Open Mike 13/06/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, June 13th, 2018 - 261 comments
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261 comments on “Open Mike 13/06/2018 ”

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  1. Tamati Tautuhi 1
    13 June 2018 at 6:20 am

    12/6/18 Trolling Pick Six Results – Quaddie

    We only got 4 legs so we got the Quaddie, 2 x legs short of Pick Six yesterday Gosman was in the race early along with Alwyn, Mullet Head appeared early especially after Winston had made some moves the previous evening, Baby Gaga appeared mid day and started stirring as per usual.

    Leg 1 Gosman
    Leg 2 Alwyn
    Leg 3 Mullet Head
    Leg 4 Baby Gaga

    • Stunned Mullet 1.1
      13 June 2018 at 7:06 am

      Huzzah another race caller for Daisycutter Sports Inc.

      New talent is so hard to come by.

    • chris73 1.2
      13 June 2018 at 7:39 am

      I obviously have been derelict in my duties if I’m not getting a mention

      • Wensleydale 1.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 8:58 am

        Yeah, come on, Chris. Pull your finger out, mate. The Standard doesn’t troll itself you know.

    • Ad 1.3
      13 June 2018 at 8:33 am

      If you want to keep vilifying and bullying commenters, all you do is look more and more like Whaleoil, Jason Ede, and the rest of the right wing guys that Rawshark warned us all about.

      Stop attacking the commenters and start generating better argument.

      • adam 1.3.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:21 am

        In essence I agree with you Ad, but some days you get a break from working, and a ‘hate in’ by the usual suspects is in full swing here on the standard.

        By the time you scroll past all the BS, it is just simpler to give up and go to another forum for a more engaging conversation. Then hope the next day it won’t be dominated by another ‘hate in’.

      • WILD KATIPO 1.3.2
        13 June 2018 at 10:42 pm

        Its called ironic humour , mate .

        And pretty tame compared to anything Whaleoil ever spewed out.

        Get a grip on yourself , cob.

    • Enough is Enough 1.4
      13 June 2018 at 10:29 am

      A Troll is not someone who has a different political perspective to your own.

      What is wrong with your view of the world being challenged?

    • Baba Yaga 1.5
      13 June 2018 at 7:42 pm

      It is indeed a great honour and privilege to be considered in the same illustrious company as those mentioned above. I assure all readers of The Standard that while this added responsibility will at times weigh heavily on my shoulders, I will not shirk from my responsibility to you all.

      Thanks You again.

      BY

  2. Tamati Tautuhi 2
    13 June 2018 at 7:02 am

    The old neoliberal Goof Ball under pressure at Auckland City Council ?

  3. AsleepWhileWalking 3
    13 June 2018 at 7:15 am

    There is a widely held view, including among public servants, that officials in the past two decades have focused too tightly on serving ministers, even at times anticipating and then serving up what their ministers might want to hear. Mr Hipkins sums it up as them asking ministers: “What advice would you like?”

    Explains a lot.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/359453/is-public-service-working-for-mps-or-the-public

  4. cleangreen 4
    13 June 2018 at 7:17 am

    Well done Tamati Tautuhi,

    We do now need to keep a daily count on these national trollls weho may be actuallly working on behalf of cameron Slater and the national party together.

    So we need to keep on their tail showing how they are trying to sway the whle NZ election process going forward as they appear to enjoy attacking most other bloggers now.

    Can you keep up your excellent daily reviews for watching these national trolls ‘activities’.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 4.1
      13 June 2018 at 7:22 am

      We also have to be very careful how much we feed the trolls, as they can consume a lot of precious time and energy ?

      • Antoine 4.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:47 am

        Some of the people mentioned are not trolls (as far as I can see).

        James, chris73, stunnedmullet, Puckish Rogue, Gosman and Alwyn appear to be broadly sincere (if sometimes snarky or provocative) right wingers.

        There is no guarantee that everyone you will meet here will be left wing. At least the RW guys provide someone you can have an argument with. It would be boring if everyone agreed all the time.

        Baba Yaga and the Chairman I think are trolls, that is they do not believe what they say and are just here to wind you up. The Standard could do without them, but they are bound to cop a ban at some point so I wouldn’t worry too much.

        A.

        • alwyn 4.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 11:19 am

          “Alwyn appear to be broadly sincere”.
          Why thank you, kind Sir. Of course I must admit that if you really want to make me snarky the best way is to lie and accuse me of being in the National Party.
          Never have been and never will be a member of any Political Party.
          In that regard I am like Groucho Marx.
          https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/groucho_marx_122546

          • In Vino 4.1.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 5:30 pm

            What about accusing you of being over-histrionic? (kind Sir, thou foul knave, etc.)
            And not being a member of a political party does not prevent you from having political bias inherent in your comments. Few here would see you as Left or Centrist….

            • alwyn 4.1.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 6:22 pm

              Rather than warbling on here I thought you might have looked at my reply to a comment you made in yesterdays OM.
              https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12-06-2018/#comment-1493282
              You would have discovered there that your opinions on New Zealand’s Minimum wage were as erroneous as most of your opinions.
              Why don’t you have a look at it now? You will learn something about a topic on which you have, to date, displayed total ignorance.

              • In Vino …
                13 June 2018 at 6:28 pm

                Idiot. My comparison was with what the rubbish collectors would have been getting paid before NZ got turned into a low-wage economy. I was comparing current miserable wages to workshop, and contrasting them to the decent wages NZers got before rogernomics, etc.
                Had you read more carefully – but your way is to deliberately misinterpret, cherrypick, then add insults.
                You do yourself no credit at all, and you still need a healthier pastime.

                • alwyn …
                  13 June 2018 at 7:15 pm

                  Your complete comment was this.
                  “alwyn, I would put it to you that the minimum wage is now so low that it is the equivalent of a sheltered workshop wage.
                  How desperate would you have to be to do hard, physically hurtful labour like picking Kiwifruit for possibly less than $15 an hour? (They jiggle it by paying by the basket, I believe.)
                  Be honest.”
                  Rubbish collectors? Rogernomics?
                  I defy anyone to take this to be saying anything like what you are now claiming. At least anyone with an IQ of more than room temperature.

                  • In Vino …
                    13 June 2018 at 7:46 pm

                    How foolish of me! I was going to apologise, because the thread I was referring to was further down the screen than the source you gave.
                    But then I looked at the time of each comment, and saw that you had in fact read all the thread before you commented, attacking me.
                    My reply stands, and those who wish to understand fully should take alwyn’s link above and read on.., way down that thread.
                    alwyn, your false righteousness reveals you as a weaselly, loathsome knave. Begone. Nobody likes cheats.

                    • alwyn …
                      14 June 2018 at 9:40 am

                      I really think you should sit down. It is sad to see but you have reached the seventh stage described so vividly by a great writer about four centuries ago.
                      “Last scene of all,
                      That ends this strange eventful history,
                      Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
                      Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

                      I suggest that you should sit down and try and relax. That nice attendant will be around shortly with a cup of Milo and your pills.
                      I’m afraid the only part of this comment of yours that is accurate is the first sentence where you admit “How foolish of me”.

        • Baba Yaga 4.1.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 7:45 pm

          I don’t post anything I don’t believe. At times I have been proven wrong, and have accepted the instruction graciously. Along with one ban.

        • WILD KATIPO 4.1.1.3
          13 June 2018 at 10:53 pm

          … ‘ It would be boring if everyone agreed all the time ‘ …

          Boring?

          What , … people dying in Pike River due to AWOL health and Safety standards and lack of Mines Inspectors due to business interests, foreign banks and their grabastic shareholders whims , coupled with a govt that progressively detoothed Union intervention?

          Or children dying of third world preventable respiratory diseases in cold damp moldy state houses that were left to degrade in order for the National party to enable an open door to privatization of rental accommodation for the poor???

          That’s merely boring???

          Nah mate , – that’s fucking criminal.

          Childhood diseases in the land of milk and poverty – NZ Herald
          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11913334

          Fuck off ya bastard.

    • Ed 4.2
      13 June 2018 at 7:26 am

      Great work Tamati Tautuhi.
      These trolls are scum and ruin this site.

      • tc 4.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 7:56 am

        Dunno about that, I work with plenty who could play that part. It pays to understand their twisted memes.

