Posts by Idiot Savant
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Illegal Highs, in reply to Russell Brown,
It would be interesting to know what is actually happening.
To the OIA!
Except someone else should do it, because I don't think I have the expertise to know what questions to ask.
-
Hard News: Illegal Highs, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Serious question: What would it take to set up a regime for "purity testing for active ingredients." Someone who knows please correct me if I'm way off base, but I got the impression that wasn't just something you can order off Amazon, or simply port in from overseas.
A bit of organisation to set up a sampling regime, and a contract with ESR. That should not have been difficult.
-
Hard News: Illegal Highs, in reply to Andre,
The products they are retailing may be slightly different to those originally approved under the regime but there is no testing of the prodyucts so this is covered up.
Which sounds like a fundamental failure of the regulatory regime. What has Ministry of Health been doing for the last year? Looking at pictures of cats?
-
Peter Dunne for his part insists that the government had already decided to ban everything butwas delaying an announcment to prevent stockpiling.
The OIA will tell us whether he's lying about the timing or not.
-
Hard News: Jones: The contender leaves, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I reckon it would be useful to OAI the details on Jones' new job (announced yet?).
Oh, I will be.
-
Hard News: Jones: The contender leaves, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I don't think some sort of "roving ambassador" post counts. The only way they could elevate that role would be to create a special government office on some Pacific island, and even then one could argue that a "post" is the sole NZG diplomatic presence in a state, so could not be in a place where we already have one.
Or if the appointment is really to an international fisheries organisation.
But even then: while heads of misison/post are appointed by the G-G (which means on Ministerial Advice), that doesn't mean that the decision is entirely in the discretion of the Minister. To point out the obvious: these people are employees of MFAT. And that means that the decision on who to employ and on what terms is rightly one for the Chief Executive, on which they are statutorily independent. McCully can say "we need a new ambassador to X", but he can't say "and I have just the man for the job".
-
Hard News: To be expected, in reply to Russell Brown,
No Right Turn takes the opposite view -- that the absence of a Labour-Green campaign coalition will give National more scope for mischief, because National will be able to define the relationship itself. This seems counter-intuitive to me -- surely National would be more likely to make hay out of the fact of a formal coalition?
National will cricise them regardless. The difference is that without a formal alliance, it is National which gets to frame what a Labour-Green government will do, rather than them getting a chance to frame it themselves.
Edit to add: Or to put it another way: the "Labour beholden to loony Greens" narrative will exist regardless (hell, even Labour people are spreading it here). The benefit of a formal alliance is that you get to put up your counternarrative. The current situation - a public denial of what everyone implicitly understands to be the case - prevents Labour from doing that.
-
Hard News: The Language of Climate, in reply to Bart Janssen,
For those in those businesses delaying that loss by even a short period of time can mean millions in profit.
And, more importantly, that they get their bonus for this quarter.
-
It'd be a start, I think, if we asked "young people" (that being an amorphous blob, like "the gays") why they aren't voting.
Obvious answer: because most of them aren't legally allowed to. The law tells them at a crucial time that their political views don't count. Is it any wonder they react accordingly?
-
Feed: My Life in Curry, in reply to Bart Janssen,
So hot curries never existed until the Portuguese and Spanish brought back chillies. It makes sense then that there are quite a few authentic curries that have no heat at all - they are "just" blends of spices.
Ginger, pepper, and mustard seeds.