Honestly, I was expecting more. Much more. To hear the Left tell it, this was going to be an event to rival the very best the world’s dictators – past and present – could offer. That’s why I tuned-in.

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Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in New...