“I just see an ex-KGB agent, y’know what I’m sayin’?”
RNZ National’s intellectual heavies take it to Vladimir Putin.
Thursday 5 November 2015
RNZ National’s intellectual heavies take it to Vladimir Putin.
Thursday 5 November 2015
vacuous /ˈvakjʊəs/ adj. 1. having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless. 2. empty.
In the nineteenth century, the editor of the Nelson Colonist took it upon himself to issue the following proclamation: “We warn the Tsar of Russia.” [1] That little broadside is now part of our popular mythology, but aficionados of the wretchedly jumped-up will be happy to know the spirit of defiance lives on: Russian bear-baiting is alive and well in this country. One of the most dedicated outlets for verbally confronting these outrageous bad guys is RNZ National….
Morning Report, RNZ National, Thursday 5 November 2015, 8:10 a.m.
Susie Ferguson interviews one David Ewalt (deputy editor of special projects at Forbes) re the Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful People. For the second year running, No. 1 is Vladimir Putin. Cue the entirely predictable, politically correct, right-on “analysis” that might as well have been written for Ewalt and Ferguson by some hapless ideological slave in the State Department….
DAVID EWALT: He annexed the Crimea and destabilized Ukraine. Yet he just keeps getting away with it! He’s immune!
SUSIE FERGUSON: He’s certainly Teflon…
Eight hours or so later, during the light chat show The Panel, the sneering denunciation of the evil Russian bear continues, with Jesse Mulligan and Ella Henry making some almost unbelievably partisan, hypocritical and ill-informed remarks. All very depressing for anyone naïve enough to believe that broadcasters should actually know something before they comment; however, there is one genuinely funny moment, when Simon Pound, in an act of supreme projection, expresses his sympathy for what poor old Prince Charles has to endure every day: “Small talk. Endless, endless small talk.” …..
The Panel, RNZ National, Thursday 5 November 2015
Jim Mora, Ella Henry, Simon Pound, Zara Potts, Jesse Mulligan
JIM MORA: Good afternoon Jesse, how are you?
JESSE MULLIGAN: I’m great thanks.
JIM MORA: And, ah, moi aussi. Ella Henry, hello.
ELLA HENRY: Kia ora, Jim.
JESSE MULLIGAN: I’m great thanks.
JIM MORA: And, ah, moi aussi. Ella Henry, hello.
ELLA HENRY: Kia ora, Jim.
…….
JIM MORA: Eleven minutes to four. Zara Potts.
JESSE MULLIGAN: Hello. Now, we’re going to start with, umm, Forbes magazine, which has just published its annual Most Powerful Person list. And for the second year running, Russian president Vladimir Putin has taken out the number one spot. Two years in a row! Ah, nowForbes says it makes its decision based on how much money the person controls, the number of people that they [sic] impact, the total sphere of the influence, and how actively they wield their power. So I s’pose he ticks all the boxes on those, on those, ahh, criteria.
JIM MORA: Do you think these power lists really mean a lot? It’s interesting when you read biographies, that the powerful often don’t feel that powerful, because there’s so much happening around them and so many compromises and mitigations all the time.
ELLA HENRY: I have a feeling that Putin knows EXACTLY—
ZARA POTTS: Ha ha ha ha!
ELLA HENRY: —-how powerful HE is.
ZARA POTTS: [snorting in assent] I think he feels his power, doesn’t he! Ha ha ha ha! Snort.
JESSE MULLIGAN: And he seems to very shamelessly go after that power as well, right?
ZARA POTTS: [nervous, suddenly uncertain] Heh, heh.
JESSE MULLIGAN: This latest thing in the Middle East seems to be just a blatant attempt to, uh, show some muscle.
JIM MORA: Which makes, which is why he’s, which is why he’s top of the Forbes List, yeah?
ZARA POTTS: Yeah, it’s definitely part of it, because he’s basically changing the course of history, they’re saying, by his interventions or his actions in the Ukraine and in Syria.
JIM MORA: Who was number two, I wonder?
