Open mike 12/03/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 12th, 2016 - 105 comments
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105 comments on “Open mike 12/03/2016 ”

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  1. weka 1
    12 March 2016 at 8:04 am

    Scandal names for the secret recordings Todd Barclay affair,

    Goregate 😈

    • One Anonymous Bloke 1.1
      12 March 2016 at 8:24 am

      Untrustworthy National Party backstabber-gate doesn’t quite have the same ring to it 😈

  2. upnorth 2
    12 March 2016 at 8:30 am

    That is absolute bollocks by Norman – he advocated printing of money (QE) want to see the result of that now – go talk to Japan elderly who now get negative interest on their term deposits because of QE.

    Talk to USA investors on QE – 0.5% interest on money earnt at bank – the elderly are worst off under QE principles.

    So the solution was as he prescribed – stop exporting and print more money – ever wonder wide Social Credit never made it into government.

    Seriously devoid of economic nause

    [BLiP: Attempted derail, complete with inflammatory lie. Moved to Open Mike.]

    • maui 2.1
      12 March 2016 at 8:37 am

      Sick parrot

    • ianmac 2.2
      12 March 2016 at 8:42 am

      Are you actually commenting on the post or are you on some other planet upnorth?

    • Draco T Bastard 2.3
      12 March 2016 at 4:20 pm

      People not getting interest on their savings isn’t the problem. In fact, the problem is people getting interest on their savings.

      • Colonial Viper 2.3.1
        13 March 2016 at 10:47 am

        ZIRP policies have stolen US$160B in interest from savers in the USA, according to recent calculations.

        These bankster policies are designed to advantage financial speculators and hurt pension funds and savers.

  3. pat 3
    12 March 2016 at 8:39 am

    hows your return looking after the latest RB announcement?

  4. ianmac 4
    12 March 2016 at 9:13 am

    What has this Government got against IT systems?

    “A leaked government paper warns that the Ministry of Education’s new Early Learning Information system (ELI) is struggling under the sheer volume of data, with a total freeze “likely”.

    “This could be quite catastrophic and incur a disaster recovery scenario, whereby databases may become corrupted and have to be rebuilt, resulting in significant data loss,” the paper said.”
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11604238

    • dv 4.1
      12 March 2016 at 9:19 am

      You have got to wonder how they are going to get the ‘big data’ approach to work when they can’t get little data to work!!

    • tc 4.2
      12 March 2016 at 11:35 am

      It’s got nothing against IT, it quite likes the troughs it presents to their mates and backers. Y’know the leveraging best practice market knows best mates.

      My sources are telling me they envy the ones who got out as they are now picking up some of the pieces……there’s much more below the surface leaks.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.3
      12 March 2016 at 4:21 pm

      The same as they’ve got against everything else – they try doing it on the cheap so that they can cut taxes to the rich with the inevitable result that it costs more.

  5. greywarshark 5
    12 March 2016 at 9:30 am

    Great interviews on RADIONZ this morning Kim Hill presiding.

    Andrew Fagan, fascinating stuff. Believes that society needs outlaws who go against the current consensus. Speaks well. Interviewed Julian Assange and Kim managed to get him to talk about it and give some interesting insights.

    Anthony McCarten writing on a short period of Churchill’s life – when he was made leader. Apparently he was still not respected at that time, an alcoholic who had a glass of white wine and a whisky and soda with breakfast. He was to be replaced and was the stop-gap while the aristos foud a way to appease, make peace so as to protect their hereditary estates and status quo. In that short time he wrote three of the most famous speeches of all time.

    That is what I remember. And this period is still glowing bright with untold stories and information relevant to us today. Instead of concentrating on our brave stand, with many other nations, at Gallipoli we should be studying all about WW2. Plenty of bravery there, two I can think of my birth father a bomber pilot, his bones in France, and Chris Trotter’s father who really young managed to do great things and survived. So many others dead and alive stained by war.

    One of these two men pointed out that it lasted 6 years but Britain has been embroiled in wars for 25 years and the situation has become the norm.

    I think Andrew Fagan was the one talking about going to Afghanistan and talking to the fighting personnel there. He found they were all taking drugs, but the defence department absolutely denied this. He said that in WW2 the fight was generally agreed to be against real and present evil but the soldiers in the Middle East are confused about their purpose, become deeply disturbed about what they are doing.

