Posts by Russell Brown
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@Danyl:
I can't help feel this is partly directed at me;
"Directed at" would be a bit strong. Partly motived by, let's say.
Even leaving the Wishartians' fantasising, it just seems to me that she's been a safe target, while far less effective MPs wander onwards.
its worth pointing out that three days before the election when ever other major party candidate in the country was trying to cover every inch of their electorate and surviving on a couple of hours sleep a night Judith Tizard popped up on TV3 news at the US Embassy party in Wellington celebrating their election results - champagne glass in hand.
I'd like to believe Murray McCully has been surviving on two hours sleep a night, but I don't. And wouldn't it have been a rum political aspirant who didn't watch the historic US election unfold on TV, somewhere?
Hundreds of of people attended the US Embassy event at the Michael Fowler Centre on the evening of Nov 5. It was a big deal, and ministers would have been invited. No ministers fronting would probably have been written up as a snub.
All the Aucklanders who were wondering where their Labour candidate was during the campaign - there's your answer. I'm sorry Russell, but there's a reason your friend enjoys such a terrible reputation.
It's hard to debate that without seeing her diary for the rest of the day. Should I do you the credit of assuming you know that? Otherwise you've simply constructed a story around 10 seconds of video on the TV news.
Aspiring Labour MPs were livid that someone with no ambition and no inclination towards government whatsoever has been allowed to occupy such a high position on the party list and a (previously) safe electorate seat.
The electorate seat that she took over and won back for Labour, you mean? That could hardly have been taken off her. And she certainly didn't have a high position on the party list this time, as evidenced by her not being in Parliament.
I said I thought it would have been better had she stood down from the electorate this year. I also think she's a convenient target.
Its great that your friend is such a nice person and that she goes to cool concerts and so forth
The one I mentioned wasn't "cool", it was a pain-in-the-ass after-midnight showcase gig that everyone but the minister didn't bother to front at. She could quite easily have stayed at her hotel, but she caught a cab across Austin in the middle of the night and turned up.
but Judith Tizard was also a senior public servant on a salary of almost quarter of a million dollars a year - more than most company directors - with a multi-million dollar budget. She was supposed to be governing the country not playing Werewolf at Kiwi Foo camp.
At 11pm on a Saturday night? Really? Danyl, if she'd been at home watching TV, I presume that'd have been fine with you.
But the fact that she drove herself to Warkworth to spend the day to talking to IT people and -- horrors -- socially interacting with them rather than pissing off as soon as she'd done her turn is somehow an indictment?
I was at pains to her say she wasn't perfect as a minister. But her value in actually getting out amongst people in her areas of responsibility has, I think, been greatly underrated.
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But you shouldn't assume the party is going to select any such thing.
The chance of an average time-server being put up in Auckland Central are pretty low, I'd have thought -- and still less a criitter like Brian Connell.
Labour has a number of very capable young people who've done their apprenticeship in unwinnable seats and would give everything as candidates in a seat like that.
Phil Twyford would be one possibility, but he may be the candidate for Mt Albert in three years' time.
But wonder if the word will go out to the affiliated trade unions about the humdrum candidates they've offered up -- and supported to little avail.
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I think Kyle was getting at the way you can't legally refer to your CUPcake as your "wife" or "husband", because that's only for civil marriage. Which definitely isn't for teh gayz and lezzers.
I take the view that this is one of those things that will simply be brought about by custom. Nearly everyone already refers to civil union ceremonies as "weddings" anyway.
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Politics is cruel sometimes, and sometimes we make it crueller with the way we treat people. Thanks for the timely reminder Russell.
I've been guilty of forgetting the humanity of the people who work in the political process at times. There are certainly a few mad or bad people in politics, but many more who are working hard in all good faith.
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I'd just like to say in Pete Hodgson's defence (seeing as it is Say Something Nice Day) that my colleague has regularly let him loose on a room full of our students, to talk to them about the health system.
It was just a joke, but fair enough. I think the last time I saw him was when he spoke at the Telecommunications Summit; a performance so poor that people wondered if he was in fact ill.
And I suppose I'm somewhat influenced by having interviewed him in the 1990s for Planet magazine, when he was extremely patronising.
Which makes me think: I found an interview for Planet with Philip Field dispiriting because he seemed arrogant and dismissive.
And the two interviews I did with Clark (before and after she took the leadership) were both frank, enjoyable and intelligent.
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The tides of change (both "to National" and in general), and a changing electorate that I suspect would have, on average, dragged it to be wealthier and younger just favoured Kaye...
I think the key to Auckland Central is actually the vote that didn't turn out.
Judith's total was about 5000 down on 2005, but the votes didn't go to her rival.
For all her good work, Nikki Kaye got only about 100 more votes than Pansy Wong did in 2005, which was enough for an election-night majority of 1181.
The Green candidate, Denise Roche, was reportedly in tears on Saturday night about the 3695 electorate votes she received when she was only campaigning for the party vote.
The turnout this year was 28,185 (plus special votes) compared to 36,277 in 2005. Apparently about 10,000 people on the roll, mostly in the CBD, didn't vote.
I think a fresh Labour candidate would have a rather good chance in the electorate in 2011.
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In terms of whether she should go back into the House if she does get in on specials, my personal opinion is that she should probably decline.
I haven't asked her, but I suspect she will do just that.
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If that qualifies as bile Russell then OK, guilty as charged.
No, it's criticism of a minister's approach to policy, and not in the vein of vitriol I was referring to. I do still think Judith Tizard's networking abilities are underrated. But I did say I wasn't making a political argument, so ...
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Tom & Craig: get a room. ("If you can't say something nice ..." - it's the title of the freaking post...)
Yeah, quite. That was the intent.
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Considering some of the rather ugly vitriol being thrown at Nikki Kaye not a million miles from here, perhaps that's one moral high horse that should be left in the stable. If you don't mind.
Um, where Craig? Could you perhaps once just let a point rest instead of reaching for the faux equivalence? Really.
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