Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Pomp and Circumstance

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  • Mark Harris,

    Actually, I think Hide currently holds the record on OIA requests, so just having him in Government will reduce the public sector workload by about 20%

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Julian Melville,

    Guilty as charged. It's amazing how low an information-crazed young geek would sink for a set of encyclopaedias in thos distant pre-Interweb days.

    Hey, me too! Although it was Selwyn Toogood when I was on it. And I got a year's subscription to a very worthy set of educational magazines for taking part :-|

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Matty Smith,

    If Kiwiblog ever closed down what on earth would Larry Williams and Leighton Smith do for material for their shows ?

    As a dutiful Media Monitor, I must sadly report that Leighton would not suffer one bit. He seems fonder of drawing material from Not PC.

    Gosh... If only the blogosphere did not have so much fringe. It's almost emo.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2007 • 13 posts Report Reply

  • Elizabeth,

    Actually, I think Hide currently holds the record on OIA requests, so just having him in Government will reduce the public sector workload by about 20%

    LMAO. Brilliant!!

    Kapiti • Since Nov 2008 • 20 posts Report Reply

  • Yamis,

    That's my memory of things. Bulk funding and greater funding for private schools were once the major points of difference between the parties in the compulsory sector. The significance of bulk-funding was, IMO, always a little overplayed. NZ school principals have far more autonomy and personal responsibility than is the case in many other countries including Australia.

    That's probably why they are all starting to run into very large debts.

    It will be nice to see if the new government stops telling schools that they have some great programs but they aren't going to give them any money to run them.

    Pita Sharples might be keen to look at throwing some dosh towards Te Kotahitanga.

    Since Nov 2006 • 903 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    How would the public service get supervised? I know they are all consumatte professionals, but the idea of a democracy is that the elected government and parliament controls policy (Officials advise, Ministers decide).

    I'm happy for their to be a minister supervising the bureaucracy. I'm just not sure that we need two Ministers to supervise the non-existent world cup bureaucracy, one surely is enough.

    The purpose of having associate ministers seems to mostly be to throw bones at particular people, and to involve many people in making one pie. Neither of which seem necessary. If the Minister of whatsit needs advising by other MPs, he can take all the advice he wants, they don't all need to have signed warrants to prove how important they are.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    That's probably why they are all starting to run into very large debts.

    It will be nice to see if the new government stops telling schools that they have some great programs but they aren't going to give them any money to run them.

    Pita Sharples might be keen to look at throwing some dosh towards Te Kotahitanga.

    Yamis, I'm not sure I understand the first part of this? I'm guessing from the latter part however, that you've been frustrated by a lack of funding? One of the arguments for bulk funding was that it gave schools more flexibility. I've not looked into it enough but I understood bulk-funded schools nevertheless had to use funding for salaries for actual salaries and not operational expenditure. Perhaps someone can clarify?

    __If Kiwiblog ever closed down what on earth would Larry Williams and Leighton Smith do for material for their shows ?__

    As a dutiful Media Monitor, I must sadly report that Leighton would not suffer one bit. He seems fonder of drawing material from Not PC.

    Gosh... If only the blogosphere did not have so much fringe. It's almost emo.

    Matty/Glenn, and I'm still amazed there's an audience for this kind of crap. Kiwiblog is at least a slightly less nutty place, that is if you never read the comments.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Peter Ashby,

    @Andrew
    I have just finished William Ruddiman's book Plows, Plagues and Petroleum. He is a paleoclimate researcher: what was the climate like in the past.

    He has amassed a large amount of data, peer reviewed and published, showing that us humans have been modifying the climate since the first hunter gatherers gave up being nomads and started to cut the forests for agriculture. The evidence is from the ice core data etc. That is the Plows part.

    The Plagues part is that the data show dips in CO2/methane in the early middle ages etc and these correlate with things like the Black Death in Europe where contemporaneous accounts say the forests grew back over abandoned farms.

    The Petroleum part is pretty obvious. In addition he presents good evidence that if our ancestors had not taken up agriculture on a global scale the world would now be in another ice age.

    You will like his last chapter though as he takes on both extreme climate deniers and the Green lobby for ignoring the data. The former deny the obvious evidence while the latter scaremonger.

    It is well written and easy to read. I thoroughly recommend it to you if you are truly of an open mind. Hard to be sceptic about warming since the industrial revolution when you see what we already did.

    Dundee, Scotland • Since May 2007 • 425 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I'm happy for their to be a minister supervising the bureaucracy. I'm just not sure that we need two Ministers to supervise the non-existent world cup bureaucracy, one surely is enough.

    How about none? Somehow, there are any number of large cultural and sporting events every year that stagger on without their own minister. And one might think the outgoing RWC Minister's ham-fisted role in acting more like the Minister for the Commercial Interests of the NZRFU would suggest that's one portfolio the nearest "razor gang" should go Sweeney Todd on.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Wurr,

    Danielle had an excellent point on the first page about National being able to slide policy through unnoticed while the minor parties battle in public......

