+1 Phillip.
Not sure what to say other than what I already have ( http://thestandard.org.nz/labour-shoots-themselves-in-the-foot-again/#comment-740856 )
…. except that neo-liberalism ISN’T JUST an economic/political programme, but its so pervasive its now a cultural thing that’s infected the language, the media, educational and other institutions, etc.
When it does turn to total shit, it’ll be interesting to see who does the bleating
Don’t get me started!
E.g. link it to tik-a-box qualification industrial needs and WANTS too, such that when an industry’s wants have been satisfied, a whole neo-liberal State’s apparatus can be brought to bear on indebted student(s) to boot them out of the cuntry. (That is after the private educational ‘institution’ has ‘marketed’ itself with utter bullshit (perhaps I should say ….”mismarketed” itself – along the lines of all that “MIS-selling” crap that’s occurred), issued bits of paper, gone belly-up and abrogated its responsibilities, after which arms of the corporatised administration (including Police, Immigration and others) arrest and deport – before that convenient bugger’s muddle of a Muntstry/Department can delve and determine)
…. just but one example (with more than several victims).
But having munted the tertiary education “sector”, let’s then trickle it down even further. I know ….. let’s introduce Charter Schools.
But as I said above Drac – when it all turns to total shite – let’s see who screams/bleats the loudest.
Let’s see what becomes of South American FTA’s, or our African and Asian relationships when the “Free Trader” comes knocking having not only treated their nationals like pieces of shit, but also the citizens of a supposedly 1st World country he purports to “represent”.
(I’m still waiting to see what’s become of that “highly successful” little jaunt of JK and bizniss leaders back in Feb) – not much as far as I can tell.
So why doesn’t this so called industry, which one BTW, pay for it’s own training or offer summer intern jobs, paid, to the students if they need to broaden their experience. It’s about getting the taxpayer to pay for their training assisted by a couple of jumped up polytech managers.
Since Richardson cut welfare to force people into work.
Unfortunately, just like present day National, she forgot that making more people desperate for work does not magic up more jobs. And making the sick and injured apply for jobs does not make them any more employable.
Union Bureaucrats and Parliamentary Services Party? It’d be more accurate. Do Parker and Cunliffe speak to each other?
Slightly Pink but Not Really Party?
Bound Workers Delivery Party?
I understand they still have roots in the working class, but they’re doing their best to pull them up as quickly as possible.
+1 Phillip. I never understood properly why we didn’t overturn the Mother of all budgets – that’s a horrid phrase if ever there was one. Mother wasn’t a nurturing being under Richardson, and the cuts she made continue to live on …. despite 3 terms of Labour. We must have been too cautious and too scared of the turnaround on the electoral vote …. its hugely sad. I dearly hope that if/when Labour gets into a position of power again, that this time we’ll look and do something about poverty. Its just one reason for continuing to stay on-line with Labour.
Yup, shame on both major parties although National seems to try to push people into poverty even more enthusiastically than Labour.
How can this happen in a supposedly developed country? Shame on you New Zealand!
It’s a non-story, the Privacy Commissioner is quoted in the article as saying:
“If you give your details it was reasonable to assume they would be used to contact you.”
Blimmin heck – it just goes to show that people see what they want to see. Where does it say that the Privacy commissioner said that?
the quote was :
“However, Greenpeace New Zealand fundraising director Michael Tritt said it would be “wrong” if it did not use the details people provided when they signed petitions.
“People aren’t silly. They know if they put down a phone number or email, there will be some form of communication.”
“A spokesman for the Privacy Commissioner office said organisations collecting private information had to tell people how details were going to be used. If you give your details it was reasonable to assume they would be used to contact you. ”
well, I figured that petition details might be used to audit the petition signatories, or for contact regarding something related directly to the petition issue. But a friend of mine was pulled out of a meeting for a phone call that was just touting a fucking greenpeace membership deal.
Shit, these days I view donation collectors and petition signature-gatherers with actual suspicion. Which is sad, really.
Be grateful that the Petition Colletors haven’t (I hope) reached the level they have got to in Paris. There you are quite likely to get a group of people pestering you to sign a petition and pushing the clipboard into your face. Beware. They are often just trying to distract you while one of them picks your pocket.
I guess they are just the first line of Woody Guthries song about Pretty Boy Floyd.
Greenpeace are the second part.
“Some will rob you witha six-gun.
And some with a fountain pen”
…what is stopping people using petitions on populist issues simply as a marketing tool to harvest email addresses?
The fact that it is a terribly inefficient and expensive way to harvest email addresses?
Is there anything stopping them selling the names and contact details to other parties?
Probably. And, of course, that is not what was done in this case.
In this case, people gave their contact details when signing a Greenpeace petition about shark finning. Then Greenpeace later used those contact details to inform those people about Greenpeace’s anti-shark finning campaign and ask them if they wanted to contribute to that and other Greenpeace campaigns. How terribly evil and under-handed of Greenpeace!
Blimmin heck – it just goes to show that people see what they want to see. Where does it say that the Privacy commissioner said that?
the quote was :
“However, Greenpeace New Zealand fundraising director Michael Tritt said it would be “wrong” if it did not use the details people provided when they signed petitions.
“People aren’t silly. They know if they put down a phone number or email, there will be some form of communication.”
Yep – that’s where all that “with rights come responsibilities” kaka kicks in (OBVIOUSLY not just within the Natzi sphere of influence, but also STILL within Labour). The political class are really eagre and willing to proffer the spiel, though all the while forgetting that it also applies to them (I.e. & especially) LABOUR. They’ve been given various rights, but they sure as hell ARE NOT living up to their repsonsibilities. I even doubt many within its ranks even understand. Maybe it should be couched in terms of the ‘BRAND’ they’re attempting to sell (though not doing a very good job of it).
Along comes a Cunliffe, duly and democratically erected, pissing out all the correct sounds and flufferings, apparently having appeased the ‘natural’ fuckwits in the party, ….. but then along comes a Parker (who really should be considering whether or not he’s in the correct party).
Actually, (as a former member and loyalist), I’ve decided the “ONE more chance” I was going to give them is pretty pointless really.
I’ve been watching studiously. Still haven’t heard any “sorries”, or admonitions, or EVEN acknowledgment ‘ofs’, that relate to the lost opportunities in their last 3rd term; their real concerns for those affected by Ruth Richardson Limited and/or what they intend doing about it; ……
We know they’re battling a Natzi-compliant media, but I (at least) and the DC know how to battle that – even if it is to begin things with something that’s controversial.
Yep …. sorry Labour – LOST frikken cause – I’d rather my limited energies went to investing in a viable alternative to statquo. (I’ve had some “learnings” – especially after visiting this site)
You don’t have a particularly agile brain do you, Nackers? Communism? You could probably house a busload load of street kids in the vacuum in your cranium.
Listening to Morning Report this morning.
The South African High Commissioner.
This recording should be played in every school and be made compulsory listening
for every New Zealand citizen.
You can hold your heads high, Trevor Richards, Tom Newnham and John Minto et al.
SA and we are proud of you.
Hopefully someone will be able to link to this.
Listening to Cunliffe avoiding to answer Garner’s question would he have given up his place on a delegation to Mandela’s funeral in favour of Minto and I really don’t like what I’m hearing from him.
I find your peculiar punctuation makes it very difficult to understand much of what you are saying phillip.
I suppose I could read almost any two consecutive lines as being part of a sentence.
For example you can run together
“who used to call Mandela “a terrorist” as I said”
Did you really say that Mandela was a terrorist?
to be honest phillipe, while I read your posts, it is not easy, and I have been known to read a little. Be yourself regardless, yet I hope this is helpful feedback, which in itself can be quite attractive to the ear. (recognising my own ‘obscurities’ of course; goes without saying 😉 )
that’s a pretty shit question to ask as it happens. Cunliffe doesn;’ get to decide who goes. He can’t just give his spot to someone. It’s not an ‘admit one’ ticket ffs.
Say he says, “yep, I’ll swap with Minto then, sure thing”, he is doing so as leader of the Labour party, and as leader of the Labour Party (and defacto haed of the opposition in NZs parliament), declining an invitation. That would be pretty much shit.
Pascal’s bookie. I agree…It’s the sort of troll question a ‘shock dick’ asks in an attempt to
prove to us how clever he is and be remembered by the listeners of radio ritalin (or whatever) as an incisive deep thinking journalist (not). Only got 20 seconds to make an impression between ads for quack treatments.
“John Minto, along with Trevor Richards, Tom Newnham and others, was involved in forming Halt All Racist Tours, a group set up to protest against rugby union tours to and from Apartheid South Africa, in 1969. He became the National Chairman of the organisation in 1980. During clashes between police and protesters he was seriously assaulted by rugby supporters the evening after the disruption at Rugby Park in Hamilton. This assault had little impact on his protesting other than him adding a protective helmet to his distinctive outfit of overalls.[4][5] He remained at the forefront of the protests.”
If you were alive during 1981 you must have been asleep if you didn’t notice the leading role John Minto played in organising the anti tour protests.
Why don’t you just say you don’t like him because he continues to be an activist on issues of democracy and poverty in this country instead of trying to rewrite history?
My recollection is that Minto was a bit player during the tour.
Wrong. Certainly on all of the Auckland protests I went to (ie all of them) he was one of the people that was on the megaphone helping to do the organising.
I’m pretty sure he was doing that in Hamilton as well.
My recollection is that Muldoon was Prime Minister of the day…
According to John Key, Bolger was Prime Minister of the day.
“In terms of the protesters, of course we could have had some. It wasn’t that we were particularly shunning them, but in the end we thought the grouping that we got – the former Commonwealth Secretary General, the Prime Minister of the day Jim Bolger, and Pita Sharples is the representative of indigenous people – we had the combination about right.”
“As I’ve always said, I didn’t go to protest against the tour and I didn’t go to any of the games. I was 19 years of age and had lots of other things going on at the time.”
Key actually turned twenty a few days before the first test in Chch. Now, I’m not saying that a ticket to a rugby test is the ideal present for a conservative young kiwi bloke, but I’m not not saying it either.
Who played the main role and who was a bit player seems to depend on whether people lived closer to Auckland or Wellington. I remember Minto being very much at the forefront of protest activity, while Trevor Richards was highly successful at getting onto United Nations committees and such things.
Cunliffe gives a good account of himself here and his attitude towards the make-up of the NZ delegation to Mandela’s funeral. He had contemplated giving up his place to John Minto but was advised against it. I’m more than happy he is there to represent ALL anti-apartheid protestors.
Neville Gibson on the Panel (RNZ) suggesting, in the spirit of reconciliation, the nation forgives John Minto and sends him.
FFS Gibson, John Minto was an anti-apartheid hero.
He might forgive the NZRU and the National Party but hell will freeze over before that lot say sorry to Black Africa.
Just when you begin to think the Greens are looking like part of a Government, one of the has-beens from the Rogernomics era, again! shows that they have NFI how to get elected and they are still clinging desperately to the Neo-liberal paradigm.
I’m going to have to reconsider whether I will give my party vote to the Greens now that they have exposed themselves as gutless wonders. What a sell out they are! The referendum is not even finished yet and here they are surrendering to the neo-liberal agenda like the toothless capitalist lickspittles they are!! I blame the so called “Doctor” Russel Norman, who has been obviously co-opted to do the bidding of the 1% in order to maintain his privileged lifestyle!!!
Listening to Russell Norman on RadioNZ it would appear that the ‘idea’ is that an offer will be put to those who have bought the Meridian shares and who have now had second thoughts that they can forgo the 50 cent per share payment due on those shares in return for being allocated a lesser shareholding with the subtraction form their allocation of the number of shares matching the value of the 50 cent per share still owed,
Seems logical economics to me with Russell pointing out the ‘sums’ where the Crown got to keep 67% of the meridian shares and being questioned about the efficacy of this where Crown debt repayments as per the added dividend from the extra 18% of shares would leave the Crown some 18 million dollars yearly better off,
Hardly any sell out to anything Neo-Liberal as Te Reo’s whine suggests and i would suggest that posting such a comment is ‘in defense’ of David Cunliffe and David Parker who have copped some recent, and well deserved in my opinion, flak over the Labour plan to raise the age of superannuation entitlement a truly abhorrent piece of Neo-Liberalism(again in my opinion),
Russell Norman nor Green Party members are in no way saying that the quite intelligent plan to offer the initial investors in Meridian an ‘out’ as far as paying the 50 cents a share owing on their initial take-up will or is the be all and end of of the re-aquisition of the sold off parts of the States assets simply a step in the right direction…
That’s a spectacular mis-reading of the Greens’ statement. It’s interesting to see your strategy of belittlement and misrepresentation in action on a whole party here, not just one person.
Oh hang on! I see you’ve had a go at Russell Norman, deliberately mis-spelling his name, and putting sarcastic quote marks around his academic qualifications. You’ve even slung off at his “privileged lifestyle”.
Thank God that, with the party finally seeing sense and installing someone electable as the leader, your faction of the Labour Party is in abeyance. I guess that posting nasty and dishonest personal attacks on the internet is some consolation for you, and you even have a support crew. Not a very good one, I’m sorry to say, but they’re there for you—though you will know perfectly well that they have about as much integrity as John Key.
