Posts by Mikaere Curtis
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I was push-polled once, when Len Brown was campaigning against John Banks.It was amateurish and abundantly clear they were trying to sway my opinion.
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Hard News: A thundering clash of, in reply to Dennis Frank,
Nandor still has a clarity of thought & expression that no amount of getting high has defeated
Got a citation for this ? Why are you painting him as a stoner ? What evidence do you have beyond that he espouses Rastifarianism - many who use marijuana in a way that is comparable to how red wine is used in a Catholic sacrament ?
This kind of stereotyping always annoyed me when Nandoor was an MP, and it still rankles.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to Bart Janssen,
Yet we have a PM who has demonstrated he is completely comfortable with ripping off the taxpayer if it can be squeezed past a lawyer and happy to have the taxpayer continue the salary of an MP who recorded private conversations (possibly between aforesaid PM and a staff member).
This. What we are seeing is our culture of beneficiary-bashing in full swing. It is simply a socially acceptable form of bullying. It sucks that members of our media are cheerleading this kind of ignominy.
I really hope Metiria has done enough to change the government. That will provide some solace at least for the loss of such a talented and hard-working MP.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to Russell Brown,
I really hope that's the case.
I would be most obliged if you could, in your capacity as an electorate constituent, raise this very possibility the next time you see Jacinda.
In any government, there is usually a limited supply of intelligent, articulate and principled potential ministers. Metiria meets that criteria, and actually shares many/all of the key principles to which Jacinda espouses. Win/win.
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Hard News: Metiria's Problem, in reply to Russell Brown,
The great virtue of Metiria’s opening up was that she told the truth about herself to open an important issue. That starts to break down when it turns out to not be the whole truth.
Totally different things. I can't remember if kept my electoral roll address up to date with my various flats.Not that it really mattered because I was enrolled in Northern Maori and probably never outside its boundary (probably, who knows? never checked).
What we have here is a) a young mother in a desperate situation trying to feed her baby and get herself out of benefit/poverty trap(and by the way, her mother really did have the status of flatmate, I saw it for myself) and b) a young person making a stupid yet meaningless decision around which safe Labour seat they would vote in.
FFS, none of this shit is anything like the knowing bullshit that Bill English pulled to contort that his family lived in Dipton whilst somehow spending all their time in Wellington.
I get that Jacinda had to get into damage control mode around this, fair enough. If she can do that, then she can (after a reasonable amount of time in government), declare that Metiria has done enough time in back-benching penance and allow her into Cabinet in the same way that disgraced Ministers Nick Smith and Judith Collins have been.
Are you sure you’d not be jumping to conclusions?
Totally jumping to conclusions. I've know Metiria since 1992 (correction from my previous post - I recalled some flat/event interpolations) and she's not the type to put up with that shit.
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That’s a crying shame, because she has so much to offer politically and personally.
I totally agree, of all the Green MPs Metiria would make the best minister IMO.
I've known Metiria since 1993 and before she had her baby and have the utmost respect for her and her political prowess. She took a bold and risky political decision to put herself in harm's way in order to reposition the (lack of) debate around the plight of some of the most vulnerable in our society.
Was it worth the risk ? I depends how things turn out. One way of looking at the situation is that the Green's boost to 15% in recent polling partially came at the expense of Labour, and therefore contributed to Little's resignation and the nascent Jacindamania.
If Labour and the Greens can build on the current momentum to realise a Labour/Green government then I would posit it could not have happened without Metiria's bold move (and, subsequently, Jacinda's good performance as a new leader).
At which point I would like Jacinda to recognise Metiria's commitment and talent and give her a second chance by selecting her as Minister of Social Development.
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Hard News: That escalated quickly ..., in reply to Russell Brown,
I also got the impression he was a decent fellow, and it's good to see James Shaw saying as much today as well.
I don't think Jacinda is underdone, but I do think she will need to get some good advice so she can make some good choices. The reality is that Little's biggest issue is that he was an explainer, and these days explaining is losing. I would really like to see Jacinda develop a more succinct way of a) pointing out National's hopelessness and b) saying what Labour would do differently.
I note that because Jacinda has a seat, Matthew Hooten's theory of Winston becoming PM on the back of a leaderless post-election Labour caucus goes out the window...
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Hard News: This is bad – very bad, in reply to Russell Brown,
It would, although we’re long past the point of these drugs really being used as a cannabis substitute. They’re much stronger and weirder than that.
I'm not so sure, do we have any research around this ? Getting wasted when your life is pretty tough is a time-honoured response to unmitigatably adversity. My sense of Occam's Razor is that people use what they can get, and if it's some green vegetable matter sprayed with God-knows-what, then that's what they'll get wasted on.
IMO, we could drastically reduce substance abuse issues overnight by a) legalising marijuana and b) legalising MDMA.
Alcohol-related violence, synthetic cannabis toxic overdoses and P-related violence would (over time, once the existing addicts have treated) would evaporate until only the minuscule hard core users remain.
I have young-adult aged kids, and the prospect of them making an ill informed choice around something like synthetic cannabis with potentially fatal results is basically fucking terrifying !
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Hard News: Grenfell: a signal moment, in reply to Bart Janssen,
I totally agree, this is the logical result of neoliberal policies - privatising the profits whilst socialising risks - in this case the risks have resulted in the deaths of potentially scores of innocents.
I note that fire-resistant cladding could have been used instead for only an extra 5000 pounds for the entire building, and that the cladding is banned in the US.
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Hard News: Local journeys on the cusp of…, in reply to Myles Thomas,
There was no need for a new lane for traffic turning towards Pt Chev from St Lukes,
Yes there was. It enabled two right turning lanes from the offramp. During rush hour the offramp would be massively backed up, sometimes back to the motorway.