There’s another column from Kerre floating round on the Herald as well, a long sickening ‘gush’ over Slippery the Prime Minister,(apparently Kerre just happened to bump into Him while She was in training for a marathon,(pfft),and He was strolling round Auckland with the wife in tow doing a normal bloke routine,(that description by Kerre smacked so much of the ‘truth’ that i had a vision of John Armstrong leaning over Her shoulder whispering words of encouragement into Her ear, or more to the point wheezing the actual script of the article to be printed out of fast failing lungs),
Put together with all the political commentary from the Heralds lineup of ‘wing-nut’ spin merchants this week i get a sense of a troop of Baboons becoming unsettled in their tree top home by the smell of approaching danger breaking into fits of insanely wild screeching all the while defecating/urinating uncontrollably in a paroxysm of fear driven terror,
”Took a knife to a gunfight”,how tired and old can you get,Kerre shows all the intellectual depth of a puddle of Baboons urine, and, with Her having joined the screeching of the troop you would have to wonder if Bryce now has a little competition for Armstrong’s job once the latter has drawn His last gasp…
Chris73. If you want a more realistic response to the accusations of castles and clothes then have a look at this. Fascinating lifestyle.:
“Yesterday, the Green Party co-leader tentatively opened her doors to our photographer – and revealed a wardrobe filled with more blue than green. “I quite like blue,” she laughed…….
“Well, this visit clears up a few things. The two-bedroom “castle” is made from stone and corrugated iron. Old fridges serve as cupboards and doorways; a large truck tyre has been turned into a window frame in the master bedroom. A new pizza oven, made from mud, straw and sand, rests on a stack of tyres.”
ianmac, great link to a well written story, lives in a castle indeed, why wouldn’t Mets dress to impress, most of us given the wages to do so would probably have a far more expensive means of dressing,
Does the Childrens Commissioner dress in sack-cloth to deliver reports on the state of New Zealand Children, it is shear hypocrisy for Tolley,Collins and Slippery the Prime Minister to attack Metiria over Her chosen lifestyle with such absolute Lies,
Hopefully the television channels pick up on this story which has in all probability already cost National big time proving to a wider audience just how ugly their fear driven attacks upon the Green Party are…
The point is she is skating on thin ice wailing about poverty (and greenhouse emissions) when she clearly consumes huge quantities of food herself and spends conspicuous amounts of money on clothes. Then when she gets mildly called out she cries racist. Really?
This has not cost National big time at all. I’ll call back in and see how you are doing when the next polls come out. Although I am sure you will have someone to blames. The media, the CE of Housing New Zealand. Maybe the Electricity Authority.
SSLands, your latest attack on Metiria Turei, unless you would care to provide a modicum of proof, is simply more ‘wing-nuts’ lies,
You are barely coherent this morning has the hang-over effected your ability to construct a lucid comment,not that any of the other utter rubbish you spew forth is much better,
Yes please, F off until the publication of the next ‘opinion poll’, you wont be missed, perhaps i could ask LPrent to give you a hand in your stated intention to desist from commenting until that next poll is published…
“You are barely coherent this morning has the hang-over effected your ability to construct a lucid comment,not that any of the other utter rubbish you spew forth is much better,”
SSLands, is that right, well then i would suggest you are suffering stress or you have brain damage of some form, perhaps you should have it checked befor it turns into a disease of the mind…
Readers are invited to note srylands’ use of language:
– Metiria is “wailing” about political issues
– Metiria is fat so her opinions don’t matter
– Metiria spends “conspicuous” amounts on clothes (the linked article above to the contrary)
– She was only “mildly called out” so what’s the fuss about
– She “cries racist” because that’s what manipulative brown people do
Yep, no sexism nor racism to be seen here, folks. Carry on.
Especially when he frames it in contrast to issues of land, manu whenua, and colonisation, in this way:
“[It is] high time iwi leaders stopped obsessing over the ownership of earth, wind and fire and showed more ownership over the miserable record of the violence culture afflicting our young men,” said Jones, who hails from Northland’s Ngapuhi iwi.
He pointed to the attack on German tourists in Whakatane in December which left a 19-year-old man with missing teeth as well as cuts and bruises and an 18-year-old woman with facial and arm injuries including fractures.
“But isn’t Shane Jones just reinforcing negative stereotypes and prejudices about Maori men?”
No. It highlights that Maori leadership is working to reduce violence in their communities. Maori are disproportionately represented in the violent stats as everyone knows. Working to fix that is a good thing not enforcing a stereotype or prejudices.
Working to reduce violence in one’s own communities is an excellent thing to do. But Jones is whistling hard for his dog here. And his timing is telling: along with the way he opposes the anti-violence message to core issues associated with Waitangi Day.
Precisely, Karol. The guy’s an idiot and a liability to Labour. They need to cut him loose. If they want an excuse get a journalist to ask him to name one thing he has in common with the Labour Party and there they’ll have it.
Shane Jones, He who replaces waffle interspersed with words in the nature of 12 or more letters in an attempt to portray Himself as the ‘Oxford scholar’ should know better,
Statistics will show that such young Maori as those highlighted have little knowledge and/or connection with their particular Marae and in fact live in exactly the same manner as their Pakeha counterparts,
Maori no longer live surrounding a particular Marae, something that seems to have escaped Shane, and, Maori are now spread far and wide where they may reside in any rohe on the motu and most of what goes on at a Marae level these days is simply preaching to the converted so how Jones intends the voice of Iwi leaders in Te Tai Tokerau to be taken notice of, or even heard,in say Whanga-nui-a-tara is beyond me…
BM, all of those numbers and sometimes higher depending upon the definition you apply to ”actively involved in their Marae”,
There are many un-noticed an un-reported Marae based and inter-Marae based sporting competitions that the participants in have as their only strong connection to a Marae,(apart from Tangi),
Just as there are many sports teams in the wider community that a particular Marae favors in terms of participation by it’s members without there being an actual Marae connection,
i have spent a couple of spare weeks working on carvings at Marae while mostly accept for discussions in the family,(which might or might not have a wider reach), and, stopping ‘in’ on the odd occasion,usually in the wee small hours,for a spot of karakia is my ‘connection’,
It was more of a question regarding your comment about Shane Jones being out of touch and his comment not being relevant to how Maori live these days.
I could be completely wrong here but If you compared Maori who are more actively involved( not just turning up for a tangi every so often) in their Marae with Maori who are not, I’d say the bad statistics such as violence and crime would be way down and probably on par with most other ethnicities.
Which I then wondered if a person who moved from one tribal areal into another could join up to their local Marae even though they’re from a different tribe.?
If they can’t I do wonder if Maori Marae need to get together and maybe form Marae affiliations so Maori from other tribal areas have a place to go and feel involved in the local Maori community.
BM, in some places this occurs but you have to remember that Marae and those who ‘belong’ are basically a family institution with a history going back centuries,
On a deeper level it would then be hard for those who do not have knowledge of this history to join in but in the area of say sports, some cultural events and Marae based training activities friends of the wider whanau are welcome to join in, much of this depends upon how ‘active’ a particular Marae is, some mostly in a more urban setting have and are becoming again the focal point of tribal activity,
What your really asking is for Marae,(an extended family),to take ownership of problems which they are in no way part of, a bit like asking you to take ownership of a particular homeless street kid with offending problems you have little or no prior knowledge of,
What do you reckon the % of Pākehā would be who are actively involved in community organisations? 10%, 20%,50% ?
Depending on past actions, anyone (Māori, Pākehā, or Tauiwi) can cruise along to the local Marae and get involved. The tikanga (protocol) of doing so can be complex however. I find my lack of fluency in te reo greatly inhibits my ability to participate, especially down here in Kai Tahu country where the dialect is different to the Northland one that has become the standard.
The important things to remember are respect and humility; so I’d advise you to stay far away.
Pakeha and Tau iwi are welcome also, on any Marae I have visited.
Like any community group there are protocols and customs.
Just like the local yacht club or Rotary.
Not as complicated as the Masons, though.
You won’t get into any trouble if you genuinely try to confirm to them.
Ask a local.
And. Also like any community group, if you are willing to pick up a tea towel or a hammer you will become Tangata Whenua very quickly.
Quite a few of us on the left have suggested that he move to National but none of us agree that he’s quite smart. Has to do with right-wingers being stupid in general.
When I say Shane Jones is a very smart man I mean he stands out from the rest of the talentless bunch at Labour, he is for drilling and mining and would prefer his people in high paying work than being unemployed. I think Yea Nah Cunliffe is still a bob each way on mining.
Maybe I’m missing some nuance. But it read to me as a straight forward appeal to bring people and community into a frame that has exclusively sat around concerns of material acquisition. Reinforcing stereotypes? no. Acknowledging shortcomings within the culture of iwi leadership? yes.
It’s partly the timing – coming up to Waitangi day where the issues for many MOR NZers are those Maori going on about land rights, the Treaty etc. And partly the way he expressed it. Jones didn’t say it’s about materialism, obut something more vague – “ownership of earth, wind and fire” – serves as a dog whistle for those against Waitangi settlements – and along with such a mind set goes a stereotype of criminally inclined, violent Maori.
