Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring, greedy.
Power companies.
Power prices are an ongoing worry for many people, who hold back heating their homes in a bid to cut down on the power bill, a survey shows.
Figures from a new Consumer NZ survey showed 38 per cent of people said their homes were not as warm as they would like because they were restricting their energy use to keep bills down.
Asked how much they tried to cut their power bill, 16 per cent said not at all, 29 per cent said sometimes, 41 per cent said all the time and 14 per cent of people were neutral.
Those living in a rented home were more likely to turn down the heat, with 43 per cent of renters cutting back on heating because of costs.
That compares with 33 per cent who own their homes and cut heating to save.
Grey Power Auckland president Anne-Marie Coury said a lot of those choosing not to turn the heater on because of high costs were pensioners.
“In Auckland, 51 per cent that are entitled to national Super … have no other income. So if their rates go up … what do they cut back on? Food and electricity.”.
Yesterday afternoon I had to drop something off to an old fella at his council flat, he came to the door dressed in jacket & big wooly hat that covered his ears like he was in Antarctica! I asked if he was alright warm enough etc? He said ‘all good mate, you have a good day’.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring, greedy.
Landlords and real estate companies that manage rentals.
A family who huddle together in one room of their freezing mould-ridden rental to keep warm say they are fed up and scared for their health.
Seth Lougheed, and partner Amy, say their Tokoroa rental is so cold and damp that their three-month-old baby’s lips and hands turn blue.
“We are scared for our baby’s sake, she is getting colds non-stop and I have got letters from my doctor and Plunket nurse because they are worried,” Amy, whose name has been changed for legal reasons, said.electricity.”
Despite paying $240 a week for their three bedroom home the couple say they can only use their tiny lounge, dining and kitchen area because the rest of the house is uninhabitable.
That’s because substantial black mould seeps through the walls and carpet of the bedrooms. The place is also freezing despite a fire going constantly.
The majority of windows and doors also don’t shut properly, the floor under the bath is soft, the wooden deck is rotten, the back garden floods, they had to install their own smoke alarms, the heat pump is out-of-order, and the roof panel above the fire recently collapsed, they claim. The list goes on.
Amy said while they have repeatedly complained to Ray White Real Estate Tokoroa, which manages the property, little has been done to remedy the problems.
“We told the property manager six months ago about the mould and were told just to wipe it off but it’s not getting rid of the spores so it just keeps coming back,” she said.
Despite paying $240 a week for their three bedroom home the couple say they can only use their tiny lounge, dining and kitchen area because the rest of the house is uninhabitable.
We’ve been in this situation too; in fact I suspect a lot of New Zealanders shut down part of their house in winter because they cannot afford to heat it all.
And this is largely due to a building industry that for generations has been overpriced and under-performing. In my opinion about three-quarters of kiwi houses need renovating with a bulldozer.
When we came to NZ we were told winter here is an indoor experience as much as it is an outdoor one. We have had wind coming from the floor as it was not insulated just like the rest of the house; there was no heating source so we had to use a portable gas heater and oil heaters at night; you can imagine the wet windows in the morning and the fight to wipe them. No amount of open windows during the day can prevent the condensation that comes at night. It pushed us to do everything we could to be out of there and into our own house, which we did exactly a year after we moved into it. But we are privileged to be able to do that and it makes me so angry there are no regulations when it comes to rentals. If landlords cannot afford to provide a decent standard of living for their tenants they should not be landlords.
There are two types of rentals; purpose built new apartments and townhouses which are generally ok. It’s not often appreciated but historically something in the order of 10-15% of all new builds are intended as rental investments. Generally these units will be pretty good; the landlord has put in solid money upfront and wants to keep them for decades for their rental income, not their speculative capital gain.
But historically the bulk of rentals are ordinary homes that are in the last 25% of their economic life … and no-one wants them as their ‘dream home’ anymore. These are the problem houses; either an energetic owner will renovate them in the hope that the capital gain will cover the considerable costs OR a landlord will just leave them to slowly depreciate and decay while the rental income makes a modest cash flow.
A lot depends on the location and the long term plans of the landlord. Bear in mind that a decent reno on a run-down older house may well cost > $50k and with a rental income of only $15k pa or less, plus rates, insurance, interest and other costs … if there is no capital gain it absolutely makes no commercial sense to upgrade. You can spend a lot of money doing up a rental, and the income barely changes. The tenant gets all the benefits of warmer house and lower power bills, the landlord gets nothing except maybe an improved occupancy rate.
The core problem here is a lot of mis-aligned market signals.
Bear in mind that a decent reno on a run-down older house may well cost > $50k
My landlord is presently renovating this house and has budgeted $80k to do it. Now that he’s started he’s concerned that he hasn’t budgeted enough.
The place is ~40 years old, it’s not in bad condition but it’s the not the best either. The landlord does, as a matter of fact, live here as well (I rent a room).
The core problem here is a lot of mis-aligned market signals.
Actually, the core problem is that the market doesn’t really work in housing.
Andrew Little has fallen into the same trap as Bennett by referring to the need to increase the number of “beds” for the homeless. How patronising is that? Guess it’s to be expected though, from the party for the workers – meaning those with jobs, that is.
small difference between Paula (Has got her benefits) Bennett and Andrew Little.
The National MP of Do Nothing Paula B. wants to spend more money on existing beds not increase the number of emergency beds available.
Andrew Little wants to increase the Number of emergency beds/housing as there is currently and prolly for a few years coming a need.
Safe your concern for the National Party and their Do Nothing Minister of Fuck UPs.
That’s because substantial black mould seeps through the walls and carpet of the bedrooms.
The majority of windows and doors also don’t shut properly, the floor under the bath is soft, the wooden deck is rotten…
I kinda realised that aspect a couple of years ago when the WOF for rental properties was first mooted. The idea would be to progressively work through them.
“This is a case, Hillary Clinton, that cries out for presentation to a grand jury. Political appointees including Jim Comey and Loretta Lynch should not be making this decision.”
“Now what we have is a country that doesn’t believe in the system anymore. This case should have gone to a grand jury. Ordinary Americans should have heard this case. You’ve got political appointees like Jim Comey, Loretta Lynch, and someone who was beneath Loretta Lynch who is also a political appointee making this decision, reeks of favoritism.”
Judge Pirro then lays the timeline out and very bluntly asks everyone to put the pieces together.
“One day you’ve got Bill Clinton meeting with Loretta Lynch, the next day you’ve got Hillary Clinton meeting with the FBI, and then after that you’ve got Hillary Clinton campaigning with the president after she says ‘I would consider Loretta Lynch as my Attorney General’, folks put the pieces together.”
Donald Trump says it more simply – under his presidency, Loretta Lynch would be out of a job. But Clinton can promise her additional terms in office if she won the presidency.
“It’s a bribe! I mean the Attorney General is sitting there saying ‘you know if I get Hillary off the hook, I’m gonna have four more years, or eight more years, but if she loses I’m out of a job'”
In my opinion, born from principle and common decency, that you support a racist, misogynist, billionaire one percenter invalidates you from giving me shit over just about anything.
To me, your opinion is as valid as nf, kkk rednecks.
I’m underwhelmed. lol
Anyway, I’m under orders from Bill, now.
As you’re untouchable, you’ll be all right to carry on by yourself until the coast clears and the dust settles. lol
When you say “serious political comment” you mean join you on a daily basis in rabbiting on about neolibs, Trump, Putin, RT links, Labour are shit and we’re all going die from the radiation.
It’d take a heavy hammer and a willing head smacker first.
Punching out now, so make sure the cheque is in the post, ta.
Be led like a lamb to the slaughter, if you wish. After all the farmer has fed you without fail every day, how could he be wishing anything bad for you? To question otherwise is to be a “conspiracy theorist.”
I’ve got no time for the FBI but it’s not as simple as: An Obama political appointment so he does was the president wants.
Here’s the wiki short version on James Comey:
James Brien Comey, Jr. (born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer. He is the seventh and current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He was the United States Deputy Attorney General, serving in President George W. Bush’s administration. As Deputy Attorney General, Comey was the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and ran the day-to-day operations of the Department, serving in that office from December 2003 through August 2005. He was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York prior to becoming Deputy Attorney General.
What an odd piece by Trevett in the Herald about Andrew Little. A complete load of rubbish, cliched writing. And, predictably, it’s been turned into a hatchet job on the Labour leader.
