Posts by Sacha
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Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to BenWilson,
The old west was very much a white neighborhood.
Also significant migrant families from less pale parts of Europe, without whom our wine industry would be somewhat different.
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Hard News: The Next Labour Leader, in reply to Isaac Freeman,
I'm wary of a common trap in thinking (mine as much as anybody's): assuming that problems can be solved by identifying a single person responsible and removing them.
To be fair, I don't see that happening here - though media are taught to always focus stories on individuals. If there's any single person ultimately responsible it's Brownlee, not a son or daughter of some EQC functionary.
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Hard News: The Next Labour Leader, in reply to merc,
who in a position of power is going to address this?
Whoever is held accountable by the public. We've just had an election, and the message to the government is pretty clear.
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A tad past its prime, but this year's nekminnit has to be one of the most successful Kiwi memes ever. Respec.
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OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to Paul Campbell,
that school's probably getting less money because it's not showing the wonderful gains of your cherry picked leading lights and it's also cutting back on remedial work because it doesn't have the money
I fear you are spot on. This fits well with the ideology of rewarding the already successful at the expense of others. Much like the endgame for 'national standards' is now on the table as directing funding according to league tables to the better-off schools out of the same fixed budget. Do we all lose?
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OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to merc,
what are you going to do about it?
don't tempt him to build another road
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OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
When you're a cherry, you may want to be able to learn in the company of other cherries, even if you weren't previously being marginalised by all the apples and tomatoes (the latter being unsure if they're even fruit at all).
Seems like an issue of personal vs social benefit though I'm not sure that "marginalised" is the right word. Overlooked? Getting less of the teachy sunlight than a cherry feels they deserve, perhaps?
Is claiming to thrive better in a monoculture - unlike most organisms - one of the undercurrents here? Do we want a society with less understanding of human diversity? That could affect not only our social fabric but our ability to make a living in the world marketplace.
Maybe 'bright' students actually do better in a hothouse? Or it might be a difference between perception and actuality. I don't know if the research on charter schools also covers the advantages/disadvantages for children who would have qualified for selection but stayed behind - and for students who would otherwise continue sharing a school with candidates who left.
And as for the oranges..
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Up Front: The Up Front Guides:…, in reply to Emma Hart,
I'd say there's a fair dose of gendered roles going on in many such situations - attractor/pursuer stereotypes. I can be as available as I like..
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Up Front: The Up Front Guides:…, in reply to Emma Hart,
over at the Other Place, I wrote a column about the idea of chemistry
This from Clarisse's comment explained concisely why I'm often crap at it:
flirting is all about strategic ambiguity. Deliberate uncertainty.
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OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
How would this proposal, if enacted, restrict Parliament's ability to do anything at all?
I do tend to agree about that, unless this Act is constantly used in the face of incompetent opposition as sufficient justification for doing what the neolibs want to do anyway - drowning, bathtub, etc.