8 June 2011
PRESS RELEASE: Penny Bright ‘Anti-corruption campaigner’:
“Is the Solicitor-General maliciously abusing his position, as the second-highest ‘lawyer in the land’ by persecuting/ prosecuting Vince Siemer (AGAIN) for ‘contempt of Court’? ”
Vince Siemer – is facing jail for contempt of court (AGAIN!), through proceedings initiated (AGAIN) by the Solicitor -General for telling the public J Winkelman’s decision that the people arrested in the state terror raids of 15th October 2007 were not only denied a jury trial, but that the public were being denied the right to know that information.
(There will be a protest outside the Wellington High Court
2 Molesworth St (opposite Parliament)
Thursday 9 June 2011 from 9 – 10am, then for those who are able – quiet support inside the court room.
Well-known human rights lawyer Tony Ellis will be defending Vince Siemer).
In my considered opinion, Vince Siemer is NZ’s leading ‘Public Watchdog’ / ‘Whistleblower’ on the lack of transparency and accountability and ‘conflicts of interest’ in the NZ Judiciary. http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz )
Why is the Solicitor-General David Collins QC himself not facing an investigation for ‘contempt of the House’ – given his role – in my considered opinion, of helping to ‘mislead’ the former Justice and Electoral Select Committee, which resulted in the matters raised in Petition 2005/142 being declared ‘subjudice’, at a time they clearly were NOT?
(Petition 2005/142 presented to the House by Mr Hide MP on 24 July 2007 “requesting that Parliament conduct an inquiry into the comittal for imprisonment of Mr Vincent Ross Siemer for contempt of court”)
Was the former Justice and Electoral Select Committee ‘misled’ – not only by the Solicitor-General David Collins QC (‘the highest acting law officer in the land’); but also by the former Clerk of the House David McGee QC (now an Ombudsman) ; and the former Acting Deputy Solicitor-General (Public Law) Grant Liddell (who later became the CEO of the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO)?
Read the following information for yourself – and you be the judge…….”
So now many of the ordinary mums and dads are being subtly cast again as “pariahs” of the state – you know, the ones who belong to unions or are public service employees. Now, let’s list a few other average mums and dads who, with the stroke of their pens, have shunted inordinate amounts of the New Zealand cake offshore – family names like Myers, Douglas, Fay, Aldgate-Whitechapel, Hart, Richwhite, … makes you wonder who the real Kiwis are doesn’t it?
Oh, its far worse, the typically civilisation killer is here. Where the language of debate, if its allowed to happen (in the public eye), is restricted to the needs of the exploiters continued exploitation. Where the only justified work lifestyle has to be in some industry that exploits its workers and its environment, and where if you do have standards to meet the taxpayer not the polluter has to pay. Imagine the markets as a massive bragging competition, we’re made this much money using up this much soil, putting this much high density ore into refuse dumps globally, so we can produce some high end product for the few who braggers who brag the best.
Its not surprising Key is loved by one and all, he is a hero of the brag to make money brigade, what your kids should grow up to be like.
What’s the story with Fiji at the RWC? Articles I’ve read seem confusing as to who can and can’t come and I got the impression the IRB seemed to be thinking it could let in who it liked……ignoring any bans we may have.
So it’s another case of us surrendering sovereignty to some external transnational body? – again!
Thanks Murray! You bring the KY and we will assume the position – again!
What is it with Key and planking? He is now busily trying to reform labour laws to make protection for workers a joke and describes this as a “campaign plank” …
Closing down debate quickly on National Radio—again
Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan, Thursday June 9, 2011
In a discussion about deep sea oil and gas exploration off New Zealand’s coasts, Simon Boxer of Greenpeace mentioned that both the Brazilian government and Petrobras were angry with the New Zealand government for making public announcements about oil-prospecting deals, without having consulted local people.
Incredibly, Kathryn Ryan sternly warned him away: “Well, we had the Associate Minister disputing that the other day. I don’t want that dragged up again. Let’s move on.”
A couple of weeks ago, an equally nervous Jim Mora stopped Richard Langstone and Bomber Bradbury from going after Professor Stephen Hoadley, who had made a couple of preposterous statements asserting the “legality” of the American carpet-bombing of Indo-China, and claiming that it conformed with the Geneva Conventions. Like Ryan, Mora insisted that there was no time to go “off topic” like that. (“The Panel”, May 27, 2011)
These are by no means isolated instances.
It’s clear that, in addition to the highly partisan, unapologetically pro-National-government New Zealand Herald and NewstalkZB, we have a public radio station that is afraid of incurring government wrath by letting critics have a say.
That’s a worry for democracy, as well as a blow for the prospects of interesting or stimulating discussions on the radio.
Morrissey – Be fair, the interviewers must offer their audience a broad view of their subject, and only Mary Wilson, of those I listen to, hammers one aspect into the ground. She doesn’t give up. Sometimes it even seems pointless and I turn the radio off. Interviewers can’t get into the argy-bargy that goes on here sometimes with endless assertions being countered continuously with a lot of rancour and little illumination or new facets being revealed, and other relevant info getting sidelined.
…only Mary Wilson…hammers one aspect into the ground. She doesn’t give up.
Eva Radich is another determined interviewer. When Tony Blair had the hide to make a state visit here some years ago, she went after him about the illegality of the Iraq invasion and his bogus “45 minute” claim. She would not let him evade her questions or divert the focus of the interview. In the end, of course, he just resorted to his usual insulting menu of vague platitudes. But she had discomfited that creep, in a way he rarely faced back in the U.K. And what a great contrast between her interview with Blair and the hesitant treatment he got a day later by an overwhelmed John Campbell, who obviously detested Blair but lacked the fortitude to insist he respond seriously to his questions.
Last year Kim Hill subjected ex-Australian prime minister John Howard to a thirty-five minute interrogation. The Great Man was clearly unsettled by her persistence, something he rarely if ever encountered back in Australia. But one person was even more upset by the interview than Howard was—the Wairarapa oenophile Karl Du Fresne was incensed by Kim’s lack of forelock-tugging, and slammed her “lack of balance” in a dyspeptic column in the Australian Spectator… http://karldufresne.blogspot.com/2010/11/howard-deserved-more-balanced-treatment.html
Sometimes it even seems pointless and I turn the radio off.
I think it’s a pity more interviewers haven’t got the courage, or are insufficiently prepared, to seriously hold politicians to account. When TV and radio stations assign people like John Campbell, Kathryn Ryan, Mike Hosking, and (God save us) Paul Holmes to interview powerful and intimidating politicians, it’s a missed opportunity.
I generally reckon that when the press isn’t being combative they are missing the point of their freedom.
I like seeing all pollies getting their feet held to the fire, particularly when they are ones that I have voted for or are thinking of voting for. Fucking nail them.
I don’t care if a journo ‘gets it wrong’, or asks ‘stupid questions’ or is ‘rude’. That’s ‘doing their job’ as far as I see it.
One of the US founders said (paraphrase) that given the choice between a free press and free elections, he’d take the former every time. And this was in a time when the press was vicious. His point was that a combative and free press lets the public know things by forcing pollies to confront things. Without that knowledge, elections are useless. With that knowledge, even absent elections, remedies are available.
The public is capable of deciding if a journo has been an arsehole, and an arsehole journo at the end of the day, is just a twatcock asking questions and printing the answers. Those answers will always be of some value.
