Key runs from poverty protestors

Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, February 16th, 2015 - 226 comments
Categories: activism, class war, john key, poverty - Tags: , ,

Our PM might be feeling a little less popular today, after sneaking out a back door to run from Auckland Action Against Poverty protestors yesterday. Protesters storm National Party fundraising event –

Protesters have clashed with police at a National Party fundraiser, storming the yacht club the event is being held at.

Led by veteran activist Sue Bradford, a group clashed with police as they tried to shield Prime Minister John Key and Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett.

Protesters on loudhailers were alternating chants of “what’s the story, filthy Tory?”, “stop the war on the poor” and “John Key’s a millionaire, that’s why he doesn’t care”.

The prime minister left the event by a back door after protesters blocked the ministerial cars he and Paula Bennett had arrived in.

Auckland Action Against Poverty’s demonstration was targeting National’s regional “Summer Party”. “Our group sees the brutal impacts of the Government’s welfare and housing policies on a daily basis,” Bradford said in a statement today. “Key and his ministers continue to turn a blind eye to the reality of the damage caused by their reforms of the last six years.

Other reports put the number of protestors at about 50.

The PM running from a yacht club when confronted with protestors against poverty. Pretty fair summary of where this country is at.

226 comments on “Key runs from poverty protestors ”

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  1. ianmac 1
    16 February 2015 at 10:31 am

    It seems that Key is very very brave when basking in the admiration of his fans.
    It seems that Key is very very timid and hides via the back door when those opposed to him are calling him out. Good on the AAAP, and Sue.

  2. One Anonymous Bloke 2
    16 February 2015 at 10:44 am

    Nice one AAAP. Stick it to them.

  3. Skinny 3
    16 February 2015 at 10:49 am

    I watched the protest with delight on tv3 news, nothing better than seeing Key and his cronies ducking and diving for cover. Well done Sue & her possie of hard core protesters. We need more of this wherever Key goes around New Zealand he should be met with a welcoming party. People watching do start to take notice that the snake oil merchant is not so popular to some.

  4. Observer (Tokoroa) 4
    16 February 2015 at 10:59 am

    Running? The prime NZ Bully running? You are kidding !

    He is Mr Big.

    With his friend Bill, he has whacked up $!00 Billion Dollars of National Debt. It is one of his and Bill’s greatest achievements. He will run off and leave the debt soon. Like a skunk.

    In the meantime Is he planning to put the GST up again – to make the poor pay off his mistakes? He certainly seems unwilling to Tax the wealthy. He is kinda nasty huh?

    • peterlepaysan 4.1
      16 February 2015 at 10:35 pm

      Will you please leave us skunks out of this. Have some respect for skunks.

      Shonkey and the nacts are fair game. Skunks are endangered species.

  5. esoteric pineapples 5
    16 February 2015 at 11:41 am

    I actually suspect that John Key is not very popular amongst a good number of the power elite in New Zealand either, even though you won’t hear them express their thoughts in public. Key has done some dirty work on quite a few well respected New Zealanders over the past few years, in the military, public service and elsewhere. They and their friends and family know the truth about people who have been made to look like liars, incompetent etc.

  6. English Breakfast 6
    16 February 2015 at 12:10 pm

    Sigh. Another rent-a-crowd protest about a problem that doesn’t exist. All dressed for the first world. Meanwhile, back in the real world…

    • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1
      16 February 2015 at 12:17 pm

      …in the real world, The Lancet reports on the problem that doesn’t exist.

      You know what I was saying before about the Bellman fallacy, well, bingo! This is exactly what I’m talking about. Psittacinus Nauseous, and all your other parrot mates, can repeat this to yourselves as much as you like. Nothing to see here.

      Pfft.

      • English Breakfast 6.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 12:27 pm

        Perhaps you should have followed the protesters message more closely. This wasn’t about inequality, it was about poverty. When we look seriously at poverty, instead of measuring it at 60% of median disposable income, we see the only poverty in NZ is self imposed.

        • marty mars 6.1.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 12:33 pm

          lol – have a we got a bingo for eb’s rote lines yet?

          • KJT 6.1.1.1.1
            16 February 2015 at 4:41 pm

            Not a bingo board, but yes.

            http://thestandard.org.nz/how-to-pick-an-excuse-for-not-doing-anything-about-poverty/
            4 “The statistics are wrong”.

            The constant meme from the right, that 60% of median income does not show a poverty level, shows a total lack of understanding of how prices and incomes work together.

            • marty mars 6.1.1.1.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 4:50 pm

              Brilliant post that – maybe a repost?

              Interesting to also read the comments and see who we’ve lost and the old names the right hubots were using.

            • English Breakfast 6.1.1.1.1.2
              17 February 2015 at 9:21 am

              And everytime the median income increases, the definition of poverty changes. Nonsense eh? And do I detect you are linking price rises with wage increases?

              • One Anonymous Bloke …
                17 February 2015 at 9:29 am

                Gosh, yes! Inflation affects it too!!

                Asinine wingnut gobshite, not so much.

              • KJT …
                17 February 2015 at 9:57 am

                Because prices for general goods, food and houses rises with the median income. Hint. What most people can pay.

                The percentage of the median income remains an excellent measure of poverty.

                Note: Housing in Auckland rises according to whatever the buyers on higher incomes or who can get cheap overseas loans can pay, meaning that 60% of the median income is too low a threshold.
                Someone on that alone cannot survive in Auckland.

                A good example is cellphones. We, and other higher median income countries, with a captive market and a duopoly, are charged as much as the companies can get from us. In lower median income countries cellphones and network access is much cheaper.

                The fact that the price of necessities is much higher compared with income in New Zealand, compared with similar countries, shows the failure of the neo-liberal experiment except as a wealth transfer to wealthy bludgers.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.1.2
          16 February 2015 at 12:44 pm

          Median disposable income? Do the lies come naturally or do you have to stay up at night rote-learning them?

          You aren’t looking seriously at the problem, chump: you’re denying it, and pretending that anyone who is looking at it seriously is subhuman. This says something about your character, and nothing else.

        • Brendon Harre 6.1.1.3
          16 February 2015 at 2:42 pm

          So those kids with diseases of overcrowding that most developed countries eliminated decades ago only have some sort ‘relative’ problem that is self imposed? Open your eyes to the fact we are not a 1/2 gallon, 1/4 acre pavlova paradise.

        • Murray Rawshark 6.1.1.4
          16 February 2015 at 7:11 pm

          “When we look seriously at poverty, instead of measuring it at 60% of median disposable income, we see the only poverty in NZ is self imposed.”

          Have you written up and published your serious research into poverty, TeaBagger? Or did you just cut and paste that line from FJK’s Facebook page?

    • English Breakfast 6.2
      16 February 2015 at 12:23 pm

      There’s great footage on http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/66213731/protesters-storm-national-party-fundraising-event showing what a bunch of ferals the protestors are. Civil disobedience and protest are a great part of democratic tradition. This bunch of rabble a disgrace to that tradition.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 6.2.1
        16 February 2015 at 12:27 pm

        Yes, and there’s a great tradition among right wing followers of shooting the messenger, and then burying them in mass graves.

        • English Breakfast 6.2.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 12:28 pm

          You mean like in Soviet Russia, North Korea, Communist China, Cuba??? How do you think those protestors would have faired in any of those regimes? Do you think the moron who clung on to the police van at the end of the clip would have survived?

          • One Anonymous Bloke 6.2.1.1.1
            16 February 2015 at 12:36 pm

            It always starts with denial of a problem, and then when people won’t shut up about it, you start calling them names. This dehumanises them in the minds of your more violent associates, and validates human rights abuses, and they still won’t shut up.

            And yeah, I’m pretty sure authoritarian sadists had a field day in the countries you mention, although you left out Guantanamo and Nauru.

            So keep on telling yourself the problem doesn’t exist, and that anyone who disagrees is a feral, and I’ll keep on thinking you’re gutless and self-deluded.

            • English Breakfast 6.2.1.1.1.1
              17 February 2015 at 9:33 am

              They weren’t only authoritarian, they were from the far left, which was the purpose of my response to you. But nice attempt at a sidestep.

