The Trevor and Shearer thing! God give us patience!
Shearer (correctly) complains that he should be consulted on the selection of a New Speaker.
Then Shearer back’s Trevor’s attempt to become speaker by the ruse of hoping the other side are not there to vote because they are not aware he is running.
Let us for one moment imagine Trevor had won via this childish ruse. What message about Labour would it have sent to country?
That we are clever dicks who can sneak around procedure?
That we say on thing and do the opposite?
That we can win and bugger the consequences?
We have seen in these pages some of Trevor’s proxies and Mike Smith put forward procedural reasons why the Leadership Selection should not go the the Members and Unions. We will see more of this nonsense.
Stupid is what stupid does. What little credibility Trevor had has now been flushed away. And this man is our Leader’s Chief Strategist!
No wonder we can’t budge our poll number despite Key and his mob’s antics.
It’s certainly symptomatic of a serious disconnect.
It reminds me of when the ministerial “perks” were revealed to the public. The leadership team (and many on here) never really ‘got’ what those receipts revealed about the Labour Party to the public, and the damage done.
They never got that Labour is supposed to be different. Labour ministers living ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous, feeling completely entitled, endlessly explaining and whining and feeling aggrieved that National doing the same weren’t getting anywhere near the stick for it. Well newsflash, National troughers were being completely true to their actual values, and everyone knew it. Labour was and is supposed to be representing something different. Something better actually.
” Labour was and is supposed to be representing something different. Something better actually”
Spot on, Just Saying. Certainly “symptomatic”!
There is a small group that just does not get it. Their removal is critical for the party to get out of the rut is is in. Roll on a member and union engagement in the leadership selection. Only that “hui” will lance the boil.
My bog-Irish Gran born into what was little more than a mud hut in County Clare bless Her soul admonished me as a child never to speak ill of the dead,
So i wont, but believe me i have to overcome some strong internal urges to stay true to what She taught me…
I was taught that as well but I’ve never really understood why. If some one was an arsehole then obviously it would be better to accept that truth than to try to hide from it.
After Jock Hobbs died, everyone went on about how he was such a great rugby player, blah blah blah. Narry a mention of his shady business dealings, from wikipedia:
He was also a director of finance company Strategic Finance, which was placed in receivership in March 2010. The Financial Markets Authority is investigating the records of this company.[4] The Financial Markets Authority stopped its probe into Mr Hobbs role after medical information provided on behalf of Mr Hobbs disclosed the extent of his illness; the investigation into other living parties involved with Strategic Finance continues.
What a hypocrite Lanthanide, you are so quick to correct people here yet have no trouble slandering someone else ‘now dead’ with unsubstantiated allegations.
Being under investigation doesn’t happen to just anyone, you know. A lot of people lost money by investing in the company he was a director of.
Did he have any personal culpability? Looks like we’ll never know for sure, since they called off the investigation in his dealings, although it continues for the other directors.
Compare the complete lack of mention of this about Jock Hobbs with the 4-minute recap I saw on Holmes last night, where they played the audio of him calling Kofi Annan a cheeky darkie. The treatment of Holmes was balanced, the treatment of Jock was not.
“Being under investigation doesn’t happen to just anyone, you know.”
There you go again, what’s that meant to mean? if your under investigation your guilty? or must be you know?
All I know is your slandering a dead man that can no longer defend himself, throwing stones at people that can’t defend themselves is cowardly.
And talking about Balance in the media is also a joke, who pays the medias wages? The marketers/advertisers thats who, what do they want? Consumers to buy their products, but first they need there attention, how do they get there attention. Sensationalism not balance.
It’s a timing thing, I reckon. Mostly because the family needs a bit of time to grieve for the person they loved before having people start up with the negative.
Ah, in the small closed village atmosphere of my Gran’s time word of what you had said would quickly spread and you would be in danger of making enemies among the family of the deceased where befor you only had friends,
My Gran was full of interesting takes on historical events which She would impart freely after a few gins in Her thickest of Irish accents,
Included among these pearls of wisdom was Her swearing oaths that the current Royal family has in it’s fairly recent gene pool the off-spring born from the loins of an Irish chamber maid, brought into such ‘service’ because a particular Queen seemed unable to deliver to the King a son,
Who would have thunk it, the descendants of an Irish ‘piss-pot emptier’ sitting on the Royal throne of all the Britt’s…
Ah, in the small closed village atmosphere of my Gran’s time word of what you had said would quickly spread and you would be in danger of making enemies among the family of the deceased where befor you only had friends,
Dunno why. I would have said exactly the same thing before they died. And that is the point: Why say something different after they died? That just comes across as dishonest and craven.
LOLZ luckily you didn’t come across the old girl in Her prime then, according to my Mother (who had first hand experience) the Gran could and did brawl like a man and would happily go toe to toe with anyone, insinuating that She was craven or dishonest to Her face would have been to run the risk of Her inflicting some serious damage to your’s…
Well in my initial comment above, I certainly didn’t contradict anything I have said or thought previously about Holmes. I think there is a time for criticism, and right now is the time for his friends and family.
s I get older, I am very aware of more and more people dying who are younger than me, – Holmes was a fraction younger than me. It kind of shocks me, and makes me feel sad when people go relatively young (Steve Jobs, Whitney Houston, various teenagers killed in car crashes, over doses, natural disasters, etc.)