Some detail about the Ecoli outbreak. This has been ruinous for Spain and the wash has spread over all the EU. A British bacteriologist (I think) said that in fact it was a North German problem. All the people sickening outside Germany had contact from there. The researchers have concentrated on salad vegetables because most of those affected are women and probably health conscious, but what about bottled water, or natural beauty preparations? (Light bulb – they need to call House.)
With all the sophisticated, easily accessed labs they have in Germany and Europe, they have not been able to source this thing. Imagine our country affected by a blow to its agriculture like this. It does not even have to be true, just suspected. We have closed down so much of our manufacturing and employment-rich businesses separate from the farming economy. We would be back to slave camps, that’s what they called the work camps during the Depression. And glad to get something no doubt.
From google listings – 1 The EHEC strain may cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterised by acute kidney failure and can lead to seizures, strokes and coma.
Reinhard Burger, head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute which monitors epidemics, said the country usually saw between 50 and 60 cases of HUS annually, whereas it had recorded about 80 during the current outbreak.
Earlier –
2 Ten people have been hospitalized in Frankfurt with another 50 experiencing mild symptoms. In Hamburg, another forty patients are being treated for EHEC as well. Other cases have been confirmed in the Northern part of Germany including Rostock, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig Holstein. There are up to 600 suspected cases across Germany.
3 The latest cases in the U.K. involve three people with bloody diarrhea and one person who has developed the potentially fatal form of the condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Three of the four new cases are in U.K. residents who have recently returned from Germany, and the other involves a person from Germany who is on vacation in England.
Recent news 8/6 http://news.uk.msn.com/world/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=158154499
4 Another person has died in Germany from the infection, raising the toll to 24 in Germany, plus one in Sweden.
The number of reported cases is up by more than 300 over the previous day to 2,648, including nearly 700 suffering from a serious complication that can cause kidney failure.
Interesting, the photo accompanying the above article showed a laboratory worker? not wearing gloves with an opened bean sprout packet which the caption said was to be tested. Surely a file photo. I wouldn’t want to put my flesh anywhere near something as possibly infective as that.
“Imagine our country affected by a blow to its agriculture like this. It does not even have to be true, just suspected.”
This is why the American beef industry does their own management of testing for mad cow disease, and deliberately do a very poor job of it while covering up any actual infections detected (any cows ‘suspected’ of having it are killed and incinerated before samples can be taken for proper testing). That way they can be sure that if there is actually a problem with mad cow disease, it would have to be quite widespread before the public became aware of it.
In milk we trust.
Solely, absolutely and forever and ever.
Kiss goodbye to rail and engineering technology (Kevin Welsh @ 1:44pm).
May the sacredness of our milk always prevail over all disasters – national or National.
And may our milk be always completely free from health scares.
If you’re not keen about being a milk slave, erm, farmer or dairy maid, please take the next one-way flight out of Milkland.
I don’t know if I would trust all milk, there was something on TV news last night about modified cows producing “human ” milk. Curdled thoughts on that.
lanthanide – Gosh! The usa beef lobby is powerful – remember them suing Oprah for saying she wouldn’t eat hamburger or similar. I think that was at the mad cow disease outbreak. Also I remember a couple of journalists being harrassed by the usa dairy lobby who managed to get control of the wording of legislation about quality of milk so they could ensure that people remained unaware of possible problems. The ‘What you don’t know, won’t hurt you’ approach. This was another scare, back a decade or two.
You can imagine how tough the usa lobby is when you hear Federated Farmers leaders like Don Nicholson talking about farmers’ interests.
according to some very smart people, including the Koch Institute mentioned above, Mother Nature simply does not work in the manner the Bankers would like us to believe. No naturally occuring process can achieve this level of resistance complexity and then magically appear simulaneously in multiple links on the food chain. It does not happen, not without a concerted level of assistance.
The very complex questions, often have very simple answers.
What a load of BS. Bacteria such as E. coli typically acquire multidrug resistance via horizontal gene transfer from other bacteria, and not via multiple rounds of selection. And bacterial contamination is easy spread given the right conditions (and of course that all the cases are linked to a single country anyway). Mother nature is not benevolent.
And the theory of how the strain was ‘engineered’ is just as dumb. If I was going to engineer a deadly strain of bacteria, it wouldn’t be via that method.
This is shocking. But this Government prefers to purchase Chinese workers and have our own as unemployed on the street and on the dole because it is more “efficient”.
I dont think we should be suprised about this one. And we shouldnt blame the current administration.
This has been happening for about the past 25 years or so, with NZR, TranzRail and then Toll running down the railway workshops, that provided NZ with a lot of skill, expertise and engineering infrastructure for the past century or so. Eastown, Otahuhu, Addington (now replaced by a shopping mall), all gone, and Hutt, along with Hillside, running at a fraction of its orginal capacity.
If you want to blame anyone for this, blame Richard Prebble. He was the one who stripped NZR to the bone for it to be flogged off.
Yep and, unfortunately, neither of the two main parties are willing to change the direction just yet. One because of the ideology – they actually want NZ to go the wrong way because it directly benefits them and they don’t care what it does to everyone else. The other doesn’t seem to want to admit that it got it wrong three decades ago and some of them even want to continue going the wrong way as well.
Choice: A) Wrong way or b) Wrong way with conditions.
Not really all that appertising and none of the minor parties are talking about the necessary changes needed to make us sustainable/more egalatarian either. They’re sayijg that’s what they want but not how to go about doing it.
Some thoughts on religion, the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good ideas and ideals from religion can get dereailed after the ambitious and the fanatical and the dogmatic pedants and the supernaturally moral (in theory) get their hold on it and find a hopefully, comfortable position within it and a hopefully decent income and elevated position in society. It’s true that men have dominated in the past, but in the Catholic church some of the nuns have been remarkably bold in setting up an Order in a new place. And Anglican nuns as well I think. The belief of a woman in the goodness of Christ and his life as a shining example to follow led her into an adventurous and strenuous life. Read about Gladys Aylward in The Small Woman by Alan Burgess. Often comes up on Trademe. Religion has been a comfort, a scourge, a challenge. Here is a link I’ve got – can’t remember exactly what’s on it. http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/a/aylward-gladys.php
And if you are a leftie then you will have heard of The Tolpuddle Martyrs – basically one family of godly men who started the farm union movement in southern England, got punished by being sent as convicts to Australia, and by popular acclaim of British crowds who supported them, were pardoned and allowed back to England. It was their Methodism that kept them sane in their souls, and gave them strength to endure the very nasty privations they bore.
For the rest of us, it is sometimes just comfortable to front up and gabble the responses, kneel and rise if that’s how they do it in Rome, sing a few good songs, and hopefully be better people for a while. There are worse things than meeting with others who have shared beliefs in trying to be kind and think of others before ourselves sometimes. But as M says in the blog for Key’s Destiny it doesn’t last beyond Sunday morning for some people.
Nice one prism and I don’t down people for having faith having being raised a Catholic but I don’t like it where religion is misused to keep people down, for example Joseph Ratzinger aka God’s policeman describing homosexuals as backyard mongrels.
As a teenager it began to chafe the way I saw women very much in the background with their worth seeming to be in motherhood or the religious life instead of the human flawed beings like their male counterparts.
I’m lapsed for many years now but take with me the social justice aspect of my upbringing and try to effect change where I can or speak out in defence of those under nasty yokes and I think many other lapsers do too.
