Chaos and Mayhem at the Herald

Written By: - Date published: 12:25 pm, April 23rd, 2015 - 140 comments
Categories: john key, journalism, Media, newspapers - Tags: , ,

What is happening at the Herald?

This morning Rachel Glucina wrote an article on the victim of John Key’s frankly unacceptable behaviour. Many questions were asked about the appropriateness of this, especially after the victim suggested that her consent to the story was obtained by subterfuge.

The Herald responded by printing the following response, helpfully captured by Lamia on twitter.

 

Herald screenshot Herald screenshot2

 

But it was yanked.  Then this statement went up:

Rachel Glucina approached the Hip Group yesterday, after The Daily Blog broke the story. She knows the Hip Group owners personally.

Glucina wanted to follow-up The Daily Blog post and urged the couple to front-foot the issue.

She spoke to the couple and the waitress over the telephone. Regardless of any confusion over the initial approach, all three agreed they wanted to make a public statement.

They also agreed to pose for a photograph and a Herald photographer was dispatched. They were told by the photographer that the photo would be appearing in the Herald.

Herald editor Shayne Currie also spoke to the owners of the Hip Group yesterday afternoon following a call from a PR firm that had already been helping them.

“When I spoke to the owners, they told me they had initially thought Rachel was working on a statement to go to all media, along with the photograph.

“Given the situation, I wanted to absolutely ensure they knew this interview and photograph were for the Herald. To further ease any concerns, we took the very rare step of agreeing Rachel should run the quotes past the parties before publication.

“By then, no one was in any doubt that the article, quotes and photograph would be appearing in the Herald.”

Spot the difference.  Primarily the first paragraph has been changed to remove the words “for comment”.  Obviously when approaching someone for comment Rachel would have her journalist’s hat on and not her PR/National apologist hat on.

Apparently as I type this further revisions are being applied real time.

And clearly in these post Dirty Politics days there is much increased sensitivity about the behaviour of the main stream media, particularly the Herald.

So what on earth is happening?

Update:  Peter Aranyi has provided a track changed version.  I am not sure if it references the latest version …

Herald track changed version Glucina statement

140 comments on “Chaos and Mayhem at the Herald ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. phillip ure 1
    23 April 2015 at 12:29 pm

    twitter is now reporting there is a version four..

    ..it’s quite cool how this is all unfolding in real time..

  2. vto 2
    23 April 2015 at 12:31 pm

    Are the Herald’s owners in collusion with John Key?

    Do the Herald’s owners have links to the National Party or associated conservative political organisation elsewhere around the globe?

  3. David H 3
    23 April 2015 at 12:32 pm

    Looks like a cover up attempt by the Herald has ummm blown up in their faces. And it seems it’s still blowing.

  4. lprent 4
    23 April 2015 at 12:36 pm

    I suspect that Rachel Glucina and/or her editors and/or their PR/lawyers are simply lying by careful omission.

    Yes she may have asked the couple at Hip if they wanted an interview. However note that the statements aren’t directly saying that Glucina or the Herald asked the waitress. That is why they are using the “they” word without specifying the waitress.

    Just to give an idea how it works.

    ‘They’ are implying the lie is true, but not actually stating that ‘they’ asked the waitress for permission to conduct an interview or to take photographs. ‘They’ are lying arseholes of the most obnoxious order.

    Note that I haven’t called anyone an lying arsehole because of my careful use of language. It could be the owners of Hip, Rachel Glucina, Shane the editor, or the Heralds lawyers and PR people. It could be each of them are lying arseholes…

    • rawshark-yeshe 4.1
      23 April 2015 at 12:39 pm

      Looks like they will have a chance to explain it all in court … courtesy of Graham McCready …

      http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/ponytail-saga-sexual-harassment-complaint-laid-against-john-key-6298530

      • tracey 4.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 1:20 pm

        “The journalist, Rachel Glucina, tweeted this morning about the claims, posting “this is utterly not true” and that she will “be responding in due course”.

        • David H 4.1.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 3:07 pm

          And hasn’t said bugger all since, and her E-Mail account at the herald isn’t accepting any E-mails at this time . But she’s getting a caning on twitter and other places as is Mr Currie. But nothing compared to Key.

