The Sunday Newspaper Brunch Club

On the Sunday Newspaper Brunch Club today – the best political team on television – Blogger, Alt Tv producer, political media commentator, Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury, fellow blogger and last man in NZ to ever be convicted of Sedition, Tim ‘lock up your electoral office windows’ Selwyn and shining light of the right, the only replacement chance to that awful Mathew Hooten for another generation, political editor of the NBR - Ben ‘I heart capitalism’ Thomas.

News that caught my eye
1: BSA ruling on marquis condoms – they’ve banned an advert for condoms because the advert uses the word ‘poke’ – referring to a facebook marquis condom application you can get to poke other facebook users, but because the BSA are so grey and old they don’t know the concept, so a clever way to interact with the next generation regarding safe sex gets shut down because the BSA – a pointless bunch of community do gooders staying up late at night to pick up if a naughty word has been spoken so that a rightous spanking can be administered in the town square.

2: Saw The Hollow Men play last night – a real reminder that John Key’s move to moderation may well be just an election ploy at that he has no intention of moderating any hidden right wing agenda.

3: Electric Shock treatment – I’m appalled it is still used.

4: Canary in coalmine moment – the latest research showing that the Ocean is now warming 2-4 times faster than predicted by the IPCC.

5: Horomia – a fat bastard too far? Starving kids are doing it to be thin – thoughts on this?

6: Dom Post charged over Terror Post

7: The report on Iraq this week – what a waste of time, it’s now a quagmire, while the latest UN report on humanitarian breakdown in Iraq paints a grim picture, Four million Iraqis do not have enough food, only 40 per cent have reliable access to safe drinking water and about one third of the population is cut off from basic health care, he said. More than 1.26 million Iraqis have left their homes and become internal refugees because of sectarian violence since 2006.

8: FTA details and Winnie goes walkabouts from the partyline.

Story 1:Tax cuts but not at any price – HOS
Tax cuts are overwhelmingly popular with Kiwis - but they don't have to be big, and they shouldn't lead to rises in interest rates or cuts to social spending. New research by the Business Council for Sustainable Development shows 85 per cent of Kiwis want more of their pay packet in their wallets - up 9 per cent since the last survey in October. But 71 per cent would change their minds if prices and interest rates rise as a result - and almost two-thirds don't want tax cuts funded by slashing budgets for benefits, health and education.
Ok – nothing new here – but as the blogger Idiot/Savant pointed out last week when this same group, the Business Council for Sustainable Development tried to tell everyone that NZers were’warming up’ to nuclear power, it is an online polling company – ie you have to be a registered online user, which auomatically weights it in a certain class favour doesn’t it? Do these polls really explain anything?

Story 2: Unruly face-off - sst
A fire alarm yesterday gave a small but rowdy group of protesters the perfect chance to get in the faces of delegates at the Labour Party's annual congress. The more than 600 delegates had to evacuate Wellington Town Hall when Prime Minister Helen Clark was just moments into her keynote speech. The small police contingent had until then been able to easily cope with the 50-odd protesters but the evacuation brought delegates and MPs face to face, with some ministers finding themselves jostled. Bearing the brunt were Finance Minister Michael Cullen and Local Government Minister Mark Burton, who combined to protect an elderly delegate from the melee.
Not the way they wanted to start their conference was it? The fury the raids created really needs to be a lesson to the Police in future in the way they go about arresting people or you get this. Ugly scenes, very ugly protestors - Any surprises in Helen’s address?

Story 3: Food riots 'will spread'-hos
Food riots in developing countries will spread unless world leaders take major steps to reduce prices for the poor, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said yesterday. Despite a forecast 2.6 per cent rise in global cereal output this year, record prices are unlikely to fall, forcing poorer countries' food import bills up 56 per cent and hungry people on to the streets, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said.
World food prices shooting up as a combination on more demand, bio fuel land use and crop failure due to climate change all impact seeing rice go up 40% in price in two weeks and food riots breaking out in Haiti and food tensions in Egypt and India and 37 other countries.

Story 4: Story 4: UN chief joins chorus - hos
Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has indicated he will skip the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics this summer, capping an extraordinary week of public relations disasters for the Chinese Government as it struggles to contain international anger over its policies towards Tibet. Officials fudged the reasons for Ban's decision, citing scheduling conflicts. But he is only the latest world leader in recent days suddenly to have found reasons to duck the opening events, after a similar move by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Making matters still worse for the hosts - and also for an increasingly jittery International Olympics Committee (IOC), which has been meeting this week in Beijing -has been the near pandemonium that has attended nearly every stage so far of the torch relay around the world.
How much of a public relations nightmare has this been? Who would have guessed a tradition started by the nazis would fail? How bad is this for China?

Story 5: Story 5: Our problem with drink - sst
THE LOWERING of the drinking age has led to an explosion in teenage drink-driving convictions, new figures show. Sunday Star-Times' analysis of drink-driving convictions over the past decade show teenage New Zealanders, women and those aged 40-plus are our worst drink-drivers. But the teen figures are the most alarming in 2006, excess breath-alcohol convictions for boys aged 17-19 were up almost 54% on 1996, and the number of girls convicted in that age group more than doubled, from 470 in 1996 to 1147 in 2006. Industry experts are blaming the surge on the 1999 lowering of the drinking age from 20 to 18, and today's easy access to cheap alcohol.
Isn’t the issue the ease of heavy cheap booze (RTDs) and the fact we already have a low driving age – and shouldn’t we be reducing where the booze can be sold, and where are these kids picking up the habit?

Last word: Let’s be Frank, 10pm tonight, Oliver interviews the slightly mad John Banks, and next week he talks to Peter Dunne on the Free Trade Deal, and the week after that – Nicky Hager on the Hollow Men as the play open sin Auckland this week – go and see it.