When the malicious lies fail, the vacuous sound effects come in. You’re having a worse day than John Key, my friend. And that is a very bad day indeed.
Why don’t you roll yourself a joint and smoke it, then come back to us, a mellower and a better man?
And, counter-intuitive as it might seem, your remarks would be a lot less dopey.
I acknowledge your surrender, my friend. Off you go now….
[lprent: You know that it is unwise to use the pwned/owned/victory approach here. I get irritated about the resulting flamewars and have a tendency towards long sentences for whoever I think is inciting them whatever words they are using. Don’t do it again. I’ve already warned you about this. ]
Poor moz, ‘tiz you having the bad day. Not only incapable of spotting satire, even in its broadest and most obvious form (big hint; I nicked the opening words from the ‘labour shoots itself in foot’ post), but apparently equally unable to spot his own failings in the area of nomenclature related pedantry despite repeated gentle prodding:
Sorry TRP.
For some reason I didn’t see any of your comments on the name when I contributed my effort below. I wouldn’t have put it in if I had as your contribution was much better, even if appears to have been a bit to subtle for Morrissey.
Oh, dear Moz, have you not read the comments above? If it’ll help, there’s a reference or three there to your usual levels of accuracy being displayed around the spelling of Dr Russel Norman’s name.
It’s text, unless it’s got a /satire tag then the chances are it’s going to be missed. The problem wasn’t Morrissey’s inability to spot satire but your inability to communicate effectively.
They had satire before the interwebs, Draco. Back in the day, people used their brains to recognise it and many were quite succesful at spotting satire when it was put in front of them without the need of further visual aids.
If you like, the next time I extract the urine, I’ll write two versions. One for the majority and one for the dullwitted. You’ll be able to spot the 2nd version because I’ll use an appropriate tag.
Well, no actually. There were only comments from a minority, one of whom is terminally bewildered, and I’m reasonably sure the majority of regular readers would have twigged the reference to the ‘shoots itself in the foot’ post, which garnered a couple of hundred comments over the weekend (despite apparently being written without the benefit of actually reading Labour’s proposal).
And I would have thought the extra exclamation marks, phrases such as ‘capitalists lickspittles’ and the bogus threat to ‘reconsider voting green’ would have been sufficient clues that I wasn’t being entirely serious.
Despite what I said in the comment above, I’m going to continue to write sans hash. I credit TS readers with enough nous to spot the occasional joke comment. Plus, it had the additional benefit of making Moz write something so painfully foolish he can’t bring himself to write a correction.
morrissey has admitted being less than perfect on at least one occasion (when the yawning gap between what he claimed and what was objective reality was presented to him in triplicate, presented again, moved around in front of him so that it was shown from every angle and highlights could be pointed out, much discussion was had on the nature of “sameness” and the doctrine of forms, flipcharts and diagrams and dictionaries were in close attendance, and it was made so clear via the use of nine-mile-high neon letters etched in the firmament by God that any dispute on the nature of that particular point would be sufficient evidence to detain the delusional disputant under the mental health act for fear that the universe would explode under the enormity of the logical contradiction).
In circumstances similar to that he has readily conceded a typographical error or two.
It is futile I’m afraid. The only way you can get most people to get what you are saying is to put it quite bluntly and then repeat it over and over.
Say something like this
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L.
Continue till you have done it about 50 times. It might, and I only say might sink in that they have made a fool of themselves.
I tried a minor joke with a comment by Colonial Viper a few days ago. He accidentally put that The Herald was owned by Fairfax. I’m sure he didn’t mean it and he knew it was APN. My comment was simply to ask when Fairfax bought the Herald.
Another contributor, who will remain anonymous, then proceeded to berate me and tell me I could look it up myself. Even when I teased him as to how to do that, claiming I couldn’t manage it he didn’t realise that he had got it wrong.
The really important question is why does Russel’s name have only one “l”?
It’s a bit dodgy, that, don’t you think? I mean, he has two “s”s. Has anyone asked the PM what he thinks?
Like, maybe his dad said something like, “Russell, if you go into politics there’ll be ‘l’ to pay”. Or something. It’s the fact nobody’s asking the question that’s got me wondering what’s behind it all.
Very funny Arfamo (sincerely)- the other ‘L’ is silent and therefore not needed to be put in – that is efficiency, which does beg the obvious question…
Oh hang on Morrissey. I see you have been deliberately mis-spelling Russel Norman’s name as Russell Norman.
Why is it that, when we try to correct someone’s grammar or spelling, we always screw it up?
Lol
Although it’s actually turned out to be fun watching the scabs thicken over the gulf between his delusions and reality. He’s almost back to near-perfect accuracy 🙂
Your Red China-style campaigns of harassment against me are tiresome, Te Reo. I am sure that that’s the way anyone who sticks his/her head up in your local Labour Party branch is treated, and you might even succeed in cowing some people into submission, or at least make them too afraid to speak.
Your vigilance and your fanaticism is quite a phenomenon; you’re quite the little apparatchik. If I were a weaker or less confident person, your constant campaign of belittlement and name-calling would have had an effect by now. But you are clearly impervious to the fact that I don’t kow-tow to bullies, and your constant badgering—the equivalent of the National Party’s strategy of hooting and cat-calling in the House—only makes you look bereft of ideas.
I see you have a couple of faithful servants enthusiastically registering their approval of your little performance; you should pay them a retainer.
The voice of reason, aka one man doctrinaire commissariat , so true M…….I think the most reasonable action Morrissey is to ignore the bastards. Cant recall any of them having anything vaguely amusing interesting to say on a regular basis. Apply the shit filters and save your fingers time on the keyboard in response.
Thanks, Ennui. I know I shouldn’t encourage these gadflies, but that’s me—I can’t resist slapping them. Mind you, I’m in good company: every time Robert Fisk or Noam Chomsky or John Pilger say or write anything, they are attacked in identical fashion by the same kind of people as have had a go at me this morning.
You are a fucken schoolboy kid. In Christchurch Trevor Richards was the most visable along with Murray Horton and guys like Graeme Wells. I was as involved as anyone.
Ah, I remember Richards from my youth, in my Christchurch days. My strongest memory is of him frequently being at a friend’s flat/shared house, at the kitchen table, typing away, with a Shostakovich record LP (vinyl) on the turntable playing in the background.
Richards was a remarkable guy. He seemed to attract the radical fring of which there were a lot in Christchurch. Newnham appealed more to the apolitical or middle of the road market. Together they were very effective. I remember the meeting at a church hall in central Christchurch when Richards made the grand entrance in company with Burgess, the current All black 1st five. You were probably there too Karol.
K, was the vinyl scratched? (That can tend to make Shostakovitch more bearable). Its actually quite funny seeing film of the protests, my neighbour pointed out to me his image on the pitch in Hamilton. And I often used to see one prominent individual at protests who I met years later, turned out to be a relative of the wife. I have freeze framed Patu and cannot identify myself (little bit of ego tripping….) but in there somewhere I must be.
What this tells me is that this country is very small, two degrees of separation rigidly self enforces. Which in turn indicates that Key claiming a lack of memory etc somewhat disingenuous. And it makes my lumps and bruises from the protests hurt again to see the prat attending the funeral representing us anti tour protesters.
I remember Bob whilst I was still at school marking Barry John against the 1971 Lions. Cant remember if he was in the frame for the previous years tour of Yappieland, or if he refused to go. I do remember him stating anti tour views in 1981 but by then he was well retired and out of the AB frame. I recall seeing Ken Gray at a Wellington protest, and remember Graham Mourie and Bruce Robertson withdrawing from the AB side in protest.
Thanks for the link Grumpy, so it was the 1970 tour Burgess declined, plus availability for the 73 tour the Kirk government objected to. Despite years of alcohol abuse and rugby injuries my memory still works (sort of). Quite remarkable that Burgess got selected in 1971 then.
“I could explain it but I’m not going to.”
Key’s train-wreck performance on Breakfast
Television One, Monday 9 December 2013, 7:15 a.m.
The prime minister’s lack of integrity and his persistent dishonesty—he “can’t remember” anything of consequence—is finally starting to alienate even the tamest, most malleable broadcasters. Even those smiling, personable, government-friendly personalities on TV1’s Breakfast programme are now confronting him quite boldly….
PETER WILLIAMS: There is growing criticism of John Key’s plan to attend the funeral of Nelson Mandela, given some comments he has made about the tour in the past.
TONI STREET You said you “can’t remember” what your stance was toward the 1981 Springbok tour. JOHN KEY: Those comments were made on a regional radio station seven years ago. I could explain it but I’m not going to. TONI STREET: You can’t remember whether you were for or against the tour in 1981? JOHN KEY: I’m not saying I was for or against it. I was anti-apartheid but I didn’t go on any protest marches, and I didn’t go to any of the games. I was about twenty at the time and I had other things on my mind. [conspiratorial smirk] TONI STREET: But can you remember what your stance was on the 1981 tour?
…..[Awkward silence]…..
JOHN KEY: I’m not going to go into it. If I say I was for or against it, that will open up a whole new series of questions, so I am not going to comment on it.
…..[Awkward silence]…..
TONI STREET: But can you remember what your stance was on the 1981 tour? JOHN KEY: I’m not going to comment on the matter. Let’s just leave it at that.
Great that the lamestream are even holding Key to account on his “can’t remember” stance on the Springboks tour. This surprises me, they usually have selective memories when it comes to Key’s Dubious Moments.
(In the meantime as well as respectful musical tributes to Mandela since Friday Radio Active have gone hard out with their lampooning of Key all morning, putting together a collection of sound bites spliced in with a fake interview)
Will 2014 finally be Key’s undoing? The year he finally, can no longer slither away from the truth of his disastrous reign? With Bradley Ambrose suing him for defamation, Banks’ trial, Dotcom’s hearing, and fingers crossed, a powerful NO message coming the asset sales referendum will his star finally descend? Will the voters finally, finally see him for what he is, a con?
Great that the lamestream are even holding Key to account on his “can’t remember” stance on the Springboks tour. This surprises me, they usually have selective memories when it comes to Key’s Dubious Moments.
I suspect it’s because they can’t ignore what he’s already said on it as everyone remembers and thought it was BS then as well.
Initially i was, as usual, disgusted with key for saying he couldn’t remember but it is a blessing in disguise because that line will haunt him and thank the gods he didn’t say he protested – having a shallow fake as a prime minister is one thing but it would be worse to have him on our side of that anti-apartheid fight. Hopefully he’ll make an utter fool of himself over there by trying some 3-way handshake or something. He doesn’t represent me, he represents the exploiters and they are international.
“I’m strongly opposed to apartheid, but I’m not going to make up stuff that wasn’t the case 30 years ago and try and reinvent history because it’s inconvenient for the left.
“I’m strongly opposed to apartheid, but I’m not going to make up stuff that wasn’t the case 30 years ago and try and reinvent history because it’s inconvenient for the left.”
Classic mangled Keyism there – is anyone trying to pressure him to ‘make stuff up’ over this? And why on Earth would it be inconvenient for da left if he doesn’t?
My translation: “Lying and saying I was interested and involved in the protests isn’t an option for me, but I’m not going to tell the truth which is that I couldn’t give a flying fuck about either rugby nor the plight of the oppressed, because Labour would love that.”
I reckon your translation is spot on e.m. Let’s extend that out to “I don’t give a flying fuck about about anything except for advancing my mates and me”
And m.m. There’s bound to be some kind of etiquette cock up in S.A on His behalf, which in the past has arisen out of insincerity, ignorance and immaturity. We can just laugh when he does here at home, but when he does it overseas it’s cause for head in the hands moments. This is how it must have been for the Americans every time Dubya opened his gob in regard to world matters.
Mr Key told Newstalk ZB this morning that the protesters had not ruined the party.
“They’re the same people protesting about deep sea oil drilling, they’re the same people protesting about the convention centre, they’re the same people that protested about changes to the labour laws for the Hobbit, they’re the same people that protested about the 90 day probationary period.
“So yeah, they just protest because that’s all they’ve got to do all day.”
Talk about making shit up. And this guys our fucken PM.
I find it extraordinary the stance the pm is taking re protest.
He lost all credibility on the matter when he referred to the Law Society and the Human Rights Commission amongst others as ‘misinformed’ and ‘not understanding the law’ (GCSB concerns).
He is dealing with people lobbying on a daily basis – they are ‘all the same people’, they protest to get their interests upheld and could be described in the same way. That’s what they do all day. When they are paid to do it ‘protesting’ is called ‘lobbying’, however and that’s different. /sarc
Protest is an important part of the democratic process and I would like to see Nzers voting for politicians and political leaders that have some respect and understanding of democracy, unlike our pm who appears to have none.
Interesting 2011 report on the Counterfire website on the rising trend of protest and fall in public trust in government.
Two of the stated findings:
“There has been an unprecedented fall in public trust in government, the media, corporations and other central institutions in British society – with less than a quarter of Britons trusting national government, less than a fifth trusting parliament and fewer than 15% having any confidence in the press.
There has been a marked and significant rise in protest movements – twice as many of us are taking part in demonstrations compared to the 1970s and the proportion of the population describing themselves as ‘left wing’ has grown by over 2 million since the 1980s. – “
So perhaps Key and those who sycophantically repeat his mutterings marginalising protest need to ‘get over it’ and start dealing with the issues that these ‘lobbyists for public interest’ are raising.