    • shorts 4.2
      23 April 2015 at 12:40 pm

      very carefully trying to ensure that there is no case of defamation to answer to I’d guess

      w_nkers the lot of them

    • Draco T Bastard 4.3
      23 April 2015 at 1:14 pm

      +1

    • tracey 4.4
      23 April 2015 at 1:15 pm

      Agree with LPrent.

      Nothing about the editor speaking to the waitress? Or is there?

      “agreeing Rachel should run the quotes past the parties before publication.”

      was the Waitress quoted in the herald article? If she wasn’t then the above statement doesn’t mean the waitress was spoken to again by Rachel and never spoken to by the Editor, unlike the owners.

      So the Herald, the Owners, Glucina, were all thinking about the owners, not the waitress

      “Regardless of any confusion over the initial approach, all three agreed they wanted to make a public statement.” – yeah, just dump that off to one side. It’s irrelevant isn’t it? What the waitress was told to get her to the meeting, to get her talking and to have her name and image revealed. Even the watress doesn’t dispute she was talking to “Rachel” about a statement to be made public… not quite the same as talking to herald journalist to write how she wanted?

      And what about the claim Rachel would email Waitress with the “statement”. Nah, not important, let’s just ignore that bit too.

      In fairness to the Herald, this is a reflection of the general standard of investigation many of their people undertake.

    • tracey 4.5
      23 April 2015 at 1:17 pm

      Employees aren’t people though Lynn. They are the property of the owner, so speaking to the owner is speaking to the employee.

  6. veutoviper 6
    23 April 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Russell Brown’s Twitter feed is worth reading – for example this comment where he has found that Glucina’s brother Henry works for the Hip Group ….

    https://twitter.com/publicaddress/status/591000609387515904

    Full feed here – https://twitter.com/publicaddress

    • rawshark-yeshe 6.1
      23 April 2015 at 1:09 pm

      I love this comment by Hebe from your link almost as much as I love the internet right now !!

      “Like watching lemmings jump off a cliff into a pile of poo this one”

  7. McGrath 7
    23 April 2015 at 1:15 pm

    I don’t trust the Herald anymore, and I suspect that many others agree with me across the political divide. It’s why I read the political blogs. Regardless of your view of Whale/TS etc, at least the blogs have the decency to nail their colours in public.

  8. Atiawa 8
    23 April 2015 at 1:16 pm

    The NZ Hairuled needs to dye.

    • tracey 8.1
      23 April 2015 at 1:19 pm

      GOLD!

      Payoff will be big though, they have successfully deflected from the Emperor.

      • CnrJoe 8.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 1:34 pm

        No. I think they have amplified the Keyreepiness by expanding the story. Not deflecting the shit, just flinging it further. imo

        • tracey 8.1.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 1:38 pm

          They’ve kept it going but now it is about glucina and the editor’s behaviour, not Key’s

          • Dave 8.1.1.1.1
            23 April 2015 at 2:49 pm

            I’m starting to think the Herald clusterfuck will be more damaging than what Key did. I’m certainly not downplaying Johnny Berlusconi here, just a thought I had.

            • Tracey 8.1.1.1.1.1
              23 April 2015 at 2:57 pm

              My sense is Glucina is gone. Under the bus. To save Granny Herald. She will turn up in a national party assisted job somewhere. PM’s office would be too obvious, even for this lot.

  9. Paul 9
    23 April 2015 at 1:18 pm

    Time for someone to do a post on Glucina and her role in Dirty Politics

  10. rawshark-yeshe 10
    23 April 2015 at 1:19 pm

    http://quoteunquotenz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/08/wintec-press-club-rachel-glucina-edition.html

    steve braunias asking questions of Glucina at a Press Club gathering .. unfuckingbelievable trash answers.

