John Key, Nikki Kaye, and Maggie Barry booed off the stage

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 15th, 2016 - 202 comments
Categories: john key, national - Tags: , , ,

Turning up in a pink shirt did little to help John Key win over the crowds at yesterday’s Big Gay Out where he was glitter-bombed on his way to the stage.

Despite pleas from the event compere, John Key attracted vociferous boos and general abuse from a large section of the crowd which managed to limit the Prime Minister’s speech to less than 20 seconds.

Ummm . . . John, about your flag

Ummm,  John . . .  about your flag

Missing from the MSM coverage of the event is the fact that National Ltd™ MPs Nikki Kaye and Maggie Barry were also subject to the same vociferous booing. Nikki  Kaye’s speech lasted less than John Key’s 20 second effort while Maggie Barry didn’t even bother trying to speak. Also missing from the MSM coverage is that this is not the first time John Key has had a less than positive reception at the event.

While no one in the crowd at this year’s event seemed particularly concerned about National Ltd™’s approach to LGBTIQA  issues, rather, it is opposition to the TPPA which is being uniformly reflected throughout New Zealand society.

202 comments on “John Key, Nikki Kaye, and Maggie Barry booed off the stage ”

  1. Sabine 1

    really this not could not happen to nicer people. And i would not call this just pink, more of a cardinals pink or carmine?

    • greywarshark 1.1

      I thought it looked like my fuchsia in flower.

    • savenz 1.2

      +1 Sabine

      Key’s government reminds me of those US frat movies, you know the stupid bullies and so called ‘popular’ rich frat kids who secretly everyone hates. Then one day the bullies take it too far and the rest of the campus start start sending them a message about what they really feel….

      • Brad 1.2.1

        Well actually they were brought up and housing Corp houses free education and they have taken it away from us

  2. maui 2

    Newstalkzb was reporting it was only a group of 30 protestors booing… I’m not really sure how they could be so certain of that number. Later on last night they had Nikki Kaye on the news saying the crowd was pissed off with the protestors as there were families there. All round good propaganda job by zb.

    • Sabine 2.1

      oh dear
      ‘rent a crowd protesters’
      ‘ won’t nobody think of ze children’
      ‘its your national duty to cheer’

      National, can’t handle constructive criticism, can only deal with boot lickers and arse kissers.

      • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 2.1.1

        In what sense is shouting “boo” constructive criticism?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1.1

          It demonstrates the intense feelings of disgust that the Prime Ministers and his lickspittles generate.

        • vto 2.1.1.2

          In what sense was Steven Joyce’s “open letter” on the TPPA constructive comment?

          Please be specific.

          • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 2.1.1.2.1

            I am not claiming Steven Joyce’s letter was constructive comment and so am not sure why I am obliged to answer that.

            Sabine, on the other hand, has claimed that those shouting “boo” at the PM were engaging in constructive criticism.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1.2.1.1

              Of course they were: defending New Zealand against the Prime Minister and his lickspittles is especially pertinent to family events, since their policies kill so many children.

              • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                Groan.

                • McFlock

                  You find it painful because it’s true.

                • Macro

                  Good that you now groan – tell us you have now grown up.
                  Those with some sensibility of the devastation key and his cronies have wrecked on NZ society groan all the time under his despicable mismanagement.

                  • pete

                    No, I think he was groaning because the BGO was just called a ‘family event’. The irony he was no doubt groaning at was that few of the LGBT community will ever have family.

                    Or was OAB comment merely reflecting his ignorance of this fact?

                    • Macro

                      you obviously are very ignorant of the modern day family

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Pete is apparently ignorant of the fact that families have lgbt members. That doesn’t surprise me, since judging by his contributions here, Pete is a bigot and a fool.

                    • pete

                      No neither a bigot or fool or ignorant on this. My own brother has lived in an openly gay lifestyle for the last 10 years.

                      Just stating a fact. Few LGBT couples will ever have a family. I am not saying that this is right or wrong. Just observing reality.

                      No wonder the left is dying in nz, as anyone who in the slightest way has a differing viewpoint is instantly labelled a shill, ignorant, a troll or national party supporter.

                      God your lives must be so sad that you interpret everything negatively. And you want people to vote left? You are doing your best to destroy any chance of a non national government next year. No wonder roger even labour mps distance themselves from this site. And that is sad for nz.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      All LGBT couples have families, you bigoted fool: their mums, dads, aunts, uncles and siblings. And that’s before we get to their offspring.

                      We need better wingnuts.

                    • pete

                      Family of procreation not orientation was my point. Remember, I was pointing out the gormless fools groan, interpreting it for you as you appear to lack the understanding of what irony is. I never made any comment whatsoever, beyond spelling out his intent.

                      And here I am again, doing an a b c for you to help you with this concept.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      So you were just petesplainin’ for Gormless.

                      Right 🙄

                    • Lindsey

                      A number of my lesbian friends are mothers, grandmothers and in at least one case – a great grandmother. Many got married and had children in heterosexual relationships in the days before there were viable alternatives, others have used more modern arrangements. You don’t stop wanting to be a parent just because you are LGBT. Some of my friends who are lesbians and mothers also have gay or lesbian children. We all have families of different varieties.

            • vto 2.1.1.2.1.2

              Your government Key Joyce Groser has never constructively answered the criticisms.

              Your people Key, Joyce, Grose have only made derogatory abusive comments about people wishing to discuss the TPPA and be answered.

              I suggest they have given up trying to talk constructively with you arseholes. So now they return what they have been receiving.

              Good one eh

              • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                But every complaint against the TPP has been answered. It is just that the foam flecked ranters don’t listen to anything that doesn’t suit them.

                R0b’s post on public education is a fine example.

                http://thestandard.org.nz/the-tppa-could-blight-public-education/

                He complains that there is no carve out for public education in the TPPA.

                But there is a carve out for public education in the TPPA.

                He cites an article published by the NZEI on the subject. When their error is pointed out to them, rather than correcting their misinformation and fear mongering, they delete the comments pointing out the error.

                One side is definitely scared of engaging with the facts.

                • vto

                  Sorry no every complaint has most definitely not been answered…

                  see Joyce’s “open letter” as example – it is merely polemic with no substance. As is every single comment made by PM on the subject.

                  • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                    OK, vto. What are your complaints against the TPP?

                    • vto

                      Ok, so we’re sliding off onto a tangent issue now that the issue of the reason for the booing is settled…

                    • Brendon Harre -Left wing Liberal

                      This is my problem with the TPPA

                      Trade wise all other things being equal the TPPA is probably of minor benefit.

                      But all other things are not equal.

                      The TPPA changes our governance structure in a way that tilts the field further towards multinational corporations and away from consumers, workers and the ordinary person.

                      That is certainly the argument of rising progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren

                      Read about it here https://medium.com/@brendon_harre/some-questions-about-the-trans-pacific-partnership-82d5322664e2#.whh7h8om6

                      Including an excellent 7.45min video of Senator Warren giving a speech to the US Congress on the TPPA, which I added this weekend.

