Just Left

Blogs I'm reading

Top of the list:

Red Alert - intriguing contrast of blogging styles and approaches in a world-leading experiment.

Dim Post - savagely funny.

Frequent checks:

No Right Turn - always reliable and readable

The Hand Mirror - some good friends here and a feminist perspective

Kiwiblog - source of the dark side's news and views

Bowalley Road - occasionally on the money but usually interesting

Pundit - interesting points of view from a generally sensible perspective

Imperator Fish - a recent arrival on my list

Sometimes:

The Standard - can be aggressive and can be insightful

Liberation - a v smart academic with little involvement in day to day politics

KiwiPolitico - very interesting collection, more analytic than the usual

Maui Street - also a recent arrival

New Kid on the Block:

John Pagani - I liked this one particularly

 

I've only started paying attention to the blogs again in the past few months.  I am sure I am missing some pretty damn important writing that is going on.  It's a very male list too. So female readers, I need your wisdom.

What's your top blog you think I should read, and why?

Hibernation

Just Left has been on a bit of a break. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Professional commitments mean it's very difficult for me to be doing any blogging at the moment
• Most of my spare time is taken up by other pursuits, mainly my thesis

I wish there were some ways around this. As the thesis is completed, I'll work on the other side of things and see what I can do.

In the meantime, I commend Policy Progress at www.policyprogress.org.nz - David is doing some tremendous work over there.

New Zealand politics is starting a new cycle, and the Budget this month will determine what kind of cycle that is. So rest assured that I am paying attention and thinking about things. I just can't write about them at the minute!

Jordan

What next?

I've been mulling a bit with how to proceed (and whether to do so) with writing anything on Just Left for about two months now, which is the main reason for the lack of posts. Time pressures with work and study and Labour commitments mean it's hard to fit it in, and they're all more important than the old blog unfortunately.

The tentative decision I've made is to only try and post once or twice a week, and for my posts to be focused on Labour's future and the prospects for social democracy in these islands we call home. 

The day to day ratrace of Government, and the opposition-government contest that haunt the media and most political blogs, are not as interesting to me as the broad question of "where Labour goes next". And obviously, if one is talking about where Labour goes next, then that has to be a long term question to avoid the day to day rat race. That's fine by me: my interests in politics have always been more about the long game than tactical management of issues, or who is up and who is down.

This is in a sense a return to home for this blog. That was the focus I used to have in my writing. For a few years tho the focus went somewhere else, and with a greater media and "game" theme appearing in the writing.

I'll see how it goes. Might work out, might not. Drop me a line if you've any feedback on it. The other authors remain free, if they choose, to write as they like from a Labour point of view.

Jordan

Radio Silence

In case anyone's out there - I have been travelling since 8 July and obviously others have not been posted. Come or go as you like :)

New Blog: Red Alert

Labour MPs have begun blogging at Red Alert: http://blog.labour.org.nz/

I'm very pleased to see this initiative. Unfiltered access and conversation between MPs and the public has to be a good thing. It brings their mode of working in real life into cyberspace. Here's hoping that people read about it and start a conversation.

New blog - Life and Politics

http://lifeandpolitics.wordpress.com/ - worth a read.

Jacinda on HandMirror

Jacinda Ardern, the youngest MP in the new Parliament, has done a post over at The Hand Mirror. It's good to see some blogging from new MPs!

http://thehandmirror.blogspot.com/2009/02/guest-post-new-school.html

Introducing - Tony Milne

Some of you will know me from "I See Red".  My intention is that I will continue to post on that blog, but will occasionally post here - and thanks to Jordan for the opportunity!  Here is a short bio for those of you who don't know me.

I was born in Invercargill in 1981 and come from a working-class family (my parents are both at the freezing works).  I moved to Christchurch in 2000 and went to Canterbury University majoring in English and Political Science (Hons).  I stood as a candidate for Labour in Rakaia in 2002 when I was 21 (Jenny Shipley was the MP but stood down), and again in 2005 against Brian Connell (who came and went).  I continue to do a lot of work in the Ashburton community.  While I was at University I also did a certificate in youth work, and worked as a peer supporters for 3 years at the 198 Youth Health Centre in Christchurch.

I worked for Tim Barnett in Parliament for a few years, including doing a lot of work on the Civil Union campaign, and for the  past few years for the 5 Christchurch Labour MPs in Christchurch.  I was on the Government Board of the Labour Party for 4 years (and was on the 2005 campaign committee) and involved in Young Labour and Rainbow Labour for several years.  My first involvement with the Labour Party was election day 1999 when I helped Mark Peck in Invercargill. 

Last year I got married to my partner of 9 years (who thankfully is into computers and not politics), bought a house and changed jobs: I now work for the Problem Gambling Foundation doing public health work and liaising with local and central government around policy.  I also spent 8 weeks in the US last year doing volunteer work for the Service Employees International Union and spent 4 weeks working on the Barack Obama campaign in Pennsylvania during the primaries.

I am interested in politics at all levels - local, national, global.

My particular interest on this blog will be how each NZ Political party responds to our new environment: a National-Act Government supported by the Maori Party.  A Labour-Progressive-Green opposition.  A global economic crisis.  The challenge of climate change.  

A few years ago I began talking about a new New Zealand - the growing majority diversity coalition - and argued that neither Labour nor National could win elections without getting that majority diversity coalition on board.  That was why Don Brash lost in 2005.  I laid out a platform for how each Party could win-over that majority diversity coalition.  John Key followed the template perfectly.  His 2008 victory was in large part because he reached out (rather than attacked, as Don Brash did) the majority diversity coalition - Maori, women, new migrants, gays, pacificka.  He boldly went into Labour heartland and didn't accept that it was Labour heartland.  In an electoral system where elections are won or lost by 1-2%, it was enough to pull over some Labour voters to National or suppress some Labour turnout.

So my key question, and what I'll be looking at over the coming three years is, how will National try to maintain that support and how will Labour respond to that challenge.

Just Left: Group Blog

After some reflection, I've decided to invite a set of posters to join me on Just Left.

The logic is simple. Some of the best blogs and spots of political writing out there now (Hand Mirror, Pundit, PublicAddress, The Standard) are sites with more than one author. They usually share a point of view, but they have diversity within that. The dynamic interaction between authors improves the quality of everyone's writing.

Perhaps more importantly, I think there's a niche for Labour aligned activists to post in a way that is less "agent provocateur" than The Standard, but which is undoubtedly connected to the labour movement as a whole.

I hope that Just Left can evolve into a community of people writing some interesting, thoughtful content that is insightful, and that comes from a perspective of being both activist and inside a major political party.

Obviously that constrains to some extent what is written here, depending on the topic. Some of the posters will be anonymous, and some will use their own names. Some might do both, issue by issue.

We'll try it for a while and see how it goes.

I will leave posters to introduce themselves as they see fit, in their first posts. I hope that what emerges is a good read for you, and makes you think.

Holidays

Nothing exciting coming your way blog-wise until 2009. I am back on deck around 9 January, so will begin posting after that. The rest is welcome and much needed, for me if not for you!