Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike …
Doesn’t Dunne have huge political influence now he’s discovered a link between the Greens and the Taliban. Oh, and when a MP does that shouldn’t the Speaker have something to say about bring the house into… …I mean its not like it had anything to do with a foreign security service who are about to manage the Commonwealth conference because after all who listens to a party of one.
I second that Paul. A few weeks ago on a Radio Active interview Deborah Morris (remember her? Used to be be a NZ First MP back in the 90’s) who represents Every Child Counts was scathing about Dunne’s lack of support for the bill and the DJ was encouraging every one send Dunne an email about his stance.
Private jet visits to NZ booming
“The market had recovered since the global financial crisis five years ago although many of the super wealthy who own $50 million to $60 million jets were barely affected.
“The people who own a Global Express or Gulfstream 550 may see their fortune is now $6 billion and it hasn’t made much of a dent in their lifestyle. The top end of the market is going strong.”
1st, reading that is, the ‘feed the kids bill’ was up for it’s 1st reading a while back but was delayed,(can’t remember the reason),
Lolz, i see a busload of kids from Poriua’s Natone School are getting a free breakfast at the Parliament today,
Many long moons ago i wandered in to the Parliaments dining room and helped myself to a good helping of porridge and toast, to my great displeasure they tossed me out befor i could start on the bacon and eggs…
I cannot understand why people are so opposed to food in schools.
It is no different to free milk in schools between 1934 and 1967 (the biggest opponents having chugged that down in their childhood), the school dental service, school nurses and the like.
Do any of the older guys and girls on here remember such opposition for the free milk in school programme?
I think we all took the free milk and dental service for granted, Millsy. I don’t remember anyone opposing it, but I do remember the milk standing outside the school gates – glass bottles – in the sun, getting a bit too creamy for my own taste, but most of the kids chugged it down okay. (It didn’t go rancid – it wasn’t around long enough for that!)
i always had the job of hauling the trolley round the classrooms, the silver lining to that, the cream if you will, was that i got to double and triple dip, slurp…
That expresses the divide between left and right quite neatly then doesn’t it, i would far prefer the level of benefit where children are reliant to be far higher, compared to ‘other’ children beneficiary kids are $100 a week worse off through cuts to those benefits and the non-payment of Government programs to those reliant upon benefits,
The ‘churn’ in beneficiaries means that a larger number of kids than the 250,000 numbered live for a significant period of their developing years where good nutrition is of the utmost importance for their later lives in levels of poverty that are an obscenity in a rich developed nation,
While supportive of Mana’s ‘food in schools’ bill i do find it demeaning of the parents of benefit dependent children reinforcing the ‘stereotype’ in which the right portray all beneficiaries,
Having tho said that, it is the kids that must come first over and above the political niceties, and if ‘food in schools’ is the only possible gain for those kids from a system that has badly let them down then so be it…
I see the raising of benefits to be a seperate issue to this…I figure that if parents no longer have to provide 10 meals per week per child (breakfast and lunch x 5) then thats money the parents don’t need to receive (because the childs being fed)
Whether the amount of money they recieve is sufficient is spererate to this though
Minor problem with your theory there PR. Have you considered that perhaps the kids weren’t getting fed properly at home because they couldn’t afford it? What then for those whose benefits you are reducing further?
Hey dick head. We’re not looking to even things up, we’re looking to improve it in favour of poor families. Surely it’s not that difficult to understand?
considering ruth richardson deliberately put benefits 20% (?) below what was considered enough for a single person to exist on (not live, exist) i fail to see how it can be considered separate at all
the “kids not having enough to eat” problem isnt that all bennie parents are drugged up gambling addicts who watch sky and bash their kids. Its that both beneficiaries and low paid working parents dont earn enough to bloody feed them properly!
Its a problem that affects the working poor as well as those on a benefit.
Considering that the food in schools idea is actually bloody cheap (from a govt spend perspective) and that it creates down stream savings i find your approach of hitting the poor once again rather sad.
How much of your personal tax payment would go to this scheme? I dont know the figure but i would guess its somewhere in the 0.01% area
Having tried for a few minutes to de-cypher the last line of your comment in relation to what you said above it i think i will just ‘go’ with CV and attach to you the epithet ‘Dick-Head’,
i will tho make the point again, taxation of benefits, the direct cutting of benefits, and the non-allowance of those receiving benefits what is essentially a family benefit dressed up as a ‘tax credit’ has left the income of beneficiaries with children 100 dollars a week worse off compared to those who can find work,
As a rule you will find that with a budget that just doesn’t add up to 3 meals a day most people will whittle down the ‘need’ for nutrition to one good meal a day, obviously the average child needs far better nutrition that this if physical and psychological ailments are to be avoided later in life,
To suggest that these children are solely brought up reliant upon a benefit is an untruth as the ‘churn’ in the figures shows that most are reliant upon such for a few years whereupon their parents enter the workforce, the damage done tho in the meantime may for these children last a lifetime…
there’s no money for that programme or rape prevention programmes in all high schools BUT the government is talking very hard to eradicate poverty and discourage sexual violence. Kay??
yes, if not late. It’s part of the problem in a way. Fagan went to work having had a disagreement about this issue and feeling what he felt toward the topic or his wife’s side f the argument he took it out on someone else, This is a lack of self control many suffer from but it’s one end of the same spectrum. It was NEVER about Fagan but he made it about him at the expense of the poor victim who rang in.. No wonder reporting is so low, not only how she would have felt but any women/girls listening would hardly be inspired to come forward. until radio presenters are behaving and controlled like journalists understanding there are consequences and it’s not all about them…
But I was heartened because I think his account is a completely honest expression of how he sees this. Now anyway.
He’s been caught up in something that has taken him completely by surprise. And sure, he still feels sorry for himself, and still doesn’t get anything like the how serious his verbal assault was the for the young woman. But there is movement in this issue. The young woman stood her ground. John and Willy lost their jobs, and may not get them back. His wife put him out in the rain to walk to work. Fagan is forced to write a public letter of explanation. And these sorts of incidents, conversations seem to be happening all over the place.
I was just talking to a friend who was telling me that her elderly (male) neighbour came out when she was collecting her mail, anxious to tell her that he felt sorry for “those poor girls” and “it’s just got to stop”. And they’d never talked about anything like that before. It was like he wanted her to know whose side he was on.
It’s not that I imagine that this particular fight is over by any stretch of the imagination, just that there is movement in an issue that has seemed intractable during my whole lifetime. Who know’s what’s next? Plutocracy, Climate change….?
Thanks js. I also found Fagan’s letter heartening, simply because he demonstrated how a man can get it wrong and then be honest about that and try and change. Him acknowledging he didn’t know enough about rape culture is important (and something a couple of commenters here could learn from).
And I agree about the woman Elle – that she was able to say to him “did you not hear what I said?” is awesome.
It’s not that I imagine that this particular fight is over by any stretch of the imagination, just that there is movement in an issue that has seemed intractable during my whole lifetime. Who know’s what’s next? Plutocracy, Climate change….?
I feel this way too 🙂
I’m trying not to get prematurely excited, but you know this year we have now seen 3 significant cultural shifts: the GCSB protests, the change in leadership of the Labour party, and now a tipping point around rape culture in NZ. I have to wonder if the tide is turning.
Probably a bit snarky, but it would have been nice if Cunliffe could say re: Tamihere “He’d have a snowflakes chance of standing as a Labour MP again, but perhaps he could consider joining another party like the Conservatives”.
Apparently there was an unexpected bonus from milk in schools. A 2011 NZ ( Dunedin,I think.) study found that those of us who drank the milk have a 30% lower incidence of bowel cancer ( 38% if you drank more ) . Rates have gone up since it was stopped. A bloody good reason to reinstate asap.
t’s the reason for the collapse of democratic choice. It’s the source of our growing disillusionment with politics. It’s the great unmentionable. Corporate power. The media will scarcely whisper its name. It is howlingly absent from parliamentary debates. Until we name it and confront it, politics is a waste of time.
The political role of business corporations is generally interpreted as that of lobbyists, seeking to influence government policy. In reality they belong on the inside. They are part of the nexus of power that creates policy. They face no significant resistance, from either government or opposition, as their interests have now been woven into the fabric of all three main political parties in Britain.
I’m guessing that their readers will take him less seriously if they keep reminding them that he’s only a low life Argie. Not as if he knows about real civilisation or religion like Europeans, after all.
Not really the point though is it, a bad looks a bad look and I think people generally suspect that most National MPs are doing quite well anyway whereas most people probably don’t realise Labour does this…
But the weird thing about that article is that it takes aim at the Labour Party with the headline and focus on 5 Labour MPs, but also includes a more muted reference to this:
The Labour Party owns nearly $5 million worth of property – and taxpayers are footing the bill for five offices rented back to MPs.
[…]
Five of those properties are rented to the Parliamentary Service as electorate offices for MPs Ross Robertson, Ruth Dyson, Phil Twyford, Andrew Little and Chris Hipkins.
