Clark fixes the small shower to avoid a bath

Fix it. That was the essence of a text message the Prime Minister sent to Shane Jones a few days ago. She followed it up by leaving a similar message on her Building and Construction Minister's voicemail. Jones got the message and heeded it. He has been confined to bed with a lingering flu-like lurgy. But he hauled himself into TVNZ's studios on Monday night to reassure Close-Up viewers that no-one would be forced to install a shower head with a maximum six litre a minute water flow. The world may be going to economic hell in a handcart. But Clark's antennae were alert to the likelihood of Labour taking a bath over the draft alterations to the Building Code requiring that limit on water flow apply to showers in new homes of more than 150sq m and renovated bathrooms. In the past week - with the help of National's Nick Smith -... [read full story]