The confession last night of National MP Hamish Walker that he leaked Covid-19 patient information (he had been given by former party President Michelle Boag) to the media, demonstrates again there a culture of self-serving politics rather than public-serving politics in the National Party
Walker could have used his position in parliament to hand the leaked information to the Minister of Health and THEN informed the media that he had done so.
That would have been wise.
Michael Woodhouse should have immediately informed the Health Minister of what he knew about the “compassionate” travels of the two sisters he sat on for 24 hours in order to make political capital out it and thereby putNew Zealanders at risk from the possible spread of this terrible virus.
That wasn’t wise.
Simon Bridges and Jamie Lee Ross discussing in a telephone conversation whether “two Chinese were worth more than two Indians” – not just unwise but deplorable.
Aotearoa/New Zealand is facing one of the toughest moments in our history.
We need Wisdom in parliament not Wiseguys.
Let’s remember that when we come to vote.
Bryan Bruce is one of NZs most respected documentary makers and public intellectuals who has tirelessly exposed NZs neoliberal economic settings as the main cause for social issues.
I agree Bryan you put that well.
I don’t vote because none of the MPs or potential MPs or potential PMs EVER show ANY wisdom when it comes to the environment -you know, the things that makes life-as-we-know-it possible!
Notwithstanding the almost role-model response of Jacinda Adern to the pandemic (could have been earlier and better organised), the rest of her policies -predicated on continuation of Ponzi global finance and unsustainable use of energy and resources and generation of humungous quantities of waste- are deplorable (extremely unwise to the point of being suicidal).
That said, since the global system of looting-and-polluting, exploitation, and faux finance has reached the crash-and-burn phase, politicians are very close to making themselves completely irrelevant (as opposed to largely irrelevant) -the National Party, the Greens, ACT and NZ First now being only of entertainment value (in a black comedy kind of way), I am sad to observe.
Daily CO2
Jul. 8, 2020: 415.47 ppm
Jul. 8, 2019: 410.76 ppm
https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
With the monkey [of neoliberalism, globalisaton, consumerism, political correctness and Ponzi finance] off our backs, we may be allowed to make wise decisions as a society, or at least at the community level.
In the meantime, with politicians demonstrating almost no wisdom, we have to be especially wise ourselves, and attempt to protect ourselves from the maelstrom the politicians have created.
unsustainable use of energy and resources and generation of humungous quantities of waste
That. Yes.
are deplorable (extremely unwise to the point of being suicidal).
A perfect case in point with the bizarre and laughable [ if your not paying] report into Port of Auckland .
Have we exported everyone in this country with a brain and filled our public ‘service ‘ with foreigners ?
Every person that was involved in this report needs to be taken on a boat trip over the Manukau bar , in July.
I’m not ‘anti-immigrant’ , can’t be as very one of us in this country is descended from or crossed the horizon themselves to be here .
But it’s crisis time and for two generations we’ve been exporting our expensively educated best & brightest overseas and replacing them with ,frequently very average , foreign yes-people .
We need to get a bunch of stuff done or started very soon , but it ain’t going to happen because our bureaucracy and pool of ‘experts’ is populated by idiots.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346001&ref=recommendedv1
More bad news for Auckland and Wellington (and to some extent Christchurch).
After decades of us [supposed non-experts] saying so, experts are now saying that skyscrapers (anything higher than 10 or 12 storeys) are a disaster in terms of energy efficiency, use of land and social effects. In other words, there was no wisdom in constructing them, and there is even wisdom less in planning to build new ones, now that we know they are a disastrous.
‘In Britain, tall buildings are signs of failed planning, which finds it hard to discover the space for more sustainable and humane ways of building homes. In Gulf states (and indeed in Britain, to the extent that dirty money often goes into tower projects), skyscrapers often indicate corruption. What they are not are markers of progress.’
The same for NZ, of course. Signs of bad planning and rorts.
‘Wasteful, damaging and outmoded: is it time to stop building skyscrapers?
Tall buildings are still deemed desirable, even glamorous, but experts are drawing attention to the high environmental cost of building them’
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/11/skyscrapers-wasteful-damaging-outmoded-time-to-stop-tall-buildings
What’s the world coming to? Before you know it ‘experts’ will be recommending we don’t build any more motor racing circuits, and after that, that we close down the ones we already have.
Then it will be airports…no more runway extensions and no more construction of terminal facilities that will never be used. Owch! That’s really going to hurt the cosy relationship construction companies have had with central and local government for such a long time.
In the meantime there is plenty of room for lack of wisdom to prevail, especially with regard to anything in any way connected with the National Party or the Americas Cup.
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