Posts by Russell Brown
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I think the Brash statement I linked to above warrants an excerpt here:
Brash announces immigration policy
National Party Leader Don Brash says immigrants will be put on probation for four years under a National Government and will have to meet good-conduct requirements to gain permanent residency.
Announcing National’s immigration policy at a public meeting in Wanganui today, he said it will also be harder for immigrants to qualify for welfare benefits.
“Current immigration policies, instead of adding diversity, skills and energy to our society, have become a process that is threatening to change the very nature of our society.
“New Zealand needs an inflow of immigrants if we are to avoid an actual decline in our total population, but Labour’s current policy is not right.
“There is resentment that too many immigrants, and especially those who arrive as refugees, go straight onto a benefit and live for years at the expense of the hard-working New Zealand taxpayer.
“There is also resentment that, when we let in one refugee, we then let in his extended family group as well.
“National’s immigration policy offers a disciplined approach. Labour’s approach is too lax, whilst on the other hand New Zealand First too often appeals to crude prejudice. National’s policy is a responsible middle ground of ‘managed immigration’.
“And while there is a widespread view that, under Labour, the Immigration Service has allowed into the country too many people who have no respect for New Zealand values, there is also anger at how difficult Labour’s bureaucracy makes it for people who at least appear to be exactly the kind of immigrants we want to encourage.
“National will change all that."
Whatever the measure of Labour’s thinking on immigration is, it’s not even in the same ballpark as this kind of naked hostility and dog-whistle racism. Feel free to remind your neighbourhood right-wing blogger.
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Feed: Meals for Me, in reply to Mark Cubey,
Ruth LAUGESEN.
Sigh. I've been having a bad run on names. I do know how to spell her name, honest.
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Ahem. Le cassoulet.
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Feed: Meals for Me, in reply to Joanna,
there are few things I love as much as spending a good chunk of a weekend filling up the freezer with individual servings of slow cooked stews, bolognese or empanadas.
Do you serve the stews with a starch?
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Hard News: Friday Music: Bringing the…, in reply to Ana Simkiss,
I wonder how much of the attention Janine & the Mixtape is getting over there is down to the Lorde effect. Am imagining the music industry Eye of Sauron turning to Middle Earth to find moody female musicians..
I reckon it’s helped at places like Billboard, and to get it on the right show on VH1 – but her manager, Dawn Raid co-founder Andy Murnane, also already has some good contacts in those places.
Her actual market is currently the R&B audience, who aren’t the Lorde fans. But if she does continue to make an impression in that market, she might be seen as kind of cool and alternative, the way Lorde is in pop.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Bringing the…, in reply to Grant McDougall,
As for the almighty Sun Ra, I highly recommend John Swzed’s magisterial biography Space Is The Place, a truly cracking read whether you like Ra’s music or not.
An amazing book.
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Hard News: Friday Music: Bringing the…, in reply to bob daktari,
there’s a glorious Pinterest board with all the album covers in Tied To The Tracks put together by the Audioculture crew –
Ah, thanks. I knew that was coming but didn't realise Simon had whipped it up so quickly.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
The Campbell show's view, as I now understand it, is that there was no particular skulduggery in Mataparae's appointment as G-G, but that when the GCSB job came up again and State Services didn't get its act together very quickly, a person or persons saw the opportunity to reorientate the agency by dumping the shortlist and appointing a civilian with different skills.
Whose idea that was is a very interesting question. I suspect the Campbell people believe they know, but whether they can prove anything is a different matter.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Pete George,
I think it’s plausible Key had no involvement at all in the events leading up to the Dotcom raid. It could have been because it was seen by others as an operational matter that shouldn’t concern Government, even possibly mustn’t involve Government.
Or there could have been a deliberate distance.
I think it's entirely possible that Key lied about it at the time and is simply stuck with the lie.
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Hard News: Circumstance and coincidence, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
If only we knew who had files stored at MegaUpload…
Simon Grigg. Just sayin'.
