Colin craig thinks of a catfight as rankin goes up against bennett. Stuff puts it in their headline. Craig could have stopped and strong and determined. What would be the equivalent male comment and when did we last see it in print?
[I think you meant cat fight Tracey. Corrected – MS]
2 single mothers who used to be on the DPB, who struggled to get by financially, who then turned around and now support political parties that want to take money off people who are in the EXACT SAME position as they were, and replace it with intangible abstract concepts like “aspiration” and “oppurtunity”. Well, I hate to break it to you ladies, but you cannot buy food or pay for your rent and power with “aspiration” and “oppurtunity”. The “dream” of working in a high paid job 5-10 years down the track isnt going to help a woman having to choose between paying the power bill or buying formula for her baby.
Its pretty simple really
“And another thing”: You cannot train people for jobs that dont exist. All this talk of “education” being the only way out of poverty is crap.
It’s worse than that @ millsy – these two ‘ladies’ seem to think they can force such aspirational outcomes by making people have to struggle even harder than they had to. (Pulling up the ladder as DC puts it). A good way for them to ease their nasty little consciences whilst allowing themselves the luxury of their holier than thou, control freak behaviour.
Dreadful memories come back of Rankin and that Destiny Church parasite, Hannah Tamaki saying poverty was the fault of the parents.
Is there an adjective stronger than repulsive to describe these views?
It is not at all obvious that Paula Bennett ever struggled to get by financially at all. In fact, with the support she had from her parents and the government money she was able to access, she would have been better off materially than many working people are today. Of course, she has obviously always suffered from great poverty of the spirit.
As for Christine Rankin, I don’t know.
Twenty odd years ago I went through a similar experience as the two long serving Foreign Affairs officers in MFAT only my case wasn’t played out in the media. As a much less important employee in another Public Service area, my superiors saw fit to have a caveat placed on me preventing me from publicly revealing anything, or even being able to clear my name of wrong doing. The above link shows that the psychopathic, bully boy/girl modus operandi inside the Public Service has returned with a vengeance under this Nat. govt.
I have a similar experience Anne – VERY similar. My ‘bottom line’ however is/was that under NO circumstances was I going to STFU should the need arise.
For me, what’s changed in the PS is down to its corporatisation which allows the administration to run as little ‘fiefdoms’ (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere) – easily manipulated by the political class by way of various rewards.
Its a system whereby the vast majority of diligent and committed public servants are subjugated (some even in an environment of fear) by their politically-appointed, generally incompetent, master of the Universe overlord. So much for all that efficiency and effectveness, accountability and transparency we were all promised when the doddering old Douglas had an ideologically-driven brain fart.
Its a system whereby the vast majority of diligent and committed public servants are subjugated (some even in an environment of fear) by their politically-appointed, generally incompetent, master of the Universe overlord.
Spot on Tim. The climate of fear was so palpable in my PS office that at one point my colleagues didn’t dare speak with me.
If I had my way the Rebstock bitch (sorry, but it’s true) would be sent back to America from whence she came, and Iain Rennie develop a sudden desire to “spend more time with his family” and resign.
+1. Yep. Similar experience in the PS for me. The corporate style of “professional manager – don’t need to know what the staff do, just set the vision and the targets” management has led to incredible wastage of effort and money as well. Most of the good talent in the PS has left IMO.
What’s up vto
Can I go to France with you? Richard Wolff was talking about how they still run their country, people still have time to be people there. It sounds like heaven compared to us.
I thought it might’ve just been the headline but Craig said it. Says a lot about the man. Not a great start for his political relationship with Rankin. He invites her to stand then says that – charming. While I’ve got no time for Rankin publicly she’ll shrug it off but privately she won’t be pleased. The good thing is that Craig’s hard wired to say such silly things so they’ll just keep coming. The right-wing deserve him.
still this was a bit of a laugh from Kerre McIvor.
Cunliffe needs to up his good bloke chops. Laughed it up- the headline Labour up to 40% (which seems largely a re-distribution of the left vote) and the picture? Key drinking with prince Wills….go figure…
Hmmm. I think Rodney is actually being quite honest there. His position, unlike John Key’s, is entirely believable in the circumstances as described. In fact it’s almost the opposite of what Key expects us to swallow.
1. Hide wasn’t engaged with NZ socially or politically at the time because he was off around the world no doubt seeking his fortune and having adventures. Fair enough. Not every young person’s life is highly politicised.
But compare and contrast that position with the facts as stated by John Key.
Key was living in NZ.
He was at University.
He had wanted to be Prime Minister since he was ten years old.
He had strong political views and debated them vigourously around the dinner table.
The man he describes as his political role model, Muldoon, was PM.
He expects us to believe all of that and simultaneously believe that the events around the 1981 tour didn’t really register with him at the time. Hilarious.
That position of Hide’s is not available to Key unless he withdraws and reverses all that stuff in his official back-story, and he can’t do that because it would make a liar of him.
2. Hide doesn’t know whether sporting and trade boycotts are better or worse than engagement. Fair enough, who does? Hide has a strong belief in free trade and the supremacy of markets for making important decisions. I think he’s a dogmatic extremist in this regard but nevertheless it’s a debatable question and one that merits more serious discussion than a budget herald column can be expected to offer.
Key also has a strong belief in free trade and the supremacy of markets. But unlike Hide, he won’t say it in so many words because it would frighten many of those who vote for the sanitised, inoffensive, non-threatening Brand Key™ . The gulf between the publicly and privately held views is demonstrated by the fact that behind our backs, when he thinks no-one is listening, he describes NZers as having a “socialist streak” that would prevent him from acting as he wishes.
So this position of Hide’s is also unavailable to Key unless he wants to place himself far further to the right than Brand Key™ can be seen to be.
3. Hide couldn’t give a damn about rugby, so he wasn’t interested on the selfish level of thinking he had a right to see the all blacks play SA. Fair enough, I couldn’t give a damn who the all blacks play either.
And maybe neither does Key. But he has invested a lot of time, money, and energy in portraying himself as a guy who BBQs with the blokes and drinks piss with the All Blacks and grandstands at the RWC. The whole narrative falls down if he reveals that he couldn’t give enough of a crap about rugby to want to see the All Blacks play SA, rugby at the highest level in 1981.
So that position of Rodney’s is also unavailable to Key unless he blows his carefully constructed bought and paid for good kiwi bloke image.
