News the New Zealand way

TVNZ is refreshingly free of the BBC's cult of sober pseudo-impartiality, and nobody indulges it more than their London correspondent, Gordon Harcourt. During the UK election, his objective assessment was, "The Tories are toast." Tonight his report on the Blair-Bush summit mentioned a number of African governments, good, bad and "Bob Mugabe waving a flag for the Insane Despots Brigade."

Their breakfast magazine programme mounted a month-long campaign of sniping against Hamilton, the most rural of NZ's big centres and a notorious backwater. This eventually reached a point where the producers had to schedule a slot with three prominent Hamiltonians to get their own back on the presenter at the head of all this mischief. The resulting interview was priceless, especially the revelation from the punk rock member of the panel that Hamilton has the biggest porn industry in NZ. Just what the kiddies want to hear over their cornflakes.

Oh, and TVNZ's satire series, Face Lift, is a kind of live action Spitting Image. Yes, live action. The unholy combination of human actors and latex caricature is not something you want to come upon without warning. But, by Jove, they've got Winston "Hammer of the Iraqis" Peters nailed...