1. I do so agree with you regarding David Shearer. I really thought we were going to get a Labour leader who is in politics for all the right reasons. He has integrity, humility, intelligence, honesty and he wanted to run the party without having to descend into the cesspit that is key and party’s particularly sick brand of politics. He also has humour, I loved the snapper stunt. Unfortunately we have to settle for one who can “beat key” which means descending into the peculiar position of having to use key’s methods to actually try and get the better of him on his own lying, disseminating juvenile taunting turf. No politics to see here today, instead we have as the main event your very own ego maniacal, lying cheating, couldn’t care less about the poor and unemployed , let’s hear it for the rich sad little excuse for a prime minister. He is not prime, he is absolutely sub-standard.

2. A great summary Frank, as always!

   Here’s my one main worry for 2014: that the economy will actually pick up, due to matters outside of our direct control, that it will naturally follow that National will then take extremely dubious credit for it, and the middle classes, those ones who are effectively in the hotseat for better or worse in the course of determining the outcome of the election will once again be sucked in by some extreme lying … and given that National and their cheerleaders are so adept at playing this game, and they have a frankly(!) inconceivable high in the polls still, and a Commandant with an even more inconceivable preferred PM rating (this one always tends to blow my mind given all the detritus they’ve left in their wake through the course of their rule) … perish the heinous thought we’ll be saddled with them for another term.

   If there is something this con-servative lot know how to play, it’s the propaganda game… the diversions are monumental when it comes to what matters. I hear TV3 is bringing more home building shows and yet more cooking shows in the coming year, fan-tas-tic, NOT!

   My NY wish overall for the Left would be:

   Enjoy your time over the break in NZ (unlike the Minister for Tourism who seems to prefer anywhere BUT NZ to take a break), which we can make better for all, bottom to top (the emphasis there being very much on the bottom *first* and foremost)

   Pull together as a t-e-a-m: one message, one very, very cohesive voice…

   Be very, very honest, and just lay it out as it is: people can take the truth, believe it or not, what they won’t take is a smattering of it which is then totally undermined by dodgy/underhanded dealings – or internal battles. Such a lot of people were turned off that I know from the perception Labour and the Left were simply about internal fighting and no solutions. Pull it together, backroom popularity contests will be the surest way to undermine a cohesive front…

   Educate people around … once people are seriously taken to task on *why* they are voting for a particular person or policy, the subterfuge of the mask and the easy cop out “Because he’s a funny guy” falls away rather rapidly. Often you’ll be met with the surprised “What?!? I didn’t realise that it might affect me *that* way” reaction – people aren’t inherently ignorant, they simply choose to be a lot of the time. 5-10 minutes talking about an issue in real context can bring more of a sea change than a lot of people realise

   And … on those national TV outings, to the parties I’d say: we’ve seen the stats, portray more human stories-behind-the-stories. And people will respond more to the fact that seriously helping the worst off in NZ only means $1 or $2 out of their weekly paycheck overall than an ivory tower-produced graph. We need those graphs too, as the total proof in the pudding, but the average voter, they don’t really respond to it to be honest – meet them as people, and the people WILL respond in kind…

   For me, I hope that means an absolute sea change in attitude this coming year and the realisation that this country can claw its way back, strike a different path, and in defiance of our current PM’s chummy pal Cameron’s recent call for society to fit itself out the world over for “an age of permanent austerity” we can say NO! This is not what *NZ* society is all about, was certainly not what it was about in its past, and certainly shouldn’t ever be about in its future!

   Roll on 2014!

   • Alan Benton –

     “If there is something this con-servative lot know how to play, it’s the propaganda game… the diversions are monumental when it comes to what matters. I hear TV3 is bringing more home building shows and yet more cooking shows in the coming year, fan-tas-tic, NOT!”

     This is it, the media are catering for the “middle class” that does no longer see television, radio or even some online publications so much as a source for relevant and important information, they are mostly conditioned to follow consumerist, competitive commercial aspirations, and they want to indulge in some “lifestyle” and “entertainment” for themselves, not necessarily sharing this with the ones from the “poorer, troubled suburbs”.

     The media is also full of self serving “middle class” staff, who are increasingly youngish graduates, trained to deliver the “infotainment” that is now the norm for most. They also learn to “fit in” the corporate media-scape, where it is more about careers, about self styling, about showing off and being “cool” or “hot”.

     I get sickened how every year the focus is briefly on the feeding of the poor at the City Mission Christmas Dinners, as this is all a lot of BS too. It portrays our society like one, where people are “looked after”, that is mostly, when “in need”. But the truth is far from it, that is for those that really struggle, either as beneficiaries or working poor.

     Sadly most affected rather hide their shame, their ill health, their suffering and distress, and play the game for the better off, to try and prove “I am doing something” to “better” myself, or to “make ends meet”.

     The problem is largely systemic, social and economic, also a bit cultural, but the media, and most in the middle class, they want to keep things as they are, as they do not want to make sacrifices or risk change.

