Aitken was on the stand, so to speak, yesterday, remembering none of this is criminal.
In fact, I would describe it as outrageously political.
Judge Aitken shouldn’t be here. No one should. It’s a storm in a judicial teacup.
Should she have had a pop at Winston at the Northern Club? Of course not.
The incident, much disputed in terms of angst, animosity, and volume, shows the judge in a poor light.
It was none of her business and you don't go around running commentary on other people's evenings.
Then again you don’t go dobbing interlopers in to the Attorney General, which is what has happened, and next thing you know you have a legal circus where a person's career is potentially about to be blown up.
Also disturbing for me as the casual observer, is the Chief District Court Judge's role in the apology by Judge Aitken. He involved two media advisors and amended Aitken's wording so it wouldn’t offend New Zealand First.
At all times the Chief Judge seemed to be obsessed with not offending political parties. His overt weakness worries me, not to mention Judge Aitken's inability to have her voice heard. She's not 13-years-old, she's a judge.
My sense of where we are at is we will never get to know the full story because the versions vary. Therefore, the panel doing the deciding won't come to a definitive conclusion, therefore whatever they put before Paul Goldsmith will go nowhere.
So maybe what we are seeing currently is the actual punishment. In other words, a judge, her reputation, her drinking habits, her words all being dissected, is the punishment. It is the humiliation.
Overall the insight in the legal fraternity, not forgetting the good judge's celebratory doctor partner and the KC on video, does not come off reputationally well.
If you wanted to think of them broadly as a bunch of champagne-swilling, self-serving snobs, they haven't done a lot to dissuade us.
But then New Zealand First look like a petty, point score-y, loser group of narks, who don’t mind wrecking peoples lives.
The hearing continues.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
Should she have had a pop at Winston at the Northern Club? Of course not.
The incident, much disputed in terms of angst, animosity, and volume, shows the judge in a poor light.
It was none of her business and you don't go around running commentary on other people's evenings.
Then again you don’t go dobbing interlopers in to the Attorney General, which is what has happened, and next thing you know you have a legal circus where a person's career is potentially about to be blown up.
Also disturbing for me as the casual observer, is the Chief District Court Judge's role in the apology by Judge Aitken. He involved two media advisors and amended Aitken's wording so it wouldn’t offend New Zealand First.
At all times the Chief Judge seemed to be obsessed with not offending political parties. His overt weakness worries me, not to mention Judge Aitken's inability to have her voice heard. She's not 13-years-old, she's a judge.
My sense of where we are at is we will never get to know the full story because the versions vary. Therefore, the panel doing the deciding won't come to a definitive conclusion, therefore whatever they put before Paul Goldsmith will go nowhere.
So maybe what we are seeing currently is the actual punishment. In other words, a judge, her reputation, her drinking habits, her words all being dissected, is the punishment. It is the humiliation.
Overall the insight in the legal fraternity, not forgetting the good judge's celebratory doctor partner and the KC on video, does not come off reputationally well.
If you wanted to think of them broadly as a bunch of champagne-swilling, self-serving snobs, they haven't done a lot to dissuade us.
But then New Zealand First look like a petty, point score-y, loser group of narks, who don’t mind wrecking peoples lives.
The hearing continues.
Mike Hosking is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently hosts The Mike Hosking Breakfast show on NewstalkZB on weekday mornings - where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
One thing to remember is that Judge Aitken is a retired judge, having past the mandatory retirement age of 70. She is officially an "acting judge", that is someone they use temporarily because they don't have enough new judges coming through. So what will they do? At the most, sack someone who has already retired?
The concerns this does raise is the judiciary's attitude to tikanga, and their hostility to any attempted to keep NZ law predictable. It also shows just how political our judiciary is, given the judge's need to speak out - most people hearing Winstone just think, "yeah, yeah, here he goes again, just like he's been doing for the last 50 years".
Tsk tsk the NZ judiciary has been outed. Good. Inebriated, bossy , ignorant ,loud and badly behaved. No reason at all why NZ First shouldn't be treated with respect. Yes , well done Mike it IS political. So what??
The Judiciary ARE a political class and in this instance they have been shown for who they truly are.
A shocking waste of time and money. Aitken was (quite simply) injudicious and, if she had an ounce of decency, she should have apologised and retired. This drawn out fiasco does no-one any credit, least of all her, and that no matter the outcome - for the court of public opinion has long since decided.
Anonymous @ 11:30pm:
Nailed it.
Thanks be she is not still a judge, with her attitude. She certainly set a low bar
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