I was surprised to read Bob Jones’s bilious diatribe against me in the NZ Herald on Tuesday morning, not because I thought he felt differently, but because the paper made the decision to print it.
Instead of telling Jones to pull his head in as they should have, the Herald published the contents of his ruptured spleen.
If anyone on the left wrote such a piece of personal abuse against anyone the Herald would never publish it – full stop.
Their argument will be that they give free reign to their columnists in the interests of free speech but any such defence in this case has more holes than a fishing net.
It won’t be a surprise that Jones and I have never seen eye to eye. The first time I saw him was at a protest outside a National Party fundraising event in 1981. It was called “A night with the Jones’s” where Bob Jones and National MPs Dail Jones from Helensville and Norman Jones from Invercargill were the drawcards. A big crowd of well-heeled citizens from Remuera, dressed up to the nines, went in to donate some of their unearned income to keep the Muldoon government in power. Bob Jones got out of his car and with a fag hanging out of his mouth gave the protest the fingers in vigorous fashion. It made great television. Thanks Bob – the flow of donations to HART for the campaign to stop the 1981 tour spiked the week after.
A few years later at a Victoria University student forum I debated with Jones who supported maintaining rugby links with apartheid South Africa. A big crowd of students cheered and booed enthusiastically with every point scored. Jones was on the wrong side of history then as now.
He’s obviously been stewing since and has occasionally taken a swipe at me. In the Herald last year he said the only cure for me was beheading. Same Herald, same Bob Jones, same hate speech.
But all good things must come to an end and Bob’s days of well-paid indolence are numbered.
Myself and Mana are coming after Jones and his unearned wealth. In the next government we’ll be arguing for a robust capital gains tax, an inheritance tax (even the US has one of these), financial transactions tax on share trading (Europe is taking this on board) and currency speculation. This will be on top of a much more progressive income tax system and closing the myriad of tax loopholes Jones and his corporate cronies drive truckloads of money through every day while Revenue Minister Murray McCully turns a blind eye.
We will be working hard ensuring Jones and his property investing mates who bid up the price of land, homes and commercial property to screw small businesses and young families end their parasitic behaviour.
They’ve lived high on the hog for too long and in Jones’s case it has created a palpable sense of entitlement to wealth created by others.
It won’t be long and we’ll be coming after you and your ill-gotten gains Bob. Keep an eye out.
You remember that Bob Jones was part of the jack-up, back-up plan to make sure that Muldoon went out in 1984 to allow Prebble-Douglas-ACT (disguised in Labour-red) and the neo-liberal experiment to take root in NZ. Jones’ Party of Convenience was disbanded as soon as Douglas and Prebble were elected.
He’s a hypocrite for gnashing his gums that someone else now thinks it’s a great idea to get rid of Key, cronies, neoliberalism and corruption out of NZ society.
Good on IMP for being clever enough, being open and honest enough to form alliances out in the open, not behind teacups and backroom doors.
Good on IMP for keeping social justice to the fore and for having the balls to stand up to neoliberal monetarist policies that have ruined what was once an egalitarian society.
If ever one photo encapsulated a persons life and philosophy the velvet jacketed Jones two finger salute is it.
I remember the pic from Tom Newnham’s “By Batons and Barbed Wire” on the ’81 Springbok tour. The clichéd Rolls Royce and cigarette (mini cigar?) being suitable props for the long senile property rip off merchant who assisted the first neo liberal government into office in 1984.
Bob Jones should smoke as much as possible. His demise will be a nail in the coffin for crony capitalism and contradiction in New Zealand.
Good on you John.
IF only a real Labour party would get enough votes to help Mana pass those new tax rules, then this country would be better off for the VAST majority of Kiwis.
But I fully understand the Herald won’t print such logic, it’s financial backers won’t allow it to…….What a lovely cozy relationship for THEM.
YAY! About time the parasites paid their way!
“If anyone on the left wrote such a piece of personal abuse against anyone the Herald would never publish it – full stop -” so true John. Does Jones actually get paid to write these pieces? It is rather tragic that the Herald cannot move beyond yet another old white man ranting..
Jones is one of the few people writing for the Herald who has a reasonable command of the English language.
