Lemon tart

After reading Gordon Campbell’s exacting review of former history teacher turned politician Michael Bassett’s book Working With David, I thought back to David Lange’s entertaining – but dissatisfyingly unfinished – autobiography. The most memorable word in it was his description of Bassett, his cabinet nemesis and distant cousin: “venomous”.

I combined “Michael Bassett” and “venomous” for some lunchtime reading and among the search results was Brian Easton’s website. Taking a stab at the offerings, this fascinating essay from 1995 came up. It is about Muldoon’s contribution to, and appearances in, New Zealand literature. No fangs, no acid, no scores being settled.