Hide’s column really does highlight the utter impossibility of what Key expects people to believe about him. It might be crediting Rodney too much to suggest that it is deliberately nuanced to do so, but it does so regardless.
I don’t have much time for a lot of his views. I think he’s naive to believe much of what he believes, but I’ve never really doubted that he believes it.
Nice to see the first couple of candidates being confirmed by Labour yesterday. Given the likelihood of a snap election after Banks is jailed, its important both Labour and the Greens are ready to go as early as possible.
So congrats to Deborah Russell, Rangitikei and Rob McCann, Otaki. The first of many!
I agree totally TRP that Labour and the Greens need to be ‘ready to go’ at any time!
“What I would say” (to use a Nickey Kaye-ism) is that DC needs to knock a few of the old guard’s heads together and remind them he wants to win – whereas they’re quite comfortable in either gubbamint OR opposition. I would say it – but I decided to give up on Labour until 2017 where we’ll all be able to see if they’ve actually decided to return to founding principles.
Fair enough, Tim, but I’d suggest that if you want a return to ‘founding principles’ you could actually play a part by joining Labour. The party needs to more than a caucus mindset upgrade for a real change in direction, it needs more activists in every branch, LEC and the affiliates. Perhaps it’s time the next conference put term limits on our MP’s? Say 3 terms unless a majority of members approve a fourth? As a member, you can help make that happen.
@TRP
I’ll consider REjoining when I see signs that the Party (all MP’s) show they’re more responsive to their membership – i.e. not weighed down by an old guard who only want to pay lip service and with all that “I paid my dues and I’m therefore entitled” attitude) AND when they unambiguously state their opposition to neoliberalism
They’re getting there admittedly and hopefully there’s a DC knocking a few heads together in the background.
The thing is that there are NOW alternatives that are more responsive to their membership.
…. as I said – maybe around 2017.
I think a record of having voted for them even when they chose to have a little lay down and do SFA (a least worst option) shows that I was committed to what Labour supposedly (and once) stood for.
I no longer have a blind faith that only serves to advance certain politician’s careers and preserve a comfy little status quo. The best evidence of all that is to just look at the National Party.
Well, I’m still keen to hear what Labour candidate will go into Ohariu. I’ve asked several times here, but no replies so far – maybe it’s an unknown or maybe it’s a secret?!……..
Also, is it really likely that we would go to a snap election if Bank’s is found guilty? If so, that would be truly awesome!
I don’t think the candidate has been selected yet Rosie. Probably sometime in the New Year. Actually, Labour is leaving it a bit late for the selection process. Especially if there is an early election.
Despite Key’s denials (which mean nothing coming from him) speculation is rife he’ll go early if he can get away with it. The polls show he’s still on a high with the voting public but he knows they’re slowly waking up to him. It makes sense to get the election out of the way before the rot really sets in.
It is getting a little late for the selection for Ohariu isn’t it. Charles Chauvel, in the 2011 election, got more votes than the previous election and decreased the gulf between himself and Dunne, with Shanks (resigning from parliament in Jan) straggling along behind in the electorate vote.
I’m wondering if Labour worked at it, whether they could win the Ohariu seat next year, on Dunnes 30th anniversary of holding it! Encouraging to see a 65% NO vote coming this electorate with a 49% turnout. Maybe, just maybe Dunne may have had his day.
It would excellent to see BOTH Banks and Dunne gone
A classic Herald article softening up the public for further draconian labour laws and creating a public perception that all our problems stem from lazy workers, not corrupt, incompetent and greedy corporations.
They do this all the time.
For example, education.
Article after article on teachers to create a public perception that they are bad people.
Hardly ever a positive story..always reports to prepare the population for charter schools and an attack on teachers’ unions.
Also, judges are increasingly being targeted for their lack of support for the government’s draconian and undemocratic laws.
Nothing about;
The employers who expect employees to turn up 15 minutes early every day, without extra pay.
The employers who steal employees breaks and lunch hours.
Employers who want part time employees available at 12 to 6 hours notice, so they cannot take another part time job, but do not want to pay extra for it.
Employers who routinely take a little from each pay packet, knowing employees have little redress, even if they notice.
Employers who take all of an employees first months pay, to pay for their work gear.
Employers who pay so little that other tax payers, and employers, have to subsidise their business.
“The Wellington City Council’s living wage is the worst possible decision. …. Third world countries are a hand-brake on the efforts of the rich industrialized capitalist countries to protect the environment….” [drones on in wandery fashion for several minutes]…
—Jordan Williams, speaking as one of three “Young Activists” on Radio NZ National’s “Ideas” segment, Sunday 15 December 2013. It is worth noting that stand-in host Finlay Macdonald was clearly appalled by Williams’ comments and that another guest (Heleyni Pratley) openly snickered in derision as Williams vapoured on.
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More mediocrities….
No. 9 Andrew Clay: ““After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies.”
No. 8 Ed Sheeran: “I See Dire” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-071113/#comment-723312
No. 7 Paul Little: [Russell Brand] is “petulant, ungracious and unfunny” and a “cut-rate Chomsky”.
No. 6 David Farrar: “Things were generally very relaxed in this area.”
No. 5 Jordan Williams: “Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.”
No. 4 Prof. Robert Patman: “Hezbollah is totally a creature of the Iranian regime.”
No. 3 Jeremy Wells: “What evidence is there that secondhand smoking does any harm? Where is the evidence? WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”
No. 2 Gavin Gray: “…never been any problems associated with the name King George.”
No. 1 Susie Ferguson: “If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?”
Goodness those libertarians get a lot of publicity on RNZ considering their share of the vote is so small. Wonder how the bosses at the station can justify that?
Here’s a little thread from earlier this year about that hapless loon Jordan Williams. Note also that an even more hapless Standardista jumps in and flounders embarrassingly as he tries to defend Williams….. http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042013/#comment-620413
Posting the audio of what was actually said, which shows the difference between your version of events and the one that actually happened, is haplessly defending Williams.
🙄
Our foes are the same foes, Mozz, but we won’t beat them with lies. We’ll beat them with the truth.
Posting the audio of what was actually said, which shows the difference between your version of events and the one that actually happened, is haplessly defending Williams.
Thanks for posting it; what it actually shows—as you know perfectly well—is how accurate my post is in tone and substance, if not in every detail. I don’t make stuff up; the only problem is that my transcription speed is not good enough to get me a job as a secretary for a Fortune 500 company—-not yet anyway. If you had chided me for the errors, and the odd exaggeration—yes, I do add the odd bit of gratuitous laughter or an extra “ummm” or “errr” to underline the vacuity of certain guests—that would be a fair and reasonable critique.
