Open mike 28/03/2015

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, March 28th, 2015 - 186 comments
Categories: uncategorized - Tags:

openmike

Today being buy election day in Northland means that everyone should refrain from making comments about the buy election until polling booths close at 7:00 pm. There will be a post up at 7:01 pm where you can comment to your heart’s content.

Apart from that and court ordered suppression orders, Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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

Step right up to the mike …

186 comments on “Open mike 28/03/2015 ”

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  1. phillip ure 1
    28 March 2015 at 8:14 am

    a us$700 million industry – drops in crime/assaults/domestic-violence..

    ..and a drop in vehicle-fatalities..

    ..all effects of/from the legalisation of cannabis in colorado..

    ..and all serious problems for us here in nz..

    w.t.f. are we waiting for..?

    http://whoar.co.nz/2015/5-mind-blowing-policing-results-of-colorados-marijuana-legalisation/

    • vto 1.1
      28 March 2015 at 8:23 am

      “w.t.f. are we waiting for..?”

      We are waiting for people to think rather than get hit in their head by their own knee-jerk. Ignorant people. Usually ignorant people who drink piss. Poison their brain, liver, pancreas, kidneys, other brain, and partners & children with piss and its side-effects. We have all seen it. We all know that piss is the real drug problem in aotearoa.

      Ban piss and free cannabis

      • phillip ure 1.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 8:32 am

        yeah – i forgot to mention the recorded serious drop in alcohol-consumption – that is a major cause of that drop in assaults/domestic-violence etc..

        ..(and i wish someone wd sit hone harawira down and explain all this to him..)

        ..and of course booze-pimp dunnes’ paymasters will be urging him to pump out some more of his prohibitionist-bullshit..

    • gsays 1.2
      28 March 2015 at 8:29 am

      hi phil and vto, (welcome back phil), we are also waiting for a transparent lobby register.
      to see how much the duopoly booze companies spend and what they are saying to our mps.
      i reckon the supermarket duopoly would be against it as well.

      perhaps an impossible to ignore hemp industry (clothing, building materials) coupled with an increase of knowledge around medical marijuana.

      • vto 1.2.1
        28 March 2015 at 8:37 am

        Of course for a greater period of history it is alcohol that has been banned while cannabis has been legal.

        But again, the ignorant knee-jerkers both don’t know this and refuse to look at history.

        Ban piss

      • phillip ure 1.2.2
        28 March 2015 at 8:43 am

        @ gsays..

        yep..!..of course the supermarket duopoly will be engaging in a patch-protection exercise – lobbying politicians to not legalise pot..they make so much from pushing/peddling this poisonous-muck..

        ..and the news is out today that just three drinks a day of alcohol – leads to liver cancer..

        once again – w.t.f. are we waiting for..?

        esp. when mainstream polling late last yr showed 87% of those polled wanted prohibition to end –

        – they just varied in the new model they want to see – ranging from just med-pot – to full legalisation/regulation/taxation..

        ..w.t.f. are the politicians so scared of..?

        ..those lobbyists from the piss/supermarket industries..?..

        ..(yoo-hoo..!..katherine rich..!..)

        ..and they all as owned as that piss-pusher dunne..?

        http://whoar.co.nz/2015/new-study-determines-exact-level-of-drinking-that-leads-to-liver-cancer/

        • phillip ure 1.2.2.1
          28 March 2015 at 8:50 am

          and as for reviving the moribund northland-economy..?

          ..whoar..!

          ..two-lane bridges won’t make sweet f.a. difference..

          ..legalising/regulating/taxing pot would..

          (and the required skill-base is definitely up there..)

          ..and the benefits for our tourism-industry..?

          ..once again – whoar..!

          (..’get high..!..in the southern alps..!..)

          • Skinny 1.2.2.1.1
            28 March 2015 at 8:57 am

            I walked outside to call my partner, after 1 minute of hearing the pot party candidate the other night. Her forgetfulness and repeating what she had just said was a bad advert.

            • phillip ure 1.2.2.1.1.1
              28 March 2015 at 9:07 am

              @ skinny..

              had yr partner been drinking..?

              • Skinny …
                28 March 2015 at 9:29 am

                No Phil someone called me late in the afternoon to get along to meet the wannabe MP, so I went straight after work at 5pm. Just doing the I’ll be late call. I did go get a box of steinlager, some wine for her and a couple of scotch steaks afterwards. She has been hounding me to get her some pot tho, I shrug it off and say she is dizzy enough without it, haha she laughed, then I laughed and we agreed who needs dope and laughed some more.

              • TheContrarian …
                28 March 2015 at 10:00 am

                Stopping smoking weed was the best thing I ever did

                • phillip ure …
                  28 March 2015 at 10:07 am

                  @ contrarian..

                  ..do you now drink alcohol instead..?

                  ..and nobody is suggesting it should be made compulsory..eh..?

                  ..some people like it – some people don’t..

                  ..what right do those who don’t – have to dictate to those that do..?

                  • TheContrarian …
                    28 March 2015 at 10:12 am

                    I know a single sentence that conforms to grammatical standards might be difficult for you to understand but in the 9 words I wrote I am pretty sure I never dictated what people should or shouldn’t do.

                    • Tracey …
                      28 March 2015 at 10:17 am

                      indeed.

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 10:31 am

                      @ contrarian..

                      ..so yr point was..?

                      ..or were you just being contrarian..?

                      ..and – just to be clear..so you support ending prohibition..?..do you..?

                      ..and you tracey..where do you stand on the issue..?

                    • TheContrarian …
                      28 March 2015 at 10:42 am

                      I actually don’t really have strong position on the current legality of cannibus outside of possession not being a criminal offence.
                      It isn’t something I am concerned about and its not something i give much thought too.

                      Secondly I wish my first comment has been in reply to Skinny, to whom it wa actually intended for, so I could avoid having this conversation with you.

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 10:49 am

                      awww…!!!..was it something i said..?

                      ..and you now drink alcohol instead..?

                      ..do you just laugh in the face of those liver-cancer warnings..?

                      ..you and so many others here – who couldn’t/can’t face the thought of life without their daily booze-crutch..

                      ..eh..?

                    • TheContrarian …
                      28 March 2015 at 10:57 am

                      Can you think of life without your weed crutch?

                      Didn’t think so.

                      I drink heavily and give 0 fucks what you or anyone else thinks of it

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:21 am

                      um..!..f.y.i..i haven’t smoked any pot for a couple of months..

                      (but i am not saying i never will again..)

                      ..so i am a lot closer to reality/crutch-free than most here..eh..?
                      ..esp. you – with yr self-admitted ‘heavy-drinking’..whoar..!

                      (i got over that one by my late-teens – and have been bored rigid by blowhard-pissheads ever since..)

                      ..and if you were smoking pot with yr heavy-drinking – i am not surprised u didn’t like it..

                      ..that is a horrible drug-combination…oil and water..

                      ..and giving up smoking pot was ‘the best thing you did’..?..once again..whoar..!

                      ..much better you stop that heavy-drinking..eh..?

                      ..on so so many levels..

                • Skinny …
                  28 March 2015 at 11:18 am

                  I can’t say I miss it apart from enjoying food when you get the munchies lol.
                  Many industries have D & A testing in place, and while alcohol clears the system quickly pot doesn’t it stays for weeks. So while many workers don’t smoke on the job and smoke recreationally in their own time same as piss drinkers, they get pinged in random testing or incident testing.

                  Many a fine worker has been sacked for it. Very unfair I might add. I actually detest drunks who turn up to work still half cut, all bravado short cut Charlie attitude, then get grumpy when the effects wear off, usually followed by feeling sleepy. I know which worker I’d rather be around and it’s not the piss head.

