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I remain in genuine despair that Chris Hipkins has Education. He oversaw significant system decline in the last three years and has no idea s. They have also failed with child poverty, housing and transport. I cannot think of an idea or indicator of how we get out of the international travel hole caused by our Covid response. Our system — and worldwide it is the case — eliminates mavericks.
How high does your tolerance for boredom need to be before you are willing to sit in Parliament under Trevor Mallard? How patient or ambivalent to results do you need to be to hold a Ministry and work with State sector leaders all of whom seem to have grey as their favourite colour?
What to do? When National was in power for 9 years the education sector basically put their hands on their heads and did little to improve things while spending plenty of time and hours on opposing a trivial systemic policy in Charter Schools. National was remarkable for their lack of courage and use of political capital in many areas. New Zealand needs good people to do good things regardless of who gets the credit.
The government is ineffective and incompetent but to sit back and watch them continue to fail does no person any good. Be proactive.
If you have money be philanthropic. If in business employ as many people as possible. If in education help a system that is, frankly, broken. If you do all of this the Labour government will take the credit for efforts and may even get a third term on the back of them. So what?

National did very little in 9 years … the people are far more important than the government and the media for that matter. He has been in Education since and, as a leader of the Villa Education Trust has been involved in challenging the system philosophically and through having Charter Schools. And maybe in terms of its internal affect, it was. As late as early March of this year, National would have been feeling positive about the election. A win was by no means guaranteed, but it was looking to be a two-horse race with a photo finish.
Then the pandemic reached New Zealand. This resulted in desperate, poll-driven panic within National. And where to from here? It is probably more appropriate to call this a crisis election, however.
The instability of the party following the Muller-Kaye leadership coup was also detrimental. The scandals, leaking, and general unrest within the party damaged that perception for many typical National voters. What about policies? National had plenty. The reality, though, is that policies mean very little in a crisis election. They focused on the strength of their own team while releasing very little in terms of substantive policy. This was in complete contrast to National.
How does it do that? The first step is to become the strong team National supporters expect them to be and that voters have every right to demand. The only way forward is through positivity. Those who seek to cause unrest within the party need to remember the people who put them there. Monique Poirier has a Masters degree in Political Studies, and is a small business owner and former Parliamentary staffer. I am and always have been a very proud New Zealander.
It makes me feel good that New Zealanders are prominent in so many fields: the first person to split the atom; the first to climb Everest — and more importantly get down again — people at very high levels in their various fields. But we are now subject to relentless social engineering aimed at changing all that. This created huge resentment among a lot of people of all ages — I was then not yet 30 — and across the political spectrum. A campaign began, of which I was part, the guts of which was that the name of the province was Taranaki, but the name of Mountain was, and always should be, Egmont.
I deeply resent that change, and the way it is being clandestinely made. I bristle every time I hear it. Is that because I am a racist? Strictly defined, a racist is a person who believes that certain races of people are superior or inferior to others. My opposition to the relentless pressure to change the name of the country is that it implies that Maori culture and history is the only culture and history that is of any relevance to us in this land.
I categorically reject that.
Although the argument results in eye rolling from people who frankly should know better, the Maori did far better out of colonization by the British rather than the others snapping at their reluctant heels such as the Spanish, the Dutch, and the French. The Frogs have never been good at giving up possessions. So we have a combined heritage of Maori and British cultures and history. I have no problem with any of that. I was regularly getting the cane before I left school in So, I will never accept that I am a citizen of Aotearoa, or that that is the name of my country, just as for me, the volcanic cone that dominates the province of Taranaki will always be Mt Egmont.
I am very happy that English — after Mandarin — has become the predominant language in the world.
And here at home, I am by and large very proud of what the English brought to this country, and their recognition of the Maori as the only people they colonized to be granted the massive privilege of citizenship of Britain, enshrined in Article III of that international treaty that is actually no such thing. So resist brothers and sisters! Be proud of the fact that you are, like me, proud New Zealanders.
And always will be. Like this: Like Loading Incredible, and still no one is willing to apologise or be held accountable.
Newsroom reports : Not every Pike family feels the same. Very good points from the reader. Taking a break from social media is often a good idea. I use the bolded word carefully because it is not my charactertisation. The fact is that, however, that the story of the English-speaking people is complex and the good and the bad of it all go into our identity and make us part of what we are. The reinvigoration of indigenous cultures poses no threat to those who feel safe and secure in their own identity. The only thing that is really being asked of us is courtesy and respect.
My children are of Irish descent on my side and Scottish on their mothers. To the extent that we have an ongoing cultural identity, it is based around the ancient religion that our family clung to for the past 1, years or so. Nevertheless, my children will learn te reo. They will also be conversant with the protocols that they are likely to come across in the country I want them to love and feel patriotic about.
For one thing, it will be hard for them to thrive without those skills.
More importantly, however, this is part of what being a New Zealander means. The Maori way of things, though badly damaged by the arrival of Europeans, was not driven into extinction. It survived, remains extant and is poised to thrive in the years to come. Those of us not capable of recognising this — even as internal outsiders to that culture — lack the tools to be fully prepared fully with our shared national life.
It is useful for me to think about our small family farm, which has been in our family for nearly one and a half centuries. If it were to ever pass into ownership outside of our family that would be a bitter disappointment to me. They held them for much, much longer than we did, after all.

I will now address my question for David Garrett to him: You feel sidelined and resentful about the renaming of places in a way that attenuates your attachment to them. You do not feel you were consulted about this and that the decision consigns a part of who you are to the sidelines.
Those are all very natural and human feelings because the names we give things are important and when they are taken away, it is disconcerting and alienating. The Herald reports : The Government is coming under pressure from all sides as housing prices continue to skyrocket.
The Herald reports : Wellington City Council is putting together a budget of infrastructure with a rates increase forecast of 23 per cent next year. It;s a political suicide point. Newsroom reports : The marriage of convenience has turned into a nasty divorce.