“We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
—Outgoing Māori Party president Pem Bird, Radio NZ National, 7:54 a.m., Thursday 4 July 2013
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Have a gander at all of the humbugs….
No. 11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 “Sir” Owen Glenn: “I do care that every person, especially children, have [sic] the right to feel safe.”
No. 9 “Sir” Owen Glenn: His abuse inquiry is floundering after revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in 2002.
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Forcing down Evo Morales’s plane was an act of air piracy
by JOHN PILGER, The Guardian, Thursday 4 July 2013
Imagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on “suspicion” that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.
Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the “international community”, as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.
The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to “inspect” his aircraft for the “fugitive” Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.
In Moscow, Morales had been asked about Snowden – who remains trapped in the city’s airport. “If there were a request [for political asylum],” he said, “of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea.” That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. “We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country,” said a US state department official.
The French – having squealed about Washington spying on their every move, as revealed by Snowden – were first off the mark, followed by the Portuguese. The Spanish then did their bit by enforcing a flight ban of their airspace, giving the Godfather’s Viennese hirelings enough time to find out if Snowden was indeed invoking article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Those paid to keep the record straight have played their part with a cat-and-mouse media game that reinforces the Godfather’s lie that this heroic young man is running from a system of justice, rather than preordained, vindictive incarceration that….
Easy, just pay a few other people a bit less. Start with the Mayor, then the councillors, then all the council execs and so on down. Hell, maybe some of those council execs aren’t really that necessary anyway.
It’s simple circumcision theory – you can take 10% off the top of any prick. They’ll find their 600k or whatever it is in no time.
Q: Are business cases scoped accurately, and qualified by competent levels of governance, supported by processes, designed to deliver tangible benefits for Auckland?
A:___
Q: Were vendor contracts negotiated by the ATA, which would ensure locked in inflated profits for many years, at the expense of Aucklanders?
A:___
Q: Are industry awards being handed out to provide cover for financial failures, which are not fully disclosed to the public?
A:___
Q: Will the true financial position be hidden, until after the city assets have been transferred to the private sector?
A:___
Q: Will Auckland’s true financial position be exposed, before the city officially falls into default?
I would be somewhat suspicious of this figure. It is not rocket science to work out how much it costs. You find out how many people receive less than the proposed minimum wage, see how much they earn and calculate how much more they will earn.
The Councillors need to interrogate the figures more rather than just accept what they are being told.
I just meant the story is just as much about the errors, and what the errors actually are, as it is that the council has backtracked. Yes, I know, a very thin hope that someone might actually investigate and report.
Reference the controversy about the Labour gender balancing plan for Parliament candidate selection.
Every policy change, whether major or minor, needs to have a communication strategy attached to it. This is necessary irrespective of the merits of the policy. News management is not an optional extra, when fighting the uphill battle against a neo-liberal media.
“Labour leader David Shearer would not comment beyond saying he was supportive of increasing the number of women in Labour. However, he is understood to have voiced concerns privately about it.”
Shearer is on the NZ Council. “Privately” disagreeing to the media about the decision of the Party’s Governing Body is NOT the way to get on top of this particular bush-fire. The quality of advice being given to our leader is disgraceful.
I wonder what fate the Women’s Sector have in mind for him now? Perhaps I’ll invite two sisters to join me around a boiling cauldron. “‘Tis time, ’tis time”
”Does the Prime Minister stand by His statements to this House that He had no previous discussions with any of His Ministers about Kim Dot-com befor the police raid on His Coatsville mansion”,
“Yes” replied Bill English answering on behalf of the Prime Minister,
The House paused briefly into a silence that would best be described as ‘menacing’ but Winston Peters having asked this one ominous question didn’t come back to His feet with the expected ‘point of order’ or ‘supplementary’,
Absent from this little exchange was the constant barking from the Government benches which had accompanied similar questions from Labour’s Grant Robertson earlier in Thursday’s ‘Question time’, the subtle difference from Winston being a specific query about Slippery the Prime Ministers discussions of Kim Dot-com with His Ministers,
Rather than the bark of interjection from the Government benches this particular question met with such a deafening silence which literally yelled across the silent chamber ‘Gotcha’,
Does Winston have a little knowledge that specifically shows that their were discussions between Ministers and Slippery the Prime Minister befor the raid on the Coatsville mansion, or was He just fishing to gauge the reaction from the Government benches,
Along with the Heralds John Armstrong who in the strangest piece of journalism He has recently penned warned of the demise as Prime Minister of the Slippery one should this particular litany from the mouth of the PM also turn out to contain less than the truth, i smell blood,
Peters question was way too specific for there not to be some mouse trail of evidence to have lead Him to ask such a specific question and next Tuesday’s question time might be worth a watch…
The questions that Peters asked the PM in Q1 on Tuesday were very specific. Peters was very careful to stick to his script, not make any asides or other comments or raise any matters following each of the PM’s answers. Most unlike Peters, normally.
Similarly Robertson was very specific in his questions in Q2 yesterday – and put emphasis on some matters (eg German resident) and was trying to get English to be specific in his responses. Peters’ question at the end of Q2 was again very specific.
Imbalance of men to women, or is it in fact just a man’s world.
Perhaps someone could explain the difference between these two situations (apart from the obvious that is)
I’m clearly of the view that allowing the private sector to collect information on you enables governments to access that information. It simply shouldn’t be collected in the first place and there’s no good reason for facial recognition software in picture theatres or shops.
The unfettered collection of information about you needs to cease.
lprent
Yesterday it took me one and a half minutes to get onto The Standard page. Today was quite fast, I made a comment and submitted about 10.38 a.m.,, and then counted to 200 before I shut down the blank page of the Standard. The comment hasn’t been picked up behind the scenes by the machine – I can’t see Rosetinted up with the Comments.
Other sites are as quick and accessible as normal.
Odd. Normally I’d get a messages on my phone and email if the CPU spiked on the web systems or the database.
Looking at the monitoring for the last 6 hours. Just looks absolutely normal. No drops which is what happens when cloudflare has an issue, and no CPU spikes (bots) and with increased numbers of connections to the DB (when the DB jams up).
My guess is that your ISP had a problem routing to the cloudflare in sydney (the most common server for NZ connections).