But you have not done that: what you have done here, and done on several other occasions, is to allege that I deliberately distorted and even falsified the cruel and irresponsible words of Mora and his guests. I have not, and you know it. Your inept pursuit of me started after I came out in support of the dissenting journalist Julian Assange; you unwisely chose, like several others on this forum, to side with his state-backed tormentors.
Our foes are the same foes, Mozz, but we won’t beat them with lies. We’ll beat them with the truth.
There you go again, saying I tell lies. Others on this forum, who do not share your agenda of character assassination and dissenter-bashing, but who do listen to those shockingly depraved radio shows, have attested to the accuracy and integrity of my transcripts. Hell, someone even called me “the Diana Wichtel of the Standard.” Maybe you could launch a campaign against her next; after all, she makes the odd slip-up as well.
No Mozz, when you say someone said something that they didn’t say, that’s a lie.
And when someone points this out to you, and you insist, in the face of the audio evidence, that your report is accurate (word perfect is the term you used) that’s a lie.
And when you turn on that person and accuse them of all sorts of nefarious motivations for insisting on honesty (Assange? Seriously you stupid fuck, find me a quote to back that up) that’s a lie.
But I don’t need to argue with the ghosts in your mind. For all I know when someone says something once, you hear them screaming it several times. But the audio tells the true story and your reports stand in stark contrast, and the ultimate dishonesty is that you refuse to listen to the audio and make an honest side by side comparison
1.) No Mozz, when you say someone said something that they didn’t say, that’s a lie.
I reported, accurately and without exaggeration, that Jordan Williams had been provoked into a furious ranting denial of the fact that Lord Monckton is regarded as a loon by all serious thinkers. You, as you often do, launched into a nutty defence of Williams, pretending that he had not ranted and shouted. He had, and the recording matches my transcript/rendition of the cringe-inducing episode.
2.) And when someone points this out to you, and you insist, in the face of the audio evidence, that your report is accurate (word perfect is the term you used) that’s a lie.
Now you are distorting—and I fear it stems from malice, not simply bewilderment as I originally thought—what I have written on several occasions. I have always conceded that my transcriptions, which are always done without the use of a tape recorder, are not always perfect but they ARE true to the nature and tone of the people I pin down for posterity. Often, the most important bits of my transcripts are indeed word perfect; you are quibbling, trivially and dishonestly, over a few misplaced/transposed/added snickers or ummms and ahs, and contesting my interpretation of the often uncomfortable pauses that are a feature of these radio discussions. If you left it at that, your criticism would be valid; unfortunately you seem to lack a certain degree of proportion, or common sense—and you have accused me not of the odd inaccuracy or error (which is fair) but of lying (which is not fair).
3.) And when you turn on that person and accuse them of all sorts of nefarious motivations for insisting on honesty (Assange? Seriously you stupid fuck, find me a quote to back that up) that’s a lie.
I’ve just conducted an archive search of your postings and it’s clear that you have not been one of the denigrators of Assange. I apologise to you, and acknowledge my speculation was wrong and unfair. Now, if I was a liar, I would simply keep repeating my original allegation, but I will not. Your allegations about my occasional slip-ups constitute a calculated insult, an extreme attack on my integrity, and a deliberate distortion—and I have repeatedly refuted them. It is time you did the decent thing and acknowledged that your attacks on me have far exceeded robust criticism and long ago degenerated into nothing more than foul personal abuse, and all the worse for being untrue.
4.)But I don’t need to argue with the ghosts in your mind.
That’s a nasty but rather limp effort at trying to marginalise me as some kind of deluded crackpot. Keep trying, then after that try walking through a brick wall; you’ll have about as much chance of success.
5.) For all I know when someone says something once, you hear them screaming it several times. But the audio tells the true story and your reports stand in stark contrast, and the ultimate dishonesty is that you refuse to listen to the audio and make an honest side by side comparison.
The audio shows a young Wellington lawyer out of his intellectual depth, falling back on the oldest trick in the lexicon to cope with being shown up as a fraud: he shouts, stutters and stammers, and denies that the person he has been defending is a fool and a charlatan.
Kind of reminds me of some of the people around here.
Now THAT is a classically lazy and content-free post. If you’re going to tell lies, my friend, your rhetoric would need to be much better than that. And you’d need major support by a criminal organisation to protect you. I don’t think you’re quite that powerful yet, and you’re way too emotional to engender anything but contempt, but in case you grease your way right up that academic ladder, here’s the level of cold-hearted indifference to morality you need to aim at…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5RZ6ukbNc
You’re only part way there. Empty abuse is fine, if you have some institutional muscle to back it up. You haven’t, unfortunately.
Up to what – persuading a deluded individual that his massive ego blinds him to his lamentable terminological inexactitudes? Nah mate, you need a shrink for that, and I’m not qualified.
telling lies? What lie? That you repeatedly claim accuracy in your transcripts when the words you attribute to speakers seem to be missing from the audio recordings available online?
I’m being charitable and just assuming that you’re clinically delusional, rather than suggesting that you’re even more incompetent as a liar than John Banks.
..being at the bottom of the wage-pyramid..(university students forced into working for $11 per hr/youth-rates..how fucked/fucken oppressive/unfair is that..?)
..how’s that all for starters/getting on with..?
..and williams then used that one-legged stool to stand on to say this is why the young are not engaged in the political system..
..and he does have a point about low engagement..
..but i wd put that low engagement in part down to a sense of powerlessness..
..of not wanting to get their legs/trousers drenched..
..from what can easily be seen as pissing into the wind..
..and i wd argue that desire for engagement is out there..
..but the forum/means has not yet been established..
..the internet has opened many doors..
..but those energies are yet to coalesce in a meaningful manner..
..so.basically..williams was just lowest-orifice-plucking..
..with his farcical ‘nothing to worry about’ claims..
Williams doesn’t get on to these programmes because he has anything interesting or intelligent to say. He gets on because he’s not only very pushy but (more importantly) also well connected: he is an office junior for S.S. lawyer Stephen Franks. He imitates Franks perfectly: the slow pretentious delivery as well as the banality of his statements.
I wonder that too (How does Franks ….etc.)
Mora likes his ‘eloquence’ I think, and the fact that he comes from the ‘cultured’ department of the right wing (kind of like the 1% of the 1%) – which of course is very esprayshnul – especially if you’re the nicest man on Earth.
