Open Mike 14/12/2018

Written By: - Date published: 5:49 am, December 14th, 2018 - 142 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

142 comments on “Open Mike 14/12/2018 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. WILD KATIPO 1
    14 December 2018 at 6:55 am

    Oh dear… red haired giants and Lovelock cave… them dang redheads….

    Well hec,… Sasquatch ( Can , USA ) , Mahoe man ( NZ ) , Yowies ( Aus ) , Yetis (Himilaya’s ) and Yeren ( China ) … Mound Builders that the Smithonian’s do away with the bones cos it threatens Darwin …

    Lets take a look at what our ancestors ( Homo sapiens ) had to deal with , shall we ?…

    And reflect on what influence they may have had … in our modern world … and why we have so many problems with psychopathic rulers today…

    M.K.Davis discusses the giant hand print on a cave wall. – YouTube

    • WILD KATIPO 1.1
      14 December 2018 at 7:20 am

      Traditional Lakota/Dakota Sundance Songs 3/6 – YouTube

    • Robert Guyton 1.2
      14 December 2018 at 7:50 am

      Wild Katipo – take a gander at this !!!
      https://twitter.com/ZonePhysics
      (scroll down to the image with this accompanying text:
      “What you see is a myosin protein dragging an endorphin along a filament to the inner part of the brain’s parietal cortex which creates happiness. Happiness. You’re looking at happiness”

      • WILD KATIPO 1.2.1
        14 December 2018 at 8:12 am

        I prefer people who have actually been there…

        Tim Coonbo Baker
        Former NASA scientist Tim Coonbo Baker speaks about Bigfoot …

        • WILD KATIPO 1.2.1.1
          14 December 2018 at 8:54 am

          Just a little bit more for the case of an ancient remnant…. who may or may not have … ramifications for modern man…and his seemingly inability to plan rationally or do so with socially amiable outcomes…

          A closer look at – Guy Chases Bigfoot In The Woods – YouTube

          • WILD KATIPO 1.2.1.1.1
            14 December 2018 at 8:58 am

            And why ?…

            I’ll let you be the judge….

            Neanderthal: Profile of a super predator – YouTube

            There well may be a reason for all this psychopathic behavior due to rape and oppression. Who can say ? DNA ?

            But it just might be well worth some kind of unbiased scientific reports… do we even have that these days?

            Back to the days of Nimrod….

            • WILD KATIPO 1.2.1.1.1.1
              14 December 2018 at 9:53 am

              Darwinian science and evolution…. yeah right….”

              The Smithsonian: We Destroyed the Skeletons of Giant … – YouTube

              • greywarshark …
                14 December 2018 at 11:24 am

                That’s wild Wild Katipo. Makes a change from studying the anthropomorphic tracings that can be viewed around NZ Parliament Buildings.

  2. Cinny 2
    14 December 2018 at 7:17 am

    Massive praise to Bernie Sanders and others for standing up and calling out the War in Yemen during a senate debate on the subject.

    Thank you for speaking up, may it be the catalyst for change, fingers crossed re the vote over there.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/senate-rebukes-saudi-arabia-yemen-war-khashoggi-murder-181213004802358.html

  3. gsays 3
    14 December 2018 at 7:24 am

    I have listened to Stuff’s podcast ‘The District’. The District refers to the local area.

    It looks at the death of a digger operator, who was retrieving a stuck tractor, with the aid of a bulldozer.
    The official line is the victim was run over, other sources say he was crushed.
    Anyhow, a tenacious sister has been investigating.
    Things aren’t adding up, and in her enquiries she meets Des Thomas.
    Des is youngest brother of Arthur Thomas, wrongly convicted twice of the homicide of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe.

    Amongst other things revealed is a 22 calibre rifle, pushed barrel down into the mud in a dam. This gets handed to police, who cut the barrel into three pieces, making testing impossible. This rifle is found a few kilometres from where the murders took place.

    The 2014 ‘review’ police held into the homicides, did not mention the rifle discovery, and seemed to just pile up more stuff casting doubt on Thomas’s innocence.

    This affair, for me, was when the police lost their innocence and a lot of mana.

    It occurs to me The District may also refer to how police are organised and have a more sinister implication.

    Congratulations to Paula Penfold, Eugene Bingham and others for this piece of investigative journalism.

  4. Robert Guyton 4
    14 December 2018 at 7:28 am

    “The unprepared” – a very interesting read from Brian Easton
    https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/the-unprepared

    “Another instructive example is housing policy. The new government’s view was that New Zealand’s housing crisis (identified by John Key in 2007) required state-sponsored building of more houses. It is not an easy strategy to get under way, especially as the preceding government‘s approach was much more laissez faire. (In contrast, the First Labour Government’s housing program was grounded in work carried out by the preceding Minister of Finance, Gordon Coates.) Instructively, the Minister of Housing, Phil Twyford, has had to create a new government agency to implement his ambition.

    Public understanding of the program has not been helped by the commentariat. Undoubtedly some of the uninformed critics are ideologically opposed to state intervention (and are as enamoured with Judith Collins, National’s spokesperson on housing, as some Labour supporters are with Jacinda Ardern) but most, I think, have been as unprepared for the change in policy direction as the public service, and default to the position they learned under National. They are not National aligned, but creatures of limited habit, repeating what they learned under Key.

    The Minister of Health, David Clark, has faced a different problem. Whatever his analysis or ambitions, he has been overwhelmed by problems left from his National predecessor. (It is called ‘alligator country’; dealing with them means forgetting that the point is to drain the swamp.)”