Don’t have a problem with people being churchgoers or talking about their faith as I have friends from all over the spectrum from hardened atheists to the most ardent believers and when faith or religion is put to use for the good like say the sisters of the Home of Compassion I’m their most vehement supporter.
My old Grandmother – a life-long Athiest and left-wing Labour Party activist – always said Lapsed Catholics made the best, most passionate, most committed Lefties.
Agreed swordfish. My grandmother had a picture of Jesus Christ the sacred heart on one side of her mantlepiece and Micky Savage on the other. Both pictures were about the same size and of an identical height!
May i suggest that lapsed Catholics make good lefties because the good hearts of these people were still beating after realising the Church was one big lie and they really really wanted to believe that there is a way for Humans to help each other live a better life without the endless deference to greed and brutality
Nice one prism and I don’t down people for having faith having being raised a Catholic but I don’t like it where religion is misused to keep people down, for example Joseph Ratzinger aka God’s policeman describing homosexuals as backyard mongrels.
I have come to believe that I had a huge advantage by being raised by parents who were atheist and agnostic/apathetic.. (although afaik they didn’t stay that way.) I didn’t learn anything about God/religion/church until I was 19. I started as a fundamentalist, and have become an Anglo-Catholic.
I’ve heard that Benedict said that, but I’d like ‘chapter and verse’, simply because from what I know of him (which was nothing, until recently my dear beloved Italian teacher, sent me his latest book as a Christmas present) it does not sound like the sort of thing he would say! When I am not here, I spend far too long on ATS, talking about politics which is fine, and ‘debating’ with atheists, which is not – because said atheists are much more into personal abuse than all but a few here (you know who you are! ) It just makes me completely exhausted to see all the same old techniques – the old assertiveness training ‘broken record’ is a favourite…. Sadly, so is citing the most rage-inducing quotes, without sources, and then when the sources are tracked down, turns out to have been something interpreted very creatively! Having the same problem convincing Americans that Admadinejad never said he wanted to nuke Israel, not even ‘wipe it off the map’ – I can’t understand why lefties are quite happy to use right wing techniques such as mis-quoting, etc against we religious…
Yesterday, the Green Party co-leader Dr Russel Norman asked the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key a number of pertinent questions concerning Ministers receiving “corporate hospitality.” As usual John Key was evasive and did not answer appropriately continuing to obfuscate and deliberately withhold relevant information. The current Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith then protected John Key by implementing procedural trivialities in an appalling display of arrogance that perverted Parliamentary justice from being served.
Easy street, insulated by their wealth, are up in arms over loss of free weather reports for pilots.
Unlike boaties, rock anglers, etc, anyone, who can jump off anywhere to get on the ocean, not just anyone can jump in a plane, or hellicopter.
What exactly were they thinking when they thought cuts would be on the poor singularly?
What did they understand to mean back office cuts and privatization?
Of course it would mean less generosity towards their luxuries hobbies.
What comes around goes around, we can be generous, grow the economy by providing incentives in real growth rather than exporting people, profits and future opportunities.
Capital farming is an attack on capitalism, since it rewards those with massive wealth to keep it and shut out new hard working citizens entering their industry, or the home ownership club.
Oh, and when did free market come to mean free for all? Markets aren’t fair, uniform, unless well regulated by government and society. When the cultural norms break down in punishing criminals, and short cut takers, then government needs to step up its game rather than rush to join up with the government hands off driving.
Economic outlook is uncertain, but what is certain is energy will cost more, transport cost will rise.
That reminds me… I’ve been meaning to tell everyone that DF has reinstalled his LSO cookie.
The best way to combat it is to install Better Privacy and restart your browser each time you visit Kiwibog. Whaleoil has also recently implemented the technology on his site.
You can learn a little bit more about the DF LSO in this Jackal blog post.
I read this extract from Hansard (dated 7-6-11) on Red Alert a few minutes ago.It was posted by Trevor M.under “Late Play Annie to the Leader of the National Party.” It was about the contract given to Parents Inc not being put out for tender.
“Hon Annette King: What evidence and scientific advice did he seek before agreeing to allocate $2.4 million to Parents Inc. for a parenting programme that even the Minister for Social Development and Employment said she had neither sought nor received advice on, or was she carrying out his promise that he made before the election that he would make sure that Parents Inc. got money?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Members will accept that, as Prime Minister, I am not responsible for the allocation of that contract; that actually goes through the Ministry of Social Development. But I would say I have seen that Toolbox; I have seen the programme. In my opinion it is a very, very successful programme that is helping New Zealand parents, and we do need to help parents in New Zealand.”
Is there not something very wrong about this? John Key did not deny that he had made a promise before the election! More arbitrary government from Mr.’if i ruled the world,forget democratic procedures’ K.ey? Is this not similar to PEDA and Bill English the budget before last, or perhaps worse as it was promised bfore the election?
In Britain, arbitrary government under Charles 1,caused a civil war and Charles, thinking he had “divine right” as king to make decisions off the top off his head, lost said head to the executioner(1649). At least in the case of Charles he was leader and king, but Mr. Key apparently made a promise before he became leader! How many other promises did he make and why? And he often makes decicisions of his head.
According to Speake’s rules, if there is more than one question asked in Question Time, the minister or PM addressed only needs to answer one. So the fact that Key didn’t answer the question on promises, doesn’t mean he DID make a promise. He just chose to answer the first question.
But if the answer was in the negative then Mr Key would have said so, and thus closed off the issue. To avoid answering does increase the possibility that Key made a promise that was outside the tendering rules. Unlawful? But Key can do that because who can stop him. And the MSM are not going to question the ethics of it are they?
I’ve noticed a lot of epic spelling mistakes on Stuff lately. They’re probably employing some minimum wage slave who’s in constant fear of being fired before 90 days is up. It would be their style.
A Fairfax exec told me a couple of years ago that the occasional payoff to an accidentally libelled member of the public was still going to be cheaper than employing subbies. He wasn’t sure that they had an obligation to always be accurate anyway, but he did reckon they were obliged to correct their mistakes, but only if they were pointed out to them.
So, are these people objective judges of individual’s right to regain some freedom or just rightwing ringins this government has put in place to control people?
What’s significant here is that the overall confidence rating hasn’t changed, but party vote preferences have. So that “disconnect” (i.e. people not happy but supporting status quo) has been reduced. Good.
I wouldn’t read much into the minor party results – Morgan has always been funny on those. But overall, it’s encouraging for those (like me!) who had started to give up on under-performing Labour.
Yep, that’s a good result for the left. A nominal 7 point gap between Team Key and the opposition, the smallest it’s been since the start of the year. Factor in the likely electoral neutering of ACT and the maori party and it’s getting down to a seat or three. Continuous job losses, a moribund economy and no fucken idea what to do about either are starting to kill Key’s chances in November. And did I mention Kiwisaver and asset sales?
Interesting that Tariana Turia was all over the news today bigging up Darren Hughes. A olive branch of sorts to Labour?
It gets even better – “the Budget” is an organism separate and independent from the Government as Acting (good actor?) Economic Decimation, erm, Development Minister David Carter told the commerce select committee today he was not aware that any analysis had been done …
“Bear in mind the Government hasn’t said it will create the 170,000 new jobs – the Budget said there will be 170,000 jobs,” he said.
The Budget said. The Government hasn’t said. The Budget said. The Government hasn’t said.
Oh yes yes yes, we understand.
