Daily Review 29/11/2017

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, November 30th, 2017 - 42 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

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

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

42 comments on “Daily Review 29/11/2017 ”

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  1. Ad 1
    30 November 2017 at 6:30 pm

    And thank Christ the Holy Jesus and his Blessed mother that we have a state next door with the balls to take on all of our banks head on:

    http://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/big-four-banks-tell-government-to-set-up-inquiry-20171129-gzvlfr.html

    Australian Royal Commission of Inquiry into banking launched, even though Turnbull and all the banks had resisted it.

    He’s only doing it because the top four banks themselves all backflipped simultaneously and called on the government to establish an inquiry in a bid to end the uncertainty plaguing the sector. Hail Mary indeed.

    Betcha Norris and Key are in this up to their eyeballs wanting to save their own necks and share options: take the hit now rather than lose even more of it.

    After years of bank cover-ups and scandals and mealy mouthed regulation, the people have been heard and a royal commission called into the banks and financial services.

    It’s been a long time coming and, contrary to all the rhetoric, the economy won’t plunge into a recession, confidence in the banks won’t evaporate and it won’t hurt our financial system.

    http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australianz/australia-calls-banking-inquiry-to-quell-public-anger-in-wake-of-scandals

    No, it’s not going to do an audit of the entire capitalist system.

    But yes, it will make those Aussie banks who have 90% of our mortgages even more cautious, even harder, ever-more cost-stripping, and have an overall negative impact on our housing market.

    Just another hit to New Zealand’s mortgage-(ahem middle)-class.

    • ScottGN 1.1
      30 November 2017 at 6:43 pm

      Sadly Ad, Turnbull’s announcement today is less about the people being heard and everything about his own premiership entering the endgame phase and the Coalition government in Canberra going into panic mode.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.2
      30 November 2017 at 7:49 pm

      He’s only doing it because the top four banks themselves all backflipped simultaneously and called on the government to establish an inquiry in a bid to end the uncertainty plaguing the sector.

      Ah, so we can be fairly certain that the terms of the inquiry will be fairly tight and that the conclusion will be that the banks do nothing wrong.

  2. Ed 2
    30 November 2017 at 6:31 pm

    115 dead.
    No prosecution.
    Shame New Zealand.

    • xanthe 2.1
      30 November 2017 at 6:39 pm

      what really gets me is that they have successfully distracted attention from where the prosecution and responsibility lies.
      The Christchurch council who allowed the damaged building to be occupied after the first quake.
      shame

    • RedLogix 2.2
      30 November 2017 at 8:50 pm

      As an engineer myself I’m probably biased, but I have to say I’m not surprised the Police decided this was unlikely to succeed in Court.

      The root cause of the design failures is simple, Alan Reay’s key staff member who should have done the job, was experienced and qualified and may well have avoided the critical mistakes … resigned shortly after the design contract had been awarded.

      As much as we can criticize Reay in hindsight for then proceeding with a far less experienced staff member he hoped and imagined was capable, there is little to no evidence this was done with malice or as part of an ongoing reckless pattern of behaviour.

      It was in essence a bad error of judgement, but a one off mistake with disproportionate consequences. No jury was ever likely to convict on that basis.

      The fact is, humans are fallible. We all know this, and accept there is a threshold of culpability below which we acknowledge sometimes really bad things happen without demanding a pound of flesh for every transgression. Seay himself has acknowledged the tragic consequences of his error and if I understand correctly has never worked as an engineer again.

      For the families of the victims I accept this argument will fall short, and I’m sorry for them too. But in the wider scheme of things I’m comfortable with this outcome; in this sort of tragedy I’m far more inclined to redemption over retribution.

      • joe90 2.2.1
        30 November 2017 at 9:09 pm

        If he was a lowly electrician or gas fitter whose negligence resulted in death he’d be before the court quick smart.

        • RedLogix 2.2.1.1
          30 November 2017 at 9:39 pm

          Maybe. It would be interesting to compare some similar instances. Structural engineers do carry an almost unique burden of responsibility that isn’t common in most professions or trades, and current engineering practises do reflect this. I would imagine/hope the flawed thinking and processes that lead to the CTV collapse would be unlikely to occur in a modern setting.

          I accept this is a tough decision and other people will feel differently about this. I’m not defending that, just expressing the alternate point of view.

  3. dv 3
    30 November 2017 at 6:32 pm

    I see that the new ANZ chair(John Key) is pushing Bitcoins on Facebook.

