Open Mike 08/06/2017

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 8th, 2017 - 52 comments
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52 comments on “Open Mike 08/06/2017 ”

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  1. Ed 1
    8 June 2017 at 6:11 am

    A ‘very British coup’ against Corbyn is being played out, and it’s been decades in the making

    https://www.thecanary.co/2017/06/07/a-very-british-coup-against-corbyn-is-being-played-out-and-its-been-decades-in-the-making/

  2. Ed 2
    8 June 2017 at 6:44 am

    Hopeful news for UK Labour.

    ‘Record numbers of people signed up to vote on deadline day before registrations closed, with more than 600,000 names added to the electoral roll in the final 24 hours.

    On the last day that new voters could register, a total of 622,398 applications were received by the Government’s Individual Electoral Registration digital service.

    That exceeded the previous record of 525,254 applications on a single day, set before the EU referendum on 7 June 2016 – a spike of around 20 per cent.

    The figures point to a sharp increase in young voters adding their names to the register, with around two-thirds – 453,000 – of the new voters to sign up on deadline day aged between 18 and 34.

    A late surge in young voter registrations will be seen as good news for Labour, whose election day hopes have historically hinged on a high turnout among young people.’

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/election-uk-turnout-voters-registration-labour-tories-record-numbers-a7777931.html

    • garibaldi 2.1
      8 June 2017 at 8:51 am

      Trouble is Ed , they are in the wrong electorates in the British FPP.

      • james 2.1.1
        8 June 2017 at 4:32 pm

        If you believe in democracy – then they cannot be in the wrong electorates 😉

        • In Vino 2.1.1.1
          8 June 2017 at 5:35 pm

          First Past the Post is NOT democracy, James – only a distortion of it.

          • Ed 2.1.1.1.1
            8 June 2017 at 8:22 pm

            James is just a troll.

          • james 2.1.1.1.2
            8 June 2017 at 9:35 pm

            Its the system they have – but hey – Im not the one saying that voters registrations are in the “wrong electorates”

            • In Vino 2.1.1.1.2.1
              8 June 2017 at 11:07 pm

              No, but you are the donkey making out that it is ‘Democracy’ – as if in a pure state of perfection. I suppose you admire the American electoral college system as well whenever your preferred candidate wins..

              • james …
                9 June 2017 at 5:48 am

                I do laugh at people who are happy to take a win from a system, but when they lose – its an undemocratic process.

                ha!

                • In Vino …
                  9 June 2017 at 10:30 pm

                  Sorry – I do not see where I have displayed any such hypocrisy. Wishful thinking much??

            • McFlock 2.1.1.1.2.2
              9 June 2017 at 10:44 pm

              If the new registratons are in marginal or conservative seats, and they vote Labour, then the new registrations will have affected the outcome.

              If they were mostly in solid Labour seats, then they will be in the “wrong electorate” and have no effect on the outcome.

  3. AsleepWhileWalking 3
    8 June 2017 at 7:34 am

    CropMobster…app that helps distribute food by connecting producers (even the backyard grown stuff) with buyers. A good addition to the home economy.

  4. Halfcrown 4
    8 June 2017 at 8:54 am

    Interesting doco on ABC Four Corners. It is a pity we can’t get these investigative journalists to do a similar programme about NZ.

    http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2017/06/05/4678871.htm

    • exkiwiforces 4.1
      8 June 2017 at 10:27 am

      Yes, I recommend watching this also as the Chinese issue is starting to worry some people in the higher echelons some Australia departments. Didn’t the NZ government a while ago look at investigating the Chinese dumping sub standing steel products us for building and the Chinese said the going put tariffs or something on certain agriculture products. Then you have stuff that happen with Collins shelia and that clown Key with some Chinese people?

      This one belt and one road to me is very concerning to from a long term strategic view to trade and security. Remember NZ put all its egg in one basket with UK and then the bugged off to EU in 1973 the same is happening again with China.

      I’ve seen a report that China is using it soft power (money) to force certain South Pacific counties to under report of their catch by Chinese fishing men.

      Moral of the story is Chinese are play a long time and we mungs ( our governments) in the west very short game.

      The Australia newspaper and the ABC new website have been running articles on this since Monday

    • The Chairman 4.2
      8 June 2017 at 11:41 am

      Very good, Halfcrown. Thanks for posting.

    • smokes kreen 4.3
      8 June 2017 at 5:04 pm

      Thanks Halfcrown – an excellent doco which should be compulsory viewing for everyone in this country.

  5. joe90 5
    8 June 2017 at 10:35 am

    So, that bit about “golden showers” is probably true.

