Stuff reports:

A Ngapuhi elder who called Bill English a “spoiled child” for not attending this year’s Waitangi commemorations says he’s “embarrassed” about his comments.

After seeing the letters exchanged between his iwi and the Prime Minister’s office, which said English could not speak at all on the marae unless a Maori representative did so for him, Kingi Taurua said he’s “ashamed” and “disgusted” by the treatment given to the Prime Minister.

“I didn’t know the letter contained that he wasn’t permitted to speak and if so he had to get someone Maori to speak for him. I express my apologies to the Prime Minister for that and I’m very ashamed.”

On Monday Taurua attacked English’s decision not to attend Waitangi events, saying he needed to respect marae protocol that political talks would happen away from the marae following the powhiri. He’s now asking for English’s forgiveness.

In a letter (readable in full at the bottom of this page) to English’s chief of staff, Wayne Eagleson, the Waitangi marae chairman Ngati Kawa Taituha stated “small but significant changes” to the powhiri including, “your Maori representatives speak or mihi on the Prime Minister’s behalf during the powhiri…and then at the conclusion of the powhiri process we will provide a stage and forum for the Prime Minister to engage with Ngapuhi, address the nation and talk politics freely and uninhibited, if he so wishes”.

So Ngapuhi unilaterally decided that the PM is not even allowed to speak for himself at the powhiri, no matter what is said.

They of course can make whatever rules they want for their marae. Just as the Prime Minister of New Zealand can choose to go to another venue which will give him unrestricted speaking rights.

Maybe David Seymour is right, and the PM should rotate his Waitangi Day attendance around the different Iwi and maraes of New Zealand.

This graph from Number Cruncher Politics is stark.

In the Netherlands the Labour Party is currently polling at 10% down from 35% last election.

In France it is widely expected the Socialist Party will come third in the presidential election behind the National Front. They are polling at 12%.

In Germany the SPD are polling at around 20%.

I think their failures are a mix of being on the wrong side of the immigration debates along with a rejection of high spending high debt parties.

Henry Cooke reports more info on the Saudi bomb maker who was a student in NZ:

“One year before he left he changed – became more isolated, more religious, more enthusiastic about the Syrian revolution.

“He would watch the news all the time about it. He became enthusiastic, sympathetic with the jihadists.”

Alsalem said the death of another student Al-Saya’ari knew in the Syrian conflict was a factor in his radicalisation.

“Another student studying in New Zealand went to Syria and got killed as part of the Islamic State. I think that shocked him, and made him sympathise with the jihadists more.”

So he was radicalised while studying in NZ. A good reminder that we should not be complacent.

Stuff reports:

The man hotly tipped to seek selection to replace former Prime Minister John Key in the Helensville seat has ruled himself out.

Rodney Local Board member Cameron Brewer says it’s not the right time for him.

“After much consideration and after consulting a lot of people, I have decided I won’t be standing for National Party selection for the seat of Helensville,” Brewer says.

Brewer moved to Riverhead in 2015 from central Auckland where he had been a councillor for the Orakei Ward.

He says many people believed that running for the seat was the intention behind his move.

“In reality, the real reason we moved out here was the lifestyle we could give the kids and we fell in love with property we bought.”

However, Brewer says if former Prime Minister Key had continued on as Helensville MP for another few years, he may have considered it.

He says at this stage in his life with three children and two of them aged under two, it is not the right time.

Standing with kids so young would be damn hard. So a good choice.

Brewer would have been a strong contender to win the nomination if he sought it. This may open up the field and encourage more to stand.

Simon Wilson makes some interesting observations:

One morning a few weeks earlier Little was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking to Susie Ferguson. She asked him, what was Labour going to do on day one to improve the lives of New Zealanders? It didn’t sound like a hard question, but Little couldn’t answer it. He talked about jobs and health and education. She seemed surprised and pressed him. He seemed affronted and repeated his answer. It went on like that.