“The party can rebuild. …We have a number of very talented potential candidates.”
—-ACT president John Boscawen
The sheep of Epsom will vote for anyone they are instructed to vote for. You don’t get to the level of mediocrity that enables you to live in such a nice area without being obedient and amenable. Here are the most appealing prospects for ACT in Epsom….
Kyle Chapman Positives: principled, in an ACT kind of way, and sounds just like an ACT spokesman. Downside: would possibly set fire to downtown Wellington.
Garth “Gaga” George Positives: old and dopey, and never asks questions. Downside: would probably die after three months in office, thus necessitating a by-election.
Kerre McIvor (née ohoWmad) Positives: enormous ego; staunch supporter of Chinese government; intolerant of dissent; doesn’t read much and knows less; very attractive to silly old men like Brian Edwards; very supportive of violent males like Tony Veitch. Downside: can be extraordinarily unpleasant, intolerant and judgmental. (Then again, this is ACT, and those are therefore further positives.)
Alan Titford Positives: principled, brave, well spoken; sounds just like an ACT spokesman. Downside: in prison for the next 24 years, which would make him only slightly more effective than John Banks.
Tony Veitch Positives: high profile; young; fit; enthusiastic; desperately eager to please, very much in the manner of Rodney Hide. Downsides: anathema to women, and knowing nothing about anything, including his “specialty” of sports; prone to extreme violence against women.
This was first posted on Frank Macskasy’s excellent blog….
In fact, if you put Kyle Chapman in a suit, he’d look and sound very much like Don Brash or Trevor Loudon giving a speech on human rights and how Maori seats are the same as apartheid.
You forgot Pete George. Sure, he presents himself as “reasonable” and “moderate” but then he’d present anything as “reasonable” and “moderate” and bore people to death explaining why.
“Yes, it is true that Anadarko Petroleum Corporation had a 25 percent ownership of the company or one of the companies that had a problem in the gulf. I think it is also worth remembering that in the Gulf of Mexico since 1947, 50,000 wells have been drilled, and to the best of my knowledge that problem in the gulf was the one major one that most people can remember.”
I’m posting and then the browser slows down and the comment doesn’t appear. Only way around it for me is to leave that page cranking away and to open a new tab, go to TS, and keep hitting refresh until the comment from my previous tab page appears. Hitting refresh on the same, slow page just causes duplicate posts.
elementary my dear Watson, although, when comment submission completes, and ‘blank’ appears, I just hit TS bookmark on the same open tab, and there are your comments in all their perceptive glory. Which reminds me, must be time for a Head Like A Hole track.
Throughout the weekend and continues today for me Lprent. Getting the same issues mentioned above on google chrome. Am using firefox at the mo and am encountering the same issues but it is however a little faster.
The Maori Party has finally made a selection for Aunty Tariana’s Te Tai Hauauru electorate,(affectionately known as the sinking Waka),
Chris McKenzie, a relative unknown in political circles,(something set to continue after November 2014), will be the candidate to usher the Maori Party into electoral oblivion, leaving the vexed question of the selection of a female ‘co-leader’ to be answered at some time in the future,(perhaps at the time Pita Sharples electorate of Tamaki-Makaurau selects a replacement for Him),
The Maori Party has one slim hope of political survival past November 2014 and that is for EGO’s to be put aside and a reunification with Hone Harawira’s Mana Party be engineered,
As the Te Tai Hauauru electorate to be vacated by Turia at the end of the current Parliament now stands it is looking increasingly like reverting back to Labour as Mana have not and never had a strong presence in this electorate,
The Green Party might like to look at it’s,(quite good), 2011 electorate results here and devise a strategy that they think will divert ‘electorate votes’,(2007 in 2011),to the Labour candidate while keeping the ‘Party Vote’ building,
‘Strategic voting’ for a long lasting Government of the left should be the battle cry for the 2014 election…
Does the Maori Party Constitution require both a male and female leader?
If so is McKenzie going to chnage sex if elected or is Flavell going to do the deed
Ron, yes to your first question and i did suggest last week that Party vice-Prez,(or is He the Prez these days), Ken Mair do the deed poll thing to Kendra and stand in the seat…
That sounds a little self-aggrandising, but if it’s taxpayer funded, shouldn’t the raw footage and all the snaps be subject to the Official Information Act? It may prove more embarassing than intended.
He has run out of things to say (no text, no facts, nothing of substance) and in other cases, says he can’t remember (yeah, right). So now he needs to have just pictures.
From the tone and angle of the piece, it is quite surprising that Claire Robinson does not seem to have applied for the job or volunteered to be the photographer.
He’s on the ‘throne’, above Soweto, can hear some singing…
“Mirror in the bathroom
Please talk free
The door is locked
Just you and me
Can I take you to a restaurant
That’s got glass tables
You can watch yourself
While you are eating”.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but I DO appreciate the musical interludes brought to TS, (including ALL of the above) and it’s often by you two, Roguey and fender.
It brings a cheeriness to the day when there isn’t much to cheer about.
Superfluous info: Glory Glory – I had as a high rotate ear worm recently but luckily that was a good ear worm. As you know with ear worms, any genre, including the really bad ones (eg, phil collins) can land in your brain and infect it, sometimes for days.
Last word: Do not ever, under any circumstance allow this in as ear worm prior to a job interview or any serious and important meeting or event
Key with flash cards he saves for public at meetings (that he can’t avoid)! Saves all those time wasting, incredibly nosy questions asked by barmy individuals just trying to turn a well organised gathering into a circus. PR people start amassing a pile of cards with simple slogans now. One word a card would do.
In a new development, the PM declares there will be no more press releases, starting from his office and extending to other ministerial offices. Any government announcements and policy initiatives will be provided as pictures. When asked whether this will be a new practice or just for the interim until the next election, the PM shrugged and pointed to his spokesperson who mimed that verbal press releases would be aspirational and the PM is ambitious for the government to have higher standards. At a subsequent interview, when questioned about the advertisement for a new taxpayer-funded photographer and videographer, the PM said, “I’m not going to go and revisit that because if I do I’ll spend all day talking about it and I can’t be bothered.”
Just read yesterdays columns on teaching and the standard of education, what it is like to teach etc etc. Chris73, that was, despite the crap you received well worth reading as a from the front line commentary. Redlogix, nice counterpoise, shows how perceptions of the same thing differ with each individual.
What might we take out of this? As somebody who is in front of staff, customers, suppliers etc all day what I am very aware of is that my reality and perception thereof is often at odds with the other party. Hard as the more doctrinaire bloggers over here might find it, there is no reason why we cannot accept that we are often both correct. Duality, it is possible and we can face it with rancour if we care to open our ears and minds.
Until such time as all private donations to political parties are banned completely there can be no true democracy as the political parties are simply bought by the largest cheque.
The gabbymouth is hooting away. Where is Col Craig’s support coming from? The grassy knoll conspiratorists? etc are going to keep voting Green. WTF.
I don’t see Greens as dragging themselves through the sludge of dubious theories and endless arguments and abandoning their practical, and present concerns. What is of moment to them is how we are acting now with a view to the future for ourselves and the planet. That is what I expect from the Greens and that is essential, as no other Party is showing half the responsibility for that vital role.
The rest is history and worth thinking about and analysing, but the Greens have to keep the greatest part of their mind on the important things for now and the future. But also a watchful eye on those who use the smallest part of their minds, like Hooten, and so are nearly mindless.
Right here’s how it’s gone for my first comment this morning.
I put one on in Open Mike. Unconnected to any other, did not press Reply. Did it. put name and email in. Highlighted and took copy just in case. Submitted it. Got Closed by Remote Server.
Went back- the comment still there. Thought I had better not do anything else as I would probably just be doubling up. Left it and closed TS.
Called up site again and got in, saw greywarbler in comment list, and clicked. When I got to bottom of Open Mike comment wasn’t there. Went back up to the Comment List and my pseudo wasn’t there any more.
Talk about fun and games. Hide the parcel and find in how many moves?
So I’ll see what this one does. But some ghost in the machine is haunting me. Bah humbug!
And this removes my edit option. I followed the same procedure with my second comment which was a test. When I came back on to site again and clicked on my pseudonym in the comments list, I saw the list shift up and so my name disappeared. Refreshed using F5, waited some seconds, and it came back again.
Hope this indicates something useful to you lprent. Otherwise it must be that my crankshaft is flat. (Toad Wind in Willows.)
LABOUR SUCKERED AGAIN .
Have a look at this from w/oil.
Topic greenpease and the greens tactics.
” The main reason the Greens spent tens of thousands of (taxpayers) dollars paying people to collect petition signatures wasn’t to actually have a referendum”
It seems those of you who signed the petition opposing asset sales can expect to be hounded by the greens now that many of you gave them your e mail address when signing the petition, that’s all they really wanted .
The greens must be having a good laugh at labour, what labour has done is assist the greens to build their political base.
Brilliant own GOAL labour.
Ummm I see that you are kind of stupid. Why do you assume that it is just the greens and greenpeace who collect information?
Incidentally you should really read the actual privacy legislation before acting like a illiterate wanker from whaleoil. I realise this will be hard for you as you don’t seem too capable at the comprehension parts of life. But in particular you should note that the political parties have certain privacy exemptions.
The most notable use by a political party of collecting names and addresses can be seen in the raffle sized cost and long duration of the National party membership. So many people have regretted the stigmata of receiving mail in their new status as National party members after buying a raffle ticket.
from the link;
of the 280,000 awaiting elective surgery (only 110,000 on lists)
25% have had time of work as a result
50% have a poorer QOL than five years ago; for 25% their QOL is ” a lot worse”.
so, 265,000 children overlooked, 280,000 awaiting surgery… at least we do not have a trade in human body parts, yet.
Jeepers that is a lot of pending surgery and as you note RT – the longer the wait the often worse life gets for people. I hope we don’t have a trade in body parts but if there’s money in it the scum will will set up a business. Meanwhile we also have this – De-racialisation – bloody hell – they say if you live long enough you see most things – I’m starting to see shit I never ever thought I’d see and it ain’t pretty.
I’ll just put this here while my liver . regenerates naturally. Watched a documentary once on a similar theme; The billion-dollar market for hair-straightening targeting African-Americans- Good Hair with Chris Rock.
Nice to see the old double standard at work again. Son of a well known N.Z.er gets name suppression. Guess another wealthy white middle class kid gets to cover up his misdemeanors. Or course, if he was from a lower socio-economic group, he’d probably be incarcerated by now.
I have no idea who he is, but I did notice the term “prominent leader” for his father. I might be wrong, but isn’t a term like this more normally used for Maori than for whites, who are usually described as prominent sportsmen, politicians, businessmen, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the son of some prominent Maori Tory.
In Dunedin the ‘crisis’ has cost hundreds of real, well paid manufacturing jobs over the last 5 years. Your point? Are you trying to say that this is the start of years of sustained manufacturing growth and the drought is now over?
I saw that nutter from the business org on teevee in the weekend going on about taxes and compliance costs.
Well the question must be asked if someone is not capable of filling in a form then are they capable of running a business.
Its just an excuse for not paying tax.
Some of these people want everything but dont want to pay their way at all.
Castigating the poor for being poor;
Jock Anderson rampant on the Panel today The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 9 December 2013
Jim Mora, Jock Anderson, Mark Inglis
First of all, perky girl Noelle McCarthy made a statement of blithering hypocrisy, which for its humbug level is right up there—or down there—with Barack Obama’s eulogy for Nelson Mandela….
JIM MORA: It’s Noelle McCarthy with what the WOOOOOOOOORLD’s talking about. NOELLE McCARTHY:[light-hearted tone] Well there’s an interesting one first up. If you can swallow your ideological scruples and are going to the Winter Olympics, there’s a list of things you are not allowed to take with you! JIM MORA: Oh? Ha ha ha ha ha! MARK INGLIS: Ha ha ha ha ha! JOCK ANDERSON: Haw haw haw haw haw!
Later, Jock Anderson launched into one of his ideologically charged discourses, claiming, without being challenged by either Mora or Inglis, that John Minto* was responsible for a great deal of disruption in this country in 1981, and then expressed his “skepticism” about the levels of poverty in this country, before blaming the poor for making “poor choices”. (Interestingly, he has never castigated the rich for making poor choices—at least not on this programme.) He also sneered at “the likes of Charles Waldegrave and company who make more of this than there really is.”
Far from making him defend these extreme ideological statements, Inglis and Mora chimed in with more of the same….
MORA: Why would Charles Waldegrave do this? Is this the poverty industry that Rodney Hide speaks of? MARK INGLIS: Hmmmm, I struggle with this idea of poverty. You know, I’ve been to India, where I can show you real poverty. MORA:[Deep sigh to indicate moral seriousness] All right, now, let’s talk to Dr Elizabeth Craig of the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at the University of Otago. Ahhhh, Elizabeth, I remember Helen Clark denying we had the really poor and we’ve just had Mark Inglis talking about India….
Dr Craig spoke clearly and patiently, in spite of an initial barrage of faux-naïve and contrarian statements from Mora. Almost in spite of his antics, this ended up as an interesting and informative discussion. By the end of her appearance he was talking intelligently and not making dishonest and provocative statements. He is actually very good when he concentrates; it shows what he is capable of if he did not spend so much of his time trying to formulate complex sentences and pandering to his right wing guests.
