Open mike 04/08/2015

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1. Coffee Connoisseur 1

   4 August 2015 at 6:27 am

   Today is a good day. There is change in the wind. I feel Paul Mason has kicked off something with ‘Post Capitalism’
   I have been following Paul Mason since I read an article from him on ‘Post Capitalism’
   I can recommend Googling ‘Post Capitalism’ and selecting ‘News’. Sure some establishment hacks have written reviews that are somewhat dismissive, but it is not the reviews themselves that I find heartwarming but the readers comments, It seems a growing number are fed up and wanting change. Significant change.

   This review is one of the more thoughtful and makes good reading but I do highly recommend seeking out the others and after reading the review, take a meander through the comments. Today is a good day.

   http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2015/08/03/postcapitalism-a-review/

   This would most certainly be a much much brighter future for all generations compared with the dystopia we now face.
   • Tracey 1.1

     4 August 2015 at 8:45 am

     thanks for the link
2. Morrissey 2

   4 August 2015 at 7:20 am

   Mike Hosking has some advice for the people of Gaza:
   “Sort out middle east peace, get some food in the house.”
   Seven Sharp, Television One, Monday 3 August 2015

   MIKE HOSKING: “Tonight we get to meet a guy who’s chucked in the day job and at a moment’s notice is jetting to any corner of the world to help out our furry friends. Here’s Erin Conway.”

   Cue vaguely disquieting electronic music….

   What followed was an item about New Zealand man Anton Leach from the animal rescue group Four Paws, who’s recently gone into

   the Middle Eastern battleground of Gaza, where lion cubs are being used as pets, the owners unaware of how dangerous the kings of the jungle can become.

   “The Gaza thing was bang, we’re going in. And you know there was no forewarning … we piled the lions and everybody into vehicles and then you speed through Gaza,” he said, describing the rescue.

   The Four Paws team was left in limbo for several days as the Israelis denied their return from Gaza and at one point told if they moved they would be “shot”. However, the Israeli Defence Forces eventually allowed the team to cross the border.

   “A lot of these missions are potentially secretive, because if people knew that we were coming there are various things that they could do to these animals, one is they could kill them.”

   He said he has rescued twelve dancing bears in Kosovo, but admits, the rescues can at times get a little hairy.

   “People running around with machine guns, I’m in my shorts running around with my camera and we’re looking for poachers,” he said.

   Mr Leach’s rescues will soon be part of a documentary series.

   https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/-if-you-move-re-shot-meet-the-james-bond-of-animal-rescues-q04052

   Not a mention that Gaza is under a brutal, illegal, internationally condemned siege, although Erin Conroy does hint at it when she observes that “getting into Gaza is harrowing, to say the least,….. crossing borders in this part of the world is tricky”, and Toni Street notes lightheartedly that it is “one of the most TURBULENT places in the world!”

   So far, so mediocre. But what made this especially insulting, cruel and disrespectful was what Mike Hosking said at the end of Erin Conroy’s item: he grimaced to show how unimpressed and bored he was, then delivered this sour little homily: “With all respect, if you’re in Gaza wouldn’t you have other things on your mind? Sort out middle east peace, get some food in the house?”

   To her credit, Toni Street didn’t perform her usual duty of braying in obedient laughter, but looked a bit troubled.

   NOTE: Although Hosking and Street’s flippant introduction to this item is on this TVNZ clip, Hosking’s lecture to the people of Gaza at the end has been left off.

   https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/-if-you-move-re-shot-meet-the-james-bond-of-animal-rescues-q04052
   • Paul 2.1

     4 August 2015 at 7:23 am

     An utterly repulsive man.
   • ianmac 2.2

     4 August 2015 at 8:58 am

     Early onset dementia for Hosking?
3. ropata 3

   4 August 2015 at 7:47 am

   Is John Key our Minister of Tourism or the Minister of Hawaii?

   The video his son Max recently posted on social media showed the Prime Minister at ease in Hawaii, where he owns a holiday home. I’m sure the bloke deserves a holiday.

