Selwyn - an interesting life (so far)

I was sitting at home with The Man in The Comfy Chair, about to watch the late TV3 news, and he comes out with a shocker - the 30 year old Grey Lynn resident who has been arrested for allegedly putting an axe through a window is in fact Tim Selwyn, aka Selwyn Abaford, a man who I have had some acquaintance with over the years.

My original encounters with Selwyn were during my first involvement in student politics - he was running against a friend of mine for the coveted post of Media Officer at AUSA. It was a close run thing, with Selwyn using the catchphrases "If you're a fuckwit I'll call you a fuckwit" and "I like icecream" but missing out in the end by about 60 votes - possibly due to his uncanny resemblance to a young Al Borland (Home Improvement character, for those of you who didn't have parents addicted to the damn show). He didn't help matters by frequently wearing flannel shirts.

Then he ran for the local body elections using the moniker Selwyn Abaford, under the premise that being at the top of the ballot would sweep him into power. Rumour has it he would have used Aardvark but thought that might be too obvious. He ran for several spots around Auckland, and found himself a member of the Glenfield Community Board because there were only enough nominations to fill the number of vacancies so no election was held. There was an issue around the legality of some of his nomination forms which DPF advises me not to discuss further while Selwyn is currently before the court.

Tim spent several months on the aforementioned Glenfield Community Board. Apparently there was a big problem with graffiti on the children's playgrounds and Selwyn suggested, with a straight face, that they electrify the playgrounds at night to eliminate this unsightly behaviour. He put forward a full proposal, including working out how much it would cost, what materials would be necessary, etc. Would have been priceless to see the faces of the other board members as they tried to work out how to rebuff this strangely compelling idea.

Next time I saw Selwyn was during the frenzy of portfolio elections at AUSA, and his mate Martyn Bradbury was running for Craccum editor. Selwyn came and leafleted for him, and tried to get students to take the pamphlets on the basis that they were "get out of jail free" cards. Quite a jolly time was had with the three of us leafleting side by side at the top of the stairs by the old fruit and nut hut (sadly now long gone).

Then there was the Craccum suicide article, a tale that Ben at Dog Biting Men should really tell the tale of as I'm sure he knows more about it than me. However I will just add that I thought the Herald's summation of the article in their recent Selwyn coverage was a bit inaccurate - my recollection was that Selwyn wasn't so much saying that suicide was a valid life choice, but that people who wanted to kill themselves were losers anyway and so no great loss to our society. During this fracas Selwyn was interviewed by Kim Hill on Nine to Noon, and won the distinguished honour of being the only person she has ever hung up on in a live interview.

Last time I saw Selwyn in the flesh was on the second Auckland Hikoi (my photos here - scroll down) which was a surprise. I thought maybe he was being ironic, as I remembered him being very right wing at Uni. Sounds like he's changed and it would be quite fascinating to find out how and why.

For more blogging on all this (largely about the nature of the charges) check out:
- DPF - Seditious Conspiracy (interesting that in Glenn's comment on this he doesn't mention that it was his mother's signature that Selwyn forged, and maybe his own IIRC)
- Neil Falloon and Media Cow - Sedation to Conspiracy
- Idiot/Savant - DPF on "seditious conspiracy"
- Kiwi Pundit - Seditious Conspiracy

Update: DPF has suggested in comments that I edit this post to avoid legal liability - I've made a few minor changes with reluctance. Also Whiggy has posted his thoughts on Mr Selwyn too:
- Whiggy - Sedition!