Hypocrisy Watch
New Zealand First deputy leader Peter Brown has attacked immigration policies due to the estimated increase in the Asian population. …
The Asian population here is set to rise to 790,000 by 2026.Mr Brown says he is particularly concerned that Asians will outnumber Maori.
He says “it is a bit rich when the original inhabitants get shoved further down the pile because successive governments keep throwing open the doors to this country.”
At this point I should point out Mr Brown is an immigrant.
If he is worried about the original inhabitants getting outnumbered and shoved further down the pile, then he could do his bit to help and return to the UK.
Or is he saying it is a bad thing only when the yellow immigrants are outnumbering Maori, and the white immigrants are okay?
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Which Asian organisation is concerned with promoting moari culture?
the point he makes, and the assumption of his attitude, is that he is a kiwi, moari are inherent in the kiwi culture, and asian immigrants not yet here are not kiwis.
Of course there must a huge number of asians in the world up to date with moari culture…
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:31 pm
“Or is he saying it is a bad thing only when the yellow immigrants are outnumbering Maori, and the white immigrants are okay?”
That’s exactly what he’saying and that has been NZF’s position for many years. I was told this by an NZF election candidate in 1996 when I asked him about immigrants. Hed said we had too many and when I pointed out that I was an immigrant, he stuttered on about “the right sort of immigrant”. I asked him did the right sort mean white and he couldn’t give me a straight answer. I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments about Brown buggering off back to the Mother Country if he’s that worried.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Personally, I think New Zealand lets in completely the wrong sort of immigrant, and should impose far stricter standards.
PS I immigrated in 2005
PPS Māori not moari.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Yes it is hypocritcal. It is also instructive. Especially when you consider how many Maori are going to settle in Australia, where they can just ‘be’ regardless of their ethnicity. I have also read here about how net immigration versus net emigration means that the overall complexion of the nation remains unchanged. but the fact of the matter is the racial complexion of NZ will change over the next fifty to a hundred years, and Maori will seccumb to what colonisation and small-pox failed to do.
It is simplistic is it not, though to ‘favour’ races or ethnicities when we discuss immigration? It seems ok, for example, for some, to condemn the ‘white influx’ of the post-war era as representing a racially motivated act, (with zero respect for the feelings of those who may have arrived at that time) yet, if it is pointed out that there are many Asian coming into NZ in the present, somehow those who do so are the racists, and we should protect the ‘feelings’ of new immigrants! Can’t have it both ways….
PS I am an immigrant, but will not say from where, because II might have the accusation of ‘hypocracy’ levelled at me from either those on the right or left, who appear to think it is ok, based on their own political agenda at the time.
Look at this:
“If he is worried about the original inhabitants getting outnumbered and shoved further down the pile, then he could do his bit to help and return to the UK.” (DPF)
Same shit, different decade.
“
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I wonder what the Minister of Foreign Affairs and actual Leader of New Zealand First thinks of this, or is he in two minds about it?
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Helen and John:
This is the point where you tell the man – and his squalid party – that the only baubles he’s going to have after the election are in his scrotum. And they no bloody use either.
Lee wrote:
Sure, instead members of my family who’ve been in Australia for decades still get snide comments about Kiwi bludgers whose only stop between Kingsford Smith and Bondi Beach is to sign up for benefits. Never mind that it’s legally impossible to do any such thing, and Kiwi immigrants are actually disproportionately under-represented in welfare stats.
Sad to say this, Lee, but there’s nowhere in the world you won’t find opportunistic politicians who find it convenient to whip up hostility against dirty foreigners. And even sadder to say, I expect this kind of b.s. from Peters. I know Brown is better – or could be if he didn’t cling to Peters like a child on Mummy’s apron strings.
And, Lee, I don’t give the proverbial toss whether you came from Shanghai, Salford for Sowetto. If you’re a productive and law-abiding chap you’re welcome in my street – just don’t forget to take in your recycling bin on Friday evenings.
