Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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Graeme, how about this: students retain freedom to associate or disassociate with their respective student association as is their whim, but there's not getting out of the compulsory donation to said association.
Does that satisfy your human rights concerns, or is this really about the money ?
IIRC (and someone please correct me if I am wrong), at Auckland in the early 90s, after the AUSA went voluntary, the university started charging a services fee for services that would have been paid for by the associated. In other words, you still paid regardless, but now the vice-Chancellor was holding the purse-strings, not the association.
Also, would it be cool for non-members to be denied access to member-only services such as association-owner/leased buildings, cafes and student services ?
I'm with Russell on this, compulsary membership increased the value of services and that's good for education - the public good we all pay for.
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Motorcyclists call them cheesecutters with good reason.
Don't ride a motorbike then.
The cheesecutter site notes that there are modifications you can make to make them safe for motorcyclists. No costings given, but surely less expensive than steel barriers ? I wonder if thick coreflute is the go. If so, we could sell advertising on this things - they'll pay for themselves ! :)
On the lowering of the blood alcohol limit, it would be nice if you could pass a (thorough and strict) test that proves that you are able to drive at 0.08, and which adds a certification to your drivers licence that is a defence against being over 0.05. Any kind of transgression (eg. speeding) whilst over 0.05 (and under 0.08) would revoke it immediately.
The law assumes the same bland quality of driving from all drivers, whereas I think that some are better than others and it would be useful if we actively rewarded good driving with positive reinforcement.
I also like the idea of ordinary citizens being able to reward good drivers with 'mod points", and when you get enough mod points you get a prize or something. Lots of issues with this idea (such as modding up your mates), but if we could do it we could have a positive impact on our driving culture.
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And a philosophy degree doesn't make you unemployable.
The first job I got in London back when I did my OE was in the Auditing R&D department for KPMG. I'd studied auditing at varsity, so was quite surprised to find that nobody in the department had a commerce degree. Mostly it was lit or philosophy. Seemed that in the UK you studied whatever you wanted - achieving a degree was the important thing - and your employer would retrain you as necessary.
Right on, Emma, about the need to think these things through. First though, have got to solve the puzzle of which high school our daughter will go to. The choice is between Auckland Girls, Western Springs and Mt Albert Grammar. Probably not Mt Albert Grammar, though, that school is so Decile 1. They don't even have the resources to build a wharenui...
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I think there's a moderate advantage for Labour (and possibly the Greens), but only if they STFU and let the media savage ministers.
AFAIK (I am on a list that gets every single media release), the only thing the Greens have had to say is that the lifetime entitlement of 90% subsidised travel to a select few ex-MPs needs to be scrapped. No mention of ministerial housing costs at all.
If anything, it's been a major distraction at a time when we really need the media to shed light on Nick Smith's pathetic misrepresentations on carbon emissions reduction.
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Democracies cost money to run, and I agree with the general thrust of Adam's post: it's reasonable to pay an MP for the costs associated with being an MP.
The problem I have is with the administrative gymnastics required to obtain the position that English's family actually live in Dipton. Like Russell, I'm interested in why he kicked away the ladder in the Budget. It all seems very odd. However, it does appear that the restructuring of the trust may be a red herring because political reporters have pointed out that he was able to claim the $900 regardless of the structure.
Unlike parliament, ministers are subject to the OIA, so I expect some pretty interesting information to appear in the next few weeks.
I can understand National's chagrin, though. The foxes had been in charge of the henhouse so long, this kind of behaviour was probably accepted as normal. And then, after Nine Long Years (tm), National finally get their go at this particular trough, and it all goes septic in the UK and the Greens outfox them by releasing their own costs.
I think the media reaction has been reasonable, though. Any MP who is on the high end of expenditure has been asked to justify themselves - and no, Roger, legal entitlement != justified - and I think public accountability is A Good Thing.
Finally, did anyone else get miffed at Key's suggestion that they needed to pay their ministers the extra $48K/yr otherwise their marriages might suffer ? Removing support for disabled schoolkids is surely going to add stress to the parents' relationships, and they don't have a >200K income to fall back on. OTOH, you've got to make sacrifices to find the 35m for private schools, don't you ?
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Tom, do you include integrated schools in your vision ?
Craig, one of the advantages of having taxation is that it enables the state to act as an aggregator. Surely this is more efficient that your suggestion of individual-level funding of much-needed social programmes ? Also, your current position seems at odds with your rhetoric during the election campaign about the respective finance spokespeople not being honest about how they are going to pay for the tax cuts. Since the answer is "cut spending on the needy to pay for spending on the rich", are you happy with National's programme ?
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Great post, Emma. I just about stopped reading because I had that horrible feeling that it was going to end like this. But I'm glad I persevered and the very next thing I did was click the link and drop a couple of Kate's.
When we bought our house 11 years ago we couldn't afford it, so we took on flatmates to help cover the bills. One of our flatmates was a solo mum who's sister was in an abusive relationship in Brisbane. She asked if we could take her in. We agreed and the sister bravely made preparations and before long she took her two daughters to airport and made her way to Auckland.
Fortunately, the partner moved back as well, and didn't sue for custody in Australia (which would have been highly problematic for the sister). And he never came around, but did make a dick of himself around the child access arrangements.
So, we had a total of 5 adults and 4 kids living at our place for some months. It was fully worth it, and we'd do it again.
The sister went on to get a degree in IT, has a successful career, and her eldest daughter is now our babysitter.
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As a complimentary complement to that story on the other side of the world, may I nominate Tuesday 11 August 1914, when the Poverty Bay Herald included in its Editor's miscellany at this time six days after the outbreak of the First World War: "The usual meeting of the Gisborne Shakespeare Club will not be held on Wednesday evening, owing to the patriotic korero."
Very much a complement. And so far away from the Iwi/Kiwi campaign that National was cogitating at the time I submitted my entry into David's competition.
Thanks for putting up a photo, Emma. Lovely coat !
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I'd love to see a pic of your coat, too.
I was shopping Kathmandhu - the city, not the chain store - and I came across a bolt of bright purple wool. Entranced, I immediately purchased four metres and then set about finding a suitable tailor. Fortunately, my girlfriend's mum's bloodsister's daughter is a Sherpa and knew exactly where to go.
So we went to Park Lane Tailors and they duly create a one-of-a-kind full length greatcoat. The proferred a range of buttons and I chose the gold ones with some kind of crest on it.
I was living in London at the time, and a nice warm coat was extremely handy. Mid-90s London coat fashion was quite varied. You could wear black, navy or brown. Oh, and charcoal too. People would stop me in the street telling me how cool my coat was. The bank branch near where I worked even allowed me to use it as ID ("we know you, you're the only one with curly hair and a big purple coat").
One night, I was standing outside New Zealand House* after attending Ngati Ranana kapahaka practice. I was idly inspecting the New Zealand Coat of Arms when I had a feeling I'd seen it before. Turns out I had, on my coat's gold buttons.
* It's quite a defining place.
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And then they get you hooked on this "evidence" stuff. Before you know it, you'll be so desperate you'll do anything for some "E" ...
But after a while, the "E" just isn't enough anymore. Then you inevitably progress from Evidence to Rational Conclusions. Once you get on to "R", there's no coming back...