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      14 December 2018 at 11:05 am

      That’s a good read and clearly shows the problem that is managerialism:

      Following Enteman’s 1993 classic on Managerialism: The Emergence of a New Ideology,[5] American management experts Robert Locke and J C Spender see managerialism as an expression of a special group – management – that entrenches itself ruthlessly and systemically in an organization.[6] It deprives owners of decision-making power and workers of their ability to resist managerialism. In fact the rise of managerialism may in itself be a response to people’s resistance in society and more specifically to workers’ opposition against managerial regimes.

      The rise of managerialism seems to have come along, hand in hand, with neo-liberalism.

  5. miravox 5
    14 December 2018 at 9:06 am

    Re Budget well-being measures introduced by Grant Robertson. Amy Adams said on TV Breakfast this morning …

    “The country, the Government, has always measured these things and has always cared about how New Zealanders are doing. That’s the ultimate measure for any government.”…

    Ahem:

    • OnceWasTim 5.1
      14 December 2018 at 12:30 pm

      Ew! Did you have to do that?

      The ‘re-imaging’ that’s occurred though since that Bennett extravaganza, and today is quite startling (and I don’t necessarily mean aesthetically).

      I wonder if Paula Bennett stands by all her statements in whatever context they were given

      • miravox 5.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 3:20 pm

        Sorry, OWT… This just sprung to mind as soon as I heard Adams

        It seems both can tell lies so easily.

  6. mac1 6
    14 December 2018 at 9:52 am

    The National Cricket Club.

    Puckish Rogue has introduced the analogy of cricket and politics. I offer this mid-season review of the NCC.

    Simon Bridges is a medium pacer whose stock ball is two feet outside leg stump. Yet to take a wicket, though he opens the bowling when on the field. As captain does not know when to remove himself from the attack. Has an awkward delivery style and often challenged by the umpire for appealing when the delivery is half way down the pitch.

    Paula Bennett has been known to run herself out, deflecting the ball onto the stumps. Opens the bowling in Bridges’s absence. She likes to pack the catching cordon in hopes of a mis-hit but, like her understanding, most of her deliveries are returned straight back over her head.

    Nick Smith has a full of effort and red-faced approach to the wicket but his deliveries are too short of any length. He has an earnest yet temperamental style and indeed is easily wound up into too many loose deliveries.

    Michael Woodhouse is an earnest off-spinner with a dangerous straight ball that looks like it will drift away but demands bat and pad played close together.

    Gerry Browning appeals often for LBW from his unsighted position at square leg but the umpire has learnt to wave away his vociferous appeals.

    Mark Mitchell runs in a bristling fashion, and is all aggression, with many deliveries spearing in at the throat. Seen as a possible captain, but too many wide deliveries from this right-armer cause him to be of little threat but to his own team fielding in close catching positions.

    Judith Collins has fulfilled the 12th man role on occasion and is seen as captain of the ‘B’ team. Her glare at a turned down appeal makes a 22 yard pitch seem far too short for safety. Her strike ball is a yorker designed to dent toes and reputations.

    Jonathon Coleman is retiring soon. His steady nit-picking length and parsimonious style made him hard to score off. His legacy as the team medic meant that a new first aid room had to be built by his successors.

    Fielding in the deep, Amy Adams, dislikes cyclists on the boundary near her eight favourite fielding positions. Her NOMBY stance (Not On My Boundary) has the lycra-clad in an uproar.

    The former captain, Bill English, was gifted the leadership at a time when the former captain , John Key, was facing prospective defeat and charges of ball tampering.

    Club treasurer, Stephen Joyce, thought he had detected a hole in the opposition’s score card with an extra 11 runs short but when even the friendly media saw the error in his accounting, his attempt failed.

    The search for a wicket-keeper is still being conducted, as no-one with a safe pair of hands can be found.

    Allegations of bullying in the dressing room, tantrums, hair-pulling, match-fixing, dodgy donations to the beer fund, and unflattering references to the ethnic origins of fellow team members plague the team.

    Best estimates are that the NCC (National Cricket Club) will return to near winning form in about another decade.

    • veutoviper 6.1
      14 December 2018 at 10:04 am

      Wonderful!!!!!!!!

      Even though I HATE cricket – and would rather watch paint dry.

      Thanks. ROFL.

      • One Twi 6.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 10:27 am

        Such an ugly word, the ‘H’ Word…

        In my opinion..the ugliest word of all…

      • Puckish Rogue 6.1.2
        14 December 2018 at 11:14 am

        Watch this then, it’ll change your mind

        • Andre 6.1.2.1
          14 December 2018 at 12:41 pm

          I got too bored to continue watching at 1:28.

          There’s fascinating colour and texture changes happening on a piece of wood I just polyurethaned that are much more interesting.

          • veutoviper 6.1.2.1.1
            14 December 2018 at 1:19 pm

            It’s that moment that it starts to coagulate …..

            Blink – and the moment is gone forever.

            • Puckish Rogue 6.1.2.1.1.1
              14 December 2018 at 1:59 pm

              By crikey when I get crowned Emperor of the Earth (by our alien overlords) there’ll be some changes round I can tell you

              However if you start your penance I might, I stress might, be merciful…your penance starts right here:

          • greywarshark 6.1.2.1.2
            14 December 2018 at 5:34 pm

            Is it on a cricket bat?

            • Andre 6.1.2.1.2.1
              14 December 2018 at 5:41 pm

              No. Do they get finished with polyurethane? Watching Pucky’s video I got the impression they’d be polished by getting rubbed in a player’s crotch like the balls, or something else equally bizarre.

    • fender 6.2
      14 December 2018 at 10:08 am

      LOL excellent!!!

      Love it!!!

      I suggest every member of this hapless team play in the position of left right out.

    • Ad 6.3
      14 December 2018 at 10:28 am

      Good work there

    • Puckish Rogue 6.4
      14 December 2018 at 11:09 am

      🙂

      (Also go the Black Caps!)

