Posts by Kumara Republic
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Oops, truncated link:
-
I think the "dragnet" approach to underage drinking just displaces the problem. Kids still drink outside or smuggle booze in and adults can't get a beer without multiple lines.
Kapka Kassabova - The unbearable lightness of being English (from the Listener, 2005)
-
but I suspect most people realise there's little Key can do to mitigate the effects of the current global crisis.
Then again, if unemployment was to reach 1992 levels (ie, double digits), or if the G7/G20 was to declare a sustainability trade war with us, public patience probably likely starts wearing thin.
More likely though, the worst we'd probably see is a factional split.
Mikaere:
did anyone catch Katherine Ryan's interview with Anne Tolley about the new school assessment regime. Apparently, Tolley has no idea what data the MOE need, or what they are going to do with it once they get the (as yet unspecified) data. She's going to consult and see what everyone else thinks because she has no clue herself. And they passed this under urgency !
"Primary and intermediate schools are set to be ranked in league tables next year - against expert advice to the Government." And the top decile schools will still be within their powers to block out potential deadweights on their league tables.
From my own experiences, I had less than charitable experiences at a couple of decile 10 schools, and pressuring kids to succeed is a worse form of child abuse than hitting them with spiked bludgeons. -
Slarty:
So I agree, NZ is not conducive to big infrastructure projects, but the root cause is the attitude that assumes failure from the start, not any innate lack of ability.
Too true. Think Big gave state-led investment a bad name, and Fay Richwhite & Equiticorp gave private capital a bad name. As it stands we're basically stuck with the worst of both worlds.
ScottY:
The other possibility for why they're off-message is that they genuinely have no idea how to deal with the recession and are just making it up as they go along.
Forbes-Coates v2.0 release notes: largely unchanged from v1.0, but now available on Twitter, Facebook, and RSS.
-
I suspect if rates are capped, or otherwise abolished, about the only other avenue for council revenue would be a poll tax. We know what that did for Maggie Thatcher's political career.
On a lighter note, here's some new stuff on OurTube.
-
I agree with Graeme & ScottY regarding Clarkson & Garrett. Clarkson was funny in an Inspector Sledge Hammer sort of way. Garrett, on the other hand, wouldn't look out of place in an Orwell novel.
-
The irony of Garrett “not wanting to show respect” is that one of the biggest gripes his ilk had with Clark as PM was that she wore trousers when meeting the Queen.
Quelle horreur at that lack of respect...
Craig R pointed out on another forum that Maggie Thatcher, too, wore trousers in front of the Queen.
Russ:
He started an unprompted shouting match with a young guy in the audience (and even continued it later on), had to be told to calm down by Sue Kedgley, and appeared to be drinking quite a lot.
Looks like Gharrett's drinking episode on Eye To Eye wasn't an isolated incident. Chlarkson seemed to come across as funny in an Inspector Sledge Hammer way. Gharrett has no such saving grace, and makes Chlarkson look like Georgina Beyer.
Michael Lhaws... LOL. I also recall John Bhanks referring to a large Northland town as "Wangarei" on radio a few years back.
-
This just in about the Earth Hour-billboard-towing SUV. Then people wonder why I get cynical about events like Earth Hour. I'd have thought it was perfectly bloody self-explanatory!
-
PS. Chris Keall puts the blowtorch on the Southern Cross Cable's big cheese @ NBR.
-
Seems Steven Joyce will effectively be the make-or-break for Kordia's undersea cable: