I asked the GCSB recently if I was one of the 88 kiwis that it may have illegally spied on.
My specific request stated:
“I note the GCSB is alleged to have illegally spied on 88 New Zealanders over the past few years. The allegation is contained in the Kitteridge report which somehow was recently leaked to the media.
I can’t imagine why but I wondered if I was one of the 88. So pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 and/or the Privacy Act 1993 can you tell me if I am on that list and if so what information you obtained about me?”
I have now received my response and it is quite bizarre. They refused to confirm or deny if they had information about me. The section they are relying on says they don’t have to release information if disclosure would, amongst other things, be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.
It is likely (unless I am indeed an enemy of the State) that this will be their stock response but I am wondering if anyone has had a different response? Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
So Standardnistas, did anyone else ask for information about them and get a different response?
Well, now your slightly elevated sense of paranoia seems to be catching in the USA authorities attempt to record every single electronic communication. Who knows what the full capabilities of systems like Echelon really are. Its only a matter of time before they implement the same philosophy here. Meh.
Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
mickysavage
For your decidedly left views. Micky you are definitely one of them. If you ever do get your file, it will no doubt reveal that the illegal invasion of your privacy by the DCSB, to be quite extensive. Extending to family members, your friends, your work colleagues.
After all, people like you, are a threat to the whole pyramid of money and power that sustains our well paid secret police snoops. And you must be watched very carefully.
But don’t worry, this extensive criminal offending will end soon. It will soon be legal. Just like it was in East Germany.
I was talking to Captain Blackadder because I was concerned about the same thing Mr Savage, my turnip and I might have raised the ire of the powers that be.
He told me not to worry as even though the intelligence services are a bit of an oxymoron they probably aren’t so retarded as to be spying on smelly primates.
I must admit that made me feel quite relieved.
[lprent: That last statement got me worried – what exactly did you relieve yourself on? ]
For those who have not seen Hadfield’s video from outer space of Bowie’s Space Oddity, it is a Must See. It was the only thing that brightened my day yesterday.
“The red carpet was out last night at the glittering X Factor VIP party at the SkyCity Grand Hotel. Dress to impress was the theme and salubrious guests didn’t disappoint”
“Hilary Barry (a not-so-secret fan of the show) rubbed shoulders with Sam Hayes, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree and the cast from The Almighty Johnsons.
Stars from the company’s radio division were present too, including resident shock jocks Jono Pryor and Dom Harvey”
“Dominic Bowden – Matafeo ”
Yep, NZ’s got talent. The C list to beat them all.
Good work back slappers.
You’re throwing a massive party. You want it to be cool….
YOU WANT: Richie McCaw, Anna Paquin, David Farrier, Jacinda Ardern, Russell Crowe, John Key, Jim Mora, Mary Lambie, Jane Clifton, Vicky Hyde, Cameron Slater, Raybon Kan, Brian Edwards, Stan Walker, Sir Robert Jones, Lorraine Downes, the Masterchef judges, Kim Hill, Mark Cubey, Ruby Frost, Natasha Bedingfield, and the Aussie comedian who plays “Chopper”.
YOU’D SETTLE FOR: Peter Dunne, Aaron Gilmore, David Farrar, Tau Henare, Queen of Thorns, Lyn Prentice, The Mad Butcher, “millsy”, weka, Rosemary McLeod, Wendy Petrie, Martin Devlin, Daniel Bedingfield, Michele A’Court, the unsuccessful Masterchef contestants, Claudette Hauiti, Deb Webber, Kelvin Cruikshank, Rebecca Gibney, John Banks, Willie and J.T., Rachel Glucina, Karl du Fresne, Matt Nippert and Don “Brethren Cash” Brash.
YOU END UP WITH: Hilary Barry, Sam Hayes, David Parker, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, the Almighty Johnsons cast, Murray Deaker, David Slack, Christine “Spankin'” Rankin, Gary McCormick, Don Donovan, Barry Corbett, Jono Pryor, Dominic Bowden, Te Reo Putake, Morrissey Breen, Populuxe1, Colonial Viper, Irish Bill, Brett Dale, Felix and Draco T Bastard.
A. Lyn doesn’t want to get married and I suspect that taking my surname is going to be low on her list of priorities even if we did. She likes being named after a canine. So getting Lyn Prentice to anything will be difficult. There are none in the country that I am aware of.
B. You could be referring to me – Lynn Prentice. However getting me to any party or event would be a coup in it’s own right. I find invariably find them intensely boring. Lyn usually winds up going to the ones she attends with friends.
C. But it would be a meaningless result. I turn up at particular events where I want to get a read on something – once… Because there are no photos of me around the net, even those who know of me usually won’t know who I am.. This is intentional.
I join you, Clockie, cast out into the ‘exterior darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ We probably don’t even rate as a ‘stranger at the gate.’
To news that the government is planning changes to state/social housing in the Budget comes the old movie saying – “I have a bad feeling about this”.
Extending income related rents to those in community housing is, in principle, an OK idea, but this government will chop something to pay for it (ie state housing, welfare, etc).
And this government has a hostility to public provision of anything, so I doubt that council tenants will be eligible for this.
It’s funny how he thinks he keeps his personal opinions out of his columns, and that because some rabid hard right-wingers call him a Labour lackey this makes him balanced and middle-of-the-road.
1. On February 25, 2013, a lawfully constituted Common Law Court of Justice found Elizabeth Windsor, Queen of England and Head of State of Canada and its churches, guilty as charged of Crimes against Humanity in Canada and of engaging in a Criminal Conspiracy to conceal Genocide. The same verdict found Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper guilty of the same offenses.
But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
When the jailer informed them, with tears,
Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
As the pig had been dead for some years.
Is preventative surgery of that sort available in the public system in NZ, or anywhere? Unless you’re paying for it yourself it seems like radical surgery when you do not in fact have cancer, would be a big ask.
No indication that it was not done on the public’s dime.
I don’t know one way or the other, but I suspect it would be covered in NZ for very high-risk patients, because it’s cheaper in the long-run than waiting for the breast cancer to develop. Not just in terms of the treatment itself, but for the individual: they can schedule time off work and get the operation done when it is convenient for them, rather than getting a cancer diagnosis and having to drop everything with short notice.
Was interviewed for Radio NZ Morning Report (played on air at 8am Wednesday 15 May 2013) on the failure of the GCSB to ‘confirm or deny’ whether I was one of the 88 New Zealanders unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
I heard that, Penny. You were clear and very persuasive, as was Valerie Morse. I was concerned by the wording used by the 8 o’clock news on Radio NZ National this morning to describe the GCSB’s criminal activities. Noting that this organization has been spying on New Zealand citizens, the newsreader intoned: “It is currently illegal.”
Next time someone shoots a policeman, I look forward to hearing the news-readers inform us that “murder is currently illegal.”
Yeah, you were solid Penny – “Show me the bloody filing cabinet and give me five minutes……” – (more or less what you said, agreed ?) – Great soundbite !
Haven’t heard from BM or that fulla whose name starts with G. Must have been like a good blast from a can of Raid to the likes of them. On their backs…….Bzzzzzz.
g888. The Oz Fed Govt has written a fiscally tight budget in order to gain confidence.
Gain the confidence of whom is always the unasked question. Certainly not of the unemployed or the median worker.
It is always pandering to the banksters, the investing class, the ratings agencies. It appears that they are the only true constituency Oz Labour responds to. They have no alternative thinking framework or vision.
On a bigger scale, a massive reorganisation of our political economy is needed – paid employment and economic growth are things transitioning into the past. Energy depletion and the limits of our debt based money system which we have now reached has made sure of that.
I’d be very surprised if private investors will lose out should the power grid get damaged. They will of course expect the taxpayer to pay for repairs, expect the company to borrow for repairs or just sell their 49% quick as possible. Money for nothing ‘investors’ only like to ‘gamble’ on a sure thing with a rigged deck.
A senior Airways Corporation manager who won her job back after she was sacked for a boozy night when she got “lippy” with staff and gave one of them “the finger” has been awarded $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs.
…
She was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed and the company was ordered to reinstate her, although she was not awarded any payment due to her contribution to the situation.
Today, Mr Dumbleton ordered the company to pay Ms Dumble $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs and a further $385 for administration costs.
I wonder whether Gilmore has read this? And Riches, as employment law is one of his specialities.
And here’s another gem – more relevant to Aaron Gilmore perhaps.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers – An award should go to the West Jet gate attendant in Kelowna, British Columbia for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was cancelled after West Jet’s 737 had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS”.
The attendant replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: “May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please,“ she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, clenched his teeth and said, “F….You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”
I found in Jingo that Terry Pratchett has envisaged a strapped-for-cash economy in Ankh-Morpork. To a question of how that could be, ‘Don’t we pay our taxes?’ Lord Vetinari notes –
Guild of Assassins – Gross earnings in the last year: AM$13,207,048. Taxes paid in the last year: AM$47.22 pence, and
The Guild of Accountants – gross earnings AM$7,999,011. Taxes paid: nil. But, ah yes, I see they applied for a rebate of AM$200,000.’
(I have left out the matter of the Hershebian half-dong as irrelevant.)
And was Terry thinking of NZ perhaps? He writes that Lord Vetinari made the analogy – ‘Taxation gentlemen is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo.’
‘Are you telling us that Ankh-Morpork is bankrupt?’ says one of the nobles.
‘Of course. While, at the the same time, full of rich people.’