I don’t think this column was very good, and it just came off as mean spirited. It did the author and the publisher no favours. Having said that, I usually like his columns, even if I don’t agree with him about a lot of things. I think John Minto has a good reason to ask the Herald to retract the column.
Part of the problem with criticism of Jones is that many of his critics on blogs like this one are barely literate, and seem incapable of understanding when their legs are being pulled. For example, there are still people who believe that Jones actually goaded a man into suicide, or that the shaggy dog stories he tells about his mother are actually true. The fact that many of our more witless citizens are taken in by this is likely a constant source of hilarity to Jones.
The good Jones columns are the ones in which he’s having us on. He doesn’t do so well when he’s trying to be serious.
wealthy speculators feel entitled! – thats unpossible! [/ralph wiggum]
Didn’t the wee man get his knighthood from a Labour government?
And didn’t a Labour government enable truckloads of unearned money to be driven from the workers to the rich?
Yes, a shitty pathetic article from Jones, but parliament won’t bell the cat.
Yes, Labour played along with the experiment. However, they have learned from the failure. National and ACT have not. That is the difference, and the reason for voting the current government out.
…and thats why Kiwi voters will reject Key, croneyism, corruption with Chinese and send neoliberalism packing for at least 9 years (the number of years Labour was out after Prebble-Douglas-GST was rampant in the 80’s).
…and good riddance to neoliberal monetarist policy that benefits the rich and “Rogers” the poor ….
…good riddance to Tory capitalism
To be honest, I’m not sure that Labour have learned from the failure of neo-liberalism. They certainly haven’t learned about the impossibility of further growth.
Yeah, I’m sure Sir Bob is shaking in his boots over this.
First you have to get elected, no certainty there. Then, with your what, 3 MPs maybe, convince the rest of your cobbled together bunch of misfits to put through those fairly hardcore policies. Capital gains tax, maybe, the rest no chance.
Jones is in his mid seventies and is obviously a little demented and yet Granny Herald still publishes his crap. Give it another decade or so and they will both be gone and forgotten.
Bob who?
Bob is a grumpy old man. His provenance is being rich from young and being on the wrong side of history. Minto’s provenance, from young, is being on the right side of history when, at the hands of the likes of Bob, it was extremely dangerous to be so. Opposing positions on a Madoff to Mandela spectrum. Who cares what turns on/off this grumpy old man anyway ? He’s mostly talking to himself nowadays.
Exacty right “North” – you hit the nail right on the head.
@ North: yup, Jones is a silly old fart who mistakenly thinks that the rest of us would benefit from his superannuated opinions.
What’s wrong with well paid indolence? He’s earned his money the hard way, not taken it from the taxpayer.
‘earned his money the hard way’ Explain.
…well Intrinsic Value – you get paid for your ACT-sponsored indolence, so you are well-qualified to comment.
How many pieces of silver are you paid to “Roger Douglas” the working class?
We (Kiwis) ‘ve been thinking too, and we think you neoliberal monetarist, incest-loving, croneyists should crawl back under your rocks and keep Slater company. Slater is very upset at a fine upstanding Tory like Banks being unfairly found guilty by a left-leaning judge…..
Prime Minister John Key has staunchly backed John Banks since allegations regarding his mishandling of donations first surfaced……
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10124209/PMs-staunch-support-for-Banks
Good to see that Key is as good a judge of character as Mr Slater …. is unfit to be a media outlet…
Blogger Cameron Slater says he was “incredulous” that a District Court judge ruled he does not meet the criteria to be considered part of the media.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11165604
Great to see that at least some media and some judges are uncorruptible….
INTRINSICVALUE – But wasn’t it Bob Jones many years ago, who claimed tax is theft? So from that statement, can I take it that perhaps, he has not been contributing to the tax coffers as he should, as is expected of the rest of us? If this is the case, then who is taking from the taxpayer?
Hmmm – an inheritance tax – That might hurt rich people a bit but it will have a more significant impact on poor people who’s one chance to pay off their mortgage will be through an inheritance
Are you right? Or left Fambo?
Your obviously not poor if you can afford a mortgage any inheritance is only going to compliment that wealth.
