Posted by BE on April 29th, 2011
Treacherous
Disloyal
Ruthlessly Ambitious
Spineless
Obsequious
Pathetic in Defeat
Posted by BE on September 15th, 2010
A ‘perk-buster’ enjoying the perks, a Law and Order spokesman with a conviction for assault who steals the identity of a dead infant to falsely obtain a passport, a party spokesperson who keeps an 82-page dossier vilifying the party leader, but kisses and makes up anyway, a political fossil whom no-one takes seriously anymore… In another party all this would be incredible. But it is curiously unsurprising for ACT, a collection of intellectual thugs led by a man whom I once described as ‘venomous and gutless’. That was after Rodney Hide had defamed my wife, Judy Callingham, then Deputy Chair of New Zealand on Air, by implying in parliament that she had used improper influence to get me a talk show on TVNZ. Challenged by me to repeat the allegation without the protection of parliamentary privilege, he naturally declined. He had his facts wrong.
But what offends me most, given these latest revelations, is the hypocrisy of ACT, a vigilante rabble whose uninformed, unintelligent, 12th century views on crime and punishment would see us return to the brutality of the chain gang and ultimately the obscenity that is capital punishment.
Intellectual thugs. The word comes from the Hindi meaning a thief or scoundrel. Well, we are to be rid of them at last. They are, as Guyon Espiner observed on One News last night, ’a party now in tatters with no credibility whatsoever’.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Posted by BE on August 26th, 2010
Here’s a very simple piece of media advice: there is no point in attempting to defend the indefensible and no point in trying to persuade people that the unbelievable is fact. You will look silly, your credibility will take a hiding and you may not be forgiven for treating the public as fools.
So if you’re the author of an 82-page dossier vilifying your boss and he finds out and you’re unceremoniously demoted and told to take a hike for a couple of weeks and sort yourself out and you defy your boss by coming back early and he isn’t impressed and treats you like a leper…
Well, if all those things happen, then trying to persuade the media that, even though you don’t take back a word of those 82 pages, everything is rosy in the garden and you totally support your boss and will be working harmoniously with him ‘going forward’….
Well, it’s just not believable, is it? In fact, I’d say that Sisyphus had an easier task trying to get that bloody rock to the top of the mountain, than Heather Roy has trying to persuade us that she and Rodney will live happily ever after. And if you doubt it, check out these interviews from last night’s telly.
UPDATE 27 AUGUST: Heather and Rodney have kissed and made up. [Not an entirely pleasing image.] They were on telly last night exuding mutual affection. Rodney even said he was sorry for having upset Heather. [Ahhhh. Nice] But in the latest Listener we learn from the undisputed queen of columnists, Jane Clifton, that Heather barely got through her previous televised engagement party with Rodney before fleeing in tears from the chaise longue. None of this bodes well for a long and happy five-in-a-bed.