Archive for October, 2007
You can fool some of the people…
Written By: - Date published: 1:02 pm, October 4th, 2007 - 2 comments
…all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time, said Abraham Lincoln. John Key appears to be learning that lesson the hard way, much as Brash did with the Brethren. The PM once referred to Key as “insubstantial”. A […]
John Key’s global humiliation
Written By: - Date published: 12:51 pm, October 4th, 2007 - 1 comment
Too late – John’s humiliation is now global. Here’s the UK Guardian’s blog. “New Zealand’s opposition leader, John Key, the head of the centre right National Party, has an interesting take on the Iraq war, one perhaps not seen since George Bush stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln with a Mission Accomplished banner behind him. […]
What’s with TV?
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 4th, 2007 - Comments Off on What’s with TV?
The major papers, radio and political blogs picked up John Key’s War is Over story but neither of the main TV channels ran with it last night. Why is that? A photo in the Herald this morning shows Key surrounded by a swarm of press gallery reporters and TV cameras and yet neither TVNZ nor […]
John Key to address UN General Assembly
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, October 4th, 2007 - Comments Off on John Key to address UN General Assembly
But seriously. Can you imagine it? Clark and Key are chalk and cheese & and hardly anywhere more so than on their grasp of foreign policy. While Clark has spent the last week or so furthering our country’s interests abroad, Key’s had his foot firmly in his mouth. I only hope that the international media […]
RNZ this morning
Written By: - Date published: 4:05 pm, October 3rd, 2007 - 7 comments
People have been asking for details from this morning’s eye-opening RNZ interview with John Key. First, here’s the staggering quote from Key: powered by ODEO The interview kicked off with comment from Phil Goff on National’s recently released foreign policy document: HON PHIL GOFF: Oh I think that ah that imitation is the highest form […]
Paul Henry finally gets some balls
Written By: - Date published: 3:31 pm, October 3rd, 2007 - 3 comments
The media is clearly tiring of John Key’s vacuousness. You know the tide is turning when even Paul Henry turns on the Nats. I’ve embedded a two minute clip to show the tone of the interview. Here’s the link to the full piece.
Keith Locke on “The war in Iraq is over”
Written By: - Date published: 2:31 pm, October 3rd, 2007 - Comments Off on Keith Locke on “The war in Iraq is over”
“Until Mr Key put me wise, I had assumed the US and its coalition allies were bogged down fighting an intractable insurgency in Iraq that had seen a surge in US troop numbers earlier this year. “The deaths of 805 US troops and at least 13,600 Iraqi civilians this year alone were obviously due to […]
Wishing won’t make it so, John
Written By: - Date published: 2:26 pm, October 3rd, 2007 - 2 comments
My surprise has given way to anger. How dare John Key belittle the ongoing death and suffering in Iraq by dismissively claiming the war is over? Evidently he’s of much the same mind he was to begin with: Iraq is “too far away” to have an opinion on (Media ‘standup’, 2007).
Staggering
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 3rd, 2007 - 6 comments
John Key said on National Radio this morning “The war in Iraq is over”. Apparently that’s why no mention of it’s made in their lightweight foreign policy document. I’ll post on this later but in the meantime the audio of Phil Goff and Key is here.
Port strike
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, October 3rd, 2007 - 2 comments
In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the Ports of Auckland have been ground to a halt by strike action from 250 members of the Maritime Union. These guys are on as little as $13 an hour and have had their pay negotiations stalled by the company for nearly a year, so you can hardly blame them […]
She just gets worse.
Written By: - Date published: 1:46 pm, October 2nd, 2007 - Comments Off on She just gets worse.
If you thought Herald columnist and shill for big business Fran O’Sullivan couldn’t get any worse, think again. Here she is on Sunday, discussing a Business Council for Sustainable Development report on the health system: There is no evidence that trade-offs, such as people working into their 70s and thus reducing their own health drag […]
Espiner scathing of National
Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, October 2nd, 2007 - 2 comments
And still the criticism of National pours forth. I’m tempted to post this whole piece by Colin Espiner entitled “There is a tide…”, there are some great lines in it. Essentially he points out that while the government’s riding high after successfully rolling out one of the most complex and significant pieces of policy of […]
Conservative c0ck-up
Written By: - Date published: 10:59 am, October 2nd, 2007 - Comments Off on Conservative c0ck-up
The Register reports that (link maybe NSFW) “a Tory blog has been penetrated by an act of classic web waggery after it leeched bandwidth via a picture used to illustrate a posting about party fees”. Rather than host their own image on their site the young Tories linked to a picture sourced at a personal […]
A message for DPF
Written By: - Date published: 10:44 am, October 2nd, 2007 - Comments Off on A message for DPF
I just rediscovered Toothpaste for Dinner. Having narrowly recovered from a somewhat grueling experience reading this post over at Kiwiblog I thought I might just pass DPF a little friendly pictorial advice.