It also reminds me we all live under a death sentence.
For a public personality or achiever who I respected and valued, I would have been more likely to write a post commemorating their life, rather than just express condolences. Very often, it is what is not said that is significant.
“I was taught that as well but I’ve never really understood why.”
Exactly! To me, it’s just hypocrisy. It was my Scottish mother who taught me the same, but her hypocrisy made me vomit at my father’s funeral – “No, we never had a cross word” she said in a syrupy voice. I think everyone present knew differently.
Paul Holmes was not a great guy. I am sorry that he’s dead at such a young age, but that doesn’t suddenly make him a plaster saint.
With Labour’s leadership vote due to happen on Monday, I’ve been thinking about writing to my local MP. I realise this is a touchy subject, and I don’t want my lobbying to be counter-productive, so it will need to be customised. I find it all the more difficult knowing that he and his colleagues consider people like me to be extremist nutters, and this will colour his reception of my words.
When I wrote to him previously on another matter, his first response was to ignore me. I recently reread that whole correspondance with a view to doing better in the future. Although by email number three he was no longer simply trying to fob me off, I came away from reviewing the emails feeling angry that it was so hard to engage him in the first place. My original (ignored) email was polite, self-disclosing, and heart felt. I told him how I had been hurt by the issue at hand. He never should have ignored it, and I wonder how I could have gotten him to listen – not necessarily agree, but to hear me out. It feels a little bit like trying to communicate with a family member who has joined a closed cult, in the sense that having closed ranks against people like me, any effort I make could be so easily elicit a counterproductive defensive rearguard re-action.
just saying – without going into all the details I have every reason to empathise with your personal and painful experience. It is these so-called “little matters” that really count in the end.
john key told Shearer to put a bell on Cunliffe so he can hear him coming(much mirth from the girls and boys in blue) methinks he should do the same to s joyce who seems to be making himself over.Less condescension,less snarling,perhaps a hair style change(hard to tell that one but it looks a little different) maybe lost a little weight,engaging in conversation on radio instead of shooting down etc. Dunno,he just seems different.Going for the statesman persona? Listen for the bell key!
Gotta agree with you Chris, i thought after seeing Joyce on tv that he had softened his
know all attitude and intimidating ways to one of smoking a peace pipe elequently in so
far as actually listening to what people say with regards to the happless novapay saga.
I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of those idiots inside the nact govt that signed it off,
knowing full well it was a broken system and a dog,according to Joyce.
The ministers that signed it off should pay for the cost of fixing it or establishing a new system,deduct their salaries,or fire them.
Joyce next Nact leader then ?
yep, is my guess. I reckon sometime this year or early next, to try and reinvigorate the nats before the next election. They’re sinking and they need a flotation device.
Nats going to feel some real pain soon re Novopay the twitasphere is digesting the infodump released today. Alas i feel Mr Key will swear in public soon and poof its all gone…
Many murderers do not serve out their sentence, dying in
prison, many do not lose all kin, many do not lose
all wealth, many do not lose the opportunity to have
kids when young, but David Bain has lost all that,
and more, publicity will dog him for the rest of his
life, but worse, he was also found NOT GUILTY.
Key panders to the nastiness in all of us, Key is making
us a nastier nation, Key has no conscience. The principle
is clear, a civil standard does not attract a prison sentence.
Justice Binnie declare David Bain innocent on balance.
Justice Minister has obviously allowed her own political
needs to infer in my opinion, and the opinion of many.
Even Rodney Hide points out 12 errors in the Police
collection of evidence. The idea that any freedom loving
country could jail someone for that long, without a fail trial,
frustrate in their appeals, and now hounded even more some
modest compensation – has Key seen the prices of housing!!!
want to play. Blind Mans’ Bluff mice
read ’em and weep around those deckchairs
Magogs and Golgothas cross swords once more
earwigs around The Faraway Tree
thread the Stradavarian bow
beneath those Nikau charms of doubtful sounds
know our Peking pedigree. Hells Bells.suite
The Judge is standing at the door;
that’s a guarantee. No no no Leppard
He’s a pinball Wizard, there has to be a trick
I have a question for the more financially literate out there. Is the value of the New Zealand dollar based on the amount of currency in circulation OR the amount of currency in total? eg: hypothetically $1 Billion in circulation, OR $500 million in circulation + $500 million in reserve.
If it is the 500 + 500 version, what is to stop the government printing money to drive the value down, but not putting it into circulation?
NB the value of the NZD is not overly driven by supply, it is driven mostly by speculative expectations and (non trade) demand.
Forgive my ignorance, but how will not putting the currency in circulation make any impact on the value of the currency?
It’s a psychology thing – if people know that a flood of supply might be released shortly, it will suppress pricing.
Like the Government announcing an immediate build of 100,000 houses. House prices can be suppressed before earth for the 1st house is even broken. (As long as the build announcement is credible of course).