It always amuses me when I see RNZ accused of being a bunch of lefties.
There’s a dinky little band of 1%ers all comfy and cosy, nicely ‘work-life balanced’ and ‘fair and balanced’, with credentials they think we all should die for pulling the strings.
We should really be grateful they exist I suppose – otherwise under the current junta it’d be “Afternoons with the Nicest Man on Earth – brought to you by Watties Baked Beans”, and “Nine to Noon with the World’s Most Regalr Gal – brought to you by Sanitarium Allbran”.
There’s always RNZ weekends and weekday evenings that (so far) don’t seem to have been infected.
Btw … Franks should patent himself. We sometimes watch in awe as he manages to defy gravity and slip up an uphill Hawker Street. I’m trying to discover how his gentrification engine works – it sure as Hell doesn’t have spark plugs but its causing havoc in the Mt Vic neighbourhood.
Hah, as a student nearly 40 years ago lived in Hawker Street four doors from the top. Magnificent view. Fell over uphill numerous times in various levels of sobriety on that steep street. Thing is I never had the nasty blow to the head as clearly has friend Stephen. Must’ve been a hoot to watch Tim . “Key”stoned Cops.
LOON WATCH
No. 2: Illegal “settlers” in the Occupied West Bank
As you watch these clips, bear in mind that Barack Obama, who hijacked the Mandela memorial service for a great anti-apartheid leader, is a piously defiant advocate for these people….
‘cept for the potential of loss of more jobs in even Agriculture arisng from technology ; saw the potential when there was a documentary on a similar product developed for pasture inspection by a New Zealand school-boy recently. (somebody no longer needs to travel and open and close 30 gates a day).
XOX
RNZ is slipping. Nine to Noon, and Afternoons sliding in relevance and quality. Needs a serious refurbishment.
Weekends are better quality but right wing ‘market’ forces are increasingly apparent. Hoping Finlay MacDonald gets the nod to replace Chris Laidlaw.
Prof Richard Wolff is talking about how the Democrats tried to get Bill through in USA setting 0.7% tax on incomes over US$1 million to raise extra tax to employ the unemployed. There are 350,000 tazpayers who average US$2.9 million would have been $13,500 each extra. This was an outrage and the Republicans prevented that Bill going through that was to raise money for creating employment!! I have put up links earlier but just google Wolff.
They did pass some law that was going to put a lot of money into repairing highways!@!
Thanks RT have been pondering about it for a while. Cosmetics for women are hegemonic and pervasive and constant use undermines the move towards women’s real self-acceptance.
“For a nation with the dubious distinction of having one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the western world, we’re remarkably reluctant to lock up anyone from the big end of town”
“This may have something to do with the fact that those whose collar is more white than blue are more likely to be able to afford lawyers with the letters QC after their name. It’s also partly because criminal cases involving corporate types tend to be complicated, drawn-out and expensive.”
“But it’s also due to the fact that our laws – particularly the 1961 Crimes Act – are not just inadequate but biased in favour of those who either swindle investors out of their life savings or bring about the injury or death of their employees through negligence.”
I see in the rag this a.m. the sensible sentencing trust claiming that they dont care how much it costs to imprison as many as people as possible.
Do they have shares in the private prison companies.
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Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three. ...
Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
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Colin craig thinks of a catfight as rankin goes up against bennett. Stuff puts it in their headline. Craig could have stopped and strong and determined. What would be the equivalent male comment and when did we last see it in print?
[I think you meant cat fight Tracey. Corrected – MS]
Yeah, I thought it was a bit sexist from him. I guess it displays his true-blue “women exist to serve men” sort of viewpoint.
2 single mothers who used to be on the DPB, who struggled to get by financially, who then turned around and now support political parties that want to take money off people who are in the EXACT SAME position as they were, and replace it with intangible abstract concepts like “aspiration” and “oppurtunity”. Well, I hate to break it to you ladies, but you cannot buy food or pay for your rent and power with “aspiration” and “oppurtunity”. The “dream” of working in a high paid job 5-10 years down the track isnt going to help a woman having to choose between paying the power bill or buying formula for her baby.
Its pretty simple really
“And another thing”: You cannot train people for jobs that dont exist. All this talk of “education” being the only way out of poverty is crap.
It’s worse than that @ millsy – these two ‘ladies’ seem to think they can force such aspirational outcomes by making people have to struggle even harder than they had to. (Pulling up the ladder as DC puts it). A good way for them to ease their nasty little consciences whilst allowing themselves the luxury of their holier than thou, control freak behaviour.
Dreadful memories come back of Rankin and that Destiny Church parasite, Hannah Tamaki saying poverty was the fault of the parents.
Is there an adjective stronger than repulsive to describe these views?
“Bennett and Rankin have similar back stories; both grew up in households without much money, had children at a young age and raised them alone on the domestic purposes benefit.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9519067/Catfight-looms-in-hot-seat
What Stuff did not add was..
Both don’t want people with their back story to have the support they got now.”
Funny that; failure to do any journalism by the corporate media.
It is not at all obvious that Paula Bennett ever struggled to get by financially at all. In fact, with the support she had from her parents and the government money she was able to access, she would have been better off materially than many working people are today. Of course, she has obviously always suffered from great poverty of the spirit.
As for Christine Rankin, I don’t know.
all gender should be deleted from the planet. drones, we should all be…..
I’m going to france, at least they have a maturity about life
Last night I posted this link on Open Mike. I’m re-posting it because it’s an important issue:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2579871
Twenty odd years ago I went through a similar experience as the two long serving Foreign Affairs officers in MFAT only my case wasn’t played out in the media. As a much less important employee in another Public Service area, my superiors saw fit to have a caveat placed on me preventing me from publicly revealing anything, or even being able to clear my name of wrong doing. The above link shows that the psychopathic, bully boy/girl modus operandi inside the Public Service has returned with a vengeance under this Nat. govt.
I have a similar experience Anne – VERY similar. My ‘bottom line’ however is/was that under NO circumstances was I going to STFU should the need arise.
For me, what’s changed in the PS is down to its corporatisation which allows the administration to run as little ‘fiefdoms’ (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere) – easily manipulated by the political class by way of various rewards.
Its a system whereby the vast majority of diligent and committed public servants are subjugated (some even in an environment of fear) by their politically-appointed, generally incompetent, master of the Universe overlord. So much for all that efficiency and effectveness, accountability and transparency we were all promised when the doddering old Douglas had an ideologically-driven brain fart.
