So, I was walking along in Kelburn yesterday, and I saw Stephen Franks’ faded yellow mini. He was driving along in the centre of the lane when, without warning, he made a sharp right turn. And I was all like ‘metaphor’.
If you Labour guys weren’t so dangerous Steve your comment would be funny. It isn’t. Get back to work and stop posting on taxpayer time.
[lprent: Don’t make stupid comments. You have no idea where Steve works. On the same basis that you are using for assumptions I could tell you to stop sending in comments from the sewer, because that is obviously where you work. However I know you got that from a sewer – that technical idiot Whale – so I have more basis for my guess than you have for yours. ]
Whilst it is certainly not the worst mistake you’ve ever made, I think you’ll find that the “mini” is actually a VW Beetle. I thought you’d recognise the “people’s car”.
i was tootling thru the streets of a southern town when i saw a little red toyota with ruth dyson’s emblazonry on it. she was driving all over the road and not really appearing to know how to drive at all. it was very dangerous to the people that lived in that town. she in fact appeared to be perhaps drunk and in breach of the very laws she is responsible for. and i was like ‘metaphor’.
written on my own time and i’m never on taxpayer time. One could ask whose time you are writing on, but it’s noone’s business and you should behave the same way to others.
hs. interesting.. nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations, of course, but i wonder what he said to parliament regarding the glenn donation – if he mislead parliament, that would be grounds for sacking.
“if he mislead parliament, that would be grounds for sacking.”
Well the Dalziel precedent is that if you mislead the public you can expect Clark to fire you. And rightly so. It is now untenable that Winston states he did not know about a donation when he in fact sought it.
Helen Clark has refused to be drawn on an election date.[NZH]
… and HC is stalled at the lights.
Don’t bother answering either – this is perfectly acceptable, not required to, nothing in it.
But put Key in the same position, it would be a scandal, there would be a secret agenda, etc etc.
You could even get me to write the odd post now and then seeing how predictable some of the lines are becoming (notwithstanding the convention that this is the collective voice of individuals just in case I stir up the mod again).
“hs. interesting.. nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations”
Still standing behind Winnie I see Steve.
He has just been outed as lying not only in the house but to the NZ public.
But hey he props the labour Govt so that’s OK cause its not illegal. Pathetic.
Dave simple – election dates should be set in legislation – third Saturday of October in the appropriate year or something similar.
SP
So in your opinion Winston has been telling the truth but Owen Glenn is lying, Bob Jones is lying, Rodney Hide is lying etc etc – the man is bringing parliament into even more disrepute than it’s presently held.
If he was a Labour minister he’d be gone – the only reason he’s still there is he’s needed for the ETS.
Both Labour and National are gutless to still be courting this charlatan.
For months now, I’ve been looking at Ligherstandard’s comments and soliciting a clear or even mildly interesting point but have noooo idea if anyone’s ever found one…..and I’m like, metaphor, man….
mike: SP didn’t support or not support Winston. What he said was that it was going to be a problem for Winston if he’d mislead parliament.
Now a comment on your attitude. It is only in your lexicon that you have to attack without evidence (ie mad dog syndrome) on every occasion. In your warped thinking waiting for enough evidence to form a judgement is ‘support’. You are not just wrong, but I’d have to say that your attitude is bloody dangerous. It is the attitude of the fuckwits who lead lynch mobs.
Peters has an explanation in Stuff, but this is starting to look more murky than prior information to me.
Ah Yes AK the person who extrapolates a survey of six health systems in which NZ comes third equal with Australia to NZ having the 2nd best health system in the world.
I suppose you’ll be delighted that we have a Foreign Minister that has repeatedly misled both parliament and the public ?
Not trying to threadjack but to continue the Peters line, I’m involved in the racing industry and hopefully the industry leaders can separate themselves from what is becoming a huge political liability.
What’s the car metaphor for that … caught speeding in stolen car without a WOF?
If he misled parliament ……… are you trying to be funny ?
Ban me if you want but this blog has been pretty much in isolation with it’s ongoing refusal to call Winston for what he is.
[lprent: You mean that the posters here prefer to have some kind of evidence and are not prone to joining lynch mobs at the drop of a hat? In case you hadn’t noticed this is quite a distinct site. We use our brains more frequently than some other sites.
I don’t know about the others, but I’ve seen Winston in action before. I need to see overwhelming evidence because the guy always has a hidden edge. In the meantime he keeps getting the publicity he needs. ]
When is Helen calling the snap election. She is now a leader of a corrupt reigime. Did OG drop Labour in it as well saying it was thanks for supporting Labour in forming the govt?
See the speaker is showing her communist ideals in suppressing Rodney Hide yesterday.
Are you reminding us yet again that our health system ranks third in the world (second last time) at a third of the cost per capita of the private US system (which ranked last) on a highly respected international survey which all those “NZ and its health system sucks” tory campaigners can find by googling Commonwealth Fund?
So I was like you know and he was like no really and I was like yeah and he was like really metaphoric and I well you know blah blah blah
Steve
This is the closest I can find to what you put up as a piece of English Prose. It’s from a spoof on Valley Speak in California, regarded generally as an example of how not to communicate!
If what you actually meant was “I thought to my self ‘wow, is that a metaphor or not!’ ” then perhaps you would grace the English language with those words rather than slang from a foreign country.
