Some interesting articles in the Sunday news about the NZ of “haves”, “have nots”, inequalities and high end bludgers.
Colin Espiner (who I always thought leaned to the right), spells out what Bennett and the Nats are doing with their bennie bashing – and compares it with tax evaders, etc.“Beneficiary bashing just too easy”
It’s estimated welfare fraud costs the country between $20 million and $40m a year. Tax evasion, about which the Government has much less to say, has been estimated to cost the country anywhere from $1 billion to $6b a year.
Why the double standard? Could it be that beneficiaries are an easy target? I hope it isn’t that simple, because Bennett is a better minister than that, and should have more empathy with those at the bottom of the heap, given her back story.
So why else shout “look over there!” right at the moment?
An NZ Herald article on people who have gone bankrupt and headed overseas where they can avoid paying anything back to debtors.
I suspect their a view of an “institutional left” and a “out of leftfield left”. So Josie Pagini, Stuart Nash, these people the Herald regard as being the left they talk to and that people who know. So when they allow Morgan Godfery to write an article (and he is an absolutely brilliant and articulate writer), the Herald gets to feel good about giving these people a chance since no knows of them.
Except, it’s bullshit, because we do know of them. They just don’t fit in the Herald’s box.
I suspect Espiner is simply trying to look ‘balanced’ due to his new job (cuff the right so he can skewer the left) but I’ll take the hits on National when I get them. Nice closing lines.
“But the Government doesn’t want you to think about this, let alone get angry about it. No. It would much rather you focused your attention on an ancient, lazy stereotype.
After all, beneficiaries can’t afford defamation lawyers. And they probably don’t vote National.”
Exactly my thoughts too geoff. She’s incompetent as far as Social Welfare is concerned, she may be good at the neoliberal ‘Welfare is a problem which we need to get rid’ bullshit but she doesn’t give a shit about the real problem which is poverty. She is an arrogant piece of shit to boot.
Trying to reduce benefit fraud does not mean IRD are not trying to address tax dodging and repayment avoidance. For example:
Management of Debt and Outstanding Returns (M57)
Taking follow-up action where returns are outstanding and where payments are overdue, including providing people with assistance on the actions they need to take to meet their obligations.
2007/08 Budgeted $85,097,000
2008/09 Estimated Actual $88,352,000
2009/10 Estimated Actual $90,335,000
2010/11 Estimated Actual $100,229,000
2011/12 Estimated Actual $109,476,000
2012/13 Estimated Actual $116,874,000
2013/14 Budget $124,896,000
What’s your point Pete? You really do need to get a fcking grip!
No-one is saying or has said that IRD do nothing to track tax. What is being said over and over again is that those on welfare entitlements are being vilified, that the sum totals involved are exaggerated, and that the punishments meted out are far harsher than for tax dodgers – who cost society much, much more money, while enjoying a free ride in the arena of manufactured public opinion.
I often hear people claiming National harasses beneficiaries but does nothing about tax dodging/evasion.
@DavidCunliffeMP
Welfare fraud, $23 million = National obsession. Tax dodging, $6 BILLION = National doing nothing.
And that “Tax dodging, $6 BILLION” is at best misleading and exaggerated.
“those on welfare entitlements are being vilified, that the sum totals involved are exaggerated, and that the punishments meted out are far harsher than for tax dodgers”
Can you substantiate that? If you can I’ll post on it.
like the srylands the other day, wasting time and saying I had obvious mental health problems because I believed over 200,000 kids in NZ live in poverty.
(Which I admit I was annoyed by, seeing as he knows full well I have admitted on this blog that I live with PTSD and Chronic Depression. So thought it somewhat of a cheap shot.)
So if he’d said $1bil, they wouldn’t try to quibble over the number?
Look, it’s tory playbook page 2: any number the opposition comes up with, no matter how robust, quibble over it and claim that the slightest debatability in the amount negates the entire argument.
All you can do is let themexhaust the tactic so it no longer works. Getting into a debate about the minutae derails the wider argument.
I’m not about to dig back through the archive for the discussion and the links. Suffice to say that if a person on entitlements is ‘had up’ for fraud, they are done for the entire total of their entitlement and not merely the portion that has been fraudulently claimed. And it is that sum total that is reported in the media.
punishments meted out are far harsher than for tax dodgers
There was a lot of commentary on a recent study highlighting the frequency of jail time for ‘beneficiaries’ versus tax fraudsters. Again, I’m not about to run around finding it. I’m sure you can use google search. Also note…tax dodgers who do jail time, do it in lieu of repayment while those of entitlements do jail time and can then be chased up by WINZ to repay the entire sum total of all their entitlements (not just the portion of their claim that was fraudulent)
Pete seems to be confusing those who have had an assessment or default assessment issued which gives the figures he quoted (and amounts due as debt) with aggressive evasion where amounts are omitted from returns or schemes set up to gut tax.
On a completely different angle would Lprent be able to put in one of those thread closers like email inboxes have. Then we could just close Pete’s threads up so we don’t have to read them.
“…Can you substantiate that? If you can I’ll post on it..”
This is substantiated through the research of Dr Lisa Marriott, Senior Lecturer in the School of Accounting and Commercial Law at Victoria University.
“Her analysis of court data on the most serious offending from 2008–2011 shows that 22 per cent of people found guilty of tax offences received a custodial sentence while 60 per cent of benefit fraudsters were imprisoned.
Dr Marriott’s investigation also shows tax crimes are more costly, with those given custodial sentences committing offences valued at just over $800,000. Benefit fraud averaged $67,000 per offender.
Benefit fraud cost New Zealand $22 million in 2010, or around $5 for each New Zealander. While it is difficult to get accurate figures for tax evasion, the Tax Justice Network estimates New Zealand missed out on more than $7.4 billion of tax revenue in 2011, or around $1,500 per New Zealander.
“So the figures for tax evasion are phenomenal while they are relatively small for benefit fraud,” says Dr Marriott, “but we have quite different attitudes to the two crimes.”
One issue I’ve seen mentioned is that welfare fraud is often relatively simple and most evidence can be found within Government data from social welfare and IRD, so presumably is easier to detect and easier to prosecute. Tax evasion can be far more complex and easier to hide in private company records (or absence of records).
It’s more difficult to recover huge amounts of money than small amounts in any sort of fraud case.
Tax evasion covers a wide range of situations and demographics, from corporate level fraud to individuals failing to report income avoiding income tax and GST, and paying cash for work avoiding PAYE and ACC.
None of this excuses either type of fraud.
My opinion is that large scale fraud should result in larger sentences.
My opinion is that large scale fraud should result in larger sentences
The use of multinationals by the US and other regimes to make their companies more competitive (read subsdise) is the fundamental cause of financial instability (read minsky instability) and that this is done in plain sight ie not hidden should be ringing alarm bells in every jurisdiction where tax takes are not meeting expectations (read forecasts)
Yes we can. Sure, we may see a slight decline in imports but that’s nothing compared to being constantly stolen from. We’d probably see an increase in products made here as well.
SSpylands, I’m sure even you could figure out how to address tax evasion across the board in NZ without contravening the WTO. It doesn’t need to involve access restrictions or subsidies.
What are you going to do that does not breach WTO rules genius?
Drop out of the WTO. Belonging to it obviously isn’t doing us any good.
Drop out of the World Bank as well and set up our own banking system thus removing any need for foreign money.
Put in place reciprocal tariffs that means that trade is fair.
There, done.
Unilateral action will lead to us becoming disconnected from globalisation.
That you could do it relatively fast,and introduce sunset clauses (event horizon for the black holes) for trusts would show that NZ could by a leader ,Europe would follow very quickly.
You sod off. I am not a Nazi. Stop being rude. As Pete says it is a worldwide problem that requires internaional action. Unilateral action will lead to us becoming disconnected from globalisation.
Oh yes I forgot – you are xenophobic and hate the poor so you don’t care about that.
