Posts by Deborah
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As one writer put it:
Well played, sir.
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Hard News: A better thing to believe in, in reply to Katharine Moody,
Maybe I’m being over-sensitive, but this bloke-y, matey political trend with the national side just makes me uncomfortable.
Me too, Katharine.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to chris,
As it turns out, because I grew up in New Plymouth at about the same time as Andrew, I happen to have known him for about 35 years. Not well! But it is a very longstanding acquaintanceship/friendship. Even as a very young man, he was kind. He was always a bit serious, but as an adult, that seems to have been leavened by a beautifully dry sense of humour. I think that what you see is what you get with Andrew. There's not persona there - just the man himself.
You can all judge as well as me his successes and ummm... (well, I'm am an aspiring politician afterall)... his things that don't go quite so well as they might. What I can testify to is his basic decency. In addition to that, he's got a real connection with people who don't hang about in political forums on the interwabs. He worked for hardcore unions for a very long time before he became an MP. And I think that very dry sense of humour works very well for him.
As for the flag... on balance, I'd like to see Red Peak get up. I was convinced by the gif that shows Red Peak transforming into a wharenui. And by all the other images that people have used to make Red Peak their own.
Failing Red Peak, I'll be voting no change, in the hopes that means we can have another go at this in 10 or 15 years time, and get it right.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to chris,
You're a champion, chris. And personally, I'm a big fan of the Oxford comma. In moderation.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to simon g,
To be fair, Labour have improved under Little. But from a face-palming low bar. They need to improve more. And after the Chinese names mess, I’m probably grumpier about this than I should be. They used up a lot of their slack, for no apparent gain.
Yes. Amongst the PAS set. That's been one of the somewhat shocking findings for me over the past couple of years as an activist and a candidate. My world views are not in fact shared by a large portion of the people who regard themselves as left (Labour voting, sometimes Green voting, union members, beneficiaries, teachers, medics, social workers, some farmers, all sorts of people who I had assumed would be more-or-less in agreement with my views, and I would be more-or-less in agreement with their views.)
I agree that Labour can do better. But we're getting there. We're back into adequate territory, and laying the groundwork for doing better. And Andrew has done fine on this. He's forced the PM into engagement on it, and the news headlines this evening were all about the PM equivocating.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to simon g,
but again, I’m shouting at the telly, why doesn’t Little think on his feet, reinforce the point with an instant supplementary
Speaking from bitter experience, that's a bloody hard thing to do, when you're the one in the hotseat, even when it's a topic you're very, very familiar with.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to ,
Thanks, Sacha. I got a nice e-mail from Chris, and I'm fine with leaving it at that.
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Hard News: Not yet standing upright, in reply to simon g,
He's said that Labour has to endorse the entire process. So he's not really listening to what people have to say at all: he's just using it as a stick to beat Labour over the head.
The person playing silly buggers here is the PM. Perhaps we could hold him responsible?
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Hard News: A cog in the Mediaworks machine, in reply to Berinthia Binnie,
LAQCs don't exist anymore. They used to be pretty effective vehicle for transferring losses to owners (shareholders) so that owners could deduct the losses from their other income (eg. salary and wages) and get a reduced tax bill. But they got turned into Qualifying Companies from 1 April 2011, and since then, you haven't been able to set up new Qualifying Companies either.
The new version is a Look Through Company - LTC. They're also a pretty effective vehicle for transferring losses to owners (shareholders), but they're a bit more transparent, and some of the jiggery-pokery that you could engage in with LAQCs has been removed.
So that will be why you've heard that LAQC benefits have been screwed down in the last few years.
/taxnerd
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Polity: In defence of the centre, in reply to Rob Stowell,
From a speech on pay equity that Andrew Little gave on Friday night - Margaret Long Memorial Speech.
That’s why the next Labour Government will take a lead on pay equity.
We’ll start with urgently working on paying aged healthcare assistants and caregivers fairly, and work out a track to get to a position of pay equity as quickly as possible.
We’d take the lead and work with all stakeholders on making pay equity in that sector a reality.
And we would want to see the principles that inform pay equity available for all working women, and commit to proper enforcement mechanisms.
It turns out that one of the things that Andrew Little will fight for is for low paid working women.
I was in the audience for this speech, and his commitment to this seemed strongly felt and sincere. Of course I would say that, being Labour and all that myself, but nevertheless, I was impressed, and convinced.