Or is that what the taught you in English classes in our advanced state education system? (Sarcasm, in case you took it seriously!)
nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations
Actually, under the old legislation, wouldn’t it have been illegal for Peters to have known the source of an “anonymous” donation? I suspect this is why Peters has specifically addressed the “who did the soliciting” question in his response.
>
>>But put Key in the same position, it would be a scandal, there would be a secret agenda, etc etc.
Indeed, secret agenda does seem to be a common phrase in the Labour Party’s vocabulary. However, the interesting thing to me is that I cannot find a single policy in their platform for re-election so far. Perhaps that’s the real secret?
3rd equal out of six does not equate to 2nd best in the world you buffoon.
Lynn
Poppycock the posters here have convinced themselves of far worse things about the National party on far less evidence than there is of Winston Peters misleading the public and parliament.
Actually its a gold coloured paint, which tends to look horrible when you cover it in gold stickers. I wonder if he has got authorisation on it yet? he hadnt last time i saw it, a couple of months back.
Poppycock the posters here have convinced themselves of far worse things about the National party on far less evidence than there is of Winston Peters misleading the public and parliament.
Not quite. If you read posts carefully (as I do), you’ll find that the posters seldom make absolutist statements.
What they do is to define an interpretation or an opinion based on the available evidence. What they don’t do is state what *must* happen. I have no doubt that you could find a few cases where an absolutist position has been taken, but it isn’t often.
The reason is because the posters here are aware of the primary dictum of politics – that you seldom know the whole story. Therefore everything is in a field of grey and the best you can do is to cautiously venture an opinion.
However I’d have to say that the commentators do sometimes take absolutist positions on posts, often without fully reading them (IMO).
do you not think there is enough evidence by now of Winston intentionally misleading everybody (including HC) on this matter
No. The reasons are
1. We do not know what Winston said to HC
2. Winston hasn’t fully replied to what Owen has said. What he has said requires support.
3. Winston has pulled things out of the hat far too often for me to make early judgements.
4. Anyone with any sense reserves judgements. Look at the Brian Henry stuff last week for why.
Are you just a tad titchy because it looks as though OG has once again landed labour in a pile of shite this close to the election?
In my opinion, Owen Glenn has always acted with the utmost of integrity and always done things above board. That is in stark contrast with the legal (but IMO morally bankrupt devices) like the Waitemata Trust or the other anonymous trusts used so extensively by Act and the Nats.
It has bugger all to do with my favourite party, except in the minds of the terminally conspiracy obsessed. What annoys me is people making premature judgements, and then attacking posters for not agreeing or trying to tell them what they should say.
As you know – that always makes me tetchy and more than usually sarcastic.
Billy. franks is a former ACT MP – their colour is bright yellow. Now he’s National… and he drives a faded yellow car, its like he’s taking the piss out of himself
In the absence of a specific thread about developments re Winson and Glenn, all we know is:
1. what Winston said
2. what Glenn said
3. what Winston said is not what Glenn said
By SP’s logic and many others on this (at least according to r0b) political authority one Nat saying something *perceived* to be different to a policy constituted a scandal.
So given there is no perception of disagreement but absolute disagreement, surely this constitutes a scandal of Biblical proportions?
[lprent: Maybe. Personally I’d wait for more developments before forming an opinion. But I’d suggest that you read the About and Policy – this site doesn’t claim to be a general political blog site. It is a left-leaning broad labour movement blog site that specialises in opinion and commentary – it isn’t a news site.
What NZF gets up to isn’t really that interesting to a left-leaning political blog. That is why the posts about NZF are few and far between. A post will get written when someone can be bothered and there is enough info. ]
and he drives a faded yellow car, its like he’s taking the piss out of himself
Ah. That’ll be what randal meant then: a “pissy extraction” rather than a “pussy extension”. (pity – the latter sounded like a rather intriguing psycho-sociological observation on our regular tory commenters….do elaborate if I’ve misinterpreted, randal… I was thinking along the lines of blow-up dolls so inflated with hot air that they invert in a grotesque fashion….no?…ok then)
I agree I was pushing the envelope and accept your comments as fair as well.
My point – which I think is completely valid – is that by SP’s definition of a scandal, this is also a scandal. If this isn’t a scandal then you can see where I’m heading. In other words, the post wasn’t about NZF itself but the way in which other events involving the Nats have been spun as a scandal.
Hence my post was not meant to derail discussion but to refocus attention on the scandal conspiracy which SP has been spinning for some time.
I acknowledge the fact too you have not over-reacted to my post and have more than tolerated my views.
The hysteria on this site over tapercrap, Lockwoods “dead fish swallowing” (Greens ETS anyone?) meaning ‘secwet agenda’ etc all based on piss all evidence, compared to the idea that wrt Winston Bjeikle-Peterson you require some harder evidence than OG, Bob Jones and Rodney Hide all in diametric opposition, simply beggars belief.
Does nobody here ever try to put objectivity glasses on? Or apply the same standards across the political spectrum.
I think you ruin this site yourselves through being so extremely partisan. HS had it right when he said… “Poppycock the posters here have convinced themselves of far worse things about the National party on far less evidence than there is of Winston Peters misleading the public and parliament.”
vto: Read the About. This site makes no bones about being partisan or for that matter being “objective”. It is left-leaning and looks to the labour movement for inspiration.
