It’s difficult to tell since you’ve left off the context, but I suspect what Key is saying here is the ‘public we’ as in “we, the public, hold MPs to a higher standard, so Aaron’s behaviour takes on a bit more weight than it might otherwise”.
If that indeed is what Key was saying, then I don’t think you can call him a liar.
This morning’s “Liars of Our Time” entry brought forth the usual hostile response from our good friend Lanthanide…
It’s difficult to tell since you’ve left off the context,
No I have not “left off the context.” Read my post again.
but I suspect what Key is saying here is the ‘public we’ as in “we, the public, hold MPs to a higher standard, so Aaron’s behaviour takes on a bit more weight than it might otherwise”.
You’re spinning for John Key. I must say, sadly, that I am not at all surprised to see this. After all, you’ve spun for the Japanese government, a discredited bunch of reprobates which makes John Key look like Honest John the Most Honest Hombre in Honiara.
If that indeed is what Key was saying, then I don’t think you can call him a liar.
But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.
Lanth is correct to say that you left out the context and you are incorrect to see that as spinning for Key.
You’ve cherry picked one line (“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”) without any way of identifying who ‘we’ is. Lanth may be correct that ‘we’ refers to the public. Or ‘we’ may mean the National Party in general or the caucus specifically. Without the context, who knows?
You heard the report, Moz, can you add some more detail as to who ‘we’ is?
Lanth is correct to say that you left out the context and you are incorrect to see that as spinning for Key.
I did not leave out the context. Key said that on radio, not long after saying on television that the thuggish List lout was “a bright guy with ability.” Key was quite prepared to throw Gilmore to the wolves, by the way: he said that Gilmore was the lowest on the list in parliament, and that he had not distinguished himself in any way from 2008 to 2011. Whoever Key was concerned about defending, it was not Aaron Gilmore.
You’ve cherry picked one line (“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”) without any way of identifying who ‘we’ is.
I did not “cherry pick” his words, I quoted them directly. Sure, I did not include the usual Key mumbling and any of the hedging ums and ahs, but that is what he said.
Lanth may be correct that ‘we’ refers to the public. Or ‘we’ may mean the National Party in general or the caucus specifically. Without the context, who knows?
Whether Key was referring to the public or the National Party caucus does not really matter; the fact is we (all of us, the general public and politicians) do NOT hold politicians to a higher standard, or to any standard at all. If we did, John Key, a notorious liar, would not have survived the publication of Nicky Hager’s damning exposé of his close involvement in the Brethren payments, and even if he had, he would have been drummed out of office for repeatedly misleading parliament.
You heard the report, Moz, can you add some more detail as to who ‘we’ is?
“Whether Key was referring to the public or the National Party caucus does not really matter;”
Er, yes it does. It defines the context in which he made his comment. Lanth was 100% correct and we are none the wiser for you having written the comment in the first place.
Still, as you yourself admit in this remarkable quote I have just transcribed off the internet:
“I, Morrissey, must say I am NOT a bright guy with any ability at all. I have spun for the Japanese government, John Key and wolves. I was lying when issuing false statements to the public, I have not distinguished the Brethren in any way. I remain a notorious liar”.
Your example’s a bit tortured, Moz. An anti-gay joke at a Family Fist rally would surely be regarded as funny as a fit. Context, eh? You really seem to be struggling with it today.
Nor indeed is there any inconsistancy between the two statements.
“Underneath it all he’s a bright guy with ability, BUT, yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard”
Don’t know what it is about Morrissey that draws energy so, but here’s why I cannot but support him at 1 above:
From ShonKey Python – “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
From TV3 tonight – Slurrin’ (Entitled Bully) Erron has apologised to the PM by text message…….his job is safe.
Morrissey is pissed off and I don’t blame him one bit. We, the public “we”, we hold MPs to a higher standard.
Do “we” really ?
Well ShonKey Python’s obviously not part of the “we”. He talks the talk of “higher standard”. He does not walk the walk of “higher standard”. That makes him a liar in my book.
A double liar given that the obfuscating weasel words are singularly directed to protecting ShonKey Python’s precarious grip on power. There’s absolutely nothing there about observing or enforcing the higher standard he claims to embrace. Nothing !
Go Morrissey ! The Beltway Phenomenon rears its sneering head again. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. Next time though you’d better address “context” in atrophyingly minute detail my man.
Given its profound appreciation of all and everything The Beltway was entitled to get your patently obvious point without that. It did not. You’ll accommodate next time OK ?
“But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.”
Still upset about that, are we?
Find some evidence that the people who visited Tokyo on those flights have suffered in any way at all. Or, even easier for you, find some evidence that people living in Tokyo have suffered in any way that can be statistically attributed to the nuclear meltdown that occurred at Fukushima.
Once you have some evidence, you might have some standing on this argument.
probably safer than being a patient at CHCH hospital while contractors track white asbestos everywhere (notified employers, yet ignored for some time).
“But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.”
Still upset about that, are we?
Indeed we are, but we are not one-tenth as upset as the people of Japan were, and are, at the officials who willfully and cynically deceived them.
Find some evidence that the people who visited Tokyo on those flights have suffered in any way at all.
I think the documented fact that the Japanese government seriously considered evacuating Tokyo is evidence that Rob Fyfe is not only a damned fool, but an irresponsible and dangerous fool who in any sane and decent society would be shunned like a sheep molester.
Or, even easier for you, find some evidence that people living in Tokyo have suffered in any way that can be statistically attributed to the nuclear meltdown that occurred at Fukushima.
Oh, I see what you are driving at! It was a benign and healthful nuclear disaster. Oddly, the scientific community and the government of Japan were not as relaxed and confident about the catastrophe as you pretend to be from the other end of the earth.
Once you have some evidence, you might have some standing on this argument.
“This argument”? There is no argument. The Japanese government deceived the general public by issuing statements that said the diametric opposite of what the situation actually was. That has been irrefutably proven, and scores of Japanese officials have made the standard cringing Gomen nasais, although, sadly, not one of them has taken the traditional route of committing hara-kiri. You either know that, and are therefore a liar and a scoundrel of Clintonian dimensions, or you are a bewildered soul who should be given her own show on NewstalkZB immediately.
Provide just one credible source, just one, that Tokyo was ever dangerous to visit due to the Fukushima meltdown. Just one.
How about the leaked internal documents that reveal the government almost called for Tokyo to be evacuated? Tokyo, indeed the whole of the north-east of Japan, was in peril of an almost unimaginable order. The government advisers admit all that in their internal communications, when they are actually honest.
That’s not actually an answer. The operative word in your comment being “nearly”. I ‘nearly’ had fish for dinner, but then I decided I prefered chicken instead. I ‘nearly’ missed the bus, but fortunately I didn’t. Or of greater relevance, “X’s grandfather was nearly hit by a mortar in WW2, but wasn’t, and hence X is can do whatever within the law X likes.
You clearly do not understand what a syllogism is, Boolean or Aristotlean, as that is not what I was trying to do. If there is a particle of sanity in your addled bonce, it may detect that “is”, and “almost” and “nearly” are not the same things and I was drawing attention to the weasel ambiguity of its use. One cannot form a testable proof with “almost” or “nearly”.
The only prevarication and bluster around here, as always, is from you, my friend. I would have named poor old “farmboy” as well, but he’s busy with a farm animal.
No, not really. I pointed out that without the context of your quote, what Key could have said on his RNZ interview could in fact have been quite valid. As usual Key is bad at grammar and speaking english in general, but it is usually possible to decipher the gist of what he’s trying to say, if you give the whole context of the discussion.
Instead of admitting that maybe I was right, you attacked me and brought up very old arguments for which you have no evidence to back up your assertions. It is you who is avoiding the argument with bluster, not me.
I don’t think you have quite got it right there, Te Reo. I think Key lies for the same reasons anybody lies: he simply can’t afford to tell the truth. Like that rotten liar Bill Clinton, he will continue to lie even when he knows we know he is lying.
Maybe, as you say, there is an element of ego involved in it; no doubt he is continually astonished that he has gotten away with it, but that will only increase his contempt for the poor saps who can’t or won’t see him for what he is.
Yep, your last para nails it. He’s probably felt contempt for others pretty much forever, but the blind acceptance of his lies as a politician would be some sort of justification in his mind for his misanthrope.
btw, my media contribution for the day is this spell check free headline currently running on Stuff:
Hmmm – methinks lying about getting a blow job isn’t really on the same spectrum as lying about a country having WMD as a pretext for an invasion. Or are you just a dessicated prude and that was the only example that came to mind?
Hmmm – methinks lying about getting a blow job isn’t really on the same spectrum as lying about a country having WMD as a pretext for an invasion. Or are you just a dessicated prude and that was the only example that came to mind?
You hapless fool, I was not even thinking about the blowjobs. (Although I am now, damn you.)
Clinton’s lies were far more cynical and murderous than that. You really need to do a bit of reading, my friend.
Aw, look who’s worked out emoticons. How sweet. I was merely questioning the validity of comparing Key to Clinton when far more damaging and loathesome US Presidents so easily avail themselves. You may stick your head back up your jaxie now.
Cos it looked like you lunged in anger to grasp the wrong end of the stick, and clutching it tightly proceeded to wave it wildly at no-one in particular for no reason at all. As usual.
You’re the only commenter I know of here who only ever argues against strawmen and still manages to lose every time.
It’s like a sickness with you, Pop. You need help. Seriously.
There are many serious problems facing us and I am not meaning any disrespect to those who have suffered. We all know people who have I am sure. Re K2 etc I have never tried the stuff and never will. I am a little fussy about what poisons I partake of. Alcohol, P and K2 (et al) are all dangerous man-made substances that need to be properly dealt with in a non-hysterical manner. But firstly, people should stop calling the man-made poison that people are smoking, synthetic cannabis. It is like putting kerosene in water and calling it Scotch. The cannabis plant (like its cousin hemp) is a safe natural gift whose bounty man has let rot at the behest of power hungry industrialists banksters and chemists.
Forget for a moment about the Cannabis plant’s recreational properties and just look at the health benefits alone. If you can do so objectively, there is a staggering wealth of information that is growing larger by the day. The benefits of this natural remedy are widespread and of such low risk that any logical discussion supports the use, yet oddly enough big pharma and law enforcement shills still want it demonized and ostracised so the generic myths play out and time slips away accordingly. Which is odd, because if you are one of those who believe that cannabinoids have no medicinal applications, ask yourself why the US Patent office recently granted a patent for the medicinal application of cannabinoids.
