Posts by Kyle Matthews

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First

  • Hard News: New Old Left?,

    I was meaning more, despite a couple of statements that Goff has made recently, there seemed to me to be a lot of room to the left of Labour for another party.

    I still struggle to put Labour into the left-wing pile.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: New Old Left?,

    Labour has just eaten their ground

    Somehow when I wasn't looking the real estate on the left shrunk.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: New Old Left?,

    Would ACT have crossed the 5% threshold if this hadn't happened? Might not have some ACT voters voted National if they feared their votes would be wasted?

    Always difficult to tell, but given that they made it by 1.1% probably unlikely.

    Mark Thomas' story is unusual in that this has happened in other electorates - Epsom, but then everyone knew about it beforehand, including the candidate who signed up for the National Party. Mark Thomas got screwed and then had to front up and put a cheery face on it for the media. Astounding that he ever had anything to do with the National Party again.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: New Old Left?,

    Maori sovereignty would fit within that ideological space, which is where Harawira would come in.

    I'm dubious that Harawira is a one issue person though. As well as believing in Maori Sovereignty, he believes in a bunch of other things which aren't particularly left wing. Like others I can't see him fitting into any sort of left wing party unless it looks incredibly different from what we normally consider to be left wing (and therefore count out McCarten and Bradford).

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: New Old Left?,

    Craig, would it be possible to elaborate on what took place?

    There was a relatively good film festival movie on it called campaign.

    Basically Bolger screwed over his candidate by not so subtley telling national voters to vote for Richard Prebble in Wellington Central to get ACT into parliament. Wasn't actually needed in the end as ACT crossed the 5% threshold, and it did no good for the internals of the National Party.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Unreasonable people vote,

    He? And what were the 535 members of Congress doing through all this - sneaking cigs and braiding each others hair in the cloak rooms?

    Making a goddam mess of the debate from what I recall. Which goes to show that the punishment doesn't necessarily target the criminal.

    I think Obama will be re-elected. Two years from now the stimulus and the passage of time will have kicked the economy into solid growth, out of Iraq, possibly out of Afghanistan. There will be a bit of a realisation that in one term fixing the three biggest horrors of the Bush presidency isn't too bad a job.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Speaker: My People,

    Reducing the amount of money given to a family for each extra child is based on the premise that the full cost of the first child is fully paid in the first place.

    Which clearly isn't going to be the case, it would cost us tens of billions of dollars to fully fund the cost of children.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Summer's record has come early,

    It's called Chick's because Chick was the surname of the actual original publican back in the late 1800s.

    My ex once played pool for the Crown Hotel's third division team. One day she was bemoaning the fact that there were so few females playing pool, and how she was looking forward to play all the girls from "Chicks". I had to disillusion her sadly.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Summer's record has come early,

    It's been called Chicks for many years. six or seven years ago it was pretty rough, and mostly smelt or the beer in the carpet.

    Good music venue now.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

  • Hard News: Unreasonable people vote,

    I can't believe they've only spent $200 million on the war in Afghanistan...
    seems like a bargain.

    per day?

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report

Last ←Newer Page 1 98 99 100 101 102 624 Older→ First