John Key’s puppet and pet newspaper the Herald gives prominence to his pet project the flag.
Bet they spend more column inches on that than either the TPP or child poverty this week.
What an excuse for a news organisation.
I have to say that the critics are right when they point out that not having a designer and similarly qualified people on the panel is like choosing a national anthem without a musician and songwriter on board …….
rather fundamentally flawed
and a reflection of the true shallowness of Key’s skills (very good at clipping tickets but not at creating anything). Any astute and successful person would recognise this most basic of requirements, but he has not…
The result being a whole bunch of very similar offerings and no real creativity or new, young, exciting type designs.
edit: hmmmm, out of the ban now. that was a funny one
Just heard our abysmal pm on radio, wish I hadn’t. I get this deep, sinking feeling every time I hear him duck shoving around the questions asked of him. Big high five to Susie F for trying to answer her question on the Saudi scandal, but he was obviously programmed and unable to say anything but ‘this was inherited from Labour’. No proof of course. Feeling bloody angry!!
Don’t get angry, get even.
Learn a bit about the facts so you can help educate your friends, point out the bullshit media lines and follow them up with facts. Your friends will soon understand that you actually understand the issues and they can’t try using the spin on you.
I’m currently visiting family and am using this method, they now understand that I know more about most issues “on the news” then they can ever pick up from a 3 second soundbite.
As a result, they now ask and value my opinion. Before, when I just raved on I was laughed at as a looney lefty. I still get angry but as they say, you catch more flies with honey then vinegar..
Yes. We do that. Pretty much all our families and friends are Nat supporters. Very much fingers in ears and going ‘la,la,la. My husband has been known to put people right (in his eyes) in supermarket queues on overhearing conversations about how wonderful nats are.
Verse
If the Public have uncovered
A shonky deal we made
We bring out Teflon John and
the full snake-oil brigade
with echo chamber Hoskings
and the right wing Herald aids
to sing the Crosby Textor line
Till all the uproar fades, ohhhhhhhhhhh
Chorus
Labour did it too, mate
Labour did it too
We inherited it from Labour
So what else could we do?
If ever we’re in trouble
And the news has turned to pooh
Then it’s time to plug the same old line
“Labour did it too!”
The deep green in me, loved this song, very much. It was good to hear a young musician express such depth of feeling.
I heard this song yesterday when listening to the new album from Courtney Barnett. And to quote a YouTube commentator, on the album “It’s all fun and games until Kim’s Caravan kicks your ass.”
Here is a link to the video and come comments about the song.
That’s the best I’ve heard from her yet, more engaging and uplifting than her radio-friendly stuff. Musically and lyrically she really goes all out on this. Caravans like that are notoriously difficult to burn. I often wonder if the flames have any effect.
A TPPA march is being organised for Featherston this Saturday but I was disappointed to learn from the organiser that the Wairarapa branch of the Labour Party has decided not to support it as they believe the the TPPA won’t be signed anyway.
If anyone in the Wairarapa is reading this (or knows anyone in the Wairarapa who might want to take part), the march is at 11am starting from the south end of town and walking to the cenotaph.
The show of opposition by marching is intended to send a message to the Govt that the TPPA should not be revived and that the public don’t want a bar of it.
Please continue to stand up and be counted. This fight is not yet over. This is simply a lull.
“Since it began to face opposition from BRICS countries at the World Trade Organisation, US policy has been to push through a triad of international “trade agreements” outside of the WTO framework, aimed at radically restructuring the economies of negotiating countries, and cutting out the rising economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).
The three treaties, the “Three Big T’s”, aim to create a new international legal regime that will allow transnational corporations to bypass domestic courts, evade environmental protections, police the internet on behalf of the content industry, limit the availability of affordable generic medicines, and drastically curtail each country’s legislative sovereignty.”
I agree completely TMM. That’s why I couldn’t understand their attitude. There’s no way you can right it off yet.
I find the apathy and inaction by people I know who actually don’t like this government – “there’s nothing we can do about it” -“they are all the same” etc – more depressing than the government itself. Apathy and cynicism are corrosive.
As the poet Yeats said: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
Kieran was the person the organiser was in contact with, as far as I am aware. Earlier the organiser had said she had contacted Kieran about it and it sounded like they were going to support it, and then yesterday she told me they said they had decided not to.
Your undying commitment to protest action is an inspiration. People like John Key treat protestors as if they have nothing better to do, when they actually use up precious time and money that is usually in short supply. Usually those protesting are the ones who can least afford the time and money.
(Question: who would stand most to gain by shooting down a civilian passenger plane full of Dutch, Malaysians and Australians…in other words creating trouble in the region…I dont think the Russians!…and why was this plane re-routed off its normal flight path ?)
The Russians didn’t shoot it down, Chooky. The separatists they gave the missiles to did. It was a cock up; the separatists thought they were shooting down a military plane. The plane was on a regularly used flight path and it was just bad luck that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ultimately, the responsibility is still Russia’s; it was their missile that killed nearly 300 people.
You’ve presented a lot of statements of opinion as fact there TRP.
Please point to any official International Civil Aviation Organisation air crash investigation report, US Government Federal or military air crash investigation report, European Union official air crash investigation report which bears out your statements.
And in particular, any report which answers the question why MH17 had been diverted to a flight path a couple of hundred kilometres north of its usual route which would normally avoid the conflict zone.
Ultimately, the responsibility is still Russia’s; it was their missile that killed nearly 300 people.
Many of the munitions which killed over a thousand Palestinian civilians including children in the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza were supplied to Israel by the USA.
Do you count those civilian killings as being ultimately the USA’s responsibility?
The Russians didn’t shoot it down, Chooky. The separatists they gave the missiles to did.
The leader of the OSCE recently confirmed that they have never seen the movement of heavy weapons from Russia into the Ukraine.