* Designated target for abuse by selected Labour Party apparatchiks.
Jock Anderson on the Panel (RNZ) suggesting, in the spirit of reconciliation, the nation forgives John Minto and sends him.
FFS!!! John Minto was an anti-apartheid hero.
He might forgive the NZRU and the National Party but hell will freeze over before that lot say sorry to Black Africa.
Jock Anderson, wasn’t it? I only got to hear part of what he said, but he started by saying he’s rethought his opposition to Minto going while driving to the studio and now accepted that someone from the anti-tour movement should go. I thought that sounded rather considered, but if, as you say, he was just being snide, I’m disappointed.
TRP Anderson was conceding that John Minto should go. But only in the spirit of forgiveness. My point is that the likes of Anderson, the RFU, The majority of the National Party, despised John Minto and will never say that they were sorry for the sporting contacts.
John Minto does not need any forgiveness.
I agree logie – for me John Minto is at the top of heroes of this country – well above Ed for instance and he needs zero forgiveness from anyone. The best thing is that he is still with us and you can befriend him on facebook for instance – being a friend of your hero – wow it doesn’t get better than that!!!!!
That Facebook thing Marty…….yeah must admit how good it feels to be in a place small enough and special enough (excuse a whiff of hand-over-heart there) when your heroes often live just around the corner, figuratively if not literally.
Remember a bit of a flame war happening on FB with this person whose profile picture quite ludicrously had a wallpaper of a trillion peace symbols behind her. While she performed like a right little Zionist Nazi. Until then an FB friend of Minto’s she lavishly “de-friended” him online in real time. Was hilarious !
Admit it was good to get a thumbs up from John Minto to some comment I made. Reassured that my moral compass was working sorta thing.
Anyway John…………you go to the funeral or you don’t…………..what really matters is Mandela knows !
Listen to what the South African High Commissioner had to say this morning on
Morning Report regarding the “protest movement” – HART et al http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2579182
Talking about Noelle McCarthy does anyone know why RNZ have such a love affair with her. When she was resident in NZ they were always using her on air. She left NZ and returned to Ireland and now every year we find her coming out to NZ for her summer holidays and find work on Radio NZ. It has been suggested that RNZ pay for her to come out here. Does anyone know if this is correct and if so why?
What political hue were the prime ministers of
Britain, New Zealand, Australia in 1981. and what was their attitude to sporting contact with SA?
Margaret Thatcher, Robert Muldoon, and Malcolm Fraser.
One of them was vehemently opposed to sporting contacts. (- it wasn’t Thatcher or Muldoon).
And what political hue are the prime ministers of those countries who are attending the funeral.
Cameron, Key, Abbott.
Nothing changes does it ? (Except, were apartheid to be in existence still, you can bet all these three would still be branding the protesters as wreckers and criminals.)
Jesus, Morrissey, why do you put yourself through this? I suppose that I should be grateful that you do it so that I don’t have to, but think of your own health!
ah yes “real poverty”. yes, Mark, let’s wait until we have people like India, it will be easier to deal with it then, won’t it.
Mr Inglis who put quite the burden on the taxpayer and rescue services with his sometimes reckless climbing excursions. I wonder, since he’s been on the speaking circuit etc, how much has he paid back? I mean, if we use India as a template, as he wishes, an amputee such as he would be sitting on a street with a bowl begging for money.
you jest, yet I still bear a scar on my cheek from such a missile; Vandal, may God rest his soul, died a violent death not too many years after. And still, Punks Not Dead. 😀
Perceptive though Arfamo; had a sh*t, time for a shower, no necessity to shave, and we’re off, Into The Great Wide Open.
l prent Thanks I like the name Sphinx for the database. To me it is as enigmatic as the sphinx.
Incidentally I have been having trouble with the set up of another site, the page has gone haywire. The opinions received are that it could be that my set up is too slow and so distortion occurring. So will have to look at updating my system which is more than a few years old.
Fixed that up last night. Since web servers get chopped in and out according to load and they start from a old copy of the search db AND the search db only does a single full update once per day – the web server versions got out of sync. Actually the wind up with ruddy great hole from when the image was created to when a web server was started with that image.
The files server is now the only server indexing the search database. The web servers talk to it and don’t try to each maintain a search database.
the populace permit it. PM, close to a belated figurehead. Other than the periodic ground-breaking political lead, NZ has historically dragged the chain. ANYONE REMEMBER THE SEVENTIES?
Agreeable climate though, for now.
Just something strange with the internal VPN routing. Testing this morning it appears to be be working correctly again. But on the other hand there is no particular reason to do it one way or another. Just irritating detecting the bug the hard way.
It is unfortunate when this vehicle is struggling. Still, perseverance , onwards and upwards.
Have not e-mailed you for yonks. Must be something Panning out 😀
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Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
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child poverty has doubled since the 80’s..
..for shame..!..clarkite-labourites..eh..?
..for yr roles in this sad/sorry outcome..
..you did nothing..for nine long years..
..budget after budget i wd lift my head and go..’surely now?’..
..but..nah..!..eh..?
..how cd you not be hanging yr heads..?
..i am one who lived thru those nine years of marginalising/ignoring of those most in need..
..i can’t forget..
..and you know what really sucks/blows/really sticks in the craw..?
..nary a ‘sorry’…
..from any of you..
..and you have clearly learnt nothing..
..if parkers’ t.i.n.a promise/threat to raise the pension age is anything to go by..
..why don’t you have an online competition to find a new name for yr party..?
..’cos a ‘labour’ party..you fucken ain’t…
..phillip ure..
+1 Phillip.
Not sure what to say other than what I already have ( http://thestandard.org.nz/labour-shoots-themselves-in-the-foot-again/#comment-740856 )
…. except that neo-liberalism ISN’T JUST an economic/political programme, but its so pervasive its now a cultural thing that’s infected the language, the media, educational and other institutions, etc.
When it does turn to total shit, it’ll be interesting to see who does the bleating
How To Design Widgets
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11169093
-enrol at Unitec, Design of Industry Parts
How do you destroy education? Ensure that it aligns with what industry wants
😀
Don’t get me started!
E.g. link it to tik-a-box qualification industrial needs and WANTS too, such that when an industry’s wants have been satisfied, a whole neo-liberal State’s apparatus can be brought to bear on indebted student(s) to boot them out of the cuntry. (That is after the private educational ‘institution’ has ‘marketed’ itself with utter bullshit (perhaps I should say ….”mismarketed” itself – along the lines of all that “MIS-selling” crap that’s occurred), issued bits of paper, gone belly-up and abrogated its responsibilities, after which arms of the corporatised administration (including Police, Immigration and others) arrest and deport – before that convenient bugger’s muddle of a Muntstry/Department can delve and determine)
…. just but one example (with more than several victims).
But having munted the tertiary education “sector”, let’s then trickle it down even further. I know ….. let’s introduce Charter Schools.
But as I said above Drac – when it all turns to total shite – let’s see who screams/bleats the loudest.
Let’s see what becomes of South American FTA’s, or our African and Asian relationships when the “Free Trader” comes knocking having not only treated their nationals like pieces of shit, but also the citizens of a supposedly 1st World country he purports to “represent”.
(I’m still waiting to see what’s become of that “highly successful” little jaunt of JK and bizniss leaders back in Feb) – not much as far as I can tell.
But – like I said – don’t get me started.
So why doesn’t this so called industry, which one BTW, pay for it’s own training or offer summer intern jobs, paid, to the students if they need to broaden their experience. It’s about getting the taxpayer to pay for their training assisted by a couple of jumped up polytech managers.
Actually it has doubled since 1991.
Since Richardson cut welfare to force people into work.
Unfortunately, just like present day National, she forgot that making more people desperate for work does not magic up more jobs. And making the sick and injured apply for jobs does not make them any more employable.
Union Bureaucrats and Parliamentary Services Party? It’d be more accurate. Do Parker and Cunliffe speak to each other?
Slightly Pink but Not Really Party?
Bound Workers Delivery Party?
I understand they still have roots in the working class, but they’re doing their best to pull them up as quickly as possible.
The Don’t Mention Rogernomics Party?
+1 Phillip. I never understood properly why we didn’t overturn the Mother of all budgets – that’s a horrid phrase if ever there was one. Mother wasn’t a nurturing being under Richardson, and the cuts she made continue to live on …. despite 3 terms of Labour. We must have been too cautious and too scared of the turnaround on the electoral vote …. its hugely sad. I dearly hope that if/when Labour gets into a position of power again, that this time we’ll look and do something about poverty. Its just one reason for continuing to stay on-line with Labour.
Yup, shame on both major parties although National seems to try to push people into poverty even more enthusiastically than Labour.
How can this happen in a supposedly developed country? Shame on you New Zealand!
Family falls through the gaps
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9492231/Family-falls-through-the-gaps
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9492084/Greenpeace-defends-fundraising-strategy
– I approve of this, you gotta do what you gotta do
Early trolling.
Ok I don’t agree with it then?
Well they clearly support the cause and now their charitable status has been stripped it’s gotta be much harder for them.
Aren’t petitions public info? I don’t know.
So the little ” – ” that indents your comment, that indicates that you wrote that bit, right? That’s what you do sometimes, right?
It’s a non-story, the Privacy Commissioner is quoted in the article as saying:
“If you give your details it was reasonable to assume they would be used to contact you.”
Blimmin heck – it just goes to show that people see what they want to see. Where does it say that the Privacy commissioner said that?
the quote was :
“However, Greenpeace New Zealand fundraising director Michael Tritt said it would be “wrong” if it did not use the details people provided when they signed petitions.
“People aren’t silly. They know if they put down a phone number or email, there will be some form of communication.”
Are you deliberately trying to mislead?
You really should read to the last word…
“A spokesman for the Privacy Commissioner office said organisations collecting private information had to tell people how details were going to be used. If you give your details it was reasonable to assume they would be used to contact you. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9492084/Greenpeace-defends-fundraising-strategy
well, I figured that petition details might be used to audit the petition signatories, or for contact regarding something related directly to the petition issue. But a friend of mine was pulled out of a meeting for a phone call that was just touting a fucking greenpeace membership deal.
Shit, these days I view donation collectors and petition signature-gatherers with actual suspicion. Which is sad, really.
“Shit, these days I view donation collectors and petition signature-gatherers with actual suspicion. Which is sad, really.”
I agree Mc Flock, generally if personal contact details are required I don’t participate.
Be grateful that the Petition Colletors haven’t (I hope) reached the level they have got to in Paris. There you are quite likely to get a group of people pestering you to sign a petition and pushing the clipboard into your face. Beware. They are often just trying to distract you while one of them picks your pocket.
I guess they are just the first line of Woody Guthries song about Pretty Boy Floyd.
Greenpeace are the second part.
“Some will rob you witha six-gun.
And some with a fountain pen”
It would seem that lately I’ve mastered the art of the “fuck off” vibe. Or maybe I just no longer fit their demographic target.
ugh … Sorry Jetlagged (in Europe at moment).
I stand corrected and quote myself “it just goes to show that people see what they want to see” – goes for myself as well huh.
I stand corrected.
I still think its bad form – else what is stopping people using petitions on populist issues simply as a marketing tool to harvest email addresses?
Is there anything stopping them selling the names and contact details to other parties?
I stand corrected.
Thank you.
…what is stopping people using petitions on populist issues simply as a marketing tool to harvest email addresses?
The fact that it is a terribly inefficient and expensive way to harvest email addresses?
Is there anything stopping them selling the names and contact details to other parties?
Probably. And, of course, that is not what was done in this case.
In this case, people gave their contact details when signing a Greenpeace petition about shark finning. Then Greenpeace later used those contact details to inform those people about Greenpeace’s anti-shark finning campaign and ask them if they wanted to contribute to that and other Greenpeace campaigns. How terribly evil and under-handed of Greenpeace!
Blimmin heck – it just goes to show that people see what they want to see. Where does it say that the Privacy commissioner said that?
the quote was :
“However, Greenpeace New Zealand fundraising director Michael Tritt said it would be “wrong” if it did not use the details people provided when they signed petitions.
“People aren’t silly. They know if they put down a phone number or email, there will be some form of communication.”
Are you deliberately trying to mislead?
I agree with the douches.
If I put my contact details on a petition I assume it’s for the purpose of auditing the petition, not for a fucking upsell.
+1. The reason for providing name and address information is is verification.
I’ll stop signing petitions if I think I’ll be contacted about something else.
one can always decline follow-ups or, remain unreachable.
Yup. Nailed it.
And lets not ignore this
http://www.childpoverty.co.nz/
The best way to deal with poverty is to either pretend it doesnt exist or blame parents. Its also the cheapest way.
Yep – that’s where all that “with rights come responsibilities” kaka kicks in (OBVIOUSLY not just within the Natzi sphere of influence, but also STILL within Labour). The political class are really eagre and willing to proffer the spiel, though all the while forgetting that it also applies to them (I.e. & especially) LABOUR. They’ve been given various rights, but they sure as hell ARE NOT living up to their repsonsibilities. I even doubt many within its ranks even understand. Maybe it should be couched in terms of the ‘BRAND’ they’re attempting to sell (though not doing a very good job of it).
