Whats the W in Wellington stand for?

This was written just before Christmas but I ran out of time to post until I had managed to digest Christmas dinner. For the New Year normal blogging will resume. Happy Hols everyone.

I have not posted much in the last month because I have been busy.

“Well duh!” I hear you say but it’s not like I have not wanted to blog but between the new role, new (old) town, the catching up, social occasions and settling in there has little time or incentive to get behind the keyboard.

So presented here, in no particular order, for you reading pleasure is a distillation of what I have heard, discussed or seen in the last 30 days or so.

Oh, so you have a security clearance?

The latest report on the Thompson Clark scandal makes for serious reading and I (and others) have come away from it with more questions than answers.

For example how did a private security company like T&C end up working for a government Department and its industry equivalent at the same time? What happened to the secret recordings that just disappeared? How does a government agency contract a company to do work without a contract?

And the stain of this thing spreads far and wide. The squirrels have made very rapid moves (for them at least) to distance themselves from the report’s findings and so it seems you no longer need to have a security clearance to get regular access to all sorts of privileged information via official and unofficial channels.

Net take away is that Thompson and Clark appear to have operated well beyond the law and the established code of conduct for such things and various parties are trying to sweep this under the rug because this looks far more than just a few matesy phone calls but something far more sinister.

Pedophile of the year

I hate with an undying passion the inevitable “politician of the year” lists which inevitably fill out the December news cycle because as one of the most despised sections of society it seems unfitting to elevate whatever floats to the surface of the scum pond that is politics as something excelsior.

And the candidates this year, in what has been a very mediocre year for political comings and goings are (surprise surprise) Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters because reasons.

Celebrating either of these two for doing what they have done (wait what have they done?) is the same as celebrating some ghastly child molester for doing what they do best.

Great, so they kept the collation moving forward, yaaaay, I did not set fire to my place of work so can I get some applause as well?

But just to wind you munchkins up I will put forward my own contender for “politician of the year” and its …. wait for it … Jamie-Lee Ross.

In a year where mediocrity reigned supreme and almost everything the coalition did was watered down to be meaningless (read NZ First getting the labor reforms strangled in their crib) or letting their minions run amok (read Jacinda and her inability to know or control her MPs, cabinet ministers and staffers) or perverted as to just be a piss take (read Kiwibuild) Ross stood out for his balls to the wall, Gotterdammerung approach to politics because when there are many turds bobbing in the toilet-bowl its surely the flaming turd that stands out.

A Bridge too far

And speaking of turds, how about that Simon Bridges?

I managed to finagle access to relatively informal knees up for young Nats recently (via my National Party contact T) and it seems like the old MO of dressing appropriately, keeping your mouth shut (always the hardest part for me) and letting your skin color do the talking still works.

Keep in mind that “young” in context of the Young Nats really means people in their 30s and 40s, upwardly mobile and religiously conservative (or should that be conservatively religious) (and white) but still it’s this faction of the party that is considered the liberal half of National.

Well the topic of discussion on everyone’s lips, apart from one young buck who was very excited about seeing Eminem perform live (obviously the very epitome of rebellion)*, was not when will Simon Bridges be rolled, but who will replace him.

At least for younger Nats the prospect of Judith Collins (or any other member of the gang of five) is an anathema to them but the only realistic contender (Amy Adams) seems unwilling to be seen plotting Bridges demise (the key word here is “seen”) and as such the older guard appears to be mulling the prospect of giving Judith a shot at the title because at this point why the hell not and said prospect seems to be upsetting to the youngsters as much as Jeremy Corbyn leading National.

Of course there is a high degree of faux loyalty at play here and I think such a gathering is more sounding out situation than some hatching of a plot but the obvious issue is that Bridges is now nothing more than a place holder (or a bridge if you will) for/to the next leader but the party cant make up its mind, or summon the will to move against him yet but the summer is young and MPs have a month or so to plot over the warmer months.

One thing is for certain though and that’s the warranty on Simon Bridges has well and truly expired and taking him back to the shop for repairs is not an option. The cost is too high so the “owners” are looking around for a replacement model. It’s only a matter of time.

Just one of the boys!

The NZDF has had a rough few years of late, what with the Hit and Run inquiry and all those sexual scandals** that keep coming up but the NZDF has a plan to fix all of that.

Seems that by dragging in as many “secret witnesses” as possible the whole inquiry will be kept secret with some form of edited press for the media and public because what could possibly go wrong with that?

And I am reliably informed that its gone further than that with not so subtle hints to parties to either kept their mouth shut, stick to the official line or at the very least plead “secrecy” if a line of questioning get to close to things like the truth because the NZDF has fought this tooth and nail from the start and is not going to let something like an official inquiry stop them from keeping buried what really happened.

And if that requires a few people’s careers so be it.

Meanwhile in Wadestown

Rental prices for a property (even a one or two roomed place) in Wellington are insane and every house I have looked at has been run like a hostage negotiation session by property managers who seem to have received their PR training from Hezbollah.

The flip side of all this is I have four weeks left to find a place before the summer window for genuinely available rentals closes and I am back to the mercy of the the collective insanity which is property prices in Wellington.

So far I have seen a veritable tree-house with the most spectacular view of Ngaio imaginable, a house which looked great on paper until I realized that what I thought was just the lounge was the entire house and several great looking but clearly un-insulated properties which just screamed “freezing cold in winter”.

Add to my dilemma is that as I am a cat owner and as soon as I tick the pets tab 80% of available properties disappear and I am wondering what it’s going to take for me, my cat and record collection to find a place to live.

So thats all for now, normal (well at least normal for me) blogging will resume in the new year. Have a good one, stay safe and for gods sake don't drink and drive.

*-I wonder how he would feel about the reformed Wu Tang Clan touring NZ soon?
**- Far, far too many links to link so just google "NZDF sexual scandal" and start reading