Columns

I GOTS ME A TATTOO
It’s sort of hard to know what to write about for a “criminal” themed Critic. Like, criminal activities are real bad for society and stuff, but I don’t wanna be all intense about it. As one buddy of mine pointed out, without criminals, many quality crime shows (see page 9) would go down the gurgler. It’s a strange irony really- despite the fact crime is generally considered bad for society, you need criminals to entertain other would-be criminals to keep the would-be crims off the streets. Unfaultable logic. This week, Critic relies on a similar logic and presents the best crazy court cases and criminal convictions of the bunch (page 18).
 
Strangely, the big U. S. of A. didn’t get all that much of a look in, despite desperately clinging onto some bizarre laws. Among the most notable are bans against going to the movies with your pet lion (Maryland), falling asleep with your shoes on (North Dakota), and farting in a public place after 6.00pm on a Thursday (thanks, Florida). Too good.
 
Although our criminal justice system is light-years ahead of the afore mentioned USA, it appears change is afoot. Georgie Fenwicke reports on the operational changes to the Legal Services Agency and the impacts this is having for legal aid (page 24).

Wanganui’s gang insignia bylaw hit headlines again last week when a court decision found the bylaw to be unlawful and invalid. We offer our take on page 11. The decision is great for freedom of speech and freedom of association advocates alike, but mostly it’s just great because it makes Michael Laws look like even more of a ratty-eye-liner-wearing-twat than he already did.
As a slight but vaguely related diversion from the criminal theme, Charlotte Greenfield tackles the huge issue of Wikileaks. To me, perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the whole Wikileaks saga is the wildly disparate views it inspires amongst people. The staunch Wikileaks believers are prepared to cast aside women’s rights in order to get “The Truth” out there, while Wikileaks haters are crying “security threat” as they ready their guns to kill off more civilians in the Middle East. With subjects this complex, it’s hard to pick teams. My thoughts are this: “The Truth” is rarely as straightforward as a marketing paper. There’s the ‘context’, a term which is bandied about like no one’s business, but with good reason, and there’s the fact that, even when “The Truth” is being leaked, there’s still a fair amount of undisclosed censorship going on. Turn to page 20 for a far better Wikileaks analysis.

Stay cool,

Julia Hollingsworth