Saga of top public servant skirts around the world

The saga surrounding Christine Rankin's earrings and skirts has made headlines around the world.

CNN and the BBC, and newspapers including the Times, reported on the e-mail campaign that urged New Zealand women to join in solidarity with "the country's most notorious public servant."

The BBC said New Zealand had been "gripped by a courtroom row," adding: "This in a country which was the first in the world to give women the vote."

Excerpts from the proceedings included Mark Prebble's admission that he had told Mrs Rankin there was a sexual connotation to long earrings and that he saw "an embarrassingly large amount of breast exposed" when she moved.

In the Australian newspaper, columnist Deborah Jones said the case raised several questions.

"First, was Rankin really invited to leave because her skirts are too short and her earrings too long? (Pause for incredulous snort.)

"Second, a full 40 years after Mary Quant liberated the female knee and thigh bone, do people still get flustered about 10cm or so of flesh?

"Third, and this is the delicate bit, has it not occurred to Rankin that certain looks are ideally left to the very young or very thin? (This is not a moral judgment, just a fashion moment.)"