Let them eat cake

50 comments on “Let them eat cake ”

• Comments are now closed

1. BM 1

   4 June 2016 at 8:33 am

   There’s nothing wrong with the comment Nikki Kaye made, some people do want to live on the street
   • Paul 1.1

     4 June 2016 at 8:54 am

     Another denier of the homelessness issue.
     Want to spend some energy trying to solve the mess instead rather than defending the indefensible?
   • Lanthanide 1.2

     4 June 2016 at 8:59 am

     I’d suggest it’s probably on the order of 0.01% of the population, or less. Eg 1 in 10000.

     I don’t think it is reasonable to call that “some people”
     • BM 1.2.1

       4 June 2016 at 9:11 am

       Some does mean
       an unspecified amount or number of.

       Some people live on the street because they like the company and life style, I don’t see what’s wrong with pointing that out.
       • Lanthanide 1.2.1.1

         4 June 2016 at 9:35 am

         It is more precise to say “a very small minority of people live on the street because they like the company and life style”.

         When possible, and when there is no cost involved, we should prefer to be more precise in the language we use to communicate with others, rather than less precise.

         The only reason to *choose* to be less precise, as you are in this case, is to be deliberately misleading.
       • Paul 1.2.1.2

         4 June 2016 at 9:38 am

         What about who don’t choose to?
         Got some energy for this, rather than minimising the issue and defending the indefensible ?
       • Robert Guyton 1.2.1.3

         4 June 2016 at 9:50 am

         “I don’t see anything wrong with pointing that out”
         I believe you do in fact know that there is something wrong with pointing that out. Think, diminish the importance of the big story by diverting attention to an inconsequential detail of it. Nikki Kaye did the same thing.

         Disingenuous, BM. It means “not candid or sincere”.
       • AB 1.2.1.4

         4 June 2016 at 11:01 am

         Some people who have cancer want to die. So hint hint nudge nudge no big deal if we don’t treat anyone’s cancer eh?
         Even for the National Party (and BM) this is especially vile. Nats are vile when they get into office and just get more vile they longer they are there.
       • Johan 1.2.1.5

         4 June 2016 at 11:26 am

         Another bullshit tactic by the Tories, playing with words to minimise a crisis. These are the same people who display no morals or conscience.
       • UncookedSelachimorpha 1.2.1.6

         4 June 2016 at 11:44 am

         For the purpose of this discussion, lets just limit it to people who would prefer not to live on the street. There are plenty of those, and this is the issue – as BM well knows. His comment is just a pointless distraction from the real issue.
       • hoom 1.2.1.7

         4 June 2016 at 11:36 pm

         Some NACT MPs/supporters aren’t heartless recidivist liars up to their necks in cronyism, corruption & actively working to destroy the last vestiges of social welfare.
         But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the problem with the the rest of them.

         I don’t see whats wrong with pointing that out. **shrug**
   • Keith 1.3

     4 June 2016 at 9:27 am

     Some MPs just want to lie!
   • Kelly-Ned 1.4

     4 June 2016 at 9:51 am

     You need to consider the question ‘Why’? before jumping to the conclusion that ‘Therefore it is okay for NZ to have lots of homeless’.
     Why is a powerful question that this government prefers not to ask – much less answer.
   • meconism 1.5

     4 June 2016 at 11:58 am

     BM do you permanently live in a context free zone? ‘There’s nothing wrong’? Apart from the fact that that statement was made by a government minister, in the middle of a housing crisis, largely made and then ignored by a government she is part of. Furthermore, under the leadership of a man who blatantly lied about the problem only hours before.

     But sure, BM go right ahead remove the context. and it is a just an innocent truth.

     I appreciate your efforts to misrepresent the truth here, but I wonder how you sleep at night .
   • mpledger 1.6

     4 June 2016 at 1:01 pm

     I don’t know if that’s actually true.

     There are people who live on the streets because they can’t manage to live in a house and take care of all the things that comes with it – rent/electricity/rates/ etc, etc.

