Yes: Israel is committing egregious war crimes and engaging in what could arguably be defined as ethnic cleansing under international law. And no, no country, and none of the international institutions that we trust will stop this kind of stuff from ...
Nope, that was actually a serious post. Because, in all honesty, wishcasting is a really shitty basis on which to organise your foreign policy.
I think this is delusional, nostalgia filtered nonsense pining for a past that never existed. And a piss weak argument for a foreign policy that would deliver us no advantages while at the same time irritate China, the US, and Australia. New Zealands ...
The bill itself is pretty simple and just amends the LGA to specifically make remote participation at council meetings a legal right, rather than something a Council can decide to allow via standing orders. But yeah, crazy NACT is trying itself into knots ...
Interesting that the coalition isn't supporting Cushla Tangaere-Manuel's Local Government Amendment Bill to allow councilors to attend meetings remotely for what can be loosely described as "reasons" - but only if you're feeling extremely generous: They ...
I didn't mean you in particular, Bwaghorn.
Or Labour manages to find something resembling moral courage. Preferably before they piss away the entire left's credibility.
Exactly! We have to be laser focused on dealing with the political reality that exists here and now. Anything other than that is wasted time, energy, and intellect.
Could be that the house your selling is owned by or being purchased by Maori. And maybe once you've finished clutching your pearls about the fact that yes, the bloody moaris can own property too, it would be good to deal with your client is a way that ...
Maybe let's start with do you accept there is a climate ecological crisis that have the potential to collapse human civilisation? Absolutely! I just think the propensity to philosophise about the crises (because there is definitely more than one) we are ...
I'm deeply skeptical of anyone that tries to couch modern political discourse as some kind of titanic moral struggle between good and evil. It's basically warmed over dialectic theory leavened with a dash of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations. ...
OK sure, but what if another agent down the road starts refusing to do required PD in ethics because it's "woke nonsense"? We will also loudly tut about forcing things down people's throats? Or does that argument only apply to learning about Te Ao Maori ...
Having worked in both central and local government for nearly 15 years, I can confidently say that Utopia is discomfortingly close to how the real world public sector actually operates.
I am not claiming what I have suggested would be perfect. I just think it would be a lot better than what we have now. You would have to try incredibly hard to do worse. And, as I pointed out to Nic earlier, you've had least had the courage to articulate ...
In my extensive research, reject every judicial reform proposal which has ever been proposed by the ACT party at least since John Banks was leader of the party OK, that we can definitely agree on... I also happen to think that tmsithfield's proposition is...
I'd be intrigued to see your obviously brilliant, well researched, and comprehensive plans for prison reform Nic. At least the OP has been willing to articulate something other than scorn and lazy sarcasm. So put up, or shut up.
Oh, I totally agree! The government's definitely trying to put its thumb on the scales to please the redneck, "sensible" sentencing mob. But it's also totally legit: from a constitutional perspective, judicial independence has always existed alongside, and...
People who are so bad they are never likely to reform, and likely to be a continuing menance to the community should basically be locked away forever, unless there is some dramatic change in their nature that justifies the second step of my idea. And who ...
All of those things are true. But I see that as Labour trying to solve a pressing political problem and heading off Don Brash (shudder) at the pass, rather than necessarily introducing visionary social policy. If we can criticize our last 2 left-leaning ...
That's what bugs me the most about WFF: it's nothing more than thinly disguised subsidy for business that enables them to keep wages down and let the taxpayer foot the bill. It was Labour's biggest ever betrayal of the working and middle class. And has set...
What is not mentioned is the purpose of AUKUS. It is clearly aimed at China, and its intent is aggressive Happily agree with the first point. Feel the second is absolute bonkers. One of my pet peeves as a leftist is the paucity of intelligent, thoughtful ...
I wouldn't be so sure of that, Anne. Leaking to a news outlet is one thing. Doing so directly to an opposition spokesperson is quite another. As a public servant myself there's just something about it that makes me deeply uncomfortable. The right is ...
A patch is never late, nor is it early. It arrives only exactly when it means to
It's not so much the engineering per se. It's the layers upon layers of undocumented (or half documented) business rules and workarounds. The whole thing is basically built out of cruft and good intentions. And I seriously doubt the good intentions.
The UN is a deeply flawed institution by design. And yeah, it fails to live up to a bunch of it's aspirations. That said, even a deeply flawed multilateral institution dedicated to peace and the rule of international law is better than nothing.
But why would they, though? Ignore their attempts at reputation laundering and ongoing tease about some kind of rapprochement with Israel (on their terms and only if daddy US gives them a big enough bribe), the oil states in the Middle East are not nice ...
Absolutely! the motor vehicle registry system is incredibly old and flaky. Pretty sure it's still COBOL running on a mainframe. As a software engineer myself, I shudder at the thought of opening up that particular can of worms. It's doable but would be an ...
There were absolutely massive policy debates about it. From a regulatory perspective, there's a bunch of dynamics at play. 1) We expect users to pay RUC in advance but can only take regulatory action retrospectively (e.g. at a WOF or Hubometer change). 2) ...
How long do you think an independent, democratic Ukraine would last after such a peace deal? You'd have to be a complete muppet to imagine it would longer than a year or so. It's like being punched repeatedly by a bully while being constantly asked why ...
That's always bugged me Pat. We have an entire, completely hidden, entirely opaque system of implicit subsidies across a bunch of sectors - including trucking and agriculture, that's woven into the very fabric of our taxation and regulatory system. Yet we ...
Great idea in theory, but it would be incredibly difficult, expensive to manage and not compatible with current legislation. So therefore, probably not worth the effort. You have to remember that WK only captures and manages the registered person for a ...
Recent Comments