Along comes a Cunliffe, duly and democratically erected, pissing out all the correct sounds and flufferings, apparently having appeased the ‘natural’ fuckwits in the party, ….. but then along comes a Parker (who really should be considering whether or not he’s in the correct party).
Actually, (as a former member and loyalist), I’ve decided the “ONE more chance” I was going to give them is pretty pointless really.
I’ve been watching studiously. Still haven’t heard any “sorries”, or admonitions, or EVEN acknowledgment ‘ofs’, that relate to the lost opportunities in their last 3rd term; their real concerns for those affected by Ruth Richardson Limited and/or what they intend doing about it; ……
We know they’re battling a Natzi-compliant media, but I (at least) and the DC know how to battle that – even if it is to begin things with something that’s controversial.
Yep …. sorry Labour – LOST frikken cause – I’d rather my limited energies went to investing in a viable alternative to statquo. (I’ve had some “learnings” – especially after visiting this site)
well it is not the kids fault. what do you suggest communism?
You don’t have a particularly agile brain do you, Nackers? Communism? You could probably house a busload load of street kids in the vacuum in your cranium.
Read some Mao; brought many former slaves in from the fields.
And yes, in case you were lost at the base of the mountain, sometimes ‘God is a Bullet.
Listening to Morning Report this morning.
The South African High Commissioner.
This recording should be played in every school and be made compulsory listening
for every New Zealand citizen.
You can hold your heads high, Trevor Richards, Tom Newnham and John Minto et al.
SA and we are proud of you.
Hopefully someone will be able to link to this.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2579182
TPP secret deal going on in Singapore…
Listening to Cunliffe avoiding to answer Garner’s question would he have given up his place on a delegation to Mandela’s funeral in favour of Minto and I really don’t like what I’m hearing from him.
Will John Minto not be there at Mandela’s service?
But John Key will be?
Did the universe flip inside out overnight?
aye..white men who were on the wrong side of history..
..led by john ‘i’m quite relaxed about apartheid’ key..
..are going to represent those from here who stood beside/behind mandela…?
..but/and minto doesn’t get to go..?
..this is beyond irony..
..minto and richards should be honoured-guests/’our’ representatives there..
..not this cabal of old white men…
..who used to call mandela ‘a terrorist’..
..as i said:..
..’beyond irony’..
..phillip ure..
don’t forget the white women too phillip
Key has selected no women to go to the funeral vto
That is a very good point blue.
“cabal of old white men”
You do realise that Minto is nearly 10 years older than Key and Cunliffe I suppose?
y’see alwyn..you left off the second part of the sentence:..
‘cabal of old white men..who used to call mandela a terrorist’..
..mm-kay..?
phillip ure..
I find your peculiar punctuation makes it very difficult to understand much of what you are saying phillip.
I suppose I could read almost any two consecutive lines as being part of a sentence.
For example you can run together
“who used to call Mandela “a terrorist” as I said”
Did you really say that Mandela was a terrorist?
it’s all a matter of rhythm there..alwyn..
..you have to read the beats..
..phillip ure..
to be honest phillipe, while I read your posts, it is not easy, and I have been known to read a little. Be yourself regardless, yet I hope this is helpful feedback, which in itself can be quite attractive to the ear. (recognising my own ‘obscurities’ of course; goes without saying 😉 )
What’s he saying?
that’s a pretty shit question to ask as it happens. Cunliffe doesn;’ get to decide who goes. He can’t just give his spot to someone. It’s not an ‘admit one’ ticket ffs.
Say he says, “yep, I’ll swap with Minto then, sure thing”, he is doing so as leader of the Labour party, and as leader of the Labour Party (and defacto haed of the opposition in NZs parliament), declining an invitation. That would be pretty much shit.
Pascal’s bookie. I agree…It’s the sort of troll question a ‘shock dick’ asks in an attempt to
prove to us how clever he is and be remembered by the listeners of radio ritalin (or whatever) as an incisive deep thinking journalist (not). Only got 20 seconds to make an impression between ads for quack treatments.
pray you don’t listen to that White Noise, White Heat Rodel; will rot your brain quicker than an Alien intrusion.
amirite: which bit did you not like hearing?
the audio file is here:
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/AUDIO-Who-would-David-Cunliffe-take-to-South-Africa/tabid/506/articleID/39514/Default.aspx#.UqUh2eKt5Ao
My recollection is that Minto was a bit player during the tour. Certainly Newnham and Richards, if still alive, should go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Minto#Halt_All_Racist_Tours
“John Minto, along with Trevor Richards, Tom Newnham and others, was involved in forming Halt All Racist Tours, a group set up to protest against rugby union tours to and from Apartheid South Africa, in 1969. He became the National Chairman of the organisation in 1980. During clashes between police and protesters he was seriously assaulted by rugby supporters the evening after the disruption at Rugby Park in Hamilton. This assault had little impact on his protesting other than him adding a protective helmet to his distinctive outfit of overalls.[4][5] He remained at the forefront of the protests.”
Grumpy
If you were alive during 1981 you must have been asleep if you didn’t notice the leading role John Minto played in organising the anti tour protests.
Why don’t you just say you don’t like him because he continues to be an activist on issues of democracy and poverty in this country instead of trying to rewrite history?
My recollection is that Minto was a bit player during the tour.
Wrong. Certainly on all of the Auckland protests I went to (ie all of them) he was one of the people that was on the megaphone helping to do the organising.
I’m pretty sure he was doing that in Hamilton as well.
Fair enough. My experience was in Christchurch where Trevor Richards was most visable with Murray Horton and Graeme Wells. Big plus for John here though, tells it like it is.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-510888/Anti-apartheid-activist-refuses-South-African-medal-changes-helped-black-elite.html
Don’t think he would want to attend – do you?
OK. My experience was in Christchurch where Trevor Richards was the most visable, together with Murray Horton and Graeme Wells.
My recollection is that Muldoon was Prime Minister of the day…
According to John Key, Bolger was Prime Minister of the day.
“In terms of the protesters, of course we could have had some. It wasn’t that we were particularly shunning them, but in the end we thought the grouping that we got – the former Commonwealth Secretary General, the Prime Minister of the day Jim Bolger, and Pita Sharples is the representative of indigenous people – we had the combination about right.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11169387
To be fair to John Key he probably meant when Mandela took office, I assume sloppy reporting by the Herald to allow for ambiguity.
More breening from Key:
“As I’ve always said, I didn’t go to protest against the tour and I didn’t go to any of the games. I was 19 years of age and had lots of other things going on at the time.”
Key actually turned twenty a few days before the first test in Chch. Now, I’m not saying that a ticket to a rugby test is the ideal present for a conservative young kiwi bloke, but I’m not not saying it either.
@ Grumpy – can I give you all my old aluminum saucepans?
Just pay the postage and packaging – they’re YOURS for the taking
Who played the main role and who was a bit player seems to depend on whether people lived closer to Auckland or Wellington. I remember Minto being very much at the forefront of protest activity, while Trevor Richards was highly successful at getting onto United Nations committees and such things.
If you watch Patu, Minto seems to be well-involved.
Cunliffe gives a good account of himself here and his attitude towards the make-up of the NZ delegation to Mandela’s funeral. He had contemplated giving up his place to John Minto but was advised against it. I’m more than happy he is there to represent ALL anti-apartheid protestors.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9493269/Kiwi-Mandela-delegation-without-tour-protesters
Neville Gibson on the Panel (RNZ) suggesting, in the spirit of reconciliation, the nation forgives John Minto and sends him.
FFS Gibson, John Minto was an anti-apartheid hero.
He might forgive the NZRU and the National Party but hell will freeze over before that lot say sorry to Black Africa.
Apologies – I believe it was Jock Anderson (Well NBR type anyway)
And in saying that he was actually intimating all anti-apartheid protestors be forgiven. What kind of rational thinking is that? I choked on my cuppa…
Yes, it was Jock Anderson.
The greens shoot themselves in the foot again!
Just when you begin to think the Greens are looking like part of a Government, one of the has-beens from the Rogernomics era, again! shows that they have NFI how to get elected and they are still clinging desperately to the Neo-liberal paradigm.
https://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/new-green-party-proposal-will-keep-more-meridian-public-hands
I’m going to have to reconsider whether I will give my party vote to the Greens now that they have exposed themselves as gutless wonders. What a sell out they are! The referendum is not even finished yet and here they are surrendering to the neo-liberal agenda like the toothless capitalist lickspittles they are!! I blame the so called “Doctor” Russel Norman, who has been obviously co-opted to do the bidding of the 1% in order to maintain his privileged lifestyle!!!
i thought it was quite a good example of lateral-thinking..
..a not that unsavoury means to the desired end..(ie..returning more ownership to the people..)
..and that’s quite the conspiracy-theory you have going there with norman..eh..?
..whoar..!..
..who knew..?..
..and re ‘so called’…i think he is entitled to call himself ‘dr’..eh..?..(a phd..)
..could you be more specific about just what it is about this proposal that is burring under yr saddle..?
..phillip ure..
..
Listening to Russell Norman on RadioNZ it would appear that the ‘idea’ is that an offer will be put to those who have bought the Meridian shares and who have now had second thoughts that they can forgo the 50 cent per share payment due on those shares in return for being allocated a lesser shareholding with the subtraction form their allocation of the number of shares matching the value of the 50 cent per share still owed,
Seems logical economics to me with Russell pointing out the ‘sums’ where the Crown got to keep 67% of the meridian shares and being questioned about the efficacy of this where Crown debt repayments as per the added dividend from the extra 18% of shares would leave the Crown some 18 million dollars yearly better off,
Hardly any sell out to anything Neo-Liberal as Te Reo’s whine suggests and i would suggest that posting such a comment is ‘in defense’ of David Cunliffe and David Parker who have copped some recent, and well deserved in my opinion, flak over the Labour plan to raise the age of superannuation entitlement a truly abhorrent piece of Neo-Liberalism(again in my opinion),
Russell Norman nor Green Party members are in no way saying that the quite intelligent plan to offer the initial investors in Meridian an ‘out’ as far as paying the 50 cents a share owing on their initial take-up will or is the be all and end of of the re-aquisition of the sold off parts of the States assets simply a step in the right direction…
sounded sensible to me too. People can go ahead and pay for their remaining shares if they want. NOT if they don’t. Good thinking by the Greens.
That’s a spectacular mis-reading of the Greens’ statement. It’s interesting to see your strategy of belittlement and misrepresentation in action on a whole party here, not just one person.
Oh hang on! I see you’ve had a go at Russell Norman, deliberately mis-spelling his name, and putting sarcastic quote marks around his academic qualifications. You’ve even slung off at his “privileged lifestyle”.
Thank God that, with the party finally seeing sense and installing someone electable as the leader, your faction of the Labour Party is in abeyance. I guess that posting nasty and dishonest personal attacks on the internet is some consolation for you, and you even have a support crew. Not a very good one, I’m sorry to say, but they’re there for you—though you will know perfectly well that they have about as much integrity as John Key.
woooosh!!!
ps, Doctor who?
When the malicious lies fail, the vacuous sound effects come in. You’re having a worse day than John Key, my friend. And that is a very bad day indeed.
Why don’t you roll yourself a joint and smoke it, then come back to us, a mellower and a better man?
And, counter-intuitive as it might seem, your remarks would be a lot less dopey.
Dr who?
I acknowledge your surrender, my friend. Off you go now….
[lprent: You know that it is unwise to use the pwned/owned/victory approach here. I get irritated about the resulting flamewars and have a tendency towards long sentences for whoever I think is inciting them whatever words they are using. Don’t do it again. I’ve already warned you about this. ]
Poor moz, ‘tiz you having the bad day. Not only incapable of spotting satire, even in its broadest and most obvious form (big hint; I nicked the opening words from the ‘labour shoots itself in foot’ post), but apparently equally unable to spot his own failings in the area of nomenclature related pedantry despite repeated gentle prodding:
Dr who?
https://www.greens.org.nz/people/russelnorman
Sorry TRP.
For some reason I didn’t see any of your comments on the name when I contributed my effort below. I wouldn’t have put it in if I had as your contribution was much better, even if appears to have been a bit to subtle for Morrissey.
Te Reo Putake’s contribution was “much better” than yours? Yes it was, but that’s a really embarrassing thing to have to acknowledge.
Oh, dear Moz, have you not read the comments above? If it’ll help, there’s a reference or three there to your usual levels of accuracy being displayed around the spelling of Dr Russel Norman’s name.
Waiting ….
It’s text, unless it’s got a /satire tag then the chances are it’s going to be missed. The problem wasn’t Morrissey’s inability to spot satire but your inability to communicate effectively.
satire…hmmm, how does one go about this I wonder… 😛
Wooosh!
They had satire before the interwebs, Draco. Back in the day, people used their brains to recognise it and many were quite succesful at spotting satire when it was put in front of them without the need of further visual aids.
If you like, the next time I extract the urine, I’ll write two versions. One for the majority and one for the dullwitted. You’ll be able to spot the 2nd version because I’ll use an appropriate tag.
test: #draco.
Yep, that seems to work. (#draco)
Considering the replies you actually got it seems to me that the only person who thought your comment was satire was you.
As I said, the failure was yours and it still is as you dig yourself deeper.
