There is more than one truth to tell in the awful story of Aleppo
Robert Fisk
Western politicians, “experts” and journalists are going to have to reboot their stories over the next few days now that Bashar al-Assad’s army has retaken control of eastern Aleppo. We’re going to find out if the 250,000 civilians “trapped” in the city were indeed that numerous. We’re going to hear far more about why they were not able to leave when the Syrian government and Russian air force staged their ferocious bombardment of the eastern part of the city.
And we’re going to learn a lot more about the “rebels” whom we in the West – the US, Britain and our head-chopping mates in the Gulf – have been supporting…..
…..But it’s time to tell the other truth: that many of the “rebels” whom we in the West have been supporting – and which our preposterous Prime Minister Theresa May indirectly blessed when she grovelled to the Gulf head-choppers last week – are among the cruellest and most ruthless of fighters in the Middle East. And while we have been tut-tutting at the frightfulness of Isis during the siege of Mosul (an event all too similar to Aleppo, although you wouldn’t think so from reading our narrative of the story), we have been willfully ignoring the behaviour of the rebels of Aleppo……….
……….Is this too harsh on my profession? Are we really “in league” with the rebels?
Certainly our political masters are – and for the same reason as the rebels kidnap their victims: money. Hence the disgrace of Brexit May and her buffoonerie of ministers who last week prostrated themselves to the Sunni autocrats who fund the jihadis of Syria in the hope of winning billions of pounds in post-Brexit arms sales to the Gulf.
In a few hours, the British parliament is to debate the plight of the doctors, nurses, wounded children and civilians of Aleppo and other areas of Syria. The grotesque behaviour of the UK Government has ensured that neither the Syrians nor the Russians will pay the slightest attention to our pitiful wails. That, too, must become part of the story…….
Joe90 and others regurgitating Jihadi and US propaganda – please read.
It’s bloody concerning how they did the pamphlet drop and have now herded up the people into one area, and the events that have followed over the last few days.
Such as Syrian government going into houses, executing people, and as a result of them being so trigger happy many women and children have died.
Now the army are grabbing any men that head into the ‘protected area’ where the rest of the ‘herd’ are, then giving them a gun and telling them they are now in the Syrian Army.
ALJazeera are now doing almost continuous live coverage of these events.
Al-Jazeera has been criticized over unfair coverage of the Syrian civil war. The channel’s reporting has been described as largely supportive of the rebels, while demonizing the Syrian government.
The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir cited outtakes of interviews showing that the channel’s staff coached Syrian eyewitnesses and fabricated reports of oppression by Syria’s government. It refers to leaked internal e-mails suggest that Al-Jazeera has become subordinated to the Qatari emir’s assertive foreign policy, which supports Syria’s rebels and advocates military intervention in the country.
In March 2012, Al-Jazeera correspondents Ali Hashim and two others resigned from their jobs because of objections over the reporting on the conflict. They reported that Al-Jazeera paid $50,000 for smuggling phones and satellite communication tools to Syria’s rebels. Hashim concluded, “The channel was taking a certain stance. It was meddling with each and every detail of reports on the Syrian revolution.”
Ahmad Ibrahim, who is in charge of the Al-Jazeera’s coverage on Syria, is the brother of a leading member of the rebels’ “Syrian National Council”. Al-Jazeera reportedly put pressure on its journalists to use the term “martyr” for slain Syrian rebels, but not pro-government forces. Ahmad Ibrahim, who is in charge of the Al-Jazeera’s coverage on Syria, is the brother of a leading member of the rebels’ “Syrian National Council”. Al-Jazeera reportedly put pressure on its journalists to use the term “martyr” for slain Syrian rebels, but not pro-government forces.
I don’t think is a reliable independent non aligned middle eastern news provider.
However there are some freelance independent non aligned journalists.
Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley (both linked above by Paul) have been providing good info. One problem, (and Eva Bartlett touched on it in the vid link above) is that the non-mainstream left media has been going with the same narrative as the mainstream liberal media. That means their first hand accounts get no oxygen from the likes of ‘Democracy Now’ and other reasonably well regarded outlets. So less well regarded outlets are used.