Yvette wrote:
Two minds? Is Winston a zombie or something, because last time I looked he was still a brainless crap sack.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
BEWARE! The yellow peril is coming!
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Haha a pommy git warns of the yellow peril. Only in lickspittleland.
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
What does the leader of NZFuckwits think? Wait till the election, and watch him trot out the classy slogans as per the last three elections about Asians. Perhaps NZF and the voters this appeals to could all leave the country.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
“It seems ok, for example, for some, to condemn the ‘white influx’ of the post-war era as representing a racially motivated act, (with zero respect for the feelings of those who may have arrived at that time) yet, if it is pointed out that there are many Asian coming into NZ in the present, somehow those who do so are the racists, and we should protect the ‘feelings’ of new immigrants! Can’t have it both ways….”
Well, you can in a way. The postwar immigration programme was specifically discriminatory, as noted in Te Ara:
“Post-war immigration regulations continued to discriminate against Asians. A Department of External Affairs memorandum in 1953 stated: ‘Our immigration is based firmly on the principle that we are and intend to remain a country of European development. It is inevitably discriminatory against Asians – indeed against all persons who are not wholly of European race and colour. Whereas we have done much to encourage immigration from Europe, we do everything to discourage it from Asia.”
Today’s immigration is not racially discriminatory.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Craig Ranapia says:
I don’t know where you know Brown from, Craig, but I know him too and it comes as no surprise to me at all. Not because I think Brown is a racist. Quite the contrary. He is an utterly empty vessel and the most indolent and ineffective of a lacklustre bunch.
When NZF was fighting with everything it had to make an impact and Brown was Transport Spokesperson it took a gargantuan effort on my part to get one press release out of him in an entire year. And then he didn’t do any media interviews on it because, he told me, it was more important to “relax with a G & T” of an evening. Unlike every other spokesperson he made no suggestions, did no work, and in three years produced one piece of policy. Well when I say “policy” I mean an idea of a paragraph or so that was then left to the Research Unit to flesh out.
His one and only attribute was undying loyalty to Winston. He lived (lives?) in Tauranga and helped keep the blue rinse brigade happy. In the absence of Winston a plummy British accent (and presumably a few G &Ts) did the trick.
I’d suspect, in answer to those asking “What does Winston think?” that this is precisely what Winston thinks. The press release will have been dreamed up by someone in NZF, run by Winston (everything must be run by Winston) who will have realised that making a statement on the topic might put his baubles at risk. So the task of sticking his head above the trenches and drawing fire gets given to Lance Corporal Brown.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
“Today’s immigration is not racially discriminatory.”
I think the point is, bearhunter, that NZFirst are happy to imply that it is.
Besides, your riposte does little to acknowledge the racism that some european settlers experienced. Or the feelings of present day Asian immigrants. (Including a ‘bash-a-pom’ movement in the old days and ‘they refuse to integrate/can’t drive accusations of the new). My point is that racism is bad bad bad bad bad, geddit? But the fact it is bad does not stop people from using it as a crude mallet with which to beat their own political drums, while ignoring the implicit racism of their own positions.
Racism Bad! Even telling people to ‘go home’ if you don’t agree with them is ….Bad! For example, DPF posted some time back about Israel. Did anyone respond to DPF (whom I understand his of Jewish extraction) by saying ‘If Israel is so great why not go live there?’ – No! Because it would have been Bad! (with apologies to DPF for ‘cheapness’ of point).
Bad, I say.
PSNZ First should all be taken with a pinch of salt, because it is obviously an election-year ploy which would be funny if it were not such a tragic indictment of the kiwi tendency to get off on this kind of ‘Well at least he’s honest/’ kind of BS. The old folk will be lapping it up.
It’s still BAD I say. And instructive.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I very much agree that a country’s borders, especially one as beautiful and unique as New Zealand should never be flung wide open, and that there does need to be care taken as to who is granted permission to immigrate to NZ.
I am acutely aware of groups of immigrants who huddle together and don’t get involved enough with “Kiwi” Culture.