However it isn’t particularly partisan for a single party. Although
some of its participants (like me) are. But I don’t write many posts either. Most of the posters don’t really express an affiliation.
What they do have in common is to distrust the political right, just as the labour movement has had to do over the last century or so.
The key problem is that HS said “convinced”. That is incorrect. What the posters do is present the unflattering (to the right) interpretation of events.
The reason for that is historical. Over the last couple of centuries that has been the most effective way to deal with the right. If you are not charitable in your assumptions about the motivations and tactics of the right – then you are probably correct.
It doesn’t mean that we’re convinced of its veracity, it is just a good working assumption based on past behaviour. Think 2005 and revelations in The Hollow Men – that is the norm. Obviously the public think so as well – those polls about if they trust the Nat’s are quite interesting.
Iprent, we used to have a mate ‘Fred’ who exaggerated everything so much we joked that we always had to allow a Fred-factor in his tales.
That is also, following your post, the case here and so we should all allow a Standard-factor for exaggeration and distance from reality and truth.
And so instantly we should, with the most recent topic’s (Cullen on Nat apologies) reference to ‘staying on message’ meaning ‘not telling the truth’, deduct a Standard-factor for exaggeration and distance from reality and truth. I estimate Standard-factor here to be 100%.
ak you are getting warm but not close enough. puss as in the stuff that exudes from scabrous sores and not a prurient psychosexual melodrama for pork pie wannabees!
[lprent: Should I post a d4j warning on your comments?]
I’m curious as to what’s really got people’s ire up with winnie. truth be told I pay him little attention, other than thinking he’s been a good foreign minister as of late.
So, what’s up? He’s said that he didn’t solicit a donation to Ms Clark and to Parliament, apparently (I can’t find any real info on that, anyone help?), and now Glenn has said that’s not true.
Then there’s a question as to whether he knew about it, (as he must have to have thanked Glenn for it, the dates are in question) which probably calls into question whether this agreement with his lawyer was as confidential as he purports.
So, without asking for a tirade – what is it? Is there something really wrong here? As I see it, if he knew about the donation, then the stuff about his lawyer can’t be true (i.e. that he didn’t know about paying the bills at all) unless he knew there was a donation to his lawyer, but didn’t know about the bill that the donation paid. If all that shoots through, then I gather he may have lied to a lot of people, but I can’t find the statements that would be in contradiction…
Oh wait, there was a “NO” sign! If he thanked Glenn for a donation before he says he did (after his lawyer told him about it) then he’s definitely telling porkies. Hadn’t thought about that one…
Excuse my typed train-of-thought. I’d think the main thing, then, is whether he thanked Glenn for a donation he’s said he knows nothing about…
mp dont confuse straight talk with an unstructured rant. those who protest about being offended are either immature and cant handle the truth or seeking to distract and deflect any argument that they personally dont want to deal with. ok?
I agree with MP randal. Yesterday I had a snigger at some comment of d4j’s only to realise after that it was actually you. And re the post MP reffered to above I had a similar comment typed ready to ping out but deleted it. And now I see Iprent has joined the fray.
But do not fear – your one sentence wonders amuse. You sure though that you and d4j are not one and the same?
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The Government is investing $9 million to upgrade a significant community facility in Invercargill, creating economic stimulus and jobs, Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene have announced. The grant for Waihōpai Rūnaka Inc to make improvements to Murihiku Marae comes from the $3 billion set ...
[Opening comments, welcome and thank you to Auckland University etc] It is a great pleasure to be here this afternoon to celebrate such an historic occasion - the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. This is a moment many feared would never come, but ...
The Government is providing $3 million in one-off seed funding to help disabled people around New Zealand stay connected and access support in their communities, Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni announced today. The funding will allow disability service providers to develop digital and community-based solutions over the next two ...
Border workers in quarantine facilities will be offered voluntary daily COVID-19 saliva tests in addition to their regular weekly testing, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. This additional option will be rolled out at the Jet Park Quarantine facility in Auckland starting on Monday 25 January, and then to ...
The next steps in the Government’s ambitious firearms reform programme to include a three-month buy-back have been announced by Police Minister Poto Williams today. “The last buy-back and amnesty was unprecedented for New Zealand and was successful in collecting 60,297 firearms, modifying a further 5,630 firearms, and collecting 299,837 prohibited ...
Upscaling work already underway to restore two iconic ecosystems will deliver jobs and a lasting legacy, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. “The Jobs for Nature programme provides $1.25 billion over four years to offer employment opportunities for people whose livelihoods have been impacted by the COVID-19 recession. “Two new projects ...
The Government has released its Public Housing Plan 2021-2024 which outlines the intention of where 8,000 additional public and transitional housing places announced in Budget 2020, will go. “The Government is committed to continuing its public house build programme at pace and scale. The extra 8,000 homes – 6000 public ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. “I look forward to building a close relationship with President Biden and working with him on issues that matter to both our countries,” Jacinda Ardern said. “New Zealand ...
A major investment to tackle wilding pines in Mt Richmond will create jobs and help protect the area’s unique ecosystems, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor says. The Mt Richmond Forest Park has unique ecosystems developed on mineral-rich geology, including taonga plant species found nowhere else in the country. “These special plant ...