        Born and raised rurals who haven’t left the colonial 19th century attitudes behind and suck up the msm swill as if it’s valid intelligent material. Blaming and slagging off whoever the msm instruct them to.

        Sadly NZ is full of them, gos and co are simply reflective of that.

        They’re the ones who vote every single time driven by that superiority complex mostly about being here first….yes it’s still about that sadly in 2018.

        • Gosman 4.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 10:52 am

          I love how you’ve created this strawman caricature of this Right leaning person and then applied it without thought to someone regardless of reality. Bravo on doing that.

          For your information I never take what the MSM states as the absolute truth and try and get my information from multiple sources but by all means cvontinue to believe your fantasyland creation.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 4.2.2
        13 June 2018 at 8:02 am

        I try and stay away from this site as it has turned into a Kindegarten or Day Care Centre for demented adults ?

        • Observer Tokoroa 4.2.2.1
          13 June 2018 at 12:01 pm

          Thank you Tamati Tauhui

          We need to keep track of the time wasters, otherwise known as trolls, for they keep driving on the wrong side of sanity. Which is very bad for the Kindergarten they belong to.

          Gosman can put his shaky hand on anything and twist it inside out. I think of the damage he does to the children who follow him about as he drips sugar from his drool.

          Chris 73 is an interesting one. Is he Christine? Christopher or Christ. He seems as coherent as anyone of the Capitalist Cult Creeps – Simon. Who also struggles to know what he is, and why he is, or when he is. He is the Leader of the Cult of Greed. Next week he will be studying how to button up a coat. Crikey.

          • In Vino 4.2.2.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 6:35 pm

            With the benefit of hindsight, I do not exactly trust this Tamati Tauhui guy, and suspect that he has had a ball today sucking us in.

          • Tamati Tautuhi 4.2.2.1.2
            13 June 2018 at 10:58 pm

            I am guessing Gosman regularly [What brought this on? Deleted for flaming – MS], probably belongs to the same pony tail pulling club as one of our previous leaders.

      • solkta 4.2.3
        13 June 2018 at 8:26 am

        it is always so ironic when trolls complain about trolls.

        • In Vino 4.2.3.1
          13 June 2018 at 6:37 pm

          I see you were onto it straight away, yet I and so many others missed it. Well done.

          • solkta 4.2.3.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 6:49 pm

            I was referring and responding to Ed.

            • In Vino 4.2.3.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 7:08 pm

              Sorry, I should have looked at reply number more carefully.
              I think TT has sucked us in a beauty with his troll register when he himself is on their side, and he sucked Ed in as well.
              Below, you will see that ‘Enough is Enough’ twigged before I did.
              Either a great rort that actually deserves a round of applause, or I am a silly old duffer.

      • James 4.2.4
        13 June 2018 at 9:44 am

        Scum? Oh come on Eddie. That’s not nice.

        I know you militant vegans hate opposing views but scum that does not make.

      • mauī 4.2.5
        13 June 2018 at 9:53 pm

        These trolls are scum. Well said Ed

  5. Tamati Tautuhi 5
    13 June 2018 at 7:18 am

    In the real world it is called “sucking cock” ?

    • James 5.1
      13 June 2018 at 9:01 am

      And this is the level that the standard has sunk to since Weka left.

      Classy post. Keep it up and drive more and more people away from the site.

      • Enough is Enough 5.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:30 am

        And since r0b left. I miss that boy

        • alwyn 5.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 6:31 pm

          The one I miss most was Lanthanide. He was a person you could debate with. He was always willing to consider a different point of view and behave like an adult.
          The Standard has degenerated badly since he ceased to contribute. Mind you, I think he gave up commenting here because he saw, earlier than most, what the new breed of twits like T.T were doing to the debates. Abuse replaced the reason that he exemplified.

    • Antoine 5.2
      13 June 2018 at 10:48 am

      What’s wrong with sucking cock

      A.

      • Puckish Rogue 5.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:08 am

        I’m a big supporter of oral sex 🙂 (but only with consent and following all legal guidelines)

        • In Vino 5.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 5:34 pm

          Antoine, your comment really needed a question mark. Otherwise, the rest of your paragraph is missing.
          But you are actually encouraging James’s faux concern, aren’t you? Like PR.

          • solkta 5.2.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 5:39 pm

            It may be fake concern but his point is valid.

            • In Vino 5.2.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 5:54 pm

              Yes, I personally disapprove of Tamati Tautuhi’s faux pas.
              (Deliberate? – But who is he, a Leftie? A black flag plant? I don’t remember seeing much from him on this site…)
              But I disapprove much more of the sanctimonious way James and PR are rushing to inflame the issue.

    • Gosman 5.3
      13 June 2018 at 10:54 am

      Doesn’t that qualify as homophobic?

      • James 5.3.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:38 am

        Next Tamaki will be advocating for a bit of gay bashing – sad to see this level of behaviour anywhere these days.

        Amazing the people who have NOT called him out on it.

        • In Vino 5.3.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 5:36 pm

          James, as I pointed out above, your faux concern is a bit obvious, and few care about your fake sadness.

          • James 5.3.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 5:45 pm

            As you also seem not to care about the homophobic comments being used in this site.

        • alwyn 5.3.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 6:35 pm

          You leave the Bishop alone James. At least you were not fooled by him using a pen name of Tamati. Follow his advice, and tithe, and he will lead you on the paths of righteousness. And good luck as you trail along wearing sackcloth and ashes like the Vino man.

        • Tamati Tautuhi 5.3.1.3
          13 June 2018 at 6:45 pm

          Tamati is actually bisexual and does not get involved in gay bashing.

          • In Vino 5.3.1.3.1
            13 June 2018 at 6:59 pm

            May I recommend self-flagellation? I am not in your category, but over the years I have known people to try it.

  6. Zorb6 6
    13 June 2018 at 7:35 am

    The more diverse opinion the better imo.
    Too easy to write people off as trolls.

    • cleangreen 6.1
      13 June 2018 at 7:46 am

      Nah; Zorb6

      As social bullying increases with these trolls, more ‘fair minded commenters’ refrain from contributing to the posts; – as we have sen time and time again so we need to encourage free flowing comments not buying as we all see today with those bunch of trolls always attacking in a “pack together”.

      It is not the number of blogs that should determine the quality of a blogsite but the ‘constructive contents’ of those sites.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 6.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 7:52 am

        Cleangreen the problem is they get into a feeding frenzy like a pack of rabid hyenas when they smell a bit of blood ?

        • Puckish Rogue 6.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 8:27 am

          It’s called holding the government to account. Same as when National was in power and posters gleefully made lists of Nationals, alleged, broken promises or do you think the present government should just get a free pass with no criticism?

          • Wensleydale 6.1.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 9:03 am

            There was nothing “alleged” about National’s hefty list of lies and broken promises. If it were any more substantial you could probably beat someone to death with it. Having said that, no, the coalition should not get a free pass. They should be held to the same standard as any other government in terms of honesty. The problem is National doesn’t seem able to do that without resorting to mind-blowing levels of hypocrisy.

            • Tamati Tautuhi 6.1.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 9:18 am

              ie Dirty Politics 101 & 102

            • Puckish Rogue 6.1.1.1.1.2
              13 June 2018 at 9:38 am

              Agreed, I’d bring in Judith Collins as leader to start to apply the blow torch but i was more referring to some of the posters on here.

              It seems to be, to some, that to point out the present governments failings or broken promises is trolling

              • Tamati Tautuhi …
                13 June 2018 at 9:42 am

                I agree with you Puck I think they should definitely replace Simon No Bridges with Judith Collins at least she has got some balls ?

            • Gosman 6.1.1.1.1.3
              13 June 2018 at 11:03 am

              I presume you are aware the only other opposition party is ACT with one MP. Would you prefer they were ta larger party in Opposition would you? If not, who do you want to hold the government to account given you think National can’t do it?

          • Stuart Munro 6.1.1.1.2
            13 June 2018 at 9:52 am

            Most of the troll critique is not factually based – nor is the Gnat’s in parliament, which is why they’re not getting much traction.

            There is indeed a role for principled dissent – the moral vacuum the Gnats have become simply aren’t capable of providing it, and what they do provide isn’t particularly useful.

      • James 6.1.2
        13 June 2018 at 9:47 am

        “In the real world it is called “sucking cock” ?”