There were two pieces. One headlined ‘The Man who would be King’ which is a story about inflated egos seeking glory but failing.
The other was referenced the Labour housing statements as a ‘Crusade’ which is a futile and divisive part of history still playing out on the world stage.
Both suggested the datedness and futility of Labour policy and the articles themselves only explored the policy and leadership ambitions as it relates to government policy and the leader of the government, not touching on the people for which the policy aim to help. She seeked to consolidate and defend the fragmented and reluctant govt policy and present it as worthwhile but over a longer timeframe.
She really is the stuff floating on the surface of stagnant government thought.
“Andrew Little: Is it not the truth that he has taken no action to stop the sale of our productive land into overseas ownership and that his pledge to ensure that we will not become tenants in our own land is just more hollow words from a hollow man?
Hon Steven Joyce: Angry Andrew.
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well, he is angry because he has had to wait a wee while to ask his question. But I stand by my record”
******************************************
“Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government’s response in housing has been quite comprehensive”
********************************************
“Andrew Little: Does he agree with Nick Smith that the costs of modern insulation and heating standards are not worth the benefits, given that the benefits are preventing Kiwi kids from getting sick and from dying?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I agree with Nick Smith in the context of the statements he would have been making. ”
**********************************************
“Andrew Little: How proud is the Prime Minister of the company he is now keeping when the Panama Papers lump New Zealand in with such auspicious company as Belize, the Seychelles, and Costa Rica in the list of 21 tax havens?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I think New Zealand can stand quite proudly on the regime that it runs here”
************************************************
“Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he stand by his statements yesterday that New Zealand “is not a tax haven” and that we “also have an extensive disclosure regime”, when specialist law firms on trusts for foreigners point out there is no need for disclosure of identity, or trust registration, or for any such trust accounts to be audited?
Starting with the slightly sneering reference to “crusade” in the headline, travelling on down to suggestion by default of a practical and moral equivalence in the parties’ respective positions, and the ever-present fascination with the ‘game’ of it all.
What a John Key botty muncher is Deputy Trev’ ! Fukn unbelievable !
And what of the vox pop they’ve had up on Herald online – what are people saying about Andrew Little ? No context, no analysis, no reporting of numbers or percentages. Just out-of-the-blue, “Ya like him, or no ?
Love it where Fran says it is a pretty crap society that pulls the housing ladder up on the young and less well-off to preserve their unearned wealth. Well said indeed.
Yep the easiest thing is to stop reading the herald. I try just to look about once a month just in case there has been some editorial change to act like a newspaper not a propaganda advertorial for Natz and friends.
As for Little he’s doing the best job he can and has united the caucus and he seems really honest. So a good contrast to Key the liar.
The only thing I am concerned about is that Labour seem to be deciding to have some sort of rah rah housing policy coming out, and that will be falling into the Natz and MSM hands.
In times of bad news, notice Key disappears, off to Fiji, Hawaii or whathaveyou. But Labour feel compelled to be in the spot light at that time so are then appearing whenever there is bad news.
There is no knight in shining armour for housing in Auckland and New Zealand. What ever is done is gonna piss a lot of people off, either the 1 in 4 migrants in Auckland, the 67% homeowners or the renters many of whom did seem to want to vote Labour or Greens last election in spite of seemingly housing policy gains for them.
There is no possible way to look good on housing and please everyone. You are more likely to displease everyone. So the best thing is to leave the Natz alone in the spotlight to face the housing crisis alone. They choreographed the situation and now it is their time to face the music (by themselves).
Don’t make any announcements Labour/Greens! Just sit tight on housing announcements and let the swords fall and MSM talons, on who deserve it. The Natz.
Labour/Greens can fix up housing when they are elected and not let that be the downfall like last election.
Wouldn’t normally link to the horrendous old Daily Telegraph … but … Defeated Labour Rebels admit ‘it’s finished’, as Jeremy Corbyn refuses to Resign as Leader
Corbyn may look like the runty guy who gets sand kicked in his face all the way down the beach, but clearly he has stones of steel. The rebel MP’s bet that the Members would not rise sufficiently to his defence.
They bet wrong.
Corbyn has won the people, and with that, can happily knife all the PLP Rebels as quickly or as slowly as he likes, and install his own in to the shadow Cabinet. A major payback for enduring the crap.
I haven’t always warmed to him personally, but I respect a well-played political defence.
Very happy with the broad direction Corbyn and McDonnell have set out for the Party … but I’m by no means entirely uncritical of aspects of his leadership.
The core problem now is that (unsurprisingly) polls suggest an overwhelming majority of voters (including around half of Labour voters) see the Party as deeply divided and, partly as a consequence, they see Corbyn as a less than capable and competent Leader. “If they can’t run their own Party, how can they run the Country” etc
There’s almost an element of blackmail here … PLP gross disloyalty undermines the leadership team and destroys confidence in Labour as a viable alternative Govt … potentially leading to ever poorer poll ratings and the prospect of Corbyn becoming a lame duck leader.
Owen Jones recently suggested the Corbyn team’s plan was to nurture a Left-leaning successor to take over the leadership a couple of year’s before the 2020 Election (assuming it isn’t earlier). I’d almost be prepared to accept a Corbyn compromise with the PLP by making their favoured candidate -the Soft Left’s Owen Smith – that successor. (the PLP are well aware that the membership will never accept anyone from the Centre or Right of the Party, so have reluctantly opted for Smith).
Except, the Brownites and Blairites play hardball – they’re interested in exerting as much control over Smith as possible (like they tried to do with Miliband – leading to a great deal of policy ambiguity in the lead-up to the 2015 Election) and they clearly want to inflict a historic defeat on the Left of the Party. As Tony Blair once implied – the last thing they want to see is a popular electable Left-leaning Leader.
Blair has been immolated by the Chilcott report, but it’s no time for Corbyn to be cocky.
2020 is one helluva long time to survive in an office where 2/3 of your ‘colleagues’ utterly loathe you and will slit your hamstrings every time you move.
Can Corbyn ‘smile, and murder while I smile’? Not yet.
Politics is, as he is figuring very very late, a whole bunch more than speechifying and apologies.
What evidence do you have that he’s only figuring that out now? He’s very long in the tooth politically. Your suggestion seems utterly bizarre to me. More likely he knew that he was always going to face an enormous amount of adversity, and there was no course of action he could choose that would not result in at least one major stand-off.
I’ll leave that judgement for six months and look back.
But so far Corbyn:
– hasn’t unified the MPs he has to work with
– hasn’t unified the MPs to the Members
– hasn’t made a mark against the Conservatives
– hasn’t won anything
– hasn’t raised any money of note
– hasn’t got a functioning shadow Cabinet
– hasn’t convinced the only mildly leftie paper the Guardian
– was on the wrong side of the Brexit vote and doesn’t have a plan for it
(He definitely has got more ordinary members. But this isn’t an episode of Robin Hood.)
Now, it’s quite possible this set of failures is all part of some astonishing masterplan that you can impute for him. Go for it. To me that list of failures signifies a poor political leader. (There were plenty here who thought Sanders was going to win as well, simply through arm waving and tent revival meetings. They were wrong)
– hasn’t unified the MPs he has to work with
– hasn’t unified the MPs to the Members
He needs to eliminate several dozen of the disloyal MPs from the party, particularly the ones who clearly don’t understand that Blairite careerism isn’t what the Labour Party stands for any more.
Trying to make nice with them would be the same fatal mistake that Cunliffe made.
– hasn’t convinced the only mildly leftie paper the Guardian
Why would he want to do that? The Guardian can’t swing an election for him, and they have been against him from the start.
Ignore The Guardian and make the news on your on terms.
Well, on the results of ignoring them listed above, I would just urge Corbyn a little caution going down that path.
I’d love any Labour leader to be able to ignore any part of the media, MSM or otherwise. Such political romance is fun to imagine, but in reality politicians exist in ugly codependent relationships with them.
Worth remembering that politicians need the media a whole bunch more than the media need politicians.
Corbyn’s constituency don’t listen to the Guardian
Exactly. That is obvious in the fact that they elected him in the first place, let alone the fact that his support has failed to cave on the basis of the paper’s continued slant against him.
In any case, the only way to get a publication on-side when it is systemically inimical to your programme is to give up that programme. It’s the surest path to achieving almost none of your original aims, as the course of Labour and Social Democratic parties over the last few decades has shown.
