Party vote ignorance!

by frog

Readers of David Farrar’s blog will remember how emotional he got when he heard Bill English speak at the National Party conference a while back. He wrote:

The final speaker on Saturday was Bill English who not only skewered Labour on education, but also clearly laid out a starkly different approach. Bill got a massive standing ovation at the end of his speech – it was literally a command performance. I would say most delegates are more excited over the possibility of getting Bill to be Minister of Education than over tax cuts.

This afternoon, I am left wondering whether National’s candidate for Ohariu-Belmont, Katrina Shanks, was sitting there, listening to Mr English speak, and whether she, too, is looking forward to the day when he might become Education Minister.

Why would I be wondering this? Well, in front of me, I have a letter Ms Shanks has written and sent to many Ohariu-Belmont voters. In it, she exhibits an acute need for a new approach to education.

First, she promises that “National will reduce the number of benefits from over 300,000 to 200,000 in 10 years”. Gosh, I knew Labour had allowed the welfare system to get damn complicated, but I didn’t realise it had allowed over 300,000 different benefits to flourish. I’m glad we have National to simplify things so that, by 2015, Kiwis will only have the chance to apply for 200,000 different benefits.

Second, she promises that National will “introduce literary and numercay standards”. I wonder whether she means literary standards or literacy standards? Is she worried that our kids cannot read and write or that they don’t have a sophisticated enough understanding of Shakespeare? Also, what are numercay standards? Standards relating to the temperatures at which numbers decay?

Third, she vows that National will “remove inappropriate references to the ‘principals’ of the Treaty” of Waitangi from legislation. I’m actually quite taken aback that there were any school principals at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Why weren’t they at school? I’ve never seen my high school principal in legislation, but are there others in the statute books? I’m also confused about how these principals will be removed from legislation. Will National just ask them politely to leave?

All of which makes me think that National doesn’t need a new Education Minister so much as a new primary school teacher to educate their candidates in the fundamentals of the English language. I can think of the perfect man for the job: Bill English. After all, National Party members gave him a standing ovation when he skewed Labour on education. Or was that skewered? God, I forget.