Open mike 10/08/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 10th, 2011 - 61 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

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Step right up to the mike…

61 comments on “Open mike 10/08/2011 ”

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  1. Bored 1
    10 August 2011 at 6:47 am

    Great commentary from a lady stuck in a house in the middle of the London riots.

    http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-08-09/panic-streets-london

    She makes the telling point “Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up in a community where there are no jobs, no space to live or move, and the police are on the streets stopping-and-searching you as you come home from school. The people who do will be waking up this week in the sure and certain knowledge that after decades of being ignored and marginalised and harassed by the police, after months of seeing any conceivable hope of a better future confiscated, they are finally on the news.”

    • Morrissey 1.1
      10 August 2011 at 9:28 am

      “Most of the people who will be writing, speaking and pontificating about the disorder this weekend have absolutely no idea…”

      Did you hear Deborah Hill Cone blithering about this yesterday on Jim Mora’s “The Panel”? She was full of scorn for the idea that there were any problems in London or in Great Britain: “What social issues are they protesting about? I didn’t know there WERE any social issues. ARE there social issues?”

      The other people in the studio—Jim Mora, Sharon Brett-Kelly and Bernard Hickey—all decided to stay silent and let her rave.

      But a little later, Hill Cone was at it again. “It’s all RELATIVE, isn’t it! These people in London are all so much better off than their parents were. They are all living comfortably.”

      Sharon Brett-Kelly couldn’t let that go on unanswered. “Oh, the conditions in many parts of London are bleak and many people feel hopeless and abandoned. I have lived there, and I know how desperate the people there are.” Bernard Hickey agreed with Sharon Brett-Kelly.

      Deborah Hill Cone could say nothing. She had no answer.

      It’s a pity these vacuous voices of the smug right and the far right are not challenged more often in this forthright manner.

      • Bored 1.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 3:46 pm

        I resent those fekkers using up my tax dollars up on their fat salaries at Radio NZ, Hill Cone can take a fly jump.

      • Vicky32 1.1.2
        10 August 2011 at 4:22 pm

        “What social issues are they protesting about? I didn’t know there WERE any social issues. ARE there social issues?”

        The woman is a fracking idiot!

        • Ianupnorth 1.1.2.1
          10 August 2011 at 4:40 pm

          +1 – especially when she wore those dumb specs. She was ranting about being stuck in Queenstown and having to drive to ChCh to get back to Auckland the other week – bless her cotton socks, at least she can afford a holiday in the snow!

    • uke 1.2
      10 August 2011 at 9:39 am

      Read an interesting book a while back: “Hooligan – A history of respectable fears” (by Geoffrey Pearson). He identifies a recurring history of disorder and riots in working class English areas, nearly always accompanied by middle-class panic, outrage, and hand-wringing in the newspapers, often waxing nostalgic about how people were so much better behaved twenty years earlier. The irony is that things were pretty much the same twenty years earlier, just the folk devils had a different name (skinheads, football hooligans, mods, teds, larrikans, cads and roughs, garroters etc.).
       
      Pearson’s point is that there has for centuries been a strong anti-police tradition in poor, working class English neighborhoods. It’s a class thing. But the media have nearly always defined it in terms of rampant criminality and moral decline. At this point in the London riots, the pattern seems to holding true.

      • Morrissey 1.2.1
        10 August 2011 at 9:58 am

        … the media have nearly always defined it in terms of rampant criminality and moral decline. At this point in the London riots, the pattern seems to holding true.

        The more bewildered commentators in the New Zealand media are repeating the same reactionary line. Here’s a selection of comments from yesterday…

        NewstalkZB: The Mike Hosking Breakfast—Hosking talks to TVNZ’s London correspondent Paul Hobbs, who is presumably paid to live in London so he can interpret the situation there with increased insight. If so, TVNZ should demand its money back…

        HOBBS: There’s nothing political about this at all! It’s just a sport for these young men!
        HOSKING: What are the reasons they’re giving for the rioting?
        HOBBS: There’s no rhyme or reason for any this. It’s just a SPORT!
        HOSKING: Have the police locked it down yet?

