Posts by Damian Christie
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
...in which Craig Ranapia finds Labour's "neutron bomb" killed everything except the target, and wonders if we're taking the right lesson from Barack Obama. .
-
Russell Brown and Damian Christie talk to the 'grown up' of left-wing blog thestandard.org.nz, Lynn Prentice.
-
Damian Christie talks to Victoria University Political Scientist Jon Johansson about Campaign '08, and his thoughts on intergenerational politics.
-
If you get 1.75% of the party vote (which is roughly one seat) and you win an electorate, you only get one seat total.
See I worked out it was 0.83%. 100/120. Which is why Act got 1.5% or whatever it was last time, and got to bring Heather Roy in on the list.
Anyway, I'd say more conservatively, once you take out the 5 or whatever percent of 'wasted' party votes, the Maori Party will have 3 or 4 overhang MPs, and Jim and Peter will only represent a maximum of 1 overhang between them. So 124 or 125 in Parliament, meaning if as you say the Maori party abstain, it could only be 59 votes needed, or 44% of the vote (less without the wasted votes taken out). Again, I think... :)
Also... if the numbers aren't there to do that, then more will be offered to the Maori party to give their votes to the Nats. I'm sure they'll go further than abstaining if the pot is sweet enough. As Hone Hawawira said the other day, it's a choice between the red devil or the blue devil, both will eventually screw us over, so we might as well get what we can out of them up front.
-
Yeah I agree, really good discussion here guys, keep it coming.
Kyle: I could be wrong, and often am, but re your calculations for the Maori Party, I'm pretty sure you don't actually get list MPs if you have an overhang, by definition. List MPs top you up to the level of MPs you should get based on the percentage of your vote.
Also, Peter Dunne and Jim Anderton aren't necessarily overhang MPs, or at least the two of them don't represent an overhang each, do they? If United and the Progressives each get an average of 0.83% of the vote, then there's no overhang created.
-
Scrooge preferred notes; coins were for burrowers.
Idiot: Really? Try a google image search of "Scrooge McDuck"... :)
Having written that column yesterday, I went out drinking last night with a journalist far more in-the-know than I am when it comes to Maori Party politics. He believes Maori Party are genuinely preparing themselves to do a deal with National, and the hui will be as much a farce as they were last time. The grass roots will say "go with Labour", Turia will stand up and say "this is why we are going with National", and that's what will happen.
I'm not moving my chips, but I might put off calling Centrebet.
Paul: Have Labour specifically ruled out working with Act? I'm pretty sure it's somehow implicit, but has it been stated in this campaign? I don't think so. (Prepared to be corrected of course).
Craig: I'm with you buddy. F&%$ Winston Peters. Voting strategically for NZF is about as sensible as the catch-cry I heard from those who voted for him in 2005 "to keep them honest". I've said it before and I'll say it again, IMHO, the only way Winston keeps anyone honest is by comparison.
-
Re: Putting all your chips on red
Go on, then. 8-) It has a limit of $1000.
I'm betting something far more valuable than mere money Keith, I'm betting my credibility as a political pundit... :P
(yeah, sure...)
-
That's your whole style Damian.
Oh yes, those extensive campaigns I run on this blog...
You've run repeatated stories on this one issue and only stop the bad news when you get a "Prize" out of Air NZ. That's an extortionary practise.
Which might hold some weight perhaps, other than the fact that I wrote this...
I mentioned it briefly last week, I'm mentioning it now, but I'm unlikely to say anything further, if only because it'll bore you as much as it will bore me.
...and so was genuinely quite surprised to receive a phone call, after saying I wasn't going to say anything more.
But you're welcome to your interpretation. Extortion for prizes, yup, that's "my whole style". It's practically my middle name.
-
I have never heard of Air NZ giving away two return tickets for tvl anywhere in NZ for people not involved any incedent themselves.
Really? You've never heard of Air NZ offering up free travel as a prize in a competition? I can start sending you links if you'd like...
Fair enough investigate and call to task, but to run off after "Milly" who, however hamfisted, only ever tried to help you.
That's like saying every rude waiter, lousy shop assistant or call centre worker who simply doesn't give a f**k about you or your situation is "only ever trying to help" Shep. You know that's BS.
-
Shit, I go away for the weekend and I come back and this thread has gone all feral.
First, and to be clear. With the exception of Air NZ, I just called a few places and said "hey I'm doing this thing on customer service, anything you want to throw into the prize pool for the PA readers?" I'm not getting anything out of it, there's no advertising spend involved, and it was really just to encourage some good stories, and maybe reward the people involved.
It only seemed polite to thank those people who donated the prizes, which seems to have irked some people.
Shep: I don't exactly think it's fair or reasonable at all to say I extorted Air NZ for tickets for a competition. In talking to the guy from Air NZ I mentioned that the conversation had turned to positive stories of good customer service, so something good had come out of it. I mentioned that I was on the hunt for prizes, and did he want to contribute anything?
There was certainly no "if you don't, I'll write more bad stuff", that's just ridiculous.
There's no hidden agenda here, no commercialisation by stealth, no extortion FFS. I was just offering some free shit to people who wanted it. I've done it before, I'll do it again.