What is the deal with New Zealand?

To post in this sub-forum you must have made 100 posts or have Trust status or have completed our ID Verification

Forums › Politics › What is the deal with New Zealand?

Rikkitic

Awrrr
19065 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 16305

Lifetime subscriber

#228730 19-Jan-2018 16:50

I keep seeing items in the news and elsewhere that suggest we must be living in some kind of special deprivation dimension. Apparently everything that exists costs 10 times more here than anywhere else. Our kids can’t read and their teeth are the worst in the universe. We are underpaid compared to everyone this side of Burkino Faso and our collapsing health services are killing us and driving us to the depths of depressive despair. Our fizzy drinks have more sugar than anywhere else and no-one will ever be able to afford to live in a house again. Our emissions are higher, our ambitions are lower, educational standards are falling and no-one born in this country can spell or speak English correctly.

So what is the deal with New Zealand? Are we really that much worse at everything or are we being misinformed or do we just have a really big need to fail? Why do we always seem to be the worst compared to just about anyone else? For what it’s worth, I don’t actually believe we are. I think NZ is a pretty awesome country. But you sure don’t get that impression from our media, be they social or commercial. What is the deal with that?

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

1 | 2 | 3

18009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8465

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1943649 19-Jan-2018 16:58

I suspect the deal is that hitherto, news arrived by wire service etc and was slow, and only the proper news was sent.

Now, anyone with a phone and a bored moment can see what is happening everywhere else, how much the [insert item] they currently want to buy would cost them anywhere else and so on, and they dislike it. That inevitably comes through in the press because the news is written by the self-same people with phones and bored moments, I suppose.

It's hard to explain that NZ has the population of a smallish European or American city, which combined with a sprinkling of parochialism and antediluvian practices in some areas and what was recently described in the press as "rampant anti-intellectualism", is not a recipe for consumer heaven or commercial progress.

Lots of young people finish University and head off to wherever for a few years, then wonder why when they come back, their salary falls, the work is less challenging, productivity is lower, everything costs more and so on - so they get news media jobs and make it known that they are not happy in the hope that something, somewhere, will change.

Just guessing, but that sounds more or less like it.

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1943671 19-Jan-2018 17:22

Personally I feel the facts are distorted greatly to support agendas. Ask why is Aotearoa so popular for tourists and migration?

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Geektastic

18009 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 8465

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1943683 19-Jan-2018 17:45

MikeB4:

Personally I feel the facts are distorted greatly to support agendas. Ask why is Aotearoa so popular for tourists and migration?

As one who works in the tourist industry and who has migrated, I can assist there.

There's a lot of - I'll call them negative things - about anywhere. NZ is no exception as we must surely all admit.

Tourists are rarely here long enough to see any of those and migrants rarely are either, because most move here without having lived here first so in some ways are like tourists when they arrive.

As you say, there are agendas and spin - neither Tourism New Zealand nor Immigration New Zealand tend to spend much money publicising gangs, meth, P, bad drivers, expensive cold houses, unimaginative supermarkets or whatever. Those things only really become apparent once you have lived here for some while.

A lot of migrants actually don't stick - they come, with skills we need, then leave within a few years because they find it harder than they thought it would be. For some, it's the fact that they have no family here at all and cannot cope with that, but there are many reasons. I just came across this website when looking for examples if you want to read some.

I think with a small population, there is far less room to get 'lost in the middle' so the extremes of everything - good and bad - tend to be more obvious.

JayADee

2236 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 483

#1943684 19-Jan-2018 17:46

Add suicide rates. Compared to some other countries, yes a lot of that is true.

MikeB4

MikeB4
18775 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 12766

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#1943714 19-Jan-2018 18:14

Geektastic:
MikeB4:

Personally I feel the facts are distorted greatly to support agendas. Ask why is Aotearoa so popular for tourists and migration?

As one who works in the tourist industry and who has migrated, I can assist there.

There's a lot of - I'll call them negative things - about anywhere. NZ is no exception as we must surely all admit.

Tourists are rarely here long enough to see any of those and migrants rarely are either, because most move here without having lived here first so in some ways are like tourists when they arrive.

As you say, there are agendas and spin - neither Tourism New Zealand nor Immigration New Zealand tend to spend much money publicising gangs, meth, P, bad drivers, expensive cold houses, unimaginative supermarkets or whatever. Those things only really become apparent once you have lived here for some while.

A lot of migrants actually don't stick - they come, with skills we need, then leave within a few years because they find it harder than they thought it would be. For some, it's the fact that they have no family here at all and cannot cope with that, but there are many reasons. I just came across this website when looking for examples if you want to read some.

I think with a small population, there is far less room to get 'lost in the middle' so the extremes of everything - good and bad - tend to be more obvious.