    • AB 6.5
      14 December 2018 at 11:22 am

      Thanks Mac1. Just to add:
      Current head coach, Lynton Crosby, has managed successful teams in Australia and England often using identical methods and messaging (“brighter future”). However while his methods have produced spectacular short-term successes, the long-term results are starting to look disappointing. Many attribute this to the complete moral vacuum that is the centrepiece of his approach. The aggressive self-interested accumulation of runs (and cash) has been very effective when focused outward on the opposition and society at large, but has shown a tendency to turn inwards and foment disloyalty.

      • mac1 6.5.1
        14 December 2018 at 12:08 pm

        Thanks, AB. I said they’ll get near winning form in a decade but now it’s “whining form” as blame and whingeing replace the formerly moderate and relatively decent values of the old National Party, the one that Winston Peters knew.

        As Australian cricket has shown, if you lose your best three batsmen the brittleness shows.

        Politics and cricket are about many of the same things. Attack and defence. Team spirit. Team cooperation. Batting for the team. Long practice and preparation. Team selection. Captaincy. Coaching. Competitive but fair-minded play. Respect for the opposition. Fickle fans. Media interest. Magic moments. Short sound bites. Weather. Hours of play. Touring. PR. The public. Balanced teams. Good support staff. Even playing fields. Prepared pitches.

        The downsides are the same. Match fixing, cronyism, favouritism, factionalism, imbalance, poor administration, egotism, social climbing, inequality of opportunity and resources, sledging, disrespect in all its forms of racism, mysogyny, class, education, ethnicity.

        Cricket is great preparation for life. A sport where both individual and team performances matter, where dedication and skill matter, where disappointment and unfairness in luck and in decisions, perceived or real, have to be dealt with.

        • Puckish Rogue 6.5.1.1
          14 December 2018 at 2:07 pm

          Yup, all to this (well most of it 😉 )

          Why cricket is a metaphor for life, politics…anything

          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10854330

          My personal favorite because it demonstrates putting aside ones own ego to get the best out of people, how to manage egos effectively and how to work together to achieve your goals (when you probably want to throttle each other)

          Richard Hadlee v Jeremy Coney II – Shuttle diplomacy, 1986-87

          John Wright said he felt like renowned American diplomat Henry Kissinger delivering requests and instructions from Coney at slip to Hadlee the bowler during the third test against the West Indies in Christchurch. The pair had a falling out after a Hadlee Truth newspaper column criticised the New Zealand team’s alleged sloppy practice habits and tardy attitude. Coney believed such remarks should have stayed within the team.

          As veteran journalist Don Cameron recalled on cricinfo.com: “Hadlee was not impressed with his short opening spell, so took himself off, and Wright had to pass the information to Coney. But the team recovered from the drama. Hadlee returned to take six for 50 – three of them from Coney slip catches – and the New Zealanders’ mood improved, if not completely, by the fact they won the test by five wickets.” Wright concluded the pair must have resolved their differences because he couldn’t remember telling Hadlee “the captain says ‘well bowled”‘.

        • Puckish Rogue 6.5.1.2
          14 December 2018 at 2:14 pm

          Agreed 🙂

          https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10854330

          Even when players don’t want to talk to each other (Hadlee and Coney) you can still get the result you want if you know how to manage properly

          Could be something in that for political parties

    • ianmac 6.6
      14 December 2018 at 12:24 pm

      Yes Mac 1. Bluddy clever and funny. And probably true.

    • OnceWasTim 6.7
      14 December 2018 at 12:49 pm

      Woodhouse is also gaining a reputation for ‘sledging’, albeit in sophisticated style but with fuck all substance, in the hope pomposity and various angles of attack will eventually see a wicket fall.
      And Chris is happier to just watch from the sidelines and offer moral support for the tactics employed like a dutiful little school boy, while Gerry is still slicing the oranges and contemplating the wicket (if he can find it) also from the sidelines.
      Gerry and Chris are also busy discussing the technicalities – with Chris as the expert, and Gerry mulling over the best means of delivery.

      Soimon is wondering whether it’s all worth it and whether or not a bit of fixing might not be in order. He’s got JK on speed dial.

    • gsays 6.8
      14 December 2018 at 2:02 pm

      Excellent mac1, out of the park.

      • mac1 6.8.1
        14 December 2018 at 2:08 pm

        Thanks, gsays. What of interest also are those inside the park.

        Village cricket eccentrics found here on the Standard.

        The little mascot brought by the blonde lady with the big glasses that bounds yapping onto the field wanting to chase the ball but runs back to its mistress to be fed little tit bits and bark at passers-by?

        The adolescent in mid-puberty on the bank who knows nothing about cricket but annoys the adults around him asking questions all the time which he thinks will show how knowledgeable he is, always commenting but never able to discuss?

        The boy with the score book annotating every run and keeping statistics?

        The grumpy Yorkshireman who asserts that the only true cricket is played in LeEDs?

        The groundsman who likes to bring out the heavy roller when faced with spectators who don’t keep the ground rules and who deals with pitch invaders the same way.

        The green-keeper whose uses horse manure and a scythe to maintain lawn order and never is asked what’s growing in the green house…..

        Any takers?

    • patricia bremner 6.9
      14 December 2018 at 5:18 pm

      Mac 1 This is classic.
      Here’s to the Coalition Cricket Club winning the next 3 tests.
      My cricket loving husband laughed out loud. Hearing me chuckling away, he wanted in on the joke. An enjoyable read, and yes a reflection of life.
      N says “The National Cricket team doesn’t do well on a sticky wicket”.

