That was the year that was

The year 2023, like 2020, 2021 and 2022 before it, was a strange one for humanity. That there would be no relief became evident in the early hours of the New Year, when Twitter owner and chief executive Elon Musk banned all other Twitter users from the platform after the 16th poll asking whether he should step down as CEO concluded that, yes, he actually should.

- RUSSELL BROWN.

Commentators speculated that this could harm Twitter's advertising revenue. An end to the impasse appeared to be in sight when German car downloader Kim Dotcom landed in California promising to "talk to Elon", but Dotcom was arrested at Los Angeles Airport by officials who determined that he was not, as his passport indicated, a Mr Peter Thiel.

Dotcom, who had evaded extradition from New Zealand for 75 years, sent a series of urgent messages to the office of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but waited in vain for a reply. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister explained to local journalists that Ardern's phone was "on the blink", along with her email, and that the only German she knew anyway was Angela Merkel, so this must all be some kind of mistake. New Zealand news media subsequently played down the story, except for the NZ Herald, which published a profile of Max Key.