The rate of convictions is one thing, but the regularity of the incarceration of convicted benefit fraudsters compared to convicted Income/business tax fraudsters is eye-watering in its contrasted realities Pete.
and btw, home detention in the nice house with sky and internet and delivery to your door of whatever you want to buy is hardly what those in stuck in 23 hours a day lockdown would call incarceration.
Why not get Politicheck to do a little work on that particular subject?
No Pete. Going by the nature of your comments, you’re engaging in order to evaluate opinions or formulate opinions of your own. And that has got absolutely nothing to do with facts.
Facts do not need to be dressed up. They need to be stated within their correct context – end.
Social media can be an effective way of identifying different angles to issues. Yes facts are facts but finding all pertinent facts can be quite difficult. Crowd sourcing angles can help, sometimes substantially.
Pete. I’m not making any fucking assumptions whatsoever. I’m simply reading the content of your fucking comments.
Think about this Pete. Facts are (as you acknowledge) facts. Yet you say you are seeking different angles to issues and that crowd sourcing angles can (sometimes) substantially help in finding facts. I mean, seriously!?
If the fact is false, it’s false. If it’s being used in a misleading way, it’s misleading. If it’s being used out of context or being divorced from other pertinent facts, then it’s misleading, yes?
What I, or anyone else thinks about fields of thoughts surrounding facts is completely and utterly irrelevant. As I pointed out when you first popped up as being prominent within this fact checking malarky – you lack the critical faculties or approach necessary for such a role. Your latest comment just underlines that contention in big shouty red marker pen.
Bill, I don’t know what you look for on blogs and in social media but I see a lot of very good information and facts, often from experts in their fields. People are often happy to provide information and links to facts if you ask, even here sometimes. Of course it’s not the only place to look but it can be useful – as has been demonstrated above. The more people providing input – and constructive criticism – the better.
In politics sometimes the only way of getting pertinent information is if someone tells you. The more people you ask and the more places you look the better the chance of finding out. Especially in a modern interactive world.
Espiners most interesting comment concerned South Canterbury Finance.
$1,700,000,000 paid to crappy investors in SCF.
That is 57 years worth of benefit fraud…. 57 years worth …..
Key and English knew on the day they were elected that SCF was going to fail. Why then, was the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme amended by Key and English to allow SCF to continue to participate? THIS IS THE QUESTION FOLKS
This is the single biggest fraud conducted in NZ – the fraud of Key and English in letting SCF participate.
Yup, SCF has a stench about it that should be dug up when the opportunity arises.
Be a good reminder to all NZ what this regime has been really all about and just maybe slap a bit of that gullability out of the sheeple.
Shonkey and cohorts will have covered their tracks and the trail is cooling but I dont care if noone gets fingered, NZ needs to see how the nact blagged nearly 2bill easy as pie.
“Colin Espiner (who I always thought leaned to the right)…..”
I’ve noticed amongst some of my Natzi/right wing acquaintances that they’re becoming a little embarrassed by their own excessive greed and troughing as that gap widens. The other day as I walked through Wellington with one such and we passed a number of closed down premises, I stopped to talk to one of the growing number of ‘beggars’ to learn their story. They had to admit that they’re not the exceptions spin doctors would like us to believe.
(Btw – not only are they beginning to question their excess, but they profess to hold ‘Christian values’)
Though no longer adhering to the dogma, I was raised in a Christian household in which care and concern for others was paramount. This was before that ghastly American religious concept of personal wealth and entitlement crept in to our society – it’s like a cancer, and anything less aligned to the original concepts of Christianity is hard to imagine.
What is painfully clear is that Paula Bennett is by ommission at least, a dirty liar.
Add to that ‘a bully’. Add to that ‘a sociopath’ who advisedly foments hatred against the weakest and poorest in society. And for what ? For her personal advancement and her personal power.
I hope there are sermons being delivered around the country this morning which brand her for what she is – a dirty liar, a bully, a sociopath. I borrow JanM’s final sentence in her comment @ 2.1 above.
Q + A right now – the staggering hypocrisy of Richard Prebble contrasting Hone’s colours when he entered Parliament with MANA talking to KDC now ??????
Prebble made a career out of scabbery then extended it with scabbery. FFS !!!!!!
Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Michael Bassett (and one or two other former Labour luminaries) have never forgiven the left of centre faction inside Labour for winning “the faction war” of the 1980s and early 1990s. I witnessed the bitterness and vengeful attitude they displayed towards Helen Clark in particular during the 90s. It was as if they believed they were the ones who had been betrayed when in reality they did the betraying… of the principles which have always guided the NZ Labour Party. Their sexism, and the degrading way they talked about Labour women MPs behind their backs was awful.
I am of the view Prebble’s extreme hostility towards Labour – and the Greens by association – has it’s origins more in personal bitterness/hatred towards them than it does in political considerations. Nothing would give him more pleasure than to see them destroyed and he will continue to do his bit to achieve that goal. Very sad because he was once quite a likeable character – its true. 🙂
Very sad because he was once quite a likeable character – its true.
When? I’m seriously curious.
What I find intriguing about Douglas, Prebble, Caygill and co is that they likely came from socialist backgrounds. What did/do their families think about their actions?
Back in the 70s Hamish. He was a young man in his 20s, but even then he was a bit of a pain in the sense he liked to be the one who had the last say. I remember Labour Regional meetings in Auckland where he would be leaping up and down in his seat being a pain in the neck. But at least he was a Labour loyalist in those days. I don’t think he has any political principles any more. He just goes where he thinks its going to be best for him.
You’re right. Douglas, Prebble and Bassett (I think) came from strong Labour backgrounds. Don’t know about Caygill but expect he did too.
I think it started with Douglas. He was the guru of Labour’s neo-liberal faction back in the 80s. Even had Lange fooled for a while, but he eventually saw the light. And to be fair I think quite a few people in Labour who originally supported Douglas eventually saw the light too.
Who brain-washed Douglas is harder to ascertain but business tycoon Alan Gibbs was in there somewhere…
Yes and Douglas must have been indoctrinated before the Lange government because he hit the ground running, right?
I thought that the treasury in the 1970s had something to do with pushing supply side/neolib on governments?
Clearly in light of the half billion spent in Britain on useless Tamiflu and useless stockpiling here there needs to be revisions in the health business
Kim Hill talking to Catherine De Angelis ( Editor Journal American Medical Assn) on transparency in medical research, taking on the pharmaceutical companies and research as distinct from marketing
In New Zealand it is all swept under the carpet as per usual by the bureaucracy ….someone needs to be held to account….at very least a review and changes must be made as to how we evaluate big drug company big profit items eg vaccines bought by the government and foisted on the public
This is taxpayer health money that is being wasted
Nothing makes the private sector big money like that delicious combination of imagined crisis, fear, hype, and lots of experts saying all this tax payers money must be spent on corporate products, ASAP!
Yep CV, i have posted a comment or two a month or so back relating to Tamiflu,H1N1 and how there is some belief that this whole ‘program’ of pandemic fear was in fact rumored to be a payback to big Pharma for the US CDC,(who decide what the annual flu predominant in the western world will be every year),having got it horribly wrong in a previous year causing big Pharma a substantial loss by having them produce the wrong flu jab in the millions for that year,
There is of course no ‘proof’ of the truth or otherwise of such a rumor,(can anyone imagine the participants ‘fessing up’)…
There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye, i have been digging around looking for something that would indicate a tie in with ‘bird-flu’ that has no means of infecting humans and the ‘habit’ of H1N1 to suddenly reappear as a full on flu in people that years ago during the supposed ‘pandemic year’ had a dose of it,
Surrounding these re-infections might be a co-dose of the chicken pox and/or a painful bout of shingles,
Can a flu virus be made that uses another virus to piggy back on where the flu virus may not have the means of infecting the human body from the outside but if it were piggy backed onto an entirely different virus as the means of entry might in turn replicate,
The bigger picture is that this tamiflu debacle hat finally opens the door wide on all pharmaceutical research/testing.