     But if they lived with a supported environment that took care of the things they couldn’t manage, I’m sure they’d much rather live in a nice warm, cosy home than out on the streets in the middle of winter.
   • jcuknz 1.7

     5 June 2016 at 10:07 am

     I remember a story about a guy living in his car to save up money to do something, likewise a boatie ‘Tap Tap’ who had a dream of sailing somewhere and lived in the hull of a 15ft boat, I used to own it at one stage earlier, Some people, and I can see the sense if it happened to me, of living in a car or bare boat.

     TapTap was nicknamed that because of the noise he made chipping the concrete ballast out of a boat he had. This was thirty or more years ago and last I heard he had ‘made it’ and was living in a larger boat in Wellington …I think he was a sickness beneficiary.

     But I support the need for something serious to be done for the 99 others in this situation that b waghorn writes about
2. b waghorn 2

   4 June 2016 at 8:43 am

   I have a problem with using the 1 in 100 story , I think its bullshit sensational reporting that plays in to the nats its not that bad really meme ,due to the fact a lot of them are living with family. That’s what families for.
   • red-blooded 2.1

     4 June 2016 at 12:16 pm

     Living with family is great, if it’s a choice (or if you’re a minor). If it’s the only way to avoid living on the street? Maybe not so great…
3. Keith 3

   4 June 2016 at 9:36 am

   A big thanks to Nikki and her fellow Nats for having the benevolence and humility to provide the homeless with more motorway over-bridges to dwell under than any other government in the last 40 years! The forethought and the reluctant to take credit for – social planning.

   “Brighter Future” and “Working for NZ”!
   • jcuknz 3.1

     5 June 2016 at 10:38 am

     I see little point in the sarcasm Keith … there is also no doubt that when in power Labour did nothing to solve the problem when it was of a smaller size than today so I have little hope that they would do anything meaningful if in power again.
     What is needed is to encourage the Nats to do something and not to just tinker around the edges as they usually do..
     • Keith 3.1.1

       5 June 2016 at 12:44 pm

       Here’s one of many differences, Labour weren’t bording up and selling off state houses!

       National do not give a shit about anyone but the well off!
4. ianmac 4

   4 June 2016 at 10:01 am

   There are a few people who enjoy living on the street. Interviews with some over the years have shown this. So the statement is true. “Some people want to be homeless.”
   But in this context it is mischievous or worse to use it as a denial.
   Bad Nikki. Bad John.
   • Paul 4.1

     4 June 2016 at 10:04 am

     Nikki Kaye and John Key live the life of privilege.
     They have on idea of the challenges of homelessness.
     And they have no empathy.
     Psychopathic.
5. WILD KATIPO 5

   4 June 2016 at 10:22 am

   Grrrrrrr…my sister was the lady who was in charge of Bethany. You know the one?

   That’s right – the Salvation Army home for women with newborns who had nowhere else to go.

   That shut down about two years ago due to lack of govt funding. . The talk on everyone’s lips was : ‘ where do they go to now ? ‘

   Back to the gangs?… back to living under bridges?… hell !… most of them couldn’t even drive let alone afford a car , – so – back to an abusive relationship where they got the shit beaten out of them ?

   Is this John Keys shitty notion of being ‘ on the cusp of a brighter future’ ?

   Piss off.

   Its regression back to the 19th century of wage serfs and doss houses. Even worse… we don’t even get the doss houses … we get Simon Bridges and his bullshit bridges to live under .
   • dv 5.1

     4 June 2016 at 10:26 am

     we get Simon Bridges and his bullshit bridges to live under .