              Also, I’m quite happy for people to speak up about what they perceive to be a problem. But when they do they will be subject to scrutiny.

              • One Anonymous Bloke …
                17 February 2015 at 9:46 am

                Yes, because of course, everyone in a nominally “communist” country is from “the far left” 🙄

                “Scrutiny” – you call that “scrutiny” ROFLMAO.

                Petty George is a better scrutineer than you are, denial boy.

          • greywarshark 6.2.1.1.2
            16 February 2015 at 1:28 pm

            Have the lawn bowls taken an extended break over the Christmas-summer period English B? Time to fill in here with stuff you have been fed from ‘your sort’ and show-ponies in the media. You need to fly from the nest and get real facts to decide your own opinions.
            /sarc

          • aaron 6.2.1.1.3
            16 February 2015 at 4:35 pm

            I can’t believe you guys are engaging with English Breakfast – he’s such an obvious troll.

          • Neil 6.2.1.1.4
            16 February 2015 at 4:46 pm

            I’m surprised that Key didn’t order the police to spray the protestors with pepper spray then beat them with battens till unconscious.

      • Naki man 6.2.2
        16 February 2015 at 1:19 pm

        I just watched that footage, AAAP you are a fucking disgrace, what a bunch of feral scum bags.

        [lprent: Banned for 4 weeks for abusing me you idiot fuckwit arsehole. I wasn’t there and you directed that comment at everyone.

        Read the policy of self-martyrdom offences and learn to read your comments before you send them.

        You should be very cautious about addressing organisations that have a lot of members and get *very* specific about who you are commenting about. Haven’t you learnt that yet from your time around here and the bans you get from hurling abuse generally? ]

        • One Anonymous Bloke 6.2.2.1
          16 February 2015 at 1:25 pm

          Here’s another little follower. Naki man’s highest ambition is to have a uniform with shiny buttons, and open and close the gate to let the trucks through.

        • tricledrown 6.2.2.2
          16 February 2015 at 1:31 pm

          Nakered excuse for a man.
          So this is what we are fighting for freedom to protest !
          You seem to be seriously freaked out by the very freedoms we are supposedly fighting for in the war on terrorism!
          I suppose when the tax payers union chime in we see John Key and cronies cave in.
          Then it is left to the mignions to run down the opposition.

    • Lefty 6.3
      16 February 2015 at 1:33 pm

      Mr English Breakfast

      A number of those you call rent a crowd actually spend a good deal of time voluntarily giving practical assistance to those whose problems you say don’t exist.

      At the bottom of the cliff there are thousands of people in Auckland who have been reduced to living in cars and garages by government policies.

      A bit further up the poverty chain are the tens of thousands living in garages or crowding in with relatives to survive. Many of them have jobs but don’t earn enough to support themselves or their families.

      Others are dependant on benefits because they cannot get jobs or are sick or disabled. Beneficiaries are routinely denied their benefits by Work and Income.

      Each week many dozens of these desperate people turn to Auckland Action Against Poverty to assist them in getting what they are supposed to be entitled to automatically.

      That’s why they are so passionate about their cause – they see the results of ruling class tory callousness every day.

      You are clearly not a very nice person Mr English Breakfast but that is not a good enough excuse for not knowing even a little bit about what you are talking about before rushing into print.

      • English Breakfast 6.3.1
        17 February 2015 at 9:28 am

        Hi Lefty. I think you are conflating a number of different issues. If people cannot get jobs because they are sick or disabled, we should look after them. That ‘we’ today is a welfare system that in principle I fully support. What I don’t support is able bodied people being paid to sit around waiting for a job when job’s are available. And I saw no-one in the media release that qualified as either sick or disabled. Angry, yes. Irrational, yes. Feral, yes.

  7. Marty 7
    16 February 2015 at 12:29 pm

    Key is definitely starting to lose his invincibility. Having to be hidden away from Sue is laugh out loud funny 🙂

    • English Breakfast 7.1
      16 February 2015 at 12:33 pm

      Key was never invincible any more than Clark at the height of her powers. But like Clark, Key leaves everyone else a long way behind when it comes to popularity with ordinary NZ’ers. Those of you on the far left just don’t get that, which is why you keep celebrating losers. Just like the far right did in the Clark years.

      • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 12:46 pm

        Being popular doesn’t mean that he’s right. In fact, it can often mean the reverse. This is why facts are far more important to vote on that popularity.

    • Jones 7.2
      16 February 2015 at 1:02 pm

      I’m surprised he didn’t barrel on through the protestors… he’s got a big enough protection squad and a bit of kerfuffel with some “great unwashed louts” would have been dog-whistle political gold!

      • alwyn 7.2.1
        16 February 2015 at 3:34 pm

        Do you mean the way that Rob Muldoon did when he was confronted by the great unwashed?
        Kicked one or two of them I think, assuming that my memory of things long ago is still OK.
        Of course those on the left then complained bitterly about his actions and demanded that he be prosecuted.

        • Jones 7.2.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 4:01 pm

          Yeah, exactly like that… and why would some noisy demands from some left-wing rabble worry him? It would be like moths to a flame for all the RWNJs.

      • CnrJoe 7.2.2
        16 February 2015 at 7:16 pm

        Jones – k
        FJK ABSOLUTLY CANNOT allow his hairpiece to be jostled off.

  8. fisiani 8
    16 February 2015 at 12:42 pm

    The National Party held their meeting. When the meeting ended the front door was blocked by unwashed thugs so they took the back door exit and went on their way. Which part of that was running? Seriously running? Is that like the hyperbolic claim of Key insisting that we would have to pay $140 million!
    The public saw the thugs on national TV. I’m amused and astounded that this thuggery which attempted to disrupt freedom of speech and association can be lauded as above.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1
      16 February 2015 at 12:49 pm

      Attempting to disrupt the corrupt sale and purchase of the laws of New Zealand is a duty, not thuggery. Someone has to police the National Party, even if we have to move all the investigations to Whangarei.

    • Jones 8.2
      16 February 2015 at 12:56 pm

      You failed to mention “thugs” or “thuggery” enough times in a single post to meet your KPI target! No bonuses from the National Party or Crosby Textor for you!

    • tricledrown 8.3
      16 February 2015 at 1:20 pm

      Is that what happens with name suppression that only National Party and associates are able to access!

    • fisiani 8.4
      16 February 2015 at 10:56 pm

      Does anyone think John Key ran from the meeting? Which part of ran is so hard to understand? Where was the “sneaking” He walked out the rear exit. The hyperbole in the post heading is ridiculous.

      • Murray Rawshark 8.4.1
        16 February 2015 at 11:04 pm

        Is John Key the Honest John you refer to? Maybe he ran to inspire the Iraqi Army that he wants our kids to train. They like taking the exit at speed as well and leaving their transport behind.

  9. SHG 9
    16 February 2015 at 12:53 pm

    “Do we need this right now?”

    “Nah, save the face-to-face confrontation with poverty protestors for when we need a bump in the polls.”

    • tangled_up 9.1
      16 February 2015 at 3:25 pm

      Yeah it’s great that the protesters are passionate about addressing poverty but sometimes I wonder if the whole “f@#k John Key” thing actually deters swing voters from the left for fear of association.

      • Murray Rawshark 9.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 7:17 pm

        It’s possible that some will be put off by it. In your opinion, are there tactics you would rather see used? Protesting is just a tactic, not a strategy.

        • tangled_up 9.1.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 9:35 pm

          Yeah it’s a hard one. Unless you have a very large amount of protestors then it is easy for people to not take the protest seriously. But other tactics could include raising awareness while fundraising ie, setting up a tents the size of garages in public places and have people living in them to show how many people have to live. Or a 40 hour famine type thing but based on what many families have to survive on at the end of the week.

          Imo Campbell Live has a done some good work here with their news pieces that put a face to poverty through meeting families and seeing them going about their lives the same as everyone else – but just with less money. It’s shown first hand that these struggling people are mostly honest hardworking people who haven’t necessarily done something to bring this on themselves and that it could be any one of us if things went bad.

  10. Maui 10
    16 February 2015 at 1:25 pm

    Civil disobedience does get the message through, more of it please.

