Archive for September, 2012
Will Key read the GCSB report?
Written By: - Date published: 7:06 am, September 26th, 2012 - 75 comments
Key has said we all have to wait and see what is in the Neazor Report on the GCSB spies’ illegal spying on Kim Dotcom.* He won’t even answer basic questions like: ‘what section of the law did the GCSB breach?’ Funny that Key’s so keen for us to wait to read this report. But will he read it? Or will it be like the Banks Police Report, which he won’t read? And when will anyone get to read Banks’ statement?
Open mike 26/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 26th, 2012 - 84 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
A fish rots from the head down
Written By: - Date published: 1:50 pm, September 25th, 2012 - 51 comments
Key has failed to uphold high ethical standards for himself, his Ministers, or his government. The GCSB illegal spying fiasco is just the latest example.
ImperatorFish: Blame Labour
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, September 25th, 2012 - 11 comments
National has a plan to deal with their crisis of job losses, GCSB illegality and bad polls. Tomorrow will probably see another welfare crackdown, although with the number of groups left to target rapidly diminishing, could it be the turn of one-legged Dutchmen to feel Paula’s wrath?
But if that plan doesn’t work, National has another up its sleeve: blame Labour. Go on, sing along.
Key plays the “don’t read, don’t care” card again
Written By: - Date published: 11:40 am, September 25th, 2012 - 19 comments
A couple of days before it was surely all going to come out – very messily and very publicly – in the Dotcom court case, Key has revealed that his spies illegally spied on Kim Dotcom. But, beyond that, Key won’t tell us anything apart from that he signed no warrant for spying on Dotcom (such a warrant would have been illegal anyway). Key has chosen not to find out more so that he wouldn’t have to answer questions.
Open mike 25/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 25th, 2012 - 170 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Cynical Key
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 pm, September 24th, 2012 - 134 comments
So Key knew about the GCSB’s ‘unlawful’ actions for a week before he bothered to tell us. He happened to know that this Monday state owned companies would be announcing they were causing the loss of 500-600 jobs. Only one story would get its full due of airtime.
Encouraging polls
Written By: - Date published: 2:53 pm, September 24th, 2012 - 69 comments
Encouraging polls in both NZ and America.
The losses keep coming
Written By: - Date published: 12:08 pm, September 24th, 2012 - 54 comments
Welcome to National’s economy: Kiwirail has just announced 158 infrastructure and engineering job losses, and this afternoon Solid Energy will probably announce the loss of 300 jobs at Spring Creek, and 200-250 elsewhere. This on top of the swathe of job losses in Huntly and Christchurch Solid Energy announced a month ago.
National Standards Solve Nothing
Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, September 24th, 2012 - 85 comments
Reprinted with permission from Dave Kennedy (bsprout) at Local Bodies. “While National Standards has cost around $60 million to force onto schools many programmes designed to address the causes of underachievement have been under resourced or cut altogether.”
The Right tilts at class-size windmills
Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, September 24th, 2012 - 10 comments
The Righties are wetting themselves because the national standards supposedly show higher results in larger classes. But the data is unmoderated – you can’t compare schools to get national data. And the apparent link is down to special schools and deciles. So, what have we learned? Nothing. Certainly nothing about the impact of class sizes, anyway. But maybe a little more about the Rights’ willful blindness.
Bennett’s fantasy world breaks down
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, September 24th, 2012 - 45 comments
Paula Bennett on Q+A: “I don’t think that every child actually needs to be in early-childhood education” says Bennett. There will be cases where parents can do just as good or better job for their child. Yet, her policy is to take away half the incomes of parents and children on benefits who don’t go to ECE. The gap between Bennett’s spin and what she is actually doing has never before been so clearly revealed.
Open mike 24/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 24th, 2012 - 114 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Bloggers and ripping off content
Written By: - Date published: 5:54 pm, September 23rd, 2012 - 53 comments
When does quoting media on a blog shift into ripping them off and why does the media still give airtime to one of the biggest thieves?
Queen of Thorns discusses…
The cancer-mongers’ new ads
Written By: - Date published: 9:48 am, September 23rd, 2012 - 43 comments
I reckon my theory that the tobacco industry’s stupid ‘agree/disagree’ ad campaign is actually just a way of chucking millions at cash-strapped media outlets to buy their silence (and even backing from Granny) has been confirmed. By one simple fact. The new TV ad, which appeals to crass nationalism to argue that we shouldn’t adopt the Aussie plain-packaging law, is voiced by an Aussie.
Sunday Reading
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, September 23rd, 2012 - 11 comments
My regular Sunday piece of interesting, longer, deeper stories I found during the week. It’s also a chance for you to share what you found this week too. This week: taxes and growth, foreign wars and the quality of MPs. And the Ig Nobels.
Open mike 23/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 23rd, 2012 - 178 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Right wing bigot pines for days of right wing bigotry
Written By: - Date published: 10:42 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 180 comments
John Roughan has a whinge about Campbell Live’s coverage of the Christchurch school closures in today’s Herald.
