I think you are hitting on one of the key problems with msm in NZ. I'm listening to RNZ at the moment and keep saying, it's not that I don't trust msm in that I don't believe they lie to us but I am deeply sceptical about their lack of perspective and what they think is balance, even if they are seeking it. A good example was RNZ yesterday leading news bulletins with the ram raids and having Sunny Kaushal as the spokesman for dairy owners. What he said was straight out of the National Party, Sensible Sentencing Trust, lock em up and throw away the key brigade hymn book - fanning flames, exaggerating, saying retail crime is out of control, nothing is being done, need zero tolerance to retail crime etc. There was not any effort to provide any balance or perspective, challenging this with a much more informed, balanced, objective comment from another party.
Like you, I will never forget Roger Douglas' major part, together with Richard Prebble, in destroying the social fabric of New Zealand with their neoliberalism. Every time I even see their names in the media, my hackles rise. I voted Green in 1990 as a result but not since. It is interesting to see what the media chooses to seize on "news" and the 50 course banquet they chose to make out of the text sent by Kerekere was unbelievable. NZ Herald even had it down to a frame by frame reaction by two Green MPs sitting behind Chloe Swarbrick. No wonder people are turning off our msm with its overwhelming predilection for making mountains out of molehills
At the risk of coming across as a party apparatchik, I will point out there is still an investigation going on into the events reported by the media. But yeah, nah. It's not a good look.
The headlines should have been on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill that was being debated at the time and the tragedy is that this failed at the first reading. Chlöe has travelled the country working with local authorities in a way I've seldom seen an MP do. This is a bill that *should* appeal to both left and right - reducing harm in vulnerable communities while increasing the freedom of people to locally determine how many alcohol outlets and under what conditions they operate. I would have thought local determination was a "right-wing" value at one time, but they seem to forget that pretty readily.
Yes, I do drink but I'm also conscious that I live in a neighbourhood where liquor stores are sparse and where an application for an additional one was recently defeated. About once a month I cycle on a stretch of road across town where there must be six liquor stores with a single km. I would encourage everybody to take a look at the list of MPs at the end of this https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20230405_20230405_52 and if your local representative is in the "Noes" then write to them and ask why, as I have done for my (Labour) MP this morning. If you have time read some of the debate and see if you find it convincing.
The alcohol industry has an outsized influence on this country and has already shown itself willing to engage complete sleazes to defame academics as just one tactic. I'm sure they are lobbying hard and we deserve some explanation. And sorry Nick for the lengthy polemic :)
You and Kermit huh Nick. You poor old Greenies. I am a Labour Party member but I do agree with you about Roger Douglas. et al. Prebble was in Douglas' group, Michael Bassett also ( he was my history lecturer,and tutor),and others like Phil Goff who was on the fringes of that group. People like me voted for Langes' govt. because of Lange himself, his wit, what he seemed to stand for. He would represent people in court who he knew would never pay him- he was very good to the pasifika community in South Auckland where he lived. He was very helpful to my late husband when they studied in the Law library together . They also worked together on the wharves in the Christmas holidays.He could tie Muldoon in knots in a debate. Roger Douglas' father was a well known union leader and I'm sure many people also like me thought he represented socialist views like his father. He cheated us. I know they had to make some hard decisions because as Muldoon smugly said ."he had spent all the money". most of it on his Think Big projects . But that did not mean rabid Neo-liberal . policies following Margaret Thatcher. Ironically Muldoon was more of a socialist than Roger Douglas has ever been. His mother was a widow, he believed in welfare , and the value of govt. Unlike the Neo-liberal view of cutting govt. and taxes which especially would favour an elite group who wiould create wealth that would trickle down to the rest of the community , even for Luxon's "bottom feeders". I am a little disappointed in Dr Elizabeth Kerekere. I was pleased when she won her seat in parliament. I have enjoyed hearing her speak. She has a soft voice, and I have liked what she has said. This drama over her sending a txt to the wrong group chat, which revealed a snarky side of her , is really over the top. I very rarely agree with Nicola Willis but her comment that she has four children, and she deals with issues like this every day was pertinent. Jacinda in her valedictory speech said to the two Green Party co-leaders that she had loved working with them, but she likened their party processes to I think a tv program (one I've never heard of ). a lot of people laughed including James, and Marama, and most of the Green Party MPs. The MSM that I have read so far have been respectful, and mostly positive about Jacinda's time as our Prime Minister. Paddy Gower was neither. He said Jacinda's government did not run smoothly, the way John Key's had.Joe Moir wrote a snippy piece with the title "Jacinda Ardern hugs her way out of government". I looked at the long line of people wo were waiting to say goodbye personally to Jacinda. That line included quite a few National MPs including Christopher Luxon. I'm not sure about Act Mps-I only saw part of the queue. hHowever they all did get a hug-I guess if they held out their hand to shake hers she would have known not to hug. They were forewarned. She is a hugger!