  7. Anne 7
    14 December 2018 at 10:21 am

    Good news:

    Wallace Chapman will be taking over “The Panel” from Jan.14 next year. I expect there will be some refreshing newcomers in the line up of guests. Might start listening again.

    Guyon is leaving Morning Report to do more long-term field work. I think that has been a big part of his problem. He doesn’t like being cooped up in a studio and takes it out on his guests – especially those on the left.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/378252/guyon-espiner-moves-from-morning-report-in-rnz-changes

    • veutoviper 7.1
      14 December 2018 at 10:37 am

      I am happy with those two changes – but Mora on Sunday Mornings??????

      NONONONONONONO

      • Puckish Rogue 7.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 10:38 am

        Reminds me of something

      • greywarshark 7.1.2
        14 December 2018 at 11:08 am

        Mora I want no more of. Sunday morning reflected Wallace Chapman’s thoughtful, ethical and religious background. Mora is just the thinking man’s Mike Hosking. So no more of him, I don’t want Sunday morning dumbed down by Mora’s interests and tendencies.

        It is interesting how people in Radionz have their favourites –
        Mora and Noelle McCarthy for instance. Jim has an aura of sanctity about him after he became front man for a garden and hardware franchise which funded the projects undertaken in doing up worthy peoples’ gardens. McCarthy has tried to widen her approach but would be best for what to do in the holidays, and why working women are so stressed, and do teeth whiteners harm your teeth and leave you toothless in old age, and of course a biggie subject, how old can you live with new scientific findings and drugs being developed.

        Are there other people who have done nationally recognised things regarded positively, and who broadcasts well that people could think of as alternative to Mora? People with huge interests, who can be incisive, light-hearted, querulous at times, interesting always, chat with others and bring out their interesting thoughts and reactions. And don’t mention Kim Hill, I am looking for someone of the same calibre who would be 40-50. I don’t know if Bryan Crump would like a change but he is so good on nights and I think very popular there. What about one of the two who take over Radionz on holiday afternoons and are a bit crazy, they are wide-ranging and presumably have strong interests about people being wonderful and creative around the world.

        • Sacha 7.1.2.1
          14 December 2018 at 1:43 pm

          “What about one of the two who take over Radionz on holiday afternoons”

          Just on grounds of musical taste, no.

      • Macro 7.1.3
        14 December 2018 at 2:24 pm

        OMG! Mora on Sunday mornings

        aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

    • Ad 7.2
      14 December 2018 at 11:43 am

      Very sorry to hear Guyon Espiner leaving the show.

      He has taken te reo seriously and it’s been awesome.

      Personally I think RNZ morning report has been far too soft on this government, except for the sustained reporting on NZTA’s failing regulatory arm, which in no small part brought down the Chief Executive.

      RNZ reporting also led directly to the Ministry of Transport investigation directed by the Minister that will blow NZTA out of the water when it reports back to Parliament in late March 2019. No one else really gave a damn about it, but Morning Report was consistently at it over months.

    • OnceWasTim 7.3
      14 December 2018 at 1:00 pm

      The very bad news is that Mora will be doing Sunday morning – but there’s a silver lining: The sleep-in and the Sunday Market at Te Papa.
      I might even go have a healthy breakfast at a Subway somewhere.
      Actually there’s even MORE good news. My idol (Kim) has come out unscathed and it appears she’ll continue on a Saturday – and maybe (fingers crossed) as the Clingon’s replacement on Morning Report until a replacement is found.
      Hopefully the replacement is an escaped Okker called Alex

      • Blazer 7.3.1
        14 December 2018 at 1:22 pm

        ‘I might even go have a healthy breakfast at a Subway somewhere.’

        Recent Reddit expose about Subway ,suggests you ..might not.

      • OnceWasTim 7.3.2
        14 December 2018 at 1:45 pm

        Snap @ VV above!.

        By the way @ VV. I thought of you and @ Anne as I was perusing this virtual ‘space’ going forward.

        There’s a thing on PUNDIT by Brian Easton, and it sums things up nicely re our Public Service and the state it’s in but it’s a good analysis.

        I think there are one or two things that he’s being a fucking sight more charitable than I would have been – to do with culture and the effects of the career-minded generic manager.
        The longer term effects of that don’t seem to have been answered adequately in my opinion.
        Have a read when you get time and let us all know what you think.

        And when you do, think of the record of the past 10 or so years – especially in relation to Ministries, departments and agencies like NZTA, WINZ, Housing COrp, Health, ALL that comprises the Ministry for EVERTHING (from radio frequencies and interferance, to ripped off employees to immigrants to shitty steel FFS, and a lot more).
        I read a couple of PEBs! They just fucking STUNNED me.

        Let me know what you think

        • veutoviper 7.3.2.1
          14 December 2018 at 2:26 pm

          Will do, OWT. Won’t be today as I am a bit tired. Have done quite a bit of going down rabbit holes over the last week to do with a subject I have commented on here quite a bit. But have had to be selective in what I say. Still a bit more rabbit holing to do but need a break and to get some housework, shopping etc done pre-weekend.

        • Anne 7.3.2.2
          14 December 2018 at 9:19 pm

          Hi OWT.
          Read the article. It’s spot on. One minor correction. Easton talks about “generic managers” as though it is a relatively recent phenomenon. It’s not. I worked for a smallish specialist department which came under the umbrella of ‘Transport’ in the 1980s. It was one of the first to be restructured under the direction of the then minister, Richard Prebble.

          Out the door went the dedicated management who had devoted their lives to the specialist skills required, and in came the careerist, generic managers who had little to no knowledge of the subject matter in hand.

          The first thing they did was embark on a cost cutting exercise which saw a large number of field stations close. This made it difficult for the specialists to do their job properly and the department came perilously close to falling apart. What saved it in the end was the incoming Bolger government who turfed out the ‘new management’ and replaced with people who had knowledge of the specialist skills involved. At the same time it became an SOE which, in this case, was the best thing to have happened.

