It seems that all he wanted was Southern Response to communicate.
“They [police] told me this could be seen as harassing them [Southern Response],” he said.
He was surprised his requests for information had been perceived as harassment as he took “tremendous care that I never lose my patience and stay polite”.
He had sent daily emails to the company “because they never respond”.
Not a nutter either- imagine he would like an intelligent answer to a claim that is now 5 years old.
Since when did asking a corporate to do the job they are supposed to mean they could allege they are harassing you. Does that mean corporate debt collectors are harassing people and the debt collector can expect a visit to the police?
Funny how corporates can do what they like to the people they deal with, possibly plenty of the coercive behaviour there that Amy’s been talking of, but how dare that person answer back. And how dare they use my taxpayer money to fund this sort of trash
without seeing the emails it’s hard to say what’s gone on there. Could be the police being arses, could be the guy was getting intimidating, could be both.
The photo of the man being aggressive to the insurance dude doesn’t help his claims.
the photo is a deliberate misrepresentative shot from some years ago at a protest and has been previously explained….the photographer was either incredibly lucky or remarkably gifted to capture that particular shot.
thanks for link. I still think he is angry and intimidating (the only mitigating thing in the explanation is that he’s pointing down the road not at the insurance man. But everything else about his body language suggests a state that goes with anger or intimidation). I’m not saying he’s not entitled to be, I’m sure he is. I’m saying that that we don’t know if he was intimidating in the emails or not.
With or without the photo, how can we know what happened here?
“With or without the photo, how can we know what happened here?”
by knowing the organisation that laid the complaint with the police….there is ample evidence of Southern Responses modus operandi if you care to google.
SR have been in a running battle with CameronPreston for years…he has been pulling apart their (and the other ICs) press releases and progress data AND financials very effectively for years..not once have they been able to refute his numbers so now they are reverting to their usual methodology…shades of dirty politics ? He is effectively doing the work of our so called opposition
Could well be SR using their influence in dirty ways. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. Whether the police are complicit in that, I can’t tell. It’s also possible that SR and the police are dirty, and that Preston has been sending intimidating emails. This doesn’t mean he hasnt’ done other good, important work. That’s all I was getting at with my original comment.
see how simple and effective it is….one out of context photo and a convenient story in the press (that is short on substance and heavy on innuendo) and you’re not sure, maybe he is a head case? and maybe those other things he’s been saying arn’t quite right?…..whats not quite right , no bugger it,is a downright disgrace is that the opposition parties have left this work to private individuals.
I think McCully is referring to advice he received from legal eagles within Mfat. Which is another matter altogether and not the same as advice from the Auditor-general or Treasury. Good try Murray !
if only there was some official government office of law available to the crown who could have been asked for advice,
something like a Crown Law Office
This is National so, yeah, you can expect that they’d act against the advice if they didn’t like it. Either that or keep asking for advice from different people until they got the advice that they wanted.
Perhaps Lyn could help me. I’m confused as to the powers of the Speaker, in particular with reference to the Saudi “affair”. Carter was donkey deep in the matter when he was minister of agriculture and the decision was made not to renew live sheep shipments whilst at the same time leading the Saudis to believe that the ban would in fact, be lifted.
Does not the Speaker have a massive conflict of interest ? I’m thinking of the Opposition trying to elicit some answers from Key and Co. at question time. Should not perhaps Lindsay Tisch control this matter ?
Had to laugh at Matthew Hooton’s comments yesterday about the Saudi sheepgate affair. He tried to turn the issue into one of ineffectual leadership by Andrew Little if he can’t or won’t capitalise on the incompetence of McCully and the discomfort of the PM.
The ineptitude belongs solely to Minister McCully and his boss- not the leader of the Labour party.
That’s one conclusion. Another might be that Labour no longer has sufficient societal leverage independent of the MSM to “press this to its natural conclusion.”
I don’t know. As far as I am aware the speaker is more of an internal organisational position of parliament than anything else. I have always avoided knowing too much about NZ parliament in case I start getting the urge to get too involved with it (and stop building code). But I will give my view on the role.
But from what I have seen there are a lot of polite myths and/or guidelines that the speaker is meant to adhere to and very few hard and fast rules. A bit like what our policy reads like in fact, and for much of the same reasons. Each speaker makes their own rules based on the guides of previous speakers and whatever duties are expected of them. However they largely serve at the will of parliament in a wierd way.
Piss too many MPs and party leaders off and they just stop working with the speaker and with the parliament and cause mayhem with the legislative process. The speaker can force things through, but they are likely to die of a heart attack or ulcers if they have to do it for any length of time.
Since the primary role of a speaker is to protect parliament and to progress its work, they tend to be not push the limits. After all in the nature of things, eventually the government and speaker will change and the protection of the oppositions will be done by someone else.
The history of the speaker in the english parliament after the restoration is instructive and in particular Arthur Onslow in the early 18th century.
Many of us who watch Question Time occasionally agree that the current Speaker is making a mockery of how the role is meant to work. His party have also proved they do not care about conflicts of interest, so I wouldn’t hold my breath for an outbreak of integrity.
Boooooooooring. (not you, the 40 “long listed” flags) It’s like Buck Rogers was one of the judges – bringing old ideas… into the nineties!
I spent ten minutes of my valuable life sifting through 10,000 of them last night. I quite liked the variations on “Maori Cross” which for some reason reminded me of Ulster crosses, but not anything particularly “Maori”. To my eye, quite appealing. Then when that theme of the UNZT flag had been pushed right out to the modern/normative, it became the old flag for the Devonport Ferry Service. haha. Other short listed (my list) flags included a pencil sketch on refill of a platypus/duck type creature.
NZ should have 2 official flags: UNZT and the Maori sovereignty flag. Never really bonded with the blue southern cross/Union Jack version. It makes me feel like that extra room in the house that has aging and uninspiring – but not offensive – wallpaper, that you should really get around to painting one summer, but no one uses the room anyway so it just gets left.
Yes, the only legitamite alternate flag for NZ is the United Tribes Flag.
Any other flag is a chessy corporate logo. Its no different to councils spending ratepayers money on these flash logos when their old school coat of arms is sufficent.
I have been going on and on about the United Tribes Flag with my friends, I’m sure they’re sick of it but it really is the only alternative and that it hasn’t been included is egregious.
As soon as I saw the 40 flags and a sea of stars, koru and ferns I started to think they may as well just give us one flag to choose from with all those things.
They are called fossil fuels for a reason – the oil industry has made their money digging up dinosaurs and selling them to us to power our cars. Yet even six major oil companies have realised the writing on the wall and are calling for a price on carbon. That’s right, back in June BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total sent a letter to the United Nations saying:
Our companies are already taking a number of actions to help limit emissions … For us to do more, we need governments across the world to provide us with clear, stable, long-term, ambitious policy frameworks. We believe that a price on carbon should be a key element of these frameworks.