  11. tracey 11
    23 April 2015 at 1:29 pm

    Thing is the statement from the Herald dodges so many things…

    1. How did Glucina introduce herself on the phone to the waitress?
    2. When did it become clear at the meeting that Glucina worked for the Herald.
    3. Did the waitress, through, Martyn Bradbury, withdraw any consent sought for her story?
    4. Was consent ever sought from the waitress, by the Herald, for her story?
    5. Why didn’t the Herald contact the waitress after Bradbury rang the Editor?
    6. Since when does “my reporter said it so I know it’s true” become the yardstick?
    7. Can the Herald please publish all the notes and recording taken by Glucina of the phone call and stuff. Glucina handed those over last night aye? When the Editor asked for them? Following the call from Bradbury? Right?

    • lprent 11.1
      23 April 2015 at 3:21 pm

      Very carefully worded and reworded and reworded….

      It appears to be quite clear that neither Glucina nor the Herald talked to the waitress about the Herald using this.

      The waitress has proven to be correct in all details that I have seen so far.

      The NZ Herald appears to be lying by omitting the relevant details that the waitress complained about.

      Glucina is clearly, in my opinion, a complete arsehole with no professionalism or integrity. As far as I can tell she deliberately lied to almost everyone, including her editors. But, that the Herald employs her says a lot about their lack of ethics of the editors.

      • Treetop 11.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 3:32 pm

        Add to the list defamation and slander.

      • Sacha 11.1.2
        24 April 2015 at 2:24 pm

        I’m told Glucina is Currie’s pet, or vice versa. Not going to be any accountability from that direction. Genuine journalists there are very unimpressed with the move towards gutter tabloidism.

  12. Sacha 12
    23 April 2015 at 1:41 pm

    Peter Aranyi has helpfully provided a track changes view of all 4 versions:
    https://twitter.com/onThePaepae/status/591038722293964800/photo/1

    • tracey 12.1
      23 April 2015 at 2:05 pm

      Interestingly one line that has changed is the “at no stage did she misrepresent herself or mislead anybody”. That’s gone by the final version… which may make a lie of the editor’s statement that none of what the waitress said this morning is accurate.

      Two resignations now required to restore standards to NZ:

      PM; and
      Rachel Glucina

  13. TheContrarian 13
    23 April 2015 at 1:52 pm

    What a giant cluster-fuck.

    It’ll be interesting if other people came out of the woodwork having been hair pulled by the PM

    • tracey 13.1
      23 April 2015 at 2:01 pm

      pulled and/or fondled… he does both so far

      • vto 13.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 2:09 pm

        betcha this will be the only thing on key’s mind now

        nothing else will come close

        this is his looming departure

        there is no way out

        he is doomed

        he will know it

        he will be thinking “fake it ’til you make it has finally failed… I been sprung”

        • tracey 13.1.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 2:11 pm

          SLEAZEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

        • Maui 13.1.1.2
          23 April 2015 at 2:11 pm

          You really think this is the end of Key?

          • vto 13.1.1.2.1
            23 April 2015 at 2:19 pm

            Yes I do.

            How can he survive? He is a laughing stock now

            He has conducted himself worse than Aaron Gilmore

            He has conducted himself worse than Roger Sutton

            He has broken several laws

            He has sexually harassed a waitress

            He doesn’t even understand the situation

            He has brought all his other nastiness sprayed around over the years together in one picture

            He has lost his credibility

            Virtually no women find his behaviour acceptable

            He has been severely admonished by his peers

            He has been severely admonished by several Rights organisations, both public and private

            He has proceedings issuing against him in court

            John Key cannot survive

            • Pat 13.1.1.2.1.1
              23 April 2015 at 2:27 pm

              would like to think all that is true but he has confounded before….although ultimately I suspect you are correct…it may be the thing that decides him against running again

              • McFlock …
                23 April 2015 at 3:55 pm

                I suspect that the thing that anchors this in the public mind to cause him real damage is sadly the one thing that’s not actually immoral: he has a thing for hair.

                Fuck, anyone who’s seen a Tarantino movie knows Mr Brown has a serious thing for women’s feet.

                But that’s the weirdness that will be the hallmark of this crisis, rather than the fact that he repeatedly felt entitled to use women to feed his personal fetish against their will and when they were powerless to confront him on it.

                Bets on how many other women have seen the media-dredged evidence of his ongoing behaviour and been additionally creeped out by an encounter with the PM that was already indefinably creepy?

                The entire thing has a lot more visceral kick than jobs-for-mates or the complexities of the security-vs-freedom debate.