In a similar arrangement, at least five National MPs, including Prime Minister John Key, own their electorate offices, which are rented to themselves.
Hardly a “balanced” article. Looks like a politically-motivated attack on Labour.
Totally, really scraping the bottom of the outrage barrel for that article. Electorate offices seems a pretty reasonable use of money since it is a core part of the job. However, financing personal property investment portfolios is not.
it’s appalling whoever is doing it and it needs to stop. Double dipping etc etc. These people are public servants, they serve US. PR are you calling for all this to stop, everything in all three articles or are you happy if labour does it then national can?t
I would love a clear set of rules to be followed plus all expenses to be open to the public via a easy to use web site or sum such and all this is be directed by an independent authority
I just don’t think its going to happen any time soon
There’s two ways that it could stop:
1.) Parliament owns the electorate office and whichever MP gets to use it
2.) Parliamentary service doesn’t pay for the electorate office which would actually be a decrease in our democracy
What’s really happening here is that the party owns an office which they support and use as party central for the electorate. When their candidate becomes an MP that office then becomes the electorate office and the costs of running the office go to Parliamentary Services.
I’d say that it’s probably quite reasonable but there’d have to be serious demarcation between party activities and electorate activities.
Sad day for New Zealand yesterday when the John Key led National government passed the legislation enabling the Sky City convention centre scam. Sad for problem gamblers, sad for their familiets, and sad too for New Zealand that the whole deal has been promoted and pushed through under a cloud of lies coming from the Prime Minister.
Very kind of you to say so. Thanks. The basic rule concerning John Key’s lying is that anything he is directly involved with or reposibsible for involves more lying than usual. SkyCity, for example, involves John Key as Minister of Tourism. Then there’s Ministerial Services . . .
the decision to buy brand new BMWs was made by the Department of Internal Affairs without reference either to their minister or to me
the GCSB needs to spy on New Zealanders because of the terrorist threat, even though official reports released over my signature say there is no risk and the SIS has the matter in hand
The other dozens of lies are just examples of his contempt for parliament and New Zealanders as displayed by a his casual arrogance in terms of deigning to speak truth coupled with his bad habit of just making shit up as he goes along. He learned from the best.
What REALLY concerns me about the shonky NZ International Convention Centre (Sky City ‘money-laundering’) Bill, is that it was effectively railroaded through the House before either ‘Trader John’ or Steven Joyce answered my OIA requests, asking why no ‘due diligence’ had been done by OFCANZ (Organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ) on the increased risk of money-laundering.
I have also requested that the NZ Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) investigate the above-mentioned lack of ‘due diligence’ by OFCANZ.
Wouldn’t you think that if there was effectively an ‘money-laundering factory’ in the heart of Auckland City, that there would be an increased risk of organised crime?
Don’t you think it’s somewhat ironic that Sky City are apparently going to have some form of ‘face recognition’ for problem gamblers, but anonymity for money-launderers?
Don’t you think it rather convenient that Auckland Council made no mention of the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the NZ International Convention Centre Bill in their submission, and Mayor Len Brown, (who accepted a $15,000 Mayoral campaign donation from Sky City in 2010), allegedly used a Sky City hotel room(s) for his illicit affair with Ms Chuang?
Anyone else not only concerned about these issues, but actually trying to DO something about them?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption /anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
…sounds good Penny….sounds like you are on the case…imo it is a very important issue!…keep us posted on developments and any answers/results from your inquiries
Take care, mate. I understand the need to protect your privacy & that you probably won’t be using any of your old pseudonyms any time soon (and I won’t be using any other than the username that has been used by some MSM journos.)
And as for Rudman – he doesn’t let using his birth name getting in the way of unleashing a load of emotive venom:
The oh-so-brave troll freaked, slamming the phone down and squealing, “Mummy, Mummy, the nasty policeman’s coming to get me”.
said blog commenter is far from being a tr0ll. Though he may be “tr0ll feaked” ie freaked by some tr0lls on and offline.
I post as if I might actually meet the people I’m posting to in real life which means I do censor some of the things I want to say (out of politeness mostly)
Most people who know me in real life are perfectly aware that I’m almost as likely to say similar things in almost any circumstances – if I think someone is acting like a fool. I take great delight in undercutting pompous gits in any circumstances and I really don’t bother sparing their feelings because otherwise they will remain pompous gits (usually repeating talkback radio without engaging their brains). I really can’t be bothered with faux politeness in any voluntary situation (I make exceptions for situations where urgency is a major factor).
However most of the people who are friends, family, and work colleagues are usually pretty damn good at arguing their own side. I guess it is a darwinian winnowing.
Agree lprent. BTW, I’m Kracklite – it’s something I don’t conceal, since I use the same avatar for both handles.
has a learnt a valuble lesson about the perils of running ones mouth off
No, I’ve never learned any lesson about the perils of running my mouth of. I gather the lesson is supposed to be “keep quiet and allow injustice to occur” and I could never get my head around that.
Good to see you back commenting here Rhino. I didn’t want to assume you were comfortable to have the pseudonym you use here associated with KL & Rudman’s comments.
However, it means PG’s attempt to out you is a lame piece of …. hmmm.
Just reminded me that some tr0lls comment under the name by which they are known offline.
No once again its not: “keep quiet and allow injustice to occur” its when you post something and include your contact details you have to be prepared to to face up to your actions which in this case meant speaking to the person you had been saying things about
Since you didn’t want to speak to him I’m assuming you wern’t prepared to have to answer for you words ie not facing up to the consequences
PR, you really are naive, aren’t you, or trying not to think too much. I’m of an age and I have friends and family members who aren’t so sanguine about calls from police. Sometimes those police raped them, sometimes they took their family away, not to be seen again. Don’t think that that slippery slope can’t be built here.
I do know that when you say “consequences” you mean “deserved punishment”.
However, thank you for your explicit acknowledgement that it is not a good idea to reveal any personal details to the police and that one should fear them.
I’m assuming
Assume away. Assume that fairies exist if you like.
Hi Olwyn, believe me, I’d love to live in a bathysphere or on the cliffs of Valles Marineris or a Trappist Monastery (actually there is a monastery of Tourette, which sounds cool, and it was designed by Le Corbusier…)… but while I desire silence and obscurity, well, it seems that I have this compulsion…
I’m glad you have this compulsion. Many of your comments have put a smile on my face for the day. The more bombastic ones have had me keeling over in stitches. I like your style.
Re: Monastery life. I sometimes daydream about convent life, Hildegarde Von Bingen style. But the God thing puts me off.
The only reason I have trouble believing that you actually behave like this in public is that if you were (hypothetically) this obnoxious to me or a large majority of the people I interact with, you would spend an awfully long time eating through a straw.
As you haven’t mentioned multiple hidings, I call bullshit fantasy.
Just putting it out but most people on here would probably think I’m a decent guy if they met me in real life (and didn’t ask me what I thought of Russell Norman ;))
And I’m guessing that’d be the reaction most people on here would have of each other…we (all of us) probably have more in common with each other then we think
Well thank you, you too can achieve it as well if you believe in yourself
“I do know that when you say “consequences” you mean “deserved punishment”.”
– No, thats what you would call an assumption and I think theres something witty at the bottom of this post about assumptions
“However, thank you for your explicit acknowledgement that it is not a good idea to reveal any personal details to the police and that one should fear them.”
– I’m starting to wonder if you live in a fantasy world…
“Assume away. Assume that fairies exist if you like.”
– When is a fairy not a fairy? when its got its head up an elves skirt and then it becomes a goblin…
Oh God, another one saying, “I’m really a nice guy in real life”
What next “Some of my best friends are…”?
OK here I am: I really am sarcastic, misanthropic, pessimistic and opinionated in real life. I shun company. If I’m polite, it’s because I’m trying to find a way to excuse my departure. Got that?
No, I think you might be jumping to conclusions…again.
I said that I didn’t think that lprent behaved the way he says he does in public because if he did there are alot of people (myself included in a hypothetical meeting where he behaved like an obnoxious clown) who would just deck him.
You’re repeatedly making implied threats of physical violence towards a site admin through secondary agencies connected to you. When are you going to start making them under your own name?
“My friends would…” is an evasion of “I would…” When will you say “I will…”?
What do you expect Tracey. If he can’t win the argument, and it gets a little heated, he will resort to his fists. It’s just typical thug practice, if he cant win the argument, then he hits his opponent.
You see heaps of this type of ‘person’ in Wellington/Auckland on a Friday/Saturday nights. They are the reason sane people don’t visit these places anymore.
And the whole anonymous versus pseudonymous bullshit is raised again. And a paid opinionator/commissar once again displays how to twist and turn an event via omission, selective quoting and a smattering of fiction.
In my world, his attempted character assassination of a person he doesn’t even know – and by extension and clear implication a whole online world of people who use pseudonyms – is beneath contempt.
Meanwhile, calling out an organisation is legitimate. And should be encouraged in any society. Surely. Just not in Brian commissar Rudman’s world, peopled as it is by benevolent figures of authority and where all is good and all is right and the aforementioned grown up’s ought to be left to order things and act as they see fit
Yes, so many things wrong with what Rudman wrote. I posted a couple of comments, will see if they turn up.
