I agree mostly with your selections, Nick. The one gloomy area of Labour’s policies is no firm plan to radically overhaul our tax system.
I spent Christmas Day with our super rich relatives. Fortunately, politics was off the agenda. However, the older members, us excluded, have benefited hugely from Willis’s tax refunds.
But it was very noticeable that the younger members have not as school fees, cost of living & mortgage increases bites hard.
Those with no children yet are in Australia. I did ask if they were likely to come back and the answer was uniformly ’No!’
Why? Less job opportunities, lower pay & higher cost of living!
And do the older members of the family care? If they do, it doesn’t show.
Would your wealthy relatives vote for a fairer tax system?
Personally, I tend to think Labour should just do it when they are next in power. National won't undo a CGT once one is in place, but there is so much political capital to be burned for little in the way of short-term financial return campaigning on one.
When Labour revels it's tax plans they will be well researched & evidences based therefore solid. Guy Espiner interviewed Barbara Edmonds on 16th October 2024, well worth a watch.
Tis a tough one - the tax overhaul. It will probably be Labour as they will try and do the right thing. National won't of course, too much for members to lose.
Not a hope in hell they would vote for any tax! They are firmly in the small government, low tax neoliberal libertarian camp. I suppose you are right about Labour and any pre electioneering about tax. However, it’s been ruled out twice when in government recently to the profound detriment of so many, so I’m very wary of CH even if he has said all policy is under review. I guess one hope is a Labour/Green/TMP coalition with strong Green tax revisions in play.
In some ways I'm surprised that we haven't had a wealth tax, as the numbers against surely are fewer than for it. I guess it's all about the political nature of how you present it. I might just join the Labour party and do a bit - not that I feel I can achieve much, but it might add to their coffers.
The Labour Party will be campaigning on CGT for sure. The debate at conference was either a “wealth tax” or a CGT. CGT it is. Pretty sure some tax bands will be severely readjusted as well.
Good assessment, Nick, praise where praise is due. And a sad inditement of our current government. Wishing you a Happy New Year, everyone. Celebrate being alive for another one, and don't let the buggers get you down in 2025, they'd like that. Ake, ake ...
The Good, The Bad and the Badder (or if you prefer better grammar, The Even Worse) - my suggestion for a remake of the classic spaghetti western, starring your cast of characters Nick.
You couldn't have summed it up better. My resolution for 2025? Be more active in opposing the cockamamie circus that is our "Government". It's depressing even typing that, but Nick, your columns are a much anticipated antidote to the awfulness of the NACTNZF troika. Thank you.
phil heres a thought of a word i had for you...oh oops its two..excretable tosspot might just fit the bill..the costello rag looks like a grubby white golliwog.... when im confronted with the repugnant image of the giant bald thumb the orange anus comes to mind and vomit not far behind...a bit like the hippo that would appear when reggie perrin thought of his mother in law. agree with all the picks here..anyone notice just how mega fugly all the opposition faces are compared to the pleasing ones of all the rest.. good luck to us all for the new year..wish we didnt need luck...arohanui to all the decent folk
I don't know if you are aware of the TradeMe saga re a painting by Josh Drummond of PM Luxon that was removed because it was not "family friendly" (the irony was not lost on most of us...) It was disturbing but people interpreted it differently to the intent, but there you go! If you read Webworm by David Farrier, or have a presence on Substack or BlueSky so you can access Josh Drummond's followup, he basically painted over the "offensive" pink background with black vinyl paint, re-entered it for auction, & him and the new owners "unveiled" the painting to a small audience (videoed for posterity) which involved peeling off the black vinyl paint & restoring the disturbing original 👍🤣😁😂 "excretable tosspot" describes the painting message perfectly 👏 If you search for "Josh Drummond - Luxon painting" for those who haven't seen it - it deserves to be shared for 2025 👀😁
Very good assessments Nick. I hope the opposition parties go from strength to strength, I’m trying not to think about the government’s pitiful performance and the incompetence of it’s leadership and Ministers, at least for the next few days, before I grit my teeth and tackle my submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Great music selection today, I don’t think I have ever heard it before, I’m going to check out the other link you posted, another musician to and to my Spotify music library.
Thank you for a year of excellent reading Nick, wishing you, Fi and your family all the best for 2025.
Love today’s epistle Nick! thank you so much. Several of your superb phrases introduced me to laugh out loud – so clever. Looking forward to your next year of writing.👍🍀
I agree Nick, though there were a few Labour backbenchers who did the hard yards during the Committee Stages of the Awful Fast Track Bill and other crap under urgency just before Xmas I have sent messages to as well. And my award to you and other indy media for keeping us connected, and in touch. So vital in these times we use our collectives to keep hope and organising alive. Just a quick story; yesterday, we had a catchup with our son and his wife on their way back from the in-laws in San Francisco. They were in a driverless car! Talk about freak out. There is a strange, strange world ahead, so I wish you and your readers the best for 2025. Now to those NY resolutions.
