Daily Review 27/03/2018

Written By: - Date published: 5:59 pm, March 27th, 2018 - 37 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

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Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

37 comments on “Daily Review 27/03/2018 ”

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  1. Ad 1
    27 March 2018 at 6:01 pm

    On yer bike Joyce.

  2. bwaghorn 2
    27 March 2018 at 6:05 pm

    please sir/madam when i comment off my ph during the day it says i’m spam and blocks me

  3. AsleepWhileWalking 3
    27 March 2018 at 6:31 pm

    Snopes says that George Soros didn’t fund the crowds in the photo above.

  4. Anne 4
    27 March 2018 at 8:08 pm

    I think Andrew Geddis sums up the latest political drama rather well. Faults on all sides really…

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/353510/crack-out-the-cliches-it-s-the-mp-and-the-media-boss

    • Carolyn_Nth 4.1
      27 March 2018 at 8:40 pm

      Add to that Peter Thompson’s view, that the meeting and fallout indicate a deeper conflict re-RNZ. Richard Griffin is opposed to the government’s plan for RNZ+.

      I feel strongly about the need for a significant public service media platform. Curran’s clumsy handling of it has fucked up those plans mightily.

      As Geddis says, this will just reinforce ideas that RNZ is Red Radio and this will follow all Curran’s attempts to develop RNZ+.

      Also, the commercial news media will not like to see a strong RBZ+ and will see it as competition. They will go after Curran strongly.

      Curran should be removed from this portfolio. I’d give it to Tracey Martin who is very strong on public service media. That would also go some way to undo the damage re the claims of Labour’s Red Radio bias.

      • weka 4.1.1
        27 March 2018 at 8:57 pm

        I can’t believe that the Herald actually used the term Red Radio in a headline.

      • veutoviper 4.1.2
        27 March 2018 at 9:19 pm

        I just posted a comment on the Peter Thompson view on the Herald on Griffin being opposed to RNZ+ here as Muttonbird had posted the Herald article.
        https://thestandard.org.nz/an-orwellian-minister-for-open-government/#comment-1466820

        This contains a link to another media article last Sept 2017 providing some insight into Griffin’s opposition to RNZ+ – ie he thinks he has built RNZ up to what it should be during the seven or so years of his chairmanship.

        I really wish Curran would step down from her Ministerial role in this area* as she really does not seem to have any talent in this area from watching her over the years. But she does seem to be a popular electorate MP.

        Tracey Martin may be strong on public service media, but not too sure about her (or other NZF MPs) strengths/knowledge of digital media etc. The NZF website has basically been in limbo since shortly after the election when they took down everything that had been there – and it is still “under construction”. LOL.

        Also I would like to see Tracey Martin concentrating on her current Ministerial roles which are a pretty big handful as it is – Minister for Children, Minister of Internal Affairs, Minister for Seniors, and Associate Minister of Education.

        Someone elsewhere here has suggested Kris Faafoi and Louise Wall as possibles in these areas in place of Curran. Don’t know their skills, strengths in these areas, but both are quite strong people who would be able to stand up to opposition etc,

        * Don’t know about her local government Ministerial role either. Possibly not yet tested.

        • Carolyn_Nth 4.1.2.1
          27 March 2018 at 9:38 pm

          I saw your comment on the other thread.

          I’m not sure either Faafoi or Wall have a strong background in digital media, either. And I am also not sure Faafoi has the experience or toughness to deal with the shit that will be thrown at a minster responsible for developing public service media.

          Gareth Hughes has been a spokesperson on digital communications, and some times on the media, if I recall correctly.

        • Carolyn_Nth 4.1.2.2
          27 March 2018 at 10:10 pm

          Ah, I thought Faafoi had been broadcasting spokesperson at one point. It was under Cunliffe’s leadership.

          This was Trotter’s take on it at the time of the selection:

          And it is in the allocation of the broadcasting portfolio – absolutely crucial to keeping at least one reliable channel of communication open to the ordinary Kiwis – that Cunliffe may have made a serious mistake.

          For all her faults (and they are many) Clare Curran understands the need to put the public back into public broadcasting. In spite of his former occupation, there is scant evidence that Kris Faafoi understands that need as deeply as his predecessor.

          Mind you, at the same time Trotter said this about Ardern:

          Jacinda Ardern can hardly have been surprised to lose the social development portfolio. She simply wasn’t connecting – in any sense. Such blows that she attempted to land on the Minister, Paula Bennett, missed. And, she was demonstrably incapable of talking about social welfare in a way that connected with the electorate.

          One is tempted to think that Cunliffe has given Ardern the Police and Correction portfolios for no better reason than to toughen her up and introduce her to the more visceral and less forgiving elements of Labour’s broad church. The official spin from the Top Floor, that Ardern was given these jobs because “she asked for them” can, of course, be read in a number of ways!

          • veutoviper 4.1.2.2.1
            27 March 2018 at 10:55 pm

            Thanks for that. I cannot ever work Trotter out. He seems to produce some really good thinking and opinions – and then have a complete brain fart.

            Interesting re Faafoi. But I have had a bit of a light bulb moment as to why the PM is backing up Curran for the moment. My latest on the other thread.
            https://thestandard.org.nz/an-orwellian-minister-for-open-government/#comment-1466867

            • tc 4.1.2.2.1.1
              28 March 2018 at 6:50 am

              Just another rent a rant jockey who sings for his supper.

              You can’t figure him out as you assume there’s a solid values set there rather than a paycheque driving trotters narrative at the time.

              I’ve always found him blowing with the wind and a useful tool for the msm.

        • Monty 4.1.2.3
          27 March 2018 at 10:43 pm

          Decided to go back and watch question time and what has surprised me is the omnipresence of DP Winston Peters. Whenever a minster is getting a grilling he takes over.