                      I think this is way more helpful than Steven Joyce’s polemic missive. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/76767833/an-open-letter-to-tpp-protesters-from-steven-joyce

                    • UncookedSelachimorpha

                      Have a look at the short Robert Reich video on the TPPA:

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_Sbbeqfdw

                      It is a USA perspective but which still applies to NZ – I haven’t noticed National answering any of Reich’s underlying concerns.

                    • Brendon Harre -Left wing Liberal

                      The Robert Reich video is excellent and at only 2.15 min is easy to watch. The TPPA really is a Trojan horse for greater corporate power.

                      That is why the likes of Mathew Hooten like it. His business is to profit from PR advice to big corporates. The reality is the likes of Mathew Hooten and Steven Joyce are saying we have nothing to fear from the TPPA unless we want to ‘nationalise’ whole industries. So it is the old fear of communism argument.

                      But the reality is once TPPA is in force any proposed law that is pro worker, consumer, environment, animal welfare….. but anti-corporate will have Mathew and co jumping up and down claiming that it cannot be done, that the government will be sued, taxpayers will be out of pocket…..

                      That is why Mathew is campaigning so hard on this -he can see the $ signs from corporate PR fees.

                      The TPPA and ISDS courts will be sticks used by corporates against the wider public interest. It will permanently tilt the field against the public. Any government that signs the TPPA is betraying its own democracy.

                • Sabine

                  One side is definitely scared of engaging with the facts.

                  Yep, that’s that geezer in the carmine colored shirt and his minions running from a wee booooooooooo…..booooooo…. go home……..TPPA NO WAY.

                  bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  In fact, what happened in R0b’s post was that you demonstrated that either you do not understand the term “policy ratchet”, or more likely that you refuse to engage when it is mentioned.

                  • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                    I don’t engage with you OAB. This a special rule for you, and you alone. Do not be flattered into thinking that it is because your arguments are so devastating. It is more because you are especially tiresome and boorish, even by the standards of the Standard.

                    xxx

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      That’s ok, anyone can see it in black and white: To the extent that they are social services maintained for a public purpose is not a “carve-out” no matter how many lies you tell, no matter who you hide from.

                    • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                      Against my better judgment and only on the condition that you don’t, in your answer, pretend that the government is pursuing a policy of child killing, why don’t you explain to me how a policy relating to education could not be a social service for for a public purpose.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      1. Nope, I’m not pretending anything of the sort. Treasury calls it “morbidity with a social gradient”.

                      2. To the extent that such policy impacts the private sector. Thus any rolling back of privatisation witless vandalism can trigger ISDS, hence “policy ratchet”.

                    • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                      I knew I shouldn’t have ignored my better judgement. You just can’t help yourself.

                      Plunk.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      You are misreading my reply. I’m saying it’s involuntary: a matter of dogma and competence.

                      Oh, and you’re still hiding from point 2.

                    • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell

                      Plunk.

                • Colonial Viper

                  But every complaint against the TPP has been answered.

                  LOL only in your imagination.

                  The fact of the matter is that the TPP exists to enhance US and Japanese corporate power over Pacific rim countries, and in particular, to isolate China and Russia – both also Pacific rim countries but somehow missing from the TPP – economically.

                • swordfish

                  Gormy, babe, you’re just tr****ng to generate colourful quotes for your new piss-taking blog (standardwatch), aren’t you ?

                  That’s cheating, and suggests increasing desperation for useable content. It’s called entrapment.

                  Not only have you let us down, but much more importantly (and I want you to seriously reflect on this, young man) you’ve let yourself down, haven’t you ?

        • Kaplan 2.1.1.3

          In the absence of any official setting it’s about the only way left for the general public to make there feeling known on the TPPA.

          • James 2.1.1.3.1

            Really??

            What about making a submission?

            • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.1.3.1.1

              Most people will find that quite daunting, not to mention the fear of being ratfucked for doing it. Not to mention that the select committee can’t affect the TPP text at all.

              Nah, you have it the wrong way around: if the Prime Minister can’t respect people’s disgust, why would he respect their opinion at all?

              • James

                So you care so much you wont even make a submission.

                Typical of the left.

                As for peoples disgust – you again think you speak for the majority, you dont. Many people are happy with the TPPA – and I think this will be backed up by the next lot of polls and indeed the next election.

                IF people cared enough they would make a submission. The “being ratfucked” argument really needs a tinfoil cap.

                Still – easier to have a few boo’s and an idiot throwing a dildo than entering into the process.

                That, my friend, is why the Nats continue to win, and the “activist” (or keyboard warriors” continue to lose.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  I neither think nor claim that I speak for the majority. About 30% of eligible voters doesn’t give the National Party the right make that claim either.

                  I didn’t say I won’t be making a submission. The first time was a bit daunting, though.

                  So much fail in so few words. How do you manage it?

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  Oh and your extra bonus quiz question for the day is: who made the following statement?

                  Pullar is a lying bitch. She is going to get ratfucked hard.

                  Take your time.

              • greywarshark

                James
                Bertrand Russell wrote this for you.
                Bertrand Russell quote:
                “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.”/

                Read more at http://www.prosebeforehos.com/quote-of-the-day/12/28/bertrand-russell-quote-fools-fanatics-wise-men/#rkoivT3IMXYMgQZe.99

                • Tony Veitch (not the partner-bashing 3rd rate broadcaster)

                  To Greywarshark above

                  Fools have always been with us!
                  “That is not wonderful,” answered he; “for, though no man of sense thinks himself a fool, many fools think themselves men of sense.”
                  Jack Mordaunt in ‘Mordaunt’ by John Moore, 1800.

                  • greywarshark

                    No fooling you! Cheers. Keep up the quotes – I like those sharp well fashioned comments. Say so much in so little. Succinct? Tautology that.

                • Richard McGrath

                  “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.”

                  Except, of course, when the fanatics are global warming hysterics and the doubters become “deniers”.

        • greywarshark 2.1.1.4

          The Gormless!
          Boo is a direct, honest simple statement of rejection. You would not understand about direct and honest as you are one of Gnats sleaze groupies.

        • wild katipo 2.1.1.5

          @ THEGORMLESSFOOL – That ‘booing’ which you try to dismiss as ‘not constructive’ actually IS constructive.

          WHY?…. because it demonstrates in very real terms the sentiment currently starting to sweep this nation and is evidence of a groundswell of popular opinion which this govt has desperately tried to suppress in the media.

          We can thank the auspices of Stephen Joyce and his prolific media contacts for the deadening effects that a biased pro govt MSM has for this .

          And if you think photo ops and selfies and scenes of clapping, cheering ,endorsements by the public when making public appearances is evidence of a politicians popularity , – then so the opposite is also true.

          Booing, jeering, having items- and in this county pretty harmless items – thrown at them in contempt also demonstrates in very tangible and real ways the growing unpopularity of a politician.

          And if you want constructive criticisms – well you are seeing it – these people were booing Key because of a variety of issues – not just the TTPA. The TTPA is simply the spearhead for dissent over many , many issues of basic democratic infringements that have been made by the Key led govt..

          And no amount of pink – shirt – wearing was going to buy them off.

        • Keith 2.1.1.6

          In what sense is shouting boo constructive criticism? Maybe because National don’t fucking listen, they just do what they want and try to focus group and bullshit away the opposition so this is what registers.

          And maybe because people are simply over the lies and the condescending corporate medias Rainbowland propaganda image we get fed on this government.

