Sorry didn’t mean to be rude, just annoyed Cunliffe does the pick and chose thing. He can be incredibly sulky. If we lose the election it will be cause DC is disliked too much by too many. The penny dropped a couple of weeks ago that Robertson was actually the better option popularity wise. Anyway DC is it and I guess people change their annoying bad habits.
The numbers were discussed in comments in Open Mike i think yesterday or the day befor, those numbers make your comment look as stupid as it actually is…
Cunliffe is a busy man Skinny, so He cannot sit here at the Standard for hours on end answering every question us lot put to Him,
i didn’t bother, asking such questions here isn’t going to change any of Labour’s policies,(and me not being a member why would i have such an expectation),
As Labour become more entrenched in its work will set you free,(but for 100,000 under the current policy such freedom will not be forthcoming), i have simply moved my political allegiance further left as MMP would allow and perhaps dictate i do,
Speculation on who would be the ‘better’ leader this close to September is a bit of a non starter as far as logical conversation goes with Cunliffe odds on to become the next Prime Minister,
Having said that tho i was and still am a supporter of Grant Robinson but that’s a discussion to be had,(hopefully not),on another day…
I’m more surprised at being called a “cheerleader” than anything else. It isn’t something that most politicians on the left would say.
Personally I think that DC is by far the best person for the job at present. None of the other potential candidates for the job have anything like the required depths of experience in both the ministerial and the political to be able to make a credible fist of the task in my unhumble opinion.
I’d also point out that I spent several decades in volunteer work working for and with Helen Clark across 7 elections (whilst usually in disagreement with her) so I have a fairly good idea what is required for the task.
Election looking much harder for tories to win even though they poll double English’s numbers in 2002.
Labour/Green/NZ First/Mana just a few votes behind National, or ahead, depending on other opinion polls.
+100 The Allen…Matthew Hooton is desperately spinning… especially after David Cunliffe’s highly successful recent television at-home profile by John Campbell
You mean his wife’s highly successful television bit. David was a not entity pretty much until he went to get the fish and chips. I couldn’t believe my eyes at this appearance especially given the time Labour requested to script manage the bit.
@ cancerman …i think the women of New Zealand would have been highly impressed with that at-home ( which was not a Labour Party public policy meeting or debate)!
…they would have been impressed with Karen Price YES!
…but also that David Cunliffe let her take centre- stage and did not try and Lord it over her….he was shown to be a very nice warm human being and very supportive of his very smart, versatile and likeable partner
Contrast is a great educator. I had waited on watching the Key interview until the Cunliffe interview had screened, so I could view them as fairly as possible.
I particularly paid attention to Campbell’s behaviour on a separate viewing of each and found him balanced in his demeanour, his questioning and importantly, in his body language. – apart from his budding crush on Karen of course 🙂
What struck me more than anything when viewing the Key story was what struck me the very first time I saw the planking photo which was taken inside their home.
All you see are bare cold surfaces not encroached upon by life.
‘Where is the person?’ was all I could ask on both occasions.
Contrast is a great educator, and the simple difference between the Key story and the Cunliffe story lies in the perception of the personalities as we ‘share in their private lives’. This was of course the show’s stated intention. The show’s title was At Home With The Leaders. If Key considers the bach ‘Home’ it certainly didn’t show.
We saw the out in public, glad-handing professionals, busy at work whilst wanting to look like just normal guys doing stuff and they both did really well. However, once back at home, things changed.
‘This is space I exist in’ cannot be faked. Your body will betray you. There are simple things you cannot hide in that circumstance. No matter how slick you are at manipulating the message or how well you manage strangers in your kitchen. Key was very conscious of the cameras and looked as if he was only focused on the voter worm he had running in his mind. Cunliffe appeared comfortable, self-conscious enough but happy to be there and basically looked like he was having fun.
(almost as much as Russel Norman seemed to have the other week)
Contrast is a great educator. At the end of the day people will relate to the obviously expensive and well chosen manufactured sterility of the environments shown by Key, or to the exuberant life filled chaos that the Cunliffe family so obviously thrive on.
I think a lot of kiwis made their minds up on Monday night, and it is going to be very difficult for National to change them back.
To be honest tho’ Phil I just wish KDC would stop farting around and release it. Because you KNOW that the Nats will delay, defer, obstruct, and bullshit, to keep the trial till after the election, when it will be too late!
1011 surveyed by telephone (landline only?) over three days, May 10 -12.
Of the 1011, only 826 were classed as ‘decided voters’ and included in the results (81.7%)
Undecided/not intending to vote numbers excluded from the results totalled 185 – 18.3%.
Internet Party not included in survey (Now formally registered as of yesterday together with its purple logo)
Putting aside the four highest polling in the preferred PM (Key, Cunliffe, Peters, Norman), the results of the lower polling people are interesting although completely academic:
Kim Dotcom – 0.4%
Hone H and Meteria T – 0.3%
Tariana Turia – 0.2%
Colin Craig – 0.1%
May 10-12? Was that the time that National was get the tail end of a battering for “dodgy” fundraising, having just lost a minister and having another on the chopping block? So pretty good result for Labour then!
I would say that over the last 2 election cycles, roughly half the Fairfax Polls have been pretty much in tune with other polls taken around the same time, with the other half always skewed to the Right. Fairfax never has a Left-leaning outlier.
Quick off the mark this morning Matthew Hooten…um, I’m sensing panic. Which in your case is fair enough because things have turned around now that voters have seen National for what it is, a corrupt party looking after a small number of elites. Excellent!
Yeah given the Roy Morgan is the most accurate and stable poll over lengthy time-frames, (and was the closest poll to the last election outcome) and uses more than just landlines, I don’t trust any other poll because they all seem to have either too much volatility or are not conducted with enough other methods including using the undecided vote.
I think National and their supporters are deluded if they think they are on an automatic path to a comfortable victory and that complacency will hurt them even more on election day. The final result will be by a whisker either way with Winston being King maker again.
@ Hooton………o.k so worst case scenario we are going to need Winnie as well to get your lot out Hooton.
I don’t think that will be a problem. Can you really see Peters going with Key? If so what would that say about Key. Unprincipled? With do a deal with anyone?
..watching the minor party leaders debate on the nation last wknd..wd have hardened the odds in viewers’ minds that peters is more likely to go with the progressives..
..than with the reactionaries..
..his dislike of this mob of righties (and what they have done..)..seemed/s to have tipped over into the visceral..
..and why wd he pick an administration down to its’ fag-end..and about to be stubbed out..
..and one going gangbusters in its’ final term..flogging everything off/mining/drillling everything..
..that all goes against pretty much all peters stands for..
..rather than an administration just sparking up for its’ first term….but perhaps more importantly..making noises he likes about quite a few policies he has been carrying a torch for since forever..(foreign-ownership/provincial-development being just two..)
..if i were a gambling man.i’d stick the dosh on peters going with the progressives..
I think you would be taking a big risk with such a gamble.
Winston is cunning and crafty. His PRIMARY aim now is to secure his 5% plus threshold. He will therefore say and things to get his support from both the left and right leaning voters.
He will not say prior to the election which block, national led or Labour led government he will join.
After the election he will decide which way to go based on what policy concessions and baubles are offered and only then he will decide.
In my opinion, Key will offer him much more than Cunliffe can.
Good to see that you’re quick off the mark Hoots. Since we had a serious discussion (PG notwithstanding) on domestic abuse, how do you feel about spinning for a wife-beater? We all know that you’re a strong advocate of feminism, but you were were oddly silent about Effluvium’s connections with Liu…
@Rhinocrates To say nothing about Colin Craig who has admitted to hitting his children, and wants to allow the hitting of Children by changing the law. I wonder how Mrs Craig feels about this? As a father of a 3 year old (Today he is 3) I do not agree with hitting children, for any reason.
I notice National lost nearly 2% compared with the previous poll.
The Mana/IP link-up does not feature.
NZF poll at 3.7% which must really be 5.7% (at least) so credibility lacking here.
ACT are polling nearly 1% where Jamie White sounded like a blithering idiot on Morning Report this AM.
Poor poor Jamie, it was a terrible outing. He doesn’t seem to understand that it’s not his opinion that matters, is the opinions of the voters, and his job is to change their opinion, not preach at them.
The poll surveyed 1011 people through landlines only. 826 gave their ‘decided’ party preference. So 18% are undecided.
One can not draw clear conclusions from this poll, which seems quite far out from the other closest recent polls. I don’t believe that the NZ First support is only 3.7% That is ridiculous.
Not sure if this Stuff/Ipsos poll has any connection with the old very inaccurate FairFax Media poll.
The Fairfax poll taken just before the 2011 election was the worst accurate poll of all! On the 21 Nov, five days before the election, Fairfax poll indication was NATS=54%. The actual election result on 26 Nov, NATS-47%, a 7% DROP!! Labour’s was 2% higher on election night, from 26% to 28%, whereas NZ on election night was 6.6% while Fairfax poll prediction was 4%!!
So, to me, this poll is suspect. I will wait to see a series of other polls to draw a more reasonable conclusion.
Stuff is owned by Fairfax, and if you believe that Fairfax does not take a deliberate pro-Tory line most of the time, you haven’t been paying attention.
my partner was called on ourlandline by a marketing company for a survey.
she was asked if she knew who she was voting for. she said yes. the next question was, is it national. she said no. then asked were there circumstances under which she would vote national. she said no. they said ” thank you” and rang off.
we are in the epsom electorate.
my partner assumed they meant party vote because they werent specific.
Interesting. Their polling is focussed on assessing the level of opinion against National, and how firm that opinion stands. They are not interested in determining support levels for any other party.
IMO neither National nor ACT will waste money asking any questions about ACT – you know ahead of time that 99.9% of people are going to diss ACT.
So yes, most likely it was internal polling for the National Party. A very odd lack of follow up questions though make me think it was a snap poll to get some quick and dirty numbers. Informative follow up questions to a National non-voter like yourself might have been things like – did you vote National last election? Even though you aren’t voting for National, do you approve of John Key as PM? etc.
Likely one of the reasons why they’re showing consistent increases in support in recent polling. Clearly shows that National’s ‘the Greens are the end of the world’ rubbish hasn’t gained any traction at all.
National’s Green bogey-man has a very big uptake, going by comments on Stuff about how the greens just want to destroy the economy etc.
That’s why I firmly believe once they actually get a chance to be in government, the public at large will realise they aren’t the devil incarnate and they’ll get a lot of support in the polls.
You have a point Lanthanide. However it will be devout National and Act supporters running the governments attack lines online. I very much doubt many people would be changing their voting preferences just because John Key and his cohorts are good liars and muckrakers!
@ Phillip Ure ……Luckily for you…you can vote Mana on the beneficiary poverty issue….and Greens on both issues!….and as you well know a Labour led coalition will be way better than NACT…on both issues!
🙄 🙄 🙄 i would be really surprised if you had the ability to perambulate in an upright position without losing the skin off of your knuckles to the pavement…
On Radio NZ they were talking about technology putting people out of work (the post office) while IT were crying out. The problem is that only the creme de creme can do that sort of IT work. Joyce said those that loose out move sideways (into other jobs) that is b.s they either accept lower wages or less work. All over modernised manufacturing plants require fewer people. What we need is less want; one way to achieve that is in the urban form (eg Susan Krumdieks eco village), but it isn’t the whole answer.
National’s other b.s is globalisation all ships rise when a foreigners can feast on the cabbaged treed headland.
The trend toward globalization (free trade, free capital mobility) is not usually associated with migration or demography. If globalization were to be accomplished by free mobility of people, then demographers would certainly be paying attention. However, since globalization is being driven primarily by “free migration” of goods and capital, with labor a distant third in terms of mobility, few have noticed that the economic consequences of this free flow of goods and capital are equivalent to those that would obtain under a free flow of labor. They are also driven by the same demographic and economic forces that would determine labor migration, if labor were free to migrate.
The economic tendency resulting from competition is to equalize wages and social standards across countries. But instead of cheap labor moving to where the capital is, and bidding wages down, capital moves to where the cheap labor is, and bids wages up-or would do so if only there were not a nearly unlimited supply of cheap labor, a Malthusian situation that still prevails in much of the world. Yet wages in the capital-sending country are bid down as much as if the newly employed laborers in the low-wage country had actually immigrated to the high-wage country. The determinant of wages in the low-wage country is not labor “productivity,” nor anything else on the demand side of the labor market. It is entirely on the supply side-an excess and rapidly growing supply of labor at near-subsistence wages. This demographic condition-a very numerous and still rapidly growing underclass in the third world-is one for which demographers have many explanations, beginning with Malthus.
Two discussions on this site prompted me to change two shopping behaviour.
the use of self service at supermarkets
shopping at 100% new zealand owned new World.
Have now been doing 2 and not doing 1 for some months now. Interestingly, my family are now doing the same, as are some friends we’ve talked to about it.
Do I find myself occassionally spending 5-10 more minutes checking out than i used to? yes. But I chat with people around me, the check out people, and I take the time to slow down during my day.