I get your aspect, however after decades working in social services I still have a positive view of New Zealand. We are not perfect but many parts of us are excellent. For me it's better to concentrate on the excellent, but I don't ignore the bad stuff. We are no different to other comparable nations and there is no utopia.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1749

#1943849 20-Jan-2018 08:58

A lot of it is simply that bad news sells papers better than good news.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

Rikkitic

Awrrr
19065 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 16305

Lifetime subscriber

#1943856 20-Jan-2018 09:32

It's just that we seem to come out at the bottom of every comparison. What started me thinking about this was the thread on the high prices here. Then I started remembering recent things I have seen. High prices, declining literacy, belching cows, algal bloom, it just goes on and on. It is like the entire country is being flushed down the toilet.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

gzt

18684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7824

Lifetime subscriber

#1943858 20-Jan-2018 09:48

Rikkitic: It's just that we seem to come out at the bottom of every comparison.

Maybe read some different comparisons:

NZ easiest place to do business - World Bank ranking #1

Pumpedd

1759 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 887
Inactive user

#1943889 20-Jan-2018 10:15

Labour really pushed poverty last election and the media hasnt stopped since. It was very political and I suggest it probably started with the media. The only real poverty in this country are those on beneficiaries who havnt had a raise in decades due to it being linked to the CPI rather than the wage index like pensioners.

Something like 80% of welfare in this country actually goes to families with one or more income. Lets say a single disability beneficiary gets $280/week then that still isnt poverty..close though.

SJB

2945 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#1943919 20-Jan-2018 10:39

Good news stories don't sell, it's as simple as that. If you look at the international or local news the murder, disaster, epidemic story will always rank higher than the one about improving jobless figures.

If you want to read truly depressing news try the UK. They only have a good news story when one of the royals gets engaged/married/pregnant. Otherwise it is wall to wall depression.

There are things that need fixing in New Zealand and to the people involved they are important but as far as I'm concerned it is a fantastic country to live in compared to 99% of the rest of the world. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1944727 22-Jan-2018 12:50

SJB:

They only have a good news story when one of the royals gets engaged/married/pregnant.

What good about the news that The Firm of wealthiest UK state beneficiaries is expanding in number?

That's good news for royalists, probably not for small r republicans.

Perhaps the goodness of much news is subjective.

New World

Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

SJB

2945 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2287
Inactive user

#1944780 22-Jan-2018 14:12

I wasn't suggesting I am a royalist. No real feelings one way or another really although the idea of electing a President is not particularly appealing.

The majority of Brits seem to think the stories I mentioned above are 'happy news' stories shall we say.

amiga500

1484 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 422
Inactive user

#1944998 22-Jan-2018 19:55

Good news does not sell papers. The Press could send out a photographer tomorrow & do a feature on the Ch.ch. CBD & all the derelict buildings and there are plenty to photograph for sure! However, there are almost two blocks of totally new shops and arcades in the Christchurch CBD. If you go & have a look around at lunchtime the whole area is amazing. New cafes and seating areas. And a lot of people around.

Before the quakes most of that area looked tired and worn out. Hardly anything new since the mid 1980's.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 10018

#1945018 22-Jan-2018 20:49

SJB:

I wasn't suggesting I am a royalist. No real feelings one way or another really although the idea of electing a President is not particularly appealing.

The majority of Brits seem to think the stories I mentioned above are 'happy news' stories shall we say.

I'm actually not sure if the majority of brits are royalists. It might take some googling to confirm, but IIRC the royals are more popular with the colonials than they are at home. I'm sure that if they were cut off from state funding, they'd be able to make do quite well - if they showed some entrepreneurial flair, like say Kardashians or Trumps. I imagine they'd do rather better - selling handbags and commercialising stuff with their coat of arms etc.

Don't be put off by the idea of Presidents. Putin, Trump, Erdogan, Duterte etc - there have been worse, it's mere coincidence that four dirty thugs appeared at about the same time, riding 4 up on a horse with Vlad at the reins.

TLD

908 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 263

#1945801 24-Jan-2018 00:38

My wife goes crazy about NZ prices every time we come back from visiting family in the UK. It's not just food. I have a favourite pair of Merril trainers that I paid £20 for on my last trip to the UK. The same shoes would cost me NZ$180 here. I think that the minimum wage is similar in the UK and NZ. But even if food cost half as much again here, I'd still rather live here than in England. I hate having to visit, and won't be going back after my dear old mum passes.

Some of the UK saving might be down to economy of scale. Take broadband/fiber? The UK and NZ are roughly similar in size, so the cost of running fiber would be similar (total guess btw). But the UK gets a return from 60 million people, whereas NZ has just 4.7 million, and most of them are in the NI. Taking that a bit further, SI and England have a similar area, but whereas the SI has 1.1 million people, England has 55 million. That has to make a difference

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

1 | 2 | 3