Backbencher

For the past few days I have been reading through issues of the New Zealand Herald. From these readings, it seems to me that what gets reported by the paper is about what we read here in our papers in the United States. One of the similarities that really struck me was that New Zealand seems to have a lot of trouble with a drug called P. As I read on about this drug, I found out it is methamphetamines. In one article, three police officers were injured during a P (or as we would say- meth lab) lab. The officers were not aware of how bad the fumes were, and were not wearing protective gear. The officers were expected to fully recover. In another article, there was a march to bring awareness of methamphetamines to communities. To me, it sounds like New Zealand has about as bad a problem with meth as we do.
Another article in the paper dealt with the Russian cruise liner, Mikhail Lermontov. It sank twenty years ago this February. It sank after striking a rock in Pore Gore Inlet (somewhere on the South Island). The ship lies in about 100 feet of water, and according to the article is the third largest diveable cruise ship in the world. I just thought this was interesting because I have always found sunken ships to be fascinating, especially ones that do not require deep diving submersibles to visit. According to a related article, the Lermontov is a popular dive for New Zealanders.
The overall idea I get from this paper is that in New Zealand, they are concerned with the same things we are in the states. They worry about their politicians, drug problems, and what their sports teams are doing. I don’t know about Australians yet, but to me New Zealander don’t seem to be too different from us in the United States.