Nice article from Salon on the slow decline of a progressive politics in the United States. If anyone can get the original Harpers article that would be helpful. Some analogues to Labour here, but only a few.
New Zealand MMP this year looks like such a permanently refreshing politics, compared to many of the English-speaking democracies right now. A good number of quirky and fresh voices on the fringes, helping the centre look coherent and sensible.
A good number of quirky and fresh voices on the fringes, helping the centre look coherent and sensible.
The present “centre” is about as radical and incoherent as you can get. But, I suppose that’s what happens when a society takes up a delusional socio-economic system.
The big question tho, and one which remained un-addressed in your link, will the manufacturer of all these cheap batteries take them back and find a means of ‘re-powering’ them once their useful life has been reached,
The alternative is that we pay the children of the sub-continent 2 cents a day to rip what will be a Tsunami of spent batteries apart in an effort to recover any metals of value, poisoning them all in the process…
Judith Collins just happened to drop in to Orivida a company Her husband is a director of for an unscheduled cuppa on the way to the airport,???,
Not likely, a letter, released under the Official Information Act, from Orivida to Collins’s’ office shows that She was invited to make such a visit prior to taking the Official trip as Justice Minister to China,
Such an invitation shows that the visit to Orivida was not simply an off the cuff unplanned one and in the light of this further calls will obviously be made for Slippery the Prime Minister to release the advice He says He has that this trip did not expose Collins to a conflict of interest,
Collins, or Ministers answering questions in the House on Her behalf, have exposed themselves to charges of having mislead the House,(in other words lied to their fellow MP’s),
If the Prime Minister continues to refuse to release the Cabinet Office advice He says He has in light of this exposure of Collins duplicity We can only conclude that such duplicity extends to the PM and that He either has no such advice from the Cabinet Office, or, He is refusing to release such advice as He is enjoying having the Opposition hold a political rivals feet to the fire as Her duplicity is exposed…
Who would have thunk it, National indulging in a bout of ‘tricky’ anonymous fund raising which makes David Cunliffe’s slight error pale into insignificance while giving every impression of directly supporting what looks like tax evasion through the non-payment of due GST,
Nice expose Frank, a copy of that to all the news organizations might keep this particular ball rolling…
Yes, hopefully the Green Party election campaign, especially their television advertising, centers around the protection of our waterways for the 2014 election,
The survey highlighted by RadioNZ National of 3000 voters showed that a third of them, 1000 people are deeply concerned with the ongoing degradation of our rivers, lakes, and, streams,
The schizophrenic nature of this National Governments policy toward such pollution should alarm most thinking people where National have spent or plan to spend $500 million dollars on river and lake ‘clean-ups’ while also planning on intensifying such pollution with plans to spend a further $500 million on various irrigation schemes which without Legislation to require those using the land to have scientific water/fertilizer plans in place which promote using less water/fertilizer on any given farm paddock to achieve the same or greater production while producing no escape of such water/fertilizer to any off farm enviroment be that the water table or our rivers, lakes, and, streams, will simply lead in future years to a ‘pollution rush’ form the on-farm enviroment to the off-farm enviroment,
It is becoming more than obvious that those involved in farming who are willing, without a Legislative requirement, to fence of all waterways from stock encroachment have done so and Legislation is now required to ensure even this most basic of enviromental protection is achieved across all farms,
It is also becoming obvious that ALL leaching of water/fertilizer from the on-farm enviroment to either the water table or the off-farm rivers, streams, and,lakes has now reached an unacceptable level and ‘sinking lid’ Legislation need be introduced requiring those using the land to either take steps to gradually bring such leaching down to zero levels from current land use, or, a requirement that the use of such land be changed to one where zero leachate of any sort is recorded…
reply to Skinny
Key & national do not care about the environment he said so in his “vote for me speeches” running up to the elections and has proven he means what he says since. He said he cared more about getting the heavy debt of NZ down . The guy is a capitalist to the bone so why would he care about our land our sea our water… money’s to tight to mention.
Which further exposes the Schizophrenia inherent in the present National Government, ”get the heavy debt of NZ down”, meanwhile back in the jungle Slippery the PM runs up a 80 billion dollar gross Government debt…
Yip we know this, however this latest survey shows it’s a major issue for voters. Meanwhile you would think the Green and or Labour would be putting out PR spin surrounding a policy that will make farmers pay to clean up waterways they pollute with a new tax. Why the fuck should taxpayers and ratepayers pay 500 million dollars of our hard earned to subsidise farmers. It is not like we get cheap subsidised milk, quite the opposite if you ask me.
Lolz, BM can have half a ‘brownie point’ for an unusual attempt, for a ‘wing-nut’, to use Fact over in the ‘Overreach’ Post,
The not inconsequential ‘fact’ that BM was then caught out promoting ‘shit’ as fact makes the half a ‘brownie point’ awarded one of Bovine defecation, a large ‘pat’ on the head for BM,
In consideration of the apology tendered by BM, i have to conclude that BM is capable, at least momentarily, of ceasing to suck the scum off of the bottom of the pond and on occasion surface to breath real air…
Yes BM needs a pillow, sleeping with his head on a ‘pat’ may be warm but there’s unintended consequences for the poor fellow when he awakes with a mouth full of shit..
Possibly worse, having what appears to be a vacant space between His attached audio antennae and obviously sucking big time could result in BM becoming full of ‘it’,
Too late???, has BM been exposed as a complete shit for brains…
Religious Conservatives splitting from the Conservative party,
for its new position on sending their wives out to work.
Colin Craig breaks down on The Nation, and says the Green
party has integrity.
What’s Craig doing, wobbling all the way to court? To what?
Holding a stance contrary to his own base.
Seriously though what damage has been done to Colin Craig by Normans
comments, and why would the courts enjoy being used by Craig for
political purposes?
Why Putin doesn’t want Crimea to leave Ukraine…
…firstly it will weak Russia influence in the Ukraine parliament. Secondly, why would Putin want a province to be able to leave Russia, sorry Ukraine, the precedent would be shattering… …thirdly, Russia has done this before, remember halving Poland anyone and then dominating E.Europe, why would Russia unite every nation on its borders. Yeah, like China is looking North as some of Russia provinces. Oh, wait, didn’t the Germans invade the ?Sudaten? lands because its German speaking majority was in need of help.
Sorry, Putin isn’t that stupid. More likely Putin doesn’t want Crimea to become Russia next province, but may more to do with Muslim Tartar living in Russia getting to move back to their ancestral lands (and also bolster Russian influence in the Ukrainian parliament). Hey, who knows, but its no so simple as it looks.
Sensible policy from the Greens about anchoring MPs’ pay rises to the increase in the median income. It is a moderate approach although not as far as tying MPs’ pay rises to the increase in the minimum wage. Good on the Greens for walking the talk with inequality.
After dealing with MPs’ pay increases, the next stop should be the really generous remuneration packages of the top dogs of SOEs, Crown Entities and Ministries. The argument about not paying them enough, despite the heaps of money already involved, to get people to do those jobs won’t wash.
Time to rebalance the public sector’s values away from personal material gain and private sector excesses towards real public service.
Tying MP pay rises to the minimum wage would be a bad thing, because the minimum wage is something the government has direct control over.
Tying it to the median is much better, because the median can rise – and fall – in response to government policies and the wider economic picture, but the government can’t directly influence it.
Facts are facts. The process is sound and will be transparent with several people always involved. Anyone who is not afraid of the truth should at least give this a fair go and judge the results.
Hi Pete. You’ve been saying for ages, in various places that you were currently banned from the Standard, and yet here you are.
Perhaps as a sign of good faith you could fact check one of your posts at yournz and show us how rigorous you can be. Someone here could nominate a post, and then you post your fact checking of it in comments here. deal?
[lprent: His last ban was in August 2012 when I got tired on repeatably banning him for trying to tell us how to run our site. That ban was lifted in the amnesty in mid March 2013.. His absence from the site since then has been voluntary. ]
Nothing like it, and neither are most other blogs including this one. A general blog is a part of the political game. Quite different.
There are processes being set up that will involve myself, the deputy editor and the research manager. We will all contribute to ensuring as much accuracy and impartiality as possible. And we will no doubt be well scrutinised. It will all be out in the open.
Incorrect. There are lifeless facts and vital lies. Walter Lippman identified a century ago that in political terms there is no difference between fact and fiction; it is what you can get people to believe and become emotional about which is the thing which matters.
An idiotic choice from a organisation that wishes to be perceived as neutral. No one on the left will take anything coming from politicheck seriously. A colossal and unbelievably stupid mistake.
No one would have been perceived as neutral by some people. on the ititial Politicheck launch thread here Rory was criticised as potentially not a left enough Green.Based on jumped conclusions.
I’m aware that some here would never accept anyone involved who is deemed not of the labour left but others will understand that if the processes are sound and transparent there’s no reason why it won’t be successful.
It’s typical in politics for people to pre-judge. I’m aware we’ll have to prove ourselves. I intend to do that, along with the twenty plus people who have volunteered to make it work.
I’m aware that some here would never accept anyone involved who is deemed not of the labour left…
Possibly. However I’m on the dry right wing of Labour (and always have been), and I share exactly the same skepticism about your appointment as Sanctuary does (as I mentioned in the email).
I’ve never noticed much balance in your assessments of anything. When something is horribly wrong with a policy of the right, at best I’ve seen you try to excuse it as aberration and move hurriedly to something else. If something is even a minor problem on the left, then you bang on about it for months.
Your obsessive qualities are rather well known. For me it has to be epitomised that this site and my handle rank so highly in your sites tag cloud. Almost seems to drown out the major political parties. Certainly TS appears to drown out your “balanced” excusing on National… But we are at least behind your obsessive attacks on Labour.
Quite simply your appointment makes me think that this is just another one of the PR shill organisations set up by the right to provide white noise and PR cover to stupid media. The “taxpayers union” being a prime example.
You read this site so often and still haven’t figured out that the spectrum of authors and commenters covers the whole of the labour/greens/mana spectrum from dry business orientated people like myself to bill? I guess from your perspective on the right they all blur into the label “labour left”. My guess is that we’ll see that bias reflected in your new “unbiased” editorial role.
As I mentioned in the email. I have a certain amount of cynicism about “unbiased” sites. I suspect this one is just another figleaf for the right regardless who else is on it.
Quite simply your appointment makes me think that this is just another one of the PR shill organisations set up by the right to provide white noise and PR cover to stupid media. The “taxpayers union” being a prime example.
While I can’t do much about the levels of paranoia currently apparent on the left I intend to prove you wrong.
The systems they put in place might be enough to keep the best of PG’s characteristics while moderating the worst, or being forced to work with others might well get him to pull his socks up, or he works for a while and eventually they go their separate ways. Or the new site goes downhill and stays there before dying a slow death in obscurity.
I don’t know any of the others who are involved, and PG’s involvement does make me skeptical, but we’ll see.
Interesting you would right someone off over perceived bias before anything has been published [name witheld]. To try and claim that Pete is at all like Cameron Slater is the most hilarious claim. I knew Pete would be an interesting pick, I knew the risks in picking him. I have read through his supposed attacks on the left which all are cited and then a horde of left wing trolls rush in to try and discredit him with inflammatory remarks – as you have just proved. If you could take off your rose tinted glasses you would see the information Pete posts is referenced, and the attacks he makes backed up by facts. Not sure why he’s a “National” poster boy as he regularly shows ways they are failing.
from Politicheck’s FB page
This does not bode well at all
Rory is losing any shred of credibility writing dross like this Pete
(I thought this bit was worth a second quote)
“I have read through his supposed attacks on the left which all are cited and then a horde of left wing trolls rush in to try and discredit him with inflammatory remarks “
I Don’t think Rory McCarthy intends to set up a right wing shill site, but that is what he is going to get because the entire left will now pretty much lose interest in dealing with him.
Rory has shown incredible naivity in his appointment of Pete George. He has fallen into the middle class trap of seeing partisan party politics as somethings vulgar that is beneath him and the partisan activists who inhabit that space as not worth his consideration.
It betrays a very orthodox middle class value bias where “reasonable” middle class people like Pete George are capable of parking their politics, whereas the left are not.
Rory wants to play referee, but only if the game is at a vicar’s tea party in a nice suburb. How else can you explain the otherwise inexplicable appointment of Pete George than as a monumental two finger salute to the entire left wing activist base born from a disregard of what makes activists tick?
At the end of the day what gets party activists to work for free on phone banks or door knocking or passing resolutions in draughty halls on rainy nights is a combination of tribalism, political xenophobia and true belief in the cause. Appointing a tribal enemy like Pete George then expecting everyone on one side of the political spectrum who do all the thankless spade work to just accept it is so obnoxiously thoughtless that it defies belief.
blockquote> but that is what he is going to get because the entire left will now pretty much lose interest in dealing with him.
<
blockquote>
Thanks Sanctuary, you’re proving that Rory is on the right (correct!) track. The “entire left” is not as closed minded as you are.
At the end of the day what gets party activists to work for free on phone banks or door knocking or passing resolutions in draughty halls on rainy nights is a combination of tribalism, political xenophobia and true belief in the cause. Appointing a tribal enemy like Pete George then expecting everyone on one side of the political spectrum who do all the thankless spade work to just accept it is so obnoxiously thoughtless that it defies belief.
That’s quite funny. I suspect Sanc wouldn’t be happy with anyone who didn’t fit his tribal ideals – that pretty much narrows it down to himself.
You’d almost think a few here are not keen on seeing things examined for their truthfulness.
Pete. I lied. This is my second comment (and soooo soon after the first that i claimed would be my only too!)
Anyway. Read my comment below. In my opinion – based on reading far too many of your argumentative engagements – you don’t have the necessary attributes for this position you now hold.
Jousting on a blog amongst a fair amount of unfriendly fire is quite a different situation to objectively assessing evidence for and against claims of fact. I’m, not sure how you can make judgement based on comment threads here.
Given any position that involves material you don’t know, you will fall back on your immediate instinct about it and avoid or ignore any information that threatens it.
When I have observed you here, I haven’t seen you ever shift your position in view of what anyone says or the material that they link to. Offhand I can’t remember you ever discussing anything that was in a link passed to you apart from newspaper reports.
I have only seen you change your position when someone you consider is an “authority” writes about it. Since that includes David Farrar, newspaper columnists and TV news people who are usually experts at bugger all – it’d be fair to say that I think you have a pretty piss-poor personal research ethic.
