If National wins ...

[winner69]

EZ you might enjoy this Tom Scott cartoon. Cartoonists are having a field day this month

[Daytr]

Speaking of hot air MVT, I said IF National loses.
I think it always pays to read what people write before shooting your mouth off, but hey that's just me.
Remember I'm the one who actually lives in Northland and has had to put up with National's neglect.

[elZorro]

EZ you might enjoy this Tom Scott cartoon. Cartoonists are having a field day this month

Oh, that is a cracker, W69. Maybe there are some things that pollsters can't fix. At the end of the day, etc, voters want integrity. That's what Winston is campaigning on. So far, he's been gifted quite a few freebies by National, but he must have done his homework first, he knew he was in with a chance long before he paid for the sound track and the signwritten bus.

[Daytr]

And by the way, what do you mean Whangarei Port doesn't exist ! Its Marsden Point for god's sake! You know the only refinery in NZ !
Makes me laugh when someone slags someone off & then just posts a lot of crap. Just how many errors are in that post!
I think we have discovered NZs next renewable energy source, its called MVT !

[Daytr]

But I want the virgins ! Well just women really !

[fungus pudding]

Well the independent polls are suggesting its far more than hype.
You can't really compare the longest standing member of the NZ parliament that got a strong showing at the last election to Kim Dotcom.
I wonder if National will put it down to hype if they lose & have the biggest swing against a sitting part in NZs political history?
If they lose this is going to be incredibly embarrassing for Key & National.
Remember Key said at the start of this campaign that Super Winnie had no chance. He ain't taking things for granted now, even cutting short his trip to Japan to campaign, because apparently that's in the best interests of the country & so is having half of the cabinet ministers not doing their job, all to campaign against one man. Super Winnie !

National may lose. Winston manages to resurrect himself occasionally, sufficiently enough to sway enough of the grey haired and forgetful. If he does win he'll prove himself to be the waste of space he has always been.

[Daytr]

Well I tell you what its the younger generation generally that seem to want him to win.
On social media which you would generally expect it to be under 50s, its overwhelmingly in favor of Peters.
And what have they forgotten? That he has stood up to both sides of politics when they weren't serving the best interests of NZ.
That he was the only one who tried to bring those responsible to account for mass tax evasion in the wine box scandal.
That he provided the gold card for seniors. My mum loved her gold card.
You have just provided derogatory comments with no substance.
He may not he perfect, but then who is, but he will do a hell of a lot better than the lying scumbags we have representing us now.
And yes I can back up, on multiple occasions where John Key has lied. I'm not anti National, I'm anti John Key's National.

[elZorro]

Well I tell you what its the younger generation generally that seem to want him to win.
On social media which you would generally expect it to be under 50s, its overwhelmingly in favor of Peters.
And what have they forgotten? That he has stood up to both sides of politics when they weren't serving the best interests of NZ.
That he was the only one who tried to bring those responsible to account for mass tax evasion in the wine box scandal.
That he provided the gold card for seniors. My mum loved her gold card.
You have just provided derogatory comments with no substance.
He may not he perfect, but then who is, but he will do a hell of a lot better than the lying scumbags we have representing us now.
And yes I can back up, on multiple occasions where John Key has lied. I'm not anti National, I'm anti John Key's National.

Yes Daytr, I reckon the Gold Card was a stroke of brilliance. Winston winning Northland will be a very important wedge into the idea that National could serve four terms. I hope they don't. Interesting comment came my way today from a Think tank.

Dispatches from the Retreat

Dr Eric Crampton | Head of Research | eric.crampton@nzinitiative.org.nz

You all know The New Zealand Initiative as a great little think tank for a great little country. You might not know that we are also a membership organisation: our work is supported by our members. Last week we held our annual members’ retreat in Auckland, bringing together our members, represented by the chairs and managing directors of many of the country’s top companies, to discuss the state of play in their particular industry sectors; to speak candidly with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and the Leader of the Opposition; and to discuss the Initiative’s proposed two-year research plan. The meetings are held under Chatham House rules so that our members can take their business hats off and provide their individual perspectives. What I can report is that Andrew Little was impressive; 2017 will be a rather more interesting contest than was 2014. Discussions between the members and guests were very productive. We presented our members with our new report, The Case for Economic Growth, before proposing research into the areas we believe are currently most important for ensuring continued growth. In addition to a few reports on diverse and important topics ranging from earthquake regulation to special economic zones and effects of regulation on the digital economy, we proposed a research plan touching on three key areas. Our series of prior reports showed what restrictive land use policy has done to housing costs; those policies have also made our cities less efficient. Why do cities choose poor policies? We worry that local government financing has made growth costly for cities despite its being beneficial for the country as a whole. We will look more closely at the role of local government and at its financing to find ways of aligning cities’ interests with those of the country. Second, while economic growth in New Zealand has been widely shared, perceptions of increased inequality fuel resentment of growth and build support for poor policies. Further, real poverty remains a serious issue. Has National’s shift to an investment approach to poverty relief yielded the benefits we have hoped for? And, can private philanthropy provide important lessons? Third, we need to know how better to encourage schools to engage in more experimentation to find out what works – to reward success and deal with failure. Local school autonomy gives us the chance to do it properly, so long as the overarching framework is right. Members encouraged us also to study regulatory costs more broadly. If we took anything from the meeting, it is that while the government has kept spending growth under control, the regulatory estate could use some attention...

[Sgt Pepper]

National may lose. Winston manages to resurrect himself occasionally, sufficiently enough to sway enough of the grey haired and forgetful. If he does win he'll prove himself to be the waste of space he has always been.

FP
I am struggling to understand why National are so desperate. They will still have a functioning majority until the next election. They may have to compromise on proposed RMA changes, so what?? I am not aware of any other proposals that ACT and the Maori Party would not support.

[Daytr]

Well they will, but they will have to rely on Peter Dunn who is against reforms to the RMA & I think the TPPA, but could be wrong on that last part.

Also anyone who turnover an almost 9k majority if it happened would have to take notice or is likely to get tossed out at the next election.

Early days, but I've been reasonably impressed with Little as well El Zorro .