Well, no actually. There were only comments from a minority, one of whom is terminally bewildered, and I’m reasonably sure the majority of regular readers would have twigged the reference to the ‘shoots itself in the foot’ post, which garnered a couple of hundred comments over the weekend (despite apparently being written without the benefit of actually reading Labour’s proposal).
And I would have thought the extra exclamation marks, phrases such as ‘capitalists lickspittles’ and the bogus threat to ‘reconsider voting green’ would have been sufficient clues that I wasn’t being entirely serious.
Despite what I said in the comment above, I’m going to continue to write sans hash. I credit TS readers with enough nous to spot the occasional joke comment. Plus, it had the additional benefit of making Moz write something so painfully foolish he can’t bring himself to write a correction.
When does Morrissey *ever* admit failure or correct himself?
He’s never done it, as far as I can recall.
Lanth: Morrissey has demonstrated contrition on occasion; on occasion.
I agree Rogue,
morrissey has admitted being less than perfect on at least one occasion (when the yawning gap between what he claimed and what was objective reality was presented to him in triplicate, presented again, moved around in front of him so that it was shown from every angle and highlights could be pointed out, much discussion was had on the nature of “sameness” and the doctrine of forms, flipcharts and diagrams and dictionaries were in close attendance, and it was made so clear via the use of nine-mile-high neon letters etched in the firmament by God that any dispute on the nature of that particular point would be sufficient evidence to detain the delusional disputant under the mental health act for fear that the universe would explode under the enormity of the logical contradiction).
In circumstances similar to that he has readily conceded a typographical error or two.
had some funny fodder for lunch Flockie 😀
🙂
had a couple of good lines at work, too. Must be the sleep deprivation.
Big effort on Mondays, just in case we get lost out-back later in the week. (or have a lay-in).
It is futile I’m afraid. The only way you can get most people to get what you are saying is to put it quite bluntly and then repeat it over and over.
Say something like this
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L
Russel Norman’s first name is spelt with ONE L.
Continue till you have done it about 50 times. It might, and I only say might sink in that they have made a fool of themselves.
I tried a minor joke with a comment by Colonial Viper a few days ago. He accidentally put that The Herald was owned by Fairfax. I’m sure he didn’t mean it and he knew it was APN. My comment was simply to ask when Fairfax bought the Herald.
Another contributor, who will remain anonymous, then proceeded to berate me and tell me I could look it up myself. Even when I teased him as to how to do that, claiming I couldn’t manage it he didn’t realise that he had got it wrong.
Alwyn 🙂
The really important question is why does Russel’s name have only one “l”?
It’s a bit dodgy, that, don’t you think? I mean, he has two “s”s. Has anyone asked the PM what he thinks?
Like, maybe his dad said something like, “Russell, if you go into politics there’ll be ‘l’ to pay”. Or something. It’s the fact nobody’s asking the question that’s got me wondering what’s behind it all.
Very funny Arfamo (sincerely)- the other ‘L’ is silent and therefore not needed to be put in – that is efficiency, which does beg the obvious question…
Oh hang on Morrissey. I see you have been deliberately mis-spelling Russel Norman’s name as Russell Norman.
Why is it that, when we try to correct someone’s grammar or spelling, we always screw it up?
the standard is my favorite soap opera
not sitcom? Ayyyyyyy
Yes, you got me, alwyn. I was the one who got the spelling wrong. That’s another round to you guys. Well done, buddy.
Silly variant of “Russell”, all the same.
“I’m going to have to reconsider whether I will give my party vote to the Greens now …..”
Please excuse me for inquiring – were you ever seriously going to give your party vote to the Greens anyway?
My recollection is that Minto was a bit player during the tour…
Your “recollection” is faulty, or you are a liar. Either way, you are not competent to post anything on this matter.
Hypocrisy watch no.94: Breen, M.
lolz
Lol
Although it’s actually turned out to be fun watching the scabs thicken over the gulf between his delusions and reality. He’s almost back to near-perfect accuracy 🙂
Your Red China-style campaigns of harassment against me are tiresome, Te Reo. I am sure that that’s the way anyone who sticks his/her head up in your local Labour Party branch is treated, and you might even succeed in cowing some people into submission, or at least make them too afraid to speak.
Your vigilance and your fanaticism is quite a phenomenon; you’re quite the little apparatchik. If I were a weaker or less confident person, your constant campaign of belittlement and name-calling would have had an effect by now. But you are clearly impervious to the fact that I don’t kow-tow to bullies, and your constant badgering—the equivalent of the National Party’s strategy of hooting and cat-calling in the House—only makes you look bereft of ideas.
I see you have a couple of faithful servants enthusiastically registering their approval of your little performance; you should pay them a retainer.
The voice of reason, aka one man doctrinaire commissariat , so true M…….I think the most reasonable action Morrissey is to ignore the bastards. Cant recall any of them having anything vaguely amusing interesting to say on a regular basis. Apply the shit filters and save your fingers time on the keyboard in response.
Thanks, Ennui. I know I shouldn’t encourage these gadflies, but that’s me—I can’t resist slapping them. Mind you, I’m in good company: every time Robert Fisk or Noam Chomsky or John Pilger say or write anything, they are attacked in identical fashion by the same kind of people as have had a go at me this morning.
Well said Ennui & Morrissey
TRP’s behaviour toward Morrissey (& others) reflect very badly on TRP.
You are a fucken schoolboy kid. In Christchurch Trevor Richards was the most visable along with Murray Horton and guys like Graeme Wells. I was as involved as anyone.
That probably was the reason then. I was in Auckland and Hamilton.
My God. Were you Mandela’s bestest friend forever too?
Nope, back then I think it was Steve Biko was all the go. There are more heroes of the fight for freedom than just Mandela.
Ah, I remember Richards from my youth, in my Christchurch days. My strongest memory is of him frequently being at a friend’s flat/shared house, at the kitchen table, typing away, with a Shostakovich record LP (vinyl) on the turntable playing in the background.
Richards was a remarkable guy. He seemed to attract the radical fring of which there were a lot in Christchurch. Newnham appealed more to the apolitical or middle of the road market. Together they were very effective. I remember the meeting at a church hall in central Christchurch when Richards made the grand entrance in company with Burgess, the current All black 1st five. You were probably there too Karol.
My memories are from the early 70s, when Trevor Richards was very active in HART (Halt All Racist Tours). I was living in London in 1981.
K, was the vinyl scratched? (That can tend to make Shostakovitch more bearable). Its actually quite funny seeing film of the protests, my neighbour pointed out to me his image on the pitch in Hamilton. And I often used to see one prominent individual at protests who I met years later, turned out to be a relative of the wife. I have freeze framed Patu and cannot identify myself (little bit of ego tripping….) but in there somewhere I must be.
What this tells me is that this country is very small, two degrees of separation rigidly self enforces. Which in turn indicates that Key claiming a lack of memory etc somewhat disingenuous. And it makes my lumps and bruises from the protests hurt again to see the prat attending the funeral representing us anti tour protesters.
What happened to Bob Burgess? Now there was a hero, chucked away a career as potentially one of the best All Black 1st fives on a matter of principle!
I remember Bob whilst I was still at school marking Barry John against the 1971 Lions. Cant remember if he was in the frame for the previous years tour of Yappieland, or if he refused to go. I do remember him stating anti tour views in 1981 but by then he was well retired and out of the AB frame. I recall seeing Ken Gray at a Wellington protest, and remember Graham Mourie and Bruce Robertson withdrawing from the AB side in protest.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/7487607/Why-I-turned-down-the-All-Blacks
Thanks for the link Grumpy, so it was the 1970 tour Burgess declined, plus availability for the 73 tour the Kirk government objected to. Despite years of alcohol abuse and rugby injuries my memory still works (sort of). Quite remarkable that Burgess got selected in 1971 then.
Yep, he was selected because he was way better than the next best option.
put on the ‘Rach III 😀
Malignant past and present figures who may shuffle off this mortal coil in the not too distant future…
Pat Robertson, past US televangelist and Republican presidential aspirant- 83
Ian Paisley, former Northern Ireland First Minister and fundamentalist
Protestant agitator- 87
Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI- 86
Fred Nile, fundamentalist homophobe and NSW Legislative Councillor- 79
George H.Bush- former Republican US President- 89
Lord Norman Tebbit, Thatcher era relic- 82
John Howard, former Australian Prime Minister- 74 [sadly, this is a long-term prospect]
Fortunately, none of the great and good from the past seems to be in this category- apart from
Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Capetown Desmond Tutu- 82
“I could explain it but I’m not going to.”
Key’s train-wreck performance on Breakfast
Television One, Monday 9 December 2013, 7:15 a.m.
The prime minister’s lack of integrity and his persistent dishonesty—he “can’t remember” anything of consequence—is finally starting to alienate even the tamest, most malleable broadcasters. Even those smiling, personable, government-friendly personalities on TV1’s Breakfast programme are now confronting him quite boldly….
PETER WILLIAMS: There is growing criticism of John Key’s plan to attend the funeral of Nelson Mandela, given some comments he has made about the tour in the past.
TONI STREET You said you “can’t remember” what your stance was toward the 1981 Springbok tour.
JOHN KEY: Those comments were made on a regional radio station seven years ago. I could explain it but I’m not going to.
TONI STREET: You can’t remember whether you were for or against the tour in 1981?
JOHN KEY: I’m not saying I was for or against it. I was anti-apartheid but I didn’t go on any protest marches, and I didn’t go to any of the games. I was about twenty at the time and I had other things on my mind. [conspiratorial smirk]
TONI STREET: But can you remember what your stance was on the 1981 tour?
…..[Awkward silence]…..
JOHN KEY: I’m not going to go into it. If I say I was for or against it, that will open up a whole new series of questions, so I am not going to comment on it.
…..[Awkward silence]…..
TONI STREET: But can you remember what your stance was on the 1981 tour?
JOHN KEY: I’m not going to comment on the matter. Let’s just leave it at that.
…..[Awkward shit-eating smirk]…..
aye..it was quite the watershed moment..
..when the co-compere of the tvone breakfast show starts asking awkward-questions of key..
..ya gotta know key/national are in deep trouble..
..and the disbelieving look on her face..at/to his answers..
..spoke/screamed volumes..
..why doesn’t key just say..that like with so many other things..?
..like child-poverty/greenhouse-gas-warming/oil spills etc. etc.
..that he was ‘quite relaxed’ with/about apartheid..?
..phillip ure..
Funtastic. That should get more publicity.
Great that the lamestream are even holding Key to account on his “can’t remember” stance on the Springboks tour. This surprises me, they usually have selective memories when it comes to Key’s Dubious Moments.
(In the meantime as well as respectful musical tributes to Mandela since Friday Radio Active have gone hard out with their lampooning of Key all morning, putting together a collection of sound bites spliced in with a fake interview)
Will 2014 finally be Key’s undoing? The year he finally, can no longer slither away from the truth of his disastrous reign? With Bradley Ambrose suing him for defamation, Banks’ trial, Dotcom’s hearing, and fingers crossed, a powerful NO message coming the asset sales referendum will his star finally descend? Will the voters finally, finally see him for what he is, a con?
Book ya tickets for Hawaii Johnny boy!
I suspect it’s because they can’t ignore what he’s already said on it as everyone remembers and thought it was BS then as well.
‘lamestream’ that is very good.
Initially i was, as usual, disgusted with key for saying he couldn’t remember but it is a blessing in disguise because that line will haunt him and thank the gods he didn’t say he protested – having a shallow fake as a prime minister is one thing but it would be worse to have him on our side of that anti-apartheid fight. Hopefully he’ll make an utter fool of himself over there by trying some 3-way handshake or something. He doesn’t represent me, he represents the exploiters and they are international.
Newsflash!
John Key says he’s not going to ‘make stuff up’
“I’m strongly opposed to apartheid, but I’m not going to make up stuff that wasn’t the case 30 years ago and try and reinvent history because it’s inconvenient for the left.
Wow! That’ll be a change from his usual form….
“I’m strongly opposed to apartheid, but I’m not going to make up stuff that wasn’t the case 30 years ago and try and reinvent history because it’s inconvenient for the left.”
Classic mangled Keyism there – is anyone trying to pressure him to ‘make stuff up’ over this? And why on Earth would it be inconvenient for da left if he doesn’t?
My translation: “Lying and saying I was interested and involved in the protests isn’t an option for me, but I’m not going to tell the truth which is that I couldn’t give a flying fuck about either rugby nor the plight of the oppressed, because Labour would love that.”
I reckon your translation is spot on e.m. Let’s extend that out to “I don’t give a flying fuck about about anything except for advancing my mates and me”
And m.m. There’s bound to be some kind of etiquette cock up in S.A on His behalf, which in the past has arisen out of insincerity, ignorance and immaturity. We can just laugh when he does here at home, but when he does it overseas it’s cause for head in the hands moments. This is how it must have been for the Americans every time Dubya opened his gob in regard to world matters.
ooh, must have touched a blister-pack on Key’s lying backside.
I think it’s because mandela trumps key in their kow towing stakes… Key can lie to the people but NOT about Nelson.
Xox
They say Liars must have fantastic memories. Or they “can’t remember”. Ho hum.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11169127
‘Police try and control protestors…’ Yeah, looks like a complete riot going on there…
Talk about making shit up. And this guys our fucken PM.