Change does beginw ith each of us, even in the small ways.
I know it’s not exactly what you were talking about, but we all have to start somewhere helping each other out.
It is a bit a case of weighing up the pros and cons. Also, as I now try to use my car less, and often bus to the shops, it’s often a case of which supermarket is within walking distance.
I feel the same about marketing surveys that are done via calling my landline, and feedback forms sent me after I’ve been provided with some goods or services – where do I send the bill for them using my time and effort to improve their profit margins?
Whilst not linking the two very different situations, much like the sad footage of the Korean ferry passengers waiting below decks for the ship to sink.
Except, as we’ve been told by the supermarkets, the idea of self serve is customer convenience and to speed up the process, in which case, as pointless exercises go, queuing up at an unmanned till to do it yourself is right up there.
I always have a point, though sometimes it’s more cosh than needle sharp.
What they should do, instead of a bar code, is have a wifi emitter on each product so when we walk through a scanner zone on the way out it’s all done, just electronically take it from our wallets then and there.
One could even have a phone app where you scan each item as you go, and when you walk through the check zone and find the supermarkets have charged you more than the shelf price you can call at customer service on the way out.
If you want to work in IT go sign up at your local polytech. They’ll throw an aptitude test at you if you don’t have anything in work or schooling to show you can do it. I haven’t, yet, heard of anyone not pass that test. What they’re looking for is the ability to detect patterns and logic.
Anybody can learn anything but it does help if they have an interest in it. A strong enough interest can even overcome a lack of aptitude.
I am really surprised it is as high as that.
…….
Hitler was popular once as was Clark, but people are looking back and while some blame Rogernomics, we actually boomed after Rogernomics. My sense is that we saw a social welfare under belly of excess and a cognitive dissonance and confusion amongst the public.
the people who lost all their savings in 97 and 2000 and 20008
the larger number of poor today than the 70’s
the environment?
my sense is that you got a whole lot of words from the dictionary this morning, threw them in the air and chose three to put in a sentence to make it seem like you knew stuff.
Having just read the wikipedia article on wikipedia I’ll reconsider that statement. However after struggling with a mortgage 11% to 21% it was a time I did well sort of like an arc upwards and downwards. But the 4th Labour government also brought in a lot of social legislation and pursued population increase which the Savings Working Group and a recent Treasury worling paper say has failed. The 4th Labour Government became infamous for social engineering.
At least (post rogernomics) you could get a job without having to know someone in the union. Rogernomics also coincided with an embrace of globalisation.
Something funny going on today. Comments ending up in weird places, a whole string of comments below with the same number 20, and all Gosman’s comments are coming out backwards.
[lprent: I can’t see anything particularly odd at the server side. I’ll schedule a reindex for this evening just in case the database indexes have a problem. ]
Is Goebbels at home or what? What utter filth !! I and most I knew had no trouble getting a job in those days – you could walk in, and virtually start straight away.
Now, it is minimum wage b.s., if you’re lucky, and if it ‘last’s’ 3 months, get out the champagne!!
I met one man who had been “laid off”, working in a menial position, because he was over 50, no one would ‘look at him’, and he was doing double shifts, just to keep the roof over his head and try to provide for his family. Welcome to the new New Zealand, where “jobs” belong to the privileged few.
At least (post rogernomics) you could get a job without having to know someone in the union. Rogernomics also coincided with an embrace of globalisation.
Yeah, an insecure zero hour job earning fuck all, no overtime rates and treated like general disposable shit.
It was good for the top 10% though who benefitted from NZ workers losing employment and cheap foreign labour producing cut price goods instead. The hidden cost – the hollowing out of the nation.
Um, I think you’ll find now that you actually have to know the boss to get the job. Knowing someone in the union would be much more likely. Not that what you said ever applied which makes it a lie.
However after struggling with a mortgage 11% to 21% it was a time I did well sort of like an arc upwards and downwards.
You’re conflating correlation with causation. The interest rates would have come down no matter what.
The 4th Labour Government became infamous for social engineering.
I suspect the 5th National Government will be even more infamous for its social engineering. Making the country poverty stricken so as to increase the wealth going to the 1% (and often the 1% in other countries) isn’t what most people would call a great idea.
jh
we boomed after rogernomics
I suppose you are meaning that facetiously as in boom boom from Basil Brush. Or perhaps you are serious and thinking of the noise after a disaster like Pike River.
You don’t even have a decent pseudonym to cower under after the boom goes off.
Godwin’s law (or Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an Internet adage asserting that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1″
— that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism.
Prime news at 530 last night also replayed the PM’s comments about labour and the unions, or the Pm replayed the comments two days running. Soper did not challenge it.
Their political coverage last night was certainly a good example of things looking different depending on your leanings.
peters showed that Collins has, in the past, declared foreign govt funded travel. The pecuniary interests register shows her colleagues in cabinet have done so, and some have declared funding from Chinese government. his question is therefore legitimate. Why didn’t she so declare int he register this time around?
BUT that would require the media to have looked through the PIR and done some fact checking.
Sadly labour doesn’t need to legalize pot because the greens offer that policy – it means that labor can grab a few % of conservative voters from the center by denying the greens the policy and not really loose any liberalization votes because they were going to the greens anyway (who will be a coalition partner). That seems to covert the issue into a third rail.
And that is despite the fact that there seems to be a clear majority in the people I talk to (national and labour voters) for decriminalization and good support for legalization – especially in the context of removing the legal highs. Maybe my impression is a bit biased by not taking into account the over 60’s.
Tamihere, Te Pou are more are in a difficult place. The poor wee diddums.
They can’t use the threat to joining the Maori Party when looking for positions in the Labour Party. Nobody is joining the Maori Party.
They can’t go to Mana because Mana has the measure of them and know that letting them in would wreck their Party. You are wise Hone.
Tamihire, Te Pou and a few others with an over egged sense of entitlement have found out that Cunliffe and Coatesworth do not blink at threats. If they want to play they do so with the same rule book as the rest of the Labour Party.
John, if you can’t discipline yourself just fuck off.
I’m a bit puzzled by the Taurima inquiry both by the head of the inquiry team who, in my view, over-egged Taurima’s misdemeanours on telly the other night. I’m also a little surprised by the Lab. Council’s swift response which may – or may not – have been essential.
But one thing I can say from my former experience at AKTV2 (TVNZ’s forerunner) that Shane Taurima’s conduct was no different to many other staff members. Use of TV equipment – including the odd taxi chitty – for a variety of external commitments was commonplace. Nobody thought anything of it provided the staff member’s work and in-house integrity was not compromised. Some might say… well, Taurima was foolish enough to get caught, but my recollection is that a pimp (Tory pimp for sure) tipped off the management – a management, at least in the News sector, that seems intent on greasing up to the NACT govt.
I can also say from past experience in later years as a public servant in another agency, that individuals associated with the Labour Party were victimised. In my case, promotion was denied me, and when it finally came the office manager told me “I didn’t deserve it”. My work was interfered with on numerous occasions and figures altered to make it look like I was incompetent. The individual responsible on one of those occasions was caught out because the original sent to Wellington had the correct figures in my hand-printing. They were never punished.
I have a sneaking suspicion Shane Taurima may have been similarly treated which would be a travesty of justice because of the license to snidely discredit Labour given to Paul Henry, Mike Hoskings and various others down the years.
You may be right Anne, but these days the curtain twitching, underwear sniffing right leave little room for the level of misjudgement made by Taurima. Paul Henry and Hoskings sure get a free pass though.
A top UNITE union official and the EPMU were involved at TVNZ as management tried to root out Shane Taurima’s “fellow travellers”. No one else has been publicly sacked but certain contracts were vindictively not renewed and a climate of fear and loathing further instilled.
Yep Tiger Mountain, Taurima should have known better. I put it down to naivety and – as karol has pointed out below – a sense of entitlement. But I could understand him feeling victimised over this because he will know there are others who have committed even worse offences, and who have been let off the hook altogether.
Anne, I can see why you think the main focus should be on the unfair treatment of Taurima and apparent victimisation.
However, what you point to in your explanation of everyone else at TVNZ does it, is a culture of entitlement at TVNZ.
In my work places, I would never have considered doing political activities using work resources, email etc. I always assume that the top managers have access to my email records and online activities. I am aware that even my kind of political activities, while not being tied to any political party, could be used against me in the future. We live in scary, surveillance state times.
If Taurima was not aware of that, he then is, in my view, out of touch with some very glaring political realities.
I am also not keen on the strong interweaving of politics and the media – it’s own little bubble. Too many MPs and candidates come from a media and/or PR background. I would like to see more candidates coming from grass roots, community experience.
I second those sentiments Karol. The average person in the street will find themselves without a job if they carry out personal tasks with work resources be it paid time or equipment. Generally it is regarded as theft.
‘Sense of entitlement’ I guess is a nice word for it but it is not acceptable for someone wanting to represent the Labour party
I also bemoan the lack of ‘grass roots’ type candidates who have worked and perhaps owned small business’ with real world experience. Far to many candidates have come through pol sci grads or media personalities who have spent to much time in an insular world never really understanding or knowing what its like to just get by or get a small business off the ground that maybe only pays wages for yourself.
Terrible when a state broadcaster doesn’t support your political views. Perhaps it should be ditched. Some left wing people could then get together and create a new left wing broadcaster that they could support with their own money.
Yes it is terrible. To remove the temptation of stacking the broadcaster with political appointees the organisation should be disbanded immediately. Unless you think the solution is to stack the organisation with left wing appointees.
I’m merely offering a solution to your little dilemma about government interference in State boradcasting. I suspect you don’t really mind government interference though. You just don’t like right wing government interference.
So your solution to right wing influence is more right wing influence. Let me take your recommendations under advisement.
PS I want to see a gradual decentralisation and democratisation of economic and political power in this country with firm controls put over corporate and banking behaviour. I have no interest in entrenching further central Government powers over ordinary people.
I want to own a super yacht however it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. What you want is irrelevant. What is practical and possible is what we have to work with.
Not really. What the voters want has to be weighed against what is practical or achievable. Many problems are caused when what the voters want clashes with reality. Witness the mess that Greece became.
Greece’s real problems started when their power elite, in agreement with the global power elite, gave up currency sovereignty and adopted the Euro. That effectively made the Greek nation a province of Europe (similar to Otago or Canterbury as a province of NZ) unable to control it’s own monetary and financial destiny.
Interesting that Tracy thinks it is fine for public servants to retire at 55 but not those in the private sector. Why is that?
Greece’s problems were caused by a combination of typically left wing statist solutions to economic development leading to a large government sector including many loss making parastatals coupled with a lack of desire by the Greeks to pay for such state largesse through taxation.
This was a structural problem,. All joining the Euro did was stop Greece from continuing to mask the underlying problem via continual devaluation.
gosman, most greeks did not have a credit card until 2002 when they entered the eurozone. thats not driven by socialism but by bankism.
most greeks didnt have mortgages because most property was fully owned and handed down from generation to generation.
it doesnt surprise me that your analysis is shallow and based on sound bite media reporting. afterall you have no problem with the pm and his ministers lie and mislead, and that we now have 60 billion govt debt.
The Greek crisis was one caused by Sovereign debt not private debt so I am not sure why you bring up the supposed fact that Greeks did not have credit cards or mortgages before 2002.
Given John Key’s views on linda clark and Shane taurima, do you find it odd he has never commented on former National party candidate, paul Henry’, role in interviewing and analysising politicians and politics on national tv?
It is highly likely they will not be financial members like many public torys. But they are members of the the right wing regardless going on their performances. The world of air conditioned spaces, lobbys, free taxis and a shared world view with their masters.
Nats have done this for years, nudge wink virtual memberships and networks such as business associations, lodges, Fed Farmers, rural sports clubs, etc. ‘Shits and Rats’ associations, or the modern equivalent have stood dirty filthy torys in council elections for years, but really spit if Labour gets a ticket together and introduces ‘politics’!
RNZ has been funding starved since ’08, but refuses to die just yet because of huge genuine public support that would put most of the talkback boofheads to shame despite the weasels presenting from 6–9am.
dont forget paul henry. The Nat leader and the media seem to have forgotten him during the last few days… might not be a paid up member but stood for themin an election.
“Just when did RNZ turn to the right?”
It started in 2008, and incrementally shifting ever since. There’ll soon be a time when weeknights and weekends only are worth a listen
Applause to Christchurch City Council for the 9 to 5 vote in favor of retaining and expanding its role in ”social housing”,
Christchurch City Council the countries second biggest landlord after the Government owned HousingNZ have outlined plans to establish a ‘holding company’ for its housing assets which meets the criteria for the payment of the full Government housing subsidy on all its rental properties thus standardizing the rents for low income tenants at 25% of income, planning also to increase their housing stock numbers by 1000 homes,(another round of applause),
Can someone please nudge the Wellington City Council Mayor into wide awake mode to have Her look at the Christchurch model with a view to emulating that Cities housing strategy including the provision of more homes for those with low incomes,
Another interesting poll on Stuff.co.nz asks respondents to vote on Nick Smith’s plan to sell off 500 State Houses in the Canterbury region, of the 500 odd respondents so far two thirds of them give Smith an emphatic NO,
Oh that’s promising. Though the rest of CCC’s infrastructural assets are not safe, with the vultures circling and news of the dire financial straights that the Garden City is in..