But I do have a few points/questions that I intend to also raise with Mr Brown.
1) What exactly is NZ culture? Mr Brown says “…people coming to live here should live the way New Zealanders do.” So I’m to assume that because he is worried that he is particularly concerned that Asians will outnumber Maori. Then he and his fellow European immigrants are frequent visitors to the Marae and indulge in Haka and Hangi on a regular basis? (Note that he is only concerned about Asian immigrants)
2) He also says that “…it is a bit rich when the original inhabitants get shoved further down the pile because successive governments keep throwing open the doors to this country.” So….it was the Asians who colonised NZ, confiscated land etc….
3) “…Mr Brown, who was born and educated in Britain, says Asians come to New Zealand and set up mini cultural outposts, which he says is unacceptable. He says New Zealand has a set of values well worth defending.” Two points on this one.
a) Has he taken in on himself as an immigrant to define the “set of values” that all must follow
b) A bit more of a contentious point here but why is he not criticising the pockets of NZ who set up “mini cultural outposts” for Irish, Scottish, English, Swedish, Polish, German, American, Greek, Italian, French, culture etc?
4) As an additional point to the above, is it always that the Asian people are exclusive? If an invitation was extended to Mr Brown (and perhaps some others) to participate in and Learn about the Asian Cultures, would he accept? Or would he turn his nose at the incorrect looking people and their Foreigner-stan language?
I could write down exactly what I think about this guy but suffice to say that he is definitely part of the problem rather than the solution.
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Just heard Bill Ralston interviewing Brown on Radio Live.
The man is an out and out racist. It was very much his personal views coming out and it’s clear his thoughts on immigration take direct lineage back to Enoch Powell.
Ralston actually called him a racist and then finished the interview playing Monty Python’s “I Like Chinese”.
Brilliant. Funniest radio I’ve heard locally for many a year.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
lickspittleland – is this an island off iceland somewhere for sexual depravation and fun? Sounds good.
Seriously Dad have you ever engaged in debate on any topic ever in this blog.
As long as our population doesn’t explode out of control (is above the rate in which infrastructure can cope) I say – ya’ll come on down now. Black white pink blue green tall short round rich poor…
Anything that puts you buggers outside of your comfortable xenophobic realm is OK by me. Those who embrace all other cultures and races grow as humans, those who don’t belittle their place in the food chain.
Isn’t it nice to be of the ‘class’ whom decides who can come in or not. the arrogance of it all.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
This comment from an NZ First leader is ironical all right.
In fact, New Zealand has NZ First to thank for attracting the many silent but annoyed anti-immigrant, anti racial-change people
who are either plain bigots or believe the change in national racial mixture is unfair because it has never been debated or sanctioned by the electorate.
These folk have been drawn into NZ First’s voting pool, and NZ First after thundering its opposition to the changes at election time then goes to sleep for the next three years.
Result: instead of some fairly rough political brawling on race, the bigots and other protesters on the issue are safely quarantined.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Lee: I was responding to the part of your post that suggested a parallel between the officially discriminatory immigration in the postwar period and today’s immigration. If you read my post you’ll notice that I am not saying that racist policies are good.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
What the hell is an Asian? that stretches from japan to Pakistan and means as much as European from England to Romania.
statistics NZ is as racist as the rest.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:32 pm
I am calling on Helen Clark to sack Peters, or to demand his resignation. Here’s my rationale:
http://keepingstock.blogspot.com/2008/04/time-for-clark-to-sack-peters.html
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Let’s see Guyon Espiner chase Brown down the corridor….
Oh, I forgot. TVNZ doens’t criticise the govt or its support parties.
Sorry……
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
They do Duxton, but only on days not ending in “day”!
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Just saw John Campbell do him (Brown) over well and truly. It was a beautiful sight. Doddery old man. Esp when Campbell asked about “Kim” a staffer there at tv3. NZ born to Chinese parents. It was all just hilarious.
