Open mike 02/02/2013

102 comments on “Open mike 02/02/2013 ”

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1. karol 1

   2 February 2013 at 8:05 am

   I am surprised that I am getting Face TV on my free-to-air telly. It seems this will be happening until the analog switch off later in the year.
2. karol 2

   2 February 2013 at 8:17 am

   Does John Armstrong live in Auckland? He certainly doesn’t seem to have a clue about the crisis in Auckland affordable housing for beneficiaries and other renters on low incomes.

   Armstrong champions Labour’s housing policy over that of National’s or Greens, even though Shearer was “all over the paddock” when talking about it this week, because:it’s “gone down well with the punters.” Which punters would this be? Those who will be able to afford to buy Labour’s planned houses?

   He says the Greens have got it wrong because building state houses in Hobsonville wouldn’t work – the land’s too valuable, you see. And, furthermore, Armstrong reckons that is the wrong place for work-seeking beneficiaries to live, because it’s not near jobs. Does he realise it is precisely in such outer areas that beneficiaries and other low income people are looking for places to rent because there’s nothing available closer to the city? Also, the whole Massey area is being upgraded, including the Westgate centre, because it is seen as becoming a growth area in the future – which should mean more local jobs.

   All Armstrong’s latest column shows is, which team he’s throwing his lot in with for the next election.
   • bad12 2.1

     2 February 2013 at 9:21 am

     LOLZ, John Armstrong one of the reasons why i don’t read the Herald even when it’s free online, ”The Green Party’s housing policy would require the Government to go on a continual borrowing binge”

     Really, the only answer that little quip deserves from anyone is ”Ha Ha Ha”, Armstrong resorts to bullshit (as usual), The Slippery lead National Government just for Armstrong’s education has in 4 years borrowed 42 billion dollars, not a binge, a f**king orgy of borrowing, that 42 billion dollar borrowing ‘orgy’ at 300 million bucks a weeks is the biggest amount of monies borrowed in the shortest amount of time by any Government in NZ,s history, and that borrowing is set to continue right up to November 2014 where the debt mountain will be topping out at 60 odd billion dollars,

     Does Armstrong ever get down to looking at what gives every appearance of being a borrowing regime by this Slippery lead National Government managed by those who suck on P pipes for breakfast,

     Money, just to educate John Armstrong, when owed to the Government by us peasants is counted in the Government books as an asset as will the houses that will be built with the money owed,

     Depending on coalition negotiations we could expect the Green Party housing policy to take up 25% of the Labour Party proposed 100,000 homes, and it is my contention here that Labour should actually move to include the Green Party housing policy into a position alongside it’s own where everyone has a choice of bank mortgage or Government backed ‘rent to buy’,(place your bets now on the majority opting for Government backed rent to buy),

     Armstrong’s whole argument ‘against’ the Green Party housing policy relies upon His prejudice against people who are NOT definitely middle class, His writing reeks of this condescension, why wouldn’t low income Kiwi’s keep their new homes neat tidy and well maintained, why wouldn’t low income Kiwi’s having the one chance they will ever get in this life to own their own homes not pay off the ‘equity’ in their new homes that the state holds as quickly as their incomes allow,

     Why in fact doesn’t the fucking toe-rag well past His use-by date Herald hack writer Armstrong just not print lines in capitals saying ‘i hate the poor’,

     Does the Herald’s pet hack writer own rental properties and can see part of the rental market disappearing into ‘rent to buy’ home ownership, lowering demand and forcing the Herald’s pet hack writer to take less in rent,

     More to the point, are the bank’s getting a little jittery, a wee spot nervous, as they watch the Green party unveil a perfectly logical plan where Government acts as if it were a Government and provides not only the homes for the people it governs,(along with the jobs building them),and removes from the banks completely the need to finance such homes by becoming the lender of note for these homes by holding the equity in such homes instead of the banks via mortgage finance…
     • CV - Real Labour 2.1.1

       2 February 2013 at 9:27 am

       a borrowing regime by this Slippery lead National Government managed by those who suck on P pipes for breakfast,

       You are just too funny Mr bad12!
   • millsy 2.2

     2 February 2013 at 2:05 pm

     I would love to know, if as a young cadet reporter, Armstrong got a Housing Corporation mortgage at 4%, with the deposit capitalised using his family benefit.

     This scheme and others, ensured that NZ was free of homelessness and poverty throughout the post World War 2 era.
     • Rogue Trooper 2.2.1

       2 February 2013 at 4:57 pm

       witofi, been milling this ova
       RNZ-(from the top of the Hill) “we don’t have authoritative broadsheet press in NZ”;
       anglophile excess / Nordic Exceptionalism, that’s the ‘crux’ of it.

