Ah….. the landowners, doing their best to hoard their wealth, and stop any government make a more fair society; a fair society where no people are struggling to survive.
John Key gave a tax cut to the wealthiest, that at the lower end was neutral, a pivot point if you will, the higher the income the higher the windfall. Now Key is suggesting another tax cut, yet nobody is asking is that doubled down with a GST rise? No. That would require a media with a zealous regard for its own integrity.
The more we reward rent seekers the more they want, and who pays? Lower and middle income earners. When they awake National are history as party.
Lets prove these bastards wrong…………………if you haven’t done it already, post this link to every friend, foe or loved one overseas who is a progressive voter
Cnr Joe @ 1.1 Yes good Old Armstrong eh? What a commentator. I would really base all my political views on what he says.
Hey……….that article re Cunliffe should resign……………….letter Dong Liu………..Isn’t that all part of the Slatter smear machine. Be afraid NZ Herald journalists. Be very afraid. Wait for the Royal Commission of enquiry. You might sweep it under the carpet but there are significant numbers of us who want forget.
Armstrong and Key certainly made a meal of this.
Wonder why no meal for Parata getting so wrong over her saying often that she had increased teacher numbers by 15% but really it is less than 6%?
Or Keys housing announcement and his example of a $500,000 house being impossible for any one to buy?
Or his being $100,000,000 out on his housing budget. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/nationals-housing-numbers-dont-add-up.html
So much for Armstong bias. Huh
Articles like this clearly show why Dirty Politics is not impacting the Polls, National Party friendly media are fighting their fight and doing a very good job. Well done John Armstrong, good work on the PR for National but don’t call yourself a journalist.
Dirty lying dishonest politician stories versus a politician not being able to recall a detail in a complex tax policy…um, which story would a half decent journo work on?
The media has been death riding Cunliffe non-stop (with a lot of help from the PMs office). If Hager’s book won’t make them realise they’ve lost the plot, nothing will.
TBH I can’t see National halting what looks to be a plum strategy, they will just have better comms security next time. And judging by how the media are so quick to fall back into their old place as “repeaters”, I doubt we can hold out much hope for them either.
1000000% Karol.
Can we start a public media ask for donations at least start somewhere, you setup a site on TS &TDB and we are sure everyone can pledge to get a PBS started.?
I have no idea of how this election will go. People have become more polarised since the last one. Those outside the comfortable bubble are angrier, while the government’s PR machine is operating with greater urgency. I do not write off our chances, despite the polls, but if we win I will not be at all surprised by claims that the election has been “stolen,” accompanied by calls for a new election.
Nicky Hager said a lot of journalists asked if there was stuff on them in Slater’s files.
When you read an article like this by Armstrong, it makes me wonder what the dirty politics brigade have on some journalists.
A lot you can bet, as they are the link to control the media, so we know why they are so spooky now eh!
Cant imagine they will print stuff on them though yet, maybe after the royal commission inquest if we ever could be lucky enough to get justice served to have one.
A prime minister, who cares little for the interests of the country. Faced with a wealth of evidence of the corruption and covert, undemocratic manipulations and malevolent black ops of his party and their allies…… he goes shopping, and won’t talk matters of substance.
What are the Nat’s policies for the future? The nasty Nat party exposed, and he just smiles and waves on.
Mark Hotchin issued defamation proceedings over opinions expressed in this column.
Details of what purports to be the contents of a leaked email from blogger Cameron Slater to Mark Hotchin and PR man Carrick Graham, dated October 5, 2011, particularly disturb me.
According to these reports Slater wrote that Justice Minister Judith Collins was “gunning for” Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley. The email, and subsequent revelations, seemed to me to indicate that parties aligned with Hotchin decided, or were advised, that the best way to defend his role in the Hanover Finance debacle was to attack his critics. These appear to include Financial Markets Authority boss Sean Hughes and Feeley.
If it is true, then the leaked October 2011 email also has relevance to this column because a few months earlier Hotchin lodged a defamation claim against the New Zealand Herald and myself for a number of my Weekend Herald opinion columns between November 2008 and March 2011.
This is one thing I hadn’t expected before Dirty Politics was published: the level of attacks, intimidation and blackmail aimed at pulling journalists into line. This must have had a long term corrosive impact on our MSM.
Jim Mora’s snide distortion of Sue Bradford’s comments The Panel is as partisan, as dishonest, as anything on NewstalkZB
Radio NZ National, Friday 5 September 2014
Jim Mora, Nevil Gibson, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet
Following Wednesday’s astonishing outbreak of independent thinking and forthright speaking by Dita Di Boni, Radio NZ’s light chat show The Panel is now firmly back on message. Yesterday (Thursday) the guests were the shallow ex-talkback host Barry Corbett and the equally shallow, pretentious newspaper columnist Joe Bennett. Corbett didn’t say anything particularly idiotic yesterday; he left it all to Bennett.
And Bennett excelled himself. At one point early in the programme, host Jim Mora asked him if he was interested in politics. Bennett paused, then intoned with Olympian disdain: “Uuuuummmmmm, n-n-n-n-nnot really.” Unfortunately, as with similarly ill informed media opinionizers (Mike Hosking, Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Kerre Woodham) this lack of interest and lack of knowledge has not stopped Bennett from broadcasting his opinions. Hilariously, he delivered the following bizarre pronouncement on the bumbling, stumbling, thuggish ACT leader Jamie “I might be ignorant” Whyte: “I’ve read a couple of his books, and he’s a VERY lucid thinker.”
Apart from the risible guests, yesterday’s show was more sinister than normal; the obligatory scoffing at and dismissal of Nicky Hager’s revelations has now become a witch hunt for “Rawshark”, the person responsible for the leaks of Blubberguts’s rancid, highly embarrassing and incriminating email correspondence. Mora seems to take seriously everything that Blubberguts says on his poisonous site, and has now taken to routinely referring to the “stolen” emails that Hager was sent. According to Mora, there is a possibility that the Facebook correspondence could all have been made up. Well, that’s what Blubberguts says, so there MUST be something to it.
Today (Friday) the National Party-friendly tone of the programme continued. Mora delivered one of the most sickeningly insincere little homilies since Barack Obama’s windy rhetoric at Mandela’s funeral. Observing that people in Ashburton have been praising the women who died violently in Ashburton. “Ah, this is the other side of what Sue Bradford said earlier in the week, ISN’T it!” he chirped.
Of course, Sue Bradford did not condemn the women who died. She condemned the vicious government measures that those women and other WINZ staff all over the country are instructed to implement. It takes a particularly stupid person or one who is deliberately engaging in politically motivated mischief to misconstrue her words like Mora did.
Today (Friday) the guests were, if possible, even more dismal than yesterday’s. One was a former Marxist fanatic turned hard right fanatic, the other one was a particularly glib, nasty and shallow fashion designer. I can’t bear the thought of sitting down and transcribing more than a brief taster of what they said. But the following rants, inspired by Mora’s quoting of a Child Poverty Action Group report, are typical….
DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: It’s like the TV programme Benefit Street. People who are on the dole, who spend their days SMOKING and DRINKING and GAMBLING and they keep on having CHILDREN. … Maybe someone needs to go in and see where the money is going. We just can’t keep on handing out MONEY! …[continues spluttering indignantly about the poor]
NEVIL GIBSON: This poll was carried out by the Child Poverty Action Group, so I’m a bit suspicious of it.
DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: It comes down to education. Don’t smoke it, don’t drink it, don’t buy Lotto tickets. I don’t believe there IS a shortage of jobs in New Zealand….[et cetera, ad nauseam…]
———————————————–
I sent the following email to the host….
Why did you misrepresent Sue Bradford’s words?
Dear Jim,
You completely misrepresented what Sue Bradford said about the Ashburton shootings. She pointed out, quite correctly, that the staff at WINZ have to carry out government policies which are often cruel and vindictive.
Why did you infer that she was criticizing the frontline WINZ staff when in fact she was criticizing government policies?
You go you good thing. I’m having to maintain my panel appointment listening because for every Bishop or Womble (Denise LSC ) theres a Findlay or de Boni.
But yeah, when the stoopid comes out ( DLSC – ‘ the .com should go back to America and fight for his inno…) uuurgh.
i think l’estrange etc wd have to be the ..(how to word this..?..)…the most unlearned of all the panelists..(and that’s saying something..she has some serious competition..)
..and that bishop on with her is like a superstorm of ignorance/prejudices..
I was shouting at the radio yesterday listening to Denise,”the strange” – why doesn’t she just come out and say what she really means, namely that beneficiaries don’t deserve to live. FFS they have few enough pleasures and she wants to deprive them of their smokes and sex as well! What planet do the privileged elite live on?
Nice work, Moz. The weirdest thing for me was Denise LC talking of being bought up on welfare by a single parent, but apparently learning nothing from the experience. Unintentionally, it was her own mum she was lumping in with the smoking, drinking, gambling, shagging, welfare dependent lifestyle.
Good on you Morrissey, I also was appalled at the depths yesterdays panel had plummeted,( although my email was alot more abusive than yours to Dim). In fact it ruined my Friday night. I have had a fucking gutfull of Dim and his holier than thou Fascists that he parades out every day. For Denise L/C to opine that she didn’t believe there was any unemployment in this country is one step too far even for a whiney voiced halfwit as her, she even had the audacity to get a Free plug in for her 25 years celebration food and fashion show at the Langham, all of next month, (only $89 ).
This has got to stop RNZ, this is my tax money too. I stopped watching TV news years ago, I stopped buying the Herald and my local rightwing rag months ago, so my only source of current affairs is RNZ who I once loved and The Standard ( who I still love 🙂 Now I just want to smash my radio every day.
Thank God for The Standard, may you live forever.
I never listen to “the panel” anymore it is perhaps the most sickening piece of radio on RNZ. Mora is just too biased and has little comprehension of the issues.
Worth a look if only for the new artwork someone has done on a National billboard using Miley Cyrus .. made me smile on this dark morning.
But this didn’t:
“Jim-I’d rather a cardboard box in the PM’s chair with proven Labour’s surplus policies than a corporate takeover by John Key and his banker and republican friends doing an Ireland bankruptcy in slow motion!
2. We will be bankrupt in 3 years like Ireland, that Key helped screw ..our debt will be $135 billion in three years – Christchurch will be a river of dirty money for the banker/insurance industry and the lesser building suppliers like American Peabody and co that see us now as a commodity on wall street..and the TPPA is the legal equivalent of oppression by stealth!”
Here’s hoping HOS and SST make use of their freedoms tomorrow. Sigh.
Participants include Tim Murphy (NZH) and Pete of WO, with the latter claiming that their QC reckons that media cannot publish anything that they have but have not yet published.
It may be that Fairfax, Herald, Mediaworks are doing further legal checks to ensure that they are watertight before publishing.
The hard copy of the weekend Herald has articles on the Slater emails on page A 18. They are pretty much buried within the tabloid fluff and advertising.
The Weekend Herald version has the headline: “Slater gagging order affects only hacker”, and begins,
Judge allows media to publish material already in hand.
Under this is an article that seems to be a new one from David Fisher: “Commission rejects bloggers claims”.
It is further examination of and investigation into the SFO inquiry about Feeley. The article begins:
Blogger Cameron Slater claimed on more than one occasion that his friend and former Cabinet minister Judith Collins was out to have the Serious Fraud Office director sacked according to a new email.
[…]
The new email has Slater claiming to a Herald journalist in 2011 that MNs Collins was trying to widen an enquiry into the former SFO director Adam Feeley
The article goes onto discuss complications in that the SFO cannot easily find records pertaining to staff, etc from 2011.
Look at who owns Fairfax, APN and TV3 and there is your answer,
Overseas finance and investment companies want Key’s government back as they are prepared to sell us to them.
But the headline is: Court injunction plugs Whaledump leak.
Partly, there may be no new news on it today. But, also, the 3 media oultets may publish new material, but aim to mute it somewhat. eg, the Dom Post aricle being on page 2, while the WINZ killing victims story takes up most of page 1, in a quite sensationalist, tabloidish way: headline: ‘Face to face with the Ashburton gunman’.
Next to the Whaledump article on page two, is an article by Hamish Rutherford, about Labour saying the Collins enquiry is too narrow.
The NZ Herald and Stuff may also be aiming to blunt what is yet to come from the Whaledump material, by some very pro-Nats articles preceding it. These are editorial decisions, and not those of the individual journalists who are probably aiming to do their best by the material.
Give them a break.The data has apparently gone to the two leading MSM investigative reporters in the country. given the leaks landed yesterday I would hope Fisher and Nippert would do a little journalism before putting the stuff into their newspapers and online. Otherwise they’re no better than their “repeater” colleagues.
Serious journalism takes more than a 10 minute lick at a press release,especially when they’re building a story that could be the most significant of the year.
And Nippert does write for the Sunday Star Times, first and foremost.
..to tell us all again what a brilliant idea/policy it is to raise the pension-age..
..that should help drive the polls back up..eh..?
..d’yareckon..?
(but no financial transaction tax on the banksters..eh..?
..even tho’ some twenty other oecd countries already have a form of f.t.t…
..too hard..!..that one..?..is it..?..don’t want to/can’t afford to offend said banksters..?
..are they not already sucking enough in profits out of our economy..?
..each and every year..?
..couldn’t even work out how to implement that most small of inter-financial institutions-only tax..?
..instead..let’s make the workers work to an even older age..
..and of course..that policy will be music to the ears of the maori/p.i-vote labour says it is so assiduously courting..eh..?
..what with their almost guaranteed shorter life-spans than pakeha..
..eh..?
..who exactly is it that you are beholden to..?
..it sure as hell isn’t to those workers whose working-life-spans you wish to increase..
..and this is all based on some future we-can’t-afford-it!-scenario..
..a scenario that ignores so many variables..it is just a joke..
..just one of these variables..is that at a time when thinkers are wrestling with what to do with workers..with the rise of automation..thinking shortened work-weeks etc..
..parker/labour are crying ‘fire..!..fire..!’..to justify this vote-killing policy..
..and funny story…!
..what just compounds this clusterfuck of an idea/policy/argument..is the ultimate futility of it all..
..as the coalition partners labour will be relying upon..should they become the govenment..won’t have a bar of it..
..for labour/parker..this is just stupidity piled on top of stupidity..
..and post-election..in the wrap-up..
..must get some ‘award’ all of its’ own..
..’the braindead-policy-award’..?..(as a working title..?..)
Indeed it will happen, and like fake outrage, the unpopular aspect will be long forgotten in the big scheme of things.
Maybe pu either has an obsession with DP and is compelled to publicise it, even if it does border on homo erotic s and m.
Maybe, unlike where he correctly expects the top rate tax earners and banks to pay more to stop poverty, he isn’t prepared to stump up and work a few months to a maximum of 24 in the future to pay for his and others retirements. Maybe he has a trust or a pension plan and doesn’t have to worry about it.
Or maybe he just looks at it all from the wrong angle. Instead of looking at the perceived negatives, focus on the positives. Instead of getting a piss poor pension aged 65-67, one will still be able to claim jobseekers and associated top ups for an extra couple of years, which shocking as it is for a lot of our old people, is money in the bank.
One of the trends I’ve never heard discussed in the superannuation debate is the historical rate and projections for people 65+ in the workforce.
This is from a paper titled ‘Demographic projections from Statistics New Zealand: Aims, methods, and results’ from the Stats Department in 2012 (google the title and when you click on the pdf link you get an automatic download):
“The number of people aged 65+ in the labour force climbed from 25,000 in 1991 to about 130,000 in 2012. Further increases in labour force participation, coupled with more people at older ages, is likely to grow the older segment of the labour force further. It is highly likely that there will be 240,000–500,000 people aged 65+ in 2036, and 280,000–660,000 in 2061 (Figure 35). The largest growth will occur between 2011 and 2031, as the baby boomers move into the 65+ age group (Figure 36).”
And,
“Among those aged 65+, 1 in 16 were in the labour force in 1991. It is 1 in 5 in 2012, and is projected to increase to 1 in 3 by the mid-2020s.
As a result, by 2036, it is expected that between 9 and 15 percent of the labour force will be aged 65+, compared with 3 percent in 2006. By 2061, it is expected that between 10 and 18 percent of the labour force will be aged 65+.
Within the labour force aged 65+, the number of people aged 80 and over (80+) is also expected to increase significantly. From 8,000 in 2012, it is highly likely that there will be 21,000–64,000 people aged 80+ in the labour force in 2036, and 27,000–96,000 in 2061.
Among those aged 80+, about 1 percent were in the labour force in 1991. It is 5 percent in 2012, and is projected to increase to 10 percent by the late 2020s.
Overall, 68 percent of adults (aged 15 years and over) were in the labour force in 2012. The median projection indicates an increase to 69 percent around 2020, then a gradual drop to 67 percent in 2036, and to 65 percent in 2061 (Figure 37). This drop is despite the assumptions of static or increasing LFPRs at most ages. This apparent contradiction is caused by the changing age structure of the population, with more people at the oldest ages where LFPRs are at their lowest.”
So the median projection indicates an overall population labour force participation rate decreasing from 69 percent in 2020 to 65% in 2061.
Has the increasing labour force participation rate for those 65+ been calculated into the fiscal projections for the superannuation ‘burden’?
I’ve usually heard people (politicians) simply say that fewer workers will be supporting more people over 65. That seems a bit simplistic given the trend in labour force participation for the over 65s. (Being in the Labour force they will also be paying tax, of course.)
Also, what counts as “Labour force participation”. I’m over 65 & working, but only for a couple of days a week. Many older people do go onto part time work.
It’s a Merrill Lynch company, in fact it used to be called Merrill Lynch, one of the main ones in their ‘let’s avoid the taxman and stop anybody from finding out who we are’ game. Closely associated with the Bank of America (ie. B(ank)ofAm(erica)L). 12 month profit (well loss actually) -26k. Capital something like 113 million dollars (which considering how high up in the Bank of America tree this company is seems quite low to me). Credit worthiness pretty low. So effectively tax dodging, investigative dodging one of the biggest banks in the world, but if they were a customer instead of a (the?) banker then they wouldn’t be able to raise a loan. John Key was a director of this company for 3 years in the late 90s.
Yes but JK has left all that behind to take a more powerful position where he can ensure his banking mates get a decent slice of this country.
Same motives and outcomes achieved whilst getting treated to protective services, air force transport, royal weddings, world cups, antarctica etc.
As far as JK is concerned its thanks nz the scrapbook is nearly full and the bucket list much reduced just need to sort the knighthood before I leave the juristriction.
Do you have a link to this claim that John Key was a director of Merrill Lynch?
He certainly worked for them in a managerial role but I haven’t seen any evidence of him being a director of the company. The source of your claim, please.
Bofaml Investments was called Merrill Lynch when Key was a director. It is still Merrill Lynch of course although Merrill Lynch is effectively a Bank of America proxy (as reflected in the new name).
You can confirm Key’s directorship via Companies House in the UK in all likelihood.
Akshully it looks kind of interesting that they changed their name (from Merrill Lynch to MLIB) about 10 days after Key became Prime Minister does it not?
You aren’t trying to be serious are you?
