Kent Duston

Stupidly, Luxon et al chose the second option

#nzpol

I gotta admit, a bunch of government MPs that have let lobbyists run amok in Parliament putting the integrity of the public sector under scrutiny is pretty damn funny

#nzpol

The effect of jobs growth settling at or around 0% is the prospect of long term unemployment for a whole cohort of people, including our young people

Not investing in solar and battery and wind is strategic incompetence

If you want to know why we’re so poor as a nation, it’s because of the rent extraction by service businesses - and the poster child is the Aussie-owned banks. Here’s the graph by @musicalchairs.bsky.social that reinforces the point by @musicalchairs.bsky.social

#nzpol

Brilliant thread - thank you!

Haha, it’s more my anal retentive desire to make sure I credit the people who say smart things that I later quote

I wonder if this was factored into the government’s calculations for the forward price of LNG

#nzpol

This is the quote from Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition … There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

That's a brilliant graph, Robert

Tax haven == safe haven as far as libertarians are concerned. The real existential threat to these people is that they might have to pay for government services, not that a missile will arrive through their front window

In today’s NZ Herald

True true ... the market demand for mediocrity in political leadership does seem to have evaporated, as Luxon's approval ratings show.

Chris Hipkins: take note

You'd think that with the over-supply of mediocrity in the current government, there'd be serious downward pressure on the price of mediocre politicians

He's still only spending $60 a week on groceries, so he's doing fine thanks

The odds of any National MPs getting in on the list pretty much approximates zero, given the current polling

I presume the lack of copyright protection extends to vibe-coded apps as well

#nzpol

And goodness, isn’t it a gorgeous flying lampshade

I’ve got an issue with the technical language in your last post: when you say ‘it would be very unusual to see an economic recovery start like this’ don’t you actually mean ‘it would be fucking miraculous to see an economic recovery start like this’ ?

Those empty data centres will be repurposed as the biggest and best laser tag arenas ever, and it will be made an Olympic sport. See, there is an upside

The country only functions at all because of the collective network of Aunties. So we should just admit the point and elect political parties run by and for Aunties, and let them get on with it

This. Entire. Thread.

I think the technical term for the government’s unwillingness to plan for the blindingly obvious is ‘strategic incompetence’. Not just a minor error of judgement but full-on weapons-grade industrial-strength premeditated and deliberate ineptitude

The problem is, this has never happened before. It’s not like we’ve had multiple oil shocks over decades and decades, or that we’ve known about solar and EVs for the last ten years, or that the US keeps bombing the Middle East for no reason. How can any government be expected to plan?

Happy birthday, Mr Cans! May there be many more, on days a bit less fraught than this one

Yes

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

It’s safe to assume this lot really don’t want to fix things

Politicians keep pretending this stuff is really difficult and takes years of hand-wringing, when in fact it’s a piece of piss 🤷🏻

It’s all easy and straightforward … although the other key intervention is to kick the lobbyists out of Parliament, otherwise they will continue to cause problems - as they’re currently doing with the Commerce Act Amendment Bill