          In Easton’s words:

          How to address the problem? Clearly there needs to be a discounting of the significance of generic managers in appointment assessments and a higher priority for those who are fit-for-purpose with the particular skills the department needs.

          And that sums up the fundamental problem of today’s Public Service.

          • OnceWasTim 7.3.2.2.1
            15 December 2018 at 11:22 am

            /agreed @Anne that there’s always been a problem.
            However 30 or so years of neo-liberalism, a culture that places bean-counting over public service and welfare has compounded the problems, and this is especially evident over the past 10 years or so.
            Coalition Ministers publicly appear to have “confidence in their officials”. When you read some of those “pathetic PEBs” (as Easton calls them), you have to wonder whether some Ministers are bloody masochists who might as well be saying “beat me, beat me!”

            One of the few things I had to agree with Mathew Hooton on was when I heard him say that the bureacrats had a vested interest in preserving the status quo (On Nine to Noon from memory) – and that status quo was at the upper echelon’s preoccupation of career advancement/salary increase/impressive CV that exists – and of course that culture affects/denigrates the subordinates who generally do most of the hard yards. Most of our Ministries/Departments/Agencies have become the CEO/Snr Managment’s little feifdom where they can take credit for any successes whilst blaming the peons for any failings.

            As we’ve seen, especially over the past decade, there is very little accountability. The recent NZTA debacle is about the only example I can think of where someone has fallen on their sword – it might not even be the right person who has done so.

            I actually pity the new CEO of MBIE a tiny, tiny bit- what a poison chalice to have inherited. But you could pick any number of these departments/agencies/ministries to do with health, social welfare, education, etc. etc. etc.

            Shouldn’t have got me started ;p.

            There is a glimmer of hope in Chippie’s proposal for reform and Jacinda’s wish for a ‘kinder’ approach, but I doubt reforms will go far enough. In some cases there needs to be a complete rout.

            • OnceWasTim 7.3.2.2.1.1
              15 December 2018 at 8:02 pm

              Oh, and by the way – look how long the NZTA shit went on.
              But again on a brighter note – look what happens when we get things right – with an agency that isn’t all about bean counting, managerialism and the things Easton is critical of. The Pike River Mine re-entry people – if ever there was something that might succeed in its intent, this is it.

    • Gabby 7.4
      14 December 2018 at 6:08 pm

      Well I hope RNZ shouts Wafflish some speech lessons. That gibbering whine of his gets tired real fast.

  8. mauī 8
    14 December 2018 at 10:23 am

    Some sanity on the coverage of US politics minus the propaganda.

  9. Puckish Rogue 9
    14 December 2018 at 10:33 am

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12176820

    Asked whether there was “anything more to come that might bite you in the bum,” Ardern said, “absolutely not”.

    We shall see 🙂

  10. SaveNZ 10
    14 December 2018 at 10:38 am

    Young marketing millionaires doing tech outsourced to India – what could go wrong? sarcasm.

    ‘Spiralled out of control very quickly’: Kiwi rich-lister behind Appster speaks out after collapse

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12176329

    No wonder they went bust, their recruitment style sounds like the government recruiting Handley. Professional tech people won’t go for jobs and companies and their time wasted by a bunch of idiots who don’t understand tech and over compensate by ridiculous recruitment measures…

    “Appster’s gruelling 22-hour job interview, featuring eight stages, four interviews, up to 10 reference checks and even a body language assessment.’

    (wonder if it takes over 6 months like marketing, Handley’s non recruitment of a role he had never done before, but was deemed the best candidate as presumably being qualified does not count as much as a good video?)

    You also generally find that firms that have ridiculous recruitment methods and interviewers who are in marketing, also like to under pay. Only most desperate or with visa issues, left standing?

    “Bandara, who started his firm in 2010, blamed Appster’s demise on “unsustainable growth” and said the founders came from “marketing backgrounds”.

    “When you are a tech business just marketing is not enough, you have to have that management and technical background to be successful,” he said.”

    Doh!

    • greywarshark 10.1
      14 December 2018 at 11:16 am

      Marketing people learn from the first that what a successful salesperson aims to do and achieves is selling yourself and your ideas. You have to believe in your product completely.

      Not much ability to assess anything dispassionately there, even week-long interviews wouldn’t help them. The marketers and PRs are perfect people to introduce the robotised society to us, practically mindless. They ought to get a program to do the people checking for them, it would produce a short-list in a morning, with recommendations and the basis for these, indicating the strong and weak points of each candidate.

  11. Ad 11
    14 December 2018 at 11:05 am

    Nice long piece from The Age showing all the different Five Eyes intelligence security leaders working together against 5G risks. Usefully pulls quotes from a variety of security agency leaders into a cooperative narrative:

    https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/how-the-five-eyes-cooked-up-the-campaign-to-kill-huawei-20181213-p50m24.html

    • Spikeyboy 11.1
      14 December 2018 at 11:51 pm

      What a lovely bit of boys own or even Enid Blightons Famous Five. Such a fabulous lot those five eyes lads and lasses. Especially that lovely Gina Haspel. She has worked so tirelessly to make us all safe…

      The real story is that China has leapt ahead in this transformational technology and the west can only catch up by seriosly delaying their rollout. Capitalism always runs up against other expansionist states when all its internal contradictions become apparent. For one the free market level playing field is only for when you are winning.

      https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/14/huaw-d14.html

  12. The Chairman 12
    14 December 2018 at 11:13 am

    With the Government’s cap on spending coupled with their targeted debt to GDP ratio, it’s difficult to expect too much from their Well-being budget.

