Mr. Blobby: Also not in the new coalition Has Christian Coalition II: The Blob dissolved into mutual acrimony before it could even launch, let alone gain parliamentary representation? Fairfax New Zealand's Stuff portal and Scoop carried stories to that effect. What does this all mean? When last we left the Blob (our provisional name for the new Future New Zealand/Destiny New Zealand merged fundamentalist party), it had just been launched into a torrent of derision and amusement. Yesterday, the Salvation Army reacted sharply to Gordon Copeland's boast that Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, the Salvation Army, evangelicals, Pentecostals and charismatics' were on the National Advisory Committee of the Blob. This is subterfuge, and I suspect no-one is fooled. By Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist, they mean members of fundamentalist segments of mainline churches, such as Anglican Mainstream, Presbyterian Affirm and the Wesleyan Methodists, and individual Salvation Army members. The Salvos made it quite clear in their media release that as an organisation, they were apolitical and worked with those of many party persuasions to achieve their objectives. As for Catholics, that's code for anti-abortion fanatics. What Gordon really means is that fundamentalists and conservative Catholics will dominate the Blob, which isn't terribly surprising to the rest of us. Meanwhile, the mainstream parties and media were quietly having a good laugh at Copeland's umbrage over the premature launch of the new fundamentalist thing on the political landscape. Peter Dunne gloated at his errant ex-List MP's misfortune, Labour contemplated how embarrassing it would be for National to be in bed with such a vote-losing liability for the mainstream electorate, and National didn't think that the Blob would do all that well anyway. However, no-one's asked the obvious question. Like Christian Coalition I, is the Blob a marriage of con-venience, in which the two fundamentalist parties de-merge themselves if elements of the electorate are silly enough to vote them into Parliament? Come to think of it, isn't that just what Copeland did in the case of United Future earlier this year...? And then this happened... Gordon Copeland has not only taken umbrage over Tamaki and Lewis' premature ejaculation (...) of rhetoric over the launch of the new fundamentalist party next month (?), he has now withdrawn Future New Zealand from any further participation as constituents of the Blob, stating that he cannot work with Richard Lewis. In other words, Copeland has set a new record, "seceding" from an embryonic political party before it has actually been formed! This has all been terribly bewildering for Copeland's ex-colleague Paul Adams, as the former United Future MP expressed his frustration that fundamentalist machinations related to the establishment of Christian Coalition II: The Blob appear to have gone nowhere due to fratricidal frictions between Future New Zealand and the former Destiny New Zealand. But no, Gordon Copeland and Larry Baldock then fronted up on Scoop, issuing a media release which ill-concealed their irritation with Tamaki and Lewis, and making it clear that they wanted the Bishop of Bling out of the picture. However, they were still committed to the National Advisory Committee process, and its goal of a single fundamentalist party to contest the next New Zealand general election in 2008. However, in the interim period, Future New Zealand will still exist. Won't it??! Craig Young - 20th September 2007