International affairs

There's been a massive brohaha with our kiwi foreign minister who disgraced himself whilst visiting the US this week. He kicked out the media from a meeting with Senator John McCain because the media misbehaved and asked too many questions! I think he embarrassed himself and showed what a small town New Zealand can be rather than the internationalised country it is. He's also used up what little credit he may have had with the media pack which will undoubtedly come back to haunt him at a later date.

I wonder whether we are starting to get desensitised to the horrors of international humanitarian crisis? With another Tsunami this week, continuing war in the middle east and the recent bombings in India - it feels that increasingly such events are gaining but 15 minutes of international fame before being lost amongst the business as usual coverage of local affairs - policiticans misdemeanours, state of the economy, sporting endevours, and the weather.

Perhaps its just that international events are so poorly reported in the New Zealand press, with matter of fact coverage with little or no analysis of what might have caused events or indeed what the solutions might be. Thank goodness for the internet where you can access the BBC, Guardian and Observer online and get more indepth coverage and a better understanding of what's happening in the rest of the world.

Crime and disorder continue to dominate local news with a butal murder of a primary school teacher this week hitting the headlines and continued interest in the case of the murdered and mutiliated Wellington man. It's a macabre world in which we live but when incidents such as this happen in a small place like New Zealand they can dominate news agendas.

The weather of course is now becoming an international affair with extreme conditions all over the globe continuing to impact. Even if the kiwi newspapers aren't up to much on the news and analysis they come in handy for stuffing up the drafts in the doors and windows!