Undercover photo of Key at National HQ
Written By: - Date published: 10:38 am, October 2nd, 2007 - Comments Off on Undercover photo of Key at National HQ
Kiwiblogblog has a great undercover photo (you can tell ’cause it’s grainy) of John Key at National Party HQ. I won’t ruin the surprise by posting it here. Go check it out!
Run your own McDonald’s
Written By: - Date published: 10:26 am, October 2nd, 2007 - Comments Off on Run your own McDonald’s
If you’ve got work to do, don’t read this post. Play This Thing has a review of The McDonald’s video game. It’s flash-based so runs right in your web-browser. Your job is to run a sucessful McDonald’s. The game’s splashscreen notes: Making money in a corporation like McDonald’s is not simple at all! Behind every […]
National looking after its own
Written By: - Date published: 9:43 am, October 2nd, 2007 - 2 comments
Yesterday NZ First’s Brian Donnelly said schools were “not a commodity to be exploited for profit by National’s privatising mates” and rightly asserted “The key question National has failed to answer is who will get rich from its plans…” Well a day later we know. Colin Espiner reports in the Press that one of the […]
Nats start to pay off debt to Exclusive Brethren
Written By: - Date published: 8:51 am, October 2nd, 2007 - 2 comments
No wonder National’s education policy (what we know of it so far, anyway) includes more money for private schools. I know a staff member in an EB school (whose identity I have promised to protect) who said he had heard from high levels within the EB that National promised them that if it formed the […]
Ryall reveals his hollowness on Agenda
Written By: - Date published: 3:54 pm, October 1st, 2007 - 13 comments
all_your_base has already posted on Tony Ryall’s weasel words on yesterday’s Agenda programme, but what struck me about the interview was Ryall’s utter hollowness on policy. Here he is farming out elective surgery to the private sector: GUYON: Okay let’s talk about elective surgery because the Ministry of Health says at the moment the private […]
Pick your own price for Radiohead album
Written By: - Date published: 2:49 pm, October 1st, 2007 - Comments Off on Pick your own price for Radiohead album
If you read yesterday’s post about music and copyright this might be of interest. If not, umm, well sorry. Radiohead are about to release their new album: In Rainbows. They’re pre-releasing it via their website where you can choose to purchase it as a special boxed set with vinyl and other goodies or as a […]
Weasel-words from Tony Ryall
Written By: - Date published: 12:48 pm, October 1st, 2007 - Comments Off on Weasel-words from Tony Ryall
This almost defies belief. Just as I was thinking that Ryall couldn’t screw up the release of their health policy any further… He shows up on Agenda and by refusing to answer Espiner’s direct question only adds to the impression that National’s not being straight with the public on its plans to cut health spending. […]
The Herald lashes National
Written By: - Date published: 12:12 pm, October 1st, 2007 - 1 comment
If you’re National you know you’re in trouble when even the Herald editorial comes out swinging. The National Party was doing very well until it started to announce policy… During the month it produced three policies: work for the dole, partial privatisation of state companies and its position on health. The last was a particular […]
Burma rally pics
Written By: - Date published: 10:51 am, October 1st, 2007 - Comments Off on Burma rally pics
Some pics from Saturday’s rally for Burmese democracy: More at Auckland’s Burning and Indymedia.