I see Sealord Jones’s statements exactly the way you do, Karol. He’s saying “Shut up about the Treaty, the dispossession, and focus on what concerns pakeha bigots about Maoridom.” He’s serving himself once again as he plays his kupapa role in the politics of Te Tai Tokerau.
No he is just highlighting the unfortunate fact that maori males are way over represented in family (and all) violence and crime stats.
He is also highlighting the unfortunate fact that a deafening silence is all you hear from leadership in maoridom in regards to maori crime and violence however if anyone dare disturb a taniwha there are hikoi and hui up and down the country denouncing the same.
Comment not fully posted – the weasel words are here:
‘…..headmaster Al Kirk stands by his hard line on outstanding fees, saying the 15 students who were removed from class on Thursday and another 15 yesterday were not done so to be humiliated, but parents were more likely to pay if their sons were inconvenienced. He insists that this not a form of punishment for the students.
“I have done this every two years for the last eight years. I am amiable with [the students] and there is no animosity. I emphasise that they have done nothing wrong,” Mr Kirk said.’
Wonder what the fucked old bully Mr Al Kirk thought about the rapists who raped a girl but still insist that it wasn’t rape because they weren’t violent. Same thing.
This fucked old bully Mr Al Kirk is meant to be an educator. He is not Baycorp. He and the self-importants on the board of trustees who seemingly empower him should be sacked immediately.
A better solution would be for Head Master Al Kirk to start up a fund whereby the past pupils association or the public could donate to assist (in a discreet way) the students from financially strapped homes so that they can participate in extracurricular activities or get help with stationery or uniform requirements.
I have had a complete gutsful of people who have no understanding of how hard it is for those who are struggling financially and who can just stand by and offer criticism. perhaps the Northern Advocate can start to advocate by setting up a fund.
Repeat what I wrote earlier when I saw this, the man is queuing to first in line for one of John Key’s principal leaders – a nice little bonus of $50,000 thanks. F**k the kids, or the local community – the man needs a right bullocking !!
What is it with some school principals? I mean, the obvious abuse of power aside, how do they get to run schools when they clearly have no fucking idea how schoolkids think and react?
Here’s a really depressing statistic Mike Treen found. Using a broader definition of jobless, he says that in the late 1990s about 75 per cent of jobless received a benefit. Today it’s less than 20 per cent. He estimates more than $1billion a year is withheld from the poorest. Little surprise then that at the same time we are told the economy is rosy churches and voluntary social services are overwhelmed by the poor begging for charity.
That’s interesting stuff from McCarten,(and Mike Treen), it would have been helpful tho for Matt to have posted a link,(if there is one), to a more detailed view of Treen’s work and how He arrived at this conclusion,
i am not doubting the veracity of what Mike Treen has to say but without the details this will quickly be forgotten as just another small distraction on a Sunday…
This was was a stark eye-opener to me.
That’s over 100,000 massively suffering people – made more sense of the huge percentiles of their children in poverty in this country.
Very important Daily Blog post from Wayne Hope, on the transnational elite that is the core of the rulers of our 21st century world.
This elite has at its core transnational corporations, especially those of speculative finance:
Or, to put this question another way, how do the rulers of the world rule? They do it through a loose network of power which William Robinson has called the transnational state. It incorporates policy development organisations such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Trilateral Commission (TC), the Bilderberg group, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBSCD) and, of course, the World Economic Forum (WEF). Together, these organisations constitute a cultural milieu of financiers and corporate executives who, selectively, invite in major government leaders, non-government organistions (NGOs), leading intellectuals and `try hard ` celebrities such as Sting and Bono.
It is such a loose network of power that I referred to in several posts on “networks of influence”. It’s not a carefull orchestrated conspiracy, but something far harder to counter: people involved in a range of intersecting networks all working in their own ways to get and use power, wealth and influence.
If you add in the US Federal Reserve along with the hand in that particular glove the American Mega-Banks you have the template for how 30 years of Neo-Liberalism was able to permeate across the political and societal landscape, sweeping all befor it to gain an ascendency it still holds today…
I’ll be looking forward to his next post. How do communities fight back?
It seems to me that most people’s lack of free time nowadays, the way life is structured so that work almost never ends, is a big factor here. It’s probably a factor in the rise of “clicktivism” – people have their computers on and can dip into sites like this without using up too much time.
You seem to be implying that this is something that Cunliffe could say.
A more appropriate quote from Mahatma Gandhi might be
“I have been known as a crank, faddist, madman. Evidently the reputation is well deserved. For wherever I go, I draw to myself cranks, faddists and madmen”
Does that remind you of some of the Cunliffe supporters?
No, you don’t actually. It’s the mocker who after winning the initial point scoring loses his credibility when people actually begin to listen to the mocked.
Hmm.
One would have to say that there isn’t a politician in the country who has very much credence then. At least among the ones that the public has heard of.
Among the “secret diary” versions he has published are ones about:
Colin Craig, Winston Peters, John Palino, David Cunliffe, Grant Robrttson, John Key and Peter Dunne.
Those were only the ones on the first screen of the google results from
“steve braunias secret diary of stuff”.
+1 lol yes they are really scraping the barrel having to resort to linking to satirical pieces – is that all they’ve got?
No arguments attacking the great policies coming out of the left-wing – simply false ‘flags’, and jackets (their version of addressing ‘material’ problems I guess). No, simply ‘ooh someone is making fun of Cunliffe – he must, therefore, be finished [:roll:]
Also another interesting ‘opinion piece’ [Stuff, 29 December 2013] about writing those ‘Secret Diaries’ from Steve Braunias, from which I quote:
“OPINION: It was a vintage year for low farce and high foolishness in New Zealand public life, for shameful acts and disgraceful behaviour, for sheer stupidity and evil doing, and I was very grateful…”
“…John Key and David Shearer tied for most appearances in the Secret Diary, with three each. Poor old Shearer! Twitchy and equivocal, he ended up jumping the snapper.
Key held on to power, and continued to resemble a moral and intellectual vacuum. I usually wrote diaries about his head floating away. I guess I felt about bad it, because I dreamed I ran into him, and lied, “Listen, deep down, I’ve got a lot of respect for you.” He stormed off. I respected him for it… “
Humour is great (and that piece about Cunliffe was funny!)
This morning I was watching Max Keiser and I highly recommend the show but on his site another video caught my eyes. The video called: Jump you fuckers and it is a song dedicated to the masters of the universe also known as the London city/Wall street bankster crowd.
This song is not for the faint of hart. In fact it’s brutal so if you don’t like swearing and wishing the pox on an entire group of people no matter how much they deserve it this song is not for you.
But if you feel the need to blast the bastards with a song that tells them what you think give it a go! I firmly held John Key in my mind when I listened to it and it gave me great joy!
Wow The TV3 poll results are fascinating. National slumped to 42% Labour 35% and Greens 11%. Certainly seems like The Cunliffe bribe has fooled enough people. Looks like there is no way that John Key can be Prime Minister. Labour/Greens still need Winston to come on board as last cab.
And I am so going to enjoy being at the airport to wave Key to his home in Hawaii. Cunliffe promised new leadership, brought in a whole tide of fresh supporters (some of whom will refresh caucus), got explicit support from the entire Ratana movement, and understands really clearly who needs to vote in order to change the government.
Key’s supporters can stay seduced by his smiles, his royal visits, the great sheen of the fawning and uncritical media, and will all weep at the end.
Anyone surprised by the personal attacks this week? Cunliffe just launched a policy with far greater sweet spot power than simply trying to bribe the teachers union. He just told everyone Labour loves your family, but using a nice deep code. National saw how positive it was trending, and had to mount a full and hard attack.
Watch the secret tidal change of major donors slipping over to the other side when they can see how fast and hard the tide is running out on National, below the surface.
I was quite happy to have a crack at Labour if this poll was catastrophic, and I am very pleased to see how confounded I have been.
Fisiani, come over to the side good, while there’s still time.
Trust me, if Key thinks he’s going to lose, Airforce One will be winging it’s way out in the early hours of the morning. I’m picking a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday’s Honours List, just in case. He might even resign in the last week if the polls are against him, handing over to whoever, so he can F.O. Remember, he only likes “winners.”
Lots of water to run under the bridge befor the vote, lots more policy announcements to come from Labour and the Green party,
48% in a Parliament without an overhang should be enough to form a Government, things are looking to be on a reasonable track this far out from the actual day,
TV3 polls aint known for being kind to Labour, and many, including the rumor mill from downtown Wellington, who usually can be relied upon to ‘know’ something, have been since well befor the Policy announcements from both Labour and the Green’s in the past coupe of weeks, saying that National are polling in the low 40’s,
Fisiani can call people fools all He likes, and, if He considers Labour’s ‘Best Start’ to be a bribe He must then acknowledge the National Party’s ‘tax switch’ as a bribe as well,
Yell it from the roof-tops Fisiani, ”the people are stupid” should be the battle cry of you and Slippery the Prime Minister for the 2014 election, your pretty much odds on for another 9 in Opposition as it is, might as well make it a certainty…
Please stop capitalising personal pronouns. “He” makes you look ridiculous.