    While it will help reshuffle expenditure, it won’t lead to more net spending overall, which is largely required to get the country back on track. It’s just more tinkering around the edges.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018675561/grant-robertson-discusses-wellbeing-budget

  13. Andre 13
    14 December 2018 at 11:24 am

    With John Kelly exiting, Agent Drumpfski needs a new chief of staff. But the pool of people interested in getting a cheeto-tinged skidmark smeared down their CV has got very small. So apparently the Kush-kiddy wants a crack at it.

    Personally, I’m rooting for Chris Christie to get the job. Given he put the Kush-daddy in the slammer, it would add a fascinating new dynamic to the reality show.

  14. Robert Glennie 14
    14 December 2018 at 11:37 am

    Lawyers are concerned that the alleged killer of Grace Millane will walk away on the grounds that he could not be given a fair trial.

    I get that people are angry and I get that they want justice for Grace. I do too, but I know that it does not happen at the expense of due process.

    https://willnewzealandberight.com/2018/12/14/the-need-to-respect-due-process-in-new-zealand-courts/

    • greywarshark 14.1
      14 December 2018 at 12:23 pm

      Young people are into instant gratification and don’t want to go through due process and restrain themselves so they don’t care about the restrainsts of the law and why they aid good process.

      If Ms Millane had been careful and checked out this guy that she apparently met through an App, which would have required a wary and closer inspection and longer introduction amongst her peers, this might have been avoided. But Apps cater for instant gratification, everything must be fast and that service, accepted like an innocent child completely trustingly without sensible safety concerns, cocoons a person from the real world of bad events and sad disasters happening all the time.

      • Sacha 14.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 1:38 pm

        “If Ms Millane had been careful”

        Really? Still pushing that line after all the recent discussion.

        • veutoviper 14.1.1.1
          14 December 2018 at 2:09 pm

          And what was she wearing?

          And did she do something or say something to trigger him to violence?

          And was she drunk?

          And any of the other forms of victim blaming ….

          I cannot believe the lack of awareness of some people especially as you said after all the recent discussion – but then in the case of one or two here I can.

          The beige blog also has some interesting reading in that regard today. I see Casual Jacket is back here today, possibly as a result of the responses to some of his comments there ….

          • greywarshark 14.1.1.1.1
            14 December 2018 at 4:38 pm

            Oh sorry every woman is a queen and all the ills and bads of the world bow down to her and give her safe passage. In your dreams. Women in the early 20th century had more go and pluck and nous than today’s easy-riders going forward on the back of the hard work put in by fighters for the right of women to have autonomy. Well women have got it, but modern lasses can’t handle it!

        • greywarshark 14.1.1.2
          14 December 2018 at 4:34 pm

          Oh get real Sacha. Women have always had to be careful about whom they consort and comport with. The recent discussion is a bunch of wet-eyed soppy people who have chosen to get really emotional about someone who had everything in life, except a an understanding of how to care for her own safety. It’s a pity that the women-lovers who carry on about the pick of the month, can’t stretch out their compassion and concern to all the other women in NZ who are doing it hard. I guess they are the wrong class or something.

    • SaveNZ 14.2
      14 December 2018 at 12:37 pm

      Complete sop. There is no reason he should have been given name suppression in the first place and just got it on a technicality. If our justice system is so fragile that someone over in the never never may know his name? They just need to be careful in the jury selection that none of them got his name before hand. No doubt it will be public knowledge shortly anyway so a few weeks makes zero difference to his case.

      His name is certainly not wide spread knowledge like if his name was printed in the paper or he was on NZ TV news. just goes to show some of our justice rules are not fit for purpose anymore if this type of scaremongering has validity.

      If he has any decency he will spare the family a trial.

      • A 14.2.1
        14 December 2018 at 1:33 pm

        Agree. UK news pisses me off. A simple search online and the details are right there.

        Hope they get pawned in court. NZ law may not apply in the UK BUT the fact is their actions have a predictable ripple effect causing the name disclosed here.

      • James Thrace 14.2.2
        14 December 2018 at 6:13 pm

        His lawyer will advise him to plead not guilty in order to extract maximum payment from his client.

        A pleading of guilty will dry up the lawyers income stream.

        Sad truth, but is the reality.

    • Gabby 14.3
      14 December 2018 at 1:16 pm

      How would knowing his name affect someone’s ability to do the jury thing? Is name suppression ever granted to enable a fair trial? Isn’t it usually to protect family members?

  15. SPC 15
    14 December 2018 at 11:40 am

    The Dorian Gray Husk writes approvingly of the way the coalition government has forecasts of rising budget surpluses for the post 2020 period – falling debt and unable to spend more than 30% of GDP. The Husk can see, this along with National ending the $1B pa first year free year tertiary spending and cancelling the free second year the potential for National to offer a really big tax cut in their 2020 election manifesto.

    The right wing media was very favourable to Roger Douglas back in the day (of course he actually delivered a really big tax on the high income earners and then decided against any CGT as part of a balanced package – which began the trend towards larger new builds and a substantial rise in property values in the more desirable areas).

    • James Thrace 15.1
      14 December 2018 at 6:17 pm

      With over $1.2tn going through the financial markets every year, a financial transaction tax of 1% will give the govt an income of $120bn a year.

      The current raft of taxes generates just $85bn a year.

      It is not hard to see that scrapping all forms of taxes and implementing an FTT of 1% will let to higher govt revenue and more money for consumers to spend as they see fit.

      • Antoine 15.1.1
        15 December 2018 at 12:17 pm

        > With over $1.2tn going through the financial markets every year, a financial transaction tax of 1% will give the govt an income of $120bn a year.

        That it will not, see upthread.

        A.

