Posts by Rob Stowell
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But Corbyn/Labour in Britain do have big ideas at the core of their campaign. Taking key industries - rail, energy, mail - back into government ownership. Putting serious resources back into the NHS. Bolstering workers rights. Building houses and scrapping tertiary fees. Changing the tax system. Whatever you think of the manifesto (here's the telegraph version - of course they hate it all) these are big ideas which if implemented would change Britain.
Simon Wilson had plenty of big ideas for Labour to run on here. -
Up Front: What's the Big Idea?, in reply to BenWilson,
policy and positioning only seem to have quite a small influence on the way people vote.
Yeah. People vote for big ideas, not policy papers. Big ideas well-expressed that arouse emotion. Sadly it's mostly negative emotions that seem to work at the moment - esp fear. What conservative and neoliberal politics seem able to deliver is a worse future. It's usually wrapped up in glossy brochures, but when you unwrap it, it's small and crappy and usually breaks :(
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Side-stepping the dildo problem, big ideas - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-manifesto-poll-voters-back-policies-jeremy-corbyn-latest-a7731536.html?cmpid=facebook-post and then http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-party-highest-poll-rating-start-election-campaign-general-election-2017-jeremy-corbyn-a7734866.html
Why is this so hard for 'third way' advocates to see? -
We need to talk about Facebook. And Google. It seems to be finally dawning on politicians that NZ giving these two behemoths the lion’s share of digital advertising revenue is a disaster. Not only do they not create content; they don’t pay tax here. I don’t think there’s a solution that doesn’t involve either taxing them fairly, and putting the money into public good journalism, or somehow breaking up their monopolies.
ETA - that involves active government intervention - not something we've seen a lot of ... but surely the commerce commission should be at least as concerned about these monopolies? -
Great story Hilary. Thanks :)
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also making some waves - aldous harding's 'imagining my man'
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Hard News: Superannuation: Back to the Future, in reply to BenWilson,
I guess the answer is “It’s pretty hard”.
Or 'they're pretty useless ... " :)
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Hard News: Superannuation: Back to the Future, in reply to Rochelle Wilson,
Yeah - this was my first thought. Diet, diabetes, antibiotic resistance. A generally more polluted and populated world. Climate change and associated catastrophes. The increased stress, which which plays a role in longevity, of debt, precarious employment, not owning homes. Not to mention, we've just had 60 years of relative political stability, which is not the historical norm. Fingers crossed it will continue and expand, but who knows? Maybe this is doom-saying - I hope so. But all the talk of increased life-spans extrapolates current gains into a very uncertain future.
Like many others, I reckon we should scrap super, and institute a UBI. The political and economic issues that raises are far bigger - 'fixing super' by comparison is a cakewalk. BUT since walking back super is a move in the wrong direction, we should oppose that, too. -
Hard News: If this was ever funny, it's…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Thanks Russell! Imagine if Bill English and the rest of his colleagues were tested regularly to see if he'd consumed alcohol in the last month?
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(OFF TOPIC) Bill English bleating about Kiwis failing 'drug tests' - what are these tests? Is anyone asking? If they are tests for impairment (or even the presence of dangerously addictive drugs) that might make sense (although we need real data, not anecdotes.) BUT if the 'drug testing' Kiwis are failing is for cannabis use - which I believe means any use of cannabis in the last days or weeks - which do not relate to impairment - then this needs to be made explicit. Is anyone in the media asking this question?