The tax rebalancing was good policy designed to promote markets and self responsibility. The baby bribe is bad policy designed to entrench welfare dependency.
Please stop commenting as each one makes you look ever the more a ‘wing-nut’, Soooo making the poorest sections of society pay more of their income in GST while offering no counter to rising prices of an ongoing nature and the payment of yet more GST as those prices rise promotes self responsibility,
The heights to which your un-genius intellect will soar in search of bullshit knows no bounds and i am sure if the forces of gravity were not to be a factor of our little planet said intellect would simply travel the universe searching for the source of the one true piece of bullshit,
What is this welfare dependency you speak of, the facts show that very few people as a % of the total recipients of welfare that have an entrenched dependence on the provision of welfare, in the great scheme of things most spend a while on a benefit and then move into the workforce…
The tax rebalancing was good policy designed to promote markets and self responsibility.
You really have drunk the Kool-Aid. Nacts tax re-balancing was to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and that’s exactly what it’s done. It’s also left a massive hole in the governments accounts – just like it was supposed to – so that the government would have even more excuse for massive borrowing and austerity.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has estimated that more than 60% of the 5.7 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost over the last decade were because of rising imports of manufactured goods. The Peterson Institute of International Economics estimates that 39% of the increase in U.S. income inequality is because of this imbalanced trade.
Yet Washington keeps negotiating so-called free-trade agreements that seem to open the U.S. market while leaving others relatively closed. A major reason for this is the classic economists’ argument that the generally lower consumer prices that may arise from imports will exceed the more limited wage losses that may occur in a few specific industries, and therefore, on balance, free trade will always and everywhere be a win-win arrangement. In other words, despite the millions of jobs lost as a result of the rising U.S. trade imbalance, the overall U.S. economy is supposed to be better off today than 10 years ago because of lower prices for consumers. The argument is that the wage losses occur only in a limited number of industries, while the lower prices are available to the entire population.
This simplistic analysis is incomplete and wrong. Its key assumption is that the economy is at full employment. In such a situation, workers who lost jobs in a few industries would lose wages only for a limited period until they found new jobs at the same wages as the old jobs. Thus there would be no overall downward pressure on wages and only limited and temporary wage losses for a relatively small part of the labor force, while the whole population would be benefiting from lower consumer prices.
Well, it seems it is out with the old, and in with the new.
According to Audrey Young (even though the formal announcement is not due until 3pm), Whyte is the new Act leader, and Seymour will be the Act candidate for the Epsom seat. Meaning that they have split the roles; and dumped Boscawen.
fucksake, ACT have yet another idiot who fumbles the “skeletons in the closet” question.
When your current MP is being prosecuted, and former MPs have committed identity fraud and who knows what else, the correct answer is “NO” – not “depends on what you call skeletons”
But when Nutt, a former chief drug advisor to the UK, raises the question of what Moss’s case can teach us about the dangers of smoking pot, his response is unequivocal: “I think the answer is nothing.”
Nutt isn’t being cold – he’s being realistic. “Taking any amount of cannabis,” he writes, “like all drugs, like so many activities, puts some stresses on the body.”
To suggest that a single incident – in which, it bears repeating, Moss smoked less than a joint’s-worth of marijuana – should ever be weighed seriously against weed’s history as a drug with no immediately lethal consequences is not only unreasonable, it distracts from more meaningful discussions about the actual dangers posed by drugs, illicit or otherwise:
It would seem that some people are getting terrified of the legalisation that is spreading around the world.
I’m wondering why there is a TV3 poll tonight – only the tail end of their polling would have covered the Labour announcement last Monday, (and Akl holiday weekend), but fully includes the effect of the National announcement
Gower keeps calling it (this single poll) a ‘game changer’, so we’ll see
But if you were going to time your six-weekly poll in a way to downplay the chances of one party after the ‘states’ of the nation, this would be it
There was a review on radionz of film 12 years a Slave. A freeman was grabbed from New York I think, because he was black and was delivered to the South to be a salave, and it took him 12 years to get away.
It was impressed on me the other day when I looked up the term shanghai-ing which I understood was the kidnapping of any unwary man to form part of a ship’s crew, how this was another type of slavery. Black slavery was done en masse, factory style, and for profit in a business chain where was money made at each node in the chain. The black slaves were goods later to be labour, but not as precious as supplying the correct number of crew before a voyage. So there couldn’t be the same ‘wastage’ as with the black slaves who were crammed into ships with lots of trauma, sickness, and death that decimated their numbers.
The ones ‘impressed’ or press-ganged’ for crew were needed bodily on the spot. They were needed to work as crew so could not be allowed to die with such disinterest. And the British Royal Navy were the biggest perpetrators as they attempted to fill the crews for their battleships in their sea war maneouvres. Brit businessmen also were big on transporting and dealing in black slaves. So the mix of cruelty and desire for profitable business is deep n the English mix.
Now Cameron and his ‘white shirts’ are reversing the social welfare and human rights advances so laboured over and sacrificed for, which has been used as exemplars of a modern better world. It is frightening to think of how low they can go, rationalising as to TINA all the way.
Has new boy Whyte bailed from the corrupt RWNJ Manning Foundation because the kitchen is getting too hot?.
The mayor said the third potential illegal activity exposed in the video concerns the home builders’ involvement with the Manning Centre, a conservative think-tank founded by former head of the Reform Party of Canada Preston Manning.
The Calgary-based centre is offering a training program for municipal election candidates with “market-oriented ideas and principles.”
In the video, Wenzel talks about how his company, and 11 others, are each giving the Manning Centre a $100,000 donation.
According to Nenshi, the Manning Centre’s dual status as a charity and a tax exempt non-profit prevents it from accepting such donations.
Dr Jamie Whyte: extremist libertarian and a worshipper at the altar of personal greed as the perfect driver for human advancement. For example:
Many of those occupying Wall Street and the City of London object to corporate greed. Yet greed is usually harmless……my greed is beneficial to others. It inspires me to come up with valuable things to offer them.
On the other hand – the good Doctor J says he has a great contempt for pragmatism:
I have a great contempt for pragmatism…..about
doing what gets [you] elected rather than doing what is right. Doing what keeps [you] in power. It is only because I care about truth and reason that I expose [this] nonsense and get riled about it.
Boscowan was actually pitching to keep the two roles together, not separate. So they did not swallow his pitch.
It also appears (according to the Herald) that Boscowan told the Act Board yesterday that he was resigning as Act President and was reconsidering his position in respect of financial support of the party. He will no longer be fundraising for them, but would remain a member.
..for anyone wanting to read the thoughts of this new hope of the far-right..
..and who he worked for:..
“..See a full list of FCPP’s publications on global warming here (almost all of them are highly skeptical, and many are authored by well-known climate change deniers)..”
..another climatechange denier aims for parliament..
..is that really what we want/need..?
..at this particular point in time..?
..when are they having a public-meeting..?
..i feel like taking the heckling-muscles out for a workout..
They would know each from their work in Canada as well as NZ, I guess.
It would be interesting if this an orchestrated buy-in to NZ politics (not the first time for NAct with the Brash-Banks fiasco, for example)… a little like, maybe, the attempted buy-in to Austrian politics by Austrian-Canadian Frank Stronach autoparts manufacturer Magna International? and whose daughter Belinda* was in the Conservative government there.
Hmm, these Canadian-based neo-libs certainly get around… I wonder if they know each other?
* although she seems to have had a change of heart and is now a liberal, back at Magna International and is a philanthropist after a falling out with Harper.
However, is the comment at 16.1 about Jamie Whyte or David Seymour? I can’t find anything else to show Whyte worked in Canada, just the UK? So maybe that link is out… still doesn’t change the ‘who knows who’ and ‘who’s paying’ questions though.
John Key will not have a “cup of tea” He will simply explain how MMP works and that to avoid a Greens led government stopping all progress a National led government has to be elected. He will explain that the key to this lies in just three constituencies. Epsom, Ohariu and East Coast Bays. He will explain that National supporters should give their party votes to National but cast their constituency votes for Seymour, Dunne and Craig. That will ensure that no one will think that a vote for ACT, UF or the Conservatives will be wasted. This will maximise the Centre owned by National.
yes ha ha. You know nothing. After 12 months of being convinced that we were stuck with a Greebour nightmare, I am convinced that a National led Government is a near certainty for another 3 years.
Yet another Clown comment SSLand, ipredict is a site for the stupid who think that by rearranging the % of the vote as a prediction of the election outcome doing so will make it come true,
Wishful thinking taken to it’s logical conclusion in other words, oh and that logical conclusion???, a fool and His money are soon parted which fits you to a T…
Do the arithmetic 47%+ 2%+1%+4% =54% which equates to 64/120 MP’s + MP 3 MP’s = 67/120 Thus giving dissension room for either the Cons or the MP over specific issues since they will seldom share points of view.
