Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Idiot Savant,
Potentially an election programme, depending on its content and timing. And in the context of an election, implicit content – such as Key’s branding exercise – can become important, even in the absence of explict calls for support.
Having heard (and once been on) Shearer's show, I can report that it's a very worthy programme. I don't think Shearer could be a radio demagogue if he tried.
I'd be surprised if there was a problem without it outside the term of an election campaign. It's worth recalling that John Banks took over a regular Radio Pacific Sunday talkback show from Rob Muldoon and continued to host it as a minister. It was that show that MP John Carter called with his infamous "Hone" impression in 1995.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
But you’re misunderstanding me. What about providing this service of being a free advocate (if they feel like it) gives them the right to be in the clique of the most powerful people in this country? What’s the connection?
They’re representatives, elected in a representative democracy. They represent us in more than one way.
Yes, with MMP, you don’t have to vote for the candidate any more. But you do have to vote for one of the candidates and the winner will be in parliament, and they will have enormous influence, way, way out of proportion to the social good they provide locally.
You don’t have to vote for an electorate candidate – your party vote will help determine the overall representation of your favoured party. But it would seem odd not to use a vote to which you have a right. Especially if, say, you like one party but would like to see a different party’s local candidate elected too.
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Top 10 NZ On Screen referrers after Google.
November 2010:
Facebook.com (5016)
wikipedia (1064)
scoop.co.nz (965)
stumbleupon (816)
twitter (643)
orcon (382)
spareroom (246)
vidohe (193)
doc.govt.nz (157)
thestandard.org.nz (137)September 2011
Facebook (5913)
stuff (1490)
wikipedia (1190)
nzherald (1150)
twitter (920)
stumbleupon (682)
scoop (654)
lexpress.fr (644)
real.nzonscreen (523)
publicaddress (448) -
Oh, also, I was wrong in the original post about Facebook overtaking Google as top NZ On Screen referrer. Facebook has grown hugely in the past two years, but Google remains the top referrer by some stretch.
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Hard News: The price is that they get to…, in reply to Luke Williamson,
I really hate Facebook but only because it is so totally user-unfriendly.
This is what puzzles me. I basically find Facebook a somewhat confusing pain in the ass, but LOTS of friends of mine who are far less technically adept than me use it constantly. It clearly fills an important role for people in letting them share thoughts, feelings, news and funny pictures.
I've actually been quite enjoying browsing Facebook via Flipboard on the iPad, which changes the balance and makes it much more about the media people are sharing.
But what does puzzle me is my Facebook-using friends telling me they don't understand Twitter. Yes, there are a few technical and cultural things to grasp, but compared to Facebook it seems quite simple.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Hannah,
I’ve heard Nikki Kaye speak at an architects’ meeting, and she seemed to be making sense with regards to her urbanisation and mass transportation knowledge/experience.
I've heard her speak on topics I know a bit about -- at NetHui -- and was also reasonably impressed. As I noted above, the Labour, Green and National candidates in Auckland Central are all pretty smart.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to BenWilson,
I met Roger Douglas once and shook his hand too. It didn’t do any good, though, however good it might have made me feel at the time.
The only time I ever met Richard Prebble was when my poor, faithful friend was walking him around the hood doing meet-and-greets in the week of the 1996 election and I happened to be outside my house. He strode over, shook my hand and said “Hey, bro!”
After he was beaten by Sandra Lee, Prebble and his chums basically cleaned out the electorate office and scorched the earth around it. I think that summed up that particular MP’s attitude to his local voters.
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Wow -- and just like that, an email from my local MP turns up in the inbox:
As Auckland grows and the pressure for increased development also rises. More and more communities find themselves squeezed. This week David Shearer speaks to residents of the Pt Chevalier community who has been fighting back to preserve what they value in their neighbourhood.
Shona Grundy talks about the actions her community has taken to keep the local kindergarten open as the number of children in the area grows. The Ministry of Education announced recently it would close the kindergarten for a car park. Meanwhile, Matt Fordham has rallied his community against the local McDonalds extending its hours to become a 24 hours, seven days a week operation threatening to upset their quiet neighbourhood.
Their fight is becoming more typical across Auckland but both have been smart in rallying support.
Listen to the David Shearer Show every Thursday 9.05am 104.6 Planet FM
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
OK, nobody changed the world that day but perhaps – just perhaps – we made three people’s lives a little better. However “random” that may be in your book, it does matter.
+100.
I've seen and heard what comes in the door at electorate offices.
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Hard News: The Politics of Absence, in reply to Mikaere Curtis,
The only reason the Greens ever won Coromandel was because Labour backed Jeanette Fitzsimons. This was a smart move by Helen Clark, not dissimlar to National’s arrangement with ACT in Epsom. At the time, the Greens were not guaranteed to get the 5% threshhold (the actual result was 5.16%), so it made sense for Labour to accommodate the Greens at that time.
Yes, but it also made sense because polls had Jeanette only three points shy of Murray McLean, with Margaret Hawkeswood a distant third on 15% support. The crucial poll there coincided with the launch of the Greens’ campaign launch, and gave them momentum and lots of press.
Hakeswood declared (presumably at Clark’s prompting) she’d be voting for John Tamihere (she was on the Maori roll) but otherwise she’d have voted for Jeanette. By 2002, Jeanette was polling even with the Labour candidate and miles behind Sandra Goudie, and there was bad blood between parties over GE (although interestingly, Clark sat Mike Williams back down when he declared the deal was off).
If that’s ever to happen again, the Green candidate actually needs to be in the game – i.e., within credible reach of victory, as Hide was in Epsom. And I honestly think electorate campaigns are much more about people on the ground than pots of money.