Yes Terry Pratchett’s scenario has a lot of vision for us, if we care to study and absorb it. Makes
more sense than much of the words around today.
Yesterday vto raised the perceived issue of some people talking about the treaty being accused of racism. S/he referred to a Natrad panel discussion on Constitutional review. Turns out the person that asked the question that vto was interested in was John Ansell, and Ansell asked the question in a hijacking for his own agenda kind of way. Which is probably why the panelists refused to answer.
Sorry vto, but I feel that not only did you misrepresent what happened in the panel discussion, but you misled us in the conversation yesterday. Was that intentional? We talked about being explicit about our politics, but I don’t feel like you were. Now the question for me becomes, do you align yourself with Ansell, and is that the background context I need to understand your comments about Te Tiriti and racism in this country?
Thanks for following this up weka. It sounded pretty strange yesterday – I thought maybe someone had cracked a weak joke and thus it is so – ansell is a weak joke and I’d be pretty disappointed if vto was a follower of his. I think a list of what vto wants to discuss regarding Te Tiriti may be a good option and I hope vto provides one. We need to keep conversing about the subject but somehow with some people it ends up being a too-ing and fro-ing around issues that aren’t issues at all, except for them.
vto I hope you reply. My view of your view vto is that you think,
1 the Treaty is historical and a new one needs to be drafted to take into consideration the multicultural aspect of NZ society.
2 too much emphasis (money) is on tangata whenua and that they have received enough emphasis (money)
3 Māori were the first here and that could be called indigenous but it is irrelevant in today’s world
4 Māori are inherently violent and warlike
5 No one represents the ‘white man’ who gets abuse and derision when they say something that others perceive as racist
6 Non-Māori who talk about race get accused of being racist
7 Māori are racist to ‘white people’
8 Celts were here before Māori and taught them everything of what they know until Māori killed them all
9 The chinese bought slave-wives here to breed with Māori
10 Barry Brailsford doesn’t talk shit
I know, there is one joke one, but which one…
Anyway that list isn’t a dig at you vto – it’s to show that I listen to what you say/write.
Three oil giants – Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Norway’s state-controlled Statoil ASA – on Tuesday confirmed that their offices had been raided in connection with the probe.
Oil-pricing agency Platts is also under investigation. Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc., is the custodian of the Brent crude contract, the de facto world benchmark for oil prices and base for the hundreds of billions of dollars of futures contracts that trade off it. Crude oil prices in turn influence the price of gasoline and other fuels.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-country European Union, confirmed the probe but did not identify the companies by name. Nor did it specify how many companies were under investigation, leading to speculation that the probe may widen.
The inspections took place in two European Union member states and one non-EU country, the EC said.
“The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products,” it said.
The EC also said companies may have prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices.
Statoil said the suspected violations were related to the Platts price assessment process and may have been ongoing since 2002.
The probe will shine a light on the methodology designed by Platts for daily assessments on the physical oil markets, used to close deals worth billions of dollars.
[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]
“[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]”
Mate, you got the suck up blues bad, or you’re on commission, or both
Great recovery Labour, eighteen more months and you might be on what Clark got in 08.
You rock, monsters of politics.
If a National Election were held now this New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows that it would be too close to call, although an Opposition Labour/ Greens/ NZ First alliance would be slightly favoured.
“Too close to call” is viewed through your shit-coloured spectacles to read “nowhere near victory”.
Fuck you’re hilarious McFlock. You are overconfident on Labour/Shearer and I expect you to be softening up and backpedaling on them big time next year. Btw where was Labour in the Roy Morgan 12-18 months before the last election? That’s the obvious comparison you’ve avoided.
The Roymorgan poll at the start of 2007 that had 41%? True.
The one at the end of 2007 that had 34.5%? Also true – beaten once, equalled twice this year.
In 2007 Labour was going down.
In 2013 Labour is going up.
And what were the Greens getting in that period, compared to now?
The difference is that in 2007 this was the assessment from the pollster:
“Support for Helen Clark’s Labour Government remains weak with the Nationals lead remaining at 13%.
Always nice to see an optimistic viewpoint. The NZLP is pretty much bouncing along in the 30-35% range. Just as they have for every period since the 2008 election except for a couple of months prior to the 2011 election and in the honeymoon just after the 2008 election..
Since 2008, the Greens and NZ First have risen. National has descended from their 2009 highs. A few National coalition partners have been rediscovering what oblivion means. The Labour caucus is doing bugger all compared to the same time in the last election cycle – and they bloody well lost that one. Look at the graph again.
The Labour caucus hasn’t made any discernible traction compared to this time (mid-2010) in the last electoral cycle. Indeed their polling performance looks like a repeat of mid-2010. No real hits on National.
The best that you can say is that they have managed to reverse their 2011 slide towards oblivion. On an more optimistic note, they seemed to have finally managed to stop having dickhead scandals from oversized egos making fools of themselves that were pissing me off so much from 2009-2011. I think that most of the self-inflicted injury fools are now gone (apart from Shane Jones).
But the caucus seems to be both uninspired, uninspiring, intensely reactive and don’t seem to understand the concept of preparedness strategy (ie looking at how to sell the damn things). The kiwibuild policy was curiously unfinished and like the Nats seems to have ignored the realities of the Auckland environment (where the biggest systemic housing issues are). Basically we don’t need more 3 bedroom homes on a section or shoebox central city student apartments here. What we need is to provide the types of housing that gets the ever increasing numbers of elderly, couples with no kids, and singletons out of family homes into something more suitable – which is where the housing shortage is. What we got was a policy that looked ok for Wellington where it may be possible to build a 3 bedroom house on section for $300k within 10 kilometres of the CBD.
The power purchasing policy was better. But they appear to have not thought through the obvious downstream implications of such a policy shift, and they wound up backing away from it – which really was a bit of a disaster.
Yep, having started from a low base, the LP, under Shearer, is doing better than average. Anything above 35% on polling day means a change of Government (assuming the Greens maintain double figures), so a consistant 30% plus is a good platform to launch an election campaign from.
If Shearer can maintain polling in the low to mid thirties till the election and the party membership can fight for more progressive policies such as NZPower and Kiwibuild to be the centrepoint of Labour’s election platform, I see no reason why we won’t have a terrific result on election day.
As an aside, I think Labour may not ever go above the 30’s again. That’s due to MMP and the effective job the Greens are doing keeping their vote at around 10%. That’s actually not a problem at all, because the right may never be able to muster a majority again, particularly now that they have effectively destroyed the Conservative Party’s chances by opting not to lower the 5% threshold.
McFlock: I accept that given the strength of the Government’s recent performances, the outstanding economic and employment growth the nation is experiencing, the satisfaction people have with the status quo, and the lack of confidence sapping scandals within National, it is of course going to be difficult for Labour to poll much above 32% or so.
If only we had a National Government which truly sucked at governing and which demonstrated a venal and short sighted nature to everything they did, Labour would have a chance of gaining more traction in the polls.
It’s such a shame that the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party.
No.
Just pointing out that if you were half as good at influencing labour as you expect labour to be at influencing the polls, this debate would have ended months ago.
why is that a lol?
If you know what it takes to win the votes of more than a million people, surely you can persuade a few thousand. Or a couple of dozen.
“the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party."
Can't believe you write that stuff. I'm not picking on you, just find it hard when you mention political incompetence and still back Labour and Shearer.
if you guys could do any better than the current caucus, why haven’t you managed to get Labour to sing to your songsheet? Why are you gnashing your teeth here, rather than your advice being adopted as the Labour playbook?
“If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?”
What bit don’t you understand? He’s a shit leader, he’s got a shit shadow front bench, and he shits on Labour’s core values.
That’s not a recipe that fills me with confidence, in fact, the way he’s gone about the job for 18 months, it should be filling with fear and dread every hardcore lefty voter, well those that haven’t bloated themselves with false hope that is.
McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.
But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.
And I like coalition governments. It means there’s no point in developing saviour obsessions over a single politician. Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.
“But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.”
Like you’ve pointed out, despite a truly horrible government, Labour may be able to form a government. This mathematical possibility doesn’t make them winners, nor does it suggest they will form a competent, cohesive force.
“Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.”
From messiah to fuhrer in two evenings of debate.
No doubt tomorrow you’ll be fixating on Diablo.
“Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldn’t go as far as the devil – I merely think he is human.”
Though to be fair, read back and I mention cunliffe once at the end of the exchange, with a smiley. You bring up him or the notion of saving politicians more than any one on here.
That’s a little odd.
“That’s why I like MMP. It’s like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.”
I dispute that in this exchange, and I dispute in others on the standard, some I’ve not even been party to.
I suggest you’re far more occupied with DC than I am with DS.
“After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad it’d “end the party as a political force for good.”
See point one in response to the name cunliffe.
“Not really. Otherwise he wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea.”
Now that’s just silly, seeing how minority Labour would be in government. Like was pointed out, we know how mmp works, that’s why we voted to keep it.
Key is in charge of the government. Who is is in charge of the opposition?
Any one is free to to look through this thread and deduce which time you went on about saviours and fuhrers and when I mentioned Cunliffe with a smiley, in an exchange with CV that was about you being a lost cause. Post up the findings here and it’s a done deal.
They could also, should they be so enthused, go check comments in other topics, including ones where I have not even commented. There they will find the mere mention of ds being shit, is met somewhat awkwardly by comments about messiahs and deities.
I’m not a researcher, or that petty, but it’s all there in black and white should any one feel the need.
I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t truthful or I could be caught out.
Some call it integrity, I, self preservation.
