Kiwiblog

The PAP Blog has some great charts showing the correlation between high GDP and 17 measures ranging from corruption and poverty to resources and education. Their findings:

• low levels of GDP and high levels of corruptions are correlated
• poverty reduction and per capita income growth performances are correlated
• countries with lots of natural resources tend to do worse than countries with less resource wealth, both in terms of economic growth and in political, social and human rights terms
• economic freedom is correlated with income
• Rule of law is correlated to GDP per person
• There is only a partial correlation between democracy and economic growth but stronger correlation between democracy and level of GDP
• countries which have experienced a transition to democracy experience higher average growth after the transition
• GDP per capita and enrolment rates in secondary education are correlated
• As per capita income increases to around US$5,000 per annum, environmental quality falls, but then from around $8,000 per capita onwards, the environmental quality rises again
• GDP and happiness is correlated
• Unemployment is negatively correlated to GDP growth but not to GDP level
• Countries with more equal land distribution tend to grow faster
• GDP per capita is correlated to percentage of population who donate to charity
• GDP is correlated to individualism in a country
• Wealthier countries tend to have less income inequality
• GDP growth is correlated to incumbent Government’s being re-elected

The above is one reason I find it amusing when certain MPs rail against GDP and GDP growth. I guess they think it is call coincidental, and none of it causative.

Sarah Harvey at Stuff has done a profile and interview with Jami-Lee Ross, National’s Botany candidate.

In the past National has been perceived as having MPs who come from privliged backgrounds, ie Torys. This is less and less the case with each new intake of MPs, including John Key of course.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Papatoetoe. I was raised by my grandmother. I have never met my father and my mother was quite young when she had me so my grandmother decided when I was baby that she would take me on.

Grandma did a pretty good job I’d say.

What about in your personal life?

I have a pilot’s licence. I don’t get much time to fly these days. I guess when I was starting out as a teenager that was the direction I wanted to go in and started off pilots training. But once I got on the council I found that it’s fairly intensive and a full time job so I haven’t had time to pursue that – it’s more of a hobby now.

I know Wayne Mapp has a pilot’s licence also. I wonder how many MPs do?

If I had a pilot’s licence and a small plane, then paradise would be also having a home on Great Barrier Island and commuting to work by flying yourself!

ICANN today issued the last five blocks of IPv4 addresses to the five regional address registries. Earlier in the week the Asia-Pacific registry was allocated the last two blocks to be allocated normally. ICANN policy was that once there are only five blocks left, then they automatically get handed one each to each RIR.

ICANN announced:

A critical point in the history of the Internet was reached today with the allocation of the last remaining IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) Internet addresses from a central pool. It means the future expansion of the Internet is now dependant on the successful global deployment of the next generation of Internet protocol, called IPv6.

The announcement was made by four international non-profit groups, which collaboratively work to coordinate the world’s Internet addressing system and its technical standards.

At a news conference in Miami, Florida, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) joined the Number Resources Organization (NRO), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the Internet Society in announcing that the pool of first generation Internet addresses has now been completely emptied.

The final allocation of Internet addresses was administered by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which is a function of ICANN.

So what does it mean?

The new Internet protocol, IPv6, will open up a pool of Internet addresses that is a billion-trillion times larger than the total pool of IPv4 addresses (about 4.3 billion), which means the number of IPv6 addresses is virtually inexhaustible for the foreseeable future.

The best analogy in terms of the respective sizes is that if the total IPv4 address space is a golf ball, the total IPv6 address space would be the Sun.

The IPv6 address space is 2^128. There are almost 7 billion humans on Earth, so each of us could have around 48 thousand trillion trillion IPv6 addresses.

The allocation of the final IPv4 addresses is analogous to the last crates of a product leaving a manufacturing warehouse and going to the regional stores or distributions centers, where they can still be distributed to the public. Once they are gone, the supply is exhausted. In this case, the RIRs will distribute the last IPv4 addresses to Internet Service Providers, universities, governments, telecommunications companies and other enterprises.

“It’s only a matter of time before the RIRs and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) must start denying requests for IPv4 address space,” said Raúl Echeberría, Chairman of the Number Resource Organization, the umbrella organization of the five RIRs. “Deploying IPv6 is now a requirement, not an option.”

What will be interesting to watch is whether a secondary commercial market emerges for IPv4 addresses, as they become more scarce.

