i've just watched a replay of the parliamentary session recognising rt hon helen clark's appointment as head of the UNDP. it was an absolutely special session, one of the rare instances when there was harmony and nice words spoken across the board.
it was wonderful to see miss clark's political adversaries recognise her achievements, strengths and skills. people like rt hon john key, hon tariana turia, hon peter dunne. one of the better speakers was heather roy. it was especially appreciated (at least by me) after her having to endure one of the nastiest periods of sustained personal attack that i've ever seen. she was attacked at a personal level on her marriage, her personal traits, her sex, her sexuality, her childlessness, her voice, her looks, and more. all things that had absolutely no relevance to her ability to do the job.
so i think it was more than appropriate that her contributions to this country were fairly acknowledged and the two standing ovations were more than well-deserved.
3 comments:
I spoke to Heather Roy a few months ago and she was pretty impressive, certainly not what I expected from an ACT MP - she's a very strong woman.
But then, I guess you'd have to be around Rodney Hide!
actually, i was thinking that i was really glad it wasn't rodney speaking for ACT on this occasion. can't say why exactly, mostly the personality and the way he has conducted himself in the house over the years. ms roy can be pretty nasty on attack as well sometimes, but as you say, at other times she does impress.
Well off topic, but this was interesting I thought; In Israel two newspapers removed the women from a photo of the new cabinet so as to not offend readers. Here's the before and after shot.
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