Re the divisiveness Campbell laments: perhaps he missed the pivotal interview with Jacinda Adern in late 2021. I’m 76 and I had voted Labour all my life up until this recent election. My shift from seeing Jacinda Adern as the best thing in NZ politics to being manipulative and a heartless liar came with that TV interview where she was asked was she creating a two-tier society: vaccinated (no social restrictions) and unvaccinated (total social restrictions and probable loss of employment). She responded with what I can only call a gloating smirk and said “Yep, that’s what it is”. This after she had promised not to mandate unvaccinated people and never to introduce vaccine passes. I’ve watched that clip a number of times and it still chills me. Maybe Campbell could be reminded of this?
Another classic series of answers by JA for me was earlier in the piece, April 2020. During lockdown, the 1 o’clock presidential display was initially all her - seldom a delegate present save Ashley Bloomfield. But there was at least a brief opportunity for Q&A.
Journo after journo asked that month whether there was a national lack of flu vaccine, ahead of our winter. Again and again the assertion was clear: all’s good, we’re fine! Nothing to worry about. Next ...
Well; how come the Min of Health itself reported August 2020 that flu stocks were indeed atypically low in the autumn? It’s what I call JA’s Benghazi moment. Just as Hillary Clinton lied barefaced on camera to a Senate Committee about her foreknowledge of her own staff members’ safety as Libya blew itself to pieces, so JA just as barefaced repeatedly lied directly to us all - “all’s good; I’ve got this! Trust me!” It was game over for me from as early as Aug 2020 - pulpit of truth be damned.
It's seldom that I agree with an article 100% but your comments pretty much encapsulated my own frustrations with our current batch of elite mediocrity.
When people like Campbell begin their foaming at the mouth (usually around the third or fourth sentence) I always have the words "let them eat cake" running through my head. They really seem to believe that cake is what they've given us for the last 2 political terms.
The sheer pomposity of Campbell and the rest of the left....they completely abandoned the poor and working class during covid, there will be none more harmed by lockdowns then poor schoolchildren (something none of them ever seem to mention), yet they endlessly rant about the vulnerable in a way that makes one strongly question whether they really care about vulnerable or if it's just something they say to feel superior.
Almost the only way I can deal with anything in the legacy media now (without a stroke) is with someone like you sir, to filter the bilge into something that doesn't reek quite so strongly of horseshit.
Thank you for your commentary, I found it reassuring that fact and reason may still exist in NZ! I read Mr Campbell's article and rolled my eyes, but also despaired, he belongs to a new political class: Te Pati Hunga Pāpāho. That's (according to Google in case you think I might be clever) 'The Media Party' in English, a self appointed Opposition to the democratic Coalition government. My impression is of someone quite radically unhinged, rather like Kiri Allen and Chloe Swarbrick, using emotion as an argument ( and then when the crash comes, which it will, as an excuse). You can't take a 'journalist' who wears his heart on his sleeve seriously, nor for that matter a politician. Shane Jones may be the exception: he is a passionate Nationalist (pro NZ) and also a Maori, to whom Marae manners, oration and the concept of Mana (pride) comes naturally - he speaks sense with heart. People do listen.
Thanks Pamela - we may differ about Mr Jones - perhaps he could dial back the rhetoric and unmix his metaphors. But I agree - he is very proNZ which is encouraging.
He Puapua as an albatross around Chippy’s neck, might just be the image we all need front and centre, Mr Campbell. If you can recall your English Lit roots, that is.
Lastly, of the entire piece, via another well used phrase from ‘our’ English Lit treasury: methinks he doth protest too much.