          Drowning out that dishonest embarrassment of a PM with booing counters the Hosking/Paul rhetoric we have to bear and is quite frankly the least offensive thing he could expect. As for the ghastly Nicola Kaye and equally bile inducing Maggie Barry, it was so good NOT to hear from them!

          And 30 protestors, that number goes with the few hundred protestors at the TPPA signing, more media fantasy to save Keys miserable skin.

      • Grantoc 2.1.2

        Whats constructive about shouting moronic slogans and shutting down free speech?

        Perhaps its the mindless ‘protesters’ who can’t handle constructive criticism and enter into a genuine debate.

        • vto 2.1.2.1

          “Whats constructive about shouting moronic slogans and shutting down free speech?”

          Go ask John Key, he shouts moronic slogans more than anyone.

          As for shutting down free speech – whose free speech was shut down?

        • One Anonymous Bloke 2.1.2.2

          “A genuine debate” – is that what the Prime Minister and his lickspittles were there for?

          As Marama Davidson’s made abundantly clear, the great majority of the crowd gave them a serve. Diddums.

    • BM 2.2

      Isn’t supposed to be a fun event?

      TPPA bores killing the buzz, no wonder everyone is pissed off.

      • maui 2.2.1

        I’ve never been but I think its about expressing yourself and standing up for your rights too. How appropriate.

      • You_Fool 2.2.2

        “no wonder everyone is pissed off”

        Citation needed. No news report I saw had reports from other people saying how annoying the boos were and how much they wanted JK and co to speak…

      • Sabine 2.2.3

        bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

      • Kaplan 2.2.4

        It looked like a very fun event to me.

        • Skinny 2.2.4.1

          I heard the event had a slight glitch when Goff & Shearer were spotted cheering when Key took to the stage 🙂

      • pat 2.2.5

        Boooo!

      • Skinny 2.2.6

        Plenty of Kiwis pissed off alright!

        The top post with the most likes on yesterday’s NZH Facebook feed was “prime Minister John Key booed off stage for selling Kiwis out to multi national corporations.”

        The Teflon coat is rapidly coming off! Hawaii anyone?

      • Muttonbird 2.2.7

        I suspect it would have been fun of Key, half a dozen DPS, 30 cops, and another dozen security guards didn’t show up.

      • reason 2.2.8

        BMs idea of fun is to be a obnoxious arse-hole on the internet….. a brave fearless keyboard warrior being rude to ‘lefties’ ……

        Now if he was to challenge slug boy to a boxing match where they both throw handbags at each other from 10 feet ……. that would be fun for all of us 🙂 .

    • Chuck 2.3

      It was less than 30 protesters, upsetting a good portion of the crowd who came to enjoy the day.

    • Wensleydale 2.4

      NewsTalkZB is the radio equivalent of an effluent discharge pipe. Every morning some nameless sadist forces open the rust-caked valve, and a vile soup of lumpy turds pours forth in the form of Mike Hosking and Larry Williams. Why anyone subjects themselves to such a vacuous atrocity I’ll never know.

      • Lloyd 2.4.1

        I have a colleague who exposes himself to this crap on his way to work most days. When I pointed out this is just National Party propaganda, he said that was why he listened!

  3. Detrie 3

    Seems we get so few opportunities like this to see him in public these days. Not the same ‘kiwi bloke’ we once knew at the last election. Some just saw it as an opportunity to belittle him, in the same way Key does at question time in parliament – always on the attack, lying, humiliating others and closing them down. It’s not respectful or constructive, but we each reap what we sow…

  4. mary_a 4

    Now the big question is this. Will the Anointed One make an appearance next year at the BGO, after suffering a “terror” attack, being assaulted by glitter yesterday?

    “Yeh, nah, maybe … Steven where are you?”

  5. Rosie 5

    Tough crowds these days eh PM? First the rugby then the big gay out, all in a week too! Must hurt to feel so unloved. You know, at the rate you’re going, pretty soon, even your fawning fans who live affluent suburbs who feel “privileged” that you grace them with your presence will become embarrassed by their association with you.

    (Can you believe this face book page? If I were on fb I’d leave a little message for them)

    https://www.facebook.com/Cashmere-Lounge-390804714391314/

    Now looking at that clip I think the media were being a little dishonest singling out the TPPA protesters. The camera panned around the crowd and there was only a few placards. The booing and calls of “shame” and “f off” were coming from all around. That 3 minute clip tells a lot more than the 10 seconds on newshrub last night. It would seem there was a general sense of anger directed towards the PM, not just purely coming from anti TPPA protesters.

    The PM is so highly respected (not) that he inspired a drama series about unapologetic rich people behaving badly.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/68982604/Filthy-Rich-TV-show-inspired-by-Ponytailgate

    That starts tonight, should be a good watch.

    • Lucy 5.1

      the comments for the Cashmere Lounge were a little less than fawning – some were annoyed about police presence outside!

      • Rosie 5.1.1

        Of the 9 comments there was only one that made fun if it and the person mentioning the police presence didn’t say they were annoyed, just that they noted it.

        Point is, one day this kind of blatant sycophantic behaviour of business owners is going to end. One day they will be embarrassed they ever posted a picture of Key on their facebook.

        The tide is turning, if the recent public appearances of Key is to go by.

        Also, Khandallah is the suburb that keeps Dunne in Ohariu. So Booooo! to them too 😀

  6. Ad 6

    It certainly wasn’t an apolitical event. There were Green Party, National Party, Labour Party, and even Socialist stalls there.

    Personally I don’t like to see my Prime Minister booed, irrespective. And his current government has a strong track record on gay rights.

    But he got there well into the afternoon when most had had a few and were an already pretty-expessive crowd.

    Betcha Nikki Kaye and team get another dressing down from the PMs team for walking into another Auckland ambush.

    • vto 6.1

      “Personally I don’t like to see my Prime Minister booed, irrespective”

      I don’t like my PM pulling girl’s ponytails

      I don’t like my PM making sodomy jokes on the radio

      I don’t like to hear my PM telling all of us he pisses in the shower

      talk about a lowly undeserving character

      • marty mars 6.1.1

        exactly vto – ad is acting like an apologist for johnkey. Conformists always like the objects of their conformity to be unassailable (within religion too) but booing a joke pm is actually a very rational and dignified response imo.

    • Lanthanide 6.2

      “And his current government has a strong track record on gay rights.”

      But he, personally, does not.

      cf, mincing down a cat-walk, and calling a radio presenters red-coloured top a “gay red shirt” because it was associated with Labour, and then limply lying that he thought “gay” meant “funny” because he was not trying to insult a sector of the voting public.

      Similarly when asked about gay marriage sometime during 2008-2010, he said that that was a topic he’d save for his autobiography. In other words he didn’t want to put his money where he mouth was an offend some segment of the population one way or the other. That’s not what someone who is genuinely supportive of gay rights (like Bernie Sanders) would do.

      • Rosie 6.2.1

        +1 Lanthanide. He has insulted the gay community, he see’s them as something to laugh at.

      • marty mars 6.2.2

        Lanth do you think his government has a strong track record on gay rights? I’m staggered by that claim – maybe I’ve missed some stuff.

