Rather than '81 Tour I should have used the Dawn Raids for Rob.

During those dark days when student activisim is celebrated by the now middle aged who lament of the state of todays students.
I…

Although very different PMs, Rob & Helen can only be compared to each other.
'81 Tour for Rob and Foreshore & Seabed for Helen as examples of the extent each will go to stay in.

OT
I loved this 'Good News' story.
Alt Education kids stop a robber.
Not once…

What's up with Mike Moore's comments in the Herald this morning? He slams 'the politics of personal attack' ie a 'return to Muldoonism' and yet ...

Well, I find the reaction entirely predictable – guess the truth hurts. Very amusing listening to Chris Trotter get very bitchy on NatRadio's __The…

What's up with Mike Moore's comments in the Herald this morning?

Audrey Young and other seem to think this is a new departure from Moore. But readers of the DomPost will know that he has been slagging off Clark and this Government for a long time. Those damn Labour Muldoonists,…

Often presented by grey people in cheap suits – politicians and worthies. Not only did they rarely have anything particularly interesting to say but they also said it in a dull way.

politicians, worthies, university lecturers...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City_soundtrack#Perception_and_positive_thinking

http://www.tonyrobbins.com/Home/Home.aspx

You expect consistency from a career politician?

What's up with Mike Moore's comments in the Herald this morning? He slams 'the politics of personal attack' ie a 'return to Muldoonism' and yet ...

... he's on Newstalk ZB/Leighton Smith this morning saying :…

Having…

Ideally ministers should know enough to be able to exercise some independent judgment on the technical issues that arise within their portfolio.

It also seems like a lot to ask, that a minister would have any level of detail about the technical issues of an entire ministry. The fact that…

Perhaps so, but I don't think politicians are those particular experts.

No, generally not. A lot of work is done by the bureaucracy, but certainly some politicians are more famous for policy wonkery than others. Ideally ministers should know enough to be able to exercise some independent judgment on the…

Prime West chairman Ross Jewell said yesterday the facility was busy until the end of the year and after that there were two "pencil…

Who is the Ad Agency for this Kiwi Saver campaign?

Well, the link I supplied links through to the full decision (in RTF format), and contains this gem:

No advertising agency was used in the creation or production of this advertisement.

Hum... so a case of our taxes stil hard…

Although experts don't have intrinsically superior values, they can offer more effective solutions to the problems that society confronts. I suppose one of the problems lies in the fact that expertise cannot be easily separated from pre-existing normative outlook.

Perhaps so, but I don't think politicians are those particular experts.…

I don't know if truth in advertising is a core value, a principle or an ideological construct.

Me neither – but when the social welfare arms of some churches – e.g. the Baptist City Missions – are doing more to support the victims of loan sharks than the current Minister…

I'd suggest that any 'values' which Labour or National claim to stand for are deliberately ambiguous.

That's at least partially because statements of benign intent become even less controversial at higher levels of abstraction. I believe that families are important and that everyone should be given a fair chance...

The…

Bolger did well with implementing the Treaty settlements but Labour 84-87 set the standard breaking down the privilege that…

It was Brash's supine acquiesence to the the McCully-inspired 'mainstream' hogwash – something he plainly couldn't have believed but was was wiilling to compromise himself by endorsing – that killed any remaining respect I might have held for him.

I can just imagine him thinking "Do family values really have…

Unfortunately, "values" are a vague proxy for statements of what people are actually trying to achieve.

I'd suggest that any 'values' which Labour or National claim to stand for are deliberately ambiguous. The traditional idea of joining a political party in order to make a difference has been superseded by…

Seems that those who can mouth that kind of fundamentalist nonsense with a straight face are the only ones left who join political parties.

Part of developing a coherent worldview is linking political intuitions to empirical outcomes. Unfortunately, "values" are a vague proxy for statements of what people are actually…

I like MMP – I like that people like Nandor and Sue Bradford can stroll the corridors of power with all the others. And the joy about being partisan? You always know who your party vote will be for. Fickle, I am not.

Yes, I think that's been the biggest impact on NZ politics in the last decade. A party can no…

. . . in general they were more trusting of politicians than they are now. They were more likely to believe parties stood for certain values.

I remember the '87 election TV coverage – the largely Pasifika crowd at Labour's Mangere HQ cheering the result in Remuera as it recorded…

So the theory goes at least.

Me too. Fun discussing it though.

CR: "... didn't the Labour Government actually increase their majority in 1987? Don't…

I guess it was if you were white, well-educated and middle-class (and being a heterosexual with a penis didn't do any harm either);

That's a surprisingly large demographic in NZ.

Not to dumb down the conversation or anything, but did anyone else read the article in last month's Metro and go "Damn, Chris Trotter was kinda hot in 1981"?

Not particularly...

I should have said, Craig, were you directly affected?

