I was actually going to lay off the New Zealand stuff for a bit. Cultural history, localism and identity are going to be major themes in the book, but I planned to mix it up a bit in the blog. However, a good case study has pretty much fallen into my lap in the last few days, and it would be a shame to let it pass.

This story – just to lay all the cards on the table (and underline just how small New Zealand is) – comes from within my own family. Mark Loveys (pictured left, with the Dr Who look going on) is my sister’s partner. He was in a band called Satellite Spies who had a major NZ pop hit in the mid 80s called Destiny in Motion, which Mark wrote.

Throughout May, for New Zealand Music Month, I put one NZ music clip a day up on my personal blog, and I thought it would be cool to put Destiny in Motion up there – far and away Mark’s biggest hit (but far from his only single).

However… when it came time for the video to go live on my site, it disappeared from YouTube. Mark picks up the story…