It's Saturday night, and I'm in an internet cafe, in Auckland.
It's Saturday night, and I'm in an internet cafe, in Auckland, after leaving Borders, having failed to find a copy of some corporate Rich Dad, Poor Dad rip-off of a tax-avoidance newsletter called "N.B.R." or somesuch, in which, I hear, I got zinged by a pair of fat, balding middle-age failed accountants (which, of course, all NBR writers are).
In my own preemptive defence (which I hear are all the rage these days), Bevid Younghomas sucks. Face it - you'll never be half the man Neil Falloon is, not even after the corrective surgery, so stop trying.
Dick.
You're so wrong. Like, so totally wrong.
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So, is this a blog yet?
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On Friday night, I ran into My Good Friend Dr Brash at the Crouching Dragon, Hidden Banana conference (it's on Chinese in NZ - yellow on the outside, white on the inside, banana, geddit?). He described Winston's latest volley as "dispicable", but says that a gentlemen's agreement with Labour won't happen, due to mutual distrust.
Obviously, one would have to suspect that Brash wants to keep the option of forming a government with Winston open, dispicable or otherwise, but Brash made a good point: collusion between National and Labour would only serve to give Winston some keepin'-them-honest creds.
I also couldn't resist asking him fiscal questions (a (presumably) geniune smile flashed across his face when I raised the subject). Given the aging population, etc, he too would work on creating a buffer - though with debt reduction rather than savings. His primary beef, though, was not with the idea of government tucking a bit of cash under the pillow, but with the degree with which it was done. He also noted that there wasn't really a hard-and-fast "prudent" level of debt (the Govt is aiming for 20% of GDP as a long-term debt level).
It's good, I suppose, that we have people on both sides who would rather eat their own pocket protectors than be fiscally irresponsible. I hope that National's finance policy proves this to be correct (i.e. That they'll continue to save or repay debt to a similar degree, rather than what a literal interpretation of their rhetoric would suggest).
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Have been spending my days at the Bananas conference. Okay, so the name is a bit clumsy and lame - but the conference, as well as hanging out with Tze Ming's posse, has been a real eye-opener for me. Met a lot of interesting people so far, and, corny as it may seem, it's quite possibly the first time in my life that I don't feel out of place being Chinese, having a BA and an interest in politics.
It's definitely a different kind of community up here from the one in Wellington, where the Chinese community is primarily conservative decendents of the old Chinese settlers who end up as some kind of accountant/lawyer combination ("different" being something fandangled like IT); or they're international students doing management or some other, similar NBResque crap.
Of course, I'm sure that these walking stereotypes are also around in Auckland, it's just that it seems like the people of my generation - the ones who are genuinely comfortable hopping between cultures - are now starting to take hold here.
Rode out with the posse for some bubble tea last night, and scammed our way into this place called Margarita's, too. ("We're writing a piece on the Asian bar scene in Auckland. Yes. All six of us.")
Incidentally, Tze Ming has informed me that I dress like a 40-something Mainlander (mainland Chinese). Probably because I have one set of clothes to last me through this 6-day trip. However, Tze Ming also noted that Ben Thomas has even worse dress sense. Ha! Take that!