Link below

https://youtu.be/sFBOQzSk14c?si=kwbmSLEiYrDua5da

Stephen Fry and John Bird star as masters of spin Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe in all episodes of the BBC Radio 4 series.

Prentiss McCabe is a London-based “government-media relations consultancy”, and in each episode Charles and Martin are embroiled in the machinations of the British political system.

Now there is as usual no shortage of matters to rant on about.

First up this week

Stupid 1:Prime TV and ourselves

Prime TV need their managerial heads examined to see if there are any brains inside.

Fancy running an advert such as they did on that billboard promoting a new programme, viz:-

“Advertising agency seeks clients — all business considered, even from Jews.”

Adam knows it was meant to be a lampoon, but in today’s politically correct world, especially in NZ which is amongst the most PC places in the world what were they thinking of?

Actually what makes Adam as cross as the crassness of the ad, which was in poor taste and not even with the virtue of being funny, is the fact that in NZ one would be unlikely to get away with swopping Maori for Jew, because of the PC way we behave.

The fact is in the 1950s and 1960s it is a regrettable fact that there was a noticeable thread of anti Semitism in parts of American business. The series the billboard is promoting is set in the 1960s. In fact such attitudes probably did exist.

Indeed, Adam can recall reading American newspaper articles in the 1980s referring to holiday resorts which found favour with ‘ a certain kind of new Yorker’ code for Jew – e. g in the Catskills.

It is hard to imagine anyone writing a book today on the advertising business as Jerry Della Femina did and titling it:-

From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front Line Dispatches from the Advertising Wars

We have today become so precious and sensitive someone would be bound to complain, especially with a book cover like this:-

Secondly

Stupid 2:Electoral Commission and discretion

Now Adam does not agree with the EFA, but at present the EFA is the law of the land. It would appear that the Electoral Commissions interpreting the law in a manner which may not be within it’s purview. That is, it is exercising a discretion which it may well not have.

This has only come to light it would appear, as a result of the National Party court action, though it may have emerged later on.

Some days ago Adam selected this quotation of the words of Abraham Lincoln:-

Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed.

Abraham Lincoln – 16th President of the USA

Lincoln was absolutely correct. The law should be complied with whilst is is the law.

All cases which appear to be breaches should be referred to the police for action, not treated as technicalities or as part of a settling down phase.

It will then be up to the police to decide if discretion should be applied.

The actions taken by the Police should be scrutinised as well to see if there appears to be any apparent bias.

The fact that an unelected group of government appointees is interpreting the law is quite wrong.

The Electoral Commission should be asked to detail all instances where it has used discretion and all instances of non compliance should be passed to the Police for action.

Apart from anything else the resultant publicity from Police investigations of the probable myriad of breaches will likely hasten the demise of this very bad piece of law. Further, Adam is of the view that the majority of those pinged for breaching the law will be Labour MPs and party officials.

Thirdly

Stupid 3:NZ Herald labelling upgrade of National Library as pork

Adam has enjoyed the NZ Herald’s pork meter, but he thinks that some items it has labelled as political pork are not in fact pork.

It might be possible to quibble over prioritisation of some spend, but Adam is of the view that the money allocated to for example upgrading the facilities of the National Library is not political pork.

Adam considers that the pork meter would have more impact if the items on the list were chosen more carefully.

There is a danger that by putting some legitimate items on the list it is harder to attack the real pork.

Fourthly

Stupid 4: Wellington Councillor Iona Pannett

This woman wins the ‘Stupid of the Week’ Award for her insulting and ignorant remarks likening making a tagging vandal wear a pink vest to the indignities inflicted by the Nazis on homosexuals.

She brought down on her head a myriad of comments in the press, on blogs and a Dominion Post editorial today, which said:-

Likening the actions of those who make criminal offenders wear a pink vest, while they clean up their scribblings, to those of a regime that murdered millions because of what they were, diminishes the suffering of those millions and the evil of those who killed them.

Ms Pannett expresses much concern for the feelings of those who might make an association between pink vests and homosexuality but does not appear to see that any could be offended by her implicit linking of Constable Gommans and Heinrich Himmler.

If she is so well disposed towards these criminal vandals perhaps she can invite them to go and tag her home, as opposed to vandalising someone else’s property.

Fifthly

Stupid 5: David Parker

The hydro lakes are falling, an old asbestos ridden power station is brought back into service, business cuts back on power usage and David Parker appears to be in denial.

Murray Web – Stuff – 29 May 2008

Blind Freddie can see that there is a danger of power outages this winter. We should have started conservation measures weeks ago.

Adam thinks Parker has been grossly irresponsible in not starting a conservation campaign before now.

Of course, Parker has been desperately hoping for rain. Why, well he does not want to have to tell the public to save power in the winter of an election year, does he?

Classic John Ford Western with a great cast

Link below

https://youtu.be/CHQXgorZZcU?si=u3yHTQ9ldOYYZ2pk