The decline of the Herald

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, September 27th, 2015 - 103 comments
Categories: journalism, Media, newspapers, spin, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

The New Zealand Herald has always been essentially a cheerleader for the right.  Its right wing dominated pages were however subject to the occasional burst of clearness and light provided by the likes of Brian Rudman and Dita di Boni.  It also had writers capable of careful analysis such as John Drinnan and Fran O’Sullivan.  But judging by political commentary in the paper this morning the clearness and light and careful analysis is a thing of the past.

The word “bloodbath” has been used repeatedly to describe what has happened following NZME’s announcement of redundancies at the Herald earlier this year.  Apparently over 100 redundancies were expected from the restructuring NZME was putting the Herald through.  The proposal was to create a “world class integrated media room” involving NZME’s different media but the clear impression is that NZME is shedding some talented writers in an effort to save money.  Some of the major talent being lost includes Drinnan, Rudman, Michele Hewitson and Alan Perrott.  Over recent months other writers deemed surplus to requirements included Paul Casserly, James Griffin, Dita De Boni, Jock Anderson and Peter Calder.

News of John Roughan’s redundancy were apparently unfortunately premature.  Although the likes of Anderson will not be missed others made the Herald readable.

It is not a peculiarly Herald problem.  Fairfax Media has also recently lost some senior respected reporters.

If you want to see the repercussions look no further than this morning’s Herald.  The article initially purported to be written by Patrice Gaffaney who is a travel writer.  What a travel writer was doing writing about politics I do not know.  But then something amazing happened.  The article changed to record the author as being Heather du Plessis-Allan (h/t Maria Sherwood).

I really thought that a part time travel writer had written the article such was the quality of its analysis and this was to be the essence of this blog post.  If this is du Plessis-Allan’s writing we still have a problem because she is clearly amongst the large array of National cheerleaders we have in the midst of our media.

She starts off by accusing Labour of being sad sacks and that we should be all so proud because a right wing Australian leader thinks John Key is a great guy.  The depth of this social analysis I have not witnessed since I was a young teenager at school.  Being friends with the cool kid is clearly still important for some.

Then she blames Labour for the flag referendum fiasco.

Possibly [Andrew Little’s] biggest mistake though was playing politics with the flag referendum. Forget what Labour was saying publicly about wanting to get Red Peak on the ballot. They didn’t want that.

Sure, Red Peak being included was egg on Key’s face. The Prime Minister tried so hard to ignore it. But, it would have been much, much better for Labour if Red Peak was excluded. That way, more of us would have got angry, packed a tanty and voted instead to keep the current flag. It’d be a whole carton of eggs on Key’s face if his precious flag change failed.

That’s why Labour mucked around and that’s why the Greens and National outmanoeuvered it. Labour was more interested in embarrassing the Prime Minister than making sure we hand the right flag on to our grandkids.

So according to her Labour should have rolled over and agreed to what ever National demanded.  Although even then National would have found a reason to not agree.  If anyone was playing politics with the issue it was National.

Then she chips at Labour about pandas.

How do you turn a story about panda bears into something negative? Here’s how.

It sounds increasingly like our biggest trading partner might hook us up with a couple of cute – but admittedly expensive to keep – YouTube favourites.

If you’re Little, you don’t use this as a chance to show your sense of humour and crack a few panda puns or display your understanding of the tourism the bears generate.

Instead, you say there are better things to spend money on. There are always better things.

The reason lefties get grumpy about this sort of game playing is that being in charge of a country is an important task.  And there are many important issues that we face, some of them like climate change threaten our future.  And child poverty, the refugee crisis, the lack of a vision for our economic future, the housing crisis …

Our leader fluffing around trying to change the appearance of a particular flag and trying to get a couple of animals into one of our zoos for a photo opportunity  should be treated by ridicule by a political writer in our major daily newspaper.  It is a shame that it appears the Herald no longer has the calibre of writer who will say this.

