Wednesday 27 February 2019
1) The Vatican City State is in crisis-mode as one of its senior leaders has been prosecuted.
The facts:
The Vatican State’s former financial head, Cardinal George Pell, has been found guilty of child sexual abuse. He is the highest positioned Catholic and Vatican leader to of received a sex abuse conviction. Cardinal Pell was found guilty by an Australian jury of sexually abusing two boys. The Cardinal was the third highest ranked leader in the Catholic hierarchy.
The Catholic Church is currently in crisis mode, with accusation after accusation of widespread sexual abuse of children by church clergy. The head of the Church, Pope Francis, has just led a summit on child sexual abuse in the Church. The Pope lay central blame for the Church’s history of abuse on Satan. Satan is a mythical fallen angel who seduces humans into sinful acts.
Analysis:
Under the leadership of the so-called woke pope, Pope Francis, the Vatican has undergone a public relations campaign to manage accusations of abuse and corruption in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis’ down-to-earth manner and ostensible liberalism endeared him to many. However, this latest scandal, with the prosecution of one of Pope Francis’ closest confidantes, is perhaps a turning point for the Church.
The Vatican’s moral standing and political influence may well have received a fatal blow with the prosecution of the Catholic Church’s third highest ranked official. The Pope and his fellow clergy may well blame the figure of Satan for the Church’s woes. But the Catholic Church’s explanations for its own sins, reveal an organisation in deep denial of its inherent contradictions and its endemic corruption.
2) Former NZ Prime Minister Jenny Shipley found liable for 6 million dollars.
The facts:
The NZ High Court has ruled that Dame Jenny Shipley and five other former company directors are liable for the collapse of property and construction company Mainzeal. Jenny Shipley was New Zealand’s first woman Prime Minister. She was head of a National-led Government from 1997 to 1999.
As with many other former senior politicians, Shipley is on several boards from which she receives lucrative compensation. She is chairperson of the China Construction Bank NZ, a subsidiary of the China-controlled bank. Shipley is also an executive board member of the state-funded New Zealand China Council. Her closeness to the Chinese state has been questioned, including by deputy PM Winston Peters.
Analysis:
The fall from grace of Dame Jenny Shipley is both a personal blow to the former PM, as well as a blow to New Zealand’s standing on corruption indexes. Shipley has attained several lucrative positions on both private and public boards over the years since she was PM. Shipley, like many former politicians, has been able to leverage her past pubic service, as an elected politician, to gain wealth and power in her post-parliamentary al life.
The light that has been shone on the dodgy activities of the former PM, while acting as a director in a private construction company, point to the endemic rotating door between parliament and lucrative positions in the business world. The term “revolving door” refers to the ease with which politicians and high public bureaucrats can easily shift between public and private roles.
3) Sunglasses brand name banned in Aotearoa.
The facts:
A Christchurch sunglasses brand has had its trading name banned by the Companies Office. The sunglasses brand’s name is "Happy To Sit On Your Face". The New Zealand Companies Office has told the sunglasses company that the name “Happy To Sit On Your Face" is "offensive". The New Zealand Companies Office is the government agency responsible for administering New Zealand's business registers. The Office has offered no further explanation for its ban.
Analysis:
This action by a government agency to ban a company trading name is highly questionable. For some the name “Happy To Sit On Your Face" may be offensive, and for others just a bit of a laugh.
Should the state be acting as a moral-police as it has in this case? And more fundamentally, do people actually have an inherent right to not be offended?
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This political roundup by John Moore is an extension on the five-minute breakfast political roundup that John gives on Radio One Dunedin, Monday to Thursday at 9am.
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