I totally agree with you, Phillip Ure. I’ve just laid a formal complaint with the Herald Editor, and if they don’t retract and apologise, I’m going onto the Press Council.
This is a scurrilous piece of non-journalism, and the text of the story tells you there is nothing in it except what a friend does for another friend if the occasion calls for it.
Is that about this morning’s Herald on Sunday piece, that says Cunliffe is rich and has rich buddies, and one of Cunliffe’s secret donors isn’t KDC or the Unite Union?
Yes. Karol. The actual story itself is totally different from the headline and the picture caption.
Its an incredible piece of sloppy, inaccurate journalism. The Herald should be ashamed of itself.
This is the non story of all non stories. Cunliffe helped a mate. Farrar and Hooton are playing tag team and tweeting it up for all it is worth and Slater has already run a post. Obviously they see this as a war of attrition.
Who said back in August 2012 “this National Government is selling New Zealand pound by pound, hectare by hectare, and there will be nothing left.”
That’s right, and here he is helping his rich, foreign mate buy 19 hectares of prime coastal property. And he may not have a direct financial interest but his wife did legal work on the deal. Was that at no charge?
“Cunliffe acknowledged making two visits, though he could not initially recall how many, when they were, or whether Keenan was there.”
Rather lame memory lapse isn’t it? Shades of Banks not recalling whether he had been to the Dotcom mansion.
How pathetic, Seti. 19 ha of rocky coastal land which is mostly inaccessible being sold to an individual does NOT compare with thousands of ha of good farming land which the Nats have let go to foreign corporates.
Yes the Herals should be ashamed and thanks for making the complaint.
However, what the fuck is Cunliffe doing? When he was asked 2 weeks ago about his involvement with the property why didn’t he just say he had no legal/financial interest, but he had visited it to check it out for a friend who wanted to buy it? Did he think that the Herald wasn’t going to keep digging and use anything it could against him?
It’s not playing into the rich mates meme. It’s playing smart with a bunch of venal fucks who want to skew the election.
It’s not in the public interest in the way you mean. It’s in the public interest by way of getting a left-wing govt come November.
Cunliffe didn’t do anything wrong other than let himself get set up, again. He was asked specifically if he had a legal/financial interest in the property, which he answered truthfully, but why not just say that he helped a mate out too? That’s not a rhetorical question. You’re argument seems to be that he shouldn’t have to. Political naivity.
Ok, so the article in the Herald will have absolutely no effect on people’s perceptions of Cunliffe 🙄 We don’t have to be concerned about the hatchet job being done on Labour. Everything is sweet in the rose garden because phil thinks that the only thing a politician has to do is play the game the way he thinks.
“..how about you tell us just ‘why’ cunnliffe should have told of doing that small-favour for his freiend..?”
I’ve already explaing this, but one more time…
IMO, it’s Cunliffe’s job to anticipate the hatchet jobs being done. If he was being asked about his financial/legal involvement in a high priced property sale, it’s his job to understand that this is a jonolist seeking to find some shit on him. So, there is no harm in telling the jonolist what the jonolist is going to find out easily anyway and use against him if he isn’t up front about it. There is no real reason for him to talk about helping a mate out, other than the fact that he is talking to a jonolist in an election year.
Your argument that it’s a non issue (his helping his mate out) is just denial of the political issues involved with the MSM and the NACT shills. A better argument would be that it doesn’t matter what he does, the skewing will still happen, so better to just get on with the other stuff that gives Labour a chance. I have no idea if that would be reasonable in this situation, and neither do you.
I don’t know the story of the GP refusing to debate with Craig, but I can’t see any reason why they should. FFS, the guy has some pretty abhorrent and bizarre beliefs, and he is being used by NACT to keep control of NZ. If he has enough support in NZ to get into parliament, that’s one thing. But the GP is under no obligation whatsoever to give him any attention.
Im betting if he had said he had a look through for his friend initially it would have killed any storey dead as It is a perfectly reasonable thing to do…
Instead he tells half the story and lets the media create a story from nothing and frame him as sneaky again.
Needs to box cleverer…
If I were a journalist looking to paint Cunliffe in devious colours I know how I would have treated any volunteering of such information. I’d imply that (a) Cunliffe was forced to admit acting on behalf of a rich friend to buy an expensive property, and (b) he downplayed his role but (c) while he claims he did nothing to materially help, his wife was involved in the sale process (wink, wink).
Pretty easy, really, when you put yourself into that mindset. I’m not sure why you think the story would have ‘gone away’, given that it would have played into the ‘tricky’ meme just as well as this follow-up story.
If you accept that the journalistic angle on Cunliffe is to run with the ‘tricky’ narrative, I think you’d lose your bet.
Personally, I think the one positive for Cunliffe in all of this is that the series of revelations is really starting to look a bit silly, and very much like a concerted witch-hunt. There’s quite a potential for this to backfire, especially given that it has started so early in election year. I presume the right-wing strategists have thought this through so perhaps they know the New Zealand electorate better than I do.
Once again I appreciate how you have taken the time to articulate this.
The one thing I have been trying to convey is that Cunliffe’s enemies (and I used that word deliberately) will use any piece of information or action to smear him.
There is nothing Cunliffe can do to ‘behave’ better, or ‘box smarter’ with these people. Everything will be turned against him one way or another.
Phil is quite correct. Calm down you strange bird. DC would have put them straight, however the shrill MSM media are gang banging the opposition party’s to keep the elite owners happy. I know a few good print journalists who cover stories which never get to the printer. The right-wing editors simply refuse to publish unflattering coverage of National. Or praise worthy content of the Left.
I think it is time now to resist the bait. It may be true that Cunliffe could have or should have said or done something different regarding trusts, houses or rich friends, but we should not allow ourselves to be sucked into a petty conversation with which the right is far too comfortable. We should be working now toward changing the conversation, so that Cunliffe’s actual ideas get some oxygen, and people are motivated to vote for him on that basis. And if that can’t happen through the media, we must get it happening on the ground. Changing the leader is not enough by itself to seriously challenge the status quo. Our involvement and commitment is also needed, and we should not allow it to be weakened by set-piece distractions.
The real estate agent who chatted to the Herald (or maybe Farrar) about a rich client might be lucky to keep working in the area. Rich pricks, whether they’re mates with Cunliffe or not, don’t like their business spread around the gossip rags. If she sold the place, there may even be a basis for a complaint.
Anyway, I’m left with the overwhelming impression that the real crime here is that the place overlooks Key’s disgusting and environmentally damaging mansion out on the sandspit. As a Northlander, watching Jafas and others build all over sandspits and clear mangroves has been making me feel sick for years. Who knows what they’ll do if those environmental warriors in National are forced to gut the RMA against their will, by the centre-right ACT party? We need to shovel these creeps into the toxic waste bin of history while we still have something left. Grrrrr.
Is David Cunliffe really that much of an enigma? I guess one of the problems for the right/ media about banging on with questions about ‘who is David Cunliffe’ and the ‘enigma’ of Cunliffe is that you might actually get an answer to your question. And when people see and understand that answer, as they will, they’ll wonder what you were up to (and how smart you were) going round and round on the question.
Having known the man fairly well for a decade, my answer would be, 160 IQ, brought up fairly poor, hugely successful business consultant before politics (with hugely successful/ busy partner/ mother of children, and hence the house where it is); But most importantly the politician with the best vision for a less neoliberal, post GFC NZ economy that can deliver the social and labour market goods he also absolutely genuinely wants to deliver.
I dont think it’s that hard: that’s essentially him. The rest is manner, being ‘moved’ by things at the same time his brain is whirring at warp speeds, unbridled enthusiasm and revving high to get on with it: nothing sinister there. The more people see of him, as long as they are not competing with him for the job, the more in my experience they will recognise this. Attempts to frame him as tricky or something else he isnt will look a bit silly at that point.
He’s unusual/ rare but not incomprehensible, unless you actually dont want an answer to your question about ‘who he is’. But let’s face it, all Labour leaders are a little rare and different, or they wouldnt find themselves in a position to get the job. Once the public get a feel for the rareness, they can be very forgiving, especially as the strengths start to deliver.
Yes, I think people keep asking the “who is David Cunliffe” question because they keep comparing him to the way they they know John Key who has a public profile built up over half a dozen years, helped along with an expensive team of PR people and suck ups.
I get annoyed with the tribal National/right wing shit heads that can’t seem to understand why wealthy people support Labour, Im guessing that these are the people who have an insatiable need for more and more wealth, they have never asked the question; why? These are the RWNJ’s that don’t seem to get through their fat heads that Labour has a GDP growth on average 1% higher per annum than National, this is what DC refers to when he says the “Labour can walk and chew gum at the same time”. Labour will put the minimum wage up but will also create an environment that is better for the top line, businesses will ultimately do better!
The irony in all of this “who is David Cunliffe” questioning is interesting, because I would bet that if people actually got to know John Key he would turn out to be a bit of a fuckwit, they type of person who wouldn’t have time for people of little wealth or status (whatever the fuck that is). I did work with DC in the 90’s, we were never friends but I remember him to be a bloody good bugger, he had no problem getting on with people across the spectrum of workers…I wouldn’t bet that you could say the same thing about John Key.
An IQ of 160 is pretty unusual, even putting aside the issues about what it measures. This may actually be a problem for Cunliffe at the moment, because he won’t he used to knocking off 50 or 60 IQ points to get to the level where NAct puppets like Farrar and Slater can understand what he’s on about. He may also feel that the rubbish they spout is so stupid and ignorant that its irrelevance should be self evident. The sort of intelligence he has can bring a little naivete with it, and he might not yet have realised just how far below him the opposition is. However, it also means that he’ll learn quickly how to deal with them.
She did the rounds of Auckland design agencies, but found them “already full of free workers”.
“Most of them said I’d have to show I was keen by working for free,” she says. “I wouldn’t, but it’s become accepted now because many people are desperate.”
I just detest employers who want people to work for nothing. Doesn’t matter how easy the government makes it for ’em (e.g. 90 day trial) it’s never enough.
While this article outlines a highly exploitative use of interns, I am aware of a charity which was approached by Intern NZ. The charity got a qualified and passionate intern for 3 months so was understandably pleased, particularly because it was an out of the blue offer.
This is different in my view because it is a charity, and because there was a limit on free labour.
The chap exploited for six years(?!) that’s just abuse.
“We were encouraged by the agency we were working at to go on the dole,” says fellow ad intern Price. “It was hard because WINZ was constantly ringing, trying to get me other work. I tried being honest with them at first, told them what I was doing, but that just meant I wasn’t going to be able to carry on with the internship.”
Sounds to me like a breach of the Social Securities Act, namely the section about making your situation worse off (by working without pay). Wonder if the SSA can be used to stamp out the practice, or at least give it a fixed time limit of say one month to make it uneconomic for companies to keep recruiting interns and retraining them.
This is why internships are anti-worker/anti-working class: it’s fine for people from well-off families who can live at home or get the rent paid from their trust fund, who then get their foot on the career ladder. The people who don’t have those resources just get shut out of the whole industry.
There is a whole post in private businesses profting form free labour, and the ever more creative ways they are finding to do it. I was gobsmacked at the audacity of a new business round my way that started up recently using one such formula:
Create a charity that does something. Get volunteers to raise all the money to do it. Be the provider of whatever it is. Charge whatever for providing that service. There are even public agencies that will find the volunteers for you, and WINZ (and other employment agencies) refer clients to them.
Ka-ching.
An order against publishing the name tho is just that, so doing so here may be thin ice, if the person in question has been convicted of an assault on His wife in court where no suppression order was given you could publish that as a fact, but, couldn’t publish anything linking to the divorce…
From that story it sounds like the “politician” isn’t actually an MP, but is a “high profile political figure” who supports some MPs – said MPs are reported as supporting “family values”.
More complicated than meets the eye I think right down the bottom of the article…
“My finding that the wife is likely to distort the truth and what she says to media outlets is likely to be inaccurate or exaggerated and as a result she is going to be reported even though it has no relationship with the truth.
And…
The husband had “acted appropriately and endeavoured to support his wife, who was clearly unwell for a long period of time before separation”, Judge Burns said.
He added: “I do not consider he can be validly criticised, and I am concerned that sensitive material sought by the wife could be without the benefit of it being fully tested.
Taking the judges comments at face value supression is prob justified
And further up the article there are these comments:
“a disputed allegation the man grabbed or touched his wife’s neck, tried to kick in the door of their home and shouted abuse at her.”
.
How does this square with this comment:
“acted appropriately and endeavoured to support his wife, ”
Even if the allegations are disputed it does not mean that those events did not happen and are complete fiction.
The Judge is just saying something random here. Even if he doesn’t want to lift supression he looks like he is showing bias making remarks like this because he does not appear to be quoting the actual protection order hearings.
If I’m thinking of the correct one then before all these orders kicked in some of the man’s family had given evidence that was not favourable to him and the protection hearing didn’t dismiss matters on the “acted appropriately” basis.
And saying she will make things up, do we have any proof that he doesn’t make things up?
The problem here is not just for this case, (and it is problematic that the wife here cannot discuss these things without risking a jailterm), there is also the pecedent.
File for a restraining order, and even if it is not granted, and you get classified as ‘vulnerable’ and have a good shot at suppression. No fuckwits will use this, obviously, we trust them not to at least, on their honour as fuckwits..
Pretty certain who it is Sosoo. After all the dognapping charges and allegations of spying are already in the public domain.
Somehow don’t think Whaleblubber will be making a “principled” stand on this one though. Shame, it would be a perfect opportunity for him to back his claims that he is equally nasty to both the left and the right.
Every time a Green uses a method of transport other than a sandal the Right calls them hypocrites.
It’s the standard of logic that we can look forward to seeing more of between now and the general election.
It is in the Government’s interest to avoid dealing with issues of importance and distract the public as they coast to … hey, did you see those pictures of the Prime Minister derping at Orientation Week? Gosh, he’s a character.
even you must see how pathetic that is. im not quite sure what the big deal is, cunliffe has friends that buy property in nz? bfd. i cant wait to see key go grey on tv3 10:10 this am!
You just keep outing yourself as ‘something’ of lower intelligence that didn’t quite get your fair share from the gene pool, fair share of brains that is Bruv,
You do understand that MP’s, and just an MP David Cunliffe was when He helped His friend check out a property He was interested in buying,
The Why of this happening is pretty simple, the bloke David was helping, a long time friend, has a job and a business in the US and its pretty obvious that He didn’t have the time to hang around long term to view the property,
What exactly is sinister about this???, Nothing unless you are either a ‘wing-nut’ or a Liar, Cunliffe as a opposition MP has no means of interfering in any legal impediment to the sale of this property even if there were one…
Well why did he simply not say so rather than flannel and get himself in a corner.
