Winston Peters came out today advising everyone to give Mallard a break.

“Could we just have a little less of all the hectoring, lecturing, prissy, dogooder, PC, pointing-the-finger at Trevor Mallard because he made one mistake. Imagine where the … English speaking people would be in the cause of democracy and freedom … if [Winston] Churchill got done for one mistake. Thanks heavens people had a larger view of life then…”

I went to a function at a government department last night. The comment was made that if any of the people in that department had decked another employee they’d be gone before lunchtime – it’s a sackable offence – no questions asked. If it’s written into employment contracts for public servants then surely MP’s operate under the same ‘rules’.

On the other hand:

• Henare goaded Mallard. He shouldn’t have.
• Mallard invited Henare outside. He shouldn’t have.
• Henare accepts the invitation. He shouldn’t have.
• Mallard whacks Henare. He shouldn’t have.

It’s a sorry state of affairs – pardon the pun. Trevor’s dad died a few weeks ago. He’d be feeling delicate. And any marriage breakup is emotionally hard regardless of who instigated it. So Trevor would be keen to defend his honour and that of his family.

It was a stupid thing to do, and he should be punished in some way. We’ll see what the reprimand entails later this week when Clark announces her new cabinet lineup.