of climate state…

A couple more articles on GW that have appeared recently

The first one catalogues the temps of the last year which don't exactly scream GW.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COMMENTARY/10575140

The comment about hurricanes is obviously of more interest to me as I live here on the Gulf coast. After the big K, according…

Actually, almost all the editorial board of Nature have PhDs and are active scientists/academics.

Yes indeed, but my point was that their qualifications are not necessarily directly pertinent to every paper that they receive, rather their qualifications make them competetent to assess the potential worth and methodology of a paper…

... actually, looking at the staff qualifications of Pew is like looking at the qualifications of the editorial board of a journal such as Nature – it would be to completely miss the point. Papers submitted for publication are always sent out for review externally. Referees remain strictly anonymous.

Actually,…

'Accounts…

Your meme seems to be if they are not scientists dont trust them

Sloppy use of 'meme' – the correct word would be 'implication'.

And, as ever, it's a misrepresentation.

Pew is a polling and policy analysis organisation. See

here:

The Pew Center provides research, analysis and recommendations for federal,…

Kracklite, the Deeming report was in the Journal of Scientific Discovery 2005 as I pointed out.

No, you did not. Deming's paranoid mutterings revealing a conspiracy to 'get rid' of the MWP have no source, attribution or context. Do you want that to be taken seriously as 'testimony'.

This is…

Oh really ?

Did you check out their credentials of the staff listed. Your meme seems to be if they are not scientists dont trust them

http://www.pewclimate.org/about/staff

Well a…

And the idea that we should make dramatic policy decisions with huge consequences based on highly uncertain predicitions is just nuts.

Of course choosing to do nothing is also a policy decision – one not exempt from huge consequences of its own.

What you are really proposing is to simply gamble that…

The "Exxon gave them grant…

And the idea that we should make dramatic policy decisions with huge consequences based on highly uncertain predicitions is just nuts.

Governments regularly act on much worse information than we currently possess about the planet's climate system. The Iraq war springs to mind... and let's not mention economic policy.

As…

Exactly. The idea that we understand how the…

There is more than enough doubt on the subject of global climate stability to caution against continuing to choose to follow a pattern of behaviour that could have such profoundly negative consequences.

I should add that naturally those making the most effort to discourage us from changing our pattern of…

There is more than enough doubt on the subject of GW to caution against rushing headlong into decisions and treaties etc. that would have such profoundly negative consequences.

Let's look at the flip side:

There is more than enough doubt on the subject of global climate stability…

RB, by your normal logic, any trust formed by a holy Trinity of evil, such as conservative, Christian oilmen (how bad can you get!!) would automatically be discredited and anything they say must automatically be wrong.

What has changed?

Nothing has changed. Pew is an excellent organisation with high standards,…

http://books.nap.edu/execsumm_pdf/11676.pdf

As Gareth correctly identifies, these attempts to dismiss AGW as come kind of statistical mistake are mere politics. You are not dealing with the science here Steve. If…

RB, by your normal logic, any trust formed by a holy Trinity of evil, such as conservative, Christian oilmen (how bad can you get!!) would automatically be discredited…

The first one catalogues the temps of the last year which don't exactly scream GW.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COMMENTARY/10575140

The comment about hurricanes is obviously of more interest to me as I live here on the Gulf coast. After the big K, according…

Other reading: the report on Bali by Christopher Monckton. He abuses all and sundry present…

Nearly a decade later, more than a dozen studies using
alternative proxy data and reconstruction methods have,
moreover, independently reaffirmed earlier studies such as
MBH98, producing millennial or longer hemispheric temperature
reconstructions which agree with the those reconstructions
within estimated uncertainties.
J of…

None of this has anything to do with the real science of climate. The chances that the "consensus" view of how the climate system works will somehow change dramatically in the near future are essentially zero. The last vaguely credible working climate scientists who…

I have quoted the DIRECT WRITTEN testimoney of Wegman.
Its says his statistical methods are incorrect and his conclusions cant be supported by his analysis.

And if you set a very high bar in…

Philip wants it spelt out bell, book and candle.

Musical comedy indeed.... how appropriate. Wegman's testimony has been repeatedly misappropriated for this silly purpose. All Wegman was doing was commenting on the statistics... not the data.

Wegman had been tasked solely to evaluate whether the McIntyre and McKitrick (2005) (MM05)…

The interesting bit from the NY Times is ..

100% fact-free and pure rhetoric.

A major person working in the area of climate change and global warming sent me an astonishing email that said “We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period.

Let's see, where to begin? Unattributed,…

The "it was hotter in the Medieval Warm Period" (MWP) meme is another dishonesty doing the rounds.

Global evidence using tree rings etc rather than local historical records supports the conclusion that on average, temperatures did not drop.

New Scientist's guide has a mention of that too.