  16. greywarshark 16
    14 December 2018 at 12:02 pm

    Test

    Now let’s see if this will go through – 4th try!

    “has always cared about how New Zealanders are doing. That’s the ultimate measure for any government.”…”

    Trouble is the meaning of the word ‘measure’. How to measure, and what? You need good, appropriate statistics, counting, to do that ‘measure’ properly, not just choose a sample that shows the government in the best light (an 8 watt bulb). A government that celebrates individualism, and then takes stats that ignore how individuals are doing and doesn’t report on each spectrum of the nation’s pie, isn’t giving measure for measure.

    That is using statistics fraudulently Ms Adams, and that is how exteme poverty can be unnoticed by those Nationals celebrating a rock-star economy. Gnat ministers would likely say, “Don’t tell me about it in your report, I don’t want to know that!”

    On Google, Measure for Measure shows up a promotion for Nottingham actors – this sounds a good rollicking Shakespearean play that National gals and guys would enjoy!
    Measure for Measure – Pop-up Globe
    https://popupglobe.co.nz/shows/measure-for-measure/
    Measure for Measure – a searing expose of sexual exploitation and abuse of power presented in a timely and provocative production.

    Oh for true measure for measure for the National Party.
    What does the title Measure for Measure mean?
    of Measure for Measure: “Its temper is ironic as its title: ‘Measure,’ as there used. is a judicial term for the measuring out of justice; hence the title means, ‘justice for justice.’ But Angelo does not receive measure for measure, an eye for. an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
    Measure for Measure: The Significance of the Title – jstor
    https://www.jstor.org/stable/2866753

  17. greywarshark 17
    14 December 2018 at 12:07 pm

    Test
    Please note – that though I have got the Test word onto the post, I have had four tries at sending my comment on Amy Adams quote in No.5, it has not shown up. Where has it gone? Is something putting it into spam? This is another test to see what triggers rejection.

  18. SaveNZ 18
    14 December 2018 at 2:42 pm

    Nice story for a Friday afternoon.

    Desert turns into oasis: Man plants 50,000 trees in 15 years in N China

    A resident in southwest China’s Guizhou Province has been planting trees on a barren mountain for more than 30 years on end, without cutting a single tree for profit. He has, together with his wife, planted 76.67 hectares of trees since 1985.

    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/man-creates-a-forest-after-planting-trees-for-more-than-30-years

    • ianmac 18.1
      14 December 2018 at 4:35 pm

      Amazing determination in Mongolia Save NZ. We in great old NZ have so many labour saving devices and yet it an up hill battle to get heaps planted and of course it is against bluddy minded Opposition who oppose planting because …? Wonder why?
      What has Simon got against trees.

      • SaveNZ 18.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 9:48 pm

        Not just the Natz hatred of trees here, the councils and transport agencies are also major tree haters and can’t wait to destroy trees at any opportunity.

    • greywarshark 18.2
      14 December 2018 at 4:45 pm

      Even nicer story for the weekend where we are trying to run a post to be an archive with ideas for helping a better environmental future for us all. The last one was called The Future Is… but it may change title. Everyone please visit and put up something helpful and interesting and links to save etc.

      savenz I copies it and put it over in the post as it is just the sort of story that we want to get on record with link. Thanks.

  20. RedLogix 20
    14 December 2018 at 4:07 pm

    Crazy country, last week catastrophic bush fires to dodge, this week I’m on the edge of a Cat 4 cyclone.

    Everything is tied down, and outside its hammering lightening and rain. Visible ground strokes just a few hundred metres away. Yee hah😀

    • McFlock 20.1
      14 December 2018 at 4:54 pm

      Good luck. I’m all good with the elemental forces of nature, but cat4 is putting the “mental” into it…

    • Koff 20.2
      14 December 2018 at 5:39 pm

      We are in a boat off Fraser Island down wind from you. Forecast is now for TC Owen to fizzle out before it gets here. Summer in Oz is always a little crazy!

      • greywarshark 20.2.1
        14 December 2018 at 6:57 pm

        That’s a big island – should give some protection from wind? Iguess it might be better to be at sea than right by coastline.

  21. greywarshark 21
    14 December 2018 at 5:43 pm

    Let us know how you get on RL. We can’t do much but can commiserate! What part of Oz?

    • RedLogix 21.1
      14 December 2018 at 5:46 pm

      About 100k south of Weipa. We should be OK here, but it’s still spectacular.

      • greywarshark 21.1.1
        14 December 2018 at 6:49 pm

        Get them on camera so you can have fond memories! Sometimes dull is good eh.

        Interesting location very far north. Is there anything you have heard of interesting going on in the environment field up there? We are gathering ideas and putting on post on how to conserve water for droughts, fresh water, tree planting to bring shade and stop erosion etc.

  22. eco maori 22
    15 December 2018 at 7:56 am

    The Australian government need’s to heed to the call of the people and plan to stop burning coal in the prosess they will be drowning thee neighbor all the Pacific Island are in great danger of sea level rise. Australia is a cause of refugee and there solution is to lock the people in cages on a Island . Its not all doom and gloom as it looks like a new government next year in Australia .
    The call from 15 small Pacific island states came one day after the Australian government called for expressions of interest in new power generation projects, indicating it would be prepared to use taxpayer money to underwrite new coal plants.

    Leaders warned Australia’s relations in the Pacific were being eroded by a perceived intransigence in Canberra over coalmining.