        Would this be the kind of social bullying you are talking about cleangreen?

        Or are you ok with this kind of comment if you don’t like who it’s said too?

    • Ad 6.2
      13 June 2018 at 8:36 am

      Exactly right Zorb 6.

      The more complacent the left becomes now that Labour and Greens are in government, the more the temptation by the left to simply bully and degrade commenters who disagree with them. It’s a simple temptation of power.

      Far better to win hearts and minds with honey than with vinegar.
      As my mother used to say.

      • Grey Area 6.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 9:35 am

        That’s not what I hear people saying. What some are highlighting is that there is a small group of posters here whose MO seems always to snipe, hector and carp, and demonstrate no interest in really engaging in debate and/or showing any interest in changing their mind.

        People call them out not for having an alternative point of view as you seem to say, rather for their consistent negative, sometimes nasty tone and attitudes which can make the Standard a real drag.

        Some people here, thankfully not many, just seem to get their jollies in this unhealthy and unhelpful way.

        • Puckish Rogue 6.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 9:49 am

          I can only speak for myself here (all jokes about being a paid troll aside) but I know that in certain areas some of my positions have changed due to the arguments I’ve heard on here, from people who’ve earned my respect

          The real issue is that my position changes due to how logical and well presented the argument is but, like most I suspect, I don’t respond well to being lectured to or hectored

          I don’t know if I’ve swayed anyone’s position on anything (I suspect I might have on the inconsequential stuff) but if I haven’t its because I haven’t presented my argument well enough

          • ankerawshark 6.2.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 10:56 am

            Pukish,,,,,,,,,,,,,that is good. Right or left it is a big thing for anyone to change their mind.

          • Ad 6.2.1.1.2
            13 June 2018 at 11:00 am

            That’s about the optimal standard of commenting Puckish.

            Cheers.

          • Robert Guyton 6.2.1.1.3
            13 June 2018 at 12:45 pm

            Pucky changed the tone of his comments way back and is enjoying a certain fondness here. James remains…unreconstructed and generally reviled.

            • Tamati Tautuhi 6.2.1.1.3.1
              13 June 2018 at 12:47 pm

              Puck is getting pissed off he hasn’t been put on the Official Trolling Register

              • Robert Guyton …
                13 June 2018 at 12:51 pm

                I reckon Pucky doesn’t qualify as a troll.

                • Puckish Rogue …
                  13 June 2018 at 12:56 pm

                  You take that back!

                  • Robert Guyton …
                    13 June 2018 at 12:58 pm

                    It hurts I know, Pucky, but you’ve come out from under the bridge and there’s no crawling back! In any case, that space is stuffed with James and Baba.

                    • Puckish Rogue …
                      13 June 2018 at 12:59 pm

                      If there was a blue-green party I’d be voting for it

                    • Robert Guyton …
                      13 June 2018 at 1:01 pm

                      What positions would your blue green party take?

                    • Puckish Rogue …
                      13 June 2018 at 1:04 pm

                      As an example of a possible policy they could propose to stop all diary conversions in Canterbury and look to extend to other areas where diary just isn’t feasible

                      I also wouldn’t have a problem seeing all streams and rivers bordering farms to be fenced or having a minimum amount of shelter for farm animals (not sure how that would be implemented)

        • Gosman 6.2.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 11:07 am

          This site isn’t really about debate. It is largely an echo chamber for people to tut tut right wing political parties and rah rah left leaning ones.

          • Robert Guyton 6.2.1.2.1
            13 June 2018 at 12:52 pm

            There’s tonnes of debate here, Gosman and often you are embroiled in it. Your claim is unconvincing.

          • Tamati Tautuhi 6.2.1.2.2
            13 June 2018 at 1:06 pm

            Puck NZF is the only party that wants to look at getting 1080 removed NZ uses 70-80% of the world’s 1080.

            I believe the Greens are still pro 1080

            • In Vino 6.2.1.2.2.1
              13 June 2018 at 6:05 pm

              You ought to know before you make such an inflammatory statement, TT. ‘I believe’ is not good enough.
              Does anyone else find it suspicious that it was precisely TT who put up the original ‘suck cock’ comment, and he appears to have been cheerleading and cooperating with James and PR since?
              Surely Tamati Tautuhi needs to add his own name to the list at the very top of this thread?
              I may be wrong, but my alarm bells are starting to ring.

            • alwyn 6.2.1.2.2.2
              13 June 2018 at 6:43 pm

              ” believe the Greens are still pro 1080″.
              Really? I shall have to revise my opinion if that is true.
              They will go from being 100% crazy down to 99% nuts.
              Tell me that they have abandoned their irrational opposition to GMOs.
              I will start taking them seriously when they do that.

        • Robert Guyton 6.2.1.3
          13 June 2018 at 12:43 pm

          Snipe, Hector and Carp are a legal firm, no?

          • alwyn 6.2.1.3.1
            13 June 2018 at 6:49 pm

            That’s right. Or at least I think that is right.
            Perhaps they are a Pop group like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?
            No I’ve checked. Law firm it is. Their offices are right next to the firm that represents Winston Peters.
            They are Sue, Grabbit and Run.

          • Doogs 6.2.1.3.2
            14 June 2018 at 9:48 am

            No, I believe that position is already taken by Clutch, Grabbit and Tweak.

      • andrew murray 6.2.2
        13 June 2018 at 9:36 am

        I really like the things you are saying here Ad, but I can’t believe your mother really said ‘hearts and minds’

  7. cleangreen 7
    13 June 2018 at 7:37 am

    Tamati Tautuhi We have agreed with your advice here;

    “We also have to be very careful how much we feed the trolls,”

    That clear ‘fact’ could become the trigger for banning these trolls, as Martyn Bradbury seems to have chosen to do already.

    As factually these trolls are truly actual “disrupters of our human rights to have free speech without fare or being attacked by others as it is a kind of aggression they are perpertrating.”

    ‘Verbal abuse is illegal on the social media’ – as we saw happen with the Careron Slater/dirty politics saga.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 7.1
      13 June 2018 at 7:55 am

      Mainstream media actually go to these sites to get leads on stories hence Key and Collins were releasing information to Slater and Doug Grahams son who would then leak it to the media ?

    • Tuppence Shrewsbury 7.2
      13 June 2018 at 8:42 am

      Why turn the standard into a clone of the faily blog? The standard has always had robust commentary from all sides. It’s what makes it one of the better communities in NZ politics. Yet here you are trying to shut it down after what, two years here?

      Bans don’t work if all your banning is an opinion different from your very own. The amount of quotation marks you use in every comment is perhaps indicative of not having your own. Maybe you are jealous of those who do?

      As factually these trolls are truly actual “disrupters of our human rights to have free speech without fare or being attacked by others as it is a kind of aggression they are perpertrating.”

      ‘Verbal abuse is illegal on the social media’ – as we saw happen with the Careron Slater/dirty politics saga.

      How is having an opinion contradictory to your own a disruption of your right to free speech, if you want to ban said opinion?

      Between you and tamati, you’ve really reached new heights of stupidity.

      • Wensleydale 7.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 9:07 am

        The Daily Blog still gets trolled by right-wing shills as a matter of course. They just receive an overwhelmingly hostile response and tend to not want to come back. From what I’ve seen, the moderators here are more inclined to opt for the ban-hammer than Bomber and friends.

        • Gosman 7.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 11:09 am

          The comment feature of the Dailyblog is pathetic. Hence why there are less comments there.

          • Tamati Tautuhi 7.2.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 11:18 am

            Gossie you spend all day here with your lures out why don’t you f off back to Kiwi Bog or Whale Scum

        • Tuppence Shrewsbury 7.2.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 6:57 pm

          Bomber approves every single comment that goes through. Hence the paucity of them.

          And the creation in cleangreens mind of a delusion that his opinion is important and correct

      • Robert Guyton 7.2.2
        13 June 2018 at 12:38 pm

        Stupidity has “heights”?
        I’d have thought, “depths”.

        • Tuppence Shrewsbury 7.2.2.1
          13 June 2018 at 6:56 pm

          I must have been feeling optimistic about leaving the depths this morning.

        • Stuart Munro 7.2.2.2
          13 June 2018 at 11:51 pm

          Stupidity is ubiquitous.