He has done nothing wrong, except be honest when asked by the Herald.
Wilfred contributed to National MP David Carter’s election campaign in 2002 and both Carter and Christchurch National MP Nicky Wagner have written references for Wilfred and his wife.
Not just National either. In my view MP’s should never be giving written references for anyone.
From the Herald online business section, ”Our yields are up and our inputs,(of water and fertilizer), are down so its a good enviroment story”,
”Generally what is good for the enviroment is good for the bottom line”, ”We are sitting on the same bus alongside the Green Party because we have got the same philosophy”, unquote.
So says Craige Mackenzie, Chairman of the Precision Agriculture Association and advocate of precision mapping of dairy farms soils sometimes paddock by paddock so as to understand what the optimum level of water and fertilizer application is that give the highest yield while ensuring leaching into the water table or from the on farm to the off farm enviroment doesn’t occur,
Smart man, probably will find Himself with no friends down at the local pub on His next night out having happily linked Himself to Green Party philosophy,
Pouring money down the river is a good means of describing the current situation of envormenatal destruction where without any scientific basis water and fertilizer are pumped onto paddocks a lot of the time on the basis of ‘thats how the farm down the road does it,
Soil mapping allows for the exact amount of water/fertilizer to be added paddock by paddock at the precise time and in the precise amounts so as to give the optimum output from each paddock without leaching either to the water table or to the off farm enviroment,
‘Smart Green’ farming techniques are available which ends up being a cost saving to the farmer through applying less fertilizer/water to each paddock while gaining the same or an increased level of production from having used such techniques…
Yeah, nah. Nothing green or sustainable about that. Different packaging, same old shit underneath. It’s all about maximising profit via extraction of resources. There is fuck all difference between this and mining. Keeping effluent and nitrates out of waterways is the minimum we should be doing. Beyond that, there are still major issues with land management. Putting dairy cows in sheds, or micro-managing inputs is just shifting the problem sideways.
That whole article is about how to make excess money. They can wax lyrical all they like about how being green is good for the finances/farm, but there is nothing in that article that speaks to sustainable land management. Nothing.
weka, that sounds like the usual, ”i hate cow-cockies rave”, if you want to live down on the farm with 10 chickens, 4 goats, 2 geese, and, a house cow feel free,
Everything in that article speaks to sustainable land management, unless your a Luddite of course, IF the application of water/fertilizer is managed in such a way so as to prevent any leaching into the water table,
And,
If the application of water/fertilizer is managed in such a way so as to prevent any of this from leaching from the on farm enviroment into the off farm enviroment then what is unsustainable about that…
It’s tinkering with a system that is fundamentally unsustainable. I think you have bought into the idea that sustainability is about polluting less. It’s not. It’s about creating systems that will sustain themselves over time. Extractive farming, but its very definition, is not sustainable (do you think that mining can be sustainable?). Likewise, farming that requires increasing amounts of external inputs (esp ones based on fossil fuels), are not sustainable.
Reducing run off is obviously good for waterways, but that doesn’t make the thing sustainable. The use of artificial fertilisers degrades soil fertility (which means you need more artificial fertilisers ie the land management requires increasing external inputs, thus failing any measure of sustainability). Sustainable land management builds soil fertility without the need for excessive external inputs (or that’s one of the things it does) ie it sustains itself. Part of that is not creating excess pollution, but it’s not the whole of it (btw in a sustainable system, the ‘pollutants’ become inputs that build fertility and/or create stability in the system).
There are many other examples of how industrial farming fails environmentally, even when they try and reduce pollution.
I’m getting a bit sick of your pejorative ad hominems. There are plenty of examples of farms that use sustainable land management practices, so fuck off with your lifestyle block put downs. If you are genuinely interested in what sustainable land management is, let me know and I will put up some links. Or, you know, just ask questions if you don’t understand what I mean instead of trying to marginalise my argument with personal put downs. Am pretty sure I know a hell of a lot more about sustainability than you, so why not use the opportunity to learn something?
Your waffling weka, now for how many years, decades, centuries even, have farmers been applying masses of fertilizer to the very same soils that you claim are being unsustainably farmed,
If an iota of what you say were to be correct weka, none of them, the farms that is, would be able to produce anything, where’s the evidence of ‘dust-bowl NZ’,
Craige Mackenzie of the Precision Agriculture Association says that using soil mapping of indivdual farm soils right down to doing so on a paddock by paddock basis allows for the same or better production,(He is talking grass growth), and without the provision of evidence you dismiss this as Lies???,
If He is correct, that such intensive investigation and management allows for current and greater production without any leaching of water/fertilizer into the water table and stops any leachate of the same into waterways via using less water/fertilizer i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…
You really are out of your depth here dude. Read up on the differences between artificial fertilisers (in use for less than a century) and organic fertilisers (in use for all of the time we’ve had organic matter on the planet). One uses imported chemicals to force plants to grow, but at the expense of the microbial life in the soil. The other uses organic matter (plants and shit) to build the soil microbes and structure, so that the soil provides all the needs for the growing plants. These are not new concepts, they exist within biological sciences and sustainable land management practices.
Chemical fertiliser farming depletes soil in a number of ways, and because of this is unsustainable ie, the only way you can keep farming that way is to bring in external inputs. In this case that is fossil fuel based ones, which create futher problems on multiple levels.
The reason that this is becoming more of a problem than in recent decades, is because of the intensification (both in terms of ‘stock units’, and how many such farms there are). But the old style of farming (post WW2 – now) wasn’t particularly sustainable either, it was just going to last longer than industrial dairying before fucking the land.
As for ‘dust bowls’ NZ has more than its fair share of land that was once fertile and is now marginal. You need to get out into the country more.
“Craige Mackenzie of the Precision Agriculture Association says that using soil mapping of indivdual farm soils right down to doing so on a paddock by paddock basis allows for the same or better production,(He is talking grass growth), and without the provision of evidence you dismiss this as Lies???,”
No, I didn’t say he is lying (try reading what I actually say). He is probably quite correct that he can get better production from the model he is using. I’m just objecting to that being called sustainable in an environmental context. What on earth makes you think that increased grass growth on its own is a measure of sustainability?
“If He is correct, that such intensive investigation and management allows for current and greater production without any leaching of water/fertilizer into the water table and stops any leachate of the same into waterways via using less water/fertilizer i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…”
You are talking about pollution mitigation. That’s not sustainability. Try comparing that to AGW mitigation vs prevention. Which would you prefer?
“i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…””
I’m putting up the arguments, which you seem to be missing. I’ve offered to link, but am not going to do that work until you grasp some of the basics, or at least hint you are open to understanding the basics.
Yawn weka, diatribe is proof of nothing, come back when all the dairy industry collapses through lack of grass growth brought about by the use of fertilizer,
What century do you propose that this will occur in again???…
Fortunately, I’ve got stuff to go and do. But if I am getting this right, you are asking for several things.
One is evidence that intensive, artificial fertiliser based farming significantly damages land. That this is happening in NZ. And that industrial dairying is part of that (ie that dairying does more damage than just polluting water). I’m happy to chase up some links for you when I get back, but I do have to wonder how genuine your query is.
In the meantime I suggest you google ‘peak soil’ if you want to understand the underlying concepts. This is not some wacky theory I am talking about, it’s fairly mainstream understanding globally. Why NZ thinks its immune is another question.
“diatribe is proof of nothing”
Well you would know, given that you seem unable to respond to the points* that I raise and instead resort to ad hominems and abuse. I suspect you aren’t even reading my comments properly 🙁
*ie what sustainable land management actually is, why industrial dairying doesn’t fit that, how the article you linked to is instead greenwash etc.
bad12 ” for how many years, decades, centuries even, have farmers been applying masses of fertilizer to the very same soils that you claim are being unsustainably farmed,”
You showing a bit of ignorance here aren’t you? The scale of intensification and fertilisation and irrigation going on right now is vastly different to anything done in previous “years, decades, centuries even”. Do you not know that?
That is why, for example, waterways and drinking supplies in Canterbury have only started failing in the last 5 years. The scale ramped up starting mid-1990s.
bad12, you also said this “If an iota of what you say were to be correct weka, none of them, the farms that is, would be able to produce anything, where’s the evidence of ‘dust-bowl NZ’,”
Again, take a look at history, silly. Lets take a couple of examples of NZ’s primary industries practices and results. Kauri milling, dust bowls in Canterbury a few decades ago, fishing stocks, or maybe take a look at the land in East Cape all slipped into the rivers and fucked, and same with South Island high country.
Sure bad12 you can wait for the dust bowl to arrive and suffer the same results as above, or you can think and recognise the same practises that caused the earlier “dust-bowl’ disasters listed, and do something about it.
“So the current use of fertilizer on today’s farms doesn’t create dust bowls is the sum total of your comment,”
That is a specious question. YOU are the one who raised the issue of dust bowls (as if that’s the only way to fuck the land). What’s being discussed here is whether modern farming practice in NZ is sustainable. It’s not. It’s pretty easy to prove it’s not – any basic understanding of sustainability makes this obvious. You attempting to reframe this ‘we don’t have dust bowls therefore everything is ok’ is pretty ridiculous, and just you squirming because you can’t address the actual points being made.
weka the actual points being made are in total ”you thunk it therefor it is” rubbish, why then would i legitimize such rubbish by answering it,
When a clown, (you), enters a subject with the claim that ”i know more than you” it is in my opinion that they should be treated like any other blowhard, laughed at,
You claim that the use of fertilizer leaves farms unable to produce grass unless higher and higher amounts of fertilizer is added, such bullshit is just that,unless it is linked to scientific fact,
My point of posting the original Herald story lies in the fact that intensive soil mapping allows for less fertilizer and water to be used to produce the same or more production, i would suggest that the farmer quoted knows what He is saying is true from actually having hands on experience from having used such soil mapping science to produce the results He talks of,
Now your vast knowledge that gives you self declared ‘expert’ status to dispute this man’s work without the provision of a shred of evidence is what???,
As far as i can see everything you have so far written on the issue discussed is a simple blow of your own trumpet without a fact in sight…
that is the gold quote from the article and it shows exactly where their heads are at. As the topsoil continues to be blown out to sea and the naked hillsides continue to slip and the rivers clog to a standstill – nah all good here in headinthesandparadise. But at least some farmers can buy the latest car this year.
They don’t do dairy on hillsides such as which you speak of, and, hillsides do not slip because of the application of fertilizer,
Same question as asked of weka and in what century will the supposed continuous slipping of these hillsides bring these imaginary rivers you speak of to a standstill…
New Zealand has a history of land management that has resulted in soil erosion;
silted-up streams rivers and estuaries; algal blooms and dense growth of aquatic weeds
from nutrient-rich runoff.
Is David Cunliffe really that much of an enigma? I guess one of the problems for the right/ media about banging on with questions about ‘who is David Cunliffe’ and the ‘enigma’ of Cunliffe is that you might actually get an answer to your question. And when people see and understand that answer, as they will, they’ll wonder what you were up to (and how smart you were) going round and round on the question.
Having known the man fairly well for a decade, my answer would be, 160 IQ, brought up fairly poor (but in a caring, values- intense family), hugely successful business consultant before politics (with hugely successful/ busy partner/ mother of children, and hence the house where it is); But most importantly the politician with the best vision for a less neoliberal, post GFC NZ economy that can deliver the social and labour market goods he also absolutely genuinely wants to deliver.
In terms of character, he listens. He learns and has leant to attend, even when he thinks he knows the answer, or what you are going to say. He weighs the larger justice, the bigger picture of the thing. He doesnt hold grudges and doesnt and wont throw people under buses. He believes he can lead, and that that leading will make a positive difference.
I dont think it’s that hard: that’s essentially him. The rest is manner, being ‘moved’ by things at the same time his brain is whirring at warp speeds, semi-bridled enthusiasm and revving high to get on with it: nothing sinister there. The more people see of him, as long as they are not competing with him for the job, the more in my experience they will recognise this. Attempts to frame him as tricky or something else he isnt will look a bit silly at that point.
He’s unusual/ rare but not incomprehensible, unless you actually dont want a clear and plausible and popular answer to your question about ‘who he is’. But let’s face it, all Labour leaders are a little rare and different, or they wouldnt find themselves in a position to get the job. Once the public get a feel for the rareness, they can be very forgiving, especially as the strengths start to deliver.
Never mind Phillip, not your best work is pretty much the opinion of everything you have so far contributed in writing anywhere on the planet,(par for the course in other words)…
hes def doing something right, going by the enemies hes made & the fear hes instilled in the right. & the bs stories the herald/tv3 keep bringing up, i mean, is that it? really?
I’ve never personally met DC but everything I’ve seen and read from him for a very long time resonates with me at a very personal level. You’ve very eloquently expressed my own reaction for me.
I think that the reason why his opponents are trying to stick the ‘tricky’ label on him is because DC is capable of hold two or more disparate thoughts in his head at the same time – and this is a capability they indeed find very tricky to do.
Vote in OAS vote favours Venezuela by 29 to 3;
These rogue states just won’t do as they’re told
8 March 2014
The Friday meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS), typically dominated by the US throughout its history, has not come out with a resolution against the Venezuelan government. The meeting was ostensibly convened by Panama, which along with the US and Canada, made up the 3 votes against the final OAS statement. Venezuela had already broken off diplomatic relations with Panama on Wednesday, with Maduro calling the Panamanian government a lackey of the US. The meeting didn’t condemn the Venezuelan government and called for continuing dialogue between the parties.
Next Wednesday, there will be a meeting of UNASUR (Union of South American States) in Chile, which will make a strong statement of support for the Venezuelan government. When the US was trying to delegitimate the election of Maduro as president in April last year, the statement by UNASUR supporting the election result was key in putting a stop to that.
Drippy ignorant Hollywood “liberals”
No. 2: KEVIN SPACEY
I don’t know what’s more upsetting: the sheer purblind ignorance of Kevin Spacey and his Hollywood buddies or the cynical lies being peddled by this scurrilous Murdoch rag….
When Jared Leto expressed his support for the “dreamers” who are resisting Venezuela’s government during the Academy Award ceremony this week, he became the latest actor to dive into the country’s bitter political divide. Mr. Leto’s declaration to millions of viewers set off a skirmish, with Venezuela’s communications minister retweeting, “Whoever had doubts that the U.S. had its nose inside Venezuela, there is no doubt now.”
From pop culture to high culture, Venezuela’s conflict is leading actors, artists, athletes and fashion designers to voice their support for the antigovernment protesters, with a minority backing President Nicolás Maduro. This battle over Venezuelans’ hearts and minds is playing out as hundreds of thousands across the country air their grievances over issues including crime, food shortages, a crumbling economy and the arrest of an opposition leader.