And:

A few weeks later Andrew Little appeared on Kathryn Ryan’s Nine to Noon show on RNZ and it was the same story all over again. She fed him “aren’t you going to do this?” lines and he obfuscated. He got angry. Angry isn’t urgent. Angry is alienating. Urgent is inspiring.

I’m amazed that considering National is so unsubtle with labeling him Angry Andrew, that he so often does what he can to make that label stick.

It used to be a commonplace that the day John Key resigned all bets about the future of the National-led government would be off: the party, it was assumed, did not have a successor capable of maintaining its extraordinary popularity.

Don’t count on it. Bill English has a powerful, forward-looking front bench. They are energised by their new leader and comfortable mixing reformism with the innate conservatism of the centre-right. They’ll steal winning ideas from anyone – especially Labour, as they have shown with their appropriation of parts of Labour’s impressive Kiwibuild programme.

Boring Bill English could lose the election for them; Pandemonium Paula could do that too. But Labour should not rely on it. Bill English is a sophisticated, likeable and confident leader – and that means this election will be as hard for the centre-left to win as ever.

From what I hear some (not all) Labour MPs think they have already won the next election.

The Daily Mail reports:

The saga over alleged Russian interference in the U.S. elections took another sinister turn Tuesday, as it was revealed that U.S. intelligence officials provided President-elect Donald Trump with a charge that the Russians had obtained dirt on him.

U.S. officials included a two-page synopsis of ‘kompromat’ – Russian for compromising material – as part of their security briefing of Trump on Friday.

The material was based on memos compiled by a British intelligence operative who was considered ‘credible’ by the U.S. intelligence community, CNN reported.

What is believed to be the 35-page document itself was published by Buzzfeed, which pointed out that it contained errors. Little of its contents can be independently verified. …

The document claims Russian sources told the operative that they had extensive material on the now president-elect – including a secret film of him in the suite where President Obama stayed in Moscow, watching prostitutes committing degrading sex acts on the bed where the president slept. …

The document also referenced Trump’s ‘(perverted) conduct’ at the presidential suite of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow, the President and First Lady Michelle Obama ‘whom he hated’ had stayed.

It cited ‘Source D’ as saying Trump’s conduct included hiring prostitutes ‘to perform a ‘golden showers’ (urination) show in front of him.’ It says the hotel was known to be under the control of Russia’s FSB, with hidden cameras and microphones.

As you can imagine the puns are flying on Social Media over what Wikileaks really means now!

I think the dossier is bogus. The source is meant to be a former UK intelligence operative and everything is third or fourth hand.

Not that I think Trump hasn’t probably cavorted with prostitutes. Less likely is that such a germaphobe would have anything to do with golden showers.

I feel slightly sorry for Trump over this, but hey he is the one who pushed fake stories for years against Obama such as the birth certificate nonsense so live by the sword and die by the sword.

The Herald reports:

United Future leader Peter Dunne has poured cold water on speculation he could retire from politics – confirming he plans to contest this year’s election.

Dunne today confirmed his intention to stand again in the Ohariu electorate in Wellington in this year’s general election.

“It is certainly my intention to stand again based on the many strong messages of encouragement and support I have been receiving from my constituents over recent months,” he told the Herald.

I expect Peter to win the seat. Almost without exception people claim he won’t win, and he does. They thought he would not win in 1984 but he did. Then in 1987 they thought he would lose because Bob Jones was not standing, but he won. Then in 1990 he held the seat despite the backlash against Labour. And then he has held the seat since 1996 despite not being in a major party.

His electoral record is:

• 1984 – 1,371
• 1987 – 4,492
• 1990 – 783
• 1993 – 1,065
• 1996 – 8,513
• 1999 – 12,557
• 2002 – 12,534
• 2005 – 7,702
• 2008 – 1,006
• 2011 – 1,392
• 2014 – 710

By Senor John Stringer formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

Things get a bit grave today.

