My observation about the dire condition of our mainstream media in New Zealand looks not at how it uses distraction to dumb down citizens and turn them into ‘consumers’ ; rather it looks at its bias to the corporate industrial complex and its lackeys and puppets in New Zealand, the National Party.
Last year the Herald got involved in Dirty Politcs by smearing and undermining David Cunliffe’s leadership close enough to the election to assist another victory for the National Party.
The sponsors of the Herald, the real estate, insurance and finance industries clearly want more blood from its puppet paper. There has now been a sustained attack on Little by the Herald as it seeks to promote Jacinda Ardern. With a media like this, we only have a shadow of democracy In this country.
For me the herald is a tool, and stuff too – they put out their lines/articles and they are designed to elicit a response from readers – I want to know what they are trying to get me to think/do/believe – so that I can use a discriminating eye and mind and interpret their agenda. And then do what I want based on my beliefs and values.
the msm is persuasive and pervading and they do support the agendas – as organs of culture they show how delusional we are, how idiotic we are, how unprepared and head in the sand we are. The deeper those delusions go, the more along the road we are towards the inevitable conclusion. I don’t want or believe the msm will change – we need canaries, we need strident protectors of the ‘progress’ religion and fervent advocates of whichever ‘middle’ party is in power, we need them so we have something to contrast to, so we can do the opposite, believe the opposite and act opposite. So fuck the herald – I use them.
I want to know what they are trying to get me to think/do/believe – so that I can use a discriminating eye and mind and interpret their agenda. And then do what I want based on my beliefs and values.
Or make the job easier and faster by doing whatever you want and not read/watch it at all. From here, the World as portrayed by even a 30 second news headlines ad on TV, or the front page at a supermarket entrance, it’s like, “Where the fuck are these people coming from?”. Wherever it is, it can’t be good for their health – mental or otherwise.
I recommend a site like metapicture, which has all the slightly muted values and prejudices of the perspective that everyone loves to repeat in the news, but interspersed by about 50% vaguely amusing rubbish – or try the weather forecast. As Simon and Garfunkel once said, “I get all the news I need on the weather report…”
So, just to recap, you’re not happy with paul just pointing out that NZ media are blatantly biased in favour of tories. You want paul to design an entire media system from the mechanisms of providing support to grassroots media all the way up to writing the details of content regulations. And you call those demands a “discussion”.
Agree with you 100%, Paul. And I, too, have been wondering re the promotion of Jacinda Ardern – a very sneaky move to use her to undermine Andrew Little.
Our right wing friend “Ad” has, unwittingly, managed to say something that has some truth to it….
Politics, otherwise, is “Entertainment With Ugly People”.
That rather dull quip was made by someone in Hollywood in the early 1990s, and has been repeated ad nauseam by people like “Ad” ever since. Of course, as we see with the lionization of loud-mouthed vacuums like Donald Trump, the media are more than happy to concentrate on nonsense instead of anything substantial, which is not entertaining.
So, yes, politics is indeed entertainment with ugly people—-morally ugly.
There’s a flipside of course: so much of Hollywood seems to be politics for stupid people, as anyone will testify who has witnessed the embarrassing and unedifying spectacle of numbskulls like Neil Patrick Harris, Jared Leto, Kevin Costner, Kevin Spacey, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich and (most pathetic of all) Clint Eastwood trying to comment about things they know nothing about.
have you quickly discraded your logic?…’The point of the Opposition is to show the public that their answers are better than the alternative, more credible, and more effective.’
‘But he is on course to win the Republican nomination.
Precisely because he is quotable, and entertaining.’…………………….so which is more important…..policy or charisma….you seem very inconsistent or confused or both!
except in that post you propose policy as an asnwer, which contradicts many other things wyou say (in your comments at other times) about people like Adern and the need to fight fire with fire, popularity with popularity, do what it takes to win, which often precludes policy? That is certainly how 2007/2008 went, attack Clark, attack Labour, smile, says stuff which doesn’t mean much, and very little (or no policy).
All the things that people like BM say don’t work. And therein lies a message but I don’t know what the answer/counter is. Wish i did.
Oh, I can see he’s entertaining. But it’s like professional wrestling—there’s not a lot of substance there, and anyone with a brain soon gets bored and loses interest. It’s obvious to everyone that Trump is a souffle, a flake, a giant inflated bag of foul wind. Yes, he got 24 million people to tune in to watch him insult Mexicans and women, in between speeches by a dozen of America’s dullest men. And yes, he gets more people to his highly publicized appearances than Jeb Bush or Mario Rubio.
But far, far more people are turning out to watch the most popular politician in the United States—Bernie Sanders.
He will win the Republican nomination for Presidency.
Now I’m going to be charitable here and assume that you are not actually one of the small group of imbeciles that actually adore the most well funded joke candidate in history.
Donald Trump is not a new phenomenon. Joke candidates have a long history. New Zealand had a “Mickey Mouse” candidate in 1972, and there was a full ticket of McGillicuddy Serious Party candidates twenty years on from that. All of these people were more coherent and entertaining than Trump.
Britain had Screaming Lord Sutch and his Official Monster Raving Loony Party, of course. Screaming Lord Sutch was a far brighter and more compelling candidate than any of these Republican candidates, leave alone the joke candidate who continues to distract everyone.
So, as I say, we’re assuming that you are one of the many people that are smart enough to realise Trump has nothing and offers nothing, but are determined to believe that millions of people are stupid enough to vote for him.
Well, okay, a lot of people voted for that sinister robot Mitt Romney last time—-but compared to Donald Trump, Romney is the most brilliant orator on the planet and a philosopher of the highest order.
But then, compared to Donald Trump, so is anybody.
Trump wont win the Republican nomination, and Sanders won’t win the Democrat nomination – hes currently polling 20pts behind Clinton, before the gloves come off and the money needs raising. No matter how popular they are, they won’t be allowed to win by party interests, because in a presidential election, both of them are un-electable. The republicans have always had the problem that the sort of candidate who can win the primary could never win the wider election. Sanders is the democrat version of that problem.
And in recent campaigns I can’t remember the last front runner at this point who ended up winning their party’s nomination.
Trump is a joke – un-electable because he will piss off way to many demographics. Sanders is not a joke, but in the US environment the only major state he might carry is California. Forget all the other key battlegrounds in the electoral college – Florida, Michigan, NY, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia. As soon as the Republicans start attacking him with ads, he is gone. Secretly the Dems are hoping Trump does win the nomination, as the Republicans are hoping Sanders wins for the democrats. The US presidential election clearly works against polarising candidates as most states are winner takes all, i.e., a 1 vote majority within California delivers the candidate 10% of the electoral college.
The republicans were hoping to appeal to the “minorites”, through Jeb Bush, but Trump is pissing many off in that regard. BUT FOX News is not (from what I can see) a Trump fan and that will hurt him in the long run
I’m pleased to see that you acknowledge Sanders is NOT a joke candidate.
However, that acknowledgement comes after you have erroneously compared him to Trump.
Let’s get this straight: Sanders is serious, whereas Trump and the whole sorry Republican Party is nothing more than a crazy insurgency movement, dedicated to ruining America’s democracy.
I find it remarkable that you insist Sanders is “un-electable”. He’s surely no more unelectable than Barack Obama was, running as a black candidate in a profoundly racist country.
Who actually answered that ” jacinda preferred as Pm” Poll?
I have not seen the poll, but would like to know who was polled? Regular Voters? Age Group of Voters? Gender of Voters, and Party Preferrence of Voters.
i actually think nothing of Jacinda as I have no idea who she is, what she likes, etc etc etc.
And for what its worth, i have never voted for a pretty face, male or female. I want my PM’s to be sound of mind and heart, I have no interest in their pretty faces and good bodies…these things fade with time.
used to watch Jacinda face of against the ghastly Bridges on morning t.v. was frustrating to see her counter his idiocy and bluster with calm and reasoned debate, often being talked over by bridges, imitating his idol Key, and the “interviewr” despite having all the facts and sound reasoning, how demorilising to be against pitted against the gnat-like ignorance of bridges and in the eyes of msm to be comparable to him.
The Nats were terrified of David Cunliffe – he was a real threat to them – Michelle Boag likes Andrew Little – obviously she thinks he’s no threat – the ABC crowd should have worked out that if the Nats were so keen to get rid of Cunliffe, that it was because he was a big threat to them, but the selfishness of the ABC crowd is breathtaking – they are all about securing their positions for the future and the public of NZ don’t seem to even rate a thought! The ABC don’t seem to care if they are in opposition, they still are on big money, still get their overseas trips each year etc – their petty jealousy of David Cunliffe robbed NZ of a government who cared about the average Joe and Joe-ess! Bryan Gould is right on the money in his latest Herald article – Jeremy Corbyn said in a recent interview that the Blairite approach in the Labour Party in the UK meant that there was no real difference between them and the Tories – no stark choice for voters – same here I think.
Note to Gosman; Seymour got everything he wanted from the changes to the opening hours for the world cup, so definitely a win for him and those who supported the move. You picked him as the winner when this first broke. And here he is. The BIG winner though, is Bruce Robertson on behalf of his members. he provided a masterclass in effective lobbying and use of a MP or Junior Minister.
Interesting that national went from only wanting AB games and playoffs to agreeing to everything.
“Key has earlier said the government could take up the bill on its own if it failed.
On Wednesday morning he went further, telling TV3’s Paul Henry show he had spoken with Justice Minister Amy Adams about putting it on the order paper, which would mean only majority rather than unanimous support would be needed.
It was not a simple fix as different bars have different opening hours.
“In principle one option would be to say … for every All Blacks game for the quarters, semis, the finals, maybe the playoffs for third and fourth – all of those we have blanket coverage.”
However, the case was not as strong for covering games not involving the All Blacks, Mr Key said.
He believed where there was strong support for other teams, such as a number of South Africans living on the North Shore, bars would have already applied for a special licence to open outside normal hours.” 12 August 2015 NZ Herald
Interesting to see if the legislation about bar opening hours for RWC also changed the opening hours specified in many of the bars’ Resource Consents. If it just did Licensing hours, there may be trouble ahead. Some Plans allow for restricted numbers of exemptions, but those are limited.
I read this article by Steve Keen, which I found very interesting. The excerpt I found fascinating was this.
‘This is the mechanism behind the empirical datum that the ex-banker and philanthropist Richard Vague identified in his book The Next Economic Disaster: Why It’s Coming and How to Avoid It. Richard looked at all economic crises across the globe over the last one and a half centuries, and found that every one of them occurred when the private debt to GDP ratio exceeded 1.5 times GDP, and when the ratio had risen by 17% or more over a 5 year period.