This is the last weeks average CPU at 15 minutes intervals (higher time resolutions down to a minute show similar levels).. I use 15 minutes at above 50% as my trigger point. The only day I showed a problem was NZST tuesday at 10:23, 10:51, and 13:16 on the webserver (and pretty well matched on the database). That was a new spam bot network trying to leave comments. It took a few hours before the system identified all of the IP’s it was using.
Web server
Database
BTW: We had a few outages last month mostly because I didn’t have the monit restarts running after the server shift and we had a few stoppages during the night when backups were running. This is the pingdom report from last month.
rocky will be keeping an eye on the system while I’m away investigating the network access in samoa next week (yeah there is meant to be wifi…) and warming up.
edit: The pingdom times are in NZST. The 5-10 minute ones are usually either me doing maintenance later at night or early morning or the automatic backups. The longer ones were backup failures or plugin screwups that I missed.
Umm it was a quiet week last week – the bots were almost non-existent… These are cloudflare’s numbers which report everything (click to see the larger view)
Yeah right. All of the systems measure things differently. It gets a bit meaningless..
The numbers on cloudflare, google analytics, wordpress states, statcounter, sitemeter, and awstats (all of which I use) barely have any relationship with each other. Especially on what are bots, what is a visit, what is a visitor, and even in what is a pageview.
They are like polls. only really useful if you don’t compare stats between different companies (ie the DPF fallacy) and only look at trends from one.
For the record, I tend to trust google analytics the most for looking at humans because they rely at least in part on the cookies and IP info used on google sites. They show us with between 25k and 40k unique human visitors per month over the last year. And between 7k and 18k per week. And between 2k and 7k daily.
It varies quite a lot – we get spikes when something (usually an image) goes viral offshore. But if you exclude the people that we only see once (ie find us when searching) then looking over the last 18 months you see this..
Visitors – days since last visit
0 80.5%
1 7.2%
2 3.0%
3 1.7%
4 1.1%
5 0.8%
6 0.1%
> 1 week 5.6%
Well over 90% of all our readers including the one page wonders are from NZ.
In other words we’re really not interested in following the Whaleoil plan for maximizing advertising revenue.
the problem: companies move their prices at the same time, by the same amount and apparently this is not price fixing.
hello folks, i am appealling to the collective intelligence here for strategies to organize, inspire and educate the populace to push back at the oil companies.
i figure if enough (10-25%) of the population where to boycott a particular company for say 3 months we may see a breaking of ranks from the oil companies and their pricing.
the idea is that if enough of us move in one direction then we can not be stopped.
to have this succeed sends a message to the big guys (companies and legislators) but more importantly to individuals that we do have power.
i am not too interested in past evils of the various companies as they are kind of a must have.
if successful it does not have to be limited to oil companies – supermarkets or other duopoly, power companies.
i figure the AA would not be keen aas they have a loyalty scheme with one brand.
Yea – I know …. it beggars belief yes? A bit on an insult to whatever the definition of intelligence you might hold.
Perhaps …. a single buyer model. Something akin to the electricity proposals. Either that, or complete disconnect with the means by which petroleum products are sourced (all that Singapore dependency excuse usually offered).
Perhaps even a mission to South America – not unlike that “highly successful” jaunt John Key[s] undertook earlier this year that was going to produce results.
Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Disaster.
By the way I said “girls”…these are mostly women over 40 in senior and responsible positions in education and social work, a mix of private sector and public sector.
From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?
I’m told by a reflexive “that’s great !” female mate of mine that this effective mandatory gender share thing remains not more than a remit to be put forward at the conference in November. Not formal policy of the NZLP.
Even the purist must acknowledge that it’s wildfire politically. See what the pigs have done with it already.
Please don’t let it become an issue which defines left thinking in New Zealand. Because if we do the pigs will smash us over.
I believe that to back it as an imperative without intelligent management is fuck’n’ hubristic and selfish. Suggestive of – “Let’s buzz OURSELVES hard. Yeah, we’re so fuck’n’ pure and intelligent”. No. Fuck you. You’re not “left” except as a self proclaimer if it’s all about YOUR imperative.
People have the imperatives they an afford. Many, many New Zealanders can have no imperative other than putting food on the table. Their circumstances are such that without that narrow focus there will be no bloody food on the table. Think about that. Imagine that.
The fourth paragraph, I have no idea what it means.
The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty. It’s the fact that Labour is a bloody mess that is the problem. By all means stuff a whole bunch of issues back in the box, but that won’t get you anywhere useful because those issues aren’t preventing the necessary things from being done.
If Labour wasn’t such a bloody mess, then this proposal would have been handled in a completely different way. You’re aiming at the wrong target.
“The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty”
Oh yeah, there’s no way that Labour’s great policy set on addressing working, beneficiary and child poverty is being overshadowed by this in the slightest.
Yessss111 Thank you! Heard on Nat Rad this morning the same premise from Sue Moroney but she wouldn’t be heard and the rest of the programme was put over to whoever was the opposing view. Nat radio seemed to be putting it as a fait accompli and not as a remit to be put forward to be discussed. Shoddy.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
“How is it doing that?”
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
How nice for them. Did you point out that they don’t have that now? And ask them if they would like that fixed, and how they would like that fixed?
And I’d still like to know how the rule change would put women back 50 years. That’s to the the early 60s, so you should be able to pull up some interesting stats to compare to. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Can you please show me how the rule change would displace someone MORE capable at the job?
“From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?”
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
Yes, obviously. What an odd question.
It has been useful though CV to see that your objections aren’t just about timing or the competency of Labour’s PR, but that you also object because you believe the lie that women can overcome structural sexism by their own personal effort.
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
Aye, but we live in a patriarchy, right? And so the potential put down that would point to a man only attaining his position due to his gender has bugger all potential at the end of the day. totally different potential if you ain’t pink and ain’t male though, aye?
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
I’d like to see how Labour thinks the actual rule change might work in practice, but if what you say is true it’s a pretty clear sign of how much of a sexist society we still live in.
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.”
Is it just me, or does that story sound like a desperate lie? Not to mention sexist, obviously.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
The proposal has been around for “months” apparently. Clearly now was the best time to discuss it. We just had to wait for Cameron Slater to break the story.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
Smeone said yesterday (maybe this came from Labour?) that it was part of a bunch of rule changes emailed to members ahead of public release (by a few hours?). It’s not so much that someone leaked to Slater/Lusk, as Labour handed it to them on a plate.
