Back then, he seemed a mixed bag. On the one hand, he was the journalist who’d done the most work on the Winebox tax ‘avoidance’ scandal – on that, he was a little melodramatical, to say the least, but he’d certainly been effective in drawing attention to what was, after all, a genuine story.

On the other hand, ‘Investigate’ seemed to wobble between proper journalism/commentary and silly conspiracy theory stuff. Ian’s writing was kinda breathless and overexcited at the best of times.

From memory, I contributed cartoons and comic strips for about 6 months (including a caricature of Richard Prebble as a rat which I’m still kinda proud of). But by then, lack of time and a growing sense that ‘Investigate’ was veering a bit close to the wingnut category for my liking led me to quit.

Since then, Ian has become one of NZ’s most thoroughly ridiculous political voices – almost as though he set out to become our very own carbon copy of the vilest American right wing wingnuts (Ann Coulter in drag, anyone?). Unfortunately, his years as a ‘proper’ journalist have enable him to spread his increasingly bizarre polemic pretty widely, via his magazine, his books, and the blogosphere.

For the most part, I’ve tried to ignore his public stupidity, but this book is more than annoying – it’s downright dangerous. So I would like to formally state here that I am ashamed to have ever been associated with Mr. Wishart and his accursed magazine.