Ok, the NZ$ is based upon our exports which have now taken the place of gold as the standard,one of it’s problems is that as a small currency it is not pegged to the major currencies of the major economies a situation brought about by Sir(spit)Roger Douglas in all His Neo-Liberal wisdom,(none evident),
The NZ$ is thus a free floating dollar which besides being valued as per what the link above says is also valued by ‘demand’, so, as most of what we export is sold into the international markets on the basis of US$,s to bring this money back to New Zealand it must be then converted to NZ$,s,
In step the international Banksters who when demand for NZ produce goes up and prices of that produce rise have already got in first and bought up NZ$,s and as demand for them increases the price NZ producers must pay to convert US$,s to NZ$,s rises, thus the international banking cartels ‘clip the ticket’ of all our exports via the free floating NZ$,
The same banking cartels, as much of this trade in produce is bought and sold on ‘forward contracts’ also get to play with such produce on the demand side by simply bidding up the price of such produce six months or a year ahead of it’s actual production such cartels then have the inside knowledge of what the demand for the NZ$ will be in 12 months time and only need wait for a dip in the price of the NZ$,s by as little as 1 cent to make millions of dollars from both the actual purchase of future production and by purchasing the right amount of NZ$,s well ahead of the actual production having taken place,
The NZ$ is hence the 10th most traded currency of all the worlds currencies and there seems to be only 2 solutions apparent, the first being to ‘fix’ the value of the NZ$ against the worlds major currencies, or, print and spend into the local NZ economy amounts of money which gradually increase the supply of NZ$,s by producing assets such as housing that remain in NZ as opposed to attempting to produce even more product for sale on the international markets which would simply lead to more of the same,
Such dilution of the NZ$ could easily be accomplished by simply diluting the NZ$ by the spending of printed monies into the NZ economy at such a rate so as to hold inflation within the Reserve Banks inflationary target band of 1 to 3% inflation in any given year, not rocket science for the bean counters….
not wanting to speak ill of dead cows yet when I grazed the cheapest supermarket this week for some protein, the cheapest beef that was unprocessed (other than mince) was stir-fry at 19-something dollars a freakin kilo: I went with free range eggs, 3 meals from a dozen!
Interesting. My boss and his wife have just come back from a holiday in Vanuatu where one of their biggest exports is beef. Now, we constantly get lectured how we must ‘pay the international price’ for things like dairy products and met, so I was wondering just how my boss got away with paying $19/kg for fillet steak?
Not discounted. Normal supermarket price.
In fact, ALL the meat was well below the prices we pay here in NZ.
LOLZ you been robbed bro, Pack and Slave where i did the weekly on Wednesday had 1.1KG of corned beef for $6.80 and along with that i got a 500gram prime beef rolled roast for 11 bucks,
That’s about the day i listened to the bloke from the Fed say that farmers in Canterbury and the East coast of the North Island were de-stocking in the face of drought conditions,
ill spoken of dead cows seems to be wherever you are uncalled for wishing the same fate upon the owners of said market would seem to be more to the point…
Welcome, just as a afterthought, the scale of the field upon which this little money go round is played is easily ‘seen’ when we consider that the total export market is some 40 billion dollars a year,
I havn’t got the figures for current values/volumes of dairy products on hand but even if that were half of total exports you can then see how easy for the banking cartels it is to insinuate themselves into the middle of the equation to make a buck from essentially doing nothing,
Just one of them Goldman Saches (sacks of gold man) has a reported 100 billion languishing in the tank in the basement on any given day…
When you say “value of the NZ dollar” do you mean locally or in relation to other currencies. A dollar will always be worth a dollar locally, but how much you can buy with that dollar will depend on inflation. However the value in terms of other currencies, or the3 “exchange rate” depends on the supply and demand for NZ dollars and may bear no relation to its local value.
Well since the vote hasn’t actually been held yet claims of a 100% vote are of course speculative.
Nevertheless, the secret ballot held after Conference last year gave Shearer 100% support (how did that number get out?), and nothing dramatic has changed since then.
Its because blubber boy pads his numbers with guns, and dirty girls , and bullshit stories about BK, in the search engines. Most normal people run screaming for the shower, after reading one page of his vitriol, and hate mongering.
so why do you have to tout and linkwhore for him?
Methinks you doth protest to much.
Best case, the tory blogsites are indeed using stats consistent with reality, but you have such low self esteem you need to wander of here and swing your dick around.
Worst case, the stats are full of shit or comparing the popularity of actual debate with tory tripe.
Best case, the tory blogsites are indeed using stats consistent with reality, but you have such low self esteem you need to wander of here and swing your dick around.
– Jealousy will get you nowhere
Worst case, the stats are full of shit or comparing the popularity of actual debate with tory tripe
-There seems to be something about lefties and not accepting poll results if they go against them…
Just pointing out that people who have a low level of self-esteem sometimes compensate by gloating about a perceived superiority over others.
Going “ha ha, we’re on the winning team” at kiwiblog would be one thing. Coming here suggests that we’re not the only people you’re trying to prove a point to.
“like the Right have 5x the page views of The Standard.”
Maybe it’s because The Standard is so good at driving people away! (I am back for the 1st time in 5 months, since QoT banned me temporarily. I discovered then how much more peaceful I felt without the daily nastiness here.)
Now I am back, I am not staying!
It’s as if no time has passed – everyone still hates Shearer, and everyone is still so relentlessly middle class.
Please don’t lie, Vicky. You are specifically banned from my posts only. You were banned for the sum total of a week by lprent back in November for posting a series of childish comments on my posts.
