I said that I thought the book would push Harry’s net approval to around -40%, and that was pretty close to it. His brother has dropped also, but from a much higher base so he is at +49% compared to -38% for William.
Back in 2017 Meghan Markle was at +35%, Prince Harry at +70%. It shows that actions have consequences.
On Wednesday I posted this: (please sure further beneath it)
In early March I have the privilege of a short speaking slot and being on an Education Panel at the NZ Economics Forum hosted by Waikato University.
The topic for the Education Panel is: Schools under the Microscope – How do we turn them around?
Many of the problems have become very clear over the last five years and include – but are not limited to – attendance, retention until 17 years old, huge ethnicity and socio-economic achievement gaps, significant decline against international metrics, attracting high quality teachers.
I have no shortage of data and a number of ideas for rapid and significant improvement. I am also consulting with some very high quality researchers and educators to produce a high quality take-away document.
However, I am still many years away from the situation where in my tombstone it will say – “Here lies Alwyn – and wisdom dies with him.” In fact – I will be lucky to outdo Spike Milligan’s last joke.
I would very much welcome views from Kiwiblog people – either in the comments/discussion – or by direct email (no word limit – I will read them all). I also welcome counter arguments to what you think my views might be.
Initial themes would be:
Anything I use directly I am very happy to credit back to the writer (or not – as you prefer). Your views are important – not least because you pay for our education system.
Please don’t hesitate to share the post on to those you think may be interested.
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE: I am reading all of the comments and finding them interesting. Also have a good number of well thought through emails. Much appreciated. Education has to be a major 2023 issue.
Alwyn Poole
[email protected]
Friday Update
I have received a remarkable response – both in the comments and many high-quality emails. I am well and truly open to more. As a summary response to a question by Ian Boag I have posted:
Hi Ian
Yes I have thought through a lot of this previously but the responses on here – and extensive ones on email have provided food for thought.
I am also talking and getting great responses from a good range and depth of people who think on such things for professional reasons (and whom I have been in discussion in one way or another for a while) – e.g. John Hattie, Cameron Bagrie, Dame Wendy Pye, etc.
There is huge mood for change and one of the key things in 2023 is that we don’t allow people who will attempt to negate the change to play wac-a-mole. When I have put together the full document I will make it widely available.
I hear what you say re “parents as first teachers” but – in view of what we know now about human development (refer David Eagleman) – unless we get pre-birth and the first 3 – 5 years right – the rest is uphill. Difficult? Extremely – but it is an imperative. If NZ is to be the country it ought to be in 18 – 30 years then we must work that out.
The one glaring piece of consensus: The Ministry is far more responsible for the decline and current debacle than their spin doctors will allow to be public to realise. The bureaucracy is no longer serving its purpose and their email footer: “We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes” is fodder for a Yes Minister remake. Many of the front-line Ministry providers are excellent but the 4000 person behemoth is as outdated and as unfit for purpose as a medieval castle in modern warfare. Maybe it is time for NZ families and schools to simply drive around them – until there is the political will to make the necessary, and massive, changes.
Alwyn
[email protected]
ps: There is a way for the Ministry to prove the consensus wrong and that would be to have an external 360 degree from stakeholders done (including parents and taxpayers). I am sure Curia would do a great job.
Stuff reports:
A controversial crossing and speed limit lowering has cost $2.4 million, with more than $500,000 going to consultants, in a bid to improve safety near Wellington’s airport and the ASB Sports Centre.
Incredible. They have to install a couple of traffic lights and paint some lines on the road and it costs not $25,000, not $250,000 but $2.4 million.
Stuff reports:
The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of US President Joe Biden’s former institute, the White House says.
Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said Monday (NZT Tuesday), “a small number of documents with classified markings” were discovered as Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center.
It was where the president kept an office after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. The documents were found on November 2, 2022, in a “locked closet” in the office, Sauber said.
Sauber said the attorneys immediately alerted the White House Counsel’s office, who notified the National Archives and Records Administration – which took custody of the documents the next day.
Will this be a get out of jail card for Trump? One was accidental and one was deliberate, but this does make it harder for the Justice Department to prosecute Trump.
Hello Kiwiblog people and all the best for 2023.
In early March I have the privilege of a short speaking slot and being on an Education Panel at the NZ Economics Forum hosted by Waikato University.
The topic for the Education Panel is: Schools under the Microscope – How do we turn them around?
Many of the problems have become very clear over the last five years and include – but are not limited to – attendance, retention until 17 years old, huge ethnicity and socio-economic achievement gaps, significant decline against international metrics, attracting high quality teachers.
I have no shortage of data and a number of ideas for rapid and significant improvement. I am also consulting with some very high quality researchers and educators to produce a high quality take-away document.