For some time, there has been a wealth of information around regarding the research/testing of psychotropic medication. Unfortunately, a lot of that info is propagated by the scientologists, and so has been summarily dismissed despite of the quality of the information.
Maybe that will change now insofar as the regime underpinning tamiflu is a mirror image of what some (not just the Church of Scientology) have tried to highlight with regards psychotropic medication. I really do hope so.
p.s. wasn’t there a scathing article on tamiflu when it was being rolled out? From memory the shelf life and efficacy were being questioned even as governments were stocking up. Also there was concern over the influence Dick Cheney was able to exert given that he was a major shareholder. Was all something like that. My memory gets a bit fuzzy these days, so don’t just take my word for all of that.
Tamiflu is most likey overpriced but is effective in lifethreatening circumstances but only mildy effective in everyday flu’s.
Given swine flu could have turned out much worse it was a good decision tamiflu is not a vaccine.
Now the flu vaccine has a swine flu vaccine included.
Big pharma profited out of ignorance and panic they should be made to pay the price gouging back.
To say we are getting overcharged in general for vaccines is bullshit.
Vaccines save us .
+save $100’s of millions a year in health costs.
Pharmac have worlds best practice in purchase agreements.
My children have all been vaccinated and are much healthier than those who weren’t.
I read widely on health care issues.
People who believe vaccines are dangerous have no scientific evidence to back their claims other than a retired Pro Wrestler with conspiracy concerns.
‘Tamiflu is most likey overpriced but is effective in lifethreatening circumstances but only mildy effective in everyday flu’s.’
The initial ‘evidence’ furnished to support claims of a reduction in flu complications included trial patients self-reporting pneumonia, with no clinical testing of the diagnosis.
Yep I agree. This judge seems to have the concept of restorative justice totally screwed. She is not the offender’s therapy, she should not be asked if she wants to be and refusal to do so should not be counted against her or even commented on. I saw one survey where around half the people who attended the so called “restorative justice” conferences left feeling worse than when they arrived.
The sentence seems very light But hey a lot of this isn’t really that unusual I suspect. Time for the Chief justice to have the retirement talk with this Judge and the time is well overdue for all Judges to be sent off for some solid learning about behavioural attitudes and how they represent the whole community not just those with the same prejudices as them and how the judges own prejudices affect them. Justice isn’t just a male view of reasonable. .
The stuff article, headline and opening sentence is dramatically overstated..Judge Saunders was not “slammed”.
The judges reluctance was successfully challenged by the crown prosecutor, the judge agreed but was criticized by McVicar. No problem there..but”slammed” is sub-editor’s sensationalizing to provoke public interest.All too common in our tabloid media.
The spin in that opening line is a fucking disgrace! As if the headline wasn’t bad enough.
Two political parties had a meeting and now the group leaders want to discuss it all with the grass root members… my god what a travesty.
Did you know that sort of behaviour was allowed in a modern democracy?
Imagine wanting to garner informed consent for democratic action, terrible, just terrible.
”Gush oh gush gush”, i run into the Woyals this morning on my way home from the vege market, not literally of course, and no the thought didn’t even cross my mind,
The Spongers in chief had the luxury of crashing the Red at the Kilbirnie lights this morning on their way to the airport,(it takes a ten vehicle convoy to get these sponges from government House to the airport with i presume 5 sets of traffic lights along the way all stopped by the plods disrupting our day while these wastes of space get whisked off for a trip down South),
We made eye contact, gush, i swear we made i contact, gush, well me and the plod stopping the traffic at the bottom set of the Kilbirnie lights sure did when i started yelling ”why should we be stopped for these spongers”(if looks could kill and all that, haven’t seen one of them since way back when i got the stare of death from John Bank’s pet plod Inspector Sharky as i gave it to Banks about His appearance that day in the District Court),
i consoled myself with the fact that their Woyal lownesses were being dragged through the back entrance to Wellington airport, and, the prices at the vege market were again good on my pocket and well worth the effort of dragging myself out into a Wellington Southerly,
18 pieces of fruit, half a pumpkin,half a red cabbage, a bunch of spring onions, 2 avocados, bag of carrots, 2 tomato,2 lemons for 17 bucks,
Have found that you have to do a circuit of all the stalls befor you buy to check who has the best prices of the week, pity the people selling there weren’t provided with a prominent and permanent space in a central location so they could sell their stuff, would sure as hell fix what ails the supermarkets 40% markups in a short space of time,
Tonight’s dinner, baked Terakihi fillet(with onion and tomato), surrounded by a vege bake featuring Kumara, Potato, Pumkin,Broccoli, and Carrot,topped off with a thick sauce flavored with peanut,garlic, and ginger along with a side dish of roasted red cabbage basted with clover honey…
A ten vehicle convoy? That is absurd. Okay lets do a list.
Police car in front lights flashing.
Plain car with DPS bodyguards.
Official car carrying personal staff – lady in waiting, male equivalent whatever that is, couple of secretaries.
Will and Kate.
Another police car lights flashing.
So who is in the other five? Boot lickers and spies?
I don’t know what time Bad12 buys his grocery! According to the now almost sickening media coverage, the royals were in Dunedin at 9:30am. They must have been in the plane by 9am at the latest.
Buying grocery at 8am, that’s commitment there, I have to say.
I’m a morning person. But I’m a “in my dressing gown, breakfast and tea, at my desk writing” morning person. Out of the house on a weekend by 8am? That doesn’t happen too often!
Advocates see the “neoliberal agenda” (i.e. freeing the market from constraints such as regulations and tariffs) as going hand-in-hand with freedom, even when the results across the world tell a very different tale.
We barely have to look before finding new new waves of protest (e.g. Turkey, Brazil, and Slovenia) against the intimate connection between neoliberalism, corruption, authoritarianism, and austerity measures.
I was just wondering if the fact that p William being a best friend of d.Beckham makes him thick as batshit. Maybe he should ask p.m.clodhopper! His new bff.
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The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...
Most economists agree that a currently slowing economy could do with some stimulus – and they would also agree that there is no shortage of infrastructure projects which could be brought to productive fruition with help from that stimulus. In view of the current practice of sub-contracting economic policy decisions ...
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ...
AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
We asked a young gay science student and critic of trans ideology and the trans activists’ assault on women’s and gay rights to outline his views on Redline. Thanks to him for his article. by Cian Ó Catháin Gender identity ideology (Gender ID) is ripping through western society at full ...
The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
National’s Election promises are similar to 2017 statements BUT…. • Recognises compliance is the number one issue for small medium business (SMEs); ...
Aug. 26 (BusinessDesk) - The National Party is floating a cut to New Zealand's 28 percent company tax rate among a suite of possible tax changes it would promise going into the 2020 election. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has been provided with the soon to be released coronial data on suicide in New Zealand. The fact is the suicide rate has risen again and is out of control. The Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council (and former ...
Family First NZ is welcoming the Government’s intention to tackle the harms of pornography, and are also continuing to call for a truly independent Expert Panel to investigate and provide solutions for families. ...
"For too long central government has layered additional responsibilities onto local government with little consultation or acknowledgement of the essential work councils do. Combined with the lack of support and funding, this top down attitude ...
Joining local Green candidates at their campaign launch on Sunday at the Highbury Whanau Centre Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson will say, “I’m very proud to join Green candidates Teanau Tuiono, Renee Dingwall and Brent Barrett in calling ...
The Campaign for Better Transport ( CBT ) is pleased to hear the government has announced the start of train services from Hamilton to Papakura but is concerned about some of the features of the proposed service. ...
Family First NZ is supporting a call by the Police to raise the drinking age, which echoes previous calls by the NZ Medical Association, but says that other factors around price, availability, penalties and addiction services must be part of the ...