If people want a rational debate then rationality must be applied to all aspects of the topic. Booze would be a good starting point. It is a chemical depressant and is the single most addictive recreational compound ingested by Kiwis (well perhaps second to chocolate) and is arguably responsible for more health and law & order issues than any other product. Correct labelling is essential in discussing the failure that is the War on Drugs.
$ $ $ freedom; that is all that is behind barriers to cannabis (I don’t smoke anywhere near as much as I did when I began commenting, in fact, hardly at all, as, with all things, there may be contra-indications) yet, knowing both it and ethanol well, it is blatently apparent which is the most harmful; ask anybody who has seen an angry drunk at full tilt; not pretty, and in some cases it seems, unforgettable. 🙁
My there are such strangenesses in this world. Who is the only politician who’s had the directness to address the question ? None other than old Don Brash. And mocked to hell he was for it. By media to whom it was then still is common currency no doubt.
I agree with you entirely there freedom as to the natural cannabis. Indeed how many of today’s 123 or so district court judges haven’t partaken at some stage in their illustrious lives. I personally know a number who have. Common sense has me suspect dozens more. And parliamentarians of some note, at some stage ? Well……!
Not to make light of the present dangerous pose we are complicit with, a pose which creates a criminal culture around cannabis. Which but for that pose would not exist in any serious way.
I still love Helen Clark’s somewhat impatiently expressed line when pressed – “I went to university 30-40 years ago (whatever it was).” “OK ?” Stern glare.
I reckon we better get Morrissey on to the biggest lie.
Anybody who watched that bewildered old wretch Clint Eastwood frothing incoherently at an empty chair last year will realize just how dismal and stupid and embarrassing Hollywood actors can be.
However, there are some Hollywood stars who actually do bother to read books, who do think seriously about issues. One is Sean Penn, of course. Another is Matt Damon. Here he is dealing to a couple of shallow morons from a Los Angeles outfit called, hilariously, Reason TV….
Can we trust the NZRU medical staff to treat Conrad Smith appropriately?
Monday 6 May 2013
Yesterday the Hurricanes star Conrad Smith was knocked out cold for 45 seconds during his team’s loss to the Pretoria Bulls. Incredibly, sports commentators this morning are blithely predicting he’ll be playing again in two weeks. Such moronic talk is exactly what we expect from rugby commentators, but we can surely expect more responsible and intelligent comments from medical men. Right?
Wrong. This morning on Radio NZ National, Kathryn Ryan interviewed one Ian Murphy, who is billed as the “Medical Director for the NZRU.”
Dr Murphy made several outlandish statements, but this was perhaps the most outrageously dishonest: “There is no long term evidence that shows there is a link between individual concussions provided you recover fully from them.”
Although she was clearly concerned about the welfare of the players, Kathryn Ryan did not seem sufficiently well informed on this issue to challenge anything that he said.
Sadly, we have been through all this horrible business before. Ten years ago, it was another star player who was entrusted to the tender ministrations of the All Blacks’ medical staff…..
All Blacks’ sawbones defends bogus “neuro-psychometric tests” again
Sunday 22 June 2003
Much concern has been expressed lately about the state of health of All Black fullback Leon McDonald, who has pulled out of the team again after severe headaches rendered him incapable of playing. McDonald has suffered a string of quite horrifying head clashes last year and this year, and is still suffering from severe concussion.
Worryingly, though, the All Black “management” has had Leon McDonald undertake a series of “psychometric tests” (now re-named, interestingly, as “neuro-psychometric tests”) which will, say the All Black “management”, give a more “accurate” assessment of McDonald’s brain injury. These “tests” have been rejected by all reputable health professionals. Just two nights ago, a leading New Zealand neuro-surgeon expressed his contempt for these bogus tests, and his scorn for the “medical staff” who administer them.
Radio Sport, Thursday 19 June, 7.48 a.m.
Host Martin Devlin interviews Dr John (“Doc”) Mayhew….
DEVLIN: Leon McDonald was severely injured LAST YEAR. Did you take that into account? DOC MAYHEW: Forget about last year…. Well, obviosly we can’t…. but forget about last year. DEVLIN: If a non-athlete like myself came to you and you knew I had just had my THIRD head injury, would you still advise me to play contact sports? DOC MAYHEW:[icily] I resent the connotation that I am treating him any differently. He is receiving the best medical treatment…. [continues for an extended time defending his decision to make concussed players do discredited, bogus tests] DEVLIN:[grovelling] Oh, John, I didn’t mean for a moment to suggest… [grovels for several minutes]
It is not known what response the All Blacks’ sawbones has made to recent severe criticism by his medical colleagues.
It is not just the regularity, but the severity of the concussion that matters. There is also a big problem with the pros admitting that there most definitely are a finite number of times it is ok to knock someone unconscious, regardless of the severity, that is in the schoolboy game. The management would have to start tracking all of their KO’s. Declarations of previous head injury that is specifically required for insurance purposes would make the viability of the next star making tv campaign less of a sure thing. And those PR guys spend way too much time and money to be let down by some kid becoming a vegetable and interfering with the long term plans of the NZRFU bank accounts.
This reported attitude by the nzrfu reminds me of the boxing promoter that brought a promising fighter from the islands here. This guy fought when he wasn’t well, got knocked around badly and was returned home, mentally unstable and quite often violent in his ordinary life and couldn’t hold down a job. He was supposed to be monitoring his own readiness to fight but it seemed likely that he would not have wanted to look slack by not going through with an arranged fight.
Mention of charitable status reminds me of a radio item recently that pointed out that the current government has attached strings to grants to charities binding them not to make certain statements. I can’t recall the details but I got the impression that they were not allowed to criticise the government. There has probably always been pressure not to fund charities that bite the hand that feeds them, but a specific ban on is going another step. I congratulate those charities that have refused. The implication of the radio item was that these gagging agreements are relatively new.
When a “charity” receives over 90% of funding from the government, I suspect it would be more efficient to have the responsibilities of the charity rolled up in a DHB or WINZ etc – if they are effectively public servants why not recognise them as such – but that would go against the ‘small government’ ideology. Gilmore’s mistake was to be honest in his cups – the art of a true Nat is to be able to continue to lie when pissed.
I suspect that item may have been yesterday – Chris Laidlaw with Sandra Gray and her research done with Charlie Farley Sedgewick. The gagging is certainly a disturbing trend – but not surprising when we get anti-democratic gubbamints such as we currently have.
It was interesting to also hear/see Ramos Horta being interviewed by David Frost yesterday – making the comment in passing (to paraphrase) that the likes of these gaggers end up wondering why it is people eventually react after their basic freedoms are continually and systematically removed. (History won’t be too kind to Soimun Brujizz for example)
I have just read this article on Stuff by John Stringer, a former National candidate in Christchurch, which possibly throws more light on the dilemma for Key re Gilmore.
The first half of the article/opinion covers the dilemma if Gilmore was thown out as a National Party list member but stayed on as an independent.
Stringer then raises a further interesting point, although I think he is jumping the gun in claiming that there will be a by-election in Chch:
“The anomaly of elected “representation” here is that Gilmore came to parliament for a half second term from Wellington (where he lives) as a Christchurch MP on one of National’s regional list places, after the departure of Lockwood Smith.
There is to be a by-election shortly in Christchurch East, currently held by Hon. Lianne Dalziel, Labour. Due to a rule within National (which is not consistently applied) this is Gilmore’s “seat,” as National list candidates must stand in an electorate.
This creates a quandary for National. They can hardly field Gilmore in the by-election in the next few months. A National newcomer would not win, or come in on the list. If Gilmore chose not to resign from parliament, National’s next list candidate would not come in, as Gilmore would still hold the parliamentary slot.
Where this gets sticky is when these machinations affect governing majorities, which are characteristically tiny under MMP. That is John Key’s true dilemma. It is sad that the morality or integrity of this political debacle will be laid aside and determined on the ability to govern rather than the ethics of what is happening. A case of enduring enough bad apples in the basket sufficient to make a palatable apple pie.”
“This creates a quandary for National. They can hardly field Gilmore in the by-election in the next few months. A National newcomer would not win, or come in on the list. If Gilmore chose not to resign from parliament, National’s next list candidate would not come in, as Gilmore would still hold the parliamentary slot.”
Surely this can’t be right? Horan became an independent and NZ First got a new list MP. What’s different in Christchurch?
So – how come New Zealand ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ (along with Denmark and Finland – according to the 2012 Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’) does not?
(Same applies to our NZ Judiciary.
NZ Judges don’t have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ either.)
So – those in NZ responsible for making the law and enforcing the law, don’t have enforceable mechanisms in place to ensure that THEY are held accountable to the law?
“….(Same applies to our NZ Judiciary.
NZ Judges don’t have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ either.)
So – those in NZ responsible for making the law and enforcing the law, don’t have enforceable mechanisms in place to ensure that THEY are held accountable to the law?
Continuing in that vein – especially in light of privatisation of prisons, and the trend to outsource various aspects of ‘law enforcement’ – EVEN to the extent of Councils outsourcing parking infringement noticess ……
WHY are we satisfied with the employment of people with dubious backgrounds acting as ‘law enforcers’ (albeit with private companies whose imperative it is to make a return to shareholders), YET the Judiciary, the Public Service and other agencies of state are subjected to greater scrutiny.
I’m sure McCroskie would LOVE to be ‘a charitable’ enforcer (just so long as there was no scrutiny).
I note there seems to have been a bit of a crackdown on ‘bouncers’ – in the sense that they’re required to be identifiable with their wee shoulder photoIDs (though not yet quite to the extent that their employers require uniforms that mimic those of the police with numbered epaulets)
Not so much scrutiny with private prison warders, parking enforcement officers in the employ of Chubb or whoever the fuck they are these days, guarders of crime scenes, enforcers of red zones (and of course we’ve already seen some of the results of that!), and so on.
One would think that even the most lowly of ‘law enforcers’ should have to swear an oath and be made aware of what their responsibilities are.
I’ve spoken to a couple of parking wardens recently (probably about to be replaced, so that their replacements can be paid youth rates) who were completely oblivious to concepts of natural justice, and indeed the law (such as it is).
