12 Comments
Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

Be the change you want to see and delete all social media. Their power over us is based on our addiction or flawed justifications for use "staying in touch"...I'm a recovering social user- 7 years ago I deleted fb and insta permanently and nothing bad happened. I'm still in touch with people but in an authentic way. I'm praying for a global "delete" movement (but I'm not sure how it would spread without social media) that happens before my kids get older.. there are 10 year olds being given smartphones all around me due to societal pressure while the studies are coming through regularly showing it making evryone dumber, especially undeveloped brains

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Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

Oofph, heading into the weekend with that cheerfulness! ...Social media is just the sharp-edged-slightly-too-low-door-frame that keeps on giving!

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Just in the first part of the podcast - the NZ party that allows membership rather than the caucus to pick the leader is the Greens. Interesting to see the hyper-democratic approach on the left - which does seem to punish apparent centrism from leaders - as well as your international examples on the right.

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Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

Seems to me you have put together a great dollop of sane analysis here. Good for you and thank you.

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Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

Great points on social media. I felt it was really affecting my mental health, particularly earlier this year with how wild things got with the mandates and Wellington protests. I removed Facebook from my phone, and now only check it occasionally from my PC.

I think there is a growing number of people doing this, but I do worry it is just leaving the content on social media more and more polarised. There is evidence of this, with the top comment on news stories on Facebook nowadays is often something people would laugh at 5 or 6 years ago e.g. Vaccine misinformation, touting populists as the solution to our issues. There is often very little pushback to these comments, other than maybe moderators stepping in on particular comments, or shutting down comments overall.

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Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

“Now, this question was so easy David Seymour got it right” is very funny. Spicy Grant is the best Grant.

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Sep 2, 2022Liked by Bernard Hickey

Great photo Lynn. I’ve seen it circulating and have been struck by the look of the man beside Tamaki. He seems to be looking right down the camera lens. Knowing that he’s watched you be shoved by his people adds another dimension to the expression on his face 😬

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Bernard, you are the only commentator in NZ with the knowledge & ability to join the dots & explain how we've got to our present sorry state. Not only that, you also propose solutions. Compared to you, all the other economic/political journalists in NZ simply mouth banalities.

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Insightful section on polarization, thank you.

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