And they mean a real price on carbon – one that is strong enough to change behaviour. Not a carbon price that hands out free credits, two for one deals and encourages trading in cheap and nasty international credits like our Government has. By contrast France as a new climate plan which will boost their carbon tax to 56 euros by 2020. Maybe Tim Groser should get his advice from the oil companies, given he doesn’t listen to the science community. His attachment to high emissions has him standing shoulder to shoulder with Fonterra only it seems.
There’s actually two problems with Fonterra’s continued use of coal for it’s milk drying operation:
1. The use of coal in the face of climate change
2. The fact that they’re still looking to produce huge amounts of milk solids despite the fact that there’s never again going to be a high enough demand from the rest of the world to pay for the costs of producing all that bloody milk
This waste is a direct result of chasing profits and we can see it across society. We see it in supermarkets where home delivery could save up to 90% of the emissions from cars but we’re not doing it because the greedys want to make a profit from it.
Well, the petroleum industry could pay for the +US$5 trillion global subsidy they currently receive from the public purse. (Oil ain’t dinosaurs btw, although you might argue that cars are from the age of dinosaurs).
And what clearer plan is there than the instruction to stop burning the shit!
I am keen on the one with the Union Jack in the corner, blue background with the red stars. In other words our existing flag.
Frankly I could not give a shit what the flag is, but what I do care about is, once again, hype by the obedient media over nothing, costing money that should be spent in other areas (but I forgot National are the natural leaders and the only ones with financial prudence) That’s a laugh..
This is so the fucking spiv can screw us more behind a smokescreen.
I wonder what the next miracle play for the peasantry this shower of shit will put on?
I notice that the only existing flag in the final 40 is the sports silver-fern-on-black-background one. No Maori flag, no United Tribes flag, and the only sober-looking one, the red stars on blue without the union jack, seems unlikely to end up in the final four. So what Key is pitching for looks to be either a history-free corporate logo, or a corporate logo with sporting associations – a weightless flag open to whatever meaning he wants to give it.
On Backbenchers this week Trevor Mallard strongly asserted that Steven Joyce and English and Key will be choosing the last four. Certain to be the Key silver fern.
In an effort to reduce loading on The Herald website, I’ve re-created the basic feel of the paper here, for those who can’t do without. Feel free to link to any of the stories.
NZ Herald – Readers Digest Edition (good for 2015 thru to 2099)
Opinion:
“Today something happened that challenged my views. As a senior journalist, I don’t like dealing with the outside World. However, the report came from a source I can’t easily ignore and now I have to go about finding ways to eliminate the existence of the everything. Perhaps my source was too young, smart, or heaven forbid poorer than me, or female. That’ll do it. Therefore nothing has changed and everything reinforces my present mental equilibrium that shall rule forever.”
Politics:
“Those dirty sneaky commies are up to something because something was said that deviated from the script I have in front of me. They want to stop us getting rich. They have no vision. They did something worse, fifteen years ago. Not our fault, we are just the government. Someone else says something in reply, but it makes no sense. The end.”
Sport:
“So this guy, right, he has some girlfriends in the hockey team and his team want to pay him to not drink so much. In July he changed codes and now the score is 25/46.”
Rugby:
“All black shirts not getting any whiter, says laundress. Despite claims to the contrary, the new jerseys are doing the job of appearing to be Dark Black. Earlier complaints to the Rugby Advisory Board stated that spectators were concerned their national identity was being undermined by rough handling during laundry service. Sources inside the locker room say most jerseys dissolve in water and are replaced on a game-by-game basis. A man with a beard wearing a white shirt was mistaken for an All Black, and later, ignored.”
Lifestyle:
“You know, too much of a bad thing is actually good, a recent report says. If you don’t have too much, and only a miniscule amount, then look at his picture of a woman doing pilates for no reason.”
National:
“Won’t someone save the children? Yes, The Save the Children Fund charity truck drove into the side of a community building last week. The owners of the house were unavailable for comment, but neighbours say they are nice people and that they only throw stones at stray dogs. The driver is fine, and Police had cake and tea afterwards.”
Business:
“My furrowed brow should prove that employees are the bane of our existence. Right now, in Hong Kong, brokers notes are being used as cashflow against the advice of EurAtom. Austerity now, and after innovative re-mortgaging, will stabilise the see-saw effect of income protection within the OECD. It’s hard to argue with that, and I don’t say it’ll work, but the TPPA will go some ways to improving the overall feel of the piece I just wrote. Greece. Here is a picture of a graph.”
World:
“A large whale has been sighted off the coast of Iceland. Large whales live in the sea. Small ones are called Whale Children, but often they end up dead or eaten by villagers. You should be concerned. Here is a link to our source: a comments section on a Facebook page.”
I wish certain members of the public who have no visible professional sports prowess, or legitimate business acumen, would stop writing letters to the editor.
As the number one publication in NZ, the Herald should at least stop printing these missives and consign them to the round filing bin in the corner. Need I remind you, they get a chance every three years to have their democratic say, and anyway they are all just left-wing screaming commie conspiracy bastards and should fund their own national newspaper. The reason they don’t is because the market.
Signed,
by someone who could’ve been an All Black but was busy failing a few businesses to get to be where I am today.
Great rhino.
Sounds familiar. Cut to an empty street in the dark where yesterday some un-named fellow threw stones at a cat. Reporter says it was near here that some fellow threw stones at a cat. Cut to a neighbour who says she never expected anything like that around here as her neighbours are actually Scottish. There you have it and now back to the studio.
“Is this the end of LOL?”
Breakfast television in New Zealand is nothing more than a bad joke
Television One Breakfast, TV3 Paul Henry
These are the impressions I gained from a quick perusal of both channels this morning. To be fair, I did not subject myself to the ordeal of watching all or even most of the morning’s programs, so it is possible that I missed something intelligent, thoughtful and stimulating. But, based on what I did manage to see this morning, and also on what I’ve seen in the past, these programs are banal at best [1], an insult to the intelligence on most days [2], and occasionally outrageous and revolting [3].
Shortly after seven o’clock, both channels are filled with the lugubrious mug of Professor John Burrows, the unknown minor academic plucked from obscure retirement to head the all star cast (Julie Christie, Kate Di Goldi, some old soldier and some sports people) that comprises John Key’s “Flag Consideration Panel.” The alternative flags have been whittled down to the final forty, but nobody cares—least of all Rawdon Christie’s offsider Ali Pugh, who openly expresses her disinterest in the farce. As always, the old trougher Burrows has nothing interesting to say, on either channel.