    He said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia, and had always assumed he was being recorded when in Russia.

    https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf

    (Comey’s written testimony)

  6. joe90 6
    8 June 2017 at 11:18 am

    And selling arms to Saudi Arabia helps keep people on the streets of Britain safe, too.
    /

    I'm clear: if human rights laws get in the way of tackling extremism and terrorism, we will change those laws to keep British people safe. pic.twitter.com/8EfUJYUDMK— Theresa May (@theresa_may) June 6, 2017

  7. greywarshark 7
    8 June 2017 at 11:22 am

    Bored used to write some thoughtful comments on TS. This is an excerpt from one written 8 March 2011 that is still just as relevant.

    The current economic mess is going to go from tepid to stone cold very quickly as oil prices rise and credit runs out.

    The middle classes who vote for Nact will be looking for certainty in an uncertain world and will go for whoever offers it regardless of at whose expense this is gained. They will soon be the ex middle class, and they won’t recognize or accept that they are the same as the poorer classes.

    It’s a recipe Labour cannot win unless they stand for something; it will gravitate towards extreme right wing populism in the absence of a cogent alternative. Labour fails us all.

    Well Labour is trying to change and get cogent, let’s use cattle prods to move the herd along, with flanking barking dogs. I think this about the middle class is totally right. I see it already. They consider they are exceptional and deserving. The old slicing system of who is valued, the deserving and the disposable undeserving with all its horrid class ignorance and superiority of colonialism will arise again, just when we thought we had slain the beast and could sit back and relax. But now we don’t have a brighter future to hope for.

    So get busy folks who care. I suggest try and write a short letter a day to some publication pointing out some lie, some backward political attitude and ask how is that going to make things better for the people experiencing difficulties? And finish with one thing that has or could be done to improve this. You won’t get all your letters or comments printed, so make them short, but keep the wave going and it may be enough to wash away the House of Cards built on sand that we have now.

    • Bill 7.1
      8 June 2017 at 11:38 am

      Ah – the days when the standard comments sections were so much more, and so much better, than just so many petty and thoughtlessly cluttered message boards! But I digress…

      I wonder what “Bored” would say now in the context of a resurgent “left” across the western world? I think their take on NZ Labour would be unaltered, but that they’d point hopefully (or wistfully) to overseas examples of this fetid liberal status quo breaking to a social democratic left.

      Or I could just be projecting 😉

      • greywarshark 7.1.1
        8 June 2017 at 11:51 am

        I like your projection Bill, and will put a large sheet to catch it in all its vivid colours. Good inspiration to see!

      • weka 7.1.2
        8 June 2017 at 4:30 pm

        And yet here we are 6 years later and the middle classes are still middle class. They might be on the losing side long term but it still requires s different message to get them to change in time.

    • marty mars 7.2
      8 June 2017 at 4:52 pm

      Bored changed their name to ennui and still comments infrequently.

  8. Poission 8
    8 June 2017 at 12:38 pm

    It is a serious national evil that any class of His Majesty’s subjects should receive less than a living wage in return for their utmost exertions.

    It was formerly supposed that the working of the laws of supply and demand would naturally regulate or eliminate that evil and ultimately produce a fair price …

    But where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad, and the bad employer is undercut by the worst. Where those conditions prevail you have not a condition of progress, but a condition of progressive degeneration.

    https://theconversation.com/how-the-old-idea-of-the-living-wage-has-been-embraced-by-the-political-establishment-78635

    • greywarshark 8.1
      8 June 2017 at 3:00 pm

      But where you have what we call sweated trades, you have no organisation, no parity of bargaining, the good employer is undercut by the bad, and the bad employer is undercut by the worst.

      Where those conditions prevail you have not a condition of progress, but a condition of progressive degeneration.

      This quoted paragraph sets out well the problems of a businessman trying to compete in the absence of regulation of standards. How can proper provisions be met in the appropriate tendered price if someone can undercut you with fake stuff or knowing the authorities are slack, don’t bother at all. NZ is just turning into a fourth world country, where the mafia or whoever can get their hooks into us and ruin us.

      I think we saw yesterday a graphic example in China, where disgruntled investors who hadn’t received the expected return from a zoo they had invested in, started pushing zoo animals into a pond where tigers could catch them and eat them.
      The animals were not those that would normally be fed to the tigers, but just ones that the investors decided they would sacrifice to upset the zoo. Perhaps they might use the same method to get rid of unsatisfactory people if angered enough?

  9. Andre 9
    8 June 2017 at 12:50 pm

    Ooooh, sick burns.

    “Just eat a fucking taco.”

    “It’s like marrying a model that lives in another city.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vicente-fox-trump_us_593869bfe4b0c5a35c9ba2cc?y3n&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

  10. adam 10
    8 June 2017 at 1:58 pm

    I would have thought this was a paid advertorial rather than an opinion piece. Sheesh the insurance industry are sneaky buggers.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/93415915/dick-jessup-we-need-to-go-back-to-drawing-board-on-acc

  11. Glenn 11
    8 June 2017 at 2:17 pm

    “ACT leader David Seymour’s euthanasia bill has been pulled from the members’ ballot and will go before Parliament.