I’m guessing WhaleSpew gets so many clicks because it puts everything in very simple terms, offers absolutely no analysis, and makes anyone who posts more than three consecutive words feel like a mental giant. His contributions are all cut and paste, with a bit of gun porn thrown in, and some crap now and then about how tough he is. Usage of insults like “cocksmoker” also goes down well with his audience, as do calls to be tougher on crims, bring back the death sentence, and calling anyone he disagrees with a “dud root”. His political philosophy is about as sophisticated as Forrest Gump’s, except that in his case the “wisdom” comes from daddy. In fact, he reminds a lot of a Forrest Gump who took up eating instead of running. In short, it’s a place for keyboard warriors to air their prejudices now that they might get called on it in wider society. It’s not as easy to spout off about mowrees, queers, dykes, and boongers in public bars as it used to be, and thank Cloacina for that.
The Standard, on the other hand, has some very thoughtful and well constructed posts, with not much cutting and pasting at all. Even though most of the posters here are a bit to my right, I can always make sense of what they post and appreciate the thought that’s gone into their contribution. Then there are Chris73 and King Kong, probably both dud roots and/or cocksmokers, to put it in language they’d understand.
I suspect it is simply because we don’t bother just pushing pages and especially images to overseas audiences. We have a almost entirely and steadily growing NZ audience of humans.
I just find it curious that WO got about 800k page views in December, and then suddenly in the slowest month in the year; Jan; he gets a 20% increase? FFS the humans in NZ are somnolent f most of the month and barely near a computer.
It could happen I guess if you spent time pushing stuff on Digg or something similar to an overseas audience. But who could really be bothered pushing NZ politics though the SEO
I suppose WO is more concerned with pushing the advertising revenue than anything else. By it is meaningless otherwise.
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Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Morris, Associate Professor and Director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School, Macquarie University Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock Foreign interference in Australian democracy poses a growing risk to our national sovereignty. It refers to coercive, corrupt or ...
A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
Protesting the removal of bins by leaving piles of your dog’s shit for others to deal with doesn’t make you a hero – it’s precious and entitled behaviour. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve stood on the shoreline of Auckland’s Cheltenham beach, desperately trying to scoop increasingly liquid dog shit ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a burnt-out corporate escapee explains how she gets by ‘working as little as possible’. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 31 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Contractor in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney Albert Russ / Shutterstock The icebreaker of many a barbeque conversation is something like “what do you do for a crust?” “I teach chemistry at university,” is what we usually reply. Then silence. Our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asher Flynn, Associate Professor of Criminology, Monash University Shutterstock Sexual harassment is often considered to be a person-to-person act, but new research shows Australians are also experiencing and perpetrating workplace harassment in large numbers through technology. Our latest study shows one ...
A petition signed by more than 16,500 people, demanding the government take stronger action to halt the genocide of Palestinians by the State of Israel, is being presented to the House of Representatives today by Hon Phil Twyford. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University jenmartin/Shutterstock April has been a bad month for the Australian environment. The Great Barrier Reef was hit, yet again, by intense coral bleaching. And Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek delayed ...
Winston Peters might not give a ‘rat’s derriere’ about last night’s poll, but it revealed the unusual absence of a honeymoon period and little payoff for the government’s action plan approach, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco de Jong, Lecturer, Law School, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Details released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Official Information Act reveal New Zealand officials have been considering involvement in AUKUS from the outset. ...
The government's treatment of Māori raised eyebrows, with countries saying New Zealand needed to do more to reduce health, education and justice inequities. ...
The age of criminal responsibility was one of numerous human rights issues raised during Aotearoa New Zealand’s UPR. Other key themes were racism and discrimination, the disproportionate representation of Māori in prison, and to uphold the UN Declaration ...
In a sitdown interview ahead of his final day at Parliament this week, the former Green Party co-leader tells RNZ about his lowest point during 2017's rough election campaign. ...
Is the fringe radio station really in a financial crisis, or is it just running a hyped-up donation drive? Fringe internet radio station Reality Check Radio was launched by the anti-vaccine mandates group Voices for Freedom in March 2023. For the next year, it undertook probably the most aggressive promotional ...
Above the Fold: On Monday, the biggest Māori screen production company faced down the biggest funder of Māori content at the High Court. It was an incredibly tense moment – then, just as quickly, it resolved. Duncan Greive breaks down a strange day in the screen sector.Yesterday morning, Māori ...
He won everything and he earned a knighthood and he was a senior literary figure to the point that he was a living monument to himself until his death in the weekend at 86, but there was something about Vincent O’Sullivan that flew under the radar, that was independent and ...
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The Trevor and Shearer thing! God give us patience!
Shearer (correctly) complains that he should be consulted on the selection of a New Speaker.
Then Shearer back’s Trevor’s attempt to become speaker by the ruse of hoping the other side are not there to vote because they are not aware he is running.
Let us for one moment imagine Trevor had won via this childish ruse. What message about Labour would it have sent to country?
That we are clever dicks who can sneak around procedure?
That we say on thing and do the opposite?
That we can win and bugger the consequences?
We have seen in these pages some of Trevor’s proxies and Mike Smith put forward procedural reasons why the Leadership Selection should not go the the Members and Unions. We will see more of this nonsense.
