I don’t know, what do you think?

28 comments on “I don’t know, what do you think? ”

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1. ieuan 1

   14 January 2010 at 8:54 am

   So ‘the writers’ at ‘The Standard’ were desperate for John Key to get back from his latest holiday and start running the country again so that you could hear his opinion on………… the new Supreme Court building??
   • Zetetic 1.1

     14 January 2010 at 9:07 am

     Nah. I want him working on creating jobs. But he was asked a simple question and he gave a longish answer. Why couldn’t he just give his opinion. Rather than chicken out like always?
     • Gosman 1.1.1

       14 January 2010 at 10:08 am

       This is the problem of the Left. The job of creating jobs is best left to the Private sector not the Government. Government created jobs tend to be in unproductive sectors like the Core Public Service.
       • JD Lloyd 1.1.1.1

         14 January 2010 at 10:30 am

         Exactly Gitmo.

         The left sit around with their hands in their pockets whinging and whining waiting for John Key to fix the economies of our trading partners so that jobs will be created in New Zealand.

         The right (or in fact the majority of New Zealanders given the governments approval rating) do not look to John Key to save their mortal souls. They work together to make the best of a very bad global situation.

         The last government was kicked out because their was a perception they involved themselves in too many aspects of our lives. The current governments comparative stand off approach is refreshing and in my opinion the reason why they are the most popular government in decades. A point the left clearly misses 14 months after their humiliation.
       • Bored 1.1.1.2

         14 January 2010 at 12:14 pm

         Gos, nice attempt to open a can of worms fraught with more ideological and dogmatic gotchas than you can poke a stick at. Just reading Hobsbawm’s Age of Revolution (yes he is a Marxist) in which he gives us the historic record on the industrialization of Europe. He clearly demonstrates that there are parts of the economy that capitalism (aka private sector) failed to invest in due to factors such as scale and risk. The national political entity undertook this function. These (such as the heavy industry around transport infrastructure) were and are entirely necessary to the ability of the private sector to function in a developed economy.

         So can you really say with a blanket statement that the private sector should be left to create jobs? Is this the best or only model?

         Or can you say that government jobs that are regulatory are not productive when you can quite clearly see the damage caused by unregulated banking? Or perhaps the pollution of our rivers by private dairy farms that needs to be investigated, prosecuted and stopped?

         I think your black and white assessment pales into shades of grey.
         • Draco T Bastard (mobile) 1.1.1.2.1

           14 January 2010 at 12:35 pm

           Of course he can’t – history proves that private enterprise has achieved nothing except to rort the community. Like most WRNJs though, he’ll deny the reality.
         • Gosman 1.1.1.2.2

           14 January 2010 at 12:52 pm

           Banking was and is very stongly regulated. You have obviously never worked in finance.

           Whether it should have been regulated in a different way is an entirely different question.
           • Bored 1.1.1.2.2.1

             14 January 2010 at 1:07 pm

             I dont need to have worked in finance to know that it is regulated, more importantly the result of the wrong or inadequate regulation is there for all to see.

             On the bigger issue are you descending into narrow point defenses of dogma or can you celebrate the liberational quality of a new expansive hazy grey vision of the world?
             • Gosman …

               14 January 2010 at 1:28 pm

               Hang on. Now you are saying the problem is wrong or inadequate regulation rather than the sector being unregulated.

               So even if the Government chooses to regulate an industry it might not do it correctly, is that what you are now stating?
             • Gosman …

               14 January 2010 at 1:41 pm

               Having a look around the world I can’t see to many examples of sustained long term productive jobs that Governments created directly. Even indirectly Government intervention tends to be very short term.

               On top of that I don’t see it as a primary role of Government to worry about the creation of jobs. The health of the economy, and the people involved in it, is a government focus, however that can be dealt with in many ways beyond just overall employment policies.
2. Herodotus 2

   14 January 2010 at 8:57 am

   Sky tower was considered ugly now it is an iconic part of the Auckland landscape. As someone who is not priviledged to see the results of all our tax money being spent, you maybe to premature in your less than favourable comments to the merrits of this building.
   • Zetetic 2.1

     14 January 2010 at 9:08 am

     Nah. It’s ugly.

     Beehive’s iconic too. Still ugly.
     • Tigger 2.1.1

       14 January 2010 at 9:39 am

       As always, beauty is subjective. I like the building.

