Bread and circuses. Hold the bread.

16 comments on “Bread and circuses. Hold the bread. ”

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1. JanM 1

   1 September 2015 at 11:30 am

   Of course Garner’s missed the main point – he’s not very bright, I’m afraid, which is, of course, why he’s doing so well – easily manipulable
   • mike 1.1

     1 September 2015 at 12:50 pm

     ‘he’s not very bright,’… is that why he ‘doesn’t know’ how his name appeared on the ashleymadison site?
     • Chooky 1.1.1

       1 September 2015 at 1:11 pm

       lol
2. les 2

   1 September 2015 at 11:34 am

   Garner is a Fox News cadet.
3. save NZ 3

   1 September 2015 at 11:39 am

   Is Peter Lyons the only commentator worth reading now in Grandpa Herald?
   • ianmac 3.1

     1 September 2015 at 12:04 pm

     Yes and what’s the bet that Peter will loose his column soon for budgetry reasons.
     But wait. We still have the wisdom of Mr Hoskings on the Herald.
     • whateva next? 3.1.1

       1 September 2015 at 1:50 pm

       I was thinking exactly that too
4. esoteric pineapples 4

   1 September 2015 at 12:18 pm

   Duncan Garner always misses the main point because he is a conservative and if he saw it, he would have to change his way of thinking quite significantly. As a result, his analysis of issues will always be shallow.
   • JanM 4.1

     1 September 2015 at 3:16 pm

     So is he not very bright because he’s conservative or conservative because he’s not very bright?
     • Anne 4.1.1

       1 September 2015 at 7:21 pm

       https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201003/why-liberals-are-more-intelligent-conservatives
     • JanM 4.1.2

       1 September 2015 at 9:34 pm

       Thanks Anne – yes I know about the research – I was just being a smarty pants because esoteric pineapples made it sound as though he could change political affiliations and ergo become smarter 🙂
5. Chooky 5

   1 September 2015 at 1:23 pm

   +100 …good post…all Jonkey Nact has to hope for is hoisting a new flag….but even that is flagging

   ( jonkey says a new flag will bring us more prosperity…?! ….why?…how?..is this a corporate brand takeover of New Zealand’s heritage in the old flag….Treaty of Waitangi partnership, legal founding contract of NZ?….and history and cultural identity?)

   I would like to know how much each of his stooges on the steering Flag committee is getting for their services ( hope not in the millions)

   …and I would like a business profile of each of them…so we can see who jonkey’s friends are… and what other services they have done for him

   ….eg what other business committees have they been on for jonkey and this government …have they served alongside Goldman Sachs representatives for example?….have they had anything to do with dodgy enterprises?…and what involvement have they had in private enterprise ?…on boards?… and how successful have they been?…have they been involved in shonkey dealings that have cost New Zealanders money?

   …are they culturally sound?….do they have integrity?

   ….would you trust them to count your vote for keeping the old New Zealand flag?…and all the cultural and historical integrity and identity it has for New Zealanders
   • GregJ 5.1

     1 September 2015 at 5:50 pm

     I would like to know how much each of his stooges on the steering Flag committee is getting for their services ( hope not in the millions)

     Paid according to the Cabinet Fees Framework so Panel members receive $640 per day and the Chair receives $850 per day. (I have no idea of how many days they have spent working on it though)

     The estimated cost of the process was $25.7m over two years. Most of the budget was for two postal referendums ($17.3m) and public consultation ($6.7m). That leaves about $1.7m floating around somewhere. The Design Institute may have picked some of the cash up as they did a video and were “consulted” about flag design.
     • Anne 5.1.1

       1 September 2015 at 7:23 pm

       I worked out their take home pay will be around $150,000 each – assuming week-ends don’t count. Not a bad little gig for a bunch of design neanderthals.
6. Mike the Savage One 6

   1 September 2015 at 7:29 pm

   Peter Lyons is writing so kindly, like a gentleman, I feel. He is far too kind towards the PM and this government. It is actually much, much worse, but of course, speaking it out does not get any attention, as “the masses” out there are constantly inundated with spin and glorious commercial advertising, telling them what is “important”.

   Government has for most been reduced to 0800 numbers to call, if any “service” may be sought or needed, and then people end up in waiting queues while endless music fills their ears. So those losing jobs and needing support from WINZ or Housing NZ soon enough resign to the fact that they are considered as an unwanted “burden” and rather find other ways to address their needs. Websites are there, but registration is needed, privacy may be compromised, and you will never see or hear a person face to face, nothing very “human” to experience.

   The media is now more “foxy” (Fox News style) than ever, most in private investor hands, there to generate income by selling advertising and spreading that “information”, rather than actually research and present “news” of substance, or other quality programs (what is that, “quality”?). The news are dominated by crime, sport and weather, or at other times by weather, crime and sports, little else. Yes, there is “news” about who said or did what as a party leader or MP, but discussion is not about politics and plans for the future, it is about who is “in” or “out” of public sentiment and favour.

   Ratings are presented, ratings drive the programs, ratings determine what interest we pay for credit for housing or consumer products, or that we can “earn” through bank deposits.

   Jobs are a commodity like anything else, and being without one makes you inferior, every person who has been there will know it.

   So yes, people get endless spin, about flag designs, which sports hero favours which one, about pub opening hours being extended to “listen to the public”. People want cheap petrol, broadband and grocery items, and DIC products, and lots of entertainment, consumerism and commodity driven thinking dominate the minds of most. Then there is competitiveness, it is evident in “fight clubs” in our prisons, managed “well” by contracted “providers”, who also “assist” the mentally ill into work.

   If only they had got one Mr Tully a job that paid him a living wage, we may today not have had a remembrance day of sorts, not a good one, while he now waits endlessly to get “justice”. I wonder why the wait is so long? Is there so much to sweep under the carpet, so it will not “disturb” others, once the trial is conducted?
7. Tory 7

   2 September 2015 at 12:31 am

   I prefer Phil Quinns column today 🙂

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