Posts by Stephen Judd
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How about doing what Ireland did - invest massively in education.
Just to play devil's advocate: so many of our most educated disappear overseas for want of opportunity or adequate remuneration. If we invest heavily in education, won't we just be funding a brains trust for the taxpayers of other countries (in the same way that we seem to be hoovering up medical graduates from 3rd world countries)?
I mean, did that really work out for Ireland, or was it just the EU subsidies and remittance of funds from the UK?
Educated minds are a productive asset, but they're mobile and fickle - how will we keep them?
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I'm not sure what a government might have done about that though.
Capital gains tax, stamp duty, enforcement of the current tax code on people trading property for income, steps to make shares relatively more attractive ...
But it doesn't matter anyway. They were in charge, and so they will cop the blame, whether they deserve it or not.
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We're taking a look at Sensing Murder
Will I be able to watch this without being restrained first? This is a devil of a dilemma...
why the desire for change
Labour presided over the mortgage bubble, and now they are copping it for the bust.
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Good money tho - shift allowance, overtime, i think we even got gumboot money.
That is an earlier New Zealand that no longer exists. I was shocked to discover, several years ago, that labouring on a building site pays just what it did when I was a student years ago, but without any allowances or extra time.
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I can't say i'd have spent $3000 on a coffee machine myself
And yet you wonder why not everyone can make good espresso when a "munter" like yourself can.
When it comes to espresso, good kit is important.
I would far rather have a decent plunger cup than a bad espresso, and the latter is often the product of badly tuned grinder/machine setup that can't be fixed without arsing about. True, a good barista should be fiddling with the settings on grinder and machine to do so, and they do have input into the outcome, but if the grind and the machine are right, all they should be doing is tamping the shot and timing it. If you are fiddling with these things in pursuit of the god shot, then you have lost the right to call yourself a munter.
It is a lucky punter at home who can do it with their cheap-arse Breville grinder and a department store espresso machine.
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If I move back to NZ, perhaps I should enrol in finishing school to get me up to scratch.
Why? You'd have to actually seek out bad espresso at this point - so your taste will naturally acclimatise. And disliking espresso is no crime.
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Hot tip: Wicked on 7th and Hemlock in Vancouver. Only decent espress I got there in a week.
Interestingly one barista was Australian, and the other was all excited because he was going to Wellington and heard there was good coffee there.
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Don't go telling me that Whangarei's rich food culture is whooly based on homegrown creativity and shininess.
Can't speak for Whangarei, but in Hamilton I witnessed the growth and spread of espresso culture from the late 80s and yes, it was all local. There were even local roasters (Rocket) by about 1994. I think that IS in fact a slur on NZ's provincial hospo trade.
No, SB's isn't that bad, but in a NZ context, it isn't good enough.
You have to remember that they achieved dominance over North America in a new market -- most Americans drank weak filter coffee before Starbucks -- they were pioneering a new drink there. They got here too late. Every coffeeshop in Hamiltron had an espresso machine before Starbucks ever turned up.
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Starbuck in NZ is run as a franchise by Restaurant Brands. It accounts for about 10% of their revenue but almost none of their profit (those high profile locations don't come cheap).
Judging by the performance of RBD generally, and how they've hung on while Pizza Hut bleeds out, they won't close Starbucks whether it makes sense or not.
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Actually, on close reading, Coote could be talking about sub-prime bailouts, and the way that naughty bankers are going straight to the public tit, and how lax regulators let them. It's very hard to tell, which is an unfortunate consequence of an inflamed prose style.