                  I’ve saved many a pot heads job through process failures by management. I get calls from around the country if a pot smoker has an incident and is going to be tested. Those ex cop fuckers that turn up in D & A testing vans erk me, pervert peeping while a man pisses in a cup. I’ve
                  smacked a few around over the years, we now use saliva testing a much fairer process. Of course in non unionised jobs some poor buggers get tested daily. On some jobs where contractors use this system and our boys are working on their site they have tried forcing our members to take a test. A few months back I got a call from our boys who rightfully refused. I told the boys down tools get the scumbag to call me, which he did and told him pull ya head in its not in our collective agreement to be random tested by your company so fuck off or I’ll order our boys to go back to their motels and take the day off on full pay till you lot pull your heads in. Of course the prick buckled at the thought of 20 men having a paid day off and the heat on his arse that would follow. What pissed me off was he was an ex pat pom, who knows how it goes with highly unionised workforce 🙂

                  • TheContrarian …
                    28 March 2015 at 11:24 am

                    The only thing I miss about smoking pot is it made me get intensely immersed in books and video games. However now I hate being stoned and after smoking weed heavily for a decade then quitting I notice a huge difference in my memory, motivation and clear thought process.

                    I have been known to turn up to work half-cut however my job requires me to work hard or not at all. I don’t have the option of having a hangover day. Work hard or don’t get paid

                  • phillip ure …
                    28 March 2015 at 11:30 am

                    @ skinny..

                    ..but as you admit – u like/use the downer that is alcohol..

                    ..w.t.f does that do for you..?

                    ..and pissheads criticising potheads –

                    – really does take hypocrisy/irony to hyperdrive-levels..eh..?

                    • Skinny …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:34 am

                      Moderation is the key (bit touchy that word must be to you oops) you know that.

                    • TheContrarian …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:35 am

                      Phils persecution complex must be playing up because I dot see anyone criticising potheads.

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:37 am

                      it was a general observation..not directed @ anyone..

                      ..persecution-complex..?

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:41 am

                      well skinny..see a couple of comments above – i haven’t smoked any weed for a couple of months..

                      ..and having gone from starting my days with a syringe loaded up with heroin and cocaine – with a cigarette hanging out of my mouth..

                      ..to now..

                      ..i cd write a thesis on ‘moderation’..eh..?

                      (update:..i see i missed yr ‘moderation’-joke..

                      .i must need a joint..)

                    • Skinny …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:54 am

                      Gulp careful Phil don’t drag me down the guilty by association ‘banned track.’ Seriously good to have you back but keep it cool bro. IP is pretty tolerant of idiots like us but doesn’t suffer foolishness, which is firm but fair and as a unionist can’t complain about that.

                    • phillip ure …
                      28 March 2015 at 11:59 am

                      ??..

                      i really must need a joint – that one has totally flown over my head..

                      ..and is now out of sight..

                • David H …
                  28 March 2015 at 7:37 pm

                  With the multitudes of pills I have to take I have found that pot is excellent for settling my stomach and it helps with getting a good nights sleep as well , without the hangover sleeping pills leave me with. I do still enjoy an occasional drink.

        • Murray Rawshark 1.2.2.2
          28 March 2015 at 2:14 pm

          Being associated with a higher incidence of liver cancer is not the same as leading to it.

      • tc 1.2.3
        28 March 2015 at 8:52 am

        Also the market for hemp fine paper is largely under supplied last I looked.

    • Chooky 1.3
      28 March 2015 at 9:24 am

      +100 ….yes at very least it should be available for medical reasons..pain relief for the elderly and nausea relief after chemotheraphy

      http://www.businessinsider.com.au/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4?op=1#it-can-be-used-to-treat-glaucoma-1

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_cannabis

      • tc 1.3.1
        28 March 2015 at 9:52 am

        Also hemp seed oil carries all 3 omega oils and is fantastic as a dip with ginger and garlic.

        Go into a body shop and try the hemp oil based lotions also, it’s a plant that gives on many fronts.

        However it has no natural enemy in nature and a short growing cycle so for fertiliser and pesticide makers (Dow and Monsanto amongst others ) it’s not as good for business as cotton which was the most treated crop on the planet just ahead of coffee last I looked.

      • phillip ure 1.3.2
        28 March 2015 at 10:40 am

        @ chooky..

        ..and of course big-pharma/the medical profession are against ending prohibition..

        ..once again – a case of patch/bottom-line-protection on both their parts..

        ..they would rather older people rattled from the poisonous/tranks/sleepers etc crap they push/peddle…

        (yoo-hoo!..northshoredoc..!..)

  2. gsays 2
    28 March 2015 at 8:22 am

    hi there, re nthland; would that include calling it a buy election?

  3. Jan Rivers 3
    28 March 2015 at 8:27 am

    Today and tomorrow are the final opportunities to make a contribution to Scoop’s crowd funding campaign – https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/3215-help-scoop-co-nz-to-fly-in-2015

    If you don’t know about Scoop here are some of the Scoop’s strengths. Essentially Scoop is independent New Zealand owned news and in many areas has much greater depth of coverage and source material than the commercial media.
    http://www.publicgood.org.nz/2015/03/06/why-scoop-is-crucial-to-new-zealands-democracy/

    With the mainstream media unable to inform us and with a failing funding model Scoop is a Chrysalis of what will replace it and the proposed social enterprise / community ownership model is pretty exciting.

    Hope you can help too.

  4. Ad 4
    28 March 2015 at 8:33 am

    People should check out the link to:
    “Christchurch City Council: Having your asset-cake and eating it too”

    It’s brief and accurate, and shows how hard the government leans on local government to tow the privatization line.

    They will come down real hard on Auckland within the next 4 months, as Council realizes that it can neither deliver on the Auckland Plan targets, nor get the government to raise any form of tax or toll.

    And they will repeat that same ploy when Wellington amalgamates.

    With Minister Smith preparing the RMA to effectively erase most of the role of regional government, amalgamated unitary authorities are where we are going. They are essentially small state governments. They will be the closest we will get in our lifetime to second chambers.

    As they have done with transport funding, government will through water policy, housing policy, and others, turn these massive administration entities into virtual government departments.

  5. vto 5
    28 March 2015 at 8:42 am

    The meaning of slavery: a condition of having to work very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.

    In NZ employers do not remunerate those on the minimum wage properly.

    If employers remunerated their workers properly then there would be no need for employer subsidies like Working For Families.

    Menwomen should be able to support themselves on a decent days work. The fact they cannot is evidence prime that we have slavery in NZ. Fact.

    In New Zealand it is cheaper to pay minimum wage than it is to keep a slave.

    • Colonial Rawshark 5.1
      28 March 2015 at 8:57 am

      The meaning of slavery: a condition of having to work very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.

      Wage slavery mate, an old term where the product of a worker’s creativity, industry and humanity were controlled by someone else. Being paid a bit more does not stop it being wage slavery because those fundamental conditions of alienation from ones own production and self will do not change.

      • Pasupial 5.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 9:25 am

        If we’re talking slavery, this caught my eye earlier this morn (ancient gladiators being a type of slave):

        A recording of the lighter-weight inmate, Rico Palikiko Garcia, was played by [San Francisco County public defender] Adachi on Thursday, in which he described “deputies betting against me and forcing me to fight, and if I don’t fight then he’s basically telling me that he was going to beat me up, cuff me up, ‘Tase’ me all at once”.