ZARA POTTS: I didn’t SEE number two, but there was, the rest of the list was quite interesting. There’s 73 people on it and 28 of them are billionaires, and thirty of them are American, and only nine of them are women.
JIM MORA: Ahhh.
ELLA HENRY: Ohhhh, that is such a metaphor for humanity, isn’t it!
JIM MORA: Hur hur hur hur!
ZARA POTTS: Ha ha ha ha! It is! …[pause]… Now here’s something that you don’t hear very much of any more: spontaneous human combustion….
JESSE MULLIGAN: Hello. Now, we’re going to start with, umm, Forbes magazine, which has just published its annual Most Powerful Person list. And for the second year running, Russian president Vladimir Putin has taken out the number one spot. Two years in a row! Ah, nowForbes says it makes its decision based on how much money the person controls, the number of people that they [sic] impact, the total sphere of the influence, and how actively they wield their power. So I s’pose he ticks all the boxes on those, on those, ahh, criteria.
JIM MORA: Do you think these power lists really mean a lot? It’s interesting when you read biographies, that the powerful often don’t feel that powerful, because there’s so much happening around them and so many compromises and mitigations all the time.
ELLA HENRY: I have a feeling that Putin knows EXACTLY—
ZARA POTTS: Ha ha ha ha!
ELLA HENRY: —-how powerful HE is.
ZARA POTTS: [snorting in assent] I think he feels his power, doesn’t he! Ha ha ha ha! Snort.
JESSE MULLIGAN: And he seems to very shamelessly go after that power as well, right?
ZARA POTTS: [nervous, suddenly uncertain] Heh, heh.
JESSE MULLIGAN: This latest thing in the Middle East seems to be just a blatant attempt to, uh, show some muscle.
JIM MORA: Which makes, which is why he’s, which is why he’s top of the Forbes List, yeah?
ZARA POTTS: Yeah, it’s definitely part of it, because he’s basically changing the course of history, they’re saying, by his interventions or his actions in the Ukraine and in Syria.
JIM MORA: Who was number two, I wonder?
ZARA POTTS: I didn’t SEE number two, but there was, the rest of the list was quite interesting. There’s 73 people on it and 28 of them are billionaires, and thirty of them are American, and only nine of them are women.
JIM MORA: Ahhh.
ELLA HENRY: Ohhhh, that is such a metaphor for humanity, isn’t it!
JIM MORA: Hur hur hur hur!
ZARA POTTS: Ha ha ha ha! It is! …[pause]… Now here’s something that you don’t hear very much of any more: spontaneous human combustion….
About 40 minutes later….
JIM MORA: Ah, sunny skies, Union Jacks, ah, decent sized crowds for Charles and Camilla in Dunedin today. Would you like the Royal life, do you think? You know, bird sanctuaries, and dance academies, and musical recitals and museums.
SIMON POUND: Small talk. Endless, endless small talk. And, ahh, if you do everything perfect all day, that’s to be expected, and you make the slightest mistake and it will be headline news everywhere.
ELLA HENRY: Hmmmm.
SIMON POUND: Real power is NOT having to do anything for anyone and that seems to be the exact opposite of real power. You’re owned, by the whole world, all the time.
ELLA HENRY: Yeah, and I, we talked about the most powerful person on the planet at the beginning of this, errr, y’know, program, Putin, and I look at him, and I don’t think he’s a king of small talk.
JIM MORA: Ha ha!
SIMON POUND: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
ELLA HENRY: Hur hur! I just see an ex-KGB agent, y’know what I’m sayin’? So I, I’m—phooof!—I think they, they definitely fulfill an important role in Britain. And you get that sense when you are able to experience anything that has a sense of royalty and pageantry and the Royal Family, I mean they’re much, much loved. How relevant they remain to New Zealand is something we as a nation have to have a dialogue, but, y’know, I mean we haven’t even sorted out the FLAG.
JIM MORA: No. We won’t necessarily—
ELLA HENRY: [softly] Ha ha ha ha ha!
JIM MORA: —-get on to that todaaay.
