And sure enough...

There is comment galore about the allegations re Peter Davis doing the rounds - and to my mind it strikes me as a non-story - but a couple of things did stand out to me. Take this quote from Stuff:

Heat on Helen - 17 September 2006

Helen Clark has hit out at a smear campaign against her husband Peter Davis - warning she'll take legal action against anyone re-printing malicious rumours which surfaced on a website last week.

"You publish them at your peril," a spokesman for the prime minister told Sunday News yesterday.

Now does that last line not have a slightly Mao'ist ring to it? 'At your peril'! Creepy.

But in more general terms - this kind of slander has always simmered below the political radar - but what strikes me after 20 years or so of observing NZ politics is the level of animosty and malice that currently exists.

When Helen pulls out the devil's chuckle in interviews - be afraid.