Please provide proof that the Russians gave a BUK missile system to the separatists, as opposed to the separatists obtaining such a system from defeated Ukranian forces.
I know I’m wasting my time, but it and hundreds of other flights used that route because it was north of Crimea, where there was a known risk because of the Russian invasion.
The facts are the facts. If you have anything substantial that points to an alternative to what we know now, please post it. Even better, send it to the people investigating the crime. Hilarious that you can get so smugly pompous about those killed by the yanks and Israelis, but you don’t give a shit about the dead of MH17.
As I said, it’s a cock up. But that’s what happens when you give deadly weapons to people who don’t much care how they use them.
Sorry, do you have references to any official investigation reports with those facts?
If not, please don’t state your opinions as facts unless you can back them up. Let’s make sure that every one is clear that they are merely your opinions and that no official investigation reports have reached those same conclusions.
No you didn’t. You pointed out who you believed did it. Personally, I’m more in favour of the Ukraine government shooting it down as they stood more to gain from it being shot down.
Cui bono, follow the money and other clichés apply here.
“Many of the munitions which killed over a thousand Palestinian civilians including children in the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza were supplied to Israel by the USA.
Do you count those civilian killings as being ultimately the USA’s responsibility?”
I would have thought that was obviously the USA’s responsibility as well as Israel’s.
The plane was on a regularly used flight path and it was just bad luck that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I am assuming here that you are simply badly informed. Please see below from the Telegraph which said that MH17 was on a course up to 300 hundred miles north of where it typically flew (why and how MH17 came to take a course to fly through a war zone has not yet been clarified):
” Robert Mark, a commercial pilot who edits Aviation International News Safety magazine, said that most Malaysia Airlines flights from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur normally travelled along a route significantly further south than the plane which crashed.
Malaysia Airlines has insisted its plane travelled on an “approved route” used by many other carriers.
But Mr Mark said: “I can only tell you as a commercial pilot myself that if we had been routed that way, with what’s been going on in the Ukraine and the Russian border over the last few weeks and months, I would never have accepted that route. And the flight today tracked very, very much further north into the Ukraine than the other previous flights did … there were MH17 versions that were 300 miles south of where this one was….
Records of recent MH17 flights on the FlightAware appear to bear out Mr Mark’s claim, with earlier flights significantly further south than the flight that crashed.
We have the editor of Aviation International News Safety on record in the above article. I’ll take his opinion on this issue over yours.
Unless you have a link or a reference which bears out your claim that MH17 was on its normal route of course, which doesn’t appear to be the case.
Also re: Crimea – do you have a link showing that commercial aircraft routes were moved north from Crimea because of Russian actions there? Or do you simply imagine that was the case?
+100 CV…”You can only respect the dead by respecting the truth about their deaths…”…and finding the truth entails listening to the other side and keeping an open mind
“Investigations into the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine are still inconclusive or incomplete a year on from the tragedy. However, this has not stopped the West and their media from apportioning blames, without facts and figures to back up their claims. The search for justice for the families of those killed on MH17 continues.”
You’ll note that the article draws no hard conclusions, but suggests that the “evidence” to date (un-referenced, as you’ll note from the article) points to eastern ukranian separatists.
And you’ll also note that has no connection with Putin.
According to CNN, there was a significant storm situated right over MH17’s planned path through southern Ukraine. In response, the pilots may have requested a route through the northeast to provide a safer and smoother ride for the passengers. Unfortunately, the course change took them right over the disputed region in the east where Ukrainian forces have been battling pro-Russian separtists.
The airspace over eastern Ukraine has been and still is a no fly zone. The FAA issued a ban on operations over the area, however that ban only applies to planes flying between the altitudes of 26,000 and 32,000 ft. At the same time, the Ukranian Government reportedly shut down all civilian flights in the region under 7,900 meters or 26,000 ft. Ukrainian air traffic control assigned MH17 an altitude of 33,000ft, which complied with both no fly orders.
Planes at high altitude often deviate significantly to avoid storms etc. for the comfort of passengers – Singapore Airlines who I’ve travelled with quite a bit do. 300 miles isn’t much at 560 mph cruise speed
This whole thing came down to numbnuts on the ground – Russian Federation or Ukrainian, doesn’t matter – doughebags in charge of missiles that can pass the ceiling of third world armaments and poor international aviation policy.
The media both sides played to their overlords – ergo the conspiracy theories.
Remember fuel burn costs trump “ground” war zones.
The most convincing conspiracy theory (if you want to play that card) is the similarity between MA colours and that of the Russian Federation State plane. Oh and a earlier MA disappearance, that does smell somewhat – the wash up in French Indian Ocean Territories may give some answers.
MH17 was shot down by detached Russian military advisors. The number of the BUK is known, and the names of the crew. Like the polonium poisoning of Litivenko however, Russia is not cooperating.
I seem to remember being of the opinion that it was probably the Ukrainian armed forces that shot it down. Any wavering opinion around the rights and wrongs of the shit with Russia….well, gone right there. And back to the head of the news agenda with a full head of steam billowing outrage.
See, I could never make any sense of Russia shooting it down. And if as you say it takes a lot of training to operate, then it wasn’t militia.
hey tpr. the thing is that nothing has been proved, nothing. all we have to go by is suppositions and guess work, and yes propaganda. all the theories are conspiracy theories, and the one that you are repeating here is probably one of the more believable, but only because the media have been repeating it ad-nauseam almost constantly since the moment fragments from the plane hit the ground. the fact that this is the story supported and repeated since before anyone could have known anything at all gives me cause for doubt. there is also the question of partisanship of media. maybe I’m getting to cynical? but really, do you think media are really impartial reporters of facts?
And they very cleverly play to the conspiracy leaning folk. I know quite a few people who take them as gospel – as if the other side wouldn’t be into lying as well.