‘To be alienated means to be someone other (alienus) than oneself; It also can mean to belong to someone else. In more profound sense, it means to be deprived of one’s self, to be subjected to, or even identified with someone else. That is definitely the effect of propaganda. Propaganda strips the individual, robs them of part of themselves, and makes them live an alien and artificial life, to such an extent that they become another person and obey impulses foreign to them. They obey someone else.
To produce this effect, propaganda restricts itself to utilizing, increasing, and reinforcing the individual’s inclination to lose himself in something (human) bigger than they are, to dissipate their uniqueness, to free their ego of all doubt, conflict, and suffering- through fusion with others; to devote themselves to a great (sic) leader and a great cause. In large groups, humans feel united with others, and therefore try to free themselves through blending. Indeed, propaganda offers them that possibility in an exceptionally easy and satisfying fashion. Yet, it pushes the individual into the mass until they disappear entirely.
To begin with, what is it that propaganda makes disappear? Everything in the nature of critical and personal judgement. Obviously, propaganda limits the application of thought. It limits the propagandee’s field of thought to the extent that it provides them with ready-made (and, moreover, unreal) thoughts and stereotypes. It orients them towards very limited ends and prevents them from using their own minds or experimenting on their own. It determines the core from which all their thoughts must derive and draws from the beginning a sort of guideline that permits neither criticism or imagination. More precisely, imagination will lead only to small digressions from the fixed line and to only slightly deviant, preliminary responses within the framework. In this fashion, we see the ‘progressives’ make some “variations” around the basic propaganda tenets.
The acceptance of the ‘line’, of such ends and limitations (BAU), presupposes the suppression of all critical judgement, which in turn is a result of the crystalization of thoughts (see fluidity of thought) and attitudes and the creation of taboos. As Jules Monnerot accurately said: All individual passion leads to the suppression of all critical judgement with regard to the object of that passion. Beyond that, in the collective passion created by propaganda, critical judgement disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgement. Humans become incapable of ‘separation’, of discernment (the word ‘critical’ is derived from the Greek ‘krino’- separate). The individual can no longer judge for them-self due to inescapably relating their thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to POLITICAL situations, they are given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of truth by the number of supporters and the word of experts.
What the individual loses is never easy to revive. Once personal judgement and critical faculties have disappeared or have been atrophied, they will not simply reappear when propaganda has been suppressed. In fact, this is one of propaganda’s most durable effects: years of intellectual and spiritual education would be needed to restore such faculties. The propagandee, if deprived of one propaganda, will immediately adopt another; this will spare them the ‘agony’ 😉 of finding themselves at some event without a ready-made opinion, and obliged to think about and judge it for themselves. At the same time, propaganda presents facts, judgments, and values in such confusion and with so many methods that it is literally impossible for the average person to proceed with discernment. They are often forced to accept, or reject, everything ‘in toto’.
-Jaques Ellul : ‘Propaganda : The Formation of Men’s Attitudes.
A Great City : small firms, smart people and connections to the outside world; the purpose behind modern cities is to pass on information, and the more effectively and efficiently they do this, the more…they blossom, the more successful and sustainable they become-Dr. Edward Glaeser.
My Goodness! (OMG, OMFG even).
The nicest man on Earth had an Imperator Fish on “The Panel”. Not only that, as I listened, there were no ahurr ahurr ahurrs, attempts at linguistic gymnastics, or any other humbug displayed by the nicest man on Earth host.
Me thinks the nicest man on Earth needs a few more ‘The Panel’ guests who don’t take shit.
Of course they run the risk of a Bradbury style excommunication.
(Check it out @ Morissey) – still a bit of fluff, but better than most of the other MSM noises being aired at the time.
I heard the programme too, Tim. Yes, Scott York and Julia Hartley Moore, as well as host Jim Mora, spoke seriously and like adults. It was a pretty good programme. I missed the first part of the pre-show segment, but I did hear a little of that screech-owl Balducci guffawing at the plight of Edward Snowden yet again. Something about the possibility of him marrying a Russian woman and thereby gaining permanent asylum in Russia. I don’t know how serious the story was, but Susan Balducci certainly seemed to be tickled pink by it.
the Malthusian angle was glanced upon earlier in the week on TS;
-poverty
-power cuts
-food shortages
-inflation
-debt
-unemployment
-water shortages predicted
-opaque decision-making
-Islamization
Came across to me as pretty genuine. He’s exhausted and the developments over the past week would have been the tipping point. They hope to interview Lianne Dalziel towards the end of the programme.
Crass 73 doesn’t deny that charter is all about profit taking for the already wealthy. Ignore the immature person. Not our problem that he has no moral fibre.
What was more interesting was to see the large contrast between the way the PM speaks and behaves facially against his doppelganger Jay Deutsch who clearly has empathy and his face well shows this.
Sure they are different people but it was a little uncanny and hinted at what was possible if Key had a sense of decency rather than self entitlement. Body language and what is behind the eyes speaks volumes.
On a more sombre note also watched The House I Live In which looks at the imprisonment of people for drugs in the US. Sadly we’re going down the same road at the same time there is some resistance emerging in the US. The section towards the end about the steps taken to create an enemy seem particularly relevant to NZ with the steps taken to demonise the poor and beneficiaries here.
Just realised that link I found is to a streaming (pirate) site – have removed. I can tell cause it has the latest superman movie there as well.
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It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Francesca Perugia, Senior Lecturer, School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University Australia’s housing crisis has created a push for fast-tracked construction. Federal, state and territory governments have set a target of 1.2 million new homes over five years. Increasing housing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ash Watson, Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock When we’re uncomfortable we say the “vibe is off”. When we’re having a good time we’re “vibing”. To assess the mood we do a “vibe check”. And when the atmosphere in ...
What’s up with the man from Epsom? The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial letter to police on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne (written before David Seymour was a minister) to an attempt to drive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Stephenson, Deputy Director, Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Australian National University Newly published research has found clear evidence that openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer+ (LGBTIQ+) Australian politicians were disproportionately targeted with personal abuse on social media at the ...