Stupid is what stupid does. What little credibility Trevor had has now been flushed away. And this man is our Leader’s Chief Strategist!
No wonder we can’t budge our poll number despite Key and his mob’s antics.
It’s certainly symptomatic of a serious disconnect.
It reminds me of when the ministerial “perks” were revealed to the public. The leadership team (and many on here) never really ‘got’ what those receipts revealed about the Labour Party to the public, and the damage done.
They never got that Labour is supposed to be different. Labour ministers living ‘lifestyles of the rich and famous, feeling completely entitled, endlessly explaining and whining and feeling aggrieved that National doing the same weren’t getting anywhere near the stick for it. Well newsflash, National troughers were being completely true to their actual values, and everyone knew it. Labour was and is supposed to be representing something different. Something better actually.
Crikey
http://www.smh.com.au/world/just-217-left-in-the-bank-as-zimbabwe-faces-crisis-20130131-2dnnv.html
Now that really is a crooked ruling elite.
That’s interesting, coz it seems Mugabe himself may be worth over $1B….seems someone has been taking from the country’s till?
http://www.newstimeafrica.com/archives/22422
And I read somewhere else that Mugabe and the Chinese are co-operating in a hundred billion dollar diamond mine in Zimbabwe. Where’s the moolah going?
Funny, I read Mugabe and the Chinese had developed a multi-hundred billion dollar diamond mine.
Where’s all the money?
hawaii?
” Labour was and is supposed to be representing something different. Something better actually”
Spot on, Just Saying. Certainly “symptomatic”!
There is a small group that just does not get it. Their removal is critical for the party to get out of the rut is is in. Roll on a member and union engagement in the leadership selection. Only that “hui” will lance the boil.
Sir Paul Holmes; gone.
Condolences to his family and friends.
RIP, Sir Paul. He certainly had an impact on NZ.
My bog-Irish Gran born into what was little more than a mud hut in County Clare bless Her soul admonished me as a child never to speak ill of the dead,
So i wont, but believe me i have to overcome some strong internal urges to stay true to what She taught me…
I was taught that as well but I’ve never really understood why. If some one was an arsehole then obviously it would be better to accept that truth than to try to hide from it.
Agreed.
After Jock Hobbs died, everyone went on about how he was such a great rugby player, blah blah blah. Narry a mention of his shady business dealings, from wikipedia:
What a hypocrite Lanthanide, you are so quick to correct people here yet have no trouble slandering someone else ‘now dead’ with unsubstantiated allegations.
Being under investigation doesn’t happen to just anyone, you know. A lot of people lost money by investing in the company he was a director of.
Did he have any personal culpability? Looks like we’ll never know for sure, since they called off the investigation in his dealings, although it continues for the other directors.
Compare the complete lack of mention of this about Jock Hobbs with the 4-minute recap I saw on Holmes last night, where they played the audio of him calling Kofi Annan a cheeky darkie. The treatment of Holmes was balanced, the treatment of Jock was not.
“Being under investigation doesn’t happen to just anyone, you know.”
There you go again, what’s that meant to mean? if your under investigation your guilty? or must be you know?
All I know is your slandering a dead man that can no longer defend himself, throwing stones at people that can’t defend themselves is cowardly.
And talking about Balance in the media is also a joke, who pays the medias wages? The marketers/advertisers thats who, what do they want? Consumers to buy their products, but first they need there attention, how do they get there attention. Sensationalism not balance.
It’s a timing thing, I reckon. Mostly because the family needs a bit of time to grieve for the person they loved before having people start up with the negative.
Ah, in the small closed village atmosphere of my Gran’s time word of what you had said would quickly spread and you would be in danger of making enemies among the family of the deceased where befor you only had friends,
My Gran was full of interesting takes on historical events which She would impart freely after a few gins in Her thickest of Irish accents,
Included among these pearls of wisdom was Her swearing oaths that the current Royal family has in it’s fairly recent gene pool the off-spring born from the loins of an Irish chamber maid, brought into such ‘service’ because a particular Queen seemed unable to deliver to the King a son,
Who would have thunk it, the descendants of an Irish ‘piss-pot emptier’ sitting on the Royal throne of all the Britt’s…
Dunno why. I would have said exactly the same thing before they died. And that is the point: Why say something different after they died? That just comes across as dishonest and craven.
LOLZ luckily you didn’t come across the old girl in Her prime then, according to my Mother (who had first hand experience) the Gran could and did brawl like a man and would happily go toe to toe with anyone, insinuating that She was craven or dishonest to Her face would have been to run the risk of Her inflicting some serious damage to your’s…
If she couldn’t say the same thing about a person before and after that person died then the brawling would just show how weak she was.
LOL only to the effete…
Exactly. There’s a whole dimension to human relationships here that go beyond the rational.
Well in my initial comment above, I certainly didn’t contradict anything I have said or thought previously about Holmes. I think there is a time for criticism, and right now is the time for his friends and family.
s I get older, I am very aware of more and more people dying who are younger than me, – Holmes was a fraction younger than me. It kind of shocks me, and makes me feel sad when people go relatively young (Steve Jobs, Whitney Houston, various teenagers killed in car crashes, over doses, natural disasters, etc.)
