Open mike 30/01/2024

Written By: notices and features - Date published: - 53 comments
Categories: open mike


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53 comments on “Open mike 30/01/2024”

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        2. 1.1.1.2

          It will be interesting to see how Brownlee, as Speaker, deals with time-wasting, meaningless points of order and challenges to the Speaker's ruling that he specialised in as an opposition member.

          1. 1.1.1.3.1

            Any question like that to Seymour would not be allowed by the Clerk of the House. For a question to a Minister to be admissible, there must be ministerial responsibility for the subject matter of the question.

            What is Seymour's ministerial responsibility in whether or not he went to a Ratana Church function?

          2. 1.1.1.3.2

            He would have gone but when he stood up to go his spine turned into a yellow liquid that ran down his leg and pooled at his feet.

      2. 1.1.2

        I'm with you John.

        It's a tad irrelevant as to how Seymour, Luxon et al go.

        Satisfying for our egos when they stumble but what really matters is, as you say, how L,G,TPM, coordinate, prioritise and perform.

        It's disheartening to see the 'left' still grinding and nashing their teeth, months after the election result a'la National supporters post 2017 election.

        What you give your attention to gets stronger. As a group we need to focus on what the Labour party looks like and for whom it stands for.

        1. 1.1.2.1

          … what really matters is, as you say, how L,G,TPM, coordinate, prioritise and perform.

          yes

          They have got to act in partnership. This government is placing the country in a serious situation. Read Nick Rockel in the sidebar.

          Edit: and here is the latest

          https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507907/no-more-aid-for-un-aid-agency-until-peters-satisfied-luxon

          Jesus wept! We should be assisting the UN with funding and to get to the bottom of the allegations etc., not hanging them out to dry.

          Stupid, tunnel visioned, sycophantic decision making which is eventually going to land us in awful strife.

        2. 1.1.2.2

          It's disheartening to see the 'left' still grinding and nashing their teeth, months after the election result a'la National supporters post 2017 election.

          Not really a good comparison. Political tragics like us might be engaged in what Labour & co have to propose for the next election, but the public aren’t interested, and won’t be for months.

          The opposition now (broadly, the "left") are quite rightly attacking the government for its incoherence, and especially for the gap between what Luxon said before the election, and now. They should be capable of doing this job, while at the same time holding internal reviews away from the headlines.

          But in 2017 National were "grinding and gnashing" at the existence of the Ardern government. Big difference.

          AFAIK nobody (of any relevance) on the left is suggesting the current government is not legitimate. But in 2017 there were National MPs saying exactly that.

          1. 1.1.2.2.1

            Yep, hard to disagree with that. It's the holding on to the grieving.

            I do think us tragics have a role to play. Not in grizzling about Gordon Brittas every move, more about articulating a positive or, dare I say it, a radical and bright direction to move in.

            F.T.T. coupled with a UBI perhaps. A reinvestment in a Department of Works with an upgraded ferry terminal on both sides of Cook Strait as it's first project.

            Limiting immigration to key high skilled candidates. Less of the truck drivers, cooks and welders…

    2. 1.2

      My impression of QT today is that Hipkins, Davidson and Shaw missed the mark when they directed questions to Luxon!

      Their questions were too long, and Luxon couldn't follow or understand, so he was able to fall back on vague nothings as answers.

      Words of one syllable and sentences of no more than 10 words in future, please!

      1. 1.2.1

        Exactly. If you want to direct a Minister to answer, you need to ask a series of short questions with little room for an answer you don't expect.

        A question with several limbs allows the Minister to waffle and ignore the key point.

      2. 1.2.2

        The opening exchanges between Shaw and Luxon were good entertainment though. I thought Shaw's response was particularly humorous.

  2. 2

    If I get a moment I will do a post on how this government is setting up to trash local government.

    Fascinating to hear the debates trading off whether to rebuild a town hall versus a cycleway versus a drinking water system. As if they are either-or choices.

    Government is just going to keep bashing our last alternative democratic voice, and offload all the blame it can. I just need to go back to Jesson's Only Their Purpose Is Mad and Kelsey's Rolling Back The State, and a bit of early Easton.

