Open Mike 10/12/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, December 10th, 2016 - 77 comments
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For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

77 comments on “Open Mike 10/12/2016 ”

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  1. Ffloyd 1
    10 December 2016 at 7:43 am

    Well golly gosh sweeties, it looks like PB might be our first Māori Dep P.M. according to something I read/heard somewhere. Can’t remember where. Such fun.

    They might have said ‘Māori woman DPM’. My interest was fleeting.

    • Carolyn_nth 1.1
      10 December 2016 at 8:31 am

      Well all the news reports point to Bennett leading in the number of Nat MPs who support her for DPM.

      EG

      NZ Herald

      • Kiwiri 1.1.1
        10 December 2016 at 8:54 am

        She will be running as the PM elect for GE17 while Bill remains the undertaker caretaker PM.

        Be warned – natz will frame the race for the top job as between the first Maori female PM versus [fill in derogatory generalised characteristics of Andrew Little].

        • Cinny 1.1.1.1
          10 December 2016 at 9:02 am

          according to Whale Blubber there is much dirt on PB. I thought Winny had been deputy PM before and doesn’t he have Maori ancestry? I hate race or sex based bias, best person for the job is what we all need, and PB is not it.

      • Nick 1.1.2
        10 December 2016 at 9:00 am

        Being a Maori and a woman doesn’t mean she’s a good anything…… She’s a Bullshit cold person in my assessment, regardless of her ethnicity or genetics…..

        • Carolyn_nth 1.1.2.1
          10 December 2016 at 9:08 am

          She seemed to be a caring person early in her political life. First she was focused on the welfare of others. It seems that after she got a taste of the power of politics, her focus on the welfare of others diminished.

          Wikipedia

          Bennett moved to Auckland in 1992[5] where she worked in a rest home, first as a dishwasher and then as a nurse aide. She began studying social work at the Albany campus of Massey University in 1994.[4] She became the welfare officer of the Massey University at Albany Students’ Association, then, in 1996, the president, which gave her a taste for politics. She dropped the social work component to her course, leaving simply social policy,[4] graduating with a BA.

          Power and ambition can do that to people.

          • Incognito 1.1.2.1.1
            10 December 2016 at 11:01 am

            She might well be the first DPM wearing leopard print and changing her spots, or maybe not …

    • Anne 1.2
      10 December 2016 at 9:05 am

      Maori communities up and down the country are choking with laughter delighted to hear Ms Bennett will be representing them as NZ’s first Maori Deputy Prime Minister.

      • Carolyn_nth 1.2.1
        10 December 2016 at 9:16 am

        kinda like most UK feminists’ response to Thatcher as representing female empowerment -then Theresa May.

        Maggie-May – not what feminism is about.

      • Ffloyd 1.2.2
        10 December 2016 at 10:41 am

        I suppose what I was trying to say that apparently she is only 1 /8th Māori but is held up as a success for maoridom. I have never seen her embrace her Māori ancestry but now it is her point of difference. To be honest I find her appalling with her giggling and golly goshes, lack of anything approaching intelligence and am ticked off that she is even being considered. But I am sure she has earned it by taking on any position he wanted her in, this will be her reward. Another embarrassing NZ ‘powerful’ (lol) individual on the ‘world stage’.

  2. chris73 2
    10 December 2016 at 8:05 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/87405281/duncan-garner-bitter-bill-and-the-day-our-next-prime-minister-lost-the-plot

    English versus Andrew Little. It’s all a bit underwhelming, isn’t it? At least we’ve found that cure for insomnia.

    Posted without comment 🙂

    • JanM 2.1
      10 December 2016 at 12:22 pm

      I think that was hilarious coming from one of the most underwhelming broadcasters in the known universe – he he

      • Morrissey 2.1.1
        10 December 2016 at 12:36 pm

        Garner’s braindead “criticism” reminds me of a decade ago, when the even less impressive Colin Espiner claimed that a Labour cabinet minister lacked “the wherewithal” to do the job.

  3. Paul 3
    10 December 2016 at 8:22 am

    We could learn from Sweden.

    Sweden’s recycling is so revolutionary, the country has to import rubbish from other countries to keep its recycling plants going. What lessons can we learn, asks Hazel Sheffield

    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/sweden-s-recycling-is-so-revolutionary-the-country-has-run-out-of-rubbish-a7462976.html

  4. Paul 4
    10 December 2016 at 8:27 am

    I think this provides sufficient evidence that we need a rail link to the airport.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11763930

    • Cinny 4.1
      10 December 2016 at 9:04 am

      even without reading the evidence, Auckland needs rail to the airport, that i agree with.