At the risk of saying something unpopular for me, this was a bit of a WTF moment
The heritage advisor for Auckland’s main iwi hadn’t heard of an inner-city taniwha before yesterday, but he says the point about consultation over the CBD Rail Link project is valid.
I am sorry but the last time I remember hearing about a Taniwha was a few years ago, and it caused all sorts of problems. But this one, is one, that few people seem to have heard of.
But it’s very handy for Steven Joyce, who we all know is so in favour of the Britomart rail link, NOT
I imagine the right’s silence over this issue would be quite deafening, simply because that the ‘taniwha’ lies in the path of a railway line, not a road.
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A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets.He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...
When ASPI’s Cyclone Tracy: 50 Years On was published last year, it wasn’t just a historical reflection; it was a warning. Just months later, we are already watching history repeat itself. We need to bake ...
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was were right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country ...
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...
Robert Kaplan’s book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis paints a portrait of civilisation in flux. Drawing insights from history, literature and art, he examines the effect of modern technology, globalisation and urbanisation on ...
Sexuality - Strong and warm and wild and freeSexuality - Your laws do not apply to meSexuality - Don't threaten me with miserySexuality - I demand equalitySong: Billy Bragg.First, thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s survey. Some questions worked better than others, but I found them interesting, ...
Hi,I just got back from a week in Japan thanks to the power of cheap flights and years of accumulated credit card points.The last time I was in Japan the government held a press conference saying they might take legal action against me and Netflix, so there was a little ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; andHealth Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Lisa ...
Hi,I just got back from a short trip to Japan, mostly spending time in Tokyo.I haven’t been there since we shot Dark Tourist back in 2017 — and that landed us in a bit of hot water with the Japanese government.I am glad to report I was not thrown into ...
I’ve been on Substack for almost 8 months now.It’s been good in terms of the many great individuals that populate its space. So much variety and intelligence and humour and depth.I joined because someone suggested I should ‘start a Substack,’ whatever that meant.So I did.Turning on payments seemed like the ...
Open access notables Would Adding the Anthropocene to the Geologic Time Scale Matter?, McCarthy et al., AGU Advances:The extraordinary fossil fuel-driven outburst of consumption and production since the mid-twentieth century has fundamentally altered the way the Earth System works. Although humans have impacted their environment for millennia, justification for ...
Australia should buy equipment to cheaply and temporarily convert military transport aircraft into waterbombers. On current planning, the Australian Defence Force will have a total of 34 Chinook helicopters and Hercules airlifters. They should be ...
Indonesia’s government has slashed its counterterrorism (CT) budgets, despite the persistent and evolving threat of violent extremism. Australia can support regional CT efforts by filling this funding void. Reducing funding to the National Counterterrorism Agency ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) The bill does exactly what it says on the label, and would effectively end the rapacious water-bottling industry ...
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...
Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International ...
Nicola Willis has proposed new procurement rules that unions say will lead to pay cuts for already low-paid workers in cleaning, catering and security services that are contracted by government. The Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill passed its third reading with support from all the opposition parties and NZ ...
Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for ...
Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new ...
Last year in October I wrote “Where’s The Opposition?”. I was exasperated at the relative quiet of the Green Party, Labour and Te Pati Māori (TPM), as the National led Coalition ticked off a full bingo card of the Atlas Network playbook.1To be fair, TPM helped to energise one of ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkGood data visualizations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable. Back in 2016 Ed Hawkins published a “climate spiral” graph that ended up being pretty iconic – it was shown at the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year – and ...
An agreement to end the war in Ukraine could transform Russia’s relations with North Korea. Moscow is unlikely to reduce its cooperation with Pyongyang to pre-2022 levels, but it may become more selective about areas ...
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer The key word in the sentence above is financing. It is important ...
In a month’s time, the Right Honourable Winston Peters will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Good for him. On the evidence though, his current war on “wokeness” looks like an old man’s cranky complaint that the ancient virtues of grit and know-how are sadly lacking in the youth of today. ...
As noted, early March has been about moving house, and I have had little chance to partake in all things internet. But now that everything is more or less sorted, I can finally give a belated report on my visit to the annual Regent Booksale (28th February and 1st March). ...
Information operations Australia has banned cybersecurity software Kaspersky from government use because of risks of espionage, foreign interference and sabotage. The Department of Home Affairs said use of Kaspersky products posed an unacceptable security ...
The StrategistBy Linus Cohen, Astrid Young and Alice Wai
One of the best understood tropes of screen drama is the scene where the beloved family dog is barking incessantly and cannot be calmed. Finally, somebody asks: What is it, girl? Has someone fallen down a well? Is there trouble at the old John Key place?One is reminded of this ...
The ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, plays a significant role in the global cocaine trade and is deeply entrenched in Australia, influencing the cocaine trade and engaging in a variety of illicit activities. A range of ...
In the US, the Trump regime is busy imposing tariffs on its neighbours and allies, then revoking them, then reimposing them, permanently poisoning relations with Canada and Mexico. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on agricultural goods, which will affect Aotearoa's exports. National's response? To grovel for an exemption, ...
Troy Bowker’s Caniwi Capital’s Desmond Gittings, former TradeMe and Warehouse executive Simon West, former anonymous right wing blogger / Labour attacker & now NZ On Air Board member / Waitangi Tribunal member Philip Crump, Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon who used to run vaccine critical, Treaty of Waitangi critical, and trans-rights ...
The free school lunch program was one of Labour's few actual achievements in government. Decent food, made locally, providing local employment. So naturally, National had to get rid of it. Their replacement - run by Compass, a multinational which had already been thrown out of our hospitals for producing inedible ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
Labour does not support the private ownership of core infrastructure like schools, hospitals and prisons, which will only see worse outcomes for Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s plan to disestablish Resource Teachers of Māori (RTM) roles, a move that takes another swing at kaupapa Māori education. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
After months of mana whenua protecting their wāhi tapu, the Green Party welcomes the pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and calls for the Rotorua Lakes Council to work constructively with Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera on the pathway forward. ...
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. This week we've made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand.Winston representing New ZealandWinston Peters is overseas this week, with stops across the Middle East and North Asia. Winston's stops include Saudi Arabia, the ...
Green Party Co-Leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
At this year's State of the Planet address, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
Columbia Journalism School Freedom of the press — a bedrock principle of American democracy — is under threat in the United States. Here at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism we are witnessing and experiencing an alarming chill. We write to affirm our commitment to supporting and exercising First Amendment ...
There may be a lot of acronyms, but caring for an electric vehicle, and getting the most out of it, can be very simple.You’ve brought home a shiny new treat. It’s got two darling little ears, four rubbery feet, multiple glowing eyes and oh! – no tail at the ...
A new report suggests a focus on export industries will provide the best opportunity for growth in an expanding Māori economy.The Māori economy is at a turning point, with rapid growth, a diversifying asset base and untapped export potential creating new opportunities. But despite nearly doubling in five years ...
“If Brooke van Velden is genuine when she calls for an evidence-based approach to this issue, then she must support a full ban on engineered stone products,” said NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff. ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a ‘broke’ volunteer and former policy adviser explains how he gets by. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Man. Age: 31. Ethnicity: Mixed ethnicity. Role: Unemployed (ex-policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Randall Wayth, SKA-Low Senior Commissioning Scientist and Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, Curtin University The first image from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, showing around 85 galaxies.SKAO Part of the world’s biggest mega-science facility – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Galyna Piskorska, Associate Professor, Faculty of Journalism, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University (Ukraine) and Honorary Principal Fellow at the Advanced Centre for Journalism, The University of Melbourne Three years into Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Ukrainian journalists are facing enormously difficult challenges to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law (consumer protections and credit law), The University of Melbourne Late last week, corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a warning to lenders that provide high-fee small-amount loans – known as payday lenders ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marc C-Scott, Associate Professor of Screen Media | Deputy Associate Dean of Learning & Teaching, Victoria University Shutterstock This month marks a decade since Netflix – the world’s most influential and widely subscribed streaming service – launched in Australia. Since ...
