There’s something seriously disconcerting going on out there in the Auckland community at the moment. For several months now, barely a week has passed without a story about some lowlife thugs violently doing over a convenience store, liquor shop or dairy, frequently injuring staff in the process.
What we appear to be witnessing gradual and growing movement of support from diverse corners of the electorate, all converging on a singular (if somewhat hazy and ill-specified) goal.
Better drug-laws around cannabis that help rather than harm society.
It is clear now that one of the arguments which will be deployed in the immediate future to oppose sensible reform of our cannabis laws, will be the Government’s previous insensible experimentation with synthetic highs.
we reveal new information about the back-room political manoeuvring that is going on in Whangarei.
Darroch’s bill will create an alternative pathway – using the transformative power of the state to establish an alternative for these young people, which will be available for them before that time-critical point of arguable no return in their late teens.
There’s an engorged sense of triumphalism on the Left, which insists upon seeing even minor setbacks for the ruling party’s agenda as huge and dramatic victories in the ongoing war against neoliberalism.
So let’s be clear about this, going forward. Pretty much every “X IS DONALD TRUMP!” comparison you hear going forward is going to be little more than a petty political barb wrapped up in current affairs like takeaway fish and chips. The only substance involved in many of them is hairspray.
Due perhaps to an ongoing lack of vision on the part of our theoretically ‘lead’ Opposition party, we’re quite used to thinking of Labour as being a watered down version of the beliefs of others.
It would be an inordinate shame if the message the Indian community took away from this particular imbroglio was that New Zealand First didn’t want them to vote.
Meth use and addiction is a serious issue. And, as with all serious issues, it remains disappointing to see it trivialized by a pavonine politician in pursuit of a self-aggrandizing headline.