        He ended up with suspected broken ribs, and his weightier opponent was also injured, Adachi said.

        They were allegedly told that they would be beaten up by the deputies if they sought medical attention – but that if they did do so, they should say they fell out of their bunks.

        The inmates were told they would be rewarded with hamburgers if they won the fight but squirted with pepper spray, beaten and transferred to dangerous housing quarters, and deprived of food, if they refused to fight, Adachi said.

        http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/27/san-francisco-prison-guards-forced-inmates-game-of-thrones-style-fights

        So that’s something to look forward to in our rapidly privitising prisons – maybe it’ll even be on sports TV one day.

        But in the here and now, this post by Karol has some good links:

        Last September the Law Society of New Zealand reported on various forms of human trafficking of men and women to New Zealand who worked in conditions of slavery. This includes exploited Filipino workers in Christchurch,, women forced to be se[x] workers in exploitative conditions and

        foreign men – largely from Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand – [who] are subjected to forced labour conditions aboard our foreign charter vessels in New Zealand waters. Alleged conditions include confiscation of passports, imposition of significant debts, physical violence, mental abuse, excessive hours of work and sexual abuse…

        Two Fijian women have described how for months they worked seven-day weeks for $40 in the home of a Wellington businesswoman who is charged with exploiting them.

        “I was just like a slave to them. I did not feel free at all,” one of the women said in a written statement, included in court committal papers obtained by The Dominion Post.

        She was told that, if she didn’t like her conditions, she could go to work at a strip club.

        https://karolscribe.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/not-so-devious-maids-living-with-slavery/#more-481

      • Draco T Bastard 5.1.2
        28 March 2015 at 10:45 am

        Slavery seems to be an inherent part of capitalistic societies and the higher the inequality gets the more slavery and poverty such a society gets until such time as the society collapses.

    • phillip ure 5.2
      28 March 2015 at 8:58 am

      @ vto..

      mora on the panel yesterday seemed amazed/surprised at the assertion/fact from a panellist that taxpayers are subsidising the profits of the minimum-wage employers..

      ..by having to top up the slave-wages these exploiting bastards pay..

      ..(once again – supermarket-duopoly/’yoo-hoo..!..katherine rich..!..)

      ..he had to have it explained to him..

      ..is he really that fucken ignorant of that basic economic-reality….?

      • vto 5.2.1
        28 March 2015 at 9:00 am

        Yes I heard that and was very surprised at Mora and his guests surprise.

      • Stephanie Rodgers 5.2.2
        28 March 2015 at 1:34 pm

        First time I’ve caught The Panel (accidentally) in months and it had to be the most headdesk-worthy classic-Jim-Mora “oh gosh, I’d never thought of that completely obvious concept” thing I’ve ever heard. Which is saying something.

      • Born. Gisborne. 5.2.3
        28 March 2015 at 4:38 pm

        His partner Mary Lambie has a subway franchise.
        Do her employees require top ups to compensate low wages I wonder? Because the ignorance on display, the incredulity was unbelievable imo. As far as faux imo.

        http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20172717 at the 5min mark.

  6. felix 6
    28 March 2015 at 8:43 am

    John Key LBP is off to Melbourne later today to blow some cash on a couple of hookers and get on the piss early before the cricket tomorrow (I presume we’re picking up the tab).

    Apparently he’s a bit bummed because he really, REALLY wanted to go to the state funeral in Singapore, but at the end of the day if he can blow off the funeral of two Kiwi soldiers killed in battle in Afghanistan for a little-league baseball game then Singapore can suck it.

    Besides, one funeral per weekend is probably enough, eh?

    • vto 6.1
      28 March 2015 at 8:46 am

      planet key:

      a tiny ball spun out of earhole hair inside a gargantuan and empty head space

    • phillip ure 6.2
      28 March 2015 at 9:14 am

      one disturbing stat re that game on sun..

      ..is that the aussies haven’t lost an odi @ the mcg since march 2012..

      ..steel yrslves..!..people..!

      • tc 6.2.1
        28 March 2015 at 9:59 am

        Yes and one team is improving in performances whereas the other appears to have peaked before you look at how much home ground and a winning mentality that oz cricketers are born with factor in.

        The heart says kiwi but the head says oz….either way fantastic tournament for the black caps, cmon kiwis you can do this, records are there to be broken.

    • Skinny 6.3
      28 March 2015 at 9:15 am

      The moment he boards the plane he will be feeling sharp needle jabbing like pain in his back. Apparently after being demoted to the back bench Judith Collins has got bored with so much spare time, so has taken up lessions in black magic.

      The pain ‘do the runner from Northland John Key’ will be experiencing is Judy testing her new skills on the FJK voodoo doll that mate back bench Willy gave her.

      Ouch ouch ahh ahh ouch ouch all the way there and back.

      • Pasupial 6.3.1
        28 March 2015 at 10:39 am

        Jude bought a doll from an old bearded lady
        She named it Shonkey and it looks like him too
        and though I know it may sound a little crazy
        she can make it feel anything she wants him to

        If she wants him to cry, bet your life he’s gonna cry
        She’ll put three drops of water in that little dolls eye
        Cos she wants to get even, for the things they’ve done to she
        all she has to do is break it’s heart and he’ll feel misery.

        Ahahah double misery…

        [Unfortunately, the FAQ doesn’t have how to do those quaver music symbols amongst the emojis. It is based on a 1960s NZ song; Love, Hate, Revenge, which seemed appropriate ‘:twisted:’]

    • alwyn 6.4
      28 March 2015 at 10:37 am

      Having read this morning’s paper I have amended your comment to say

      “ANDRREW LITTLE is off to Melbourne later today to blow some cash on a couple of hookers and get on the piss early before the cricket tomorrow (I presume we’re picking up the tab).”

      Do you find that equally acceptable? It is at least as truthful, isn’t it?

      • Skinny 6.4.1
        28 March 2015 at 12:08 pm

        No Little is with Prime not like ‘run his team mate out John’

      • felix 6.4.2
        28 March 2015 at 2:59 pm

        Hi alwyn, I’m not a particularly religious person. Unlike yourself I have no gods for you to offend.

        • alwyn 6.4.2.1
          28 March 2015 at 5:59 pm

          How truly amazing.
          You seem to think it is acceptable to say any b*s you like about anyone.
          Oh well, presumably you wouldn’t mind if, after you have made a comment on some topic, I was to say something like “We shouldn’t take to much notice of Felix. He will excuse this sort of thing because he’s a convicted paedophile.”.
          Who worries about little things like lies these days?

  7. Philip Ferguson 7
    28 March 2015 at 9:03 am

    This isn’t a comment on the [Sorry Philip can’t be too careful MS]

    • Skinny 7.1
      28 March 2015 at 9:38 am

      Actually cobbah the RL article is wrong I have got quite a bit out of him and his party for our Union, more than the so called ‘workers party’ of which Labour need to muscle out the neo libs fucking the party.

    • phillip ure 7.2
      28 March 2015 at 10:10 am

      @ m.s..

      shouldn’t that piece written two hours ago by rogers – in the sidebar – also be pulled,,?

      ..isn’t she exposing the standard to possible financial -jeopardy..?

      ..and going on precedents already set – shouldn’t she be banned for this..?

      ..’cos – for someone whose nose is so close to the political-grindstone –

      – she can’t possibly claim she ‘didn’t know’..eh..?

      • te reo putake 7.2.1
        28 March 2015 at 10:33 am

        Bollocks, Phil. The Boots Theory article isn’t electioneering in any sense. Your ban is over, time you got over it as well. Unless you’re trying to martyr yourself, of course, in which case, keep whining and advising authors on what they should and shouldn’t write.

        ps, Skinny, comparing the qualities of candidates or parties in the by-election is electioneering. So give it a swerve, eh.

