NX-Files

Since then things appear to have deteriorated to the point that question time in the Clark years became merely sneering and nasty. The Prime Minister adopted a practice of pointedly turning and looking away from the Opposition leader while delivering dismissive responses to his questions. The advent of MMP may also be to blame. The House seemed to have a higher tone when members were addressed by their electorates rather than by name.

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He would do well to encourage his new ministers to conduct themselves with dignity and decorum in the House. The Government's role is crucial to its conduct. Oppositions have to be aggressive and provocative, ministers need not reply in kind. Ministers have the advantage of status at question time, they should use it. A polite, restrained, factual answer to a politically-pointed question would be far more impressive on television than the tedious partisan exchanges of recent times.

Couple of points; since Helen Clark lost power some in the media have all of a sudden developed a spine and made some terse comments about her leadership.  The other day John Armstrong wrote that Helen pretty much told the truth and lied at the same time i.e. if she didn't like how a journalist interpreted her comments then she'd deny that she ever said it such was the mire surrounding her public statements. 

And now the Herald editorial bravely writes that Helen Clark was 'sneering and nasty' during Question Time.

News Flash!  We've known this for quite some time.  Your in-depth analyze is too little too late.

And what's annoying still is that the Herald is advocating that National's answers to questions should be 'polite, restrained, and factual'.  Well, I'd argue that was always going to be the case given that National Party rank and file aren't your standard battle harden union yobo who inhabit the Labour party.

 

"I'm the Treaty negotiations spokesman," Dr Cullen said.

"I have no intention of re-engaging in those areas."

 

 

Very simply, it was the most partisan government since Sir Robert Muldoon's. And that partisan edge became very wearing.

 

It's been an amazing, some would say, self-indulgent career for which we will pay for years to come. Many of the biggest losers in the end will be the same vulnerable people who attached themselves to Aunty Helen in the first place. She made them feel good for a time, but eventually they'll start to realise that Aunty came up short, and that the Fifth Labour Government cheated them. 

 

The market share of Microsoft's Internet Explorer dropped under the 70% mark last month for the first time since Web metrics vendor Net Applications Inc. started keeping tabs on browsers, the company said today.

Source: Computer World

Hell, even I've stopped using Internet Explorer (I tend to use other microsoft products).  I now use Google Chrome with an add blocker called 'web washer'. 

Chrome is definitely heaps faster.

I tried IE8 beta 2, but it had too many bugs.  When the final version of IE8 is realised next year I'll give it another look. 

Message to microsoft - you are taking too long developing IE8.