Open mike 04/10/2011

57 comments on “Open mike 04/10/2011 ”

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1. Bored 1

   4 October 2011 at 6:35 am

   It is mildly reassuring that as Wall St slides down into negative figures for the last year (after a euphoric rise based upon simple wishful thinking) that the local district has been occupied by the young of the American nation. Around 700 were arrested yesterday but the protesters are still there. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/kristof-the-bankers-and-the-revolutionaries.html?_r=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB
   What is really interesting is how long they have been there and how long it has taken the MSM to notify us. Says it all.
   • AAMC 1.1

     4 October 2011 at 7:10 am

     Iterestimg article on the impitus and organisation behind
     #occupyeverywhere and the fact that those demanding specific demands miss the point of participatory democracy.

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/youre-creating-a-vision-of-the-sort-of-society-you-want-to-have-in-miniature/2011/08/25/gIQAXVg7HL_blog.html
     • Carol 1.1.1

       4 October 2011 at 7:56 am

       I think some of the people criticising the lack of coherent or specific demands from the occupy movement, are just trying to undermine what is clearly a movement that has struck a chord and is gaining momentum. This morning I watched a heated discussion on Inside Story on Al Jazeera. A right wing guy kept saying the occupy movements criticisms of “Wall Street” made no sense and was silly because these institutions and entrepreneurs are the wealth creators and the market needs to be free from government regulation to create wealth, jobs etc for all….yadda yadda yadda. He stuck to his “senseless” mantra even when another guy gave examples showing that the right-wing mantra and slogans didn’t match the reality.
       • Bored 1.1.1.1

         4 October 2011 at 3:37 pm

         I saw the same type of “debate” on RTS…some Tea Party tinder dry and a New York liberal flagellating the subject matter to no great effect. All pretty laughable really.

         There is a man called http://www.alastairmcintosh.com/ who fought some substantial corporate interests to save his beloved Skye. He made the point that successful protest CANNOT engage its opponents using the opponents LANGUAGE and INSTITUTIONS. Best to do it on your own terms, redefine the language and institutions. On that basis why should the OWSers define their “demands” in a language that sets out to control them?

         Make the bastards talk in your terms, your way at your behest.
     • Bored 1.1.2

       4 October 2011 at 9:35 am

       Read http://www.kunstler.com today, he sites an OWSER (occupier) with a sign saying:
       $70,000 College Debt
       $12,000 Medical Bills
       I’m 22
       Where’s My Bailout?
       • joe90 1.1.2.1

         4 October 2011 at 2:03 pm

         http://wilderside.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/occupy-wall-street-finally-releases-their-one-demand/

         p
         • AAMC 1.1.2.1.1

           4 October 2011 at 6:54 pm

           Reading last night a journalist talking about being in the cells post Brooklyn bridge, she note that the arrests had the unintended consequences of putting the relatively wet behind the airs actinides with experienced activists, who were essentially given a forum within which to teach activism.
         • AAMC 1.1.2.1.2

           4 October 2011 at 7:00 pm

           And it’s not just #occupytheworld. Imagine if all American port were shut down.
           http://www.truth-out.org/longshore-workers-make-stand-labor/1317217164
2. AAMC 2

   4 October 2011 at 7:07 am

   Posted this late last night, so for those who missed it..

   Can’t post the pictures of these t-shirts obviously and no web site unfortunately. But those familiar with Sex Pistols fashion can probably get the picture, just swap Queenie for Key n bobs your uncle.

   “Hello fellow Hobbits my name is John Key and I
 am here
   to sell off your land and assets to foreign corporations,
   
privatise your water, jails, schools, hospitals under TPPA

   public private partnerships and basically leave you up a
   
proverbial (effluent infested) river without a paddle.

