It’s a conspiracy by socialist elements in the press to sabotage the leadership prospects of the person best equipped to become National’s next leader after Key …
A toss pot blue nose national party member getting drunk and rude at Hamner Springs – how surprising. It is in fact the only thing these arseholes do well…… be an arsehole
The statement came after allegations emerged that Gilmore called a waiter at the Heritage Hanmer Springs who refused to serve him more wine a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of, “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”.
Considering National’s fixation of who people are I’d say that that was perfectly accurate summation of what actually happened and what was said.
Hope this wont damage his plans to be PM, he’s got what it takes to lead National clearly, but like all their other losers, running a country would be a another disaster for the future.
Andrew Riches revealed that Gilmore, a National Party backbencher, not only made the comments reported to date, but also threatened to have Prime Minister John Key get the man fired.
Riches said he had been happy to let the matter lie, but had been incensed by Gilmore trying to “shift responsibility” for his poor conduct with a “half-hearted apology”.
Riches confirmed Gilmore make the comment to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel waiter along the lines of, “Do you know who I am. I’m an important politician”.
Riches revealed Gilmore also threatened to have the prime minister’s office intervene and end the waiter’s employment.
“By the time this incident occurred, the remainder of our party had left the restaurant and were not connected to these events in any way. I consider attributing blame to any other person to be completely unjustified,” he said.
John Key has received an apology from Gilmore and he says that’s the end of the matter.
Of course it is. Gilmore in his drunken state let a large cat out of the bag. That is, if someone crosses Key, he’s not beyond destroying the person’s career or getting them sacked! It certainly doesn’t surprise me!
Hey . . . c’mon, what’s the fuss? Its not like Gilmore is the National Ltd™ Associate Spokeshole for Health noisily getting pissed while enjoying the hospitality of the tobacco industry by blowing cigar smoke into the face of strangers at a rock concert before getting into a punch up. This guy’s an amateur . . . eh, Jonathan?
The sense of entitlement that some Nats have..
Sources close to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel said Gilmore called a waiter a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician.”
“Important politician.” Now thats an Oxymoron. And judging from the reports then the Oxy should be dropped, and what do we have? Just some lowly back bench sprat politician, who is overinflated with his own sense of self importance, IE being a Moron.
I am sure there used to be a retreat for rehabilitation out there somewhere – was closed in 2003, though it would appear it should be considered for reopening…
Shameful behaviour from Radio New Zealand this a.m.
During the live interview discussing youth rates and collective bargaining involving the Supermarket duopoly in New Zealand, RNZ showed just how pathetic they have become.
All because facts were being broadcast to the people, the interview got shut down mid-syllable.
If RNZ are questioned on the behaviour, I predict they would say it was for the time share consideration of the next vital interview. What was the next vital interview? Horse trials at Badminton! An exceptionally crucial and relevant topic that undoubtedly affects the future of New Zealand and obviousy deserves more attention than the oppression of youth and non-unionised workers.
RNZ, fast becoming the Fox News of the South Pacific
It was a bit abrupt. Sounds like he was told to pull the plug when she started on a tangent about the benefits of unionism in general, rather than sticking to this particular example.
The really disturbing thing though is that it appears this employer, while not planning to use the youth rate, is looking to cut all existing wages down to the adult minimum.
and that is the precise moment when the host abruptly and unprofessionally cut the interview off.
All that had been mentioned was the two to three dollar difference between the wage levels in the collective contract and the isolated and increasingly vulnerable employees who work for the other hand on the pantry door.
really not a good look from our Public Broadcaster
Yeah I would have enjoyed hearing a much longer in depth discussion about the benefits of union membership and how it relates to this issue too. There are many, many discussions that could have been had on many topics related to this event.
However this is soundbite media.
You stray from the immediate topic at hand and it’s over because you can’t be easily slotted into the preordained narrative. Especially after 4 minutes of primtime.
Yes it’s dumb, yes it’s unhelpful, but it’s also very well understood. The union representative, as a professional, should have known better.
No, I’d prefer longer discussions in the media because it takes time to explore complex issues. In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.
That not only puts a great limitation on the range of subjects that can be discussed and linked together, but over time it also has a sort of negative exponential effect. How do you learn anything if you only get to hear people talk about things you already know?
That’s how people end up like you and burt and big bruv.
“In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.”
reminds me of the new improved google search, image search in particular
[we will show you a wide selection of results harvested from a diverse field of data which once we have done our bit will basically tell you what you have already looked at! Oh did you want to discover something you did not already know? Sorry, we don’t do that any more]
imagine your old fashioned card catalogue of your public library,
now imagine the percentage of total cards you may have once looked at,
now imagine that is all you are ever allowed to access ever again and you get the picture,
or not as the case may be
The government has already flouted two of the UN’s Human Rights.
.#12 the right to privacy
#20 the right to assemble.
What ‘s one more?
I wonder if we’ll hear the corporate media talk about ‘big brother state’after all that nonsense we had to listen about nanny state.
Well if they (unions) were banned then it’s “Herr Fuhrer” ShonKey Python. New Zealand would not stand for it. The result is obvious. A vast majority of New Zealanders would physically stand up in defiance of “Herr Fuhrer” and the security forces called in to put them down. It would be a constitutional assault justifying sharp fightback.
There is a class war going on. Fundamentally the warring parties are (1) an entitled, born to rule but not on account of breeding, and (2) the rest of us.
Pus eventually explodes outwards and dribbles away, giving relief. This will happen. There are all the signs. ShonKey Python Rules !
Llanthanide.
Then he shouldn’t have asked her a question so close to the end of her time. I thought he was thoroughly unprofessional. I would like to see her interviewed on Campbell Live.
Yes Lanthanide I am sure we are all aware of that which is obvious and well understood, but interviews are rarely cut off so abruptly, never mid syllable and never without an apology or such like from the host. What we heard this morning was kill switch journalism and it was wrong, unprofessional and a little worrying when we project to 2014.
I’ve heard them do it before on Morning Report, and also on Checkpoint in the afternoons. Not too often, but it does happen occasionally. In this case Geoff did say “thanks for speaking to us” (or similar) and she carried on anyway; most people are polite enough to stop talking at that point.
Seems it’s only a big deal when it’s a topic you care about, so clearly RNZ must be biased, when actually the most obvious answer is simply time constraints.
I really believe I am not being unjustly selective in my interpretation of what I heard.
It was kill switch journalism, it was rude and it was damned unncessary considering the snail like pace of the Badmintion event interview that followed it.
I didn’t hear that particular Radionz interview. But if they have booked someone to give a report on the Horse Trials where wer may be winners also, then they are bound to be fair to the respondent speaking about it. They won’t get co-operation or be able to present the range of topics planned if they go too long over time on one.
I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.
“I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.”
For dramatic effect I was applying an obvious exaggeration by comparison to illustrate the everdiminishing quality of news content that is being excreted from our Public Broadcaster.
Imagine another two to five years of government intervention and control of the Christchurch CBD….. Already the move back is sagging and build costs skyrocketing. People and businesses are saying right now “no thanks, we’ll stay put”. The only people and buildings in the CBD will be Council and government offices – not overly exciting.
On top of that of course the blueprint sought to “shore up” land values byt heavily restricting land use, so speculative land prices are through the roof.
Upshot of this interference equals slowing the rebuild to such an extent that it may not even happen. The donut ghost town.
the risk is as real as this morning’s dawn. don’t count on the sparkly new city folks
It’s been obvious that this was a slow motion train crash from the start.
The moment you let so much time elapse and let the insurance companies gait the tempo of activity, and allow businesses, jobs and families to wither on the vine and go away, you’re fucked. Declining population base, declining rates base, declining morale.
The people adding to Christchurch now don’t see Christchurch as a new home.
Yep. I wonder whether the earthquakes and subsequent demolition of pretty much the entire CBD has been too much. The whole act is too massive for a population to take. The job of rebuild too big. The timeframes too long. It may be that we have lost forever one of our cities (as the CBD and Chch were).
VTO – My contention has always been, and will remain, that there was NO intention to rebuild Christchurch, to any standard which would create a desireable *second city*.
I expect that agenda was set from the get go, and I don’t see Christchurch being allowed to have any remnants of the elected council, anytime soon either!
There have been many agendas. One notable one, which suspiciouns were raised about and confirmed recently with a talk with a senior banking person in the city…… the blueprint acted to shore up land values in the city so that owners and lenders on that property wouldn’t dip out financially. One clear agenda enacted. Fact.
And as long as the derivatives markets continue unabated, there is no end in sight to the schemes which will be dreamed up, to *shore up* markets, of all kinds. The potential losses, from all forms of speculative gambling, have to be propped up, by more conventional lines of business, until the time is right to collapse of course!
What this translates into, is suffering, misery and so on, for the overwhelming majority of people, regardless of where in the world they reside!
It isn’t just a case of ‘suspicions’ over the Frame and Anchor projects being designed to shore up land prices in the designated ‘retail precinct’ – it was admitted from the origins of the Blueprint.
