Posts by Nick Russell
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These stories remind me of that hoary old chestnut they used to tell about sharemarkets being overheated when you start getting stock tips from cab drivers and the like. When the Herald and Stuff are publishing stories basically encouraging young people to invest in the housing market regardless of whether they can afford to, I start to wonder whether the crash is going to be this month or the month after.
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I'm not even slightly surprised by the PM's decision. If we have learned one thing over the last few years, it should be that criticism from the likes of Nicky Hager has tended to bolster support for the National Party. They never seem to lose votes in this scenario. Certainly the Dirty Politics book did them no harm. So it makes no sense politically for the Government to order an inquiry. There is literally nothing to gain from it.
Mind, I don't say it is a good decision. There should be an inquiry. But the Government has no doubt read the Curia tealeaves and determined that it is better to attack the messenger than to find out what actually happened.
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Maybe you're right about the apocalyptic language. But there is definitely a huge fight for the Maori electorates this time, and one which may determine the outcome of the election, particularly in terms of how important NZ First is. The Maori Party has raised the ante by getting the approval of the Kingitanga and arranging a deal with Hone Harawira in Te Tai Tokerau. But they couldn't get Ratana approval and those big name candidates Tuku Morgan was talking about last year haven't turned up. Willie Jackson clearly isn't going to be one of them. If Labour keeps the seats it won in 2014, NZ First may become the only route to power for both sides - even more so if O'Connor can beat Dunne in Ohariu.
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to mark taslov,
I don't see Willie Jackson's recruitment as a deliberate provocation to the likes of Poto Williams so much as an attempt to kill off the Maori Party. They wanted Jackson but Labour got him.
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Hard News: Burning down the house to…, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
Lucky you. I've been here so long they got to take away my EU passport without me even getting a vote.
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At what point are we allowed to succumb to Trump Fatigue? It's only been a few weeks and I feel like I have already passed peak Trump. I am already starting to skip over articles and blog posts (not at PA, heaven forbid...) etc on whatever damned fool thing the man has done now.
I recognise that this is Not Good. If people become numb, weary of expressing the outrage, then he wins. So good luck to those with the stamina, I guess.
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Uber seem to specialise in being dicks to drivers. My guess is that they are banking on not needing any at all once driverless cars hit critical mass.
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But for science reasons, I did a shopping trip via Motions Road, which is what we cyclists call “seriously fucking steep”
Heh. Wonder how it would cope with a Wellington hill...
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I saw One More Time With Feeling in Wellington last night. You could have heard a pin drop as people left the theatre. Powerful and moving stuff.
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On a very tangentially related point - I think we all owe Donald Trump an enormous debt of gratitude in this context. Namely that he provokes us all to ever-greater peaks of achievement in the exploration of profanity. He is the spur of so much achievement in this noble field of human endeavour, and I think we should stop, if only briefly, to thank him for that. Never, in the history of human malediction, have so many owed so much to one man.
Fucking orange cockwomble.