Gilmore Girls, Schitt’s Creek, even The Vampire Diaries – they’re all set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. So what is it like to actually know your neighbours? My favourite television shows are set in tight-knit neighbourhoods where everyone knows everyone. Characters attend town meetings where they debate local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of Adelaide IMDB On the surface, Ne Zha 2: The Sea’s Fury (2025), the sequel to the 2019 Chinese blockbuster Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child, is a high-octane, action-packed and ...
Wellington travellers say their buses are so hot they’re often forced to get off early and walk. Shanti Mathias explores the impact of non-functioning air conditioning on public transport. When Bella, a young professional living in Wellington, thinks about taking the bus, her first thought is “Ugh”. The bus might ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
Manurewa Marae acknowledges should have done better at handling completed census forms, following an inquiry into steps government agencies took to protect data. ...
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says. ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
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Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
Last night I may as well have been in Taihape. Or, closer to home, for me at least, somewhere in the Wairarapa. Or Tūrangi, even – which is near where we used to spend the summer when I was a child. For there was that same gorgeous small town feeling ...
Having Auckland’s food scraps dumped onto your rural backyard sounds scandalous, but in the North Island town of Reporoa there’s no fuss about the thousands of tonnes carted here every week.From the same site as one truck drops the waste, another truck picks up fertiliser to spread on local sheep ...
Humbug Corner
No. 12: Pem Bird
“We’re there to do the business of advancing our people.”
—Outgoing Māori Party president Pem Bird, Radio NZ National, 7:54 a.m., Thursday 4 July 2013
Humbug Corner is dedicated to gathering, and highlighting, the most striking examples of faux solicitude, insincere apologies, and particularly stupid recycling of official canards. It is produced by the Insincerity Project®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
Have a gander at all of the humbugs….
No. 11 Whenua Patuwai: “They’re my brothers and to see one of them goes [sic]—it’s tough.”
No. 10 “Sir” Owen Glenn: “I do care that every person, especially children, have [sic] the right to feel safe.”
No. 9 “Sir” Owen Glenn: His abuse inquiry is floundering after revelations he was accused of physically abusing a young woman in 2002.
No. 8 Barack Obama: “…people standing up for what’s right…yearning for justice and dignity…”
No. 7 Barack Obama: “Nelson Mandela is my personal hero…”
No. 6 John Key: “Yeah well the Greens’ answer to everything is rail, isn’t it.”
No.5 Dr. Rodney Syme: “If you want good, open, honest practice, you have to make it transparent.”
No. 4 Mike Bush: “Bruce Hutton’s… integrity beyond reproach…such great character…”
No. 3 Dean Lonergan: “Y’ know what? The only people who will mock them are people who are dwarfists.”
No. 2 Peter Dunne: “What a load of drivel and sanctimonious humbug…”
No. 1 Dominic Bowden: “It’s okay to be speechless.”
Forcing down Evo Morales’s plane was an act of air piracy
by JOHN PILGER, The Guardian, Thursday 4 July 2013
Imagine the aircraft of the president of France being forced down in Latin America on “suspicion” that it was carrying a political refugee to safety – and not just any refugee but someone who has provided the people of the world with proof of criminal activity on an epic scale.
Imagine the response from Paris, let alone the “international community”, as the governments of the west call themselves. To a chorus of baying indignation from Whitehall to Washington, Brussels to Madrid, heroic special forces would be dispatched to rescue their leader and, as sport, smash up the source of such flagrant international gangsterism. Editorials would cheer them on, perhaps reminding readers that this kind of piracy was exhibited by the German Reich in the 1930s.
The forcing down of Bolivian President Evo Morales’s plane – denied airspace by France, Spain and Portugal, followed by his 14-hour confinement while Austrian officials demanded to “inspect” his aircraft for the “fugitive” Edward Snowden – was an act of air piracy and state terrorism. It was a metaphor for the gangsterism that now rules the world and the cowardice and hypocrisy of bystanders who dare not speak its name.
In Moscow, Morales had been asked about Snowden – who remains trapped in the city’s airport. “If there were a request [for political asylum],” he said, “of course, we would be willing to debate and consider the idea.” That was clearly enough provocation for the Godfather. “We have been in touch with a range of countries that had a chance of having Snowden land or travel through their country,” said a US state department official.
The French – having squealed about Washington spying on their every move, as revealed by Snowden – were first off the mark, followed by the Portuguese. The Spanish then did their bit by enforcing a flight ban of their airspace, giving the Godfather’s Viennese hirelings enough time to find out if Snowden was indeed invoking article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”
Those paid to keep the record straight have played their part with a cat-and-mouse media game that reinforces the Godfather’s lie that this heroic young man is running from a system of justice, rather than preordained, vindictive incarceration that….
Read more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/04/forcing-down-morales-plane-air-piracy?CMP=twt_gu
GCSB Bill
For Dot Com to John Con: “Show me your integrity!”
Funnily enough John Key could say the same thing to Dot Con…
Wow, so they are both morally bankrupt, whoop e doo, only one was elected to the top office in the land. If you have a point, make it, troll.
The person making the most traction against National and John Key is fraudalent, con-artist German.
Says alot about the collective nous of Labour.
Making traction now is he? That’s what I love about wingnut arguments: they’re so utterly insincere.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/8878710/Council-balks-at-living-wage-cost
Yeah it sounds good in theory but when you work out how much it costs and whos going to pay for it…not so much
Easy, just pay a few other people a bit less. Start with the Mayor, then the councillors, then all the council execs and so on down. Hell, maybe some of those council execs aren’t really that necessary anyway.
It’s simple circumcision theory – you can take 10% off the top of any prick. They’ll find their 600k or whatever it is in no time.
Damn this is odd but I agree with you
Shit, I’d better check my sums then.
Q: Are independent consultants costs publicized?
A:___
Q: Are business cases scoped accurately, and qualified by competent levels of governance, supported by processes, designed to deliver tangible benefits for Auckland?
A:___
Q: Were vendor contracts negotiated by the ATA, which would ensure locked in inflated profits for many years, at the expense of Aucklanders?
A:___
Q: Are industry awards being handed out to provide cover for financial failures, which are not fully disclosed to the public?
A:___
Q: Will the true financial position be hidden, until after the city assets have been transferred to the private sector?