              • freedom …
                23 April 2015 at 5:40 pm

                his biggest asset was his blokey personae, now that’s a liability there are probably some dark rooms making some tough decisions

            • Lanthanide 13.1.1.2.1.2
              23 April 2015 at 2:57 pm

              🙄

            • Skinny 13.1.1.2.1.3
              23 April 2015 at 3:14 pm

              The Teflon Don will weasel his way out of this his mates like the Herald are coming to the creeps aid.

              He has something weird going down with touching female hair. I hope he is forced to seek therapy.

            • sabine 13.1.1.2.1.4
              23 April 2015 at 10:25 pm

              I can’t him see survive.
              I really can’t see it.
              Can you imagen Question time?

              Every attempt at diminishing the story so far has back fired. And obviously there is the complaint with the Human Rights Commision (?).
              And I bet, that shoud there be any future schools visits, it would be boys school only, lest he be tempted by tantalising Ponytails. After all John Key is the right honorable Hair Tugging John Key, the PM.

              nope, can’t see him stay long now.

            • keyman 13.1.1.2.1.5
              23 April 2015 at 11:17 pm

              John key will survive you forget we won the election
              this all made up none of it is true

              • tricledrown …
                23 April 2015 at 11:55 pm

                Keyreepeating man .
                By hidding lots of dirty tricks and suldugery from the public.
                Sabin
                Key
                And other National party connections former candidates ex MP,s have identical born to rule take personel responsibility holier than thow rich powerful predators all taking No responsibility!

          • SHG 13.1.1.2.2
            23 April 2015 at 5:46 pm

            Here’s what’s going to happen to JK’s approval ratings as a result of this: nothing.

            Until they forget about all this, which will be soon, the people who like him will perhaps like him a little less, or feel a bit weird about liking him, but they certainly won’t stop liking him. The people who don’t like him will not like him even harder. And when it becomes evident that his approval ratings haven’t changed, those people will not like him so much harder that many of them will be at risk of spontaneous human combustion, and we’ll all be hearing about landlines and mobiles and biased polling and Baby Boomers and DIRTY POLITICS!!1 and Crosby Textor and fuck kill me now.

            • SHG 13.1.1.2.2.1
              29 April 2015 at 12:08 pm

              Today’s Herald Digipoll:

              Dates: 17 April to 26 April 2015

              National 51.0% (+0.6%)
              Labour 28.7% (-0.2%)

              Preferred PM:
              John Key 64.6% (-0.4%)
              Andrew Little 13.9% (+0.3%)
              Winston Peters 12.0% (+6.1%)

  14. dukeofurl 14
    23 April 2015 at 1:54 pm

    Note this item on NZ press Council Web page:
    http://www.presscouncil.org.nz/principles_2.php

    “Subterfuge
    Information or news obtained by subterfuge, misrepresentation or dishonest means is not permitted unless there is an overriding public interest and the news or information cannot be obtained by any other means.

    There you have it , a liars and cheaters charter

  15. tracey 15
    23 April 2015 at 1:58 pm

    Rachel Glucina and the Herald can post the phone records which show they called the waitress and put the quotes to her that they intended using, right? It will have to show it was made after 11pm last night though, cos they hadn’t run them past her before Bradbury called the Editor.

    “”I didn’t think it was appropriate behaviour and I didn’t feel I should have to put up with that,” the Rosie cafe worker told the Herald.

    “I expected more from him and I want the public to be aware.”

    She said Mr Key’s unwanted physical attention was wrong.

    “I felt the actions weren’t those of a Prime Minister and I felt New Zealand should know that. It is because he is the PM that I went to the media.

    John Key feels he is untouchable.””

    later she wrote

    “A source told the Herald Mr Key had been going to the cafe for years and would regularly enjoy “banter” with the staff on his Friday morning and Saturday afternoon visits.

    “John Key used to call one of the waitresses Princess. He was always matey with the girls.”

    She told her editor who that source was aye? So it wasn’t the owners or brother Henry, right?

