Julian Wilcox led an informative hour. The Urewera 4 had their say. Police mouth Greg O'Connor's Angry Dick monologue warmed things up nicely and the panel's four talking heads had enough time to say their respective piece.
Unlike, for example, this from Q&A the other week:
PAUL Well, look, I can remember sitting over there on the other side of the studio having debate after debate after debate when Helen Clark was trying to get rid of the cigarette sponsorship on the racing cars, when she was trying to get the smoking out of the offices, and to a lot of people it seemed kooky, nanny state. Out of the bars nanny state.Jesus, Paul, Bob and Ron. You don't have to be stoned to be a rude bastard. That wasn't Landmark so much as Landfill TV. Will someone put that dithering Holmes out to pasture and get someone who can generate content other than Kafka?
BOB Yeah, drugs is one.
BRYCE And I'm not sure that were going down the opposite
RON And, Bob
PAUL Well, the war on
RON You're probably one who would like Don Brash, would advocate decriminalising
BOB No, I'm not Don Brash.
RON Decriminalising dope. Well, dope is
BOB Don't go there. I'm not talking about
RON No, but its the same you're talking smoking and you're talking about social well-being of our populace.
BOB Uh-huh.
RON You can't
BOB And the health of the country.
The imminent death of TVNZ7 was marked early in the week at an Auckland meeting with a mock funeral. The coffin was a nice touch, but the dreary hymns were laying it on a bit thick. The people at TVNZ7 aren't going out with a dirge. No sirree, they're going out guns blazing. As Brit butter patsie John Lyndon once noted long ago, anger is an energy.