We’ve all been over this so many times with this party it’s boring generally, but great sport
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 pm
no bearhunter, I’m not sccusing you or think that you are, I know you are not. i’m just raising the issue that on occasion double-standards exist around th issue of race, in which it is esometimes considered ok to fall into an intellectually indefensible position in which people inadvertantly express racist ideas as either a justification for other ones, or as an argument against others’ ones. If you get my drift.
One example is using the term ‘redneck’ or ‘chinless scarfwearer’ etc, but the same people that use such terms would never use the term ‘nigger’ or ‘towelhead’, even though the offensiveness is equally calibrated in my eyes. It’s apparently ok to be racist in various degrees according to one’s political agenda and the target group you wish to demonise or victimise, is my point.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Brown’s “performance” on Campbell Live was bizarre and pathetic. If New Zealand First had ANY credibilty at the end of March, it is very quickly run ning down the drain. The party is outdated, an anachronism, led by New Zealand’s most self-serving politician – we should all rejoice at the demise of NZ First.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 pm
oh please let it be so.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I’m just curious as to his comment regarding Maori getting shoved down the list.
I’m Chinese, but have been living in NZ on and off since ‘95, and then stayed after ‘01 until my recent move to Beijing for a 6 months work contract. While I was in NZ, I never one saw immigrants being placed above the locals on any sort of list.
If you look at the most basic necessities of life – say food, education, health, accommodations, are the Maoris losing out on any of those areas because of the immigrants? Many say the Asians here stole their jobs, but if they took time to look at it, many of them took jobs that were unwanted, jobs that the locals thought they were too good for.
If one really wanted to play dirty, let’s just look at the amount of people on welfare, and then out of those, who is capable of working, then see what ethnicity they are. This is obviously a gross generalization, but it’s also an image that NZ has portrayed internationally. Thru my travels in Europe and Asia I’ve met people from different backgrounds, and the comments from those who has worked in NZ is always the same. NZ is spending far too much money paying for a group that is just taking advantage of the system, and I’ll leave you to wonder which group that is.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Has anybody noticed the shortage of cats in Howick recently?
Peters has always been anti Asian, rather funny considering the DNA evidence that Maori people originate from somewhere in Asia.
Circa 2000-2001 when Peters was doing his ’shortage of cats in Howick’ stand up comedy routine I saw him in a magazine shop on Lambton Quay. He was scanning a newspaper and was blocking access to the pile of newspapers as he did so. Typical arrogant Peters thought nothing of standing in other peoples way. I siad excuse me and he ignored me so I reached past him and picked up a paper saying quite loudly “I wonder if there are any wanky politicians in the paper today wanking on about Asian immigration”. He went completely off his nut, I paid for my paper while he was going off at me and trying to ignore him I walked out of the shop. He followed me down Lambton Quay nutting off at me, telling me business people like me in pin-striped suits are the problem in this country… About 50 meters after leaving the shop I stopped and confronted him, he stood there and was poking me in the chest as he nutted off at me. I’m a lot taller and more athletic than he is and I just laughed in his face…. He nutted off even more at that.
The man is a loose cannon, nowhere near suitable character to be a politician. To be fair I baited him about as sharply as I could, but if he’s not big enough (in character) to accept that then why is he in politics ?
It will be good to see him wiped from the political landscape later this year.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm
NZ first really know how to pull in the voters don’t they. Like it or not Asians are here to stay and good on them. Brown, Winnie and the rest of the crew at NZfst are a dying breed, thankfully. Asians are pity thin on the ground where I live but the ones I have meet are the very people this country needs. I find it amusing the concern that the yellow migrants might outnumber Maori considering Maori are prehaps the only race in the world that now lack any descendants of pure blood. Maori are way ahead of the thinking in NZfst, they are well and truly intergrated, by their choice. Prehaps those in NZfst fear their place at the trough is in danger and are playing to the fears of those stuck in the past.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Nice comment burt . Interesting that old Winny poked you in the chest. Good self control mate. Just imagine if he poked the Mallard Mauler in the chest – all hell would break out ! Loose cannons are a blazing on the LiarbourNZFirst coal barge.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Well, more of the same tired old bullshit from a bunch of silly crap artists that will all looking for new jobs in November. Not surprised that Brown was involved in the latest brainfart from this mob. They are all tossers (that includes Mark).
