Posts by Sacha
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Seems Key may have been reading Keith too. Labour's Red Alert blog addresses (and links to) the PM's interview on Breakfast tv.
Weird moment of truth from Key on Breakfast this morning. He admits government debt is low and private debt is high. Why then does he expect Mum ad Dad Kiwis to borrow to buy shares (which they already own) in SoEs. Bill English says it is to pay down that, already low, debt.
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CORIN DANN: I just want to pick you up on that because there was some criticism about the debt issue. I think it was Professor Bowden from Victoria University who called it spin doctoring, because he argues, in fact New Zealand’s government debt is some of the lowest in the world.
JOHN KEY: It is.
CORIN DANN: So isn’t it the private sector and in particular the big four Australian banks who are the – who are the worry, not the Government’s position?
JOHN KEY: Well I wish it was spin doctoring. You’re right, New Zealand’s government debt as a percentage of GDP relative to the other countries is low, in other words we don’t owe very much. Vis a vis, say – and we’re about 20-odd per cent of GDP. If you go and look at Japan it’s 200 per cent of GDP. But the difference is New Zealand domestic consumers, mum and dad, they owe a lot of money. So on a combined basis we owe 85 per cent…
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Hard News: Only what we would expect a…, in reply to Sam F,
I read Deborah Coddington’s column yesterday.
My sympathies. Not her best effort. Complains about cultural tolerance and then celebrates the (European) Enlightenment's.. cultural tolerance. Culture counts when it's the right one, apparently.
However, the moment any pre-Enlightenment barbarism surfaces to be forced on others - in the name of honour or some departed fatherland - we must stamp on it immediately.
We should not surrender freedom of speech to the weasel words of wretched cultural sensitivity.
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Coincidentally, this week I'm reading Passionate Minds, about the love affair between Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet. Author David Bodanis states: "Enlightenment ideas are at the heart of what is hated by groups such as al-Qaeda: the belief that diverse religions should be equally respected; that women can be treated fairly; that church and state can be separated; that old beliefs are not the sole path to truth."
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Hard News: Only what we would expect a…, in reply to Matthew Poole,
However, given National's abuse of urgency to push through legislation without public consultation I have no faith that any legislation presented to the House will contain the slightest reflection of public interest or sentiment.
Mining national parks showed resistance is still possible - just has to be organised by competent organisations and people.
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Hard News: Only what we would expect a…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
it seems a wee bit graceless to piss your pants because Key's actually going to do something he's campaigning on
So long as the consent of voters is not based on outright lies about the policy, I agree. Part of that is the responsilbity of our media who enjoy legal privileges in exchange for their supposed role in civil society. Oh, and of the parliamentary 'opposition' when they get their shit together.
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Kumara Republic,
Devlin's latest spoutfest confirms he's a member of the Good Ole Boys club
Even the Herald noticed a pattern.
They were applauded for being "laddish" and outrageous on screen - but no one is laughing after a fifth panel member of the sports show Game of Two Halves got himself into trouble.
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Recently-sheepish Martin Devlin feels compelled to share his response to news of UK sports media munters facing consequences.
Andy Gray has just received the harshest red card in football.
His sacking from Sky Sport (England) this week, after recordings of some non-broadcast remarks he'd made were leaked to the tabloids, reflects far worse on the man's former employers than anything about Gray and what he may or may not have actually said.
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Even less relevant is the fact they chatted about whether the woman's good-looking or not - wake up world, this is how men and women conversate. It's normal, it's natural, it means nothing more than any cheap throwaway line ever does.
There's that "normal" word again. At least Richard Boock restores some faith in local sports media reps:
It's true, Sky should be congratulated for taking a stand against this type of Jurassic thinking, although they probably had little choice. Whatever you might think of the manner in which the comments were leaked, as soon as they appeared in the public domain Gray and Keys were damaged goods. When more than half your potential consumer audience is female, the demand for a couple of well- known chauvinist pigs is unlikely to be clamorous.
Yet, it was also the right decision. Sport deserves more than to be represented by a group of overgrown frat boys; people who still insist on marginalising women as sexual playthings. At a time when the industry is waging battles against homophobia and racism it would've ill behoved Sky to continue with their Beavis and Butthead- type impressions. It's bad enough having the players set poor examples; professional commentators should know better.
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Fair call - some satire mixed in towards the end. By comparison, Scott satirises the news coverage without quoting most of it.
Lecturer in Political Studies at Timaru University, Fraser Newdick, said that Key had recaptured territory lost to him over the last couple of years.
"Being interviewed on Tony Veitch's radio show and talking on-air about who he'd like to bag was a sure sign of the man's class," said Mr Fraser.
"It was also a politically astute move. Having already sewn up the bland-spineless-lacking-initiative demographic, he's now made the sexist-boofhead vote his own.
"Anyone who is about to throw their girlfriend down the stairs will now be thinking of voting National."
Satire and parody are not protected under NZ copyright law. I'm not sure where that leaves most of the current cabinet.
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to DexterX,
Dexter, posting an entire story from the newspaper without any analysis breaches copyright law. Link to it and quote relevant paras, sure.
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Hard News: Because it's about time we…, in reply to Rich Lock,
enormously satisfying when done right
it's all in the tamping..
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OnPoint: Election 2011: GO!, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Reducing government debt-related outflows doesn't deal to the 80-something percent of our foreign debt that is related to private borrowing for homes, cars, and big-screen TVs.
That as well.