Government funding policies aren't usually dinnertime conversation, but when it's used for reality TV it generates some pretty loud moral outrage. Headlines regarding The GC were surprisingly histrionic and portentous – The GC worries tourism industry! Divides the nation! Is unashamedly trashy!
Perhaps all of the above? There's manufactured drama, some titillating undie shots, extremely awkward staged conversations for the benefit of the magic pixie TV story editors, vain guys kissing their biceps and a 40th floor pad called "The Whare". Despite the ridiculousness, I'm feeling oddly warm and fuzzy towards The GC. Confirmed bachelor Tame, the show's genial "star", is a natural in front of the camera and his way with words is so funny I'm not sure if I'm laughing with him or at him. I don't think he cares.
When the show's largely foreign-owned production company first received...

Fair trade, the flavour of the fortnight, has its basis in human rights. All creatures should have a right to a fair and just life, yet this basic right all too often does not extend past opposable thumbs.
While we may picture rolling meadows and frolicking lambs, the reality for the majority of the world's livestock is concrete confinements. The farming industry is now dominated by a handful of big corporations who are able to produce high quantities of food through factory farming, a method based purely on fiscal gain where the animals are considered merely as commodities to be exploited. It is legalised cruelty.
The animals are kept in cramped cages, crates, overcrowded sheds and stalls, many without any natural light. These awful conditions prevent them from exhibiting their natural behaviour and they become both mentally and physically ill. To keep them alive, the animals are...