103 comments on “The decline of the Herald ”

  1. tc 1

    Outlets such as granny now exist to sell the masters message having ditched jornalism many years ago. Note the management ranks and remunerations as a sign they arent serious about cost cutting.

    Murdochs leaked financials show how poor a viable business the mastheads are these days but they survive as they play a messaging role crucial in herding the masses.

  2. sabine 2

    why bother read the Herald, that paper is not even good enough to line a litter box.

    seriously, i pity the trees that are felled so that this type of rubbish can be printed.

    Do not buy the Herald. simple as that.

    • Paul 2.1

      I don’t.
      It has become the most dreadful rag, pimping for Key and his death cult.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.2

      +1

    • Visubversa 2.3

      I do find it is perfectly designed to line a litter box. However, that is its only function in this household and I never pay for it.

    • Hami Shearlie 2.4

      The Herald is a FANTASTIC newspaper – I mean all that newsprint is EXCELLENT to put under the bark in your new bark garden!! Why pay for weedmat when you can use the NZ Herald? And its also great to keep your fish and chips nice and hot and crispy!!

  3. sabine 3

    as for blaming Labour? Is that not a sort of Volkssport here in NZ, that no matter what, why, and whom Labour does it to, and did it first, so its all Labours fault?
    What else is new?

    • Keith 3.1

      Yep, its like last years “Tricky” campaign on David Cunliffe. Say the lie over and over enough and it becomes true!

  4. Grey Area 4

    I wasted several minutes of my life this morning skimming through this piece of appalling rubbish masquarading as political comment. (Interestingly initially on the Herald mobile app there was no byline). I expect nothing less from the National Herald these days but the degree of bias and shallowness in this piece were still gobsmacking.

    Little got it dead right in his comment about Turnbull’s estimation of Key. It is sick-making to be told we should have been fist pumping because Turnbull rated Key’s “achievements” so highly, and this particular comment is either cynical or shallow – or both.

  5. Keith 5

    It’s amazing isnt it. This shitty negative flag campaign is all John Key from start to finish, the flags chosen, the manipulation, the reason it is even happening but one thing is for sure, he can turn what should be a positive project (if it was run by anyone else but this government) and generate a blame game that somehow gets publicised as being anyone elses but his fault for its complete list of short comings.

    It has become the sum of everything that is wrong with the John Key National government, decitful and divisive!

    If Little had not mentioned a word on the subject he’d still be the medias strawman!

    And now its all Labours fault. Turn the record over!

  6. dukeofurl 6

    “News of John Roughan’s redundancy were apparently unfortunately premature”

    Whats the bet he called in a favour from his mate Key ?

    Hasnt Roughan been the ‘ deputy editor since’ way back when Clark was PM, hes been bypassed for the top job a couple of times, so hes not moving up in the hierarchy, and yet survives a culling of their senior writers ?

    Go figure ?

    • Sacha 6.1

      They have not made final decisions yet about who keeps their job.

      • dukeofurl 6.1.1

        Lucky for him then that he hes got’ digital future” written all over him and can write click bait stories with the best of them.- ? yeah nah !

        Then there was the recent MTV ‘restructure’
        “High-profile Maori Television executives Julian Wilcox and Carol Hirschfeld have been demoted from their jobs in a restructure process announced to staff at the station today.-” Herald facebook

        Funny isnt it how those critical of the government are the ones ‘restructured out’ yet the people who sunshine and joy in everything Key & co do survive?

        • tc 6.1.1.1

          Been quiet over at MTV as maxwell goes about nationals business, last ripple was Forbes departure from memory.

    • Paul 6.2

      Roughan’s hagiography of Key ensured he kept his job.

  7. Anne 7

    ‘Madame’ is a thirty-something married to the ZB News go to boy, Barry Soper. That’s an observation worthy of suspicion in the first place. Her political allegiance was suspect from the start.