Personally I find the whole concept of outsourcing agencies of state where it involves law enforcement a complete abomination
WILLIE JACKSON:The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there! JOHN TAMIHERE: The groups were just GREAT! Out-STANDING! WILLIE JACKSON: There’s some INCREDIBLE talent coming through, isn’t there! JOHN TAMIHERE:Homai Te Pakipaki—what a JOKE!…
Comedy, chivalry and one mouth-breathing cretin.
Twenty minutes of Radio Live (Highlights)
Monday 6 May 2013, beginning 2:20 p.m. ….
J.T.: What an idiot. What an idiot. Did you hear that? WILLIE: What? J.T.: You. WILLIE: Based on what, FOOL?
…..Commercial break…..
WILLIE: All right, Kane, you wanna talk about X-Factor. KANE: They need an ugly duckling section. Some of those women are train wrecks to look at. Like that white girl with the glasses, nothing to look at but she has a good set of pipes. J.T.: She’s like that girl in Britain. WILLIE: Oh yeah, Paul Henry called her a retard. J.T.: Yeah, Susan Boyle. She could sing. WILLIE: Yeah. Nothing to look at though.
But the most moronic bit comes next, as a moronic caller from Christchurch, commenting about the Crusaders-Brumbies game, goes on to make a comment about the referee….
MOUTH-BREATHING CRETIN: He’s a good referee, Joubert. The best in the game.
WILLIE:[significant pause] Y-y-yeah.
Radio Live, Monday 6 May 2013, ends at 2:45 p.m. I could stand no more of it.
I could only watch its utter and untold beauty, because my sister alerted me to the fact that someone we both knew, with talent had decided to enter and MIGHT be present on that particular night’s episode. (they weren’t)
I saw these 3 ‘judges’ – all full of pithy comments, plasticised intellect, and quite obviously ‘in touch’ with their most inner feelings – including those feelings that were augmented by red hair dye that had faded pink.
I thought – well maybe one had the credentials to stand in ‘judgement’ given he had success in a similar forum (and lovely tattoos and a cast of thousands in support). Of course – there was this loving family all rarked up to scream rah rah rah as well. I vaguely recall the guy claiming a ‘LIKE’ of Rythym & Blues too.
I think I’d rather watch, and give whatever support I can to the local ‘talent’ I (or rather my sister) knows on the marae.
I also hope that supposedly expert ‘judge’ fucks off back to the GC – or wherever it was from whence he came.
Not sure what’s more breathtaking – your mysogyny, your racism, your lack of touch with popular culture, but at least you’re an equal opportunity bigot I suppose…
I won’t bother asking for an explanation if that was directed at me Pop. The labels you throw are an easy disguise for the lack of anything meaningful.
Well let’s see – you attacked a woman (Ruby Frost) on her appearance and for having “feelings” rather than her ability to judge singing talent (something she would presumably know more about about than you, given her credentials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Frost ), which is bare-arsed mysogyny at its most textbook. FYI, her hair is died pink, it is not a faded version of the colour of your neck. And your comment about Stan Walker in relation to the GC can only be motivated by generalised stereotypes and cliches in relation to Maori Australians. You, sir, are a pig, and an ignorant one at that.
You’ll have to have the last word of course – but reread. I’m not referring to Ruby or whoever she is (unless she’s an “it”). The cynical “untold beauty”, etc. refers to the plasticky, tacky, slick production values of the entire programme and the way the thing is more about the ‘judges’ (and their respective egos) than the contestants themselves. Contrived bullshit – not even SKIN deep – slippery moisturised pap (I’m not referring to the people).
I just caught the end of tonight’s episode – hold your breathe ….. cell phone calls between judges, camera work focussing on Ford labels on the vehicles carrying them and so on.
You have a funny definition of mysogeny. The fact that I don’t regard Ruby’s comments that I’ve witnessed so far as being valid apparently is mysogenistic. My impressions relate to her comments, NOT her person. I’d get another textbook if I were you.
As for the GC bit, I won’t even bother since a sizeable proportion of my extended fit the category. I was quite pleased to see Stan win a few years back – it doesn’t mean I have to regard him as a sage or equipped to judge the contestants currently competing, there but for the grace of a God once went He.
As I say …. you’ll NEED the last word – so go for it please!
Oh – I see …. I DID refer to red hair dye fading pink. You might be correct Pop. I’m a mysogenist for thinking it might not be her most attractive look.
GOT me!
Of course it still doesn’t mean the otherwise attractive woman utters pithy comments and uses rehearsed finger pointing and producer-inspired mechanisms in order to remain pop ….popu….. err popuLAR
btw. Does Joolie Christie have anything to do with this abomination?
If she does, I’ve got a very talented Fijian princely fella stifled under the presence of an X-Factor type production team lingering around a certain island (albeit leaving a load of rubbish as their aftermath) to show you
OK, I will. What are your qualifications? Calling her an “it” is just diging the hole deeper, and I wonder how your extended whanua would react to being told to fuck off back to the GC?
Hey – I’M NOT THE ONE CALLING HER AN IT – that’s what your assumption was as you were so ready to associate the comments with her person. The IT is the programme. Otherwise it would have been a her/she had I been referring to ‘her’ – i.e. Ruby the person.
So …. OK now have the last word – there’s 4 litres of Pledge ready to make the going easier (as you’ll see below)
i for one like willy and j.t this is how normal red blooded males talk this is a conversation in any pub or street between two n.z males.I know you probably hang out with p.c soft handed latte drinking left wingers but dont start every day searching for an issue with shit if you dont like it try z.b
In the context Willie and JT are guffawing wanker bullies. No doubt about it. Handsome remuneration starting at $100K plus (correct me if I’m wrong someone) would virtually demand that delivery. Although as an older fellow who’s seen a bit I gotta say there’s something of a little bit too much of Willie and JT being somewhat “into one another” ??? Excessive mutual verbal slapping ??? Nah, they’re just havin’ every prick on I’m sure.
As to the real point, surprising ? Not at all. RadioLive is the bugle for that Good Ordinary Joker ShonKey Python to display his facile-ity with the word “munter”. How embarrassing ! You know there’s nothing worse than a non-rugby boy trying too, too hard to be a rugby boy down the rugby club with the real rugby boys bless their hearts. Again, how embarrassing !
It’s all bullshit ! From bullshitters. The biggest hahaha is that farmboy takes them seriously to the point of defending them. Hahaha !
Though, in fact, I’m not absolutely sure farmboy ain’t some fairly clever satire going on here.
And while he’s at it, he should take Populuxe 1 with him. I’ve got a commercial 4 litre container of Pledge with which he can shine his ‘surfaces’, and maybe even use as lube.
Unfortunately I don’t have any synthetic substance that could assist with his/her substance as a human ‘being’.
Will that increase come from internally, through the continued removal of people from the smaller towns and cities, via deliberate underinvestment?
Goot round the plebs up, get them all in a few places, much easier to control them then they’re not spread all over the place, and it opens up more opportunity for the rich to come and help themselves!
“through the continued removal of people from the smaller towns and cities, via deliberate underinvestment?”
And yet largely unsupported by fact. Tauranga has the second fastest population growth in the country, and since the Christchurch earthquake smaller South Island towns have now stabilised with population increases anywhere up to ten percent. Very small communities admittedly are shrinking, but as 85.7 percent of the New Zealand population is urbanised, a process that goes back to WW2, that’s hardly surprising.
I mean, either you Aucklanders have a city like, well, Auckland but much bigger in area (gawd, imagine the driving), or you have a city like so many in Europe with higher density in a small area.
I don’t understand it. Kiwis love going to Eurpoe and ooohing and aaaahing at the lovely cities and towns, yet they would rather have mcmansion suburbia for themselves to live in……..
Are you out of your tiny mind? ShonKey Python cargo-cultist? Key is a colossal dickhead and destroying this country! If I am any sort of tory, I am very much of the wet, progressive, red and decidedly nationalist kind you cretin.
Don’t vote for him? But seriously, Labour needs to offer a credible opposition platform and deal to all the Neoliberal Lite rot in its ranks. The Greens need to advance some actual strategic policy beyond handwavium, warm fuzzy abstract nouns and asking Clint what he thinks. New Zealand First actually offers some really compelling policy if the eccentricities of its caucus can be reined in.
Well you’re not what we want then mate, are you ? You were in line for that 2 hundy sinecure until you started talkin’ dirty like that !
Further Pops…….I think you “misunderestimate” the term “cargo-cult”. It’s a very powerful thing. It’s what got Shonkey Python elected, twice. Which says piss all for New Zealanders in the very small sector of our voting population responsible for that.
I assume from the thrust of your comment you’re not a Nat/Act voter then.
Messrs Finlayson and Collins are now expressing misgivings about the development of the website “Judge the judges”. A bit rich really because it is their party and partners like ACT, that have pushed this line and pandered to the likes of the SST – faux outrage ne c’est pas?
Just wait for the said website to do a trawling back through the historic sentencing decisions of retired District Court judge Barry Lovegrove who on Campbell the other night made it very clear that appointment processes in New Zealand are now attended by no consideration outside of jobs for the bought boys/girls.
Makes the appointee controllable. Especially when the appointee knows in his/her heart that they wouldn’t be pulling their $200K whatever, except for the patronage.
Loyalty amongst thieves is an age-old thing preceding even Westminster.
Stoked the fire for easy morning ignition in the not-winterless North. Off to bed.
That Garth McVictim is nought more than a big-noting racist arsehole is sickeningly demonstrated by the support which he and SST gave to that psycho’ who stabbed to death the little Maori fulla Pihema.
To death ! Get that ? To death. For tagging. Nay, for suspicion of tagging. For Fuck’s Sake ! The psycho’ served 2 years from recollection. McVictim was all sadness for the psycho’.
What might that young fulla have amounted to ? What beautiful kids might he have had ? But for being struck down and life taken by a racist arsehole. Don’t give two fucks whether he would have amounted to “anything” anyway. His life was taken and McVictim, racist, rationalised it.
A plague on you Garth ! And tearful aroha for that boy’s family. Never rely on loud mouthed bastards like McVictim strutting around with the signature briefcase in and out of Koru clubs all over the show. No morals but lots of “look at me look at me” dining out.
Radio New Zealand National’s ‘Windows on the World’ program tonight presented a program taken over from the BBC, in which Peter Day, basically rolled out the newest welfare regime approach for sick in the UK.