Another one of…

as for the MWP…

http://energycommerce.house.gov/reparchives/108/Hearings/07192006hearing1987/Wegman.pdf

__Most of the proxy series show little structure, but the last two show the characteristic ‘hockey stick’ shape. The principal component-likemethodology in…

but none suggest that it has been warmer at any time in the past 1000 years than in the last part of the 20th century.

The "it was hotter in the Medieval Warm Period" (MWP) meme is another dishonesty doing the rounds. Between about 1000 – 1500 AD temperatures in…

The basic conclusion of Mann et al. (1998, 1999) was that the late 20th century warmth in the…

The fact that there have recently been more articles in various newspapers that deal with some aspect(s) of GW hype shows some movement on the subject.

Showing up ignorant journalism as hype, discredits the journalist....not the scientist. On the other hand "smear by association" is always a handy dodge.

Er, how exactly?

The fact that there have recently been more articles in various newspapers that deal with some aspect(s) of GW hype shows some movement on the subject.

There isn't any doubt that the NYT leans liberal, and when they run…

The passage of time has shown Mann to have published rubbish, I think the statistics he used was assesed by experts as being "graduate student level"

Likely Steve Curtis doesn't know the difference between an eigenvector and a steinlager, but he seems happy to uncritically regurgitate this nonsense he's picked…

Not a good sign for the "Global warming, we are all going to die!!" crowd when the NYT, of all publications, starts publishing articles skeptical of it.

Oh right. It's so sceptical that the guy it quotes says " I don’t doubt that climate change is real and that it…

Kiwi electricity consultant Bryan Leyland recently led a team of international sceptics to a climate conference in Bali.

I don't know Mr Leyland from swiss cheese,but "electricity consultant" doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he's an expert in the science of global warming and melting ice sheets.

Or that…

I also see a "on one hand, and then on the other' rather balanced article on GW on Stuff.co.nz this morning.

Rather tends…

Governments should hand out gongs to their political donors (just ignore what we said yesterday). We need a group of public spirited wealthy men to support political parties, to ensure they pursue sound, sensible and responsible policies, and so they don't have to seek the support of ordinary voters instead.…

.. Dr de Freitas’s change of viewpoint from being a scientist warning about global warming in Listener articles published in the 1980s…

I find all this credential bashing pointless.

I have the highest respect for accountants. In fact I even had one as a girlfriend. Looks like Lucy Lawless, lots of fun to be with, we're still good friends.

OK, now hand a Black and Decker to your accountant and tell him/her…

Continental drift evolved into the more accurate term plate tectonics
Wegener was kicked around because he wasn’t a trained geologist

That is at best a gross oversimplification and it certainly wasn't a neat, smooth evolution. Indeed, Wegener met a lot of purely prejudicial opposition, but he proposed a mechanism that…

Cushing was actually a National Party fundraiser for a while. Curiously, though, his knighthood was not greeted with mean-spirited and defamatory accusations like this.

No, Russell, I guess the mean-spirited and defamatory shit had well and truly been heaped on Cushing's head long before. And I don't recall The Herald…

Perhaps the NZ Herald would like to launch one of its famous campaigns, on how the…

his knighthood was not greeted with mean-spirited and defamatory accusations like this

Well, blogs weren't all that big at the time :-) And anyway, is what DPF said in his "cash for honours" post all that far from what I/S said in his:

Bluntly, this smells. It reeks. It stinks…

The aristocratic tone of that editorial is also pretty horrifying. We need a group of public-spirited wealthy men to guide the state and political parties, lest they be forced to seek…

And yet they're saying explicitly "people should get gongs for giving scads of cash to political parties".

I'd wager that's John Roughan, trying to stay the right side of his "the more money in politics the better" argument.

There's a distinct undertone of contrition in the Herald's editorial on Owen Glenn this morning ...

And yet they're saying explicitly "people should get gongs for giving scads of cash to political parties".

If our honours system is going to be a rich boy's club for political cronies, then I…

BTW what's up with the Herald online at present – getting gibberish the past few days and all the formatting's up the creek.

Selwyn John CUSHING, C.M.G., of Hastings. For services to business, sport and the arts.

This has political donor all written over it ( the CMG would suffice for his "contributions" to the areas listed).

Cushing was actually a National Party fundraiser for a while. Curiously, though, his knighthood was not…

This has political donor…

The deniers are all a little past their prime and I think craving a little attention Augie – Dutton – Mcshane. To their credit they do quote studies

Well one of them certainly is.

An award for giving cash is bollocks really.
Like the "Free" Charity Hospital in Christchurch. It is State Funded. The rather bitter Dr of a few years ago is obviously trying for a Knighthood or is…

As I said, it's a legitimate story; it was just the Herald's treatment of it that rankled. The no-comment from National was interesting. The story implies he has he has donated there too.

