Ask the Maori party.
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New poll out tonight. Surely this will finish Little - I hope so, they won't get anywhere the way they are heading. National needs some opposition to keep them on their toes.
@ColmarBruntonNZ: ONE News Colmar Brunton poll (1/4): NAT 48% (NC), LAB 26% (-3), GRN 13% (+1), NZF 11% (+2), MAO 2% (+1) #nzpol
@MatthewHootonNZ: With one exception in Sep 2014, is @nzlabour now at its lowest level of support since it lost the 2008 election? @ONENewsNZ @ColmarBruntonNZ
And on the same day a poll out in the UK showing UK Labour at its worst result since polling began in the 1950s, at this stage of the election cycle. A party also run by an old fashioned and unlikable unionist that was installed by the party membership with 80% of MPs voting against him. Both parties (NZ & UK) are facing a complete meltdown as they are stuck in the past and simply can not connect with the voters of 2016 and beyond.
You may/or may not, be aware that I don't vote labour for reasons totally unrelated to my parents voting habits but the leader of NZ Labour is ahead of the UK clown by a country mile. Whether you like it or not, the economy is booming even with the dairy problem and that is turning around. Most voters are aware of that and the only voters who count are the floaters and they are unlikely to rock the boat. Our dollar is close to par with the Aussie and the homeless problem is international. Half of Europe would move here tomorrow if they could. Winston Peters? He should get together with Tim Shadbolt and go on a road trip - they could take turns towing the concrete mixer.
Of course its booming Craic, we have to build a city the size of Whangarei or Napier every year. The problem is that we aren't!
This should be one of the easiest things to plan for because the government has complete control over immigration, so they new it was coming and if they didn't they were blind to it as the net flows have been changed dramatically since 2007/8.
Let alone the increase in spending required for education, roading, sewerage and other infrastructure.
We have also created a generation of multi millionaires who have basically done very little to earn it.
On the face of it you may think this is a good thing, however having a lot of people retire in their 40s who are vastly experienced and skilled is not a good thing for the long term health of the economy. Particularly when we already have a an issue around the baby boomer generation retiring in massive numbers.
And then there are the have nots who cannot afford to buy a house and a homeless problem like we have never seen before in this country.
Yep but everything is sweet mate. As long as I am doing ok, stuff the rest.
That's a mentality that seems to be growing in this country which is nothing to be proud of.
Colmar polled 1,000 people for their latest poll, margin of error is 3%. All they needed to do was collect data from affluent households with landlines, and they'd have skewed the results heavily in favour of National. They polled just as average house prices in Auckland averaged $1mill.
Labour used UMR, their poll gave a different result altogether.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-trouble-with-polls/
They only call landlines, and they also state their polls can only be used for showing trends, but not predict the outcome of an election. Which is what One News erroneously set out to do, on the news.
Read their methodology.
http://colmarbrunton.co.nz/wp-conten...016-prelim.pdf
While they make some attempt to call people in rural and urban areas, by contacting only households with a landline they are automatically dropping out most flats, many rental properties, and people who are in transitory housing arrangements. A real poll would be conducted face to face at their residence, but of course that is too expensive for sponsors. One News paid for the half-baked poll, then they made it the leading news item to help National out while they were under the hammer. It should never have been a leading news item in any case.
ElZorro, if you are that worried about it make a complaint to the BSA.
So those in flats, many rental properties, and people who are in transitory housing arrangements don't get polled
Probably don't vote anyway
Little is going down a very dangerous road, any number of polls in the past 2 years have come up with the same sort of results and the last general elections. Helen Clark said she didn't believe it when the Labour results went down from in the 30s to in the 20s but the next General Election confirmed it.
When you reject obviously true polls then it's only a small step for Little to reject the result of the next General Election because he doesn't like it.
Result: End of NZ as a democracy. Civil strife, riots, disorder, civil war. NZ falls into 3rd World.
Yeah well, that's the missing million. How to get them to vote, is the question. It's called GOTV, or Get Out The Vote, where parties scrabble around during the election period for miniscule results, ferrying people to voting stations. If voting was compulsory, that'd be interesting for Labour and the Greens.
Don't worry, you will be safe locked in your ivory tower, the rioting peasants with only stones to throw will not reach you.