   But it still strikes me as odd that our Minister of Tourism’s most renowned holiday breaks are offshore. Imagine sitting down to watch this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup test match with the Minister for Sport and Recreation and hearing him cheer for the Wallabies. Or attending a banquet hosted by the Minister for Primary Industries where he serves Chilean wine and apples from Queensland’s fruit fly heartland.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11491169
   • Tracey 3.1

     4 August 2015 at 8:47 am

     and max is making his own way… not cos of who his father is…

     🙄
   • ianmac 3.2

     4 August 2015 at 9:04 am

     Fancy the Herald allowing such a slightly a column which is slightly critical of the fly-away PM. Well spotted ropata.
     • rhinocrates 3.2.1

       4 August 2015 at 11:20 am

       Do you know the term “seagull manager”? Flies in, squawks, leaves shit everywhere, flies away. He’s a seagull PM.
       • greywarshark 3.2.1.1

         4 August 2015 at 2:15 pm

         And go to Kaikoura to an outside cafe, a seagull may dive in and steal your food on your way to your mouth. Another unfortunate trait.
       • mac1 3.2.1.2

         4 August 2015 at 4:12 pm

         Seagulls also bully their competition, scavenge and freeload off others. Saw one hitch a ride on the rising air currents off a Cook Strait ferry, scarcely beat its wings once while crossing the strait. Bludger! They also freeload onto others.

         Well adapted bird to the modern commercial and economic environment, all in all.
         • Chooky 3.2.1.2.1

           4 August 2015 at 8:10 pm

           dont be mean to seagulls …comparing them with jonkey nact!…they are innocent lovely little birdies
           • mac1 3.2.1.2.1.1

             4 August 2015 at 8:48 pm

             Let their droppings fall where they may……… one man’ s bird shit is another man’s guano.
4. Ad 4

   4 August 2015 at 7:48 am

   Anyone got a rescue plan for the West Coast’s economy now that the government is preparing to kill Solid Energy?

   29 people dead at Pike River, hundreds of miners unemployed across all its towns, more hundreds to come. No plan.

   Top work Prime Minister.
   • Lanthanide 4.1

     4 August 2015 at 8:34 am

     This government’s plan is for a repeat of Christchurch; they’re just waiting for the alpine fault to go so they can “rebuild Greymouth”.

     Of course when the alpine fault does go, the West Coast is going to be completely screwed and will be lucky if 1/4th of the pre-quake population is still there 10 years later.

     In that sense, further investment into the West Coast economy is really mal-investment, so the sooner the economy over there declines and shrinks, the less of an economic loss we’ll feel when the inevitable arrives.

     Similarly we should move government back to Auckland or maybe Hamilton, ’cause when Wellington’s quake arrives, it will not be re-built up to where it is now, and as we’ve seen with Christchurch, the show must go on, so all the departments will have to move to other cities and the chances of them ever returning to Wellington are remote.

     But talking about these sorts of things is unpalatable, so it’s better to just pretend the bad times will never arrive and keep on mal-investing into bad situations and let future generations deal with the burden.
     • b waghorn 4.1.1

       4 August 2015 at 2:32 pm

       Have to agree 100% on shifting Parliament ,the insanity of having our seat of power in a city that will get likely be flattened makes me shake my head.
       Auckland’s know good ether palmy or Blenheim would be my pick.
       • mac1 4.1.1.1

         4 August 2015 at 2:55 pm

         You don’t know Blenheim’s history then. B Waghorn?

         Two doozies of earthquakes in 1848 (7.4) and 1855 (8.2). The first, the Marlborough earthquake of 1848, left no European dwelling upright, men were thrown off their horses and the ground shook for three weeks. The Wairau plain sank about 1.2 metres which made the Opawa river navigable for the first time to coastal shipping and gave the rise to Blenheim as a port and town.

         The second in 1855 was of course the Wairarapa earthquake which was also big in Blenheim.

