And NZ is nearly at the same rate of imprisonment and we have privately run prisons. John Oliver would not have to change much for a NZ program (except for the death sentence and who knows which Political Party will call for that!)
Reading the NZH this morning I have to say the rightwing media propaganda are doing their level best to put people off Labour. So according to yet another crap NZH poll Labour is not a man’s man party. Well I’m not sorry to spoil your National party, just enrolled a young man who thinks National suck with their youth rates he said I do a man job so expect a man’s pay and my first time vote is going to a party that’s supports that “count me in dude I’m voting Labour.”
Interesting that Cunliffe acknowledged on Radio NZ National that his apologising for being a man wasn’t helpful and has impacted Labour support negatively.
You are misreporting him. He said the particular phrasing which was taken out of context was not helpful but did not apologise for taking a strong stand on the issue of domestic violence.
Hey Mickey no matter how you look at it, what many outside observers have said to me is it just showed DC as not being as smart compared to Key. A touch of constructive criticism I’d say Cunliffe to me comes across as trying to hard to be everything for everybody. This inturn has the negative impact of being viewed as spinning too much rhetoric, or being disingenuous. The effect is people think he is a phony, which is not actually the case. Damage control would be to put David Parker forward to shoulder more of the party heavy lifting during the election campaign. Parkers stocks are up after putting forward a positive fiscal policy in recent times.
Cunliffe does not have the kind of popularity of John Key. One would hope in that circumstance that the rest of the caucus were unified and working overtime to compensate. It is the job of caucus to be unified, both during the election campaign and after.
As for “trying too hard to please everybody”, welcome to the Labour Party. We’re more easily characterised in the negative: we’re not selfish shits, we’re not for things as they are, we’re not radical, we’re not for pissing people off, we’re not for the rich, we’re not for overdeveloping the whole country ……..and at the end of each of those negatives there’s a “but…” and a qualifier.
Actually we do.
Labour’s ’99-’08 administration were a far superior government to the current National government.
They sure didn’t change everything, but they made massive positive moves.
As if I needed to remind you to do your own research.
Work your google fingers on the economic, fiscal and social performance of the Helen Clark government.
Yes you would expect the caucus to be right up Cunliffe’s arse doing everything they can to win this election, including being totally unified. On the other hand you can expect some new candidates to be non fussed at actually wining the election, given the reality that very few come through to becoming MP’s on the party list. I was speaking to one yesterday that actually said a loss would serve them better ( not that they were not campaigning hard) as the old guard will be removed and a depowering of the LEC regarding the selection of candidates would transpire. Incumbent MP’s are hard to roll, just look at the difficulties encountered by McCarten & Co had rolling Prebble.
That list candidate should be named and removed from the list immediately.
If they think a loss would renew the party, they do not understand the factional makeup of either the caucus or the list or the candidates. So they should be removed solely on the grounds of chronic naivety.
Lyn did a post on Labour Party renewal recently. He was hopeful. But the best renewal Labour can offer itself is a good solid win. Once in power, it’s a whole lot easier to think about retiring.
What is this a witch hunt? All the candidate was saying is their best chance of making an MP is if Labour lost, looking at it in these eyes they are quite right. Let’s not beat up on someone who is green & keen prepared to pour their heart and sole, and a large slice of dough into contesting a National stronghold with no chance of getting through on the list because over a third of the list is made up of selfish MP’s who won’t do the Labour Party the honour of knowing when to call it a day.
Skinny, that is an alarming and disturbing comment that candidate made to you. If they are in any way considering their own advancement and internal party politics at this very critical point in time they should not have signed up for the job. If they want self advancement they should go and be a sales rep or something, a job with a bonus structure built into the pay. Our MP’s are there to serve the public, not themselves.
It is also a slap in the face to all the hard working volunteers are going hard out for a win. They know where the priorities lie, they know, and we know that Key absolutely has to go.This must be the sole focus for any candidate from any Left party.
what many outside observers have said to me is it just showed DC as not being as smart compared to Key.
Bullshit.
Can you imagine what the herald would have said if Cunliffe had refused to apologise to a sexual assault complainant for the abject failure of his government to keep the accused in the country?
ITM would sure as shit have had bigger billboards out about that one. Thank fuck I get my hardware at Mitre10 anyway.
Nice bit of spin there MS. To apply the context to his comments this morning (which you haven’t done I note) he was talking about making sure Labour stays focused and not go off message. When asked about an example of Labour going off message he volunteered his apology for being a man remarks. Now admittedly he did state they were taken out of context but also stated they damaged Labour’s support and basically admitted he shouldn’t have used such terms. So the question I have for you is do you think he should have used such words in his speech?
” but also stated they damaged Labour’s support and basically admitted he shouldn’t have used such terms.”
because they were taken out of context! FFS! – you say this yourself!
once again, your attacking cunliffe for how the media reacted AFTER he said something
now im not going to be so foolish as to think that this sort of BS from the media and the likes of time wasters like you shouldnt be expected – but the spin is all from you and the media.
Cunliffe didn’t state that the media should report his comments more accurately. He stated he and the rest of Labour should be more focused and not stray off topic such as his apologising for being a man comments. Do you think his comments were off topic like Cunliffe obviously does?
No it was in relation to a direct question about an example of straying off topic. Cunliffe could have used the Moa comments from Mallard but instead used his apology for being a man as that example. Why else did he bring it up?
Nope, wrong again Gosman. The question was ‘how can you refocus on things you are already focussing on?’ Nothing about “straying off topic” as you have made up. Cunliffe then talks about the taking out of context his comments that day. Something you’re doing now, btw. He also makes the point that he was speaking in the context of Labour party policy, so very much ‘on topic’.
Please watch 3 news where he in no terms states he made a mistake saying “I sorry for being a man” as well as his red scarf and the holiday. If Labour are to have a chance then he needs to zip his lip, I bet within a week he will have made the same mistake. It is just a matter of time now, after election day we can re group and get rid of the old wood and get a good leader that has the backing of his MP’s as opposed to a few union thugs.
You think the membership, affiliates and caucus of the NZ Labour Party are “a few union thugs”? How odd. The real question post election won’t be whether the leader has the support of the MP’s but whether some MP’s still enjoy the support of the party. There may be some difficult days ahead for a few of the real dead wood variety.
Who are “we”, Alex? Your rubbish about union thugs makes me think your “we” includes Blubber Boy, David Garrett, and a neutered penguin. Nice try, but as you’d know if you’d watched the original Star Trek, it’s easier for a civilised person to pretend to be a barbarian than it is for a private in the blubber army to pretend (s)he’s left wing.
Because if Cunliffe had said it was the fault of the media (which you know to be true), the media would have simply attacked him again for that as well. Twice shy.
Why can’t you answer a simple question over why you think Cunliffe brought up the apology for being a man comments in the context of a question over Labour trying to keep focused?
Please explain why he is discussing his apology for being a man comments. I don’t hear a question directly asking about it prior to him bringing it up.
How dense are you, Gossie? You can answer your own question by listening to the link you so helpfully provided. I guess you’re not keen to, because it makes everything you said this morning look like shite.
The portion of the interview where the ‘apology’ is introduced Gosman is very clear. A few comments above you wrote “When asked about an example of Labour going off message he volunteered his apology for being a man remarks”
You are wrong! Although the wider interview topic was touching on some Labour members’ off-message incidents, the ‘apology’ remarks were to a far more specific topic.
Susie brought up the drop in male support in the polls, Cunliffe says there are factors to that drop which he himself had contributed to, Susie says “Like what?”
“Like what?” is a question.
Cunliffe then talks about his comments on the very serious issue of sexual violence in New Zealand, including the ‘apology’. He discusses how people have read into it in a way he did not intend and that the discussions the ‘apology’ generated and the lack of true context these discussions were placed within have been damaging in the polls.
I have and I can’t see anywhere in there that Cunliffe wasn’t using his comments as an example of him not staying on message. He acknowledged his stuff up for goodness sake. I ask you once again why did he feel the need to use his comments as an example of Labour not staying on message AND accept some responsibility for the negative response to his comments?
now you are just being an obstinate [insert epithet] for the sake of it.
Susie brought up the drop in male support in the polls, Cunliffe says there are factors to that drop which he himself had contributed to, Susie says “Like what?”
“Like what?” is a question.
Cunliffe then talks about his comments on the very serious issue of sexual violence in New Zealand, including the ‘apology’.
No. Cunliffe brought up Labour not focusing on a set of key areas. Suzie asked him for an example of this and he volunteered his comments which was interpreted as apologising for being a man. He even stated he was going to take partial responsibility for the reaction to his comments. If he didn’t think the comments were unhelpful why did he volunteer them when asked for an example of straying off topic by Labour people?
I could repost what I have already reposted and pad it out with the examples others presented that show how you are being highly generalist in your interpretation but carousels get tedious, so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_6hdGZ6gU
It was this version or Sting’s you may be an aggravating s.o.b with bizarre reasoning ‘skills’
but I’m just not cruel enough to inflict Sting on any one.
Have a lovely day Gosman.
@Mickysavage
I put forward that criticisms of David Cunliffe from any source here should be limited to one comment. And then denial of access or the next comments be wiped or banned. This to apply right to the end of the election. I would like The Standard to consider this seriously. It is indeed a serious matter at this time of approaching an election of vital importance to us all.
I do not see that it is helpful to the Left to allow mendacious shallow people to mock the Labour leader in a desire to destroy his standing and undermine the Labour electoral team and plan.
It is a mistaken idea of the purpose of free speech to give these people more than the shortest opportunity to express their poisonous points.
Nobody likes leaking of negative comments about David Cunliffe by a supposed Labour MP to the media.
Why then would TS allow this indulgence to these destructive democratic vandals?
Agreed greywarbler. Gosman must be high fiving all round his lair everytime one of us tries to justify/explain the misrepresentation of David. It allows constant repeats of the twists of facts until even Labour supporters doubt their party. Gosman should get just one comment then blat!
@Bearded/ian
What got my wick was reading Disraeli Gladstone yesterday probably in Open Mike. Not only sly comments of pretend concern, a waste of time, and insulting all the thinkers and workers here for democracy and a well-run country for all. Time to put the bouncers onto them.
that was no leak but a downright lie peddled to the media by hootonboagey.
they have free access to the media to lie and cheat and give the fleas something to chatter about.
new zealand is turning into a place where nobody tells the truth anymore.
If only he was a good leader they would have less to use against him, in the mean time he invites this type of comment. I guess if we don’t like the truth we can censor this blog and put our blinkers on.
@alex
On what basis is DC not a good leader? On what basis do you make such definitive remarks? Who are you, and what experience have you had at leading or running anything like a nationwide election campaign. Also having the difficult task while following a reasoned line in a disciplined manner and at the same time coping with a know-all who will sneak off and put a cog in the wheel.
DC is doing well but, amongst a bunch of lefties there will always be someone harder to pen than a wild sheep?
You have taken the name of my favourite business cartoon character, and he is both funny, cunning and a lateral thinker. I don’t feel that you match up to him.
Key said: “I don’t make apologies unless there’s a serious reason for me to do that. As I said at the time I relied on the advice that was given to me by MFAT.” ”
Clark would have done the same thing, A PM can’t be seen to go round saying “sorry” before a situation has been tried before the courts. Remember this Malaysian guy is innocence until he has had his day in court. I am not defending him, but I do understand how the legal system works and how Key could derail this process by commenting before an investigation has taken place. Who knows if this case will end with a conviction, in which case this girl would not be due a apology.
You have real comprehension problems, don’t you? Key apologising for not treating the problem seriously could not have had any impact on legal proceedings. Why don’t you say what you really think about this “girl”. I’m sure you’ve read it in Blubber Boy’s hate blog.
Only serious circumstances require an apology Key reckons, this must mean sexual assault and departmental inaction and/or incompetence in this regard are not considered serious.
How people can stomach this dullard is a mystery to me, it’s a poor reflection on what was once a progressive compassionate nation.
Yes there is a campaign to undermine and destabilise the left and Labour in particular, and if you want to know where a huge amount of it is coming from and how it will not change, look up one name, Gina Rhienhart, probably one of the nastier pieces of work on the planet, the Bitch of Bitches. She has more influence than one could ever imagine.
Pinched this from the editorial in todays Press. See not all the MSM is against him.
Of all the things Labour leader David Cunliffe might be criticised for, his decision to take a few days off to spend time with his children before the election campaign begins in earnest is emphatically not one of them. There is no reason to doubt his statement that he has been working extremely hard over the last few months. Just about all politicians have been.
The three days he took last week to go on a skiing holiday in Queenstown with his children was his last opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time with them for the next nine weeks. The fact that he has been criticised for it shows there is still not enough understanding of the needs of working parents. Rather than being attacked, Cunliffe should have been applauded for setting an example by trying to achieve an appropriate work-life balance in a high-level career in which the work demands are relentless and intense.
Worse than that, however, the attack on Cunliffe was yet another illustration of the continual indiscipline afflicting the Labour Party at present. It also demonstrates Cunliffe’s inability to get his party inside the House and outside focused on what they must do if they are to have any chance at all in the general election.
The attack, which first appeared in the Sunday-Star Times at the weekend, was done behind a veil of anonymity. The source was described as a senior Labour figure, but it could not be discerned from the story whether it was a person in the caucus, two-thirds of which is said to support someone other than Cunliffe, or someone in the wider party. Either way, it seemed calculated to do the maximum harm.
Either way, it seemed calculated to do the maximum harm.
David Cunliffe said yesterday he believes he knows who the “anonymous source” is and the person is not a parliamentarian. He went on to say that he was not going to conduct a witch-hunt…
I disagree with David. From my own experience, I can say the more such individuals are allowed to get away with this kind of despicable behaviour, then the more they will do it. Naming and shaming them is the only way to stop them.
@Anne
I think your experience is showing. Maybe someone is reading/listening and will usefully use the good advice!!
@Ianmac – well said.
My Compliments to The Press. It makes an attempt to sum up the present situation correctly and nearly succeeds, try again and I might be able to add, fairly. @!@!@!@!@!#!#!#! (Fireworks in anticipatory celebration)
The trouble with that Editorial TLH is that the writer still managed to malign the Labour Party. “…whether it was a person in the caucus, two-thirds of which is said to support someone other than Cunliffe,…”
and “Worse than that, however, the attack on Cunliffe was yet another illustration of the continual indiscipline afflicting the Labour Party at present. It also demonstrates Cunliffe’s inability to get his party inside the House and outside focused on what they must do if they are to have any chance at all in the general election.”
Do two thirds not want him? Name them.
Ill discipline? Cameron Slater has done a great evil job of promoting that.
But its not having a go at Cunliffe or misrepresenting what hes saying. And thats been complaint around here.
Sure its having a go at those disloyal to their leader, but those comments are no different to what I read here……
I suspect that the Labour MPs unhappiness (presuming it actually exists) is more closely aligned to the reported 25% support levels and their personal job prospects.