Some time after 7 o’clock, Paul Henry checks in with the woman in the “tech bunker” who monitors social media for him. Occasionally this segment is quite amusing—those occasions are when she spurns Henry’s ham-fisted attempts to flirt with her. Usually, however, this is nothing more than two minutes of chat about the most mind-numbing trivia. Today the topic is another bit of Facebook inanity: what was so good about the 80s? For a moment, Henry gets serious and solemnly intones: “Back in the 1980s, you didn’t need signs saying ‘Hot’ on a cup of coffee.” Since 1994, the story of the McDonald’s scalding case has been part of the rhetorical arsenal for the extreme right. It’s a distorted, extreme misconstruing of what actually happened, but that doesn’t matter to political ideologues like Paul Henry. [4]
8:20 a.m. TV3 Paul Henry’s daily Panel—just like Jim Mora’s Panel on National Radio, only shorter. This morning, the guests are TV3 reporter Sarah Hall and a dapper fellow named Julian Andrews, who looks and talks like one of those “creatives” from an advertising agency, but is billed grandly as a “business strategist.” The first topic is the future (or non-future) of rail in New Zealand. Henry, of course, reiterates yet again how he is dead-set opposed to rail, Julian Andrews mutters something about the public good, and Sarah Hall looks perplexed, frowns to show how troubled she is, and then says: “I’m just glad I’m not in Treasury!” Then the conversation takes a bizarre yet optimistic turn….
JULIAN ANDREWS: Do we really want 27,000 more trucks on the roads? Anyway, self-drive cars are going to render all this a non-issue!
PAUL HENRY: Tell Len Brown about driverless cars! I’ve tried to!
JULIAN ANDREWS: I was talking the other day to someone from Singularity University about driverless c—-
PAUL HENRY: What?!? “Singularity University”!!?!? Where’s THAT?
JULIAN ANDREWS: In Silicon Valley.
PAUL HENRY: Oh of COURSE it’s in Silicon Valley!
SARAH HALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Also at the table, silent throughout this scintillating conversation, are newsreader Hillary Barry and sports guy Jim Kayes. They both strain to maintain their rictus smiles.
Meanwhile, at 8:27 a.m. on Television One….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Is this the end of “LOL”? Next up, the modern language merry-go-round!
We will be looking for other savings too, and other ways of increasing revenue. We have, for example, property that has for too long returned only a peppercorn rental or none at all. The Government, on behalf of taxpayers, should be getting a better return on that investment.
well, if people would just continue to have interest in their lives and properties, mortgage sales would obviously not happen.
” “People lose interest in their properties, they lose interest in their lives and the bank senses that, and that’s when you have distressed sales,” Harcourts agent and mortgagee specialist David Savery said.
let me translate that for ya’ll:
Suckers lost their jobs, their gonna loose their houses, their lives and the banks are gonna claw back and out of them what they can. And then when the last drop of blood was squeezed out of the looser banks are gonna foreclose, but its all good says Harcourts agent and mortgagee specialist David Savey, cause we are gonna take the property and sell it to another sucker in no time, for a hefty fee of course.
Bank and mortgagee specialists laughing all the way to the bank. Sucker is off to live in a ditch with the missus and kids.
Earlier in the week the government finally announced the appointment of the Stakeholder Advisory Group required under the Open Government Partnership, with not a former National MP in sight! It also announced that it was beginning public consultation on its Midterm Self-Assessment Report, which is due at the end of September. But there’s a hitch: they’re doing it wrong.
I assume that it has to do with this government being the most dishonest and least open government we’ve had in a long time as shown by their use of manipulating the OIA for political gain while trying so hard not to actually answer so many of those OIAs.
The refusal by Anne Tolley “to treat vulnerable newborns as “lab rats” by sitting back for two years to see if they were abused” generated a long discussion thread here on TS.
Obviously, child abuse is a huge problem in our society, which sadly won’t go away any time soon. This is one reason why I want pick up this topic again.
The other reason is that a few days later a very good (IMO) opinion piece appeared by Associate Professor Time Dare who had undertaken the ethical analysis of the canned study Anne Tolley’s ‘lab rats’ call inflammatory political rhetoric. I have not seen any reference to this here in TS.
For good measure, here’s a link to the material (a lot!) on the MSD website, incl. Tim Dare’s Ethical ReviewPredictive Modelling. [Note the typo in the hyperlink]
A third reason to post this is that this is just another example of how any much-needed debate in this country of ours is avoided or killed off. Not only lay-people, i.e. ordinary Kiwis like you and I, but also experts and the likes are dismissed offhand if it does not suit the narrative or framing.
This is worrisome because not only do experts provide expert knowledge, but they also tend to use less ambiguous language although this may not always be evident to the general public. Particularly science relies on unequivocal and unambiguous (AKA neutral and objective) language; the ultimate example of this is mathematics that relies on precise semantic meanings, etc.
Often politically-sensitive debate, which can include almost anything, sounds more like a Babylonic Confusion of Tongues, which is why the simplification of meanings (!) through input from scientists is often a helpful if not necessary contribution.
It seems to me that the powers that be do everything to preserve the Status Quo. By dismissing or even excluding scientific experts they leave free reign to the Confusion of Tongues, which diminishes any chances of reaching meaningful consensus or compromise, and solutions, i.e. ‘mission accomplished’.
In the same long discussion thread here on TS some interesting comments were made on correlation vs. causation.
An old well-known example of this is the correlation between people carrying matches in their pocket and the chance of these people getting lung cancer. Obviously, matches in one’s pocket, or anywhere else for that matter, do not cause lung cancer but smoking does!
There was a strange yet unexplained anomaly in that correlation in the 60s; the average long-haired human had a zero chance of getting pregnant!? Rumour is that Donald Trump donned is signature ‘hair style’ in that period once he realised it did not involve “bleeding” as there happened to be another odd correlation with long hair that has puzzled scientists ever since. The correlation between Bigfoot sightings and Donald Trump visits is near perfect; the latter also has a near-perfect record of putting his Big Foot into his Big Mouth. Sorry, how did we get here again?
I guess this is one way to ensure inequality is eliminated. Pay the most talented individuals next to nothing
“I’m earning the same as someone who works in McDonald’s,” said 28-year-old math professor Anthonny Arias in the city of Merida, an expert in mathematical logic who makes the equivalent of $4 per week at the black market exchange rate.”
“Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.
I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people’s health and lives. I make $15/hr.”
Gosman if that was meant to be a swipe at socialism in Venezuela, you get a D- for poor effort. Perhaps you might care to expound on the glories of capitalism in the USA and China, where manipulating and hiding the real economy has become an art form.
iSN’T amazing Gets some guts Key doesn’t have to table the Nat govt documents on the Saudi sheep deal and can stand and lie about the Labour party in parliament and cant be made to tell the truth
Theres a Song for Labour in that TELL THE TRUTH TELL ME WHO’S BEEN FOOLING U
John Key who else -try adding that to your rockstar economy John mite make all your BS lip sync lies crash your BS crosby Textor software
Then it was back to the Seven Sharp hosts, one of whom was highly amused. “You can understand his frustration!” giggled Toni Street. Next to her, Mike Hosking affected his default expression of disdain and disinterest.
Meanwhile, across on TV3, Heather Du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner—she calls him, with toe-culrling over-familiarity, “Duncs”—continued the horrible process, begun last night, of dying in front of an ever-diminishing audience. These two presenters are the most unlikeable pairing since Sarah Ferguson and Justin Timberlake. Apparently this dog of a program got one hundred thousand curious Seven Sharp viewers to switch over last night; I doubt that most of them will be back this evening.