It also reminds me we all live under a death sentence.
For a public personality or achiever who I respected and valued, I would have been more likely to write a post commemorating their life, rather than just express condolences. Very often, it is what is not said that is significant.
We are all born under a death sentence. Usually with no knowledge whatsoever of when it will be carried out.
“I was taught that as well but I’ve never really understood why.”
Exactly! To me, it’s just hypocrisy. It was my Scottish mother who taught me the same, but her hypocrisy made me vomit at my father’s funeral – “No, we never had a cross word” she said in a syrupy voice. I think everyone present knew differently.
Paul Holmes was not a great guy. I am sorry that he’s dead at such a young age, but that doesn’t suddenly make him a plaster saint.
I shed a tear on the passing of Sir Paul Holmes. There is a family link of sorts.
My deepest and sincere condolence to his immediate and extended family.
With Labour’s leadership vote due to happen on Monday, I’ve been thinking about writing to my local MP. I realise this is a touchy subject, and I don’t want my lobbying to be counter-productive, so it will need to be customised. I find it all the more difficult knowing that he and his colleagues consider people like me to be extremist nutters, and this will colour his reception of my words.
When I wrote to him previously on another matter, his first response was to ignore me. I recently reread that whole correspondance with a view to doing better in the future. Although by email number three he was no longer simply trying to fob me off, I came away from reviewing the emails feeling angry that it was so hard to engage him in the first place. My original (ignored) email was polite, self-disclosing, and heart felt. I told him how I had been hurt by the issue at hand. He never should have ignored it, and I wonder how I could have gotten him to listen – not necessarily agree, but to hear me out. It feels a little bit like trying to communicate with a family member who has joined a closed cult, in the sense that having closed ranks against people like me, any effort I make could be so easily elicit a counterproductive defensive rearguard re-action.
just saying – without going into all the details I have every reason to empathise with your personal and painful experience. It is these so-called “little matters” that really count in the end.
john key told Shearer to put a bell on Cunliffe so he can hear him coming(much mirth from the girls and boys in blue) methinks he should do the same to s joyce who seems to be making himself over.Less condescension,less snarling,perhaps a hair style change(hard to tell that one but it looks a little different) maybe lost a little weight,engaging in conversation on radio instead of shooting down etc. Dunno,he just seems different.Going for the statesman persona? Listen for the bell key!
Snigger
The question is though how long does John Key actually want the job? More likely is he is helping groom Joyce to take over.
Gotta agree with you Chris, i thought after seeing Joyce on tv that he had softened his
know all attitude and intimidating ways to one of smoking a peace pipe elequently in so
far as actually listening to what people say with regards to the happless novapay saga.
I wouldn’t like to be in the shoes of those idiots inside the nact govt that signed it off,
knowing full well it was a broken system and a dog,according to Joyce.
The ministers that signed it off should pay for the cost of fixing it or establishing a new system,deduct their salaries,or fire them.
Joyce next Nact leader then ?
yep, is my guess. I reckon sometime this year or early next, to try and reinvigorate the nats before the next election. They’re sinking and they need a flotation device.
Nats going to feel some real pain soon re Novopay the twitasphere is digesting the infodump released today. Alas i feel Mr Key will swear in public soon and poof its all gone…
http://t.co/M6KMYfAU summary of info of NOVOPAY
Many murderers do not serve out their sentence, dying in
prison, many do not lose all kin, many do not lose
all wealth, many do not lose the opportunity to have
kids when young, but David Bain has lost all that,
and more, publicity will dog him for the rest of his
life, but worse, he was also found NOT GUILTY.
Key panders to the nastiness in all of us, Key is making
us a nastier nation, Key has no conscience. The principle
is clear, a civil standard does not attract a prison sentence.
Justice Binnie declare David Bain innocent on balance.
Justice Minister has obviously allowed her own political
needs to infer in my opinion, and the opinion of many.
Even Rodney Hide points out 12 errors in the Police
collection of evidence. The idea that any freedom loving
country could jail someone for that long, without a fail trial,
frustrate in their appeals, and now hounded even more some
modest compensation – has Key seen the prices of housing!!!
want to play. Blind Mans’ Bluff mice
read ’em and weep around those deckchairs
Magogs and Golgothas cross swords once more
earwigs around The Faraway Tree
thread the Stradavarian bow
beneath those Nikau charms of doubtful sounds
know our Peking pedigree. Hells Bells.suite
The Judge is standing at the door;
that’s a guarantee. No no no Leppard
He’s a pinball Wizard, there has to be a trick
(been weeding. Whats for lunch.Dock? dandelion roots tea)
from the Ark Ives- http://www.storytime.net.nz/product/66998-TeRongoaMaoriMaoriMedicine-9780143011361.
-pre Fab sprout (ride the 3:10 to Yuma)
0bit
gone gently into that good night
fashionably flying at speed by light
seven pointed bulletin filed in Time
I have a question for the more financially literate out there. Is the value of the New Zealand dollar based on the amount of currency in circulation OR the amount of currency in total? eg: hypothetically $1 Billion in circulation, OR $500 million in circulation + $500 million in reserve.
If it is the 500 + 500 version, what is to stop the government printing money to drive the value down, but not putting it into circulation?
