Tim Tripp

I'm a cartoonist, illustrator, designer and writer.

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

Lockdowns. Mandates. MIQ. Did you ever wonder why COVID felt like the only harm that mattered, and why disagreement carried reputational costs?

This paper argues that the COVID response should be understood in a moral register, not just a scientific one.

🧵 [Link at the end]

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

Winners not representing the majority is pretty much the norm. Even in 2020 I believe Labour only had 39% of the eligible vote. Council elections are even worse than governments are.

I imagine an alliance with Labour and national could be possible, but I think it would undermine their future prospects

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@algroovy @ajthompson13 I misread what you said as 2 million didn't vote. So yes you are correct 2 million (at was actually more) didn't vote for those parties, but I'm not sure what the point is, more didn't vote for the Greens and Labour

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

Were do you get the 2 million from?

There are 3.7 million enrolled voters (94% eligible). There was a 74.7% turnout.

Around 960,000 enrolled didn't vote, plus about 260,000 eligible but not enrolled

The coalition got 49.9% of the votes counted so far from eligible voters who took the time to vote

Feel free to correct the numbers if worng

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@algroovy @ajthompson13 It was closer to 1 million who didn't vote. And yes it's a madate. That's why it's important to vote.

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@warwick512 Why do you think this experience is unique to the current government?

Didn't Labour borrow more

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@warwick512 @A_Contrary_Kiwi @ME77278468 @NZGreens The right block still got more party votes. 2 seats is not a "wildly" disproportionate outcome

And you haven’t provided evidence how much the campaign contributed to the vote splitting, considering polling showed that split was happening anyway

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@CoopsLa @house_adam47531 That was in reference to the OP

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

I did watch the interview, and I wasn’t left with an overwhelming need to go and dig up dirt on her

The last 10 minutes covered Wales’s Future Generations Commissioner, the argument that economic development matters for future generations too, TOP being marketed as centrist when she sees them as left of the Greens, and the rural/urban political divide. Her facts were mostly correct, and these are issues people genuinely debate

That’s normal political commentary, hardly delusional. If there’s something she said that was irrational, just one or two examples would help

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@CoopsLa @house_adam47531 @plainjane130632 Specific is as what and why it is not rational

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@warwick512 @kaiviti_cam You hide behind anonymity

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@CoopsLa @house_adam47531 @plainjane130632 Can you be a bit more specific?

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

And National wins by a landslide

Or the system could be overhauled. For example. Fixed number of MPs. Voters first indicate their preferred candidates on the regional lists of the various parties (so they can support individuals from more than one party). They then cast a separate vote for the party they want to govern

Seats are allocated to parties purely according to that party vote (e.g. if ACT receives 12% of the party vote it receives 12% of the seats)

Those seats are filled by the most popular candidates from each party’s regional lists, as determined by the preference votes voters cast. Regional lists ensure every region is represented

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@TheRealBc12 @warwick512 I’ve heard that. Prioritising list proportionality over excess electoral wins reduces the structural incentives for local engagement… I think that’s a real democratic loss

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@warwick512 @TheRealBc12 So removing electoral seats is democratic?

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

Multiple polls showed little clear, large-scale movement from National’s party vote into ACT or NZ First of the kind the campaign was designed to produce. What specific evidence is there that any extra splitting was driven by this campaign rather than the ordinary strategic splitting voters have done under MMP for years (as the system is designed to allow)?

TOP was launched and heavily bankrolled by one wealthy individual. How is that fundamentally different from a wealthy individual funding tactical messaging to influence how people use their two votes?

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

A person can rely on low quality or cherry-picked evidence, disagree with colleagues, hold a minority or later disproven view, or even be reckless in how they present it, and still not meet a “knowingly false” standard

Demonstrating that a claim is weakly supported or outside consensus shows it may be wrong or unprofessional. It cannot, by itself, show intentional deception. History also has clear examples of minority or initially poorly supported views that later proved correct

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

@DrNice2026 @DrJMarine How would you prove knowingly?

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

I wasn’t talking to you either. I was providing context for your readers so they can compare the actual exchange with the model in the article. “Again” assumes a previous full exchange in which the substance was debated and closed. I don’t believe that has occurred. What actually occurred was an exchange that ended when the evidence you cited was shown to support my point.

[Tim Tripp @TimTrippDesign]

I was pointing to “concepts” of host or “terrain” factors, that people are not all the same, and that metabolic and lifestyle conditions affect susceptibility. I wasn’t claiming Terrain Theory is a peer scientific alternative to Germ Theory for infectious disease. The 2023 post was about that host-centric idea, not germ-theory denialism.

I clarified I meant the core idea that optimal host health improves immune response, and pointed to the Vitamin D for All letter, which you dismissed and linked a paper. I noted the paper’s own conclusion supported my point.