Larry Williams Drive

Judging by the list of the most popular reads on any particular website, it seems quite a few of us have now read the account of how rude the audience at the Ockham Book Awards were to the Prime Minister.According to Steve Braunias, when Luxon was welcomed onto the stage, the "applause basically sounded like one hand clapping" - and after his speech was done, the applause was even less than before. And he was apparently gently mocked in comments by the MC, our very own Jack Tame,  and two authors thereafter. I'm predicting that there are going to be split opinions on this, and that the opinions will probably largely be split along voting lines. But I'm going to come to the defence of that audience, because I think it is perfectly acceptable for an audience not to applaud a politician.You don’t have to. You don't have to give a round of applause to a politician if you do not agree with what they stand for. Jacinda Ardern had to live with that kind of treatment, and I'm sure many of us thought it was completely