Posts by Richard Aston
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
What was the rationale behind giving more partly list seats to a party that gets an electorate?
It seem the main weakness of our current version of MMP.
What is the calculation for this? -
and fuel the shadows on the cave wall...
Nice line Ian .
Beautiful image of history in all its ragged glory feeding our imaginations for more to come. -
+ 1 Islander !
Can I have your mum as my naaan ? -
Importance of Grandparents in raising children.
As a new grandfather myself I don't know how to describe the magic of the relationship - its nothing like parenting but it is, it has a quality of otherness to it and I can feel my grandaughter lapping it up as if it fed her soul. We play and get lost in stories,we dance, we fart and laugh, we lie around staring at the sky.
Both my grandfathers were terrible parents but to me they were magical - I can now see as an adult they gave me a tangible link into my deeper past, my immediate whakapapa, into who I am.
It saddens me hearing stories of grandparents retiring far from their grandkids and having little to do with them - what a loss.
Aside from my romantic take grandparents can be significant child carers - way better than state funded early childhood education or horror of horrors - industrial day care.
-
Wonderful start Ben and Kate -
Here's one - deep appreciation of our mortality .The closer you get to your own death and that of your friends the deeper appreciation you have of our mortality. In this place an elder's gift is " live each day fully like it was your last, take the chances, do it , fall in love and out, and dance "
Or as the poet David Whyte put it
"if you are willing to live, day by day,
with the consequence of love
and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat" -
Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to BenWilson,
As a "boomer" myself I struggle to speak for my generation - it wasn't - isn't - that unified. My friends and I were out protesting on the streets against the rise of individualism and materialism, against the rise of the economics-is-all model. Against my parents generation and my own. I was spat on for having long hair and many of us eventually jumped ship into communes and alternative lives as an antidote to despair. There was no consensus then.
Ben your generous attitude to older generations is well received and perhaps your pointing to "basic principles" is a very good path to explore.
What are the basic - Human - principles that we can gather around ?
One for me is collective rather than individual. Somewhere down the track we got sold this story that we are all free agents, individuals, sovereign entities whose task is to follow our individual destinies. Survival of the fittest, the lone cowboy, we are all heros etc etc. In the broader arc of human history it is just not true - we got to where we are by holding hands and collaborating. Individuals working together.
In the pension debate - one view is how will we look after our elders? Together. In harsher times we threw them out to die in the cold but lets be clear these are not harsh times by any means.
Your call for a " inter generational consensus" is a good one - one place to start - you have already Ben - is finding real respect and aroha - elder to younger, younger to elder.
And it us that will do this, not our politicians - or at least not our current ones.
-
Man I'm loving this debate !
Poetry from Ian , some fantastic metaphors from Islander. Excellent volley exchange with Islander and Sacha and I have learn't so much. Great thinking bubbling up all over the place and so much to ponder on.
Compared to the crap debates on Telly we are on fire! -
Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to James Millar,
I agree James, getting hard on solo mothers and avoiding the bigger - and voter sensitive - area of pensions is appalling behavior for a government. Those woman are bringing up a part of the next generation and on their own as well - our government should have a lot more respect for basic human dignity and the environment our children are growing up in. And more early child education (day care) is not a solution either, that's getting into Brave New World territory.
-
Speaker: Doing the right thing on retirement, in reply to James Millar,
The problem lies in that there has been such a demographic bulge such that there are simply far more baby boomers than there are of other generations. Because of this, over 65s are projected to go from 12% of the population now to over 25% in a few decades, and the ratio of workers:retirees is going to plummet from about 4:1 now to 2:1.
Yes I am aware of those projections - but they partially are based on assumptions that retired people will make no contribution to the economy ie they will be a burden. The people ratios also don't allow for income differences (between retired and working people) and therefore tax take over time . The gap between rich and poor is widening - throughout the spectrum - therefore in decades past those 4:1 were providing less tax per individual than the 2:1 today. Not a major perhaps but ..
In my father's day being over 65 meant you were pretty well useless , burnt out or just buggered. My generation will be capable of earning and paying tax well past 65. Just not perhaps with the same mortgage driven frenzy we did in middle age.
Not denying the problem but I reckon the picture is more complex. -
I better go pollenate my petunias.
Is that legal?