New Zealand's NEW Government

Yesterday, a month after the General Election, a new government was finally formed. See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/story.cfm?c_id=1500891&ObjectID=10350712

Helen Clark and the Labour-Progressive coalition is in for a third term, this time with support from New Zealand First and United Future. Leaders of both these parties, Winston Peters and Peter Dunne, are ministers outside cabinet. So the only difference really between this government and the last one is that NZ First are on board as well.

I'm reasonably happy with this new arrangement because my man Winnie is back in a position of power! NZ First and United Future are both good parties with sensible policies, so I am sure they will keep the government in line!

And the great thing about it is the radical parties, ACT, the Greens, and the Maori Party, have been kept out of the mix!!

I don't know if this will be a stable government for the next 3 years - anything at all could happen - but Winnie is still the man!

Very tragic news

Well, today, there was very sad news. No, I'm not talking about the death of Ronnie Barker, I'm talking about the sacking of news anchor Judy Bailey by state broadcaster TVNZ. (See: http://www.tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/616329). Yeah right!

About flippin time I think! I'm glad she has finally been dumped by TVNZ after 18 years in the same job! TVNZ say they have have done it because of falling ratings and wanting to attract a younger audience. A younger audience? Only old fuddy-duddies watch One News so they are not going to like Judy Bailey being dropped. Yeah, who cares! I think One News ratings will drop even further and this will be great for 3 News who's ratings have been on the rise for a long time (especially in Auckland).

So it's a great day for broadcasting in New Zealand. Wouldn't you rather watch independent run 3 News than government controlled One News??