At least 18 people have died so far in the demonstrations, many of them shot by security forces or paramilitary groups tied to the government, rights groups say. Hundreds have been wounded.
“For the first time, there is an international climate of opinion that there is only one guilty party in the Venezuelan turmoil—the government,” said Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College.
The Venezuelan government has some Hollywood celebrity supporters, but most of them—including Sean Penn, Danny Glover and Michael Moore —have been publicly quiet since the protests began about a month ago.
Oliver Stone, a bête noire of Venezuela’s opposition, has complained on his Twitter TWTR -2.37% account that Mr. Maduro’s opponents have attacked him on social media. “To those who tweet me vile and ugly comments about Venezuela—I’ve never experienced such verbal violence on social media,” Mr. Stone posted.
Mr. Stone plans to screen a documentary on the late President Hugo Chávez, Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, on Wednesday, the anniversary of Mr. Chávez’ death, on the Venezuelan government-funded Telesur, a channel seen throughout Latin America. The movie is entitled “My Friend Hugo.”
Such support seems to be in the minority. On Oscar night, actors Kevin Spacey and Forest Whitaker also tweeted their criticism over government repression of protesters. Mr. Spacey wrote, “Venezuela don’t give up, everybody has the right to express themselves.”
At a post-Oscar party in Hollywood, Venezuelan fashion designer Carolina Herrera told a television reporter, “The world should know that Venezuela is in the hands of a communist dictatorship, and there is no democracy.”
But when Mr. Leto, clutching his golden statue in hand, told audiences on Sunday—”To all of the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight, in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say, ‘we are here'”—most Venezuelans weren’t watching. ….
Thankfully the people of Venezuela do not rely on Hollywood liberals to fight off the restoration of empire attempted by those in the gated suburbs of Caracas.
It appears there have been quite a few fund raising dinners with the PM. Given recent and not so recent comments from the PM, I have what I think is a reasonable question.
Have any of the fund raising dinners been the reason the PM was absent from Parliament?
Manufacturing Contempt for Venezuela
by CYRIL MYCHALEJKO, March 7, 2014
….Then there is Francisco Toro, a Venezuelan blogger whose “musings” at Caracas Chronicles (a website he founded) are “a must-read for foreign journalists,” according to the Associated Press. In an article that went viral on both Twitter and Facebook entitled “The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night – and the International Media are Asleep at the Switch”, Toro wrote about a “tropical pogrom” that allegedly took place one night in Venezuela – except it didn’t. There was no massacre by “paramilitaries.” One person did die from injuries sustained that night, however that was four days later. This death is a tragedy, but it is a far cry from a “pogrom” or massacre.
After this misinformation and gross exaggeration was exposed and criticized Toro took to Twitter and admitted to “overstatement in the heat of the moment.” He also addressed it in a blog post which garnered a whopping 14 likes on Facebook and 12 Tweets – in contrast with the hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes and over 10,000 Tweets his original, factually challenged blog post amassed. This supports Silverman’s aforementioned thesis about how error corrections are not retweeted and viewed as much as the initial errors.
…Another egregious example highlighted by CNN’s report was a photo tweeted by Venezuelan actress Amanda Gutierrez which was allegedly lifted from a US-based porn site. The photo was used by her to “prove” sexual abuse by police against anti-government protesters….
Are those that continue to perpetrate a Lie to be seen as Liars, that question must be asked directly of Fran O’Sullivan after Her abysmal performance on today’s Q+A,
The claim is that David Cunliffe says one thing to us normal lot out here in the real world and once behind closed doors tells a completely different story to the business community,
True or false???,
Blatantly false, a construct of the ‘wing-nuts’, O’Sullivan even had the gall to link this claim of deviousness to the Labour/Green stated intention to establish a single desk seller of generated electricity to the retailers of such,
This despite David Cunliffe five minutes earlier on the same Q+A bluntly saying that everyone including these same electricity generators have been told that they will have input to the actual establishment of the proposed single desk seller,
Tell different things to different audiences, well sure, it would be pointless for instance for Cunliffe to make a business speech to a group of kindergarten mums just as it would be as pointless to make a kindergarten/Best Start speech to a business audience,
Making mountains out of molehills might be a polite means of describing Lies, you tell us Fran exactly which speeches on what dates has David Cunliffe said one thing about a specific subject to one audience and another about that specific subject to another which are obviously diametrically opposed in content and intent,
If Fran you aint got the goods you really should shut the fucking thing, your mouth that is, or do we just assume you to be a Liar…
“Tell different things to different audiences, well sure, it would be pointless for instance for Cunliffe to make a business speech to a group of kindergarten mums just as it would be as pointless to make a kindergarten/Best Start speech to a business audience,”
thing is bad12, maybe, if this did occur, there would be less need for the different speeches in the first place ? 😉
I can only imagine what a JK speech at a 5k a head dinner must be full of and how that same speech would be received by those to whom 5K is a serious chunk of annual income.
And what about the ridiculous, ‘Nobody knows who David Cunliffe is’ line. Grr it is very irritating to see how much the journos are parroting lines that have been fed to them by National.
This ‘business’ of ‘business’ that gets young people to work for free. Needs to go onto a separate post. It needs sunlight exposure.
And looking at the hours they are expected to work whether they are free or getting subsistence wages. Law offices and ….I have heard of law offices doing this, wealthy ones so that they can say they are looking for the brightest and the best, and then there is a good salary held out as a carrot. What other types of businesses are doing this? Let’s have a look?
Heaps, even the local swimming pool, I know of one that required 4 weeks voluntary work while they trained you… to work for minimum wage on the front desk… I went into bat for a the successful candidate who was gobsmacked on receiving the offer response being that its legal and we’ve done it this way for 10+years. Why should we pay while someone’s learning the job?
Advised the candidate to tell them to shove it… Who want to works for a bunch of pricks like that…
Problem been many are desperate so they always get someone…
Let’s not forget that choosing to turn down such an offer may well see those on a benefit facing very real penalties, such as loss of all government assistance for up to twenty six weeks. The employer who offers such a position to a beneficiary gets a government paid lackey for a month and can do it all over again in only 62* days with neither rhyme nor reason being asked of them.
That’s nearly three months of employment costs taken off your own books. Or to put it more bluntly, hire three get the fourth worker free.
*I included the four week trial period as being part of the employment contract because we know damn well any employer running this type of operation will certainly be including it!
Well contact the regions Union co-ordinator e.g Unions Auckland, Unions Waikato, Unions Northland…etc. I am sure if the facts stack up and it’s clearly exploitation by a scumbag employer (hmm wondering if it’s Tiger) then a exposure picket, protesting outside the premise can be arranged.
Personally I find a protest outside the owners house will get a result for them to cough up compensation to the vulnerable workers.
NZ is great! NZ Geographic is produced by a small NZ concern, hard working, along with small staff and many equally dedicated photographers and turning out fine stuff. Good to give a subscription for a prezzie for anyone, or to oneself. Support fine NZ creation.
Lolz, Slippery the Prime Minister in the re-run of the Nation interview on TV3 was giving Alfred E. Nuemann,(Paddy Gower), a look that says ”if i had an axe right now you would be wearing it”,
Credit where credit is due, that was probably the most incisive interview of Slippery the PM that i have had the pleasure of laughing at,
Gower, probably because the PM wasn’t expecting to to get such a slicing and dicing, elicited from the PM the perfect ”these are my principles but i have another set if you don’t like these ones” set of answers,
Gower has raised himself in my opinion from wallowing in the gutter to sitting on the kerb with this interview,
While Gower will never escape from the likening of Himself to Alfred E. Nuemann of mad comics infamy,(unless he indulges in a bout of extended cosmetic surgery), IF He continues to apply such a precise form of interviewing of His political subjects He might just become one of the few ‘greats’ among the few of political interviewers/commentators…
Q&A turned to custard when Susan Wood took over. The panel was woeful, Bryce Edwards couldn’t even hold his own against toxic Botox Borg, going as far as agreeing with her.
McCarten use to discredit her and openly front foot her by attacking her. I once lined her up on Willie & JT’s political show. She was condemning Auckland port workers high wages for long hours & dangerous work. I called in under my alter ego ‘George’ and said “What would you know about dangerous work, the only danger in your workplace would be while having a long boozie lunch in a swanky Ponsonby road cafe/bar, you might choke eating tapas.” Then boys all roared with laughter and Borg mumbled “thanks that’s very kind of you.” my reply “your welcome.” For the remainder of the show she was somewhat more reserved.
Anyway, my point is any commentator purporting to represent the Left, must when on these political shows, quickly counter the spin being peddled by Hooton, Borg, Wilde or any other other NACT sponsored mouthpiece. If not stand down and I’m sorry Josie & Bryce are poor subs for McCarten. Bradbury maybe the next best?
Yeah i ‘d like to see Bomber on the show…… today was first time I have bothered with the nation or Q & a for over a year and tbh it has got worse.. its all key this n that and we love key- fucking asslickers
Nah, Bomber’s a one line pony. Unless the question is about the evil of baby boomers, his answers won’t be relevant. Marama Davison could be worth a try. Unlike Josie and Edwards the Lesser, she is from the broad left.
The coverage of The Nation’s interview with Key on TV3 last night was a lot better than I imagined it would be – this was good to see Gower giving Key a hard time – it would be great if this type of approach continued from him.
That is: to direct factually based challenges toward all political parties -( not solely challenges toward leftwing parties on made up shit)
New Zealanders have a right to know what is going on in their government .
The NZ mainstream media are failing us on this one.
One could assert we have a duty to be informed prior to voting.
The mainstream media are failing us.
Great to see a shift from Gower – hope his new found approach is here to stay.
I would like to see The Herald & co follow suit – it is a very poor show if they continue with the opinionated biased misinformation that they have been pursuing – it is bad form.
Un-believable
What is wrong with these munters?
Most of them wouldn’t even be advantaged by having King of the Munters get back into government.
I guess they like having someone really particularly hollow to model themselves – on aspirationless twerps.
An excellent interview by the same Paddy we railed against last week. Beautifully done. Though I’m not sure that Mr Key was given a “hard time” blue. It was more that the questions being asked were good questions and were of the standard that all political interviewers should be using. Just seemed good because the previous were so bad. How often has Mr Key been really held to account? (Like a starving man saying that the crust he found tasted so good.)
And wouldn’t it be so much more helpful to our entire country if we had a decent standard of political journalists doing decent interviews.
It is a complete farce not to have this present in a democracy – we really are being severely ripped off – Big money interests are really taking the Mickey and are destroying our system.
“Show us the information” mainstream media sources – we are not interested in your small-minded, petty, biased opinionated fantasies – leave them out from hereon in.
Like it or not, each one of these articles continue to erode David Cunliffe’s reputation.
He needs to regain the offensive or resign himself to become dog tucker at the next election.
If you are referring to the mainstream media’s opinionated made up misinformation – the only reputation such is eroding is the media source from which it emanates.
Perhaps they don’t need the money that comes with a high readership/amount of viewers, and they are happy to keep printing and screening their crap with no one receiving it – doubt their advertisers view it that way.
You are apparently unaware what a waste of time and how boring it is to read the fictional workings of rightwing spin doctors – I have therefore looked at your comment for enough time to work out that is what it consists of and to note that these utterances aren’t relevant to any point I raised and therefore didn’t bother reading any further.
I suggest you respond to my points and in a credible way if you want to converse – otherwise you are just being a waste of time.
A year ago you were all banging on about David Shearer and couldn’t wait to see the back of him as leader. Apart from a few examples here, none of you seem able to see the awful decision you’ve made in electing Cunliffe and his multiple faces which speak only one thing…inconsistency. Since Nov 2008 the Opposition leader who secured the highest poll result for the Party was David Shearer. And he was forced out. There was some hope of getting rid of Key then but not now with the multi bungler in charge. And he leads his swaggering coterie of egomaniacs into a battle they won’t win until the ego gets pulled into line. Hardly likely to happen with this bunch. You all lack the courage to demand he changes his ways or resigns as leader. But he wouldn’t listen anyway. So, when Labour is not elected this year will you all be baying for Cunliffe’s blood?
I would imagine there will be rioting in the main cities, an angry revolt against the neo-liberal establishment. However I don’t think this will occur because ‘there will be a change of Government 🙂
– About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers.
The group’s protest was on International Women’s Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi’ite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. The draft now goes to parliament.
Good explanation of the Crimean situation by Wayne Brittenden and an expert in a thoutht-provoking interview about 11.45 a.m.
11:40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
Coverage of the crisis in Ukraine has generally lacked historic context, yet some little-known facts are essential for a proper understanding.
Wayne fills some of those gaps and Finlay follows up with New York-based geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser.
Audio –
Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint ( 18′ 11″ )
11:40 Coverage of the crisis in Ukraine has generally lacked historic context, and yet
some little-known facts are essential for a proper understanding of the complex and rapidly changing situation there.
Also for IT information see Pete Seel University of Colarado 9.40 – what happens to your info online when you’re dead? Can your family access it for things they need to know / don’t want to know?
What is more embarrassing than the Editor’s decision to run the story is RWNJs like you getting all excited by it. Are you that much of a pavlov’s dog that granny only has to hold up a can of sawdust and you think its filet mignon?
Lesse first Cunliffe said he had nothing to do with it, then it turns out he did and his wife did some work for the guy and it now turns out the guy donated to Cunliffes secret trust
Would really help if you read all the way to the end of the article, and with granny of late, it is the only place the relevant facts ever seem to be situated. If a question is not asked it cannot be answered. Have you heard the interview in question? I ask because The Herald have not supplied any links to it!
The Herald has written a piece so openly suggestive that it is meaningless and your creative math with the facts surely fails even your meagre standards of reporting reality.
Cunliffe did not disclose his visits when the Herald on Sunday inquired about it on February 22. This weekend, he said he had checked his recording of the interview and he had truthfully answered questions about any beneficial ownership of the property. “If you had asked me whether I had visited the property, then my answer would have been yes,” Cunliffe said.
Interesting thought. Please do pass on each one you get today for our wonder and amazement chris (Does the number go up with every new thought you have – so now 74?)
Nicky somebody on libraries and swimming pools – they are nice to haves and developers are doing such a self-denying job of providing housing that they should not be burdened with levies that support such ‘nice to haves’. In good old Britain miners in some areas where the tunnels went under houses, would return home and find the doors of their cottages had jammed because of ground movement during the day. They had to break their doors open. Don’t know what it was like for the family inside. So we have got a lovely long slide to go yet as we lose the amenities that we hoped would be permanent in a modern, enlightened, progressive society.