Don Miskell, somewhat naively, seemed overjoyed that CERA’s economists not only approved of a ‘Frame’ but then proceeded to expand its proposed width markedly – and all in order to increase land values in the remainder of the city. Miskell saw it as ‘win-win’ (economic benefit in terms of land values and ‘environmental benefit’ in terms of the so-called ‘green frame’).
The argument was that only by reducing land supply artificially could the ‘critical mass’ of investment drive recovery. As you pointed out in another comment, reports now are that it’s had exactly the opposite effect – of course this was predictable, but, presumably deliberately, had been denied until now.
It was a remarkably bold, duplicitous, agenda-driven process from the get go. I’ve blogged several times about the process and am (over)due to do another.
On the broader question, I tend to the view that the government did indeed also see this as an opportunity to castrate Christchurch politically and disempower its population in order to ensure the ‘economic goldrush’ for the province’s resources (including but not restricted to water) would proceed and accelerate, only meeting ineffectual, unorganised opposition from stressed people being pulled in a hundred different directions and having few formal avenues to engage in the political decision making process.
Dismantling communities, destabilising locales, encouraging ‘sprawl’, importing transient labour and all of the other socially fragmenting features of this planned ‘recovery’ serve the political right – and, frankly, crony capitalism – extremely well.
The fewer natural opportunities and structures there are for people to form common interests the better, for the right. This is known instinctively by most right-wing politicians and, by many of them, it’s known quite explicitly (e.g., wedge politics, divide and conquer, etc.).
I presume you’re responding to vto but I think this link to the Central City Blueprint reveals that vto’s contention about the aim of increasing land values is no conspiracy theory. On page 35 it reads:
“The Frame in tandem with zoning provisions, reduces the extent of the central city commercial area so that the oversupply of land is addressed. It will help to increase the value of properties generally across the central city in a way that regulations to contain the central core, or new zoning decisions, could not. The Frame helps to deliver a more compact core while diversifying opportunities for investment and development. The Frame allows the Core to expand in the future if there is demand for housing or commercial development.
Is the central city blueprint a ‘quality link’? If not – and I understand why you might be wary of it given its glossy nature – here’s an article in which Don Miskell is interviewed about how the frame came to be.
“We looked at the map and thought, well, Latimer Square is 80m wide. Let’s lengthen that all the way up to the river.‘
Hesitantly they put their suggestion to the CCDU and were astounded by the response. “They said great idea. But no. Not nearly wide enough. And that was their investment guys!”
Miskell says this is where the advantage of having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine.]
The economists said a much fatter park strip – one a whole 220m, or an entire city block wide – would have the double benefit of creating green amenity in that part of town while also mopping up the excess land.”
Couple good posts there mr puddleglum. The “investment guys and the economists”, who effectively delivered that scenario to Christchurch (and how many of them maybe 3 or 4 or more?), have of course caused the current malaise.
It is the old story of outsiders thinking they know better. And Wellingtonians no doubt of course too. And the old story of having people who don’t pay the bills make the decisions – or rather having absolutely no input from the people who do pay the bills and live in the place. Example “having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine”
For fucks sake, the economics team, the architects, the urban planners…..
And now it continues – apparently tomorrow the Press has the 50 Power People in Chch and it is dominated by people from outside Christchurch (government through cera eqc and of course the ecan fuck).
The power should be resting with the people who live there, not elsewhere.
This is fundamental.
It was described immediately post-earthquake throughout the media as one of the most important components of a recovery.
It’s amazing how easily it can happen. The pattern seems to be that a core group (relatively small) have a very clear goal/agenda. They then package it in a way that they can entice and recruit to their project a penumbra of professional ‘gnomes’ who, for all sorts of reasons, commit to the process.
These ‘gnomes’ – ‘good’, professional people, technocrats, experts, etc. pursuing their own careers and limelight – can conjur in their minds all sorts of worthy reasons why what they are doing will, ultimately, benefit the masses, even if what they are doing so thoroughly excludes the masses.
I imagine they genuinely don’t think there is an agenda from the ‘core’ group that is at odds with the interests of the ‘masses’ – largely because it serves the ‘gnomic’ class’ interests to be in denial about any such agenda. To acknowledge such an agenda would cause unbearable cognitive dissonance and, potentially, exclude them from such an exciting – often career-enhancing – ‘Big Project’.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of these people. It must be quite intoxicating so far as the social status it offers to them and the sense of making an ‘impact’ on the world.
It all highlights what an amazing city central Christchurch was. Which should highlight to all other communities that what they have in the scape, the buildings, the people, the routes and byways, the lanes and streets, the bridges, intersections, schools, theatres, restrooms, garages, trees, old trees, shops and hotels, the acknowledgements and hellos and nods and handshakes all in a space borne from the natural growth of a population, is something to treasure. It is a life, a culture, a tradition and heritage, a haven, home, workplace, meeting place, it is all of these things done to a a state that only long time does…………….
Your comment makes no sense, TC. Perhaps you were trying (and failing) to be humorous?
Mosquitos are a delivery mechanism, not the cause. Malaria, and the others listed, are diseases of poverty, as I’m sure you actually know. Very few cases of TB in Remeura, as far as I can tell. So, in a time of austerity, it’s hardly a surprise that impoverished neighborhoods, cities and countries see a lift in cases of diseases related to pisspoor living conditions.
Rather than take the default right wing view of the poor, why don’t you try being contrarian?
Well, I’ve got my money on the changing environment causing malaria borne mosquitos to expand their territory and growing antibiotic resistance to be causing the spread of Malaria as opposed to austerity measures.
You’ll note I only mentioned malaria and didn’t mention TB or the other listed diseases as well as the fact I haven’t taken any view of the poor, left or right, so I’d say your comment is a bit of a strawman.
Well, austerity could plausibly (meaning clearly pulling this out of my arse) result in decreased public health funding for projects such as education campaigns about standing water, delayed treatment and neglected prophylactic treatment, and localised pest eradication schemes.
So there is actually a reasonable theoretical link between austerity and malaria, regardless of the actual vector of the organism.
“The harms we have found include HIV and malaria outbreaks, shortages of essential medicines, lost healthcare access, and an avoidable epidemic of alcohol abuse, depression and suicide,” he said in a statement. “Austerity is having a devastating effect.”
It apparently data mines an array of historical case studies from a range of countries to come to the conclusion that, from a public health perspective, people’s circumstances, wellbeing and health can improve even in economic downturns so long as austerity is not used as a policy tool. When it is, public health takes a big hit.
The British commenter this morning I think Matthew Parish, said that Ed Milliband came poorly out of a recent interview. He said that Labour would alter VAT I think he said that they would drop it for a year. When asked where he would get the Billions of pounds that would be foregone he dodged the question, and couldn’t come up with a definite plan to manage the Budget. It doesn’t look good for British Labour.
Labour all around the world are timid about making a simple statement that the allocation of wealth in society needs to change from the top end to the middle.
The trouble was that his timidity seemed to stem from a lack of any plan to meet the gap between receiving present income from VAT and the sudden loss of it.
There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza dear Liza – Henry has to fix it with a straw. Is that the strawman that gets mentioned on this site quite often? I’m trying to keep amused with anything that comes to mind as the ship appears to be steadily sinking and most people are reacting by being sadder or madder or both. Let the musicians play diverting songs!
Its madness…there is a massive thieving under taxed financial centre in London…that and reversing the Tories income tax cuts…plus UNCUT UK have quite a few ideas too…I mean this stuff is not rocket science.
City of London, can only be considered *under taxed*, if it is part of the jurisdiction which HMRC lords over!
Should City of London, or more accurately the corporations/institutions which a registered there, be outside the jurisdiction of HMRC, then whatever taxation is paid, can only be deemed, appropriate!
That will be the same Matthew Parish who recently told Kathryn Ryan that Margaret Thatcher was the most important post-war British Prime Minister and he would know since the highlight of his career as a Tory MP was being her loyal letter opener.
Gawd, coming back to civilisation every now and then leaves moi dumbfounded at manwomankind and its perverted ways. For something to take you back to the raw beauty of nature and its brutal honesty check this http://www.surf.co.nz/tv/977 I posted it here some time ago but it has reared its head as a repeat on this other site. Go wide screen and lose yourself lest you get lost in the wrong world…..
And to think when the World becomes absent of people, the ocean will still be surging and tumbling and foaming away according to its own agenda. Magnificent joe.
Press Release: Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
“Say NO to democracy for salivating property developers.”
“There will never be positive advancements for the public majority of the Auckland region as long as we have political party ticket monopolies sitting in the Council Chamber,” says Sue Henry Spokesperson, for the Housing Lobby
“The faces may change ever three years while both party tickets play ‘pass the parcel’ and bulldoze through the failed ideology of housing intensification from the 2004 ‘Central Sector Agreement’ and former ARC ‘Regional Policy Statement’ .