In reply to my mate
“McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.”
Actually in this instance, it was my you’ll hurray for cunliffe that sparked the fuhrer jibe, despite never once proving a link between a competent would be leader and peoples (my) support and belief in his industry being any form of demagoguery, but you concede from previous form, I’m correct on point two.
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.
But ANY obsessional faith in ANY political leader gives me the willies, no matter how benign the person they place their trust in might apparently be. Because it usually ends rather messily, and as far as I know no utopia has ever come out of it.
To be absolutely explicit, I was not calling Cunliffe a demagogue.
I was calling you an obsessional follower. And as soon as our political support is guided by passions rather than rational assessments of the people and issues, that’s when bad things can happen.
So it’s lucky that MMP necessitates cooperation between parties and their alphas.
“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.”
Quoted for posterity.
One day they’ll look back at this post and say, now that’s what I call insight.
in ten five years it’ll be as relevant as Clive Matthewson.
But I tell you what, if Labour get elected with Shearer as leader, do another round of asset sales and plummet to single-digit popularity, I’ll buy you a beer.
Lost cause mate. Labour’s core support has settled at somewhere around 30% or so.
That number isn’t changing significantly in either direction and the rest of the population doesn’t give a fuck about Labour, either because they never have or because they’ve given up.
We all know the definition of madness – doing same old, expecting different.
There is no point expecting anything new from the polls, because nothing new is happening.
1) Government continues to fuck up and/or piss people off, whether on serious matters (MRP, GCSB) or headline-making trivia (Aaron Gilmore, Key’s brain farts).
2) Leader of the opposition continues to say “Oh, look, bottom line is, the government – in terms of fucking off – er, up – it is pissing – Labour is – National in terms of Labour is – I mean, look, they are …” (continues until audience dies screaming).
It dosn’t matter how many times National drop the ball, Shearer can’t pick it up. He doesn’t have it, we all know this, and the only rebuttal is “yes, but let’s pretend and hope”. So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.
Not much point debating which of the two will happen. One is based on daily evidence we can all see, the other is based on horoscopes, or something.
We have a by-election soon. What plans do Labour greens etc have for getting out the vote? I know by- elections are usually poorly attended but wouldn’t it make a good practice run for 2014? So many non voters to be enticed?
“So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.”
Do you really think that the few loyal labour supporters that are left, are going to have the patience to see if Shearer dies in a metaphorical ditch, and then what, Parker? Robertson?? jumps in the saddle, and lets the polls carry on their flat line?
The way they’re rushing all this makes me think of a desperate garage sale. Next up, an old lamp, used underwear and some family photos. Oh, and NZ’s soul.
Particularly liked the last two sentences in the final quote..
“Well it’s certainly bold,” he said. “I mean it’s an extremely impressive policy and I think it’s something that a lot of people have been holding out for. But I just can’t fathom why any government would ever want to repeal a previous one. It leaves them with no one to blame.”
I do not know whether this was mentioned before, but since yesterday, TV3 news seem to have entered a war of arguments between Unite Union and McDonalds, where a lasting employment dispute about wages, hours and minimum wage payment requirements is ongoing.
Naturally like most MSM stupid and crap media like to focus on, the REAL issues are NOT reported on at all. Somehow a comment by senior Unite leader Mike Treen and others seems to have caught their main focus now. Some comments that the police breaking up a picket line outside the McDonald’s restaurant on Queen St may have been to ensure clientele to enter the fast food restaurant, seems to have been taken issue with.
The police now dispute that their intervention was to ensure discounted burgers or other food for themselves, and they have little else to say. Treen though made clear that a picket is there of right by protesting and striking workers, so that allows them to perhaps discourage clientele to go and enter McDonald’s.
The police have another story, of course, and they deny having interfered for cheap discounted food. Naturally I would think the police are correct on that, but they have a dismal point of justification, facing new media coverage on TV3 tonight and yesterday, proving police and certain other professional groups get heavily discounted services all the time.
So we have cops that start on a “starting wage” at 50 k per annum, that have low waged, soon underpaid (new minimum wage earners at youth rates) workers at McDonald’s “enhance” their lifestyles, to get all kinds of cheap perks they can.
NO wonder these cops largely vote National, and some of them have the bloody audacity to complain, leave the country and work for higher paid jobs in Australia and the UK!
Maori and Pasifica, same as others affected, will bear this in mind, that they are beaten up, locked up and treated like shit by an elite force of mercenaries, that even deny workers a fair pay. So much for foot soldiers and mercenaries, to protect McDonalds and others from the deserved voice and power of workers they rely on. SHAME ON THIS, NZ!-
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After three decades of record-breaking growth, at about the same time as Xi Jinping rose to power in 2012, China’s economy started the long decline to its current state of stagnation. The Chinese Communist Party ...
The Pike River Coal mine was a ticking time bomb.Ventilation systems designed to prevent methane buildup were incomplete or neglected.Gas detectors that might warn of danger were absent or broken.Rock bolting was skipped, old tunnels left unsealed, communication systems failed during emergencies.Employees and engineers kept warning management about the … ...
Regional hegemons come in different shapes and sizes. Australia needs to think about what kind of hegemon China would be, and become, should it succeed in displacing the United States in Asia. It’s time to ...
RNZ has a story this morning about the expansion of solar farms in Aotearoa, driven by today's ground-breaking ceremony at the Tauhei solar farm in Te Aroha: From starting out as a tiny player in the electricity system, solar power generated more electricity than coal and gas combined for ...
After the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and almost a year before the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, US President George H W Bush proclaimed a ‘new world order’. Now, just two months ...
Warning: Some images may be distressing. Thank you for those who support my work. It means a lot.A shopfront in Australia shows Liberal leader Peter Dutton and mining magnate Gina Rinehart depicted with Nazi imageryUS Government Seeks Death Penalty for Luigi MangioneMangione was publicly walked in front of media in ...
Aged care workers rallying against potential roster changes say Bupa, which runs retirement homes across the country, needs to focus on care instead of money. More than half of New Zealand workers wish they had chosen a different career according to a new survey. Consumers are likely to see a ...
The scurrilous attacks on Benjamin Doyle, a list Green MP, over his supposed inappropriate behaviour towards children has dominated headlines and social media this past week, led by frothing Rightwing agitators clutching their pearls and fanning the flames of moral panic over pedophiles and and perverts. Winston Peter decided that ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
The landedAnd the wealthyAnd the piousAnd the healthyAnd the straight onesAnd the pale onesAnd we only mean the male ones!If you're all of the above, then you're ok!As we build a new tomorrow here today!Lyrics Glenn Slater and Allan Menken.Ah, Democracy - can you smell it?It's presently a sulphurous odour, ...
US President Donald Trump’s unconventional methods of conducting international relations will compel the next federal government to reassess whether the United States’ presence in the region and its security assurances provide a reliable basis for ...
Things seem to be at a pretty low ebb in and around the Reserve Bank. There was, in particular, the mysterious, sudden, and as-yet unexplained resignation of the Governor (we’ve had four Governors since the Bank was given its operational autonomy 35 years ago, and only two have completed their ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
Long story short:PMChristopher Luxon said in January his Government was ‘going for growth’ and he wanted New Zealanders to develop a ‘culture of yes.’ Yet his own Government is constantly saying no, or not yet, to anchor investments that would unleash real private business investment and GDP growth. ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
For decades, Britain and Australia had much the same process for regulating media handling of defence secrets. It was the D-notice system, under which media would be asked not to publish. The two countries diverged ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article, I make a not-entirely-serious case for ripping out Spaghetti Junction in Auckland, replacing it with a motorway tunnel, and redeveloping new city streets and neighbourhoods above it instead. What’s ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
In short this morning in our political economy:The Nelson Hospital crisis revealed by 1News’Jessica Roden dominates the political agenda today. Yet again, population growth wasn’t planned for, or funded.Kāinga Ora is planning up to 900 house sales, including new ones, Jonathan Milne reports for Newsroom.One of New Zealand’s biggest ...
The war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated. Neither side is in a position to achieve its stated objectives through military force. But now there is significant diplomatic activity as well. Ukraine has agreed to ...
One of the first aims of the United States’ new Department of Government Efficiency was shutting down USAID. By 6 February, the agency was functionally dissolved, its seal missing from its Washington headquarters. Amid the ...
If our strategic position was already challenging, it just got worse. Reliability of the US as an ally is in question, amid such actions by the Trump administration as calling for annexation of Canada, threating ...
Small businesses will be exempt from complying with some of the requirements of health and safety legislation under new reforms proposed by the Government. The living wage will be increased to $28.95 per hour from September, a $1.15 increase from the current $27.80. A poll has shown large opposition to ...
Summary A group of senior doctors in Nelson have spoken up, specifically stating that hospitals have never been as bad as in the last year.Patients are waiting up to 50 hours and 1 death is directly attributable to the situation: "I've never seen that number of patients waiting to be ...
Although semiconductor chips are ubiquitous nowadays, their production is concentrated in just a few countries, and this has left the US economy and military highly vulnerable at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. While the ...
Health and Safety changes driven by ACT party ideology, not evidence said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. Changes to health and safety legislation proposed by the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden today comply with ACT party ideology, ignores the evidence, and will compound New ...
In short in our political economy this morning:Fletcher Building is closing its pre-fabricated house-building factory in Auckland due to a lack of demand, particularly from the Government.Health NZ is sending a crisis management team to Nelson Hospital after a 1News investigation exposed doctors’ fears that nearly 500 patients are overdue ...