Of course the most commonsense thing would be to not worry about a stadium and convention centre….
From my reading of the story on Stuff.co.nz the 5 on the losing side of the debate wanted the 2-300 million dollars of housing stock sold off,
Makes me wonder when and IF it will ever stop, this ”in trouble with the financials, why not get the poorest members of society to pay for it then we wont have to forgo next months shopping trip to Sydney” attitude,
In answer to my own query i am tempted to mention cities in the same sentence as beehive matches and other combustibles but will refrain in a family friendly show like we have here…
..what goes on top of the bloated-irrelevancies that show is..
..on top of so-so-much ‘weather’..
..on top of the fatuous/dumb-arsed/facr-palming commentaries/concerns from/of the comperes..?
..on top of the really really bad news-writing..(for three days now..despite the police discounting the relevance/possibility/challenging the evidence of a witness who claims he smoked pot just before the flight..despite all this..
..the ‘cannabis’ is the only thing they write/talk about..
..it is news-presentation/writing that is appalling..in its’ inaccurancies/false presentation of the actual evidence..
..which brings us to the actual tipping-point..
..it comes with the news-reader..that part-time elder/sage peter williams..
..and the absolute shite/drivel he spouts in his opinions..
..his obvious idiocy this morn was sneering at a killer rigby ad playing in america..’cos irt portrays the all blacks as ‘warriors’..
..and ‘they are a rugby league team’..sniffed pete..
..and could he be more lip-smacking when he says ‘cann-a-bis!’..?
The income inequality gap has gone up in Auckland since 2006, while median has also gone up.
It’s not just about more people in employment, (or not) John, it’s about underemployment, people being underpaid, and poor working conditions for too many people.
The problem with publishing ”medium incomes” or ”average incomes” is that they hide the real picture of income across all the demographics,(with intent i would suggest),
Publishing the income figures in bands of five thousand dollars and the numbers in particular areas who sit within the particular income bands would give us a much clearer picture,(which is why they don’t do this), the medium or the average is in my opinion deliberately used as the tool here so as to allay any concerns of those higher up the food chain about the disparity of income,
In the vein of ”they cannot be that badly off with an income of 20 grand a year in their State Houses” this works spectacularly well as a tool to hide the true picture of poverty,
As Campbell Roberts from the Sallies points out, there is a large and growing cohort from among the demographic in South Auckland who have NO income whatsoever having been given the kick from WINZ,
To survive, by definition, this cohort within the demographic MUST be supported by others within the community thus lowering further their actual use of their already meager income in the vein of bettering their life outcomes,
OR, this growing cohort must simply TAKE what they see as their needs from someone else that has had to work and pay for such goods, a small but growing Robin Hood economy and not being able to promote criminal behavior here i wont,
”Why not phone up Robin Hood and ask Him for some redistribution”– The Clash, the odds of success there i would rudely suggest at the moment are odds on better than waiting for Labour to propose doing the same…
It is not hard to put personal views aside in the interests of objective journalism even when a subject is political.
[…]
None of this is to suggest that journalists should be devoid of political views and judgment. They would be less than citizens without them. Their views and judgment will be apparent to the audience and acceptable so long as there can be confidence they come from an interested, well-informed, even concerned person who has no conflict of interest.
The Herald does not allow its editorial staff to participate in community or political activities that could compromise their work. This means not only membership of political parties but taking part in public campaigns that they could have to cover. Preserving this distance from politics is not an onerous restriction for those whose credibility is paramount. They have the privilege of observing, reporting and commenting on public affairs. Once they cross the line to partisan participation, there is no coming back.
That’s great. Did they also outline HOW they ensure that? Do they get the journalist to sign a form saying I declare i don’t xyz? The only problem with that is that Banks signs things without reading to avoid the consequence of what he signed…
It never happened. Nothing ever happened. Even while it was happening it wasn’t happening. It didn’t matter. It was of no interest. The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It’s a winner. Listen to all American presidents on television say the words, ‘the American people’, as in the sentence, ‘I say to the American people it is time to pray and to defend the rights of the American people and I ask the American people to trust their president in the action he is about to take on behalf of the American people.’
It’s a scintillating stratagem. Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words ‘the American people’ provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don’t need to think. Just lie back on the cushion.
Using the Orwellian lens of language how would you interpret various ministers’ actions and Winston Peters Supposed smoking gun?
Definition of conflict of interest from State Services Commission:
A conflict of interest is defined in the New Zealand Public Service Code of Conduct as “any financial or other interest or undertaking that could directly or indirectly compromise the performance of a public servant’s duties, or the standing of their department in its relationships with the public, clients or Ministers. This would include any situation where the actions taken in an official capacity could be seen to influence or be influenced by an individual’s private interests (e.g. company directorships, shareholdings, offers of employment)”. http://www.ssc.govt.nz/node/7705
There is no legally binding definition of corruption in New Zealand. However, the definition used by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and relied on by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), defines corruption as:
“Behaviour on the part of officials in the public or private sector in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them, or induce others to do so, by misusing the position in which they are placed”.
An important component of this definition is that it encompasses the private sector, challenging traditional conceptions of corruption which usually limits potential offending to the public sector.
The SFO does not distinguish between public and private sector corruption, and treats potential offending in either context as being sensitive matters of high priority.
Examples of potential corruption
• Payment, receipt or solicitation of bribes by a New Zealander or secret commissions (kickbacks)
• Manipulation of tendering or procurement processes
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Willful blindness in respect of the activities of agents overseas (this is particularly relevant to businesses with a presence in the UK and USA)
• Failure to put in place adequate systems and controls to mitigate the risk of bribery (again particularly relevant to businesses with a presence in the UK and USA)
• Extravagant corporate hospitality or gifts
• Undisclosed giving or receiving of gift https://www.sfo.govt.nz/what-is-corruption End quote
The dark arts are alive and well, particularly when you can sanitize the terms away on national radio, replacing them with the words ‘it’s just cultural’ or smoking gun? or saying its open to interpretation?
its a great piece and worth people having a read of the whole thing.key and others seem to be saying that because collins didnt personally benefit from her trip to china, funded in whole or part, by the chinese govt, there is nothing wrong.
however her cabinet colleagues have disclosed chinese govt contributiins to travel on their official visits, so it appears to be cabinet practice to do so.
excuse number two is it was probably an administrative error. so, her colleagues didnt make that error, and she was able to complete other parts of tge register.
this leaving aside the benefits to her husbands company,oravida.
can someone ask the pm
do you advise parents in nz to teach their children that as long as they dont break a law they shoukd do whatever they please?
is the expected standard of your cabinet members ” if its not illegal its ok by me”
given the higher influence, responsibility and pay, why does he hold backbench mps, eg gilmore, to a higher standard than ms collins
A case of displacement activity to avoid doing the things that need to be done.
I decided to do a bit of (irrelevant) ‘fact checking’ this morning, as I could not understand why PG was spending so much time here wasting other people’s time and energy when he had an important job as Politicheck Editor.
According to the Politicheck website, appointments including PG’s were announced on 10 March.
The first ‘factcheck’ posts commenced on 9 April with about 7 that day, and then daily ones of one or two per day through to 13 April; two on 16 April, one on 19 April – and the latest one on 29 April. A total of about 17 – and nothing for over two and a half weeks.
Similarly, the latest tweet on their Twitter account was 28 April.
So, it appears that what was a good idea, but badly executed IMO, has died, or is dying a slow death.
Time to do the things that need doing! But thought I would share this ‘fact checking’.
Perhaps she should apply that ‘age of entitlement’ to people who have incomes over $100k. Bring that to an end and affording National Super would be child’s play.
National Poll at 47% and around 48% want Key as PM
Labour poll at 29% but only 13% want Cunliffe as PM??
Who would the other 16% of Labour supporters rather have as Labour leader?
Two options I guess:
1 Labour supporters don’t care who the leader is – just vote for the party and ignore the prefered PM option
2 Cunliffe is not well liked by Labour voters who would prefer to see an alternative leader – not sure who
They may grow to like him but at the moment that support is not quite there.
Labour Party members overwhelmingly voted for Cunliffe. It’s no surprise that John Key, who has been PM for 6 years, has higher name recognition amongst the general electorate.
Helen Clark was polling 6% in such polls befor She became Prime Minister, worth remembering and worth noting that given the above Fact such polling is meaningless drivel probably printed with the intent of trying to turn off potential left leaning voters…
Some insight from Cluborlov.com under Moneybag Logic
A Princeton University study by Gilens and Page performed a regression analysis on over a thousand public policy decisions, and determined that the effect of public opinion on public policy is nil. That’s right, nil. It doesn’t matter how you vote, it doesn’t affect the outcome in any measurable way. By extension, that also goes for protesting, organizing, dousing yourself with gasoline and setting yourself on fire on the steps of the US Senate, or whatever else you may get up to. It won’t influence those in power worth a damn.
Yep. That’s what makes our so called democracy an elected dictatorship. The people that our MPs do listen to happen to be the rich which makes us a plutocracy.
And if the directions of the rich to our political leaders entail stealing from the nation to make themselves even wealthier, that then can be considered a kleptocracy.
Maybe times haven’t changed. Back in Baudelaire’s day he said that “modern” women married as a financial decision – the alternative at the time often being prostitution – and were objects used to personify society’s frivolous tendencies and bourgeois fashions. Clothes horses for the morals of the time and princesses of a divine nature. They were a mirror of everything the husband is not allowed to experience or express as a male of the culture. He wasn’t very enlightened, for a poet, but in presenting certain attitudes he at least sounds historically accurate.
In my experience, wives and husbands have much in common in attitude and style, in a complimentary round-about way, rather than in direct similarity. It’d be a mistake to think of one as “lovely” and the other as “horrible”. They are one and the same beast, of a kind because of the other. Which is not to say there are not other possible roles within marriage.
A man as powerful as a PM, once he’s done beneficiary/race/poor/whatever-bashing, still has his personal crap to dump somewhere. The wife colludes and absorbs some of it, then the kids. It’s all unavoidable to a certain extent and should be the best argument for both birth control at the personal end of the scale, and twentieth-century style communism at the public end, but people, you know how confused, sentimental and argumentative they get. Pesky individualism has set the social machine to self destruct.
If Beauty and the Beast is true, then your Beauty still clearly has her work cut out. Take heart that at one point he might have been worse.
I support DC because I want someone who is capable and know the financial systems extremely well, so as to change it. According to C Trotter he was the only one in the Labour Caucus who fully understood the GFC. At the Wellington leaders meeting he said he wanted to be known for reversing Rogernomics. That as a long time labour supporter was huge for me. (He will loose my support quickly if that doesn’t happen I might add).
I am also impressed cause he speaks Te Reo. Not many if any Pakeha politicians can likely claim this, although I stand to be corrected. I think this more than anything shows me he’s genuine.
I think GR is very capable and a great politician no doubt. But DC has been a minister and been extremely competent (not perfect) at it.
He is an honest man up “mans up” admit mistakes and then corrects them. That’s rare in politics and not commented on often.
I believe we will do enough to get Nats out. It isn’t easy because as often noted on this site we are up against the incredible bias of MSM, who on-going love affair with Key is astounding.
Jamie Whyte was again a larf on te nat radio this morning. He must have taken quite a dose of Crazy Act Party Pills to suggest that the current distribution system we have for the nations resources is some sort of natural order.
Does he not realise that the amount of money that ends up in people’s hands at the end of each week is the result of myriad laws, norms, regulations, taxes, lack of taxes, subsidies, infrastructures, medicals, educations, roads, lack of roads, minimum wage settings, lack of maximum wage settings (how incongruous), inheritances, privacy of the commonses, the rule of law, on it goes, on it goes…
Whyte genuinely has a screw loose in my opinion. He should go back to studying loose screws.
Having now listened to his interview, I simply reiterate how sensible the guy is. Thinking of switching my vote to ACT. If you vto have the concern for people on low incomes that I think you do, you should also consider voting for ACT.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/244306/infratil-may-divest-energy-businesses
Infratil is an example of business with aspirations mixing up our economy. So many businesses eager to siphon off money from NZs to their company pockets mean we can expect rising prices to assist greater returns to investors.
However, operating profit fell 5.3 percent, largely due to reduced contributions from its 50.4 percent-owned power company, Trustpower, and the Infratil Energy Australia Group.
They become ambitious and want to expand and invest in Australia and other countries and so may build infrastructure there and attempt entry into their market using money raised in NZ from investors and profits from customers.
This is partly due to the weaker Australian dollar. Trustpower has a large wind energy programme in Australia.
As well, Infratil operates the large energy business across the Tasman, Lumo Energy. Lumo is an energy retailer and generator, while Direct Connect is a utility connections provider for the real estate industry.
When their ownership of business here is related to providing basic needs it is not reassuring to a citizen looking for a country with modern advanced facilities at prices affordable to lower paid NZ people.
Looking at Infratril’s moves in this business item, I think of how they have been attempting big rises in airport charges to air transport companies,and making life difficult for the little people providing taxi services up against airports’ monopoly dealings and flagfall limits and appearance controls.
As firms here get bigger they seem more likely to behave like overseas investors and the profit made from their local activities to drain out of the country. That would be different from an overseas investor only in its accounting in our financial stats.
[Click to Edit | Delete] (3 minutes and 20 seconds)
lprent
I found it surprising that I didn’t get my comment on Infratil at the end of Open Mike.
I am 34 and under me there are other 34’s with the first being skinny from 6.32 a.m. He has been pushed down the thread followed by Colonial viper and bad12, both also 34’s and others with no number. I tried twice to get my comment at the end and landed up in the same position. So don’t know… what’s the story?
Census stats show income inequality growing. Asked in Qu 1 in question time, Key denies it’s happening, and crows on about the Nats god economic record, and Labour’s poor record.
Again he talks about jobs and employment increases – ignores low paid jobs, underemployment, etc.
I’ll just drop an interesting quote into the mix. like a fly into jam.
Apparently Ghandi when asked what he thought about Western civilisation said that he thought it would be a good idea.
This website will host a series of Briefing Papers from early in 2014. The papers will focus on assessing the state of the country as the basis for public discussion and debate. A group of writers have been assembled to write short briefing papers based on extensive research programmes and presented in a form that can be easily understood by the public at large.
The briefing papers will provide the public with an overview of critical issues facing New Zealand society. The goal is to promote informed discussion and debate, so crucial to economic and social development, with the central question being:
how is the public
interest being served?
The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government. It is a key factor in assessing jobs and the cost of living, educational opportunities, housing options and the way in which the policy makers of today are protecting the interests of future generations.
In order to address these questions, the Briefing Papers will examine the underlying assumptions on which policy options are based and what interests, public or private, are being served. As Herbert Gans once suggested, this means both understanding and assessing, who benefits?
I note that Stuff is running an article with Key talking about tax cuts for middle income earners, or at least saying that he will not rule it out. It appears that he is floating the idea, and it also appears that English new nothing about it when questioned.
This smacks of desperation, and could well be the last election bribe card in the pack. Well done the left for forcing Key to indicate this card the day before the budget when its not even in the budget.
Strange that democracy job creation and saving the planet all go together. This probably goes a long way in explaining why it is not being done.
One of the side effects of launching the war to save the planet is a diminution of the power of the elites. Or as Bathurst Resources put it when moaning about all the protests and appeals delaying their plans to level the Denniston Plateau for the coal it contains, (our investors) “can’t wait forever to get the cream.”
Surely this could be the creed of greedy fat cats everywhere
Your guess would be wrong. I would venture that I know as many “Environmental lawyers” as you. And what they care deeply about, is getting the account. They care as much, and as little, (in general) about the environment as your average New Zealander (which is a fair amount). But they aren’t in it to save the planet. They are in it for the fee (there is very little pro-bono evironmental law taking place).
And let’s be clear about this. You view my post as being so incorrect that you had to comment on it, while allowing people to claim that Karen Price has the credentials to be a Green Candidate, or is an environmentalist? I note no black ink at the bottom of these posts.
I would suggest that most of your commenters would hold the view that off shore drilling and sea floor mining by corporations is unwanted and goes against the aims of the environmental movement.
A person who chose to help those corporations get consents to do that mining wouldn’t be/shouldn’t be/couldn’t be held up as someone fighting on behalf of the environmental movement.
I’ve got nothing at all against Ms Price. She seems like a lovely woman. But holding her out as an environmentalist, or a good fit for the green party, seems absurd, and I called those commenters out on it, yet you choose to attack me as not being able to understand basic concepts and having limited intellect.
Yeah. It’s been moved from “The Cunliffe’s at home” post (where is was relevant and contextual) to the Open Mike thread, where it isn’t.
The Original post/s was/were in response to posters writing that David Cunliffe’s wife appeared to be an environmentalist or qualified to run for the Green party.
I pointed out what she actually does for a job. Nothing wrong with that job. But it ain’t someone battling day in and day out for the environment. It is usually the opposite. She helps corporates get their agendas past legislation, and gets paid for it.
Then lprent decided that he needed to have a go at me. And claimed I don’t know any environmental law practitioners or understand what they did.
I responded to that assertion. Tehn se (or someone else) moved my response away and deleted the original. Presumably to leave the misinformation about Ms Price intact, or his ego, or both? We will never know for certain.
[lprent: Ok, that may have been wrong of me. As far as I can remember (I was pretty tired) I thought it was in the Cunliffe at the Standard post where it would have been quite out of place. I will move things back around when I get chance – probably after work. ]
So it sounds like Key is planning the same bribe-for-idiots as 2008: knock a couple of points off income tax, and then ramp up GST, ACC, fuel levies, vehicle registration, alcohol, ciggies and every other tax, fee, duty and levy that exists.
Labour needs to show very clearly that it was a con job last time and it’s a con job again.
I took it to mean that the info. about the Five Eyes conference in 2011 was released in Greenwald’s new book – which I presume has only recently been published.
Stewart observed that the government’s investment in her had really paid off.
Which, of course, is how our welfare system should be viewed. The real bludgers are the rich and our investment in them is most definitely not paying off.
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Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
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 ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
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Sorry didn’t mean to be rude, just annoyed Cunliffe does the pick and chose thing. He can be incredibly sulky. If we lose the election it will be cause DC is disliked too much by too many. The penny dropped a couple of weeks ago that Robertson was actually the better option popularity wise. Anyway DC is it and I guess people change their annoying bad habits.
You are so full of shit.
Duh. You meant to say “better option popularity wise” amongst the broad section of the voting public known as the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
and caucus? So that’s maybbe 50 peoiple at most?
The numbers were discussed in comments in Open Mike i think yesterday or the day befor, those numbers make your comment look as stupid as it actually is…
Cunliffe is a busy man Skinny, so He cannot sit here at the Standard for hours on end answering every question us lot put to Him,
i didn’t bother, asking such questions here isn’t going to change any of Labour’s policies,(and me not being a member why would i have such an expectation),
As Labour become more entrenched in its work will set you free,(but for 100,000 under the current policy such freedom will not be forthcoming), i have simply moved my political allegiance further left as MMP would allow and perhaps dictate i do,
Speculation on who would be the ‘better’ leader this close to September is a bit of a non starter as far as logical conversation goes with Cunliffe odds on to become the next Prime Minister,
Having said that tho i was and still am a supporter of Grant Robinson but that’s a discussion to be had,(hopefully not),on another day…
I asked a question, more because it needed to be asked than because I expected an answer.
I’m more surprised at being called a “cheerleader” than anything else. It isn’t something that most politicians on the left would say.
Personally I think that DC is by far the best person for the job at present. None of the other potential candidates for the job have anything like the required depths of experience in both the ministerial and the political to be able to make a credible fist of the task in my unhumble opinion.
I’d also point out that I spent several decades in volunteer work working for and with Helen Clark across 7 elections (whilst usually in disagreement with her) so I have a fairly good idea what is required for the task.
Election still incredibly close even though Labour under Cunliffe doing worse than under Shearer. Labour/Green/NZ First/Mana just a few votes behind National. See http://origin-interactives.stuff.co.nz/polling/iframe1col.php
Or
Election looking much harder for tories to win even though they poll double English’s numbers in 2002.
Labour/Green/NZ First/Mana just a few votes behind National, or ahead, depending on other opinion polls.
See all around the nation.
+100 The Allen…Matthew Hooton is desperately spinning… especially after David Cunliffe’s highly successful recent television at-home profile by John Campbell
http://thestandard.org.nz/at-home-with-david-cunliffe/
You mean his wife’s highly successful television bit. David was a not entity pretty much until he went to get the fish and chips. I couldn’t believe my eyes at this appearance especially given the time Labour requested to script manage the bit.
@ cancerman …i think the women of New Zealand would have been highly impressed with that at-home ( which was not a Labour Party public policy meeting or debate)!
…they would have been impressed with Karen Price YES!
…but also that David Cunliffe let her take centre- stage and did not try and Lord it over her….he was shown to be a very nice warm human being and very supportive of his very smart, versatile and likeable partner
+1 Chooky.
In stark contrast to the domineering egomaniac John Key, who seemed terrified that Bronagh might say the wrong thing if he wasn’t hovering over her.
So Key having his at home at his seldom used bach, rather than his Parnell home, was not script management?
Had they ever been there before? Nothing on the walls, nothing on the floor.
Never seen a kiwi bach so empty.
Like many of the wealthy, they own the damn thing just so they can say that they have one. It’s keeping up with the Joneses by checklist.
Shane Jones’ chequelust
Contrast is a great educator. I had waited on watching the Key interview until the Cunliffe interview had screened, so I could view them as fairly as possible.
I particularly paid attention to Campbell’s behaviour on a separate viewing of each and found him balanced in his demeanour, his questioning and importantly, in his body language. – apart from his budding crush on Karen of course 🙂
What struck me more than anything when viewing the Key story was what struck me the very first time I saw the planking photo which was taken inside their home.
All you see are bare cold surfaces not encroached upon by life.
‘Where is the person?’ was all I could ask on both occasions.
Contrast is a great educator, and the simple difference between the Key story and the Cunliffe story lies in the perception of the personalities as we ‘share in their private lives’. This was of course the show’s stated intention. The show’s title was At Home With The Leaders. If Key considers the bach ‘Home’ it certainly didn’t show.
We saw the out in public, glad-handing professionals, busy at work whilst wanting to look like just normal guys doing stuff and they both did really well. However, once back at home, things changed.
‘This is space I exist in’ cannot be faked. Your body will betray you. There are simple things you cannot hide in that circumstance. No matter how slick you are at manipulating the message or how well you manage strangers in your kitchen. Key was very conscious of the cameras and looked as if he was only focused on the voter worm he had running in his mind. Cunliffe appeared comfortable, self-conscious enough but happy to be there and basically looked like he was having fun.
(almost as much as Russel Norman seemed to have the other week)
Contrast is a great educator. At the end of the day people will relate to the obviously expensive and well chosen manufactured sterility of the environments shown by Key, or to the exuberant life filled chaos that the Cunliffe family so obviously thrive on.
I think a lot of kiwis made their minds up on Monday night, and it is going to be very difficult for National to change them back.
yes..you would have to mark it up as a success..
..it humanised a previously pretty stiff cunnliffe..
.(.something i don’t give a flying fuck about..
..but important at this particular moment/to many..)
..and in the groundswell of social conservatism underway at the moment..
..his parsonage/11 kids(was it?..whoar..!..) studying to be a minister/harvard etc..backstory/upbringing is much more interesting/potent than keys’..
maybe the word you are looking for is calculated. its a checks and balances, spreadsheet world for mr key.
i will do x if the outcome will be y
y = achieving current key goal?
One poll, small sample and Fairfax had the least accurate polls last election. Do you always take individual poll results as gospel Matthew?
and let’s not forget we have the banks trial coming up..
..with dotcom claiming to have the evidence that key has lied to parliament..the nation..
..and we also have the snowden nz spook-dirt-drop to look forward to..
..and i linked to a story the other day where glenn greenwald confirmed that he is..
..’saving the best for last’…
..mmm!!!!
..things to look forward to..!
..eh..?
To be honest tho’ Phil I just wish KDC would stop farting around and release it. Because you KNOW that the Nats will delay, defer, obstruct, and bullshit, to keep the trial till after the election, when it will be too late!
@ david h..
..i think the courts decide the trial timetable..
..i think that could be a bit of an over-reach even for this hubris-drenched national govt..per se..
..and even if they did..
..dotcom could still decide to release the evidence..
Expanding on that:
1011 surveyed by telephone (landline only?) over three days, May 10 -12.
Of the 1011, only 826 were classed as ‘decided voters’ and included in the results (81.7%)
Undecided/not intending to vote numbers excluded from the results totalled 185 – 18.3%.
Internet Party not included in survey (Now formally registered as of yesterday together with its purple logo)
Putting aside the four highest polling in the preferred PM (Key, Cunliffe, Peters, Norman), the results of the lower polling people are interesting although completely academic:
Kim Dotcom – 0.4%
Hone H and Meteria T – 0.3%
Tariana Turia – 0.2%
Colin Craig – 0.1%
May 10-12? Was that the time that National was get the tail end of a battering for “dodgy” fundraising, having just lost a minister and having another on the chopping block? So pretty good result for Labour then!
1011 surveyed by telephone (landline only?)
How can you tell what sort of device is being used to answer calls to any given number?
Its not the poll result which is the problem Greg. Its the headlines, stories and gloating that will come from it.
People back winners.
We need to turn this narrative around.