I’ll leave that judgement for six months and look back.
Another bizarre statement. What, in the next six months, would be likely to indicate whether or not Corbyn had figured out prior to his leadership bid that politics is about “more than speechifying and apologies”?
But so far Corbyn:
– hasn’t unified the MPs he has to work with
This presupposes that he sees unifying Blairites with those more disposed towards following him as being desirable in any way.
– hasn’t unified the MPs to the Members
Presupposes the same thing, as well as assuming that the membership, who have signed up in swathes in the wake of his becoming leader, want a bar of the MPs who trenchantly opposed him – and vice versa.
– hasn’t made a mark against the Conservatives
This really isn’t the timeframe to be reading anything at all into that. It is also exactly that part of politics most heavily dominated by the speechifying side of things, so I don’t see how it could be seen as evidence for what you’re saying.
– hasn’t won anything
And your point is…?
– hasn’t raised any money of note
You could be right about that; do you have a link?
– hasn’t got a functioning shadow Cabinet
See above.
– hasn’t convinced the only mildly leftie paper the Guardian
The Blairites? So?
– was on the wrong side of the Brexit vote and doesn’t have a plan for it
As so often evidenced in your writing, your concept of “right” and “wrong” in politics is defined by electoral success. I think that says more about how you are reading Corbyn here than anything else you’ve written, and chimes well with your willingness to accommodate a third-way position to the point of being indistinguishable from it. Ironically, it suggests an approach to politics that emphasises “speechifying”. Corbyn’s historical record as a Eurosceptic aside, what public actions apart from speeches were you expecting, especially during a campaign whose terms had been largely defined along xenophobic and populist lines well before the referendum was called? Surely he would be better off dealing with his own party, and articulating his plan (whether he already has one or has yet to formulate it) at the earliest when Europe makes its own position known. Given that, how can his actions at this point be seen as evidence of a lack of plan? Perhaps that is the judgment you should be reserving for at least six months.
You’ve provided quite a lot of detail, but no real evidence that Corbyn is mainly about “speechifying”, let alone that he hasn’t worked out that there’s more to politics.
I wish him well, truly, and I hope it works out.
He’s a luv.
Call me in January and we’ll have another go. See if he’s managed to tick a couple of those big problems of his off the list. Maybe then he’s got just the chance of a mote in God’s eye of surviving.
Now hold still, here’s a little illustration for you:
There’s a great line reported yesterday in Salon in the Democrat meeting where Sanders met with all Democrat Senate and Congress leaders, to come to some pre-Conference pact, and he started off his little address to them with:
“The point isn’t to win elections …”
…at which point he was universally booed by them. And he continued:
“The point is to transform America.”
And there is a really good illustration of a resolutely principled person. Who has no place being in political leadership.
The one thing that politics really, really is, is a popularity contest. Not only with your party members, not only with your elected colleagues, but also with all people, and with the media.
You really have to fall in love with democracy, and the particular set of processes that constitute it, if you are going to make it. You have to be so good at it, and you have to be good at it for years on end. That’s why I have a whole bunch more faith that Andrew LIttle and Mr Shorten have a shit-show, and people like Sanders and Corbyn and as we’ve seen many others don’t.
A go at what? I thought you were trying to show how Corbyn was a waffler who did nothing but make speeches. However, now you seem to be advocating the sort of politics that involves winning people over with soundbites and speeches that appeal to their more instinctive side.
You really have to fall in love with democracy, and the particular set of processes that constitute it […]
You’re assuming that democracy is about voting periodically for representatives whose faces you like.
The one thing that politics really, really is, is a popularity contest.
So this, essentially “success=popularity”, is a statement which the paragraph afterwards is trying to substantiate?
if you are going to make it. You have to be so good at it, and you have to be good at it for years on end. That’s why I have a whole bunch more faith that Andrew LIttle and Mr Shorten have a shit-show, and people like Sanders and Corbyn and as we’ve seen many others don’t.
Unfortunately, you beg the question by assuming that “making it” consists in achieving popularity, rather than showing how popularity gets a programme realised. Your entire paradigm is exactly the mixture of truisms (popularity wins a popular vote) and questionable assumptions masquerading as common sense (being in government enables the realisation of the principles you had when you weren’t in government) that typefy the Right in general.
The one thing that politics really, really is, is a popularity contest.
Maybe that’s what politics has become but it shouldn’t be. Politics is about decision-making, based on sound process, and executing these decisions, i.e. “getting on with it”.
The assumption underlying policy debates – their true purpose in a democracy – is to engage in a principled argument in order to reach a discernible truth. It isn’t, as we have seen more and more often, to win a short-term victory at any and all costs.
In a modern progressive pluralistic society with proportional representation in Parliament decision-making ideally and primarily should be based on reaching consensus IMO, through cooperation and consultation, because these decisions affect many if not all members of such society.
Unfortunately, partisan politics rule in New Zealand and there still is a strong FPP mentality that dictates that the ‘winner’ is the one who reaches 51% of the vote; that’s all that’s needed to ‘win’. As a side-line, I do think that neo-liberal ideology (doctrine) plays a major role in this since it encourages competition and individualism and counters moves to unification and this has resulted in an erosion of communities and community spirit and given us a society of confused fearful individuals who feel disengaged from politics and the political process and socially powerless. Rings a bell?
I’d argue that (broad) consensus makes a vote obsolete and that this also avoids the “tyranny of the majority”. A vote might only be really necessary when a stalemate has been reached, only as a last resort. An analogy would be industrial action when talks between negotiating parties have broken down. Alternatively, a vote (or poll) could be taken as a starting point rather for the political process to commence, which is the exact opposite of present practice!
I could go on about how it is impossible to base decisions on popularity alone, without the necessary confidence and trust, and as the sole basis of (political) power and authority.
strewth talk about a negative moaning bitch ad what part of the people love him dont you understand ?The people flocking to join the lp over there arent doing it because theyve been conned by the establishment theyre going there because they perceive a difference in this man and theyre gonna give him a fighting chance unlike you apparently
done.
[lprent: I can’t see any relevance of this to the post. OpenMike and I’d suggest that you might want to explain your ideas to those of us without your enhanced visions. ]
You’re not the only one sick and tired of the shit Adam.
When I’ve got people in the real world – people who know neither CV nor trp – telling me they’re way fucking over reading threads that suddenly morph into something that might have come from the ‘trade-me’ message boards or similar…
There’s an easy solution, Bill. Return the standard to its original purpose, which was, as I recall, to be an intelligent, articulate voice from the movement. This place is still broken.
The recurring message I get from anyone who brings any current state of ‘the standard’ up in conversation (not an entirely uncommon occurrence) is that it’s a far lesser place than it once was principally because of your behaviour trp.
Oh, bollocks. My posts are well read and well commented on. Like it or not, I’m not afraid to call bullshit when I see it, and I’m not going to dicky lick our resident troll. Your mileage may differ. At the moment, we’re drifting into the abyss where right wing conspiracy theories collide with worker hating petit bourgeois snobbery.
Can’t find a reply button on your comment finishing “Is the Standard a serious left wing blog?” Oh what arrogance of you to claim impeccable left-wingism ! Impeccable Labour Partyism is the highest I can put it.
So, wherever this appears let me say this……you seem to have all the fake muscles of an unmitigated bully TRP. And you CV seem never to have recovered from Twyford’s “chinese names” business. Which while your face is brazenly and spittlingly set against it is in some measure significantly true. And now you’re lurching off into fucking Trumpism……call me Mabel and fuck me gently !
You’re both egotistical, control freak pains in the arse and we’re the somewhat bored “scroll down past them” collateral damage to your ‘always gotta be right’ spats. Grow up you fucking children !
I’m sick of it, too. Having said that, even if I find a lot of CV’s writings since the last election frustratingly one-sided, especially considering the difference in that regard to his earlier contributions, they always seem to me to articulate (and generally substantiate) a point that is passionately held with a view to changing the global political discourse in the long term, and not personally directed. I would be hard pressed to say the same for all others.
The relevance of my post was the hopes and aims of the first labour government, and in particular Peter Fraser. Also that in the early days of the labour movement poetry, and other forms of literature were used to convey messages. Sadly almost dead aspect, when we have society full of literalist.
This story just gets worse. This attack on whistle blowers from the Obama administration, feels very much like the Wilson play book is back on the table.
My guess, Clinton will carry on with this type of domestic suppression.