One of the problems you’ll have in your new role is that you appear to view research in the grand Trantorian late empire tradition. That is a Azimov foundation reference. Since Asimov was a biochem researcher as well as a writer, he neatly encapsulated the issue. Rather than digging down into the raw material and stats and trying to disprove your favoured theory the way that actual researchers do, you will read the “authorities” and weigh how you feel about them.
That is the path to shite judgements because you will judge on if you resonate and understand something easily rather than going down until you’re damn well sure it is probably correct. It is shallow style talkback research rather than factual research.
Only comment I’ll make on this. (I think). But any editor or fact checker should have had as a principle strength, the ability to think and read critically and accurately.
With that ‘in the bag’, any political leanings become increasingly irrelevant. That Rory (or who-ever) promote a pastiche of neutrality as the be all and end all of fact checking etc is….well, fck it – they’ve fcked it.
Did I not know ? Actually I knew perfectly well what his reputation was on the blog websites. I spent time reading and looking into statements he made. I liaised with countless external contacts to make sure I was making the right choice. I believe I have. I have a great Deputy Editor who cares for the truth implicitly. I have a large number of left wing researchers who have expressed interest.
Our processes are bigger than one person, our transparency greater than traditional media. For Pete to alter any judgement made by other researchers (as he is but the final step in the process of approval) he must have significant reasons that can be cited for making a revision through a mediation process.
There are contracts signed, I haven’t just hired people on a whim and there are performance clauses and trial periods associated with staff. Any move toward either left or right with the website will be met with people looking for somewhere else to volunteer and push their agenda.
There will be comments sections for people to post on our judgements, with clear guidelines about citing counter claims made by the public.
So before you decide to right us off; consider that at the moment, we have a Green running the show for me (another Green), left and right wing researchers, an environmentalist research coordinator and a libertarian Deputy Editor. The political spectrum is well covered.
The organisation is the sum of its parts, not any individual within it.
As for Pete, I ask you only take him on the merits of what is submitted to the website, not conjecture based on his past.
You declare your site to be a not-for -profit organization.
You have “hired” people.
How are you financed?
I cannot find anything on your site about the finances of Politicheck.
and no women applied for any positions?
or did they all fail to wow you with their qualifications and reputations when compared to such a paragon of sincerity like Pete George?
I have contracts, they are hired on a volunteer basis. So far all the funding for the website has come out of my pocket. If you want me to post our financials I will – I will give you access to my personal bank statements.
Women did apply, however when I contacted them about pursuing a position that would require upwards of twenty hours a week most could not commit that much time for a volunteer organisation. That’s the simple truth. There are female researchers who will be working with us, they have been contacted already as we are in the final stages of recruiting our research team.If people are really that worried I will happily post all my communication (I have nothing to hide). Off the top of my head (I would need to go and look back through emails to confirm) under five females actually applied to volunteer. That’s the statistics and the fact of the matter. There were also some who contacted us were far too late in the process for us to consider other candidates without moving the venture forward, as it is time critical.
I don’t consider Pete a paragon of sincerity, and I don’t consider myself to be one either.
sine cera, appointing Pete George and wanting to be seen as an unbiased resource is somewhat mutually exclusive. If I were you i would worry about the motives of whoever you went to for advice on appointing him.
Quite simply I’ll believe it when I see it. Personally I’ve never known Pete George to be particularly concerned about facts except when it suited him. In the last three or so years that he has been around the blogs, he makes a great show of being “balanced”. But whenever he is challenged at a factual level he starts playing victim rather than reexamining his presumptions.
There are contracts signed, I haven’t just hired people on a whim and there are performance clauses and trial periods associated with staff. Any move toward either left or right with the website will be met with people looking for somewhere else to volunteer and push their agenda.
Appointing PG makes me immediately suspect the organisation is just another right wing shill like the Taxpayers union and other previous ones.
They also started with “contracts” and undisclosed sources of finance and rather dubious appointments. Makes me want to have a very close look at exactly how and from where this site is funded (something that isn’t mentioned on the site anywhere). Quite simply before I give this site any credibility, I’d want to have the word about who and what this organisation is from someone that I know and trust. What I don’t see at present is anyone who I know is from the labour movement.
Merely asserting you’re a green means virtually nothing in the context of the political spectrums. I know personally some deeply conservative greens.
Disclaimer: Please note these are my personal views and not the views of Politicheck.org.nz
I am not conservative by any means – if you want to see some of my views they were recently posted in an article edited by stuff to read “Stop being selfish, NZ”.
If you wish to hear more of my views you can email me directly, but I don’t believe a public discussion would achieve much in the realm of helping Politicheck achieve it’s goal if people can begin to label us. (Especially when I am addressing issues raised about Politicheck being impartial.)
I appreciate your response. It’s fair enough as far as it goes, and personally I’m willing to give PG a chance to show if he can live up to the impartiality standards you have hopes for.
Fundamentally the project is good idea and I commend you for giving it your time and energy.
At the same time you have to be aware that PG was finally booted off this site (after tolerating several years of his tendentious rambles) for his constant passive-aggressive behaviour, making extreme right-wing claims and then pretending he was ‘middle of the road’ and ‘boo hoo why is everyone picking on me’ victim behaviour.
And then spending the next few years in the wilderness of his own blog obsessively demonstrating that he did not understand why he was banned. In particular he never seemed to understand that The Standard is a left-wing blog. That it is owned and operated by left-wing people, to serve left-wing purposes. His constant complaints that we did not operate the blog to suit his right-wing thinking were just plain bonkers.
Having said that – people can change. Even PG. If he lives up to the role then good on him.
I don’t believe a public discussion would achieve much…
That was more of a hint for people who know me and who know of the people involved at politicheck to email me. With the limited degrees of separation in NZ and the amount of time I’ve been involved in politics and the net here, I’d be surprised if I don’t get contacted with some personal assessments.
So, Rory, your editor is dully, mindnumbingly conservative and your deputy editor is even further out there on the Galtian right. Where is this balance you speak of?
Good one McFlock – I went to the list and just had a look at one – this is typical of key – he fucken lies about everything – everyfuckenthing – what a joke.
“Prime Minister John Key has dropped another clanger – this time misreading history around New Zealand’s biggest aviation tragedy.
While in Antarctica, Key spoke of how he was affected by news of the Air New Zealand flight which crashed into the side of Mt Erebus.
Flight TE901 was destroyed on impact, killing all 257 passengers and crew.
“I know I was starting School C at around that time – it’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now,” Key said this week.
John Key was born on August 9, 1961, and the Erebus disaster was on November 28, 1979 – meaning he would have been 18 at the time. Students usually sat School Certificate examinations about the age of 15.”
It’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now – scumsucking wanker
It’s typical of a lot of people to be a bit woolly with their timelines going back years – but Key’s got a track record of making definitive statements like this which on a little investigation prove to be complete bs.
The big open one is still his account in his CV around exactly when he started with Bankers Trust in the 1980’s and exactly what his working relationship with Kruger was. Kruger is on record (in a completely different context) as leaving BT, six months before Key claimed he started.
It’s just not possible, yet no-one has ever explained it. Nor thought it worth digging into.
The thing is that noone forced him to say, “It’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now” and it wasn’t needed – he chose to lie, to try and ingratiate himself on their side of the fence – it’s basic bankster/trader mo – and he has continued with Pike River, with Christchurch – he needs the people there to think of him as one of them – and the interesting thing to me is why does he need that and how can that be used to drop him. He is a smiling snake so you can’t take his legs out but he will slither into a hole (of lies and made up bullshit) and deeper he will slide until no traction is left and he is gone. labour (why I bother I don’t know) need to get some holes ready for him to slide into or start pointing out the ones he’s already gone down – he’s vulnerable because he needs to be liked and he needs to lie to be liked. Factcheck that mid-ill-pete.
Any move toward either left or right with the website will be met with people looking for somewhere else to volunteer and push their agenda.
There’s a problem with that idea – facts tend to have a left-wing bias so under this policy they either won’t get published or when they get published the site will be declared left-wing.
As for Pete, I ask you only take him on the merits of what is submitted to the website, not conjecture based on his past.
People judge. That’s inevitable as people need to so as to make informed decisions and the way they judge is on their knowledge of the persons past actions. Pete’s past isn’t all that great. I can remember threads going round and round in circles as PG kept changing what he was saying and then claiming that others had read him wrong. PG has a bad reputation because he damn well deserves one.
as for this:
I have read through his supposed attacks on the left which all are cited and then a horde of left wing trolls rush in to try and discredit him with inflammatory remarks
Did you actually bother to read the references? I ask because more often than not PG was twisting what was said so as to make it conform to his story. Here he confuses people critiquing what was said with someone attacking an author. There’s a difference that he just doesn’t comprehend.
Politicheck NZ, New Zealand’s first specialist political fact checking organisation, is proud to announce the appointment of key personnel.
Editor – Pete George
Deputy Editor – Phil Howison
Chief Operating Officer – Kyle Church
Research Coordinator – Kirk Serpes…”
That’s right folks. Pete George. REALLLLY.
Rory what the fuck were you thinking, are you really that naive? You might as well have given the job to David Farrar. Can’t you see you’ve just destroyed your credibility before you even started?
I have been appointed as editor to a team establishing Politicheck, a political fact checking website for New Zealand. Those of us involved have a variety of political connections from across the spectrum, from libertarian to green. We are all disclosing our affiliations.
It’s well known I’ve been involved with UnitedFuture after they asked me to stand for them in 2011. My level of involvement has often been overstated, especially over the past few months when it has significantly diminished. I am no longer a party member. I will continue blogging my personal views but apart from that I am dedicating my interests to Politicheck.
Our individual politics should be irrelevant. We are setting up a fact checking process that will be as transparent as possible, and each fact checked will be re-checked involving at least three of us in an editorial and research role.
Our findings will be open to public scrutiny and will be reviewable should we get additional information. Some decisions we make may be contentious but most will simply be a judgement of fact.
We expect to build a good relationship with blogs. As well as encouraging submissions of issues to check we will monitor MSM and social media to look for issues worth investigating.
We are aware we will have critics, both personal and of Politicheck. That’s the nature of politics. We will be up front and will address any reasonable criticisms openly. Mistakes will inevitably be made, we will do whatever it takes to rectify them.
Please give us a fair go and give Politicheck a fair go. This should be a valuable service for improving politics in New Zealand. The more support we get the better we will be.
..cn i hearken back to my scoffing/jumping all over this..
..back when it first leaked..
..that this rightwing-green..farrar..and williams..were setting up a rightwing attack machine for the election..and to roll on post-election..should the progressives win..
..(and of course..should key get back..?..of course these ‘politichecks’ would just sink back into the swamp from which they emerged..)
..but pete george as editor..?
..that moves it into the realm of low-farce..
..(i mean..people on the right dislike me/my ideas/arguments..
….people on the left also dislike me/my ideas/arguments..
..but i think more people wd gag at the name ‘pete george’..
..than they would at mine..
..this is beyond fucken hilarious..
..and i wd like that rightwing-green ‘rory’..to tell us where he sits on that ‘awkward’-question:
..does he think the green party should keep open the option of coalescing with national..?
..i did try to ask him in that original thread..
..and he either thought it below him to reply to the likes of me..
..or else it’s a question he wd rather not be asked..
..and..once again..marshalling my psychic-powers..
..i am thinking/picking ‘rory’ wd be quite ‘relaxed’ about the idea of a national/green coalition..
..(but pete george..?..seriously..!..we aren’t all being ‘pranked’..are we..?)
..so of course that wannabe-acceptable-gatekeeper edwards-the-younger would have his grubby fingers all over this..
“that this rightwing-green..farrar..and williams..were setting up a rightwing attack machine for the election..and to roll on post-election..should the progressives win..”
I think you might be confusing Politicheck with the Taxpayers Union.
Having no proof has never stopped you. Your general MO these days seems to be to post baseless idle speculation on your website that no one visits, then link whore to it from Kiwiblog as the basis for the ultimate echo chamber.
I had nothing to do with setting it up. When the site was launched last month I expressed an interest in contributing, and as a result was offered one of the positions.
I know Rory talked to a wide range of people. I’m not ware of anyone you mention being involved in setting Politicheck up. They seem to be nothing more than paranoid guesses.
The buck stops with Pete. Should any piece of evidence slip through our rigorous process he will be the one to discern if we should go ahead with making the publication and with which truth rating. The face of Politicheck NZ, he will be responsible for making sure that the data submitted to the website is true and accurate. He will be directly accountable for any bias and will strive to improve our processes should they prove insufficient.
“One of the major considerations behind the scenes is that I am looking to find our main editor who will have final judgement call on items submitted for final showing to the public. This editor for me needs to be utterly impartial. They need to preferably have no affiliation with any party, and a reputation as a solid researcher. When the site commences running shortly, this is the person that will be accountable should any bias start occurring and I would ideally like this person to have a good understanding of cognitive biases that can occur with even the most rational of people.”
pete do you really have a ‘good understanding of cognitive bias’ especially as you’ve voted for 4 different parties in 4 elections.
and it seems to me this whole thing will rest on you and what you do – I hope it goes well but I have to say that I remain unconvinced of your impartiality and true middleoftheroadness – like phil I believe it is a bit of a front for more extreme divisive views. nevertheless time will tell.
I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April already
But as Pete says let’s wait and see eh.
It’s not like [his few decaying threads of credibility] have anything riding on it or anything.
You have joined an operation that plainly stated reality is to be the lead. Be honest here Pete, that has never been your strongest position. If you do not comprehend the totality of the role you and others have accepted, then you do not deserve to be there (and personally I cannot see how the totality of your statements remotely qualify you for such a position of trust) I certainly hope your ego has not clouded your judgement or misrepresented your ability to deal with facts.
Btw in fact checking, you do only get one chance, a fact is a fact. Wrong facts = failed credibility.
If you do fail, you will certainly understand the disdain and animosity that will have been provoked.
A small glimmer of hope is most likely the job comes with a dictionary and we all hope the word ‘fact’ is the first item on the editor’s notes to be checked.
This ‘Every time you refer to us as the ‘mining state’ as though the western third of our ancient continent is just Gina Rinehart’s inheritance to be chopped, benched and blasted, you are reading us wrong’ while funny on one level is just so true it’s sick.
Gina seems to me to be a very nasty person. I dont think she has a compassionate bone in her body. The only difference between her and those that machine gunned striking workers (or murdered trade union leaders) in the 1900s is that Australia now has laws banning that stuff (for now). Other than that, the very same attitude.
Australia is slowly moving into an age of darkness….