Exactly 10 years ago, the then minister for defence, Kevin Andrews, released the First Principles Review: Creating One Defence (FPR). With increasing talk about the rising possibility of major power-conflict, calls for Defence funding to ...
In events eerily similar to what happened in the USA last week, Greater Auckland was recently accidentally added to a group chat between government ministers on the topic of transport.We have no idea how it happened, but luckily we managed to transcribe most of what transpired. We share it ...
Hi,When I look back at my history with Dylan Reeve, it’s pretty unusual. We first met in the pool at Kim Dotcom’s mansion, as helicopters buzzed overhead and secret service agents flung themselves off the side of his house, abseiling to the ground with guns drawn.Kim Dotcom was a German ...
Come around for teaDance me round and round the kitchenBy the light of my T.VOn the night of the electionAncient stars will fall into the seaAnd the ocean floor sings her sympathySongwriter: Bic Runga.The Prime Minister stared into the camera, hot and flustered despite the predawn chill. He looked sadly ...
Has Winston Peters got a ferries deal for you! (Buyer caution advised.) Unfortunately, the vision that Peters has been busily peddling for the past 24 hours – of several shipyards bidding down the price of us getting smaller, narrower, rail-enabled ferries – looks more like a science fiction fantasy. One ...
Completed reads for March: The Heart of the Antarctic [1907-1909], by Ernest Shackleton South [1914-1917], by Ernest Shackleton Aurora Australis (collection), edited by Ernest Shackleton The Book of Urizen (poem), by William Blake The Book of Ahania (poem), by William Blake The Book of Los (poem), by William Blake ...
First - A ReminderBenjamin Doyle Doesn’t Deserve ThisI’ve been following posts regarding Green MP Benjamin Doyle over the last few days, but didn’t want to amplify the abject nonsense.This morning, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister, answered the alt-right’s prayers - guaranteeing amplification of the topic, by going on ...
US President Donald Trump has shown a callous disregard for the checks and balances that have long protected American democracy. As the self-described ‘king’ makes a momentous power grab, much of the world watches anxiously, ...
They can be the very same words. And yet their meaning can vary very much.You can say I'll kill him about your colleague who accidentally deleted your presentation the day before a big meeting.You can say I'll kill him to — or, for that matter, about — Tony Soprano.They’re the ...
Back in 2020, the then-Labour government signed contracted for the construction and purchase of two new rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries, to be operational from 2026. But when National took power in 2023, they cancelled them in a desperate effort to make the books look good for a year. And now ...
The fragmentation of cyber regulation in the Indo-Pacific is not just inconvenient; it is a strategic vulnerability. In recent years, governments across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, have moved to reform their regulatory frameworks for cyber ...
Welcome to the March 2025 Economic Bulletin. The feature article examines what public private partnerships (PPPs) are. PPPs have been a hot topic recently, with the coalition government signalling it wants to use them to deliver infrastructure. However, experience with PPPs, both here and overseas, indicates we should be wary. ...
Willis announces more plans of plans for supermarketsYesterday’s much touted supermarket competition announcement by Nicola Willis amounted to her telling us she was issuing a 6 week RFI1 that will solicit advice from supermarket players.In short, it was an announcement of a plan - but better than her Kiwirail Interislander ...
This was the post I was planning to write this morning to mark Orr’s final day. That said, if the underlying events – deliberate attempts to mislead Parliament – were Orr’s doing, the post is more about the apparent uselessness of Parliament (specifically the Finance and Expenditure Committee) in holding ...
Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC’s plan to build a plant in the United States looks like a move made at the behest of local officials to solidify US support for Taiwan. However, it may eventually lessen ...
This is a Guest Post by Transport Planner Bevan Woodward from the charitable trust Movement, which has lodged an application for a judicial review of the Governments Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 Auckland is at grave risk of having its safer speed limits on approx. 1,500 local streets ...
We're just talkin' 'bout the futureForget about the pastIt'll always be with usIt's never gonna die, never gonna dieSongwriters: Brian Johnson / Angus Young / Malcolm YoungMorena, all you lovely people, it’s good to be back, and I have news from the heartland. Now brace yourself for this: depending on ...
Today is the last day in office for the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr. Of course, he hasn’t been in the office since 5 March when, on the eve of his major international conference, his resignation was announced and he stormed off with no (effective) notice and no ...
Treasury and Cabinet have finally agreed to a Crown guarantee for a non-Government lending agency for Community Housing Providers (CHPs), which could unlock billions worth of loans and investments by pension funds and banks to build thousands of more affordable social homes. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:Chris Bishop ...
Australia has plenty of room to spend more on defence. History shows that 2.9 percent of GDP is no great burden in ordinary times, so pushing spending to 3.0 percent in dangerous times is very ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Winston Peters will announce later today whether two new ferries are rail ‘compatible’, requiring time-consuming container shuffling, or the more efficient and expensive rail ‘enabled,’ where wagons can roll straight on and off.Nicola Willisthreatened yesterday to break up the supermarket duopoly with ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 23, 2025 thru Sat, March 29, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
For prospective writers out there, Inspired Quill, the publisher of my novel(s) is putting together a short story anthology (pieces up to 10,000 words). The open submission window is 29th March to 29th April. https://www.inspired-quill.com/anthology-submissions/ The theme?This anthology will bring together diverse voices exploring themes of hope, resistance, and human ...
Prime minister Kevin Rudd released the 2009 defence white paper in May of that year. It is today remembered mostly for what it said about the strategic implications of China’s rise; its plan to double ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Voters want the Government to retain the living wage for cleaners, a poll shows.The Government’s move to provide a Crown guarantee to banks and the private sector for social housing is described a watershed moment and welcomed by Community Housing Providers.Nicola Willis is ...
The recent attacks in the Congo by Rwandan backed militias has led to worldwide condemnation of the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame. Following up on the recent Fabian Zoom with Mikela Wrong and Maria Amoudian, Dr Rudaswinga will give a complete picture of Kagame’s regime and discuss the potential ...
New Zealand’s economic development has always been a partnership between the public and private sectors.Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have become fashionable again, partly because of the government’s ambitions to accelerate infrastructural development. There is, of course, an ideological element too, while some of the opposition to them is also ideological.PPPs come in ...
How Australia funds development and defence was front of mind before Tuesday’s federal budget. US President Donald Trump’s demands for a dramatic lift in allied military spending and brutal cuts to US foreign assistance meant ...
Questions 1. Where and what is this protest?a. Hamilton, angry crowd yelling What kind of food do you call this Seymour?b.Dunedin, angry crowd yelling Still waiting, Simeon, still waitingc. Wellington, angry crowd yelling You’re trashing everything you idiotsd. Istanbul, angry crowd yelling Give us our democracy back, give it ...
Two blueprints that could redefine the Northern Territory’s economic future were launched last week. The first was a government-led economic strategy and the other an industry-driven economic roadmap. Both highlight that supporting the Northern Territory ...
In December 2021, then-Climate Change Minister James Shaw finally ended Tiwai Point's excessive pollution subsidies, cutting their "Electricity Allocation Factor" (basically compensation for the cost of carbon in their electricity price) to zero on the basis that their sweetheart deal meant they weren't paying it. In the process, he effectively ...
Green MP Tamatha Paul has received quite the beat down in the last two days.Her original comments were part of a panel discussion where she said:“Wellington people do not want to see police officers everywhere, and, for a lot of people, it makes them feel less safe. It’s that constant ...
US President Donald Trump has raised the spectre of economic and geopolitical turmoil in Asia. While individual countries have few options for pushing back against Trump’s transactional diplomacy, protectionist trade policies and erratic decision-making, a ...
Jobs are on the line for back-office staff at the Department of Corrections, as well as at Archives New Zealand and the National Library. A “malicious actor” has accessed and downloaded private information about staff in districts in the lower North Island. Cabinet has agreed to its next steps regarding ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics and climate; on the fifth anniversary of the arrival of Covid and the ...
Hi,As giant, mind-bending things continue to happen around us, today’s Webworm is a very small story from Hayden Donnell — which I have also read out for you if you want to give your sleepy eyes a rest.But first:As expected, the discussion from Worms going on under “A Fist, an ...
The threat of a Chinese military invasion of Taiwan dominates global discussion about the Taiwan Strait. Far less attention is paid to what is already happening—Beijing is slowly squeezing Taiwan into submission without firing a ...
After a while you start to smile, now you feel coolThen you decide to take a walk by the old schoolNothing has changed, it's still the sameI've got nothing to say but it's okaySongwriters: Lennon and McCartney.Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today, a spectacle you’re probably familiar with: ten ...
In short this morning in our political economy: Chris Bishop attempted to rezone land in Auckland for up to 540,000 new homes last year, but was rejected by Cabinet, NZ Herald’s Thomas Coughlan reports this morning in a front page article.Overnight, Donald Trump put 25% tariffs on all car and ...
US President Donald Trump is certainly not afraid of an executive order, signing 97 since his inauguration on 20 January. In minerals and energy, Trump has declared a national emergency; committed to unleashing US (particularly ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is standing by Chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow, despite calls for him to be sacked for remarks characterised as Islamophobic by some groups. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris F. Wright, Professor of Work and Labour Market Policy, University of Sydney Labor has called for an “economically sustainable real wage increase” for almost 3 million workers who depend on the award system for their wages. In a submission to the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Humphrey, Lecturer, Media and Digital Humanities, University of Adelaide Leading man of 1990s Hollywood, Val Kilmer, has died at 65 from pneumonia. Battling cancer since 2014, he has not been a frequent presence on our film screens for most of this ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Ahead of Donald Trump’s tariff announcement early Thursday (Australian time), the United States president has become a serious and increasing worry for Peter Dutton’s campaign. Even apart from Labor’s obvious and constant “Trump-whistling”, many voters ...