    A combination of John Banks and Rodney Hide for Auckland? Afraid to say that's going to set back the city at least 50 years......one week in and extreme right wing policies are already appearing from an economic agenda that has caused misery around the world and is falling apart as we blog.

    Well done to Gordon Campbell for showing up the irrelevance of most mainstream media too with proper journalism.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 97 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And WTF is Paula Bennett constantly referred to as "The Bolter"? All that comes to mind is the contemptuous nickname given to the narrator's glamorous but wickedly derelict mother in Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. Which is a rather unfortunate connection, all things considered.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    I'm just not sure that we need two Ministers to supervise the non-existent world cup bureaucracy, one surely is enough.

    According to the press conference Key gave yesterday, it's one associate and one deputy minister. We were left in the dark as to whom the Minister for the RWC was...

    :-)

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    Even if the panels themselves are outside the OIA their recommendations and other material that's given over to the Crown is absolutely OIA-worthy. And the Ombudsmen have shown themselves quite willing to tell pollies to hand over reports that originated outside their departments.

    I think we can sometimes take for granted how bloody good NZ's Ombudsmen's Office is in holding depts to account- it really is worldclass, as shown by the fact that NZ is number 1 in the World Transperancy index.

    And I'm certain that Wakem will continue the fine work of her predecessors, particularly the late great John Belgrave. She's a really impressive individual, and her career leading up to the role was pretty damn illustrious, too.

    What's so surprising is how compliant depts are as well, considering the fact that the Office technically has no punitive powers. It shows the level of good faith there is in the office.

    Meanwhile, I'm also a bit wary about this "panel" on climate change that ACT wants to set up. I've just read their "agreement" that RB linked. God, it's overwrought and vaguely sinister. And the wording of it is really weird- as if they expect all their promises to go through without any consultation or acknowledgement of the fact that, erm, 3 percent isn't a mandate.

    Another question- considering their infamous typo-strewn billboards, and their overwritten mission statements, have they already applied their "razor-gang" to their copyediting dept? Just a thought...

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    How about none? Somehow, there are any number of large cultural and sporting events every year that stagger on without their own minister.

    Well I'd be happy with none. But one would be better than two.

    Also not needed, Minister for Lord of the Rings, as much as it was a very cool title, and anything to do with that silly sailing race.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    Perhaps an overly-optimistic comment from Owen McShane on Poneke.

    Seems to be arguing that with Rodney and Maurice covering Local Govt and Building while outside cabinet, they get to form their own little deregulating posse without it falling back on Key.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Josh Addison,

    No eating babies, yet? :)

    Quite the contrary.

    What, the babies were eating her? That's just weird.

    Onehunga, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 298 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    That's just weird.

    That's what self-responsibility will do to you.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    It's a funny thing in politics that because National already has the rugby vote sewn up, they don't need to pander to it. Which is probably all that having a special ministry would achieve anyway. What can a ministry with no money do anyway, other than provide a convenient scapegoat, when the scale of NZ investment in the RWC becomes apparent to the billion-odd rugby watchers around the world? And the outgoing government and financial crisis are plenty scapegoats enough.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    And WTF is Paula Bennett constantly referred to as "The Bolter"?

    It's not that misapplied is it Craig. A second term MP who vaults into senior Ministerial positions and the front bench; seems to justify the tag to me.

    I hope she does well. I had a few brief interactions with her through student politics and remember her as engaging and smart. But, it's a tough ask to go from the Opposition to the Ministry let alone high-profile spots on the front bench. I don't know who'll line up against her, but she'll surely be the focus for Opposition attention.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I had a few brief interactions with her through student politics and remember her as engaging and smart.

    I thought she looked familiar. Massey-Albany president in the mid-90s. I remember her being a nice person, but either her position on tertiary education has changed, or she's going to avoid that sector.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Yeah Kyle, I didn't immediately click either but she was Massey-Albany president in 1996 so around when you and I were.

    but either her position on tertiary education has changed, or she's going to avoid that sector.

    Could be her views have changed somewhat... mine have, not radically, but the priorities have certainly reordered.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Could be her views have changed somewhat... mine have, not radically, but the priorities have certainly reordered.

    Up against the wall!

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Tell me as a father you don't see things a little differently than when you occupied Registry! I still think free tertiary education, with allowances, ought to be the goal, but it's slipped down my list of priorities now headed by more and better early childhood education and better special ed.

    Still, I was recently told that the cost of universal allowances was less than the tax break National's offering the top salary and wage earners - perhaps they can be bonded to supporting their kids hey?

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I don't know who'll line up against her, but she'll surely be the focus for Opposition attention.

    Well, unless Phil Goff's shadow cabinet is a dramatic improvement on their leader's odd performance this morning -- complaining that Lockwood Smith is "too partisan" to be Speaker while the incumbent, a former President of the Labour Party, was nothing of the kind, I guess -- she wouldn't have too much to worry about.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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