This is the woman who’s never done an honest day’s work in her life lecturing Australians that they need to compete with Africans who will work for $2 per day. And if you’ve never been to some of these outback mine sites it’s often dirty, tough, hot and sometimes dangerous work. Rinehart wouldn’t last ten minutes.
She’s everything you hate about the feral, dehumanised rich. The frightening thing is that she has the Abbot govt in her pocket.
If you want to be welcomed back on this blog, Pete, then I suggest you openly admit to being right wing. BM, Monty, srylands and the like openly admit to having such political affiliations and such are tolerated on here. You on the other hand, have ACT-like positions on economic issues, yet try and pass yourself off as being middle of the road.
Like a growing number of people I don’t think in terms of right versus left. I agree with policies from Act. And National. And Labour. And Greens. I’m on the same page as Colin Craig when it comes to wanting to improve honesty in politics. And I disagree with aspects of policies from all parties as well. All those parties have policies that could be regarded as left and right.
But this is irrelevant to what Politicheck is going to do. We will check the validity of claims and publish our findings. And if someone provides additional information we will update our finding. It’s a process that is not governed by old school left and right politics.
What is interesting with the two stolen passports is not that they were flying to China – Beijing was a transit point only, and they were going on to Europe via Amsterdam , Copenhagen and other European cities. Not together.
They booked their tickets together though.
Perhaps this is why the FBI have been included.
How long before Penny uses this as proof positive of a conspiracy by the owners of The Standard, in cahoots with Len Brown and John Banks to shut down criticism of Auckland politics?
There appears to be something odd with Karol’s ‘Beltway thread’ I have now posted 2 comments on it and both have completely disappeared. The page just reappears without any ‘post php’ sign in the address (which is usually what occurs when they disappear for good) – one can’t hit the back button and ‘refind’ the comment either (which often is the case)
Noting what happened to Rhinocrates on a recent thread (where they all appeared after some time) I am not going to post another(!) rather, thought I’d alert you to a possible problem.
[lprent: They should have reappeared. I was fixing something and everything headed to spam for a few minutes. ]
I suggest a basic credibility test for Politicheck.
A [random] date is selected from the calendar past and Politicheck declare it as the test date. Any Governmental or Party Political announcements and the front page stories of the daily newspapers released on that day are checked for facts. Politicheck release their findings, within a reasonable timeframe, say seven days*? and we will get a very clear idea if they are winning or spinning.
*exceptions stated for outstanding OIA requests, replies from MP’s etc
Research by Positive Money shows that only about 10 per cent of newly-created money has gone into the kind of consumer goods tracked by CPI. So all CPI does is measure the effects of about 10 per cent of money creation.
Positive Money’s research shows that 13 per cent of newly-created money has gone into real businesses that create jobs and boost economic growth; 37 per cent into financial markets and 40 per cent into residential and commercial property.
Is it any wonder the financial sector has grown so disproportionately large and powerful, or that the British are so obsessed with houses? That’s where the money’s gone.
The creation of money by the private banks far outstrips both inflation and the productivity of the nation. And, yes, I’m talking about NZ while the article is talking about the UK – we use the same banking system, a system that rewards the rich for being rich and punishes the poor.
Now first impressions have been expressed, a question.
Putting aside the people, perceptions and agendas involved, does anyone see any possible advantages in having more fact checking of political claims and policies?
So if your facts are found to be incorrect by public scrutiny, will you be willing to accept you made a mistake? Because in my experience reading your contributions, I have never seen you back down and admit fault, instead you just try to twist things or run away and appear in another thread.
That’s my worry for the new site, because it depends on credibility.
One of my bosses a while back had a practise of pre-empting the announcement of any errors we found – errata, retractions, withdrawals, whatever, just while we double-checked. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s got to be done sometimes. The reputation for doing so meant that when they said something, it was respected because everyone knew it had been exhaustively checked.
As soon as politicheck starts dragging its feet while pete does his dodge and dive and sophistry to avoid admitting error, it’s fucked.
As was taught some guidelines way back to follow in terms of assessing the credibility of a website. This is not totally dependent on any one factor, but, failure to measure up on any factor does weaken the credibility of an online source
How do you determine if a source is credible? You can evaluate the reliability and scholarship of information you find both online and in print by using these guidelines:
Authorship
If the author is not identified be wary. When an article or website is authored anonymously it has little credibility. It should be evident who created the content. What are the author’s credentials? Does he/she have expertise in this field? Is biographical information provided?
[…]
Consider the publisher’s reputation and trustworthiness.
When I read the first statements about the politicheckNZ site, I assumed there would be some people with highly credible backgrounds in all key positions, including editor. I had been expecting someone with academic credibility in researching.
Choice of PG as editor does not give me any confidence in either the editorial processes, or the people who chose him for that role.
A person can change. But in my experience so far, PG does not present well reasoned arguments, and thus I question his ability to recognise such in other people’s work. He could surprise me, but i’m wary.
I am wary also because of things like this on online covert operations, coming from Greenwald and the Snowden leaks. Greenwald sumarises:
Among the core self-identified purposes of JTRIG are two tactics: (1) to inject all sorts of false material onto the internet in order to destroy the reputation of its targets; and (2) to use social sciences and other techniques to manipulate online discourse and activism to generate outcomes it considers desirable.
Dear Editor of Politicheck, since you are in the neighborhood and doing all this lovely promo work for what is after all a very exciting idea….I have a couple of questions. I could send them to the site but as they would just be posted here anyway I thought I would save us the time and post the questions out here in the open, where you want to be. You know, all transparent like.
My biggest question is :
You are all volunteers [apparently] so it won’t be every article every day.
Print, Web, TV, Government Press Releases, Party Statements etc it is a hell of a list of media sources to check.
Can you give a basic overview of the daily operation because it is not at all clear just what facts will be checked, how and when this checking will occur and in what time frame said facts will be reported.
So far there are three editors and an undisclosed team of researchers (ten?)
I am guessing the fact to be checked will be a small list, so again…
Who selects what facts get checked?
What is also not clear, is the plan if incorrect facts are exposed.
(no offence intended here) You are after all a collection of volunteers with what on the surface does not appear to be what one would call the biggest influence on the MSM.
Do you have a support network somehow primed to combat the daily papers and the tv channels? Who will be doing your media liason. Who will be your talking head if you get on TV? There is a crying need for clear reality here. Some facts need checking so to speak.
Thanks, it’s good to get pertinent questions. I’ll link to this from our Facebook page.
Can you give a basic overview of the daily operation because it is not at all clear just what facts will be checked, how and when this checking will occur and in what time frame said facts will be reported.
We have to work some of this out yet.
I’ve committed to working 20 hours a week on it, I expect to do more than that. I think this is a worthwhile enough project to put that into it.
As I do now I’ll review news as it comes online in the morning, I’ll monitor what I can through the day, and I’ll target what seems to be the main points of interest in Parliament. I’ll also scan blogs as they can be good sources amongst the general noise. And I’ll receive submissions of topics to research, that’s already started.
The editors will evaluate topics and refer what they think is worth doing to the Research unit, where the manager will assign them. Once complete to a standard acceptable to the research manager they will come back to the editors to finally evaluate.
Some topics will be simple and quick, I’m hoping 1-3 days for them. Others could take weeks, especially when detailed costings of policies are involved.
So far there are three editors and an undisclosed team of researchers (ten?)
Editor, deputy editor and research manager. There have been tens expressed interest in researching, we’ll have to see how many commit to continue. We will always be open to taking on more researchers, the more we have the more we can do.
We have some experts who are willing to assist.
I am guessing the fact to be checked will be a small list, so again…
Who selects what facts get checked?
It should become a big list, resources allowing. The editors select which get checked.
What is also not clear, is the plan if incorrect facts are exposed.
We put them through the same process to correct or update.
(no offence intended here) You are after all a collection of volunteers with what on the surface does not appear to be what one would call the biggest influence on the MSM.
We don’t aim to be a big influence on the MSM. I think we’ll be complementary to the MSM and will help each other. My aim is to accumulate a valuable database.
Do you have a support network somehow primed to combat the daily papers and the tv channels? Who will be doing your media liason. Who will be your talking head if you get on TV? There is a crying need for clear reality here. Some facts need checking so to speak.
At this stage I’ll be the main point of contact, backed up by deputy editor Phil. I have some experience with media.
If that workload gets too big and we can get someone suitable to handle it this may change.
Thanks for the confirmation that today’s big launch is really just a protracted press release introducing the principal staff. Which if you read all you have written today looks like you and Rory. There are other staff, I saw pictures. Staff ,who I must say, you have mentioned very rarely. You are well known here. Surely this would have been an opportune time to introduce your co-editors and bring us all up to speed. A chance to really promote the site’s ideas by explaining the thinking behind it, not just rehash the words printed on the website, on fb, on reddit. I haven’t been to KB or WO but imagine you are doing the same there also.
Maybe the announcement was a bit premature or maybe this whole thing is as suspect as it continues to appear. Where is the content? If, at this late stage, you have not even a format sketch or a template of a checked fact to put up to show people ….what are we meant to think?
Your own words show you have no clear understanding of the interface to come, how can people believe anything other than you are doing busywork till you get your first delivery of topics. All buffed and pretty and I am guessing many techs around the country will be able to give some fair estimates of the time/$ requirements for the bells and whistles.
So on what date can the public expect a taste of the format?
I am guessing the heralded database is a long ways off, so no point asking about its format of data distribution.
P.S.
You might want to get a grammar nurse. Mistakes on your own site are one thing, but you are an Editor on someone else’s site now . . .
e.g 1 of ???
“There have been tens expressed interest in researching”
surely you mean ‘Dozens have expressed interest in researching ‘
I don’t think anyone said it was a big launch. It was an update of progress after the initial launch last month. The main launch will be when the website goes live.
While the planning and web development has been going on for some time we have just started on editorial/research. We will work to a realistic timetable.
“Getting it right is quite a challenge, but we’ll do our best to make a decent go of it.”
Unconscious slip of the wormtongue Pete? Still, appointing a conservative and a Randian to the two senior posts should definitely help to get it right, no question.
Still at it TRP? No slip, I just didn’t see any point in repeating a dual word to explain the obvious.
I don’t know if you’re suggesting I’m Randian or conservative, but either or funny. Taking majority descriptions from both sides I’m probably more like a progressive neolib.
You’re the conservative, Pete. But anyway, well done on the new gig. You’re already bringing the same level of success to it as you did to United Future (anybody remember them?).
I can’t remember being called a conservative before.
I agree with Colin Craig when he said:
“It’s becoming clear that New Zealanders are truly tired of the low standard of political debate, and of politicians who think they have a licence to lie when it suits their interests.”
Targeting that has always been one of my primary motives for getting involved in politics, that’s why I wanted to support Politicheck to help target this.
But I don’t agree with this part of their policy:
One nation, remove the Maori seats and end the treaty settlements
It would be ludicrous to end the treaty settlements before they are all settled. And I’m happy for Maori voters to decide if and when the Maori seats are removed.
I think it is pretty obvious that TRP doesn’t mean you support (or a member of) the Conservative party itself. He said “conservative”, not “Conservative”.
Well spotted. Although it isn’t out of the question, there’s blue-greens, purples, social conservatives, conservative socialists etc etc.
I said “I can’t remember being called a conservative before” – and if I have it’s not a label applied to me. If you’ve called me a conservative I probably didn’t see it, I find your punctuation too hard to read to bother with usually.
Nobody is criticizing the objective, provided such checking is genuinely neutral and impartial regardless of the personal convictions held by the individuals doing the checking and overseeing the process.
Some people have merely expressed skepticism that the objective is attainable if you are involved.
To the Editor of politicheck
It stops with you so it most likely starts there too
I suggest a basic credibility test for Politicheck.
A [random] date is selected from the calendar past and Politicheck declare it as the test date. Any Governmental or Party Political announcements and the front page stories of the daily newspapers released on that day are checked for facts. Politicheck release their findings, within a reasonable timeframe, say seven days*? and we will get a very clear idea if they are winning or spinning.
*exceptions stated for outstanding OIA requests, replies from MP’s etc
It would be difficult to find a day with a fair representation of party announcements.
We are currently working on evaluating the capabilities of researchers, and we’re compiling research topics. When the website launches in a few weeks will have a number of issues evaluated from all parties posted. That should give you a reasonable idea of how we are managing.
“It would be difficult to find a day with a fair representation of party announcements.”
frikkin hilarious
day one and you are already doing the Pete George Fudge
what is really tragic is you don’t even see it, do you?
This is a test of your team’s ability to fact check,
It was not anything to do with how your daily editorial imbalance will eventuate.
Pick a day, pick up a newspaper and do a trial run.
I had real hopes for Politicheck.
Hopes that are now like trees in the Arctic autumn, darkening quickly in the fading light.
I think we can get a better cross-section of topics to check be evaluating current party websites and media coverage. However we do it we have to make selections.
But if you would like to try what you suggest then you could select a random date, pick a range of issues across parties for that day and submit it to me. I’d be happy to assess that and explain my assessment.
What has ‘across parties’ got to do with the price of eggs?
I thought you were a fact checking site?
Is New Zealand’s daily political coverage not diverse or balanced enough a resource ? 😉
Then maybe that is a starting fact you guys could check for us all?
but seriously folks,
Is Pete suggesting that a topic not every party has made comment on, will not be researched?
Are you saying if submissions on facts to be checked are only questioning statements from a single political party, they will not be checked?
We could circulate q+a’s for days but it will not change the incontrovertible fact that political affiliations are not the issue Pete.
Unbiased investigation of facts, does not see a flag of any colour.
I do not see you as someone who understands that simple precept.
Concluding sentences: “…The Equality Trust calculates that the richest 100 people in Britain now have as much wealth as the poorest 30% of households. The top-to-bottom pay ratios of around 300:1 in the FTSE 100 companies is not diminishing.
It is hard to think of a more powerful way of telling people at the bottom that they are almost worthless than to pay them one-third of one percent of what the CEO in the same company gets. Politicians must recognise that reducing inequality is about improving the psychosocial wellbeing of the whole society.”
Gina Reinhart is just like her dad.
Even knowing how dangerous blue asbestos Ginas dad allowed families to have sand pits made of blue asbestos tailings.
Then demanded the govt build houses and roads for his blue asbestos mine.
“Key wanted to announce the election before his trip to China next week. National would campaign hard on its record rebuilding Christchurch, improving the economy and protecting the most vulnerable”
Yesterday while commenting on Open Mike about local government I noted that Nicky (Wagner the Associate Local Government Minister) had said that libraries and swimming pools were ‘nice to haves’, and I deeply disagree with such careless elimination of them as costly luxuries, and now have seen this in The Press, Saturday 8/Mar/2014.
