“Listen to John Key, he makes good business sense.” Is The Panel making us stupid? (Apr. 2, 2013)

3 April 2013 at 6:22 am

“Listen to John Key, he makes good business sense”
Is The Panel making us stupid?
Radio NZ National, Tuesday 2 April 2013
Noelle McCarthy, Graham Bell, Islay McLeod

“There are some people at the far extreme who you just have to say are idiots.”
—ISLAY McLEOD

The former television weather-presenter was talking about something else when she uttered those words at 4:15 p.m., but by chance she was presaging two upcoming guest appearances on today’s show: first the dismal Nevil “Breivik” Gibson, and then an even more dismal far right farmer-politician from the Far North.

First interview though was Christchurch East M.P. Lianne Dalziel, who was treated with a combination of ignorance, condescension and outright aggression, primarily by Graham Bell, operating in his default mode of bully-cop. Now of course, Lianne Dalziel is more than capable of looking after herself, and Bell is not smart enough to upset her; however, what he can do is trivialize and hijack a discussion, and that’s what he did. What will have concerned many listeners was the fact that Bell, who knows next to nothing about Christchurch, was allowed to take over that segment and effectively destroy it, silencing the voice of one of the most effective members of parliament.

After the 4:30 news, the Panelists vapored for a couple of excruciating minutes about pop music. It came as no surprise to this writer to learn that Graham Bell and Islay McLeod are both fans of the leather-lunged Australian belter John (AKA “Johnny”) Farnham. They then spoke about a few more of their musical preferences….

ISLAY McLEOD: And don’t forget Anika Moa and Lawrence Arabia. I’m loving his music at the moment!
GRAHAM BELL: Our greatest singer-songwriters have to be Neil Finn and Dave Dobbyn.
ISLAY McLEOD: Don McGlashan?
GRAHAM BELL: Yes, he’s good.
NOELLE McCARTHY: All right, time for the Soapbox, where we find out about what our Panelists have been thinking about. Islay, would you like to go first?

…[Unfortunately I missed every word Ms. McLeod uttered in this segment, due to my being interrupted by an unfortunate fellow trying to flog subscriptions to the New Zealand Herald. After telling him I would never pay a cent to any publication that employed Wynne “Sensible” Gray or Rod “Unfunny” Emmerson, I hurried back to the lounge to hear Graham Bell railing against people who had annoyed him over the Easter break on State Highway No. 2]…

GRAHAM BELL: Brickbats to those drivers who drove slowly and hesitantly and then sped up on the straights. Especially those pulling trailers and boats. Very frustrating!
NOELLE McCARTHY: [tones of mock sympathy] Mmmmmm, mmmmm.
GRAHAM BELL: [warming to his task] And one more thing! The murder of George Taiaroa. The investigation into this has been hindered by the media chasing rumors. It’s so frustrating. Very frustrating! It causes nothing but problems!
NOELLE McCARTHY: Complicates things all round.
GRAHAM BELL: YES IT DOES! Some of the stuff you see on some of these forums [sic]. Just such nonsense! But that’s the world we live in.
ISLAY McLEOD: And, similarly, there have been all sorts of rumors about the bashing of Jesse Ryder. [She vents about the bail laws.]
NOELLE McCARTHY: Islay McLeod and Graham Bell at a quarter to five. The Green Party says that, with the Rio Tinto stand-off over the electricity price, the Government has to stop the asset sales.
BELL: Easy for the Opposition to criticize. But what would THEY do?
McLEOD: We should call Rio Tinto’s bluff!
BELL: Exactly!
NOELLE McCARTHY: [unimpressed] Hmmm. Nevil Gibson is the editor of the National Business Review. He joins us now to discuss this. Good afternoon Nevil.
BREIVIK GIBSON: Good afternoon Noelle!

[Breivik Gibson proceeds to talk sympathetically about the stance taken by Rio Tinto. Suddenly, at the end of his talk, he unleashes one of the funniest quotes of the year, albeit unwittingly, as he advises people to, well, just trust the Government…]

BREIVIK GIBSON: [with utmost gravitas] I would advise people not to listen to any political statements, and instead listen to what John Key is saying. What he says makes good business sense.
NOELLE McCARTHY: [clearly horrified] What are the implications of the asset sales?
BREIVIK GIBSON: Oh, NONE WHATSOEVER! The government will still be owning fifty-one per cent.
NOELLE McCARTHY: [shaken and disturbed] Nevil Gibson, thank you.

The last few minutes of the program involve an interview with a lunatic named Ken Rintoul, a Kerikeri “farmer and businessman”, who has obviously never wasted any of his valuable time reading books. Mr Rintoul obviously knows nothing at all about economics, but that has not stopped him from forming a new party for doctor-bashers, grave-robbers and kiddie-thrashers…….….

NOELLE McCARTHY: Do you think we NEED a new right wing party?
GRAHAM BELL: [slowly, with gravitas] Yes. I think so.

[At this point, Bell made what I think was a disparaging remark about Hone Harawira, but I was again interrupted by a door-knocker, who was also dispatched post-haste….]

NOELLE McCARTHY: Well, the party is called Focus New Zealand and its leader is Ken Rintoul. He’s a farmer from Kerikeri. Good afternoon.
KEN RINTOUL: Good afternoon.
NOELLE McCARTHY: Tell us about Focus New Zealand, your new party.
KEN RINTOUL: Ummmm. Ahhhhh. Okay! [Mr Rintoul sets off on a wandery and confused speech making it clear to anybody with any common sense—not Graham Bell—that he is to the right of Genghis Khan, but lacks the astuteness of Rodney Hide, the charm of David Garrett or the electability of Don Brash. When he finishes his confused spiel, there is an awkward silence for several seconds.]