It seems to me (an outsider but somebody warming to Labour due to their policies) a “combined left” with Winston getting them over the line, matters less to the MPs than their own position as an MP. If it were not so, Im sure there would be complimentary campaigning between the parties of the left.
So John Key says, of the Green’s child policy announced yesterday “the question is actually where does the money come from, not whether it is a good idea”
What an arsehole – where does the money come from for the dairy farmers irrigation schemes? where does the money come from for the increases in funding to private schools? where does the money come from for Rio Tinto?
No the money was spent on the spending regime that Labour put in place and that was largely left intact by National. Remember when National attempted some minor reduction in spending by cutting back funding for continuing education classes and the like and how upset some lefties got at that? Well they were doing that because they didn’t want to have to cut spending on WFF and other Labour inspired middle class welfare.
Well they were doing that because they didn’t want to have to cut spending on WFF and other Labour inspired middle class welfare.
Well, they should have just reversed the Cullen tax cuts, rather than cutting taxes further. You forgot about that little part of the “balanced budget” equation.
Fucksake, it’s like you’re complaining that you’re broke because of the mortgage on your house rather than the fact that you quit your job five years ago to follow your dream of all-day masturbation while rolling in caviar.
” it’s like you’re complaining that you’re broke because of the mortgage on your house rather than the fact that you quit your job five years ago to follow your dream of all-day masturbation while rolling in caviar.”
NZ is more than wealthy enough to attend to such matters. The problem is the current wealth distribution rules and regime which applies in this country, which your comment ironically highlights. Egg.
I presume not a major part because it is difficult to base medium to long term predictions on cyclical factors in the economy. Treasury wouldn’t have known the extent or longevity of the GFC at the time it made the prediction.
And while you’re at it you could get that rather substantial National Party rural support base, the farmers and the shoddy SCF investors, to abide by their principles instead of crying for subsidies and payouts from elderly ratepayers and taxpayers all the time. They could try standing on their own two feet for a change and operate in the open free market …. your type have no credibility
Wrong gosman. You assume that Labour would not have put in place policies that limited the growth in public debt, which of course they (unlike National-public debt up $50 billion) would have done.
Lies like this should have you banned from The Standard.
Most of the policies promoted by Labour during this period seemed to consist of not making any cuts at all and trying to spend our way back to economic growth. That may have worked at some stage but would have made the deficit larger and therefore the associated debt would have been greater not less.
” seemed to consist of not making any cuts at all and trying to spend our way back to economic growth.”
so your basing this on 1) your opinion of a policy platform 2) that doesnt take into account what might had been done differently if labour had gotten into govt
what a cretin
this is the exact same logic fail that resides in trying to compare nationals actions post gfc with predictions of what labour were going to do pre gfc
Labor in Australia stimulated the economy and kept it reasonably healthy. Of course this didn’t suit people like Gooseman because if they see beggars on the street and people living under bridges, they can spend less on Viagra.
Abbott’s moronic government are now doing what they can to drag all the wealth to the top, on instructions from Gina Stoneheart and Rupert Murdoch. Gooseman should move over here. He could get a job as a highly paid consultant to help Bjelke-Newman with asset sales.
There was no such thing. All that existed were a few projections by Treasury who have an irritating habit of under-estimating how well the economy does under left governments and over-estimating under National governments. On top of that BS Labour were reacting to the GFC once it became obvious that it was occurring (and the idiots in Treasury didn’t say that the GFC was going to occur which should tell you just how accurate their projections are) which means to say that there wouldn’t have been any deficits. Unlike under the present government which has put us under six years of deficits so far, no indication that they’re going to end soon and the highest ever level of government debt.
Chris Trotter points out the obvious in the MH17 downing in his article in the paper this cold morning.
Namely, that the US instigated the troubles in the region by aiding the throwing out of the democratically elected government of Ukraine earlier this year.
The dribble being spouted by John Kerry, US foreign ministerthing, (he almost physically trips over on his faux outrage) is in fact very amusing. The people of the west by way of the journalists on the ground similarly getting all het up and on their high horses is also amusing. Where was John Kerry, and where were the journalists, together with their sputtering shit, when the US shot down the passenger airline from Iran in 1988 killing 290 civilians? Where were they when the hundreds of innocent civilians were getting butchered by the Ukranian government (which the US helped install earlier this year) over the last two months? The outrage being expressed over this is out of order.
Hypocrisy by the west and in particular the US is typically amusing but in this instance it really is roll on the floor laughing time. What a frikkin’ joke.
Um, no, they didn’t secede. The province was occupied by Russian troops, a one sided referendum was held and anyone not liking the result was forced out at gunpoint. It was in the news quite a bit at the time. Strange that you missed it.
I just thought it’s demographic turned out to include an extra 16,000 males of military age who liked to wear green and speak Russian? Because an occupation would have been an invasion, also known as an act of war.
A bit like the difference between a “blockade” and a “quarantine zone”.
WTF is with this USA is bad Russia isn’t anyway? All major powers are as bad as each other simply because these is too much power in the hands of too few people.
Excellent to see Chris Trotter blaming the US for somehow getting the revels to deliberately identify, target and launch the missile that hit the plane. Perhaps he believes the Russian position on this which seems to be that the Ukrainian military shot down the plane from another aircraft.
Chris Trotter did not blame the US for that. Spinner.
And perhaps you just always believe everything the far right of the west spouts. Certainly that is what your history of commentary indicates. Not an ounce of independent critical thinking.
I don’t believe everything the official mouthpieces of the West put out. I just don’t buy in to the anti US conspiracy nonsense that many on the left lap up.
There is a huge amount of conspiracy theory over the Ukraine such as the US is supporting the neo Nazis to gain power. That is frankly ridiculous but if you want to believe such nonsense is the truth then so be it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NePChnsuMNs
a compilation video discussing recent and potential events in the Ukraine also outlining activity currently under way across the globe in relation to US and NATO plans. Or is RT and Press TV and other included sources forging US government policy and misrepresenting the public statements made by NATO?
Partners Across the Globe, a real thing and involves NZ
United States’ Prompt Global Strike, another real thing
United States Africa Command, also a real thing
“getting the revels to deliberately identify, target and launch the missile that hit the plane.”
Even according to the transcripts of supposed tapes released by Kiev, it is abundantly clear that if pro-Russian rebels downed the plane it was a mistake and they were quite confused as to why they had hit a commercial airliner:
“During the call, the militant appears to be confused why the plane bears the markings of a commercial flight.
“It has a Malaysia Airlines logo on it, they say,” said the unidentified militant. “What was it doing in Ukraine’s territory?””
‘A mistake’.
Interestingly, that was exactly the same reason the U.S. gave for downing the Iranian plane some years ago. The only difference is that, clearly, the pro-Russian rebels had far less reason to deliberately shoot down a Malaysian airliner today than did the U.S. to shoot down an Iranian airliner then.
What did the world say then? Something like ‘Oh, what a tragic mistake.’
Presumably, then, it will be the same response now?
yeah right.
nato and the us are planning a conflagratioon right now just for the hell of it.
oh and to make all the nutbar predictions come true.
just check the odds on hootons lie site to find out the troof.
yeah man
crazy nut-bars and their conspiracies
bunch of idiots !
like in October ’62
when all those nukes were hot and folk had itchy trigger fingers
getting pumped up on the threat of Mother Russia
when all it needed was a bonehead move
and war was guaranteed
as if the US
would create some pretext
have some plan sitting there
to start a war that could lead to the use of nuclear weapons!
– and risk killing a bunch of innocent civilians
just to make it happen ?
Holy shit – is that link true and real? Comes from George Washington University so I guess it is.
Probably shouldn’t be surprised at all, but sheesh that is really out there ……. and puts paid to pretty much every ounce of credibility the US had, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
Note in particular the one about the US shooting down a passenger plane and blaming it on Cuba – to justify attacking Cuba.
Interesting interview on the Ukrainian situation.with Stephen Cohen, emeritus professor of Russian Studies and Politics at New York and Princeton Universities By Amy Goodman and co. of ‘Democracy Now’.
As an older experienced commentator he cuts through the bullsh*t from both sides.
What is wrong with being anti-Islam? As far as I know Islam is merely a set of beliefs. People are entitled to dislike and campaign against a set of beliefs as much as they like. Goodness knows many here decry right wing economics and equate it with Nazism all the time without too much opposition to that.
Why should I have respect for others religious beliefs? Do you respect a religious belief that thinks Homosexuality is a sin that should be made illegal and punishable by death?
The point is it is easy to make the case that Islam’s extreme faction as you put it is actually the point of the religion. Sure there maybe lots of people who are well meaning just as there were lots of well meaning Germans during WWII. That does not excuse the rotten belief system they buy in to though. I had an interesting chat with a Nestorian Christian the other day. He is not a big fan of Islam either mainly because he had to live with it being all pervassive for much of his life.
Why is taking the fringe misinterpretation of a major belief system and applying that to all adherents of that belief system in order to justify banning that belief system a problem?
Yeah, asking a question that stupid is actually a defence of your fellow bigot.
“The point is it is easy to make the case that Islam’s extreme faction as you put it is actually the point of the religion.”
Bullshit. That’s your Fox news Western bias talking. A tiny fraction of Muslims are ‘extremists’, do you think you understand the ‘point’ of Islam better that the vast majority of the world’s Muslims?
I’ve read the Koran and have devout Muslim friends. Their point is that God is great, that there is more than this material realm, and that a spiritual and righteous life is the way to live. This is what they choose to believe. They explained to me that there are no ‘Islamic’ states, there are only Middle Eastern regimes who use religion to maintain their political power.
As with the Bible there are a few vague lines in the Koran that have been interpreted by extremists to mean what they want it to mean. That doesn’t make Islam a ‘rotten belief system’ like Nazism. You really are an idiot.
The same thing that is wrong with being homophobic, anti-Semitic, and any other number of petty bigotries: it is irrational. It’s on the same spectrum of irrationality as murdering four little kids playing soccer on a beach because they’re of the wrong religion.
‘Internet MANA Auckland road show at Kelston – what the media are missing’
By Martyn Bradbury / July 21, 2014 /
The Town Hall in Kelston yesterday was packed well before the start time of 2pm. What many welded to Wellington in the Press Gallery don’t understand about Internet MANA is that its energy and flaxroot mobilisation is far larger than their view from Parliament can see….
i had a look at the Wellington venue for the InternetMana roadshow yesterday, i should imagine Hone/Lailla and Kim DotCom will easily pack that one as well,
The venue, Mac’s Function Center, right down the bottom of Taranaki Street for those who have, like me until yesterday never heard of the place,
By right down the bottom of Taranaki Street i mean right down the bottom right on the waterfront,
A note to InternetMana if anyone’s reading this morning, for the last week of the actual campaign i would suggest a repeat of ‘the roadshow’ in Waiariki, in Auckland,(maybe 2, South and Central), and last but not least a grand finale up in Te Tai Tokerau…
I thought the Mac’s bar/function centre was a curious choice of venue. The function centre part which I’ve never been to is probably quite suitable for their requirements, I should imagine, and that’s why they picked it.
The bar downstairs which I’ve had the misfortune of going to twice (once not by choice, but because the staff do was held there) is a cavernous booze barn filled with try hards, rugby heads and sleezy middle aged blokes preying on young women. The formulaic theme of the bar is straight out an accountants handbook of winning formula’s for NZ pubs. The music is dire beyond belief.
It’s the kind of place that drains all hope and creativity out of anyone who walks in there.
Hopefully the Internet Mana roadshow above the bar will sprinkle some of it’s magic down through the floorboards and settle in the hearts of the patrons and staff.
Lolz Rosie, sounds like a definition of Capitalism, ”removes all the coin from everyone’s pockets leaving them with a massive headache in the morning”…
I must admit to fantasising what the world’s press would say with a result Green 23% Labour 21% IMP 6% and the announcement of joint PM’s Russell and Metiria’s cabinet.
Are you making this up Ant? My understanding is that Cunliffe’s picture, you know the smart one with the good policies that will win the tv debates, will be on the billboards.
From what I’ve seen (and put up) there are local candidate photos and a variety of policy/Vote positive etc ones with DC’s photo on them. They’ve been going up from the weekend and if my local electorate is anything to go by, the supporters will have them all done in the next two weeks. But it is voluntary work and has to be fitted in around people’s real lives.
Ant, if you are worried about what you’ve seen, the answer is obvious; volunteer to put up hoardings.
Its an interesting read here this morning in today’s ‘Open Mike’, pretty much a trail of defeatism being exhibited with the ‘media’ and the ‘Labour Caucus’ being apportioned the ‘blame’ for an expected?? low turnout for the Labour vote in September???,
Sure the ‘media’ are biased, you only had to be listening to Linda Clark on Mora’s moronics, weekday afternoons at RadioNZ National, yesterday, to understand the deep seated ‘attitude’ that has developed within the Parliamentary press gallery to understand that,
What of the Policy arena tho, Labour’s that is, i can off the top of my head think of a number of Labour’s key Policies that as an ex-Labour voter give me every reason NOT to vote for the Party,
No i wont spray the list of policies that i find leads me to not be able to vote for the Party that has had my votes since the age of 18 when i cast the first one for Norm Kirk’s election all those years ago while ‘ a guest’ in Invercargill Borstal,
Sure stupidity dribbling out of the Caucus will be part of the reason if Labour dont do well in September,
Sure the outright bias of the mass media will also have played a part,
Cunliffe himself tho, and those surrounding Him must also carry the can if Labour cannot lift itself in September,
The ‘policy platform’, it would seem that those ‘inside’ Labour agree with it, or, have simply left it to the Caucus must also shoulder the burden if at the actual poll the support for Labour turns out to be that which the published media polls are indicating,
Simply going Wah Wah Wah, the biased media are wrecking Labour’s electoral chances OR worse, resurrecting the ABC’s as a scapegoat is to simply deny the fact that Labour must have a coherent set of policies that address the People that the Party wishes to vote for it,
IF, the published media polls are anywhere near accurate then the number indicates at least in a big part, how many of the voters out there are attracted by the so far announced policy platform,
That number, obviously, appears to be not growing, in fact that number appears to be doing the opposite…
Bearded git, get out there and do something about ‘it’ yourself, and, to put forward a point of ‘just more defeatism’ would require some small modicum of intelligence directed at what in my particular comment you consider to be defeatism,
You will be excused here of course if the suspicion that you have none, a modicum of intelligence that is, prohibits you from putting forward any idea which points intelligently to the source of the supposed defeatism in my comment…
do what you like.
do a timothy mcveegh and blow yourself up.
I reccommend Ajax or Atlas or Hercules.
Thats what we used down the pit.
You know. when we were working for a living instead of fulminating about the world as if it was possible to right every wrong by getting indignant in a chat room.
🙄 the imperative word in this little exchange deep throat,(gods sake change the handle, no-one in their right mind would name themselves after the act of oral sex), is the final one of comment 11.1.2.1,
A hint is that it begins with an S and concludes with an O, your violence fantasy is rather worrying, 🙄 , you should seek help…
“no-one in their right mind would name themselves after the act of oral sex”
Hard to know what’s funnier, the porn addict’s limited definition of oral sex or the ignorance of political history. Quite made my night, Bad, well done!
