Posts by Joe Wylie
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. . . the humdrum candidates they've offered up . . .
There used to to be a nice Australian phrase for that sort of thing - "Sending an empty bottle to Canberra".
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But I did say I wasn't making a political argument, so ...
So, uh, right, have a nice day Judith.
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In her role as a Labour Minister of Consumer affairs Tizard had a duty to prepare legislation to protect the vulnerable, particularly from the activities of loan sharks. She showed little interest in doing so. For this reason alone I believe that it's a good thing that she's no longer a Minister. I only wish that those of her present defenders who had her ear on the things that mattered had made some attempt to persuade her to relinquish a portfolio that seemed beyond her competence. If that qualifies as bile Russell then OK, guilty as charged.
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Re. "wickedly intelligent" Goff - in a late-80s Listener column Denis Welch described a conversation where Goff used words to the effect of "Well Denis, you and I have both been through University."
To which Welch noted: He's wrong. I haven't.However 'wicked' Goff's intelligence may be, it still appears to be tainted by a touch of smug complacency.
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Bullshit, Joe. If you're going to call me a liar and a partisan hypocrite, then that's not going to go unanswered. My point -- and perhaps I should set it to music and perform an interpretive dance -- is that I really hate these kind of events being used for cheap political point-scoring.
I'm not even so much as implying that you're either of those things. Nor am I attempting to make any political capital from the wider situation. I'd have thought it would be clear enough that I'm not a partisan commentator, but viewed through a filter of amped-up high dudgeon I guess all interpretations are possible. And just to make it plain, I believe that Key appears to be handling things just fine.
Having a parent who's been traumatised by their war experiences might make you a little unusual for your generation, but sadly it's a situation you share with probably around a million NZers. It's a pity that you have to add to the sense of 'cheap political point-scoring' by using your father's experience as a wooden leg to belabour those you disagree with.
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Joe: If you want to bitch me, come at it straight and leave my father out of it. I've been accused of making a partisan argument in bad faith. I was just pointing out that I very sincerely get pissed off by politicians -- or media outlets -- trying to score fatuous political points off ANZAC or Armistice Day commemorations because there are still quite a few people around for whom those ceremonies have very personal resonances.
Craig: I'm right with you on the petty and demeaning pointscoring - you couldn't have made that point clearer if you'd put hyphens between the syllables of your words. So your Dad was damaged by his (presumably) WW2 service? He and practically every other member of his generation in this part of the world. Deserving of respect, sure. Using your Dad's experience as a pity-me argumentative flyswatter isn't. First you dragged the poor guy into it, next you duck behind him to cry foul. Cheap and tacky.
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When I see the reputation of John Key, Bill English, Phil Goff or any other politician not of the female gender approached in the same disingenuous way I promise you, Craig, I will rush to their defence.
Purely by way of comparison, no-one copped it quite as savagely as Benson-Pope.
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We lived in Grey Lynn when Richard Prebble held Auckland Central . . .
A good story verbwrangle. I lived 16 years in Prebble's electorate, and never bothered to vote, except once, for Bruce Jesson. In my last election spent there, in 1990, a besuited Prebble appeared on a soapbox - or something resembling one - right outside my front gate in Freeman's Bay, and delivered a speech to a sprinkling of curious onlookers. None of them ventured beyond their front gates apart from a pair of teenage guys who steadily heckled him from a distance. Like most of the onlookers I lost interest, but the last I saw Prebble had descended from his box and was holding a conversation with the two yobboes.
I wonder, was this a one-off, or did he used to occasionally become possessed by the spirit of John A Lee?
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. . . I spent my childhood watching my usually laid back father get rather tense around Anzac Day . . .
Like, for around six months either side of? I'd never really seen my own Dad's reticence re. the war as that much of a negative, but now you mention it, in case I ever need a wooden leg to wave . . .
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He's a fourth generation brethren, whom would say "praise the lord brother" every time we hit the road and at each completed stage of the journey.
Hopefully he's not into praying to the Lord to find him a parking spot. That's being a real god-botherer.
Re. Annette King - in the late 80s she was briefly famous for claiming that evil advertisers were inserting subliminal messages into print ads - specifically of 'tortured faces' - in order to coerce reformed alcoholics back to drinking. I remember on McPhail & Gadsby's show a custard pie was fired at the screen, with an invitation to Ms. King to find a tortured face in the image.I kind of assumed that she'd, you know, matured, but then she came up with the moon thing.