    He talked to a 9 year old jihadist who had heard from his mother while in jail. He asked what she had told her boy and it was not to worry, he would get them next time. The depth of hatred towards these foreign interlopers and killers is that deep, he says.

    I don’t know about audio. Since 9 am it is being livestreamed on –
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday

    8:12 Andrew O’Hagan
    Andrew O’Hagan is a former editor-at-large for Esquire, contributing editor for the London Review of Books, and ghostwriter of Julian Assange’s abandoned memoir. Two of his books have been nominated for the Man Booker Prize, and his new novel is The Illuminations (Faber& Faber). He is a guest at Writers Week at the New Zealand Festival, talking with Harry Ricketts at the Illuminations session (11 March), and on the panel at Literary Idol (13 March).

    8:50 Anthony McCarten
    Anthony McCarten is an internationally successful writer and producer for stage and screen. He talks with Miranda Harcourt at The Theory of Anthony, and his play Funnygirl will be read during the Spotlight on Playwrights events at Circa Theatre (12 March) during Writers Week.

    • te reo putake 5.1
      12 March 2016 at 9:38 am

      O’Hagan had a couple of interesting observations about Assange. One, that Assange wasn’t entirely honest when being interviewed and secondly, that Assange conflated the rape allegations with the wider issue of his possible extradition to the US.

      The audio isn’t up on RNZ yet, but it’s worth listening to when it is.

      • greywarshark 5.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 10:49 am

        Audio will be up after noon I am told.

        • te reo putake 5.1.1.1
          12 March 2016 at 10:53 am

          Probably not needed now that we have a 100% accurate transcrapt from Mozza (see below).

          • greywarshark 5.1.1.1.1
            12 March 2016 at 11:03 am

            I note your helpful comment TRP. But also note the transcrapt typo. To be sure of not getting typos in the interpretation of the interviews, listen to the real thing while you rinse/wash the dishes or other duties, thus accomplishing two useful things at once. Multitasking everyone! I’ll try to get back and put the audio links up for your convenience – when they are available.

            Just a reminder everyone who wants to take it to the Gnat gummint, Bradley Ambrose needs help with his court case against John Key. A little more money needed only $7280 about – a few days to go.
            https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/bradelyambrose

            • te reo putake 5.1.1.1.1.1
              12 March 2016 at 11:18 am

              Thank you, greywarshark.

              The correct word is, of course, ‘transcrypt’. ie “The Breen report was 100% transcryptic.”

              The error is regretted.

              • greywarshark …
                12 March 2016 at 12:26 pm

                TRP you are a nice wordsmith.

                As for the interviews from Radionz. Please make up your own minds about things and don’t rely on Morrissey to be the fount of wisdom.
                Which of course should be the common approach. But others opinions should, of course, be listened to so as to ensure that one’s own opinion is as near wise as possible!

                Note that the links to Anthony McCarten and Andrew O’Hagan are –
                http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201792943 ( McCarten)
                http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201792944 (O’Hagan)

                and a revelation about food, or just another idea and trend to follow?
                11:30 Christopher McDougall
                American writer Christopher McDougall was a war correspondent in Rwanda and Angola, before becoming the guru of alternative running with his 2009 book, Born to Run: the Hidden Tribe, the Ultra-Runners, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. His new book is Natural Born Heroes: the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance (Profile). He talks with journalist Rachel Smalley in the Enduring Heroes session (10 March), with fellow writing athletes Nathan Fa’avae, Lisa Tamati and Roger Robinson in the Testing the Limits session (12 March), and will lead the Come Running fun runs around Wellington during Writers Week (9, 10 and 12 March).
                http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201792953

                and I haven’t heard Morgan Godfery as yet but for some intelligent thought on NZ cultural and social progress or otherwise I think this will be a must.
                Morgan Godfery: rethinking New Zealand
                9:31 AM. Wellington writer, commentator and trade unionist who specialises in Maori politics and international indigenous issues. He is the editor of a new collection of essays, The Interregnum: Rethinking New Zealand, which he will discuss with two of the contributors during Writers Week.
                http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201792946

  6. adam 6
    12 March 2016 at 9:42 am

    This show keeps getting better, very interesting interview.

