Posts by BenWilson
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What? Why did no one tell me it was on at the time?
...too busy shagging soz.
Love this from the Clark speech too:
"A detailed timetable will be developed with clear milestones after consultation with stakeholders"I've written that one verbatim a number of times. Sounds soooo professional.
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Hmmm, seems a bit much for Clark to be blaming the 'yoof crime wave' on the 1991 budget.
But her speech is well balanced, at least.
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From my own perspective, I would be hard pressed to think of a situation where I have ever found any practical use for anything I learned at university
I can think of hundreds, personally. But then I did a practical course at University, along with the not-immediately-practical. And curiously one of the courses I rated as least practical of all (when the hell am I ever going to write a compiler?), turned out to have been a total goldmine, which in itself paid for my entire time at University, fifteen years later.
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I thought O'Rourke's best moment was to describe E as a 'Lapdog drug'.
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I can see why the media has jumped on it, and I'd guess National probably isn't discouraging the label. It's just misleading at best.
Yeah, I guess it's more headline. It's only one small prong of a bunch of policy hints. Which themselves are only a small prong of the total policy of the party. Which is in itself only a hint at what will actually happen after coalition negotiations conclude.
But I think the dogwhistle is nice and clear - no tolerance for yoof crime. The timing is right, and there's no demographic that has to miss out on this one (who can vote).
Personally I was pretty surprised to hear that only 8,400 16/17 year olds are not studying or working. When you start looking for work after having chosen not to study, you're probably seeking some sort of career. Naturally this kind of option takes longer to find than part time work picking fruit etc. There will always be some unemployed people between jobs, and when you're that young it's a bit early to make a call about whether you are 'long term' about it. There's also a heck of a lot of under the table work going on for kids.
Really doesn't seem all that serious to me. If the other option is that they are in a back-breaking go-nowhere job for peanuts, I can't see that's much better for the economy generally, or the kids.
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To be fair to Key, he has been totally vague about what would be involved in the Fresh Start Programs. It could be a good idea, if any details ever get released we could make an informed prediction.
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Kyle, a boot is a boot, whether Key wants to call it a Fresh Start or not.
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Yeah, but I still feel bad laughing about anyone in the sex trade. ARGH! THE PC NAZIS HAVE ME IN THEIR PINKO EMBRACE!
They do indeed, cause u missed da point. The main joke-butts in the sex trade are the punters, and they can still be laughed at with impunity. It may be legal to pay for sex but that doesn't mean it's not still mighty embarrassing.
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Boot camps seem to me a way to seem to be doing something. The underlying problem is unemployment for the unqualified, for which the main solution is access to education. Making imaginary work running around and taking out a good drill sergeant to do it, is mostly squandering human energy.
I'm sure quite a few kids do benefit from it, and it makes yet another part of the tapestry of our education system. But making it compulsory? I'd be surprised if National is even contemplating it - it's much more likely to be a very convenient metaphor for all the Nation's ills. "What we need is a good kick up the arse. We're gonna put all the slackers through boot camp". In practice, boot camp will have just as many people in it as it used to, but we'll all feel comfortable with it as a threat for our naughty children. Because the yet-to-be-PM mentions it frequently, the threat will seem more credible.
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Um, Ben, that's really as silly as saying if I ever have a violent and unmanageable manic episode that a term in a psychiatric ward is just a way to "outsource" the kind of neglect and abuse that (sadly) is far from unknown in the history of mental health services in NZ.
Are you comparing itinerant youths to violent psychiatric patients? Clearly the second need specialist care.
I don't think boot camps are always bad, any more than I think smacking is always bad. But I do think it's mostly bad, and you need a pretty good reason to dump a kid in one.
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