Snapshots: Flag the speech, John

Tesh Randall (left) and Seb Walter, who won the NZ Herald Bite Gourmet award and rapped their acceptance speech, with Bite editor Jo Elwin.

"Now I said I wasn't going to talk about the flag ... but I just have to mention it. Just five seconds."

For those that have heard John Key speak at recent events, this line will be either very familiar, or tryingly overused.

Key's latest regaling of the we-should-change-the-flag-and-this-is-why story was at the Getting Glamorous for Gynae ball on Thursday - a charity event.

Whether or not the audience agreed with Key's persuasions to change the flag, several took to Twitter to express their disappointment that the Prime Minister was using his speech to try to sway the public, and even more so that this occurred at a charity event where the topic of discussion was supposed to be on the work of the New Zealand Gynaecological Cancer Foundation.

Perhaps Key should save this well-rehearsed speech for the right audience next time.

New lease on life

John Campbell seems to be enjoying life outside MediaWorks, fronting several high-powered business events recently including Air New Zealand's Sustainability breakfast at Shed 10 last Wednesday.

Campbell emceed the breakfast with Carol Hirschfeld. At one point during the Q&A panel, a question about the media came up and Hirschfeld jokingly asked whether Campbell had snuck it in.

He replied he wasn't allowed to use his new Radio NZ work phone, which Hirschfeld was glad to hear - seeing as she is now his boss.

That's a rap

The highlight of this year's annual New Zealand Food Awards was - unsurprisingly - the food. Guests at the event, held at the Auckland Town Hall, were treated to a sumptuous three-course meal of salmon, lamb and a yoghurt-themed desert, paired with a selection of Villa Maria wines.

Other highlights from the night included the Countdown green screen where guests were encouraged to take photos.

Props included giant plastic fruit, feather boas and a hamburger hat, with the best photo of the night winning NZME group events director Ash Lomberg a case of Villa Maria's Arneis wine.

Best acceptance speech went to Raglan Coconut Yoghurt's Seb Walter and Tesh Randall for their food rap after winning the NZ Herald Bite Gourmet award.

Solar planes, surgical robots

New Zealand-born scientist Catherine Mohr is on a tour of the country but took time out last Thursday for cocktails with fellow Global Women and Medicines New Zealand members.

Along with demonstrating her enthusiasm for many of New Zealand's med-tech start-ups, she talked about her career beginning as an MIT engineer in a male-dominated field, before leaving to invent energy fuel cell systems for solar aircraft with AeroVironment - becoming a world expert in the field.

Deciding to pursue a medical career led her to develop surgical robots which have revolutionised keyhole surgery.

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