More likely to happen though if National are returned at the next election and the next financial crisis occurs. If it happens before the next election Labour and the Greens will sort it out. :)
westerly
Wonder what went wrong
@GeoffMillerNZ: 'Labour rockets in poll' - Labour at 38% after @DavidCunliffeMP became leader 3 years ago today #throwbackthursday
Not so. Clark was good, and I think Shearer would have made the grade given more time. He's proving to be very likeable now that he's gained a bit of confidence. Best of the lot since Clark.
P.S. Goff has been excellent in some portfolios, e.g. housing but was terrible in leadership role. Cunliffe a complete goose and hated by far too many. Labour should have seen that but chose not to look.
And you said Shearer had no fire, FP, back a few years in this thread.
http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...l=1#post362870
Here's an anthem for FP and Craic, et al, which I heard on RNZ yesterday. Written in the 70's and still a valid commentary. It's part of a movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSiTtAuBL8g
Ummm, an anthem from the 70s. What about the continuous humming from our well performing economy ? As one commentator said yesterday: " But today's figures are good. You have to dig very, very hard through the roughly 60 pages of GDP data released by Statistics New Zealand to find any bad news – although, no doubt, a few opposition politicians are trying hard."
Robertson continued his ridiculous habit of pulling out all the strongest growing industries/areas and then saying look there is no growth and Little saying the polls are wrong. What a sad opposition we have.
I see the Labour Party are trying to say that the very strong 3.6% growth in the economy/GDP (stronger than Australia, the USA and the UK) are due solely to immigration and population growth.
So I did a bit of searching on Google - population growth in NZ in the last year (INCLUDES Immigration) has been 2%. The newspaper headlines attribute the growth to Building/Housing and Exports. Pretty good effort when dairy prices had such a dent put in them.
Yes Labour/Little/Robertson are fast losing any credibility. Some of the facts are:
Gross national disposable income up +0.9%
Investment in fixed assets +14.5%
Investment in tangible goods (software) +3%
Plant & machinery + 3.8 (in quarter)
consumer spending +3.9%
exports +7.6%
imports +3.9%
dairy +13%
manufacturing +2.8%
horticulture & seafood both up and the list goes on and on
Just as well we have MMP
Otherwise the way Labour is going NZ would almost become a one party state
once the next election is over....... national wins.
shearer will be brought back into the game and then we will see a strong labour party.
IMHO shearer came in... or was pushed in.... too early when he was leader.
he has some more experience now, and i think he will do well after the next election.
that i think will be the game changer.
shearer is a good man and a sincere man.....
and a man that will hopefully pull the labour party back as a united party to the center left.
i even think that key has respect for him.
if shearer does become the leader of Labour i would seriously look at his propositions.
hopefully he clears the / his house of unionist and lefty lobbyists.
at this point in time....... i have no respect for labour....... and yet i used to vote for them in the old days.
So it appears prophetic that we were only just discussing the Maori Party alliance with National and then there is a bust up in a very similar vein to what Labour experienced over the foreshore etc. What was National thinking not consulting with Maori fully on this. I think its quite likely they would have agreed with it if they had been or even just put a time frame of review say 20 years. Just quite incredible that Nick Smith etc are that naïve or arrogant & I'm assuming its the latter. They make a big song and dance about this marine sanctuary meanwhile encouraging companies in regards fossil fuel exploration and seabed mining. TTR are about to have another crack at mining FE of the seabed off Taranaki after already being turned down by the EPA. The government is trying to pave their way through the RMA that skirts the EPA. They are looking to do the same thing over open air GMO trials, looking to take the power away from regional & local councils who currently decide. The only reason they should take the power away is to put in place a nationwide ban on the practice. Open air trials would be a disaster waiting to happen, with contamination a certainty. They would be risking the growing and very lucrative organic market and also yet again, NZs clean green image. (which is just a façade anyway.)
Yes clearly Nick Smith should have consulted more on this although he did have the 2 Iwi closest to the Kermedecs sign off on it. But not the Maori Fisheries Commission. Of course Maori have no historical or customary catches there. What I do not understand is why the media et al are solely talking about the rights of Maori that have never fished there but no mention of the confiscation of fishing/property rights of operators that have been fishing there for many years. To me that is no less serious than the perceived Maori rights in the area.