Unfortunately a few years ago a friend of mine was very sick. Every year this friend has to go for a check up with a specialist nurse.
Every year the time span between each visit gets extended. This year the visit is long overdue for the yearly examination. On inquiring what was the delay, the hospital was very apologetic but stated that they have had their staff numbers cut and that is the reason for the delay.
I told my friend to get the priorities right. You can’t have your important examination on time as there are more important things like The Fucking Spivs not needed $26 million flag referendum. Consultants (insultants) who have their arses on boards demanding “extra” to their inflated “fee'” as sitting on a board may damage their so called professional reputation. Board mangers earning over inflated salaries etc etc etc.
The most important thing about your comment was not that your friend is not receiving necessary medical treatment from a health system that’s being subjected to death by a thousand cuts.
The most important thing about your comment was that YOU USED NAUGHTY WORDS. Naughty words mean you are angry, anger is an emotion, emotions are by definition irrational, therefore your irrational comment should be ignored.
Let us all thank BM for reminding us that the Vulcan philosophy is the only logical path (except for all that communistic “needs of the many outweight the needs of the few” stuff).
Or BM is just an unregenerate dog turd that has been abandoned on the footpath of life.
I am quite certain that most are not aware of the extent to which the debt issue will be used against humanity
As long as the curtain is not allowed to fall, the crush onto the planet an humanity will be exerted in ways far beyond what sane people could ever believe possible
Take a look at what is going on in California to see where NZ is heading
While the MSM are busy discussing, whether pubs and clubs should be given extra opening times in early mornings to allow Rugby World Cup game watchers get pissed, and while they love to compare designs of flags for New Zealand, much else seems to go totally unnoticed, and is NOT reported on.
Yes, it may include “sheep-gate” and so also, that is swept under the carpet by our PM and the government as a whole, but who here has known about the plans by MSD (Ministry of Social Development) and their “expert” Principal Health Advisor, Dr David Bratt, making plans to widen the scope for “health professionals” to sign their ‘Work Capacity Medical Certificates’?
While such moves may make sense to some, it gives reason to worry. They have in the past already used their “designated doctors”, and are also now using “work ability assessment” providers, to re-assess and basically re-classify persons with health conditions, impairments and disability as “fit” for work. With the drive to get people into whatever jobs, that may not even exist, the new plans, they seem to indicate a further attempt to blur the lines, to soften up the existing regime, and have MSD enabled to use various additional health professionals as “assessors” that may be more “useful” for their agenda, than be concerned about the client and patient.
Good comment there Blue. We can also see what is happening in the UK the way Camoron is privatising the NHS by stealth. The fucking spiv is doing that over here Southern DHB is a good example. Very subtle changes are creeping into our health system like the other month I had some dental work done, when I went to get the prescription for a simple item supposedly on the approved list it cost me $15, the same prescription from a doctor $5. Mind you in this I could be wrong as it is not very often I have a prescription from a dentist.
Sorry to repeat- just added verse 2. If we can’t beat the dirty tactics head on, then let’s mock them so that we expose the tactics and diminish their influence, cf John Stewart, John Oliver.)
Verse 1
If the Public have uncovered
A shonky deal we made
We bring out Teflon John and
the full snake-oil brigade
with echo chamber Hoskings
and the right wing Herald aids
to sing the Crosby Textor line
Till all the uproar fades, ohhhhhhhhhhh
Chorus
Labour did it too, mate
Labour did it too
We inherited it from Labour
So what else could we do?
If ever we’re in trouble
And the news has turned to pooh
Then it’s time to plug the same old line
“Labour did it too!”
Verse 2
McCully bribed a Saudi
So we’d get an FTA.
It cost eleven million plus
with flying sheep away.
When sheep pellets hit the fan
and documents exposed
a shonky deal, then out comes John
with Crosby Textor prose. Oh…….
If you are still looking for a tune the best I can find that mostly matches the metre is the old hymn tune Bringing in the Sheaves. Some of the lines may need adjustment as the metre wanders a bit between lines but is easily fixed.
Good one! Correctly defines Key and his government as a corrupt group of shallow spinners and disgraceful liars. How the bloody hell did the good people of this country manage to re-elect them!
So – you don’t think that the RULE of LAW equally applies to Auckland Council Puckish Rogue?
Are you an Aucklander?
Have you bothered to do your own ‘due diligence’ and check the information provided by Auckland Council in their Rates Assessment Notices and Rates Invoices against s.44, s.45 and s.46 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 20012?
I take it you’re not coming on the Auckland Rate$ Ripoff Rally, to be held on Sunday 16 August 2015, assembling at 1pm at Aotea Square – protesting against Auckland Council rates increases?
All good – you just keep tugging your … forelock, and doing as you’re told, irrespective as to whether or not what you’re being told to do is actually LAWFUL?
I’m not stupid enough to live Auckland Penny but you keep pretending to people that its all good to take advantage of all the services the council provides without having to pay for them
Actually, it seems to me that this case is different to Penny’s.
If I understand Penny’s position, it’s that the council is not acting within the law currently, and she is happy to pay the rates owing when it finally does act within the law. Please correct me if this is not broadly correct, Penny (although briefly, and with minimal capitalisation and exclamation).
Looking at the case in the paper, it seems to simply be a refusal to pay rates because she “tithes” to someone else (without any political statement as such). So it’s not so much a protest as a dodge or con by someone.
The initial testing of work on 14 properties had 13 properties return a negative result. If you are testing for signs of asbestos that is a great result! However, when testing the repairs of earthquake damaged foundations ?????
The subsequent 100 properties that MBIE “randomly” inspected had [unspecified rate of failure] yet the authorities’ subsequent actions reflect it was concerned enough by the numbers to instigate a wider probe of the situation. It is the most likely reason for the report that was due back in June being delayed.