Spot on Tim. The climate of fear was so palpable in my PS office that at one point my colleagues didn’t dare speak with me.
If I had my way the Rebstock bitch (sorry, but it’s true) would be sent back to America from whence she came, and Iain Rennie develop a sudden desire to “spend more time with his family” and resign.
+1. Yep. Similar experience in the PS for me. The corporate style of “professional manager – don’t need to know what the staff do, just set the vision and the targets” management has led to incredible wastage of effort and money as well. Most of the good talent in the PS has left IMO.
The neoliberal cult of (un)professional managerialism – which both Labour and National subscribe to – has gutted this nation.
Have you read Václav Havel’s essay “The Power of the Powerless”?
I think everyone on the Left needs to know about the ideas he wrote about from the deep dark days of Soviet domination of Czeckoslovakia.
Thanks for the recommendation.
With the record of so many of their Presidents as an example I think that Len Brown should go there. He would fit in beautifully wouldn’t he?
What’s up vto
Can I go to France with you? Richard Wolff was talking about how they still run their country, people still have time to be people there. It sounds like heaven compared to us.
unless you are black or muslim
Hi Tracey
You would rain on my parade. I hope there will be more positives for you to look at and enjoy in 2014.
I thought it might’ve just been the headline but Craig said it. Says a lot about the man. Not a great start for his political relationship with Rankin. He invites her to stand then says that – charming. While I’ve got no time for Rankin publicly she’ll shrug it off but privately she won’t be pleased. The good thing is that Craig’s hard wired to say such silly things so they’ll just keep coming. The right-wing deserve him.
thanks MS
Colon Craig is seriously creepy and weird. Every time he opens his mouth it becomes more apparent.
A great gift to the left.
Do the Herald actually pay Hide to write this garbage?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11172652
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11172656
still this was a bit of a laugh from Kerre McIvor.
Cunliffe needs to up his good bloke chops. Laughed it up- the headline Labour up to 40% (which seems largely a re-distribution of the left vote) and the picture? Key drinking with prince Wills….go figure…
Hmmm. I think Rodney is actually being quite honest there. His position, unlike John Key’s, is entirely believable in the circumstances as described. In fact it’s almost the opposite of what Key expects us to swallow.
1. Hide wasn’t engaged with NZ socially or politically at the time because he was off around the world no doubt seeking his fortune and having adventures. Fair enough. Not every young person’s life is highly politicised.
But compare and contrast that position with the facts as stated by John Key.
Key was living in NZ.
He was at University.
He had wanted to be Prime Minister since he was ten years old.
He had strong political views and debated them vigourously around the dinner table.
The man he describes as his political role model, Muldoon, was PM.
He expects us to believe all of that and simultaneously believe that the events around the 1981 tour didn’t really register with him at the time. Hilarious.
That position of Hide’s is not available to Key unless he withdraws and reverses all that stuff in his official back-story, and he can’t do that because it would make a liar of him.
2. Hide doesn’t know whether sporting and trade boycotts are better or worse than engagement. Fair enough, who does? Hide has a strong belief in free trade and the supremacy of markets for making important decisions. I think he’s a dogmatic extremist in this regard but nevertheless it’s a debatable question and one that merits more serious discussion than a budget herald column can be expected to offer.
Key also has a strong belief in free trade and the supremacy of markets. But unlike Hide, he won’t say it in so many words because it would frighten many of those who vote for the sanitised, inoffensive, non-threatening Brand Key™ . The gulf between the publicly and privately held views is demonstrated by the fact that behind our backs, when he thinks no-one is listening, he describes NZers as having a “socialist streak” that would prevent him from acting as he wishes.
So this position of Hide’s is also unavailable to Key unless he wants to place himself far further to the right than Brand Key™ can be seen to be.
3. Hide couldn’t give a damn about rugby, so he wasn’t interested on the selfish level of thinking he had a right to see the all blacks play SA. Fair enough, I couldn’t give a damn who the all blacks play either.
And maybe neither does Key. But he has invested a lot of time, money, and energy in portraying himself as a guy who BBQs with the blokes and drinks piss with the All Blacks and grandstands at the RWC. The whole narrative falls down if he reveals that he couldn’t give enough of a crap about rugby to want to see the All Blacks play SA, rugby at the highest level in 1981.
So that position of Rodney’s is also unavailable to Key unless he blows his carefully constructed bought and paid for good kiwi bloke image.
Hide’s column really does highlight the utter impossibility of what Key expects people to believe about him. It might be crediting Rodney too much to suggest that it is deliberately nuanced to do so, but it does so regardless.
Beautifully comprehensive review imo.
Also, Hide worked on North Sea oil rigs for a good deal of his time out of NZ.
His background is more working class than most of Parliament.
Yep.
I don’t have much time for a lot of his views. I think he’s naive to believe much of what he believes, but I’ve never really doubted that he believes it.
The above being no exception.
Been a lot of worthwhile and informative reading on TS these past few days. Very stimulating.
… why wouldn’t Hide make this admission until Mandela had gone though? Bit cowardly in my opinion.
Dunno. I guess it didn’t come up because no-one ever asks him what he thinks.
top drawer
Do you know how he ended up under Alan Gibbs wing, given his background?
“..If you were going to predict which country would jumpstart the counter-culture movement of the 1960s, it wouldn’t be Switzerland.
In Switzerland nothing seems out of place.
Sitting in the Lindenhof overlooking the river Limmat – the capital of Zurich looks like the perfect Mittel-European small city.
It is the essence of picturesqueness –
– that is of course – if you ignore the heroin addicts strewn all over the Spitzplatz behind the Hauptbahnhof..”
(cont..)
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/14/timothy_learys_liberation_and_the_cias_experiments_lsds_amazing_psychedelic_history/
phillip ure..
Nice to see the first couple of candidates being confirmed by Labour yesterday. Given the likelihood of a snap election after Banks is jailed, its important both Labour and the Greens are ready to go as early as possible.
So congrats to Deborah Russell, Rangitikei and Rob McCann, Otaki. The first of many!
Also Glenda Alexander for Waitaki, and today, the Clutha Southland candidate will be confirmed. Congrats to them!
I agree totally TRP that Labour and the Greens need to be ‘ready to go’ at any time!