Which then leads to the charge that they are right wing conspiracy nuts.
But you know, even just reading the Guardian with half a brain engaged would allow anyone to figure we’ve been fed a tsunami of bullshit. Mosul is the same situation as Aleppo, and yet the reporting could hardly be any more different. (Mosul seems to have dropped off the pages now – too difficult to square that circle I guess).
Look at the sources used by The Guardian and others. Always voices purporting to come from within non-government areas and always (it seems) filtered through Syrian Rights Observatory (a one man operation based in England), or footage and claims made by the ‘White Helmets’ (created by an ex-military Englishmen with historical links to Blackwater and other such orgs) being picked up on and reported on with no accompanying critical thought or analysis.
Never interviews with people who have sought the safe haven of government held areas. Never interviews with people who have been subjected to mortar attack in Western Aleppo. Never any video footage from there either.
And as Fisk points out, in the words of ‘our’ media terrorists ‘retake’ cities while cities ‘fall’ to the government.
And so it goes.
Thankfully, and at last, the tsunami of bullshit may be breaking. And thanks for the comments/postings Paul.
Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations’ Dr Zaidoun al-Zoabi told Morning Report the situation is “the worst ever”.
“These are the most terrifying times humanity’s seen, if there is anything called humanity.”
What is the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations?
This is part of that “tsunami of bullshit” you mention. A few differences between Mosul and Aleppo:
1. Mosul actually is occupied by Da’Esh, unlike Aleppo.
2. The rebels in Aleppo are part of an uprising against a brutal dictatorship, while the people occupying Mosul are part of an uprising against secularism, democracy, human rights and anything else that’s good about the modern world.
3. The forces attacking Mosul aren’t carrying out indiscriminate aerial bombing of civilian neighbourhoods, unlike the forces attacking Aleppo.
4. The forces attacking Mosul haven’t deliberately destroyed every hospital available to the people trapped there. This and 3 above are the main explanation for the different media coverage of the two battles.
5. The forces attacking Mosul aren’t rejecting out of hand cease-fire requests from the defenders, unlike those attacking Aleppo. (True, they might reject cease-fire requests if Da’esh were to make any, but no such requests will be made – another difference.)
And here’s the thing. This is the tactic of the Syrian government as voiced by Assad (make of that what you will). Promise safe passage for armed foreign terrorists out of populated areas. Then re-engage with the intention of driving them out of Syria.
You, Paul and Morrissey always declare me poorly-informed, as though I’d surely develop an enthusiasm for illiberal authoritarian nationalism if only I read up on it a bit more. It’s almost comical.
In the Syrian civil war, there is no ideological superiority to be had – it’s not objectively worse for western countries and the Gulf states to support the Syrian rebels than it is for Russia and Iran to support the Assad regime. The reign of terror that Assad is about to start in east Aleppo will be a terrible crime against humanity, but probably won’t be hugely different from the one that rebel groups would embark on if they’d won.
Those things don’t make Assad and Russia the villains of media reporting on this conflict. What makes them the villains is their campaign of aerial bombardment against the civilian population, emergency workers and hospitals of east Aleppo. No amount of energetic false-equivalence finger-pointing by illiberal authoritarians on this blog or elsewhere can alter that.
I regard the views of Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk way above the new writers on , RNZ, Fairfax and NZME.
For someone who was once a poltician, you appear hopelessly ill-informed.
Fisk and Cockburn are not ‘ trying to portray Assad as the noble liberator of his people.’ Clearly you have not read the articles, yet feel comfortable commenting on them.
Typical Tory. Willfully ignorant.
You need to do a lot more reading on the subject.
So here goes the usual mantra again, which we must repeat ad nauseam to avoid the usual hate mail and abuse that will today be cast at anyone veering away from the approved and deeply flawed version of the Syrian tragedy.
Yes, Bashar al-Assad has brutally destroyed vast tracts of his cities in his battle against those who wish to overthrow his regime. Yes, that regime has a multitude of sins to its name: torture, executions, secret prisons, the killing of civilians, and – if we include the Syrian militia thugs under nominal control of the regime – a frightening version of ethnic cleansing.
