Posts by simon g
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I don't think the Financial Times is controlled by the NZ-LabourBot, but never mind.
I watched Jian Yang's media conference and he dealt with the issue pretty well. He tried to explain the reality of life in China, especially given the story goes back even before Tiananmen 1989. But he (or his National bosses) were silly to think a matter of public record would just be ignored, and silly now to claim that publishing that record is "defamatory". Of course he isn't some dodgy alien 5th columnist, he's simply somebody who had to survive (and eventually succeed) in a totalitarian state. No scare story here, really.
The underlying problem is that, to be bunt, New Zealanders don't know shit about China. And a large part of the blame for that lies at National's door. If you worship a model that sees dollars and little else, then China is reduced to being a source of cash, not a country with a long, fascinating and tumultuous history, not a country where so much has happened so fast in recent years and that we should be watching documentaries about on a public TV channel that we don't have. Not really anything at all except an ATM (to coin a phrase).
They didn't bother trying to educate the public before, so they're doing it 10 days before an election instead. Bit late.
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Herald latest:
After two decades of MMP, in a basic comprehension test young people beat old people by 16%.
I think what we really need is for the Communist Party to get the most votes, so a large chunk of the population can suddenly clamour for other parties to start liking Communism too, because Logic. Or something.
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TV3 poll out tonight. Patrick Gower doing his usual hype (rventilating).
I'll be shocked if I'm not shocked.
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More generally, I think the Spin-Off website has been outstanding, and not just for political coverage. I don't see how anyone could find the scattergun Herald website to be superior (*cough* awards judges).
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There is a difference between what is reported, and what is a lead story. Labour's tax vagueness is a legitimate story, getting plenty of reporting and commentary.
If it's not the lead story, that's because National MPs keep providing other ones.
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The Herald has had a poor campaign when it comes to poll reporting. I'm starting to miss Digipoll!
Latest oddity: a sort-of poll (illustrated by a not-sort-of propaganda video from the Nats) on NZ Chinese voters, which is described as being "at odds with some other mainstream polls". Well, yes, probably because it isn't one.
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Again, the Herald creates confusion (cock-up not conspiracy I believe, but still):
Polling period? The graphic and the article give 2 different answers (for now, anyway - will probably be edited once they notice what an old sub would have seen in 5 seconds).
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I love Advance Voting, but I do wonder how it clashes with the strict laws on election day activity. Presumably nobody is proposing a media blackout or Twitter ban for weeks before the day itself.
Exit polls are common overseas, but not used in NZ. Is there anything to stop exit polls being conducted on Advance Voting? How long before pollsters (or party spinners with mysterious "internal polls") start telling us how people have voted, to influence those who haven't yet?
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Hard News: Where are all the polls at?, in reply to Dennis Frank,
I didn't hear Dallow say that in the bulletin I just watched. When was this?
He certainly shouldn't say it, because he doesn't know. The results would not be available yet, even to insiders.
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Apologies for the fake news, the poll is out tomorrow! (I'm blaming Twitter ... )