“What I would say” (to use a Nickey Kaye-ism) is that DC needs to knock a few of the old guard’s heads together and remind them he wants to win – whereas they’re quite comfortable in either gubbamint OR opposition. I would say it – but I decided to give up on Labour until 2017 where we’ll all be able to see if they’ve actually decided to return to founding principles.
Yup vote Green to ensure no backsliding by the Labour caucus.
Fair enough, Tim, but I’d suggest that if you want a return to ‘founding principles’ you could actually play a part by joining Labour. The party needs to more than a caucus mindset upgrade for a real change in direction, it needs more activists in every branch, LEC and the affiliates. Perhaps it’s time the next conference put term limits on our MP’s? Say 3 terms unless a majority of members approve a fourth? As a member, you can help make that happen.
Why can’t/don’t existing members do that?
It’s not an either/or.
@TRP
I’ll consider REjoining when I see signs that the Party (all MP’s) show they’re more responsive to their membership – i.e. not weighed down by an old guard who only want to pay lip service and with all that “I paid my dues and I’m therefore entitled” attitude) AND when they unambiguously state their opposition to neoliberalism
They’re getting there admittedly and hopefully there’s a DC knocking a few heads together in the background.
The thing is that there are NOW alternatives that are more responsive to their membership.
…. as I said – maybe around 2017.
I think a record of having voted for them even when they chose to have a little lay down and do SFA (a least worst option) shows that I was committed to what Labour supposedly (and once) stood for.
I no longer have a blind faith that only serves to advance certain politician’s careers and preserve a comfy little status quo. The best evidence of all that is to just look at the National Party.
Well, I’m still keen to hear what Labour candidate will go into Ohariu. I’ve asked several times here, but no replies so far – maybe it’s an unknown or maybe it’s a secret?!……..
Also, is it really likely that we would go to a snap election if Bank’s is found guilty? If so, that would be truly awesome!
I don’t think the candidate has been selected yet Rosie. Probably sometime in the New Year. Actually, Labour is leaving it a bit late for the selection process. Especially if there is an early election.
Despite Key’s denials (which mean nothing coming from him) speculation is rife he’ll go early if he can get away with it. The polls show he’s still on a high with the voting public but he knows they’re slowly waking up to him. It makes sense to get the election out of the way before the rot really sets in.
Thanks for your thoughts on both queries Anne.
It is getting a little late for the selection for Ohariu isn’t it. Charles Chauvel, in the 2011 election, got more votes than the previous election and decreased the gulf between himself and Dunne, with Shanks (resigning from parliament in Jan) straggling along behind in the electorate vote.
I’m wondering if Labour worked at it, whether they could win the Ohariu seat next year, on Dunnes 30th anniversary of holding it! Encouraging to see a 65% NO vote coming this electorate with a 49% turnout. Maybe, just maybe Dunne may have had his day.
It would excellent to see BOTH Banks and Dunne gone
@ rosie “if banks is found guilty’ you must be joking, he will probably finish up with a knighthood for services to John Key.
we can only hope rod………………be interesting to see how the bets are going closer to the time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11172720
Wonder what the reverse is – the benefit to coys of employees being expected to work when sick and the burden that places on the employee to struggle on.
IMO somewhat blinkered vision on the topic.
A classic Herald article softening up the public for further draconian labour laws and creating a public perception that all our problems stem from lazy workers, not corrupt, incompetent and greedy corporations.
+1
It was all about what the bosses and corporations wanted and nothing about what the workers actually need.
They do this all the time.
For example, education.
Article after article on teachers to create a public perception that they are bad people.
Hardly ever a positive story..always reports to prepare the population for charter schools and an attack on teachers’ unions.
Also, judges are increasingly being targeted for their lack of support for the government’s draconian and undemocratic laws.
Nothing about;
The employers who expect employees to turn up 15 minutes early every day, without extra pay.
The employers who steal employees breaks and lunch hours.
Employers who want part time employees available at 12 to 6 hours notice, so they cannot take another part time job, but do not want to pay extra for it.
Employers who routinely take a little from each pay packet, knowing employees have little redress, even if they notice.
Employers who take all of an employees first months pay, to pay for their work gear.
Employers who pay so little that other tax payers, and employers, have to subsidise their business.
Etc Etc Etc.
Au revoir vto.
Mediocrity Watch
No. 10: JORDAN WILLIAMS
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The Wellington City Council’s living wage is the worst possible decision. …. Third world countries are a hand-brake on the efforts of the rich industrialized capitalist countries to protect the environment….” [drones on in wandery fashion for several minutes]…
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—Jordan Williams, speaking as one of three “Young Activists” on Radio NZ National’s “Ideas” segment, Sunday 15 December 2013. It is worth noting that stand-in host Finlay Macdonald was clearly appalled by Williams’ comments and that another guest (Heleyni Pratley) openly snickered in derision as Williams vapoured on.
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the shoddiest, least professional, most insulting journalism and taxpayer-subsidised-sensitive-singer-songwriting from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
More mediocrities….
No. 9 Andrew Clay: ““After a comedy show, one is often mobbed by the ladies.”
No. 8 Ed Sheeran: “I See Dire” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-071113/#comment-723312
No. 7 Paul Little: [Russell Brand] is “petulant, ungracious and unfunny” and a “cut-rate Chomsky”.
No. 6 David Farrar: “Things were generally very relaxed in this area.”
No. 5 Jordan Williams: “Capping rents seems like a recipe for disaster.”
No. 4 Prof. Robert Patman: “Hezbollah is totally a creature of the Iranian regime.”
No. 3 Jeremy Wells: “What evidence is there that secondhand smoking does any harm? Where is the evidence? WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE?”
No. 2 Gavin Gray: “…never been any problems associated with the name King George.”
No. 1 Susie Ferguson: “If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?”
Goodness those libertarians get a lot of publicity on RNZ considering their share of the vote is so small. Wonder how the bosses at the station can justify that?
Here’s a little thread from earlier this year about that hapless loon Jordan Williams. Note also that an even more hapless Standardista jumps in and flounders embarrassingly as he tries to defend Williams…..
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-17042013/#comment-620413
Yeah.
Posting the audio of what was actually said, which shows the difference between your version of events and the one that actually happened, is haplessly defending Williams.
🙄
Our foes are the same foes, Mozz, but we won’t beat them with lies. We’ll beat them with the truth.
Posting the audio of what was actually said, which shows the difference between your version of events and the one that actually happened, is haplessly defending Williams.