One of the top tourist visits in Buneos Aries is their famous cemetery. This is raised to street level like that of the Romans as a series of mausoleums because the water table is so high. It is a mini city of family crypts with streets that you can wander about and ‘houses of the dead’ you can look in to. You can actually see the coffins and small staircases wind down into basements where other coffins are stacked. Others are altars with boxes of ashes.  Sometimes windows are broken and you could reach in and touch the coffins (death at arms reach).

People do death in different ways (like the Mexicans and their Day of Death; or the Etruscan death feasts; Irish wakes; Maori tangis) and this is quite a good way to be buried I think.  It is very much like the Appian Way into Rome -reflecting the Argys love of Italian as well as French culture – where family mausoleums lined the main road into the city. Like the Romans the Argentinians are all about showing off and this is about family pre-eminence.

Some crypts are well maintained, others have fallen in to disrepair (as families become poor or no longer exist).  These can be bought and sold like homes or renovated and traded. That is only way to enter the cemetery (dead) or if you are a family member with an existing mausoleum.

Above: disrepair and a Christian as well as Jewish crypt. People forget that all early Christians (including Jesus) were Jews at the same time and the first Christian church community was Jewish meeting daily in the Jewish Temple.

Above a chap over which hangs a Damocles Sword. Argentinian sculpture and statues are all about the military. Below: some cool bark on a tree outside the crypts.

And below is Eva Peron (Evita)’s grave. This is the most visited grave and it is her family grave with other members of her family (her maiden name). It is quite modest and this is because it was here before she died at 33 of cervical cancer and Juan Peron re-married (twice). His third wife is still alive so there is no joint mausoleum to Eva and General Juan Peron. His third wife became President of Argentina and has the distinction of being the first President of any country in the world. She is now 85 and lives in Milan.

Nearby to the cemetery and tucked away in the suburb of Barrio Norte, Buenos Aires, is the beautiful bookshop El Ateneo Grand Splendid. This is a refurbished grand theatre so we walk there with a couple from the UK and browse the books – obviously mostly in Spanish but many English readers are scattered throughout. It is beautiful and the stage is a converted cafe.

Tomorrow: the vibrancy of Buenos Arties street life and culture and The Tango.  ~ J.

The Herald reports:

Gareth Morgan is making his bid for Parliament official, starting the registration process for his new political party.

Morgan launched The Opportunities Party (Top) last year but said he would wait and gauge interest before registering it with the Electoral Commission in March.

Today, he said he had brought that process forward after signing up more than 2000 financial members – and with an eye on a possible early general election this year.

“With John Key resigning and Labour seeming to be calling by-elections at will, there is a possibility that National will get sick of that tactic and just go early. We have to be prepared for that eventuality,” Morgan said.

Top has launched two of its seven core policies so far, one a new tax on equity policy and another focussed on bringing in higher-skilled immigrants.

If the Morgan party gains any votes, where will they come from? My picks in order are Greens and NZ First.

The Independent reports:

Every citizen in France has automatically become an organ donor unless they decide to opt out, due to a significant change in the law.

The new rules, which came into effect on 1 January, sees France’s policy align with a number of European countries such as Spain and Austria, where “presumed consent” means anyone can become a donor of organs and tissues when they die unless they specifically choose not to.

While in NZ, you can’t even opt in. You can tick the box on the drivers’ licence saying you want to donate, but the doctors won’t even bother checking what your wishes are unless they are asked to by your family (who can over-ride your decision).

No surprise we have such an anemic rate of organ donation. The system is set up to make it hard to be a donor.

The Herald reports:

TV3 has just announced the famous faces who will host their new TV series, The Project.

Jesse Mulligan, 7 Days regular and Josh Thomson, and popular TV presenter Kanoa Lloyd will front the new series set to launch in the 7pm weekday slot in February.