Historical bit of who took what off whom need to be put aside.
Wasn't the Kermedecs given to Maori?
If so then how could they take it back again without agreement.
Seems very similar to what a lot of the Waitangi Tribunal cases on historical agreements are about - you promised X but never gave so I want Y back.
Yes that is probably a fair summary dobby41. Maori were compensated through the huge Sealord deal back in the 90s through which they received certain fishing rights, both of existing (at the time) quotas and future quotas. This is the same rights as other quota holders have. I know people who have a significant part of their business fishing around the Kermedecs , which is now at risk of destruction, hence my ponderings here as to why media only talks about Maori rights. It is also worth to remember that all the parties in Parliament voted for this when it went through and even today is supported by at least National, Labour and the Greens.
It's about time Maori rights were balanced by Maori responsibilities. Most of the activists are struggling to make even 50% so maybe one half of their ancestors should be paying the other half. The fish stocks around the Kermadecs are preserved for Maori just as much as they are preserved for the rest of us. Now we have this rubbish about a block of land that was/is private land being used for housing and thy are up in arms because it is next door to a protected site. I live next door to a protected site - protected because someone claimed it was once a Pa site. Half the Kaumata that I know insist that the claim is rubbish and that the Pa was one hill over.
To be fair Iceman I have also seen comment in the media re commercial fishing rights / compensation.
Commercial fishing quotas are reviewed and changed regularly so as long as they are given fair notice which may not be the case here, then that should be it. Whereas the rights of Maori are perpetual. I am sure this is more about the lack of consultation as that reinforces a very bad precedent and as Maori rightly say can they decide forever on behalf of future generations and that's why they have agreed to something like a 20 year term and right of review. Well if they had been consulted that is.
However as per my original post, I think its perverse that the same government has been supportive of TTR which wants to undertake a very destructive seabed mining operation of Taranaki.
National solves Housing Crisis..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11712162
The government had a near miss with the mishandling of the Kermadec Reserve. This disagreement is nothing compared to the yet to be resolved Freshwater interest negotiations. Is this the issue which will see this government become unstable and precipitate an early election. Quite possible in my opinion. What do others think?
I note a date is set next may for Enimen /National Party alleged copyright violation during the 2014 election. If it goes against National what sort of penalty could they be looking at?
Labour's Phil Goff seems to have learnt a thing or two about fundraising. Sign of the times.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/arti...ectid=11712664
I cannot have much sympathy for commercial fishermen maori or otherwise.
Quotes from a report on Parliaments debate on illegal fish dumping -
{“An internal email written by MPI's director of fisheries management, and released as part of the report, stated, "fish dumping is so widespread that the current system is failing and officials have not been able to get on top of it from day one of the quota management system.
"We estimate that if we found the golden bullet to stop discarding, we would probably put over half of the inshore fleet out of business overnight."}
Guy has said that view was a personal one and was not backed up by evidence. He would say that however.
“On Friday, the findings of a high-level inquiry into the decision not to prosecute commercial fishing boats which were caught on camera dumping tonnes of healthy fish in New Zealand waters were released.
The inquiry, led by QC Michael Heron, said the MPI obstructed the prosecution process, that its decision process was "confused", and that it failed to follow up and "draw a clear line in the sand" with regard to fish dumping.
Parker said the amount of illegal fish dumping happening in New Zealand waters was likely to be "enormous". The Heron report suggested "the ministry may have been captured by industry interests".
westerly
Sadly there are cowboys and unsuitable people in all industries, be it fishing, farming,mining, banking. You name it. A vast majority of NZ commercial catches is taken by deepsea trawlers that process all their catch onboard and use all offal for fish meal and fish oil production. Without a doubt in the top 5 best managed fisheries in the World
A lot of wishful thinking going on here. Only the Right have deep pockets and small minds. Go to any election meeting of any non left politician and count the screaming halfwits at the back, voicing their obscene or vitriolic garbage fuelled by their broad minds and empty pockets and remember that those poor demented souls could afford the petrol to get there and the alcohol to bolster their courage
I'll put forward a suggestion that they be ejected from a first floor window rather than a ground floor door.