China fits that profile in spades, as I pointed out in the last two columns. It’s surely under-reported private debt to GDP ratio rose from about 100% of GDP in 2008 to over 180% by the start of 2015, which is a rise of 80% over 8 years.’
New Zealand’s ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%
Engineers should find this argument easy to understand and informative, but tedious to read because the logic is so obvious. Economists are probably going to find it almost impossible to comprehend, clearly wrong, and they will probably be enraged by it.
I read this article by Steve Keen, which I found very interesting. The excerpt I found fascinating was this.
‘This is the mechanism behind the empirical datum that the ex-banker and philanthropist Richard Vague identified in his book The Next Economic Disaster: Why It’s Coming and How to Avoid It. Richard looked at all economic crises across the globe over the last one and a half centuries, and found that every one of them occurred when the private debt to GDP ratio exceeded 1.5 times GDP, and when the ratio had risen by 17% or more over a 5 year period.
China fits that profile in spades, as I pointed out in the last two columns. It’s surely under-reported private debt to GDP ratio rose from about 100% of GDP in 2008 to over 180% by the start of 2015, which is a rise of 80% over 8 years.’
New Zealand’s ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%
@paul
You state NZ ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%. But isn’t this private debt ratio to household disposable income not GDP? Or are they the same thing exactly?
Treasury states: In the 20 years to 2011, total housing and consumer loan debt increased around six-fold in dollar terms. As a ratio of household disposable income, the percentage at June 2011 of 147% is about two and a half times that of 58% at March 1991.
This looks bad for us – going from 58% indebtedness level to household disposable income in 1991 to 147% in 2011. That means debt beyond the total plus half again of all disposable income. Unsustainable spending using debt, and a rising trend on the graph.
This is from google heading on GDP and household or private debt:: [New] Zealand – the increase in household debt ratios continued … increasing from 130 to 180 percent of GDP between 2000 …
The PDF it comes from is a 13 page Reserve Bank bulletin which seems informative and understandable but I haven’t time to read it myself having more mundane personal management issues. I put the link for those interested and hopefully I’ll catch up later. http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/reserve_bank_bulletin/2014/2014oct77_4.pdf
(We need to understand this so we know what Blinglish is blurting about or not as the case may be. And yek probably hasn’t read it, as it is not his job. Prancing ponies just have to look good, go through their paces and pull the tails of the pony in front as a crowd-amuser!)
Useful mages on Google – go to: nz private debt to GDP ratio
This is a good read: A very good extensive article written June 2015 by Brian Gaynor Investment Columnist for the NZ Herald traverses NZ debt overseas and comparative with other countries, including comment on domestic household etc etc. well. Very cogently written and even I can understand it if I concentrate. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11468289
He writes: Debt is a complex issue and it is difficult to say with certainty whether a country or its Government has too much or too little debt. However, there are two important points that should be taken into account when considering this issue:
• All sources of debt, including government and household, should be considered. For example Japan has a very high level of government debt and a low level of household borrowings whereas New Zealand is the other way around.
• The ability to fund debt onshore is important. The Japanese Government is able to raise a high proportion of its borrowings from domestic investors whereas the New Zealand Government sources the majority of its debt from overseas investors.
New Zealand’s net external debt position has improved in recent years because a number of investment funds, particularly the NZ Super Fund, have boosted the country’s gross external lending figures.
The ability to fund debt onshore is important. The Japanese Government is able to raise a high proportion of its borrowings from domestic investors whereas the New Zealand Government sources the majority of its debt from overseas investors.
In which Gaynor gets it wrong. A government doesn’t, and shouldn’t, borrow at all as it can always fund its spending by creating money.
suggestions for question time…
The right hon Andrew Little to the P.M….’can the P.M tell parliament when ,after 7 years in govt ,will his administration stop the puerile response of blaming Labour for all its own deficiencies and failures’?
My thought on that is labour should mock key mercilessly about living in the past every time he does it, and tell him a good government is looking to the future.
Ad – everytime Labour comes up with visionary ideas and voices them out loud National just steal their ideas off them so Labour are vulnerable to them. National are parasites who suck off other people and are deficient in creating visionary ideas – they just sell everything including the kitchen sink.
hence National demanding policy details around election time, so they can offer a diluted (by taking from tax payer somewhere else) version at the 11th hour to fill the vacuum that is there governance
@bwaghorn
I agree. Let National be challenged, and have more coming. Labour would be doing their job as Opposition and keeping the government somewhere close to the line and getting some action for the citizens if National choose to do something.
Labour can then say good on them for trying, but we will watch them because they are dodgy.
But stand up and have positive ideas, and say something positive about NZs. Say we, Labour, know that there is enterprise simmering away and not being encouraged. Say that National have not allowed ordinary NZs to shine, they are too busy making us a low wage, no wage economy.
More apprenticeships, training wages still low but with a job promised immediately for a year on finishing so as to get into the work force. Have good employers taking on new entrants into working, for a set time. Monitor how things pan out for all. That would be a start, positives as well as valid criticisms of National. Perhaps a bit more contemptuous and humorous like Winnie.
actually I think Labour are doing pretty well already.
It hasn’t quite translated to the polls yet, but they really seem to be working together – it seems that the worst apples have either left or been brought into line.
It’s been a solid year for them so far. Something to build on.
Smith trying suggest Green Party are just boring for questioning the bill turning the World Cup into one big Piss up??
I wonder what Liver function Tests on National Party would say about that? They certainly act/appear as though they regularly enjoy more than a tipple.
Nothing wrong with communal areas being made available to watch the games in the morning, BUT FFS WHY NOT SERVE COFFEE (and breakfast)???????
seymour talking about freedoms taken from people without justification. However extended licences exist for this. since may 2013 when the rugby schedule was announced any pub could apply. but they waited til the last minute to get it for free. now the police… ambulance services and healthcare will need to deal with any fallout. councils wont have the fees to offset increased costs… and street cleaning. If seymour cared about freedom for rugby people he would have added free to air for AB Matches.
the Greens or Labour should try an urgent debate on that freedom…. shine a light on this being less about freedom than money.
Tracey, this is not about it being Populist, this is about making money.
Pubs selling piss is making money, showing games for free……fuck, thats heresy.
People drinking on the streets, not in bars.
Massive fines, if drunk people found on premises, if you’re even the remotest bit rowdy, the bouncer is chucking you out the door.
Real zero tolerance to intoxicated people in licensed premises.
Now here’s what really happens in pubs outside of planet key: Pub fills punters with as much piss as possible.
Kicks punter out when liquor starts to kick in: not the pub’s problem.
Drunk person found on premises: victim of pre-loading before coming into bar. Very sorry we’ll try harder/security has been upgraded/staff member no longer works here.
Yes, every so often a pub goes way overboard, consistently, so that the cops get annoyed and go out of their way to send half a dozen through the worst offending bar with the local inspector and log each infraction found. But that is not routine, that’s somebody deciding to teach someone a lesson.
exactly, so why spend time and +++media coverage ad nauseum shouting from the roof tops that people can now chose to get pissed all day and night….if they wish to, so what? is it really worth all the attention in parliament/media?? and anyone calling me a party pooper needs to get a real life instead of being a National fart catcher
Should have put a line in the bill making the government dry – why are the taxpayers buying their booze for them? And that would have been an interesting debate.
Are countries legally required to protect their citizens from climate change?
A Dutch court recently ruled that greenhouse gas reduction is a state obligation.
The government, the court said, must ensure that Dutch emissions in 2020 will be at least 25 percent lower than those in 1990 — the amount the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report says is needed from industrialized countries if the world is to not exceed 2 °C (3.6 °F) warming and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Dutch political leaders had been planning to cut emissions by up to 17 percent within the next five years.
Stupid law. Why not do it properly and make the Dutch reponsible too for all the CO2 wafting in from Eastern Europe? Actually, they could take responsibility for some of our cows too.
“Keyless Ignition Used in Millions of Cars a Deadly Safety Defect: Lawsuit
Ten of the world’s biggest automakers were sued on Wednesday by U.S. consumers who claim the manufacturers concealed the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning in more than 5 million vehicles equipped with keyless ignitions, leading to 13 deaths.
According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, carbon monoxide is emitted when drivers leave their vehicles running after taking their electronic key fobs with them, under the mistaken belief that the engines will shut off.”
….
The defendants are BMW, including Mini; Daimler’s Mercedes Benz; Fiat Chrysler; Ford; General Motors; and Honda, including Acura; Hyundai, including Kia; Nissan, including Infiniti; Toyota, including Lexus; and Volkswagen, including Bentley.
Found out something rather fascinating at the Wellington Court of Appeal hearing yesterday – where the long-suffering, decent New Zealanders who are members of the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association have been trying to get the (former) Kaipara District Council held accountable to the ‘rule of law’.
The Government-appointed Commissioners, who now are responsible for the ‘governing’ of the Kaipara District Council, have proceedings filed in the Wellington High Court, against an ‘officer of Parliament’ – the Auditor-General.
These proceedings are CIV – 2014 – 485 – 11542
Kaipara District Council v Controller and Auditor-General.
That is the only information, to date, that I have been able obtain about these proceedings.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper, and arguably more effective, for the Kaipara Commissioners to petition Parliament for an inquiry into the role of the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) regarding their role in this debacle?
Or – if the Kaipara Commissioners want to get some form of financial compensation / damages out of the OAG – is the Court the only, or best place to go?
Perhaps one of the positive outcomes from this appallingly sorry saga would be the establishment of a genuinely Independent Commission Against Corruption?
Interesting that it was the same MP responsible for presenting the democratically disgraceful Kaipara District Council Rates Validation Act, who was the Chair of the Law and Order Select Committee, which knocked back the petition of Grace Haden, calling for an Independent Commission Against Corruption?
Who was that MP?
The former National MP for Northland – Mike Sabine.
and just to remind the readers not that they probably give a damn all the major parties voted for that validation bill including labour and the greens with the sole exceptions of nzfirst and i think the maori party which is a substantial part of the reason large numbers of mangawhai people supported winston in the recent northland by election
“Please note that the ‘Modern Hundertwasser’ design has been removed from the long list following a copyright claim by the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Foundation.”
Oh dear. The process crumbles further .
I don’t recall seeing this news anywhere, apologies if I’m late to the party.
it is also included on the govt website as one of the thousands that weren’t chosen.
The Modern Hundertwasser that has been removed didn’t have the black vertical stripe at the left, the centre of the koru was more bold (it didn’t have so many turns) and the transition of the green from the bottom edge was more gradual.
“I’m saddened at one level that there seems to be quite a bit of reluctance to engage in the conversation.”—HANA O’REGAN, Flag Con Committee
“The hope is to encourage public involvement in the process ahead of the vote, but hardly anyone turned up.”—JULIET SPEEDY, TV3 News
E ngā suckers.