The new year 2025, the first quarter done, and the dust is still in the air. I had some thoughts on simple names like "rich and sorted" for someone (?), "the little corporal" for another but the third I'm not sure where he fits - not Labour, not Greens, not Maori, not Nats either - What is a word for no ethics?
Great summaries/awards though have to say in my humble opinion Hipkin's "captain's call" on not upsetting the wealthy by shutting down discussion on revamping the tax system, could have been the final nail in the coffin. So into 2025......Happy New Year.
And then there was the policy bonfire. Hipkins is doing a great job as Leader of the Opposition but I'm not convinced he is the best person to lead a left/centre coalition which will face a massive task repairing the damage from the current unbelievably bad government.
Chloe Swarbrick is my politician of the year. Navigating the GP's internal issues, calling out the current government and articulating alternatives for the huge challenges we face - impressive.
If the three Left Parties join and present some serious planks together I think they will win. Toi Tu Te Tiriti, Wellbeing with full employment and protections, Tax to be more equitable. 3 areas of agreement for a start. Broad enough to appeal and not get boxed into a corner. (Details later)Lol Hoist by the right's own petard of not spelling out every detail too early.
Hi Jean - it means the person who wrote it edited it - usually spelling mistakes or missing words whenever I have to do it 🤷 No-one else can edit someone's writing on Substack
Wordsmith of the year award goes to Nick Rockel .... what a wonderful summation of the good the bad and the WTAF! how I wish my late sister and our other fiercely political minded members of the Walker clan could have read this, they'd have loved it as much as I did I know. So here's to 2025 to everyone on here .... gird your loins! and "lang may yer lum reek"
I agree mostly with your selections, Nick. The one gloomy area of Labour’s policies is no firm plan to radically overhaul our tax system.
I spent Christmas Day with our super rich relatives. Fortunately, politics was off the agenda. However, the older members, us excluded, have benefited hugely from Willis’s tax refunds.
But it was very noticeable that the younger members have not as school fees, cost of living & mortgage increases bites hard.
Those with no children yet are in Australia. I did ask if they were likely to come back and the answer was uniformly ’No!’
Why? Less job opportunities, lower pay & higher cost of living!
And do the older members of the family care? If they do, it doesn’t show.
I am appalled.
Would your wealthy relatives vote for a fairer tax system?
Personally, I tend to think Labour should just do it when they are next in power. National won't undo a CGT once one is in place, but there is so much political capital to be burned for little in the way of short-term financial return campaigning on one.
When Labour revels it's tax plans they will be well researched & evidences based therefore solid. Guy Espiner interviewed Barbara Edmonds on 16th October 2024, well worth a watch.
Tis a tough one - the tax overhaul. It will probably be Labour as they will try and do the right thing. National won't of course, too much for members to lose.
Not a hope in hell they would vote for any tax! They are firmly in the small government, low tax neoliberal libertarian camp. I suppose you are right about Labour and any pre electioneering about tax. However, it’s been ruled out twice when in government recently to the profound detriment of so many, so I’m very wary of CH even if he has said all policy is under review. I guess one hope is a Labour/Green/TMP coalition with strong Green tax revisions in play.
In some ways I'm surprised that we haven't had a wealth tax, as the numbers against surely are fewer than for it. I guess it's all about the political nature of how you present it. I might just join the Labour party and do a bit - not that I feel I can achieve much, but it might add to their coffers.
A wealth tax gives a sugar hit, but CGT brings in more revenue over time.
The Labour Party will be campaigning on CGT for sure. The debate at conference was either a “wealth tax” or a CGT. CGT it is. Pretty sure some tax bands will be severely readjusted as well.
Agree 💯 with your picks.
Here is an irony! This arvo, I have listened to two podcast about cost of living & housing. Both are well worth a listen
1. The front page- a Herald podcast about kiwis leaving to move overseas
2. The rest is money - Steph McGovern & Robert Peston - UK Slum housing.
All of which perfectly illustrates the huge damage right wing, neoliberal policies do to a population!
Well done Nick. Even cynical me can't disagree with that assessment.
Special mention could be made of speaker Brownlee. I still have a wry smile of the vision of his po face during Hana's Haka
Yes John, that was a priceless moment on many levels.
🎯 Agree wholeheartedly with all your choices Nick. Happy New Year and the same to all your lovely readers.
Good assessment, Nick, praise where praise is due. And a sad inditement of our current government. Wishing you a Happy New Year, everyone. Celebrate being alive for another one, and don't let the buggers get you down in 2025, they'd like that. Ake, ake ...
Agree with all your choices Nick. Would be so good to see those talented and currently in opposition become the next Govt. Happy New Year to you.
The Good, The Bad and the Badder (or if you prefer better grammar, The Even Worse) - my suggestion for a remake of the classic spaghetti western, starring your cast of characters Nick.