I echo ‘oral sexes’ comment above TRP, by the way while you are present i just thought, ha ha ha, i would prove the extent of my un-homophobic nature,
Hell i am so deeply un-homophobic that i find it cute that you can trot of down the local rugby club on a Saturday night for a few beers and take yourself home a 120 kilo prop for the night,
The very thought of you traipsing, tippy toey through the tulips with said prop fills my heart with gladness,
my only question tho, do you still fancy Him when you sober up in the morning…
I think that one may have sailed over your head, DT! Perhaps I should have used an irony tag? I was laughing at bad’s ignorance about the political origin of your handle. And also what the homophobe thinks oral sex is. He’s one sad wee fucker. In so many ways, apparently.
Dont tell everything you know TRP.
Just keep poking him till he swells up and pops.
its not all that bright and gets confused easily by any proposition that requires logical rational thought.
so popping it is the only option.
[lprent: too many accusations about trolls for no apparent reason. Looks like a attempt to start flame wars. Banned until after september 20th. ]
Ha! Really, I’d rather he just toned down the abuse and debated facts and philosophies. But it takes all sorts and some people don’t have those kind of skills. I’ve met plenty of angry ranters in my life, and done a fair bit of it myself, so fair dos.
The only downside is that the Standard now actually does have more pointless abuse than Whaleoil these days, especially now that Cam has someone running the comments for him. They even have a perfectly sensible moderation policy:
Lolz, the ‘brainstrust’ is formed, 🙄 damn hilarious, and of course the ‘political deepthroat’ imparted Nixon’s secrets to Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post,
So far TRP, you managed to score only own goals, might be a bit of a stretch to ask the local try hard to try harder, but, to bother me in the slightest you will have to,
You didnt tho answer the question, do you still luuu-uuurve those 120 kilo props in the morning,(snigger)…
That says it all TRP, a comment from you positively oozing with adoration for ‘Cam’ and whale-spit,
You are one sick little puppy, but, it figures, i have always seen you to be little different than any of the nutjobs that infest ‘Cams’ pond of scum,
That little difference being your faux claim to support of the left…
[lprent: Getting tired of your recent comments. Been a while since you managed to contribute in any meaningful way to the discussion. All I have seen you do recently is to attack others. I’d suggest that you learn to find some other technique quite soon. Otherwise I will start demonstrating how much of amateur you are at the skill of personal attacks. ]
Great that you’ve got the hang of google, bad. It only took you ten minutes to find the deep throat reference. That’s a major improvement on the hours it took you to find the Pike River transcripts after you made up that quote! You must have finally learned how to keep your knuckles from dragging across the keyboard and ruining the results 🙂
ps, noting that WO moderates more efficiently than TS does not mean I approve of the actual content. Hard to get your head around, I know, but think of it like hating, say, the Crusaders or Man U as a team, but admiring their style of play.
Faux lefty, I ain’t. I’ve got a life history that says just the opposite, as many regulars here know.
My opinion, you could say Blubber boi’s wail-oil is being run more E-fascistly than the Standard,
But then you have shown by your display tonight that what you claim is utter bullshit, you neither indulge in debating the facts and are as free as i am with the abusive jibes,
Your ‘facts’ as you showed with these words, ”not a diesel smell” are in fact utter lies made up by you in what is best described as a scummy attempt at point scoring, not debate, a simple act of dick waving using a lie you made up for that purpose,
Your ilk rather sicken me,and, everything i see wrong in the Labour Party is in fact embodied in you….
Well I reckon the Labour regional development policy is a good start, and pretty smart.
Now I have never voted Labour before, but Im being tempted to this time. I may even join the party given that the more lefty ones indicate that they have decamped to either the Greens or the IMP.
Im a bit unsure tho, which Labour policies are out there at the moment in “kite flying mode” that can get traded in early in any negotiations with the Greens and IMP, nd which ones they are serious about keeping.
Personally, Im in favour of the UBI (which I dont think is Labour policy) and a financial transaction (which may be some form of the Hone tax, but Im not too sure), but I cant see IMP getting much off their wishlist unless they get over 5%
And with the left vote fragmented over three parties, I can see a bit of a shit fight coming up if they were able to form a government. PM Winston anyone?
Now that you mention it, i have the sneaking suspicion that Winston will be demanding the PM’s spot from both left and right as the opening ambit in the post election negotiations,(should NZFirst attain the 5%)…
Why waste her time, if she’s not out to help campaign for the Nats party vote out of commitment to the party. Little chance of winning Kelston. Low list placement.
Cheers, Twice Claudette has mistaken Her sense of entitlement in Her short time in the Parliament, the first hiring Her partner, on the taxpayers purse, to do ‘work’ in Her electorate office,
The second, having a splurge on the Parliament’s P card, the credit card Parliamentary services issue to MP’s With A Set Of Rules,
The ‘Honorable’ thing for Hauiti to have done after making Her second ‘mistake’ surrounding what can only be described as sucking at the trough far above her pay grade, was to resign…
So that makes 17 new National candidates looking for a spot in their ‘stable’ government.
Act is dead. Maori Party is dead. United Future is who? One does wonder.. with almost a third of their team being complete parliamentary novices, with seasoned MPs few and far between and with long serving Ministers caught up in numerous portfolio problems of one sort or another, (many of which will resurface in people’s minds before the election) where is this stable government they keep talking about going to get its stability from?
Don’t forget she was a former Labour Campaigner, one has to admire in some ways the ability of National to remove politicians when they think it is necessary. I sometimes wish Labour had the leaders that could exercise the removal when required. One of the reasons we are getting so many problems now is the aged pollies that will not step down when their time is up.
Depends upon who you read and how old the book is. Older books that I’ve read have it as between 3 and 5% while newer tend to be going down to the 1 to 3%. I chose the middle of the range.
We’ve created a dysfunctional society and economy where latent sociopaths who would previously have been kept suppressed are now encouraged to actively flower and fully express themselves. So the higher end.
It is an excellent compilation of things that Key would like us all to forget. Well put together in terms of the issues and the presentation (eg photos used in respect of each issue).
Thanks BG. I would love to see that used as an ad on TV etc in the lead up to the election.
But in Auckland a clear majority – 54 per cent – said the Government was falling short against 43 per cent who thought it was doing enough.
The poll will be a blow to the Government’s transport policy which has emphasised road building, and in particular its flagship Roads of National Significance, and has rebuffed calls from Auckland Mayor Len Brown for an early start to the city rail link.
National also made its roading policy the centrepiece of Prime Minister John Key’s speech to National’s annual conference, with a promise to spend $212 million from the sale of state-owned assets to upgrade 14 roads across the country.
“Team Key has always been very focused on roads,” Key said at the time.
Green Party transport spokeswoman Julie Anne Genter said the numbers reflected a worldwide trend in cities that people wanted more choice.
Labour leader David Cunliffe will try to seize back the initiative today when he announces plans for a fund for economic development projects in the regions.
Cunliffe is set to use his appearance at the Local Government New Zealand conference in Nelson to say that if elected Labour would set aside tens of millions of dollars a year for a contestable fund for regional capital projects, focusing on infrastructure development.
Today’s announcement by Cunliffe will be the latest in an attempt to promote Labour’s plan for an “economic upgrade”.
It is also expected that regional development would be restored as a ministerial portfolio.
Labour’s fund would take a “triple bottom line” approach where projects allocated funds would not necessarily need to make a commercial return to the Crown, but would be justified on the basis that the Treasury coffers would be boosted long-term through higher income tax and lower welfare payments coming from increased employment.
[2] There was a ‘Live chat with David Cunliffe’ on the Stuff website yesterday with some interesting questions and answers. What was particularly interesting to me were the comments and votes that are found under the chat in the comments section. Shows there is a lot of support for Cunliffe and Labour. But there seem to be a set of nasty right wing brigade that does not debate the issues, nor talk about Key, National or its policies, but are simply there to make very derogatory nasty comments against Cunliffe and Labour. Seems to me like an organised right wing set up. Take a look:
Thank the various deity then Bearded git that you do not get to participate in saying who can and who cant comment here at the Standard,
In a short time i would imagine that there would be a very small circle of commenters sitting in the magic circle chanting ‘ohm ohm, Labour Good everyone else bad’…
a good moderator wouldn’t be letting someone naming themselves “David Cunliffe” leave right wing troll messages on that stuff article, i never seen anything quite like it, bad form.
Another one down the drain???!!!
“National list MP Claudette Hauiti has decided to withdraw from the election and politics altogether.”
She didn’t do too well on Backbenchers did she.
No she really exposed herself as being way out of her depth. She wasn’t even able to articulate what rape culture is until the two males explained it to her.
It’s a shame that a party in dire need of quality female representation can’t get anything better than the motley crew of shouty domineering (Collins, Bennett, Tolley) type.
I’ve been wondering for a while now why I’ve never much cared for Deborah Hill Cone.
I used to think it was because she’s a far Right Neo-Lib who shamelessly trades on her South African Mother’s history of liberal, anti-apartheid activism.
But now I’ve come to realise the problem is much more simple than that: she just isn’t sexy enough.
Then she says something like this, which is rather good.
“Also, rich or poor, we all do stupid, irrational things. It’s just that when you are relatively rich, you can disguise it better. When you are rich, no one tells you off for doing crazy emotional s***, they just say you are eccentric.
Why is it that people who are struggling are supposed to be more virtuous than Cactus or me, when both of us, despite not having lots of children, will have done any number of other dumb things?
Anyway my ill-advised road trip up north ended with me driving for nine hours and going home again, cosily insulated by my privilege. No harm done. Told you: I’m stupid, but fortunate. But not everyone is as lucky as me..”
“Cosily insulated by my privilege” are not the words of an air headed RWNJ.
That’s interesting, Linda Clark made a couple of interesting observations on Jim Moron’s bit of drivel at RadioNZ national yesterday speaking about the old adage ”it takes a village to raise a child”,
Clark sounded like a true Socialist when She pointed out the ‘networking’ that Her privileged life allowed Her greatly enhanced the ability of that old adage to become a reality, while the poverty and the social dislocation associated with such poverty greatly hampered the chances of the poor in creating and enhancing such networks,
In the final analysis tho, you have to ask who or what these people vote for, the protection of their privilege or the chance to extend at least some of that privilege to those without any…
Well this is what they mean, treating women as “fuckable” or “not fuckable”. “Smirk” “Not sexy enough” – seriously you guys are such incredible hypocrites. If a “righty” made these comments you’d be outraged but because you in the left are doing it, it’s ok – just having a laugh.
Seriously? Those comments look lifted straight from the 1950’s.
i’m a girl Chooky not a Rooster …and i dont fancy her on my perch…nor do i fancy you!….smirk
…she is a bloody right winger know- it- all philosopher/psychologist/journalist/creative BNZ writer award winner…smug know it all …..most unappealing…male , female , transgender , hermaphrodite, animal or vegetable
Why we need a very strong government guaranteed Kiwi Bank….a New Zealand Bank for New Zealanders , by new Zealanders, for New Zealand’s future….Bank profits for New Zealand!
….as if we didnt have enough trouble with Goldman Sachs sniffing around…and Oz Banks ripping us off ….now we have Chinese Banks wanting to get their fingers into everything
Last time I heard National Party Shipley was a trained primary school teacher…not a banker
….”We will be looking to be broad-based,” Shipley said.
The bank was keen to get exposure to primary industries including forestry, fishing, agriculture, and potentially exploration, she said. “It would have to fit our appetite and criteria, but we are very much open to significant transactions.”
I’m sure that they do. It won’t help them though as people start to realise that the current government is costing them more than is required as more and more of these stories get through. They’ll start to wonder why this government keeps batting for fossil fuels when they can have cheaper, sustainable power.
I see though, on the Meridian site, that of the 3 planned wind farm sites for NZ, that two have stalled and one is one hold. They cite “market conditions” as the contributing factor……………
Solar has won. Even if coal were free to burn, power stations couldn’t compete
“As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it’s used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over”
Way way waaaaaay too early to be making any such predictions. Get back to me when you have 3 straight years of coal usage declines. Until then, solar still has lots of work to do.
Can you do better than construct a false frame around false assertions? I bet you can.
The electorate will decide who negotiates with who. After the election. Meanwhile, before the election, #teamkey brings its own lubricant to meetings with Jamie Unclecousin and Cray-Cray Colin. In bed with incest advocates and fundies. Onya mate.
The way he tells it Laila gave him the smackdown, and yeah, I think he contributed to rape culture, just like no National Party supporter or MP ever did ever no matter who gets name suppression, honest, truly really why don’t you believe me?
Your argument seems predicated on the notion that taking someone’s money means they corrupt your ethics, coughOravidacough own goal much?
lol…maybe he needs to be a little less Christian and a little bit more hard boiled political leader?!…take some lessons from the late Robert Muldoon…maybe drink some gin and learn to snarl
….fuck the apologising over trivia!….the right wing and adversaries will have him apologising into his grave…falling on his sword with apologies
…he needs to toughen up!
….the Left need a leader who will stick a red hot poker up the bums of John Key’s Nactional
So who woulda thunk it – most U.S. terrorist prosecutions have been nothing more than the FBI manipulating people with disabilities.
The FBI often targeted particularly vulnerable people, including those with intellectual and mental disabilities and the indigent. The government, often acting through informants, then actively developed the plot, persuading and sometimes pressuring the targets to participate, and provided the resources to carry it out.
Covering your ass is a Minister’s reflex, we get that. But c’mon, a little detail is not a lot to ask for.
Wouldn’t a senior reporter for the NZ Herald ask what information the Minister is referring to?
Was this poor journalism or a suspiciously obvious Editor’s pen?
Can someone please explain what the problem is with David Cunliffe’s scarf?????. Paddy revisiting DC’s supposed gaffes brought up the scarf. The scarf!!!! What’s wrong with his blimming scarf.?! This is all getting beyond a joke. To me Cunliffe is all about NZ and it’s people. He wants the best for NZ and is bringing out policies to achieve this whereas key rarely mentions the ordinary citizens of NZ. He would like us all not to exist. Well, we do and I will definitely be voting Labour. I am sick to death of the daily sabotaging of DC and it needs to stop. For any negative there is a positive and we should all be looking at Labour’s policies and how they will improve our country and stop indulging in this constant sideshow that achieves absolutely nothing.
Hey – Ffloyd – I took the “scarf” comments as David C having a bit of a joke – courtesy of Paddy Gower !!
At the end of the apology for the apolgy about being a man, and the apology for whatever else he said that was wrong, DC then said he also apologised for wearing his red scarf too often and he’d try not to do so in future …. like, apologies are for serious things ….. and the scarf is not serious ! Its red, and it keeps him warm …… and it looks good in winter. Keep the scarf on David C – it looks good !
