Better Ed than red
Philip Matthews lets the music do the talking.
Over Sheeran?
Likeable red-headed busker Ed Sheeran has somehow become the figure that hipper music fans love to hate. Sure, his records are a bit MOR – I swear that one song is an exact replica of Eric Clapton’s hideous Wonderful Tonight – and maybe late Fall frontman Mark E Smith was right to say that Sheeran sounds like an Elton John record you would have heard at a pot-dealer’s house in the 1970s. But singer Julian Casablancas’ claim this week that Sheeran owes his success to ‘‘cultural brainwashing’’ is a bit sneery. You can’t argue with public taste. Meanwhile, in Dunedin, the local council spent $8350 on a mural of Sheeran who is soon to play three big concerts in a city that, some say, should actually be honouring its own local heroes. Where are the murals of the Chills, Toy Love, the Verlaines, Mother Goose, Six60?
Oh, those Russians
It is not a good week to be Russian. Russia was blamed by all four major western powers for the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, in what has been called ‘‘the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War’’. US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May all agreed that no country other than Russia could have behind the attack. In Cold War-style scenes, the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and severed contacts with Moscow. The Kremlin will reportedly tell its side of the story soon. In another push back against Russian power, even the Trump administration imposed sanctions for alleged electoral interference and hacking of infrastructure including the energy grid and aviation systems.
Farewell to the king
There is other Trump news. There is always other Trump news. The firing on Twitter of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson may have seemed like just another ignominious exit from the Trump regime but it hit us hard. Tillerson felt more like one of us: not just because he allegedly described the president as ‘‘a f---ing moron’’ but because he was a senior figure from the administration who visited New Zealand. It was only nine months ago but it seems like another lifetime. As Stuff reported: ‘‘The weather was awful and the mood of the locals wasn’t much better when US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Wellington. US media travelling with Tillerson were surprised by the number of people flipping the bird at Tillerson as his motorcade sped through town.’’
Notes on camp
Labour’s Jacinda-era political honeymoon came to an abrupt end this week when news leaked that four teenagers were allegedly sexually assaulted at a Young Labour camp in Waihi last month. Did Labour act fast enough? Was there a cover-up? What went on, exactly, and where were the police? Should the parents have been told? Was there really a ‘‘mountain’’ of alcohol on hand? These and other questions dominated the week’s news agenda but after being unpleasantly surprised at a press conference, the prime minister responded with firmness and empathy. Would-be Opposition leader Judith Collins was less moderate, claiming she would rip someone’s throats out. Yikes.