Along with Copeland, the NZPoodles First mob are a total waste of space (and taxpayers money).
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:20 pm
D4J
When I stopped to confront him I asked him how the family get togethers are in the Peters house since he hates Asian’s and his brother is involved in an Asian university… That really wound him up – he went off that his family affairs are none of my business yada yada yada.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Burt: “The man is a loose cannon, nowhere near suitable character to be a politician. To be fair I baited him about as sharply as I could, but if he’s not big enough (in character) to accept that then why is he in politics ?”
Hmm, good point. Of course, you’re familiar with John McCain’s well-known anger management problem? From an AP report earlier this month, “Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004…”
Does your point apply to Republicans too?
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
“he went off that his family affairs are none of my business yada yada yada.”
burt, he said the same thing to me when I was helping an All Black retrieve his children who were abducted by his niece.
A head case scone doer to say the least.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Some years ago I worked in an office with Helen, like me a 5th generation NZer. Unlike me she has Chinese ancestry and of course has pure Chinese features. She is one of the loveliest people I have ever worked with, a typlical laid-back Kiwi attitude, but hard-working, and of the highest integrity. The way she was treated by the public, and I must number my fellow NZers amongst the most of them, was just disgraceful. It is sad but we are still inherently a racist society, and dumb twits like Peter Brown only exacerbate the position.
This populist position taken by Brown and his fellow travellers is shallow and self-serving. Peter Brown obviously doesn’t have a brain in his head, and I expect is doing his master’s bidding. At least it was good to see John Campbell exposing Brown for the fool he truly is, but he will most likely get a more sympathetic hearing from TVNZ, our left-leaning sympathisers. Mind you I won’t see it. I’m not watching TVNZ after their pathetic leading news item last night on global warming.
What a country. Give me strength.
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Heathcote: “At least it was good to see John Campbell exposing Brown for the fool he truly is, but he will most likely get a more sympathetic hearing from TVNZ, our left-leaning sympathisers.”
Umm, I fail to see why Brown would get a sympathetic hearing from a supposedly “left-leaning” media organisation. In just a few months Brown’s party will most probably be in discussions with National about forming a new government — not that I think that’s a good thing.
More to the point, left-leaning people find racism abhorrent. The KKK wasn’t a communist conspiracy, you know. It wasn’t a Labour Government that allowed the Springboks to come here in 1981, and I don’t recall many right-wingers being on the marches. (Although, to be fair, the Race Relations Act was passed in 1971, under an earlier, more gentlemanly National Government.)
You can take strength from the response of those of us who protested against the presence in NZ of sporting representatives from the racist apartheid regime.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
heathcote
Is ‘Helen’ in IT? I also know a Helen that fits that description, and if we are talking about the same person I completely concur that she is a fantastic woman. Needless to say Peters probably wouldn’t give her the time of day, or get out of her way so she could reach a newspaper.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Hmm, be interesting if the Chinese started their own
political party.
Now that would have the NZ first types frothing .
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
grumpyoldhori
You know the funny thing is – we would call the “Asian Party” a race based party and we would denigrate it because it is based on race. Unlike our perspective on “Maori” we are not conditioned to accept special consideration for Asian people, even if they are the ancestors of the NZ Maori.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Call it the “Kiwifruit Party”, originated from China, famously adopted by NZ.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
burt says:
Winston would never disparage a pinstripe suit! Never, d’ya hear?!!?
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Rex
When he made the comment about the pin-striped suit (Which I was wearing that day and so was he…) I laughed at him and pointed to his suit. He went totally off his rocker.