    • fisiani 10.1
      16 February 2015 at 1:32 pm

      Any evidence of that in New Zealand?

      • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 1:42 pm

        No, none. Not a single piece. Apart from the $10 note. OK, so there’s one piece of evidence, and absolutely no more, apart from the ten dollar note, and Bastion Point. Apart from the ten dollar note, Bastion Point, Sea Sheppard, there’s no evidence, apart from Pakaitore.

        No evidence at all.

        • McFlock 10.1.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 1:48 pm

          Nuclear free nz and no smelter at Aramoana also immediately come to mind.

        • Murray Rawshark 10.1.1.2
          16 February 2015 at 7:20 pm

          What’s the story with the ten dollar note? I missed that one.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.1.2.1
            16 February 2015 at 8:13 pm

            Kate Sheppard.

            • Murray Rawshark 10.1.1.2.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 10:04 pm

              Yeah, I know who she is. What’s the story? I think I must have been in Brazil.
              Or I’ll try googling it.

              • One Anonymous Bloke …
                17 February 2015 at 12:08 am

                Women’s suffrage as an example of civil disobedience getting a message across.

                • Murray Rawshark …
                  17 February 2015 at 12:34 am

                  Ah. I was thinking that they must have wanted to put Colin Meads or someone on the note, and there were demos that got Kate Sheppard onto it instead. Over thinking things, but I couldn’t figure out how I couldn’t remember anything. I was starting to wonder if I were like Key with 1981.

      • tricledrown 10.1.2
        16 February 2015 at 1:51 pm

        Fisianis your shinning example of online protest invading a left wing blog polishing john keys bowels and their movements.
        You are a wonderful motivator of the left.
        As you prefer to our style and commentry to your own WO KB which are sewers full of double dealing rats (casino craps) so its very hard to stand out when polishing.

  11. Economix 11
    16 February 2015 at 1:31 pm

    I do find it somewhat ironic that so many people on here believe that this so called poverty problem (which EB quite rightly points out is often self imposed) is something that requires this type of protest action, and yet any mention of NZ troops in the Middle East is met with howls of protest that this isn’t our war, isn’t our problem, and JK is simply wanting to “join the club”. The suffering of people throughout that region is far greater than this so called 1st world poverty issue in NZ.
    The Government could throw unlimited cash at this poverty problem and you might solve 10% of the problem. The other 90% relates to people not interested in putting in the kind of work required to get them the standard of living deemed not to be below these silly poverty metrics they talk about.
    These are simply career protestors having there bit of fame, but not actually achieving a whole bunch.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 11.1
      16 February 2015 at 1:46 pm

      No, English Breakfast is parrotting lies, and so are you. That’s why The Lancet is an internationally respected medical journal, and you aren’t.

      Arbeit macht Reichtum. Keep pashing that zombie.

      • stever 11.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 1:50 pm

        I guess that, along with John Key, Economix could find another highly-respected and peer-reviewed international medical journal that said the opposite.

      • McFlock 11.1.2
        16 February 2015 at 1:50 pm

        “Work makes an arse-state”?

      • English Breakfast 11.1.3
        17 February 2015 at 9:43 am

        The Lancet article didn’t speak to the issue of cause OAB. It addressed what it saw as the impacts of growing inequality. NZ directs billions of $$’s towards the less well off, and people such as me are simply calling for more individual responsibility. There is no excuse for anyone in NZ to be in poverty. It comes down to personal choices.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 11.1.3.1
          17 February 2015 at 9:49 am

          Oh in that case you’ll be able to explain why there are always more unemployed when National occupies the Treasury benches.

          Either people make worse choices under National, or your whole delusional belief system is a delusional belief system.

          Gosh, that’s a conundrum; no wait, you’re delusional.

        • tricledrown 11.1.3.2
          17 February 2015 at 10:30 am

          English barfest.
          You want to check out countries where your philosophy was trialed.
          ie argentina circa 1997.
          You would be against John Keys welfare check he recieved when Bank of America Merrill Lynch were bailed out to the tune of 66billion US dollars.
          I bet you anything you like other companies he owned shares in were also bail out beneficiaries!
          Personal responsibility (get stuffed) for the poor.
          Massive welfare cheques for the already uber rich.
          Personal responsibility means spin for repression.
          Don’t forget Key recieved welfare while growing up in poverty that allowed him to achieve.
          Without those taxpayer hand outs that my taxes paid for.
          Key would be slumming it right now.
          You are suffering from lack of knowledg pomme poodle.
          Regurgitating shallow bullying propaganda.

    • stever 11.2
      16 February 2015 at 1:48 pm

      “The other 90% relates to people not interested in putting in the kind of work required to get them the standard of living deemed not to be below these silly poverty metrics they talk about.”

      Is that a fact?

    • tricledrown 11.3
      16 February 2015 at 2:10 pm

      Echocomic.
      What load of ubsustantiated drivel.
      So John Key and mother getting a hand up from the State cheap housing widows pension healthcare,free tertiary education paid for by my taxes.
      Now is the ladder puller with his lower rungs groupies!

    • Lloyd 11.4
      16 February 2015 at 9:56 pm

      Actually throwing a whole bucket of money at those at the bottom of the heap makes a whole lot more sense than throwing a whole lot of tax rebates at those at the top of the heap, and paying for those rebates by borrowing money! Which bunch of financial geniuses did that?
      If you throw money to those on the bottom of the heap they spend it in New Zealand. They don’t spend it or bank it overseas which is what those on the top of the heap do with their tax rebates. The poor when given money stimulate the economy. Look back through economic history. When the rich are taxed hard the economy booms. Prove me wrong.
      It doesn’t matter if the poverty is self-inflicted or not. Giving buckets of money to the poorest in our society will result in more money going into the pockets of everyone who provides basic services: supermarkets, doctors, car dealers, petrol companies, clothes stores, – you name it.
      Giving money to the bottom of the heap is the magic bullet to get the world past the economic mess of the Global Financial Crisis. The poverty problem is neo-liberalism.

      • A Voter 11.4.1
        17 February 2015 at 2:59 pm

        Then we dont feel like starting a war either but key uses peace to audit his books before his next shot at the title warmongering prick he is

  12. Jay 12
    16 February 2015 at 2:22 pm

    Gave protesting a bad name really didn’t it?

    Most of the hard left will be gleeful, but how many national voters will change their vote to labour or the greens after that disgrace? About none. In fact it’s these kinds of antics that drive voters into nationals arms.

    Contrary to the writers opinion Mr Key will probably be feeling more popular right now, since after that disgraceful performance, he will be. The writer might like to remember that we have a right to protest peacefully.

    I guess it was cowardly of Honest John though, he should have just gone outside and let them tear him limb from limb.

    Meanwhile the Salvation Army believe that the situation for the poor has improved under this government, and they’re not the only ones to say that. Therefore Bradford and Co should have been there to thank John Key for his sterling efforts instead of hurling abuse and outrageous schoolyard insults at him while scuffling with the cops.

    What a disgrace but all-in-all yet another win for John Key

    • SHG 12.1
      16 February 2015 at 2:25 pm

      These protests are so good for National they may as well be organised by Crosby-Textor.

      • The lost sheep 12.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 2:44 pm

        Sue is consistent in her activism and so it’s unreasonable to expect her to change…
        but given that she is about as popular with the Right as Slater is with the Left, she really does need to bring more than 50 people to the party to avoid this kind of protest being read as being simply Sue and a tiny minority fringe pushing an agenda for which they have little support.
        As such, I would think it does actually benefit National rather than harm them.

        It would be far more difficult to brush the protest aside If they had turned up with several thousand of the poverty stricken to back them.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 3:07 pm

          What rot. The Sallies, the OECD, and the Epidemiology Department have the polite respectful end of Protest Town all sewn up.

          • The lost sheep 12.1.1.1.1
            16 February 2015 at 3:39 pm

            I’m going to have to reject the Epidemiology Dept I’m afraid OAB.

            That study was clearly funded by the Government, and as such it can not be accepted as an independent and credible source. sarc.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 12.1.1.1.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 3:47 pm

              The increasing incidence of National Party attacks and threats against academics makes your sarcastic scenario all the more likely.

