Nasty

Suspending facts, breaking the language, and judgement day.

Catch catch the horror taxi
I fell in love with a video nasty
Catch catch the horror train
Freeze frame gonna drive you insane

Writers: Raymond Burns, Christopher John Millar, David Vanian, Roman Paul Jug, Bryn Merrick.

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Speak English.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister of our country appeared on the Mike Hosking show to beat the anti-woke drum, and the cancellation du jour was the use of Te Reo.

It struck a nerve, and I posted, “Our PM says if Te Reo is used, he will call it out. Right, what then you racist wanker? Are you planning to hit them with a ruler? Like the ‘good old days’? This man is not fit to lead our country.”

Jo commented: “Te Reo Māori is an official New Zealand language! What is wrong with this idiotic government led by this ridiculous man? Keep up the Maori language, everyone! Don't let Luxon dictate how people express themselves.”

Paddy pointed out, “He takes kapa haka groups along with him when it suits him. How many ways can this fraud be a hypocrite?”

Sandy: “It reminds me of his pre-election visit to Nelson. In response to a question on Te Reo, his response was, 'Vote for me, buddy, and we'll fix it.’ The leopard doesn't change its spots.”

Here’s the clip:

The PM states that Winston has “called out” Maorification, which is “important.” But is it, Christopher?

You have quite a full plate; how is this a priority? Or are your words simply what supporters want to hear?

It’s not just that it’s unimportant and actually obscene, but what country does he think he’s living in that this so-called Māorification must be called out as if it were some alien culture seeking a foothold in our nation?

My mate Simon summed it up nicely: “The man's a complete Brooke van Velden.” It seems like a phrase that could catch on as an alternative to that other word…

Confictions: Partisan judgements on alternate facts.

With three-week suspensions, without pay, recommended for the Te Pāti Māori leaders along party lines, the coalition has weaponised the privileges committee.

From behind the paywall at the NZ Herald:

• Suspensions are rare, with only two so far in Parliament’s history: for one and for three days.

• Committee recommendations have previously almost always been adopted unanimously, and always by a combination of governing and opposition MPs. The current ones have divided the committee along Government and opposition lines.

• One of the committee MPs considered the actions so inflammatory that they asked the Clerk of the House for advice on imprisonment for contempt of Parliament.

• The Clerk, in general advice prepared for the committee, characterised any long suspension as a “substantial change in practice”, which should have “broad support” and clear reasons explaining why it’s proportionate.

• The punishments, if adopted, would hinder minority representation in Parliament.

Judith Collins, the chairperson of the committee, has been offering an alternative version of what took place to justify the unprecedented severity of the punishment handed down by the three coalition parties.

Chris Hipkins said, “No Government has ever used its majority to suspend its opponents for 21 days in New Zealand’s history. It is an unreasonable motion being put forward and I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to be concerned about that.”

However our PM was up for a second round of Māori bashing and happily repeated the false history of Collins, letting us know that when it came to convicting Te Pāti Māori, facts were unimportant to him.

You may have noticed from the video that numerous opposition MPs joined the haka, which, according to Collins, disrupted the vote, despite all votes having already been cast.

The proposed punishment against the Te Pāti Māori MPs is so offensive to many that, today, as the suspensions are debated and protests take place outside parliament in response, the government is battening down the hatches and closing the public gallery.

Think about that.

If you are ruling from behind closed doors, locking the public out of proceedings, you have lost not only the authority, but certainly the mana, to rule.

The man in charge

So what of the man in charge who complies with the dishonesty of the suspension and actively discourages governmental use of the first language of our land as if it were something to be ashamed of?

Watching him on the news, there was something bout his absurd gait as he bounded from the post-caucus press conference that reminded me of someone…

Dallas said, “I usually think of Hellers sausages...but maybe you're right.”

Mark changed the punchline to a quote from the show, “' Ere! Are you Mussolini?" I said, "Emmm... Yeah." She says, "I thought you was dead." I says "No, it was just me day off, you know." So she pulled me over the dance floor and butted me in the face! I said, "What's that for?" She said, "That's for the Pay Equity Bill!"

Originally, it was, “That’s for the invasion of Crete,” but the update is apt, not that I’m suggesting anyone offer the PM kisses of the Liverpudlian variety.

For Gen X, The Young Ones were our Monty Python or Goon Show. Every episode was eagerly awaited, we knew all the scenes and lines, and still do long after we’ve forgotten many other things.

If you’re not familiar with the series, here is comedian Alexi Sayle appearing as Benito Mussolini and making stupid noises.

A time of reckoning.

Thursday’s budget will be the yardstick by which we measure whether National has gotten us back on track. It will be a budget of blame and pain, the former for the previous government, and the latter for the majority of people in this country.

I’m anticipating a budget of such bleakness that it will damage the most vulnerable people in this country to the point that there are scars a generation later. Nicola Willis will smile through it as those on her side of parliament slap her on the back, but there will be few smiles elsewhere - there will be worst fears realised and many tears.

I would love to be pleasantly surprised, but you don’t undertake emergency action like cancelling pay equity claims unless you’re really putting the boot into those at the bottom. I’m expecting Ms Willis to go full-on Nancy Sinatra on Thursday.

1 News certainly made it sound like a busted flush.

When a government makes decisions that are detrimental to the majority, democracy is threatened to the point where people no longer merely disagree; they can see the actions are harmful and must be resisted.

Solidarity.

There is talk that the Greens and Labour will filibuster or drag out proceedings to keep Te Pāti Māori in parliament for the budget, as all MPs are entitled to speak for up to ten minutes as things stand, and a further ten minutes each on every amendment that is put forward, but to me, that misses the point.

It is the Regulatory Standards Bill Te Pati Māori need to be there for, not the budget.

What I would prefer to see is the opposition draw a line in the sand over this and walk out of parliament in solidarity with Te Pāti Māori, joining the protest outside parliament on budget day.

Let the government present its budget to empty opposition benches, because excluding elected representatives in this way is unacceptable and intolerable.

Image: BeFunky.

It’s time to pick a side. This should not be a fight that has to be fought, but if it must, I don’t think the left should meekly comply while saying the right things. I think they should say fuck your racist ruling, we stand with Māori.

Everyone in this country knows at some level that these suspensions are an attack on Maori, telling them to get to the back of the bus.

Are the left just going to watch them make their way to this punishment? I bloody well hope not.

What do you think?

Ngā mihi,
Nick.

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I figured we'd better have a video clip from The Young Ones to end; here's The Damned with Nasty. This time, Mr Sayle is rather more Brooke von Vampire than Luxolini.