Well, we got what 30% didn’t vote for with this creep. Maybe next time they’ll vote the bastard out.
Yes, DTB,
I find it extraordinary the stance the pm is taking re protest.
He lost all credibility on the matter when he referred to the Law Society and the Human Rights Commission amongst others as ‘misinformed’ and ‘not understanding the law’ (GCSB concerns).
He is dealing with people lobbying on a daily basis – they are ‘all the same people’, they protest to get their interests upheld and could be described in the same way. That’s what they do all day. When they are paid to do it ‘protesting’ is called ‘lobbying’, however and that’s different. /sarc
Protest is an important part of the democratic process and I would like to see Nzers voting for politicians and political leaders that have some respect and understanding of democracy, unlike our pm who appears to have none.
Interesting 2011 report on the Counterfire website on the rising trend of protest and fall in public trust in government.
Two of the stated findings:
“There has been an unprecedented fall in public trust in government, the media, corporations and other central institutions in British society – with less than a quarter of Britons trusting national government, less than a fifth trusting parliament and fewer than 15% having any confidence in the press.
There has been a marked and significant rise in protest movements – twice as many of us are taking part in demonstrations compared to the 1970s and the proportion of the population describing themselves as ‘left wing’ has grown by over 2 million since the 1980s. – “
So perhaps Key and those who sycophantically repeat his mutterings marginalising protest need to ‘get over it’ and start dealing with the issues that these ‘lobbyists for public interest’ are raising.
Hilariously that’s exactly what his political predecessors said about the anti-apartheid protests too.
kind of like when he was 20, but had far better things to do… like study for his exams…
Suggested candidates for new ACT leader
“The party can rebuild. …We have a number of very talented potential candidates.”
—-ACT president John Boscawen
The sheep of Epsom will vote for anyone they are instructed to vote for. You don’t get to the level of mediocrity that enables you to live in such a nice area without being obedient and amenable. Here are the most appealing prospects for ACT in Epsom….
Kyle Chapman Positives: principled, in an ACT kind of way, and sounds just like an ACT spokesman. Downside: would possibly set fire to downtown Wellington.
Garth “Gaga” George Positives: old and dopey, and never asks questions. Downside: would probably die after three months in office, thus necessitating a by-election.
Kerre McIvor (née ohoWmad) Positives: enormous ego; staunch supporter of Chinese government; intolerant of dissent; doesn’t read much and knows less; very attractive to silly old men like Brian Edwards; very supportive of violent males like Tony Veitch. Downside: can be extraordinarily unpleasant, intolerant and judgmental. (Then again, this is ACT, and those are therefore further positives.)
Alan Titford Positives: principled, brave, well spoken; sounds just like an ACT spokesman. Downside: in prison for the next 24 years, which would make him only slightly more effective than John Banks.
Tony Veitch Positives: high profile; young; fit; enthusiastic; desperately eager to please, very much in the manner of Rodney Hide. Downsides: anathema to women, and knowing nothing about anything, including his “specialty” of sports; prone to extreme violence against women.
This was first posted on Frank Macskasy’s excellent blog….
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/12/07/suggested-candidates-for-new-act-leader/#comments
In fact, if you put Kyle Chapman in a suit, he’d look and sound very much like Don Brash or Trevor Loudon giving a speech on human rights and how Maori seats are the same as apartheid.
you would have a greater following than Kyle Chapman Murray
If I had his followers, I’d lead them over a cliff.
This made me laugh. Alot!
You forgot Pete George. Sure, he presents himself as “reasonable” and “moderate” but then he’d present anything as “reasonable” and “moderate” and bore people to death explaining why.
Another lie for blips collection.
“Yes, it is true that Anadarko Petroleum Corporation had a 25 percent ownership of the company or one of the companies that had a problem in the gulf. I think it is also worth remembering that in the Gulf of Mexico since 1947, 50,000 wells have been drilled, and to the best of my knowledge that problem in the gulf was the one major one that most people can remember.”
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/12/08/key-will-he-put-his-55m-where-his-oily-mouth-is/#sthash.yE6jVkqK.dpuf
deserves its own thread
Unintentional repetition, LP, firefox still playing up on occasion.
Google chrome having the same problem. Don’t think it’s your browser.
I’m posting and then the browser slows down and the comment doesn’t appear. Only way around it for me is to leave that page cranking away and to open a new tab, go to TS, and keep hitting refresh until the comment from my previous tab page appears. Hitting refresh on the same, slow page just causes duplicate posts.
elementary my dear Watson, although, when comment submission completes, and ‘blank’ appears, I just hit TS bookmark on the same open tab, and there are your comments in all their perceptive glory. Which reminds me, must be time for a Head Like A Hole track.
“just like that!”, although, helpful to have another page open to read while TS grinds away 😀
Odd. Has this been showing up over the weekend or just within the last hour?
The reason I ask is because the load balancer just got put on with two server rather than the single server it has been running with over the weekend.
last half hour for me; and slower now; the ‘ghost’ has been lost to the ether.
Throughout the weekend and continues today for me Lprent. Getting the same issues mentioned above on google chrome. Am using firefox at the mo and am encountering the same issues but it is however a little faster.
Ok isn’t to do with the number of servers.. or the web/file server processes which got reset manually on saturday, and automatically on sunday.
That leaves the database server. Ummm…
I’ve had the site disappear on occasions today. But not for very long.
for the last few days for me..intermittant..
..phillip ure..
The Maori Party has finally made a selection for Aunty Tariana’s Te Tai Hauauru electorate,(affectionately known as the sinking Waka),
Chris McKenzie, a relative unknown in political circles,(something set to continue after November 2014), will be the candidate to usher the Maori Party into electoral oblivion, leaving the vexed question of the selection of a female ‘co-leader’ to be answered at some time in the future,(perhaps at the time Pita Sharples electorate of Tamaki-Makaurau selects a replacement for Him),
The Maori Party has one slim hope of political survival past November 2014 and that is for EGO’s to be put aside and a reunification with Hone Harawira’s Mana Party be engineered,
As the Te Tai Hauauru electorate to be vacated by Turia at the end of the current Parliament now stands it is looking increasingly like reverting back to Labour as Mana have not and never had a strong presence in this electorate,
The Green Party might like to look at it’s,(quite good), 2011 electorate results here and devise a strategy that they think will divert ‘electorate votes’,(2007 in 2011),to the Labour candidate while keeping the ‘Party Vote’ building,
‘Strategic voting’ for a long lasting Government of the left should be the battle cry for the 2014 election…
isnt he their “strategist”…
Does the Maori Party Constitution require both a male and female leader?
If so is McKenzie going to chnage sex if elected or is Flavell going to do the deed
Ron, yes to your first question and i did suggest last week that Party vice-Prez,(or is He the Prez these days), Ken Mair do the deed poll thing to Kendra and stand in the seat…
The next MP for Te Tai Hauahuru:
http://www.adrianrurawhe.maori.nz/
Whew that would have to be the best nominee website I’ve seen
The next MP for Te Tai Hauahuru:
http://www.adrianrurawhe.maori.nz/
Um, would this be an example of what happens when you fire all your sub editors?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11169356
Ha ha, that’s brilliant. Wonder how long before they realise.
😆
areeba!
Um, would this be an example of what happens when you fire all your sub editors?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11169356
WTF? Hahahahahahahahaha 🙂
chuckling
The PM wants an official photographer.
That sounds a little self-aggrandising, but if it’s taxpayer funded, shouldn’t the raw footage and all the snaps be subject to the Official Information Act? It may prove more embarassing than intended.
He has run out of things to say (no text, no facts, nothing of substance) and in other cases, says he can’t remember (yeah, right). So now he needs to have just pictures.
Couldn’t he just have ministerial selfies? Has he not heard of Instagram?
what’s the salary, and all the parties are doing it. No wonder there is no money for the children
From the tone and angle of the piece, it is quite surprising that Claire Robinson does not seem to have applied for the job or volunteered to be the photographer.
I think her skills in propaganda will be sought after when they seek someone to write the captions.
Five hours ’till the ‘eagle’ lands; what shall we play today… 😀
😀
Still waiting for your H.L.A.H. track. My tastes are flawed , I know it’s a crying shame but luckily you my friend are on fire
I saw that tickle-up Lyn performed; Death or Glory (and pray the link functions)
When the ‘eagle’ lands (or while in flight) please play this for the shonKey one.
He’s on the ‘throne’, above Soweto, can hear some singing…
“Mirror in the bathroom
Please talk free
The door is locked
Just you and me
Can I take you to a restaurant
That’s got glass tables
You can watch yourself
While you are eating”.
(Beat this English)
For you fender et al; from Molly’s Chambers : “truth with a voice”.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but I DO appreciate the musical interludes brought to TS, (including ALL of the above) and it’s often by you two, Roguey and fender.
It brings a cheeriness to the day when there isn’t much to cheer about.
Superfluous info: Glory Glory – I had as a high rotate ear worm recently but luckily that was a good ear worm. As you know with ear worms, any genre, including the really bad ones (eg, phil collins) can land in your brain and infect it, sometimes for days.
Last word: Do not ever, under any circumstance allow this in as ear worm prior to a job interview or any serious and important meeting or event
Eels. Mighty Boosh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwcF6ea2PMQ
😀 Rosie
“He doesn’t mind being seen doing weird things,” she said, pointing to pictures of him drinking with Prince William as an example.
All I want for Christmas is a cycle way,
A cycle way,
And photograph……
Key with flash cards he saves for public at meetings (that he can’t avoid)! Saves all those time wasting, incredibly nosy questions asked by barmy individuals just trying to turn a well organised gathering into a circus. PR people start amassing a pile of cards with simple slogans now. One word a card would do.
In a new development, the PM declares there will be no more press releases, starting from his office and extending to other ministerial offices. Any government announcements and policy initiatives will be provided as pictures. When asked whether this will be a new practice or just for the interim until the next election, the PM shrugged and pointed to his spokesperson who mimed that verbal press releases would be aspirational and the PM is ambitious for the government to have higher standards. At a subsequent interview, when questioned about the advertisement for a new taxpayer-funded photographer and videographer, the PM said, “I’m not going to go and revisit that because if I do I’ll spend all day talking about it and I can’t be bothered.”
“The PM wants an official photographer.”
The PM is freaking out that the media have begun to acshly publish his acshull responses to acshull questions.
Must. Control. Narrative.
lprent sorry about multiple entries, delete if you can. Something going wrong…..
Something about having two servers running. Just dropped it to one.
Just read yesterdays columns on teaching and the standard of education, what it is like to teach etc etc. Chris73, that was, despite the crap you received well worth reading as a from the front line commentary. Redlogix, nice counterpoise, shows how perceptions of the same thing differ with each individual.
What might we take out of this? As somebody who is in front of staff, customers, suppliers etc all day what I am very aware of is that my reality and perception thereof is often at odds with the other party. Hard as the more doctrinaire bloggers over here might find it, there is no reason why we cannot accept that we are often both correct. Duality, it is possible and we can face it with rancour if we care to open our ears and minds.
and ipso facto both wrong
Damn it, I will now have to retrace my steps around the office and retract everything this morning…….
face it ‘without’ rancour FIFY
Until such time as all private donations to political parties are banned completely there can be no true democracy as the political parties are simply bought by the largest cheque.
End.
The gabbymouth is hooting away. Where is Col Craig’s support coming from? The grassy knoll conspiratorists? etc are going to keep voting Green. WTF.
I don’t see Greens as dragging themselves through the sludge of dubious theories and endless arguments and abandoning their practical, and present concerns. What is of moment to them is how we are acting now with a view to the future for ourselves and the planet. That is what I expect from the Greens and that is essential, as no other Party is showing half the responsibility for that vital role.
The rest is history and worth thinking about and analysing, but the Greens have to keep the greatest part of their mind on the important things for now and the future. But also a watchful eye on those who use the smallest part of their minds, like Hooten, and so are nearly mindless.
88, our favourite number of comments, and so early in the mornin’
World Cup Construction Workers Score
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/england-world-cup-venue-workers-2904052?
Right here’s how it’s gone for my first comment this morning.
I put one on in Open Mike. Unconnected to any other, did not press Reply. Did it. put name and email in. Highlighted and took copy just in case. Submitted it. Got Closed by Remote Server.
Went back- the comment still there. Thought I had better not do anything else as I would probably just be doubling up. Left it and closed TS.
Called up site again and got in, saw greywarbler in comment list, and clicked. When I got to bottom of Open Mike comment wasn’t there. Went back up to the Comment List and my pseudo wasn’t there any more.
Talk about fun and games. Hide the parcel and find in how many moves?
So I’ll see what this one does. But some ghost in the machine is haunting me. Bah humbug!
It’s haunting
And this removes my edit option. I followed the same procedure with my second comment which was a test. When I came back on to site again and clicked on my pseudonym in the comments list, I saw the list shift up and so my name disappeared. Refreshed using F5, waited some seconds, and it came back again.
Hope this indicates something useful to you lprent. Otherwise it must be that my crankshaft is flat. (Toad Wind in Willows.)
‘Schizophrenic’ US Foreign Policy Herds Arab States Towards Russia
Just up the desert road
Ok I have shifted the server back to two with a longer stickiness per server (you tend to stay on the same one).
