Posts by Sacha
-
Hard News: The price is that they get to…, in reply to Christopher Dempsey,
that Guardian app - called 'Timeline
those are two different things
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
Labour is forced to act like the party in power
Who's 'forcing' them?
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Russell Brown,
Brilliant
but ultimately misleading. It's everybody's problem. Geez, even Craig's pitching in :)
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Russell Brown,
People vote on confidence. That's about more than figurehead 'leaders', it also crucially involves unity and coherence. The lack of those has been constantly in the public eye (partly through skilled counter-campaigning from the right), so let's not pretend it's only happening 'now' or about one thing that one person said.
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Stephen Judd,
Political campaigns shape discourses and win engagement. Even a disinterested or hostile media does not let the current bunch off the hook for their failure to connect meaningfully, to work well with allies, and to demonstrate basic organisational discipline that gives voters confidence.
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Russell Brown,
it says something that in response to what I wrote, we're back to discussing some dumb thing Clare Curran said
National can only get away with meaningless fluff or policies like privatising state assets in the absence of a functional opposition or media - perhaps that's the true 'politics of absence' and why our attention returns there. It's also what needs to be fixed. Steven Joyce and chums will carry on doing whatever they can get away with.
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Russell Brown,
The local Labour candidates seem to putting the lie to that.
On the ground, perhaps. Still doesn't address failure at national campaign level, or poorly-timed feet in mouths.
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Russell Brown,
they're working hard and decidedly not living out the prevailing blogosphere narrative
But isn't the narrative about the inability to connect work on the ground via a coherent campaign?
-
Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Bart Janssen,
What I desperately wanted to see from Labour was an open understanding that they will have to co-operate with other parties who represent other viewpoints in order to lead this country.
+1
-
I really do want a successful opposition. If they can't work together to make hay from the current govt's woeful mismanagement then they should make space for those who can.
Focusing beyond Key on the lacklustre cabinet would seem a reasonably obvious start. But it needed to happen a few years ago.