JK I hope he does too. Wouldn’t put it past the herald to turn it into a national discussion somehow. I had already read somewhere, someone banging on about Cunliffe’s scarf. Can’t remember where but thought at the time it was a bit desperate.
It was sad listening to Oz Julie Bishop’s impassioned speech about the airline crash and bringing the bodies home to Oz. It sounded like someone from a country with high standards of respect for people that had never seen or heard of such an outrage.
But that country isn’t Australia, where Julie Bishop is Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tony Abbott ministers to no-one. What they have done when dealing with vulnerable people’s lives is shocking also. It’s interesting to hear outrage from countries like Oz and UK which have themselves caused loss of life, anguish, and death. Really it is just another, different sort of tragedy off the menu of man’s inhumanity to man.
It also must have been ‘a different’ US navy that used a missile to shoot a fully laden Iranian civilian airline out of the sky in the Gulf in the time of my living memory…
Which occurred while said US warship had illegally entered Iranian territorial waters, and the Captain of that warship decided to launch upon a target flying relatively slowly and gradually increasing it’s altitude i.e. behaviour exactly fitting a passenger airliner.
It will be interesting what is said, if anything, about the latest from the Russian’s on the missile carrier seen on the back of the white truck on our tv screens recently,
The footage was used to point the finger at the ‘separatists’, the Russians now say that based upon the billboard, also clearly seen in the tv footage here, the footage of that truck was not taken in the area held by the ‘separatists’ as there are no billboards which match the one shown in the territory held by them,
There are however said to be billboards which fit the one pictured in the Ukrainian Government held areas, the Ukranian Government have also of course a number of the missile launching systems in their possession…
I daresay that east Ukraine was/is the most militarily surveilled bit of geography in eastern Europe.
With their constant aerial reconnaissance and satellite surveillance, the Russians, US and NATO know exactly where the missile which downed MH-17 was fired from, and very likely have all the command and control radio transmissions associated with the order recorded.
With that understood, what is being played out and said on the TV cameras is very interesting indeed.
The phony war CV, misinformation to direct the opinions of the uninformed, and those who choose to be so,
Guess which powerful nation in the world has got a huge supply of unused gas and oil that is likely to last 50,60,70 years after the Western World has sucked the last of the reachable resource from the ground,
Couple that with animosities that have traveled down through time and the history of man,
Add in the fact that whenever the bean-counters cannot make any sense of the numbers anymore then its time for a massive conflagration, a display from the masters of their anger, their rage, which throughout history has called for the slaughter of the sacrificial lamb in the form of millions of their fellow humans when the boom that busted refuses once again to boom…
The USS Vincennes had been taken over by Russian Muslims. The Iranian plane would never have been shot down by the peace loving US and A.
As for Julie Bishop – she represented asbestos when people were dying and the company didn’t want to admit any liability. She is as foul as Gusher Collins, and as lusted after by sexually deprived right wingers. Yuck.
Tony Abbott is contemptible imo…an ex Catholic priest he also supports the Israelis and their atrocities
…one has to ask in whose interests it was to bring down an Malaysian airliner over that territory ? …who stood most to gain from the adverse publicity?…personally i dont think it was the Russians or Putin
….and these days ….Why are we being protected from pictures of death and the Reality of War?
‘Why do television producers think a grey blob over a dead person’s face shows respect?
Cruelly obliterating their image kills the child a second time’
It’s not for the murdered child……it’s for them. Which makes it doubly evil.
The rogue-nuclear state of Zionist-Nazi Israel will destroy the world if we let them.
They are biblically entitled you see.
Abbott never actually got to be a priest. He was advised to leave the seminary because the others there decided he didn’t have the necessary empathy. Maybe this makes him more contemptible?
Just watched Hosking’s bimbo interviewing Slater.Didn’t manage to switch off quickly enough. Bimbo’s obsequious drooling over this megalomaniac’s (psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.) self aggrandizement and Hoskings supporting her.
At first thought they were taking the piss but I think they were taking him seriously.
Must be the depths of TV1.
Thanks to neoliberalism, not many can, no. They can’t even afford Hondas these days.
Can you ask your mate Cam why he reckons he swapped his pills for Jesus? I don’t think it’s true, judging by his eyes. Does he deliberately lie because he knows that’s what you guys like?
That happened in the early days of the Bagdad occupation when rockets were fired into Al Jazeera’s offices, the American’s claiming that they thought people were shooting from the office. Several were killed. Accident huh?
I think people like Gosman and other right wing plants/activists are here, in my opinion, for a non genuine or suspect reason: They seem to be here to be vexatious, argumentative and time wasting about trivia and put downs of Labour and Mr Cunliffe. The more I read their posts the more I feel so. This distracts us from discussing serious issues, politics, policies and strategies as well as creating unnecessary negative feelings and angst.
I have no problem with honest discussions of differing/opposing views. I have a problem of the motive behind the posts seems to be crooked.
I think the way to deal with these dodgy and nasty characters is to engage with them just a little, but not TOO much! It is enough if they are given one or two replies to their constantly negative posts and ignored after that because, no matter how much one tries to reason with them, they are not here to be corrected or to be convinced otherwise. That is one reason I rarely reply to their inane dubious posts.
I have also noticed a swarm of right wing Nat supporters/activists/army in readers’ comments section in MSM, Stuff, and TV news sites constantly making down right unfair nasty and vicious comments/remarks/abuse about Mr Cunliffe and Labour. I can understand if there are a few such comments, even up to 40% to 50%, but not in the huge % they appear. I strongly suspect an organised plan is going on to poison people’s minds against Labour/Cunliffe. They did try similar dirty tricks against Goff and Shearer too. Now they are doing it to Mr Cunliffe.
It is a shame that our journalists and political commentators haven’t noticed or seem to be complicit in this.
I am hoping that most general public being honest and fair minded will soon begin to see the unfair, undemocratic, uncouth tactic that seems to have been unleashed.
I agree about the Tory sub-bridge dwellers. I must remember not to respond to them. They are probably organised and paid for, even if it’s only a bottle of Key’s wine or Paula Benefat’s used intimate apparel. They are sick, lying people who set themselves above other Kiwis. I’d rather they were shut out of here, but I don’t make those decisions.
xox
Another deflating opinion piece in the Press on David Cunliffe today by Andrea Vance,( If I remember correctly) Such a not too subtle put down. Shocking propaganda. Two bottles of Pinot this Xmas, is it journo?
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News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
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john oliver dismantles the american prison system..
..and private prisons in general…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/21/john-oliver-broken-prison-system-last-week-tonight_n_5605366.html
And NZ is nearly at the same rate of imprisonment and we have privately run prisons. John Oliver would not have to change much for a NZ program (except for the death sentence and who knows which Political Party will call for that!)
Reading the NZH this morning I have to say the rightwing media propaganda are doing their level best to put people off Labour. So according to yet another crap NZH poll Labour is not a man’s man party. Well I’m not sorry to spoil your National party, just enrolled a young man who thinks National suck with their youth rates he said I do a man job so expect a man’s pay and my first time vote is going to a party that’s supports that “count me in dude I’m voting Labour.”
Nice!
but really..the fact is that so so many men are ignorant boofheads…so of course more of them vote for ‘the ignorant boofhead party’…
(i blame their mothers..(duck..!..incoming..!..)
..but should i ‘do a cunnliffe’..and feel bad about that..?
..yeah..nah..eh..?
@ phillip u
Our resident would-be gadfly actually more a mosquito with an aggravating whine.
‘warbles..!..was it something i said..?
Interesting that Cunliffe acknowledged on Radio NZ National that his apologising for being a man wasn’t helpful and has impacted Labour support negatively.
You are misreporting him. He said the particular phrasing which was taken out of context was not helpful but did not apologise for taking a strong stand on the issue of domestic violence.
Hey Mickey no matter how you look at it, what many outside observers have said to me is it just showed DC as not being as smart compared to Key. A touch of constructive criticism I’d say Cunliffe to me comes across as trying to hard to be everything for everybody. This inturn has the negative impact of being viewed as spinning too much rhetoric, or being disingenuous. The effect is people think he is a phony, which is not actually the case. Damage control would be to put David Parker forward to shoulder more of the party heavy lifting during the election campaign. Parkers stocks are up after putting forward a positive fiscal policy in recent times.
They have those kinds of discussions in caucus.
Cunliffe does not have the kind of popularity of John Key. One would hope in that circumstance that the rest of the caucus were unified and working overtime to compensate. It is the job of caucus to be unified, both during the election campaign and after.
As for “trying too hard to please everybody”, welcome to the Labour Party. We’re more easily characterised in the negative: we’re not selfish shits, we’re not for things as they are, we’re not radical, we’re not for pissing people off, we’re not for the rich, we’re not for overdeveloping the whole country ……..and at the end of each of those negatives there’s a “but…” and a qualifier.
‘but’..we don’t do much about it..(?)
Actually we do.
Labour’s ’99-’08 administration were a far superior government to the current National government.
They sure didn’t change everything, but they made massive positive moves.
and that is yet another ‘yes..but’..isn’t it..?
..and having been better than this bunch of bastards..?
..is a recommendation..?..of sorts..?
..kind of a low bar you have set there..eh..?
As if I needed to remind you to do your own research.
Work your google fingers on the economic, fiscal and social performance of the Helen Clark government.
wd u care to have a go at explaining why the clark govt..in boom-times..did nothing/s.f.a. for the poorest..?
..and i am well aware that cullen paid down debt to near enough zero..
..and if by ‘fiscal’ you mean neo-lib paradigm..?..yes..that was well-served/nurtured/sustained..
..and ‘social-performance’..y’say..?
..and once again..pertaining to those poorest..?..for those nine long years..?
..what exactly in ‘social performance’ did nine years of a clark labour govt give them..?
..have i missed something..?
..(and i haven’t even gone near that environmental-neglect of that govt..
..or their kow-towing to the booze-industries..
..i cd go on and on..)
..and looping back to the present..these are the current hurdles labour has to clear..
..’cos we have largely the same people..making the same promises again ..
..promises that they broke last time..
Have you missed something?
Since you had to ask, it’s pretty clear you did.
that is yr answer to that (genuine) question of why the clark govt turned their back on the poor…?
..really..?
..and i am sure you are not such a dullard as to misread my words..as you claim..
..lift yr game..!..eh..?
Yes you would expect the caucus to be right up Cunliffe’s arse doing everything they can to win this election, including being totally unified. On the other hand you can expect some new candidates to be non fussed at actually wining the election, given the reality that very few come through to becoming MP’s on the party list. I was speaking to one yesterday that actually said a loss would serve them better ( not that they were not campaigning hard) as the old guard will be removed and a depowering of the LEC regarding the selection of candidates would transpire. Incumbent MP’s are hard to roll, just look at the difficulties encountered by McCarten & Co had rolling Prebble.
That list candidate should be named and removed from the list immediately.
If they think a loss would renew the party, they do not understand the factional makeup of either the caucus or the list or the candidates. So they should be removed solely on the grounds of chronic naivety.
Lyn did a post on Labour Party renewal recently. He was hopeful. But the best renewal Labour can offer itself is a good solid win. Once in power, it’s a whole lot easier to think about retiring.
What is this a witch hunt? All the candidate was saying is their best chance of making an MP is if Labour lost, looking at it in these eyes they are quite right. Let’s not beat up on someone who is green & keen prepared to pour their heart and sole, and a large slice of dough into contesting a National stronghold with no chance of getting through on the list because over a third of the list is made up of selfish MP’s who won’t do the Labour Party the honour of knowing when to call it a day.
Skinny, that is an alarming and disturbing comment that candidate made to you. If they are in any way considering their own advancement and internal party politics at this very critical point in time they should not have signed up for the job. If they want self advancement they should go and be a sales rep or something, a job with a bonus structure built into the pay. Our MP’s are there to serve the public, not themselves.
It is also a slap in the face to all the hard working volunteers are going hard out for a win. They know where the priorities lie, they know, and we know that Key absolutely has to go.This must be the sole focus for any candidate from any Left party.
Name the candidate, Skinny.
Bullshit.
Can you imagine what the herald would have said if Cunliffe had refused to apologise to a sexual assault complainant for the abject failure of his government to keep the accused in the country?
ITM would sure as shit have had bigger billboards out about that one. Thank fuck I get my hardware at Mitre10 anyway.
Nice bit of spin there MS. To apply the context to his comments this morning (which you haven’t done I note) he was talking about making sure Labour stays focused and not go off message. When asked about an example of Labour going off message he volunteered his apology for being a man remarks. Now admittedly he did state they were taken out of context but also stated they damaged Labour’s support and basically admitted he shouldn’t have used such terms. So the question I have for you is do you think he should have used such words in his speech?
” but also stated they damaged Labour’s support and basically admitted he shouldn’t have used such terms.”
because they were taken out of context! FFS! – you say this yourself!
once again, your attacking cunliffe for how the media reacted AFTER he said something
now im not going to be so foolish as to think that this sort of BS from the media and the likes of time wasters like you shouldnt be expected – but the spin is all from you and the media.
Cunliffe didn’t state that the media should report his comments more accurately. He stated he and the rest of Labour should be more focused and not stray off topic such as his apologising for being a man comments. Do you think his comments were off topic like Cunliffe obviously does?
That’s not what he said, Gosman. The reply you’ve mangled was to a question about Mallard’s moa.
No it was in relation to a direct question about an example of straying off topic. Cunliffe could have used the Moa comments from Mallard but instead used his apology for being a man as that example. Why else did he bring it up?
Nope, wrong again Gosman. The question was ‘how can you refocus on things you are already focussing on?’ Nothing about “straying off topic” as you have made up. Cunliffe then talks about the taking out of context his comments that day. Something you’re doing now, btw. He also makes the point that he was speaking in the context of Labour party policy, so very much ‘on topic’.
Please watch 3 news where he in no terms states he made a mistake saying “I sorry for being a man” as well as his red scarf and the holiday. If Labour are to have a chance then he needs to zip his lip, I bet within a week he will have made the same mistake. It is just a matter of time now, after election day we can re group and get rid of the old wood and get a good leader that has the backing of his MP’s as opposed to a few union thugs.
You think the membership, affiliates and caucus of the NZ Labour Party are “a few union thugs”? How odd. The real question post election won’t be whether the leader has the support of the MP’s but whether some MP’s still enjoy the support of the party. There may be some difficult days ahead for a few of the real dead wood variety.
Who are “we”, Alex? Your rubbish about union thugs makes me think your “we” includes Blubber Boy, David Garrett, and a neutered penguin. Nice try, but as you’d know if you’d watched the original Star Trek, it’s easier for a civilised person to pretend to be a barbarian than it is for a private in the blubber army to pretend (s)he’s left wing.
Because if Cunliffe had said it was the fault of the media (which you know to be true), the media would have simply attacked him again for that as well. Twice shy.
i blame the moa..
..(it has crosby-textor written all over it..)
could crosby textor have put a chip in ‘ducky’s’ head..?
..so they can program him @ will..?
..and do they order him to shock/horrify the locals/bye-standers..?
..by walking around clad in lycra..?