              • The lost sheep …
                16 February 2015 at 4:04 pm

                increasing incidence of National Party attacks and threats against academics
                Citation needed

                • One Anonymous Bloke …
                  16 February 2015 at 4:11 pm

                  Does the name Eleanor Catton ring any sort of bell?

                  Freedom of thought and inquiry in universities and Crown Research Institutes, supposedly protected by statute, has been assailed by funding mechanisms that direct research and teaching into politically directed channels, by constraints on freedom of speech for Crown Research Institute scientists, and by recent attempts to control universities by making every University Council member (whether appointed by the crown or not) accountable to the minister.

                  Anne Salmond.

                  How about Boyd Swinburn?

                  No? Drawing a blank? Mind filling with desire for cracker?

                  • The lost sheep …
                    16 February 2015 at 4:56 pm

                    Eleanor Catton was not attacked by the National party, unless a polite disagreement is now classed as an attack?

                    Apart from that the evidence is 2 anecdotal opinions from academics that have well known political leanings?

                    That is hardly the level of data that would satisfy the standards of your mates at the Epidemiology Dept I’m afraid.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      16 February 2015 at 5:03 pm

                      Have you failed to grasp how a two-track political smear machine works, or are you merely parrotting a narrative that depends upon you pretending to fail to grasp it?

                      Probably the latter, and no-one really cares.

                    • stever …
                      16 February 2015 at 7:28 pm

                      “well known political leanings”….

                      Everyone has political leanings. So should everyone’s opinions or, even, fact-supported statements be discounted?

                      And the fact that some people’s leanings are well-known surely is a good thing? Doesn’t do to hide these things, does it?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      16 February 2015 at 8:10 pm

                      It pays to hide them if you don’t want your funding slashed and your contracts cancelled.

                  • In Vino …
                    16 February 2015 at 5:32 pm

                    Why does Mike Joy come to mind?

                    • Murray Rawshark …
                      16 February 2015 at 7:29 pm

                      Mike Joy? We don’t talk about him any more. It’s all dirty water under the bridge. And a bit of spilt milk.

                • tricledrown …
                  16 February 2015 at 10:49 pm

                  The lost creep.
                  I know many academics who have spoken out against government policy have had their research or dept funding deliberately cut and are denied any new funding even though these people are world leading researchers brought to NZ because they were attracted by promises of funding to make breakthroughs in diseases affecting New Zealanders.

                  • Murray Rawshark …
                    16 February 2015 at 11:09 pm

                    And I know an ass licking Tory who gets generously funded. I don’t consider him as great an achiever as he himself does.

        • Colonial Rawshark 12.1.1.2
          16 February 2015 at 3:11 pm

          It would be far more difficult to brush the protest aside If they had turned up with several thousand of the poverty stricken to back them.

          Maybe WINZ could have furnished them with vouchers for taxis?

          • The lost sheep 12.1.1.2.1
            16 February 2015 at 3:33 pm

            Yeah. No one defined as in poverty has access to a car, and you wouldn’t expect anyone to walk across the hill from Glen Innes to make a statement that was vitally important to their own interests would you?

            Reminds me of a classic post I saw on DB once, when someone seriously claimed the reason the revolution wasn’t occurring was because working people and beneficiaries were too exhausted by their days slavery to do anything except ‘joe out in front of the T.V.’

            FFS. We are lucky those Frenchies were made of sterner stuff back in the 1700’s. sarc.

            • tricledrown 12.1.1.2.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 11:04 pm

              So you are saying everyone who follows National like lost sheep are the only sheeple who count.
              People are waking up thats whats scari
              ng you sheep shagger!

        • weka 12.1.1.3
          16 February 2015 at 3:16 pm

          You’re looking in the wrong place, lost sheep. Bradford and co aren’t speaking to National. They’re speaking to the NZers who will feel shame when they finally realise what they’ve let NZ become. They’re also speaking to the people who take notice when the issue is kept on the table. That’s NZ’s shame that it takes Bradford and co making Key use the backdoor to get NZ to talk properly about poverty. Kia kaha a rātou.

    • weka 12.2
      16 February 2015 at 3:10 pm

      “Most of the hard left will be gleeful, but how many national voters will change their vote to labour or the greens after that disgrace? About none. In fact it’s these kinds of antics that drive voters into nationals arms.”

      You obviously have no idea how social change happens. Radicals lead, get pilloried for a while and then a decade or so later everyone is agreeing with them. Suffrage, the Tour, Te Tiriti, environmentalism, peace movement, workers rights, gay rights, on and on, it was the radicals that started all of them.

      See if you can figure out what happens between the radicals being disobedient and the govt changing legislation or policy. When you understand that, you’ll have a better idea of why protest works.

      • lprent 12.2.1
        16 February 2015 at 3:30 pm

        Radicals lead, get pilloried for a while and then a decade or so later everyone is agreeing with them. Suffrage, the Tour, Te Tiriti, environmentalism, peace movement, workers rights, gay rights, on and on, it was the radicals that started all of them.

        Yep. That is why radicals are useful.

        As I tell all young people, if you want social change then be prepared to spend 3 decades working for it. Otherwise you aren’t serious about it and are just a fashionista. You have to change the way that many in society think about it and often at the generational level.

        The thing I can’t abide are the people who are so optimistic that that they fall into a funk and start blaming everyone else when things don’t go the way that they expect. They invariably ignored cooler heads beforehand, lampooned them for not ‘believing’ and being realistic, and then get as bitchy as a popular girl in a US high school drama who doesn’t get the mercedes from their daddy afterwards.

        Some of the dilettante ‘activist’ fools from around Internet Mana after this last election being a good case in point. I notice that we seldom seem to get that from the ones who have been doing it for a few decades. They just shrug their shoulders and move on to the next campaign.

      • Bill 12.2.2
        16 February 2015 at 3:35 pm

        Unfortunately Weka, when a smallish group of protesters indulge in the ‘same-old, same-old’ chanting and shouting through mega-phones, anyone not already on-side, tends to get their hackles raised, back off and be generally dismissive. Shows of aggression in scenarios like this one (verbal aggression in this case) almost never win friends or converts.

        The tactics and mode of protest are critical factors of protest that far too many protesters over-look and/or ignore. (shrugs)

        • One Anonymous Bloke 12.2.2.1
          16 February 2015 at 3:37 pm

          Wise words.

        • just saying 12.2.2.2
          16 February 2015 at 3:48 pm

          Activism
          Stage one: Anger. Get people to pay attention. Get heard.

          I watched the movie “Selma”, last week and loved it, but couldn’t help thinking that the Luther-King and Maclom X groups were interdependent – that neither could work without the work of the other.

          As a bit of a peacenik, I’d prefer to see it otherwise.

        • greywarshark 12.2.2.3
          16 February 2015 at 4:12 pm

          Response by the comfortable public: Now, now children. Nobody likes a whiner! Or. NZs hate being rudely woken up by loud noises – of people who call What about us then. Aren’t we ever to get a chance in life?

        • lprent 12.2.2.4
          16 February 2015 at 4:42 pm

          That is true. However the issue gets raised and when the protest radicals have found another cause dragging away their time, you sometimes find a more widespread interest in what they are talking about.

          I rest my case on the obvious presence in the supermarket of free range eggs, labels on chicken touting their provenance with less animal cruelty and better hygiene, and that I can buy free range bacon. A bit of a change from 12 years ago when none of those things were available from any of the local supermarkets here..

          • Phil 12.2.2.4.1
            16 February 2015 at 6:25 pm

            I rest my case on the obvious presence in the supermarket of free range eggs…

            Ok, do you really, REALLY, think those changes in the supermarket (or market in general) happened because a bunch of protesters or radicals yelled at the PM, or equivalent thereof, a decade-or-so ago?

            The far more likely reason is that global trends in consumer preference were already occurring – certainly New Zealand was not at the global forefront of food awareness in any substantial way.

            More general point;
            A lot of the comments here contain observational bias. How many thousands of radical groups have been brushed aside as the world has moved on from their pet project that they cared so deeply for? Many more millions than those who successfully effected change over and above global trends already happening without us being consciously aware of them.