To further protect New Zealand from COVID-19, the Government is extending pre-departure testing to all passengers to New Zealand except from Australia, Antarctica and most Pacific Islands, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “The change will come into force for all flights arriving in New Zealand after 11:59pm (NZT) on Monday ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
Auckland writer Olivia Hayfield* explains how she resurrected 16th-century playwright Christopher Marlowe to star in her new novel, Sister to Sister. Olivia Hayfield is a pen name. Real name: Sue Copsey. When I’m planning my modern retellings of historical tales, I read widely on the characters and see who leaps out at ...
The Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine could be approved as early as next week, Marc Daalder reports Medsafe will be asked to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine against Covid-19 on February 2, the Government has announced. The Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (MAAC) is an independent panel that provides advice on some medicine approvals in ...
COMMENT:By Bryan Kramer, PNG’s Minister of Police who has defended Commissioner Manning’s appointment today in The National My last article, announcing that I intend to make a submission to the National Executive Council (NEC) to amend the Public Service regulation to no longer require the Commissioner of Police to ...
The Point of Order Trough Monitor was triggered today by the announcement of a $9 million handout for Southlanders – sorry, some Southlanders. The news came from the office of Grant Robertson who, as Minister of Finance, prefers to invest public money rather than give it away – especially when ...
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green.First published November 12, 2020.Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short ...
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake.Released today, the report is based on research ...
The Opposition starts the political year calling for emergency, temporary legislation to free up house building National leader Judith Collins has set five priorities for her party over the next three years - but excluded climate change, education and Crown-Māori relations. Giving her first 'state of the nation' speech as party ...
One of the biggest challenges facing the Ardern government is in public health. New Zealand may have escaped the pressures heaped on other health systems by the Covid-19 pandemic but its health service has had its problems, not least those exposed in the first report from Heather Simpson and her ...
New Zealand’s Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has revealed that 14 close contacts of the Northland community case have returned negative test results. Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative. In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”. However, New ...
Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the arbitrary and opaque experiments that Google is conducting with its search engine in Australia, with the consequence that many national news websites are no longer appearing in the search results seen by some users. The Australian, ABC, Australian Financial ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says councils can take stronger action against companies dumping contaminated waste water, even though they have identified loopholes in the law on fines. ...
Drag Race Down Under, part of the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise, is filming in New Zealand. In their own words, local drag talent share what drag means to them and how it might be impacted by the show.RuPaul’s Drag Race is, quite simply, a television phenomenon. Love it or ...
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers.Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She ...
Increased provisional tax thresholds, immediate low-value asset write offs and allowing the deferral of tax payments and use of money interest (UOMI) write offs were the most popular tax measures introduced by the Government to help businesses survive ...
The latest fleeing driver statistics show the numbers of incidents sky-rocketing out of control through 2020 with Police deciding the only tactic is to give up on chasing altogether, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The inconvenient truth is ...
With new revelations of the appalling racism behind Israel’s refusal to provide Covid-19 vaccines to 4.5 million Palestinians under its occupation and control, PSNA has renewed our call for the government to speak out alongside the United Nations ...
The Youth of NZ will be standing up for climate action once again, on January 26th outside of Parliament for School Strike 4 Climate NZ’s 100 Days 4 Action campaign rally. “COVID-19 may have stopped us in our tracks in the past. However, I tend ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, University of Western Australia Koalas are unique in the animal kingdom, living on a eucalyptus diet that would kill other creatures and drinking so little their name comes from the Dharug word gula, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By S. Anna Florin, Research fellow, University of Wollongong Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans survived various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. In a paper published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, we’ve tracked rainfall in northern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Binoy Kampmark, Senior Lecturer in Global Studies, Social Science & Planning, RMIT University Since 2005, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has been one of the most stable and enduring of political forces, both in Europe and on the global stage. During her 16 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Véronique Duché, A.R. Chisholm Professor of French, University of Melbourne In this series, writers pay tribute to fictional detectives on the page and on screen. When I first heard that Rowan Atkinson was to put on Maigret’s velvet-collared overcoat, I wondered ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Experts are calling for hotels with sub-par ventilation systems to no longer be used as managed isolation facilities as health officials investigate how a Northland woman became infected with Covid-19 while staying at the Pullman hotel, Rowan Quinn reports. ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 26, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nzOur Members make The Spinoff happen! Every dollar contributed directly funds our editorial team – click here to learn more about how you can support us ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions to be answered about case in the community, major companies flagrantly breaching wastewater consents, and Tenancy Tribunal decisions harming abuse survivors.As of this morning, we’re still waiting on some crucial information about the situation in Northland, after a person travelled ...
With democracy what now separates the US from its adversaries, Wellington can bet on more continuity than change in Washington’s hardline view of China. ...
We continue our week-long examination of writer Roderick Finlayson. Today: his daughter Kate on his doomed love for Poti Mita, whose family inspired him to write short stories about Māori life in the 1930s We all knew of Poti Mita and how important Pukehina was to Dad. He wanted ...
Sleepyhead is chopping and changing its ambitious plan to build a super-factory and a community of 1100 medium density houses on a block of farmland in the north Waikato. Sydney Turner set his grandsons Craig and Graeme to work on the factory floor, building mattresses. Now Craig and Graeme Turner own ...
Helen Petousis-Harris looks at the potential complications of vaccinating older New Zealanders - and how we should prepare Two weeks ago health authorities in Norway reported some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their Covid-19 vaccine. Are these deaths related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are ...
