Lacking the true Christmas spirit

A dear friend in England emailed me last week concerned at the ghastliness of receiving a festive email from his old alma mater, Oxford University’s Lincoln College, wishing him “Happy Holidays.” What he found particularly galling was the fact that the college was founded in 1427 by the then Bishop of Lincoln for students “who would defend the mysteries of Scripture against those ignorant laymen who profaned with swinish snouts its most holy pearls.”

He wrote that there had been much grumbling in Britain over recent years about Merry/Happy Christmas being replaced with Happy Holidays, and festive decorations instead of Christmas decorations.

Easter, another Christian celebration, had been reduced to a chocolate fest, he concluded.

I’m loath to tell him that political correctness is not unique to the “home” country and he would find the same bland greetings are being popularised in this far-flung reach of the once proud British Empire. I could also add that Christian films and programmes are conspicuous by their absence on New Zealand television and anyway they would look oddly out of place with the foul language and blasphemy that is now commonplace on our screens.

I’m certain that many Christians, even those who don’t attend church regularly, want Jesus to be part of Christmas and Easter, and feel disenfranchised when our religious festivals are turned into a huge consumer spending exercise, symbolised with a Santa figure created by graphic artists at the Coca-Cola Company.

The problem with only paying lip service to our Christian heritage is the long term effect it is likely to have on our communities. New Zealand is at risk of losing the source of its deepest foundations of a satisfied life. The traditional family model is disintegrating and the decline of religion as a personal and community value runs in tandem with disruption and unhappiness.

The social engineering that is being earnestly rammed down our throats means we mustn’t disrespect Muslims, or even joke about them, while their own traditions are marginalised as the media simultaneously bring us horrific news about Muslim extremism.

Whilst the left-wing luvvies can tell the public how they should think, they can’t control what people actually think. These are the kinds of issues that helped bring about Brexit in Britain, Pauline Hansen’s rising star in Australia and Trump in America.

“You cannot underestimate the role of the backlash against political correctness - the us versus the elite” said Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager.

It’s a scary thought, but using the same reasoning Winston Peters could be our next Prime Minister.

A traditional hymn opens with the words: “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear” and seems to imply that to a non-believer it grates. Hence it is often used as a curse word or a derogatory exclamation. And so I suspect herein lies the reluctance by some to use any expression with Christ in it when sending seasonal greetings to secular friends.

To some extent it’s understandable, but sad.

Nonetheless I unashamedly want to wish my readers (both of you) a very merry Christmas!

“Jesus picked up twelve men from the bottom ranks of business and forged them into an organisation that conquered the world” - Bruce Barton

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The end of a sordid era

I played a prank in 1962, unofficially opening Masterton’s new Post Office from a nearby rooftop 10 minutes before the Postmaster-General Mr Arthur Kinsella was due to do so officially. I had a false beard and moustache attached intending to be unrecognisable. The incident gained notoriety nationally and even internationally and I was described as a “Castro-like” figure.

Fidel Castro was persona-non-grata at the time and I hadn’t intended to impersonate him.

I was mortified by the comparison.

Castro took over Cuba in 1959 with a rebel army, ousting right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista. He and his deputy, Argentinian doctor Che Guevara slaughtered thousands of dissidents by firing squad and the pair ushered in socialism-induced poverty.

He died last month and the comments from world leaders were diverse. Canada’s youthful Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted out a statement expressing his “deep sorrow” about the death of the Cuban dictator and describing him as “a larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.” Trudeau added Castro, who was a friend of his late father, was a “controversial figure” but also said that the Cuban people would maintain “a deep and lasting affection for el Comandante.” He concluded it was a “real honour” to meet Castro’s family on a recent visit.

Reaction was scorching. Social media lit up with a satiric hashtag #Trudeau Eulogies in which posters imagined Trudeau’s farewells to other tyrants.

Donald Trump was more circumspect. He tweeted “Today the world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades. Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of human rights.”

Trumps popularity in Florida, where many Cubans had fled to during the revolution, will have gone up markedly.

In his bestselling book Eat the Rich P. J. O’Rourke travelled to Cuba and found the city of Havana a place literally falling apart as the buildings had deteriorated and the roads were in complete ruin. As a result of the lack of infrastructure there were hardly any businesses, except for a few government restaurants, and even fewer private ones. Due to the dearth of employment available, people crowded the streets with nothing to do and nothing to sell since their currency was essentially valueless.

And yet despite this evidence and so many other examples there are people who still believe socialism is the nirvana. Jeremy Corbyn’s popularity in England and Bernie Sanders’ in America are both living proof that many people don’t learn from history.

The left mantra of “social justice” really means the “equality of poverty.”

I see that the post office building that I opened is now up for sale. I watched it being built from the confines our butcher’s shop over the road at the time. It was solidly constructed by Mr W. Dickson and his hardworking team of tradesmen.

Surprisingly there is no brass plaque on the premise to commemorate the opening. Had there been I’m sure Mr Kinsella would have got the credit. Neither I, nor Mr Castro for that matter, would have rated a mention.

“There has to be a balance between freedom and equality, but freedom is always more important” - Joe Klein

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What's in a name?

The long-suffering ratepayers of Auckland were justifiably outraged when they discovered their foolhardy city council had spent $500,000 to come up with an improbable slogan. The city’s proposed new global brand “Auckland, the place desired by many” was worked on by three project staff over a two year period while 115 council staff attended workshops.

To his credit the new mayor Phil Goff was not impressed.

It reminded me of a similar situation that I was involved in some years ago when I was on the Greater Wellington Regional Council. At the time the people who ran our Transport Division considered that we needed a new name to better reflect connecting the buses and trains with the metropolitan areas in our region. At the time the branding was “Ridewell” which was considered to have passed its used-by date.

The council officers engaged a PR company to come up with a suitable name. During the discussion period a number of workshops were held with us councillors to gauge our opinions. I always considered however that the PR firm had its own ideas and our views were more of a public relations exercise within a public relations exercise. They offered up many options, but always seemed to come back with URBO.

It was clear to me that none of us were keen on the name, but we were told this was in fact an inspired choice. Simple four letter names were game-changers and we were reminded of the success of SONY and the new name (at the time) for Woolworths which was DEKA. So URBO fitted the profile perfectly even though none of us actually liked it.

A final decision meeting was held with all the councillors around the table with the slick PR people ready to bully us into accepting URBO. They decided in the build-up to give us a power-point presentation showing names of other transport organisations worldwide and in the process the name Metlink, used in Brisbane city, flashed on the screen.

I was sitting next to fellow Wairarapa councillor and chairman of the board Ian Buchanan and he leaned over and said to me “Surely Metlink is the perfect name?” I agreed that indeed it was. So he proposed Metlink, but the PR boffins were quick to dismiss the suggestion saying this would be registered by the Brisbane city council and could not be used.

Ian was not convinced. He left the meeting and got our receptionist to ring the Brisbane council to see if they perchance had a copyright or patent on the name. The answer came back within minutes; they had no exclusivity and we were welcome to use it.

Ian then put the motion that the new name for our transport system was Metlink. Passed unanimously and all it cost was a phone call to Brisbane.

Auckland must have liked it too because they subsequently changed the name of their transport company to Metrolink.

So that phone call virtually killed two birds with one stone.

And we still had money in the bank.

“Ninety-mile beach was obviously named by one of New Zealand’s first advertising copywriters…it is fifty-six miles long.” - John W. McDermott

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