Adventures of a childish man

Debt, Investment and Life

2007-02-20T22:51:00.000+13:00

Well, on the money go round a bit lately.

Sold some shares recently which netted me a good return.
Instead of (sensibly) using that money to pay off debt, I have re-invested it in a small business.
Fairly high risk, and definitely a long term investment, but we will see how things go.

I still wanted to consolidate my debt,so managed to get an excellent interest rate from my bank who strangely also let me retain my credit card and overdraft once they were paid off.
The obvious trap there is to double up my debt, but I'm far too wiley to fall into that trap .... (well not accidentally anyway!)

Work is balls, and job hunting is a priority.

Being in a relationship again is fun.
I like the early stages, where everything is like a christmas present waiting to be unwrapped.
It's towards the end when you realise you've got socks in your hand that I can't be bothered with.

Windows Vista looks like, and Office 2007 looks nifty too.

ADSL2+ looks like being rolled out for trial in the next few months, and should create more hilarity if something isn't done about the backhaul on our crumbling ADSL network.

Go the BlackCaps, and god bless Adult Swim.

Jumping is useless!

Retards, Robots and Spanking

2007-02-03T22:37:00.000+13:00

No one can defeat the Quad Laser!
Jumping is useless!
It is over now!

GG Boston.

I do feel sorry for the Americans that aren't right wing rednecks, aren't blinded by some belief in a higher power, and aren't hell bent on attacking their own populace through fear.

What am I talking about ?

The invasion of the Mooninites .....

New Year approaches

2006-12-30T15:42:00.000+13:00

Here comes the new year ...

What to say other than "meh".
The big news of course was the VodaHug merger, and little seems to have immediately come out of that.
ISPs have suffered from UBS outages, SPAM and poor customer service.

Dr Freeth's comments regarding the state of TelstraClear were amusing for non-employees.
That is one company that may have a tough 2007, and really needs to make big changes in it's marketing and 'image' if it wants to compete.

The trend towards then end of 2006 seemed to be consildation and avoiding unnecessary expense.
Customer Service is going to be huge, and for most players will be the only differential.
If I ran a small/medium sized ISP I would focus on network stablity and Customer Service to the exclusion (dare I say it) of Marketing, Advertising, and new projects.

Orcon made another 'we're not affected' press release, which makes me question why they are a part of ISPANZ at all.
It seems they want to hedge their bets, and they remind me of the kid who befriends the bully, and then stands back while their classmates get thumped.

Nintendo Wii is cool, and should be purchased by all.
Looks far more amusing than the XBox 360 and or the PS3, and much drunken fun can be had.

VodaHug

2006-10-15T14:11:00.000+13:00

Well, I was certainly slightly off the mark with my Orcon prediction.

Hats off to Vodafone, for what I think was an excellent move for their company.
Industry marks have noted that the purchase price they paid was higher than the valuation, but in my opinion they were buying more than the infrastructure and customer base.

ihug's marketing campaign has been consistently solid, and their image (especially their website) tends to reflect the fact they're a true alternative to Telecom.
TelstraClear I think has done a poor job with their marketing, and few residential consumers view them differently from the incumbent.

They had an opportunity with the purchase of Paradise, to split away from the grey corporate "Clear Communications" and really create a proper residential brand, but sadly have failed to do so.
Their branding seems confusing, and it appears that Paradise, Clear and "Telstra Clear" compete for customers as seperate entities with different pricing structures ... doh!

Vodafone now has a good base to launch some real 'triple play' with mobile, fixed line and internet access bundles.

The trend over the last 12 months has been for Internet Service Providers to become full fledged Telecommunications companies.
This has been driven by the low margins of UBS and dialup, and the increased cost of supporting those services, due to some fantastically crap Telecom infrastructure.

Lets look at the who "main" players are now: (Telecom and TelstraClear aside)

"Internet" meaning tradition dialup/dsl;

Compass - Fixed Line Telco + Internet + WiredCountry stuff
WorldxChange: Toll bypass Telco + VOIP + Internet
CallPlus/Slingshot: Fixed Line Telco + VOIP + Internet + Wimax
Orcon: Toll bypass + Internet
Woosh: Wireless + Toll Bypass + VOIP + Internet
Vodafone/Ihug: Mobile + Toll Bypass + Fixed Line + Internet + Mobile Internet

Clearly voice servies are the name of the game, and must be where the margins are.
Any of the other providers that currently rely soley on internet access, will either be nieche regional providers, or possibly ones with high numbers of small business customers who also do web design and hosting.
How long can they survive ?

