Posts by Joe Wylie
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McLay's only major policy beef with the Lange Government was the no nukes issue. A cartoon of the time depicted him in a US sailor suit, announcing that he'd invite a nuclear-armed frigate to the upcoming Waitangi celebrations. A tattoo of the word Marcy was shown prominently on his arm, a reference to his American wife Marcy Faden, who had worked in the office of a Hawaiian congressman. When McLay was finally dumped as leader a gloating piece of graffiti appeared on a Ponsonby wall that read "Oh Marcy, how Hawaii beckons".
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By way of a little history, here's Jim's account of how he tried to roll the Gang of One. His little more than a year as opposition leader consisted of largely agreeing with the Lange Government while frantically trying to put out fires lit by backbencher Muldoon. Eventually he publicly challenged Muldoon to endorse him. Muldoon didn't, the other Jim (Bolger) took over, and McLay left politics at the next election.
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Hard News: Everybody has one, in reply to Kumara Republic,
And the only thing Mike Hosking is missing right now is a giant telescreen.
True, though I suspect his enduring qualities are more Lord Haw-Haw than Big Brother.
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Polity: Saudi sheep: Misappropriating…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I see Jim McClay got one also
Belated payback for having his Party leadership white-anted from under him back when mastodons, sorry Muldoon, walked the earth?
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Hard News: Everybody has one, in reply to Sacha,
Mr Henry on morning telly
Mate, "we need more open minds like his".
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Envirologue: Too Big to Fail – Why…, in reply to Alfie,
Tim Flannery writing in the Guardian puts paid to the theory espoused by Tony Abbott that Australia's massive bushfires have absolutely no connection to global warming.
Flannery has written compellingly about the role of pre-European "firestick farming" in shaping the Australian environment. In The Future Eaters he cited James Cook's account of always being within sight of presumably human-managed fires on his voyage up the continent's East coast.
Like his mentor John Howard, Abbott is a throwback to the Liberal politics of Menzies, whose tribal myth was that the firestick-managed hunting grounds of the "naturally" grass-covered Victorian wheat belt was a benighted wasteland until its "discovery".
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Hard News: Everybody has one, in reply to Hilary Stace,
...and that Winston Peters is a fan.
Those wild double-breasted boys back in the day.
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Hard News: Everybody has one, in reply to Tinakori,
Maybe there is something in the Wellington and Wairarapa water?
Rosemary McLeod used to be fond of reminding her readers of her Masterton origins. On recent evidence it's high time someone turned off the bloody tap.
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Polity: Meet the middle, in reply to chris,
We do sometimes lose sight of the fact that Labour dragged the centre leftwards through being in government.
and also without being in Government.
Louisa Wall and Kelvin Davis might know a thing or two about that. Neither of those two make Rob Salmond's short list of Labour poster people, who seem chosen more for being unlikely to frighten the chooks than for any proven ability to advance a progressive agenda:
I don’t think Andrew Little is a John Key clone. Do you?
I don’t think Grant Robertson is a Bill English clone. Do you?
I don’t think Jacinda Ardern is a Judith Collins clone. Do you?
I don’t think Phil Twyford is a Nick Smith clone. Do you?Others' mileage may differ, but for me Clare Curran can manage an occasionally passable Judith Collins impression.
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Polity: Meet the middle, in reply to Rich Lock,
In this scenario, our Labour Leader and his/her shadow cabinet will hide inside a giant horse formed from pure centrist populism and trick the citizens into rolling them through the gates of parliament, only to leap out in the night, open the floodgates, and put all to the sword of their wide-ranging socialist and green agenda.
I can't remember if it was Tom Scott or Denis Welch who described David Lange as an "affable frontman for a bunch of vicious little kneecappers", but I'm pretty sure those were the words.