        • Lanthanide 6.2.2.1

          No, not particularly. I’m more pointing out that Key as an individual puts on a good show for the votes, but personally he engages in casual homophobia and mockery.

    • Skinny 6.3

      Well Ad your going to be seeing Key getting booed at a lot more public events. The more he flippantly shrugs it off as rent a crowd the better. Hopefully his inflated ego will see him piss off to Hawaii.

    • adam 6.4

      More Tory dribble from Ad

    • greywarshark 6.5

      He is not just your pm, he is pm to all of us. He is the fly perching on our piece of pie and that’s our lunch. So we brush him off eat the pie and hope it doesn’t make us sick – our scenario if not yours.

  7. vto 7

    First a dildo

    Second pink glitter

    what next? A mannequin’s head with a luscious ponytail? A bar of soap shoved up a man(nequin)’s anus?

    Methinks there is the beginnings of a movement…..

  8. Lanthanide 8

    I find JK’s donning of this very bright fuscia polo shirt offensive. I seriously doubt he has ever worn that shirt before, or will ever wear it again.

    He dressed up in what he thought was a ‘gay-friendly’ colour for the event. He should have just worn his regular casual clothing.

    Or, he should have worn a ‘gay red’ shirt instead, except of course in his world ‘gay’ means ‘funny’. When he wants it to.

    • weka 8.1

      I thought it was off too. He comes across as a wannabe.

    • AB 8.2

      Yes – amazingly crass. It showed a mind full of silly stereotypes about gay people. Actually “silly stereotypes” isn’t a bad description of some aspects right-wing ideology as a whole.

  9. Sabine 9

    Well at least this year they left Alfred Ngaro at home. bhwahahahahahahahahahah

  10. TopHat 10

    I’m sorry but since when was a gay pride event a place to take children?

    • adam 10.1

      Is that because LGBT community don’t have children right?

      This event has always been child friendly.

    • “I’m sorry but since when was a gay pride event a place to take children?”

      Since the first ever gay pride event?

      If you’re really concerned about the kids, look to the damage done by the bigot community. The narrow minded are a real threat to children.

      • TopHat 10.2.1

        We obviously have different ideas around child raring.
        Time and place for everything…

        • McFlock 10.2.1.1

          seriously?
          What do you imagine goes on at the BGO?

          My suspicion is that the most damaging thing for young children’s minds that might have happened that day would have been listening to a speech by john key.

  11. Colonial Viper 11

    it is opposition to the TPPA which is being uniformly reflected throughout New Zealand society.

    We better put the word out to the political parties that there may be votes in holding a strong, uncompromised, off-the-fence stance against the TPP.

    • Skinny 11.1

      Sadly we won’t be getting that from Labour. Why Goff turned up yesterday knowing full well anti TPPA campaigners were fronting up is beyond me. The fb feeds from their MP’s were particularly bad. Not a mention of the booing as if it never happened. That is it for me, useless troughers like Shearer, King and Adern and others need to go!

      • te reo putake 11.1.1

        Meh. I think they were focussing on the positive; the cheers the Labour MP’s got while on the stage. Why worry about Key? The booing is his problem to solve, not theirs.

        • Skinny 11.1.1.1

          Yeah and what sort of coverage did the Labour MP’s speaking on stage get? Bugger all. In my opinion your far better off admonishing John Key by simplying saying Kiwis are obviously unimpressed with the shabby treatment they received by the John Key led Governments undemocratic signing of the TPPA.

          TPR it is all about backing winners and the public mood is they got a bum deal.

      • Ad 11.1.2

        From what I observed up close yesterday, Goff was ultra-smooth and worked all the parties and NGOs represented there. At the gay Nat tent for example he was able to recount how many electoral votes he lost for voting with the the 1986 Homosexual Law Reform Act.

  12. adam 12

    I thought it was a pretty big cross section of people who boohoo’ed him. From the video.

    If memory servers, he was boo’ed last year as well.

    and if you look at the photos of people doing photo’s with Key, they are very young. And the few National party faithful on hand to do the Key self promotion thing.

    Anyone else started to notice this seems to be the same few people be recycled?

    • weka 12.1

      “Prime Minister John Key was greeted with boos by the “mostly Labour and Green”-supporting crowd at Auckland’s Big Gay Out.” 2015

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/65921438/Mixed-reception-for-Prime-Minister-John-Key-at-Aucklands-Big-Gay-Out

      “The vocal protests against Key seemed focused on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement issues and were in marked contrast to the usually positive reception to the PM at the Big Gay Out in past years.” 2016

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/76869025/john-key-cheered-and-booed-as-tppa-protests-disrupt-aucklands-big-gay-out

      Oh dear, Stuff.

      • Ad 12.1.1

        That was the impressive thing.
        This was not all younger party-hard young gay people.
        This lot was also older, often well-to-do, well-placed in NGOs and firms.

        The whole day had an energy that was both activist and positive.

        It wasn’t the same crowd as either the Sevens or the TPPA marches.

        This current government has been pretty good with gay marriage and all, and yet there was sufficient feeling in there to just loathe John Key.

        That’s three different audiences hating down John Key inside two weeks.

        Again, I’m not keen on booing people on stage, but it’s a pretty cold signal to the Prime Minister that he’s massively out of step with three major segments of the public.

        • weka 12.1.1.1

          I’m starting to wonder if 2016 is going to be a year of humiliation for Key and maybe National. The flag referendum should certainly keep the momentum going for a while.

          I think booing is great. In NZ that’s a significant thing, we’re not prone to mass expressions of socially challenging emotion.

          • Ad 12.1.1.1.1

            I’ve never seen a worse start to a political year for a current government in my lifetime.

          • Rosie 12.1.1.1.2

            I woke up on New Year’s day feeling that this year was going to be a bad year for this government. Felt it in me waters. And things have got off to a pretty bad start over all.

            The flag ref will be another blow indeed.

            Agree that booing is a positive expression for a population that I would say, in my words, is normally too repressed to express a sound they feel might be impolite.

            It’s actually a very positive development.

  13. ianmac 13

    Maybe the important thing about this booing is that small though it is, there is starting to be an acceptance that you can shout defiance to Key. Thin end of the wedge sort of thing.
    And just as the TPP will dampen Government’s law making in fear of reprisals from Corporations, then so might Key begin to fear appearing in public. Hopeful?

    • Colonial Viper 13.1

      The NATs are no doubt already readying their John Key replacement for prime time.

    • BM 13.2

      The radical left wing is Nationals biggest asset.

      Long may they continue to be boorish wankers.

      • McGrath 13.2.1

        I’ve always felt that a fair chunk of NZ votes National because they see National as the “lesser evil” when compared to the Left, especially the radical Left.

      • wild katipo 13.2.2

        @ BM …How interesting…. wasn’t it Stephen Dildo Joyce Baggins who failed as general manager of the Northland byelection? I seem to recall even the national voters turned against Dildo and ultimately Key…and voted for Peters instead…

        In an assumed ‘safe’ national seat to boot…

        And wasn’t it John Gary ‘ Glitter’ Key who was caught out lying about the XKEYSCORE and Cortex surveillance programs….and after consistently denying it existed was finally forced to admit it did in fact exist?