“It is scandalous the way both tickets have extended this housing intensification proposal deep into the heart of well-established residential areas, ignoring vigorous community opposition,” she continues.
“We need a fresh approach away from slums and leaky chilly-bin houses.
Whose interests are being served?
The public majority or salivating property developers?”
Well, if we go the way that National wants – the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies and a few others that will benefit from the inflated costs that come with sprawl but not the people of Auckland.
If we go the other way, which we really don’t have a choice about, the people of Auckland and not the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies. Actually, the banks will win no matter what happens because they get to print money.
By 9 May 2013 – I should get my Privacy Act reply as to whether or not I am one of the 88 New Zealanders who has been unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
For those who are interested in our country being clever and getting business and enterprise going and getting jobs and lots of working people getting wages to a reassonable standard instead of seeing NZs being represented cows’ sweet faces (the Jersey ones I mean with long eyelashes) in large advertisements all around the place, well…
There was an interesting interview on Radio NZ this morning with a woman who has spent about ten years in New York and come back here to live and she has looked at how the ORs (Overseas Residents) are treated back here. 24,000 come back each year, recently anyway. And are their ideas, their expertise etc being welcomed, embraced and utilised?
For more exciting details try Radionz 9 to Noon this Thursday the 2nd, if you can get on to the Radionz site, and once there on to the details of the interview. I couldn’t and I don’t have all day to get the full information.
But this woman has good stuff that needs to be beard.
Maori TV have posted the film on their site and have the rights to show it 5 more times — we will at some point, release the film on DVD as it has strong educational potential. However, if I can eke out the time! we intend to edit a feature version for the NZ International Film Festival (about 70 mins). As always making documentary, one always has heaps of footage left on the cutting room floor and it would be good to incorporate more aspects of the story, and let it breathe a little more. TV tends to clip along at the faster pace while cinema can take its time.
Thanks for all the support.
John Lancashire (see last para) giving comments about our dire biosecurity lack-of-system in Radio NZ Rural News today Thursday 2/5. Midday Rural News for 2 May 2013 News from the rural and farming sectors. (7′40″) http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ruralnews
He was excoriating about it (good word – we should be using it a lot with political degenerates as we have now). He also seems to be talking factually and his judgment seems sound. Apparently the latest money-saving conflation of government work and responsibility is to bring together Biosecurity and Biodiversity. Both of which he thinks are vitally important and need separate monitoring and understandings.
We are so full of shit in this country. It seems to become more obvious daily from what we hear coming from people who have wormed their way into positions of power and supposed interest in serving the country and the citizens. I don’t know if the rough measure so often used of 80/20% applies but it seems to me that the reliable and thoughtful people are down to the smallest minority. We need to change so much – get responsible people in power – how?
Serious weaknesses identified in NZ’s biosecurity system
from Nine To Noon on Friday 1 March 2013
John Lancashire, immediate past president of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science; and Rob Thode, a Te Puke kiwifruit grower whose orchard was infected with PSA.
Duration: 21′30″ Play (Windows) Play (Other) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3
It’s getting vomit inducing having to listen to these self-interest groups explaining how unfair it is that their income stream plans are being disrupted. It’s as if God has told them it’s their right to fleece electricity users ffs.
There’s plenty of other ‘shares’ to gamble on, and there are even casinos around too.
Vomit inducing is right. It’s more than a little disheartening that basically nobody in the MSM is calling them on their BS. The whole thing has really underscored how economically-far-right NZ has become. On a positive note, I suspect that it won’t matter what National etc say, most people get this issue and realise that National is only concerned for shareholders and no-one else.
Delivery days probably should be cut as more and more mail becomes electronic but, in saying, there are still people (elderly for example) who might require a full service.
And burt, being the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is, fails to understand the problem. The problem being that the decline in physical mail has brought about the fact that the volume can no longer support the legal requirements of 6 delivery days per week.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it. It seems that burt is so stupid that he doesn’t realise that a successful business requires ongoing investment.
Hey Draco, did you know it is possible to point out misunderstandings or incorrect statements without saying things like “burt is so stupid” and “eing the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is”.
TheContrarian, in fact you may not be seeing the whole picture. Conservatives often lack the cognitive ability to understand logical challenges to their opinions. In such cases, emotional approaches may yield better results.
Take the mass of resources available to schools for combating that archetypal wingnut philosophy, racism, for example:
…videos and films that are realistic and present authentic characters can be effective tools. Students are drawn to characters who experience real feelings about the impact of intolerance. “Heroic” characters represent role models whose positive attitudes or behavioral changes can be emulated by students. These tools should be used with the intent to have students identify and empathize with such characters and facilitated discussions and debriefings can reinforce the negative effects of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. In many instances the most effective media tools are those that were not explicitly designed to “teach about prejudice and discrimination”.
The study then presented participants with a real-world choice: With a fixed amount of money in their wallet, respondents had to “buy” either an old-school lightbulb or an efficient compact florescent bulb (CFL), the same kind Bachmann railed against. Both bulbs were labeled with basic hard data on their energy use, but without a translation of that into climate pros and cons. When the bulbs cost the same, and even when the CFL cost more, conservatives and liberals were equally likely to buy the efficient bulb. But slap a message on the CFL’s packaging that says “Protect the Environment,” and “we saw a significant drop-off in more politically moderates and conservatives choosing that option,” said study author Dena Gromet, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
This is basically where burt is at. As far as he’s concerned anything state owned is bad and so he will treat as such even if doing so hurts him.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it.
Yes… lets extract some more tax payers funds to prop up a business that’s having trouble in a competitive market… Better still – lets kill off all competition and mandate state control over the sector… Seems to be the right approach for electricity – why not banking ?
Question: Has there ever been a year when KiwiBank didn’t require capital to stay operational and fund all that TV advertising?
Advertising that it’s NZ owned and looking after the best interests of NZ by sucking up tax payer dollars in some grand charade that it’s competitive and making a difference to the behaviour of the “big banks” that just keep recording massive profits while “our bank” needs capital from tax payers ?
Those apologies came after one of his dining companions, Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches confirmed he’d left a note at the hotel the following morning apologising for Mr Gilmore’s behaviour.
Mr Gilmore allegedly called the waiter a “dickhead” when he refused him more wine and gave him his business card saying something like “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”, The Press reported today.
It has also been suggested this morning that Mr Gilmore told the waiter he would tell the Prime Minister’s office about the waiter’s behaviour and have him sacked.
Mr Riches this afternoon confirmed to the Herald he’d heard Mr Gilmore use words to that effect to the waiter.
Mr Riches also said he was disappointed that Mr Gilmore had apologised for his group’s behaviour when it was “absolutely” his own behaviour that was in question.
“It’s a shame because I thought this could just lie, he could apologise and that would be the end of it, but to sort of blame everyone else!”
He told the Herald that two of the four in Mr Gilmore’s group had left by the time of the incident.
“It was because most of the group had already left, he was cut off service, he did the old, “do you know who I am, I’m an MP”.
If you read the article carefully. he’s not really taking responsibility…
“As a group of diners our behaviour was at times boisterous, and I sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused to staff and/or patrons”.
No individual apology for his own specific actions, which have been outlined in some detail.
Just a general apology on the part of the group.
If he does not apologise fully, this story will keep running.
He hasn’t even apologised for them either. “I apologise for any offence caused” is a Clayton’s apology. If he means it he’ll apologise for his own behaviour not what he imagines to be someone else’s state of mind.
PS: The same apology, in fact, that Little and Mallard offered Collins; a gesture of contempt 🙂
Yup. A letter has been sent to Duncan Garner from Andrew Riches, one of the Hanmer group.
And Garner makes a suggestion to John Key to get rid of him.
It’s not a good look.
While “some inappropriate comments might seem to have been made”, they had been apologised for, he said. – Herald
Yes but not by him. Must have caught that infection from his Leader?
The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute yesterday told the Herald Mr Gilmore was not a member, although he listed membership as part of his list of educational and professional qualifications on his parliamentary web page.
And yeah, that’s a Clayton’s apology. Two strikes, I’m sure there’s a third in there somewhere.
Do you notice how Matthew Hooton always uses the term the Green/Labour axis?
He is clearly trying to control language and introduce new slogans for the right?
1. The use of axis, which has negative connotations because this was the term given to the German alliance in World War 2.
2. By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.
Forget Hooton, – he is nothing more than tool in the box of the estabishment, as soon as there is no more use for him, he will be on the scapheap.
Does that make me feel good, no , not really, Hooton is a human being too, but has chosen sides, and now has to see it through to the inevitable conclusion.
Use of the word axis, is as you point out, Paul, and Draco, also!
looks like the MP’s aren’t the only drunks
This has to be the worst edited articles ever in the Herald, or was it simply unproofed.
It is just a long string of variants of the same handful of sentences.
Looks like it mickysavage. It suggests the swinging voters are swinging more wildly than ever. Not a good sign. They’re ripe for NAct manipulation and we’re seeing this happen with increasing frequency. Eg.. the far left wolf-whistle.
To my knowledge no senior Labour politician has seriously addressed this load of crap. They ignore it at their peril.
What polling needs to be written off? The polling where a 4 point bump for labour still takes them only half way down to their previous election result?
But that’s part of it – Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?
I think the chances are pretty good. And really, unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks, I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference
There’s always secret challenges brewing. It’s politics after all.
“Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?”
Nope.
“unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks”
And you think he’s better, how? Don’t bother, I’ll just photoshop an extra plank into his head shots and we’ll all agree he’s bad, but not in a good way.
“I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference”
Them who made the decision must take the blame, and abc will know this, hopefully sooner rather than later. Fuck judgement day, that’s so last week. I’m waiting for consequence day.
You remind me of fundies expecting armageddon to happen on date XXXX.
Every time things go badly, it’s a portent of imminent doom.
Every time things improve, it’s a blip and armageddon has been rescheduled for the morrow.
I’m not “lowering expectations”. My expectation is a labour/green government.
There is nothing in RM, colmar brunton, or Reid Research (TV3) trends to indicate that this is not a likely outcome in 2014.
No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail or the world to end.
Well I can imagine that on a billboard – “Not as bad as Brash or Banks”. The irony will surely capture that vital hipster demographic. Maybe Shearer and Robertson should start growing handlebar moustaches, wear enormous spectacle frames, skinny trousers and and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Actually, this could go really well: “I’m David Shearer, you’ve probably never heard of me.”
the Nats PR clobbering machine is just warming up over NZ Power, and Labour counter punches have been light weight. I’m with Al1en, this ride is going to be rough. Go Greens, go Mana.
Well it does suggest the tv3 poll was a better reflection of the sentiment than tv1. Guess well have to wait for the next round from them. Of course if labor was doing well post power policy, maybe they could tell us their numbers. Who polls for them these days anyway now umr is gone (assuming they are?).
Actually it doesn’t suggest anything of the sort. TV3 claimed that National would be able to govern alone on their last poll results. Gary Morgan makes the point that even with this bounce in the Roy Morgan, Labour and its coalition partners would be more likely to form government than National.
Colin Craig’s Clint moment? Bomber just asked him on Citizen A, about Auckland’s Transport funding issues, “What would Jesus do?” Craig collapses with a snorty giggle – no idea.
You seem to be asking questions based on the premise that these boards and their directors wish to build strong ongoing businesses. And yes, some do.
But with many others, it helps to view their activities from the standpoint of conducting a bank heist in progress. Then you’ll find that their activities make far more sense.
I think it’s a good thing that John Minto is standing as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – he will be able to promote Mana policies which will help focus on the most vulnerable of the 99%.
That will also help to raise the profile of Mana, and their policies before the 2014 General Election.
As I did in 2010 as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I will be focusing on how the $upercity has been a corrupt corporate coup – and how to take back the Auckland region from the control of the 1%.
I tried to warn you folks as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010 – that the Auckland $upercity would be a SUPER RIPOFF – a super public trough, for fewer but bigger private snouts.
Where was I wrong?
Have YOUR rates gone UP or DOWN?
______________________________________________________________________________
Why I stood as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010:
Proven track record, as a successful Occupy Auckland Appellant (in my own name) in fighting the corporate 1% who run the Auckland region, ‘like a business – for business’:
EVIDENCE in the following High Court document – exposing the role of the unelected Committee for Auckland, of which the CEO for Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member.
(So – whose interests is he serving?
The majority of citizens and ratepayers – or his corporate mates?)
PS: My defended hearing in the above-mentioned Court case on the charge of ‘willful trespass’ for occupying John Banks electoral office on 18 June 2013 – has been adjourned until 27 September 2013 🙂
A panel, chaired by Key’s scientific adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, advises of the impact climate change could have on the Antarctic, and thus on NZ and it’s economy.
The panel recognised that of all the various potential risks New Zealand faced, a dramatic change in Southern Ocean currents driven by changes in the Antarctic ice sheet, “would have far more dramatic influence on our economy, through changes in the climate and rainfall patterns, than any of us had realised”.
“Therefore, given that we are uniquely committed and associated with Antarctic research, and given our leadership in that area, it was self-evident that to protect our future as a country, we need to understand what’s going to happen in the Southern Ocean far better than we do now,” Sir Peter said.
Despite concerns about the issue, it attracted relatively little funding in the current financial year.
A cabinet paper by Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce calculated that only $4.1 million was spent on research areas connected with the deep south challenge in 2012/13, out of the $523 million provided through contestable funding and crown research institutes. Those figures did not include research funded through the tertiary education sector and other government agencies.
“A young unskilled person is disadvantaged in competing against more experienced and trained people in the labour market. Starting wages help young people gain experience and better equip them to be able to compete on stronger terms.”
So where does the more experienced and trained person go ? And wait a few months/year and see these organisations that are currently commenting that they will still continue to pay min wage will be?
‘Young’ is a superfluous word. E.g. an any, particularly and older, unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker is easily as disadvantaged as young unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker when competing against more experienced and trained people. That’s why there are pay grades.
Why do we let these people making excuses that lead to lower wages based on age get away with this?
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
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TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
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The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
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Nooooooo …
It’s a conspiracy by socialist elements in the press to sabotage the leadership prospects of the person best equipped to become National’s next leader after Key …
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8621657/Apology-over-MPs-flare-up-in-restaurant
Sure it wasn’t Reece Witherspoon in disguise?
Or a GCSB agent gone rogue?
The last I heard, they were all “rogue”
A toss pot blue nose national party member getting drunk and rude at Hamner Springs – how surprising. It is in fact the only thing these arseholes do well…… be an arsehole
I like how Aaron had a bottle and a half which leaves about half a bottle each for everyone else.
Still, he’s pretty sure it was one of the others being a drunk fool and not him. Sort of anyway, can’t really remember.
Yes, did the wine maths too and wondered. I imagine Aaron’s spent hours thinking how to come up with that pack of cover up lies. Pathetic.
He apparently feels some connection with Christchurch East. Drunk in a restaurant in Hanmer is about as close as he gets to there.
Imperator fish seems to have inside knowledge …
http://www.imperatorfish.com/2013/05/a-day-in-life-of-aaron-gilmore-mp.html
Considering National’s fixation of who people are I’d say that that was perfectly accurate summation of what actually happened and what was said.
Hope this wont damage his plans to be PM, he’s got what it takes to lead National clearly, but like all their other losers, running a country would be a another disaster for the future.
And it gets worse.
What a dick. Typical born to rule tory.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8621657/Lawyer-unfairly-tarnished-by-Gilmore
John Key has received an apology from Gilmore and he says that’s the end of the matter.
Of course it is. Gilmore in his drunken state let a large cat out of the bag. That is, if someone crosses Key, he’s not beyond destroying the person’s career or getting them sacked! It certainly doesn’t surprise me!
‘
Hey . . . c’mon, what’s the fuss? Its not like Gilmore is the National Ltd™ Associate Spokeshole for Health noisily getting pissed while enjoying the hospitality of the tobacco industry by blowing cigar smoke into the face of strangers at a rock concert before getting into a punch up. This guy’s an amateur . . . eh, Jonathan?
The sense of entitlement that some Nats have..
Sources close to the Heritage Hanmer Springs hotel said Gilmore called a waiter a “dickhead”, handed over his business card and made a comment along the lines of “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician.”
A politician sure. Important? Best laugh of the morning.
Yes, the oxymoron is moronic. More importantly it demonstrates the out of touch Wellington beltway self centred mindset and ego of some MPs.
Of the people, for the people? Gotta be dreaming.
Gilmore ranks 54 within the National party… He will be gone at the next election.
He might not be ranked so low on the 2014 list.
Flattery through imitation, I think
Perhaps. On the other hand, it looks like it might be time to check who is next on the current list.
Ten percent ox, ninety percent moron
Nah Allen……..you missed out the 20% rhymes with ox starts with p.
“Important politician.” Now thats an Oxymoron. And judging from the reports then the Oxy should be dropped, and what do we have? Just some lowly back bench sprat politician, who is overinflated with his own sense of self importance, IE being a Moron.
Hanmer Springs
I am sure there used to be a retreat for rehabilitation out there somewhere – was closed in 2003, though it would appear it should be considered for reopening…
(Should be) fatally clanging ! That it should be at Hanmer Springs of all places ?
Was last in that spot 49 years ago. Hot pools etc. Great for kids.
You know what ? In the whole five days I took the waters there I never met a single drunken , entitled, prat.
Plenty of former drinkers taking therapy at the rehab that used to be there.
But not one entitled prat !
Shameful behaviour from Radio New Zealand this a.m.
During the live interview discussing youth rates and collective bargaining involving the Supermarket duopoly in New Zealand, RNZ showed just how pathetic they have become.
All because facts were being broadcast to the people, the interview got shut down mid-syllable.