A change of plans for round-the-world single-handed sailor Elana Connor means she's helping Kiwi kids in foster care to go sailing - as she also seeks to 'demystify' the sport for women. Elana Connor wears a silver necklace engraved with the word “Fearlessness”. As she sails solo around the globe, it reminds her that ...
New Zealand rose to the occasion in its response to Covid-19. Will it do the same for climate change? Jack Santa Barbara looks ahead to the Climate Change Commission report. New Zealand’s management of the Covid pandemic clearly demonstrated the benefits of paying attention to the science and prioritising human wellbeing ...
Was Covid-19 and lockdown the catalyst for a new future for healthcare or did it just expose systemic inequity? In the latest of a series on the country's future infrastructure needs, Tim Murphy looks at how the long push to shift health's focus from hospitals to the community might have received a nudge ...
Not only is the New Zealand summer in danger of coming to a grinding halt, but we increase the risk that an almighty wreck might follow shortly afterwards. Here's what we can do, writes Dr Sarb Johal. While the rest of the world is wrestling with virulent new strains of the ...
For two decades, under both National and Labour governments, housing costs have risen far faster than wages. Here’s a horrific graph that shows by just how much.Last Thursday saw the first of what will no doubt be dozens of housing-related set pieces from Labour, wherein they announced 8,000 public and ...
The new Northland case has been linked to the South African strain of Covid-19, one of a number of new, more contagious Covid variants. Here’s how they emerge and why.Let’s start with the basics. The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for Covid-19 is a strand of RNA made ...
New Zealand’s richest citizen, Graeme Hart, has seen his fortune increase by NZ$3,494,333,333 since March 2020 – a sum equivalent to over half a million New Zealanders receiving a cheque for NZ$6,849 each, reveals a new analysis from Oxfam today. The New Zealand ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tauel Harper, Lecturer, Media and Communication, UWA, University of Western Australia With a vaccine rollout impending, key groups have backed calls for the Australian government to force social media platforms to share details about popular coronavirus misinformation. An open letter was put ...
Selling out ACT’s Waitangi Day State of the Nation Address is set to sell out again. If you’d like to start the political year right over brunch with fellow ACT supporters (Saturday 6 February 10am-12pm, Mt Eden), please buy your tickets ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kirkness, Postdoctoral research fellow, Macquarie University As government COVID updates have become a daily part of our lives over the past 12 months, so too has the sight of sign language interpreters on our screens. This has understandably had a huge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Dwyer, Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communications, University of Sydney Executives from Google and Facebook have told a Senate committee they are prepared to take drastic action if Australia’s news media bargaining code, which would force the internet giants to ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Hundreds of companies have dumped contaminants - like blood, fat, and toxic chemicals such as ammonia and sulphides - into sewers in breach of their trade waste consents over the past year, RNZ can reveal. Anusha Bradley reports. Frank ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Morag Kobez, Associate lecturer, Queensland University of Technology In this series, our writers explore how food shaped Australian history – and who we are today. The history of cheese in Australia has, until recent decades, been a rather tasteless affair. Not so ...
On the edge of the Mataura River, a disused paper mill is filled with thousands of bags of toxic waste. Locals want to find out who’s responsible for it – and they want it gone before disaster strikes.First published November 10, 2020.The Paper Mill is part of Frame, a series ...
At the Chorus Fibre Lab, José Barbosa peeked behind the curtain of the internet and found something beautiful and very, very fast. The human mind is a daily swarm of notions, speculations, ruminations, thoughts and otherwise base-level brain puffs. Just to get through the grind of survival, we’ve evolved to mentally ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. The Ministry of Health is confident the Northland community case came directly from the Pullman Hotel and there is no missing link. In a press conference this afternoon, Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield confirmed the strain of Covid in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Longden, Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Heat is more dangerous than the cold in most Australian regions. About 2% of deaths in Australia between 2006 and 2017 were associated with the heat, and the estimate increases to ...
Levin GP Glenn Colquhoun talks with books editor Catherine Woulfe about his new collection of poetry, Letters to Young People.Glenn Colquhoun is an acclaimed and accomplished poet. He has published four collections, including Playing God, in December 2002, which sold a massive 10,000 copies. He’s won a clutch of Montanas ...
Contrasting reactions to news of Grainne Moss’s resignation as Oranga Tamariki chief executive inevitably can be found in the blogosphere. Lindsay Dawson has recorded the ACT Party’s response to the resignation and hailed it as “spot on”. The statement was made in the name of Karen Chhour, described as a ...
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What’s it like to have your life governed by your gut? It’s crap, frankly.On my birthday last year I was given a bottle of fancy Aesop post-poo drops which clear the air after rigorous bowel activity – though on reflection, it may have been more of a gift for my ...
*This article first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. Negative tests results for two of the closest contacts of a woman who tested positive for Covid-19 after leaving managed isolation is a good sign, says Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins. Two of the closest contacts of a woman ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Dyer, Associate Professor, RMIT University At a dinner party, or in the schoolyard, the question of favourite colour frequently results in an answer of “blue”. Why is it that humans are so fond of blue? And why does it seem to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Megan Davis, Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous UNSW and Professor of Law, UNSW We are on the eve of the nation’s annual ritual of celebrating the arrivals, while not formally recognising the ancient peoples who were dispossessed. Each year the tensions spill over, rendering ...
