The Government of New Zealand appears poised to fall.   It is Sept 11th, tomorrow – I feel that parliament will rise early, the election will be duly called for early November.  It may not happen for 4 days, but it will happen soon.  Happening sooner rather than later gives the PM and her Labour party some time to campaign to correct the anomaly that is the Winston Peters phenomena.

Peters is the murcurial politican whose merit was accepting a coalition agreement with the appointment of the “New Zealand Foreign Minster Out of Cabinet” in the most infuriatingly brilliant piece of negotiating by Helen Clark.  National had to agree, the man and his sacred ego had already felled two, maybe three previous coalitions with his New Zealand First party, but this time it is facing political oblivion.

For Clark to win the next election requires a more divided electorate, impressed by her party’s staunch adherence to a progressive approach to a declining economy that went horribly wrong but nowhere near as bad as in the US or UK.  It is not so much bankrupticies that dominate our news, it is more how interest rates must come down to allieviate the pressure on mortgages.  There are forced sales, but balance it again how much cost the increase in capital gain caused the renting half of the population over the past twenty years.

New Zealand appears destined to at least six years of maybe sound financial management by the investment banker who worked with Merril Lynch and now has 50 million dollars to his name.  People do like John Key and some do not like Helen Clark.  Which is a shame as she seems a better leader in most respects.   He may appear to have – the common touch – a deadly force in a politician.   But it seems the skills shortage does not just affect the private sector here.  The upper eschelons of business are becoming skill short as well.

This spells a need for more education, more effective education and more education, again.  All this harping on about “parenting” is very well and good, but does it make us better parents?  The state controls the schools, and if they are to have a hope of making individuals useful to the world education is a priority.

Instead of eliminating effort toward an artificial goal, they split and moved the goalposts about the field. Instead of eliminating bad education, teachers were the first to leave for better weather and money in Australia.  The real poverty is the absense of a cultural identity for many.  Racism is alive and kicking in some parts of New Zealand.  Racism is essentially a stupidity.  So is war, it is an unpleasant, almost unnecessary activity.  If our political leaders must be listened to, even when they are stupid, is it not incumbent upon them to realise the best result they can achieve is not just “less” law, but a quality in strategy that is unmatchable and understandably effective.  Other that that do we care what a political sway believes?  Is the party representative of the will of it’s leader, or is a consultative “leader” in fact one who turns to others for ideas, and acts like a shepard motiving others to say what is wrong or right about them?

Politics has changed with each new generation of politicians.  As I see more of them passing by, on fragile wings, I am moved to believe that it is all meant somehow to be that way.

- this article was written on Sept 11th. The election was called four days later.