       *some Sunday morning reading please?
       (Gdansk the safety danzig)

       Israel update; Assyrian retaliation threatened, and the Russian Foreign Ministry concurs
       while (out of context) 12M is now owed to teachers, IRD Child Support and any other freakin ap
       150,000 cases of Child Abuse reported in oh 12 (but hay, its only up a penny %: 16-14) down south Antarctic rapid changes are tongueing there groove into the Deep ocean as Owen Glenns funds are frozen; it’s trustees (sic) see it “no longer appropriate to distribute philanthropy in NZ” 🙁 Ethics needed in the NZX effectively two counts of underarm trading yet don’t worry, according to the quoted bank advertisement “we can lend you enough money to get you out of debt”, sadly, been there, lost that. B.G & B.S

       “Truth has no special time of it’s own. It’s hour is now always”
       -Albert Schweitzer (any old dime. A dozen should do)
3. Benghazi 3

   2 February 2013 at 8:20 am

   Armstrong’s been sucking up the spoonfuls fed from the Labour Leader’s office for the past 4 years. Sad thing is I used to respect him as a journalist. Not now.
   • bad12 3.1

     2 February 2013 at 10:06 am

     What Armstrong cannot see is that the taxation from building the homes from the profits made by those contracted to do the building, from the higher level of consumption of building materials,from the increased taxation of an enlarged building workforce needed to build these houses and from the shift off of the dole of that labour force needed to build those houses will in fact far exceed any cost to the Government,

     Economic illiterates like Armstrong are paid to seek out a plausible negative which the Herald gladly uses as a plank to beat upon the Political Party’s it’s backers dislike…
     • KhandallaViper 3.1.1

       2 February 2013 at 1:54 pm

       I opening a book on the who Team Shearer has pencilled in to the Govt Press Secretary role:

       John Armstrong. 5 to 2
       Fran Mold. 33 to 1
       Josie Pagani. 5 to 1
4. rosy 4

   2 February 2013 at 8:39 am

   Seen the home screen on the stuff website yet? Paul Holmes ‘switching roles, he’ll be with Eve now’ the ‘resting kinght’s guide’ in the ever after. I’d link, but that means I’d have to click on it and I’m not going to give tosh like that any page views.

   I can’t work out what’s worse – that a ‘news’ outlet thinks selling supernatural fairy tales is front page news, or that they’re starting to venerate Holmes, or that I feel like I’ve encountered a wormhole and I’m in a U.S. southern state. Gobsmackingly cloyingly awful.
5. Coronial Typer 5

   2 February 2013 at 9:04 am

   Anyone notice that story in the NZHerald this morning about Judith Collins and the appointment of the Director of Human Rights Proceedings? The basic non-disclosure on the Conflict of Interest form is the story that will get her.

   But if anyone needs to speak up for Catherine Rodgers, the applicant who was strongly recommended by the appointments panel and overruled by the Minister, Catherine Rodgers is a stunning lawyer.

   It’s on Court record that under the utterly useless previous Director of Human Rights Proceedings (remember Robert Hesketh that previously disgraced District Court Judge), she marshalled the team that took on the government about the human rights of caregivers to be provided round the clock state assistance for caregivers.

   The Crown and Ministers opposed her and her team every step of the way, court after court, over 7 years, and she and her team won. Right through to the Supreme Court. Anyone on the inside knows the kind of resources the Crown has at their legal disposal will understand what that means.

   Catherine Rodgers is a seriously good lawyer, both in the professional and virtuous sense.

   But now the story is on Collins. Hopefully its a story that gets some traction. Because if there’s one Minister who needs to go up against the wall come the revolution for crimes against the separation of judicial and executive function, it’s Judith Collins.
   • yeshe 5.1

     2 February 2013 at 9:21 am

     Yes, just read it and came here to post .. I will add the link for you.

     http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10862947

     How deeply scummy is this government ? What does it take to chip the teflon and begin the unravelling ? Maybe this is an opportunity with the published photo at her mother-in-law’s funeral proving that Collins has been completely disingenuous in her denials of a conflict of interest. Here’s hoping the traction holds some place in the House this week .. come on Winston !!
     • AwakeWhileWalking 5.1.1

       2 February 2013 at 3:49 pm

       Oi yey.
   • mickysavage 5.2

     2 February 2013 at 12:23 pm

     Aye the selection of Robert Kee is looking more and more suspect. Collins and Rodgers know each other too. They spent time together on the Auckland Women Lawyers Association executive. The gossip that I have heard is that their relationship was not that good …
   • Jonno Liste 5.3

     2 February 2013 at 12:47 pm

     I think your confusing Catherine Rogers with Francis Joychild. Francis J did the caregiving case in the three Courts (Human Rights Tribunal, High Court and Appeal COurt). It never went to the Supreme Court. And the case wasn’t about round the clock assistance it was about payment for certain types of special cares for high needs family members.
     • mickysavage 5.3.1

       2 February 2013 at 2:00 pm

       Yep right you are Jonno. I believe Catherine was involved in the proceedings challenging the legality of working for families.
   • the pink postman 5.4

     2 February 2013 at 2:47 pm

     Well there are some many scandals and sleazy carry on’s with this lot I think a lot of people are just turnig off. What I can’t understandis how this incompetent rable are still on top of the polls , Begs the quetion are they?
6. Joe Bloggs 6

   2 February 2013 at 10:16 am

   Datacom January 2008:

   The latest payroll round – the first of the school term – was filled with errors. Staff who are on leave have incorrectly received full pay, changes that were made in November have not been actioned, staff are being forced to fill forms out twice with exactly the same information, some teachers had to be paid from school funds so they could afford groceries. It’s a nightmare – unnecessary bureaucracy, huge numbers of errors. Payroll systems have changed for the worse … The start of year is a critical period for payroll. At the start of this year, 64,733 changes were made for school employees, generating a 100% increase in workload for clerical staff.

   Sound familiar?
   • CV - Real Labour 6.1

     2 February 2013 at 10:22 am

     Now imagine that twice as bad and happening every single month, and you have NOGOPAY.
     • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 6.1.1

       2 February 2013 at 11:00 am

       What about NOVOPAYN. Sort of a derivative of Novocaine (a drug given to people to stop them feeling pain, especially during an operation on their teeth) – teachers getting their proper salary seems as hard as pulling teeth.