If RNZ are questioned on the behaviour, I predict they would say it was for the time share consideration of the next vital interview. What was the next vital interview? Horse trials at Badminton! An exceptionally crucial and relevant topic that undoubtedly affects the future of New Zealand and obviousy deserves more attention than the oppression of youth and non-unionised workers.
RNZ, fast becoming the Fox News of the South Pacific
+1
It was a bit abrupt. Sounds like he was told to pull the plug when she started on a tangent about the benefits of unionism in general, rather than sticking to this particular example.
The really disturbing thing though is that it appears this employer, while not planning to use the youth rate, is looking to cut all existing wages down to the adult minimum.
and that is the precise moment when the host abruptly and unprofessionally cut the interview off.
All that had been mentioned was the two to three dollar difference between the wage levels in the collective contract and the isolated and increasingly vulnerable employees who work for the other hand on the pantry door.
really not a good look from our Public Broadcaster
Yeah I would have enjoyed hearing a much longer in depth discussion about the benefits of union membership and how it relates to this issue too. There are many, many discussions that could have been had on many topics related to this event.
However this is soundbite media.
You stray from the immediate topic at hand and it’s over because you can’t be easily slotted into the preordained narrative. Especially after 4 minutes of primtime.
Yes it’s dumb, yes it’s unhelpful, but it’s also very well understood. The union representative, as a professional, should have known better.
Is the reason you wanted to hear more about the benefits of union membership because you are currently unsure that it has any value?
No, I’d prefer longer discussions in the media because it takes time to explore complex issues. In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.
That not only puts a great limitation on the range of subjects that can be discussed and linked together, but over time it also has a sort of negative exponential effect. How do you learn anything if you only get to hear people talk about things you already know?
That’s how people end up like you and burt and big bruv.
So you were disappointed that Nat radio couldn’t be used as a machine of propaganda…got it.
Beautifully illustrated, thanks.
“In a soundbite format people are only really able to discuss things that are already widely understood.”
reminds me of the new improved google search, image search in particular
[we will show you a wide selection of results harvested from a diverse field of data which once we have done our bit will basically tell you what you have already looked at! Oh did you want to discover something you did not already know? Sorry, we don’t do that any more]
imagine your old fashioned card catalogue of your public library,
now imagine the percentage of total cards you may have once looked at,
now imagine that is all you are ever allowed to access ever again and you get the picture,
or not as the case may be
I hate people like you who want to outlaw trade unions and collective bargaining.
Its just around the corner folks, soon unions will be banned. I have been saying this since 2004.
Not sure unions can be banned.
Bill of Rights guarantees the freedom of association so you’d have to get around that first.
that one would want to is what is called a tell
The government has already flouted two of the UN’s Human Rights.
.#12 the right to privacy
#20 the right to assemble.
What ‘s one more?
I wonder if we’ll hear the corporate media talk about ‘big brother state’after all that nonsense we had to listen about nanny state.
Well if they (unions) were banned then it’s “Herr Fuhrer” ShonKey Python. New Zealand would not stand for it. The result is obvious. A vast majority of New Zealanders would physically stand up in defiance of “Herr Fuhrer” and the security forces called in to put them down. It would be a constitutional assault justifying sharp fightback.
There is a class war going on. Fundamentally the warring parties are (1) an entitled, born to rule but not on account of breeding, and (2) the rest of us.
Pus eventually explodes outwards and dribbles away, giving relief. This will happen. There are all the signs. ShonKey Python Rules !
Ignore that ConKing Response.
That woman Maxine Gay pretty much got her point across and was also attractively ardent in doing that.
Actually the radio does run on a schedule with allotted times for each story. She used her time up.
Llanthanide.
Then he shouldn’t have asked her a question so close to the end of her time. I thought he was thoroughly unprofessional. I would like to see her interviewed on Campbell Live.
Yes and no.
She was cut because the time was up, but she was cut mid syllable because she was about to embark on a tangential voyage.
Yes Lanthanide I am sure we are all aware of that which is obvious and well understood, but interviews are rarely cut off so abruptly, never mid syllable and never without an apology or such like from the host. What we heard this morning was kill switch journalism and it was wrong, unprofessional and a little worrying when we project to 2014.
I’ve heard them do it before on Morning Report, and also on Checkpoint in the afternoons. Not too often, but it does happen occasionally. In this case Geoff did say “thanks for speaking to us” (or similar) and she carried on anyway; most people are polite enough to stop talking at that point.
Seems it’s only a big deal when it’s a topic you care about, so clearly RNZ must be biased, when actually the most obvious answer is simply time constraints.
I really believe I am not being unjustly selective in my interpretation of what I heard.
It was kill switch journalism, it was rude and it was damned unncessary considering the snail like pace of the Badmintion event interview that followed it.
I didn’t hear that particular Radionz interview. But if they have booked someone to give a report on the Horse Trials where wer may be winners also, then they are bound to be fair to the respondent speaking about it. They won’t get co-operation or be able to present the range of topics planned if they go too long over time on one.
I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.
“I don’t think that comparisons with Fox are justified.”
For dramatic effect I was applying an obvious exaggeration by comparison to illustrate the everdiminishing quality of news content that is being excreted from our Public Broadcaster.
-there is no smiley for that 🙂
Imagine another two to five years of government intervention and control of the Christchurch CBD….. Already the move back is sagging and build costs skyrocketing. People and businesses are saying right now “no thanks, we’ll stay put”. The only people and buildings in the CBD will be Council and government offices – not overly exciting.
On top of that of course the blueprint sought to “shore up” land values byt heavily restricting land use, so speculative land prices are through the roof.
Upshot of this interference equals slowing the rebuild to such an extent that it may not even happen. The donut ghost town.
the risk is as real as this morning’s dawn. don’t count on the sparkly new city folks
It’s been obvious that this was a slow motion train crash from the start.
The moment you let so much time elapse and let the insurance companies gait the tempo of activity, and allow businesses, jobs and families to wither on the vine and go away, you’re fucked. Declining population base, declining rates base, declining morale.
The people adding to Christchurch now don’t see Christchurch as a new home.
It’s just the next gold rush.
Yep. I wonder whether the earthquakes and subsequent demolition of pretty much the entire CBD has been too much. The whole act is too massive for a population to take. The job of rebuild too big. The timeframes too long. It may be that we have lost forever one of our cities (as the CBD and Chch were).
It has been too much.
Naomi Klein “Disaster Capitalism.” New Orleans
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/resources/part7/chapter20
VTO – My contention has always been, and will remain, that there was NO intention to rebuild Christchurch, to any standard which would create a desireable *second city*.
I expect that agenda was set from the get go, and I don’t see Christchurch being allowed to have any remnants of the elected council, anytime soon either!
There have been many agendas. One notable one, which suspiciouns were raised about and confirmed recently with a talk with a senior banking person in the city…… the blueprint acted to shore up land values in the city so that owners and lenders on that property wouldn’t dip out financially. One clear agenda enacted. Fact.
And as long as the derivatives markets continue unabated, there is no end in sight to the schemes which will be dreamed up, to *shore up* markets, of all kinds. The potential losses, from all forms of speculative gambling, have to be propped up, by more conventional lines of business, until the time is right to collapse of course!
What this translates into, is suffering, misery and so on, for the overwhelming majority of people, regardless of where in the world they reside!
It isn’t just a case of ‘suspicions’ over the Frame and Anchor projects being designed to shore up land prices in the designated ‘retail precinct’ – it was admitted from the origins of the Blueprint.
Don Miskell, somewhat naively, seemed overjoyed that CERA’s economists not only approved of a ‘Frame’ but then proceeded to expand its proposed width markedly – and all in order to increase land values in the remainder of the city. Miskell saw it as ‘win-win’ (economic benefit in terms of land values and ‘environmental benefit’ in terms of the so-called ‘green frame’).
The argument was that only by reducing land supply artificially could the ‘critical mass’ of investment drive recovery. As you pointed out in another comment, reports now are that it’s had exactly the opposite effect – of course this was predictable, but, presumably deliberately, had been denied until now.
It was a remarkably bold, duplicitous, agenda-driven process from the get go. I’ve blogged several times about the process and am (over)due to do another.
On the broader question, I tend to the view that the government did indeed also see this as an opportunity to castrate Christchurch politically and disempower its population in order to ensure the ‘economic goldrush’ for the province’s resources (including but not restricted to water) would proceed and accelerate, only meeting ineffectual, unorganised opposition from stressed people being pulled in a hundred different directions and having few formal avenues to engage in the political decision making process.
Dismantling communities, destabilising locales, encouraging ‘sprawl’, importing transient labour and all of the other socially fragmenting features of this planned ‘recovery’ serve the political right – and, frankly, crony capitalism – extremely well.
The fewer natural opportunities and structures there are for people to form common interests the better, for the right. This is known instinctively by most right-wing politicians and, by many of them, it’s known quite explicitly (e.g., wedge politics, divide and conquer, etc.).
Fact eh! Lets see the citation and or quality links then.
