No she doesn't. It's quite reasonable to say that a corrections system that produces very high rates of imprisonment and high rates of recidivism is not filling its purpose.

That's a technicality – recidivism is a higher order statistic that's sensitive to so much including lengths of sentences and also…

E.g. "New Zealand has high rates of imprisonment and high rates of recidivism. I draw only one conclusion from that : the system isn’t working."
You may think that's an OK thing to say but on various levels it's crazy. (1) Clark indulges in the fallacy of thinking that you…

Williamson ranks up there with Max Bradford for successful sector reform.

Burrrrrrn!

True, though. Interestingly, the only two old-school holdouts on telecoms regulation in the National caucus were Brash and Williamson. So Brash goes and the Moz gets a promotion ...

I guess the best you can say about Williamson…

I loathed Margaret Thatcher with every fibre of my being. But however much I hated her game, she was definitely on top of it, for many years. So is Howard, so was Kohl, and so on.…

Craig Y.

Craig Y

Getting rid of the stupid PC Eradicator role

Yes!
Dumping that talentless drone, Richard Worth....Yes!!!
Promoting Katherine Rich...Well, Yes.

but...

Maintaining that other talentless bore, Judith Collins....No.
Elevating Chester Borrows, another boring godbot.....No
Maintaining National's dire hardline anti-welfare
and…

I shouldn't, but I can't help myself...

How about one of those red|blue billboards worded thusly:

Honest | Don

Heh... except what politician would you put on the honest side? Certainly couldnt be Helen Clark.

Was Don attending this breakfast meeting at Diane Foreman's in his jammies?

I resigned for family reasons... Yeah right

Pansy Wong's e-newsletter:

Sensing that the relentless efforts of the media over his stolen e-mails had impacted on National’s efforts in holding the government to account, he chose to step down as leader and will be retiring from politics in 2007.

I mean,…

The new songs that were played last night look to be every bit as good as his last effort (being the awesome Southern Lights).

Ah, and you'd have heard some of those songs if you'd been at the Auckland Great Blend back in July ...

Re starting threads, you can't.…

Oh, and debating isn't nerdy for the record. It's ultra-nerdy. And we're proud of that fact.

Oh Marcelo, talk nerdy to me.

I shouldn't, but I can't help myself...

How about one of those red|blue billboards worded thusly:

Honest | Don

Nice.

I can see the next tui billboard already:

I shouldn't, but I can't help myself...

How about one of those red|blue billboards worded thusly:

Honest | Don

Sigh does that mean that I was so utterly insignificant that it mattered not if I was there or not!!

It is funny the things one can be proud of really – I…

I resigned for family reasons... Yeah right

The irony being that he does have worthy family problems of his own causing to deal with :D

And read the poem out to the Chess Club.

I resigned for family reasons... Yeah right

Unbeleivable that he has tried to credit himself with bringing "maturity" to economic and treaty discourse in the public arena... wtf!? I remember when he admitted he hadn't read the treaty document at some point…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3884015a10,00.html

Time for a new thread.

Oh, and "his resignation had nothing to do with the recently published book, The Hollow Men, by Nicky Hager."

I won a prize at school for a poem about maths. The only way that could have been nerdier would be if I'd written a computer program to generate it.

Dude. Mad respect. I think you should post a copy to John Key.

My current business partner once wrote a…

I guess it would be a little graceless – depending on your political orientation – to enter the current and previous Mayors of Auckland as prosecution…

"He did quite well too, and was awarded a flash for his "devoted contribution to the club".

"And yet now he is contrasted with Brash for being less nerdy."

As a current (university, former school) debater, I'd just like to defend Key's decision in 1977 to make that devoted contribution.…

I would like to confirm that experience in business does not really qualify you for anything much other than...business.

. . . surely the whole 'reality TV' phenomena is evidence enough that experience in business can also qualify you for making a complete arse out of yourself on public telly…

Any soothsayers amongst us able to divine something of import from this?

I seem to have implied above that politicians are not people. That is, of course, absurd.

Sir Bob Jones
Bill & Boyd.

How embarrassing eh?

meanwhile, great letter in today's DomPost sugsesting Key owes his success to the Labour party for creating State Housing so that his family could have a…

I would like to confirm that experience in business does not really qualify you for anything much other than...business. And even then a lot of "success" is about…

But hasn't Key made his money through share trading? In which case, apart from his own dealing business, has not managed a business with the usual production/profit margins/debtors/creditors etc. His business consisted mainly of putting money in the right places, buying and selling t o maximise return etc.

He was…

But hasn't Key made his money through share trading? In which case, apart from his own dealing business, has not managed a business with the usual production/profit margins/debtors/creditors etc.

I think that's a little unfair. Successful trading requires an in-depth understanding of all of these factors and more besides. He…

does this make public figures like John Key mass debaters

Heh. Yes.

And the next year I won English and Creative English, the fruits of the latter being reproduced in the 1980 yearbook in the form of an amusingly romantic poem with the inscrutable title 'Integration by Inspection' (First Prize, Senior Poetry).

Hidden depths! I also have a school prize for poetry,…

I know…

He was a keen member of the 1977 debating team.

And yet now he is contrasted with Brash for being less nerdy.

Sadly, the only two people who ever made headlines from my school year were a murderer (killed his offsite remedial reading teacher at 15, was picked up by…

I know Anton as well, terrific guy.

Yes – and always an independent thinker. You should ask him about his rock 'n' roll years ...

I know Anton as well, terrific guy.