Yeah he does, it’s just another version of Hooton’s Horseshit.
I would say that over the last 2 election cycles, roughly half the Fairfax Polls have been pretty much in tune with other polls taken around the same time, with the other half always skewed to the Right. Fairfax never has a Left-leaning outlier.
Quick off the mark this morning Matthew Hooten…um, I’m sensing panic. Which in your case is fair enough because things have turned around now that voters have seen National for what it is, a corrupt party looking after a small number of elites. Excellent!
You are sensing panic over someone highlighting a poll showing a possible National victory???
“Bugger the Polls!” ….as Bolger said
The tide has turned…TIME FOR A CHANGE!
…anyone who thinks a Cunliffe coalition Government with the Greens, NZF, and Mana / Dot Com is not going to WIN …is in for a SHOCK on election night!
….the Nacts are looking tired and brittle and angry and on the ropes ( any cheer and jokes from Key are looking increasingly faux)
Wow. You really have swallowed the Kool aid haven’t you. Nice to see someone so fanatic.. I mean committed to the cause.
how did you enjoy looking in the mirror?
lol…guess Gos Fly looked a bit woolly with big ears and a huge mouth….just like a troll
The tenor of the comments on the Stuff website has become markedly anti-National in recent weeks.
Of late Lanthanide, the comments could almost pass as balanced. Especially the replies to comments, but today we see the usual pitchforks flinging the usual product. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/budget-2014/10041025/National-has-no-need-to-pull-rabbits-out-of-hat
Yeah given the Roy Morgan is the most accurate and stable poll over lengthy time-frames, (and was the closest poll to the last election outcome) and uses more than just landlines, I don’t trust any other poll because they all seem to have either too much volatility or are not conducted with enough other methods including using the undecided vote.
I think National and their supporters are deluded if they think they are on an automatic path to a comfortable victory and that complacency will hurt them even more on election day. The final result will be by a whisker either way with Winston being King maker again.
WOW – I do wonder about some people.
A poll has Labour under 30% and you say that you sense panic in National and that voters see National as a corrupt party.
There are none so blind that they do not want to see.
Its impossible to have a reasoned conversation with someone like yourself.
You do know what MMP is right?
The National Party Cabinet civil war and MP bloodletting says it quite loud enough.
but seeing a 2% drop for nats since the last poll is good news in your world?
@ Hooton………o.k so worst case scenario we are going to need Winnie as well to get your lot out Hooton.
I don’t think that will be a problem. Can you really see Peters going with Key? If so what would that say about Key. Unprincipled? With do a deal with anyone?
re peters going with key..
..watching the minor party leaders debate on the nation last wknd..wd have hardened the odds in viewers’ minds that peters is more likely to go with the progressives..
..than with the reactionaries..
..his dislike of this mob of righties (and what they have done..)..seemed/s to have tipped over into the visceral..
..and why wd he pick an administration down to its’ fag-end..and about to be stubbed out..
..and one going gangbusters in its’ final term..flogging everything off/mining/drillling everything..
..that all goes against pretty much all peters stands for..
..rather than an administration just sparking up for its’ first term….but perhaps more importantly..making noises he likes about quite a few policies he has been carrying a torch for since forever..(foreign-ownership/provincial-development being just two..)
..if i were a gambling man.i’d stick the dosh on peters going with the progressives..
I think you would be taking a big risk with such a gamble.
Winston is cunning and crafty. His PRIMARY aim now is to secure his 5% plus threshold. He will therefore say and things to get his support from both the left and right leaning voters.
He will not say prior to the election which block, national led or Labour led government he will join.
After the election he will decide which way to go based on what policy concessions and baubles are offered and only then he will decide.
In my opinion, Key will offer him much more than Cunliffe can.
Progressives can offer him “Winston saved the power companies” and “Winston booted Key out” two pretty big offers I’d say.
Good to see that you’re quick off the mark Hoots. Since we had a serious discussion (PG notwithstanding) on domestic abuse, how do you feel about spinning for a wife-beater? We all know that you’re a strong advocate of feminism, but you were were oddly silent about Effluvium’s connections with Liu…
@Rhinocrates To say nothing about Colin Craig who has admitted to hitting his children, and wants to allow the hitting of Children by changing the law. I wonder how Mrs Craig feels about this? As a father of a 3 year old (Today he is 3) I do not agree with hitting children, for any reason.
I notice National lost nearly 2% compared with the previous poll.
The Mana/IP link-up does not feature.
NZF poll at 3.7% which must really be 5.7% (at least) so credibility lacking here.
ACT are polling nearly 1% where Jamie White sounded like a blithering idiot on Morning Report this AM.
Poor poor Jamie, it was a terrible outing. He doesn’t seem to understand that it’s not his opinion that matters, is the opinions of the voters, and his job is to change their opinion, not preach at them.
Fairfax media gave the Oravida Party 54% in November 2011. This latest poll suggests their true level of support is closer to 40%.
No wonder the lying Prime Minister can’t stop sharing his worthless opinion of the Labour party.
Some people voted for Kim Dotcom as preferred PM. Interesting. Next some’ll be voting for the Jedi.
This isn’t the messiah you’re looking for.
You can go about your business.
Move along.
heh..!
The poll surveyed 1011 people through landlines only. 826 gave their ‘decided’ party preference. So 18% are undecided.
One can not draw clear conclusions from this poll, which seems quite far out from the other closest recent polls. I don’t believe that the NZ First support is only 3.7% That is ridiculous.
Not sure if this Stuff/Ipsos poll has any connection with the old very inaccurate FairFax Media poll.
The Fairfax poll taken just before the 2011 election was the worst accurate poll of all! On the 21 Nov, five days before the election, Fairfax poll indication was NATS=54%. The actual election result on 26 Nov, NATS-47%, a 7% DROP!! Labour’s was 2% higher on election night, from 26% to 28%, whereas NZ on election night was 6.6% while Fairfax poll prediction was 4%!!
So, to me, this poll is suspect. I will wait to see a series of other polls to draw a more reasonable conclusion.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_New_Zealand_general_election,_2011
Labour hit by at least confusion if not more infighting over selection process in Tamaki Makaurua. Not a good look I would suggest.
You’re right, contested selection processes can be messy. Let’s just find a 23 year old nuclear industry lobbyist and slide him into the seat.
LOLOLOL
or have a board of directors overriding the electorate members like in ACT. That’s real democracy baby
Where’s “Tamaki Makaurua”?
Interesting..the public starts to fight back (in the EU…)…
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/13/right-to-be-forgotten-eu-court-google-search-results
@ stever..yeah..it’s a seachange how the european court has swung in behind the rights of the individual vs. the power of the internet conglomorates..
..’tis good news..
Stuff, the right-wing rag…enough said.
Yep – they take the figures from an independent polling company and then totally make new ones up in the reporting because they are right wing.
Yeah…. tui !
Stuff is owned by Fairfax, and if you believe that Fairfax does not take a deliberate pro-Tory line most of the time, you haven’t been paying attention.
I have. I also know they they do not own the polling company, nor to they change the figures that come back from that company.
can you post all the questions from the survey, thanks.
It also seems you have a very limited conception of how National Party networking operates in the business world.
my partner was called on ourlandline by a marketing company for a survey.
she was asked if she knew who she was voting for. she said yes. the next question was, is it national. she said no. then asked were there circumstances under which she would vote national. she said no. they said ” thank you” and rang off.
we are in the epsom electorate.
my partner assumed they meant party vote because they werent specific.
Interesting. Their polling is focussed on assessing the level of opinion against National, and how firm that opinion stands. They are not interested in determining support levels for any other party.
ahhh, of course, which suggests its a national instigated poll?
if it had been act the questions would have been more electorate vote focused?
IMO neither National nor ACT will waste money asking any questions about ACT – you know ahead of time that 99.9% of people are going to diss ACT.
So yes, most likely it was internal polling for the National Party. A very odd lack of follow up questions though make me think it was a snap poll to get some quick and dirty numbers. Informative follow up questions to a National non-voter like yourself might have been things like – did you vote National last election? Even though you aren’t voting for National, do you approve of John Key as PM? etc.
i speed-read thru the cunnliffe-thread late last nite..
..and two of the takeaways i got on two of my concerns..pot and poverty..
.was a swerve/no-answer to the medical-pot question..
..and an arbeit-will-macht-them-frei answer to the question of the benificiary-poverty..
..the gringing/ongoing miseries of those at the very bottom..
..did i get that right..?
..and if i did..what is new/different..?.from what came before under clark..
…what is to celebrate/promote..?
Yes I seen him swerve the answer to that. All good ,Ill take it to Facebook and twitter
The Greens have some great policy’s on it anyway and will be votiog Mana/Greens in my electorate anyway
Likely one of the reasons why they’re showing consistent increases in support in recent polling. Clearly shows that National’s ‘the Greens are the end of the world’ rubbish hasn’t gained any traction at all.
National’s Green bogey-man has a very big uptake, going by comments on Stuff about how the greens just want to destroy the economy etc.
That’s why I firmly believe once they actually get a chance to be in government, the public at large will realise they aren’t the devil incarnate and they’ll get a lot of support in the polls.
You have a point Lanthanide. However it will be devout National and Act supporters running the governments attack lines online. I very much doubt many people would be changing their voting preferences just because John Key and his cohorts are good liars and muckrakers!
They have before.
Who reads Stuff? To be more precise, what proportion of them are committed National supporters against those who aren’t?
@ Phillip Ure ……Luckily for you…you can vote Mana on the beneficiary poverty issue….and Greens on both issues!….and as you well know a Labour led coalition will be way better than NACT…on both issues!
…also we have yet to see all of Labour’s policies
Pot simply not an election issue phillip. Get used to it.
nor poverty..eh..?
..and you will see how much of an ‘issue’ it is when..if expected..the mana party comes out with a sensible/sane/colorado-model pot-policy..
..as part of their suite of doing things differently..
..and see how that will galvanise the young vote..especially..
(ahem..!.freudian-slip there..i meant the internet party..
..i think mana has medical-pot as policy..
More important things to worry about than cannabis reform there Phil.
But keep blowing the horn
So 13.4% of the population want Cunliffe as PM.
I am really surprised it is as high as that.
🙄 🙄 🙄 i would be really surprised if you had the ability to perambulate in an upright position without losing the skin off of your knuckles to the pavement…
On Radio NZ they were talking about technology putting people out of work (the post office) while IT were crying out. The problem is that only the creme de creme can do that sort of IT work. Joyce said those that loose out move sideways (into other jobs) that is b.s they either accept lower wages or less work. All over modernised manufacturing plants require fewer people. What we need is less want; one way to achieve that is in the urban form (eg Susan Krumdieks eco village), but it isn’t the whole answer.
National’s other b.s is globalisation all ships rise when a foreigners can feast on the cabbaged treed headland.
Herman Daly ex World Bank economist.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/559
You know I think things start more simply.
Two discussions on this site prompted me to change two shopping behaviour.
the use of self service at supermarkets
shopping at 100% new zealand owned new World.
Have now been doing 2 and not doing 1 for some months now. Interestingly, my family are now doing the same, as are some friends we’ve talked to about it.
Do I find myself occassionally spending 5-10 more minutes checking out than i used to? yes. But I chat with people around me, the check out people, and I take the time to slow down during my day.
Change does beginw ith each of us, even in the small ways.
I know it’s not exactly what you were talking about, but we all have to start somewhere helping each other out.
@ tracey..
..and like most issues..that one is also nuanced..
..in that the (kiwi-owned) ‘good guys’ pay their workers minimum-wage..
..whereas the (foreign-owned) ‘bad guys’ pay their workers a couple of bucks over minimum-wage..
.(better to be even more screwed over by yr ‘own..?..eh..?..)
yup, but so does the competitor I no longer shop at (pay minimum wage).
It is a bit a case of weighing up the pros and cons. Also, as I now try to use my car less, and often bus to the shops, it’s often a case of which supermarket is within walking distance.
understand that for sure.
well, Labour and greens are saying they will raise the minimum wage, so vote there if this is an important issue.
The nats will give .50c a year and rely on employers to voluntarily raise the wages in the “good times”.
Know what really grates about the self-serve checkouts?
Although they’ve sacked someone/not hired someone, the job still exists – it’s just that they’ve found a way to get us to do it for free!
So nah, I don’t use them either.
I feel the same about marketing surveys that are done via calling my landline, and feedback forms sent me after I’ve been provided with some goods or services – where do I send the bill for them using my time and effort to improve their profit margins?
Yep. I always explain at the start that, like them, we charge for our time, and ask them for a name and address to send the invoice.
Everyone should do it.
The funniest thing about self serve checkouts is watching people queue up to use them.
It’s like driving to a gym to walk on a treadmill.
Reminds of documentaries I’ve watched with people quietly and orderly queuing up to board the trains taking them to concentration camps.
Whilst not linking the two very different situations, much like the sad footage of the Korean ferry passengers waiting below decks for the ship to sink.