Yes, we should fear for the lives of the courageous doctors of eastern Aleppo and the people for whom they have been caring. Anyone who saw the footage of the young man taken out of the line of refugees fleeing Aleppo last week by the regime’s intelligence men should fear for all those who have not been permitted to cross the government lines. And let’s remember how the UN grimly reported it had been told of 82 civilians “massacred” in their homes in the last 24 hours.
But it’s time to tell the other truth: that many of the “rebels” whom we in the West have been supporting – and which our preposterous Prime Minister Theresa May indirectly blessed when she grovelled to the Gulf head-choppers last week – are among the cruellest and most ruthless of fighters in the Middle East. And while we have been tut-tutting at the frightfulness of Isis during the siege of Mosul (an event all too similar to Aleppo, although you wouldn’t think so from reading our narrative of the story), we have been willfully ignoring the behaviour of the rebels of Aleppo./blockquote>
Wayne, one of the things Frisk might be angry about is the British PM off selling arms to the Saudis.
Now if you have talked to any US or British vets you will know the one thing they hate above all the bureaucratic BS, is fighting guys who are using weapons made by them. I was a dinner a while a go with some Yanks, and they got quite upset talking about finding terrorist’s with brand new US equipment. Also some of the pome’s I’ve talked to have said the same thing, in one case worse, because the jihadist’s had some ammunition they could not get.
So from a purely military view point, it does seem some of the politicians are right tossers when it comes to making a buck selling arms. I’m not sure the British PM selling arms to the Saudi’s is going to endear her to her own troops.
Keep up the good work Paul and adam. The western propaganda is slowly being exposed but sadly the damage is done and the incorrect beliefs are now ingrained in so many westerners. We must all realize that in war truth is the first casualty, but the blind acceptance of either sides version is still prevalent( on both sides).
As with the Vietnam war when the truth finally comes out it certainly exposes the bullshit the west promulgates . Nothing has changed.
It should be noted that only 2 Arabian/Persian Gulf States use beheading as a form of execution – Saudi Arabia and (Assad’s & Iraq’s) ally Iran (although last used in 2001). Benin and Yemen are the only 2 other states that use beheading as a legal form of execution. As an aside Iran executes twice as many people a year than Saudi (although it has twice the population), About 45% are for drug offences (which is roughly the same proportion as in Saudi).
It’s interesting how we in the “West” now seem to resile at beheading over other forms of execution (as if the death penalty is acceptable in any other form) however France used beheading for execution up to 1981 (last execution in 1977), Sweden executed its second to last criminal – mass murderer Johan Filip Nordlund – by a manual cleaver in 1900, replacing it with a guillotine, which was then used for the first and only time in 1910 (death penalty abolished there in 1921). Beheading by guillotine survived in West Germany until 1949 and in East Germany until 1966 (also 40,000 Germans were legally executed under the Nazi regime, most of them by guillotine).
We may have got there before some of the rest of the world in finding beheading as an unacceptable form of execution but not by that much.
I don’t think he will receive a knighthood in New Zealand at all. He will get a well deserved award of the Order of New Zealand. He deserves it a great deal more that many of the hacks who have got it in the past.
The Queen on the other hand may make him the third New Zealand member of the Knights of the Garter.
It is the reason that David Lange, Mike Moore, Jim Bolger and Helen Clark got it.
I think, although I may be in a minority among those who contribute here, that he was at least the equal of any of that group.
On the other hand he is vastly more significant that Sonja Davies, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan and Jonathon Hunt ever were. How they got into the top 20 living New Zealanders at any time is beyond me.
“Key can’t handle it when under pressure.
Far too used to a compliant media.
Cracks when really questioned.”.
You are living in a dream world Paul.
Just the way Helen Clark did before the first Leader’s debate in 2008.
Just as John Campbell did before his session with Key on the GCSB.
In both cases Key took them apart.
You, like them, forget what Key’s profession was before he went in for politics. People in the Forex dealers profession have no nerves. They simply don’t crack under pressure. They cannot do the job if they don’t have that characteristic.
