Posts by WH
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A bit off topic, but this was Hillary Clinton's recent speech to the American Bar Association. She was accepting the 2013 ABA Medal.
I always enjoy watching the Insider:
There are quite a few people I'd like to yell at like that.
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That's a great interview with Winston Peters.
He's aged a bit since the 2011 version, although some of the themes are the same. The exchange at 9:45 onwards ("let the devil take the hindmost", etc) is fascinating.
Peters says that 32 of 38 National MPs approached him to challenge Jim Bolger for the National leadership in 1988 - back when he was polling 29% for preferred PM - and that he turned them down because he couldn't advocate neo-liberal economic policies.
Interesting chap. Obviously I hope he goes with Labour and the Greens.
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Ezra Klein's Vox is up, the marquee piece is about how people use and accept evidence selectively. It's kind of depressing but also completely in agreement with experience - there may be real limits on how far argument can take us.
Of all the ways we might deal with climate change, I think our best chance of success would work a bit like an iPhone: a leap forward in technology that involves no real effort on the part of users and that accordingly becomes socially desirable.
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You might be interested in the work of Drew Westen who has done extensive work on psychology, language and persuasion.
Just watched this now - definitely time well spent.
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I was thinking about this overnight.
FiveThirtyEight's prediction that the Republicans will take the Senate in 2014 really shows how emphasising certain elements of the status quo can put you in a conservative, even defensive, mindset.
Given that positive change is a definitional goal of progressive politics, persuasion has to be at the core of what our parties do. Maybe we could crowdsource the Labour/Greens election strategy.
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We could call it FiveThirtyEight.co.nz ...
I'm an electoral-vote.com user. It got me through the 2008 election and I like the simplicity of it.
I'd be really interested to know more about how the parties go about trying to persuade voters to change their minds.
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I found the chart Sacha prepared quite helpful.
I'd have thought there'd be at least some interest in a well-thought out election polling blog. It would involve analysing the data provided by the main news organisations, providing a rolling average, commenting on broad trends, critiquing poor coverage and providing insight on best practice in layman's terms.
It might even be able to positively influence the way news organisations present polling data. In any case, Labour and the Greens have a real interest in making sure the implications of current polling figures are clearly understood.
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Greenwald's venture with Omidyar will, it seems, have more money to play with than either of them.
They've already launched The Intercept, which will be an outlet for all the Snowden documents that Greenwald holds. It's an oddly bare-bones site.
If I remember correctly, you linked to a Greenwald appearance on BBC's Newsnight programme last year. I have to admit that he's impressed me when I've heard him speak.
There's been an interesting disjuncture between the legal importance of the Snowden disclosures (which I think is very high) and the surprisingly slight popular engagement in the story. It's almost as if people never expected governments to respect privacy and are not shocked by the extent of the monitoring that has been revealed.
While I can understand people's cynicism, you have to hope that the policy communities concerned expect more. It will be very interesting to see how the US courts finally resolve the issues winding their way through the legal system.
The New Republic (purchased by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes in 2012) has been impressing me recently. There's a great story on the limits of Nate Silver style data-led journalism leading there at the moment.
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As difficult as it can be to make a point without first referring to French High Theory and claiming the endorsement of Dr Seuss, I'm not sure you can fairly ask someone's week-old startup to solve the problems of the world as you see them.
Ezra Klein and Nate Silver are doing something new. The opportunity is open to anyone willing to take the risk.
political pundit Ezra Klein (with Vox)
I'm looking forward to seeing what Ezra comes up with. His Wonkblog was a real step forward.
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Thanks for the beginnings of the defeatism Brigade. I would have thought now would be a good time to believe your vote does actually count and that we are worth something other than a smile as he waves.
Thanks for your views on the power of positivity, I'll ceRtainly beAr them in miNd.
I read that Cunliffe has "stormed" into the preferred Prime Minister stakes, at 12%. Cunliffe was quoted as telling reporters that "we may be pale, we may be male, but I promise you, we are not going to be stale".
I get all tingly when people make themselves sound like some kind of gendered biscuit. That's the Labour leader, alright: 50% good for you, but 100% delicious. Like kale, on sale.
Actually, I had a look at Labour's website. The housing and electricity policies look good as far as they go. Let's talk again when the Greens introduce a bill to abolish families three weeks out from election day.
And the thought of white flag over a blag flag? Are we Pirates or just surrendering ?
Quite right, Sophie. My comment was actually a subtle dig at the Japanese and English flags. You know how the white flag peoples get about surrenderring.
Wikipedia has compiled this helpful list of countries that are pirates and countries that are prone to giving up at sea.