Kia ora for the 10,292 designs you’ve suggested—even if half of them were from the same sad, obsessed, talent-free individual. Each of these (some quirkier than others!) was viewed by every Panel member—which gives the lie to the nasty allegations swirling around that this Panel is nothing but a sinecure for a bunch of nobodies who lacked the integrity to say no to putting their undistinguished names to a farcical vanity project for a frivolous and contemptible Prime Minister. We were, moreover, not impressed with the large number of “satirical” designs, such as the now infamous “laser Kiwi”, which were obviously intended to belittle this very serious process and to waste the Panel’s valuable time.
In reviewing flag designs, first and foremost, we were guided by what an average attendance of four Kiwis at each meeting, some of them unfortunately “homeless” people who had turned up for the complementary tea and biscuits, told us when they shared what is special to them about New Zealand. A special thank you must be paid here to the tireless, albeit reluctant, local National Party branches throughout the country!
The message was clear: you don’t really care. Many people wrote in saying: “Keep the Flag, change the Prime Minister”, but the Panel did not find that helpful. Others claimed that this panel was a collection of hand-picked dullards with the aesthetic sense of a kick in the head, the cultural knowledge of a concrete post and the historic appreciation of a goldfish. Again, we did not appreciate this kind of feedback or find it helpful.
In finalising the long list we invited a number of cultural (including tikanga), vexillology (the study of flags), art and design experts to talk to us. These experts really impressed the Flag Consideration Panel, as can be seen by their comments: “That was really interesting” (Sir Brian Lochore, ONZ, KNZM, OBE); “Wow, just wow” (Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM); “That was so cool” (Julie Christie, ONZM), “Really interesting” (Stephen Jones) and “Piss off! How DARE you impugn my integrity? I —WE, goddammit, WE have all worked HARD! Just FUCK off!” (Kate De Goldi, Deputy Chair)
We encourage you to make sure you are enrolled to vote so that you can take part in this nationally significant process. We certainly hope you show more enthusiasm than you did when you failed to come to our heavily advertised consultation meetings.
Ngā mihi nui kia suckers.
Regards,
Flag Consideration Panel:
Prof John Burrows (Chair), ONZM, QC
Nicky Bell
Peter Chin, CNZM
Julie Christie, ONZM
Rod Drury
Kate De Goldi (Deputy Chair)
Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM
Lt Gen (Rtd) Rhys Jones, CNZM
Stephen Jones
Sir Brian Lochore, ONZ, KNZM, OBE
Malcolm Mulholland
Hana O’Regan.
I have been wondering lately about a way to sabotage the first referendum . It would take a huge social media campaign for all people loyal to the New Zealand flag to vote for a rank outsider in the first referendum but nothing is impossible.
James, it’s perfectly reasonable and legitimate to vote strategically in such cases. The current government has taught us that repeatedly when directing Epsom voters to vote for the ACT candidate of the day.
I’m sure you’ll agree that the fairer way to run this popularity contest would have been to have the one referendum with the New Zealand flag included.
This process has been engineered to provide maximum exposure and momentum to a marketing logo and it’s time for those loyal to the flag of New Zealand to fight at the earliest opportunity.
What do you expect those loyal to New Zealand to do? Not vote in the first referendum? Much better for us to vote for a logo design which will have the least chance of success against the New Zealand flag.
That is a sensible voting strategy, plain and simple.
People who are disloyal to the flag have the opportunity to vote too, nobody is stopping them.
Your comments never fail to amaze me. You don’t seem to quite get the point of anything that anyone posts here. Why don’t you give Leighton Smith a ring? He’s more your level.
Interestingly the Nats won’t support Sue Moroney’s earlier BIll on parental leave, which Seymour supports, but will draft their own bill giving the same thing. It’s almost like it’s a game they play to make sure they get credit for someone else’s ideas and work. Is that what you mean by sabotage?
1. referendum, those who want to vote should vote for the design they prefer
those that want to keep the Flag, should abstain, and not vote.
2. referendum, those who want to change the flag should vote Yes
those who don’t want to change the Flag should vote No.
Or as P.Winston, (the NZfirstler that everyone is so afraid of) says, put a big fat KOF on it Keep Our Flag, but that would most likely invalidate the vote, and I would venture such a vote will not be counted.
AS there will be no option in the First Referedum such as :Keep current design!! I personally will abstain for the first vote and only Vote in the second referendum.
Simple as that.
No sabotage, but a fair and democratic process……Most likely we will end up with a Trademarketet Design, that will costs million of dollars to change on every uniform, piece of stationary, and other assorted gimmicks, but hey, the PM and his sidekick the most Honorable and Honest Bill English, aka Mr. 19% have all the money they need to pay for that stuff, and most likely they will make a buck or two for themselves after all thats what they do. The only ones paying for these shenanigans is us……but hey….Dear Leader wants a new Flag, and his groupies, enablers and voters will happily see their tax dollars spend on a Kitchen Towel.
Not throwing in any towels, but it is clear that this will come to vote, no matter what.
And I can only imagine the ‘outrage’ if no one actually participates in the first referendum.
Really, think of it. The first referendum is to get people involved, here choose your design, …..now defend it in the next referendum.
If people are actually not participating (lets say only 10 – 15 % would actually vote) How much of a ManDate would our dear Leader have to continue?
Also, what is it with National Government that they want to change the Flag, last time it was under Jenny Shipley….really what is it?
I believe we haven’t seen the true size of the marketing campaign Key will throw at this once the first referendum is over and his cheap, poorly designed logo has been chosen to go up against the New Zealand flag.
They will throw everything at this because there’s much more at stake now than the flag. A loss for Key here would damage him personally. Having consulted Crosby-Textor, they will begin to attack the very heart of demographic of those loyal to the New Zealand flag.
The disloyal changers will not care one bit if the turnout is 10-15% at the first referendum. The fewer the better for them I imagine, to ensure that an ill-informed choice is made.
” and his cheap, poorly designed logo has been chosen to go up against the New Zealand flag”
No-one ever asks the PM why his preferred design is an existing commercial product with legal copyright. The media, and the flag-change supporters, never mention how the Kyle Lockwood designs are an existing commercial product currently under copyright. A copyright that is co-incidentally scheduled to expire in [late?] 2015 .
A question for the legal minds out there:
As the Lockwood designs are under a legal copyright should they not have the copyright logo visible beside them when images of them are published,? When in included in the long list for example?
I have highlighted the relevant information that suggests the copyright expires this year and also the information that shows how the stated copyright requirements are not being met with the publicity and promotion of the relevant designs.
If I am incorrect in my understanding of the information as it is presented then I am, as always, happy to be corrected.
Yeah, I knew what you were talking about. That’s a shorthand way to say the stuff on the site is copyrighted and that you need to get permission to copy it. It has nothing to do with when the copyright expires.
It is precisely because of the normal copyright protocol that I wonder why the obvious questions surrounding copyrighted images being included in the flag referendum process have not been addressed.
If , as Draco suggests, the copyright is not expiring in 2015 then we are left to wonder what the plan is if any of the Lockwood designs are selected as the new flag.
His designs are an existing commercial product that has been on the market for a decade.
If a copyrighted design of his is chosen:
Is he just going to sign over any rights to lost future earnings ?
Is he going to get offered compensation for the lost earnings?
Is a single journalist ever going to raise the issue with the PM? or anyone for that matter?
MESSAGE: MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS YOU FUCKING OIK. WHAT DOES IT MATTER HOW MUCH I GET? YOU THINK YOU COULD DO AS GOOD A JOB DO YOU? YOU FUCKING OIK.
The target was to eat all the taxpayer-funded food on offer.
$640 a day, plus unlimited free tea and all the biscuits you can eat, since hardly anybody turned up to consume them. I understand that Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM, Lt Gen (Rtd) Rhys Jones, CNZM and Malcolm Mulholland really tucked in to the goodies on offer.
Just thinking about a politician visiting a hospital and being penetrating.
Brings to mind a Filipino phantom surgeon who cuts into the patient’s body with his hand and pulls out all the useless entrails. That idea might have come from the children’s board game where they play at being a doctor!
Idea! The Filipino practice would solve our unmet health needs problem. So National – seeming like smart action, while really being a hoax and a farce.
CYF report commented on by Children’s Commissioner who is doing a sterling job. How long will he last? The Children’s Commissioner’s first annual report has strongly criticised Child, Youth and Family for what it calls a dump and run culture of neglect
Good RadioNZ report. Must make sure that ditto question doesn’t apply to them, or him for that matter. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/282515/kids-probably-no-better-off-in-state-care
And Anne Tolley Social Development Minister, who seems to be agreeing with the criticism. Along the lines that government is no good at this. Ditto with housing?
Slide out and leave it to the no- tenderer mercies of private profit makers or fundamentalist capitalist charities? Next step I’ll bet. http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201768178
I think we can expect a lot more of the narrative that government is not very good at delivering social services and there will be better outcomes from the private sector delivering services.
This government has a lot further that they will want to go down this path and the end game will be terrible outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society.
Ministers’ love this as they have less accountability and they can achieve their aims at arms length.
Crikey, read this latest column from Dita de Boni in the herald:
I’m a bit lost for words on the brazen attack, it’s about bloody time and surprising. I can’t help but wonder what was edited out?
It’s her last. I always liked her, did not always agree with her, but always liked her.
It is a worrying trend for the herald. There was a time when the business section of the paper did not lie, or spin. It was one of the few sections in the paper that knew it’s place, and had to talk directly to it’s target market honestly and forthrightly.
In the last few years that part of the herald has died, forget right wing bias, forget the cost of print, etc. This is what has killed the herald. Not sure who made this editorial change, but it has been fun to watch, spin and lies being added to the business pages, to bring it in line with the rest of the newspaper.
No wonder sales had fallen away. Even it’s support base, can not trust it.
It’s her valediction. It was announced a few weeks ago that she was being made redundant. I guess you no longer have to hold your tongue when you’ve got nothing to lose.
That said, I’m somewhat optimistic for the Herald. Their new editor, Murray Kirkness, was a good editor of the Otago Daily Times and led the campaign to keep neurological surgery services at Dunedin Hospital. The editorial line at the ODT has been reasonably critical of the government in recent years.
“People have asked me over the years why my columns have become more strident in tone; more “biased against” the Government. The answer’s that the examples of contempt for the public, hypocrisy, and flat-out bulls***tery have become too overwhelming to ignore.”
The brits and UK are getting a lot of information compared to us. For some reason that Mapp and Groser can’t or won’t explain, secrecy of negotiating positions doesn’t matter over there…
[lprent: Hi, I see that you (or your clone) have stopped sending me those incoherent bigoted rants as junk emails. I’d strongly suggest that if you want to raise your paranoid fantasies on this site that you do so in Open Mike (like all of the other nuts do) where they don’t divert from posts on other topics. And you’d better reread the policy again.
