The great debate

Last night's was hilarious. All six speakers were very funny, and in the best tradition of celebrity debates, many cutting lines were uttered. $3,000 was raised by the press gallery for the Red Cross.

The teams were MPs – Darren Hughes, Annette King and Simon Bridges against Pinky Agnew, Guyon Espiner and David Townsend. Darren Hughes does wonderful impersonations of Jim Bolger and – seriously good. Pinky Agnew also produced some wonderful poetry.

Some of the lines from the deabte included:

  • Thanks to Duncan Garner and Guyon Espiner for being here in their roles as co-chairs of the John Key Man Crush Association
  • David Townsend is so old his number is 7
  • Annette King had a tryst with Gerry Brownlee and she said it was like having a wardrobe fall on you with the key sticking out
  • Annette and Phil have been in for 30 years – around the same length of time as Hosni Muburak
  • Barry Soper couldn't make it tonight as he is at the Justin Bieber concert in Sydney looking for his next wife
  • Kris Faafoi remembers delivering the first Evening Post on Porirua in 1860
  • Is anyone else alarmed that Nick Smith strolls past an all girls school every day in his togs
  • A lot has been said about Hilary Calvert. All I will say is you are what you eat, and she eats fruit and nuts
  • National made Winston Treasurer, and he thought the current account was his electricity bill
  • Darren Hughes is Shane Jones right hand man
  • What would Phil Goff say if he was alive today

As I said, it was a great night, and the debate was superb. I'd encourage the gallery to make them semi-regular – perhaps every six months to raise money for a good cause.