"Maybe a NatLab government would turn out to be stable. Almost certainly though, for that to happen, it would be because it adopted only the policies they both agreed on.

This is not a better option. We’d have a government with a supermajority doing very little: 'managing' the status quo but not improving it. A stable government where nothing much changes."

#SimonWilson, 2026

https://simonwilsonhopetown.substack.com/p/the-silliness-of-a-natlab-coalition

That's effectively what we've had in the decades since the mid-1990s.

#NZPolitics

"[The government] is paying 4.7% interest on 10-year Treasury bonds right now, while the private sector is paying upwards of 8%. Largely because of this disparity, a British parliamentary study in 2011 found PPPs were likely to end up costing twice as much as other comparable projects."

#SimonWilson, 2025

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/road-tolls-ppps-and-the-investment-summit-time-for-some-honesty-simon-wilson/UJJKPOL6RZFZJM26NK4DC2JKDA/

#HatTip to Gordon Campbell, who quoted this pithy fact in his own piece on Public Private Partnerships;

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2503/S00039/gordon-campbell-on-winston-peters-bad-trip-and-the-return-of-the-ppps-zombie.htm

#PPP

"[PM Christopher Luxon] cannot have this both ways. He cannot be the person who wants to lead as a statesman in this country, and at the same time, indulge the racism."

#SimonWilson, 2024

https://omny.fm/shows/the-working-group/luxon-blames-mmp-speed-limits-trump-vs-harris-gues

#podcasts #TheWorkingGroup #NZPolitics #TreatyPrinciples

"[Nicola] Willis says she's not an austerity minister, but cutting taxes, holding down wages and slashing government spending are austerity measures. There is no evidence they will reduce the wage gap: Australia is doing the reverse, which is why people are going there.

Britain, meanwhile, has spent 14 years doing very much what Willis has introduced. The result: Gross National Income per capita is on track to be eclipsed by Poland within about 10 years."

#SimonWilson, #NZHerald, May 30, 2024

‘The Shepherd’ Trailer Sees John Travolta Play a Mysterious RAF Rescue Pilot in the New Aviation Short Film!! Check It Out!! #DisneyPlus, #JohnTravolta, #BenRadcliffe, #StevenMackintosh, #MillieKent, #SimonLennon, #ScarletGrace, #JackDonoghue, #AsanNJie, #OlatunjiAyofe, #SimonWilson, #IwanBond, #ClairePrice

http://movizark.com/2023/10/12/the-shepherd-trailer-sees-john-travolta-play-a-mysterious-raf-rescue-pilot-in-the-new-aviation-short-film-check-it-out/