Jumping at every shadow - one man's battle against the odds

There are two popular ways to undermine the credibility of Ian Wishart's works - by branding him a conspiracy theorist or a member of the religious right.

When it comes to constructing conspiracies he is almost without peer in New Zealand - challenged perhaps only by Nicky Hager.

The label is hardly unfair. After all it's in the title of his first book, The Paradise Conspiracy, published in 1995 with unbridled glee: "A death, missing computer disks, a winebox full of secret files, a tax haven ... kidnap attempts, espionage ... a maverick politician ... and an investigative television team's battle to expose the truth."

Reviewers get the picture too: "A Watergate-type tale"; "the closest thing to a John Grisham novel, but it is the real thing".

Some, however are not convinced. Tom Frewen in NBR finds the Paradise premise half-baked: "I like conspiracy theories. I want to believe them. I want more than commercial amnesia and fancy beakwork from the winebox; I want crooks exposed and hung from the lamp-posts. Hence the disappointment, watching the conspiracy theorist throw his credibility out the window in the first 90 pages."

There's similar criticism of Lawyers, Guns & Money, one of the many sequels - Ian Wishart's Vintage Winebox Guide, The Paradise Conspiracy II, Daylight Robbery: The Plundering of the People's Bank - that Wishart has been able to dredge from the infamous winebox of documents that begat the first conspiracy.

"Wishart says his book will 'blow the Winebox Inquiry report out of the water'. Sadly it lacks the punch to launch a champagne cork," said John King in the Evening Post.

Nevil Gibson (NBR) is happier to take the ride: "Not one to use a telling phrase where a cliche will do; Mr Wishart's purple prose detracts from an otherwise fascinating account ... a conspiratorial tale of greed and excess ... created in the milieu of the X Files ... "

If Wishart doesn't always deliver, one can't help but admire his "stickler for detail" investigative prowess.

His books have recurring themes of corruption and paranoia. In Paradise, Wishart watches himself being watched: "It would be fair to say by this stage in the proceedings paranoia had firmly taken hold of all the players. This was manifested in different ways, but in my case it was an acute sensation of being watched, listened to and followed."

It's a sensation that reaches its zenith in The God Factor (1999), which begins earnestly enough exploring privacy concerns about driver licences and other technologies of surveillance.

By the later chapters Wishart is cooking up a storm - linking the October Surprise conspiracy, a spate of suspicious US deaths and Bill Clinton to drug and gun smuggling and spying software.

The intrepid Wishart is in deep - having to back off from lucrative publishing deals when "tapped international phone and fax correspondence" reached the US Justice Department.

"I was informed that if I pursued the matter any further, I wouldn't live longer than 12 months."

When few took him seriously, Wishart wrote a steaming rant to the then head of TVNZ news and current affairs, Paul Cutler, saying, "I'll put this bluntly: who am I supposed to be sleeping with at TVNZ in order to get fair and objective coverage of our books as legitimate news stories?

"If you think the allegations in Paradise 2, The God Factor or State Secrets [written by a former New Zealand soldier, Ben Vidgen] are flaky, then have the courage to test your best researchers against myself and Ben Vidgen.

"Give us an hour on Crossfire and let's see who emerges unscathed ... I understood those winebox documents long before anyone else did. I wasn't wrong then, and I'm not wrong now."

To further his cause, Wishart mentions another death threat.

Accusations that his religious beliefs colour his investigations stem mainly from articles in Investigate magazine.

There, Wishart bewails the new legal standing given to gay relationships, argues abortion causes breast cancer, and is against evolution being taught in schools.

As the About Town blog explained, Wishart the ace investigative journalist underwent a theological paradigm shift. "Alas, this diamond among almonds went just plain nuts. Now Ian has joined the ranks of other godly men who like to be photographed with their wives to prove that they're not homosexual."

The Christian-right agenda is largely absent from Wishart's books, as are conspiracies in Ben & Olivia: What Really Happened?, An Irish Legacy: the Real Danny Butler Story and Beating Big Brother: How People Power Turned off the TV Tax!.

These are stories about wrongs needing to be put right, albeit with a libertarian, anti-government and bureaucracy bent.

If there is an overall criticism of Wishart's prodigious self-published efforts, it lies not in his conspiratorial or religious tendencies, but in the lack of a good editor - someone to pull him back from the purple prose and a propensity to push conclusions beyond the stratosphere.

But that would require humility, which doesn't seem to be Wishart's strong suit.