Regrets, John Key’s had a few *

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, April 6th, 2018 - 43 comments
Categories: brand key, capitalism, climate change, disaster, Environment, global warming, john key, national, poverty, Privatisation, same old national, sustainability, the praiseworthy and the pitiful, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags:

John Key showing concern

What does John Key regret the most about his reign as Prime Minister of New Zealand?

Over 250,000 kids living in poverty?  Refusing to get the bodies out of the Pike River mine and thereby helping individuals avoid justice? Dirty Politics?  The  increasing numbers of homeless? Privatising parts of some major electricity companies and costing us billions?  Running up Crown debt from $10 billion to $93 billion?  The Sky City Fiasco? Ponytail pulling?  Sheepgate? Overseeing the pollution of our rivers and the ankle tapping of our attempts to address climate change?

Nope.  It was not changing our flag.

From the Herald:

Former Prime Minister Sir John Key revealed his biggest regret was not being able to change the New Zealand flag.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review, Sir John told Patrick Durkin it was something he had often thought about.

“The reason I wanted to change the flag was to have something that was uniquely New Zealand, so that we could build a more overt sense of national pride,” Sir John said.

“This is not the most important issue by a long way for the country, but ultimately I was unsuccessful in changing the New Zealand flag and I have always thought back on that.”

Sir John said it didn’t pass because Labour and the Greens decided to turn it into a political issue and made it a referendum.

“It is not going to change the world and there are many things we did, from the Christchurch earthquakes to economic issues that we dealt with, but that is the one I feel I definitely failed on,” he said.

“I suppose I also have to take responsibility and say, well look, maybe there were some other things I could have done. To be frank, I think I should have just pushed it even harder.”

His original claim that he was in politics to create a more egalitarian society is something that we cannot rely on.  Having overseen an explosion of poverty but being preoccupied by a failed ego flag contest is clear evidence of this.

And perhaps the sharpest critique of Key’s legacy is from One Anonymous Bloke in this comment:

Key has always been an incredibly divisive figure. He brought international shame and ridicule upon us in his Hard Talk interview, for me though the final straw was the discovery of the ratfucking gang that he ran out of his office.

It takes a special kind of person to worship at the Temple of Market while families go without basic necessities like food and shelter, but most of the time you can put it down to stupidity and incompetence, the Just World fallacy, and so forth. Not so with Key. Dirty Politics confirmed his calculated malevolence.

I can’t possibly disagree.

43 comments on “Regrets, John Key’s had a few * ”

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  1. David 1
    6 April 2018 at 8:15 am

    Sir John Shallowness is only eclipsed by his deceitfulness……

    • patricia bremner 1.1
      6 April 2018 at 10:50 am

      1000%

      • dukeofurl 1.1.1
        6 April 2018 at 1:59 pm

        Yes he cant help himself bullshitting, even over the flag referendum.

        Only 6 electorates had a majority for new flag, all National held.

        But out of the electorates they held (41) that meant 35 electorates that had a national MP somehow were convinced by Labour /Greens?

    • Kereru 1.2
      6 April 2018 at 5:08 pm

      Wellington town hall is still flying alternate NZ flags from the referendum on its northern side. Recent earthquakes probably took priority, but it might be time to take them down.

  2. savenz 2
    6 April 2018 at 8:24 am

    Mouldy Middlemore is clearly not an issue for Key. I guess his dream of reducing all free public services by making them basket cases and forcing people to the private sector is part of his success story.

  3. One Anonymous Bloke 3
    6 April 2018 at 8:29 am

    It’s pretty clear he didn’t take the ratfuckers with him when he bailed.

  4. Keepcalmcarryon 4
    6 April 2018 at 8:51 am

    How do these sellouts get to invoke “ national pride” while selling national assets and giving our water, jobs, land, houses and competitive advantage to those overseas ahead of kiwis?
    Key was king for the selfish, the greedy the shallow and the short term thinkers. Sadly that’s a large portion of our previously egalitarian society.

  5. ianmac 5
    6 April 2018 at 9:09 am

    Key seems to be a bit pathetic now. Wonder how many now rush to take selfies with him?

  6. Carolyn_Nth 6
    6 April 2018 at 9:29 am

    Where’s my flagzies? They tooked my precious. My precious lagasiez- gonzies!

  7. dukeofurl 7
    6 April 2018 at 9:41 am

    Hes still into the big vanity projects- see his pushing his new gig at Air NZ to bring/sponsor Obama here.
    I thought I detected Keys touch in the tone of the new stories- the ones I could bare to watch- where he had been a background source of bumpf to the reporters.

    Even Paddy Gower humiliated himself as a 3rd rate ‘entertainment’ reporter standing on a hill with a distant view- I bet Key promised a better story location than that but the Secret Service dont take orders from Key.

  8. WILD KATIPO 8
    6 April 2018 at 9:45 am

    Hes an arsehole, … yoda yo yoda yo…

    Denis Leary – Asshole (Uncensored Version) – YouTube
    Video for hes an arsehole song▶ 4:41
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgpZ0fUixs

    I’m sure the parents of this little tyke believe John Key is an arsehole.

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-03-15-at-10.25.52-AM-1.png

    And the shitter got a knighthood ?!!?

    And we allowed the bastard to get away with WAR CRIMES ?!!?

    Along with Jerry ‘ Mate’ parae , Lieutenant General ‘ Bomb the cunts’ Tim Keating , Wayne ‘ Snivel and Apologize in the Background ‘ Mapp , Bill ‘Double Dipper Cover up the Shit ‘ English, …

    These fuckers should ALL be before the International Criminal Court on Criminal War Charges – and what do we do?