It is by now nothing new to the better informed, that they have abolished “sick notes” and introduced “fit notes”, all more or less a result of changes brought in there under the auspices of one Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Work and Pension, and now head of a special department at Cardiff University, established with the help of controversial Unum insurance corporation, to promote and develop “new ways” to get sick and disabled back into work by abusing the so-called “bio psycho social model” for assessments and rehabilitation.
Not surprisingly Dame Carol Black (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_M._Black) is mentioned as an advocate to get sick and disabled back into work as soon as possible, same as Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud (former banker, with no former experience in social matters).
Now while National Radio is happy to broadcast this “politically correctly wrapped” program to “inform” us of all the “good” and “sincere” intentions, how come that criticism about welfare reforms there, raised here also, is not broadcast about at all??? “Helping” and “supporting” sick back into work they claim. Is that the true agenda though?
Is this perhaps not rather a softening up agenda also by Radio New Zealand, now towing the government line, to “ready” us for the welfare onslaught that Paula Bennett has prepared to start in July? I have a terrible gut feeling, that the truth is once again not openly reported and discussed.
Just one further revealing statement or article on the bizarre work capacity assessment regime now common in the UK, and according to Paula Bennett also planned as the design framework to what WINZ will introduce here:
Professor Mansel Aylward will be addressing a medical practitioner conference in New Zealand in the coming weeks or months. So he seems to come here quite frequently now, and perhaps he has set up office or home here, while advising Bennett and the NatACT “natzi” government on how to deal to sick and disabled (supposed “malingerers”) living on benefits.
“Health Beyond Health: Another Cardinal Role for General Practice
The holistic approach embracing the social determinants of health and the importance of work”
Main Session, Friday, 21 June 2013, Start 09:25am, Duration: 25mins – Baytrust
P.S.: Like every year, Dr Bratt (WINZ Principal Health Advisor) will speak and/or hold one of his now well known “presentations” there also, likely to again compare “benefit dependence” to “drug dependence”.
There was a startling frank comment made by Sean Plunket, new talk-back host on Radio Live (Mon. to Fri. until midday), when talking with John Tamihere just before lunchtime on Monday (today), 06 May 2013.
He confessed that he got his job at Radio New Zealand many years ago, because Prime Minister Jim Bolger wanting him to get it! As soon as he got the confirmation that he got the job, he even received a congratulation from the then PM, he said on air!
So if that is how New Zealand “public broadcasting” functions, there can be no surprises at the lack of real, investigative journalism, the lack of truly revealing news, the lack of hard questioning of our politicians and the lack of top quality current affairs or documentaries!
As this country is so firmly in the control of the Old Boys and Old Girls Networks, it must be presumed that not much has changed at Radio New Zealand or TVNZ.
The private media care for their own “priorities” of course, to get reporters, moderators and editors that attract high viewer and listener ratings, that present hitting headlines and snippets of infotainment “news”, so that advertisers fill their coffers. No surprises there.
Thank goodness for a few blogs that present the other side to stories, otherwise we would not know there is a world out there beyond the Tasman, or there are people out there, that are actually NOT living in a supposed “brighter future”.
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joshua Black, Political Historian and Administrator Officer, Australian Historical Association, Australian National University Australia has had its fair share of public record-keeping controversies in recent years. Some have been mere farce, as in the case of two formerly government-owned filing cabinets (containing ...
Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL), a United Nations-affiliated organization dedicated to fostering peace through civilian-led initiatives, has issued a statement in response to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. ...
A poem by Tessa Keenan, from AUP New Poets 10. Mātou These days we are a photograph; one of a farm strewn with cows that used to be bright harakeke or swamp. The kids point at it and say the sun sits behind a smudge (left by someone at Christmas); ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Faber & Faber, $25)The masterful Irish writer ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. Key facts Marriages and civil unions In ...
Marriage and civil union statistics record the number of marriages and civil unions registered in New Zealand each year, and divorce statistics record the number of divorces granted in New Zealand each year. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lennon Y.C. Chang, Associate Professor of Cyber Risk and Policy, Deakin University Taiwan stands out as a beacon of democracy, innovation and resilience in an increasingly autocratic region. But this is under growing threat. In recent years, China has used a variety ...
In this excerpt from her new memoir, Dame Susan Devoy remembers her turn as star contestant on the 2022 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. The most anxious time of every day was pre-elimination, when you knew this could be your final day on the show. I felt such contradictory emotions, ...
A week that began in triumph ended in an all-too-familiar disaster for the Green Party. Duncan Greive asks if there’s something in the mission that breaks its best and brightest. A long, strange week for the Green party began with a fantastic poll result. On one level this is hardly ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s former prime minister and opposition MP Ishmael Kalsakau has stepped down — just two days after he confirmed he was the rightful opposition leader. Kalsakau, MP for Port Vila, confirmed to ABC’s Pacific Beat, and the Vanuatu Daily Post on Thursday that he ...
What’s to blame for the coalition’s choppy start? Six months in, and the mojo meter is in the doldrums. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management and a perception ...
The striking report goes far beyond the proposed repeal of the Oranga Tamariki Act’s Treaty of Waitangi provision, and its impact should be felt far beyond the unique circumstances of the claim it addresses. Earlier this week, the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report on the government’s proposed repeal of ...
The world has been experiencing a productivity slowdown, from which New Zealand has not been exempt. COVID-19 temporarily boosted labour productivity, but more recently, productivity has retreated. The overall trend since 2007 has been one of slow productivity ...
What’s more wasteful than spending $315k on syrup and machine maintenance? Trying to drum up a controversy about it.Cast your mind back to the pre-pandemic idylls of 2019. A “rat” was a disgusting rodent and not a self-administered plague test; the sixth Labour government was in power; and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Fitz-Gibbon, Professor of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Monash University Ken stocker/Shutterstock In the wake of numerous killings of women allegedly by men’s violence in 2024, thousands of Australians have joined rallies across the country to demand action ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Henry Cutler, Professor and Director, Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy, Macquarie University Oleg Ivanov IL/Shutterstock Waiting times for public hospital elective surgery have been in the news ahead of this year’s federal budget. That’s the type of non-emergency surgery ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, McKenzie Postdoctoral Fellow, Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Amna Artist/Shutterstock One of the earliest descriptions of someone with cancer comes from the fourth century BC. Satyrus, tyrant of the city of Heracleia on the Black Sea, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney LanaElcova/Shutterstock Electric vehicles are often seen as the panacea to cutting emissions – and air pollution – from transport. Is this view correct? Yes – but only once uptake accelerates. Despite the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giselle Natassia Woodley, Researcher and Phd Candidate, Edith Cowan University There is widespread agreement Australia needs to do better when it comes to gender-based violence. Anger and frustration at the numbers of women being killed saw national rallies over the weekend and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Graham, Lecturer in Economics, University of Sydney Mark and Anna Photography/Shutterstock As home ownership moves further out of reach for many Australians, “rentvesting” is being touted as a lifesaver. Rentvesting is the practice of renting one property to live ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sukhmani Khorana, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, UNSW Sydney Netflix The new season of Heartbreak High is garnering mixed reviews. Critics are writing about the racy story lines, comparing it to other coming-of-age series about teenage relationships and ...
Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
In 1995, Sally Clark went out on her own in a bold and unorthodox attempt to join an illustrious group of equestrian riders conquering the world. In the days of glovebox road maps, brick cell phones, and the hit song How Bizarre, Clark refused to follow Sir Mark Todd, Blyth ...
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 3: John Key
Commenting on National Party List lout AARON GILMORE, TV1 Breakfast, Monday 6 May 2013….
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Underneath it all he’s a bright guy with ability.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Some minutes later, on Radio NZ National…..
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
See also…..
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
It’s difficult to tell since you’ve left off the context, but I suspect what Key is saying here is the ‘public we’ as in “we, the public, hold MPs to a higher standard, so Aaron’s behaviour takes on a bit more weight than it might otherwise”.
If that indeed is what Key was saying, then I don’t think you can call him a liar.
This morning’s “Liars of Our Time” entry brought forth the usual hostile response from our good friend Lanthanide…
It’s difficult to tell since you’ve left off the context,
No I have not “left off the context.” Read my post again.
but I suspect what Key is saying here is the ‘public we’ as in “we, the public, hold MPs to a higher standard, so Aaron’s behaviour takes on a bit more weight than it might otherwise”.
You’re spinning for John Key. I must say, sadly, that I am not at all surprised to see this. After all, you’ve spun for the Japanese government, a discredited bunch of reprobates which makes John Key look like Honest John the Most Honest Hombre in Honiara.
If that indeed is what Key was saying, then I don’t think you can call him a liar.
But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.
Lanth is correct to say that you left out the context and you are incorrect to see that as spinning for Key.
You’ve cherry picked one line (“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”) without any way of identifying who ‘we’ is. Lanth may be correct that ‘we’ refers to the public. Or ‘we’ may mean the National Party in general or the caucus specifically. Without the context, who knows?
You heard the report, Moz, can you add some more detail as to who ‘we’ is?
Lanth is correct to say that you left out the context and you are incorrect to see that as spinning for Key.
I did not leave out the context. Key said that on radio, not long after saying on television that the thuggish List lout was “a bright guy with ability.” Key was quite prepared to throw Gilmore to the wolves, by the way: he said that Gilmore was the lowest on the list in parliament, and that he had not distinguished himself in any way from 2008 to 2011. Whoever Key was concerned about defending, it was not Aaron Gilmore.
You’ve cherry picked one line (“Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”) without any way of identifying who ‘we’ is.
I did not “cherry pick” his words, I quoted them directly. Sure, I did not include the usual Key mumbling and any of the hedging ums and ahs, but that is what he said.
Lanth may be correct that ‘we’ refers to the public. Or ‘we’ may mean the National Party in general or the caucus specifically. Without the context, who knows?
Whether Key was referring to the public or the National Party caucus does not really matter; the fact is we (all of us, the general public and politicians) do NOT hold politicians to a higher standard, or to any standard at all. If we did, John Key, a notorious liar, would not have survived the publication of Nicky Hager’s damning exposé of his close involvement in the Brethren payments, and even if he had, he would have been drummed out of office for repeatedly misleading parliament.
You heard the report, Moz, can you add some more detail as to who ‘we’ is?
See above.
“Whether Key was referring to the public or the National Party caucus does not really matter;”
Er, yes it does. It defines the context in which he made his comment. Lanth was 100% correct and we are none the wiser for you having written the comment in the first place.
