Island Life by David Slack

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Island Life: Serving suggestion only

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  • andrew llewellyn,

    Heh - someone called democracymum over at Kiwiblog has this:

    “Wave goodbye to Winston
    Not your principles…”

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    heh or maybe:

    We burned our bridges
    We're learning Maori

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Mr Key said over-taxation had a huge impact on the decision of New Zealanders leaving the country.

    Yes, the ones leaving the country for South Korea and Mexico. Key is entitled to an opinion. He isn't entitled to his own facts.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    The whole net migration thing puzzles me. Had an argument (actual argument. The poor boy gets very precious about his "opinions" (quote-unquote)) with a mate last night about the apparent figure of 80k kiwis disappearing to Aus in the last year. My sarcastic "Because kiwis never went overseas before Labour came to power, right?" was rebutted with "But 80,000? It's disgusting!" followed by bluster when I asked "And how much has the population grown?"

    Is that the quality of argument we can expect from National, too? Honestly, you'd think that kiwis leaving for destinations foreign was a recent event, and that a National government will miraculously lure them all back home again. It ain't new, it ain't changing, and if National's in power in six months time it'll just be a different group of people leaving - the ones who're terrified of what NZ will look like after the remnants of the 90's slash'n'burn National have finished what they started. My brother and his gf, and a colleague and his wife have both made fairly serious enquiries about moving to Aus, in preparation for a possible National win. Not everyone hates Labour.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    The whole net migration thing puzzles me.

    Remember the whole Brain Drain thing from a few years ago? Some kid bought a full page ad in the papers & had the names of loads of people who'd left NZ never to return... (apparently).

    I was working with a woman at the time (in a high rise on Lambton Quay), who proudly told me she was one of ther names on that list (and she was indeed), she'd left NZ because she was so disgusted with the gummint.

    I did point out that she appeared to have returned, but got no response. Never did really understand what that was all about.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Lyndon Hood,

    So they're basing an actual election ad on a implicit promise to have fewer people leaving the country?

    How many terms were they hoping for?

    Though as a photochopper I do love how National provides pdfs of their billboards. You don't even have to get the clone tool out to fix up the background for new text.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    proudly told me she was one of ther names on that list (and she was indeed), she'd left NZ because she was so disgusted with the gummint.

    I did point out that she appeared to have returned

    ROFL

    WTFATPL [wtf are these people like?]

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    proudly told me she was one of ther names on that list (and she was indeed), she'd left NZ because she was so disgusted with the gummint.

    I did point out that she appeared to have returned

    ROFL

    WTFATPL [wtf are these people like?]

    eggsackery - I do get so tired, nay fatigued, of people blithering on about how bad it is here, and how they are going to Australia. Could we not be more imaginative, people? How about moving to, oh I don't know, Russia? And what's wrong with Belgium?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    There is a disjointed quality to National's ad that says to me "we are really quite strange people." Why the big clunky 'fast forward' symbol, which says "Seventies Hi-Fi?" Why the message "choose a brighter future" written in dark letters on a dark background, with "brighter" in darker and bolder letters? Why the bombers on a Rolling Thunder mission - is this meant to appeal to Vietmanese voters? Why the evocation of a Soft Cell song?

    Take your hands off me
    I don't belong to you, you see
    Take a look at my face
    For the last time
    I never knew you
    You never knew me
    Say hello goodbye
    Say hello wave goodbye

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    There is a disjointed quality to National's ad that says to me "we are really quite strange people"

    I believe an earlier draft read:

    You only come back to a dump like this if you're a godwit or a fuckwit

    Had a nice ring, but it was discarded for sounding too much like the line the ACT people have been using: everyone in NZ with get up and go has got up and gone. I am not kidding. That's the line they used to kick off a meeting in our neighbourhood last month. Couldn't believe my ears. I naturally muttered to myself, because it is my wont, "none taken."

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Could we not be more imaginative, people? How about moving to, oh I don't know, Russia? And what's wrong with Belgium?

    Quite. If I was to move anywhere, it would be to Denmark or Sweden, where the people are lovely and childcare is free. Although I'm already a poster boy for both the left and right (considering I'm already in Australia, but here for a free education I'd have loans for back home).

    South Korea and Mexico, people, if you're looking for low taxes in developed countries. Or Dubai and Saudi Arabia, if you don't mind terrible heat and giving up all your freedoms.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Jake Pollock,

    And what's wrong with Belgium?

    Well, it's kind of breaking up with itself at the moment. The Flemish have decided they don't like the Francophone Belgians, and it's looking more and more like there won't be a Belgium to move to in the next few years.

    everyone in NZ with get up and go has got up and gone.

    Ye Gods. No wonder they have to go overseas to campaign. Not that Rodney has shown up in Pittsburgh yet.

    Raumati South • Since Nov 2006 • 489 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    He didn't bloody show up in Devonport either, even though the letter with his signature at its foot rather craftily implied he might.

    I must write a post about it.

    And kudos for getting that most hilarious of names into this thread. Can't get enough of those Walloons. (Said the man who was never mocked for his own one.)

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • slarty,

    I'd love to see something like this done on our own economy.

    Since Nov 2006 • 290 posts Report Reply

  • slarty,

    PS. I mean a sensible analysis of how "bad" things really are, not Darlings blitherings...

    Since Nov 2006 • 290 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Taxpayers are all,
    completely overtaxed.
    We reduce taxes.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • David Slack,

    Kinder, gentler, please
    Dear Leader is too raucous
    Key has woman's voice

    Devonport • Since Nov 2006 • 599 posts Report Reply

  • Grant McDougall,

    That billboard is going to come back and haunt National should it win the election.
    NZers going to Australia, UK, US, etc to live is a fact of life and won't change even if the economy flourishes.

    People leaving, like crime, is an easy political football to kick around, but it's a lot harder to do something substantial about it.

    Thatcher famously got elected using a billboard saying "Labour isn't working" slogan and a picture of a big dole queue.

    When unemployment sky-rocketed under her, Labour responded with "The Conservatives aren't working" and an even larger dole queue picture.

    Expect Labour to respond in kind on this issue.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2006 • 760 posts Report Reply

  • Hayden Wilson,

    I'll say goodbye
    (Even though I'm blue)

    Since Nov 2006 • 27 posts Report Reply

  • Hadyn Green,

    Is it intentional that the dark blue spaces between the planes makes a capital N?

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    What an intriguing billboard - to have a significant impact on migration flows, the yet-to-be-unveiled tax changes will have to be very very big tings indeed...

    Perhaps the next one will be:
    "We'll change solo-mother beneficiary work rules
    Enjoy lower petrol prices"

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    everyone in NZ with get up and go has got up and gone.

    Which explains why Act is left sucking the political dregs through a used cigarette filter to try and get candidates? :P

    I cannot believe that nobody pointed out to them that saying something like that reflects just as poorly on the quality of people Act'll be able to attract (by extension, they've got no "get up and go") as it does on those supposedly responsible for the departure of those who do have it.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    everyone in NZ with get up and go has got up and gone

    Maybe it's a reference to Stephen Franks' party membership.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • Alastair Jamieson,

    Wave goodbye to higher taxes

    This doesn't even make sense. Who's making them higher? Labour's promising to cut taxes too.

    Not your loved ones.

    This just sounds sinister...

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 99 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Andrew L:

    Some kid bought a full page ad in the papers & had the names of loads of people who'd left NZ never to return... (apparently).

    I remember that advert, it was titled, "A Generation Lost?" It blew back on the advert's creator when it emerged it was part-sponsored by the BRT, and many of the people listed on the advert pointed out that their names had been used without their permission.

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

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