          “At a lecture I gave in Grand Forks, North Dakota in March of this year, someone asked me how do we finally knock the fools and obscurantists and believers in craziness out of the box once and for all. I told the woman that we can’t. Apart from hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity.”
          ~Harlan Ellison.

          Our trolls are merely representative of the hard-of-thinking who make up most of the hard right.

    • James 7.3
      13 June 2018 at 9:50 am

      Verbal abuse is illegal on social media?

      Really?

      Have a quick look on this single thread and point out who is using verbal abuse ?

      Referring to cock sucking and scum?

      Yep. The people you seem to agree with.

      Naughty boy/girl.

      • Robert Guyton 7.3.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:06 am

        James does that “thing” where he repeats words he claims to be offended by. It’s a method favoured by 8-year olds generally, those who get some sort of buzz from using “bad words” under the guise of someone else having said them.

        • Tamati Tautuhi 7.3.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 10:21 am

          Has James started trolling again today trying to get a bite ?

        • james 7.3.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 11:44 am

          And Robert does that thing where he tries to ‘attack’ the people calling people out for disgusting behaviour.

          In the meantime – Robert is happy for homophobic comments to be used against people he dosnt like – he is an enabler and this is the kind of thing that supports a homophobic culture.

          • Robert Guyton 7.3.1.2.1
            13 June 2018 at 12:33 pm

            “Robert is happy for homophobic comments to be used against people he dosnt (sic) like – he is an enabler and this is the kind of thing that supports a homophobic culture.”

            James. I’m offended by your claims, because they are not true. If you believe you are being honest with what you’ve said, please explain and include any quotes from me that support your claim.

            • james 7.3.1.2.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 1:02 pm

              Robert – your behaviour supporting people being called cock suckers (a homophobic insult) speaks volumes – as does your sexist attitude refusing to call out people calling women trouts or chubby.

              The behaviour you tolerate is the behaviour you support.

              • Drowsy M. Kram …
                13 June 2018 at 5:37 pm

                Robert’s observation is (unsurprisingly) accurate.

                “James does that “thing” where he repeats words he claims to be offended by. It’s a method favoured by 8-year olds generally, those who get some sort of buzz from using “bad words” under the guise of someone else having said them.”

                4.1.1.1.1 “That shows what kind of bitch you are.” – c’mon James, you love it.

              • In Vino …
                13 June 2018 at 5:40 pm

                James, does your faux concern have no end? It really is most unconvincing, sorry.

            • Ed 7.3.1.2.1.2
              13 June 2018 at 10:37 pm

              James lives in the gutter.

              • Stuart Munro …
                13 June 2018 at 11:55 pm

                No doubt he’s been forced out of the culvert he once inhabited and pretentiously called “a bridge” by deluges of decaying cow poo.

  8. mauī 8
    13 June 2018 at 8:12 am

    Media headlines after the first US president in history to meet with the North Korean leader.

    “What attire says about Kim”
    “‘Looks like little rockets being launched’: Kim Jong Un’s signature under fire”

    Pretty poor.

    …then.. work out what went on yourself,

    “Do you believe the world is a safer place as a result of the Singapore summit?”

  9. Tamati Tautuhi 9
    13 June 2018 at 8:15 am

    It was probably a double so the signature is not valid ?

  10. cleangreen 10
    13 June 2018 at 8:19 am

    This is a live story developing today.

    The East Coast forestry slash saga is developig into a real issue up here now today as the forestry chair Peter Weil has now admitted the past activities were very sadly lacking in any disapline as the old slash was just left all over the place to rot and cause drain blockages, and that was what shut down our Gisborne rail services in 2012 just when we were getting the freight up to record levels.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6170590/At-risk-rail-line-can-t-cope-with-demand

    Then that slash just left tying around came down the slopes to block the rail line and wash out a one km section.

    Then the oportunists in the National Government gleefully siezed that oportunity to close the rail service just then, and left us to support only road freight, and now the roads now rapidly quickly are falling apart and have become very dangerous now.

    Best we get the rail fixed now since our roads are closed around gisborne again for the third time in 12 months now, while most of the rail line is still intact.

    The one km section of rail repair has been costed to be only about $5 million to fix as they aere now getting the rail from Napier to Gisorne opened now, so we expect labour/NZF to get going and re-open this finally 40km section to Gisborne re-opened again as possible for our security, wellbeing and safety.

    We must hold forestry companies liable for repairing the washed out Gisborne rail line (that was washed out by blocked drains after forestry slash blocked the drains in a large rainstorm back in 2012.

    Our rail watch folks all went to see the damage and took pictures of the drains all jamed full of slash and logs along the Gisborne rail line then.

    Since this admission of guilt has been made on 12/6/18 by forestry chair Peter weir has clarified said how slash has been causing damages to our infrastructure roads and rail for years.

    This is an importance incident still unresolved:

    Latest is the east coast farmers are considering a legal challenge to make forestry made accountable now.

    Kiwirail as our own publically owned SOE must also go after the forestry companies for charging them costs for funding of the repair of the rail line theyn had a part of damaging.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018648971/forestry-companies-committed-to-do-our-fair-share

    • Tamati Tautuhi 10.1
      13 June 2018 at 8:44 am

      John Key & Fay Richwhite used to be shareholders in NZRail, I wonder if they still hold those shares ?

      • alwyn 10.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:59 am

        “I wonder if they still hold those shares ?”.
        I thought you might have noticed that the railway operations in New Zealand are owned and operated by KiwiRail. It is an SOE set up when Michael Cullen paid a totally insane amount of taxpayer money to buy the assets from the then Toll Rail.
        As an SOE all the shares are owned by the Crown so the people you mention certainly won’t own any shares.
        If you want to complain to the shareholders they are Grant Robertson and Tsar Winston Peters. I doubt if they will give you much heed.

    • Tamati Tautuhi 10.2
      13 June 2018 at 8:45 am

      Were charges laid over the washout on the Gisborne to Napier Line.

    • Draco T Bastard 10.3
      13 June 2018 at 10:41 am

      Since this admission of guilt has been made on 12/6/18 by forestry chair Peter weir has clarified said how slash has been causing damages to our infrastructure roads and rail for years.

      This is what I mean when I say that costs aren’t fully accounted for in our ‘market’ system and it’s a subsidy. This is why regulations are needed – to ensure that these costs are accounted for so that subsidies can be minimised.

      And if we, as a nation, have these regulations then all our trading partners also need them else we end up subsidising them while our own economy fails.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 10.3.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:55 am

        It’s like roadkill on the roads in Northland when the logging trucks run over cars, does that go into the cost/benefit analysis ?

    • Andrea 10.4
      13 June 2018 at 6:31 pm

      Somewhere under the detritus is the ever-incompetent Ministry of Primary Industries.

      Standards for logging, tracks, watershed protection were worked out in the 1980s and before. They’re clearly being neglected.

      Perhaps heads will roll. Or not. The SSC just seems to want to play musical chairs with a set of talking heads.

  11. Tamati Tautuhi 11
    13 June 2018 at 8:42 am

    The old colonialist exploitation of resources, I hope they are going to pay for the clean up. The rail was deliberately closed by John Key and the Natzi’s.

    • cleangreen 11.1
      13 June 2018 at 8:56 am

      Yes the community farmers are now today announcing that they are considering optios to take legal preceedings against the Forestry compames for willful damages to thrie infrustructures so we will see come to and fro here from now we expect.

      sadly when one particular forestry company caused a major drain blockage under the main hyway to napier in 2011 the rail line was stil in operation but that company was trucking all the logs to gisborne port while the slash was slidding down those steep banks against the rail line going through their forestry block at the location and we took pictures of the slas and gave a submission to the local council after wards.

      The forestry company still refused to fix up the slash or even to help us by using the rail services then to ship the logs to the port so we knew then trouble was going to occur then…

      Time to fix up this crappy activity now because the region will suffer and people will die if left as is.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 11.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 9:01 am

        Neoliberalism or Natzism ?

        Neoliberalism is a form of fascism ?

        • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 10:44 am

          Neo-liberalism and the deregulation that came with it was a way to ensure that rich people weren’t held accountable for their actions. A way to increase the bludging that the rich could do on the general populace.

  12. Tamati Tautuhi 12
    13 June 2018 at 8:46 am

    Were charges laid over the washout on the Gisborne to Napier Line.