Still, as you yourself admit in this remarkable quote I have just transcribed off the internet:
“I, Morrissey, must say I am NOT a bright guy with any ability at all. I have spun for the Japanese government, John Key and wolves. I was lying when issuing false statements to the public, I have not distinguished the Brethren in any way. I remain a notorious liar”.
You’re better than that, Te Reo. That was as funny as an anti-gay joke at a Family Fist rally.
Your example’s a bit tortured, Moz. An anti-gay joke at a Family Fist rally would surely be regarded as funny as a fit. Context, eh? You really seem to be struggling with it today.
Ouch! You got me there, my friend.
By the way, this one always gets a belly laugh with the kiddy-whacking crowd:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That joke has this effect on Bob McCoskrie and friends….
http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblarge_573/1294779444s58lH5.jpg
What’s this Family Fist you guys keep talking about? Used to live near a fisting club but pretty sure it wasn’t for families.
Nor indeed is there any inconsistancy between the two statements.
“Underneath it all he’s a bright guy with ability, BUT, yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard”
Don’t know what it is about Morrissey that draws energy so, but here’s why I cannot but support him at 1 above:
From ShonKey Python – “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
From TV3 tonight – Slurrin’ (Entitled Bully) Erron has apologised to the PM by text message…….his job is safe.
Morrissey is pissed off and I don’t blame him one bit. We, the public “we”, we hold MPs to a higher standard.
Do “we” really ?
Well ShonKey Python’s obviously not part of the “we”. He talks the talk of “higher standard”. He does not walk the walk of “higher standard”. That makes him a liar in my book.
A double liar given that the obfuscating weasel words are singularly directed to protecting ShonKey Python’s precarious grip on power. There’s absolutely nothing there about observing or enforcing the higher standard he claims to embrace. Nothing !
Go Morrissey ! The Beltway Phenomenon rears its sneering head again. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. Next time though you’d better address “context” in atrophyingly minute detail my man.
Given its profound appreciation of all and everything The Beltway was entitled to get your patently obvious point without that. It did not. You’ll accommodate next time OK ?
Beautifully said, my friend. As our colleague Te Reo Putake would say, you’ve nailed it.
“But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.”
Still upset about that, are we?
Find some evidence that the people who visited Tokyo on those flights have suffered in any way at all. Or, even easier for you, find some evidence that people living in Tokyo have suffered in any way that can be statistically attributed to the nuclear meltdown that occurred at Fukushima.
Once you have some evidence, you might have some standing on this argument.
probably safer than being a patient at CHCH hospital while contractors track white asbestos everywhere (notified employers, yet ignored for some time).
“But then again, you did not think that the Japanese government was lying when it was issuing false statements to the public following the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in March 2011. I’m sure you also chose to believe that halfwit Rob Fyfe, when he went on television to assure New Zealanders that it was perfectly safe to go to Tokyo.”
Still upset about that, are we?
Indeed we are, but we are not one-tenth as upset as the people of Japan were, and are, at the officials who willfully and cynically deceived them.
Find some evidence that the people who visited Tokyo on those flights have suffered in any way at all.
I think the documented fact that the Japanese government seriously considered evacuating Tokyo is evidence that Rob Fyfe is not only a damned fool, but an irresponsible and dangerous fool who in any sane and decent society would be shunned like a sheep molester.
Or, even easier for you, find some evidence that people living in Tokyo have suffered in any way that can be statistically attributed to the nuclear meltdown that occurred at Fukushima.
Oh, I see what you are driving at! It was a benign and healthful nuclear disaster. Oddly, the scientific community and the government of Japan were not as relaxed and confident about the catastrophe as you pretend to be from the other end of the earth.
Once you have some evidence, you might have some standing on this argument.
“This argument”? There is no argument. The Japanese government deceived the general public by issuing statements that said the diametric opposite of what the situation actually was. That has been irrefutably proven, and scores of Japanese officials have made the standard cringing Gomen nasais, although, sadly, not one of them has taken the traditional route of committing hara-kiri. You either know that, and are therefore a liar and a scoundrel of Clintonian dimensions, or you are a bewildered soul who should be given her own show on NewstalkZB immediately.
Provide just one credible source, just one, that Tokyo was ever dangerous to visit due to the Fukushima meltdown. Just one.
Provide just one credible source, just one, that Tokyo was ever dangerous to visit due to the Fukushima meltdown. Just one.
How about the leaked internal documents that reveal the government almost called for Tokyo to be evacuated? Tokyo, indeed the whole of the north-east of Japan, was in peril of an almost unimaginable order. The government advisers admit all that in their internal communications, when they are actually honest.
Or are you going to try to deny THAT, too?
That’s not actually an answer. The operative word in your comment being “nearly”. I ‘nearly’ had fish for dinner, but then I decided I prefered chicken instead. I ‘nearly’ missed the bus, but fortunately I didn’t. Or of greater relevance, “X’s grandfather was nearly hit by a mortar in WW2, but wasn’t, and hence X is can do whatever within the law X likes.
Technically I think the word at issue is “almost”, not “nearly” – though I agree with the conclusion. 🙂
“That’s not actually an answer.”
Yes, it is, actually. You have been elegantly and thoroughly refuted.
Your lame and foolish attempt at syllogism warfare is beneath contempt.
You clearly do not understand what a syllogism is, Boolean or Aristotlean, as that is not what I was trying to do. If there is a particle of sanity in your addled bonce, it may detect that “is”, and “almost” and “nearly” are not the same things and I was drawing attention to the weasel ambiguity of its use. One cannot form a testable proof with “almost” or “nearly”.
So no evidence then. Just prevaricating bluster.
The only prevarication and bluster around here, as always, is from you, my friend. I would have named poor old “farmboy” as well, but he’s busy with a farm animal.
No, not really. I pointed out that without the context of your quote, what Key could have said on his RNZ interview could in fact have been quite valid. As usual Key is bad at grammar and speaking english in general, but it is usually possible to decipher the gist of what he’s trying to say, if you give the whole context of the discussion.
Instead of admitting that maybe I was right, you attacked me and brought up very old arguments for which you have no evidence to back up your assertions. It is you who is avoiding the argument with bluster, not me.
Are you suggesting that Key was being truthful when he said “Underneath it all he’s a bright guy with ability.”?
I wouldn’t suggest Dunnokeyo was ever truthful, Murray. I think Key lies as a form of self adulation; I lie, they believe me, I am like a God to them.
I don’t think you have quite got it right there, Te Reo. I think Key lies for the same reasons anybody lies: he simply can’t afford to tell the truth. Like that rotten liar Bill Clinton, he will continue to lie even when he knows we know he is lying.
Maybe, as you say, there is an element of ego involved in it; no doubt he is continually astonished that he has gotten away with it, but that will only increase his contempt for the poor saps who can’t or won’t see him for what he is.
Yep, your last para nails it. He’s probably felt contempt for others pretty much forever, but the blind acceptance of his lies as a politician would be some sort of justification in his mind for his misanthrope.
btw, my media contribution for the day is this spell check free headline currently running on Stuff:
PM sign off enables spys
PM sign off enables spys
Ominously it looks like the PM is enabling Winston Peters.
Peters helping out Key.
Key helping out Peters.
Who makes who look worse?
Those are their principles. If you don’t like them they have others for sale in different markets.
Whoops! I guess I shouldn’t complain about Stuff ups while making one myself.
Misanthropy, not misanthrope.
Muphrey strikes again.
The Misanthrope was a pretty good play. By Moller, I believe.
I see what you did there, Moz!
If I can be equally playful, even farcical, I think my next visit to the stalls may be to see this sixties classic: http://events.nzherald.co.nz/2013/loot/wanganui
Lorraine Moller?
No, she’s the new Attorney General. Sonny Bill wasn’t available.
Isn’t sonny replacing peter gluckman?
And buck shelford’s going to take over from sian elias.
Perchance you mean Molière?
I’m sure you’re the only person who’s aware of Moliere Pop. Have a preen.
Hmmm – methinks lying about getting a blow job isn’t really on the same spectrum as lying about a country having WMD as a pretext for an invasion. Or are you just a dessicated prude and that was the only example that came to mind?
Hmmm – methinks lying about getting a blow job isn’t really on the same spectrum as lying about a country having WMD as a pretext for an invasion. Or are you just a dessicated prude and that was the only example that came to mind?
You hapless fool, I was not even thinking about the blowjobs. (Although I am now, damn you.)
Clinton’s lies were far more cynical and murderous than that. You really need to do a bit of reading, my friend.
Worse than Nixon and Bush Jr?
Better be, what with Morrissey saying how Clinton was the worst liar ever, which he never said.
Better be worse than Pinocchio too. 🙄
Aw, look who’s worked out emoticons. How sweet. I was merely questioning the validity of comparing Key to Clinton when far more damaging and loathesome US Presidents so easily avail themselves. You may stick your head back up your jaxie now.
Really Pop?
Cos it looked like you lunged in anger to grasp the wrong end of the stick, and clutching it tightly proceeded to wave it wildly at no-one in particular for no reason at all. As usual.
You’re the only commenter I know of here who only ever argues against strawmen and still manages to lose every time.
It’s like a sickness with you, Pop. You need help. Seriously.
Unreported Southern Fried Crime; figures.
There are many serious problems facing us and I am not meaning any disrespect to those who have suffered. We all know people who have I am sure. Re K2 etc I have never tried the stuff and never will. I am a little fussy about what poisons I partake of. Alcohol, P and K2 (et al) are all dangerous man-made substances that need to be properly dealt with in a non-hysterical manner. But firstly, people should stop calling the man-made poison that people are smoking, synthetic cannabis. It is like putting kerosene in water and calling it Scotch. The cannabis plant (like its cousin hemp) is a safe natural gift whose bounty man has let rot at the behest of power hungry industrialists banksters and chemists.
Forget for a moment about the Cannabis plant’s recreational properties and just look at the health benefits alone. If you can do so objectively, there is a staggering wealth of information that is growing larger by the day. The benefits of this natural remedy are widespread and of such low risk that any logical discussion supports the use, yet oddly enough big pharma and law enforcement shills still want it demonized and ostracised so the generic myths play out and time slips away accordingly. Which is odd, because if you are one of those who believe that cannabinoids have no medicinal applications, ask yourself why the US Patent office recently granted a patent for the medicinal application of cannabinoids.