”ipredict’s prediction power was evident in the last election”,except laughably having got NZfirst totally wrong, i actually was of a belief that the NZFirst % of the vote was being deliberately manipulated, by who for obvious reasons i will not name,
Know anything about such manipulations Hooton???, i tracked what i seen as the manipulations for a number of months leading into the 2011election and using what i seen as manipulation of the NZFirst figures commenting on another site at the time was able to accurately predict that parties result,
Where did Fish-head get His numbers Matty??? out of His posterior of course, here i was assuming you knew of this because you appear at times to get your information from the same place…
The best thing about that spin, Matthew, is how we’re meant to think it’s “amazing” that iPredict was more accurate three months out than one month out for National’s party vote.
This would be what we on Planet Earth refer to as “luck”.
If you want less people on lonterm unemployment Dpb benefits Don’ t vote National going back to 1900 right wing govts have had more unemployment.
National and National lead govts have had more on these benefits and for much longer .
NZ statistics 1990 to 2000 National had over 6.5% unemployed averaging nearly 2 years on benefit Labour lead govt 3.5% unemployment with at an average of less than 6 months on benefits.
So by your own logic you would be pushing to get rid of the bludgers party.
What would make you even dispose Nactional even more is the picking winners BS nactionals broken promise of corporae welfare handef to media movie and mining moguls Nactionals friends!
Here are some views expressed in articles he’s written:
“Of course demand for GPs is too high — a visit costs zero – A moderate fee will deter people with sniffles” – 17th March 2010
“Base bankers’ pay on market’s bump and grind – Lap dancers’ financial arrangements could be a model for remuneration in investment banks and cut scope for criticism” – 28th September 2009
“Strip the Bank of England of its power – Leaving a team of ‘wise men’ to set interest rates is absurd. Market forces will always do it better” – 2nd July 2009
“The economy’s not dying. It’s poorly – What will really harm our future wealth is a hyperactive state which takes on too much power” – 15th April 2009
“The market is destructive. Good – Brown and Obama declare they love free trade. So why don’t they follow the logic of their thinking?” – 18th March 2009
“Business is not responsible for social justice – My company’s only cause is to make a profit “- 12th March 2009
“Perfect day to blow up the nanny state – The cost of protecting children from death is too high when it means that millions lose the chance of enjoying themselves” – 5th November 2008
“Nobody knows the importance of everything – When it comes to spending money on behalf of other people, no one can get it right. So no one should try” – 21st August 2008
Some consolation – at least it’s now official. If after 2014 Key governs only on account of electoral jack up with ACT we’ll truly be governed according to the imperatives of foreigners.
I can’t figure out whether your acceptance of them reinforces my view that they’re morally bankrupt and idiotic aphorisms, or that it simply reinforces my view that you’re a morally bankrupt idiot.
Yes, but you’re a far-right extremist with very, very fringe views shared by an almost immeasurably small percentage of voters (according to all available polling data) and you have no understanding of the culture and society of New Zealand, a country you’ve only visited via Wikipedia and GoogleMaps.
Thanks, SSlands, for confirming that you are a nastier piece of work than I had ever imagined. The cost of keeping you and your like away from my grandkids will never be too high.
Schrillglands time to use your private health insurance ACTparty support down by .8% to Zero.
Free straight jackets supplied to delusional rwnjs.
Crosby taxdodgers must be scrapping the bottom of a very empty barrel to pay an Airhead like you.
As I am not sure whether anyone else here has taken not of some highly revealing information that Chris Trotter has made available on The Daily Blog, I will just in case post this here:
Inform yourself about the “Committee For Auckland”, the who knows who selected boys and girls club, that “advises”, “inspires” and guides Auckland Council (the mayor, counsellors and their staff).
Go through it, and you will start to understand, why we have what we have, and why “democracy” is in the Super City nothing but a total farce. I would claim it is a FARCE in the whole country of New Zealand.
Some info of the key stakeholders and business bosses that make up the leadership within that Committee:
“Independent”, yeah right, like the MSM (mainstream media) journalists cheer-leading Key and the Nats into office again. Look also at their “Communications Manager” and her background (in corporate media)!!!
So how “independent” is Len Brown from big business then???
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
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Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Tauranga, Rotorua, Wellsford, Onehunga, Westhaven marina – Gavin Strawhan walks the meanish streets of New Zealand in his entertaining debut novel The Call, almost sure to roar into the number 1 position on the Nielsen bestseller chart, its front cover bearing a rave from somebody: “A really good and genuinely ...
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11195478
– Kerre calls it as it is
Oh dear, back to the bubbles….
There’s another column from Kerre floating round on the Herald as well, a long sickening ‘gush’ over Slippery the Prime Minister,(apparently Kerre just happened to bump into Him while She was in training for a marathon,(pfft),and He was strolling round Auckland with the wife in tow doing a normal bloke routine,(that description by Kerre smacked so much of the ‘truth’ that i had a vision of John Armstrong leaning over Her shoulder whispering words of encouragement into Her ear, or more to the point wheezing the actual script of the article to be printed out of fast failing lungs),
Put together with all the political commentary from the Heralds lineup of ‘wing-nut’ spin merchants this week i get a sense of a troop of Baboons becoming unsettled in their tree top home by the smell of approaching danger breaking into fits of insanely wild screeching all the while defecating/urinating uncontrollably in a paroxysm of fear driven terror,
”Took a knife to a gunfight”,how tired and old can you get,Kerre shows all the intellectual depth of a puddle of Baboons urine, and, with Her having joined the screeching of the troop you would have to wonder if Bryce now has a little competition for Armstrong’s job once the latter has drawn His last gasp…
As McIvor nee Woodham always does – predictably facile – weirdly unintelligent – a media scrubber earning her crust.
@ north..
..’ouch!’…but true..
..phillip ure..
Chris73. If you want a more realistic response to the accusations of castles and clothes then have a look at this. Fascinating lifestyle.:
“Yesterday, the Green Party co-leader tentatively opened her doors to our photographer – and revealed a wardrobe filled with more blue than green. “I quite like blue,” she laughed…….
“Well, this visit clears up a few things. The two-bedroom “castle” is made from stone and corrugated iron. Old fridges serve as cupboards and doorways; a large truck tyre has been turned into a window frame in the master bedroom. A new pizza oven, made from mud, straw and sand, rests on a stack of tyres.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11195535
ianmac, great link to a well written story, lives in a castle indeed, why wouldn’t Mets dress to impress, most of us given the wages to do so would probably have a far more expensive means of dressing,
Does the Childrens Commissioner dress in sack-cloth to deliver reports on the state of New Zealand Children, it is shear hypocrisy for Tolley,Collins and Slippery the Prime Minister to attack Metiria over Her chosen lifestyle with such absolute Lies,
Hopefully the television channels pick up on this story which has in all probability already cost National big time proving to a wider audience just how ugly their fear driven attacks upon the Green Party are…
The point is she is skating on thin ice wailing about poverty (and greenhouse emissions) when she clearly consumes huge quantities of food herself and spends conspicuous amounts of money on clothes. Then when she gets mildly called out she cries racist. Really?
This has not cost National big time at all. I’ll call back in and see how you are doing when the next polls come out. Although I am sure you will have someone to blames. The media, the CE of Housing New Zealand. Maybe the Electricity Authority.
SSLands, your latest attack on Metiria Turei, unless you would care to provide a modicum of proof, is simply more ‘wing-nuts’ lies,
You are barely coherent this morning has the hang-over effected your ability to construct a lucid comment,not that any of the other utter rubbish you spew forth is much better,
Yes please, F off until the publication of the next ‘opinion poll’, you wont be missed, perhaps i could ask LPrent to give you a hand in your stated intention to desist from commenting until that next poll is published…
“You are barely coherent this morning has the hang-over effected your ability to construct a lucid comment,not that any of the other utter rubbish you spew forth is much better,”
No, I never consume alcohol, or any other drugs.
Maybe you should. You’d be less of a fuckwit.
Just plain rude as usual. Good manners go a long way you know.
Oh fuck off you pretentious git.
Charming
Took you a long time to answer/sober up, shrinkglands!!
CV
Why do we have this ‘charming’ twerp here anyway? He’s not as useful as the caretaker Argus Filch at Hogwarts in Harry Potter and not as popular.
Good manners? Your policies kill children. Go fuck yourself with your “good manners”.
SSLands, is that right, well then i would suggest you are suffering stress or you have brain damage of some form, perhaps you should have it checked befor it turns into a disease of the mind…
Intoxicated by the whiff of future riches
Readers are invited to note srylands’ use of language:
– Metiria is “wailing” about political issues
– Metiria is fat so her opinions don’t matter
– Metiria spends “conspicuous” amounts on clothes (the linked article above to the contrary)
– She was only “mildly called out” so what’s the fuss about
– She “cries racist” because that’s what manipulative brown people do
Yep, no sexism nor racism to be seen here, folks. Carry on.