      • jcuknz 4.1.1
        10 December 2016 at 9:15 am

        A sad day in my life when flying into Portland [USA] was discovering there was a light rail connection to the city’s railway station and my sorrow that my party decided to use a taxi as that was cheaper. We were doing a ‘joy-trip’ on ‘The Northerner across to Chicago and got held up [ 17 hours ] by a tanker driver who tried to beat a train to a crossing … both were carrying fuel … mayhem! Melted the rails I gather .

    • Sanctuary 4.2
      10 December 2016 at 10:35 am

      The saddest part of that story is it is the perfect illustration of the modern Kiwi managerial mindset – deny there is a problem whilst simultaneously squabbling over whose fault it is with zero vision as to how to fix the problem which doesn’t exist and if it did it was the other agencies responsibility to address it.

      • Molly 4.3.1
        10 December 2016 at 11:15 am

        Just travelled on the Southern Line last week, and apart from the appalling design, timetable and cost, felt very safe. But unlikely to use again. 3 hours on public transport to get from just outside of Pukekohe to Sylvia Park. The cost 5 x what it is to drive and park and the quality of experience pretty low.

        South Auckland is often the forgotten part of AT despite the high population, and it has to deal with half-baked planning and pricing policies.

        If the created public services that were open, easy to use and of perceived value – both financially and of service – to their users, then the sense of ownership would go a long way to stopping wanton destruction. But none of the aesthetic planning or investment in PT seems to consider that.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.3.1.1
          10 December 2016 at 3:49 pm

          South Auckland is often the forgotten part of AT despite the high population, and it has to deal with half-baked planning and pricing policies.

          The CRL has a large part of addressing the poor service out south. Allowing throughput actually improves the service times.

          Pricing is ridiculous as they’re still trying to run it as a profit making service rather than as a critical government service. There should be no charge for using public transport. That said, having a nominal $1 charge per ride would allow them to gather the statistics needed to plan the service.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.4
      10 December 2016 at 1:41 pm

      The Auckland airport will not hire anyone that lives more than, IIRC, 3/4 of an hours drive away in rush hour traffic. That excludes most of Auckland.

      • alwyn 4.4.1
        10 December 2016 at 3:36 pm

        “3/4 of an hours drive away in rush hour traffic”.

        Are you sure about the “rush hour” bit?
        At the moment, with all the work on the roads going on in the area of the airport, that would mean they would have to live on the premises. Are they putting up barracks?

        • Draco T Bastard 4.4.1.1
          10 December 2016 at 3:44 pm

          Are you sure about the “rush hour” bit?

          Pretty sure. It’s been awhile since I even bothered to look at a job at the airport because of that requirement. I’m out of bounds.

  5. Paul 5
    10 December 2016 at 8:48 am

    Audrey Young is ok with Key having no vision.
    But then she’s not a journalist, just a cheerleader.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11763876

  6. Sanctuary 6
    10 December 2016 at 9:30 am

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11763876

    Ah, to be Audrey Young. Still lovin’ on Key, still totally shilling his tatty agenda (“…Getting rid of the wretched flag…” – Audrey would be the perfect remoaner in the UK), uncritical acceptance that the TPPA was a good thing, and the totally unjustified creation of a surveillance state is a good thing because it led to the “…modernization of New Zealand’s spy agencies…”

    What a dreadful partisan hack that woman is.

  8. joe90 8
    10 December 2016 at 10:31 am

    Trump administration prepares to purge government agencies with a questionnaire to identify anyone who attended UN climate change meetings or was involved with the current administration’s efforts to quantify the social cost of carbon dioxide.

    Happy now, Trumpets?.
    /

    .
    President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has asked the Energy Department to identify the employees who have worked on climate change, raising fears the incoming administration is planning an ideological “witch hunt” at the agency.

    […]

    Among the 74 questions in the document obtained by POLITICO that was sent to DOE earlier this week, two called for identifying the employees and contractors who worked on implementing the the Obama administration’s efforts to study and address climate change.

    One question asks for the names of staffers who attended any United Nations climate change conferences in the last five years. Another requests names of the personnel on any of the interagency working groups that crafted a “social cost of carbon,” a financial measurement that the Obama administration uses in rules to help calculate costs and benefits of some regulations.