  5. feels surreal 5
    30 November 2017 at 7:01 pm

    Hope I can plug this here.

    If anyone is around on Tuesday night in Auckland please come to The Street Requiem at the town hall to honour people who have died on the street. Raising money for homeless charities, etc. Read about it here http://www.gals.org.nz/ And you can book tickets here http://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/event/24005321C7973123?bba=1 – $55/45 concessions $45/35 a ticket.
    Also, Granny did a video http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11949689

    Cheers Standardistas

    • weka 6.1
      30 November 2017 at 8:06 pm

      he says it was a mistake. Terrible interview, I still have no idea what happened.

      • joe90 6.1.1
        30 November 2017 at 8:33 pm

        On Duysak’s last day working at twitter someone complained that content in Trump’s account breached twitter’s terms. He did his job and started the process to deactivate it, packed up and left and despite the newsworthy out clause, the process followed through and the account was closed.

        • weka 6.1.1.1
          30 November 2017 at 11:04 pm

          Right, so why did he start the deactivation process? And how come the out clause failed? And what were the series of coincidences he referred to?

          He’s saying it was a mistake, but good on him if it wasn’t and he’s covering his butt now. The rest is unclear though.

  7. joe90 7
    30 November 2017 at 10:12 pm

    Whoa, confronting….. and hurtful but if you can make it through to the second part, worthwhile, I think….

    “I’m not racist, I’m just prepared for this type of war,” the White man rhymes. “I heard Eminem’s rap at the awards, who’s he fightin’ for?/Y’all can take that motherfucker too, he ain’t white no more/It’s like you wanna be so famous, you’ll do anything for attention and a little payment/I can’t take you nowhere without people pointin’ fingers/Pants hangin’ off your ass, you ain’t got no home trainin’.”

    The second verse passes the conversation over to the Black man, who airs out the White man for his words against the Black community, shooting down each point that was made. He addresses police brutality, cultural appropriation, the use of the n-word and more.

    http://www.xxlmag.com/video/2017/11/joyner-lucas-im-not-racist-video/

    • JC 7.1
      1 December 2017 at 12:32 am

      Choice… tnks …

      … to steal a quote from Anne earlier ..
      “And there you have it. The majority of people are clueless as to what it really means. “Oh well” they think, “so John Key lied to us. Who cares if he did. They all lie to us”.

      Pathetic yes, but its the truth.

    • JC 7.2
      1 December 2017 at 12:52 am

      Opps! My Apologies Anne! I may have miscontrued a comment by you earlier.. intended for E P ….?

  8. RedLogix 8
    30 November 2017 at 10:29 pm

    One of the more insightful articles I’ve read lately:

    I have come to think of it as the Vortex: the psychological whirlpool into which I can feel myself getting sucked almost every time I open Twitter, or Facebook, or any of the websites devoted to chronicling the mendacity and stupidity of the world – by which I mainly mean politics – in 2017.

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/nov/29/vortex-online-political-debate-arguments-trump-brexit

    Mostly I link to this with a sense of mea culpa; I’m no more immune to it than anyone else. Yet increasingly I’m over the outrage; it’s not just pointless, it’s destructive. An honest and provocative read.

  10. joe90 10
    30 November 2017 at 11:42 pm

    Oh FFS, what’s next, an annotated issue of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2017).

    //

    The head of a Russian Orthodox Church panel looking into the 1918 killing of Russia’s last czar and his family said it is investigating whether it was a ritual murder — a statement that has angered Jewish groups.

    Father Tikhon Shevkunov, the Orthodox bishop heading the panel, said after Monday’s session that “a large share of the church commission members have no doubts that the murder was ritual.”

    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/russian-orthodox-church-investigates-czars-killing-1918-51428080

    • One Two 10.1
      1 December 2017 at 9:22 am

      One thing is for certain J90..

      All the time you spend trawling the net will not enlighten you..nor will you ever know the ‘truth’…

      Anything is possible..

    • McFlock 10.2
      1 December 2017 at 3:18 pm

      ‘spose they’ve gotta legitimise putin as the new tzar somehow. “Oh, it wasn’t us, it was the other“.

  11. nzsage 11
    1 December 2017 at 3:01 pm

    Being one that is usually highly critical at the lack of genuine journalism in New Zealand I’m happy to report that this is a really good read: https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2017/12/the-demise-and-rise-of-andrew-little/