Um, sorry... I didn't read that into the story but I guess a less sinister explanation is…

I take it your'e using the Wikipedia definition of Climatolgoy, which in full reads –

Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period…

And Happy New Year to everyone!!

First, climatology is scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time.

And the topic of Tims PhD thesis:
"Climatic change in central Canada :…

Bird Nest Roys are playing with the Ghost Club at the Rising Sun on Auckland on Wednesday night.

Oh my! I haven't heard much of their stuff (funny, that), but I am Roys-curious, so I'll be there. And Celia is going to be playing too!

The bottom line is that elections these days are almost never decided on well informed debate and accurate knowledge of the candidates.

Wait. When did this _ever_ happen?

I agree with I/S. It looks as if he has bought himself an honour.

I vote we go through the last... I dunno, 20 years of honours lists and see who's major contribution to society was to have money to fling around. Michael Faye for starters – throw millions of…

A question: can the people who are objecting to supposedly non-qualified people speaking on climate change raise similar objections next time we Jane Kelsey – a legal academic – pronounces on economic policy?

Oh, don't start me on Jane Kelsey ... I am not a fan.

It's not so much…

It's typical of Kyoto-sceptic "experts" – most of them have a background in finance or economics, not science – McShane's web site says as much. Baron Lawson (who visited recently) is another example who comes to mind.

Climate change is an economic issue. And Kyoto – whatever you think of…

Maybe he deserves one, maybe he doesn't (and certainly, as someone to the left of Labour I have no issues with…

As I said, it's a legitimate story; it was just the Herald's treatment of it that rankled

If the story is that someone bought an honour, then it is the big story of the day – no matter who else got one, or how.

If that's not what happened, then…

I found Granny Herald's article on Shadbolt's most recent grandstanding rather grating. How is popping an ad in the papers blitzing the government?

Bird Nest Roys are playing with the Ghost Club at the Rising Sun on Auckland on Wednesday night. Yep, they're back together, for who knows how long. Not to…

RB: Owen McShane is also listed as a "prominent scientist"

DH: For fuck's sake... honestly...

It's typical of Kyoto-sceptic "experts" – most of them have a background in finance or economics, not science – McShane's web site says as much. Baron Lawson (who visited recently) is another example who comes…

As I said, it's a legitimate story; it was just the Herald's treatment of it that rankled

Agreed. I think it is all a matter of appearances. The Herald chose to take the "Labour donor" line, when the donations to the University and other institutions are more significant. At any…

O'Sullivan has been writing from the far right of the political spectrum for years now, though her columns do seem to be getting increasingly nutty. At least she now has…

I agree with I/S. It looks as if he has bought himself an honour.

Fair enough, I guess. But his donation to the university's business school was the largest single donation to a New Zealand academic institution ever, he has committed himself to funding a Chair in Logistics at the…

Which is why those who perhaps really deserve it are nicely awarded by the other party. Jenny Shipley got her dame-hood equivalent from Labour, and I suspect Helen Clark will get something from National if she loses the next election.

Fran was campaigning hard for Doug Myers to get his "long…

No matter what he's done, it just looks unseemly.

What he has done is donate money to several institutions, including the Labour Party and Auckland University. He does not live here, he has played no part in public life here. Until the University donation, most New Zealanders would have not…

Which is why those who perhaps really deserve it are nicely awarded by the other party.

Or by the community, and bugger the politicians.

As for the Herald, read it online with an adblocker.

If only it was sold with a…

Read it online?

It was actually quite readable on my PDA whilst I was in Ozzie over Christmas. Lamentably, Public Address was not. The WAP option only gave me links, but…

Owen McShane is also listed as a "prominent scientist"

For fuck's sake... honestly...

No matter what he's done, it just looks unseemly.

Which is why those who perhaps really deserve it are nicely awarded by the other party. Jenny Shipley got her dame-hood equivalent from Labour, and I suspect Helen Clark will get something from National if she loses the next election.

And then there was Malcolm McPhee: Climate of fear starting to make my temperature rise in Fridays Herald ...

Which was given a brisk fisking by Hot Topic, where it was described as "breathtakingly nonsensical".

Jim Hopkins shared his boundless wisdom on the topic of climate change on Friday too.

Is…

At the same time, it's worth pointing out…

I think the restriction of donations to NZ nationals (which would also include National's major donors) was in the EFA right from the start ...

It wasn't. The EFA as introduced contained nothing new on donations – all of that was introduced in the select committee.

The story (which hasn't…

The Herald's attitude to the planet is ambivalent, to say the least. On the one hand, it has Green Pages; on the other, it values the opinion of an unqualified sceptic as much as a professional. Such was…

But I wonder on what position you would have taken (or did) if some rich prick gave mega bucks to the National party and recieved a knighthood in his christmas stocking

That happened quite a while back in some cases. But given Glenn's long-term contribution to the country of his…

I want to cancel my subscription but it is such a bugger that we have a monopoly in Auckland.