       I think that all in the majority government should have their pay docked while such poor policy results continue. We need to have accountability from these well paid flunkies of our democratic institution, which is dirty and needs water blasting into all its crevices.
       • CV - Real Labour 6.1.1.1

         2 February 2013 at 11:16 am

         Nice. Yours is better than mine. Hope the staffers notice it.
   • McFlock 6.2

     2 February 2013 at 6:41 pm

     Hmmm.

     If I were cynical, I’d think JB was simply recycling ambergris – whale puke.
     But JB’s long history of providing well researched and reputable links for his subtle and erudite analyses makes me ashamed of my own cynicism.

     lol. yeah, right.
7. bad12 7

   2 February 2013 at 10:31 am

   Green Party MP’s are today taking a canoe ride down the Waitara river in the yearly trek to highlight the plight of ‘despicable dirty rivers’,

   The Waitara river as measured by NIWA has the lowest water quality of all rivers in New Zealand,

   The Green Party has repeatedly ‘asked’ farmers to help clean up such filth as these rivers are not only the life-blood of continual farming they are in fact the taonga and life-blood of us all,

   Fonterra the dairy giant has also repeatedly ‘asked’ farmers to clean up these rivers with little actual effect,

   Those who are polluting our rivers should, while they still have time, give far more weight to having been ‘asked’ politely to address this issue,

   The time when the Green Movement is willing to just ‘ask’ has all but expired, after ‘ask’ comes ‘tell’ and not long after ‘tell’ comes ‘force’, we all including the farming community have ‘choice’,

   My ‘suggestion’ is that you begin to make the right ones…
   • Foreign Waka 7.1

     2 February 2013 at 7:26 pm

     Ask the farmers? And there are people who belief this is not a waste of time? Makes Footrot flats a futuristic movie.
8. Skinny 8

   2 February 2013 at 10:56 am

   Upcoming Vote

   I honestly believe the time for any leadership challenge has past the cut off point. Stick to Shearer but replace Grant Robertson as deputy and put Andrew Little in there. This should keep most within the party content and appeal to the broader supporter base. Little needs to take the Labour spokespersons role and champion creating job. Shearer needs to be kept in check so any overly overt moves right will be stamped out with Little there.
   • CV - Real Labour 8.1

     2 February 2013 at 11:04 am

     An innovative option, but roadblocks remain. Cunliffe would need to to be given a serious front bench position and Grant would have to back the overall move. The change would also have to go through, around or over Mallard et al. Not easy.
     • Skinny 8.1.1

       2 February 2013 at 11:40 am

       Mallards needs to be put in his place, a return to the house will be as speaker full-stop. A few others need to go at the end of this term. Fresh blood is needed & this issue needs to be addressed this month, Labour need to take a leaf out of the Greens book ‘refresh.’

       Ego’s etc aside and they are all going to need to suck it up and concentrate on the job of sorting the mess National have done. Of course Cunliffe needs to be on the front bench. A rover like Joyce perhaps certainly the innovation portfolio. 
             
       Just for clarification ‘overtly right’ are policy’s like raising the age of retirement & ‘compulsory’ Kiwi saver ( low income earners can not afford).
   • fatty 8.2

     2 February 2013 at 11:13 am

     Yuk, Andrew Little. Gross.
     Mumble-pants is already unmarketable enough without that greaseball standing next to him.
     Image and communication are Labour’s most pressing problems, Little would just exasperate those.

     I honestly believe the time for any leadership challenge has past the cut off point.

     Most people were predicting the its too late for change claim to come out in 12 months, you’re a bit early. If we take Shearer’s performance into account, I would say 3 weeks before the election should be considered the cut off point.
     • Socialist Paddy 8.2.1

       2 February 2013 at 12:31 pm

       I honestly believe the time for any leadership challenge has past the cut off point

       I honestly believe the need for a leadership challenge has never been more urgent. Let’s face it. labour is going nowhere. The polls have stalled, the front bench is not firing, and the Nats keep offering up these huge targets which somehow Labour keeps missing. Key is toying with Shearer.

       Honestly, something has to change or we will have three more years of tory rule.
       • tc 8.2.1.1

         2 February 2013 at 2:22 pm

         It’s not they somehow keep missing, it’s that They are incapable of hitting.

         Geez the hollowmen must be loving this, trevz pillow talk must be a world class session in mutual admiration for each others awesomeness
       • The Al1en 8.2.1.2

         2 February 2013 at 3:09 pm

         “I honestly believe the time for any leadership challenge has past the cut off point”

         “I honestly believe the need for a leadership challenge has never been more urgent.”

         I honestly believe you’ve both got it right.
         • CV - Real Labour 8.2.1.2.1

           2 February 2013 at 3:16 pm

           The Monday vote is not a vote on a “leadership challenge”. It is a vote on how caucus sees the rest of the Labour Party.

           We need to see evidence that caucus is willing to listen to the membership and that it is willing to give the members (and affiliates) a voice. The energy and excitement a Primary process would build for Labour going into 2014 would be amazing.
           • The Al1en 8.2.1.2.1.1

             2 February 2013 at 3:23 pm

             “It is a vote on how caucus sees the rest of the Labour Party.”