If people want a rational debate then rationality must be applied to all aspects of the topic. Booze would be a good starting point. It is a chemical depressant and is the single most addictive recreational compound ingested by Kiwis (well perhaps second to chocolate) and is arguably responsible for more health and law & order issues than any other product. Correct labelling is essential in discussing the failure that is the War on Drugs.
Name and shame whoever makes K2 and all their distributors as well.
Post pics of them handling and selling the shit wholesale.
Somebody’s making a killing spraying horse tranquilizer on grass clippings and calling it synthetic cannabis.
And they soooo shouldn’t be!
My uncle said that the Lotto shop that is owned and operated by Fresh Choice (supermarket) in Barrington in Christchurch is selling K2.
$ $ $ freedom; that is all that is behind barriers to cannabis (I don’t smoke anywhere near as much as I did when I began commenting, in fact, hardly at all, as, with all things, there may be contra-indications) yet, knowing both it and ethanol well, it is blatently apparent which is the most harmful; ask anybody who has seen an angry drunk at full tilt; not pretty, and in some cases it seems, unforgettable. 🙁
Your flow isn’t quite as flowy as it was.
Inhale.
Be the emptiness
Be the stillness
Watch everything come and go
Emerging from the source – returning to the source
This is the way of nature.
Be the great peace
Be conscious of the source
This is the fulfilment of your destiny
Know that which never changes
This is awakening.
-Lao Tzu
Ahhhh, that which is beyond space, beyond time and beyond perception.
Cthulhu fhtagn?
R’lyeh 🙂
My there are such strangenesses in this world. Who is the only politician who’s had the directness to address the question ? None other than old Don Brash. And mocked to hell he was for it. By media to whom it was then still is common currency no doubt.
I agree with you entirely there freedom as to the natural cannabis. Indeed how many of today’s 123 or so district court judges haven’t partaken at some stage in their illustrious lives. I personally know a number who have. Common sense has me suspect dozens more. And parliamentarians of some note, at some stage ? Well……!
Not to make light of the present dangerous pose we are complicit with, a pose which creates a criminal culture around cannabis. Which but for that pose would not exist in any serious way.
I still love Helen Clark’s somewhat impatiently expressed line when pressed – “I went to university 30-40 years ago (whatever it was).” “OK ?” Stern glare.
I reckon we better get Morrissey on to the biggest lie.
Poor vision funding Directors fees = “crisis” looming.
Here’s one Hollywood star who DOES have a brain.
Anybody who watched that bewildered old wretch Clint Eastwood frothing incoherently at an empty chair last year will realize just how dismal and stupid and embarrassing Hollywood actors can be.
However, there are some Hollywood stars who actually do bother to read books, who do think seriously about issues. One is Sean Penn, of course. Another is Matt Damon. Here he is dealing to a couple of shallow morons from a Los Angeles outfit called, hilariously, Reason TV….
Yep Morrissey. Very telling.
love how he calls her out straight away on her ‘facts’
rumour is, there is actually a full version somewhere but cannot find it
Morrissey, you cause me worry. It’s just that my moral compass seems only rarely not to be configured with your own. Sean Penn. Yeah !!!
He’d better watch out in the crazy old U S of A though. Senator Joe McCarthy, ably assisted by the then young Robert Kennedy ?
Syria : “a regional crisis”? .If not now, then when?
Life SupportRequired?
“Silence gives consent!
Can we trust the NZRU medical staff to treat Conrad Smith appropriately?
Monday 6 May 2013
Yesterday the Hurricanes star Conrad Smith was knocked out cold for 45 seconds during his team’s loss to the Pretoria Bulls. Incredibly, sports commentators this morning are blithely predicting he’ll be playing again in two weeks. Such moronic talk is exactly what we expect from rugby commentators, but we can surely expect more responsible and intelligent comments from medical men. Right?
Wrong. This morning on Radio NZ National, Kathryn Ryan interviewed one Ian Murphy, who is billed as the “Medical Director for the NZRU.”
Dr Murphy made several outlandish statements, but this was perhaps the most outrageously dishonest: “There is no long term evidence that shows there is a link between individual concussions provided you recover fully from them.”
Although she was clearly concerned about the welfare of the players, Kathryn Ryan did not seem sufficiently well informed on this issue to challenge anything that he said.
Sadly, we have been through all this horrible business before. Ten years ago, it was another star player who was entrusted to the tender ministrations of the All Blacks’ medical staff…..
All Blacks’ sawbones defends bogus “neuro-psychometric tests” again
Sunday 22 June 2003
Much concern has been expressed lately about the state of health of All Black fullback Leon McDonald, who has pulled out of the team again after severe headaches rendered him incapable of playing. McDonald has suffered a string of quite horrifying head clashes last year and this year, and is still suffering from severe concussion.
Worryingly, though, the All Black “management” has had Leon McDonald undertake a series of “psychometric tests” (now re-named, interestingly, as “neuro-psychometric tests”) which will, say the All Black “management”, give a more “accurate” assessment of McDonald’s brain injury. These “tests” have been rejected by all reputable health professionals. Just two nights ago, a leading New Zealand neuro-surgeon expressed his contempt for these bogus tests, and his scorn for the “medical staff” who administer them.
Radio Sport, Thursday 19 June, 7.48 a.m.
Host Martin Devlin interviews Dr John (“Doc”) Mayhew….
DEVLIN: Leon McDonald was severely injured LAST YEAR. Did you take that into account?
DOC MAYHEW: Forget about last year…. Well, obviosly we can’t…. but forget about last year.
DEVLIN: If a non-athlete like myself came to you and you knew I had just had my THIRD head injury, would you still advise me to play contact sports?
DOC MAYHEW: [icily] I resent the connotation that I am treating him any differently. He is receiving the best medical treatment…. [continues for an extended time defending his decision to make concussed players do discredited, bogus tests]
DEVLIN: [grovelling] Oh, John, I didn’t mean for a moment to suggest… [grovels for several minutes]
It is not known what response the All Blacks’ sawbones has made to recent severe criticism by his medical colleagues.
It is not just the regularity, but the severity of the concussion that matters. There is also a big problem with the pros admitting that there most definitely are a finite number of times it is ok to knock someone unconscious, regardless of the severity, that is in the schoolboy game. The management would have to start tracking all of their KO’s. Declarations of previous head injury that is specifically required for insurance purposes would make the viability of the next star making tv campaign less of a sure thing. And those PR guys spend way too much time and money to be let down by some kid becoming a vegetable and interfering with the long term plans of the NZRFU bank accounts.
This reported attitude by the nzrfu reminds me of the boxing promoter that brought a promising fighter from the islands here. This guy fought when he wasn’t well, got knocked around badly and was returned home, mentally unstable and quite often violent in his ordinary life and couldn’t hold down a job. He was supposed to be monitoring his own readiness to fight but it seemed likely that he would not have wanted to look slack by not going through with an arranged fight.
China Superior to US on tackling climate change.
E.U Blocks imports of Chinese solar panels.
Palestine and the Chinese
The Saudis Build tracks in the sand (with China.Civil-like)
Uncle Sam promotes Sibling rivalry.
How is Leon McDonald these days?
Hopefully doing better than former NFL star Junior Seau:(
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/mike-freeman/22183367/anniversary-of-junior-seau-death-still-focuses-nfl-on-cte
A little light relief on a wet Monday morning. Take a moment to savour McCroskie whining: Family First is to be stripped of charitable status.
saw that on the news, was gonna link it to the Blind Foundation 😉 , but hay, sometimes the data in the machine gets corrupted.
“Deregister” =/= “a targeted attempt to shut them up”. These people sure are small thinkers.
*sigh* Roll on the Catherine Wheel!
How fucking uncharitable is that ?
Mention of charitable status reminds me of a radio item recently that pointed out that the current government has attached strings to grants to charities binding them not to make certain statements. I can’t recall the details but I got the impression that they were not allowed to criticise the government. There has probably always been pressure not to fund charities that bite the hand that feeds them, but a specific ban on is going another step. I congratulate those charities that have refused. The implication of the radio item was that these gagging agreements are relatively new.
When a “charity” receives over 90% of funding from the government, I suspect it would be more efficient to have the responsibilities of the charity rolled up in a DHB or WINZ etc – if they are effectively public servants why not recognise them as such – but that would go against the ‘small government’ ideology. Gilmore’s mistake was to be honest in his cups – the art of a true Nat is to be able to continue to lie when pissed.
I suspect that item may have been yesterday – Chris Laidlaw with Sandra Gray and her research done with Charlie Farley Sedgewick. The gagging is certainly a disturbing trend – but not surprising when we get anti-democratic gubbamints such as we currently have.
It was interesting to also hear/see Ramos Horta being interviewed by David Frost yesterday – making the comment in passing (to paraphrase) that the likes of these gaggers end up wondering why it is people eventually react after their basic freedoms are continually and systematically removed. (History won’t be too kind to Soimun Brujizz for example)
Dupe Lick Ation
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-05052013/#comment-628501
National’s appointment processes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esG6tzgSVpA
pardies for the repetition, just some etafocaccia while awaiting the contrary..
Temptation too much. Emailed clip to Judith Collins. She’ll never see it of course but someone will…
So so apt! Davenport/Devoy sure winners, at least Collins style
Very funny!
And good on you, Anne for sending to to Collins.
I have just read this article on Stuff by John Stringer, a former National candidate in Christchurch, which possibly throws more light on the dilemma for Key re Gilmore.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/share-your-news-and-views/8637312/Gilmore-creating-a-National-dilemma
The first half of the article/opinion covers the dilemma if Gilmore was thown out as a National Party list member but stayed on as an independent.
Stringer then raises a further interesting point, although I think he is jumping the gun in claiming that there will be a by-election in Chch:
“The anomaly of elected “representation” here is that Gilmore came to parliament for a half second term from Wellington (where he lives) as a Christchurch MP on one of National’s regional list places, after the departure of Lockwood Smith.
There is to be a by-election shortly in Christchurch East, currently held by Hon. Lianne Dalziel, Labour. Due to a rule within National (which is not consistently applied) this is Gilmore’s “seat,” as National list candidates must stand in an electorate.
This creates a quandary for National. They can hardly field Gilmore in the by-election in the next few months. A National newcomer would not win, or come in on the list. If Gilmore chose not to resign from parliament, National’s next list candidate would not come in, as Gilmore would still hold the parliamentary slot.
