If National wins ...

[winner69]

...his mother?

So that's one extra vote for Labour then ... a start anyway

[craic]

Its all going to be ok. Labour are in talks with John Kirwan and it looks like they might secure Benji Marshall in exchange for someone. Cunliffe was suggested but his tendency to Take his mouthguard out and put his foot in his mouth might interfere with the structured play of the Blues. I suspect that Labour have a better than even chance of taking the Napier seat. The National member is low profile and will retire and his replacement is generally called 'Who?

[elZorro]

Its all going to be ok. Labour are in talks with John Kirwan and it looks like they might secure Benji Marshall in exchange for someone. Cunliffe was suggested but his tendency to Take his mouthguard out and put his foot in his mouth might interfere with the structured play of the Blues. I suspect that Labour have a better than even chance of taking the Napier seat. The National member is low profile and will retire and his replacement is generally called 'Who?

More interesting comments about Shane Jones on TV today, Craic. Metirea Turei was able to say a few things she'd observed while working in the same area as him, he was a guy who would not want to work well with the Greens. The new job offer had been talked about two or three years before, and he's not shown great ability to change with the new realities of the 20th century. It's a repeat of the (mostly national) MPs who left parliament after MMP came in. They also, were not prepared to deal with real consensus. In a way, Shane leaving at this point could also be construed as him seeing that a left of centre coalition has a real chance.

[fungus pudding]

More interesting comments about Shane Jones on TV today, Craic. Metirea Turei was able to say a few things she'd observed while working in the same area as him, he was a guy who would not want to work well with the Greens. The new job offer had been talked about two or three years before, and he's not shown great ability to change with the new realities of the 20th century. It's a repeat of the (mostly national) MPs who left parliament after MMP came in. They also, were not prepared to deal with real consensus.

No matter what you think of MMP, it can hardily be called real consensus. It gives real and disproportionate power to minor parties, especially during coalition negotiations; e.g. Winston First.

[Cuzzie]

Also I have visited the sites you have highlighted in previous posts. Quite a few have no link to show who is responsible for the content and are completely lacking in any credibility.
EZ is way ahead.

westerly

Oh your quite right westerly, I never had a chance after EZ used somebodies blog website against the official website containing 31,487 American scientists have signed this petition. The blog author of EZ's website said nope - only 0.1% are scientists and he had debunked it. I should of known once a nobody had made such a claim a couple of left wing supporters on this site would cling to it as some kind of proof. Desperados on steroids in action right there. Thanks for the laugh, I feel that I have quite a few light hearted moments coming up.

The more Labour links up with the Greens - the more they will loose the election now S.J has gone. Clearly he was Labours best politician by a country mile. I'm going to call it now, I really feel Labour is damaging it's brand linking itself with the Greens and I'll be the first on here to make a prediction for the 2017 election and say, National will win that too and stay in power until at least 2020.

[Sgt Pepper]

Oh your quite right westerly, I never had a chance after EZ used somebodies blog website against the official website containing 31,487 American scientists have signed this petition. The blog author of EZ's website said nope - only 0.1% are scientists and he had debunked it. I should of known once a nobody had made such a claim a couple of left wing supporters on this site would cling to it as some kind of proof. Desperados on steroids in action right there. Thanks for the laugh, I feel that I have quite a few light hearted moments coming up.

The more Labour links up with the Greens - the more they will loose the election now S.J has gone. Clearly he was Labours best politician by a country mile. I'm going to call it now, I really feel Labour is damaging it's brand linking itself with the Greens and I'll be the first on here to make a prediction for the 2017 election and say, National will win that too and stay in power until at least 2020.

Hmm Cuzzie, I am not sure about your optimism for 2017 , 2020. By that time there are two challenges which afflict any long term government regardless be they on the political Right or the Left.
Inevitably internal rivalries within a party develop. The longer you are in power the closer you are to being not in power. All experienced politicians instinctively realise this. MPs will ponder the realties of their future and how this reconciles any latent ambition. Inevitably behind the smiles and congratulatory handshakes at another term in office many will want to see senior cabinet Ministers move on in order to advance their own career. An ambitious thirty something MP will realise that eventually their party will lose power and calculate the best way to advance their own career. Many less senior National MPs will be quietly pleased with the predicament Judith Collins now finds herself. The other malady which long term governing parties have to eventually confront is the rather simple one of an electorate peception of" time for a change" which Jenny Shipley conceded in 1999 is actually remarkably hard to bat away. Anyway just my observation, as much about human nature a well as politics

[elZorro]

R&D spending, relative to the size of the economy, is one of the lowest among advanced economies, the OECD economists remind us, "slightly behind southern European countries and a good distance from Australia, Canada and Denmark".

They also note a 2012 study which found New Zealand ranks relatively low in managerial quality.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11243026

My two biggest bugbears about working in NZ!

Interesting study all right, Belgarion. The problem being 50% loss of access to markets and 25% low R&D. Software has no freight cost, as you are aware. And I still think that R&D, intellectual capital, etc, allows a margin. With that margin, you can often afford to freight for free, to anywhere in the world.

Did you have any comments on Shane Jones? I don't think he was Labour's best politician by a mile. Or, I hope he wasn't.

[craic]

I agree, but all the better ones are dead.

[iceman]

Hmm Cuzzie, I am not sure about your optimism for 2017 , 2020. By that time there are two challenges which afflict any long term government regardless be they on the political Right or the Left.
Inevitably internal rivalries within a party develop. The longer you are in power the closer you are to being not in power. All experienced politicians instinctively realise this. MPs will ponder the realties of their future and how this reconciles any latent ambition. Inevitably behind the smiles and congratulatory handshakes at another term in office many will want to see senior cabinet Ministers move on in order to advance their own career. An ambitious thirty something MP will realise that eventually their party will lose power and calculate the best way to advance their own career. Many less senior National MPs will be quietly pleased with the predicament Judith Collins now finds herself. The other malady which long term governing parties have to eventually confront is the rather simple one of an electorate peception of" time for a change" which Jenny Shipley conceded in 1999 is actually remarkably hard to bat away. Anyway just my observation, as much about human nature a well as politics

Hard to disagree with any of that Sgt Pepper !

[fungus pudding]

Hmm Cuzzie, I am not sure about your optimism for 2017 , 2020. By that time there are two challenges which afflict any long term government regardless be they on the political Right or the Left.
Inevitably internal rivalries within a party develop. The longer you are in power the closer you are to being not in power. All experienced politicians instinctively realise this. MPs will ponder the realties of their future and how this reconciles any latent ambition. Inevitably behind the smiles and congratulatory handshakes at another term in office many will want to see senior cabinet Ministers move on in order to advance their own career. An ambitious thirty something MP will realise that eventually their party will lose power and calculate the best way to advance their own career. Many less senior National MPs will be quietly pleased with the predicament Judith Collins now finds herself. The other malady which long term governing parties have to eventually confront is the rather simple one of an electorate peception of" time for a change" which Jenny Shipley conceded in 1999 is actually remarkably hard to bat away. Anyway just my observation, as much about human nature a well as politics

What you say would normally apply, but we are looking at the rather exceptional case of Labour having lost so much support to Greens, and the Greens are widely regarded as loopy. It might take a couple of elections and a change of leader for Labour to look far more dominant in any proposed coalition.