Kracklite doesn’t post anonymously, they post pseudonymously. This means they use a consistent name on the internet and regulars know who the person is. Using an apparent real life name like John Wilson means no more than using a name like Kracklite, because there is no way to know who that John Wilson is. What you are suggesting isn’t an issue of names, it’s an issue of sharing personal details online. Many of us have valid and very good reasons for not doing so. You don’t have to live in China to fear for your job or wellbeing. That you have a level of security and privilege in your life that means you can be published using your RL name doesn’t mean everyone does.
btw anonymous commenters are people where there is no way to know which particular person is posting at any given time. Most serious political blogs don’t allow anonymous commenting because it’s too hard to follow debate when you don’t know who made any specific comment. A good example of anonymous posting is newspapers that publish editorials without saying who wrote the piece.
I know Kracklite’s commenting style, and while their comments can be harsh and sometimes inflammatory, they don’t fit ordinary definitions of trolling. Someone in your position of power mis-using the term ‘troll’ against someone whose opinions you don’t like IS an attempt at suppression of free speech.
As for rules of debate and defamation, most political blogs have very clear moderation of things that are potentially defammatory, because it is the blog owners that are legally liable for what they publish. Calling the police ‘pigs’ would not be considered a legally risky statement. Rules of debate vary from blog to blog, sometimes hugely, and I doubt that most academic institutions have any better idea of what those are than most newspaper journalists.
Your ridiculing and marginalising of someone with Aspergers tells me more about you than the issues of the blog commentariat.
Overall I find your piece to be full of inaccuracies and prejudices about the blogosphere. Blogs are here to stay, might be better if the MSM educated themselves on how they actually work.
Oh I was definitely biting my tongue. I was going for polite in the hope they would actually publish it. Doesn’t look like they will though (can’t see how it was any worse than some of the ones that have been published).
that is just amazing. I’m probably blushing (meaning a whiter shade of pale, no doubt – I’ll have to go check in the mirror and listen to Procul Harum). As for everyone else below – too many to name – thank you very much also. Of course you’re sticking up for principles, which I admire.
As for inflammatory, well, I’ve read far too much of Harlan Ellison not to love his style. Please check out the documentary Dreams With Sharp Teeth .
And welcome back Rhino, I also seek out and value your comments. As much as I was appalled by Rudman’s offensive lowbrow article, I must say I got a good laugh from his repeated labeling of you as a tr0ll.
Also laugh worthy was his parting “At least the Roast Busters didn’t hide behind anonymity,” shot. O fer sure, you could learn a thing or two from the RBers Rhino. Where’s my Tui? I hope you’re laughing too.
Damn! There’s something I haven’t heard in a while – that album with the purple and grey cover!
I’ve been away and hadn’t noticed your absence – but welcome back.
I am disgusted at Rudman’s column. I had some respect for Rudman as a columnist prior to this one, although I did not necessarily always agree with his views.
But this one is just over the top – particularly his attempts to ‘out’ the blogger. Thankfully, the majority of the comments to date do not support Rudman’s rave – or rather his emotive venom, as you so rightly called it, Karol.
To the blogger, you have my support and I have always sought out your comments here when I see them pop up as I always found them well worth reading in terms of their content and your writing style – and for the most part, on the same wavelength as my thinking. Kia kaha.
+100 Also a fan of the comments, and find them worth the time taken to read and ponder.
Will be looking out for more of the same – hope they will be forthcoming.
I agree re reading the comments, Molly – they often give a better indication than the column itself. And over the last few months, imo there has bee quite a sea change in the comments on the Herald.
Re the comments on Rudman’s column, Weka’s excellent comment at 11.2.2. has not come up yet; but Emma Hart has a comment up now along the same vein.
Edit – Pete George again shows the weasel he is in his comment.
I still have a chuckle now and then over Rhino’s Shearer speech. Must have been six months ago now. He was sorting his supermarket list at the same time he was making a speech and of course he got the two muddled up. Hilarious it was. 🙂
Rudderless Rudman obviously doesn’t know what an internet tr0ll is, strange he didn’t mention how being called a jellyfish seemingly prompted the police commissioner to make a phone call, maybe it was a “I’m not a jellyfish, I’m a blind eel” call.
Most of the scandals that leave people in despair about politics arise from this source. On Monday, for instance, the Guardian revealed that the government’s subsidy system for gas-burning power stations is being designed by an executive from the Dublin-based company ESB International, who has been seconded into the Department of Energy. What does ESB do? Oh, it builds gas-burning power stations.
And how much of this jumping to do what the corporations want do we see in NZ? There’s the Warner Brothers legislation, the SkyCity sell out and the removal of democracy in Canterbury so that the farmers could get their hands on our precious water.
When you say “Warner Brothers’ Legislation:” were you referring to both the local labour and human rights legislation or were you referring to the wider, less explicit US spying legislation? Both, I guess.
Brian Rudman often writes reasonable columns about local government and Auckland issues. He is an old fashioned ex Auckland Star journalist that talks to people and digs away for a story. But he is also old fashioned to the extent that he clearly does not understand internet anonymity.
Regular posters with a handle build up an identity over time that others can relate to or sometimes not. It is what people are saying or linking to that matters not who they are. You can become quite loyal to some fellow bloggers and posters.
Rudman should look over his shoulder because some of the worst anonymous contributors known to humankind are the NZ Herald editorial writers.
But he is also old fashioned to the extent that he clearly does not understand internet anonymity.
Likely true, but I also suspect that he has never been personally persecuted by some of the rather vengeful police tactics and attitudes that other people here have experienced.
If he had, he might realise why pseudonymity is very valuable to some people in a serious democracy.
The Central Bank says that over- borrowing for farming especially dairying is putting the country’s economy at risk. Perhaps we can have some safeguards against the agricultural bubble, aka as a fart, by the government cutting down on overseas buyers and ensuring that all buyers don’t use leverage but have a decent deposit.
And the meat industry is trying to rationalise the meat operators. There are about 20, most competing overseas, something long criticised because it results in unhealthy competition where we want best price not cheapest. Southland where meat production has been strong is converting to dairy at an alarming rate. Soon they won’t have enough supply to keep their local buyers and dealers viable. For heaven’s sake, before I die can NZ get its bloody meat economy in order. Before it gets to the stage where its an invalid, limping along and spreading sickness throughout the country.
Central Bank says “rising household indebtedness poses a risk if the financial sector comes under pressure” and “…will look at LVR exemptions…” despite Warwick Quinn advising that the new lending requirements are “choking off new building”- (30% drop-off).
-Midday Report
How would this Ernst and Young ‘inquiry’ have the power to find out if Sky City hotel room(s) were used in the Mayor Len Brown / Bevan Chaung affair, if Len Brown had no financial record/ Council documentation which proved it?
Please confirm that the terms of reference of this ‘inquiry’ include an investigation into the alleged use of Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s) in the affair between Mayor Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.
As an ‘anti-corruption’ Public Watchdog, I am primarily interested in knowing whether Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s), were used in the affair between Mayor Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.
The issue of payment (who paid, how they were paid for, or if they were used without payment), although significant, is secondary (in my considered opinion).
Please confirm that the alleged use Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s), will be covered by this ‘inquiry’, given that there may not be any evidence available from either Auckland Council documents or financial records.
Can you please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence at your earliest available opportunity.
NZ Herald’s live (and relatively uninformative, apart from evidence of obsessions with weather and the police desk) newsdesk blog to commemorate it’s anniversary, shows Armstrong to be a one-finger typist.
“Police are investigating seven sex attacks around a leisure complex in Manukau over the last two months.
The assaults took place in and around the Manukau Sports Bowl and the Gardens/Totara Park area.
One of the victims was aged 13.
“We are concerned about these types of incidents due to the nature and frequency of offending in these areas,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Darrell Harpur.
“The latest occurrence was in broad daylight at a public playground. We urge people in the area to be vigilant and accompany their children to local playgrounds.”
When is it too soon to send out the warning? After the first assault/rape? The second, or 2 months after the first and after number 7?
When Key tells lies in Parliament, is there not one single MP who is smart enough and quick-witted enough to challenge him?
Three – yes, 3 – times in a couple of minutes of Question Time Key mocked the asset sales referendum by claiming that Labour and the Greens had “arrogantly” ignored the smacking referendum when they were in power.
Not one MP asked “Who was in power at the time of the referendum?” “Did you support or oppose the law?” “Did you change the law or keep it?” etc, etc.
No challenge at all, just lots of brain-dead shouting. He rewrites history in the most brazen, mendacious way, and you sit there like fools.
(sure, plenty of people immediately tweeted the obvious rejoinders, but what use is that? Any of us can do that, you are the ones there, being PAID to do a job. THINK on your feet. Wake up!).
This has been going on for years. Cunliffe is doing better than Shearer (a low bar, admittedly), but overall the opposition are still failing. Key was acting like a drunken madman today, and you let him. Yet again.