  16. tracey 16
    23 April 2015 at 2:07 pm

    ROFLMFAO @

    “Matthew Hooton ‏@MatthewHootonNZ 18m18 minutes ago

    @onThePaepae fuck that’s outrageous – breaches both PR and media ethics.”

    • dukeofurl 16.1
      23 April 2015 at 2:16 pm

      What media ethics: According to Press council principles, dishonesty is Ok when its the only way.

    • Hateatea 16.2
      23 April 2015 at 2:21 pm

      I read that with some disbelief as well. Methinks he talks out of both sides of his mouth!

      • Tracey 16.2.1
        23 April 2015 at 2:38 pm

        Note he isn’t outraged at the treatment of the waitress but by the possible breach of “ethics” of his group… it besmirches his reputation see? He is never more outraged than when it is involving him…

        Hager
        Key recently
        school zoning changes
        PR ethics

  17. Hateatea 17
    23 April 2015 at 2:19 pm

    It saddens me that the spotlight is moving from Key’s wrongdoing to that of Glucina, NZ Herald and the Hip Group.

    As a lifetime South Islander, I have had little interaction with the NZ Herald except vicariously through blogs etc. Glucina’s name was one that I had only fleeting glimpses of but always in a derogatory sense. Now I understand why she and the paper are most often referred to in a negative light.

    I would love them to be brought to account for their shoddy tactics but more than that, I want justice for Amanda. She was the original injured party and now she has been injured again.

    Shame on all the parties concerned in the abuse of Amanda but most of all, shame on John Key without whom none of this would have happened.

  18. xanthe 18
    23 April 2015 at 2:41 pm

    #TAILGATE

  19. Treetop 19
    23 April 2015 at 2:45 pm

    The Herald cannot deny the offence taken by the waitress to having been subjected to a pattern of having her hair pulled by the PM.

    The Herald need to focus on the power imbalance and the differcult situation which the waitress was put in, is put in and will be put in. (The Herald are now part of the problem).

    The incidents of hair tugging have not been denied by the PM. The reasons for action taken or not taken by the waitress is not for the media to determine. The situation needs to be properley remedied; two bottles of wine and a dubious apology is not good enough.

    There is a legal process for such a matter and it is up to the waitress if she pursues it.

    What would be the case if the Commissioner of Police did what the PM did?

    • Tracey 19.1
      23 April 2015 at 3:01 pm

      Time for another publication to investigate Ms Glucina, her brother, Collins, Slater, the PM, the cafe owners and so forth, you know, like journalists would.

    • Murray Rawshark 19.2
      23 April 2015 at 4:58 pm

      “What would be the case if the Commissioner of Police did what the PM did?”

      Someone who was on the way to becoming commissioner was alleged to have done far worse, so I think we can guess. He was suspended on full pay.

      • Lanthanide 19.2.1
        23 April 2015 at 8:55 pm

        “He was suspended on full pay.”

        Which is actually standard and accepted legal procedure when someone is undergoing an employment-related investigation. To withold pay would be risking a personal grievance.

        Just in case, you know, it turns out they haven’t done anything wrong, or the allegations were much more serious than the actions turned out to be.

        • Murray Rawshark 19.2.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 9:18 pm

          Yes, thank you for telling me something I already know. We agree on what would happen to him.

  20. Stickler 20
    23 April 2015 at 2:53 pm

    So now the Minister of Women’s Affairs has come out on behalf of the Prime Minister.

    So that’s two women afraid they’ll lose their jobs if they speak out, then?

    PS: When did the current Minister of Women’s Affairs last speak out on behalf of women? Anyone?

    • Tracey 20.1
      23 April 2015 at 3:00 pm

      link?

      She was chastised by Marilyn Waring at a speaking occassion recently marking international Womens Day.

      We need a photo of Team Key and photoshop a whole lot of brown noses

    • Hateatea 20.2
      23 April 2015 at 3:02 pm

      I cannot recall this one ever doing it but that means nothing. It is an office that once had an active role in speaking out but now it just seems to be a way to pay a sycophant more money. Tokenism 🙁

    • arkie 21.1
      23 April 2015 at 3:17 pm

      Just awful.

      Minister FOR Women?

      I’ll believe that when I see it.