            Broadly speaking, this is the left trying to defend the Great Man Theory of history.

            • greywarshark 12.2.2.4.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 7:59 pm

              @ Phil
              So you say. “Broadly speaking, this is the left trying to defend the Great Man Theory of history.”

              And particularly speaking, you are trying the great RW putdown of history that protesters are a noisby rabble of fools, wasting their and other people’s time, no-one takes any notice of them, and they should just shut up and keep their stupid opinions to themselves. Because your belief is that no-one wants to think about whether they are totally correct, or even a teeny weeny bit of their concerns require some action.

              It is a hard row to hoe, to get numbies to think and impossible to get many to care about anyone or thing at all apart from themselves. But it is a sign of noble humanity to think, and try and make improvements. But you don’t belong in that classification.

          • CnrJoe 12.2.2.4.2
            16 February 2015 at 7:39 pm

            As an artist I approached a free range egg farm – wanting feathers for a piece I was working up. The premier supplier in our town. I kinda thought I’d be heading out to some leafy idyll with strolling chickens dust bathing and chuckling to themselves about how good things are.
            What I got to was some concentration camp of chickens. Yes – technically ‘free range’ because the chickens had free egress But. No trees. No cover. So they stayed inside. Nearly all the time.
            Scratching around for feathers inside these barns of chickens, dead carcasses in the dust,
            I was so upended I now buy barn eggs because thats – in truth -what free range is.

            • lprent 12.2.2.4.2.1
              16 February 2015 at 9:33 pm

              I know. However if you’d had rocky bringing back raw video from crate farms and showing to me during editing out the grosser bits …

              Personally I still buy as little chicken as possible, including eggs. Same with pork. Mostly because I can’t see how anything raised in crates could be safe to eat. What I do buy, I do a reasonable amount of research on.

              Beef is better. I spent a lot of time around beef and sheep and I have a good idea about what kind of life they lead.

              What I was referring to is that everything sold in supermarkets used to be micro-crated. These days in my supermarket, that is the diminishing amount of shelf space.

              Reminds me – it is time to do the shopping. I usually do it Sunday night. But Lyn’s 40th disrupted the weekend.

        • weka 12.2.2.5
          16 February 2015 at 6:17 pm

          Unfortunately Weka, when a smallish group of protesters indulge in the ‘same-old, same-old’ chanting and shouting through mega-phones, anyone not already on-side, tends to get their hackles raised, back off and be generally dismissive. Shows of aggression in scenarios like this one (verbal aggression in this case) almost never win friends or converts.

          That’s pretty much what people said about Māori activists when I was growing up. Their tactics worked. I agree that there are other tactics and modes, some probably more effective thank others. I think many different kinds are needed. But the fact taht Bradfod and co stick out like a sore thumb is because no-one else is doing much else. So for all the criticism I might have about loud and agressive, until other people step up and do the other things, Bradford and co deserve recognition.

          • SHG 12.2.2.5.1
            16 February 2015 at 7:38 pm

            That’s pretty much what people said about Māori activists when I was growing up. Their tactics worked.

            And here I was thinking it was legal action.

            • weka 12.2.2.5.1.1
              16 February 2015 at 10:14 pm

              what legal action are you thinking of?

            • Colonial Rawshark 12.2.2.5.1.2
              16 February 2015 at 10:40 pm

              It’s a combination of everything. Presuming it was just one thing or the other would be failing to understand how civil dissent works.

              Getting into the faces of people who fancy themselves as elite decision makers is just as critical.

          • Murray Rawshark 12.2.2.5.2
            16 February 2015 at 7:38 pm

            +1
            They’re doing something that no one else is. They’re part of the fight, and I’m on the same side as them.

            One criticism I do have is of the slogan “John Key’s a millionaire, that’s why he doesn’t care”. A million dollars isn’t much anymore. Pretty much half the home owners in Auckland would be paper millionaires, and quite a few of them do care. There are other reasons why FJK doesn’t give a shit.

          • Pete George 12.2.2.5.3
            16 February 2015 at 7:53 pm

            Their tactics worked.

            How often?
            Was it actually different tactics that worked and not their’s?
            How often did their tactics fail?
            How often were their tactics counter productive?
            Would different tactics have been more effective?

            Serious questions.

            I presume they question their tactics but it does often look like same old futile fulminating.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 12.2.2.5.3.1
              16 February 2015 at 8:07 pm

              🙄

              If only there were someone who was a decent fact checker around here, they’d be able to Google it for you. Assuming they didn’t treat you with derision and contempt. Actually, that’s far more likely, eh.

            • vto 12.2.2.5.3.2
              16 February 2015 at 8:34 pm

              “Serious questions.”

              No they’re not. Not as put.

            • tricledrown 12.2.2.5.3.3
              16 February 2015 at 11:46 pm

              Is this your less is more attempt.
              PG,s reply:more or less.
              Pete hasn’t learnt his lesson.

      • Murray Rawshark 12.2.3
        16 February 2015 at 7:33 pm

        Unfortunately neoliberalism can be added to the list of radical views inspiring social change. It doesn’t always have to be positive change.

    • Sabine 12.3
      16 February 2015 at 3:28 pm

      actually the national and act and conservative voters don’t have to change their vote, they can always abstain if the stench becomes so strong that even holding yer nose and waving a perfumed handkerchief don’t help.

      🙂

      Honestly who cares, this PM is no more liked by ALL NZ’lers than was Helen Clark.

      You want to pray at the altar of Honest John, go ahead, your choice, and others will protest Honest John cause they think hes a filthy lying banker…I think they call it democracy and freedom of speech and right to assembly. LOL

    • A Voter 12.4
      17 February 2015 at 3:29 pm

      It really hasnt got any thing to do with Key the improvement of the poor the poor have done it for themselves because tight bastards like Key give nothing because in essence he is for the rich name me one real thing Key has done for the poor of NZ
      Given 500 more pokies to the poor to loose their money on
      $14.25 An hr minimum wage
      Cut back educational services across the board
      False advertising at an all time high
      Key is the most unscrupulous PM we have ever had its a wonder the protester didnt [r0b – deleted, to be on the safe side] .He is a sellout egocentric twep who thinks hes an NZer

  13. JonL 13
    16 February 2015 at 2:39 pm

    You forgot Paula Bennett and a few others in that lot

  14. Jay 14
    16 February 2015 at 2:54 pm

    Sue Bradford went way up in my estimation when she walked from mana.

    You’re right she won’t change but she should – this type of debacle is not only good for national, it totally undermines her own message. If someone is so unreasonable to incite people to behave like that, then why would we listen to anything they say?

    Good on her for being passionate, but she also needs to remember that we only have a right to protest peacefully. There’s a reason that word is used, violent or disorderly protests at the very least offend people. And when you offend people, when you stamp your foot and demand they do as you say, then reasonable people get turned right off.

    Now I’m starting to wonder if she’s paid by the national party.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1
      16 February 2015 at 3:04 pm

      Get off your knees. Incitement only works on followers.

    • Colonial Rawshark 14.2
      16 February 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Good on her for being passionate, but she also needs to remember that we only have a right to protest peacefully. There’s a reason that word is used, violent or disorderly protests at the very least offend people.

      Good manners lasts only as long as a democracy is working properly and peoples views are listened to.

      The power elite are not afraid to offend the bottom 80% of society.

    • Jones 14.3
      16 February 2015 at 4:08 pm

      Reasonable people will recognise that there is an issue and listen to alternate or opposing points of view. They will work to include those views into some kind of outcome. When a large enough group continue to be ignored, disenfranchised or discriminated against, violence and disorder is inevitable.

      I think it was Martin Luther King who said “a riot is the language of the unheard”.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 14.3.1
        16 February 2015 at 4:17 pm

        …and it was Jello Biafra who said it’s the unbeatable high.

        …but you get to the place,
        Where the real slave drivers live,
        It’s walled off by the riot squad
        Aiming guns right at your head
        So you turn right around
        And play right into their hands
        And set your own neighbourhood
        Burning to the ground instead…

    • A Voter 14.4
      17 February 2015 at 3:38 pm

      Good for National what a bunch of pussies you people are the only way they get any where any other place in the world is to lay there lives on the line against tyranny, wake up, Key is a puppet selling fear to the country fuk em.