+1
and the silence from srylands is deafening
@ bad..
..i don’t think it has hurt national..
..tureis’ racism-call was ‘the boy crying wolf’…
..and way way off the mark..
..(it was a hypocrisy/’nasty-natty’-smear..)
….and she did herself no favours..with those racism allegations..
..(and i know it is only a herald online poll..
..but that only 2% of respondents think tureis’ racism-call was correct..
..must tell her/say something..
..surely..?
..(and also..surely..granny-print-tolley and helmet-hair/80’s power-dresser collins criticising anothers’ dress-sense..
..is both very funny..and beyond irony..)
..phillip ure..
I’ve no problem with people saying Tolleys comments were dumb or whatever other term you want but it wasn’t racist
How lame of Material to play the race card. Taking a knife to a gun fight sums it up well.
You would defend anything.
The nasty Nat party showing it’s true colours.
NM
More; taking a gun to a knife fight.
If you regard Kerre McIvor as a journalist worth quoting, that says a lot about you.
What journalist ? Where ? A tired flibbitigibbert hack I see.
@north..
..have you seen the offerings from shelley bridgeman..?
..whoar..!..
..bridgeman makes woodham read like tolstoy laced/leavened with wodehouse..
(..which if so..would be a tasty/interesting mix..)
..phillip ure..
It’s important to address male violence in all communities. But isn’t Shane Jones just reinforcing negative stereotypes and prejudices about Maori men?
Especially when he frames it in contrast to issues of land, manu whenua, and colonisation, in this way:
“But isn’t Shane Jones just reinforcing negative stereotypes and prejudices about Maori men?”
No. It highlights that Maori leadership is working to reduce violence in their communities. Maori are disproportionately represented in the violent stats as everyone knows. Working to fix that is a good thing not enforcing a stereotype or prejudices.
Working to reduce violence in one’s own communities is an excellent thing to do. But Jones is whistling hard for his dog here. And his timing is telling: along with the way he opposes the anti-violence message to core issues associated with Waitangi Day.
Precisely, Karol. The guy’s an idiot and a liability to Labour. They need to cut him loose. If they want an excuse get a journalist to ask him to name one thing he has in common with the Labour Party and there they’ll have it.
What has ethnicity got to do with it? Other than being a right wing dog whistle for bigots to drool over that is?
Shane Jones, He who replaces waffle interspersed with words in the nature of 12 or more letters in an attempt to portray Himself as the ‘Oxford scholar’ should know better,
Statistics will show that such young Maori as those highlighted have little knowledge and/or connection with their particular Marae and in fact live in exactly the same manner as their Pakeha counterparts,
Maori no longer live surrounding a particular Marae, something that seems to have escaped Shane, and, Maori are now spread far and wide where they may reside in any rohe on the motu and most of what goes on at a Marae level these days is simply preaching to the converted so how Jones intends the voice of Iwi leaders in Te Tai Tokerau to be taken notice of, or even heard,in say Whanga-nui-a-tara is beyond me…
Out of curiosity what do you reckon the % of Maori would be who are actively involved in their tribe/ marae?
10%, 20%,50% ?
Also can someone from a different tribal area cruise along to the local Marae and get involved?
BM, all of those numbers and sometimes higher depending upon the definition you apply to ”actively involved in their Marae”,
There are many un-noticed an un-reported Marae based and inter-Marae based sporting competitions that the participants in have as their only strong connection to a Marae,(apart from Tangi),
Just as there are many sports teams in the wider community that a particular Marae favors in terms of participation by it’s members without there being an actual Marae connection,
i have spent a couple of spare weeks working on carvings at Marae while mostly accept for discussions in the family,(which might or might not have a wider reach), and, stopping ‘in’ on the odd occasion,usually in the wee small hours,for a spot of karakia is my ‘connection’,
Why do you ask…
It was more of a question regarding your comment about Shane Jones being out of touch and his comment not being relevant to how Maori live these days.
I could be completely wrong here but If you compared Maori who are more actively involved( not just turning up for a tangi every so often) in their Marae with Maori who are not, I’d say the bad statistics such as violence and crime would be way down and probably on par with most other ethnicities.
Which I then wondered if a person who moved from one tribal areal into another could join up to their local Marae even though they’re from a different tribe.?
If they can’t I do wonder if Maori Marae need to get together and maybe form Marae affiliations so Maori from other tribal areas have a place to go and feel involved in the local Maori community.
BM, in some places this occurs but you have to remember that Marae and those who ‘belong’ are basically a family institution with a history going back centuries,
On a deeper level it would then be hard for those who do not have knowledge of this history to join in but in the area of say sports, some cultural events and Marae based training activities friends of the wider whanau are welcome to join in, much of this depends upon how ‘active’ a particular Marae is, some mostly in a more urban setting have and are becoming again the focal point of tribal activity,
What your really asking is for Marae,(an extended family),to take ownership of problems which they are in no way part of, a bit like asking you to take ownership of a particular homeless street kid with offending problems you have little or no prior knowledge of,
Would you???…
as a pakeha..(we who have nothing..in that sense..)
…i have marae-envy…
..and would like to see similar community-based/focused set-ups most places…
.(possible name:..’parae’..?..)
..seriously tho’..!..
..phillip ure..
BM
What do you reckon the % of Pākehā would be who are actively involved in community organisations? 10%, 20%,50% ?
Depending on past actions, anyone (Māori, Pākehā, or Tauiwi) can cruise along to the local Marae and get involved. The tikanga (protocol) of doing so can be complex however. I find my lack of fluency in te reo greatly inhibits my ability to participate, especially down here in Kai Tahu country where the dialect is different to the Northland one that has become the standard.
The important things to remember are respect and humility; so I’d advise you to stay far away.
To answer your question. Yes.
Pakeha and Tau iwi are welcome also, on any Marae I have visited.
Like any community group there are protocols and customs.
Just like the local yacht club or Rotary.
Not as complicated as the Masons, though.
You won’t get into any trouble if you genuinely try to confirm to them.
Ask a local.
And. Also like any community group, if you are willing to pick up a tea towel or a hammer you will become Tangata Whenua very quickly.
or the Northern Club when I was a practicing solicitor. On two occasions settlement meetings were held there so I couldn’t attend. Women only.
I didn’t practice in the 1880’s, I practised in the early 1990’s…
Shane Jones is a very smart man. Has anyone told him he is in the wrong party?
bloody hell..!..i’m agreeing with the velcro-kid/naki-man..
..(second sentence only..)
..phillip ure..
Quite a few of us on the left have suggested that he move to National but none of us agree that he’s quite smart. Has to do with right-wingers being stupid in general.
When I say Shane Jones is a very smart man I mean he stands out from the rest of the talentless bunch at Labour, he is for drilling and mining and would prefer his people in high paying work than being unemployed. I think Yea Nah Cunliffe is still a bob each way on mining.
Right-wingers are less intelligent than left wingers, says study
And you just proved that by continuing to believe that a few jobs digging up our wealth and selling it will make us richer.
Yes.
Maybe I’m missing some nuance. But it read to me as a straight forward appeal to bring people and community into a frame that has exclusively sat around concerns of material acquisition. Reinforcing stereotypes? no. Acknowledging shortcomings within the culture of iwi leadership? yes.
It’s partly the timing – coming up to Waitangi day where the issues for many MOR NZers are those Maori going on about land rights, the Treaty etc. And partly the way he expressed it. Jones didn’t say it’s about materialism, obut something more vague – “ownership of earth, wind and fire” – serves as a dog whistle for those against Waitangi settlements – and along with such a mind set goes a stereotype of criminally inclined, violent Maori.
I see Sealord Jones’s statements exactly the way you do, Karol. He’s saying “Shut up about the Treaty, the dispossession, and focus on what concerns pakeha bigots about Maoridom.” He’s serving himself once again as he plays his kupapa role in the politics of Te Tai Tokerau.
No he is just highlighting the unfortunate fact that maori males are way over represented in family (and all) violence and crime stats.
He is also highlighting the unfortunate fact that a deafening silence is all you hear from leadership in maoridom in regards to maori crime and violence however if anyone dare disturb a taniwha there are hikoi and hui up and down the country denouncing the same.
What has ethnicity got to do with it? Come on Jimmie enlighten us.
@ oan..
..jones is reaching out to/affirming to/dog-whistling to..
..the pakeha working class racist underbelly..
..confirming their prejudices/sneers..
..and painting himself to them..
..as a maori who will ‘sort out’ ‘the maori’.. in general..
..jones is smart enough to know the potency of that message..
..to that working class racist underbelly..
..it’s as simple as that..
..oan..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
I was wondering how Jimmie justifies it.
Nah they just aren’t as keen to arrest the white bullies
karol
He done all right. Not everyone comes up to our high standard.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11195207
So we’re meant to congratulate this fucked old bully Mr Al Kirk the principal of Whangarei Boys High School because he’s “unrepentant” are we ???