“I have written to Paul Goldsmith, the Minister of Justice, asking for an independent investigation into Dr Rainbow’s fitness for the job. This is the first step to remove him from the role,” says Philippa Yasbek. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grace McQuilten, Associate professor, RMIT University Australia’s visual arts and craft workers are facing increasingly deteriorating conditions, according to research published today. Our four-year study reveals workers are abandoning the visual art sector, largely because of unstable employment, below-average salaries and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University A (real) photo of a protester dressed as Pikachu in Paris on March 29 2025.Remon Haazen / Getty Images You wouldn’t usually associate Pikachu with protest. But a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident Senior Fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney The Democrats have been under intense pressure to find an effective way to challenge US President Donald Trump without control of either chamber of Congress or a de facto opposition ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Camp, Senior Lecturer, School of Music, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Warner Bros Discovery The last few decades have seen many attempts to make musical TV shows. Some of them applied the aesthetics of musicals (where people spontaneously ...
The small town on the Kāpiti Coast shines every March with Māoriland. “We give out gloves with this one,” she said, handing me a pair of blue surgical gloves alongside what I thought would be an ordinary cheeseburger. I shouldn’t have even ordered a cheeseburger given I was standing at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University NicoElNino/Shutterstock More than five years since COVID was declared a pandemic, we’re still facing the regular emergence of new variants of the virus, SARS-CoV-2. The latest variant on the rise is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirk Dodd, Lecturer in English and Writing, University of Sydney Brett Boardman/Sport For Jove Some say Shakespeare invented the “history play” – but he had a lot of help. Shakespeare was mainly writing comedies in the early 1590s when he ...
Claire Mabey talks to Rachel Paris, whose debut novel See How They Fall is a crime story about rot at the core of a dynastically wealthy family in Sydney. Rachel Paris’s debut novel is a sleek, fast-paced, arsenic-infused whodunnit that centres on devastated mum, Skye, and brilliant but flawed detective, Mei. ...
Call him Winnie, call him Ishmael, but never call Winston Peters a man who’s lacking in one-liners.Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus.The centre of absurdity in ...
The RSA has long advocated for changes to the Veteran Support Act. In its current form the Act is discriminatory and leaves many of our service personnel who have been affected by their service unable to access the support they need. ...
On all the joy that can be had – and admin that can be done – when you stay up late. In primary school, I loved diorama assignments. A Jurassic scene complete with a volcano, a historic building made of cake – these were my Super Bowl. I could’ve worked ...
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A secondary school student debates the proposal that Shakespeare become compulsory for year 12 and 13 students. The new draft for the New Zealand Englishcurriculum has proposed compulsory Shakespearefor all year 12 and 13 students. It also has suggested texts including World War I poets, Winston Churchill’s World ...
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The alleged comments were made in a meeting with a Jewish community leader. Three New Zealand community groups, two representing Jewish voices, are calling for Stephen Rainbow to resign from his role as chief human rights commissioner after what they believe were Islamophobic comments made during an official meeting with ...
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I asked the GCSB recently if I was one of the 88 kiwis that it may have illegally spied on.
My specific request stated:
“I note the GCSB is alleged to have illegally spied on 88 New Zealanders over the past few years. The allegation is contained in the Kitteridge report which somehow was recently leaked to the media.
I can’t imagine why but I wondered if I was one of the 88. So pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 and/or the Privacy Act 1993 can you tell me if I am on that list and if so what information you obtained about me?”
I suggested on an open mike (http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12042013/#comment-617654) that others may want to do the same.
I have now received my response and it is quite bizarre. They refused to confirm or deny if they had information about me. The section they are relying on says they don’t have to release information if disclosure would, amongst other things, be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.
It is likely (unless I am indeed an enemy of the State) that this will be their stock response but I am wondering if anyone has had a different response? Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
So Standardnistas, did anyone else ask for information about them and get a different response?
Well, now your slightly elevated sense of paranoia seems to be catching
in the USA authorities attempt to record every single electronic communication. Who knows what the full capabilities of systems like Echelon really are. Its only a matter of time before they implement the same philosophy here. Meh.
For your decidedly left views. Micky you are definitely one of them. If you ever do get your file, it will no doubt reveal that the illegal invasion of your privacy by the DCSB, to be quite extensive. Extending to family members, your friends, your work colleagues.
After all, people like you, are a threat to the whole pyramid of money and power that sustains our well paid secret police snoops. And you must be watched very carefully.
But don’t worry, this extensive criminal offending will end soon. It will soon be legal. Just like it was in East Germany.
I was talking to Captain Blackadder because I was concerned about the same thing Mr Savage, my turnip and I might have raised the ire of the powers that be.
He told me not to worry as even though the intelligence services are a bit of an oxymoron they probably aren’t so retarded as to be spying on smelly primates.
I must admit that made me feel quite relieved.
[lprent: That last statement got me worried – what exactly did you relieve yourself on?
]
My fatigues, Captain Adder said at least it saves on the starch rations.
Thanks for this info, micky. A worrying response, reinforcing the lack of public accountability by the GCSB.
Ground control to the Labour top
Your leader is floating in a most peculiar way
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10883699
Nice to know someone’s listening
…Planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…..
You beat me to it, I was just hauling over the link, The Alien.
A very clever caricature.
And you know it’s just going whoosh, as it comets right over their heads.
‘Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong,
And the papers want to know who’s shirt you wear……
Never mind about policy, opinion, or your way forward just the shirt brand thanks.
At least, from the front, he’s kinda leaning (floating) left (I think). Perhaps. Maybe.
Or right…depending on your perspective…
Brilliant cartoon – and so true.
For those who have not seen Hadfield’s video from outer space of Bowie’s Space Oddity, it is a Must See. It was the only thing that brightened my day yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10883695&gallery_id=132791
Give the man another 6 months. He’s made of the right stuff.
thats quite something
Yep.
Give the man another 6 months. He’s made of the right stuff.
Who’s got the job of rebuilding him with more of the left stuff?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10883692
“The red carpet was out last night at the glittering X Factor VIP party at the SkyCity Grand Hotel. Dress to impress was the theme and salubrious guests didn’t disappoint”
“Hilary Barry (a not-so-secret fan of the show) rubbed shoulders with Sam Hayes, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree and the cast from The Almighty Johnsons.
Stars from the company’s radio division were present too, including resident shock jocks Jono Pryor and Dom Harvey”
“Dominic Bowden – Matafeo ”
Yep, NZ’s got talent. The C list to beat them all.
Good work back slappers.
And Rachel Glucina calls them ‘celebrities’. Obviously to her.\
Unbelievable
You’re throwing a massive party. You want it to be cool….
YOU WANT: Richie McCaw, Anna Paquin, David Farrier, Jacinda Ardern, Russell Crowe, John Key, Jim Mora, Mary Lambie, Jane Clifton, Vicky Hyde, Cameron Slater, Raybon Kan, Brian Edwards, Stan Walker, Sir Robert Jones, Lorraine Downes, the Masterchef judges, Kim Hill, Mark Cubey, Ruby Frost, Natasha Bedingfield, and the Aussie comedian who plays “Chopper”.
YOU’D SETTLE FOR: Peter Dunne, Aaron Gilmore, David Farrar, Tau Henare, Queen of Thorns, Lyn Prentice, The Mad Butcher, “millsy”, weka, Rosemary McLeod, Wendy Petrie, Martin Devlin, Daniel Bedingfield, Michele A’Court, the unsuccessful Masterchef contestants, Claudette Hauiti, Deb Webber, Kelvin Cruikshank, Rebecca Gibney, John Banks, Willie and J.T., Rachel Glucina, Karl du Fresne, Matt Nippert and Don “Brethren Cash” Brash.
YOU END UP WITH: Hilary Barry, Sam Hayes, David Parker, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, the Almighty Johnsons cast, Murray Deaker, David Slack, Christine “Spankin'” Rankin, Gary McCormick, Don Donovan, Barry Corbett, Jono Pryor, Dominic Bowden, Te Reo Putake, Morrissey Breen, Populuxe1, Colonial Viper, Irish Bill, Brett Dale, Felix and Draco T Bastard.
A. Lyn doesn’t want to get married and I suspect that taking my surname is going to be low on her list of priorities even if we did. She likes being named after a canine. So getting Lyn Prentice to anything will be difficult. There are none in the country that I am aware of.
B. You could be referring to me – Lynn Prentice. However getting me to any party or event would be a coup in it’s own right. I find invariably find them intensely boring. Lyn usually winds up going to the ones she attends with friends.
C. But it would be a meaningless result. I turn up at particular events where I want to get a read on something – once… Because there are no photos of me around the net, even those who know of me usually won’t know who I am.. This is intentional.
D. So trying to get me to go anywhere is fraught…
If you want to save the world, you get me, Sir Richard, Mike and Ricky.
Story of my life:
Sob
I join you, Clockie, cast out into the ‘exterior darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ We probably don’t even rate as a ‘stranger at the gate.’
Bugger the “in crowd”! I didn’t want to go to their stupid party anyway..
cry if you want to. Yeah, Nah!

Beautiful People?
Not! basket weaving
No Contrarian?