        And wasn’t it Glitter boy who dragged out completely irrelevant data using the OIA to defend his lies – and then was caught out again – much to the chagrin of the SIS who said Glitter boy had compromised our national security in doing so?

        And less than 3 months later Glitter and his mates like Dildo were found to have been spying on South Pacific nations considered ‘friendly’s – and China with whom we have a FTA …and doing so on behest of the USA and their 5 eyes spy network because they could not access certain country’s?

        If I were you , mate….Id be real careful who you go around calling ‘wankers’…

        You might start upsetting even those poor uninformed souls who tragically voted for Glitter the rock – star – economy pin up boy last election….

        • The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 13.2.2.1

          The radical left wing is Nationals biggest asset.

          I think BM is talking about you, wild katipo.

          • chris73 13.2.2.1.1

            I’ve long thought that for most posters on here its less about considering winning strategies for the left in an election and more about “winning” arguments on here

            • Sabine 13.2.2.1.1.1

              bwhahahahahahahah

              i find this threat most amusing, you don’t?

              • chris73

                The difference is the party I support has been in power since 2008 and is looking good for an unprecedented (since MMP anyway) fourth term whereas the main party on the left looks old, tired and bereft of ideas

                • Sabine

                  I am at this point now where i honestly don’t care who wins.
                  The current pm and his national party posse is corrupt to the core, he is a sexual predator when it comes to young women/children with ponytails who even when his wife is pleading with him to stop can’t just quite stop and who will of course for shits n giggles engage in any abhorrent verbal comedy involving rape and the likes, and otherwise he is just a useless plonker who never achieved anything on his own. Heck he even made his money only with the use of other peoples money.

                  As for the opposition – of all colours and parties – they are still to busy infighting, with a need for purity that would make the virgin mary a tainted lady, and a need for a saviour that will never come along.
                  So i guess you could be right that the glitter boy could be voted in again.

                  However it will be your children – of national voters or opposition voters – that will pay the bill. And only when people start wanting things like free education, decent housing for all, accessible healthcare that is not rationed as it is now (peeps falling of waiting lists and never getting the surgery they need – i thought that would only happen under socialism), clean waterways and cows not shitting around everywhere, not for themselves but for their children and grandchildren will they not only demand better politicians , better business men and women and a better media class. They will then also see just what a fucking whinging useless wanker this guy that just got booed and glitter bombed was and is. But by then it will be too late.

                  So you keep your partisan bullshit for yourself. I still think this threat is hilariously funny.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 13.2.2.1.1.2

              That would be smart, eh, discussing strategy in an open forum 🙄

      • appleboy 13.2.3

        Ah, there you have it, wisdom according to BM -anyone who protests publicly, and disagrees with the PM is a boorish wanker.

        Says it all about the right whingers who come here for their daily railing against sense

      • Sabine 13.2.4

        someone give the man a ponytail, it seems he feels stressed, unloved and unhappy.

        What a whinger. 🙂

        Look i don’t actually get how upset a little horsing around among friends seem to get you , after all its all just in good fun, and a little glitter and polite conversation has never harmed anyone. Right 🙂

        bwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

  14. UncookedSelachimorpha 14

    Fair bit of RWNJ noise on here lately – they must be feeling insecure.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1.1

        27.5 + 14 + 6.5 = 50.

        I can smell your confidence. Or has that bloody feral cat been in here again?

        • chris73 14.1.1.1

          Ok heres a question for you, knowing what we know about Winston Peters do you think Winston would rather be the smallest party (with all the influence that entails) in a coalition of three
          or
          Would rather be the only other party in a coalition of two (especially when one of those parties can offer Winston a knighthood)

          On the balance of probabilities its more likely Winston will go with National but National may not even need Winston as National can call on Peter Dunnes seat and Acts seat and whatever the MP can scrape together

          So yes National are still looking good for four terms

          • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1.1.1.1

            My mistake. It isn’t confidence, it’s a prediction about NZ 1st 😆

            • chris73 14.1.1.1.1.1

              Well one thing I’ve noticed about the left is the unfaltering belief that:

              A. for the left to gain power it must be Labour, the Greens and Winston
              B. that Winston will absolutely, positively go with Labour and the Greens

              • One Anonymous Bloke

                This Left that you speak of that has a single opinion on something… I suggest you keeping clutching at that straw.

            • Expat 14.1.1.1.1.2

              Chris

              I don’t know if Peter’s burnt fingers have had sufficient time to heal yet.

          • AB 14.1.1.1.2

            Winston despises the National Party (and Key) more than he loves himself.
            And that’s saying something – more specifically it’s saying that National must be exceptionally despicable. (Which of course they are.)

            • chris73 14.1.1.1.2.1

              Winston also despises the Greens, would rather be number 2 in a coalition of 2, would rather like a knighthood and has gone with National and Labour in the past

              Theres good reasons to think he might go left and good reasons to think he might go right but theres no good reason to think that you’ve got his vote until after the election and the dealing begins

            • Chuck 14.1.1.1.2.2

              No you are wrong, Winston does not despise the National Party. John Key he has an issue with, as Key put him in his place more than once over the years. But that will all disappear when the bubbles of office are on the table…Winston will work with the party that wins the biggest % of votes (National) compared to making up the numbers with Labour and the Greens. The Greens he does hate…and will never allow them to have more power than he can hold in Government. That is if National does need Winston…they may yet again increase their share of votes in 2017. I do hope the Sue Bradford’s and co. block some more roads!!

          • dv 14.1.1.1.3

            Chris don’t forget the 120 billion debt
            5,705,130,098 interest per year

            AND
            The 0.7% increase in GDP by 2030 wow

            and debt projected to be 300billion
            interest
            say 15 Billion per year

            How will the 0.7% growth cover that!!!

            • chris73 14.1.1.1.3.1

              Good thing the election is based on who you want running the country then isn’t it

              But good luck to the left if they can publicize it enough

              • dv

                So you agree that the Nats are crap managers then.

                And how by any stretch of the imagination are those figure good???

                • chris73

                  I agree that National will most likely win a fourth term because the Left (specifically Labour) couldn’t organize, or much less pay for, a piss up in a brewery

                  Thanks to Labours ineptness all National have to do to win the next election is to not be caught kicking a puppy or something similar

                  • stigie

                    Winston could not work with the Greens so Labour are rooted, in any case, there will be a new leader come 2017 because we are now seeing the Labour caucus falling apart with the ongoing infighting.
                    Grant Robertson is sharpening his Knives as we speak !!

                    • weka

                      There’s no good reason why Peters can’t work with the Greens if he wants to. The issue is whether he will not whether he can.

                  • Enough is Enough

                    I think Winston can govern in a 2 party coalition with Labour.

                    He will try to push the Greens into a confidence and supply arrangement from outside of Government.

                    The alternative position he will offer the Greens is a further 3 years in opposition to a National NZ First coalition.

                    That is my great fear. How will the Greens deal with such a choice. If they push too hard Winston goes with the Nats.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke

                    Labour were so inept, for example, that John Armstrong apologised to David Cunliffe for Armstrong – and The Herald’s role in the National Party’s Liu lies. And the DG of the SIS had to apologise to Phil Goff.

                    Clearly National weren’t feeling under any pressure at all.