Clare Curran said that every man and his dog knew the price Chorus could charge for use of its copper network would be slashed substantially by the Commerce Commission.
But as the NBR points out (paywall), Curran is now trying to reinvent history. Despite her now claiming she always knew the copper price would drop, back in 2011 she actually said the copper price would increase:
“The people of New Zealand who are receiving broadband services will find their existing copper services go up in price while they are waiting for fibre.”
Cunliffe said in 2011:
“The objective analysis we have seen…is that the average New Zealander will pay at least $5 more a month for the same service they are currently getting on their copper phone line.”
From The Local Europe. Sound familiar. The free market at work eh?
Top 10: bargain properties in Italy
Property prices in Italy fell by almost 12 percent in 2012, triggering a rise in foreign investment as buyers take advantage of a market where locals are struggling to get on the property ladder. With the help of estate agents, The Local has drawn up a list of where the bargain properties are to be found.
Sweden feels the lack of father’s moral care too. From the Local – Swededn.
Sweden ‘failed to protect’ shower girl: court
The Swedish legal system failed to protect a 14-year-old girl whose stepfather, who was acquitted in Sweden, covertly filmed her naked in the shower according to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights
My father was subjected to surveillance and other unpleasant covert type activities in the 1970s after some bureaucratic idiots jumped to some wrong conclusions about his retirement activities. Rather long story, and it’s still debatable whether the idiots were local or attached to an off-shore agency. They were all running around each others’ territory in those days because they didn’t have the electronic technology that is available today.
If you wonder why I have voted National for the past couple of elections this may give you a clue despite having been converted from nothing in particular to socialism by Bill Sutch’s ‘The Responsible Society’, and then later by Roger Douglas’s ‘Common Sense’ ….. First published at KB but here it might do more good?
OH DEAR BOO HOO Poor first home buyers cannot be expected to find $80T deposit for their $400T new home. What a load of left wing c..p.
Admittedly there is been inflation in the past fifty years but my first home was 60 years old maybe more and after building a new house in the backyard with the valuable assistance of my wife [ while I still worked a 40 hour week and wife kept house and raised our son ] it was demolished. A junior football team did it Saturday morning to raise money for a trip out of town.
Cost $2000 to buy it … total mortgage $5000 plus income to build it after we started showing we were serious to first my lawyer and then a bank. Then for fittings we had a TV and a small fridge which I had brought to the marraige from the mobile caravan I had been living in, no car until after house was completed.
Really I am crying hard for the poor stupid sods and the political leaders trying to make hay out of the first home people wanting to waltz into a brand new house along with all the fittings to keep up with the jonses …. not to consider the impact of forecast interest increases on such large loans. No doubt that will be the next bleeding heart story of a couple of years time.
I remember the smug feeling back in the 70′s when interest rates were in double figures and I only had to pay on perhaps $4000 thanks to the hard work of my wife and I.
I wrote in the hope that it might invoke some common sense here and in the market place rather than sppeal to the mentally locked … oh well another time.
One can hope it saves some from mortaging their lives to the banks.
The problem is the obsession with the second and third house as investment though understandable when one considers the unreliability of the share market … the first house is just the first step to becoming a capitalist apart from those such as myself who are happy with just a roof over my head.
From the Financial Times
This is one of the outcomes of the Libor scandal. They are looking at the Australian dollar, but this has to affect he Kiwi is one of he most actively traded currencies in the world
Biggest banks face forex probe questions
By Daniel Schäfer and Caroline Binham
The global probe into foreign exchange manipulation has widened to include 15 of the world’s biggest banks and some of the most actively traded currencies, as lenders scramble to help authorities in exchange for leniency.
“Before Libor, people thought benchmarks could be trusted. Now there’s a presumption that there’s a risk of manipulation. Perhaps manipulation is not the exception but the rule.”
Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
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Second reading of Hone’s Feed the kids bill in Parliament today.
Let’s see who are the dirty rats voting against it.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9392525/Today-in-politics-Wednesday-November-13
I predict Peter Dunne.
Doesn’t Dunne have huge political influence now he’s discovered a link between the Greens and the Taliban. Oh, and when a MP does that shouldn’t the Speaker have something to say about bring the house into… …I mean its not like it had anything to do with a foreign security service who are about to manage the Commonwealth conference because after all who listens to a party of one.
I second that Paul. A few weeks ago on a Radio Active interview Deborah Morris (remember her? Used to be be a NZ First MP back in the 90’s) who represents Every Child Counts was scathing about Dunne’s lack of support for the bill and the DJ was encouraging every one send Dunne an email about his stance.
rich families first
And on the same day …
New Zealand…. playground for the rich.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11155982
Private jet visits to NZ booming
“The market had recovered since the global financial crisis five years ago although many of the super wealthy who own $50 million to $60 million jets were barely affected.
“The people who own a Global Express or Gulfstream 550 may see their fortune is now $6 billion and it hasn’t made much of a dent in their lifestyle. The top end of the market is going strong.”
Micky Savage’s dream has become a nightmare.
1st, reading that is, the ‘feed the kids bill’ was up for it’s 1st reading a while back but was delayed,(can’t remember the reason),
Lolz, i see a busload of kids from Poriua’s Natone School are getting a free breakfast at the Parliament today,
Many long moons ago i wandered in to the Parliaments dining room and helped myself to a good helping of porridge and toast, to my great displeasure they tossed me out befor i could start on the bacon and eggs…
I cannot understand why people are so opposed to food in schools.
It is no different to free milk in schools between 1934 and 1967 (the biggest opponents having chugged that down in their childhood), the school dental service, school nurses and the like.
Do any of the older guys and girls on here remember such opposition for the free milk in school programme?
I think we all took the free milk and dental service for granted, Millsy. I don’t remember anyone opposing it, but I do remember the milk standing outside the school gates – glass bottles – in the sun, getting a bit too creamy for my own taste, but most of the kids chugged it down okay. (It didn’t go rancid – it wasn’t around long enough for that!)
i always had the job of hauling the trolley round the classrooms, the silver lining to that, the cream if you will, was that i got to double and triple dip, slurp…
you old smoothie 🙂
I think its a good idea but I’d take the money from the parents benefit not needed for lunch and breakfast to help subsidise it
That expresses the divide between left and right quite neatly then doesn’t it, i would far prefer the level of benefit where children are reliant to be far higher, compared to ‘other’ children beneficiary kids are $100 a week worse off through cuts to those benefits and the non-payment of Government programs to those reliant upon benefits,
The ‘churn’ in beneficiaries means that a larger number of kids than the 250,000 numbered live for a significant period of their developing years where good nutrition is of the utmost importance for their later lives in levels of poverty that are an obscenity in a rich developed nation,
While supportive of Mana’s ‘food in schools’ bill i do find it demeaning of the parents of benefit dependent children reinforcing the ‘stereotype’ in which the right portray all beneficiaries,
Having tho said that, it is the kids that must come first over and above the political niceties, and if ‘food in schools’ is the only possible gain for those kids from a system that has badly let them down then so be it…
I see the raising of benefits to be a seperate issue to this…I figure that if parents no longer have to provide 10 meals per week per child (breakfast and lunch x 5) then thats money the parents don’t need to receive (because the childs being fed)
Whether the amount of money they recieve is sufficient is spererate to this though
Minor problem with your theory there PR. Have you considered that perhaps the kids weren’t getting fed properly at home because they couldn’t afford it? What then for those whose benefits you are reducing further?
Well if they don’t have to provide 10 meals a week per child it’ll even itself out then
Hey dick head. We’re not looking to even things up, we’re looking to improve it in favour of poor families. Surely it’s not that difficult to understand?
PR doesn’t appear to be looking to make things better for poor families. He seems to be only concerned with making things better for the rich.
taking money off someone who has none evens nothing out – it put the issue into a negative
do you understand the counterargument people are putting to you?
because at the moment your just repeating your self
considering ruth richardson deliberately put benefits 20% (?) below what was considered enough for a single person to exist on (not live, exist) i fail to see how it can be considered separate at all
the “kids not having enough to eat” problem isnt that all bennie parents are drugged up gambling addicts who watch sky and bash their kids. Its that both beneficiaries and low paid working parents dont earn enough to bloody feed them properly!
Its a problem that affects the working poor as well as those on a benefit.
Considering that the food in schools idea is actually bloody cheap (from a govt spend perspective) and that it creates down stream savings i find your approach of hitting the poor once again rather sad.
How much of your personal tax payment would go to this scheme? I dont know the figure but i would guess its somewhere in the 0.01% area
Having tried for a few minutes to de-cypher the last line of your comment in relation to what you said above it i think i will just ‘go’ with CV and attach to you the epithet ‘Dick-Head’,
i will tho make the point again, taxation of benefits, the direct cutting of benefits, and the non-allowance of those receiving benefits what is essentially a family benefit dressed up as a ‘tax credit’ has left the income of beneficiaries with children 100 dollars a week worse off compared to those who can find work,
As a rule you will find that with a budget that just doesn’t add up to 3 meals a day most people will whittle down the ‘need’ for nutrition to one good meal a day, obviously the average child needs far better nutrition that this if physical and psychological ailments are to be avoided later in life,
To suggest that these children are solely brought up reliant upon a benefit is an untruth as the ‘churn’ in the figures shows that most are reliant upon such for a few years whereupon their parents enter the workforce, the damage done tho in the meantime may for these children last a lifetime…
tories summed up right there: taking money off people is part of the discussion, giving money to people is “a seperate issue”.