        NewstalkZB Eight to Midnight with Kerre Woodham…

        WOODHAM: Those little toe-rags. This is when I wish I was in the police! I’d love to turn a fire-hose on them! Those little TOE-RAGS!
        CALLER: I was talking to a friend of mine who knows what’s going on over there, and he says all this is because of the GIRL GANGS over there!
        WOODHAM: thoughtfully Hmmmmmm. That’s interesting. I had a caller earlier on who said it was the EASTERN EUROPEAN GANGS who are organizing it all.
        CALLER: There’s nothing spontaneous at all about these riots. It’s all highly structured.
        WOODHAM: Those little TOE-RAGS…

        • Carol 1.2.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 10:07 am

          Lisa Owen on TVNZ7 news last night was going on about how people couldn’t be rioting because of austerity as they were taking all kinds of non-essential consumer items (especially the latest and most pricey electronic goods eg plasma TVs and laptops). She seemed to miss the significance of any class war angle, or of the significance of the focus of much looting – ie on the artefacts of a rampant consumer society.

          • Morrissey 1.2.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 10:16 am

            She seemed to miss the significance of any class war angle, or of the significance of the focus of much looting – ie on the artefacts of a rampant consumer society.

            I don’t think she misses the significance of it. I think—in fact I know—that she routinely self-censors. She knows it’s unacceptable to give any sort of political analysis. Everything is devoid of context, devoid of history. Riots just happen, and all the people in them are “toe-rags”.

            Lisa Owen, Kerre Woodham, Mike Hosking and Paul Hobbs do not lack brains or understanding. What they lack is the courage to state what they and everybody else knows to be the truth.

        • uke 1.2.1.2
          10 August 2011 at 10:19 am

          Yeah, that’s classic. Same dynamics playing out. “Girl Gangs”, ha.
           
          The Independent seems to partly get it: “There is a context of mistrust of the police here. After the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, the police allowed false reports that the Brazilian had been wearing a bulky coat and had run from officers to circulate without contradiction. And after the 2009 death of Ian Tomlinson, the police denied that the newspaper vendor had been pushed by an officer. It was only when a video emerged showing that this was the case that the police admitted the truth.”

    • William Joyce 1.3
      10 August 2011 at 12:03 pm

      People shouldn’t assign a single motive to these rioters.
      Undoubtedly there are people who want to breakout against their circumstances by opposing police and destroying property.
      Equally, there are people who want to similarly breakout but they have respect for people and the effort they are making to put food on their own tables, and so do not destroy business and homes.
      There are those who feel the pressure of a consumer society to gain status through possessions but who for too long have not been able to afford them and so they loot the shops to get them.
      There are others who feel the same status pressure but choose not to loot from other worker and their by create more victims.
      There are those who loot because they are organised by under world characters.
      There are people who burn a building for no other reason than they want to break a taboo, get a buzz from it, and film it on their cell phone to up load to youtube, and in the mean time some poor person has lost their home, or their job, their income, their possessions, their means to get to work.
      There are those who want to be part of a celebrity event and don’t care who gets hurt.
       
      Traditionally events like this are cannibalistic. They eat their own community.
      If they were really serious about “protesting” in equality and class oppression then they should target the rich, their institutions, their wealth.
       

      • Adele 1.3.1
        10 August 2011 at 11:18 pm

        His-story tells us that eventually the disaffected will attack the source of their great frustrations, whatever they may be, and the privileged, in whatever capacity, will become the stretched neck of inequity.

    • aerobubble 2.1
      10 August 2011 at 11:12 am

      I’ve lived in London during bombings, riots, and never did they spread from city to city, suburb to surburb. Now sure there are always going to be a group of youngster hanging around waiting for trouble, especially with the contempt the boomers level at them, and add to the contempt of politicians who hate the poor and unemployed (who are also citizens), but when the economics of theft and fraud, stealing billions of unaccountantable bonuses while laying down decades of social, fiscal, and ecological debts, then it would surprised me if the riots had not have happened, but hey heinsight is easy. The media is doing a good job of trying to make this into a youth problem, avoiding talking about why everyone should be on the streets, and misdirecting the debate because the Police are obviously stretched and always on the back foot as technology keeps the rioters one step ahead.