They won’t become scarce in countries like NZ for a couple of years, but it will still be very prudent to make sure that any new equipment you buy is IPv6 compatible, and to consider renumbering to IPv6 at some stage (while retaining IPv4 also).

Vernon Small writes:

The meteoric rise of Wellington Central MP Grant Robertson to Labour’s front bench will further fuel speculation that he could be a future leader of the party.

I’ve long said that I think Grant will become Labour Leader, and indeed probably even a Labour Prime Minister.

I don’t think he will be the next leader, but the one after that. He is young enough to be able to wait his time.

However, asked about his leadership ambitions before yesterday’s reshuffle, he said: “Every politician has got ambitions. Every politician … wants to be a minister but it is also really important to take one step at a time and not get too beyond yourself.”

Which is saying of course he wants to be Leader/PM, but one step at a time. Quite nice to have an MP not deny he has ambitions – after all most of them would like to be PM.

The Dom Post reports:

Maori cannot opt out of their tribal burial customs, the Court of Appeal has been told in the case of a man whose iwi buried his body without the consent of his widow and children.

Jim Takamore was buried in Bay of Plenty after his Tuhoe iwi returned him there under what they said was their customary right to decide on the resting place of iwi members.

He remains there despite a High Court ruling in 2009 in favour of the right of Mr Takamore’s widow, Denise Clarke, who is executor of his will, to have him buried near her and their two children in Christchurch, where he had lived for about 20 years.

Mr Takamore’s mother and two siblings are continuing their court case for formal recognition of what they say is Tuhoe tikanga.

Their lawyer, Jamie Ferguson, told the Court of Appeal in Wellington yesterday that Maori could not “opt out” of tribal burial customs.

Tikanga should trump an executor’s wishes if tikanga was proved and properly used.

Well I’m glad I’m not Tuhoe, as I’d rather not have my corpse stolen from my family.

If the Court of Appeal has a fit of madness, and decides tikanga does trump the wishes of the deceased and the executor, then my advice to those affected would be to arrange for viking funerals where your corpse is burnt, so it can’t be stolen.

James Weir reporrts in the Dom Post:

Unions said there was a risk of a “jobless recovery”. Farmers enjoying high commodity prices may simply pay back debt, while consumers held off spending and firms avoided hiring, the National Distribution Union said. “Many jobs lost in the recession will not be replaced,” its general secretary, Robert Reid, said.

He called for a lift in the minimum wage to $15 an hour …

Oh yes putting the minimum wage up to $15 an hour will create jobs.

Why stop there. Let’s solve unemployment and put the minimum wage up to $30 an hour.

Sticking with the birds today- an Australian fig eater- the bird has just started on its task of converting the fruit into digestible chunks. (I liked the way the bird’s colours matched the background)

Click for larger, higher res image

Hope everyone is getting some relief from the humidity today. Coffee is beckoning me now however…

Te Karere have released part 2 of their poll of 1,000 Maori voters.

They have asked “The new legislation replacing the Foreshore and Seabed Act is the Marine and Coastal Area Bill and is currently before Parliament. Do you support the new Bill?“. 24% said yes, 39% no and 38% don’t know.  so neither yes or no is the majority, but more are saying they don’t support it.

However when they are asked “Do you think the Maori Party should support the new Bill to become law?” it is almost a dead heat – 31% yes, 32% no and 37% don’t know. I think this sums up the challenge for the Maori Party – that there is a 50/50 split amongst those who have an opinion in terms of whether they vote for it.

There is a small difference by roll type. Those on the Maori roll are a net 3% against and those on the general roll a net 3% in favour.

Final question to Maori Party voters only was “Do you think the National and Maori Party coalition has worked in favour of your best interests? and 48% said yes and 46% no. Those on Maori roll were 4% net yes and those on geeral roll 8% net no.

Kelly Gregor in the NZ Herald reports:

A bankrupt and disgraced former National MP was sentenced to one month in jail yesterday after defying court orders and lying in court.

Trevor Rogers and his wife Glenda have been embroiled in a dispute between the receivers of a company they were directors of and owned the majority shareholding in through a family trust. …

Justice Peter Woodhouse’s judgment, which was delivered in December, states that the couple defied court orders.