    If ever we needed a coherent state and strong local government, it's now.

  3. 3

    Trotter on parliamentary social darwinism:

    Difficult though it is to admit, the bullying of politicians and their staffers is the most effective way of separating the innocently ambitious – those who just want to make the world a better place – from the ruthlessly ambitious – those who just want to get to the top of the greasy pole.

    In the context of a democratic legislature, physical violence perforce gives way to emotional violence.

    Does he mean to imply snowflake idealists are morphed by our neocolonial system into conditioned pc-driven servants while the cynic mercenaries prosper?

    Six hundred years ago Baldasarre Castiglione catalogued these political skills in his celebrated “Book of the Courtier”. Where his contemporary, Niccolo Machiavelli, was all about painting the big picture of political power, Castiglione concentrated on describing how best to manoeuvre one’s way through its mazes. The quality he was looking for he called sprezzatura – an Italian word which largely defies translation, but which may be rendered, roughly, as “studied nonchalance”, or, “grace under pressure”. Someone who has sprezzatura can keep her cool.

    Style suffices. However, artistry enhances. Those who deploy both skills together are more-likely to produce game-changing outcomes, whatever arena they play to.

    http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-cuckoos-nest.html

  4. 4

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/507888/nicola-willis-expects-agency-chief-executives-to-use-good-judgement-when-deciding-on-public-service-cuts

    Front-line services could face cut-backs as the coalition government looks to shave more than a billion dollars in annual public sector spending, the minister of finance has acknowledged.

    But Nicola Willis said the chief executives of government departments were expected to use "good judgement" when proposing where savings could be made.

    HAH Good judgement You know just like me.

    GEEZ

  5. 5

    I have read of some comments recently by the likes of Doug Graham and Chris Finlayson and most surprisingly Jenny Shipley on their disquiet of the current National off-hand treatment of te aou Māori, and wondering if we could but hope for an intervention by the old guard.

  6. 6

    The public service job cuts – I read recently the number of job cuts required in each department. What a surprise (not really as was to be expected) the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet is not included in these percentage cuts.

    On another note, what was Jenny Shipley doing popping up at the recent hui? Very strange. Perhaps she is looking for some consultancy work these days.

  7. 7

    According to Wikipedia China is the top world economy by PPP in projections by the IMF for 2024. And yet I cannot find them on a list of the top 20 donor countries to the UNWRA for 2022. Neither in a list of pledges for 2023 (pdf)

    This is not good enough. The stability of the Middle East depends to some degree on the continuing work of the UNRWA in the face of an ongoing genocide. Now is the time for China to fill the space vacated by the US and the West with money for the last fragile aid still available to Palestinians. If they refuse to do this then they no longer can claim to support peace in the Middle East.

  10. 10

    Stand by for a flood of "poor James, if only the Greens had let him be green" garbage from commentators who wouldn't vote Green even if their co-leaders proposed corporal punishment in schools and selling off hospitals.

    1. 12.1

      Clark is right of course.

      At this point though the government is playing for time – given the next funding is not till June.

    2. 12.2

      I agree Helen Clark is the voice of reason here, but…

      The ideological purity banner has been taken up by the far right in this country – They are in for their pound of flesh.

      The daily blog says we should ask for the money back from the IDF for the staff it has killed. Which is a reminder of the insanity of supporting people who are in the throws of a genocide court case.

    3. 12.3

      The wider issue

      Israel can use the cut in funding by the USA and UK etc to maintain their Dahiya doctrine strategy a while longer and appear compliant in enabling other aid in more quickly (but it will take time to develop more extensive local delivery systems than they have now).

      The stated objective of Israel is to remove Hamas from governance in Gaza and end UNRWA (they run ops in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan as well as WB and Gaza).

      The cut in funding will have impact in more areas than Gaza.

      1. 12.3.1

        The underlying reason for cutting UNWRA is that it gives Palestinians in Gaza who are descendents of the Nakba continuos refugee status and following from this, the right of return. Israel wants right of return to end and if this is the end of UNRWA or if it gets subsumed by some other UN agency, right of return is in jeopardy.

