Wednesday, October 23, 2013



Not so nice after all

Two weeks ago, John Key met the Sultan of Brunei, who he described as a "thoroughly charming, very nice man". Now that "nice man" is introducing a penal code which includes punishments of flogging, amputation, and death by stoning.

There are two conclusions we can draw from this. Firstly, that Brunei is not the sort of country we should be negotiating with. And secondly, that John Key is a very poor judge of character. Nice people don't order amputations or executions. But I guess a brutal medieval despot would fit in perfectly with his banker friends at Merrill Lynch.