FOR THE RECORD: Column

Old dog has had his day... until next time
Graham Henry must be feeling mighty relieved about now.
Not only have his charges so far completed an undefeated season, the antics of now-former TVNZ enfant terrible Paul Henry have meant the All Blacks coach is no longer the most scrutinised Henry in the country.
However, if the All Blacks fail to take out the Rugby World Cup on home turf next year, it's likely the demise of the team's mentor will be just as swift as that of his namesake television host.
Henry this week fell on his sword after making offensive comments about Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and, despite having had several narrow escapes in the past, this time it wasn't hard to see the blade coming.
Henry has a startling track record of causing public consternation with his comments from the public platform of TVNZ's Breakfast programme.
He has mocked a Greenpeace representative for allegedly having a moustache, accused singer Susan Boyle of being retarded, described homosexuality as "unnatural" and, ironically, picked up the People's Choice prize at the Qantas Film and Television Awards, before launching into an expletive-laden acceptance speech.
Henry has always polarised people and the contrasting views over his public utterances will never be reconciled.
On one hand there are those who find him a breath of fresh air, defend his right to freedom of speech, and believe that Henry is, as TVNZ public relations guru Andi Brotherston infamously remarked, "prepared to say the things we quietly think but are scared to say out loud".
Ms Brotherston's comments, though designed to pour water on Henry's latest outbursts, only served to fan the flames, and drew increased outrage from those who deem Henry to be an immature "shock jock", employed only to offend in order to drive up ratings among those interested in seeing how far he's prepared to step over the line.
There's no doubt that Henry's history counted against him - but ultimately, what made his most recent comments a fatal blow to his TVNZ role were the racial overtones which ultimately led to the affair becoming a diplomatic incident.
It surely didn't help that the Government began negotiations towards a free trade agreement with India earlier this year.
But once Henry's comments had graduated from their usual South Pacific microcosm to the global stage, and the New Zealand High Commissioner to India had been forced to issue an apology, there was only ever going to be one outcome. There's another element at play too - TVNZ's acute awareness of the diplomatic fallout from its star presenter's comments is only amplified by its role as state broadcaster and the responsibilities which come with that.
Speaking purely commercially, once's Henry's benefit as a ratings-puller was outweighed by the damage to TVNZ's corporate reputation and the potential loss of advertisers, he was a goner.
To some extent TVNZ is only reaping what it has previously sowed.
Henry has a track record of shocking for the sake of it, and clearly felt he was six-foot-tall and bulletproof.
TVNZ's failure to put a leash on Henry has finally seen the old dog wander on to the train tracks.
The speed with which this latest incident snowballed out of control for Henry should not have surprised him.
It's a reflection of the cult of celebrity which now plays a large part in this country's news media agenda, and the path the increasingly punch-drunk Henry ended up staggering down was one already well-traversed by his former media colleague Tony Veitch.
This will not be the end of Henry.
Other media organisations will doubtless be queuing up for his signature, secure in their own belief that they can control the one-time "bad boy" of New Zealand television.
They will also hope his public image can be reformed - but not too much.