Public Address | Cafe | Polity: Bridges swims in troubled waters

Sacha

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 08:03:28 +1200

But the whole viable alternative thing actually needs to happen.

and now, not in two years time

izogi

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 23:52:20 +1200

Hi @tussock.

The only thing National’s doing incorrectly is refusing to publicly state the rules it really operates under. One might suggest that’s because they like winning elections, and lying about that just works better. [--snip--] The trick for making ministers behave is thus voting for the opposition. We were…

Kumara Republic

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 16:52:29 +1200

not McCarten’s role. Labour do have a political advisor and a comms advisor now, but seem to be deluded that they can stay quiet until a year before the election like in the old days.

Indeed. Like it or hate it, politics is now a 24/7 cycle like news media.

Sacha

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:56:54 +1200

not McCarten's role. Labour do have a political advisor and a comms advisor now, but seem to be deluded that they can stay quiet until a year before the election like in the old days.

Kumara Republic

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 12:22:58 +1200

The meme has been deliberately pushed on advice of CrosbyTextor and other backroom operators – and has not been resisted by the equivalent people on the left. Strategic comms seems to have eluded Labour in particular for many years and i have no idea why they have done nothing to…

Sacha

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 10:17:26 +1200

Media are now completely driven by marketing to an audience for money rather than by any traditional news values. They would claim they are reflecting a general public mood that none of this character and integrity stuff matters anymore – and therefore they reinforce it.

The meme has been deliberately…

Alistair McBride

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 08:22:14 +1200

Part of the meme going through some of this is that it happened during the previous Labour govt. I'm scratching my head to find anything near this systematic. The idea is being seeded that this is the norm of politics so if you get rid of us you will only…

Sara Bee

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:37:10 +1200

which likely means he'll be at least Leader of the Nat Party one day...

tussock

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 03:48:15 +1200

To me, whether things have changed or not, the last few years of government have demonstrated that we seriously need to consider options for more binding constraints on lawmakers and Ministers.

No. See, National would write binding constraints that said ministers weren't allowed to vote for tax or service increases,…

Kumara Republic

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 02:50:01 +1200

I think after the last election I’m just resigned to a realisation that stuff like actual genuine integrity and honesty, or lack of it, doesn’t affect elections on its own.

Unless of course, power, corruption and lies cause some kind of Chernobyl or Fukushima to happen, whether it's with nuclear…

izogi

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 16:25:29 +1200

It matters to me, too, and I appreciate the work that's gone into your investigation, Rob, which is at the very least yet another record of how this government's working.

I think after the last election I'm just resigned to a realisation that stuff like actual genuine integrity and honesty,…

andin

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 15:11:07 +1200

.... nobody cares.

Oh they do care,these nobodies. There are just different ways of expressing it.

Sacha

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:42:41 +1200

It matters to me. The moral damage done already will take quite some fixing.

Rob Salmond

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 10:35:40 +1200

I fear Matthew's right, and that not many people care about not abusing public officials and so on.

I wish they did care, and I'll use my internet voice to try and convince them to care.

Also, I think it's important for the future to lay out exactly the kind…

william blake

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 08:41:35 +1200

Pretty much nobody cares.

I think that's pretty accurate, Simon Bridges has been established and accepted as a piss poor politician and peeps are still chortling about Winston winning Northland.

izogi

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 23:06:04 +1200

Or do they only care about corruption if they’re missing out on it?

I think people/voters might be more likely to care if they saw an alternative they preferred, and wanted reasons to help justify it. But lately the alternatives haven’t been putting up a very convincing show, so there’s…

Kumara Republic

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 22:49:40 +1200

But pretty much nobody cares.

Or if they do care, do they only care about corruption if they’re missing out on the gains?

Matthew Hooton

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 22:13:27 +1200

Don't get me wrong Rob, you're right and everything. And I attacked the government for this disgraceful bribe as soon as it was made and before the byelection ( see http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/bridges-disgrace-gives-win-peters ) ...

But pretty much nobody cares.

Jack Harrison

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 21:31:11 +1200

Politics isn't easy, we use our media to rank the talent. This guy stinks. National have two true players, Key and English, the rest are lite. Key is the Crosby Textered dream boy, Cameron isn't far behind now, it's about making politics look so dirty and evasive that it looks…

Rob Salmond

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 21:21:03 +1200

Damn! I *knew* I was missing something important here, and it was the Theory of Scandalous Relativity all along.

Jack Harrison

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:54:30 +1200

The Don wud of fired his ass long ago. We all look bad.

Ian Dalziel

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:26:32 +1200

'pont- iffy'-cation..
Ergo, Bridges is a 'spanner' in the works?

(I'm hoping to check out the Left Bank today...)

:- )

Jack Harrison

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:08:50 +1200

Bridges doesn’t understand Auckland , he doesn’t understand Northland, he doesn’t understand the neutrality laws of the state sector , he is a liability to the country.

Peter Martin

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 17:22:43 +1200

'However, should Labour do it in (say) five years time'

Horse and cart.
It's ALL about what Labour did a decade ago.

Kumara Republic

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 16:26:25 +1200

I can see the headlines now: "Bridges burns bridges over bridges"

izogi

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 16:20:23 +1200

Sadly if there’s one thing I’ve learned about the Cabinet Manual, from the past year or so of publicity, it’s that adherence to its rules happen to be about as optional as adherence to something like the Bill of Rights … which is apparently also very optional as soon as…

william blake

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:26:11 +1200

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mLbOBoa8vD8

Andrew Geddis

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:02:00 +1200

I’d rather both sides played by the actual rules. But I remember my game theory classes. If the other side is going to play dirty, then often it’s better to do the same right back than be a lily-white loser.

Oh, Rob, Rob ... you charming naif.

The way it…

Public Address

Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:02:00 +1200

Discussion from blog post.