And what are these weasel words from the same fucked old bully ?
Oh, he was just causing some “inconvenience” to the pupils, in order to put pressure on the parents.
Comment not fully posted – the weasel words are here:
‘…..headmaster Al Kirk stands by his hard line on outstanding fees, saying the 15 students who were removed from class on Thursday and another 15 yesterday were not done so to be humiliated, but parents were more likely to pay if their sons were inconvenienced. He insists that this not a form of punishment for the students.
“I have done this every two years for the last eight years. I am amiable with [the students] and there is no animosity. I emphasise that they have done nothing wrong,” Mr Kirk said.’
Wonder what the fucked old bully Mr Al Kirk thought about the rapists who raped a girl but still insist that it wasn’t rape because they weren’t violent. Same thing.
This fucked old bully Mr Al Kirk is meant to be an educator. He is not Baycorp. He and the self-importants on the board of trustees who seemingly empower him should be sacked immediately.
A better solution would be for Head Master Al Kirk to start up a fund whereby the past pupils association or the public could donate to assist (in a discreet way) the students from financially strapped homes so that they can participate in extracurricular activities or get help with stationery or uniform requirements.
I have had a complete gutsful of people who have no understanding of how hard it is for those who are struggling financially and who can just stand by and offer criticism. perhaps the Northern Advocate can start to advocate by setting up a fund.
Yeah good suggestion TV but that wouldn’t answer the big fish bully in his little pond fiefdom. Unrepentant ? What a fucking disgrace.
Repeat what I wrote earlier when I saw this, the man is queuing to first in line for one of John Key’s principal leaders – a nice little bonus of $50,000 thanks. F**k the kids, or the local community – the man needs a right bullocking !!
The word rape is lining up to be another word coming under Godwin’s law.
He needs to be fired ASAP.
What is it with some school principals? I mean, the obvious abuse of power aside, how do they get to run schools when they clearly have no fucking idea how schoolkids think and react?
I’m reminded of Pukekohe High principal Ian McKinnon’s complete hand-waving away of sexual assault in his schoolyard: http://ideologicallyimpure.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/principal-ian-mckinnon-accepts-bullying-as-normal-a-joke/
I had the honour of being expelled from WBHS. One of the best things that ever happened to me.
myself..and quite a few others..
..are getting a bit pissy about how..with the ongoing wave internationally of ‘normal’isation of cannabis laws..
..at a time when they should have put down their bongs/stood up/and spoken out..loudly..
..our local ‘drug-warriors’ have all impressed with/by their stunned-silences..
..are they just thinking/acting thru their wallets..?
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/clinic-on-high-alert-comment-and-what-has-happened-to-the-new-zealand-drug-warriors-too-busy-raking-it-in-from-pushing-legal-highs/
phillip ure..
Matt McCarten on the dodgy unemployment stats (courtesy of Mike Treen’s research).
That’s interesting stuff from McCarten,(and Mike Treen), it would have been helpful tho for Matt to have posted a link,(if there is one), to a more detailed view of Treen’s work and how He arrived at this conclusion,
i am not doubting the veracity of what Mike Treen has to say but without the details this will quickly be forgotten as just another small distraction on a Sunday…
link to Mike Treen’s article
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/30/billions-of-dollars-stolen-from-the-unemployed/
@ tm..
..i’ve linked to that treen-piece before..
..i think i will do so again..
..phillip ure..
This was was a stark eye-opener to me.
That’s over 100,000 massively suffering people – made more sense of the huge percentiles of their children in poverty in this country.
The recent Census showed that over 100,000 adults were unemployed. I think that is right from memory.
Very important Daily Blog post from Wayne Hope, on the transnational elite that is the core of the rulers of our 21st century world.
This elite has at its core transnational corporations, especially those of speculative finance:
It is such a loose network of power that I referred to in several posts on “networks of influence”. It’s not a carefull orchestrated conspiracy, but something far harder to counter: people involved in a range of intersecting networks all working in their own ways to get and use power, wealth and influence.
If you add in the US Federal Reserve along with the hand in that particular glove the American Mega-Banks you have the template for how 30 years of Neo-Liberalism was able to permeate across the political and societal landscape, sweeping all befor it to gain an ascendency it still holds today…
Empires strike back. And win.
I’ll be looking forward to his next post. How do communities fight back?
It seems to me that most people’s lack of free time nowadays, the way life is structured so that work almost never ends, is a big factor here. It’s probably a factor in the rise of “clicktivism” – people have their computers on and can dip into sites like this without using up too much time.
how progressives..in general..and labour/cunnliffe..in particular..
..are ‘getting it wrong’..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/how-the-progressives-have-got-it-wrong-and-if-they-dont-start-to-get-it-right-the-conservatives-will-maintain-the-upperhand/
phillip ure..
I wish there was a like button for comments.
AND…I just linked through to your blog. Never realized Whoar was your blog.
Even more like now!
chrs 4 the kind words re whoar..
..and that article is a killer/must-read..
..(for all in labour..for all who label themselves as ‘progressives’..)
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/9672142/The-secret-diary-of-David-Cunliffe
When you are mocked you lose all credibility
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi
You seem to be implying that this is something that Cunliffe could say.
A more appropriate quote from Mahatma Gandhi might be
“I have been known as a crank, faddist, madman. Evidently the reputation is well deserved. For wherever I go, I draw to myself cranks, faddists and madmen”
Does that remind you of some of the Cunliffe supporters?
Was Gandhi referring to his supporters though?
No, you don’t actually. It’s the mocker who after winning the initial point scoring loses his credibility when people actually begin to listen to the mocked.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/9650607/The-secret-diary-of-John-Key
26 January 2014
When you are mocked you lose all credibility.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – Mahatma Gandhi
*Disclaimer, I used to listen to a fair bit of Genesis so I won’t hold that against Cunliffe
add to this Dunne, Banks et al….and Supper’s Ready is my absolute favourite
I always liked Duchess and Home By The Sea 2
could someone alert iprent to the fact the site has been/is being attacked by ‘genesis’/phil collins spam-bots..
..and that it’s getting pretty ugly down here..
..(shudder..!..)
phillip ure..
and that braunias-piece on cunnliffe is funny..
“….I want to begin with an anecdote that humanises me as an ordinary New Zealander.
I had a bit of time to kill one morning over summer –
– so I decided to climb Mt Everest.
It was icy in places – but I wrapped myself in the scarf I used to wear as a student at Otago University.
The smell of the wool brought back priceless memories.
Memories of rocking out at parties to the sounds of Genesis.
Those were the days!
Or were they?
As I stood on the peak of the world’s highest mountain listening to Sessudio on my iPod –
– I felt then what I felt in Dunedin: cold.
You might say “Well – David – that’s your problem.”
But it’s also New Zealand’s problem..”
(heh..!..it goes on..)
phillip ure..
Yeah, not the best idea fisiani’s ever had.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=steve+braunias+secret+diary
when you are ‘fisani’..you lose all credibility..
phillip ure..
Freudian in the extreme FussyAnnie.
Hmm.
One would have to say that there isn’t a politician in the country who has very much credence then. At least among the ones that the public has heard of.
Among the “secret diary” versions he has published are ones about:
Colin Craig, Winston Peters, John Palino, David Cunliffe, Grant Robrttson, John Key and Peter Dunne.
Those were only the ones on the first screen of the google results from
“steve braunias secret diary of stuff”.
Looks like the Tories don’t have any actual arguments..just insults.
+1 lol yes they are really scraping the barrel having to resort to linking to satirical pieces – is that all they’ve got?
No arguments attacking the great policies coming out of the left-wing – simply false ‘flags’, and jackets (their version of addressing ‘material’ problems I guess). No, simply ‘ooh someone is making fun of Cunliffe – he must, therefore, be finished [:roll:]
Veutoviper already linked to one – here is another
Also another interesting ‘opinion piece’ [Stuff, 29 December 2013] about writing those ‘Secret Diaries’ from Steve Braunias, from which I quote:
Humour is great (and that piece about Cunliffe was funny!)
Thanks Steve Braunias, & keep up the good work!
Yes indeed, fake Warrior. They’ve already done John Key and most of the others that serve mainly to inspire man love in you.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/9650607/The-secret-diary-of-John-Key
This morning I was watching Max Keiser and I highly recommend the show but on his site another video caught my eyes. The video called: Jump you fuckers and it is a song dedicated to the masters of the universe also known as the London city/Wall street bankster crowd.
This song is not for the faint of hart. In fact it’s brutal so if you don’t like swearing and wishing the pox on an entire group of people no matter how much they deserve it this song is not for you.
But if you feel the need to blast the bastards with a song that tells them what you think give it a go! I firmly held John Key in my mind when I listened to it and it gave me great joy!
Adopting SlaterPornSpeak – “Do The World A Favour……..And Jump You Fuckers !”