A:___
Q: Will Auckland’s true financial position be exposed, before the city officially falls into default?
A:___
I would be somewhat suspicious of this figure. It is not rocket science to work out how much it costs. You find out how many people receive less than the proposed minimum wage, see how much they earn and calculate how much more they will earn.
The Councillors need to interrogate the figures more rather than just accept what they are being told.
Well thats what happens when you borrow the Greens calculator to work out the sums initially then use a normal one to confirm
Running out of lines?
That’s the same one you used last night but last night you said Labour.
A good line is worth repeating 🙂
Not really especially when it’s not even related to the comment you’re responding to.
imitation being the finest form…
Looks like a hatchet job to me. How did they get the figures so wrong between the first and second times?
Give you ten to one it’s snafu not conspiracy.
Someone didn’t do their sums right.
And where is the analysis of the difference, MSM?
Not sure what you mean by that Weka. MSM bias/incompetence/distraction. What does this have to do with Hamilton District Council staff errors?
I just meant the story is just as much about the errors, and what the errors actually are, as it is that the council has backtracked. Yes, I know, a very thin hope that someone might actually investigate and report.
that’s cos other people further up the pecking order want some fat in the budget for their own pay increases (RNZ), Winston Smith.
Probably not far off the mark
Reference the controversy about the Labour gender balancing plan for Parliament candidate selection.
Every policy change, whether major or minor, needs to have a communication strategy attached to it. This is necessary irrespective of the merits of the policy. News management is not an optional extra, when fighting the uphill battle against a neo-liberal media.
“Labour leader David Shearer would not comment beyond saying he was supportive of increasing the number of women in Labour. However, he is understood to have voiced concerns privately about it.”
Shearer is on the NZ Council. “Privately” disagreeing to the media about the decision of the Party’s Governing Body is NOT the way to get on top of this particular bush-fire. The quality of advice being given to our leader is disgraceful.
I wonder what fate the Women’s Sector have in mind for him now? Perhaps I’ll invite two sisters to join me around a boiling cauldron. “‘Tis time, ’tis time”
there is that golden rule of politics that shearer has broken..
..that ‘don’t piss off the women!-dictum’..
…i also saw that as another death-knell for him..
..(after/compounding his recent threats to ‘terrorise’ maori..so..if you were a maori woman in labour..?
..where to turn..?..)
..far-right nattys often sneer at key as being labour-lite..
..funny how shearer actually is his/this mirror-image..eh..?
..it’s way past time to roll him..
..he isn’t going to get any better..eh..?
..many out here would really like to see a labour party vowing to returning to their (original)-knitting..eh..?
..and david (bludging-benificiary-on-a-hot-tin-roof) shearer dosn’t hold that promise..
..far from it..
..phillip ure..
”Does the Prime Minister stand by His statements to this House that He had no previous discussions with any of His Ministers about Kim Dot-com befor the police raid on His Coatsville mansion”,
“Yes” replied Bill English answering on behalf of the Prime Minister,
The House paused briefly into a silence that would best be described as ‘menacing’ but Winston Peters having asked this one ominous question didn’t come back to His feet with the expected ‘point of order’ or ‘supplementary’,
Absent from this little exchange was the constant barking from the Government benches which had accompanied similar questions from Labour’s Grant Robertson earlier in Thursday’s ‘Question time’, the subtle difference from Winston being a specific query about Slippery the Prime Ministers discussions of Kim Dot-com with His Ministers,
Rather than the bark of interjection from the Government benches this particular question met with such a deafening silence which literally yelled across the silent chamber ‘Gotcha’,
Does Winston have a little knowledge that specifically shows that their were discussions between Ministers and Slippery the Prime Minister befor the raid on the Coatsville mansion, or was He just fishing to gauge the reaction from the Government benches,
Along with the Heralds John Armstrong who in the strangest piece of journalism He has recently penned warned of the demise as Prime Minister of the Slippery one should this particular litany from the mouth of the PM also turn out to contain less than the truth, i smell blood,
Peters question was way too specific for there not to be some mouse trail of evidence to have lead Him to ask such a specific question and next Tuesday’s question time might be worth a watch…
Interesting point, bad12. Going to have a look now – missed question time yesterday.
The questions that Peters asked the PM in Q1 on Tuesday were very specific. Peters was very careful to stick to his script, not make any asides or other comments or raise any matters following each of the PM’s answers. Most unlike Peters, normally.
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/19552
Similarly Robertson was very specific in his questions in Q2 yesterday – and put emphasis on some matters (eg German resident) and was trying to get English to be specific in his responses. Peters’ question at the end of Q2 was again very specific.
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/19769
Peters also claimed to “know” that Key knew about KDC earlier than Key claims, on TV3 news last night – towards the end of this link.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Did-Key-lie-or-is-Dotcom-bluffing/tabid/1607/articleID/303806/Default.aspx
Peters also attended KDC’s appearance at the Security and Intelligence Committee. He was sitting at a table behind Banks.
While Peters likes to be in ‘on the act’, he is a wily old hand and has many contacts including probably Davidson QC, who headed the Wine Box inquiry.
Ageism, sexism, reverse discrimination, affirmative action…
Imbalance of men to women, or is it in fact just a man’s world.
Perhaps someone could explain the difference between these two situations (apart from the obvious that is)
This in America – difference (38 years)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10890976
This in New Zealand – difference (37 years)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10894878
Its A Man’s World , but it would be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl!
Noticed this this morning to continue yesterday’s links on the data being collected on you:
“We envision advertising in theatres will be based on who’s in the theatre, using facial recognition.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/8880595/Digital-cinema-management-a-box-office-hit
I’m clearly of the view that allowing the private sector to collect information on you enables governments to access that information. It simply shouldn’t be collected in the first place and there’s no good reason for facial recognition software in picture theatres or shops.
The unfettered collection of information about you needs to cease.
People will need to wear a mask when going to see a movie ffs.
Although lots of material for comedic movie scenes.
lprent
Yesterday it took me one and a half minutes to get onto The Standard page. Today was quite fast, I made a comment and submitted about 10.38 a.m.,, and then counted to 200 before I shut down the blank page of the Standard. The comment hasn’t been picked up behind the scenes by the machine – I can’t see Rosetinted up with the Comments.
