Lefthandpalm rises, Phoenix like, from the grave ...

... Only the Phoenix's didn't get buried, did it? It built itself a pyre (clever things, birds) and cooked itself up, then a new one was born from the ashes. So perhaps the return of LHP from the dead is more akin to a zombie rising ...

Anyway, I've been veyr busy over the last month, and also plagued by an inability to log in. As is often the case, I put thae latter problem on the backburner and so didn't blog anything at all for a very long time, perhaps to David Irving's relief.

Finally managed to resolve the log in issue. Blogger come in for alot of stick on their 'Help' forum, but the answer was there for those who looked about before getting tetchy (okay, I got tetchy as well, but couldn't log in to display my tetchiness to the world. Normal, extra-tetchy service will now be resumed).

What a month to be locked out on, though! There was a lot of stuff I wanted to rant about, Like hearing self-publicist and occasional MP and journalist Debra Coddington whinging on National Radio about the departing editor of North & South, Robyn Langwell. North& South was the journal that published Coddington's infamous Asian Angst. Under her, the journal enjoyed "word by word, vigorous editing" (translation: "If I distorted my statistics to suit my agendum, it was not my fault, not my fault North & South let me." The editor had always supported "advocacy journalism backed by ... facts," though she didn't specify that facts have to be presented honestly, not twisted and manipulated to disguise the truth. And then the piece de resistance: "we will not see this sort of journalism any more." Pity. I have to admit I got a bit annoyed with Deb, then I realised she had to be taking the piss - no one could be that absurdly self righteous and precious, surely? Surely?

Langwell isn't the only person who's time at North & South was drawing to a close. Coddington was also due to depart, advising us in a small voice that her contract was't being renewed. Sadly, given her propensity for thrusting herself under our noses I suspect this isn't the last we'll see of "this sort of journalism."

And then we had Tony Blair wailing and nashing his teeth as he handed over power to Gordo Brown, who seems to have taken to the job rather well, inspite of a wave of laughably incompetent terror attacks in his first week in the job. It was hilarious to hear genuine Weegie's on New Zealand radio describing the botched attack on Glasgow Airport.

And so much more. Like the clock tower in the square. It seems to have grown several feet. Sometimes, driving down Fitzherbert, I fancy I can see the silhouette of a worryingly large cross through the covering. This is a grim development, though if it doesn't glow like the last one, at least it will be invisible half the time. Sadly, this will be when I wouldn't be about to see it anyway (inspite of my current late night frenzy). Perhaps they could have made a glass one, which would have been invisible by day and filled with glowing gas at night? Or, since the council has seen fit to endorse religious symbols on public space, they could have cluttered the square with symbols representing all the faiths on Earth, which would have looked quite cool, really, and would be a much better thing than the current concrete wasteland littered with sad looking ducks.

I've sometimes entertained the idea of runnnig for mayor, my sole policy being that the hideously gray and Stalinist council building in the square would be painted a cheerful colour. The colour would be decided by referendum, though my preference would be candy-floss pink. Remarkably, the council seem to be moving in my direction, and have announced the building is to give a lick of paint, though I suspect of a suitably drab colour.

I also became really annoyed about Tetrapaks this month. Lurgee Jnr is lactose intolerant, so now that he's stopped breast-feeding he takes soy or rice milk. This means we get through a lot of Tetrapaks, which can not be recycled in NZ. Why not? They can be elsewhere. Its just typically crap that everything plastic other than grades 1 & 2 ends up in landfill. Or why can't the compannies supplying the soy and rice milk use recyclable grade plastic bottles instead or tetras?

And so on. I might expand some of these thoughts later. But for now, suffice to say I'm back. Time to look up David Irving ...