Open mike 23/01/2014

Written By: - Date published: 7:02 am, January 23rd, 2014 - 220 comments
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openmike

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step right up to the mike …

220 comments on “Open mike 23/01/2014 ”

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  1. phillip ure 1
    23 January 2014 at 7:09 am

    here is the promised musical-treat..to start yr day..

    ..it is someone most will not have either heard of..or heard..

    ..and this is my personal song to david cunnliffe…

    ..and as for the singer..?

    ..be amazed at both her killer voice..

    ..and how beautiful she was..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgnXZopKTqI

    (and tomorrow..i will serve up the perfect coalition-song…

    ..for the green party..

    ..any guesses..?)

    phillip ure..

  2. dv 2
    23 January 2014 at 7:17 am

    The PM is going to announce far reaching systemic changes that are evidence based on best practise latter on this morning.

    That will be interesting.

    I have just read the dim post posting about the hiring of principals to sort out the schools.

    • freedom 2.1
      23 January 2014 at 8:07 am

      “But those initiatives have been overshadowed by controversy, including Education Minister Hekia Parata’s failed budget move to reduce teacher numbers, the bungled reorganisation of Christchurch schools and the abrupt resignation of Education Secretary Lesley Longstone. ”
      http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9640616/Nats-plan-financial-lures-to-turn-around-struggling-schools

      Notice how there was no mention of the ongoing Novapay debacle, what a shock.

      • aerobubble 2.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 4:15 pm

        Evidence based.

        I still can’t fathom how forcing teacher to do lots of paper work will assist students except as a means of wealthy schools (who do not have to fill in the forms or have paid help to do it) to leap ahead of the state sector.

        • aerobubble 2.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 4:37 pm

          So first burden the bottom schools with national standards, then send in the shock managers who will primarily have to enforce the education ministries policy guidance. Now looking back at the thrust of Keys reforms, less teachers, messing teacher pay and jobs around. Yeah, I get it, its just more of the same, just with extra spittle and a hard rub. Expecting a genie to jump out, that the woes of the tail will magically disappear now Key’s on the job, that takes gullibility of an astonishing degree. And its not like the right hasn’t played this bait and switch before, they said trust them they will produce growth, and they did, but it wasn’t them, its was just a huge rush gush of cheap high density fuel and the switch was not managing the transition rather claiming the transition was a chance to do nothing about society (though step in when the bankers had needs). And where has the wealth of the last thirty years ended up? In the hands of the 0.01%. Its the media damn it, that makes us believe we can have egalitarianism and fewer and fewer massively overwhelmed by wealth, its actually an oxymoron to saying an unequal society will maintain the egalitarianism. Our fathers,grandfathers, fought a war against those who would destroy egalitarianism. And here we are Key policies of support first for the richest, and poor people are responsible for their poverty, nothing to do with the choices the wealthy are making. What happen to discovering the choices poor people make and making sure they have real choices like the wealthy. Climate Change, no nothing to do with wealthy making choices, its poor people who have little influence, little wealth, little time…

          • phillip ure 2.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 5:14 pm

            ooh.!..aero..!

            ..let the return-button be your friend..eh..?

            ..it’s like trying to read the runes on a brick..

            ..the white-stuff/space is free..eh..?

            ..and no trees are chopped down for it..

            ..so fill yer boots..!..

            ..eh..?

            phillip ure..

            • McFlock 2.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 5:30 pm

              wow
              phillip ure is giving people advice on how to lay out their comments so as to aid understanding?

              I guess that’s an auto-win for aerobubble.

            • aerobubble 2.1.1.1.1.2
              23 January 2014 at 6:10 pm

              Attacks on the messenger, and then distracting the thread, based solely on your own inability to fathom text that you must of understood to be so annoyed. You really need to read what I said, yet, you couldn’t, and I’m supposed to care. See another error on your part, assumption that I care.

              It hurts Key that his whitewash of sending in managers, after introducing onerous bureaucracy, and whose previous policies have messed around the education sector.
              Always supporting the private education and dumbing down the state system.

              • greywarbler …
                23 January 2014 at 10:21 pm

                What’s the matter with you aerobubble. People are interested in what you say if you aren’t too high and mighty to make it decipherable. I guess you aren’t talking to yourself.

                • aerobubble …
                  24 January 2014 at 4:45 pm

                  Had this debate before. No I don’t care. Its my loss not yours. Oh and since you are still having problems with comprehending this, I suggest social and english classes, social since you seem to believe people owe you comprehensible statements in a political arena (like Key would ever do such a thing when asked, to clarify himself). As for the notion that I must be talking to myself because no one could possible decrypt (or read between the lines) is just so pathetic an argument, like you know everything about everyone, are you still three?

          • greywarbler 2.1.1.1.2
            23 January 2014 at 5:19 pm

            Hi just put a break every couple of sentences. Phil u is pretty ‘spaced out’ but the solidity of the wall of words makes it hard to sort out meaning.

            • aerobubble 2.1.1.1.2.1
              24 January 2014 at 5:02 pm

              I use a laptop, time poor, or just lazy, but clearly no english mayor, but its all good. Since speach is better said, than silence. People can read something else if it bugs them. An dif they do need to read it, then surely they should respect the writer already. Unless of course its some dull person who can’t specify what they aren’t understanding. Sure they could go back to school.

              Thank you, some go defensive, others like you do the right thing and observe some of the problem, i.e. I don’t space out enough, and add to the debate rather than just plugging the debate with how they are not understand and being unreasonable in not having the clarity of mind to express their problem better.

    • phillip ure 2.2
      23 January 2014 at 8:09 am

      does anyone know where/when key is speaking in west ak..?

      ..i thought i’d go and see him..and then cunnliffe..

      ..and then work it up into some sorta tale of two speeches..

      ..that’s the plan..anyway..

      ..phillip ure..

      • freedom 2.2.1
        23 January 2014 at 8:45 am

        some cloistered dungeon full of businessmen

        look for the sulphur plumes and you’ll find it for sure

        • phillip ure 2.2.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 9:22 am

          @ freedom..heh..!

          ..and for anyone interested in expressing a point of view to the prime minister…

          ..john keys’ office told me those ‘sulphur-fumes’ will be emanating from deep in working class territory..(that rightwing/up-yours! s.o.h.again..?..)

          ..at the trust stadium in west ak..

          ..at 11.45 am..

          ..phillip ure..

      • karol 2.2.2
        23 January 2014 at 9:36 am

        Business Forum at Trusts Stadium.

        $90.00 – Probably invitation only – got an expensive suit?

        Yay! Already Cunliffe’s is free and just a speech.

      • greywarbler 2.2.3
        23 January 2014 at 5:22 pm

        phillip u A tale of two ditties!

  3. phillip ure 3
    23 January 2014 at 7:29 am

    tory-trout kathryn rich on tv one-breakfast..

    ..defending/pimping for..the energy-drink-pushers..

    ..ew..!

    ..just fucken ‘ew!’..

    ..every word out of her mouth just spin/lies..

    ..(must not interfere with ‘markets’..eh..?..under any circumstances..)

    big big proveable ‘rich’-lies..

    1)..there is only the caffeine from one coffee in them..

    2)..the pushers ‘only market to over 18 yr olds’..

    ..kathryn rich

    ..diabetes-pusher..

    phillip ure..

    • Paul 3.1
      23 January 2014 at 7:49 am

      So that’s where Tories work after they leave parliament?
      Helping out the multinational corporates in another way.

      • phillip ure 3.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 8:17 am

        with the now clear/proven health-outcomes from consuming this addictive ‘product’..

        ..this (low-rent ‘speedball’) of sugar and caffeine..

        (diabetes/obesity..?..anyone..?..)

        ..rich has all the ‘qualities’/’standards’ (pun-intentional) of a p-pusher…

        ..how could she not..

        ..and you could argue..that the original ‘speedball’..ie heroin/cocaine mixed together..

        ..is only marginally worse than this crap..

        ..as a lifetime of caffeine/sugar will end ‘bad’…

        ..(and we have an obesity-problem…?..anyone still wondering why..?..

        ..i’d regulate these fuckers..and all the other pushers of salt/sugar/fat-laden crap disguised/marketed as ‘food’..

        ..right out the fucken door..

        ..’cos they sure as hell won’t clean up their act any other way..

        ..and a new benchmark are-you-fucken-kidding-me?..

        ..(from the mouth of (that’s!)-rich..)

        ..’industry-standards’..

        ..and their policy/practice of:

        ..’get them addicted to our product..when they are still young..and we will have them for life’..

        ..peddlers of misery/death..

        ..all of them…)

        phillip ure..

        • phillip ure 3.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 8:56 am

          and fuck tvone..!

          ..they have repackaged richs’-lies..

          .and are presenting it as fucken ‘news’..

          ..(crates of product for the crew..?..)

          ..craven slaves to their sugar-pushing advertisers…

          phillip ure..

        • MaxFletcher 3.1.1.2
          23 January 2014 at 12:05 pm

          “..and you could argue..that the original ‘speedball’..ie heroin/cocaine mixed together…is only marginally worse than this crap.”

          Like to see you argue how injecting heroin and cocaine is somehow nearly equivalent to chopping back a few cans of V

          • McFlock 3.1.1.2.1
            23 January 2014 at 12:27 pm

            same way he thinks that dairy farming equates to full-on antebellum slavery.

          • phillip ure 3.1.1.2.2
            23 January 2014 at 2:37 pm

            @ max fletcher..

            ..1)..both are addictive..

            ..2)..long term use of both has serious health-implication..

            3)..continued use of both will lead to premature-death..

            ..(and in fact..if you were using unadulterated heroin/cocaine…

            ..you will become addicted..as with the sugar/caffeine..

            ..but it could be argued that heroin/cocaine dosen’t give you diabetes etc..)

            ..the comparisons are obvious..

            phillip ure..

            • MaxFletcher 3.1.1.2.2.1
              23 January 2014 at 4:00 pm

              So? One has a far greater rate of mortality than the other – so great is the disparity between death by heroin and cocaine and death by caffeine and sugar that to make any connection is vapid and stupid

              • phillip ure …
                23 January 2014 at 5:07 pm

                @ max..

                ..given the relative numbers using both different groups of drugs..

                ..and the proven causing of diabetes etc..from sugar-addiction..

                ..many many more would be dying prematurely from the consequences of a heavy sugar-addiction..

                ..mix in caffeine..

                ..mix in meat..

                ..mix in animal fats

                ..mix in dairy-fats etc..

                ..and you have a cocktail recipie for preventable-disease..

                ..and a premature/nasty death..

                ..how could you not..?

                ..so that ‘disparity’ of which you speak..

                ..is the exact opposite of what you claim..

                ..phillip ure..

                • MaxFletcher …
                  24 January 2014 at 9:15 am

                  If all the people in the world who currently ingest meat, sugar and caffeine were to switch to coke and heroin I think you’d find the world would became a far more unhealthy and terrible place.

  4. Paul 4
    23 January 2014 at 7:41 am

    I am starting to see a new meme appearing.Yesterday Michelle Boag said NZ was an egalitarian society on the Mora’s dreadful Panel ( which blew me away).
    Then today on Radio NZ a story at about 6.40 mentioned Key talking about changes to education proposed by the Nats) in which Key. Have the Nat spin machine decided to play a game which blames the education system for us not being as egalitarian as we can be? As if Key’s kids, brought up in Parnell, Omaha and Hawaii are equal with a kid brought up in Porirua. Is this the way they plan to blunt the levels of poverty and inequality in the country? By saying we are an egalitarian society. If Mora’s and Robertson’s silence to such comments is anything to go by, the media will not challenge such ideas and simply repeat them.

    So that’s two times the Nats have used this meme.

    “Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action’.”
    ― Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

    • Colonial Viper 4.1
      23 January 2014 at 7:47 am

      The egalitarian meme is there to assuage the conscience of the top 20%. Means that they’ve picked up that the inequality meme is brought too much traction.

      • McFlock 4.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 12:30 pm

        The egalitarian meme is there to assuage the conscience of the top 20%

        and to try to con the other 80%. My guess is that a number of the tory activists here are being hit with the same stick as every other average NZer.

    • phillip ure 4.2
      23 January 2014 at 8:41 am

      @ paul..