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Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for January 25, keeping you up to date with the latest local and international news. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz7.40am: Two close contacts of new Covid case test negativeThe husband of the new Northland case of Covid-19 has tested negative for the virus, along with ...
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If you Labour guys weren’t so dangerous Steve your comment would be funny. It isn’t. Get back to work and stop posting on taxpayer time.
[lprent: Don’t make stupid comments. You have no idea where Steve works. On the same basis that you are using for assumptions I could tell you to stop sending in comments from the sewer, because that is obviously where you work. However I know you got that from a sewer – that technical idiot Whale – so I have more basis for my guess than you have for yours. ]
I was all like ‘metaphor’.
Is that meant to be English? I have no iudea what you mean!
strings… unannounced sharp right turn by a national mp… real life metaphor for what we could expect from a nat govt.
Whilst it is certainly not the worst mistake you’ve ever made, I think you’ll find that the “mini” is actually a VW Beetle. I thought you’d recognise the “people’s car”.
i was tootling thru the streets of a southern town when i saw a little red toyota with ruth dyson’s emblazonry on it. she was driving all over the road and not really appearing to know how to drive at all. it was very dangerous to the people that lived in that town. she in fact appeared to be perhaps drunk and in breach of the very laws she is responsible for. and i was like ‘metaphor’.
Oh dear – it appears Owen Glenn has just dropped dear Winston in it !
Worst metaphor I can recall reading, vto. Perhaps you should just say what you think’s really going on instead of trying to dress it up.
Darren. that’s not the best you can do is it?
written on my own time and i’m never on taxpayer time. One could ask whose time you are writing on, but it’s noone’s business and you should behave the same way to others.
hs. interesting.. nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations, of course, but i wonder what he said to parliament regarding the glenn donation – if he mislead parliament, that would be grounds for sacking.
mr pillot, it wasnt that bad was it? quite apt given the plenty breaches that go on with labour folk (surely I dont need to list them).
“if he mislead parliament, that would be grounds for sacking.”
Well the Dalziel precedent is that if you mislead the public you can expect Clark to fire you. And rightly so. It is now untenable that Winston states he did not know about a donation when he in fact sought it.
Yeah vto, but a metaphor it wasn’t!
… and HC is stalled at the lights.
Don’t bother answering either – this is perfectly acceptable, not required to, nothing in it.
But put Key in the same position, it would be a scandal, there would be a secret agenda, etc etc.
You could even get me to write the odd post now and then seeing how predictable some of the lines are becoming (notwithstanding the convention that this is the collective voice of individuals just in case I stir up the mod again).
“hs. interesting.. nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations”
Still standing behind Winnie I see Steve.
He has just been outed as lying not only in the house but to the NZ public.
But hey he props the labour Govt so that’s OK cause its not illegal. Pathetic.
Dave simple – election dates should be set in legislation – third Saturday of October in the appropriate year or something similar.
SP
So in your opinion Winston has been telling the truth but Owen Glenn is lying, Bob Jones is lying, Rodney Hide is lying etc etc – the man is bringing parliament into even more disrepute than it’s presently held.
If he was a Labour minister he’d be gone – the only reason he’s still there is he’s needed for the ETS.
Both Labour and National are gutless to still be courting this charlatan.
For months now, I’ve been looking at Ligherstandard’s comments and soliciting a clear or even mildly interesting point but have noooo idea if anyone’s ever found one…..and I’m like, metaphor, man….
hs. i didn’t say that peters is telling the truth and the rest are lyin.. don’t put words in my mouth if you want to be welcome here.
mike: SP didn’t support or not support Winston. What he said was that it was going to be a problem for Winston if he’d mislead parliament.
Now a comment on your attitude. It is only in your lexicon that you have to attack without evidence (ie mad dog syndrome) on every occasion. In your warped thinking waiting for enough evidence to form a judgement is ‘support’. You are not just wrong, but I’d have to say that your attitude is bloody dangerous. It is the attitude of the fuckwits who lead lynch mobs.
Peters has an explanation in Stuff, but this is starting to look more murky than prior information to me.
I hope he was watching out for pedestrians. I nearly got hit by a sharp turning car in Kelburn the other day.
Ah Yes AK the person who extrapolates a survey of six health systems in which NZ comes third equal with Australia to NZ having the 2nd best health system in the world.
I suppose you’ll be delighted that we have a Foreign Minister that has repeatedly misled both parliament and the public ?
Not trying to threadjack but to continue the Peters line, I’m involved in the racing industry and hopefully the industry leaders can separate themselves from what is becoming a huge political liability.
What’s the car metaphor for that … caught speeding in stolen car without a WOF?
SP
If he misled parliament ……… are you trying to be funny ?
Ban me if you want but this blog has been pretty much in isolation with it’s ongoing refusal to call Winston for what he is.
[lprent: You mean that the posters here prefer to have some kind of evidence and are not prone to joining lynch mobs at the drop of a hat? In case you hadn’t noticed this is quite a distinct site. We use our brains more frequently than some other sites.
I don’t know about the others, but I’ve seen Winston in action before. I need to see overwhelming evidence because the guy always has a hidden edge. In the meantime he keeps getting the publicity he needs. ]
When is Helen calling the snap election. She is now a leader of a corrupt reigime. Did OG drop Labour in it as well saying it was thanks for supporting Labour in forming the govt?