        • phillip ure 7.2.1.1
          28 March 2015 at 10:44 am

          sheesh..!..over-reaction much..?

          i was just warning/giving a heads-up..

          ..and you have taken to yr new ‘authority’ like a duck to water..haven’t you..?

          ..it kinda brings cartman to mind..

          • te reo putake 7.2.1.1.1
            28 March 2015 at 10:49 am

            Nope, you were just having a whine. Which does bring Cartman to mind, actually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brhhzum4ipo

          • greywarshark 7.2.1.1.2
            28 March 2015 at 10:57 am

            Don’t be so full of yourself pu. See yourself as part of a community not some dickhead that stands outside and kicks in the glass panes in the door. Restrain yourself when its time, curb your enthusiasm when its appropriate. And don’t reply to this with some shallow shit. Just think about it and resent me if you don’t like it but don’t justify yourself by criticising me. I think we all have to adopt these behaviours to get the best discourse on this blog. And if you don’t reply then you retain your dignity with silence, but I hope acceptance of my points. Anything else just leads to more of the pu we don’t like which detracts from your useful and thoughtful stuff.

        • Skinny 7.2.1.2
          28 March 2015 at 12:18 pm

          Sorry cobbah I saw the link removed it was a general opinion not targeted. Point taken remove if ya think it is suspect better in the tent then outside as someone knows ‘.’

      • Stephanie Rodgers 7.2.2
        28 March 2015 at 1:41 pm

        Oh, fuck off, phil. It’s a two-sentence post which cannot in any way be read as influencing people to vote, or not vote.

        It’s a complete joke for you to attack TRP for an “over-reaction” when you’re trying to imply that a link to a completely unbiased statement of fact (that there is a by-election on today) is liable to open up The Standard to legal action.

        • Skinny 7.2.2.1
          28 March 2015 at 2:53 pm

          Yes Phil steady there matey.

          Speaking of today’s by election I am off to the election gigs up North, I will pass on Acts and Nationals and post from either Primes or Peters. The local rag the Advocate called wanting an interview for the Monday mornings edition so that should be fun. A few home truths about this campaign should go down a treat depending on the result of course.

          Will clock in after 7.pm friends.

  9. phillip ure 9
    28 March 2015 at 9:39 am

    ‘slippery’ len brown – on the nation..

    see len duck..!..see len weave..!

    oh dear..!..now he is doing a ‘poor me..!’..

    .dead-mayor walking…!

    ..just fuck off..!..len..!

    ..you useless bastard..!

  10. Tautoko Mangō Mata 10
    28 March 2015 at 9:51 am

    NZ cannot afford to sign the TPPA. No flag referendum should be allowed to distract the public from the fact that NZ is standing on the edge of a crevasse with John Key and Tim Groser and the National Cabinet ministers about to cut the safety rope by signing the TPPA.

    “A NAFTA arbitration panel has ruled against Canada in a claim by a U.S. company that wanted to develop a quarry in Nova Scotia, although a dissenting member of the panel warned that the decision will be seen as a “remarkable step backwards” in environmental protection.

    Bilcon proposed the expansion of a quarry near Digby on the shore of the Bay of Fundy in September, 2002, but the Nova Scotia and federal governments rejected it after a joint review panel recommended it not proceed. The family-owned company – which is registered in Delaware – will now seek $300-million in damages after the arbitration panel declared that it was denied a fair environmental hearing.”
    …..
    “A dissenting member of the panel – University of Ottawa law professor Donald McRae – warned that the ruling represents a “significant intrusion” into domestic jurisdiction and will “create a chill” among environmental review panels that will be reluctant to rule against projects that would cause undue harm to the environment or human health.

    There is a growing concern in legal circles that the arbitration panels are expanding their mandate – including substituting their decision-making role for domestic courts – and that they cannot be appealed, Toronto trade lawyer Larry Herman said Tuesday. The Bilcon decision “will feed ammunition to those who oppose international arbitration as a form of dispute settlement,” he added.

    It’s the second high-profile NAFTA loss for Canada. Last month, Ottawa was ordered to pay Exxon Mobil Corp. and Murphy Oil Ltd. $17.3-million after a NAFTA panel ruled that Newfoundland and Labrador had violated the trade agreement by imposing retroactive research-spending requirements on its offshore oil producers.”

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/nafta-ruling-against-canada-sparks-fears-over-future-dispute-settlements/article23603613/

    We have successful ISDS litigants Veolia, Newport and Tobacco companies operating in NZ. We have oil drilling companies that will be preparing to litigate should we refuse to let them endanger our environment and health.
    Please make a submission against ISDS to the subcommittee which is open for public submission AFTER the signing of the Korean Trade Agreement. For more information :
    http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/

    • vto 10.1
      28 March 2015 at 9:59 am

      Has John Key not explained this to NZers?

      • tc 10.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 10:03 am

        You funny vto, remember explaining is for losers.

      • Draco T Bastard 10.1.2
        28 March 2015 at 10:55 am

        He’s tried very hard to hide it from NZers but that shouldn’t surprise you – John Key is a servant to the US/corporations.

        • mary_a 10.1.2.1
          28 March 2015 at 3:37 pm

          Is Key a US citizen yet? He seems to be doing such a great job for his good ole US of A corporate masters, betraying everything NZ & Kiwi, I thought he’d be honoured with citizenship at least!

          Or perhaps like the majority of us, they don’t want the slimy toad to be one of them either.

    • Tracey 10.2
      28 March 2015 at 10:05 am

      thanks for highlighting this again.

      given the rampant spying on allies the crock that tpp has to be kept from the people to preserve bargaining positions needs to be explained. wayne mapp ignores this simple fact on here.

      cmon media highlight the hypocrisy… we already know our friends bargaining possie from spying on them.

      • greywarshark 10.2.1
        28 March 2015 at 11:59 am

        Taking it further if foreigners in other countries know all about our TPPA negotiations and that is okay because they are NZ’s friends, but it is being kept secret from citizens of NZ, does that mean we are in the group who are not friends? And if so, are we regarded as enemies or mere disregarded pawns, vassals, peons in these negotiations? Is this an example of feudal mentality by those who have seized power beyond the intended by vote or the spirit of the democratic government process?

        On feudalism in Europe. Is that what is developing here? Is manorialism a template for what we will need to survive the ravages caused by climate change and land and asset-stripping by the present baron-types:
        http://ruizspieces.com/hist/1403.html
        Feudalism was based on an exchange of land for loyalty. A lord gave a fief, or grant of land, to a loyal follower, known as a vassal. In return, the vassal agreed to supply knights, or mounted warriors, to the lord in times of trouble….

        Side-by-side with feudalism was an economic system called manorialism. A manor was the self-sufficient estate of a medieval lord. At its center a lord’s stone house or castle, which was surrounded by a village, a church, fields, and forests. The [manor] produced almost everything the lord, his family, and the villagers needed.

        Peasants worked together to plant and tend to the lord’s lands and to harvest the crops. They were also given strips of land to work themselves. Women spun and wove cloth for clothing, and specialists such as carpenters and a blacksmith lived on the estate. The lord also owned a mill, where grain was ground into flour.

        The role of the lady of the manner/manor was to run the castle and the household. She made sure the manner/manor had enough food, candles, and linens. When the lord was away, she ran the manner/manor. The lord judged minor crimes and settled arguments. He had a staff that included a bailiff, who was a sort of business manager, and a reeve, who performed jobs such as repairing buildings and overseeing peasants.