Tory politics is all about give and take – you give, they take.
You’re predicating that on the assumption that the parents have enough money in the first place while all indications are that they don’t.
You mean like a “Tax” of some sort?
Oops, I think they already pay that…
there’s no money for that programme or rape prevention programmes in all high schools BUT the government is talking very hard to eradicate poverty and discourage sexual violence. Kay??
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Open-letter-from-Andrew-Fagan/tabid/878/articleID/38905/Default.aspx#.UoJ9uicWGE1
I found the above heartening. He’s not there yet, but neither are a lot of people.
And – Go Karen!
yes, if not late. It’s part of the problem in a way. Fagan went to work having had a disagreement about this issue and feeling what he felt toward the topic or his wife’s side f the argument he took it out on someone else, This is a lack of self control many suffer from but it’s one end of the same spectrum. It was NEVER about Fagan but he made it about him at the expense of the poor victim who rang in.. No wonder reporting is so low, not only how she would have felt but any women/girls listening would hardly be inspired to come forward. until radio presenters are behaving and controlled like journalists understanding there are consequences and it’s not all about them…
I completely agree Tracey.
But I was heartened because I think his account is a completely honest expression of how he sees this. Now anyway.
He’s been caught up in something that has taken him completely by surprise. And sure, he still feels sorry for himself, and still doesn’t get anything like the how serious his verbal assault was the for the young woman. But there is movement in this issue. The young woman stood her ground. John and Willy lost their jobs, and may not get them back. His wife put him out in the rain to walk to work. Fagan is forced to write a public letter of explanation. And these sorts of incidents, conversations seem to be happening all over the place.
I was just talking to a friend who was telling me that her elderly (male) neighbour came out when she was collecting her mail, anxious to tell her that he felt sorry for “those poor girls” and “it’s just got to stop”. And they’d never talked about anything like that before. It was like he wanted her to know whose side he was on.
It’s not that I imagine that this particular fight is over by any stretch of the imagination, just that there is movement in an issue that has seemed intractable during my whole lifetime. Who know’s what’s next? Plutocracy, Climate change….?
Thanks js. I also found Fagan’s letter heartening, simply because he demonstrated how a man can get it wrong and then be honest about that and try and change. Him acknowledging he didn’t know enough about rape culture is important (and something a couple of commenters here could learn from).
And I agree about the woman Elle – that she was able to say to him “did you not hear what I said?” is awesome.
It’s not that I imagine that this particular fight is over by any stretch of the imagination, just that there is movement in an issue that has seemed intractable during my whole lifetime. Who know’s what’s next? Plutocracy, Climate change….?
I feel this way too 🙂
I’m trying not to get prematurely excited, but you know this year we have now seen 3 significant cultural shifts: the GCSB protests, the change in leadership of the Labour party, and now a tipping point around rape culture in NZ. I have to wonder if the tide is turning.
always a big fan of Karyn, Andrew, not so much.
Probably a bit snarky, but it would have been nice if Cunliffe could say re: Tamihere “He’d have a snowflakes chance of standing as a Labour MP again, but perhaps he could consider joining another party like the Conservatives”.
‘Snowflake Tamihere’, sounds like a good handle for that one…
No no remember that Labours a broad church 🙂
Yeah broad church, not flawed church like the National one whose alter is located in a casino 🙂
Classic
Church of the Poison Mind
NATO Plays Regime Change Game In Timaru New Zealand And We’re OK With That!
have you been to Timaru?
I have.
Between insurgents and foreign armies, “regime change” would certainly help increase the depth of its gene pool.
How drôle! Never mind that they are training for war crimes.
[citation needed]
So you are against regime change for West Papua then?
Apparently there was an unexpected bonus from milk in schools. A 2011 NZ ( Dunedin,I think.) study found that those of us who drank the milk have a 30% lower incidence of bowel cancer ( 38% if you drank more ) . Rates have gone up since it was stopped. A bloody good reason to reinstate asap.
George Monbiot explains the loss of trust in politicians
Yep.
bloody hell..!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-corruption-fury-tie-them-to-a-rock-and-throw-them-in-the-sea-8934298.html
phillip ure..
“The Argentinian religious leader’
why does The Independent use this phrase to describe the Pope?
Hmmm. Editors probably are not Catholic. The history of the paper and its attitude to the Troubles should explain it.
The Bishop of Rome would be appropriate…
I’m guessing that their readers will take him less seriously if they keep reminding them that he’s only a low life Argie. Not as if he knows about real civilisation or religion like Europeans, after all.
I continue to be amazed that the cardinals have elected a pope who is a good man. Who put what in the water and where can I get some?
Nice to see you commenting again Rhinocrates. Please put any thoughts you might have been having about ‘taking a sabbatical’ out of your mind 😉
Thank you and sorry, but for blah blah reasons I do have to crash or hibernate sometimes.
I generally comment the most when I have a lot of real work to do… like now. 🙂
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11156004
– Is this why Labour were quiet when the nerald was looking into National MPs personal wealth…just shows that most parties are as bad as each other
4.9 million looks pretty insignificant in comparison to these fuckers
Not really the point though is it, a bad looks a bad look and I think people generally suspect that most National MPs are doing quite well anyway whereas most people probably don’t realise Labour does this…
But the weird thing about that article is that it takes aim at the Labour Party with the headline and focus on 5 Labour MPs, but also includes a more muted reference to this:
Hardly a “balanced” article. Looks like a politically-motivated attack on Labour.
Totally, really scraping the bottom of the outrage barrel for that article. Electorate offices seems a pretty reasonable use of money since it is a core part of the job. However, financing personal property investment portfolios is not.
NZherald…(fat fingers)
i think youll find that most people on the left are equally unimpressed regardless of which party
but yes fat fingers – me too. Sometimes my typing looks like ive got dislexia
http://www.swype.com/
Now just need it for the desktop.
it’s appalling whoever is doing it and it needs to stop. Double dipping etc etc. These people are public servants, they serve US. PR are you calling for all this to stop, everything in all three articles or are you happy if labour does it then national can?t
I would love a clear set of rules to be followed plus all expenses to be open to the public via a easy to use web site or sum such and all this is be directed by an independent authority
I just don’t think its going to happen any time soon
Who have you suggested it to?
There’s two ways that it could stop:
1.) Parliament owns the electorate office and whichever MP gets to use it
2.) Parliamentary service doesn’t pay for the electorate office which would actually be a decrease in our democracy
What’s really happening here is that the party owns an office which they support and use as party central for the electorate. When their candidate becomes an MP that office then becomes the electorate office and the costs of running the office go to Parliamentary Services.
I’d say that it’s probably quite reasonable but there’d have to be serious demarcation between party activities and electorate activities.
‘
Sad day for New Zealand yesterday when the John Key led National government passed the legislation enabling the Sky City convention centre scam. Sad for problem gamblers, sad for their familiets, and sad too for New Zealand that the whole deal has been promoted and pushed through under a cloud of lies coming from the Prime Minister.
Just a reminder . . .
You almost need to set your Keys List of Lies up as a flow chart BLiP, as we are now getting lies within lies. Good work.
‘
Very kind of you to say so. Thanks. The basic rule concerning John Key’s lying is that anything he is directly involved with or reposibsible for involves more lying than usual. SkyCity, for example, involves John Key as Minister of Tourism. Then there’s Ministerial Services . . .
and then there’s Minister in charge of GCSB . . .
The other dozens of lies are just examples of his contempt for parliament and New Zealanders as displayed by a his casual arrogance in terms of deigning to speak truth coupled with his bad habit of just making shit up as he goes along. He learned from the best.
heh-heh..!
..that all must be used as a campaigning-tool next election..
(even a simple animation/voicing what you have written would be really fucken funny..)
phillip ure..
What REALLY concerns me about the shonky NZ International Convention Centre (Sky City ‘money-laundering’) Bill, is that it was effectively railroaded through the House before either ‘Trader John’ or Steven Joyce answered my OIA requests, asking why no ‘due diligence’ had been done by OFCANZ (Organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ) on the increased risk of money-laundering.
Read the OFCANZ OIA reply for yourselves:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/SKY-CITY-OFCANZ-OIA-REPLY-NO-DUE-DLIGENCE-RE-MONEY-LAUNDERING-bright-penny-06-c211711-2-sent-reply.pdf
So – I have ‘blown the whistle’ to the appropriate international ‘anti money-laundering’ bodies:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/whistle-blower-alert-to-international-anti-money-laundering-bodies/
I have also requested that the NZ Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) investigate the above-mentioned lack of ‘due diligence’ by OFCANZ.
