Where Is My Mind?
The Devolution Derby won't last forever.
UPDATE: Today is Giving Tuesday, which is touted as a “global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organisations to transform their communities and the world.” It seems like a pretty cool thing, although I’d never heard of it.
In that spirit, Nick’s Kōrero's paid subscribers clicked like a hundred times on this morning’s paywalled newsletter, so it’s now open to all to read and share. Thank you so much to all my paying subscribers for your support this year. It is greatly appreciated. 💚❤️🤎
I’ve also decided to bring forward the Christmas Special I’ve been mentioning for a while. So, if you’d like to gift yourself or someone else a subscription, you can get 25% off for the first 12 months from now until the Big Bloke comes down the chimney.
I wish you an early Merry Christmas and a happy Giving Tuesday, and I hope you’ll join me in 2025. 🙂
With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah (Yeah)
Your head will collapse, and there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Where is my mind?
Songwriter: Black Francis
Clear craniums are the order of the day. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it does rather appear that the lunatics haven’t just taken over the asylum, but they’re running the world, and full heads are out of fashion.
So what better way of commiserating than to mock the stupidity of what we see and those who have not been well acquainted with the tree of knowledge or those papery things we make from trees? Note, I’m not talking bog roll here. I’m sure these folks are quite hygienic, but thoughts and learning - didn’t get hit by that branch.
A little knowledge is dangerous—but less still is even more so. Whether it is vaccinations, climate change, or even socialism, far too many people are rejecting logic, facts, and science in favour of what Americans would call Baloney.
My father would call it Bulls Dust or perhaps Codswallop. Whatever you call it, there is certainly a lot of it around, and it seems to be growing. People can’t get enough of it.
Anti-vaxxers rejoice; Scientists weep.
On a rare day of victory for flat-earthers, moon landing deniers, fluoride phobics and supporters of mass infection, this happened:
“He is one of us!!” the co-director of the anti-vax group Mississippi Parents for Vaccine Rights wrote on Facebook. “Since before, our movement had momentum. Dream Come True.”
“Every day more good news!” wrote another prominent anti-vaxxer in West Virginia.
Hallelujah, and pass the body bags. What could possibly go wrong?
Just because Weldon recommended chlorine dioxide, essentially industrial bleach, to “cure” autism, that shouldn’t hold him back from leading the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, should it? Isn’t that a bit elitist?
Still, we’re smart enough in this country that even if some people complained about some measures, most of us accept that our government did its best during Covid with the information available at the time.
We’re not in the business of putting anti-vaxxers in powerful positions, although NZ First supporters might beg to differ, and we’re not going to vilify those who did their best to look after people.
Are we?
Forget the brains; this one doesn’t have a heart.
It turns out that Heather with the hyphens, Newstalk ZB’s du Plessis-Allan, is not only an expert in procuring guns illegally, in attacking school children for caring about climate change, or of the mating rituals of septuagenarians, but she also knows more about what the government should have done during Covid than the experts.
Young Heather said, “Hold my Pinot”—not to Barry, obviously, or Kerre, for that matter. She then offered the nation her views on allowing people to make their own decisions in the time of a pandemic, even if it kills other people, lest they feel their reckonings are not taken as seriously as those of the experts.
“If for nothing else, Labour should apologise for ruining people’s lives with the mandates”, says Heather. To which I would say with all the respect that is due, maybe instead of being snide with this nonsense, why don’t you just be grateful that your baby daddy, who, let's face it, is more of a baby grandpa, is still around due to their actions?
Du Plessis-Allan offers, “They have all the proof they need that what they did was wrong. That awful protest outside Parliament (which was actually about mandates)…” Hang on a minute, sorry, what?
Are you using the fact that some fairly fringe individuals with signs saying to kill the media and the government who decided to sit around outside of parliament throwing faeces at people, harassing others, and then trashing the place rather than taking their medicine are “proof” of government wrongdoing?
Well, on that logic, this current government has really messed up. It should be out there apologising because there were many, many more people at the recent Hīkoi than at the anti-vaxxer sleep-out, and the people who actually had something to protest about didn’t feel the need to throw poo at anyone.
Three Waters, or Pee Waters?
Speaking of poo…
After much angry fist-shaking in halls around Aotearoa and bumps in the political polls, National and ACT went to war against anything related to co-governance, particularly Three Waters, in the lead-up to the last election.
So, in terms of that question, Three Waters or Pee Waters, we didn’t choose number one, a sensible national approach to addressing our water infrastructure needs, so we are left with many number twos.
Right at the beaches where we’d like to swim, and wow, was summer in evidence yesterday in Tamaki Makaurau - a perfect day for a dip, although perhaps not if you don’t wish to risk infection and illness from the contents of the harbour.
“Dozens of Auckland’s most popular beaches have been labelled unsafe to swim due to faecal contamination during a rainy first weekend of summer.”
Those who were so opposed to Three Waters basically said, “We’re so racist that we’d rather swim in our shit than see Māori have a seat at the decision table.”
It was a great decision. Maybe keep your mouth closed when you take a dip, and if you have any complaints about water quality or skyrocketing rates bills. But don’t worry too much. I’m sure the nice folks you voted for will soon be, along with a new definition for water quality that will make things look much better.
