OnPoint by Keith Ng

Thanks guys. Both useful and interesting.

But have we established that Brash's emails were unlawfully taken en masse? By someone who had no right to access them? And that there are thousands of them? Is that what Brash would have had to establish in court?

I'd also be interested in an explanation of how his email system would have been set up. I have an idea that Parliamentary Services system stores emails in a central database, like Exchange or Lotus Notes. Brash's national.org.nz emails wouldn't have been on that system, but I guess they could have been on his office PC. Anyone care to explain?

Lyndon Hood's pretty funny today ...

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0611/S00410.htm

have we established that Brash's emails were unlawfully taken en masse? By someone who had no right to access them?

No. But it's a red herring.

If Brash wants to establish that his injunction applies to prevent the publication of The Hollow Men, then he'd have to establish a basis for that - some proof that Nicky Hager actually used 'stolen' emails.

If they haven't been taken unlawfully then no-one is gagged.

Brash would have had to establish the basis for believing that his email had been hacked to meet the "serious question to be tried" standard to get the inunction, but with the rumours of a book of emails, and Peters' assertions about phonebooks full of them that won't have been difficult. Proving that emails were 'stolen' would be difficult, proving you've got good reason to believe they've been stolen less so.

This just in: Brash has stepped down as Leader of the Opposition.

Yow! Game over!

He's gone!

Rejoice! Rejoice!

As Mrs Thatcher used to say.

Not that I'm really in favour of anything that makes the Nats more electable, but if there should happen to be a change of government I'd much rather it was a change to someone with at least the appearance of competence rather than a duplicitous old ideologue.

Yes, the cocoa will be flowing like water at Ballantyne Towers tonight.

I guess the remaining question is whether he hangs around as a back-bench list MP, or goes completly allowing the next on the list to step in.

Just heard from someone who's seen an advance copy of The Hollow Men. It sounds like the emails aren't the half of it. There's a lot of high-level party correspondence involved, and likely embarrassment for a number of people.

Brash to Noelle McCarthy five hours ago: "I don't see any mood for change in caucus."

Ouch.

And Dr Brash will give copies of his emails to Nicky Hager, thereby removing him from the application of the injunction (which only applies to those with the emails without consent).

The books gets out and Hager doesn't have to go to court - the networks might still want to, however.

Brash's comment to Noelle McCarthy this morning still rings in my ears....Why would the leader of a party that is ahead in the polls step down?

Looks like the spice is starting to flow now ... Like, which prominent, working media figure forgot to tell us he was providing media training for Brash?

There's a previously unmentioned authorial hand behind the Orewa speech too.

There's a previously unmentioned authorial hand behind the Orewa speech too.

Would that be an ex-Act MP? Just wondering.

I am also really hoping that the timing Wishart's latest little expose is just coincidental and that none of our elected representatives (or their proxies) have a hand in that.

Russell: A lot of enterprise email systems, like Outlook+Exchange or Notes, replicate all emails from the server to a users local drive. Where they can easily be copied to a memory stick. For OL2003, this might be:
C:\Documents and Settings\drDon\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\outlook.ost.

Gary: He did promise before the election that he'd move to Australia if the Nats lost. Maybe he'll be doing that now.

Russell, if it's already been announced that the book will be in shops by tomorrow...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3876001a10,00.html

why can't you start drip-feeding some real juice to us right now...

You know you want to......

Well,

"sniff"

maybe you don't.

Well,

"sniff"

maybe you don't.

Sorry, been out. And I'd really rather clap my own eyes on some of this stuff before I write about it, for obvious reasons. Hope you understand ...

Hagar was on Checkpoint saying that the book was "in limbo" and he couldn't be sure when it would come out.
Also of interest was Brash admitting that yesterday, when he said that he would not be stepping down, he knew that he was going to, today. Just a small thing and pretty normal for a person in that position but once again "Honest Don" turns out to be a fraud.