Well, I for one am glad there is a chance to communicate directly with the likes of Rob and as RB says, anything well argued and authentic. Being constantly fed press releases is not my idea of being informed. That only serves…

I sat across the table from Lockwood in 1995 as he fetched postcards from his desk from students who were skiing in Japan and…

It's unfortunate that sometimes, only a major crisis like a bubble burst has to remind certain people of it. There'll always…

Thanks Ben. That's a really succinct, and good, way of looking at it.

BTW feeling less bitter this morning. Joy for…

Anyway, my sentiment is that we don't beat neoliberalism by buying into it, and I'm sure as hell not going to allow it to beat me down into…

Also, even with our war scars, I think young people are looking at a much harder time than we are economically.…

Yeah, but we can wear that as our war scars. A shitload worse has happened to other generations and…

Ditto to that. Rob's kicked off some very interesting stuff here. I would love to see him under his own masthead. The fact that this is NOT a partisan Labour website makes that all the better, because he gets robust disagreement…

Very much so. I'm currently doing post-grad and…

which is exactly how Farrar and the media outlets who host him describe the relationship. Conveniently leaves out the weekly in-person briefings with the PM and their daily phonecalls during the campaign period.

Absolutely. It's that ol' debbil "entitlement" again

To be fair, that sounds a little like "David Farrar does polling work. His main client is the National Party"

HA! I see what you did there...

every generation needs its own hard luck story to impress young people with. :)

Doesn't always work. Why would any rational advertiser buy space on Snout rather than here?

In 1989, the Labour Government introduced university tuition fees for all students. At this stage, the average annual fee was only $129. In 1990, students suffered a steep (mountain-goat steep) 969% increase in their fees, which were bumped up to…

Still, I guess it makes a nice change from Labour's appropriation of the right wing agenda over the last few decades.

Can we maybe remember your generation could see this as a way forward for your kids and hopefully your grandchildren. Or at least the mortgage rates aren't the 24% my olds…

Hell yes. Most blogs are just pissing into the wind unless they have access to the best possible money…

Yes. I really enjoy Public Address for this reason, despite not being so frequent a contributor as some others here.

I appreciate PA has a political leaning and I'm…

I was fortunate enough to receive a student allowance in my first year…

Anything well-argued and authentic, basically.

Nice manners there. I was merely voicing my opinion and being polite... obviously a bit of debate is a bit much for you.

Right! It's a piece of piss these days Richard. All you need is a domain, a hosting account and enough nous to press the "create blog" button using your preferred platform.

That's the easy bit.

Attracting an intelligent and diverse audience…

I really enjoy hearing Rob's thoughts, even though he's on a different 'team' and has different objectives.

It's not even that, really. It's interesting having access to an insider view. And, whether people agree with Rob or not, he generally provides plenty for people to chew over, as is evidenced by the rest of the discussion here.

Rob does data and strategic work. His main client is the Labour Party. He…

You remind me of the UK Labour Blairites, who managed to…

Because Russell has long supported that party.

What if…

StudyRight? I've heard it somewhere before I think?

NZ's tertiary framework is in need of some significant reconsideration; the oscillation from unregulated fees to regulated fees, the sliding around on funding for private vs public providers and the…

Kiwiblog…

But clearly you missed the notice that Rob will be getting his own masthead here (presumably with an overt declaration of interest).

And, you know,…

Regardless of the merits of whatever Rob says here, he works for Labour. Not exactly non-partisan analysis, is it? If this is a…

Given we already have student loans that in practice function as a progressive tax on graduates there is no increase in access resulting from this…

Any…

I fear there will be many who won't be so generous. After all I think the last 30+ years has taught a lot of people that it is OK to think only of themselves.

The outcome could very likely be that future New Zealand Governments end up offering subsequent generations fee free…

'Personal security'? Sounds like it'll be a fun day on twitter when that policy comes out.

Certainly, and obviously it’s a minefield of opinion, I’d prefer to await Christopher’s response before questioning his sincerity as his comment is not in isolation from what I’ve…

It’s a longstanding and worthy question. If any party had been campaigning something similar when we were studying we’d most likely have been all for it. I’m torn to say the least because who could reasonably wish these borrowed educations on future generations.

The…

No probs. All good things take time,…

Oh. So my three months of part-time study more than 30 years ago would count me out? Hmmm.

That is
Key: Luke Warm to Tolls (translated – it is going to happen)
Joyce: Translated: Fat show in hell....

Hooton picked up…

And yes, ability to properly cost the impact of a clause removing all restrictions on access for people in sunset industries did make it harder to go down that path. If only somewhere like the Treasury has some…

I think…