Drownings rise as swim lessons dip. Wellington is one of the worst-affected regions for pool closures, with 26 of 48 having closed over the past two decades….40% of primary school pupils were leaving school without the basic confidence needed to survive in the water, said Water Safety NZ Chief Executive Matt Claridge.
…Two out of three schools have to travel to use a swimming pool….
“We don’t have to teach 5 year olds how to do the butterfly stroke, we just want them learning how to float and tread water, and that way they will be safer.”
MoE HoE Infrastructure said that the Ministry provides funding through the operations grant which can be used for upkeep of a pool, or transport and entry charges to a local community pool…and current policy was not to provide pools in new schools, or replace ones that needed upgrading.
However if drownings are rising (no figures) then that policy is inadequate. It involves a lot of organisation and time, and it takes the children away from the essential NatStands so it can be seen that it would often be shelved. Do Handstands instead perhaps, on the school grounds.
And anyway only people with spare money can afford to travel to the beach from town, or have a swimming pool in their own grounds – very expensive politically and economically especially when they develop leaks.
drownings seem to be decreasing – 81 in 2013 as opposed to 98 in 2012 (although the same puff piece in jan 2013 said only 93 in 2012, but there’s often a data lag).
Although I agree that libraries and pools are a necessity. I know my personal habit of sinking at the sight of a small puddle has limited my activities, including professional ones. c’est la vie.
Don’t give up Mc Flock. There are always water wings. Or as one comedian explained, who wasn’t quite at home in large puddles ‘Swimming to me is staying alive in the water.’
My bf was pretty outraged that she doesn’t consider libraries as vital infrastructure.
Without a doubt, the printing press is one of the most important inventions in the last 400 years, but it is the library that allows distribution of the output to the masses, not just the select upper-classes.
Similarly these days libraries act as gateways to the internet for many poor and underprivileged people.
I think what they are most concerned about is how Libraries, especially in the smaller centres, are beginning to stake their claim as hubs of communities and all the places that can lead.
Communication, camaraderie, conversations, sharing, empowerment. You know, really dangerous stuff that the little people aren’t meant to have unrestricted access to.
Hold onto this link and play it when you are being bitten by the ‘black dog’. Happy and lots of lovely people dancing around and being joyful. Litty bitty ditty. Pharrell Williams
ahhh bless the curse of the black dog greywarbler. Learning to live together day by day is everyday. May be a tough old cur at times, and sometimes you never really know who it’s gonna bite, but every now and then there is a physics defying frisbee catch that seems to make it all worthwhile.
freedom
You seem to understand those black dogs. I know a real one who is overjoyed when you play tug and she tugs and shakes her head and gains control of whatever. It and chasing balls and sticks plus having a swim and then living in a happy family where she is appreciated and fed seems to all she wishes. Happy dog. Rather different than the one that sat on Winston Churchill’s shoulders sometimes. He is admirable, in that he thought and fought his way through it. I wonder, though not too much, to what extent he showed his distress and what helped him rise above it.
Spent my first thirty odd years not understanding the illness at all gw, and saw dark days I would wish on no-one. Last decade or so, a wholly different condition created a set of circumstances which dictated much closer attention was paid to identifying the symptoms.
I learned the triggers. I learned to be honest with those I trust and try my best to be gentle with those I love. It is hard bloody work but it is rewarding.
The reality though, is a melee of hope and hassle and best intentions.
Mirth is good, melancholy sucks,
but both are part of this crazy world and as an artist I cannot imagine life without them.
freedom
Yes light and shade eh. How can we see the concept without them?
Did you look at Pharrell Williams. The images of happy people dancing and playing, with the idea of unselfconscious expression, and the repetitive singing of the same hopeful ditty,
I found delightful. I know many uptight people who would never open themselves to the judgement of other uptight people and could not bring themselves to do this.
I find it interesting dealing with my mind, my unconscious/subconscious. The studies about the mind are interesting. Some seem to indicate that we don’t really think anything for ourselves at all. But that be gentle bit, that’s good to apply to oneself, plus some firmness – it seems you have to take yourself in hand sometimes. I found insight into the process through looking at transactional analysis – ie looking at how we communicate. The Parent, Adult and Child effect in transactions spoken or noticed.
“But that be gentle bit, that’s good to apply to oneself, plus some firmness – it seems you have to take yourself in hand sometimes.” the pivot point of the whole machine 🙂
p.s. I admit i’m not really a Pharrell fan, but when next at Te Takere I will have a look.
I’m no music snob
…. except Coldplay of course, yeech, a band for people who cannot handle Radiohead
Please provide ALL information which explains the role you, as Auckland Mayor Len Brown had in the decision to send this letter:
1) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – did you know about it this letter?
2) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – did you authorise this letter?
3) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – do you support this letter?
4) Please provide the information that confirms the role played by the Principal Administrative Officer of Auckland Council, CEO Stephen Town, in the writing, authorising and sending of this letter.
5) Please provide the information which confirms the role of all/ any members of the Governing Body of Auckland Council, in the writing, authorising and sending of this letter.
Please be advised that there is now significant and growing public interest in this matter:
Scroll to 8.00 to hear Leighton Smith reading from and commenting upon my following letter:
10 March 2014
Good morning Leighton!
The first working day after I spoke on your show Leighton – (Friday 28 February 2014) – explaining why I refused to pay my rates – a letter is sent from Auckland Council date 3 March 2014 – threatening to sell my house.
(Letter attached)
DESPERATE stuff.
I have three words to say to Auckland Council:
“GO TO HELL!”
This is a politically explosive decision that will NOT have been made at middle management level by the ‘Credit Control Rates Team Leader’ of Auckland Council.
What role has Auckland Mayor Len Brown had in the decision to send this letter?
1) Did he know about it?
2) Did he authorise it?
3) Does he support it?
I shall be sending him an ‘Open Letter’ asking these questions later this morning, and requesting under the Privacy Act, ALL information held by ALL/ANY persons relating to this matter.
It is Auckland Council who are breaking the law by not upholding their statutory duties arising from the Local Government Act 2002 and Public Records Act 2005 for ‘open, transparent and democratically accountable’ local government, and by NOT providing the ‘devilish detail’ of where EXACTLY rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
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The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
It's election year for Wellington City Council and for the Regional Council. What have the progressive councillors achieved over the last couple of years. What were the blocks and failures? What's with the targeting of the mayor and city council by the Post and by central government? Why does the ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
The committee has published this list to inform the public about its work, and to give clarity to submitters who have contacted the committee asking if they will be invited to make an oral submission. ...
Alex Casey and Gabi Lardies dissect their Laneway 2025 experience. Gabi Lardies: Hi Alex :))))))) Congratulations on not getting sunburnt. Everyone I talked to at Laneway yesterday was braving the sun for one thing. Charli XCX. How was your brat experience?Alex Casey: We will talk about the rest of ...
The US President's suggestion, which sparked enormous debate globally, has been labelled as a threat, not a proposal, by the Federation of Islamic Associations. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine McCarthy, Senior Lecturer in Interior Architecture, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Interior of Auckland South Men’s Prison.Getty Images Prisons are not colourful places. Typically, they are grey or some variation of a monochrome colour scheme. But increasingly, ...
FICTION1Tree of Nourishment (Kāwai 2) by Monty Soutar (David Bateman, $39.99)Interesting to note that the author of the biggest-selling New Zealand novel in Waitangi Week is Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, and Ngāti Kahungunu).2 Kāwai: For Such a Time as This (Kāwai 1) by Monty Soutar (David ...
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the (on hi-repeat) voyeurism and exploitation of the wife of the missing plane passenger..on tv one breakfast..
..is puke-inducing..
(you just keep wringing out that tissue…eh..?..)
..they wouldn’t know ‘class’ if it came – and bit them on the arse..
..i flicked over to tv3..and everything was fine .. until that wilson chap opened his mouth..
..and i was outta there..
..for some reason..(and it’s only me..!..)..i just cannot watch/listen to michael wilson..
..and that tv3 made him a co-host blew my mind..
..he puts the ‘wood’ in wooden..
..and the ‘stilt’ in stilted..
..(just had to get that off my chest..)
..phillip ure..
Nice article from Salon on the slow decline of a progressive politics in the United States. If anyone can get the original Harpers article that would be helpful. Some analogues to Labour here, but only a few.
http://www.salon.com/2014/03/09/we_are_all_right_wingers_now_how_fox_news_ineffective_liberals_corporate_dems_and_gop_money_captured_everything/
New Zealand MMP this year looks like such a permanently refreshing politics, compared to many of the English-speaking democracies right now. A good number of quirky and fresh voices on the fringes, helping the centre look coherent and sensible.
The present “centre” is about as radical and incoherent as you can get. But, I suppose that’s what happens when a society takes up a delusional socio-economic system.
No luck with the Harpers article but I did come across this.
http://www.politicususa.com/2013/06/15/liberals-progressives-difference-matters.html
the poorest…forced onto pre-paid electricity by the supplier..
..we are forced to pay up to 60% more for our power..than the rest of you…
..almost sadistic/beyond cruel..that one..
..and i think that most nz’ers are decent people..
..and would hope their horror/disgust at this gross-exploitation of the poorest..
..by these scumbag power companies..
..will bring/force change..
..(and of course..that champion of ‘the level playing-field’..key..
..he is quite ‘relaxed’ about this situation..blithely advising those in this particular poverty-trap..
..to ‘shop around’..)
..david shearer was on the box..(for a brief moment..)..talking about this..
..and he was in fine form..
..(shearer always performs best when slightly red/hot under the collar..his inherent uncertainties disappear..)
..and this is an issue that labour/shearer should seriously front-foot..
..in microcosm..if highlights everything that is so wrong..
..do most of you..(paying the ‘standard’ exploitive-prices for power..)
..do you really think it is fair and right…
…that the poorest have to pay 60% more..?
..and unless something changes..
..i..and many many others..(250,000 of them children of the poor..)
..we are all steeling ourselves for another cold-winter…
..this is life in nz…in 2014..for so/too many..
..atter 30 yrs of these (uncaring/poor-bashing) neo-lib cnuts…
(labour is banging on about ‘digital-rights’..(and good on them..
..but what about the ‘rights’ to the basics of life..
..like heat in winter…?
..shouldn’t we/they take care of that first..?
..and i hafta say..seeing cunnliffes’ interviews..
..i am somewhat dismayed that ‘the poor’ rated not a mention..
..in his stated priorities..
..i hope cunnlife is just not another fucken obama..eh..?..)
phillip ure..
re the ..we are forced to pay up to 60% more for our power..than the rest of you… comment.
Saw this on news last night,
THERE s your opening Mr Cunliffe…
and/but we will get the bastards..one way or the other..
..their days are numbered..
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/09/cheap-batteries-renewable-energy-market-big-power-companies-wind-solar-power
“..The big power companies will struggle to keep up –
as a solution emerges to the problem of storing wind and solar power..”
..bring it on..!
..and instead of buying back the power-companies..
..why not just regulate them into submission..?
..why buy into a sunset-industry..?
..why not instead ‘buy into’ the idea of giving new zealanders power-self-sufficiency..?
..that money would help bring about that seachange in improvement for many more new zealanders..
..than just buying back these (dinosaur) power-companies..
..and as noted..the problem with them..namely their gross-exploitations of their mini-monopolies..and us..
..that can be taken care of with the central-buyer plan from lab/grns..
..and further regulation..if needed..
..phillip ure..
The big question tho, and one which remained un-addressed in your link, will the manufacturer of all these cheap batteries take them back and find a means of ‘re-powering’ them once their useful life has been reached,
The alternative is that we pay the children of the sub-continent 2 cents a day to rip what will be a Tsunami of spent batteries apart in an effort to recover any metals of value, poisoning them all in the process…
Good point bad12-hopefully all batteries will be easily reclyclable-but great post Mr. Ure.
Not sure this will help with the Genesis share sale!!!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11216842
Shane Jones keeps up the pressure.
And shows up the rest of his caucus as being full of lazy deadwood.
Judith Collins just happened to drop in to Orivida a company Her husband is a director of for an unscheduled cuppa on the way to the airport,???,
Not likely, a letter, released under the Official Information Act, from Orivida to Collins’s’ office shows that She was invited to make such a visit prior to taking the Official trip as Justice Minister to China,
Such an invitation shows that the visit to Orivida was not simply an off the cuff unplanned one and in the light of this further calls will obviously be made for Slippery the Prime Minister to release the advice He says He has that this trip did not expose Collins to a conflict of interest,
Collins, or Ministers answering questions in the House on Her behalf, have exposed themselves to charges of having mislead the House,(in other words lied to their fellow MP’s),
If the Prime Minister continues to refuse to release the Cabinet Office advice He says He has in light of this exposure of Collins duplicity We can only conclude that such duplicity extends to the PM and that He either has no such advice from the Cabinet Office, or, He is refusing to release such advice as He is enjoying having the Opposition hold a political rivals feet to the fire as Her duplicity is exposed…
Frank M over at The daily Blog has posted some interesting info re Orivida’s donations to the tory pond scum
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/03/10/nationals-fund-raising-at-antoines-was-gst-paid/
So that’s another $200k donation from Oravida.
2 x $100,000 donations …mmm does IRD cross check these personal donations against income?
Who would have thunk it, National indulging in a bout of ‘tricky’ anonymous fund raising which makes David Cunliffe’s slight error pale into insignificance while giving every impression of directly supporting what looks like tax evasion through the non-payment of due GST,
Nice expose Frank, a copy of that to all the news organizations might keep this particular ball rolling…
Thanks risil. Very tricky indeed!
They used a trick to hide the decline in their ethics. Badum chh.
I will watch Native Affairs with great interest tonight. It’s little wonder Countdown is charging $38 per kilo for snapper.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11216842
Does this Key-National Government not care about our environment? Obvious not going on this latest report.
I could take you to a waterway in John Key’s electorate where stock are openly dumping into the stream.
Come on the Greens get out to Helensville with Paddy G lol.