Man, I am a hoot at parties. You don’t what your missing.
“I am a hoot at parties.” You do Matthew impersonations?
The C list to beat them all.
That was an F list.
more like a Z list.
Dude, I’m not even on the Z list, I’m on the z list
Burn the list! (said with vigour of thought, and warmth of affection, of course; wouldn’t want to break out in waves of passion now, would we).
Nothing more vivifying than multiple waves of passion, my friend!
see Aus Budget commentary below ground.
btw, My Immortal, Bring Me To Life.
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/ed-finallyat-last-the-mainstream-media-economics-experts-start-to-hold-the-intellectualyfactual-total-discrediting-of-jeyenglishs-austerity-mantra-up-to-the-light/
(reason for posting this link..this is an original comment on the key/english destroying news..
..news that seems to have passed most bye..(except @ whoar..)
..and i am gobsmacked that this news has been so ignored by most here in new zealand..
..given the key-govt-destabalising possibilities it holds..)
phillip ure..
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 7: Nigel Morrison, Sky City CEO
MARY WILSON: How tough has the government been in these negotiations?
NIGEL MORRISON Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.
Radio New Zealand National Checkpoint, Monday 13 May 2013, 5:40 p.m.
See also….
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
To news that the government is planning changes to state/social housing in the Budget comes the old movie saying – “I have a bad feeling about this”.
Extending income related rents to those in community housing is, in principle, an OK idea, but this government will chop something to pay for it (ie state housing, welfare, etc).
And this government has a hostility to public provision of anything, so I doubt that council tenants will be eligible for this.
Oh well, just over 24 hours to go.
See you all after the budget…
“Objectivity is paramount, says John Armstrong”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883716
funniest thing I have read in ages,
will keep a smile on the dial as i head off to play with chainsaws for the day
It’s funny how he thinks he keeps his personal opinions out of his columns, and that because some rabid hard right-wingers call him a Labour lackey this makes him balanced and middle-of-the-road.
Ah well, he’s good for laugh, at least.
From the symbolim is often useful file:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/12/bush-convicted-of-war-crimes-in-absentia/
‘symbolism’
damn coffee deficiency
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/
Also this from ITCCS:
1. On February 25, 2013, a lawfully constituted Common Law Court of Justice found Elizabeth Windsor, Queen of England and Head of State of Canada and its churches, guilty as charged of Crimes against Humanity in Canada and of engaging in a Criminal Conspiracy to conceal Genocide. The same verdict found Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper guilty of the same offenses.
‘No, no!’ said the Queen. ‘Sentence first—verdict afterwards.’
But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
When the jailer informed them, with tears,
Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
As the pig had been dead for some years.
Good on Angela for getting the double mastectomy: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/8673976/Pitt-praises-heroic-Jolie
It’s a pity such preventative surgery and follow up reconstructive surgery isn’t available to 95% of Americans.
Is preventative surgery of that sort available in the public system in NZ, or anywhere? Unless you’re paying for it yourself it seems like radical surgery when you do not in fact have cancer, would be a big ask.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/i-d-rather-alive-double-mastectomy-patient-5437153
No indication that it was not done on the public’s dime.
I don’t know one way or the other, but I suspect it would be covered in NZ for very high-risk patients, because it’s cheaper in the long-run than waiting for the breast cancer to develop. Not just in terms of the treatment itself, but for the individual: they can schedule time off work and get the operation done when it is convenient for them, rather than getting a cancer diagnosis and having to drop everything with short notice.
Hi folks!
Heard this?
Was interviewed for Radio NZ Morning Report (played on air at 8am Wednesday 15 May 2013) on the failure of the GCSB to ‘confirm or deny’ whether I was one of the 88 New Zealanders unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
(As was Val Morse – who got the same GCSB reply).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2555103/gcsb-refuses-to-tell-people-if-they've-been-illegally-spied-on.asx
Her Warship
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Sailing the Se7en CSBees
I heard that, Penny. You were clear and very persuasive, as was Valerie Morse. I was concerned by the wording used by the 8 o’clock news on Radio NZ National this morning to describe the GCSB’s criminal activities. Noting that this organization has been spying on New Zealand citizens, the newsreader intoned: “It is currently illegal.”
Next time someone shoots a policeman, I look forward to hearing the news-readers inform us that “murder is currently illegal.”
Yeah, you were solid Penny – “Show me the bloody filing cabinet and give me five minutes……” – (more or less what you said, agreed ?) – Great soundbite !
Haven’t heard from BM or that fulla whose name starts with G. Must have been like a good blast from a can of Raid to the likes of them. On their backs…….Bzzzzzz.
Australian Budget
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/8672592/?
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/5/15/economy/aust-needs-immense-adjustment-garnaut?
http://www.trust.org/item/20130514100022-j5ac6/?source=search
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=23907
“serial liars”
g888. The Oz Fed Govt has written a fiscally tight budget in order to gain confidence.
Gain the confidence of whom is always the unasked question. Certainly not of the unemployed or the median worker.
It is always pandering to the banksters, the investing class, the ratings agencies. It appears that they are the only true constituency Oz Labour responds to. They have no alternative thinking framework or vision.
On a bigger scale, a massive reorganisation of our political economy is needed – paid employment and economic growth are things transitioning into the past. Energy depletion and the limits of our debt based money system which we have now reached has made sure of that.
3 x class flares on the sun and a cme in one day.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2013/13may13/cme_anim2.GIF?PHPSESSID=tov4qiab2jpfhf7qm4lohulqj0
Not a good time to have investments in energy or telecommunications.
Interesting; I was just saying to my friend over Chardie yesterday why I collect hard-copy lit. and sounds; always.
I would not have much confidence in reliance on either wireless or mobile communications,this risks are very high for 4g.
As an aside I wonder if there is much importance in the spectrum sales in the budget.
at present the Interplanetary Magnetic field is in its southern aspect ie shields down.
http://spaceweather.com/glossary/imf.html
I think its a mistake we no longer have wind up gramaphones…independent of power cuts, internet hiccups and hard drive corruption.
Fragile complex systems
I’d be very surprised if private investors will lose out should the power grid get damaged. They will of course expect the taxpayer to pay for repairs, expect the company to borrow for repairs or just sell their 49% quick as possible. Money for nothing ‘investors’ only like to ‘gamble’ on a sure thing with a rigged deck.
We’re not all like that, some of us are in for the long run as well as proactively ensuring the assets stay in NZ hands.
Glad to hear there’s one who won’t mind foregoing their dividends if the grid gets whacked, how many others would I wonder.
“ensuring the assets stay in NZ hands.”
Just as long as they’re not in the hands of those who already owned them before they were stolen by the greedy.
Spanish poaching
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/europe/as-crime-rises-spains-farmers-patrol-their-land.html?_r=0
More on the role of “religion” , to come.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-to-punish-men-for-converting-woman-to-christianity-8613463.html
Well – what recent events does this case remind you of?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10883787
A senior Airways Corporation manager who won her job back after she was sacked for a boozy night when she got “lippy” with staff and gave one of them “the finger” has been awarded $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs.
…
She was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed and the company was ordered to reinstate her, although she was not awarded any payment due to her contribution to the situation.
Today, Mr Dumbleton ordered the company to pay Ms Dumble $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs and a further $385 for administration costs.
I wonder whether Gilmore has read this? And Riches, as employment law is one of his specialities.
The names changed to protect the record I imagine?
LOL – I did not even notice the similarity etc. But no, no name changes.
Here is the actual determination from the link in the Herald article
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201320/2013_NZERA_Auckland_169.pdf
And here’s another gem – more relevant to Aaron Gilmore perhaps.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers – An award should go to the West Jet gate attendant in Kelowna, British Columbia for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was cancelled after West Jet’s 737 had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS”.
The attendant replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: “May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please,“ she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, clenched his teeth and said, “F….You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”
Wonderful self possession and sense of humour. Brilliant Jenny.
Mr Dumbleton ? Ms Dumble ? about a case that showed her the Dumbledore then :-))
I found in Jingo that Terry Pratchett has envisaged a strapped-for-cash economy in Ankh-Morpork. To a question of how that could be, ‘Don’t we pay our taxes?’ Lord Vetinari notes –
Guild of Assassins – Gross earnings in the last year: AM$13,207,048. Taxes paid in the last year: AM$47.22 pence, and
The Guild of Accountants – gross earnings AM$7,999,011. Taxes paid: nil. But, ah yes, I see they applied for a rebate of AM$200,000.’
(I have left out the matter of the Hershebian half-dong as irrelevant.)
And was Terry thinking of NZ perhaps? He writes that Lord Vetinari made the analogy – ‘Taxation gentlemen is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo.’
‘Are you telling us that Ankh-Morpork is bankrupt?’ says one of the nobles.
‘Of course. While, at the the same time, full of rich people.’
Yes Terry Pratchett’s scenario has a lot of vision for us, if we care to study and absorb it. Makes
more sense than much of the words around today.
Yesterday vto raised the perceived issue of some people talking about the treaty being accused of racism. S/he referred to a Natrad panel discussion on Constitutional review. Turns out the person that asked the question that vto was interested in was John Ansell, and Ansell asked the question in a hijacking for his own agenda kind of way. Which is probably why the panelists refused to answer.
Here’s the conversation http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14052013/#comment-632878
The bit about Ansell is here http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14052013/#comment-633276
Sorry vto, but I feel that not only did you misrepresent what happened in the panel discussion, but you misled us in the conversation yesterday. Was that intentional? We talked about being explicit about our politics, but I don’t feel like you were. Now the question for me becomes, do you align yourself with Ansell, and is that the background context I need to understand your comments about Te Tiriti and racism in this country?
