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This page last updated August 9
2005
2005-0329 - Letter to The Press
- Boot on third foot?
by Brian Robinson - Karen Zelas accuses Lynley Hood of saying that Zelas'
"principal psychiatric qualification was "grand-fathered"
rather than examined." Lynley Hood did not. Karen Zelas should read A City Possessed, and if she then
finds that there are "inaccurate and misleading comments", perhaps
she could enlighten us all as to what they may be?
2005-0329 - The Press - Boot on other
foot
 by Karen Zelas - It is ironic that Lynley Hood is distressed that
Creative New Zealand has described her doctorate as being honorary (rather
than examined), since this would damage her reputation. In her book A City Possessed, about the
Christchurch Civic Creche case, she made a similarly inaccurate statement
about my principal psychiatric qualification being "grand-fathered"
rather than examined.
2005-0329 - The Press - What goes
around
by Catherine Davidson - Lynley Hood now knows how it feels to have people
believe things about you that are not true. I bet those who felt that this
was the case when her book A City
Possessed was published are having a good laugh.
2005-0327 - Sunday Star Times - Small
price to pay
by Anne Hunt - I fully support Dr Lynley Hood's determination to correct her
professional credentials in the CD-Rom produced by Creative New Zealand.
Writers of fiction are rarely aware of the importance of reputation to a
writer who tackles subjects which are legally risky
2005-0327 - Sunday Star Times - Not
Hood's fault
by Anne Halba - The only thing that is "crucifyingly embarrassing for
New Zealand literature", to quote Kate de Goldi in your story about
Lynley Hood, was the fact that somebody who had the responsibility for
compiling the biographical information about her for the CD-Rom got it wrong
in the first place
2005-0327 - Sunday Star Times -
ItsNotVanity.htm
by Brian Robinson - Hood's concerns should not be lightly brushed off by the
literati as "vanity". The costs involved in rectifying the mistake
are small. Of course the mistake should be rectified, and not in the begrudging
way that it appears to have been.
2005-0327 - Sunday Star Times - Eggs on face
by S Napier - You report that Lynley Hood told Creative New Zealand that her
doctorate was "earned", not an honorary title. If that is so, why
did they change it? There is egg on the face here, but it is most certainly
not on Hood's.
2005-0327 - Sunday Star Times - The pen is
mightier than the sword …or degree
by Celia Geary - While I admire the work she put into her book A City Possessed, she shouldn't get
too precious about her degree, earned or not. It is not who she is or what
degrees she has that are important, but what she writes about
2005-0326 - Leaf Salon
- Honorary vs Earned
by John Lorimer - I have no no argument with Dr Hood’s request and her work
stands as an example of highest scholarship. The honorary vs earned debate is
a little removed. Perhaps the term ‘earned” is misleading, as it can most
honorary degrees are also earned - but in a different forum.
2005-0323 - Leaf Salon
- Impact of A City Possessed
by Brian - Lynley Hood’s Creche book has made as many ripples in the Child
Protection/ Psychology / Justice world as Rutherford once did in the world of
physics. And of course when anybody does come out with a bombshell and a
significant presentation of “new” thought, there is always a reaction fom the
old guard.
2005-0323 - Leaf Salon
- Costs little
by John Lorimer - Less than Fifty cents a Cd, Less than a dollar postage for
a few dozen of the 1000 or so CDs I’m
sure those on the ‘artists dole’ wouldn’t see the funds anyway - …..Hood is
not being precious.
2005-0323 - NZ Herald -
Author's degree the real deal says university
NZPA - A letter to the editor of the Otago Daily Times, written under a nom
de plume, claimed the doctorate was not "earned", and had caused
"considerable debate" in the university community. But Charles
Tustin, the university's director of research, higher degrees and scholarships,
said the procedure for awarding it was stringent. Dr Hood, who wrote A City
Possessed, about the Christchurch Civic Creche sex abuse case, said she was
"outraged" by the suggestion.
2005-0322 - Otago Daily Times -
Hood and university dismiss criticism
by David Loughrey - A letter questioning the doctor of literature degree
awarded to writer Dr Lynley Hood has been dismissed by both the writer and
the University of Otago. A letter to
the editor of the Otago Daily Times, written under a nom de plume, claimed
the doctorate was not "earned".
2005-0322 - Leaf Salon
- Undisclosed Connections with the Creche
by Winston - Sunday Star Times Editor
is Cate Brett. Brett wrote about the Ellis/Civic Creche case a few years ago
in “North & South”. She didn’t
let the readers know that she had been a creche client parent during Peter
Ellis’s creche employment era. A commentator in that Sunday Star Times story
was Kate de Goldi. de Goldi was also a creche client parent during Peter
Ellis’s creche employment era. The story never mentioned that.
2005-0322 - Leaf Salon
- Deserves to be protective
by Brian - Lynley Hood earned the doctorate she received for all the books
she has written. Her examiners reportedly said that the book “A City Possessed” would have been
enough by itself to have earned the degree. She is not just a “novelist” but
a meticulous researcher who has produced one of New Zealand’s most important
books ever. A City Possessed has
had dozens of favourable reviews, but there are a number of people who do not
like the conclusions - and who have resorted to personal attacks against Lynley
Hood, instead of debating the substance of the book.