             Sadly amusing that either of them is going to be upset if they have to rely on the other for support at present.
       • David H 8.2.1.3

         2 February 2013 at 3:41 pm

         And if Key gets back in then the gloves will come off, and that Power mad, megalomaniac, will sell , mine, and drill everything in sight. And still Labour will sit with their fingers in their ears.
   • Elizabeth Bourchier Real Labour 8.3

     2 February 2013 at 11:24 am

     The time for the members and unions to have a say is now. Any shuffle within the current failed regime will be compared to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

     13 MP to withhold Confidence in Shearer on Monday.

     That is all that is needed to stop the paralysis of the past four years.

     The time for strength is now.
     • David H 8.3.1

       2 February 2013 at 3:58 pm

       And you probably have the Mallafia ringing everyone over, and over, just to remind, and warn them about the vote..
       • KhandallaViper 8.3.1.1

         2 February 2013 at 10:27 pm

         Mallard, TRP, various proxies, Mike Smith and Mike Williams are driving a wedge between the members and the Caucus. They have done nothing to unite the party. They think the only problem in the party is The Standard.

         The Confidence Vote outcome on Monday will determine their future status. Yes, Mallard is hitting on MPs. He knows his political future is at risk. The pressure has got to him. Hence the incompetent attempt at the Leadership. He lost his rag on these pages yesterday.

         Mallard will bully the List members like Darien Fenton who are dependant on a decent list position. He won’t try to bully an Electorate MP like Louisa Wall, because Trevor is a two bit coward.
9. KhandallaViper 9

   2 February 2013 at 11:12 am

   “Despite all the intractable social problems and the need for new economic positions, big ideas are largely missing from New Zealand politics at the moment.”
   A commentary by Bryce Edwards:
   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10862864

   For Labour to connect with the widest possible cross section of New Zealand society we need to be seen as the Party that:
   a) has the right ideas;
   b) the right people in place to execute the strategies derived from those ideas, and
   c) the right Leader who can convince the public that Labour has a) & b).

   Your friendly MP is today pondering how she/he will vote on the CONFIDENCE MOTION at the Caucus meeting on Monday.
   Please help them with these three simple questions.
   Call now.
   • tc 9.1

     2 February 2013 at 2:26 pm

     My friendly MP is a deceptive Tory lawyer, another ‘safe seat’ that went west in 08 never to return with the bozo labour candidate who’s failed to hold ut or retake it in 2011. Feckless at best.
10. Coronial Typer 10

    2 February 2013 at 11:35 am

    For me at least it’s about simply showing respect to the members and supporters who get MP’s in Labour into parliament in the first place.

    I saw real flagrant self-interest from MPs at the November 2012 Conference, arguing against democratisation of the party.

    They remain in power, appear not to need the members’ help in any form, and can therefore flagrantly disregard and disrespect the membership.

    They are not my employers. They don’t own me.
    They have to co-operate.
    They have to co-operate with me if they are to win back power.

    I simply want the chance to hold then to account, and to say that with my vote on the leadership of the Labour Party.
11. Ad 11

    2 February 2013 at 11:38 am

    Personally I’m just sick of losing.
    This leader Shearer, according to poll tracking, won’t win.
    I want the right to at least ask the question with my vote:
    can we please pick the right one, the one that will have the best chance of winning.
    We just haven’t had the chance to even ask that question as Members.

    I want the right to ask the question.
12. Tiresias 12

    2 February 2013 at 11:52 am

    I read in the Herald:

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10862970

    that Graeme Wheeler is saying:

    “New Zealand needs to strengthen global linkages and tackle government spending and regulatory issues that diminish productivity and competitiveness if it is to lift its economic performance.”

    “the other main way of improving prosperity in the longer run – labour productivity growth.”

    “First … is the need to lift savings rates.”

    “quality of investment is also an issue, with much of it going into housing rather than productivity-promoting investment.”

    “New Zealand needs to be more welcoming to foreign investment, and should “re-examine the factors, including tax and regulation, that diminish and distort the incentives to both save and invest”.”

    “Second on his priority list is for the Government to return its books to surplus.”

    “”This is one reason why it is critical to cut back ineffective government spending, and ensure that our welfare spending is targeted better at those in need.””

    “Finally Wheeler calls for a focus on the fat tail of underperformance in the education system.”

    ” “The bottom income deciles are populated by those with lesser skills, and those who experience prolonged and recurrent spells of unemployment. Addressing these groups would both promote productivity and reduce inequality.”

    All of which is bog-standard, Right-wing, how-to-get-an-MBA-without-having-to-think singspiel.

    And I somehow don’t think David Shearer et al would disagree with one single word of it.
    • Skinny 12.1

      2 February 2013 at 12:38 pm

      Wheeler is using snake talk, what he is saying is a return to deregulation is needed and fast tracked at that. Foreign investment ‘sell sell sell’ New Zealand…land, houses, assets so his mates & him can make big profits! Add a more ‘flexible employment market’ ( law changes) increases productivity…and keeps those pesky Unions in their place.

       This guy is scum & needs a good look into his books for any irregular behavior… Stalin style preferably! 
    • Colonial Viper 12.2

      2 February 2013 at 12:44 pm

      Frak this guy Wheeler. Another 1980’s trainee of Milton Friedman. Absolutely moronic and unaware of the situation our civilisation is in, and how his ilk are directly responsible.

      Thanks English, a genius fucking appointment.
      • Tiresias 12.2.1

        2 February 2013 at 1:31 pm

        I agree.