By the way, Du Plessis was also involved in the first ever Seven Sharp, and she was crap there as well. The role of the unfunny conceited prick was at that time filled by Greg Boyed….
Watched a little bit of Story, Moz. An interview with a security guard who only had anecdotal stories to tell, followed by the hosts qualifying even that dribble by saying it wasn’t a specific security company they’d previously featured, the guy hadn’t worked in the prisoner guarding industry for years etc, etc.
Also noticed that Dunkin’ gets to lead the items, but then he is a man, so fair enough.
btw, did you post a comment this morning about breakfast TV? It’s in the spam queue, probably too many links. I can let it out, if you want.
Thanks very much te reo. I’ve just posted the same item, with a different title. I wonder if you’d use the one I’ve just sent in. Sorry about the links—-I’ll keep them to a minimum in future.
I try to give new things a chance, people have to earn a living but…so far I would have to say it would be better called “Sorry” than Story. Have to admit I am holding it up to Campbell Live, which they have said they don’t want to be compared to, but does Mediaworks really believe the public want to be titillated rather than invigorated?
“Is this the end of LOL?”
NZ has possibly the two worst breakfast TV programmes in the world Breakfast (Television One), Paul Henry (TV3)
Tuesday 11 August 2015
dire /ˈdʌɪə/ adjective of a very poor quality, dreadful, terrible
Following are the impressions I gained from a quick perusal of both channels this morning. To be fair, I did not subject myself to the ordeal of watching all or even most of the morning’s programs, so it is possible that I missed something intelligent, thoughtful and stimulating. But, based on what I did manage to see this morning, and also on what I’ve seen in the past, these programs are banal at best [1], an insult to the intelligence on most days [2], and occasionally outrageous and revolting [3].
Shortly after seven o’clock, both channels are filled with the lugubrious mug of the Professor John Burrows, the unknown minor academic plucked from obscure retirement to head the all star cast (Julie Christie, Kate Di Goldi, some old soldier and some sports people) that comprises John Key’s “Flag Consideration Panel.” The alternative flags have been whittled down to the final forty, but nobody cares—least of all Rawdon Christie’s offsider Ali Pugh, who openly expresses her disinterest in the farce. As always, the old trougher Burrows has nothing interesting to say, on either channel.
Some time after 7 o’clock, Paul Henry checks in with the woman in the “tech bunker” who monitors social media for him. Occasionally this segment is quite amusing—those occasions are when she spurns Henry’s ham-fisted attempts to flirt with her. Usually, however, this is nothing more than two minutes of chat about the most mind-numbing trivia. Today the topic is another bit of Facebook inanity: what was so good about the 80s? For a moment, Henry gets serious and solemnly intones: “Back in the 1980s, you didn’t need signs saying ‘Hot’ on a cup of coffee.” Since 1994, the story of the McDonald’s scalding case has been part of the rhetorical arsenal for the extreme right. It’s a distorted, extreme misconstruing of what actually happened, but that doesn’t matter to political ideologues like Paul Henry. [4]
8:20 a.m. TV3 Paul Henry’s daily Panel—this is like Jim Mora’s Panel on National Radio, only shorter. This morning, the guests are TV3 reporter Sarah Hall and a dapper fellow named Julian Andrews, who looks and talks like a “creative” from an advertising agency, though he is billed grandly as a “business strategist.” The first topic is the future (or non-future) of rail in New Zealand. Henry, of course, reiterates how he is dead-set opposed to rail, Julian Andrews mutters something about the public good, and Sarah Hall looks perplexed, frowns to show how troubled she is, and then says: “I’m just glad I’m not in Treasury!” Then the conversation takes a bizarre yet optimistic turn….
JULIAN ANDREWS: Do we really want 27,000 more trucks on the roads? Anyway, self-drive cars are going to render all this a non-issue! PAUL HENRY: Tell Len Brown about driverless cars! I’ve tried to! JULIAN ANDREWS: I was talking the other day to someone from Singularity University about driverl—- PAUL HENRY: What?!? “Singularity University”!!?!? Where’s THAT? JULIAN ANDREWS: In Silicon Valley. PAUL HENRY: Oh of COURSE it’s in Silicon Valley! SARAH HALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Also at the table, silent throughout this scintillating conversation, are newsreader Hillary Barry and sports guy Jim Kayes. They both strain to maintain their rictus smiles.
Meanwhile, at 8:27 a.m. on Television One….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Is this the end of “LOL”? Next up, the modern language merry-go-round!”
“The US didn’t interfere with the rise of anti-government jihadist groups in Syria that finally degenerated into Islamic State, claims the former head of America’s Defense Intelligence Agency, backing a secret 2012 memo predicting their rise….
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This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
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Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
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Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
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Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
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The Herald
What happens to a newspaper when you allow your journalists’ Facebook feeds to lead the news.
for those of us that don’t actually read the Herald, can you give us a clue?
Reading The Herald reduces any clues anyone may co-incidentally hold.
so does reading Paul’s comment ;-p
No police state in NZ….?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/70984990/cop-visit-for-sending-daily-emails-to-insurer
Yet another example of people being intimidated into keeping their mouths shut. Sickening.
It seems that all he wanted was Southern Response to communicate.
“They [police] told me this could be seen as harassing them [Southern Response],” he said.
He was surprised his requests for information had been perceived as harassment as he took “tremendous care that I never lose my patience and stay polite”.
He had sent daily emails to the company “because they never respond”.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/71004496/Man-arrested-after-Palmerston-North-police-stations-shot-at
In the us they would shot this nutter so maybe its not so bad here A?
only if he was afro american…..and if things carry on the way they have been we will end up as dysfunctional as the US.
Not a nutter either- imagine he would like an intelligent answer to a claim that is now 5 years old.
Since when did asking a corporate to do the job they are supposed to mean they could allege they are harassing you. Does that mean corporate debt collectors are harassing people and the debt collector can expect a visit to the police?
Funny how corporates can do what they like to the people they deal with, possibly plenty of the coercive behaviour there that Amy’s been talking of, but how dare that person answer back. And how dare they use my taxpayer money to fund this sort of trash
except they are not a corporate….they are an arm of this government
without seeing the emails it’s hard to say what’s gone on there. Could be the police being arses, could be the guy was getting intimidating, could be both.
The photo of the man being aggressive to the insurance dude doesn’t help his claims.
the photo is a deliberate misrepresentative shot from some years ago at a protest and has been previously explained….the photographer was either incredibly lucky or remarkably gifted to capture that particular shot.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/10003806/Hes-Southern-Responses-no-1-enemy
thanks for link. I still think he is angry and intimidating (the only mitigating thing in the explanation is that he’s pointing down the road not at the insurance man. But everything else about his body language suggests a state that goes with anger or intimidation). I’m not saying he’s not entitled to be, I’m sure he is. I’m saying that that we don’t know if he was intimidating in the emails or not.
With or without the photo, how can we know what happened here?