West Papua solidarity activists met yesterday and resolved to call on the Prime Minister to step up to help resolve the escalating crisis in West Papua. ...
Landmark Report Released into Maori Aging and Disabilities “Manaaki Pakeke” – New Zealand Maori Council calls for a policy shift and greater focus The New Zealand Maori Council has released a comprehensive policy statement challenging the ...
MANATŪ TAONGA MINISTRY FOR CULTURE AND HERITAGE MEDIA RELEASE 25 August 2019 Privacy breach identified with the Tuia 250 Voyage Trainee website Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage is investigating a serious digital privacy breach involving ...
‘Original Sin’ of Land Confiscation at Ihumātao is a wrong that can be put right by Government says Justice & Peace Commission of Catholic Diocese of Auckland ...
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told a press conference on August 19 that her government is likely to impose new restrictions on prisoners’ rights to send letters. She said the law could be changed in “weeks.” ...
Heart-warming images of House Speaker Trevor Mallard cradling a baby in Parliament have been welcomed around New Zealand, but the Public Service Association warns most families can only dream of such support in the workplace. ...
Applying New Zealand’s international human rights commitments, particularly those in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, can help in resolving the situation at Ihumātao, Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt says. ...
Climate campaigners impersonating bank staff have taken to the streets this week to expose ANZ Bank’s sponsorship of the fossil fuel industry. In the series of satirical actions in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland, the ‘bank staff’ promoted ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty joins the Children’s Commissioner , The Green Party , The New Zealand Drugs Foundation , Child Poverty Action Group and other organisations in the calls for an immediate end to the drug testing benefit sanctions. ...
Negotiations between Port Otago workers represented by the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) and the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) and management failed today and the unions have issued notice of an overtime ban from Saturday 7th September. ...
Queenstown Lakes District Council’s comments that it has applied for a consent to pollute waterways to avoid 'prosecutions by the Otago Regional Council' are unacceptable,’ Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says. ...
On March 15, the real world impact of online hate became abundantly, horrifically clear. As a shooter opened fire at two Christchurch mosques, the online image board 8chan anticipated, celebrated and amplified his killing spree. ...
Friday, 23 August: Government delegates from around the world, including New Zealand, are meeting in New York for the third of four meetings at the United Nations to agree a Global Oceans Treaty that could help to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030. Greenpeace ...
The excuses about a reportedly unwanted $57,000 payrise for Dunedin City Council CEO Sue Bidrose are laughable, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union. ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has launched the “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” committing to no more than 2% annual rate hikes over the next Council term, and has written to all Mayoral and Council candidates asking them to sign. The pledge will ...
This Saturday, Pakuranga Hunt Day at the Ellerslie Racecourse will see anti-horse racing protesters demonstrating at the corner of Ascot Avenue and Greenlane East. ...
Mayoral candidate John Tamihere will meet with Pacific Island leaders and community elders today at Puhunui Reserve in South Auckland to commit to a Pasefika Cultural Centre. ...
Cruel and invalid Forced Swim Tests carried out at Victoria University of Wellington, will be exposed at the University Open Day today, so prospective students can be warned about the flawed and unethical research being conducted at the institute. ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Grahame Dowling, Honorary Professor, University of Technology Sydney One of my banks invited me to a customer lunch a few weeks back so that it could announce its commitment to the new Banking Code of Conduct. Here was a chance for it ...
In the space of days a waitress was racially abused in Auckland and a deaf student mocked by his peers in Canterbury. In both cases there were apologies. In both cases those apologies fall short, writes Christine AmmunsonWhat a stink week. Within days and in two different cities, we had ...
Record low borrowing costs are a precious opportunity for business owners who now need to make savvy decisions about what to do with the cash.The experts may have been caught off-guard when the Reserve Bank opened fire on interest rates earlier this month, but the fact of the matter is ...
For years, New Zealand has bemoaned the gap between much of our television drama and the cutting edge out in the world. That gap might finally be closing, writes Duncan Greive.He’s just a minor character, eating an ice cream. It doesn’t seem all that revolutionary, but in the context of ...
Ruby Porter on the first novel by acclaimed Vietnamese-American poet Ocean Vuong. I came across Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds last year. I read it twice in one day. I was staying outside of New York, at the time, and taking the train in each morning. I ...
A War Story is one more attempt in a long line of art to make sense of 9/11 – this time from a uniquely Kiwi perspective.The coordinated terrorist attacks on September 11 2001 cut a razor-sharp divide between the relatively carefree time before and everything after, bleeding into ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Privacy breach at Ministry for Culture and Heritage Audrey Young (Herald): How latest privacy breach ...
Auckland mayoral rival John Tamihere is pitching himself as a low-cost candidate but the incumbent Phil Goff says Mr Tamihere lacks a basic understanding of finances. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elyse Methven, Lecturer in Law, University of Technology Sydney As the state election loomed last year, the NSW government rushed through a new crime targeting drug suppliers. A person who supplies a prohibited drug for profit can now be prosecuted for homicide ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Talbot-Jones, Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington Last week, voter enrolment for the 2019 local government elections closed in New Zealand and concerns about low voter turnout resurfaced. During a panel discussion run by Auckland Council, the idea was raised to pay ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Dunk, Research Fellow, University of Sydney Last week, one of the world’s leading medical journals declared the medical community must act now to limit the health effects of climate change. In a stark editorial, readers of the New England Journal of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Goss, School Education Program Director, Grattan Institute Australia’s young high achievers are turning their backs on teaching. They want to make a difference in their careers, and they are interested in teaching, but when it comes to the crunch they choose ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carl Grodach, Professor and Director of Urban Planning & Design, Monash University Since 2000, planning authorities in Australia have overseen a massive rezoning of inner-city industrial land to make way for mixed-use residential development. They claim central industrial space is obsolete in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Owen, PhD Candidate, Monash University Last week, menstrual pad brand Libra launched their Blood Normal commercial in Australia, running it during prime time television shows including The Bachelor, The Project, and Gogglebox. Australia is a little late to the party: Blood ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Govt rejects idea to ban petrol car imports in 2035, firefighters say they’re facing a workforce crisis, and Tamihere pledges rate freeze.A strange sort of stoush erupted at the end of last week around petrol and diesel car sales. On Friday, Newsroom reported ...
Kiwi boxer Troy Garton, who defied medical advice to produce one of the most remarkable performances in NZ sport, now has her sights set firmly on the Tokyo Olympics. ...
Victoria University of Wellington's Anne Goulding discusses the paradox of New Zealanders wanting to safeguard our personal data, while frequently and freely giving it away. ...
Lisa McMillan is an adrenaline junkie. Instead of skydiving or driving race cars, she collects rooms full of naked strangers. Josie Adams went along to the Naked Dinner and found it stimulated all the wrong hormones.In a tealight-lit lounge in a rented Symonds Street flat, I milled around with 23 ...
Brazil’s rainforests are ablaze, and even from the distance of New Zealand, many of us are losing sleep. For the climate and for humanity, we can do something profound and simple, writes Kena DuignanI’ve asked my dad to look after my kids yesterday so I could write this, after a ...
Meng Foon has been a fixture in Gisborne local government for more than two decades. Today he starts a new role, as race relations commissioner. Alice Webb-Lidall heads over to his Gisborne home for dinner, to find out what he’ll miss as mayor, and how he’ll approach his new jobThis ...
In the final of our series on the loss of faith in free market economics we ask New Zealand business leaders how they’re grappling with the almighty power of a technology that barely existed 20 years ago. Hands up who’s read the Financial Markets Authority’s website. Come on, be honest.No, of ...
Is New Zealand in danger of becoming a bio-tech backwater because of our strict GE rules, or should we retain them to sell our clean image overseas? ...
ANALYSIS:By David Robie Indonesia’s harsh policies towards West Papua ought to be scrapped. Whatever happened to the brief window of enlightenment ushered in by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in 2015 with promises of a more “open door” policy towards foreign journalists and human rights groups? They were supposed ...