    The new Jim Crow laws. How does it apply in New Zealand? Maori and Pacific votes – did not Mana bring up something about this last election, and white NZ went – nothing to see here…

    • Chooky 6.1
      12 March 2016 at 10:50 am

      +100 ..watch dog on USA ‘democracy’ NOT …well worth watching !…every Maori and Pacific Islander should watch, and Pakeha New Zealander …to make sure NZ democracy is not eroded (more)

      …Palast is great !…the best American commentators seem to be operating from overseas now…what does this tell us about USA and its media?

      • Matthew Whitehead 6.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 4:16 pm

        This sort of thing is exactly the reason that the right-wing was rabidly against Maori roll seats… right up until the Maori Party started going into coalition with every government.

    • ianmac 6.2
      12 March 2016 at 2:24 pm

      That cannot be right. After all the USA is the home of true democracy and under that banner set out to bring democracy to countries like Iraq. (sarc)
      Surely they cannot just take 500,000 names off the ballot list without due cause? Although that was the way that George W Bush was re-elected.
      Terrifying really.
      Could it happen in NZ? The Nats did deny voters the right to vote for ECan. Dispair!

    • Colonial Viper 6.3
      13 March 2016 at 10:45 am

      Yep Christ Hedges and Cornell West have both talked at length about the new Jim Crow.

      Thanks Bill Clinton.

  7. Mike C 7
    12 March 2016 at 10:07 am

    Well … it’s official … I have been permanently banned by Pete George. LOL.

    Georges explanation wasn’t exactly truthful in parts … but there is not much I can do about that now is there … since I no longer have the right of reply in his blog to his recent assertions.

    I shall miss a few of the people in there … but not the shit stirring multiple fake identitys that have set up shop in there over the past six months or so … and turned YourNZ into an out of control Cess-Pit.

    Now that George has got the taste for deleting comments and banning commenter’s … he can no longer claim to have the only “Political Blog with Free Speech for All”.

    It will be very interesting to see how Georges new style of moderation affects his blog.

    All the best George.

    http://YourNZ.org/2016/03/12/open-forum-saturday-71/

    • te reo putake 7.1
      12 March 2016 at 10:18 am

      “Political forums that aren’t up to debate or alternative opinions should make it clear they are limited to a yes club shouldn’t they?”

      Pete George.

      • Mike C 7.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 10:36 am

        @TeReoPutake

        Did George write that in here at some stage?

        I shall wear being the first Commenter permanently banned by George … like a Badge of Honour. LOL.

        • te reo putake 7.1.1.1
          12 March 2016 at 10:46 am

          ‘Beige of Honour’?

          PG was really pompous when commenting here, pedantically picking on minor mistakes, while ignoring the wider truths. The quote comes from this post:

          thestandard.org.nz/april-fool-pete-george-released-from-a-ban/

          Lprent generously decided to lift the ban PG had earned the previous year. It only took a few minutes for the beige badger to get re-banned.

          Will PG get another April Fools amnesty this year? If so, can we run a sweep on how long he lasts?

          • weka 7.1.1.1.1
            12 March 2016 at 10:52 am

            Ooh, another item for the Popcorn April schedule.

          • Mike C 7.1.1.1.2
            12 March 2016 at 3:04 pm

            @TeReoPutake

            I just tried writing a comment twice … and neither were accepted.

            Think I have figured out why.

            You and Prentice have my permission to alter and edit any names in my first comment that you deem unsuitable.

            And just ditch the second comment I wrote.

            Ta very much.

            • Mike C 7.1.1.1.2.1
              12 March 2016 at 6:17 pm

              Things have changed and my comments need to both be deleted.

              Thanks for your time.

        • MrMan 7.1.1.2
          13 March 2016 at 10:30 am

          Don’t want to burst your bubble but I’ve had 4 accounts banned there already

          • te reo putake 7.1.1.2.1
            13 March 2016 at 10:38 am

            With good reason, apparently. The fact that you’ve used four different handles gets my bullshit detector twitching for a start. Trolling is frowned upon here too.

            • Mike C 7.1.1.2.1.1
              13 March 2016 at 10:53 am

              @TeReoPutake

              I knew I would probably get followed over here by “The Bad Guys”.

              They (and all of their other pseudonyms) have been attacking me and deliberately trying to cause me angst for many months.

              I was nothing but loyal to George and his blog for 18 months … and I got banned by him. But “Mr Man” managed to convince George to let him write his own post on YourNZ a couple of weeks ago.