Or down the stairs
"In 1999, Brownlee was prosecuted and fined $8000 for assaulting an environmental activist at a National Party conference.*Neil Abel, 58, a sympathiser of the Native Forest Action Group, said Brownlee grabbed him by the belt, thrust his knee "up my backside", and manhandled him from the venue. He said*Brownlee then threatened to throw him down a*staircase, and that he feared for his life during the scuffle. "
westerly
Andrew Little has appointed a new and capable Press Secretary and Chief of Staff.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA160...pointments.htm
At least Andrew Little knows who his media people are and what they do. If I recall John Key " had no idea" what one Jason Ede did or who he was despite being two doors down from his office in the Beehive. YEAH RIGHT John. Another Pinoccio moment for our John.
Oh ..I suppose thats not being fair,..to Pinoccio that is
Yep, he can abdicate completely on the job now. And when he needs a scapegoat or two - hey Presto! They're there.
Interesting to see 62% of voters in the UK Labour leadership elections vote to keep the Conservatives in Government for the foreseeable future !!
You are assuming all members voted. As I said, it was 62% of those that voted in the Labour leadership election !!
On a different note, a school friend of my wife's is a UK Labour MP. On a recent visit to the UK, she told us about some of the intimidation and threats many Labour MPs that do not support Corbin, have been subjected to, even at their homes. It is quite shocking to hear and shows bullying tactics way beyond what I ever imagined. It is a failed party under his leadership
However that's what the MPI is there to police, but they do absolutely squat.
Same goes with swamp Kauri extraction.
We had the fruit fly infestations.
The MPI seem to either be asleep at the wheel or in the pockets of big business.
The activity in the fishing industry is a disgrace and has been for years.
Best practice my a'se!
DAYTR, for a confessed banker who was busy ripping off the World before the GFC, I find your holy-er than thou attitude with everything interesting. Your whole industry fell apart and most of you disappeared. Some into Northland. I will continue to defend my industry (fishing) against ill informed know it all people from the part of society you come from that say one thing and do another and have never done anything productive for NZ
We're quibbling here, of course! ;) but I'd find it hard to imagine anyone keen enough on a particular political party to become a member, not to go to the trouble of voting on such an important issue as its leadership!
Incidentally, I agree, UK Labour needs a new leader - for a start!
Corbyn received 62% 0f the votes cast in the leadership election. A fairly convincing victory. The other 38 % went to his opponent. To say only 62% of the Labour membership voted is typical of the misinformation being spread around by those worried of a move to the left by Labour both in NZ and the UK.
The NZ Labour party should take note and forget about centre left whatever that means and start producing policies that will attract the average person. A stop to the continual rundown in Government services instituted by National would be a good start.
As with Corbyn the neo right will use any opportunity to attack the dreaded thought of a revival of the left.
westerly
I don't think that anyone said or implied that "only 62% of the Labour membership voted". Clearly, 62% of those who voted supported Corbyn. The concern, if any, would be whether those members reflected the preference of the majority of Labour supporters - as distinct from Labour members. Not that we will know until the next election, of course.
Radio interview with Bill English on his views about the economy, and when you listen to his examples, he's talking about the landed gentry, farmers, and is conscious of the ex-farmers who have cashed up and are trying to earn an income from money in the bank. Bill, this is a tiny fraction of the population, what about everyone else?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/ne...September+2016
Latest Roy Morgan poll: Labour gets well over the 30% threshold, and NZFirst would have the balance of power. Winston's not keen on National at the moment, hasn't been for a while.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/69...6-201609271642
Yes, FP, I'm sure that's what happened here. Labour will never get back in, they'll have to sack Little first and restart with a different leader yet again, the Greens will overtake them in the polls and be the second biggest party.;)
In any case, this Key govt is doing such a good job with the economy, as we saw on the Nigel Latta "The hard stuff" program last night. Nigel was banging on about hi-tech and niche businesses, the natural conclusion for NZ's future prosperity, but failed to mention how National killed the R&D tax credits that were accessible to thousands of SMEs, for just one year, after being installed by Labour. That's helped put NZ behind all of our peers in terms of R&D and the follow-on results. As Bill English is so clearly showing, it's not about SMEs or the average workers looking for jobs and reasonably priced houses. This govt is looking after those who are already at the top.
Partly correct. They certainly will have to drop Little first. They still remain the largest opposition party. NZ First will die with Winston. The Greens are not mainstream enough, and Labour are staring at their 4th consecutive election defeat. One day they might get back in, or morph into a new party. Neither will happen until they replace Little.
