Posts by uroskin
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Coming to New Zealand as a European was a bit of a strange experience alcohol-wise - and I'm sure it's true for most (young) tourists too.
Drinking in licenced premises at 16 (including special premsies for 16-25 year olds) and driving at 18 (with a zero limit) sound eminently more sensible than what is proposed here. It's the policy in Belgium.I also never understood how making people subject to prohibition based on age would make an alcohol culture any more manageable than the current other (prohibited) drug cultures are.
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Dodgy bankers, dodgy volcanoes, lesbian PMs, whaling, massive public debt. Iceland has a lot to answer for!
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what happens when the dole runs out?
I should have been a bit more nuanced. In Belgium where I lived, your dole was a (from memory) 60% of your wage for about 12 months. Then it dropped to the minimum dole (paid to people who have never worked and the long-term unemployed) which lasts until you find a job. The really humiliating thing about the Belgian dole system was that you had to register (get a "stamp") daily at a set hour the day (the next day's appointment time is given to you at today's stamp time) ostensibly to prevent black economy work. The registry was always in a very public place which adds to the humiliation of lining up.
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@3410: the movies are moving to 12.30am. The midnight Aljazeera news is too popular to be dropped.
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Speaking when wearing my hat as programme director at Triangle TV / Stratos TV, thanks for the commentary on "The Beat Goes On". It is a one-man-band-show (literally: producing, scripting, presenting, inteviewing, filming, editiing, delivering). All without state funding, of course. And he pays us to be on air, rather than the other way round in the case of all the media divas here. It possibly is the only sustainable form of free-to-air television when the advertising and the state funding get cut out soon.
As a former newsreader on bFM (in Graeme Hill's breakfast days, and Lisa Van Der Aarde's drive show) I still listen but not to breakfast, RNZ National is too valuable. And I appreciate George FM and RNZ Concert in equal measure.
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Regards unemployment insurance, it's not jujst Canada that should be considered. Most Western European countries have "social insurance" schemes with contributions from your wage, your employer and the state (a bit like KiwiSaver if it was an insurance scheme). Your national insurance contributions are basically a tax outside your income tax (hence the sometimes large "tax burden" figures in Europe - here everything comes out of the general tax take - direct and indirect - except ACC).
The European schemes are more or less comprehensive (and vary in pay outs and duration of benefits too) but require substantial separate bureaucracies to administer. I remember having to contribute to separate health, unemployment and pension schemes, all with different offices, rules and even providers.
The advantage would be that they are somewhat personalised (i.e. the longer you have contributed to your schemes, the longer your dole lasts, plus the dole and your pension is a percentage of your last wage, not a flat pay out as in NZ).
Fairer, perhaps. Expensive, certainly. -
I trust you'll be asking the hanger and the flogger where he gets his funding from.
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Summer was glorious on Waiheke Island but it's not only Northland that has a drought. We had to buy water for the first time in 7 years (no evil Watercare or Metrowater on Waiheke! I'd rather go without a shower than to be gouged by those evil CCOs) and the garden looks like an Arizona desert patch. The Beach Races were postponed due to the tsunami risk, be all welcome on the 14th. And the Summer doesn't officially end until Pink Drinks (regular gay & lesbian cocktail party) at our place on April 17.
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Depending on rainwater and having your own septic system on site is a planning requirement if you want to build/live on Waiheke island. It makes for slightly larger sections (which makes fruit and vegetable growing a little easier, especially since your own poos help too). It doesn't make public transport less viable: just charge properly for roads.
Don't local body elections have the Jerry Mandered system of if you own a business/land in another electorate you can vote there?
Correct, all residents and ratepayers (who con't have to live in the council area) can vote. Landlords have multiple votes, yes. The ratings system is a hangover of feudal times and simply needs abolishing and replaced by a local income tax (or even simpler: a portion of all residents/business taxes to central Government gets transferred to their local authorities; plus a percentage of the local GST take)
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$1.3bn is 26,500 houses at $500k a pop. If we set them on fire wouldn't that:
A) Lift house prices due to the diminished stock
B) Increase rent due to higher accommodation demand
Thus increasing capital gains and rental yield for landlords.
So they don't need to set the cash on fire. They'll get it back from the insurance anyway.