Posts by Hilary Stace
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Hard News: Judging the judges, in reply to Matthew Poole,
Former MP Darren Hughes is now involved with the Electoral Reform Society in the UK and has been talking about ER on the BBC and in other media. They have been warning against how flawed the new elections for the police commissioners were. The turnout was the lowest ever and there is now a petition.
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Lucy Telfar Barnard,
I mean the articulation of the Occupy movement of the idea of 1% and 99%. Not the actual size of the events although it was an amazing global movement They showed that the powerful elites of the right are tiny compared with the ordinary lives and interests of the citizenry.
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Hard News: Triangulated by Fools, in reply to Andre Alessi,
Not criticising you. Can be tough when you are the only one. Much easier to challenge when you have allies.
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Hard News: Triangulated by Fools, in reply to Andre Alessi,
Why did you remain silent?
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Summary from the sensible and influential Jordan Carter
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Hard News: Calling the race before it's over, in reply to Barnard,
I would say that the left is bigger than the right internationally. The Occupy movement highlighted that. So does that values survey that Massey University used to do. I bet that if there was a survey of the world's population the princicples, loosely described, of socialism would be overwhelminly popular. Humanity basically wants fairness, justice, education, food, shelter, work, and support for those old, young or otherwise vulnerable etc for all, and a degree of an interventionist democraticlly elected governance authority to achieve and maintain it all. It is not the same as measuring through elections which disenfranchise large segments of the population such as young people, and can also be manipulated by money or the media, or the power of those who set up the systems.
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The Wellington voyage was interesting and positive. Most heartening was the sensible and confident contribution of the two young people (young ie early 20s?), and there seemed to be several of their peers in the audience. I didn't ralise that they were also Young Labour members and actively involved in the conference remits; all of theirs were won. Someone from Young Labour tweeted yesterday words to the effect that we young people can sort our stuff out and remain friends, why can't you oldies?
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My theory:
The 'left' in NZ is a much bigger group than the 'right' and always has been probably since the early days of pakeha settlement. The left is a much more diverse movement and that is why it tends to have various groupings. There has been some interesting research recently showing people who hold conservative views also value things like authority and loyalty, while the left values such things as diversity,democracy and the collective. However, to stop the left fragmenting too much and making itself ineffective there has to be a requirement for those seeking power to be team players which does not sit easily with many on the left who want to challenge authority whatever form that takes.I think we are in a very significant time of transition for all sorts of reasons. The Labour Party itself is still deciding what sort of party it is post Rogernomics and post Helen Clark, and 75 years since the first Labour government established the welfare state with the 1938 Social Security Act (and remember the Savage/Lee battles of that time), and positioning itself for another period of political power and reforming for a modern welfare state (eg action on housing, poverty, lowering voting age). However, this time it will be with the Green Party as its main ally (which has also had periods of significant painful transitioning but is now seen as a strong and cohesive party).
So this is a time of rebuilding for a party hoping to reflect a significant portion of the NZ voting public, which means building a team to reflect the diversity of the left. While the right, with its natural love of authority, can do it relatively quickly and cleanly, the left does it more loudly and messily. What is not necessarily a bad thing so long as general cohesion eventuates.
What I think augurs well for the LP now is that a mild mannered person who has calmly dealt with warring war lords is well placed to bring the left block together, and there seem to be some skilled people around him.
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Southerly: Gerry Brownlee: “I Like To…, in reply to Sofie Bribiesca,
I suspected it was something to do with creativity. I just prefer gentler, quieter implements.
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What is it about (some) men and power tools? Nail guns and chain saws and other noisy dangerous things are items I never want to be anywhere near. Do you have to have a certain level of testosterone to find them attractive? Is it nature or nurture?