ISPs are becoming Telcos and have to start competing for customers through:

Internet Access
Toll Bypass
Fixed Line Rental
VOIP
Nieche services (Web Design, Hosting, Domain Name Registration, wacky email configs, security, firewalls, networking equipment, WiFi routers etc)

Time to circle the wagons, prevent churn and try and build some kind of base and brand to either sell, or borrow/seek investment for LLU and/or building an alternative network.

Resume Program

2006-08-24T23:08:00.000+12:00

Another post directed at my readership of 3.
I'm sure you can't contain your glee.

I could have attempted to write something that rhymed for more paragraphs, but the wine has been flowing.

Speculation abounds as to who will purchase ihug.
Does anyone actually want them ?
Does anyone actually care ?

My prediction is ........ Orcon.

Orcon have done a few things right recently, which some of the larger Telco's (larger in terms of existing voice customers) should have done ages ago.
I'll be honest and say I have no idea of the margins for reselling Vodafones mobile services, but it's about time someone other than TelstraClear got in on the act.
Yes, probably before the Government made rumblings about regulating the mobile environment Vodafone either wasn't keen or charged some high prices to potential customers, but Orcon was definitely the first to realise that had changed.

Fuck IPTV, and Video on Demand - the real profitable "Triple Play" is;
Mobile, Fixed Line and Data communications.
Being able to offer all three services, means you can easily attract those larger customers and use that to offset this UBS crap - which lets face it, everyone is only offering for one of 3 reasons.

1) To gain market share for LLU
2) To sell tolls to those customers
3) To inflate customer numbers and "billed" revenue for when a larger Telco buys you

Speaking of predictions (I did several paragraphs ago ok, pay attention!) here's an update on my 2-3 year predictions:

Woosh will either cease to exist, or be brought by another provider and "merged"

Well they bought Quicksilver a FIXED line Telecommunications provider.
Isn't that basically saying that their wireless revolution is doomed ?
With several other fixed line Telco's branching out into Wimax, they're going to lose lose lose money hand over fist.

Telecom will chill out and voluntarily split their retail and wholesale operations

Kinda, sorta happened. (Yes I know it's not structural separation).
I think they will go all the way in the end to save face, rather than being forced by the Government.

Lots of little ISPs will go under - will anyone notice ?

Well several have been bought out.
Quicksilver, Maxnet (I think?) to start, and others sure to follow shortly before LLU hits.

Customers will continue to be cnuts and want faster, cheaper, unlimited broadband so they can download their child porn, and sailor moon episodes

Thats a given.

Customer expectations of what constitutes faster cheaper broadband will be at least 100Mbps with a 500GB cap.
There will be many posts in various forums (mostly game related) explaining why it is a ripoff they should have to pay at all for their service, and the ISPs should be paying them!

Also a given.

Free Internet Access will come back (lol)

I think free dialup will become a reality once broadband gets very cheap.
Of course some kind of minimum tolls spend would be required.

Net4u's liquidation will finally finish.

Still waiting for this one!

Alternative Futures will get struck off the Companies Register (I mean WTF?)

Finally finished - Aaria how you will be missed!

Robots, and sharks with lasers!

Ok not yet, but give it time.

By now most people in the industry will have seen the Annette Presley video circulating YouTube.

youtube.com

Now that, dear readers was comedy gold.
Much was made comparing her to dear Theresa Gattung, and lets face it if you had the choice between the two to run your multi-million dollar business that wouldn't inspire you with confidence.
I think it was a good idea to begin with to make her the face and voice of a growing company, but now I think most Telecommunications users are past "relating" to the CEO's.
If a CEO is doing their job well, an end user of that company shouldn't be aware of who they are.
Lets look at who we don't hear much from ....

Cecil Alexander/Paul Clarkin - Directors of WorldxChange
Michael Spencer - CEO ICONZ
Brett Herkt - MD Maxnet
Karim Hussona - CEO Compass
Alan Freeth - CEO TelstraClear

These people don't tend to make pointless press releases, whinge constantly about Telecom and you'd hope are quietly building succesful companies.
I'm sure none of them will be going hungry anytime soon.