          However the worst minister in question time is minister Curran. The pauses, umms and attempts at deflection are very poor she looks like she is hiding something. (Not even DP Peters comes to her defense)

          There is a saying don’t set people up to fail and as a front bencher I fear she has been set up to fail as she doesn’t seem to be competent to do the role.

          I am sure as an electorate MP she is first rate and a huge advocate.

  5. patricia bremner 5
    27 March 2018 at 8:09 pm

    Finlayson guilty of impinging on Dotcom’s privacy along with 52 Nat ministers, twenty two thousand cows/cattle to to be culled, Australian cricket mess…… But but
    Claire Curran met with Carole Hirchfield….. plots…. schemes… Look over here!!

  6. Carolyn_Nth 6
    27 March 2018 at 8:42 pm

    SSC inquiry into spying widened to include MBIE

    As well as Southern Response, Mr Martin would now also look at the relationship between Thompson and Clark and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

    RNZ understands this would involve considering whether the ministry preserved the necessary neutrality when dealing with the firm.

    A call for the inquiry to be widened came from Greenpeace, which said the ministry hired the firm to spy on it.

  7. Anne 7
    27 March 2018 at 10:02 pm

    Talking of spies we’ve made it into the British Guardian. NZ can’t find any spies. We’re so insignificant the Russians never sent any. 🙁

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/27/new-zealand-expel-russian-spies-cant-find-any

    • Monty 7.1
      27 March 2018 at 10:27 pm

      Prehaps the GSBC and SIS too busy chasing dot com to Look for Russian Spies

    • veutoviper 7.2
      27 March 2018 at 10:31 pm

      Pull my other leg, its made of rubber. What BS. The Russian Embassy doesn’t have “undeclared intelligence staff” amongst its diplomatic staff with other titles?

      That’s not aimed at you Anne. I am sure you are laughing as much as I am.

      I an with Paul Buchanan on this – his views are in this RNZ article. I can recall a number of Russian undeclared intell staff being identified at the embassy here and “asked to leave” back in the early 1970s. And I have no doubt that this practice – used by most bigger powers but also others – continues, including here in NZ.

      http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/353512/nz-only-five-eyes-member-not-to-retaliate-against-russia

      Love monty’s response! So true.

    • mikesh 7.3
      28 March 2018 at 3:51 pm

      The blind leading the blind. Britain doesn’t know who did it and the rest are blindly following her lead. Jacinda is to be congratulated for holding back until solid evidence has been produced.

    • soddenleaf 7.4
      28 March 2018 at 4:48 pm

      Peters batted it out of the park by pointing out 40% of EU didnot eject any Russians.

      It’s a non story again. Like the Minister catchingup with a NR staffer, sure the staffer misrepresented herself to her bosses, but stackable offense?

      I think the opposition are angry they lost and instead of taking a principled stance on issues that allows us to gauge their position, they deep dive into a rubbish bin of farcical nonsense.

      Russia either has a break away group hacking, biologically killing and assassinating globally from its borders… …or Russia is in control. Whichever, a breakdown in Russian leadership justifies the world’s principled ejection of spy. And boohoo that nz does not have any because Russian spying budget doesn’t stretch here.

      • mikesh 7.4.1
        28 March 2018 at 5:35 pm

        Jacinda probably has to say there are no spies here in order to justify not expelling anybody. She probably finds herself in a difficult position inasmuch as, while the case against Russia is unconvincing, she doesn’t wish to be seen as being offside with Britain.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 7.4.1.1
          28 March 2018 at 6:34 pm

          She probably finds herself in a difficult position inasmuch as, while the case against Russia is unconvincing

          Meanwhile, on Earth, in her video on Facebook, the Prime Minister says, and I quote “there is no plausible alternative to who else it could be…”

          So no, she isn’t as gullible as you. Better luck next time.

          • mikesh 7.4.1.1.1
            28 March 2018 at 11:43 pm

            I think you are missing the point. But then, you’ve usually been a little obtuse.

      • Anne 7.4.2
        28 March 2018 at 6:08 pm

        And boohoo that nz does not have any because Russian spying budget doesn’t stretch here.

        With the huge advances in modern technology, spies don’t actually have to be physically present any more. Since we are a very small country of 5 million people, I expect off-shore surveillance is sufficient.

        And as Jacinda Ardern has pointed out. embassy attaches (which all countries have) can do what little bit of on shore-intelligence is required. That doesn’t mean to say these attaches are spies.

        • soddenleaf 7.4.2.1
          10 April 2018 at 10:11 am

          Would have thought all embassy staff were spies until disproved. But that’s not the point, obviously those found in the past doing dubious things aren’t asked to leave because it creates sensational headlines and you as a nation need to throw a hiss fit from time to time and have a list ready. So just coz the Russians haven’t been using their embassy staff here, or haven’t been caught us not the issue, it’s that it’s good governance to take the opportunity to throw the ones out you do know are spies. That’s why so many countries haven’t. And no doubt any other dubious activities like not paying parking, speeding, drinking fines etc. It’s all a distraction from the real governance event, that Russia used polonium to kill and won’t send the Perpetrator to face trial.

  8. R.P McMurphy 8
    29 March 2018 at 10:11 am

    nationals fantod mcclay ranting on this morning on the wireless about how new zealand should be taking a pro active stance over the poisonings in the UK.
    yeah right tod.
    what would you do?
    and why is the msm giving you any air whatsoever?

  9. Philg 9
    29 March 2018 at 12:18 pm

    I heard McClay on RNZ with Guyon, and Guyon asked him some probing questions! It was entertaining and thumbs up to RNZ for doing some journalism and holding the previous government to account. Better late than never I suppose.