But I’ve got some good news…
You’ve probably seen the Stuff poll from last night; in case you didn’t, the party positions were as follows:
National: 34%, down 4 percentage points since the election (43 seats)
Labour: 31%, up 4 (39 seats)
Greens: 13%, up 1 (16 seats)
ACT: 8%, down 1 (10 seats)
NZ First: 6%, no change (8 seats)
Te Pāti Māori: 4%, up 1 (6 seats)
The current coalition parties would have 61 seats, and Labour, the Greens, and TPM would have 61 seats, so we’re all tied up, folks.
That is one hell of a result at this point in the election cycle, what with the coalition having fired its tax cut bullets and facing rising unemployment, a stagnant economy, and growing dissatisfaction with a leader who looks out of touch and has done so since day one.
I genuinely did not think we would see Chippy (42%) riding neck and neck as the preferred PM at this stage with Luxon (41%), and I think it’s as much a testament to Hipkins' strong performance over recent times as Luxon’s less-than-stellar efforts.
The way things are going, it looks increasingly like Chris will be at the next leader’s debate in 2026, but I’m not so sure about Christopher.
Mopping the floor while the tap is running
What was really interesting in the poll was seeing what Kiwis are most concerned about.
As much as the government will be worried about the closeness in the numbers for both party and leader, it will be of even greater concern that the two key issues they have focused on, namely law and order and reducing taxes and government spending, were the two issues that dropped furthest as being front of mind to Kiwis.
Furthermore, the parties that like to portray themselves as being good for growth, although statistics do not support that, must be worried to see that the concern that has risen most is jobs and reducing unemployment.
Meanwhile, as job cuts hit, the PM spent his time yesterday talking about measures to crack down on those on welfare, having already signalled that there will be further job cuts in the public sector. It’s like mopping the floor while the tap is running. Harassing people into more and more marginal working arrangements even as there aren’t enough jobs to go around.
Focusing on benefit reduction targets during rising unemployment is like a doctor advising you to lose weight when you’re on fire.
You can see the Stuff report on the poll here, although Andrea Vance is such a ray of darkness that, in her view, it’s bad for everybody:
Helping people see through codswallop
We don’t make the rules by referendum; it would be a disaster if we did; people are often poorly informed on issues and easily swayed by misinformation.
The left has an opportunity, and it must get things right. Having the right policies is useless if it loses the election, so it must play the game.
I’m not saying the parties of the left should straight out lie as others might choose to; there is surely still a place for honesty, but they must be very careful. If they decide to take a Capital Gains Tax to the electorate, they must be rock solid in what it is and what it isn’t because the other lot will lie and twist every aspect to keep the great tax-free property privilege gravy train in place.
I recall the Cannabis referendum when Paula Bennett, now the chair of Pharmac, spread absolute nonsense, and a compliant media went along with it, as the public bought it. The debate over a CGT will be like the weed debate on steroids.
There is merit in being open and honest, but if the other side is willing to play dirty and the ref isn’t calling it, you must be much better to win. Fortunately, as we’re seeing in the leadership stakes, the other lot ain’t up to much.
This is just as well because once this is a one-term government, we can again have leaders with heart, courage, and brains. And that cannot happen too soon because what this government is doing is disgusting.
Repeat after me - it’s only back-office roles
In the news this morning, “A team of front-line hospital workers who make beds, tidy wards and replenish supplies to ease the load on clinical staff have been told their jobs could be gone next year.”
Gee, that’s not what they said before the election. One affected worker said, “This will delay patient care, increase stress on the already stretched workforce, and ultimately impact patient safety.”
The worker continued, “Nurses will have to say 'Oh sorry Mr Smith, I'll be there to assist you to the bathroom in a few minutes, I just have to empty this linen bag, make this bed for the new admission, and hand out a few more patients' medication'.
By the time the nurse is done, the patient will either be in pain, soiled the bed, or tried to mobilise by himself, risking a fall.”
Regarding those concerns from the poll, the next largest increase after jobs and unemployment was in people who were worried about “Improving healthcare and hospital services.”
That is second only to the cost of living as a worry to people. Given the ongoing cuts and the very real problems in the sector, this is a highly combustible situation for the coalition.
So I’m glad to see the Nurses pouring petrol on that today.
About 36,000 of them, including midwives and healthcare assistants, are striking today over threats to patient safety.
The nationwide strike will be a complete withdrawal of labour at every Te Whatu Ora facility
It will be held from 11 am to 7 pm on Tuesday
Life-preserving services will continue
Collective contract negotiations are deadlocked
The nationwide strike will be followed by rolling district strikes, with details yet to come.
Have a good one, all of you lovely people. Especially our nurses, midwives, and healthcare assistants, who deserve so much more than a pay offer of 0.5-1%, which would see their wages fall relative to the cost of living.
I've only sent this one to paid subscribers; if it reaches 100 likes by this afternoon, I'll send it to others. 🙂
The right track wrong track part of the poll is also an important one to watch. 48% of ppl now think we are on the wrong track and 17% unsure. 35% think we are on the right track. That back on track thing is looking decidedly uncertain. And go the Nurses today! Stick it to the government. Irony is with that story about Hospital Support Workers job losses, part of the nurses strike is about safe staffing.