We know the right don't care about people

[Praktica]

but they're usually not this blatant
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/n...d-tax-cuts

[alpha111]

Next on the list might be the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, PHARMAC. Giving people more tax back will enable them to choose what drugs they need and pay for these.

[Praktica]

Next on the list might be the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, PHARMAC. Giving people more tax back will enable them to choose what drugs they need and pay for these.

Fine - Pharmac keeps the price down by bulk buying. You'll be happy to spend more for your drugs than any tax cut gives you, I'm sure.

[alpha111]

I was being ironic!

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Why though is the new government focusing on unimportant minor stuff like department names, smokers, and staffing levels instead of the climate crisis and the cost of living?

Hit the easy targets first and hope we'll forget the world is burning?

[king1]

Why though is the new government focusing on unimportant minor stuff like department names, smokers, and staffing levels instead of the climate crisis and the cost of living?

Hit the easy targets first and hope we'll forget the world is burning?

lol, reminded me of that skit on   Not the Nine O’Clock News 

 the chancellor announces 100 per cent duty on wheelchairs, white sticks, false limbs, glass eyes and diarrhoea medicine: “Observers will notice I have deliberately chosen to penalise those members of the community who can’t hit back.”

[Oh_hunnihunni]

My other question is where have all the ram raiding kids gone?

[Lilith7]

Next on the list might be the Pharmaceutical Management Agency, PHARMAC. Giving people more tax back will enable them to choose what drugs they need and pay for these.

Indeed - & die horribly. As nature intended...

Are these really the kind of people who don't mind stepping over people dying of starvation in the street...?

---

My other question is where have all the ram raiding kids gone?

Oh but surely they've been rounded up & sent off to boot camp for re education...??!


Unless...someone perhaps 'encouraged' them to do ram raids & then got them to stop once the election was over!

---

This just seems like a massively stupid thing to do; they know damned well its going to lead to more people dying, probably horribly, but clearly aren't bothered about that as long as they get their money. And also get to remove something achieved by the 'other side' - which is incredibly infantile.

It would be a thing of wonder if all that lot in the beehive got together put aside their petty differences & worked together for the good of us all, with particular reference to the long term.

Which is allegedly their job - what they're supposed to be doing.

[zqwerty]

"It would be a thing of wonder if all that lot in the beehive got together put aside their petty differences & worked together for the good of us all, with particular reference to the long term.

Which is allegedly their job - what they're supposed to be doing."

It's as if most of the people in charge all over the world have just given up and are only in it for themselves, all they are good for is putting on an act that they are capable of running a country meanwhile they are cynically exploiting the situation and all the rest of us.

I see the National Party has just given themselves a rise, the excuse being that they haven't had one since 2017.

[Lilith7]

"It would be a thing of wonder if all that lot in the beehive got together put aside their petty differences & worked together for the good of us all, with particular reference to the long term.

Which is allegedly their job - what they're supposed to be doing."

It's as if most of the people in charge all over the world have just given up and are only in it for themselves, all they are good for is putting on an act that they are capable of running a country meanwhile they are cynically exploiting the situation and all the rest of us.

I see the National Party has just given themselves a rise, the excuse being that they haven't had on since 2017.

Yep, it does seeem that way; they're not bothered as long as they can carry on & make money, living as comfortably as they can & to hell with the rest of us & the world. 

Oh dear - the poor things, no pay rise since 2017! How tragic. Or something...

[zqwerty]

Yes as they say:

"Every one for himself and the devil take the hindmost"

[Lilith7]

Yes as they say:

"Every one for himself and the devil take the hindmost"

It always reminds me of one of Ben Elton's books in which the wealthy are preparing to abandon planet Earth  for a new haven they've created on another planet, leaving the poor to cope - 
or not.

Sometimes we're not a very nice species. Its a pity we can't find some way to allow our better nature to prevail permanently.

[C_T_Russell]

Why though is the new government focusing on unimportant minor stuff like department names, smokers, and staffing levels instead of the climate crisis and the cost of living?

Hit the easy targets first and hope we'll forget the world is burning?

Names with tons of syllables that everyday people can't pronounce?
Names that don't even translate the same into English?
Chris Hipkins made a total fool of himself and looked like a clown when asked what whaka kotahi translated tonin English, he said "nz transport agency"
Nope, thats not what it means, it translates into "vessel one"
Supposed to mean traveling together as one, but reading that out doesn't even make much sense.
Woke virtue signaling at its best.
Don't have an issue with them transferring into proper maori names that actually mean the same thing as English, and they used to tell us at school that the maori translation of the treaty was incorrectly translated to render something different, looks like they were trying to do it in reverse now.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

One vessel...

Waka kotahi means to travel together. I can see the difficulty for those with a penchant for the literal, but language isn't like that. If it was Social Welfare would mean just that. Health Department would be another...

But hey, it's just te reo that has to be put under the magnifying glass, eh?

[Kenj]

One vessel...

Waka kotahi means to travel together. I can see the difficulty for those with a penchant for the literal, but language isn't like that. If it was Social Welfare would mean just that. Health Department would be another...

But hey, it's just te reo that has to be put under the magnifying glass, eh?

Is that a bit like calling someone, John Green when their name is, say Bob Smith?

[Olive]

One vessel...

Waka kotahi means to travel together. I can see the difficulty for those with a penchant for the literal, but language isn't like that. If it was Social Welfare would mean just that. Health Department would be another...

But hey, it's just te reo that has to be put under the magnifying glass, eh?

Yes, and put under a magnifying glass by people who have no understanding of metaphor, nor of the fact that languages rarely translate literally (transliterate) unless they both come from the same root and share the same syntax.   Expecting Te Reo Māori terms to have word-for-word equivalents in English is like expecting Icelandic to do that.   That's one of the reasons that Google Translate can come up with such hilarious and misleading results.

[Kenj]

One vessel...

Waka kotahi means to travel together. I can see the difficulty for those with a penchant for the literal, but language isn't like that. If it was Social Welfare would mean just that. Health Department would be another...

But hey, it's just te reo that has to be put under the magnifying glass, eh?

Yes, and put under a magnifying glass by people who have no understanding of metaphor, nor of the fact that languages rarely translate literally (transliterate) unless they both come from the same root and share the same syntax.   Expecting Te Reo Māori terms to have word-for-word equivalents in English is like expecting Icelandic to do that.   That's one of the reasons that Google Translate can come up with such hilarious and misleading results.

Google Translate is definitely a no go for Maori translations. Have seen some beauts there...

For example..      

Then if you put a capital R it shows as "David"

[Oh_hunnihunni]

One vessel...

Waka kotahi means to travel together. I can see the difficulty for those with a penchant for the literal, but language isn't like that. If it was Social Welfare would mean just that. Health Department would be another...

But hey, it's just te reo that has to be put under the magnifying glass, eh?

Is that a bit like calling someone, John Green when their name is, say Bob Smith?

Or someone using a nick that means something to them but should never be taken literally. Like mine for example...

As in - sweet? I aint...