Wouldn’t you think that if there was effectively an ‘money-laundering factory’ in the heart of Auckland City, that there would be an increased risk of organised crime?
Don’t you think it’s somewhat ironic that Sky City are apparently going to have some form of ‘face recognition’ for problem gamblers, but anonymity for money-launderers?
Don’t you think it rather convenient that Auckland Council made no mention of the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the NZ International Convention Centre Bill in their submission, and Mayor Len Brown, (who accepted a $15,000 Mayoral campaign donation from Sky City in 2010), allegedly used a Sky City hotel room(s) for his illicit affair with Ms Chuang?
Anyone else not only concerned about these issues, but actually trying to DO something about them?
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption /anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
…sounds good Penny….sounds like you are on the case…imo it is a very important issue!…keep us posted on developments and any answers/results from your inquiries
Whoa! Brian Rudman doesn’t hold back in slamming “kracklite”:
Take care, mate. I understand the need to protect your privacy & that you probably won’t be using any of your old pseudonyms any time soon (and I won’t be using any other than the username that has been used by some MSM journos.)
And as for Rudman – he doesn’t let using his birth name getting in the way of unleashing a load of emotive venom:
said blog commenter is far from being a tr0ll. Though he may be “tr0ll feaked” ie freaked by some tr0lls on and offline.
Well hopefully Kracklite (or whatever his name is) has a learnt a valuble lesson about the perils of running ones mouth off
Yes, PR. I can understand why you would see this incident as providing you with a valuable lesson.
I post as if I might actually meet the people I’m posting to in real life which means I do censor some of the things I want to say (out of politeness mostly)
Most people who know me in real life are perfectly aware that I’m almost as likely to say similar things in almost any circumstances – if I think someone is acting like a fool. I take great delight in undercutting pompous gits in any circumstances and I really don’t bother sparing their feelings because otherwise they will remain pompous gits (usually repeating talkback radio without engaging their brains). I really can’t be bothered with faux politeness in any voluntary situation (I make exceptions for situations where urgency is a major factor).
However most of the people who are friends, family, and work colleagues are usually pretty damn good at arguing their own side. I guess it is a darwinian winnowing.
Agree lprent. BTW, I’m Kracklite – it’s something I don’t conceal, since I use the same avatar for both handles.
has a learnt a valuble lesson about the perils of running ones mouth off
No, I’ve never learned any lesson about the perils of running my mouth of. I gather the lesson is supposed to be “keep quiet and allow injustice to occur” and I could never get my head around that.
hi Rhino…pleased to see you back…unrepentant!…. and firing on all cylinders!
Good to see you back commenting here Rhino. I didn’t want to assume you were comfortable to have the pseudonym you use here associated with KL & Rudman’s comments.
However, it means PG’s attempt to out you is a lame piece of …. hmmm.
Just reminded me that some tr0lls comment under the name by which they are known offline.
Rudman isn’t even on my radar, just another Dead White Man who embodies privilege under Granny’s skirts… and there are a lot of them.
(Actually, I’m white myself, but being Scottish, that’s the result of tanning – we’re all naturally pale blue.)
Ah, Pete George, bless him. His signature is always a punchline.
Hi Rhinocrates. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
However, I do have to admit that I did pull PG up on the Herald, over having more than one pseudonym.
🙂
“keep quiet and allow injustice to occur”
– Nope its meaning was don’t post anything unless you’re prepared for the consequences
It’s amazing that the most reactionary present themselves as rebels, with adjectives serving as nouns.
Nope its meaning was don’t post anything unless you’re prepared for the consequences
Ah yes, too true! That is exactly the point, which can be paraphrased as “or else…”
Thanks for the implicit threat. Who else would you like your big brother to beat up?
No once again its not: “keep quiet and allow injustice to occur” its when you post something and include your contact details you have to be prepared to to face up to your actions which in this case meant speaking to the person you had been saying things about
Since you didn’t want to speak to him I’m assuming you wern’t prepared to have to answer for you words ie not facing up to the consequences
PR, you really are naive, aren’t you, or trying not to think too much. I’m of an age and I have friends and family members who aren’t so sanguine about calls from police. Sometimes those police raped them, sometimes they took their family away, not to be seen again. Don’t think that that slippery slope can’t be built here.
I do know that when you say “consequences” you mean “deserved punishment”.
However, thank you for your explicit acknowledgement that it is not a good idea to reveal any personal details to the police and that one should fear them.
I’m assuming
Assume away. Assume that fairies exist if you like.
Hi Rhinocrates. I’m glad you haven’t let yourself be silenced by this rather odd bout of public attention – I always enjoy your contributions.
Hi Olwyn, believe me, I’d love to live in a bathysphere or on the cliffs of Valles Marineris or a Trappist Monastery (actually there is a monastery of Tourette, which sounds cool, and it was designed by Le Corbusier…)… but while I desire silence and obscurity, well, it seems that I have this compulsion…
Welcome back Rhinocrates 🙂
I’m glad you have this compulsion. Many of your comments have put a smile on my face for the day. The more bombastic ones have had me keeling over in stitches. I like your style.
Re: Monastery life. I sometimes daydream about convent life, Hildegarde Von Bingen style. But the God thing puts me off.
don’t be shy; come closer to God, and God will come closer to you.
Hildegarde Von Bingen
Aha! You, I and Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen version anyway) share tastes! We should have dinner together!
Prioress Juliana Berners is more my type of monastic, she went fishing. A long time ago. And wrote down how to do it…my kind of nun.
Clare for take-away.
lprent, you are a very special man.
The only reason I have trouble believing that you actually behave like this in public is that if you were (hypothetically) this obnoxious to me or a large majority of the people I interact with, you would spend an awfully long time eating through a straw.
As you haven’t mentioned multiple hidings, I call bullshit fantasy.
so you behave differently online to your “real” life KKK and your solution to those you don’t like is to beat them up?
Just putting it out but most people on here would probably think I’m a decent guy if they met me in real life (and didn’t ask me what I thought of Russell Norman ;))
And I’m guessing that’d be the reaction most people on here would have of each other…we (all of us) probably have more in common with each other then we think
I congratulate you on your long, loyal and loving relationship that so many aspire to. You and the mirror must be so deeply happy.
Well thank you, you too can achieve it as well if you believe in yourself
“I do know that when you say “consequences” you mean “deserved punishment”.”
– No, thats what you would call an assumption and I think theres something witty at the bottom of this post about assumptions
“However, thank you for your explicit acknowledgement that it is not a good idea to reveal any personal details to the police and that one should fear them.”
– I’m starting to wonder if you live in a fantasy world…
“Assume away. Assume that fairies exist if you like.”
– When is a fairy not a fairy? when its got its head up an elves skirt and then it becomes a goblin…
No, thats what you would call an assumption
It’s making what is disingenuously implicit explicit.
– I’m starting to wonder if you live in a fantasy world…
On the other hand, I am already sure that you are. History is not fantasy.
As for the final line. Oh dear, please back away from the keyboard, read a book, get some experience.
I like cats. I even act like them. Do you know that you resemble a mouse?
I have determined my cat is the witch.
To be fair I probably do dial down the charm online as it serves very little purpose. In the real world you would have to be retarded to do that.
People with down syndrome are very charming. Oh, and the violence to those in real life you don’t like?
Oh God, another one saying, “I’m really a nice guy in real life”
What next “Some of my best friends are…”?
OK here I am: I really am sarcastic, misanthropic, pessimistic and opinionated in real life. I shun company. If I’m polite, it’s because I’m trying to find a way to excuse my departure. Got that?
I think you have just justified my comment above.
Anyway, no need to overdo the excuses. You got a touch of the vapours…own it.
you do “get” that by spending time online it is part of your “real world”.
This following an overt threat of GBH if you were to meet lprent in real life?
No, I think you might be jumping to conclusions…again.
I said that I didn’t think that lprent behaved the way he says he does in public because if he did there are alot of people (myself included in a hypothetical meeting where he behaved like an obnoxious clown) who would just deck him.
“I wouldn’t inflict GBH, but my friends would.”
OK, got that.
You’re repeatedly making implied threats of physical violence towards a site admin through secondary agencies connected to you. When are you going to start making them under your own name?
“My friends would…” is an evasion of “I would…” When will you say “I will…”?
goddamn interwebz, forcing him to use his words
What, as opposed to actually conversing with someone on the telephone, who would have thunk it
Ah, so kk has a diagnosed neurological condition that compels him to violence rather than rational discussion?
I didn’t know that “being right wing” was listed in DSM–IV, although I agree that it probably should be.
R.
What do you expect Tracey. If he can’t win the argument, and it gets a little heated, he will resort to his fists. It’s just typical thug practice, if he cant win the argument, then he hits his opponent.
You see heaps of this type of ‘person’ in Wellington/Auckland on a Friday/Saturday nights. They are the reason sane people don’t visit these places anymore.
a valuble lesson about the perils of running ones mouth off
How delightfully authoritarian. And I’m sure you’d be just as enthusiastic if it were you getting the same treatment from a regime you disagreed with.