I’ve started taking notice of sink holes opening up around the world. Perhaps that is telling us something, usually involves drainage, heavy rain, old mines, underground waterways affected. (Christchurch south Canterbury?)
This is from PNgG, the latest one I have read about from Radionz. Sinkhole swallows homes in PNG
Updated at 5:06 pm on 21 July 2015
A sinkhole has opened up in one of Papua New Guinea’s northern provinces, sucking in
16 homes and injuring at least two people.
Oh churlish, disrespectful me……heartache, sadness, dysfunction, criminality, drain on the public purse…..up…..up to 30.7% up……happy happy joy joy……this is Planet Key where in time an effete “rugby-loving” ponce of a man (?) will contrive to give SkyCity CEO Morrison a knighthood. For services to……ummmh ?……an effete “rugby-loving” ponce of a man (?) ?
Ummmh……there’s informed sentiment up these ways that says the judge found irresistible the colonising of this sentencing as a weapon in a long running and very personal war with defence counsel. Even the local police raise their eyebrows at this ‘no home detention’ outcome. A result generally conceded as something of an ‘outlier’. Mmmmh.
I have no view of course. Merely reporting (informed) sentiment.
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Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
The Government Communications Security Bureau denies hosting a foreign spying capability flagged by the watchdog, differentiating it from the system recently criticised. ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Henry, Professor & Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Social and Global Studies Centre, RMIT University Shutterstock Following an emergency meeting of the National Cabinet this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem ...
Analysis - A poll showing the opposition is more popular than the government raises questions, politicians go through their 'trial by pay rise' and a Green MP loses her cool in the debating chamber. ...
The entire stretch of Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast will be subject to a joint customary marine title for two hapū, and extending up to four miles out to sea. A High Court judge has found the two groups, who during the case settled a dispute over boundaries for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Hall, Lecturer, Media & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University A longstanding feud between TikTok and Universal Music Group seems to have finally reached an end, with both parties signing a deal that will see Universal-backed music returned to the social media ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Siobhan O’Dean, Postdoctoral Research Associate, The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney After several highly publicised alleged murders of women in Australia, the Albanese government this week pledged more than A$925 million over five years ...
Political parties have now fully disclosed the donations they received last year - with National getting more than double the cash of any other party. ...
A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University Bruno Scramgnon/Pexels All systems are “go” for tonight’s launch of China’s next step in a carefully planned lunar exploration program. Placed on top of a powerful Long March 5 rocket, the Chang’e 6 ...
National returned a massive donation the day after a Newsroom story linked the donors to a property being investigated for operating unlawfully as a migrant workers’ hostel. The party’s 2023 donation filings, released on Friday, show it returned a $200,000 donation from Buen Holdings on August 23. That was the ...
Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
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John Key’s puppet and pet newspaper the Herald gives prominence to his pet project the flag.
Bet they spend more column inches on that than either the TPP or child poverty this week.
What an excuse for a news organisation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11495645
I have to say that the critics are right when they point out that not having a designer and similarly qualified people on the panel is like choosing a national anthem without a musician and songwriter on board …….
rather fundamentally flawed
and a reflection of the true shallowness of Key’s skills (very good at clipping tickets but not at creating anything). Any astute and successful person would recognise this most basic of requirements, but he has not…
The result being a whole bunch of very similar offerings and no real creativity or new, young, exciting type designs.
edit: hmmmm, out of the ban now. that was a funny one
Yet you read it every day.
Just heard our abysmal pm on radio, wish I hadn’t. I get this deep, sinking feeling every time I hear him duck shoving around the questions asked of him. Big high five to Susie F for trying to answer her question on the Saudi scandal, but he was obviously programmed and unable to say anything but ‘this was inherited from Labour’. No proof of course. Feeling bloody angry!!
Don’t get angry, get even.
Learn a bit about the facts so you can help educate your friends, point out the bullshit media lines and follow them up with facts. Your friends will soon understand that you actually understand the issues and they can’t try using the spin on you.
I’m currently visiting family and am using this method, they now understand that I know more about most issues “on the news” then they can ever pick up from a 3 second soundbite.
As a result, they now ask and value my opinion. Before, when I just raved on I was laughed at as a looney lefty. I still get angry but as they say, you catch more flies with honey then vinegar..
Yes. We do that. Pretty much all our families and friends are Nat supporters. Very much fingers in ears and going ‘la,la,la. My husband has been known to put people right (in his eyes) in supermarket queues on overhearing conversations about how wonderful nats are.
Agree Ffloyd. What a semi-coherent mumble ! I think I heard Labour blamed for the fiasco 4 times.
Here ’tis: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201766120/pm-says-proper-processes-were-followed-in-the-saudi-deal
Verse
If the Public have uncovered
A shonky deal we made
We bring out Teflon John and
the full snake-oil brigade
with echo chamber Hoskings
and the right wing Herald aids
to sing the Crosby Textor line
Till all the uproar fades, ohhhhhhhhhhh
Chorus
Labour did it too, mate
Labour did it too
We inherited it from Labour
So what else could we do?
If ever we’re in trouble
And the news has turned to pooh
Then it’s time to plug the same old line
“Labour did it too!”
DMM. Blimming’ marvellous.
Brilliant Tautoko! Roll over Johnny Cash.
Give this man/woman a recording contract at once!
🙂
Labour the govt that still governs after Nats 6 years in power.
🙂
Well more than the Keystone robbers anyway.
DV
Lol – witty
The deep green in me, loved this song, very much. It was good to hear a young musician express such depth of feeling.
I heard this song yesterday when listening to the new album from Courtney Barnett. And to quote a YouTube commentator, on the album “It’s all fun and games until Kim’s Caravan kicks your ass.”
