Andrew Dickens Afternoons

When opponents of the government phone this show, one refrain you often hear is that this is government is one of broken promises. They’re being held to promises made on the election trail which are yet to become real. There is a kernel of truth to this.Take police numbers. Labour promised 1,800 and have delivered 1,100 in the recent budget. The opposition pointed out this was a broken promise. The government argued that they’ll get to that target by the end of their term. So is this a broken promise or not. The truth is in the eye of the beholder.The latest broken promise is the abolition of the decile system in our schools. Education Minister, Chris Hipkins, says it will go but not until they have a better way of getting resources to the disadvantaged. This could take a while. The government’s problem with the decile system is that it stigmatises a school. Tell a school it’s decile 2 and you’re telling the world it’s not as good as a decile 8.Now I’m sorry but this is political correctness, it’s fear of off