Graphically speaking
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, October 1st, 2007 - Comments Off on Graphically speaking
(Via: Indexed)
Back to the future (again)
Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, October 1st, 2007 - 4 comments
So John Key wants to sell our schools. The National caucus must be a strange place to be right now. Feeling kind of good to be ahead in the polls but knowing that every time you release any real policy you’re going to take a hit. What this latest admission shows is that National hasn’t […]
- Israel orders patients, staff to ‘evacuate’ last two hospitals in northern Gaza siege
Asia Pacific Report Israel is forcing two hospitals in northern Gaza to evacuate under threat of attack as its ethnic cleansing campaign continues. Israeli forces have surrounded the Indonesian Hospital, where many staff and patients sought shelter after nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was destroyed in an Israeli raid last week, ...5 days ago - Pacific 2025: Vanuatu quake, Tongan and Kanaky shakeups, Trump questions set tone for coming year
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- From a colonial hill town to Idris Elba’s island masterplan: what two Sierra Leone developments a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- ‘You’ll love it, but you’ll hate it’: Christian Cullen on becoming CTI’s most unlikely sta...
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“People comment a lot on how emotional I am.”The children’s minister says she’s always been an emotional person. It’s her way of coping with trauma.“Because if you bottle that up it turns into something quite nasty, right? It turns into anger, it turns into frustration, and you start to look ...6 days ago - Anne Salmond: Hunger Games in the Beehive
Comment: There are times when fiction anticipates life, and dystopian nightmares become real.Who would have thought that in New Zealand, a relatively wealthy country that was once proudly egalitarian, a version of The Hunger Games would play out?That a government would cut thousands of jobs, deny desperate families emergency food ...6 days ago
- The Secret Diary of .. New Year’s Resolutions
Christopher LuxonWell, what I’d say to you about my New Year’s resolutions is that this year is going to be better than the last, probably, I mean I should think there’s a good chance of that happening, an even chance, there’s a narrow window, the odds are against us but ...6 days ago
- ‘Grossly misleading to me and to the country’: the Lange-Douglas letters, unearthed
Summer reissue: The meltdown in the relationship between the key players in the fourth Labour government can be charted in an extraordinary exchange of correspondence. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and ...6 days ago
- How many goddamn words should I be saying to my baby?
Summer reissue: I read yet another study about toddlers, screen time and language development, and it sent me off the deep end. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to ...6 days ago
- What it takes to be an Olympian, and why you don’t have it
Summer reissue: This year Tori Peeters competed at the Paris Olympics in the javelin. Ten years ago, Madeleine Chapman thought she might be in the same position. She talks to Peeters about what it takes to go all the way – and mulls her own life decisions in the process. ...6 days ago
- Remembering Young George, the barber who cut Auckland’s hair forever
Summer reissue: He earned 5c for his first cut in 1955, and $35 for his last in March. Duncan Greive recalls the life of his late barber, ‘Young’ George Dyas, who never stopped snipping. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these ...6 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 4 January
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Saturday 4 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
- Daily crossword, Saturday 4 January
The post Daily crossword, Saturday 4 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...6 days ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milo Gough, Lecturer in History, University of Manchester An artist’s impression of Idris Elba’s planned eco-city, Sherbro Island City. Greenfield Planners Sdn Bhd / Sherbro Alliance Partners Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, is celebrated as a city founded to resettle freed slaves in ...6 days ago
- ‘Suspend Israel ties’ plea to global medical professionals – Auckland hospital protest vigil o...
Asia Pacific Report The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, Francesca Albanese, has called on “medical professionals worldwide” to suspend ties with Israel in an act of solidarity with the more than “1000 colleagues of yours” killed in Gaza over the past 14 months. Countless ...6 days ago
- A politician for the people: Dame Tariana Turia, 1944-2025
The co-founder of Te Pāti Māori and architect of Whānau Ora will be remembered as a skilled political tactician who dedicated her life to the wellbeing of Māori, writes Miriama Aoake. Part of the hesitation of entering politics for any sane person is surely compromise. Compromise is essential in the ...7 days ago
- Honouring Kahurangi Tariana Turia:
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A stern but loving auntie, a woman of unshakeable principle, the very definition of a wāhine toa - those are just a few of the tributes flooding in for Dame Tariana Turia. ...7 days ago
- A year in The House: Law and order, deregulation and repeal
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By Maram Humaid in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Journalists gathered at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital expressed outrage and confusion about the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s office in the occupied West Bank. “Shutting down a major outlet like Al Jazeera is a crime against journalism,” said freelance ...7 days ago
- Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab: The Palestine tragedy – why it should matter to you and our world