   I am proud to say that during my term as Prime Sinister I’ve: 

   • Doubled NZ’s international debt to $36+ billion

   • Provided excellent tax cuts to the rich, helping increase 
 
     the top 150 peoples wealth last year by $7 billion
   • Made inflation go up to 5.3% by introducing
     a GST rise to 15% last year
   • Helped triple the number of people receiving 
 
     unemployment benefits
   • Passed 17 pieces of undemocratic emergency 
 
     legislation without any form of public debate
   • Helped oversee a massive rise in child poverty
   • Made sure 7000 families won’t be eligible for 
 
     Working for Families tax credits next year

   • Dished out a 5 year deepsea exploratory oil permit
 
     to Petrobras which has absolutely no conditions for
 
     environmental protection, and that would leave the
 
     NZ tax payer to pay the clean up bill for any oil leak 

   • Agreed to not mine the National Parks, yet changed the

     boundary of the Oteake Conservation Park to exclude

     a 195 hectare area over the Hawkdun lignite deposit

   As you can see I am a great choice to lead you
 forward
   into oblivion, so I really hope you will support me 
by
   purchasing one of these campaign t-shirts I have had kindly
   donated by the kind folks at Anarkey & Lovely Ltd.
   If you could be so kind as to spread the good word
 about
   these I’d be most grateful. As an extension of my thanks
   I personally promise to gift you an 
extra dollar per week
   in the next round of tax cuts, should we be reelected.

   God Save New Zealand T-Shirts

   > 100% organic non-bleached cotton tees

   > Available in Sml, Med, Lge, XL, XXL

   > $30 +postage (or free pick up)
   
For orders email [email protected]

   or contact Roxanne on 021 701 494″
   • LynW 2.1

     4 October 2011 at 10:02 am

     Thanks..Fantastic summary. I am ordering my T-shirt stat!
3. Sanctuary 3

   4 October 2011 at 7:17 am

   Ah, the power of blogs to influence the lazy reef fish of the media…

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10756375

   “…Their opponents are calling it desperate opportunism..,”

   By which Derek Cheng actually means “I logged into kiwiblog then wrote this story”.
4. Hilary 4

   4 October 2011 at 7:22 am

   A brief mention on the early RNZ news today that a record 100,000+ hectares of NZ land was approved and sold off overseas in the last year. This included dairy farms to German and other European interests and large areas of Ngai Tahu forests. This is asset selling on a large scale, and also questions the assumption that Maori corporates care about the environment.

   I expect we will now see some serious examination of the issues on prime time public television, such as Close Up or Sunday.
   • Carol 4.1

     4 October 2011 at 7:41 am

     Interesting that it’s German and other (northern?) European interests. Watching Al Jazeera, I keep hearing complaints from Germans and other northern European countries complaining that they are being asked to pay for Greece’s bad financial/economic management. But wasn’t it German and other financial corporations that were profiteering from investments in Greece before the financial problems were acknowledged? Why were they investing in or lending to a country that they claim was being badly managed in the first place?
     • vto 4.1.1

       4 October 2011 at 8:07 am

       Exactly Carol. Various politicians bemoan the recent penchant for borrowing. But wtf do they expect? The stupid lenders lent the stuff. They should bemoan the lenders and their drug-dealer like parasitic nature – get someone loaded up and hooked knowing full well that they will not be able to dig themselves out of their hole thereby opening the way to take assets and other items in exchange. The lenders are sick parasites.
   • Colonial Viper 4.2

     4 October 2011 at 7:48 am

     we’ve not seen Maori corporates care about the people working their commercial fisheries, and working closely together with the Michael Fay types. Why would they hold environmental values higher than other corporates in the money chase?
   • Draco T Bastard 4.3

     4 October 2011 at 8:52 am

     …and also questions the assumption that Maori corporates care about the environment.

     Maori corporates have the same psychopathic profile as every other corporate.
     • JS 4.3.1

       4 October 2011 at 9:37 am

       I would like to know who is on the Overseas Investment commission, what their qualifications are and what are the terms of reference? Does protecting the environment figure at all?
   • mik e 4.4

     4 October 2011 at 8:28 pm

     BLingish will love this
5. RobM 5

   4 October 2011 at 7:56 am

   These new crimes stats seem a little too good to be true.

   http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/180655/recorded-crime-falls-103-south

   As they say on The Wire – “Juking the Stats”:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCNLiHmEUxA

   My guess is that senior police in NZ are more like Rawls than Daniels.
   • Lanthanide 5.1

     4 October 2011 at 9:24 am

     Criminologist expert from victoria university this morning was saying that the drop in crime stats has been seen in other western countries recently too, and suggests that part of it is going to be demographic change with an aging population.

