I am pleased to see that Wayne Brown's campaign to win the New Zealand 'Mayor of the Year' award is going so well. This week he has managed to score successfully in two areas - international relations and supporting cultural diversity.
He called an American woman who emailedhim about the cats in Paihia a "dickhead", thereby ensuring that the reputation of the Far North for welcoming foreign visitors was well known as far away as California.
But his greatest achievement was to suggest that the cats in Paihia would end up in "Asian rice stews". I am sure that the Thai and Chinese restaurants in Paihia will be hugely pleased at the positive publicity that the Mayor has achieved for them.
Wayne Brown is obviously extremely well suited to building relationships with overseas people. Perhaps he and John Carter can arrange for a job swap, and Wayne could become the next High Commissioner to the Cook Islands. Or even, perhaps, he could be appointed New Zealand's special representative to China to promote mining interests.