  11. ankerawshark 11
    28 March 2015 at 10:11 am

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11424293

    Extraordinary from John Rougham. But maybe not given its JR

    • Paul 11.1
      28 March 2015 at 11:19 am

      I think Roughan would defend anything that his idol Key does.
      He is not a journalist.
      I guess the only time he might consider questioning the extremecapitalism Key promotes would be if his own selfish interests were affected.
      Words fail me with Roughan.

    • Tracey 11.2
      28 March 2015 at 12:25 pm

      Is Key thinking of Rougham when he speaks of having a man-date?

    • Paul 11.3
      28 March 2015 at 12:40 pm

      From his dreadful article.
      ‘The 1990s was a time of renewed hope.’

      So Roughan still believes in the extremist neoliberal monetarist version of capitalism.
      After 2008.

      What a self serving fool.

    • Draco T Bastard 12.1
      28 March 2015 at 11:03 am

      Do you have a problem with IRD working to get the taxes that people haven’t paid or the people who haven’t paid the taxes that they owe?

      • Colonial Rawshark 12.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 11:12 am

        We should observe how the IRS in the USA has treated “large datasets” of private information. Targetting of political groups and politically active individuals has been very apparent.

        • Tracey 12.1.1.1
          28 March 2015 at 12:28 pm

          Exactly

        • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.2
          28 March 2015 at 12:50 pm

          That requires that protections need to be put in place to prevent abuse. It doesn’t require that some people get to continue to rip the rest of us off.

          • The Murphey 12.1.1.2.1
            28 March 2015 at 1:14 pm

            “The rest of us”

            Speak for yourself

            Q. How about the ‘rich people’ you repeatedly state “we can’t afford” ?

            Income tax is not necessary and if you understood monetary and financial frameworks threw in some imagination you might even arrive at the same understanding

            • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.2.1.1
              28 March 2015 at 2:53 pm

              Chris Trotter

              The fatal paradox of capitalism’s perpetual motion machine (which actually operated throughout the West from 1950-1980) was that the more efficient it became at the equitable distribution of mass-produced goods and services, the more precarious the position of the capitalist system’s owners became.
              With the efficient generation of surpluses ceasing to be an occasion for the obscene enrichment of a privileged few; and becoming, instead, the chief mechanism for ensuring better lives for everybody; those we now call “The One Percent” very quickly apprehended that economic inefficiency – even crises – were infinitely preferable to social equality. Even at the price of driving a large proportion of the employing class to the wall, the One Percent’s urgent mission became the election of “executive committees” dedicated to protecting the interests of only the most powerful capitalists – i.e. themselves. The rest of the bourgeoisie could go and join the proletariat in Hell.

              We cannot afford the rich.

              All your comments indicate that you do not know how to become rich. I’ll give you a hint: It’s not through working.

              • Colonial Rawshark …
                28 March 2015 at 4:48 pm

                We cannot afford the rich.

                True, but we have to ensure that the Left’s goals are clear. Do you intend taxes to rake back some of the rich’s oversized profits and wealth holdings? What about the property, financial and banking machinery underneath that?

              • Tracey …
                28 March 2015 at 5:41 pm

                if you think it is the “rich” that IRD is focussing on through trademe, I have a bridge to sell you.

          • Colonial Rawshark 12.1.1.2.2
            28 March 2015 at 4:45 pm

            That requires that protections need to be put in place to prevent abuse.

            You shouldn’t have too much faith in any such “protections.”

            • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.2.2.1
              28 March 2015 at 5:24 pm

              I’d prefer to have the protections than not have them while also ensuring that the IRD can do their job of ensuring that everyone pays the tax that they’re supposed to be paying.

        • greywarshark 12.1.1.3
          28 March 2015 at 1:12 pm

          I note this with surprise this comment from the IRD in the link above –
          He said members should be paying tax if they bought something with the purpose of selling it again, traded to make a profit or had a business which involved the goods being traded.

          Applying tax to any transaction of resale would be like having a part financial transactions tax. Note that making a profit is referred to separately. If someone buys to sell, they may not make a profit or if they make more than the purchase or auction price they paid, then that must be set against the expenses involved in the first and second transaction, which may result in a net loss. If I buy a book for $3 and am able to sell it for $5 I haven’t made a $2 profit, as I will have paid up to $4 for shipping to me. The companies running drop-shipping, that is dumping titles onto the Trademe auction lists are the ones to get tax from. They trade in new books, which they haven’t even bought as they source them from some central supplier. And Trademe seems to be encouraging set prices with one buynow price though they still call this an auction! I looked for the most expensive books recently and they were specialist textbooks at over $400, which would involve a chunk of GST.

          I don’t expect the IRD to come looking for tax from me for my small trading hobby that rarely makes a few dollars profit, that would be stupid and oppressive, but the example is an indication that expecting to tax resellers would be unreasonable.

          And coming down on small traders would be as unreasonable and punitive as the new legislation from Health and Safety enforcing annual checks costing up to $1000 on small cheese makers, There is needed tax regulation but I feel also constriction by unnecessary regulations on small entrepreneurs in NZ. This would reach a draconian level if the trend is not changed. The need for regulation should be considered carefully, but should not be used to stifle opportunities to earn or augment income. When asked for by industry or the public should be introduced and enforced, but favour and encourage small business and be kept to the minimum of reasonableness and fairness.
          edited

          • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.3.1
            28 March 2015 at 1:47 pm

            I don’t expect the IRD to come looking for tax from me for my small trading hobby that rarely makes a few dollars profit, that would be stupid and oppressive, but the example is an indication that expecting to tax resellers would be unreasonable.

            So taxing Pac’n’Save, Farmers, Countdown, Woolworths etc is unreasonable? They are, after all, only resellers. Hell, even their own branded product isn’t made by them.

            There is needed tax regulation but I feel also constriction by unnecessary regulations on small entrepreneurs in NZ.

            There is a need for rules to be able to apply equally to everyone. This is actually why income tax is a percentage and not a fixed amount. Fixed amounts tend to benefit the bigger companies while undermining the smaller startups which, IMO, is why the government has been putting in place fixed amount prices for government services as part of the user pays ideology.

            • greywarshark 12.1.1.3.1.1
              28 March 2015 at 5:11 pm

              DTB
              You are so purist and didactic. If people do small personal jobs and trading, I don’t expect the IRD to be searching them out to sock it to them.

              You arguers about tax are always on about getting rid of GST. I think that is foolish, though it should come right down under two figures. Pay GST and the poor people are paying tax even if they aren’t getting much income or the benefit is their main income. So no-one in society can look at them and say they are not contributing anythjing, everyone is doing so, everyone!

              Then comparing an individual trying to get some more income with extra effort, and placing them in the same category as some huge chain doesn’t have any traction. The individual and the large enterprise are in an entirely different situation as anybody with a practical rather than a theoretical approach can comprehend. Don’t know whether that includes you DTB.

              To get easier conditions for start ups have special new business innovation tax rates and grants for developing R&D after it starts to make a profit. (One innovator on Radionz this a.m. said that it took 5 years before his organic early innovator business started turning a profit and a modest one at that).

              • Draco T Bastard …
                28 March 2015 at 5:22 pm

                If people do small personal jobs and trading, I don’t expect the IRD to be searching them out to sock it to them.

                It is this attitude that allows people to get away with ripping everybody else off, the attitude that allows loopholes to be written into law.

                Pay GST and the poor people are paying tax even if they aren’t getting much income or the benefit is their main income.

