Letter to The Listener – from Anne Salmond and Rob Campbell, how will voting public take the new government?
Posted: May 9, 2024 Filed under: Letters | Tags: Anne Salmond, National government, new Cluster government, Rob Campbell, The Listener, The Post Leave a commentThe Editor, The Listener, Auckland
30/04/ 2024
Dear Editor:
This new ‘cluster’ government is the angriest, most desperate, and will likely prove to be the most destructive government in the history of this country. Commentators like Dame Anne Salmond suggest that public trust in the new government will be lost. This is a reasonable expectation, but what is a ‘reasonable expectation’ in this Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream? There are first signs of such a loss of faith now.
In his The Post article last Friday, Rob Campbell comes up with a different ‘reasonable expectation’. He sees that the voting public might be slow to react to the dangers, partly due to deep seated prejudices, so the Cluster may be able to get re-elected, or at least stay in front on the polls for a good long while. He also suggests that a bigger threat to their support might be if they don’t ‘deliver’ on their promises to their base, the rich and rich aspiring. The base is already upping the ante by saying they need more ‘certainty’ and ‘support’ to go along with ‘change’ and ‘freedom’. That makes it likely that the cluster will go all the harder with their destructive policies.
Very insightful. But what he could add is that in this Post Truth Era, when we all know that only fundamental change away from exploitation will give us a chance for a sustainable future, that the terror of this knowledge may provide a temporary acceptance of that accelerated destruction.
Sincerely,
Richard Keller
Letter to The Post replying to a letter describing the new government as not a typical ‘National’ government
Posted: April 10, 2024 Filed under: Letters | Tags: back on track, Charles Bagnal, climate change, far right ideology, letters to editor, lettersbyrwk, National government, nuclear deterrence, nuclear weapons, Radha Sahar, The Post Leave a commentThe Editor, The Post, Wellington
07/04/ 2024
Dear Editor:
Radha Sahar and Charles Bagnall (Off the track, 5 Apr) suggest the new government is not a real ‘National’ government but one supporting the selfish agenda of the far-right. And at the end they say ‘middle-ground’ National voters should stand up and get the party ‘back on track.’
While hopeful, I don’t think they are characterizing ‘middle’ National voters properly. Yes, this government is pushing far-right agendas. They have formed the most angry, most desperate government this country has ever seen. They know, as we all do, that this far-right agenda brings no prospect of a future ready to take on the existential challenges of climate change, nuclear weapons, and generally the global overshoot of our ecosystems by human civilization.
Actually, this triumvirate of parties has never tried to hide their anger and desperation against reality, bulldozing progress (“get NZ back on track”), and there is no reason to think that voters haven’t voted for that and haven’t got what they wanted. This desperation is very shallow, certainly, and it may not last, but let’s call it what is right now for the sake of clarity and honesty.
Sincerely,
Richard Keller
Marc Daalder on the locations of change in the election – Auckland seeks to be dominant.
Posted: March 27, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: 2023 election, auckland, Donna Miles, Dr. Siouxsie Wiles, gap between rich and poor, Marc Daalder, National government, Tracey Watkins Leave a commentMy take on the Auckland elections results. (October ’23)
Read more: Marc Daalder on the locations of change in the election – Auckland seeks to be dominant.Auckland expects to be the dominant player in NZ as their Mayoral election showed. And of course National is all about domination. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
This trend is actually global, but as special votes will probably show, usually do show, is that A/NZ voters overseas are not so blinded by the slovenly desperation of the in country electorates. Read Donna Miles, an immigrant refugee who sees this clearly. And read Siouxsie Wiles whose UK connections enable her to see the parallels of a broken UK to the prospect of a broken New Zealand. These two may be in the sights of Stuff editor Tracey Watkins if she sees the chance to go for the jugular of hope in this country.
Govt becoming all delivery and no aspiration -Peter Dunne on Newsroom
Posted: March 14, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: 'squeezed middle', climate change, Felicity Anne, god-class of billionaires, multi-billionaires, National government, Newsroom, peter dunne, poverty Leave a commentFelicity Anne responds to Mr Dunne by suggesting that rural older National voters are feeling ‘duped’. I disagree.
Read more: Govt becoming all delivery and no aspiration -Peter Dunne on NewsroomFelicity,
But these ‘long time older National voters’ you refer to have not been duped. They knew National would be like this, as we all did, but cannot admit that the world is different now and only fundamental societal change will enable us to deal with a climate change world. They know that they have to give up on their own personal best interests, ‘desperately trying to hold onto a dead past’ (as I like to put it; who originated that phrase; anybody know?). Which ultimately means enabling the growth and wealth of the multi-billionire class, with the poor and the so-called ‘squeezed middle’ contributing to the sacrifice.