    • cleangreen 12.1
      13 June 2018 at 9:03 am

      We called the excecutives of kiwirail to investigate the blocking of the rail line drains and gave them evidence of it and pictures in 2012-2013, and later again in 2015 and they always advised us that they would investigate it.

      And if found that they caused the rail washouts they would charge the forestry company for damage costs to fix the line and put it back in bussiness again but nothing was done sadly then and we wonder why? – Was it Government interference then parhaps???

      • Tamati Tautuhi 12.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 9:21 am

        Probably political interference if you want my professional opinion ?

        • James 12.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 12:07 pm

          “if you want my professional opinion”

          Reading your comments on here – including the homophobic ones – I doubt your opinion is professional in the slightest.

      • Draco T Bastard 12.1.2
        13 June 2018 at 10:45 am

        Was it Government interference then parhaps???

        Probably but you won’t find any evidence as it would be a backroom deal that’s not in the records.

      • David Mac 12.1.3
        13 June 2018 at 10:52 am

        I guess it’s a legal grey area that will gain clarity as global warming takes hold.

        Those flash floods we see on the news, who pays for the damage done by the cars we see floating down streets? Am I responsible for the shop fronts my swept away car damages?

        A big stack of firewood beside my house, if flood waters carry it away and down the valley, am I/my insurers responsible for the damage my float-away firewood causes? It would be just my luck for my stack of flotsam Macrocarpa to smash into my neighbour’s back room full of Hoteres and McCahons…..5 million dollars worth of railway line would look like a bargain…….”Can I pay it off at $5 a week?”

        • dukeofurl 12.1.3.1
          13 June 2018 at 11:07 am

          Its called insurance.

          Unless you were negligent in your parking of the car or stacking the firewood its unlikely you would be held responsible for the flood damage that resulted . That primarily occurred because of the flood.

          Thats where the logging companies have a problem, did they abide with the resource consents , if not they are negligent.
          Of course you are kidding yourslef if your ‘firewood’ is anything like the volume of slash which has come down.

  13. Peroxide Blonde 13
    13 June 2018 at 8:47 am

    On Brexit and Boris Johnson

    “Johnson and his chums ignored Northern Ireland in their Brexit campaign. That seemed to be the ultimate height of irresponsibility but they have now gone further – they are exploiting it. Their current strategy is to use the EU’s offer of a special deal for Northern Ireland, preserving many of the advantages of the single market even while leaving it, as an opening through which they can force the EU to concede the same have cake/eat cake privileges to Britain. They are trying to turn the sympathy that comes from a horrible conflict, in which nearly 2 per cent of the population was killed or injured, into a way of getting one over on Michel Barnier. This is political depravity.”

    …another top piece from Fintan O’Toole,

    https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-brexiteers-cannot-allow-the-english-bulldog-to-be-wagged-by-an-irish-tail-1.3526939

  14. Tamati Tautuhi 14
    13 June 2018 at 9:22 am

    Anne Tolley the MP for that region by any chance ?

    • cleangreen 14.1
      13 June 2018 at 9:33 am

      Yes Anne Tolley is the MP for Gisborne and now fleed to Ohope beach in Whakatane so she is called now “no show Tolley”.

      At the time in 2012-3 she was firmly in support of our rail services but strangely reversed her support all of a sudden, “again maybe more Government interference???

      • alwyn 14.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:09 am

        Do you object to the lady living in her electorate?
        Surely you don’t regard the MP for the electorate as being just to represent the Burghers of Gisborne?
        I confess that if I had a choice of Ohope or Gisborne I would choose the Bay of Plenty over Poverty Bay any day. The only problem is that you would have Michael Cullen as a neighbour.
        Neither can compare with the twin cities of Hawkes Bay of course.

  15. humma 15
    13 June 2018 at 9:26 am

    Minister Eugenie Sage of the Green Party has just given consent to a Chinese company to buy land classed sensitive, close to Whakatane, to bottle water for exports. All in the name of increase in investment and jobs. Great stuff and totally aligned with the bravado before the election isn’t it ?? No shame on the daily backflips from this Government
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104668519/green-party-members-revolt-over-water-bottling-decision

    • Tamati Tautuhi 15.1
      13 June 2018 at 9:38 am

      Could be a poisoned chalice evidently the arsenic levels are quite high in that water in that area ?

    • Rosemary McDonald 15.2
      13 June 2018 at 10:22 am

      Very difficult to reconcile the ‘bottle’ part of these ventures with approval from a ‘Green’ politician.

      More plastic waste anyone?

      Still down the rabbit hole.

      SSDD

    • dukeofurl 15.3
      13 June 2018 at 10:38 am

      The site has an existing bottling plant they are just increasing the land area they have to increase production.

      Where do you think jobs are going to come from in Otakiri Springs ? You sneers dont give jobs !

      Thats a prime example being in opposition means you can oppose the things your supporters dont like.
      Being in government means you have to work for the benefit of all Nzers

      • Draco T Bastard 15.3.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:48 am

        Why do you think that such jobs that cause so much damage are important?

        We should be getting rid of them and developing our economy and not just exporting it.

    • saveNZ 15.4
      13 June 2018 at 10:56 am

      @humma – I have a lot of issues with this consent from the environmental point of view aka plastic bottles for those that can afford it and have polluted their own supply, now taking it from other countries. They should be forced to use glass bottles at least.

      No doubt the council will fall over themselves to give away the free water from the aquifer, which is then taking a public asset and making it private which is not ok.

      Also as we have seen before the ‘workers’ will not be local but probably Chinese and so it actually becomes a cost to NZ as more people on lowered wages are bought which means that that NZ asset is not employing local workers, and the new workers require housing, health, education… that the NZ tax payer pays subsidises as they gain residency and citizenship.

      NZ assets have been bought up by foreign buyers for years, the problem is when it was the Ozzies and the Canadians they pay more in their countries for workers so they use Kiwi workers for their plants. We are not seeing the same with Asian buyers of our assets as they bring in their cheaper workers many of whom have studied in NZ and can be road to residency, which does the opposite takes local jobs away, lowers wages overall and not giving the same benefits to the community.

      In addition if there becomes an issue with quality or counterfeiting, the NZ brand is damaged as of course the water will be heavily marketed as from NZ which is so far a trusted brand but of course that trust is easy to destroy.

      • SaveNZ 15.4.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:21 am

        The criteria of the OIA as well as the RMA needs immediate reform from the Green Party, NOT endorsing it, to stop NZ sinking further and further into becoming a polluted banana republic and to legally protect local people to ensure they get the full and long term benefits from the consents including long term environmental protection, a stop of production if new environmental evidence turns up aka the area starts running out of water or there is new evidence of any negative effects on the community.

        Now Russel Norman has left, the Greens seem to have forgotten about the Chinese human rights abuses.. now we seem to be endorsing them!

  16. Tamati Tautuhi 16
    13 June 2018 at 9:39 am

    Greens also support 1080 I heard somewhere ?

    • Puckish Rogue 16.1
      13 June 2018 at 9:54 am

      1080 is one of “those” topics but here goes…

      I don’t like the use of 1080 but, mostly due to NZs terrain and the cost, I see the need for 1080 drops

      I do dream, probably a fools dream, of a day where Nationals Predator Free 2050 is bolstered and supported, with more money, by every incoming government and that 1080 drops become used less as time passes

  17. Tamati Tautuhi 17
    13 June 2018 at 10:15 am

    They reckon releasing trained cats into the bush to catch possums is a safer alternative, makes sense ?

    I am not a fan of eating 1080 flavoured wild pork & venison ?

    • Pat 17.1
      13 June 2018 at 10:25 am

      Cat v possum?

      I know which id have my money on

    • Puckish Rogue 17.2
      13 June 2018 at 10:27 am

      “They reckon releasing trained cats into the bush to catch possums is a safer alternative, makes sense ?”

      Oh hell no it doesn’t, lets imagine you’re a cat and you’re climbing a tree and you have the choice of a possum which is bigger than you and will fight back or a bird

      What are you going to pick?

      • indiana 17.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 10:43 am

        ..but the cat is trained. It holds a certificate in killing possums, as authorised by the Vegan Society of NZ and it promised only to kill possums.