To many of us are docile sheep conditioned to be herded by rabid neoliberal (and neocon) dogs on to the trucks.
bit of a groin-stretcher there eh viper..?
..those ‘orderly’ queuing up..had guns trained on them..
..and would have been beaten/shot/killed had they not been ‘orderly’..
..yr point..?
Ew. That’s a gross comparison.
The funniest thing about non-self serve checkouts is watching people queue up to use them. It’s like driving to the gym to walk on a treadmill.
Wait, no it’s not, it’s like going shopping to buy food – in both cases.
Except, as we’ve been told by the supermarkets, the idea of self serve is customer convenience and to speed up the process, in which case, as pointless exercises go, queuing up at an unmanned till to do it yourself is right up there.
I suppose if people were queuing up when there were manned ones available then you might have a point. I usually see it the other way around.
I always have a point, though sometimes it’s more cosh than needle sharp.
What they should do, instead of a bar code, is have a wifi emitter on each product so when we walk through a scanner zone on the way out it’s all done, just electronically take it from our wallets then and there.
One could even have a phone app where you scan each item as you go, and when you walk through the check zone and find the supermarkets have charged you more than the shelf price you can call at customer service on the way out.
They would in star trek.
Nope, still can’t see any point there.
Nope, pretty much anybody can do IT work – just need to learn a little bit.
The problem with what Joyce says is that he’s part of a government that’s busy cutting education so that people can’t actually move at all.
How many technology (IT) development projects have you been involved in Draco? Hardware, software or firmware is fine.
And that means what? Oh, that’s right – nothing.
If you want to work in IT go sign up at your local polytech. They’ll throw an aptitude test at you if you don’t have anything in work or schooling to show you can do it. I haven’t, yet, heard of anyone not pass that test. What they’re looking for is the ability to detect patterns and logic.
Anybody can learn anything but it does help if they have an interest in it. A strong enough interest can even overcome a lack of aptitude.
“..Why Marijuana Works Better Than Opiates to Control Pain:
It’s all in the way human brains are hardwired..”
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/why-marijuana-works-better-opiates-control-pain
big bruv 6
14 May 2014 at 7:29 am
So 13.4% of the population want Cunliffe as PM.
I am really surprised it is as high as that.
…….
Hitler was popular once as was Clark, but people are looking back and while some blame Rogernomics, we actually boomed after Rogernomics. My sense is that we saw a social welfare under belly of excess and a cognitive dissonance and confusion amongst the public.
when you say “we boomed”, who did you mean?
the people who lost all their savings in 97 and 2000 and 20008
the larger number of poor today than the 70’s
the environment?
my sense is that you got a whole lot of words from the dictionary this morning, threw them in the air and chose three to put in a sentence to make it seem like you knew stuff.
Having just read the wikipedia article on wikipedia I’ll reconsider that statement. However after struggling with a mortgage 11% to 21% it was a time I did well sort of like an arc upwards and downwards. But the 4th Labour government also brought in a lot of social legislation and pursued population increase which the Savings Working Group and a recent Treasury worling paper say has failed. The 4th Labour Government became infamous for social engineering.
At least (post rogernomics) you could get a job without having to know someone in the union. Rogernomics also coincided with an embrace of globalisation.
Nothing wrong with comparing people to Hitler.
Sorry, wrong place.
Something funny going on today. Comments ending up in weird places, a whole string of comments below with the same number 20, and all Gosman’s comments are coming out backwards.
[lprent: I can’t see anything particularly odd at the server side. I’ll schedule a reindex for this evening just in case the database indexes have a problem. ]
lol, I found the incongruous nature of this comment funny though
Moment of zen
what?
under rogernomics you have to know a business owr… look at the friends/family getting jobs in ministrys through key, perata, collins and on and on.
interesting you ignored my question forclarification.
Is Goebbels at home or what? What utter filth !! I and most I knew had no trouble getting a job in those days – you could walk in, and virtually start straight away.
Now, it is minimum wage b.s., if you’re lucky, and if it ‘last’s’ 3 months, get out the champagne!!
I met one man who had been “laid off”, working in a menial position, because he was over 50, no one would ‘look at him’, and he was doing double shifts, just to keep the roof over his head and try to provide for his family. Welcome to the new New Zealand, where “jobs” belong to the privileged few.
+111
Yeah, an insecure zero hour job earning fuck all, no overtime rates and treated like general disposable shit.
It was good for the top 10% though who benefitted from NZ workers losing employment and cheap foreign labour producing cut price goods instead. The hidden cost – the hollowing out of the nation.
Um, I think you’ll find now that you actually have to know the boss to get the job. Knowing someone in the union would be much more likely. Not that what you said ever applied which makes it a lie.
You’re conflating correlation with causation. The interest rates would have come down no matter what.
I suspect the 5th National Government will be even more infamous for its social engineering. Making the country poverty stricken so as to increase the wealth going to the 1% (and often the 1% in other countries) isn’t what most people would call a great idea.
^^^ THIS.
jh
we boomed after rogernomics
I suppose you are meaning that facetiously as in boom boom from Basil Brush. Or perhaps you are serious and thinking of the noise after a disaster like Pike River.
You don’t even have a decent pseudonym to cower under after the boom goes off.
Godwin’s law (or Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies) is an Internet adage asserting that “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1″
— that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism.
I wasn’t comparing anyone with Hitler, I was just saying that leaders have an up and then a legacy.
I see our unbiased media is saying, Winston Peters smoking gun fired blanks.( Prime News at 5.30pm yesterday)
NO. The speaker Carter would not let him pull the trigger.
Prime news at 530 last night also replayed the PM’s comments about labour and the unions, or the Pm replayed the comments two days running. Soper did not challenge it.
Their political coverage last night was certainly a good example of things looking different depending on your leanings.
peters showed that Collins has, in the past, declared foreign govt funded travel. The pecuniary interests register shows her colleagues in cabinet have done so, and some have declared funding from Chinese government. his question is therefore legitimate. Why didn’t she so declare int he register this time around?
BUT that would require the media to have looked through the PIR and done some fact checking.
rowden christie this morning to winston peters that he tried to read her report but he couldn’t get through it because it was “boring”. peters gives christie a look of disbelief & contempt. http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/winston-peters-collins-allegations-video-5971405
also christie also gets in “well, its only the opposition that thinks shes lying”, which i doubt is true.
was there any scarring/wounds around christies’ mouth..?
..after that medical-separation of his lips from keys’ arse the other morning..?
Sadly labour doesn’t need to legalize pot because the greens offer that policy – it means that labor can grab a few % of conservative voters from the center by denying the greens the policy and not really loose any liberalization votes because they were going to the greens anyway (who will be a coalition partner). That seems to covert the issue into a third rail.
And that is despite the fact that there seems to be a clear majority in the people I talk to (national and labour voters) for decriminalization and good support for legalization – especially in the context of removing the legal highs. Maybe my impression is a bit biased by not taking into account the over 60’s.
YAWN….John Tamihere on National Radio advocating on behalf of Shane Taurima.
John threatened “Judicial Review” YAWN
Smart move Shane, so so so so smart. God Bless your phenominal IQ.
YAWN
And Tamihere – continues his vendetta against Labour.
what an epic judgement-fail on the part of taurima..
..getting tamihere to advocate for him..to labour..?..(!)
..w.t.f. was he thinking..?
..it’d be like the vegan society wheeling in the mad butcher..
..as a ‘surprise’ witness..
+1 phillip
plus 1
labour dodged a bullet if Tamihere is in Shane’s corner…
and heh, ‘fixer’ Shane Phillips/Te Pou a Dover Samuels, John Tamihere, Shane Jones and now Shane Taurimu supporter. Whats with all these Shanes btw?
Tamihere, Te Pou are more are in a difficult place. The poor wee diddums.
They can’t use the threat to joining the Maori Party when looking for positions in the Labour Party. Nobody is joining the Maori Party.
They can’t go to Mana because Mana has the measure of them and know that letting them in would wreck their Party. You are wise Hone.
Tamihire, Te Pou and a few others with an over egged sense of entitlement have found out that Cunliffe and Coatesworth do not blink at threats. If they want to play they do so with the same rule book as the rest of the Labour Party.
John, if you can’t discipline yourself just fuck off.
The key word is ‘if’ Tracey.
I’m a bit puzzled by the Taurima inquiry both by the head of the inquiry team who, in my view, over-egged Taurima’s misdemeanours on telly the other night. I’m also a little surprised by the Lab. Council’s swift response which may – or may not – have been essential.
But one thing I can say from my former experience at AKTV2 (TVNZ’s forerunner) that Shane Taurima’s conduct was no different to many other staff members. Use of TV equipment – including the odd taxi chitty – for a variety of external commitments was commonplace. Nobody thought anything of it provided the staff member’s work and in-house integrity was not compromised. Some might say… well, Taurima was foolish enough to get caught, but my recollection is that a pimp (Tory pimp for sure) tipped off the management – a management, at least in the News sector, that seems intent on greasing up to the NACT govt.
I can also say from past experience in later years as a public servant in another agency, that individuals associated with the Labour Party were victimised. In my case, promotion was denied me, and when it finally came the office manager told me “I didn’t deserve it”. My work was interfered with on numerous occasions and figures altered to make it look like I was incompetent. The individual responsible on one of those occasions was caught out because the original sent to Wellington had the correct figures in my hand-printing. They were never punished.
I have a sneaking suspicion Shane Taurima may have been similarly treated which would be a travesty of justice because of the license to snidely discredit Labour given to Paul Henry, Mike Hoskings and various others down the years.
You may be right Anne, but these days the curtain twitching, underwear sniffing right leave little room for the level of misjudgement made by Taurima. Paul Henry and Hoskings sure get a free pass though.
A top UNITE union official and the EPMU were involved at TVNZ as management tried to root out Shane Taurima’s “fellow travellers”. No one else has been publicly sacked but certain contracts were vindictively not renewed and a climate of fear and loathing further instilled.
Yep Tiger Mountain, Taurima should have known better. I put it down to naivety and – as karol has pointed out below – a sense of entitlement. But I could understand him feeling victimised over this because he will know there are others who have committed even worse offences, and who have been let off the hook altogether.
Anne, I can see why you think the main focus should be on the unfair treatment of Taurima and apparent victimisation.
However, what you point to in your explanation of everyone else at TVNZ does it, is a culture of entitlement at TVNZ.
In my work places, I would never have considered doing political activities using work resources, email etc. I always assume that the top managers have access to my email records and online activities. I am aware that even my kind of political activities, while not being tied to any political party, could be used against me in the future. We live in scary, surveillance state times.
If Taurima was not aware of that, he then is, in my view, out of touch with some very glaring political realities.
I am also not keen on the strong interweaving of politics and the media – it’s own little bubble. Too many MPs and candidates come from a media and/or PR background. I would like to see more candidates coming from grass roots, community experience.
I second those sentiments Karol. The average person in the street will find themselves without a job if they carry out personal tasks with work resources be it paid time or equipment. Generally it is regarded as theft.
‘Sense of entitlement’ I guess is a nice word for it but it is not acceptable for someone wanting to represent the Labour party
I also bemoan the lack of ‘grass roots’ type candidates who have worked and perhaps owned small business’ with real world experience. Far to many candidates have come through pol sci grads or media personalities who have spent to much time in an insular world never really understanding or knowing what its like to just get by or get a small business off the ground that maybe only pays wages for yourself.
xox
Just when did RNZ turn to the right? It appears to be an worrying trend. Suzie, Guyon…. have you cancelled your party membership?
Terrible when a state broadcaster doesn’t support your political views. Perhaps it should be ditched. Some left wing people could then get together and create a new left wing broadcaster that they could support with their own money.
Terrible when a state broadcaster is controlled by Tories and ex-National Party officers from the Board level down.
Yes it is terrible. To remove the temptation of stacking the broadcaster with political appointees the organisation should be disbanded immediately. Unless you think the solution is to stack the organisation with left wing appointees.
Abandoning public broadcasting and turning the airwaves exclusively to big money corporate players?
Who could’ve imagined that a fervent right winger like yourself would back such an idea?
I’m merely offering a solution to your little dilemma about government interference in State boradcasting. I suspect you don’t really mind government interference though. You just don’t like right wing government interference.
So your solution to right wing influence is more right wing influence. Let me take your recommendations under advisement.
PS I want to see a gradual decentralisation and democratisation of economic and political power in this country with firm controls put over corporate and banking behaviour. I have no interest in entrenching further central Government powers over ordinary people.
Not really offering any solution to the problem of political appointees to the board of RNZ though.
I don’t want any govt interference in public broadcasting, thanks.
That includes your corporate government too btw Gos.
I want to own a super yacht however it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. What you want is irrelevant. What is practical and possible is what we have to work with.
Actually Gos in a democracy what we want our govt to do/not do is entirely relevant.
Horrible, eh?
Not really. What the voters want has to be weighed against what is practical or achievable. Many problems are caused when what the voters want clashes with reality. Witness the mess that Greece became.
You said “irrelevant”.
Put the goalposts back where you found them, there’s a good lad.