The Project aims to “combine current affairs and entertainment in a unique way”, giving fresh, funny take on the stories from around world each day.

After producing 7 Days for seven years, executive Producer Jon Bridges says he can’t wait to bring the new hosts and the show to Kiwi screens.

It sounds more like 7 Days is moving to a daily 7 pm slot, than a serious news and current affairs show.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. I like 7 Days.

Kanoa, Josh and Jesse will be joined each night by a panel of guests which will include media commentators, comedians, sport, political and other personalities.

The Australian show leans heavily towards the left. Hopefully the NZ show might be more balanced.

The Herald has done an article on John Key on holiday, using a series of photogrphs taken at a distance by presumably a paparazzi.

Key is no longer PM. He has retired. He is a backbencher. The reason he retired was to have more time with his family and he should be able to do that without the Herald paying a photographer to take long distance photos of him and Bronagh at a swimming pool, having lunch, filling up a car with petrol etc.

The Herald may claim they did not commission the photos but were offered them, but there is no doubt they would have paid for them, and paparazzi only take photos of people when they think someone will pay for them.

Key was fair go (to a degree) when he was Prime Minister. He and Bronagh should now be left alone on his holidays. The Herald should respect his right to a private life and not run any such photos in future.

If you need a reminder of why Islamic State must be defeated, just read this story.

By Senor John Stringer formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

Really nice today. Argentina is hot but not muggy like Australia or Asia (“It’s a dry heat”) so we set forth across Buenos Aries to see as much as we could including Eva (Evita) Peron’s grave.

Below: Typical street in Buenos Aries (immediately outside our hotel). The chairs and tables disappear completely after closing and you’d never know they’d been there. I also like their pavements; we should do this in Christchurch and salvage/recycle some of the broken limestone and brick of the damaged city into our sidewalks.

Buenos Aries was founded in the 1500s; but at the turn of the nineteenth century the local aristocracy really loved Europe and after Independence in the 1860s wanted to make their capital like Paris; so they demolished many of the Spanish Colonial buildings as “part of the past” such as this historic one above on famous May Square – one of the few left standing  (which housed the Police and Army and Government) – and rebuilt European architectural buildings in French and Italian style (as seen ringing Central Park in New York) with cupolas and lots of limestone sculptural elements (very attractive).

You can view this odd fusion in the building immediately above with the Corinthian columns and Athenian Classical pediment. This is actually a Roman Catholic Basilica but looks nothing like a church – it is simply an aping of Greek architecture transferred via European neo-classicism (like the White House and American monumental architecture is neo-classical; originally the Greek temples and columns were gaudy and brightly-painted. This is ironic as the traditionally poor Argentinian indigenous architecture is also gaudy (lots of reds and yellows and pinks etc) more like the original Classical buildings of 450BC. But the paint bleached white over the eons and was mimicked by Western culture during the Renaissance and Classical Revival periods in Europe and later America as an aesthetic of respectability and power and culture including the broken arms of sculptural pieces as on the Venus De Milo.

Above: typical poor Argentinian indigenous architecture of the Porta area made of materials from the port which explains the different colours (whatever they could get hold of). The images of power are relative. This gaudiness was power in ancient Greece and Persia; the bleached white ruins and broken sculptures of that lost era became their own aesthetic and imagery of power today as seen on any bank or governmental building in the West. But it’s a myth.

Below is the famous Buenos Aries opera house one of the great opera houses of the world. It drips external ornamental sculpture in the round.

And below is the only building on the historic “9 de Julio Ave” (9th July Avenue) their Independence Day that transects Buenos Aries.  The Avenue was built like the Champs Elysees to ape Paris and this building is the only address on the Avenue because it is flanked by several streets so there are literally no buildings or addresses on this historic central boulevard itself (once touted as the widest avenue in the world). This building is our equivalent of the Ministry of Social Welfare or Winz so I note the fencing outside to perhaps prevent shootings (such as we had at the Winz office in Ashburton)? Ministerios De Salud Desarroli Social.