@ amirite (2) .. Yep spot on there. And don’t forget the treason, selling NZ off bit by bit, interfering with our sovereignty by attempting to change the flag, then trying to really sell us down the river with the (now failed) TPPA.
Qualifications for a knighthood indeed. Seems most of the confidence tricksters get one eventually.
New Year honours coming up. The title Sir (John Key) should have some pathetic clout with his Hollywood mates, Wall St and the likes! They go for anything with a bit of fancy decoration to it, even if it does stink to high heaven through the shit sticking to it. It’s all about facade and that’s what Key has been the past 8 years, a facade, fabricated by Crosby/Textor, much to the detriment of NZ!
“Finally, Key made his way, waving, down the steps of Parliament, as he was greeted and applauded by every suck-up loser he’d ever seen or worked with in the capital. He hated most of them, but he shook their hands and hugged them anyway.
“You’ll fail,” he whispered in Bill English’s ear, before hopping into his crown car, and disappearing into the foggy wilderness of our memories.”
I know and it explains perfectly why National slumped to the high 40s, oh wait they didn’t because most of NZ saw it for what it was, a political hit job manufactured by Bradbury
Assault, I’d have thought. Certainly became an international embarrassment for Key. Bet he wishes he’d taken his wife’s advice and grown up a little, kept his hands to himself and behaved as a Prime Minister should.
So the waitress’s account of what key’s interaction with her was, is unbalanced and unreliable. How do you know that?
You are just too afraid to read it aren’t you.
It might be if left wing people actually did that. But since they don’t, you’re talking shit 🙂
(myself, I don’t avoid WO and KB because they’re right wing, I avoid them because they neoliberal, neo-fascist, dangerous bullies. Which is a different thing entirely).
Pukish Rogue has the name John Key stamped on his backside so has difficulties recognizing the former prime minister as a pervert. No wonder his two children have issues.
Not just stupid, but sexual harassment, physical harassment, abuse of his position of power, and bullying.
Some above were confusing ‘sexual abuse’ with ‘sexual harassment/physical assault’, but that doesn’t mean that what Key did was merely an error of judgement. It had real world impacts on the person he was harassing.
Martyn Bradbury has all the subtlety of a landmine. He doesn’t really do “hit jobs” and Machiavellian scheming really isn’t his MO. A waitress had been repeatedly harassed by the PM, and he reported it. It was hardly some vast conspiracy to destabilise the government by smearing John Key. Key smeared himself by acting like an ill-disciplined, testosterone-addled teenage boy. And those desperate to protect Key from the consequences of his own, frankly bizarre, actions, hauled her over the coals accordingly. Shame on the whole damn lot of them.
Just wanted to mention that all the kids know about johns creepy ponytail pulling, seriously it has and did create much talk between them, especially it created discussion among the parents of girls, such is the legacy he leaves behind for the children. Well at least it brought up the narrative of good and bad touching so I will give him that.
When i was a kid it was Piggy Muldoon, but what Key is now known for by kiwi children is far more sinister. JS
You’re decent enough to add the mad smiley face at the end of your comment @ 3.1 PR. Tipping that you’re just taking the piss with that comment. If not mate, sorry, but you’re fucked. Close to Jonestown. But nah you’re not there. You give it away with “Slur” John Key.
Mayor Phil Goff has granted me speaking rights at tomorrow’s Auckland Council Governing Body meeting.
(WHEN : Thursday 15 December 2016.
TIME: 9.30am
WHERE: Auckland Town Hall
Reception Lounge Level 2
(Open to the public – support welcome 🙂
My subject matter is as follows:
1) The unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict involving Auckland Council Controlled Organisation, Auckland Transport, announced on Friday 9 December 2016 (on ‘International Anti-Corruption Day’) has provided evidence which supports what I have been saying for some time.
Namely, that you cannot have transparency or accountability, without proper written records available for public scrutiny.
“Claims the relationship between Noone and Projenz was informal and verbal-only during the seven-year duration of the relationship – explaining the total lack of documentation – “defies common sense,” Justice Fitzgerald said.”