     In general he thought there wasn’t much that the government could specifically take credit for, and specifically not the 3 strikes law.
     • Carol 5.1.1

       4 October 2011 at 9:31 am

       And on nine-to-noon, it was reported that there has been an increase in (reported) sexual assaults.
6. mickysavage 6

   4 October 2011 at 8:12 am

   Well the Select Committee has reported back on the Video Search and Surveillance (Temporary Measures) Bill and it has benefitted from the select committee process.  The retrospective effect with one important exception has been removed.  Powers of search have been reduced.  The Bill if enacted will only be in effect for 6 months.

   But there is one dead rat lurking in the Bill.  The power to appeal a conviction because of video surveillance evidence being improperly admitted has been removed.  Previously an appeal could be lodged on the basis that Hamed represents a change in the law.  Generally the chances of an appeal succeeding are poor, it has to be shown that there was a miscarriage of justice.  As shown in Hamed the Court has a discretion to admit otherwise improperly acquired evidence.

   But the Rule of Law requires that access to the courts is maintained and the effect of a law change not be retrospective unless there are good reasons.  As far as I can see no estimate of the number of cases that may have been affected was made and I suspect it would be few.  But Parliament should not shut off chances of an appeal on the basis that it may not like the decision.  Besides historical cases only would be affected and there would be no implications for current video surveillance.

   Labour went along with it.  They have improved the bill greatly but I am sure the Nats put this dead rat in so that Labour would be tainted.

   Keith Locke is right.  He said:

   The bill retrospectively denies any person already convicted the right to use the Hamed decision as part of an appeal. That is contrary to a fundamental legal principle, that people engaged in court proceed- ings have resort to the law as it applied at the time of the alleged offence …

   Politics is a absolute mud pit sometimes …
   • aerobubble 6.1

     4 October 2011 at 3:06 pm

     Just wondering, but weren’t “criminals are going to go free” comment taints the chance of
     a fair trial. Surely juries will now debate video evidence for its legacy to their personal
     rights?
7. Draco T Bastard 7

   4 October 2011 at 8:40 am

   Quiz time
   • freedom 7.1

     4 October 2011 at 10:30 am

     the link is faulty, it heads to homepage
     • joe90 7.1.1

       4 October 2011 at 10:33 am

       the link is faulty, it heads to homepage

       Fixed.
       • Draco T Bastard 7.1.1.1

         4 October 2011 at 12:23 pm

         Thanks. Didn’t realise that the original link didn’t have the http:/ in it.
8. prism 8

   4 October 2011 at 10:43 am

   On 9toNoon Kathryn Ryan has interviewed a US patriot who is programmed to see politics and economics in the world from the glamor spin of his US viewpoint. He has managed to stuff double the content normally in an interview because he is such a fast, manic speaker. Kathryn managed to rein in and interrupt some of his statements to ascertain the bias and the reality behind his rhetoric.

   He sounds robotised, angry, and obssessed with US might and achievement all at the same time – really unbalanced with a skewwhiff approach to both the US and the rest of the world. It’s enlightening and frightening and it is no wonder that after our nuclear protest we couldn’t get heard in the States if the officials there think like this zealot..

   10:05 The Rise of Asia – is China’s economic boom sustainable?
   China’s economic boom and America’s political and economic paralysis have some predicting that the US is on the slide and that this will be the Chinese century — yet NZ is dependent in different ways on both, so what will it mean for us?
   Dr Dan Twining is a former Foreign Policy Advisor to Senator John McCain, and an expert on Asia’s political and economic relationships. Dan is in NZ speaking about US policy and ongoing US engagement in the Asia Pacific – China’s rise and the “return” of Asia, plus Asia’s economic/political future and the implications for New Zealand.
   • Morrissey 8.1

     5 October 2011 at 9:46 am

     Kathryn managed to rein in and interrupt some of his statements to ascertain the bias and the reality behind his rhetoric.

     Your assessment of Ryan’s performance is extraordinarily indulgent. She couldn’t even handle Hekia “ummmm, errrr, ahhh, ummm” Parata a few weeks back, and she certainly lacks the wherewithal to seriously challenge someone like Twining.
9. thejackal 9

   4 October 2011 at 1:07 pm

   Flotilla for Freedom

   Originally eleven ships consisting of nine passenger boats and two cargo ships, carrying 200 activists from all over the world intended to participate in the second Freedom Flotilla…
10. joe90 10

    4 October 2011 at 2:29 pm

    http://kochbrothersexposed.com/education/
11. Penny Bright 11

    4 October 2011 at 2:50 pm

    How competent and fiscally responsible were the NZ Treasury in October 2008 when implementing and managing the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme?