    So, people who are concerned about child poverty, poor government economic performances, the ever-increasing chasm between rich and poor, honesty and integrity in government, being wise and worldly citizens and above all… tackling the looming disaster of Climate Change makes us sad sacks does it Heather? A judgement that highlights your profound ignorance and lack of mature intelligence.

    Btw, intelligence and a ‘mature’ sense of humour are invariably bed-mates. Think on that dear before you go off half-cock again.

  8. RedBaronCV 8

    Looks like a preloaded set of positive comments were wating to be flooded against this story in waves. When lately, has the Herald really had any positive commnents underneath for this type of story

  9. Reddelusion 9

    Yes Ann “dear” your moralising, constant negativity and I know best is exactly why the average punter just turn off when your ilk including angry andy just humerously prattle on. I suggest why jacindern adern has some popularity as she at least comes across as happy, with a bit of humour and less grim, not much else however

    • Paul 9.1

      Whereas you can only speak in soundbites and catchphrases.
      Just the usual shallow pointless comment from you, adding nothing.

      • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1

        Whereas you can only speak in soundbites and catchphrases.

        And only C/T created ones at that.

  10. DC Sheehan 10

    It’s one of the most brazen pieces of spin I’ve read. It’s Foxian in its wilful ignoring of the truth. The difference is that Fox doesn’t purport to be anything but a right wing shill.

    Seriously, this reads like a National Party ad. All it’s missing is an ‘Authorised by’ statement.

  11. Mrs Brillo 11

    Don’t vent here – send your comment in to the Herald under the article in question.
    Then let’s see how many of them end up getting published.

    Tip: criticise the writer, not the paper. Few of my comments criticising the Herald ever get published.

    And sometimes they delay for a day (or in one case three days) before putting any comments at all under a piece which receives a lot of criticism.

    They are gaming their own comments system, but that’s no reason not to tell them exactly what you think.

    • Rae 11.1

      Ah so you’ve noticed the tardiness of publishing online comment as well. I have been suspicious for some time, as articles such as anything pointing out the downsides of the TPPA or land sales to foreigners etc. get buried somewhere in the middle of the day, so that those of us who work don’t see them till later on, then whatever comment you make never shows up. My last comment in the Herald according to my profile was made on Thursday. I have noticed this increasingly over the last couple of months.

      • Paul 11.1.1

        And comments are closed when there is almost universal dissent with the writer.

        • Death Row 11.1.1.1

          Bye bye green eye.

          When Blue Eye succeeds with the case – you are dead.

          Oh well…….happy days.

      • Mrs Brillo 11.1.2

        My comment has not been published. (Perhaps I should not have told her that this was a very shabby effort. )

        But some individuals have numerous comments published which are a lot worse written and reasoned than mine was. Several under the same story.
        And the ultra right wing commenters that look like part of a National attack squad are there every time, sometimes multiple comments of theirs published.

        A lot of new nicks turned up today under this story. I think the person who suggested the Herald (or Mr and Mrs Soper) had pre-prepared comments ready to publish as soon as the piece appeared, was right on the money.

        So I’ll make a remark here which if I sent it to the Herald, they would not publish:

        Heather DPA is an immature apology for a writer who does not understand politics and is in the wrong job. Her lack of judgement is an embarrassment. Once again TV3 have fallen for style over substance, but there is no reason for Granny to do the same.

        She would make a really cute weather girl, though – imagine, Heather on the Weather. Light as a feather.

    • Clemgeopin 11.2

      <i."Don’t vent here – send your comment in to the Herald under the article in question.Then let’s see how many of them end up getting published"

      I did, at 10 am this morning. It has been published now. Here is my comment there:

      “What is amazing is that Key has managed to fool so many people for so long and so very easily. Turnbull is the latest gullible fool who has fallen for his charm. I agree with the point Andrew Little was making”

      Clemgeopin – New Zealand – 12:36 PM Sunday, 27 Sep 2015

  12. Clemgeopin 12

    That appalling article shows one thing clearly : That the author has a very low IQ, childish analytical skills and an extremely poor grasp of issues.

    or that she is just another biased right wing rogue agent masquerading as a fourth estate ‘journalist’.

