Monday, October 20, 2008

Thoroughly Modern Helen Fails to Impress Young Would-Be Voter in New Zealand Election Campaign

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was taken aback on the election campaign trail when chatting with a class of 10 to 11 year old pupils at Owairaka Primary School in Auckland.

One young lad, Nami, asked the PM: "When is New Zealand going to be modern?"

"Modern?" a startled Helen responded.

Apparently Nami was none too impressed when Thoroughly Modern Helen gave a long response related to improvements being made in broadband delivery, an area of information technology in which New Zealand has lagged in recent years despite very high rates of internet use in the country.

This is in part a result of Telecom NZ, the largest telecom provider, taking short run profits rather than invest in expanding and improving the broadband network until the Government had to resort to increased regulation.

No word on what Nami considers to fall under the heading of "modern", but his elders might have a few thoughts.

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