Comments on: Much can be said on both sides – or can it?

By: Mark McIvor

Mark McIvor — Wed, 27 Dec 2017 02:12:14 +0000

‘Task’at the end?

By: Dick

Dick — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 17:12:52 +0000

Journalists are the least trusted group (down there with politicians).

People don’t understand the fundamental shift in government since we seperated nation and state. The state is now neutral (neglectful) unless you are a minority. Minorities get a flow of blood (resources/voice); old white men/colonists get their voices stifled.

By: Dick

Dick — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:58:26 +0000

Putting down people who are “monocultural”/”monolingual” is bigoted. It is like someone who studies German and French putting down someone who studies Engineering.

By: Dick

Dick — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 19:52:43 +0000

What is not in doubt, however, is that his efforts on behalf of the Maori language are well-intentioned and even noble. But they are, in my view, misplaced.
……..
He “admits he enjoys winding those sort up” according to one news report. Dale Carnegie said “if you want to gather honey you don’t kick over the beehive”?

By: Ian Bilson

Ian Bilson — Tue, 05 Dec 2017 09:17:29 +0000

Fair to say then,that the sad fate of the Moriori does not diminish the status of the “First People”?
Brutal,violent and cruel,but still “First”.

I probably lack objectivity,being of largely Scots/Irish derivation, but the abject fate of those two races leaves me with a profound distaste for Sassenachs.

I agree with your assessment of Mr Brash,and suffer some risks in defending his less tenable claims. Somewhere in the “Mystery,wrapped in an Enigma,etc, is a decent man struggling to defend himself from the label of “Separatist”.

That,coupled with his tendency to say “Meh”,when finding a response, makes him sound unsure of his argument. That his point is possibly valid tends to get lost in the liberal shitestorm that follows his attempts to explain his position.

Perhaps Media Training from B.E would make the pill go down,but I’m not so sure,laddie.

By: Zinc

Zinc — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 20:36:37 +0000

I like spoken Maori, too. It’s melodious, expressive, and of my homeland. I’m reminded of my time at school in Wanganui (no H) and Gisborne (also no H). But it’s essentially ornamental. Unlike Welsh, another decorative language (and equally as melodious as Maori, and another joy to hear), Maori is ancestral to only a few of us, whilst Welsh was spoken by all the forefathers of that land.

By: tony simpson

tony simpson — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 19:25:53 +0000

My main reaction on listening to the Brash/ Hill interview was that he made an unwitting fool of himself, which is something of a worry. I have had dealings from time to time with Don over the years. I don’t agree with most of his political views but I have always perceived him to be an intelligent man who has occupied significant positions including Governor of the Reserve Bank, one of the most important in the country. I would expect someone at that level to keep themselves well informed on research in a wide range of areas including our history and anthropology. His evocation of the ‘Moriori’ was therefore alarming. No serious historian or scientist has believed in the existence of such a people in this country (the Chathams is a different matter) for nearly seventy years since it was exploded by the researches of Dr Roger Duff in his book “The Moahunter Period of Maori Culture” (as I recall the title). Awareness of that should be basic to the intellectual equipment of any educated New Zealander but Don missed out on that it appears

By: Ian Bilson

Ian Bilson — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 09:12:09 +0000

A little taste of Te Rao will spoil nobodies breakfast.D.Witherow excepted.
What I found really unsettling was the level of vituperative and racist abuse I found on Don Brashes’s Facebook page. New to me,but ugly stuff. And Ugly in that it came from the Left.

And,Kim Hills interview was no help in that regard.Will He-Nill He, Brash is resolute in rejecting the “Separatist” label that Ms Hill kept leveling. And,reading out feedback that confirms that negative view that Brash is a racist white man is,simply,pejorative.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 07:15:46 +0000

The real question is additional. Is doubling down on the same content proven not to rate sustainable.

By: Jack Scrivano

Jack Scrivano — Mon, 04 Dec 2017 04:30:00 +0000

My mother was Welsh. The first language in her family was Welsh. Not surprisingly, by the time that I was five or six, I probably knew as much Welsh as English. But over the next umpteen years, my knowledge of English turned out to be very useful. Welsh … not so much.

English paid for my groceries and much, much more. English helped me to work in a dozen or so countries – two-thirds of which did not ‘officially’ speak English as a first language. Welsh was useful only for speaking with my grandmother. And then (at the age of 99) she died; and my knowledge of Welsh was really only useful during very occasional visits to Cardiff Arms Park and, later, the Millennium Stadium.

I like the Maori language. I like the sound of it. I even find myself using Maori words on a daily basis. But I also like the sound of Gustave Holst’s music. Let’s not kid ourselves that Maori, as a language, is ‘useful’ to the great majority of New Zealanders.