Posts by George Darroch
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I think you'll find it's still a nation of rugbyheads.
Versus:
No rugby's definitely in decline, the local city council released a survey last month that shows that more people visited cemeteries in Dunedin last year than went to Carisbrook. Even fewer people went to a city park to watch a game. They get about 5000 to a Highlanders game these days
I think those are both right. New Zealanders still love and enjoy their game, but the intensity of their passion seems well down from the 1980s. At least as far as my fuzzy childhood memories of that decade would indicate. Rugby is in a definite decline from the early 2000s in Australia, when it reached its peak (22% of spectators by some metric I forget). That related to a strong patch, and then a subsequent inability to beat NZ.
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Julie, I have to admit that I had no idea that you had CFS - sorry! I'm glad to hear that you've got through things though.
Of course all three of these things rely on having sufficient income to do this. I had the good luck to have enough.
Yeah. Not having ever had CFS I can't compare my situation, but when I've had depression having the extra $100 in the bank account to buy whatever was necessary to help pull me out of a very fast slide was essential. Usually, good food.
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To be precise, if the GST hike isn't as revenue-neutral as first thought, and turns out in practice to be a Clayton's Community Charge.
The pain will eventuate, but come from an unidentified source, then. I'd guess that manifests as low level general discontent, rather than sharp turns of opinion.
NZ politics continues to be interesting, if for all the wrong reasons.
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PASers be ribbin'.
My immediate reference for that line is from hip-hop; "haters be hatin", "players be playin", "ballers be ballin", etc. Can't stop what comes natural.
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Especially if WorkChoices was anything to go by for John Howard. Big time.
Yeah, but that came with a convergence of factors that combined to portray the government as "out of touch", and magnified the impact. Had it been early in the term, with a still lukewarm media, things might have been different.
I do think that once you take the gloss off there's potential for disappointment, and that the difference between expectations and perceived reality is the key factor in political disaffection, and so this might generate some of that. It will come down to whether the perception management (to put in the brutally cynical terms that this Government seems to operate under) is sufficient, and whether the public sees this as an aberation or part of a pattern.
I don't think that in and of itself it will cause a large impact on the polls, but I could be wrong! Like their mining decision, it certainly increases the risks for the Government however.
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I guessed that.
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PM Key not known for his love of detail in public is now dissing meatworkers, surely one of the most unpleasant occupations, and their alleged sick leave habits. Fer chrissakes a Prime Minister on about Monday/Friday syndrome.
I think National's support among working class voters will take a hit in the next week. I wouldn't have a clue whether it's a small one or slightly larger.
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Yes they can. We used to give 3 warnings(all could be issued at 48 hour intervals if behaviour continued to warrant warning. then we could dismiss with the weeks wages (they were paid weekly) + 6% annual leave.
Labour's law was one that gave sufficient power to business that it was considered reasonable by the business community in 2000, after their noisy summer of discontent. One of the reasons why National's 90 day probation period was originally applied to small businesses, is because there were plenty who were getting frustrated by their inability to follow due process - and leaving themselves open to dismissal suits.
It was a law designed to cover for employer incompetence. Larger enterprises have no such weak excuse. If they're not employing someone (either in-house or out) in some capacity to deal with such matters, then they're pretty poorly run in the first place.
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Anyway had to laugh at the edit I got on this letter. Only the first and third sentences made it in.
I absolutely DETEST the letters editors who do that to me. After it happens enough I give up on a publication for a few years - if someone is going to twist my words so savagely, why bother?
I don't think his Garthness is still the gatekeeper in chief, having shuffled off down the line into semi-retirement and all.
Doesn't Armstrong have a hand in it?
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Let's bring back old fashioned patronage! We could all be the new Medicis or whatever the investigative equivalent is.
The Australian Financial Review is run at the largesse of the owners, and as a result has the best reporting and analysis in Australia. It also has a high earning subscriber base, and puts itself behind the paywall.
I think the key question these media owners need to ask is - who are my customers, and why will they pay me for this content? Instead, they're often going - this is good content, and it costs money: our users should pay.