      ..yeah..spin-merchants edwards and boag on that panel –

      – had me both face-palming and eye-clawing at the same time..

      ..truly hideous people…truly hideous ‘views’..

      ..(boag poo-poohing the idea of giving aid to third world countries..

      (cos the money ‘isn’t accountable’..see..!..beyond hideous..!..

      ..q.e.d..!..)

      ..with edwards providing one laugh-out-loud-moment..

      ..with his threats t sue anyone who calls him a ‘spin-merchant’..

      ..even fellow spin-merchant boag laughed him out the door on that one…

      ..i tired of it..

      ..so left the room..and did something far more important/relevant..

      ..(like laundry?..)

      (oh..and edwards has a problem that is fretting him somewhat..

      ..he is looking for another house..preferably on a beach..

      .’cos he likes having two houses to move between..

      ..so if anyone out there could help..?..)

      ..brian edwards..both the socialist/left-winger and spin-merchant..

      ..you are having when you don’t have a ‘socialist/left-winger and spin-merchant’

      ..eh..?

      ..and as with breakfast television..if there is no improvements..(and it ain’t looking good so far..)

      ..i don’t think i will be able to endure that ‘highest-rating hour of radio’..

      ..for that much longer..

      ..these same people..all just saying the same things they have been saying..since forever..

      ..over and fucken over again…

      ..(it’s like being trapped in a gif..)

      ..(that is my one-line review of afternoons on nat-rad..it is tired/boring/cliched..

      ..’trip-to-mars..?..(hey..!..heads-up..!..way past time to retire that wheeze..eh..?..if mora has to dig any deeper to find a way to ‘work’ it that he hasn’t done a hundred times before..he will need a drilling-permit..

      ..just fucken talk/interview..drop the stoopid construct..)

      ..and mora is increasingly sounding like he is just going thru the motions..

      ..and i am fast losing interest..

      ..phillip ure..

      • Paul 4.2.1
        23 January 2014 at 8:44 am

        RNZ should be better than Breakfast TVG.
        It isn’t when Mora’s show is on.

        • phillip ure 4.2.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 9:06 am

          @ paul..

          ..with hindsight..

          ..the summer crew on both morning and afternoon – were far more interesting to listen to..

          ..than the incumbants..

          ..and boy..does that panel-guest-list need a good clear/clean-out..

          ..are there any of them that you think will have anything ‘fresh’ to say..

          ..the only real reason to listen to them is to get choleric at the unthinking rightwing-bullshit from most of them..

          ..then..speaking for ‘the left’..we have pagani..?

          ..beyond fucken irony..eh..?

          ..phillip ure..

          • Paul 4.2.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 10:07 am

            The Panel so far.
            Measure for yourself how representative this group is.

            Monday
            Andrew Clay
            NZ comedian

            Elleen Read
            Business editor at Stuff, a neoliberal news source.

            Tuesday
            Graham Bell
            Ex policeman and television presenter on Police Ten 7.
            Overtly right wing views…

            Bernard Hickey
            Economist.
            Jim gets Bernard on to ask for personal advice about mortgages.

            Wednesday
            Michelle Boag. Leader of one of one of National’s factions.
            Brian Edwards.
            A Herne Bay socialist. Friends with Michelle Boag. Always on the Panel with Boag.
            On 23 September 2009 Edwards claimed that “Public Libraries are just a Form of Theft” [arguing for “user pays” library books as a compensation to authors.

  5. geoff 5
    23 January 2014 at 7:48 am

    So if Labour is not completely adverse to deep sea oil drilling then what is their position on getting money out of it?
    National’s deal with the oil companies is that NZ gets 5% of any profits, right?
    Is Labour happy to go along with that?

    Edit: OK, answered my own question…
    Labour is considering a model similar to Norway, where the government receives royalties from the proceeds of drilling operations, he says, but no decisions have been made.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/233961/labour-stance-on-deep-sea-drilling

    • Te Reo Putake 5.1
      23 January 2014 at 8:09 am

      Personally, I’d retool Solid Energy and turn them into a state owned exploration/drilling company. That way, we’d get both royalties and the profits. Some of those profits could in turn be used to investigate how we can phase carbon based energy out of the NZ environment.

      • vto 5.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 8:46 am

        Good thinking. Did you come up with that yourself?

        • Te Reo Putake 5.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 9:18 am

          Yep, vto, but it’s also partly a distillation of the opinions of others in Labour. I think most LP activists are of the opinion that this kind of energy is both not sustainable and bad for us. The question is timeframe and replacement.

      • felix 5.1.2
        23 January 2014 at 8:57 am

        Great idea but make it a govt department. Had quite enough of this “state-owned company” bullshit.

    • just saying 5.2
      23 January 2014 at 8:40 am

      For those concerned about climate change and sustainablility, socio-economic inequality, democracy and poverty, the way Labour appears to be moving is worrying.

      Policy announced on Monday will have to be radical. With the troubling recent pronouncements, it’s looking increasingly likely that Cunliffe is not and was not sincere and is preparing to make soothing noises and to chuck a few pathetic crumbs, while hinting with a big wink at the left that if we just keep schtum, he’ll wow us after the election is safely in the bag.

      If he does so, he will prove himself to be just another self-interested fraud as far as I’m concerned.

      • tinfoilhat 5.2.1
        23 January 2014 at 9:47 am

        “For those concerned about climate change and sustainablility, socio-economic inequality, democracy and poverty, the way Labour appears to be moving is worrying.”

        No not at all, they should just not bother voting for Labour/National and should deliver their vote to the Greens.

      • geoff 5.2.2
        23 January 2014 at 9:59 am

        How much policy will actually be announced on Monday? I thought it was just going to be a speech giving broad outlines.

        I’m willing to give Cunliffe a decent chance. Lord knows that Shearer got plenty of chances.

        • weka 5.2.2.1
          23 January 2014 at 2:10 pm

          True. But I’m starting to want to say something like, give him another 6 months, he’ll come right…

          How long do we have to wait?

          • Colonial Viper 5.2.2.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 2:22 pm

            Time is ticking away, yes. But he has had far less than 6m in the job.

            • weka 5.2.2.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 2:33 pm

              What do you think the hold up is?

              • geoff …
                23 January 2014 at 3:10 pm

                So what do you want him to do, Weka? Just so we’re clear where your disappointments lie.

                • McFlock …
                  23 January 2014 at 3:15 pm

                  lol

                • weka …
                  23 January 2014 at 3:39 pm

                  In case you’re not being completely facetious, he could make a committment to some things that give a clear indication of a shift away from neoliberalism. The standard is littered with suggestions, the most frequent one being a clear out of caucus. Concrete policy moves would be good too.

                  DC said yesterday that they were scrapping 2 social policies to use the money better elsewhere for kiwis. On Monday I’d like to see something substantial on what the replacements are, not just generalised rhetoric about what NZ needs.

                  • geoff …
                    23 January 2014 at 4:02 pm

                    I’m not being facetious.

                    Let’s be realistic with the timeline so far. Cunliffe didn’t get the leadership till near the end of the year, nothing happens in politics over the summer holiday period and we’re only just coming out of that. So that’s largely why we haven’t heard much to this point in time.

                    The clear out of caucus just isn’t something you can do quickly.

                    If he does turn out to be all piss and wind I definitely won’t be voting for Labour.

                    At least we haven’t had any bene on the roof anecdotes yet….

    • Chooky 5.3
      23 January 2014 at 9:12 am

      imo….unless New Zealanders take control of oil exploration ( as in Norway) and receive 80% of the profits of the oil , the risks of exploration to NZ coasts and the problems of adding to global warming by fossil fuels …..make it not worth while

      In other words a few piffly jobs for NZers…. in exchange for oil drilling ( and all the dirty environmental risks and social downside are ours ) …..while all the PROFITS go OUT of the country into the hands of multi national oil companies… ( plus the probability of a few backhanders and shares for the compliant )….as is likely under National …… is theft from NZers!

      ….Key’s National oil deals and proposals are pathetic and should not be countenanced

      ….Labour has a lot of work to do to get an acceptable Norwegian model deal on oil… for ALL NZers ….anything else is unacceptable!

      • Chooky 5.3.1
        23 January 2014 at 9:21 am

        Maybe the Labour Party should get Farouk al-Kasam out to advise them on how to go about it. He is an oil expert and has seen the downside of oil drilling in many countries both environmentally and socially. He helped Norway take control of their own oil rather than being a passive ‘victim’ of the oil multi nationals

        Farouk al-Kasim, the Iraqi geologist who has been more responsible than anyone else for Norway’s success as an oil power.

        Farouk al-Kasim, the man behind Norway’s oil success | TIME.com http://business.time.com/2009/08/31/how-socialized-health-care-made-norway-an-oil-power/#ixzz2rA0UIIyy

      • Bearded Git 5.3.2
        23 January 2014 at 9:53 am

        Chooky-Norway has 67% of the oil/gas industry through Statoil (and so gets 67% of revenue as well as some jobs from the other 33%).
        Labour made noises about looking at this model when it announced the drilling policy-looks good to me.

        • geoff 5.3.2.1
          23 January 2014 at 10:00 am

          Yeah but NZ doesn’t have a statoil, right?

          • Bearded Git 5.3.2.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 10:59 am

            geoff-Labour needs to set this up. Kiwioil perhaps?

            Will cost some money as the state would then be up for 67% of the cost of any exploration, but this is no bad thing as this may slow exploration and Labour really shouldn’t be seen to be promoting drilling.

            • geoff 5.3.2.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 11:11 am

              I’m not convinced that digging up deep sea oil off our coast isn’t a very bad idea. I would need to see a very convincing case before I would support it.

              3 points…

              1. If a spill occurred it would cause significant damage to our ecology and existing economic enterprises.
              2. There is a risk that it financially might not pay off, a risk with any very large project.
              3. It definitely would contribute negatively to climate change.

              If it is a very bad idea then there’s no point setting up a kiwioil.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                23 January 2014 at 1:12 pm

                We should be requiring that all of the equipment and personnel necessary to contain an oil well blow out is in place before any wells are drilled. That should be an absolute minimum. Anything less than that is just being cheap and hoping that nothing will go wrong.

            • Draco T Bastard 5.3.2.1.1.2
              23 January 2014 at 1:08 pm

              We do all of the initial exploration anyway and then we give that information, free, to the multinationals.

        • Chooky 5.3.2.2
          23 January 2014 at 10:01 am

          @ Bearded Git…..great…the more every NZer gets the better…(eg for free tertiary education, health , retirement, living allowance, start up companies, public transport , railway upgrade, cleaning up rivers, full employment, safeguarding DOC estate … etc etc )

          @ geoff….well imo that is why the Labour Party need to work and get advice on how to get a get a Statoil

  6. tricledrown 6
    23 January 2014 at 8:58 am

    Socialism for cola and sugar industry.
    Subsidizing giant corporations and denying those who could do with elective surgery.
    Just dumb plain dumb we might as well take seat belts brakes airbags out of cars according to Rich bitches ideology.
    An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.

    • jcuknz 6.1
      23 January 2014 at 9:40 am

      Seat Belts and Airbags merely give a sense of security to encourage people to drive badly.

      • greywarbler 6.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 11:07 am

        jcuknz
        Might be right for you. But if I had them I’d feel safer in my car when you’re around.

  7. freedom 7
    23 January 2014 at 9:02 am

    Looking over Audrey Young’s recent articles, I am having serious trouble differentiating them from a run of the mill National Party press release.

    • veutoviper 7.1
      23 January 2014 at 10:09 am

      Yes, freedon, but read the comments, using the Most Liked sort option. You have to go along way down before you find the couple of Key supporter comments, with the overwhelming majority of the 52 comments very anti-Key.

      • freedom 7.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 1:23 pm

        the honesty in the comments is the only benefit from her contributions to journalism 🙂

        • veutoviper 7.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 2:43 pm

          Not just hers; same is true of a number of other opinion writers for the Herald. I find I get a better insight by reading the comments using the Most Liked function. IMO there has been a considerable seachange in the comments on Opinion articles over the last year; and not to Key’s liking.