Fly a drone over his house! See how he likes it, and it won’t even be an armed one.
Drone Haiku
Aww!
Unarmed?
How does that sit with Mr Key who supports drone strikes, or as some have called it “remote-controlled
-collateral-state-sanctioned-damage”
Orwell had it exactly right.
Doublespeak.
Unarmed.
Aw
Haiku drone
Whoo Hoo! You all must be on the right track John, the slimy cockroaches are coming out of the woodwork, more to come as the election draws closer. Kia kaha!
I assume you will be doing this with the assistance of the honestly gained resources of the totally legit Kim Dotcom?
A bit of wallet envy Populuxe1?
What about running another fund-raiser at Antoines?
Or put up GST on the Cabinet Club contributions.
Ot what about hiring some people to raffle supreme leader John Key or Stone Shii’s lost balls when they lose then in their sponsored golf games?
People in glass-houses shouldn’t play sponsored golf games Populuxe1 !
Hi John,
While I don’t agree with the approach Bob took in his article, he made a valid point about your protest outside Key’s house.
You said on Radio Live that you didn’t care about the prime-minister’s family and whether they felt safe with you protesting outside their house.
I think you’ve undone a heap of the good work you have done for employees and the disadvantaged by taking such a calloused, uncaring and unprofessional approach.
A quiet candlelight vigil? Which the police praised as being so very quiet and lacking in any disruption?
You have a problem with that do you?
If the PM and his family feel unsafe because a few folks are on the street outside holding candles and quietly discussing something important to them (and many others) and call that their protest, then I have no time for the PM or his family either. What a load of bollocks. Sounds like the PM is trying to drum up some feeling against protesting US drone strikes. He needs to get a grip.
Again – protesting (quietly or otherwise) is totally legitimate if it is targeted appropriately. While it was quiet at the time, Mr Minto is also well known for being involved in very angry and occasionally violent protests. A group of such people surrounding my house would be intimidating – especially for a young lad and the PM’s wife who had nothing to do with any intelligence gathering (let alone the drone strike itself).
Whether or not you agree about whether criminal or armed conflict laws apply to Darryl Jones, surely you see the irony in protesters targeting innocents while protesting about targeting innocents?
So now the rhetoric has risen to “A group of such people surrounding my house would be intimidating”.
I wonder how it is possible to surround a mansion in Parnell with 40ish people?
I’s not a house it is a fortress with many security guards. This was peaceful, calm, quiet. I wasn’t there but wished I had been.
Oh, so sorry, pity the privileged, possibly also the “hard done by” royals, and the celebrities from Hollywood and so, and get those “riff raff” moved out of their sight, as it “disturbs” their peace and “mental well being”.
Stuff you, to come with such elitarian minded nonsense arguments.
Lick the back side of your master then, and do it well, please, leave nothing “sticky” behind, thanks.
Oxymoron Simon
Sober?
How would you feel if you were able to have a family, and that family were killed in a state-sanctioned drone attack.
Sobering thought?
Isn’t it?
I would feel sad if anyone in my family were killed by a drone strike in an armed conflict.
However, getting to specifics in our hypothetical, if that family member was training with a group responsible for global mass-murder which had declared war on the nation piloting the drone I imagine I would have done my mourning a long time in advance.
And to take the hypothetical further:
How would you feel if a family member, while employed as a english language teacher in a foreign country, was murdered with the full support of your Prime minister?
Please you seem to have information that the rest of us don’t how do you know all of this…
if that family member was training with a group responsible for global mass-murder which had declared war on the nation piloting the drone –
And since when do we not, if indeed we have the information, arrest people and charge them with crimes?
That is if we still regard ourselves as civilised.
Wee Key has just drawn himself a red line.
If it is not okay for people to protest outside his home (won’t somebody please think of the children?), then it is not okay to intimidate other people’s kids by threatening their homes and safety, either. Think State housing changes.
Perhaps it will provide a check for the ‘callous, uncaring and unprofessional approach’ of the PM and several of his minion ministers. Or not, which could be revealing…
Hi Andrea, as far as I know there have never been any threats or unsafe behaviour (and certainly nothing illegal) in relation to any relocations from state houses.