Um, you mean spending a good chunk of my time…

It used to be that National was to the 'right' of Labour. But the 70s and 80s flipped that, creating…

Heh. Chris Trotter thinks the fourth Labour government was the parliamentary equivalent of Sir Lancelot, bringing down the glorious Camelot from within.

Not to dumb down the conversation or anything, but did anyone else read the article in last month's Metro and go "Damn, Chris Trotter was kinda hot in…

some of us don't actually think the Fourth Labour Government was the parliamentary equivalent of a slasher flick.

rant follows.

New Zealand paid a high price for the the neo-liberal economic ideology that links the economic policies of Douglas, Richardson and Birch. A lot has been written about how our…

It's flattering that you think I'm that young, but I was twelve in 1984, voted for the first time in 1990, and did not spend the term of the Fourth Labour Government with a canteen of silver spoons in my gob.

Sounds like it was the newsdesk deciding there was a story there wasn't and the poor reporter having to write it. So, the paper bring its reporter…

Sure, but I think its fair to say that it is no longer Labour Party policy to effectively abolish the state and let markets somehow solve all our problems.

I think a more genuine core National value is social conservatism.

Arguable. I doubt Don Brash…

I wasn't intending to pass judgement (in this instance), just thought it was ironic that DM's example of a core National principle was actually introduced in practice by a Labour…

No, I think it's a great story once you untangle the double (triple?) negative – because if "John Key's wiki isn't being vandalised hardly at all" – doesn't that mean it's being vandalised quite a lot?

It's not a double negative. Not hardly at all doesn't necessarily mean lots. It…

thugs like Collins

A total thug. Collins is clearly being groomed as a potential National Party govt's "boot-boy", in the same way that Mallard is Clark's, Birch was Bolger's, Prebble was Lange's and Muldoon was, er, Muldoon's.

You mean like 1980s Labour?

Jason: I know I'm on a hiding to nothing, but didn't the Labour Government actually increase their majority in 1987? Don't think that was all down to boobs who were thoroughly bamboozled by the Rogernomes; and while the likes of Chris Trotter would argue the…

No, I think it's a great story once you untangle the double (triple?) negative – because if "John Key's wiki isn't being vandalised hardly at all" – doesn't that mean it's being vandalised quite a lot?

You know I was ironically referencing popular culture by loading in the ambiguous extra…

Now I just wish I knew who I could vote for next year...

Doesn't matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in...

Now I just wish I knew who I could vote for next year...

Yeah, come to think of it "John Key's wiki isn't being vandalised hardly at all" is much more of a story than "John Key's wiki has been vandalised."

No, I think it's a great story once you untangle the double (triple?) negative – because if "John Key's wiki isn't being…

You mean like 1980s Labour?

What is it with right wingers and attempted online bullying? A sniffy potty mouth seem to the the true marker of an online Tory.

Tom, if you've posted comments of various other blogs under the handle 'TomS' then I'd respectfully suggest you're in about as strong a position to get…

Last time I looked a frighteningly large number of Americans still think…

Yeah but its a bit like the WMD thing. You can bang on about something all you like but once the curtain is pulled and the stage is revealed to be bare then its you who look stupid.

So long as the curtain is pulled after the election, or after…

And I'd also like the Nats to tell us what they want to do when they get into power, but since they're slaughtering the government in the polls but dip a little in popularity every time they open their mouths I'm not holding my breath.

Me neither. The more that…

I don't think its controversial to say that Nationals core principle (that differentiates them from Labour) is that they prefer market based solutions instead of state or government based solutions.

DM: " ... I'm not convinced National needs to abandon most of its core-principles before they become electorally acceptable."

This is the problem. Exactly what are the core principles that might differentiate National and won't be abandoned? I went here to look them up but the key…

And I'd also like the Nats to tell us what they want to do when they get into power, but since they're slaughtering the government in the polls but dip a little in popularity every time they open their mouths I'm not holding my breath.

It is not unusual for…

Russell, if your email is out, can you contact the good folks at Catalyst? We are trying to get in touch.

TIA.

I doubt they do (note how 'Wishart-like' their current rumours of something 'nuclear' are?). I think they're just trying to get the words 'John Key' and 'Serious Fraud…

daft story

Man, I laughed so hard when I saw that Herald article. A few days earlier, I'd found those changes (MoJ: 3x Pirates of the Carribean edits, 2x Echo and the Bunnymen edits) myself, by simply Wikipedia-scanning "Zealand" and checking out some of the likely prospects. Funnily enough, I…

What is it with right wingers and attempted online bullying? A sniffy potty mouth seem to the the true marker of an online Tory.

HAVE any of…

That was no good enough according to wikipedia the copy right holder has to give persmission for everyone to use it not just wikipedia!

Thankfully there are some nice people over at the PM's office who did just that, hence unlike John Howard. We get to have an offcial photo…

Personally it's important to me because they might be the next government. If the answers are good then perhaps they should be.