Here is a link to the video and come comments about the song.
http://consequenceofsound.net/2015/04/courtney-barnett-takes-a-dark-look-at-the-world-in-kims-caravan-video-watch/
That’s the best I’ve heard from her yet, more engaging and uplifting than her radio-friendly stuff. Musically and lyrically she really goes all out on this. Caravans like that are notoriously difficult to burn. I often wonder if the flames have any effect.
Marvelous wordsmith.
http://socialhub.courtneybarnett.com.au/
http://thestandard.org.nz/weekend-social-03042015/#comment-995569
A TPPA march is being organised for Featherston this Saturday but I was disappointed to learn from the organiser that the Wairarapa branch of the Labour Party has decided not to support it as they believe the the TPPA won’t be signed anyway.
If anyone in the Wairarapa is reading this (or knows anyone in the Wairarapa who might want to take part), the march is at 11am starting from the south end of town and walking to the cenotaph.
The show of opposition by marching is intended to send a message to the Govt that the TPPA should not be revived and that the public don’t want a bar of it.
Please continue to stand up and be counted. This fight is not yet over. This is simply a lull.
“Since it began to face opposition from BRICS countries at the World Trade Organisation, US policy has been to push through a triad of international “trade agreements” outside of the WTO framework, aimed at radically restructuring the economies of negotiating countries, and cutting out the rising economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).
The three treaties, the “Three Big T’s”, aim to create a new international legal regime that will allow transnational corporations to bypass domestic courts, evade environmental protections, police the internet on behalf of the content industry, limit the availability of affordable generic medicines, and drastically curtail each country’s legislative sovereignty.”
https://wikileaks.org/WikiLeaks-goes-after-hyper-secret.html
We need EVERYONE out there .
No more of the APATHY RULES, SO WHAT!
I agree completely TMM. That’s why I couldn’t understand their attitude. There’s no way you can right it off yet.
I find the apathy and inaction by people I know who actually don’t like this government – “there’s nothing we can do about it” -“they are all the same” etc – more depressing than the government itself. Apathy and cynicism are corrosive.
As the poet Yeats said: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
Get on to Kieran McANULTY and ask him to sort out the Wairarapa NZLP branches.
Kieran was the person the organiser was in contact with, as far as I am aware. Earlier the organiser had said she had contacted Kieran about it and it sounded like they were going to support it, and then yesterday she told me they said they had decided not to.
Good on you!
All the best!
Think we’re going to get QUITE a turnout all over New Zealand on the national day of action against the TPPA.
Cheers!
Penny Bright
Thanks Penny!
Your undying commitment to protest action is an inspiration. People like John Key treat protestors as if they have nothing better to do, when they actually use up precious time and money that is usually in short supply. Usually those protesting are the ones who can least afford the time and money.
Western media is heading towards the view that MH17 was shot down by a Russian ground to air missile…here is the other view:
‘MH17 investigators to RT: No proof east Ukraine fragments from ‘Russian’ Buk missile’
https://www.rt.com/news/312192-mh17-investigators-buk-missile/
‘Was there a 2nd plane?’ New footage shows MH17 crash site minutes after Boeing downing’
http://www.rt.com/news/310082-mh17-video-another-aircraft/
(Question: who would stand most to gain by shooting down a civilian passenger plane full of Dutch, Malaysians and Australians…in other words creating trouble in the region…I dont think the Russians!…and why was this plane re-routed off its normal flight path ?)
The Russians didn’t shoot it down, Chooky. The separatists they gave the missiles to did. It was a cock up; the separatists thought they were shooting down a military plane. The plane was on a regularly used flight path and it was just bad luck that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ultimately, the responsibility is still Russia’s; it was their missile that killed nearly 300 people.
You’ve presented a lot of statements of opinion as fact there TRP.
Please point to any official International Civil Aviation Organisation air crash investigation report, US Government Federal or military air crash investigation report, European Union official air crash investigation report which bears out your statements.
And in particular, any report which answers the question why MH17 had been diverted to a flight path a couple of hundred kilometres north of its usual route which would normally avoid the conflict zone.
Many of the munitions which killed over a thousand Palestinian civilians including children in the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza were supplied to Israel by the USA.
Do you count those civilian killings as being ultimately the USA’s responsibility?
The leader of the OSCE recently confirmed that they have never seen the movement of heavy weapons from Russia into the Ukraine.
Please provide proof that the Russians gave a BUK missile system to the separatists, as opposed to the separatists obtaining such a system from defeated Ukranian forces.
I know I’m wasting my time, but it and hundreds of other flights used that route because it was north of Crimea, where there was a known risk because of the Russian invasion.
The facts are the facts. If you have anything substantial that points to an alternative to what we know now, please post it. Even better, send it to the people investigating the crime. Hilarious that you can get so smugly pompous about those killed by the yanks and Israelis, but you don’t give a shit about the dead of MH17.
As I said, it’s a cock up. But that’s what happens when you give deadly weapons to people who don’t much care how they use them.
Sorry, do you have references to any official investigation reports with those facts?
If not, please don’t state your opinions as facts unless you can back them up. Let’s make sure that every one is clear that they are merely your opinions and that no official investigation reports have reached those same conclusions.
As I said, it’s a cock up. .
So you know those who carried it out , personally.And they debriefed you on actual events
No, didn’t think so
Argh, opinions prancing around as ‘facts’ are easy meat
I already pointed out who did it. There is no plausible alternative explanation. Sorry if that’s inconvenient, but there you have it.
No you didn’t. You pointed out who you believed did it. Personally, I’m more in favour of the Ukraine government shooting it down as they stood more to gain from it being shot down.
Cui bono, follow the money and other clichés apply here.
There was no Russian “invasion” of Crimea.
It’s fucking obvious CV if you have been following it.