And the whole anonymous versus pseudonymous bullshit is raised again. And a paid opinionator/commissar once again displays how to twist and turn an event via omission, selective quoting and a smattering of fiction.
In my world, his attempted character assassination of a person he doesn’t even know – and by extension and clear implication a whole online world of people who use pseudonyms – is beneath contempt.
Meanwhile, calling out an organisation is legitimate. And should be encouraged in any society. Surely. Just not in Brian commissar Rudman’s world, peopled as it is by benevolent figures of authority and where all is good and all is right and the aforementioned grown up’s ought to be left to order things and act as they see fit
Well said, Bill.
Yes, so many things wrong with what Rudman wrote. I posted a couple of comments, will see if they turn up.
Kracklite doesn’t post anonymously, they post pseudonymously. This means they use a consistent name on the internet and regulars know who the person is. Using an apparent real life name like John Wilson means no more than using a name like Kracklite, because there is no way to know who that John Wilson is. What you are suggesting isn’t an issue of names, it’s an issue of sharing personal details online. Many of us have valid and very good reasons for not doing so. You don’t have to live in China to fear for your job or wellbeing. That you have a level of security and privilege in your life that means you can be published using your RL name doesn’t mean everyone does.
btw anonymous commenters are people where there is no way to know which particular person is posting at any given time. Most serious political blogs don’t allow anonymous commenting because it’s too hard to follow debate when you don’t know who made any specific comment. A good example of anonymous posting is newspapers that publish editorials without saying who wrote the piece.
I know Kracklite’s commenting style, and while their comments can be harsh and sometimes inflammatory, they don’t fit ordinary definitions of trolling. Someone in your position of power mis-using the term ‘troll’ against someone whose opinions you don’t like IS an attempt at suppression of free speech.
As for rules of debate and defamation, most political blogs have very clear moderation of things that are potentially defammatory, because it is the blog owners that are legally liable for what they publish. Calling the police ‘pigs’ would not be considered a legally risky statement. Rules of debate vary from blog to blog, sometimes hugely, and I doubt that most academic institutions have any better idea of what those are than most newspaper journalists.
Your ridiculing and marginalising of someone with Aspergers tells me more about you than the issues of the blog commentariat.
Overall I find your piece to be full of inaccuracies and prejudices about the blogosphere. Blogs are here to stay, might be better if the MSM educated themselves on how they actually work.
And what a surprise to see Pete George get his grubby little mitts in there too (the Herald comments). What a vile cretin he is.
Nice comment – and more polite than I’d have done.
Oh I was definitely biting my tongue. I was going for polite in the hope they would actually publish it. Doesn’t look like they will though (can’t see how it was any worse than some of the ones that have been published).
Excellent comment weka. Thank-you. Now we’ll wait to see if it appears.
Weka, I just checked Rudman’s column and your comments are now up – divided into two comments.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11155976
The quickest way to them is to go to the comments and sort by “latest” and then scroll down.
Well done.
thanks vv. Took quite a long time (4+ hours), good to know for next time.
Wow, Weka,
that is just amazing. I’m probably blushing (meaning a whiter shade of pale, no doubt – I’ll have to go check in the mirror and listen to Procul Harum). As for everyone else below – too many to name – thank you very much also. Of course you’re sticking up for principles, which I admire.
As for inflammatory, well, I’ve read far too much of Harlan Ellison not to love his style. Please check out the documentary Dreams With Sharp Teeth .
And welcome back Rhino, I also seek out and value your comments. As much as I was appalled by Rudman’s offensive lowbrow article, I must say I got a good laugh from his repeated labeling of you as a tr0ll.
Also laugh worthy was his parting “At least the Roast Busters didn’t hide behind anonymity,” shot. O fer sure, you could learn a thing or two from the RBers Rhino. Where’s my Tui? I hope you’re laughing too.
I indulged in a mild chuckle. I’ve been called worse by better people, as… er, someone said. Pierre Trudeau, I think.
Damn! There’s something I haven’t heard in a while – that album with the purple and grey cover!
I’ve been away and hadn’t noticed your absence – but welcome back.
Well said weka. What a pathetic article from Rudman.
I noted a significant number of comments supportive of Rhinocrates when I read the article this morning. “A toxic tr0l” was a bit inflammatory. ouch!
Yep Weka they made it in. Unlike mine for calling PG out for his Secret Squirrel name among his others
why was this newsworthy by rudman??? Do journos just read TS, KB and whale slick all day?
Well they do if they want to find out the latest political gossip and news
lol – you fellow traveller you.
I am disgusted at Rudman’s column. I had some respect for Rudman as a columnist prior to this one, although I did not necessarily always agree with his views.
But this one is just over the top – particularly his attempts to ‘out’ the blogger. Thankfully, the majority of the comments to date do not support Rudman’s rave – or rather his emotive venom, as you so rightly called it, Karol.
To the blogger, you have my support and I have always sought out your comments here when I see them pop up as I always found them well worth reading in terms of their content and your writing style – and for the most part, on the same wavelength as my thinking. Kia kaha.
Edit – you said it much better than me, Bill.
+100 Also a fan of the comments, and find them worth the time taken to read and ponder.
Will be looking out for more of the same – hope they will be forthcoming.
I agree re reading the comments, Molly – they often give a better indication than the column itself. And over the last few months, imo there has bee quite a sea change in the comments on the Herald.
Re the comments on Rudman’s column, Weka’s excellent comment at 11.2.2. has not come up yet; but Emma Hart has a comment up now along the same vein.
Edit – Pete George again shows the weasel he is in his comment.
PG – shame on him!
Emma – well said.
I still have a chuckle now and then over Rhino’s Shearer speech. Must have been six months ago now. He was sorting his supermarket list at the same time he was making a speech and of course he got the two muddled up. Hilarious it was. 🙂
Exactly!!! Go Rhinocrates!
Rudderless Rudman obviously doesn’t know what an internet tr0ll is, strange he didn’t mention how being called a jellyfish seemingly prompted the police commissioner to make a phone call, maybe it was a “I’m not a jellyfish, I’m a blind eel” call.
“eelo eelo, wot’s goin’ on ‘ere then”.
It’s business that really rules us now
And how much of this jumping to do what the corporations want do we see in NZ? There’s the Warner Brothers legislation, the SkyCity sell out and the removal of democracy in Canterbury so that the farmers could get their hands on our precious water.
‘
When you say “Warner Brothers’ Legislation:” were you referring to both the local labour and human rights legislation or were you referring to the wider, less explicit US spying legislation? Both, I guess.
I was specifically thinking of the change to our labour laws to please WB but I think you’re right in that the US spying legislation also applies.
Brian Rudman often writes reasonable columns about local government and Auckland issues. He is an old fashioned ex Auckland Star journalist that talks to people and digs away for a story. But he is also old fashioned to the extent that he clearly does not understand internet anonymity.
Regular posters with a handle build up an identity over time that others can relate to or sometimes not. It is what people are saying or linking to that matters not who they are. You can become quite loyal to some fellow bloggers and posters.
Rudman should look over his shoulder because some of the worst anonymous contributors known to humankind are the NZ Herald editorial writers.
Likely true, but I also suspect that he has never been personally persecuted by some of the rather vengeful police tactics and attitudes that other people here have experienced.
If he had, he might realise why pseudonymity is very valuable to some people in a serious democracy.
this is an interview of russell brand..(in front of a live-audience..)
..recorded about 48 hrs ago..
..and it is a recommended-watch..
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36816.htm
phillip ure..
I decided to take a look at how Might Rive Power and Meridian shares were doing.
Oh dear.
MRP currently at $2.170 and Meridian at $1.025.
Oh dear?
Sarcasm.
Ahhh
The Central Bank says that over- borrowing for farming especially dairying is putting the country’s economy at risk. Perhaps we can have some safeguards against the agricultural bubble, aka as a fart, by the government cutting down on overseas buyers and ensuring that all buyers don’t use leverage but have a decent deposit.
And the meat industry is trying to rationalise the meat operators. There are about 20, most competing overseas, something long criticised because it results in unhealthy competition where we want best price not cheapest. Southland where meat production has been strong is converting to dairy at an alarming rate. Soon they won’t have enough supply to keep their local buyers and dealers viable. For heaven’s sake, before I die can NZ get its bloody meat economy in order. Before it gets to the stage where its an invalid, limping along and spreading sickness throughout the country.
Annoying that people are starting to call the Reserve Bank, the Central Bank. I mean, wtf…it is the Reserve Bank…
Central Bank says “rising household indebtedness poses a risk if the financial sector comes under pressure” and “…will look at LVR exemptions…” despite Warwick Quinn advising that the new lending requirements are “choking off new building”- (30% drop-off).
-Midday Report
Time for KiwiFarm, amiright?
We already have KiwiFarm, and it looks after billions of dollars of very productive farm land, thank you very much.
How would this Ernst and Young ‘inquiry’ have the power to find out if Sky City hotel room(s) were used in the Mayor Len Brown / Bevan Chaung affair, if Len Brown had no financial record/ Council documentation which proved it?