  8. greywarbler 8
    23 January 2014 at 9:20 am

    Some overseas boffin talking on Radionz about how we can do education better, I nearly said batter. Freudian slip eh! It must be great to have a job like that touring round countries peddling yourself as a master or mistress of your subject. Funny how governments listen to some but not others.

    Key says that NZ education is doing well but NACT is going to bring in better systems and they are sure people will welcome them. Why don’t governments do what The People want? Not whatever great idea that can advance them personally or Partyily?

    What a fuc..en arrogant lot they are. Educated holediggers. They know what they know and keep on doing it over and over like an autistic child repetitively and stuck in one place. And are they doing what is needed? Something may be needed but they are unlikely to come up with a workable or elegant solution because they only know about their hole.

    Labour needs to follow that old WW1 quip ‘If you know a better ‘ole go to it’. We can guide them to that hole! (Source – Bruce Bairnsfather artist.)

  9. Manu 9
    23 January 2014 at 9:26 am

    Roy Morgan Poll

    Maybe not so accurate as taken when most hard working Kiwis are on holiday away from their phones. Lets face it they are the core National vote:

    “This latest New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll on voting intention was conducted by telephone – both landline and mobile telephone, with a NZ wide cross-section of 1,509 electors from January 6 – 19, 2014. Of all electors surveyed 4% (unchanged) didn’t name a party”.

    Just food for thought but feel free to ‘vent’ at will.

    • greywarbler 9.1
      23 January 2014 at 11:14 am

      Funny that – when I read ‘hard working kiwis’ or ‘taxpayers’ I feel a blinkered automatic message is coming through from what passes for someone’s brain.

      When trainers don’t want racehorses distracted by surrounding and discombobulating activities and people they put blinkers on them. Seems like RWNJs do the same. It facilitates focus and gives them a better chance of winning. Something to learn from that?

    • ScottGN 9.2
      23 January 2014 at 11:42 am

      Who is really away from their phones these days? And RM randomly call both landlines and mobiles.
      Nice try though…

    • framu 9.3
      23 January 2014 at 12:30 pm

      “hard working Kiwis are … the core National vote:”

      thats really what you wanted to say isnt it?

    • Jan 9.4
      23 January 2014 at 1:07 pm

      Do you really think they don’t take their mobile phones on holiday with them?
      Using mobile phone ringing is one of the reasons Roy Morgan polls tend to lean more to the left – they catch people with a life as well as those who don’t have land-lines

    • stargazer 9.5
      23 January 2014 at 2:23 pm

      very many hard working kiwis don’t get a break during that period – they have to be back at work.

  10. tricledrown 10
    23 January 2014 at 9:30 am

    Keys education policy is an admission has failed Pisa results for which shcieher is a member has shown has been a failure .
    So Now we are Now seeing the coverup before the election.
    Hekia Parata failure
    Anne Tolley complete failure.
    Stephen Joyce complete failure
    Ladder pullers

  11. Arfamo 11
    23 January 2014 at 9:31 am

    Yup. I’ve noticed Key’s talking about NZ being an “egalitarian society”. It bloody well is not. Not any more. Far from it. So that’s going to be one of the new right wing propaganda themes for this year. Expect to hear it over and over again. At the same time stuff.co is carrying an article about graduating nurses not being able to get jobs http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9639314/Nurses-terrifying-time-job-hunting. No money in the health system is the reason for that.

    My girlfriend’s job-hunting. Had to quit her last job because of work stress – exacerbating a heart condition. Hasn’t had a break for the last 3 years because all her jobs have been temporary for only six months so she never qualifies for annual leave and hasn’t been able to get any time off.

    A different nobody in a high pressure call centre somewhere in the bowels of WINZ rings her every week. She has to be ready to answer their calls at any time. Feels like being harassed by uncaring robots mindlessly running a programme. How many job interviews has she had this week? Not their fault. They probably hate it but that’s what they have to do to earn a living – otherwise they’d be on the receiving end of the very thing they’re doing every day themselves.

    There are fuck all jobs around, the conditions are shit, and she and hundreds of unemployed are being forced to apply for jobs they’re not qualified for and know they won’t get, and all they’re doing is stressing her out, making it harder to find a job, and making her feel like absolute shit. Her health is suffering as well. She can’t afford doctor’s visits. Nobody but me cares. All the media reports is waffle about the economy picking up. Sick of this bullshit. We have to get rid of these arseholes in government.

    They are wrecking our society while they are creaming it themselves and they don’t give a shit.

    • greywarbler 11.1
      23 January 2014 at 11:34 am

      Arfamo
      Kia kaha. You are doing good. We are all working for Labour to introduce better conditions for people, reasonable expectations, and acknowledgement of people’s qualities, not having policy based according to sick, derisive, negative ideas thought up by vicious, hateful people.

      Can you copy this over to David Cunliffe’s thread as an example of what we feel in our hearts must be alleviated straight away when he achieves government power. It is very straight, informative and something to carry in mind as an example of a large group who are in urgent need of a change in policy not now, but yesterday.

    • weka 11.2
      23 January 2014 at 2:20 pm

      WINZ are getting worse and worse 🙁

      Arfamo, does she have a supportive GP? See if she can get on sickness benefit for a while (or whatever the call the second tier (health issues) of the job seeker benefit now). If she can get that, then the requirements should change and not be so arduous and insane. Fortunately a letter from a GP still carries some weight with WINZ.

  12. Will@Welly 12
    23 January 2014 at 9:33 am

    John Key’s “big announcement’s” – he’s saying they’ll be based on models from overseas – I’m picking more of the user-chargers/Charter Schools, with funding going to the private sector.
    If there are changes being made, let’s see the “big picture”, not just the rhetoric. But remember this marks yet another “change” in 6 years in power – is this how we want our children taught? Constant experimentation?

  13. greywarbler 13
    23 January 2014 at 9:35 am

    I have a relative in WA It has been 44C degrees there. We are fortunate not to have such temperatures here. It seems, from reports on the radio this morning, that many of our rivers and swimming holes are polluted with faeces and dangerous to health.

    We know how to poop in our own backyard. Even dogs and cats know to go into someone else’s to do their business. We aren’t as clever as them or even dung beetles or ants.

    What a shame – all that difficulty for women giving birth because of the large size of the baby’s heads to presumably accommodate brains, when all we need is the head the size of a fly to go about our business of fouling our surroundings.

  14. scotty 14
    23 January 2014 at 9:45 am

    Something smells at The Press in ChCh.

    Any articles remotely critical of the Dairy Industry in Canterbury are pulled from the Press site within hours of first appearing.
    The latest today ,regarding Ecan elections.

    WTF is going on?

    • geoff 14.1
      23 January 2014 at 10:10 am

      Yeah it’s a fucking disgrace. The decrease in quality of drinking water in Canterbury is appalling. Why aren’t Cantabrians more fucked off that they’ve gone from drinking pristine water to watered down cowshit?

      • vto 14.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 10:22 am

        You might be surprised at the depth of the anger over that whole issue – removing democracy, stealing water, shitting up the rivers. The fact that people are not shouting in the streets does not reflect the depth of feeling. Methinks the farmers have got themselves offside with all others for a very long time to come over this theft.

        Every person is aware of it. Most every person is disgusted at the actions taken by this government on behalf of the farmers.

        • geoff 14.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 10:30 am

          Enough to vote the tories out of Canterbury districts though?

          I had a chat with a person from Kaikoura the other day about whether people there were pissed off enough about the oil drilling enough to vote out National. She seemed to think that it still wasn’t enough to stop the traditional voters from voting National, even though they were extremely fucked off about it.

          • vto 14.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 10:47 am

            Imo yes, in various enclaves when combined with earthquake issues, certain quarters will give the Nats the biggest dumping of their lives methinks.

            As for traditional Nat voters – yes, they will likely stick their heads in the sand and ignore, while at the same time working up some poor weak excuses for this horrid lot. Nothing changes.

            • geoff 14.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 10:54 am

              I hope you’re correct.

            • Colonial Viper 14.1.1.1.1.2
              23 January 2014 at 11:40 am

              Yep. Conservative types can simmer quietly and unobtrusively for a long time on issues of anti-democracy and bad governance, but when they boil over it’s quite something to behold.

          • Papamike 14.1.1.1.2
            23 January 2014 at 2:27 pm

            At least Christchurch will go back to Labour, along with the new Council.
            So should be easier to get things done.

      • Manu 14.1.2
        23 January 2014 at 10:30 am

        Water is great in Canterbury. We all drink straight from the tap and love it. Inventing false stories helps nobody.

        • vto 14.1.2.1
          23 January 2014 at 10:48 am

          Wrong

        • geoff 14.1.2.2
          23 January 2014 at 10:53 am

          I’m not inventing false stories, Manu. Maybe where you are the water is fine, Manu (or maybe you’ve got the taste buds of a bulldozer), but the water where I am, (Canterbury, not Christchurch) has changed significantly for the worse (on par with Dunedin water) and I now have to filter it.

          • Paul 14.1.2.2.1
            23 January 2014 at 11:50 am

            Manu writes such tiresome comments far too often.

          • jcuknz 14.1.2.2.2
            23 January 2014 at 7:58 pm

            You should know that Dunedin has top grade water …. I used to only drink bottled water but now I drink nothing but tap water … it tastes fine.

            • geoff 14.1.2.2.2.1
              23 January 2014 at 8:07 pm

              Dunedin has top grade water ….it tastes fine.

              HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

              best laugh I’ve had all day!

              thanks.

              • jcuknz …
                24 January 2014 at 8:20 am

                Funny when ideology gets in the way of facts.

                • geoff …
                  24 January 2014 at 8:47 am

                  I am regularly in Dunedin. I did my tertiary education in Dunedin. I know exactly what Dunedin water tastes like and it is nasty.

                  I grew up in Canterbury where the water quality used to be superb. People who grew up in Dunedin often don’t know any better. Then again I know plenty of born and bred Dunedinites who filter their water because of the disgusting taste.

        • Paul 14.1.2.3
          23 January 2014 at 11:48 am

          Dull and duller.

        • Manu 14.1.2.4
          23 January 2014 at 5:30 pm

          Woops! Manu was wrong. We have a team working 20K’s north of Rangiora and the home owner served them bottled water. So my bad.

    • Bill 14.2
      23 January 2014 at 10:10 am

      It’s a coo!

    • Paul 15.1
      23 January 2014 at 11:46 am

      Sadly you aren’t.

    • Naki Man 15.2
      23 January 2014 at 1:05 pm

      Puckish Rogue
      That is a great article, Shearer is a very smart and honest man.
      Not surprising then that those with the entitlement mentality white anted him

    • Draco T Bastard 15.3
      23 January 2014 at 1:54 pm

      Nope, that sounds like shear bloody stupidity. Humans are social creatures and the exist within a community. None of them can be self-sufficient – only the community can be and it does that through each individual working with others to provide everything that a community, and the individuals within it, needs.

  16. Morrissey 16
    23 January 2014 at 10:12 am

    MEMO Populuxe1:
    Time to train your guns on this snitch “Caesar”.

    In 2012 you took a few minutes off from your boots-and-all participation in the Soviet-style character assassination campaign against Julian Assange to have a snide dig at John Pilger for his “personal obsession” with seeking justice for whistle-blower Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning. [1] Last year you sneeringly dismissed Edward Snowden as “a bored IT drone with a narcissistic personality disorder wanting to play 007”. [2] It is clear that dissenters, whistle-blowers, journalists and truth-tellers in general are an insult, a scourge and a vexation to responsible government supporters like you and your friends.

    Now it’s time for you to come out against another whistle-blower. The recent release of photos of atrocities in Syria were taken by a defector (or in Populuxe-speak, a “snitch”) calling himself “Caesar”. [3] For argument’s sake, let us assume these are not fabrications like the U.S. claims that Iran used nerve gas in 1988 [4], or the Timisoara massacre photos [5] or the Hill and Knowlton con job about Iraqi soldiers torturing Kuwaiti civilians. [6] Let us assume that the “Caesar” revelations are genuine. If they are, surely the likes of you and your ideological soul-mates that haunt this mostly excellent forum need to be employing every rhetorical trick in the book to undermine and demean and ridicule him (or her).

    And if you and your friends do NOT denounce this latest whistleblower, you need to answer this simple question: why the hell not?