Its fucken obvious that your idol John Key is a crooked prick, yet he has your support here
Reckon your observation and advice is pretty fucken worthless
“Many of the munitions which killed over a thousand Palestinian civilians including children in the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza were supplied to Israel by the USA.
Do you count those civilian killings as being ultimately the USA’s responsibility?”
I would have thought that was obviously the USA’s responsibility as well as Israel’s.
Here is a good place to start http://www.newsweek.com/meet-eliot-higgins-putins-mh17-nemesis-345485
TRP you say
I am assuming here that you are simply badly informed. Please see below from the Telegraph which said that MH17 was on a course up to 300 hundred miles north of where it typically flew (why and how MH17 came to take a course to fly through a war zone has not yet been clarified):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10975524/Crashed-MH17-flight-was-300-miles-off-typical-course.html
See my comment above, my misinformed friend. The Telegraph, ha!
We have the editor of Aviation International News Safety on record in the above article. I’ll take his opinion on this issue over yours.
Unless you have a link or a reference which bears out your claim that MH17 was on its normal route of course, which doesn’t appear to be the case.
Also re: Crimea – do you have a link showing that commercial aircraft routes were moved north from Crimea because of Russian actions there? Or do you simply imagine that was the case?
Look it up, CV. The facts are the facts. I don’t have the time or inclination to deal with the rationally challenged, sorry.
Still nothing then?
I’ll stick with the opinion of the editor from International Aviation News Safety in that case.
Good on ya, pal. 298 dead, CV tells them to go fuck themselves. Charming.
Still nothing then?
You can only respect the dead by respecting the truth about their deaths, TRP. You should know that.
Exactly my point, CV. Glad we agree!
@CV
+1
+100 CV…”You can only respect the dead by respecting the truth about their deaths…”…and finding the truth entails listening to the other side and keeping an open mind
‘Remembering MH17’
https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/310075-mh17-investigation-facts-figures/
“Investigations into the downing of flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine are still inconclusive or incomplete a year on from the tragedy. However, this has not stopped the West and their media from apportioning blames, without facts and figures to back up their claims. The search for justice for the families of those killed on MH17 continues.”
I thought I’d check out International Aviation News – because there have been a lot of Russian disinformation stories.
Interestingly their site attributes the downing of MH17 to pro-Russian militias. http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2014-07-19/mh17-evidence-lays-blame-pro-russia-militia
The Bidens were certainly up to no good in the Ukraine but MH17’s on Putin.
You’ll note that the article draws no hard conclusions, but suggests that the “evidence” to date (un-referenced, as you’ll note from the article) points to eastern ukranian separatists.
And you’ll also note that has no connection with Putin.
Why would any airliner swap the “known risk” of flying over Crimea for the greater risk of flying over a war zone?
MH17 wasn’t 300 hundred miles north of where it typically flew.
http://i.imgur.com/Dg07ODA.jpg
http://imgur.com/a/QIZ9O
https://socioecohistory.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/malaysian-airlines-mh17-shot_down_over_eastern_ukraine.jpg
Damn weather.
According to CNN, there was a significant storm situated right over MH17’s planned path through southern Ukraine. In response, the pilots may have requested a route through the northeast to provide a safer and smoother ride for the passengers. Unfortunately, the course change took them right over the disputed region in the east where Ukrainian forces have been battling pro-Russian separtists.
The airspace over eastern Ukraine has been and still is a no fly zone. The FAA issued a ban on operations over the area, however that ban only applies to planes flying between the altitudes of 26,000 and 32,000 ft. At the same time, the Ukranian Government reportedly shut down all civilian flights in the region under 7,900 meters or 26,000 ft. Ukrainian air traffic control assigned MH17 an altitude of 33,000ft, which complied with both no fly orders.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/a-fateful-thunderstorm-may-have-doomed-flight-mh17-2014-7
Planes at high altitude often deviate significantly to avoid storms etc. for the comfort of passengers – Singapore Airlines who I’ve travelled with quite a bit do. 300 miles isn’t much at 560 mph cruise speed
This whole thing came down to numbnuts on the ground – Russian Federation or Ukrainian, doesn’t matter – doughebags in charge of missiles that can pass the ceiling of third world armaments and poor international aviation policy.
The media both sides played to their overlords – ergo the conspiracy theories.
Remember fuel burn costs trump “ground” war zones.
The most convincing conspiracy theory (if you want to play that card) is the similarity between MA colours and that of the Russian Federation State plane. Oh and a earlier MA disappearance, that does smell somewhat – the wash up in French Indian Ocean Territories may give some answers.
Conspiracy or no – we are being played.
The BUK launcher is not like a Stinger – it takes constant training of the professional crew or it won’t hit anything.
Details are here https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/mh17/ – but there is a lot to wade through – Der Spiegal has a summary.
MH17 was shot down by detached Russian military advisors. The number of the BUK is known, and the names of the crew. Like the polonium poisoning of Litivenko however, Russia is not cooperating.
I seem to remember being of the opinion that it was probably the Ukrainian armed forces that shot it down. Any wavering opinion around the rights and wrongs of the shit with Russia….well, gone right there. And back to the head of the news agenda with a full head of steam billowing outrage.
See, I could never make any sense of Russia shooting it down. And if as you say it takes a lot of training to operate, then it wasn’t militia.
hey tpr. the thing is that nothing has been proved, nothing. all we have to go by is suppositions and guess work, and yes propaganda. all the theories are conspiracy theories, and the one that you are repeating here is probably one of the more believable, but only because the media have been repeating it ad-nauseam almost constantly since the moment fragments from the plane hit the ground. the fact that this is the story supported and repeated since before anyone could have known anything at all gives me cause for doubt. there is also the question of partisanship of media. maybe I’m getting to cynical? but really, do you think media are really impartial reporters of facts?