“I have come to the conclusion that Mr and Mrs Rogers have continued to defy courts, lie to the court and that they do have possession or control of the IP [intellectual property] and other assets of TGR.”

Rogers was the idiot who wanted to censor the Internet and had a bill, which if implemented, would have seen NZ cut off from the Internet.

Thankfully he left National in the mid 90s to join his fellow intellectual heavyweight Ross Meurant in the Right of Centre party, or as we reffered to it – the Dumb and Dumber party.

Details from tweets (and now the release) are:

• Grant Robertson picks up Health and moves to front bench
• Darren Hughes gets education
• Trevor Mallard Shadow Leader of the House and Associate Finance
• Shane Jones moves to No 13, but only has Associate Maori Affairs, plus  Transport, Infrastructure & Fisheries
• Dyson stays No 5, gets conservation, state services and immigration
• Parker moves to No 4
• Chauvel & Moronery move up rankings
• Sio gets Pacific Island Affairs
• Twyford gets Local Government
• Ardern gets Employment
• Shearer, Nash, Fenton, Hipkins, Davis and Burns get rankings

The Robertson move is the best part of the reshuffle. Tony Ryall will have a more challenging time with Grant against him. Health is traditionally a strong area for Labour, and the fact they have performed so dismally in this area has to change, for them to be competitive. It also marks the high regard Robertson is held in, to get it in just two years. He is a future Labour Prime Minister in my opinion.

Darren replacing Trevor in Education is also a good move. Trevor has all the union and teacher links, but his public persona is bad, and seen as part of the past. Darren will bring a more friendly image, and being young in this portfolio is not a bad thing.

Jones has a chance to redeem himself. He is very talented but notoriously lazy also – if he wants to be Leader, he now has to put in the hard work in his portfolios.

Mallard has basically been the de facto Shadow Leader anyway, so no real change there.

With Ruth Dyson, I can’t do better the copy Danyl Mc”s tweet: “Not enough liquid nitrogen in Thorndon to remove Dyson from front bench”

Goff has made a mistake in keeping Dyson on. While what he has done is generally good, it doesn’t go far enough. The front bench is still comprised of all Clark era Ministers with the sole exception being Grant – who instead was in the PMs Office. But the reality is Goff’s leadership is not strong enough that he could denote Dyson.

Parker going up to No 4 reflects performance. And if Labour loses the next election, I would expect Parker to move to No 2 or 3 and be Finance Spokesperson., with Cunliffe as Leader.

Annoyingly Labour have not put out a full list of portfolios and rankings, so can’t comment in detail on the other moves.

Overall Goff gets positive marks for the reshuffle – the new lineup will put more pressure on National. But I don’t think it will be a circuit breaker in its attempts to reconnect with the public.

After falling last quarter, unemployment has risen again to 6.8%. This reinforces how the economy will be the biggest issue in election year, and the Government will not want to go into the election with unemployment this high.

John Anthony from the Taranaki Daily News reports:

Outspoken local body politician Sherril George is facing an investigation and calls to resign following her campaign urging people to boycott a Waitara food outlet.

Ms George stood outside the shop in the town’s main street yesterday next to a sign urging people to “support businesses that support your community”.

She handed out leaflets to shoppers berating the Cambodian-owned firm for, among other things, not being local, not employing locals, not investing in the local economy and for providing cheap and low quality products.

Unbelievable – a Councillor picketing a rate paying business, trying to close it down. Their sin, as far as I can tell, is they were born in Cambodia.

Ms George said the protest had nothing to do with her own food outlet in Waitara losing customers.

Oh my God, even worse.

“This is nothing to do with my shop. This is to do with the health of our town and the economy. I’m trying to make other small communities aware of what happens when these people move in. There are 14 food stores here in Waitara and one comes in here and kills it for everyone else.”

She referred to them as “these people”. Nah, she’s not racist.

Town and Country Food’s owner Hoyt Khuon said Ms George’s behaviour yesterday was very unusual. “I’ve never seen anybody behave like this before.”

If Ms George wanted to attract more customers she should improve her product, he said.

He sounds Kiwi to me. Good advice.

His business contributed significantly to the community, he said. He used Waitara builders, plumbers and electricians when he set up. Most products purchased for the shop were done so through Waitara businesses.

Mr Khuon considered himself a local already and would be happy to support future community projects, he said. He and his wife rented a home in Waitara.

