Posts by Danyl Mclauchlan
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That's a very reasonable, informed piece there David - my problem is it glides over the basic premise of the Sparc program: is a web site filled with computer games and interactive applications likely to be a good vehicle for getting kids to stop playing computer games and go outside and play?
I sense I'm going to be in the minority here, but my knee-jerk response is 'No, of course not. What a preposterous fucking idea. Why don't we sack the idiot that suggested it.' Obviously Sparc and the Ministry of Health reacted differently.
But maybe they had good cause. Maybe such a program has been launched in another country and proved to be an outstanding success?
If this is the case then you do have to wonder why Sparc needs to spend those millions of dollars on research, proof-of-concept and technology development instead of just copying an already existing successful model.
You also have to wonder why a very small, relatively poor country has decided to be a world leader and invest a considerable sum of money on a decidedly daft sounding idea that might work out well, but also might prove to be a spectacular waste of cash.
As Bernard Hickey has pointed out, the Mission On site traffic is currently so small it does not measure on any of the publicaly available tools for traffic analysis, suggesting the latter of these two options to be the case.
As I see it there are two levels of cost involved in this kind of spectacular public service wastage - one is the opportunity cost of not spending the money on front-line health, education, justice ect ect where it is far more likely to make a real difference to people's lives.
The other is the damage it does to the progressive ideals of efficient centralised government. Every time the public hears about these bureaucratic rorts it strengthens the right-wing sink-or-swim ideology of gutting the government and letting the private sector do everything.
If entire departments can be gutted without anyone outside of Wellington noticing (which seems to be close to the truth with Sparc) then people become receptive to the ACT party message that the whole damn lot can go.
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Do you assume that because you know? Because if you are correct then I assume they have been very misleading about their connections. I think you should back up that claim.
I don't know that at all - but its an obvious mouth organ, far more so than David Farrar's site or any other political blog in New Zealand. And the people who contribute to it do seem to have endless amounts of time to research and write their virulently pro-government anti-National propaganda. It just seems to me to be the most plausible explanation.
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At the same time, did The Standard really recall an interview with Kate on RDU from last November? Or did someone on the ninth floor slip them a little hinty-poo?
I doubt they're quite that well connected. I assume the guys behind the Standard work in the Labour Party Research Unit so finding out stuff like this would be all in a days work.
You do have to wonder why the Nats keep using the same market research company and then deny it - its not as if their record is all that great: C/T worked for NZ National and the UK Conservatives in 05, both of whom lost, then the Howard government in 07 who lost by a landslide.
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Yes, every time I hear Clark described as "smug" or people start by saying the "feel" something I know that Labour is not going to be judged on actual facts but in something from the Crosby / Textor play book.
I don't think I've heard Clark described as 'smug'. The word is frequently used to describe Cullen, however. And you'd be hard pressed to argue that our Deputy PM is not insufferably smug - you don't need Crosby/Textor to tell you that, you just need a few seconds of Question Time footage.
It seems to me that Labour party supporters at PAS are building themselves a narrative to explain their parties upcoming annihilation and the Cosby/Textor revelations feed right into that, providing an excuse for the left that poor old Labour will only lose because of some sort of satanic, right-wing media sorcery.
Labour will lose this election for a variety of reasons - bad luck with the economy, incompetent handling of the media, public rejection of their policies, 'third-termitis' and so on - and the Nats will win by default because Labour are doing a terrible job convincing the country to give them another term, not because they have Crosby/Textor on the payroll.
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Given the current political climate you have to wonder why National are bothering to invest any money on campaign consultants? Why don't the Nats just spend the next four months sitting in their offices playing GTAIV while Cullen and Clark continue to expertly steer Labour's popularity down into single digits?
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which is worse:
1. downloading american photo for pamphlet, which 99.9% of electorate won't even notice origin of
2. spending $k on getting a photoshoot done when you could have bought one from the net for $20, and saved the taxpayer a lot of money.
I suspect we'll find that a PR company was paid $k to produce these pamphlets and that far from saving the taxpayer money we've been extensively fleeced.
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Michael basset said it
For those who haven't seen it, Gordon Campbell has a review of Bassett's book up at Scoop.
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using a woman as his baby incubator is no different from using a man as a lifelike dildo
And that's tipped over from creepy to psychopathic.
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I'm arguing if a man vetos an abortion he should be forced to take complete financial and fiscal responsibility for that decision
Wow, that's well creepy.
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I seem to recall a documentary on Lange (prob 5+ years old now?) where they interviewed ex politicians and media etc who all seemed to basically agree that Pope *did* have a significant influence on Lange.
I've no doubt Heather Simpson has a significant influence on Helen Clark - that's the whole point of having political advisers and strategists. But Bassett's claim is that Pope was some kind of Sejanus or Lady MacBeth figure secretly controlling Lange to bring down the government.
I'm also amused by the title of Bassett's book - 'Working with David'. Lange has gone out of his way to emphasise that he despised Bassett so we're already through the looking glass before we even get past the cover.