There are a few things to be said in response to Shane Jones’ recent declaration that New Zealand’s immigration policy is as “rancid” as “butter chicken”.
The first of these, is that this is rather rich criticism coming from Mr Jones. The last time he was in Parliament, he was part of a party that presided over immigration levels so high they’ve only recently been eclipsed by National.
More to the point, many of the issues with the dodgy provision of education to international students are not new. They’ve been known about for much of the last two decades; with the previous large-scale flare-up in this area coming from the language-school sector in 2003 – when Labour was entering into its second term in government (and, as it happens, equidistant between that Government’s partnering of Trade New Zealand and Education New Zealand in 2000 – and the Government’s decision to start actively subsidizing the overseas promotion of ‘export education’ here in New Zealand in 2006). Did Jones raise any “culinary criticisms” back then?
Worse, when Jones talks of “rancid” circumstances in the Immigration portfolio, we can only presume that he is speaking from hard-won experience. As the Minister in charge of this area, he went against official advice to pressure for New Zealand citizenship to be granted to international criminal and money-launderer Bill Liu (who just so happened to be a personal friend of Jones). No comments about “as corrupt as chow-mein” then, I take it?
The plain fact of the matter is that Jones’ Parliamentary career to date has been characterized by a series of actions at complete odds with the image he will no doubt shortly be seeking to project. Instead of criticizing a government’s record on immigration – whether ‘export-education’ driven or otherwise – he was an active proponent and participant in some of the worst excesses of same.
I can only presume that Jones’ sudden complete volte-face has something to do with his impending personal ambitions.
Finally, what really left a bad taste in my mouth was Jones’ both scurrilous and utterly spurious full-frontal assault upon the taste and texture of butter chicken. As any who know me can well attest, I am quite fond of North Indian cuisine [butter chicken, contrary to popular speculation, apparently having been developed and popularized by a Hindu refugee who wound up having to flee what would become Pakistan during the dark days of Partition]; and whilst the humble butter chicken is far from my favourite preparation, a word does definitely need to be spoken in its defence.
There is nothing “rancid” about butter chicken. And it is truly tasteless to attempt to demarcate an ethnic group (as Jones has clearly attempted to do, given the attention upon the Indian component of New Zealand’s ‘export education market of late) via recourse to blithely insulting one of the more commonly consumed elements of their habitually associated cuisine. I wouldn’t dream, for instance, of attempting to denigrate Jones in terms usually reserved for bad seafood. Although it does occur that the reasoning behind Biblical prohibitions upon eating same [well, Jones’ preferred lobsters and molluscs anyway] had much to do with the fact that many of these creatures were the carrion of the sea, or whose filter-feeding lead to the direct coming into contact with of potentially hazardous waste.
Now I am not, strictly speaking, endeavouring to suggest that the risks of taking one such as Jones into one’s own body-politik are akin to that of eating uncooked shellfish.
But it does occur that in politics – as with bad kai moana – that Jones is hardly likely to taste any better upon the second time around, coming up.
One word ….. “Ew’!!
Please Winston – NO. If I was ever tempted to vote NZ First, by the time I got to the polling booth, it’d be equipped with images of Shane jerking himself off to a porn video.
@ ONCEWASTIM … Agree. I don’t think you are the only one conjuring up icky images of Jones alone in a hotel room watching pornographic videos either!
Shane Jones, the porn prince of politics, sticks firmly in my mind.
Which political party in its right mind would want him joining its team as a representative of the party, given his well publicised past sordid little habit, indulged in and enjoyed by him at the taxpayers’ expense?
Jones,what an uncouth , cellar dweller.I liked him better when he watched porn and the tax payers expense.
New Zealand First is Winston Peters and only Winston Peters, there’s simply no depth to the party.
The other rancid thing about shane jones is that a portion of my tax’s might again pay for the worthless prick.
Says it all really…
Buk, buk, buk.
http://folksong.org.nz/love_in_a_fowlhouse/
A shit of a human being.
If he becomes the NZF leader, the party will be dead within one year. Fact.
Meanwhile, all those wasted NZF vote this election could have been directed to more able parties.
Does he think that people have forgotten his past political history? The man has no shame. His arrogance is unparalleled. He thinks he can waltz back into public life and be accepted as if he is unblemished!!! Get lost .. we have enough ratbags already in Parliament that need ousting without adding more.
I don’t think it’s really fair to taint NZ seafood by association with Jones, he really never had much to do with it. It was a bloke called France who made Sealord prosper while it did – Jones was only a parachutist.
NZ seafood is among the best in the world. We have an outstanding sashimi fish (White Warehou) that most of us have never tasted, and the frostfish that gets bottom dollar in NZ is the Galchi that goes for $50 a kg in Gangnam, when you can get it. Japan would pay well for our conger eels, but our industry is not run by aficionados, so they sell rubbish product like fillet block to McDonalds. As with our government, it’s not a credible performance.
Rolinson , Your vitriolic comments leave a ‘ bad taste ‘ in my mouth.
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