I got the call at 3.25, which gave me approximately 15 minutes to run down to the Beehive. It wasn’t going to be easy. While people of normal leg-span can get from Kelburn to Parliament quite comfortably in 10 minutes, it takes me 15 given I recklessly run across roads and generally look like a competitive walker on P. But I made it to the my first post-Cabinet press conference in time. In fact, my lateness was eclipsed by that of Helen herself.
I’ve had press gallery accreditation on behalf of the Aotearoa Student Press Association for most of the year, but I’ve never got around to going to one of these press conferences. My predecessor Keith used to go every week and gave the impression that they were very exciting and dramatic. Maybe I just got a bad one.
The most interesting line of questioning was the sudden interest that the press gallery had in the health of Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters. Apparently he’s holed up in some Brisbane hospital after being bitten by an unknown creature in Malaysia (although, Clark could confirm that it was not a journalist. Thank goodness, that could have been fatal.)
I did get a little bit excited when Clark mentioned tertiary education, but it turned out to be something to do with some acronym I’ve never heard of and probably will never hear about ever again.
Neither James and I have blogged recently. We’ve both been really busy, and I think the novelty has worn off somewhat. Anyway, there’s lots happening this week, from the fees forum tomorrow (12, Cotton 122), to Academic Idol contender Grant Morris getting locked in a cage to advance human rights on Thursday. Fun times.