The company you link to isn’t Merrill Lynch. It is a fairly small organisation registered in London, whereas Merrill Lynch, the group, is (or was) a very large organisation registered in the US. The company you have found is at best the subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch.
To say that someone being a director of such a company is a director of the whole organisation, ie Merrill Lynch is silly but it appears to be what you think.
It is about on a par with saying that a director of Fletcher Construction (Solomon Islands) Limited is a director of Fletcher Building Limited. Well it isn’t that way and the people concerned aren’t.
Well singing from the same song sheet as nadis I see. And making the same mistake in suggesting that the US company is allowed to register itself in the UK. No it’s not, Merrill Lynch in the UK has always been a UK registered company. Merrill Lynch in Switzerland is a Swiss company. Merrill Lynch in New Zealand is a NZ company.
If Merrill Lynch goes broke in the US that will not effect the UK Merrill Lynch.
I have never said that John Key was a director of the US Merrill Lynch.
I seem to have lit a fire. I’m still not sure how or why it’s still burning.
Notice the registration number 1062001, it’s the same Company registration number as the company that John Phillip Key (New Zealander) was a director of.
As you can see it was called Merrill Lynch International Bank in 2000. That was the main Merrill Lynch company in the UK at the time.
Have a look at my comment above Tracey regarding the difference between small companies and the directors of the group of which the small company is a part.
You claimed yesterday, by the way, that Rupert Murdoch owned 30% of APN. I asked that you provide a link to the source of the claim.
You haven’t answered yet. Dis you have trouble reading the request or did you fail to comprehend what I said? Do you have a weakness in such things?
Wow, you’ve spotted a typo. Aren’t you the clever one?
Now are you dissing me junior?
Tracey hasn’t seem the comment though or I’m sure she would have explained by now how she decided that Rupert Murdoch was a major owner of APN and therefore the NZ Herald.
I wouldnt get excited. What you are looking at is just a special purpose vehicle company. These are typically used for one off transactions and reused again and again. And names change all the time. Their might be a tax reason, or just a need to hold assets in a discrete vehicle, but there’s nothing conspiratorial here. I worked for an investment bank, my area maintained upwards of a hundred separate companies which were used to put together specific transactions. All had names that were either completely generic, i.e. “Sabre 2008 Ltd” or were a play on either our banks name or the customers name. At one time I was a director (unpaid) of about 30 companies.
The real Merrill Lynch or actually Merrill Lynch Fenner Pierce and Smith was a New York incorporated company listed on the NY stock exchange. So not the same thing.
I didn’t really think there was anything particularly conspiratorial about this other than the normal shenanigans that ‘those at the top who pay no tax’ get up to. I was just pointing out that the director of Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited was at one stage in the late 90s a certain John Phillip Key from New Zealand. And that despite capital (but not assets) over 100 million this company was paying no tax and has a loss that is small enough despite that significant capital to raise suspicions that it is artificial.
Now if you want to see if what we are talking about is a ‘discrete vehicle’ whatever the hell that is or the actual Merrill Lynch UK version well then this should put you right;
Check the bottom to see the main entity for each country. You will see that the UK entities are Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited (i.e. the entity that John Key was a directer of) and MLPF&S. Also Bofaml Limited as the company is now known has been in business since 1971 or so, so it’s hardly a company along the lines of ‘throw some liabilities in there and liquidate it’ vehicle is it?
Now there may have been some name changes and movement to different company registrations since (a trivial exercise even for someone as small fry as myself) but the main Merrill Lynch vehicle in the UK had as its director in the late 90s, a certain Mr JP Key. I’m not interested in the US version, I never said that John Key was a director of any American company.
Please don’t try and pull rank on me again (I was an investment banker), I’m quite capable of figuring out what is going on here.
Now back to the beginning again, what’s conspiratorial here?
I don’t really think that he is the devil incarnate, yeshe, as that blog seems to think that he is. He’s just playing the game on behalf of somebody else. And being richly rewarded for it. And he’s a bit of pr*&k as well but the main lizard he is not.
I just want nadis to tell me what is conspiratorial about this. As I didn’t see that on my first post.
Yes Rich, but playing the game for the lizards does not make you any less despicable than the lizards. He is a proven liar and a crazy danger to NZ as he serves his masters’ avarice.
As long as you know that story is there and proven … good luck with nadis !
Hi Rich
Was this true that JK was planning with Alex Krieger to undermine the NZ dollar and make a reward from Krieger for services, when he was working at NY Merrill Lynch?
Isn’t that a deliberate attempt to destabilise the financial state of NZ and what is the charge, is it wilful sabotage?
Giles Parkinson10 Nov 2008, 10:54 AM
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John Key is living proof that not all heads of derivatives operations for large US investment banks end up in the dog house. Some get to run their own country.
Key was elected prime minister of New Zealand last weekend after his National Party achieved a crushing victory over the incumbent Labour government of Helen Clark.
The timing of his elevation, in the midst of a financial crisis, may be quite prophetic. After all, Key’s rise to prominence in foreign exchange circles came after he struck a rewarding relationship at Bankers Trust with Andy Krieger, a daring New York-based trader who launched a legendary raid against the NZ dollar in 1987.
Krieger reportedly bet more than the country’s entire money supply against the currency, forcing it down sharply and taking massive profits in what is still described as one of the finest forex plays ever completed.
Key’s role in this raid is not entirely clear. The timing of his arrival at BT suggests he might not have had a great deal to do with it, but he benefited from Krieger’s continuing interest in the currency, which helped Key lift BT to top of the local currency tables and attract interest from international investment banks.
New Zealand’s new leader also knows a lot about job losses, having by his own admission earned the reputation of being the “smiling assassin” during his short stint at the Sydney offices of Merrill Lynch in 2001 when he reportedly helped fire some 500 staff.
He had been through this process before, after Merrills incurred massive losses as a result of the Asian crisis. Key, then head of the bank’s forex operations in London, is credited by former colleagues for his ability to hold a demoralised team together, even while sacking, in his own words “dozens fewer than 100”, a comment that reveals an early talent for political spin.
Key began his career as an auditor in Christchurch before joining Elders Finance in the mid 1980s as a foreign exchange dealer. Within two years he was the head forex trader at Elders before moving to BT in 1988 and then to Merrill Lynch, where he headed the Asian forex operations from Singapore.
From there, he quickly rose to become head of Merrills’ global forex operations in London, where he is said to have commanded a multi-million dollar salary, before deciding to turn to politics to pursue his childhood dream of becoming PM. Now that he is there, his take on what many people expect to be a heavy re-regulation of world financial markets should be interesting.
In an interview for an article jointly authored by London’s Financial Times and New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times earlier this year, Key admitted a great admiration for Krieger.
“He was a pioneer, in the sense he was one of the few people in the world who understood the options market before it was really established. He blazed a trail and that gave him a strategic advantage early on.”
Key also said he did not believe there was a moral issue for the traders who made speculative attacks on currencies, or for the dealing rooms that carry out their orders.
“I can’t remember whether Andy Krieger was buying or selling, it might have been selling with me, but at the time it would have reflected the economic fundamentals at play in New Zealand. The markets are ultimately too large for any one individual to manipulate.
“There is much more good gained from having a fully functioning financial market than there ever is from not having that. We provided liquidity, we provided stability.
“There would be plenty of exporters today who would be cheering from the sidelines if Andy Krieger came in to sell a whole lot of New Zealand dollars. And equally if he was buying it there would be plenty of importers who would be cheering from the rafters. So it’s not as clear-cut as some people might think.”
Disturbed .. if you haven’t, please read the link I posted for Rich above at 8.3.1.1 —
travellerev takes apart the PR, blustering denials and memory lapses to prove Key had to be there with Krieger at the same they came close to destroying NZ currency and personally must have made millions and millions from it.
The dates are very clear; including details of why Key was required to fire 500 Merrill employees.
Key is incapable of seeing anything as a moral issue. He seems to be completely amoral. Ironically, he owes his early success to the first ACT government, which deregulated the finance sector and opened up opportunities for parasites who never felt ethical burdens. Maybe this explains his affection for ACT?
Notice the registration number 1062001, it’s the same Company registration number as the company that John Phillip Key (New Zealander) was a director of.
As you can see it was called Merrill Lynch International Bank in 2000. That was the main Merrill Lynch company in the UK at the time.
Now, re your reference to conspiratorial, what is conspiratorial? What’s the theory (or theories) that you are criticising?
The polls. Has anyone thought of standing outside the supermarket today and polling 1000 people on their voting intention? Probably take 1-2 hours. Be very interesting to see if that type of poll mirrors mainstream ones – especially in particular areas. I’d do it if there were others who would too in areas different to mine.
Noticed this amongst all the “National has already won” shallow journalism on the stuff website.
“The undecided vote remained steady at 13 per cent, which is higher than in some other polls. Benson said if Ipsos included those who said they were undecided, but when pressed were leaning towards a particular party, that number dropped to about 7 per cent and saw National’s vote come in about 2 percentage points lower.”
The undecideds are clearly mostly trying to decide which opposition party to vote for. That suggests that factoring in all of the undecideds, National would be showing about 4% lower in the polls.
Despite the importance of this, all of the headlines and graphs are all about ‘decided’ voters and most reports barely mention the undecided. The high undecided figure highlights the inappropriateness of the “All over bar the shouting” message coming from much of the MSM which could also be self-fulfilling if it helps demoralize undecided voters into staying at home.
I’ve already voted, as have David Cunliffe and Metiria Turei. A good turnout favours the Left so encourage people to vote ASAP. There are hopeful signs for the Left in the high Advance Voting.
The BEST WAY TO GET RID OF KEY (putting aside partisan constituency feelings) is:
Green Party Supporters-Party Vote Green
Labour Party Supporters-Party Vote Labour
Internet-Mana Supporters-Party Vote Internet-Mana (IMP)
TE TAI TOKERAU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote IMP-Hone Harawira
EPSOM Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote National-Paul Goldsmith
EAST COAST BAYS Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote National-Murray McCully
OHARIU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote Labour-Virginia Andersen
WAIARIKI Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote IMP-Annette Sykes
TE TAI HAUAURU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote Labour-Adrian Rurawhe
If you don’t vote like this in these constituencies YOU ARE EFFECTIVELY VOTING FOR JOHN KEY.
But first you have to make up your mind. And here in the Otaki exectorate I have seen 1 count it 1 Labour bill board, and a few of NatKey/Guy ones and thats it.
It’s like no one gives a rats arse up here..
And the only stuff that’s been stuffed in my Mail box I put return to Sender, back to the Nats and Nathan Guy.
So no door knockers.
And buggers all hordings.
No Street meetings.
No Mailbox policy drops.
No politicians,
Nice to be in an such an important electorate /sarc
Thanks for the link, satty; amazing. Especially important for a September election given the likelihood of unsettled weather. I voted early and did so because of the push from the Greens (wouldn’t have thought to otherwise).
Labour released their conservation policy last week. It contains a firm pledge to extend no mining protection under Schedule 4 to all conservation land between Thames and the Kaimai rail tunnel. A huge swath of high value DOC estate.
Thanks exitlane, great to see better legal protection of the conservation estate. Hopefully the msm will realise some parties do have quite important policy releases any day now…
Corruption case to answer and a police investigation must be ordered by the opposition, here are some facts.
A simple search last night of “Polls can be manipulated” – Google
found about 1,400,000 results.
Below leaves us all now with the knowledge of what in New Zealand is actually going on, it is more corruption of our MSM conducting manipulated polling results, and opposition now must call this as it is, corruption of the MSM and manipulation of all polls.
We were contacted Friday 22nd of August at 4pm by Herald Digipoll by a lady who first said we are conducting a poll and could we participate?
We said yes, then she said my supervisor is listening in, is that o/k?
I hesitated but agreed and she went through a ten minute questioning, and then abruptly said we don’t need your input thanks, and hung up!
This left us so disturbed we searched the web and found all 1.4 million cases of poll manipulations globally on Goggle, which include what is called “selective polling”
We believe we were a victim of a Herald Digipoll selective polling strategy.
NZ pols are corrupted, is this a crime?
This is just one case of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle in India which may show what is happening here in NZ.
quote;
New Delhi: Public opinion gathered by leading opinion poll agencies is often tweaked to give misleading results, Operation Prime Minister, a sting operation by a private news network, News Express, has revealed Tuesday. Well-known faces from leading opinion poll agencies have been caught on hidden camera agreeing to such malpractices.
Operation Prime Minister shows how opinion polls are conducted and manipulated at the instance of political parties, their results traded to show a particular party in a favourable position, for a price. Presenting snippets from the sting operation at a press conference, Editor-in-chief of News Express, Vinod Kapri said, “Our motivation behind conducting the sting operation was a letter written by the Election Commission of India to all regional and national parties inviting their views on the publication of opinion polls.
We wanted to investigate the concerns of the Commission.” In its letter dated 4 Oct, 2013, the Election Commission had said, “The Commission has been suggesting to the government that there should be a similar prohibition or restriction on opinion polls also as there could be several manipulated opinion polls which could impact the voting pattern.”
Another motivation behind the sting operation was the mushrooming of opinion polls. “There used to be one or two opinion polls every election. But now, one sees an opinion poll almost every week. Which leads us to the question- how is the data generated so quickly and processed,” said Kapri.
“Operation Prime Minister has exposed eleven opinion poll agencies, whose surveys are published in leading newspapers and magazines besides being broadcast by leading news channels”, it was claimed in the sting opertaion.
It demonstrates how the 810 million voters of our country are duped into believing trends or waves that are manipulated. – See more at:
“Opinion polls seem to have become the latest weapon in the poll campaign.
For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose”,
News Express claimed. The influence of opinion poll agencies goes beyond mere opinion polls. In some cases, the poll agencies have claimed they can even prop up dummy candidates in the constituencies where the rival candidate is on a strong wicket.
It has also been claimed that some leading editors are hand in glove with these poll agencies.
This is just a few of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle. – See more at:
disturbed +100% …great comment and links ..this should a Post !
I have seen similar comments over on the Daily Blog
..Skewed polling is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the minds of the undecided New Zealand voter to undermine their confidence and decision to vote for a change of government …and should be exposed for what it is
…falsified statistics used in a spurious PR campaign with supposed scientific validity
(I myself refuse to answer polls…and I have been asked a number of times by a number of different polling companies.. don’t know why…I know others who have never been asked…and others who lie when asked)
And DPF trying to say that the polling was kosher so I called him on it ( I had a call and was cut out halfway through the ‘interview’) That was the end of the Conversation with him.
I sent this post to all the left wing opposition parties, and TDB,
I ask if anyone wants to set up this as a repost, I give my total consent.
I am a little lost at posting so chooky or anyone who can do it justice PLEASE go ahead and set up a post and when the feedback comes in I will send it all to the left wing opposition parties being damaged by this to get something done about this next week as it is as bad as the Leaders debate Bias that David Cunliffe complained to TVNZ about.
Thanks Disturbed for this article and links so interesting and frightening. I have been rung 4 times in the last 7 weeks with exactly the same strategy as you describe, lots of questions and then the ‘supervisor’ obviously said no! and hung up with no bye you way – rude as much as anything. I then had another call and they asked straight out what my age group was and replied oh your too old we don’t need anything more from oldies. I swore at them which I won’t print here! Polls are a huge scam.
I am prepared to go to Campbell live, how can we do this any Ideas please Karol how we can discuss?
Can you post a site where it will ask if others have been contacted and dropped after some discussion after age was approved and poll questions begin and end with no acceptance?
as i understand it, the scab has been ripped off an ugly sore,
it shows, if not corruption, then highly inappropriate behaviour by at least one senior politician.
then the party shows a lift in some polls.
i want to provocatively suggest that if any one is polled to answer that they are voting for the right, or hard right.
this could possibly cause: complacency by the right.
a rally to arms by the left.
possibly have the media question the veracity of these polls.
i agree with the notion that polling should stop well before the election.
Again, it would be helpful if you’d explain what the link is. Not everyone has a Trademe account. Mind you, if it’s interesting to you, it’s almost certainly pants.
That’s right you need an account to log in and view the message board.
I’ll copy and paste the first post.
There’s evidence mounting of DC’s inappropriate behavior and blurred lines between his personal and private lives. Rumor has been going for sometime but now the evidence has been accumulated.
There’s also a senior Labour MP possibly in the firing line over a sexual assault. I say “possibly” as much depends on whether the victim chooses to take it further. She has the evidence.
I note this as someone who has personally seen the evidence for both incidents from the people involved and not third parties. It is compelling and thorough. The holders of the evidence have taken extensive legal advice, have affidavits signed and witnessed, and are very respectable people who are above reproach.
I’d suggest the next two weeks will be the most infamous in the history of NZ politics.
[karol: These are just personal smears from the gutter, spreading them with no evidence.]
So, I was right. Pants from start to finish. Cheers, though, BM, it’s always great to see examples of right wing desperation such as that comment. Obviously, if the incidents were real, we’d already know about it.
If you have heard rumours you must hang around some pretty vile people, you really have turned out to be quite a vile person morality and ethics wise…
You remind me of many described in dirty politics, and this comment/posting of yours is beyond contempt. Especially when you dont condemn the behaviour which has been proven to impact the governing of nz. Cunliffe has no power… The right are showing themselves to be beyond despicable.
more crafted dirty tricks, from a camp that specialises in them. The fingerprints of invention are all over it – including the “blurred lines” innuendo.
Another load of bullshit with no evidence, just like all the threats Slug Boy makes. Funny how the “left” (except maybe for Mallard) only releases stuff when there is hard evidence, but with the morans it’s always “I’ve seen the evidence of Cunliffe fellating a goat. The goat is likely to make a statement any day now.”
IB are you kidding,
“I am sure these polls are not rigged”
Using a mop?
Go find a dirty floor, you must work in the bee hive.
Try 9th floor,
We have upwards to 15 cases now since we have been on two sites complaining about unusual poll calls, and been dropped after answering primary questions to check for required selection and then going through a 10 minute polling questionnaire to be dropped at breakneck speed with out any reason or even thank you for your time by these “professional polling companies ” we are onto you, you crooked fucks.
Oh we asked one pooling group that was not crooked and they heard this and said we should put in a complaint to the electoral commission or Police so which do you prefer?
They did. Or at least Fran O”Sullivan claimed Bill English came out on top. Yep the Finance minister who has no fresh ideas (whereas Parker iterated fresh policy after fresh policy) won the debate.
I was astounded and felt ashamed for Fran O’Sullivan when she said that English won the debate! He did not!
Anyone, even with a tiny amount of integrity can see that David Parker was clearly very lucid and brilliant. He won that debate hands down. English failed on so many counts.
Strangely, later in the discussions, Fran mentioned that Parker has shown a lot of thinking in his policies. That was a compliment, but to say that English won the debate is completely wrong, biased and pretty stupid.
Here is the entire debate, about 20 plus minutes.
Well worth watching by all, including the right wing. It shows Parker will be an excellent very able finance minister and that there is no problem giving your party vote to Labour for a strong Labour led government. See for yourself: http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/debate-economy-and-coalitions-2014090613
I thought Parker’s best moment was when Bill English was being chased around about the ethics of taking credit card details from websites and English goes “there are more serious issues”.
