24 December 06
Christmas Message
This season’s greeting comes with my sincere best wishes to you and your family for a safe, happy and healthy Christmas and New Year. Thanks for being such a loyal reader.
2006 has been a busy year for the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate. We have had upwards of 3 million hits on our website and I have received more than 100,000 replies to our weekly polls and newsletters.I have been hugely impressed by the calibre of those opinions. Your common sense and forthright feedback has reinforced my belief that open and free political debate is essential in a healthy democracy. And while we might not always agree with each other, we should defend each other’s right to express our views, safe from the threat of censorship, coercion or intimidation.
Through the Newman Weekly newsletters, guest commentaries, and research articles, I have tried to provide an insight into some of the more troublesome issues that New Zealand faces.Most of these entrenched difficulties are caused by poor policies withperverse incentives, rather thansimply being the result of a lack of funding. It is my view that manyof these negative outcomes cannot be adequatelyaddressed until the root causes arebetter understood. I also think it is a tragedy that so many other countries havevisionary policies in place which largelyavoid many of the problems we face, yet our political leaders appear unwilling to adapt or even recognise their enlightened reforms.
While Newman Weekly newsletters are emailed out weekly to almost 13,000 readers – similar in size to the circulation of the National Business Review – the problem I face is that most readers do not think they need to pay for it. However, subscriptions and donations are the sole source of funding and I can only continue producing the newsletters and maintaining the website if more people who value the newsletter and enjoy receiving it become financial subscribers. So, if you enjoy being on the mailing list but haven’t yet subscribed, thenplease buy yourself a Christmas Subscription. You can subscribe via a weekly or monthly automatic payment, or an annual donation. Full details can be found on www.nzcpd.com/support.htm.
If 2006 has been a year of consolidation; I would like 2007 to be a year of growth. My vision is for the New Zealand Centre for Political Debate to extend its influence in two key areas: firstly, by achieving a much greater critical mass as an independent voice for change ahead of election year; and secondly, by becoming much more influential in assisting decision-makers in helping to shape New Zealand’s future direction.
The best way to achieve the first goal and grow our network is through recommendations: if each readersends through the email address of anyone theythink would be interested in receiving the newsletter, I will send them a Christmas GiftOffer of a trial newsletter along with an invitation to join our mailing list. If they do not want to register, I will not contact them again. Please click this email link and submit the addresses of those you would like to see receive the Christmas Gift Offer– click here.
Secondly, with this Newman Weeklymailing list already being one ofNew Zealand’s largest electronic lists, we are in an excellent position to be able to readily provide information and views to the country’s decision-makersas they shape their recommendations for policy changes. Often, such decisions are made on the basis of small surveys of 200 to 300 small business people, farmers, parents, retirees, and so on, who are on electronic mailing lists and are willing to participate.
However, collectively we are in a unique position of potentially being one of the largest research databases in the country and with that in mind, I am now inviting you to join our NZCPD Research Panel. As a panel member you will be asked to complete surveys from time to time so that your views can be taken into account as part of the decision-making process. If you would like to help, you will need to take a few minutes to fill in the confidential on-line application form at www.nzcpd.com/survey.htm.
Finally, if you haven’t heard from me for a while, it is probably because your Spam filters are preventing the delivery of the newsletter. To overcome this, you will need to add muriel@nzcpd.com into your address book. If you receive the newsletter but the links don’t work and the images have been blocked,adding my address to your address book shouldsort thatproblem out as well.
Take care over the holiday season –and have a good break. The next Newman Weekly should be winging its way to you around the second weekend in January.
With my warmest regards,
Dr Muriel Newman
New Zealand Centre for Political Debate
The poll this week. A PRIMARY school sacked a woman teacher for telling heartbroken nine-year- olds there is no Father Christmas. Should the teacher have been sacked? Take part in poll
Reader’s comments will be posted on the NZCPD Forum page click to view .
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