        My point is that I can hear every point of Wheeler’s speech coming out of Shearer’s mouth – and with most of the Labour caucus standing behind him nodding.
      • tc 12.2.2

        2 February 2013 at 2:32 pm

        As expected from Shonkeys mob, the opportunity to put a compliant lapdog in wasn’t missed.
    • millsy 12.3

      2 February 2013 at 1:41 pm

      Blah blah blah blah blah. Its like they have some speech somewhere in a word file and print it off and give it to whoever is the reserve bank governor of the time.
      • fenderviper 12.3.1

        2 February 2013 at 3:44 pm

        Yes I often have the feeling the same speech was used previously and will be recycled again as numerical order dictates.

        I get the same impression when Shearer Says rolls out.
      • Foreign Waka 12.3.2

        2 February 2013 at 7:33 pm

        This one was left behind from the 1984-86 years.
    • vto 12.4

      2 February 2013 at 1:59 pm

      Wheeler has no brains, that is clear. His message there is keep spinning the wheel faster and faster. Where is some analytical thought? Some original ideas? ha ha ha what a tosser spinning the same shit.

      Here is how NZ could easily improve imo….

      We need to own our country and its assets. The rich always chase the asset and keep it. Because that leads to long term wealth. So that is what we should do. We can start by banning foreign ownership of our land. Business does not need to own the land. Foreign ownership of land is the most dumbfuck idea going and it is only a negative to us. That is why so many other countries do not allow it, like China. Duh.

      We also need to drive down the value of capital assets such as land, housing, plant, business, machinery everything. Paying vast sums to simply buy the capital asset drains the income which flows from that asset and benefits only the creators of credit, the privately owned banks.

      Drive down capital values and drive ownership into New Zealanders hands, as many of them as possible.

      Then watch the country go from strength to strength.

      Come on you bloody dickheads Wheeler and English, do some fucking thinking dumbos. THINK.
      • tc 12.4.1

        2 February 2013 at 2:35 pm

        Thinking not allowed, following hollowmen script is. English is below average at best and looks good alongside the rest of caucus.
13. VivaciousViper 13

    2 February 2013 at 12:06 pm

    The benefit system is under attack by national,we know that, but my situation is that
    my disabilities are long term,i had go give up work because of them,i was given a
    temporary additional support aligned to my housing costs,and a disability allowance,
    all went ok until renewel a month ago, where because of increased medical costs
    my disability allowance increased, but i was astounded my level of benefit stayed
    the same,i phoned winz and was told that the disability allowance is seen as income
    when you have temporary additonal support, penny pinching or just plain nasty?
    • millsy 13.1

      2 February 2013 at 1:49 pm

      *sigh*
    • bad12 13.2

      2 February 2013 at 1:50 pm

      If you are within the time limit, make an appointment with your case manager and demand the papers to appeal the decision,

      Yes they are trying to cut costs by doing what you point out, hoping you will not have either the skills or energy to take their decision to the appeal authority,

      I have heard of peoples disability allowance cancelled because they supposedly did not file a renewal,not just once but 3 years in a row,

      The problem with that little fallacy is that the disability allowance form for the Invalids Benefit is part of the yearly renewal form for that benefit and it was impossible for WINZ to have missed it…
      • AwakeWhileWalking 13.2.1

        2 February 2013 at 4:02 pm

        You have the legal right to review the decision. You don’t need an appointment but as you will know when you submit the Review of Decision form make sure you get a copy that is date stamped in case it is later “lost”.

        Contact your local benefit rights service. Mine in Wellington is highly informed and experienced (some benefit rights advocates have little in the way of training and basically go in with you….and that’s about it. The BRS in Wellington has the right type of experience and quality advice you can count on so consider calling them 04 2102012 between 9.30am – 3.30 Tuesday – Friday, and they are in a meeting Monday morning so phone in the afternoon.)

        I don’t know about TAS because I’m still on Special benefit which started being phased out in 2006 as I’m on IB too. What happened to you sounds very fishy to me.

        You will feel better after you speak with an advocate who KNOWS what they are talking about.

        It will help if you take what they tell you over the phone and write this exact wording on the review of decision form (you have to state why you disagree with their decision). I’m cheering you on. LFTHG.

        You may find that it never even makes it to the hearing stage as the mistake could be picked up in an internal review.
        • VivaciousViper 13.2.1.1

          2 February 2013 at 5:28 pm

          Thanks all, AWW i will use the ph num and contact them, when i posted i was
          wondering if anyone else had a similar problem, I do have a fighting spirit
          so now i can go in to battle,so to speak, so thanks all for your support 🙂
          • fatty 13.2.1.1.1

            2 February 2013 at 5:38 pm

            I do have a fighting spirit so now i can go in to battle

            Every WINZ appointment should be seen as a battle. There is strength in numbers, if possible, I’d recommend going to the appointment with another person, if you feel comfortable with them witnessing the conversation. A 2 vs 1 environment will change the nature of the appointment, and therefore how you get treated.
            Even better if your wing-person is knowledgeable about WINZ tricks. Places like city mission, sallies or Auckland Action Against Poverty can help.
            Good luck
            • Rogue Trooper 13.2.1.1.1.1

              2 February 2013 at 6:01 pm

              Celebrate The Bullet when there is Too Much Pressure
              • Treetop …

                2 February 2013 at 9:51 pm

                Sicko
                • Rogue Trooper …

                  3 February 2013 at 1:15 pm

                  Moore clearly seen
    • fenderviper 13.3

      2 February 2013 at 2:03 pm

      Just plain NASTY.