You need some runs on the board!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/238350/water-quality-ranks-high-for-voters
Yes, hopefully the Green Party election campaign, especially their television advertising, centers around the protection of our waterways for the 2014 election,
The survey highlighted by RadioNZ National of 3000 voters showed that a third of them, 1000 people are deeply concerned with the ongoing degradation of our rivers, lakes, and, streams,
The schizophrenic nature of this National Governments policy toward such pollution should alarm most thinking people where National have spent or plan to spend $500 million dollars on river and lake ‘clean-ups’ while also planning on intensifying such pollution with plans to spend a further $500 million on various irrigation schemes which without Legislation to require those using the land to have scientific water/fertilizer plans in place which promote using less water/fertilizer on any given farm paddock to achieve the same or greater production while producing no escape of such water/fertilizer to any off farm enviroment be that the water table or our rivers, lakes, and, streams, will simply lead in future years to a ‘pollution rush’ form the on-farm enviroment to the off-farm enviroment,
It is becoming more than obvious that those involved in farming who are willing, without a Legislative requirement, to fence of all waterways from stock encroachment have done so and Legislation is now required to ensure even this most basic of enviromental protection is achieved across all farms,
It is also becoming obvious that ALL leaching of water/fertilizer from the on-farm enviroment to either the water table or the off-farm rivers, streams, and,lakes has now reached an unacceptable level and ‘sinking lid’ Legislation need be introduced requiring those using the land to either take steps to gradually bring such leaching down to zero levels from current land use, or, a requirement that the use of such land be changed to one where zero leachate of any sort is recorded…
Was this survey the one done by Forest and Birds with their members ?
reply to Skinny
Key & national do not care about the environment he said so in his “vote for me speeches” running up to the elections and has proven he means what he says since. He said he cared more about getting the heavy debt of NZ down . The guy is a capitalist to the bone so why would he care about our land our sea our water… money’s to tight to mention.
Which further exposes the Schizophrenia inherent in the present National Government, ”get the heavy debt of NZ down”, meanwhile back in the jungle Slippery the PM runs up a 80 billion dollar gross Government debt…
Yip we know this, however this latest survey shows it’s a major issue for voters. Meanwhile you would think the Green and or Labour would be putting out PR spin surrounding a policy that will make farmers pay to clean up waterways they pollute with a new tax. Why the fuck should taxpayers and ratepayers pay 500 million dollars of our hard earned to subsidise farmers. It is not like we get cheap subsidised milk, quite the opposite if you ask me.
umm… it’s the 10th?
Lolz, yeah i had to look on my phone to make sure i hadn’t indulged in a bout of time travel during the night…
Nah it’s ok, BM single-handedly spun the planet backwards so we can all have another sunday..
😆
You’re all wrong. It’s Groundhog Day: exactly the same tr*lls running exactly the same lines from now until the election.
😀
At least we now know the election will be on the 9th of March..
🙂
Lolz, BM can have half a ‘brownie point’ for an unusual attempt, for a ‘wing-nut’, to use Fact over in the ‘Overreach’ Post,
The not inconsequential ‘fact’ that BM was then caught out promoting ‘shit’ as fact makes the half a ‘brownie point’ awarded one of Bovine defecation, a large ‘pat’ on the head for BM,
In consideration of the apology tendered by BM, i have to conclude that BM is capable, at least momentarily, of ceasing to suck the scum off of the bottom of the pond and on occasion surface to breath real air…
Yes BM needs a pillow, sleeping with his head on a ‘pat’ may be warm but there’s unintended consequences for the poor fellow when he awakes with a mouth full of shit..
Possibly worse, having what appears to be a vacant space between His attached audio antennae and obviously sucking big time could result in BM becoming full of ‘it’,
Too late???, has BM been exposed as a complete shit for brains…
Confirms the nickname “Bowel Motion” is appropriate.
Go put some heat on Minister Clean Geen the dirty waterways between Kumeu- Taupaki.
Religious Conservatives splitting from the Conservative party,
for its new position on sending their wives out to work.
Colin Craig breaks down on The Nation, and says the Green
party has integrity.
What’s Craig doing, wobbling all the way to court? To what?
Holding a stance contrary to his own base.
Seriously though what damage has been done to Colin Craig by Normans
comments, and why would the courts enjoy being used by Craig for
political purposes?
Why Putin doesn’t want Crimea to leave Ukraine…
…firstly it will weak Russia influence in the Ukraine parliament. Secondly, why would Putin want a province to be able to leave Russia, sorry Ukraine, the precedent would be shattering… …thirdly, Russia has done this before, remember halving Poland anyone and then dominating E.Europe, why would Russia unite every nation on its borders. Yeah, like China is looking North as some of Russia provinces. Oh, wait, didn’t the Germans invade the ?Sudaten? lands because its German speaking majority was in need of help.
Sorry, Putin isn’t that stupid. More likely Putin doesn’t want Crimea to become Russia next province, but may more to do with Muslim Tartar living in Russia getting to move back to their ancestral lands (and also bolster Russian influence in the Ukrainian parliament). Hey, who knows, but its no so simple as it looks.
Sensible policy from the Greens about anchoring MPs’ pay rises to the increase in the median income. It is a moderate approach although not as far as tying MPs’ pay rises to the increase in the minimum wage. Good on the Greens for walking the talk with inequality.
After dealing with MPs’ pay increases, the next stop should be the really generous remuneration packages of the top dogs of SOEs, Crown Entities and Ministries. The argument about not paying them enough, despite the heaps of money already involved, to get people to do those jobs won’t wash.
Time to rebalance the public sector’s values away from personal material gain and private sector excesses towards real public service.
Tying MP pay rises to the minimum wage would be a bad thing, because the minimum wage is something the government has direct control over.
Tying it to the median is much better, because the median can rise – and fall – in response to government policies and the wider economic picture, but the government can’t directly influence it.
That theory that if both sides hate it, it must be good. This is obvious nonsense, and I suspect it will be proven so over next the coming while:
http://www.politicheck.org.nz/
Pete George as editor of a supposedly neutral non-partisan fact checking website LOL
Where is the funding for this coming from again, especially in an election year?
Facts are facts. The process is sound and will be transparent with several people always involved. Anyone who is not afraid of the truth should at least give this a fair go and judge the results.
Hi Pete. You’ve been saying for ages, in various places that you were currently banned from the Standard, and yet here you are.
Perhaps as a sign of good faith you could fact check one of your posts at yournz and show us how rigorous you can be. Someone here could nominate a post, and then you post your fact checking of it in comments here. deal?
[lprent: His last ban was in August 2012 when I got tired on repeatably banning him for trying to tell us how to run our site. That ban was lifted in the amnesty in mid March 2013.. His absence from the site since then has been voluntary. ]
Politicheck is focussing on fact checking MPs and parties claims.
There’s little point in worrying about the blogging fray, it’s irrelevant jousting. And I don’t think anyone would have the resources to cover it all.
Not what I was asking.
You are the Editor with final say on what’s what. Your track record is relevant.
Would you say that your blog is factually up to the standard you will be setting as Editor?
Nothing like it, and neither are most other blogs including this one. A general blog is a part of the political game. Quite different.
There are processes being set up that will involve myself, the deputy editor and the research manager. We will all contribute to ensuring as much accuracy and impartiality as possible. And we will no doubt be well scrutinised. It will all be out in the open.
bullshit pete george..
..i stand by the integrity of every post i make..
..all 90,000 + of them…
..can you say that..?
..with yr record of anti-left/green spin/lies/deliberate-distortions..
..half of everything just plucked out of yr arse..
..as i said..you checking anything..
..is just a sick joke..
..phillip ure..
Incorrect. There are lifeless facts and vital lies. Walter Lippman identified a century ago that in political terms there is no difference between fact and fiction; it is what you can get people to believe and become emotional about which is the thing which matters.
I don’t think there is much in the way of funding, seems to be a personal idealistic project from a keen young green. #trainwreckedalreadytho 🙁
An idiotic choice from a organisation that wishes to be perceived as neutral. No one on the left will take anything coming from politicheck seriously. A colossal and unbelievably stupid mistake.
Kyle Church is partisan left, but PG is just not very smart.
No one would have been perceived as neutral by some people. on the ititial Politicheck launch thread here Rory was criticised as potentially not a left enough Green.Based on jumped conclusions.
I’m aware that some here would never accept anyone involved who is deemed not of the labour left but others will understand that if the processes are sound and transparent there’s no reason why it won’t be successful.
It’s typical in politics for people to pre-judge. I’m aware we’ll have to prove ourselves. I intend to do that, along with the twenty plus people who have volunteered to make it work.
Possibly. However I’m on the dry right wing of Labour (and always have been), and I share exactly the same skepticism about your appointment as Sanctuary does (as I mentioned in the email).
I’ve never noticed much balance in your assessments of anything. When something is horribly wrong with a policy of the right, at best I’ve seen you try to excuse it as aberration and move hurriedly to something else. If something is even a minor problem on the left, then you bang on about it for months.
Your obsessive qualities are rather well known. For me it has to be epitomised that this site and my handle rank so highly in your sites tag cloud. Almost seems to drown out the major political parties. Certainly TS appears to drown out your “balanced” excusing on National… But we are at least behind your obsessive attacks on Labour.
Quite simply your appointment makes me think that this is just another one of the PR shill organisations set up by the right to provide white noise and PR cover to stupid media. The “taxpayers union” being a prime example.
You read this site so often and still haven’t figured out that the spectrum of authors and commenters covers the whole of the labour/greens/mana spectrum from dry business orientated people like myself to bill? I guess from your perspective on the right they all blur into the label “labour left”. My guess is that we’ll see that bias reflected in your new “unbiased” editorial role.
As I mentioned in the email. I have a certain amount of cynicism about “unbiased” sites. I suspect this one is just another figleaf for the right regardless who else is on it.
While I can’t do much about the levels of paranoia currently apparent on the left I intend to prove you wrong.
Good, please do.
While I think your appointment is probably a mistake, I really do want to see you prove me (and the others above) wrong.
The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding.
The systems they put in place might be enough to keep the best of PG’s characteristics while moderating the worst, or being forced to work with others might well get him to pull his socks up, or he works for a while and eventually they go their separate ways. Or the new site goes downhill and stays there before dying a slow death in obscurity.
I don’t know any of the others who are involved, and PG’s involvement does make me skeptical, but we’ll see.
from Politicheck’s FB page
This does not bode well at all
Rory is losing any shred of credibility writing dross like this Pete
(I thought this bit was worth a second quote)
“I have read through his supposed attacks on the left which all are cited and then a horde of left wing trolls rush in to try and discredit him with inflammatory remarks “
lol
On the FB page they’re having issues with “my argument’s so powerful it’s not necessary to talk about it” Rick Giles, an actoid as nutty as Banks.
I Don’t think Rory McCarthy intends to set up a right wing shill site, but that is what he is going to get because the entire left will now pretty much lose interest in dealing with him.
Rory has shown incredible naivity in his appointment of Pete George. He has fallen into the middle class trap of seeing partisan party politics as somethings vulgar that is beneath him and the partisan activists who inhabit that space as not worth his consideration.
It betrays a very orthodox middle class value bias where “reasonable” middle class people like Pete George are capable of parking their politics, whereas the left are not.
Rory wants to play referee, but only if the game is at a vicar’s tea party in a nice suburb. How else can you explain the otherwise inexplicable appointment of Pete George than as a monumental two finger salute to the entire left wing activist base born from a disregard of what makes activists tick?
At the end of the day what gets party activists to work for free on phone banks or door knocking or passing resolutions in draughty halls on rainy nights is a combination of tribalism, political xenophobia and true belief in the cause. Appointing a tribal enemy like Pete George then expecting everyone on one side of the political spectrum who do all the thankless spade work to just accept it is so obnoxiously thoughtless that it defies belief.
So sad. A good idea, botched in execution.
<
blockquote> but that is what he is going to get because the entire left will now pretty much lose interest in dealing with him.
<
blockquote>
Thanks Sanctuary, you’re proving that Rory is on the right (correct!) track. The “entire left” is not as closed minded as you are.
That’s quite funny. I suspect Sanc wouldn’t be happy with anyone who didn’t fit his tribal ideals – that pretty much narrows it down to himself.
You’d almost think a few here are not keen on seeing things examined for their truthfulness.
“…You’d almost think a few here are not keen on seeing things examined for their truthfulness…”
Your off to a roaring start champ.
@ sanctuary..heh..!
..’champ’..
..that was a classic pg-bullshit-whinge..
..wasn’t it..?
..and that quote from rightwing-rory…
..couldn’t make where he is coming from any clearer..
..phillip ure..
Yep. There goes PG back into a defensive victim mode…. It happens every time he gets challenged on his biases.
What are my biases, in your view?
Pete. I lied. This is my second comment (and soooo soon after the first that i claimed would be my only too!)
Anyway. Read my comment below. In my opinion – based on reading far too many of your argumentative engagements – you don’t have the necessary attributes for this position you now hold.
it’s always about ‘you’..
..isn’t it..?
..factcheck for you..
..i don’t think anyone really fucken ‘cares’ enough to even think about that..
..you have a certain dull/low intelligence…
..and definitely think you are ‘more’ than you actually are..
..eh..?
..oh..!..b.t.w…the person currently in charge of getting back that $5billion ripped off by his mates/the right..
..is yr mate..dunne..
..hasn’t he done/isn’t he doing such a ‘good job’..eh..?
phillip ure..
Bill
Jousting on a blog amongst a fair amount of unfriendly fire is quite a different situation to objectively assessing evidence for and against claims of fact. I’m, not sure how you can make judgement based on comment threads here.
Given any position that involves material you don’t know, you will fall back on your immediate instinct about it and avoid or ignore any information that threatens it.
When I have observed you here, I haven’t seen you ever shift your position in view of what anyone says or the material that they link to. Offhand I can’t remember you ever discussing anything that was in a link passed to you apart from newspaper reports.
I have only seen you change your position when someone you consider is an “authority” writes about it. Since that includes David Farrar, newspaper columnists and TV news people who are usually experts at bugger all – it’d be fair to say that I think you have a pretty piss-poor personal research ethic.
One of the problems you’ll have in your new role is that you appear to view research in the grand Trantorian late empire tradition. That is a Azimov foundation reference. Since Asimov was a biochem researcher as well as a writer, he neatly encapsulated the issue. Rather than digging down into the raw material and stats and trying to disprove your favoured theory the way that actual researchers do, you will read the “authorities” and weigh how you feel about them.
That is the path to shite judgements because you will judge on if you resonate and understand something easily rather than going down until you’re damn well sure it is probably correct. It is shallow style talkback research rather than factual research.
Only comment I’ll make on this. (I think). But any editor or fact checker should have had as a principle strength, the ability to think and read critically and accurately.
With that ‘in the bag’, any political leanings become increasingly irrelevant. That Rory (or who-ever) promote a pastiche of neutrality as the be all and end all of fact checking etc is….well, fck it – they’ve fcked it.
Well —– I am gobsmacked.
