No I do not agree with decriminalisation of drugs - I think they should all be legalised, brought under controlled sale, proceeds taxed and treatment centres available for the minority who can't cope. It's only a multi-million dollar industry because so many people in NZ use drugs.
Legalisation, as with alcohol, would rob gangs of their main source of income, make our streets and homes safer and boost the tax take.
Prohibiton never works very well.

Orwell would love this thread. All the snobby pigs looking down their noses at the dumb sheep. Poor fools sitting there so grimly when they could be out on their bikes, compulsory helmets on of course and tofu sammies in their backpacks.

I love the condescending pieties of the bourgoisie.

I think you got a bit carried away here.An abattoir? Like smoking, gambling isn't something people do because they hate it. I accept all its evils but also happliy accept the $1000's I have won over the years in casinos all over the world with tiny stakes (never more than $NZ50 for a fun night out) on the blackjack tables and the pokies. Blackjack I have played since I was a kid and we still play it with our own children - for match sticks. We could all count to 21 almost before we knew our ABC!

I rather dislike the patronising look-down-the-nose attitude to the leisure activites of hoi polloi. I have elderly relatives who love their weekly visit to the casino and get great enjoyment (and often winnings) from the experience.

There are surely controls that can be put in place for the so-called addicts but I resent laws restricting my pleasures because of the minority who can't handle them. Just like the whole class being put in detention becasue a teacher can't be bothered sorting out the culprits.

Of course APN is not funded by the taxpayer so they can do whatever their shareholders let them do.
When public servants spend our money they have a duty to do so with frugality, prudence and an eye to value.

I want to know why they need a conference to discuss 'customer service'. Don't they know how to say please and thank you and how can I help you.
It's not hard.
And I'm sure they've got a rule book as thick as their heads to tell them what to do.

Sad to see someone of Street's calibre so sucked in by spin that all she criticised was 'the look'.

Appearance over reality all the way with this Labour crowd.

You may remember the expression 'bully for you' meaning 'good for you'. That's what bully pulpit means - a great pulpit, not one for bullies. Theodore Roosevelt coined the phrase, saying being president gave him the best pulpit of all.
Seems that the march of time and ignorance has corrupted yet another useful bit of our language.

As for Helen Clark, even Lady Macbeth felt the milk of human kindness so I suppose the Red Duchess can too, occasionally, when she's not spitting venom.

...or having her election year makeover. Not quite 10 years younger though.