    [1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04062012/#comment-478939
    [2] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10062013/#comment-646568
    [3] http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/caesars-revenge-assad-photographer-exposes-syrian-regimes-mass-torture-1433131
    [4] http://www.matrixmasters.com/wtc/chomsky/prospects/prospects.html
    [5] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-03-13/news/9001210292_1_grave-nicolae-ceausescu-bodies
    [6] http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/HK/HK2.html

    • McFlock 16.1
      23 January 2014 at 12:53 pm

      Because even if all your assumptions were correct, some of us don’t have your exquisite cocktail of delusion and obsession.

      • Morrissey 16.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 1:30 pm

        One of those aforementioned comrades of Populuxe1 has chosen rather unwisely to wade into waters where he’s perhaps not too confident….

        Because even if all your assumptions were correct,
        Which assumptions are you talking about?

        …some of us don’t have your exquisite cocktail
        Uh-oh! Use of an elegant metaphor signals trouble….

        …of delusion and obsession.
        Sadly, it’s a fizzer, however. Let’s skip over the indolent and vacuous “obsession” jibe and get to the only substantial point of your post: what part of my post constitutes a “delusion”?

        • McFlock 16.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 1:47 pm

          Every assumption you made in comment 16.

          “Obsession” seems a pretty reasonable description for someone resurrecting an 18 month old blog argument.

          As for delusion, the easiest example is the last sentence in your first paragraph: “It is clear that dissenters, whistle-blowers, journalists and truth-tellers in general are an insult, a scourge and a vexation to responsible government supporters like you and your friends.” If you believe that comment to be true, then your perception lacks accuracy, therefore you are delusional. But really your inflated sense of importance counts, too.

          • Morrissey 16.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 2:11 pm

            Every assumption you made in comment 16.
            Such as? You really need to be specific, my friend.

            “Obsession” seems a pretty reasonable description for someone resurrecting an 18 month old blog argument.
            So our friend no longer goes after journalists and political dissenters, taking the lead of such moral giants as Bashar Obama and William Hague? That’s a welcome development—assuming I have assumed correctly.

            As for delusion, the easiest example is the last sentence in your first paragraph: “It is clear that dissenters, whistle-blowers, journalists and truth-tellers in general are an insult, a scourge and a vexation to responsible government supporters like you and your friends.” If you believe that comment to be true, then your perception lacks accuracy, therefore you are delusional.
            Populuxe1, and several others who probably have the sense to regret it, did indeed go after dissenters, whistle-blowers, journalists and truth-tellers—as I showed in my footnotes. Maybe the others, including your good self, were more benign, but Populuxe1 certainly exhibited all those attitudes toward the targeted individuals.

            But really your inflated sense of importance counts, too.
            Could you back that up? It looks, unfortunately, like another lazy and groundless accusation.

            • McFlock 16.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 2:32 pm

              I am being specific.

              So our friend no longer goes after journalists and political dissenters, taking the lead of such moral giants as Bashar Obama and William Hague? That’s a welcome development—assuming I have assumed correctly.

              Again, assuming that your characterization of pop’s arguments is correct, your question is weird. If pop’s arguments had indeed continued to this day in that light, then you wouldn’t need to use 18 month old examples. So either you’re obsessed with that particular comment and correct in your assumption, or you’re obsessed with that particular comment even though it’s no longer relevant (and indeed makes your demands for criticism of “Caesar” even more odd).

              Populuxe1, and several others who probably have the sense to regret it, did indeed go after dissenters, whistle-blowers, journalists and truth-tellers—as I showed in my footnotes.

              Nope – you showed two comments a year apart, one questioning pilger’s position (unmitigated gall! That’s persecution, right there!) and one questioning snowden’s motives (calling him a “bored IT drone” – egad, such cruel character assassination!). Hardly “going after” dissenters.

              But really your inflated sense of importance counts, too.
              Could you back that up? It looks, unfortunately, like another lazy and groundless accusation

              sure.
              By the way: you’re not my friend, buddy.

              • Morrissey …
                23 January 2014 at 2:46 pm

                Okay, my friend, we’ll take your word for it. I accept Populuxe1 is a genuinely nice guy and would never join in officially sanctioned head-stompings. Nor would he, were he to have found himself living in Rwanda twenty years ago, have heeded the exhortations of Interahamwes radio and got hold of a machete and gone looking for Tutsis. He’s a reformed character, which is good to know.

                I take my hat off to Populuxe1….
                http://pad2.whstatic.com/images/thumb/2/23/Show-Respect-Step-2.jpg/670px-Show-Respect-Step-2.jpg

                By the way: you’re not my friend, buddy.
                Doh!

                • McFlock …
                  23 January 2014 at 2:59 pm

                  Correct response is I’m not your buddy, guy!.

                  But what could I expect from a delusional fuck who escalates someone using the phrase “IT drone” to the level of actively participating in genocide. 🙄

                  • Morrissey …
                    23 January 2014 at 7:03 pm

                    But what could I expect from a delusional fuck who escalates someone using the phrase “IT drone” to the level of actively participating in genocide.

                    Except he didn’t just use that phrase, did he? It was part of his ongoing program of parroting everything he could to disparage those officially sanctioned targets.

                    You say he would have behaved differently in different circumstances; I doubt it. The guys wielding the machetes in 1994 were not monsters, they were simply doing what the regime encouraged them to do. Just like our friend.

                    • McFlock …
                      23 January 2014 at 8:35 pm

                      The guys wielding the machetes in 1994 were not monsters, they were simply doing what the regime encouraged them to do. Just like our friend.

                      There are light years between taking a machete to someone and simply saying that they’re probably walter mitties. If you can’t see that yawning chasm, you have yet again astonished me with the extent of your delusion and conceit.

  17. The Outrider 17
    23 January 2014 at 12:04 pm

    Hello all,

    I am an ESL teacher by profession but have just been made redundant yet again in an industry that appears to be on its last legs in NZ at the moment.

    For some time I have been pondering a career change to something politically related as I have built considerable experience over the years with political campaigns and as a union delegate so I am treating this situation as a catalyst. Thus, I am seeking any opportunities that you may be aware of in the Auckland area, including low paid positions in the right field, to get formal experience. More details of my political background can be found on my LinkedIn profile. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alex-pirie/23/85b/98a

    In the short term I am also interested in relevant voluntary work as I have about two weeks left to run on my Auckland AT Hop card so transport is not an issue until that runs out. I am thinking my skill set would be helpful in an LEC or MPs office or similar but all suggestions will be considered. Thank you in advance for any assistance provided.

    • Te Reo Putake 17.1
      23 January 2014 at 2:15 pm

      Good on ya and good luck to you, Outrider. Can I suggest you email the NZCTU? They may know of work going in Ak unions. Also Unite might be keen on a pair of helping hands.

      • The Outrider 17.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 3:46 pm

        Thanks for that. I will email the NZCTU and see if Unite need any help at the moment but know they are always on a tight budget.

  18. SPC 18
    23 January 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Executive principals, leading groups of up to 10 schools.

    1. nice size for awarding out property and cleaning contracts etc.
    2. and of course diminishing the importance of the connection between school principals and their teaching teams within each school.
    3. a conduit for the Government and ministry in a top down regime.
    4. leading to easier school mergers, first step being united boards where schools remain on two sites initially etc.

    • McFlock 18.1
      23 January 2014 at 12:43 pm

      Also muddies responsibilities – who has final say, boards of trustees or executive principal?
      “lead teacher” vs head of department and principal?
      “change principal” vs board of trustees?

      The merger/contracting out is a nice theory – they definitely have ulterior motives for this management merry-go-round

      • logie97 18.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 5:08 pm

        I think we need to consider that all this tinkering is part of a smokescreen.
        The Ministry realises that education is entering a totally new phase.
        The traditional single cell classroom is rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
        Technology, whether we like it or not, is going to change schooling as we know it.
        The government knows it and does not want to be left with a lot of redundant school grounds/buildings, issues of falling rolls etc.

        They want to be in a position to begin to dispose of these “assets” sooner than later.

  19. Herodotus 19
    23 January 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Another story to compliment 100% pure NZ.
    What is happening in Wellington and why was the story downplayed so much by the council, glad to live in Auckland where we can utilise our harbour for fishing and swimming 🙂
    Anything over 280cfu is considered an unacceptable risk to health but Greater Wellington Regional Council recorded 69,000cfu on January 26 last year. Just a tad beyond The Acceptable level ! Mmmm

    However, when The Dominion Post reported the closure on February 5, water quality was not the primary reason given.
    Yesterday, Pike said the safety of rugby fans had contributed to the decision to close the platform but “that was somewhat coincidental because the issue was about the water quality”.
    He could not say why he had pointed to the sevens as the reason at the time but said there were security concerns and the two events “overlapped each other”. on February 5, water quality was not the primary reason given.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9639357/Pollution-at-dive-platform-off-the-scale

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9641370/Beach-bacteria-levels-pose-risk

    • McFlock 19.1
      23 January 2014 at 12:59 pm

      I’m sure key can find a scientist who will say it’s safe for him to swim in.
      In fact, key should go take a dip this afternoon.

      • Herodotus 19.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 1:19 pm

        Great photo op. Swim and catch a meal within Wellington harbour and live to tell of the tale. Especially as we read that Wellington is the 7th cleanest city in the world. Either : the world is a bad filthy place, wellington has gone backwards or don’t believe what you read.
        http://listtoptens.com/top-10-cleanest-cities-in-the-world/

        • farmboy 19.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 9:34 pm

          Very telling only two people cared enough to comment on this if it was cow shit in there they would be all over it.Look the other way towns and cities are not polluting, hell we wont even test down stream from them.

          • McFlock 19.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 9:48 pm

            well, no – some farmer would have stimulated a debate by claming that it was all fine and that people pissed off by it were anti-industry.

            As it is I know that Dunedin, for example, has spent hundreds of thousands if not millions trying to address the discharge problem, and actively monitors water quality.

            • farmboy 19.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 9:56 pm

              Finally someone admits that towns and cities have contributed majorly to the degradation of rivers and streams, good on dunners maybe some day we will get a full picture of how much damage cities and towns have done and are still doing to the waterways

              • McFlock …
                23 January 2014 at 10:15 pm

                nobody’s ever denied it.

                I seem to recall that every regional authority is responsible for monitoring its water quality – hence the dive platform being closed.

                But 5 million cattle shitting onto the ground next to a waterway is different to a binary sewage treatment and disposal system for 4 million people.

  20. captain hook 20
    23 January 2014 at 1:14 pm

    National will FIX education by getting Coloin Crag to enrol a gang of bible bashers with degrees from mail order universities to run evryfing.

    • Colonial Viper 21.1
      23 January 2014 at 1:42 pm

      Chanelling Thatcher: “there is no such thing as community, only individuals and families.”

    • greywarbler 21.2
      23 January 2014 at 4:16 pm

      Because he is a dry little legal man who wants to cut down on unnecessary sentiment as not helpful to drawing up tightly scripted legal documents well salted with economic hard-line beliefs about the baseness of human society.

      He has managed to handle Maori concepts re the Treatry of Waitangi probably with a tight smile. And NACTs can do anything – humouring Alamein Kopu every day when necessary. But community must be a bridge too far.

  22. greywarbler 22
    23 January 2014 at 1:21 pm

    I was looking for information about the monopoly purchase of ice cream concession by Fontana – freezing out small businesses – for 10 years. But couldn’t find anything not even when I put NZ Herald first. But I did see about really big payout for overseas trips in business class for ACC officials (Auckland City Council, not to be confused with that other juggernaut).
    Note the acronym Ateed – we will be hearing more of this cruisy concession.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11168869
    8/12/2013
    …spending details come after revelations this week that the council’s events organisation, known as Ateed, also spent $220,000 to send 18 people – including TV3 news anchor Hilary Barry – to the America’s Cup in San Francisco.
    That bill, and a further $57,369 for the two Ateed staff to attend a meeting in Dubai and the 2013 Monaco Yacht Show, is under attack from former Auckland City mayor Dick Hubbard and sitting councillor Cameron Brewer.
    Ateed should not be doing what NZ Trade & Enterprise already did well, and their targets were “weak” for the money spent, Hubbard said. “It’s a classic case of a pot of money looking for something to do.”
    Amounts noted – $57,000+$220,000.