Where this gets sticky is when these machinations affect governing majorities, which are characteristically tiny under MMP. That is John Key’s true dilemma. It is sad that the morality or integrity of this political debacle will be laid aside and determined on the ability to govern rather than the ethics of what is happening. A case of enduring enough bad apples in the basket sufficient to make a palatable apple pie.”
“This creates a quandary for National. They can hardly field Gilmore in the by-election in the next few months. A National newcomer would not win, or come in on the list. If Gilmore chose not to resign from parliament, National’s next list candidate would not come in, as Gilmore would still hold the parliamentary slot.”
Surely this can’t be right? Horan became an independent and NZ First got a new list MP. What’s different in Christchurch?
That is an interesting theory Mary but “it ain’t necessarily so”.
Horan is still there and Winnie’s mob did not get a new member.
Oh, I thought I read somewhere back when it was happening that the next MP on the NZ First’s list entered Parliament. Thanks for sorting that for me.
The actions and behaviour of National MP Aaron Gilmore prove (yet again) that NZ needs an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ for MPs?
Australian MPs have ‘Codes of Conduct’ – both at State and Commonwealth level:
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2012-2013/Conduct#_Toc325623495
So – how come New Zealand ‘perceived’ to be the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ (along with Denmark and Finland – according to the 2012 Transparency International ‘Corruption Perception Index’) does not?
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results
(Same applies to our NZ Judiciary.
NZ Judges don’t have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ either.)
So – those in NZ responsible for making the law and enforcing the law, don’t have enforceable mechanisms in place to ensure that THEY are held accountable to the law?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
“….(Same applies to our NZ Judiciary.
NZ Judges don’t have an enforceable ‘Code of Conduct’ either.)
So – those in NZ responsible for making the law and enforcing the law, don’t have enforceable mechanisms in place to ensure that THEY are held accountable to the law?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner…..”
Continuing in that vein – especially in light of privatisation of prisons, and the trend to outsource various aspects of ‘law enforcement’ – EVEN to the extent of Councils outsourcing parking infringement noticess ……
WHY are we satisfied with the employment of people with dubious backgrounds acting as ‘law enforcers’ (albeit with private companies whose imperative it is to make a return to shareholders), YET the Judiciary, the Public Service and other agencies of state are subjected to greater scrutiny.
I’m sure McCroskie would LOVE to be ‘a charitable’ enforcer (just so long as there was no scrutiny).
I note there seems to have been a bit of a crackdown on ‘bouncers’ – in the sense that they’re required to be identifiable with their wee shoulder photoIDs (though not yet quite to the extent that their employers require uniforms that mimic those of the police with numbered epaulets)
Not so much scrutiny with private prison warders, parking enforcement officers in the employ of Chubb or whoever the fuck they are these days, guarders of crime scenes, enforcers of red zones (and of course we’ve already seen some of the results of that!), and so on.
One would think that even the most lowly of ‘law enforcers’ should have to swear an oath and be made aware of what their responsibilities are.
I’ve spoken to a couple of parking wardens recently (probably about to be replaced, so that their replacements can be paid youth rates) who were completely oblivious to concepts of natural justice, and indeed the law (such as it is).
Personally I find the whole concept of outsourcing agencies of state where it involves law enforcement a complete abomination
LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 4: Willie and J.T.
Radio Live, Monday 6 May 2013, 2:15 p.m. ….
WILLIE JACKSON: The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!
JOHN TAMIHERE: The groups were just GREAT! Out-STANDING!
WILLIE JACKSON: There’s some INCREDIBLE talent coming through, isn’t there!
JOHN TAMIHERE: Homai Te Pakipaki—what a JOKE!…
See also…..
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738
Comedy, chivalry and one mouth-breathing cretin.
Twenty minutes of Radio Live (Highlights)
Monday 6 May 2013, beginning 2:20 p.m. ….
J.T.: What an idiot. What an idiot. Did you hear that?
WILLIE: What?
J.T.: You.
WILLIE: Based on what, FOOL?
…..Commercial break…..
WILLIE: All right, Kane, you wanna talk about X-Factor.
KANE: They need an ugly duckling section. Some of those women are train wrecks to look at. Like that white girl with the glasses, nothing to look at but she has a good set of pipes.
J.T.: She’s like that girl in Britain.
WILLIE: Oh yeah, Paul Henry called her a retard.
J.T.: Yeah, Susan Boyle. She could sing.
WILLIE: Yeah. Nothing to look at though.
But the most moronic bit comes next, as a moronic caller from Christchurch, commenting about the Crusaders-Brumbies game, goes on to make a comment about the referee….
MOUTH-BREATHING CRETIN: He’s a good referee, Joubert. The best in the game.
WILLIE: [significant pause] Y-y-yeah.
Radio Live, Monday 6 May 2013, ends at 2:45 p.m. I could stand no more of it.
@ Morrisey …
It gets NZoAir funding right??
I could only watch its utter and untold beauty, because my sister alerted me to the fact that someone we both knew, with talent had decided to enter and MIGHT be present on that particular night’s episode. (they weren’t)
I saw these 3 ‘judges’ – all full of pithy comments, plasticised intellect, and quite obviously ‘in touch’ with their most inner feelings – including those feelings that were augmented by red hair dye that had faded pink.
I thought – well maybe one had the credentials to stand in ‘judgement’ given he had success in a similar forum (and lovely tattoos and a cast of thousands in support). Of course – there was this loving family all rarked up to scream rah rah rah as well. I vaguely recall the guy claiming a ‘LIKE’ of Rythym & Blues too.
I think I’d rather watch, and give whatever support I can to the local ‘talent’ I (or rather my sister) knows on the marae.
I also hope that supposedly expert ‘judge’ fucks off back to the GC – or wherever it was from whence he came.
Not sure what’s more breathtaking – your mysogyny, your racism, your lack of touch with popular culture, but at least you’re an equal opportunity bigot I suppose…
I won’t bother asking for an explanation if that was directed at me Pop. The labels you throw are an easy disguise for the lack of anything meaningful.
Well let’s see – you attacked a woman (Ruby Frost) on her appearance and for having “feelings” rather than her ability to judge singing talent (something she would presumably know more about about than you, given her credentials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Frost ), which is bare-arsed mysogyny at its most textbook. FYI, her hair is died pink, it is not a faded version of the colour of your neck. And your comment about Stan Walker in relation to the GC can only be motivated by generalised stereotypes and cliches in relation to Maori Australians. You, sir, are a pig, and an ignorant one at that.
You’ll have to have the last word of course – but reread. I’m not referring to Ruby or whoever she is (unless she’s an “it”). The cynical “untold beauty”, etc. refers to the plasticky, tacky, slick production values of the entire programme and the way the thing is more about the ‘judges’ (and their respective egos) than the contestants themselves. Contrived bullshit – not even SKIN deep – slippery moisturised pap (I’m not referring to the people).
I just caught the end of tonight’s episode – hold your breathe ….. cell phone calls between judges, camera work focussing on Ford labels on the vehicles carrying them and so on.
You have a funny definition of mysogeny. The fact that I don’t regard Ruby’s comments that I’ve witnessed so far as being valid apparently is mysogenistic. My impressions relate to her comments, NOT her person. I’d get another textbook if I were you.
As for the GC bit, I won’t even bother since a sizeable proportion of my extended fit the category. I was quite pleased to see Stan win a few years back – it doesn’t mean I have to regard him as a sage or equipped to judge the contestants currently competing, there but for the grace of a God once went He.
As I say …. you’ll NEED the last word – so go for it please!
Oh – I see …. I DID refer to red hair dye fading pink. You might be correct Pop. I’m a mysogenist for thinking it might not be her most attractive look.
GOT me!
Of course it still doesn’t mean the otherwise attractive woman utters pithy comments and uses rehearsed finger pointing and producer-inspired mechanisms in order to remain pop ….popu….. err popuLAR
btw. Does Joolie Christie have anything to do with this abomination?
If she does, I’ve got a very talented Fijian princely fella stifled under the presence of an X-Factor type production team lingering around a certain island (albeit leaving a load of rubbish as their aftermath) to show you
OK, I will. What are your qualifications? Calling her an “it” is just diging the hole deeper, and I wonder how your extended whanua would react to being told to fuck off back to the GC?
Hey – I’M NOT THE ONE CALLING HER AN IT – that’s what your assumption was as you were so ready to associate the comments with her person. The IT is the programme. Otherwise it would have been a her/she had I been referring to ‘her’ – i.e. Ruby the person.
So …. OK now have the last word – there’s 4 litres of Pledge ready to make the going easier (as you’ll see below)
i for one like willy and j.t this is how normal red blooded males talk this is a conversation in any pub or street between two n.z males.I know you probably hang out with p.c soft handed latte drinking left wingers but dont start every day searching for an issue with shit if you dont like it try z.b
“i for one like willy and j.t this is how normal red blooded males talk”
You’re very easily pleased, and no, no it isn’t.
“I know you probably hang out with p.c soft handed latte drinking left wingers but dont start every day searching for an issue with shit”
Says the bloke that hangs out all day with shit stinking animals and start every day pushing their shit into a stream.
Swap the singlet for a polo, red neck. 😆
In the context Willie and JT are guffawing wanker bullies. No doubt about it. Handsome remuneration starting at $100K plus (correct me if I’m wrong someone) would virtually demand that delivery. Although as an older fellow who’s seen a bit I gotta say there’s something of a little bit too much of Willie and JT being somewhat “into one another” ??? Excessive mutual verbal slapping ??? Nah, they’re just havin’ every prick on I’m sure.
As to the real point, surprising ? Not at all. RadioLive is the bugle for that Good Ordinary Joker ShonKey Python to display his facile-ity with the word “munter”. How embarrassing ! You know there’s nothing worse than a non-rugby boy trying too, too hard to be a rugby boy down the rugby club with the real rugby boys bless their hearts. Again, how embarrassing !
It’s all bullshit ! From bullshitters. The biggest hahaha is that farmboy takes them seriously to the point of defending them. Hahaha !
Though, in fact, I’m not absolutely sure farmboy ain’t some fairly clever satire going on here.
wow, nicely done North, something I thought I would never see. You somehow worked farmboy and clever into the same sentence, 😆
Like Obama – in the same sentence (1) Thatcher Witch and (2) defender of freedom and liberty ?????????
farmboy, why don’t you take yourself behind the shed and f*ck a sheep?