  15. TheBlackKitten 15
    16 February 2015 at 3:25 pm

    The war on the poor which for middle nz is translated as the gravy train of the taxpayer dollar for the irresponsible. I bet my bottom dollar that if middle nz was polled about this protest that a high percentage would have had zero sympathy for them.
    Sue should know better as she would remember the good ole Ruth days of slashing benefits in Nationals poorly thought-out early 90’s attempt to shake the irresponsible from the taxpayer dollar. The problem with that was that the genuine person who is too sick or old to work & had no choice but to rely on welfare also got penalised.
    As a side note, it amazes me how these protestors seem to focus on the plight of the irresponsible families with 5+ kids rather than a single pensioner who does not own their own home & struggles to meet the key economic basics on a single pension income. How much do they get in comparison to someone with children in welfare entitlements? I bet its a lot less but for some strange reason they don’t seem to fall under the radar of the Sue Bradfords of this world.
    No benefits have been cut and all entitlements are still available for those that need them. The key difference with these reforms is that you are now expected to take some responsibility for the amount of children you have, that are now expected to work before the youngest child reaches 18. And before anyone gives me the spell of eugenics or a uncaring society, keep in mind that middle nz has been bound by these rules for the past 30 to 40 years & no political party has done didily squat about it. So why on earth should they be expected to support others who are not also expected to do the same?
    What the protest should have been about was his lack of reform for WFF that is the biggest crock known to the working person as all it does is subsidise employers low wages & investors high rents. A poorly thought out shallow solution by the last Labour government that was too busy with its PC ideology to tackle the real key economic issues that their forbearers thought tooth and nail for.

    • Sabine 15.2
      16 February 2015 at 3:38 pm

      can we finally get rid of the

      irresponsible families with five kids

      that are living and working and receiving benefits and that are also receiving working for families?
      Yes, please once and for all……

      people have children, they have jobs, they loose their jobs due to redundancies, restructuring, closure etc etc etc…but once they have lost their jobs, they still have to keep their children, and preferably house and feed them.

      and considering that you call yourself the black kitten, i would assume you to be a female.
      In the tone of post, let me remind you to never ever have children that you can not afford on your own. Not when your partner makes a run for it because you are being exchanged for a newer model, or you or your partner fall sick and loose a few weeks of pay, or heavens forbid dies…..because than you will have been an irresponsible female that should have known better and should have just kept your knees closed with that asprin not dropping to the floor instead of having children you can not afford.

      Because you see dear kitten, you – like so many in NZ – are only one or two lost paychecks away from being an irresponsible female that will have to deal with the generosity and helpfulness of Winz or at least what is left over from Winz now that Paula Benefit has moved on to better things.

      AS for being a welfare moocher, I think Paula Bennett and John Key are the prime examples of moochers……him growing up in state houses because his mother must have been an irresponsible parent having a child she could not afford on her own after her husband died, she receiving benefits to study, money to raise the child she could not afford on her own, government grants to buy the first house and the likes. OR are these the type of moochers you like?

      • halfcrown 15.2.1
        16 February 2015 at 6:52 pm

        “can we finally get rid of the

        irresponsible families with five kids”

        I thought it was the irresponsible teenager who wanted to get pregnant so they could go on the benefit and avoided working. Like some rightwing prat tried to tell me before the last election.

      • TheBlackKitten 15.2.2
        17 February 2015 at 4:10 pm

        Hmmm – I like the comment about a newer model, ha ha ha!
        See Sabine the situation you describe is not typical of those that have 5+ children, a possibility but not typical.
        Have a think on this
        a) How many welfare dependant children have fathers that are deceased.
        b) How many welfare dependant children are born whilst the mother is already collecting the taxpayer dollar.
        c) How many are born to women who are not in relationships with the fathers and never were?
        It would be interesting to look at the statistics for this but I bet my bottom dollar they are not available to the general public.
        What’s also interesting is that the situation you describe such as illness and death are usually the victims that our current welfare system neglects.
        What help do you think a women who is married, has a home with a high mortgage with lets say, 2 children (as she can’t afford more) would receive from our wonderful welfare system if her husband suddenly died or was struck with an illness that prevented him from work. Now keep in mind Sabine that she will already be working 40hr+ week job in order to afford the mortgage on the house. Do you seriously think that our current system would allow her to leave her job to care for her partner? Would they receive any help for care of her children whilst she works? What about the house & mortgage payments? Any help available for that?
        See it goes back to what I wrote in my original post. Why should those that work dam hard for their dollar be forced to support those in a lifestyle that they themselves are unable to live.
        I also note that you have not acknowledged my comments re pensioners or that no political party has done didily squat about the fact that middle nz has been bound by these rules that the reforms have introduced for the past 30 years ie: limited families due to financial affordability. What are your thoughts on that Sabine?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 15.2.2.1
          17 February 2015 at 4:26 pm

          😆 at the witless conceit. That is to say, it would be funny if it weren’t a mask for vicious self-aggrandising sadism.

    • greywarshark 15.3
      16 February 2015 at 4:20 pm

      The Black Kitten
      Same old same old. That old black magic has me in its spell. That ole’ black magic that NACTS do so well.

      Divide and rule. Prioritise – if you were standing on a bridge watching a train going towards a bridge that was down meaning certain death for the passengers, would you push someone onto the tracks to stop it and sacrifice one for the many? Would you then choose a pensioner or a solo mother with numbers of children?

      Or would you actually sacrifice yourself? So much easier to stand ruminating on your opinion about others’ imperfect lives judging them of less value than yourself.

      • TheBlackKitten 15.3.1
        18 February 2015 at 8:49 am

        Problem is Greywarshark is that half those children would never have been born if we did not have a welfare system that encourages it and if we had an economy that actually provided opportunity for all – and by opportunity I don’t mean requiring an academic degree that hocks you up to the eyeballs in debt to do something hands on like floristry.
        Yes – you do have the children who do not ask to be born but the way around that is to provide the benefits direct to the children rather than more cash for the parents ie: free clubs, computers, school uniforms at schools.
        To say you would cast a pensioner to the side for the sake of the irresponsible I find rather heartless, funny as I thought it was only the filthy imperialist greedy capitalists that were heartless.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 15.3.1.1
          18 February 2015 at 8:55 am

          “Encourages it.”

          Citation needed. Come on liar, put up or shut up. Oh, sorry, perhaps you aren’t a liar: perhaps you’re a dupe, witlessly parroting dogma you heard in the Right Wing Echo Chamber.

          Which is it? Liar or dupe?

          • TheBlackKitten 15.3.1.1.1
            18 February 2015 at 11:54 am

            Its quite obvious what the encouragement is but as you obviously don’t grasp it let me spell it out for you.
            a) More benefit given for extra children despite if they have another whilst already collecting welfare. What do you think someone who has limited skills and limited opportunity is going to do?
            b) Welfare paying higher than minimum wage jobs that are the only option available. Again which one would you choose if presented with these two options?
            c) Cash given with no accountability as to how that is spent. What happens when they are presented with a choice of ciggies of food on a income that does not allow for both? Keep in mind that tobacco is addictive, expensive (thanks to all those anti smoking nazies that seem to think hiking up the price will kill the industry) and dam hard to give up!
            How the fuck you call this the “right wing echo chamber” is really quite beyond me. Its not right wing, what it is is shear common sense.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 15.3.1.1.1.1
              18 February 2015 at 12:07 pm

              Yes, it’s a shame – you’re a dupe. Perhaps you should have looked to see if any of the propaganda you were spoonfed actually happened on Earth.

              It’s laughable – there are so many well-researched articles with headlines such as “The Ten Biggest Right Wing Lies About Welfare”, and here you are, pashing those zombies with a vengeance.

              Pash pash, Kitty.

              *sheer

        • greywarshark 15.3.1.2
          18 February 2015 at 8:44 pm

          Keep thinking Black Kitten you may get the hang of it one day. Perhaps you could do one of those uni diplomas that don’t take too long. You have the money, and the technology to do most of it as distance learning.