                The problem isn’t that the poor aren’t contributing – they are. It’s that the rich aren’t doing so in the same proportion because they structure their finances in such a way so as to avoid taxes. On top of that GST is also massively regressive hitting the poor more than it ever will the rich.

                The individual and the large enterprise are in an entirely different situation as anybody with a practical rather than a theoretical approach can comprehend.

                It’s not about practical or theoretical but about the same activity being treated the same way.

                To get easier conditions for start ups have special new business innovation tax rates and grants for developing R&D after it starts to make a profit.

                No. R&D is a normal part of business and thus should be a normal tax write off.

                • TheContrarian …
                  28 March 2015 at 9:24 pm

                  On this Draco and I find rare agreement. R&D should be a focus with appropriate tax breaks for innovative research.

                  Cap gains on passive income from housing speculation, motivation for R&d

            • Tracey 12.1.1.3.1.2
              28 March 2015 at 5:42 pm

              IRD scopes garage sales and offline auctions aye DTB?

            • Tracey 12.1.1.3.1.3
              28 March 2015 at 5:44 pm

              “to apply equally to everyone”

              the rich negotiate down what they owe to IRD through lawyers (Russell McVeagh are king amongst these) and their bank accounts… the poor go to jail.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                29 March 2015 at 1:35 am

                And that requires a change in laws to stop them not allowing tens of thousands of others to get away with the same crime just because they’re small.

          • David H 12.1.1.3.2
            30 March 2015 at 12:19 pm

            Jesus the books must really be in a mess if they are now going after trade Me small users. But i suppose they have to pay for their bribes somehow.

            Surplus

            What Surplus?

        • Murray Rawshark 12.1.1.4
          28 March 2015 at 5:34 pm

          I have a huge problem with the IRD going on a fishing expedition against a whole heap of hobby traders when they have full knowledge of who evades billions in tax every year. They don’t seem to do much about that.

      • The Murphey 12.1.2
        28 March 2015 at 11:45 am

        Q. Do you understood what ‘tax’ is and what ‘tax’ represents ?

        • greywarshark 12.1.2.1
          28 March 2015 at 5:17 pm

          @ The Murphey
          A I don’t understand why you ask that question? Would you like to explain what you think tax represents.

      • Tracey 12.1.3
        28 March 2015 at 12:28 pm

        I note they were initially seeking information on 1 million people until someone with money could challenge them, and then it was reduced to 44,000.

        You would know that if you had read it. My concern is that those without money to fight such orders will have to succumb.

        • Draco T Bastard 12.1.3.1
          28 March 2015 at 12:51 pm

          Oh noes, people might have to succumb to paying the taxes that they owe.

          • Tracey 12.1.3.1.1
            28 March 2015 at 5:39 pm

            Interesting to see you have changed your stance on mass surveillance and forcing disclosure of personal data en masse, or were you always in favour, I cannot recall? Your faith in the even handed application of its powers by a large government department and unlikely abuse of its power is touching, if not surprising.

            • Draco T Bastard 12.1.3.1.1.1
              29 March 2015 at 1:33 am

              If people are not paying the taxes that they’re supposed to then the IRD should go after them. Here’s the thing. By default the IRD should have the full financial records of every business handed over to them every year because that is the law. It’s been like that for centuries because it is only through accurate and comparable accounts that tax fraud and a few other crimes can be detected. Basically, it comes down to this: Business data is not personal.

  13. phillip ure 13
    28 March 2015 at 12:04 pm

    is twitter down for anyone else..?

    i am missing my twitter..

  15. marty mars 15
    28 March 2015 at 1:25 pm

    Worth a go for writers with imagination

    Longtime readers here will remember that in 2011, this blog launched a contest for short stories about the kind of future we can actually expect—a future in which no deus ex machina saves industrial civilization from the exhaustion of its resource base, the deterioration of the natural systems that support it, and the normal process of decline and fall…I’m pleased to announce that we’re going to do it again, with a slight twist… Stories submitted for this contest must be set at least one thousand years in the future—that is, after March 25, 3015 in our calendar.

    JMG gives all the rules and explanation of the why and how in the link below. But it is interesting, at least to me, to read this

    You have to read SF from more than a few decades back to grasp just how tight the grip of a single linear vision of the future has become on what used to be a much more freewheeling literature of ideas. In book after book, and even more in film after film, technologies that are obviously derived from ours, ideologies that are indistinguishable from ours, political and economic arrangements that could pass for ours, and attitudes and ideas that belong to this or that side of today’s cultural struggles get projected onto the future as though they’re the only imaginable options. This takes place even when there’s very good reason to think that the linear continuation of current trends isn’t an option at all—for example, the endlessly regurgitated, done-to-death trope of interstellar travel.

    So true, when you think about it.

    It’s surprisingly common to see people insist that the absence of the particular set of doodads common to today’s science fiction would condemn our descendants to a future of endless boredom. This attitude shows a bizarre stunting of the imagination…If our genus lasts as long as the average genus of vertebrate megafauna, we’ve got maybe ten million years ahead of us, or roughly two thousand times as long as all of recorded human history to date: more than enough time for human beings to come up with a dazzling assortment of creative, unexpected, radically different societies, technologies, and ways of facing the universe and themselves.

    http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.co.nz/2015/03/planet-of-space-bats.html

    Sorry for the long post but I wanted to get those points in there – good luck to those who take up the challenge.

  17. freedom 17
    28 March 2015 at 2:02 pm

    It’s the weekend, it’s a bit drizzly. You’re in front of the screen and there it is!
    A blog comment by a pseudonymous nobody that is openly critical of the ongoing efforts of news media.

    Ignoring the brevity of exposure many complex increasingly relevant topics are provided and not looking at anyone in particular, because that would make your head spin, I have a question-

    Does anyone have any ideas for what can be done about the most basic errors in spelling, the double-speak grammar, the selective facts & especially the missing words that overpopulate news articles in mainstream media? Most notably those mistakes regularly seen in on-line newspaper reporting!

    I imagine the letters & e-mails to the relevant parties already wallpaper Minos’s labyrinth.

    To anyone who works in the field of journalism:
    You do a serious and necessary job and all things considered, are pretty well paid for it.
    So please, try a little harder.

    • veutoviper 17.1
      28 March 2015 at 2:09 pm

      Do you mean like this bad spelling on NZ Herald’s main page online today? Still there about 8 – 9 hours after I first saw this morning.

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/

      Hint – heading/article relates to aircraft/airline safety.

  18. joe90 18
    28 March 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Our Weed, who “coughed” in heaven, Toked be thy game. Thy Hit will come. Thy Buzz be yum.

    http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/marijuana/paperwork-filed-with-indiana-secretary-of-state-for-first-church-of-cannabis

  19. Draco T Bastard 19
    28 March 2015 at 3:04 pm

    And this is why legal entities need to be banned from donating to political parties:

    Citing sources familiar with the situation, representatives of some of the nation’s largest banks—including Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America—have actively considered putting pressure on the Democratic establishment by making a coordinated threat to withold campaign contributions unless the populist rhetoric coming from Sen. Warren and her colleague from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, is toned down.

    That is corruption and the demand that politicians only do what the rich want and the proof that we cannot afford the rich.

    • joe90 19.1
      28 March 2015 at 4:56 pm

      Robert Reich –

      First, American corporations exert far more political influence in the United States than their counterparts exert in their own countries.
      In fact, most Americans have no influence at all. That’s the conclusion of Professors Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern University, who analyzed 1,799 policy issues — and found that “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

      http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/03/robert-reich-why-americans-are-screwed-and-europeans-are-not/

  20. infused 20
    28 March 2015 at 3:05 pm

    So lets give this a go.