     Indeed, the left, and with this I primarily mean Labour, must stand together now, work together, and present convincing, sensible, effective policies that offer real solutions. Economic growth will happen, but it can be exposed as being largely based on the rebuild in Christchurch and a dairy boom, which will prove to be only a temporary one, as Mainland China is already preparing for better and more local production, to make themselves less reliant on imports.

     One major problem the average Kiwi has is, to think only short to at best medium term, and this can come back and bite the country as a whole again.

     Apart from this, Labour, Greens and others in opposition must use social media more, and also work the MSM, to hammer them with their news and information, as presently they are simply neglected and not taken seriously by that mostly corporate, commercial style mainstream media. Changing the minds, and WAKING up the “sleep walkers”, will only happen if the true, robust information is aggressively put out there, and presented to as many as possible!

     Expose the shallow “success”, the lies, hypocrisy and short term agenda by the government, and do not just rely on attacking Key. He is sadly a teflon personality.

3. There is nothing rational about Hooton’s climate change denialist rantings.

4. Merry Christmas, a bit belatedly, to you also, Frank!

   Yes, it is a rather good summary you prepared there, looking back at the year in politics. When you write the following, I am not as surprised as some:

   “New Zealanders must have cast-iron-stomachs to tolerate such a blatantly anti-Kiwi party that goes so badly against our much-vaunted “fair go” and supposed “egalitarian” nature.”

   In all honesty, this “egalitarian society” does no longer exist, and the “fair go” is just “aspirational” these days, as we see fewer of such fair treatment in employment, business and politics. New Zealand has become a moderate “dog eat dog society”, maybe not as ruthless and bad (as yet) as many other places around the globe.

   The high poll ratings for the Nats only prove all this. We have a “middle class”, who are preoccupied with saving, protecting, where possible improving and enhancing their personal living circumstances and standards. They are the well or reasonably well educated and qualified, who can claim wages and salaries that they can live off, and they want to keep their turfs.

   Never mind others may fall down the income ladder, may have to settle for casual, part time, temporary and lower paid work, it is seen as a necessary “evil” in their eyes, to keep things rolling and ticking over. They do not want to pay higher prices for services and goods, which may well result if a minimum wage at $ 15 or 16, or even a living wage at $ 18 would be widely introduced. They also are only rather emotively against asset sales, as the running of the economy in the ususal fashion is a safer bet for them, rather than “cling” to power companies or what else there may be on the block.

   They are also not strongly opposed to oil and gas drilling, mining, intensive dairying, as the butter on their bread, the car, the quarter acre section, the annual holiday, the bach, the newest gadgets on offer count more to them, than the environment.

   Also do they accept migration and in many cases exploitation of migrants, as cheap workers picking the fruits to be exported, milking the cows to gather the milk for semi processed dairy products, as the “affordable” drivers of buses, trains, taxis, the health workers filling gaps, the cleaners and others, ensure that things are kept going, to earn the money for the nation, and to also offer the newest budget deals in shops.

   Beneficiaries are to them a nuisance, they rather would not have to pay for, same as the unkempt beggars in the larger centres, so if they get dealt to more stringently and “firmly”, getting them out of their sights, and put into any perceived “useful” activities, they actually largely approve of this and support it.

   This is New Zealand 2013 as I see it, it is full of divisions, of hypocrisy and dishonesty, when you dig underneath the shallow surface with increasingly showing cracks, that swiftly get filled with a plaster, or covered by a band-aid.

   The “middle class” and “upper class” members do all to get their kids into “good” private schools, no matter how expensive the housing around them is, to get them through uni, so they are looked after. Yes, some feel a bit guilty for those hungry or even abused kids that go to school without breakfast, but paying extra taxes for that, hey, come on, not with me. Tell them to “shape up”, is what many think, if they do not even speak it out.

   For the rest it is consumerism, commercialism, opportunism, selfishness, self-fulfillment, career aspirations, a good bargain, a good deal, a favourable contract, finding an attractive partner (that also has other things to “offer”) and much else, but a true, committed sense for collective responsibility and sharing, that is what rules most New Zealanders and the very high per-centage of migrants who were not born here. The latter are also hand-picked with clear intentions, that they must “fit in”, that means to fall for the “Kiwi dream”, to work their butts off, and to serve as useful human investment for an increasingly vague and ambiguous “future”.

   There is little hope that I have, that things will change, with a new Labour leader or without, with a win by Labour next election, supported by the Greens and whosoever, but they say, one must never stop dreaming (or hoping for some magic moment to occur).

   Best wishes for 2014

5. And yet again we will have a pro John Key media who think that the sun shines out of his proverbial, who refuse to undertake any hard analysis of his actions as happened in 2013 over the Skycity Convention deal, and the Avatar deal. I am thankful for the Dailyblog to give some balance to the pro-National media as is the case with Newstalk ZB, and Radiolive

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