    “Sounds like a freaking witch hunt,” one former DOE staffer said in an email.

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2016/12/trump-transition-wants-names-of-energy-department-staff-who-worked-on-climate-232424

    .

    btw, the Trump administration looks to be trying to spike any government funded R&D into clean-energy technologies, too.

    The transition team questions includes perfunctory requests to identify current advisory committees, pending procurement decisions and positions subject to Senate confirmation — information critical to ensuring the agency’s functions before and after Trump is sworn in.

    The document also signals which of the department’s agencies could face the toughest scrutiny under the new administration. Among them: the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, a 7-year-old unit that has been a critical instrument for the Obama administration to advance clean-energy technologies.

    Since going into operation in 2009, ARPA-E, as it is known, has provided about $1.3 billion in funding to more than 475 projects involving grid-scale batteries, power storage, biofuel production, wind turbines and other technology, according to a May report on the agency. Trump’s energy landing team is seeking “a complete list of ARPA-E’s projects” and wants information about the “Mission Innovation” and “Clean Energy Ministerial” efforts within the department.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-09/trump-team-s-memo-hints-at-broad-shake-up-of-u-s-energy-policy

  9. Morrissey 9
    10 December 2016 at 12:20 pm

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT.
    No. 4: Susan Baldacci and Jim Mora talk about “lack of empathy”
    The Panel, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 16 October 2013

    Jim Mora, Steve McCabe, Gordon McLauchlan, Susan Baldacci

    “‘Sincerity — if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.’—GEORGE BURNS

    JIM MORA: It’s quarter to four: time for Susan Baldacci and what the WOOOOOOORLD’s talking about!


    SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, first up is this modern phenomenon of giving children names that can contribute to them becoming narcissists.


    JIM MORA: Oh yes? Ha ha ha ha!

    
SUSAN BALDACCI: Jean Twenge, psychologist and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic, notes that a remarkable number of people have turned naming their babies into opportunities to show off — a sign of our culture’s increasing vanity.


    GORDON McLAUCHLAN: [sagely] Ha ha ha ha!


    STEVE McCABE: [thoughtfully] Hmmmmmm….


    SUSAN BALDACCI: Yes, there is an ever increasing incidence of names such as Messiah, King, Prince, Greatness. There are even sixteen girls called Beautifull—with two Ls.

    
JIM MORA: You’d have to be beautiful, with a name like that!


    SUSAN BALDACCI: Well it reflects a growing narcissism in society. You know, a lack of feeling, a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….

    At that point, I was simply unable to continue listening to the idle chatter any longer. I’m sure I was not the only one to pick up on the exquisite, canting hypocrisy of Ms. Baldacci’s words. Messrs McCabe and McLauchlan were too polite to mention it, but Susan Baldacci and Jim Mora are the last people in the country who should be pontificating about a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….

    https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16102013/#comment-711105

    Great Moments in Broadcasting. NOT is an occasional series highlighting some of the worst moments in our pretty shameful history of broadcasting mediocrity and downright failure.

  10. Peroxide Blonde 10
    10 December 2016 at 1:22 pm

    BBC bias? Many look to Fox News or CNN for examples of bias.

    The people of Scotland have a significant problem with the raw prejudice of the BBC.

    • Morrissey 10.1
      10 December 2016 at 2:15 pm

      The BBC is as crudely biased as Fox News. The difference is that Fox presenters are uncouth, whereas the BBC presenters have a patina of Oxbridge breeding.

    • Paul 10.2
      10 December 2016 at 3:47 pm

      Just watching this.
      Very interesting.

      The media is a big part of the problem in the UK, the US and here.

      • garibaldi 10.2.1
        10 December 2016 at 4:09 pm

        Not a big part, a huge part.

        • Paul 10.2.1.1
          10 December 2016 at 4:14 pm

          Yes, huge.
          This filmed helped to open my eyes on the subject.
          Now I do not trust a word the msm says.
          Owned by big finance and spouting big finance’s propaganda.

        • ropata 10.2.1.2
          11 December 2016 at 1:11 am

          See also … Pilger’s analysis of the media’s role in US propaganda & war machinations. Leading news anchors later admitted they failed in their duty to question the Bush/Blair BS about WMDs in Iraq, allowing a war that slaughtered hundreds of thousands.