The big three (excluding Theresa who isn't often in the limelight of her own choice) that seem to be the media darlings are:

Annette Presley - Excutive Director Slingshot
Mark Rushworth - CEO ihug (or is that IINet NZ ?)
Seeby Woodhouse - CEO/MD Orcon

Of those three I'd rate Mark Rushworth the highest for relevance, intelligence, and articulation.
Seeby and Annette both seem interested in personal fame, and promoting their companies rather than industry debate and contribution.
Of course thats not necessarily a bad thing if all you consider is "maximising the return to your shareholders" - the major shareholders in this case being those two respectively.

Speaking of Orcon, what a major flip-flop regarding LLU.
They came out initially as a strong opponent of LLU and were used by Telecom as part of their "look how well we already work with ISPs" campaign.

Here's a link to Seeby commenting on LLU way back in 2004:

scoop.co.nz

Some choice comments are:

"let’s not take a backwards step by unbundling the local loop."

"only major players like TelstraClear with pockets deep enough to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars required would survive."

Compare that to Orcon's recent press releases regarding what a 'crucial' role they played in lobbying for LLU:

orcon.net.nz

Plenty of choice quotes in there about how they're completely behind it, investing millions and thriving in the new market.

Things, Things n Stuff

2006-06-02T22:29:00.000+12:00

So ... exciting happenings at work.

Some fairly major structural changes being proposed in my department
which will hopefully mean:

a) More money
b) More responsibility, freedom, and control

All in all, a good, if busy week.

I've been told that our beloved Mayor wants to present me with a
"Mayoral Achievement Award" recognising the hard work (*cough*)
I put into my recently passed course.
If he so wants to honour me, what can I do but accept!
Of course, I've yet to receive my tickets for said event,
and if they don't turn up, will happily forgo getting dressed up
and made to look a prat.

Long weekend this weekend, which is fantastic, really need to rest and recover.
Although madness is planned for Saturday, as myself
and my erstwhile colleague finalise our takeover plans.

Telecom talked recently about accepting the Governments upcoming Local Loop Unbundling decision, and pledging to work with other ISPs and customers to facilitate real and effective change.
I can't say this has filtered down to the people we have to deal with in their Wholesale department, but we have several meetings with them next week and I propose to bang some heads together.

An Ode to Pie

2006-05-17T10:37:00.000+12:00

Pie.

It makes me cry.
When I have no Pie.

I might die.
Without Pie.

Pie.

Toot Toot!

2006-05-16T20:35:00.000+12:00

Crazy few months it has been indeed.

The launch of 3.5Mbps UBS has gone as predicted, and created much wailing and nashing of teeth for the helpdesk workers.

But - fantastic news from the New Zealand Government regarding "Unbundling the Local Loop".
Totally unexpected, and something well worth celebrating.

Some predictions then in the next 2-3 years:

- Woosh will either cease to exist, or be brought by another provider and "merged"

- Telecom will chill out and voluntarily split their retail and wholesale operations

- Lots of little ISPs will go under - will anyone notice ?

- Customers will continue to be cnuts and want faster, cheaper, unlimited broadband so they can download their child porn, and sailor moon episodes

- Customer expectation of what constitutes faster cheaper broadband will be at least 100Mbps with a 500GB cap.
There will be many posts in various forums (mostly game related) explaining why it is a ripoff they should have to pay at all for their service, and the ISPs should be paying them!

- Free Internet Access will come back (lol)

- Net4u's liquidation will finally finish.

- Alternative Futures will get struck off the Companies Register (I mean WTF?)

Robots, and sharks with lasers!

Nice Weekend

2006-02-26T17:18:00.000+13:00

Well.

Very cool Friday night - caught up with a few people I haven't seen in ages.
Saturday spent sleeping and recovering, and then went to a party at a friends house.
Was mostly older people (early 30's).
Plenty of chefs, some TVNZ people, artists, musicians etc.
Theres something about that social group that appeals, but sometimes they can be a little too "wanky" for my taste.

It looks like InternetNZ has approved the creation of the parliament.nz 2LD.
Nothing released on their website, or the DNC's, but reading through the meeting minutes reveals it was approved some months ago.
More 2LDs of course yield more revenue for the Registrars and more choice for consumers.
On the other hand they tend to lead to duplication of domain names, and an increase in 'squatting' as companies try to obtain every iteration of their company name.

