Ruling out Peters is right up there with General Anthony McAuliffe who was in command at Bastogne, surrounded by german troops during the Battle of the Bulge.
Brigadier McAuliffe was the ranking officer when The Germans sent an offer of truce unde a white Flag, requesting the Allied soldiers surrender, Legend records McAuliffe read the missive, crushed it into a ball and tossed it towards a waste bin with a one word response “NUTS”. His fellow officers at the command post deliberated as to what would be the official response and eventually decided The Generals first response was best and sent “NUTS” back via the German white flag troops. The Germans then had quite a time trying to understand exactly what the one word response actually meant.
The siege of Bastogne eventually failed and that holding operation was a part of the turning back of the Ardenne offensive.
On October 15th if Peters ends with a role in post election negotiations, I do not think Luxon and Co will allow the artful dodgers play to become anything more than an offer to sit on the cross benches and give confidence and supply.
If he can not accept that then a fresh election should eventuate and that should be the end of the one man band, Winston First. Presupposing CHipkins holds to his declaration but I guess what would only be one more lie among so many, and would require a pretty direct play by the Governor General who would have to consider the votes cast were on the basis only National have not made a pre election declaration of intent. Would Ciro have the constitutional gonads to make that call.
Then MMP is NUTS imho, just sayin
No Minister 
For those of us who don’t follow NZ politics all that closely…. does this mean that Luxon has finally said what Key did in 2008? Ruling out the bastard Peter’s as someone you just can’t go into coalition government with?
Because if true then I’ll certainly give Luxon a big thumbs up for finally showing some political spine and fight rather than just oily corporate speak.
“The siege of Bastogne eventually failed……”
If my memory serves me, it didn’t just fail but was ended by General Patton charging through a hundred miles of snow and ice.
No Adolf, I think you are hung up on the Yank version where Patton won world war 2 for the Yanks, and saved Bastogne.
I think you may find Monty and the English had quite a bit to saving those American nuts at Bastogne.
Just like Monty’s battle plan allowed the Yanks to break out of the D -Day bridgeheads and race away across the plains.
And if the clouds and fog hadn’t cleared in time McAuliffe may have been eating his own nuts. It cleared, and the fighter bombers and supply drops got going, along with the English pushing hard from the other side.
Hurtingen Forest is a great example of an American cock up. Some woul;d argue Bastogne was also because they were resting exhausted and untried trrops in an area that they didnt expect Hitler to use twice, see 1940 invasion of France.
Patton was called to a meeting with Ike, Monty and others.
He was asked if he could move N, in other words do a 90 degree left turn and how long before he could move.
He said immediately. He had his staff working on this as soon as the Germans attacked.
I quote
“As the situation was critical, British troops from 21st Army Group were asked to come and support their American Allies. Tankers from the 7th Armoured Division, the Desert Rats, who were out on rest suddenly found themselves travelling to the snowbound Ardennes where they took on German tanks.
Paratroopers from 6th Airborne, who had fought on D-Day, were sent in as infantry, and men from the 53rd (Welsh) Division were among many British units that fought here – something that many are unaware ever happened, as The Bulge is often seen as an ‘American battle’. Fighting alongside their American comrades, these Allies stopped the Nazi War Machine and the Battle of the Bulge proved a costly failure for Germany.
A visit to this area today is an incredible experience, as it is the largest open-air WW2 museum in Western Europe. The woods reveal 75 year old foxholes, there are original WW2 tanks and guns to be found in many villages, and the cemeteries bear witness to the terrible cost of war in 1944. At Hotton War Cemetery nearly 700 British and Commonwealth soldiers lie in rest, a quiet testimony to the Forgotten Battle of the Bulge.”
Not that I want to sidetrack this discussion too much but I’d like to note that the screenplay was developed by none other than Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, both “Liberals” who hated the Vietnam War (fair enough) but translated that into a movie that they thought would show not just the horror of war but the horror and evil of American war and the American military, all through the personage of George Patton that they thought would be perfect for showing everything they hated about the America of their time; the swagger, the callousness, the love of war and death, etc, etc.
It must kill those assholes that they ended up creating one of the greatest movies of all time and one beloved by “Far Right extremist patriots”.
The opening scene
The closing scene
Let me make it very clear … I have no time for Winston First … guilty of much. While there are some good people in NZF I, for one, will never forgive him for installing what is arguably the most incompetent government in the countries history – done in a fit of pique against Bill English … a government big on announcements but short on delivery; a government whose signature reflects incompetence at every turn; a government who, single handily, has screwed the economy and bequeathed to the nation a mountain of debt. And today the sobering news that the IMF has projected that our GDP growth in 2004 will be the worst of any country in the world bar one … Equatorial Guinea … ripped apart by civil war.
Over the weekend Hipkins made a big thing of ruling out any coalition arrangement with Winston Peters. No matter that the man himself had previously ruled out working with Labour.
My view, for what it is worth, is that Luxon has made the right call in refusing to be drawn on the subject. Winston First is not in Parliament and post the election National/Luxon will have to deal with the cards the electorate determines.
Should Winston First hold the balance of power any deal by Luxon will have to signed-off by Seymour who has made ACT’s position clear. That could present a problem for National.
Equally, I take the statement by Labour and the statement by WRP re Labour with a with a grain of salt. Winston will do what’s in his own interests to do remembering that this surely is his last hurrah … he’s mortal (although some would say he’ll keep going until a wooden stake is driven thru his heart).
Consider this … Winston is on record in saying he would never sit with the Greens around the cabinet table … so what did he do in 2017? … negotiated a deal with Labour which saw the Greens appointed to Ministerial positions outside of cabinet. Smoke and mirrors personified.
Seymour has painted himself into the same sort of corner with his stated refusal to work with NZF.
Ideally Winston First won’t make it over 5%. If he does then its all bets off … it’s a binary choice for him influenced by what ACT and the Greens/TPM come up with as their bottom lines.
Interesting times indeed.
It beggars belief that anyone would vote for Winston, it really does. Nothing, and I mean nothing he says before an election can be relied on. He’s been promising one thing then doing another for every one of the decades he’s been in NZ politics.
Some people call that lying. I could not possibly comment other than to say that anyone who votes in the expectation that Winston will do what Winston says he’ll do is a fool.
I concur with that Vet, the voters will decide and I am far from convinced that Luxon climbing onto the “Wont have Peters in any coalition” meme, will impact upon voters decision making sufficiently.
As you clearly state the pre election posturing by both Peters and CHipkins will be of no account should another situation arise where the baubles and crown cars are up for grabs.
Only here it is the co governance and rule by unelected Native elites, now mysteriously gone far too quiet that will come back with a vengeance and Peters will, just as he did with He Puapua, roll over and deny he was involved.
Charlatan somehow seems inadequate for the prick.
Peters won’t make it to 5 percent and even if he does, no recent polls show him as king-maker. I have heard that he did choose National in 2017 but they quietly turned him down. This of course is hearsay and can never be proven but given the known animosity between English and Peters, anything is possible. English made a fatal political error by not ruling out Peters in 2017, and therefore giving potential voters a clear choice. This time things are different, with Nats polling for a landslide win, with Act ignoring the old fox this time is playing it smart. Ignoring him makes him irrelevant and desperate looking. Winston craves glory but Luxon doesn’t need him, thank goodness for that