New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has refused to say whether he backs one of his new MP's calls to ban the burqa and arm taxi drivers.I am delighted that, with the demise of ACT and the disappearance from Parliament of oddballs and eccentrics like John Boscawen and Hillary Calvert, NZ First is stepping up and filling the void.
Richard Prosser, who is ranked number four on the New Zealand First list, has been publishing his thinking for nearly 10 years in his Eyes Right column in Ian Wishart's Investigate magazine.
Satirists need have nothing to fear from the new Parliament, even if Muslim women now do.
Mr Prosser wishes to arm taxi drivers, presumably so that in the event of a fare dispute the driver is able to protect himself by blowing the brains of the passenger all over the back window.
As an aside, does anyone know if drivers plan to charge the estate of the deceased disputant for soiling the cab? If not, murdering their passengers in a frenzied and bloody rampage may just not be worth the inconvenience for drivers.
When a person steps into a cab they entrust their life to a complete stranger. Sometimes their life really does hang in the balance. I have been the terrified subject of more than one or two crazy taxi rides in various parts of the world, and in places like Cairo you really are risking your life when you step into a cab.
But I would much rather take a ride in a cab driven by a Cairo coke-fiend than be the passenger of a Kiwi car where the driver is packing heat.
Surely the oddest thing about this Herald story is the headline. When did Winston refusing to answer journalists’ questions become newsworthy? A headline like “Winston gives straight answer to question” would be more shocking.
Dunno, I guess that one might get home from Courtney Place a bit quicker if the cabbie could shoot any drunk rugby boyz and fat suburb chicks that block the road.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, they do quite a good job at just using the cab as a weapon.
Arming taxi drivers like Somalian Muyahadin - not sure Winnie would go in for that one!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10363937
i) there's a huge distinction to be drawn between Richard Prosser's personal views at the time he was writing for Investigate ... and the policy he will seek to implement as an MP.
ReplyDeleteii) Winston said (correctly) that neither aspect was NZF policy.
iii) a cursory examination of the article and quotes in question reveals that Winston is not interested in journalistic muck-racking. Not arming taxi drivers.
Please do bother to read the article before you start snarking yo.
Otherwise you've had your chips.
Good to see NZF trolls attempting to defend their "MPs", despite the fact that a recent article shows that the public at large does not care and did not even want them in parliament
ReplyDelete