        • Puckish Rogue 17.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 10:49 am

          Yeah I wasn’t sure if the poster was being serious or not so I tried to treat it as serious

          https://imgur.com/gallery/9ZOgqGO

          • Tamati Tautuhi 17.2.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 11:25 am

            Puck I thought so myself when I was told yesterday by someone if I can get some info I will post it on this site.

        • Tamati Tautuhi 17.2.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 11:01 am

          These are properly trained registered cats not your average Persian fluffy thing that sits on John Key’s couch in Parnell ?

          • Puckish Rogue 17.2.1.2.1
            13 June 2018 at 11:30 am

            That maybe but the last thing NZ needs (IMHO) is more introduced predators

          • alwyn 17.2.1.2.2
            13 June 2018 at 6:59 pm

            “These are properly trained registered cats”.
            I’m afraid that statement should be in the past tense.
            “These WERE properly trained registered cats”.
            Gareth Morgan went after them. It is quite amazing what an AK47 does when fired on full automatic at a fence top line-up of cats. There were no survivors.

  18. Tamati Tautuhi 18
    13 June 2018 at 10:19 am

    Evidently possum fur trapping is very profitable in areas with high possum infestations if I can get the information I will post it
    .
    The problem is a lot of the old possum trappers have retired and we have lost those skills from the industry, now we are using the old Vietnam/Agent Orange approach ?

    • Puckish Rogue 18.1
      13 June 2018 at 10:42 am

      The problem with possum trapping is there a financial aspect which means its in the trapper best interest to make sure you don’t trap all the possums you can, that you leave a few so you can come back and keep on collecting, same with rabbits, in essence farming the pests

      If you put a time limit on the trapping however that might help

    • Draco T Bastard 18.2
      13 June 2018 at 10:51 am

      They tried that in the 1950s – it’s how the possums spread so well. The trappers carried them to where they lived so that they wouldn’t have to travel so far to work.

      • Brigid 18.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:01 am

        I find that hard to believe Draco. In the 1950s possums were well and truly spread across the country. There was no need to carry them anywhere.

        Besides, it just doesn’t make sense. To populate an area, you’d have to move a reasonable number of pairs. And then wait a few years for the population to be plentiful enough for trapping to be worth while.

        • Draco T Bastard 18.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 11:13 am

          Yes, Te Ara says it was earlier. Can’t find the original link that I had although it’s probably somewhere on this site – I’ve linked to it before. It pointed out that the bounty offered in the 1950s resulted in some trappers moving animals around.

      • Tamati Tautuhi 18.2.2
        13 June 2018 at 11:03 am

        Really can you give me some reference material on that or a you just trying to get a bite ?

      • Puckish Rogue 18.2.3
        13 June 2018 at 11:05 am

        Could still be done today but for contractors you’d have to give them a set time limit to trap as many as they can then go to a government board/DOC to take over

        Yes I said government board, it could also be tied into a form of National Service (which is something i think should be brought back) in that you do a certain amount of years in the NZDF or something similar like DOC or even a rejigged forestry service (help plant those billion trees)

        You could pitch it like do two years and get a free years tertiary study (not saying thats exactly how it should be but just the gist of it)

    • bwaghorn 18.3
      13 June 2018 at 11:06 am

      It’s profitable when numbers are high . It becomes harder to make money as numbers get low . Fur trappers tend to farm the blocks leaving enough behind that it’s worth coming back every year or two

  19. SaveNZ 19
    13 June 2018 at 10:43 am

    If the government wants to solve the housing crisis, here is a way.

    Set up an affordable 3D printed house service for state housing and low cost housing. These houses are being produced NOW and the government should be bringing the tech to NZ with a license our own version or however it works, rather than relying on traditional methods such as the construction industry to advise which has become a slow, expensive and Ponzi scheme .

    A 3D housing service in NZ would also be valuable to have after disasters or with global warming.

    Starting thinking of the future NZ!

    Affordable house can be 3D printed for $4,000 in less than 24 hours

    https://singularityhub.com/2018/03/18/this-3d-printed-house-goes-up-in-a-day-for-under-10000/

    https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/innovation/why-3-d-printed-homes-may-save-lives-well-environment-n730606

    https://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/icon-3d-printed-affordable-homes.html

    https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/americas-first-3d-printed-houses-99189/

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/health-26543569/patient-s-face-rebuilt-with-3d-printed-parts

    • Draco T Bastard 19.1
      13 June 2018 at 11:01 am

      These houses are being produced NOW and the government should be bringing the tech to NZ with a license our own version or however it works, rather than relying on traditional methods such as the construction industry to advise which has become a slow, expensive and Ponzi scheme .

      True and they should also be doing a huge amount of R&D into 3D printing houses and, well, everything else. 3D printing is the future of production in pretty much everything. No country will be able to out produce any other country.

      The only jobs it produces is in R&D which is a plus as it will help us develop our economy and our society.

      • David Mac 19.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 12:00 pm

        The system currently prints with a wet cement like material. I’d imagine it would not be suitable for earthquake zones. With some R & D and the houses printed with a material that cures to have some flexibility, it could become the ideal way to build in earthquake zones.

        Printing houses has merits but the basic shell of a house is what? 20% of a build price? The aluminium joinery, cabinetry, wiring, council rubber stamping etc is what stacks up the costs.

        • Draco T Bastard 19.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 12:42 pm

          The system currently prints with a wet cement like material. I’d imagine it would not be suitable for earthquake zones.

          Brick and concrete block houses have been built in NZ for years and still are.

          Still, the big one for me would be how well insulated that material is. Cold houses are bane in NZ because of poor building processes that have been practised for decades.

          Printing houses has merits but the basic shell of a house is what? 20% of a build price? The aluminium joinery, cabinetry, wiring, council rubber stamping etc is what stacks up the costs.

          It’s the time and labour requirement that’s the problem. 3D printing will remove a large amount of that.

          • saveNZ 19.1.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 1:04 pm

            Time for some Kiwi ingenuity engineers to design one with full earthquake protection, if that is even an issue.

            Also with the dutch link, they are experimenting with using plastic waste as materials for the houses… there are lots of options.

            Agree with Draco, that it is the time and labour that has become the problem for the building and the infrastructure needs sorting as well but that applies to any new house.

            The labour shortage is the new ‘catch’ cry from the right for everything to needing a truck driver to someone who can flip a burger as well as a tiler, decorator and builder.

            The shell is probably a lot more than 20% of the build, and to be able to supply that for $4000 is a game changer and to print it on site in one day is the clincher.

            Add on zero carbon aka full solar and sustainable waste water and incinerating toilets or something like that and it has the potential to recreate the state house into a 21 c model.

    • Gosman 19.2
      13 June 2018 at 11:16 am

      Except the problem with housing in NZ is less cost of houses (although it plays a part) and more to do with land availability. You can print all the 3D printed houses you like but if the land is not made available there will be nowhere for them to be put up.

      • SaveNZ 19.2.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:27 am

        @Gosman, That must be why the government has sold off so much land then isn’t it? Because it’s so expensive they want to give it away/ sell cheap to mates???

        We have loads of land in NZ, if they limited foreign buyers the price of land would drop immediately.

        The council costs are huge, but that is because the COO structure has not worked and now councils seem to spend half the money they collect on themselves and preserving their fiefdoms, which is not very sustainable.

        I’d love to see a few 3D houses dotted around Remmer’s golf course to help the homeless… it’s that lovely diversity that the globalism bunch are all for, isn’t it? (Or is cultural diversity ok, but class diversity a no, no in 21c?)

        • Gosman 19.2.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 11:32 am

          Where has the Government sold off so much land?

          I think you are mistaking the OIO approving land sales to the Government selling the land. The Government does not own most of the land going through the OIO.

          BTW I too would love to see Urban Golf courses converted to something else like housing. Doing this is a matter for local authorities and the owners of the golf courses though not Central government.

          • Tamati Tautuhi 19.2.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 11:40 am

            Start with the Remuera Golf Course and see what sort of reaction you would get ?

            I think John Key is a Life Member there ?

            • Enough is Enough 19.2.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 11:51 am

              I think you will find John Key plays at Royal Auckland, not Remuera

              • SaveNZ …
                13 June 2018 at 11:56 am

                I thought it was Hawaii? Key will not care too much, I think he sold his Parnell mansion to a Chinese buyer. Got a good price. His work is done.