Forgive my ignorance, but how will not putting the currency in circulation make any impact on the value of the currency?
NB the value of the NZD is not overly driven by supply, it is driven mostly by speculative expectations and (non trade) demand.
It’s a psychology thing – if people know that a flood of supply might be released shortly, it will suppress pricing.
Like the Government announcing an immediate build of 100,000 houses. House prices can be suppressed before earth for the 1st house is even broken. (As long as the build announcement is credible of course).
OK now your asking for a lecture, but, rather than me sit here typing for the next 3 days read this link below 3 or 4 times very slowly,
http://www.rualnewsgroup.co.nz/…news/why-does-the-new-zealand-dollar...
Ok, the NZ$ is based upon our exports which have now taken the place of gold as the standard,one of it’s problems is that as a small currency it is not pegged to the major currencies of the major economies a situation brought about by Sir(spit)Roger Douglas in all His Neo-Liberal wisdom,(none evident),
The NZ$ is thus a free floating dollar which besides being valued as per what the link above says is also valued by ‘demand’, so, as most of what we export is sold into the international markets on the basis of US$,s to bring this money back to New Zealand it must be then converted to NZ$,s,
In step the international Banksters who when demand for NZ produce goes up and prices of that produce rise have already got in first and bought up NZ$,s and as demand for them increases the price NZ producers must pay to convert US$,s to NZ$,s rises, thus the international banking cartels ‘clip the ticket’ of all our exports via the free floating NZ$,
The same banking cartels, as much of this trade in produce is bought and sold on ‘forward contracts’ also get to play with such produce on the demand side by simply bidding up the price of such produce six months or a year ahead of it’s actual production such cartels then have the inside knowledge of what the demand for the NZ$ will be in 12 months time and only need wait for a dip in the price of the NZ$,s by as little as 1 cent to make millions of dollars from both the actual purchase of future production and by purchasing the right amount of NZ$,s well ahead of the actual production having taken place,
The NZ$ is hence the 10th most traded currency of all the worlds currencies and there seems to be only 2 solutions apparent, the first being to ‘fix’ the value of the NZ$ against the worlds major currencies, or, print and spend into the local NZ economy amounts of money which gradually increase the supply of NZ$,s by producing assets such as housing that remain in NZ as opposed to attempting to produce even more product for sale on the international markets which would simply lead to more of the same,
Such dilution of the NZ$ could easily be accomplished by simply diluting the NZ$ by the spending of printed monies into the NZ economy at such a rate so as to hold inflation within the Reserve Banks inflationary target band of 1 to 3% inflation in any given year, not rocket science for the bean counters….
not wanting to speak ill of dead cows yet when I grazed the cheapest supermarket this week for some protein, the cheapest beef that was unprocessed (other than mince) was stir-fry at 19-something dollars a freakin kilo: I went with free range eggs, 3 meals from a dozen!
Interesting. My boss and his wife have just come back from a holiday in Vanuatu where one of their biggest exports is beef. Now, we constantly get lectured how we must ‘pay the international price’ for things like dairy products and met, so I was wondering just how my boss got away with paying $19/kg for fillet steak?
Not discounted. Normal supermarket price.
In fact, ALL the meat was well below the prices we pay here in NZ.
LOLZ you been robbed bro, Pack and Slave where i did the weekly on Wednesday had 1.1KG of corned beef for $6.80 and along with that i got a 500gram prime beef rolled roast for 11 bucks,
That’s about the day i listened to the bloke from the Fed say that farmers in Canterbury and the East coast of the North Island were de-stocking in the face of drought conditions,
ill spoken of dead cows seems to be wherever you are uncalled for wishing the same fate upon the owners of said market would seem to be more to the point…
“not wanting to speak ill of dead cows yet when I grazed the cheapest supermarket this week for some protein”
Never have I been so happy that I don’t eat meat!
(I bought some for my son’s visit a while back only to discover that I needn’t have bothered, he doesn’t either! 🙂 )
Hi Vicky, long time no see! Good to see you commenting again. 🙂
Thanks bad, most appreciated.
Welcome, just as a afterthought, the scale of the field upon which this little money go round is played is easily ‘seen’ when we consider that the total export market is some 40 billion dollars a year,
I havn’t got the figures for current values/volumes of dairy products on hand but even if that were half of total exports you can then see how easy for the banking cartels it is to insinuate themselves into the middle of the equation to make a buck from essentially doing nothing,
Just one of them Goldman Saches (sacks of gold man) has a reported 100 billion languishing in the tank in the basement on any given day…
When you say “value of the NZ dollar” do you mean locally or in relation to other currencies. A dollar will always be worth a dollar locally, but how much you can buy with that dollar will depend on inflation. However the value in terms of other currencies, or the3 “exchange rate” depends on the supply and demand for NZ dollars and may bear no relation to its local value.
February. If I were a member of the Labour party I would be asking these questions,
1. when is the caucus leadership vote likely to happen? (a ballpark idea is ok if there is no set date)
2. what processes will be used to ensure the vote is confidential?
3. will the numbers be released to the members? The public?
Monday.
Hmmmm I think thats confidential. The President or the Gen Sec will probably be involved in the balloting process.
Uh, being a secret ballot, they’re not supposed to be made public. However, we know how this has gone in the past.