      • sabine 21.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 9:22 pm

        that just sounds like out of Orwell…..do we also have a minister for men?

        how about we create a ministry for equality and do away with this fucked up MInistry for Women. Ack, that in itself is mysoginist as hell.

        • arkie 21.1.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 9:41 pm

          Isn’t society itself the ministry for men?

          But yeah i get what your saying, I meant the role requires advocacy for women and it seems that at every opportunity this minister fails to do that.

      • tricledrown 21.1.2
        24 April 2015 at 12:05 am

        For Women’s Affairs obviously its not in her portfolio as as Keyreep didn’t pull it off and didn’t have an affair.
        That would make complete sense to Any Key fanboy or girl.
        SleezKey.

    • Zorr 21.2
      23 April 2015 at 3:23 pm

      It can also be guessed that Australia’s Minister for Women will also be standing in solidarity with Key…

      • McFlock 21.2.1
        23 April 2015 at 4:03 pm

        [facepalm]
        You had to remind me 🙂

        I guess that no matter how bad things get, somebody somewhere has it worse…

      • tracey 21.2.2
        23 April 2015 at 4:05 pm

        GOLD!

      • Sans Cle 21.2.3
        23 April 2015 at 6:21 pm

        OMFG!!!! I don’t follow Aussie politics so closely, so had NO idea that he was Minister for Women. Really don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the state of the world. It’s 2015 for fox sake!!!!

    • McFlock 21.3
      23 April 2015 at 4:09 pm

      Which can equally be read: “Woman with job to protect the rights of women has to defend creepy and possibly illegal behaviour against women because the perpetrator is the man who can fire her, demote her, or otherwise damage her career at will”.

    • felix 22.1
      23 April 2015 at 5:37 pm

      Bill Ralston is a young girl?

      • tinfoilhat 22.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 5:51 pm

        @felix

        ..shapeshifter ?

      • AmaKiwi 22.1.2
        23 April 2015 at 6:17 pm

        @ felix

        They changed the clip!

        It was a girl approx. 8 to 10 yrs. old (brown hair) with 2 braided pony tails with Key pulling them.

      • AmaKiwi 22.1.3
        23 April 2015 at 6:19 pm

        @ felix

        They changed the news clip!

      • Lloyd 22.1.4
        23 April 2015 at 11:55 pm

        Bill might not be a girl but he is still supporting the concept that the FJK team and cronies are centre-right. FJK may think his policies are centre-right based on his US training and experience, but by NZ standards almost everything FJK does is to the far-right. Bill should get hounded for that comment. The pulling of pony-tails being harmless fun and the selling of assets at bargain basement prices being thought of by the FJK team as being centre-right policies are two facets of the lack of empathy of FJK.
        I suspect FJK was never really loved during his childhood in a State house, That’s probably why he has a down on the State spending money on housing and why he fondles hair. (Looking for attention from Mummy? Any pictures of FJK’s Mum – did she wear a pony-tail?}

  23. Stickler 23
    23 April 2015 at 4:17 pm

    But will Rachel Glucina get to keep her job?

    A breathless world awaits…

  24. Jeeves 24
    23 April 2015 at 4:20 pm

    The irony of the powerful straw which eventually broke the proverbial Dromedary’s back; was that it required the presence of a spine in order to have the required effect.

    And this is why, like fat from a Teflon pan, or water from a duck’s back, that single additional straw on a spineless beast will have little or no effect.

    This is not a rush against the Dollar, or Chinese money for jam. It is not a simple struggle between demand and supply. It is not about the dividend, not about pragmatics, not about the average, nor the output, nor the imputated credit, nor the Credit Crunch, nor the Wall St lunch. It is neither of the twin comforts of fear and greed, or the twin dimensional ‘good/bad guys’, who ‘love/hate freedom’. It is, unfortunately for those who see the world as black and white, good and bad, rich or poor or left or right- a little more than binary.

    This is about an altogether more organic reality- and those of us in the undeniable but proud minority who voted against them feel this truth acutely – that our leadership, like the vast number of good Kiwis who backed them into ruinous power – are just too simple, and too stupid, and two dimensional to understand how simple, stupid, and two-dimensional they are.