Apr 8, 2023·edited Apr 9, 2023Liked by Nick Rockel
oooh yes. i am struck by the parallel experience of being a maori party supporter from the beginning. apart from the period after the party split from Hone Harawira, and the Mana party looked like it could be an alternative maori party, but not. the media going into a feeding frenzy everytime something possibly negative happens. disappointment all around. but i'm maori, so now that the maori party seem to be back on track, so am i, despite the odd things sometimes said.
And here you have said something brave: "I'm a socialist". in a world where that word has been made to mean something, at best slightly worrying and at worst, the evil of authoritarianism, i applaud your statement. and wish that the greens could be more radical and effective about the important things.
but talking of distractions, i remember studying economics during the 1980s and 90s at a time when neoliberal orthodoxy dominance was all encompassing. I was also, for a short time, employed in academia to teach it. In all of that time, i had a weird sense that i didnt really understand economics but couldnt articulate what i was missing. For a while our economics section was part of social sciences so i got to hang out with some lefties. then we were made part of the commerce school and i got to hang out with financial experts. the contrast was eye opening and i finally understand why i never understood economics. it was because there are no people in it. for example when you learn about the natural rate of unemployment you dont learn about the real world effects on people. when you assume that everybody is the same so that your mathematical model can work, you do not learn about the real world effects on people who are different to the assumed, white, potentially middle class, motivated by money norm. there are no people in neoliberal economics. thats why it hurts. thats why it convinces those who dont understand people, privelege, and power differentials. it makes me feel sick to think about economics without people. Long live socialism.
Lol Nick your email send 'fail' reminds me of the time when I was working at AgResearch in Hammy & I sent an email out asking if anyone had any boxes I could have to move house?
The Chief Scientist at the time Stephen Goldson replied from Christchurch saying he had some but unfortunately he may not be able to get them to me in time. We both used to laugh about it whenever visited the campus.
lol yep ALL Agresearch staff through got NZ got my email 😆
Not a fan of Kerekere - saw her patronising submitters in a Select C'ttee once. Had forgotten she'd broken Covid rules - but that recalls Dr Bloomfield's last appearance before the Health Select C'ttee (different session). As a lesbian she told him he was now a 'gay icon'. He dead-panned that, possibly recalling her breaking the rules?
This is an Easter treat I wasn't expecting, so thank you Nick. I have a few copies of The Listener printed during rogernomics , and Trace Hodgson's cartoons are just so incredibly well done with their portrayls of douglas and mad dog prebble. There is a chilling one where Lange morphs into douglas over several frames...