         There is evidence for the main Wairau fault to have triggered about 600 years ago. We await its successor.
         • b waghorn 4.1.1.1.1

           4 August 2015 at 3:07 pm

           Oh cheers learnt my new thing for the day then.
           My thinking was more about keeping it central and in a low population area of course with the internet we supposedly should be able to spread government departments all over the country.
       • DoublePlusGood 4.1.1.2

         4 August 2015 at 3:29 pm

         You know Auckland is in a volcanic field, the next eruption of which will see Auckland wrecked too, right? And that Blenheim is in just as seismically a problematic area as Wellington?
         • b waghorn 4.1.1.2.1

           4 August 2015 at 3:46 pm

           Bloody clunky brain of mine, it was meant to be Auckland s no good ,for the reason you said also because its already suspected of scewing nz politics and add to that the last thing it needs is more people.
       • Foreign waka 4.1.1.3

         4 August 2015 at 7:02 pm

         The reason Wellington was picked is the distance for ALL Nzlanders to the capital and access to parliament.

         Whilst the fault lines are mostly (researched) on the lower NI and the mainland, volcanoes are exactly on the opposite end.
         Auckland has a few dormant volcanoes dotted around, about 50 or so. Not sure where I rather be if something big comes down.
         • Lanthanide 4.1.1.3.1

           4 August 2015 at 7:51 pm

           Auckland was briefly the capital. A few years or so. Apparently it took 40 hours of travelling to reach from Dunedin.

           Now it takes 1 3/4 hours.

           A volcano in Auckland is much less likely to destroy all the buildings compared to a quake in Wellington.
   • tc 4.2

     4 August 2015 at 8:41 am

     I think if you look at the voting patterns their fates probably sealed with this vindictive govt and they get to flog off something else to the backers…win win.
5. CnrJoe 5

   4 August 2015 at 8:02 am

   To Ropata – ‘Honest’John Key – our Minimum of Tourism.
   And did you know ponytails are de rigueur in Maui? probably
   • ropata 5.1

     4 August 2015 at 10:39 pm

     Cool, maybe he will stay there
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLTyNOxXWCM
6. Skinny 6

   4 August 2015 at 8:08 am

   Many Kiwi’s are now waking up to the saying “Never trust a third term National Government” and for very good reason.

   National’s agenda was always selling off our State owned assets and the continuation carrys on with Solid Energy being refused funding. National’s preferred option is liquidation. While coal mining is currently out of vogue the Nats will grasp the opportunity to sell it off for a song to overseas interests, probably China. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/280419/solid-energy-in-'precarious-position‘

   Phase 2, or part of the dirty sell off will be the West Coast Rail line to be sold as part of a sweetened package. Taking a steer from what is happening to the Napier Line, where rather than the Nats fund the washout repairs and maintenance costs of the currently mothballed line, it is being lumped on to local councils to fund for the private sector. Not too surprised Nash is mooting this model could be rolled out to other Regions. I hope Little and Tywford silence the Phil Goff-Off wannabe, he is a loose cannon and a disgrace!
   http://m.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11490508
   • tc 6.1

     4 August 2015 at 8:36 am

     Nash typifyies what’s wrong with labour currently. Should’ve been taken aside months ago for a stern chat about being a team player and policy.

     Hope 2017 sees the back of him, he’s proving quite the liability along with the usual dead weights of curran, cosgrove, mallard, shearer etc
7. Logie97 7

   4 August 2015 at 8:51 am

   Just for a brief moment there the hopes were up.
   Headline on the Herald website “Former money trader gets 14 years …”
   But alas.
   • mary_a 7.1

     4 August 2015 at 3:29 pm

     @ Logie97 (7) Yep same here. My deaf old ears went into overdrive when I heard this on Morning Report this morning. My imagination took flight at the thought and my spirit soared.

     However it wasn’t to be this time. But we can live in hope. Can’t we? His time will come.

     Also heard there is more to come. Maybe, just maybe …. 🙂
8. Charles 8

   4 August 2015 at 9:04 am

   Evening TV is usually off-limits for me: stops me kicking the TV through the wall. But I’m really glad I caught this by chance. It was so exciting and uplifting (some controversy, too, perhaps…), a complete anomaly to usual programming:

   Harakeke meets modern fashion.
   http://www.maoritelevision.com/tv/shows/native-affairs/S09E022/native-affairs

   You’ll have to forward the video to 43:00 minutes yourself.