Thanks for posting it; what it actually shows—as you know perfectly well—is how accurate my post is in tone and substance, if not in every detail. I don’t make stuff up; the only problem is that my transcription speed is not good enough to get me a job as a secretary for a Fortune 500 company—-not yet anyway. If you had chided me for the errors, and the odd exaggeration—yes, I do add the odd bit of gratuitous laughter or an extra “ummm” or “errr” to underline the vacuity of certain guests—that would be a fair and reasonable critique.
But you have not done that: what you have done here, and done on several other occasions, is to allege that I deliberately distorted and even falsified the cruel and irresponsible words of Mora and his guests. I have not, and you know it. Your inept pursuit of me started after I came out in support of the dissenting journalist Julian Assange; you unwisely chose, like several others on this forum, to side with his state-backed tormentors.
Our foes are the same foes, Mozz, but we won’t beat them with lies. We’ll beat them with the truth.
There you go again, saying I tell lies. Others on this forum, who do not share your agenda of character assassination and dissenter-bashing, but who do listen to those shockingly depraved radio shows, have attested to the accuracy and integrity of my transcripts. Hell, someone even called me “the Diana Wichtel of the Standard.” Maybe you could launch a campaign against her next; after all, she makes the odd slip-up as well.
No Mozz, when you say someone said something that they didn’t say, that’s a lie.
And when someone points this out to you, and you insist, in the face of the audio evidence, that your report is accurate (word perfect is the term you used) that’s a lie.
And when you turn on that person and accuse them of all sorts of nefarious motivations for insisting on honesty (Assange? Seriously you stupid fuck, find me a quote to back that up) that’s a lie.
But I don’t need to argue with the ghosts in your mind. For all I know when someone says something once, you hear them screaming it several times. But the audio tells the true story and your reports stand in stark contrast, and the ultimate dishonesty is that you refuse to listen to the audio and make an honest side by side comparison
1.) No Mozz, when you say someone said something that they didn’t say, that’s a lie.
I reported, accurately and without exaggeration, that Jordan Williams had been provoked into a furious ranting denial of the fact that Lord Monckton is regarded as a loon by all serious thinkers. You, as you often do, launched into a nutty defence of Williams, pretending that he had not ranted and shouted. He had, and the recording matches my transcript/rendition of the cringe-inducing episode.
2.) And when someone points this out to you, and you insist, in the face of the audio evidence, that your report is accurate (word perfect is the term you used) that’s a lie.
Now you are distorting—and I fear it stems from malice, not simply bewilderment as I originally thought—what I have written on several occasions. I have always conceded that my transcriptions, which are always done without the use of a tape recorder, are not always perfect but they ARE true to the nature and tone of the people I pin down for posterity. Often, the most important bits of my transcripts are indeed word perfect; you are quibbling, trivially and dishonestly, over a few misplaced/transposed/added snickers or ummms and ahs, and contesting my interpretation of the often uncomfortable pauses that are a feature of these radio discussions. If you left it at that, your criticism would be valid; unfortunately you seem to lack a certain degree of proportion, or common sense—and you have accused me not of the odd inaccuracy or error (which is fair) but of lying (which is not fair).
3.) And when you turn on that person and accuse them of all sorts of nefarious motivations for insisting on honesty (Assange? Seriously you stupid fuck, find me a quote to back that up) that’s a lie.
I’ve just conducted an archive search of your postings and it’s clear that you have not been one of the denigrators of Assange. I apologise to you, and acknowledge my speculation was wrong and unfair. Now, if I was a liar, I would simply keep repeating my original allegation, but I will not. Your allegations about my occasional slip-ups constitute a calculated insult, an extreme attack on my integrity, and a deliberate distortion—and I have repeatedly refuted them. It is time you did the decent thing and acknowledged that your attacks on me have far exceeded robust criticism and long ago degenerated into nothing more than foul personal abuse, and all the worse for being untrue.
4.)But I don’t need to argue with the ghosts in your mind.
That’s a nasty but rather limp effort at trying to marginalise me as some kind of deluded crackpot. Keep trying, then after that try walking through a brick wall; you’ll have about as much chance of success.
5.) For all I know when someone says something once, you hear them screaming it several times. But the audio tells the true story and your reports stand in stark contrast, and the ultimate dishonesty is that you refuse to listen to the audio and make an honest side by side comparison.
The audio shows a young Wellington lawyer out of his intellectual depth, falling back on the oldest trick in the lexicon to cope with being shown up as a fraud: he shouts, stutters and stammers, and denies that the person he has been defending is a fool and a charlatan.
Kind of reminds me of some of the people around here.
and so Morrissey’s brain has completely scabbed over the yawning chasm between what he wrote that people said, and what they actually said.
Now THAT is a classically lazy and content-free post. If you’re going to tell lies, my friend, your rhetoric would need to be much better than that. And you’d need major support by a criminal organisation to protect you. I don’t think you’re quite that powerful yet, and you’re way too emotional to engender anything but contempt, but in case you grease your way right up that academic ladder, here’s the level of cold-hearted indifference to morality you need to aim at….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5RZ6ukbNc
You’re only part way there. Empty abuse is fine, if you have some institutional muscle to back it up. You haven’t, unfortunately.
By the way, that government functionary had the integrity (too late, but that’s another story) to admit that he had lied…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6KMYlDyWc
At the moment, you’re way below that bloke on the integrity scale. Which should be very embarrassing for you.
Should.
whatever, Don Quixote.
whatever, Don Quixote.
Again, a substandard and lazy response. You really are not up to this—at all.
Moz has OD’d on the wanker pills. Somebody call the whambulance.
Up to what – persuading a deluded individual that his massive ego blinds him to his lamentable terminological inexactitudes? Nah mate, you need a shrink for that, and I’m not qualified.
I’m not qualified.
No you’re not. As I said, you lack the credentials, if not the inclination, to keep telling lies like you are doing.
“and coming up round the outside is………..Beeeeetalllbomb!”
telling lies? What lie? That you repeatedly claim accuracy in your transcripts when the words you attribute to speakers seem to be missing from the audio recordings available online?
I’m being charitable and just assuming that you’re clinically delusional, rather than suggesting that you’re even more incompetent as a liar than John Banks.
i thought the total jaw-dropper from willams was his claim that young people now have none of the worries of their parents/grandparents generations..
..yes..we had nukes being rattled/waved at will..
..but..um..!..climate-change/global-warming/mass youth unemployment/huge debts from/for education..