     BUT that is a health and safety risk cause of the bad steel!!!
   • Gangnam Style 5.2

     4 June 2016 at 1:10 pm

     Bennett or Tolley was raving about her friend Anna Stratton (sp?) a fashion designer or something? Stratton was taking ‘gang members wives’ under her wing & showing them how they too can live ‘a life without drugs’. Again with the Victorian attitudes regarding the ‘deserving poor’.
   • Jack Ramaka 5.3

     4 June 2016 at 7:16 pm

     More children who are potential clients for Judith Collins and JK’s private prisons.
   • BM 5.4

     4 June 2016 at 7:19 pm

     Why did your sisters organisation lose funding?
     • ropata 5.4.1

       6 June 2016 at 8:08 pm

       “due to lack of govt funding” read the post
6. Observer Toke 6

   4 June 2016 at 10:30 am

   .
   . At BM

   . Those of us who are not Tory Party Trolls, have reached the view that your acceptance of National’s colossal incompetence and indifference is due to acute mental deficiency.

   Pleased do not be alarmed. Many people have mental conditions that are commonly called twisted minds. The sort of weak mind that toadies up to self seeking politicians. The sort of unbalanced minds cultivated deliberately by self interested fame seeking journalists. Grovellors.

   Now BM, it is not just because you are a mental case that you want the status quo continued, but you really can’t wait to see Auckland houses prices rise quickly by a hundred percent to $2 million dollars. You are quite twisted.

   However, even at a $million dollars median housing cost, the promoters of this injustice towards middle class people (as well as those who cannot get jobs) are acting like Thieves and Bastards. I believe that a Parliament of the future, if not soon will eventually take legal action against you demented Tories. There is a limit to what you can promote legally.

   There is a limit to what decent people will accept.
   • tc 6.1

     4 June 2016 at 10:40 am

     It’s just work to BM in the same way blinglish and key go to work every day along with the many neoliberal acolytes with their kitbag of slogans and memes.
7. Repateet 7

   4 June 2016 at 10:37 am

   “Some people want to be homeless”?
   Yes, Nikki. Is the truth in that the same as saying “Some people want to be arseholes’?
   • Gangnam Style 7.1

     4 June 2016 at 1:16 pm

     Some people want to stick gerbils up their bums. I even think there is a Cliff Richard song about “Some People”. Funny how the mind works.
8. mauī 8

   4 June 2016 at 10:51 am

   Some people just like being on the WINZ state housing waiting list, some people like living in their cars, some people like living at Te Puea Marae, some people like living in tents, some people like living in garages.

   Sounds like bullshit.
   • Lanthanide 8.1

     4 June 2016 at 12:05 pm

     Some people like living in Premier House.
9. Robert Guyton 9

   4 June 2016 at 10:58 am

   @mauī, “sounds like bullshit”. Yes. It does, ’cause it is. That word, bullshit, is the key word for the coming election and the campaign to change the Government, I believe.
   • WILD KATIPO 9.1

     4 June 2016 at 11:08 am

     ohhhh… I dunno…when the housing prices blow…. where do we all go?

     Better sharpen that spade to dig that garden… better get those darning needles out to fix those ‘ bullseyes’ in everyone’s clothes… like they did in the 1930’s….

     Better get used to begging for second hand teabags….

     They did that back in the 19th century as well, you know old chap…
   • Jack Ramaka 9.2

     4 June 2016 at 7:19 pm

     Just like the “Brighter Future” B/S Campaign?
10. Venezia 10

    4 June 2016 at 12:13 pm

    That Nikki Kaye link above does not work. If you can bear to hear Paul Henry, here is the full link:
    http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/mps-not-surprised-homeless-rejecting-help-2016060311#axzz4AZ4NQOjD
11. Ad 11

    4 June 2016 at 12:38 pm

    National govern now on the presumption that social mobility generally doesn’t occur, and that it shouldn’t. Class matters and they enforce it. That makes Key closer to Turnbull and to Australian-style conservative politics. They are both leaders of a certain layer of society who are the most conscious at self-replicating their strata.

    There’s a feature in the NZHerald this weekend about a couple who spent 48 hours living the life of the 1%. You probably won’t see a similar documentary with a 1%-layer couple fawning about their 48 hours living under a bridge doing tricks for P.

    That’s why Little and the MSM are now speaking as one on housing and homelessness. They are both successfully shifting the discourse away from housing as a primary class ladder, to “housing” and “flatting” being primarily words of fear and anxiety. That’s a huge loss for National. The MSM will now not let housing go, all the way to the election.

