Listening to the radio in the office at 5:30 yesterday... "blah blah blah Winston Peters will be Minister of Foreign Affairs"...yeah yeah, we knew that... "and Race"... What? What?? Minister of Race Relations?? "..ing." Ah, Minister of Racing - small mercies.
So - let the political blog onslaught begin. Personally, I'm not particularly concerned about Peters heading abroad and freaking out the coloured folk. He loves them in their own countries.
Seriously though, let's go on past experience. The only time Peters ever fronted up to the Chinese communities, he's told them that he IS Chinese. As far as I know, he's never fronted up to the Muslim community (and certainly not to the defamed Iraqis who turned up to Parliament seeking an apology), but if he's sent to the Emirates, I wouldn't be surprised to see him swapping Allah uh-Akbars for a few good rounds of the cocktail circuit. And let's not forget his desire to work in a Chinese restaurant when he's done with this term.
Peters only seems to know how to insult and slander people when they aren't right in front of him, buying him drinks. A stroke of genius then perhaps, to launch him directly into their midst. I'm perversely looking forward to it.
Here's a question: Has Labour's maneouvring put Winston and I on the same page at last? With trade and immigration struck from Peters' Ministerial menu, will his usual smogasbord of oppositional rhetoric to dealing with China be boiled away to - gasp! - a human rights approach?
Yes, let's see then, if he really does love us in our own countries.