As you can see Spanish is easy to follow and work out when you’re wandering about.  Speaking of the White House below the Desarroli Social is the Argentinian equivalent of the White House -the office of the Argentinian President – The Pink House.  It’s named in the same way as the American President’s house – just literally. The fact it is “pink” is interesting.

When it was first built the Argentinians wanted to make it waterproof and protect it from the ravages of the BA climate.  So the stone was white-washed with a mixture of white paint, limestone and cow’s blood which is what gives it its pinkish hue (a common practice in the late nineteenth century when these buildings were made). Argentina is a huge exporter of beef so there was lots of blood about. Later the colour was retained as paint and it has remained “the Pink House” as in “the White House” in Washington DC ever since.

More of those ‘Spanish Inquistional’ bollards.

The poor of Argentina (or are they contractors?) can be seen processing rubbish like this into recyclable constituent parts. We observed these men ripping the paper from spiral binders and other office rubbish that I guess they collate and get paid for. This was something we saw in South Korea too except mainly older people did that. Our NZ system of wheelie bins and homeowners doing this suits the more egalitarian cultural myths of New Zealand (ie we would never tolerate a “class” of people doing that for us).

Tomorrow: the famous bookshop I mentioned and Buenos Aries’ top tourist destination and Eva Peron’s grave.  ~ J.

The Herald reports:

Better relations with Maori mean protests at Waitangi are no longer nationally relevant and many New Zealanders have cringed at recent events, Prime Minister Bill English says.

English today announced he would not attend Waitangi events at Te Tii Marae – saying it isn’t acceptable to him that he can attend but not speak.

Fair enough. It’s insulting to expect the head of government to attend an event but not have full speaking rights.

Little committed to attending Waitangi commemorations if elected prime minister, regardless of whether he was granted speaking rights.

Enjoy that, if you get the chance.

Ngapuhi leader Kingi Taurua also said English’s no show was disappointing, and said if the Prime Minister didn’t attend he had no right to talk about the Treaty of Waitangi.

“Whatever the Prime Minister thinks, I don’t give a damn. All I am there for is to commemorate the signatories…if Bill English has no commitment to that, then don’t talk about the Treaty of Waitangi ever again.”

You’re the plonker who demanded restrictions on speaking rights so don’t complain when you get the consequences.

English said that after the issues surrounding Key’s attendance last year, his office sought clarification from marae kaumatua that he would be welcomed, with speaking rights.

“My office was advised I could attend the powhiri but not speak – conditions which are not acceptable to me. While I thank the marae committee for their invitation I will take the opportunity to attend commemorative events to celebrate this important day elsewhere.”

English said he had accepted an invitation from the 60 iwi who comprise the Iwi Chair’s Forum to lead a delegation of ministers to Waitangi on February 3.

So he will be at Waitangi in advance of Waitangi Day, and meeting and negotiating with Iwi leaders. But not there for the shouting part.

Stuff reports:

Nearly five years ago, Irish-American billionaire Charles F “Chuck” Feeney promised that by the end of 2016, he was going to hand out the last his fortune.

It was a race: Feeney was then 81, and Atlantic Philanthropies, a collection of private foundations he had started and funded, still had about US$1.5 billion left. …

He had officially emptied his pockets, meeting his aspiration of “giving while living”. Altogether, he had contributed US$8 billion to his philanthropies, which have supported higher education, public health, human rights and scientific research.

“You’re always nervous handling so much money, but we seem to have worked it pretty well,” Feeney, now 85, said last week in a phone interview.

His remaining personal net worth is slightly more than US$2 million. That’s not quite broke, by any standard, but it is a modest amount for a man who controlled thousands of times as much wealth. He and his wife, Helga, now live in a rented apartment in San Francisco.

So he gave away 99.98% of his wealth.