   “You can’t wear that down the dairy…”
   “You’re not meant to wear it to the dairy!”
   • Molly 8.1

     4 August 2015 at 9:22 am

     Enjoyed that item too.

     The invitation for story ideas at the end of Native Affairs was very tempting. First thought for a story idea: “Why did Mihirangi Forbes leave the show?”
     • Charles 8.1.1

       4 August 2015 at 11:33 am

       Yes, I see where you’re heading with that. And on a similar note:

       Did you see Mt. Zion played on Maori TV on the weekend?

       Someone there at MTV edited out the… how shall we say… “meaty scenes”. The DVD release goes much further into outlining racial/pakeha/Maori relationship in NZ. It’s pretty explicit stuff. Haven’t seen anything so purposeful since the church/pastor scene in Utu. Without Mt. Zion’s dysfunctional relationship scenes, the tone of the film is reduced from “honest, angry and poignant”, to just pointlessly depressing and hopeless. There’s something sinster about leaving in the stuff with “Booker D” and erasing the stuff with the promoter-boyfriend. On another less political – and perhaps more important level – it’s just plain vandalism of artistic material.

       In the beginning, MTV had a habit of programming some quite powerful films, films that by no means supported the Hollywood recipe – in fact actively pushed back against it in the extreme. I hope the disappearance of Mihirangi Forbes, and the neutering and removal of certain themes from Maori TV ( …did you see Opal Dreams, too, recently? Waaay out of early MTV character) doesn’t mean it’s begun a slide into pandering to “the easily offended”.

       But anyway… think happy thoughts… think happy thoughts…
       • Molly 8.1.1.1

         4 August 2015 at 1:09 pm

         No. Didn’t see Mt. Zion, but coincidentally, the film was made in my neck of the woods. The pub is my local, and the landscape is outside my window…

         I’m also waiting for the other boot to drop with MTV. Missing Mihirangi Forbes and her quiet persistence.
9. Anne 9

   4 August 2015 at 9:50 am

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11491603

   Former British PM, Edward Heath implicated in child sex abuse accusations. British police stymie 1990s investigation as soon as it becomes apparent Heath was involved. So, how many cases did our police “stymie” in order to protect senior politicians and notable NZ leaders?
   • Tricledrown 9.1

     4 August 2015 at 10:12 am

     Anne.Plenty.their are 2 former MP’s who have name suppression for child sex abuse that we know of Finem reckons their maybe some current MP’s as they also have name suppression.
10. Tricledrown 10

    4 August 2015 at 10:33 am

    Anne Name suppression allows these perpetrators to avoid the consequences of their actions while their victims are still suffering the consequences.
    It also prevents other victims coming forward.
    In most cases of child sex abuse stats reveal that perpetrators have abused many dozens of victims as we have seen with Rolf Harris and Bill Cosby once people are aware others were victims of these predator’s they are less frighted of these predator’s.
    For this very reason the suppression orders on the 2 prominent and powerful NZ politicians should be lifted.
    I believe political pressure was put on the judicial system as the judicial system was more worried about the predators rights over the Victims.
    Power is what these predator’s use to destroy the Victims self esteem to prevent them coming forward and being credible witness’s,the perpetrator knows he is breaking the law and doing untold damage to the victim.
    The Govt and the Judicial system side withe rich and powerful rapist.
    To protect the political careers of the perpetrators mates.
    I see that as a criminal act in it self of conspiracy to cover up and therefore being an accessory to a crime.
    Those in power now could face the full force of the law like is happening in the UK now.
11. travellerev 11

    4 August 2015 at 10:33 am

    John Key was involved in an operation described as Patient Zero in a book called Infectious Greed. The book was written by Frank Partnoy, once a Wall street banker but now a professor in law.

    The operation was an attack on a currency with a new financial instrument. It was naked short selling ans it was a great success. Him and his mate Andrew Krieger made $ 300 million US and he is lying about it. Wouldn’t you if you managed to bring down a currency 5% on the Thursday after Black Monday 1987?

    The currency? The New Zealand dollar!

