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The Interesties - Our awards for the best and worst of 2008

The Interesties - Our awards for the best and worst of 2008

Best man-made swimming hole - Tie for first. Strategic Finance's Soho Square in Ponsonby and Hanover Finance's 5 Mile development in Queenstown. Best attempt to educate New Zealand investors about the dangers of the global financial meltdown - Phil Jones Best comeback - Phil Jones Best juice salesman - Phil Jones Best road trip with a Reserve Bank Governor - David Haywood and Alan Bollard visit Canberra Fastest mode of transport to Washington to ask for taxpayer's money - GM, Chrysler and Ford's corporate jets Best new job description - Bank of America CEO John Lewis and Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain: "Get too big to fail and be quick about it" Best auditing work by a small firm - Friehling and Horowitz for its work on Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC Best question in a Reserve Bank press conference - Scoop's Alastair Thompson to Alan Bollard on September 11 when the Reserve Bank cut the OCR by 50 basis points: "Did you consider cutting the OCR by 50 basis points?" Best answer by a Reserve Bank Governor in a press conference - "errrr....well that's what we did..." Worst awkward silence in a Reserve Bank press conference - Moment after Alastair Thompson's question. Most persistent and dedicated (and welcome) blog commenter on interest.co.nz - Iain Parker Fastest blog commenter on interest.co.nz - Tie for first. Andy Hamilton and Andrewj Most surprising comeback in politics - Roger Douglas The biggest lip wobbling award for the politician who realised he had been caught out being economical with the truth - Winston Peters at his last Parliamentary Select Committee appearance (Witnessed by Bryan Spondre and I in Wellington before the September 11 rate cut) Best Christmas present - Phil Jones' Cracker Christmas Deal 1 with various books and DVDS worth NZ$11,687 at a special price of NZ$1,997. Best eponymous hedge fund manager - Bernard Madoff (As in Made-off with the money) Worst luck in choosing investors - Opes Prime's Laurie Emini with his decision to encourage investment by members of the Melbourne underworld. They sent a trained assassin to find him and help them with their inquiries. Optimist of the Year - REINZ President Murray Cleland Pessimist of the Year - Bernard Hickey Most court appearances by a finance company executive - Rod Petricevic Most imaginative use of a corporate expense account - Mark Bryers We welcome your suggestions. Comments below please. Best wishes for the holidays to everyone. Many thanks to Alex for his help compiling this list.

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