See the speaker is showing her communist ideals in suppressing Rodney Hide yesterday.
[lprent: probable troll]
What was that HS?
Are you reminding us yet again that our health system ranks third in the world (second last time) at a third of the cost per capita of the private US system (which ranked last) on a highly respected international survey which all those “NZ and its health system sucks” tory campaigners can find by googling Commonwealth Fund?
You are?
Good man.
So I was like you know and he was like no really and I was like yeah and he was like really metaphoric and I well you know blah blah blah
Steve
This is the closest I can find to what you put up as a piece of English Prose. It’s from a spoof on Valley Speak in California, regarded generally as an example of how not to communicate!
If what you actually meant was “I thought to my self ‘wow, is that a metaphor or not!’ ” then perhaps you would grace the English language with those words rather than slang from a foreign country.
Or is that what the taught you in English classes in our advanced state education system? (Sarcasm, in case you took it seriously!)
nothing illegal or unusual in a politican seeking donations
Actually, under the old legislation, wouldn’t it have been illegal for Peters to have known the source of an “anonymous” donation? I suspect this is why Peters has specifically addressed the “who did the soliciting” question in his response.
>
>>But put Key in the same position, it would be a scandal, there would be a secret agenda, etc etc.
Indeed, secret agenda does seem to be a common phrase in the Labour Party’s vocabulary. However, the interesting thing to me is that I cannot find a single policy in their platform for re-election so far. Perhaps that’s the real secret?
“In your warped thinking waiting for enough evidence to form a judgement is ‘support'”
Imprent – do you not think there is enough evidence by now of Winston intentionally misleading everybody (including HC) on this matter
Are you just a tad titchy because it looks as though OG has once again landed labour in a pile of shite this close to the election?
strings. i assure you my choice of vocab in the post was intentional and purely for effect.
Hey, Steve, what does the faded yellow Mini represent?
a pussy extension….
[lprent: the point to that comment was ????]
AK
3rd equal out of six does not equate to 2nd best in the world you buffoon.
Lynn
Poppycock the posters here have convinced themselves of far worse things about the National party on far less evidence than there is of Winston Peters misleading the public and parliament.
I am going for: the public’s (faded) faith in the political process.
Actually its a gold coloured paint, which tends to look horrible when you cover it in gold stickers. I wonder if he has got authorisation on it yet? he hadnt last time i saw it, a couple of months back.
hs:
Not quite. If you read posts carefully (as I do), you’ll find that the posters seldom make absolutist statements.
What they do is to define an interpretation or an opinion based on the available evidence. What they don’t do is state what *must* happen. I have no doubt that you could find a few cases where an absolutist position has been taken, but it isn’t often.
The reason is because the posters here are aware of the primary dictum of politics – that you seldom know the whole story. Therefore everything is in a field of grey and the best you can do is to cautiously venture an opinion.
However I’d have to say that the commentators do sometimes take absolutist positions on posts, often without fully reading them (IMO).
Randal… WTF !?
mike:
No. The reasons are
1. We do not know what Winston said to HC
2. Winston hasn’t fully replied to what Owen has said. What he has said requires support.
3. Winston has pulled things out of the hat far too often for me to make early judgements.
4. Anyone with any sense reserves judgements. Look at the Brian Henry stuff last week for why.
In my opinion, Owen Glenn has always acted with the utmost of integrity and always done things above board. That is in stark contrast with the legal (but IMO morally bankrupt devices) like the Waitemata Trust or the other anonymous trusts used so extensively by Act and the Nats.
It has bugger all to do with my favourite party, except in the minds of the terminally conspiracy obsessed. What annoys me is people making premature judgements, and then attacking posters for not agreeing or trying to tell them what they should say.
As you know – that always makes me tetchy and more than usually sarcastic.
Billy. franks is a former ACT MP – their colour is bright yellow. Now he’s National… and he drives a faded yellow car, its like he’s taking the piss out of himself
In the absence of a specific thread about developments re Winson and Glenn, all we know is:
1. what Winston said
2. what Glenn said
3. what Winston said is not what Glenn said
By SP’s logic and many others on this (at least according to r0b) political authority one Nat saying something *perceived* to be different to a policy constituted a scandal.
So given there is no perception of disagreement but absolute disagreement, surely this constitutes a scandal of Biblical proportions?
[lprent: Maybe. Personally I’d wait for more developments before forming an opinion. But I’d suggest that you read the About and Policy – this site doesn’t claim to be a general political blog site. It is a left-leaning broad labour movement blog site that specialises in opinion and commentary – it isn’t a news site.
What NZF gets up to isn’t really that interesting to a left-leaning political blog. That is why the posts about NZF are few and far between. A post will get written when someone can be bothered and there is enough info. ]
lprent,
You mean that the posters here prefer to have some kind of evidence and are not prone to joining lynch mobs at the drop of a hat?
I’ll join HS in calling that nonsense — or poppycock in his words.
[lprent: Well you can have your opinion….. I have mine.]
Frank’s car is a metallic gold VW Beetle are you sure that you actually saw his car and not just some random faded yellow mini?
[lprent: Well you can have your opinion….. I have mine.]