Seems that Chelsea Manning tried to take her own life and her lawyers were not told.
It pisses me off how Snowden and Manning get utterly crucified by the US for doing their nation a major service while Killary Clinton’s deliberate mishandling of secret information leading to it being stolen by foreign hackers gets zero.
Couldn’t agree more CV, I wrote about that in a previous post about Clinton and how “ordinary people” would be tried for treason and wouldn’t see the light of day ever again but Clinton who enabled her mail to be exposed into the wrong hands is hit with a wet bus ticket. A law for one and a law for the great unwashed. She is tarnished now and ever was/will be with the Clinton Foundation so just like Blair her legacy isn’t looking good and shouldn’t ever be either. Trump may be nuts but he is his own man and although certainly not in a good mind frame to be President he doesn’t have the smell of corruption at a government level about him like she does.
Bernie is the only decent candidate for the job of US President, so they’ve made sure he won’t get it. “They” not being Republicans nor Trump, but the Democratic Party.
Jesus I’m getting really worried about the equanimity, indeed the glee, of some commenters here whose Leftie stuff I’ve long respected, to the prospect of Herr Drumpf smashing Clinton in November. Careful what you wish for darlings. Yes Clinton yuk but Jesus…….arch racist and terminal egoist Drumpf ?
Herr Drumpf was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Racist, cruel capitalist, vile daddy gave him 40 mill’ to start off with. Drumpf ain’t no friend of the working people. In the office of Pres’ the fucking ego-freak, trophy wife toting lunatic could cinder the whole fucking lot of us ! By accident or on a bad hair day. Which, looking down from Heaven I would have to guage as very annoying. On account of its avoidability.
I don’t want the world to go up in smoke because of some (I suspect tiddly little cock) ugly like Drumpf.
More broadly … Hillary’s capacity to hold a grudge and exact revenge on political opponents is reputedly even greater than Nixon’s. She’ll be drawing up a blacklist as we speak.
Police reporting only “the good stuff”.
Apparently, at least one senior police officer is under the impression that knowing local police activity is not in the public interest unless it’s a good news story.
This strikes me as being indicative of a fundamental progression towards the “us vs them” policing philosophy that creates a paramilitary police force rather than a community police force. The daily activity blotter is one of those little things that’s essential, if barely noticed, in an open society. Suppressing daily police activities should only occur if the need for confidentiality (e.g. privacy or prejudice of justice concerns) outweighs the public’s right to know.
Local crime is obviously of public interest. We don’t need to know, we have a right to know, and they have an obligation to openly and efficiently report their activity to us, so we can tell if they’re doing their damned job. Stats can be juked, but the local emergency services daily blotter used to give a fair impression of how safe our community was. Removing that because the community might discover the truth that’s inconvenient for the police is an inch away from covering up incompetence and corruption.
your taking the piss pucker …………… banks is a nasty little piece of work ……… he thought clint rickards was a great police office ……….. when the cops were acting like his goons when he was auckland mayor ………..
He like the nats is a dishonest money grubber using all sort of scams.
And never forget the trash racism hoax he and his national party whip mate “Hone carter” tried to pull when banks was a radio talk back host.
Yeah Banks is, always was, a right wee Mother Theresa……
Your final paragraph PR – “…….how could the judge possibly have believed KDC and his wife over John Banks and his wife ?”
You’re a crashing snob PR !
Not to mention your appalling ignorance of the principle of law that the fact finder determines issues according to the evidence adduced in court. If that weren’t the story you might as well call Rachel Glucina “Chief Justice”. Or the ponytail fetishist “Lord Denning”.
It is of course for the honourable judge but I’d wager there are plenty of people who know stuff about law who would question that the judge owes any apology to anyone.
Must say though, it’s refreshing to see a high public office holder prepared to fashion a sense of honour and decency and have it triumph over personal ego. Cf. the scurvy, effete, increasingly brittle liar Key. And Blair. The morals of both of them missing in action always.
Or did PR mean, ‘…….How could the judge possibly have believed John Banks and his wife over anybody ?’.We all know how straight up Banksy is and always has been.
……or in the authenticity of the mysterious appearance of two previously obscure American business men and their belated but oh so relevant ‘affidavits’ to save Banksy’s bacon. Old boys gotta stick together.$$$$
I stand to be corrected of course but I recall that the LA affidavit writers, Warner Bros guys weren’t they, never ever appeared in a New Zealand court for cross-examination on their affidavits.
Yet the Court of Appeal read those untested affidavits and said “No, fuck that, acquittal !”
I do know a little bit about appellate proceedings and I remain troubled as to how in the name of God a few untested scraps of paper bearing signatures were ever enough to have the appellate court kill the thing dead rather than take the customary step in instances of new evidence of quashing and ordering a retrial. That’s what happens to all the brown boys (except, mercifully, Teina). Still boggles me !
If in fact these guys did appear and were cross-examined on their affidavits I retract it all and Banks truly is a selfless Mother Theresa. Chartered and licensed by God!
Have a look on youtube at the late Christopher Hitchen’s and Penn and Teller’s opinions on Mother Teresa. Your comparison with our Banksy may be more appropriate than you think.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
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Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
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Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
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Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
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TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
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The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
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Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund — When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayers’ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund — and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 ‘redesign of the welfare state’ – which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty – various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being ‘Working for Families’, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
Jack Vowles writes – New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
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 ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. It’s not as if we haven’t done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didn’t say: “Oh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.” No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarctica’s glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer “yes” to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if they’re experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the government’s Future Made in Australia industry ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk Security forces reinforcements were sent from France ahead of two rival marches in the capital Nouméa today, at the same time and only two streets away one from the other. One march, called by Union Calédonienne party (a component of the ...
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the ‘Three Strikes’ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...
The solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of Rūaumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Let’s start with ...
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 at amRawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...
COMMENTARY:By Malcolm Evans Last week’s leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...
In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...
The ‘Vampire’ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence.Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...
Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australia’s biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019–20 Black ...
Responding to the Government’s announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayers’ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: “These changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...
More than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...
Comment:An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Government’s inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...
Welcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop I’ve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...
We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise – with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winner’s circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...
Two/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond.By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...
Popstars wasn’t just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion.It’s 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume it’s because single people have insecurities that make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earth’s fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we don’t have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Here’s something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how she’s saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Charity director, mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...
It’s been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, 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. Three ...
New Zealand’s Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassador’s appearance as a guest on TVNZ’s Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...
Both ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...
Public submissions on proposed gang control laws are being heard today. Rising gang membership has been cited as rationale for a crackdown – but what do we actually know about how many people belong to gangs in New Zealand?What’s all this then?A rise in the number of gang ...
Climate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. It’s hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Auckland’s Prince’s Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...
Black Ferns trailblazer Kendra Cocksedge was on the verge of tears when her young protégé, Hannah King, unassumingly broke the news. Three-time Rugby World Cup winner Cocksedge and Lincoln agriculture student King meet every few weeks over a hot chocolate, in an enduring mentorship that’s spanned years. “Before we even ...
Opinion: We’ve kicked the tyres on the perception NZ’s economy is in a parlous state compared to Australia. We take a quick tour of relative trends in GDP, housing markets, labour markets, trade, the fiscal situation, and the outlooks for inflation and interest rates. We find the cyclical positions of ...
Opinion: Making sure developers, local and central government, and landowners are all on the same page makes sense The post A new kind of city deal appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 23 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following korero between Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group Ngā Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...
In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...
By Russell Palmer, RNZ News digital political journalist New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters is putting off recognition of Palestine as a state, despite opposition Labour’s formal request that he make the move. Peters said diplomatic recognition of Palestine was a matter of “when not if”, but doing so now ...