Otherwise I lock you off the site again, except harder and more nastily. Learn to live within this sites rules or live without writing here. This is your warning.
I have no idea what you are on about. I have never sent you anything and do not even know who you are. I have never been locked out. Why the hypersensitivity and hysteria ?
I must say I am surprised at your reaction. Clearly you don’t like the loyalties of John Key being questioned, or is it that you side with the rich, bankers etc ? Hard to fathom, have I missed something ?
Or MAYBE you don’t like me mentioning he is a Jew ?. Perhaps you should send your angry rant to the Times of Israel. Hint: Don’t for get to use trigger words like “anti-semite” and Holocaust™. The Times of Israel love being called names, being a conservative Hebrew news service and all.
Good luck with your endeavors to fight free speech. Should come in handy next time the chosen ones drop a shell on a school.
You can make no demands of me.
If you genuinely do not know why your comments are rightfully offensive, I doubt I am skilled enough as a teacher to explain it to you.
Again you make accusations with zero evidence and with no supporting argument. You can not even say why?
I voted for Key. I won’t again, but I did. The Jew is not a race, it is a religious cult.
People like you have blood on your hands. You refuse to speak out about any wrong done by Jews. Syria, Libya, Iraq are all human rights disasters because of the zionists lobby and Jews using America to destroy Muslim countries. And don’t even mention Palestine. You are a vile bigot and nothing more. They are not gods chosen and they are owed no special consideration.
John Key has the – right of return – [sic] to Israel. He is a Jew. It is quite proper to question the mans loyalties given his back ground and associations.
KrissCross
You seem to like stirring. You’ll do that and then say oh I am such an innocent free-speecher, if anyone takes offence that’s their choice. You seem to be sensitive enough about yourself.
It’s too easy to start a fight about contentious issues. We generally try to think how such issues can be made less so. It’s a good place to learn what others think, to discuss that, and do some thinking around your favourite subjects, if you are up to that.
Jewish bankers do indeed have much to answer for. We should not be shy about addressing the issues. Your own intense burning hatred of free speech and honesty aside.
Just the mere mentions of the chosen master race and the place goes nuts. Even the moderator waded in and told a pack of lies in some sort of attempt to discredit me. Saying all sorts of things happened in the past that never did, accusing me of sending him messages and so on ! Hilarious.
possibly, although BH is more into boasting about their intellect (against all available evidence).
This one just seems to enjoy being a bigot and then pleading ignorance to an absurd degree.
Meh. At least the sewer won’t be able to argue that this fucker turned up and their statements were accepted, but yeah – kris klan just likes the funny looks he gets for being racist. Done.
he also comes from a state house in Christchurch provided for him and his family by the generosity of New Zealand taxpayers and the New Zealand social welfare system
….as Andrew Little so eloquently reminded parliament and all New Zealanders yesterday
I have no idea what you are on about. I have never sent you anything and do not even know who you are.
I must say I am surprised at your reaction. Clearly you don’t like the loyalties of John Key being questioned, or is it that you side with the rich, bankers etc ? Hard to fathom, have I missed something ?
Or MAYBE you don’t like me mentioning he is a Jew ?. Perhaps you should send your angry rant to the Times of Israel. Hint: Don’t for get to use trigger words like “anti-semite” and Holocaust™
Good luck with your endeavors to fight free speech. Should come in handy next time the chosen ones drop a shell on a school.
You don’t understand – the problem with Hitler and Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot is not who they were but what they did. They did bad things.
The problem with John Key is that he is a liar, a thief and an abuser of the limited authority he temporarily bears.
His religion is not at issue, though his race, as a subnormal hyper-intelligent shapeshifting reptilian alien only one step ahead of the tacky luggage industry is certainly vexed. We need not resolve this however – he does bad things. This is ample reason to be done with him.
Do yourself a favour and do a dna test on your self – you may just be surprised by the results. Kriss X.
That said, anyone who brings up Jewish conspiracy is off the reservation. Because the reality is most conspiracy’s are exposed within in a few years, none longer than 30. So to think there is some grand conspiracy spanning over a century, shows you don’t know anything about the nature of conspiracy’s. People naturally gossip, brag or feel cheated – then talk. That is ultimately why conspiracy’s fail and/or are exposed.
Just found out about this – spreading the word …..
Tomorrow – Friday 28 August 2015 – is your last opportunity to:
“Give feedback on the Open Government Partnership
…..
New Zealand is part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a group of countries working to make government more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.
The NZ government has created a 2 year Action Plan showing how it’s going to promote open and transparent government in New Zealand.
They’re asking for feedback on the Action Plan, to find out if New Zealanders think that the government’s meeting the OGP goals.
The consultation closes on 28 August 2015.
Between now and the end of August 2015, anyone in New Zealand can provide feedback on New Zealand’s Action Plan. You can provide feedback on any, or all, of the Action Plan commitments, or provide more general feedback on the OGP.
Give general feedback on the OGP and New Zealand’s Action Plan
Provide feedback on:
the Government’s Better Public Services (BPS) Results programme
BPS Result 10
the Government ICT Strategy and Action Plan to 2017
ICT Strategy Action Area 4
the 2013 TINZ National Integrity System Assessment Report
the Kia Tūtahi Relationship Accord
The government will use your feedback to create a self-assessment report for the OGP.
OGP member countries must report on their progress regularly. New Zealand’s self-assessment report will be published after 30 September 2015, with another report due in June 2016.
The report will show:
what the government has done to meet the grand challenges and principles of OGP,
progress so far,
feedback from New Zealanders on the initiatives, and
what the next steps are.
If you’d like more information about the Open Government Partnership or the Action Plan, contact NZOGP_ActionPlan@ssc.govt.nz.
———————————————————————-
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
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.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
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It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
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It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
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Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
My observation about the dire condition of our mainstream media in New Zealand looks not at how it uses distraction to dumb down citizens and turn them into ‘consumers’ ; rather it looks at its bias to the corporate industrial complex and its lackeys and puppets in New Zealand, the National Party.
Last year the Herald got involved in Dirty Politcs by smearing and undermining David Cunliffe’s leadership close enough to the election to assist another victory for the National Party.
The sponsors of the Herald, the real estate, insurance and finance industries clearly want more blood from its puppet paper. There has now been a sustained attack on Little by the Herald as it seeks to promote Jacinda Ardern. With a media like this, we only have a shadow of democracy In this country.
For me the herald is a tool, and stuff too – they put out their lines/articles and they are designed to elicit a response from readers – I want to know what they are trying to get me to think/do/believe – so that I can use a discriminating eye and mind and interpret their agenda. And then do what I want based on my beliefs and values.
the msm is persuasive and pervading and they do support the agendas – as organs of culture they show how delusional we are, how idiotic we are, how unprepared and head in the sand we are. The deeper those delusions go, the more along the road we are towards the inevitable conclusion. I don’t want or believe the msm will change – we need canaries, we need strident protectors of the ‘progress’ religion and fervent advocates of whichever ‘middle’ party is in power, we need them so we have something to contrast to, so we can do the opposite, believe the opposite and act opposite. So fuck the herald – I use them.
Or make the job easier and faster by doing whatever you want and not read/watch it at all. From here, the World as portrayed by even a 30 second news headlines ad on TV, or the front page at a supermarket entrance, it’s like, “Where the fuck are these people coming from?”. Wherever it is, it can’t be good for their health – mental or otherwise.
I recommend a site like metapicture, which has all the slightly muted values and prejudices of the perspective that everyone loves to repeat in the news, but interspersed by about 50% vaguely amusing rubbish – or try the weather forecast. As Simon and Garfunkel once said, “I get all the news I need on the weather report…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGDt2skie84
thanks charles – I quite like my way, honed from years of experience to a keen edge capable of slicing and dicing quite delicately and mindfully.
With a media like this, we only have a shadow of democracy In this country.
As you are back yet again on this topic Paul, perhaps you’d like to continue the discussion yesterday on how you would fix it?
To remind you where we were at, here’s where we paused…
“The setting up of a genuine national TV broadcaster with several channels.”
How would you control the content of such channels?
Support for local grassroots media.
Any grassroots media, or grassroots media that had to meet some form of Govt. approval?
Regulations with teeth about impartiality
‘Regulations’ is a big word. What would be the central details of such regulation?
We are the alternative.
As is Whaleoil, Kiwiblog, and Scoop.
Stand up. We’re taking over the world, one click at a time.
So, just to recap, you’re not happy with paul just pointing out that NZ media are blatantly biased in favour of tories. You want paul to design an entire media system from the mechanisms of providing support to grassroots media all the way up to writing the details of content regulations. And you call those demands a “discussion”.
yeah, fuck off.
Agree with you 100%, Paul. And I, too, have been wondering re the promotion of Jacinda Ardern – a very sneaky move to use her to undermine Andrew Little.
Jacinda actively courts light media.
And it’s what Labour desperately needs.
Politics, otherwise, is “Entertainment With Ugly People”. Both visually and spiritually.
National understands and accepts the power of televisual presence, and gain huge advantage in the MSM because of it. They remain better at it.
We may like to think we are pure and only deal in policy thoughts like monks of old.
Best of luck with that.
Meantime, Labour sure as hell needs Jacinta.
Our right wing friend “Ad” has, unwittingly, managed to say something that has some truth to it….
Politics, otherwise, is “Entertainment With Ugly People”.
That rather dull quip was made by someone in Hollywood in the early 1990s, and has been repeated ad nauseam by people like “Ad” ever since. Of course, as we see with the lionization of loud-mouthed vacuums like Donald Trump, the media are more than happy to concentrate on nonsense instead of anything substantial, which is not entertaining.
So, yes, politics is indeed entertainment with ugly people—-morally ugly.
There’s a flipside of course: so much of Hollywood seems to be politics for stupid people, as anyone will testify who has witnessed the embarrassing and unedifying spectacle of numbskulls like Neil Patrick Harris, Jared Leto, Kevin Costner, Kevin Spacey, Michael Douglas, John Malkovich and (most pathetic of all) Clint Eastwood trying to comment about things they know nothing about.
Trump may not be entertaining to you.
But he is on course to win the Republican nomination.
Precisely because he is quotable, and entertaining.
They even flock to his moral ugliness.
Read those US polls and weep all you like.
Trump has all the momentum, all the media oxygen, and he has huge popular support.
He will win the Republican nomination for Presidency.
have you quickly discraded your logic?…’The point of the Opposition is to show the public that their answers are better than the alternative, more credible, and more effective.’
‘But he is on course to win the Republican nomination.
