Dipton Watch

Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, October 5th, 2009 - 20 comments
Categories: bill english, humour - Tags: ,

dipton-montage

Greetings to the good people of Dipton.  Must be fun to be so much in the news lately!  I hope some local entrepreneurs are working out how to make good on all the free publicity.

I’d expect Dipton’s high profile in the media to last a bit longer, as Bill English continues his belated attempts to convince us that he really does live there (honest Guvnor!) by name dropping the Dipton connection. It could be quite entertaining looking out for this tactic, so I’m proposing a new game – Dipton Watch. Whenever you spot a gratuitous Bill-Dipton/Southland media reference, post it here! Whichever alert reader posts the most hits during October will win a Standardista cloth cap (left over from the last Standard Week promotion).

Confirmed sightings so far include, the first appearance of Plain English on Scoop since 2006 (subtext “I live in Dipton!”):

Plain English – No. 2, 2009

Welcome to Plain English, my regular newsletter aimed at Clutha-Southland residents. It covers local issues as well as national politics. I welcome your feedback on the content and any issues you’d like covered.

Youth Opportunities
While in Balclutha recently I visited South Otago High School…

Here’s another from The Herald:

Mr McCully liaised with Samoan and Tongan ministers yesterday while Mr English flew north from Dipton, in his Clutha-Southland electorate, back to Wellington.

This one must have set up a whole photo shoot that we can look out for – as well as ironically highlighting the fact that Bill can’t get away from the capital:

Acting Prime Minister Bill English had no sooner hauled his protesting family back to Dipton for the parliamentary recess to prove that it was still really his home than he had to come straight back to Wellington again.

And so on. Fun for all the family! Post your Dipton Watch entries here and be in to win…

20 comments on “Dipton Watch ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. felix 1
    5 October 2009 at 9:23 am

    God, Espiner can be a dullard.

    From the article where he talks about Bling whipping his family off to Dipton for the parliamentary recess (a brand new experience for most of them no doubt) and then having to come straight back home to Wellington anyway:

    It neatly illustrated his argument, I thought. You can’t run the country – or the economy for that matter – from Dipton.

    No, Colin you silly boy, it neatly illustrates the fact that he’s lying when he says he lives in Dipton.

  2. toad 2
    5 October 2009 at 9:28 am

    I alerted The Standard to your second quote above rOb, so should get a point for that.

  3. Ianmac 3
    5 October 2009 at 10:49 am

    I think that they rilly do live there. If you look very carefully at the first picture above then you will see 4 of the younger English kids and their dad walking along the side of the road singing a song as they go off together to buy their weekly treat at the store. Bill looks relaxed doesn’t he?
    There. A point please.

  4. toad 4
    5 October 2009 at 12:40 pm

    r0b said: I hope some local entrepreneurs are working out how to make good on all the free publicity.

    Bill’s probably got a commission deal with them sorted out already.

  5. Jim McDonald 5
    5 October 2009 at 2:10 pm

    Will the following be acceptable for consideration re Dipton Watch? I do wanna win a cloth cap 🙂

    Distance no barrier for Bill English
    00:35 18/11/2008
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/722795

    Being in charge of two plum ministerial portfolios will mean more time in the Beehive for Mr English, who said he would be calling on internet video technology to make sure his face was still seen regularly in his electorate.
    “It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m hoping to try a few experiments, like using Skype so that I can still do face-to-face meetings, even when I’m in Wellington,” he said.

  6. Jim McDonald 6
    5 October 2009 at 2:16 pm

    If the previous one is acceptable, would you count this one too? (looks like from a blog than a release or reporter’s piece)

    Woohoo! At this rate, I might be able to claim to double dob re digital Dipton…

    Digital Dipton will make life easier for Bill English
    Posted Tue 18 November 2008 @ 2:17 p.m. by Ernie
    http://www.tuanz.org.nz/blog/e379f711-b2b6-4423-9e32-4a8bf9f301db/63918852-4ee8-4589-9015-b73d2cf4553c.html

    Bill English is to use Skype to stay in touch with the electorate, the Southland Times reports.

    Great! The more senior MPs who rely on broadband, the more awareness of the need to improve the reach and speeds.

    Bill will be able to use the SSC’s Fibre Map to check out how his electorate is faring in the fibre race, and his constituents’ can test their actual speeds on this speed test. I’m sure the politically-astute telcos will have mapped his home and made sure it is well served, but the rubber will hit the road when rank and file Southland constituents want to Skype him.

    We’ll watch with interest. Its a good plan – other MPs please take note.

    • Jim McDonald 6.1
      5 October 2009 at 2:27 pm

      For clarification, I must say that I should have used quotes to show that all the bits that appear after the heading ‘Digital Dipton will make life easier for Bill English’ was posted by Ernie on that tuanz webpage.

  7. Ianmac 7
    5 October 2009 at 2:19 pm

    “like using Skype so that I can still do face-to-face meetings, even when I’m in Wellington,” Hey Jim.
    Perhaps the last line should have read “….face to face meetings now that I have lived in Wellington for years.” Ha.

  8. toad 8
    5 October 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Hey, Dipton’s got a lot going for it. Like coal.

    Bill’s trip may be much shorter when that gets underway and they build the Dipton International Airport.

  9. toad 9
    16 October 2009 at 3:04 pm

    Here’s one. Nat backbencher Aaran Gillmore, interviewed by Scoop:

    He’s a classic Dipton farmer. He’s very calm. He’s cautious. It’s exactly the type of person you want to have as your Minister of Finance.

  10. toad 10
    18 October 2009 at 12:15 pm

    And from the Southland Times, interviewing Double Dipton:

    Mr English said some of the criticism he received over the issue had been unfair. He visited his electorate “most weeks” and brought his family down to Dipton regularly, he said.

    “They were just down for the school holidays.”

    Yeah, and when my kids were younger and lived at home I would take them away for a few days during the school holidays if I could get away from work too.

    • Ianmac 10.1
      18 October 2009 at 12:39 pm

      Wonder what “most weeks” means?
      Does his comment alter the living in Wellington as his home? Doubt it.

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