Until he was 75, he travelled only in coach, and carried reading materials in a plastic bag. For many years, when in New York, he had lunch not at the city’s luxury restaurants, but in the homey confines of Tommy Makem’s Irish Pavilion on East 57th Street, where he ate the burgers.

Sounds a pretty down to earth guy.

Raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Feeney served as a radio operator in the Air Force and attended Cornell University on the GI Bill. In 1960, he and a partner set up a company that sold items like brandy and cigars to travellers in duty-free shops at airports. It became a booming success. Feeney has also been a shrewd investor in technology startups.

What a great story from Air Fore radio operator to billionaire.

In 2008 Russel Norman proclaimed:

Predictions from prestigious Australian research institute CSIRO that petrol could cost up to AUS$8 – about NZ$10 – per litre within a decade means we need to rapidly change course to avoid serious economic disarray, Green Party Co-Leader Russel Norman says.

“Petrol at that price would make the Government’s entire motorway building project a white elephant – modern day Easter Island statues. Our new motorways would be monuments to short sightedness and profligate waste of resources.

“Governments even contemplating building motorways like the billion dollar-plus Transmission Gully project in Wellington or the $2 billion Waterview tunnel project in Auckland are seriously out of touch with reality,” Dr Norman says.

In 2008 the average price of petrol was $1.82 a litre. In 2016 they were under $2 a litre, and in fact had increased by less than inflation.

Imagine if we had listened to the Greens and canned all motorway projects.

Remember this release the next time they claim what something will be in the future.

By Senor John Stringer – formerly “coNZervative” (and perhaps again).

Hauling in to Buenos Aries from Christchurch is a long flight (11 hours and 14 hours back in the head wind so London haulage level). We fly south of Stewart Island to catch the southern Antarctic stream to push us east. On the way back we’ll fly close to Antarctica and will glimpse it (very cool – literally).

First impressions: Argentina is flat like the Canterbury Plains and huge, and hot (28 degrees). Ringed around the airport the city is grimy, depressed and poor and has obviously seen better days. It is perhaps 30 minutes in before you start to hit affluence, high-rise buildings and typical modernity.

Argy feels like New Zealand. We are about the same latitude and the trees and sky and scape are similar so it feels familiar. It’s like a jungle with a few Western flowers poking through – a few isolated English words: “McDonalds” “SubWay” in the foliage of “Reconquista, Nationale Banko, tacos, servicios banos.” An obvious place to visit is “Gracis” as there are signs about this place up everywhere.

Below: The ubiquitous photo from the hotel (word for the day: “grimy”). And the unusual street level bollards in Buenos Aries I guess to stop guys like our bus driver parking on the sidewalk? They look conspicuously Spanish Inquisitional!

The Argentinians are very casual – sort of ‘Kiwi summer beach chic’ which I like.

Our bus driver pulls up on the sidewalk and disgorges us in a narrow lane so we can scurry Alice-like down a burrow into a nice transformational Wonderland hotel. We’re at HotelMelia (which means “Grouse Hotel”) not absolute top notch but better located in downtown Buenos for outdoor cafes and restaurants etc.

We grab a street bar directly outside the hotel. It’s full of people and the sound of street-level Argentina is hundreds of people talking which fills the air, like Christchurch’s Oxford Terrace “Strip” used to sound -where The Terraces is (still) being built – before all our earthquakes. I miss that vibrancy.

It’s fun trying to order. Wifos Unos is precise and trying to explain her food preference in schoolteacher chemistry detail to the waitress who speaks no English. Being a Kiwi (and a bloke) I just go “Por far for: MEos BEERos; CHIPos” [“Chipos”?] “POTATOs! BOWLos”  [“Ah Si Si!”]  “Water for Senora” [“Wa-ter?”] “Aqua” [“Ah- Si Si!”] and we’re sorted.