Precisely because he is quotable, and entertaining.’…………………….so which is more important…..policy or charisma….you seem very inconsistent or confused or both!
Policy is what you do when you don’t have charisma.
Thanks for playing.
so policy is of no consequence…Nat strategy…’team Key’…are you with me!
So, I take it you’ll be voting for National because you’re too shallow to actually think about policy.
I’ve written a post on this today.
except in that post you propose policy as an asnwer, which contradicts many other things wyou say (in your comments at other times) about people like Adern and the need to fight fire with fire, popularity with popularity, do what it takes to win, which often precludes policy? That is certainly how 2007/2008 went, attack Clark, attack Labour, smile, says stuff which doesn’t mean much, and very little (or no policy).
All the things that people like BM say don’t work. And therein lies a message but I don’t know what the answer/counter is. Wish i did.
Trump may not be entertaining to you.
Oh, I can see he’s entertaining. But it’s like professional wrestling—there’s not a lot of substance there, and anyone with a brain soon gets bored and loses interest. It’s obvious to everyone that Trump is a souffle, a flake, a giant inflated bag of foul wind. Yes, he got 24 million people to tune in to watch him insult Mexicans and women, in between speeches by a dozen of America’s dullest men. And yes, he gets more people to his highly publicized appearances than Jeb Bush or Mario Rubio.
But far, far more people are turning out to watch the most popular politician in the United States—Bernie Sanders.
He will win the Republican nomination for Presidency.
That’s what we’re all counting on.
So far it’s obvious to just a few in the media, and a few on the left.
The people adore him.
The people adore him.
Now I’m going to be charitable here and assume that you are not actually one of the small group of imbeciles that actually adore the most well funded joke candidate in history.
Donald Trump is not a new phenomenon. Joke candidates have a long history. New Zealand had a “Mickey Mouse” candidate in 1972, and there was a full ticket of McGillicuddy Serious Party candidates twenty years on from that. All of these people were more coherent and entertaining than Trump.
Britain had Screaming Lord Sutch and his Official Monster Raving Loony Party, of course. Screaming Lord Sutch was a far brighter and more compelling candidate than any of these Republican candidates, leave alone the joke candidate who continues to distract everyone.
So, as I say, we’re assuming that you are one of the many people that are smart enough to realise Trump has nothing and offers nothing, but are determined to believe that millions of people are stupid enough to vote for him.
Well, okay, a lot of people voted for that sinister robot Mitt Romney last time—-but compared to Donald Trump, Romney is the most brilliant orator on the planet and a philosopher of the highest order.
But then, compared to Donald Trump, so is anybody.
Trump wont win the Republican nomination, and Sanders won’t win the Democrat nomination – hes currently polling 20pts behind Clinton, before the gloves come off and the money needs raising. No matter how popular they are, they won’t be allowed to win by party interests, because in a presidential election, both of them are un-electable. The republicans have always had the problem that the sort of candidate who can win the primary could never win the wider election. Sanders is the democrat version of that problem.
And in recent campaigns I can’t remember the last front runner at this point who ended up winning their party’s nomination.
Trump is a joke – un-electable because he will piss off way to many demographics. Sanders is not a joke, but in the US environment the only major state he might carry is California. Forget all the other key battlegrounds in the electoral college – Florida, Michigan, NY, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Georgia. As soon as the Republicans start attacking him with ads, he is gone. Secretly the Dems are hoping Trump does win the nomination, as the Republicans are hoping Sanders wins for the democrats. The US presidential election clearly works against polarising candidates as most states are winner takes all, i.e., a 1 vote majority within California delivers the candidate 10% of the electoral college.
The republicans were hoping to appeal to the “minorites”, through Jeb Bush, but Trump is pissing many off in that regard. BUT FOX News is not (from what I can see) a Trump fan and that will hurt him in the long run
I’m pleased to see that you acknowledge Sanders is NOT a joke candidate.
However, that acknowledgement comes after you have erroneously compared him to Trump.
Let’s get this straight: Sanders is serious, whereas Trump and the whole sorry Republican Party is nothing more than a crazy insurgency movement, dedicated to ruining America’s democracy.
I find it remarkable that you insist Sanders is “un-electable”. He’s surely no more unelectable than Barack Obama was, running as a black candidate in a profoundly racist country.
my prediction is that trump will win the presidency – society throws up these types in its last days/years – and they’ll build that stupid wall too…
@ Ad – Your reference to Trump.”He will win the Republican nomination for Presidency.”
That should make it easy for a Democrat win then.
Be pretty dark for the world if they lose.
So, policy is secondary if you want to win the Treasury seats, right?
The Jacinda thing I believe was more that there was a change in her as preferred PM (as per the caption on the graphic, and the subtitle).
Its hard to make a headline about National being so far ahead of Labour, as that seems to be the ‘same old, same old’.
If Labour had of jumped in the polls – then that would have been the push.
Anything else is tinfoil hat material.
Who actually answered that ” jacinda preferred as Pm” Poll?
I have not seen the poll, but would like to know who was polled? Regular Voters? Age Group of Voters? Gender of Voters, and Party Preferrence of Voters.
i actually think nothing of Jacinda as I have no idea who she is, what she likes, etc etc etc.
And for what its worth, i have never voted for a pretty face, male or female. I want my PM’s to be sound of mind and heart, I have no interest in their pretty faces and good bodies…these things fade with time.
used to watch Jacinda face of against the ghastly Bridges on morning t.v. was frustrating to see her counter his idiocy and bluster with calm and reasoned debate, often being talked over by bridges, imitating his idol Key, and the “interviewr” despite having all the facts and sound reasoning, how demorilising to be against pitted against the gnat-like ignorance of bridges and in the eyes of msm to be comparable to him.
The Nats were terrified of David Cunliffe – he was a real threat to them – Michelle Boag likes Andrew Little – obviously she thinks he’s no threat – the ABC crowd should have worked out that if the Nats were so keen to get rid of Cunliffe, that it was because he was a big threat to them, but the selfishness of the ABC crowd is breathtaking – they are all about securing their positions for the future and the public of NZ don’t seem to even rate a thought! The ABC don’t seem to care if they are in opposition, they still are on big money, still get their overseas trips each year etc – their petty jealousy of David Cunliffe robbed NZ of a government who cared about the average Joe and Joe-ess! Bryan Gould is right on the money in his latest Herald article – Jeremy Corbyn said in a recent interview that the Blairite approach in the Labour Party in the UK meant that there was no real difference between them and the Tories – no stark choice for voters – same here I think.
Yes, maybe it is time to Bring Back Cunliffe? The “BBC faction” has a nice ring to it too.
Note to Gosman; Seymour got everything he wanted from the changes to the opening hours for the world cup, so definitely a win for him and those who supported the move. You picked him as the winner when this first broke. And here he is. The BIG winner though, is Bruce Robertson on behalf of his members. he provided a masterclass in effective lobbying and use of a MP or Junior Minister.
Interesting that national went from only wanting AB games and playoffs to agreeing to everything.
“Key has earlier said the government could take up the bill on its own if it failed.
On Wednesday morning he went further, telling TV3’s Paul Henry show he had spoken with Justice Minister Amy Adams about putting it on the order paper, which would mean only majority rather than unanimous support would be needed.
It was not a simple fix as different bars have different opening hours.
“In principle one option would be to say … for every All Blacks game for the quarters, semis, the finals, maybe the playoffs for third and fourth – all of those we have blanket coverage.”
However, the case was not as strong for covering games not involving the All Blacks, Mr Key said.
He believed where there was strong support for other teams, such as a number of South Africans living on the North Shore, bars would have already applied for a special licence to open outside normal hours.” 12 August 2015 NZ Herald
Interesting to see if the legislation about bar opening hours for RWC also changed the opening hours specified in many of the bars’ Resource Consents. If it just did Licensing hours, there may be trouble ahead. Some Plans allow for restricted numbers of exemptions, but those are limited.
I read this article by Steve Keen, which I found very interesting. The excerpt I found fascinating was this.
‘This is the mechanism behind the empirical datum that the ex-banker and philanthropist Richard Vague identified in his book The Next Economic Disaster: Why It’s Coming and How to Avoid It. Richard looked at all economic crises across the globe over the last one and a half centuries, and found that every one of them occurred when the private debt to GDP ratio exceeded 1.5 times GDP, and when the ratio had risen by 17% or more over a 5 year period.
China fits that profile in spades, as I pointed out in the last two columns. It’s surely under-reported private debt to GDP ratio rose from about 100% of GDP in 2008 to over 180% by the start of 2015, which is a rise of 80% over 8 years.’
New Zealand’s ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevekeen/2015/08/26/why-china-had-to-crash-part-1/
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/key_graphs/household_debt/
Interesting article.
Would be great to see Mr Keen run his graphs on New Zealand.
LOL 😈
I read this article by Steve Keen, which I found very interesting. The excerpt I found fascinating was this.
‘This is the mechanism behind the empirical datum that the ex-banker and philanthropist Richard Vague identified in his book The Next Economic Disaster: Why It’s Coming and How to Avoid It. Richard looked at all economic crises across the globe over the last one and a half centuries, and found that every one of them occurred when the private debt to GDP ratio exceeded 1.5 times GDP, and when the ratio had risen by 17% or more over a 5 year period.
China fits that profile in spades, as I pointed out in the last two columns. It’s surely under-reported private debt to GDP ratio rose from about 100% of GDP in 2008 to over 180% by the start of 2015, which is a rise of 80% over 8 years.’
New Zealand’s ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevekeen/2015/08/26/why-china-had-to-crash-part-1/
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/statistics/key_graphs/household_debt/
@paul
You state NZ ratio of private debt to GDP is 147%. But isn’t this private debt ratio to household disposable income not GDP? Or are they the same thing exactly?
Treasury states: In the 20 years to 2011, total housing and consumer loan debt increased around six-fold in dollar terms. As a ratio of household disposable income, the percentage at June 2011 of 147% is about two and a half times that of 58% at March 1991.
This looks bad for us – going from 58% indebtedness level to household disposable income in 1991 to 147% in 2011. That means debt beyond the total plus half again of all disposable income. Unsustainable spending using debt, and a rising trend on the graph.
This is from google heading on GDP and household or private debt:: [New] Zealand – the increase in household debt ratios continued … increasing from 130 to 180 percent of GDP between 2000 …
The PDF it comes from is a 13 page Reserve Bank bulletin which seems informative and understandable but I haven’t time to read it myself having more mundane personal management issues. I put the link for those interested and hopefully I’ll catch up later.
http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/research_and_publications/reserve_bank_bulletin/2014/2014oct77_4.pdf
(We need to understand this so we know what Blinglish is blurting about or not as the case may be. And yek probably hasn’t read it, as it is not his job. Prancing ponies just have to look good, go through their paces and pull the tails of the pony in front as a crowd-amuser!)