If you want to be a pedant that is your choice.
Yeah, it’s pedantic to think that when you said something was irrelevant you meant it wasn’t relevant.
Silly me.
🙄
Don’t be a dick. The IMF, ECB and Deutschebank rule Greece; the Greek voters are treated by them as a formality and as a joke.
greeces problems started not long ago, when the masses got mortgages and credit cards, both a relatively new phenomenon for a western country.
and as for the oft talked about retirement age of 55, it was only ever for tnose in the public service.
do you believe that if i cant prove god doesnt exist that is proof he exists?
Greece’s real problems started when their power elite, in agreement with the global power elite, gave up currency sovereignty and adopted the Euro. That effectively made the Greek nation a province of Europe (similar to Otago or Canterbury as a province of NZ) unable to control it’s own monetary and financial destiny.
Interesting that Tracy thinks it is fine for public servants to retire at 55 but not those in the private sector. Why is that?
Greece’s problems were caused by a combination of typically left wing statist solutions to economic development leading to a large government sector including many loss making parastatals coupled with a lack of desire by the Greeks to pay for such state largesse through taxation.
This was a structural problem,. All joining the Euro did was stop Greece from continuing to mask the underlying problem via continual devaluation.
interesting that gosman cant read. interesting, not surprising.
gosman that is a highly selective selection of factors around the issue and as such is of little use.
gosman, most greeks did not have a credit card until 2002 when they entered the eurozone. thats not driven by socialism but by bankism.
most greeks didnt have mortgages because most property was fully owned and handed down from generation to generation.
it doesnt surprise me that your analysis is shallow and based on sound bite media reporting. afterall you have no problem with the pm and his ministers lie and mislead, and that we now have 60 billion govt debt.
The Greek crisis was one caused by Sovereign debt not private debt so I am not sure why you bring up the supposed fact that Greeks did not have credit cards or mortgages before 2002.
Forget the super yacht Gos ! Little yachts are more versatile and heaps cheaper to run.
Given John Key’s views on linda clark and Shane taurima, do you find it odd he has never commented on former National party candidate, paul Henry’, role in interviewing and analysising politicians and politics on national tv?
Why would he comment on a right leaning interviewer? Do left wing politiicans comment on left leaning journalists in a negative manner?
What has Key said about Taurima/ Clark, Gos?
and why the media didnt and dont, even when he brings it up?
?
Or more important than Journalist’s is the number of National Party people on the board at TVNZ/RNZ
“Some left wing people could then get together and create a new left wing broadcaster”
FFS get some new lines – that one is old
It is highly likely they will not be financial members like many public torys. But they are members of the the right wing regardless going on their performances. The world of air conditioned spaces, lobbys, free taxis and a shared world view with their masters.
Nats have done this for years, nudge wink virtual memberships and networks such as business associations, lodges, Fed Farmers, rural sports clubs, etc. ‘Shits and Rats’ associations, or the modern equivalent have stood dirty filthy torys in council elections for years, but really spit if Labour gets a ticket together and introduces ‘politics’!
RNZ has been funding starved since ’08, but refuses to die just yet because of huge genuine public support that would put most of the talkback boofheads to shame despite the weasels presenting from 6–9am.
dont forget paul henry. The Nat leader and the media seem to have forgotten him during the last few days… might not be a paid up member but stood for themin an election.
“Just when did RNZ turn to the right?”
It started in 2008, and incrementally shifting ever since. There’ll soon be a time when weeknights and weekends only are worth a listen
Already is. I hate Morning Report now it is so gone down hill with the new staff. It’s starting to sound like Radio live
Applause to Christchurch City Council for the 9 to 5 vote in favor of retaining and expanding its role in ”social housing”,
Christchurch City Council the countries second biggest landlord after the Government owned HousingNZ have outlined plans to establish a ‘holding company’ for its housing assets which meets the criteria for the payment of the full Government housing subsidy on all its rental properties thus standardizing the rents for low income tenants at 25% of income, planning also to increase their housing stock numbers by 1000 homes,(another round of applause),
Can someone please nudge the Wellington City Council Mayor into wide awake mode to have Her look at the Christchurch model with a view to emulating that Cities housing strategy including the provision of more homes for those with low incomes,
Another interesting poll on Stuff.co.nz asks respondents to vote on Nick Smith’s plan to sell off 500 State Houses in the Canterbury region, of the 500 odd respondents so far two thirds of them give Smith an emphatic NO,
Source: Stuff.co.nz…
Excellent.
Good news bad12
Oh that’s promising. Though the rest of CCC’s infrastructural assets are not safe, with the vultures circling and news of the dire financial straights that the Garden City is in..
Of course the most commonsense thing would be to not worry about a stadium and convention centre….
From my reading of the story on Stuff.co.nz the 5 on the losing side of the debate wanted the 2-300 million dollars of housing stock sold off,
Makes me wonder when and IF it will ever stop, this ”in trouble with the financials, why not get the poorest members of society to pay for it then we wont have to forgo next months shopping trip to Sydney” attitude,
In answer to my own query i am tempted to mention cities in the same sentence as beehive matches and other combustibles but will refrain in a family friendly show like we have here…
what is the tipping-point for tvnz breakfast..?
..what goes on top of the bloated-irrelevancies that show is..
..on top of so-so-much ‘weather’..
..on top of the fatuous/dumb-arsed/facr-palming commentaries/concerns from/of the comperes..?
..on top of the really really bad news-writing..(for three days now..despite the police discounting the relevance/possibility/challenging the evidence of a witness who claims he smoked pot just before the flight..despite all this..
..the ‘cannabis’ is the only thing they write/talk about..
..it is news-presentation/writing that is appalling..in its’ inaccurancies/false presentation of the actual evidence..
..which brings us to the actual tipping-point..
..it comes with the news-reader..that part-time elder/sage peter williams..
..and the absolute shite/drivel he spouts in his opinions..
..his obvious idiocy this morn was sneering at a killer rigby ad playing in america..’cos irt portrays the all blacks as ‘warriors’..
..and ‘they are a rugby league team’..sniffed pete..
..and could he be more lip-smacking when he says ‘cann-a-bis!’..?
.he is the tipping-point..
The income inequality gap has gone up in Auckland since 2006, while median has also gone up.
It’s not just about more people in employment, (or not) John, it’s about underemployment, people being underpaid, and poor working conditions for too many people.
RNZ:
which is why Bill English always uses averages when answering questions, as does Joyce
The problem with publishing ”medium incomes” or ”average incomes” is that they hide the real picture of income across all the demographics,(with intent i would suggest),
Publishing the income figures in bands of five thousand dollars and the numbers in particular areas who sit within the particular income bands would give us a much clearer picture,(which is why they don’t do this), the medium or the average is in my opinion deliberately used as the tool here so as to allay any concerns of those higher up the food chain about the disparity of income,
In the vein of ”they cannot be that badly off with an income of 20 grand a year in their State Houses” this works spectacularly well as a tool to hide the true picture of poverty,
As Campbell Roberts from the Sallies points out, there is a large and growing cohort from among the demographic in South Auckland who have NO income whatsoever having been given the kick from WINZ,
To survive, by definition, this cohort within the demographic MUST be supported by others within the community thus lowering further their actual use of their already meager income in the vein of bettering their life outcomes,
OR, this growing cohort must simply TAKE what they see as their needs from someone else that has had to work and pay for such goods, a small but growing Robin Hood economy and not being able to promote criminal behavior here i wont,
”Why not phone up Robin Hood and ask Him for some redistribution”– The Clash, the odds of success there i would rudely suggest at the moment are odds on better than waiting for Labour to propose doing the same…
xox
And John T gets airtime on ‘National’ Radio! ‘National’ by name, National by nature.
Laugh?!! I almost cried….. NZ Herald editorial on journalistic bias, or lack of:
“Once they cross the line to partisan participation, there is no coming back.”
At least there is one accurate sentence in the editors bilge on Herald political writers. Their persistent ‘tory love’ is obviously a job requirement.
That’s great. Did they also outline HOW they ensure that? Do they get the journalist to sign a form saying I declare i don’t xyz? The only problem with that is that Banks signs things without reading to avoid the consequence of what he signed…
Stunning piece by Harold Pinter – 2005 Nobel lecture for Literature
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html
It is a great example of literary skill and rhetoric.
Great piece de resistance CV
Thanks CV, I agree, it is a stunning piece, a stunningly accurate reflection of what continues to go on here and elsewhere.
This is a very sad state of affairs and good to see someone calling it for what it is.
Harold Pinter was a stunning writer. I cannot recommend enough just sitting down and reading some of his plays.
Test
all a bit odd isn’t it Gosman 🙂 it’s not just you though !
Using the Orwellian lens of language how would you interpret various ministers’ actions and Winston Peters Supposed smoking gun?
Definition of conflict of interest from State Services Commission:
A conflict of interest is defined in the New Zealand Public Service Code of Conduct as “any financial or other interest or undertaking that could directly or indirectly compromise the performance of a public servant’s duties, or the standing of their department in its relationships with the public, clients or Ministers. This would include any situation where the actions taken in an official capacity could be seen to influence or be influenced by an individual’s private interests (e.g. company directorships, shareholdings, offers of employment)”.
http://www.ssc.govt.nz/node/7705
Serious Fraud Office and it position on Bribery and Corruption:
https://www.sfo.govt.nz/what-is-corruption
There is no legally binding definition of corruption in New Zealand. However, the definition used by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) and relied on by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), defines corruption as:
“Behaviour on the part of officials in the public or private sector in which they improperly and unlawfully enrich themselves or those close to them, or induce others to do so, by misusing the position in which they are placed”.
An important component of this definition is that it encompasses the private sector, challenging traditional conceptions of corruption which usually limits potential offending to the public sector.
The SFO does not distinguish between public and private sector corruption, and treats potential offending in either context as being sensitive matters of high priority.
Examples of potential corruption
• Payment, receipt or solicitation of bribes by a New Zealander or secret commissions (kickbacks)
• Manipulation of tendering or procurement processes
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest
• Willful blindness in respect of the activities of agents overseas (this is particularly relevant to businesses with a presence in the UK and USA)
• Failure to put in place adequate systems and controls to mitigate the risk of bribery (again particularly relevant to businesses with a presence in the UK and USA)
• Extravagant corporate hospitality or gifts
• Undisclosed giving or receiving of gift
https://www.sfo.govt.nz/what-is-corruption End quote
The dark arts are alive and well, particularly when you can sanitize the terms away on national radio, replacing them with the words ‘it’s just cultural’ or smoking gun? or saying its open to interpretation?
WTF
its a great piece and worth people having a read of the whole thing.key and others seem to be saying that because collins didnt personally benefit from her trip to china, funded in whole or part, by the chinese govt, there is nothing wrong.
however her cabinet colleagues have disclosed chinese govt contributiins to travel on their official visits, so it appears to be cabinet practice to do so.
excuse number two is it was probably an administrative error. so, her colleagues didnt make that error, and she was able to complete other parts of tge register.
this leaving aside the benefits to her husbands company,oravida.
can someone ask the pm
do you advise parents in nz to teach their children that as long as they dont break a law they shoukd do whatever they please?
is the expected standard of your cabinet members ” if its not illegal its ok by me”
given the higher influence, responsibility and pay, why does he hold backbench mps, eg gilmore, to a higher standard than ms collins
A case of displacement activity to avoid doing the things that need to be done.
I decided to do a bit of (irrelevant) ‘fact checking’ this morning, as I could not understand why PG was spending so much time here wasting other people’s time and energy when he had an important job as Politicheck Editor.
According to the Politicheck website, appointments including PG’s were announced on 10 March.
The first ‘factcheck’ posts commenced on 9 April with about 7 that day, and then daily ones of one or two per day through to 13 April; two on 16 April, one on 19 April – and the latest one on 29 April. A total of about 17 – and nothing for over two and a half weeks.
Similarly, the latest tweet on their Twitter account was 28 April.
So, it appears that what was a good idea, but badly executed IMO, has died, or is dying a slow death.
Time to do the things that need doing! But thought I would share this ‘fact checking’.
Fran O’Sullivan is clearly a very sick chick
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11254359
you know how a wolf howls at the moon? i read that as fran howling in the night for a return to rogernomics.
Perhaps she should apply that ‘age of entitlement’ to people who have incomes over $100k. Bring that to an end and affording National Super would be child’s play.
Thought some of the folk here might enjoy this
http://www.weeklystorybook.com/.a/6a0105369e6edf970b01a511b4735d970c-800wi
You can’t prove that freedom!
In the interest of a fair and open debate do not let facts get in the way. Ha!
I heard it calling “post me, post me” 😎
its the cartoon version of robertson and key over the collins dinner.
it does have a first panel that can be easily customized Tracey
-just place a clear note “altered from original” by the author’s signature to cover yourself from [TPP] litigation 😉
The thing I don’t get is this:
National Poll at 47% and around 48% want Key as PM
Labour poll at 29% but only 13% want Cunliffe as PM??
