The Apec Files: Strip minding

Just thought we'd ask: why was a substantial force of police and security guards standing sentry duty outside Showgirls, the strip club in Customs St? If their charge was inside, should they not have been keeping a closer eye on proceedings?

Celebrity walker

The limousines whisk the most menial of trade officials from meeting to inner-city meeting, but for the New Zealand Ambassador to Washington, Shanks' pony seemed good enough. Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger was seen waiting alone at the Victoria St lights, crossing on the signal and striding purposefully in the direction of the Town Hall.

On their screens

We are not saying you are being watched, but it's only a keystroke away. We will never reveal our source but a local policeman on duty with the CIA contingent kept having the spooks on about their electronic playthings. The American with the short hair asked the cop for his home address and a couple of clicks later had an aerial pic of the street in question on his display. For someone whose computer at work is called Incis, it must have been galling.

The one about the ...

The police saw even less reason to laugh when the proprietors of the Classic Comedy Club whipped up pretty good imitations of the laminated accreditation passes issued to delegates, staff, police and media. The comics' ones would be unlikely to fool a nonagenarian in a dark tunnel but provided hours of harmless fun to the uptown clowns. Eight members of the constabulary showed up at the Classic at 2 am, inspected the documents in question and laughed very little indeed. Inquiries, we can only assume, are continuing.

Tractors thinned out

For tractors, read tractor. A protest against US lamb tariffs that would have brought 174 tractors to town has been scaled down and now a single machine will carry the message. Protest organiser Andrew Barker said the caravan would have caused too much disruption. With the permission of police, a single tractor will be parked at the corner of Queen and Wakefield Sts from tomorrow at noon.