                    You can’t even gloat truthfully 😈

                  • Sabine

                    oh well, we don’t have a problem then 🙂

                  • s y d

                    when is that trial for the prominent nz’er?

    • Gangnam Style 14.2

      Could be the Nikki Kaye angle, she ‘used’ to be a blogger after all (was mentioned as such in Dirty Politics).

  15. alwyn 15

    The idiots protesting at the BGA reminded me of a famous New Yorker cartoon.
    The difference is that in the cartoon the protesters were well dressed right wingers.
    The ones at the BGA were scruffily dressed lefties.
    One thing will probably remain the same though. If you look at the carton it was 1936. Roosevelt won 3 more elections after that. With the way the left is going Key will do the same.
    http://www.art.com/products/p15063506094-sa-i6848782/peter-arno-come-along-we-re-going-to-the-trans-lux-to-hiss-roosevelt-new-yorker-cartoon.htm

    • Sabine 15.1

      but but i thought the PM and his minions went there cause it was full of national supporters and thus a pm friendly and approved environment. I really can’t see dear leader go to a meeting of unwashed leftist misfits. . Oh you mean no national supporter would ever be unhappy with dear leader? really?

    • Lloyd 15.2

      Alwyn, obviously you weren’t there. Many of the boo-ers were very spiffily dressed.

      • alwyn 15.2.1

        “spiffily”.
        What a lovely word. I had thought it was no longer used, which was rather a shame.
        It is the sort of word I would have associated with P. G. Wodehouse and Bertie Wooster.

  16. weka 16

    Video put up by Marama Davidson which shows how much of the crowd were booing and that it wasn’t just TPPA protestors or a handful of people.

    Plus, she was there,

    Pretty much all the big crowd were booing. Not just the many who were moved to get up on to their feet and move to the front near the stage. Herald are minimising this. We can’t let them. I was there. I felt it.

    https://www.facebook.com/marama.davidson/videos/10153616087584261/

    • Chuck 16.1

      The crowd were booing the handful of TPPA protesters for goodness sake!

    • alwyn 16.2

      Pity the link you put up doesn’t work.

      “I felt it”. Ah the cry of the gym bunny. “Feel the burn”.
      Actually a rather large proportion, perhaps 75% of the 20 or so protesters would do well to try a bit of gym work wouldn’t they?

      Most of the people moving forward seem to be doing so in order to hear the PM after the idiots tried to drown him out.

      • weka 16.2.1

        Still not got anything meaningful to add to the debate alwyn? Still with the empty and vacuous aspersions?

        The link probably needs a FB account logged in.

        • alwyn 16.2.1.1

          “FB account logged in”.
          I shall have to use other links then. I refuse to have anything to do with the data collection that Facebook gets up to so I don’t have an account.
          Google is pretty bad but at least they provide something for their intrusion, and you can clean up their cookies. Facebook seems to be solely for themselves.

          ps I assume by FB you mean Facebook?

      • Gangnam Style 16.2.2

        Ha, yeah sure, I guess that guy holding up his 2 fingers was asking Key to speak louder.

        I don’t get this obsession with clothes, Sabin wore a suit, you support him?

        • alwyn 16.2.2.1

          Have you bothered to read a very, very simple book on economics yet?
          You might start to understand why the repayment of a student loan isn’t a tax then.
          “holding up his 2 fingers”. Poor chap. Was it an industrial accident that meant he lost the rest? He has my sympathy.

          • Gangnam Style 16.2.2.1.1

            Speak louder ‘Alwyn’! (I am just a thickee working class oink afterall)

          • Lloyd 16.2.2.1.2

            Alwyn, at least he knows what economics is. You have proved repeatedly that you wouldn’t know economics if it fell on you.

            • alwyn 16.2.2.1.2.1

              Don’t be such a silly little chap.
              Someone like you, who clearly doesn’t know a thing about Economics is clearly quite incapable of judging other peoples ability.
              Stick to things you can handle, if there are any.

        • te reo putake 16.2.2.2

          Please be careful with the references to the ex-MP, GS. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put TS at risk.

          • alwyn 16.2.2.2.1

            Is he really talking about someone named “Sabin” then?
            Given that he is, as he confesses, “just a thickee working class oink afterall” I had assumed he meant Sabine but just couldn’t spell and also thought “she” was a “he”.
            I am used to the last problem on this site myself. People here seem to think Alwyn is a woman’s name.

            • sabine 16.2.2.2.1.1

              I find it funny that you would associate my name with the name suppressed promint nz’ler that may or may not face trial at some stage this year for something so heinous that this prominent NZ’ler was granted name suppression to protect the identity of his vicim/s

              But then what lies in a name?
              Sabine
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Sabine_Women

              funny that. no?
              you are quite a sad little figure.

              • alwyn

                I didn’t actually.
                I connected what I thought was a mistyped Sabin with your penname, or real name, of Sabine. You can see that his spelling isn’t really up to scratch.
                Your name came to mind because you have commented about 15 times to this one post. 15 times!
                However why on earth should I care whether your name is that of a group who feature in a legend of something that supposedly happened about 3000 years ago.
                It is only a legend. It was supposed to have been about 3,000 years ago and in another country. It’s time to get over it.

                I would have to say you have described yourself rather well in the last sentence. About you I can only say

                “you are quite a sad little figure”.

      • weka 16.2.3

        Alwyn – Most of the people moving forward seem to be doing so in order to hear the PM after the idiots tried to drown him out.

        Marama Davidson – I was right there when it all happened. People rose to their feet and mass moved to the front to be vocal.

    • Sabine 16.3

      its upside but other then that was a good heart felt boooooooooooooooooo .

      bwhahahaha, it warms my cockles 🙂

      thanks for putting that up.

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    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Inflation alive and kicking in our land of the long white monopolies

    The golden days of profit continue for the the Foodstuffs (Pak’n’Save and New World) and Woolworths supermarket duopoly. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 5:The Groceries Commissioner has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The thermodynamics of electric vs. internal combustion cars

    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler I love thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is like your mom: it may not tell you what you can do, but it damn well tells you what you can’t do. I’ve written a few previous posts that include thermodynamics, like one on air capture of ...
    5 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Three.

    The notion of geopolitical  “periphery.” The concept of periphery used here refers strictly to what can be called the geopolitical periphery. Being on the geopolitical periphery is an analytic virtue because it makes for more visible policy reform in response … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago
  • Venus Hum

    Fill me up with soundThe world sings with me a million smiles an hourI can see me dancing on my radioI can hear you singing in the blades of grassYellow dandelions on my way to schoolBig Beautiful Sky!Song: Venus Hum.Good morning, all you lovely people, and welcome to the 700th ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • I Went to a Creed Concert

    Note: The audio attached to this Webworm compliments today’s newsletter. I collected it as I met people attending a Creed concert. Their opinions may differ to mine. Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Government migration policy backfires; thousands of unemployed nurses

    The country has imported literally thousands of nurses over the past few months yet whether they are being employed as nurses is another matter. Just what is going on with HealthNZ and it nurses is, at best, opaque, in that it will not release anything but broad general statistics and ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • A Time For Unity.