       Key reserving opinion? There’s a first time for everything. He’s the bitchiest PM we’ve had for years, giving up critiques on just about everything. Not sure why he stopped short here – guess he’s feeling ultra ‘relaxed’ after a month in that horrid little box he calls a holiday home.
     • Bored 2.1.2

       14 January 2010 at 12:26 pm

       Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I for one don’t care for the new building, but there again I don’t appreciate the whole modernist ethos that ties building to very limited parameters in which poured ferro cement and glass panels constructed in cubic regularity are king ..especially from the imperative of the mighty dollar. It’s an ugly era, and due to be resource mined and rebuilt on a more human scale. If there is a statue of Le Corbu it needs to be dumped in a scrap yard alongside those of Caucescu and similar. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh but every time you walk down a CBD criminal edifices shriek abuse at your senses.
       I viewed the building with an award winning architect who claims to be the oldest practicing architect in NZ. He asked what kind of scaffolding they were using? Looks like sea weed he said when corrected that this was decorative, being copper it will turn green, appropriate. My take was that the said “weed’ was the only good bit, beauty as they say is in the eye of the beholder.
   • lprent 2.2

     14 January 2010 at 9:58 am

     I still hate the look of the damn skytower, and I’ve never been in the casino. I have watched a film festival film at one of the cinemas there once.

     About the only thing good about it is that it is easier to make ‘iconic’ photos of it than the harbor bridge for web pages. For instance the Drinking Liberally Auckland graphic. But that is because it is vertical rather than horizontal.

     Basically it makes Auckland look like it had an overdose of little blue pills. Probably the intent.
   • BLiP 2.3

     14 January 2010 at 10:10 am

     The only thing iconic about the sky tower is that it is the largest monument ever built to losers. Its the ugliest thing in the city and represents an inverted intravenous needle sucking blood out of Auckland.

     John Key, on the other hand, he just sucks. What a please-everyone, do-nothing waste of space!!
     • Bored 2.3.1

       14 January 2010 at 1:21 pm

       So thats why its been windier in Wellington.
   • Draco T Bastard (mobile) 2.4

     14 January 2010 at 12:37 pm

     It’s still ugly and, IMO, not exactly iconic. In fact, I’d say that it’s friggen boring.
3. abc 3

   14 January 2010 at 9:00 am

   Um, wasn’t the Supreme Court and it’s building Labour’s doing? More of Helen trying to dissociate herself from NZ’s history
   • Zetetic 3.1

     14 January 2010 at 9:06 am

     yeah, the design was chosen under Labour. But the facade wasn’t installed until last year. Doesn’t matter who chose it. It’s an ugly design.

     Don’t get what you’re saying about Clark.
     • Craig Glen Eden 3.1.1

       14 January 2010 at 10:22 am

       I followed the links on this post re holiday homes. John Key cant be such a bad bloke he even thinks of the needs of us common folk.

       “Key said he was concerned that the price of coastal properties was making access for many New Zealanders difficult and he was keen for the Department of Conservation to open more camping grounds.”

       HMMM ok John thanks for caring. Some jobs would be nice though now aye?
4. abc 4

   14 January 2010 at 11:38 am

   Clark setup the supreme court did she not? Hence we had to build and maintain it (more $), whereas the privy council was free? and more impartial as they don’t live in the same small country as us.
   • Pascal's bookie 4.1

     14 January 2010 at 11:48 am

     From what I hear, the brits were getting sick of that arrangement.
   • lprent 4.2

     14 January 2010 at 12:32 pm

     The privy council wasn’t ‘free’ if you count the costs of the parties to get there to argue their case. It cost millions of dollars per case just in air-fares, accommodation, and local legal support and often took most of a decade.

     Since the crown was a party to most of the cases taken there, I’d say that a local Supreme Court is a bargain for the taxpayers.

     The cases that the Privy Council was willing to hear were getting rather quirky as well.

     Perhaps you should get to know what you’re talking about before displaying your ignorance.
5. roger nome 5

   14 January 2010 at 12:27 pm

   Key’s McMansion is bland, sterile and low value for money. He sure did put his personality into that one hey?
   • Bored 5.1

     14 January 2010 at 12:47 pm

     Key could improve his MacMansions aesthetics by getting rid of the automatic security gate built for large limos to fit through. A narrow one with a hand operated latch and a rose covered archway could go straight out onto the national cycleway (routed by his house by way of political favour pulling). Thus also showing his commitment to the cycleway vision and Kyoto at the same time. Plus proving his accessibility as a man of the people who does not need to be “gated” in.
   • DavidW 5.2

     14 January 2010 at 1:39 pm

     I always sensed a tinge of Green about you gnome, now I can identify that it is pure jealousy.
6. willaspish 6

   14 January 2010 at 4:13 pm

   John Key is the original Nowhere Man.

   He’s a real nowhere man,
   Sitting in his Nowhere Land,
   Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.

   Doesn’t have a point of view,
   Knows not where he’s going to,
   Isn’t he a bit like you and me?

   Nowhere Man please listen,
   You don’t know what you’re missing,
   Nowhere Man, the world is at your command!
   ….

   His lack of opinion and desire to be everyone’s “mate” will be his undoing one day.

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