Yes, you have just confirmed for me Nick that we are indeed fellow travellers. Rod Donald was a personal friend. James Shaw probs a better politician than Chlöe and that's important but he is not as popular which is more important to me. I have no information about Ms Kerekere or whoever was slagging Chlöe. It certainly doesn't encourage me to support Green at the election. Wondering now about the Chch Deputy Mayor's party
I think you are hitting on one of the key problems with msm in NZ. I'm listening to RNZ at the moment and keep saying, it's not that I don't trust msm in that I don't believe they lie to us but I am deeply sceptical about their lack of perspective and what they think is balance, even if they are seeking it. A good example was RNZ yesterday leading news bulletins with the ram raids and having Sunny Kaushal as the spokesman for dairy owners. What he said was straight out of the National Party, Sensible Sentencing Trust, lock em up and throw away the key brigade hymn book - fanning flames, exaggerating, saying retail crime is out of control, nothing is being done, need zero tolerance to retail crime etc. There was not any effort to provide any balance or perspective, challenging this with a much more informed, balanced, objective comment from another party.
Like you, I will never forget Roger Douglas' major part, together with Richard Prebble, in destroying the social fabric of New Zealand with their neoliberalism. Every time I even see their names in the media, my hackles rise. I voted Green in 1990 as a result but not since. It is interesting to see what the media chooses to seize on "news" and the 50 course banquet they chose to make out of the text sent by Kerekere was unbelievable. NZ Herald even had it down to a frame by frame reaction by two Green MPs sitting behind Chloe Swarbrick. No wonder people are turning off our msm with its overwhelming predilection for making mountains out of molehills
At the risk of coming across as a party apparatchik, I will point out there is still an investigation going on into the events reported by the media. But yeah, nah. It's not a good look.
The headlines should have been on the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill that was being debated at the time and the tragedy is that this failed at the first reading. Chlöe has travelled the country working with local authorities in a way I've seldom seen an MP do. This is a bill that *should* appeal to both left and right - reducing harm in vulnerable communities while increasing the freedom of people to locally determine how many alcohol outlets and under what conditions they operate. I would have thought local determination was a "right-wing" value at one time, but they seem to forget that pretty readily.
Yes, I do drink but I'm also conscious that I live in a neighbourhood where liquor stores are sparse and where an application for an additional one was recently defeated. About once a month I cycle on a stretch of road across town where there must be six liquor stores with a single km. I would encourage everybody to take a look at the list of MPs at the end of this https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20230405_20230405_52 and if your local representative is in the "Noes" then write to them and ask why, as I have done for my (Labour) MP this morning. If you have time read some of the debate and see if you find it convincing.
The alcohol industry has an outsized influence on this country and has already shown itself willing to engage complete sleazes to defame academics as just one tactic. I'm sure they are lobbying hard and we deserve some explanation. And sorry Nick for the lengthy polemic :)
You and Kermit huh Nick. You poor old Greenies. I am a Labour Party member but I do agree with you about Roger Douglas. et al. Prebble was in Douglas' group, Michael Bassett also ( he was my history lecturer,and tutor),and others like Phil Goff who was on the fringes of that group. People like me voted for Langes' govt. because of Lange himself, his wit, what he seemed to stand for. He would represent people in court who he knew would never pay him- he was very good to the pasifika community in South Auckland where he lived. He was very helpful to my late husband when they studied in the Law library together . They also worked together on the wharves in the Christmas holidays.He could tie Muldoon in knots in a debate. Roger Douglas' father was a well known union leader and I'm sure many people also like me thought he represented socialist views like his father. He cheated us. I know they had to make some hard decisions because as Muldoon smugly said ."he had spent all the money". most of it on his Think Big projects . But that did not mean rabid Neo-liberal . policies following Margaret Thatcher. Ironically Muldoon was more of a socialist than Roger Douglas has ever been. His mother was a widow, he believed in welfare , and the value of govt. Unlike the Neo-liberal view of cutting govt. and taxes which especially would favour an elite group who wiould create wealth that would trickle down to the rest of the community , even for Luxon's "bottom feeders". I am a little disappointed in Dr Elizabeth Kerekere. I was pleased when she won her seat in parliament. I have enjoyed hearing her speak. She has a soft voice, and I have liked what she has said. This drama over her sending a txt to the wrong group chat, which revealed a snarky side of her , is really over the top. I very rarely agree with Nicola Willis but her comment that she has four children, and she deals with issues like this every day was pertinent. Jacinda in her valedictory speech said to the two Green Party co-leaders that she had loved working with them, but she likened their party processes to I think a tv program (one I've never heard of ). a lot of people laughed including James, and Marama, and most of the Green Party MPs. The MSM that I have read so far have been respectful, and mostly positive about Jacinda's time as our Prime Minister. Paddy Gower was neither. He said Jacinda's government did not run smoothly, the way John Key's had.Joe Moir wrote a snippy piece with the title "Jacinda Ardern hugs her way out of government". I looked at the long line of people wo were waiting to say goodbye personally to Jacinda. That line included quite a few National MPs including Christopher Luxon. I'm not sure about Act Mps-I only saw part of the queue. hHowever they all did get a hug-I guess if they held out their hand to shake hers she would have known not to hug. They were forewarned. She is a hugger!