    Here’s Radionz item on the ice cream business. The concern by small business was pooh-poohed by Michael Bassett (surprise) who said it was just the market working. Sort of like that bulldozer that’s unstoppable. Can’t stop progress! Progress and the market is righteous! Progress good, concern for others bad! Concern for healthy economy and the livelihoods of small owner traders bad!

    The taxi drivers have resorted in Auckland to picketing the monopoly lords of the airport there. Business likes a level playing field by tilting it so its flat but the liquid gold runs down to the pot at the lowest corner.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/234016/ice-cream-deal-criticised
    Ice cream deal criticised Updated at 10:35 am today
    A small business group says Auckland Council’s move to give a 10-year exclusive ice cream deal to Fonterra is anti-competitive.
    The council and Fonterra are negotiating a contract allowing the dairy co-operative to be the sole ice-cream supplier at council venues and events.

    The chief executive of Small Business Voice, a group of small- to medium-sized companies, says the potential exclusive contract with one of New Zealand’s biggest businesses is not fair.
    Max Whitehead says competition is healthy, but such deals stunt the growth of small companies.
    The Auckland Chamber of Commerce says the deal is just business in action, and is no different from a company buying shelf space in a supermarket.

    • Plan B 22.1
      23 January 2014 at 10:30 pm

      This is where Labour could stand up and say that it is here for workers- workers who are employees and workers who are self employed and workers who are employers, The people who do the work of New Zealand. Why not stand with them. If Labour did this then they would know that,
      1. paying the local supermarket duopoly for self space should be outlawed, having a local supermarket duopoly should be outlawed. Anti competitive arrangements between council and fonterra should be outlawed and competition should be allowed to actually happen. Because the funny thing about competition in a capitalist system is that it is not actually efficient at all , it employs a lot of people both directly and indirectly which is a very good thing – if you are a worker. Monopolies on the other hand tend to employ many less people both directly and indirectly.

      • greywarbler 22.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 10:38 pm

        Plan B
        One of the things tht hurts me about supermarkets is that of the big three I can think of, two are Oz. We need a transfusion of NZness, it’s all flowing Ozward and getting diluted in the Tasman, no money staying here.

  23. Manu 23
    23 January 2014 at 1:25 pm

    Well, I have just read one of the best education policies ever. I’m all for backing good teachers and paying them more. Just brilliant.
    Supporting it would show some class.

    • Morrissey 23.1
      23 January 2014 at 1:37 pm

      I’m all for backing good teachers…

      The teachers want nothing to do with this blatant attempt to break their professional association. You obviously are not involved in education.

      • sockpuppet 23.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 1:54 pm

        This is one teacher who is very interested in the proposals that came out today.

        • Morrissey 23.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 2:01 pm

          Take the money if you can get it, my friend. Just don’t let them alienate you from the rest of your colleagues. That’s the sole intent of these “reforms”.

          • sockpuppet 23.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 2:09 pm

            That is the plan I intend to follow, NZ education gets along just fine without the intrusion of the blue and red teams of morons, unfortunately they can’t help meddling whenever they get control of the Treasury.

            • Morrissey 23.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 2:27 pm

              Unfortunately, National has not just been meddling and tinkering. It’s moves against the teaching profession have been aggressive and sustained. Until now the attacks have been obvious: the imposition of spurious National Standards, virtually destroying Night School education, attempting (unsuccessfully) to slash Intermediate Schools’ technology programs, forcing Charter Schools onto devastated communities in Canterbury.

              Today’s announcement is more of the same, even if this time it is disguised not as an attack but as a “reward for good teachers”—as if all teachers didn’t have to meet standards in the first place. (Well, in Charter Schools they won’t have to of course.)

            • mickysavage 23.1.1.1.1.2
              23 January 2014 at 9:28 pm

              The blue team want to spread the money amongst a small team of winners and the rest of the teaching profession are meant to worship them and accept their innate superiority.

              The money would be better spent on professional development for all teachers and for improving teachers pay scales so that they would attract the best of students.

      • Manu 23.1.2
        23 January 2014 at 2:11 pm

        Morrissey

        There is no way I would even remotely consider putting the wishes of over paid unionists ahead of my children. And besides if teachers are paid more don’t the unions get more out of them?

        This is an excellent policy if you are a good teacher, a child, a parent or any body interested in improving the wellbeing of all New Zealanders. Frankly bad teachers (not that there’s that many of them) and greedy unionists are not that important.

        Note to David Cunliff – Back this policy and perhaps offer some improvements (keep some votes)

        • Colonial Viper 23.1.2.1
          23 January 2014 at 2:14 pm

          Of course, the teacher unions have been the only thing stopping National from fully privatising and wrecking our education system.

          Your moaning belies the ugliness and underhandedness of your politics.

          I’m sure DC will address National’s education Trojan Horse soon enough, hopefully by burning it to the ground.

          • sockpuppet 23.1.2.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 2:17 pm

            I’d be very careful of playing partisan politics on this one CV most of my colleagues think this is the best initiative out of the MoE in a very long time.

            • geoff 23.1.2.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 2:37 pm

              There are definitely more younger teachers coming through who are ignorant of the historical wins that their union has achieved for them. If they allow themselves to be divided then they will all suffer the consequences.

              Sounds like you’ve drunk the kool-aid, sockpuppet.

              • Paul …
                23 January 2014 at 6:07 pm

                Born after 1970 poor thing.
                Only knows the neoliberal nightmare.

              • sockpuppet …
                23 January 2014 at 7:43 pm

                No not at all, if you take the National out of the announcement and replace it with Labour would it be seen as a positive or negative announcement at this site do you think ?

                • geoff …
                  23 January 2014 at 8:05 pm

                  Well considering that National has decades of history of undermining the teachers union then yes I would initially be much more suspicious of a National policy than a Labour policy. But regardless of whether Labour or National implement it, this idea of performance pay is a disaster waiting to happen.
                  Having a system where some teachers are deemed to be ‘rockstars’ and paid more is going to make the whole thing open for corruption and resentment. In a word, divisive.
                  And it’s not like they can have an objective criteria to decide who the best teachers are, such as level of qualification, because we all know of the people with amazing quals who are completely shit at teaching.
                  The criteria will have to be subjective and it is that subjectivity that will leave it open for abuse.

                • Molly …
                  23 January 2014 at 11:17 pm

                  I think there are a couple of documentaries about NZ education that might be worthwhile watching starting with A Civilised Society

                  There is another good one that was a series … but can’t remember the name at present.

                  To me, the announcement would be just as reprehensible if it were Labour. But I’m pretty clear that my politics are aligned with my own values – not party branding.

            • Colonial Viper 23.1.2.1.1.2
              23 January 2014 at 3:44 pm

              I’d be very careful of playing partisan politics on this one CV most of my colleagues think this is the best initiative out of the MoE in a very long time.

              After National Standards, the bar was set very low.

            • freedom 23.1.2.1.1.3
              23 January 2014 at 4:17 pm

              Wow sockpuppet

              In the middle of the school holidays and within hours of the announcement, you have not only made contact with many of your colleagues (some of whom would also be out on holidays I think) you have managed to get a majority consensus

              you are awesome
              and I suspect spinning like top

              • sockpuppet …
                23 January 2014 at 4:38 pm

                School holidays are for the students not the teachers. I’m back at work my friend preparing for the influx in the middle of next week.

                • freedom …
                  23 January 2014 at 5:18 pm

                  kind of figured you might be, hence the “some of whom would also be out on holidays I think”
                  reading and comprehension not really your thing then eh?

                  • sockpuppet …
                    23 January 2014 at 7:40 pm

                    The majority of my colleagues are back at work and yes there is a consensus amongst us that the announcement is a good thing.

                    I don’t believe I have any problem with either reading or comprehension, I do note however that you do appear to have some challenges in that direction, along with some other issues.

                    • freedom …
                      23 January 2014 at 9:21 pm

                      newsflash ! freedom has issues !

                      yes I do sockpuppet
                      like most humans on this planet.

                      but I still know the incremental progression of corporatizing education will only damage your profession and eventually cripple the individualism and creativity that children deserve and thrive on.

        • Morrissey 23.1.2.2
          23 January 2014 at 2:14 pm

          “the wishes of over paid unionists”

          As I suspected, you don’t have a clue what you are talking about.

          • Manu 23.1.2.2.1
            23 January 2014 at 7:22 pm

            Sadly for you Morrissey, the PPTA, the Principals Union and the Labour leadership all agree with me. It must be lonely down there.

        • greywarbler 23.1.2.3
          23 January 2014 at 3:39 pm

          Manu
          If your children have a parent with a closed-down mind then they are already being short-changed for their education. There is a lot to know out there, but when parents are biased and prejudiced, the information comes through in a warped way shaped by that prejudice.
          Attitudes like yours hold your children back from learning all they need to know about how the world is.

        • phillip ure 23.1.2.4
          23 January 2014 at 5:45 pm

          manu..

          yr real name is roger..

          ..and you live in remuera..

          phillip ure..

        • karol 23.1.2.5
          23 January 2014 at 6:49 pm

          And 3 News had an education specialist from a US university saying paying teachers was not the way to go – resulting in all sorts of unintended consequences like damaging cooperation among teachers.

          He reckons it’s better to give the money to schools, rather than individual teachers.

    • Paul 23.2
      23 January 2014 at 2:06 pm

      Can you explain your reasoning and evidence from overseas that this is best practice?
      Or are you just trying to provoke?

    • greywarbler 23.3
      23 January 2014 at 3:35 pm

      Manu
      Showing off your education and how useful it has been to you and the country, you could direct us to some research on where it has been failing in NZ, or succeeding, and how our teachers measure up to their task, written by an experienced NZ or Australian academic.
      And give us the link of the one that strikes you as particularly informative would you please.

  24. Draco T Bastard 24
    23 January 2014 at 1:32 pm

    RSA Replay: The End of Power – Moisés Naím

    Hour long talk about political/economic power in the world.

  26. Morrissey 26
    23 January 2014 at 1:46 pm

    As her husband tears apart Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Yemen,
    Michelle Obama is having her “Marie Antoinette moment”

    What are we to make of Michelle Obama, the first lady of the USA, who grew up in Chicago and was educated at Princeton and Harvard?

    by Cathy Newman, Presenter, Channel 4
    Daily Telegraph, 20 January 2014

    It’s Michelle Obama’s Marie Antoinette moment. As world leaders tussle over how to respond to her husband’s horrifying record of drone killings, kidnappings, torture, harassment and imprisonment of political dissidents, political assassination, his continued support for blood-stained regimes from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia to Israel, and his vast program of illegal surveillance recently revealed by Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers, the first lady of the United States posts cheery pictures of herself on social media cavorting with pop stars and of her murderous husband dancing the “Dougie” on the dance floor at her 50th birthday bash. [1]

    If this was an attempt to show her caring, sharing, mother of the people side, it’s badly backfired, with one user commenting that she made Marie Antoinette look like an angel. On Instagram, one Laura Gazzard warned the First Lady: “I’m ashamed to be American if you still have a fucking American citizenship, and Michelle if you ever fucking return to Chicago you will be leaving it in a fucking box, burn in hell you cunt.” In a similar tone, Nadia Eram snarls: “Dirty bitch burn alongside your murdering cunt of a husband.” [2]

    Michelle Obama was everything the West used to love about the American presidency. European political leaders thought she was one of them – modern, stylish and approachable. She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, then went to Princeton and Harvard, after which she landed a job at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met Bashar Obama, and married him in 1992.

    It’s hard to have any inkling what’s going through the mind of this Western-educated woman as her husband stands accused of war crimes which have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands.

    She’s said little in public. More than a year ago, an email from an intermediary, declared: “The president is the president of the United States, not a faction of Americans, and the first lady supports him in that role.”

    Elizabeth Lightfoot, author of a book called Michelle Obama: First Lady of Hope, has said she’s now “hunkered down in Washington” and that she’s “standing by her man”.

    So is she, then, complicit in mass murder, a Lady Macbeth figure? Or is she at the mercy of events which have spiralled out of control? Does the girl from Chicago’s South Side, like the rest of us, recoil in horror at the killing of perhaps more than half a million innocent civilians, including children?