Hi dumrse,
I presume you’re responding to vto but I think this link to the Central City Blueprint reveals that vto’s contention about the aim of increasing land values is no conspiracy theory. On page 35 it reads:
“The Frame in tandem with zoning provisions, reduces the extent of the central city commercial area so that the oversupply of land is addressed. It will help to increase the value of properties generally across the central city in a way that regulations to contain the central core, or new zoning decisions, could not. The Frame helps to deliver a more compact core while diversifying opportunities for investment and development. The Frame allows the Core to expand in the future if there is demand for housing or commercial development.
Is the central city blueprint a ‘quality link’? If not – and I understand why you might be wary of it given its glossy nature – here’s an article in which Don Miskell is interviewed about how the frame came to be.
“We looked at the map and thought, well, Latimer Square is 80m wide. Let’s lengthen that all the way up to the river.‘
Hesitantly they put their suggestion to the CCDU and were astounded by the response. “They said great idea. But no. Not nearly wide enough. And that was their investment guys!”
Miskell says this is where the advantage of having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine.]
The economists said a much fatter park strip – one a whole 220m, or an entire city block wide – would have the double benefit of creating green amenity in that part of town while also mopping up the excess land.”
Couple good posts there mr puddleglum. The “investment guys and the economists”, who effectively delivered that scenario to Christchurch (and how many of them maybe 3 or 4 or more?), have of course caused the current malaise.
It is the old story of outsiders thinking they know better. And Wellingtonians no doubt of course too. And the old story of having people who don’t pay the bills make the decisions – or rather having absolutely no input from the people who do pay the bills and live in the place. Example “having all the experts in the one place really showed. Cera’s economics team could see angles that Blueprint’s architects and urban planners could not imagine”
For fucks sake, the economics team, the architects, the urban planners…..
And now it continues – apparently tomorrow the Press has the 50 Power People in Chch and it is dominated by people from outside Christchurch (government through cera eqc and of course the ecan fuck).
The power should be resting with the people who live there, not elsewhere.
This is fundamental.
It was described immediately post-earthquake throughout the media as one of the most important components of a recovery.
The opposite has happened, as these things show.
It is very bad.
sad.
Yes it is sad.
It’s amazing how easily it can happen. The pattern seems to be that a core group (relatively small) have a very clear goal/agenda. They then package it in a way that they can entice and recruit to their project a penumbra of professional ‘gnomes’ who, for all sorts of reasons, commit to the process.
These ‘gnomes’ – ‘good’, professional people, technocrats, experts, etc. pursuing their own careers and limelight – can conjur in their minds all sorts of worthy reasons why what they are doing will, ultimately, benefit the masses, even if what they are doing so thoroughly excludes the masses.
I imagine they genuinely don’t think there is an agenda from the ‘core’ group that is at odds with the interests of the ‘masses’ – largely because it serves the ‘gnomic’ class’ interests to be in denial about any such agenda. To acknowledge such an agenda would cause unbearable cognitive dissonance and, potentially, exclude them from such an exciting – often career-enhancing – ‘Big Project’.
It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of these people. It must be quite intoxicating so far as the social status it offers to them and the sense of making an ‘impact’ on the world.
It all highlights what an amazing city central Christchurch was. Which should highlight to all other communities that what they have in the scape, the buildings, the people, the routes and byways, the lanes and streets, the bridges, intersections, schools, theatres, restrooms, garages, trees, old trees, shops and hotels, the acknowledgements and hellos and nods and handshakes all in a space borne from the natural growth of a population, is something to treasure. It is a life, a culture, a tradition and heritage, a haven, home, workplace, meeting place, it is all of these things done to a a state that only long time does…………….
Austerity economics causes suicides, depression, disease
HIV, malaria, TB returning.
Thanks right wing prick politicians, central and investment banksters.
Whilst continuing to engage in idiotic left wing spending like there is no problem always turns out well.
Commonly known as the “smoke yourself free of lung cancer method”.
Hi King Kong
You do talk utter rubbish, you know? Of course you wouldn’t would you…..?
More sensible than the “cut money and spending from communities business recovery method”
Austerity causes Malaria? I could have sworn it was mosquito borne
Your comment makes no sense, TC. Perhaps you were trying (and failing) to be humorous?
Mosquitos are a delivery mechanism, not the cause. Malaria, and the others listed, are diseases of poverty, as I’m sure you actually know. Very few cases of TB in Remeura, as far as I can tell. So, in a time of austerity, it’s hardly a surprise that impoverished neighborhoods, cities and countries see a lift in cases of diseases related to pisspoor living conditions.
Rather than take the default right wing view of the poor, why don’t you try being contrarian?
Well, I’ve got my money on the changing environment causing malaria borne mosquitos to expand their territory and growing antibiotic resistance to be causing the spread of Malaria as opposed to austerity measures.
You’ll note I only mentioned malaria and didn’t mention TB or the other listed diseases as well as the fact I haven’t taken any view of the poor, left or right, so I’d say your comment is a bit of a strawman.
Well, austerity could plausibly (meaning clearly pulling this out of my arse) result in decreased public health funding for projects such as education campaigns about standing water, delayed treatment and neglected prophylactic treatment, and localised pest eradication schemes.
So there is actually a reasonable theoretical link between austerity and malaria, regardless of the actual vector of the organism.
I’d still put my money climate change and antobiotic resistance.
Nobody’s said that those aren’t factors.
Just that the resources that a government uses in response to a public health threat also has an effect.
Hi TheContrarian,
This link shows the point about the effect on malaria – Greece had its first outbreak in some time because of, you guessed it, reductions in malarial spraying programmes.
Further,
“The harms we have found include HIV and malaria outbreaks, shortages of essential medicines, lost healthcare access, and an avoidable epidemic of alcohol abuse, depression and suicide,” he said in a statement. “Austerity is having a devastating effect.”
This is the book – yet to come out.
It apparently data mines an array of historical case studies from a range of countries to come to the conclusion that, from a public health perspective, people’s circumstances, wellbeing and health can improve even in economic downturns so long as austerity is not used as a policy tool. When it is, public health takes a big hit.
The British commenter this morning I think Matthew Parish, said that Ed Milliband came poorly out of a recent interview. He said that Labour would alter VAT I think he said that they would drop it for a year. When asked where he would get the Billions of pounds that would be foregone he dodged the question, and couldn’t come up with a definite plan to manage the Budget. It doesn’t look good for British Labour.
Labour all around the world are timid about making a simple statement that the allocation of wealth in society needs to change from the top end to the middle.
The trouble was that his timidity seemed to stem from a lack of any plan to meet the gap between receiving present income from VAT and the sudden loss of it.
There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza dear Liza – Henry has to fix it with a straw. Is that the strawman that gets mentioned on this site quite often? I’m trying to keep amused with anything that comes to mind as the ship appears to be steadily sinking and most people are reacting by being sadder or madder or both. Let the musicians play diverting songs!
Its madness…there is a massive thieving under taxed financial centre in London…that and reversing the Tories income tax cuts…plus UNCUT UK have quite a few ideas too…I mean this stuff is not rocket science.
City of London, can only be considered *under taxed*, if it is part of the jurisdiction which HMRC lords over!
Should City of London, or more accurately the corporations/institutions which a registered there, be outside the jurisdiction of HMRC, then whatever taxation is paid, can only be deemed, appropriate!
Same can be said of the FSA et al!
That will be the same Matthew Parish who recently told Kathryn Ryan that Margaret Thatcher was the most important post-war British Prime Minister and he would know since the highlight of his career as a Tory MP was being her loyal letter opener.
Gawd, coming back to civilisation every now and then leaves moi dumbfounded at manwomankind and its perverted ways. For something to take you back to the raw beauty of nature and its brutal honesty check this http://www.surf.co.nz/tv/977 I posted it here some time ago but it has reared its head as a repeat on this other site. Go wide screen and lose yourself lest you get lost in the wrong world…..
Spectacular.
I have never used “awesome” but today, that was awesome vto!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-0eXcokksAE&feature=endscreen
And to think when the World becomes absent of people, the ocean will still be surging and tumbling and foaming away according to its own agenda. Magnificent joe.
Seen this?
__________________________________________________________________________
2 May 2013
Press Release: Sue Henry Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
“Say NO to democracy for salivating property developers.”
“There will never be positive advancements for the public majority of the Auckland region as long as we have political party ticket monopolies sitting in the Council Chamber,” says Sue Henry Spokesperson, for the Housing Lobby
“The faces may change ever three years while both party tickets play ‘pass the parcel’ and bulldoze through the failed ideology of housing intensification from the 2004 ‘Central Sector Agreement’ and former ARC ‘Regional Policy Statement’ .
“It is scandalous the way both tickets have extended this housing intensification proposal deep into the heart of well-established residential areas, ignoring vigorous community opposition,” she continues.
“We need a fresh approach away from slums and leaky chilly-bin houses.
Whose interests are being served?
The public majority or salivating property developers?”
Sue Henry
Spokesperson for the Housing Lobby
Well, if we go the way that National wants – the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies and a few others that will benefit from the inflated costs that come with sprawl but not the people of Auckland.
