Open secrets

One of the great things about living in Wellington is that you get to hear stories. You never know which of them are true, but at least they're fun.

I had one passed along to me today in response to my tribute to the Monarchy in our Insights newsletter.

I certainly cannot attribute or verify its authenticity. But even if it isn't true, at least it's a great story.*

The story runs as follows. I'll blockquote, but it's a paraphrase from an email sent me that I cannot verify. I've had permission from my correspondent to share it, but my correspondent has not verified it either. It could be pure fantasy. But it is fun.

During Lange's administration, Fiji had a coup. Lange thought New Zealand should send the troops up because democracy was under threat.

Many of Lange's colleagues thought that a particularly bad idea and suggested to Lange that deployment of the troops required the Head of State. They advised the Governor General to lay low for a while.

Unable to find the Governor General to sign the forms authorising the troop deployment, the New Zealand military stayed home. And, eventually, Lange was convinced that other measures might be more effective - and the Governor General re-emerged.

Not having a local and accessible Head of State has its merits.

Please enjoy sharing other fun, non-libelous, open secrets in the comments. And for fun open secrets of America's foreign policy history, read Tullock.



* As one of my former Canterbury colleagues once put it when I challenged the veracity of one of his very frequent, and often entertaining, and sometimes accurate tall tales.