Posts by Bart Janssen
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
but it’s about time both Labour and National got house trained out of their FPP born to rule habits, for once and for all
Hear, hear!
And on that note, it's worth observing that elsewhere in the world where they are more used to this MMP and mutliple parties sharing leadership it is not uncommon for a minor party to supply the PM. So a Labour dominant Labour/Green alliance might have Russell Norman as PM or Metiria Turei, or both. Leaving the leadership of Labour to be more about good ministers and policymakers rather than figureheads.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to ScottY,
who cannot win their electorate seat
The only thing demonstrates is enough dead rats collected and hidden away to ensure they get assigned one of the safe seats. Adern contested one of the more challenging seats around and did a good job.
I can't see that wallowing in a safe seat relying on the locals to vote the same way they have for decades is better sign of leadership qualities than getting out and doorknocking to try and win voters who might be genuinely swinging (their vote, not their lifestyle, although it is central Auckland ....)
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to Tom Semmens,
She hasn’t landed a blow.
Again what I hate about NZ politics
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to The Ruminator,
If he’s the best leader. But I think in terms of squaring off against Key, Cunliffe’s the best bet.
Which kinda defines what I hate about NZ politics. It's more about opposing someone rather than about doing what is right and leading the country.
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Hard News: So long, and thanks for all…, in reply to The Ruminator,
Can someone explain the popularity of Ardern?
She gives the appearance of being someone who listens and is willing to change position if evidence convinces her she was wrong. Those are attractive qualities.
However, I used the word appearance deliberately because I find it hard to determine what politicians are actually like from what politicians say and do.
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Hebe,
Key seems to have tipped into the Rob Muldoon “you can think what you like but if you disagree with me you are a fool” political mode.
Exactly! It almost makes me think he's had enough of this PM lark and is just trying to see how far he can go before anyone (the public) will actually call him on it. At times it is just plain weird.
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Speaker: Naked Inside the Off-Ramp, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I'll let this stand, but continuing in this vein would be unhelpful.
Presumably because it's impolite rather than untrue.
PAS is different from other blogs because it tends not to attack the person and instead address (politely) the ideas and reasoning.
That is one of the major reasons PAS is fun to read. Please try not to take PAS down a hole most folks really don't want to go down.
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Hard News: The GCSB Bill: eleventh-hour arguments, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Way too late for that now
yeah…
I knew…
sigh…I'm devastated
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Up Front: The Missing Stair and the…, in reply to Emma Hart,
It is tempting to try to make, say, the Friend responsible for the Partner’s behaviour. Take them aside for a quiet word and say, “Dave, listen, can you have a word to Doug about X? It’s not fun to be around.” But another adult human isn’t actually their responsibility.
And that adds another complexity to an already difficult situation. You're asking a proxy to act on your (and the majority of the group's) behalf. And because the proxy is a whole other human being they will alter the message as it is passed along (if they are willing).
Ultimately you are left with limited choices, changing the behaviour is the ideal outcome, achieving that goal ... that's hard.
I can be a very skilled bastard (a consequence of that family training I mentioned upstream) but as I get more experience I am less and less convinced that being a bastard helps anyone as much as I would like (least of all me).
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One of the things I appreciate most about my circle of friends is that we really don't have missing stairs. Sure we have arguments about the best way to run the country, as if any of us had any influence. But in the main, the group are all intelligent thinking considered people.
So in some ways treading on one of the missing stairs is a nice reminder that what I experience in the group of friends is special and valuable. Sometimes it's important to be reminded that in some groups "those comments" are considered normal.