    The Auditor-General’s report:

    http://www.oag.govt.nz/2011/treasury

    “The Treasury: Implementing and managing the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme.

    On Sunday 12 October 2008, at the peak of the global financial crisis, the Government decided that it needed to implement a form of retail deposit guarantee scheme to avoid a flight of funds from New Zealand institutions to those in Australia. It needed to do this urgently: the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme (the Scheme) was designed and announced that same day.

    The Scheme offered a Crown guarantee over the money that people deposited or invested with financial institutions – specifically banks and “non-bank deposit takers”, which is a group that includes finance companies and savings institutions (such as building societies and credit unions). If a financial institution in the Scheme failed, the Crown would repay all of the money that eligible people had deposited or invested, up to a cap of $1 million each.

    This was a major decision in both financial and policy terms. In financial terms, this decision resulted in the Crown guaranteeing up to $133 billion in investor funds. In policy terms, it was a significant departure from the longstanding setting in New Zealand of minimal state intervention in the market. However, the Government considered the Scheme necessary to maintain depositor and public confidence in our financial markets.

    I considered it important to tell the story of this Scheme, because it was so significant to our economy and because it was designed and implemented with such speed. After any crisis, there is value in pausing to reflect on how the response was managed and what lessons can be learned……
    ………………………………..
    Overall, the Scheme achieved its goal. No banks in New Zealand failed, and there was no run on banks. Many of the other finance institutions also survived the global financial crisis. The economy was stabilised.

    However, there have been costs. Nine finance companies in the Scheme failed, causing the Crown to pay out about $2 billion to depositors. It will be some time before the various receiverships are completed and the total amount recovered from the finance companies is known. Expected recoveries are currently estimated at about $0.9 billion…………..”

    WHO exactly were these Treasury officials who were responsible for ‘implementing and managing the Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme?

    WHAT were their connections (if any) with the ‘finance industry’?

    ” Nine finance companies in the Scheme failed, causing the Crown to pay out about $2 billion to depositors.”

    YAY ‘Nanny State’?

    Penny Bright
    Independent ‘Public Watchdog’.
    Candidate for Epsom
    • Bored 11.1

      4 October 2011 at 3:23 pm

      There is a power of difference between a deposit guarantee scheme that protects:

      * small deposit holders… the genuine rank and file of us, you, me, the average Joes so we can spend our cash at the supermarket and perhaps put aside a little to help us get ahead.
      AND
      * those institutions and those individuals who took a calculated risk with their investments, and who in general have substantially more than the rest of us.

      What National have chosen to do is to lump us all together to justify the saving of risky deposits for the wealthy AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF US. Socialising the pain, privatising the gain. Our taxes paid to bail out those who got tax cuts. I am disgusted.
      • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1

        4 October 2011 at 11:57 pm

        What National have chosen to do is to lump us all together to justify the saving of risky deposits for the wealthy AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF US.

        Actually, it was Labour – National just carried it on and gave it to finance companies that it shouldn’t have.
    • mik e 11.2

      4 October 2011 at 8:33 pm

      Treasury should be disbanded they employ rwnjs and claim to know whats good for the economy all they have done is promote Nact policy and look at their track record SFO should investigate.THEN they should be all sacked we would be better off without this politically motivated Govt dept.
12. joe90 12

    4 October 2011 at 3:13 pm

    Ta-Nehisi Coates: ‘Niggerhead’.
13. joe90 13

    4 October 2011 at 3:29 pm

    http://problembanklist.com/
14. Lanthanide 14

    4 October 2011 at 5:05 pm

    I heard about this last week on Morning Report, and now there’s a handy stuff article on it.

    Turns out the government overpaid private schools by $2.5M this year. And they’re letting them keep it.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5722674/Ministry-mishap-turns-into-2-5m-bonus-for-schools
    • Puddleglum 14.1

      4 October 2011 at 10:32 pm

      I heard about it too.

