GREEN MP SWEARS BY HEMP

OLD-STYLE MPs might sneer at the likes of dreadlocked Rastafarian Nandor
Tanczos being elected to Parliament, but they cannot look down their noses
at his dress sense.

Mr Tanczos, a Green MP, wore a navy-blue hemp suit for his swearing-in at
Parliament yesterday, and his attire was crisper than the crispest Nat suit
- - sharper than Winston Peters, even.

He had the suit specially made by an Auckland tailor, using a Chinese
hemp-wool cloth blend cloth. With it he wore an off-white hemp-viscose
blend shirt and a green-patterned tie, topping off the ensemble by twisting
his waist-length dreadlocks into a turban shape.

"People expect me to look like I was wearing sackcloth and ashes," he said.

Co-owner of The Hemp Store, Mr Tanczos hoped the suit would be a good
advertisement of what could be done with hemp - and contribute to a push to
have hemp legally grown in New Zealand.

And no, he will not be trimming a bit of cloth off his trouser cuffs to
roll up and smoke - you cannot get stoned on hemp.

Mr Tanczos's partner, Linda Robinson, attended the swearing-in, and
declared his suit looked fabulous. She agreed his status as Parliament's
thinking woman's piece of crumpet was not undeserved.

"I suppose he's pretty sexy," she said.

Mr Tanczos responded: "She's got nothing to worry about."

Not that he minded hordes of female reporters running their hands over his
suit - just to check his assurances about the fine texture, of course.