Pieces from the NZ Listener, My Favourite Weekly

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Groomed to rule
Did you know that of Britain's 55 prime ministers since 1721 when the title was first used, 19 have been to Eton and 27 to Oxford?  If Boris Johnson wins the leadership of the Conservative Party, voted on by its 160,00 members, it will be 20 and 28.

The tiny, ageing elite of Tory party members "don't care (about Brexit deals). They're too preoccupied with the question of who's offering the most attractive fantasy.  And in the realm of incredible and shameless make-believe, there can only be one victor.

Step forward, Prime Minister Johnson." (paraphrased). 
-- Andrew Anthony in London.
                              
You know, for all his bad environmental policies, Trump is very committed to recycling his garbage. -- Stephen Colbert.                                    


 Grooming the public for a new National Party leader                                                                    
Winter in NZ  ... journalists and editors strive to find enough combustible material to keep themselves and their customers warm with scandal, controversy or, at least, drama.
The flurry of stories about retiring Air NZ CEO Christopher Luxon winging his way  ... into parliament, the leadership of the Opposition and the prime ministership, is a classical example...

With the publication a week ago of a newspaper advertisement appearing to show Luxon following the same progression as former National leader Sir John Key, and a number of supposedly informed comment pieces in the media anticipating the airline boss rising to power,

I suspect someone in the darkened back room of NZ politics is trying to engineer that desired outcome.   In all likelihood, the people who set Key on his trajectory to the party's leadership in 2006 are seeking to repeat the feat. -- Bill Ralston.
                                                                         
Quips and quotes
"In a Catholic cafeteria, a nun places a note in front of  pile of apples, "Only take ONE. God is watching." Further down the line is a pile of cookies. A little boy makes his own note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples." 
                                                                          
Life in New Zealand
"22 currently under construction - plans available soon." -- Waikato Times.
"He said it appeared the sun had affected the visibility and the power lines appeared out of nowhere."-- Nelson Mail.
                                                                         
Unfetted capitalism, corruption and the rich-poor gap
Comments by Joseph Stiglitz, former chief economist, World Bank, and Nobel Prize winner.

His latest book, People, Power and Profits, is another impassioned warning of the dangers of unfettered markets and the corruption of the political process by big business.... an earlier book, The Great Divide, raised a flag about the widening gap between rich and poor.

"In the 1950s and 60s the US chief executives earned about 20 times more than workers on the shop floor. Now, it's in the region of 300 times." -- interviewed by Andrew Anthony.