Parker then steps up and goes something like “yes trying to derail a serious fraud investigate and pervert the course of justice.”
And this is not some detail of a policy that is yet to be written clause by clause into legislation – this is about basic ethics. Just as was the question that Guyon Espiner posed to Key over Collins.
Cunliffe can’t answer a detail about policy – Key and English can’t answer fundamental questions about their personal ethics.
I wonder which the media believe has made a ‘gaffe’?
i have been staying in the far north for a week with a fellow harawira enthusist.
he was of the opinion that the mana/internet coalition could be in for a tuff time ref the opposite stances on marijuana.
i notice hone was away when laila was speaking about reform of policy.
there are also questions around how hone hamdled his recent car prang.
It’s occurred to me that this government and it’s conniving, hero-worshiping media are deliberately trying to divert the election campaign up a dead-end tunnel where the light of truth, decency and honesty cannot penetrate. They are doing this by trying to get everyone talking about policy. Strange that before Dirty Politics it was all about personality and perception (because they had little policy worth talking about) but post-Dirty Politics it is now vital that we should only be talking about policy. The mainstream media can’t wait to agree.
However, because of Dirty Politics, it is now more important than ever that this election is about WHO CAN THE PEOPLE TRUST to run the country; which party can be relied upon to carry out the functions of government without the greed, corruption and disdain for democracy as practiced by this current lot. Which bloc believes in devil-take-the-hindmost, give me the money, I’m all right Jack cronyism and which one believes in fairplay, equality before the law, a fair go for all, everyone sharing in the wealth of this country etc.
This election now needs to be about electing a government which is TRUSTWORTHY and has INTEGRITY and CARES ABOUT PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT.
Hi Phillip – I see it as Labour/Greens/InternetMana and maybe NZ First combined. That bloc is unbeatable I think.
We need to elect a government of the people for the people; one we can rely on to govern for all NZer’s of all persuasions including the right. Utopia? Maybe, but why not try?
The media are not so very interested in talking about policy, even now, or they would have been more focused on how many policies Cunliffe talked about in the debate in Christchurch and noted that Key hardly mentioned any of National’s. (I don’t think National have many) They preferred, however to fixate on one error that Cunliffe made and ignored the many failings of what Key saw fit to present to (inflict on) the voting audience.
I agree with you comment, and would also add that a narrative about what sound democracy requires is a vote-worthy issue too.
Labour sums it up fairly well here (my bet is the Greens and IMP have similar pages too)
hmmm, this is not good. I’m sure mostly it’s DPF and the rest of the crew shitstirring (Farrar has a post up about it this morning), but Labour and Cunliffe need to do much better than basically parroting what Key has been saying all this time about his own staff’s involvement with Slater, not least because we know that Key has been lying through his teeth. Simply saying “you can trust us, nothing to see here, move on” is an inadequate response in these circumstances.
Labour’s leader has confirmed his chief of staff has had dealings with blogger Cameron Slater but is refusing to say what they’ve involved.
David Cunliffe says Matt McCarten has had contact Mr Slater and that he has no concerns about this.
And despite saying sunlight is the best disinfectant with regard to the release of Mr Slater’s hacked computer data, Mr Cunliffe is declining to say what the dealings might have been.
“There is nothing to fear and there is nothing to hide. I don’t go around releasing peoples’ private communications.”
Why is that any kind of story? (Sorry, I won’t be around to respond further) But having watched yesterday’s Otago debate, I was struck by the fact that only one of the participants (Prof Jackson) appeared to have read and actually understood the implications of what Hager had highlighted in ‘Dirty Politics’. The others, and this is in line with this non-scandal of McCarten talking to a blogger, didn’t seem able to differentiate between somebody being called a sheep shagger or talking to a sheep shagger (oh, so scandalous!), and a very deliberate system being set up by a political party allowing blogs (Whaleoil and Kiwiblog) to be used as a conduit for smears and misdirections to be picked up and reported by msm.
If McCarten had been trying to plant stories through Whaleoil, then yeah…different matter. But, what’s the chances of a component of National’s attack machine accommodating anything coming from the left? That’s right – none. Meanwhile, if McCarten wants to converse with Slater….so fucking what?
quick edit – if academics don’t get it, and they’re meant to be erm…smart, then what chance is there of ordinary people perceiving the serious dangers Hager has outlined?
Well quite. So how come Labour aren’t saying that? They don’t have to make a big deal out of it, just say what kind of contact McCarten has had, and point out the difference between that and Slatergate.
re the academics, I haven’t watched the video yet, but I have to wonder if much of this not getting it is the result of people who don’t spend time in the blogosphere not understanding what the blogosphere actually is.
Labour are trying not to get suckered into whataboutery war. If they give the story too much oxygen or release these comms then it validates him some more and Slater can talk some shit about releasing X email from X MP that he’s made up on the spot, then it’s Bill Liu’s donation all over again.
It’s a trap Labour are avoiding. And it’s Nationals main play, shift the story to be about communication not about the behaviour of the main individual involved.
“look everyone sends emails, everyone talks to bloggers, we’re all the same, nothing to see here.”
I agree about not getting sucked into it, and I agree it’s important to normalise contact with blogs. The problem is at the moment Labour are mirroring Key’s response to Slatergate. They have to differeniate themselves from that or run the risk of affirming Key while undermining themselves (thanks MSM). I don’t think it would be that hard to come up with a short statement that does what Bill is talking about above – not all contact with blogs is the same or has the same implications.
I saw Cunliffe make a comment about McCarten’s communications with Slater – it was on a TV News in the last couple of days. Cunliffe just said that McCarten had some communication with Slater but it wasn’t anything significant.
“quick edit – if academics don’t get it, and they’re meant to be erm…smart, then what chance is there of ordinary people perceiving the serious dangers Hager has outlined?”
This is where the MSM should be stepping up. But they don’t get it either (or are embedded and compromised). Am thinking it’s time that the feral media started doing more organising and active outreach into the mainstream (by feral I mean blogs, tweeps, fb etc, and probably offline strategies too).
BM is parrotting, or creating, some sleaze aroud cunliffe. Precisely because the media have failed abysmally to make it clear this is about people in power abusing that power…
“.didn’t seem able to differentiate between somebody being called a sheep shagger or talking to a sheep shagger (oh, so scandalous!), and a very deliberate system being set up by a political party allowing blogs (Whaleoil and Kiwiblog) to be used as a conduit for smears and misdirections to be picked up and reported by msm.”
Plus 1000
Thankfully a high court judge could make the differentiation
Yes, Prof Jackson gave a good summation of the book, what it reveals, and why it matters. I have found him interesting and perceptive on other forums.
I nearly lost the will to live during the panel discussion, the usual generic media comms pontification.
My guess is that Prof Jackson is used to visceral and confronting themes in his subject area of peace studies, and would have no trouble grasping the importance of Dirty Politics.
I am starting to think that accepting the enormity of the corruption of our democracy as elucidated by Prof Jackson is too much for most people, whether they be ‘smart’ academics or ‘ordinary’ folk.
Not sure why anyone wants McCarten gone, but yes, Labour should be… ah right, Labour and “should be’s”. Strategy is not their strong point.
McCarten get’s “dumped”, guilty or not = validates Nat line that “the left do it too”.
Coms published = side show and implies the “left are capable of doing it too”
No coms published = doubt over “Labour” is capable of doing it too.
Who made the error? Cunliffe, by confirming a rumour, inviting sunlight, and then quickly pulling down the shades. Fail. I think the word is catastrophuck.
On the up-side, apparently voters are unconcerned with Dirty Politics, therefore, no harm done regardless of anything. Maybe Cunliffe could run with that. e.g.
“John Key’s supporters appear to have the majority of polls so far. If that is the truly the case, any contact my chief of staff might have had with Cameron Slater is well within their range of the harmlessly acceptable.”
Another piece of evidence showing our increasingly degraded environment.
To save the Hauraki Gulf.
Another reason to vote Green this year.
“Water health may reach tipping point
Water pollution from decades of farming may be approaching a “tipping point” which threatens marine life in the Hauraki Gulf, says an experienced scientist.
Research by Dr John Zeldis, principal scientist for marine ecology at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), shows that water in the Firth of Thames has become increasingly acidic because of a build-up of nutrients from rivers which receive run-off from farms on the Hauraki Plains.”
Speaking of catastrophuck, The Labour Party president has got into the mindboggling situation of telling the public (via media) that Gibson and Dickson are unacceptable Labour candidates, even though they’re on the ballot. She says Gibson won’t be chosen as candidate again. Twisted. Cunliffe says anyone can vote for whoever they want.
I’m (or at least was) near that top tax bracket when the tax cuts came in and I got like an extra $30 odd in my pay packet per week (or fifty a fortnight – can’t quite remember now).
I would have been more than to have stayed on the same tax rate. $30 meant little to me but was a lot to others.
According to something i read the other day only the top 10% of households have seen an increase in real household income in the last few years, everyone else in the negatives…
In fact, only the richest 10% of households are benefitting from rising inequality — they are much better off than than they would be if everyone’s income had grown evenly.
It shows ONLY the top 10% have increased their income 29%
Whereas all other income groups income have had a negative change.
The Greens say that they have COMMON GROUND with National and CAN work with them!
Being shameless sap sucking parasites of Labour damaging its party vote, now these opportunist numbnuts are signalling some thing else and indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances..
Bastards.
These pretentious cunning crooks will never get my vote.
The greens got $400m to insulate cold kiwi homes out of a post election memorandum of understanding. I can’t imagine the greens giving confidence and supply to key let alone go into coalition with him, based on the diametric positions of a raft of social issues, though knowing time is running out re climate change, the world may not have enough of it for labour to sort out it’s voter apathy, who could blame them for making a start under the nats?
On a lighter side, according to some recent reports re David Parker, MT and RN working with English would be less treacherous and deviant as hone around the cabinet table dealing with the labour finance minister… By all accounts. 😉
“I can’t imagine the greens giving confidence and supply to key let alone go into coalition with him,”
Neither can the GP. Below is what Norman actually said, that Clem conveniently left out (my emphaisis).
This isn’t the GP starting with the Nats, it’s the position they’ve taken for a number of years. As you say, they’ve made some gains before. It’s part of co-operative politics, and it’s part of the GP being mainstream and picking up some middle votes because they can work with anyone on policy.
The Greens say they can work with National, just not in a formal coalition.
Party co-leader Russel Norman was tipped by many as one of the winners of last night’s TVNZ minor leaders’ debate.
Current political polling took up much of the debate, with the Greens saying they want at least 15 percent support.
Dr Norman says he admires Finance Minister Bill English and afterwards said he could work with National.
“We’ve got $400 million projects out of National over the last six years. Mostly the home insulation scheme, which was a huge, fantastic project,” he says. “So we work with parties where there is common ground.”
I read what RN said, and it sure adds the missing context to the common ground quote above.
Interesting call to take for the leadership team to take on election night if labour don’t get it together though.
15% plus is looking a good bet, but that could just be a bit of wishful thinking coming through.
They are looking a good combo in all the debates.
Given their strength in the polls and on TV, wonder how successful a less whiny than colin’s last minute push to be included in the key v DC debate finale would go?
Dunne’s worm/Clegg’s winner effect in action.
By so signalling the Greens are actually indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances and damaging Labour’s chances some more. Don’t you get that?
“By so signalling the Greens are actually indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances and damaging Labour’s chances some more. Don’t you get that?”
I don’t see the greens doing any of that which you claim, other than taking votes of labour it can’t hold on to, which I take you don’t seem to like much, So no, no I don’t get that.
Yes, they may be trying to steal some soft votes off from National, but will scare off many more voters from National going to Labour. Greens have already stolen lots of votes off Labour and have weakened it to such an extent that getting the 50% to form a progressive government is getting harder. I think MOST Green supporters are those that would normally vote for Labour.
Even if the progressives are able to form a government, the Greens greed, extremist policies, narrow outlook and short term thinking will more likely than not to have such a coalition with a strong Green contingent being kicked out in three years.
If Nats form a coalition, the Greens will prop them up as they ‘have a common ground’ with them stated by Norman for a few crumbs as usual, feel smug and shortchange the leftist long term cause.
It is much better for Labour as well as the Greens and the progressive block if Labour is much stronger at about 40% plus and the Greens at about 10% minus.
You called me a ‘fool’. In fact, I think that it is Norman that is a short term thinking fool who has managed to fool a lot of voters with his nice sounding sweet talk. [He even PAID people to collect signatures for the anti asset sale referendum petition! How foolish and dumb is that!]
You say the GP would prop up a National govt. By that I take it you mean give them confidence and supply. You have absolutely no evidence of that and are just making shit up because you hate the GP.
Greens have already stolen lots of votes off Labour and have weakened it to such an extent that getting the 50% to form a progressive government is getting harder. I think MOST Green supporters are those that would normally vote for Labour.
Diddums. If Labour want to be a big party again, they need to get rid of the ABCs, and move left and sort out their environmental and social policies. There’s a reason that the GP have picked up so many left votes, and it’s not because the GP are nasty thieves. It’s because Labour never me the needs of those voters.
Labour don’t own left wing votes. They have to earn them. If the GP start doing the same stupid shit that Labour have done, then they will deserve to lose those votes too.
“You say the GP would prop up a National govt. By that I take it you mean give them confidence and supply. You have absolutely no evidence of that and are just making shit up because you hate the GP”
Norman said that ‘the Greens have common ground with National’ and that ‘the Greens can work with National, just not in a formal coalition’
He said he got 400 million from National last time as policy concession. National would not have given that free without some support in return.
National will give them diddly squat without a confidence and supply arrangement or some sort of memorandum of understadning. If you believe they do, then you are naive. C & S or MoUis different from ‘formal coalition’ as he put it.
I do not ‘hate the Greens’ as you put it, but hate their stupid narrow minded short sighted politically naive cocky attitude and greedy suicidal policies and methods which will end up alienating the majority of voters in the country and thus damage the entire progressive movement sooner than later. Why do you think the progressive moment struggles to come close to 50%? Greens are the primary reason in my opinion. There is genuine fear and distrust of the Greens apart from those that make up their 10% to 15% support. So Greens rising in polls, simultaneously causing Labour to languish or causing the Labour voters moving away to National, NZF or the Cons is actually a bad situation for the progressive left cause. Greens getting 16% or 20% does not make the situation any better, but that must worse in the long run from a political and electoral point of view. Greens can achieve much more for a much longer time, without causing mayhem if Labour is around 40% and Greens are at about 10%, unless the Greens can convince the majority in the country and get over 50% support on their own. Remote chance of that happening any time soon. We NEED the centre votes back in, not just the left and far left.
So, in your enthusiasm for the greens do not also be a Labour’s Green albatross denialist.
Norman has shown scant trust, respect and confidence in David Parker by stating that he want’s David’s finance figures scrutinised by some outside finance agency. What an audacious, dumbarse, cocky, arrogant stance to make against Labour and its finance spokesman, Parker!
When asked which political leader he admired most, Norman said Bill English! Go figure!
He said he got 400 million from National last time as policy concession. National would not have given that free without some support in return.
National will give them diddly squat without a confidence and supply arrangement or some sort of memorandum of understadning. If you believe they do, then you are naive. C & S or MoUis different from ‘formal coalition’ as he put it.
Okey dokey, so it would be simple for you to point out where Greens voted to keep the national government in confidence and supply in the last three years.
Which budget did the greens vote for? And if there was one, were they the deciding vote between confidence and a government collapse?
@ Clemgeopin
Actually to be quite straightforward and not wishful about them or excusing Labour, they have lost their own support.
Greens want to keep doing the good things they were started to do and continue to do. Labour aren’t finished farting around in their recovery from the scarring of the Rogernome years. They are putting up a good front, and have lots of dedicated helpers, but haven’t come forward with the strong policies needed to fire support. Like Colonial Viper has been saying.
Greens are just planning on continuing to carry out worth while policies of value to the people. Why should they consider only Labour? Labour won’t even consider talking to them before the election. Stupid foolish to be aiming for the highest count possible for Labour alone. Stupid pride. The game is the thing not aiming for high points on the honours board. So talking to Greens might dilute the results for Labour alone, might swell into a win for the Left. That’s the important thing.
Clemo .. no one has STOLEN any votes… surely that would be against the law??!! Labour has lost votes (like mine.. remember only 18% of males plan to vote labour) because while some of the policies are okay (like Parker’s Kiwisaver vs OCR) it’s their people that are unvoteworthy.. Mallard, Moroney, Mackey… ps what is in the water up there?? a couple of weeks ago you predicted IMP to poll 6.8%
The Greens simultaneously “steal” labour votes with their “extremist” policies, in order to “prop up” national.
Because they really want to end up with the support level of the Maori Party, but without any electorate seats.
Clem, maybe you should stop gnashing your teeth and actually (as an alleged Labour supporter) “campaign positive”. Or are you the Labour party equivalent of Hutton Gibson – so Labour that you’re more Labour than the Labour party?
Oi, this is a message board to express one’s views. I vote Labour. That does not mean I can’t say what I think. What I stated about the Greens is a positive message for all, including the Greens.
I had a vision once about a rainbow alliance coming together united, to rid us from the nats and their dreg cling ons once and for good, but it looks like politicians acting like politicians, let politics get in the way of a good plan.
Wairarapa electorate has a large number of undecideds and Ron Mark might just split the right vote enough to let Labour’s McAnulty through. Plus McAnulty is getting out there campaigning well. So no Green candidate for me this time as this an opportunity too good to miss, might be close http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11319756
“It looks like a high volume of traffic is affecting the ability of customers to browse intermittently on broadband or mobile,” Spark spokesman Richard Llewellyn said shortly after 9am.
He said it wasn’t yet clear what particular event may have caused the surge in traffic and subsequent outages.
Yeah, privatisation is just sooo much better than state services…
Especially good look for a company that says they want out of the boring job of maintaining telephone lines, and would prefer the rock-star job of internet TV.
In regard to post 14, Polls manipulated. Chooky.
WE CAN WITH CONFIDENCE NOW SAY WE ARE LIVING IN THE WORST CORRUPT TIME IN OUR SHORT HISTORY.
I sent this post to all the left wing opposition parties, and TDB,
I ask if anyone wants to set up this as a repost, I give my total consent.
I am a little lost at SETTING UP A FEATURE posting so chooky or anyone who can do it justice PLEASE go ahead and set up a post and when the feedback comes in I will send it all to the left wing opposition parties being damaged by this to get something done about this next week as it is as bad as the Leaders debate Bias that David Cunliffe complained to TVNZ about.
He is probably trying to soften the public and mislead them into thinking that he is a good guy who is not part of the Dirty Politics in the background. Now wait for the rouge right wing dirty politics being unleashed like clockwork against Labour and Cunliffe in the coming days. Wouldn’t surprise me. Their modi operandi is clear to me and to those that see.
Why does everyone decry the media? it makes both ‘sides’ look ridiculous. There are two massive echo chambers, one on either side of the political divide, equally convinced that the media is biased.
