New Zealand

David Lange walked away from New Zealand's top political job on his own terms, abruptly announcing his resignation as Prime Minister last August. Now serving as the country's Attorney General, Lange, 47, evidently thought he could terminate his marriage in similar fashion. Two weeks ago, he issued a statement that he and his wife of 21 years, Naomi, had separated. There would, he said, be no further comment.

Fat chance. In New Zealand last week there was practically nothing but comment. Naomi complained in a newspaper interview that her husband had developed a "fantasy thing" for his 37-year-old speechwriter, Margaret Pope. Then David's 80-year-old mother Phoebe piped up, pronouncing herself "so angry I could behead him with my crutch." For his part, Lange declared that he planned to live with Pope and joked of his mum's dismay that she was "writing a soap opera called Lays of Our Dave."