“With or without the photo, how can we know what happened here?”
by knowing the organisation that laid the complaint with the police….there is ample evidence of Southern Responses modus operandi if you care to google.
ok, so SR are shit. That still doesn’t tell us much about what happened.
SR have been in a running battle with CameronPreston for years…he has been pulling apart their (and the other ICs) press releases and progress data AND financials very effectively for years..not once have they been able to refute his numbers so now they are reverting to their usual methodology…shades of dirty politics ? He is effectively doing the work of our so called opposition
Could well be SR using their influence in dirty ways. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. Whether the police are complicit in that, I can’t tell. It’s also possible that SR and the police are dirty, and that Preston has been sending intimidating emails. This doesn’t mean he hasnt’ done other good, important work. That’s all I was getting at with my original comment.
see how simple and effective it is….one out of context photo and a convenient story in the press (that is short on substance and heavy on innuendo) and you’re not sure, maybe he is a head case? and maybe those other things he’s been saying arn’t quite right?…..whats not quite right , no bugger it,is a downright disgrace is that the opposition parties have left this work to private individuals.
..
Bumbling McCully is now claiming to have received “independent” legal advice about the Saudi sheep bribe. Let’s see it then, big guy. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/281027/labour-calls-for-saudi-sheep-deal-investigation
I think McCully is referring to advice he received from legal eagles within Mfat. Which is another matter altogether and not the same as advice from the Auditor-general or Treasury. Good try Murray !
if only there was some official government office of law available to the crown who could have been asked for advice,
something like a Crown Law Office
According to RNZ his statement mentions both “internal” and “independent” advice. Only the former can be MFAT.
I recall a comment that the legal advice came from within MFAT. Hardly what you would call independent …
EDIT: Wyndham bet me to it.
Even then was the legal advice for or against the deal? Surely McCulley would not act against the advice? Would he?
This is National so, yeah, you can expect that they’d act against the advice if they didn’t like it. Either that or keep asking for advice from different people until they got the advice that they wanted.
This seems like a development on his earlier statements.
Perhaps Lyn could help me. I’m confused as to the powers of the Speaker, in particular with reference to the Saudi “affair”. Carter was donkey deep in the matter when he was minister of agriculture and the decision was made not to renew live sheep shipments whilst at the same time leading the Saudis to believe that the ban would in fact, be lifted.
Does not the Speaker have a massive conflict of interest ? I’m thinking of the Opposition trying to elicit some answers from Key and Co. at question time. Should not perhaps Lindsay Tisch control this matter ?
Had to laugh at Matthew Hooton’s comments yesterday about the Saudi sheepgate affair. He tried to turn the issue into one of ineffectual leadership by Andrew Little if he can’t or won’t capitalise on the incompetence of McCully and the discomfort of the PM.
The ineptitude belongs solely to Minister McCully and his boss- not the leader of the Labour party.
and yet he was correct…if Labour cant press this to its natural conclusion they are inept.
That’s one conclusion. Another might be that Labour no longer has sufficient societal leverage independent of the MSM to “press this to its natural conclusion.”
which is another way of saying inept
I don’t know. As far as I am aware the speaker is more of an internal organisational position of parliament than anything else. I have always avoided knowing too much about NZ parliament in case I start getting the urge to get too involved with it (and stop building code). But I will give my view on the role.
But from what I have seen there are a lot of polite myths and/or guidelines that the speaker is meant to adhere to and very few hard and fast rules. A bit like what our policy reads like in fact, and for much of the same reasons. Each speaker makes their own rules based on the guides of previous speakers and whatever duties are expected of them. However they largely serve at the will of parliament in a wierd way.
Piss too many MPs and party leaders off and they just stop working with the speaker and with the parliament and cause mayhem with the legislative process. The speaker can force things through, but they are likely to die of a heart attack or ulcers if they have to do it for any length of time.
Since the primary role of a speaker is to protect parliament and to progress its work, they tend to be not push the limits. After all in the nature of things, eventually the government and speaker will change and the protection of the oppositions will be done by someone else.
The history of the speaker in the english parliament after the restoration is instructive and in particular Arthur Onslow in the early 18th century.
Many of us who watch Question Time occasionally agree that the current Speaker is making a mockery of how the role is meant to work. His party have also proved they do not care about conflicts of interest, so I wouldn’t hold my breath for an outbreak of integrity.
looking at the 40 flags in the ‘final’…it appears there will be no change in the end.Ones I liked never even made it.
I’m quite keen on the design by Kyle Lockwood Silver Fern (black, white and blue)
Nothing with a silver fern thanks. Since JK is pushing it so hard, that is good enough reason to reject it.
Boooooooooring. (not you, the 40 “long listed” flags) It’s like Buck Rogers was one of the judges – bringing old ideas… into the nineties!
I spent ten minutes of my valuable life sifting through 10,000 of them last night. I quite liked the variations on “Maori Cross” which for some reason reminded me of Ulster crosses, but not anything particularly “Maori”. To my eye, quite appealing. Then when that theme of the UNZT flag had been pushed right out to the modern/normative, it became the old flag for the Devonport Ferry Service. haha. Other short listed (my list) flags included a pencil sketch on refill of a platypus/duck type creature.
NZ should have 2 official flags: UNZT and the Maori sovereignty flag. Never really bonded with the blue southern cross/Union Jack version. It makes me feel like that extra room in the house that has aging and uninspiring – but not offensive – wallpaper, that you should really get around to painting one summer, but no one uses the room anyway so it just gets left.
Yes, the only legitamite alternate flag for NZ is the United Tribes Flag.
Any other flag is a chessy corporate logo. Its no different to councils spending ratepayers money on these flash logos when their old school coat of arms is sufficent.
I have been going on and on about the United Tribes Flag with my friends, I’m sure they’re sick of it but it really is the only alternative and that it hasn’t been included is egregious.
The United Tribes Flag is a flag for Northland Maori. I really like it personally, but it won’t wash with any other iwi in the country.
Im pretty sure South Island iwi fly it…?
As soon as I saw the 40 flags and a sea of stars, koru and ferns I started to think they may as well just give us one flag to choose from with all those things.
There’s actually two problems with Fonterra’s continued use of coal for it’s milk drying operation:
1. The use of coal in the face of climate change
2. The fact that they’re still looking to produce huge amounts of milk solids despite the fact that there’s never again going to be a high enough demand from the rest of the world to pay for the costs of producing all that bloody milk
This waste is a direct result of chasing profits and we can see it across society. We see it in supermarkets where home delivery could save up to 90% of the emissions from cars but we’re not doing it because the greedys want to make a profit from it.
Well, the petroleum industry could pay for the +US$5 trillion global subsidy they currently receive from the public purse. (Oil ain’t dinosaurs btw, although you might argue that cars are from the age of dinosaurs).
And what clearer plan is there than the instruction to stop burning the shit!
I am keen on the one with the Union Jack in the corner, blue background with the red stars. In other words our existing flag.