‘Seymour rides into town to regulate ‘wild west’ of red tape’ – Newsroom by Emma Hatton
Posted: March 10, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: dictatorship, Emma Hatton, Mt Victoria traffic tunnel, National government, Newsroom, WCC, Wellington Leave a commentNew Ministry of Regulation will be a means of promoting ‘fast tracking’.
Read more: ‘Seymour rides into town to regulate ‘wild west’ of red tape’ – Newsroom by Emma Hatton‘Fast tracking’ will be the focus of this so-called ‘ministry’. And that will mean doing National’s plan for ‘desperately trying to hold onto a dead past’ which is widely, if shallowly, supported in the desperate, stale soul of the electorate.
Here in Wellington the government will dictate to the council (WCC) on transport issues. The worst thing that could happen to Wellington would be another traffic tunnel under Mt Victoria. It is widely known (including by this new government) that enhancing traffic will lead to more traffic and more congestion. Wellington should be left to decide its own transport future and its ‘mode shift’ focus would be helpful, so the new government will oppose anything which promotes mode shift and will not let WCC decide.
Rod Oram is finally going to be deep diving into human civilization now that he realizes that desperation has settled in replacing ignorance – On Newsroom
Posted: March 9, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: agriculture, economic growth, ecosphere, National government, Newsroom, Rod Oram, singularity, Stephen Hawking Leave a commentRod has always conducted his wonderful scientific politics with the hope (expectation?) that reality, rationality, morality and hope would win out. Now that he realizes that none of those things are present in the new government he is changing tack. I look forward to what he comes up with.
Read more: Rod Oram is finally going to be deep diving into human civilization now that he realizes that desperation has settled in replacing ignorance – On NewsroomWe can see where the thrust of the global economy has become focused on growth – growth of exploitation of our ecospheres. This is just a continuation of the last maybe 10,000years (since agriculture). But it can be seen that the end result of this is accumulation of wealth into greater amounts and fewer hands (the multi-billionaires, approaching trillionaires). A sort of ‘singularity’?
How did this concept of a ‘singularity’ come to Stephen Hawking? Was it his originality? Or was there already an understanding in the collective subconscious of the human species / civilization which had been working on us?
“Luxon moves in lockstep on Red Sea” – Sam Sachdeva reports on Newsroom
Posted: March 5, 2024 Filed under: Other, submissions | Tags: cold war, desperation, Jacinda Ardern, National government, Newsroom, PM Ardern, Red Sea, Sam Sachdeva Leave a commentThis report speaks for itself.
Read more: “Luxon moves in lockstep on Red Sea” – Sam Sachdeva reports on NewsroomThere should be no surprize that this National government would escalate military involvement, even in this very unstable situation. This coalition is a desperate (as well as disparate) group trying to deflect the needs of the future in order to hold onto their own backward agendas. Like the previous Ardern government they must hold onto to an out-of-date cold war mentality (even though the cold war has been over for 30 years, never to return). A truly independent foreign policy which would reflect the needs of a future is terrifying to this group in a more open fashion than the lazy attachment of the Ardern government.
Climate hearing to explore ‘catastrophic Treaty breaches’ – Newsroom article by David Williams
Posted: February 15, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: auckland, David Williams, National government, Newsroom, Post Truth Era, Simeon Brown, Waitangi Tribunal, Wayne Brown Leave a commentRealities will be increasingly annoying to the new government. Though they are making progress in their fantasies in Wellington with the emergence of the expensive fantasy of water metering in Wellington City.
Read more: Climate hearing to explore ‘catastrophic Treaty breaches’ – Newsroom article by David WilliamsThe Tribunal in sounding both reasonable and determined will attract the attention of the new government which has taken the election result as acceptance of their desperation. And as many New Zealanders now realize, the fantasies of the new government are really about the only thing left of the old ways. The future is ‘less’ and that is terrifying to many. We are in The Post Truth Era where denial has become mainstream.
It’s not just the tribunal whom the new government will be finding annoying. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown may yet prove to be ‘useful’ in cracking the desperation in National’s fantasies (embodied in the person of Simeon Brown).
Is WCC regaining the fractious nature of the previous term?
Posted: January 20, 2024 Filed under: Other, responses | Tags: National government, WCC Leave a commentThe rabbit hole edge stirrers around the Wellington City Council have expanded on to Scoop comments from Neighbourly.
Read more: Is WCC regaining the fractious nature of the previous term?Last term it was the desperation of the minority (usually the majority in recent years) who were the stirrers and relationships were fraught. With recent election producing the same makeup of opinions conflict had reduced, accepting the result of the vote. But with National being elected to government with their anti-local government agenda, the minority was encouraged to stir again. Perhaps that is what is observed in these comments.
lettersbyrwk 