Chooky we will never know the truth or the facts, despite the claims of anyone who says they ‘know’ what happened
I’m interested in why more attention was not focused on the wreckage, which was highly suspect IMO
Just be aware of what you are using here – RT is a Russian state broadcasting organ – not exactly a neutral source.
And they very cleverly play to the conspiracy leaning folk. I know quite a few people who take them as gospel – as if the other side wouldn’t be into lying as well.
Unfortunately a few years ago a friend of mine was very sick. Every year this friend has to go for a check up with a specialist nurse.
Every year the time span between each visit gets extended. This year the visit is long overdue for the yearly examination. On inquiring what was the delay, the hospital was very apologetic but stated that they have had their staff numbers cut and that is the reason for the delay.
I told my friend to get the priorities right. You can’t have your important examination on time as there are more important things like The Fucking Spivs not needed $26 million flag referendum. Consultants (insultants) who have their arses on boards demanding “extra” to their inflated “fee'” as sitting on a board may damage their so called professional reputation. Board mangers earning over inflated salaries etc etc etc.
This link may help you.
http://grumpyoldmenopause.com/irritable-male-syndrome/
What a constructive, scintillating, intelligent reply one would expect from a typical right wing fuckwit
yep. Straight into trole mode today I see BM.
Clearly you come to this site for some sort of rocks off jollies
Better to fiddle with yourself in private geezer
That link you out up to what was a saddening post, well, you’ve gone full frontal haven’t you
As I said, you like to fiddle with yourself in public
I’d find someone to speak with if I was you, before it eats you up inside
Actually, I thought was was quite an informative article which may be of interest to the many older chaps who post here.
Seriously I don’t think old guys quite realize how grumpy and hostile they are, I see it here and on kiwiblog.
Constant negativity will kill you, if you want to live to a decent age, recognize the systems and get it under control.
Except that the link was out of context to the original comment
You mate, are a dickhead
I thought he was been a bit over the top which is why I posted the link.
Fuckin spivs, fucking flag, fucking board managers etc etc ……
“I thought he was been a bit over the top which is why I posted the link.
Fuckin spivs, fucking flag, fucking board managers etc etc ……”
I think you should take Blue’s advice, as it is sending you blind I only used that word once.
nononononono.
BM raises a very important point.
The most important thing about your comment was not that your friend is not receiving necessary medical treatment from a health system that’s being subjected to death by a thousand cuts.
The most important thing about your comment was that YOU USED NAUGHTY WORDS. Naughty words mean you are angry, anger is an emotion, emotions are by definition irrational, therefore your irrational comment should be ignored.
Let us all thank BM for reminding us that the Vulcan philosophy is the only logical path (except for all that communistic “needs of the many outweight the needs of the few” stuff).
Or BM is just an unregenerate dog turd that has been abandoned on the footpath of life.
Yeah but hang on, wasn’t he presenting a male menopause get out of jail free card?
Are they by any chance in the Southern DHB area?
Good to see the Greens want to keep National in power
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71006311/pm-backs-act-bill-to-allow-pubs-to-open-early-for-rugby-world-cup-games
Hmmm seems like ACT and National are really running out of ideas to run the country if they are down to keeping pubs open for foreign rugby matches.
“Are they by any chance in the Southern DHB area?”
No
I am quite certain that most are not aware of the extent to which the debt issue will be used against humanity
As long as the curtain is not allowed to fall, the crush onto the planet an humanity will be exerted in ways far beyond what sane people could ever believe possible
Take a look at what is going on in California to see where NZ is heading
While the MSM are busy discussing, whether pubs and clubs should be given extra opening times in early mornings to allow Rugby World Cup game watchers get pissed, and while they love to compare designs of flags for New Zealand, much else seems to go totally unnoticed, and is NOT reported on.
Yes, it may include “sheep-gate” and so also, that is swept under the carpet by our PM and the government as a whole, but who here has known about the plans by MSD (Ministry of Social Development) and their “expert” Principal Health Advisor, Dr David Bratt, making plans to widen the scope for “health professionals” to sign their ‘Work Capacity Medical Certificates’?
While such moves may make sense to some, it gives reason to worry. They have in the past already used their “designated doctors”, and are also now using “work ability assessment” providers, to re-assess and basically re-classify persons with health conditions, impairments and disability as “fit” for work. With the drive to get people into whatever jobs, that may not even exist, the new plans, they seem to indicate a further attempt to blur the lines, to soften up the existing regime, and have MSD enabled to use various additional health professionals as “assessors” that may be more “useful” for their agenda, than be concerned about the client and patient.
Anyway, this is perhaps worth a study:
‘MSD ARE PLANNING TO WIDEN THE SCOPE FOR WHO CAN SIGN WORK CAPACITY MEDICAL CERTIFICATES’
https://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/msd-are-planning-to-widen-the-scope-for-who-can-sign-work-capacity-medical-certificates/
Also of interest may be:
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2014/06/21/work-ability-assessments-done-for-work-and-income-a-revealing-fact-study-part-a/
(there are more parts to that post)
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/12/28/designated-doctors-used-by-work-and-income-some-also-used-by-acc-the-truth-about-them/
http://nzsocialjusticeblog2013.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/medical-and-work-capability-assessments-based-on-the-controversial-bio-psycho-social-model/
Answer to Blue Horseshoe @ 11.10am
Good comment there Blue. We can also see what is happening in the UK the way Camoron is privatising the NHS by stealth. The fucking spiv is doing that over here Southern DHB is a good example. Very subtle changes are creeping into our health system like the other month I had some dental work done, when I went to get the prescription for a simple item supposedly on the approved list it cost me $15, the same prescription from a doctor $5. Mind you in this I could be wrong as it is not very often I have a prescription from a dentist.
What was the item ?