Yup. Aren’t blogs wonderful….
and he drives a faded yellow car, its like he’s taking the piss out of himself
Ah. That’ll be what randal meant then: a “pissy extraction” rather than a “pussy extension”. (pity – the latter sounded like a rather intriguing psycho-sociological observation on our regular tory commenters….do elaborate if I’ve misinterpreted, randal… I was thinking along the lines of blow-up dolls so inflated with hot air that they invert in a grotesque fashion….no?…ok then)
Lyn
I agree I was pushing the envelope and accept your comments as fair as well.
My point – which I think is completely valid – is that by SP’s definition of a scandal, this is also a scandal. If this isn’t a scandal then you can see where I’m heading. In other words, the post wasn’t about NZF itself but the way in which other events involving the Nats have been spun as a scandal.
Hence my post was not meant to derail discussion but to refocus attention on the scandal conspiracy which SP has been spinning for some time.
I acknowledge the fact too you have not over-reacted to my post and have more than tolerated my views.
Cheers
D
I’m with HS and Scribe..
The hysteria on this site over tapercrap, Lockwoods “dead fish swallowing” (Greens ETS anyone?) meaning ‘secwet agenda’ etc all based on piss all evidence, compared to the idea that wrt Winston Bjeikle-Peterson you require some harder evidence than OG, Bob Jones and Rodney Hide all in diametric opposition, simply beggars belief.
Does nobody here ever try to put objectivity glasses on? Or apply the same standards across the political spectrum.
I think you ruin this site yourselves through being so extremely partisan. HS had it right when he said… “Poppycock the posters here have convinced themselves of far worse things about the National party on far less evidence than there is of Winston Peters misleading the public and parliament.”
vto: Read the About. This site makes no bones about being partisan or for that matter being “objective”. It is left-leaning and looks to the labour movement for inspiration.
However it isn’t particularly partisan for a single party. Although
some of its participants (like me) are. But I don’t write many posts either. Most of the posters don’t really express an affiliation.
What they do have in common is to distrust the political right, just as the labour movement has had to do over the last century or so.
The key problem is that HS said “convinced”. That is incorrect. What the posters do is present the unflattering (to the right) interpretation of events.
The reason for that is historical. Over the last couple of centuries that has been the most effective way to deal with the right. If you are not charitable in your assumptions about the motivations and tactics of the right – then you are probably correct.
It doesn’t mean that we’re convinced of its veracity, it is just a good working assumption based on past behaviour. Think 2005 and revelations in The Hollow Men – that is the norm. Obviously the public think so as well – those polls about if they trust the Nat’s are quite interesting.
Iprent, we used to have a mate ‘Fred’ who exaggerated everything so much we joked that we always had to allow a Fred-factor in his tales.
That is also, following your post, the case here and so we should all allow a Standard-factor for exaggeration and distance from reality and truth.
And so instantly we should, with the most recent topic’s (Cullen on Nat apologies) reference to ‘staying on message’ meaning ‘not telling the truth’, deduct a Standard-factor for exaggeration and distance from reality and truth. I estimate Standard-factor here to be 100%.
ak you are getting warm but not close enough. puss as in the stuff that exudes from scabrous sores and not a prurient psychosexual melodrama for pork pie wannabees!
[lprent: Should I post a d4j warning on your comments?]
vto. you should consume any political material with a critical mind.
Randal has truly hit d4j status.
I’m curious as to what’s really got people’s ire up with winnie. truth be told I pay him little attention, other than thinking he’s been a good foreign minister as of late.
So, what’s up? He’s said that he didn’t solicit a donation to Ms Clark and to Parliament, apparently (I can’t find any real info on that, anyone help?), and now Glenn has said that’s not true.
Then there’s a question as to whether he knew about it, (as he must have to have thanked Glenn for it, the dates are in question) which probably calls into question whether this agreement with his lawyer was as confidential as he purports.
So, without asking for a tirade – what is it? Is there something really wrong here? As I see it, if he knew about the donation, then the stuff about his lawyer can’t be true (i.e. that he didn’t know about paying the bills at all) unless he knew there was a donation to his lawyer, but didn’t know about the bill that the donation paid. If all that shoots through, then I gather he may have lied to a lot of people, but I can’t find the statements that would be in contradiction…
Oh wait, there was a “NO” sign! If he thanked Glenn for a donation before he says he did (after his lawyer told him about it) then he’s definitely telling porkies. Hadn’t thought about that one…
Excuse my typed train-of-thought. I’d think the main thing, then, is whether he thanked Glenn for a donation he’s said he knows nothing about…
mp dont confuse straight talk with an unstructured rant. those who protest about being offended are either immature and cant handle the truth or seeking to distract and deflect any argument that they personally dont want to deal with. ok?
It seems I have enough trouble following my own train of thought on occassion, let alone yours…
well keep it to yourself then
Nothing wrong with wanting to understand – some being more of a challenge than others.
I agree with MP randal. Yesterday I had a snigger at some comment of d4j’s only to realise after that it was actually you. And re the post MP reffered to above I had a similar comment typed ready to ping out but deleted it. And now I see Iprent has joined the fray.
But do not fear – your one sentence wonders amuse. You sure though that you and d4j are not one and the same?
I dont care what you think because if this is all you can do it has nothing to do with ratiocination whatsoever
Hey didn’t I order a cheeseburger?
how much cheese dude?