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Andrew Dickens: Restore competition - David Seymour should pull out of DWTS

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Jun 2018, 12:37PM
David Seymour, leader of the ACT party. (Photo / File)
David Seymour, leader of the ACT party. (Photo / File)

Andrew Dickens: Restore competition - David Seymour should pull out of DWTS

Author
Andrew Dickens,
Publish Date
Wed, 13 Jun 2018, 12:37PM

So the greatest theatre production in the world of politics has taken place and every player hit their mark.

It was always going to be a carefully choreographed event and the two men took to it like a duck to water. Trump showing the experience he’s gained in the world of television and Kim in the world of giant co-ordinated military parades at Pyongyang.

Now a cynic could say we’re now back to the same situation we had before North Korea had nukes but the optimist will say that’s a lot better than the situation we were in last month. I liked what our Foreign Minister had to say. He said the meeting has brought North Korea to an important crossroad, and following the right path now will bring it a prosperous, secure future.

We can only hope they choose the right path, aware that they have re-neged on 2 denuclearisation pacts they’ve signed before.  But maybe this time will be different.

And that Foreign Minister is Winston Peters who actually does quite a good job in the portfolio.

Now it pains me to talk about David Seymour in Dancing with the Stars but his continued presence in the show despite less ability than all the others drew me into a twitter battle last night with some of his supporters.

It was after a tweet that criticised the liberal left for their mean spiritedness and they and the judges were purely against David’s dancing on political grounds.  The tweeter called that ironic in a time of tolerance.

I couldn’t resist pointing out the irony that in this time of political correctness gone mad a politician who believes in performance pay and meritocracies was being kept in the show just for participating. Give that man a certificate even though he’s failing

That got the right going.  It’s the entertainment value they said.  It’s a competition I said and he’s quantitatively losing but is still there.

He’s raising money for charity they said. Yes I said and so were the better dancers voted off the show. Were their charities less worthy?

I mention this story only because in this time of political tribalism and polarity, it seems people aren’t nearly so married to their beliefs as they like to make out.

And that’s a good thing because the world is not black or white or left or right. And if we stopped being so entrenched and aggressive we might actually have a better discussion and outcome.

That said David is objectively bad and should pull out before he devalues the entire concept of competition.

And to those who say he should pull out and concentrate on his day job I suggest you go and watch him yesterday at Question Time artfully skewer Winston Peters. David may be a bad dancer but he’s a good politician.

 

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