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Posted at 12:32PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

It depends on the Minister and the relationship they have with their advisor. Some are, some aren't.

thanks for clarifying. i've been lucky to experience (at a distance removed) reasonable advisors. i've colleagues who have not. :)

Posted at 12:38PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

thanks for clarifying. i've been lucky to experience (at a distance removed) reasonable advisors. i've colleagues who have not. :)

no worries. there is an interesting range of personality types in our role, that's for sure.

and i guess it does sometimes depend on the officials with whom you're dealing :)

Posted at 1:52PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

I keep picturing the Wellington of 2009 as a kind of Lovecraftian wasteland populated only by the insane, the deformed, and the ACT staffer.

Somewhat like this?

Posted at 3:13PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

We'll all be laughing on the other side of our faces when the Old Ones start swarming again off Barrett's Reef ...

Posted at 4:19PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

"The secret priests would take great Cthulhu from his tomb to revive His subjects and resume his rule of earth....Then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom."

Roger Douglas did just get re-elected.....

Expect to see the following questions as part of referenda shortly:

Referendum question 1: Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand, and should Wellington be renamed as R'lyeh?

Referendum question 2: Do you support the removal of MMP and its replacement by a purely FPP system, and should the Beehive be reconstructed using purely non-euclidean geometry?

Posted at 4:25PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

the worse things about the old ones is the drooling on the briefing paper...

not to mention the selective deafness.

Posted at 4:27PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

The Old Ones - We're talking about NZ 1st supporters aren't we?

Posted at 4:55PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Amanda Binns reminds me of a Seagull manager, her role is to fly in, make a lot of noise, shit on everyone, then fly out. Leaving the flock to worry about the pecking order.

Posted at 5:01PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Amanda Binns reminds me of a Seagull manager

To be fair to Amanda, her job & the manner in which she executes it are nothing like that.

Her job is to answer any & all requests for information whether it be from the public, the media, the politicians or (when I knew her) the tenants.

And she's pretty good & even handed about it. Remember she was (and maybe still is) Communications manager for an organisation committed to adequate housing for all NZers, whose direction was set by the outgoing administration.

I don't think it's fair to dump on her just because she was amusingly photographed at a Nat victory party.

Posted at 5:04PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

It's fine to lightly mock her though :)

Posted at 5:17PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Apologies to Amanda.

Posted at 8:07PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

and should Wellington be renamed as R'lyeh?

That I can get behind -- Wellywood is so... so. :)

I don't think it's fair to dump on her just because she was amusingly photographed at a Nat victory party.

Well, I couldn't wear anything like that without looking like an over-stuffed sausage casing, and raising one's arms above one's head leads to unfortunate muffin exposure. I hate her. She must be the first whose soul is fed to the Old Ones.

Posted at 8:23PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

It's fine to lightly mock her though :)

In a white wine sauce?

Posted at 8:31PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

raising one's arms above one's head leads to unfortunate muffin exposure

LOL. am having sudden 80s flashbacks.

there was a song on mtv called "stuffin' martha's muffin".

sexist drivel, obviously. damn cowboy should have been fed to psychlos.

Posted at 8:40PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

So I can have fibre to the doorstep, but the council won't repair the footpath after Telecom dig it up?

Ben, I'm sure the old CitRats would love to sell the footpaths to Telecom, given half a chance..

Posted at 10:32PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Ben, I'm sure the old CitRats would love to sell the footpaths to Telecom, given half a chance..

Well, Sacha, Auckland City could put the case for serious across the board rate hikes up rather than pretend you can indulge champagne tastes on a beer income -- which might well be what landed Auckland in this particular paddling pool of poo in the first place.

Posted at 10:50PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Well, Craig. Or they could cut something other than catching up on fixing dodgy footpaths and sewage pipes or building swimming pools for the folk of Otahuhu and Avondale.

Things are in a bad state because Auckland's citizens persist in electing people who keep the rates down short term by not spending enough on basic maintenance - as evidenced by the bobbing turds in some bays after a downpour or whenever a senior citizen trips on the way to the corner dairy. It's like saving money by not painting your house. After a few decades the rot gets pretty expensive..