2005-0322 - Leaf Salon
- Paranoia
by "Islander" - I am bothered by the screeches from Wellington
people over this; CNZ has made a mistake, should acknowledge this, destroy
the CDs, and that will be that.
2005-0321 - Stuff - Author stands
by call for CDs to be destroyed
 NZPA - In the letter written to Creative New Zealand, Dr Hood said she
believed the mistake was deliberate as she had pointed out - in writing and
on two occasions - the doctorate was examined, not honorary. "Indeed, I
am bound to conclude the error was deliberate, and that it was made by
someone who clearly understands the difference between an earned degree and
an honorary degree, and who must therefore be fully aware that
misrepresenting an earned doctorate as an honorary doctorate to an
international audience will seriously damage the honour and reputation of the
degree holder
2005-0321 - Otago Daily Times -
Author insists error be corrected
by Lea Jones - Dunedin author Lynley Hood is standing by her controversial
call to have 2000 CD Roms containing incorrect biographical information
destroyed, but rejects claims she threatened legal action. ….. However, Dr
Hood, who wrote A City Possessed
about the Christchurch Civic Creche sex abuse case, yesterday said the
incorrect information could seriously damage her reputation.
2005-0321 - Leaf Salon
- Examined, not honorary
by Chris - If you flicked through the papers at the weekend, you probably
read about the spat between author Lynley Hood and Creative New Zealand.
According to the Sunday Star Times.
…….Now, what’s really going on here? We have a feeling that there’s more to
this storm in a LittD cup than meets the eye …
 2005-0321 - NZ Herald - Author defends
'scrap CDs' demand
NZPA - Author Lynley Hood continued to insist yesterday that thousands of
CD-Roms containing incorrect biographical information about her should be
destroyed ….. "Those CDs are going to be around for a long time and not
only does the mistake take away my qualification, it's made it into a
liability. "If you've got an honorary doctorate and use the title,
you're a joke. I can't afford for that to happen," she said.
2005-0320 - Sunday Star Times - Literati
up in arms at author's CD threat
by Tim Hume - A war of words has erupted among New Zealand's literati after
an author threatened to sue Creative New Zealand over a biographical error on
a CD-Rom it produced. The government arts agency is destroying hundreds of
CD-Roms about New Zealand writers - and asking those who have already
received them to destroy their copies after Dunedin author Lynley Hood
threatened legal action. She was upset her profile said her Otago University
doctorate was honorary, when in fact it was an examined degree
2005-0208 - The Press -
Verdicts in doubt
by Bernard Robertson - A Court of Appeal decision given just before last
Christmas will reopen controversy over the convictions of not only convicted
child sex abuser Peter Ellis but hundreds of others convicted during the
1990s of sexual abuse of children. The case concerns a section of the
Evidence Act, section 23G, which was rushed through Parliament just before
Christmas 1989. The section allows clinical psychologists to give evidence
about whether the behaviour of a complainant is "consistent or
inconsistent with" sexual abuse. The section is nonsense.
2005-0128 - Lawyers
Weekly - NZ court allows review of Ellis case
By Andrea Ruffell - Commentators claim the evidence given as to whether
behaviour was consistent with sexual abuse in the infamous Christchurch Civic
Crčche case R v Ellis under s 23G(2)(c) would not pass the standard set by R
v A. “Cases such as these should be the subject of Governor-General’s
references to the Court of Appeal, because they’re miscarriages of justice by
which hundreds of people have gone to jail,” Robertson said.
2005-0123 - NZ Herald - Ruling
could help Ellis case
by David Fisher - Peter Ellis, a convicted paedophile, could be given another
chance to clear his name following a new Court of Appeal ruling which hits
expert evidence given by psychologists. The appeal court judgement, released
on Christmas Eve, will force psychologists to be more specific about the
signs of child abuse - and could affect hundreds of child sex abuse cases
2005-0121 - NZ Lawyer - Court
opens way for review of Ellis case
by Andrea Ruffell - A judgment released on Christmas Eve turning on s 23G of
the Evidence Act 1908 could open
the floodgates for review of hundreds of child sexual abuse convictions
entered over the last 15 years……………..Lynley Hood, Dunedin author of A City Possessed, the multiple
award-winning book on the Ellis trials said, “If the R v A standard was used in Ellis,
the case would have been laughed out of Court”. If the R v A yardstick were applied to Ellis, most, if not all, of the ‘behavioural characteristics of
child sexual abuse’ presented by prosecution expert witness Dr Karen Zelas in
her evidence-in-chief would be considered irrelevant and of no probative
value, Hood said.
2005-0101 - NZ Listener - The
Bluffers Guide to Mass Hysteria
[Examples] in New Zealand? Many cite the outbreak of satanic, ritualistic and
paedophilic accusations, of which Peter Ellis was a victim, as an example of
this phenomenon, but the best local instance was the great Unidentified
Flying Dirigible panic of 1908-09
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