Desperate Times

Diary of the last 10 hours

6.08am

Wake to sad news of a passing.

Diego Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time before drug and alcohol addiction marred his career, died at his home in Argentina after suffering a heart attack, his lawyer said

Manner in which my life does not resemble his

Not one of greatest soccer players of all time 

Manner in which I feel a connection

Born in 1960

Manner in which my life does not remotely resemble his

I am ludicrously tragically un-co

Manner in which I feel a connection

Alcohol trouble

Manner in which my life does not resemble his

I don't expect my death to be announced by my lawyer

Manner in which I feel a connection

Heart attack

Manner in which my life does not resemble his

Seriously, do not try to pass me the ball

7.22am

Listening to Adrian Orr explaining what the Reserve Bank might or might not do and what it might or might not be able to do in terms of this seriously rooted housing carry-on.

His theme this morning as he does the media rounds is: Economics is about trade-offs.

You can do things but it will come at the cost of other things.

Loan-to-value ratios may help to hold the prices down a bit, but it may also make it harder for people to actually get into the market. 

If you limit credit into the market, it means fewer houses are actually built.

You squeeze the balloon here, it gets bigger here. You cannot change the laws of party balloons.

He’s also reminding everyone that the reason this firehose of money is fully drenching us is because when you have an economic shock like this pandemic the best thing you can do is open the hose and let her rip. It’s worked pretty damn well, if he does say so himself. 

It’s surprisingly easy to let the first spooky days of lockdowns disappear into the fog behind as we drive on but man, that feeling back then was something else.

How bad could this get, you wondered, how far might things go, you wondered. Hello said the media organisation just ringing to say you've lost your work, cheers, love what you do.

What happens when we stop the whole economy, you wondered, what happens if the whole world starts slipping into a 1930s slump? 

The way the Reserve Bank and the Government moved to push money into the economy and into our bank accounts was a mighty thing done at speed and you cannot overstate the value of reassurance it gave to everyone to keep rolling.

What Adrian Orr has been saying on this week’s media rounds is don't get too relaxed you guys, it ain't all over yet, and you can't doubt that pump priming is helping all of this roll along and thank christ for that.

But anyway, about that other absolutely dismaying crisis that has been rolling for years without resolution and might just get a bit of a nice push from the firehose money: what can the bank do about that? 

Frankly, says the governor, not all that much sorry, there's no changing the law of party balloons. 

So, really? Back to you minister: What do you reckon, more bright line tests, and go like hell to up the supply of new homes?

Yesterday’s newsletter proposed a huge 21st century Ministry Of Works  tasked with building hundreds of thousands of apartments, to absolutely flood the market. 

More Than A Feilding reader @jamiepontague had an excellent short cut suggestion.

I like it. It's nice and straightforward and means you can ramp up fast. It also completes a sort of circle, almost a hundred years on from those tens of thousands of state houses they got James Fletcher to build.

Reader Vague Craig also has a big suggestion, but we'll have a look at that tomorrow, because right now I want to move on and take a nice comfortable lie down upon our laurels.

9.10am

The best place in the world to endure the coronavirus era? According to a new list — it's NEW ZEALAND, says all the media, loving all those front page stories with a capital Z in them. I celebrate by walking down to the village several times this morning scanning wherever I go, and even into the florists and I say, man I should walk in here every day just to say hello, the fragrances in here just lift your day. 

Come to Aotearoa and smell the roses! Inhale deeply, there is no pandemic in New Zealand.

9.30am

The New York Times has some quite arresting information about the Moderna vaccine that is doing well in trials and might be about to Change Everything back to normal. How long did it take them to come up with the design? Read on…

This puts a whole new slant on that whole What Are You Going To Achieve In Lockdown riff that went around. Mostly I made cheese puffs and shared a recipe and photos.

Thank you overachievers and fine minds of the world. You rule.

11.15am

I recommend this whole thread from Ashleigh Young on the question of small talk with your Dentist. 

I also recommend Devonport dentist Geoff Lee for excellent work and top banter. Above all, I recommend him for the top quality message that greets you at his door. 

12.30pm

The government will next week be declaring a Climate Emergency. This is going down very well and not very well at all depending on who you follow on Twitter. 

You could call it empty symbolism, but I reckon bring on the empty horses. If it gives your critics an opening to ask how much you've done about this emergency since you declared it, that seems pretty useful, even if your critics think they’re helping themselves to a free hiding. If it obliges you to keep moving and if it keeps the subject front and centre, good. That's where it needs to be.

And if that kind of framing helps push the skeptics and doubters further to the margin, better yet. From here on out the question can be not “do you believe in it” but “do you understand it?” 

And the further question can be: how much are we doing? Because any less than every bloody thing we can is not good enough.

2.30pm

Judith Collins is telling the debating chamber (to tepid applause from what remains of her Strong Team) that police are being disempowered and disrespected under the Labour government. Truly her schtick is a perpetual state of inverted victimisation. Whatever she might think of Trump, she’s clearly at ease humming his signature tune.

Tomorrow: what this place might be like if Tom Shand had lived, and Muldoon had never become prime minister, and what it might mean for Judith Collins.

Desperate Times. Take it away, Charlie Robison