Or (if we are talking sitting MPs) someone who loses by a few thousand votes where the demographic has changed. Or for non-sitting MPs, someone who chooses to?

It also raises the point as to whether the?

(waves a tantalising whitebait at you, which is really pissed off by that action-)

And yes, I'm quite aware of which airports service the West Coast. However on the day in question the only flight that could get me in early enough, and out?

PS: all the best?

that is/will be the?

What are people thinking of the TV1 Debate so far? I found the first bit so excruciating I switched over to the Shortland Street Halloween Special (maybe it's another example of the problems of transferring Northern Hemisphere traditions to NZ, but it wasn't that?

Still, not as?

I'll remember you to everyone at the Music Awards on Thursday, bro.

But seriously: best of luck. You'll be a great dad.

Lasted about half way myself. Laughably incomptetent moderation and direction. The Greens' alternative online session (finished now) was way better value, as were the various Twitter streams. Still no agreed hashtag for the election.

I should say, that baby is DUE on Wednesday, but when s/he decides to turn up is anyone's guess. And so I do have a pass to the Music Awards, and I might pop in for a couple of drinks towards the?

You lie, sir. You look twelve. Always have. Always will. Keep your damn baby off my lawn. Harumph.

Jose and I shot a show in Christchurch on Thursday and Friday — therefore no studio record this week — so I can come! See you there.

Where?

Here.

If you're in the neighbourhood, make sure you get down to the Britomart Country Club, 31 Galway Street, on Wednesday 2 November from 8pm to be part of the LIVE audience. If you cant make it to the Britomart County Club, fear not you can watch it LIVE?

(O goodness, why did I have the utter luck of 2 midwife sisters and a GP sisterinlaw who specialises in birth? (not just gyne.) I?m an asexual, I am I am?and I love my numerous sibling offspring, yay unto the grand ones ? and I?m?

You sound like te perfect auntie, as long as you talk politics and books too.

Very premature twins (means two-hourly feeds and changes and feeds and changes andandand) gave me a taste for all-night television.

Richie McCaw could pretty much win any electorate.

Sez as lot about the mind of the electorate and the unfounded adoration given to those who are called leaders on the lounge room equivalent of what passes for a field of battle.
Or to use a quote from [[ http://publicaddress.net/system/topic/3260/?i=25#forum-reply-3260 |?

Here?

So the ugly truth come out — it is simply the young people wanting not to pay now when it is their turn and but standing?

To put this in terms alcoholic New Zealanders understand – you're proposing that you should be able to sit down in a pub and drink the top shelf dry, then swan off and leave the tab for?

Um? hi there, bulbul. I don?t think we?re acquainted but my partner of sixteen years is 66, still working and I?ve abso-fraking-loutely no problem?

Pretty much what Russ said. My $50k student loan and house deposit have never had a sniff of my babyboomer parents' income. Nor would I expect it, and I hope and pray that they live long enough that any inheritance is of more?

On the other hand:

a nice round wine

What sort of madness is that? Super Wine forever!

And oh yeah: first babies average eight days overdue, I read somewhere? (That was such a helpful statistic for those two Pixies shows in 2010...)

@Danielle – if first babies average eight days overdue, why don't they just make the due date eight days later. Never understood that!

Oy? I know too many women who would have found pregnancy a much more pleasant experience if they weren?t surrounded by people hanging out for a?

speaking of inequitable distribution :)

I'm for it. The only question is about how generous the means test is. There's some fucking rich people getting pensions. It could be that, say, the?

Certainly avoids figuring out who the deserving poor are.

Well, sort of. Getting old in itself is kind of seen by many as a rather positive industrial offshoot. Old age/uselessness never used to happen. And still doesn't in many countries

As in "universal basic income"? I agree, but I'm not sure how or if it should be abated for retirees with large savings. For working people on moderate to large incomes, any UBI they receive can be compensated for through progressive income?

This times 1000. One of the most attractive things about a UBI in my opinion is that it turns the question away from who is "entitled" to a benefit – because everyone is entitled – towards what the various needs of?

What about if you'd like your 'responsibilities' when you retire to be sweet FA? I find this new obsession we seem to have with older people continuing to 'contribute economically' pretty creepy myself. There's a big difference between being socially valued?

Those two sentences do not appear to be related in any meaningful way. I do not think?

We will get a no result on the night.

Nats not over 50%, all friends burnt; ACT dead and Maori diminished. But Lab + Green not over the mark either. No Winnie.

Nat minority gov? Norman offering conf. and supply??

Labour and National are virtually indistinguishable. I don't understand why they don't go into coalition together, combine the best things about each other's ideas, and discard the silly rhetoric.

Could someone please explain?

I do not agree at all. Both have a small amount of content and a whole lot of form. Slightly different compositions, but those differences are superficial. The structure is the same.

And we're talking graffiti, not murals.

Indeed. With a universal benefit they could "retire" at any time they liked.

(I come at this from a diametrically opposed place to?