              What is that saying about Pete Georges ability to discern between “The Good Guys” and “The Bad Guys”?

  8. Morrissey 8
    12 March 2016 at 10:11 am

    The vilest enemies of Julian Assange often pose as his supporters;
    Yet again, Kim Hill grants a free platform to a silky smooth assassin of truth.
    RNZ National, Saturday 12 March 2016, 8:12 a.m.

    This is how Kim Hill’s first guest this morning was billed on the RNZ website….

    Andrew O’Hagan is a former editor-at-large for Esquire, contributing editor for the London Review of Books, and ghostwriter of Julian Assange’s abandoned memoir. Two of his books have been nominated for the Man Booker Prize, and his new novel is The Illuminations (Faber& Faber). He is a guest at Writers Week at the New Zealand Festival, talking with Harry Ricketts at the Illuminations session (11 March), and on the panel at Literary Idol (13 March).

    Sounds impressive. However, after just a few minutes of listening to him, I had grave doubts about the integrity and honesty of Andrew O’Hagan. Talking about the British-American destruction of Afghanistan, he described it as “failed”, “a hysterical response”, “a disaster”, and as “random violence under the guise of international protection.” Not once did he use the words “criminal”, “unjustified”, or “cynical”.

    If that was disappointing, what followed was disturbing. O’Hagan has made much mileage out of being selected to be Julian Assange’s ghostwriter, a job which never worked out as planned. O’Hagan is, it seems, a stickler for protocol and manners; apparently Assange was “paranoid” (translation: he suffered from the fantastical delusion that the U.S. and U.K. governments were out to destroy him) and “obsessive” (translation: his working methods were erratic)….

    ANDREW O’HAGAN: It was an irony of Shakespearian proportions, the man who wants the world to share its secrets did not want his own private life revealed…. But I still believe in the project.

    KIM HILL: DO you? Its progenitor is SO flawed.

    To spare the sensibilities of my fellow Standardisti, I’ll skip the rest of this featherweight exchange between two moral pygmies. But I did send the following email to Kim Hill….

    Andrew O’Hagan’s smooth and sinister attack on Assange

    Dear Kim,

    Andrew O’Hagan scoffed at what he called Julian Assange’s “obfuscation”, i.e., Assange’s refusal to let his private life and idiosyncracies be made the story instead of the crimes he has exposed.

    “It was an irony of Shakespearian proportions,” O’Hagan purred with amused disdain, “the man who wants the world to share its secrets did not want his own private life revealed.” Of course, what Assange and other democratic activists demand is not that “the world” share its secrets, but that governments be open to scrutiny by the citizens, and that governments be held to account for their crimes.

    Contrary to O’Hagan’s assertion, Assange is dedicated to protecting individual privacy. To cap off his farrago, O’Hagan suggested that Assange’s followers are like a cult.

    I was disappointed that you did not offer any challenge to what O’Hagan had to say.

    Yours sincerely,

    Morrissey Breen
    Northcote Point

    O’Hagan is not the first false friend of Julian Assange to attack him on Kim Hill’s show. Aficionados of sleazy insincerity will no doubt recall Alex Gibney’s infamous attack of a few years ago….
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13072013/#comment-662336

    • Chooky 8.1
      12 March 2016 at 10:35 am

      +100…thanks Morrissey… I only heard snippets …but what you say makes entire sense

    • Grindlebottom 8.2
      12 March 2016 at 2:59 pm

      Do you ever hear back from Kimmy, Morrissey? Ever even a thank you for your views?

      • Morrissey 8.2.1
        12 March 2016 at 3:35 pm

        Not on this occasion, Grindlebottom. However, she has read out maybe half of the emails I’ve sent her. I only do it once every few months at best. Although I am often disappointed, even angered, by what she says, she usually extends the courtesy of treating my correspondence seriously.

        Only once has she really displayed impatience, with her rather ill-judged decision to go to bat for that old menace to society Bill “Pharmaceutical Factory Bomber” Clinton…..

        http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03102015-2/#comment-1077820

  9. Andre 9
    12 March 2016 at 11:04 am

    I used to think I had a hardened cynical view of the US gun industry. But fuck me, guns designed and marketed FOR KIDS????!!!

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/why-does-the-gun-lobby-en_b_9440156.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

  11. The Chairman 11
    12 March 2016 at 11:23 am

    Federated Farmers are urging banks to pass on lower interest rates

    Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler made it clear that he expected the latest cut to be passed on to borrowers.