    John Key is a Wall street banker and he is here to sell our country to the Wall street/City of London banking criminal elite by signing the TPPA.
    • Blue Horseshoe 11.1

      4 August 2015 at 10:52 am

      Anyone who believes the story about Key being worth +/- $50m is [add your own terminology here]

      Believing that story allows the downplaying, and disbelief about the financial terrorism club he is part of.
    • greywarshark 11.2

      4 August 2015 at 2:19 pm

      Thanks for that heads up Lanthanide. Don’t know why it has taken so long to be out in the open.
      • Lanthanide 11.2.1

        4 August 2015 at 7:52 pm

        Don’t thank me!
        • greywarshark 11.2.1.1

          4 August 2015 at 8:03 pm

          Oh right. Well thanks travellerev. And you L. for pointing it out.
    • Chooky 11.3

      4 August 2015 at 8:20 pm

      +100 travellerev…I have heard that story before ….and it is very disturbing!….some would call it traitorish…and theft

      …it needs to be given much greater exposure ..so every New Zealander knows about it! ( how about Morning Report…just for starters?…but they wouldnt dare…and the msm crucified David Cunliffe!)

      ….and jonkey nact is the guy who thinks he has a mandate to change New Zealand’s flag
12. Draco T Bastard 12

    4 August 2015 at 12:18 pm

    Union succeeds in prosecution over forestry death

    The Council of Trade Unions has succesfully prosecuted a forestry compnay over a worker’s death on the job. The workplace safety regulator, WorkSafe declined to persue any legal action – why? Helen Kelly is the President of the CTU.

    Good news.
13. Molly 13

    4 August 2015 at 1:06 pm

    Surely child development and nutrition experts would already be aware of this connection:
    Picky eating may point to mental illness”

    Given that there has long been an association with digestive problems, picky eating habits and children on the austitic spectrum, perhaps the issue is not a “mental illness” one, but one of undiagnosed children who are not supported in their learning, social and emotional challenges.

    It is a throwaway headline that could cause more anxiety with parents who have a child with different needs rather than a mental illness.
14. greywarshark 14

    4 August 2015 at 3:13 pm

    Jane Kelsey spoke strongly today.
    – Originally aired on Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm, Tuesday 4 August 2015
    New Zealand has not learnt the lessons of the last global financial crisis, so says the author of a new book. Professor Jane Kelsey says we need to make changes or the so-called rock star economy will fail again, perhaps more catastrophically than it did last time.

    And the bit with Mike Hosking referred to recently.
    http://mananews.co.nz/wp/?p=7005
    Mana News with Mike Hosking

    Also from The Daily Blog
    IKA – 3 Mt Eden Rd, 7.15 pm Tuesday 11th August –
    doors open 5 pm. This event will book out so book NOW. There will be space at the bar for those who get in early enough and the entire debate will be live streamed on The Daily Blog from 7.15pm and then available on demand afterwards.

    IKA Seafood Bar & Grill + Voyager + The Daily Blog present
    Table Talk 5: – TPPA or not TPPA??
    Join RNZs Wallace Chapman for Table Talk 5 – TPPA or not TPPA?
    The panel will include
    – PROFESSOR JANE KELSEY, UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND LAW FACULTY
    – HON. DR WAYNE MAPP, FORMER NATIONAL MP & LAW COMMISSIONER
    – MICHAEL BARNETT, CHIEF EXEC AUCKLAND REGIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
    – DR JOSHUA FREEMAN, SPECIALIST MICROBIOLOGIST AT AUCKLAND HOSPITAL
    With guest tweeter Sacha Dylan live tweeting the event

    This will book out quickly – please book now to avoid disappointment.
    ***Want to support this work? Donate today
    ***Follow us on Twitter & Facebook
    – See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/08/03/table-talk-5-tppa-or-not-tppa/#sthash.oaXAa4hl.dpuf
    • greywarshark 14.1

      4 August 2015 at 3:27 pm

      And tomorrow Wednesday, Wellington
      Hear Professor Jane Kelsey speak about her new book “The Fire Economy”
      WHEN: 5:30pm on Wednesday August 5th
      WHERE: Lecture Theatre 1, Old Government Buildings, Stout Street, Wellington.
      http://www.openureyes.org.nz/blog/?q=node/6862
      • mary_a 14.1.1

        4 August 2015 at 3:43 pm

        @ greywarshark (14.1) – thanks for the info.