          You could learn the real facts about the range of human behaviour that always happens in a population especially relating to having children whether women are educated or not, and its differing effect on poverty depending on the level of original poverty and education. Certainly having babies doesn’t automatically go away either because of education or because of prissy middle class people who want everyone to correspond with their own artificial cultural mores.

    • Colonial Rawshark 15.4
      16 February 2015 at 4:21 pm

      Hey BlackKitten, the poor are going to start pushing back harder and harder, and screw what the comfortable middle classes think about it, the job of protest is to make sure that they don’t feel as comfortable and relaxed about the poverty they are overseeing in NZ.

      • TheBlackKitten 15.4.1
        18 February 2015 at 8:52 am

        Exactly what is effecting them that is not also effecting the “comfortable middle classes”. It may pay you take heed of the saying – “never bite the hand that feeds you”. Did it ever occur to you that those “comfortable middle classes” are the ones that pay all of those welfare bills & that they may just push back & refuse to fund the irresponsibility that has been forced on them for the past 30 years!
        Majority always wins and those filthy middle classes are the majority and the workers of this country.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 15.4.1.1
          18 February 2015 at 8:59 am

          “30 years.”

          The lies you people told in the eighties are the problem, that’s right.

    • tricledrown 15.5
      16 February 2015 at 11:59 pm

      the bleak kitten John,Paula Cameron.
      Were all such beneficiaries.
      Johnny still is on his BofAmerica bailout benefits !
      There have been more on benefits under Ruthenomics than under Labour and likewise in the last 6 years more on benefits than under previous labour lead govt’s.
      Facts right Bleak kitten.

      • TheBlackKitten 15.5.1
        18 February 2015 at 8:54 am

        Don’t let the fact that two recessions that occurred in the early 1990’s and 2008 had a part to play in it will you. Do you also blame the governments of the great depression in the early 1930’s for high unemployment around the world?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 15.5.1.1
          18 February 2015 at 8:56 am

          No, that was caused by people like you telling lies about economics.

          • TheBlackKitten 15.5.1.1.1
            18 February 2015 at 11:56 am

            So the answer to my question re the great depression in the 1930’s is……….

            • One Anonymous Bloke 15.5.1.1.1.1
              18 February 2015 at 12:01 pm

              That once the governments of the day established appropriate regulations and adopted policies that would have you whinging about Socialism, things got better.

              In particular, a whole lot of right wing religious dogma about ‘free’ markets was shown to be the self-serving pack of lies it is to this day.

            • dv 15.5.1.1.1.2
              18 February 2015 at 12:09 pm

              Wasn’t there a share market crash in the late 20.

              The free market was not controlled by govt, Reg were introduced that kept the lid on for 70 yrs, until they were repeal at the start of this century and then we got the 2008 crash.

  16. fisiani 16
    16 February 2015 at 3:45 pm

    The war on the poor??????
    What war? What warriors? What poor?
    A slogan looking for a cause.
    Support for National has risen after this ragtag rent a mob try hards and egotists failed yet again. Shouting and chanting slogans turns more people off than on.

    [lprent: Don’t be a fool. You won’t be able to tell until a poll gets taken afterwards, and it will be drowned out in all of the other noise. What you are expressing is your opinion – not a fact. So don’t express it as anything else. Otherwise I eventually start demanding that you ‘prove it’. ]

  17. Sabine 17
    16 February 2015 at 4:45 pm

    i don’t believe that Fisiani is a ‘rightwing troll’. he is more of a parody troll, but not good at it.

    any which way he is a bore.

    • KJT 17.1
      16 February 2015 at 6:00 pm

      I rather like Fizzer. A right wing caricature.

      If a left winger wrote some of his stuff it would be considered brilliant satire.

      Which is why I consider him,as I said in the past, the new Jonathan Swift.

      We can always “eat the poor”.

      • sabine 17.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 6:43 pm

        well if he is a parody troll he needs to get a bit better at the humor stuff, sometimes he is just offensive ….

        we should always remember that marie antoinette did not loose her head because she ate cake, she lost her head because she did not share her cake.

        also are the poor tasty and how would you prepare them?

        • KJT 17.1.1.1
          16 February 2015 at 7:29 pm

          Marinade them in payday loans, dress them with a truck shop, cook until tender in a minimum wage job for three months then leave to cool in a 13 week WINZ stand-down.

          Serve with a side of three appointments to attend, without any money for travel, a sauce of fines for the car which they need, but cannot afford to warrant, and a bit of batter from the police for being badly dressed in the nice part of town.

          Best served with Lion red.

          • greywarshark 17.1.1.1.1
            16 February 2015 at 9:10 pm

            @ KJT
            That sounds as if it is based on knowledge. A warlocks brew (why should witches get all the dirty looks). Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble goes the chant.

            And your comment on Fizz – it gives me a new appproach. I haven’t appreciated his style to the full. I now will look at it with new eyes.
            edited

            • KJT 17.1.1.1.1.1
              19 February 2015 at 7:42 pm

              Happening to way too many young people I know.

              Been trying to write about it, but anger gets in the way.

        • greywarshark 17.1.1.2
          17 February 2015 at 11:02 am

          @ sabine
          And I heard at one stage, that Marie Antoinette did not say the bit about eating cake at all, it was actually said, but by someone else. And the rumour mill said, everything being dependent so much on oral in those uneducated times, not like clever us now, that Marie A had said it and it was a very useful rabble-rousing Cosbie-Textor propaganda lever against her and the Royals.

          Haven’t got a link, just some trivia that stayed in my brain, because it really isn’t
          trivial. Spreading lies and whipping up the angry crowd, is a continuing useful tool.

  18. mac1 18
    16 February 2015 at 5:31 pm

    What poor, Fisiani? What poor, English Breakfast?

    Read this.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/66230429/Marlboroughs-invisible-homeless-desperate

    This article outlines the state of the homeless in Blenheim. Men sleeping under flax bushes, shielded from the ground by pizza boxes.

    I know of men sleeping in the local church grounds in a children’s play shed. I know of men sleeping on the riverbank and under bridges. One is detailed in the article. His tent was wrecked, his goods stolen.

    Blenheim is a town of less than 20,000. Less than .5% of the population. We have at least 15 sleeping rough. Extrapolate that. 3750 throughout NZ.

    Our new local MP, Stuart Smith, knows of 20 at category A housing need. No special housing required though. He said during the election there was no poverty issue.

    He says a report on the need is out in July. That’s six months away.

    That’s really good news for people sleeping rough. In winter. In a good -4 degree Marlborough frost.

    Who has grasp on reality here? Fisiani? English Breakfast? Or Yvonne Dasler of the St John’s Kitchen mentioned in the article? This organisation provided 9600 meals to the poor last year. One meal for every two people in Blenheim. No poverty? No need? No problem?

    FFS.

    • tricledrown 18.1
      17 February 2015 at 12:08 am

      One of my children spent 6 weeks in Auckland over the school holidays.
      She has spent time in Auckland each year over the last 6 years and she is staggered by the rapid increase in the homeless and beggars.

  19. gsays 19
    16 February 2015 at 7:00 pm

    kia kaha to the aaap for being organized and having the guts and courage of their convictions to see this through.

    i was massively heartened to read this post.

    good old fashioned in ya face dissent.

    the fact that jay and some tea geezer have popped their heads up from troll land means this protest has had an effect.

    i was reflecting this arvo with a mate, a contempory of mine, about coming through from the ’70s (40 years ago), about the conservatism of the youth nowadays.

    i work with around 10 others all under 25.

    mostly all are anti pot, seek to know the rulse before engaging, absolutely zero tolerance of breaching new breath alcohol limits etc etc.

    this protest, imo, is an example of being more effective outside of parliament than in it.(although sue bradford may be the rare exception to that).

  20. coaster 20
    16 February 2015 at 7:12 pm

    Like others here, ive had a gutsful of twats saying poverty doesnt exist, or that its there own fault. Open your bloody eyes, look around you at the super market, at the schools and all the other places all groups of society mingle.

    and those kids with parents who have made bad choices or had bad luck cant be blamed. Should we leave those kids in poverty because there parents smoke, or dad was mad redundent due to someone elses bad management?