Useful mages on Google – go to: nz private debt to GDP ratio
This is a good read: A very good extensive article written June 2015 by Brian Gaynor Investment Columnist for the NZ Herald traverses NZ debt overseas and comparative with other countries, including comment on domestic household etc etc. well. Very cogently written and even I can understand it if I concentrate.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11468289
He writes:
Debt is a complex issue and it is difficult to say with certainty whether a country or its Government has too much or too little debt. However, there are two important points that should be taken into account when considering this issue:
• All sources of debt, including government and household, should be considered. For example Japan has a very high level of government debt and a low level of household borrowings whereas New Zealand is the other way around.
• The ability to fund debt onshore is important. The Japanese Government is able to raise a high proportion of its borrowings from domestic investors whereas the New Zealand Government sources the majority of its debt from overseas investors.
New Zealand’s net external debt position has improved in recent years because a number of investment funds, particularly the NZ Super Fund, have boosted the country’s gross external lending figures.
In which Gaynor gets it wrong. A government doesn’t, and shouldn’t, borrow at all as it can always fund its spending by creating money.
suggestions for question time…
The right hon Andrew Little to the P.M….’can the P.M tell parliament when ,after 7 years in govt ,will his administration stop the puerile response of blaming Labour for all its own deficiencies and failures’?
My thought on that is labour should mock key mercilessly about living in the past every time he does it, and tell him a good government is looking to the future.
If I were Key I would respond:
“When we’ve finished cleaning up their mess.”
A pretty easy serve.
Labour will defend harder from those charges when it starts looking to the future of their alternative government.
Alter the discourse to the future.
How would you respond to Key?
By forming a plan that is better and more convincing than theirs, winning the public, and winning the election. Not by wasting my breath in the House.
I’ve written a post about what it could look like.
By that you mean having prettier people.
Try my more successful, substantive and demanding route on the separate post.
Ad – everytime Labour comes up with visionary ideas and voices them out loud National just steal their ideas off them so Labour are vulnerable to them. National are parasites who suck off other people and are deficient in creating visionary ideas – they just sell everything including the kitchen sink.
hence National demanding policy details around election time, so they can offer a diluted (by taking from tax payer somewhere else) version at the 11th hour to fill the vacuum that is there governance
Labour playing the centre gives National far more scope to adopt policy, Barbara.
Labour need to stop being scared of what the nats might do. They need a couple of sound bites a month to keep chipping away at key.
@bwaghorn
I agree. Let National be challenged, and have more coming. Labour would be doing their job as Opposition and keeping the government somewhere close to the line and getting some action for the citizens if National choose to do something.
Labour can then say good on them for trying, but we will watch them because they are dodgy.
But stand up and have positive ideas, and say something positive about NZs. Say we, Labour, know that there is enterprise simmering away and not being encouraged. Say that National have not allowed ordinary NZs to shine, they are too busy making us a low wage, no wage economy.
More apprenticeships, training wages still low but with a job promised immediately for a year on finishing so as to get into the work force. Have good employers taking on new entrants into working, for a set time. Monitor how things pan out for all. That would be a start, positives as well as valid criticisms of National. Perhaps a bit more contemptuous and humorous like Winnie.
actually I think Labour are doing pretty well already.
It hasn’t quite translated to the polls yet, but they really seem to be working together – it seems that the worst apples have either left or been brought into line.
It’s been a solid year for them so far. Something to build on.
I tend to agree with that – solid so far with a few wobbles and some definite hits.
Smith trying suggest Green Party are just boring for questioning the bill turning the World Cup into one big Piss up??
I wonder what Liver function Tests on National Party would say about that? They certainly act/appear as though they regularly enjoy more than a tipple.
Nothing wrong with communal areas being made available to watch the games in the morning, BUT FFS WHY NOT SERVE COFFEE (and breakfast)???????
seymour talking about freedoms taken from people without justification. However extended licences exist for this. since may 2013 when the rugby schedule was announced any pub could apply. but they waited til the last minute to get it for free. now the police… ambulance services and healthcare will need to deal with any fallout. councils wont have the fees to offset increased costs… and street cleaning. If seymour cared about freedom for rugby people he would have added free to air for AB Matches.
the Greens or Labour should try an urgent debate on that freedom…. shine a light on this being less about freedom than money.
Move on. They won. There’s no upside to continuing.
You don’t support free to Air for games of national significance Ad, yet is it SO populist?
Tracey, this is not about it being Populist, this is about making money.
Pubs selling piss is making money, showing games for free……fuck, thats heresy.
I anoint you Patron Saint of Lost Causes.
And a lot of bars will be serving coffee and breakfast.
I know its a shock – but most people prefer not to go to work drunk.
I will prob watch some games with mates in the bar (more fun than just being at home), but the thought of a beer first thing in the morning – ugh.
I’d say most of the whiny wowsers haven’t been into a bar since the 1980’s.
People don’t go to a bar and get shit-faced any more and they haven’t done that for a long time.
So, never spoken to an emergency nurse, doctor or paramedic then?
People drinking on the streets, not in bars.
Massive fines, if drunk people found on premises, if you’re even the remotest bit rowdy, the bouncer is chucking you out the door.
Real zero tolerance to intoxicated people in licensed premises.
booze doesn’t vomit, people do. Right BM?
You argument does not preclude that the person did not get drunk in said bar.
You understand how alcohol works on the physiological level right?
People don’t tend to get drunk in bars anymore.
For a start drinks are so expensive and the bouncers watch every one like hawks.
Most preload before they go out or they drink on the street or they get pissed at parties.
The booze barns of yesteryear no longer exist.
they do in Dunedin.
That doesn’t surprise me.
Dunedin is like stepping back in time 30 years.
Courtney place wasn’t too flash when I was up there earlier this year, either.
What. A. Load. Of. Shit.
Now here’s what really happens in pubs outside of planet key: Pub fills punters with as much piss as possible.
Kicks punter out when liquor starts to kick in: not the pub’s problem.
Drunk person found on premises: victim of pre-loading before coming into bar. Very sorry we’ll try harder/security has been upgraded/staff member no longer works here.
Yes, every so often a pub goes way overboard, consistently, so that the cops get annoyed and go out of their way to send half a dozen through the worst offending bar with the local inspector and log each infraction found. But that is not routine, that’s somebody deciding to teach someone a lesson.
exactly, so why spend time and +++media coverage ad nauseum shouting from the roof tops that people can now chose to get pissed all day and night….if they wish to, so what? is it really worth all the attention in parliament/media?? and anyone calling me a party pooper needs to get a real life instead of being a National fart catcher
Should have put a line in the bill making the government dry – why are the taxpayers buying their booze for them? And that would have been an interesting debate.
Are countries legally required to protect their citizens from climate change?
A Dutch court recently ruled that greenhouse gas reduction is a state obligation.
The government, the court said, must ensure that Dutch emissions in 2020 will be at least 25 percent lower than those in 1990 — the amount the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report says is needed from industrialized countries if the world is to not exceed 2 °C (3.6 °F) warming and avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Dutch political leaders had been planning to cut emissions by up to 17 percent within the next five years.
http://ensia.com/features/are-countries-legally-required-to-protect-their-citizens-from-climate-change/
Stupid law. Why not do it properly and make the Dutch reponsible too for all the CO2 wafting in from Eastern Europe? Actually, they could take responsibility for some of our cows too.
“Keyless Ignition Used in Millions of Cars a Deadly Safety Defect: Lawsuit
Ten of the world’s biggest automakers were sued on Wednesday by U.S. consumers who claim the manufacturers concealed the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning in more than 5 million vehicles equipped with keyless ignitions, leading to 13 deaths.
According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, carbon monoxide is emitted when drivers leave their vehicles running after taking their electronic key fobs with them, under the mistaken belief that the engines will shut off.”
….
The defendants are BMW, including Mini; Daimler’s Mercedes Benz; Fiat Chrysler; Ford; General Motors; and Honda, including Acura; Hyundai, including Kia; Nissan, including Infiniti; Toyota, including Lexus; and Volkswagen, including Bentley.
“It claimed that the 10 automakers have long known about the risks of keyless ignitions, which have been available in the United States since at least 2003, yet deceived drivers by marketing their vehicles as safe.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/keyless-ignition-used-millions-cars-deadly-safety-defect-lawsuit-n416511
Am currently in the wilds of Wellington.
Found out something rather fascinating at the Wellington Court of Appeal hearing yesterday – where the long-suffering, decent New Zealanders who are members of the Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association have been trying to get the (former) Kaipara District Council held accountable to the ‘rule of law’.
The Government-appointed Commissioners, who now are responsible for the ‘governing’ of the Kaipara District Council, have proceedings filed in the Wellington High Court, against an ‘officer of Parliament’ – the Auditor-General.
These proceedings are CIV – 2014 – 485 – 11542
Kaipara District Council v Controller and Auditor-General.
That is the only information, to date, that I have been able obtain about these proceedings.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper, and arguably more effective, for the Kaipara Commissioners to petition Parliament for an inquiry into the role of the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) regarding their role in this debacle?
Or – if the Kaipara Commissioners want to get some form of financial compensation / damages out of the OAG – is the Court the only, or best place to go?
Perhaps one of the positive outcomes from this appallingly sorry saga would be the establishment of a genuinely Independent Commission Against Corruption?
Interesting that it was the same MP responsible for presenting the democratically disgraceful Kaipara District Council Rates Validation Act, who was the Chair of the Law and Order Select Committee, which knocked back the petition of Grace Haden, calling for an Independent Commission Against Corruption?
Who was that MP?
The former National MP for Northland – Mike Sabine.
Penny Bright
and just to remind the readers not that they probably give a damn all the major parties voted for that validation bill including labour and the greens with the sole exceptions of nzfirst and i think the maori party which is a substantial part of the reason large numbers of mangawhai people supported winston in the recent northland by election
The short list of flag designs has been reduced to 39.
From https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/
“Please note that the ‘Modern Hundertwasser’ design has been removed from the long list following a copyright claim by the Hundertwasser Non-Profit Foundation.”
Oh dear. The process crumbles further .
I don’t recall seeing this news anywhere, apologies if I’m late to the party.
sinecure n. cushy number, gravy train, soft option, soft job, money for jam or old rope a lucrative sinecure with a massive government vanity project
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Hundterwasser Trust crumbled, you mean.
When the moist left retreat, they really run.
does anyone have a link to the hundertwasser flag?
The original Hundertwasser is here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koru_Flag
it is also included on the govt website as one of the thousands that weren’t chosen.
The Modern Hundertwasser that has been removed didn’t have the black vertical stripe at the left, the centre of the koru was more bold (it didn’t have so many turns) and the transition of the green from the bottom edge was more gradual.