              • Tamati Tautuhi …
                13 June 2018 at 12:53 pm

                I know he is a member of the Royal Auckland Golf Club, however I think Remuera gave him a life membership not sure ?

                • alwyn …
                  13 June 2018 at 7:05 pm

                  I believe it was an honorary membership when he was Prime Minister.
                  Rather like Bethesda’s Congressional Country Club which does the same thing for Presidents. They must have gagged over the current one.

            • Gosman 19.2.1.1.1.2
              13 June 2018 at 11:57 am

              I don’t have toi start anywhere. However if you would like to change the land designation for the Golf courses in Auckland (or where ever) try and get the local councils to do this. Auckland is controlled by a left leaning council so should theoretically be amenable surely.

              • Tamati Tautuhi …
                13 June 2018 at 12:57 pm

                Gossie they are going to turn the Chamberlain Golf Club, Mt Albert, into a new Aquatic Centre and new sports fields, also a low cost housing estate so i believe.

                I think they have started putting in a new children’s playground for Jacarandas new baby, the Council have already approved this.

          • saveNZ 19.2.1.1.2
            13 June 2018 at 11:43 am

            @ Gosman, Unitech, Tamaki, many parts of former council or state land is being sold off all around the country or parts of privatised.

            Government offloads 2800 state houses to Auckland development company

            “Ownership and management of 2800 state houses will be transferred to an Auckland redevelopment company, as the Government moves to offload some of its massive stock of housing in Auckland.

            The houses will be transferred to the Tamaki Redevelopment Company (TRC), “to encourage regeneration”, said Finance Minister Bill English and Building and Housing Minister Nick Smith in an announcement on Thursday.

            English said the Government owned one in 16 houses in Auckland. ”

            https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/68152582/Government-offloads-2800-state-houses-to-Auckland-development-company

            • SaveNZ 19.2.1.1.2.1
              13 June 2018 at 11:52 am

              Of course the housing crisis has been manufactured the same way the meth crisis was, aka manufactured deliberately for mates to profit from and to add political ends.

              Of course you will create a housing and infrastructure crisis if you have the 3rd highest immigration in the world. The genius seems to be selling it as solving the crisis by adding more people to contribute to the housing and infrastructure crisis.

              It really is worthy of the MethCON… in fact it’s actually worse.

            • Gosman 19.2.1.1.2.2
              13 June 2018 at 11:58 am

              That’s it? That is the extent of the Government selling off land? I also note that the land will be redeveloped for MORE HOUSES. Which is what I thought we wanted to happen.

              • saveNZ …
                13 June 2018 at 12:10 pm

                Free land, come and get it! So you think it was a good idea for the government to ‘transfer’ so much prime land?

                More houses, is not affordable houses… or state houses owned by taxpayers.

                Since the HouseCON scam started their affordable housing drive & rezoning they have driven up the price of houses by double…

                Apparently the are thinking of issuing 55,000 overseas residents and work permits for construction.

                Oh that’s a lot of housing we need to create the housing… and a lot more land as well that can’t be recreated…

                A 3D printer of housing and not getting 55,000 cheaper workers to compete with our existing poor, is a better bet for affordable housing.

              • Tamati Tautuhi …
                13 June 2018 at 12:59 pm

                To house the new Asian immigrants.

        • Tamati Tautuhi 19.2.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 11:43 am

          300-400 staff on $220k plus and trying to get an answer on anything is nigh on impossible. CEO’s on $700-$800k, $150k to Auckalnd City Council just to subdivide your section B4 you can start building ?

      • Draco T Bastard 19.2.2
        13 June 2018 at 12:45 pm

        Land only become a problem if we continue to be stupid and build outwards rather than upwards. Continue to build low density rather than high density.

        Of course, that’s what National and other RWNJs want to do despite the fact that it costs more and drives up rates. More profit in it – especially for the farmers that are land-banking.

  20. adam 20
    13 June 2018 at 11:12 am

    Another reasonably big labour strike in China. Got this email link from a mate, and have been struggling to find other sources.

    https://www.theepochtimes.com/truck-drivers-in-multiple-chinese-provinces-on-strike-demanding-better-treatment_2556721.html

    This from the mouthpiece of the USA military.

    https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/strike-06112018112639.html

    Last month there were three big strikes across China, just really bloody hard to hear, and get information about them. It would appear that the Great Firewall of China is clamping down harder than ever.

    • saveNZ 20.1
      13 June 2018 at 11:38 am

      @Adam, Our future if our government keeps turning a blind eye to our lowered wage and conditions culture and our increasingly 2 tier system of some employers paying by the rules and some just paying $2p/h which is forcing those playing by the rules out of business and enabling the spread of the $2 p/h brigade.

      Spoke to an experienced truck driver who has got out of the industry. He quit when they started paying $16 p/h and telling him he was lucky because he was on $18 p/h.

      If they want experienced drivers then how can you raise a family on $18 p/h so of course if the truck driver wages keep going down then the experienced people have to exit the industry. Then we start getting all these accidents weekly from trucks.

      The industry practises need serious reform and the government immigration policy is just enabling them to get closer to the Chinese system of worker exploitation.

      Go figure, when communism is supposed to be the pinnacle of worker rights!

      • Tamati Tautuhi 20.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 11:45 am

        … and when you have Indian’s selling them for $500 through the East Tamaki Office ?

  22. Tamati Tautuhi 22
    13 June 2018 at 11:52 am

    Can we set up an Official Troll Register on The Standard so we know who to engage with, it is open for discussion any thoughts here are welcome, here are some names and all comments are welcome;

    Gosman
    Stunned Mullet
    James
    Alwyn
    Baby Gaga

    ..are there any others this will ensure newcomers know and do not waste everyone’s time engaging with them.

    All comments are welcome and appreciated.

    • Enough is Enough 22.1
      13 June 2018 at 11:56 am

      With your references to sucking cock and telling other people on here to fuck of to Whale Scum, I would be putting you at the top of your Troll Register

      • In Vino 22.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 6:19 pm

        Thanks, Enough is Enough. I was beginning to fear that I was the only one.

    • Puckish Rogue 22.2
      13 June 2018 at 12:10 pm

      Starting to get a bit miffed my name keeps getting left out…

      Also some friendly advice, the moderators tend to take a dim view on being told what to do on their own blog

    • james 22.3
      13 June 2018 at 12:18 pm

      What are your views on starting on a list based on sexist or homophobic comments?

      Perhaps listing people who call women “chubby” or “trouts”, or people “cock suckers” about people who disagree with them?

  23. james 23
    13 June 2018 at 12:02 pm

    “Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage, one of three Green ministers, announced the decision on Tuesday which allows in principle a Chinese water bottling giant to purchase land in order to expand their existing Otakiri Springs water bottling plant near Whakatane.

    The decision was made with associate finance minister David Clark based on advice from the Overseas Investment Office.”

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104668519/green-party-members-revolt-over-water-bottling-decision

    First the TPPA, Then keeping the three strikes law, now allowing selling off of land for water bottling to Chinese.

    You guys gotta be loving this government. Who would have seen those three things when you voted for them?

  24. Tamati Tautuhi 24
    13 June 2018 at 12:15 pm

    Yep could get sued by the Chinese Government for not adherring to our Trade Deals however try buying a water bottling plant in China ?

  25. james 25
    13 June 2018 at 12:22 pm

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/06/government-to-announce-600-beds-at-waikeria-prison.html

    Excellent – 600 new beds to lock up the people who deserve to be locked up.

    Well done labour.

    • Puckish Rogue 25.1
      13 June 2018 at 12:40 pm

      Good to see the government governing (is that a word?) for all of NZ

      • In Vino 25.1.1
        13 June 2018 at 6:22 pm

        Of course it is a valid word PR. Are you semi-literate?
        And, James, many of those will be Mental Health beds. I suggest you enrol asap.

        • James 25.1.1.1
          13 June 2018 at 6:33 pm

          Using mental health as an insult.

          Classy.

          Hope that you never have it in your family and have to deal with the realities of it.

          Perhaps then you will be less flippant about it.