It would mean a first in NZ history, that the party with the most seats was not in government. I don't know what the outcome of that would be. It could be seen as just a happy part of how?

The only requirement for an MMP government is that the governing coalition is larger than any other?

How about a true minority Nat gov? As biggest party? Could that work under current rules? Or is Key more likely to call new election with the gamble that a vote for the others is a vote for instability?

DCB yes?

The people they appoint to run our publicly funded organisations take their lead as to?

Yeah, but did we get Labour to listen? Or to tell better lies?

I'm reminded of worthy attempts?

No need. I am curious, though, what your ideal retirement would be, if you had only modest savings. What sort of things would you do?

It can be helpful to be unhelpful!

Key refused. Or should I say, his handlers did.

Labour refused to stand up to that.

I also caught Hekia Parata on the news, trying out methods to stop us worrying about broken gas lines and dangerously under-maintained infrastructure. Someone should demand a refund from her media trainer. A woeful performance I thought, particularly the clumsy grimaces that I?

(In all seriousness, if I couldn't afford to travel much, I'd probably spend a lot of time catching up on every single great film of the twentieth century. Paddle about on some local beaches. Hang out with some peeps, both related and?

Though I'm an active Green member, I am genuinely curious to see how the stable of MPs will perform in Government. I think we deserve that question answered.?

brilliant

Pondering my own inadequacies as a socialist-feminist revolutionary, mainly. And sometimes I watch Jersey Shore.

One love.

Whose serve?

Yeah well, we all do that! Much better done while relaxing with a pleasant view I reckon.

The other person I met at that particular embassy do was Annabelle?

Well... that depends on what people think the answers to those issues are, doesn't it? Arguably (very arguably), I?

This was noted in tv coverage as unexpected and unusual. I doubt the high ranking was caused by a tiny splurge of neolib fanbois gagging to privatise the conservation estate.

However, I agree it may have no bearing whatsoever on whether people vote for?

especially for the Greens

My point, in case people did genuinely miss it, was that list of issues people found important don't necessarily point to a voting preference, it's their solutions to those issues that?

Right, that's me out.?

you know what? That idea of introducing puma into ANZ was just SOOO wrong
that ? given my conservation interest at that time was wholly whales, dolphins, more whales- I became quite actively engaged in conservation in general ? mid-197os-

I will search out?

They also loathe being the opposition. I think it probably wouldn't work, but not because of hate. It's because of pride, that both major parties' senior people?

Somehow the fault lines?

Seems I was just too quick with my judgey-pantedness.

?Foucault?s Going To The Jersey Shore, Bitch!?

Good things take time Damian. BTW Hindsight's a great programme. And good for our history of politics. Perhaps your programme inspired String Theory in some way. Such interesting footage in both your show and the Labour Party Campaign ad.
Now,where's that baby......

(Plus DJ Pauly D is endlessly quotable. "Oh YEAH!")

Islander, just click on the link that Damian put up at the bottom of page 4. It plays Hindsight for you. Fantastic show. It's quite a buzz catching glimpses of my youth way back then. My old school uniforms?

Some of the comments on that page unhinged my brain.

Like this;

There's definitely a desperate attempt by academics to place anti-intellectualism in their academic sphere.

I think they might genuinely be over thinking it, just a little bit.

I'm blown away. It's?

Pics for the peeps any time soon?

Congratulations Damian and family. Welcome to the joy of parenthood. You totally should do the Lion King thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX07j9SDFcc

And I?m sure the depressing Welfare reforms announced by Key, that I was going to link to will have plenty of opportunity too.
Instead, CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!
Name? BOB? ;)
Damian 2?

you are so going to enjoy school plays. bravo

@Ben – baby's mum (Rebecca) is doing great. Handled the whole process, which of course ended up being absolutely nothing like anyone had planned, beautifully.

and that's good news so all best to the Christie whanau-

Sure. Which is why I felt a pretty surprising surge of sympathy (and respect) when Helen Clark conceded the election and resigned in the same breath. It was just sad seeing Muldoon and Lange on the backbenches, and respect for Helen deciding she wasn't?

I get that. It's not that I disagree. I think I'm just a bit peeved by these ideas floating around the retirement discussion, both here and elsewhere, that if you're a sprightly?

I?m so pleased that I?ve been working on my drunkorexia all week that I will only need one vodka to become blissfully ignorant of this.

Temporarily :(

Well that's certainly true to an extent.

But there is a long term problem if we keep helping people live longer through various means, but keep?

I can rant for a long time about the changes to the education system from the mid-80s onwards. But this myth of a golden age before those changes should not be swallowed whole.

An anecdote (I hope she won?t mind): When my mother announced?

Also noted in policy, if she cannot work for reasons of health or work related issues, she will be paid from 65 so it is trying to consider and factor in the physical type jobs that domestic certainly is.
Personally my age means this would?

I don't know how old your mother is, but baby boomer is a specific term for the generation born between 1946 and 1961 (give or take a year at the end).

give or take a year at the end

Doesn't it go up to 1965? Or do those people get to be 'Generation Jones'?