Posts by Paul Campbell

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  • Island Life: The Budget of All Mothers,

    Craig - I was being a little tongue-in-cheek - but I do think one of the great unintended consequences of MMP was that it really did shake the parties up in a way that kind of undid a lifetime of politics and gave people who's politics had changed since they'd entered parliament, and who's personal ideas maybe no longer really represented those who were electing them license to cross the floor and find a place where they were happy

    I'm not suggestion that we should necessarily have change for change's sake in the way we elect our representatives - personally I think that we should always be striving for something that represents and many of us as it can - not just the dualing moneyed elites of the american system or the hunkered down farmers vs workers of our old system still re-fighting the waterfont strike - but (for all I hate him and his racism) Winston sucking up to the pensioners, the Greens with their supporters, ACT with theirs - I want to see that Legalise Cannabis representing the stoners debating Jim Anderton on the house floor etc etc

    But somehow having something that shakes things up in a big way is probably a good way to get some fresh ideas and faces into the place - as I said once every 30 years would be OK by me doesn't have to be tomorrow

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: The Budget of All Mothers,

    while I'm a big fan of MMP I do see value in 'turning over the electoral system', maybe every generation - 30 years or so

    Think about Roger Douglas and Marilyn Waring (and many others) - people who got into parliament with one set of ideas and eventually found themselves with different ideas from the people they were with - they were in a position to make a difference but not with their ideas - when MMP came the cards got reshuffled and redealt and everyone got a chance to join a new party

    While the current MMP still makes that much easier than FPP you can see the number of small parties slowly dwindling - I thing we're losing or going to lose that diversity of opinion and ideas that are important to have in parliament - I think that the 5% threshold is making it harder for new smaller groups to rise up and get representation - why shouldn't Destiny have a seat if they have the backing or Act or the Brethren or the Socialist Workers or ...

    (and to completely change the subject and because I just have to tell someone I must announce that the tui sitting on the tree right outside my window is singing the most amazing song ....)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: The Budget of All Mothers,

    I actually think he's been an excellent Minister of Finance - he's paid down the debt in the good years leaving us in a much better situation for the lean ones. Kiwisaver's another great example of thinking about the economy in the very long run - providing a pool of investment capital (like Australia has) to help grow out economy

    I think it's pretty rare to find a politician thinking about the future in this way - the easy thing to do is to have a lolly scramble every year - even this year with defeat staring them in the face he's really not let them open the flood gates and offer ponies for all

    If the Nats get in next year I hope they WONT give us big tax breaks. With the economy trending down the way it is now is a good time to keep that fiscal prudence in place so we can continue to pay the bills - with record low unemployment came record low dole payouts - as people start getting laid off (see the morning paper ever other day) those costs go up and the tax take goes down - the alternative is to blow all that money Cullen has saved

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: The Budget of All Mothers,

    Let's put it in perspective - John pays $168/week he's going to get a $16/week cut - that's 10% - raising to $32 (20%) - not small potatoes

    but apparently we're not all going going to buy potatoes - we're going to buy cheese - will no one think of the poor starving dairy farmers?

    seriously though cheese and milk are expensive - a tax cut isn't going to change that - if we want to do something about the price of cheese we need to STOP BUYING IT - thereby reducing demand and lowering the price - so long as we all keep spending our tax cuts on cheese we're screwed (and fat)

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Speaker: You, Me and the DHB: Your Tax…,

    something near to 8% of the male population are colour blind in some form - it's probably vaguely close to the proportion who are lefthanded

    Most are red-green colour blind of course and learn that the top light is red and the bottom green - but lots of other things cause problems - years ago working as a chip designer one of my workmates complained he couldn't use the simulation tools we used because they showed good signals in green and bad in red (this is traditional in this biz) - which makes you think how could someone (or a whole industry) make products that don't work for 10% of their clients - the simple ability to customise the UI colours is all people need

    I guess like lefthandedness it's something that we all ignore because it doesn't affect us

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Secret Code,

    well the answer is "I don't know" - as I said to me he comes over as a guy from sales which trips my BS detector - but that may just be from hanging out in that milieu for too long - I can't tell 'till the poker face get laid aside

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: The Secret Code,

    So has anyone here actually met Key - I just can't get a read on him - is he real? acting? what does he believe in?

    The only context for his life I have are those pictures of him from last year in front of a somewhat sterile holiday home. I guess he's trying really hard to be a cypher that people will project their own image/desires on

    I've worked in the tech industry for many many years - to me he reads as one of those guys in sales we have to have, they're always trying to be your best friend, but we feel a bit queasy when we have to hang around them and see how they actually operate at trade shows (sorry guys).

    As I said above the nothing there there thing may just be an act, but it sets my BS detectors off .... I'm waiting 'till he takes the mask off and we discover who's really under there ....

    maybe we should start a pool ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Cracker: Policy State,

    I had an "only in NZ" moment the other day - it was my daughter's first soccer game of the year, the parents were hanging around while the girls warmed up and we started to introduce each other - on of the parents said "Hi I'm X" one of the other parents said something like "you look familiar, have we met before" and he responded "I'd be your minister of Y" (names and portfolios changed ...) so we watched the game, talked about the same things parents talk about in such situations, went home ....

    The fact that we have representatives that genuinely live amongst us is pretty special

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Shooting for the Moon,

    I'm glad you mentioned the Tolls purchase - can you seriously imagine the Nats doing the same to Telecom? their money people would have a hissy fit

    I do remember when we owned the phone company - it sucked badly - really badly - it was run by people from before the ark who didn't really understand computers - we had to design our own datacom equipment and get it permitted - part of that process included them running the product through a bandsaw. They had a public monopoly, no one could compete with them - burying our own cable between buildings resulted in a lawsuit (forget that they didn't have enough circuits because the copper had been put in the 30s and the only connection they could offer had to go down town and back again).

    These are the same people who got their first bunch of phones cheap back in the 30s because the numbers had been printed on backwards .... worked great for years until they tried to do international STD

    Anyway while selling the phone company might have been a stupid thing to do it certainly wasn't a golden age of telecommunication

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Shooting for the Moon,

    OK - I work in the TV end of this biz - we make settops both for IP and traditional cable plants in the US - read the following with my bias .....

    I think that the killer app here ought to be TV - a competing service to Sky - problem is, as Russell points out, economies of scale in NZ aren't the same as in larger cities off shore - after Sky and FreeView we probably don't have room (in our collective wallets) for another pay-TV - which is sad because a decentralised IPTV infrastructure where anyone can put a TV channel on the local or national fibre (just pay for the upstream - and real-IP multicast, done right, genuinely allows people to share streams efficiently) would be wonderfully cool idea

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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