tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post2494205232291946556..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Reclaiming LabourChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-5615087258970187862012-11-18T11:38:07.350+13:002012-11-18T11:38:07.350+13:00Brendon
I concur entirely.
The trouble is no-one...Brendon<br /><br />I concur entirely.<br /><br />The trouble is no-one can hold their breath indefinitely. Absurdity is being piled on absurdity. Something has to give. Victornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-17157216698873790162012-11-18T06:55:53.678+13:002012-11-18T06:55:53.678+13:00Well Chris, the Labour Party membership did take t...Well Chris, the Labour Party membership did take the Party back yesterday! In February next year and after every Election, the Caucus will have a vote to endorse the Leader. Unless that Leader can win 60% endorsement by the Caucus, the vote will go out to the entire Party -- Caucus, the membership and the affiliates -- on a 40%, 40%, 20% basis. What made me so proud of yesterday's debate was that those arguing for the members' right to have a say in who shall be their Leader all argued for that principle (democracy for the people), not to diss Shearer. Unfortunately those arguing for a trigger that could have blocked the members getting a vote, accused the democrats of ulterior motives. And in the back rooms, they bullied and cajolled, but to no avail. Today we vote on a progressive policy platform that all MPs and other elected Labour people will be bound by. It thoroughly repudiates the legacy of the 1980s and returns Labour to its social democratic roots. It is a Policy Platform for "our people" devleoped by the people.Jillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-82024956806146286672012-11-17T14:12:08.736+13:002012-11-17T14:12:08.736+13:00Labour (and the rest of the left-wing) are irrelev...Labour (and the rest of the left-wing) are irrelevant *already*. <br /><br />The list of Labour remits that I saw could have been put forward in North Korea. <br />"Ban this, tax that, spend, spend, spend..."<br /><br />Imagine how absurd it would be to see Labour in an election campaign promising to be "fiscally responsible". <br /><br />It would be like seeing Jack the Ripper promising to "look after your kids." <br /><br />The irony is that the Nats here could learn a thing or two from "Labour" in the UK, who are bringing in "back to basics" education and getting tough on welfare - much *more* so than the Nats are here. <br /><br />That (and National's stubborn refusal to axe the blatant Labour election bribe "Working for Families") shows how far to the left National has drifted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-56934320742348910072012-11-17T14:09:25.157+13:002012-11-17T14:09:25.157+13:00I get the feeling that everybody interested in New...I get the feeling that everybody interested in New Zealand politics are metaphorically holding their breathe. Do we get leadership? Do we get a real opposition? Will this cause the government to take real action? Will Shearer prove himself to be competent and therefor a genuine contender in the next election. Or will he be replaced? <br /><br />Many of our problems have been well examined and the needed actions are well known. Take housing, BNZ's Andrew Thorburn describes how it is leadership that we need. http://www.interest.co.nz/kiwisaver/62066/bnzs-andrew-thorburn-hits-out-fundamental-anomalies-tax-system-favour-residential-prBrendonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-80373008076125995552012-11-17T00:15:47.607+13:002012-11-17T00:15:47.607+13:00There will be plenty of bluster and little movemen...There will be plenty of bluster and little movement at the Conference, but take heart--the feet of those who will carry them out are already at the door. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-56180210340941080022012-11-16T15:47:51.682+13:002012-11-16T15:47:51.682+13:00Trouble is, Labour haven't moved on from the l...Trouble is, Labour haven't moved on from the loss of the 2008 election. Bickering, infighting, endless talks of coups. No wonder Key is laughing all the way to the bank. <br /><br />Chris, do you have any faith in Shearer to lead the party forward?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-34376614722368714872012-11-16T12:02:34.777+13:002012-11-16T12:02:34.777+13:00Spot on. I remember going to the Party Conference ...Spot on. I remember going to the Party Conference (or had they changed the name to "Congress"?) sometime in the mid-1990s to hear relatively new leader Helen Clark, and coming away thinking that the conference had degenerated into a completely stage-managed show for the cameras. I had thought the first NZLP conference I attended (ChCh, 1978, I think) was stage-managed by Party President Arthur Faulkner, but that was more gentle manipulation by comparison with Clark's regime. (My response to Faulkner may have been conditioned by close reading of H.S. Thompson's account of the 1972 Democratic Party Convention.)jafapetehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16880675565727083766noreply@blogger.com