SIMON POUND: And, and, and they are, like it would be a much more exciting trip if we did get a more exciting Royal as well, because we have got probably the least exciting of the latest crop as well.
ELLA HENRY: I felt a little sorry for them. On the news last night, there was a piece about the All Blacks and 25,000 people going rah rah rah, and then there were like fourteen people and a puppy cat at, y’know, because it was raining and miserable in Wellington when they did their walkabout, and I almost, ALMOST had a second of sympathy for them.
JIM MORA: So the excitement of YOUTH is missing, that’s what you’re saying, but we still, we seem to have a great amiability.
SIMON POUND: Yeah, well Will and Kate are kind of exciting—
ELLA HENRY: They’re rock stars!
SIMON POUND: —and big media figures, and Harry would be great to go out on the town with, he seems like a pretty fun guy. [2] Umm, Prince Philip would be likely to say something awful and that would be quite entertaining. I just don’t know that these are really the, we haven’t got the A-team.
JIM MORA: You get mature advice from Prince Charles and Camilla.
ELLA HENRY: The point was made, too, that we see a lot more of them. I remember the tours as a child, and I’m talking about the 1950s, literally the country would shut down, and there would be a day off school, and you’d get a little flag, even in rural towns and railway stations, so it was a much bigger deal. Now, it’s like part of their circuit of networking and reaching out and being relevant. So we’re going to see them ALL in a calendar year.
SIMON POUND: Small talk. Endless, endless small talk. And, ahh, if you do everything perfect all day, that’s to be expected, and you make the slightest mistake and it will be headline news everywhere.
ELLA HENRY: Hmmmm.
SIMON POUND: Real power is NOT having to do anything for anyone and that seems to be the exact opposite of real power. You’re owned, by the whole world, all the time.
ELLA HENRY: Yeah, and I, we talked about the most powerful person on the planet at the beginning of this, errr, y’know, program, Putin, and I look at him, and I don’t think he’s a king of small talk.
JIM MORA: Ha ha!
SIMON POUND: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
ELLA HENRY: Hur hur! I just see an ex-KGB agent, y’know what I’m sayin’? So I, I’m—phooof!—I think they, they definitely fulfill an important role in Britain. And you get that sense when you are able to experience anything that has a sense of royalty and pageantry and the Royal Family, I mean they’re much, much loved. How relevant they remain to New Zealand is something we as a nation have to have a dialogue, but, y’know, I mean we haven’t even sorted out the FLAG.
JIM MORA: No. We won’t necessarily—
ELLA HENRY: [softly] Ha ha ha ha ha!
JIM MORA: —-get on to that todaaay.
SIMON POUND: And, and, and they are, like it would be a much more exciting trip if we did get a more exciting Royal as well, because we have got probably the least exciting of the latest crop as well.
ELLA HENRY: I felt a little sorry for them. On the news last night, there was a piece about the All Blacks and 25,000 people going rah rah rah, and then there were like fourteen people and a puppy cat at, y’know, because it was raining and miserable in Wellington when they did their walkabout, and I almost, ALMOST had a second of sympathy for them.
JIM MORA: So the excitement of YOUTH is missing, that’s what you’re saying, but we still, we seem to have a great amiability.
SIMON POUND: Yeah, well Will and Kate are kind of exciting—
ELLA HENRY: They’re rock stars!
SIMON POUND: —and big media figures, and Harry would be great to go out on the town with, he seems like a pretty fun guy. [2] Umm, Prince Philip would be likely to say something awful and that would be quite entertaining. I just don’t know that these are really the, we haven’t got the A-team.
JIM MORA: You get mature advice from Prince Charles and Camilla.
ELLA HENRY: The point was made, too, that we see a lot more of them. I remember the tours as a child, and I’m talking about the 1950s, literally the country would shut down, and there would be a day off school, and you’d get a little flag, even in rural towns and railway stations, so it was a much bigger deal. Now, it’s like part of their circuit of networking and reaching out and being relevant. So we’re going to see them ALL in a calendar year.
ad nauseam…