Doesn’t Rory McCarthy know his new editor’s reputation in the blogasphere?
There goes an excellent idea down the gurgler. I am pleased I had not got around to volunteering.
The irony is that I suspect that there will overwhelming unity across the right, left and other blogsites on PG’s appointment!
EDIT – one possible exception to the last comment above. Bryce Edwards…..
A lot of conjecture today.
Did I not know ? Actually I knew perfectly well what his reputation was on the blog websites. I spent time reading and looking into statements he made. I liaised with countless external contacts to make sure I was making the right choice. I believe I have. I have a great Deputy Editor who cares for the truth implicitly. I have a large number of left wing researchers who have expressed interest.
Our processes are bigger than one person, our transparency greater than traditional media. For Pete to alter any judgement made by other researchers (as he is but the final step in the process of approval) he must have significant reasons that can be cited for making a revision through a mediation process.
There are contracts signed, I haven’t just hired people on a whim and there are performance clauses and trial periods associated with staff. Any move toward either left or right with the website will be met with people looking for somewhere else to volunteer and push their agenda.
There will be comments sections for people to post on our judgements, with clear guidelines about citing counter claims made by the public.
So before you decide to right us off; consider that at the moment, we have a Green running the show for me (another Green), left and right wing researchers, an environmentalist research coordinator and a libertarian Deputy Editor. The political spectrum is well covered.
The organisation is the sum of its parts, not any individual within it.
As for Pete, I ask you only take him on the merits of what is submitted to the website, not conjecture based on his past.
Thanks,
Rory McCarthy
Founder of Politicheck.org.nz
email: rory@politicheck.org.nz
You declare your site to be a not-for -profit organization.
You have “hired” people.
How are you financed?
I cannot find anything on your site about the finances of Politicheck.
and no women applied for any positions?
or did they all fail to wow you with their qualifications and reputations when compared to such a paragon of sincerity like Pete George?
I have contracts, they are hired on a volunteer basis. So far all the funding for the website has come out of my pocket. If you want me to post our financials I will – I will give you access to my personal bank statements.
Women did apply, however when I contacted them about pursuing a position that would require upwards of twenty hours a week most could not commit that much time for a volunteer organisation. That’s the simple truth. There are female researchers who will be working with us, they have been contacted already as we are in the final stages of recruiting our research team.If people are really that worried I will happily post all my communication (I have nothing to hide). Off the top of my head (I would need to go and look back through emails to confirm) under five females actually applied to volunteer. That’s the statistics and the fact of the matter. There were also some who contacted us were far too late in the process for us to consider other candidates without moving the venture forward, as it is time critical.
I don’t consider Pete a paragon of sincerity, and I don’t consider myself to be one either.
Thanks,
Rory McCarthy
Founder of Politicheck.org.nz
email: rory@politicheck.org.nz
thank you for your honesty Rory.
sine cera, appointing Pete George and wanting to be seen as an unbiased resource is somewhat mutually exclusive. If I were you i would worry about the motives of whoever you went to for advice on appointing him.
was farrar/williams/edwards-the-younger..any of them..
..involved in any way..at any stage..
..in the setting up/ongoing of this..((as advisers..?..)
..and could you tell us where you stand on the idea of the greens going into a coalition with national..
..is this a door..you as an individual..would rather be left open..?
..and yeah..echoing the request above..
..i think we would all like to know just who advised you that pg was ‘the man’..
..was it any/all of the above..?
..phillip ure..
The ‘hiring” has been done properly with contracts, but all positions are voluntary. A lot of time is being contributed to make this work.
Quite simply I’ll believe it when I see it. Personally I’ve never known Pete George to be particularly concerned about facts except when it suited him. In the last three or so years that he has been around the blogs, he makes a great show of being “balanced”. But whenever he is challenged at a factual level he starts playing victim rather than reexamining his presumptions.
Appointing PG makes me immediately suspect the organisation is just another right wing shill like the Taxpayers union and other previous ones.
They also started with “contracts” and undisclosed sources of finance and rather dubious appointments. Makes me want to have a very close look at exactly how and from where this site is funded (something that isn’t mentioned on the site anywhere). Quite simply before I give this site any credibility, I’d want to have the word about who and what this organisation is from someone that I know and trust. What I don’t see at present is anyone who I know is from the labour movement.
Merely asserting you’re a green means virtually nothing in the context of the political spectrums. I know personally some deeply conservative greens.
Disclaimer: Please note these are my personal views and not the views of Politicheck.org.nz
I am not conservative by any means – if you want to see some of my views they were recently posted in an article edited by stuff to read “Stop being selfish, NZ”.
The article is available here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/assignments/share-your-news-and-views/9788458/Stop-being-selfish-NZ
If you wish to hear more of my views you can email me directly, but I don’t believe a public discussion would achieve much in the realm of helping Politicheck achieve it’s goal if people can begin to label us. (Especially when I am addressing issues raised about Politicheck being impartial.)
I hope you understand.
Rory.
I appreciate your response. It’s fair enough as far as it goes, and personally I’m willing to give PG a chance to show if he can live up to the impartiality standards you have hopes for.
Fundamentally the project is good idea and I commend you for giving it your time and energy.
At the same time you have to be aware that PG was finally booted off this site (after tolerating several years of his tendentious rambles) for his constant passive-aggressive behaviour, making extreme right-wing claims and then pretending he was ‘middle of the road’ and ‘boo hoo why is everyone picking on me’ victim behaviour.
And then spending the next few years in the wilderness of his own blog obsessively demonstrating that he did not understand why he was banned. In particular he never seemed to understand that The Standard is a left-wing blog. That it is owned and operated by left-wing people, to serve left-wing purposes. His constant complaints that we did not operate the blog to suit his right-wing thinking were just plain bonkers.
Having said that – people can change. Even PG. If he lives up to the role then good on him.
Thanks Red.
I only hope that we can serve as a tool to make all politicians accountable for what they say.
Rory
Founder of Politicheck.org.nz
email: rory@politicheck.org.nz
That was more of a hint for people who know me and who know of the people involved at politicheck to email me. With the limited degrees of separation in NZ and the amount of time I’ve been involved in politics and the net here, I’d be surprised if I don’t get contacted with some personal assessments.
So, Rory, your editor is dully, mindnumbingly conservative and your deputy editor is even further out there on the Galtian right. Where is this balance you speak of?
by the way, it might have been mentioned before, but here’s a start for you
Good one McFlock – I went to the list and just had a look at one – this is typical of key – he fucken lies about everything – everyfuckenthing – what a joke.
“Prime Minister John Key has dropped another clanger – this time misreading history around New Zealand’s biggest aviation tragedy.
While in Antarctica, Key spoke of how he was affected by news of the Air New Zealand flight which crashed into the side of Mt Erebus.
Flight TE901 was destroyed on impact, killing all 257 passengers and crew.
“I know I was starting School C at around that time – it’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now,” Key said this week.
John Key was born on August 9, 1961, and the Erebus disaster was on November 28, 1979 – meaning he would have been 18 at the time. Students usually sat School Certificate examinations about the age of 15.”
It’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now – scumsucking wanker
and yet he doesn’t remember what he thought about the tour in ’81
It’s typical of a lot of people to be a bit woolly with their timelines going back years – but Key’s got a track record of making definitive statements like this which on a little investigation prove to be complete bs.
The big open one is still his account in his CV around exactly when he started with Bankers Trust in the 1980’s and exactly what his working relationship with Kruger was. Kruger is on record (in a completely different context) as leaving BT, six months before Key claimed he started.
It’s just not possible, yet no-one has ever explained it. Nor thought it worth digging into.
The thing is that noone forced him to say, “It’s a memory that’s lasted with me till now” and it wasn’t needed – he chose to lie, to try and ingratiate himself on their side of the fence – it’s basic bankster/trader mo – and he has continued with Pike River, with Christchurch – he needs the people there to think of him as one of them – and the interesting thing to me is why does he need that and how can that be used to drop him. He is a smiling snake so you can’t take his legs out but he will slither into a hole (of lies and made up bullshit) and deeper he will slide until no traction is left and he is gone. labour (why I bother I don’t know) need to get some holes ready for him to slide into or start pointing out the ones he’s already gone down – he’s vulnerable because he needs to be liked and he needs to lie to be liked. Factcheck that mid-ill-pete.
There’s a problem with that idea – facts tend to have a left-wing bias so under this policy they either won’t get published or when they get published the site will be declared left-wing.
People judge. That’s inevitable as people need to so as to make informed decisions and the way they judge is on their knowledge of the persons past actions. Pete’s past isn’t all that great. I can remember threads going round and round in circles as PG kept changing what he was saying and then claiming that others had read him wrong. PG has a bad reputation because he damn well deserves one.
as for this:
Did you actually bother to read the references? I ask because more often than not PG was twisting what was said so as to make it conform to his story. Here he confuses people critiquing what was said with someone attacking an author. There’s a difference that he just doesn’t comprehend.
“…Well, what a huge, crushing disappointment.
Politicheck NZ Major Staff Appointments:
Politicheck NZ, New Zealand’s first specialist political fact checking organisation, is proud to announce the appointment of key personnel.
Editor – Pete George
Deputy Editor – Phil Howison
Chief Operating Officer – Kyle Church
Research Coordinator – Kirk Serpes…”
That’s right folks. Pete George. REALLLLY.
Rory what the fuck were you thinking, are you really that naive? You might as well have given the job to David Farrar. Can’t you see you’ve just destroyed your credibility before you even started?
Statement on Politicheck
I have been appointed as editor to a team establishing Politicheck, a political fact checking website for New Zealand. Those of us involved have a variety of political connections from across the spectrum, from libertarian to green. We are all disclosing our affiliations.
It’s well known I’ve been involved with UnitedFuture after they asked me to stand for them in 2011. My level of involvement has often been overstated, especially over the past few months when it has significantly diminished. I am no longer a party member. I will continue blogging my personal views but apart from that I am dedicating my interests to Politicheck.
Our individual politics should be irrelevant. We are setting up a fact checking process that will be as transparent as possible, and each fact checked will be re-checked involving at least three of us in an editorial and research role.
Our findings will be open to public scrutiny and will be reviewable should we get additional information. Some decisions we make may be contentious but most will simply be a judgement of fact.
We expect to build a good relationship with blogs. As well as encouraging submissions of issues to check we will monitor MSM and social media to look for issues worth investigating.
We are aware we will have critics, both personal and of Politicheck. That’s the nature of politics. We will be up front and will address any reasonable criticisms openly. Mistakes will inevitably be made, we will do whatever it takes to rectify them.
Please give us a fair go and give Politicheck a fair go. This should be a valuable service for improving politics in New Zealand. The more support we get the better we will be.
I am happy to engage on this, either on this blog, on https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalFactCheckingNZ or by email – peteg@politicheck.org.nz
People would probably be happy to give it a go but now we know you’re involved in it, Pete, and you’re a well known nutbar.
(ahem!..)
..cn i hearken back to my scoffing/jumping all over this..
..back when it first leaked..
..that this rightwing-green..farrar..and williams..were setting up a rightwing attack machine for the election..and to roll on post-election..should the progressives win..
..(and of course..should key get back..?..of course these ‘politichecks’ would just sink back into the swamp from which they emerged..)
..but pete george as editor..?
..that moves it into the realm of low-farce..
..(i mean..people on the right dislike me/my ideas/arguments..
….people on the left also dislike me/my ideas/arguments..
..but i think more people wd gag at the name ‘pete george’..
..than they would at mine..
..this is beyond fucken hilarious..
..and i wd like that rightwing-green ‘rory’..to tell us where he sits on that ‘awkward’-question:
..does he think the green party should keep open the option of coalescing with national..?
..i did try to ask him in that original thread..
..and he either thought it below him to reply to the likes of me..
..or else it’s a question he wd rather not be asked..
..and..once again..marshalling my psychic-powers..
..i am thinking/picking ‘rory’ wd be quite ‘relaxed’ about the idea of a national/green coalition..
..(but pete george..?..seriously..!..we aren’t all being ‘pranked’..are we..?)
..so of course that wannabe-acceptable-gatekeeper edwards-the-younger would have his grubby fingers all over this..
..reason number 53 to avoid it like the plague..
..this is a ‘trojan’-politicheck..
..phillip ure..
Phillip
“that this rightwing-green..farrar..and williams..were setting up a rightwing attack machine for the election..and to roll on post-election..should the progressives win..”
I think you might be confusing Politicheck with the Taxpayers Union.
@ veuto..no i’m not…
..go back to that original thread..
..but yes..the same people are behind both..
..the only difference being the rightwing-green as a front with this one..
..and..(drum-roll..!..)..’pete george’..(snigger/snort..!)..as ‘illustrious-leader’..
..will the volunteers b forced to sing to their leader..?
..’the sun will never set – on pete george’..
.and other such north-korea-styling ditties..?
..phillip ure..
You know that how? If you have no proof of that (and I don’t see how you can have proof of it) then you’re making things up.
Having no proof has never stopped you. Your general MO these days seems to be to post baseless idle speculation on your website that no one visits, then link whore to it from Kiwiblog as the basis for the ultimate echo chamber.
were you really secret-squirrel about it..were you..?..(‘phones off!’..)
..are you here/now issuing a flat-denial that farrar/williams/edwards-the-younger had no parts to play..either together or individually..
..albeit only ‘advising’…
..had any part to play at any time ..
..in this politicheck-chimera..?
..is this what you are telling us..?
..phillip ure..
I had nothing to do with setting it up. When the site was launched last month I expressed an interest in contributing, and as a result was offered one of the positions.
I know Rory talked to a wide range of people. I’m not ware of anyone you mention being involved in setting Politicheck up. They seem to be nothing more than paranoid guesses.
aah..!..the shultz-defence..
..and..maybe you could ..ask rory..?
..y’know..!..run those names past him..ask that question..)
..and then get back to us..?
..i am sure openess/transparancy will be a feature of yr editorship..eh..?
..may as well start as you mean to go on..
..oh..!..and when talking with rory..
..do ask him that natty-coalition question..
..eh..?
..and once again..
..then get back to us..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Disclosures are here: http://www.politicheck.org.nz/who-we-are/
You can ask Rory via the Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalFactCheckingNZ
“..do ask him that natty-coalition question..”
I don’t see that that has anything to do with Politicheck.
themes..pg..consistent-themes..
that’s what it has ‘to do with’..
..rory..farrar..williams…edwards-the-younger..
..and now..you..?
..any leftwinger who has volunteered..having believed the original bullshit..
..should now be out the door..