“If I’m going to live here I’m going to be a local too. Everywhere I walk around here I feel safe and people say `Nice food’.” …

The business employed five people including himself and he would look to employ more Waitara residents in the future, he said.

Great.

Naki Butcher & Fruit Bowl owner Laine Cummings said his business had improved since Town and Country Food opened.

“I fully support it. I reckon they’ve done Waitara well. There’s a lot more foot traffic and a lot more people on the street,” he said.

Waitara businessman Jeff Davidson, who bought his morning tea from Town and Country Food yesterday, said he totally disagreed with Ms George’s behaviour.

The new business had brought positive changes to Waitara, he said.

“I’ve never seen the main street so full.”

Waitara resident Marcus Russ said Town and Country Food was a great addition to the town and claimed Ms George’s actions were more racist than anything else.

Another customer, Nadene Brown, said she ate there nearly every second day.

“This place gives you everything, it’s just a shame everyone is up in arms about it.”

Nice to see locals being fair minded.

The Waitara Hot Bread Shop owner, who did not want to be named, said sales had dropped about 50 per cent since Town and Country opened next door.

“It’s not fair for me having them right next door.”

Town and Country Food had stolen most of its customers, he said.

No they are not your customers to steal. It may seem unfair, but competition can”t be banned to protect current businesses.

There’s been interesting speculation on why Winston was ruled out. Some think it is tactical (to try and paint him and Goff together). Some say it is because of policy differences. Both may be minor factors, but miss the big reason.

He was ruled out because you simply can not trust him at all.

Peters lied not once but dozens and dozens of times over his knowledge of the Owen Glenn donation. He lied to the media, he lied to the public, he even lied to the then Prime Minister’s face. Helen Clark told Winston that Owen Glenn told her he had donated $100,000 and Peters lied to her face and said he knew nothing about it. And the phone records show that was clearly a lie.

Clark was prepared to tolerate a Minister who lies to her face, in her quest to retain power. Key is not – simple as that.

This is not about policies. Arguably NZ First has more policies in common with National than the Greens and maybe the Maori Party.

John Key does not rule out the Greens. In fact he has a co-operation (but not confidence) agreement with them. If there was a desire to do so, I think he would even consider a deal where you have the Greens take up a couple of portfolios in exchange for perhaps abstaining on confidence and supply. That would depend on being able to agree on enough policies in common.

The nature of MMP means that no political party is likely to govern alone, and the system demands that parties compromise on policies in order to form a Government. But it does not mean that parties should compromise on integrity.

At the end of the day one could trust Metiria Turei and Russel Norman in a Government to not lie to the Prime Minister. Likewise with the Maori Party.

John Key ruled Winston out in 2008 because Winston lied about the Owen Glenn donation, and could not be trusted. Winston has never apologised for his actions, and to this day still insists he did not lie – that somehow it was a coincidence that Owen Glenn phone up Winston’s lawyers with a $100,000 donation five seconds after speaking to Winston.

Unless Winston did some sort of mea culpa and apologised for what he did, then of course John Key was going to have to rule him out again. Because otherwise people would ask, what has changed? And the reality is, nothing has.

Media have now also asked Phil Goff who is on his list of five hottest women, and of course John Key’s list has gone global.

But why has no reporter asked Shane Jones for his five hottest women?

Mike Watson at the Dom Post reports:

Mears, 26, of Hamilton, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years’ jail yesterday after admitting a charge of manslaughter in December. It is the first time someone has been convicted of manslaughter for a hunting homicide in New Zealand.

Miss Ives mother, Margaret McFarlane, told the court she “wanted to die herself” when she was rung to be told her daughter, a Montessori teacher, had been killed.

“I have no understanding of how a grown man could make so many illegal, selfish, ill-considered and deliberate decisions that ultimately led to him shooting my daughter at close range.

“This was not an accident and it did not happen by chance. There will never be any forgiveness from me for Mears.”

It is correct that this was not some stroke of bad luck, or accident.

Mears has impressed me by his contrition and willingness to front up and talk about how stupid he was, and how awful he feels about what he did (I 95% accept it as genuine – 5% of me remains stubbornly cynical and wonders if his lawyer just told him he should do that).

He does seem shattered by what he did, and I doubt he will ever offend again.