It’s mildly expensive. A watery beer, small bowl of chips and a sad slab of pizza cum cheesy toast sets us back $415 pesos (NZ $37) but we’re in a tourist district outside a major hotel so perhaps that’s not so bad.  We have no idea if we should tip so pay $500 pesos ($45 NZ) and can’t work out about change across the Spanish-American-Kiwi divide so just let it go.

The beer is watery and far less rich in flavor than New Zealand beer so perhaps they water it down and go for quantity like the Greeks do with wine.

It’s balmy and nice out so we scout out a convenience store “Open 25 Hours.” But like most convenience stores near hotels its full of oreos, crisps and confectionary (confectionaries). I buy some yoghurt and am pleasantly surprised. A bag of groceries sets us back the same as our chips and beer $400 pesos  ($30 bucks). We have to read several packets to work out what’s inside “Is that cow?  Dairy?”  Pictures are great.

Lots of great street art everywhere in Buneos Aries which I want more of back in Christchurch (more of which later).

But tomorrow the sites and excitements of the city. And later perhaps the best book shop in the world.

Below: Por fa for the couplos thatos does evetythinas togetheras. Gracias Nacion Argentina.  Cheers ~ J.

Stuff reports:

The man who planned a July attack on one of Islam’s holiest sites was as a former scholarship student in New Zealand who abandoned his studies to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

Taie bin Salem bin Yaslam al-Saya’ari died alongside another extremist in a shootout on Saturday with officers in Riyadh, wearing a suicide bomb vest and clutching a machine gun, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday (NZT).

It said he manufactured the suicide bomb used in the July 4 attack outside of the Medina mosque where the Prophet Muhammad is buried, an assault which killed four Saudi security force members and wounded five. …

Al-Saya’ari previously was a scholarship student in New Zealand who quit school to travel to Syria and fight in the country’s civil war, the ministry said.

It said he later travelled to Turkey, Sudan and Yemen before returning to the kingdom.

So was he radicalised before he came to NZ or did he become radicalised while studying in NZ?

Phil Gifford writes at Stuff:

I’m offended when people make, on social media, an all out assault on him as a person, some judging and even condemning a man’s whole life on the basis of one comment, which he knows was wrong, and has apologised for.

It just doesn’t seem logical that a racist person would be described by Monty Betham as being “like a father to me”, or that Peter Fatialofa’s widow, Anne, would write to me, “No way, to the moon and back, is Peter Leitch racist.”  Or that way back in his Mangere East club days in the 1970s one of the all time Kiwi greats Olsen Filipaina would give his first test jersey to Peter because, “he was like a second father to me.”

But let’s be more specific.

Did the same people who bagged Peter this week consider him a racist in 1999 when, with The Mad Butcher Suburban  Newspapers Community Trust,  enough money was raised to pay for 120 South Auckland children, the vast majority Pasifika and Maori kids, to have glue ear operations in one weekend at Middlemore hospital, wiping out a five year waiting list in two days?

Sounds like a horrible racist indeed.

Did anyone in the cash strapped Hawkes Bay Maori league sides of the 1980s think he was a racist when he supplied enough free meat to feed the team at Auckland tournaments for up to three days? Hawkes Bay official and social worker Denis O’Reilly told me in 2007: “The boys got such a buzz from meeting Peter, and from the aroha of the man. One time in Auckland we had so much kai we had to invite the wahine team over.”

One of my reasons for liking Peter is that when I first knew him he wasn’t very rich, and not that famous, but even then he was generous, and he was especially generous with his help for ordinary people.

That’s how he got involved with the Mangere East league club, an organisation that’s blue collar to the core. He was asked for sponsorship money in the late 1960s, but, short of cash, offered them meat for raffles instead.

He’d never played the game, but soon found the club members were, like himself, “working class people. Like me, the guys aren’t from silver spoon families.” That love affair with the people of league continues to this day with the Warriors.

And did all those SJWs on Twitter and Facebook consider this before they condemned him on the basis of one person’s allegations in a video.