Posts by Kent Parker
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But hasn't Key made his money through share trading? In which case, apart from his own dealing business, has not managed a business with the usual production/profit margins/debtors/creditors etc. His business consisted mainly of putting money in the right places, buying and selling t o maximise return etc.
I know very little about him at this stage, but I guess we will find out before too long.
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Bryan, who wrote Das Kapital? Was it Carl Marx. He belongs to a different era. The complex ideas in it have, as Craig has rightly pointed out about other books, been diluted into 10 second soundbites too.
When I talk of post-ideological, I do not mean no ideas at all, I simply mean no one leading idea. No single belief in one idea such as capitalism, or free market, or nanny state, but a whole conglomeration of ideas or ideas being picked out of the basket intelligently and as required. That is something I can see in Key's approach. The ideas, the experts, the books are all out there. It's a matter of using them wisely and not being slave to any single one (like Brash tended to be).
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I also think, Craig, that we are moving into a post-ideological era. We have seen what strong ideologies like communism and national socialism can do and of course the Muslims are held back by their ideology. In a tolerant, plural society any ideology can become a hindrance, something that I think Brash found, with his policy on Maori, which immediately alienated 20% of the electorate and then the policy on tax cuts which probably removed another 20%. Too much specific policy and by day three you are only talking to 60% of the electorate. By the time you've outlined all your very 'specific' policies, there is only 40% of the electorate left.
So what is the point of being specific?
It's better to get into govt on a general mandate, put out policy ideas developed with material from the relevant ministries and caucus, and then listen to the polls, which are now a very important adjunct to elections.
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Well, as we all know, power ultimately corrupts. That's why we have a democracy which enables us to vote leaders out. Key may be fresh faced and honest looking now, but in 10 years time we will probably want rid of him too.
I think that the leader needs to focus on management and not policy just like a school prinicpal focuses on management and not teaching.
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The problerm, David S, with the leader espousing policy at this stage, in addition to DPF's reminder that policy requires blood, sweat, tears and many caucus meetings (under Key's supervision), in the age of MMP, a leader, rather than being policy and ideology focused (like Brash) is better to simply be a good manager (like Clark). So if Key can wheedle and charm all his fractious team mates into a coherent whole, then that is all he needs to do. On top of that charming a few small parties into joining up, and voila!
There's more to Government than policy. We have enough laws and that is generally what most policy produces. We have pretty much the policies we need, all that is required is a little twiddling here and there. If we partially kneecap our govt by having MMP, we cannot then expect them to turn around and change the world through some hardened policy initiative (eg Rogernomics, Think Big).
So, I am happy there is no policy at this stage. I want to see a leader who is human and can respond to emerging situations, who looks good, gets on with people and gets on with the job. The policy should come from the individual ministers anyway and less focus on the leader. Hopefully Key, unlike Clark or Brash, will share the limelight. If he doesn't then I might be disappointed. We don't need a personality cult.
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I think you're being negative. After three years with Brash it is a relief to hear this kind of stuff coming from National.
As for specifics. What the!? He's only been in the job less than a day!
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Found this rather interesting political obituary for DB in yesterdays Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20825340-7583,00.html
a quote from said text:
"Perhaps, though, he'd (Brash) simply had enough of the political spotlight. Certainly he intends to stay on past the next election and will almost certainly be the next finance minister should National win."Shows how credible conclusions/assumptions drawn in this article actually are.
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This blog really needs to be optimized for Mozilla!!
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Kyle,
I'm no lawyer, but any employee of parliamentary services, or the national party, who printed out and took away, or possibly even forwarded onto elsewhere, the emails and other materials, is probably looking at 'theft as an employee' or something.
I'm no lawyer either, but I do understand that material can be stolen for the purpose of 'whistle-blowing' in which case it has to be relevant to public service, and has to be of a nature that justifies it being made public. I also believe that the whistle blowers do have to have some close connection with the blowee/target/hapless victim such as be an employee or such. If Hager's book were taken to court a judge is likely to agree that it is in the best interests of the public to know the contents.
I believe the book is a godsend for Key. It has enabled Brash to mar himself, totally, suddenly and completely. Some form of self-inflicted fatality was probably what Key was waiting for. Now that it has happened he has simply had to step up to the podium, which he (and the media) hav been preparing him for and take over.
There would be many in National who support the existence of this book. It ends, without question, an embarrassing and unconstructive era for the Nats and it is now the beginning of the end of the Labour govt. It will be interesting to see the next set of polls. I'm figuring that, so long as Key provides no unwelcome surprises that National will be polling well ahead of Labour from now to the election.
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Nick, I don't think the Nats are going to bother too much doing a post mortem. They are probably all glad that the Brash era is over, especially now with the invigorated line up they've got.
The emails only exist because Brash was a neophyte, needed coaching and was obviously vulnerable to manipulation, and certain parties took advantage of this. Those, I think are the factors most embarrassing to Brash and the Nats.
It will be interesting to see what they do with the old gentleman.