..or is that his own attention-seeking idea..?
“Now admittedly he did state they were taken out of context ”
you did say this didnt you?
“Do you think his comments were off topic like Cunliffe obviously does?”
no – i think your full of shit on purpose
Why did Cunliffe bring up the comments then especially in response to a question about examples of Labour straying off topic?
now your just trying to go in circles – your not very subtle are you
why are you such a bore?
why do you always avoid and evade questions put to you?
why are you such a bad faith commentor?
Why can’t you answer a simple question over why you think Cunliffe brought up the apology for being a man comments in the context of a question over Labour trying to keep focused?
“Now admittedly he did state they were taken out of context ”
you did say this didnt you?
Perhaps you put a stop to your circular logic and behave with some honesty first?
Why did he bring it up in response to the question he was asked?
why on earth are you asking me what is going on inside anyone else head?
“Why did Cunliffe bring up the comments then especially in response to a question about examples of Labour straying off topic?”
He didn’t. And that was not a question asked in the interview. Your memory is faulty.
Here is the interview
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20142567
Please explain why he is discussing his apology for being a man comments. I don’t hear a question directly asking about it prior to him bringing it up.
How dense are you, Gossie? You can answer your own question by listening to the link you so helpfully provided. I guess you’re not keen to, because it makes everything you said this morning look like shite.
The portion of the interview where the ‘apology’ is introduced Gosman is very clear. A few comments above you wrote “When asked about an example of Labour going off message he volunteered his apology for being a man remarks”
You are wrong! Although the wider interview topic was touching on some Labour members’ off-message incidents, the ‘apology’ remarks were to a far more specific topic.
Susie brought up the drop in male support in the polls, Cunliffe says there are factors to that drop which he himself had contributed to, Susie says “Like what?”
“Like what?” is a question.
Cunliffe then talks about his comments on the very serious issue of sexual violence in New Zealand, including the ‘apology’. He discusses how people have read into it in a way he did not intend and that the discussions the ‘apology’ generated and the lack of true context these discussions were placed within have been damaging in the polls.
I have and I can’t see anywhere in there that Cunliffe wasn’t using his comments as an example of him not staying on message. He acknowledged his stuff up for goodness sake. I ask you once again why did he feel the need to use his comments as an example of Labour not staying on message AND accept some responsibility for the negative response to his comments?
now you are just being an obstinate [insert epithet] for the sake of it.
No. Cunliffe brought up Labour not focusing on a set of key areas. Suzie asked him for an example of this and he volunteered his comments which was interpreted as apologising for being a man. He even stated he was going to take partial responsibility for the reaction to his comments. If he didn’t think the comments were unhelpful why did he volunteer them when asked for an example of straying off topic by Labour people?
I could repost what I have already reposted and pad it out with the examples others presented that show how you are being highly generalist in your interpretation but carousels get tedious, so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu_6hdGZ6gU
It was this version or Sting’s
you may be an aggravating s.o.b with bizarre reasoning ‘skills’
but I’m just not cruel enough to inflict Sting on any one.
Have a lovely day Gosman.
@Mickysavage
I put forward that criticisms of David Cunliffe from any source here should be limited to one comment. And then denial of access or the next comments be wiped or banned. This to apply right to the end of the election. I would like The Standard to consider this seriously. It is indeed a serious matter at this time of approaching an election of vital importance to us all.
I do not see that it is helpful to the Left to allow mendacious shallow people to mock the Labour leader in a desire to destroy his standing and undermine the Labour electoral team and plan.
It is a mistaken idea of the purpose of free speech to give these people more than the shortest opportunity to express their poisonous points.
Nobody likes leaking of negative comments about David Cunliffe by a supposed Labour MP to the media.
Why then would TS allow this indulgence to these destructive democratic vandals?
Agreed greywarbler. Gosman must be high fiving all round his lair everytime one of us tries to justify/explain the misrepresentation of David. It allows constant repeats of the twists of facts until even Labour supporters doubt their party. Gosman should get just one comment then blat!
agreed grey/ian.
Gosman is being allowed to cast too many negatives and soak up too much of The Standard where we should be talking policies and strategy.
@Bearded/ian
What got my wick was reading Disraeli Gladstone yesterday probably in Open Mike. Not only sly comments of pretend concern, a waste of time, and insulting all the thinkers and workers here for democracy and a well-run country for all. Time to put the bouncers onto them.
Gosman’s time- and space-wasting reminds me of someone who is no longer here to waste people’s time, electricity and broadband quota.
I quite enjoyed the leaking of the comments about Cunliffe. I am sure there are others out there that also found them most entertaining.
that was no leak but a downright lie peddled to the media by hootonboagey.
they have free access to the media to lie and cheat and give the fleas something to chatter about.
new zealand is turning into a place where nobody tells the truth anymore.
If only he was a good leader they would have less to use against him, in the mean time he invites this type of comment. I guess if we don’t like the truth we can censor this blog and put our blinkers on.
@alex
On what basis is DC not a good leader? On what basis do you make such definitive remarks? Who are you, and what experience have you had at leading or running anything like a nationwide election campaign. Also having the difficult task while following a reasoned line in a disciplined manner and at the same time coping with a know-all who will sneak off and put a cog in the wheel.
DC is doing well but, amongst a bunch of lefties there will always be someone harder to pen than a wild sheep?
You have taken the name of my favourite business cartoon character, and he is both funny, cunning and a lateral thinker. I don’t feel that you match up to him.
No comment about Key not taking the alleged attempted rape of Tania Billingsley seriously?
Your priorities are showing?
Key is unbelievable.
Key said: “I don’t make apologies unless there’s a serious reason for me to do that. As I said at the time I relied on the advice that was given to me by MFAT.” ”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11296911
Clearly attempted rape isn’t a serious issue.
🙄
Clark would have done the same thing, A PM can’t be seen to go round saying “sorry” before a situation has been tried before the courts. Remember this Malaysian guy is innocence until he has had his day in court. I am not defending him, but I do understand how the legal system works and how Key could derail this process by commenting before an investigation has taken place. Who knows if this case will end with a conviction, in which case this girl would not be due a apology.
So why did Key promise her one three weeks ago?
You have real comprehension problems, don’t you? Key apologising for not treating the problem seriously could not have had any impact on legal proceedings. Why don’t you say what you really think about this “girl”. I’m sure you’ve read it in Blubber Boy’s hate blog.
+1
Only serious circumstances require an apology Key reckons, this must mean sexual assault and departmental inaction and/or incompetence in this regard are not considered serious.
How people can stomach this dullard is a mystery to me, it’s a poor reflection on what was once a progressive compassionate nation.
Radio NZ midday news had audio showing Key earlier stated he would apologise if he knew her name.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/250320/key-does-u-turn-on-diplomat-apology
Now that Tania Billingsley has bravely identified herself Key is a coward and runs for cover!
Yes there is a campaign to undermine and destabilise the left and Labour in particular, and if you want to know where a huge amount of it is coming from and how it will not change, look up one name, Gina Rhienhart, probably one of the nastier pieces of work on the planet, the Bitch of Bitches. She has more influence than one could ever imagine.
@Adrian
Rhinoheart is thinking of splitting Fairfax nz off apparently. Watch this space.
Gillard got taken down big time by the media there so that a monkey could be put in and see what the nonsense and damage that is causing.
Gillard had all the necessary excellent qualities of being a superb Prime Minister.
Yes she did, even using union money to do her house up….think about it.
Christ, I wish you’d think about it, Alex. Gillard did no such thing.
Pinched this from the editorial in todays Press. See not all the MSM is against him.
Of all the things Labour leader David Cunliffe might be criticised for, his decision to take a few days off to spend time with his children before the election campaign begins in earnest is emphatically not one of them. There is no reason to doubt his statement that he has been working extremely hard over the last few months. Just about all politicians have been.
The three days he took last week to go on a skiing holiday in Queenstown with his children was his last opportunity to spend some uninterrupted time with them for the next nine weeks. The fact that he has been criticised for it shows there is still not enough understanding of the needs of working parents. Rather than being attacked, Cunliffe should have been applauded for setting an example by trying to achieve an appropriate work-life balance in a high-level career in which the work demands are relentless and intense.
Worse than that, however, the attack on Cunliffe was yet another illustration of the continual indiscipline afflicting the Labour Party at present. It also demonstrates Cunliffe’s inability to get his party inside the House and outside focused on what they must do if they are to have any chance at all in the general election.
The attack, which first appeared in the Sunday-Star Times at the weekend, was done behind a veil of anonymity. The source was described as a senior Labour figure, but it could not be discerned from the story whether it was a person in the caucus, two-thirds of which is said to support someone other than Cunliffe, or someone in the wider party. Either way, it seemed calculated to do the maximum harm.
David Cunliffe said yesterday he believes he knows who the “anonymous source” is and the person is not a parliamentarian. He went on to say that he was not going to conduct a witch-hunt…
I disagree with David. From my own experience, I can say the more such individuals are allowed to get away with this kind of despicable behaviour, then the more they will do it. Naming and shaming them is the only way to stop them.
@Anne
I think your experience is showing. Maybe someone is reading/listening and will usefully use the good advice!!
@Ianmac – well said.
My Compliments to The Press. It makes an attempt to sum up the present situation correctly and nearly succeeds, try again and I might be able to add, fairly. @!@!@!@!@!#!#!#! (Fireworks in anticipatory celebration)
/agreed
DC needs to find out who it was and have a very serious discussion with them. One ending with the culprit being turfed out of Labour.
The trouble with that Editorial TLH is that the writer still managed to malign the Labour Party.
“…whether it was a person in the caucus, two-thirds of which is said to support someone other than Cunliffe,…”
and “Worse than that, however, the attack on Cunliffe was yet another illustration of the continual indiscipline afflicting the Labour Party at present. It also demonstrates Cunliffe’s inability to get his party inside the House and outside focused on what they must do if they are to have any chance at all in the general election.”
Do two thirds not want him? Name them.
Ill discipline? Cameron Slater has done a great evil job of promoting that.
But its not having a go at Cunliffe or misrepresenting what hes saying. And thats been complaint around here.
Sure its having a go at those disloyal to their leader, but those comments are no different to what I read here……
I suspect that the Labour MPs unhappiness (presuming it actually exists) is more closely aligned to the reported 25% support levels and their personal job prospects.
It seems to me (an outsider but somebody warming to Labour due to their policies) a “combined left” with Winston getting them over the line, matters less to the MPs than their own position as an MP. If it were not so, Im sure there would be complimentary campaigning between the parties of the left.
So John Key says, of the Green’s child policy announced yesterday “the question is actually where does the money come from, not whether it is a good idea”
What an arsehole – where does the money come from for the dairy farmers irrigation schemes? where does the money come from for the increases in funding to private schools? where does the money come from for Rio Tinto?
Show me the money john key, show me the money.
The question that needs to be asked of John Key is:-
The seventy billion dollar govt Debt, what was that spent on?
The decade of deficits that the last Labour led government left the incoming National led one in 2008. Read the 2008 Prefu.
so your saying the $$ was spent on a prediciton?
No the money was spent on the spending regime that Labour put in place and that was largely left intact by National. Remember when National attempted some minor reduction in spending by cutting back funding for continuing education classes and the like and how upset some lefties got at that? Well they were doing that because they didn’t want to have to cut spending on WFF and other Labour inspired middle class welfare.
if the current wealth distribution regime which applies in this country was right then none of that palava would be needed.
the existing wealth distribution rules need changing don’t they gosman, as you have just highlighted
You mean like how the French have sorted out their fiscal problems by imposing higher taxes on the wealthy?
no
I don’t recall the French introducing a wealth tax. Surely Piketty would have mentioned it.
Well, they should have just reversed the Cullen tax cuts, rather than cutting taxes further. You forgot about that little part of the “balanced budget” equation.
Fucksake, it’s like you’re complaining that you’re broke because of the mortgage on your house rather than the fact that you quit your job five years ago to follow your dream of all-day masturbation while rolling in caviar.
” it’s like you’re complaining that you’re broke because of the mortgage on your house rather than the fact that you quit your job five years ago to follow your dream of all-day masturbation while rolling in caviar.”
i just laughed hot chips out my nose
+1
Luckily it was only milo for me.
The question that needs to be asked, is that would you choose between deficits, or US style health care.
horseshit.
NZ is more than wealthy enough to attend to such matters. The problem is the current wealth distribution rules and regime which applies in this country, which your comment ironically highlights. Egg.
What if any role did the Global Financial Crisis play in the Prefu’s prediction of a decade of deficits?
I presume not a major part because it is difficult to base medium to long term predictions on cyclical factors in the economy. Treasury wouldn’t have known the extent or longevity of the GFC at the time it made the prediction.
Don’t you mean that, Treasury couldn’t find their own arse, with a map!
Is the left going to undertake a serious reform of Treasury if they get in to power then given this lack of ability by the department?
Treasury should be privatised and compete in the market to sell its services.
If no-one is willing to buy treasury, it should be disbanded immediately as it clearly has no value.
Good stuff. Now which political party is going to advocate for that?
Your type of party fool.
And while you’re at it you could get that rather substantial National Party rural support base, the farmers and the shoddy SCF investors, to abide by their principles instead of crying for subsidies and payouts from elderly ratepayers and taxpayers all the time. They could try standing on their own two feet for a change and operate in the open free market …. your type have no credibility
Wrong gosman. You assume that Labour would not have put in place policies that limited the growth in public debt, which of course they (unlike National-public debt up $50 billion) would have done.
Lies like this should have you banned from The Standard.
Most of the policies promoted by Labour during this period seemed to consist of not making any cuts at all and trying to spend our way back to economic growth. That may have worked at some stage but would have made the deficit larger and therefore the associated debt would have been greater not less.
the brainless blind dogmatic ideology that says there must be economic growth is the problem.
why is economic growth needed gosman, do tell …..
Ummmm… to provide an economic surplus that can be spent on improving individual’s and wider society’s lot in life.
wrong
Except it hasn’t ever done that. All it’s ever done is made the rich richer while the workers exist at subsistence level or below.
It doesn’t when it goes straight to wealthy speculators and offshore finance, does it Gosman?
” seemed to consist of not making any cuts at all and trying to spend our way back to economic growth.”
so your basing this on 1) your opinion of a policy platform 2) that doesnt take into account what might had been done differently if labour had gotten into govt
what a cretin
this is the exact same logic fail that resides in trying to compare nationals actions post gfc with predictions of what labour were going to do pre gfc
as usual – deliberate or stupid
Labor in Australia stimulated the economy and kept it reasonably healthy. Of course this didn’t suit people like Gooseman because if they see beggars on the street and people living under bridges, they can spend less on Viagra.
Abbott’s moronic government are now doing what they can to drag all the wealth to the top, on instructions from Gina Stoneheart and Rupert Murdoch. Gooseman should move over here. He could get a job as a highly paid consultant to help Bjelke-Newman with asset sales.