Thanks for following this up weka. It sounded pretty strange yesterday – I thought maybe someone had cracked a weak joke and thus it is so – ansell is a weak joke and I’d be pretty disappointed if vto was a follower of his. I think a list of what vto wants to discuss regarding Te Tiriti may be a good option and I hope vto provides one. We need to keep conversing about the subject but somehow with some people it ends up being a too-ing and fro-ing around issues that aren’t issues at all, except for them.
vto I hope you reply. My view of your view vto is that you think,
1 the Treaty is historical and a new one needs to be drafted to take into consideration the multicultural aspect of NZ society.
2 too much emphasis (money) is on tangata whenua and that they have received enough emphasis (money)
3 Māori were the first here and that could be called indigenous but it is irrelevant in today’s world
4 Māori are inherently violent and warlike
5 No one represents the ‘white man’ who gets abuse and derision when they say something that others perceive as racist
6 Non-Māori who talk about race get accused of being racist
7 Māori are racist to ‘white people’
8 Celts were here before Māori and taught them everything of what they know until Māori killed them all
9 The chinese bought slave-wives here to breed with Māori
10 Barry Brailsford doesn’t talk shit
I know, there is one joke one, but which one…
Anyway that list isn’t a dig at you vto – it’s to show that I listen to what you say/write.
The plot thickens.
or curdles.
Why is Fa’afoi not asking questions of Tolley?
Isn’t that his gig as police spokesperson and isn’t he an ex hard nosed journo/press sec extraordinaire?
Sitting there grinning like a churlish baboon isn’t a good look eh!…it’s bloody tolley for fucks sake.
Hardly the sharpest hammer in the shed…
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/18501
Major oil companies raided as part of an investigation into price fixing.
After the Libor bank manipulations, it’ll be interesting to see where this investigation goes.
From the Globe & Mail:
Al Jazeera:
Innocent til proven guilty….will be watching.
Latest Roy Morgan bounces again. Labour up 0.5% to 32% and Greens up 1% to 12, National down to 44%. According to this it is all locked up …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/national-party-now-dead-level-with-labour-greens-201305150221
[lprent: added charts. Don’t like that GCR. ]
A consistent downward trend for the National Party. Get the tiny violins out
Well, locked up not putting NZ1 in either camp.
[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]
“[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]”
Mate, you got the suck up blues bad, or you’re on commission, or both
Great recovery Labour, eighteen more months and you might be on what Clark got in 08.
You rock, monsters of politics.
33.99%?
Beaten that three times this year. Up from zero times last year. But labour’s obviously going nowhere in the polls…
And not reaching them now is a good thing, how?
Just take the medicine and no more blues (see what I did there?)
“But labour’s obviously going nowhere in the polls…”
Yeah, and going nowhere near victory either.
I see what you did, and it’s stupid.
I’ll take your:
and add a dose of reality from roymorgan:
“Too close to call” is viewed through your shit-coloured spectacles to read “nowhere near victory”.
You feel that groundswell of Labour support gripping the nation?
Every change of government has one. Where’s Yours and David’s?
You hope more than you say anything with genuine confidence.
Nope.
I think the polls show that voters are slowly regaining trust in labour and keeping trust in the greens.
I expect the momentum to build with the campaign period as the climax.
I think you interpret based on hope, not the word on the street.
23% before the 2011 election.
32% now.
Three out of ten voters, given the shocking government we have, is hardly worth boasting about.
Yes, because everyone in nz follows politics as closely as you or I.
Sarcasm aside, who’s boasting? I just think that fuck all to “too close too call” in half a term isn’t cause for dismay.
Fuck you’re hilarious McFlock. You are overconfident on Labour/Shearer and I expect you to be softening up and backpedaling on them big time next year. Btw where was Labour in the Roy Morgan 12-18 months before the last election? That’s the obvious comparison you’ve avoided.
not avoided at all.
Where were the greens?
Where had Labour come from in 2008?
Contrast with now.
you better remind yourself of what Labour got in the Roy Morgan in 2007, the year before elections, if you want to compare apples with apples.
And no, Shearer Labour hasn’t beaten that 3x so far.
The Roymorgan poll at the start of 2007 that had 41%? True.
The one at the end of 2007 that had 34.5%? Also true – beaten once, equalled twice this year.
In 2007 Labour was going down.
In 2013 Labour is going up.
And what were the Greens getting in that period, compared to now?
The difference is that in 2007 this was the assessment from the pollster:
Always nice to see an optimistic viewpoint. The NZLP is pretty much bouncing along in the 30-35% range. Just as they have for every period since the 2008 election except for a couple of months prior to the 2011 election and in the honeymoon just after the 2008 election..
Since 2008, the Greens and NZ First have risen. National has descended from their 2009 highs. A few National coalition partners have been rediscovering what oblivion means. The Labour caucus is doing bugger all compared to the same time in the last election cycle – and they bloody well lost that one. Look at the graph again.
The Labour caucus hasn’t made any discernible traction compared to this time (mid-2010) in the last electoral cycle. Indeed their polling performance looks like a repeat of mid-2010. No real hits on National.
The best that you can say is that they have managed to reverse their 2011 slide towards oblivion. On an more optimistic note, they seemed to have finally managed to stop having dickhead scandals from oversized egos making fools of themselves that were pissing me off so much from 2009-2011. I think that most of the self-inflicted injury fools are now gone (apart from Shane Jones).
But the caucus seems to be both uninspired, uninspiring, intensely reactive and don’t seem to understand the concept of preparedness strategy (ie looking at how to sell the damn things). The kiwibuild policy was curiously unfinished and like the Nats seems to have ignored the realities of the Auckland environment (where the biggest systemic housing issues are). Basically we don’t need more 3 bedroom homes on a section or shoebox central city student apartments here. What we need is to provide the types of housing that gets the ever increasing numbers of elderly, couples with no kids, and singletons out of family homes into something more suitable – which is where the housing shortage is. What we got was a policy that looked ok for Wellington where it may be possible to build a 3 bedroom house on section for $300k within 10 kilometres of the CBD.
The power purchasing policy was better. But they appear to have not thought through the obvious downstream implications of such a policy shift, and they wound up backing away from it – which really was a bit of a disaster.
In the first 18 months from 2008 there are half a dozen or so mid to high twenties in your 30-35% range.
And they started in the mid thirties.
This election period, the picture is quite different. But you need to move through 32 to get from 27 to 38 or 40.
Yep, having started from a low base, the LP, under Shearer, is doing better than average. Anything above 35% on polling day means a change of Government (assuming the Greens maintain double figures), so a consistant 30% plus is a good platform to launch an election campaign from.
If Shearer can maintain polling in the low to mid thirties till the election and the party membership can fight for more progressive policies such as NZPower and Kiwibuild to be the centrepoint of Labour’s election platform, I see no reason why we won’t have a terrific result on election day.
As an aside, I think Labour may not ever go above the 30’s again. That’s due to MMP and the effective job the Greens are doing keeping their vote at around 10%. That’s actually not a problem at all, because the right may never be able to muster a majority again, particularly now that they have effectively destroyed the Conservative Party’s chances by opting not to lower the 5% threshold.
McFlock: I accept that given the strength of the Government’s recent performances, the outstanding economic and employment growth the nation is experiencing, the satisfaction people have with the status quo, and the lack of confidence sapping scandals within National, it is of course going to be difficult for Labour to poll much above 32% or so.
If only we had a National Government which truly sucked at governing and which demonstrated a venal and short sighted nature to everything they did, Labour would have a chance of gaining more traction in the polls.
It’s such a shame that the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party.
One of the tragic mysteries of history, no doubt.
Yeah it’s a shame, but you’re ok with it.
well, you know my philosophy – get the fuck over it, assess the situation, work with what you have.
I mean, it’s not as fun as railing against the injustices of the weather, but the end result is usually better for everyone.
“assess the situation, work with what you have.”
Missed this first time around with all the lolling.
At least 68% in that poll have, and thought fuck off with that.
Yes.
Because MMP encourages coalitions. That’s how it works.
National has no friends. At best they have the vagaries of Peters.
Understanding that this is not an excuse for weak ass performance and policy.
Too close to call, that
“National has no friends. At best they have the vagaries of Peters.”
Another way of saying that is ‘At best they have enough friends to trounce Labour and the Greens and Mana.’
Best not think about it like that though. Let’s just pretend Winston will gracefully bow out too.
No.
Best just say “too close to call”.
lolz.
yeah just remember that the current Labour leadership ain’t no force of nature
And yet the railing here seems as effective as if it were.
Why is that? Might you not be quite so familiar with political realities as you think?
Condescension? Oh I guess you’ve really hurting my feelings now.
No.
Just pointing out that if you were half as good at influencing labour as you expect labour to be at influencing the polls, this debate would have ended months ago.
Those that can’t, criticise, I guess.
Even more condescension? Now you’re just being a little prick.
Btw “influencing Labour” lol
why is that a lol?
If you know what it takes to win the votes of more than a million people, surely you can persuade a few thousand. Or a couple of dozen.
“the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party."
Can't believe you write that stuff. I'm not picking on you, just find it hard when you mention political incompetence and still back Labour and Shearer.
It's a lolfest sometimes.
Yep, you missed the point, which was:
if you guys could do any better than the current caucus, why haven’t you managed to get Labour to sing to your songsheet? Why are you gnashing your teeth here, rather than your advice being adopted as the Labour playbook?