    I have an employee that’s been with me for just over a year. Young guy, moved down from the north.

    He came to me on Friday wanting to hand in his notice because he felt very lonely down here (and a bit depressed) and he has no real friends here. He wants to go back up North. Was quite a shock to us and the rest of the team. I thought he was going to complain about the coffee.

    He’s from quite a small town, with not a lot of opportunities, and i’m quite certain he’s not going to land an IT role up there.

    He’s a good employee and fits the company well, so I was thinking of some options to try and help him out, as I think this guy as a really bright future. He’s got all the hallmarks of a natural switched on IT dude, and I really don’t want to see him throw it away.

    I was going to have a chat to him on Monday to see if giving him some time off was an option. Other than that, I’m not sure what I can do.

    Open to suggestions.

    • millsy 20.1
      28 March 2015 at 3:13 pm

      Take him out clubbing and find him a woman. Preferably a cougar.

      Seriously.

      • infused 20.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 3:15 pm

        Probably wouldn’t be a bad option.

        • Pasupial 20.1.1.1
          28 March 2015 at 3:54 pm

          I was assuming from your description that he was going back home to be with a special someone there. Though now that I reread, I see that you never stated this – just an impression I got. I’m assuming that you’re in Auckland and; “the North” is Northland – if you’re in Christchurch, it could be anywhere.

          Ideally, you could set up a suboffice in his home region where the rent and wages are likely to be much cheaper. But I don’t know if you’re the owner or manager of the business. The communications infrastructure may not be up to it, or it might not be a big enough business to be able to support this of course.

          For what it’s worth, I reckon you have to let him do what he needs to. Give him a good reference, say that your door will be open if he comes back. Let him bore his brains out in a town that once seemed much bigger, keep in touch via email so that he is aware that he still has the option. However you will probably have to get some one else in to do the work, so that might not work out if he does return.

    • Anne 20.2
      28 March 2015 at 3:19 pm

      It can take more than a year to find roots in a new place. He needs to stick it out a bit longer. Is he able to go home at the weekends and see his family and mates? If you can make it easier for him to return home on a regular basis he might be willing to stay. I spent my first years away from home between 18-20 but was able to return often enough to overcome the sense of loneliness.

    • joe90 20.3
      28 March 2015 at 3:23 pm

      Find a way to include him after work/weekends when he’s probably at his lowest.

      • infused 20.3.1
        28 March 2015 at 3:30 pm

        Yeah, this is probably the biggest issue. I think he lives with one other person who does night shift, so they are never there.

        I’m pretty sure he doesn’t do a hell of a lot in the weekends.

      • Scintilla 20.3.2
        28 March 2015 at 3:42 pm

        This boy needs some mates. Is he into sport – some social soccer, cricket, volleyball if he’s not a serious sports player? Just someone to take an interest, invite him over for dinner/bbq, introduce him to any young ones round his age, or start up a darts, cards night.
        I know a 22 yr old who really enjoys playing darts with some 50 somethings, just a few beers/coffees at someone’s house, once a week. These guys go fishing, cycling n waterski-ing, all sorts of stuff and they all have family in their 20s.

    • marty mars 20.4
      28 March 2015 at 3:24 pm

      Take him to the local marae – doesn’t matter what ethnicity he is.

      • Lanthanide 20.4.1
        28 March 2015 at 3:56 pm

        I think that would really depend on the person. If someone tried to take me to a marae or any other cultural / religious group, I’d think they were nuts.

    • Lanthanide 20.5
      28 March 2015 at 3:41 pm

      I think talking to him as a person concerned about his future, rather than his boss, is the way to go. You should put his needs ahead of yours.

      Maybe your workplace is too small and he’d benefit from working at a larger company with more contacts? He’s highly likely to be better-off long term if he stays in Christchurch, but that doesn’t mean staying at your company, and you should tell him that.

      Of course it’s tricky giving the message of ‘your home town is a no-hope wasteland for someone like you’ in a way that doesn’t sound condescending and judgemental, but that is the reality of the situation. If he’s depressed / disappointed here, if he goes back up there and is faced with 6+ months without a job, or ends up in a menial job that doesn’t suit his talents, then he’d likely be swapping one set of disappointments with another. Obviously the loneliness problem would be solved but at what long-term cost?

      • infused 20.5.1
        28 March 2015 at 4:01 pm

        Well that’s pretty much my thinking in a nutshell. There’s nothing there for him. He was working at a gas station.

        A small business is good for IT as you get exposed to everything. Something new on a daily basis. A bigger company can be good, but you get restricted to what you can do. Generally your role in those company is very strict. If you are desktop support, you are desktop support. No touching networks/servers etc.

        • Lanthanide 20.5.1.1
          28 March 2015 at 4:59 pm

          Yes, depends on exactly what it is that your company does. Sounds like you’re in IT support services, rather than development or infrastructure solutions for large clients etc.

    • infused 20.6
      28 March 2015 at 3:59 pm

      Just to clarify, i’m from Wellington. He’s from around Hamilton.

      • RedBaronCV 20.6.1
        28 March 2015 at 6:57 pm

        He’ll be missing the Hammy night life . I hear it’s some of the edgiest in Nz for the young set. Peeps go from Ak to Hamilton for it at the weekends.

        Is he still young enough to want to meet the senior uni aged crowd? Perhaps signing him up for some work related courses that have a younger crowd attending – maybe something softer than straight IT which can lack the female element. Business/ accounting course maybe to widen horizons? Massey according to my sources is more student gregarious than Vic. Also do you have any clients he can go out to that have larger offices? Never too soon to acquire the soft skills.
        I also agreed with the finding him a companion locally, the flexible working hours so he can go away from Hammy for longer, the remote working and keeping the door open or perhaps some mix of all those.

      • RedBaronCV 20.6.2
        28 March 2015 at 6:58 pm

        Oh and ten pin bowling is also a great all ages office gig. Get some of the others to bring any spare family.

    • Tracey 20.7
      28 March 2015 at 5:47 pm

      If it is IT that he works in, why not set him up remotely, and have him travel south once a week for a couple of days or once a month for a week, while working remotely back home?

      Offer him a 4 day working week… ten hours per day… then he gets a 3 day weekend every weekend.

    • McFlock 20.8
      28 March 2015 at 6:34 pm

      Funnyweird – at the moment I’ve got a mate down on holiday from working up north who is terribly homesick after about the same period of time.

      Beyond finding the particular flavour of his passion (I like pub quizzes and random evening courses, myself. Not sporty at all), I’d suggest he goes home to couchsurf for a couple/few weeks (long enough that he starts getting bored), and have a couple of team recreation ideas like weekend bbqs (he might not be the only one getting run down).

      It might be an idea to ask him to stay until he finds appropriate work back home – that’ll buy a few months of growing roots in wgtn, by the sound of it.

  21. Morrissey 21
    28 March 2015 at 3:11 pm

    “Ruth, Dina, Mika, David: you guys look TERRIBLE. What happened?”
    “Glenn Greenwald happened.”

    They just keep wheeling out these incompetent patsies for Greenwald….

    “Glenn Greenwald VS Ruth Marcus” on Snowden

    Glenn Greenwald’s Infamous Battle with NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston

    Glenn Greenwald Shuts Up Zbigniew Brzezinski’s Blabbermouth Daughter on Morning Joe

    Glenn Greenwald DESTROYS David Gregory. With Newsmen Like You…..

    • Colonial Rawshark 21.1
      28 March 2015 at 6:10 pm

      Greenwald is a top man. The paid lackeys and repeaters of the elite establishment are embarrassments.