There was no such thing. All that existed were a few projections by Treasury who have an irritating habit of under-estimating how well the economy does under left governments and over-estimating under National governments. On top of that BS Labour were reacting to the GFC once it became obvious that it was occurring (and the idiots in Treasury didn’t say that the GFC was going to occur which should tell you just how accurate their projections are) which means to say that there wouldn’t have been any deficits. Unlike under the present government which has put us under six years of deficits so far, no indication that they’re going to end soon and the highest ever level of government debt.
@vto
LOL
Liza and Joel Money vid again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkRIbUT6u7Q
It’s a valid question.
It may be a good idea. But show how you are going to pay for it.
oh jeez, it’s as if you think they haven’t.
Seriously, you are commenting on a blogsite. Don’t pretend you have never heard of the internet.
Chris Trotter points out the obvious in the MH17 downing in his article in the paper this cold morning.
Namely, that the US instigated the troubles in the region by aiding the throwing out of the democratically elected government of Ukraine earlier this year.
The dribble being spouted by John Kerry, US foreign ministerthing, (he almost physically trips over on his faux outrage) is in fact very amusing. The people of the west by way of the journalists on the ground similarly getting all het up and on their high horses is also amusing. Where was John Kerry, and where were the journalists, together with their sputtering shit, when the US shot down the passenger airline from Iran in 1988 killing 290 civilians? Where were they when the hundreds of innocent civilians were getting butchered by the Ukranian government (which the US helped install earlier this year) over the last two months? The outrage being expressed over this is out of order.
Hypocrisy by the west and in particular the US is typically amusing but in this instance it really is roll on the floor laughing time. What a frikkin’ joke.
while i have no brief for putin..
..the facts of the matter are that america toppled a democratically-elected govt on russias’s border..
..(think of russia toppling the canadian..or mexican govts..and installing a puppet-regime..)
..(and ukraine is a country that has been on americas’ regime-change shortlist..for awhile..and here we are..)
..so putin now has america/nato sitting on his doorstep..(think russion troops massed on canadian/mexican-borders..)
..and waving its’ dick at him in a threatening manner…
..now..given russian history..of troops massed on their borders/invasions..
..putins’ perspective comes clearer into focus..
Exactly.
The Russians interfering with the Mexican government anyone? Helping to topple it anyone? Russian troops in Central America anyone? Cuba anyone?
Russian/Soviet advisors have been in numerous areas of civil conflict of the decades.
avoiding the point as always
So have the US advisors but, more importantly, the US has used violence several times to change a government it didn’t like. Russia hasn’t.
Hungary. Poland. Czechoslovakia?
Chechnia. Afghanistan.
Have to admit they are not as accomplished at the process as the USA, however.
Chechnya.
lolsnap
Ta.
Thanks.
Um, Crimea? Like only a couple of months ago?
Crimea seceded. And it could be said that they just went back to the country that they were all along.
Um, no, they didn’t secede. The province was occupied by Russian troops, a one sided referendum was held and anyone not liking the result was forced out at gunpoint. It was in the news quite a bit at the time. Strange that you missed it.
I just thought it’s demographic turned out to include an extra 16,000 males of military age who liked to wear green and speak Russian? Because an occupation would have been an invasion, also known as an act of war.
A bit like the difference between a “blockade” and a “quarantine zone”.
WTF is with this USA is bad Russia isn’t anyway? All major powers are as bad as each other simply because these is too much power in the hands of too few people.
Excellent to see Chris Trotter blaming the US for somehow getting the revels to deliberately identify, target and launch the missile that hit the plane. Perhaps he believes the Russian position on this which seems to be that the Ukrainian military shot down the plane from another aircraft.
Chris Trotter did not blame the US for that. Spinner.
And perhaps you just always believe everything the far right of the west spouts. Certainly that is what your history of commentary indicates. Not an ounce of independent critical thinking.
I don’t believe everything the official mouthpieces of the West put out. I just don’t buy in to the anti US conspiracy nonsense that many on the left lap up.
There is nothing conspiracy about the west’s involvement in Ukraine.
There is a huge amount of conspiracy theory over the Ukraine such as the US is supporting the neo Nazis to gain power. That is frankly ridiculous but if you want to believe such nonsense is the truth then so be it.
There is nothing conspiracy about the west’s involvement in Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NePChnsuMNs
a compilation video discussing recent and potential events in the Ukraine also outlining activity currently under way across the globe in relation to US and NATO plans. Or is RT and Press TV and other included sources forging US government policy and misrepresenting the public statements made by NATO?
Partners Across the Globe, a real thing and involves NZ
United States’ Prompt Global Strike, another real thing
United States Africa Command, also a real thing
“getting the revels to deliberately identify, target and launch the missile that hit the plane.”
Even according to the transcripts of supposed tapes released by Kiev, it is abundantly clear that if pro-Russian rebels downed the plane it was a mistake and they were quite confused as to why they had hit a commercial airliner:
“During the call, the militant appears to be confused why the plane bears the markings of a commercial flight.
“It has a Malaysia Airlines logo on it, they say,” said the unidentified militant. “What was it doing in Ukraine’s territory?””
‘A mistake’.
Interestingly, that was exactly the same reason the U.S. gave for downing the Iranian plane some years ago. The only difference is that, clearly, the pro-Russian rebels had far less reason to deliberately shoot down a Malaysian airliner today than did the U.S. to shoot down an Iranian airliner then.
What did the world say then? Something like ‘Oh, what a tragic mistake.’
Presumably, then, it will be the same response now?
In a sane world at least.
Cant quite see the joke myself, looks to me like there is a deliberate and ongoing attempt to start yet another European conflagration…
yeah right.
nato and the us are planning a conflagratioon right now just for the hell of it.
oh and to make all the nutbar predictions come true.
just check the odds on hootons lie site to find out the troof.
Oh, it’s not for the hell of it – it’s to return profits to the banks and weapons manufacturers.
yeah man
crazy nut-bars and their conspiracies
bunch of idiots !
like in October ’62
when all those nukes were hot and folk had itchy trigger fingers
getting pumped up on the threat of Mother Russia
when all it needed was a bonehead move
and war was guaranteed
as if the US
would create some pretext
have some plan sitting there
to start a war that could lead to the use of nuclear weapons!
– and risk killing a bunch of innocent civilians
just to make it happen ?
no way man, never gonna happen
oops
Holy shit – is that link true and real? Comes from George Washington University so I guess it is.
Probably shouldn’t be surprised at all, but sheesh that is really out there ……. and puts paid to pretty much every ounce of credibility the US had, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
Note in particular the one about the US shooting down a passenger plane and blaming it on Cuba – to justify attacking Cuba.
it should be compulsory reading.
for everyone.
got it’s own wikipage and everything,
but seriously, yes,
and that was fifty years ago
they gots lots new tricks since then
Which paper? I would like to read Trotter’s piece on the Ukraine.
The Press but I cant find it online
Thanks. Maybe he will put it up elsewhere later.
Interesting interview on the Ukrainian situation.with Stephen Cohen, emeritus professor of Russian Studies and Politics at New York and Princeton Universities By Amy Goodman and co. of ‘Democracy Now’.
As an older experienced commentator he cuts through the bullsh*t from both sides.
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/7/18/stephen_cohen_downed_malaysian_plane_raises
He admires neo-fascist Geert Wilders, calls Tariana Turia a tyrant and Colin Craig a commie, regards the Catholic church as an ‘evil’ organisation striving to deprive NZers of heir freedom – and he’s number 6 on Act’s party list:
http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2014/07/legalise-p-but-ban-koran-politics-of.html
What is wrong with being anti-Islam? As far as I know Islam is merely a set of beliefs. People are entitled to dislike and campaign against a set of beliefs as much as they like. Goodness knows many here decry right wing economics and equate it with Nazism all the time without too much opposition to that.
People should have respect for the religious beliefs of others.
Respect for the fantasy and lies surrounding far-right economic propaganda is not required.
Hopefully the difference can trickle down into your skull soon…
Why should I have respect for others religious beliefs? Do you respect a religious belief that thinks Homosexuality is a sin that should be made illegal and punishable by death?
Most religions have their extreme factions and if this manifests into human rights violations then respect will be absent obviously.
Debunked economic theory invented to make the rich richer would fall into the extremist area and equally deserves scorn.
The point is it is easy to make the case that Islam’s extreme faction as you put it is actually the point of the religion. Sure there maybe lots of people who are well meaning just as there were lots of well meaning Germans during WWII. That does not excuse the rotten belief system they buy in to though. I had an interesting chat with a Nestorian Christian the other day. He is not a big fan of Islam either mainly because he had to live with it being all pervassive for much of his life.
No, it’s not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have had to pull the ‘and someone I met was also a bigot’ line.
The fact is that you’re defending someone who wants to ban books and legalise methamphetamine. I’m not sure you’re on to a winner there.
I’m not defending anyone. I asked the question why being anti Islam is a problem.
Why is taking the fringe misinterpretation of a major belief system and applying that to all adherents of that belief system in order to justify banning that belief system a problem?
Yeah, asking a question that stupid is actually a defence of your fellow bigot.
“The point is it is easy to make the case that Islam’s extreme faction as you put it is actually the point of the religion.”
Bullshit. That’s your Fox news Western bias talking. A tiny fraction of Muslims are ‘extremists’, do you think you understand the ‘point’ of Islam better that the vast majority of the world’s Muslims?
I’ve read the Koran and have devout Muslim friends. Their point is that God is great, that there is more than this material realm, and that a spiritual and righteous life is the way to live. This is what they choose to believe. They explained to me that there are no ‘Islamic’ states, there are only Middle Eastern regimes who use religion to maintain their political power.
As with the Bible there are a few vague lines in the Koran that have been interpreted by extremists to mean what they want it to mean. That doesn’t make Islam a ‘rotten belief system’ like Nazism. You really are an idiot.
Actually Gosman, the moral codes of most of the worlds religions are very similar. And the people who ‘really’ adhere to them are nice to have around.
Both Christianity and Islam, teach, for example, tolerance for others.
It was Islam that continued with science, while the Christian countries were mired in the dark ages.
“What is wrong with being anti-Islam?”
The same thing that is wrong with being homophobic, anti-Semitic, and any other number of petty bigotries: it is irrational. It’s on the same spectrum of irrationality as murdering four little kids playing soccer on a beach because they’re of the wrong religion.
Ha ha betcha Stephen Berry is an ex-criminal or will commit some crime shortly. That is the Act way after all. They are funny
‘Internet MANA Auckland road show at Kelston – what the media are missing’
By Martyn Bradbury / July 21, 2014 /
The Town Hall in Kelston yesterday was packed well before the start time of 2pm. What many welded to Wellington in the Press Gallery don’t understand about Internet MANA is that its energy and flaxroot mobilisation is far larger than their view from Parliament can see….
i had a look at the Wellington venue for the InternetMana roadshow yesterday, i should imagine Hone/Lailla and Kim DotCom will easily pack that one as well,
The venue, Mac’s Function Center, right down the bottom of Taranaki Street for those who have, like me until yesterday never heard of the place,
By right down the bottom of Taranaki Street i mean right down the bottom right on the waterfront,
A note to InternetMana if anyone’s reading this morning, for the last week of the actual campaign i would suggest a repeat of ‘the roadshow’ in Waiariki, in Auckland,(maybe 2, South and Central), and last but not least a grand finale up in Te Tai Tokerau…
I thought the Mac’s bar/function centre was a curious choice of venue. The function centre part which I’ve never been to is probably quite suitable for their requirements, I should imagine, and that’s why they picked it.
The bar downstairs which I’ve had the misfortune of going to twice (once not by choice, but because the staff do was held there) is a cavernous booze barn filled with try hards, rugby heads and sleezy middle aged blokes preying on young women. The formulaic theme of the bar is straight out an accountants handbook of winning formula’s for NZ pubs. The music is dire beyond belief.
It’s the kind of place that drains all hope and creativity out of anyone who walks in there.
Hopefully the Internet Mana roadshow above the bar will sprinkle some of it’s magic down through the floorboards and settle in the hearts of the patrons and staff.
Lolz Rosie, sounds like a definition of Capitalism, ”removes all the coin from everyone’s pockets leaving them with a massive headache in the morning”…
Party party venue 10 Bar in Dunedin packs out with maybe 250 people. Hope its big enough.
(this is from a comment on that piece..)
“..…to stem the tide of political/financial treason that has beset this country for more than 30 years now…”
..hard to argue against that..
..and reason number 53 why labour are still not liked/trusted by so many…
..we’ve heard all of that ‘a better nz for all nz’ers’-bullshit before..
..and we remember how it all turned to ashes in the mouth..
..how it was the first promise broken..
Phil-so you would prefer to have Key back rather than Lab/Green/IMP?
If you want the Left to win stop criticising and talk positively about strategy and policies.
yeah..that’s right..like i’m the only one..
..and i have been clear about what i want..
..i want the labour vote to collapse out to the greens/internet/mana…
..(which appears to be happening already..and i expect that to accelerate..)
..ending up with a left-bloc that will actually get some stuff done..
..not just a growth/arbeit macht frei! national-lite…
..and i am offering ‘positive-policies/strategies’ for labour to adopt..
..but they seem determined in their veer back to the centre..(read:..right..)
..perhaps you need to talk to them..?
..and have you found out yet what has happened to my ‘hate-campaigns’-chq..?..from the rightwing..?
..nary a sign of it..so far..
ha ha phil. Very good.
I must admit to fantasising what the world’s press would say with a result Green 23% Labour 21% IMP 6% and the announcement of joint PM’s Russell and Metiria’s cabinet.
It is actually not so far from fantasy.
i wd prefer lab 20%..and internet/mana and greens at about 15% each..
..then we cd rock and roll..
So it looks like Labour are following the don’t show the leader method that worked so well.
Seen Shearer and Ardern’s mugs plastered over billboards and a generic family, no DC.
Are you making this up Ant? My understanding is that Cunliffe’s picture, you know the smart one with the good policies that will win the tv debates, will be on the billboards.
From what I’ve seen (and put up) there are local candidate photos and a variety of policy/Vote positive etc ones with DC’s photo on them. They’ve been going up from the weekend and if my local electorate is anything to go by, the supporters will have them all done in the next two weeks. But it is voluntary work and has to be fitted in around people’s real lives.
Ant, if you are worried about what you’ve seen, the answer is obvious; volunteer to put up hoardings.