        Now we wait for NatzKEY to pass an ominous law behind closed doors in the dark of night, making it illegal for two or more people to gather or congregate in any one place at any one time, thereby banning free speech, association and expression!

        Call me a mad old cynic, but I really can see it coming!
        • greywarshark 14.1.1.1

          4 August 2015 at 6:48 pm

          You mad old cynic! They’ll go to urgency with the new measures after the next strange happening that they can put a sinister connotation on, and we’ll have curfews set. No wait, the Hospitality industry that provides lots of campaign finance and hosp. bags of booze wouldn’t like their premises empty after 10 p.m. and there would be less tax for gummint from excise etc.
      • maui 14.1.2

        4 August 2015 at 5:59 pm

        Cool, thanks for the heads up.
    • Tracey 14.2

      4 August 2015 at 3:36 pm

      we needed more media coverage of these things before now. its about this time last year that kelsey debated mapp at the fabians in auckland. mantras versus information. salesman vs educator.
      • tinfoilhat 14.2.1

        4 August 2015 at 4:46 pm

        I went to that and thought they both presented themselves really well – I thought Jane’s argument was much more compelling but it was nice to have a measured polite debate between two well informed people.
    • ianmac 14.3

      4 August 2015 at 3:41 pm

      Thanks Greywarshark. And straight after Jane had carefully explained the issues to Mike he followed up a few minutes later with his usual bored, lazy pro -TPP misinformation. Expect he gets plenty of freebies from John.
      “And the bit with Mike Hosking referred to recently.
      http://mananews.co.nz/wp/?p=7005
      Mana News with Mike Hosking”
      • Rodel 14.3.1

        4 August 2015 at 8:23 pm

        Professor Kelsey must get frustrated by the attempted dismissive shallowness of ‘useful idiots’ from TV land.
        Nice to see someone, just someone, from the university system courageous enough to analyze and be critical of what’s really happening in our society.
15. Tracey 15

    4 August 2015 at 3:34 pm

    nats must be worried about NZF. cos Armstrong is championing its demise and irrelevance
    • McFlock 15.1

      4 August 2015 at 3:41 pm

      I think Northland shocked them, and now with dairy prices the way they are I think the nats are beginning to realise just how far they’ve ignored their rural base in favour of their corporate base.
      • Chooky 15.1.1

        4 August 2015 at 8:26 pm

        +100
16. lprent 16

    4 August 2015 at 3:57 pm

    I think I have finally defeated the botnet in the US that was causing brief outages over the last few weeks.

    Nasty adaptive and quite stupid system. Smart enough to stay below lockout protocols. Smart enough to shift it’s IPs. But It was trying to use a system that got coded out in previous versions of wordpress. And it was too stupid to move on when it found it was making no impact.

    Just a stupid waste of time. Having an afternoon off with nothing else apart from looking at logs made its pattern obvious.

    Eventually, as well as complaining about it, I locked out the whole of the aws-west cloud network that it was coming from.
    • greywarshark 16.1

      4 August 2015 at 6:51 pm

      Thanks lprent for keeping the bots at bay, now for the next crusade of the caped avenger?
17. tinfoilhat 17

    4 August 2015 at 4:43 pm

    This is an interesting little demographic device from the last election.

    http://s3.newsapps.nz.s3.amazonaws.com/andrew_chen/original_visualisation.html
    • ianmac 17.1

      4 August 2015 at 10:54 pm

      Damn. Almost unreadable. Greys out tin. Might be my Mac?
18. Marvellous Bearded Git 18

    4 August 2015 at 5:35 pm

    RadioNZ just reported that, having received and researched information they asked for from the ombudsman, that there was never a business case for the “Saudi sheep farm in a desert” fiasco.

    In fact it seems everything National said about it, including blaming Labour, was lies and more lies. Surely not?

    McCully refuses to be interviewed on the issue.