If we go the other way, which we really don’t have a choice about, the people of Auckland and not the land bankers, the banks and the oil companies. Actually, the banks will win no matter what happens because they get to print money.
Did you ever find out if you were one of the people being spied on?
Last time I was here I saw a comment that you were going to find out soon.
By 9 May 2013 – I should get my Privacy Act reply as to whether or not I am one of the 88 New Zealanders who has been unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
For those who are interested in our country being clever and getting business and enterprise going and getting jobs and lots of working people getting wages to a reassonable standard instead of seeing NZs being represented cows’ sweet faces (the Jersey ones I mean with long eyelashes) in large advertisements all around the place, well…
There was an interesting interview on Radio NZ this morning with a woman who has spent about ten years in New York and come back here to live and she has looked at how the ORs (Overseas Residents) are treated back here. 24,000 come back each year, recently anyway. And are their ideas, their expertise etc being welcomed, embraced and utilised?
For more exciting details try Radionz 9 to Noon this Thursday the 2nd, if you can get on to the Radionz site, and once there on to the details of the interview. I couldn’t and I don’t have all day to get the full information.
But this woman has good stuff that needs to be beard.
The documentary He Toki Huna: New Zealand seems to be longer available on Maori TVs website. Does anyone know where it can be bought?
http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/anzac-2013/episode/he-toki-huna-new-zealand-afghanistan
There’s a longer version coming out soon for the doco circuit I think. Probably available after that I guess.
This was posted under my post on the doco. Posted by Annie:
John Lancashire (see last para) giving comments about our dire biosecurity lack-of-system in Radio NZ Rural News today Thursday 2/5. Midday Rural News for 2 May 2013 News from the rural and farming sectors. (7′40″) http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ruralnews
He was excoriating about it (good word – we should be using it a lot with political degenerates as we have now). He also seems to be talking factually and his judgment seems sound. Apparently the latest money-saving conflation of government work and responsibility is to bring together Biosecurity and Biodiversity. Both of which he thinks are vitally important and need separate monitoring and understandings.
We are so full of shit in this country. It seems to become more obvious daily from what we hear coming from people who have wormed their way into positions of power and supposed interest in serving the country and the citizens. I don’t know if the rough measure so often used of 80/20% applies but it seems to me that the reliable and thoughtful people are down to the smallest minority. We need to change so much – get responsible people in power – how?
Serious weaknesses identified in NZ’s biosecurity system
from Nine To Noon on Friday 1 March 2013
John Lancashire, immediate past president of New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science; and Rob Thode, a Te Puke kiwifruit grower whose orchard was infected with PSA.
Duration: 21′30″ Play (Windows) Play (Other) Download: Ogg Vorbis MP3
here’s the latest from the right re: NZ Power
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/134117/labour-and-greens-urged-to-abandon-electricity-policy
It’s getting vomit inducing having to listen to these self-interest groups explaining how unfair it is that their income stream plans are being disrupted. It’s as if God has told them it’s their right to fleece electricity users ffs.
There’s plenty of other ‘shares’ to gamble on, and there are even casinos around too.
Vomit inducing is right. It’s more than a little disheartening that basically nobody in the MSM is calling them on their BS. The whole thing has really underscored how economically-far-right NZ has become. On a positive note, I suspect that it won’t matter what National etc say, most people get this issue and realise that National is only concerned for shareholders and no-one else.
Is anyone else getting an odd display on the Feeds?
Just wondering if it is my browser cache or more general.
Ah – whatever it was cleared after shutting chrome and restarting
Surprise surprise….
NZ Post feeling squeeze
Wow… That bank … can’t stand on it’s own two feet !!!! How surprising ….
Delivery days probably should be cut as more and more mail becomes electronic but, in saying, there are still people (elderly for example) who might require a full service.
Perhaps you can elect to have three day service?
And burt, being the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is, fails to understand the problem. The problem being that the decline in physical mail has brought about the fact that the volume can no longer support the legal requirements of 6 delivery days per week.
He also failed to read the article – it seems that the bank is doing fine but it would do better with the government investing more in it. It seems that burt is so stupid that he doesn’t realise that a successful business requires ongoing investment.
Hey Draco, did you know it is possible to point out misunderstandings or incorrect statements without saying things like “burt is so stupid” and “eing the idiot and economic ignoramus that he is”.
You knew that, right?
Not sure it is possible in burt’s case…
+1
😈
TheContrarian, in fact you may not be seeing the whole picture. Conservatives often lack the cognitive ability to understand logical challenges to their opinions. In such cases, emotional approaches may yield better results.
Sure they will.
Take the mass of resources available to schools for combating that archetypal wingnut philosophy, racism, for example:
Note the emphasis on feelings.
Uh-huh.
Conservatives less likely to buy same lightbulbs if you tell them it will help the environment
This is basically where burt is at. As far as he’s concerned anything state owned is bad and so he will treat as such even if doing so hurts him.
And knowing this result, what are intellectually and academically capable lefties going to do differently in their political campaigns and messaging?
I suspect nothing.
Yes… lets extract some more tax payers funds to prop up a business that’s having trouble in a competitive market… Better still – lets kill off all competition and mandate state control over the sector… Seems to be the right approach for electricity – why not banking ?
Question: Has there ever been a year when KiwiBank didn’t require capital to stay operational and fund all that TV advertising?
Advertising that it’s NZ owned and looking after the best interests of NZ by sucking up tax payer dollars in some grand charade that it’s competitive and making a difference to the behaviour of the “big banks” that just keep recording massive profits while “our bank” needs capital from tax payers ?
It doesn’t require capital to continue operating – it requires it to grow faster.
oh man. Reckon he should of HeyClinted on this one:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10881044
Those apologies came after one of his dining companions, Christchurch lawyer Andrew Riches confirmed he’d left a note at the hotel the following morning apologising for Mr Gilmore’s behaviour.
Mr Gilmore allegedly called the waiter a “dickhead” when he refused him more wine and gave him his business card saying something like “Don’t you know who I am? I’m an important politician”, The Press reported today.
It has also been suggested this morning that Mr Gilmore told the waiter he would tell the Prime Minister’s office about the waiter’s behaviour and have him sacked.
Mr Riches this afternoon confirmed to the Herald he’d heard Mr Gilmore use words to that effect to the waiter.
Mr Riches also said he was disappointed that Mr Gilmore had apologised for his group’s behaviour when it was “absolutely” his own behaviour that was in question.
“It’s a shame because I thought this could just lie, he could apologise and that would be the end of it, but to sort of blame everyone else!”
He told the Herald that two of the four in Mr Gilmore’s group had left by the time of the incident.
“It was because most of the group had already left, he was cut off service, he did the old, “do you know who I am, I’m an MP”.
“I thought it was just disgusting.”
If you read the article carefully. he’s not really taking responsibility…
“As a group of diners our behaviour was at times boisterous, and I sincerely apologise for any offence this may have caused to staff and/or patrons”.
No individual apology for his own specific actions, which have been outlined in some detail.
Just a general apology on the part of the group.
If he does not apologise fully, this story will keep running.
He hasn’t even apologised for them either. “I apologise for any offence caused” is a Clayton’s apology. If he means it he’ll apologise for his own behaviour not what he imagines to be someone else’s state of mind.
PS: The same apology, in fact, that Little and Mallard offered Collins; a gesture of contempt 🙂
Yup. A letter has been sent to Duncan Garner from Andrew Riches, one of the Hanmer group.
And Garner makes a suggestion to John Key to get rid of him.
It’s not a good look.
While “some inappropriate comments might seem to have been made”, they had been apologised for, he said. – Herald
Yes but not by him. Must have caught that infection from his Leader?
This is the same Aaron Gilmore that claimed high level finance industry qualifications on his CV, right?
And yeah, that’s a Clayton’s apology. Two strikes, I’m sure there’s a third in there somewhere.
Do you notice how Matthew Hooton always uses the term the Green/Labour axis?
He is clearly trying to control language and introduce new slogans for the right?
1. The use of axis, which has negative connotations because this was the term given to the German alliance in World War 2.
2. By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.
And don’t forget the Axis of Evil.
Forget Hooton, – he is nothing more than tool in the box of the estabishment, as soon as there is no more use for him, he will be on the scapheap.
Does that make me feel good, no , not really, Hooton is a human being too, but has chosen sides, and now has to see it through to the inevitable conclusion.
Use of the word axis, is as you point out, Paul, and Draco, also!
“By using Green before Labour, he is trying to wind up Labour supporters.”
He must have got that from me.
Opps – posted comment went in wrong OpenMike.
Annoying. A Jetpack upgrade (for wordpress) just broke the site http://wordpress.org/support/topic/updating-jetpack-breaks-wordpress
Cleared the plugin out and we’re back again.
Interesting, the whole site is noticeably faster without Jetpack. I’ll have to look and find out what they’re screwing up on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10881044
looks like the MP’s aren’t the only drunks
This has to be the worst edited articles ever in the Herald, or was it simply unproofed.