      Now, if that was a beneficiary being overpaid …
      • Lanthanide 14.1.1

        4 October 2011 at 11:17 pm

        Getting the money back isn’t entirely straight forward or easy, but I’d imagine a fair way to go about doing it would just be to reduce the total kitty by $500,000 for the next 5 years before divvying it up between the schools. That way they’d each feel only a very small amount of pain over a period of 5 years. I guess inflation would have eaten a lot of the value out by then, but surely a better plan than simply writing it off. I mean, we could have gotten a whole ‘nother tupperwaka for that kind of coin.
15. William Joyce 15

    4 October 2011 at 5:38 pm

    Various Occupy events planned for New Zealand.
    Start your search for a local meeting here
     
16. Joanne 16

    4 October 2011 at 6:19 pm

    a bit of a ramble.
    Labour has done it at last. I’m a 54 year old, lifetime Labour voter, but this latest bullshit with video surveilance bill is the last straw. Never again will I vote for labour. I like the policies they are putting out, hell I’m one of the few who like Phil Goff. But this anti bill of rights bullshit has broken me. I will, from here untill I die vote Greens.

    I see Smile and Wave is accusing the previous Labour Government for our credit downgrade. WTF three years in and it’s still their fault? Seriously, 3 yeaars in and his government has nothing to do with the state of the countries books? If a National Government is votedin this November then the idiots who did it, given that the majority of people who vote in any govt are working class, then they absolutely deserve what they get. Unfortunately, those of us who don’t vote for the thieves get the same crap. Ah well, as a Transexual at least I’m used to wearing other people’s crap.

    More to come, some time. right now I have cats to feed.

    A sad, sad day when Labour vote for this disgusting loss of civil liberties after all but 1 or 2 submission were opposed, once again they show that they are eletist and don’t understand that they are our servants, NOT our rulers
    • Lanthanide 16.1

      4 October 2011 at 9:19 pm

      What’s wrong with the surveillance bill? It’s not retroactive and only has a 6-month time frame.
      • Armchair Critic 16.1.1

        4 October 2011 at 9:26 pm

        I think Joanne is a concern troll
        • Lanthanide 16.1.1.1

          5 October 2011 at 12:00 am

          It does seem rather strange for that to be the straw that broke the camels back.
          • Colonial Viper 16.1.1.1.1

            5 October 2011 at 12:39 am

            Don’t think she had much of a spine to start with.

            Hey Joanne you gonna be one of those Green voters who approves of a coalition with The Tories?
            • Joanne 16.1.1.1.1.1

              5 October 2011 at 6:08 am

              Hi CV
              Gee, no spine eh. ah ok then I guess I’m like the parliamentary Labour party. After all they’ve been a completely useless opposition for the last 3 years constantly giving into the Govt when ever Jokey wanted to pass another law under urgency to take away our civil liberties
               
              • Colonial Viper …

                5 October 2011 at 8:34 am

                Hey Joanne Bus Driver answer the question, you gonna be one of those Green-National supporters now?

                I am in there getting change happening in Labour and making sure the party goes left left left.

                You are a professional driver, why didn’t you do the same before bailing.
                • Joanne …

                  5 October 2011 at 5:25 pm

                  CV, I very much doubt that the Greens willgo into coalition with National. Even if they did it would be more honest than the faux grand coalition with national that labour has been conducting over the last 2.5 years. I used to be a labour member in years past, before I was Joanne, my input didn’t make a great deal of difference, doubt that it would now
          • Joanne 16.1.1.1.2

            5 October 2011 at 6:18 am

            final straw, indicates lots of other straws. See my response to cv. what isa wrong withe video surveillance bill is this. It’s purpose is to legitrimize the illegal activities of police and, whilst the retrospectivity has gone they have denied those covicted using illegally collected video evidence the right to challenge that in court. Seems to be a conflict there with a) the rule of law and b) the BOR. But what would I know,I am apparently a spineless troll.
            By the way, my name is Joanne, it is not a psuedonym, I live in Kilbirnie and drive buses for a living. I’m fat and ugly so feel free to greet me next time you’re travelling on my bus.
            • lprent 16.1.1.1.2.1

              5 October 2011 at 8:23 am

              Video evidence was always going to be admissible in court if the charges were serious enough under the Evidence Act. The issue was that the cowboys in the police were using it whenever they had a vague idea that they didn’t like someone. Which appears to have been the case with dicks for brains special unit cops at Otahuhu who seem to have initiated the operation 8 and other legal debacles over the last decade.

