First son Max Key has his dad wrapped around his little finger. He put him to work on a spit and polish of his car, proving the Prime Minister is not too hoity toity to work at the car wash.
Key the younger posted the pic on Instagram, tagging it: "John working hard to try get my vote #dreamer."
Papa Key, who shares the same irreverent sense of humour, called him a "cheeky bugger". But that'd be the Parnell neighbours with dirty vehicles who now know where they can go for a quick rinse and lather.
Actors break the ice
Also borrowing Kiwi threads to showcase overseas are filmmakers and actors Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, whose movie What We Do in the Shadows won the Audience Award at the Stanley Film Festival in the US this week. Waititi accepted the gong in a red Hawaiian shirt. But at the Sundance Festival earlier this year he sported Kiwi merino wool, courtesy of Icebreaker.
"We were delighted to be given the opportunity to dress Taika and Jemaine in Icebreaker gear at the Sundance Festival. As Taika said, 'It's f***ing cold over there', so we were happy to layer them up in Icebreaker merino to keep them warm," said a rep from the company.
In exchange, the guys posed for promotional online pics.
Cunliffe too chatty
An eye witness on an Air New Zealand flight from Wellington to Auckland on Saturday claims Labour leader David Cunliffe "made a scene" onboard and was reprimanded by a flight crew attendant, but the Labour leader and his deputy chief of staff, Deborah Manning, say they were just chatting loudly.
"David Cunliffe was on the plane back to Auckland and made such a scene for about a minute during the safety video, I couldn't make out what he was going on about but it was enough for the FA [flight attendant] to tell him to shut up. It was pretty cringeworthy," said a fellow passenger.
But Manning, who was sitting alongside her boss on the flight, scoffed at the suggestion Cunliffe caused an incident.
"We were just talking and sharing jokes at the end of a long day, and the flight attendant just came over and pointed to the safety video [which was playing]. She reminded us it was playing. It was all very light-hearted," she told The Diary.
Old boys network
Who knew TVNZ weatherman Jim Hickey and TV3 political editor Patrick Gower shared more in common than a nice guy persona? Both are old boys of Francis Douglas Memorial College in New Plymouth, and former Benildus house captains (Hickey in 1968; Gower in 1994).
The pair reunited on the weekend at Hickey's cafe, Airspresso, at the New Plymouth Airport. Hickey's sister, Mary-Jane Anderson, was Gower's French teacher.
"Conrad Smith is FDMC's best known old boy," Gower reminisced to The Diary. "And it should be known that he is a good Benildus man too. He may have won the World Cup, but sadly for Conrad he has not scaled the heights of captaining Benildus like Jim and I. You can't have everything."
Reshuffle at TVNZ
Changes are afoot at TVNZ with a reporter reshuffle in the newsroom. Seven Sharp's personality queen, Brodie Kane, is moving to Fair Go. Libby Middlebrook is leaving Fair Go to join Sunday, alongside new reporter Rachel Smalley. Matt McLean is going to current affairs show 20/20 and will be the only male on the almost all-girl reporting team. He replaces Hannah Ockleford who has gone on an OE.
Red faces at RNZ
How embarrassed was Radio New Zealand's MediaWatch on Sunday after muddling a TV news journalist with a rock music radio host, who both share the name Jono? Enough to issue an apology on Twitter.
Colin Peacock, the self-imposed watchdog of New Zealand media, took to the air on Sunday to bleat about "DJ Jono Hutchison from the Rock" who made new co-star Ben Boyce feel welcome to the afternoon radio show by pulling an early-morning stunt in his bedroom. Only Peacock meant DJ Jono Pryor. Jono Hutchison, a reporter at TV3, was bemused about his newfound rock cred and corrected MediaWatch on Twitter. They responded: "Apologies to both you and Jono Pryor for the mix up."
Questions of the week
1. Why did Lorde delete her attacks against Vodafone NZ this week?
The teen pop queen vented her displeasure on its pricing plans. But the verbal diarrhoea was later deleted. Did wiser heads prevail?
2. Which senior news man accidentally sent a disparaging email about a bureaucrat, not just to the man concerned, but to his boss and the minister?
The group email caused havoc, as you'd expect.