Frankly I could not give a shit what the flag is, but what I do care about is, once again, hype by the obedient media over nothing, costing money that should be spent in other areas (but I forgot National are the natural leaders and the only ones with financial prudence) That’s a laugh..
This is so the fucking spiv can screw us more behind a smokescreen.
I wonder what the next miracle play for the peasantry this shower of shit will put on?
I notice that the only existing flag in the final 40 is the sports silver-fern-on-black-background one. No Maori flag, no United Tribes flag, and the only sober-looking one, the red stars on blue without the union jack, seems unlikely to end up in the final four. So what Key is pitching for looks to be either a history-free corporate logo, or a corporate logo with sporting associations – a weightless flag open to whatever meaning he wants to give it.
+100 half crown
On Backbenchers this week Trevor Mallard strongly asserted that Steven Joyce and English and Key will be choosing the last four. Certain to be the Key silver fern.
In an effort to reduce loading on The Herald website, I’ve re-created the basic feel of the paper here, for those who can’t do without. Feel free to link to any of the stories.
NZ Herald – Readers Digest Edition (good for 2015 thru to 2099)
Opinion:
“Today something happened that challenged my views. As a senior journalist, I don’t like dealing with the outside World. However, the report came from a source I can’t easily ignore and now I have to go about finding ways to eliminate the existence of the everything. Perhaps my source was too young, smart, or heaven forbid poorer than me, or female. That’ll do it. Therefore nothing has changed and everything reinforces my present mental equilibrium that shall rule forever.”
Politics:
“Those dirty sneaky commies are up to something because something was said that deviated from the script I have in front of me. They want to stop us getting rich. They have no vision. They did something worse, fifteen years ago. Not our fault, we are just the government. Someone else says something in reply, but it makes no sense. The end.”
Sport:
“So this guy, right, he has some girlfriends in the hockey team and his team want to pay him to not drink so much. In July he changed codes and now the score is 25/46.”
Rugby:
“All black shirts not getting any whiter, says laundress. Despite claims to the contrary, the new jerseys are doing the job of appearing to be Dark Black. Earlier complaints to the Rugby Advisory Board stated that spectators were concerned their national identity was being undermined by rough handling during laundry service. Sources inside the locker room say most jerseys dissolve in water and are replaced on a game-by-game basis. A man with a beard wearing a white shirt was mistaken for an All Black, and later, ignored.”
Lifestyle:
“You know, too much of a bad thing is actually good, a recent report says. If you don’t have too much, and only a miniscule amount, then look at his picture of a woman doing pilates for no reason.”
National:
“Won’t someone save the children? Yes, The Save the Children Fund charity truck drove into the side of a community building last week. The owners of the house were unavailable for comment, but neighbours say they are nice people and that they only throw stones at stray dogs. The driver is fine, and Police had cake and tea afterwards.”
Business:
“My furrowed brow should prove that employees are the bane of our existence. Right now, in Hong Kong, brokers notes are being used as cashflow against the advice of EurAtom. Austerity now, and after innovative re-mortgaging, will stabilise the see-saw effect of income protection within the OECD. It’s hard to argue with that, and I don’t say it’ll work, but the TPPA will go some ways to improving the overall feel of the piece I just wrote. Greece. Here is a picture of a graph.”
World:
“A large whale has been sighted off the coast of Iceland. Large whales live in the sea. Small ones are called Whale Children, but often they end up dead or eaten by villagers. You should be concerned. Here is a link to our source: a comments section on a Facebook page.”
Please, submit this as a guest post!
http://thestandard.org.nz/contribute-post/
Letters to the Editor:
Jolly good Charles. 🙂
Brilliant! You’re now the new editor.
🙂
Charlie Brooker on the “serious” newzak:
Thanks rhinocrates, that was awesome!
Great rhino.
Sounds familiar. Cut to an empty street in the dark where yesterday some un-named fellow threw stones at a cat. Reporter says it was near here that some fellow threw stones at a cat. Cut to a neighbour who says she never expected anything like that around here as her neighbours are actually Scottish. There you have it and now back to the studio.
“Is this the end of LOL?”
Breakfast television in New Zealand is nothing more than a bad joke
Television One Breakfast, TV3 Paul Henry
These are the impressions I gained from a quick perusal of both channels this morning. To be fair, I did not subject myself to the ordeal of watching all or even most of the morning’s programs, so it is possible that I missed something intelligent, thoughtful and stimulating. But, based on what I did manage to see this morning, and also on what I’ve seen in the past, these programs are banal at best [1], an insult to the intelligence on most days [2], and occasionally outrageous and revolting [3].
Shortly after seven o’clock, both channels are filled with the lugubrious mug of Professor John Burrows, the unknown minor academic plucked from obscure retirement to head the all star cast (Julie Christie, Kate Di Goldi, some old soldier and some sports people) that comprises John Key’s “Flag Consideration Panel.” The alternative flags have been whittled down to the final forty, but nobody cares—least of all Rawdon Christie’s offsider Ali Pugh, who openly expresses her disinterest in the farce. As always, the old trougher Burrows has nothing interesting to say, on either channel.
Some time after 7 o’clock, Paul Henry checks in with the woman in the “tech bunker” who monitors social media for him. Occasionally this segment is quite amusing—those occasions are when she spurns Henry’s ham-fisted attempts to flirt with her. Usually, however, this is nothing more than two minutes of chat about the most mind-numbing trivia. Today the topic is another bit of Facebook inanity: what was so good about the 80s? For a moment, Henry gets serious and solemnly intones: “Back in the 1980s, you didn’t need signs saying ‘Hot’ on a cup of coffee.” Since 1994, the story of the McDonald’s scalding case has been part of the rhetorical arsenal for the extreme right. It’s a distorted, extreme misconstruing of what actually happened, but that doesn’t matter to political ideologues like Paul Henry. [4]
8:20 a.m. TV3 Paul Henry’s daily Panel—just like Jim Mora’s Panel on National Radio, only shorter. This morning, the guests are TV3 reporter Sarah Hall and a dapper fellow named Julian Andrews, who looks and talks like one of those “creatives” from an advertising agency, but is billed grandly as a “business strategist.” The first topic is the future (or non-future) of rail in New Zealand. Henry, of course, reiterates yet again how he is dead-set opposed to rail, Julian Andrews mutters something about the public good, and Sarah Hall looks perplexed, frowns to show how troubled she is, and then says: “I’m just glad I’m not in Treasury!” Then the conversation takes a bizarre yet optimistic turn….
JULIAN ANDREWS: Do we really want 27,000 more trucks on the roads? Anyway, self-drive cars are going to render all this a non-issue!
PAUL HENRY: Tell Len Brown about driverless cars! I’ve tried to!
JULIAN ANDREWS: I was talking the other day to someone from Singularity University about driverless c—-
PAUL HENRY: What?!? “Singularity University”!!?!? Where’s THAT?
JULIAN ANDREWS: In Silicon Valley.
PAUL HENRY: Oh of COURSE it’s in Silicon Valley!