  11. Chris 11
    10 December 2016 at 2:41 pm

    “It’s been a great contest of ideas this week.” Really? No it hasn’t. What fucking ideas? Yet another example of the utter shit that just keeps coming from Bennett’s mouth whenever she opens it. May they keep coming.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/87427846/paula-bennett-has-won-the-battle-for-deputy-prime-minister-and-will-team-up-with-bill-english

    • Red Hand 11.1
      10 December 2016 at 6:18 pm

      Any worker who still cares enough to accept lousy wages as nurse-aid in a rest home really needs to follow her example.

  12. The Chairman 12
    10 December 2016 at 3:10 pm

    According to Little, Labour are ready to go to the next election.

    Interestingly enough, it seems Labour’s Mt Roskill win has erased Labour’s memory of trailing in the polls.

    While Key leaving has no doubt improved Labour’s chances, the question is has it improved their chances enough for voters to now welcome Labour’s policy that they have so far largely rejected in the polls​ to date?

    Sure, it recently worked for Labour in Mt Roskill, but the Mt Roskill by-election is a different kettle of fish compared to a general election.

  13. The Chairman 13
    10 December 2016 at 3:12 pm

    So National are hoping to boost Bill’s public appeal by giving Bennett the deputy role.

    Ironically, Bennett is probably more disliked than Bill.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 13.1
      10 December 2016 at 4:10 pm

      Should help with getting a share of the Maori vote.

      • The Chairman 13.1.1
        10 December 2016 at 7:36 pm

        While Bridges is touting he sees this as a strong government for Māori, I can’t see many falling for it.

      • Bill Drees 13.1.2
        10 December 2016 at 11:35 pm

        When, what year/age/careeer phase did Paula Bennett identify herself as a) being brought up in Maori culture and/or b) being of Maori ancestry?

        I’ve been told that she did not identify as Maori until later in life.
        I’ve also been told that she came from a supportive and ‘comfortable’ business family in Taupo and that a narrative of a solo-Maori-mum in hard-up circumstances is Not accurate.
        Can anyone enlighten me?

    • Red Hand 13.2
      10 December 2016 at 6:22 pm

      Never mind, the late Prince Yuppy saw talent.

    • Pat 13.3
      10 December 2016 at 8:01 pm

      think the Russians may have been tampering with the National caucus

      • The Chairman 13.3.1
        10 December 2016 at 8:29 pm

        With Whaleoil chanting it was a strong-arming, he’s not my PM, English didn’t win the popular vote.

    • Paul 14.1
      10 December 2016 at 3:59 pm

      Oh yes, those innocent trade deals Mr Key was always trying to tie us down with…….

      • infused 14.1.1
        10 December 2016 at 4:57 pm

        Aunty Helen signed the same deals. You do understand all of these agreements have clauses like this? Or are you just being a muppet like usual?

        • Red 14.1.1.1
          10 December 2016 at 5:53 pm

          That’s in insult to the muppets, more a john pilger sock puppet would be more accurate

        • saveNZ 14.1.1.2
          10 December 2016 at 8:59 pm

          About time they took those ridiculous ISDS clauses out as well as the clauses that are not about trade, and make all the agreements public from Day 1. Corporate welfare MUST stop.

  15. saveNZ 15
    10 December 2016 at 3:59 pm

    Lakes Oil seeks $2.7 billion damages after Victorian Government moves to ban fracking

    http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-06/victorian-sued-for-2-7-billion-dollars-over-fracking-ban/8097860?pfmredir=sm

    • Andre 15.1
      10 December 2016 at 5:42 pm

      So they’re looking to get paid out $2.6 billion in expected future profits on top of the $0.092 billion they’ve spent in exploration. The article doesn’t say what legal principle makes them think they’re entitled to that, but it is exactly that kind of bullshit the ISDS provisions in free trade agreements (notable the TPPA) sign us up to.

  16. Inky 16
    10 December 2016 at 4:30 pm

    Have been trying to decide on what was the most hideous comment in politics I’ve heard all year and though practically anything Drumpf said would be a hot contender, the words that most make me want to throw up in my mouth a little, even months later, were uttered by TV’s Paddy Gower. In the US, on the Trump campaign trail, he unashamedly gushed, to the effect: “I think I’ve developed a man crush on Donald Trump Junior”. Worst of all, he appeared excited to the point of being aroused when he said it. Not a pretty sight, though even more unfortunately it’s one that’s proved impossible to forget.

  17. infused 17
    10 December 2016 at 4:55 pm

    Isn’t it funny watching WO lose his shit?