Vote for National and ACT, and get more and better lifestyles. We at National do not encourage the poor to vote for us, or join us, and we seek to assist our supporters (or lead them to believe we will, which we usually do). We spit on you other losers. You are lucky we give you the opportunity to live on some small piece of land, and perhaps we will assist you with a small plot for vegetables in some common area.
The future as NACTs see it.
Meanwhile some Mayors are having a private chinwag and are discussing the trend to amalgamation to supercities. And this is a pre Local Bodies Association meeting for them to get some overview so they haven’t invited LG Head Lawrence Yule. But they did invite Paula Bennett the Local Government Minister (did you know that) but she declined. (Chris Tremain was Local Government Minister when he made a release on 12 December 2013 then on a
3 March 2014 release Paula Bennett is Local Government Minister. So she is to be the new punchy, aggressive minister to kick-box these pesky local bodies into cookie-cutter shapes of central govt choice.)
Local government already is fading like the Cheshire cat’s smile. I was trying to find out details of the present membership of board on line and there were lots about policy and statements about practices, but finding the names of members of Local Government NZ and details about them are not immediately accessible, even on Wikipedia.) But there is up to date information about the sector to be seen on-line at http://www.localgovt.co.nz/.
Three commissioners, GreyWarbler – Basil Morrison, Anne Carter, Grant Kirby – all intent on following thru on the NAct Govt agenda of first of all, demolishing all our LOCAL government and replacing it with -out-of-touch and distant “provincial” type government. And when that has occurred, the next thing to happen will be multinational corporates bearing down to takeover our current local government infrastructure !
We’re fighting a proposal to have a Unitary Authority for the whole of Northland right now. We managed to get about 1700 submissions into the Local Govt Comm Opposing this proposal, and now quite a number of us are waiting to have our submissions heard because the LGC didn’t allow enough days/time/venues for this number of submitters. Maybe ……. just maybe….. for once, we might make a difference with our opposition to the neo-libs in power.
And when that has occurred, the next thing to happen will be multinational corporates bearing down to takeover our current local government infrastructure !
There is actually a lot to be said for amalgamating the infrastructure capabilities of local govt. The Wellington region for instance has no fewer than 14 different entities dealing with water supply or waste water in one form or another. Insane.
Having worked in the sector I’m absolutely convinced that there is much to be gained from amalgamation at this level.
The real problem is political accountability. Far too often we have seen the formation of large CCO’s as a precursor to privatisation. Or the contracting out of services. It’s unfortunate that the two issues are conflated like this because it means there are far too many, tiny, unviable TLA’s struggling to meet modern and efficient service standards – yet while the risk of privatisation hangs over our heads we are relunctant to do the obvious.
This shows we can’t look naively at anything as being what it appears on the surface. What is behind this? How can this be privatised and profitised?
Red Logix paints a clear picture of today’s dilemma with Councils. One they need to be accessable, and to listen. I notice in Marlborough they have Wards. Reasonably well represented then.
And there needs to be a balance of how big. How can you stop takeovers by people with similar interests who just want to bend the tree till the fruit falls in their territory. The dam in Hawkes Bay is so big that it’s another Forsyth Barr. Perhaps taking away the ability to borrow skyhigh might be the answer and any privatisation has to go to referendum.
Good luck Jenny – at first sight it seems reasonably practical, and gives weight to bulk up against the Auckland octopus. But one great outfit far distant from outlying poorer more precarious areas can be difficult for getting understanding of people’s requirements. I don’t know how often Kaeo in the Far North is going to flood and the Council doesn’t either, but it’s time they got together with the people and worked out something to help that little settlement. The further away the council offices are, the less they can motivate themselves to do something for the people who need a hand.
The thinking that is happening is – how do we package it to appeal to the punteres prejudices? Can we go with the bad government thing like so many USA states?
You get your own people into government, screw it up and then have the efficient private company offer to take over and straighten it all out nicely for them – and more cheaply too for the first few years.
It’s really what Brierley and other asset strippers did to companies in the past, stripped off the easily saleable bits and then cut out services and staff, to the other bits.
Meanwhile withdrawing anything of value and replacing it with short-term solutions and machinery.
The importance of far right element in the protest movement has been heavily under reported.
Also the fact the new PM is already proposing a rapid neoliberal reform program…
“Also the fact the new PM is already proposing a rapid neoliberal reform program…”
I always thought that the Ukranians were screwed either way. One one side you have Russian oligarchs, mafia dons and corrupt Orthodox priests, and on the other side you have EU technocrats, ready, willing and able to impose austerity (did someone tell them there is next to nothing left to cut….??)
Someone I heard on radio today commented that NZs are self-effacing? Is that true? Or what? Sounds a bit on the weak side. Are we? Scared of our own shadows? But probably he’s right, I think he was from overseas.
I’m losing messages on another thread – eleven attempts with one – so please ignore this. It’s probably a technical fault. I just want to see if it works here.
“I always thought that the Ukranians were screwed either way. One one side you have Russian oligarchs, mafia dons and corrupt Orthodox priests, and on the other side you have EU technocrats, ready, willing and able to impose austerity”
Indeed.
“Kos calls bullshit on the notion that US neocons made the events in Ukraine happen the way they happened.”
Its true that the background is complex & not directly to do with US.
But there are most certainly a bunch of indications of strong US involvement.
All people that are rescued should be expected to make a koha of at least $100 to the rescuing body and neighbouring people who have used their resources to help, ie farmers lending their equipment and time. The cave system in Nelson has only recently been entirely explored. For a betting man it would have been a good one to take – how long now till somebody gets stuck trying to get through.
In this case one could make a play on Shakespeares quote about demanding money and perhaps to the extent of offering a pound of flesh. That caveman should have slimmed down before trying to Squeeze through. Now I hope that seeing he is an older man, and supposedly experienced, then he should pay out $1000 to the rescue group to assist with their expenses and equipment provision. The young might be forgiven their ignorance, and lack of planning, the over 40 years not. I think this man was considerably older.
I’ve thought about this issue at various times, mainly when the Kiwi Navy has had to rescue some millionaire playboy yachtsman from the Southern Ocean at great cost. However, I don’t think we can make people pay individually for being rescued. The unwanted effect of this would be to cut off many interesting activities from participation by all but the filthy rich. I think paying for rescues from taxation is the best way to go. Of course, this would not apply to any activity which involved jetskis. Riding a jetski should bring about an automatic custodial sentence, with no right of appeal.
So the rort of taxpayers money by Key-National continue glaringly obvious right under our noses.
Their latest 2.4 million dollar electioneering campaign is what I am referring to.
An education policy release outlining 4 hubs to be setup in ‘key electorates’ New Plymouth, Christchurch, Hawkes Bay and South Auckland. How slimy they National pricks are.
This is on top of arranged visits by the Royals to Hamilton (West) no doubt lining up the marginal seats to sure up votes.
After reading some of this article which is all I can take at the moment of bad news I recommend it to everyone – it’s important to understand how NZ manages to screw up everything that we have going for us.
The author knows what he is talking about – Keith Woodford is Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at Lincoln University.
Fonterra has got itself into this situation because of the new TAF capital structure. What we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. Behind the scenes they will now be working to create new rules. However, papered-over cracks always reappear.
The Government bureaucrats responsible for giving a tick to TAF must also be squirming in their seats, given that Government’s position has always been that there must be clear rules for setting the milk price.
So how does Fonterra get out of the TAF straitjacket? Where can it get the funds if it is to take New Zealand’s economy to new places? That is the issue for next week.
How long did that take after the ‘float’ for a ‘crisis’ to appear?
I’m assuming that the fix for the problem will be to sell more of it off out of New Zealander’s hands. Chinese would be first in the queue.
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Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
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this one is a total ‘howler’..
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/comment-whoar-a-shocking-piece-of-junk-journalism-cunnliffe-accused-of-corruptionlying-jonathon-milne-short-listed-for-crappiest-piece-of-journalism-awards-2014/
(excerpt..)
“..it milne isn’t severely censured by the broadcast standards authority for this exercise in putrescent/’trash’-journalism..
..what good are they..?..what are they for..?..”
phillip ure..
I totally agree with you, Phillip Ure. I’ve just laid a formal complaint with the Herald Editor, and if they don’t retract and apologise, I’m going onto the Press Council.
This is a scurrilous piece of non-journalism, and the text of the story tells you there is nothing in it except what a friend does for another friend if the occasion calls for it.
Is that about this morning’s Herald on Sunday piece, that says Cunliffe is rich and has rich buddies, and one of Cunliffe’s secret donors isn’t KDC or the Unite Union?
Yes. Karol. The actual story itself is totally different from the headline and the picture caption.
Its an incredible piece of sloppy, inaccurate journalism. The Herald should be ashamed of itself.
my heart kinda sank when i saw the headline..
..and i asked myself in somewhat nervous tones:
..’what is this?’…
..by the time i had read/re-read..
..my tone had turned to one of anger..
..and the question-mark was replaced by an exclamation-mark..
..phillip ure..
This is the non story of all non stories. Cunliffe helped a mate. Farrar and Hooton are playing tag team and tweeting it up for all it is worth and Slater has already run a post. Obviously they see this as a war of attrition.
Farrar’s blogpost was like reading Proust.
It took hundreds of words and didn’t make a single worthwhile point.
Who said back in August 2012 “this National Government is selling New Zealand pound by pound, hectare by hectare, and there will be nothing left.”
That’s right, and here he is helping his rich, foreign mate buy 19 hectares of prime coastal property. And he may not have a direct financial interest but his wife did legal work on the deal. Was that at no charge?
“Cunliffe acknowledged making two visits, though he could not initially recall how many, when they were, or whether Keenan was there.”
Rather lame memory lapse isn’t it? Shades of Banks not recalling whether he had been to the Dotcom mansion.
How pathetic, Seti. 19 ha of rocky coastal land which is mostly inaccessible being sold to an individual does NOT compare with thousands of ha of good farming land which the Nats have let go to foreign corporates.
Hi Seti,
Perry Keenan is a New Zealand businessman who lives in Chicago. From the article:
“This week, the Herald on Sunday learned the new owner of the 19ha property is Perry Keenan, a Chicago-basedNew Zealand businessman”
Clear and precise acquaintance with the facts helps with thinking accurately about political issues – just a handy hint.
Yes the Herals should be ashamed and thanks for making the complaint.
However, what the fuck is Cunliffe doing? When he was asked 2 weeks ago about his involvement with the property why didn’t he just say he had no legal/financial interest, but he had visited it to check it out for a friend who wanted to buy it? Did he think that the Herald wasn’t going to keep digging and use anything it could against him?
are you demanding cunnliffe should have disclosed he went and looked at the house..as a favour .. for a close friend .. who was overseas at the time..
..and gave him a report/maybe took some pics..?
..how in any/the slightest way is this/that in the public interest..?
..stop buying into this ‘cunnliffe’s-rich! bullshit rightwing-meme..
..cunnliffe disclosed all he had to..
..no reason for you to have a (green) whinge at him..
..phillip ure
It’s not playing into the rich mates meme. It’s playing smart with a bunch of venal fucks who want to skew the election.
It’s not in the public interest in the way you mean. It’s in the public interest by way of getting a left-wing govt come November.
Cunliffe didn’t do anything wrong other than let himself get set up, again. He was asked specifically if he had a legal/financial interest in the property, which he answered truthfully, but why not just say that he helped a mate out too? That’s not a rhetorical question. You’re argument seems to be that he shouldn’t have to. Political naivity.
no..you are wrong..
..he did a small favour for an old friend..
..that’s it..end of story..
.no political/financial ‘gain’..
..there is absolutely nothing he should have disclosed..
..this is total bullshit..
..and you are buying into it..
..just by yr moan about it..
..philip ure..
Ok, so the article in the Herald will have absolutely no effect on people’s perceptions of Cunliffe 🙄 We don’t have to be concerned about the hatchet job being done on Labour. Everything is sweet in the rose garden because phil thinks that the only thing a politician has to do is play the game the way he thinks.
now you are just talking absolute drivel..
..i was the one who first gave the heads’-up on that..
..could you stuff more words into my mouth..?
..and it is nothing to do with ‘thinks that the only thing a politician has to do is play the game the way he thinks.’..
..it is to do with yr stoopid/knee-jerk-reaction..
..based on nothing..
..how about you tell us just ‘why’ cunnliffe should have told of doing that small-favour for his freiend..?
..go on..!
..tell us exactly how/why he ‘blew’ it..as you allege..
..phillip ure.
and as a ‘green’..
..why aren’t you asking/moaning about the bone-headed-decision not to debate ‘chem-trails-col’..on the nation..?
..to just hand him a platform/free-run..
..care to give yr ‘slant’ on that..?
..care to tell us how that was ‘clever’..?
..phillip ure..
“..why aren’t you asking/moaning about the bone-headed-decision not to debate ‘chem-trails-col’..on the nation..?”
Because I don’t watch the Nation (no tv) so I have no idea what the fuck you are on about.
Still can’t debate the issues raised, eh?
“..how about you tell us just ‘why’ cunnliffe should have told of doing that small-favour for his freiend..?”
I’ve already explaing this, but one more time…
IMO, it’s Cunliffe’s job to anticipate the hatchet jobs being done. If he was being asked about his financial/legal involvement in a high priced property sale, it’s his job to understand that this is a jonolist seeking to find some shit on him. So, there is no harm in telling the jonolist what the jonolist is going to find out easily anyway and use against him if he isn’t up front about it. There is no real reason for him to talk about helping a mate out, other than the fact that he is talking to a jonolist in an election year.
Your argument that it’s a non issue (his helping his mate out) is just denial of the political issues involved with the MSM and the NACT shills. A better argument would be that it doesn’t matter what he does, the skewing will still happen, so better to just get on with the other stuff that gives Labour a chance. I have no idea if that would be reasonable in this situation, and neither do you.
there is no ‘issue”..
..which was my point in the first place..
..and..f.y.i..the green party refused to appear on the nation to debate ‘chem-trails-col’..
..and the greens said they would only appear if craig withdrew his defamation-suit against norman..
..and we all know that was never going to happen..
..so why did they do/say that..?
..and at the same time turn down a media-platform..(in a time of falling-polls..(!)..
..and turned down a chance to monster ‘chem-trails’..
..i’ve shortlisted that one for bone-headed-political-decision-of-the-year..2014..
..phillip ure..
“there is no ‘issue”..”
So you say. Still can’t debate the issues, eh?
I don’t know the story of the GP refusing to debate with Craig, but I can’t see any reason why they should. FFS, the guy has some pretty abhorrent and bizarre beliefs, and he is being used by NACT to keep control of NZ. If he has enough support in NZ to get into parliament, that’s one thing. But the GP is under no obligation whatsoever to give him any attention.