    Grant Robertson said the latest cut in the OCR was clearly not meant to restore banks’ profit margins.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/77766854/banks-may-seek-to-recover-lost-margins-by-passing-on-little-of-ocr-cut

    • Colonial Viper 11.1
      12 March 2016 at 11:33 am

      Banks only have one responsibility – and that’s to their shareholders.

      Interesting how weak NZ’s central bank is, isn’t it, when it comes to enforcing discipline.

      Like an ineffective school teacher that the kids in class have figured out they can simply ignore.

      • The Chairman 11.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 11:40 am

        One would think shareholders would prefer a little loss in margins compared to farms going belly up, resulting in mass mortgagee sales.

        • Ad 11.1.1.1
          12 March 2016 at 1:13 pm

          That ANZ share price has been tanking for a year.

          If they can’t reward shareholders in a great long boom, they’re just crap.

        • greywarshark 11.1.1.2
          12 March 2016 at 6:50 pm

          We know the shareholders and ‘wealth creators’ operate on ‘school of fish’ behaviour, that’s how the kids in the middle and upper class think. They circle the tank every few years, which coincide with the latest financial disaster, but have totally forgotten the signposts to each disaster with each full circuit.

      • The Chairman 11.1.2
        12 March 2016 at 11:51 am

        “Interesting how weak NZ’s central bank is, isn’t it, when it comes to enforcing discipline.”

        As we often see, private sector interests seldom aligns with the public interest, which brings into question why have we given the market so much fee rein?

  12. The Chairman 12
    12 March 2016 at 11:28 am

    With the cost of production outweighing the returns (and with little light at the end of the tunnel) is it time for dairy farmers to seriously consider getting out (while farm prices are still relatively high)?

    Thoughts?

    • Colonial Viper 12.1
      12 March 2016 at 11:34 am

      Like deciding to slow down just as your car is sliding off the road into a culvert.

    • tc 12.2
      12 March 2016 at 11:39 am

      To quote the matrix…’ Hear that mr Anderson, it’s the sound of inevitability..’

    • Graeme 12.3
      12 March 2016 at 12:56 pm

      Small matter of the personal guarantees they will have been forced to give banks and suppliers. Sort of negates most of the concept of “limited liability” when things turn to shit.

      • The Chairman 12.3.1
        12 March 2016 at 1:20 pm

        The way things are currently looking, a number possibly aren’t going to make good on those personal guarantees.

        One can only hope they aren’t going to do anything drastic, as a number already have.

        • Graeme 12.3.1.1
          12 March 2016 at 3:54 pm

          The borrower ends up with a choice of making it the bank’s problem and getting totally fucked over and walking off with nothing, or staying on in a position of servitude / slavery until prices recover to the point the bank can recover it’s money. Either way the borrower is not going to come out of it well.

          The stupid thing is the historical examples of this happening in New Zealand farming, over and over again. Have a read of Glover’s Magpies https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~tf/poem10.html

          They have to fail, the lesson has to be learnt, but it has to be primarily the banks’ problem.

  13. Kiwiri 13
    12 March 2016 at 11:54 am

    Sharing this by George Megalogenis (Balancing Act: Australia between Recession and Renewal by ) from across the Tasman but of relevance and indeed importance to us as well:

    “The debate we have to have is on the role of government in the economy. It is being forced on us by the market failures of the twenty-first century. Both sides cling defensively to the open model because it tells them a reassuring story of Australian success. But that open model has been exhausted by capitalism’s extended crisis and the end of the mining boom. It cannot guarantee prosperity in the future without an active state.

    …

    “The open model excels when the economy is strong, and in response to a global shock. But it struggles when the economy is in transition, because the market forces it is responding to are compromised. The four components of the model are a floating currency, low tariffs, interest rates set independently of the government, and wages determined directly by employer and workers above a minimum standard. Each is now delivering perverse results that are actually increasing the risk of recession.”

    http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/will-australia-be-caught-short-as-politicians-sacrifice-the-national-interest-to-stay-in-power-20160302-gn8j0u.html

    Was good to read about his observations on their “five prime ministers between 2010 and 2015, with only one change occurring at the ballot box, in 2013”.