However, I am still many years away from the situation where in my tombstone it will say – “Here lies Alwyn – and wisdom dies with him.” In fact – I will be lucky to outdo Spike Milligan’s last joke.
I would very much welcome views from Kiwiblog people – either in the comments/discussion – or by direct email (no word limit – I will read them all). I also welcome counter arguments to what you think my views might be.
Initial themes would be:
Anything I use directly I am very happy to credit back to the writer (or not – as you prefer). Your views are important – not least because you pay for our education system.
Please don’t hesitate to share the post on to those you think may be interested.
Thanks in advance.
UPDATE: I am reading all of the comments and finding them interesting. Also have a good number of well thought through emails. Much appreciated. Education has to be a major 2023 issue.
Alwyn Poole
[email protected]
Luke Malpass lays out the challenges for Chris Luxon in election year. They are:
YouGov had the following net approval ratings for members of the Royal Family in December:
This poll was before his book was leaked and before his disastrous interviews, so one can only imagine where Prince Harry will be in the next poll. I guess -40% or lower.
The Herald gallery team made predictions for 2023. They include:`
There have been 11 ballots for the Speaker of the US House and the deadlock continues with 20 Republicans refusing to vote for the candidate selected by the majority of their party – Kevin McCarthy.
Such an outcome would never happen in NZ, but we have far more centralised parties. In the US there is very little in the way of a party hierarchy, and the parties are more brands than united disciplined organisations. The primary system means many representatives care more about winning a primary in their seat, than what is good for the overall party.
McCarthy is an unappealing Speaker. He grovels to Trump, and seems to have few principles. But he is the person 90% of the GOP House support. But they need the other 10%.
In the short term this is wonderful for Democrats. The Republicans look totally focused on themselves, and divided. They have won the House but can’t even elect a Speaker.
Eventually, there seem to be three ways to finally get a Speaker.
In the meantime, with no Speaker the new President pro tempere
I’m away tramping this weekend (with eight kids and nine other adults) so if there is any breaking news, that is why I won’t be covering it!
My little Renault Megane weighs 1419kg. A Tesla Model S weighs 2100kg.
Could it be that the EVs are aiding and abetting tearing up our roads? That is a huge weight difference.
This is on top of the fact that – due to extraction and disposal methods of materials my Megane has to be driven for 40,000km before the Tesla eeks ahead in terms of emissions – and then only marginally and dependent on those extraction and disposal methods.
NZ now has 62,000 EV’s – up 60% in 2022.
Given there are no farm vehicle alternatives this must bite in rural areas: “the Toyota HiLux since April has a penalty of between $NZ1293.75 and $NZ4772.50 according to the NZ Ministry of Transport’s website. Ford’s Ranger cops fees from $NZ2026.88 to $NZ4657.50. This applies to new and used examples.”
The costs to taxpayers have been enormous so far:
I wonder how many lower-socio-economic families have gone EV? Are we supposed to think about these things or just go with Michael Wood’s next bright idea?
Stuff reports:
Prince William once physically assaulted Prince Harry, resulting in visible “scrapes and bruises” when a verbal altercation over his marriage to Meghan Markle escalated, according to his upcoming book Spare.
The Guardian obtained a copy of the memoir before its release on January 10, and reported Harry describes an incident in 2019 at the younger prince’s home at Hottingham Cottage, where William called Markle “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.
The argument escalated and William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace and …knocked me to the floor”.
What a pitiful sook. He is reduced to trying to make money by writing a book that blames everyone bar himself, and then whines that he is estranged from his family.
The rest of the royal family should simply ignore him. The UK public basically despise him, and this will not change things for the better for him.
In light of the news that Leonardo DiCaprio has a new girlfriend, I thought I would share this chart showing his age and the age of his various girlfriends.
He really doesn’t like them getting over 25!
Stuff reports:
A Government decision on whether Chinese visitors to New Zealand need to return a negative Covid test is still pending, while experts err in favour of testing after earlier saying it was probably not needed.
China is now opening up its borders after years of strict enforcements and residents will soon be able to start applying to leave the country.
However, the loosening of domestic restrictions led to a reported explosion in cases in China just as borders are about to open.
Countries including Australia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have already imposed screening requirements, with them requiring travellers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau to provide a negative Covid-19 test before being allowed entry.
People need to understand Covid-19 is already endemic in New Zealand. It is here, and never leaving.
In the last week 40,000 people tested positive in NZ for Covid-19. With so many people not bothering to test, or to file their test results, the true number may be 100,000+.
So to think that blocking a few score travellers from entering NZ will have any sort of meaningful impact is farcical.