    In the past, she’s spoken of how seeing children caught in the crossfire would break her heart.

    As it would any human being. But it seems Michelle left her humanity behind a while ago. A year ago, with Bashar Obama’s violence showing no sign of abating, leaked documents showed Michelle indulging on obscene spending sprees, splashing more than $500,000 on a luxury shopping tour of Spain, including a chauffeur-driven tour of the Costa del Sol which cost a cool $26,670.61. [3]

    As the political and diplomatic ructions reverberate across the globe, perhaps Michelle still has time and leisure to go home-shopping, emerging only to pose for photos – the sunny smiles belying the horrors of her husband’s role in the plight of so many countries.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10273495/Syria-conflict-Asma-al-Assad-is-having-her-Marie-Antoinette-moment.html

    [1] http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/beyonce-attends-michelle-obama-50th-birthday-bash-gallery-1.1584807
    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/19/emotional-speech-and-the-dougie-mark-michelle-obamas-50th/

    [2] http://instagram.com/p/cmZDhaIzZV/

    [3] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135914/Michelle-Obamas-Spanish-vacation-cost-taxpayers-500-000.html

    • Te Reo Putake 26.1
      23 January 2014 at 2:20 pm

      Hey, Moz. This article isn’t actually by Cathy Newman and doesn’t appear to be a genuine Torygraph column (bad as they often are). It reads like the slurred mutterings of a drunken misogynist. Where did you find it?

      • Morrissey 26.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 2:36 pm

        Click on the first link under the article my friend. Actually the article was by Cathy Newman, and you’re right: she does write like a drunken misogynist. Except the target of her loathing was not the wife of the bloodstained ruler of the United States, it was the wife of an official enemy of the state for which she (Cathy Newman) is a propagandist.

        All I did was change the name from Asma al Assad to Michelle Obama, and change some of the place names to fit in with that. The shrieking denunciation, written as you so brilliantly pointed out, “like the slurred mutterings of a drunken misogynist”, is not mine, it’s all Cathy Newman’s.

        • Te Reo Putake 26.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 2:53 pm

          Oh. Sadly, the bits you’ve inserted (and attributed to Newman) are the sections that I thought were written by the drunken misogynist.

          • Morrissey 26.1.1.1.1
            23 January 2014 at 6:57 pm

            Oh. Sadly, the bits you’ve inserted (and attributed to Newman) are the sections that I thought were written by the drunken misogynist.

            What bits are those? I think you mean the two foul-mouthed rants from Instagram. Apart from the names and the substitution of “Chicago” for “Britain”, those were identical with the original ones, cited approvingly in another right wing rag, the Daily Mail—only the target was Bashar Assad’s wife, not Bashar Obama’s.

            So now I guess you’re going to tell me that I shouldn’t have messed with the words of Cathy Newman, that outstanding, dedicated, honest parrot, errrr… journalist.

            And to think you’re an aficionado of Lord Gnome.

            • Te Reo Putake 26.1.1.1.1.1
              23 January 2014 at 7:30 pm

              I think you misunderstand Lord Gnome, Moz. And I get that the quotes were from Instagram. But you claimed that Cathy Newman included them in her piece. She didn’t. I guess the problem is that you read satire, but can’t write it.

              Cathy Newman is a fine journalist, btw. Ask Lord Rennard.

              http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/56950/rennard-clegg-and-me-cathy-newman-upset-being-booed

              • Morrissey …
                24 January 2014 at 9:11 am

                I think you misunderstand Lord Gnome, Moz. And I get that the quotes were from Instagram. But you claimed that Cathy Newman included them in her piece. She didn’t.
                We all know she didn’t. Anybody with an IQ above the average at an ACT meeting could see that, and I provided the link to her original piece. You are quibbling again, and trying to belittle my post, which was actually very serious. I expect you send off pompous letters to the editor of Private Eye scolding him for pretending the New Coalition Academy is a real school?

                I guess the problem is that you read satire, but can’t write it.
                Really? Then I advise you to have a browse of the following….

                BERNADINE, or “Hell Hath No Fury”
                https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nz.general/Ern1_QrFIw8

                Incident at Perth Bayswater, Friday 4 June
                https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.sport.rugby.union/DvySI1Zo-Sw

                BOOK PAUL HOLMES FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS FUNCTION!!!!!
                http://nz.general.narkive.com/860AbFRI/book-paul-holmes-for-your-function-advertisement

                Cathy Newman is a fine journalist, btw.
                Oh really? Then how come she wrote that specious piece of crude propaganda for the Torygraph?

                • Te Reo Putake …
                  24 January 2014 at 9:34 am

                  Make up your mind, moz! Was it serious or satire? We already know you mis-attributed the authorship (yet again). Slagging off Newman for your failings is poor form. And Newman got her part-time job at the DT on the back of 20 years of excellent reporting. Ask Rennard how good she is, FFS. Quibble all you like, but she is the journo of the year (so far) in GB.

                  Now, I wouldn’t work for the Telegraph in the unlikely event I was asked to, and you’re not a good enough writer to be employed by any title anywhere, but Newman was offered a significant role on one of Britain’s most influential papers. You do know that their website is the most popular of all the Brit papers web offerings, right?

                  It would be a rare journo who wouldn’t consider taking the role, and even rarer one who would turn it down.

                  • Morrissey …
                    24 January 2014 at 9:44 am

                    Make up your mind, moz! Was it serious or satire?
                    Satire is serious. There was no one more serious than Jonathan Swift. Or George Orwell.

                    I’ll skip the unpleasant little quips about my writing ability and deal with a more substantial point….

                    It would be a rare journo who wouldn’t consider taking the role, and even rarer one who would turn it down.
                    Yes, of course. Glenn Greenwald, John Pilger, Amy Goodman, Gordon Campbell—any one of them would take the Torygraph‘s money and churn out vile black propaganda like Cathy Newman.

                    Your claim about her being “journo of the year” is beyond satire.

                  • Professor Longhair …
                    24 January 2014 at 11:26 am

                    This “Te Reo Putake” tick seems to me to be a prime example of the type of chap we referred to at prep school as an “ass.”

                    His familiarity with satire seems to be non-existent, and his critical facilities, as evidenced by his tawdry attack on Mr Breen’s writing ability and his endorsement of that third rate Telegraph hackette, are, to put it mildly, deficient.

        • greywarbler 26.1.1.2
          23 January 2014 at 3:45 pm

          Morrissey
          You have been taken to task with playing at satire before. Personally I find it a very bad trend to muck up what appear to be facts when there are so many factual liars about. We have to be able to hold onto something definite for our information. Please don’t give me a dose of rudeness back or call my ‘my friend’ in a patronising manner.

          • Morrissey 26.1.1.2.1
            23 January 2014 at 6:27 pm

            Morrissey, You have been taken to task with playing at satire before.
            Yes, Warbler, well done. It was satirical, and I didn’t really try to hide it, as evidenced by my link to the original item straight after my little masterpiece.

            Personally I find it a very bad trend to muck up what appear to be facts when there are so many factual liars about.
            I understand your point and I agree with you, mostly. However, I was making a point about the partiality and hypocrisy of the Daily Torygraph in particular, but also of newspapers in general.

            We have to be able to hold onto something definite for our information.
            I agree. I think in this case, however, the satirical intention was quite clear. It’s a habit, unfortunate or not, that I picked up from years of reading Private Eye.

            Please don’t give me a dose of rudeness back or call my ‘my friend’ in a patronising manner.
            Okay, Warbler, I won’t. Let’s keep it civil.

  27. Puckish Rogue 27
    23 January 2014 at 2:58 pm

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9640616/Nationals-financial-lures-for-struggling-schools

    – Ok Cunliffe its a good start with the drilling but now you’ve got a couple of days to come up with something better…good luck, this policy is a winner (election changer maybe…)

    • ScottGN 27.1
      23 January 2014 at 4:33 pm

      Is it an election game changer you’re after PR? That suggests to me that you don’t think the game is going as well as you’d like?

      • McFlock 27.1.1
        23 January 2014 at 4:37 pm

        they must hate it when they accidentally reveal their true beliefs 🙂

        • ScottGN 27.1.1.1
          23 January 2014 at 4:56 pm

          That’s the thing isn’t it? After telling us for last two years that the third term was a shoo-in everything Key has done since he got home from Hawaii, every word and every gesture tells us that the Nats aren’t actually that confident about this year.

    • bad12 27.2
      23 January 2014 at 9:00 pm

      ”This policy is a winner”, really Puckish Rogue??? what this grand announcement from Slippery the Prime Minister looks like from here is after attempts to smash up the teacher’s union’s including the big fizzer policy of ‘charter schools’ have failed miserably in desperation to appease it’s shrinking core vote National have decided to throw 300 million dollars into the middle of the mass and divide them by having them all run over the top of each other to get a slice of it,

      Sadly, from listening to news reports many in the profession are happy to do just that…

  29. Steve James 29
    23 January 2014 at 4:54 pm

    Just reading some of the attacks on people who happen to disagree with some of you makes me wonder what your motivation is. This “tow the party line or else” attitude bears no fruit especially when on some issues there is yet to be a “party line” stated. Case in point, Labour has yet to counter Nationals latest education policy.

    You guys need to chill out and actually take in opposing opinions; you might learn something. I expect insults will come my way now but I don’t care because insulting people through this type of medium is just cowardly so go for it.

    Puckish Roague, sockpuppet and one or two others. Well done for standing your ground.

    sockpuppet, I hope you get one of the new education rolls, I suspect you will do well, good luck.

    [lprent: Actually, the actual problem appears to be that you are incapable of handling people disagree with you. It shows a certain shallowness and weakness of personality that is commonly known as being a pompous and stupid fool.

    Incidentally could you please stop changing your handle. You have used three today – one to defend yourself as another “person” – which is a sockpuppet offense. I’d start to suspect a nefarious purpose except you appear to be more of a silly dipstick with an self-assessed ego (that overburdens your actual abilities) playing foolish games.

    So I’m going to insist that you only use one. Otherwise you won’t be able to comment here at all. Read the about and the policy. It will help with not attracting my attention. I tend to notice whining idiots as they usually find it difficult to listen to others and so have a problem with the art of being able to argue coherently. ]

    • ScottGN 29.1
      23 January 2014 at 5:02 pm

      Quit stealing our oxygen and bugger off if you can’t hack it bro. This is a left wing blog and if we all want to have a left wing love-in then that’s our business. There’s always kiwiblog if you don’t like it.

  30. ScottGN 30
    23 January 2014 at 5:12 pm

    Miracle of miracles! Hekia Parata is actually on Checkoint! And she’s already started droning on in gobbledygook.

    • Paul 30.1
      23 January 2014 at 5:58 pm

      Yup just repeating her mantra over and over again.
      Not pulled up for it.
      RNZ going downhill fast.

  31. floyd 31
    23 January 2014 at 5:38 pm

    Just watching Prime news. It seems now that school principals are now principles. They need to go to school.

  32. freedom 32
    23 January 2014 at 5:46 pm

    Roving the comments and it is apparent some recent visitors to The Standard are very upset about a few basic challenges to their statements. Bodes well. I mean if they are already this defensive after only a couple of policy announcements, what will they be like come the budget? Because, let’s face it, those figures are gonna be fantastic.

    fantastic
    fanˈtastɪk/
    adjective
    1. imaginative or fanciful; remote from reality.

  33. joe90 33
    23 January 2014 at 7:02 pm

    Conspiracy!.

    NASA has released a new visualization showing how global temperatures have risen since 1950. It’s pretty much what you’d expect given that the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is currently higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years.

    http://io9.com/watch-60-years-of-global-warming-in-15-seconds-1505924322

  34. ScottGN 34
    23 January 2014 at 8:09 pm

    Why can’t we have broadcasting like this in NZ?
    http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV+Shows/The+National/ID/2431677875/

    • McFlock 35.1
      23 January 2014 at 10:10 pm

      probably using the exact same sciencey stuff that was used to explain every other local or regional cold snap that you guys felt were related to global average temperature changes.

    • lprent 35.2
      23 January 2014 at 11:34 pm

      The same basic answer as I have given you every other time you have asked

      It is called Climate Change for a reason.

