I've already 'joined' - well, enough so that there is no longer 'guest' attached to my nic.

I think that's rather sly of you to add
"We are not always like this. If you do, expect some Mr. Nice Guy private messages from sweeney. You have just seen how slickly he tells a lie, and when confronted, ignores it and carries on."

Tut tut tut! Not cool dude.

I shall freely make up my own mind as I always do. I never let petty things such as that sort of comment of yours influence me one way or other.

One thing I like about the geographic isolation of NZ is that it allows significant events to be 'viewed' as part of the bigger picture (unless something happens here or to us directly) and things like bias and coersion can be left aside, well once you've sifted through the news media that isn't controlled by certain groups.