Boffin fun

Suppose you're the boffin in the Minister of Culture's office who's handed the letter from some European heavy metal website asking about how heavy metal is supported in your country.* You could send back a boring form letter saying nothing. Or you could include this in your reply:

There is no official government support for young people to learn instruments for use in metal music. The government does fund an initiative called Sistema Aotearoa, which enables primary-aged children from disadvantaged communities to learn classical music under the instruction of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. It is not inconceivable that these young players may one day end up accompanying power metal groups such as Nightwish as part of a full orchestra, or providing ominous strings and horns on a black metal record by the likes of Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir".

A chocolate fish for the person in the office of NZ Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Chris Finlayson, who cited Dimmu Borgir and Nightwish.

HT: Kiwiblog, who got it from DimPost

* That seemed to be the gist of the request, but the site didn't include the original request letter, so it's hard to tell just what was asked.