    Emotional Response: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addresses mourners at the tangi of King Tuheitia on Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday, 31 August 2024.THE DEATH OF KING TUHEITIA could hardly have come at a worse time for Maoridom. The power of the Kingitanga to unify te iwi Māori was demonstrated powerfully at January’s ...
    5 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again

    National's tax cut policies relied on stealing revenue from the ETS (previously used to fund emissions reduction) to fund tax cuts to landlords. So how's that going? Badly. Today's auction failed again, with zero units (of a possible 7.6 million) sold. Which means they have a $456 million hole in ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Two.

    A question of size. Small size generally means large vulnerability. The perception of threat is broader and often more immediate for small countries. The feeling of comparative weakness, of exposure to risk, and of potential intimidation by larger powers often … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago
  • Nicola Willis’s Very Unserious Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation

    Open to all with kind thanks to all subscribers and supporters.Today, RNZ revealed that despite MFAT advice to Nicola Willis to be very “careful and deliberate” in her communications with the South Korean government, prior to any public announcement on cancelling Kiwirail’s i-Rex, Willis instead told South Korea 26 minutes ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    5 days ago
  • Satisfying the Minister’s Speed Obsession

    The Minister of Transport’s speed obsession has this week resulted in two new consultations for 110km/h speed limits, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. There has also been final approval of the Kapiti Expressway to move to 110km/h following an earlier consultation. While the changes will almost certainly see ...
    6 days ago
  • What if we freed up our streets, again?

    This guest post is by Tommy de Silva, a local rangatahi and freelance writer who is passionate about making the urban fabric of Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland more people-focused and sustainable. New Zealand’s March-April 2020 Level 4 Covid response (aka “lockdown”) was somehow both the best and worst six weeks of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    6 days ago
  • No Alarms And No Surprises

    A heart that's full up like a landfillA job that slowly kills youBruises that won't healYou look so tired, unhappyBring down the governmentThey don't, they don't speak for usI'll take a quiet lifeA handshake of carbon monoxideAnd no alarms and no surprisesThe fabulous English comedian Stewart Lee once wrote a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Five ingenious ways people could beat the heat without cranking the AC

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Every summer brings a new spate of headlines about record-breaking heat – for good reason: 2023 was the hottest year on record, in keeping with the upward trend scientists have been clocking for decades. With climate forecasts suggesting that heat waves ...
    6 days ago
  • No new funding for cycling & walking

    Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • 99

    Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Open Government: National reneges on beneficial ownership

    One of the achievements of the New Zealand’s Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan was a formal commitment from the government to establish a public beneficial ownership register. Such a register would allow the ultimate owners of companies to be identified - a vital measure in preventing corruption, money ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt One.

    This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago
  • Tea and Toast

    When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • NLTP 2024 released – destroying pipeline of shovel ready local projects

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Waka Kotahi yesterday released the latest National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) for 2024-27. The NLTP sets out what transport projects will be funded for the next three years, including both central and local government projects. As expected given the government’s extremely ideological transport policy, it’s ...
    7 days ago
  • Can Brown deliver his roads

    The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    7 days ago
  • New paper about detecting climate misinformation on Twitter/X

    Together with Cristian Rojas, Frank Algra-Maschio, Mark Andrejevic, Travis Coan, and Yuan-Fang Li, I just published a paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment where we use the Computer Assisted Recognition of Denial and Skepticism (CARDS) machine learning model to detect climate misinformation in 5 million climate tweets. We find over half ...
    1 week ago
  • Excerpting “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies.”

    In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 week ago
  • Hating for the Wrong Reasons: Of Rings of Power, Orcs and Evil

    A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...
    1 week ago
  • Climate Change: “Least cost” to who?

    On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Israeli Lives Matter

    There is no monopoly on common senseOn either side of the political fenceWe share the same biology, regardless of ideologyBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children tooLyrics: Sting. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Luxon Cries

    Over the weekend, I found myself rather irritably reading up about the Treaty of Waitangi. “Do I need to do this?” It’s not my jurisdiction. In any other world, would this be something I choose to do?My answer - no.The Waitangi Tribunal, headed by some of our best legal minds, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Just one Wellington home being consented for every 10 in Auckland

    A decade of under-building is coming home to roost in Wellington. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday September 2:Wellington’s leaders are wringing their hands over an exodus of skilled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Container trucks on local streets: why take the risk?

    This is a guest post by Charmaine Vaughan, who came to transport advocacy via her local Residents Association and a comms role at Bike Auckland. Her enthusiasm to make local streets safer for all is shared by her son Dylan Vaughan, a budding “urban nerd” who provided much of the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    1 week ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #35

    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 25, 2024 thru Sat, August 31, 2024. Story of the week After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising ...
    1 week ago
  • An Uncanny Valley of Improvement: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episodes 1-3 (Season ...

    And thus we come to the second instalment of Amazon’s Rings of Power. The first season, in 2022, was underwhelming, even for someone like myself, who is by nature inclined to approach Tolkien adaptations with charity. The writing was poor, the plot made no sense on its own terms, and ...
    1 week ago
  • Alcohol debris and Crocodile Tears

    I write to you this morning from scenes of carnage. Around the floor lie young men who only hours earlier were full of life, and cocktails, and now lie silent. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • When Do We Look Away?

    Hi,The first time I saw something that made me recoil on the internet was a visit to Rotten.com. The clue was in the name — but the internet was a new thing to me in the 90s, and no-one really knew what the hell was going on. But somehow I ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago
  • The decades just fly by

    You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself. It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.It has to ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • 2024 Reading Summary: August

    Completed reads for August: Aesop’s Fables (collection), by Aesop Berserk: Volume XXV (manga), by Kentaro Miura Benighted, by J.B. Priestly Berserk: Volume XXVI (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVIII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXIX (manga), by Kentaro Miura ...
    1 week ago
  • Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?

    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is recent global warming part ...
    1 week ago
  • White Noise

    Now here we standWith our hearts in our handsSqueezing out the liesAll that I hearIs a message, unclearWhat else is there to decide?All that I'm hearing from youIs White NoiseLyrics: Christopher John CheneyIs the tide turning?Have we reached the high point of the racist hate and lies from Hobson’s Pledge, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The Death Of “Big Norm” – Exactly 50 Years Ago Today.

    Norman KirkPrime Minister of New Zealand 1972-1974Born: 6 January 1923 - Died: 31 August 1974Of the working-class, by the working-class, for the working-class.Video courtesy of YouTubeThese elements were posted on Bowalley Road on Saturday, 31 August 2024. ...
    1 week ago
  • Claims and Counter-Claims.

    Whose Foreshore? Whose Seabed? When the Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed back in 2011, fears about the coastline becoming off-limits to Pakeha were routinely allayed by National Party politicians pointing out that the tests imposed were so stringent  that only a modest percentage of claims (the then treaty ...
    1 week ago
  • Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • The Principles of the Treaty

    Hardly anyone says what are ‘the principles of the treaty’. The courts’ interpretation restrain the New Zealand Government. While they about protecting a particular community, those restraints apply equally to all community in a liberal democracy – including a single person.Treaty principles were introduced into the governance of New Zealand ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • The Only Other Reliable Vehicle.

