“In the deep end with Ruth Money!” guffaws Tim Watkin. This dog of a program was today as offensive as it’s ever been. The Panel, RNZ National, Friday 21 Sept. 2018 Tim Watkin, Peter Fa’afiu, Ruth Money, Caitlin Cherry
The alarm bells started ringing as soon as I heard that Ruth Money, from the outré and discredited S.S. Trust was going to be on the show. And sure enough, straight after the 4 o’clock news, Tim Watkin introduced her by burbling vacuously: “Victims’ advocate and first-time member of the Panel, Ruth Money….”
First topic for discussion was Meka Whaitiri’s alleged assault of an employee….
TIM WATKIN: Ruth, you’re a victims’ advocate. How would you deal with this?
RUTH MONEY: Once again the victim has not got a voice. What about the victim? All we’ve heard about is the alleged perpetrator. I feel like at least an advocate’s voice should have been acting for the, uh, …..[continues talking with marginal coherence]….
Later, talking to Bryce Edwards about the travails of the coalition government, Watkin added to the ugly and irresponsible tone of the show by endorsing Jacinda Ardern’s morally bankrupt decision to keep our military “trainers” in Iraq…
TIM WATKIN: There has been some tidying up going on. You can toss the Iraq deployment in with that, too…
A brief discussion about the Friends of Sherwood’s opposition to 1080 being dropped in Auckland ended with Watkin reading out an email from a listener: “If the Friends of Sherwood are conservationists, then I can call myself a farmer.” This elicited supportive snorts from Money and Fa’afiu. No doubt many listeners thought bitterly of the obvious addition to that statement, viz., IF THE S.S. ARE VICTIMS’ ADVOCATES, THEN LEIGHTON SMITH IS A LEADING THINKER, AND DONALD TRUMP IS A STABLE GENIUS.
After the 4:30 news, Tim Watkin mentioned the incredible, cloth-eared decision to have the shit pop band Maroon 5 play the halftime show at the Super Bowl in Atlanta. This elicited what will probably be the most embarrassing statement to have been uttered on any radio station anywhere this year….
PETER FA’AFIU: I love Maroon 5. I think Adam Levien is a great singer!
For her Soapbox contribution, Money called herself “Ruth the Victim’s Advocate” before embarking on a rant about psychiatric patients, and denouncing what she called “therapeutic culture” which to her mind “endangers public safety.” She said she’s working to “increase rights of victims, tidy that up….”
Neither Watkin nor Fa’afiu commented on the gross obscenity, the vicious irony of someone like Money calling herself “Ruth the Victims’ Advocate.”
ad nauseam…
More on Ruth Money’s appalling and disgusting organization ….
God forbid dangerous lunatics be kept away from prospective victims morrsisey. Ruth might think that we’re regulated by smug callous bureaucrats. Why, she’s practically Satan.
Ruth is a dear friend of mine and works tirelessly for the rights of victims and with victims of crime. How dare you call her Satan, I bet if your the victim of a crime you would bless her for what she would do for you behind the scenes and the time she would give you.
Ruth is a dear friend of mine and works tirelessly for the rights of victims and with victims of crime.
??? Then what on earth is she doing in that disgusting, discredited organization?
I bet if your [sic] the victim of a crime you would bless her for what she would do for you behind the scenes and the time she would give you.
Please ask your “dear friend” to tell you exactly how her S.S. Trust worked behind the scenes after the stabbing to death of a young boy in Manurewa ten years ago.
That was hyperbole Monty. You find it here sometimes. We are allowed to criticise your friends and colleagues. You are allowed to correct the excess, but saying don’t ‘dare’ speak wildly is not the way to go.
Gabby, you DO know that she is in the S.S. Trust, do you not? (I note that Watkin was careful not to mention that this afternoon, no doubt at her behest.)
Morrissey – You are a valid person to comment on someone’s smugness, drawing from your own experience. And what is the SS Trust – oh I remember that first call for comment group on anything, the Sensible Sentencing Trust. They don’t sound sensible in their ideas. Why can’t we hear from one of the churches, like the Salvation Army, with a vast experience of trying to guideand help people morally and compassionately?
This dog of a program was today as offensive as it’s ever been.
The Panel, RNZ National, Friday 21 Sept. 2018
Tim Watkin, Peter Fa’afiu, Ruth Money, Caitlin Cherry