Its an interesting read here this morning in today’s ‘Open Mike’, pretty much a trail of defeatism being exhibited with the ‘media’ and the ‘Labour Caucus’ being apportioned the ‘blame’ for an expected?? low turnout for the Labour vote in September???,
Sure the ‘media’ are biased, you only had to be listening to Linda Clark on Mora’s moronics, weekday afternoons at RadioNZ National, yesterday, to understand the deep seated ‘attitude’ that has developed within the Parliamentary press gallery to understand that,
What of the Policy arena tho, Labour’s that is, i can off the top of my head think of a number of Labour’s key Policies that as an ex-Labour voter give me every reason NOT to vote for the Party,
No i wont spray the list of policies that i find leads me to not be able to vote for the Party that has had my votes since the age of 18 when i cast the first one for Norm Kirk’s election all those years ago while ‘ a guest’ in Invercargill Borstal,
Sure stupidity dribbling out of the Caucus will be part of the reason if Labour dont do well in September,
Sure the outright bias of the mass media will also have played a part,
Cunliffe himself tho, and those surrounding Him must also carry the can if Labour cannot lift itself in September,
The ‘policy platform’, it would seem that those ‘inside’ Labour agree with it, or, have simply left it to the Caucus must also shoulder the burden if at the actual poll the support for Labour turns out to be that which the published media polls are indicating,
Simply going Wah Wah Wah, the biased media are wrecking Labour’s electoral chances OR worse, resurrecting the ABC’s as a scapegoat is to simply deny the fact that Labour must have a coherent set of policies that address the People that the Party wishes to vote for it,
IF, the published media polls are anywhere near accurate then the number indicates at least in a big part, how many of the voters out there are attracted by the so far announced policy platform,
That number, obviously, appears to be not growing, in fact that number appears to be doing the opposite…
Just more defeatism there bad.
Click on my post below and then get out there and do something about it.
Bearded git, get out there and do something about ‘it’ yourself, and, to put forward a point of ‘just more defeatism’ would require some small modicum of intelligence directed at what in my particular comment you consider to be defeatism,
You will be excused here of course if the suspicion that you have none, a modicum of intelligence that is, prohibits you from putting forward any idea which points intelligently to the source of the supposed defeatism in my comment…
waste of time asking abd to do anything.
he only comes here because there is nowhere else for him.
Aaah shallow throat, hows the get pissed on a Saturday night and beat your spouse ‘jokes’ going you little sicko…
@sad12
much better when I know that you are having a fit.
Like your misspelling of my user-name you are in error with the last word as well, i am having a spit, at you…
do what you like.
do a timothy mcveegh and blow yourself up.
I reccommend Ajax or Atlas or Hercules.
Thats what we used down the pit.
You know. when we were working for a living instead of fulminating about the world as if it was possible to right every wrong by getting indignant in a chat room.
🙄 the imperative word in this little exchange deep throat,(gods sake change the handle, no-one in their right mind would name themselves after the act of oral sex), is the final one of comment 11.1.2.1,
A hint is that it begins with an S and concludes with an O, your violence fantasy is rather worrying, 🙄 , you should seek help…
what does all that mean?
Oh all that deep throat, its code for there’s a Simpson’s episode on the TV…
“no-one in their right mind would name themselves after the act of oral sex”
Hard to know what’s funnier, the porn addict’s limited definition of oral sex or the ignorance of political history. Quite made my night, Bad, well done!
oh gosh.
thats rilly rilly funnneee.
I cant stop larfing and larfing.
I echo ‘oral sexes’ comment above TRP, by the way while you are present i just thought, ha ha ha, i would prove the extent of my un-homophobic nature,
Hell i am so deeply un-homophobic that i find it cute that you can trot of down the local rugby club on a Saturday night for a few beers and take yourself home a 120 kilo prop for the night,
The very thought of you traipsing, tippy toey through the tulips with said prop fills my heart with gladness,
my only question tho, do you still fancy Him when you sober up in the morning…
I think that one may have sailed over your head, DT! Perhaps I should have used an irony tag? I was laughing at bad’s ignorance about the political origin of your handle. And also what the homophobe thinks oral sex is. He’s one sad wee fucker. In so many ways, apparently.
Dont tell everything you know TRP.
Just keep poking him till he swells up and pops.
its not all that bright and gets confused easily by any proposition that requires logical rational thought.
so popping it is the only option.
[lprent: too many accusations about trolls for no apparent reason. Looks like a attempt to start flame wars. Banned until after september 20th. ]
Ha! Really, I’d rather he just toned down the abuse and debated facts and philosophies. But it takes all sorts and some people don’t have those kind of skills. I’ve met plenty of angry ranters in my life, and done a fair bit of it myself, so fair dos.
The only downside is that the Standard now actually does have more pointless abuse than Whaleoil these days, especially now that Cam has someone running the comments for him. They even have a perfectly sensible moderation policy:
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/commenting-moderation/
Pisses me off they’re doing it better than we are.
Lolz, the ‘brainstrust’ is formed, 🙄 damn hilarious, and of course the ‘political deepthroat’ imparted Nixon’s secrets to Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post,
So far TRP, you managed to score only own goals, might be a bit of a stretch to ask the local try hard to try harder, but, to bother me in the slightest you will have to,
You didnt tho answer the question, do you still luuu-uuurve those 120 kilo props in the morning,(snigger)…
That says it all TRP, a comment from you positively oozing with adoration for ‘Cam’ and whale-spit,
You are one sick little puppy, but, it figures, i have always seen you to be little different than any of the nutjobs that infest ‘Cams’ pond of scum,
That little difference being your faux claim to support of the left…
[lprent: Getting tired of your recent comments. Been a while since you managed to contribute in any meaningful way to the discussion. All I have seen you do recently is to attack others. I’d suggest that you learn to find some other technique quite soon. Otherwise I will start demonstrating how much of amateur you are at the skill of personal attacks. ]
Great that you’ve got the hang of google, bad. It only took you ten minutes to find the deep throat reference. That’s a major improvement on the hours it took you to find the Pike River transcripts after you made up that quote! You must have finally learned how to keep your knuckles from dragging across the keyboard and ruining the results 🙂
ps, noting that WO moderates more efficiently than TS does not mean I approve of the actual content. Hard to get your head around, I know, but think of it like hating, say, the Crusaders or Man U as a team, but admiring their style of play.
Faux lefty, I ain’t. I’ve got a life history that says just the opposite, as many regulars here know.
My opinion, you could say Blubber boi’s wail-oil is being run more E-fascistly than the Standard,
But then you have shown by your display tonight that what you claim is utter bullshit, you neither indulge in debating the facts and are as free as i am with the abusive jibes,
Your ‘facts’ as you showed with these words, ”not a diesel smell” are in fact utter lies made up by you in what is best described as a scummy attempt at point scoring, not debate, a simple act of dick waving using a lie you made up for that purpose,
Your ilk rather sicken me,and, everything i see wrong in the Labour Party is in fact embodied in you….
Well I reckon the Labour regional development policy is a good start, and pretty smart.
Now I have never voted Labour before, but Im being tempted to this time. I may even join the party given that the more lefty ones indicate that they have decamped to either the Greens or the IMP.
Im a bit unsure tho, which Labour policies are out there at the moment in “kite flying mode” that can get traded in early in any negotiations with the Greens and IMP, nd which ones they are serious about keeping.
Personally, Im in favour of the UBI (which I dont think is Labour policy) and a financial transaction (which may be some form of the Hone tax, but Im not too sure), but I cant see IMP getting much off their wishlist unless they get over 5%
And with the left vote fragmented over three parties, I can see a bit of a shit fight coming up if they were able to form a government. PM Winston anyone?
Now that you mention it, i have the sneaking suspicion that Winston will be demanding the PM’s spot from both left and right as the opening ambit in the post election negotiations,(should NZFirst attain the 5%)…
Claudette Hauiti has drawn the short straw.
Wonder whether this is accompanied by the National party golden handshake that other retiring MP’s are rumoured getting.
Why waste her time, if she’s not out to help campaign for the Nats party vote out of commitment to the party. Little chance of winning Kelston. Low list placement.
Cheers, Twice Claudette has mistaken Her sense of entitlement in Her short time in the Parliament, the first hiring Her partner, on the taxpayers purse, to do ‘work’ in Her electorate office,
The second, having a splurge on the Parliament’s P card, the credit card Parliamentary services issue to MP’s With A Set Of Rules,
The ‘Honorable’ thing for Hauiti to have done after making Her second ‘mistake’ surrounding what can only be described as sucking at the trough far above her pay grade, was to resign…
So that makes 17 new National candidates looking for a spot in their ‘stable’ government.
Act is dead. Maori Party is dead. United Future is who? One does wonder.. with almost a third of their team being complete parliamentary novices, with seasoned MPs few and far between and with long serving Ministers caught up in numerous portfolio problems of one sort or another, (many of which will resurface in people’s minds before the election) where is this stable government they keep talking about going to get its stability from?
Don’t forget she was a former Labour Campaigner, one has to admire in some ways the ability of National to remove politicians when they think it is necessary. I sometimes wish Labour had the leaders that could exercise the removal when required. One of the reasons we are getting so many problems now is the aged pollies that will not step down when their time is up.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11297254
The Nats lose another one. There must be a very shallow gene pool for them to choose from.
Im wondering how many of your stars you are going to lose if the election comes in with you in the low 20’s.
About 3% – the approximate level of psychopathy in the general population.
Where do you get 3% from DTB? I thought 1% was the standard guesstimate.
Depends upon who you read and how old the book is. Older books that I’ve read have it as between 3 and 5% while newer tend to be going down to the 1 to 3%. I chose the middle of the range.
We’ve created a dysfunctional society and economy where latent sociopaths who would previously have been kept suppressed are now encouraged to actively flower and fully express themselves. So the higher end.
This is so good-click on the first picture that comes up and keep clicking.
https://www.facebook.com/252472971587178/photos/a.305681819599626.1073741832.252472971587178/305682036266271/?type=1
Please share.
Why? If I’m going to click on something, I’d like some clue as to what it is.
Good point karol-sorry.
It’s a long album of pictures that cleverly illustrates the poor policies and cock-ups of the Key junta over the last 6 years.
Thanks.
It is an excellent compilation of things that Key would like us all to forget. Well put together in terms of the issues and the presentation (eg photos used in respect of each issue).
Thanks BG. I would love to see that used as an ad on TV etc in the lead up to the election.
great idea veuto.
I have suggested adding a picture related to the gutting of the RMA which will occur if the Nats get back.
And! The signal that they will make the biggest changes ever to welfare and workplace rights.
Which is why it is so important that Labour gets their shit together.
Stuff poll not working for Key’s transport policy in Auckland:
TWO items of interest to me:
[1] News from Stuff:
Labour leader David Cunliffe will try to seize back the initiative today when he announces plans for a fund for economic development projects in the regions.
Cunliffe is set to use his appearance at the Local Government New Zealand conference in Nelson to say that if elected Labour would set aside tens of millions of dollars a year for a contestable fund for regional capital projects, focusing on infrastructure development.
Today’s announcement by Cunliffe will be the latest in an attempt to promote Labour’s plan for an “economic upgrade”.
It is also expected that regional development would be restored as a ministerial portfolio.
Labour’s fund would take a “triple bottom line” approach where projects allocated funds would not necessarily need to make a commercial return to the Crown, but would be justified on the basis that the Treasury coffers would be boosted long-term through higher income tax and lower welfare payments coming from increased employment.
More details here:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10292727/Labour-to-announce-boost-for-regions
[2] There was a ‘Live chat with David Cunliffe’ on the Stuff website yesterday with some interesting questions and answers. What was particularly interesting to me were the comments and votes that are found under the chat in the comments section. Shows there is a lot of support for Cunliffe and Labour. But there seem to be a set of nasty right wing brigade that does not debate the issues, nor talk about Key, National or its policies, but are simply there to make very derogatory nasty comments against Cunliffe and Labour. Seems to me like an organised right wing set up. Take a look:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10290443/Live-chat-David-Cunliffe
Clem-can I say thank you for this post. So good to read something positive.
And Gosman has done enough to be banned IMHO.
Thank the various deity then Bearded git that you do not get to participate in saying who can and who cant comment here at the Standard,
In a short time i would imagine that there would be a very small circle of commenters sitting in the magic circle chanting ‘ohm ohm, Labour Good everyone else bad’…
Take a look at the concerted dodgy unfair mass attack and votes against Cunliffe and Labour in the comments under an article today about Cunliffe.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10294305/Cunliffe-The-fightback-begins-now
I looked at some of the comments yesterday and they were nasty. A good moderator would not have let a lot of them through so I question why Stuff did.
a good moderator wouldn’t be letting someone naming themselves “David Cunliffe” leave right wing troll messages on that stuff article, i never seen anything quite like it, bad form.
Another one down the drain???!!!
“National list MP Claudette Hauiti has decided to withdraw from the election and politics altogether.”
She didn’t do too well on Backbenchers did she.
“She didn’t do too well on Backbenchers did she.”
No she really exposed herself as being way out of her depth. She wasn’t even able to articulate what rape culture is until the two males explained it to her.
It’s a shame that a party in dire need of quality female representation can’t get anything better than the motley crew of shouty domineering (Collins, Bennett, Tolley) type.
I’ve been wondering for a while now why I’ve never much cared for Deborah Hill Cone.
I used to think it was because she’s a far Right Neo-Lib who shamelessly trades on her South African Mother’s history of liberal, anti-apartheid activism.
But now I’ve come to realise the problem is much more simple than that: she just isn’t sexy enough.
Not sexy enough and certainly unattractive. Wouldn’t like to share a bed with her.
😆 😈
I definitely would NOT hit it. Just look at those sharp knees. She is way below my standard.
Then she says something like this, which is rather good.
“Also, rich or poor, we all do stupid, irrational things. It’s just that when you are relatively rich, you can disguise it better. When you are rich, no one tells you off for doing crazy emotional s***, they just say you are eccentric.
Why is it that people who are struggling are supposed to be more virtuous than Cactus or me, when both of us, despite not having lots of children, will have done any number of other dumb things?
Anyway my ill-advised road trip up north ended with me driving for nine hours and going home again, cosily insulated by my privilege. No harm done. Told you: I’m stupid, but fortunate. But not everyone is as lucky as me..”
“Cosily insulated by my privilege” are not the words of an air headed RWNJ.
That’s interesting, Linda Clark made a couple of interesting observations on Jim Moron’s bit of drivel at RadioNZ national yesterday speaking about the old adage ”it takes a village to raise a child”,
Clark sounded like a true Socialist when She pointed out the ‘networking’ that Her privileged life allowed Her greatly enhanced the ability of that old adage to become a reality, while the poverty and the social dislocation associated with such poverty greatly hampered the chances of the poor in creating and enhancing such networks,
In the final analysis tho, you have to ask who or what these people vote for, the protection of their privilege or the chance to extend at least some of that privilege to those without any…
Lol
smirk…i dont fancy her either …
You know when people talk about rape culture?
Well this is what they mean, treating women as “fuckable” or “not fuckable”. “Smirk” “Not sexy enough” – seriously you guys are such incredible hypocrites. If a “righty” made these comments you’d be outraged but because you in the left are doing it, it’s ok – just having a laugh.
Seriously? Those comments look lifted straight from the 1950’s.
I take it you didn’t read her last column.
yep..nadis doesn’t quite get it.
Q. Have you heard the feminist joke?
A. That’s not funny.
…that is not very funny….
@ nadis
i’m a girl Chooky not a Rooster …and i dont fancy her on my perch…nor do i fancy you!….smirk
…she is a bloody right winger know- it- all philosopher/psychologist/journalist/creative BNZ writer award winner…smug know it all …..most unappealing…male , female , transgender , hermaphrodite, animal or vegetable
well no…… missed the sarcasm alert.