Other sites are as quick and accessible as normal.
Odd. Normally I’d get a messages on my phone and email if the CPU spiked on the web systems or the database.
Looking at the monitoring for the last 6 hours. Just looks absolutely normal. No drops which is what happens when cloudflare has an issue, and no CPU spikes (bots) and with increased numbers of connections to the DB (when the DB jams up).
My guess is that your ISP had a problem routing to the cloudflare in sydney (the most common server for NZ connections).
I found ts pretty slow loading for a period of time yesterday too – last night I think. Pages, and trying to post comments.
Looking…. Don’t really see it at the server side.
The Date/Time is in UTC (Greenwich) time
This is the last weeks average CPU at 15 minutes intervals (higher time resolutions down to a minute show similar levels).. I use 15 minutes at above 50% as my trigger point. The only day I showed a problem was NZST tuesday at 10:23, 10:51, and 13:16 on the webserver (and pretty well matched on the database). That was a new spam bot network trying to leave comments. It took a few hours before the system identified all of the IP’s it was using.
Web server

Database

BTW: We had a few outages last month mostly because I didn’t have the monit restarts running after the server shift and we had a few stoppages during the night when backups were running. This is the pingdom report from last month.
Downtimes
From To Downtime
2013-06-01 04:24:42 2013-06-01 04:29:42 0h 05m 00s
2013-06-04 06:19:42 2013-06-04 06:24:42 0h 05m 00s
2013-06-18 02:49:42 2013-06-18 02:59:42 0h 10m 00s
2013-06-19 02:49:42 2013-06-19 08:24:42 5h 35m 00s
2013-06-23 09:24:43 2013-06-23 09:39:42 0h 14m 59s
2013-06-24 02:49:42 2013-06-24 08:09:42 5h 20m 00s
2013-06-29 01:44:42 2013-06-29 01:54:42 0h 10m 00s
rocky will be keeping an eye on the system while I’m away investigating the network access in samoa next week (yeah there is meant to be wifi…) and warming up.
edit: The pingdom times are in NZST. The 5-10 minute ones are usually either me doing maintenance later at night or early morning or the automatic backups. The longer ones were backup failures or plugin screwups that I missed.
Umm it was a quiet week last week – the bots were almost non-existent… These are cloudflare’s numbers which report everything (click to see the larger view)
Page views

Hits

Bandwidth

Oh well lunch is over. Getting back to debugging.
edit: Opps – fixed images
23,345 unique viewers.
Yeah right. All of the systems measure things differently. It gets a bit meaningless..
The numbers on cloudflare, google analytics, wordpress states, statcounter, sitemeter, and awstats (all of which I use) barely have any relationship with each other. Especially on what are bots, what is a visit, what is a visitor, and even in what is a pageview.
They are like polls. only really useful if you don’t compare stats between different companies (ie the DPF fallacy) and only look at trends from one.
For the record, I tend to trust google analytics the most for looking at humans because they rely at least in part on the cookies and IP info used on google sites. They show us with between 25k and 40k unique human visitors per month over the last year. And between 7k and 18k per week. And between 2k and 7k daily.
It varies quite a lot – we get spikes when something (usually an image) goes viral offshore. But if you exclude the people that we only see once (ie find us when searching) then looking over the last 18 months you see this..
Visitors – days since last visit
0 80.5%
1 7.2%
2 3.0%
3 1.7%
4 1.1%
5 0.8%
6 0.1%
> 1 week 5.6%
Well over 90% of all our readers including the one page wonders are from NZ.
In other words we’re really not interested in following the Whaleoil plan for maximizing advertising revenue.
approx 80% of readers visit every day…
Nope. ~80% of the visitors who read the site read it more than once in a day. ~87% read it at least once every 24 hours.
re petrol pricing:
the problem: companies move their prices at the same time, by the same amount and apparently this is not price fixing.
hello folks, i am appealling to the collective intelligence here for strategies to organize, inspire and educate the populace to push back at the oil companies.
i figure if enough (10-25%) of the population where to boycott a particular company for say 3 months we may see a breaking of ranks from the oil companies and their pricing.
the idea is that if enough of us move in one direction then we can not be stopped.
to have this succeed sends a message to the big guys (companies and legislators) but more importantly to individuals that we do have power.
i am not too interested in past evils of the various companies as they are kind of a must have.
if successful it does not have to be limited to oil companies – supermarkets or other duopoly, power companies.
i figure the AA would not be keen aas they have a loyalty scheme with one brand.
your thoughts please
Yea – I know …. it beggars belief yes? A bit on an insult to whatever the definition of intelligence you might hold.
Perhaps …. a single buyer model. Something akin to the electricity proposals. Either that, or complete disconnect with the means by which petroleum products are sourced (all that Singapore dependency excuse usually offered).
Perhaps even a mission to South America – not unlike that “highly successful” jaunt John Key[s] undertook earlier this year that was going to produce results.
Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.
Out of touch on Planet Labour.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
How is it doing that?
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster”
From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit. They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Disaster.
By the way I said “girls”…these are mostly women over 40 in senior and responsible positions in education and social work, a mix of private sector and public sector.
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
I agree, the woman came home last night fair bristling at what Labour was proposing.
She’s a highly educated woman in her 30’s who is currently in a managerial role.
Please, before you make your wife out to be so ignorant again, can you just check whether she understands that Labour is considering this proposal?
I give it a 95% chance of passing at Conference. It’s as good as done.
How would you fix the gender bias then CV? Women are simply not currently getting an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
I’m told by a reflexive “that’s great !” female mate of mine that this effective mandatory gender share thing remains not more than a remit to be put forward at the conference in November. Not formal policy of the NZLP.
Even the purist must acknowledge that it’s wildfire politically. See what the pigs have done with it already.
Please don’t let it become an issue which defines left thinking in New Zealand. Because if we do the pigs will smash us over.
I believe that to back it as an imperative without intelligent management is fuck’n’ hubristic and selfish. Suggestive of – “Let’s buzz OURSELVES hard. Yeah, we’re so fuck’n’ pure and intelligent”. No. Fuck you. You’re not “left” except as a self proclaimer if it’s all about YOUR imperative.