Posted at 10:55PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Champagne? I'm unclear what they intend to do with the "ambitious" plans for a world class city. Thinking of the televised attention of the third largest event on the planet in a few years does raise questions about how much you need to invest to make sure you reap the benefits, so I suppose they're right in not cutting those particular budgets. Must be tempting though.

Posted at 11:02PM on 13 Nov 08. Permalink.

Sacha wrote:

Things are in a bad state because Auckland's citizens persist in electing people who keep the rates down short term by not spending enough on basic maintenance -

and :-

Thinking of the televised attention of the third largest event on the planet in a few years does raise questions about how much you need to invest to make sure you reap the benefits, so I suppose they're right in not cutting those particular budgets. Must be tempting though.

I wouldn't disagree with the former, but I've sure had problems with the way just saying the words "Rugby World Cup" to a politician causes severe brain damage, and the compulsion to start spraying around corporate welfare like bank robbers in a titty bar.

Posted at 5:49AM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

There was a great chart at the Standard that is really worth checking out, if you haven't already seen it:

http://www.thestandard.org.nz/how-to-stimulate-the-economy/

I've been really impressed by Steve Pierson's writing, fwiw.

It can be difficult to explain that the government spending multiplier can have a greater expansionary effect than tax cuts.

Posted at 9:14AM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

just saying the words "Rugby World Cup" to a politician causes severe brain damage, and the compulsion to start spraying around corporate welfare

Agreed.

Posted at 9:48AM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

There was a great chart at the Standard that is really worth checking out, if you haven't already seen it

And what particular conclusion were we supposed to draw from a cut-and-pasted table (without any context) relating to the American economy, which is structurally not a carbon copy of New Zealand's?

Posted at 11:01AM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

But I also have the right, within the same limits you do, to argue with, criticise or plain laugh at those views. So don't insult my intelligence further by trying to present yourself as a martyr to my horrible right-wing dissent crushing.

It was gallows humour. If you think it was in poor taste, surely you can say so without jumping down everyone's throat.

Honestly, Craig. Your team won. The sun is shining. Chill out. Be happy.

Posted at 11:27AM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

Honestly, Craig. Your team won. The sun is shining. Chill out. Be happy.

I'm very happy, thanks. Well, I was until some right-wing nut decided to harsh my mellow by comparing the outgoing government to Stalin, Mugabe, Mao and Hitler. But point taken, and I'll leave with this observation:

It only took two months for the Nazi regime to pass a law purging Jews from the civil service. The cattle cars came later.

Posted at 1:13PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

And what particular conclusion were we supposed to draw from a cut-and-pasted table (without any context) relating to the American economy, which is structurally not a carbon copy of New Zealand's?

I think you're right to say that the numbers in the table can't simply be assumed to apply in New Zealand, but the table is still interesting in light of the need to respond to the global downturn.

In Steve's defence, the basic principles of expansionary fiscal policy are broadly applicable and I think his post is self-explanatory. Obviously aggregate demand will not be National's only concern given the campaign that was run and the party's philosophical outlook.

We've all heard it asserted that tax cuts are the most efficient way of promoting economic growth, but let's go no further over that well-worn ground.

Posted at 2:09PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

It only took two months for the Nazi regime to pass a law purging Jews from the civil service.

well, you've godwinned it good and proper now, but...

did you know that one of the pivotal moments in the history of sri lanka was the 1950s change from tamil to sinhalese as the language of the bureaucracy?

thousands of people out of work in the name of 'nation-building'.

all those disaffected workers went on to protest, then fight, then shoot, then before you know it keith is writing another bloody article about it.

Posted at 2:14PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

then before you know it keith is writing another bloody article about it.

Keith... now here's somebody whom I actually wish lost his job as a result of the election so that he could resume his bloggage. But then now that I've said that he'd probably insist on sleeping in my den, wouldn't he?

(Kidding, Keith, may your contract be renewed indefinitely. But darn I used to enjoy your writing.)

Posted at 2:17PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

i think keith could probably answer that one himself...

along with, "how would a free-lance journalist use three months of severance pay?"

Posted at 2:21PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

I should also put my money where my mouth is and pledge to be the first in line to buy any and all future collections of his PAS essays.

Posted at 2:25PM on 14 Nov 08. Permalink.

now there's something i should do.

i wonder if there's a market for half-pissed rants? rb?