In my considered opinion, seven years of a ‘verbal-only’ /’informal’ relationship between this Auckland Transport senior manager and private contractor, also clearly ‘defies’ the statutory obligations arising from the Public Records Act 2005, s.17:
(1)Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.
(2)Every public office must maintain in an accessible form, so as to be able to be used for subsequent reference, all public records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised by or under this Act or required by or under another Act.
(3)Every local authority must maintain in an accessible form, so as to be able to be used for subsequent reference, all protected records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised by or under this Act.
How on earth did this happen?
What was the ‘systems flaw’ that allowed this total lack of documentation to occur for SEVEN years?
Where was the auditing – internal and external – that failed to pick up this total lack of documentation for SEVEN years?
How widespread is this lack of documentation, regarding ‘relationships’ between those who award contracts, and those who receive contracts?
Not just at Auckland Transport, but across Auckland Council and all CCOs?
2) In my view, as an ‘Anti-Corruption Public Watchdog’, it is now more necessary than ever, to instruct the CEO of Auckland Council, and the Boards of all Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) to comply with the statutory requirements of the Public Records Act 2005, and make the following information about awarded contracts, available and easily accessible for public scrutiny, by publishing them on the front page of Auckland Council and all CCO websites under ‘Procurement – Awarded Contracts’:
a) The unique contract number.
b) The name of the consultant/contractor.
c) A brief description of the scope of the contract.
d) The contract start and finish dates.
e) The exact dollar value of each and every contract, including those subcontracted.
f) How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
2) FYI, here is the above-mentioned decision of Justice Sally Fitzgerald on 9 December 2016, in the Auckland High Court:
CRI-2015-044-001286 [2016] NZHC 2971 THE QUEEN v STEPHEN JAMES BORLASE MURRAY JOHN NOONE
In my view, in order to learn the lessons from this unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict, both this decision, in full, plus the full transcript of evidence, should be made available for public perusal on the websites of both Auckland Council and Auckland Transport.
3) For Auckland Council to comprehensively and thoroughly investigate the cost-effectiveness of the underpinning private procurement model for Council (and CCO) services, when significant international research has proven that contracting out is actually ‘bad business’, and twice as expensive as in-house service provision.
“Bad Business: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Hiring Contractors”
What this above-mentioned unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict has revealed, in my opinion, is not just that ‘contracting out’ is BAD business, but it can and has bred corruption.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’
Don’t be such a killjoy SM – good luck Penny – you sock it to them about the bribery and corruption that is going on with the council and the rorters who get away with overseas trips etc – its hard enough to keep up with our rates up here in Auckland so we need more like you Penny – mores the pity that people like Stunned Mullet don’t get off their asses and try to do more for exposing corruption on the council.
The Public Records Act does not control making records available or publishing them. That’s the role of the LGOIMA as you have been repeatedly told, you mental midget.
If we review the Key years, the trends are unmistakable. Business interests have been given top priority, social and environmental issues have been increasingly relegated to the second or third rank. Public assets have been privatised and the public sector and public spending have been subject to constant cuts, the law has been changed when required to suit the interests of overseas corporations.
Workers’ rights have been reduced, employers have been given more power. Child poverty, and poverty more generally, has increased and life on benefits is tougher. The rich have enjoyed tax cuts. Homelessness has re-appeared in our midst and owning their own home is now beyond many young Kiwis; those already owning their own homes and property speculators in particular have made fortunes from soaring house prices.
It is John Key’s politics, not his personality, that have produced these intended outcomes. They have been produced not by a relaxed middle-of-the-roader but by a dedicated ideologue. They are the result of a particular kind of neo-liberal politics, of a consistent and deliberate push from our Prime Minister to turn New Zealand into a “trickle down” economy (and society), one that clearly differentiates between winners and losers, where the top priority is to ensure winners do even better and losers get by as best they can.
A few years ago, the then Premier of Queensland, Campbell Newman, was contemplating asset sales to raise cash. He sought advice from John Key as to how he could get away politically with what he knew would be an unpopular measure. Key’s advice, as reported in the New Zealand media? “Do it in small stages,” he said, “and people won’t notice”.