      But hey we have been here before, before radio riots and social uprisings would march through london to parliament and they were really angry. So we might be seeing a power change back to mobs and citizens brought on technology. so beware the future, not so may apathetic citizens.
      Politicians had to do much better to keep the London mobs at bay, will have to.

  4. jackal 4
    10 August 2011 at 9:32 am

    The Stream

    I make no bones about this post being a plug for a TV program. In fact I give it the Jackal’s tick of approval and full endorsement. Covering current affairs with a focus on human rights, The Stream digs out priceless bits of info from the WWW. If you’re a blogger or political commentator, The Stream is a must watch program…

    • Carol 4.1
      10 August 2011 at 9:59 am

      Actually, I tend to switch off when it comes on in the morning, and switch to RNZ. I’m developing a resistance to people enthusing over the latest e-/Internet development – been seeing it since the mid 90s. But in fact, AJ covers enough of the important news in the NewsHour and other morning shows.

    • Chris 5.2
      10 August 2011 at 10:03 am

      Her best policy is too build a bridge from Australia to NZ.

      Or she has one to relocate Christchurch to Albany…

      Edit: I notice those particular policies didn’t make her list. Must have been talked out of them

    • joe90 5.3
      10 August 2011 at 10:03 am

      A strange person indeed but hardly a RWNJ and more a very sad person who’s best ignored.

    • millsy 5.4
      10 August 2011 at 11:41 am

      She’s been around since about 2004-05.

      I think she hit the headlines for appearing in a porn magazine while saying she wanted to be PM one day.

      I recall crossing swords with her on studentz.co.nz before it merged into varsity.co.nz

      Her policies are all over the place.

    • Vicky32 5.5
      10 August 2011 at 5:17 pm

      Does anyone know who this RWNJ is?

      No, but she has the same name as a Doctor Who character! 😀

    • felix 5.6
      10 August 2011 at 6:00 pm

      My friend flatted with her when she was doing Steve Crow’s “Porn Idol” or whatever it was called, she’s a very sad individual indeed.

      It’s all about being famous, and what she’s famous for isn’t even a consideration. Politics is just the latest attempt in a long line of attempts at being recognised.

      Just as she wasn’t singing before she decided to “be a singer”, she probably didn’t have any political ideas before she decided to “be a politician”.

      She should be running for National really.

      • grumpy 5.6.1
        10 August 2011 at 7:36 pm

        Jesus F Christ – have you seen those pictures?????

        I thought she would still be in hiding.

      • Bored 5.6.2
        10 August 2011 at 9:49 pm

        Pray Felix if she was to run for National how would we tell her apart from Maggie in the next Auckland power outage? Two faintly female forms in the gloaming and some mindless high pitched meandering right wing diatribe…..

  6. john 6
    10 August 2011 at 10:19 am

    i was reading her facebook post she says she is far right wing

  8. The Peak Oil Poet 8
    10 August 2011 at 12:41 pm

    when i was a kid i bred mice to sell to pet shops – until the fashion changed from coloured mice to white mice

    left with tea chests full of mice i could not kill (being a budding Buddhist) i just kept feeding them and supplying them with the strips of torn up newspaper they used for nesting – and of course the daily task of cleaning their converted tea-chests

    one day things changed – mice started eating their babies, buggering their peers, and generally going mad

    ’til i had to let them go (in the local bush) or watch them all die

    population density – not measured in humans per square mile but in fear and despair per square politician – is what causes all societal breakdown

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/london-bridge-is-falling-down-tpop.html

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/peak-people.html

    and for fun

    http://thepeakoilpoet.blogspot.com/2011/08/great-australian-poem.html

    tPoP

  9. freedom 9
    10 August 2011 at 1:13 pm

    meanwhile your right to a fair and honest trial slips further out of reach as we are left to trust the Maori Party and Act to save what is left of our Justice System
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5421373/Govt-works-to-shore-up-support-for-justice-bill

    • Bored 9.1
      10 August 2011 at 1:31 pm

      The main parts of the article are summed up in these paragraphs…

      The Criminal Procedure (Reform and Modernisation) Bill aims to save about $25 million over five years by freeing up 450 court days each year.

      It introduces measures such as allowing courts to proceed in the absence of a defendant who does not have a reasonable excuse and reserving jury trials for the most serious and complex cases

      In other words your right to be tried by your peers, and in person go west (Power seems intent on chucking away centuries of legal practiice and precedent such as habeus corpus). This is all in the name of efficiency and cost savings….justice denied in the face of the dollar.

