Loosening Parliament’s ties for the better
After loosening their ties over summer, the return of Parliament this week has given MPs the chance to loosen them for good.
Speaker Trevor Mallard’s ejection of Ma¯ori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi on Tuesday for refusing to wear a tie, opting instead for hei-tiki, was inherently ridiculous.
While Mallard no doubt felt he was obliged to uphold the rules of the House, the decision to boot out a Ma¯ori MP for selecting a formal piece of Ma¯ori attire ahead of an Englishstyle necktie received little support from even the most conservative sartorialists.
The Herald’s front page headline on Tuesday, “So this is NZ politics in 2021?” summed it up as the story of New Zealand politicians getting tied up in knots over dress code was picked up around the world.
Thankfully, a resolution came swiftly when Mallard made ties optional after consulting with the Standing Orders committee. On Thursday, a handful of male MPs took advantage of the change — including Green Party co-leader James Shaw, Labour’s Phil Twyford and Act MP James McDowall.
However, the relaxation of standards does slightly miss the point of Waititi’s original objection. He was wearing formal dress, but with heitiki in place of a tie, just as Green MP Ricardo Menendez had been allowed to wear a traditional Mexican bolo tie in the House.
Parliament is clearly not a place to “chillax” in jandals and a polo shirt, so it is good that male MPs are still required to wear “appropriate business attire”. With ties cut, whatever MPs now choose to wear should befit the importance of the institution. No mufti days please.
China has banned BBC World News
from its airwaves a week after Ofcom stripped the regime’s state broadcaster of its UK licence.
Regulators said the service had committed “serious content violations”, and had undermined Beijing’s national interests with its reports and coverage of the Covid-19 crisis — a move branded “unacceptable” by Britain.
The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said BBC World News had broken rules requiring accuracy and impartiality in its reports on China, and had undermined its “ethnic solidarity”.
“As the channel fails to meet the requirements to broadcast in China as an overseas channel, BBC World News
is not allowed to continue its service within Chinese territory. The NRTA will not accept the channel’s broadcast application for the new year,” the regulator said.
A BBC spokesman said: “We are disappointed that the Chinese authorities have decided to take this course of action. The BBC is the world’s most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favour.”
Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, said: “China’s decision to ban BBC World News in mainland China is an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom. China has some of the most severe restrictions on media and internet freedoms across the globe and this latest step will only damage China’s reputation in the eyes of the world.”
Distribution of the BBC’s rolling 24-hour news channel was already effectively restricted in mainland China, with reports that it was often blacked out and was only available in international hotels.
Last week China accused the UK of “political oppression, double standards and hypocrisy” after Ofcom banned CGTN from British airwaves.
Ofcom revoked its licence after finding it was “ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party”.
CGTN said it intends to continue to operate its European hub from offices in Chiswick Park, west London.