Posts by George Darroch
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For another perspective on the current Labour leader.
Into question time and a slightly more candid Goff emerged, drink having loosened the tongue I suppose. On Harawira, “Never let go off the Black Power rhetoric of the 1970s. Blah, Blah, Blah Harawira Blah Blah Blah Racist Blah, Blah.” No soul searching on how damaging the Foreshore and Seabed Act had been to the Labour-Maori relationship, and no surprise that there were few people-of-colour in attendance.
They've soul-searched on some things, but none of the things that matter to me, and I suspect to a large number of the people who have abandoned them.
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Edit, whoops, wrong thread. This is the EPIC thread.
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I'm back for the summer on the 16th. Are you sure you can't postpone a couple of weeks?
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Yeah, it's the same in Spanish speaking countries, the use of points instead of commas.
Turns out everyone does things differently.
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Can Phil Goff please f**k off?
Opening wounds? For goodness sake, is there an ounce of irony in his body?
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I phoned the Bank and asked how someone other than me could make cash withdrawals and was told that they couldn't.
Go figure that one.Contact the banking ombudsman. It normally does a very good job of resolving problems like this.
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On that note, when did Winston Peters become leader of the Labour Party?
Sometime after late 2005, by my reckoning.
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Ah yes, George, a single bloody blog post by Audrey Young and it's the death of democracy. Can I introduce you to Cathy Odgers...
No, that's not what I said. I may be prone to hyperbole, but only slightly.
The problem is that it's all "the Game" for New Zealand media. It's impossible to have a reasoned discussion about almost any policy matter apart from economics (which is relatively well covered). And as everyone knows, one you mention the game, you just lost.
My housemates recently visited NZ and spent most of their time in Golden Bay. They asked their hosts if their television was missing reception for channels. They wondered where the serious news and information programming was. It's not one silly story by Audrey Young that bothers me. It's that it's all a joke.
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In NZ I've walked around for 2 months with a $20 note in my wallet that I've never touched, because EFTPOS is accepted nearly everywhere with few exceptions
New Zealand is apparently the most EFTPOS using country in the world. The fee structure for the system encouraged rapid takeup by shopowners encouraged it apparently, but I can't remember the details.
It took a few months in Australia for me to realise that leaving the house without cash was a bad idea - shopowners generally aren't at all comfortable with using a bankcard for less than $15, and a credit card for less than $20. ATMs exist of course, but high fees for using other banks machines means that it isn't all that reliable. You get very used to having at least $50 in your pocket, and a couple of coins in case you can't break the note.
One of the places where the cashless economy is developing fastest is actually Africa. The mobile phone sector there is booming - a speaker talks of getting off the plane at Goma, Congo, and having more 3G networks than at home in Maine. As a result, mobile utilising cashless payment systems are booming. I have a fascinating link, but I can't find it at the moment. I'll post it when I do.
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The point about human rights is that they are granted solely by virtue of the fact that the person is human. No other considerations apply.
Unfortunately, people of all stripes, including Helen Clark (who waged a war on Zaoui to strip him of the rights he had under international law), do not understand this.