Trotter at his best

This piece from Chris Trotter on the sale (or not) of land to overseas buyers is a classic. He's couched it in Medieval style, with knights, Kings, fuedal lords and monks and he's hit the target, bull's-eye!

"And what about the mad monks of Treasury – and their even more ascetic brothers in the Business Roundtable? Having compelled us all to wear the hair-shirt of deregulation and the flesh-biting cilice of free trade, they are still urging our leaders to surrender what’s left of New Zealand’s patrimony to the Holy Church of Globalisation."

It's very good.

LandCorp farms up for sale

The recent poll of farm sales to foreigners that Federated Farmers has tried to spin favourably (they say 'sell'), coupled with Bill English's 'rationalising' of the rules around foreign investment and this post from one of Bill's greatest fans all point to the likelihood that National is lining up our LandCorp farms for sale, imho.
Shouldn't be long, I predict, before we hear the first squeaks about this.