Who would the other 16% of Labour supporters rather have as Labour leader?
Two options I guess:
1 Labour supporters don’t care who the leader is – just vote for the party and ignore the prefered PM option
2 Cunliffe is not well liked by Labour voters who would prefer to see an alternative leader – not sure who
I am getting the feeling it is number 2.
They may grow to like him but at the moment that support is not quite there.
The campaign should sort that.
Labour Party members overwhelmingly voted for Cunliffe. It’s no surprise that John Key, who has been PM for 6 years, has higher name recognition amongst the general electorate.
Helen Clark was polling 6% in such polls befor She became Prime Minister, worth remembering and worth noting that given the above Fact such polling is meaningless drivel probably printed with the intent of trying to turn off potential left leaning voters…
yup. current pm always polls higher in first two terms.
i found this on boing boing..
..did we already know all of this..?
“…New Zealand requires network operators to register with cops – give spies oversight of their network ops..”
When the rest of the world decides to scrutinise and dial down mass surveillance of Internet users –
New Zealand does the opposite.
From now on network operators will have to register with the cops –
have staff with security clearance –
and ask the GCSB spy agency for permission to change their networks and buy gear.
This is to make it easier for the government to intercept communications – and to keep network secure.
The new law applies to everyone – from small ISPs to Facebook – Google – Microsoft – and telcos.
Failure to comply could cost as much as NZ$500,000 in fines per day..”
(cont..)
http://boingboing.net/2014/05/13/new-zealand-requires-network-o.html
Some insight from Cluborlov.com under Moneybag Logic
A Princeton University study by Gilens and Page performed a regression analysis on over a thousand public policy decisions, and determined that the effect of public opinion on public policy is nil. That’s right, nil. It doesn’t matter how you vote, it doesn’t affect the outcome in any measurable way. By extension, that also goes for protesting, organizing, dousing yourself with gasoline and setting yourself on fire on the steps of the US Senate, or whatever else you may get up to. It won’t influence those in power worth a damn.
I suspect the same runs true for here.
Yep. That’s what makes our so called democracy an elected dictatorship. The people that our MPs do listen to happen to be the rich which makes us a plutocracy.
And if the directions of the rich to our political leaders entail stealing from the nation to make themselves even wealthier, that then can be considered a kleptocracy.
That would be what the assets sales were about, yes.
you can buy a game of golf… a cabinet club membership, or collect signatures…
The primer that accompanied the NASA Antarctic ice sheet announcement, graphics and a longer narrated version of the animation posted yesterday.
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-20140512/
http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/earth/antarctica-telecon20140512/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_3345615225&feature=iv&src_vid=Adh86ma3oxw&v=YQMtb1Pd07E
For anyone interested in reading the original source paper.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL060140/pdf
the question every new zealander must ask is would you buy a used car from John Keys?
the question every new Zelander must ask themselves is; Would you buy a used car from john keys?
from john key’s what?
You know, that keys guy.
I don’t think they sell cars. They just repair them.
So no, I wouldn’t.
http://www.mytime.com/deals/MS/Cleveland/Automotive/Dent-Removal/John's-Keys/mt-o4F7IF4zCqPPJMtv8-Guvg
Just watched the “At
homethe bach we own but never visit with John and Bronagh Key” thing.She’s lovely. What is she doing with that horrible man?
Maybe times haven’t changed. Back in Baudelaire’s day he said that “modern” women married as a financial decision – the alternative at the time often being prostitution – and were objects used to personify society’s frivolous tendencies and bourgeois fashions. Clothes horses for the morals of the time and princesses of a divine nature. They were a mirror of everything the husband is not allowed to experience or express as a male of the culture. He wasn’t very enlightened, for a poet, but in presenting certain attitudes he at least sounds historically accurate.
In my experience, wives and husbands have much in common in attitude and style, in a complimentary round-about way, rather than in direct similarity. It’d be a mistake to think of one as “lovely” and the other as “horrible”. They are one and the same beast, of a kind because of the other. Which is not to say there are not other possible roles within marriage.
A man as powerful as a PM, once he’s done beneficiary/race/poor/whatever-bashing, still has his personal crap to dump somewhere. The wife colludes and absorbs some of it, then the kids. It’s all unavoidable to a certain extent and should be the best argument for both birth control at the personal end of the scale, and twentieth-century style communism at the public end, but people, you know how confused, sentimental and argumentative they get. Pesky individualism has set the social machine to self destruct.
If Beauty and the Beast is true, then your Beauty still clearly has her work cut out. Take heart that at one point he might have been worse.
Did you notice how he abusively waved the barbeque utensil right in front of her face? Wanker.
I support DC because I want someone who is capable and know the financial systems extremely well, so as to change it. According to C Trotter he was the only one in the Labour Caucus who fully understood the GFC. At the Wellington leaders meeting he said he wanted to be known for reversing Rogernomics. That as a long time labour supporter was huge for me. (He will loose my support quickly if that doesn’t happen I might add).
I am also impressed cause he speaks Te Reo. Not many if any Pakeha politicians can likely claim this, although I stand to be corrected. I think this more than anything shows me he’s genuine.
I think GR is very capable and a great politician no doubt. But DC has been a minister and been extremely competent (not perfect) at it.
He is an honest man up “mans up” admit mistakes and then corrects them. That’s rare in politics and not commented on often.
I believe we will do enough to get Nats out. It isn’t easy because as often noted on this site we are up against the incredible bias of MSM, who on-going love affair with Key is astounding.
Do you think it’s possible to reverse rogernomics while at the same time leaving a user-pays education system and punitive welfare system intact?
Jamie Whyte was again a larf on te nat radio this morning. He must have taken quite a dose of Crazy Act Party Pills to suggest that the current distribution system we have for the nations resources is some sort of natural order.
Does he not realise that the amount of money that ends up in people’s hands at the end of each week is the result of myriad laws, norms, regulations, taxes, lack of taxes, subsidies, infrastructures, medicals, educations, roads, lack of roads, minimum wage settings, lack of maximum wage settings (how incongruous), inheritances, privacy of the commonses, the rule of law, on it goes, on it goes…
Whyte genuinely has a screw loose in my opinion. He should go back to studying loose screws.
He seems entirely sensible on most things.
That confirms vto’s observations.
Having now listened to his interview, I simply reiterate how sensible the guy is. Thinking of switching my vote to ACT. If you vto have the concern for people on low incomes that I think you do, you should also consider voting for ACT.
You and the 5 other people who vote for him will have quite the election night party.
I don’t think ACT have any candidates running in the Australian election.
Maybe ACT could do a little door knocking in South Auckland, Naenae, Cannons Creek, Maraenui. Sounds like a shoo-in.
greywarbler 33
14 May 2014 at 12:35 pm
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/244306/infratil-may-divest-energy-businesses
Infratil is an example of business with aspirations mixing up our economy. So many businesses eager to siphon off money from NZs to their company pockets mean we can expect rising prices to assist greater returns to investors.
However, operating profit fell 5.3 percent, largely due to reduced contributions from its 50.4 percent-owned power company, Trustpower, and the Infratil Energy Australia Group.
They become ambitious and want to expand and invest in Australia and other countries and so may build infrastructure there and attempt entry into their market using money raised in NZ from investors and profits from customers.
This is partly due to the weaker Australian dollar. Trustpower has a large wind energy programme in Australia.
As well, Infratil operates the large energy business across the Tasman, Lumo Energy. Lumo is an energy retailer and generator, while Direct Connect is a utility connections provider for the real estate industry.
When their ownership of business here is related to providing basic needs it is not reassuring to a citizen looking for a country with modern advanced facilities at prices affordable to lower paid NZ people.
Looking at Infratril’s moves in this business item, I think of how they have been attempting big rises in airport charges to air transport companies,and making life difficult for the little people providing taxi services up against airports’ monopoly dealings and flagfall limits and appearance controls.
As firms here get bigger they seem more likely to behave like overseas investors and the profit made from their local activities to drain out of the country. That would be different from an overseas investor only in its accounting in our financial stats.
[Click to Edit | Delete] (3 minutes and 20 seconds)
lprent
I found it surprising that I didn’t get my comment on Infratil at the end of Open Mike.
I am 34 and under me there are other 34’s with the first being skinny from 6.32 a.m. He has been pushed down the thread followed by Colonial viper and bad12, both also 34’s and others with no number. I tried twice to get my comment at the end and landed up in the same position. So don’t know… what’s the story?
That’s because someone deleted a comment that someone had already replied to. This breaks the numbering.
Census stats show income inequality growing. Asked in Qu 1 in question time, Key denies it’s happening, and crows on about the Nats god economic record, and Labour’s poor record.
Again he talks about jobs and employment increases – ignores low paid jobs, underemployment, etc.
I’ll just drop an interesting quote into the mix. like a fly into jam.
Apparently Ghandi when asked what he thought about Western civilisation said that he thought it would be a good idea.
.
lol!
new AUT website – Briefing papers. Looks likely to be way better than any low level fact checking site:
I note that Stuff is running an article with Key talking about tax cuts for middle income earners, or at least saying that he will not rule it out. It appears that he is floating the idea, and it also appears that English new nothing about it when questioned.
This smacks of desperation, and could well be the last election bribe card in the pack. Well done the left for forcing Key to indicate this card the day before the budget when its not even in the budget.
“Study shows how US could democratize systems, create jobs, and radically reduce emissions by 2050”
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/05/13-4
Strange that democracy job creation and saving the planet all go together. This probably goes a long way in explaining why it is not being done.
One of the side effects of launching the war to save the planet is a diminution of the power of the elites. Or as Bathurst Resources put it when moaning about all the protests and appeals delaying their plans to level the Denniston Plateau for the coal it contains, (our investors) “can’t wait forever to get the cream.”
Surely this could be the creed of greedy fat cats everywhere
Your guess would be wrong. I would venture that I know as many “Environmental lawyers” as you. And what they care deeply about, is getting the account. They care as much, and as little, (in general) about the environment as your average New Zealander (which is a fair amount). But they aren’t in it to save the planet. They are in it for the fee (there is very little pro-bono evironmental law taking place).
And let’s be clear about this. You view my post as being so incorrect that you had to comment on it, while allowing people to claim that Karen Price has the credentials to be a Green Candidate, or is an environmentalist? I note no black ink at the bottom of these posts.
I would suggest that most of your commenters would hold the view that off shore drilling and sea floor mining by corporations is unwanted and goes against the aims of the environmental movement.
A person who chose to help those corporations get consents to do that mining wouldn’t be/shouldn’t be/couldn’t be held up as someone fighting on behalf of the environmental movement.
I’ve got nothing at all against Ms Price. She seems like a lovely woman. But holding her out as an environmentalist, or a good fit for the green party, seems absurd, and I called those commenters out on it, yet you choose to attack me as not being able to understand basic concepts and having limited intellect.
Wow. Nice aim you have there.
J Mex
What number in the thread are you referring to? You have written quite a big comment. Where does it fit in the jigsaw
[lprent: It was moved from the Cunliffe post. ]
Yeah. It’s been moved from “The Cunliffe’s at home” post (where is was relevant and contextual) to the Open Mike thread, where it isn’t.
The Original post/s was/were in response to posters writing that David Cunliffe’s wife appeared to be an environmentalist or qualified to run for the Green party.
I pointed out what she actually does for a job. Nothing wrong with that job. But it ain’t someone battling day in and day out for the environment. It is usually the opposite. She helps corporates get their agendas past legislation, and gets paid for it.
Then lprent decided that he needed to have a go at me. And claimed I don’t know any environmental law practitioners or understand what they did.
I responded to that assertion. Tehn se (or someone else) moved my response away and deleted the original. Presumably to leave the misinformation about Ms Price intact, or his ego, or both? We will never know for certain.
[lprent: Ok, that may have been wrong of me. As far as I can remember (I was pretty tired) I thought it was in the Cunliffe at the Standard post where it would have been quite out of place. I will move things back around when I get chance – probably after work. ]
Thanks, But I wouldn’t bother.
It’s old news now anyway.
So it sounds like Key is planning the same bribe-for-idiots as 2008: knock a couple of points off income tax, and then ramp up GST, ACC, fuel levies, vehicle registration, alcohol, ciggies and every other tax, fee, duty and levy that exists.
Labour needs to show very clearly that it was a con job last time and it’s a con job again.
It looks like the drip feed of information concerning the GCSB links to NSA has finally begun.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11254935
Interesting. Thanks.
I’m not sure from the article how much of that stuff is new to the public domain. This for instance:
Sounds like slide shows used at 5 Eyes conferences that have been published previously.
I’ve never heard of “Homing pigeon” before.
I look forward too learning about what’s new in this book.
I took it to mean that the info. about the Five Eyes conference in 2011 was released in Greenwald’s new book – which I presume has only recently been published.
Right.
It might be slides from a 2012 conference, referred to here, that I have seen previously.
On J.K. Rowling:
Which, of course, is how our welfare system should be viewed. The real bludgers are the rich and our investment in them is most definitely not paying off.