Week in review, quiz style
1. What has put the documentary Melania in the news this week?
a. Strong Oscar contender
b. Strong cameo performances by J Epstein and G Maxwell
c. Kismet
d. Ticket sales
2. Which of these social media assertions about David Seymour are unfounded, unreasonable, or wrong?
a. Most unpopular politician in the country
b. Incompetent as a minister
c. Routinely vile in a deeply off-putting way
d. Media people love him, so they keep fluffing him
e. None
3. What State exists from one end of Aotearoa to the other?
a. Upheaval
b. Serene calm
c. Emergency
d. Highway One
4. What is the difference between farmers expressing great concern about the time required to re-open climate-ravaged State Highway 2 and farmers expressing great concern about any government proposals to deal with climate-ravaging?
a. Completely different farmers
b. Completely different issue
c. Completely different climate
d. Money in versus money out
5. True or false, the parents of Suella Braverman named her after a Dallas character.
a. All true, don’t believe what people tell you about immigrants finding it hard to adapt. People like, er, Suella Braverman and Nigel Farage.
b. Hateful lies, fanciful tabloid falsehoods
6. Nicola Willis deplored Chris Hipkins for politicising extreme weather. What else might she complain about in this vein?
a. Biking to work
b. Doing his job
c. Eating his lunch
d. Sticking up for the disadvantaged
e. Thinking about the future
f. Giving a fuck
7. How many people have now quit the retail crime advisory group in which Sunny Kaushal remains?
a. Just the one
b. A few, but too few to mention
c. All but one LOL
8. Whose side is Paul Goldsmith taking?
a. The quitters
b. Anyone but Sunny Kaushal
c. My man Sunny
9. Newly-elected Hastings Councillor Steve Gibson refused to attend a meeting because it was held where?
a. Marae
b. Westeros
c. Showgirls
d. The mayor’s tinny house
10. Who has recorded a bloody good protest song about Minneapolis?
a. Kid Rock
b. Ted Nugent
c. Bruce Springsteen
d. Pam Bondi’s family
Answers
1. What has put the documentary Melania in the news this week?
d. Ticket sales. Bezos put 75 million into into it and stands to get back about 10 bucks because no-one, but no-one, is going. The real entertainment so far has been the commentary. The one I like most is: People will walk out even if it’s showing on a plane.
2. Which of these social media assertions about David Seymour are unfounded, unreasonable, or wrong?
e. Not one of ‘em
In almost any other New Zealand government, adds Kyle Church on Bluesky, a minister telling New Zealanders to *eat less food* to save money would have them hounded by media and pushed out of politics. Possibly an exaggeration, but god there’s no denying the soft-pedalling on Mr Atlas compared to the treatment of progressive women of colour.
3. What State exists from one end of Aotearoa to the other?
d. Highway One
Ess Aitch One is the only state highway that goes from one end of Aotearoa to the other, but in figurative terms I would also accept A or C. Feel free to give yourself twenty points from your emergency kit.
4. What is the difference between farmers expressing great concern about time required to re-open climate-ravaged State Highway 2 and farmers expressing great concern about any government proposals to deal with climate-ravaging?
d. Money in versus money out
5. True or false, the parents of Suella Braverman named her after a Dallas character.
a. All true. Her parents were big fans of hard-done-by, hard-drinkin’ Sue-Ellen, wife of JR.
At the moment,
Suella Braverman offered this week, as she bailed from the Tories to join Farage’s Reform,
Immigration enforcement officers are hamstrung by human rights laws, by health and safety laws, by all sorts of needless and obstructive bureaucracy
To which one observer usefully responded:
If you feel “hamstrung” by human rights laws and by health and safety laws - you are the person those laws were designed to protect us against.
You need to be obstructed by those laws.
6. Nicola Willis deplored Chris Hipkins for politicising extreme weather. What else might she complain about in this vein?
Give yourself one clutched pearl for each one you picked; they’re all correct.
For more so-called politicising of a vital issue, let us admire the words of Manu Caddie:
We should be demanding a government-wide commitment to climate risk reduction, including binding emissions cuts, adaptation plans, and a national programme to stabilise vulnerable landscapes using science-informed, Indigenous-led land stewardship.
7. How many people have now quit the retail crime advisory group in which Sunny Kaushal remains?
c. All but one LOL
8. Whose side is Paul Goldsmith taking?
c. My man Sunny. You make a decent donation to National, you’ve got a friend through thick and thin.
9. Newly-elected Hastings Councillor Steve Gibson refused to attend a meeting because it was held where?
a. Marae
He said there were several reasons for his discomfort:
Firstly, I don’t appreciate listening to extended addresses delivered in te reo without translation, he said. Particularly when the majority of councillors are not fluent. This limits meaningful participation and understanding.
Secondly, the spiritual aspects associated with marae proceedings, including references to beliefs that are not consistent with my own Christian faith, make it an uncomfortable environment for me to participate in official Council business.
Mate, if that makes you feel uncomfortable, you might want to ask your pastor if public office is right for you. And while you have his ear, ask him how Christian it is to be so deeply and performatively intolerant.
10. Who recorded a bloody good protest song about Minneapolis?
c. Bruce Springsteen
He introduced it with these words. I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