But not sending him to jail was never an option in my opinion, and the sentence is about right. A young woman is dead at Mears’ hand – gunned down in front of her partner. It wasn’t murder but it was manslaughter, and absolutely avoidable. Quite simply you don’t fire a gun unless you are absolutely sure what you are firing at.

Mears’ will not serve the full 30 months in prison. I expect he will get parole at the earliest opportunity. But his sentence hopefully ill serve as a deterrent to others.

AP report:

South Africa’s governing party has pronounced: eating sushi off the body of a model in a bikini is politically incorrect.

A statement from African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Monday is unequivocal: “This act is anti-ANC and anti-revolutionary. This act is defamatory, insensitive and undermining of woman’s integrity.”

The fish-on-flesh question has raged in South African media in recent months following reports of the practice at parties of wealthy businessmen and socialites. Earlier Monday, Johannesburg newspapers reported the head of the ANC’s powerful youth league had attended such a party over the weekend.

How nice of the ANC to decie this matter. I wonder if it becomes acceptable if it is sashimi instead?

TVNZ’s Te Karere programme has just released a poll done of 1,002 Maori voters (367 from general and 635 from Maori rolls), taken from 6 to 28 January. I blogged their 2010 poll here. Key findings so far are below. :

Party Vote:

• Labour 36.9% (-1.0% from Jan 10)
• Maori Party 36.2% (-2.1%)
• National 16.8% (-0.15)
• Greens 4.5% (+1.2%)
• NZ First 4.3%
• ACT 0.8% (+0.6%)

Not a lot of change from last year I have to say. The breakdown by roll is interesting. On the Maori roll it is Maori Party 46% (-5%), Labour 35% (+3%) and National 12% (+15). On the general roll it is Labour 42% (-9%), National 30% (+2%), Maori 11% (nc).

One can compare the Maori roll results to the 2008 election. Labour got 50% of the party vote in the 2008 election, so are down 15% from the election. The Maori Party got 29% of the maori roll party vote in the 2008 election, so are up 17% from the election. So in 2008 Labour was 21% higher than the Maori Party, and today they are 11% behind the Maori Party – a net 16% swing from Labour.

Preferred PM:

1. John Key 26.4% (-4.1%)
2. Pita Sharples 7.8% (-4.0%)
3. Tariana Turia 7.8% (+2.9%)
4. Winston Peters 7.0% (nc)
5. Phil Goff 6.4% (+1.8%)
6. Hone Harawira 2.7% (-0.3%)
7. Helen Clark 2.6% (-1.2%)
8. Shane Jones 2.1% (-0.1%)

A small improvement for Goff, but still very low considering how strong Maori support for Labour has been in the past.

Key is Preferred PM for 33% of Maori on the general roll and 24% of Maori on the Maori roll.

Phil Goff

• Only 25.2% (-10.8%) of Labour voters think he is the best person to lead Labour
• 24.1% (+5.9%) say Goff provides good leadership on Maori issues

Shane Jones will be pleased with these results.

The Dom Post reports:

Wellington waterfront visitors will be able to connect to the internet for free from this morning with the launch of Trade Me’s wi-fi network.

Initially expected to cover the area south from Frank Kitts Lagoon to the waterfront side of Te Papa, it is likely to extend to areas including the Sunday markets.

Weather’s not great today, but hope to try it out at the weekend with an iPad at one of the fine bars on the waterfront.

The Dom Post reports:

He also said he would rule out a coalition with Winston Peters and NZ First. He said there was no place for Peters in a National-led government.

Yay, yay, yay. It is indeed preferable to go into Opposition than try to run a Government with Winston in it. Key has explicitly said that if Winston holds the balance of power, then Phil Goff will be Prime Minister.

Labour sacrificed their integrity defending Peters in 2008. It was obvious Peters lied time and time again over his knowledge of the Glenn donation. The phone records leave no reasonable doubt. But Labour defended his lies, and both in 2008 and again in 2011 will give him anything he asks for, in a grasp for power.

I was incredibly proud of John Key when he ruled Peters out in 2008, and again today I’m thrilled he has done so.

A key message for this year will be that a vote for Winston is a vote for Labour and Goff, and that a vote for Labour is a vote for Peters to be back in Government (if they make 5%).