But it looks like the basic problem is in the database server getting sluggish. That hasn’t had a restart for a while. Now it gets one…
Ah monday mornings…
I stand corrected. Just turned off the database caching at the web server side. Now I’m not getting the comment timeout.
Testing again.
Nope.. that just died then. Rebooting database.
Testing comment update again post database reboot.
Single larger server
That appears to be the issue. Simple speed when the servers are a bit underpowered.
I’ll run with that for a few hours and see if the problem reappears..
Try another boot, with a steel-cap this time? Amazing how often brute force and ignorance can solve technical probs.
Thank god you’re not the sysop
Ok. Thanks for not making me the sysop, god. I owe you one.
😀
test
Edit: faster
much obliged Hombre, now for some merriment 😎
China- Authorities and Dissidents -Respond to the passing of Mandela
http://www.ibtimes.com/china-reacts-nelson-mandela-death-remembered-authorities-dissidents-alike-1498858
meanwhile, China’s November exports rose 12.7% from a year ago, imports only 5.3% : Trade Surplus for the month $33.8B.
LABOUR SUCKERED AGAIN .
Have a look at this from w/oil.
Topic greenpease and the greens tactics.
” The main reason the Greens spent tens of thousands of (taxpayers) dollars paying people to collect petition signatures wasn’t to actually have a referendum”
It seems those of you who signed the petition opposing asset sales can expect to be hounded by the greens now that many of you gave them your e mail address when signing the petition, that’s all they really wanted .
The greens must be having a good laugh at labour, what labour has done is assist the greens to build their political base.
Brilliant own GOAL labour.
National could have initiated the petition to stop the asset sales and I would have been happy to provide my email address.
ghostrider@critique.com (no spam please, only hole-foods).
Ummm I see that you are kind of stupid. Why do you assume that it is just the greens and greenpeace who collect information?
Incidentally you should really read the actual privacy legislation before acting like a illiterate wanker from whaleoil. I realise this will be hard for you as you don’t seem too capable at the comprehension parts of life. But in particular you should note that the political parties have certain privacy exemptions.
The most notable use by a political party of collecting names and addresses can be seen in the raffle sized cost and long duration of the National party membership. So many people have regretted the stigmata of receiving mail in their new status as National party members after buying a raffle ticket.
So much for surgery waiting lists under this National administration eh?
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/20225989/research-shows-280-000-need-surgery/
from the link;
of the 280,000 awaiting elective surgery (only 110,000 on lists)
25% have had time of work as a result
50% have a poorer QOL than five years ago; for 25% their QOL is ” a lot worse”.
so, 265,000 children overlooked, 280,000 awaiting surgery… at least we do not have a trade in human body parts, yet.
Jeepers that is a lot of pending surgery and as you note RT – the longer the wait the often worse life gets for people. I hope we don’t have a trade in body parts but if there’s money in it the scum will will set up a business. Meanwhile we also have this – De-racialisation – bloody hell – they say if you live long enough you see most things – I’m starting to see shit I never ever thought I’d see and it ain’t pretty.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/beauty/beauty-news/9494299/On-de-racialisation-surgery
No, Face Off gets ugly in later scenes.
I’ll just put this here while my liver . regenerates naturally. Watched a documentary once on a similar theme; The billion-dollar market for hair-straightening targeting African-Americans- Good Hair with Chris Rock.
Although true that article is an advertisement for private health insurance.
Bohemian Rhapsody:
an Epic Tribute
Nice to see the old double standard at work again. Son of a well known N.Z.er gets name suppression. Guess another wealthy white middle class kid gets to cover up his misdemeanors. Or course, if he was from a lower socio-economic group, he’d probably be incarcerated by now.
I have no idea who he is, but I did notice the term “prominent leader” for his father. I might be wrong, but isn’t a term like this more normally used for Maori than for whites, who are usually described as prominent sportsmen, politicians, businessmen, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the son of some prominent Maori Tory.
was up Gizzy way from memory, yet, maybe not.
[deleted]
[lprent: Already banned. Another IP for autospam. ]
In Dunedin the ‘crisis’ has cost hundreds of real, well paid manufacturing jobs over the last 5 years. Your point? Are you trying to say that this is the start of years of sustained manufacturing growth and the drought is now over?
you might want to play with the statsnz tools and compare the 10-year performance of manufacturing with other industries and activities.
there’s your crisis.
I saw that nutter from the business org on teevee in the weekend going on about taxes and compliance costs.
Well the question must be asked if someone is not capable of filling in a form then are they capable of running a business.
Its just an excuse for not paying tax.
Some of these people want everything but dont want to pay their way at all.
Castigating the poor for being poor;
Jock Anderson rampant on the Panel today
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Monday 9 December 2013
Jim Mora, Jock Anderson, Mark Inglis
First of all, perky girl Noelle McCarthy made a statement of blithering hypocrisy, which for its humbug level is right up there—or down there—with Barack Obama’s eulogy for Nelson Mandela….
JIM MORA: It’s Noelle McCarthy with what the WOOOOOOOOORLD’s talking about.
NOELLE McCARTHY: [light-hearted tone] Well there’s an interesting one first up. If you can swallow your ideological scruples and are going to the Winter Olympics, there’s a list of things you are not allowed to take with you!
JIM MORA: Oh? Ha ha ha ha ha!
MARK INGLIS: Ha ha ha ha ha!
JOCK ANDERSON: Haw haw haw haw haw!
Later, Jock Anderson launched into one of his ideologically charged discourses, claiming, without being challenged by either Mora or Inglis, that John Minto* was responsible for a great deal of disruption in this country in 1981, and then expressed his “skepticism” about the levels of poverty in this country, before blaming the poor for making “poor choices”. (Interestingly, he has never castigated the rich for making poor choices—at least not on this programme.) He also sneered at “the likes of Charles Waldegrave and company who make more of this than there really is.”
Far from making him defend these extreme ideological statements, Inglis and Mora chimed in with more of the same….
MORA: Why would Charles Waldegrave do this? Is this the poverty industry that Rodney Hide speaks of?
MARK INGLIS: Hmmmm, I struggle with this idea of poverty. You know, I’ve been to India, where I can show you real poverty.
MORA: [Deep sigh to indicate moral seriousness] All right, now, let’s talk to Dr Elizabeth Craig of the NZ Child and Youth Epidemiology Service at the University of Otago. Ahhhh, Elizabeth, I remember Helen Clark denying we had the really poor and we’ve just had Mark Inglis talking about India….
Dr Craig spoke clearly and patiently, in spite of an initial barrage of faux-naïve and contrarian statements from Mora. Almost in spite of his antics, this ended up as an interesting and informative discussion. By the end of her appearance he was talking intelligently and not making dishonest and provocative statements. He is actually very good when he concentrates; it shows what he is capable of if he did not spend so much of his time trying to formulate complex sentences and pandering to his right wing guests.
* Designated target for abuse by selected Labour Party apparatchiks.
Jock Anderson on the Panel (RNZ) suggesting, in the spirit of reconciliation, the nation forgives John Minto and sends him.
FFS!!! John Minto was an anti-apartheid hero.
He might forgive the NZRU and the National Party but hell will freeze over before that lot say sorry to Black Africa.
Jock Anderson, wasn’t it? I only got to hear part of what he said, but he started by saying he’s rethought his opposition to Minto going while driving to the studio and now accepted that someone from the anti-tour movement should go. I thought that sounded rather considered, but if, as you say, he was just being snide, I’m disappointed.
TRP Anderson was conceding that John Minto should go. But only in the spirit of forgiveness. My point is that the likes of Anderson, the RFU, The majority of the National Party, despised John Minto and will never say that they were sorry for the sporting contacts.
John Minto does not need any forgiveness.
I agree logie – for me John Minto is at the top of heroes of this country – well above Ed for instance and he needs zero forgiveness from anyone. The best thing is that he is still with us and you can befriend him on facebook for instance – being a friend of your hero – wow it doesn’t get better than that!!!!!
That Facebook thing Marty…….yeah must admit how good it feels to be in a place small enough and special enough (excuse a whiff of hand-over-heart there) when your heroes often live just around the corner, figuratively if not literally.
Remember a bit of a flame war happening on FB with this person whose profile picture quite ludicrously had a wallpaper of a trillion peace symbols behind her. While she performed like a right little Zionist Nazi. Until then an FB friend of Minto’s she lavishly “de-friended” him online in real time. Was hilarious !
Admit it was good to get a thumbs up from John Minto to some comment I made. Reassured that my moral compass was working sorta thing.
Anyway John…………you go to the funeral or you don’t…………..what really matters is Mandela knows !
Listen to what the South African High Commissioner had to say this morning on
Morning Report regarding the “protest movement” – HART et al
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2579182
Talking about Noelle McCarthy does anyone know why RNZ have such a love affair with her. When she was resident in NZ they were always using her on air. She left NZ and returned to Ireland and now every year we find her coming out to NZ for her summer holidays and find work on Radio NZ. It has been suggested that RNZ pay for her to come out here. Does anyone know if this is correct and if so why?
What political hue were the prime ministers of
Britain, New Zealand, Australia in 1981. and what was their attitude to sporting contact with SA?
Margaret Thatcher, Robert Muldoon, and Malcolm Fraser.
One of them was vehemently opposed to sporting contacts. (- it wasn’t Thatcher or Muldoon).
And what political hue are the prime ministers of those countries who are attending the funeral.
Cameron, Key, Abbott.
Nothing changes does it ? (Except, were apartheid to be in existence still, you can bet all these three would still be branding the protesters as wreckers and criminals.)
Jesus, Morrissey, why do you put yourself through this? I suppose that I should be grateful that you do it so that I don’t have to, but think of your own health!
must have a robust constitution 😀 and a tough Hide
ah yes “real poverty”. yes, Mark, let’s wait until we have people like India, it will be easier to deal with it then, won’t it.
Mr Inglis who put quite the burden on the taxpayer and rescue services with his sometimes reckless climbing excursions. I wonder, since he’s been on the speaking circuit etc, how much has he paid back? I mean, if we use India as a template, as he wishes, an amputee such as he would be sitting on a street with a bowl begging for money.
Well said, Tracey!
Meanwhile, over the Tassie, the net tightens on ex PM Gillard.
http://michaelsmithnews.com
oooh, still, “Mars needs women, Angry red women”. (cool photo).
Is it just me or is this place a bit more like a bar-room brawl than usual today?
peaceful where I’m sitting, ‘ang on a mo’…nope, there’s an evening lawn-mowing occurring next door!
I think a bottle just whizzed past your head…
you jest, yet I still bear a scar on my cheek from such a missile; Vandal, may God rest his soul, died a violent death not too many years after. And still, Punks Not Dead. 😀
Perceptive though Arfamo; had a sh*t, time for a shower, no necessity to shave, and we’re off, Into The Great Wide Open.
gets HOT in the kitchen come December. 😎
Progressive Voting on the Referendum seems to have stalled on Friday 6 score. I wonder why?
lprent
Is there a way of getting personal archives back? Mine have gone between 3/12 and 8/12 I think.
Odd. I see what you mean
http://thestandard.org.nz/?s=%40author+greywarbler&isopen=block&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
I’ll have a look at in the morning. Looks like the sphinx database has a issue.
l prent Thanks I like the name Sphinx for the database. To me it is as enigmatic as the sphinx.
Incidentally I have been having trouble with the set up of another site, the page has gone haywire. The opinions received are that it could be that my set up is too slow and so distortion occurring. So will have to look at updating my system which is more than a few years old.
Sphinx search. It is a hell of a tool.
http://sphinxsearch.com/
Fixed that up last night. Since web servers get chopped in and out according to load and they start from a old copy of the search db AND the search db only does a single full update once per day – the web server versions got out of sync. Actually the wind up with ruddy great hole from when the image was created to when a web server was started with that image.
The files server is now the only server indexing the search database. The web servers talk to it and don’t try to each maintain a search database.
Sorry folks probably commented a bit much on this matter. This is my last go. Promise.
Watching John Key about to set off to Nelson Mandela’s funeral.
Farce….Fucking Pavlovian Farce ! And he does it as easy as havin’ a shit. With matching facial expression on occasion.
Fucking Pavlovian Farce !
the populace permit it. PM, close to a belated figurehead. Other than the periodic ground-breaking political lead, NZ has historically dragged the chain. ANYONE REMEMBER THE SEVENTIES?
Agreeable climate though, for now.
Never mind. Mandela knows and he’ll be chuckling.
snap North,
Chucking, more likely.
That’s it for me. This site’s been running as slow as a wet weekend all day where I am.
go on, nothing new under the crescent moon; treat refreshing as an exercise in patience. 😀
There is sure as hell something sucking bandwidth or CPU. Has been sluggish. I suspect something odd at the server farm.
Wonder what it could be. Nite mate.
“I suspect something odd at the server farm.”
Too many GCSB and NSA operatives logging in and reading The Standard?
Excellent.
They might learn a thing or three… 😀
Just something strange with the internal VPN routing. Testing this morning it appears to be be working correctly again. But on the other hand there is no particular reason to do it one way or another. Just irritating detecting the bug the hard way.
It is unfortunate when this vehicle is struggling. Still, perseverance , onwards and upwards.
Have not e-mailed you for yonks. Must be something Panning out 😀