It’s funny eh, somebody must have forgotten to stir the sugar properly into his coffee!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Burt
No, not IT, but it was 10 years ago. Perhaps she is now!
jafapete
The way that Peters has consistently denigrated all things National for the past 9 years, I mean he wouldn’t would he? (come back to National). It would be the ultimate in hyprocricy if he did. It would also alienate a lot of National supporters if he let was back into the tent. My criticism of TVNZ relates to their treatment of so-called news. TVNZ chooses infotainment masking as news, more often than not promoting some future programme, and usually totally irrelevant. And they lack any depth in their questioning of Labour politicians.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
That is a great story Burt. Any others out there?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Oh Morris…was in Taupo of an evening in the mid-90s with nothing to do so headed out with a mate (who happened to be of Asian extraction a long way back) and we ended up in a bar where Winston was drinking alone. My mate popped up beside him and said ‘gidday, Winston, how’s it hanging’ etc.
We ended up talking about rugby and he bought several rounds of top shelf whiskey. Every time he went political my mate went ‘nah, fuck that, what about the Bay of Plenty team this year then’
Anyway, he was getting seriously fucked and we were getting bored, so we got another round on the taxpayer, drank it, and then my mate said ‘i do have one political question, winston.’
‘whassthat then?’
‘Why do people like you hate my Asian brothers and sisters? You drink with me, but then want to send me back to China? Why? Is it because we’re more successful than a washed up lawyer in a taxpayer-funded suit?’
The ensuing explosion in a half-empty and quiet bar was a fucking beauty as we beat a hasty and highly amused retreat. I think we stopped laughing about three blocks later. Cheers Winston – that Lagavulin was a treat on a cold night.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 am
Hell’s teeth guys, keep the debate civilised or you’ll cause a surge of support for NZ First! The other danger is you’ll awake the Aussies to the ethnic engineering that is changing the population of NZ. Once Aussies think Asians are a fifth or more of the population they will probably shut the doors on free entry to NZers just as they unilaterally imposed passport entry when NZ’s Polynesian population grew. Then we’d just have to fight it out for who gets to run this little country. If you think Rudd will stop Aussies from such racist action, realise his support, which came from high mortgage rates, will disappear when they go still higher.
Stormeh: your innuendo that a certain group is on welfare is plain prejudice. I’m sure you don’t mean to be racist like that.
Burt: Take care with your point that Maori originate in Asia. It’s true, but their DNA links to the aboriginal people of Taiwan, who have been hounded and roughly treated by ethnic Chinese then Japanese and now by Chinese again. They have had an appalling time.
To other fellow correspondents: I despair when I see such an excellent rightist blog as Mr Farrar’s desecrated by praise for that pompous, over-excited, left wing TV3 twit, Campbell.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
Shouldn’t Peter Brown be deported as an undesirable immigrant who, after being a party to a fraud involving $158,000 perpetrated against you and I as taxpayers and when caught out, refused to pay the money back.
I actually quite prefer the likes of our new New Zealanders from Asia who get stuck in and work their butts off. I contrast that with the likes of ‘whinging poms’ like Brown who, back in the ‘old country’, would probably come 4th in an election for three seats on a small Parish Council but in New Zealand, because of the stupidity of MMP and the paucity of talent in Winston First, is promoted far beyond his level of (in)competence.
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:35 am
No no Burt, that is Winston’s outclause – how can it be racism if he is Chinese himself. Wasn’t that his argument last time?
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Heathcote: “jafapete, The way that Peters has consistently denigrated all things National for the past 9 years, I mean he wouldn’t would he? (come back to National). It would be the ultimate in hyprocricy if he did. It would also alienate a lot of National supporters if he let was back into the tent.”
First, Heathcote, I agree with everything you say about TVOne News. Stopped watching it ages ago (except for the weather). don’t think TV3 is much better. Listen to National Radio for news.
Back to Winston. The answer is, he started out there, after all. He is more philosophically comfortable with moderate National than Helen & co. With the departure of Brash, he is once again closer to National than Labour in ideological terms. In my view he has rather mischievously denigrated much that National has done (1) because he is naturally mischievous, and (2) he was badly treated by Shipley and bears a grudge. But don’t be mistaken that he would let an old grudge get in the way of a share of the spoils of office. We know how much he likes his baubles.