Secret ballot? How come people have been saying that Shearer will get 100% support then? (if no-one is supposed to know).
Well since the vote hasn’t actually been held yet claims of a 100% vote are of course speculative.
Nevertheless, the secret ballot held after Conference last year gave Shearer 100% support (how did that number get out?), and nothing dramatic has changed since then.
And what’s this all about?
https://twitter.com/Garner_Live/status/297204001630470146
Snigger, the word FAILURE when said in conjunction with Slippery’s National Government seems to have hit a substantial nerve,
Brownlee is so sensitive as FAILURE is a hard word to wrap some spin around…
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2013/02/january-2013-blog-stats/
Don’t give up guys, one day you’ll be half as popular if you keep going 🙂
Should have stayed there at Blubber-boys sewer, coming over here talking s**t is just begging for a permanent ticket to travel…
Whoa we got a tough guy over here 🙂
justin bieber is popular too…what’s your point?
More people read his views (nearly three times as many) then these ones is all I’m saying
Its because blubber boy pads his numbers with guns, and dirty girls , and bullshit stories about BK, in the search engines. Most normal people run screaming for the shower, after reading one page of his vitriol, and hate mongering.
Add Whaleoil and KiwiBlog together and it seems like the Right have 5x the page views of The Standard.
It’s probably just people clicking Refresh in an effort to make that shit make sense second time around.
Ha. Good one.
So only 2.5x the amount then…
so why do you have to tout and linkwhore for him?
Methinks you doth protest to much.
Best case, the tory blogsites are indeed using stats consistent with reality, but you have such low self esteem you need to wander of here and swing your dick around.
Worst case, the stats are full of shit or comparing the popularity of actual debate with tory tripe.
Best case, the tory blogsites are indeed using stats consistent with reality, but you have such low self esteem you need to wander of here and swing your dick around.
– Jealousy will get you nowhere
Worst case, the stats are full of shit or comparing the popularity of actual debate with tory tripe
-There seems to be something about lefties and not accepting poll results if they go against them…
Just pointing out that people who have a low level of self-esteem sometimes compensate by gloating about a perceived superiority over others.
Going “ha ha, we’re on the winning team” at kiwiblog would be one thing. Coming here suggests that we’re not the only people you’re trying to prove a point to.
“like the Right have 5x the page views of The Standard.”
Maybe it’s because The Standard is so good at driving people away! (I am back for the 1st time in 5 months, since QoT banned me temporarily. I discovered then how much more peaceful I felt without the daily nastiness here.)
Now I am back, I am not staying!
It’s as if no time has passed – everyone still hates Shearer, and everyone is still so relentlessly middle class.
Please don’t lie, Vicky. You are specifically banned from my posts only. You were banned for the sum total of a week by lprent back in November for posting a series of childish comments on my posts.
I’m guessing WhaleSpew gets so many clicks because it puts everything in very simple terms, offers absolutely no analysis, and makes anyone who posts more than three consecutive words feel like a mental giant. His contributions are all cut and paste, with a bit of gun porn thrown in, and some crap now and then about how tough he is. Usage of insults like “cocksmoker” also goes down well with his audience, as do calls to be tougher on crims, bring back the death sentence, and calling anyone he disagrees with a “dud root”. His political philosophy is about as sophisticated as Forrest Gump’s, except that in his case the “wisdom” comes from daddy. In fact, he reminds a lot of a Forrest Gump who took up eating instead of running. In short, it’s a place for keyboard warriors to air their prejudices now that they might get called on it in wider society. It’s not as easy to spout off about mowrees, queers, dykes, and boongers in public bars as it used to be, and thank Cloacina for that.
The Standard, on the other hand, has some very thoughtful and well constructed posts, with not much cutting and pasting at all. Even though most of the posters here are a bit to my right, I can always make sense of what they post and appreciate the thought that’s gone into their contribution. Then there are Chris73 and King Kong, probably both dud roots and/or cocksmokers, to put it in language they’d understand.
Lprent’s analysis from last year
http://thestandard.org.nz/too-far-3/#comment-504329
I still shudder at the idea of “people” spending 18 minutes on average on WO.
It should come as no surprise that his visitors don’t read so quick…
to be fair though felix, the drool and other fluids on their screens does make the words go all wiggly
Well it does take a long time to spell out each word, and ask mummy what they mean,
Yeah you keep telling yourself that enough times and maybe you’ll believe it yourself
I suspect it is simply because we don’t bother just pushing pages and especially images to overseas audiences. We have a almost entirely and steadily growing NZ audience of humans.
I just find it curious that WO got about 800k page views in December, and then suddenly in the slowest month in the year; Jan; he gets a 20% increase? FFS the humans in NZ are somnolent f most of the month and barely near a computer.
It could happen I guess if you spent time pushing stuff on Digg or something similar to an overseas audience. But who could really be bothered pushing NZ politics though the SEO
I suppose WO is more concerned with pushing the advertising revenue than anything else. By it is meaningless otherwise.
Alabama Drama. Five Year Old Held Hostage. Survivalist. Tea Party. Dangerous NRA Fuckwits.
Thank Christ America Has Obama. Because That Means America Is Not Totally Fascist And Insane.
More Federal whistleblowers jailed than all the other presidents put together.