Kerre Woodham: Line up and fight only way to win

The only lobby group in New Zealand more vocal than the Coronation Street fans are line dancers.

Hell hath no fury like line-dancers scorned. They insist on being taken seriously.

Despite the faux-leather jackets, festooned with tassels and rhinestones, despite the boot-scootin' and pseudo-Southern accents, these boys and girls love their line dancing and they demand respect.

Give it to them or they'll shoot you with one of their replica Colts strapped to the side of their overstuffed hip-huggers.

I found out just how passionately line dancers feel about their pastime when I made disparaging remarks about line-dancing on television.

Within 48 hours, the programme's producers were inundated with letters and petitions from litigious line dancers, demanding my instant dismissal from the TV show.

There was even a death threat, we think. It was a barely literate scrawl, but the passion and the fury came through loud and clear. I don't scare easily but there's something ignominious about ending your days at the hands of an illiterate wanna-be cowgirl from Twizel. Hardly going out in a blaze of glory, is it?

So now I take the chacun a son gout (each to their own) approach to line-dancing and ignore them whenever I come across them.

Coronation Street fans have the same power. Remember when Television New Zealand dared to fool around with the schedule?

In 1995, a decision to reduce Coronation Street's screening time led to protest action that saw the plan pulled.

Just two years later, TVNZ showed it had learned nothing from past mistakes when it decided to cut one of the Street's weekly shows.

A nationwide petition was launched, backed by Mitre 10 stores, and yet again TVNZ had to back down. So when those cheeky little Aussies over at Prime decided to mount a bid for Coro Street, TVNZ had to fight to keep the ratings winner in the stable.

And they've won, thanks to forking out $8 million.

No doubt there's a collective sigh of relief going around Head Office and indeed around the country.

The concept of explaining to the nation's nanas how they would have to tune into Prime would defeat even the most patient of Jobs.

Just goes to show you what the power of collective action can achieve. There's a lesson there for us all.