    • dukeofurl 12.1

      From her 7 Sharp days

      “On Seven Sharp du Plessis-Allan did some pretty dreadful stuff. There was the time she dressed up as a park ranger and pretended to stop people entering a park in Wellington for a story that made no sense at all. She was sent to chat up old men in a pub to make a non-newsworthy point about the pension age. She jogged around the capital with the speaker David Carter. She introduced the world to John Key’s office toilet.”

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/70857862/The-real-Heather-du-Plessis-Allan

      I understand these sort of shows, the reporters mostly bid their own story ideas for the producers. What was she thinking ?

      • Clemgeopin 12.1.1

        Don’t these idiot journalist even realise how embarrassingly inept and hollow they are?

        • Paul 12.1.1.1

          They don’t care as long as they can acquire the trappings of success.
          Money, fame, stuff…..

          • Puddleglum 12.1.1.1.1

            Bingo – sadly I think that’s pretty much the sum of it.

            The ability to think seems to get you nowhere in mainstream political journalism today.

            The only ‘analysis’ allowed seems to be over a politician’s ‘image’ (never analyse policies or important social issues – a big ‘no-no’). And even that analysis has to be trivial, caricatured and simplistic in order to pass muster.

            Have you noticed how any in-depth analyses (e.g., feature articles) are never written by these ‘prominent’ political journalists?

            I get the distinct impression that the Garners, Gowers – and, now, du Plessis-Allans – of the journo world are simply there to do the intellectual equivalent of prancing about making god-awful spectacles of themselves.

            Perhaps they really don’t understand how incredibly shallow what they do is? Maybe the saddest interpretation is that they really think they’re doing something substantive.

            On the evidence of this column it seems that that week surfing with Key’s Press Secretary has either had the desired effect or was simply a case of birds of a feather:

            The couple [Soper and du Plessis-Allan] have just spent a week surfing in Hawaii with Sia Aston, the Prime Minister’s new chief press secretary.

            • Paul 12.1.1.1.1.1

              Literally and metaphorically embedded journalists.

            • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.1.1.2

              Perhaps they really don’t understand how incredibly shallow what they do is? Maybe the saddest interpretation is that they really think they’re doing something substantive.

              I suspect that they probably think that they’re being sophisticated but are actually too stupid and shallow to realise that they’re being arses.

              • ropata

                Agreed, I can’t imagine how anyone with a smattering of intellect or self-awareness could possibly lower themselves to such a trivial sideshow. Unless they are a smug narcissist who is star-struck by wealth and glamour, and thinks they are a part of it…

                http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/20/broadcasters-mouthpieces-of-elite-balanced-news-journalists

                Those entrusted to challenge power are the loyalists of power. They rage against social media and people such as Russell Brand, without seeing that the popularity of alternatives is a response to their own failures: their failure to expose the claims of the haut monde, their failure to enlist a diversity of opinion, their failure to permit the audience to see that another world is possible. If even the public sector broadcasters parrot the talking points of the elite, what hope is there for informed democratic choice?

  13. Ad 13

    I went to a funeral in Dunedin last week.
    200 people.
    Mostly good bourgeoisie, small business people, farmers, late middle aged, reasonably well off.

    Not a positive thing to say about Key, the flag, the economy, the government, farming, the military, Dunedin, the regions.
    Nothing.

    • BM 13.1

      Christ, what did you expect.
      it’s Dunedin the home of Labour and the misery guts capital of NZ.

      • weka 13.1.1

        Did you get divorced in Dunedin BM, or went to uni or something? Such a downer on the place.

      • lprent 13.1.2

        And also the only independent large newspaper in NZ. It is still as reactionary as it was when I was there decades ago. But unlike the NZ Herald, it is still worth reading because it still tends to concentrate on reporting news.

        Besides, there are two seats in Dunedin. Hardly a large voting population.