Unfortunately, National simply doesn't want to tell us. Which is highly suspicious in itself, and an affront…

Awhile back the residents of Wikipedia had kittens over photo copywrite issues.

In US law offical photos of thier politicans are considred public domain and can be used. Everywhere else in the world unless the photo was taken in a public…

When the Nats start shipping people off in boxcars you'll have my full attention, but until then please just shut the…

hang on I got to sit down,…

I noticed that Herald article about the Clark entry on Wikipedia and I wondered how that was news. It would be news if the political figures didn't have Wikipedia entries locked off.

Yeah, come to think of it "John Key's wiki isn't being vandalised hardly at all" is much more…

If Obama wins the nomination I'm not sure I like his chances of surviving the presidential campaign.

He's not going to get the nomination, the question is whether he'll be HRC's running mate.

Which brings us back to the point that National is full of potential cabinet ministers who (for want of a better term) haven't yet been "de-Nazified" after the…

Sorting out SPF oughta do it though.

Thats why it is more important, to me, to start trying to get some answers out of National in general, and Key in particular in regards to policy.

Personally it's important to me because they might be the next government. If the answers are good then perhaps they should be.

Yeah, but was it an affair or 'just' some 'inappropriate emails'?

I don't claim to know. Must have been damned inappropriate to put his marriage in jeopardy, I'd think.

Thats the…

I believe Collins is quietly but deeply unimpressed with the current direction of the National Party.

Labour's catcalling in the house lately has been dreadful.

I think they're trying to…

How was Brash supposed to campaign without his wife present?

Funny this is, it didn't seem to do Winston Churchill much harm. There's a fascinating biography of Clementine Churchill by her daughter Mary Soames, and one of the more interesting revelations is that she was a rather shy woman who…

Co-pendants unite!

That's an excellent neologism.

A pendantic neologism at that.

Co-pendants unite!

That's an excellent neologism.

Was he supposed to 'fess up that there was 'a few bumps in the road' re his marriage?

That's a new euphemism for an extra-marital affair that his wife didn't know about.

Sure it would have been political insanity to 'fess up'. It was also political insanity to have the…

Personally, I find that a damn sight more offensive that a weak story that looks like it was shoved into a hole on a slow news day.

I don't, at all. Politics is a rough business, which is not to say I approve of such conduct, including, of course, the…

I am trying to illustrate that Judith Collin's is merely one of un-reconstructed band of merry Nats like Maurice Williamson (the minister for Telecom), Murray McCully,Tony Ryall and Lockward Smith who fancy themselves as cabinet ministers after the next…

Blardy good point about Mallard, Craig!

Er, not so much. Mallard's marriage broke up several months ago, .... but I'm not aware that he was conducting a clandestine affair whilst preaching the virtues of matrimony and toting his wife around for media opportunities.

Hey c'mon! I'm prepared to give…

I'm not aware that he was conducting a clandestine affair whilst preaching the virtues of matrimony and toting his wife around for media opportunities.

I'm not "aware" Don Brash was either – rumours are one thing, but the bitch never sucked my dick. Neither has Trevor Mallard, come to that…

The new Yahoo mail servers seem to use lack of or broken SPF as one of their main flags for potential…

Blardy good point about Mallard, Craig!

Er, not so much. Mallard's marriage broke up several months ago, apparently under the strain that tests so many MPs' marriages. Not to suggest I approve of Mallard's conduct in 2005 — or at various times since — but I'm not aware that he…

John Key has also announced that he wants to 'improve' Kiwisaver. I'm betting these improvements will involve either freezing or scrapping the employer contributions.

That would fit with their general "bait and switch" tactics.

Having said that, and getting the titilating tranny angle out of the way, I think there's quite leigitmate questions about how the MSD is spending public money on staff recruitment, training and professional development.

And they are what, exactly? Public and private organisations bring in people for staff development and…

Is there a Godwin's Law equivalent for the Yellow Peril?

Russell:

I'd be very surprised if Edward is going to be doing a motivational drag show down the Mangere WINZ office any time soon – any more than 'she' spent nine years in full drag while working for the…

Co-pendants unite!

Ahem, pedant?

"Pendant" is a running joke spawned by one of my own trivial typing errors.

John Key has also announced that he wants to 'improve' Kiwisaver. I'm betting these improvements will involve either freezing or scrapping the employer contributions.

__[Obama] has to win his own party's primary before…

I've met Buckwheat a couple of times, and she (I think one should call drag queens "she" when they're in uniform) was graceful and kind

Snap! (ie Ditto!)

I've actually hired Buckwheat for a corporate function and was immensely impressed with the effort and professionalism she* put into the event.…

Sorry, I'm one too, and would love my own chalk and ladder for café menus.

Interestly enough, he also said that National will not remove Kiwisaver but may tweak it a bit.

Proud to be a Pendant

If Labour is the Germany of the 1980's new right Axis, National would be the Japan. One de-nazified and the other still likes to try and re-write the history books rather than say…