      Basically they are saying your increased medical costs are a luxury you should give up.
    • Treetop 13.4

      2 February 2013 at 9:45 pm

      This has happened to me to in the last month re renewal. Both TAS for rent and my DA has not been paid. I do not receive the maximum DA so this is not a cost on TAS, (the cut off point for DA is in the mid 50,s but check this). Anything under the cut off for DA has nothing to do with TAS, but TAS can be paid for health costs once over the cut off. Tying DA with TAS is not on as both are individual supplements in there own right with different renewal dates, (TAS every 13 weeks, DA every year).

      I read in the NZ Herald today that over the summer 9 million has been paid out by ACC for sunburn, insect bites, barbecue accidents etc. (All trivial stuff).

      Something is going down at Work and Income, possibly a directive from Bennett as she can issue one.
14. fatty 14

    2 February 2013 at 12:18 pm

    A new TV show by charlie brooker has started, called Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe
15. Rogue Trooper 15

    2 February 2013 at 1:00 pm

    an Aad for burglar Good king wencheslas (with a thin paddy and Veuve Clicquot to swallow)

    literally, there is no sacred fish sword
    evocatively, that’s a different kettle of wish
    were you there when they crucified. My Lord!
    (there Definitely / Maybe a Champagne Super nova)

    -Victa ( a martyr for the piles) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112637/
16. Rogue Trooper 16

    2 February 2013 at 1:21 pm

    From The Stiff Kittens at The Electric Circus
    To The Fan Club, Tell Laura I Love Her and that she is the missing link between Elvis Presley and The Banshees. This is our happy Fun House, no need to be a Mayflower at The Electric Ballroom;
    King Kong’s not AnTwerp at all swinging Dead Souls at The Moonlight Club (is Kevin The Trojan Horse candidate with Insight?) on a Manchester Beach across the Mersey they Send No Flowers from Republica. Heaven is not The Rock Garden or The Boys Club (Hitchcock Railway) Bus, Le Palace or The Hacienda.

    It’s The Venue for Movement and Ceremony, Utopia / Hal4, in The Day of The Lords as New Dawn Fades Something Must Break now 24 Hours into The Eternal Decades Shadowplay just like Sister Ray said, have a good night have a good night have a good night.

    -Man of Principle (new world boy on the old Kings Road)

    p**s. Phil Collins Henry Rollins Murder Ballads get down get down little Henry Lee
    and the wind did howl and the wind did blow she plugged him through and through
    they call her The Wild Rose (sorry if I interrupted any mans coitus)
    • Tiresias 16.1

      2 February 2013 at 1:34 pm

      Ah, a random spell-check ap goes feral and attacks its master.
      • Rogue Trooper 16.1.1

        2 February 2013 at 1:48 pm

        :), but wait, there’s more…
17. Rogue Trooper 17

    2 February 2013 at 1:46 pm

    bad things come in threes
    Third Eye Blind Hows It Gonna Be. Kryptonite Three Doors get Down. Come on baby light my buick

    getting back to The Good Oil,
    Yishar shining and clear elaion
    shake the fruit with a light stick
    bruise in mortar crushed in a press loaded
    with wood or stones.rudely hear the whiffletree creek
    reservoirs clarified Oil of Tekoa was reckoned nga best. ha!

    Trade by the honorable of the earth surpassed that of the Egyptian harvests
    Till mercantile cupidity purchased Hebrew slaves repaid by Nebuchadnezzar.
    Alexander completed the causeway so the anti-septic function came in Handy
    old oil Celsus applied externally with friction to fevers. James certainly recommended it

    -Rx (Philo Pliny and Galen)

    Job done at 5:13 He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away
    12:3 a man cannot be established through wickedness yet the righteous cannot be uprooted

    8:3 for whoever finds me finds life

    Love changes everything (plenty to dive into or pennon there through the limestone at 60 per cm2)
    dying to the self everyday wears out soles. Sikhism is strongly opposed to caste divisions.Baptised by the sword (interestingly) all may eat together in the kitchen at parties.

    -Singh (thats an irreverent non-extremist pun jab) Has he lost his mind? can he see or is he blind
    he was turned to steel in the great magnetic field.
18. Boadicea 18

    2 February 2013 at 3:16 pm

    The NZ Labour Party Youth section is important but has the Leadership become relevant to the 16+ young adults who will vote in 2014?
    A slice of the Opinion Polls that I saw in the course of a marketing strategy session indicated that the youth of NZ will vote
    1. Green
    2. National, marginally ahead of
    3. Labour.

    NOT the positioning for a Party of Radical roots. The Youth saw the greens as the ones challenging the status quo. Many saw Labour as defenders of a status quo.

    The Labour MPs need to consider how 16+ kids view them. Obviously there is a signigicant perseption thing that needs to be changed.
    • Elizabeth Bourchier Real Labour 18.1

      2 February 2013 at 3:46 pm

      Boudicea, I could have told you that for half what you paid!

      It is so obvious at Freshers Week in any third level institution.
      The Youth will vote Green unless Labour makes a dramatic shift.

      I know some union people are doing great work on making young workers politically aware. Will they become Labour voters? Probably yes. The new leaders of the Unions are the key to Labour’s much needed re-birth.
      • Skinny 18.1.1

        2 February 2013 at 4:17 pm

        I agree with the concept of ‘new’ Union leaders having a large part in changing Labour’s fortunes. There are a high number of piss weak General Secretary’s that need to be moved out, & the standard of union organisers being employed by some outfits is also unbelievably poor. Too many of these GS’s are in with the sad old faces within labour which is the problem.  
    • fenderviper 18.2

      2 February 2013 at 3:55 pm

      +1

      Chris Trotter had some interesting things to say about Shearers speech and his style of delivery at the recent Young Labour summer camp on Citizen A with Bomber.
    • AmaKiwi 18.3

      2 February 2013 at 4:01 pm

      Our four children are ALL Green party supporters, despite both of us having worked hard for Labour all our lives.