    • infused 13.2

      Dunners is a cold shit hole. No wonder people are unhappy. Fuck my life if I ever have to live there.

  14. Ralf Crown 14

    It is not only a peculiarly Herald problem, no, it is a problem of arrogance, stupidity and navel gazing. I know for sure that the Herald has repeatedly been offered services from very competent and skilled kiwi journalists stationed overseas, for instance in China. They could write with highest competence about China as it really is, but the Herald could not be bothered to even answer. Besides that, The Herald don’t want to publish unless they are allowed to snoop around in the writers private life and register his home address and other personal data. If the journalist is living in China for instance, that is now a criminal offense. You see the same media arrogance in for instance EU, and journalists are wholesale dumped as a result. Don’t buy the Herald, don’t patronize their advertisers.

  15. mac1 15

    How can you give credibility to a serious opinion piece or to its publisher when they write this about her?

    “Heather du Plessis-Allan is a thirty something year old trying very hard to avoid growing up. So far it’s working, except for the husband, the mortgage and the proper job. Since moving to central Wellington, she’s doing all she can to act more metropolitan than a girl who grew up down the road from an onion field outside of Auckland.”

  16. maui 16

    Here there do Panda see Sellin

  17. Tory 17

    It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like. Shouldn’t you be reading the Socialist Worker for your daily dose of propaganda rather than reading Fairfax?

    • Paul 17.1

      Settle down.
      You need to take your angry pills, Tory.

    • Reddelusion 17.2

      Spot on Tory, if there is such a thirst for a socialist left wing rag why don’t the likes of Paul and friends simply put their money where their mouth is and get publishing Pent up demand is huge by their reckoning, they can’t loose, instead we get them demanding a private company do their bidding ( Should not be a surprise I guess as socialist MO) If they don’t like the herald, stop fkn reading it, simple. I suspect sub consciously they love the herald as they love bleating and moaning as a distraction from their own inadequacies.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 17.2.1

        The only way you can get ahead is by lying. It’s pathetic.

      • Peter 17.2.2

        ….. fine if the Herald owned up publicly to its own right wing tag tendencies ….. but they don’t preferring to mislead the gullible with a veneer of balance as New Zealand’s most awarded publication ……. what we really need is two national papers whose left and right bias is known and accepted ( Guardian v’s Times)

    • One Anonymous Bloke 17.3

      They are (allegedly) journalists, and can no more write “anything they fuckin like” than you can write anything substantive.

      I appreciate the only way Dear Leader can get elected is by lying, and journalism still isn’t your toy.

      Choke on it.

    • Draco T Bastard 17.4

      It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like.

      Actually, they can’t. They’re not allowed to publish lies for instance and that article does appear to be a bunch of lies.

    • half crown 17.5

      “It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like. Shouldn’t you be reading the Socialist Worker for your daily dose of propaganda rather than reading Fairfax?”

      We are all fully aware that the bourgeoisie media can write what they like Comrade Tory, but it is the insult to one’s intelligence when they expect us to believe the shit.
      Personally I don’t read any of the excuses for shit house paper that are out there
      Ah, come back The Daily Worker all is forgiven.

    • Paul 17.6

      The airwaves that they use are in the public arena and have been stolen.

  18. Im Right 18

    Well looks like my posts are deleted?, typical ‘democracy’ and ‘discussion’ that the left love ohhh wait!, am I deleted? I did discuss the post theme, but not your side of the fence eh?

    [lprent: Nope. It is most likely that because at some point in time you were a behavioral arsehole on this site. So you got a ban and were put into autospam. Obviously if there was an expiry on it, that hasn’t happened yet.

    Looking at the auto-spam list, it appears that you made an assertion here. You were challenged on it, and then you promptly disappeared like a child caught deliberately piddling on the carpet because it was “funny”. Clearly you didn’t like that little spanking. You didn’t want to “discuss” that did you?

    It is apparent that you are clearly gutless, inaccurate, and way way too stupid to comment on this site.

