If National wins ...

[Daytr]

Its a very difficult situation & the worst refugee crisis in Europe since WWII. And quite a lot of the problem can be laid at the feet of the US, raging an illegal war in Iraq. The Syrian thing is ugly and the world just stands by. Nothing easy as a solution, but I don't think standing by is right either.
The unfortunate consequence in Europe is a rise in Nationalism and I hope this isn't something anyone on this thread is advocating as a positive.
I would suggest a lot of these people are genuine refugees fleeing terror and there are many more in place like Turkey as well. Their homes have been overrun either by their own military or other militia forces, to be honest its hard to keep track who is fighting who. All very sad. Places like NZ took in many refugees post WWII as did other countries around the world and people literally did just walk in & turn up to build a new life. We have a UN and I would much rather see the UN security council with NZs involvement concentrating on these sort of issues, rather than the one up-manship against the likes of Russia. We live in a very inhumane world, building fences around our wealth, fearful of the desperate who are looking for safety and a new life.

[craic]

Well its easy to blame the Americans for everything and considering poor Russia the victim of rhetoric - all it tells me is that the writer is hard left. It doesn't alter the fact that resentment in Britain and other places will grow exponentially, particularly amongst the unemployed and lower classes who are pushed back by 'foreigners" I won't be there and my offspring in that area are well insulated against any effect. How about we shift twenty or thirty thousand to Auckland as a humanitarian gesture? They could sign an agreement to live without complaint in one of the many state houses that are empty for some reason.

[Daytr]

Well Craic, I don't blame the Americans for everything, but they are to blame for two wars in Iraq and have meddled in the Mid/East for years. I'm hardly hard left, I voted for NZF for gawds sake, a party in the right. I don't like Putin, but I don't like the hypocrisy of the US when dealing with Russia either. Last I looked by the way Russia wasn't communist anymore either. Resentment in Britain of what exactly? What do they resent? I get a hard time on here for not wanting an ever expanding population in NZ or selling our land to foreign buyers. But here are people who really are in need and they should be treated humanely. Or does the right only want wealthy immigrants? Its not really NZs problem, but we do have a responsibility as a nation to take in refugees and we do, but we probably could take more than the 1,000 or so a year that we do now. And they wont be able to live in State houses because National will have sold them to the Aussies or whoever else they can find around the world to buy them.

[craic]

If you want to know of the resentment in Britain, go and live there for a while. I am an Irishman of the republican bent and I have close relatives who are Russian. If it was not for the Americans we would be speaking Japanese or German now. Trying to blame them for everything appears to be a jealous response. We rely on them fully for our defence and protection. Any one of a dozen tin-pot countries in this region could over-run this country in five minutes.

[Daytr]

Haha, how am I blaming them for everything. I like the US, visited many times and considered living there at one stage.
However they have a lot of blood on their hands post WWII and they are a long way from being blameless.
I also blame them for infecting the world with the Kardashians and reality TV. LOL
I don't doubt that there is some resentment in the UK from some, there was also a resentment in the UK by some against Indians & Pakistanis, Polish & the Irish as I remember, probably other groups as well. Some of my Irish mates used to get abused regularly just for being young, smart up & coming Irishmen.
However what I struggle to understand is WHAT they actually resent?
Compassion? Humanity?
It is a difficult issue & I'm not suggesting that all or even a high proportion of the problem lies at Britain's feet, far from it.
But its an issue none the less & needs to dealt with and humanely by the whole of Europe & also the US needs to put their hand up as they have created a reasonable portion of this mess.
What's your solution?
If you send them back, some of them have lost their homes and perhaps will be killed or rounded up to fight, women raped.
Children indoctrinated. Generally these people have left for a valid reason, their home is being torn apart by civil war, something the US should perhaps
recognize. So either their home needs to be made safe so they can return or they need to be accepted as refugees of war in my opinion.

[Daytr]

Back to things more domestic.
National's latest stuff ups & the list gets longer each week as their mismanagement is a continuous litany of epic proportions.
Work Safe laws where livestock farming will not be included as a dangerous industry, whereas worm farming, mini golf and lavender production is!
Michael Woodhouse didn't even know these industries were classed as dangerous. Do these guys even read their own bills!?
The measure of a dangerous industry is 25 deaths per 100,000 workers and or 25 per 1,000 workers suffer a serious injury.
I have worked for companies with over 100,000 employees and if they had anything like 25 deaths or 2,500 serious injuries per annum there would people refusing to work, effectively going on strike. Fortunately you were more likely to bleed to death from a paper cut or a stress related heart attack than anything else. To say farming is exempt or companies not industries classed as dangerous with less than 20 employees don't have to have an appointed health & safety worker is appalling and so typical of National who don't give a stuff about workers. The Pike River tragedy if anything good was going to come from it was better work place health & safety. Well apparently that doesn't matter for small business in NZ.

Not only don't National care about workers safety they also don't care what sort of job is being done under their watch and budget. 30% of the piling jobs in 100 homes surveyed failed the building code! 30%! Another 20% need some remedy. So effectively 50% weren't up to scratch! 50% !!!
Obviously my old firm Fletchers the main contractor have much to blame here, but so does the National government. This is a government contract run out of the EQC. So how may other homes are out there in the same state? Thousands ? Most likely.
This reminds me of when Rudd's government was rolling out their insulation & school building program which was littered with incompetency which forced the resignation of the minister in charge Peter Garrett. Jerry Brownlee is in the same boat. He needs to take responsibility instead of blaming just Fletchers & the sub contractors.
Apparently nothing is this government's fault.
They have stuff up after stuff up, borrow 10s of billions, the economy is in a downward spiral and its either just not happening in their little bubble or its someone else's fault, typically Labour. They really are still in the playground !.
Johnny, who pulled Suzie's pony tail? Johnny, "it didn't happen, she's making it up." Or "It wasn't me, he did it".
Sound familiar?

[craic]

You'll have to get a bigger doll - that one must look like a hedgehog with all the pins Still no answer about how Labour or the greens will cure the country of all the ills it doesn't have.

[Daytr]

As I don't vote for either I'm not sure what your point is. However I have put plenty of ideas out there in regards differences in policy.
Perhaps like National you have a short memory? They forget all the time, that they are responsible for their own actions.
The doll is littered with pins I agree, as they continually stuff up. I have been saying for some time, every week there is something new.
However something has changed. Quite often now there is more than one blunder a week!
Such is their incompetence.

In regards these two items the solutions are quite simple.

1) All workers deserve to work in a safe environment no matter how many employees the company has.
2) Actually manage the Christchurch rebuild effectively. Or do you think a 30% fail rate and an additional 20% needs remedy is good enough?

[Major von Tempsky]

So according to Daytr the Americans were to blame for Saddam Hussein invading and occupying Kuwait? (the First Gulf War). I'm ROTFL.

[Daytr]

Nope, not according to me at all. You have a vivid imagination.
However the Americans support Saddam Hussein for a long time, particularly through the Iran/Iraq wars.
In fact the US (probably not alone) supported Hussein to gain power in Iraq.
He was a US puppet for a long time until the US decided he got too big for his boots and wasn't just inflicting pain on his own people, decided he wanted to take on Kuwait as well. You may want to do your research on how Saddam Hussein came to power and how the US maintained his regime for decades.