    And so, like ducks staring balefully into the distant thunder- the leadership of our country will flutter about, echolessly quacking as loudly as they can to counter the noise they hear about them in the only way they know how; with clichés and sound bites, slogans and slurs, defamations and denials, simplicities and insinuations, legalese and lies – all the while blissfully ignorant that it is the lightning they should fear, not the thunder.

    Storms are gathering, I for one hope they get struck.

    • Colonial Rawshark 24.1
      23 April 2015 at 6:34 pm

      Great comment

      And yes, thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does all the work

      • rawshark-yeshe 24.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 8:33 pm

        what a delicious post ! insight and incite .. love it !

        now, where did I put my Tesla coil ?

  25. freedom 25
    23 April 2015 at 5:19 pm

    with sincere apologies to Crowded House

    Four Changes in one day
    Lying is the scope of your imagination
    Words are just the things you throw
    Knowing there is worse to come it’s your reaction

    Even when you’re caught out cold
    The instinct is to shape what’s sold
    So we get four changes in one day

    Smiling as the shit comes down
    You can tell a man from what he has to say
    Everything gets turned around
    Even to protect those with the most to gain

    You just take the big blue pill
    You’re up the creek you are a shill
    Like all the things you can’t explain
    Four changes in one day

    Lies stack up
    Good pay, good pay
    Fills their cup
    For four changes in one day

    It surely pays to make corrections
    Stepping hard on ethic’s head
    Finding out wherever there is comfort there is pain
    Only one more lie away
    Like four changes in one day

    Lies stack up
    Good pay, good pay
    Fills their cup
    For four changes in one day

  26. Popeye 26
    23 April 2015 at 5:23 pm

    Two questions to tie this together:
    1) What is the name of the PR firm / person Hip Group had hired?
    2) Is Glucina linked to said firm / person?

    • weka 26.1
      23 April 2015 at 6:03 pm

      It’s a small place, I wouldn’t be surprised by those connections. A link between the PM’s office and the PR firm though… ‘cept they’ve already learnt their lesson on leaving those links visible.

      • Anne 26.1.1
        23 April 2015 at 6:27 pm

        The “Glucina” story was part of a damage control attempt operating in the first instance out of the PM’s Office. Just because Jason Ede is no longer around doesn’t mean dirty politics in no longer happening. This time it went wrong because they didn’t realise they were dealing with a clued-up and intelligent young lady who swiftly sensed she was being manipulated.

        Here we have tory girl Glucina – a well known Key collaborator and friend – plus two owners whose only concern was the harm to their businesses – conspiring with Key’s lackeys through Glucina to jack up a story aimed at discrediting the young waitress.

        • weka 26.1.1.1
          23 April 2015 at 8:13 pm

          Probably true but I doubt they leave a trail anymore. Although there is apparently no accounting for their stupid sometimes.

  27. Chrys Berryman 27
    23 April 2015 at 5:29 pm

    Key will go down in our political history as that PM who couldnt control his hair fetish and sexually harassed a waitress on several occasions back in the early part of this century,that is his legacy…thats what he will be remembered for….of his other “achievements’ ‘{selling assets,ignoring the poor etc]there will be no mention……this creepy little man has written himself out of being taken seriously by this and future generations…….oh the joy

    • cogito 27.1
      23 April 2015 at 5:53 pm

      I was going to suggest that everyone should buy and wear a strap-on ponytail in support of the young waitress but, having just googled “strap-on ponytails”, I see that they have significant sexual connotations.

      Makes me wonder if Key’s ponytail fetish is even more creepy…..

    • sabine 27.2
      23 April 2015 at 9:26 pm

      And yes.
      No matter where on this planet and when, he will be Hair Tuggin John Key.
      Not sure if that reputation will help with a job at the world bank or some such thing.

    • Stuart Munro 27.3
      23 April 2015 at 10:50 pm

      At least we finally have an explanation for Peter Dunne’s continued political existence … irresistible to JK…

      And Winston’s new face, Ria Bond, may prove to have strategic skills…

  28. weka 28
    23 April 2015 at 6:01 pm

    Herald has a ‘meltdown’

    The Herald has fought back against accusations its reporter misled Ms Bailey, with several versions of a statement posted to its website today.