      Last week our youngest son laughed at me and said, “Dad, why would I belong to any organization where I had no say in choosing the leaders? We Greens elect our own leaders and rank our list candidates. Labour is so past it’s use by date.”

      My replies fell on deaf ears.
    • CV - Real Labour 18.4

      2 February 2013 at 4:53 pm

      The NZ Labour Party Youth section is important

      Hmmmm. Far too many captured by Beltway thinking and hoping to get Parliamentary Services jobs.
      • Rogue Trooper 18.4.1

        2 February 2013 at 5:01 pm

        analytical and applied to the grindstone
    • fatty 18.5

      2 February 2013 at 5:12 pm

      Need to get Shearer on an electric guitar…or maybe playing bass.
      Can we get him in a dub/reggae band? Like the Mayor off Portlandia?

      It’ll have to be real roots reggae.

      Other than that, Labour has no chance of attracting youth. Key has sewn up the idiocracy vote (despite Shearer’s best efforts). Greens get the youth who are aware of their future.

      What does Labour offer youth. Look at the top MPs since 2008. Stuffy old twats. Don’t expect the youth to vote for their oppressors.
      • Rogue Trooper 18.5.1

        2 February 2013 at 5:36 pm

        The Selecto/er that you are 🙂 🙂 🙂
19. Boadicea 19

    2 February 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Thank you EB. I’ll request a 50% credit from the agency!
20. Rogue Trooper 20

    2 February 2013 at 4:09 pm

    sucking back the pea
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10862973
21. Rogue Trooper 21

    2 February 2013 at 4:28 pm

    and with a Huff
    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/31/north-korea-martial-law_n_2588013.html?
    and a puff
    http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/north-korea-under-martial-law-as-troops-told-to-be-ready-for-war-3371117.html
    will there be toil and trouble
    http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130201000831

    -Sam Gae Tang (Tom Yummmb)
    • Ad 21.1

      2 February 2013 at 8:13 pm

      Seriously Rogue Trooper you should step up and write a blog of your own.
      Would need an international audience.
      But you appear to have a mind like the old arcade game Defender; flashes and reverses, and grand fractal jumps.

      Think on it. You’re good.
      • Rogue Trooper 21.1.1

        2 February 2013 at 8:27 pm

        two kind (partly your doing)
        • Ad 21.1.1.1

          2 February 2013 at 8:41 pm

          So allow me a moments’ presumption:

          – You have several degrees, some of them arts, quite a lot of classics and philosophy
          – You are at least in your 40s
          – You have described yourself as being from somewhere Deep South
          – You are saturated in Ellul and other Christianarchies
          – You have memorised a whole bunch of songs, films, and Coltrane-style poetry

          Most from this era have simply have that mind wrapped in lines of scar/e tissue in which the whips of the world have worn too deep a groove in their minds. How you sustain that still is quite beyond me.

          You have more freedom in that spectral writing-jazz of yours than most have long since forgotten, yet with no shade of The Quiet American or other post-redemptive melancholies.

          All it would take is at least a post every week.
          What do you think? Can’t hide here under a little bushel forever you know.
          • Rogue Trooper 21.1.1.1.1

            2 February 2013 at 9:25 pm

            I believe I know what the future holds for the world…yet not myself. I have an idea of what is going on since I opened up and began “commenting” on The Standard…(repeated empirical reality testing)…and it is related to words and energy forms, in particular the electromagnetic spectrum…yet this is not occurring in Isolation…I have a deep well of gratitude to many from this site and those that echo beyond…
            It is a matter of conceptualization…there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies…a lot is related to what quantum physics has revealed to us…I owe a great obligation to lprent…may be on the radio and in a band soon…yet waiting patiently, reading, gardening, cooking, cleaning…(and to the tr. yes, I can go anyway in the city I live in and be greeted warmly by people from right across the spectrum yet I’m open about my politics and faith and previous flouting of the Law; may be a lesson in there?). I did not go to University (as a mature student) or develop my knowledge and “understanding” to be materialistically wealthy; I have never been ambitious, although a PhD sounded attractive for a while back…in the deep, distant past. I learn to understand, and like others on here, share that understanding for free.
            Wherever you go, there you is no “point” at which our skins stop and The Universe starts.
            A Very Big uncalled for ThankUturn. :). (and the A MAZERati)
            nite

            -Joey
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Blonde
            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_poetry
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpTcvSn8HQ
            (Three Pillars and I only Fell over the centre one just now; thats how it works, no cards up the sleeve, no sleight of hand; Real Magic and I am grateful for His / Their Blessing)
            🙂 🙂 🙂
            • Ad 21.1.1.1.1.1

              2 February 2013 at 9:52 pm

              May all your liminal thresholds be danced over, all thaumaturgies turn real, all entrances en-trance, all numens illumine, ake ake ake.
              • Rogue Trooper …

                2 February 2013 at 10:06 pm

                reply after church
    • joe90 21.2

      2 February 2013 at 9:08 pm

      A reaction to the election of Park Geun-hye, daughter of former leader Park Chung-hee who seized power by coup in 1961?.
22. TheContrarian 22

    2 February 2013 at 5:34 pm

    Now that I am off my week long block I would like to send a question Draco’s way…

    Draco – you said If two people are discussing something and one person can back up their arguments with facts and the other can’t then the second opinion is worthless.