    How much is 60% of the mexian income, and would anyone here enjoy living on it?.

    • Colonial Viper 20.1
      16 February 2015 at 7:19 pm

      Median income is only about $29K pa, so 60% of that would be less than $18K pa. Thats a very limited income indeed.

    • vto 20.2
      16 February 2015 at 8:03 pm

      Lots of people are wilfully ignorant and intentionally loud, coaster. It is not a good mix. You can see it often here when silly righties post.

      You saw it in Germany in the 1930s.
      You see it in the pub very often.
      You saw it when all those now elderly kept voting for Robs Mob (Muldoon that is).
      You see it with pensioners who used to vote Robs Mob in then worsening things now.
      You see it when discussing rivers with irrigationalists.
      You see it now with John Key.

      It is very common.

  21. linda27 21
    16 February 2015 at 7:14 pm

    i wish i knew about that protest i would have went
    it would be good if there was web site with all keys benetts engagements and events that could be disrupted similar to the signthon web site for the asset sail petition

    • lynne27 21.1
      16 February 2015 at 9:37 pm

      I knew about it, but I wasn’t getting out of bed for it. Besides we lots of alcohol and drugs what we got for free.

      • Murray Rawshark 21.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 10:34 pm

        Yeah sure. Did you remember to get pregnant to five different men so you can have quintuplets and get hard working taxpayers like Whalespew to pay for them?

  22. stever 22
    16 February 2015 at 7:46 pm

    Well this is well-timed…even if it about the UK version of the Nats…

    “They are aware that it is not a bright idea to demonstrate so plainly how remote they are from the lives lived by most of the people whose votes they seek. They vainly tried to keep their high-rollers’ ball clandestine by leaving it off their website. They banned journalists from attending. The prime minister was delivered to his fund-raiser in a vehicle with tinted windows while other guests were smuggled in by the back door, as if the event at the Grosvenor were a convention of mafia dons.”

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/15/tories-black-white-ball-fundraiser-rich-arrogance

  23. vto 23
    16 February 2015 at 7:56 pm

    I was surprised to see how close the protestors got to him and how the security let that happen. As much as I have sympathy for the protestors very fine cause and actions they got way too close, for people with ulterior intent. I would have thought.

    • Weepus beard 23.1
      16 February 2015 at 9:01 pm

      There was a lot of security and police there for a simple National Party get together.

      Is it normal in New Zealand that such events are awash with Police?

      If not, why is this particular event different? I seem to remember AAAP targeting this particular celebration of the rich before.

      I will be there next year.

  24. RedBaronCV 24
    16 February 2015 at 9:02 pm

    Since it was a Nact party function why weren’t they paying for their own security? User pays you know and personal responsibility of course. Instead they are bludging off us poor taxpayers- 10 police $40 per hour for 4 hours several thousand dollars and about 25% of what a beneficiary gets in a year.

    Also is dealing with this sort of situation a requirement for that NAct party candidiate CV down the track a bit.

    • fisiani 24.1
      16 February 2015 at 11:08 pm

      Why should a political party fundraiser need security? Are the Far Left so intolerant of freedom of speech that they pose a threat to security? Sadly the answer is yes.
      I can assure you that when the Labour/Green parties hold a fundraiser there is no need for security. Nuff said.

      • McFlock 24.1.1
        16 February 2015 at 11:20 pm

        🙄
        On planet key, lefties exercising freedom of speech is a threat to freedom of speech.

      • Murray Rawshark 24.1.2
        16 February 2015 at 11:24 pm

        Dotcom had security with him at the famous ACT fundraising event with Banks. The security guy was a vital witness to Banks’s dishonesty. I’m guessing anyone who donates to National also wants security present to record FJK’s lies and hold him accountable later on. Left parties don’t need witnesses because they don’t make promises to donors.

        Any more questions? Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Well, except for yours and Pete George’s, but there’s always the exception that makes the rule.

  25. Jay 25
    16 February 2015 at 10:10 pm

    Red Baron think about it for a minute mate.

    Security guards aren’t qualified, trained, or empowered to police protests. The, um, police do that?

    While you would like to live in a society where everyone just hires their own thugs and polices things themselves, I’d rather stick with the impartial and more-or-less corruption free police force we have at present.

    Not to mention this is the safety of the Prime Minster of NZ we’re talking about.

    • RedBaronCV 25.1
      17 February 2015 at 7:28 am

      Rock concerts and the like managing using private security at their venues without noticable complaint with the police called in after the event so to speak. As far as I know security does not equate or conflate with “private thugs” so you are simply making an unwarranted conflation. It was a protest not an attack.

      Oh and isn’t he responsible for his own behaviour and should act in such a way as to not be the target for protests?? Thats the standard rightie line isn’t it?

      And please do remember that by his standards he was not wearing his prime ministers hat at the time. Private function private costs- anything too difficult there?

    • Sabine 25.2
      17 February 2015 at 8:25 am

      Nope, i agree with the red baron on that one.

      the only time this thug should have police protection is when he is on official business or is finally escorted on his last flight out of nz to the us..
      If he is out scraping for money from his rich supporters he should carry his own protection costs.

      or simply put

      if he were not such an arsewipe he would not have to worry about negative protests.

      And besides, are we not told by all the little bootlickers and arsekissers that Dear Leader is surging in the Polls, and everyone lovs lovs lovs Dear Leader and wants to lick his boots and kiss his arse.

      Whut ? That ain’t true?

  26. Reddelusion 26
    16 February 2015 at 11:11 pm

    Feral display yesterday just another incident that causes the average voter to recoil at the ugliness of the far left (literally and physically, they did the feral tag proud). Voters are more than aware how quickly this ugly mob of so call oppressed ( more so those who just can’t handle democracy) become the oppressor, China, Cambodia, soviet Russia, North korea, Venezuela just to name a few All Power to them they promote nationals better than national could ever dream of doing themselves

    • Murray Rawshark 26.1
      16 February 2015 at 11:28 pm

      True, delusional. We should all be as beautiful on both the inside and outside as Whalespew, Kaktus, and Penguin. We should strive for it. It’s so important. Venezuelans win heaps of Miss World contests, so that doesn’t really fit. Maybe they’re secretly right wing? Maybe we shouldn’t focus on looks at all?

    • halfcrown 26.2
      17 February 2015 at 8:12 am

      Remind me again, who was it who helped some thugs to throw an old age pensioner down some stairs a few years ago.
      That’s right, it was Gerry Brownarse Minister of fucking Disasters at the time, one big fucking disaster and still is.

  27. Stuart Munro 27
    17 February 2015 at 1:13 am

    Well it was great work by Sue et al. Keep the scum running – they won’t grow a social conscience until their fear of defenestration outweighs their unnatural greed.

  28. Stuart Munro 28
    17 February 2015 at 2:30 am

    He looked pretty red in the face in Dunedin too – time to chase the crook out of office.

  29. RedBaronCV 29
    17 February 2015 at 7:30 am

    Trolls out in force. Repairing the Prime Minister’s makeup so to speak. These overt criticisms must be hurting in the focus groups, given the amout of back wash we see.

  30. Jay 30
    17 February 2015 at 9:25 am

    Let’s just wait and see what the next poll says . . .

  31. Sable 31
    17 February 2015 at 11:41 am

    Wait til the little shit signs the TPPA. It will all become a thousand times worse as we fall under corporate control.

  32. Policy Parrot 32
    17 February 2015 at 12:33 pm

    To be honest, the way this appeared on the TV news made the protestors out to look like they were in fact the bullies.

    Sue Bradford and AAAP do a noble and often thankless job, but it might be prudent for them to think how their actions come across to the general public.

    Their goal of allievating poverty/inequality has not been helped in this case. Why?
    1. Trying to convince the fox that the hens are in danger is nonsensical.
    2. Making the news, but then coming across as harassing and tormenting a widely admired leader will prove counterproductive.
    3. Of the Nats, there are two strands, those who see a problem but don’t care, and those who would care but see structural inequality is a good thing.

    Just a suggestion, humor/satire/sarcasm is much better suited to capturing public sympathy.