Normally we want evidence, but on this particular topic, 100% subjective ranting seems to be all we need.
The media aren’t biased, they have simply disappeared so far up their own anus that all we get are the echoed calls for help from within. Just yesterday there was an outburst over whaledump/rawshark that could be summed up:
“It’s not that it’s illegal, it’s just that if anyone can do it, we don’t have a job anymore.”
der, Chaff, have you read about media bias do you know what this means?
Is our democracy not as important as India’s?
At least their Government held an investigation into their MSM sorry (Main stream media.)
Did you hear or read the emails that connect the media directly to the Government of the Prime minister? “Unbridled influence” Connections to Slater who for years has been sending dirty emails threateningly to media and many others? interested?
Lesson number one, read on how it ends in other counties better than here.
New Delhi news.
Sting operation reveals massive manipulation by opinion poll agencies
ET Bureau Feb 26, 2014, 04.43AM IST
(A TV news channel today claimed…)
NEW DELHI: A number of opinion polling agencies approached by undercover reporters agreed to manipulate poll data, a television news channel has claimed, sparking a fresh controversy in a heated election season as senior ministers and political parties called for an investigation.
Clips from the sting operation aired by the channel showed many pollsters agreeing to produce favourable numbers by leveraging the so-called margin of error, a statistical concept meant to indicate the quality of sampling and the accuracy to be expected from survey results.
“For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose,” the channel, News Express, said in a statement. Polling agencies approached by the channel include QRS, CVoter, Ipsos India, MMR and DRS, apart from a clutch of littleknown ones. Representatives from these agencies are seen responding variously to the undercover reporters, who posed as consultants for political parties.
India Today magazine and Times NOW have said they were suspending opinion polls conducted by C-Voter, pending an explanation from the agency.
Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party called for an investigation. Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal urged the Election Commission to urgently take up the matter. “This (the expose) is a very serious development. It shows these agencies are trying to manipulate public opinion. It is nothing but paidnews, manufactured to serve vested interests.
This is an extremely serious offense that warrants a full-fledged inquiry… I also call upon the Election Commission to take all effective steps to ensure such shady operators are not allowed to manipulate the public opinion in the run up to the elections.”
In November last year, the Election Commission had written to the government asking that a law be passed to restrict release of opinion poll results after the notification of elections. Fourteen out of fifteen national parties had agreed to the proposal.
BJP opposed the proposal, saying such a move would impinge on freedom of expression. “We got the idea for the sting operation from the Election Commission letter.
And then the fact that there seemed to be a new opinion poll almost every day now. Everybody is a pollster and a psephologist it seems,” said Vinod Kapri, editor in chief of News Express.
He added that he was not calling into question any surveys aired or published so far. C-Voter CEO Yashwant Deshmukh said the conversations have been selectively edited.
“The very first thing I said is that C-Voter won’t do this, Yashwant Deshmukh is not available to do this.
Why are they not showing that? I’m explaining the concept of margin of error and talking about the limitations of the poll. Am I anywhere saying that I’m ready to fudge the figures?”
A spokesperson for DRS said the executive who spoke with the undercover reporters is no longer with the company. “Manipulation is a term which is being used incorrectly here,” Ipsos said in a statement explaining the concept of margin of error.
“We have no say in the data collection or analysis by any pollster.
But we will ask C Voter for a clarification and till the time we are satisfied with their response, we have decided to suspend all opinion polls done by them in our channel,” Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said
That reminds me of the famous poll that the Murdoch press put out on the eve of the election where Rudd won a landslide against Howard. The lead in The Australian was “Too Close To Call”. It was a last ditch attempt to motivate disengaged (and pissed off) Coalition voters to get out on polling day.
We still haven’t solved the problem of low-value exports. Exports are about 30% of GDP. Under National, this proportion is almost the same as when they took office. It seems we need more R&D, innovative products, more of our food and beverage companies growing into Australia and succeeding, a lower NZ dollar. There are some good examples of export growth (infant formula, boat-building, computing, clean technology, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Icebreaker clothing, wine, NZ King salmon) but we are still not there. I wonder what is stopping us from creating more high-value exports.
————————-
July 4, 2012
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:02am
mate, this shit I’m hearing about kim dot com is crazy
————————-
Cameron Slater, 7/4, 11:02am
what shit
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:02am
is someone keeping you in the loop re how much the police fucked it all up
————————-
Cameron Slater, 7/4, 11:02am
nope
Crown law made the fuck up really though not the Police
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:03am
sorry yes, but let me tell you how they did too.
okay, so the day before the raid, a car load of coppers rock up to the main gates and to their surprise get waved through by DotCom’s security guys
————————-
Cameron Slater, 7/4, 11:03am
write it up as a post?
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:04am
they go in then turn round and come back out
(presumably they wanted to be able to say that they needed the warrant to enter the premises)
————————-
Cameron Slater, 7/4, 11:05am
except they were invited in…bugger
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:06am
they cut some fibre optic cables that connected 2 servers to a wall instead of unscrewing them from the wall which means that crown law are going to have to send them to the manufacturers to get the data off them as the optic cables are hard wired into the server.
————————-
Cameron Slater, 7/4, 11:07am
that sounds like bs to me
————————-
Jordan Williams, 7/4, 11:08am
instead of landing on the chopper pad, the helicopter the cops used landed on the drive way and sand basted a merc and damaged the chopper
it came from a lawyer within crown law (albeit another devision)
————————-
And from the same Jordan Williams / Cameron Slater correspondence, giving a little insight into the century they came from, before being mistakenly transported to the 21st century:
————————-
January 10, 2013
————————-
Jordan Williams, 1/10, 10:11am
women; if they didn’t have a fxxxy between their legs they’d have a bounty on their heads
nice pic with Judith holding Truth
————————-
Cameron Slater, 1/10, 10:13am
if they didn;t have cxxxs we’d chuck rocks at them
In a functioning democracy, she would exclude herself. On Planet Key, it probably gives her expert knowledge and makes her better suited. There is after all precedent for this, with the IPCA using police to investigate police. The average Kiwi swallows that.
Brian Mulroney, in a series of interviews this week (marking the 30th anniversary since he won a majority and became Canadian Prime Minister) has really let rip at Stephen Harper. I thought this comment could apply equally well to the current PM here in NZ:
“If you’re concerned about popularity and you’re conserving your popularity, you can be certain that your impact upon history will be very, extremely modest. You have to govern, I think, as I’ve said, not for easy headlines in 10 days but for a better Canada in 10 years.”
“So what do you want to do — do you want to be remembered as some guy who was popular, or do you want to be remembered 50 years from now as somebody who made profound social and economic and political changes in the country, and who thereby shaped his nation in a beneficial way for future generations?”
“…….National strategists insist Dirty Politics and hacked emails are a “beltway issue” that only journalists are interested in. The polls say they may be right. The number of times dirty politics stories make the daily best read list on Stuff.co.nz says they’re wrong.”
“The rest of this ‘story’ is that after he had left the building, his staff corrected his spelling mistake – we’re posting the original because the spin around this guy is sickening .
Left on a whiteboard after the last leader’s debate- Thanks Simon”
Key raises lots of questions. Tells reporters: “I can’t answer those questions. It’s not my stupid policy.” This is presumably what National meant when it told media to move on from dirty politics and start focusing on “the high level policy debate”.
Indeed. Seriously, Key has been acting a bit like a petulant schoolboy at times lately.
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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. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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 ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
Happy May Day. Join a union. Q: What’s worse than a staff break room where the only place to sit and have a cup of tea is on a teetering stack of old pornography magazines? A: Your boss replacing the magazine stacks with chairs that are “heartily encrusted with ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...
We get but one birthday a year – why not make it last as long as possible by scheduling as many meals with friends and family as you can? This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you celebrate at ...
A Koi Tū discussion paper released today proposes sweeping changes to New Zealand’s media industry. The principal’s key author, Gavin Ellis, explains how journalists have a key role to play in making others value their role in society. This is an abridged version of a piece first published on knightlyviews.com ...
The Government’s spending cuts are again targeting support for Māori with proposed reform of the agency charged with advising on Māori wellbeing and development. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Douglas, Honorary Senior Lecturer, UNSW Aviation., UNSW Sydney The history of budget jet airlines in Australia is a long road littered with broken dreams. New entrants have consistently struggled to get a foothold. Low-cost carrier Bonza has just become the industry’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rosalind Dixon, Director, Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, UNSW Sydney Australia is finally having a sustained conversation about violence against women and what we can do about it. It is more than time. Australian women and girls continue to experience ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne stockfour/Shutterstock Preliminary bulk billing data released this week shows a 2.1% rise in bulk billing up to March. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Schulz, Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Australia is once again grappling with how we can stop gendered violence in our country. Protests over the weekend show there is enormous community anger over the number of women who are dying and National ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University AnastasiaDudka/Shutterstock What if the government was doing everything it could to stop thieves making off with our money, except the one thing that could really work? That’s how it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury The Conversation It seems to be a time of old favourites. This month our experts have recommended two new seasons – the second season of Alone Australia (although ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland A bright Eta Aquariid meteor photobombed this photo of comet C/2020 F8 (SWAN) in May 2020.Jonti Horner Meteors – commonly known as shooting stars – can be seen on any night of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Flannery, Honorary fellow, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock Current concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Earth’s atmosphere are unprecedented in human history. But CO₂ levels today, and those that might occur in coming decades, did occur millions of years ago. ...
Winston Peters has been keen to dismiss speculation on our involvement in Aukus but will give a speech tonight on the direction of our foreign policy, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Usmar, Lecturer in Critical Media Literacies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images With the coalition government’s ban of student mobile phones in New Zealand schools coming into effect this week, reaction has ranged from the sceptical (kids will just get ...
Hospitals around the country are not allowed to make a single hiring decision without the approval of Te Whatu Ora's head office, including for cleaners and administration staff. ...
A new report on protecting journalism and democracy in New Zealand recommends a levy be charged on global platforms like Facebook and Google to fund media firms undertaking public interest reporting. It also calls for the reinstatement of a powerful Broadcasting Commission to distribute public funding for journalism and other ...
On International Workers' Day, also known as May Day, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi and the wider union movement are celebrating the proud history of the labour movement during a tough time for working people. ...
From bills to beards, a walk through the former Green co-leader’s time in politics. After close to a decade in politics, James Shaw is preparing to bid farewell to parliament. Tonight will see the former minister deliver his valedictory address, certain to be a speech filled with Shaw’s trademark wit ...
Two months ago, MPs unanimously voted to give themselves a week off in Efeso Collins’ honour. On Tuesday, most were too busy to give even an hour of their time. The day Fa’anānā Efeso Collins died, parliament felt different. In a building that operates at a breakneck pace, everyone stopped ...
India’s election involves hundreds of millions of people and is a months-long affair. Here’s how voting works and what’s at stake.The biggest-ever election in world history started on April 19, with more than 10% of the world’s population eligible to vote. Elections in India, the world’s most populous country ...
After the Christchurch earthquake, the then-national civil defence boss compared his experience to “putting a team on the rugby field who have never ever played together before”. Now, eight years later – and following a damning inquiry into the emergency response of cyclones Gabrielle, Hale and the Auckland anniversary weekend floods – ...
“I had just come off the end of a major robbery case which I had been working on for six months when I got a call on the afternoon of September 1, 1992, that some remains had been found at a building site in Devonport, so I drove over with ...
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Comment: Journalists are very good at telling other people’s stories, but they fall well short when writing about their own profession. Perhaps that is why it is so undervalued. Every successive poll on the public’s attitude toward journalism is more alarming than the last. In the last month we have ...
Opinion: A young Māori woman and her Pacific partner arrive at their local hospital by ambulance. She has gone into labour at just under 24 weeks, but the couple haven’t recognised the symptoms – and don’t know the risks of premature birth for their baby. By the time they arrive, ...
Behind closed doors, NZ First will be arguing fiercely against any watering down of the ministerial decision-making powers in the Bill The post Bishop backtracks after fast-track backlash appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Emotional scenes played out in the Invercargill courthouse on the first two days of the coronial inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones, in which the boy’s mother was accused of disposing of her son’s body. The second season of Newsroom’s award-nominated podcast The Boy in the Water ...
Opinion: The impression from the carpark is very inviting. The area is well fenced but barred so there is easy visibility of loved ones. Inside, the spaces are welcoming and clean and staff are friendly and clearly comfortable. I am greeted by ‘Kim’. She has worked here for three years, ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Morris, Associate Professor and Director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School, Macquarie University Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock Foreign interference in Australian democracy poses a growing risk to our national sovereignty. It refers to coercive, corrupt or ...
A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
Protesting the removal of bins by leaving piles of your dog’s shit for others to deal with doesn’t make you a hero – it’s precious and entitled behaviour. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve stood on the shoreline of Auckland’s Cheltenham beach, desperately trying to scoop increasingly liquid dog shit ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a burnt-out corporate escapee explains how she gets by ‘working as little as possible’. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 31 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Contractor in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney Albert Russ / Shutterstock The icebreaker of many a barbeque conversation is something like “what do you do for a crust?” “I teach chemistry at university,” is what we usually reply. Then silence. Our ...
Pretty good article from John Armstrong in this morning Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/election-2014/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503581&objectid=11319892
Oh Cancy, The Armstrong who wrote this?
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11276526
Ah….. the landowners, doing their best to hoard their wealth, and stop any government make a more fair society; a fair society where no people are struggling to survive.
John Key gave a tax cut to the wealthiest, that at the lower end was neutral, a pivot point if you will, the higher the income the higher the windfall. Now Key is suggesting another tax cut, yet nobody is asking is that doubled down with a GST rise? No. That would require a media with a zealous regard for its own integrity.
The more we reward rent seekers the more they want, and who pays? Lower and middle income earners. When they awake National are history as party.
http://www.elections.org.nz/voters/get-ready-enrol-and-vote/enrol-and-vote-overseas
Lets prove these bastards wrong…………………if you haven’t done it already, post this link to every friend, foe or loved one overseas who is a progressive voter
Cnr Joe @ 1.1 Yes good Old Armstrong eh? What a commentator. I would really base all my political views on what he says.
Hey……….that article re Cunliffe should resign……………….letter Dong Liu………..Isn’t that all part of the Slatter smear machine. Be afraid NZ Herald journalists. Be very afraid. Wait for the Royal Commission of enquiry. You might sweep it under the carpet but there are significant numbers of us who want forget.
Armstrong and Key certainly made a meal of this.
Wonder why no meal for Parata getting so wrong over her saying often that she had increased teacher numbers by 15% but really it is less than 6%?
Or Keys housing announcement and his example of a $500,000 house being impossible for any one to buy?
Or his being $100,000,000 out on his housing budget. http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/nationals-housing-numbers-dont-add-up.html
So much for Armstong bias. Huh
Articles like this clearly show why Dirty Politics is not impacting the Polls, National Party friendly media are fighting their fight and doing a very good job. Well done John Armstrong, good work on the PR for National but don’t call yourself a journalist.
Dirty lying dishonest politician stories versus a politician not being able to recall a detail in a complex tax policy…um, which story would a half decent journo work on?
The media has been death riding Cunliffe non-stop (with a lot of help from the PMs office). If Hager’s book won’t make them realise they’ve lost the plot, nothing will.
TBH I can’t see National halting what looks to be a plum strategy, they will just have better comms security next time. And judging by how the media are so quick to fall back into their old place as “repeaters”, I doubt we can hold out much hope for them either.
That is why we so desperately need a strong, non-commercial, public service media.
1000000% Karol.
Can we start a public media ask for donations at least start somewhere, you setup a site on TS &TDB and we are sure everyone can pledge to get a PBS started.?
+1
As it stands, the MSM is part of the problem that is destroying our nation.
+1
Our media sucks big time.
Se above Draco we need to start now my pledge $1000
Lets get started.!
Trotter on this sort of thing, from a global perspective:
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/09/05/by-other-means-bringing-down-a-government-or-keeping-one-in-power-no-longer-requires-tanks/
I have no idea of how this election will go. People have become more polarised since the last one. Those outside the comfortable bubble are angrier, while the government’s PR machine is operating with greater urgency. I do not write off our chances, despite the polls, but if we win I will not be at all surprised by claims that the election has been “stolen,” accompanied by calls for a new election.
Nicky Hager said a lot of journalists asked if there was stuff on them in Slater’s files.
When you read an article like this by Armstrong, it makes me wonder what the dirty politics brigade have on some journalists.
A lot you can bet, as they are the link to control the media, so we know why they are so spooky now eh!
Cant imagine they will print stuff on them though yet, maybe after the royal commission inquest if we ever could be lucky enough to get justice served to have one.
Could John Key sound any more like a petulant school boy? And one who hasn’t managed to develop any moral or ethical values? Not interested: don’t care; ‘grow up’.
A prime minister, who cares little for the interests of the country. Faced with a wealth of evidence of the corruption and covert, undemocratic manipulations and malevolent black ops of his party and their allies…… he goes shopping, and won’t talk matters of substance.
What are the Nat’s policies for the future? The nasty Nat party exposed, and he just smiles and waves on.
Ha! Yesterday Vance tweeted apic of Paratas fingernails admiring them – I called it minister porn
Chances are our PM would have had a hand in planning the corrupt black ops.
Of that I have no doubt, but even if you proved it with pictures and a filmed confession, the Sheeple just will plod happily off to the meatworks.
John Armstrong insults the intelligence of the average voter in his assumption that they will be swayed by sophistry and dedication to fact-checking.
More broadly though, he may be right ..
brian gaynor on hotchin and slater
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11319837
Mark Hotchin issued defamation proceedings over opinions expressed in this column.
Details of what purports to be the contents of a leaked email from blogger Cameron Slater to Mark Hotchin and PR man Carrick Graham, dated October 5, 2011, particularly disturb me.
According to these reports Slater wrote that Justice Minister Judith Collins was “gunning for” Serious Fraud Office boss Adam Feeley. The email, and subsequent revelations, seemed to me to indicate that parties aligned with Hotchin decided, or were advised, that the best way to defend his role in the Hanover Finance debacle was to attack his critics. These appear to include Financial Markets Authority boss Sean Hughes and Feeley.
If it is true, then the leaked October 2011 email also has relevance to this column because a few months earlier Hotchin lodged a defamation claim against the New Zealand Herald and myself for a number of my Weekend Herald opinion columns between November 2008 and March 2011.
This is a really fascinating article …
This is one thing I hadn’t expected before Dirty Politics was published: the level of attacks, intimidation and blackmail aimed at pulling journalists into line. This must have had a long term corrosive impact on our MSM.
(this is about all that is wrong with the interviewing styles of gower et.al…
..i have also had my five cents worth on the subject..
..and those wanting that can go here..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/newsnight-editor-says-end-%E2%80%98mexican-stand-off%E2%80%99-in-political-interviews-ed-cd-someone-send-this-one-to-patrick-gower-and-most-of-the-rest-of-the-interviewing-section-of-the-p/
(excerpt:..)
“….i am so tired of the gotcha!-style interviews of politicians..
..(as practised by gower et.al..)
..whose idea of an interview is to go in there with it already scripted..and starring them….”