Im betting if he had said he had a look through for his friend initially it would have killed any storey dead as It is a perfectly reasonable thing to do…
Instead he tells half the story and lets the media create a story from nothing and frame him as sneaky again.
Needs to box cleverer…
there is no ‘story’..
..and that the meda are so blind to national/the elites being so far up each others’ arses..
..they have the need to tie their shoelaces together..
..and put a broom-stick between their ankles..
..to stop from completely disappearing..
..this is a double-standard too far..
..we have a media that goes nowhere near the needs of the average nz’er..
..they are owned..lock stock and barrel..
..by the corporates/elites they serve..
..there is yr ‘story’..there is yr ‘issue’..
..phillip ure
Exactly cricklewood. Much more precise explanation of what I was getting at, thanks.
Cunny seems to be a very slow learner, he should know this. He does not appear to be very clever.
I’m not so sure that’s likely, Cricklewood.
If I were a journalist looking to paint Cunliffe in devious colours I know how I would have treated any volunteering of such information. I’d imply that (a) Cunliffe was forced to admit acting on behalf of a rich friend to buy an expensive property, and (b) he downplayed his role but (c) while he claims he did nothing to materially help, his wife was involved in the sale process (wink, wink).
Pretty easy, really, when you put yourself into that mindset. I’m not sure why you think the story would have ‘gone away’, given that it would have played into the ‘tricky’ meme just as well as this follow-up story.
If you accept that the journalistic angle on Cunliffe is to run with the ‘tricky’ narrative, I think you’d lose your bet.
Personally, I think the one positive for Cunliffe in all of this is that the series of revelations is really starting to look a bit silly, and very much like a concerted witch-hunt. There’s quite a potential for this to backfire, especially given that it has started so early in election year. I presume the right-wing strategists have thought this through so perhaps they know the New Zealand electorate better than I do.
Puddlegum,
Once again I appreciate how you have taken the time to articulate this.
The one thing I have been trying to convey is that Cunliffe’s enemies (and I used that word deliberately) will use any piece of information or action to smear him.
There is nothing Cunliffe can do to ‘behave’ better, or ‘box smarter’ with these people. Everything will be turned against him one way or another.
Which to a devious mind suggests a strategy …
Phil is quite correct. Calm down you strange bird. DC would have put them straight, however the shrill MSM media are gang banging the opposition party’s to keep the elite owners happy. I know a few good print journalists who cover stories which never get to the printer. The right-wing editors simply refuse to publish unflattering coverage of National. Or praise worthy content of the Left.
I think it is time now to resist the bait. It may be true that Cunliffe could have or should have said or done something different regarding trusts, houses or rich friends, but we should not allow ourselves to be sucked into a petty conversation with which the right is far too comfortable. We should be working now toward changing the conversation, so that Cunliffe’s actual ideas get some oxygen, and people are motivated to vote for him on that basis. And if that can’t happen through the media, we must get it happening on the ground. Changing the leader is not enough by itself to seriously challenge the status quo. Our involvement and commitment is also needed, and we should not allow it to be weakened by set-piece distractions.
I agree with much of that Olwyn. I don’t see much of that other happening, but I hope it is, or will increase.
Good on you Jenny Kirk, that is simply a ridiculous piece of Jonolism, the author outing Himself as the Alfred E. Nuemann of the print media…
what have you got against alfred e nuemann..?
..that he has become a figure of scorn/contempt-comparison for you..?
..mad mag was one of the few sources of satire in a time of whitebread/unquestioning-journalism..
..stop sullying his good name..!
..phillip ure..
They are really trying put the dirt on DC with this one. Good on you for taking it up with HOS and Press Council
I went back to the Herald online just now and the rubbish that Milne wrote is no longer on the front page.
interesting..esp. as it was the headline..it was the scandal-du-jour..
..maybe they have realised what a stinking pile of crap it is..
..phillip ure..
it hasn’t been pulled..
..it is just a bit further down the page..
..phillip ure..
The real estate agent who chatted to the Herald (or maybe Farrar) about a rich client might be lucky to keep working in the area. Rich pricks, whether they’re mates with Cunliffe or not, don’t like their business spread around the gossip rags. If she sold the place, there may even be a basis for a complaint.
Anyway, I’m left with the overwhelming impression that the real crime here is that the place overlooks Key’s disgusting and environmentally damaging mansion out on the sandspit. As a Northlander, watching Jafas and others build all over sandspits and clear mangroves has been making me feel sick for years. Who knows what they’ll do if those environmental warriors in National are forced to gut the RMA against their will, by the centre-right ACT party? We need to shovel these creeps into the toxic waste bin of history while we still have something left. Grrrrr.
Is David Cunliffe really that much of an enigma? I guess one of the problems for the right/ media about banging on with questions about ‘who is David Cunliffe’ and the ‘enigma’ of Cunliffe is that you might actually get an answer to your question. And when people see and understand that answer, as they will, they’ll wonder what you were up to (and how smart you were) going round and round on the question.
Having known the man fairly well for a decade, my answer would be, 160 IQ, brought up fairly poor, hugely successful business consultant before politics (with hugely successful/ busy partner/ mother of children, and hence the house where it is); But most importantly the politician with the best vision for a less neoliberal, post GFC NZ economy that can deliver the social and labour market goods he also absolutely genuinely wants to deliver.
I dont think it’s that hard: that’s essentially him. The rest is manner, being ‘moved’ by things at the same time his brain is whirring at warp speeds, unbridled enthusiasm and revving high to get on with it: nothing sinister there. The more people see of him, as long as they are not competing with him for the job, the more in my experience they will recognise this. Attempts to frame him as tricky or something else he isnt will look a bit silly at that point.
He’s unusual/ rare but not incomprehensible, unless you actually dont want an answer to your question about ‘who he is’. But let’s face it, all Labour leaders are a little rare and different, or they wouldnt find themselves in a position to get the job. Once the public get a feel for the rareness, they can be very forgiving, especially as the strengths start to deliver.
Yes, I think people keep asking the “who is David Cunliffe” question because they keep comparing him to the way they they know John Key who has a public profile built up over half a dozen years, helped along with an expensive team of PR people and suck ups.
I get annoyed with the tribal National/right wing shit heads that can’t seem to understand why wealthy people support Labour, Im guessing that these are the people who have an insatiable need for more and more wealth, they have never asked the question; why? These are the RWNJ’s that don’t seem to get through their fat heads that Labour has a GDP growth on average 1% higher per annum than National, this is what DC refers to when he says the “Labour can walk and chew gum at the same time”. Labour will put the minimum wage up but will also create an environment that is better for the top line, businesses will ultimately do better!
The irony in all of this “who is David Cunliffe” questioning is interesting, because I would bet that if people actually got to know John Key he would turn out to be a bit of a fuckwit, they type of person who wouldn’t have time for people of little wealth or status (whatever the fuck that is). I did work with DC in the 90’s, we were never friends but I remember him to be a bloody good bugger, he had no problem getting on with people across the spectrum of workers…I wouldn’t bet that you could say the same thing about John Key.
An IQ of 160 is pretty unusual, even putting aside the issues about what it measures. This may actually be a problem for Cunliffe at the moment, because he won’t he used to knocking off 50 or 60 IQ points to get to the level where NAct puppets like Farrar and Slater can understand what he’s on about. He may also feel that the rubbish they spout is so stupid and ignorant that its irrelevance should be self evident. The sort of intelligence he has can bring a little naivete with it, and he might not yet have realised just how far below him the opposition is. However, it also means that he’ll learn quickly how to deal with them.
Here’s an interesting commentary on the use of interns in film and advertising.
http://www.idealog.co.nz/magazine/12/creative-serfs
She did the rounds of Auckland design agencies, but found them “already full of free workers”.
“Most of them said I’d have to show I was keen by working for free,” she says. “I wouldn’t, but it’s become accepted now because many people are desperate.”
I just detest employers who want people to work for nothing. Doesn’t matter how easy the government makes it for ’em (e.g. 90 day trial) it’s never enough.
Disgraceful. They justify it by saying it’s temporary while the worker proves themselves, but that only applies to the individual.
In reality they’ve created a permanent situation of a pool of free workers to be drawn on at any time.
While this article outlines a highly exploitative use of interns, I am aware of a charity which was approached by Intern NZ. The charity got a qualified and passionate intern for 3 months so was understandably pleased, particularly because it was an out of the blue offer.
This is different in my view because it is a charity, and because there was a limit on free labour.
The chap exploited for six years(?!) that’s just abuse.
Corporate welfare:
“We were encouraged by the agency we were working at to go on the dole,” says fellow ad intern Price. “It was hard because WINZ was constantly ringing, trying to get me other work. I tried being honest with them at first, told them what I was doing, but that just meant I wasn’t going to be able to carry on with the internship.”
Sounds to me like a breach of the Social Securities Act, namely the section about making your situation worse off (by working without pay). Wonder if the SSA can be used to stamp out the practice, or at least give it a fixed time limit of say one month to make it uneconomic for companies to keep recruiting interns and retraining them.
Yeah an “employer” tried to put my son in this situation with a “four week trial” on no pay.
Never mind he had rent to pay etc and he’d already turned up at 7:00 and done 2 hours work before the boss arrived – manufacturing firm.
You can only get a unemployment benefit if you are unemployed. If you are working but your employer is not paying you you are not unemployed.
WINZ can approve a work experience trial in conjunction with an employer and still pay a benefit but with only for a maximum period of four weeks.
http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/manuals-and-procedures/employment_and_training/programmes_and_services/work_experience/work_experience-04.htm
This is why internships are anti-worker/anti-working class: it’s fine for people from well-off families who can live at home or get the rent paid from their trust fund, who then get their foot on the career ladder. The people who don’t have those resources just get shut out of the whole industry.
Peter Jackarse didn’t help with his successful lobbying of National to change employment laws, which loaded the gun in the bosses favour.
Key-National will have credited the ‘free labour’ as being in full time employment, fudging the true unemployment figures.
Trickery is as trickery does.
There is a whole post in private businesses profting form free labour, and the ever more creative ways they are finding to do it. I was gobsmacked at the audacity of a new business round my way that started up recently using one such formula:
Create a charity that does something. Get volunteers to raise all the money to do it. Be the provider of whatever it is. Charge whatever for providing that service. There are even public agencies that will find the volunteers for you, and WINZ (and other employment agencies) refer clients to them.
Ka-ching.
Hey, maybe if I work really, really hard maybe I can buy myself a job /sarc
Yeah, no.
And I suspect it’s gotten a lot worse since that article was published back in 2007.
Employment is not a charity provided by bosses
Any guesses? Presumably, it’s not against the law to work out who it is based on publicly available information.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11216464
I have a horrible feeling I know who this is. Wife beaters should be hounded out of parliament.
An order against publishing the name tho is just that, so doing so here may be thin ice, if the person in question has been convicted of an assault on His wife in court where no suppression order was given you could publish that as a fact, but, couldn’t publish anything linking to the divorce…
Somebody call Wikileaks!
From that story it sounds like the “politician” isn’t actually an MP, but is a “high profile political figure” who supports some MPs – said MPs are reported as supporting “family values”.
Compare this with the pasting Len Brown took in the public arena for nothing actually illegal.
His name should be known
His name is well known and was previously published in newspapers when the case first came up if I remember correctly.
Now that I know who it is, my guess is that it’s just a case of a well known rich douchebag getting his mates to do him a favour.
More complicated than meets the eye I think right down the bottom of the article…
“My finding that the wife is likely to distort the truth and what she says to media outlets is likely to be inaccurate or exaggerated and as a result she is going to be reported even though it has no relationship with the truth.
And…
The husband had “acted appropriately and endeavoured to support his wife, who was clearly unwell for a long period of time before separation”, Judge Burns said.
He added: “I do not consider he can be validly criticised, and I am concerned that sensitive material sought by the wife could be without the benefit of it being fully tested.
Taking the judges comments at face value supression is prob justified
And further up the article there are these comments:
“a disputed allegation the man grabbed or touched his wife’s neck, tried to kick in the door of their home and shouted abuse at her.”
.
How does this square with this comment:
“acted appropriately and endeavoured to support his wife, ”
Even if the allegations are disputed it does not mean that those events did not happen and are complete fiction.
The Judge is just saying something random here. Even if he doesn’t want to lift supression he looks like he is showing bias making remarks like this because he does not appear to be quoting the actual protection order hearings.
If I’m thinking of the correct one then before all these orders kicked in some of the man’s family had given evidence that was not favourable to him and the protection hearing didn’t dismiss matters on the “acted appropriately” basis.
And saying she will make things up, do we have any proof that he doesn’t make things up?
But hey this is DV. The court as co abuser??
Yep.
The problem here is not just for this case, (and it is problematic that the wife here cannot discuss these things without risking a jailterm), there is also the pecedent.
File for a restraining order, and even if it is not granted, and you get classified as ‘vulnerable’ and have a good shot at suppression. No fuckwits will use this, obviously, we trust them not to at least, on their honour as fuckwits..
He’s not in parliament.
I wasn’t aware at the time I wrote that, that the person in question was not in parliament. The headline is misleading: “politician”.
Pretty certain who it is Sosoo. After all the dognapping charges and allegations of spying are already in the public domain.
Somehow don’t think Whaleblubber will be making a “principled” stand on this one though. Shame, it would be a perfect opportunity for him to back his claims that he is equally nasty to both the left and the right.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/03/people-like-place-politics/
He does seem to have his own twisted set of principles.
Whaleoil has a personal vendetta against him.
Whale has had a vendetta in this for many years.
He is totally prejudiced against one party from the pre divorce outset.
Nothing twisted about it, hes been going on about this for ages
Yes you are correct. Easily found with our dear friend Google
I would not be so sure there. Could be a case of the enemies of my Dad are up for attack by me.
Paul Little in the Herald On Sunday, tells it like it is:
I want to purchase a home at Ti Point. Can anybody tell me which MP I should approach for some assistance in this matter?
How about you go and ask your mate, Shon Key.
I thought it was TricKEEEEEY
even you must see how pathetic that is. im not quite sure what the big deal is, cunliffe has friends that buy property in nz? bfd. i cant wait to see key go grey on tv3 10:10 this am!
You just keep outing yourself as ‘something’ of lower intelligence that didn’t quite get your fair share from the gene pool, fair share of brains that is Bruv,
You do understand that MP’s, and just an MP David Cunliffe was when He helped His friend check out a property He was interested in buying,
The Why of this happening is pretty simple, the bloke David was helping, a long time friend, has a job and a business in the US and its pretty obvious that He didn’t have the time to hang around long term to view the property,
What exactly is sinister about this???, Nothing unless you are either a ‘wing-nut’ or a Liar, Cunliffe as a opposition MP has no means of interfering in any legal impediment to the sale of this property even if there were one…
Well why did he simply not say so rather than flannel and get himself in a corner.
