Prime Minister Without Paranoid Sycophants
Posted by unbrand on 17 August 2005 | 2 Comments
I was in Auckland last weekend and stumbled on the VJ parade which ran down Queen Street. Pretty cool to see all the various New Zealand military types walking down the street. Much respect was shown to war veterans. Lots of applause when the veterans walked by. There were several military marching bands, including one made up entirely of Scots playing bagpipes. Dunno if they were military considering they were in full kilt dress. But they were in the VJ parade, so who knows? Side note: I think we’re supposed to say “VJ Day” instead of “Victory over Japan” day, even though that’s what VJ stands for. The scourge that is PC-ism strikes again.
At the end of the parade was Prime Minister Helen Clark. I liked how she was just walking along with the rest of the parade, not any big deal. She had 2 security guys with her. Two. Not two hundred snipers, but two guys walking with her down the street. And I was about 4 meters away from her at the closest point. Of course, I wasn’t thinking enough to take pictures.
No PM-obile where the Prime Minister rides around in a bulletproof glass bubble. No snipers on surrounding rooftops (unless they were showing true Kiwi ingenuity and were well-hidden). Not a big deal to have the Prime Minister walking down the street in a parade.
Sweet as.