Posts by llew40
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Labour have pushed this line before, at the time I couldn't understand why they were so keen to appropriate NZ First policies.... They must have some research that is telling them it's a vote winner. Instead of dog-whistling 'foreign investors' I would have thought a more natural fit would be target the multi nationals avoiding paying hundreds of millions each year into tax base. But no.
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*sigh*
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Hmm, read this interesting post and thought, you seem to be arguing that Labour has been campaigning as National-lite, and that this is a sure-fire way to continue to lose, and that they should revert to their principles. I think.
Whilst I am a Labour/Green voter myself, thats simply not how I see it. I see the role of a major political party as primarily to have enough relevance to win elections in order to enact progressive change and govern. I've not seen any signals or evidence in the last three elections that there is a latent and growing majority constituency of 'left-of-centre' (to use the parlance) voters who have not been voting for Labour because they regard them as too 'centre'.
I think the electorate has moved. And the nature of political persuasion has changed. If Labour believes they can drag a majority of voters 'left' through persuasion and through the abilities of great political leadership, awesome. I fear that way lies more electoral pain however. In the same way that Republicans are painting themselves into a demographic and constituency corner, my concern is simply that Labour are appealing to less and less people, in the name of principles that sadly no longer seem to be relevant to many NZers, and that gaining broader appeal needs to be the highest priority.
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Good piece. I've got nothing but personal admiration for Mike King's personal journey. Kia kaha, Mike. And I don't get the connection between 'normalising' something and that process somehow exacerbating the problem. Sir JK has 'normalised' depression for many who regarded it as a stigma rather than an illness. Understanding something and being able to talk about that something and share your experiences is surely the first steps towards being able to cope/deal with it?
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love that John Dix reminisce about Bruno Lawrence
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To be sure - didnt mean to suggest Labour is in Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul land .... the analogy only holds so far :)
And the Republicans have only been dragged further to their right by the Tea Party crazies from within, as opposed to Labour being squeezed from the Left by the Greens, and from the Centre Right by the Nats ...
But I think the point is right that winning elections is a numbers game, and Labour needs to find a way to either appeal to more NZers, or for more NZers to decided to find their way to them (disenchantment with incumbents etc). While the adage that Governments lose elections still holds, I still think Labour has to broaden its base.
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I may not agree with how Matthew has framed it, but I think he has a real point. I can't help but think of the way that the Democrats have been so much more successful in the last two presidential elections than the Republicans, by understanding the electorate numbers better and wasting less energy or resources on the already decided.
While the Nats for good reason drive many NZers crazy, many of those NZers were never going to vote for them anyway .... I think Matthew has a valid broader point about the need for Labour to do a better job of appealing beyond those they already appeal to.
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Excellent piece on the economics of TV - makes for sobering reading
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Not true. Lightbox available to anyone. Bundled with spark broadband, $12.99 a month for non spark customers.
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Speaker: We don’t make the rules, we're…, in reply to Steve Barnes,
Never seen that theory before Steve (oh what a sheltered life) - fascinating