Around 70% of New Zealanders find their homes too hot at least some of the time in summer. Those in townhouses are suffering much more than most, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. A summer of broiling ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Katerina Asher, Retail Academic Researcher, PhD Candidate & Sessional Academic, University of Sydney non c/Shutterstock New Zealand’s concentrated supermarket sector is back in the spotlight after Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she was open to offering “VIP treatment” to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University Lightspring/Shutterstock Imagine a world where bacteria, typically feared for causing disease, are turned into powerful weapons against cancer. That’s exactly what some scientists are working on. And they are beginning to unravel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary K. Waite, Professor Emeritus, Early Modern European History, University of New Brunswick In this etching from Dutch theologian Lambertus Hortensius’ 1614 book ‘Van den oproer der weder-dooperen,’ Anabaptists warn the residents of Amsterdam of the coming vengeance of Christ in 1535. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Allyn Dale, Director of the MA in Climate and Society program at the Columbia Climate School, Columbia University After the devastating 1994 genocide, Rwandans returning from the violence established homes and began farming where they could find land. Since then, ...
It started with a hug.On the steps of Hyderabad House in Delhi, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon leaned in first. Once Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embraced his new friend, the pair walked the flag-adorned lawn, and Luxon patted Modi on the back one, two, three, four times. .wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles article .entry-title ...
Whangārei District Council reaffirmed its defiance of the government’s fluoridation order on Monday, despite mounting costs, legal threats and a bitterly divided chamber.Whangārei District Council (WDC) spent Monday afternoon in what may be one of the most chaotic and heated council meetings in recent memory. After months of defiance ...
Media strategist, advisor and author Kevin Chesters joins Duncan Greive for a deep dive into advertising, creativity and the demise of the monoculture ahead of his appearance at AXIS Speaks in Tāmaki Makaurau. Kevin Chesters has 30 years of experience leading strategy on both agency and client sides, serving ...
Comment: Russia’s four-yearly training exercises have become genuinely dangerous events The post Putin’s dangerous war games appeared first on Newsroom. ...
MediaRoom column: A wider play for the Herald owner is possible; Plus, machines take over the Herald site. And a new media trust survey. The post Will a white knight ride to the Herald’s rescue? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Two months into US President Donald Trump’s presidency, leaders around the world are picking their battle strategies: butter him up, or speak truth to power?To date, New Zealand has largely steered clear entirely, treading a careful line. Earlier this month, Winston Peters fired Phil Goff from his position as High ...
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Mark Forman’s exemplary new biography, Tony Fomison: Life Of The Artist, has been published after 12 years of research and writing – and over those long years I’ve diligently answered Mark’s emails on his subject. Between 1985–1989, I was Tony Fomison’s friend/gofer/lackey/ Sancho Panza/Sundance Kid/Boswell/Baldrick.I look back on my time ...
Seven people have died on the Wellington waterfront since 2006. What should be done about it? In 2021, 30-year-old Sandy Calkin died in Wellington Harbour after a night drinking with friends in the city centre. A coroner’s report into Calkin’s death, released last week, confirmed the cause of death was ...
Professor David McGiffin knows his trade. A top Australian heart-lung researcher and a retired head of cardiothoracic and transplant surgery at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, McGiffin has seen huge advances in his field over a long and distinguished career.Listen to the podcast But one thing that remains unsolved ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Themiya Nanayakkara, Lead Astronomer at the James Webb Australian Data Centre, Swinburne University of Technology The Big Wheel alongside some of its neighbours. Weichen Wang et al. (2025) Deep observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed an exceptionally ...
8 June 2011
PRESS RELEASE: Penny Bright ‘Anti-corruption campaigner’:
“Is the Solicitor-General maliciously abusing his position, as the second-highest ‘lawyer in the land’ by persecuting/ prosecuting Vince Siemer (AGAIN) for ‘contempt of Court’? ”
Vince Siemer – is facing jail for contempt of court (AGAIN!), through proceedings initiated (AGAIN) by the Solicitor -General for telling the public J Winkelman’s decision that the people arrested in the state terror raids of 15th October 2007 were not only denied a jury trial, but that the public were being denied the right to know that information.
(There will be a protest outside the Wellington High Court
2 Molesworth St (opposite Parliament)
Thursday 9 June 2011 from 9 – 10am, then for those who are able – quiet support inside the court room.
Well-known human rights lawyer Tony Ellis will be defending Vince Siemer).
In my considered opinion, Vince Siemer is NZ’s leading ‘Public Watchdog’ / ‘Whistleblower’ on the lack of transparency and accountability and ‘conflicts of interest’ in the NZ Judiciary.
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz )
Why is the Solicitor-General David Collins QC himself not facing an investigation for ‘contempt of the House’ – given his role – in my considered opinion, of helping to ‘mislead’ the former Justice and Electoral Select Committee, which resulted in the matters raised in Petition 2005/142 being declared ‘subjudice’, at a time they clearly were NOT?
(Petition 2005/142 presented to the House by Mr Hide MP on 24 July 2007 “requesting that Parliament conduct an inquiry into the comittal for imprisonment of Mr Vincent Ross Siemer for contempt of court”)
Was the former Justice and Electoral Select Committee ‘misled’ – not only by the Solicitor-General David Collins QC (‘the highest acting law officer in the land’); but also by the former Clerk of the House David McGee QC (now an Ombudsman) ; and the former Acting Deputy Solicitor-General (Public Law) Grant Liddell (who later became the CEO of the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO)?
Read the following information for yourself – and you be the judge…….”
(Full post on http://waterpressure.wordpress.com )
Penny Bright
So now many of the ordinary mums and dads are being subtly cast again as “pariahs” of the state – you know, the ones who belong to unions or are public service employees. Now, let’s list a few other average mums and dads who, with the stroke of their pens, have shunted inordinate amounts of the New Zealand cake offshore – family names like Myers, Douglas, Fay, Aldgate-Whitechapel, Hart, Richwhite, … makes you wonder who the real Kiwis are doesn’t it?
Oh, its far worse, the typically civilisation killer is here. Where the language of debate, if its allowed to happen (in the public eye), is restricted to the needs of the exploiters continued exploitation. Where the only justified work lifestyle has to be in some industry that exploits its workers and its environment, and where if you do have standards to meet the taxpayer not the polluter has to pay. Imagine the markets as a massive bragging competition, we’re made this much money using up this much soil, putting this much high density ore into refuse dumps globally, so we can produce some high end product for the few who braggers who brag the best.
Its not surprising Key is loved by one and all, he is a hero of the brag to make money brigade, what your kids should grow up to be like.
What’s the story with Fiji at the RWC? Articles I’ve read seem confusing as to who can and can’t come and I got the impression the IRB seemed to be thinking it could let in who it liked……ignoring any bans we may have.
That’s probably because McCully has promised the IRB that any such existing bans will not be enforced for the purposes of the RWC.
So it’s another case of us surrendering sovereignty to some external transnational body? – again!