    Mr Seymour’s bill would allow for assisted dying in the cases of people who are terminally ill but still mentally sound.

    His End of Life Choice bill will be debated on the next members’ day, and political leaders said it would most likely be a conscience vote for their parties.

    The Parliamentary Health Select Committee is currently considering public attitudes to voluntary euthanasia after receiving submissions from thousands of people.

    The Death with Dignity Bill was put to Parliament in 1995 and 2003 but failed to pass; in 2012, the End of Life Choice Bill was also unsuccessful.

    Mr Seymour said the “campaign starts now”.”
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/332544/euthanasia-bill-to-go-before-parliament

    After watching 4 terminally ill relatives over the last decade get eaten by cancer I only hope that our representatives do the right thing and vote YES.

    This should be voted on in a binding referendum at this years election not left to our “Peers” (who think they know best) to decide.

    • greywarshark 11.1
      8 June 2017 at 2:49 pm

      Glenn
      Thanks for the heads up.
      And this should have gone before parliament on brainwork alone, not requiring the personal experience of seeing people dying. It is the ultimate freedom, to have the right to set up your demise instead of being forced to go on living because everybody else is worried about how they feel about it, or what someone else will say, all self-involved.

      It’s ironic that having beaten the awful plagues we are now forced to live on to the last tremble whether we want or not. It’s the ultimate authoritarianism, when the powers running the country own you, your future and your death. So in this perhaps one case Seymour and his bunch of sophisticated elites are onto a good idea.

      There are many reports of the happiness that people feel at having that journey booked and ready for whenever they decide is the best time to depart.

      And yes to binding referendum, properly conducted with information and explanation perhaps at the hall in a small video and talk before the signing opportunity starts. We are right to take it seriously, but give the people the right to understand the referendum and the factors to be considered, and no-one be dismissive . The AI faction will in time try and undermine our human decision making and our efforts to transcend our trivialising minds so we need to think about it and do it properly. And this would require a more dedicated approach than parliament has ever done.

    • james 11.2
      8 June 2017 at 4:42 pm

      Im glad it was pulled out – I think its an extremely important bill.

      I have so many thoughts on this – but I understand that I have been so fortunate that I have never had to fact this for any friends or family.

      If there was a single bill that I just wish all MP’s could work on in good faith and conscious putting aside ALL party politics to do whatever the right things to do is (what ever that may be), I hope that it is this one.

      And thats not picking on Labour or any party – I mean all MP’s of all parties.

      While I *think* I dont agree with it – I really feel that its not something that could be understood until you have had it in your life. Almost everything I have read from people who have been impacted (Like Glenn above), wish it to become law.

      I hope that the outcome does right by people like him, and people who end up in this terrible situation in the future.

    • Gabby 12.1
      8 June 2017 at 6:53 pm

      ‘It’s what old Gosman would’ve wanted…’

    • Halfcrown 12.2
      8 June 2017 at 7:20 pm

      I am no supporter of Seymour but its something that urgently needs addressing
      and good on Seymour for introducing this private member’s bill. I experienced it at first hand with a very close friend, who was highly successful and intelligent and all he wanted was to end the indignity and the pain he was going through. I hope the law is changed so I will not have to be in the same situation. I agree with Gosman congrats David Seymor.

  13. Karen 13
    8 June 2017 at 3:27 pm

    Clint Smith‏
    @ClintVSmith
    “Maori Party just sunk a motion for Parliament to call on countries to continue work to eliminate nukes…
    On 30th anniversary of nuke-free”

    Proposed by the Greens, supported by Labour, NZF, United, voted down by the Nats and the Māori Party.

  14. Ad 14
    8 June 2017 at 3:52 pm

    Not sure which politico junkie stuff to go for this evening:
    Comey’s testimony, or the UK results!

    • Karen 14.1
      8 June 2017 at 4:24 pm

      Comey won’t be until 2am tomorrow NZ time and the polls don’t close in Britain until 6am NZ time so I suggest you find something else to do this evening.

  15. joe90 15
    8 June 2017 at 4:06 pm

    What happened in 2003 that got the jihadis rolling?.

    Anyone?
    /

    http://i.imgur.com/LRvsv3o.jpg

    • Macro 15.1
      8 June 2017 at 8:04 pm

      There is some thought that the Heat wave of 2003 – 2004 In Europe and the Middle East and the subsequent drought and famine had a significant effect on the poorest sectors of the population. Marie Antoinette’s “Let them Eat Cake” and the French Revolution similarly resulted in insurgency and populist uprisings as a result of starvation and inaction by govt. Certainly there was fertile ground within the M E for radicalism to take hold.

  16. Andre 16
    8 June 2017 at 4:54 pm

    Are the Feds playing the pack of rats infesting the White House?

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/are-the-feds-treating-the-white-house-like-a-mob-house