    As the COP24 UN climate talks in Poland remained stalled over an unwillingness from major emitters to commit to further carbon emissions cuts, frustrated Pacific states, traditional allies of Australia, said the world must abandon coal-powered energy generation.
    Australia’s carbon emissions highest on record, data shows
    Read more

    The Fijian prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, the outgoing president of COP23, said: “We call on all OECD countries to quickly phase out their use of coal by 2030 and for all other countries to phase out their use of coal by 2040. There must be no expansion of existing coal mines or the creation of new mines.”
    Advertisement

    Australia and the US have both this week said publicly they have no plans to begin phasing out coal-generated power. Ka kite ano

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/14/pacific-nations-under-climate-threat-urge-australia-to-abandon-coal-within-12-years

  23. eco maori 23
    15 December 2018 at 10:19 am

    NZ business are the biggest beneficiaries of NZ
    John is being politically correct and polite in his story about Aotearoa inequality and how the uber rich made there riches .
    I say they made there money by back room deals trading information they were ultimately taking from the people of Aotearoa cheating in my words hence my dislike of dilly joyce and his associates . Eco Maori say that the NZ benefit system is a direct subside to all the business in NZ and hence any poor people with out these benefit are struggling the young and the old in Aotearoa . There’s a global conversation raging over the massive growth in inequality and poverty. At home, that conversation is being led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who has seized on this agenda. Part of that national conversation is under way, via the Child Poverty Bill presently before Parliament.

    It is sobering to reflect on New Zealand and what the once great promise of an egalitarian society has finally come to look like and represent. It has all happened in the last 30 years.

    Many of the Kiwi folk who make up our rich list did not make their money simply by being sharp and clever innovators or entrepreneurs.

    The richest man in New Zealand, Graeme Hart, gained his boarding pass to becoming the country’s richest man in some respects by being in the right place at the right time when the New Zealand Printing Office was privatised. We all know the story of the merchant bankers Michael Fay and David Richwhite, and one-time transport tycoons Alan Gibbs and Trevor Farmer, who made their money in part by being well positioned around deregulation — therefore privatisation.

    Even the recently retired National Party politician Steven Joyce made his money before politics out of privatised radio bandwidths which were previously owned in the Government estate. Ana to kai Ka kite ano Links below. P.S I hope you get it no benefits min wage would be $25 a hour I don’t mean to scrap all benefits just a correction

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12078939

  24. eco maori 24
    15 December 2018 at 12:16 pm

    The sandflys are commiting the same offenses against me the bank staff are blinded by there shiny badges shonky has given them to much power and they are flouting it .Eco Maori is going to WIN in the end
    New Zealand’s Security and Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has been found to be “very intrusive” in some of its requests to banks for customers’ information.
    Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn appears before the select committee.

    Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn RNZ / Diego Opatowski

    The spy agency watchdog, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn, has released a report on a three month assessment of the service’s policy and practices of acquiring personal information from banks.

    She found that despite using voluntary disclosure requests, rather than getting official warrants to obtain the information, the voluntary aspect wasn’t always made clear.

    “Some of the past collection by the NZSIS would have constituted unreasonable searches contrary to the Bill of Rights,” Ms Gwyn said.

    The law was changed last year with the enactment of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017, which has resolved some of the issues identified, she said. Ka kite ano links below.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/378274/sis-very-intrusive-in-some-requests-for-bank-customer-info

  25. eco maori 25
    15 December 2018 at 1:08 pm

    Here is why health cost are so enormously expensive in America some people buy smaller drug companies change the name of the drugs and hike the prices of the health drugs by 5000% hence millions of people in America can not afford health care .
    We must never let ANYONE stop Aotearoa Pharma if we do the mutuality national neo liberals capitalist will drain Aotearoa of money. PURE GREED. Ana to kai ka kite ano links below

  26. eco maori 26
    15 December 2018 at 1:27 pm

    This is a video for the above post I could not get any storys on Valeant any were else except youtube ka pai youtube ka kite ano P.S YOU NEED TO watch Dirty Money on NetFlix

  27. eco maori 27
    15 December 2018 at 3:56 pm

    I seen this person on Tv a few months back and I DID NOT like what I saw I got the same feeling when I seen him on the Millane case but out of respect for Millane whano I held my words back than the gods have answered my concerns when I found this story on News Room website
    Detective Inspector Scott Beard’s handling of the Millane case touched some New Zealanders and the Millane family, and has won praise from colleagues and politicians, but he has been working under internal scrutiny after Auckland Area Commander Gary Davey investigated four allegations against him pre-dating the Millane case – and upheld them.

    Davey had been asked by Police Commissioner Mike Bush to inquire into a complaint against Beard. The four counts include sharing confidential police information of a sensitive nature, breaching the confidentiality of his team members and supervisors, breaching the privacy of a victim’s parent, and separately selling or supplying alcohol at his Hibiscus Coast Football Club. Ana to kai ka kite ano link below

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/12/14/363361/grace-cop-subject-of-internal-inquiry

  28. eco maori 28
    15 December 2018 at 6:46 pm

    Kia ora Newshub there are a lot of fool about poisoning those pohutukawa trees they take at least 50 years to get to the size of the ones poisoned up North.
    I seen a story on this sight TSD about the J&J talcom baby powder there was a lady who died of cancer she put it on everyday capitalism at its best No.
    Good on the young fella for being so industrious and selling his services to preforming a haka.
    Shakira one can not hid anything now days just pay your tax’s to your country.
    That good a good story White Stone cheese winning a prize in France that is what we should be doing with a lot of our foods high value markets ka pai.
    I think that people need to be polite with mowing the berm issues there is a point to mow or not to mow one is good for the environment and ones not lol .
    Those pounamu are a awesome sight and the story about the tiki tiki is cool.
    Kate that is a good story line of Aquaman being rescued by a wahine we need to raze everyone respect for wahine
    Mike someone told me that Ruamoko was singing his waiata and preforming a haka loud and proud last night I missed it went to sleep early last night.
    Ka kite ano

  29. eco maori 29
    15 December 2018 at 8:15 pm

    Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.