Wow The TV3 poll results are fascinating. National slumped to 42% Labour 35% and Greens 11%. Certainly seems like The Cunliffe bribe has fooled enough people. Looks like there is no way that John Key can be Prime Minister. Labour/Greens still need Winston to come on board as last cab.
And I am so going to enjoy being at the airport to wave Key to his home in Hawaii. Cunliffe promised new leadership, brought in a whole tide of fresh supporters (some of whom will refresh caucus), got explicit support from the entire Ratana movement, and understands really clearly who needs to vote in order to change the government.
Key’s supporters can stay seduced by his smiles, his royal visits, the great sheen of the fawning and uncritical media, and will all weep at the end.
Anyone surprised by the personal attacks this week? Cunliffe just launched a policy with far greater sweet spot power than simply trying to bribe the teachers union. He just told everyone Labour loves your family, but using a nice deep code. National saw how positive it was trending, and had to mount a full and hard attack.
Watch the secret tidal change of major donors slipping over to the other side when they can see how fast and hard the tide is running out on National, below the surface.
I was quite happy to have a crack at Labour if this poll was catastrophic, and I am very pleased to see how confounded I have been.
Fisiani, come over to the side good, while there’s still time.
Trust me, if Key thinks he’s going to lose, Airforce One will be winging it’s way out in the early hours of the morning. I’m picking a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday’s Honours List, just in case. He might even resign in the last week if the polls are against him, handing over to whoever, so he can F.O. Remember, he only likes “winners.”
Which poll was that fisiani? Recent was it?
Lots of water to run under the bridge befor the vote, lots more policy announcements to come from Labour and the Green party,
48% in a Parliament without an overhang should be enough to form a Government, things are looking to be on a reasonable track this far out from the actual day,
TV3 polls aint known for being kind to Labour, and many, including the rumor mill from downtown Wellington, who usually can be relied upon to ‘know’ something, have been since well befor the Policy announcements from both Labour and the Green’s in the past coupe of weeks, saying that National are polling in the low 40’s,
Fisiani can call people fools all He likes, and, if He considers Labour’s ‘Best Start’ to be a bribe He must then acknowledge the National Party’s ‘tax switch’ as a bribe as well,
Yell it from the roof-tops Fisiani, ”the people are stupid” should be the battle cry of you and Slippery the Prime Minister for the 2014 election, your pretty much odds on for another 9 in Opposition as it is, might as well make it a certainty…
Please stop capitalising personal pronouns. “He” makes you look ridiculous.
The tax rebalancing was good policy designed to promote markets and self responsibility. The baby bribe is bad policy designed to entrench welfare dependency.
How can you not see the difference?
Please stop commenting as each one makes you look ever the more a ‘wing-nut’, Soooo making the poorest sections of society pay more of their income in GST while offering no counter to rising prices of an ongoing nature and the payment of yet more GST as those prices rise promotes self responsibility,
The heights to which your un-genius intellect will soar in search of bullshit knows no bounds and i am sure if the forces of gravity were not to be a factor of our little planet said intellect would simply travel the universe searching for the source of the one true piece of bullshit,
What is this welfare dependency you speak of, the facts show that very few people as a % of the total recipients of welfare that have an entrenched dependence on the provision of welfare, in the great scheme of things most spend a while on a benefit and then move into the workforce…
Please return to kiwiblog.
please just stop.
You really have drunk the Kool-Aid. Nacts tax re-balancing was to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and that’s exactly what it’s done. It’s also left a massive hole in the governments accounts – just like it was supposed to – so that the government would have even more excuse for massive borrowing and austerity.
The penny’s dropping.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation has estimated that more than 60% of the 5.7 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost over the last decade were because of rising imports of manufactured goods. The Peterson Institute of International Economics estimates that 39% of the increase in U.S. income inequality is because of this imbalanced trade.
Yet Washington keeps negotiating so-called free-trade agreements that seem to open the U.S. market while leaving others relatively closed. A major reason for this is the classic economists’ argument that the generally lower consumer prices that may arise from imports will exceed the more limited wage losses that may occur in a few specific industries, and therefore, on balance, free trade will always and everywhere be a win-win arrangement. In other words, despite the millions of jobs lost as a result of the rising U.S. trade imbalance, the overall U.S. economy is supposed to be better off today than 10 years ago because of lower prices for consumers. The argument is that the wage losses occur only in a limited number of industries, while the lower prices are available to the entire population.
This simplistic analysis is incomplete and wrong. Its key assumption is that the economy is at full employment. In such a situation, workers who lost jobs in a few industries would lose wages only for a limited period until they found new jobs at the same wages as the old jobs. Thus there would be no overall downward pressure on wages and only limited and temporary wage losses for a relatively small part of the labor force, while the whole population would be benefiting from lower consumer prices.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-prestowitz-sotu-trade-deficit-20140130,0,1832709.story
Well, it seems it is out with the old, and in with the new.
According to Audrey Young (even though the formal announcement is not due until 3pm), Whyte is the new Act leader, and Seymour will be the Act candidate for the Epsom seat. Meaning that they have split the roles; and dumped Boscawen.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11195695
fucksake, ACT have yet another idiot who fumbles the “skeletons in the closet” question.
When your current MP is being prosecuted, and former MPs have committed identity fraud and who knows what else, the correct answer is “NO” – not “depends on what you call skeletons”
What can we actually learn from the UK’s first marijuana ‘overdose’?
It would seem that some people are getting terrified of the legalisation that is spreading around the world.
I’m wondering why there is a TV3 poll tonight – only the tail end of their polling would have covered the Labour announcement last Monday, (and Akl holiday weekend), but fully includes the effect of the National announcement
Gower keeps calling it (this single poll) a ‘game changer’, so we’ll see
But if you were going to time your six-weekly poll in a way to downplay the chances of one party after the ‘states’ of the nation, this would be it
There was a review on radionz of film 12 years a Slave. A freeman was grabbed from New York I think, because he was black and was delivered to the South to be a salave, and it took him 12 years to get away.
It was impressed on me the other day when I looked up the term shanghai-ing which I understood was the kidnapping of any unwary man to form part of a ship’s crew, how this was another type of slavery. Black slavery was done en masse, factory style, and for profit in a business chain where was money made at each node in the chain. The black slaves were goods later to be labour, but not as precious as supplying the correct number of crew before a voyage. So there couldn’t be the same ‘wastage’ as with the black slaves who were crammed into ships with lots of trauma, sickness, and death that decimated their numbers.
The ones ‘impressed’ or press-ganged’ for crew were needed bodily on the spot. They were needed to work as crew so could not be allowed to die with such disinterest. And the British Royal Navy were the biggest perpetrators as they attempted to fill the crews for their battleships in their sea war maneouvres. Brit businessmen also were big on transporting and dealing in black slaves. So the mix of cruelty and desire for profitable business is deep n the English mix.
Now Cameron and his ‘white shirts’ are reversing the social welfare and human rights advances so laboured over and sacrificed for, which has been used as exemplars of a modern better world. It is frightening to think of how low they can go, rationalising as to TINA all the way.
boscowan has been given the boot from act..
..he got nothing..
..whyte is party president..
..seymour(?) is the candidate..
..they obviously swallowed boscowans’ pitch on the need for two roles..
..just sidelined him in their choosing..
..(his automoton-like appearance on the campbell show this week wouldn’t have helped his case..)
phillip ure..
Has new boy Whyte bailed from the
corruptRWNJ Manning Foundation because the kitchen is getting too hot?.The mayor said the third potential illegal activity exposed in the video concerns the home builders’ involvement with the Manning Centre, a conservative think-tank founded by former head of the Reform Party of Canada Preston Manning.
The Calgary-based centre is offering a training program for municipal election candidates with “market-oriented ideas and principles.”
In the video, Wenzel talks about how his company, and 11 others, are each giving the Manning Centre a $100,000 donation.
According to Nenshi, the Manning Centre’s dual status as a charity and a tax exempt non-profit prevents it from accepting such donations.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-home-builder-admits-illegal-activity-in-video-mayor-says-1.1308214
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/preston-manning-breaks-silence-on-home-builders-video-1.1384888
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/municipal-election/naheed-nenshi-surprised-by-manning-foundation-findings-1.1931535
More from the Cobden Centre’s Jamie Whyte Mises Institute to the core
No wonder
Dr Jamie Whyte: extremist libertarian and a worshipper at the altar of personal greed as the perfect driver for human advancement. For example:
http://www.cobdencentre.org/author/jamie/
On the other hand – the good Doctor J says he has a great contempt for pragmatism:
http://www.freeradical.co.nz/pdf/issue72/freeradical72.pdf – page 8
So I very much look forward to him ensuring that no political deals are done on Epsom
Boscowan was actually pitching to keep the two roles together, not separate. So they did not swallow his pitch.
It also appears (according to the Herald) that Boscowan told the Act Board yesterday that he was resigning as Act President and was reconsidering his position in respect of financial support of the party. He will no longer be fundraising for them, but would remain a member.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11195695
So presumably the decisions were virtually made yesterday, with Boscowan the loser.
a news report claimed he has put a quarter of a million dollars of his own money..