Here, in other words, was a political operator who knew exactly what he was doing. It is no accident that he was highly regarded by his right-wing colleagues in other countries, to the extent that he has for some time been chair of the International Democratic Union, the global association of right-wing political parties.
He had, after all, achieved what so many of them had struggled with – he had sold a neo-liberal agenda to voters who would normally have rejected it as extreme and contrary to their values.
The Opposition, and the Labour Party in particular, always underestimated John Key. What they saw was no more than a genial glad-hander and a seat-of-the-pants chancer – at best, a populist adept at winning the centre ground. It was only a matter of time, they thought, before he came unstuck.
What they missed was a sharp political intelligence and a clear ideological commitment. The result – they were always fighting the wrong battle.
No we do not. I think it would be educational if a true right wing political party took power a couple of years just to show you what it would really be like.
Partial sell down of assets, nope it’d be back to Rogernomics and sell everything off
Partial increase for benes, the first time in something like 40 years, nope it’d be slashing the benefits and there’d be a maximum amount of time on the benefit
WFF, nope nothing.
Interest free loans, nope the interest would come back and you wouldn’t be able to leave the country until they’re paid
You think the msm is bad now, well get ready for a crackdown on political websites criticising the government
Voluntary trade unionism, get ready for banning of trade unions
90 day fire at will, too soft it’ll be no reason needed at any time
You’ve got no idea of what would really happen if right wing (forget hard right) party really took charge, you sit there in your nice, safe, comfortable little corner of the world and think (hope) this is a hard right party
I like John Keys centrist government and, in hindsight, Helen Clarks centrist government.
The only enjoyment I would get out of a hard right government being sworn in is you finally experiencing a hard right government and what that actually entail.
I believe most people in NZ want either a centre left or centre right party, they (the majority of voters) do not want a hard right or hard left party.
“The only enjoyment I would get out of a hard right government being sworn in is you finally experiencing a hard right government and what that actually entail.”
He was a little worried that government entities like the Ministry of Social Development and Housing New Zealand were not doing enough to reduce numbers accessing expensive services…
“”it’s a bit hard to tell if they are trying hard enough. We don’t know a lot about what happens in some of these fairly big outfits so we are always arguing internally between myself and Treasury about whether we need to step in or not.”
English says the process of examining the big cost-drivers is called the responsibility model because it throws the responsibility back.
“The traditional view of the public service is when things get tight, Treasury and the Minister of Finance are responsible. We are saying ‘no it’s you, you’re the chief executive, you’re responsible’.””
Well, Bill as you ascend to the throne…kinda like a congratulatory gift, the inquest is being heard at the moment into the death of Wendy Shoebridge.
“Shoebridge, a 41-year-old mother, was found dead in Lower Hutt on April 3, 2011.
The day before, she opened a letter saying she was to be referred for prosecution over an alleged $22,000 benefit fraud.”
An investigator from WINZ was under unbearable pressure to send this letter…he didn’t want to, or at least he wanted to deliver it in person as he was concerned about her…she was slowly recovering from severe depression.
But no…his boss, obviously acting under instructions from Much Higher UP…ordered the letter sent.
” After her death, that amount fell to about $5500.”
And in an update tonight…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/87469253/shakeup-at-msd-after-woman-died-and-manager-was-accused-of-abusing-staff
…we read that this manager
“was accused of firing a staple gun at staff she didn’t like, and calling one a “f…tard” in front of colleagues, an inquest has heard.
The inquest in Wellington into the death of Wendy Shoebridge heard allegations of a dysfunctional Ministry of Social Development office in which the prosecution of suspected benefit fraud was a major priority.
The manager has not had the chance to respond to the latest claims, and the inquest on Monday also heard suggestions the manager was herself under pressure. The hearing was told last week that a quota system for prosecuting beneficiaries was in operation in 2011, when Shoebridge died.”
Well, Bill…this is why you have that smirky, twisted little smile on your face. You might want to have a wee think before you see your promotion as an affirmation that there is widespread approval for your social investment model.