      Now where are all those good libertarians? This should be something they are up in arms about.

      • Bored 9.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 9:52 pm

        Jeez, 8 hours later and not one RWNJ appears to care about their personal liberties……Simon Power, you are free to lock the buggers up. Seeya Gos and TS…..

  10. Carol 10
    10 August 2011 at 1:27 pm

    Opportunist crimes should be punished:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/5421331/Britains-most-wanted-Looters-tried-on-shoes-in-rampage

    Police in London have released images of the “most wanted” suspects behind the ransacking of the English capital as stories emerge of the incredible behaviour of emboldened looters.

    But I also think an equivalent approach would be to release images of the Most Wanted for pillaging the potential & necessary income for the least well-off in diverse countries.

    • uke 10.1
      10 August 2011 at 3:23 pm

      Yeah, how about some of those hedge fund managers.
       
      Apparently there has not been a single charge laid yet over the post-2008 financial collapse in the US. Compare with the 1980s Savings and Loan scandals in which hundreds of bankers were convicted and that was only around a paltry US$140 billion total fraud.

      • KJT 10.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 5:13 pm

        When are people like Roger Douglas, Prebble, Ruth Richardson, Faye Richer rail and Don Brash going to be charged for the money they have cost us over the last few decades.

        “Steal a million you get a knighthood, Steal $100 you are put in jail”.

  11. Ianupnorth 11
    10 August 2011 at 4:51 pm

    Is there any other band wagon this prat would like to jump on?
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10744212

    Prime Minister John Key has called on adidas to admit it had overpriced All Blacks jerseys in New Zealand and “fix” its mistake.

    Can I ask said Prime Minister to admit he has under taxed the rich and ‘fix’ his governments mistakes?

  13. logie97 13
    10 August 2011 at 5:40 pm

    Nice to see the Mum’s and Dad’s investors have been playing the stock market again over the last couple of days. Surprise, surprise, all the losses have been recovered.
    Same goes for the foreign currency traders. Who do these money-men think they are kidding. Let’s talk up a storm because we know we are going to be able to cash in on it any day soon…

    Meanwhile life for the masses goes on as usual – shafted again.

  14. Vicky32 14
    10 August 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Nice to hear 3 News bashing Sue Bradford and letting Petulant Bean have her say about the ‘massive fraud committed by beneficiaries” in the form of ‘over-payments’ although (was it Gower, I believe so?) did mutter quickly that most of the breath-taking amount was caused by WINZ staff messing up – as I can attest! I declare income, they forget to charge it, then when they ‘discover’ it, it’s added to my breath-taking debt. (There wouldn’t be a debt, if they did what they were supposed to do when I declare income… 🙁 )

    • Lanthanide 14.1
      10 August 2011 at 6:31 pm

      Since WINZ are obviously so incompetent at paying you the correct amount of money, why don’t you work out what they should be paying you yourself? If they pay extra, put it in a bank account and don’t touch it (unless you need it for an emergency or something).

      Then when they want it paid back, it’s all sitting there, and may have got you a few extra dollars in interest, too.

      My sister and her boyfriend, while studying for Phds and doing clinical psychology, ended up knowing the student loan/student allowance rules better than the people in the office on campus did, just based on the numbers of times they got it wrong or told them something that was wrong. In the end they stopped going.

      • felix 14.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 6:39 pm

        Easy to say, Lanth, harder to do when you’re broke with bills to pay.

        Besides, why should she have to?

        • Jum 14.1.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 7:52 pm

          Yes Felix,

          WINZ get paid to get it right, but considering their numbers are being reduced as we speak what can we expect from a stressed out organisation.

          My question is: I wonder which party the WINZ social workers will vote for?

          Are they keen to bash the beneficiary along with Paula Bennett just because they see a few people doing the fraud bit or are they going to get rid of Bennett by considering the other beneficiaries that are actually real human beings enduring a financially hard time – a hard time, I might add, that anyone might experience.

          • logie97 14.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 8:00 pm

            Anyone know what the Petulant Bean’s work history is. How much of her adult life has she drawn her money from the public purse in one way or another – of course, a princely chunk now that she is a Minister of the Crown. Has she no conscience?