          • In Vino 25.1.1.1.1
            13 June 2018 at 6:53 pm

            Ignorant man – that has already happened, and I somehow doubt that you have experienced worse that I have.
            You are the flippant one, with shallow, false-victim crap.
            You might think it a clever debating device, but you are showing yourself to be a Hollow Man.
            I put it to you that you are one who deserves to be locked up, for mendacity and false pretences, as well as sociopathic attitudes.
            You should troll more cautiously.

            • James 25.1.1.1.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 7:08 pm

              Gee I hope you weren’t so flippant using it as an insult with your family member.

              I’m assuming you would be annoyed with other people using it as an insult to your family member – so perhaps you should stop throwing it around at others without knowing their background.

              And the ohhh my experience is worse than your experience is just bullshit without knowing.

              So perhaps think of that next time you use it as a comment.

        • Robert Guyton 25.1.1.2
          13 June 2018 at 7:06 pm

          Mental health beds suggests the occupants will be sufferers of mental ill-health. As such, do they “deserve” to be locked up, or “need” to be locked up?
          There’s a difference.
          Isn’t it curious how fragile James seems to be! Offended by almost everything! Outraged, rendered purple-faced, blood shooting up to boiling point, ad nauseum! I worry, sometimes, for his mental health. Truly. No slight intended.

          • James 25.1.1.2.1
            13 June 2018 at 7:10 pm

            If they are in jail – then they deserve to be there.

            Great they will get the right help whilst in there.

            • Robert Guyton 25.1.1.2.1.1
              13 June 2018 at 7:14 pm

              “If they are in jail – then they deserve to be there.”
              It’s black and white, James?
              Do you have any idea how many people have been wrongly incarcerated in NZ over the past 50 years? If not, would you like like to take a guess?
              Do they deserve to be in there?
              Black and white, James; black and white.

              • Ed …
                13 June 2018 at 7:27 pm

                James represents everything that is wrong with New Zealand.

                Pale
                Male
                Stale

                • solkta …
                  13 June 2018 at 7:33 pm

                  Fuck, you can’t get any more stale than the revolutionary nonsense that you preach.

                • Robert Guyton …
                  13 June 2018 at 7:35 pm

                  James is just yer average guy, no better, no worse.
                  What annoys me is that he thinks he’s clever.

                  • Ed …
                    13 June 2018 at 7:42 pm

                    You cannot be a right wing troll and be clever.
                    You are doing low paid work for someone like Farrar.

                    • Robert Guyton …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:47 pm

                      There are clever trolls from the Right. You’ve just not detected their presence.

                    • solkta …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:47 pm

                      and how clever are you left wing trolls?

                    • Ed …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:53 pm

                      There are intelligent people who are right wing.
                      The Hitchens brothers come to my mind.
                      But people who come on a left wing site to troll for the right are not intelligent.

                • chris73 …
                  13 June 2018 at 7:36 pm

                  Pale
                  Male
                  Stale

                  Maybe or maybe not but unlike you hes not boring

                  • Ed …
                    13 June 2018 at 7:38 pm

                    Matter of opinion that….
                    Glad to hear you find animal cruelty, climate catastrophe, inequality and foreign wars boring.

                    • chris73 …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:41 pm

                      More of a group consensus as opposed to an opinion
                      Why do you hate poor people Ed?

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:43 pm

                      Potentially fascinating subjects all, depending on the narrator.

                    • Robert Guyton …
                      13 June 2018 at 7:44 pm

                      Those things aren’t boring but some people would find endless reference to them, boring, I suppose. An adroit activist determined to keep those topics before an audience without boring them, would employ clever devices and strategies to gain maximum buy-in. I don’t mean you especially, Ed. I’m speaking generally.

              • James …
                13 June 2018 at 7:56 pm

                “Do you have any idea how many people have been wrongly incarcerated in NZ over the past 50 years?”

                Nope. Not many.

                A lot less than by people who have been let out early.

                • Ed …
                  13 June 2018 at 8:00 pm

                  Educate yourself.
                  Try to avoid being neanderthal.

                  “The first clue that things are done very differently on Bastoy prison island, which lies a couple of miles off the coast in the Oslo fjord, 46 miles south-east of Norway’s capital, comes shortly after I board the prison ferry. I’m taken aback slightly when the ferry operative who welcomed me aboard just minutes earlier, and with whom I’m exchanging small talk about the weather, suddenly reveals he is a serving prisoner – doing 14 years for drug smuggling. He notes my surprise, smiles, and takes off a thick glove before offering me his hand. “I’m Petter,” he says.

                  Before he transferred to Bastoy, Petter was in a high-security prison for nearly eight years. “Here, they give us trust and responsibility,” he says. “They treat us like grownups.” I haven’t come here particularly to draw comparisons, but it’s impossible not to consider how politicians and the popular media would react to a similar scenario in Britain.

                  There are big differences between the two countries, of course. Norway has a population of slightly less than five million, a 12th of the UK’s. It has fewer than 4,000 prisoners; there are around 84,000 in the UK. But what really sets us apart is the Norwegian attitude towards prisoners.”

                  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/feb/25/norwegian-prison-inmates-treated-like-people

                • Robert Guyton …
                  13 June 2018 at 8:02 pm

                  So, James, some people have been wrongly incarcerated. Do you find that “tolerable”? Have you ever spoken out in support of the poor souls who have suffered that fate? Do you support the wrongful incarceration of New Zealanders? A troll once said:
                  “The behaviour you tolerate is the behaviour you support.”

          • In Vino 25.1.1.2.2
            13 June 2018 at 7:21 pm

            Well put, Robert. It was the same gentle concern that prompted me to recommend that he enrol. But he misunderstood that gentle concern.
            Too bad, I guess.
            I suspect that the trolls will celebrate this as one of their best nights ever.
            They got all matey, then brought a new plausible guy in, and look at their plunder.
            I’ve even been smiling myself, and I am a dry old guy.

            • Robert Guyton 25.1.1.2.2.1
              13 June 2018 at 7:23 pm

              Blunder, as Fezzik would say.

              • chris73 …
                13 June 2018 at 7:31 pm

                But for now, rest well and dream of large women.

                • In Vino …
                  13 June 2018 at 8:16 pm

                  What are you on about, Chris73?
                  James will be most upset by your obvious derision of over-sized ladies. He will deeply resent your obvious attempt to pour derision upon them by blatant body-shaming.
                  I recommend you to withdraw and apologise before he sees the comment.
                  He is a sensitive soul, and will not permit this kind of discriminatory, humiliating branding on a website such as this!
                  (You have had a pretty good time tonight, haven’t you?)

    • indiana 25.2
      13 June 2018 at 1:03 pm

      Does that mean we can pre-count that there will be 600 less people in poverty under this government?

  26. Jenny 26
    13 June 2018 at 8:45 pm

    The government need to act.

    We have all seen the videos of the filth that is choking our oceans.

    Refunds on all packaging now.

    Not long ago, we existed in a world without throwaway plastic, and we can thrive that way again. The world’s largest corporations – with all their profits and innovation labs – are well positioned to help move us beyond single-use plastics. All over the world people are already innovating toward solutions that focus on reusing and reducing plastics. It’s time to accelerate this process and move beyond half measures and baby steps. Corporations are safe when they can tell us to simply recycle away their pollution.

    But we aren’t buying that any more. This is their crisis to tackle. We will continue to do our part, but it’s time for the world’s largest corporations to do theirs. Some 322m tons of plastic were produced in 2015, and that number is expected to double by 2025. The good news is that we are at a turning point. All over the world, people and businesses are waking up to the dangers created by single-use plastic. Now, we must demand a new era that prioritizes people and planet over profit and convenience.

    Annie Leonard – Greenpeace USA Executive Director

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/09/recycling-plastic-crisis-oceans-pollution-corporate-responsibility

  27. Eco Maori 27
    14 June 2018 at 7:15 am

    Good morning The AM Show there you go one story on the scraping of a new prison and making the correct choices and the next a story about how much we abuse ALCOHOL there will be hundreds in jail because they got pissed and done something stupid and that’s a fact we badly need Alcohol reform laws.
    ECO MAORI thinks something stink at Fonterra the bovine virus 12 years ago they advertise and got heaps of tangata whenua to work in the dairy than 5 years later they get the imagration laws change and flood the dairy work force with cheap labour the employers love these workers who run around kissing there ass. The prices of letting fees are shocking but u know the system is on can charge anything he likes so long as someone is willing to pay the price.
    Ka kite ano