..into act..
..whoar..!
‘holy monies pissed down the drain..!..batman..!..’
phillip ure..
David Seymour and the mob he worked for.
https://www.fcpp.org/news/author/david-seymour-85?search_api_views_fulltext=david%20seymour
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frontier_Centre_for_Public_Policy
http://www.desmogblog.com/frontier-centre-public-policy
@ joe 90..
..those are some good links there..joe 90..
..for anyone wanting to read the thoughts of this new hope of the far-right..
..and who he worked for:..
“..See a full list of FCPP’s publications on global warming here (almost all of them are highly skeptical, and many are authored by well-known climate change deniers)..”
..another climatechange denier aims for parliament..
..is that really what we want/need..?
..at this particular point in time..?
..when are they having a public-meeting..?
..i feel like taking the heckling-muscles out for a workout..
..he’ll do..
..phillip ure..
So Seymour went from the independent [sic] Frontier Center to the Manning Foundation where Jamie Whyte worked?
They would know each from their work in Canada as well as NZ, I guess.
It would be interesting if this an orchestrated buy-in to NZ politics (not the first time for NAct with the Brash-Banks fiasco, for example)… a little like, maybe, the attempted buy-in to Austrian politics by Austrian-Canadian Frank Stronach autoparts manufacturer Magna International? and whose daughter Belinda* was in the Conservative government there.
Hmm, these Canadian-based neo-libs certainly get around… I wonder if they know each other?
* although she seems to have had a change of heart and is now a liberal, back at Magna International and is a philanthropist after a falling out with Harper.
So who’s paying them now?.
Very good question… is Act dumping Boscawen for two people who can’t bring money with them? That doesn’t sound like Act.
However, is the comment at 16.1 about Jamie Whyte or David Seymour? I can’t find anything else to show Whyte worked in Canada, just the UK? So maybe that link is out… still doesn’t change the ‘who knows who’ and ‘who’s paying’ questions though.
Yeah, Seymour. The dicombobulation was strong yesterday.
John Key will not have a “cup of tea” He will simply explain how MMP works and that to avoid a Greens led government stopping all progress a National led government has to be elected. He will explain that the key to this lies in just three constituencies. Epsom, Ohariu and East Coast Bays. He will explain that National supporters should give their party votes to National but cast their constituency votes for Seymour, Dunne and Craig. That will ensure that no one will think that a vote for ACT, UF or the Conservatives will be wasted. This will maximise the Centre owned by National.
Fish-head, Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, it’s going to be quite a big Opposition then, Ha Ha Ha…
yes ha ha. You know nothing. After 12 months of being convinced that we were stuck with a Greebour nightmare, I am convinced that a National led Government is a near certainty for another 3 years.
The money agrees with me.
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=PM.2014.NATIONAL
bad12 – I suggest you take 6 months rest and get on the meds again.
Money doesn’t vote, sspylands.
Yet another Clown comment SSLand, ipredict is a site for the stupid who think that by rearranging the % of the vote as a prediction of the election outcome doing so will make it come true,
Wishful thinking taken to it’s logical conclusion in other words, oh and that logical conclusion???, a fool and His money are soon parted which fits you to a T…
srylands, please stop saying “we” and “our” when referring to New Zealand related matters.
Do the arithmetic 47%+ 2%+1%+4% =54% which equates to 64/120 MP’s + MP 3 MP’s = 67/120 Thus giving dissension room for either the Cons or the MP over specific issues since they will seldom share points of view.
47% for national?
Big call at this stage….
I don’t think it knows the difference between percentages and seats…
I don’t know where the numbers fisiani quotes have come from. The current iPredict numbers are available in the links below, and are quite different.
iPredict’s prediction power was evident in the last election, certainly compared with polls: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00739/ipredict-accuracy-blitzes-traditional-polls.htm
that’s super. /sarc
”ipredict’s prediction power was evident in the last election”,except laughably having got NZfirst totally wrong, i actually was of a belief that the NZFirst % of the vote was being deliberately manipulated, by who for obvious reasons i will not name,
Know anything about such manipulations Hooton???, i tracked what i seen as the manipulations for a number of months leading into the 2011election and using what i seen as manipulation of the NZFirst figures commenting on another site at the time was able to accurately predict that parties result,
Where did Fish-head get His numbers Matty??? out of His posterior of course, here i was assuming you knew of this because you appear at times to get your information from the same place…
The best thing about that spin, Matthew, is how we’re meant to think it’s “amazing” that iPredict was more accurate three months out than one month out for National’s party vote.
This would be what we on Planet Earth refer to as “luck”.
Fish-head, please stop, the laughter,(at you),might cause in my chest a coronary of significant nature…
iPredict is currently forecasting 43.1% for National and a combined 42.3% for Labour/Green: see https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=321
Small party forecasts are here: https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=377
Overall advantage is currently (quite narrowly) with National: https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=browse&cat=319
Seryalyerand fishyanal
If you want less people on lonterm unemployment Dpb benefits Don’ t vote National going back to 1900 right wing govts have had more unemployment.
National and National lead govts have had more on these benefits and for much longer .
NZ statistics 1990 to 2000 National had over 6.5% unemployed averaging nearly 2 years on benefit Labour lead govt 3.5% unemployment with at an average of less than 6 months on benefits.
So by your own logic you would be pushing to get rid of the bludgers party.
What would make you even dispose Nactional even more is the picking winners BS nactionals broken promise of corporae welfare handef to media movie and mining moguls Nactionals friends!
Ah, “Philosopher” Whyte.
Here are some views expressed in articles he’s written:
“Of course demand for GPs is too high — a visit costs zero – A moderate fee will deter people with sniffles” – 17th March 2010
“Base bankers’ pay on market’s bump and grind – Lap dancers’ financial arrangements could be a model for remuneration in investment banks and cut scope for criticism” – 28th September 2009
“Strip the Bank of England of its power – Leaving a team of ‘wise men’ to set interest rates is absurd. Market forces will always do it better” – 2nd July 2009
“The economy’s not dying. It’s poorly – What will really harm our future wealth is a hyperactive state which takes on too much power” – 15th April 2009
“The market is destructive. Good – Brown and Obama declare they love free trade. So why don’t they follow the logic of their thinking?” – 18th March 2009
“Business is not responsible for social justice – My company’s only cause is to make a profit “- 12th March 2009
“Perfect day to blow up the nanny state – The cost of protecting children from death is too high when it means that millions lose the chance of enjoying themselves” – 5th November 2008
“Nobody knows the importance of everything – When it comes to spending money on behalf of other people, no one can get it right. So no one should try” – 21st August 2008
Some consolation – at least it’s now official. If after 2014 Key governs only on account of electoral jack up with ACT we’ll truly be governed according to the imperatives of foreigners.
Acknowledgment: not read any of the articles which are listed at http://www.whocomments.org/wiki/Jamie_Whyte. They’re behind a Sunday Times log-in or paywall.
The kaupapa seems pretty clear however.
They read like perfectly sensible views to me.
I can’t figure out whether your acceptance of them reinforces my view that they’re morally bankrupt and idiotic aphorisms, or that it simply reinforces my view that you’re a morally bankrupt idiot.
Yes, but you’re a far-right extremist with very, very fringe views shared by an almost immeasurably small percentage of voters (according to all available polling data) and you have no understanding of the culture and society of New Zealand, a country you’ve only visited via Wikipedia and GoogleMaps.
Thanks, SSlands, for confirming that you are a nastier piece of work than I had ever imagined. The cost of keeping you and your like away from my grandkids will never be too high.
These lines read as if may be part of a film like one on at present Elysium – mad complex life games with no value for no apparent human purpose.
t
Childhood poverty creates longterm welfare depedency.
National the party that creates poverty.
Schrillglands time to use your private health insurance ACTparty support down by .8% to Zero.
Free straight jackets supplied to delusional rwnjs.
Crosby taxdodgers must be scrapping the bottom of a very empty barrel to pay an Airhead like you.
As I am not sure whether anyone else here has taken not of some highly revealing information that Chris Trotter has made available on The Daily Blog, I will just in case post this here:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/01/31/falls-the-shadow-everything-you-didnt-know-about-the-committee-for-auckland/
Inform yourself about the “Committee For Auckland”, the who knows who selected boys and girls club, that “advises”, “inspires” and guides Auckland Council (the mayor, counsellors and their staff).
Go through it, and you will start to understand, why we have what we have, and why “democracy” is in the Super City nothing but a total farce. I would claim it is a FARCE in the whole country of New Zealand.
Some info of the key stakeholders and business bosses that make up the leadership within that Committee:
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/about/staff-and-governance/executive-team
http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz/about/staff-and-governance/committee-for-auckland-limited-board
“Independent”, yeah right, like the MSM (mainstream media) journalists cheer-leading Key and the Nats into office again. Look also at their “Communications Manager” and her background (in corporate media)!!!
So how “independent” is Len Brown from big business then???