You might want to give your brother a clip round the ears Colin ;P As Phil O'Reilly said on Q&A, its a side show. I'm sure Guyon thought he'd scored big time with "Is that uranium I can smell on John Key's share portfolio?". And as you say, I thought we were nuclear weapon free, not out right nuclear free (no CO2 emissions from nuclear power generation).

The Maori parties push for what appears to be outright ownership of the foreshore & seabed worries me though (after recent comments from Turia). I prefer John Key's option of nobody owning it. Its there for all NZer's.

Certainly the holding of mining shares, change of said company to include uranium mining and a link to NZ's Nuclear Free Policy was tenuous at best and at the most clutching a straws on a slow news day. I'm beginning to think that most day's in NZ are slow news days as both TVNZ and TV3 fill their news with such unimportant frippery that is unrelated to NZ it isn't funny. TVNZ needs to save $40M so start by cutting the news back to half an hour (plus the 'current affairs' bits if you must) as well as going back to one newsreader. If Prime does it day in day out with a 30 minute bulletin then so can TVNZ. Anyway, another storm in a teacup all round. Let's wait and see what is actually being proposed with regards to tax cuts, GST increases and mining and then launch into a debate. In the meantime it's just mindless speculation by the usual suspects. If we are borrowing $250M per week just to keep the country ticking over then the country MUST do something to increase it's income, only so much income can be generated from 'come and look at our pretty scenery' tourism.

It's a pity the MSM is so lame, I agree. We have a government that doesn't have a clue, and no-one asking the hard questions. The problem is the National Party. With no real ethics to guide them (or those that they have sacrificied to populist expediency), they're prey to any special interest with good soundbites. In turn the soundbites take the place of debate. Strong media organisations could challenge this but too often they're more interested in joining the special interest queue. And how incompetent is John Key? He didn't put the shares in a blind trust because he was planning to sell them anyway? At a loss, I expect. He wouldn't have waited for the best price, no siree you betcha. I say we find out what's in his portfolio and aggressively short-sell the lot.

Unlike the MSM most of us ordinary mortals out here don't give a tinkers about most of this stuff. What we see is a genial, assured PM who is tolerant of the untidy edges of human interaction instead of wanting to control every last detail and shut down discussion in that awful anal New Labour type of spin.

Too many reporters swot up the PR handbook and want everything free of debate, difference and variety but then leap on so-called gaffes and non-scandals.

And it's a bit tough to tick Key off for trivia when that's all that makes the news. Remember you yourself found the 20+ pages hard going!

"Last week should have been a triumph for the Government, but it was pretty much an unmitigated disaster."

Hence the soft photo ops over the weekend and the full out assault on the bludger beneficiaries this week. The polling is quite strongly against people on the dole for 10 years and solo mums with multiple kids to different deadbeat dads. As distractions go, this one's gold plated. Fact that there's only a handful of the 'ten year brigade' and the 'baby factory brigade' is irrelevant. One exception proves the rule. The MSM will run it, the folks will react, and the poll numbers will stabilise. Job done. It's called good government.

It's rather amusing watching people trying to throw mud with empty hands.

Mr Key .

If I were you I would tell them all to naff off!!!! Who cares about your share portfolio ? They wouldn't be happy if you gave all your shares to charity along with your salary.They would still find fault.

The tall poppy syndrome and the green eyed god are alive and kicking in this country.

I was utterly gob smacked when TV3 led with the story about shares in an overseas mining company and promptly switched off the news. What imbecile at TV3 thought that was a suitable lead story? The 6 o’clock news on both channels has sadly deteriorated to a point of inane stupidity. I suppose now we will have to put up with Labour slinging off for the next few weeks about it, along with Garner offering his 2 cents worth.

Petty beltway issue but good research. Those war mongering Aussies and Canadians with their uranium mines supplying fuel for those nasty power stations that have no CO2 emmissions in despotic countries like Finland, France and Japan. Shocking that our PM has invested in this industry ! At least it gives the lefties another 20 year old issue to get excited about.

Matt - are you keeping a list of all Key's faults? It must be a mile long. That such a man could have been so successful in every wordly sense and a loving husband and dad as well beggars the imagination! Would love to see your list. Then NZ can see just what a monster rules over us after cuddly old Aunty Helen.