      • Vicky32 14.1.2
        11 August 2011 at 3:40 pm

        Yes, I did manage after a lot of trying, to apply, but you’ve missed my point, which is that your technology fails more often than not!
        I will continue to try to contact your ‘clients’ to point this out. They should not be paying you when your service is so poor!

        You’ve missed the point, Lanth.. They didn’t pay me ‘extra’! I rang up as I am supposed to do, to ‘declare earnings’. They’re supposed to reduce or cancel the following week’s payment depending on how much I earned. 
        At least one woman didn’t know how to do that, or so I was told when I rang days later to ask why it hadn’t been done. Instead, she’d added the payment she should have reduced, to my debt. Another woman said “Oh, I’ll just add it to your debt then”, and I protested, saying “No, you have plenty of time to adjust my next payment” and she said something like “Meh, no, adding it to your debt is easier”.
        This angers me so greatly, because many of us were told at a job seminar, that having a debt (or even having had one!) disqualifies us from applying for any government job. I think that’s a new thing, only since PB has been Minister, as under Labour they had no policy against hiring “bennies”. (It reminds me of what I learned during my brief sojourn on ATS : in the USA, almost all employers advertising vacancies state that they will not accept applications from anyone who is not currently employed! If that comes oin here, and it’s starting to, it may be necessary to stretch the truth – as I have in fact done, pretending casual work is permanent…)

    • Campbell Larsen 14.2
      10 August 2011 at 8:26 pm

      Totally agree – the rules and WINZ admin re part time work and income need to be improved. Days worked and day paid can differ and support differs depending on which is taken as the basis for an income evaluation. Both methods create inequities and the whole thing is as clear as mud. IMO it should be administered in conjunction with IRD on a no fault basis. Any debts on part time work should be interest free and calculated quarterly using the kindest measure (one which creates the least debt) and then repaid gradually out of benefit or income or both.
      WINZ has shown itself to be incapable of operating the system it designed and yet wants to prosecute individuals. There is a better way.

      • freedom 14.2.1
        10 August 2011 at 10:04 pm

        the removal of secondary income tax would be a start. That is a dinosaur from a different era and only hurts current employment options. It not only restricts the options for those under WINZ but everyday working people are also harmed by it. Many many people need two or three jobs to get by these days and secondary tax is a vehicle that needs a new WOF. We have a fully adequate range of tax rates to fairly accommodate the income tax generated. Secondary Income Tax is a pecuniary punishment.

  15. millsy 15
    10 August 2011 at 6:22 pm

    Well folks, just heard on TV3 today that John Key is going to announce welfare reforms at the National conference this weekend.

    Hang onto your hats folks, its going to be one hell of a ride….

  16. Jum 16
    10 August 2011 at 7:31 pm

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1108/S00272/police-and-air-force-training-exercise-in-auckland.htm

    wow – it could also be training to rescue John Key when people try to tell him what they think of him selling off our assets.

  17. Oscar 17
    10 August 2011 at 8:30 pm

    Disgusting that we may have to pay to visit our third biggest island. What’s the actual purpose of this bill? It’s not like Rakiura is 100% Conservation land. If it was, I could understand.

  18. jackal 18
    10 August 2011 at 9:47 pm

    National Challenges NZ to Riot

    During a Parliamentary debate today, National MP Chris Tremain made a number of inaccurate statements that were clearly designed to limit National’s responsibility for any negative consequences due to budget cuts. What made me cringe was this statement…

    • felix 18.1
      10 August 2011 at 10:07 pm

      Unsurprising. Chris “Dennis Plant” Tremain’s primary qualification is his Dad’s rugby playing.

      • Morrissey 18.1.1
        10 August 2011 at 10:23 pm

        Chris “Dennis Plant” Tremain’s primary qualification is his Dad’s rugby playing.

        Don’t forget his ability to put on a serious face as he poses as a backdrop to John Key in parliament. He’s learned how to nod assent every now and again, just to show that he’s listening…

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvNK7kHuM7c

        • felix 18.1.1.1
          10 August 2011 at 10:27 pm

          Ha! Yeah the pair of them are like a couple of nodding dogs on the back shelf of Key’s limo.