Sorry to repeat- just added verse 2. If we can’t beat the dirty tactics head on, then let’s mock them so that we expose the tactics and diminish their influence, cf John Stewart, John Oliver.)
Verse 1
If the Public have uncovered
A shonky deal we made
We bring out Teflon John and
the full snake-oil brigade
with echo chamber Hoskings
and the right wing Herald aids
to sing the Crosby Textor line
Till all the uproar fades, ohhhhhhhhhhh
Chorus
Labour did it too, mate
Labour did it too
We inherited it from Labour
So what else could we do?
If ever we’re in trouble
And the news has turned to pooh
Then it’s time to plug the same old line
“Labour did it too!”
Verse 2
McCully bribed a Saudi
So we’d get an FTA.
It cost eleven million plus
with flying sheep away.
When sheep pellets hit the fan
and documents exposed
a shonky deal, then out comes John
with Crosby Textor prose. Oh…….
Chorus
Right on the button Tautoko.
Mind if I use this for a guest post?
no, happy to see discussion on different tactics,
Sung to the tune of? Or is it an original?
If you are still looking for a tune the best I can find that mostly matches the metre is the old hymn tune Bringing in the Sheaves. Some of the lines may need adjustment as the metre wanders a bit between lines but is easily fixed.
And again! Brilliant.
+1
Good one! Correctly defines Key and his government as a corrupt group of shallow spinners and disgraceful liars. How the bloody hell did the good people of this country manage to re-elect them!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/71050049/auckland-womans-house-sold-over-11000-in-unpaid-rates
Good to see this happen but for it to take 5 years?
So – you don’t think that the RULE of LAW equally applies to Auckland Council Puckish Rogue?
Are you an Aucklander?
Have you bothered to do your own ‘due diligence’ and check the information provided by Auckland Council in their Rates Assessment Notices and Rates Invoices against s.44, s.45 and s.46 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 20012?
I take it you’re not coming on the Auckland Rate$ Ripoff Rally, to be held on Sunday 16 August 2015, assembling at 1pm at Aotea Square – protesting against Auckland Council rates increases?
All good – you just keep tugging your … forelock, and doing as you’re told, irrespective as to whether or not what you’re being told to do is actually LAWFUL?
Penny Bright
CITIZEN – not SLAVE!
I’m not stupid enough to live Auckland Penny but you keep pretending to people that its all good to take advantage of all the services the council provides without having to pay for them
Actually, it seems to me that this case is different to Penny’s.
If I understand Penny’s position, it’s that the council is not acting within the law currently, and she is happy to pay the rates owing when it finally does act within the law. Please correct me if this is not broadly correct, Penny (although briefly, and with minimal capitalisation and exclamation).
Looking at the case in the paper, it seems to simply be a refusal to pay rates because she “tithes” to someone else (without any political statement as such). So it’s not so much a protest as a dodge or con by someone.
I don’t think you understood what Penny wrote.
I thought that was going to be penny…
Shes next 🙂
The initial testing of work on 14 properties had 13 properties return a negative result. If you are testing for signs of asbestos that is a great result! However, when testing the repairs of earthquake damaged foundations ?????
The subsequent 100 properties that MBIE “randomly” inspected had [unspecified rate of failure] yet the authorities’ subsequent actions reflect it was concerned enough by the numbers to instigate a wider probe of the situation. It is the most likely reason for the report that was due back in June being delayed.
“More than 65,000 homes had received earthquake repairs in Canterbury since 2010, but the four organisations were able to pre-select only 200 of those for the survey. “
EQC
MBIE
Fletchers
Insurance companies
delayed reports
leaked information
“the very diluted tip of a very big iceberg” sums it up nicely
‘Show us ya text’ – anti-TPPA protest in Auckland today at the MFAT office:
http://www.maoritelevision.com/news/regional/protesters-demand-release-full-text-tppa-deal
Penny Bright
I’ve started taking notice of sink holes opening up around the world. Perhaps that is telling us something, usually involves drainage, heavy rain, old mines, underground waterways affected. (Christchurch south Canterbury?)
This is from PNgG, the latest one I have read about from Radionz.
Sinkhole swallows homes in PNG
Updated at 5:06 pm on 21 July 2015
A sinkhole has opened up in one of Papua New Guinea’s northern provinces, sucking in
16 homes and injuring at least two people.
In NZ – http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/publications/factsheets/rare-ecosystems/subterranean-or-semi-subterranean/sinkholes
Youtube selection
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/9908055/In-pictures-sinkholes-craters-and-collapsed-roads-around-the-world.html?frame=2316943
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODgEQ3epOtQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnJWMItLcNk (Turn the sound down – annoying)
Long doco.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK_SS38LswM
Jane kelsey at Auckland Fabian was lucid and on fire tonight.
A grand rage against nz consultocracies, shadow elites, and embedded ideologies within our core financial legislation.
Sanders surges ahead of Clinton in New Hampshire #FeelTheBern
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/250908-poll-sanders-surges-ahead-of-clinton-in-nh
SkyCity profit up 30.7%…..
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11495885
Oh churlish, disrespectful me……heartache, sadness, dysfunction, criminality, drain on the public purse…..up…..up to 30.7% up……happy happy joy joy……this is Planet Key where in time an effete “rugby-loving” ponce of a man (?) will contrive to give SkyCity CEO Morrison a knighthood. For services to……ummmh ?……an effete “rugby-loving” ponce of a man (?) ?
This is fucking Rome mate !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11496164
Ummmh……there’s informed sentiment up these ways that says the judge found irresistible the colonising of this sentencing as a weapon in a long running and very personal war with defence counsel. Even the local police raise their eyebrows at this ‘no home detention’ outcome. A result generally conceded as something of an ‘outlier’. Mmmmh.
I have no view of course. Merely reporting (informed) sentiment.