The Duke abides Royal comedian retires
Philip Matthews puts the royal obituaries on ice.
The world’s media went into a state of red alert or Defcon 1 as rumours emerged from Buckingham Palace. Royal staff were summoned from all over the UK for an urgent meeting. The natural assumption was that someone had died – the Queen? Prince Philip? A corgi? – and editors dusted off prepared obituaries and hurriedly compiled top 10 lists of the Prince’s funniest racist quips and gaffes from decades of royal tours (‘‘How do you keep the natives off the booze long enough to pass the test?’’ he asked a Scottish driving instructor in 1995). The news, when it finally came, was both disappointing and a relief: the 95 year old Duke of Edinburgh, plaque unveiler and handbag carrier, will retire from public life in August.
The ace of Jeff Bass
Surreal moments at the High Court in Wellington: Detroit music producer Jeff Bass pulls out an acoustic guitar and plays the riff from Eminem’s Lose Yourself. Bass composed the song with Eminem and Luis Resto and it was the high point of the Eminem movie 8 Mile, winning an Oscar for all three men. The High Court rap battle is about whether the soundtrack of National’s 2014 election commercial – a piece of music titled Eminem Esque, no less – was copied from Lose Yourself. ‘‘A blatant rip off,’’ is how Bass described it. Things got weirder still when songs by Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and Richie Valens were played by the defence to provide some context.
Not going underground
For the families of the 29 Pike River men, the past six and a half years have been a repetitive and depressing story of promises made and promises broken. Former Prime Minister John Key said that retrieving the bodies of the dead men from the West Coast coal mine was a priority and many family members still feel a strong sense of personal betrayal. In February, spokesman Bernie Monk said a meeting with new Prime Minister Bill English was positive and ‘‘a step forward’’ after English promised not to seal the mine and to investigate recovery of the bodies. So what happened this week? Video leaked to media purports to show two people in the mine after the deadly explosions and the police and English were unable to get their stories straight about whether the families had even seen the footage. It seems disrespectful and opposition politicians Andrew Little and, especially, Winston Peters, are determined to put an end to the increasingly sad and confusing story of Pike River.
Mediapocalypse
The Commerce Commission finally met its deadline and said no to a proposed merger between media companies Fairfax, owner of The Press, Dominion Post and Stuff, and NZME, owner of the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB. Global online giants Facebook and Google have the lion’s share of an already difficult and competitive local advertising market and the merger was seen as one way to create critical mass and resist their enormous power. The Press argued in an editorial that the Commerce Commission was ‘‘naive and mistaken’’ to block the media merger and that the decision will make quality journalism increasingly difficult to produce.