}

Friday, September 25, 2009

John Key’s rainbow tour



New Zealand Prime Minister John Key appeared on the David Letterman Show to deliver the “Top Ten” reasons people should visit New Zealand. Some of the answers, written by Americans, may have been a bit naff, but some were spot-on (my personal favourite—apart from number one—was "It’s like England without the attitude").

John Key has done an outstanding job on this trip so far—he has presented New Zealand—and himself—well. It was his job, in part, to be New Zealand, and I think he did that well—especially since most Americans have no idea where New Zealand is. And, I have to admit, the sight of the New Zealand flag at the New York Stock Exchange was thrilling on its own.

So, well done, John. You’ve done well (despite what the perpetually grumpy New Zealand Herald implied).

4 comments:

Mark from Slap said...

He seems nice, for a conservative-ish leader. Do you want to switch Prime Ministers for a while?

Unknown said...

I take back what I said to my sister-in-law about him doing this show. Well done Shonky, you didn't make NZ look too bad after all :)


I still think Helen Clarke would have done it better though ;)

amerinz's sis said...

Thanks for showing this. I had wanted to see this on TV, but since it was late at night, I fell asleep before he came on. (A long day!!)

Cinnabon? I'm there!!

70% of engergy generated through renewable hydropower...cool.

I thought is was fun. I like the "It's like England without the attitude" reason also. And y'all like us!!

Arthur Schenck said...

Mark: As conservative prime ministers go, ours isn't all that bad—certainly better than yours, so I think a switch isn't a very good idea for us. Mind you, if you really want to try out our PM, you boys could always move here until the Canadian government changes…

Louise: I'm not exactly a fan of National, but I don't mind John Key all that much—it's the rest of this caucus and allies that I worry about!

Sis: The jokes were all written by Letterman's joke writers and there are, in fact, no Cinnabons in New Zealand or Australia, either. There are some home-grown chains that make cinnamon buns, but not the American chain. Also, I've always heard that hydro power provides under 60% of New Zealand's electricity. But in any case, it's a lot of renewable, non-polluting energy!

New Zealanders that I know never stopped liking Americans as a people, but I never met a Kiwi who had anything nice to say about GW Bush, just like the rest of the world. But Kiwis aren't the types who'd go around being all belligerent about that like people in some other countries. They're far too polite most of the time.