Yes. I watched an old Rumpole recently & Campbell should too...you mentioned a John Mortimer book and it reminded me of the salient life lessons I got as an impressionable younger person watching it in days of yore..'nowt as queer as folk' might sum it up. Tangentially I recall passing the steps of the courthouse here in ChCh when David Bain got off in his last trial, with Campbell practically hugging the guy as he delivered a gushing piece to camera...there goes his cred I thought & haven't paid attention since. Thanks for nothing David! I remarked in an earlier post of your that the Listener's Michelle Hewitson was pining for Ardern...Campbell had to get all this angst off his chest & like you David, others have critiqued his lament nicely. I've got nothing more to add to your excellent remarks & the comments here. Except, I prefer 'division' to 'divisiveness'...
Paradise Postponed was John Mortimer mourning lost opportunities. It was a delightful read (Mortimer always is although he himself has passed) and an equally delightful TV series with Michael Hordern as the "Red Vicar" of a lovely Home Counties village that was shortly to suffer the "depredations" of Thatcher. The villain of the piece was a Tory back bencher and mean spirited individual named Leslie Titmuss who redeemed himself in a later book set in the same location. I enjoyed Rumpole (meat and drink for a lawyer) but Mortimer's "Voyage Around My Father" is my favourite. The TV dramatization with Olivier as Mortimer Senior was nothing short of brilliant.
As for JC - well his is an icon isn't he - NZ Broadcasting's favourite son, heir to Brian Edwards and Ian Fraser and to be venerated as such. But like everyone with an opinion (and I include myself in that) those opinions should be scrutinized and critiqued. Whether it will make a blind bit of difference is highly unlikely but at least it means that my readership may view JC's pronouncements (are the initials a co-incidence?) perhaps a little more critically.
I agree with you about Michelle Hewitson and there was another piece in the Listener that was something of an apologia for Ardern. There was also a piece a few issues ago about Wealth Tax which garnered howls of protest from the largely left-wing readership.
Oh - and thanks for the comment on language. Point taken
The moment in the TV series of "Paradise Postponed" that I relish was when Titmuss discovered that his wife was not the daughter of aristocracy that he'd believed but of the "red vicar".
Haha...'JC, JC won't you fight (die) for me' lyrics by Tim Rice for ALW's Jesus Christ Superstar...The Campbell 'gush' novelty wore off really fast for me.
I almost certainly watched all the Mortimer tv shown here...it would've been compulsory viewing back in the day, Olivier I recall, but Rumpole made the bigger impression on me, more of it I suppose. I was also tossing up a law degree but got spooked by the idea of the 'boring bits,' more 'haha', turned to a linguistics degree/teaching.
The Welch fanboy piece on Ardern? I forget where I read things sometimes...more gush.
Ironic that you should make us aware of Campbell's mawkish love for the left, and the authoritarianism which was greatly responsible for the change of government, a couple of days after the coming into force of
"The "Patriotic Education Law," which aims to "strengthen national unity," calls for love of the motherland and the ruling Communist Party of China to be incorporated into the work and study of everyone, from the youngest children to workers and professionals in all sectors.
It is intended to help China "unify thoughts" and "rally the strength of the people for the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation," a Chinese propaganda official said at a press conference last month. ....
And Chinese nationalism has thrived under Xi, the country's most authoritarian leader in decades, who has pledged to "rejuvenate" China to a place of power and prominence globally and encouraged a combative, "wolf warrior" diplomacy amid rising tensions with the West.
Ultra-nationalism has flourished on social media, where anyone perceived as slighting China – from live-streamers and comedians to foreign brands – will face a fierce backlash and boycotts."
Thanks Gary for that timely observation. I will be publishing a review of Frank Dikotter's "The Tragedy of Liberation" about China under Mao (1949 - 1956). I draw some parallels between Mao and Xi - but I shall leave that until the publication of the piece which should be in the next week or so
Re the divisiveness Campbell laments: perhaps he missed the pivotal interview with Jacinda Adern in late 2021. I’m 76 and I had voted Labour all my life up until this recent election. My shift from seeing Jacinda Adern as the best thing in NZ politics to being manipulative and a heartless liar came with that TV interview where she was asked was she creating a two-tier society: vaccinated (no social restrictions) and unvaccinated (total social restrictions and probable loss of employment). She responded with what I can only call a gloating smirk and said “Yep, that’s what it is”. This after she had promised not to mandate unvaccinated people and never to introduce vaccine passes. I’ve watched that clip a number of times and it still chills me. Maybe Campbell could be reminded of this?