..and those who would rather not..
..can go directly to the source..
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/sep/05/ian-katz-newsnight-political-interview-boring-change
..either way..it should be read by those who should/need to read it..
Jim Mora’s snide distortion of Sue Bradford’s comments
The Panel is as partisan, as dishonest, as anything on NewstalkZB
Radio NZ National, Friday 5 September 2014
Jim Mora, Nevil Gibson, Denise L’Estrange-Corbet
Following Wednesday’s astonishing outbreak of independent thinking and forthright speaking by Dita Di Boni, Radio NZ’s light chat show The Panel is now firmly back on message. Yesterday (Thursday) the guests were the shallow ex-talkback host Barry Corbett and the equally shallow, pretentious newspaper columnist Joe Bennett. Corbett didn’t say anything particularly idiotic yesterday; he left it all to Bennett.
And Bennett excelled himself. At one point early in the programme, host Jim Mora asked him if he was interested in politics. Bennett paused, then intoned with Olympian disdain: “Uuuuummmmmm, n-n-n-n-nnot really.” Unfortunately, as with similarly ill informed media opinionizers (Mike Hosking, Larry “Lackwit” Williams, Kerre Woodham) this lack of interest and lack of knowledge has not stopped Bennett from broadcasting his opinions. Hilariously, he delivered the following bizarre pronouncement on the bumbling, stumbling, thuggish ACT leader Jamie “I might be ignorant” Whyte: “I’ve read a couple of his books, and he’s a VERY lucid thinker.”
Apart from the risible guests, yesterday’s show was more sinister than normal; the obligatory scoffing at and dismissal of Nicky Hager’s revelations has now become a witch hunt for “Rawshark”, the person responsible for the leaks of Blubberguts’s rancid, highly embarrassing and incriminating email correspondence. Mora seems to take seriously everything that Blubberguts says on his poisonous site, and has now taken to routinely referring to the “stolen” emails that Hager was sent. According to Mora, there is a possibility that the Facebook correspondence could all have been made up. Well, that’s what Blubberguts says, so there MUST be something to it.
Today (Friday) the National Party-friendly tone of the programme continued. Mora delivered one of the most sickeningly insincere little homilies since Barack Obama’s windy rhetoric at Mandela’s funeral. Observing that people in Ashburton have been praising the women who died violently in Ashburton. “Ah, this is the other side of what Sue Bradford said earlier in the week, ISN’T it!” he chirped.
Of course, Sue Bradford did not condemn the women who died. She condemned the vicious government measures that those women and other WINZ staff all over the country are instructed to implement. It takes a particularly stupid person or one who is deliberately engaging in politically motivated mischief to misconstrue her words like Mora did.
Today (Friday) the guests were, if possible, even more dismal than yesterday’s. One was a former Marxist fanatic turned hard right fanatic, the other one was a particularly glib, nasty and shallow fashion designer. I can’t bear the thought of sitting down and transcribing more than a brief taster of what they said. But the following rants, inspired by Mora’s quoting of a Child Poverty Action Group report, are typical….
DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: It’s like the TV programme Benefit Street. People who are on the dole, who spend their days SMOKING and DRINKING and GAMBLING and they keep on having CHILDREN. … Maybe someone needs to go in and see where the money is going. We just can’t keep on handing out MONEY! …[continues spluttering indignantly about the poor]
NEVIL GIBSON: This poll was carried out by the Child Poverty Action Group, so I’m a bit suspicious of it.
DENISE L’ESTRANGE-CORBET: It comes down to education. Don’t smoke it, don’t drink it, don’t buy Lotto tickets. I don’t believe there IS a shortage of jobs in New Zealand….[et cetera, ad nauseam…]
———————————————–
I sent the following email to the host….
Why did you misrepresent Sue Bradford’s words?
Dear Jim,
You completely misrepresented what Sue Bradford said about the Ashburton shootings. She pointed out, quite correctly, that the staff at WINZ have to carry out government policies which are often cruel and vindictive.
Why did you infer that she was criticizing the frontline WINZ staff when in fact she was criticizing government policies?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
You go you good thing. I’m having to maintain my panel appointment listening because for every Bishop or Womble (Denise LSC ) theres a Findlay or de Boni.
But yeah, when the stoopid comes out ( DLSC – ‘ the .com should go back to America and fight for his inno…) uuurgh.
i think l’estrange etc wd have to be the ..(how to word this..?..)…the most unlearned of all the panelists..(and that’s saying something..she has some serious competition..)
..and that bishop on with her is like a superstorm of ignorance/prejudices..
..and yep..!..mora totally twisted/distorted bradfords’ words/message..
..and interesting how none in the mainstream media seem to have anything to say about all the copycat threats..up and down the country..
..nothing to see there..eh..?
..symptomatic of not very much..?..
..and not just confirming what bradford actually said..?
Denise L’Estrange-Corbett…….demonstrably not a contender in matters cerebral.
I was shouting at the radio yesterday listening to Denise,”the strange” – why doesn’t she just come out and say what she really means, namely that beneficiaries don’t deserve to live. FFS they have few enough pleasures and she wants to deprive them of their smokes and sex as well! What planet do the privileged elite live on?
‘denise’ ..as shown by her own words..has that potent mix of ignorance and arrogance going on..
..and all the self-awareness of that flawed-realty she unloads onto listeners…of a rock..
..she just keeps on braying them out…
As if these useless talking donkeys care what we think.
Quite
Nice work, Moz. The weirdest thing for me was Denise LC talking of being bought up on welfare by a single parent, but apparently learning nothing from the experience. Unintentionally, it was her own mum she was lumping in with the smoking, drinking, gambling, shagging, welfare dependent lifestyle.
heh
Good on you Morrissey, I also was appalled at the depths yesterdays panel had plummeted,( although my email was alot more abusive than yours to Dim). In fact it ruined my Friday night. I have had a fucking gutfull of Dim and his holier than thou Fascists that he parades out every day. For Denise L/C to opine that she didn’t believe there was any unemployment in this country is one step too far even for a whiney voiced halfwit as her, she even had the audacity to get a Free plug in for her 25 years celebration food and fashion show at the Langham, all of next month, (only $89 ).
This has got to stop RNZ, this is my tax money too. I stopped watching TV news years ago, I stopped buying the Herald and my local rightwing rag months ago, so my only source of current affairs is RNZ who I once loved and The Standard ( who I still love 🙂 Now I just want to smash my radio every day.
Thank God for The Standard, may you live forever.
I never listen to “the panel” anymore it is perhaps the most sickening piece of radio on RNZ. Mora is just too biased and has little comprehension of the issues.
stuff online and herald online at 8am… you wldnt know those organisations won a fight for free press and public interest yesterday
Yeah. Thinking the same.
it’s a devastating absence.
And NZ Herald desperately spinning for Craig over Peters. They realise Peters would not necessarily ensure a Nat-led government.
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/slater-gets-temporary-injunction-against-hacker-2014090517#disqus_thread
Comments almost 100% against Key et al.
Worth a look if only for the new artwork someone has done on a National billboard using Miley Cyrus .. made me smile on this dark morning.
But this didn’t:
“Jim-I’d rather a cardboard box in the PM’s chair with proven Labour’s surplus policies than a corporate takeover by John Key and his banker and republican friends doing an Ireland bankruptcy in slow motion!
2. We will be bankrupt in 3 years like Ireland, that Key helped screw ..our debt will be $135 billion in three years – Christchurch will be a river of dirty money for the banker/insurance industry and the lesser building suppliers like American Peabody and co that see us now as a commodity on wall street..and the TPPA is the legal equivalent of oppression by stealth!”
Here’s hoping HOS and SST make use of their freedoms tomorrow. Sigh.
As usual the stories are 100% NACT pap. but the comments tell the full story.
I am absolutely not surprised.
Yeo thought that too. Speak up media, you won your right to speak because to be allowed to do so is in the public interest.
I picked up this interesting twitter exchange via Graeme Edgeler’s Twitter feed.
https://twitter.com/tmurphyNZH/status/507970888726097920
Participants include Tim Murphy (NZH) and Pete of WO, with the latter claiming that their QC reckons that media cannot publish anything that they have but have not yet published.
It may be that Fairfax, Herald, Mediaworks are doing further legal checks to ensure that they are watertight before publishing.
They’re both just planning on releasing it for the Sunday rags. Doubt it has anything to do with caring about that injunction.
Doesnt explain them not going headline on their win? Herald today would normally trumpet their success on anything…
The hard copy of the weekend Herald has articles on the Slater emails on page A 18. They are pretty much buried within the tabloid fluff and advertising.
The top article is a revamping of last night’s online article by Rob Kidd.
The Weekend Herald version has the headline: “Slater gagging order affects only hacker”, and begins,
Under this is an article that seems to be a new one from David Fisher: “Commission rejects bloggers claims”.
It is further examination of and investigation into the SFO inquiry about Feeley. The article begins:
The article goes onto discuss complications in that the SFO cannot easily find records pertaining to staff, etc from 2011.
Underneath this is an article by Adam Bennett. It looks like this one from Herald online, midday yesterday.
The new email referred to by David Fisher is one in a Herald chain of emails that include Jared Savage.
thx karol
Why is ssc first rennie and now this publically discussing something to be covered by an inquiry?!?
Look at who owns Fairfax, APN and TV3 and there is your answer,
Overseas finance and investment companies want Key’s government back as they are prepared to sell us to them.
Yep we are lambs to the Government for slaughter, wished the average kiwi would see this beforee its to late.
Looking at the hard copy of today’s Dom Post. It has an article on the injunction on page 2.
It looks like this article that went online last night.
But the headline is: Court injunction plugs Whaledump leak.
Partly, there may be no new news on it today. But, also, the 3 media oultets may publish new material, but aim to mute it somewhat. eg, the Dom Post aricle being on page 2, while the WINZ killing victims story takes up most of page 1, in a quite sensationalist, tabloidish way: headline: ‘Face to face with the Ashburton gunman’.
Next to the Whaledump article on page two, is an article by Hamish Rutherford, about Labour saying the Collins enquiry is too narrow.
The NZ Herald and Stuff may also be aiming to blunt what is yet to come from the Whaledump material, by some very pro-Nats articles preceding it. These are editorial decisions, and not those of the individual journalists who are probably aiming to do their best by the material.
Give them a break.The data has apparently gone to the two leading MSM investigative reporters in the country. given the leaks landed yesterday I would hope Fisher and Nippert would do a little journalism before putting the stuff into their newspapers and online. Otherwise they’re no better than their “repeater” colleagues.
Serious journalism takes more than a 10 minute lick at a press release,especially when they’re building a story that could be the most significant of the year.
And Nippert does write for the Sunday Star Times, first and foremost.
here’s an idea for labours’ tacticians..
..why not wheel out parker again..?
..to tell us all again what a brilliant idea/policy it is to raise the pension-age..
..that should help drive the polls back up..eh..?
..d’yareckon..?
(but no financial transaction tax on the banksters..eh..?
..even tho’ some twenty other oecd countries already have a form of f.t.t…
..too hard..!..that one..?..is it..?..don’t want to/can’t afford to offend said banksters..?
..are they not already sucking enough in profits out of our economy..?
..each and every year..?
..couldn’t even work out how to implement that most small of inter-financial institutions-only tax..?
..instead..let’s make the workers work to an even older age..
..and of course..that policy will be music to the ears of the maori/p.i-vote labour says it is so assiduously courting..eh..?
..what with their almost guaranteed shorter life-spans than pakeha..
..eh..?
..who exactly is it that you are beholden to..?
..it sure as hell isn’t to those workers whose working-life-spans you wish to increase..
..and this is all based on some future we-can’t-afford-it!-scenario..
..a scenario that ignores so many variables..it is just a joke..
..just one of these variables..is that at a time when thinkers are wrestling with what to do with workers..with the rise of automation..thinking shortened work-weeks etc..
..parker/labour are crying ‘fire..!..fire..!’..to justify this vote-killing policy..
..and funny story…!
..what just compounds this clusterfuck of an idea/policy/argument..is the ultimate futility of it all..
..as the coalition partners labour will be relying upon..should they become the govenment..won’t have a bar of it..
..for labour/parker..this is just stupidity piled on top of stupidity..
..and post-election..in the wrap-up..
..must get some ‘award’ all of its’ own..
..’the braindead-policy-award’..?..(as a working title..?..)
🙄
Yeah
but credit where credit is due..parker is doing well up against english on the nation..
..english isn’t helping his case tho’..
..him showing himself up as an idea-free zone..
The retirement age is *going* to be raised sooner or later. It’s inevitable.
Better to raise it gradually with a lot of forewarning now, than do it in a mad rush later.
Indeed it will happen, and like fake outrage, the unpopular aspect will be long forgotten in the big scheme of things.
Maybe pu either has an obsession with DP and is compelled to publicise it, even if it does border on homo erotic s and m.
Maybe, unlike where he correctly expects the top rate tax earners and banks to pay more to stop poverty, he isn’t prepared to stump up and work a few months to a maximum of 24 in the future to pay for his and others retirements. Maybe he has a trust or a pension plan and doesn’t have to worry about it.
Or maybe he just looks at it all from the wrong angle. Instead of looking at the perceived negatives, focus on the positives. Instead of getting a piss poor pension aged 65-67, one will still be able to claim jobseekers and associated top ups for an extra couple of years, which shocking as it is for a lot of our old people, is money in the bank.
One of the trends I’ve never heard discussed in the superannuation debate is the historical rate and projections for people 65+ in the workforce.
This is from a paper titled ‘Demographic projections from Statistics New Zealand: Aims, methods, and results’ from the Stats Department in 2012 (google the title and when you click on the pdf link you get an automatic download):
“The number of people aged 65+ in the labour force climbed from 25,000 in 1991 to about 130,000 in 2012. Further increases in labour force participation, coupled with more people at older ages, is likely to grow the older segment of the labour force further. It is highly likely that there will be 240,000–500,000 people aged 65+ in 2036, and 280,000–660,000 in 2061 (Figure 35). The largest growth will occur between 2011 and 2031, as the baby boomers move into the 65+ age group (Figure 36).”
And,
“Among those aged 65+, 1 in 16 were in the labour force in 1991. It is 1 in 5 in 2012, and is projected to increase to 1 in 3 by the mid-2020s.
As a result, by 2036, it is expected that between 9 and 15 percent of the labour force will be aged 65+, compared with 3 percent in 2006. By 2061, it is expected that between 10 and 18 percent of the labour force will be aged 65+.
Within the labour force aged 65+, the number of people aged 80 and over (80+) is also expected to increase significantly. From 8,000 in 2012, it is highly likely that there will be 21,000–64,000 people aged 80+ in the labour force in 2036, and 27,000–96,000 in 2061.
Among those aged 80+, about 1 percent were in the labour force in 1991. It is 5 percent in 2012, and is projected to increase to 10 percent by the late 2020s.
Overall, 68 percent of adults (aged 15 years and over) were in the labour force in 2012. The median projection indicates an increase to 69 percent around 2020, then a gradual drop to 67 percent in 2036, and to 65 percent in 2061 (Figure 37). This drop is despite the assumptions of static or increasing LFPRs at most ages. This apparent contradiction is caused by the changing age structure of the population, with more people at the oldest ages where LFPRs are at their lowest.”
So the median projection indicates an overall population labour force participation rate decreasing from 69 percent in 2020 to 65% in 2061.
Has the increasing labour force participation rate for those 65+ been calculated into the fiscal projections for the superannuation ‘burden’?
I’ve usually heard people (politicians) simply say that fewer workers will be supporting more people over 65. That seems a bit simplistic given the trend in labour force participation for the over 65s. (Being in the Labour force they will also be paying tax, of course.)
Have I missed something?
Also, what counts as “Labour force participation”. I’m over 65 & working, but only for a couple of days a week. Many older people do go onto part time work.
Why is it inevitable? As far as I’m concerned, TINA just means a lack of creativity.
Just looking around the UK upper level domain for antics from a certain PM and came across this (my filter bubble allowed it, surprise, surprise).
https://www.check-business.co.uk/business/01062001/bofaml-investments/
It’s a Merrill Lynch company, in fact it used to be called Merrill Lynch, one of the main ones in their ‘let’s avoid the taxman and stop anybody from finding out who we are’ game. Closely associated with the Bank of America (ie. B(ank)ofAm(erica)L). 12 month profit (well loss actually) -26k. Capital something like 113 million dollars (which considering how high up in the Bank of America tree this company is seems quite low to me). Credit worthiness pretty low. So effectively tax dodging, investigative dodging one of the biggest banks in the world, but if they were a customer instead of a (the?) banker then they wouldn’t be able to raise a loan. John Key was a director of this company for 3 years in the late 90s.
Yes but JK has left all that behind to take a more powerful position where he can ensure his banking mates get a decent slice of this country.
Same motives and outcomes achieved whilst getting treated to protective services, air force transport, royal weddings, world cups, antarctica etc.
As far as JK is concerned its thanks nz the scrapbook is nearly full and the bucket list much reduced just need to sort the knighthood before I leave the juristriction.
Well hopefully it’s his marching orders and a criminal investigation.
Do you have a link to this claim that John Key was a director of Merrill Lynch?
He certainly worked for them in a managerial role but I haven’t seen any evidence of him being a director of the company. The source of your claim, please.
It’s on the site that I linked;
https://www.check-business.co.uk/business/01062001/bofaml-investments/#anchor-people
Just choose ‘Previous Directors’ in the drop down menu which probably now shows ‘Current Directors’. He’s between Alan Stern and John Charles Cooper.
https://www.check-business.co.uk/director/53719380002/john-philip-key
Bofaml Investments was called Merrill Lynch when Key was a director. It is still Merrill Lynch of course although Merrill Lynch is effectively a Bank of America proxy (as reflected in the new name).
You can confirm Key’s directorship via Companies House in the UK in all likelihood.
Akshully it looks kind of interesting that they changed their name (from Merrill Lynch to MLIB) about 10 days after Key became Prime Minister does it not?
You aren’t trying to be serious are you?
The company you link to isn’t Merrill Lynch. It is a fairly small organisation registered in London, whereas Merrill Lynch, the group, is (or was) a very large organisation registered in the US. The company you have found is at best the subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch.
To say that someone being a director of such a company is a director of the whole organisation, ie Merrill Lynch is silly but it appears to be what you think.
It is about on a par with saying that a director of Fletcher Construction (Solomon Islands) Limited is a director of Fletcher Building Limited. Well it isn’t that way and the people concerned aren’t.
Well singing from the same song sheet as nadis I see. And making the same mistake in suggesting that the US company is allowed to register itself in the UK. No it’s not, Merrill Lynch in the UK has always been a UK registered company. Merrill Lynch in Switzerland is a Swiss company. Merrill Lynch in New Zealand is a NZ company.
If Merrill Lynch goes broke in the US that will not effect the UK Merrill Lynch.
I have never said that John Key was a director of the US Merrill Lynch.
I seem to have lit a fire. I’m still not sure how or why it’s still burning.