You couldn't have summed it up better. My resolution for 2025? Be more active in opposing the cockamamie circus that is our "Government". It's depressing even typing that, but Nick, your columns are a much anticipated antidote to the awfulness of the NACTNZF troika. Thank you.
Brilliant summation. The awards are clever and spot on. Happy New Year. Hopefully, the coalition will fall apart.
phil heres a thought of a word i had for you...oh oops its two..excretable tosspot might just fit the bill..the costello rag looks like a grubby white golliwog.... when im confronted with the repugnant image of the giant bald thumb the orange anus comes to mind and vomit not far behind...a bit like the hippo that would appear when reggie perrin thought of his mother in law. agree with all the picks here..anyone notice just how mega fugly all the opposition faces are compared to the pleasing ones of all the rest.. good luck to us all for the new year..wish we didnt need luck...arohanui to all the decent folk
I thought exactly the same thing. One's character shines through on the face (or not!)
I don't know if you are aware of the TradeMe saga re a painting by Josh Drummond of PM Luxon that was removed because it was not "family friendly" (the irony was not lost on most of us...) It was disturbing but people interpreted it differently to the intent, but there you go! If you read Webworm by David Farrier, or have a presence on Substack or BlueSky so you can access Josh Drummond's followup, he basically painted over the "offensive" pink background with black vinyl paint, re-entered it for auction, & him and the new owners "unveiled" the painting to a small audience (videoed for posterity) which involved peeling off the black vinyl paint & restoring the disturbing original 👍🤣😁😂 "excretable tosspot" describes the painting message perfectly 👏 If you search for "Josh Drummond - Luxon painting" for those who haven't seen it - it deserves to be shared for 2025 👀😁
Very good assessments Nick. I hope the opposition parties go from strength to strength, I’m trying not to think about the government’s pitiful performance and the incompetence of it’s leadership and Ministers, at least for the next few days, before I grit my teeth and tackle my submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Great music selection today, I don’t think I have ever heard it before, I’m going to check out the other link you posted, another musician to and to my Spotify music library.
Thank you for a year of excellent reading Nick, wishing you, Fi and your family all the best for 2025.
Love today’s epistle Nick! thank you so much. Several of your superb phrases introduced me to laugh out loud – so clever. Looking forward to your next year of writing.👍🍀
I agree Nick, though there were a few Labour backbenchers who did the hard yards during the Committee Stages of the Awful Fast Track Bill and other crap under urgency just before Xmas I have sent messages to as well. And my award to you and other indy media for keeping us connected, and in touch. So vital in these times we use our collectives to keep hope and organising alive. Just a quick story; yesterday, we had a catchup with our son and his wife on their way back from the in-laws in San Francisco. They were in a driverless car! Talk about freak out. There is a strange, strange world ahead, so I wish you and your readers the best for 2025. Now to those NY resolutions.
Yes, I saw the video John posted of the driverless car - just incredible. A Brave New World, ready or not.
Morena Nick. Ngā mihi o Te Tau Hou. Happy New Year to you and the whānau.
Your awards and winners of those awards were well thought out.
The new year 2025, the first quarter done, and the dust is still in the air. I had some thoughts on simple names like "rich and sorted" for someone (?), "the little corporal" for another but the third I'm not sure where he fits - not Labour, not Greens, not Maori, not Nats either - What is a word for no ethics?
Hollow man. (thanks to Nicky Hager.)
Could the third be "chameleon"
Mmm... maybe but is it too generous?
Great summaries/awards though have to say in my humble opinion Hipkin's "captain's call" on not upsetting the wealthy by shutting down discussion on revamping the tax system, could have been the final nail in the coffin. So into 2025......Happy New Year.
And then there was the policy bonfire. Hipkins is doing a great job as Leader of the Opposition but I'm not convinced he is the best person to lead a left/centre coalition which will face a massive task repairing the damage from the current unbelievably bad government.
Chloe Swarbrick is my politician of the year. Navigating the GP's internal issues, calling out the current government and articulating alternatives for the huge challenges we face - impressive.
If the three Left Parties join and present some serious planks together I think they will win. Toi Tu Te Tiriti, Wellbeing with full employment and protections, Tax to be more equitable. 3 areas of agreement for a start. Broad enough to appeal and not get boxed into a corner. (Details later)Lol Hoist by the right's own petard of not spelling out every detail too early.
why is your post edited ... does that mean you edited it .... or someone else? if so, who?
Hi Jean. As Cindy indicates it was me as the writer. I noticed a couple of typos once I'd posted and I just had to correct them. 😁
Hi Jean - it means the person who wrote it edited it - usually spelling mistakes or missing words whenever I have to do it 🤷 No-one else can edit someone's writing on Substack
Wordsmith of the year award goes to Nick Rockel .... what a wonderful summation of the good the bad and the WTAF! how I wish my late sister and our other fiercely political minded members of the Walker clan could have read this, they'd have loved it as much as I did I know. So here's to 2025 to everyone on here .... gird your loins! and "lang may yer lum reek"
Agree 100%
Happy New Year!