Speaking of domain names, I've been working on a side project, on and off for the last few months.
Most ISPs I have seen tend to have a slightly disorganised approach to Domain Hosting and DNS updates.
Typically their billing system, and email provisioning system is not linked to their NS servers directly (sensible!)
What the leads to however, is problems with:

Customers being billed for hosting after the domain name is transferred away
Mail servers still being setup to deliver mail for the domain locally
Customers not being billed for a hosted domain
ISP still being charged by a Registrar (if they are not one themselves) but the custy has changed the authoriative servers, and is no longer being billed by the ISP.

So - what I think is needed is a simple tool to receive inputs from two places:
ISP Billing/Provisioning System
NS - List of domains they think they are authorative for

The tool would then query the .nz root servers to see who the 'actual' host of the domain is, and output a list of domains that need to be de-provisioned, billed, or otherwise checked up on.
I'm trying to think of better ways to do it without querying the root servers constantly (local DNS server with no cache ?) and am building in a few safeguards around the number of queries/s etc.
Once I have things a bit more polished, I'm planning to approach the NZSRS people and ask about acceptable load on their servers, or if they can think of a cleaner way to do it.

I feel naughty

2006-02-21T20:46:00.000+13:00

Everyone now and then I like to dob someone in for something.
Nothing too serious - just to exercise my civic muscle.

There is a foodcourt down the road from my house that is seriously dodgy! I've managed to force myself to eat there once, and only when I was really desperately hungry.

Last week I had a hankering for some asian food and thought I would give it another go.
While waiting for my order I saw a cockroach, crawl across a table with vegetables on it and scurry under the fridge.
This didn't seem to upset any of the staff.

I sent a nice polite email to the good folks at the Auckland City Council, and didn't really expect much to happen.
To my surprise, I got an email back tonight saying they would be sending someone round to investigate, and would let me know how it turns out.

lol

Slightly better day at work today

2006-02-21T20:24:00.000+13:00

This week did not start off well!
Some staffing issues, and a few run-ins with other departments left me feeling a bit "meh".

Was interested to see Telecom/Xtra's new Broadband offerings:

xtra.co.nz

The two main problems I can see once these are translated to UBS are:

- The need for increased capacity between TCNZ and the ISP.
- The weird contention ratio(s) they impose on the data through their network

This will once again create headaches for ISPs as customers complain they are not receiving the plan speeds.
Testing that I have seen indicates that the true maximum throughput (even using HTTP from a server right on the edge of the ISPs network) on a 2Mbs plan, is around 1.5-1.7Mbps under ideal conditions.
As the plan speeds increase this will undoubtedly lead to more customer complaints.

The way in which the users traffic is currently delivered (ATM NNI's) sucks!
It costs the ISP so much more to be delivered this way, than say Ethernet, and forces them to use some pretty expensive equipment to terminate the connections.

Once you reach a critical mass of say 3-4 STM-1's, then you can look at an STM-4 which will improve things somewhat.
If you have individual STM-1's TCNZ allocates each user to an individual ATM connection based on some pretty f*cked up logic.
This leads to you have spare capacity on one ATM while your others are maxed out.
Load balancing them is reliant on TCNZ.
With an STM-4 at least you can load balance connections yourself across your routers, and get some measure of sanity.

However that still leaves one single link between you and TCNZ with no redundancy.

Still users will shout "Hooray" until they realise that 3.5Mbps really means 2.5Mpbs under ideal conditions in a lab somewhere - then the "Fair Go" threats will roll in!

Loooong Day

2006-02-17T18:43:00.000+13:00

I used to think Mondays were bad!

Was up at around 6:30am to attend a conference thang, hosted by one of our vendors.

Twas .. meh, partly because no one from our company had bothered to read the agenda.
Turned out to be one long sales pitch for crap we have already done better inhouse.
Breakfast was promised and turned out to be pretty disappointing.

Luckily some kind of major outage at work saved us, and we were able to leave early!

First (Laptop) Post

2006-02-14T19:40:00.000+13:00

Finally purchased a Laptop - something I should have done ages ago!
From Foodtown of all places, they seem to sell everything these days.
Bread, Milk, Laptop. It made sense at 3am.

I've begun learning Python:

python.org

Which is becoming addictively frustrating.
There is something about computer programming languages that seems to not want to stick in my brain.
Probably one of those left lobe right lobe thangs.

Customers Rant Gone Wrong?

