Posts by BenWilson
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Yes, although I guess you could argue in those cases that people do still get killed by failures of the system to act a bit quicker.
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I'd also guess that you could come up with a set of KPIs for the job and hold an annual performace review to assess how the incumbent is doing at acheiving them.
If they're anything like the KPIs that I've had to put up with over the years they're more likely to fuck the country over than anything else. That would just beg for statistics to get fiddled with on a massive scale.
As you say, there's no formula for the right leader. But I think democracy has one good thing going for it - it is capable of dealing peacefully with people who are clearly the wrong leader.
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it's sure not healthy when we have MPs whose (to use some ghastly psychobabble) life experience is limited to scaling the greasy pole.
Yes, I feel similarly nervous. It seems to me that 'scaling the greasy pole' could really be the narrow domain in which these people achieve mastery, and it's hard to see how that is really a credible claim to having ultimate power, and the best interests of the nation at heart.
OTOH, what other method would work better? I don't have any answer to that. Years in system building have shown me that you can never engineer systems that stop people with bad intentions doing bad stuff. Especially if the engineers were the bad people. Also, if there are mostly good intentions, then even bad systems can work quite well in practice. That's part of the reason I don't think NZ's failing to have a constitution is that serious. It seems to me that a constitution is no real protection from bad people in power, nor is failing to have one any guarantee that power will be abused.
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Like all the untalented accountants and auditors and clerical workers and computer programmers and <insert subjectively boring job here>...
Is being the Prime Minister like being an accountant/auditor/clerical worker/computer programmer? If so, then it's not a problem. But that is my question. People who master the use of a small domain (or even fail to master it but try) are the best people to ask about that domain. But when the domain is having enormous power and control over the lives of an entire nation of people? Is that something 'well understood' like accounting? Is it something where you could demonstrate your knowledge in a simple unambiguous test?
I don't claim to know the answer to that question, but at this point I don't think so. I think it's a different kind of job.
Or are you saying that something being boring is no guarantee of it failing to attract talent? If so, agreed. That point was not well thought out.
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Political blandness seems to be a growing trend. I don't know if it's a good thing. Seems to be a gradual consequence of the professionalism that is slowly taking over politics, that you get leaders who have all the animation of someone working at their computer.
On one hand it seems like a good thing, perhaps it's saying that politics is a dull professional job being handled by dull professionals in a dull professional way.
On the other it seems dangerous in a democracy when people start to feel that making choices about the direction of their own society is something which is a professional job and everyone else who has anything to say is just an irrelevant hack, a witch doctor, or a trouble maker.
Also, if it really is boring, then it seems unlikely to attract talented people. Again, not sure if that's a bad thing.
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If it ain't online, at least in tidbit/trailer form, I ain't paying to see it. There's an entire planet of free content I've only scratched the surface of.
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Paul, how soon are we really going to know the outcome, though? Is counting a lot faster if it's a landslide?
I'll be pretty happy if Bad King John is dethroned.
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Steve, I'm not saying there shouldn't have been a link, for the reasons you suggest. But a twit like this guy will be reveling in his page impression count going over 30. Probably made his day.
My wife is Catholic and doesn't believe in smacking. I certainly don't. It is obviously very tempting when you lose your temper, but that makes it all the more insidious. It's more of an argument against losing your temper. Being bad-tempered is a bad excuse for bad behaviour.
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It's Christian sadists a-go-go over there.
I couldn't find one single post out of 21 on the main page that had any comments at all. This is one determined blogger with no audience. You've just done him a huge favor with your link!
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Rich, it really is bizarre I agree. I wonder if we're going to leapfrog over fibre optic cables, since they'll be obsolete by the time Telecom ever get around to supplying them. Meanwhile DSL gets faster and faster, acting as a better and better stop gap. Surely there is a limit to how good it can get, though? Wireless options are getting better and better all the time. At some point they must break through the DSL pain barrier, and then goodbye Telecom. Not holding my breath, though.
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