OOOPS

We, like Cactus Kate, have a pretty jaded view of politicians. However, every now and then one does something that requires a bit of praise. Tau Henare got a bit of praise from us for giving up smoking.

He did it publicly, in an effort to ensure that he would stay true to his pledge. We were delighted. We could see that because he has a high profile in his own community, his public attempt to do good, could in turn do even more good for his community.

Now at one stage we worked pretty closely with Tau - so we got the measure of him. He is " good people" as we say. Sure he was seduced by parliament when he was with Winston and he left and he made an attempt to set up his own party. And he can be an arrogant bombastic shit. but give him a good argument and he will back you to the hilt.

Now Tau has one thing that we think is a big strength. He is at heart a good bastard. He may not be a rocket scientist, in fact he might even have trouble spelling scientist but he is a likable flawed, gruff, character. He has done okay in life, and he has a big rollicky whanau who love him to bits. Sometimes money isn't the end all but family is definitely a big indicator in the success stakes.

Its something we learned many years ago when we lost a sizeable chunk of our capital.

So it is with some sorrow that we started what has been a fairly torrid flame war between Cactus and Tau.

It goes like this - we write about Tau and smoking.
Cactus thinks that Tau can not be a role model - not because he a Maori but because he is a politician.

Tau gets the wrong end of the stick and calls Cactus a Racist on Facebook.

Cactus does a literary Hannibal Lecter on Tau and dines with gusto on his inadaquacies.

Now we are adding our ten cents worth.


Now some of what she says is right, politicians on the whole are not the nicest bunch of people.
They tend to be big on ego. But some of them are good bastards at heart.

And there are a heap of Maori out there who owe their entire living to the treaty gravy train. She is right about that too. Its not necessarily a bad thing. the treaty train troughing is not limited to Maori and hell someone has to do it.

And yip Cactus is right -Tau can be a dick at times, but a lot of people from all walks of life quite like that big Westie dick. And he was a bit off saying Cactus is racist. She is not and never will be a racist. She hates laziness, people with no ambition and dud roots. Although she could show a bit more fortitude around the dud roots.

And at the end of the day she is a trougher as well. She is in a service industry for rich people. She is their financial house keeper - so to speak. She has not taken a risk and made anything except a deposit with other peoples money.

No widgets, no own company. It will come, we think, but at the moment she is a reliant on the good fortune of others to make a living. So she sells a service. She is very good at that service. she is in demand. She worked out what skills she had and she worked out how best she could utilise those skills to make the most money the quickest way possible so she can retire in a fashion she considers appropriate to her needs. Good on her.

Tau knows his strengths too. He is good at politics. Not ever going to be chairman of the board but he is pretty good in a select committee and when he was a Minister he got a few things done. He makes enough money to look after his family well and enjoy the things that, to him and his whanau, mean the most in life.

Bit like Cactus really.

Now the weird thing is Cactus and Tau, once they get over hissing at each other, will become good friends - they are poles apart and always will be. Both are flawed and both are good at the core. And that is something that they will recognise in each other. As we know that a good core is what both of them value most in others.

Cant wait to host that lunch.....