Institutional racism is bad if it puts you behind bars but it’s good if it gets you into Parliament

The Maori Party is happy to go along with some forms of institutional racism.

“I keep this handy to deal with Winston Peters.”

Indeed, it encourages them and will excoriate critics who suggest they be got rid of.

It all depends on the nature of the outcome and who are the beneficiaries.

Winston Peters spotted a few of the Maori Party’s favoured forms of racism early this year (and for his troubles was denounced by the Maori Party, the greenies and the lefties).

Mr Peters, speaking at Ratana Pa, says his party would never support “separatist” Maori Party policies such as having separate Maori units in prison, the separate Maori social welfare system Whanau Ora and the Tino Rangatiratanga Flag.

Mr Peters says he could not work with the Maori Party as long as it keeps “separatist” policies.

“You can’t have a Crown that’s composed of two different groups – the rest and Maori. Either we’re all together or we’re all going to be separate,” he says.

Silver ferns and flummery – why we should be fulminating against refurbishing the flag

“Well, unfurl my flannels from the rooftop,” Alf fumed when The Boss mused on whether NZ should have a new flag.

For the most part your hard-working representative has a huge respect for The Boss. But now and again…

Perhaps dear old John fell under the republican spell of that Obama feller while the pair of them were walloping golf balls around a course in Hawaii during the Christmas holidays. Alf refers, of course, to republicanism as distinct from monarchy, not Republican versus Democrat.

Whatever has smitten John Key, it has erased the regard he should hold for the Union Jack and Southern Cross components of the national flag (especially the Union Jack bit). He would have them replaced – ye gods – by a silver fern.

Taxpayers fund gabfests about – flags!

Alf had an apoplexy on learning that the great majority of New Zealanders have been cut out of publicly funded consultations on a matter of huge significance to our sense of nationhood.

The headline on this news at Stuff informed him: Maori meet to decide on national flag.

A national flag?

If we are talking about a national flag, all New Zealanders should be taking part. Especially when this implies the flag we now fly – featuring the magnificent Union Jack – will be replaced.