Why we need a very strong government guaranteed Kiwi Bank….a New Zealand Bank for New Zealanders , by new Zealanders, for New Zealand’s future….Bank profits for New Zealand!
The Greens and Winston Peters are on the button
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/10270498/Shipleys-bank-role-treachery-says-Peters
….as if we didnt have enough trouble with Goldman Sachs sniffing around…and Oz Banks ripping us off ….now we have Chinese Banks wanting to get their fingers into everything
and shipley continuing that long tradition of national party politicians selling out new zealand..
..for their own short-term personal gain…
..walking around with big for sale/hire signs around their necks..
Last time I heard National Party Shipley was a trained primary school teacher…not a banker
….”We will be looking to be broad-based,” Shipley said.
The bank was keen to get exposure to primary industries including forestry, fishing, agriculture, and potentially exploration, she said. “It would have to fit our appetite and criteria, but we are very much open to significant transactions.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/10270498/Shipleys-bank-role-treachery-says-Peters
It just keeps on happening:
And we could have that cheapness here as well – if the government stopped trying to prevent progress and started to enable it instead.
I’m pretty sure that the lack of cheapness here is seen by the current government as a feature, not a bug.
I’m sure that they do. It won’t help them though as people start to realise that the current government is costing them more than is required as more and more of these stories get through. They’ll start to wonder why this government keeps batting for fossil fuels when they can have cheaper, sustainable power.
Drax, surprisingly one good project that has got under way during the current govt’s term is the Mill Creek wind farm out at Ohariu:
http://www.meridianenergy.co.nz/about-us/generating-energy/our-generation-projects/mill-creek-wind-project/
I can see these glorious majestic beauties from my house, the ones being tested are gracefully turning in the breeze.
To the south is the Makara wind farm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hooplabean/9188501289/in/photostream/
I see though, on the Meridian site, that of the 3 planned wind farm sites for NZ, that two have stalled and one is one hold. They cite “market conditions” as the contributing factor……………
Blueskin Energy Project is a community initiated wind-generation power scheme, that resulted from the Transition Towns approach.
From their website:
“Blueskin Power aspires to have achieved the following by 2020
Families and individuals in Blueskin Communities will:
Solar has won. Even if coal were free to burn, power stations couldn’t compete
“As early as 2018, solar could be economically viable to power big cities. By 2040 over half of all electricity may be generated in the same place it’s used. Centralised, coal-fired power is over”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/07/solar-has-won-even-if-coal-were-free-to-burn-power-stations-couldnt-compete?CMP=fb_gu
Way way waaaaaay too early to be making any such predictions. Get back to me when you have 3 straight years of coal usage declines. Until then, solar still has lots of work to do.
Ah, that Kim Dotcom, he’s got quite the sense of humour!
@KimDotcom:
Hi, I’m Batman.
I MEAN BRUCE.
Shit.
**kills hooker*
Hahahahaha, hilarious. I hear the Internet party’s womens’ policy comes with a free T shirt and a bucket of water.
Its OK – he’s against Key – he can do no wrong.
Lets bitch about “rape culture” – then talk about going onto power with someone that make rape jokes and jokes about killing hookers.
Good look guys !
What a lovely circular argument you have James.
Can you do better than construct a false frame around false assertions? I bet you can.
The electorate will decide who negotiates with who. After the election. Meanwhile, before the election, #teamkey brings its own lubricant to meetings with Jamie Unclecousin and Cray-Cray Colin. In bed with incest advocates and fundies. Onya mate.
Kim, the lefts only hope, he is all class.
I think that Kim DotCom is a bit of a political dork. Has nothing much to do with the left in my opinion.
and to back it up – “15 rape jokes that work” – from the “visionary” of the party so many of you love to hate: https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/242743533524643841
So – standing up to him on rape culture then ???? ahh, no didnt think so.
The way he tells it Laila gave him the smackdown, and yeah, I think he contributed to rape culture, just like no National Party supporter or MP ever did ever no matter who gets name suppression, honest, truly really why don’t you believe me?
Your argument seems predicated on the notion that taking someone’s money means they corrupt your ethics, coughOravidacough own goal much?
lol
Ultra-rich man’s letter: “To My Fellow Filthy Rich Americans: The Pitchforks Are Coming”
http://topinfopost.com/2014/06/30/ultra-rich-mans-letter-to-my-fellow-filthy-rich-americans-the-pitchforks-are-coming
a formula u can rely on…
..jim mora + graeme bell = dog + park..
go phil.
the trolls hate you r guts because you do your own thing.
that is the one thing they cant stand.
you are a real man.
The sorries keep coming – My holiday was too long.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10296179/My-holiday-was-too-long-Cunliffe
Why is he apologising?
i think it is time cunnliffe apologised..for his serial-apologising…
lol…maybe he needs to be a little less Christian and a little bit more hard boiled political leader?!…take some lessons from the late Robert Muldoon…maybe drink some gin and learn to snarl
….fuck the apologising over trivia!….the right wing and adversaries will have him apologising into his grave…falling on his sword with apologies
…he needs to toughen up!
….the Left need a leader who will stick a red hot poker up the bums of John Key’s Nactional
So who woulda thunk it – most U.S. terrorist prosecutions have been nothing more than the FBI manipulating people with disabilities.
The FBI often targeted particularly vulnerable people, including those with intellectual and mental disabilities and the indigent. The government, often acting through informants, then actively developed the plot, persuading and sometimes pressuring the targets to participate, and provided the resources to carry it out.
http://www.hrw.org/node/127456
Covering your ass is a Minister’s reflex, we get that. But c’mon, a little detail is not a lot to ask for.
Wouldn’t a senior reporter for the NZ Herald ask what information the Minister is referring to?
Was this poor journalism or a suspiciously obvious Editor’s pen?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11297377
Can someone please explain what the problem is with David Cunliffe’s scarf?????. Paddy revisiting DC’s supposed gaffes brought up the scarf. The scarf!!!! What’s wrong with his blimming scarf.?! This is all getting beyond a joke. To me Cunliffe is all about NZ and it’s people. He wants the best for NZ and is bringing out policies to achieve this whereas key rarely mentions the ordinary citizens of NZ. He would like us all not to exist. Well, we do and I will definitely be voting Labour. I am sick to death of the daily sabotaging of DC and it needs to stop. For any negative there is a positive and we should all be looking at Labour’s policies and how they will improve our country and stop indulging in this constant sideshow that achieves absolutely nothing.
@Ffloyd…it shows what a threat David Cunliffe is regarded by the John Keys Nactional and their right wing hangers- on journalists and PR spinners
…the pettiness and bullying it is really a reassuring sign that they are seriously rattled, if you think about it
…they also went after Helen Clark like a pack of dogs…because they saw her as being their biggest impediment to winning
Hey – Ffloyd – I took the “scarf” comments as David C having a bit of a joke – courtesy of Paddy Gower !!
At the end of the apology for the apolgy about being a man, and the apology for whatever else he said that was wrong, DC then said he also apologised for wearing his red scarf too often and he’d try not to do so in future …. like, apologies are for serious things ….. and the scarf is not serious ! Its red, and it keeps him warm …… and it looks good in winter. Keep the scarf on David C – it looks good !
JK I hope he does too. Wouldn’t put it past the herald to turn it into a national discussion somehow. I had already read somewhere, someone banging on about Cunliffe’s scarf. Can’t remember where but thought at the time it was a bit desperate.
It was sad listening to Oz Julie Bishop’s impassioned speech about the airline crash and bringing the bodies home to Oz. It sounded like someone from a country with high standards of respect for people that had never seen or heard of such an outrage.
But that country isn’t Australia, where Julie Bishop is Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tony Abbott ministers to no-one. What they have done when dealing with vulnerable people’s lives is shocking also. It’s interesting to hear outrage from countries like Oz and UK which have themselves caused loss of life, anguish, and death. Really it is just another, different sort of tragedy off the menu of man’s inhumanity to man.
It also must have been ‘a different’ US navy that used a missile to shoot a fully laden Iranian civilian airline out of the sky in the Gulf in the time of my living memory…
Which occurred while said US warship had illegally entered Iranian territorial waters, and the Captain of that warship decided to launch upon a target flying relatively slowly and gradually increasing it’s altitude i.e. behaviour exactly fitting a passenger airliner.
It will be interesting what is said, if anything, about the latest from the Russian’s on the missile carrier seen on the back of the white truck on our tv screens recently,
The footage was used to point the finger at the ‘separatists’, the Russians now say that based upon the billboard, also clearly seen in the tv footage here, the footage of that truck was not taken in the area held by the ‘separatists’ as there are no billboards which match the one shown in the territory held by them,
There are however said to be billboards which fit the one pictured in the Ukrainian Government held areas, the Ukranian Government have also of course a number of the missile launching systems in their possession…
I daresay that east Ukraine was/is the most militarily surveilled bit of geography in eastern Europe.
With their constant aerial reconnaissance and satellite surveillance, the Russians, US and NATO know exactly where the missile which downed MH-17 was fired from, and very likely have all the command and control radio transmissions associated with the order recorded.
With that understood, what is being played out and said on the TV cameras is very interesting indeed.
The phony war CV, misinformation to direct the opinions of the uninformed, and those who choose to be so,
Guess which powerful nation in the world has got a huge supply of unused gas and oil that is likely to last 50,60,70 years after the Western World has sucked the last of the reachable resource from the ground,
Couple that with animosities that have traveled down through time and the history of man,
Add in the fact that whenever the bean-counters cannot make any sense of the numbers anymore then its time for a massive conflagration, a display from the masters of their anger, their rage, which throughout history has called for the slaughter of the sacrificial lamb in the form of millions of their fellow humans when the boom that busted refuses once again to boom…
+1
The USS Vincennes had been taken over by Russian Muslims. The Iranian plane would never have been shot down by the peace loving US and A.
As for Julie Bishop – she represented asbestos when people were dying and the company didn’t want to admit any liability. She is as foul as Gusher Collins, and as lusted after by sexually deprived right wingers. Yuck.
Tony Abbott is contemptible imo…an ex Catholic priest he also supports the Israelis and their atrocities
…one has to ask in whose interests it was to bring down an Malaysian airliner over that territory ? …who stood most to gain from the adverse publicity?…personally i dont think it was the Russians or Putin
….and these days ….Why are we being protected from pictures of death and the Reality of War?
‘Why do television producers think a grey blob over a dead person’s face shows respect?
Cruelly obliterating their image kills the child a second time’
By Robert Fisk
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-do-television-producers-think-a-grey-blob-over-a-dead-persons-face-shows-respect-9617402.html
It’s not for the murdered child……it’s for them. Which makes it doubly evil.
The rogue-nuclear state of Zionist-Nazi Israel will destroy the world if we let them.
They are biblically entitled you see.
Abbott never actually got to be a priest. He was advised to leave the seminary because the others there decided he didn’t have the necessary empathy. Maybe this makes him more contemptible?
Just watched Hosking’s bimbo interviewing Slater.Didn’t manage to switch off quickly enough. Bimbo’s obsequious drooling over this megalomaniac’s (psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence.) self aggrandizement and Hoskings supporting her.
At first thought they were taking the piss but I think they were taking him seriously.
Must be the depths of TV1.
@ Rodel ….Agreed !
‘Seven Sharp – The day public broadcasting died’
By Martyn Bradbury / July 22, 2014 /
The day Seven Sharp became an apologist for a hate speech merchant like Cameron Slater is the day public broadcasting died.
You should stop reading that poison from Bumber Bradburys frothing sewer.
He is a loser.
That must be why Seven Sharp’s ratings are twice that of Commie Live.
That must be why Seven Sharp’s ratings are half that of Campbell live.
Rodel read the facts. 500,000 viewers for seven sharp 220,000 commie live
http://www.throng.co.nz/tag/seven-sharp/
popularity never equates to quality you egg.
how many people drive a honda compared to a mercedes …. sheesh
You have the logic of a munter, Not many can afford a new Merc.
Thanks to neoliberalism, not many can, no. They can’t even afford Hondas these days.
Can you ask your mate Cam why he reckons he swapped his pills for Jesus? I don’t think it’s true, judging by his eyes. Does he deliberately lie because he knows that’s what you guys like?
Is it Glenn Beck?
Israeli forces have fired warning shots into the building in which Al Jazeera is based in Gaza:
That happened in the early days of the Bagdad occupation when rockets were fired into Al Jazeera’s offices, the American’s claiming that they thought people were shooting from the office. Several were killed. Accident huh?
The Israelis are frikkin’ mad and dangerous and hell bent on genocide of their fellow arabs…. who on earth let them have nuclear weapons?
Whadya reckon NakiLessMan ? Still wonder why I call them Nazis do ya ? You and anyone else clutching their pearls can stick ya Godwin’s up your arse. It’s the truth as you’ll conclude……
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/21/israeli-lawmaker-outlines-final-solution-for-gaza-elimination/
I think people like Gosman and other right wing plants/activists are here, in my opinion, for a non genuine or suspect reason: They seem to be here to be vexatious, argumentative and time wasting about trivia and put downs of Labour and Mr Cunliffe. The more I read their posts the more I feel so. This distracts us from discussing serious issues, politics, policies and strategies as well as creating unnecessary negative feelings and angst.
I have no problem with honest discussions of differing/opposing views. I have a problem of the motive behind the posts seems to be crooked.
I think the way to deal with these dodgy and nasty characters is to engage with them just a little, but not TOO much! It is enough if they are given one or two replies to their constantly negative posts and ignored after that because, no matter how much one tries to reason with them, they are not here to be corrected or to be convinced otherwise. That is one reason I rarely reply to their inane dubious posts.
I have also noticed a swarm of right wing Nat supporters/activists/army in readers’ comments section in MSM, Stuff, and TV news sites constantly making down right unfair nasty and vicious comments/remarks/abuse about Mr Cunliffe and Labour. I can understand if there are a few such comments, even up to 40% to 50%, but not in the huge % they appear. I strongly suspect an organised plan is going on to poison people’s minds against Labour/Cunliffe. They did try similar dirty tricks against Goff and Shearer too. Now they are doing it to Mr Cunliffe.
It is a shame that our journalists and political commentators haven’t noticed or seem to be complicit in this.
I am hoping that most general public being honest and fair minded will soon begin to see the unfair, undemocratic, uncouth tactic that seems to have been unleashed.
I agree about the Tory sub-bridge dwellers. I must remember not to respond to them. They are probably organised and paid for, even if it’s only a bottle of Key’s wine or Paula Benefat’s used intimate apparel. They are sick, lying people who set themselves above other Kiwis. I’d rather they were shut out of here, but I don’t make those decisions.
xox
Another deflating opinion piece in the Press on David Cunliffe today by Andrea Vance,( If I remember correctly) Such a not too subtle put down. Shocking propaganda. Two bottles of Pinot this Xmas, is it journo?