    An Elite Leader Awaiting Rotation? Hipkins’ give-National-nothing-to-aim-at strategy will only succeed if the Coalition becomes as unpopular in three years as the British Tories became in fourteen.THE SHAPE OF CHRIS HIPKINS’ THINKING on Labour’s optimum pathway to re-election is emerging steadily. At the core of his strategy is Hipkins’ view ...
    1 week ago
  • A Big F U to this Right Wing Government

    Open to all - deep thanks to those who support and subscribe.One of the things that has got me interested recently is updates about Māori wards.In April, Stuff’s Karanama Ruru reported that ~ 2/3 of our 78 councils had adopted Māori wards in NZ.That meant that under the Coalition repeal ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago

  • Action to grow the rural health workforce

    Scholarships awarded to 27 health care students is another positive step forward to boost the future rural health workforce, Associate Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “All New Zealanders deserve timely access to quality health care and this Government is committed to improving health outcomes, particularly for the one in five ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Pharmac delivering more for Kiwis following major funding boost

    Associate Health Minister with responsibility for Pharmac David Seymour has welcomed the increased availability of medicines for Kiwis resulting from the Government’s increased investment in Pharmac. “Pharmac operates independently, but it must work within the budget constraints set by the Government,” says Mr Seymour. “When our Government assumed office, New ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Sport Minister congratulates NZ’s Paralympians

    Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop has congratulated New Zealand's Paralympic Team at the conclusion of the Paralympic Games in Paris.  “The NZ Paralympic Team's success in Paris included fantastic performances, personal best times, New Zealand records and Oceania records all being smashed - and of course, many Kiwis on ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Government progresses response to Abuse in Care recommendations

    A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report.  “It will have the mandate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Passport wait times back on-track

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New appointments to the FMA board

    Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • District Court judges appointed

    Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government makes it faster and easier to invest in New Zealand

    Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender

    New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease

    Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Improving access to finance for Kiwis

    5 September 2024  The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.  “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Prime Minister pays tribute to Kiingi Tuheitia

    As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Resource Management reform to make forestry rules clearer

    Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations.   “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • More choice and competition in building products

    A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and New Zealand 4 September 2024, Seoul

    On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the goal for New Zealand and Korea

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • International tourism continuing to bounce back

    Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government confirms RMA reforms to drive primary sector efficiency

    The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.  “That is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Weak grocery competition underscores importance of cutting red tape

    The first annual grocery report underscores the need for reforms to cut red tape and promote competition, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “The report paints a concerning picture of the $25 billion grocery sector and reinforces the need for stronger regulatory action, coupled with an ambitious, economy-wide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government moves to lessen burden of reliever costs on ECE services

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says the Government has listened to the early childhood education sector’s calls to simplify paying ECE relief teachers. Today two simple changes that will reduce red tape for ECEs are being announced, in the run-up to larger changes that will come in time from the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Over 2,320 people engage with first sector regulatory review

    Regulation Minister David Seymour says there has been a strong response to the Ministry for Regulation’s public consultation on the early childhood education regulatory review, affirming the need for action in reducing regulatory burden. “Over 2,320 submissions have been received from parents, teachers, centre owners, child advocacy groups, unions, research ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs women in horticulture

    “The Government is empowering women in the horticulture industry by funding an initiative that will support networking and career progression,” Associate Minister of Agriculture, Nicola Grigg says.  “Women currently make up around half of the horticulture workforce, but only 20 per cent of leadership roles which is why initiatives like this ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government to pause freshwater farm plan rollout

    The Government will pause the rollout of freshwater farm plans until system improvements are finalised, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard announced today. “Improving the freshwater farm plan system to make it more cost-effective and practical for farmers is a priority for this ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Milestone reached for fixing the Holidays Act 2003

    Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden says yesterday Cabinet reached another milestone on fixing the Holidays Act with approval of the consultation exposure draft of the Bill ready for release next week to participants.  “This Government will improve the Holidays Act with the help of businesses, workers, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • New priorities to protect future of conservation

    Toitū te marae a Tāne Mahuta me Hineahuone, toitū te marae a Tangaroa me Hinemoana, toitū te taiao, toitū te tangata. The Government has introduced clear priorities to modernise Te Papa Atawhai - The Department of Conservation’s protection of our natural taonga. “Te Papa Atawhai manages nearly a third of our ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Faster 110km/h speed limit to accelerate Kāpiti

    A new 110km/h speed limit for the Kāpiti Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS) has been approved to reduce travel times for Kiwis travelling in and out of Wellington, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • IVL increase to ensure visitors contribute more to New Zealand

    The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) will be raised to $100 to ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality Matt Doocey and Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka say. “The Government is serious about enabling the tourism sector ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Delivering priority connections for the West Coast

    A record $255 million for transport investment on the West Coast through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s road and rail links to keep people connected and support the region’s economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “The Government is committed to making sure that every ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Road and rail reliability a focus for Wellington

    A record $3.3 billion of transport investment in Greater Wellington through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will increase productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. We're focused on delivering transport projects ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Record investment to boost economic and housing growth in the Waikato

    A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Waikato through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more efficient, safe, and resilient roading network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “With almost a third of the country’s freight travelling into, out ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Building reliable and efficient roading for Taranaki

    A record $808 million for transport investment in Taranaki through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Taranaki’s roads carry a high volume of freight from primary industries and it’s critical we maintain efficient connections across the region to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Supporting growth and resilience in Otago and Southland

    A record $1.4 billion for transport investment in Otago and Southland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will create a more resilient and efficient network that supports economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in Otago ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Delivering connected and resilient roading for Northland

    A record $991 million for transport investment in Northland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s connections and support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “We are committed to making sure that every transport dollar is spent wisely on the projects and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Top of the South to benefit from reliable transport infrastructure

    A record $479 million for transport investment across the top of the South Island through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will build a stronger road network that supports primary industries and grows the economy, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “We’re committed to making sure that every dollar is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government delivering reliable roads for Manawatū-Whanganui

    A record $1.6 billion for transport investment in Manawatū-Whanganui through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will strengthen the region’s importance as a strategic freight hub that boosts economic growth, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Delivering infrastructure to increase productivity and economic growth is a priority for our Government. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Restoring connections in Hawke’s Bay

    A record $657 million for transport investment in the Hawke’s Bay through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support recovery from cyclone damage and build greater resilience into the network to support economic growth and productivity, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “We are committed to making sure that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Transport resilience a priority for Gisborne

    A record $255 million for transport investment in Gisborne through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will support economic growth and restore the cyclone-damaged network, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “With $255 million of investment over the next three years, we are committed to making sure that every transport ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Prioritising growth and reduced travel times in Canterbury

    A record $1.8 billion for transport investment Canterbury through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and productivity and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Christchurch is the economic powerhouse of the South Island, and transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Supporting growth and freight in the Bay of Plenty

    A record $1.9 billion for transport investment in the Bay of Plenty through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will boost economic growth and unlock land for thousands of houses, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Transport is a critical enabler for economic growth and productivity in the Bay of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Getting transport back on track in Auckland

    A record $8.4 billion for transport investment in Auckland through the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) will deliver the infrastructure our rapidly growing region needs to support economic growth and reduce travel times, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “Aucklanders rejected the previous government’s transport policies which resulted in non-delivery, phantoms projects, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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