I missed nothing, just ignored the meaningless.
Labour can do one. I don’t trust them, at all.
I fear a Shearer government will be so bad, they’ll end the party as a political force for good.
It’s close already.
If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?
Lol – this has been fun, but I’m off for a few hours.
“If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?”
What bit don’t you understand? He’s a shit leader, he’s got a shit shadow front bench, and he shits on Labour’s core values.
That’s not a recipe that fills me with confidence, in fact, the way he’s gone about the job for 18 months, it should be filling with fear and dread every hardcore lefty voter, well those that haven’t bloated themselves with false hope that is.
McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.
I won’t give up on him.
Deep down he’s a green vote and/or a hurray for Cunliffe.
He just doesn’t know it yet
But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.
And I like coalition governments. It means there’s no point in developing saviour obsessions over a single politician. Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.
A completely unprovoked, unforced self Godwin. Awesome.
Nah.
I just have trust issues putting that much faith in one politician.
Especially one who’s said he’ll serve out the term on the back bench.
Your trust issues are why you made a Nazi Germany reference?
Can you think of a better example of people putting faith in the future of a nation on one person ?
I’d like it if all parties went the coleader route, frankly. Maybe even coprime ministers.
“But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.”
Like you’ve pointed out, despite a truly horrible government, Labour may be able to form a government. This mathematical possibility doesn’t make them winners, nor does it suggest they will form a competent, cohesive force.
“Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.”
From messiah to fuhrer in two evenings of debate.
No doubt tomorrow you’ll be fixating on Diablo.
“Can you think of a better example of people putting faith in the future of a nation on one person ?”
Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldn’t go as far as the devil – I merely think he is human.
That’s why I like MMP. It’s like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.
“Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldn’t go as far as the devil – I merely think he is human.”
Though to be fair, read back and I mention cunliffe once at the end of the exchange, with a smiley. You bring up him or the notion of saving politicians more than any one on here.
That’s a little odd.
“That’s why I like MMP. It’s like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.”
That’ll be news to JK
After you bring up Cunliffe.
After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad it’d “end the party as a political force for good.”
Not really. Otherwise he wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea.
“After you bring up Cunliffe.”
I dispute that in this exchange, and I dispute in others on the standard, some I’ve not even been party to.
I suggest you’re far more occupied with DC than I am with DS.
“After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad it’d “end the party as a political force for good.”
See point one in response to the name cunliffe.
“Not really. Otherwise he wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea.”
Now that’s just silly, seeing how minority Labour would be in government. Like was pointed out, we know how mmp works, that’s why we voted to keep it.
Key is in charge of the government. Who is is in charge of the opposition?
Oh, you dispute it? That’s just super.
Any specifics, like linking to the comment where I mentioned Cunliffe in this thread before you did?
“Oh, you dispute it? That’s just super.”
Any one is free to to look through this thread and deduce which time you went on about saviours and fuhrers and when I mentioned Cunliffe with a smiley, in an exchange with CV that was about you being a lost cause. Post up the findings here and it’s a done deal.
They could also, should they be so enthused, go check comments in other topics, including ones where I have not even commented. There they will find the mere mention of ds being shit, is met somewhat awkwardly by comments about messiahs and deities.
I’m not a researcher, or that petty, but it’s all there in black and white should any one feel the need.
I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t truthful or I could be caught out.
Some call it integrity, I, self preservation.
smiley shmiley.
Many a
truehonest word is said in jest.You brought him into the debate.
edit: and if you’re petty enough to make the claim, you should be petty enough to back it up.
In reply to my mate
“McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.”
Actually in this instance, it was my you’ll hurray for cunliffe that sparked the fuhrer jibe, despite never once proving a link between a competent would be leader and peoples (my) support and belief in his industry being any form of demagoguery, but you concede from previous form, I’m correct on point two.
“petty”
For writing
“Deep down he’s a green vote and/or a hurray for Cunliffe.”
Did I call cunliffe a demagogue?
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.
But ANY obsessional faith in ANY political leader gives me the willies, no matter how benign the person they place their trust in might apparently be. Because it usually ends rather messily, and as far as I know no utopia has ever come out of it.
To be absolutely explicit, I was not calling Cunliffe a demagogue.
I was calling you an obsessional follower. And as soon as our political support is guided by passions rather than rational assessments of the people and issues, that’s when bad things can happen.
So it’s lucky that MMP necessitates cooperation between parties and their alphas.
“Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.”
Quoted for posterity.
One day they’ll look back at this post and say, now that’s what I call insight.
nope.
in
tenfive years it’ll be as relevant as Clive Matthewson.But I tell you what, if Labour get elected with Shearer as leader, do another round of asset sales and plummet to single-digit popularity, I’ll buy you a beer.
Lost cause mate. Labour’s core support has settled at somewhere around 30% or so.
That number isn’t changing significantly in either direction and the rest of the population doesn’t give a fuck about Labour, either because they never have or because they’ve given up.
Maybe.
If so, that just leaves more room for the Greens and Mana.
“maybe”
No fucking maybe about it. There’s tumble weeds blowing through caucus.
Then that just leaves more room for the greens and mana.
And a growing irrelevance for Labour. Good of you to agree that expectations are low.
Learn to read.
Oh and yeah, one more rogue poll to add to the list.
Nope. Another datapoint to add to the trend.
Nope. Consistent evidence of inability to capitalise.
0.5% is a bounce now?
Can’t set the bar too high.
Be fair CV, they’ve only been at it for a term and a half. Give them another six months eh?
We all know the definition of madness – doing same old, expecting different.
There is no point expecting anything new from the polls, because nothing new is happening.
1) Government continues to fuck up and/or piss people off, whether on serious matters (MRP, GCSB) or headline-making trivia (Aaron Gilmore, Key’s brain farts).
2) Leader of the opposition continues to say “Oh, look, bottom line is, the government – in terms of fucking off – er, up – it is pissing – Labour is – National in terms of Labour is – I mean, look, they are …” (continues until audience dies screaming).
It dosn’t matter how many times National drop the ball, Shearer can’t pick it up. He doesn’t have it, we all know this, and the only rebuttal is “yes, but let’s pretend and hope”. So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.
Not much point debating which of the two will happen. One is based on daily evidence we can all see, the other is based on horoscopes, or something.
Voters are definitely leaving National. And they’re definitely not choosing Labour/Shearer.
We have a by-election soon. What plans do Labour greens etc have for getting out the vote? I know by- elections are usually poorly attended but wouldn’t it make a good practice run for 2014? So many non voters to be enticed?
Doesn’t need a practice run, minimise the spend on it, just enough effort to win.
edit – Greens might want a practice run, Labour can competently do this kind of thing in its sleep.
“So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.”
Do you really think that the few loyal labour supporters that are left, are going to have the patience to see if Shearer dies in a metaphorical ditch, and then what, Parker? Robertson?? jumps in the saddle, and lets the polls carry on their flat line?
New chair is another sign the gummint will be hocking off Air NZ soon.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10883668
The way they’re rushing all this makes me think of a desperate garage sale. Next up, an old lamp, used underwear and some family photos. Oh, and NZ’s soul.
http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/53-years-of-nuclear-tests-as-e.html
after watching this presentation,
no-one could blame you for wanting off this deranged little world
Good news! Labour proposes repeal of National government
LOL!
Particularly liked the last two sentences in the final quote..
“Well it’s certainly bold,” he said. “I mean it’s an extremely impressive policy and I think it’s something that a lot of people have been holding out for. But I just can’t fathom why any government would ever want to repeal a previous one. It leaves them with no one to blame.”
Excellent speech from Hone in today’s General Debate – slams the Maori Party for supporting the Charter Schools Bill:
That’s what the fuss is all about.
I do not know whether this was mentioned before, but since yesterday, TV3 news seem to have entered a war of arguments between Unite Union and McDonalds, where a lasting employment dispute about wages, hours and minimum wage payment requirements is ongoing.
Naturally like most MSM stupid and crap media like to focus on, the REAL issues are NOT reported on at all. Somehow a comment by senior Unite leader Mike Treen and others seems to have caught their main focus now. Some comments that the police breaking up a picket line outside the McDonald’s restaurant on Queen St may have been to ensure clientele to enter the fast food restaurant, seems to have been taken issue with.
The police now dispute that their intervention was to ensure discounted burgers or other food for themselves, and they have little else to say. Treen though made clear that a picket is there of right by protesting and striking workers, so that allows them to perhaps discourage clientele to go and enter McDonald’s.
The police have another story, of course, and they deny having interfered for cheap discounted food. Naturally I would think the police are correct on that, but they have a dismal point of justification, facing new media coverage on TV3 tonight and yesterday, proving police and certain other professional groups get heavily discounted services all the time.
So we have cops that start on a “starting wage” at 50 k per annum, that have low waged, soon underpaid (new minimum wage earners at youth rates) workers at McDonald’s “enhance” their lifestyles, to get all kinds of cheap perks they can.
NO wonder these cops largely vote National, and some of them have the bloody audacity to complain, leave the country and work for higher paid jobs in Australia and the UK!
Maori and Pasifica, same as others affected, will bear this in mind, that they are beaten up, locked up and treated like shit by an elite force of mercenaries, that even deny workers a fair pay. So much for foot soldiers and mercenaries, to protect McDonalds and others from the deserved voice and power of workers they rely on. SHAME ON THIS, NZ!-