An open letter from the Flag Con Panel
“I’m saddened at one level that there seems to be quite a bit of reluctance to engage in the conversation.”—HANA O’REGAN, Flag Con Committee
“The hope is to encourage public involvement in the process ahead of the vote, but hardly anyone turned up.”—JULIET SPEEDY, TV3 News
E ngā suckers.
Kia ora for the 10,292 designs you’ve suggested—even if half of them were from the same sad, obsessed, talent-free individual. Each of these (some quirkier than others!) was viewed by every Panel member—which gives the lie to the nasty allegations swirling around that this Panel is nothing but a sinecure for a bunch of nobodies who lacked the integrity to say no to putting their undistinguished names to a farcical vanity project for a frivolous and contemptible Prime Minister. We were, moreover, not impressed with the large number of “satirical” designs, such as the now infamous “laser Kiwi”, which were obviously intended to belittle this very serious process and to waste the Panel’s valuable time.
In reviewing flag designs, first and foremost, we were guided by what an average attendance of four Kiwis at each meeting, some of them unfortunately “homeless” people who had turned up for the complementary tea and biscuits, told us when they shared what is special to them about New Zealand. A special thank you must be paid here to the tireless, albeit reluctant, local National Party branches throughout the country!
The message was clear: you don’t really care. Many people wrote in saying: “Keep the Flag, change the Prime Minister”, but the Panel did not find that helpful. Others claimed that this panel was a collection of hand-picked dullards with the aesthetic sense of a kick in the head, the cultural knowledge of a concrete post and the historic appreciation of a goldfish. Again, we did not appreciate this kind of feedback or find it helpful.
In finalising the long list we invited a number of cultural (including tikanga), vexillology (the study of flags), art and design experts to talk to us. These experts really impressed the Flag Consideration Panel, as can be seen by their comments: “That was really interesting” (Sir Brian Lochore, ONZ, KNZM, OBE); “Wow, just wow” (Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM); “That was so cool” (Julie Christie, ONZM), “Really interesting” (Stephen Jones) and “Piss off! How DARE you impugn my integrity? I —WE, goddammit, WE have all worked HARD! Just FUCK off!” (Kate De Goldi, Deputy Chair)
We encourage you to make sure you are enrolled to vote so that you can take part in this nationally significant process. We certainly hope you show more enthusiasm than you did when you failed to come to our heavily advertised consultation meetings.
Ngā mihi nui kia suckers.
Regards,
Flag Consideration Panel:
Prof John Burrows (Chair), ONZM, QC
Nicky Bell
Peter Chin, CNZM
Julie Christie, ONZM
Rod Drury
Kate De Goldi (Deputy Chair)
Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM
Lt Gen (Rtd) Rhys Jones, CNZM
Stephen Jones
Sir Brian Lochore, ONZ, KNZM, OBE
Malcolm Mulholland
Hana O’Regan.
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/open-letter/
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/low-turnout-for-first-public-flag-change-meeting-2015051716#axzz3jxQrsRgM
Enjoyed that thanks Morrissey.
I have been wondering lately about a way to sabotage the first referendum . It would take a huge social media campaign for all people loyal to the New Zealand flag to vote for a rank outsider in the first referendum but nothing is impossible.
“I have been wondering lately about a way to sabotage the first referendum”
Yes, God forbid that people who want a change have the opportunity to do so.
So much easier to try and sabotage something that you dont agree with.
James, it’s perfectly reasonable and legitimate to vote strategically in such cases. The current government has taught us that repeatedly when directing Epsom voters to vote for the ACT candidate of the day.
I’m sure you’ll agree that the fairer way to run this popularity contest would have been to have the one referendum with the New Zealand flag included.
This process has been engineered to provide maximum exposure and momentum to a marketing logo and it’s time for those loyal to the flag of New Zealand to fight at the earliest opportunity.
What do you expect those loyal to New Zealand to do? Not vote in the first referendum? Much better for us to vote for a logo design which will have the least chance of success against the New Zealand flag.
That is a sensible voting strategy, plain and simple.
People who are disloyal to the flag have the opportunity to vote too, nobody is stopping them.
Your comments never fail to amaze me. You don’t seem to quite get the point of anything that anyone posts here. Why don’t you give Leighton Smith a ring? He’s more your level.
Interestingly the Nats won’t support Sue Moroney’s earlier BIll on parental leave, which Seymour supports, but will draft their own bill giving the same thing. It’s almost like it’s a game they play to make sure they get credit for someone else’s ideas and work. Is that what you mean by sabotage?
So, you agree with Labour and a whole lot of us that the first referendum should be asking if we should actually change the flag?
this does not need sabotage.
1. referendum, those who want to vote should vote for the design they prefer
those that want to keep the Flag, should abstain, and not vote.
2. referendum, those who want to change the flag should vote Yes
those who don’t want to change the Flag should vote No.
Or as P.Winston, (the NZfirstler that everyone is so afraid of) says, put a big fat KOF on it Keep Our Flag, but that would most likely invalidate the vote, and I would venture such a vote will not be counted.
AS there will be no option in the First Referedum such as :Keep current design!! I personally will abstain for the first vote and only Vote in the second referendum.
Simple as that.
No sabotage, but a fair and democratic process……Most likely we will end up with a Trademarketet Design, that will costs million of dollars to change on every uniform, piece of stationary, and other assorted gimmicks, but hey, the PM and his sidekick the most Honorable and Honest Bill English, aka Mr. 19% have all the money they need to pay for that stuff, and most likely they will make a buck or two for themselves after all thats what they do. The only ones paying for these shenanigans is us……but hey….Dear Leader wants a new Flag, and his groupies, enablers and voters will happily see their tax dollars spend on a Kitchen Towel.
I’m not prepared to throw in the towel just yet.
My idea is simply to take the fight to John Key and his supporters before their logo gets traction.
God knows there’s been precious little of that lately.
Not throwing in any towels, but it is clear that this will come to vote, no matter what.
And I can only imagine the ‘outrage’ if no one actually participates in the first referendum.
Really, think of it. The first referendum is to get people involved, here choose your design, …..now defend it in the next referendum.
If people are actually not participating (lets say only 10 – 15 % would actually vote) How much of a ManDate would our dear Leader have to continue?
Also, what is it with National Government that they want to change the Flag, last time it was under Jenny Shipley….really what is it?
Sabine, it will come to campaign before vote.
I believe we haven’t seen the true size of the marketing campaign Key will throw at this once the first referendum is over and his cheap, poorly designed logo has been chosen to go up against the New Zealand flag.
They will throw everything at this because there’s much more at stake now than the flag. A loss for Key here would damage him personally. Having consulted Crosby-Textor, they will begin to attack the very heart of demographic of those loyal to the New Zealand flag.
The disloyal changers will not care one bit if the turnout is 10-15% at the first referendum. The fewer the better for them I imagine, to ensure that an ill-informed choice is made.
” and his cheap, poorly designed logo has been chosen to go up against the New Zealand flag”
No-one ever asks the PM why his preferred design is an existing commercial product with legal copyright. The media, and the flag-change supporters, never mention how the Kyle Lockwood designs are an existing commercial product currently under copyright. A copyright that is co-incidentally scheduled to expire in [late?] 2015 .
A question for the legal minds out there:
As the Lockwood designs are under a legal copyright should they not have the copyright logo visible beside them when images of them are published,? When in included in the long list for example?
Copyright doesn’t expire until after the death of the author plus 50 years (which would be extended to 70 under TPPA).
This is a screenshot of the Silverfernflag website as of 4pm today.
http://imgur.com/JMRXznU
I have highlighted the relevant information that suggests the copyright expires this year and also the information that shows how the stated copyright requirements are not being met with the publicity and promotion of the relevant designs.
If I am incorrect in my understanding of the information as it is presented then I am, as always, happy to be corrected.
Yeah, I knew what you were talking about. That’s a shorthand way to say the stuff on the site is copyrighted and that you need to get permission to copy it. It has nothing to do with when the copyright expires.
It is precisely because of the normal copyright protocol that I wonder why the obvious questions surrounding copyrighted images being included in the flag referendum process have not been addressed.
If , as Draco suggests, the copyright is not expiring in 2015 then we are left to wonder what the plan is if any of the Lockwood designs are selected as the new flag.
His designs are an existing commercial product that has been on the market for a decade.
If a copyrighted design of his is chosen:
Is he just going to sign over any rights to lost future earnings ?
Is he going to get offered compensation for the lost earnings?
Is a single journalist ever going to raise the issue with the PM? or anyone for that matter?
How much are they being paid by the taxpayers for being on the Panel.
MEMO
FROM: Julie Christie, ONZM
TO: rod
MESSAGE: MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS YOU FUCKING OIK. WHAT DOES IT MATTER HOW MUCH I GET? YOU THINK YOU COULD DO AS GOOD A JOB DO YOU? YOU FUCKING OIK.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11413938
$640 a day not bad for being given a job with no real target
The target was to eat all the taxpayer-funded food on offer.
$640 a day, plus unlimited free tea and all the biscuits you can eat, since hardly anybody turned up to consume them. I understand that Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM, Lt Gen (Rtd) Rhys Jones, CNZM and Malcolm Mulholland really tucked in to the goodies on offer.
Gerald Celente: They Blame China But That Country Is Just The Canary In The Coal Mine
John Key visits a hospital, asks some penetrating questions
Actually, it’s his ideological soulmate George Osborne, but it could be Key, or Jonathan Coleman….
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1440612776.html
Just thinking about a politician visiting a hospital and being penetrating.
Brings to mind a Filipino phantom surgeon who cuts into the patient’s body with his hand and pulls out all the useless entrails. That idea might have come from the children’s board game where they play at being a doctor!
Idea! The Filipino practice would solve our unmet health needs problem. So National – seeming like smart action, while really being a hoax and a farce.
Yep, that’d be about right for all National and other conservative MPs.
CYF report commented on by Children’s Commissioner who is doing a sterling job. How long will he last?
The Children’s Commissioner’s first annual report has strongly criticised Child, Youth and Family for what it calls a dump and run culture of neglect
Good RadioNZ report. Must make sure that ditto question doesn’t apply to them, or him for that matter.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/282515/kids-probably-no-better-off-in-state-care
Commissioner Russell Wills commenting on paucity of data! Hah!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201768177
And Anne Tolley Social Development Minister, who seems to be agreeing with the criticism. Along the lines that government is no good at this. Ditto with housing?
Slide out and leave it to the no- tenderer mercies of private profit makers or fundamentalist capitalist charities? Next step I’ll bet.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201768178
I think we can expect a lot more of the narrative that government is not very good at delivering social services and there will be better outcomes from the private sector delivering services.