      Warming is a causation, but warming causes climates to change. They don’t all steadily get hotter uniformly in that way that your simple stupidity appears to feel that it should.

      So warming in the northern polar regions means that movements of cold air move further south. Air and ocean currents start getting more active and range further than they have in the historic past.. etc etc Expect more exceptional events of warm, cold, dry and wet for the next thousand years as the liquid and gaseous components at the surface of the planet move towards an equilibrium with the extra greenhouse gases that have been pumped into them.

      I guess that you really should name your self “unthinking” rather than “grumpy”. In fact it is probably the causation of why you are grumpy anyway.. Just like greenhouse gases cause warming and ocean acidification. Warming in turn causes climates to change….

    • Morrissey 35.3
      24 January 2014 at 9:36 am

      By “you guys”, you mean the world scientific community. The scientists have been telling us things that clashed with common sense for a long time now. A few centuries back, people like you looked around them, used their common sense, and scorned this fanciful notion that the world was not flat.

      Your grimly stupid anti-science stance toward global warming is just more of the same iron-plated stupidity. You really need to start reading. I mean SERIOUS reading, my friend. But if you’re going to keep listening to Leighton Smith, from whom you obviously draw your opinions, reading doesn’t seem to be a likely option for you.

      Why are you on this forum exactly? To be our punching-bag? It’s not much fun for us, frankly. Stupidity like you display in such posts is not interesting, it’s just a bore.

      Go back to Kiwiblog, my friend: that’s your natural milieu.

  36. Plan B 36
    23 January 2014 at 10:23 pm

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11190969

    Hefty bill for Aston Martin crash

    Has anyone covered or discussed this story yet?
    It is a great story, it has everything. How it was reported was very amusing, I assume that this was intentional.

    It starts off with,
    A Chinese man’s holiday to New Zealand took an expensive turn when he crashed into a light pole and wrote off the $200,000 Aston Martin Rapide he had bought for his wife.

    It ends with this,
    He was in New Zealand on a tourist visa, which had to be extended because of the prosecution.

    Away from court, Miss Harding said the drink-driving charge was withdrawn because police did not follow correct procedures. Chen was not offered the chance to have a blood test, nor was he given access to a Mandarin interpreter.

    This is a story about the new Auckland, where 26-year-old property managers come on holiday and buy $200,000 cars for their wives, to drive while they are on holiday no doubt.

    I loved it, but I wonder what it is telling us?

  37. BLiP 37
    24 January 2014 at 5:59 am

    John Key’s Big List of Lies

    I promise to always be honest

    we are not going to sack public servants, the attrition rate will reduce costs

    there’s no way one in five New Zealanders will lose their jobs

    we are not going to cut working for families

    I firmly believe in climate change and always have

    We seek a 50% reduction in New Zealand’s carbon-equivalent net emissions, as compared to 1990 levels, by 2050. 50 by 50. We will write the target into law.

    National Ltd™ will provide a consistent incentive for both biofuel and biodiesel by exempting them from excise tax or road user charges

    I didn’t know about The Bretheren election tactics

    If they came to us now with that proposal [re trans-Tasman Therapeutic Goods regime], we will sign it

    I can’t remember my position on the 1981 Springbok Tour

    Tranzrail shares

    I did not mislead the House (1)

    Lord Ashcroft

    National Ltd™ would not have sent troops into Iraq

    Standard & Poors credit downgrade

    the double-down grade doesn’t really matter and its only about private sector debt

    I did not mislead the House (2)

    I didn’t say I want wages to drop

    I can’t remember why I voted against increasing the minimum wage

    lifting the minimum wage to $15 an hour will increase unemployment

    the real rate of inflation is 3.3 percent.

    the tourism sector has not lost 7,000 jobs

    no I have never heard of Whitechapel

    I won’t raise GST

    people who are on the average wage and have a child are $48 a week better off after the rise in GST

    the purchase of farmland, by overseas buyers will be limited to ten farms per purchase

    the Pike River Mine was consented to under a Labour Government

    no promises were made to get the remains of the miners out of the Pike River mine

    I did not provide a view on the safety of the Pike River coalmine

    I did not mislead the House (3)

    capping, not cutting the public service

    raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cost 6000 jobs

    north of $50 a week

    privatisation won’t significantly help the economy

    wave goodbye to higher taxes, not your loved ones

    I never offered Brash a diplomatic job in London

    Tariana Turia is “totally fine” with the Tuhoe Treaty Claim deal

    Kiwisaver

    National Ltd™ is not going to radically reorganise the structure of the public sector

    tax cuts won’t require additional borrowing

    New Zealand does not have a debt problem

    New Zealand troops in Afghanistan will only be involved in training, not fighting

    the wage gap between New Zealand and Australia has closed under my National Ltd™ government

    It took 9 years for Labour to make a complete and utter mess of the economy

    National Ltd™ has changed the Overseas Investment Act to include 19 different criteria

    the price of goods and services has risen by 6 percent since the last election, while the after-tax average wage has actually gone up by 16 percent

    no, although its a week ago and here I am being interviewed on television about them, I havn’t seen Gerry Brownlee’s comments regarding demolitions in Christchurch and which caused such outrage, but I can talk all about them

    our SAS soldiers were not involved in the Kabul Hotel gunfight

    the use of the Vela brother’s helicopter was required so I could attend meetings relating to national/international security concerns

    the DPS makes the decision about accompanying the Prime Minister or not, I had no choice but to take them on holiday to Hawaii

    I did not mislead the House (4)

    oh, maybe our SAS soldiers were in the Kabul hotel gun fight but they weren’t wounded by friendly fire

    New Zealand has lost $12 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . oh, it might actually be around $15 billion from GDP due to the Christchurch earthquake . . . Blinglish said what?

    10,000 houses will have to be demolished in Christchurch due to the earthquake

    14,000 new apprentices will start training over the next five years, over and above the number previously forecast

    our amendments to the ETS ensure we will continue to do our fair share internationally

    we are committed to honouring our Kyoto Protocol obligations

    any changes to the ETS will be fiscally neutral

    New Zealand has grown for eight of the last nine quarters”

    National Ltd™ will tender out the government banking contract

    we will be back in surplus by 2014-15

    Nicky Hager’s book “Other People’s Wars” is a work of fiction

    unemployment is starting to fall

    we have created 60,000 jobs

    we have created 45,000 jobs

    the 2011 Budget will create in the order of 170,000 jobs

    I don’t know if I own a vineyard

    no, I did not mislead the House (5)

    the Isreali spy killed in the Christchurch quake had “only one” passport

    the Police will not need to make savings by losing jobs

    I voted to keep the drinking age at 20

    New Zealand is 100% Pure

    I’ve been prime minister for four years, and it’s really 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year

    baseball in New Zealand is attracting more government support

    the decision to buy brand new BMWs was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me

    I didn’t have a clue that Ministerial Services, which I am in charge of, was going to buy brand new BMWs

    even though four of my ministers knew all about it, I didn’t have a clue that brand new BMWs were being bought.

    even though my Chief of Staff met with officials to discuss purchase of the the brand new BMWs, I didn’t have a clue

    even though I personally signed papers discussing the matter, I still didn’t have a clue

    Labour forced us into buying the brand new BMWs, its their fault

    ummm, look, sorry about that BMW thing , it was because I was so upset

    I did not describe David Beckam as thick as batshit

    I did not mislead the House (6)

    the public demanded that we change the labour laws for The Hobbit

    “The Hobbit” created 3000 new jobs

    we have delivered 800 extra doctors in the public service

    I did not mislead the House (7)

    I wasn’t working at Elders when the sham foreign exchange deals took place

    I was starting School Certificate exams in 1978

    I don’t know who arrived on the CIA jet to visit the spies I am responsible for

    reducing barriers to property developers will increase the availability of affordable housing

    Labour left the economy in poor shape

    forecasts show unemployment will fall

    we have closed the wage gap with Australia by $27

    Ngati Porou and Whanau Apanui are not opposed to mining

    I have not had any meetings with Media Works

    our [NZ’s] terms of trade remain high

    the TPPA is an example of democracy

    the TPPA will still have to be ratified by Parliament

    National Ltd™ will use the proceeds of state asset sales to invest in other public assets, like schools and hospitals

    New Zealand troops will be out of Afghanistan by April 2013

    overseas investment in New Zealand adds to what New Zealanders can invest on their own

    overseas investment in New Zealand creates jobs, boosts incomes, and helps the economy grow

    National Ltd™ will build 2000 houses over the next two years

    there are only 4 New Zealand SAS soldiers in Bamiyan and all working in the area of logistics and planning only

    selling state assets will give cash equity to those companies

    the Sky City deal will provide 1000 construction jobs and 800 casino jobs

    all five bidders for the convention centre were treated equally

    my office has had no correspondence, no discussions, no involvement with the Sky City deal

    I did not mislead the House (8)

    I can’t remember what was discussed at my meeting with the SkyCity Chief Executive on 14 May 2009

    I have no record of the 12 November 2009 email from Treasury advising that the SkyCity deal was dodgy and needed to be referred to the Auditor General

    there was nothing improper about the Sky City deal

    SkyCity will only get “a few more” pokie machines at the margins

    any changes to gambling regulations will be subject to a full public submission process

    Sky City has approached TVNZ about the purchase/use of government-owned land

    I did not mislead the House (9)

    this government has been very transparent about all its dealings with SkyCity

    I did not mislead the House (10)

    the Auditor General has fully vindicated National over the Sky City deal

    I did not mislead the House (11)

    the Deputy Auditor General supports the view that there was nothing inappropriate about the Sky City deal

    I did not mislead the House (12)

    I did not breach the confidentiality of the Auditor General’s Report into the Sky City deal

    the Labour Government did exactly the same sort of deal back in 2001

    Labour has promised to not revoke the Sky City legislation

    there’s a 50/50 chance the Hobbit is going off shore unless we do something

    David Shearer has signed up for the purchase of shares in Mighty River

    Solid Energy asked the government for a $1 billion capital investment

    fracking has been going safely on in Taranaki for the past 30 years without any issues

    no frontline positions will be lost at DOC

    Iain Rennie came to me and recommended Fletcher for the GCSB job

    I told Cabinet that I knew Ian Fletcher

    I forgot that after I scrapped the shortlist for GCSB job I phoned a life-long friend to tell him to apply for the position

    I told Iain Rennie I would contact Fletcher

    I haven’t seen Ian Fletcher in a long time.

    I did not mislead the House (13)

    I have no reason to doubt at this stage that Peter Dunne did not leak the GCSB report

    I called directory service to get Ian Fletcher’s number

    the new legislation narrows the scope of the GCSB

    the GCSB has been prevented from carrying out its functions because of the law governing its functions

    because the opposition is opposed the GCSB law ammendments, parliamentary urgency is required

    the increasing number of cyber intrusions which I can’t detail or discuss prove that the GCSB laws need to be extended to protect prive enterprise

    it was always the intent of the GCSB Act to be able to spy on New Zealanders on behalf of the SIS and police

    National Ltd™ is not explanding the activities of the GCSB with this new law

    cyber terrorists have attempted to gain access to information about weapons of mass destruction held on New Zealand computers

    the law which says the GCSB cannot spy on New Zealanders is not clear

    it totally incorrect that the Government effectively through GCSB will be able to wholesale spy on New Zealanders

    we self identified that there was a problem with the GCSB spying on Kim Dotcom

    the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was an isolated incident

    The advice I have had in 4 years as a Minister is that in no way ever has there been an indication of unlawful spying

    the Ministerial Warrant signed by Bill English did not cover anything up

    first I heard I heard about Kim Dotcom was on 19 January 2012

    first I heard about the illegal spying on Kim Dotcom was in 17 September

    I did not mislead the House (14)

    I won’t be discussing Kim Dotcom during my Hollywood visit.

