Posts by icehawk

  • Up Front: Not Uniform, in reply to NBH,

    And as someone who went to a no-uniform school (Wellington High, mid-90s), I can tell you that’s the exact opposite of my experience.

    That matches my daughter's current experience at Wgtn High, where she started this year.

    One of the kids on her school sports team identified as male last year, but this year I don't know which gender they identify as. They're quite ambiguous. But my daughter and her friends at just don't seem to think that a big deal "Not important like what they're like or how nice they are", I'm told.

    The youth of today. They give me hope, they do.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • Hard News: Five further thoughts,

    Matthew Hooton says "Politics is about leadership. Always has been. Always will be"

    And says this in a comment in which he argues that Labour should not present itself as leading a coalition, but as if they were magically going to govern alone.

    Oh, the irony.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election 2014: The Special…, in reply to tussock,

    Indeed, you are right about the absurdity of such conspiracies flourishing.

    One of the heartening things about the whole Dirty Politics saga is that once 4 people in NZ know something, it really has no chance of remaining secret long-term.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election 2014: the no…,

    The Conservative party platform is evil, and I am gleeful at their misfortune.

    Yet even I acknowledge that their exclusion in unfair. I hope the Nats do reform the threshold.

    I question, however, your belief that it is in the Nats best interests to do so. Always remember that the greatest enemy of a radical anarcho-syndicalist Trotskyite faction, against whom they strive and struggle most diligantly, is another radical anarcho-syndicalist Trotskyite faction. Cue the PLA from 'The Life of Brian'. So too on the centre-Left, where Labour's treatment of the Greens has varied between shoddy and hostile, and the centre-Right, where National doesn't want to lose its seats to the Conservatives, thanks.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • Legal Beagle: Election 2014: The Special…,

    And if Hone had won his electorate seat? How would the Sainte-Lague (sp?) method have worked out then.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Spending "Cap" is Fiscal Anorexia, in reply to Idiot Savant,

    not subject to the OIA...

    But the moment they become "Boards of Trustees constituted under Part 9 of the Education Act 1989" they are.

    I see your Boards of Trustees, and raise Commercial Sensitivity.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Easy as 1, 2, 22.8 billion,

    Damn, sorry about the typos, this ipad keyboard kind sucks for typing in bed.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Easy as 1, 2, 22.8 billion,

    Bart,
    My apologies fo thinking you were a grumpy old man.
    But serously, you are totally dead wrong about how National Super was introduced. It was explicitly NOT the contract you say it was.
    Labour did set up exactly what you suggest, a tax and invest scheme to tax now to cover superannuation later. It lasted only 37 weeks before the voters turfed them and it for Muldoon, who replaced it with National Super which had not investment of your tax money now to pay the future super.
    Ice

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • OnPoint: Easy as 1, 2, 22.8 billion, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    Bart, you misrepresent superannuation grossly. There was never a contract to put tax money aside in the 70s and 80s to fund superannuation later. Didn't happen.
    It was intended as a pay as you go scheme, not a pay now for later scheme.

    But also taxpayers in the 70s, 80s and early 90s not only failed to pay enough tax to invest some to fund their future superannuation, they also voted for large govt deficits. A govt deficit is just a way of enjoying govt spending money now, but deferring the tax payments until many years later. We still haven't paid off your deficits. I don't want to dismantle superannuation, but financially your generation did indeed screw over mine.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

  • Up Front: P.A. Story,

    Is geology-porn a genre?

    In Aotearoa the genre has long roots. The old story of ground-meets-sky and fuck!

    Wellington • Since Sep 2008 • 49 posts Report

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