He has done nothing wrong, except be honest when asked by the Herald.
When the imagnary person gave out Brains Bruv thought he said Trains, and asked for a small slow one.
Will it help me if I donate to that MP’s party, or perhaps to his leadership election campaign?
[karol: this is pointless trolling. Keep it up and you’ll find your comments in moderation.]
Wait til Banksies court date is over before approaching him…….
Nah you’re a National supporter. You have to go to a dinner party at $5,000 a pop.
Being a friend in itself can’t help. Money talks though.
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Conference-materials-for-mailing.pdf
Yup
I was only joking about the friends thing. There’s been too many stories like this:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9806903/The-illegal-alien-no-one-wants
Wilfred contributed to National MP David Carter’s election campaign in 2002 and both Carter and Christchurch National MP Nicky Wagner have written references for Wilfred and his wife.
Not just National either. In my view MP’s should never be giving written references for anyone.
Anyone see how the Labour people are doing at Pasifika?
Cunliffe tweeted a pic last night.
Probably doing their waist-lines a disservice with all that yummy food around…
From the Herald online business section, ”Our yields are up and our inputs,(of water and fertilizer), are down so its a good enviroment story”,
”Generally what is good for the enviroment is good for the bottom line”, ”We are sitting on the same bus alongside the Green Party because we have got the same philosophy”, unquote.
So says Craige Mackenzie, Chairman of the Precision Agriculture Association and advocate of precision mapping of dairy farms soils sometimes paddock by paddock so as to understand what the optimum level of water and fertilizer application is that give the highest yield while ensuring leaching into the water table or from the on farm to the off farm enviroment doesn’t occur,
Smart man, probably will find Himself with no friends down at the local pub on His next night out having happily linked Himself to Green Party philosophy,
Pouring money down the river is a good means of describing the current situation of envormenatal destruction where without any scientific basis water and fertilizer are pumped onto paddocks a lot of the time on the basis of ‘thats how the farm down the road does it,
Soil mapping allows for the exact amount of water/fertilizer to be added paddock by paddock at the precise time and in the precise amounts so as to give the optimum output from each paddock without leaching either to the water table or to the off farm enviroment,
‘Smart Green’ farming techniques are available which ends up being a cost saving to the farmer through applying less fertilizer/water to each paddock while gaining the same or an increased level of production from having used such techniques…
This? http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11216057
Yeah, nah. Nothing green or sustainable about that. Different packaging, same old shit underneath. It’s all about maximising profit via extraction of resources. There is fuck all difference between this and mining. Keeping effluent and nitrates out of waterways is the minimum we should be doing. Beyond that, there are still major issues with land management. Putting dairy cows in sheds, or micro-managing inputs is just shifting the problem sideways.
That whole article is about how to make excess money. They can wax lyrical all they like about how being green is good for the finances/farm, but there is nothing in that article that speaks to sustainable land management. Nothing.
weka, that sounds like the usual, ”i hate cow-cockies rave”, if you want to live down on the farm with 10 chickens, 4 goats, 2 geese, and, a house cow feel free,
Everything in that article speaks to sustainable land management, unless your a Luddite of course, IF the application of water/fertilizer is managed in such a way so as to prevent any leaching into the water table,
And,
If the application of water/fertilizer is managed in such a way so as to prevent any of this from leaching from the on farm enviroment into the off farm enviroment then what is unsustainable about that…
It’s tinkering with a system that is fundamentally unsustainable. I think you have bought into the idea that sustainability is about polluting less. It’s not. It’s about creating systems that will sustain themselves over time. Extractive farming, but its very definition, is not sustainable (do you think that mining can be sustainable?). Likewise, farming that requires increasing amounts of external inputs (esp ones based on fossil fuels), are not sustainable.
Reducing run off is obviously good for waterways, but that doesn’t make the thing sustainable. The use of artificial fertilisers degrades soil fertility (which means you need more artificial fertilisers ie the land management requires increasing external inputs, thus failing any measure of sustainability). Sustainable land management builds soil fertility without the need for excessive external inputs (or that’s one of the things it does) ie it sustains itself. Part of that is not creating excess pollution, but it’s not the whole of it (btw in a sustainable system, the ‘pollutants’ become inputs that build fertility and/or create stability in the system).
There are many other examples of how industrial farming fails environmentally, even when they try and reduce pollution.
I’m getting a bit sick of your pejorative ad hominems. There are plenty of examples of farms that use sustainable land management practices, so fuck off with your lifestyle block put downs. If you are genuinely interested in what sustainable land management is, let me know and I will put up some links. Or, you know, just ask questions if you don’t understand what I mean instead of trying to marginalise my argument with personal put downs. Am pretty sure I know a hell of a lot more about sustainability than you, so why not use the opportunity to learn something?
Your waffling weka, now for how many years, decades, centuries even, have farmers been applying masses of fertilizer to the very same soils that you claim are being unsustainably farmed,
If an iota of what you say were to be correct weka, none of them, the farms that is, would be able to produce anything, where’s the evidence of ‘dust-bowl NZ’,
Craige Mackenzie of the Precision Agriculture Association says that using soil mapping of indivdual farm soils right down to doing so on a paddock by paddock basis allows for the same or better production,(He is talking grass growth), and without the provision of evidence you dismiss this as Lies???,
If He is correct, that such intensive investigation and management allows for current and greater production without any leaching of water/fertilizer into the water table and stops any leachate of the same into waterways via using less water/fertilizer i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…
You really are out of your depth here dude. Read up on the differences between artificial fertilisers (in use for less than a century) and organic fertilisers (in use for all of the time we’ve had organic matter on the planet). One uses imported chemicals to force plants to grow, but at the expense of the microbial life in the soil. The other uses organic matter (plants and shit) to build the soil microbes and structure, so that the soil provides all the needs for the growing plants. These are not new concepts, they exist within biological sciences and sustainable land management practices.
Chemical fertiliser farming depletes soil in a number of ways, and because of this is unsustainable ie, the only way you can keep farming that way is to bring in external inputs. In this case that is fossil fuel based ones, which create futher problems on multiple levels.
The reason that this is becoming more of a problem than in recent decades, is because of the intensification (both in terms of ‘stock units’, and how many such farms there are). But the old style of farming (post WW2 – now) wasn’t particularly sustainable either, it was just going to last longer than industrial dairying before fucking the land.
As for ‘dust bowls’ NZ has more than its fair share of land that was once fertile and is now marginal. You need to get out into the country more.
“Craige Mackenzie of the Precision Agriculture Association says that using soil mapping of indivdual farm soils right down to doing so on a paddock by paddock basis allows for the same or better production,(He is talking grass growth), and without the provision of evidence you dismiss this as Lies???,”
No, I didn’t say he is lying (try reading what I actually say). He is probably quite correct that he can get better production from the model he is using. I’m just objecting to that being called sustainable in an environmental context. What on earth makes you think that increased grass growth on its own is a measure of sustainability?
“If He is correct, that such intensive investigation and management allows for current and greater production without any leaching of water/fertilizer into the water table and stops any leachate of the same into waterways via using less water/fertilizer i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…”
You are talking about pollution mitigation. That’s not sustainability. Try comparing that to AGW mitigation vs prevention. Which would you prefer?
“i would suggest you need provide proof of why anyone would believe your ‘i thunk it therefor it is’ denigration of what He says…””
I’m putting up the arguments, which you seem to be missing. I’ve offered to link, but am not going to do that work until you grasp some of the basics, or at least hint you are open to understanding the basics.
Yawn weka, diatribe is proof of nothing, come back when all the dairy industry collapses through lack of grass growth brought about by the use of fertilizer,
What century do you propose that this will occur in again???…
what on earth are you saying?
Fortunately, I’ve got stuff to go and do. But if I am getting this right, you are asking for several things.
One is evidence that intensive, artificial fertiliser based farming significantly damages land. That this is happening in NZ. And that industrial dairying is part of that (ie that dairying does more damage than just polluting water). I’m happy to chase up some links for you when I get back, but I do have to wonder how genuine your query is.
In the meantime I suggest you google ‘peak soil’ if you want to understand the underlying concepts. This is not some wacky theory I am talking about, it’s fairly mainstream understanding globally. Why NZ thinks its immune is another question.
“diatribe is proof of nothing”
Well you would know, given that you seem unable to respond to the points* that I raise and instead resort to ad hominems and abuse. I suspect you aren’t even reading my comments properly 🙁
*ie what sustainable land management actually is, why industrial dairying doesn’t fit that, how the article you linked to is instead greenwash etc.
bad12 ” for how many years, decades, centuries even, have farmers been applying masses of fertilizer to the very same soils that you claim are being unsustainably farmed,”
You showing a bit of ignorance here aren’t you? The scale of intensification and fertilisation and irrigation going on right now is vastly different to anything done in previous “years, decades, centuries even”. Do you not know that?
That is why, for example, waterways and drinking supplies in Canterbury have only started failing in the last 5 years. The scale ramped up starting mid-1990s.
bad12, you also said this “If an iota of what you say were to be correct weka, none of them, the farms that is, would be able to produce anything, where’s the evidence of ‘dust-bowl NZ’,”
Again, take a look at history, silly. Lets take a couple of examples of NZ’s primary industries practices and results. Kauri milling, dust bowls in Canterbury a few decades ago, fishing stocks, or maybe take a look at the land in East Cape all slipped into the rivers and fucked, and same with South Island high country.
Sure bad12 you can wait for the dust bowl to arrive and suffer the same results as above, or you can think and recognise the same practises that caused the earlier “dust-bowl’ disasters listed, and do something about it.
Think man, think.
So the current use of fertilizer on today’s farms doesn’t create dust bowls is the sum total of your comment,
Same question as to weka, in what century do you suppose these dust bowls are going to destroy the majority of modern farms in this country…
already answered that question
and no, that is not the sum
“So the current use of fertilizer on today’s farms doesn’t create dust bowls is the sum total of your comment,”
That is a specious question. YOU are the one who raised the issue of dust bowls (as if that’s the only way to fuck the land). What’s being discussed here is whether modern farming practice in NZ is sustainable. It’s not. It’s pretty easy to prove it’s not – any basic understanding of sustainability makes this obvious. You attempting to reframe this ‘we don’t have dust bowls therefore everything is ok’ is pretty ridiculous, and just you squirming because you can’t address the actual points being made.
weka the actual points being made are in total ”you thunk it therefor it is” rubbish, why then would i legitimize such rubbish by answering it,
When a clown, (you), enters a subject with the claim that ”i know more than you” it is in my opinion that they should be treated like any other blowhard, laughed at,
You claim that the use of fertilizer leaves farms unable to produce grass unless higher and higher amounts of fertilizer is added, such bullshit is just that,unless it is linked to scientific fact,
My point of posting the original Herald story lies in the fact that intensive soil mapping allows for less fertilizer and water to be used to produce the same or more production, i would suggest that the farmer quoted knows what He is saying is true from actually having hands on experience from having used such soil mapping science to produce the results He talks of,
Now your vast knowledge that gives you self declared ‘expert’ status to dispute this man’s work without the provision of a shred of evidence is what???,
As far as i can see everything you have so far written on the issue discussed is a simple blow of your own trumpet without a fact in sight…
Yep I agree with you weka
that is the gold quote from the article and it shows exactly where their heads are at. As the topsoil continues to be blown out to sea and the naked hillsides continue to slip and the rivers clog to a standstill – nah all good here in headinthesandparadise. But at least some farmers can buy the latest car this year.
They don’t do dairy on hillsides such as which you speak of, and, hillsides do not slip because of the application of fertilizer,
Same question as asked of weka and in what century will the supposed continuous slipping of these hillsides bring these imaginary rivers you speak of to a standstill…
http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/land/soil-conservation-handbook-jun01/soil-conserv-handbook-jun01.pdf
So in answer to your question – 20th
Is David Cunliffe really that much of an enigma? I guess one of the problems for the right/ media about banging on with questions about ‘who is David Cunliffe’ and the ‘enigma’ of Cunliffe is that you might actually get an answer to your question. And when people see and understand that answer, as they will, they’ll wonder what you were up to (and how smart you were) going round and round on the question.
Having known the man fairly well for a decade, my answer would be, 160 IQ, brought up fairly poor (but in a caring, values- intense family), hugely successful business consultant before politics (with hugely successful/ busy partner/ mother of children, and hence the house where it is); But most importantly the politician with the best vision for a less neoliberal, post GFC NZ economy that can deliver the social and labour market goods he also absolutely genuinely wants to deliver.
In terms of character, he listens. He learns and has leant to attend, even when he thinks he knows the answer, or what you are going to say. He weighs the larger justice, the bigger picture of the thing. He doesnt hold grudges and doesnt and wont throw people under buses. He believes he can lead, and that that leading will make a positive difference.
I dont think it’s that hard: that’s essentially him. The rest is manner, being ‘moved’ by things at the same time his brain is whirring at warp speeds, semi-bridled enthusiasm and revving high to get on with it: nothing sinister there. The more people see of him, as long as they are not competing with him for the job, the more in my experience they will recognise this. Attempts to frame him as tricky or something else he isnt will look a bit silly at that point.
He’s unusual/ rare but not incomprehensible, unless you actually dont want a clear and plausible and popular answer to your question about ‘who he is’. But let’s face it, all Labour leaders are a little rare and different, or they wouldnt find themselves in a position to get the job. Once the public get a feel for the rareness, they can be very forgiving, especially as the strengths start to deliver.
is that you david..?
phillip ure..
[It is another David. The Labour Party is full of them … – MS]
it was my (albeit weak) attempt at wit/levity…
(..not my best work..i know..)
..and..
..explaining is losing..(sigh..!..)
..(and yes..!..far far too many ‘david’s in the labour party.
..in anyones’ eyes..
..what to do about that..?..
..name changes..?..
..no more ‘david’s allowed to join..?
..enforce a quota-system..?..)
..phillip ure..
Never mind Phillip, not your best work is pretty much the opinion of everything you have so far contributed in writing anywhere on the planet,(par for the course in other words)…
hes def doing something right, going by the enemies hes made & the fear hes instilled in the right. & the bs stories the herald/tv3 keep bringing up, i mean, is that it? really?
+1 David & Idlegus
David, Cunliffe that is will be on TV1’s Q+A in about 5 minutes…
Ta for this David whoever you are ! Helpful to have a decent testimonial ….. and I’ve sent it on to everyone I know is remotely Labour-inclined.
Thank for this David.
I’ve never personally met DC but everything I’ve seen and read from him for a very long time resonates with me at a very personal level. You’ve very eloquently expressed my own reaction for me.
