Colin Craig v Jordan Williams

 

Occasionally, just occasionally, the ebb and flow of human affairs throws a case into the courts that shines a bright light into events that reveal the very nature of what it is to be human.

The three-week trial (and counting) between Colin Craig and Jordan Williams is not however one of those cases. It looks instead more like the sordid tale of a dork getting his come-uppance. Which is no doubt why so many are embracing the news coming from the courtroom so enthusiastically.

Me? It’s among those things very high up on my “Couldn’t Care Less List.” Which is why you’re unlikely to read anything about it here.

Just so you know.

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Nice line, sir.

“With Colin Craig asking for a fee of $3000 a month for the display of his poem ‘Two of Me’ on a blog, it begs the question - is it really that good?
”New Zealand's inaugural Poet Laureate, Bill Manhire says the poetry - penned by the former Conservative Party leader, which was allegedly written for his ex-press secretary Rachel MacGregor - is not the worst he's ever seen.
"’It's certainly better than David Cunliffe's Harvard poem.’"
~ Bill Manhire in the Herald’s article, ‘NZ poet Bill Manhire on Colin Craig's poem: 'It's not the worst'’

PS: Suzuki Samurai’s line immediately after the last election wasn’t bad either and, as it turns out, right on the button on a number of things…

Colin Craig: Still that school prefect who dobs in smokers. A wanker who doesn't wank. Showers in his 'Y Fronts'. He reminds me of the teeth-only smile one gets from the minister outside church after a funeral...makes me shudder. I am not at all sorry for his loss.

The key is to look sane

Guest post by Suzuki Samurai

It's far easier to view NZ elections from afar: not quite so mind numbing -- not confronted with the constant media barrage, the hoardings, the endless chatter at the water cooler or pub.

My primary source of information has been this blog's analysis of the deep-meat; my other source being the endless shallow water of the NZ Herald. The Herald's obsession with the German elephant in the room isn't really surprising in that he makes great copy (to them) in an otherwise barren political landscape.

For them, he adds a Baron to the barren. As much as most folk were sick to their back teeth months ago having to see this goon everywhere they looked, what would the media have had in this election without him? What I'm left wondering is whether the media were just squeezing this for it's alleged juice, or trying to unsettle PM Key, or helping him out. Whether or not that was the plan and most likely not) the latter has been very effective.

So what of the rest of the cast in this pantomime?

Starting from the left:

The Greens showed that ageing hippies are still their mainstay. Despite their indoctrination from every teacher they’ve ever had, the youth vote only has a passing interest in dreadlocks, grow-your-own-bicycles, and drinking their own urine. Turns out, as they grow up, most want to enter the grown up world of capitalism 'cause it makes cool stuff.'   Even if they don’t yet have a grip on what capitalism is, most seem to know what to avoid.

The Inter-Maori-Lala Party: Perhaps an idea can be drawn from what I imagine it was like being member of one of their caucus meetings:

Stand for Something

Colin Craig and his party met over the weekend.

After many months of public hand wringing Craig finally announced in which seat in he will be standing. And after many weeks of publicly insisting National throw him an electoral deal,  whinging he and his party deserved it, he is now saying “what they do is up to them…. all those things are helpful but it's not something we're asking for.” Well, not now. Not this week.

Craig and his deputy, former head of Social Welfare Christine Rankin, famous for being as generous spending taxpayer money on herself and her staff as Grant Dalton, launched their campaign with the slogan ‘Stand for Something.’

It sounds like a plea to his members.

These are the four things they’ve decided to stand for. If you don’t like them, they have others. (I’ve reviewed their first policy last and their last policy first; since the party leader is religious, he’ll understand.)

Colin Craig Promises Land Grab

Guest post by Stephen Berry, from Affordable Auckland

If his latest interview with TV3 is anything to go by, New Zealand’s political village idiot Colin Craig plans to surpass NZ First’s vote in the next election by putting forward even more extreme success-hating populism than Winston Peters.

Craig wears a fig leaf of rectitude in saying urban boundaries in Auckland need to be extended. But in saying he and his Conservative Party would give property developers five years to develop their land before invoking the Public Works Act to have their property compulsorily acquired for development by the state, Craig drops the fig leaf altogether and exposes himself for what he  really is: An out-and-out confiscationist.

National should be very concerned about the prospects of entering into coalition with a supposed right-winger who wants to resurrect the very worst excesses of Muldoonist Think Big socialism combined with Proposition One from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.

Respect for private property rights is one of the main reasons housing in Auckland and Wellington is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and confiscations coupled with further government largesse will only make this worse. Private property owners should be left to decide for themselves how they use their land, with urban boundaries scrapped to remove the windfall gains on which so-called land-bankers rely.

Craig’s comments regarding developer profits are especially hypocritical when he says, "At the moment they have bought sections for 30 grand and they are selling them for over 400 and they just don't need that much money."

Who the hell does this multi-millionaire developer think he is passing judgement on other people as to how much they need?  I’m sure that not all property developers have expensive loony tunes political parties to speak for them, but the last person that should be passing judgements on the rent-seeking of others is Colin Craig.

My Affordable City ticket ran in the last local body election on a platform of affordable housing. The ticket’s proposals included a reduction in rates, elimination of council borrowing within three years, streamlining the resource consents process, removing the ability of non-affected persons to object to the granting of building consent, abolishing the urban limit and respecting private property rights.

Stephen Berry stood as Affordable Auckland’s candidate for Mayor of Auckland. He achieved 13,560 votes and finished, like Colin Craig in 2010, in third place.