oooh yes. i am struck by the parallel experience of being a maori party supporter from the beginning. apart from the period after the party split from Hone Harawira, and the Mana party looked like it could be an alternative maori party, but not. the media going into a feeding frenzy everytime something possibly negative happens. disappointment all around. but i'm maori, so now that the maori party seem to be back on track, so am i, despite the odd things sometimes said.
And here you have said something brave: "I'm a socialist". in a world where that word has been made to mean something, at best slightly worrying and at worst, the evil of authoritarianism, i applaud your statement. and wish that the greens could be more radical and effective about the important things.
but talking of distractions, i remember studying economics during the 1980s and 90s at a time when neoliberal orthodoxy dominance was all encompassing. I was also, for a short time, employed in academia to teach it. In all of that time, i had a weird sense that i didnt really understand economics but couldnt articulate what i was missing. For a while our economics section was part of social sciences so i got to hang out with some lefties. then we were made part of the commerce school and i got to hang out with financial experts. the contrast was eye opening and i finally understand why i never understood economics. it was because there are no people in it. for example when you learn about the natural rate of unemployment you dont learn about the real world effects on people. when you assume that everybody is the same so that your mathematical model can work, you do not learn about the real world effects on people who are different to the assumed, white, potentially middle class, motivated by money norm. there are no people in neoliberal economics. thats why it hurts. thats why it convinces those who dont understand people, privelege, and power differentials. it makes me feel sick to think about economics without people. Long live socialism.
Lol Nick your email send 'fail' reminds me of the time when I was working at AgResearch in Hammy & I sent an email out asking if anyone had any boxes I could have to move house?
The Chief Scientist at the time Stephen Goldson replied from Christchurch saying he had some but unfortunately he may not be able to get them to me in time. We both used to laugh about it whenever visited the campus.
lol yep ALL Agresearch staff through got NZ got my email 😆
Not a fan of Kerekere - saw her patronising submitters in a Select C'ttee once. Had forgotten she'd broken Covid rules - but that recalls Dr Bloomfield's last appearance before the Health Select C'ttee (different session). As a lesbian she told him he was now a 'gay icon'. He dead-panned that, possibly recalling her breaking the rules?
Thank goodness for the Greens, the climate emergency has to be kept front & centre in voters minds.
Elizabeth Kerekere IS IN THE WRONG PARTY.
This is an Easter treat I wasn't expecting, so thank you Nick. I have a few copies of The Listener printed during rogernomics , and Trace Hodgson's cartoons are just so incredibly well done with their portrayls of douglas and mad dog prebble. There is a chilling one where Lange morphs into douglas over several frames...
Yes, you have just confirmed for me Nick that we are indeed fellow travellers. Rod Donald was a personal friend. James Shaw probs a better politician than Chlöe and that's important but he is not as popular which is more important to me. I have no information about Ms Kerekere or whoever was slagging Chlöe. It certainly doesn't encourage me to support Green at the election. Wondering now about the Chch Deputy Mayor's party