I think the key point of difference here is your phrase “their home”. I expect you’ll be protesting outside the rental property of every tenant who has ever been asked to move out of a rental by their landlord.
Omg where is that picture from? Who took it? @ Tiger Mountain was that a book or an exhibition?
A book, Author Tom Newnham “By batons and barbed wire. Graphic Publications, 1983. ISBN 978-0-473-00112-4”, hard to find these days.
You can see below photo it was taken by Kapil Arn a photo journalist in the day and the caption explains setting on July 4 1981 outside a National Party fundraiser.
How the fuck can one get thumbs down for presenting factual information in response to a fellow readers question?
If I use my imagination an answer might well appear.
Anyway good on John Minto for submitting his piece here with some extras to the NZ Herald for wider distribution.
I read it, it enfuriated me, and I saw yesterday, the comments had been “closed”. Yes, Bob the builder, rather the building magnate, he got so nasty, I have read few such nasty pieces as he wrote on John Minto. It was about accusations of Minto defending terrorists, Al Qaeda, about screaming and shouting, strangely I never met a John Minto fitting that description.
This was another dirty attempt by the Herald and their right wing sponsors, to attack, discredit and humiliate one of the left, who actually speaks much more sense than that Bob Jones jerk has ever done.
The man should feel bloody ashamed, but we all know he will not be. He is an arrogant one, and he will only learn humility in the last gasps he will have to breathe air in this life he still “enjoys”.
I feel sorry for such hate filled, arrogant and indignant persons, who have no compassion, no reason and are all about themselves.
I wish him a better existence in his future life, should he be reborn, as he has still a lot to learn about what life is really about.
Only can socialist mind care,have care for Bob,and his mates.What you recon,against the wall your care.
Just shift your assets to a trust before the left come in. Make you kids beneficiaries. No Inheritance tax. Ideally they keep the trust running after your death. If I have earned it, already paid tax on it, my children get it. Its mine and theirs, not yours, get your hands off it
The problem is people born into generational wealth are blaming beneficiaries for being lazy when unemployment is at 7%. They can afford to contribute 3% of their inheritance to contribute to a fair society.
did you make it all by yourself or did a functioning govt, society, infrastructure, rule of law, public services, educated citizens etc etc help provide an environment for you to do it?
so you made a pile – cool, but dont think for a second that others didnt pay for things which helped you get there.
“did you make it all by yourself or did a functioning govt, society, infrastructure, rule of law, public services, educated citizens etc etc help provide an environment for you to do it?”
And the low wages we’ve had to endure here since the enacting of the ECA in the early 90s? Don’t be so solipsistic, SDM.
Brilliant piece John Minto, outstanding work. Down with the parasites!
I read Bob Jones’ appalling, malicious attack on John Minto. I was surprised it passed moderation for publication, because of the insulting sentiments expressed. Jones getting personal, automatically voided his argument, demonstrating his uncouth ignorance. The picture above says it all about the man.
But there you are. That’s Auntie NZ Herald for you. If it’s insulting towards the left, then it’s OK. However anything against Key or the Nats and their motley coalition bunch of miscreants, public comments are closed off early, or kept to a bare minimum.
The heavily Key/National influenced msm, is reluctant publicizing anything likely to get people thinking the left just might be a viable alternative to the status quo!
Can’t imagine a more different pair of value systems than those of John Minto and Bob Jones.
However I do believe the tide is turning in favour of “out with the old unfettered free-market-based value system and in with a new one” – i.e. one with a social conscience that will not disadvantage the young, the dispossesed, and the masses of well educated but unemployed youth right around the world.
With people like Mark Carney, the new Governor of the Bank of England speaking out in favour of an economic policy shift towards a more inclusive and socially responsible form of capitalism, there does appear to be hope for the future:
http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2014/speech731.pdf
Its worth a read!
Nice policies, John, but where do you get them from? As far as I know the IMP hasn’t unveiled any economic policies yet so wouldn’t it be polite to wait a bit?
Mana policies I think you will find. IMP aren’t going to have identical policies on everything, they are two political parties.
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