The opposition has laid into the government's plan to reintroduce a "three strikes" regime, saying it's inequitable and there's very little evidence it works. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Nicholls, Senior research associate, University of Sydney Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has ordered social media platform “X” (formerly known as Twitter) to remove graphic videos of the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Sydney last week from the site. The incident ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Sydney John Turnbull, CC BY-NC-ND In past bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef, the southern region has sometimes been spared worst of the bleaching. Not this time. This year’s intense underwater heat has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Austin, Lecturer in Theatre, The University of Melbourne Darren Gill/Mackey, Darling & Collaborators The relationship between witchcraft and teenage girls has been the subject of many books, films and television shows. Over time, the traditional image of witch as crone ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of Sydney Andres Siimon/Unsplash There are no silver bullets, magic tricks or secret hacks to solving complex public health problems. Taking on the global tobacco industry and reducing the devastating consequences of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam B. Watts, Research Associate in galaxy evolution, The University of Western Australia ESO/A. Watts et al., CC BY We breathe oxygen and nitrogen gas in our atmosphere every day, but did you know that these gases also float through space, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Nielsen, Professor and Deputy Director, Monash Addiction Research Centre, Monash University Maxime Bhm/Unsplash A new group of drugs called nitazenes has been detected in Australia. They have been sold as heroin as well as other drugs like ketamine. Concerns ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Twomey, Professor emerita, University of Sydney Image from Bradlow + Bock campaign Can the job of being a federal member of parliament be shared by two or more persons? Two prospective candidates for the inner-Melbourne federal seat of Higgins, Lucy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Rathus, Senior Lecturer in Law, Griffith University Shutterstock In October 2023, the federal parliament passed major changes to how children’s cases are decided under the Family Law Act, which kick in next month. Among other things, they repeal a ...
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring, greedy.
Power companies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11669927
Yesterday afternoon I had to drop something off to an old fella at his council flat, he came to the door dressed in jacket & big wooly hat that covered his ears like he was in Antarctica! I asked if he was alright warm enough etc? He said ‘all good mate, you have a good day’.
Another day in John Key’s neo-liberal nightmare.
We have become a cruel, greedy, uncaring and selfish nation under his wretched leadership.
Uncaring, greedy.
Landlords and real estate companies that manage rentals.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/81823651/family-trapped-in-mould-horror-house
Not good enough all round.
Despite paying $240 a week for their three bedroom home the couple say they can only use their tiny lounge, dining and kitchen area because the rest of the house is uninhabitable.
We’ve been in this situation too; in fact I suspect a lot of New Zealanders shut down part of their house in winter because they cannot afford to heat it all.
And this is largely due to a building industry that for generations has been overpriced and under-performing. In my opinion about three-quarters of kiwi houses need renovating with a bulldozer.
Spot on.
After the floods in South Dunedin a bunch of residents did just that, just shut off the damaged part of the house & lived in 1/2 rooms.
When we came to NZ we were told winter here is an indoor experience as much as it is an outdoor one. We have had wind coming from the floor as it was not insulated just like the rest of the house; there was no heating source so we had to use a portable gas heater and oil heaters at night; you can imagine the wet windows in the morning and the fight to wipe them. No amount of open windows during the day can prevent the condensation that comes at night. It pushed us to do everything we could to be out of there and into our own house, which we did exactly a year after we moved into it. But we are privileged to be able to do that and it makes me so angry there are no regulations when it comes to rentals. If landlords cannot afford to provide a decent standard of living for their tenants they should not be landlords.
There are two types of rentals; purpose built new apartments and townhouses which are generally ok. It’s not often appreciated but historically something in the order of 10-15% of all new builds are intended as rental investments. Generally these units will be pretty good; the landlord has put in solid money upfront and wants to keep them for decades for their rental income, not their speculative capital gain.
But historically the bulk of rentals are ordinary homes that are in the last 25% of their economic life … and no-one wants them as their ‘dream home’ anymore. These are the problem houses; either an energetic owner will renovate them in the hope that the capital gain will cover the considerable costs OR a landlord will just leave them to slowly depreciate and decay while the rental income makes a modest cash flow.
A lot depends on the location and the long term plans of the landlord. Bear in mind that a decent reno on a run-down older house may well cost > $50k and with a rental income of only $15k pa or less, plus rates, insurance, interest and other costs … if there is no capital gain it absolutely makes no commercial sense to upgrade. You can spend a lot of money doing up a rental, and the income barely changes. The tenant gets all the benefits of warmer house and lower power bills, the landlord gets nothing except maybe an improved occupancy rate.
The core problem here is a lot of mis-aligned market signals.
That’s a good analysis from a front line landlord POV, thanks RL.
My landlord is presently renovating this house and has budgeted $80k to do it. Now that he’s started he’s concerned that he hasn’t budgeted enough.
The place is ~40 years old, it’s not in bad condition but it’s the not the best either. The landlord does, as a matter of fact, live here as well (I rent a room).
Actually, the core problem is that the market doesn’t really work in housing.
+1
Andrew Little has fallen into the same trap as Bennett by referring to the need to increase the number of “beds” for the homeless. How patronising is that? Guess it’s to be expected though, from the party for the workers – meaning those with jobs, that is.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/81851560/labour-leader-andrew-little-unveils-60m-plan-to-boost-emergency-housing
small difference between Paula (Has got her benefits) Bennett and Andrew Little.
The National MP of Do Nothing Paula B. wants to spend more money on existing beds not increase the number of emergency beds available.
Andrew Little wants to increase the Number of emergency beds/housing as there is currently and prolly for a few years coming a need.
Safe your concern for the National Party and their Do Nothing Minister of Fuck UPs.
Okay then.
Ok, that place actually needs to be condemned.
quote from someone at AKL Council when i called to have a property that i rented checked and condemned.
“If we were to condemn all AKl houses that are below standard and even more like slum buildings we would loose over 50% of all Houses in AKL.”
so you see there is a problem.
I kinda realised that aspect a couple of years ago when the WOF for rental properties was first mooted. The idea would be to progressively work through them.
Obama political appointees to the FBI and Justice Department clear the way for Hillary Clinton to run
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-06/folks-put-pieces-together-judge-jeanine-rages-over-comeyclinton-debacle
Donald Trump says it more simply – under his presidency, Loretta Lynch would be out of a job. But Clinton can promise her additional terms in office if she won the presidency.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-06/trump-says-clinton-trying-bribe-loretta-lynch
No one cares, bro.
Nailed it. lol
Neither of you care about political interference in due legal process. Thanks for clearing that up.
In my opinion, born from principle and common decency, that you support a racist, misogynist, billionaire one percenter invalidates you from giving me shit over just about anything.
To me, your opinion is as valid as nf, kkk rednecks.
I’m underwhelmed. lol
Straw man me all you like, but Trump will be far better for NZ than neocon infected Killary Clinton.
If only because Trump will be far less likely to start a shooting war with China or Russia in the Pacific, and he will shitcan both the TPPA and TTIP.
I don’t mind how you try to wish it all away 🙂
Anyway, I’m under orders from Bill, now.
As you’re untouchable, you’ll be all right to carry on by yourself until the coast clears and the dust settles. lol
not untouchable.
just not obsessively touchable when it derails a post 🙂
Either way, just be aware you’re goading someone who thinks he’s channeling messages from the “intrinsic intelligence of the universe”…
Heh
Just make a serious political comment instead of astroturfing. That’s all it takes.
When you say “serious political comment” you mean join you on a daily basis in rabbiting on about neolibs, Trump, Putin, RT links, Labour are shit and we’re all going die from the radiation.
It’d take a heavy hammer and a willing head smacker first.
Punching out now, so make sure the cheque is in the post, ta.
Zero hedge really has it in for Clinton
You wouldn’t be a member of the Clinton fan club if you consider the implications of the Obama White House smoothing away felony charges for her.
Zero Hedge never met a conspiracy theory they didn’t mind repeating. Or inventing.
Be led like a lamb to the slaughter, if you wish. After all the farmer has fed you without fail every day, how could he be wishing anything bad for you? To question otherwise is to be a “conspiracy theorist.”
Boy who cried wolf, etc.
I’ve got no time for the FBI but it’s not as simple as: An Obama political appointment so he does was the president wants.
Here’s the wiki short version on James Comey:
James Brien Comey, Jr. (born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer. He is the seventh and current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He was the United States Deputy Attorney General, serving in President George W. Bush’s administration. As Deputy Attorney General, Comey was the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and ran the day-to-day operations of the Department, serving in that office from December 2003 through August 2005. He was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York prior to becoming Deputy Attorney General.
An interesting article in The Age (and presumably SMH) asking how was it that, in spite of the polls throughout the campaign calling it pretty much 50-50, the Gallery in Canberra allowed themselves to get suckered in by the Turnbull government’s spin and were all confidently predicting a reasonably comfortable majority for the Coalition.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2016-opinion/election-2016-the-uncomfortable-truth-is-the-media-got-it-wrong-how-did-we-do-it-20160705-gpzatm.html
What an odd piece by Trevett in the Herald about Andrew Little. A complete load of rubbish, cliched writing. And, predictably, it’s been turned into a hatchet job on the Labour leader.
she has got to earn a living somehow?
this may have something to do with it.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11670146
There were two pieces. One headlined ‘The Man who would be King’ which is a story about inflated egos seeking glory but failing.