    Your habit of making defamatory comments that appear to have been picked out of your arse (because they have no substantiation) makes you a liability for this site. Reading you chewing on your dick head doing all of those strange comments in auto-spam, I’d have to say that you add nothing to the political debate apart from being a good example of someone acting like a idiotic parrot repeating other peoples lines. Looking at their content, I will put you on a preventative and preemptive permanent ban.

    Bye bye idiot troll. ]

  19. Gemma 19

    Du Plessis Allan’s Herald article is unbelievably shallow. Micky, you’re right – she’s functioning like someone in the schoolyard who wants to be in with the “cool” kids at any cost.

    Media have repeatedly criticised Labour for supposedly being a weak opposition… yet the media also criticise Labour for speaking out against National’s cynical, manipulative actions and decisions. It’s a no-win situation. We have a complicit media who are National lapdogs not watchdogs.

  20. stigie 20

    If you lot think Heather du Plessis-Allan is a National cheerleader, there must be some full on arguments in the Soper household then, because i reckon ole Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour…?

    • Gangnam Style 20.1

      ” Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour” ahh, no he is not.

    • Paul 20.2

      You are kidding, right??!!!

      • stigie 20.2.1

        Soper, always known as the leftie hack.

        • maui 20.2.1.1

          Yeah thats why the country’s most conservative radio station newstalk employ him lol.

        • Paul 20.2.1.2

          Du Plessis’s hatchet job at the Moment of Truth.
          Quite the right wing puppet, serving her corporate masters.

          http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-insulting-behaviour-of-mike-hosking.html

          And Soper works at Newstalk ZB.
          A hot bed of left wing views.

        • Sanctuary 20.2.1.3

          Soper is another well past his use by date NZ journalist that in any other country would have long ago been put out to pasture in a regional publication. Here however they use the dearth of competition to cling to their jobs well past the age that they should get out. Soper is completely embedded into the Wellington political circus, AKA the “establishment” and sees everything through the lens of everyone having fat salaries and horse race reporting. That automatically makes him an in lockstep neo-liberal cheerleader, since that is what makes up our establishment.

          Another example is that dreadful Listener columnist Jane Clifton, a cynical, simpering idiot whose best work was done 20 years ago. Soper, Clifton – they are part of the system, deeply embedded, cynical hacks in a circus they think is a giant leg pull on the public and completely devoid of any ideology or values beyond the “game”.

          Oh and could someone PLEASE tell Brian Edwards that everytime he is on the radio he diminishes his legend and he sounds like an dottery, complacent and rather absent minded old out of touch old man who appears to think it is funny to be bullied by Michelle Boag? JUST RETIRE YOU STUPID OLD BASTARD.

          • Paul 20.2.1.3.1

            Yes, these people are all either pillars of the neoliberal establishment or are NZ’s equivalent of the Fox News ‘token Democrat.’

            Josie Pagani does this job as well.

    • Naki man 20.3

      “If you lot think Heather du Plessis-Allan is a National cheerleader, there must be some full on arguments in the Soper household then, because i reckon ole Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour…?”

      Have you listened to the women, she is left of John Campbell.
      What I don’t get is why she would marry someone more than twice her age.

  21. infused 21

    I don’t think I ever read one thing positive on the standard. The article is pretty spot on with the left in general. bunch of winging, complaining, sad fucks.

    I thought whaleoil was bad with his bullshit, but this place is taking the cake these days.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 21.1

      That’s a positive comment. Or perhaps it’s some lame whining from a flaccid hypocrite. Who can tell?

      • ropata 21.1.1

        The Herald will publish any old crap so that RW simpletons can drool over all the fawning JK articles and flag trivia and ignore what’s really happening to NZ.

        But dare to criticise the holy scripture of the NZH and the FJK mob will be attacking you like a horde of furious gnats.

        Is this the brave new world of media freedom and technology? A flood of mindless dross? Jesus wept.

    • Paul 21.2

      So don’t come here.

