Fools

I've ignored the fraud trial of Loizos Michaels because its crime news and I'm really not that interested in that shit. But its suddenly gone political with the involvement of National Party president Peter Goodfellow and of Minister for Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee. Goodfellow apparently loans his friends $114,000, no questions asked. And Brownlee will apparently sign up to sit on a company board - accepting significant legal duties in the process - without doing any research at all. The overall picture is of a pair of total muppets. And one of them, remember, is now absolute dictator of Canterbury. I wonder if he applies the same level of due diligence to the work he does for us in that role?

But what is also gives us is another insight into National's patronage network. This was first exposed in the ACC / Bronwyn Pullar saga, where Michelle Boag and other National party figures were deployed in an effort to gain a payout from ACC. And now we're seeing more of it: a tight little oligarchy which sorts out board positions for its mates, no matter how questionable the business. In this case, its blown up in their faces. But you really have to wonder how many of our business decisions are made like this, on patronage, not merit - and whether its a factor in the overall poor performance of our business community.