And would National voters except him back in the tent? Are National voters pragmatic? Do bears defecate in woods?
Disclaimer: The use of the terms “philosophical” and “ideological” are not intended to imply that Peters has a belief system with sufficient structure to qualify as an ideology.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:11 am
Ross Miller’s use of the term whinging poms’ is racist and nasty. I’m Kiwi born and so were my father and grandfather, but I’ve never encountered racist terms like that against NZers in Britain or anywhere else. All the World War 2 veterans I remember as a kid called themselves British as well as New Zealanders. Our language, our laws, our political system, our professions stem from Britain.
The “Pommy bashing’ arose from a vicious radio campaign in the 1970s when Britain joined the EC. Regardless, you are either racist or not. You just can’t single out one group to be racist against.
I don’t vote NZ First, and I don’t agree with most of Brown’s positions, but he is an old sea captain and as an MP deserves some respect for himself if not for his opinions.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:38 am
We all know that Brown is a plonker and Winston is history, but it is now a fact that the Asian community, particularly in Auckland is of unproportionate numbers to other migrant groups, this is noticeable mainly due to language difficulties, driving ignorance, spitting habits and the number of asian whores advertising in the newspapers. So lets not turn a blind eye to some of the obvious differences. The question I would ask is , over the next 20 years which is likely to have a bigger detrimental impact on the way of life that most Kiwis enjoy, Global Warming or a 25% Asian Population?
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 am
Global warming, but then, you knew that didn’t you?
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 am
jp : douche!
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Look at that “Going Bananas” conference in Auckland a few months ago, to see that Asians assimilate very well into Western society, and in fact are some of our best and most valuable citizens.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
C’mon Jack5 … relax. Brown deserves that epithet by his ’stupid’ mouthings. He brings discredit on all the ‘good’ poms over here (including my wfe). And by the way, MPs don’t automatically gain respect because of their election … they earn it. Has Brown earned it? No way Hosey. He got into Parliament courtesy of a flawed electoral system; he contributes nothing much except to wax lyrical about his time the merchant navy and if Winston is to be characterised as Helen’s poodle, then Brown is the ultimate poodle’s poodle.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
“which is likely to have a bigger detrimental impact on the way of life that most Kiwis enjoy”
That’s easy, socialism. Gladly switch any Asian for Helen Clark.
April 3rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Whilst I agree that Brown is not the sharpest knife in the draw the underlying message is overlooked by DPF and Campbell. The point is ethnic minorities initially feel comfortable in their new country close to their fellow migrants and over time integrate to a greater or lesser degree. Those who fail to adopt the local laungage, clothes and customs at least in their everyday life indicate in a visible way their unwillingness to integrate – viz – Muslims and Somalians in Christchurch. Enoch Powell in a similar way predicted rivers of blood which have not occurred – yet but the tensions caused by a significant majority of immigrants attempting to impose their values on society inevitably means problems. Language is the most fundamental aspect as if you are unable to communicate with the locals in your new country, integration is impossible so an interview at the point of entry asking everyday questions should be an absolute requirement and a reasonable level of ability to converse an essential requirement to entry. Multiculturalism does not appear to work but my experience in the docklands of Cosmopolitan Liverpool UK was that Chinese & Asians integrated well over a couple of generations, indeed to meet a Chinese restauranteer with a broad Scottish accent almost ranks as high class entertainment. I also suspect that small immigrant minorities feel a greater pressure to integrate in the medium term thus easing the way for those who follow to join the wider community and be fully accepted.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Hmmm maybe Helen paid him to say this because while we have been dealing with this furore here, Helen has committed an even greater hypocrisy by attending Sir Eds memorial in London. Since she was sooooo glad to see the back of the old honours system why oh why is she sooooo happy to be invited to not only attend this memorial but also speak at it!!!!