Thanks Murray! You bring the KY and we will assume the position – again!
Glenn Greenwald finds a(nother) classic example of one his favorite bugbears; ridiculously inappropriate use of anonymous sourcing.
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/06/02/hersh/index.html
Shorter: Dear journo’s, when officials are feeding you the official line, they don’t need anonymity, and shouldn’t get it.
What is it with Key and planking? He is now busily trying to reform labour laws to make protection for workers a joke and describes this as a “campaign plank” …
Plonker.
Probably think he’s “cool”
Interesting flick – it’s long though at nearly three hours
Haha they said “a NZ study done in a town called Doo-Ned-In”
Hmmmm…
So, some indications show that the US went into recession in 2006 and still hasn’t come out. That’s gotta hurt.
Closing down debate quickly on National Radio—again
Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan, Thursday June 9, 2011
In a discussion about deep sea oil and gas exploration off New Zealand’s coasts, Simon Boxer of Greenpeace mentioned that both the Brazilian government and Petrobras were angry with the New Zealand government for making public announcements about oil-prospecting deals, without having consulted local people.
Incredibly, Kathryn Ryan sternly warned him away: “Well, we had the Associate Minister disputing that the other day. I don’t want that dragged up again. Let’s move on.”
A couple of weeks ago, an equally nervous Jim Mora stopped Richard Langstone and Bomber Bradbury from going after Professor Stephen Hoadley, who had made a couple of preposterous statements asserting the “legality” of the American carpet-bombing of Indo-China, and claiming that it conformed with the Geneva Conventions. Like Ryan, Mora insisted that there was no time to go “off topic” like that. (“The Panel”, May 27, 2011)
These are by no means isolated instances.
It’s clear that, in addition to the highly partisan, unapologetically pro-National-government New Zealand Herald and NewstalkZB, we have a public radio station that is afraid of incurring government wrath by letting critics have a say.
That’s a worry for democracy, as well as a blow for the prospects of interesting or stimulating discussions on the radio.
Morrissey – Be fair, the interviewers must offer their audience a broad view of their subject, and only Mary Wilson, of those I listen to, hammers one aspect into the ground. She doesn’t give up. Sometimes it even seems pointless and I turn the radio off. Interviewers can’t get into the argy-bargy that goes on here sometimes with endless assertions being countered continuously with a lot of rancour and little illumination or new facets being revealed, and other relevant info getting sidelined.
…only Mary Wilson…hammers one aspect into the ground. She doesn’t give up.
Eva Radich is another determined interviewer. When Tony Blair had the hide to make a state visit here some years ago, she went after him about the illegality of the Iraq invasion and his bogus “45 minute” claim. She would not let him evade her questions or divert the focus of the interview. In the end, of course, he just resorted to his usual insulting menu of vague platitudes. But she had discomfited that creep, in a way he rarely faced back in the U.K. And what a great contrast between her interview with Blair and the hesitant treatment he got a day later by an overwhelmed John Campbell, who obviously detested Blair but lacked the fortitude to insist he respond seriously to his questions.
Last year Kim Hill subjected ex-Australian prime minister John Howard to a thirty-five minute interrogation. The Great Man was clearly unsettled by her persistence, something he rarely if ever encountered back in Australia. But one person was even more upset by the interview than Howard was—the Wairarapa oenophile Karl Du Fresne was incensed by Kim’s lack of forelock-tugging, and slammed her “lack of balance” in a dyspeptic column in the Australian Spectator…
http://karldufresne.blogspot.com/2010/11/howard-deserved-more-balanced-treatment.html
Sometimes it even seems pointless and I turn the radio off.
I think it’s a pity more interviewers haven’t got the courage, or are insufficiently prepared, to seriously hold politicians to account. When TV and radio stations assign people like John Campbell, Kathryn Ryan, Mike Hosking, and (God save us) Paul Holmes to interview powerful and intimidating politicians, it’s a missed opportunity.
I generally reckon that when the press isn’t being combative they are missing the point of their freedom.
I like seeing all pollies getting their feet held to the fire, particularly when they are ones that I have voted for or are thinking of voting for. Fucking nail them.
I don’t care if a journo ‘gets it wrong’, or asks ‘stupid questions’ or is ‘rude’. That’s ‘doing their job’ as far as I see it.
One of the US founders said (paraphrase) that given the choice between a free press and free elections, he’d take the former every time. And this was in a time when the press was vicious. His point was that a combative and free press lets the public know things by forcing pollies to confront things. Without that knowledge, elections are useless. With that knowledge, even absent elections, remedies are available.
The public is capable of deciding if a journo has been an arsehole, and an arsehole journo at the end of the day, is just a twatcock asking questions and printing the answers. Those answers will always be of some value.
I note that Ryan is often like that, ruthlessly cutting people off… either for time reasons, or for reasons of what seems to be clearly censorship…
Some detail about the Ecoli outbreak. This has been ruinous for Spain and the wash has spread over all the EU. A British bacteriologist (I think) said that in fact it was a North German problem. All the people sickening outside Germany had contact from there. The researchers have concentrated on salad vegetables because most of those affected are women and probably health conscious, but what about bottled water, or natural beauty preparations? (Light bulb – they need to call House.)
With all the sophisticated, easily accessed labs they have in Germany and Europe, they have not been able to source this thing. Imagine our country affected by a blow to its agriculture like this. It does not even have to be true, just suspected. We have closed down so much of our manufacturing and employment-rich businesses separate from the farming economy. We would be back to slave camps, that’s what they called the work camps during the Depression. And glad to get something no doubt.
From google listings –
1 The EHEC strain may cause hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterised by acute kidney failure and can lead to seizures, strokes and coma.
Reinhard Burger, head of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute which monitors epidemics, said the country usually saw between 50 and 60 cases of HUS annually, whereas it had recorded about 80 during the current outbreak.
Earlier –
2 Ten people have been hospitalized in Frankfurt with another 50 experiencing mild symptoms. In Hamburg, another forty patients are being treated for EHEC as well. Other cases have been confirmed in the Northern part of Germany including Rostock, Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig Holstein. There are up to 600 suspected cases across Germany.
3 The latest cases in the U.K. involve three people with bloody diarrhea and one person who has developed the potentially fatal form of the condition known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Three of the four new cases are in U.K. residents who have recently returned from Germany, and the other involves a person from Germany who is on vacation in England.
Recent news 8/6 http://news.uk.msn.com/world/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=158154499
4 Another person has died in Germany from the infection, raising the toll to 24 in Germany, plus one in Sweden.
The number of reported cases is up by more than 300 over the previous day to 2,648, including nearly 700 suffering from a serious complication that can cause kidney failure.
Interesting, the photo accompanying the above article showed a laboratory worker? not wearing gloves with an opened bean sprout packet which the caption said was to be tested. Surely a file photo. I wouldn’t want to put my flesh anywhere near something as possibly infective as that.
“Imagine our country affected by a blow to its agriculture like this. It does not even have to be true, just suspected.”
This is why the American beef industry does their own management of testing for mad cow disease, and deliberately do a very poor job of it while covering up any actual infections detected (any cows ‘suspected’ of having it are killed and incinerated before samples can be taken for proper testing). That way they can be sure that if there is actually a problem with mad cow disease, it would have to be quite widespread before the public became aware of it.
In milk we trust.
Solely, absolutely and forever and ever.
Kiss goodbye to rail and engineering technology (Kevin Welsh @ 1:44pm).