SARAH HALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Also at the table, silent throughout this scintillating conversation, are newsreader Hillary Barry and sports guy Jim Kayes. They both strain to maintain their rictus smiles.
Meanwhile, at 8:27 a.m. on Television One….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Is this the end of “LOL”? Next up, the modern language merry-go-round!
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-906840
http://thestandard.org.nz/tuwhera-mike-06022014/#comment-769085
[2] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10102014/#comment-907745
[3] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20122012/#comment-564961
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052015/#comment-1021090
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkL9UlmCOE
http://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/70978250/Why-railways-are-valuable-to-New-Zealand
Trains are good !,its a pity we’re being governed buy a bunch of morons who can’t work it out.
Interesting article. Anyone know what this means?
We will be looking for other savings too, and other ways of increasing revenue. We have, for example, property that has for too long returned only a peppercorn rental or none at all. The Government, on behalf of taxpayers, should be getting a better return on that investment.
Foreign ‘investors’ can build more apartments alongside rail lines?
I know there’s a lot of rail corridor land being grazed around the country but have know idea what they pay for it.
Nah you are all wrong The Fucking spiv wants them for Cycle Tracks
I wondered if it was old yards land etc, but would have thought they’d have sold that off a long time ago.
Is this the beginning? Mortgagee sales jump as economy starts to come off boil.
well, if people would just continue to have interest in their lives and properties, mortgage sales would obviously not happen.
” “People lose interest in their properties, they lose interest in their lives and the bank senses that, and that’s when you have distressed sales,” Harcourts agent and mortgagee specialist David Savery said.
let me translate that for ya’ll:
Suckers lost their jobs, their gonna loose their houses, their lives and the banks are gonna claw back and out of them what they can. And then when the last drop of blood was squeezed out of the looser banks are gonna foreclose, but its all good says Harcourts agent and mortgagee specialist David Savey, cause we are gonna take the property and sell it to another sucker in no time, for a hefty fee of course.
Bank and mortgagee specialists laughing all the way to the bank. Sucker is off to live in a ditch with the missus and kids.
this was supposedly a response to Incognito at comment Nr. 11
doh
doh
doh
I got your comment; don’t be too hard on yourself – one “doh” would have sufficed 😉
Old but good.
“The Republican Hunger Games.”
Is anybody really surprised by this?
I assume that it has to do with this government being the most dishonest and least open government we’ve had in a long time as shown by their use of manipulating the OIA for political gain while trying so hard not to actually answer so many of those OIAs.
URGENT! TPPA – WALK AWAY! ACTION!
If you’re concerned about the TPPA – here’s a petition that you can sign?
Another 12,000 signatures are being sought before it is presented to Parliament tomorrow.
http://www.actionstation.org.nz/tppa
(Please feel free to sign and share …. )
Penny Bright
And, according to the NZHerald, the Greens are now the government.
The refusal by Anne Tolley “to treat vulnerable newborns as “lab rats” by sitting back for two years to see if they were abused” generated a long discussion thread here on TS.
Obviously, child abuse is a huge problem in our society, which sadly won’t go away any time soon. This is one reason why I want pick up this topic again.
The other reason is that a few days later a very good (IMO) opinion piece appeared by Associate Professor Time Dare who had undertaken the ethical analysis of the canned study Anne Tolley’s ‘lab rats’ call inflammatory political rhetoric. I have not seen any reference to this here in TS.
A couple of days later again another good perspective appeared CYF software study raised same ethical dilemmas as medical trials, academic says, which raised another red flag, i.e. “big data”, that can turn the most sensible person into a raving radical anti-government berserker.
For good measure, here’s a link to the material (a lot!) on the MSD website, incl. Tim Dare’s Ethical Review Predictive Modelling. [Note the typo in the hyperlink]
A third reason to post this is that this is just another example of how any much-needed debate in this country of ours is avoided or killed off. Not only lay-people, i.e. ordinary Kiwis like you and I, but also experts and the likes are dismissed offhand if it does not suit the narrative or framing.
This is worrisome because not only do experts provide expert knowledge, but they also tend to use less ambiguous language although this may not always be evident to the general public. Particularly science relies on unequivocal and unambiguous (AKA neutral and objective) language; the ultimate example of this is mathematics that relies on precise semantic meanings, etc.
Often politically-sensitive debate, which can include almost anything, sounds more like a Babylonic Confusion of Tongues, which is why the simplification of meanings (!) through input from scientists is often a helpful if not necessary contribution.
It seems to me that the powers that be do everything to preserve the Status Quo. By dismissing or even excluding scientific experts they leave free reign to the Confusion of Tongues, which diminishes any chances of reaching meaningful consensus or compromise, and solutions, i.e. ‘mission accomplished’.
some interesting links there, thanks.
I have real suspicions about the ability of MSD to avoid turning the “predictive model” into a method of abuse.
In the same long discussion thread here on TS some interesting comments were made on correlation vs. causation.
An old well-known example of this is the correlation between people carrying matches in their pocket and the chance of these people getting lung cancer. Obviously, matches in one’s pocket, or anywhere else for that matter, do not cause lung cancer but smoking does!
There is a strong correlation between humans with long hair and those that get pregnant..
So ……
indeed – less indirect causation than the matches example.
If you smoke after sex there will be correlation between having matches or a lighter and …
lol
My favourite was someone who did a comparison of the European migration routes of storks and birth rates nine months later.
Found a positive correlation 🙂
I used to be a packet a day man.
lol
You must have a strong handshake then…
There was a strange yet unexplained anomaly in that correlation in the 60s; the average long-haired human had a zero chance of getting pregnant!? Rumour is that Donald Trump donned is signature ‘hair style’ in that period once he realised it did not involve “bleeding” as there happened to be another odd correlation with long hair that has puzzled scientists ever since. The correlation between Bigfoot sightings and Donald Trump visits is near perfect; the latter also has a near-perfect record of putting his Big Foot into his Big Mouth. Sorry, how did we get here again?
a nice read here
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11495479
I guess this is one way to ensure inequality is eliminated. Pay the most talented individuals next to nothing
“I’m earning the same as someone who works in McDonald’s,” said 28-year-old math professor Anthonny Arias in the city of Merida, an expert in mathematical logic who makes the equivalent of $4 per week at the black market exchange rate.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/headhunters-are-taking-advantage-of-venezuelas-decaying-economy-2015-8?IR=T
Stinking Maths professors. Always lording it over the rest of society. They need to be taken down a peg or several /sarc
http://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/a-paramedics-rant-about-why-burger-flippers-should-earn-the#.wn6rDXjnBl This might interest you…
“Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage.
I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people’s health and lives. I make $15/hr.”
Yes, it’s amazing how people complain about people worse off they are rather than complaining about the capitalists keeping them poor.
Gosman – math professors aren’t worth jack shit unless they are good enough to be hired by Wall Street.
The one you quote is clearly too stupid to realise why he is being so poorly paid and he probably doesn’t even have the smarts to belong to a union.
