Missing persons: when no news, is no news

When Aisling Symes went missing in October 2009, her family endured a week of no news and false leads, until her body was found in a drain.

While Gisborne police and family members continue the search for 4-year-old Lucas Ward, it occurred to me that missing persons cases are, in a way, the antithesis of news. With each passing day, the news is that there is no news. Reporters tell us what they don't know, and stories are bereft of new information. If I feel the progressive dread with each news-less report, it must pale in comparison to what the missing person's family members are experiencing.
The nation's attention was held in a vice-like grip last year when toddler Aisling Symes disappeared. News reports were filled with speculation and theoretical scenarios for seven days until the sad reality of Aisling's accidental death was discovered.
The latest report out on the Gisborne case details the search strategy and possible sightings of Lucas, who has been missing now for 3 days. Hopefully the lack of news will soon end - with miraculously good news.

26/08/10 - The body of Lucas Ward was found in the Waimata River, 9 days after he went missing.

ACT welcomes Boscawen as new deputy

Out with the old....

...and in with the new.
[Images courtesy of Stuff]

John Boscawen did not shoot the deputy - Heather Roy resigned of her own accord today as deputy leader of the ACT party. Boscawen will take over Roy's role as Minister of Consumer Affairs, and take on Rodney Hide's Associate Minister of Commerce position. Hide will pick up Roy's Associate Education portfolio, and her former position as Associate Minister of Defence has been nixed. No wonder the woman needed a break - she had a pretty full plate! Roy remains a member of the ACT party, and has been given two weeks leave to mull over her future.

**Since posting on this it's become clear that Heather Roy was actually pushed to resign - last time I trust a press release from John Key for the full story! It seems Rodney Hide couldn't play nice with Roy, and refused to work alongside her any longer. Roy's notes from the meeting where she was rolled as deputy leader have since been leaked, in which she describes Hide as a "bully" with a "vendetta" against her. From the taxpayers' perspective, having Wellington-based Roy as deputy was the better deal - because John Boscawen resides in Auckland, he will get an additional allowance of $37,000 a year for accomodation in Wellington.