              The real problem was that it’s use was unregulated. The police were setting up continuous video surveillance on the most tenuous theories, invading private property without owner permissions to do it, and generally acting like boys with new toys. All it winds up doing is wasting the time of the courts, police sources, and probably most pertinently keeping scores of police in essentially useless anti terrorism units from being assigned to more productive tasks. They practice on activists. Any activists. Without any more reason than they are trying to change society peaceably.

              The activities have to be regulated. This act even after having most of the absolute crap stripped out is definitely not perfect – but at least it has some pretty clear rules in it.

              The search and survelliance bill is better – but even after languishing around the order paper for something like five years will not get passed until next year. Personally I would like to have parliament revisit that bill with changes before it is passed. There is a lot more evidence about abuses by the police that could and should be limited with some penalties. Perhaps give the IPCA some teeth to directly lay criminal charges on offenders in the police for abuses of process.
17. uke 17

    4 October 2011 at 7:40 pm

    Fracking coming to Canterbury…

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2499474/fracking-could-be-coming-to-the-outskirts-of-chch.asx
18. Puddleglum 18

    4 October 2011 at 10:29 pm

    According to Radio Live, the PM’s Hour had nothing to do with the staged licence fee arrangement. They put forward a strong argument against such paranoia:

    “That is not true.”

    Also:

    “It has nothing to do with radio spectrum licensing payments.”

    I’m convinced. 

    I’m also convinced that they hope this will be an annual event regardless of who is PM.

    “Friday’s show was the first broadcast of what we hope will become an annual event for Radio Live.”

    I wonder if the timing will always ensure that it will be during an election campaign? I also wonder for how many years this annual event will occur – I guess, being a business, they can’t guarantee anything. It was just that, right now, for some inexplicable, random reason some ‘body’ at Radio Live thought it would be a good idea.

    Apparently:

    “The idea is loosely based on an overseas example I heard about earlier in the year and which has been developed by my team at Radio Live.” (Who is ‘I’ here?)

    I wish people would stop treating me as if I’m a mushroom. 

    People have been criticising Labour’s ‘comms,’ but whoever wrote this really needs some lessons in how to sound convincing.

    If I wasn’t already, I’m definitely suspicious now. 
    • felix 18.1

      4 October 2011 at 11:48 pm

      Hmm.

      Seeing as how the staged licence fee arrangement is with the parent company Mediaworks, and this “RadioLive Press Release” deals with that very arrangement, it must’ve been issued by someone in a position to speak for both organisations.

      Someone who can refer to themselves as “I” when speaking on behalf of the company.

      Only one person I can think of who fits that description and he happens to be John Key’s buddy.

      Funny that.
      • McFlock 18.1.1

        5 October 2011 at 12:45 am

        Yeh, I’m laughing. On the inside.
         
        As an aside, seriously – am I the only one thinking that this is the most corrupt govt since at least muldoon (even he’s doubtful as such)?
        I mean simply on decisions that seem to have apparent coincidental connections to family members (eCan), personal funding (double dipton), non-tendered appointments (ahem), new support from honours recipients (guess), or “free” airtime.
         
        I was a bit young for Lange govt, but Bolger – even Shipley – at least appeared to be more misguided than downright corrupt. The worst accusation tories can come up with about clark is that they were as bad at electoral funding accounting as every other party at the time (not minimising the principle, just putting into perspective against apparent quid pro quo). But the current fuckers seem to be running the country like a fiefdom.
         
19. Dave Kennedy 19

    4 October 2011 at 10:46 pm

    We can learn a lot from Europe as regards transport and sophisticated lifestyles:
    http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/10/green-transport-and-green-ties.html
20. Colonial Viper 20

    5 October 2011 at 8:36 am

    RWC inflicting massive pain on small businesses

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10756611

    The owner of the El Faro Spanish Tapas bar in the Elliott Stables, Mark Ansley, said the whole industry was talking about the tournament having a detrimental effect.

    “I’ve spoken to people at the Wynyard Quarter, the Viaduct, people in the CBD; I’ve spoken to a lot of restaurateurs to gauge what’s happening – and everyone’s saying it’s down big-time,” Mr Ansley said.

    “I’m sure we would be busier if the World Cup wasn’t on.”

    But businesses should have known what was coming, Mr Ansley said.

    “Anyone who was sucked into the hype is an idiot. The council wants to make its books look better so it was always going to funnel all the customers into the fan zone it set up.”

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