Gosman if that was meant to be a swipe at socialism in Venezuela, you get a D- for poor effort. Perhaps you might care to expound on the glories of capitalism in the USA and China, where manipulating and hiding the real economy has become an art form.
iSN’T amazing Gets some guts Key doesn’t have to table the Nat govt documents on the Saudi sheep deal and can stand and lie about the Labour party in parliament and cant be made to tell the truth
Theres a Song for Labour in that TELL THE TRUTH TELL ME WHO’S BEEN FOOLING U
John Key who else -try adding that to your rockstar economy John mite make all your BS lip sync lies crash your BS crosby Textor software
Which is worse—One’s crap 7 o’clock show or TV3’s?
Seven Sharp (Television One) and Story (TV3), Tuesday 11 August 2015
Tonight’s Seven Sharp started off with a brief item about Orlando Fox News host John Brown walking off the set, refusing to talk any more about the Kardashians. The story, obviously much too frivolous for an intellectual forum such as Fox News, concerned Kylie Jenner’s new pet rabbit Bruce….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/71014190/newsreader-cant-take-any-more-kardashians
Then it was back to the Seven Sharp hosts, one of whom was highly amused. “You can understand his frustration!” giggled Toni Street. Next to her, Mike Hosking affected his default expression of disdain and disinterest.
Meanwhile, across on TV3, Heather Du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner—she calls him, with toe-culrling over-familiarity, “Duncs”—continued the horrible process, begun last night, of dying in front of an ever-diminishing audience. These two presenters are the most unlikeable pairing since Sarah Ferguson and Justin Timberlake. Apparently this dog of a program got one hundred thousand curious Seven Sharp viewers to switch over last night; I doubt that most of them will be back this evening.
By the way, Du Plessis was also involved in the first ever Seven Sharp, and she was crap there as well. The role of the unfunny conceited prick was at that time filled by Greg Boyed….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04022013/#comment-584162
Watched a little bit of Story, Moz. An interview with a security guard who only had anecdotal stories to tell, followed by the hosts qualifying even that dribble by saying it wasn’t a specific security company they’d previously featured, the guy hadn’t worked in the prisoner guarding industry for years etc, etc.
Also noticed that Dunkin’ gets to lead the items, but then he is a man, so fair enough.
btw, did you post a comment this morning about breakfast TV? It’s in the spam queue, probably too many links. I can let it out, if you want.
Thanks very much te reo. I’ve just posted the same item, with a different title. I wonder if you’d use the one I’ve just sent in. Sorry about the links—-I’ll keep them to a minimum in future.
Good as gold. I see this version made it through without a problem.
Edit: Spoke too soon! I’ll let it out now.
Wonderful! This is like being at the birth of a baby, kind of.
I try to give new things a chance, people have to earn a living but…so far I would have to say it would be better called “Sorry” than Story. Have to admit I am holding it up to Campbell Live, which they have said they don’t want to be compared to, but does Mediaworks really believe the public want to be titillated rather than invigorated?
“Is this the end of LOL?”
NZ has possibly the two worst breakfast TV programmes in the world
Breakfast (Television One), Paul Henry (TV3)
Tuesday 11 August 2015
dire /ˈdʌɪə/ adjective of a very poor quality, dreadful, terrible
Following are the impressions I gained from a quick perusal of both channels this morning. To be fair, I did not subject myself to the ordeal of watching all or even most of the morning’s programs, so it is possible that I missed something intelligent, thoughtful and stimulating. But, based on what I did manage to see this morning, and also on what I’ve seen in the past, these programs are banal at best [1], an insult to the intelligence on most days [2], and occasionally outrageous and revolting [3].
Shortly after seven o’clock, both channels are filled with the lugubrious mug of the Professor John Burrows, the unknown minor academic plucked from obscure retirement to head the all star cast (Julie Christie, Kate Di Goldi, some old soldier and some sports people) that comprises John Key’s “Flag Consideration Panel.” The alternative flags have been whittled down to the final forty, but nobody cares—least of all Rawdon Christie’s offsider Ali Pugh, who openly expresses her disinterest in the farce. As always, the old trougher Burrows has nothing interesting to say, on either channel.
Some time after 7 o’clock, Paul Henry checks in with the woman in the “tech bunker” who monitors social media for him. Occasionally this segment is quite amusing—those occasions are when she spurns Henry’s ham-fisted attempts to flirt with her. Usually, however, this is nothing more than two minutes of chat about the most mind-numbing trivia. Today the topic is another bit of Facebook inanity: what was so good about the 80s? For a moment, Henry gets serious and solemnly intones: “Back in the 1980s, you didn’t need signs saying ‘Hot’ on a cup of coffee.” Since 1994, the story of the McDonald’s scalding case has been part of the rhetorical arsenal for the extreme right. It’s a distorted, extreme misconstruing of what actually happened, but that doesn’t matter to political ideologues like Paul Henry. [4]
8:20 a.m. TV3 Paul Henry’s daily Panel—this is like Jim Mora’s Panel on National Radio, only shorter. This morning, the guests are TV3 reporter Sarah Hall and a dapper fellow named Julian Andrews, who looks and talks like a “creative” from an advertising agency, though he is billed grandly as a “business strategist.” The first topic is the future (or non-future) of rail in New Zealand. Henry, of course, reiterates how he is dead-set opposed to rail, Julian Andrews mutters something about the public good, and Sarah Hall looks perplexed, frowns to show how troubled she is, and then says: “I’m just glad I’m not in Treasury!” Then the conversation takes a bizarre yet optimistic turn….
JULIAN ANDREWS: Do we really want 27,000 more trucks on the roads? Anyway, self-drive cars are going to render all this a non-issue!
PAUL HENRY: Tell Len Brown about driverless cars! I’ve tried to!
JULIAN ANDREWS: I was talking the other day to someone from Singularity University about driverl—-
PAUL HENRY: What?!? “Singularity University”!!?!? Where’s THAT?
JULIAN ANDREWS: In Silicon Valley.
PAUL HENRY: Oh of COURSE it’s in Silicon Valley!
SARAH HALL: Ha ha ha ha ha!
Also at the table, silent throughout this scintillating conversation, are newsreader Hillary Barry and sports guy Jim Kayes. They both strain to maintain their rictus smiles.
Meanwhile, at 8:27 a.m. on Television One….
RAWDON CHRISTIE: Is this the end of “LOL”? Next up, the modern language merry-go-round!”
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-09102014/#comment-906840
http://thestandard.org.nz/tuwhera-mike-06022014/#comment-769085
[2] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10102014/#comment-907745
[3] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20122012/#comment-564961
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27052015/#comment-1021090
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkL9UlmCOE
So why are our troops there again?
‘US ex-intelligence chief on ISIS rise: It was ‘a willful Washington decision’
https://www.rt.com/usa/312050-dia-flynn-islamic-state/
“The US didn’t interfere with the rise of anti-government jihadist groups in Syria that finally degenerated into Islamic State, claims the former head of America’s Defense Intelligence Agency, backing a secret 2012 memo predicting their rise….