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Croquet no walk in the park
The Rabbit is a coprahagic bigot Have you ever noticed columnists and speakers when they cannot present a cogent argument resort to ridicule and derogatory name calling? I read Roger Rabbits column in last week’s The Weekend Sun which started with ‘Megafatload’ and it reminded me that rabbit’s practice coprophagia – they eat their own crap. The column was full of crap and derogatory remarks about foreigners and overweight people, a puerile attempt at humour, and very short on newsworthy facts. It was biased in the extreme and I gather he doesn’t like Kim Dotcom. An immigrant to this country. We welcomed his money, and treated him appallingly. He was illegally spied upon, along with 76 other residents as the inquiry showed. He exposed one of our MPs for fraudulently claiming anonymous donations. Kim Dotcom has not broken any of
our laws, you may not like the way he behaves, I know a few people who do not like the way Roger Rabbit writes, but their actions are not illegal and provide a varied perspective on life. I conclude that Roger Rabbit is a coprahagic, bigot. P Dolden, Papamoa.
Thanks P, missed you at weightwatchers last week! It’s a column, an opinion, they’re supposed to be biased. Thanks for the catchy new title, must be a lot of us coprahagic bigots out there, since your mate Dotcom and his ragtag fruitloop party was comprehensively voted into oblivion. Oops, we let a fact slip in there. Thanks for your feedback. We appreciate your opinions and your dietary recommendations, we assume this comes as a personal endorsement? -RR.
Harawira: Some decency deep down Just mention of the name Harawira and you get a pungent whiff of radicalism, activism and verbal and physical aggression. It never goes away. I mean the matriarch Titewhai who continues to shape and drive this family did time …and of course there’s her insufferable antics at the Waitangi Day celebrations every year. Hone himself was involved in a violent confrontation with students at Auckland University. I recall baseball bats were used. For fair-minded and free thinking New Zealanders there are a lot of reasons to loathe the Harawiras. However, and it’s a big however, I felt for Hone on Saturday night. And that feeling is still there a week later. Beneath the bravado and Pakeha bashing and behind the sullen intimidating oppressed visage I suspect there is a decent man with decent values. I suspect it’s not about what he stands for, it’s about how he sells it. Remember Hone Harawira was all about putting food in kids’ stomachs. That’s a pretty noble thing. And while Dotcom was stirring up the pro Nazi elements at Otago University (were those students your kids?) Hone was campaigning for the hungry kids.
Tauranga Croquet is turning the game into a spectator sport at Tauranga Domain next Tuesday. President David Andrews says Tuesday’s event encourages people to come along and watch members play golf croquet in a bid to attract new and younger recruits to the club. While some people have the idea that croquet is a slow and boring sport, David says the golf croquet version, especially, is quite different to what some may think. The older version of the sport, called association croquet, can potentially have players sitting on the side-line for extended periods, says David.
And when Dotcom and his coterie became disorientated by cannabis smoke, Hone bravely stood up and reminded them about small hungry bellies. Bloody good on him. And when the country roundly rejected Dotcom and his pieces of silver, Harawira acted with a certain dignity and loyalty. And we saw a chink. He wished he had done things differently. Okay he did accuse the political parties of ganging up on him. But I think I saw a man saddened that he had lost a mandate to finish his good work. I for one wish him well. And this from a white, Presbyterian, redneck Bay of Plenty Conservative. R.Shaw, Otumoetai.
Post-election policies
Perhaps our Prime Minister, having enjoyed such a comprehensive victory, may now find it politically unnecessary to placate the Maori section of the population in affording them special and exclusive privileges and he may govern equitably for the whole of the population, with one law for all. B Johnson, Omokoroa.
But golf croquet is highly interactive with lots of socialising and competition. “I always liken it to what one day cricket is to test cricket, because with the old game [of croquet] if you’ve got an opponent out on the lawn, you’ve got to sit in the hut until [your opponent] finished. At the domain people can watch from seats in shelter sheds or from along the elevated side-line. With the view from above, it’s easy for observers to watch the strategic competition unfold. Metlifecare is sponsoring the all day tournament, which begins 9am. By Rich Garratt
Caroline Jones and Rosetta Virk playing their first game of croquet under the guidance of David Andrews and Margaret Mabey. Photo by Bruce Barnard.
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The Weekend Sun