_____________________________________________________________________________
Auckland Council CEO
Doug McKay
Dear Doug,
‘Open Letter’ re: Inquiry into Conduct of Mayor Len Brown
http://www.interest.co.nz/sites/default/files/Independent%20Review%20Scope.pdf
Please confirm that the terms of reference of this ‘inquiry’ include an investigation into the alleged use of Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s) in the affair between Mayor Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.
As an ‘anti-corruption’ Public Watchdog, I am primarily interested in knowing whether Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s), were used in the affair between Mayor Len Brown and Bevan Chuang.
The issue of payment (who paid, how they were paid for, or if they were used without payment), although significant, is secondary (in my considered opinion).
Please confirm that the alleged use Sky City premises (namely hotel room(s), will be covered by this ‘inquiry’, given that there may not be any evidence available from either Auckland Council documents or financial records.
Can you please acknowledge receipt of this correspondence at your earliest available opportunity.
Yours sincerely,
Penny Bright
NZ Herald’s live (and relatively uninformative, apart from evidence of obsessions with weather and the police desk) newsdesk blog to commemorate it’s anniversary, shows Armstrong to be a one-finger typist.
Looks like a chimp.
Careful fellas, it’s likely related to his seriously deteriorating health conditions.
‘
That bog is scary in a spooky kinda way.
Finlayson pwning Adern.
Finlayson just being abusive -how many times to he say something about “your thug union mates”?
“Police are investigating seven sex attacks around a leisure complex in Manukau over the last two months.
The assaults took place in and around the Manukau Sports Bowl and the Gardens/Totara Park area.
One of the victims was aged 13.
“We are concerned about these types of incidents due to the nature and frequency of offending in these areas,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Darrell Harpur.
“The latest occurrence was in broad daylight at a public playground. We urge people in the area to be vigilant and accompany their children to local playgrounds.”
When is it too soon to send out the warning? After the first assault/rape? The second, or 2 months after the first and after number 7?
Opposition MPs – lift your game!
When Key tells lies in Parliament, is there not one single MP who is smart enough and quick-witted enough to challenge him?
Three – yes, 3 – times in a couple of minutes of Question Time Key mocked the asset sales referendum by claiming that Labour and the Greens had “arrogantly” ignored the smacking referendum when they were in power.
Not one MP asked “Who was in power at the time of the referendum?” “Did you support or oppose the law?” “Did you change the law or keep it?” etc, etc.
No challenge at all, just lots of brain-dead shouting. He rewrites history in the most brazen, mendacious way, and you sit there like fools.
(sure, plenty of people immediately tweeted the obvious rejoinders, but what use is that? Any of us can do that, you are the ones there, being PAID to do a job. THINK on your feet. Wake up!).
This has been going on for years. Cunliffe is doing better than Shearer (a low bar, admittedly), but overall the opposition are still failing. Key was acting like a drunken madman today, and you let him. Yet again.
Yes, I was amazed at Key’s bald faced lies on the smacking referendum.
Cunliffe got onto it in the General Debate – but slow off the mark.
Yes, they often catch up in the general debate. When Key is no longer there, and the media are no longer watching.
It’s like trying to “win” an election debate in the spin room, after you’ve lost on live TV. It does very little good.
Question 1
Quite a bit of the opposition trying to pull Key up on his re-writing of history. The Speaker didn’t seem to impressed.
I think gs’s point is that the opposition to Key’s lies need to be expressed in very pointed supplementary questions, not just via heckling.
Clare Curran said that every man and his dog knew the price Chorus could charge for use of its copper network would be slashed substantially by the Commerce Commission.
But as the NBR points out (paywall), Curran is now trying to reinvent history. Despite her now claiming she always knew the copper price would drop, back in 2011 she actually said the copper price would increase:
“The people of New Zealand who are receiving broadband services will find their existing copper services go up in price while they are waiting for fibre.”
Cunliffe said in 2011:
“The objective analysis we have seen…is that the average New Zealander will pay at least $5 more a month for the same service they are currently getting on their copper phone line.”
Parker also chipped in with similar comments.
Nice work Clare Curran…
while im no fan of clare curran – the copper pricing thing wasnt really a surprise to anyone, especially chorus and the govt
the fact that copper prices were high, and expected to come down by force or free will has been on the cards for years
so stick it to CC all you want – but please dont let govt and industry players who did know about this off the hook at the same time
Um – the only site that has that CC ‘quote’ is the greasy cetacean.
At best that’s almost certainly not exactly what she said. At worst it’s up there with the edited Jim Anderton – earthquake vid.
But then, the PR is probably paid by the quantity of cross-postings from tory propaganda sites, not the quality.
Ships of the desert ; MERS updates.
INFECTION CONTROL Today
From The Local Europe. Sound familiar. The free market at work eh?
Top 10: bargain properties in Italy
Property prices in Italy fell by almost 12 percent in 2012, triggering a rise in foreign investment as buyers take advantage of a market where locals are struggling to get on the property ladder. With the help of estate agents, The Local has drawn up a list of where the bargain properties are to be found.
Sweden feels the lack of father’s moral care too. From the Local – Swededn.
Sweden ‘failed to protect’ shower girl: court
The Swedish legal system failed to protect a 14-year-old girl whose stepfather, who was acquitted in Sweden, covertly filmed her naked in the shower according to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights
Oh dear, it looks like a Cold War type paranoia maybe rearing its ugly head again.
http://www.3news.co.nz/NZ-could-breed-extremists—Kibblewhite/tabid/1607/articleID/321213/Default.aspx#.UoMTLSehsiI
My father was subjected to surveillance and other unpleasant covert type activities in the 1970s after some bureaucratic idiots jumped to some wrong conclusions about his retirement activities. Rather long story, and it’s still debatable whether the idiots were local or attached to an off-shore agency. They were all running around each others’ territory in those days because they didn’t have the electronic technology that is available today.
towel- heads under the bed-clothes.
If you wonder why I have voted National for the past couple of elections this may give you a clue despite having been converted from nothing in particular to socialism by Bill Sutch’s ‘The Responsible Society’, and then later by Roger Douglas’s ‘Common Sense’ ….. First published at KB but here it might do more good?
OH DEAR BOO HOO Poor first home buyers cannot be expected to find $80T deposit for their $400T new home. What a load of left wing c..p.
Admittedly there is been inflation in the past fifty years but my first home was 60 years old maybe more and after building a new house in the backyard with the valuable assistance of my wife [ while I still worked a 40 hour week and wife kept house and raised our son ] it was demolished. A junior football team did it Saturday morning to raise money for a trip out of town.
Cost $2000 to buy it … total mortgage $5000 plus income to build it after we started showing we were serious to first my lawyer and then a bank. Then for fittings we had a TV and a small fridge which I had brought to the marraige from the mobile caravan I had been living in, no car until after house was completed.
Really I am crying hard for the poor stupid sods and the political leaders trying to make hay out of the first home people wanting to waltz into a brand new house along with all the fittings to keep up with the jonses …. not to consider the impact of forecast interest increases on such large loans. No doubt that will be the next bleeding heart story of a couple of years time.
I remember the smug feeling back in the 70′s when interest rates were in double figures and I only had to pay on perhaps $4000 thanks to the hard work of my wife and I.
thankyou for the space …..
>40 year old well capitalised buyers are blocking out or price gouging <40 year old first home buyers.
Your comment is a beautiful demonstration of how out of touch your demographic is in its role here.
I wrote in the hope that it might invoke some common sense here and in the market place rather than sppeal to the mentally locked … oh well another time.
One can hope it saves some from mortaging their lives to the banks.
Don’t ask me? i’m a renter and have never had any desire to own property…. and I’m a leftie.
What is this obsession with property ownership?
The problem is the obsession with the second and third house as investment though understandable when one considers the unreliability of the share market … the first house is just the first step to becoming a capitalist apart from those such as myself who are happy with just a roof over my head.
Didnt they have things like Housing Corp mortagages, and family benefit capitalisations, and so on?
And I bet you voted for the government that got rid of them. Typical ladder puller.
From the Financial Times
This is one of the outcomes of the Libor scandal. They are looking at the Australian dollar, but this has to affect he Kiwi is one of he most actively traded currencies in the world
Biggest banks face forex probe questions
By Daniel Schäfer and Caroline Binham
The global probe into foreign exchange manipulation has widened to include 15 of the world’s biggest banks and some of the most actively traded currencies, as lenders scramble to help authorities in exchange for leniency.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3c06d74c-4bbe-11e3-8203-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2kVVdSqS5
“Before Libor, people thought benchmarks could be trusted. Now there’s a presumption that there’s a risk of manipulation. Perhaps manipulation is not the exception but the rule.”
Yes, it is the rule. Countries and pension funds have been going broke because of this and other banking scams.
This.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/11/13/dinner-at-government-house-if-sir-jerry-mateparae-was-a-corporation-wed-say-he-had-a-political-agenda/
revealing and concerning; came, saw, and signed the Tee-shirt.
Unusually, hope its not worth anything next year