  22. stigie 22

    Once you think and talk doom and gloom, you will never get to Government.
    Talking down the economy day after day like Robertson does and some of the people on here, no wonder Labour are still in the late 20s or early 30s and Little with the charisma of a cardboard box with no address !

    • Paul 22.1

      So says a neoliberal puppet.

    • Anne 22.2

      And what do you think the Nats did between 2005 and 2008? Talked down the economy big time and the irony is the Labour govt. recorded surpluses every year they were in office. In English’s own words after the 2008 election “they left the books in good order.”

      Contrast that with the Nats deficits for the past 7 years which don’t look like they’re going to change any time soon. So much for the mantra National know how to manage the economy. Biggest con in the history of this country!

      • Clemgeopin 22.2.1

        So much for the mantra National know how to manage the economy. Biggest con in the history of this country!”

        +1

        These nincompoops have accumulated a massive amount of debt, over106 billion dollars, ($106,000,000,000) in JUST 7 years of their misrule, for our kids and grand kids to pay off sometime in the future or to quietly become the economic slaves of USA, China, the World Bank, the IMF etc. The INTEREST alone on that debt is over $160 per second or $9,700 per minute or $586,600 per hour or over $14 million per day or $5 billion per year!

        We have a stupid government with sweet talking, dodgy, lying and cunning leaders in charge.

        Here is a prediction :
        This particular Government masterly manipulated by Key, English, Joyce and Crosby Textor will go down in the history of New Zealand as a vile, dishonest, inept, expensive, wasteful, untrustworthy, pro-wealthy, pro-corporate, anti-worker, unpatriotic, corrupt, harmful, valueless and a dirty one.

        Oh, by the way,
        KOF FOR NOW

  23. stigie 23

    Anne, so much money sloshing around in the mid 2000s, probably once in a generation that a Bill and John party could have made surpluses and then the GFC hit our economy pretty hard along with other issues. We are slowly coming right and back on the right track as long as we stay focused and positive which this Government is doing.

    • Paul 23.1

      Just another neoliberal puppet.

    • dukeofurl 23.2

      All is lost then , since they are doing none of that:

      The PM seems to be some sort of retro Jumping Jack Flash.

      The finance minister has failed every goal he has set for himself, since 2008.

      The housing minister has made a fool of himself over land he doesnt own or has been promised to someone else, fat chance of affordable home s there.

      The economy outside Auckland and Christchurch is in decline and national will pay dearly when the NZ Country …. ops NZ First party cranks up its publicity machine.

      Per capita GDP is still stuck below what it was in 2008, and will likely decline as the best seems to have passed.

    • Clemgeopin 23.3

      @stigie
      Cool story bro. Tell us another.

      Key had signaled tax cuts BEFORE the 2008 election and BEFORE the GFC and had also made a PROMISE not to increase GST.

      Then, IN SPITE of the recession, the idiots gave 2 BILLION dollars PER YEAR (and every year) of tax cuts that primarily and hugely helped the wealthy, while also increasing the GST to 15% that primarily and disproportionately hit the poor the most.

      The Christ Church earthquake cost the government about 15 billion dollars.

      How do you explain the 106 Billion dollars of accumulated debt for YOUR and ALL OUR future generations to pay off easily, and if they ever can?
      Think about it a little and wake up! Don’t fall for their porkies, stigie.

      And by the way,
      KOF FOR NOW

  24. ropata 24

    “Think positive”, I guess that’s what John Key and his mates on Wall street told the suckers as they sold them shitty derivatives and whatnot that crashed the world economy. Somehow I find it hard to trust the empty suits and their empty promises.

  25. Henry Filth 25

    So with the demise of the NZ Herald, what am I to read? Is there a decent NZ online newspaper?

    Please don’t tell me “Stuff”.

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  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    52 mins ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    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 ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    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 ...
    4 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    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 ...
    5 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    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 Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    12 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    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 ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    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; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$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 ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    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. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    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 Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    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 ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    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 ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    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. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
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