How MG Rover mirrored the developments at Lada

I still have Adam Curtis’s The Mayfair Set, a TV series charting the decline of British power and the rise of the technocracy, recorded on video cassette somewhere. I consider him someone who can see through the emperor having no clothes, and in The Mayfair Set, he certainly saw through the Empire having no clothes. […]

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Eating Google humble pie

Today, I am eating Google humble pie, because it was right about malware on Autocade. Therefore: thank you, Google. (I’m not so petty as to not thank them for when they get things right.)    Since Google had cried wolf over this blog, which has never had malware issues, I had to question it. Nevertheless, […]

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Norman Macrae, RIP

I learned the sad news that Norman Macrae, CBE, 旭日章, passed away on June 11, just shy of his 87th birthday.    Norman was one of the great visionaries and forecasters of the 20th century, and served as deputy chief editor of The Economist till his retirement in 1988.    Among his forecasts was the […]

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Let the Outrageous Fortune come

Almost any New Zealander will recognize this image: a cast photograph from the long-running TV series Outrageous Fortune.    When I first heard of this show from Antonia Prebble, before she started filming, I have to admit I didn’t think the premise would see it last five years (and counting). But for New Zealand television […]

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On Wellywood, Murdoch and English accents

The good news today is that Wellington Airport is officially in two minds about what type of sign it will put up on the Miramar cutting, which means that the ‘Wellywood’ sign protest has had a victory of sorts.    I’m thrilled at the news because it shows people power—especially people like Anthony Lander who […]

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I need to listen to some Fred Dagg before I go on

To be confirmed is an interview with the BBC, in my politician guise. I have not been on radio in the other hemisphere for something like seven years, and that time it went to some of the most way-out places (it was UN Radio). I have one reservation only: my accent goes all over the […]

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Funny how the war keeps coming up

I could guess the entire storyline but my goodness, I still think this is hilarious. (Courtesy Chris Young at C7 Design in New Plymouth.) You may also like Is your favourite 1980s’ celeb here? Doctor Who’s Christmas ’10 special: US trailer On the subject of copying Steve McQueen, advertising spokesman, 1980 to date Starting Upstairs, […]

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Trading identities in the personal branding space

The day the current mayor, Kerry Prendergast, announced her intention to stand for a fourth term, I was asked by a few media colleagues what I thought. The wittiest reply I gave to Salient, as it was an email interview, and I seem to be cheekier in writing than I am in speaking. I won’t […]

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Embrace life

I may be later than many in writing about this, but I only saw it in my Tweetstream today.    What a welcome departure from the blood-and-gore approach of many road safety public announcements, from the Sussex Safer Roads Partnership. You may also like Finding the heart on Top Gear again Funny how the war […]

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Steve McQueen, advertising spokesman, 1980 to date

Found on Pete’s Tumblr today. Can you believe it’s been 30 years since the man died? A few weeks later, John Lennon was murdered. Very enjoyable, though I still like the old Ford Puma ad from a decade ago: My American friends prefer a later Steve McQueen ad promoting the Mustang:    I still think […]

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