    So I am curious about something. You have maintained that Labour is a right-wing party however the vast, overwhelming consensus among political scientists and the politicians themselves, from all sides, is that Labour is a centre left party.

    So, back up your argument.
    • Alinsky 22.1

      2 February 2013 at 9:12 pm

      No wonder you got banned for a week.
    • Colonial Viper 22.2

      2 February 2013 at 9:25 pm

      They’re using the conventional contemporary political wisdom TC, we’re using a traditional perspective.
    • TheContrarian 22.3

      2 February 2013 at 10:10 pm

      Nothing from The Bastard?
      • geoff 22.3.1

        2 February 2013 at 10:30 pm

        Have you ever gotten into a pendantry war with Lanthanide? You both seem like you’re cut from the same cloth.
    • Draco T Bastard 22.4

      4 February 2013 at 10:23 am

      however the vast, overwhelming consensus among political scientists and the politicians themselves, from all sides, is that Labour is a centre left party.

      That reminds me of the old advertising trick where the advertiser would point out how many millions had been sold and then say that x millions of people can’t be wrong. The problem, of course, is that they can.

      So, back up your argument.

      I have. Several times in fact. Go have a look at what I’ve said about Labour’s KiwiBuild.
      • TheContrarian 22.4.1

        4 February 2013 at 11:17 am

        Thanks for answering.

        But there is a problem – you have personally stated your belief that Labour is a centre-right party however you also mentioned that those who can produce the most factual support for their claims is the opinion that should be more widely held rendering the second opinion worthless.
        And the facts overwhelmingly support the view that Labour is a centre-left party therefore shouldn’t you declare your opinion as worthless?

        These are all your own words Draco.
23. joe90 23

    2 February 2013 at 9:25 pm

    RWNJ’s at the NRO hit a new low.

    N***ism may have been an ideology to which the United States was — and to which the president is — implacably opposed, but it is hardly “senseless.” By the early 1930s, the N**i party had hundreds of thousands of devoted members and repeatedly attracted a third of the votes in German elections; its political leaders campaigned on a platform comprising 25 non-senseless points, including the “unification of all Germans,” a demand for “land and territory for the sustenance of our people,” and an assertion that “no Jew can be a member of the race.” Suffice it to say, many sensible Germans were persuaded.
    • joe90 23.1

      2 February 2013 at 9:33 pm

      More crazy, spot the difference.
      • Rogue Trooper 23.1.1

        2 February 2013 at 9:52 pm

        all at sea; maybe The South should listen to more Medlocke
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT9xbcPyves
        or
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzZLBXhsnHc
        and finish with
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHQ_aTjXObs
        (cos I been down)
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk
        and found
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpoXBbOAS8
        (I used to drink, it let me think of other people and other places)

        -Sam
24. Rogue Trooper 24

    2 February 2013 at 9:34 pm

    oops, forgot, Johnette Napolitano is my alter / ego; I was a vampire now I’m nothing all; Let the
    Bloodletting begin…
25. hush minx 25

    2 February 2013 at 11:12 pm

    On a different topic I only just noticed this across at kiwiblog:http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/02/why_did_labour_put_trevor_up.html which had been speculated about here. But was interested to see the idea that Annette won’t stand for Wellington mayor to keep Andrew out of Rongatai. Hardly the image of party renewal that they are after.
    • xtasy 25.1

      3 February 2013 at 12:20 am

      I read that too. If it is true, then it is a disgrace, and it only re-enforces my view of the hopeless state the Labour Party is in. Sorry, my view remains to be, a fresh start for the combined left can only be made by forming a new, inclusive, smart and well organised, newly staffed Left Party, that will not carry such baggage as Labour, either incorporate enough “green” policies, or work better with the Greens, and put Labour into the redundant category.

      This upsets some, but I see NO other option now, with Shearer and other hopeless members in Parliament just clinging to their seats and positions.
26. xtasy 26

    2 February 2013 at 11:38 pm

    For all those that have any “doubts” that people get BRAINWASHED by listening to private radio or other media, perhaps have a look at this quite frank set of information from the privately run ‘The Radio Network’, apparently owned largely by an Australian media corporation, and partly by a US share-holder, covering much of NZ radio:

    http://www.radionetwork.co.nz/advertise/why-radio

    There are comparisons between “media content distribution” and other criterias or information statistics.

    I would think the “editorial” content is highly over-stated, as that must include anything but the bare net commercials they hammer your brain and mind with incessantly, repeatedly so it STICKS!

    The “editorial content” will in the case of ZM, ZB, or any other of their stations, same as Radio Pacific (another radio broadcaster, not part of this lot), certainly include the highly frequent repeating of the station, it’s mission message and announcements for what comes up, what infotainment they present, and the likes.

    So it does not equate with “REAL information”.

    I thought this is worth having a look at, to see, how commercial radio works, compared to other commercial media, and how much of the contents is nothing but commercial advertising and much other CRAP.

    NZ has the worst statistics and conditions and standards for public broadcasting, when compared with most developed “western” countries, that is for sure. It is dominated by commercial interests, and that even in the state run TV stations. Only Radio NZ National seems to be different, but even they have their internal “rules”, set by the ones that run that station.

    Shocking truth. But so many grew up and grow up with this endless inundation of brainwashing into consumerism, superficiality, opportunistic thinking, and individual prioritising, which all somehow is in conflict in maintaining a working “social fabric” and unity.

    See the “design” in all this?
    • Andre 26.1

      3 February 2013 at 1:30 am

      true

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