New Zealand doesn't really do political scandals so the recent revelations surrounding newly elected Auckland Mayor Len Brown have, for some, been quite absorbing. For most, it has been a storm in a rather sordid tea cup despite the significant speculation as to whether the timing, revelations and subsequent debate were a political set up designed to force another election.
From where I sit, it reminded me of the New Zealand series called 'Go Girls', where a group of hapless 20-somethings stagger from one disaster to another. The whole episode had an air of comedy that outweighed the whiff of tragedy that Brown's family must have experienced and demonstrated that if there was a plot afoot, those involved need to be a lot sharper in their scripting if they want be involved in the style of political machinations to be found on the US series West Wing.
From a public relations perspective I was interested in the Brown camp's strategy which was dominated by the old school 'duck, cover and say nothing'. His one mea culpa on John Campbell was something of a shambles while his calls for media to 'respect his family' had a hollow ring given he had himself been sufficiently disrespectful to his family to indulge in his two-year affair.
I suspect there will be more revelations in the weeks ahead which will need to be dealt with - running for cover will not improve matters at all.
Good behaviour - the X Factor that keeps your licence to operate
There's been a huge furore in the last 24 hours over New Zealand's X Factor, thanks to some ill-considered comments by husband-and-wife judging duo Natalia Kills and Willy Moon. Now, New Zealand On Air has announced it is withdrawing funding from the show, although they suggest they made their mind up about this before the controversy. Both judges will be replaced because of their remarks - and currently face a tirade of abuse themselves on their social accounts - much of it absolutely despicable. Elsewhere, the discussion rages around whether the whole thing was a hoax designed to boost the show's flagging ratings and we are left with a million suit-and-hair memes littering the web. All in all, it's a shambles. So who is to blame?
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