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!”
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Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
Alex Casey unearths Simon Court’s full sales pitch for how menstrual cups could end poverty. On Friday last week, Act MP Simon Court was accused of “mansplaining” during a parliamentary committee hearing about benefit sanctions. After submitter Rachel Dibble shared her concerns about period poverty and the impact that sanctions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato It’s an unfortunate fact that bad people sometimes want guns. And while laws are designed to prevent guns falling into the wrong hands, the determined criminal can be highly resourceful. There are three main ...
Asia Pacific Report Two independent Jewish Voices groups in Aotearoa New Zealand have written an open letter to the government condemning the Zionist “colonisation” project leading to genocide and criticising the role of the NZ Jewish Council for its “unelected” and “uncritical support” for Israel. The groups, Alternative Jewish Voices ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Newspoll, conducted February 10–14 from a sample of 1,244, gave the Coalition a 51–49 lead, unchanged from the previous Newspoll, ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you enjoy whip-smart satire: The White Lotus (Neon, February 17) HBO’s award-winning The White Lotus is back for what critics are calling “an absolutely exquisite third ...
NZPF called for a slowdown of the curriculum change, asking for one subject at a time, so that teachers and principals could be fully trained and feel confident and competent to implement the changes, New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF) President ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Indonesia’s TVOne launched an AI news presenter in 2023.T.J. Thomson Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has taken off at lightning speed in the past couple of years, creating disruption in ...
Many of the young vapers interviewed by a team of public health researchers said they felt unable to resist the pro-vaping environment that surrounded them. New Zealand’s smokefree law was hailed around the world for creating a smokefree generation that would have lifelong protection from smoking’s harms. The smokefree ...
Analysis: While most Wellingtonians enjoyed a rare but unbeatable sunny day on Saturday, some New Zealand diplomats will have been briefly shocked by a screenshot making the rounds on social media showing US President Donald Trump calling us a “third world country”.The image, it appears, was a fake – certainly a ...
ActionStation Director, Kassie Hartendorp says that the Treaty Principles Bill has galvanised the biggest movement in support of Te Tiriti in modern history. ...
While it is in the interests of Wellington ratepayers to sell off this subsidy for the rich, it is unfortunate that it has come to this point. The council should have never spent a penny on this programme, and the $3.4 million spent is a flagrant abuse ...
A search for the person behind a social media account ridiculing Māori.Last week, while scrolling Facebook, I came across a post shared to the New Zealand Centre for Political Research group. The post began, “From Matua Kahurangi on X”, before pasting his critique of iwi leadership – particularly Ngāpuhi ...
On the heels of The White Lotus season three, Tara Ward travels to Koh Samui, Thailand, to live her best life as a five-star wannabe. I’ve never been one for luxury travel. Despite religiously watching TV shows like Luxury Escapes: World’s Best Holidays and harbouring grand dreams of one day ...
The Treaty Principles Bill submission hearings continue at Parliament today with a range of submitters expected including councils, iwi, community organisations and individuals. ...
It’s become of one of Christchurch’s most famous landmarks online, but why? Alex Casey steps through the portal of the brutalist Timezone. Ask anyone what Christchurch’s most iconic building is and you might expect to hear some of the dusty old classics like the Cathedral, or the Town Hall, or ...
New Zealand’s alignment with the White House is further underscored by its refusal to oppose Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a serious blow to the soft power of the United States and disastrous for many poor countries ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Hoek, Professor in Public Health, University of Otago Shutterstock/Aliaksandr Barouski New Zealand’s smokefree law was hailed around the world for creating a smokefree generation that would have lifelong protection from smoking’s harms. The smokefree generation would have ended sales of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Disney, Research Fellow, Social Epidemiology, The University of Melbourne Edwin Tan/Getty Images When the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) was established in 2013, one of its driving aims was to make disability services and support systems fairer. However, our new ...
The resignation of the director general of health is the latest departure in what Labour is calling a ‘purge’ of health leadership. Another day, another health resignation It’s a dangerous time to be a top health executive. On Friday, Dr Diana Sarfati announced her resignation as director general of health ...
Labour and the Greens say the government should focus spending on tourism infrastructure like tracks, toilets and protection of nature instead of more advertising. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
Hundreds of people called the former prime minister vile and dehumanising things online. Internet safety agencies did nothing - then called in the lawyers. ...
After a morning spent calf marking, Flock Hill Station manager Richard Hill headed up Bridge Hill – about 100km from Christchurch on the way to the West Coast – to check on a fire near the station’s boundary.It was December 5 last year, and the Craigieburn area had experienced three ...
It can’t be much of a surprise that a relatively inexperienced Act MP, handed the workplace relations portfolio, doesn’t want to entertain the country’s biggest union in her office.But it still astonishes the head of that union, the CTU’s president, Richard Wagstaff.After all, he’s met regularly with ministers of all ...
Late 21st century Christchurch will be unrecognisable when compared with Christchurch today.Flooding will prompt retreat from all eastern and many northern suburbs. These areas, together with land near the Heathcote and Avon Rivers, are in a fifty-year flood zone. Fifty-year floods can happen more than once every fifty years; there ...
Is humanising a mountain the path to real transformation, or does it signal the need for a cultural paradigm shift in the operating system? Recently, a family member shared their delight at the news of Taranaki Maunga becoming a legal person.Of course, I was pleased for the eight Taranaki ...
Why New Zealanders donate money and who they give it to – and how tools like Givealittle are changing the giving landscape.Is New Zealand really a generous country? It’s difficult to quantify. Giving to registered charities can be counted through tax returns, but giving to overseas causes, giving money ...
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….