Posts by Rich of Observationz
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I think with military forces there may be a distinction between a formed unit and individuals assigned to another nations forces.
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I'm no fan of Mallard, but I'm gob-smacked that he stormed into Auckland, presented a waterfront stadium plan I'd expect to see from a cowboy developer not a Minister of the Crown, then was all shocked when it went down like a bucket of cold sick.
Yeah. Plus aren't we glad that we didn't spend a billion dollars on a stadium now that we need every penny we can get. (Also, what would have been the betting that they'd have signed up sponsorship from a bank that promptly went bust).
I don't reckon there are more than 100 million rugby followers in the world, I'm thinking:
NZ 3.5 million
Aus 4 million (minority sport)
SA 6 million (Afrikaners and a few English speakers)
Wales 3 million
Scotland 2 million
England 10 million (minority sport)
Ireland 3 million
France 10 million
Italy 5 million
Argentina 5 million
Pacific Islands 1 million
Japan 5 million
plus odds and sods from around the world. -
I wonder if economic slowdown will affect the sales of what are after all discretionary purchases of luxuries.
I guess most gadget geeks work in IT, so it'll really only be an issue if the IT industry turns down. Which in turn hinges on whether the $3bln of pork (sorry, visionary broadband funding) gets signed off by our new masters.
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material for ... Leighton Smith
Surely he won't keep his radio show and be Speaker? It's bad enough allowing active politicians to be radio presenters at all.
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consummate
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28 Ministers, plus Lockwood. That's almost one quarter of parliament.
I'm increasingly in favour of capping Ministerial budgets, or rules, so that they can only have about 20.
How would the public service get supervised? I know they are all consumatte professionals, but the idea of a democracy is that the elected government and parliament controls policy (Officials advise, Ministers decide).
Of course, right now the PS will probably make much better decisions than the government, but in 3 or 6 years time..
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... see Australia as a benchmark
Isn't that setting our sights a bit low? Wouldn't Britain, Switzerland or Saudi Arabia be a better benchmark, they're way richer than the Aussies?
I'm sure that with ACTs superior faith-based science policy we should find that oil off the Kermadecs within the next few years.
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Does anyone think we should have STV for constituencies (as well as MMP, not instead of)?
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It was obvious in the case of Rodney's shirt. Would it be if somebody hired 100 out-of-work actors to wear promotional shirts?
But like I say, an exception for clothing would seem reasonable, as would a de minimis rule where the Electoral Commission could just rule that nobody was being unfairly influenced and hence no offence commited.
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I think if you engage in politics you do have to unmask your identity at some point. I don't think you could run as an MP or even local councillor if you stood as Mr X and refused to appear on TV unless the pixellated you?
Also, unlike ACT, I don't want to have a society where a candidate needs $600million (or even its NZ equivalent, $10 million) to effectively contest an election. I like a situation where people can make a difference on $3k and personal hard work.