Posts by Paul Williams
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Apprenticeships - my fav. All we need to do first is re-nationalise railways, expand the Post Office, and re-develop a manufacturing industry.
Sorry Marcus, I actually agree that declining apprenticeship rates are a problem - however other forms of vocational training have gone through the roof. Fixing apprenticeships relies on their being jobs and industries where employers can and will hire and train young people for four years... and that ain't Glassons(incidentally McDonalds have a good training record/program).
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I gotta say that on a recent trip back to Akl, I was pleasantly surprised by how timely, clean and cost effective the trains were (compared with in the '80s when I used them to go to school). The road traffic, on the otherhand, was worse than Sydney.
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put all those troublesome kids in the army. that'll sort them out.
Or Nasa perhaps?
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Although I'm not deterred by the prospect of paying higher taxes, I suspect that the governments that fund comparatively high levels of social services also insist on data that makes this kind of international comparison possible - whereas those that don't (fund high levels of social services), are likely to have less data from which to make comparisons.
I've not read this report in any detail but I'd be wary of isolating any one factor, tax or otherwise, to explain the relative performances of different countries.
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Marcus "relative economic prosperity" is a pretty mild statement. Perhaps I was a little too oblique, but I was alluding to the issues you've raised - hence the comment "perhaps the link is not so direct".
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Thanks at least for the instaputz link as some light relief.
The UNICEF study is disturbing, even assuming things have improved, and there's always problems with data comparability, it's still worrying that we've performed so poorly after several years of relative economic prosperity - perhaps the link is no so direct?
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I'm not sure if they're playing it in NZ, but in Australia Westpac are heavily spruiking their adoption of the equator principles which govern financing and investments (www.equator-principles.com). Briefly, the principles require that financing where the activity is socially and environmentally sustainable. I have to say, it's winning them business at least amongst some of my friends (no billionaires, but plenty of nice middle class $500k mortgages). ANZ have recently announced that they too have joined this club.
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Craig Ranapia said:
The West Wing where the (sadly ficiticious) Republican nominee Arnold Vinnick ...
Sadly fictious - now that's something we can agree on and I'm happy to agree to disagree on other matters.
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Craig Ranapia wrote:
What I object to is the implication - explicit or implicit - that if you don't vote like them, you're not really a good Christian. That strikes me as rather monstrous spiritual and political arrogance, and to hell with it.
I've not heard anything from Rudd that suggests he thinks along these lines Craig? I might have missed something while I was back in NZ recently, however the comments I've seen/heard instead challenge the view, espoused by Howard and Abbott, that Christian means conservative.
Last election we had the sight of Costello, a high-Anglican, attending a Hillsong service meanwhile numerous Liberals accepted the support of the Exclusive Brethren.
I'd very much like candidates, from either party, at least represent the diversity of the Church... the Liberals have actively tried to link a particular set of policies with "Christianity" and it needs challenging (it's worth noting that Rudd's approach is not one that Labor is particularly keen on given their tendancy to prefer agnosticism).
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Craig, I don't agree. Not least of all becuase there's something like 20 different parliamentary chambers across Australia. There's nothing inherently smart about Australian politics, nor the Australian electorate. My own view is that much of the debate in the Federal Parliament is in fact a lot less meaningful than NZ's - it's certainly more feral; Latham's famous "congaline of suckholes" is extreme but nevertheless representative.
Also, in reference to the Rove-characterisation. Howard is attacking Labor on their issues, as Labor is attacking the Coalition on there's - a number of Rudd's speeches have had an economic focus because Labor feels the Coalition is vulnerable; whether they are or not is less clear.
Incidentally, Rudd's invocation of Christ was fair enough too, from my perspective, I'm frankly sick to death of Christian meaning moral conservativism.