Here’s the proof that you don’t want;
http://www.isda.org/protocol/pdf/mlibl.pdf
Notice the registration number 1062001, it’s the same Company registration number as the company that John Phillip Key (New Zealander) was a director of.
As you can see it was called Merrill Lynch International Bank in 2000. That was the main Merrill Lynch company in the UK at the time.
alwyn — is that u bronagh ?
Did you read it?
Has anyone else noticed that reading and comprehension seem to be a weakness amongst those who support Key, and Key himself
Have a look at my comment above Tracey regarding the difference between small companies and the directors of the group of which the small company is a part.
You claimed yesterday, by the way, that Rupert Murdoch owned 30% of APN. I asked that you provide a link to the source of the claim.
You haven’t answered yet. Dis you have trouble reading the request or did you fail to comprehend what I said? Do you have a weakness in such things?
Dis – french? (say, talk)
Or some other language?
Wow, you’ve spotted a typo. Aren’t you the clever one?
Now are you dissing me junior?
Tracey hasn’t seem the comment though or I’m sure she would have explained by now how she decided that Rupert Murdoch was a major owner of APN and therefore the NZ Herald.
I wouldnt get excited. What you are looking at is just a special purpose vehicle company. These are typically used for one off transactions and reused again and again. And names change all the time. Their might be a tax reason, or just a need to hold assets in a discrete vehicle, but there’s nothing conspiratorial here. I worked for an investment bank, my area maintained upwards of a hundred separate companies which were used to put together specific transactions. All had names that were either completely generic, i.e. “Sabre 2008 Ltd” or were a play on either our banks name or the customers name. At one time I was a director (unpaid) of about 30 companies.
The real Merrill Lynch or actually Merrill Lynch Fenner Pierce and Smith was a New York incorporated company listed on the NY stock exchange. So not the same thing.
I didn’t really think there was anything particularly conspiratorial about this other than the normal shenanigans that ‘those at the top who pay no tax’ get up to. I was just pointing out that the director of Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited was at one stage in the late 90s a certain John Phillip Key from New Zealand. And that despite capital (but not assets) over 100 million this company was paying no tax and has a loss that is small enough despite that significant capital to raise suspicions that it is artificial.
Now if you want to see if what we are talking about is a ‘discrete vehicle’ whatever the hell that is or the actual Merrill Lynch UK version well then this should put you right;
http://www.casact.org/education/reinsure/2009/handouts/GS-2-Cohen.pdf
Check the bottom to see the main entity for each country. You will see that the UK entities are Merrill Lynch International Bank Limited (i.e. the entity that John Key was a directer of) and MLPF&S. Also Bofaml Limited as the company is now known has been in business since 1971 or so, so it’s hardly a company along the lines of ‘throw some liabilities in there and liquidate it’ vehicle is it?
Now there may have been some name changes and movement to different company registrations since (a trivial exercise even for someone as small fry as myself) but the main Merrill Lynch vehicle in the UK had as its director in the late 90s, a certain Mr JP Key. I’m not interested in the US version, I never said that John Key was a director of any American company.
Please don’t try and pull rank on me again (I was an investment banker), I’m quite capable of figuring out what is going on here.
Now back to the beginning again, what’s conspiratorial here?
have you seen these pages Rich ? Something else for alwyn to fester about …. hosted by travellev, a well known poster here on TS
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/open-letter-to-eugene-bingham-or-would-you-have-voted-for-john-key-if-you-had-known/
I don’t really think that he is the devil incarnate, yeshe, as that blog seems to think that he is. He’s just playing the game on behalf of somebody else. And being richly rewarded for it. And he’s a bit of pr*&k as well but the main lizard he is not.
I just want nadis to tell me what is conspiratorial about this. As I didn’t see that on my first post.
Yes Rich, but playing the game for the lizards does not make you any less despicable than the lizards. He is a proven liar and a crazy danger to NZ as he serves his masters’ avarice.
As long as you know that story is there and proven … good luck with nadis !
Yes somehow I don’t think that nadis is going to tell me why it’s conspiratorial.
I suspect it’s something along the lines of ‘his interest in NZ is more Merrill Lynch than Bryndwr or Remuera’. Which is true enough.
Hi Rich
Was this true that JK was planning with Alex Krieger to undermine the NZ dollar and make a reward from Krieger for services, when he was working at NY Merrill Lynch?
Isn’t that a deliberate attempt to destabilise the financial state of NZ and what is the charge, is it wilful sabotage?
Bad enough he worked in Australia to fire 500 workers also. He really is a saboteur.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2008/11/10/financial-markets/keys-house
MARKETS: Shadow banking in the spotlight
Giles Parkinson10 Nov 2008, 10:54 AM
Financial Services
Politics
Industries
Global Financial Crisis
Financial Markets
Global News
Economy
Markets
John Key is living proof that not all heads of derivatives operations for large US investment banks end up in the dog house. Some get to run their own country.
Key was elected prime minister of New Zealand last weekend after his National Party achieved a crushing victory over the incumbent Labour government of Helen Clark.
The timing of his elevation, in the midst of a financial crisis, may be quite prophetic. After all, Key’s rise to prominence in foreign exchange circles came after he struck a rewarding relationship at Bankers Trust with Andy Krieger, a daring New York-based trader who launched a legendary raid against the NZ dollar in 1987.
Krieger reportedly bet more than the country’s entire money supply against the currency, forcing it down sharply and taking massive profits in what is still described as one of the finest forex plays ever completed.
Key’s role in this raid is not entirely clear. The timing of his arrival at BT suggests he might not have had a great deal to do with it, but he benefited from Krieger’s continuing interest in the currency, which helped Key lift BT to top of the local currency tables and attract interest from international investment banks.
New Zealand’s new leader also knows a lot about job losses, having by his own admission earned the reputation of being the “smiling assassin” during his short stint at the Sydney offices of Merrill Lynch in 2001 when he reportedly helped fire some 500 staff.
He had been through this process before, after Merrills incurred massive losses as a result of the Asian crisis. Key, then head of the bank’s forex operations in London, is credited by former colleagues for his ability to hold a demoralised team together, even while sacking, in his own words “dozens fewer than 100”, a comment that reveals an early talent for political spin.
Key began his career as an auditor in Christchurch before joining Elders Finance in the mid 1980s as a foreign exchange dealer. Within two years he was the head forex trader at Elders before moving to BT in 1988 and then to Merrill Lynch, where he headed the Asian forex operations from Singapore.
From there, he quickly rose to become head of Merrills’ global forex operations in London, where he is said to have commanded a multi-million dollar salary, before deciding to turn to politics to pursue his childhood dream of becoming PM. Now that he is there, his take on what many people expect to be a heavy re-regulation of world financial markets should be interesting.
In an interview for an article jointly authored by London’s Financial Times and New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times earlier this year, Key admitted a great admiration for Krieger.
“He was a pioneer, in the sense he was one of the few people in the world who understood the options market before it was really established. He blazed a trail and that gave him a strategic advantage early on.”
Key also said he did not believe there was a moral issue for the traders who made speculative attacks on currencies, or for the dealing rooms that carry out their orders.
“I can’t remember whether Andy Krieger was buying or selling, it might have been selling with me, but at the time it would have reflected the economic fundamentals at play in New Zealand. The markets are ultimately too large for any one individual to manipulate.
“There is much more good gained from having a fully functioning financial market than there ever is from not having that. We provided liquidity, we provided stability.
“There would be plenty of exporters today who would be cheering from the sidelines if Andy Krieger came in to sell a whole lot of New Zealand dollars. And equally if he was buying it there would be plenty of importers who would be cheering from the rafters. So it’s not as clear-cut as some people might think.”
Interesting read, disturbed.
Disturbed .. if you haven’t, please read the link I posted for Rich above at 8.3.1.1 —
travellerev takes apart the PR, blustering denials and memory lapses to prove Key had to be there with Krieger at the same they came close to destroying NZ currency and personally must have made millions and millions from it.
The dates are very clear; including details of why Key was required to fire 500 Merrill employees.
Read it and weep.
Key is incapable of seeing anything as a moral issue. He seems to be completely amoral. Ironically, he owes his early success to the first ACT government, which deregulated the finance sector and opened up opportunities for parasites who never felt ethical burdens. Maybe this explains his affection for ACT?
And for you too little nadis (investment banker).
Here’s the proof that you don’t want;
http://www.isda.org/protocol/pdf/mlibl.pdf
Notice the registration number 1062001, it’s the same Company registration number as the company that John Phillip Key (New Zealander) was a director of.
As you can see it was called Merrill Lynch International Bank in 2000. That was the main Merrill Lynch company in the UK at the time.
Now, re your reference to conspiratorial, what is conspiratorial? What’s the theory (or theories) that you are criticising?
The polls. Has anyone thought of standing outside the supermarket today and polling 1000 people on their voting intention? Probably take 1-2 hours. Be very interesting to see if that type of poll mirrors mainstream ones – especially in particular areas. I’d do it if there were others who would too in areas different to mine.
you could do what campbell-live did..
..set up a table..with jars..marbles/whatever…
..so passers-bye can vote with their marbles/whatever..
..(far more user-friendly that accosting passers-bye..while wielding a clip-board..and demanding to know their voting intentions..)
Noticed this amongst all the “National has already won” shallow journalism on the stuff website.
“The undecided vote remained steady at 13 per cent, which is higher than in some other polls. Benson said if Ipsos included those who said they were undecided, but when pressed were leaning towards a particular party, that number dropped to about 7 per cent and saw National’s vote come in about 2 percentage points lower.”
The undecideds are clearly mostly trying to decide which opposition party to vote for. That suggests that factoring in all of the undecideds, National would be showing about 4% lower in the polls.
Despite the importance of this, all of the headlines and graphs are all about ‘decided’ voters and most reports barely mention the undecided. The high undecided figure highlights the inappropriateness of the “All over bar the shouting” message coming from much of the MSM which could also be self-fulfilling if it helps demoralize undecided voters into staying at home.
Well spotted Harry. This election will go to the wire.
+1
I still say that polling should be banned at least during the electioneering period and preferably for the 3 months before hand as well.
But how will the people of the right know what to think?
Irrelevant. People of the Right just know, they don’t think.
On a little bit more positive note. The advance voting statistics show significantly higher numbers in early votes compared to earlier general elections:
http://www.elections.org.nz/events/2014-general-election/advance-voting-statistics
I’ve already voted, as have David Cunliffe and Metiria Turei. A good turnout favours the Left so encourage people to vote ASAP. There are hopeful signs for the Left in the high Advance Voting.
The BEST WAY TO GET RID OF KEY (putting aside partisan constituency feelings) is:
Green Party Supporters-Party Vote Green
Labour Party Supporters-Party Vote Labour
Internet-Mana Supporters-Party Vote Internet-Mana (IMP)
TE TAI TOKERAU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote IMP-Hone Harawira
EPSOM Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote National-Paul Goldsmith
EAST COAST BAYS Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote National-Murray McCully
OHARIU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote Labour-Virginia Andersen
WAIARIKI Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote IMP-Annette Sykes
TE TAI HAUAURU Constituency
Green, Labour and IMP supporters Candidate Vote Labour-Adrian Rurawhe
If you don’t vote like this in these constituencies YOU ARE EFFECTIVELY VOTING FOR JOHN KEY.
But first you have to make up your mind. And here in the Otaki exectorate I have seen 1 count it 1 Labour bill board, and a few of NatKey/Guy ones and thats it.
It’s like no one gives a rats arse up here..
And the only stuff that’s been stuffed in my Mail box I put return to Sender, back to the Nats and Nathan Guy.
So no door knockers.
And buggers all hordings.
No Street meetings.
No Mailbox policy drops.
No politicians,
Nice to be in an such an important electorate /sarc
Thanks for the link, satty; amazing. Especially important for a September election given the likelihood of unsettled weather. I voted early and did so because of the push from the Greens (wouldn’t have thought to otherwise).
This is so bad. The US Govt’s secret plans to spy for US corporations.
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/05/us-governments-plans-use-economic-espionage-benefit-american-corporations/
so ugly. what odds waihopai is involved in that ?
Labour released their conservation policy last week. It contains a firm pledge to extend no mining protection under Schedule 4 to all conservation land between Thames and the Kaimai rail tunnel. A huge swath of high value DOC estate.
see this map
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31214727/Mining/Ecological%20Districts%20Map.JPG
Presently only conservation land north of Thames on the Coromandel has Schedule 4 protection from mining.
Remember when 40,000 people marched up Queen Street and many more protested against National’s plans to take land OUT of Schedule 4?
Great policy like this from Labour has been buried under a steaming pile of dirty politics.
Thanks exitlane, great to see better legal protection of the conservation estate. Hopefully the msm will realise some parties do have quite important policy releases any day now…
NZ polls are manipulated.
Corruption case to answer and a police investigation must be ordered by the opposition, here are some facts.
A simple search last night of “Polls can be manipulated” – Google
found about 1,400,000 results.
Below leaves us all now with the knowledge of what in New Zealand is actually going on, it is more corruption of our MSM conducting manipulated polling results, and opposition now must call this as it is, corruption of the MSM and manipulation of all polls.
We were contacted Friday 22nd of August at 4pm by Herald Digipoll by a lady who first said we are conducting a poll and could we participate?
We said yes, then she said my supervisor is listening in, is that o/k?
I hesitated but agreed and she went through a ten minute questioning, and then abruptly said we don’t need your input thanks, and hung up!
This left us so disturbed we searched the web and found all 1.4 million cases of poll manipulations globally on Goggle, which include what is called “selective polling”
We believe we were a victim of a Herald Digipoll selective polling strategy.
NZ pols are corrupted, is this a crime?
This is just one case of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle in India which may show what is happening here in NZ.
quote;
New Delhi: Public opinion gathered by leading opinion poll agencies is often tweaked to give misleading results, Operation Prime Minister, a sting operation by a private news network, News Express, has revealed Tuesday. Well-known faces from leading opinion poll agencies have been caught on hidden camera agreeing to such malpractices.
Operation Prime Minister shows how opinion polls are conducted and manipulated at the instance of political parties, their results traded to show a particular party in a favourable position, for a price. Presenting snippets from the sting operation at a press conference, Editor-in-chief of News Express, Vinod Kapri said, “Our motivation behind conducting the sting operation was a letter written by the Election Commission of India to all regional and national parties inviting their views on the publication of opinion polls.
We wanted to investigate the concerns of the Commission.” In its letter dated 4 Oct, 2013, the Election Commission had said, “The Commission has been suggesting to the government that there should be a similar prohibition or restriction on opinion polls also as there could be several manipulated opinion polls which could impact the voting pattern.”
Another motivation behind the sting operation was the mushrooming of opinion polls. “There used to be one or two opinion polls every election. But now, one sees an opinion poll almost every week. Which leads us to the question- how is the data generated so quickly and processed,” said Kapri.
“Operation Prime Minister has exposed eleven opinion poll agencies, whose surveys are published in leading newspapers and magazines besides being broadcast by leading news channels”, it was claimed in the sting opertaion.
It demonstrates how the 810 million voters of our country are duped into believing trends or waves that are manipulated. – See more at:
“Opinion polls seem to have become the latest weapon in the poll campaign.
For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose”,
News Express claimed. The influence of opinion poll agencies goes beyond mere opinion polls. In some cases, the poll agencies have claimed they can even prop up dummy candidates in the constituencies where the rival candidate is on a strong wicket.
It has also been claimed that some leading editors are hand in glove with these poll agencies.
This is just a few of the 1.4 million sites on Goggle. – See more at:
http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/February/26.02.2014/opinion-poll-companies-exposed.html#sthash.wqSJ2ylu.dpuf
http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/statistics-16350/
http://www.ummid.com/news/2014/February/26.02.2014/opinion-poll-companies-exposed.html#sthash.h8rTzw8V.dpuf
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/471548/exit-polls-manipulated-modi-will-never-be-pm-samajwadi-party.html
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/general-impression-that-opinion-polls-can-be-manipulated-sibal/20131109.htm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Many-agencies-manipulating-opinion-poll-projections-claims-sting-operation/articleshow/31013534.cms
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/2764415112001
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse_of_statistics
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/mhp-furious-over-opinion-poll-manipulation-claims.aspx?pageID=238&nID=62184&NewsCatID=338
disturbed +100% …great comment and links ..this should a Post !
I have seen similar comments over on the Daily Blog
..Skewed polling is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the minds of the undecided New Zealand voter to undermine their confidence and decision to vote for a change of government …and should be exposed for what it is
…falsified statistics used in a spurious PR campaign with supposed scientific validity
(I myself refuse to answer polls…and I have been asked a number of times by a number of different polling companies.. don’t know why…I know others who have never been asked…and others who lie when asked)
And DPF trying to say that the polling was kosher so I called him on it ( I had a call and was cut out halfway through the ‘interview’) That was the end of the Conversation with him.
In regard to post 14, Polls manipulated. Chooky.
I sent this post to all the left wing opposition parties, and TDB,
I ask if anyone wants to set up this as a repost, I give my total consent.
I am a little lost at posting so chooky or anyone who can do it justice PLEASE go ahead and set up a post and when the feedback comes in I will send it all to the left wing opposition parties being damaged by this to get something done about this next week as it is as bad as the Leaders debate Bias that David Cunliffe complained to TVNZ about.
Thanks Chooky.
A great column disturbed and disturbed we should be too. And there is something strange about our current polls. Be hard to prove but…
Thanks Disturbed for this article and links so interesting and frightening. I have been rung 4 times in the last 7 weeks with exactly the same strategy as you describe, lots of questions and then the ‘supervisor’ obviously said no! and hung up with no bye you way – rude as much as anything. I then had another call and they asked straight out what my age group was and replied oh your too old we don’t need anything more from oldies. I swore at them which I won’t print here! Polls are a huge scam.
This appears to be a very serious problem if it is happening to more than a few people.
Hi Marg, Karol,
Proof of selective polling.
I am prepared to go to Campbell live, how can we do this any Ideas please Karol how we can discuss?
Can you post a site where it will ask if others have been contacted and dropped after some discussion after age was approved and poll questions begin and end with no acceptance?
You should go to Campbell live with this, I’m sure they’d be all over it.
as i understand it, the scab has been ripped off an ugly sore,
it shows, if not corruption, then highly inappropriate behaviour by at least one senior politician.
then the party shows a lift in some polls.
i want to provocatively suggest that if any one is polled to answer that they are voting for the right, or hard right.
this could possibly cause: complacency by the right.
a rally to arms by the left.
possibly have the media question the veracity of these polls.
i agree with the notion that polling should stop well before the election.
Interesting
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.aspx?id=1469591&topic=7
Again, it would be helpful if you’d explain what the link is. Not everyone has a Trademe account. Mind you, if it’s interesting to you, it’s almost certainly pants.
That’s right you need an account to log in and view the message board.
I’ll copy and paste the first post.
[karol: These are just personal smears from the gutter, spreading them with no evidence.]
Is Slater/Ede/Odgers now using trade me for sleazy dirty poltics
‘now’? I think you mean ‘still’.
Plenty of people are of the opinion that the TradeMe user “feeder” is DPF – that account certainly went a bit quiet when he was in Nepal.
trademe forums have been a shithole since forever.