NOELLE McCARTHY: Islay, you wanted to say something.
ISLAY McLEOD: It all just seems a little bit… fairytale to me.
KEN RINTOUL: Oh, okay, ummm.
NOELLE McCARTHY: [gently] Ken Rintoul, thank you.

• Bob Tambling1.1

  3 April 2013 at 7:33 am

  Yes I was listening to that. Mr Bell also had his usual rant about the Greens
  Can’t say that I am going to continue listening to the right wing rants on “afternoons” for too much longer
  • Paul1.1.1

    3 April 2013 at 7:38 am

    Agreed.
• felix1.2

  3 April 2013 at 7:55 am

  “I would advise people not to listen to any political statements, and instead listen to what John Key is saying.”

  Just about stabbed myself in the eye when I heard that.
  • Colonial Weka1.2.1

    3 April 2013 at 8:03 am

    You have to admire the ironic beauty of the statement though. Classic.
    • vto1.2.1.1

      3 April 2013 at 8:15 am

      Yep, Gibson went down a whole bunch of notches at that utterance, in mine own eye…
      • Ennui1.2.1.1.1

        3 April 2013 at 9:47 am

        Poor old Nev used to sell Marxist papers as a young man, like our own ideologists here he stayed true to being an ideologue, merely changing horses. They are quite similar really.
        • Tim1.2.1.1.1.1

          3 April 2013 at 10:08 am

          @ Ennui.
          Yep, I’ve come across quite a few of ‘them’ (half my vintage at Onslow College in fact).
          I suspect Jim Mora is one of ‘them’ as well. I often wonder what causes the shift. The only thing I can think of is …… comfort, camplacency, laziness.
          • Ennui…

            3 April 2013 at 11:47 am

            I think it is mainly lazy thinking and a lack of breadth on which to base rational argument. If you begin with a stance using rational thinking without examining the base you start from you can prove anything…really does not matter whether you are using the materialist dialectic of Marx or Freidmans greed is good….both are perfectly cogent and please lazy minds. Both are of course nonsensical fantasies.
      • Dv1.2.1.1.2

        3 April 2013 at 10:24 am

        >>NOELLE McCARTHY: [clearly horrified] What are the implications of the asset sales?
        BREIVIK GIBSON: Oh, NONE WHATSOEVER! The government will still be owning fifty-one per cent.

        EG Contact energy price fell 3% on the news that Rio might pull out.

        Obviously Gibson doesn’t understand how the the market works.
  • cricklewood1.2.2

    3 April 2013 at 4:16 pm

    When you look at some of Labours recent political statements it almost holds water.
    They seem to be oppose no matter what, even if this in direct contridiction to policy. It does give the impression that they are talking rubbish to score cheap points or they don’t really believe in the policies they have… I can’t tell which…

    I did watch Russel Norman on the tv3 this morning and he certainly comes across well and he was far from completely negative, instead talking about what the Greens would have done and why the Nat’s had gone about things the wrong way. Very engaging and beleivable IMHO
    • Arfamo1.2.2.1

      3 April 2013 at 4:26 pm

      I seem to remember Key doing much the same thing though cricklewood. Everything Labour was doing was wrong and wrecking the economy. He was going to bring in policies to stop Kiwis leaving for Australia, raise income levels here to Australian levels, not increase GST and so on. Brighter future my ass. That’s what’s making things so difficult for the voters. Both the Nats and Labour will say anything to get elected but after that they turn out to have no idea of what they’re doing.
      • cricklewood1.2.2.1.1

        3 April 2013 at 5:30 pm

        I agree, but I do think it looks ridiculous to send out press statements that directly contradict your own written policy. I would even say it is very poor strategy for an opposition party.

        Whilst in 2008 National were negative they didn’t contradict their own policy (they didn’t actually have much just tax cuts and vacuous statements like those you mentioned) once in power they raised gst took a hit for it and managed to do a convincing enough job to deflect most of the blame.

        All Labour are doing at present is opening themselves up for free hits…
• prism1.3

  3 April 2013 at 9:59 am

  Morrissey
  A great report on the Panel. I wondered who that Islay McLeod was – Jim Mora doesn’t bother to tell us who his panellists are or their backgrounds. Talking about the weather authoritatively obviously would ensure great ability to talk about anything authoritatively. Everyone should know all these public figures who are his guests I suppose. I don’t spend much time with tv or Jim Mora so don’t know all the talking heads there. (Though John Campbell on tv sounds worth following.)
• js1.4

  3 April 2013 at 10:38 am

  I was appalled at the way Lianne Dalziel was dismissed by the panel. She was asked what she would do differently and when she tried to answer was cut off.
• xtasy1.5

  3 April 2013 at 5:36 pm

  “The Panel” is a hand picked lot by Mora and his staff, merely there to gossip drivel about topics, to make them look trivial and irrelevant. It is nothing much serious about “the panel”, and Mora seems to get the same mouthpieces again and again. Picking Farrar shows his own bias.

  Farrar is clearly a propagandist operator for the Nats, and he makes no secret of it.

  Similarly the “political commentators” that Kathryn Ryan picks for each Monday late morning debate are equally selected. Williams is not Labour as the members would like it, he is an establishment person. And Hooton and Off, yes, that speaks for itself. He is like Farrar just another propagandist for National. Political commentators should not have any party affiliation and should be independent journalists or whatever, NOT pollies or former pollies or their mouth pieces.

  RNZ is at a sell out level and losing credit by the day.
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