Those who do not learn from history...
It really is amusing to us here in LawsWatch land, all this speculation as to our identities. We're not here to push a gallery, or a swimming pool, or even a dirt bike track as a commenter suggested he'd like.
If a properly informed populace is offered a properly audited oportunity to express it's will, and votes to burn down / extend / create any of the above, good on 'em we say. But the key phrases here are properly informed and properly audited.
After all, the Diva does have a somewhat murky record when it comes to respecting the wishes of the people whom he supposedly serves. In 1996, around 100 properly elected officials of the NZ First party cast their ballots to rank the party list. What happened to those votes?
Well, as the Diva admitted himself in his tome The Demon Profession, they might as well have been written on toilet paper (3 ply of course) for all the respect they were shown. The Diva, Winnie, and Winnie's secretary sat down and wrote up their own list - one that bore no relationship at all to that chosen by the party.
We're not about art galleries, though by all means continue to debate that here. Unlike the letters pages of the Chron(ic) we're beholden to no one and will "print" anything that's not obscene or clearly defamatory.
We're about democracy. And the threat represented to that by people like the Diva, adept at playing the politics of the democratic process, but somewhat less skilled at respecting the very nature of the beast - that those who are elected serve the people, not rule them.
Oh, and for the benefit of the baby mayor, who seems to be vocal on this blog but who was probably busy listening to the latest Wham CD (or whatever the heck was thought to be cutting edge back in 1996 when all this was going on)... you'd do well to consider the career of one Deborah Morris, Mr Bell, before leaping into the breach.
Once thought unfit by Winnie to attend policy and decision-making meetings in his party office, assidious betrayal of colleagues and lapdog loyalty to the Diva saw her catapaulted up said list and into Parliament as Minister of Youth Affairs. Where she did... nothing much. And went on to do... nothing much more. Whether the Diva had her on such a short tether she couldn't move, or whether it was her own ineptitude, no one knows nor cares now. Do you really want your footnote in history to be "could have done better"?
P.S. The accompanying image was sourced from this auction of the Diva's books on Trade Me. No reserve. The result? Passed in without a bid. Life can be so cruel sometimes.
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25 comments:
The children's columnist has already scored thousands of dollars for his children's council. Of course, they asked for better skate facilities (or something), so we gave them more government. Gee thanks Sue that's really swell. Perhaps instead of improved band venues they'd like their own downtown office next?
Gosh, overcome by a wave of nostalgia I dived into the Demon Politician (sic) for my favourite line:
"That is the thing about politics. You can fake sincerity so plausibly because the first person you con is yourself."
Another piece of advice for the baby mayor: there's nothing like
3-ply for wiping away that brown lipstick.
Michael Laws keeps winning. Today he puts himself on the front page of the Chron & makes our MP Jill Pettis look the wicked witch of the West over Police numbers and health funding. Which reminds me - is Chester Borrows part of this conspiracy?
M Laws is a columnist for both the Sunday Star-Times and North & South magazine. Is that jealousy I read then people?
Not jealousy. Envy. Get it right.
What do you get paid these days to write a column. $150, $200? Or just the thrill of seeing your name on the by-line? Seriously I'd like to know. I'm sure there are some writers out there who can answer.
One of our number assures us it's about 25 cents a word, so $250 for 1,000 words isn't a bad estimate. Though of course it depends on what you're worth. And that, most definitely, is in the eye of the beholder.
Anonymous said...
Michael Laws keeps winning. Today he puts himself on the front page of the Chron & makes our MP Jill Pettis look the wicked witch of the West over Police numbers and health funding. Which reminds me - is Chester Borrows part of this conspiracy?
9:52 PM
Now I know you're dreaming. Jill Pettis may be many things, but wicked? Steady? Homely perhaps (shudder), but wicked????
The only person M Laws' statements say anything about is M Laws.
Anonymous said...
Michael Laws keeps winning. Today he puts himself on the front page of the Chron...
Well, good for Michael. It's nice to see someone do so well for themselves, especially after all he's been through, poor kitten.
"Puts himself..."? Has he taken on the Chron editor's job now too? It's interesting how our prejudices can trip us up though: I read that story as Pettis exposing more of Laws' achilles heel. You saw it as Laws getting more publicity for himself.
I read that Chron story as neither. I read it as a useless local MP parrotting the party line. Pity Tariana isn't standing in Whanganui.
Well, Chester might borrow, but we're the one's who'll pay. Laws exhorts us all to examine each party's commitment to our region, so I guess that marks him down as a Labour man.
Would a National Government have kept UCOL here(even if The Mayor of Wanganui says they're second rate - another own goal for Wanganui: "Come to our second-rate campus")?
Personally I think I'd like a Labour/National coalition. Keep the bastards busy, and the loonies of all flavours on the outer. Oh, sorry, eccentrics.
Is UCOL second rate as Laws suggested yesterday? Let's see.
First-rate: the 7 universities
Second rate: the wannabe universities (like AUT) and top polys like Auckland, Wgtn, Chch.
Third rate: Colleges of Education.
Fourth rate: UCOL & provincial polytechs
Fifth rate: Wananga o Aotearoa.
Summary: Your mayor was telling fibs.
I'm sure I heard on National Radio that national columnists like Laws, McLeod, Braunias, Macdonald etc get a dollar a word. Sob.
So at Michael's typing speed that equates to about, say, $30 per hour?
Anonymous said...
Fourth rate: UCOL & provincial polytechs
They have top notch design & arts courses. Not that any youngsters'll want to come here to be abused as elitist bludgers. Another own goal for Vision. D'oh!
Does anyone know what Laws was doing holding privet meetings with CJ (the building killer) when he frist got into term?
privet meetings?
I have to agree with whoever has written here that Ucol is fourth rate. Most of the so-called top arts students are rejects from Ilam and Auckland, while the trades training is second rate.
Ilam is generally considered to be a place of further study, for students who have already attained a reasonable level. UCOL graduates often move on to ILAM
Privet meeting are defined as those meeting held in a hedge. Normally associated with people who look as though they've been dragged through one.
Most Ucol students would prefer to be at Ilam.
And plenty of Ilam graduates live in Wanganui.
And plenty of UCOL graduates go on to Ilam. the point being that a lot of them try, don't get in, then pay UCOL to bring them up to the required standard.
In any event, UCOL's best successes aren't students or teachers, they're working professionals. Art directors, designers, artists, printmakers, glass artists, etc.
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