So, I was right. Pants from start to finish. Cheers, though, BM, it’s always great to see examples of right wing desperation such as that comment. Obviously, if the incidents were real, we’d already know about it.
I’d be pretty surprised if there was any truth to any of it.
Oh so more of Slater’s shit that he and his cronies have been trying to seed around social media.
Already heard the outline of these claims, just another attempt by these sock puppets to ratfuck Cunliffe.
Was waiting for a dick like BM to try and post it here, “just saw it on the TM forums”…. yeah right… Cameron’s been grinding this axe all week.
Yeah, I’ve heard of few rumors over the past couple of weeks.
Not in that sort of detail though which is what I found interesting, if it is made up, the author of that post may be in a bit of trouble.
I’m sure DC wouldn’t be happy to have his name dragged through the mud like that and would no doubt take steps to clear it.
If you have heard rumours you must hang around some pretty vile people, you really have turned out to be quite a vile person morality and ethics wise…
You remind me of many described in dirty politics, and this comment/posting of yours is beyond contempt. Especially when you dont condemn the behaviour which has been proven to impact the governing of nz. Cunliffe has no power… The right are showing themselves to be beyond despicable.
Now
Fuck off
Oh rumo(u)rs. How substantive.
Don’t care. (that’s one of your mates favourites).
More dirty politics from the right – nothing else there.
And more american spellings too. I thought they’d figured that one out?
By infamous they mean sleazy?!?
more crafted dirty tricks, from a camp that specialises in them. The fingerprints of invention are all over it – including the “blurred lines” innuendo.
You’re a degenerate fuck.
Just a quick question – How does someone blur personal and privates lives?
“blurred lines between his personal and private lives“???
That’s nonsensical.
Edit: Sorry miravox. I should have read the whole thread first!
No problem Pg. The more people who notice that sort of idiocy the better.
It is nonsensical, although I guess the author couldn’t be sued for defamation with that line 😉
Another load of bullshit with no evidence, just like all the threats Slug Boy makes. Funny how the “left” (except maybe for Mallard) only releases stuff when there is hard evidence, but with the morans it’s always “I’ve seen the evidence of Cunliffe fellating a goat. The goat is likely to make a statement any day now.”
Pathetic, BM. Bristol 6 for that one.
Has any one noticed that the three poll results issued this week by the professional polling companies are almost identical with the results released two weeks before the 2011 election day by the same companies. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_New_Zealand_general_election,_2011
Whilst I am sure these polls are not rigged, I am wondering if we are heading for a status quo result with most voters staying ‘tribal’
IB are you kidding,
“I am sure these polls are not rigged”
Using a mop?
Go find a dirty floor, you must work in the bee hive.
Try 9th floor,
We have upwards to 15 cases now since we have been on two sites complaining about unusual poll calls, and been dropped after answering primary questions to check for required selection and then going through a 10 minute polling questionnaire to be dropped at breakneck speed with out any reason or even thank you for your time by these “professional polling companies ” we are onto you, you crooked fucks.
Oh we asked one pooling group that was not crooked and they heard this and said we should put in a complaint to the electoral commission or Police so which do you prefer?
On the Nation Parker has turned English into a mop and is wiping the floor with him.
But how will the Panel report it?
Probably the other way.
They did. Or at least Fran O”Sullivan claimed Bill English came out on top. Yep the Finance minister who has no fresh ideas (whereas Parker iterated fresh policy after fresh policy) won the debate.
Wasn’t O’Sullivan implicated in Dirty Politics?
And the media still use her as a commentator.
What. A. Joke.
She and jared savage. But their editor, tim murphy (who thinks a statement and an affidavit are the same) said they are not.
Hope that clears it up.
I was astounded and felt ashamed for Fran O’Sullivan when she said that English won the debate! He did not!
Anyone, even with a tiny amount of integrity can see that David Parker was clearly very lucid and brilliant. He won that debate hands down. English failed on so many counts.
Strangely, later in the discussions, Fran mentioned that Parker has shown a lot of thinking in his policies. That was a compliment, but to say that English won the debate is completely wrong, biased and pretty stupid.
The debate on The Nation TV3 is not on line yet.
Here is the entire debate, about 20 plus minutes.
Well worth watching by all, including the right wing. It shows Parker will be an excellent very able finance minister and that there is no problem giving your party vote to Labour for a strong Labour led government. See for yourself:
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/thenation/debate-economy-and-coalitions-2014090613
I thought Parker’s best moment was when Bill English was being chased around about the ethics of taking credit card details from websites and English goes “there are more serious issues”.
Parker then steps up and goes something like “yes trying to derail a serious fraud investigate and pervert the course of justice.”
No-plan Double Dipton says “the plan is to continue with the plan”.
It would be hilarious if he weren’t so tragic.
Is it ok? Is it ok? Is it ok, Mr English? Is it ok? Is it ok?
They just refuse to answer.
And this is not some detail of a policy that is yet to be written clause by clause into legislation – this is about basic ethics. Just as was the question that Guyon Espiner posed to Key over Collins.
Cunliffe can’t answer a detail about policy – Key and English can’t answer fundamental questions about their personal ethics.
I wonder which the media believe has made a ‘gaffe’?
Bill intends to continue with the plan
So in 3 years another 30 billion in debt.!!!
you are fucken kidding me…!
..gower just excelled himself..his worst interview ever…
..12 mins interview with harre/harawira..
..trying to drive a wedge between internet and mana cannabis policies..
..that was the whole fucken interview…!
..un-fucken-believable..
..third rate tabloid hack…
..gower owns that tawdry crown..
..and an undoubted nadir in the coverage of this election..
..i can’t see it being/getting worse than this effort..
The Twitter feed was a little scathing as well and Gower’s still waffling on.
i have been staying in the far north for a week with a fellow harawira enthusist.
he was of the opinion that the mana/internet coalition could be in for a tuff time ref the opposite stances on marijuana.
i notice hone was away when laila was speaking about reform of policy.
there are also questions around how hone hamdled his recent car prang.
It’s occurred to me that this government and it’s conniving, hero-worshiping media are deliberately trying to divert the election campaign up a dead-end tunnel where the light of truth, decency and honesty cannot penetrate. They are doing this by trying to get everyone talking about policy. Strange that before Dirty Politics it was all about personality and perception (because they had little policy worth talking about) but post-Dirty Politics it is now vital that we should only be talking about policy. The mainstream media can’t wait to agree.
However, because of Dirty Politics, it is now more important than ever that this election is about WHO CAN THE PEOPLE TRUST to run the country; which party can be relied upon to carry out the functions of government without the greed, corruption and disdain for democracy as practiced by this current lot. Which bloc believes in devil-take-the-hindmost, give me the money, I’m all right Jack cronyism and which one believes in fairplay, equality before the law, a fair go for all, everyone sharing in the wealth of this country etc.
This election now needs to be about electing a government which is TRUSTWORTHY and has INTEGRITY and CARES ABOUT PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT.
Nothing less will do.
that wd be grns/int-mana together being more in numbers than labour..
..that is the only way i can see happening what you and many others want..
..when that happens..that will happen..
Hi Phillip – I see it as Labour/Greens/InternetMana and maybe NZ First combined. That bloc is unbeatable I think.
We need to elect a government of the people for the people; one we can rely on to govern for all NZer’s of all persuasions including the right. Utopia? Maybe, but why not try?
yah +++++++
+111
+1 Kenny
The media are not so very interested in talking about policy, even now, or they would have been more focused on how many policies Cunliffe talked about in the debate in Christchurch and noted that Key hardly mentioned any of National’s. (I don’t think National have many) They preferred, however to fixate on one error that Cunliffe made and ignored the many failings of what Key saw fit to present to (inflict on) the voting audience.
I agree with you comment, and would also add that a narrative about what sound democracy requires is a vote-worthy issue too.
Labour sums it up fairly well here (my bet is the Greens and IMP have similar pages too)
http://campaign.labour.org.nz/democracy
http://campaign.labour.org.nz/broadcasting
And Dunne is complicit. Dismisses dirty politics as muvk raking… While championing the importance of family…
100% Kenny. This thought I will send to all left opposition MPs today as in all our public interest.
We on the left don’t delve in dirt, only good policy ideas and input as our democratic right.
Integrity or lack of it is National’s Achilles heel.
Jason Ede = Antarctic Lemur
labourscandals
sirhumphreys
…
hmmm, this is not good. I’m sure mostly it’s DPF and the rest of the crew shitstirring (Farrar has a post up about it this morning), but Labour and Cunliffe need to do much better than basically parroting what Key has been saying all this time about his own staff’s involvement with Slater, not least because we know that Key has been lying through his teeth. Simply saying “you can trust us, nothing to see here, move on” is an inadequate response in these circumstances.
Labour’s leader has confirmed his chief of staff has had dealings with blogger Cameron Slater but is refusing to say what they’ve involved.
David Cunliffe says Matt McCarten has had contact Mr Slater and that he has no concerns about this.
And despite saying sunlight is the best disinfectant with regard to the release of Mr Slater’s hacked computer data, Mr Cunliffe is declining to say what the dealings might have been.
“There is nothing to fear and there is nothing to hide. I don’t go around releasing peoples’ private communications.”
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/121713709-cunliffe-confirms-mccarten-contacted-slater
That’s a piece by Felix Marwick. Do we know where he fits into Slatergate?
Why is that any kind of story? (Sorry, I won’t be around to respond further) But having watched yesterday’s Otago debate, I was struck by the fact that only one of the participants (Prof Jackson) appeared to have read and actually understood the implications of what Hager had highlighted in ‘Dirty Politics’. The others, and this is in line with this non-scandal of McCarten talking to a blogger, didn’t seem able to differentiate between somebody being called a sheep shagger or talking to a sheep shagger (oh, so scandalous!), and a very deliberate system being set up by a political party allowing blogs (Whaleoil and Kiwiblog) to be used as a conduit for smears and misdirections to be picked up and reported by msm.
If McCarten had been trying to plant stories through Whaleoil, then yeah…different matter. But, what’s the chances of a component of National’s attack machine accommodating anything coming from the left? That’s right – none. Meanwhile, if McCarten wants to converse with Slater….so fucking what?
quick edit – if academics don’t get it, and they’re meant to be erm…smart, then what chance is there of ordinary people perceiving the serious dangers Hager has outlined?
Well quite. So how come Labour aren’t saying that? They don’t have to make a big deal out of it, just say what kind of contact McCarten has had, and point out the difference between that and Slatergate.
Here’s Bomber’s take on it,
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/09/05/hone-harawira-biased-polls-matt-mccarten-examples-of-the-msm-still-pimping-for-whaleoil/
re the academics, I haven’t watched the video yet, but I have to wonder if much of this not getting it is the result of people who don’t spend time in the blogosphere not understanding what the blogosphere actually is.
Labour are trying not to get suckered into whataboutery war. If they give the story too much oxygen or release these comms then it validates him some more and Slater can talk some shit about releasing X email from X MP that he’s made up on the spot, then it’s Bill Liu’s donation all over again.
It’s a trap Labour are avoiding. And it’s Nationals main play, shift the story to be about communication not about the behaviour of the main individual involved.
“look everyone sends emails, everyone talks to bloggers, we’re all the same, nothing to see here.”
I agree about not getting sucked into it, and I agree it’s important to normalise contact with blogs. The problem is at the moment Labour are mirroring Key’s response to Slatergate. They have to differeniate themselves from that or run the risk of affirming Key while undermining themselves (thanks MSM). I don’t think it would be that hard to come up with a short statement that does what Bill is talking about above – not all contact with blogs is the same or has the same implications.
They’re also preempting the Ede stories about to come out, with the old play ground chant “but they did it too” also fits Keys persona.
even more reason for Labour to start making the differences really bloody clear.
So how come Labour aren’t saying that?
I saw Cunliffe make a comment about McCarten’s communications with Slater – it was on a TV News in the last couple of days. Cunliffe just said that McCarten had some communication with Slater but it wasn’t anything significant.
Here is Cunliffe talking to TV One about it.
As Bradbury says, it’s just Team Key running diversions and distractions.
I was more surprised by the 3/4 Australian accents.
“quick edit – if academics don’t get it, and they’re meant to be erm…smart, then what chance is there of ordinary people perceiving the serious dangers Hager has outlined?”
This is where the MSM should be stepping up. But they don’t get it either (or are embedded and compromised). Am thinking it’s time that the feral media started doing more organising and active outreach into the mainstream (by feral I mean blogs, tweeps, fb etc, and probably offline strategies too).
BM is parrotting, or creating, some sleaze aroud cunliffe. Precisely because the media have failed abysmally to make it clear this is about people in power abusing that power…
“.didn’t seem able to differentiate between somebody being called a sheep shagger or talking to a sheep shagger (oh, so scandalous!), and a very deliberate system being set up by a political party allowing blogs (Whaleoil and Kiwiblog) to be used as a conduit for smears and misdirections to be picked up and reported by msm.”
Plus 1000
Thankfully a high court judge could make the differentiation
Yes, Prof Jackson gave a good summation of the book, what it reveals, and why it matters. I have found him interesting and perceptive on other forums.
I nearly lost the will to live during the panel discussion, the usual generic media comms pontification.
My guess is that Prof Jackson is used to visceral and confronting themes in his subject area of peace studies, and would have no trouble grasping the importance of Dirty Politics.
I am starting to think that accepting the enormity of the corruption of our democracy as elucidated by Prof Jackson is too much for most people, whether they be ‘smart’ academics or ‘ordinary’ folk.
“…an inadequate response in these circumstances.”
Not sure why anyone wants McCarten gone, but yes, Labour should be… ah right, Labour and “should be’s”. Strategy is not their strong point.
McCarten get’s “dumped”, guilty or not = validates Nat line that “the left do it too”.
Coms published = side show and implies the “left are capable of doing it too”
No coms published = doubt over “Labour” is capable of doing it too.
Who made the error? Cunliffe, by confirming a rumour, inviting sunlight, and then quickly pulling down the shades. Fail. I think the word is catastrophuck.
On the up-side, apparently voters are unconcerned with Dirty Politics, therefore, no harm done regardless of anything. Maybe Cunliffe could run with that. e.g.
“John Key’s supporters appear to have the majority of polls so far. If that is the truly the case, any contact my chief of staff might have had with Cameron Slater is well within their range of the harmlessly acceptable.”
Another piece of evidence showing our increasingly degraded environment.
To save the Hauraki Gulf.
Another reason to vote Green this year.
“Water health may reach tipping point
Water pollution from decades of farming may be approaching a “tipping point” which threatens marine life in the Hauraki Gulf, says an experienced scientist.
Research by Dr John Zeldis, principal scientist for marine ecology at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), shows that water in the Firth of Thames has become increasingly acidic because of a build-up of nutrients from rivers which receive run-off from farms on the Hauraki Plains.”
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11319874
But, but, but the rock star economy
What the hell is up with this muppet?
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Introducing-Labours-Selwyn-candidate/tabid/615/articleID/53976/Default.aspx
Yeah he mad.
Speaking of catastrophuck, The Labour Party president has got into the mindboggling situation of telling the public (via media) that Gibson and Dickson are unacceptable Labour candidates, even though they’re on the ballot. She says Gibson won’t be chosen as candidate again. Twisted. Cunliffe says anyone can vote for whoever they want.
They need to sort out pre-selection vetting, this kind of thing can’t happen again.
Gibson should be expelled from the party.
Wheels have completely come off the Labour election-mobile.
Cunliffe away with the fairies.
Nah did you hear about National’s Kelston candidate who also used to be an MP?
You fullas have probably already seen this, but I found it a good read this morning and no harm in sharing.
I’m in Ohariu and pleased to see its going to be close…
http://bryanbruce.co.nz/blog/election-2014/how-create-child-friendly-parliament-voting-strategically
Bill English
“We think the tax structure for income tax is about right at the top end,” .
Yeah, ’cause at the height of the GFC, you gave yourself millions in tax cuts. Nice to know you’re alright, Jack.
“Any moderate tax reductions should be for low and moderate income earners,”.
We count the cake, you count the crumbs, and those with nothing can count their blessings.
Vote National.
“We think the tax structure for income tax is about right at the top end,” .
Yep Bill
So why is the National debt now
NZ$ 86,699,710,575
I’m (or at least was) near that top tax bracket when the tax cuts came in and I got like an extra $30 odd in my pay packet per week (or fifty a fortnight – can’t quite remember now).
I would have been more than to have stayed on the same tax rate. $30 meant little to me but was a lot to others.
According to something i read the other day only the top 10% of households have seen an increase in real household income in the last few years, everyone else in the negatives…
Look at this
Interactive: See how well off you are with our inequality calculator
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11317223
In fact, only the richest 10% of households are benefitting from rising inequality — they are much better off than than they would be if everyone’s income had grown evenly.
It shows ONLY the top 10% have increased their income 29%
Whereas all other income groups income have had a negative change.
Thats it. Thanks dv
I’m in the -17% worse off category – I knew we were going backwards, didn’t realise it was that bad
Hang on if tax cuts are good, why not 0%.
Isnt that what tge right say about the minimum wage?
The Greens say that they have COMMON GROUND with National and CAN work with them!
Being shameless sap sucking parasites of Labour damaging its party vote, now these opportunist numbnuts are signalling some thing else and indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances..
Bastards.
These pretentious cunning crooks will never get my vote.
http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/greens-and-national-share-some-common-ground-2014090608
The greens got $400m to insulate cold kiwi homes out of a post election memorandum of understanding. I can’t imagine the greens giving confidence and supply to key let alone go into coalition with him, based on the diametric positions of a raft of social issues, though knowing time is running out re climate change, the world may not have enough of it for labour to sort out it’s voter apathy, who could blame them for making a start under the nats?
On a lighter side, according to some recent reports re David Parker, MT and RN working with English would be less treacherous and deviant as hone around the cabinet table dealing with the labour finance minister… By all accounts. 😉
Isnt that a higher economic slice than MP got during that term?
I believe so, and they didn’t get bmw’s either, just warmer houses.
“I can’t imagine the greens giving confidence and supply to key let alone go into coalition with him,”
Neither can the GP. Below is what Norman actually said, that Clem conveniently left out (my emphaisis).
This isn’t the GP starting with the Nats, it’s the position they’ve taken for a number of years. As you say, they’ve made some gains before. It’s part of co-operative politics, and it’s part of the GP being mainstream and picking up some middle votes because they can work with anyone on policy.
The Greens say they can work with National, just not in a formal coalition.
Party co-leader Russel Norman was tipped by many as one of the winners of last night’s TVNZ minor leaders’ debate.
Current political polling took up much of the debate, with the Greens saying they want at least 15 percent support.
Dr Norman says he admires Finance Minister Bill English and afterwards said he could work with National.
“We’ve got $400 million projects out of National over the last six years. Mostly the home insulation scheme, which was a huge, fantastic project,” he says. “So we work with parties where there is common ground.”
I read what RN said, and it sure adds the missing context to the common ground quote above.
Interesting call to take for the leadership team to take on election night if labour don’t get it together though.
15% plus is looking a good bet, but that could just be a bit of wishful thinking coming through.