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Katrina Mitchell-Kouttab As 2024 came to a close and we have stepped into a new year overshadowed by ongoing atrocities, have you stopped to consider how these events are reshaping your world? Did you notice how your future ...7 days ago
- Cook Islands ‘not qualified’ for UN membership, says prime minister
By Talaia Mika of the Cook Islands News The Cook Islands will not pursue membership in the United Nations and the Commonwealth due to its inability to meet the criteria for UN membership and existing relationship with New Zealand, which fulfils Commonwealth membership requirements. Prime Minister Mark Brown has clarified ...7 days ago
- Obit: Dame Tariana Turia has died
The former Labour Party MP and Te Pāti Māori co-founder was recognised for her commitment to Māori. ...7 days ago
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- Dame Tariana Turia has died
The former politician suffered a stroke earlier this week. ...7 days ago
- ‘One of the most important species for science’: how the humble fruit fly transformed 4 fields o...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ary Hoffmann, Professor, School of BioSciences and Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne Drosophila melanogaster. Deep Scope/Shutterstock The common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), more correctly called the vinegar fly, is a frequent visitor to ripe fruit in households around the world, where ...1 week ago
- Genius or charlatan? The strange tale of a 19th-century polymath who left a trail of controversy acr...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Ludewig, Professor and Head of the School of Humanities, The University of Western Australia The Burra Burra Mine, 1847. Samuel Thomas Gill / State Library of NSW About 20 minutes’ drive north of Geraldton, on Australia’s west coast, lies a hill ...1 week ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, researching Greco-Roman antiquity, The University of Melbourne Imagine a summer holiday at a seaside resort, with days spent sunbathing, reading books, exploring nature and chatting with friends. Sounds like it could be anywhere in Australia or ...1 week ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Storey, Deputy Director Te Tātai Hauora o Hine – National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington After committing to a global plan to eliminate cervical cancer, New Zealand is lagging behind Australia and ...1 week ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Adjunct Associate Professor, Anatomy, UNSW Sydney Jari Lobo/Pexels Throughout recorded history, our hair and nails played an important role in signifying who we are and our social status. You could say, they separate the caveman from businessman. It ...1 week ago
- Monarch butterflies are in decline in NZ and Australia – they need your help to track where they g...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myron Zalucki, Professor in Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland Kathy Reid, CC BY-SA Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) appear to be declining not just in North America but also in Australiasia. Could this be a consequence of global change, including ...1 week ago
- Australia needs better ways of storing renewable electricity for later. That’s where ‘flow batte...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Skyllas-Kazacos, Professor Emeritus, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW Sydney As more and more solar and wind energy enters Australia’s grid, we will need ways to store it for later. We can store electricity in several different ways, from pumped hydroelectric ...1 week ago
- Unlocking the past: how NZ’s first jail tells a complex story of colonial identity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington View of Kororāreka in the Bay of Islands, 1845, by George Thomas Clayton. via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY New Zealand’s first jail was a simple affair, just ...1 week ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Noor Gillani, Digital Culture Editor Shutterstock You’re standing at the centre of an expansive art gallery, overwhelmed by what’s in front of you: panel after panel of stupendous works – densely-written labels affixed next to each piece. These labels may offer ...1 week ago
- Te Pāti Māori co-founder Dame Tariana Turia dies
Dame Tariana Turia has died aged 80 in Whangaehu overnight.The founder and former co-leader of Te Pāti Māori suffered a stroke earlier this week and was said not to have long left.A press release from Te Ranga Tupua said she had died in the early hours of Friday morning. “A mother ...1 week ago
- DoC’s big donation drive gets mixed reviews
An $80 million subantarctic pest eradication project is being backed by a high-profile conservation charity targeting wealthy individuals.Since it was established in 2000, NZ Nature Fund has raised $5 million for project-specific conservation work, including $1.2 million over the past year. Projects, often managed by the Department of Conservation (DoC), ...1 week ago
- Rust Belt vs the beltway: Vance’s memoir more relevant than ever
Opinion: When it was first published in 2016, JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy was hailed by Britain’s Sunday Times as “the political book of the year”. The Independent described it as “an insight into Trump and Brexit”.Hillbilly Elegy is an autobiographical account of Vance’s life, growing up in a poor, white ...1 week ago
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Sport is a place where ‘real’ fans are often assumed to be men. Global research tells us that female fans of live men’s sport often face misogynistic and homophobic environments that include swearing, drunkenness and yelling negative comments and abuse at opponents and referees. In men’s sport, a quick skim through ...1 week ago
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