..phillip ure…
from the ‘who we are’
say no more
nods as good as a wink to a blind bat
got that Pete, it is there in black and white
it stops with you
I note that rory states,
“One of the major considerations behind the scenes is that I am looking to find our main editor who will have final judgement call on items submitted for final showing to the public. This editor for me needs to be utterly impartial. They need to preferably have no affiliation with any party, and a reputation as a solid researcher. When the site commences running shortly, this is the person that will be accountable should any bias start occurring and I would ideally like this person to have a good understanding of cognitive biases that can occur with even the most rational of people.”
pete do you really have a ‘good understanding of cognitive bias’ especially as you’ve voted for 4 different parties in 4 elections.
and it seems to me this whole thing will rest on you and what you do – I hope it goes well but I have to say that I remain unconvinced of your impartiality and true middleoftheroadness – like phil I believe it is a bit of a front for more extreme divisive views. nevertheless time will tell.
Edit: snap with freedom 🙂
When all else fails at least they will have someone who counts the angels on the head of a pin or something like that..
Unbelievable.! Fail before it starts:
reputation as a solid researcher
Already, I’m yearning for a site to fact check politicheckNZ.
Grin. It’d be poetic justice don’t you think?
I’ll sketch a site out in case we want to use it this weekend.
and i’m picking this announcement of their ‘leader’..as being one pete george..
(i’m sorry..!..i just can’t stop fucken laughing..!..)
..this will mean some serious volunteer-seepage will occur…
..around about now..
..heh..!
..phillip ure..
and psstt!!..i have a mission for you…you politicheks..!
..the elites/corporates (criminally) rip-off some $5billion a year in tax revenue..that should go to the state/common-good..
..go politicheck that..eh..?
..let us know how you get on..
..i’m sure those people you have had no previous connection with..’the taxpayers-union’..
..i’m sure they will be up for giving you a hand with that one..eh.?
..wot with them their ‘defending the rights/interests’ of the tapayers as their claimed goal/raison d etre..
..eh..?..
..i mean..what could be more urgent..than politichecking that $5billion..ripped off from the rest of country..
..each and every year..
..you go sic ’em..!
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
and..um..!..do you have a brand-name yet..?
..i understand ‘truth’ might be up for grabs..
..phillip ure..
and that taxpayers union..
..so vigilant/engaged over the wallowings in the perk-trough by mojo mathers..
..imagine how ‘vigilant/engaged’ they will be when you tell them about that $5 billion rip-off of taxpayers..eh..?..
..i am sure they will be incensed at the news..
..and will want to get right onto it..
..eh..?
..philip ure..
I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t April already
But as Pete says let’s wait and see eh.
It’s not like [his few decaying threads of credibility] have anything riding on it or anything.
You have joined an operation that plainly stated reality is to be the lead. Be honest here Pete, that has never been your strongest position. If you do not comprehend the totality of the role you and others have accepted, then you do not deserve to be there (and personally I cannot see how the totality of your statements remotely qualify you for such a position of trust) I certainly hope your ego has not clouded your judgement or misrepresented your ability to deal with facts.
Btw in fact checking, you do only get one chance, a fact is a fact. Wrong facts = failed credibility.
If you do fail, you will certainly understand the disdain and animosity that will have been provoked.
A small glimmer of hope is most likely the job comes with a dictionary and we all hope the word ‘fact’ is the first item on the editor’s notes to be checked.
Hello Pete George……………………………………………………
Yuk, wealth accumulating addict Gina Rinehart is like a p-piping freak who can’t get enough. She urges Australia to implement policies similar to those pursued by Margaret Thatcher
She scares me… there are no other words for it.
The words that I want to use would probably get me locked away.
I know what you mean, she’s hideous in every way.
This ‘Every time you refer to us as the ‘mining state’ as though the western third of our ancient continent is just Gina Rinehart’s inheritance to be chopped, benched and blasted, you are reading us wrong’ while funny on one level is just so true it’s sick.
Gina seems to me to be a very nasty person. I dont think she has a compassionate bone in her body. The only difference between her and those that machine gunned striking workers (or murdered trade union leaders) in the 1900s is that Australia now has laws banning that stuff (for now). Other than that, the very same attitude.
Australia is slowly moving into an age of darkness….
I’m not sure it’s moving all that slow. The Queensland government is heading rapidly into full jackboot mode.
This is the woman who’s never done an honest day’s work in her life lecturing Australians that they need to compete with Africans who will work for $2 per day. And if you’ve never been to some of these outback mine sites it’s often dirty, tough, hot and sometimes dangerous work. Rinehart wouldn’t last ten minutes.
She’s everything you hate about the feral, dehumanised rich. The frightening thing is that she has the Abbot govt in her pocket.
Parasite
If you want to be welcomed back on this blog, Pete, then I suggest you openly admit to being right wing. BM, Monty, srylands and the like openly admit to having such political affiliations and such are tolerated on here. You on the other hand, have ACT-like positions on economic issues, yet try and pass yourself off as being middle of the road.
Like a growing number of people I don’t think in terms of right versus left. I agree with policies from Act. And National. And Labour. And Greens. I’m on the same page as Colin Craig when it comes to wanting to improve honesty in politics. And I disagree with aspects of policies from all parties as well. All those parties have policies that could be regarded as left and right.
But this is irrelevant to what Politicheck is going to do. We will check the validity of claims and publish our findings. And if someone provides additional information we will update our finding. It’s a process that is not governed by old school left and right politics.
yr first paragraph defines why you are so reviled..
..you set the benchmark in wishy-washy-ness/fake-centreist..
(and of course you purse yr lips..when spouting this bullshit..eh..?..)
..you are there because you are one of them..
..and will be fully on board for this ‘wheeze’..
..eh..?
..philip ure..
From a comment in NBR re the Airplane crash
The passengers with stolen passports were issued tickets by China Southern to travel on flight MH370.
Isn’t China Southern the airline John Key’s government lets issue visas to enter New Zealand? And now 2 Kiwis are dead.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Red-flags-missed-in-MH370-disaster/tabid/417/articleID/335236/Default.aspx
[RL: Right now that’s way too long a bow to draw. End this here.]
“Isn’t China Southern the airline John Key’s government lets issue visas to enter New Zealand? And now 2 Kiwis are dead.”
And… what? The flight wasn’t from NZ.
We still have no idea what the cause of the plane going down was.
What is interesting with the two stolen passports is not that they were flying to China – Beijing was a transit point only, and they were going on to Europe via Amsterdam , Copenhagen and other European cities. Not together.
They booked their tickets together though.
Perhaps this is why the FBI have been included.
Am I now blocked from making comments on The Standard?
Or are there ‘gremlins’?
Cheers!
Penny Bright
[No sign of a comment Penny. Obviously gremlins. Do you want to post again? A few people have made this comment today – MS]
How long before Penny uses this as proof positive of a conspiracy by the owners of The Standard, in cahoots with Len Brown and John Banks to shut down criticism of Auckland politics?
I’ve had gremlins commenting too, some comments are taking a while to appear.
lprent
There appears to be something odd with Karol’s ‘Beltway thread’ I have now posted 2 comments on it and both have completely disappeared. The page just reappears without any ‘post php’ sign in the address (which is usually what occurs when they disappear for good) – one can’t hit the back button and ‘refind’ the comment either (which often is the case)
Noting what happened to Rhinocrates on a recent thread (where they all appeared after some time) I am not going to post another(!) rather, thought I’d alert you to a possible problem.
[lprent: They should have reappeared. I was fixing something and everything headed to spam for a few minutes. ]
Same thing happened with the above comment [edit: but not this one]- I have posted comments today without this problem occurring ….it is odd…..
A new Silver Birthday
www. is 25 years old today – happy birthday web.
i am most interested in how the new politicheck will select facts to check. am less interested now i see the choice of editor.
I suggest a basic credibility test for Politicheck.
A [random] date is selected from the calendar past and Politicheck declare it as the test date. Any Governmental or Party Political announcements and the front page stories of the daily newspapers released on that day are checked for facts. Politicheck release their findings, within a reasonable timeframe, say seven days*? and we will get a very clear idea if they are winning or spinning.
*exceptions stated for outstanding OIA requests, replies from MP’s etc
+1
Inflation: The fraud at the heart of our economy that is destroying the middle class
The creation of money by the private banks far outstrips both inflation and the productivity of the nation. And, yes, I’m talking about NZ while the article is talking about the UK – we use the same banking system, a system that rewards the rich for being rich and punishes the poor.
Now first impressions have been expressed, a question.
Putting aside the people, perceptions and agendas involved, does anyone see any possible advantages in having more fact checking of political claims and policies?
As with all good ideas, the devil is in the details of how it is actually carried out.
Yes, And in the practice of how it’s carried out.. Getting it right is quite a challenge, but we’ll do our best to make a decent go of it.
The only way of assessing it is to see how it works in practice. Doesn’t it deserve to be judged on results?
Yes.
Who is going to check the fact checkers?
Another comment seems to have disappeared, apologies if a duplicate surfaces.
“Who is going to check the fact checkers?”
a) Research Manager
b) Editor/Deputy Editor
c) public scrutiny
All issues will be open to review should further information be provided or later surface.
So if your facts are found to be incorrect by public scrutiny, will you be willing to accept you made a mistake? Because in my experience reading your contributions, I have never seen you back down and admit fault, instead you just try to twist things or run away and appear in another thread.
That’s my worry for the new site, because it depends on credibility.
One of my bosses a while back had a practise of pre-empting the announcement of any errors we found – errata, retractions, withdrawals, whatever, just while we double-checked. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s got to be done sometimes. The reputation for doing so meant that when they said something, it was respected because everyone knew it had been exhaustively checked.
As soon as politicheck starts dragging its feet while pete does his dodge and dive and sophistry to avoid admitting error, it’s fucked.
As was taught some guidelines way back to follow in terms of assessing the credibility of a website. This is not totally dependent on any one factor, but, failure to measure up on any factor does weaken the credibility of an online source
For instance, Columbia University says this, among other things, about assessing the credibility of online sources:
When I read the first statements about the politicheckNZ site, I assumed there would be some people with highly credible backgrounds in all key positions, including editor. I had been expecting someone with academic credibility in researching.
Choice of PG as editor does not give me any confidence in either the editorial processes, or the people who chose him for that role.
A person can change. But in my experience so far, PG does not present well reasoned arguments, and thus I question his ability to recognise such in other people’s work. He could surprise me, but i’m wary.
I am wary also because of things like this on online covert operations, coming from Greenwald and the Snowden leaks. Greenwald sumarises:
so..that’s you and the randian..
..having the final-say..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Dear Editor of Politicheck, since you are in the neighborhood and doing all this lovely promo work for what is after all a very exciting idea….I have a couple of questions. I could send them to the site but as they would just be posted here anyway I thought I would save us the time and post the questions out here in the open, where you want to be. You know, all transparent like.
My biggest question is :
You are all volunteers [apparently] so it won’t be every article every day.
Print, Web, TV, Government Press Releases, Party Statements etc it is a hell of a list of media sources to check.
Can you give a basic overview of the daily operation because it is not at all clear just what facts will be checked, how and when this checking will occur and in what time frame said facts will be reported.
So far there are three editors and an undisclosed team of researchers (ten?)
I am guessing the fact to be checked will be a small list, so again…
Who selects what facts get checked?
What is also not clear, is the plan if incorrect facts are exposed.
(no offence intended here) You are after all a collection of volunteers with what on the surface does not appear to be what one would call the biggest influence on the MSM.
Do you have a support network somehow primed to combat the daily papers and the tv channels? Who will be doing your media liason. Who will be your talking head if you get on TV? There is a crying need for clear reality here. Some facts need checking so to speak.
Thanks, it’s good to get pertinent questions. I’ll link to this from our Facebook page.
We have to work some of this out yet.
I’ve committed to working 20 hours a week on it, I expect to do more than that. I think this is a worthwhile enough project to put that into it.
As I do now I’ll review news as it comes online in the morning, I’ll monitor what I can through the day, and I’ll target what seems to be the main points of interest in Parliament. I’ll also scan blogs as they can be good sources amongst the general noise. And I’ll receive submissions of topics to research, that’s already started.
The editors will evaluate topics and refer what they think is worth doing to the Research unit, where the manager will assign them. Once complete to a standard acceptable to the research manager they will come back to the editors to finally evaluate.
Some topics will be simple and quick, I’m hoping 1-3 days for them. Others could take weeks, especially when detailed costings of policies are involved.
Editor, deputy editor and research manager. There have been tens expressed interest in researching, we’ll have to see how many commit to continue. We will always be open to taking on more researchers, the more we have the more we can do.
We have some experts who are willing to assist.
It should become a big list, resources allowing. The editors select which get checked.
We put them through the same process to correct or update.
We don’t aim to be a big influence on the MSM. I think we’ll be complementary to the MSM and will help each other. My aim is to accumulate a valuable database.
At this stage I’ll be the main point of contact, backed up by deputy editor Phil. I have some experience with media.
If that workload gets too big and we can get someone suitable to handle it this may change.
Thanks for the confirmation that today’s big launch is really just a protracted press release introducing the principal staff. Which if you read all you have written today looks like you and Rory. There are other staff, I saw pictures. Staff ,who I must say, you have mentioned very rarely. You are well known here. Surely this would have been an opportune time to introduce your co-editors and bring us all up to speed. A chance to really promote the site’s ideas by explaining the thinking behind it, not just rehash the words printed on the website, on fb, on reddit. I haven’t been to KB or WO but imagine you are doing the same there also.
Maybe the announcement was a bit premature or maybe this whole thing is as suspect as it continues to appear. Where is the content? If, at this late stage, you have not even a format sketch or a template of a checked fact to put up to show people ….what are we meant to think?
Your own words show you have no clear understanding of the interface to come, how can people believe anything other than you are doing busywork till you get your first delivery of topics. All buffed and pretty and I am guessing many techs around the country will be able to give some fair estimates of the time/$ requirements for the bells and whistles.
So on what date can the public expect a taste of the format?
I am guessing the heralded database is a long ways off, so no point asking about its format of data distribution.
P.S.
You might want to get a grammar nurse. Mistakes on your own site are one thing, but you are an Editor on someone else’s site now . . .
e.g 1 of ???
“There have been tens expressed interest in researching”
surely you mean ‘Dozens have expressed interest in researching ‘
I don’t think anyone said it was a big launch. It was an update of progress after the initial launch last month. The main launch will be when the website goes live.
While the planning and web development has been going on for some time we have just started on editorial/research. We will work to a realistic timetable.