They are looking a good combo in all the debates.
Given their strength in the polls and on TV, wonder how successful a less whiny than colin’s last minute push to be included in the key v DC debate finale would go?
Dunne’s worm/Clegg’s winner effect in action.
By so signalling the Greens are actually indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances and damaging Labour’s chances some more. Don’t you get that?
“By so signalling the Greens are actually indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances and damaging Labour’s chances some more. Don’t you get that?”
I don’t see the greens doing any of that which you claim, other than taking votes of labour it can’t hold on to, which I take you don’t seem to like much, So no, no I don’t get that.
“By so signalling the Greens are actually indirectly propping up National’s electoral chances and damaging Labour’s chances some more.”
They’re not propping up National’s electoral chances you fool, they’re stealing their votes.
The GP have about the same responsibility for Labour’s chances as Labour have for the GP’s.
Yes, they may be trying to steal some soft votes off from National, but will scare off many more voters from National going to Labour. Greens have already stolen lots of votes off Labour and have weakened it to such an extent that getting the 50% to form a progressive government is getting harder. I think MOST Green supporters are those that would normally vote for Labour.
Even if the progressives are able to form a government, the Greens greed, extremist policies, narrow outlook and short term thinking will more likely than not to have such a coalition with a strong Green contingent being kicked out in three years.
If Nats form a coalition, the Greens will prop them up as they ‘have a common ground’ with them stated by Norman for a few crumbs as usual, feel smug and shortchange the leftist long term cause.
It is much better for Labour as well as the Greens and the progressive block if Labour is much stronger at about 40% plus and the Greens at about 10% minus.
You called me a ‘fool’. In fact, I think that it is Norman that is a short term thinking fool who has managed to fool a lot of voters with his nice sounding sweet talk. [He even PAID people to collect signatures for the anti asset sale referendum petition! How foolish and dumb is that!]
You say the GP would prop up a National govt. By that I take it you mean give them confidence and supply. You have absolutely no evidence of that and are just making shit up because you hate the GP.
Greens have already stolen lots of votes off Labour and have weakened it to such an extent that getting the 50% to form a progressive government is getting harder. I think MOST Green supporters are those that would normally vote for Labour.
Diddums. If Labour want to be a big party again, they need to get rid of the ABCs, and move left and sort out their environmental and social policies. There’s a reason that the GP have picked up so many left votes, and it’s not because the GP are nasty thieves. It’s because Labour never me the needs of those voters.
Labour don’t own left wing votes. They have to earn them. If the GP start doing the same stupid shit that Labour have done, then they will deserve to lose those votes too.
“You say the GP would prop up a National govt. By that I take it you mean give them confidence and supply. You have absolutely no evidence of that and are just making shit up because you hate the GP”
Norman said that ‘the Greens have common ground with National’ and that ‘the Greens can work with National, just not in a formal coalition’
He said he got 400 million from National last time as policy concession. National would not have given that free without some support in return.
National will give them diddly squat without a confidence and supply arrangement or some sort of memorandum of understadning. If you believe they do, then you are naive. C & S or MoUis different from ‘formal coalition’ as he put it.
I do not ‘hate the Greens’ as you put it, but hate their stupid narrow minded short sighted politically naive cocky attitude and greedy suicidal policies and methods which will end up alienating the majority of voters in the country and thus damage the entire progressive movement sooner than later. Why do you think the progressive moment struggles to come close to 50%? Greens are the primary reason in my opinion. There is genuine fear and distrust of the Greens apart from those that make up their 10% to 15% support. So Greens rising in polls, simultaneously causing Labour to languish or causing the Labour voters moving away to National, NZF or the Cons is actually a bad situation for the progressive left cause. Greens getting 16% or 20% does not make the situation any better, but that must worse in the long run from a political and electoral point of view. Greens can achieve much more for a much longer time, without causing mayhem if Labour is around 40% and Greens are at about 10%, unless the Greens can convince the majority in the country and get over 50% support on their own. Remote chance of that happening any time soon. We NEED the centre votes back in, not just the left and far left.
So, in your enthusiasm for the greens do not also be a Labour’s Green albatross denialist.
Norman has shown scant trust, respect and confidence in David Parker by stating that he want’s David’s finance figures scrutinised by some outside finance agency. What an audacious, dumbarse, cocky, arrogant stance to make against Labour and its finance spokesman, Parker!
When asked which political leader he admired most, Norman said Bill English! Go figure!
Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/politics/greens-and-national-share-some-common-ground-2014090608#ixzz3CWMinUxJ
Okey dokey, so it would be simple for you to point out where Greens voted to keep the national government in confidence and supply in the last three years.
Which budget did the greens vote for? And if there was one, were they the deciding vote between confidence and a government collapse?
@ Clemgeopin
Actually to be quite straightforward and not wishful about them or excusing Labour, they have lost their own support.
Greens want to keep doing the good things they were started to do and continue to do. Labour aren’t finished farting around in their recovery from the scarring of the Rogernome years. They are putting up a good front, and have lots of dedicated helpers, but haven’t come forward with the strong policies needed to fire support. Like Colonial Viper has been saying.
Greens are just planning on continuing to carry out worth while policies of value to the people. Why should they consider only Labour? Labour won’t even consider talking to them before the election. Stupid foolish to be aiming for the highest count possible for Labour alone. Stupid pride. The game is the thing not aiming for high points on the honours board. So talking to Greens might dilute the results for Labour alone, might swell into a win for the Left. That’s the important thing.
Clem, given your definition of ‘extremist’ Green policies included the proposed top tax rate that is still at the lower end of the OECD, your antipathy towards the Greens appears irrational and ill-informed.
http://thestandard.org.nz/key-cant-work-with-the-greens-because/#comment-875952
So the Greens are “extremist”, and aiming to take centre/right wing votes, and prop up a National government? Makes peeerrrfect sense.
* frowning *
Clemo .. no one has STOLEN any votes… surely that would be against the law??!! Labour has lost votes (like mine.. remember only 18% of males plan to vote labour) because while some of the policies are okay (like Parker’s Kiwisaver vs OCR) it’s their people that are unvoteworthy.. Mallard, Moroney, Mackey… ps what is in the water up there?? a couple of weeks ago you predicted IMP to poll 6.8%
this is fucking hilarious.
The Greens simultaneously “steal” labour votes with their “extremist” policies, in order to “prop up” national.
Because they really want to end up with the support level of the Maori Party, but without any electorate seats.
Clem, maybe you should stop gnashing your teeth and actually (as an alleged Labour supporter) “campaign positive”. Or are you the Labour party equivalent of Hutton Gibson – so Labour that you’re more Labour than the Labour party?
Oi, this is a message board to express one’s views. I vote Labour. That does not mean I can’t say what I think. What I stated about the Greens is a positive message for all, including the Greens.
wow, I’d hate to see what you regard as “negative-as-fuck, deranged, and obsessive idiocy”.
The negative bits were for a positive effect.
fwiw, it was the blatant self-contradiction that made me laugh, not the negativity.
Greens/NZ First may have to sit cross bench but we prefer they all get together and sort differences out.
We have pleaded for this, will they listen?
We have all to get rid before we are doomed.
Even if combining with Inernet Mana.
I had a vision once about a rainbow alliance coming together united, to rid us from the nats and their dreg cling ons once and for good, but it looks like politicians acting like politicians, let politics get in the way of a good plan.
The death of the Labour party is sealed… although, Labour should have disbanded many years ago, and formed under a new, more fitting name…
“sort of national” ?
Wairarapa electorate has a large number of undecideds and Ron Mark might just split the right vote enough to let Labour’s McAnulty through. Plus McAnulty is getting out there campaigning well. So no Green candidate for me this time as this an opportunity too good to miss, might be close
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503414&objectid=11319756
Spark users experience internet meltdown
Yeah, privatisation is just sooo much better than state services…
Oh, wait.
Especially good look for a company that says they want out of the boring job of maintaining telephone lines, and would prefer the rock-star job of internet TV.
In regard to post 14, Polls manipulated. Chooky.
WE CAN WITH CONFIDENCE NOW SAY WE ARE LIVING IN THE WORST CORRUPT TIME IN OUR SHORT HISTORY.
I sent this post to all the left wing opposition parties, and TDB,
I ask if anyone wants to set up this as a repost, I give my total consent.
I am a little lost at SETTING UP A FEATURE posting so chooky or anyone who can do it justice PLEASE go ahead and set up a post and when the feedback comes in I will send it all to the left wing opposition parties being damaged by this to get something done about this next week as it is as bad as the Leaders debate Bias that David Cunliffe complained to TVNZ about.
Thanks Chooky.
The hypocracy of Tracy and her Ilk is appalling, language is also revealing
The hypocracy of Tracy and her Ilk is appalling, language is also revealing
so is your spelling, and more so than anything you try to write numptynuts.
Truthfully hypocracy sounds like a good description of our current system. It’s certainly not democracy.
Not sure how it got through the spell checks though, when I wrote it out it changed automatically to ‘hypocrisy’.
lol “her Ilk”. It’s true I have seen her wandering around with a yak-like creature on a lead. Perhaps you mistook it for a small Elk?
The Leader speaks.
“Public moved on from dirty politics – Key”
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11320138
That’s us told then.
He is probably trying to soften the public and mislead them into thinking that he is a good guy who is not part of the Dirty Politics in the background. Now wait for the rouge right wing dirty politics being unleashed like clockwork against Labour and Cunliffe in the coming days. Wouldn’t surprise me. Their modi operandi is clear to me and to those that see.
Where’s the terms of reference he promised us last week? oh another lie!!
Why does everyone decry the media? it makes both ‘sides’ look ridiculous. There are two massive echo chambers, one on either side of the political divide, equally convinced that the media is biased.
Normally we want evidence, but on this particular topic, 100% subjective ranting seems to be all we need.
The media aren’t biased, they have simply disappeared so far up their own anus that all we get are the echoed calls for help from within. Just yesterday there was an outburst over whaledump/rawshark that could be summed up:
“It’s not that it’s illegal, it’s just that if anyone can do it, we don’t have a job anymore.”
der, Chaff, have you read about media bias do you know what this means?
Is our democracy not as important as India’s?
At least their Government held an investigation into their MSM sorry (Main stream media.)
Did you hear or read the emails that connect the media directly to the Government of the Prime minister? “Unbridled influence” Connections to Slater who for years has been sending dirty emails threateningly to media and many others? interested?
Lesson number one, read on how it ends in other counties better than here.
New Delhi news.
Sting operation reveals massive manipulation by opinion poll agencies
ET Bureau Feb 26, 2014, 04.43AM IST
(A TV news channel today claimed…)
NEW DELHI: A number of opinion polling agencies approached by undercover reporters agreed to manipulate poll data, a television news channel has claimed, sparking a fresh controversy in a heated election season as senior ministers and political parties called for an investigation.
Clips from the sting operation aired by the channel showed many pollsters agreeing to produce favourable numbers by leveraging the so-called margin of error, a statistical concept meant to indicate the quality of sampling and the accuracy to be expected from survey results.
“For a price, the prediction of seats tally can be changed to suit the interests of political parties.
The agencies have no qualms accepting even black money for this purpose,” the channel, News Express, said in a statement. Polling agencies approached by the channel include QRS, CVoter, Ipsos India, MMR and DRS, apart from a clutch of littleknown ones. Representatives from these agencies are seen responding variously to the undercover reporters, who posed as consultants for political parties.
India Today magazine and Times NOW have said they were suspending opinion polls conducted by C-Voter, pending an explanation from the agency.
Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party called for an investigation. Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal urged the Election Commission to urgently take up the matter. “This (the expose) is a very serious development. It shows these agencies are trying to manipulate public opinion. It is nothing but paidnews, manufactured to serve vested interests.
This is an extremely serious offense that warrants a full-fledged inquiry… I also call upon the Election Commission to take all effective steps to ensure such shady operators are not allowed to manipulate the public opinion in the run up to the elections.”
In November last year, the Election Commission had written to the government asking that a law be passed to restrict release of opinion poll results after the notification of elections. Fourteen out of fifteen national parties had agreed to the proposal.
BJP opposed the proposal, saying such a move would impinge on freedom of expression. “We got the idea for the sting operation from the Election Commission letter.
And then the fact that there seemed to be a new opinion poll almost every day now. Everybody is a pollster and a psephologist it seems,” said Vinod Kapri, editor in chief of News Express.
He added that he was not calling into question any surveys aired or published so far. C-Voter CEO Yashwant Deshmukh said the conversations have been selectively edited.
“The very first thing I said is that C-Voter won’t do this, Yashwant Deshmukh is not available to do this.
Why are they not showing that? I’m explaining the concept of margin of error and talking about the limitations of the poll. Am I anywhere saying that I’m ready to fudge the figures?”
A spokesperson for DRS said the executive who spoke with the undercover reporters is no longer with the company. “Manipulation is a term which is being used incorrectly here,” Ipsos said in a statement explaining the concept of margin of error.
“We have no say in the data collection or analysis by any pollster.
But we will ask C Voter for a clarification and till the time we are satisfied with their response, we have decided to suspend all opinion polls done by them in our channel,” Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami said
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-02-26/news/47705569_1_opinion-poll-public-opinion-sting-operation
That reminds me of the famous poll that the Murdoch press put out on the eve of the election where Rudd won a landslide against Howard. The lead in The Australian was “Too Close To Call”. It was a last ditch attempt to motivate disengaged (and pissed off) Coalition voters to get out on polling day.
I have lost all the info and formatting down the right hand side of these pages … anyone else ? thx
fixed it .. but cant delete …thx
Need Labour core flute signs urgently?
I picked up a load this morning from Northbridge Signs in Albany. I ordered them on Thursday evening.
http://northbridgesigns.co.nz. Call James or Paul on 09 415 0145. All they need is a .pdf that you can get from HO.
$31.50 + gst FOR large 2.44 x1.2 .
$12.50 +gst FOR. 900x 600
We still haven’t solved the problem of low-value exports. Exports are about 30% of GDP. Under National, this proportion is almost the same as when they took office. It seems we need more R&D, innovative products, more of our food and beverage companies growing into Australia and succeeding, a lower NZ dollar. There are some good examples of export growth (infant formula, boat-building, computing, clean technology, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Icebreaker clothing, wine, NZ King salmon) but we are still not there. I wonder what is stopping us from creating more high-value exports.
I wish I had heard about this protest earlier – already had alternative arrangements for today.
But it looks like it got a significant amount of support: “Crowds march for child poverty awareness”
This tweet:
Email attached to the tweet. It’s also in this on Jackal’s blog:
And from the same Jordan Williams / Cameron Slater correspondence, giving a little insight into the century they came from, before being mistakenly transported to the 21st century:
————————-
January 10, 2013
————————-
Jordan Williams, 1/10, 10:11am
women; if they didn’t have a fxxxy between their legs they’d have a bounty on their heads
nice pic with Judith holding Truth
————————-
Cameron Slater, 1/10, 10:13am
if they didn;t have cxxxs we’d chuck rocks at them
That says it all really. Creeps. I’d call them misogynist but they probably see everyone in terms of personal gratification.
The Voice of Labour, Josie Pagani, out shooting with Slater (and Simon Lusk?) I wonder what they talked about?
————————-
May 8, 2012
————————-
Jordan Williams, 5/8, 8:41am
Is Josie pagani, john’s daughter?
————————-
Cameron Slater, 5/8, 8:41am
Went shooting with her on Sunday
wife
Also this
————————-
June 24, 2013
————————-
Jordan Williams, 6/24, 12:14am
hey, you know an easy way to push dunn out?
get him to stand for Wgtn mayor
have the conversation with him
————————-
Cameron Slater, 6/24, 12:19am
I know a much easier way
release details of his donations (undeclared) that he received personally from tobacco companies
Pretty dark if Crown Law really are leaking.
Hope this comes out in the inquiry.
and considering the Dep Solicitor General of Crown Law at that same exact time is now heading the SIS inquiry for Key and Collins.
Oh, how I hope Cheryl Gwyn is better and with more integrity than all this might suggest.
(From last dumps by WD .. and if the Sunday papers have nothing tomorrow, whar will he/she do I wonder ?)
edit: can this be used to demand Cheryl Gwyn resile from the inquiry on the grounds It appears to be her own dept leaking?
In a functioning democracy, she would exclude herself. On Planet Key, it probably gives her expert knowledge and makes her better suited. There is after all precedent for this, with the IPCA using police to investigate police. The average Kiwi swallows that.
Brian Mulroney, in a series of interviews this week (marking the 30th anniversary since he won a majority and became Canadian Prime Minister) has really let rip at Stephen Harper. I thought this comment could apply equally well to the current PM here in NZ:
“If you’re concerned about popularity and you’re conserving your popularity, you can be certain that your impact upon history will be very, extremely modest. You have to govern, I think, as I’ve said, not for easy headlines in 10 days but for a better Canada in 10 years.”
“So what do you want to do — do you want to be remembered as some guy who was popular, or do you want to be remembered 50 years from now as somebody who made profound social and economic and political changes in the country, and who thereby shaped his nation in a beneficial way for future generations?”
an encouraging note from Tracy Watkins on Stuff …
“…….National strategists insist Dirty Politics and hacked emails are a “beltway issue” that only journalists are interested in. The polls say they may be right. The number of times dirty politics stories make the daily best read list on Stuff.co.nz says they’re wrong.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/10468444/Many-grenades-on-this-campaign-trail
Also reports Key left a hand written note in the classroom of St Margaret’s College that was his pre-debate room:
“Meanwhile, social media is going feral about Key’s note to St Margaret’s pupils – he had an apostrophe in the wrong place.” Oh dear.
Oh well now that could be interesting. Anyone know what the apostrophe was, then I can do a search here.
must be on twitter or somesuch .. no more details, sorry. maybe email Tracy Watkin ?
or just spend the same time getting ten more people to vote !!!
😀
Nothing unique about it unfortunately, it’s one of the most common right wing mistakes. Your instead of you’re.
you found it ? that’s pathetic from Key, hollow man an’ all that he is.
It’s on twitter too, but found it on National Party Billboard Makeovers (facebook)
Thx BL and wow! we need a handwriting analyst to have a look at that — such childish writing and haphazard … hmmm.
Handwriting analyst was my first thought too! Would be great!
did you see this underneath that photo? omg …
“The rest of this ‘story’ is that after he had left the building, his staff corrected his spelling mistake – we’re posting the original because the spin around this guy is sickening .
Left on a whiteboard after the last leader’s debate- Thanks Simon”
They mean “leaders’ debate”, of course.
I’m surprised he can write. He certainly has trouble reading anything.
And this bit re the CGT debate:
Key raises lots of questions. Tells reporters: “I can’t answer those questions. It’s not my stupid policy.” This is presumably what National meant when it told media to move on from dirty politics and start focusing on “the high level policy debate”.
Indeed. Seriously, Key has been acting a bit like a petulant schoolboy at times lately.
More like an arrogant banker I’d suggest.
Banksy says it so well.
https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/status/507755263831867393
https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy
Intimations of life in NZ if Craig and his witch-burners get anywhere near the levers of power ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11320492