CRYPTIC QUICK
Across
7. Quality one can rely on if one has the skill to follow it (13)
8. One will be frightened to press it (5,6)
12. Look at the respect one is held in (6)
14. It’s concerning the teeth of lad, ten of which are crooked (6)
16. Turning to liar, he may suit one (6)
18. Measure of turning effect takes but a tick (6)
19. On which the directors are first offered Cheddar (11)
23. It’s pasture, and nub of it is that it’s in overplentiful supply (13)
Down
1. Jump an extra day for one year in four (4)
2. Plant that produces iron with the Navy (4)
3. It is drawn out as one lost weight right from the beginning (6)
4. It is ridiculous, confusing us with the Bard (6)
5. An embolism forming on top of leg when in bed (4)
6. One might remark the turn-up of such a collar (4)
9. It is torture giving his gun a whirl (7)
10. The clothes last longer in a tour we have organised (7)
11. It is unexciting, such accommodation (4)
12. Was an author, as one heard in mechanical memory (4)
Across
1. Speak off the cuff (2-3)
4. Notoreity (6)
8. Grounded (7)
9. Evil spirit (5)
10. Ethical (5)
11. Cost (7)
12. Shine (6)
14. Loathsome (6)
17. Drool (7)
19. Coiled yarn or wool (5)
21. Ahead of time (5)
22. Adage (7)
23. Mocked (6)
24. Designation (5)
13. A jumper is an essential part of grooming, in short (3)
15. One’s self is involved in the goings-on (3)
17. What a rogue the Lascar turns out to be! (6)
18. August F twisted through 180º in doing his strip (6)
19. It might be a wood cudgel (4)
20. It is as smooth as a septet without a leader (4)
Down
1. Highly skilled (12)
2. Cruise ship (5)
3. Housebreaker (7)
4. Really (6)
5. Brassed off (3,2)
6. Keepsake (7)
7. Not fair or sensible (12)
13. Plague (7)
15. Pull, twist out of shape (7)
16. Three-legged stand (6)
18. Purchaser (5)
20. Incident (5)
21. Is going on to say how one puts it on (4)
22. In Sudan, Kitchener found it unpleasantly moist (4)
consulted and agreed upon direction of travel with public sector unions.
It smacked of political strategy, so back to focus groups.
The freeze (although thawing faster than Franz Josef) and Fair Pay announcements point to who is being focus-grouped by Labour. The sequencing suggests that Labour is focus-grouping soft National supporters, those former Key voters who voted for Labour in 2020. This group has been driving the Government’s political strategy for some time.
One imagines that in focus groups, moderate former National voters aren’t particularly sympathetic to the economic circumstances facing Wellingtonbased bureaucrats.
The calculation here is that these soft former National voters will tolerate Fair Pay and whatever’s to come in the Budget if there is a pay freeze on Wellington pen-pushers. Labour’s base will grudgingly accept a public sector wage freeze in return for fairer pay for some of the country’s most vulnerable workers. Classic triangulation. But we’ll see how it plays. Media reports this week blamed New Zealand First’s much-exaggerated handbrake as the reason Fair Pay agreements were not progressed during the coalition’s single term.
The Council of Trade Unions can confirm, however, and this was not the case. The minister responsible, until he exited politics after a moral lapse, never delivered a proposal to New Zealand First.
We did eventually negotiate over the threshold for triggering Fair Pay agreements, with New Zealand First regarding a 10 per cent worker threshold as too low and antidemocratic.
New Zealand First also wanted to first target the policy on particularly vulnerable workers, such as cleaners, security and bus drivers. The boss met with cleaners and was moved by their plight. We were initially told by Labour, however, that we couldn’t pick winners. They have now changed their tune.
It should be remembered, too, that Peters is the significant reason for minimum wage increases over the past 20 years, including the last one.
Only after the Labour minister stood down, and with the election delayed, was a last-gasp attempt made by Labour to get Fair Pay agreements over the line, but by then everyone was out campaigning and the political window had closed.
The problem with focus groups is that they are a highly effective tool, until they’re not. The pollsters, themselves, will be the last people to recognise this. In the meantime, the shifting moods of former National voters is driving our country’s political direction. I imagine John Key is pretty relaxed about that.
Politics has become ever more professionalised, with a double serving of marketing as the main course.