    • Ad 13.1
      12 March 2016 at 2:16 pm

      Good reading there

    • Expat 13.2
      12 March 2016 at 3:21 pm

      Yet despite all of that they’ve still had 24 years of continuous growth, the most recent stat was 3.0% for the year.

      Turnbull is doing a Key, absolutely nothing, I think the only thing He has changed in 6 months is the Dames and Knighthoods, which occurred only days after his primeministership, staying in power is the “most important” issue for the current govt, stuff the country.

  14. weka 14
    12 March 2016 at 12:11 pm

    Any chance we could have Weekend Social again? I’d like to ask people how their gardening has been this summer (and we’re due an update on r0b’s new greenhouse).

    • Rosie 14.1
      12 March 2016 at 3:19 pm

      In lieu of Weekend Social. Dry and dilapidated here in Wellington. Less than 30mm of rain for Jan and Feb and 2mm of rain so far this month. Heat like the devils own furnace in February – our hottest February on record since records began 90 years ago.

      I read about this year’s “Godzilla El Nino” and posted that a few weeks ago.

      Haven’t planted vege since being in this house as we are are on solid rock and need to build raised gardens and haven’t had the time and energy for that. Tomatoes in pots insipid and mean little things despite watering and feeding with seaweed (too much nitrogen?) Herbs in raised herb garden went to seed before even being truly useful in the culinary sense.

      Being a good garden gnome and only watering during the allowable times under council watering restrictions but everything remains parched and crunchy.

      • weka 14.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 8:32 pm

        I grow things in pots quite a bit because we get frosts and so I can move them. It means more watering though.

        Lots of people are saying it’s been a weird year. And not just something like oh it’s been windy this year, or hot. It’s also weird.

        How often are you allowed to water? Can you store water too?

        • Rosie 14.1.1.1
          13 March 2016 at 9:48 am

          From September through to April every year we can only water on alternate days. If you’re an even street number you can water on the even numbered days of the week and vice versa for odd numbered houses. Can only water between 6 – 8am or 7 – 9pm.

          Would like to store water but can’t afford get one of those flexible tank things. Even so, this year, there would have been nothing in it anyway!

          Good idea about planting in pots for frost avoidance, but I hope you don’t get a sore back doing that! You’re in Otago right? (I miss frosts. We don’t get them any more in this region, or only in sheltered low places)

          Yes, this summer has just been bizarre. I couldn’t handle it because I’m not fond of excess heat, it actually makes me feel sick. What has been really weird is the lack of wind. We have almost had a windless summer in Wellington, which I’ve found unsettling too, it’s just so unnatural. Everyone else has been loving it of course…..

          • weka 14.1.1.1.1
            13 March 2016 at 10:25 am

            Crikey, those are really serious water restrictions. You’d be hard pressed to get things to grow here with those limits. How long has it been like that?

            I don’t have to move the pots very often and I get help with the heavy ones.

            • Rosie 14.1.1.1.1.1
              13 March 2016 at 3:53 pm

              Hmm. Been that way for the last few years as far as I can remember………

  15. Ben 15
    12 March 2016 at 1:26 pm

    Great article by Josie Pagani. Hits the nail right on the head, and drives it home:

    http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=5075&title=Fifty-shades-of-beige-%E2%80%93-with-a-megaphone

    • Paul 15.1
      12 March 2016 at 1:35 pm

      Josie Pagani.
      Great article.
      Oxymoron.

      • weka 15.1.1
        12 March 2016 at 1:47 pm

        Fifty shades of beige, doesn’t the standard own that joke about PG?

      • Ben 15.1.2
        12 March 2016 at 1:59 pm

        Truth is not diminished by the number of people who believe it. That said, I doubt you even took the time to read it. JP closes with:

        “The message from Labour is often ‘your life is miserable, New Zealand is a dreadful place and getting worse, the world is scary, don’t let it in, and by the way you’re fat – vote for us!'”

        Sums up Labour’s negativity nicely, yet they still can’t work out why they are struggling to stay over 30%. It also comes down to trust – if JK says on a particular subject “it won’t be a problem” and Little states “it’s a crisis”, people will trust/believe in JK because he is more trustworthy and because they fundamentally want to believe that it’s OK. Unless there is a massive change in the preffered PM stakes, a big part which is based on trust and general attitude, Labour are toast with their current dour and downtrodden leader.