    Parker is ripping the deal to shreds right now. “Looking at the papers released it’s a facilitation agreement (bribe) to get a trade deal”. “It was kept quiet for 3 years”. “Nobody knows about a legal claim.” etc etc etc
    • les 18.1

      4 August 2015 at 6:40 pm

      recommended reading for McCully and co,….The House of Saud by S.K .Aburish they rate as barely human.
      • Stuart Munro 18.1.1

        5 August 2015 at 12:58 am

        Just been there mate – they’ve come a long way in the past sixty years – most of them are pretty straight and downright nice guys. Their government is trying to make things better – wish I could say as much for ours.
        • Stuart Munro 18.1.1.1

          5 August 2015 at 1:20 am

          But they’re trying to eliminate corruption these days too – McCully probably hasn’t impressed.
    • Rodel 18.2

      4 August 2015 at 8:27 pm

      Why oh why do people like Parker use words like ‘ facilitation agreement’? A spade is a spade. KISS.
19. greywarshark 19

    4 August 2015 at 7:04 pm

    I think a large part of our industry in each country are going to be in repairing and restoring after storms, running around putting out bush fires, literally. Forget about Olympics, casinos and vanity architecture. Look at the image for it. Like a giant orange poppy.

    Super Typhoon Soudelor developed into the world’s most powerful storm of the year Tuesday as it took aim at Japan, Taiwan and China after trashing the Northern Marianas.
    The storm was roaring across the western Pacific Ocean packing wind gusts up to 354 kph according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center which rated it a maximum category five.

    It was stronger than Cyclone Pam, the previous strongest storm of 2015, which killed at least 15 people when it slammed into Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, five months ago.

    Bryan Crump interview was interesting on Monday night.
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/201765000
    World Weather
    8:40 PM. MetService severe weather forecaster Erick Brenstrum on how a day doesn’t go by without some weather… a tropical cyclone named Raquel appeared in the South Pacific in July for the first time on record, Pakistan had it’s most deadly heat-wave on record, and hundreds of wildfires have sparked in Canada.

    And warmer seas produce more storms. Forgotten the principle, but have a listen and you will probably find something you didn’t know.
    • joe90 19.1

      4 August 2015 at 8:50 pm

      Frightening.

      http://tropic.ssec.wisc.edu/real-time/westpac/movies/gmsirn/gmsirnjava.html
20. Ecosse_Maidy 20

    4 August 2015 at 8:33 pm

    If anyone is interested here is a link from the BBC regarding the UK Labour party contest for a new leader.With an interview with our very own Mr Gould.

    The interview starts about 3/4 s the way through to podcast at 03.06.52

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063zmt5
21. half crown 21

    4 August 2015 at 9:18 pm

    I have found a very good article by Christos Tsiolkas (in conversation with Yanis Varoufakis), MONTHLY magazine

    An extract from the article by Christos Tsiolkas with Yanis Varoufakis (former Greek Finance Minister)
    Yanis Varoufakis said about the Greek Banks – “I discovered at some point that the law that constituted the EFSF ( European Financial Stability Facility, my insert) allowed me one power, and that was to determine the salary of these people. I realised that the salaries of these functionaries were monstrous by Greek standards. In a country with so much hunger and where the minimum wage has fallen to €520 a month, these people were making something like €18,000 a month.
    “So I decided, since I had the power, I would exercise that power. I used a really simple rule. Pensions and salaries have fallen by an average of 40% since the beginning of the crisis. I issued a ministerial decree by which I reduced the salaries of these functionaries by 40%. Still a huge salary, still a huge salary. You know what happened? I got a letter from the Troika, saying that my decision has been overruled as it was insufficiently explained. So in a country in which the Troika is insisting that people on a €300-a-month pension now live on €100, they were refusing my cost-cutting exercise, my ability as a minister of finance to curtail the salaries of these people.”

    If that is not “let them eat cake” revolution provoking material I don’t know what is.
    For the complete article go to
    http://yanisvaroufakis.eu/2015/08/03/9698/
22. cogito 22

    4 August 2015 at 10:11 pm

    From The Guardian:

    Homeownership: the generation that had it so good
    Dramatic increases in house prices have locked out younger buyers. Does the baby boomer generation now enjoy an unfair level of property wealth?
    http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/aug/04/homeownership-the-generation-that-had-it-so-good

    The parallels with NZ are striking.

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