Well, it's started. Every three years in New Zealand we have elections and every three years the various political parties begin the process of trying to convince us that they understand what it is that New Zealand needs to take us into the next three years - when we have a campign and the various political parties........

I don't mind this process. In fact I love it. I love the fact we have a democracy and that with MMP we get real options from which to choose. I often hear myself sounding like my Mum and berating people who don't vote. "You have to vote," I say "You have a responsibility. Think of all the perople who CAN'T vote". So, I enjoy the process of voting and making my choices and I enjoy the fact that MMP has given us several terms of a centre left government that cares - at least a little - about the people it represents. I want to vote. I think it's important.

The bit I hate - the bit that rankles and annoys - is the way we that the process has been captured by smarmy, uninformed, self serving, self promoting commentators.

Night after night we hear stories about how the process is going - whether the tax cuts will get more votes, how this word or that word changed the polls. We here the inside stories about who's up who and who's not paying and dozens of predictions about what tomorrow will hold for the political pundits.

What we don't hear is anything about whether the policy announced today or yesterday is viable. How that policy stacks up to international experience. What sort of thinking has actually gone into the creation of that policy.

So - in other words - the stream of information pouring out of radios TVs and websites is of absolutely no use when it comes to making a decision about who to vote for. The media in all it's forms is a criminally wasted resource and makes no contribution at al - as far as I can see - to the process. And the comments from all the comment - ators are just reinforcements, for the most part, of all prejudices and bigotries that many voters hold and by which they vote.

I say shoot the commentators and reporters. I don't mind the politicians a bit but if I see another pashima wearing, coiffed
12-year old tell me that this party or that has a real chance now that Mr Soandso has been caught with his pants down I'll chunder on her shoes. There's not even any entertainment value because they're too bland and manufactured to make it interesting.

Well that's it really. I just think that they take the fun out of it.