People have the imperatives they an afford. Many, many New Zealanders can have no imperative other than putting food on the table. Their circumstances are such that without that narrow focus there will be no bloody food on the table. Think about that. Imagine that.
You had me for the first three paragraphs.
The fourth paragraph, I have no idea what it means.
The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty. It’s the fact that Labour is a bloody mess that is the problem. By all means stuff a whole bunch of issues back in the box, but that won’t get you anywhere useful because those issues aren’t preventing the necessary things from being done.
If Labour wasn’t such a bloody mess, then this proposal would have been handled in a completely different way. You’re aiming at the wrong target.
“The last one I call bullshit on. It’s not proposals like the one yesterday that are preventing addressing serious issues like poverty”
Oh yeah, there’s no way that Labour’s great policy set on addressing working, beneficiary and child poverty is being overshadowed by this in the slightest.
“How would I fix the gender bias”
I wouldn’t. By the way, Labour’s proposal doesn’t either.
Yessss111 Thank you! Heard on Nat Rad this morning the same premise from Sue Moroney but she wouldn’t be heard and the rest of the programme was put over to whoever was the opposing view. Nat radio seemed to be putting it as a fait accompli and not as a remit to be put forward to be discussed. Shoddy.
“The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years.”
“How is it doing that?”
They want an equal chance and an equal hearing based on merit.
How nice for them. Did you point out that they don’t have that now? And ask them if they would like that fixed, and how they would like that fixed?
And I’d still like to know how the rule change would put women back 50 years. That’s to the the early 60s, so you should be able to pull up some interesting stats to compare to.
They don’t need protection by regulation and they certainly don’t want to displace someone else if they are more capable at the job.
Can you please show me how the rule change would displace someone MORE capable at the job?
“From what I can tell, that’s not what Labour are proposing. Would it be so hard to get our facts straight?”
I don’t know, do you think I should ask them?
Yes, obviously. What an odd question.
It has been useful though CV to see that your objections aren’t just about timing or the competency of Labour’s PR, but that you also object because you believe the lie that women can overcome structural sexism by their own personal effort.
They’re in their 40s and they get referred to as “girls”. Says it all, doesn’t it?
Watch the polls plummet deary. Then tell me what that says.
ANOTHER disaster? That’s like “electoral oblivion” squared!
I couldn’t resist:
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
The women who would only get their position because of their gender, as opposed to the men right now who do what exactly?
Aye, but we live in a patriarchy, right? And so the potential put down that would point to a man only attaining his position due to his gender has bugger all potential at the end of the day. totally different potential if you ain’t pink and ain’t male though, aye?
If you knows of a better retort, go to it 🙂
Maybe somebody could reference the experiment that showed random selection produced the same results as targetted selection? That said, I agree this move could undermine women who are selected/promoted because, *you know*, they only got the position due to their gender rather than their ability. That, and it’s bloody window dressing…
I’d like to see how Labour thinks the actual rule change might work in practice, but if what you say is true it’s a pretty clear sign of how much of a sexist society we still live in.
“Labour 50% women on the list proposal a disaster. The girls in a nearby office hate it – they say its put working women back 50 years. And many I know are Labour supporters.”
Is it just me, or does that story sound like a desperate lie? Not to mention sexist, obviously.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
The proposal has been around for “months” apparently. Clearly now was the best time to discuss it. We just had to wait for Cameron Slater to break the story.
you never know – maybe whoever was the gatekeeper kept thinking that the best time to deal with the issue was “not now”…
If there was a leaker, I’d assume it was a homophobic, misogynist MP. A name springs to mind.
So, where was I reading that this was a leak? See, if there is any story here, it’s that…or more precisely, the timing of it. There was JK and the spying debacle. And here came a free pass to distract from somebody within Labour. It’s kinda fucking unbelievable.
Smeone said yesterday (maybe this came from Labour?) that it was part of a bunch of rule changes emailed to members ahead of public release (by a few hours?). It’s not so much that someone leaked to Slater/Lusk, as Labour handed it to them on a plate.
Hey TRP, screw you.
We’ll see how desperate things get as this proposal gets continuous airplay later this year.
What ev’s CV. It appears your lifestyle defines you.
Remember my words. The media get another field day with this at Conference this year. What ever the final vote the proposal will be a media lose-lose.
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
Oscar Wilde
‘To be alienated means to be someone other (alienus) than oneself; It also can mean to belong to someone else. In more profound sense, it means to be deprived of one’s self, to be subjected to, or even identified with someone else. That is definitely the effect of propaganda. Propaganda strips the individual, robs them of part of themselves, and makes them live an alien and artificial life, to such an extent that they become another person and obey impulses foreign to them. They obey someone else.
To produce this effect, propaganda restricts itself to utilizing, increasing, and reinforcing the individual’s inclination to lose himself in something (human) bigger than they are, to dissipate their uniqueness, to free their ego of all doubt, conflict, and suffering- through fusion with others; to devote themselves to a great (sic) leader and a great cause. In large groups, humans feel united with others, and therefore try to free themselves through blending. Indeed, propaganda offers them that possibility in an exceptionally easy and satisfying fashion. Yet, it pushes the individual into the mass until they disappear entirely.
To begin with, what is it that propaganda makes disappear? Everything in the nature of critical and personal judgement. Obviously, propaganda limits the application of thought. It limits the propagandee’s field of thought to the extent that it provides them with ready-made (and, moreover, unreal) thoughts and stereotypes. It orients them towards very limited ends and prevents them from using their own minds or experimenting on their own. It determines the core from which all their thoughts must derive and draws from the beginning a sort of guideline that permits neither criticism or imagination. More precisely, imagination will lead only to small digressions from the fixed line and to only slightly deviant, preliminary responses within the framework. In this fashion, we see the ‘progressives’ make some “variations” around the basic propaganda tenets.
The acceptance of the ‘line’, of such ends and limitations (BAU), presupposes the suppression of all critical judgement, which in turn is a result of the crystalization of thoughts (see fluidity of thought) and attitudes and the creation of taboos. As Jules Monnerot accurately said: All individual passion leads to the suppression of all critical judgement with regard to the object of that passion. Beyond that, in the collective passion created by propaganda, critical judgement disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgement. Humans become incapable of ‘separation’, of discernment (the word ‘critical’ is derived from the Greek ‘krino’- separate). The individual can no longer judge for them-self due to inescapably relating their thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to POLITICAL situations, they are given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of truth by the number of supporters and the word of experts.