Thanks Aroha
That was the divisive comment I had in mind.!Frightening on so many levels.
Another classic series of answers by JA for me was earlier in the piece, April 2020. During lockdown, the 1 o’clock presidential display was initially all her - seldom a delegate present save Ashley Bloomfield. But there was at least a brief opportunity for Q&A.
Journo after journo asked that month whether there was a national lack of flu vaccine, ahead of our winter. Again and again the assertion was clear: all’s good, we’re fine! Nothing to worry about. Next ...
Well; how come the Min of Health itself reported August 2020 that flu stocks were indeed atypically low in the autumn? It’s what I call JA’s Benghazi moment. Just as Hillary Clinton lied barefaced on camera to a Senate Committee about her foreknowledge of her own staff members’ safety as Libya blew itself to pieces, so JA just as barefaced repeatedly lied directly to us all - “all’s good; I’ve got this! Trust me!” It was game over for me from as early as Aug 2020 - pulpit of truth be damned.
Quite!
It's seldom that I agree with an article 100% but your comments pretty much encapsulated my own frustrations with our current batch of elite mediocrity.
When people like Campbell begin their foaming at the mouth (usually around the third or fourth sentence) I always have the words "let them eat cake" running through my head. They really seem to believe that cake is what they've given us for the last 2 political terms.
The sheer pomposity of Campbell and the rest of the left....they completely abandoned the poor and working class during covid, there will be none more harmed by lockdowns then poor schoolchildren (something none of them ever seem to mention), yet they endlessly rant about the vulnerable in a way that makes one strongly question whether they really care about vulnerable or if it's just something they say to feel superior.
Almost the only way I can deal with anything in the legacy media now (without a stroke) is with someone like you sir, to filter the bilge into something that doesn't reek quite so strongly of horseshit.
Thanks.
Thank you for your commentary, I found it reassuring that fact and reason may still exist in NZ! I read Mr Campbell's article and rolled my eyes, but also despaired, he belongs to a new political class: Te Pati Hunga Pāpāho. That's (according to Google in case you think I might be clever) 'The Media Party' in English, a self appointed Opposition to the democratic Coalition government. My impression is of someone quite radically unhinged, rather like Kiri Allen and Chloe Swarbrick, using emotion as an argument ( and then when the crash comes, which it will, as an excuse). You can't take a 'journalist' who wears his heart on his sleeve seriously, nor for that matter a politician. Shane Jones may be the exception: he is a passionate Nationalist (pro NZ) and also a Maori, to whom Marae manners, oration and the concept of Mana (pride) comes naturally - he speaks sense with heart. People do listen.
Thanks Pamela - we may differ about Mr Jones - perhaps he could dial back the rhetoric and unmix his metaphors. But I agree - he is very proNZ which is encouraging.
He Puapua as an albatross around Chippy’s neck, might just be the image we all need front and centre, Mr Campbell. If you can recall your English Lit roots, that is.
Lastly, of the entire piece, via another well used phrase from ‘our’ English Lit treasury: methinks he doth protest too much.
Thank you Halfling ...
Thanks Art.
Yes. I watched an old Rumpole recently & Campbell should too...you mentioned a John Mortimer book and it reminded me of the salient life lessons I got as an impressionable younger person watching it in days of yore..'nowt as queer as folk' might sum it up. Tangentially I recall passing the steps of the courthouse here in ChCh when David Bain got off in his last trial, with Campbell practically hugging the guy as he delivered a gushing piece to camera...there goes his cred I thought & haven't paid attention since. Thanks for nothing David! I remarked in an earlier post of your that the Listener's Michelle Hewitson was pining for Ardern...Campbell had to get all this angst off his chest & like you David, others have critiqued his lament nicely. I've got nothing more to add to your excellent remarks & the comments here. Except, I prefer 'division' to 'divisiveness'...