NZIER have released research into the 90 day trial periods. What they did is:

Data are now available to analyse these impacts in the policy’s first several months in operation.¹ NZIER has conducted an initial analysis of the publicly available data from Statistics New Zealand’s Linked Employer-Employee Database (LEED), including April 2009 to September 2009. Our analysis assessed year-over-year changes in total jobs, accessions (hirings), and separations (firings) from 2005 to 2009 for six size categories of employers in 17 industries. The analysis controlled for seasonal variation in employment by identifying second and third quarter figures separately. Simple regression models² were estimated for the three employment variables. The models also included a variable indicating whether the trial period was in effect for the time period and firm size. The regressions used are a simple analytical technique; more complex models may be able to estimate the policy’s impact more precisely.

So this is an analysis of actual employer data from Stats NZ. So what did they find:

• The trial period appears to have increased hiring. On average, hiring by SMEs was almost six percentage points higher than expected, given the relative performance of other firms and the annual hiring trends.
• Total job numbers for these firms were also higher, by about two percentage points.
• These positive employment outcomes happened while hiring overall was falling. The model found that hirings fell on average in 2008 and 2009.
• There was little difference in hiring behaviours across industries.

A 6% improvement in hiring and a 2% improvement in job numbers are good outcomes. The extension of the 90 day trial period to all employers is a good thing.

The Prime Minister has announced the general election will be held on Saturday 26 November 2011.

I must point out that last March I blogged on the election date and said that 26 November was the most likely date. I was never one who thought the PM would go early for a possible tactical advantage.

In fact Key has again shown how different he is to his predecessors. Previous PMs have treated the election date as being more precious, than – well the Ring to Gollum. They’ve kept it secret for as long as possible, to gain maximum tactical advantage from it.

Hopefully this move by Key, may be a first step towards having a fixed election date. Unless the Government has collapsed or lost confidence, Parliament should continue full-term. Previous PMs Muldoon and Clark called snap election on flimsy excuses (Clark’s was there were too many points of order during question time).

Under the new electoral legislation s3B(2)((a)(ii) the regulated period starts three months before the election day, on the 26th of August 2011.

Claire Trevett in the NZ Herald reports:

Mr Key said he was assured by the Chief of the Defence Force that the SAS’s world cup commitments would not be compromised by the small contingent remaining in Afghanistan.

He expected it to be the last deployment in Afghanistan and said the SAS had requested it to allow troops to complete their work with the crisis response unit so it could continue on without them. He believed the SAS was best placed to assess the situation, so he had taken the request on board.

I think it is sensible to finish a job they have started, and helping train up the Afghan Crisis Response Team is a job which won’t extendon forever.

Although Labour had previously sent the SAS to Afghanistan, its leader Phil Goff opposed the 2009 deployment saying the Afghan Government was clearly corrupt. Yesterday he repeated his concerns, saying New Zealand should instead focus on reconstruction in Bamiyan.

I despair that Labour though all principles to the wind in a desperate gasp for publicity. If the Government is too corrupt to have the SAS remain, then logically it is too corrupt to have the Provincial Reconstruction Team remain also.

I find it almost amusing that Labour sent the SAS to Afghanistan when George W Bush asked for them, but say we should say “fuck off” to the US when nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama asks for them.

Jessica Mutch blogs:

On Friday I was in East Auckland covering the Labour Party Caucus meeting.

In the afternoon I travelled to West Auckland to an event the Prime Minister was hosting.

Note that it was in West Auckland – in fact in te Atatu. This is traditional Labour homeland territory.

It’s not unusual for a Prime Minister to be greeted warmly at such events and for a few kids to trail around after the PM and the TV camera… but this was unusual.

Key was barely a few steps inside before he was mobbed by both kids and parents.

He spent a good 20 minutes (maybe longer – we had to leave after 20 minutes) posing for photos, signing shirts and shaking hands.

The hordes of people grew – as did the nervous looks of the Diplomatic Protection Squad.

Young guys were coming up to the PM and putting their arm around him… and calling him John.

Heh the poor DPS.

He seemed to be loving the attention – and courting it. I wonder when John Key’s status moved from Prime Minister to celebrity?

Can he be both? And do we want him to be both? Is this just a sign of a popular Prime Minister or has he worked hard to appear approachable?

I think he is popular because he is just himself. There aren’t two John Keys. He is genuinely friendly and approachable, and hasn’t had his job go to his head.