Railways – shit, even some Labour MPs privately said they would have had to sell it if they'd still been in power

NZ is a country better suited to a comprehensive rail network than road. Switzerland, Austria anyone..
The rail network had been neglected for years and had a weird…

You are so witty, so intelligent, so interesting, and I respect your opinions on so many things. Why can't you be a lefty?

If there is one thing I have learned from being blood-related to diehard Republicans and National/New Zealand First voters, it is that no good can come from…

I voted for Helen Clark in Mt Albert in 1987....mostly because she was the only candidate on the ballot who wasn't a dimwit or a loonie. Oh, and I admired what Labour had done in their first term, but that was kind of secondary. I had this idea, back…

Firslty, most of the privatisations mentioned – all of them, in fact – were done in a crisis. And yeah, most of them were botched.

Telecom – the process was completed from go to woah in about six months. That's from policy formation through to sale. Incredibly rushed…

I'd need to see detailed argument on a case by…

I meant it was a learning time in that we had never sold a telco off before. It's naive to think all assumptions would pan out exactly as envisaged. Paperless office anyone?

We are all brilliant at property investment, avoiding sharemarket crashes and regulation with the benefit of hindsight.

Don't forget to keep taking the pills Craig.

Heh... I've been keeping up my meds and sobriety just fine, thanks for asking. Just as an FYI. I'm not redbaiter and know from experience that paranoia is a pretty horrible mental ditch to get stuck in, not a particularly good mode…

I knew that we could rely on you for some righteous indignation where necessary. Actually, after the indented bit in grey, your comment is almost untelligible.

Everyone says Telecom was a disaster. It's easy in hindsight to see the errors but it was a time of learning and the Govt still got $4bn for it in 1990.

Can't quite face going through all this again, but from a very long post on related matters:

For nearly…

It's not difficult to see a hidden agenda if you are on the left (guilty m'lud) if you look hard enough.

Oh, do I really have to take the cheap shot? Looking around the blogisphere – foreign and domestic – there's plenty of people (not all on…

Hmmm, risky strategy – handing out ammunition to your opponents – but you could be right...

At the moment actual policy seems to be right out. JK doesn't want to say something that might offend anybody. I think that the Nats are relying on voter amnesia and Labour-fatigue as their…

raise some possible policy, see how it plays out in the polls, adopt or reject accordingly.

Hmmm, risky strategy – handing out ammunition to your opponents – but you could be right...

you would expect a politician to tiptoe rather gently around it or have a specific goal to communicate.

Seems to me to be another example of National trying to be all things to all people – raise some possible policy, see how it plays out in the polls, adopt or…

Certainly has covered it well and hasn't backed down from it, but given the can o worms (as mentioned) regarding privitisation you would expect a politician to tiptoe rather gently around it or have a specific…

NZ Rail did work, although with great inefficencies, but that was the aim. Full employment and so on. Those with reduced capacity could push a broom, have a sense of…

English had reason for discomfort: privatisations don't have a good rep in our recent history. Telecom. New Zealand Rail. Fay, Richwhite.

Whoa, hang on a minute there.

Telecom? Where you would phone up, like my parents did, and say "Can I have a phone put in our new house please,…

Kiwibank borrows as an independent corporate, and have a credit rating based on that, I am fairly sure the Electricity companies are the same.

I am unsure whether the ratings agency give them an easier ride because of…

SOEs are in a strong position to raise debt if they need to.

Does anyone know how that works? Do they have "full faith and credit" behind them, allowing them to borrow at sovereign lender rates? Can Kiwibank fund it's home loans on that basis – or have they got…

Haven't we heard a bit lately about political mouthing-off with regard to Air New Zealand (not an SOE, but Labour will want to save English's statement yesterday that "Air New Zealand is a good example of this mixed ownership")?

Well, Russell, I thought the whole problem with Air New Zealand…