This government has a lot further that they will want to go down this path and the end game will be terrible outcomes for the most vulnerable in our society.
Ministers’ love this as they have less accountability and they can achieve their aims at arms length.
+1
+ 1 yep good points from you and grey
The latest from NASA on sea level rise with videos
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-science-zeros-in-on-ocean-rise-how-much-how-soon
Crikey, read this latest column from Dita de Boni in the herald:
I’m a bit lost for words on the brazen attack, it’s about bloody time and surprising. I can’t help but wonder what was edited out?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11503338
The way she wrote “thank you for reading” made me wonder if it is her last.
It’s her last. I always liked her, did not always agree with her, but always liked her.
It is a worrying trend for the herald. There was a time when the business section of the paper did not lie, or spin. It was one of the few sections in the paper that knew it’s place, and had to talk directly to it’s target market honestly and forthrightly.
In the last few years that part of the herald has died, forget right wing bias, forget the cost of print, etc. This is what has killed the herald. Not sure who made this editorial change, but it has been fun to watch, spin and lies being added to the business pages, to bring it in line with the rest of the newspaper.
No wonder sales had fallen away. Even it’s support base, can not trust it.
It’s her valediction. It was announced a few weeks ago that she was being made redundant. I guess you no longer have to hold your tongue when you’ve got nothing to lose.
That said, I’m somewhat optimistic for the Herald. Their new editor, Murray Kirkness, was a good editor of the Otago Daily Times and led the campaign to keep neurological surgery services at Dunedin Hospital. The editorial line at the ODT has been reasonably critical of the government in recent years.
“People have asked me over the years why my columns have become more strident in tone; more “biased against” the Government. The answer’s that the examples of contempt for the public, hypocrisy, and flat-out bulls***tery have become too overwhelming to ignore.”
Says it all really.
At least the Europeans managed to get a document released.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ttip-controversy-the-european-commission-and-big-tobacco-accused-of-coverup-after-heavily-redacted-documents-released-10473601.html
A lot of that article reads oddly familar…
The brits and UK are getting a lot of information compared to us. For some reason that Mapp and Groser can’t or won’t explain, secrecy of negotiating positions doesn’t matter over there…
John Key is a Jew banker. As such his loyalty is to other bankers, Jews and the rich. And yeah… he is a Jew.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-zealand-jewish-pm-wins-third-term/
[lprent: Hi, I see that you (or your clone) have stopped sending me those incoherent bigoted rants as junk emails. I’d strongly suggest that if you want to raise your paranoid fantasies on this site that you do so in Open Mike (like all of the other nuts do) where they don’t divert from posts on other topics. And you’d better reread the policy again.
Otherwise I lock you off the site again, except harder and more nastily. Learn to live within this sites rules or live without writing here. This is your warning.
Moving this thread to Open Mike as offtopic. ]
LPRENT CAN WE WATCH THIS SHIT PLEASE
[lprent: I do, every time he turns up under any name. ]
What “shit” is that ?
“and more nastily”
I have no idea what you are on about. I have never sent you anything and do not even know who you are. I have never been locked out. Why the hypersensitivity and hysteria ?
I must say I am surprised at your reaction. Clearly you don’t like the loyalties of John Key being questioned, or is it that you side with the rich, bankers etc ? Hard to fathom, have I missed something ?
Or MAYBE you don’t like me mentioning he is a Jew ?. Perhaps you should send your angry rant to the Times of Israel. Hint: Don’t for get to use trigger words like “anti-semite” and Holocaust™. The Times of Israel love being called names, being a conservative Hebrew news service and all.
Good luck with your endeavors to fight free speech. Should come in handy next time the chosen ones drop a shell on a school.
“free speech” does not include forcing others to publish your hate.
What “hate” ? Explain you accusation or withdraw it.
My comments about Key are pretty mild compared with others on this site. I even voted for him !
His loyalties ARE in question and I am left to wonder where they lay.
You can make no demands of me.
If you genuinely do not know why your comments are rightfully offensive, I doubt I am skilled enough as a teacher to explain it to you.
You’re more suited to the Daily Mail comments section.
So no answer then.
Amusing that a person who is so sensitive about bankers, Key and the rich etc being held to account, chooses to hang out at the Standard !
I’m sensitive about none of those things.
People who recycle racist caricatures and are too cowardly to admit their bigotry, on the other hand…
Again you make accusations with zero evidence and with no supporting argument. You can not even say why?
I voted for Key. I won’t again, but I did. The Jew is not a race, it is a religious cult.
People like you have blood on your hands. You refuse to speak out about any wrong done by Jews. Syria, Libya, Iraq are all human rights disasters because of the zionists lobby and Jews using America to destroy Muslim countries. And don’t even mention Palestine. You are a vile bigot and nothing more. They are not gods chosen and they are owed no special consideration.
John Key has the – right of return – [sic] to Israel. He is a Jew. It is quite proper to question the mans loyalties given his back ground and associations.
Yeah, I reckon you’ve made it clear to everyone exactly what you are.
Zero evidence?
Yeah, fuck off troll.
KrissCross
You seem to like stirring. You’ll do that and then say oh I am such an innocent free-speecher, if anyone takes offence that’s their choice. You seem to be sensitive enough about yourself.
It’s too easy to start a fight about contentious issues. We generally try to think how such issues can be made less so. It’s a good place to learn what others think, to discuss that, and do some thinking around your favourite subjects, if you are up to that.
If I mentioned JK was a Baptist would you have written that ?
Was the Times of Israel “stirring” ?
“Baptist banker” doesn’t quite have the same pedigree as what you actually wrote, and you’d have to be a moron to not know that.
1. Key is a banker.
2. According to the TIMES OF ISRAEL he is a Jew.
Would you prefer we tell lies ?
Jewish bankers do indeed have much to answer for. We should not be shy about addressing the issues. Your own intense burning hatred of free speech and honesty aside.
Just the mere mentions of the chosen master race and the place goes nuts. Even the moderator waded in and told a pack of lies in some sort of attempt to discredit me. Saying all sorts of things happened in the past that never did, accusing me of sending him messages and so on ! Hilarious.
@McFlock – wouldn’t surprise me if it was that loon Bluehorshoe posting under another account, can I suggest DNFTT ?
possibly, although BH is more into boasting about their intellect (against all available evidence).
This one just seems to enjoy being a bigot and then pleading ignorance to an absurd degree.
Meh. At least the sewer won’t be able to argue that this fucker turned up and their statements were accepted, but yeah – kris klan just likes the funny looks he gets for being racist. Done.
Ah yes because only one person could possibly be critical of the chosen ones and they MUST be crazy eh ?
How about a shot at the issue instead of the messenger bigot ?
Mr Flock, is the Times of Israel racist and full of hate for mentioning John Key is a Jew ?
Come on at least attempt one question. I will even let you call me an anti-semite so you can feel nice and [more] smug. 🙂
http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-zealand-jewish-pm-wins-third-term/
Ad, Still waiting for that answer. Are you struggling with it ?
What seems to be the issue ?
Perhaps anti Semite posts should be removed. It’s pretty offensive.
he also comes from a state house in Christchurch provided for him and his family by the generosity of New Zealand taxpayers and the New Zealand social welfare system
….as Andrew Little so eloquently reminded parliament and all New Zealanders yesterday
…this needs to be repeated again and again
GO ANDREW LITTLE !
Add didnt nz take his mother in as well as a refugee.
I have no idea what you are on about. I have never sent you anything and do not even know who you are.
I must say I am surprised at your reaction. Clearly you don’t like the loyalties of John Key being questioned, or is it that you side with the rich, bankers etc ? Hard to fathom, have I missed something ?
Or MAYBE you don’t like me mentioning he is a Jew ?. Perhaps you should send your angry rant to the Times of Israel. Hint: Don’t for get to use trigger words like “anti-semite” and Holocaust™
Good luck with your endeavors to fight free speech. Should come in handy next time the chosen ones drop a shell on a school.
You don’t understand – the problem with Hitler and Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot is not who they were but what they did. They did bad things.
The problem with John Key is that he is a liar, a thief and an abuser of the limited authority he temporarily bears.
His religion is not at issue, though his race, as a subnormal hyper-intelligent shapeshifting reptilian alien only one step ahead of the tacky luggage industry is certainly vexed. We need not resolve this however – he does bad things. This is ample reason to be done with him.
Do yourself a favour and do a dna test on your self – you may just be surprised by the results. Kriss X.
That said, anyone who brings up Jewish conspiracy is off the reservation. Because the reality is most conspiracy’s are exposed within in a few years, none longer than 30. So to think there is some grand conspiracy spanning over a century, shows you don’t know anything about the nature of conspiracy’s. People naturally gossip, brag or feel cheated – then talk. That is ultimately why conspiracy’s fail and/or are exposed.
Just found out about this – spreading the word …..
Tomorrow – Friday 28 August 2015 – is your last opportunity to:
“Give feedback on the Open Government Partnership
…..
New Zealand is part of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a group of countries working to make government more open, accountable and responsive to citizens.
The NZ government has created a 2 year Action Plan showing how it’s going to promote open and transparent government in New Zealand.
They’re asking for feedback on the Action Plan, to find out if New Zealanders think that the government’s meeting the OGP goals.
The consultation closes on 28 August 2015.
Between now and the end of August 2015, anyone in New Zealand can provide feedback on New Zealand’s Action Plan. You can provide feedback on any, or all, of the Action Plan commitments, or provide more general feedback on the OGP.
Give general feedback on the OGP and New Zealand’s Action Plan
Provide feedback on:
the Government’s Better Public Services (BPS) Results programme
BPS Result 10
the Government ICT Strategy and Action Plan to 2017
ICT Strategy Action Area 4
the 2013 TINZ National Integrity System Assessment Report
the Kia Tūtahi Relationship Accord
The government will use your feedback to create a self-assessment report for the OGP.
OGP member countries must report on their progress regularly. New Zealand’s self-assessment report will be published after 30 September 2015, with another report due in June 2016.
The report will show:
what the government has done to meet the grand challenges and principles of OGP,
progress so far,
feedback from New Zealanders on the initiatives, and
what the next steps are.
If you’d like more information about the Open Government Partnership or the Action Plan, contact NZOGP_ActionPlan@ssc.govt.nz.
———————————————————————-
Penny Bright
Over on NoRightTurn
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/open-government-were-doing-it-wrong.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/open-government-insulting.html
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2015/08/open-government-still-doing-it-wrong.html
There are plenty of reasons to not like/hate John Key.
Being a Jew is not one of them.
No one has suggested otherwise. Nice grab for the moral high ground though.
Fool, isn’t there an ACT party meeting or a Sensible Sentencing Trust klaven that you should be at?
Hurry away now!