          • jackal 18.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2011 at 11:05 pm

            It’s no wonder NZ is on the slide then with that level of “intelligence” in power. My favorite from his speech today was:

            “There were a number of economists, actually more than a number…”

            This is who you voted into power New Zealand. Wake the fuck up!

    • Jum 18.2
      10 August 2011 at 11:02 pm

      Jackal,

      Paul Hutchison said that about Franklin – no marching in the streets meant no one cared about having their local government assets stolen by Rodney Hide and their democracy removed by this government. There was a protest when Key went to a posh luncheon there with business interests that would have included the promise of even cheaper labour to decrease their expenses and maximise their profits. But it wasn’t a march down the street. This is NActMU’s Plan – enforce a police state because nobody protests. Their plan is progressing well.

      Nobody is marching in the streets. New Zealanders are too busy trying to survive in 2 or 3 jobs to waste their energy on protesting; NActMU knows this. That is why they’re trying it on in Parliament. By the time New Zealanders do realise that marching in the street is all that’s left to them, it will be too late. It has always been too late, every time National have ruined the economy; everything will have been sold, and Kiwis’ sovereignty traded away.

  19. Morrissey 19
    10 August 2011 at 10:06 pm

    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
    Norman Finkelstein’s website is under attack by China Israel

    Norman Finkelstein, one of the leading American intellectuals and a widely admired political dissident, has been banned from Israel. Now the Israeli government is trying to sabotage his excellent and popular website.

    How much simpler if he was just another of those Palestinian untermenschen. Then they could simply kill him, or arrest him as a “terrorist”…

    http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/

    NORMANFINKELSTEIN.COM WEB ATTACKS UPDATE.

    Recently the official website for Norman Finkelstein has come under various web attacks. We are currently trying to address the attacks. Unfortunately, while we are trying to address the issue, new posts will be delayed until a permanent solution is found.

    Thank you for your comments and concerns. Please visit back frequently or sign up to the mailing list (left side bar) in order to receive an update to the situation.

    Normanfinkelstein.com web team.

  20. just saying 20
    10 August 2011 at 11:15 pm

    THE GOVERNMENT TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT’S CHANGING THE FLAG TO A CONDOM, BECAUSE IT MORE ACCURATELY REFLECTS THE GOVERNMENT’S POLITICAL STANCE. A CONDOM ALLOWS FOR INFLATION, HALTS PRODUCTION, DESTROYS THE NEXT GENERATION, PROTECTS A BUNCH OF DICKS, & GIVES YOU A SENSE OF SECURITY WHILE UR ACTUALLY BEING SCREWED

    A friend sent me this. Don’t know if it has been posted here before.
    We sure as fuck are being screwed.

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  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago

  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 days ago

  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 days ago

  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    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 ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Sanity break
    Cheers to reader Deane for this quote from Breakfast TV today:Chloe Swarbrick to Brook van Velden re the coalition agreement: “... an unhinged grab-bag of hot takes from your drunk uncle at Christmas”Cheers also to actual Prime Minister of a country Christopher Luxon for dorking up his swearing-in vows.But that's enough ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • National’s murderous smoking policy
    One of the big underlying problems in our political system is the prevalence of short-term thinking, most usually seen in the periodic massive infrastructure failures at a local government level caused by them skimping on maintenance to Keep Rates Low. But the new government has given us a new example, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • NZ has a chance to rise again as our new government gets spending under control
    New Zealand has  a chance  to  rise  again. Under the  previous  government, the  number of New Zealanders below the poverty line was increasing  year by year. The Luxon-led government  must reverse that trend – and set about stabilising  the  pillars  of the economy. After the  mismanagement  of the outgoing government created   huge ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago

  • KARL DU FRESNE: Media and the new government
    Two articles by Karl du Fresne bring media coverage of the new government into considerations.  He writes –    Tuesday, November 28, 2023 The left-wing media needed a line of attack, and they found one The left-wing media pack wasted no time identifying the new government’s weakest point. Seething over ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • PHILIP CRUMP:  Team of rivals – a CEO approach to government leadership
    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    6 days ago

  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    7 days ago

  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    7 days ago

  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    7 days ago

  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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