The House - The grammar of being an MP is harder than you might think. MPs in Parliament choose their words with care, and it just got more complicated. ...
As a format it predates almost all reality TV, and that’s precisely why it works in 2019, writes Duncan Greive.There’s something deeply comforting about watching Celebrity Treasure Island. It is a very pure form of escapism, largely because it explicitly recalls a world without the internet, and before everything started ...
Residents in Los Angeles and Orange County warned to check for symptoms after an infected NZ teen visited theme parks including Disneyland and Universal Studios earlier this month.Californian health authorities have issued warnings to residents and visitors after a New Zealand teenager was found to have spent five days in ...
When you crave fresh, bright flavours but summer veges seem far away, throw together this simple salad.Growing up we often ate this salad, or one very similar to it. My mum is a fantastic cook and this dish is one she still makes to this day – though I must ...
Analysis of New Zealand media headlines reveals a lot of people slamming a lot of other people.Slamming is at epidemic levels in New Zealand news. Drawn from just the last month, we present a selection of slamming.On July 27A union boss slammed David ClarkOn July 29Police slammed a dangerous photographerOn ...
Vana Manasiadis wrote a collection of poetry in the wake of her mother’s death. In this essay, ahead of her appearance at the Going West festival, she argues that as a nation Aotearoa needs to learn to make space for mourning. When Mum died in Athens, I cried loudly and publicly ...
The giant hand that captivated, delighted and disgusted the nation is now settling into its new Wellington home. For City Gallery Wellington’s blog, Spinoff arts editor Megan Dunn talked to Ronnie van Hout, the man who made Quasi.“Quasi is in the wrong place,” wrote art critic Warren Feeney in 2016, ...
At school camp, the children are banned from having phones, laptops, lollies, chocolate, money, cotton clothing or independent thoughts. They, are, however, allowed home baking – but it’s gotta be hearty. How hearty are you? We are packing for a school camp. If you’re thinking that the middle of winter is ...
Phil Goff’s rival has already pledged an 0800-Jacinda homeless hotline and an 18-lane harbour bridge. What’s next? The two most important people in the 2019 campaign for the Auckland mayoralty faced each other down on Wednesday night across the desk in the NZME debate: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson. Correction: it ...
Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art is the exhibition that sparked a protest over issues of cultural appropriation and institutional representation. Theo Schoon is a divisive historical figure. But is his art any good? Martin Patrick reviews.British novelist L.P. Hartley once wrote that “the past is ...
Ahead of debuting her solo show at New Zealand Fashion Week, Korean-NZ couture designer Cecilia Kang talks about growing up ‘feminine’, being influenced by the LGBTQ+ community, and why an ‘administrative error’ at Fashion Week left her so shaken up. ‘I like something big,” says Cecilia Kang, gesturing to the giant ...
The Labour Party is distancing itself from one of its members who is strongly pro-Beijing and has caused controversy in the Chinese community by standing for local office in Auckland. ...
Faced with staff shortages, equipment failures, cancer risks, and a jump in critical calls that can leave them traumatised, some firefighters are wondering if it’s time to hang up the hose. Gareth Shute reports on the dissatisfaction inside Fire and Emergency New Zealand.The state of our nation’s fire service is ...
“She comes over. You’re my mother, she says. Yes, I say. I don’t know you, she says”: a mother and child seaside story by Wellington author Jan Pryor. Photo by Peter Black. ...
Open mike 13/04/2014 
Open mike is your post.
My wife and I have had dogs for the whole of our 52 years of married life – and that has meant sharing our lives with our little furry friends. Because we usually spend a good part of our evenings watching television, it also means that our dogs have learned ...1 day ago
. . Former Police, Corrections, and Justice Minister in the previous John Key government, Judith Collins, has been ridiculed on social media after posting a comment on Twitter that was patently untrue; . Wrong!! National did not remove Prisoners’ ability to vote. Parliament voted through a Private Member’s Bill ...2 days ago
Speaker Trevor Mallard was left to look after Jones, while his usual caretaker, Winston Peters, underwent surgery. A truly adorable scene from Parliament yesterday has gone viral, after Speaker Trevor Mallard cradled an extremely drunk Shane Jones in his arms while the House was in session. Loud “awwww”s could be ...3 days ago
Western media have defended their decision not to cover the fires so as not to give them any oxygen. Social media outrage continues to grow around the sentiment that mainstream western media is devoting too little coverage to an ongoing series of fires in the Amazon rainforest, and in doing ...3 days ago
A Long Time Ago, In A Parallel Universe Far, Far Away: The political journalist scratched his head in confusion. Only then did he notice the name of the building: ‘The Jacinda Ardern Presidential Library and Public Resource Centre’. Making his way inside to the information desk, he asked the librarian ...3 days ago
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Nothing from me tody - I'm off to Christchurch to pretend to be other people for a weekend. Normal bloggage should resume on Tuesday. ...3 days ago
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...4 days ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...4 days ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 4 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...6 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...6 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...1 week ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...1 week ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...1 week ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...1 week ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...2 weeks ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...2 weeks ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...2 weeks ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...2 weeks ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...2 weeks ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 2 weeks ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...2 weeks ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
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Some interesting articles in the Sunday news about the NZ of “haves”, “have nots”, inequalities and high end bludgers.
Colin Espiner (who I always thought leaned to the right), spells out what Bennett and the Nats are doing with their bennie bashing – and compares it with tax evaders, etc.“Beneficiary bashing just too easy”
An NZ Herald article on people who have gone bankrupt and headed overseas where they can avoid paying anything back to debtors.
An article by Morgan Godfery in the Herald on Sunday, on the celebrity royal tour that is a “colonial hangover”. He’s for a republic.
Also interesting is that at the bottom of the Godfery artilce, is an editorial note:
which suggests they don’t usually have many op eds from the left….?
I suspect their a view of an “institutional left” and a “out of leftfield left”. So Josie Pagini, Stuart Nash, these people the Herald regard as being the left they talk to and that people who know. So when they allow Morgan Godfery to write an article (and he is an absolutely brilliant and articulate writer), the Herald gets to feel good about giving these people a chance since no knows of them.
Except, it’s bullshit, because we do know of them. They just don’t fit in the Herald’s box.
I suspect Espiner is simply trying to look ‘balanced’ due to his new job (cuff the right so he can skewer the left) but I’ll take the hits on National when I get them. Nice closing lines.
“But the Government doesn’t want you to think about this, let alone get angry about it. No. It would much rather you focused your attention on an ancient, lazy stereotype.
After all, beneficiaries can’t afford defamation lawyers. And they probably don’t vote National.”
Colin Espiner said “I hope it isn’t that simple, because Bennett is a better minister than that,”
What planet is he on?
Exactly my thoughts too geoff. She’s incompetent as far as Social Welfare is concerned, she may be good at the neoliberal ‘Welfare is a problem which we need to get rid’ bullshit but she doesn’t give a shit about the real problem which is poverty. She is an arrogant piece of shit to boot.
It’s not that she’s incompetent – it’s that she’s a psychopath.
Planet Key.
Trying to reduce benefit fraud does not mean IRD are not trying to address tax dodging and repayment avoidance. For example:
The IRD annual report details how they address compliance and avoidance.
What’s your point Pete? You really do need to get a fcking grip!
No-one is saying or has said that IRD do nothing to track tax. What is being said over and over again is that those on welfare entitlements are being vilified, that the sum totals involved are exaggerated, and that the punishments meted out are far harsher than for tax dodgers – who cost society much, much more money, while enjoying a free ride in the arena of manufactured public opinion.
Settle down Bill.
I often hear people claiming National harasses beneficiaries but does nothing about tax dodging/evasion.
And that “Tax dodging, $6 BILLION” is at best misleading and exaggerated.