That’s baaad.
Silence of the lambs in welsh is ‘shut up ewe’
I think we could probably say that our rustic friend is “mad about ewe”.
Or, as the X-Factor‘s hanging judge, Stan Walker, would say, “mad about ewes.”
When Harry met Larry the lamb
Sheepless in Seattle
Farm Trek – The next generation
Into Darkness
It’s worse than that……..repeated bestial offending………shut up eweS !
Or alternatively, something I hear not infrequently in the parts I live – “Fuck yous all !”
Baaaaaaah. You talk bullshit !
Run bull run !
Yeah, thanks Forrest.
And while he’s at it, he should take Populuxe 1 with him. I’ve got a commercial 4 litre container of Pledge with which he can shine his ‘surfaces’, and maybe even use as lube.
Unfortunately I don’t have any synthetic substance that could assist with his/her substance as a human ‘being’.
What, you mean ranting over the top of everyone and not letting them answer?
Oh Pops……..go away and say a prayer if it’d make ya feel better. Don’t sad up here. No ones’ listening.
For the public record – I do NOT support the intensification (slummification) of the Auckland region, as outlined in the Daft Unitary Plan.
Why does all this ‘growth’ have to come to Auckland?
Who benefits apart from property developers, speculators and overseas investors?
Where is the ‘NATIONAL’ growth strategy?
Where did the ‘MILLION’ people living in the Auckland region in thirty years time figure come from?
WHO says Auckland needs to go ‘up’ or ‘out’?
Based on what?
I have made OIA requests to get some replies to these rather important questions.
Will keep you informed.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption/anti-privatisation’ campaigner
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
You made an OIA request asking “who benefits apart from property developers, speculators and overseas investors?”.
Who’d you ask?
Good questions Penny.
Will that increase come from internally, through the continued removal of people from the smaller towns and cities, via deliberate underinvestment?
Goot round the plebs up, get them all in a few places, much easier to control them then they’re not spread all over the place, and it opens up more opportunity for the rich to come and help themselves!
“through the continued removal of people from the smaller towns and cities, via deliberate underinvestment?”
And yet largely unsupported by fact. Tauranga has the second fastest population growth in the country, and since the Christchurch earthquake smaller South Island towns have now stabilised with population increases anywhere up to ten percent. Very small communities admittedly are shrinking, but as 85.7 percent of the New Zealand population is urbanised, a process that goes back to WW2, that’s hardly surprising.
Tauranga a moneyed retirees paradise…
But yeah, the ongoing catabolism of Christchurch has been very helpful to neighbouring small towns.
If this is the kind of “growth” you’re looking for.
Not really, but it’s quite a different state of affairs to Muzza’s asserion.
Well that unitary plan makes sense doesn’t it?
I mean, either you Aucklanders have a city like, well, Auckland but much bigger in area (gawd, imagine the driving), or you have a city like so many in Europe with higher density in a small area.
I don’t understand it. Kiwis love going to Eurpoe and ooohing and aaaahing at the lovely cities and towns, yet they would rather have mcmansion suburbia for themselves to live in……..
bizarre
Which is ironic, given that you refuse to pay your rates.
So what dickhead ? She’s exposing herself to process in the making of a point. Far too little of it in Planet ShonKey Python in my view.
Ya never gonna reform her baby ‘cos she got balls unlike ShonKey Python cargo-cultists like you.
Are you out of your tiny mind? ShonKey Python cargo-cultist? Key is a colossal dickhead and destroying this country! If I am any sort of tory, I am very much of the wet, progressive, red and decidedly nationalist kind you cretin.
you got any ideas then on how NZ gets rid of him ?
because right now I think this country wants as many options as it can get
Don’t vote for him? But seriously, Labour needs to offer a credible opposition platform and deal to all the Neoliberal Lite rot in its ranks. The Greens need to advance some actual strategic policy beyond handwavium, warm fuzzy abstract nouns and asking Clint what he thinks. New Zealand First actually offers some really compelling policy if the eccentricities of its caucus can be reined in.
Well you’re not what we want then mate, are you ? You were in line for that 2 hundy sinecure until you started talkin’ dirty like that !
Further Pops…….I think you “misunderestimate” the term “cargo-cult”. It’s a very powerful thing. It’s what got Shonkey Python elected, twice. Which says piss all for New Zealanders in the very small sector of our voting population responsible for that.
I assume from the thrust of your comment you’re not a Nat/Act voter then.
I am most decidedly not. Neoliberalism is repulsive.
Messrs Finlayson and Collins are now expressing misgivings about the development of the website “Judge the judges”. A bit rich really because it is their party and partners like ACT, that have pushed this line and pandered to the likes of the SST – faux outrage ne c’est pas?
Just wait for the said website to do a trawling back through the historic sentencing decisions of retired District Court judge Barry Lovegrove who on Campbell the other night made it very clear that appointment processes in New Zealand are now attended by no consideration outside of jobs for the bought boys/girls.
Makes the appointee controllable. Especially when the appointee knows in his/her heart that they wouldn’t be pulling their $200K whatever, except for the patronage.
Loyalty amongst thieves is an age-old thing preceding even Westminster.
Stoked the fire for easy morning ignition in the not-winterless North. Off to bed.
That Garth McVictim is nought more than a big-noting racist arsehole is sickeningly demonstrated by the support which he and SST gave to that psycho’ who stabbed to death the little Maori fulla Pihema.
To death ! Get that ? To death. For tagging. Nay, for suspicion of tagging. For Fuck’s Sake ! The psycho’ served 2 years from recollection. McVictim was all sadness for the psycho’.
What might that young fulla have amounted to ? What beautiful kids might he have had ? But for being struck down and life taken by a racist arsehole. Don’t give two fucks whether he would have amounted to “anything” anyway. His life was taken and McVictim, racist, rationalised it.
A plague on you Garth ! And tearful aroha for that boy’s family. Never rely on loud mouthed bastards like McVictim strutting around with the signature briefcase in and out of Koru clubs all over the show. No morals but lots of “look at me look at me” dining out.
Piece of vainglorious shit !
The Mexican Aaron Gilmore:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22354245
Radio New Zealand National’s ‘Windows on the World’ program tonight presented a program taken over from the BBC, in which Peter Day, basically rolled out the newest welfare regime approach for sick in the UK.
It is by now nothing new to the better informed, that they have abolished “sick notes” and introduced “fit notes”, all more or less a result of changes brought in there under the auspices of one Professor Mansel Aylward, former Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Work and Pension, and now head of a special department at Cardiff University, established with the help of controversial Unum insurance corporation, to promote and develop “new ways” to get sick and disabled back into work by abusing the so-called “bio psycho social model” for assessments and rehabilitation.
Not surprisingly Dame Carol Black (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_M._Black) is mentioned as an advocate to get sick and disabled back into work as soon as possible, same as Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud (former banker, with no former experience in social matters).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/windowsontheworld
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p017cr5w
Now while National Radio is happy to broadcast this “politically correctly wrapped” program to “inform” us of all the “good” and “sincere” intentions, how come that criticism about welfare reforms there, raised here also, is not broadcast about at all??? “Helping” and “supporting” sick back into work they claim. Is that the true agenda though?
Is this perhaps not rather a softening up agenda also by Radio New Zealand, now towing the government line, to “ready” us for the welfare onslaught that Paula Bennett has prepared to start in July? I have a terrible gut feeling, that the truth is once again not openly reported and discussed.
The so gently spoken “gentleman” “Lord Freud” is better known through such stories, I must say:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/nov/22/benefits-system-dreadful-tory-minister
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/nov/23/lord-freud-welfare-poor-risk
We also know what our Minister for “Social Development” has stated:
http://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech-medical-professionals
And we know by now, who tells us more about what really goes on under supposed “independent” assessors of sick and disabled in the UK:
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2013/04/18/welfare-reform-the-hidden-agenda-by-mo-stewart/
COST SAVING is the AGENDA, and pressuring sick and disabled into open employment, that is what the experiences in the UK tell us!!!
Just one further revealing statement or article on the bizarre work capacity assessment regime now common in the UK, and according to Paula Bennett also planned as the design framework to what WINZ will introduce here:
http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/09/18/dwpatosunum-scandal-an-academic-responds-with-disbelief-to-professor-aylwards-statement-to-black-triangle-and-dpac-outside-the-ifdm2012-conference-on-11th-september-2012/
Professor Mansel Aylward will be addressing a medical practitioner conference in New Zealand in the coming weeks or months. So he seems to come here quite frequently now, and perhaps he has set up office or home here, while advising Bennett and the NatACT “natzi” government on how to deal to sick and disabled (supposed “malingerers”) living on benefits.
See details here:
http://www.gpcme.co.nz/speakers.php
He will be speaking on:
“Health Beyond Health: Another Cardinal Role for General Practice
The holistic approach embracing the social determinants of health and the importance of work”
Main Session, Friday, 21 June 2013, Start 09:25am, Duration: 25mins – Baytrust
P.S.: Like every year, Dr Bratt (WINZ Principal Health Advisor) will speak and/or hold one of his now well known “presentations” there also, likely to again compare “benefit dependence” to “drug dependence”.
The AGENDA is in FULL SWING!
Thanks Paula Bennett !
There was a startling frank comment made by Sean Plunket, new talk-back host on Radio Live (Mon. to Fri. until midday), when talking with John Tamihere just before lunchtime on Monday (today), 06 May 2013.
He confessed that he got his job at Radio New Zealand many years ago, because Prime Minister Jim Bolger wanting him to get it! As soon as he got the confirmation that he got the job, he even received a congratulation from the then PM, he said on air!
So if that is how New Zealand “public broadcasting” functions, there can be no surprises at the lack of real, investigative journalism, the lack of truly revealing news, the lack of hard questioning of our politicians and the lack of top quality current affairs or documentaries!
As this country is so firmly in the control of the Old Boys and Old Girls Networks, it must be presumed that not much has changed at Radio New Zealand or TVNZ.
The private media care for their own “priorities” of course, to get reporters, moderators and editors that attract high viewer and listener ratings, that present hitting headlines and snippets of infotainment “news”, so that advertisers fill their coffers. No surprises there.
Thank goodness for a few blogs that present the other side to stories, otherwise we would not know there is a world out there beyond the Tasman, or there are people out there, that are actually NOT living in a supposed “brighter future”.