Blog Archives

Is Vote for Change sinking even before it sets sail

Aside

It’s interesting to see the disarray that the Vote for Change folk seem to be in. Yesterday’s Kiwiblog post on them has pictures of two crowd-sourced billboards – neither of which are logical*, let alone compelling. And then the comments underneath seem to be running majority in favour of MMP. If Vote for Change can’t muster a simple majority (ha ha) among the Kiwiblog comments you wonder where they are planning to get their support.

$10,000 in prize money to promote something, anything, we’re still not quite sure what yet, so long as it makes sure that some people’s votes are worth more than other people’s.

*e.g. the first billboard seems to have forgotten that Winston Peters came to power and prominence under First Past the Post, then lost his seat under MMP. And, as for the second billboard, surely the concern is supposed to be that tails wag dogs not that dogs wag tails?

Changing times

Aside

Remember the good old days when Steven Joyce was a shadowy hollow man who we were electing even though we knew nothing about him – because he never fronted the media or a public debate? These days it seems I can’t turn on the radio news without hearing him go into bat for the government’s latest dodgy policy.

$15 minimum wage

Aside

It’s nice to see that Labour, now in opposition, is finally around to supporting a $15 an hour minimum wage. The problem (for the Greens as well as Labour) is that $15 an hour, when it was initially proposed, was based on 2/3rds of the average wage.  Years later, and 2/3rds of the average wage is now $17.31.  We need to start talk about 2/3rds of the average wage instead of $15 an hour, otherwise $15 will a Pyrrhic victory.