The other was referenced the Labour housing statements as a ‘Crusade’ which is a futile and divisive part of history still playing out on the world stage.
Both suggested the datedness and futility of Labour policy and the articles themselves only explored the policy and leadership ambitions as it relates to government policy and the leader of the government, not touching on the people for which the policy aim to help. She seeked to consolidate and defend the fragmented and reluctant govt policy and present it as worthwhile but over a longer timeframe.
She really is the stuff floating on the surface of stagnant government thought.
The Herald currently has the Trevitt article with the headline “He’s not ready to be Prime Minister”, wankers.
He is not. You should be applauding the fact that the Herald has produced an accurate headline.
I can just picture you applauding like a seal, arf! arf!
Technically speaking, no one is ready to be PM until after they’ve been PM for awhile. It really is the experience that counts.
John Key, even after 7 years in the job, still isn’t ready to be PM.
IMO this is framing it the wrong way and asking a misleading question.
The question should be whether he’s capable to take the responsibility and fulfil his duty if/when he has to step up.
Similarly and simultaneously, the same question should be asked about the team he’s leading now and the coalition he might be leading.
I’d say that Andrew Little and his team are as capable, if not more, as John Key and his band of MPs.
“Andrew Little: Is it not the truth that he has taken no action to stop the sale of our productive land into overseas ownership and that his pledge to ensure that we will not become tenants in our own land is just more hollow words from a hollow man?
Hon Steven Joyce: Angry Andrew.
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Well, he is angry because he has had to wait a wee while to ask his question. But I stand by my record”
******************************************
“Rt Hon JOHN KEY: The Government’s response in housing has been quite comprehensive”
********************************************
“Andrew Little: Does he agree with Nick Smith that the costs of modern insulation and heating standards are not worth the benefits, given that the benefits are preventing Kiwi kids from getting sick and from dying?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I agree with Nick Smith in the context of the statements he would have been making. ”
**********************************************
“Andrew Little: How proud is the Prime Minister of the company he is now keeping when the Panama Papers lump New Zealand in with such auspicious company as Belize, the Seychelles, and Costa Rica in the list of 21 tax havens?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I think New Zealand can stand quite proudly on the regime that it runs here”
************************************************
“Rt Hon Winston Peters: How can he stand by his statements yesterday that New Zealand “is not a tax haven” and that we “also have an extensive disclosure regime”, when specialist law firms on trusts for foreigners point out there is no need for disclosure of identity, or trust registration, or for any such trust accounts to be audited?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Because I am right”
*****************************************************
“Rt Hon JOHN KEY: I cannot confirm whether the Bahamas is a tax haven or not—I simply do not know.”
*******************************************************
and we’ll finish with a inside joke between two tax haven supporters
“David Seymour: In what century did the wine-box inquiry take place?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: One so far back I can hardly remember it.”
haha ………. get it? ………… almost like jail house humor
They are worried about how sensible and honest ,yes honest, Little is sounding. It confuses them.
How’s this for rubbish writing from Deputy Trev’ of the Herald ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11669873
Starting with the slightly sneering reference to “crusade” in the headline, travelling on down to suggestion by default of a practical and moral equivalence in the parties’ respective positions, and the ever-present fascination with the ‘game’ of it all.
What a John Key botty muncher is Deputy Trev’ ! Fukn unbelievable !
And what of the vox pop they’ve had up on Herald online – what are people saying about Andrew Little ? No context, no analysis, no reporting of numbers or percentages. Just out-of-the-blue, “Ya like him, or no ?
mind this might be only to counter this from Fran Sullivan?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11669161
Love it where Fran says it is a pretty crap society that pulls the housing ladder up on the young and less well-off to preserve their unearned wealth. Well said indeed.
Yep. She always seeks to minimise government mistakes, and opposition advances.
She must have a massive property portfolio.
Yep the easiest thing is to stop reading the herald. I try just to look about once a month just in case there has been some editorial change to act like a newspaper not a propaganda advertorial for Natz and friends.
As for Little he’s doing the best job he can and has united the caucus and he seems really honest. So a good contrast to Key the liar.
The only thing I am concerned about is that Labour seem to be deciding to have some sort of rah rah housing policy coming out, and that will be falling into the Natz and MSM hands.
In times of bad news, notice Key disappears, off to Fiji, Hawaii or whathaveyou. But Labour feel compelled to be in the spot light at that time so are then appearing whenever there is bad news.
There is no knight in shining armour for housing in Auckland and New Zealand. What ever is done is gonna piss a lot of people off, either the 1 in 4 migrants in Auckland, the 67% homeowners or the renters many of whom did seem to want to vote Labour or Greens last election in spite of seemingly housing policy gains for them.
There is no possible way to look good on housing and please everyone. You are more likely to displease everyone. So the best thing is to leave the Natz alone in the spotlight to face the housing crisis alone. They choreographed the situation and now it is their time to face the music (by themselves).
Don’t make any announcements Labour/Greens! Just sit tight on housing announcements and let the swords fall and MSM talons, on who deserve it. The Natz.
Labour/Greens can fix up housing when they are elected and not let that be the downfall like last election.
Wouldn’t normally link to the horrendous old Daily Telegraph … but … Defeated Labour Rebels admit ‘it’s finished’, as Jeremy Corbyn refuses to Resign as Leader
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/06/defeated-labour-rebels-admit-its-finished-as-jeremy-corbyn-refus/
Meanwhile, over at the New Statesman … A surge in Labour Membership has further bolstered Corbyn’s leadership … http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/07/labour-membership-hit-600000
And why Corbyn’s allies are confident … http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/07/jeremy-corbyn-s-allies-believe-they-ll-win-again-because-their-opponents-haven-t
Corbyn may look like the runty guy who gets sand kicked in his face all the way down the beach, but clearly he has stones of steel. The rebel MP’s bet that the Members would not rise sufficiently to his defence.
They bet wrong.
Corbyn has won the people, and with that, can happily knife all the PLP Rebels as quickly or as slowly as he likes, and install his own in to the shadow Cabinet. A major payback for enduring the crap.
I haven’t always warmed to him personally, but I respect a well-played political defence.
Very happy with the broad direction Corbyn and McDonnell have set out for the Party … but I’m by no means entirely uncritical of aspects of his leadership.
The core problem now is that (unsurprisingly) polls suggest an overwhelming majority of voters (including around half of Labour voters) see the Party as deeply divided and, partly as a consequence, they see Corbyn as a less than capable and competent Leader. “If they can’t run their own Party, how can they run the Country” etc
There’s almost an element of blackmail here … PLP gross disloyalty undermines the leadership team and destroys confidence in Labour as a viable alternative Govt … potentially leading to ever poorer poll ratings and the prospect of Corbyn becoming a lame duck leader.
Owen Jones recently suggested the Corbyn team’s plan was to nurture a Left-leaning successor to take over the leadership a couple of year’s before the 2020 Election (assuming it isn’t earlier). I’d almost be prepared to accept a Corbyn compromise with the PLP by making their favoured candidate -the Soft Left’s Owen Smith – that successor. (the PLP are well aware that the membership will never accept anyone from the Centre or Right of the Party, so have reluctantly opted for Smith).
Except, the Brownites and Blairites play hardball – they’re interested in exerting as much control over Smith as possible (like they tried to do with Miliband – leading to a great deal of policy ambiguity in the lead-up to the 2015 Election) and they clearly want to inflict a historic defeat on the Left of the Party. As Tony Blair once implied – the last thing they want to see is a popular electable Left-leaning Leader.
Blair has been immolated by the Chilcott report, but it’s no time for Corbyn to be cocky.
2020 is one helluva long time to survive in an office where 2/3 of your ‘colleagues’ utterly loathe you and will slit your hamstrings every time you move.
Can Corbyn ‘smile, and murder while I smile’? Not yet.
Politics is, as he is figuring very very late, a whole bunch more than speechifying and apologies.
What evidence do you have that he’s only figuring that out now? He’s very long in the tooth politically. Your suggestion seems utterly bizarre to me. More likely he knew that he was always going to face an enormous amount of adversity, and there was no course of action he could choose that would not result in at least one major stand-off.
