Posts by Andrew Geddis
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Hard News: Everybody's Machiavelli, in reply to Dylan Reeve,
From what I've heard and read that would not happen. That would happen if Brown had withdrawn from the election (as all his votes would become invalid) but he didn't.
Not even then. Once you are on the ballot, you can't take yourself off (unless you become "incapacitated"). See here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11136334
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Hard News: Everybody's Machiavelli, in reply to Mike O'Connell,
Mike,
Bill Hodge was wrong. If Brown resigns now, he becomes Mayor again when the final election results from 2013 are announced. If he resigns after being sworn in again as mayor, then there has to be a by-election (see Local Electoral Act 2001, s. 117).
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Idiot Savant,
Though this also might be a way of sending a signal that its time for her to do so.
What - leaving her with her portfolio and promoting her to number 4?
That hardly screams the message "your time is up, get out of here!" Also, if Cunliffe really does think King is planning on stepping down in 2014, it's dumb to make her a central figure in what he is selling as a Government in waiting.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Idiot Savant,
Guess we’ll find out if Cunliffe delivers and Labour actually recovers its vote-share to form a government at the next election.
Well, we ought to find out before then whether King is planning to stand down, no?
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to TracyMac,
What I would appreciate, though, is the “science has all the answers” crowd to refrain from patronising me about my fairly-well-informed health choices.
Honest question ... if "science" doesn't have all the answers, what else underpins your "fairly-well-informed health choices"?
Whether I spend that money on a potion or, say, a private counsellor is no-one else’s concern.
Has anyone suggested anything different? I think the only contention is whether the public health system should do so.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Keir Leslie,
(To be clear: acupuncture theory is unscientific nonsense. But it might still work. I don’t know. It’s not clear. There appears to be the possibility it does work.)
Or not. But you seem to be backtracking from your earlier confident assertion that "Just to note, acupuncture does help with certain medical conditions." Because of course acupuncture possibly does work ... but that strikes me as a claim that needs verification, rather than a statement that demands refutation.
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Keir Leslie,
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Hard News: No Red Wedding, in reply to Sacha,
Having served with Kevin on a national advisory committee and following closely his career since as an MP, I am confident he will be a great Minister of Health.
I don't disagree with you (with the qualification that I don't think Annette King is going anywhere in 2014, so I don't think it's a gimme that Health will be offered up to the Greens in any post-election agreement).
Other nations seem to have got their heads around evidence-based healthcare being broader than drugs and surgery.
The problem, I suspect, will be around what exactly constitutes "evidence-based healthcare". But seeing as we don't know what the policy actually means (and I suspect it was written this way so as to satisfy everyone), we could box around the issue forever.
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Cecelia,,
What fake medicines are those?
I suspect the reference was to this part of the Green’s Health policy platform:
Establish a Complementary Health Care Unit within the Ministry of Health to facilitate the integration of selected complementary health practices and therapies into the public health system.
Building on statements like this one, from Sue Kedgely,
The Green party wants to see in New Zealand what already exists in many countries overseas -traditional healthcare like acupuncture and naturopathy recognised and accepted throughout our health system. We want to see natural health practitioners working alongside doctors, using whatever treatment is judged to be the most effective, and natural remedies and treatments offered in public health organisations and hospitals.
However, I also wonder if the issue isn’t a bit academic, in that it rests on NRT’s claim that the Health portfolio is being freed up for the Greens by leaving it with Annette King, whom he clearly thinks will stand down at the 2014 election. All I’ll say is, we’ve heard that tune before … .
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Legal Beagle: Oops: how some prisoners…, in reply to Moz,
Now I'm curious - does this apply to suspended sentences, or only served ones?
Only to served ones (i.e. to persons "detained in a prison pursuant to a sentence of imprisonment").
Also, does not being able to vote also mean you can't legally donate to political parties?
Any person who is resident in New Zealand may give as much as they want to any political party or candidate.