Letters to the Editor - Ugly side to Muldoon

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 I do not want to take anything away from Rob's view on the former PM Sir Robert Muldoon as he summed up Muldoonist policies very well.

However there was a very ugly side to Muldoon's character, which was intimidating and bullying. He was a man totally convinced of his own infallibility and anyone who disagreed with his views was either a fool or a traitor in his view. He surrounded himself with sycophants who echoed his often bigoted beliefs.

His lowest trick was to launch personal attacks on those who, for various reasons, were not properly able to defend themselves in public. A typical move was to ban any journalist from his press conferences if the reporter wrote anything critical or radically different from his own view on a topic.

This somewhat Stalinist attitude did not win him many friends and meant that Muldoon was a bit like the nursery story about the King who believed his tailor that he was dressed in finery when in fact he was wearing nothing.
He imagined he was a genius but in many respects was a complete fool.
 
Roy Vaughan
Mangawhai
 
 
Few would disagree with your assessment of the tyrannical rule of one RDM. The amusing point was that John Key was even remotely likened to him. - Ed.

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