Field Theory by Hadyn Green

An apology by a politician who appears contrite probably doesn't mean much. These people are politicians, they are trained to fake sincerity.

And I seem to recall one of these apologies by one of our prominent politicians, was it this week?
My memory seems a bit poor this morning, perhaps Im hungry.
A leg of Key perhaps mmmmmm.

The juxtaposition of these two apologies (Key and NZRU's) is quite nice I thought

"I'm sorry if you were offended" is not an apology - as most children learn eventually

The Perfect Apology has some brilliant examples, of both good and execrable apologies. Famous apologies are here. And they say that no apology can be better than half an apology, which I think is very true.

Personally I like that they apologised to the country as well.

Personally, I didn't give a shit then (in my defence, I was nine at the time and more interested in Doctor Who than politics or rugby) and still don't. A high-value apology should be directed at the people actually affected not a meaningless abstract collective noun. It should also be timely -- but I guess we're almost three decades past that...

I'd also note that the NZRFU cannot meaningfully apologise for the actions of the government of the day or the Police back in '81, which some folks may be a little sore about.

Good to have it done.

Shame that some more effort could have been put into it, rather than "oh wait, they've said sorry, now we look like the dicks".

As you note, a match between the NZ Maori and South Africa, to which ex-NZ Maori players were invited to an attached function, would have been appropriate. And it would have been a humdinger of a game too. That would have required some pre-planning however.

I'm very pleased the NZRFU had the balls to stand up and apologise - now Mr Key, what about someone doing an apology on behalf of Muldoon's government?

A high-value apology should be directed at the people actually affected not a meaningless abstract collective noun.

True, and an apology from Key (while he's already making some) wouldn't go amiss.

But really the only way to truly settle this is a game of rugby. South Africa vs New Zealand Maori, either as a one-off here or as a tour over there.

they say that no apology can be better than half an apology,

Sorry?

they say that no apology can be better than half an apology,
Sorry?

I suppose that would be like "dig up, stupid"

Holy fucking shit -- Trotter's been at the paint thinner again. Sometimes, no apology is required or acceptable. You're already quite sorry enough.

Trotter's been at the paint thinner again

Indeed. What a tired, racist fuckwit - and that's my carefully considered opinion. Male menopause has a lot to answer for.

If you, the members of the National Party, do not rouse yourselves, then your own, once- proud, political brand will suffer the same fate as Corso's.

Already, ideological extremism has driven thousands of your members out of the party.

And now those same extremists, working hand-in-glove with radical Maori nationalists, are getting ready to tip both your government and your dramatically restructured party organisation into the same death spiral that destroyed Corso.

Them Maaris will destroy us all. How does excrement like this even get published in a daily newspaper?

New Zealand's largest and most successful home- grown aid organisation had been destroyed: initially, by ideological extremism; and finally, by radical Maori nationalism.

Meths destroys both cognitive function and memory, it appears.

they say that no apology can be better than half an apology,

Sorry?

Meaning: if you give a partial apology (eg: "I'm sorry you were offended"; or, "I'm sorry, but you have to understand...."), you can actually make things worse. If you follow the link I gave, this idea is explained in detail.

Re: Chris Trotter's latest piece of alarmism, I'd be more concerned about the creeping infiltration of theo-cons into the political system and the civil service.

I'd be more conced about the creeping infiltration of the clipinator into the wordosphere, forming neologisms made up entirely of prefixes.

Off topic: NZ women just lost to Australia in the 2020 final. Fantastic effort by Devine to get them with a chance to win it off the final couple of overs, but needed 5 off the last ball (4 to tie), and drove it down the field but the bowler got a partial stop.