Posts by Paul Rowe
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Then he'd get my vote. If that's the criteria, he's won the annual prize as well.
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Can I put in an early guess for this week’s Dick of the Week?
Surely Veitch doesn't count as a sportsman?
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And that's where I zone out, Simon. It's the same reaction I have when Helen Clark is compared to Stalin or Mugabe.
So Key is not prone to fumbling over his sentences and missing his cues like a certain leader of the free world that we all know?<perspective/>
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And yes, I remember the Fourth Labour government, and I remember what they did. I also remember the National governments which came afterwards.
Curious that in 1990 National positioned themselves as the anti-Labour, then went full steam ahead with the revolution that Douglas et al started. This time, they are positioning themselves as Labour-lite, but the suspicion is that they'll try to restart the revolution. My suspicion anyway. They proved to be lying bastards then, and I expect the worst this time too.
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They're the same when it comes to their shared goal of propagating capitalism. How they do that is worlds apart.
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Jackie, I agree with you completely, but then my ideological colours are pretty well nailed to the mast. What with back-door privatisations (PPPs), market rates for doctors visits, returns to market rents for state housing all looming, plus the potential for losing Kiwisaver, WfF or the Cullen Fund (or the emasculation of those). And those are just the big ticket items.
Until we get some actual meaningful policy I'll continue to expect the worst, having been through the blitzkriegs of the 80s and the blatant lies of the early 90s. (Blitzkrieg was used by Brian Easton to describe the Rogernomics approach to policy, which was taken up by Douglas himself, so don't get offended, BTW).
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You don't want to come up with a sillier example do you?
How about a less emotive example for NZers? If the Scots decide they want to break away from the Union, is that a decision for them, or for all subjects of the UK? It most seriously impacts upon residents of Scotland, but it will have impacts for the rest as well.
Notwistanding my shakey grasp on history, the Americans fought a Civil War over the rights of States to secede from the Union, with the South claiming it was the right of States to decide, and the North claiming all the States had a say in the decision.
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I remember it pouring with rain in 1981, when my parents went to my local school to cast their votes. Strangely enough, my first vote in a constuency would have been one of the MMP polls - does 1992 sound right? Like yours Graham, my first vote would have been a special vote as I was at Uni at the time.
I agree with your ritual angle, though hadn't thought about it so much. Making the trek to NZ House in London to cast a special vote came into that too. For that reason I am not in favour of postal voting on a large scale either. If you want to vote, and can do so, then make the effort to get out.
I think holding elections on a Saturday is part of it too. It was a bit of a pain trying to get to the polling booth in South East London on the way to work, but I couldn't be sure I'd get back to my constituecy by 7pm afterwards, so it had to be done.
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Not sure if this is the place to ask, but did anybody else notice the blatant dog whistling on 3 News last night?
For nine years Mr Cullen has been labelled a scrooge in his role as Finance Minister, but when it comes to treaty settlements, he is quick to put pen to paper.
It is obvious Maori see the opportunity that the Deputy Prime Minister and the man with the chequebook brings. He is high enough to get stuff done, and with the polls showing a possible new government by the end of the year, many want to get in before any change.
In other words, he's tight with your money, but look at how generous he is with the Maaris.
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I'm glad it's not just me who thinks Mystery is absolutely god-Awful on Radio Live at the weekends. His attempts to analyse the weaknessses in sports he clearly nows fuck-all about are just embarrassing.