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Bob Jones And the Silks: The Intriguing Cases of the Flat Earth Memorials and The Moldovian Poet Affair

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John Bowie – Fresh from his recent defamation trial over his ‘breakfast in bed’ NBR column, LawFuel occasional contributor Sir Robert Jones has lost none of his humour, as if that was ever going to happen anyway, poking the borax at two senior QCs.

Commenting in his blog on the crash-and-burn attempts by flat-earther “Mad Mike Hughes”, (pictured above) whose home-made rocket designed to prove the earth is flat after all, had crashed, killing Mike in the process.

This lead to his identifying Wellington Silk Hugh Rennie, a friend of Sir Robert’s, as the president of the NZ Flat Earth Society, (and hence an adherent to Mike’s belief system) and suggesting that the QC was proposing a statue to Mike in the entrance halls of science departments at local universities.

This prompted Rennie to comment on the blog that the concept of Mike’s statue in such places was fine but difficult in times of financial stringency for universities.

He also displayed some concern that Sir Robert had yet to deliver on his Gareth Morgan statue project, where Sir Robert had suggested building an Everest-sized statue to the philanthropist, “which is now unacceptably overdue”.

The Morgan statue is based upon a suggestion Sir Robert made to the Wellington City Council suggesting that he demolish one of his city buildings to erect a 5000 metre statue to Gareth Morgan for his “overwhelming wonderfulness.”

The proposed statue was to be in the style of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer – illustrating “the splendid visual impact on the city which doubtless will enthrall all councillors, as it will every Wellingtonian”. 

He also said he wanted to establish a Victoria University Department of Morgan Studies building, with “an anticipated annual enrolment of 6000 students”. 

Oddly enough these grandiose plans have not seen the light of day, prompting Hugh Rennie’s suggestion that potential donors for any proposed statue should contact Sir Robert directly.

Moldovian Mayhem

Colin Carruthers QC

The previous day it was fellow QC and newly appointed Criminal Cases Appeal Commission Chair to whom Sir Robert directed his interest, Colin Carruthers, also a friend of the writer, who also runs his vineyard in Martinborough.

Sir Robert identified Carruthers as a highly respected Moldovian poetry authority who had written a “searing revisionist essay” about the ealry 19th Century Moldovan poet Alexandru Robot, prompting highly adverse reaction within Europe.

Things then got completely out of hand when he received death threats resulting in him being pursued by a Romanian hitman and having to hide out in a Georgian monastery for 6 months, before making his way back home to concentrate on his legal career

Sir Robert Jones

The QC, he writes, has a CV “many of our conventionally staid QCs” cannot match.

Too true.

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