Does anything in this article look familiar?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-3...iction/6054586
John Key's government has been so banal with policy in general, that there is nothing much to see in the wake of 8 years in office. They've done this to ensure they stay in power. Labour has listened perhaps too hard to external voices and social media - still do. Those of us with a bit more background want to see a statesperson emerge from the political rabble. Given time, it could be Andrew Little. The job certainly needs a principled person. So that's not John Key, is it?
Most of the country disagrees with you. The Labour Party haven't produced a leader of JK's stature in living memory. If by chance you scrape enough dissident strays together to form a government, the Winston Peter will probably be the Pied Piper and he will lead all your rubbish over the cliff. But he is a straw man, so one match and he's gone too.
On the face of it, a perfectly coherent paragraph, but every line is just rubbish that doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
Most of the country disagrees with you. Reply-National were well funded by predominantly wealthy people, and used this to pay for good marketing in the last four elections, while splitting the "Not National" vote with various dirty politics.
The Labour Party haven't produced a leader of JK's stature in living memory. Reply- Oh please, there have been books written on this subject, I've read a few of them, and JK isn't up there with others like Helen Clark, in terms of work ethic or in achievements, and I bet any of his useful speeches have been written for him. Plus, none of our previous PMs have been pony-tail pullers or serial fibbers as far as we know.
If by chance you scrape enough dissident strays together to form a government, the Winston Peter will probably be the Pied Piper and he will lead all your rubbish over the cliff. Reply- A broad denigration of all of the opposition surely can't be correct. After all, Labour people were in office for nine years, and during that time a lot of good things happened - crown debt was paid off, more people were employed, policies to reduce inequality started to have an effect. Some of those policies have stayed in place under National, others didn't, and now NZ has more inequality. Winston Peters is more likely to work with a Labour-Green coalition, agreed. But he will only have the proportional power of his voting base.
But he is a straw man, so one match and he's gone too. Reply - While he likes the idea of keeping his options open when it comes to coalitions, everyone knows he has bottom lines on policies - most of which look like Labour's - and the broad ideas behind his direction. As he showed in Northland, he's a great campaigner too.
Interesting interchange of ideas.
It will be interesting to see if the traditional rule of "Three in a row, time to go" will apply. I sometimes think that governments get voted out, rather than the opposition being voted in.
After all, I have yet to hear anyone say "Vote the b*st*rds IN!!!"
el Zorro,I had a bet with you last election and I'll probably offer another nearer the day. I know you feel for the poor NZ retailers and "businessmen" who are not particularly favoured by this government but I have started buying in the US for quality and value. the 460 Husqvarna Rancher that arrived in my mail a few days ago from Baileys in California saved me well over $400 on the price of the same saw from the dealership down the road. And yes, that was with gst and other levies and postage.
That's a little disturbing Craic. You've bypassed a local business, so they'll look sideways at you when you eventually take it in for service. Not sure how they'd offer warranty on that chainsaw from USA, return to base? Here's a NZ outfit about $300 below RRP.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living...1170121529.htm
You can obviously afford a good chainsaw, but can you afford a bet on the 2017 election I wonder? Will your increasing collection of chainsaws get in the way, or are you in fact operating some kind of a dealership in used saws? :)
P.S. I noted the skilful change of topic.
We are coming up to that date when "the dead arose and appeared to many" All Hallows, but I doubt that the labour party will be among them. As to the guarantees from local "assemblers" it is seldom worth the paper it is written on. Believe me, American companies are a joy to deal with. The most obscure parts are just a computer click away. The 460 is set up to meet Strict US standards for emission control and safety but it is not my main saw, that is a 395.
Maybe you should be asking Husqvarna NZ the question.
“ How come the US can sell a chainsaw for $700 nz when you advertise the same model for $1400 ”
They will have spin as to why this is so. They possibly possibly avoid paying NZ tax as well.