    Key and his government have now permanently lost the story on housing (on multiple fronts). They won’t get it back. With that loss will come the corrosion of the worship of the rich, and the corrosion of the National party.
    • Wensleydale 11.1

      4 June 2016 at 1:14 pm

      That Greg Bruce article was pretty hilarious though. He and his wife were obviously taking the piss out of the idle rich. He’s dressing himself in an outfit literally worth thousands of dollars, and she says, “God, you look like a wanker.” I laughed hard.
      • Gangnam Style 11.1.1

        4 June 2016 at 2:05 pm

        “God, you look like a wanker.” – I didn’t read it, but that’s bloody funny & more like the NZ I know & love.
    • Stuart Munro 11.2

      4 June 2016 at 1:23 pm

      It’s all very well having rigid classes – but Key et al have no class. This alone is likely to make their cheap trick fail. An upper crust consisting of rude, incompetent and frankly stupid munters like Gerry Brownlee takes its life in its hands. They are not credible ubermen, few will bow to them.
      • whispering kate 11.2.1

        4 June 2016 at 2:26 pm

        They certainly have no class, no breeding but then I am not allowed to say that as it is not PC, they certainly have no manners as they shout and abuse when they are cornered or found out about their short fallings and stupidity and lack courage in the face of the heat. They are not the sort of people you would want in your own home as they haven’t been brought up very well at all and are uncouth in their thoughts and deeds, lacking any couth at all. All the money and mansions and power they have will never give them true graciousness and kindness and again that bad word, breeding and good will towards their fellow man. Cheap and nasty is the word for them.

        My old Gran used to say “all hair oil and no socks” – that’s about it really.
      • Lloyd 11.2.2

        5 June 2016 at 12:45 am

        Class doesn’t matter to neoliberals. What matters is money.
        John Key comes from the State Housing class, even if he would like to forget it.
        I am still surprised at some national voters original support of John Key in view of Keys State House origins.
        I cannot understand the despicable behaviour of Key towards state housing in view of his State House origins. I suspect his mother shielded him from the economic realities of his up-bringing, much to the detriment of many New Zealanders now desperate for a roof over their heads.
    • dave 11.3

      4 June 2016 at 8:12 pm

      no your giving them much credit the realty is national and there voters are just greedy fuckers who feel there entitled and every no else can live in the gutter
      well there is a cure for these pricks
12. Gangnam Style 12

    4 June 2016 at 2:19 pm

    “Some people want to be homless.” – Nikki Kaye
    “The prospect of protecting our planet, ending child poverty and homelessness excites some people. My kind of people.” – Jan Logie
13. UncookedSelachimorpha 13

    4 June 2016 at 2:59 pm

    Some people like to have untreated dental problems.
    Some people like to work for less than they can live on
    Some people like to live on the street
    Some people like to have no job security
    Some people like to have mental illness with no support
    Some people like to be on hospital waiting lists
    Some people like to have no job
    Some people like to have no education
    Some people like to be abused children
    Some people like to have cold and mouldy homes

    Sound like bullshit excuses from the well-off to me
    • Mrs Brillo 13.1

      4 June 2016 at 5:48 pm

      Hospital lists!

      I used to dream of being on a hospital waiting list. Didn’t do me any good, I had to wait ten years for the *#$*%* HOD that was blocking my eligibility for an op to retire.

      Then his white-coated successor said “Of course we can operate! Why haven’t we operated?”

      My condition had, of course, deteriorated markedly with ten years of extra aggravation.

      A lot of people are still on the waiting-to-be-on-the-waiting lists. But you can’t get their names, because it’s a secret, so they don’t get written down. These lists officially do not exist.
      • Repateet 13.1.1

        4 June 2016 at 10:18 pm

        But lists which don’t exist give a person like Jonathan Coleman something to be smug about.

• Comments are now closed

• Log in
• Donate
• Contribute post

• Articles RSS