    1. 13.1

      The arsonist never lets anyone know where the burning down will be until they get their hands on their Beehive matchstickbox.

      Made by Bryant and May (subsidiary of British Match) in Tory Street Wellington (1924) and Montgomery Crescent (Remutaka electorate of the former PM) from 1971.

      Now we import them from Sweden and suffer Stockholm Syndrome whenever the blue and gold are in power (NACT).

      https://uhcl.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/27484

  14. 14

    I thought this was an interesting critique of progressive movements – it's a little wide of the mark IMO but expresses mainstream resentment at what they perceive as 'fringe left activism'

    I don't think I'm the only progressive with a ton of resentment, built up over a decade, at the fringe online left. It's such a cancerous set of tactics. Waves of anonymous accounts acting like cops. Morally loaded language out of proportion to any issue at hand. Taking statements out of context and twisting them in dishonest ways for a dunk. An inability to provide credible sources for extraordinary claims. A total disdain for nuance. […]

    I'll always be a progressive, because I think the policies are the right ones. But, it's time to admit that online progressives are too destructive to ever be a meaningful political force in America, except in the sense we are driving normal people into the arms of the right.

    https://x.com/BriannaWu/status/1751936129723437363?s=20

    IMO this is a terrible attitude. Twitter is awash in right wing bots and paid trolls and accounts with 1 follower amplifying false RW talking points. But you're upset at a few lefties sermonizing at you. The reality is, the Left is on the side of human rights, and the Right is completely nuts

    IMO the actual problem is neoliberalism. Social and economic and cultural divisions have only widened after Covid. Neoliberal "left" governments are only superficially progressive but do not fundamentally change the capitalist narrative: TINA. And thus we have a massively disaffected working and middle class being "progressively" shut out of home ownership and a decent future.

  15. 15

    Heh! A commentator on Stuff's report of Shaw's step-down suggested he join Labour. I immediately imagined him plunging his head into a tub of wet concrete & waiting for it to dry, whilst holding his breathe. Labour tends to have that effect on people. smiley

    1. 15.1

      Thank you for that 'plungent' criticism of Labour Party members. I am sure you know more about them than does, say, a life member………

      1. 15.1.1

        Pity no one commenting on Stuff's report suggested Shaw join National – would have been such fun to read Dennis' 'plungent' criticism of Nat pollies and their supporters.

        James Shaw steps down as Green co-leader, to ease out of politics
        [30 Jan 2024]
        Unfortunately for the Green party to be effective they have to stop ruling out working with National.
        …
        They are far better off and much more likely to be effective working within a National led government.

        1. 15.1.1.1

          Dennis' 'plungent' criticism of the Nats and their supporters

          I'm trying to keep an open mind on Lux's fraught prospects, for now. My habitual Nat stance is something like `bunch of hopeless cretins', but that's those in parliament & my view of Nat supporters isn't quite so favourable.

          I read Trotter's latest negative view of Labour this morning but found nothing worth quoting. However if Labour does anything even halfway intelligent I will be delighted to rate them accordingly in a comment here, albeit that anything above 6/10 seems of marginal likelihood.

          However, to be more positively fortthcoming about it, I promise to award them 10/10 if they promise to hold a referendum to establish the consensual Aotearoan view of income inequality. I think it was Plato who specified the 4:1 ideal (upper to lower class). Since 7 is the magic number I advocated 7:1 to the west Ak Greens about a decade back but they wouldn't let me present my double-sided A4 advocacy. Why solve the inequality problem when they can continue to bleat about it in public? Me expecting them to be proactive seemed to make them fearful. surprise

          1. 15.1.1.1.1

            My habitual Nat stance is something like `bunch of hopeless cretins'…
            …
            However if Labour does anything even halfway intelligent…
            …
            Me expecting them [the west Ak Greens] to be proactive seemed to make them fearful.

            Old habits eh wink

  16. 16

    We had all the stuff about the ‘first 100 days’ and how that was to be some sort of magic marker of a marvellous new government.

    What did it all get down to, what did it all mean?

    The sad spectacle of Mark Mitchell in the House today confronting the reality, this early in the piece, that he won’t be able to meet his police numbers promises. All piss and wind.

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