Posts by Whoops
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"... Endless meetings and arse-covering are a product of large organisations. ... the public service is odd."
Sure - but perhaps the point is that given NZ's small scale our governance should be less encumbered*.
Again - does one rail against the system to try to change it, or work outside it to start/work through the issues and clear the space for risk averse officials to act.
(*note; I didn't say 'smaller')
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"...built up like fat in a middle aged artery over the last twenty years."
Reminds me for some reason of;
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides with the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon those with great vengeance and with furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers."
So how do the silent majority make themselves heard? If the important discussions can't be started by officials, why can't it be held by the public - providing the remit for officials/public servants?
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er team valiums'...?
pesky apostrophes.
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Just want to say a quick thank you for the weekend, and sorry I never got a chance to speak with you Russell. What a fantastic event.
Also – I had a good chance to speak with Rod Oram about the debate (as you may have noticed I’m no public speaker and was a little blown away by the other participants… I was the weakest link goodbye!)… I explained how for the rest of the evening I was kicking myself about the slightly-too-late comeback to his poem;
• pointing out that “team valium’s” rose tinted glasses may be on crooked
• speaking the opening lines of either a) Malcom McLaren’s “don’t worry be happy” or b) Monty Python’s “always look on the bright side of life”, and having the audience break spontaneously into a) achorus of dooo du do duudu do duu dadodoooo, doo-u-uuu-oouu, or b) whistling like Eric idle.It would have been a beautiful thing. Rod assures me that esprit de escallier is a common affliction.
Beautiful, but not as mind melting as seeing 100+ iphones lit up and waving in the darkened hall (David, you sir are a genius). But enough to swing the vote I’m sure of it. If only I was wittier, sharper and hadn’t been sweating quite so much.
Also - re: Vonegut's book - the boobies reference I made was in regard to the blue footed boobies in the Galapagos, not me being sexist...
To all those that came up afterwards and asked me if I’m really so pessimistic… not at all. I was press ganged into the debate (I’m blaming Roger Dennis for that). We may or may not be fucked, but bending over and kissing our collective asses good-bye is simply not an option. My 1 year old son demands fortitude in the face of any adversity. (Please… think of the children ;-)). If our parents had acquiesced under the certain doom of nuclear winter during the cold war where would we be? Giving up is just not an option. Besides, what’s the worst thing that can happen?
Bloody awesome weekend. Much to think about now.
Thanks again
Sam. -
Think Bigger?
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Well, for that to kick in we'd need at least another nine months...
True.
... Mind you, it would seem there'd be little/no loss for Helen to come out swinging and declare she wouldn't have Dunne in gvt as John has done with Winston.
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Who paid for Dunne's coffee when he met with Key recently?
If JK applies the same threshold as he did with Winston... it might have been $3.80 wasted...
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Genius.
Too much punctuation to be Kerouac, not enough drug use to be HST... but could def. be turned into a film by Tarantino.
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Great writing, thanks.
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Indeed.