I think that the reason why his opponents are trying to stick the ‘tricky’ label on him is because DC is capable of hold two or more disparate thoughts in his head at the same time – and this is a capability they indeed find very tricky to do.
Vote in OAS vote favours Venezuela by 29 to 3;
These rogue states just won’t do as they’re told
8 March 2014
The Friday meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS), typically dominated by the US throughout its history, has not come out with a resolution against the Venezuelan government. The meeting was ostensibly convened by Panama, which along with the US and Canada, made up the 3 votes against the final OAS statement. Venezuela had already broken off diplomatic relations with Panama on Wednesday, with Maduro calling the Panamanian government a lackey of the US. The meeting didn’t condemn the Venezuelan government and called for continuing dialogue between the parties.
Next Wednesday, there will be a meeting of UNASUR (Union of South American States) in Chile, which will make a strong statement of support for the Venezuelan government. When the US was trying to delegitimate the election of Maduro as president in April last year, the statement by UNASUR supporting the election result was key in putting a stop to that.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1394283446.html
Drippy ignorant Hollywood “liberals”
No. 2: KEVIN SPACEY
I don’t know what’s more upsetting: the sheer purblind ignorance of Kevin Spacey and his Hollywood buddies or the cynical lies being peddled by this scurrilous Murdoch rag….
Venezuelan Conflict Moves From Street to Hollywood Boulevard
Actors, Artists, Athletes and Fashion Designers Dive Into the Country’s Bitter Political Divide
by JOSÉ DE CÓRDOBA, The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2014
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579419403860710412
When Jared Leto expressed his support for the “dreamers” who are resisting Venezuela’s government during the Academy Award ceremony this week, he became the latest actor to dive into the country’s bitter political divide. Mr. Leto’s declaration to millions of viewers set off a skirmish, with Venezuela’s communications minister retweeting, “Whoever had doubts that the U.S. had its nose inside Venezuela, there is no doubt now.”
From pop culture to high culture, Venezuela’s conflict is leading actors, artists, athletes and fashion designers to voice their support for the antigovernment protesters, with a minority backing President Nicolás Maduro. This battle over Venezuelans’ hearts and minds is playing out as hundreds of thousands across the country air their grievances over issues including crime, food shortages, a crumbling economy and the arrest of an opposition leader.
At least 18 people have died so far in the demonstrations, many of them shot by security forces or paramilitary groups tied to the government, rights groups say. Hundreds have been wounded.
“For the first time, there is an international climate of opinion that there is only one guilty party in the Venezuelan turmoil—the government,” said Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst College.
The Venezuelan government has some Hollywood celebrity supporters, but most of them—including Sean Penn, Danny Glover and Michael Moore —have been publicly quiet since the protests began about a month ago.
Oliver Stone, a bête noire of Venezuela’s opposition, has complained on his Twitter TWTR -2.37% account that Mr. Maduro’s opponents have attacked him on social media. “To those who tweet me vile and ugly comments about Venezuela—I’ve never experienced such verbal violence on social media,” Mr. Stone posted.
Mr. Stone plans to screen a documentary on the late President Hugo Chávez, Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, on Wednesday, the anniversary of Mr. Chávez’ death, on the Venezuelan government-funded Telesur, a channel seen throughout Latin America. The movie is entitled “My Friend Hugo.”
Such support seems to be in the minority. On Oscar night, actors Kevin Spacey and Forest Whitaker also tweeted their criticism over government repression of protesters. Mr. Spacey wrote, “Venezuela don’t give up, everybody has the right to express themselves.”
At a post-Oscar party in Hollywood, Venezuelan fashion designer Carolina Herrera told a television reporter, “The world should know that Venezuela is in the hands of a communist dictatorship, and there is no democracy.”
But when Mr. Leto, clutching his golden statue in hand, told audiences on Sunday—”To all of the dreamers out there around the world watching this tonight, in places like the Ukraine and Venezuela, I want to say, ‘we are here'”—most Venezuelans weren’t watching. ….
Read more…
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579419403860710412
People like Hollywood faux-liberals and Murdoch “reporters” will of course continue to believe whatever they are told by other Hollywood faux-liberals and Murdoch “reporters”. People who are serious about understanding Venezuela will go to serious sites like the following….
http://venezuelanalysis.com/
http://zcomm.org/znet/
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2009/viva-venezuela/
Check out another drippy Hollwood “liberal”….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03032014/#comment-780886
Thankfully the people of Venezuela do not rely on Hollywood liberals to fight off the restoration of empire attempted by those in the gated suburbs of Caracas.
It appears there have been quite a few fund raising dinners with the PM. Given recent and not so recent comments from the PM, I have what I think is a reasonable question.
Have any of the fund raising dinners been the reason the PM was absent from Parliament?
Manufacturing Contempt for Venezuela
by CYRIL MYCHALEJKO, March 7, 2014
….Then there is Francisco Toro, a Venezuelan blogger whose “musings” at Caracas Chronicles (a website he founded) are “a must-read for foreign journalists,” according to the Associated Press. In an article that went viral on both Twitter and Facebook entitled “The Game Changed in Venezuela Last Night – and the International Media are Asleep at the Switch”, Toro wrote about a “tropical pogrom” that allegedly took place one night in Venezuela – except it didn’t. There was no massacre by “paramilitaries.” One person did die from injuries sustained that night, however that was four days later. This death is a tragedy, but it is a far cry from a “pogrom” or massacre.
After this misinformation and gross exaggeration was exposed and criticized Toro took to Twitter and admitted to “overstatement in the heat of the moment.” He also addressed it in a blog post which garnered a whopping 14 likes on Facebook and 12 Tweets – in contrast with the hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes and over 10,000 Tweets his original, factually challenged blog post amassed. This supports Silverman’s aforementioned thesis about how error corrections are not retweeted and viewed as much as the initial errors.
…Another egregious example highlighted by CNN’s report was a photo tweeted by Venezuelan actress Amanda Gutierrez which was allegedly lifted from a US-based porn site. The photo was used by her to “prove” sexual abuse by police against anti-government protesters….
http://zcomm.org/znetarticle/manufacturing-contempt-for-venezuela/
Watching Q&A makes me no longer believe in freedom of the press. What a complete waste of time.
Are those that continue to perpetrate a Lie to be seen as Liars, that question must be asked directly of Fran O’Sullivan after Her abysmal performance on today’s Q+A,
The claim is that David Cunliffe says one thing to us normal lot out here in the real world and once behind closed doors tells a completely different story to the business community,
True or false???,
Blatantly false, a construct of the ‘wing-nuts’, O’Sullivan even had the gall to link this claim of deviousness to the Labour/Green stated intention to establish a single desk seller of generated electricity to the retailers of such,
This despite David Cunliffe five minutes earlier on the same Q+A bluntly saying that everyone including these same electricity generators have been told that they will have input to the actual establishment of the proposed single desk seller,
Tell different things to different audiences, well sure, it would be pointless for instance for Cunliffe to make a business speech to a group of kindergarten mums just as it would be as pointless to make a kindergarten/Best Start speech to a business audience,
Making mountains out of molehills might be a polite means of describing Lies, you tell us Fran exactly which speeches on what dates has David Cunliffe said one thing about a specific subject to one audience and another about that specific subject to another which are obviously diametrically opposed in content and intent,
If Fran you aint got the goods you really should shut the fucking thing, your mouth that is, or do we just assume you to be a Liar…
“Tell different things to different audiences, well sure, it would be pointless for instance for Cunliffe to make a business speech to a group of kindergarten mums just as it would be as pointless to make a kindergarten/Best Start speech to a business audience,”
thing is bad12, maybe, if this did occur, there would be less need for the different speeches in the first place ? 😉
I can only imagine what a JK speech at a 5k a head dinner must be full of and how that same speech would be received by those to whom 5K is a serious chunk of annual income.
And what about the ridiculous, ‘Nobody knows who David Cunliffe is’ line. Grr it is very irritating to see how much the journos are parroting lines that have been fed to them by National.
This ‘business’ of ‘business’ that gets young people to work for free. Needs to go onto a separate post. It needs sunlight exposure.
And looking at the hours they are expected to work whether they are free or getting subsistence wages. Law offices and ….I have heard of law offices doing this, wealthy ones so that they can say they are looking for the brightest and the best, and then there is a good salary held out as a carrot. What other types of businesses are doing this? Let’s have a look?
Heaps, even the local swimming pool, I know of one that required 4 weeks voluntary work while they trained you… to work for minimum wage on the front desk… I went into bat for a the successful candidate who was gobsmacked on receiving the offer response being that its legal and we’ve done it this way for 10+years. Why should we pay while someone’s learning the job?
Advised the candidate to tell them to shove it… Who want to works for a bunch of pricks like that…
Problem been many are desperate so they always get someone…
Let’s not forget that choosing to turn down such an offer may well see those on a benefit facing very real penalties, such as loss of all government assistance for up to twenty six weeks. The employer who offers such a position to a beneficiary gets a government paid lackey for a month and can do it all over again in only 62* days with neither rhyme nor reason being asked of them.
That’s nearly three months of employment costs taken off your own books. Or to put it more bluntly, hire three get the fourth worker free.
*I included the four week trial period as being part of the employment contract because we know damn well any employer running this type of operation will certainly be including it!
Well contact the regions Union co-ordinator e.g Unions Auckland, Unions Waikato, Unions Northland…etc. I am sure if the facts stack up and it’s clearly exploitation by a scumbag employer (hmm wondering if it’s Tiger) then a exposure picket, protesting outside the premise can be arranged.
Personally I find a protest outside the owners house will get a result for them to cough up compensation to the vulnerable workers.
I’ve heard of it being used in the construction industry for, get this, qualified and experienced builders.
NZ is great! NZ Geographic is produced by a small NZ concern, hard working, along with small staff and many equally dedicated photographers and turning out fine stuff. Good to give a subscription for a prezzie for anyone, or to oneself. Support fine NZ creation.
Lolz, Slippery the Prime Minister in the re-run of the Nation interview on TV3 was giving Alfred E. Nuemann,(Paddy Gower), a look that says ”if i had an axe right now you would be wearing it”,
Credit where credit is due, that was probably the most incisive interview of Slippery the PM that i have had the pleasure of laughing at,
Gower, probably because the PM wasn’t expecting to to get such a slicing and dicing, elicited from the PM the perfect ”these are my principles but i have another set if you don’t like these ones” set of answers,
Gower has raised himself in my opinion from wallowing in the gutter to sitting on the kerb with this interview,
While Gower will never escape from the likening of Himself to Alfred E. Nuemann of mad comics infamy,(unless he indulges in a bout of extended cosmetic surgery), IF He continues to apply such a precise form of interviewing of His political subjects He might just become one of the few ‘greats’ among the few of political interviewers/commentators…
wow, gower showed some great skills there, watching it in hindsight you can see the set up coming a mile wide, marvelous!
Re The Nation watching the Borg spin right out crap shows they’re in a panic alright..
Thing is the Borg dont realise how tragic she is…..
Q&A turned to custard when Susan Wood took over. The panel was woeful, Bryce Edwards couldn’t even hold his own against toxic Botox Borg, going as far as agreeing with her.
McCarten use to discredit her and openly front foot her by attacking her. I once lined her up on Willie & JT’s political show. She was condemning Auckland port workers high wages for long hours & dangerous work. I called in under my alter ego ‘George’ and said “What would you know about dangerous work, the only danger in your workplace would be while having a long boozie lunch in a swanky Ponsonby road cafe/bar, you might choke eating tapas.” Then boys all roared with laughter and Borg mumbled “thanks that’s very kind of you.” my reply “your welcome.” For the remainder of the show she was somewhat more reserved.
Anyway, my point is any commentator purporting to represent the Left, must when on these political shows, quickly counter the spin being peddled by Hooton, Borg, Wilde or any other other NACT sponsored mouthpiece. If not stand down and I’m sorry Josie & Bryce are poor subs for McCarten. Bradbury maybe the next best?
Yeah i ‘d like to see Bomber on the show…… today was first time I have bothered with the nation or Q & a for over a year and tbh it has got worse.. its all key this n that and we love key- fucking asslickers
Weren’t Boag & Bryce Edwards on TV3’s The Nation this weekend, while Fran O’Sullivan and a couple of other guys were the panel on QU & A today?
Yup.
Nah, Bomber’s a one line pony. Unless the question is about the evil of baby boomers, his answers won’t be relevant. Marama Davison could be worth a try. Unlike Josie and Edwards the Lesser, she is from the broad left.
The coverage of The Nation’s interview with Key on TV3 last night was a lot better than I imagined it would be – this was good to see Gower giving Key a hard time – it would be great if this type of approach continued from him.
That is: to direct factually based challenges toward all political parties -( not solely challenges toward leftwing parties on made up shit)
New Zealanders have a right to know what is going on in their government .
The NZ mainstream media are failing us on this one.
One could assert we have a duty to be informed prior to voting.
The mainstream media are failing us.
Great to see a shift from Gower – hope his new found approach is here to stay.
I would like to see The Herald & co follow suit – it is a very poor show if they continue with the opinionated biased misinformation that they have been pursuing – it is bad form.
That Key The Nation interview hasn’t been made available on TV3 On demand though. Why might that be?
Un-believable
What is wrong with these munters?
Most of them wouldn’t even be advantaged by having King of the Munters get back into government.
I guess they like having someone really particularly hollow to model themselves – on aspirationless twerps.
The Cunliffe interview is here – it’s just not that easy to find.
An excellent interview by the same Paddy we railed against last week. Beautifully done. Though I’m not sure that Mr Key was given a “hard time” blue. It was more that the questions being asked were good questions and were of the standard that all political interviewers should be using. Just seemed good because the previous were so bad. How often has Mr Key been really held to account? (Like a starving man saying that the crust he found tasted so good.)
Yes I thoroughly agree Ianmac.
And wouldn’t it be so much more helpful to our entire country if we had a decent standard of political journalists doing decent interviews.
It is a complete farce not to have this present in a democracy – we really are being severely ripped off – Big money interests are really taking the Mickey and are destroying our system.
Dear Mainstream Media sources,
“Show us the information” mainstream media sources – we are not interested in your small-minded, petty, biased opinionated fantasies – leave them out from hereon in.
Thanks
Like it or not, each one of these articles continue to erode David Cunliffe’s reputation.
He needs to regain the offensive or resign himself to become dog tucker at the next election.
@ Drongo
If you are referring to the mainstream media’s opinionated made up misinformation – the only reputation such is eroding is the media source from which it emanates.
Perhaps they don’t need the money that comes with a high readership/amount of viewers, and they are happy to keep printing and screening their crap with no one receiving it – doubt their advertisers view it that way.