    The Human Rights Commission couldn’t get its submission on the GCSB legislation in on time.

    it would cost too much to for the police and SIS to carry out the spying on New Zealanders that this new legislation will permit

    critics of the GCSB legislation, including the Law Society, the Human Rights Commission, and the Privacy Commission, are all uninformed

    no, I did not mislead the House (15)

    I do not know how Mr Henry is conducting the Enquiry

    no, I did not mislead the House (16)

    the Henry Enquiry had permission to view Ministers’ emails

    no, I did not mislead the House (??)

    we do not spy on journalists

    the passing of phone records to the Henry Enquiry was an error on the part of a contractor

    I wasn’t aware that my own Chief of Staff was instructing Parliamentary Services to hand over information concerning journalist Andrea Vance

    National Ltd™ has never tried to impinge on the role of the media

    I had nothing to do with information on a journalist being handed over to the inquiry into the leaking of the GCSB report

    the terms of the enquiry made it clear to everyone that it was only the phone records of parliamentary staff and ministers that were to be provided

    I have the utmost respect for the media and the role it plays in New Zealand’s democracy

    the Henry Enquiry did not access a journalist’s building-access records

    the Henry Enquiry did not ask for phone and email records

    no, I did not mislead the House (17)

    the Greens are opposed to the GCSB and the SIS even existing

    the GCSB needs to spy on New Zealanders because there are al-Qaeda terrorists in New Zealand

    John Minto is in the Green Party

    the GCSB needs to spy on New Zealanders because of the terrorist threat, even though official reports released over my signature say there is no risk and the SIS has the matter in hand

    the GCSB Bill does not give the GCSB the power to look at the content of communications as part of its cyber-security functions

    no, I did not mislead the House (18)

    there will be no mining on Conservation land in the Corromendel

    no, I did not say we would follow the US and Australia into a war against North Korea

    New Zealand has an arrangement to have asylum seekers processed in Australian detention camps

    I did not mislead the house (19)

    I paid for that lunch and I’ve got the credit card bill to prove it

    I am honest and upfront

    the only way net new jobs can be created is by private investors putting their money into businesses in New Zealand

    you can’t hide if yuu’re Prime Minister

    an increase in the number of people looking for work indicates that confidence is returning to the economy

    the 10 percent of taxpayers in New Zealand who are the top earners pay 76 percent of all net personal tax.

    I did not mislead the House (20)

    the substantial wage growth under Labour was eroded by inflation

    National Ltd™’s 2010 tax changes were fiscally neutral

    I did not mislead the House (21)

    the bulk of New Zealanders earn between $45,000 and $75,000 a year

    Pike River Coal did not put profits and its production ahead of the safety and lives of those 29 workers.

    Radio Live had sought advice from the Electoral Commission about my show just before the election

    it is because of National Ltd™’s policies that the price of fresh fruit and vegetables has dropped.

    the length-of-the-country cycleway will create 4000 jobs.

    police training for next year has not been cancelled

    National Ltd™ has only cut back-office jobs in the health service

    The Crown’s dividend stream from the Meridians, the Mighty Rivers of the world is large and there is no motivation to sell assets; actually we’re about creating assets not selling assets.”

    National believes employment law should treat all parties fairly. It should . . . Protect employees and employers.

    I am not trying to tackle such issues in a “fearful” way ahead of the next election

    Wellington City is dying.

    National Ltd™ has been working on a number of things with New Zealand First on a number of things one of which has a financial component but I can’t talk about it

    the best way to get growth in the economy is to reduce public debt

    New Zealand mum and dad investors will be our number one priority in the allocation of Mighty River shares

    we won’t let “cowboy” oil exploration companies operate here in New Zealand

    the Green Party is racist by not allowing Chinese residents in New Zealand to buy a house

    the Labour Party is promising a four-bedroom house in Auckland for $300,000

    the food in schools programme is in the 2013 budget

    the meat exports are being held up in China because of issues in relation to the Chinese looking to trace counterfeit meat

    its notoriously difficult to win three elections in a row

    I am deeply concerned about every child in New Zealand who is in poverty

    there is no manufacturing crisis in New Zealand

    the government’s exposure to MediaWorks’ going into receivership is reasonably limited

    the money from the sale of state assets will not be used to prop up Solid Energy

    I don’t see a place for a Winston Peters-led New Zealand First in a government that I lead. It’s not a matter of political convenience, it’s a matter of political principle.

    The vast majority of the buildings in Christchurch came through the earthquakes in good shape

    the commemoration of New Zealand’s involvement in the Korean War will not be used to bolster trade talks

    third generation Chinese New Zealanders will be required to present their passport before buying a house under the Labour government

    the Labour housing policy is an attempt by David Shearer to save his leadership

    the Labour housing policy is in breach of free trade agreements

    only 2% of the proceeds of the sale of Mighty River will be spent on the sales process

    David Cunliffe is lying to you

    Labour wants to nationalise the super market industry

    The government will engage in no further negotiations with Rio Tinto

    Without a government subsidy of hundreds of millions of dollars Chorus will go broke

    No, I did not mislead the House (??)

    the justice system is already adequate for handling situations involving new evidence

    my Minister Nick Smith was not aware of the content of the leaked draft submission on the Ruataniwha situation until 17 September

    New Zealand First will nationalise a host of industries and businesses

    I have no responsibility for the statements I make

    Mark Mitchell was just gossiping at a cocktail party when he tipped Webster off about Len Brown’s affair

    it was a lack of external analysis and accountability which put Solid Energy into its debt crisis

    the Commerce Commission misinterpreted the law when deciding the price for access to the Chorus copper infrastructure

    no analyist predicted that the cost of access to the copper infrastructure would go down

    there has been only one problem with oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

    If it was my vote, it would be no pay increases for Mps

    Greenpeace are just scare mongering about any oil leaks off the New Zealand coast

    For every election for the last five elections , we have had royal visitors to New Zealand.

    No decision has been made on the timing of the sale of Air New Zealand shares

    its not true that in New Zealand the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer

    This summer is the most active season ever for oil and gas exploration, with the industry spending up to $750 million. At the same time, the Government is strengthening the regulations that govern drilling, particularly in deep water.

    • phillip ure 37.1
      24 January 2014 at 9:19 am

      big ups to ya blip..

      ..you have built a valuable resource..

      and..

      ..all those lies the mainstream/corporate/access-media never ever call him on..

      ..do they all have stockholm-syndrome..?

      ..phillip ure..

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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 day ago

  • Despair – construction consenting edition
    Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Coalition promises – will the Govt keep the commitment to keep Kiwis equal before the law?
    Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • An impermanent public service is a guarantee of very little else but failure
    Chris Trotter writes –  The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • What happens after the war – Mariupol
    Mariupol, on the Azov Sea coast, was one of the first cities to suffer almost complete destruction after the start of the Ukraine War started in late February 2022. We remember the scenes of absolute destruction of the houses and city structures. The deaths of innocent civilians – many of ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    2 days ago

  • Babies and benefits – no good news
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Ten years ago, I wrote the following in a Listener column: Every year around one in five new-born babies will be reliant on their caregivers benefit by Christmas. This pattern has persisted from at least 1993. For Maori the number jumps to over one in three.  ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Should the RBNZ be looking through climate inflation?
    Climate change is expected to generate more and more extreme events, delivering a sort of structural shock to inflation that central banks will have to react to as if they were short-term cyclical issues. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours, as of 9:16 am on Thursday, April 18 are:Housing: Tauranga residents living in boats, vans RNZ Checkpoint Louise TernouthHousing: Waikato councillor says wastewater plant issues could hold up Sleepyhead building a massive company town Waikato Times Stephen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the public sector carnage, and misogyny as terrorism
    It’s a simple deal. We pay taxes in order to finance the social services we want and need. The carnage now occurring across the public sector though, is breaking that contract. Over 3,000 jobs have been lost so far. Many are in crucial areas like Education where the impact of ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • Meeting the Master Baiters
    Hi,A friend had their 40th over the weekend and decided to theme it after Curb Your Enthusiasm fashion icon Susie Greene. Captured in my tiny kitchen before I left the house, I ending up evoking a mix of old lesbian and Hillary Clinton — both unintentional.Me vs Hillary ClintonIf you’re ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • How extreme was the Earth's temperature in 2023
    This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blog In 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Backbone, revisited
    The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Ministers are not above the law
    Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • What’s the outfit you can hear going down the gurgler? Probably it’s David Parker’s Oceans Sec...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point  of Order first heard of the Oceans Secretariat in June 2021, when David Parker (remember him?) announced a multi-agency approach to protecting New Zealand’s marine ecosystems and fisheries. Parker (holding the Environment, and Oceans and Fisheries portfolios) broke the news at the annual Forest & ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Bryce Edwards writes  – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
    Citizen Science writes –  Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • A TikTok Prime Minister.
    One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Texas Lessons
    This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's pick 'n' mix of the news links at 6:06 am
    The top six news links I’ve seen elsewhere in the last 24 hours as of 6:06 am on Wednesday, April 17 are:Must read: Secrecy shrouds which projects might be fast-tracked RNZ Farah HancockScoop: Revealed: Luxon has seven staffers working on social media content - partly paid for by taxpayer Newshub ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Fighting poverty on the holiday highway
    Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Bernard's six-stack of substacks at 6:26 pm
    Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • At a glance – Is the science settled?
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Apposite Quotations.
    How Long Is Long Enough? Gaza under Israeli bombardment, July 2014. This posting is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • What’s a life worth now?
    You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Howling at the Moon
    Karl du Fresne writes –  There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Newshub is Dead.
    I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
    Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
    Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
    David Farrar  writes –  The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
    PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
    We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
    Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Long Tunnel or Long Con?
    Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • Smoke And Mirrors.
    You're a fraud, and you know itBut it's too good to throw it all awayAnyone would do the sameYou've got 'em goingAnd you're careful not to show itSometimes you even fool yourself a bitIt's like magicBut it's always been a smoke and mirrors gameAnyone would do the sameForty six billion ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • What is Mexico doing about climate change?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The June general election in Mexico could mark a turning point in ensuring that the country’s climate policies better reflect the desire of its citizens to address the climate crisis, with both leading presidential candidates expressing support for renewable energy. Mexico is the ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • State of humanity, 2024
    2024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?When I say 2024 I really mean the state of humanity in 2024.Saturday night, we watched Civil War because that is one terrifying cliff we've ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Govt’s Wellington tunnel vision aims to ease the way to the airport (but zealous promoters of cycl...
    Buzz from the Beehive A pet project and governmental tunnel vision jump out from the latest batch of ministerial announcements. The government is keen to assure us of its concern for the wellbeing of our pets. It will be introducing pet bonds in a change to the Residential Tenancies Act ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • The case for cultural connectedness
    A recent report generated from a Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) survey of 1,224 rangatahi Māori aged 11-12 found: Cultural connectedness was associated with fewer depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms and better quality of life. That sounds cut and dry. But further into the report the following appears: Cultural connectedness is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Useful context on public sector job cuts
    David Farrar writes –    The Herald reports: From the gory details of job-cuts news, you’d think the public service was being eviscerated.   While the media’s view of the cuts is incomplete, it’s also true that departments have been leaking the particulars faster than a Wellington ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On When Racism Comes Disguised As Anti-racism
    Remember the good old days, back when New Zealand had a PM who could think and speak calmly and intelligently in whole sentences without blustering? Even while Iran’s drones and missiles were still being launched, Helen Clark was live on TVNZ expertly summing up the latest crisis in the Middle ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Govt ignored economic analysis of smokefree reversal
    Costello did not pass on analysis of the benefits of the smokefree reforms to Cabinet, emphasising instead the extra tax revenues of repealing them. Photo: Hagen Hopkins, Getty Images TL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me at 7:26 am today are:The Lead: Casey Costello never passed on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • True Blue.
    True loveYou're the one I'm dreaming ofYour heart fits me like a gloveAnd I'm gonna be true blueBaby, I love youI’ve written about the job cuts in our news media last week. The impact on individuals, and the loss to Aotearoa of voices covering our news from different angles.That by ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Who is running New Zealand’s foreign policy?
    While commentators, including former Prime Minister Helen Clark, are noting a subtle shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy, which now places more emphasis on the United States, many have missed a key element of the shift. What National said before the election is not what the government is doing now. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.  During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner.  The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
    The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
    State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel.    “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says.    "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
    Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board.   “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti.  “I have asked her to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Roads of National Significance planning underway
    The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Navigating an unstable global environment
    New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States.    “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
    New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Joint US and NZ declaration
    April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research.   “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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