My brother, on his hols from the UK, was keen to catch the train from Auckland to Palmy in early Jan. He was staggered to learn that the only passenger train, the Northern Explorer, will be "undergoing maintenance" from 24 December to 13 January - the busiest time of the year, surely?

“Batchelor told the court that he believed Māori were not indigenous to New Zealand and that a race of fair-skinned, ginger-haired people had settled the land before Māori arrived.”

It’s hard to know which sentence is the most mindboggling

Because WE haven't killed anybody

She's presided over a circus for most of my adult life, it seems a bit late to back out now

Cheers Mike, you expanded a few island minds, that’s for sure

The life of fossil fuels is being pushed out in the United States--thanks to Trump and oil executives like Hamm. Yes, part of it is AI demand for more electricity. But it is also industry execs like Hamm who gave millions to get Trump back to the White House and now are cashing in on that win.

The self-regard and 'I'm-so-brainy analysis' reminds me of an insufferable sub-editor I worked with once. I wonder if it's him!

I hope that guy got the biggest gong out of all the gongs.

If you live in a country with bonkers gun laws

That Garamond italic ampersand is a bit of all right

That was a good idea. It's hard to use well. I like getting people who say they want to be designers to design their own invoice. You can tell a lot about someone by the way they design a righteous demand for money

Actually 'grizzled' is the wrong word. 'Sleepy' was more like it.

Back in the Paleozoic when I was studying graphic design, a grizzled tutor told us Helvetica and Times Roman were the only fonts we needed. You don't need all that fancy stuff, he said, waving his arms about vaguely

Morning report seems to disappear for months though

These people are nitwits

Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Something something

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate
… the captain of my soul.