Poor John pines for the days when Paul Holmes was broadcasting rightwing bullsh*t nationwide every evening.
Politician subtitled for honesty
Written By: - Date published: 10:22 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 15 comments
When parties that claim to have a social conscience end up propping up right-wing governments it doesn’t usually end well. Here is the Lib Dems leader Nick Clegg, apologising to his supporters for breaking a core promise. He has been subtitled for honesty.
Poverty Watch 4
Written By: - Date published: 9:32 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 7 comments
Welcome to Poverty Watch, a weekly update on National’s lack of response to the urgent and growing issue of poverty in NZ. This week, a new Labour Bill, an Otago University study, and Live Below the Line.
It came from Planet Key
Written By: - Date published: 9:15 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 39 comments
John Key on the impoverished Chatham Islands, holding a huge crayfish. He says ‘big as a horse, freshly cooked, $80 a kilo.’ He kisses the cray, then looks at the camera and says ‘jealous?’ Christ, what a cock. Those 270,000 kids aren’t jealous, arsehole. They’re hungry. The fact he knows the price of cray off the top of his head but not how many Kiwis are unemployed tells you all you need to know.
Standards slipping
Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 135 comments
So the first ‘ropey’ National Standards data is slipping out. It may not bear comparison, and not be moderated or indeed standardised, but Hekia Parata can now divulge the great wisdom that National’s StandardsTM provides.
Open mike 22/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 22nd, 2012 - 44 comments
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Extinction on Key’s watch?
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 44 comments
Clean green 100% pure New Zealand?
Or the only nation in the world to vote against measures to stop the extinction of the world’s rarest dolphins?
Garner on the exodus to Oz
Written By: - Date published: 4:18 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 51 comments
John Key is one kind of Wizard all right – a Wizard of Oz. He can make people disappear there. Duncan Garner rips in to him.
Weekend social 21/09/2012
Written By: - Date published: 2:00 pm, September 21st, 2012 - 27 comments
Weekend social is for non political chat. What’s on for the weekend, gigs, film or book reviews, sports, or whatever. No politics, no aggro, why can’t we all just get along?
Fight the ‘War on the Poor’: Opposing Bennett’s welfare reforms.
Written By: - Date published: 11:45 am, September 21st, 2012 - 52 comments
Grant Robertson, in the House yesterday speaking on Paula Bennett’s “Social Security (Benefit Categories and Work Focus) Amendment Bill” – First Reading, gave an impassioned speech. He said many some great points about social obligations and a mutually beneficial social contract (between the state and beneficiaries. However, will the Labour Party’s policies match up to the rhetoric?
NRT: Charter schools in the UK
Written By: - Date published: 10:21 am, September 21st, 2012 - 19 comments
No Right Turn on the waste and divisiveness of charter schools in the UK.
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Australian National University The Oxford English Dictionary defines a gaffe as a “blunder, an instance of clumsy stupidity, a ‘faux pas’.” It evokes a sense of triviality rather than high ...1 day ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By April Reside, Lecturer in Conservation, The University of Queensland An endangered golden-shouldered parrot Imogen Warren/Shutterstock Australia has already lost at least 100 species since European colonisation. Across land and freshwater habitats, 1,657 species are currently threatened with the same fate. Their populations ...1 day ago
- Wellington’s secondhand bookshops, ranked and reviewed
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- Where is she now? Wendy Frew
The search for Wendy Frew takes you to Pine Crescent Park, Rosedale, in Invercargill. “Possibly windswept and interesting” to quote a Billy Connolly-ism.It’s a setting that nurtured a remarkable deep-south sporting family dynasty – one fit to rival the Bracewells of the North.Among the eight children of Karen and Colin ...1 day ago
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- Dame Tariana Turia to be laid to rest today
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- How Wellington became a cornucopia of Malaysian food
Summer reissue: Our capital is a far cry from hot, bustling Kuala Lumpur, so why is this freezing city full of excellent Malaysian cuisine? My dad once told me that there are more Malaysian restaurants in Wellington per square kilometres than there are back in Malaysia. He was completely ...1 day ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 7 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, Tuesday 7 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...1 day ago
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Risk & Resilience, UNSW Sydney Marian Weyo/Shutterstock If someone bumps into us on the footpath or in the mall, we’re generally quite forgiving. We instinctively apologise or step aside, and usually don’t scream at, stalk, ...2 days ago
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- 5 tips to ace a job interview – including how to prepare for the question they’ll definitely ask
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- Why you should treat workplace friendships like your diet – aim for balance and variety
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stefan Korber, Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images The list of organisations abandoning the option of fully remote work for employees has grown recently, with the likes of Amazon, IBM, JPMorgan and Meta ...2 days ago
- Sunglasses reflect more than the light: a brief history of shades, from Ancient Rome to Hollywood
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Margaret Maynard, Associate Professor, School of Communication and the Arts, The University of Queensland State Library Victoria Sunglasses, or dark glasses, have always guarded against strong sunlight, but is there more to “shades” than we think? The pupils of our ...2 days ago
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