“those on welfare entitlements are being vilified, that the sum totals involved are exaggerated, and that the punishments meted out are far harsher than for tax dodgers”
Can you substantiate that? If you can I’ll post on it.
And Pete George rushes to National’s rescue – again.
And once again wastes the Left’s time demanding to be shown proof of long-established facts.
The sky is blue? Can you substantiate that, it looks grey to me.
like the srylands the other day, wasting time and saying I had obvious mental health problems because I believed over 200,000 kids in NZ live in poverty.
(Which I admit I was annoyed by, seeing as he knows full well I have admitted on this blog that I live with PTSD and Chronic Depression. So thought it somewhat of a cheap shot.)
There is still a valid point.
The actual figures for revenue lost through tax evasion are between $1 billion and $6 billion per year.
(As quoted in the NZ Herald last year: “$1 billion to $6 billion a year – is the amount calculated to be lost to government coffers through tax evasion each year.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10871292)
By using the $6 billion, Cunliffe immediately gives the other side a ‘Get out of jail free’ card because they can attack the figure, not the point.
As happened here.
Just another example of a good idea poorly executed.
So if he’d said $1bil, they wouldn’t try to quibble over the number?
Look, it’s tory playbook page 2: any number the opposition comes up with, no matter how robust, quibble over it and claim that the slightest debatability in the amount negates the entire argument.
All you can do is let themexhaust the tactic so it no longer works. Getting into a debate about the minutae derails the wider argument.
Just from the past day or so Pete….
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/04/10/jet-setting-beneficiaries-how-lucky-are-we/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/opinion/columnists/9918632/Life-on-the-wings-of-Paulas-dole-is-a-breeze
http://www.thelittlepakeha.net/2014/04/04/wrestling-with-the-narrative/
I’m not about to dig back through the archive for the discussion and the links. Suffice to say that if a person on entitlements is ‘had up’ for fraud, they are done for the entire total of their entitlement and not merely the portion that has been fraudulently claimed. And it is that sum total that is reported in the media.
There was a lot of commentary on a recent study highlighting the frequency of jail time for ‘beneficiaries’ versus tax fraudsters. Again, I’m not about to run around finding it. I’m sure you can use google search. Also note…tax dodgers who do jail time, do it in lieu of repayment while those of entitlements do jail time and can then be chased up by WINZ to repay the entire sum total of all their entitlements (not just the portion of their claim that was fraudulent)
Pete seems to be confusing those who have had an assessment or default assessment issued which gives the figures he quoted (and amounts due as debt) with aggressive evasion where amounts are omitted from returns or schemes set up to gut tax.
On a completely different angle would Lprent be able to put in one of those thread closers like email inboxes have. Then we could just close Pete’s threads up so we don’t have to read them.
“…Can you substantiate that? If you can I’ll post on it..”
This is substantiated through the research of Dr Lisa Marriott, Senior Lecturer in the School of Accounting and Commercial Law at Victoria University.
“Her analysis of court data on the most serious offending from 2008–2011 shows that 22 per cent of people found guilty of tax offences received a custodial sentence while 60 per cent of benefit fraudsters were imprisoned.
Dr Marriott’s investigation also shows tax crimes are more costly, with those given custodial sentences committing offences valued at just over $800,000. Benefit fraud averaged $67,000 per offender.
Benefit fraud cost New Zealand $22 million in 2010, or around $5 for each New Zealander. While it is difficult to get accurate figures for tax evasion, the Tax Justice Network estimates New Zealand missed out on more than $7.4 billion of tax revenue in 2011, or around $1,500 per New Zealander.
“So the figures for tax evasion are phenomenal while they are relatively small for benefit fraud,” says Dr Marriott, “but we have quite different attitudes to the two crimes.”
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/sacl/research/projects#MarsdenFastStart
+111
Thanks, that’s helpful.
One issue I’ve seen mentioned is that welfare fraud is often relatively simple and most evidence can be found within Government data from social welfare and IRD, so presumably is easier to detect and easier to prosecute. Tax evasion can be far more complex and easier to hide in private company records (or absence of records).
It’s more difficult to recover huge amounts of money than small amounts in any sort of fraud case.
Tax evasion covers a wide range of situations and demographics, from corporate level fraud to individuals failing to report income avoiding income tax and GST, and paying cash for work avoiding PAYE and ACC.
None of this excuses either type of fraud.
My opinion is that large scale fraud should result in larger sentences.
It’s ok, National: Petty Officer George has found an excuse: those fruit are just too hard to reach.
My opinion is that large scale fraud should result in larger sentences
The use of multinationals by the US and other regimes to make their companies more competitive (read subsdise) is the fundamental cause of financial instability (read minsky instability) and that this is done in plain sight ie not hidden should be ringing alarm bells in every jurisdiction where tax takes are not meeting expectations (read forecasts)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-06/tax-expert-explains-how-apple-pays-193m-tax-on-27b-revenue/5303426
This is a world wide problem that needs world wide solutions. We can’t address this on our own.
No excuses here, no sirree. Just some hand-wringing.
Yes we can. Sure, we may see a slight decline in imports but that’s nothing compared to being constantly stolen from. We’d probably see an increase in products made here as well.
No we can’t.
Yes, SSpylands, we can.
You can’t, because you’re an idiot.
I don’t know if srylands is an idiot mcflock, I think he simply has no ability to think critically, which is a genuine shame.
No we can’t. Forget it. It is not happening under any government. You are an idiot McFluck. And an extremely rude one.
What are you going to do that does not breach WTO rules genius? Or our bilateral tax treaties?
Grow up.
Sod off SSLands you raving little Nazi…
SSpylands, I’m sure even you could figure out how to address tax evasion across the board in NZ without contravening the WTO. It doesn’t need to involve access restrictions or subsidies.
You pointless waste of space.
Drop out of the WTO. Belonging to it obviously isn’t doing us any good.
Drop out of the World Bank as well and set up our own banking system thus removing any need for foreign money.
Put in place reciprocal tariffs that means that trade is fair.
There, done.
And this is bad how?
Oh, that’s right, it’s not.
We can get our own house in order by eliminating them in NZ (there is no financial advantage for NZ except for the laundromats run by law firms)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10844389
That you could do it relatively fast,and introduce sunset clauses (event horizon for the black holes) for trusts would show that NZ could by a leader ,Europe would follow very quickly.
You sod off. I am not a Nazi. Stop being rude. As Pete says it is a worldwide problem that requires internaional action. Unilateral action will lead to us becoming disconnected from globalisation.
Oh yes I forgot – you are xenophobic and hate the poor so you don’t care about that.
unilateral actions is required as NZ has been struck off the white list of EU countries,
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6938888/New-Zealand-removed-from-EU-white-list
and procrastination prevails in the face of reform.
http://taxpolicy.ird.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2013-other-taxation-multinationals.pdf
The rate of convictions is one thing, but the regularity of the incarceration of convicted benefit fraudsters compared to convicted Income/business tax fraudsters is eye-watering in its contrasted realities Pete.
and btw, home detention in the nice house with sky and internet and delivery to your door of whatever you want to buy is hardly what those in stuck in 23 hours a day lockdown would call incarceration.
Why not get Politicheck to do a little work on that particular subject?
That’s why I’m engaging on it here.
Why should we do your work for you? You’ll only fuck it up later.
No Pete. Going by the nature of your comments, you’re engaging in order to evaluate opinions or formulate opinions of your own. And that has got absolutely nothing to do with facts.
Facts do not need to be dressed up. They need to be stated within their correct context – end.
+1
Bull Bill, you’re making up assumptions.
Social media can be an effective way of identifying different angles to issues. Yes facts are facts but finding all pertinent facts can be quite difficult. Crowd sourcing angles can help, sometimes substantially.
Pete. I’m not making any fucking assumptions whatsoever. I’m simply reading the content of your fucking comments.