May the sacredness of our milk always prevail over all disasters – national or National.
And may our milk be always completely free from health scares.
If you’re not keen about being a milk slave, erm, farmer or dairy maid, please take the next one-way flight out of Milkland.
In milk we trust.
I don’t know if I would trust all milk, there was something on TV news last night about modified cows producing “human ” milk. Curdled thoughts on that.
Hey PeteG, maybe National can now find a productive use for all those DPB mums eh?
Careful, Colonial Viper; I don’t think the NActs understand satire. At least I hope it was satire…
lanthanide – Gosh! The usa beef lobby is powerful – remember them suing Oprah for saying she wouldn’t eat hamburger or similar. I think that was at the mad cow disease outbreak. Also I remember a couple of journalists being harrassed by the usa dairy lobby who managed to get control of the wording of legislation about quality of milk so they could ensure that people remained unaware of possible problems. The ‘What you don’t know, won’t hurt you’ approach. This was another scare, back a decade or two.
You can imagine how tough the usa lobby is when you hear Federated Farmers leaders like Don Nicholson talking about farmers’ interests.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/693/134/Forensic_Evidence_Emerges_that_European_E.Coli_Superbug_was_Bioengineered_to_Produce_Human_Fatalities.html
according to some very smart people, including the Koch Institute mentioned above, Mother Nature simply does not work in the manner the Bankers would like us to believe. No naturally occuring process can achieve this level of resistance complexity and then magically appear simulaneously in multiple links on the food chain. It does not happen, not without a concerted level of assistance.
The very complex questions, often have very simple answers.
What a load of BS. Bacteria such as E. coli typically acquire multidrug resistance via horizontal gene transfer from other bacteria, and not via multiple rounds of selection. And bacterial contamination is easy spread given the right conditions (and of course that all the cases are linked to a single country anyway). Mother nature is not benevolent.
And the theory of how the strain was ‘engineered’ is just as dumb. If I was going to engineer a deadly strain of bacteria, it wouldn’t be via that method.
Just another kick in the guts for what is left of New Zealand’s heavy engineering industry.
This is shocking. But this Government prefers to purchase Chinese workers and have our own as unemployed on the street and on the dole because it is more “efficient”.
Loyalty to a company never amounts to anything. The directors/owners ask for it all the time but never extend it themselves.
And yes, this act is just another way that NAct are undermining our economy.
I dont think we should be suprised about this one. And we shouldnt blame the current administration.
This has been happening for about the past 25 years or so, with NZR, TranzRail and then Toll running down the railway workshops, that provided NZ with a lot of skill, expertise and engineering infrastructure for the past century or so. Eastown, Otahuhu, Addington (now replaced by a shopping mall), all gone, and Hutt, along with Hillside, running at a fraction of its orginal capacity.
If you want to blame anyone for this, blame Richard Prebble. He was the one who stripped NZR to the bone for it to be flogged off.
NZ has been going down the wrong road for a very long time.
Yep and, unfortunately, neither of the two main parties are willing to change the direction just yet. One because of the ideology – they actually want NZ to go the wrong way because it directly benefits them and they don’t care what it does to everyone else. The other doesn’t seem to want to admit that it got it wrong three decades ago and some of them even want to continue going the wrong way as well.
Choice: A) Wrong way or b) Wrong way with conditions.
Not really all that appertising and none of the minor parties are talking about the necessary changes needed to make us sustainable/more egalatarian either. They’re sayijg that’s what they want but not how to go about doing it.
Some thoughts on religion, the good, the bad and the ugly.
The good ideas and ideals from religion can get dereailed after the ambitious and the fanatical and the dogmatic pedants and the supernaturally moral (in theory) get their hold on it and find a hopefully, comfortable position within it and a hopefully decent income and elevated position in society. It’s true that men have dominated in the past, but in the Catholic church some of the nuns have been remarkably bold in setting up an Order in a new place. And Anglican nuns as well I think. The belief of a woman in the goodness of Christ and his life as a shining example to follow led her into an adventurous and strenuous life. Read about Gladys Aylward in The Small Woman by Alan Burgess. Often comes up on Trademe. Religion has been a comfort, a scourge, a challenge. Here is a link I’ve got – can’t remember exactly what’s on it. http://www.bdcconline.net/en/stories/a/aylward-gladys.php
And if you are a leftie then you will have heard of The Tolpuddle Martyrs – basically one family of godly men who started the farm union movement in southern England, got punished by being sent as convicts to Australia, and by popular acclaim of British crowds who supported them, were pardoned and allowed back to England. It was their Methodism that kept them sane in their souls, and gave them strength to endure the very nasty privations they bore.
For the rest of us, it is sometimes just comfortable to front up and gabble the responses, kneel and rise if that’s how they do it in Rome, sing a few good songs, and hopefully be better people for a while. There are worse things than meeting with others who have shared beliefs in trying to be kind and think of others before ourselves sometimes. But as M says in the blog for Key’s Destiny it doesn’t last beyond Sunday morning for some people.
Nice one prism and I don’t down people for having faith having being raised a Catholic but I don’t like it where religion is misused to keep people down, for example Joseph Ratzinger aka God’s policeman describing homosexuals as backyard mongrels.
As a teenager it began to chafe the way I saw women very much in the background with their worth seeming to be in motherhood or the religious life instead of the human flawed beings like their male counterparts.
I’m lapsed for many years now but take with me the social justice aspect of my upbringing and try to effect change where I can or speak out in defence of those under nasty yokes and I think many other lapsers do too.
Don’t have a problem with people being churchgoers or talking about their faith as I have friends from all over the spectrum from hardened atheists to the most ardent believers and when faith or religion is put to use for the good like say the sisters of the Home of Compassion I’m their most vehement supporter.
My old Grandmother – a life-long Athiest and left-wing Labour Party activist – always said Lapsed Catholics made the best, most passionate, most committed Lefties.
Agreed swordfish. My grandmother had a picture of Jesus Christ the sacred heart on one side of her mantlepiece and Micky Savage on the other. Both pictures were about the same size and of an identical height!
May i suggest that lapsed Catholics make good lefties because the good hearts of these people were still beating after realising the Church was one big lie and they really really wanted to believe that there is a way for Humans to help each other live a better life without the endless deference to greed and brutality
I have come to believe that I had a huge advantage by being raised by parents who were atheist and agnostic/apathetic.. (although afaik they didn’t stay that way.) I didn’t learn anything about God/religion/church until I was 19. I started as a fundamentalist, and have become an Anglo-Catholic.
) It just makes me completely exhausted to see all the same old techniques – the old assertiveness training ‘broken record’ is a favourite…. Sadly, so is citing the most rage-inducing quotes, without sources, and then when the sources are tracked down, turns out to have been something interpreted very creatively! Having the same problem convincing Americans that Admadinejad never said he wanted to nuke Israel, not even ‘wipe it off the map’ – I can’t understand why lefties are quite happy to use right wing techniques such as mis-quoting, etc against we religious… 
I’ve heard that Benedict said that, but I’d like ‘chapter and verse’, simply because from what I know of him (which was nothing, until recently my dear beloved Italian teacher, sent me his latest book as a Christmas present) it does not sound like the sort of thing he would say! When I am not here, I spend far too long on ATS, talking about politics which is fine, and ‘debating’ with atheists, which is not – because said atheists are much more into personal abuse than all but a few here (you know who you are!
