Posts by Bart Janssen
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Sacha,
I’ve heard that lip reading can be easier in some cases if people speak more slowly.
I find myself concentrating more on enunciation because I figure the usual kiwi mumble is probably harder to lip read, also trying to position myself so the hearing impaired person in the discussion can see my lips.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Ross Mason,
How do I speak a capital “D”?
Oh that's easy. You just speak to them, with them and about them with the respect due to a human being and everyone will hear the capital if it is important to them.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Emma Hart,
Thanks Emma.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Yamis,
Yamis, I think you're defining a key problem for me with kiwi politics. At present it is still very binary, one party or the other. What I'd like to see is people voting in MPs that truly represent them and then have those representatives compromise to inact legislation. That would logically be a plural system not a binary system.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Sacha,
Oh bugger, I thought I had it sorted. I thought she was a deaf person and part of the Deaf community. I am confused.
-
One thing I heard before the election and again now is that Labour lost votes to The Greens. The numbers would seem to bear that idea out. I personally don't think it's true in the sense that those voters were owned by Labour. But what it does reflect is that many of the people who voted Labour previously have now come to the conclusion that The Green Party reflects their opinions and desires better than Labour does or perhaps ever did.
I don't think that demands Labour rethink policy, but what it does suggest is that Labour somehow must define more precisely why you would vote Labour and not Green without attacking the Green party. The Green Party have a pretty clear definition of the principles they work towards. But the Labour Party seems much less defined. I don't think it is just a communication issue I think there really is an issue in Labour around why they are wanting to govern other than simply the desire to have the power. In turn that defines why you might choose to vote for them as opposed to voting against National.
I never got a sense during the election that you vote Labour because this is the principle they will use to guide their policy making should they need to make policy on the fly. I think they need to sort that out and that is more than just making good policy.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to tussock,
“No asset sales” isn’t a policy, eh. People vote for something.
Which was the last week of the campaign.
Up until then they had a CGT which is a really positive change to our tax base.
Raising of the retirement age
First $5k tax free, another change to our tax structure
and more all positive substantive policies.yet the over-riding impression of their campaign is being against asset sales
-
One thing I felt late in the campaign was that both National and Labour felt very negative.
Early in the campaign Labour put up some positive policies "we stand for this" and We will do this". But late in the campaign it felt very much to about "if you don't vote for use xxx bad thing will happen"
National felt very similar "if you don't vote for us the economy will collapse"
By contrast the Greens felt very positive right up until the end.
And I use the word "felt" very consciously. When you examined actual policy all the parties had strong things they stood for - yet somehow the feeling I got was of what they stood against.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Sacha,
Weak opposition and media means little effective constraint on the executive.
Which is why on election night my hope is always for a divided parliament, for a minority government that is forced to compromise to achieve changes. Sadly kiwis seem easily frightened by the possibility.
-
Hard News: Democracy Night, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Well I voted for the green candidate in Goff's electorate, somehow I doubt that made a difference.