    Bullfuck on about Clare bloody Curren.

    What a toad shit garbage country we have become !

  9. WILD KATIPO 9
    6 April 2018 at 9:59 am

    Yeah – Mr ‘ Get some guts !!! ‘ Key.

    Bombing, strafing and murdering little children.

    That’s his real political epitaph.

    And all he ever was good for. Picking on young children – either ponytails or worse.

    What a bloody wanker.

  10. David Mac 10
    6 April 2018 at 10:00 am

    He still holds an honorary portfolio: Ministry of International VIP schmoozing.

    It’s hard to see pursuing the buzz one would feel every time they see their new flag as anything other than an ego trip.

  11. Kereru 11
    6 April 2018 at 10:08 am

    I have just removed most of my meagre savings from ANZ.

    A small gesture, perhaps, but it feels good ..

    • patricia bremner 11.1
      6 April 2018 at 10:58 am

      Yes Kereru!! Good for you. Go to a proper NZ bank.

      All other customers… you go, voice your contempt.

  12. mac1 12
    6 April 2018 at 10:10 am

    That flag debate was an ultimate distraction. The whole issue was badly managed from the selection process onwards.

    Key blames Labour and the Greens for his loss. Tell that to the RSA, and to those still linked to Mother England.

    Tell that to those who thought the alternatives’ design were insufficient to desire change. The alternative to me looked like it contained an upland poplar-lined and shaded road, reminiscent of Europe. John Key, the “poplarist’, in his mangled speech.

    Tell that to those who saw this issue as his bid for historical acclaim. Failure to score there would explain his regrets.

    No, history will accord other reasons for our regrets. To the list above in the original post, I would add the rise in GST, the parlous state of our hospital buildings, the mismanagement of earthquake recovery, the misspending on roading and neglect of infrastructure, the steady decline of social services, the neglect of the regions.

    He will be flagged away for other and better reasons than his.

    • dukeofurl 12.1
      6 April 2018 at 11:37 am

      As though we would obey orders from Greens or Labour to support a new flag?

      To be honest I liked the process of getting public input, but it needed to winnow out unsuitable ones right away.
      I saw some amazing designs, not sure could have been a winner though.

      The final designs, apart from Red Peak tried to recycle existing national symbols – as though these things are eternal- or combine them all in one ,so it ended up with too many versions on Keys favourite.

  13. Sacha 13
    6 April 2018 at 10:33 am

    His mummy must be so proud.

  14. Michelle 14
    6 April 2018 at 10:35 am

    He certainly has left a very bad legacy but after reading his comments he did not listen to the people of NZ. And no mention of our brighter future the one he promised.

  15. patricia bremner 15
    6 April 2018 at 11:00 am

    Oh, his brighter future!! HE got that!!

  16. Chris T 16
    6 April 2018 at 11:33 am

    Interesting trivia fact

    More people voted for the new flag than voted for Labour in the last election

  17. CHCOff 17
    6 April 2018 at 2:02 pm

    Hypothetically speaking of course, but when all one can do creatively with the best of what life has to offer is pillage, how shall it be otherwise?

  18. Exkiwiforces 18
    6 April 2018 at 3:42 pm

    This would’ve made a good April Fools joke…….or our ex prime minister has got as much conscience as a fox in a chicken coop.

    • Exkiwiforces 18.1
      6 April 2018 at 4:11 pm

      Our ex prime minister can be highly lucid and creative on paper, but any verbal exchange is lethal for those seeking a straightforward or useful answer. When you look back at John Keys time as prime minster smiling when things go wrong- mainly because he’s just thought of someone he can blame it on.

  19. mary_a 19
    6 April 2018 at 5:10 pm

    Once a deceitful, lying traitor, always a deceitful lying traitor!

  20. Shona 20
    6 April 2018 at 8:23 pm

    I wanted a new flag. I didn’t vote for change because it was a fucking debacle from go to whoa. The designs offered for voting on were SHIT! the committee who selected them were Key’s cronies. Talentless bootlickers and arse-wipes everyone of them. Their aesthetic taste was all in their mouths and it was an inexcusable waste of public money. Shallow, poorly organized and visually unappealing just like douche bag Key.

  21. Ken 21
    7 April 2018 at 1:55 am

    It’s good to wake up every morning knowing he ran away and isn’t PM anymore.

  22. Obtrectator 22
    7 April 2018 at 9:00 am

    Yet another photo, at the top of this article, of that pallid, bland, smirking visage which one itches to slap till it’s bright red.

    More appropriate would have been the Sharon Murdoch cartoon of “Sir” JK having his flag tattoo removed (don’t know how to insert images into these posts – you can find it on p203 of her book).

    I don’t think Ms M would have objected or seriously tried to enforce copyright.

  23. AB 23
    7 April 2018 at 11:25 am

    “John, John he’s long gone..”
    Gun Street Girl
    Not so far as Indiana unfortumately.
    Do Gun Street Girls have pony tails?

  24. Tracey 24
    7 April 2018 at 1:48 pm

    I wish I only had one regret from his reign

  25. mosa 25
    9 April 2018 at 7:37 pm

    Reading those comments thank christ Kiwis saw through the bullshit and voted ” NO ”

    That shyster only stood for personal gain and the enrichment of his supporters while he and his government shat on everyone else.

    I would not piss on him if he was on fire.

  26. smilin 26
    10 April 2018 at 2:21 pm

    And he did it his way Frankly
    Sickeningly selfish arrogant excuse for a so called leader
    Total disgrace to the nation which he didnt know at all