I’ll leave that judgement for six months and look back.
But so far Corbyn:
– hasn’t unified the MPs he has to work with
– hasn’t unified the MPs to the Members
– hasn’t made a mark against the Conservatives
– hasn’t won anything
– hasn’t raised any money of note
– hasn’t got a functioning shadow Cabinet
– hasn’t convinced the only mildly leftie paper the Guardian
– was on the wrong side of the Brexit vote and doesn’t have a plan for it
(He definitely has got more ordinary members. But this isn’t an episode of Robin Hood.)
Now, it’s quite possible this set of failures is all part of some astonishing masterplan that you can impute for him. Go for it. To me that list of failures signifies a poor political leader. (There were plenty here who thought Sanders was going to win as well, simply through arm waving and tent revival meetings. They were wrong)
I’m just going to wait and see.
He needs to eliminate several dozen of the disloyal MPs from the party, particularly the ones who clearly don’t understand that Blairite careerism isn’t what the Labour Party stands for any more.
Trying to make nice with them would be the same fatal mistake that Cunliffe made.
Why would he want to do that? The Guardian can’t swing an election for him, and they have been against him from the start.
Ignore The Guardian and make the news on your on terms.
Definitely needs to eliminate a whole swathe of MPs. Hope he has the stones and the tactical acumen for it.
The problem with ignoring The Guardian, or any news channel, is that they don’t ignore you. You never, ever get to “make news on your own terms.”
Corbyn’s constituency don’t listen to the Guardian, Ad. So why should he bother pretending that either the Guardian, or its readership, are important.
Well, on the results of ignoring them listed above, I would just urge Corbyn a little caution going down that path.
I’d love any Labour leader to be able to ignore any part of the media, MSM or otherwise. Such political romance is fun to imagine, but in reality politicians exist in ugly codependent relationships with them.
Worth remembering that politicians need the media a whole bunch more than the media need politicians.
Another bizarre statement. What, in the next six months, would be likely to indicate whether or not Corbyn had figured out prior to his leadership bid that politics is about “more than speechifying and apologies”?
This presupposes that he sees unifying Blairites with those more disposed towards following him as being desirable in any way.
Presupposes the same thing, as well as assuming that the membership, who have signed up in swathes in the wake of his becoming leader, want a bar of the MPs who trenchantly opposed him – and vice versa.
This really isn’t the timeframe to be reading anything at all into that. It is also exactly that part of politics most heavily dominated by the speechifying side of things, so I don’t see how it could be seen as evidence for what you’re saying.
And your point is…?
You could be right about that; do you have a link?
See above.
The Blairites? So?
As so often evidenced in your writing, your concept of “right” and “wrong” in politics is defined by electoral success. I think that says more about how you are reading Corbyn here than anything else you’ve written, and chimes well with your willingness to accommodate a third-way position to the point of being indistinguishable from it. Ironically, it suggests an approach to politics that emphasises “speechifying”. Corbyn’s historical record as a Eurosceptic aside, what public actions apart from speeches were you expecting, especially during a campaign whose terms had been largely defined along xenophobic and populist lines well before the referendum was called? Surely he would be better off dealing with his own party, and articulating his plan (whether he already has one or has yet to formulate it) at the earliest when Europe makes its own position known. Given that, how can his actions at this point be seen as evidence of a lack of plan? Perhaps that is the judgment you should be reserving for at least six months.
You’ve provided quite a lot of detail, but no real evidence that Corbyn is mainly about “speechifying”, let alone that he hasn’t worked out that there’s more to politics.
I wish him well, truly, and I hope it works out.
He’s a luv.
Call me in January and we’ll have another go. See if he’s managed to tick a couple of those big problems of his off the list. Maybe then he’s got just the chance of a mote in God’s eye of surviving.
Now hold still, here’s a little illustration for you:
There’s a great line reported yesterday in Salon in the Democrat meeting where Sanders met with all Democrat Senate and Congress leaders, to come to some pre-Conference pact, and he started off his little address to them with:
“The point isn’t to win elections …”
…at which point he was universally booed by them. And he continued:
“The point is to transform America.”
And there is a really good illustration of a resolutely principled person. Who has no place being in political leadership.
The one thing that politics really, really is, is a popularity contest. Not only with your party members, not only with your elected colleagues, but also with all people, and with the media.
You really have to fall in love with democracy, and the particular set of processes that constitute it, if you are going to make it. You have to be so good at it, and you have to be good at it for years on end. That’s why I have a whole bunch more faith that Andrew LIttle and Mr Shorten have a shit-show, and people like Sanders and Corbyn and as we’ve seen many others don’t.
See you in January on this.
A go at what? I thought you were trying to show how Corbyn was a waffler who did nothing but make speeches. However, now you seem to be advocating the sort of politics that involves winning people over with soundbites and speeches that appeal to their more instinctive side.
You’re assuming that democracy is about voting periodically for representatives whose faces you like.
So this, essentially “success=popularity”, is a statement which the paragraph afterwards is trying to substantiate?
Unfortunately, you beg the question by assuming that “making it” consists in achieving popularity, rather than showing how popularity gets a programme realised. Your entire paradigm is exactly the mixture of truisms (popularity wins a popular vote) and questionable assumptions masquerading as common sense (being in government enables the realisation of the principles you had when you weren’t in government) that typefy the Right in general.
@ Ad 7 July 2016 at 8:17 pm:
Maybe that’s what politics has become but it shouldn’t be. Politics is about decision-making, based on sound process, and executing these decisions, i.e. “getting on with it”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11664653
In a modern progressive pluralistic society with proportional representation in Parliament decision-making ideally and primarily should be based on reaching consensus IMO, through cooperation and consultation, because these decisions affect many if not all members of such society.
Unfortunately, partisan politics rule in New Zealand and there still is a strong FPP mentality that dictates that the ‘winner’ is the one who reaches 51% of the vote; that’s all that’s needed to ‘win’. As a side-line, I do think that neo-liberal ideology (doctrine) plays a major role in this since it encourages competition and individualism and counters moves to unification and this has resulted in an erosion of communities and community spirit and given us a society of confused fearful individuals who feel disengaged from politics and the political process and socially powerless. Rings a bell?
I’d argue that (broad) consensus makes a vote obsolete and that this also avoids the “tyranny of the majority”. A vote might only be really necessary when a stalemate has been reached, only as a last resort. An analogy would be industrial action when talks between negotiating parties have broken down. Alternatively, a vote (or poll) could be taken as a starting point rather for the political process to commence, which is the exact opposite of present practice!
I could go on about how it is impossible to base decisions on popularity alone, without the necessary confidence and trust, and as the sole basis of (political) power and authority.
strewth talk about a negative moaning bitch ad what part of the people love him dont you understand ?The people flocking to join the lp over there arent doing it because theyve been conned by the establishment theyre going there because they perceive a difference in this man and theyre gonna give him a fighting chance unlike you apparently
And tommorow comes the song,
the song was sung,
cough, cough, splutter
done.
[lprent: I can’t see any relevance of this to the post. OpenMike and I’d suggest that you might want to explain your ideas to those of us without your enhanced visions. ]
Labour can’t even bring itself to sing the Red Flag any more
I’ll bet you never knew the words. Or, more importantly, understood their meaning.
Practicing your telepathy again, TRP? The socialist meaning of the song is exactly why NZ Labour ditched it.
Telepathy or dodgy snake oil homoeopathy?
Only one has any credibility.
Can you read my mind as to which one?
lol
[The baiting and flaming ends now. You got away with it last night – you’re not doing it again. Speak to the post or don’t comment at all] – Bill
Sure, what ever you say, ref.
You’re so full of shit, your chin’s stained brown.
Boy I’m getting sick of this “hate in” between te reo putake and Colonial Viper.
Agree to disagree already.
So Colonial Viper is a late comer to the realisation that labour is, what it is.
Here is another take on them
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/07/07/exclusive-the-nz-labour-party-can-no-longer-avoid-the-elephant-in-the-room/
You’re not the only one sick and tired of the shit Adam.
When I’ve got people in the real world – people who know neither CV nor trp – telling me they’re way fucking over reading threads that suddenly morph into something that might have come from the ‘trade-me’ message boards or similar…
There’s an easy solution, Bill. Return the standard to its original purpose, which was, as I recall, to be an intelligent, articulate voice from the movement. This place is still broken.