  22. greywarshark 22
    28 March 2015 at 4:54 pm

    This from Britain which comes with an earnest request to vote in the General Election over there, just as appropriate a message as over here.

    Cameron and others telling it like it is in an Autotune style.

  23. joe90 23
    28 March 2015 at 5:13 pm

    That was quick.

    Amazon is to remove a “non-compete” clause from its employment contracts for US workers paid by the hour after criticism that it is unreasonable to prevent such employees from finding other work.
    A company spokeswoman confirmed to the Guardian that the clause would be cut.
    “That clause hasn’t been applied to hourly associates, and we’re removing it,” she said.
    In the past, Amazon has required its US employees, including seasonal workers, to sign non-compete contracts which cover a period of more than 18 months after the employee has separated with the company, the Verge reported on Thursday.

    http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/mar/27/amazon-remove-noncompete-clause-contracts-hourly-workers

  24. Colonial Rawshark 24
    28 March 2015 at 6:34 pm

    I notice that within a few days after the Germanwings crash, crash accident investigators have released detailed accounts of what the flight recorders said and the sounds in the cockpit.

    But 9 months after the crash of Malaysian Airlines MH17 in Ukraine – nothing.

  26. phillip ure 26
    28 March 2015 at 8:12 pm

    peters has won northland..

    with 80% of vote counted – he is over 3,000 ahead..

    woo-fucken-hoo..!

    let the party begin..

  27. Hateatea 27
    28 March 2015 at 9:02 pm

    Aaargh!!!!!! Stacey Kirk on Stuff – Northland ‘has swinged’ to Peters!

    Where oh where do they find these semi literate people!!!?

    Whine over, resume celebrating or drowning your sorrows if you are a NACT silly enough to come here tonight.

  28. Murray Rawshark 28
    28 March 2015 at 9:59 pm

    I’m taking a holiday from here. I can’t handle the approach taken by a couple of authors in their moderation. It feels too much like abuse of power and suppression of debate to me. See you all sometime. Maybe.

    [Stephanie: What Murray means is he “can’t handle” being gently warned about breaking one of the cardinal rules at The Standard, “this is not a Labour Party blog”. He has copped a two-week ban as noted here.
    http://thestandard.org.nz/winston-takes-northland/#comment-992657 ]

    • marty mars 28.1
      28 March 2015 at 10:14 pm

      mate I’m so sorry this has happened – all the best – sometimes a break can work wonders but I’m sad that you won’t be commentating for a while as I find a lot of alignment with your comments mostly.

      • phillip ure 28.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 10:33 pm

        wot marty said..

        ..how about a deal murray – i don’t want to lose you..

        (enough good people have been driven away from here..)

        ..how about if i keep you company for the next two weeks..

        (hint:..plug into twitter if you haven’t already – it is a very satisfying forum for free-speech..and is moderator/censor-free..

        ..and you can talk directly to the major players..)

        ..will you come back then..?

        • marty mars 28.1.1.1
          28 March 2015 at 10:43 pm

          I’m going to flounce and keep you company for 2 weeks too Murray as a silent protest and hopefully we’ll see you back stronger and better (lefter) than ever.

          • rawshark-yeshe 28.1.1.1.1
            28 March 2015 at 11:11 pm

            and I will flounce with you marty .. have offered on the other post to stand in for Murray but it’s all a little ott. Will flounce with you as soon as I have one more thing to say over the way.

            bugger. so unnecessary.

            • marty mars 28.1.1.1.1.1
              28 March 2015 at 11:16 pm

              yep and not gender related in the slightest – I’m giving myself till midnight before my silent protest begins 🙂

              • rawshark-yeshe …
                28 March 2015 at 11:31 pm

                so see you all in a couple of weeks as soon as midnight hits. have written again on the other post and I am now just plain sad about it, tonight of all nights.

                will read your lovely poem again and enjoy the freshness.

                kia kaha, marty. kia kaha, murray.

                • marty mars …
                  28 March 2015 at 11:39 pm

                  and kia kaha to you rawshark-yeshe – have a relaxing break

                  • rawshark-yeshe …
                    28 March 2015 at 11:44 pm

                    🙂 you too, marty. see you in 14 days, and hopefully Murray will come back with us.

                    • Pasupial …
                      29 March 2015 at 5:15 pm

                      I have only recently caught up with this issue (there’s been lots to read over the last 24 hours and other activities too). I feel that the five of you (the; Rawshark 5?) have a valid point, and have made my own feelings clear in a response to a phillip ure comment on the 29ths Open Mike – ending:

                      …until at least the 12th of next month, I will join the Pigman in not commenting on any of the posts of Stephenie Rodgers. I see no reason to boycott the Standard as a whole as other authors have shown no similar tendancies to abuse their powers of moderation. Perhaps those in voluntary exile might consider doing the same and not depriving TS of your viewpoints?

                      Let her speak only with; the trolls, and her own echos, for a while.

                    • mickysavage …
                      29 March 2015 at 5:43 pm

                      Sorry guys but I am with Stephanie here. IMHO on her day she is the best writer here. She has a greater expectation of good behaviour than some of us, I tend to go with the flow, she does not. She does nor deserve insinuations made against her particularly after her gentle warning.

                      Lprent bans for less.

                      Nothing annoys authors than alleging we are party stooges. You should see some of the internal debates then you would realise that we can hold some strong differing views on all sorts of matters.

    • Chooky 28.2
      28 March 2015 at 11:50 pm

      Murray I always value your comments…usually very considered and astute and sharply expressed …(even although i dont always agree with you and you with me)

      ….and you never abuse people or accuse them of things like being a “rape apologist”…in fact i think you have come in for a bit of that sort of illegitimate accusation abuse yourself …alongside a few other worthy commentators here

      …as pu says there are other places you can get your views out…but hope to see yu back here

  29. ScottGN 29
    28 March 2015 at 10:34 pm

    On the other election. Exit polls in NSW show a comfortable Coalition win but with a swing to Labor. Labor’s own deputy leader has acknowledged they are in a rebuilding phase. The Greens are putting up a great fight for the the newly created inner Sydney seat of Newtown. Some of those Western Sydney seats including Blue Mountains have returned to Labor.

    • millsy 29.1
      28 March 2015 at 10:36 pm

      So NSW loses its power grid to speclators.

      Bummer.

      • ScottGN 29.1.1
        28 March 2015 at 10:41 pm

        Yeah probably. Labor got so badly thrashed in 2011 it was always a huge ask. The corruption on both sides of the political divide in NSW is mind boggling really for a NZer to comprehend (though if Key keeps up the way he’s going maybe we’ll get more used to it).

  30. ScottGN 30
    28 March 2015 at 10:44 pm

    Antony Green on ABC has called it for Baird and the Coalition. Labor needed a 14%+ swing and got about 10%. It looks like the swings varied wildly in some seats.

  32. David H 32
    28 March 2015 at 11:13 pm

    Another of those feel good moments… 61 seconds…And Ryder knocks Slater the fuck out!

    The Video
    https://www.facebook.com/veitchyonsport/posts/835542266482487

    All we need for the Trifecta, is a Blackcaps win tomorrow!

    • marty mars 32.1
      28 March 2015 at 11:47 pm

      I bet he was gutted that he had to wear red.

      • David H 32.1.1
        29 March 2015 at 12:22 am

        Well at least it matched the blood. The Stars were probably Act yellow, and the bruises will be a nice Nat blue. But did you see the pirouette he did? do a ballerina proud except the canvas kissing part.