“Getting it right is quite a challenge, but we’ll do our best to make a decent go of it.”
Unconscious slip of the wormtongue Pete? Still, appointing a conservative and a Randian to the two senior posts should definitely help to get it right, no question.
Still at it TRP? No slip, I just didn’t see any point in repeating a dual word to explain the obvious.
I don’t know if you’re suggesting I’m Randian or conservative, but either or funny. Taking majority descriptions from both sides I’m probably more like a progressive neolib.
You’re the conservative, Pete. But anyway, well done on the new gig. You’re already bringing the same level of success to it as you did to United Future (anybody remember them?).
I can’t remember being called a conservative before.
I agree with Colin Craig when he said:
Targeting that has always been one of my primary motives for getting involved in politics, that’s why I wanted to support Politicheck to help target this.
But I don’t agree with this part of their policy:
It would be ludicrous to end the treaty settlements before they are all settled. And I’m happy for Maori voters to decide if and when the Maori seats are removed.
I think it is pretty obvious that TRP doesn’t mean you support (or a member of) the Conservative party itself. He said “conservative”, not “Conservative”.
I think I’m more radical than old school political activists.
I’ve voted Labour more than any other party, the last time in 2005 to keep Don Brash out. I voted Green in 2002. Labour in 1999.
?
lab
grn
lab
uf
That’s not “radical”. That’s just “inconsistent”.
A mostly consistent way of deciding who to vote for.
Why don’t you do something useful like helping stop that fucking hotel being built in Dunedin.
“..I’m probably more like a progressive neolib…”
an oxymoron..
..there is no such beast..
..it’d be like me saying i’m a carnivorous-vegan..
..you idjit..!
..and then just below you outright fucken lie..
..with yr claim of ‘never been called a conservative’..
..you lying piece of work..
..phillip ure..
“an oxymoron..”
Well spotted. Although it isn’t out of the question, there’s blue-greens, purples, social conservatives, conservative socialists etc etc.
I said “I can’t remember being called a conservative before” – and if I have it’s not a label applied to me. If you’ve called me a conservative I probably didn’t see it, I find your punctuation too hard to read to bother with usually.
careful..!
yr usual self-pitying/whining passive-aggression..
..almost tipped over into outright aggression there..
..and ‘blue-green’..another oxymoron..
..yr last 2 examples are a nonsense..
..and nobody has ever said that you are a conservative..?
…are you seriously expecting anyone to believe that..?
..phillip ure..
There’s many references, here’s some
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_conservatism
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/pete-seegers-conservative-socialism/
There was a Progressive Conservative party in Canada from 1942-2003.
As for your last point, you’ve changed from calling me a liar to just querying it with a different question.
with the (approx) 350 stories i do each week..
..i politicheck more than you will in a month of sundays..
..in fact..in my archives..
..i’ve got over 90,000 politichecks..
..phillip ure..
And we all know what happened to Canada’s Progressive Conservative in 1993.
The 153 seats in parliament went to 2 after the airing of aTV ad that showed for less than 24 hours before it was pulled.
Is this to be your fate too PG – sunk overnight without a trace?
Oh for Nact airing such an effective ad.
Nobody is criticizing the objective, provided such checking is genuinely neutral and impartial regardless of the personal convictions held by the individuals doing the checking and overseeing the process.
Some people have merely expressed skepticism that the objective is attainable if you are involved.
To the Editor of politicheck
It stops with you so it most likely starts there too
I suggest a basic credibility test for Politicheck.
A [random] date is selected from the calendar past and Politicheck declare it as the test date. Any Governmental or Party Political announcements and the front page stories of the daily newspapers released on that day are checked for facts. Politicheck release their findings, within a reasonable timeframe, say seven days*? and we will get a very clear idea if they are winning or spinning.
*exceptions stated for outstanding OIA requests, replies from MP’s etc
It would be difficult to find a day with a fair representation of party announcements.
We are currently working on evaluating the capabilities of researchers, and we’re compiling research topics. When the website launches in a few weeks will have a number of issues evaluated from all parties posted. That should give you a reasonable idea of how we are managing.
“It would be difficult to find a day with a fair representation of party announcements.”
frikkin hilarious
day one and you are already doing the Pete George Fudge
what is really tragic is you don’t even see it, do you?
This is a test of your team’s ability to fact check,
It was not anything to do with how your daily editorial imbalance will eventuate.
Pick a day, pick up a newspaper and do a trial run.
I had real hopes for Politicheck.
Hopes that are now like trees in the Arctic autumn, darkening quickly in the fading light.
I think we can get a better cross-section of topics to check be evaluating current party websites and media coverage. However we do it we have to make selections.
But if you would like to try what you suggest then you could select a random date, pick a range of issues across parties for that day and submit it to me. I’d be happy to assess that and explain my assessment.
We are open to any submissions.
here.
Just a few of the releases from the main parties/govt would be fine.
What has ‘across parties’ got to do with the price of eggs?
I thought you were a fact checking site?
Is New Zealand’s daily political coverage not diverse or balanced enough a resource ? 😉
Then maybe that is a starting fact you guys could check for us all?
but seriously folks,
Is Pete suggesting that a topic not every party has made comment on, will not be researched?
Are you saying if submissions on facts to be checked are only questioning statements from a single political party, they will not be checked?
We could circulate q+a’s for days but it will not change the incontrovertible fact that political affiliations are not the issue Pete.
Unbiased investigation of facts, does not see a flag of any colour.
I do not see you as someone who understands that simple precept.
We want to ensure we cover a good range of topics across all parties. Of course individual topics can apply to individual parties, they often will.
Guardian article update yesterday from the authors five years after the release of The Spirit Level. The Spirit Level authors: why society is more unequal than ever.
Concluding sentences:
“…The Equality Trust calculates that the richest 100 people in Britain now have as much wealth as the poorest 30% of households. The top-to-bottom pay ratios of around 300:1 in the FTSE 100 companies is not diminishing.
It is hard to think of a more powerful way of telling people at the bottom that they are almost worthless than to pay them one-third of one percent of what the CEO in the same company gets. Politicians must recognise that reducing inequality is about improving the psychosocial wellbeing of the whole society.”
Gina Reinhart is just like her dad.
Even knowing how dangerous blue asbestos Ginas dad allowed families to have sand pits made of blue asbestos tailings.
Then demanded the govt build houses and roads for his blue asbestos mine.
I don’t usually engage in schadenfreude but fuck it, today I will.
http://www.dailytech.com/Bitcoin+King+Pt+II+Mt+Goxs+Dictator+Karpels+Proves+Tragically+Flawed/article34452.htm
RNZ just said Sept. 20 is election day..
edit: snap scotty
Stuff
From the link:
“Key wanted to announce the election before his trip to China next week. National would campaign hard on its record rebuilding Christchurch, improving the economy and protecting the most vulnerable”
?? He’s taking the piss….
Sweet, Key obviously knows the polls will never be better for him, so best go as early as possible without looking too desperate.
Hekia Parata
Just the mention of her name right?
isn’t anger a strange emotion?
some follow up from her bizarre statements on Q+A
http://saveourschoolsnz.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/responses-to-hekias-implication-that-teachers-want-performance-pay/
Yesterday while commenting on Open Mike about local government I noted that Nicky (Wagner the Associate Local Government Minister) had said that libraries and swimming pools were ‘nice to haves’, and I deeply disagree with such careless elimination of them as costly luxuries, and now have seen this in The Press, Saturday 8/Mar/2014.
Drownings rise as swim lessons dip.
Wellington is one of the worst-affected regions for pool closures, with 26 of 48 having closed over the past two decades….40% of primary school pupils were leaving school without the basic confidence needed to survive in the water, said Water Safety NZ Chief Executive Matt Claridge.
…Two out of three schools have to travel to use a swimming pool….
“We don’t have to teach 5 year olds how to do the butterfly stroke, we just want them learning how to float and tread water, and that way they will be safer.”
MoE HoE Infrastructure said that the Ministry provides funding through the operations grant which can be used for upkeep of a pool, or transport and entry charges to a local community pool…and current policy was not to provide pools in new schools, or replace ones that needed upgrading.
However if drownings are rising (no figures) then that policy is inadequate. It involves a lot of organisation and time, and it takes the children away from the essential NatStands so it can be seen that it would often be shelved. Do Handstands instead perhaps, on the school grounds.
And anyway only people with spare money can afford to travel to the beach from town, or have a swimming pool in their own grounds – very expensive politically and economically especially when they develop leaks.
drownings seem to be decreasing – 81 in 2013 as opposed to 98 in 2012 (although the same puff piece in jan 2013 said only 93 in 2012, but there’s often a data lag).
Although I agree that libraries and pools are a necessity. I know my personal habit of sinking at the sight of a small puddle has limited my activities, including professional ones. c’est la vie.
Don’t give up Mc Flock. There are always water wings. Or as one comedian explained, who wasn’t quite at home in large puddles ‘Swimming to me is staying alive in the water.’
much easier to avoid puddles 🙂
My bf was pretty outraged that she doesn’t consider libraries as vital infrastructure.
Without a doubt, the printing press is one of the most important inventions in the last 400 years, but it is the library that allows distribution of the output to the masses, not just the select upper-classes.
Similarly these days libraries act as gateways to the internet for many poor and underprivileged people.
I think what they are most concerned about is how Libraries, especially in the smaller centres, are beginning to stake their claim as hubs of communities and all the places that can lead.
Communication, camaraderie, conversations, sharing, empowerment. You know, really dangerous stuff that the little people aren’t meant to have unrestricted access to.
Hold onto this link and play it when you are being bitten by the ‘black dog’. Happy and lots of lovely people dancing around and being joyful. Litty bitty ditty. Pharrell Williams
ahhh bless the curse of the black dog greywarbler. Learning to live together day by day is everyday. May be a tough old cur at times, and sometimes you never really know who it’s gonna bite, but every now and then there is a physics defying frisbee catch that seems to make it all worthwhile.
freedom
You seem to understand those black dogs. I know a real one who is overjoyed when you play tug and she tugs and shakes her head and gains control of whatever. It and chasing balls and sticks plus having a swim and then living in a happy family where she is appreciated and fed seems to all she wishes. Happy dog. Rather different than the one that sat on Winston Churchill’s shoulders sometimes. He is admirable, in that he thought and fought his way through it. I wonder, though not too much, to what extent he showed his distress and what helped him rise above it.
Spent my first thirty odd years not understanding the illness at all gw, and saw dark days I would wish on no-one. Last decade or so, a wholly different condition created a set of circumstances which dictated much closer attention was paid to identifying the symptoms.
I learned the triggers. I learned to be honest with those I trust and try my best to be gentle with those I love. It is hard bloody work but it is rewarding.
The reality though, is a melee of hope and hassle and best intentions.
Mirth is good, melancholy sucks,
but both are part of this crazy world and as an artist I cannot imagine life without them.
freedom
Yes light and shade eh. How can we see the concept without them?
Did you look at Pharrell Williams. The images of happy people dancing and playing, with the idea of unselfconscious expression, and the repetitive singing of the same hopeful ditty,
I found delightful. I know many uptight people who would never open themselves to the judgement of other uptight people and could not bring themselves to do this.
I find it interesting dealing with my mind, my unconscious/subconscious. The studies about the mind are interesting. Some seem to indicate that we don’t really think anything for ourselves at all. But that be gentle bit, that’s good to apply to oneself, plus some firmness – it seems you have to take yourself in hand sometimes. I found insight into the process through looking at transactional analysis – ie looking at how we communicate. The Parent, Adult and Child effect in transactions spoken or noticed.
“But that be gentle bit, that’s good to apply to oneself, plus some firmness – it seems you have to take yourself in hand sometimes.” the pivot point of the whole machine 🙂
p.s. I admit i’m not really a Pharrell fan, but when next at Te Takere I will have a look.
I’m no music snob
…. except Coldplay of course, yeech, a band for people who cannot handle Radiohead
freedom
😀
Fixed the bug that was causing everyone to have the same IP today and periodically causing save problems as it ran into checking issues..
Hopefully no-one else noticed the site rebooting through its web servers 17 minutes ago.
I always wondered which day was Groundhog Day. Now I know. It’s the 9th of March.
FYI
Ok folks!
It’s WAR …….
URGENT ‘Open Letter / Privacy Act’ request to Auckland Mayor Len Brown – re: threat from Auckland Council to sell my house.
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/urgent-open-letter-privacy-act-request-to-auckland-mayor-len-brown-re-threat-from-auckland-council-to-sell-my-house/
URGENT PRIVACY ACT REQUEST:
Please provide ALL information which explains the role you, as Auckland Mayor Len Brown had in the decision to send this letter:
1) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – did you know about it this letter?
2) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – did you authorise this letter?
3) Auckland Mayor Len Brown – do you support this letter?
4) Please provide the information that confirms the role played by the Principal Administrative Officer of Auckland Council, CEO Stephen Town, in the writing, authorising and sending of this letter.
5) Please provide the information which confirms the role of all/ any members of the Governing Body of Auckland Council, in the writing, authorising and sending of this letter.
Please be advised that there is now significant and growing public interest in this matter:
http://content.radionetwork.co.nz/weekondemand/auckland/21145.mp3
Scroll to 8.00 to hear Leighton Smith reading from and commenting upon my following letter:
10 March 2014
Good morning Leighton!
The first working day after I spoke on your show Leighton – (Friday 28 February 2014) – explaining why I refused to pay my rates – a letter is sent from Auckland Council date 3 March 2014 – threatening to sell my house.
(Letter attached)
DESPERATE stuff.
I have three words to say to Auckland Council:
“GO TO HELL!”
This is a politically explosive decision that will NOT have been made at middle management level by the ‘Credit Control Rates Team Leader’ of Auckland Council.
What role has Auckland Mayor Len Brown had in the decision to send this letter?
1) Did he know about it?
2) Did he authorise it?
3) Does he support it?
I shall be sending him an ‘Open Letter’ asking these questions later this morning, and requesting under the Privacy Act, ALL information held by ALL/ANY persons relating to this matter.
It is Auckland Council who are breaking the law by not upholding their statutory duties arising from the Local Government Act 2002 and Public Records Act 2005 for ‘open, transparent and democratically accountable’ local government, and by NOT providing the ‘devilish detail’ of where EXACTLY rates monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
I am neither a SHEEP nor a SLAVE.
They are picking on the WRONG woman …….
Cheers!
Penny Bright
…….
Maybe you should just pay your rates like everyone else?
Why shouldn’t she carry on with her (obviously) political protest?
Because they’re going to sell her house.