..being at the bottom of the wage-pyramid..(university students forced into working for $11 per hr/youth-rates..how fucked/fucken oppressive/unfair is that..?)
..how’s that all for starters/getting on with..?
..and williams then used that one-legged stool to stand on to say this is why the young are not engaged in the political system..
..and he does have a point about low engagement..
..but i wd put that low engagement in part down to a sense of powerlessness..
..of not wanting to get their legs/trousers drenched..
..from what can easily be seen as pissing into the wind..
..and i wd argue that desire for engagement is out there..
..but the forum/means has not yet been established..
..the internet has opened many doors..
..but those energies are yet to coalesce in a meaningful manner..
..so.basically..williams was just lowest-orifice-plucking..
..with his farcical ‘nothing to worry about’ claims..
..phillip ure..
Says so much about this vile young man.
Williams doesn’t get on to these programmes because he has anything interesting or intelligent to say. He gets on because he’s not only very pushy but (more importantly) also well connected: he is an office junior for S.S. lawyer Stephen Franks. He imitates Franks perfectly: the slow pretentious delivery as well as the banality of his statements.
So how does Franks have so much influence?
I wonder that too (How does Franks ….etc.)
Mora likes his ‘eloquence’ I think, and the fact that he comes from the ‘cultured’ department of the right wing (kind of like the 1% of the 1%) – which of course is very esprayshnul – especially if you’re the nicest man on Earth.
It always amuses me when I see RNZ accused of being a bunch of lefties.
There’s a dinky little band of 1%ers all comfy and cosy, nicely ‘work-life balanced’ and ‘fair and balanced’, with credentials they think we all should die for pulling the strings.
We should really be grateful they exist I suppose – otherwise under the current junta it’d be “Afternoons with the Nicest Man on Earth – brought to you by Watties Baked Beans”, and “Nine to Noon with the World’s Most Regalr Gal – brought to you by Sanitarium Allbran”.
There’s always RNZ weekends and weekday evenings that (so far) don’t seem to have been infected.
Btw … Franks should patent himself. We sometimes watch in awe as he manages to defy gravity and slip up an uphill Hawker Street. I’m trying to discover how his gentrification engine works – it sure as Hell doesn’t have spark plugs but its causing havoc in the Mt Vic neighbourhood.
Hah, as a student nearly 40 years ago lived in Hawker Street four doors from the top. Magnificent view. Fell over uphill numerous times in various levels of sobriety on that steep street. Thing is I never had the nasty blow to the head as clearly has friend Stephen. Must’ve been a hoot to watch Tim . “Key”stoned Cops.
…the total jaw-dropper from willams was his claim that young people now have none of the worries of their parents/grandparents generations…
Yes I heard that, Phillip. It comes under the rubric of “drones on in wandery fashion for several minutes.”
I never quite believed him but it seems my Polish uncle was right.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/12/ivan-okhlobystin-russian-scrubs-gay-people-burn-alive-ovens
http://www.vice.com/read/a-russian-gay-rights-activist-won-her-fight-against-deportation-for-now
LOON WATCH
No. 2: Illegal “settlers” in the Occupied West Bank
As you watch these clips, bear in mind that Barack Obama, who hijacked the Mandela memorial service for a great anti-apartheid leader, is a piously defiant advocate for these people….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdeqXQPW7TM
http://vimeo.com/42568730
Another really frightening loon….
No. 1 Philippe Karsenty: http://thestandard.org.nz/26052011/#comment-334310
prime news is having their biggest clusterfuck/meltdown ever..
..they started with no sound..seemingly blissfully unaware for some time..then they flicked to ads/promos..
..it is now ten minutes into the bulletin..and still the ads/promos..
..heh..!..back on..but with a new/different (australian) announcer to the one who started the bulletin..
phillip ure..
You watch Prime news! Why?
“and Jade Rabbit is in third place, coming up round the outside…”
Must be Christmas the preceding from Paula and the MSD
not much else in The Herald today.
‘cept for the potential of loss of more jobs in even Agriculture arisng from technology ; saw the potential when there was a documentary on a similar product developed for pasture inspection by a New Zealand school-boy recently. (somebody no longer needs to travel and open and close 30 gates a day).
oops, Stone the crows, Agricultural Drones
Mandela funeral stream.
http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nbcnews.com/53822324
#Qunu
#Qunu photos
The man is now dead and buried ( or soon will be). So is much that he hoped for. All there is left is nostalgia.
XOX
RNZ is slipping. Nine to Noon, and Afternoons sliding in relevance and quality. Needs a serious refurbishment.
Weekends are better quality but right wing ‘market’ forces are increasingly apparent. Hoping Finlay MacDonald gets the nod to replace Chris Laidlaw.
It is Sunday… John 5:25 . Good Night. Let tomorrow be good. gonna watch this interesting film about the Emperor Barbarossa now.
Prof Richard Wolff is talking about how the Democrats tried to get Bill through in USA setting 0.7% tax on incomes over US$1 million to raise extra tax to employ the unemployed. There are 350,000 tazpayers who average US$2.9 million would have been $13,500 each extra. This was an outrage and the Republicans prevented that Bill going through that was to raise money for creating employment!! I have put up links earlier but just google Wolff.
They did pass some law that was going to put a lot of money into repairing highways!@!
that piece you applied on cosmetics was worth reading imo and valued.
Thanks RT have been pondering about it for a while. Cosmetics for women are hegemonic and pervasive and constant use undermines the move towards women’s real self-acceptance.
oh well, back to the oxalis 😀
Good article by Espiner about white collar crime and how our society is structured to deal with it leniently.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/9519424/Espiner-Lessons-of-Pike-River
Some highlights…
“For a nation with the dubious distinction of having one of the highest rates of imprisonment in the western world, we’re remarkably reluctant to lock up anyone from the big end of town”
“This may have something to do with the fact that those whose collar is more white than blue are more likely to be able to afford lawyers with the letters QC after their name. It’s also partly because criminal cases involving corporate types tend to be complicated, drawn-out and expensive.”
“But it’s also due to the fact that our laws – particularly the 1961 Crimes Act – are not just inadequate but biased in favour of those who either swindle investors out of their life savings or bring about the injury or death of their employees through negligence.”
I see in the rag this a.m. the sensible sentencing trust claiming that they dont care how much it costs to imprison as many as people as possible.
Do they have shares in the private prison companies.
Putting resources into helping kids out at the start seem to have escaped their small narrow brains.