More Questions Than Answers
Yesterday, the Green Party co-leader Dr Russel Norman asked the Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key a number of pertinent questions concerning Ministers receiving “corporate hospitality.” As usual John Key was evasive and did not answer appropriately continuing to obfuscate and deliberately withhold relevant information. The current Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith then protected John Key by implementing procedural trivialities in an appalling display of arrogance that perverted Parliamentary justice from being served.
Easy street, insulated by their wealth, are up in arms over loss of free weather reports for pilots.
Unlike boaties, rock anglers, etc, anyone, who can jump off anywhere to get on the ocean, not just anyone can jump in a plane, or hellicopter.
What exactly were they thinking when they thought cuts would be on the poor singularly?
What did they understand to mean back office cuts and privatization?
Of course it would mean less generosity towards their luxuries hobbies.
What comes around goes around, we can be generous, grow the economy by providing incentives in real growth rather than exporting people, profits and future opportunities.
Capital farming is an attack on capitalism, since it rewards those with massive wealth to keep it and shut out new hard working citizens entering their industry, or the home ownership club.
Oh, and when did free market come to mean free for all? Markets aren’t fair, uniform, unless well regulated by government and society. When the cultural norms break down in punishing criminals, and short cut takers, then government needs to step up its game rather than rush to join up with the government hands off driving.
Economic outlook is uncertain, but what is certain is energy will cost more, transport cost will rise.
Ugh I just found WhaleOil. I need to go and scrub myself now. I feel dirty.
I recommend paumice and hospital strength disinfectant.
And beer and whisky. Then go and deliver 500 pamphlets and erect 10 billboards and you will feel better …
That reminds me… I’ve been meaning to tell everyone that DF has reinstalled his LSO cookie.
The best way to combat it is to install Better Privacy and restart your browser each time you visit Kiwibog. Whaleoil has also recently implemented the technology on his site.
You can learn a little bit more about the DF LSO in this Jackal blog post.
ugh, feel your pain, I did the same a couple of days ago. Still de-Oiling.
I read this extract from Hansard (dated 7-6-11) on Red Alert a few minutes ago.It was posted by Trevor M.under “Late Play Annie to the Leader of the National Party.” It was about the contract given to Parents Inc not being put out for tender.
“Hon Annette King: What evidence and scientific advice did he seek before agreeing to allocate $2.4 million to Parents Inc. for a parenting programme that even the Minister for Social Development and Employment said she had neither sought nor received advice on, or was she carrying out his promise that he made before the election that he would make sure that Parents Inc. got money?
Rt Hon JOHN KEY: Members will accept that, as Prime Minister, I am not responsible for the allocation of that contract; that actually goes through the Ministry of Social Development. But I would say I have seen that Toolbox; I have seen the programme. In my opinion it is a very, very successful programme that is helping New Zealand parents, and we do need to help parents in New Zealand.”
Is there not something very wrong about this? John Key did not deny that he had made a promise before the election! More arbitrary government from Mr.’if i ruled the world,forget democratic procedures’ K.ey? Is this not similar to PEDA and Bill English the budget before last, or perhaps worse as it was promised bfore the election?
In Britain, arbitrary government under Charles 1,caused a civil war and Charles, thinking he had “divine right” as king to make decisions off the top off his head, lost said head to the executioner(1649). At least in the case of Charles he was leader and king, but Mr. Key apparently made a promise before he became leader! How many other promises did he make and why? And he often makes decicisions of his head.
According to Speake’s rules, if there is more than one question asked in Question Time, the minister or PM addressed only needs to answer one. So the fact that Key didn’t answer the question on promises, doesn’t mean he DID make a promise. He just chose to answer the first question.
But if the answer was in the negative then Mr Key would have said so, and thus closed off the issue. To avoid answering does increase the possibility that Key made a promise that was outside the tendering rules. Unlawful? But Key can do that because who can stop him. And the MSM are not going to question the ethics of it are they?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5120337/Reserve-Bank-keeps-official-cash-rate-steady
We don’t need no stinkin sub-editors.
Isn’t it all done out of Aussie now? Or not done as the case may be…
Still there as I write this btw…
I’ve noticed a lot of epic spelling mistakes on Stuff lately. They’re probably employing some minimum wage slave who’s in constant fear of being fired before 90 days is up. It would be their style.
That’s the efficiency gain of privatisation the NACTs want to bring to the public sector, I guess…
A Fairfax exec told me a couple of years ago that the occasional payoff to an accidentally libelled member of the public was still going to be cheaper than employing subbies. He wasn’t sure that they had an obligation to always be accurate anyway, but he did reckon they were obliged to correct their mistakes, but only if they were pointed out to them.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1106/S00142/new-parole-board-appointments-announced.htm
So, are these people objective judges of individual’s right to regain some freedom or just rightwing ringins this government has put in place to control people?
An excellent question Jum.
For the first time in a while, the latest Morgan poll shows a major shift – to the opposition:
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2011/4675/
What’s significant here is that the overall confidence rating hasn’t changed, but party vote preferences have. So that “disconnect” (i.e. people not happy but supporting status quo) has been reduced. Good.
I wouldn’t read much into the minor party results – Morgan has always been funny on those. But overall, it’s encouraging for those (like me!) who had started to give up on under-performing Labour.
I’m still gonna vote Green though.
heh. That would be an interesting parliament. Act potentially out, Mana in.
Yep, that’s a good result for the left. A nominal 7 point gap between Team Key and the opposition, the smallest it’s been since the start of the year. Factor in the likely electoral neutering of ACT and the maori party and it’s getting down to a seat or three. Continuous job losses, a moribund economy and no fucken idea what to do about either are starting to kill Key’s chances in November. And did I mention Kiwisaver and asset sales?
Interesting that Tariana Turia was all over the news today bigging up Darren Hughes. A olive branch of sorts to Labour?
9.5% undecided. Up 2%. That may be a good sign for the Opposition too as maybe a few are not so sure about the Nacts.
Newsflash
~ ~ In Search of 170,000 jobs ~ ~
Fantastic! John Key’s Government has overexceeded his aspirational bullshit and is now taking up residence in political fantasy islands:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5123165/Ministry-unsure-about-Budgets-job-promise
It gets even better – “the Budget” is an organism separate and independent from the Government as Acting (good actor?) Economic Decimation, erm, Development Minister David Carter told the commerce select committee today he was not aware that any analysis had been done …
“Bear in mind the Government hasn’t said it will create the 170,000 new jobs – the Budget said there will be 170,000 jobs,” he said.
The Budget said. The Government hasn’t said. The Budget said. The Government hasn’t said.
Oh yes yes yes, we understand.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5123165/Ministry-unsure-about-Budgets-job-promise
Time to blame the peasants and boy sells kidney to buy iPad – gotta love Max Keiser:
At the risk of saying something unpopular for me, this was a bit of a WTF moment
The heritage advisor for Auckland’s main iwi hadn’t heard of an inner-city taniwha before yesterday, but he says the point about consultation over the CBD Rail Link project is valid.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10731219
I am sorry but the last time I remember hearing about a Taniwha was a few years ago, and it caused all sorts of problems. But this one, is one, that few people seem to have heard of.
But it’s very handy for Steven Joyce, who we all know is so in favour of the Britomart rail link, NOT
http://www.imperatorfish.com/2011/06/guest-post-from-horotiu-taniwha.html
I imagine the right’s silence over this issue would be quite deafening, simply because that the ‘taniwha’ lies in the path of a railway line, not a road.