As kiwiblog puts it:
His misleading speech and false advertisement about the baby bonus – own goal
The next day not knowing the details of part of his own policy – own goal
Deciding to go after John Key for living in a leafy subject – own goal
Describing his own household as a middle rang existence while on prob $600,000 or more a year – own goal
Setting up a secret trust for his leadership donations – own goal, and exposed by NZ Herald – nothing to do with National
Failing to disclose an investment trust to the Registrar of Pecuniary Interest on time – own goal, and exposed by TV3 after they heard him mention it
Having his own office send Amy Adams their ICT policy ideas – own goal
Letting Clare Curran take the blame and fall for a stuff up by his own office – own goal
Theres a common denominator and it involves Labour incompetency and/or someone inside Labour spilling the beans
Chris73, stupidly believing that in the great scheme of things any of what’s trotted out there is of the slightest relevance, own goal!!!…
@ Chris73
You are apparently unaware what a waste of time and how boring it is to read the fictional workings of rightwing spin doctors – I have therefore looked at your comment for enough time to work out that is what it consists of and to note that these utterances aren’t relevant to any point I raised and therefore didn’t bother reading any further.
I suggest you respond to my points and in a credible way if you want to converse – otherwise you are just being a waste of time.
Thanks
[+1 Bad12 you summed it up well]
A year ago you were all banging on about David Shearer and couldn’t wait to see the back of him as leader. Apart from a few examples here, none of you seem able to see the awful decision you’ve made in electing Cunliffe and his multiple faces which speak only one thing…inconsistency. Since Nov 2008 the Opposition leader who secured the highest poll result for the Party was David Shearer. And he was forced out. There was some hope of getting rid of Key then but not now with the multi bungler in charge. And he leads his swaggering coterie of egomaniacs into a battle they won’t win until the ego gets pulled into line. Hardly likely to happen with this bunch. You all lack the courage to demand he changes his ways or resigns as leader. But he wouldn’t listen anyway. So, when Labour is not elected this year will you all be baying for Cunliffe’s blood?
Nah some of us said quite clearly we didn’t care who the leader was until they got some genuine left wing policies:
http://thestandard.org.nz/on-david-shearers-leadership/#comment-546121
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-01012014/#comment-752261
2013 was supposed to be the year of the policy.
I would imagine there will be rioting in the main cities, an angry revolt against the neo-liberal establishment. However I don’t think this will occur because ‘there will be a change of Government 🙂
Who woulda thunk it.
/
– About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers.
The group’s protest was on International Women’s Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi’ite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. The draft now goes to parliament.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/08/us-iraq-women-islam-idUSBREA270NR20140308
Good explanation of the Crimean situation by Wayne Brittenden and an expert in a thoutht-provoking interview about 11.45 a.m.
11:40 Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint
Coverage of the crisis in Ukraine has generally lacked historic context, yet some little-known facts are essential for a proper understanding.
Wayne fills some of those gaps and Finlay follows up with New York-based geopolitical analyst Eric Draitser.
Audio –
Wayne Brittenden’s Counterpoint ( 18′ 11″ )
11:40 Coverage of the crisis in Ukraine has generally lacked historic context, and yet
some little-known facts are essential for a proper understanding of the complex and rapidly changing situation there.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday
Also for IT information see Pete Seel University of Colarado 9.40 – what happens to your info online when you’re dead? Can your family access it for things they need to know / don’t want to know?
Michelle Boag on The Nation:
‘I go to $1000 dinners all the time.’
On Moerewa School being taken over by a Commissioner for two years: ‘Oh it must be over financial issues’
Pretty good snapshot example Papa Tuanuku, of where NZ is at with the upper crust wealthy and the ones on the lower deck struggling for a crust.
interesting article on London
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/londons-laundry-business/
The faeries lopped a piece off the address.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/08/opinion/londons-laundry-business.html
This too.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116857/british-sanctions-russia-would-be-bad-londons-economy
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11216495
May not be illegal but shows an astounding lack of judgement, poor Matt must be tearing his hair out
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWN
to quote from my tdb comment
Lesse first Cunliffe said he had nothing to do with it, then it turns out he did and his wife did some work for the guy and it now turns out the guy donated to Cunliffes secret trust
Yeah nothing to see here at all
Would really help if you read all the way to the end of the article, and with granny of late, it is the only place the relevant facts ever seem to be situated. If a question is not asked it cannot be answered. Have you heard the interview in question? I ask because The Herald have not supplied any links to it!
The Herald has written a piece so openly suggestive that it is meaningless and your creative math with the facts surely fails even your meagre standards of reporting reality.
Posted up thread moran, but you’re like a three year old rushing in to show off the snot you picked aren’t you.
Not sure what a moran is but I’m guessing you’re referring to Cunliffe instead?
Moran.
Thanks joe 90. Awesome truly!
So how many screw ups will it take before people on the left realize they made a mistake in pinning their hopes on Cunliffe?
Interesting thought. Please do pass on each one you get today for our wonder and amazement chris (Does the number go up with every new thought you have – so now 74?)
Hopefully you remember that when the results of the next election come in
You’ve told us here many times that Labour aren’t allowed to win until 2017. Are you worried you may have got it wrong..
I’ve always liked the one that says Obama is a “half-breed Muslin” as well.
http://www.therightperspective.org/2008/09/13/obama-half-breed-muslim-sign-stirs-controversy/
Nicky somebody on libraries and swimming pools – they are nice to haves and developers are doing such a self-denying job of providing housing that they should not be burdened with levies that support such ‘nice to haves’. In good old Britain miners in some areas where the tunnels went under houses, would return home and find the doors of their cottages had jammed because of ground movement during the day. They had to break their doors open. Don’t know what it was like for the family inside. So we have got a lovely long slide to go yet as we lose the amenities that we hoped would be permanent in a modern, enlightened, progressive society.
Vote for National and ACT, and get more and better lifestyles. We at National do not encourage the poor to vote for us, or join us, and we seek to assist our supporters (or lead them to believe we will, which we usually do). We spit on you other losers. You are lucky we give you the opportunity to live on some small piece of land, and perhaps we will assist you with a small plot for vegetables in some common area.
The future as NACTs see it.
Meanwhile some Mayors are having a private chinwag and are discussing the trend to amalgamation to supercities. And this is a pre Local Bodies Association meeting for them to get some overview so they haven’t invited LG Head Lawrence Yule. But they did invite Paula Bennett the Local Government Minister (did you know that) but she declined. (Chris Tremain was Local Government Minister when he made a release on 12 December 2013 then on a
3 March 2014 release Paula Bennett is Local Government Minister. So she is to be the new punchy, aggressive minister to kick-box these pesky local bodies into cookie-cutter shapes of central govt choice.)
Local government already is fading like the Cheshire cat’s smile. I was trying to find out details of the present membership of board on line and there were lots about policy and statements about practices, but finding the names of members of Local Government NZ and details about them are not immediately accessible, even on Wikipedia.) But there is up to date information about the sector to be seen on-line at http://www.localgovt.co.nz/.
Three commissioners, GreyWarbler – Basil Morrison, Anne Carter, Grant Kirby – all intent on following thru on the NAct Govt agenda of first of all, demolishing all our LOCAL government and replacing it with -out-of-touch and distant “provincial” type government. And when that has occurred, the next thing to happen will be multinational corporates bearing down to takeover our current local government infrastructure !
We’re fighting a proposal to have a Unitary Authority for the whole of Northland right now. We managed to get about 1700 submissions into the Local Govt Comm Opposing this proposal, and now quite a number of us are waiting to have our submissions heard because the LGC didn’t allow enough days/time/venues for this number of submitters. Maybe ……. just maybe….. for once, we might make a difference with our opposition to the neo-libs in power.
And when that has occurred, the next thing to happen will be multinational corporates bearing down to takeover our current local government infrastructure !
There is actually a lot to be said for amalgamating the infrastructure capabilities of local govt. The Wellington region for instance has no fewer than 14 different entities dealing with water supply or waste water in one form or another. Insane.
Having worked in the sector I’m absolutely convinced that there is much to be gained from amalgamation at this level.
The real problem is political accountability. Far too often we have seen the formation of large CCO’s as a precursor to privatisation. Or the contracting out of services. It’s unfortunate that the two issues are conflated like this because it means there are far too many, tiny, unviable TLA’s struggling to meet modern and efficient service standards – yet while the risk of privatisation hangs over our heads we are relunctant to do the obvious.
This shows we can’t look naively at anything as being what it appears on the surface. What is behind this? How can this be privatised and profitised?
Red Logix paints a clear picture of today’s dilemma with Councils. One they need to be accessable, and to listen. I notice in Marlborough they have Wards. Reasonably well represented then.
And there needs to be a balance of how big. How can you stop takeovers by people with similar interests who just want to bend the tree till the fruit falls in their territory. The dam in Hawkes Bay is so big that it’s another Forsyth Barr. Perhaps taking away the ability to borrow skyhigh might be the answer and any privatisation has to go to referendum.
Good luck Jenny – at first sight it seems reasonably practical, and gives weight to bulk up against the Auckland octopus. But one great outfit far distant from outlying poorer more precarious areas can be difficult for getting understanding of people’s requirements. I don’t know how often Kaeo in the Far North is going to flood and the Council doesn’t either, but it’s time they got together with the people and worked out something to help that little settlement. The further away the council offices are, the less they can motivate themselves to do something for the people who need a hand.
The thinking that is happening is – how do we package it to appeal to the punteres prejudices? Can we go with the bad government thing like so many USA states?
You get your own people into government, screw it up and then have the efficient private company offer to take over and straighten it all out nicely for them – and more cheaply too for the first few years.
It’s really what Brierley and other asset strippers did to companies in the past, stripped off the easily saleable bits and then cut out services and staff, to the other bits.
Meanwhile withdrawing anything of value and replacing it with short-term solutions and machinery.
Interesting coverage of the Ukraine situation on RNZ this morning
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2588325/wayne-brittenden's-counterpoint
The importance of far right element in the protest movement has been heavily under reported.
Also the fact the new PM is already proposing a rapid neoliberal reform program…
Kos calls bullshit on the notion that US neocons made the events in Ukraine happen the way they happened.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/08/1283169/-Dear-United-States-not-everything-in-the-world-is-about-YOU
@ hoon..
..i’ve carried a bit on the far-right/neo-nazis the americans have been funding/supporting..
..in ukraine..
http://whoar.co.nz/?s=nazi
phillip ure..
“Also the fact the new PM is already proposing a rapid neoliberal reform program…”
I always thought that the Ukranians were screwed either way. One one side you have Russian oligarchs, mafia dons and corrupt Orthodox priests, and on the other side you have EU technocrats, ready, willing and able to impose austerity (did someone tell them there is next to nothing left to cut….??)
Someone I heard on radio today commented that NZs are self-effacing? Is that true? Or what? Sounds a bit on the weak side. Are we? Scared of our own shadows? But probably he’s right, I think he was from overseas.
Test.
I’m losing messages on another thread – eleven attempts with one – so please ignore this. It’s probably a technical fault. I just want to see if it works here.
“I always thought that the Ukranians were screwed either way. One one side you have Russian oligarchs, mafia dons and corrupt Orthodox priests, and on the other side you have EU technocrats, ready, willing and able to impose austerity”
Indeed.
“Kos calls bullshit on the notion that US neocons made the events in Ukraine happen the way they happened.”
Its true that the background is complex & not directly to do with US.
But there are most certainly a bunch of indications of strong US involvement.
This is what 3D printed wood looks like
An interesting adaption of the 3D printer. I suppose the question is: Does it use more resources or less than tradition manufacture?
also: how do they bond it?
If it doesn’t have the feel of wood, might not be much difference from the faux-wood plastics that are popular and shit.
All people that are rescued should be expected to make a koha of at least $100 to the rescuing body and neighbouring people who have used their resources to help, ie farmers lending their equipment and time. The cave system in Nelson has only recently been entirely explored. For a betting man it would have been a good one to take – how long now till somebody gets stuck trying to get through.
In this case one could make a play on Shakespeares quote about demanding money and perhaps to the extent of offering a pound of flesh. That caveman should have slimmed down before trying to Squeeze through. Now I hope that seeing he is an older man, and supposedly experienced, then he should pay out $1000 to the rescue group to assist with their expenses and equipment provision. The young might be forgiven their ignorance, and lack of planning, the over 40 years not. I think this man was considerably older.
I’ve thought about this issue at various times, mainly when the Kiwi Navy has had to rescue some millionaire playboy yachtsman from the Southern Ocean at great cost. However, I don’t think we can make people pay individually for being rescued. The unwanted effect of this would be to cut off many interesting activities from participation by all but the filthy rich. I think paying for rescues from taxation is the best way to go. Of course, this would not apply to any activity which involved jetskis. Riding a jetski should bring about an automatic custodial sentence, with no right of appeal.
So the rort of taxpayers money by Key-National continue glaringly obvious right under our noses.
Their latest 2.4 million dollar electioneering campaign is what I am referring to.
An education policy release outlining 4 hubs to be setup in ‘key electorates’ New Plymouth, Christchurch, Hawkes Bay and South Auckland. How slimy they National pricks are.
This is on top of arranged visits by the Royals to Hamilton (West) no doubt lining up the marginal seats to sure up votes.
Tricky as tricky does!
Dunno if anyone else has posted this yet but here is the link to the classic Gower interview with Key from Saturday:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-not-talking-about-fundraising-dinner/tabid/370/articleID/335058/Default.aspx
The whole thing is very watchable but Key’s child-like, repeated ‘nu it’s not right’ @ 10:00 mins is Key’s most feeble moment in my opinion.
And…I hate to say it but Gower was impressive
Just to change the subject, has anyone read the opinion piece by Keith Woodford in Stuff, pointing out that Fonterra is essentially broke?
Here’s the link:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/9803431/Fonterra-needs-more-capital-as-many-miss-out
Interesting article. It’s yet another example of the systemic risk that occurs from having a too-big-to-fail entity like Fonterra.
It’s especially interesting to read who’s going to lose out as a result, isn’t it – not the big boys!
After reading some of this article which is all I can take at the moment of bad news I recommend it to everyone – it’s important to understand how NZ manages to screw up everything that we have going for us.
The author knows what he is talking about – Keith Woodford is Professor of Farm Management and Agribusiness at Lincoln University.
Looking forward to her next instalment.
So the sharemilkers get screwed? No harm done then.
How long did that take after the ‘float’ for a ‘crisis’ to appear?
I’m assuming that the fix for the problem will be to sell more of it off out of New Zealander’s hands. Chinese would be first in the queue.
+1
I was under the impression that Fonterra was the Nat’s Great White Hope, so to speak!