Posts by John Palethorpe
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
In some ways you're right, but the UK forging its own destiny includes the prospect of Indy Ref 2 - with a Yes vote this time and working out how the Belfast Accords apply if freedom of movement changes on the N.I/Eire border. Gibraltar too, they'll be nervous.
At least it won't be dull.
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Speaker: A Disorderly Brexit, in reply to Matthew Hooton,
Hi Matthew,
I think I was quite careful not to put it on the voters themselves, that's just a bit lazy - although as the results came in, as an escapee from the UK, I was agog at some of the economic self-harm that would result.
If the major parties had actually bothered to engage their voters on Europe, rather than leaving it to the Farage's and Griffins, maybe there'd be a different outcome - but the electorate goes with what it knows etc.
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More fallout. Hilary Benn, son of Tony, was apparently trying to engineer a Shadow Cabinet revolt.
Corbyn sacked him. At 1:15 am: http://news.sky.com/story/1717625/corbyn-sacks-hilary-benn-over-leadership-coup
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Hard News: Forgetting what we didn't know, in reply to John Palethorpe,
Bloody hell John, say what you really think.
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The PM's reaction to it has been the same on any issue where there might be a cause for the Government to take action, he makes it about him - then marginalises the story repeatedly, allowing the idea that there's nothing that needs to be done to be repeated again and again.
He ducked RNZ yesterday in order to go on Mediaworks and NZME progamming, knowing it'd turn into videos/articles/commentary across their respective radio and web platforms - making the story about what he has said, about it not bothering him and how it's that Nicky Hager and the conspiracy again.
That's before the stories have even started to develop, like Matt Nippert's excellently weird Elvis impersonator tale this morning - before the stories have been written, it's already been very publicly written off by the Prime Minister, who trades on his ability to strangle any potential issue in it's cradle - in part because he's very, very good at selling a 'Don't worry about it' line.
Garner and Gower are stuck in the soap opera, the soap bubble where Nicky Hager and TVNZ and RNZ are somehow all gunning for John Key and are disappointed when they're presented with evidence of NZ being used as a location for mass tax avoidance because there's not enough crash bang personality in it.
Garner can't rail on air in favour of stringent tax reform, Gower can't fill his two minutes gurn with an explanation of the system and potential replacements. It speaks volumes about the direction and quality of their journalistic instincts and their need to keep their mill well gristed with the punch and judy stuff.
That's not to say they're useless - Garner's advocacy on many issues, including the death of that young lad Moko, has been brilliant. But today, by saying that people shouldn't care about the Panama Papers and should care about Moko, he reveals that he thinks people can't care about both. It's reminiscent of the 'Don't talk about NZ poverty, there's kids starving in India' argument about #FeedTheKids, except both of these issues are domestic.
Maybe if NZ companies paid their taxes, overseas corps paid their tax there - we might have better, more effective social services and a reduced poverty rate. That's a reach, when stories need to be obvious instead of oblique, but it's within the sphere of conversation.
There's a vein of street dog territorialism about how the PM, Garner and Gower appoint themselves as arbiters of what stories are important, and like street dogs, it usually means lots of stuff gets piss all over it.
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Concise, sharp and accurate. Nice work.
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Hard to know where to begin, or even if there's somewhere to begin with this. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I thought it was brilliantly written and I will be checking here and on your blog for further updates.
And donating $20 a month to the City Mission.
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2. United Future.
Dunne's done, I think. I can't see that 750 majority increasing and the manner in which Labour, NZF and others coordinated in 2014 could be repeated.
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1. Post- Key National
National have some reasonable communicators, but nobody up to Key's standard. The Bill English puff piece in the Herald at the weekend emphasised his boringness (plus he's been there, done that, taken the 20%), Judith is too easily riled. Much like when Auntie Helen left, it'll reveal that the trick to good leadership is to ensure your lieutenants are perfect examples of the Peter Principle. That's not to say there isn't talent there, it's just not ready for the big job.
If Key wins next year, I reckon he'll take a twelve month victory lap to rack up his decade and be gone the end of 2018. If Key loses next year, he'll be gone next year.
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Speaker: The Future, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I'm a primary school teacher Ian, not a researcher or politico - my homework currently is devising multiplication problem solving questions, working out the national standards for the 6 year olds in my class and getting through Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou (one chapter before bedtime)
I'll give my reckons on this later though, and that's an absolute promise.