    The first version said Ms Glucina had approached the Hip Group, which owns the Rosie cafe in Auckland, “to seek comment from them and the waitress for a NZ Herald article”.

    The second removed the reference in that sentence to an article for the NZ Herald, simply saying Ms Glucina approached the group after The Daily Blog broke the story.

    A third version added that Ms Glucina “wanted to follow-up The Daily Blog post” when she had urged the couple to “front-foot the issue”.

    A fourth change to the article removed the timestamp, re-setting the article’s publish time to 5am, thus removing the “updated xx minutes ago” information.

    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/ponytail-saga-public-won-t-really-know-happened-until-herald-releases-transcript-6298704

    Looks to me like Glaucina treats the waitress as secondary to the cafe owners. So even if she runs the line that she had permission, it’s still about permission from the owners. Smacks of neoliberal worldview that cafe staff are part of the property of the business owners. Either she was intentionally manipulating the owners and lying to get to the waitress, or she thought the owners could give her permission. Not sure which is worse tbh.

    • felix 28.2
      23 April 2015 at 10:23 pm

      weka that same thought about staff being property occurred to me today, but regarding John Key.

      He said it’s “a cafe I go to regularly, I’ve been going there for years, we have a fun relationship“.

      At first I had thought he was talking about his relationship with the waitress, and I found that a weird thing to say given the circumstances. It’s too obvious a lie, isn’t it?

      But then I realised he was talking about his relationship with the business. And I remembered how instead of asking the waitress, he had asked her boss “Does she really not like it.

      You call it a neo-liberal worldview, I’m leaning toward “feudal”.

      • Richard Christie 28.2.1
        23 April 2015 at 10:41 pm

        I remembered how instead of asking the waitress, he had asked her boss “Does she really not like it.

        well observed

      • weka 28.2.2
        23 April 2015 at 10:45 pm

        yep that makes sense. Neo-feudal it is.

        I had also thought that about how he asked the manager instead of her. That’s the stuff that creeps me out, whether there is sexual intent or not. It’s the same repeating dynamic that happens in sexual abuse/assault, as well as this kind of harrassment. The person being abused is rendered an object that is owned/controlled/there for the purpose of others, and the person doing the abusing is the one in charge and believes in their own inherent right to this without question. It’s why Key had that reaction to the Roastbusters (he identifies with the objectifiers), it’s why he doesn’t see what’s wrong with playing with the hair of girls he doesn’t know in public, and it’s the exact reflection of the Key government politics and how they think the world works and should be run.

        I’m wondering if the mask has well and truly slipped now, and even all those people that don’t get the politics will still be having a gut reaction to this that makes sense beyond the intellect. You can’t smile and wave at this stuff because that just makes you seem even more creepy. He’s probably got no way out, because it’s who he is, not something he can adjust with the right media training/spin.

        • felix 28.2.2.1
          24 April 2015 at 1:55 am

          Yep I get the distinct feeling that a lot of people might be seeing his true personality for what it really is for the first time.

      • BLiP 28.2.3
        24 April 2015 at 12:00 am

        You call it a neo-liberal worldview, I’m leaning toward “feudal”.

        I agree entirely on the ownership of employees which has seeped into society but I wonder if you are not confusing the outcome with the process.

  29. The Visible Hand 29
    23 April 2015 at 7:35 pm

    So let’s get this straight. The cafe that the PM has been known to favour (and generated much free publicity over the years) is part-owned by the brother of a NZ Herald gossip journalist who regularly favours the PM. It seems that there have been some strong coincidence of interests over the years that is only now coming to light. I doubt that the high profile photos of the PM at Rosies over the years is a coincidence but product placement in exchange for favourable reporting.

  30. North 30
    23 April 2015 at 8:17 pm

    Good Samoan mate of mine tells me this is being hooted all over Auckland Samoan talkback…….

    “Ride your own pony…….!”

  31. tc 31
    23 April 2015 at 8:19 pm

    Glucina is simply doing what’s expected of her. That’s why she is still there contributing to the memes.

    Thats a very nice mechanism Ede, Slater, Farrar etc have fine tuned since the covers were whipped off by Hager.

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