Think about this Pete. Facts are (as you acknowledge) facts. Yet you say you are seeking different angles to issues and that crowd sourcing angles can (sometimes) substantially help in finding facts. I mean, seriously!?
If the fact is false, it’s false. If it’s being used in a misleading way, it’s misleading. If it’s being used out of context or being divorced from other pertinent facts, then it’s misleading, yes?
What I, or anyone else thinks about fields of thoughts surrounding facts is completely and utterly irrelevant. As I pointed out when you first popped up as being prominent within this fact checking malarky – you lack the critical faculties or approach necessary for such a role. Your latest comment just underlines that contention in big shouty red marker pen.
Bill, I don’t know what you look for on blogs and in social media but I see a lot of very good information and facts, often from experts in their fields. People are often happy to provide information and links to facts if you ask, even here sometimes. Of course it’s not the only place to look but it can be useful – as has been demonstrated above. The more people providing input – and constructive criticism – the better.
In politics sometimes the only way of getting pertinent information is if someone tells you. The more people you ask and the more places you look the better the chance of finding out. Especially in a modern interactive world.
You’re engaging on here because you’re a shameless, attention seeking nitwit.
Lolz, Petes heavily into being transparent you know, that’s why you have just seen right through Him…
Espiners most interesting comment concerned South Canterbury Finance.
$1,700,000,000 paid to crappy investors in SCF.
That is 57 years worth of benefit fraud…. 57 years worth …..
Key and English knew on the day they were elected that SCF was going to fail. Why then, was the Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme amended by Key and English to allow SCF to continue to participate? THIS IS THE QUESTION FOLKS
This is the single biggest fraud conducted in NZ – the fraud of Key and English in letting SCF participate.
THIS IS THE FRAUD
57 YEARS WORTH
(apologies for the shouting, but it is needed)
AND against treasury advice.
Yup, SCF has a stench about it that should be dug up when the opportunity arises.
Be a good reminder to all NZ what this regime has been really all about and just maybe slap a bit of that gullability out of the sheeple.
Shonkey and cohorts will have covered their tracks and the trail is cooling but I dont care if noone gets fingered, NZ needs to see how the nact blagged nearly 2bill easy as pie.
“Colin Espiner (who I always thought leaned to the right)…..”
I’ve noticed amongst some of my Natzi/right wing acquaintances that they’re becoming a little embarrassed by their own excessive greed and troughing as that gap widens. The other day as I walked through Wellington with one such and we passed a number of closed down premises, I stopped to talk to one of the growing number of ‘beggars’ to learn their story. They had to admit that they’re not the exceptions spin doctors would like us to believe.
(Btw – not only are they beginning to question their excess, but they profess to hold ‘Christian values’)
Though no longer adhering to the dogma, I was raised in a Christian household in which care and concern for others was paramount. This was before that ghastly American religious concept of personal wealth and entitlement crept in to our society – it’s like a cancer, and anything less aligned to the original concepts of Christianity is hard to imagine.
A couple of more posts over at writehanded. org. Somebody introduce this lady to feedburner.
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/04/11/is-your-cane-necessary-or-aesthetic/
http://www.writehanded.org/blog/2014/04/10/jet-setting-beneficiaries-how-lucky-are-we/
What is painfully clear is that Paula Bennett is by ommission at least, a dirty liar.
Add to that ‘a bully’. Add to that ‘a sociopath’ who advisedly foments hatred against the weakest and poorest in society. And for what ? For her personal advancement and her personal power.
I hope there are sermons being delivered around the country this morning which brand her for what she is – a dirty liar, a bully, a sociopath. I borrow JanM’s final sentence in her comment @ 2.1 above.
I wonder if there are enough ministers with the fire in their bellies to stand up and be counted about how we are treating those of us in need
Or you could use the handy RSS feed button on the bottom of the page?
Q + A right now – the staggering hypocrisy of Richard Prebble contrasting Hone’s colours when he entered Parliament with MANA talking to KDC now ??????
Prebble made a career out of scabbery then extended it with scabbery. FFS !!!!!!
I have found it true enough in my own life to say that the failings that people despise in others are often what they despise in themselves.
(Edit: this comment directed at Prebble!)
Yeah But Cunliffe made good sense. Prebble is just a fool.
Roger Douglas, Richard Prebble, Michael Bassett (and one or two other former Labour luminaries) have never forgiven the left of centre faction inside Labour for winning “the faction war” of the 1980s and early 1990s. I witnessed the bitterness and vengeful attitude they displayed towards Helen Clark in particular during the 90s. It was as if they believed they were the ones who had been betrayed when in reality they did the betraying… of the principles which have always guided the NZ Labour Party. Their sexism, and the degrading way they talked about Labour women MPs behind their backs was awful.
I am of the view Prebble’s extreme hostility towards Labour – and the Greens by association – has it’s origins more in personal bitterness/hatred towards them than it does in political considerations. Nothing would give him more pleasure than to see them destroyed and he will continue to do his bit to achieve that goal. Very sad because he was once quite a likeable character – its true. 🙂
He probably was – his dad was a lovely man 🙂
Think he was more like his Mum. His father seemed a quiet and thoughtful gentleman.
Very sad because he was once quite a likeable character – its true.
When? I’m seriously curious.
What I find intriguing about Douglas, Prebble, Caygill and co is that they likely came from socialist backgrounds. What did/do their families think about their actions?
Back in the 70s Hamish. He was a young man in his 20s, but even then he was a bit of a pain in the sense he liked to be the one who had the last say. I remember Labour Regional meetings in Auckland where he would be leaping up and down in his seat being a pain in the neck. But at least he was a Labour loyalist in those days. I don’t think he has any political principles any more. He just goes where he thinks its going to be best for him.
You’re right. Douglas, Prebble and Bassett (I think) came from strong Labour backgrounds. Don’t know about Caygill but expect he did too.
Thanks for the insight Anne.
Do you know how Prebble was ‘got’ by, I assume, the treasury? Or did Roger get converted first and then he brainwashed Prebble?
I think it started with Douglas. He was the guru of Labour’s neo-liberal faction back in the 80s. Even had Lange fooled for a while, but he eventually saw the light. And to be fair I think quite a few people in Labour who originally supported Douglas eventually saw the light too.
Who brain-washed Douglas is harder to ascertain but business tycoon Alan Gibbs was in there somewhere…
Yes and Douglas must have been indoctrinated before the Lange government because he hit the ground running, right?
I thought that the treasury in the 1970s had something to do with pushing supply side/neolib on governments?
Prebble is an a grade trougher now, he is protecting all those baubles just like DPF, hooten etc.
They are all playing out their little cameos in the msm on cue.
Clearly in light of the half billion spent in Britain on useless Tamiflu and useless stockpiling here there needs to be revisions in the health business
Kim Hill talking to Catherine De Angelis ( Editor Journal American Medical Assn) on transparency in medical research, taking on the pharmaceutical companies and research as distinct from marketing
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday/audio/2592409/catherine-deangelis
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/leadership/biography/CA4A4DEFEE490E350AF86239DE21DA3F/catherine_deangelis
more on Tamiflu
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/10/tamiflu-saga-drug-trials-big-pharma
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/uk-wasted-560m-stockpiling-flu-drugs
In New Zealand it is all swept under the carpet as per usual by the bureaucracy ….someone needs to be held to account….at very least a review and changes must be made as to how we evaluate big drug company big profit items eg vaccines bought by the government and foisted on the public
This is taxpayer health money that is being wasted
Nothing makes the private sector big money like that delicious combination of imagined crisis, fear, hype, and lots of experts saying all this tax payers money must be spent on corporate products, ASAP!
