Posts by Deborah
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I was thinking about people who have the tag, but still get the questioning glares because gaddamit, they're walking so they must have that tag under false pretences.
Apparently blue access parking tags are among the items most frequently stolen from cars in Australia [link] ('though I have to admit my source for this looks a bit dubious, or unsubstantiated).
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Regarding accessibility parking, there are plenty of people with disabilities who have invisible disabilities. Someone with chronic fatigue syndrome may at times be able to manage to walk only 50metres before needing to sit down.
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Then there was the badly behaved old man who barged to the front of the express queue and demanded to be served first, because he only had two items (I had three).
Or the young woman in the express queue with about 20 items (12 item limit). I asked her if she could count.
Bad behaviour stemming from some sense of entitlement, or really just not giving a shit about other people is not limited to elderly women...
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Yes... well... degrees.... I haz sum.
Someone upthread confessed to a BSc without any opprobrium being heaped on hir head, but I'm willing to bet that you will all start throwing things at me now: my first degree was a BCom (Hons) in Accounting and Finance. I don't usually talk about it in polite company.
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More on Socrates: the quote above seems to be a misattribution.
But Plato does predict what will happen to a youth who has too much freedom and licence. (NB: the early Socratic dialogues seem to be Plato reporting Socrates' words, but in the later dialogues, of which The Republic is one, Plato uses Socrates as a character. So when we read "Socrates" speaking in The Republic, what we are hearing is Plato's philosophy, through the mouthpiece of Socrates.)
When a youth, bred in the illiberal and niggardly fashion that we were describing, gets a taste of the honey of the drones and associates with fierce and cunning creatures who know how to purvey pleasures of every kind and variety and condition, there you must doubtless conceive is the beginning of the transformation of the oligarchy in his soul into democracy. Republic 559d-e
Plato was not fond of democracy. He equated it with mob rule. Hence his argument for philosopher kings, which seems like a jolly good argument to me!
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I've just realised that Key's dismissing of Castle-Hughes' comments / request reminds me of Lange in 1987 (?) on the campaign trail, being very dismissive of a young teachers training college student. Lange had a point about what the young woman was saying, but he was needlessly rude in the way he brushed her off.
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Ever tried to get an appointment with the Prime Minister? I haven't, but I imagine it's not just a matter of rocking up and asking for one. Key's comment was rather more dismissive than it need be, but it's odd that Castle-Hughes through that she was entitled to get a meeting with him. Someone advised her poorly there.
(Just having a little head-in-hands moment here; I've defended both the PM and the Minister of Finance - over at Dim-Post - in the last two days.)
Regarding the English affair, I'm with whoever said that we need some sort of structure that defines a family home and a secondary residence, and fund the secondary residence whether it's in Wellington or the MP's electorate. They're our employees and as employers, we need to treat our employees fairly.
I'm not so keen on the line that says that they knew what the job was like when they went into it, so they should take it lumps and all. That sort of reasoning is used to keep teachers' and nurses' wages low, and to demand long, long hours from new graduates so they can prove their worth, and so on.
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My partner and I have been married for nearly 20 years, and in those 20 years, we have moved 12 times. You might think we do it so often because it's fun, but really, it isn't, even when it's just a matter of moving a few streets over in a town you already live in (for example, moving from a rented house to a house you own). Bill English's reasons for not continuing to rent accommodation in Wellington are sound i.e. moving is hell, especially when you are moving children.
It does seem odd to designate the house where your partner and children are living on a full-time basis as your secondary residence.
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Y'know what's really nice. We don't even need to call out the first XV to deal with Bakel's arrant nonsense.
Damned out of his own keyboard.
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Merci beaucoup, Danielle. I might have a go at making those next Sunday (Saturday is no good; I have to get up early to take my elder daughter to her netball game by 8.30am).