Tough blaming the NZ business man. National appear to be quite happy with this.
westerly
Ayear or two back I tried to buy gps system for my boat from US where it was half the price. They came back and told me that that system could not be sold to NZ but if I had someone in the US who could forward it to me, they would be happy to send it to them. I said forget the brand, send me the best you can for about that price, give or take a hundred dollars or so. The one I got is an Italian system, probably better than the other. NZ Post now have an address in the States for forwarding all this stuff to NZ. You register, they give you a number and then you can go out and buy anything you want. I am currently ordering a couple of pairs of BAD ASS jeans and two pair of braces. The denim is made in the USA - 40 ounce and the jeans are made in the USA. two pair of braces - proper ones - Not rubber bands with useless clps that you get here. I can even get the special stud-type buttons.
Interesting discussion, Craic, where the implication is that you have more choice and a cheaper price available overseas, even with GST added. There are are a few wholesalers who are moving to take that ground in NZ. I have found that in some specific areas, people selling imported gear on Trademe have small margins, like about 20%. Rural supply stores sell to farmers with about 12% markup or less, on bought-in (unstocked) items.
It's the brand dealers with retail stores who like to think they can import something, add no value to it in NZ, and resell it with a 100% markup or more, that have me perplexed. That's probably not tenable longer term. Usually it's going through an importer and then the retailer, that's part of it. You're chopping out two stages (no pun intended), and buying from a bigger country where prices are more competitive.
While I'm not sure why you're buying braces, unless you're into line dancing or something, you're out there importing stuff on the web, and so is everyone else. It's a big world. I bought two folding trestle tables from a NZ importer the other day, $49 including GST each . Nuts - they were well made, heavy, all the way from China. I can't see how this sort of pricing is sustainable. The lesson for NZ businesses is: specialise, adapt, do something no-one else is having a go at. Or do something that absolutely has to be done locally.
EZ - why craic wesrs braces
"A grass-roots Conservative is more than likely to wear braces to hold up trousers than opt for these modern belts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...r-to-work.html
Confessed? I'm proud of what I achieved in my career. Holier than thou? Where do you get this stuff?
Raised a Catholic perhaps?
Do you know what I have done for NZ, or anywhere else for that matter?
No, thought not.
So your logic is that the bankers are worse so the fishing industry is ok?
Great logic there.
Bankers (some) have done appalling things.
The fishing industry in NZ is squandering a valuable resource and isn't being policed by the MPI who may as well not exist for all the good they do.
So the fishing industry isn't dumping large amounts of fish?
And when I say the industry I include the MPI as well as they are allowing it to happen.
Its a disgrace! I hope that is holy enough for you... ;-)
And now the labour party are to resurrect the biggest joke in their past history, the BABY BONUS?
El Zorro 3/10:
"It's the brand dealers with retail stores who like to think they can import something, add no value to it in NZ, and resell it with a 100% markup or more, that have me perplexed. That's probably not tenable longer term."
How long is the long term? That's the standard New Zealand business model! Born of the lack of local manufacturing capacity, nourished by the disastrous import licensing regime.
History suggests that it is indeed tenable long term.
Interesting to note that Baileys,CA can now boast that they have brought the manufacture of their denim fabric back to the US from China and are manufacturing their logger jeans and others in The USA. The price - comparable to The Warehouse for the genuine Chinese article. I wonder if it's time to apply for Statehood. At least we would have a flag that is recognisable. But then maybe we should wait to be sure that Winnie The Poo doesn't get elected.
Yes, that policy worked, didn't it?
https://thestandard.org.nz/phil-twyf...ousing-crisis/
The problem with housing is the levels of regulation here. There at massive charges just for walking into the council office. I have a three-bay implement shed on my property that I could frame up and line out for just a few grand and thus provide reasonable living for a family. It has three-phase power and could easily connect to water and sewage. But the council would have a hundred reasons why a family could not live there. A guy down the road built a three bedroom home inside his shed and it has been occupied for years. Sooner or later someone will lodge a complaint and another family will be out on the street. And the problem is not unique to NZ.A large article in the Herald detailed the affairs of car dwellers in the USA and my Irish news tells exactly the same story.
Budding slum landlord ?
westerly
The stone cottage I called home, with several others had four walls and one door and four small windows. That was two rooms created by the dividing wall and the door kept the chickens out. it didn't have electricity or water and the toilet was a hole out there somewhere. My shed would be a palace by comparison and I have managed to get to my eightieth year in cracking good health. The word slum and the word poverty are used in NZ as political slogans by people who have never understood either.