        • Paul 15.1.2.1
          12 March 2016 at 2:05 pm

          I have read a lot of Pagani’s nonsense before.
          She is used a tool by the elite.
          She is owned.
          And you appear either gullible or similarly compromised.

          • Reddelusion 15.1.2.1.1
            12 March 2016 at 3:11 pm

            Yes all knowing, we all know labour only need to go far left and polls will rocket to 50 pc, you keep believing that Paul Also note you have given up posting post after post on the coming global economic collapse, I guesse it proves the fact that just because you keep parroting something that does not make it true

            • Paul 15.1.2.1.1.1
              12 March 2016 at 3:19 pm

              Listen to Rachel Stewart on the NZ economy and Wayne Hope on the world economy.

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jvuXTrfO0c

              Germany Confirmed To Be Back In Deflation
              from the Financial Times

              ‘Germany’s inflation rate for February came in unchanged from its preliminary reading, confirming Germany has fallen back into deflation. Consumer prices were confirmed to have fallen 0.2% year-on-year in February on an EU-harmonised basis, down from a 0.4% rise in January. Economists had forecast the figure to remain the same. On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose by 0.4%. The news will give a further headache to the ECB, which yesterday announced a package of additional monetary easing measures partly designed to ward off deflationary pressures from the single currency zone.’

              ‘Germany’s economy is officially headed in the wrong direction and has slipped back into deflation, official figures released on Friday morning showed.’

              http://uk.businessinsider.com/german-cpi-figures-officially-slides-back-into-deflation-2016-3

    • weka 15.2
      12 March 2016 at 1:54 pm

      Every woman and her dog can trash the Labour Party (such low hanging fruit), but who cares? If she was talking about solutions I might take her more seriously. She’s in some danger of coming across as CV.

      Her article contains far too many bordering on lies and disingenuous pseudo-arguments, that again, it’s hard to take seriously.

      eg she’s writing for an international audience (UK I think) and describes NZF as a Trumpish party. That’s superficial and misleading. The article is riddled with them.

      • Paul 15.2.1
        12 March 2016 at 1:56 pm

        She is a tool of the elite.

        • Ben 15.2.1.1
          12 March 2016 at 2:28 pm

          There is an echo in here. Why is she a tool of the elite Paul? Can you give an example of someone you class as ‘elite’ using her as a tool?

          • Colonial Viper 15.2.1.1.1
            13 March 2016 at 10:35 am

            she’s in PR and gets pay cheques from the big TPP supporting corporates (like her husband).

            Do we have to spell everything out for you?

      • Reddelusion 15.2.2
        12 March 2016 at 3:26 pm

        There are no solutions, they are in no mans land, go left they are knackered, go right then simply a centrist party or a poor imitation of national. pretty much just need to wait to national really stuff up, John key leaves the stage, albeit I believe the jk factor is over played The road back to power will require new and more appealing bunch of MPs, a movement away from loony activist base, a leader the majority of kiwis can relate to and become national light. Thus if labour ever get back in power it will be a Labour Party that is toxic to many here

      • Incognito 15.2.3
        12 March 2016 at 9:02 pm

        Agreed. Starting her piece with a ‘scene-setting’ argument based on polls lowered my expectations straightaway. It was superficial indeed and she comes across as a demagogue. It lacked accuracy and rigour and offered no solutions or ideas.

        It seems to be written on the principle that two negatives cancel out each other or produce a positive; the reader is left guessing what the ‘positive’ might be.

        Have people never heard of the term “constructive criticism”?

        All in all it begs the question: what was the point of her piece?

      • Colonial Viper 15.2.4
        13 March 2016 at 10:40 am

        Cutting down the dead Kauri which is blocking out sunlight from all the new growth in the forest is a solution, weka.

        • weka 15.2.4.1
          13 March 2016 at 11:09 am

          Not really. Better to let the forest attend to that in its own time. The dead kauri performs important functions in the ecosystem while it stands and after it falls. Many things will die when it falls, who are we to know when the timing is right? We really should stop messing with those things (I’m talking about forests).

          Ironic analogy too given that Pagani argues that dead trees are just lying around on the forest floor and should be treated as an extraction resource. She’s an idiot.