2006-02-13T18:59:00.000+13:00

I came across this thread on a forum I frequent:

nzgames.com

One of the forum members received 'perceived' poor service from a helpdesk worker and posted about it.
The nature of the forum is such that many people in the industry read it, and at some stage the thread was forwarded onto the helpdesk worker concerned.
He emailed the admin of the site asking for the thread to be taken down, but unfortunately added the age-old "legal action" threat at the end of his email.

While it's natural for people to complain about the service they receive from various companies, and online forums are one place to do this - I would always be hesitant in naming a person on a forum (even by their first name) which I think is unnecessary.
Sure this helpdesk guy may have made a mistake in troubleshooting or diagnosing the issue, and yes maybe some serious re-training is needed.
The onus of that should be born by his manager and the department he works in, it should be up to them to identify the training needs of staff and develop them as necessary.

The poster of the thread should simply have contacted the company concerned and passed on his feedback, rather than making a big chest puffing thread about it.

In all I feel sorry for the guy that was named, and would be upset if one of my staff were ridiculed like that on a popular online forum.

Epiphyte (2)

2006-02-12T00:30:00.000+13:00

The movie Phone Booth:

imdb.com

Is so an ode to the Helpdesk Worker.

Man can't leave the phone booth (call centre cubicle)
Forced to listen to someone who he can't hang up on (customer)
Threatened (angry customer)
Shot at (angry customer who has been 5th in the queue for 22 minutes)

Epiphyte

2006-02-12T00:06:00.000+13:00

Busy ... few months.

I was never very good at routine, so no surprise at the lack of entries.
Work has been hectic. Actually Work (#2) has been hectic. My 9-5 office job has been meh as usual.

I came up with a weird and wacky idea mid-way through last year.
While I'm always hesitant to use the word "portal" (don't laugh) it is very portalish.

This is my second foray into the 'Business World' and the first did not go well.
As usual I had a crazy idea, incorporated a company with a suitable accomplice, and waited for fame, glory and world domination to roll our way.
Except (luckily, this time) shortly after commencing, I met a few real business people, who had been there and done "it" before.

We now have a mentor who is the CEO of a major financial services company, and who turns out to be Anthony Robbins like in his motivational skills.
Unfortunately for the lazy person in me, this has resulted in 2 months of late nights.
It's been basically come home from work, eat dinner, create content and review the web designers code until 1am (repeat 6-7 days a week)

This has of course resulted in a few late starts at my 9-5 job, and perhaps given the appearance that I "don't give a s***"
The problem is that I do still enjoy my role there, and can see it developing into something interesting in the next 6-12 months.

Balancing this stuff is hard.

But, on the good news front the project is nearing completion.
Late last month we showed a demo to the Marketing Department of a large Telco.
They've commited to purchasing advertising space on our site for 3 months, with an option for another 3 months depending on traffic generated in that time.
This makes it sooo much easier to sell to other advertisers with them as an example client.
We were expecting to give away advertising initially, so to have money coming in from Day One is a bit of a coup!

Job Burnout ?

2005-09-27T18:36:00.000+12:00

Found this interesting link off Slashdot:

fabricator.com

It describes the syndrome know as 'Job Burnout' and the common signs of this.

From the article:

I feel tired even though I’ve gotten adequate sleep.
I am dissatisfied with my work.
I feel sad for no apparent reason.
I am forgetful.
I am irritable and snap at people.
I avoid people at work and in my private life.
I have trouble sleeping because of worrying about work.
I get sick a lot more than I used to.
My attitude about work is “why bother?”
I get into conflicts at work.
My job performance is not up to par.
I use alcohol and/or drugs to feel better.
Communicating with people is a strain.
I can’t concentrate on my work like I once could.
I am bored with my work.
I work hard but accomplish little.
I feel frustrated with my work.
I don’t like going to work.
Social activities are draining.
Sex is not worth the effort.
I watch television most of the time when not working.
I don’t have much to look forward to in my work.
I worry about work during off hours.
My feelings about work interfere with my personal life.
My work seems pointless.

Since I can identify with almost all of those statements I guess I'm suffering from it.
The problem I need to work out, is it the field/career I have chosen, or this specific company ?

H2O

2005-09-26T22:03:00.000+12:00

What do you do when the water goes off in an Apartment Building ?

Apparently you're not supposed to scream like a girl and wake up the neighbours.