Yep CV, i have posted a comment or two a month or so back relating to Tamiflu,H1N1 and how there is some belief that this whole ‘program’ of pandemic fear was in fact rumored to be a payback to big Pharma for the US CDC,(who decide what the annual flu predominant in the western world will be every year),having got it horribly wrong in a previous year causing big Pharma a substantial loss by having them produce the wrong flu jab in the millions for that year,
There is of course no ‘proof’ of the truth or otherwise of such a rumor,(can anyone imagine the participants ‘fessing up’)…
There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye, i have been digging around looking for something that would indicate a tie in with ‘bird-flu’ that has no means of infecting humans and the ‘habit’ of H1N1 to suddenly reappear as a full on flu in people that years ago during the supposed ‘pandemic year’ had a dose of it,
Surrounding these re-infections might be a co-dose of the chicken pox and/or a painful bout of shingles,
Can a flu virus be made that uses another virus to piggy back on where the flu virus may not have the means of infecting the human body from the outside but if it were piggy backed onto an entirely different virus as the means of entry might in turn replicate,
That’s a good question…
The bigger picture is that this tamiflu debacle hat finally opens the door wide on all pharmaceutical research/testing.
For some time, there has been a wealth of information around regarding the research/testing of psychotropic medication. Unfortunately, a lot of that info is propagated by the scientologists, and so has been summarily dismissed despite of the quality of the information.
Maybe that will change now insofar as the regime underpinning tamiflu is a mirror image of what some (not just the Church of Scientology) have tried to highlight with regards psychotropic medication. I really do hope so.
p.s. wasn’t there a scathing article on tamiflu when it was being rolled out? From memory the shelf life and efficacy were being questioned even as governments were stocking up. Also there was concern over the influence Dick Cheney was able to exert given that he was a major shareholder. Was all something like that. My memory gets a bit fuzzy these days, so don’t just take my word for all of that.
Tamiflu is most likey overpriced but is effective in lifethreatening circumstances but only mildy effective in everyday flu’s.
Given swine flu could have turned out much worse it was a good decision tamiflu is not a vaccine.
Now the flu vaccine has a swine flu vaccine included.
Big pharma profited out of ignorance and panic they should be made to pay the price gouging back.
To say we are getting overcharged in general for vaccines is bullshit.
Vaccines save us .
+save $100’s of millions a year in health costs.
Pharmac have worlds best practice in purchase agreements.
My children have all been vaccinated and are much healthier than those who weren’t.
I read widely on health care issues.
People who believe vaccines are dangerous have no scientific evidence to back their claims other than a retired Pro Wrestler with conspiracy concerns.
Tamiflu “effective”?…it has been proven to be not effective…..and may even be harmful
http://www.globalresearch.ca/2005-report-japan-links-tamiflu-to-sudden-deaths-in-children/14755
The real shocker from that story is that the only way Japan could get health advisories to prescribing doctors was via the mass media.
‘Tamiflu is most likey overpriced but is effective in lifethreatening circumstances but only mildy effective in everyday flu’s.’
The initial ‘evidence’ furnished to support claims of a reduction in flu complications included trial patients self-reporting pneumonia, with no clinical testing of the diagnosis.
Even a stopped watch is right twice a day:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/9936129/Judges-handling-of-abuse-victim-slammed
I actually find myself on the same page as the SST. What a world we live in! >_<
Yep I agree. This judge seems to have the concept of restorative justice totally screwed. She is not the offender’s therapy, she should not be asked if she wants to be and refusal to do so should not be counted against her or even commented on. I saw one survey where around half the people who attended the so called “restorative justice” conferences left feeling worse than when they arrived.
The sentence seems very light But hey a lot of this isn’t really that unusual I suspect. Time for the Chief justice to have the retirement talk with this Judge and the time is well overdue for all Judges to be sent off for some solid learning about behavioural attitudes and how they represent the whole community not just those with the same prejudices as them and how the judges own prejudices affect them. Justice isn’t just a male view of reasonable. .
The stuff article, headline and opening sentence is dramatically overstated..Judge Saunders was not “slammed”.
The judges reluctance was successfully challenged by the crown prosecutor, the judge agreed but was criticized by McVicar. No problem there..but”slammed” is sub-editor’s sensationalizing to provoke public interest.All too common in our tabloid media.
+1
Actually I didn’t notice the headline particularly I based my comments on the body of the article.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9936792/Dissent-as-Mana-and-Dotcom-draw-nearer
The spin in that opening line is a fucking disgrace! As if the headline wasn’t bad enough.
Two political parties had a meeting and now the group leaders want to discuss it all with the grass root members… my god what a travesty.
Did you know that sort of behaviour was allowed in a modern democracy?
Imagine wanting to garner informed consent for democratic action, terrible, just terrible.
sorry, wrong thread, have reposted in the slum-house thread
Trent Reznor is giving away an album.
http://theslip.nin.com/
ty joe for the goodness
-when word gets out,
that only being able to share with three friends is going to need some subtle footwork 🙂
didja see paula ‘lewinsky’ beenit on the catwalk. looked more like the baby elephant walk to me.
”Gush oh gush gush”, i run into the Woyals this morning on my way home from the vege market, not literally of course, and no the thought didn’t even cross my mind,
The Spongers in chief had the luxury of crashing the Red at the Kilbirnie lights this morning on their way to the airport,(it takes a ten vehicle convoy to get these sponges from government House to the airport with i presume 5 sets of traffic lights along the way all stopped by the plods disrupting our day while these wastes of space get whisked off for a trip down South),
We made eye contact, gush, i swear we made i contact, gush, well me and the plod stopping the traffic at the bottom set of the Kilbirnie lights sure did when i started yelling ”why should we be stopped for these spongers”(if looks could kill and all that, haven’t seen one of them since way back when i got the stare of death from John Bank’s pet plod Inspector Sharky as i gave it to Banks about His appearance that day in the District Court),
i consoled myself with the fact that their Woyal lownesses were being dragged through the back entrance to Wellington airport, and, the prices at the vege market were again good on my pocket and well worth the effort of dragging myself out into a Wellington Southerly,
18 pieces of fruit, half a pumpkin,half a red cabbage, a bunch of spring onions, 2 avocados, bag of carrots, 2 tomato,2 lemons for 17 bucks,
Have found that you have to do a circuit of all the stalls befor you buy to check who has the best prices of the week, pity the people selling there weren’t provided with a prominent and permanent space in a central location so they could sell their stuff, would sure as hell fix what ails the supermarkets 40% markups in a short space of time,
Tonight’s dinner, baked Terakihi fillet(with onion and tomato), surrounded by a vege bake featuring Kumara, Potato, Pumkin,Broccoli, and Carrot,topped off with a thick sauce flavored with peanut,garlic, and ginger along with a side dish of roasted red cabbage basted with clover honey…
A ten vehicle convoy? That is absurd. Okay lets do a list.
Police car in front lights flashing.
Plain car with DPS bodyguards.
Official car carrying personal staff – lady in waiting, male equivalent whatever that is, couple of secretaries.
Will and Kate.
Another police car lights flashing.
So who is in the other five? Boot lickers and spies?
Talk about going the American over-kill way!
And your dinner sounds delicious Bad12.
I don’t know what time Bad12 buys his grocery! According to the now almost sickening media coverage, the royals were in Dunedin at 9:30am. They must have been in the plane by 9am at the latest.
Buying grocery at 8am, that’s commitment there, I have to say.
one reason I never got into farmers markets or fish markets. They’re all closing just as I’m getting out of bed 🙂
I’m a morning person. But I’m a “in my dressing gown, breakfast and tea, at my desk writing” morning person. Out of the house on a weekend by 8am? That doesn’t happen too often!
The Comprehensive Activist Guide to Dismantling Neoliberalism
I was just wondering if the fact that p William being a best friend of d.Beckham makes him thick as batshit. Maybe he should ask p.m.clodhopper! His new bff.
From the propaganda rag the Herald.
All Blacks’ great Richie McCaw met the royals, saying they were “just like normal people”.
Of course they are.
They lead normal lives.
They have normal jobs.
They have normal incomes.
Who believes this nonsense?