          So, I think your analogy fails for those of us that are ecosystem thinkers 😉 I do think that there are times when we should intervene in natural systems, and I’m certainly sympathetic to the idea that we’d be better off if Labour failed completely, but two problems. One is that what Pagani is doing isn’t designed to bring down Labour, it’s designed to consolidated power with the conservative Labourites like herself. The other is that I can’t see any mechanism by which Labour could be brought down in a meaningful timeframe. I’m open to having my mind changed on that.

  16. Expat 16
    12 March 2016 at 2:51 pm

    It would appear CV doesn’t like people holding him to account over his post about “Dairy”

    He needs to stop lying about Labour.

    • Colonial Viper 16.1
      13 March 2016 at 10:37 am

      Nah mate, you should consider withdrawing your support for a 20th century, neoliberal, pro-TPP, pro-globalist party of the top 20% that Labour has become.

      Labour <30% 2017.

      • Expat 16.1.1
        13 March 2016 at 2:46 pm

        What, like you withdrew your support for Labour, I don’t even vote for Labour, I just don’t like people lying about the facts, you almost always never respond to questions when evidence is requested, you use deflectionary tactics. Without the evidence, you can’t expect people to find any credibility in your comments.

        You obviously want another term of Keysters, problem with that though, is, they’ve already screwed the economy and giving them another term only allows them to put NZ even deeper in the “Shit”, and if you can’t discriminate between Labour and National, then perhaps you should give up voting altogether, as clearly you don’t who to vote for, or why.

        There was a report on TDB that Labour had withdrawn support for the TPP.

        “Labour have come out and publicly stated they are against the TPPA. They are not supporting it. No other opposition party including the Greens are saying they will pull out of it. All of the background documents have NOT been released. No one knows the extent of the fish hooks that National has signed us up to. Labour have and are standing up to the Key National government’s undemocratic legislation and msm and the likes of CT ensures they get shat on. Look at how msm were framing Labour’s stance against National’s zero hour contracts for example. And people just love to have a go while giving National a free pass. To some Labour are damned if they don’t and damned if they do. Read the latest how National and their supporters are trying to rig the flag referendum for John Key? Will Labour get the blame for that too?
        Labour Say No To The TPPA
        – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/03/08/blurred-vision-why-labour-isnt-trusted-to-govern-new-zealand/#comment-328734“

        • Colonial Viper 16.1.1.1
          13 March 2016 at 2:49 pm

          Labour has publicly stated that they are keeping the TPP as the government, but they want to see if they can renegotiate some parts of it.

          I guess you can consider that being against the TPP, in a kind of fence sitting, fingers crossed behind your back, kind of way.

  17. Mark Stevens 17
    12 March 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Nothing political here just very sad. RIP Keith Emerson

    • Grindlebottom 17.1
      12 March 2016 at 4:14 pm

      2016 – so far: Glen Frey, David Bowie, Jon English now Keith Emerson. 🙁

  18. joe90 18
    12 March 2016 at 4:42 pm

    Something to keep an eye on.

    People living in the Canadian province of Ontario could soon start receiving an unconditional allowance each month, with the government this week announcing that it’ll begin trialling a pilot version of universal basic income in 2016.

    […]

    The government is now working with stakeholders and the community to nut out exactly what the pilot project will look like, so we don’t have any specific details to go on just yet. But they’re not the only ones looking to supplement or replace welfare payments with universal income – countries such as the Netherlands, India, Finland, and France are also trialling (or have trialled) similar projects.

    http://www.sciencealert.com/a-canadian-province-is-about-start-giving-everyone-a-universal-basic-income

  19. sabine 19
    12 March 2016 at 10:07 pm

    good on them.

    http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/world/young-people-are-suing-governments-over-climate-change/news-story/e327a797ab048ba2013f7f96c2d3ffbc

    “WHEN a group of teenagers first started taking governments to court over the lack of climate change action, people laughed at them. They are not laughing now.

    This week a US court will consider whether 21 young people have a right to sue the US Government, President Barack Obama and other federal agencies, for their failure to tackle climate change.”

  20. Marvin 20
    24 March 2016 at 2:48 am

    Hi from the UK! Just landed on this site and couldn’t help but smile about your blogs!

    The UK has been through all that, got the T-shirt and all – except for Earthquakes that is.

    We have not had any interest on bank savings for years – not worth more than pennies that is – all the European Banks are supposed to be having a hard time though not as hard as the people who are trying to save money!

    Politics? What you are experiencing, we have had all that too. Democracy is no longer in the dictionary.

    All the best!

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