Well after debating whether to bother the landlord this late at night, I stepped outside for a smoke.
Straight into two police cars which had blocked off the road, and a bunch of men in fluro jackets standing around looking puzzled.

Much excitement and heavy machinery taking place outside.

The Joys of Monday

2005-09-26T18:45:00.000+12:00

Another Monday gone.

I wonder how many Mondays you get in a lifetime, and whether every day in hell is Monday ?

It actually wasn't too bad as far as work goes.

Do Pedophiles have rights ?

*dictionary.com indicates it's pedo, but the Herald says paedo - NZ/US English differences ?

This story today in the NZ Herald raise some important issues:

nzherald.co.nz

In theory this person has served out their sentence as prescribed by our justice system, and hopefully has undergone some form of rehabilitation and been deemed fit to return to society.
Is it fair to then publicise this fact, and create a culture of fear and hatred in their community ?

If the police are worried about them re-offending and feel the need to warn parents in the area, why is this person at large in society anyway ?

Why do we target Pedophiles specially ?
Should we publicise the names of convicted murderers and rapists and warn citizens when they are released ?

If we're going to treat these released criminals like that, it might be better to give them a life sentence with no parole to begin with.
Rather than pretending that they can resume their 'normal' lives.

Our tax dollars at work ...

2005-09-25T16:34:00.000+12:00

Heres a link to an article published today in the Herald about a new book on Maori Health:

nzherald.co.nz

Some choice quotes from the book:

Maori enjoy life. Maori like to smoke. Maori like to eat. Maori like to drink. Maori enjoy sex. Maori like to talk. Maori like to gamble and take risks. And Maori like to fight, on and off the sports field...

If Maori enjoy it, the Crown is against it. If Maori have it and want it, the Crown tries to take it away. We support the choice of the overwhelming majority of our community to smoke. It is one way that Maori can say 'Stuff you' to the health Nazis and have a good time.

Is this satire or lunacy ?
It was published by a Maori Health Provider which is tax payer funded - what a waste of money!

Here's another quote from the book:

The health system sees diabetes as a consequence of Maori being fat and lazy and not having enough willpower to do what they need to do.
We are critical of the house niggers who preach this Pakeha message to Maori.

Found the details of the book:

ISBN / ISSN:
0476015723

Title: Maori Health

Paperback
Author: Peter Caccioppoli & Rhys Cullen
Published by: Kotahitanga Community Trust

I ordered a copy from: booksnz.com
Should be an interesting read!

New Blogger Syndrome

2005-09-25T14:10:00.000+12:00

The compulsive urge to update the internet reading public with your daily bowel movements!

But no - if you do stumble across this tangled web of leftover writers block, please consider clicking on the ad banner at the top of the blog.
And thank you Google for providing this free service (we love ya big guy!)

I had an interesting encouter with an online gambling site recently.
After checking the various laws here in New Zealand, it appears it is not illegal to engage in online gambling - so long as the website is hosted overseas.
We have some pretty strict laws regarding the promotion and running of gambling, and this is different from what I thought earlier.
So I signed up, and lost some money (around NZ$100).

I forgot all about the site, and went on my merry way, until I checked my credit card statement yesterday.
It appears that all of the payments I made to that site have been refunded to my credit card.
I then tried to log back into my account on the site and found it had been locked and was 'under investigation'.

Cool I thought ! Gambling with no risk!

I got curious tho, and emailed the site, asking for more information.
Apparently it has been referred to their 'Risk Analysis Team' and they will be in contact via email.
I've also asked my bank to look into who reversed the CC payments (the site, or the bank at the other end)

Should be interesting, although I have visions of a casino goon squad kicking in my door and demanding payment.

I don't think theres much they could do to try and get the money (this is assuming it wasn't the site that reversed the payment) - I wonder what overseas companies can do in terms of using our credit rating and debt collection systems ?

Should be amusing at any rate.

Dance Fever

2005-09-25T13:45:00.000+12:00

Why does it always rain on me ?

Well, it dosen't, not literally - but still.
The New Zealand Election has been and gone, but still lingers like some uninvited guest at a party.

At least we're not as badly off as our friends the Germans, who gave us MMP then proceeded to show the world how it could turn a country on it's ass.

I lean towards Labour, mostly because I feel like a caring sharing kinda guy.
I'd happily pay more tax if it meant that our health, education and justice systems were sorted out - unfortunately there seems to be so much waste and excess.