tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post164978310277587933..comments2024-03-29T17:12:19.648+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: An Authoritarian Tumour In New Zealand's Democratic Brain.Chris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-14396799619645626222018-09-25T16:42:56.657+12:002018-09-25T16:42:56.657+12:00Just a drowning rightwing party lacking ideas and ...Just a drowning rightwing party lacking ideas and leadership. Waiting for current leaders to cut their own throats. Simple Simon, Paula Benefit and Judith. Tune in again later.peteswriteplacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04474922953916383101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-68248150699433609782018-09-23T09:47:03.214+12:002018-09-23T09:47:03.214+12:00We have lost our spirit in NZ. Conformism is ever...We have lost our spirit in NZ. Conformism is everything. Obvious faults in our governance and business dealings continue without a major response and demand for change. Those who are free to bring them to notice (not all are so able) are ignored or get the pass-the-parcel SEP response from authority. <br />I notice now that the dispirited people are shocked if you exert some small personal clout by not jumping to obey an order or demand immediately.<br /><br />I talk to wealthy and middle-class and the retired - they are happy with the present culture. They have a pocketful of mumbles about the poor causing their own pain which they hand out for gob-stoppers. greywarblernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-24774996727539754512018-09-22T16:53:38.884+12:002018-09-22T16:53:38.884+12:00If the wheels don't come off our bicultural pa...If the wheels don't come off our bicultural partnership they should. Jan Thomas wants a "te tiritti led university". Criticism of the process and it's underlying assumptions is "hate speech" and Jan Thomas has done her damndest to keep Don Brash away. Meanwhile a classics lecturer objects citing <i> the classics</i>. Surely if Maori culture is up to the task it wouldn't need mollycoddling and trainer wheels? Which is it the wisdom of the classists or a small tribal group locked away by geographical isolation from the rest of humanity?<br />http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=21923A57-2AFA-4A0C-8F13-DB464C0D293BJohn Hurleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-25943515360072634432018-09-22T05:45:48.108+12:002018-09-22T05:45:48.108+12:00Anything but a right-wing government is a "di...Anything but a right-wing government is a "disaster" to business. They never seem to take responsibility for shaping the business world they create, if it goes awry that is a politicians fault. Nick Jnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-84527328006708529082018-09-21T17:47:38.023+12:002018-09-21T17:47:38.023+12:00Nonsense on stilts.
Nobody expects Jacinda to be ...Nonsense on stilts.<br /><br />Nobody expects Jacinda to be laying down the law with a clear vision of where we're heading. Virtue signalling is all we'll get from her and she doesn't have the mana to exert her will on anybody. She's not Helen Clark by a long shot. <br /><br />I doubt many people want a strong leader dominating proceedings anyway. We voted for MMP to stop that kind of hijacking of the country.<br /><br />Competence would be nice... but plainly optional with this crew.<br /><br />I voted National but I'm really enjoying this government and I'm ecstatic that you got Winnie! Long may the death spiral continue. NZ First and the odious Greens below 5% in two years!<br /><br /><br />Bonzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01107619221542910915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-50783599202814464692018-09-21T15:39:55.058+12:002018-09-21T15:39:55.058+12:00Its blatantly obvious that it is the National oppo...Its blatantly obvious that it is the National opposition that has the weak leadership, is in chaos and loudly projecting a belligerent sulking attitude towards not being in power. The right are bitter and it shows. It will take at least two election defeats for the National opposition to settle down.<br /><br />In the meantime Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters make hay. Katnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-60312617842852041302018-09-21T15:36:13.164+12:002018-09-21T15:36:13.164+12:00I fear you have missed the point here Chris. Those...I fear you have missed the point here Chris. Those I converse with are far more amused by the internecine strife of the COL, but horrified by the total lack of competence that is flowing from this collection of misfits. A plague on all their houses.Bricknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-24312267901577624252018-09-21T12:42:57.780+12:002018-09-21T12:42:57.780+12:00I'm not convinced that right-wing politicians ...I'm not convinced that right-wing politicians and pundits are sufficiently coherent thinkers to consciously fear that if the public see genuine democracy in action in government, they will want to extend that to their workplaces. Perhaps it might work at a more visceral level though.<br />Also National and their supporters always wanted to believe that the Coalition would disintegrate in acrimony. It was the self-consoling myth they constructed to get over the grief of losing the election. So it’s no surprise that it took only the slightest scent of friction in the Coalition to have them indulging in wild exaggerations.<br />I also feel that there is a large dose of cynicism in all this. Those right-wing politicians and pundits know how Government works, they know that these things happen, but they re going to extract all the political advantage from it they can.<br /><br />Those reservations aside, I agree. New Zealanders appetite for seamless, top-down, no disagreements governance is disturbing. It is, as John Ralston Saul said, very strange for a supposedly democratic people to crave strong leadershipABnoreply@blogger.com