Hilary - thanks for the comment.
Paradise Postponed was John Mortimer mourning lost opportunities. It was a delightful read (Mortimer always is although he himself has passed) and an equally delightful TV series with Michael Hordern as the "Red Vicar" of a lovely Home Counties village that was shortly to suffer the "depredations" of Thatcher. The villain of the piece was a Tory back bencher and mean spirited individual named Leslie Titmuss who redeemed himself in a later book set in the same location. I enjoyed Rumpole (meat and drink for a lawyer) but Mortimer's "Voyage Around My Father" is my favourite. The TV dramatization with Olivier as Mortimer Senior was nothing short of brilliant.
As for JC - well his is an icon isn't he - NZ Broadcasting's favourite son, heir to Brian Edwards and Ian Fraser and to be venerated as such. But like everyone with an opinion (and I include myself in that) those opinions should be scrutinized and critiqued. Whether it will make a blind bit of difference is highly unlikely but at least it means that my readership may view JC's pronouncements (are the initials a co-incidence?) perhaps a little more critically.
I agree with you about Michelle Hewitson and there was another piece in the Listener that was something of an apologia for Ardern. There was also a piece a few issues ago about Wealth Tax which garnered howls of protest from the largely left-wing readership.
Oh - and thanks for the comment on language. Point taken
The Halfling
The moment in the TV series of "Paradise Postponed" that I relish was when Titmuss discovered that his wife was not the daughter of aristocracy that he'd believed but of the "red vicar".
Haha...'JC, JC won't you fight (die) for me' lyrics by Tim Rice for ALW's Jesus Christ Superstar...The Campbell 'gush' novelty wore off really fast for me.
I almost certainly watched all the Mortimer tv shown here...it would've been compulsory viewing back in the day, Olivier I recall, but Rumpole made the bigger impression on me, more of it I suppose. I was also tossing up a law degree but got spooked by the idea of the 'boring bits,' more 'haha', turned to a linguistics degree/teaching.
The Welch fanboy piece on Ardern? I forget where I read things sometimes...more gush.
Ironic that you should make us aware of Campbell's mawkish love for the left, and the authoritarianism which was greatly responsible for the change of government, a couple of days after the coming into force of
"The "Patriotic Education Law," which aims to "strengthen national unity," calls for love of the motherland and the ruling Communist Party of China to be incorporated into the work and study of everyone, from the youngest children to workers and professionals in all sectors.
It is intended to help China "unify thoughts" and "rally the strength of the people for the great cause of building a strong country and national rejuvenation," a Chinese propaganda official said at a press conference last month. ....
And Chinese nationalism has thrived under Xi, the country's most authoritarian leader in decades, who has pledged to "rejuvenate" China to a place of power and prominence globally and encouraged a combative, "wolf warrior" diplomacy amid rising tensions with the West.
Ultra-nationalism has flourished on social media, where anyone perceived as slighting China – from live-streamers and comedians to foreign brands – will face a fierce backlash and boycotts."
The quotations can be found in the reports at https://www.9news.com.au/world/china-feels-the-country-isnt-patriotic-enough-new-law-change/c340a453-0919-4f20-8887-104f67833764?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral
This reminder of Orwell's predictive works has been quite widely reported overseas, but not, so far as I am aware in NZ.
Thanks Gary for that timely observation. I will be publishing a review of Frank Dikotter's "The Tragedy of Liberation" about China under Mao (1949 - 1956). I draw some parallels between Mao and Xi - but I shall leave that until the publication of the piece which should be in the next week or so
Perhaps such flagrant declarations are a little indigestible by our media ...?
EXCELLENT
Thanks you Mike