Who's afraid of the 'A' word?
The former leader of New Zealand First was in fighting form as he spoke at the party's 28th conference. OPINION: New Zealand is the land of the long white cloud and dinosaurs that never died out. The use of our countrys other name  Aotearoa  has long been a way to flush the prehistoric beasties out: Whenever I use it in my writing  and I make a point of using it a lot  someone somewhere tells me not to. The messages are strikingly similar, all effectively boiling down to the same argument, which is that this country already has a perfectly good name thank-you-very-much, and people like me should learn to use it. When Im being charitable I like to think people like me means journalists, but I have my suspicions. IAIN MCGREGOR/STUFF Winston Peters attacked Labour, cancel culture and te reo usage in his comeback speech. The word is like a Rorschach test for racists. While most people see nothing frightening in the term, others see Armageddon. Try it out, and youll see what I mean. Drop the word into conversation and watch your audience for that telltale flicker of the eye or twitch of the upper lip that gives them away. READ MORE:  * Winston Peters attacks Labour, 'cancel culture', and te reo usage in comeback speech  * WR Peters loans $60k to NZ First  * Winston 'Regions' Peters tells Marlborough to vote in a 'decent' Housing Minister    The number of people offended by Aotearoa may be small, but theyre vocal, and Winston Peters knows it. In his first speech since he was booted out of parliament in the 2020 election, the NZ First founder demonstrated that in an ever-changing world, some things stay the same: humans who refuse to evolve. Peters bleated to supporters about all thats wrong in this country: a long list including every political party other than his, the media, and the increased use of reo Mori in public life  particularly Aotearoa. While we can forgive him his disdain of politicians and journalists  nobody likes either group very much  the attack on reo Mori cant be ignored, which is just what he wants. When were you asked? he twinkled at the faithful. He took particular offence that a recent Climate Change Commission report used the word Aotearoa'' more than 1300 times but New Zealand just 161 times. Ive been entertaining myself imagining him pouring myopically over the pages, counting each word and muttering under his breath how the country has gone to hell in a handbasket. LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff Winston Peters reminds us how far weve come, writes Virginia Fallon. Hilariously, cancel culture also made the list of things he wanted to cancel. Its political correctness gone mad, I tell you. I actually like Winston Peters. Hes a breath of old stale air to occasionally remind us how far weve come and how easily we could revert to what we used to be. A cautionary tale, if you will. Also, most families have a Winston of their own: an older relative who stubbornly refuses to adapt so spends their latter years stumbling about in a world they no longer understand. But a bit like the family dog who goes senile and lunges incontinently at the children, we keep them about because despite their increasingly unacceptable behaviour, we know they cant help it. Theyre scared and confused, but eventually well be able to consign them to history and hope the younger generation will only remember their more admirable traits. Peters peddles intolerance and fear all wrapped up in nationalism, and we can take comfort in the fact this latest outburst comes from the political exile he was banished to in 2020 after voters proved he was completely irrelevant to a modern world. Its funny how Peters says his party has no intention of putting the name New Zealand on the endangered species list but doesnt realise its people like him and his followers who are endangered.