Crowdsourcing the deficit
Written By:
- Date published:
2:43 pm, July 13th, 2010 - 11 comments
Categories: democratic participation, International, Politics, uk politics -
Tags: david cameron, facebook, mark zuckerman
Why let politicians have all the fun? Now the British public can get in on the service slashing action too – via Facebook.
The government there has launched a Facebook group to support the Treasury’s “Spending Challenge” – where the public is invited to share their ideas for cutting spending.
With the possible exception of the idea to “Force cats to spend one hour a day on electrical treadmills” the Treasury site doesn’t yet display a particularly high degree of imagination with suggestions like “Cut benefits to immigrants”, “Abolish multilingual forms” and “Do not provide housing for teenage mothers” featuring prominently.
The Facebook component is launched in the video below by a fawning David Cameron (“Look me up next time you’re in town”) and his new BFF, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerman.
11 comments on “Crowdsourcing the deficit ”
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The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori call on the Prime Minister to block the Treaty Principle...
The opposition parties stand united for an Aotearoa that honours Te Tiriti, rather than seeking to rewrite it. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are working together against the Government’s divisive Treaty Principles Bill. ...2 weeks ago
- NZ must pursue independent foreign policy
The Green Party says the need is greater than ever for Aotearoa New Zealand to pursue an independent foreign policy. ...2 weeks ago
- Child Protection Investigation Unit established
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Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Ka mihi ki te mana whenua ko Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. Kia ora and good morning everyone. Thank you Fran and Simon for inviting me here today, and importantly your leadership of this forum over several years now. I want to acknowledge David Gehrenbeck, Deputy ...1 day ago
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- District Court Judge appointed
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- Driver safety screens to be installed on Auckland buses
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed news from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) that bus driver protection screens will be installed across Auckland’s bus fleet by 2026.“The Government is committed to improving the safety of working environments for bus drivers, and Budget 2024 allocated $15 million of Crown funding over ...2 days ago
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The Oranga Tamariki (Responding to Serious Youth Offending) Bill had its first reading at Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Government’s commitment to crack down on serious youth offending, Minister for Children Karen Chhour says. “In recent years we have seen an unacceptable spike in youth offending. “This Bill makes ...2 days ago
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Fairer, more sensible rules about managing earthquake risks are a step closer with the passing of legislation and the appointment of an independent chair to provide expert advice, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The Government is committed to reinvigorating our cities and regions to support economic growth, ...2 days ago
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- First arrests made under gang patch ban
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- Better support for victims of sexual violence
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- Government moving forward with Regional Deals
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- MSA pilot participant update
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Tēnā koutou katoa – it is a pleasure to be here today. I would like to begin by acknowledging the important leadership role you all play in ensuring a quality health system New Zealanders can trust. There is enormous clinical expertise in this room covering a wide range of disciplines. ...3 days ago
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- Latest Quarterly Investment Report released
The Government has released its second Quarterly Investment Report (QIR) which shows substantial work still to be done by agencies to improve investment reporting and meet the Government’s expectations, Infrastructure and Acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “New Zealand has significant infrastructure and investment needs. The Government is determined to get ...4 days ago
- New Zealand supporting loss and damage fund
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced New Zealand will contribute NZ$10 million to the new Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage while at the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan. “New Zealand is joining the global effort to address the significant challenge of responding to ...4 days ago
- Gang crackdown begins at stroke of midnight
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- LGFA increases borrowing capacity to support high growth councils
The Government is welcoming the decision by the Local Government Funding Agency to increase access to financing tools for fast growing councils to support greater investment in critical infrastructure, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says.“Communities across the country are facing an infrastructure deficit and significant population growth is projected in ...4 days ago
- Temporary Traffic Management costs revealed
The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“When I became Minister, I was surprised to learn that that NZTA did ...4 days ago
- Jurisdiction of Disputes Tribunal to double
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- Protecting New Zealand from foreign interference
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- Police stats show promising change
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The server will be getting hardware changes this evening starting at 10pm NZDT.
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‘Spose the masses will have the illusion that they are participating. A bit like taking the aggression out on a punch-bag. Ah. Now I feel better.
Still, about as effective as participating in Consultation only to have them do what they were going to do anyway. Bit like dealing with my wife.
Given Key’s interest in emulating Cameron, I fear he will pick up this idea and get Kiwiblog to host it 🙁
Kiwiblog might fall over given that they are already flat out speaking on Key’s be-half – or more.
Speaking of the similarities between the two, has anyone ever seen John Key, David Cameron, and Canada’s Stephen Harper in the same room at the same time? 😉
At least we can see that Cameron has a much larger bedroom than Zuckerberg.
Although Cameron does seem to have an appalling carpet, and (judging by the shadows on his bookcase) seems to need a couple of hand-holders to help him run his webcam.
Yeah, but who wears a suit in their bedroom?
Geesoos. Is this like a new public policy contraceptive move?
captcha: firm (huh?!)