What the individual loses is never easy to revive. Once personal judgement and critical faculties have disappeared or have been atrophied, they will not simply reappear when propaganda has been suppressed. In fact, this is one of propaganda’s most durable effects: years of intellectual and spiritual education would be needed to restore such faculties. The propagandee, if deprived of one propaganda, will immediately adopt another; this will spare them the ‘agony’ 😉 of finding themselves at some event without a ready-made opinion, and obliged to think about and judge it for themselves. At the same time, propaganda presents facts, judgments, and values in such confusion and with so many methods that it is literally impossible for the average person to proceed with discernment. They are often forced to accept, or reject, everything ‘in toto’.
-Jaques Ellul : ‘Propaganda : The Formation of Men’s Attitudes.
Toto 😀
A Great City : small firms, smart people and connections to the outside world; the purpose behind modern cities is to pass on information, and the more effectively and efficiently they do this, the more…they blossom, the more successful and sustainable they become-Dr. Edward Glaeser.
Very interesting. Good stuff Rogue.
Dean Parker: Labour must recapture the spirit of ’38
But I’m not sure about Labour as they’ve been making the same noises as National. A new party may have better luck.
Keep dreamin’, Labour will never recapture that spirit. How can it?
The people in Labour at that time are very different from the people in Labour today, especially in life experiences.
Disingenuity is not pretty WS. You scream of it. To match your unabashed ugliness in a social sense and of mind.
My Goodness! (OMG, OMFG even).
The nicest man on Earth had an Imperator Fish on “The Panel”. Not only that, as I listened, there were no ahurr ahurr ahurrs, attempts at linguistic gymnastics, or any other humbug displayed by the nicest man on Earth host.
Me thinks the nicest man on Earth needs a few more ‘The Panel’ guests who don’t take shit.
Of course they run the risk of a Bradbury style excommunication.
(Check it out @ Morissey) – still a bit of fluff, but better than most of the other MSM noises being aired at the time.
I heard the programme too, Tim. Yes, Scott York and Julia Hartley Moore, as well as host Jim Mora, spoke seriously and like adults. It was a pretty good programme. I missed the first part of the pre-show segment, but I did hear a little of that screech-owl Balducci guffawing at the plight of Edward Snowden yet again. Something about the possibility of him marrying a Russian woman and thereby gaining permanent asylum in Russia. I don’t know how serious the story was, but Susan Balducci certainly seemed to be tickled pink by it.
Yorke ( 😀 )
I somehow KNEW I had botched it! Thank you for that correction, my friend.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpo3x6YRNJ1qcpthfo1_250.jpg
😎
“Balducci the screech owl”.
God your word pictures tickle me Morrissey.
They are the brilliance of technicolor and the richness of oil in one !
Perfect !
No money for Pike River families (well, maybe 5K)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10895019
-legal fees swallowed it all up.
Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons take on taxing takeaways
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10894777
‘An Appetite for Destruction’- “user-pays” for poor diet marketing, those in poverty and the ‘time-poor’.(oh, and apparently, ‘the lazy’).
This is well worth reading for anyone trying to get their heads around recent events in Egypt.
Nervana Mahmoud gives a nuanced, succinct account of how Morsi came to power and how he lost it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/heres-why-egyptians-are-glad-the-military-ousted-their-president/article12981767/#dashboard/follows/
the Malthusian angle was glanced upon earlier in the week on TS;
-poverty
-power cuts
-food shortages
-inflation
-debt
-unemployment
-water shortages predicted
-opaque decision-making
-Islamization
now the danger
Campbell Live tonight:
One of NZ’s most high profile politicians will be making a major announcement.
Quick sweep stake: my entry
Banks is going to announce his resignation from politics?
The Resurrection of Aaron Gilmore 😀
I hope someone isn’t ill.
Actually karol that’s what I wondered…
John Key is going to give away most of his millions, so no-one need be homeless or go begging in NZ.
Bob Parker standing down for next Ch Ch election – Lianne Dalziel scared him off?
Is that a guess or what was actually on Campbell live?
No. CL actual.
Breaking on Stuff now.
Ta.
Can’t say I am surprised, and would guess he would have done this anyway even without Dalziel standing. Post earthquake stress…
What did he say on CL?
Came across to me as pretty genuine. He’s exhausted and the developments over the past week would have been the tipping point. They hope to interview Lianne Dalziel towards the end of the programme.
David Shearer has a job at the UN, packing it in as Dear Leader.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Study-at-odds-with-teachers-union-claims/tabid/423/articleID/303913/Default.aspx
D’oh! Bit harder for the unions now that the media is starting to pick up on the lies…
Suck on these then chris
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8154853/Ofsted-academies-performing-worse-than-other-schools.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/25/ofsted-conerns-academies-undermine-improvement
Crass 73 doesn’t deny that charter is all about profit taking for the already wealthy. Ignore the immature person. Not our problem that he has no moral fibre.
It’s late and this will likely get buried as all good people are likely asleep.
Occasionally I watch kitsch TV and caught tonights Secret Millionaire.
What was interesting was that the millionaire looks surprisingly like our PM.
http://www.bdainc.com/about-us/management/jay/
What was more interesting was to see the large contrast between the way the PM speaks and behaves facially against his doppelganger Jay Deutsch who clearly has empathy and his face well shows this.
Sure they are different people but it was a little uncanny and hinted at what was possible if Key had a sense of decency rather than self entitlement. Body language and what is behind the eyes speaks volumes.
On a more sombre note also watched The House I Live In which looks at the imprisonment of people for drugs in the US. Sadly we’re going down the same road at the same time there is some resistance emerging in the US. The section towards the end about the steps taken to create an enemy seem particularly relevant to NZ with the steps taken to demonise the poor and beneficiaries here.
Just realised that link I found is to a streaming (pirate) site – have removed. I can tell cause it has the latest superman movie there as well.
From the Wall Street Journal:
“Egyptians would be lucky if generals turn out to be in mold of Pinochet…who midwifed a transition to democracy.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324399404578583932317286550.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
for goodness sake!