Eff'nhell, National...

[Wainuiguy]

I read this morning him saying it was the silliest and stupidest thing he had ever done. Says it all really, regretting it because it made him look bad, not as the ugliest and cruelest thing he ever did to someone else, still all about how it affected him. Reinforced by the fact he never bothered to acknowledge or apologise for it until it was likely to show him in a bad light. Still a self entitled bully at heart.

Hasn't learned a thing.

Has Trevor Mallard apologised for his bullying?

---

so who really believes Christopher Luxon new nothing about this?

Well if Ardern knew nothing about a sexual assault at a Labour camp while she was leader and PM why would Luxon know about this 22 years after it occured?

[king1]

do I detect a but, but, but, labour...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The response from each party leader to each case is very different.

And it strikes me the Nats are slow learners.

[Wainuiguy]

do I detect a but, but, but, labour...

What's good for the goose.......

---

The response from each party leader to each case is very different.

And it strikes me the Nats are slow learners.

Really ?  Describe the differences?

[Praktica]

There appears to be a concerted "tu quoque" attack by NACT trollbots over Uffindell's troubles - it suggests that the right sees this as a threat, so their trolls are on to it!

[Lilith7]

There are really two things about this situation;
1) It would be easier to believe that his apology was genuine if it had been years before he entered politics. The timing is unfortunate & against him.

2) His choice of words for commenting on his past actions - the 'I regret' rather than perhaps ' I'm no longer a bully, & have had help to stop bullying behaviour' or something similar might have been seen as more genuine.

[Lilith7]

And the media are listing previous Nat scandals - I'd forgotten most of them.


https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/...tTUiWIHSU8

[Oh_hunnihunni]

do I detect a but, but, but, labour...

What's good for the goose.......

---

The response from each party leader to each case is very different.

And it strikes me the Nats are slow learners.

Really ?  Describe the differences?

One involved an investigation, police action and a trial.
The other a press release by the perpetrator.

[harm_less]

And the media are listing previous Nat scandals - I'd forgotten most of them.


https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/...tTUiWIHSU8

From that Newshub article: "Luxon also said while it was a serious incident, "we're not talking about [a] criminal activity here"."

So assault with a weapon isn't regarded by Luxon as a crime? That wouldn't relate to Uffindell being a 'rich white boy' would it?

[Praktica]

Don't bother with Wainuiboy (DBPrice) - he is not posting here in good faith. He is, in fact, a troll.

[harm_less]

Don't bother with Wainuiboy (DBPrice) - he is not posting here in good faith. He is, in fact, a troll.

A troll! You don't say

[Praktica]

Don't bother with Wainuiboy (DBPrice) - he is not posting here in good faith. He is, in fact, a troll.

A troll! You don't say

At least we can call him that here.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Not a troll really. Just a stirrer...

[Lilith7]

Don't bother with Wainuiboy (DBPrice) - he is not posting here in good faith. He is, in fact, a troll.

Oh, we KNOW!

[king1]

The woman, who lived with Uffindell in Dunedin in 2003, told RNZ he was an aggressive bully who once pounded on her bedroom door while screaming obscenities until she escaped through her window.

“He was smashing on my door and yelling obscenities and basically telling me to get out - 'hit the road, fatty'.

“I ended up climbing out of my bedroom window and ran to a friend's house to stay the night. I feared for my safety. I was scared.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politic...ns-surface

[Oh_hunnihunni]

It has been interesting watching the language change in this affair. As the temperature of the audience rose the language became more placatory, adjusted to suit the mood. Which for me demonstrates the way this man has just never dealt with his own weaknesses, and probably never will. I suspect more will come out of the woodwork now he is on his own back foot, because given the opportunity the bullied can turn into bullies very quickly.

[harm_less]

It has been interesting watching the language change in this affair. As the temperature of the audience rose the language became more placatory, adjusted to suit the mood. Which for me demonstrates the way this man has just never dealt with his own weaknesses, and probably never will. I suspect more will come out of the woodwork now he is on his own back foot, because given the opportunity the bullied can turn into bullies very quickly.

We will soon see anybody who has been on the receiving end of Uffindell's rough treatment over the past decades beating a path to the media. Nothing like a bit of public scrutiny to bring out all those assumedly long forgotten misbehaviours. Sam will be getting a quick education on the realities of being in the public spotlight.

[king1]

agree - assuming that it was only stupid stuff in his teenage years then I think most folks would be forgiving, had he only fronted up about this prior to earning the trust of public office... As it stands the earned public trust has been gained under false pretences...

There won't be too many politicians let alone the general population, who don't have some bad behaviour skeletons in their closet. I feel like he shot himself in the foot on this one.

[harm_less]

agree - assuming that it was only stupid stuff in his teenage years then I think most folks would be forgiving, had he only fronted up about this prior to earning the trust of public office...  As it stands the earned public trust has been gained under false pretences...

There won't be too many politicians let alone the general population, who don't have some bad behaviour skeletons in their closet.  I feel like he shot himself in the foot on this one.

Lucky that his activities predate the presence of Facebook or we'd now be viewing images or videos of his alleged crimes.

And as FB has become all pervasive in the intervening years one of its few good qualities will be that past misbehavior such as Uffindell's will be all the more publicly visible by the electorate and political candidate vetting panels in the future.

[Lilith7]

If this is correct, he may not have been the best choice forNational. A former flat mate has said that she had to flee out her bedroom window due to his behaviour.

https://www.odt.co.nz/star-news/star-nat...tI5kbTRlj8

Uffindell's former flatmate, whom RNZ has agreed not to name, lived with the man and three other Otago University students for several months in Dunedin in 2003.

She told RNZ Uffindell engaged in a pattern of bullying during their second year at university, describing him as "verbally aggressive".

Uffindell would trash the house after "excessive" use of alcohol and drugs, she said.

"This was intimidation. This was bullying. I didn't feel safe," she said.

The woman said she eventually moved out of the flat after having to lock herself in her bedroom to avoid a drunken outburst one night.

"He was smashing on my door and yelling obscenities and basically telling me to get out - 'hit the road, fatty'.

"I ended up climbing out of my bedroom window and ran to a friend's house to stay the night. I feared for my safety. I was scared."

The woman said it was not an isolated incident: "it was just the straw that broke the camel's back." Her father travelled to Dunedin the next day to help her move out, she said.
Speaking to RNZ, the woman's father corroborated his part in the story and said his daughter had been "seriously upset".

"The flat itself was completely trashed. There wasn't a stick of furniture left. There was no crockery left. There were no handles left on anything. It had all been broken."

He said he gave Uffindell and two of the other flatmates "a serious piece of [his] mind" at the time.

"It was clear... [Uffindell] had real issues, real problems... he was out of control."
The woman said she was traumatised by the event and did her best to avoid Uffindell from then on: "my stomach would absolutely flip and drop if I saw him."

Looking back, the woman said she should have spoken to someone or taken some sort of action, but she was too scared. Uffindell never apologised for his actions, she said."