It is just a long string of variants of the same handful of sentences.
sorry for double posting the article, missed pb’s above
Latest Roy Morgan is out …
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2013/4890/
All I can say is that there is no way that National support should have swung back like this and the polls are far too messy to be taken seriously.
makes more sense when you meet the author
Looks like it mickysavage. It suggests the swinging voters are swinging more wildly than ever. Not a good sign. They’re ripe for NAct manipulation and we’re seeing this happen with increasing frequency. Eg.. the far left wolf-whistle.
To my knowledge no senior Labour politician has seriously addressed this load of crap. They ignore it at their peril.
What’s the bet this one gets reported by The Herald?
lol
For goodness sake!! Morgan is all over he place, getting pretty silly!
It’s always been bouncy. National got abig bounce, and it’s a fifty/fifty call. Next bounce will be t’other way.
What, a rogue poll you say?
So what happens when we run out of months to write this polling off?
Abc, you rock :fucksticks:
What polling needs to be written off? The polling where a 4 point bump for labour still takes them only half way down to their previous election result?
Sure, you can concentrate on that 31.5 and try to spin it however you wish, even positively, but modesty and embarrassment would stop me.
How many months out will it be before you accept the inevitable and that I’m right, as usual? 😉
Abc :tardwanks:
about 18 months, if you make the same pledge 🙂
Do you really expect DS to be leader in 18 months?
I always put my money where my gob is… Like you didn’t know already 🙂
Unless you know of a secret challenge brewing.
But that’s part of it – Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?
I think the chances are pretty good. And really, unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks, I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference
“Unless you know of a secret challenge brewing.”
There’s always secret challenges brewing. It’s politics after all.
“Will labour be in government next year, with shearer as pm?”
Nope.
“unless shearer’s campaign is akin to Brash or Banks”
And you think he’s better, how? Don’t bother, I’ll just photoshop an extra plank into his head shots and we’ll all agree he’s bad, but not in a good way.
“I’m not sure Cunliffe (assuming that was your ABC reference) would make the slightest difference”
Them who made the decision must take the blame, and abc will know this, hopefully sooner rather than later. Fuck judgement day, that’s so last week. I’m waiting for consequence day.
Enjoy your 31.5%
Actually, it’s much a much better day than the 27.95% day about 18 months back. That sucked.
And i really don’t think shearer is even remotely close to being as bad as banks or brash. Eye of the beholder, I guess. We’ll see.
“Actually, it’s much a much better day than the 27.95% day about 18 months back. That sucked.”
After the previous three years and shocking election campaign, marginally so.
“And i really don’t think shearer is even remotely close to being as bad as banks or brash. Eye of the beholder, I guess. We’ll see.”
It’s going to a rough ride. Strap in, mate.
Keep lowering expectations mate, it’s the only way to win this one.
you two always make me laugh
You remind me of fundies expecting armageddon to happen on date XXXX.
Every time things go badly, it’s a portent of imminent doom.
Every time things improve, it’s a blip and armageddon has been rescheduled for the morrow.
I’m not “lowering expectations”. My expectation is a labour/green government.
There is nothing in RM, colmar brunton, or Reid Research (TV3) trends to indicate that this is not a likely outcome in 2014.
No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail or the world to end.
“you two always make me laugh”
Then you need to up or lower your meds, depending 😆
“No matter how desperate you are for labour to fail”
That particular space ship has long since sailed, my friend.
McFlock, yes there’s every possibility that Labour will be able to form a government even with a 33% or 34% e-day result.
No need to set expectations higher than that mate, as that delivers the win you want.
Well I can imagine that on a billboard – “Not as bad as Brash or Banks”. The irony will surely capture that vital hipster demographic. Maybe Shearer and Robertson should start growing handlebar moustaches, wear enormous spectacle frames, skinny trousers and and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Actually, this could go really well: “I’m David Shearer, you’ve probably never heard of me.”
“Vote Labour: It could be a lot worse you know.”
NZFirst is down 10%.
Maori Party down 25%, CCCP up by the same.
ACT and UnitedPeterDunne holding steady.
The big winner though is Mana on the far left, up 100%!
Must be up by the margin of error then…
Fuck no, nowhere near that much.
the Nats PR clobbering machine is just warming up over NZ Power, and Labour counter punches have been light weight. I’m with Al1en, this ride is going to be rough. Go Greens, go Mana.
“I’m with Al1en”
That’s puts me ahead of uf and act in recent polling. 🙂
And with Brewster’s Millions, I’d out poll Craig and the loony c’s in a couple of months.
Well it does suggest the tv3 poll was a better reflection of the sentiment than tv1. Guess well have to wait for the next round from them. Of course if labor was doing well post power policy, maybe they could tell us their numbers. Who polls for them these days anyway now umr is gone (assuming they are?).
Actually it doesn’t suggest anything of the sort. TV3 claimed that National would be able to govern alone on their last poll results. Gary Morgan makes the point that even with this bounce in the Roy Morgan, Labour and its coalition partners would be more likely to form government than National.
Except hasn’t Winston made it clear he won’t go into any kind of coalition with the Greens?
Winston’s firm positions on the Greens, like all his firm positions, are (ahem) biodegradable.
And that was two (maybe 3?) elections ago. Before National cost him his Parliamentary gig. I’d say 60/40 he won’t go with the Nats.
I tend to agree with you but the Nats and their corporate mates are really really good with the trinkets.
Colin Craig’s Clint moment? Bomber just asked him on Citizen A, about Auckland’s Transport funding issues, “What would Jesus do?” Craig collapses with a snorty giggle – no idea.
How easy it is becoming for a board to improve their share market price and still maintain their earning power, if we downscale our workforce or outsource who will have the money to buy these coys products or services?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10881039
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10874446
Perhaps those here could make a wee (immoral) profit with air nz???
You seem to be asking questions based on the premise that these boards and their directors wish to build strong ongoing businesses. And yes, some do.
But with many others, it helps to view their activities from the standpoint of conducting a bank heist in progress. Then you’ll find that their activities make far more sense.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Protestors-Minto-Bright-to-run-for-mayoralty/tabid/1607/articleID/296315/Default.aspx
I think it’s a good thing that John Minto is standing as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – he will be able to promote Mana policies which will help focus on the most vulnerable of the 99%.
That will also help to raise the profile of Mana, and their policies before the 2014 General Election.
As I did in 2010 as an Auckland Mayoral candidate – I will be focusing on how the $upercity has been a corrupt corporate coup – and how to take back the Auckland region from the control of the 1%.
I tried to warn you folks as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010 – that the Auckland $upercity would be a SUPER RIPOFF – a super public trough, for fewer but bigger private snouts.
Where was I wrong?
Have YOUR rates gone UP or DOWN?
______________________________________________________________________________
Why I stood as an Auckland Mayoral candidate in 2010:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10673942
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_objectid=10673942&gallery_id=113947
______________________________________________________________________________
AUCKLAND MAYORAL CAMPAIGN 2013:
ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and ‘corporate welfare’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com/action-plan-to-prevent-corruption/
Proven track record, as a successful Occupy Auckland Appellant (in my own name) in fighting the corporate 1% who run the Auckland region, ‘like a business – for business’:
EVIDENCE in the following High Court document – exposing the role of the unelected Committee for Auckland, of which the CEO for Auckland Council, Doug McKay is a member.
(So – whose interests is he serving?
The majority of citizens and ratepayers – or his corporate mates?)
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OCCUPY-AUCKLAND-APPEAL-APPLICATION-BY-APPELLANT-BRIGHT-TO-ADDUCE-NEW-EVIDENCE-pdf.pdf
There is more …………… LOTS more to come …………….
Cheers!
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
PS: My defended hearing in the above-mentioned Court case on the charge of ‘willful trespass’ for occupying John Banks electoral office on 18 June 2013 – has been adjourned until 27 September 2013 🙂
A panel, chaired by Key’s scientific adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, advises of the impact climate change could have on the Antarctic, and thus on NZ and it’s economy.
Youth rates
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/133949/pm-defends-lower-youth-pay-rate
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8617998/Protest-as-youth-rates-come-into-force
“A young unskilled person is disadvantaged in competing against more experienced and trained people in the labour market. Starting wages help young people gain experience and better equip them to be able to compete on stronger terms.”
So where does the more experienced and trained person go ? And wait a few months/year and see these organisations that are currently commenting that they will still continue to pay min wage will be?
‘Young’ is a superfluous word. E.g. an any, particularly and older, unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker is easily as disadvantaged as young unskilled, inexperienced pak’n’save stacker when competing against more experienced and trained people. That’s why there are pay grades.
Why do we let these people making excuses that lead to lower wages based on age get away with this?
Look at these filthy disgusting black-gloved thugs physically shoving law abiding citizens around in Queen St yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtjM_kFOp_s
Disgraceful. They should all be before the courts charged with aggravated assault.
Disgraceful. No one pushed back.