The recurring message I get from anyone who brings any current state of ‘the standard’ up in conversation (not an entirely uncommon occurrence) is that it’s a far lesser place than it once was principally because of your behaviour trp.
Oh, bollocks. My posts are well read and well commented on. Like it or not, I’m not afraid to call bullshit when I see it, and I’m not going to dicky lick our resident troll. Your mileage may differ. At the moment, we’re drifting into the abyss where right wing conspiracy theories collide with worker hating petit bourgeois snobbery.
Is the Standard a serious left wing blog?
I think your plan to get the standard the way you want it is flawed. It isn’t working and won’t work imo.
Can’t find a reply button on your comment finishing “Is the Standard a serious left wing blog?” Oh what arrogance of you to claim impeccable left-wingism ! Impeccable Labour Partyism is the highest I can put it.
So, wherever this appears let me say this……you seem to have all the fake muscles of an unmitigated bully TRP. And you CV seem never to have recovered from Twyford’s “chinese names” business. Which while your face is brazenly and spittlingly set against it is in some measure significantly true. And now you’re lurching off into fucking Trumpism……call me Mabel and fuck me gently !
You’re both egotistical, control freak pains in the arse and we’re the somewhat bored “scroll down past them” collateral damage to your ‘always gotta be right’ spats. Grow up you fucking children !
Fuck I wish I’d said that north – apart from the twyford stuff ☺- Good stuff mate.
Good to hear lads. The dude abides.
I’m sick of it, too. Having said that, even if I find a lot of CV’s writings since the last election frustratingly one-sided, especially considering the difference in that regard to his earlier contributions, they always seem to me to articulate (and generally substantiate) a point that is passionately held with a view to changing the global political discourse in the long term, and not personally directed. I would be hard pressed to say the same for all others.
The relevance of my post was the hopes and aims of the first labour government, and in particular Peter Fraser. Also that in the early days of the labour movement poetry, and other forms of literature were used to convey messages. Sadly almost dead aspect, when we have society full of literalist.
Here is a book on Peter Fraser if you have the time, http://www.michaelbassett.co.nz/book_tomorrow.htm
well worth the read.
This story just gets worse. This attack on whistle blowers from the Obama administration, feels very much like the Wilson play book is back on the table.
My guess, Clinton will carry on with this type of domestic suppression.
Seems that Chelsea Manning tried to take her own life and her lawyers were not told.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/chelsea-manning-rushed-to-hospital-after-trying-to-take-life-a7122971.html
It pisses me off how Snowden and Manning get utterly crucified by the US for doing their nation a major service while Killary Clinton’s deliberate mishandling of secret information leading to it being stolen by foreign hackers gets zero.
Couldn’t agree more CV, I wrote about that in a previous post about Clinton and how “ordinary people” would be tried for treason and wouldn’t see the light of day ever again but Clinton who enabled her mail to be exposed into the wrong hands is hit with a wet bus ticket. A law for one and a law for the great unwashed. She is tarnished now and ever was/will be with the Clinton Foundation so just like Blair her legacy isn’t looking good and shouldn’t ever be either. Trump may be nuts but he is his own man and although certainly not in a good mind frame to be President he doesn’t have the smell of corruption at a government level about him like she does.
Bernie is the only decent candidate for the job of US President, so they’ve made sure he won’t get it. “They” not being Republicans nor Trump, but the Democratic Party.
Jesus I’m getting really worried about the equanimity, indeed the glee, of some commenters here whose Leftie stuff I’ve long respected, to the prospect of Herr Drumpf smashing Clinton in November. Careful what you wish for darlings. Yes Clinton yuk but Jesus…….arch racist and terminal egoist Drumpf ?
Herr Drumpf was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Racist, cruel capitalist, vile daddy gave him 40 mill’ to start off with. Drumpf ain’t no friend of the working people. In the office of Pres’ the fucking ego-freak, trophy wife toting lunatic could cinder the whole fucking lot of us ! By accident or on a bad hair day. Which, looking down from Heaven I would have to guage as very annoying. On account of its avoidability.
I don’t want the world to go up in smoke because of some (I suspect tiddly little cock) ugly like Drumpf.
More broadly … Hillary’s capacity to hold a grudge and exact revenge on political opponents is reputedly even greater than Nixon’s. She’ll be drawing up a blacklist as we speak.
Can someone please help bring me up to speed with Union etiquette?
So the National Union of Public Employees have agreed a deal with Aviation Security, but E tū and the Public Service Association haven’t and are going to strike. http://www.newshub.co.nz/business/the-offer-airport-security-staff-rejected-2016070612#axzz4Dgx2gZly
So do the National Union of Public Employees now have to join the picket-line with their Union comrades? Or do the now get called Scabs and abused when they turn up to work, like this: http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/wharfies-abusive-demanding–port-2012031213#axzz4Dgx2gZly
well POA say all sorts of things – so an article that is based solely on the claims of POA in that particular dispute isnt that robust
Police reporting only “the good stuff”.
Apparently, at least one senior police officer is under the impression that knowing local police activity is not in the public interest unless it’s a good news story.
This strikes me as being indicative of a fundamental progression towards the “us vs them” policing philosophy that creates a paramilitary police force rather than a community police force. The daily activity blotter is one of those little things that’s essential, if barely noticed, in an open society. Suppressing daily police activities should only occur if the need for confidentiality (e.g. privacy or prejudice of justice concerns) outweighs the public’s right to know.
Local crime is obviously of public interest. We don’t need to know, we have a right to know, and they have an obligation to openly and efficiently report their activity to us, so we can tell if they’re doing their damned job. Stats can be juked, but the local emergency services daily blotter used to give a fair impression of how safe our community was. Removing that because the community might discover the truth that’s inconvenient for the police is an inch away from covering up incompetence and corruption.
Bad call by this police officer.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/81847922/former-mp-john-banks-returns-to-high-court-after-conviction-quashed
Shameful it ever went that far, how could the judge possibly have believed KDC and his wife over John Banks and his wife
Banks is still a crook. No amount of wasted court time will change that.
your taking the piss pucker …………… banks is a nasty little piece of work ……… he thought clint rickards was a great police office ……….. when the cops were acting like his goons when he was auckland mayor ………..
He like the nats is a dishonest money grubber using all sort of scams.
And never forget the trash racism hoax he and his national party whip mate “Hone carter” tried to pull when banks was a radio talk back host.
Banks is trash ………….. just like you puck.
Yeah Banks is, always was, a right wee Mother Theresa……
Your final paragraph PR – “…….how could the judge possibly have believed KDC and his wife over John Banks and his wife ?”
You’re a crashing snob PR !
Not to mention your appalling ignorance of the principle of law that the fact finder determines issues according to the evidence adduced in court. If that weren’t the story you might as well call Rachel Glucina “Chief Justice”. Or the ponytail fetishist “Lord Denning”.
It is of course for the honourable judge but I’d wager there are plenty of people who know stuff about law who would question that the judge owes any apology to anyone.
Must say though, it’s refreshing to see a high public office holder prepared to fashion a sense of honour and decency and have it triumph over personal ego. Cf. the scurvy, effete, increasingly brittle liar Key. And Blair. The morals of both of them missing in action always.
Or did PR mean, ‘…….How could the judge possibly have believed John Banks and his wife over anybody ?’.We all know how straight up Banksy is and always has been.
……or in the authenticity of the mysterious appearance of two previously obscure American business men and their belated but oh so relevant ‘affidavits’ to save Banksy’s bacon. Old boys gotta stick together.$$$$
I stand to be corrected of course but I recall that the LA affidavit writers, Warner Bros guys weren’t they, never ever appeared in a New Zealand court for cross-examination on their affidavits.
Yet the Court of Appeal read those untested affidavits and said “No, fuck that, acquittal !”
I do know a little bit about appellate proceedings and I remain troubled as to how in the name of God a few untested scraps of paper bearing signatures were ever enough to have the appellate court kill the thing dead rather than take the customary step in instances of new evidence of quashing and ordering a retrial. That’s what happens to all the brown boys (except, mercifully, Teina). Still boggles me !
If in fact these guys did appear and were cross-examined on their affidavits I retract it all and Banks truly is a selfless Mother Theresa. Chartered and licensed by God!
Have a look on youtube at the late Christopher Hitchen’s and Penn and Teller’s opinions on Mother Teresa. Your comparison with our Banksy may be more appropriate than you think.