You see…this Coroner has the MSD in her sights, just as the Judge did in the Ashburton Shooting case…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/87258487/msd-convicted-after-judge-says-staff-felt-unsafe-in-ashburton-office
…and although the court can’t actually fine a Ministry…there was harsh condemnation….
How many deaths, Bill???”
THIS is what “hard right” looks like PR…its here in NZ, and has been for the past seven years.
I could link to other posts where I and others have highlighted cases where Kiwis from “the middle” have been subjected to appallingly inhumane treatment by WINZ when applying for a benefit to support themselves and their families while undergoing cancer treatment.
You see PR…when ‘middle NZ’ fall upon hard times and have to go down to WINZ to access supports they are entitled to and encounter shit treatment like that….borne out of rabidly right directives from the government…it increases the numbers of those who have been dehumanised by the state, and those people in turn come to a fuller appreciation of the way the ‘system’ has alienated those who have had to interact with it for many years. This is called “sympathy”…a foreign emotion to the sociopaths who sit on the government benches.
Like it or not there IS a rising tide of compassion in “middle” New Zealand for those Bill the Lizard calls the “large liability”….simply because there have been a huge number of people across all strata who have been impacted directly or indirectly by these draconian policies.
No pithy, cryptic one-liners to demonstrate your superior knowledge and insight?
The government you claim has been benignly ‘centrist’ has instituted an offensive against the most vulnerable of New Zealanders, and unfortunately for this government the negative impacts have splattered way beyond those people Bill the Lizard targeted openly in 2010.
Now, if this translates in a reduction of support for National depends on whether opposition parties can drag their arses off the spike that seems to lock them into a ‘centre’ position.
I simply disagree with you because you’ve highlighted a couple of incidences over 7 years so really it doesn’t prove anything but I do appreciate the effort
…this Coroner has the MSD in her sights, just as the Judge did in the Ashburton Shooting case…
Be careful what you wish for. The judge was punishing MSD for not putting sufficient barriers between its staff and the nation’s social welfare beneficiaries. MSD management know what the judge is telling them:
“… it was estimated by MSD chief executive Brendan Boyle that the cost of outfitting its offices with bulletproof glass and guards could be up to $200 million.
MSD has already placed guards at offices and has been trialling a new layout at offices in Wellington and Levin.”
Back in 1979 while signing up for a job on a Student Work scheme I was sent to apply for an emergency benefit. The benefit department was just like a bank. Long counter with glass/perspex shields between client and staff.
Conversations were, by necessity, held fortissimo…so the poor sod recently discharged from Tokanui had to tell his story for all of us assembled to hear.
Ah, the good old days.
This was in Hamilton….don’t know if it was like this elsewhere.
Spot on PR, first sign of hard right or left countries, blogs like the standard don’t exist Paul however finds meaning in raging against the machine, no matter what that machine if he was in a hard left country he would be hard right
Like many here Paul, when you start with “You need to educate yourself” normally followed by a barrage of left wing links and videos I don’t go any further as I have seen what it has done to you
Trite slur from a closed mind. You would probably enjoy the documentary because you would get great satisfaction from cheering the Baddies while learning nothing.
You are absolutely correct Paul, J Key is the chairman of the International Democratic Union – a hard right think tank of international businessmen, bankers etc who gather in different places in the world and get up to no good. It does’t get much of a mention over here in sleepy ol’ New Zealand but is worth looking the IDU up to see what its all about. He played with us here and he did it very well indeed. Tinfoil hat wearers probably agree he was sent here to do a hatchet job on this country, I have no idea why he came here other than collecting handshakes, selfies, big noting and meeting world leaders. He has a job lined up somewhere after his holiday in Maui I have no doubt, IMF maybe but most certainly in the US.
Isn’t it a paradox, he flies out to a Hawaiian holiday as quick as he can bugger off – shouldn’t he still be here – isn’t the House sitting for another week – the ultimate indulgence and Mr Shearer is off to the “shittiest place on the planet” Paul Henry’s words – to try and stabilize South Sudan – how different can two men be. I didn’t know Paul Henry had been an on the ground reporter in South Sudan but he said South Sudan was the quote above on today’s morning show.
Well one has been leader of the country since 2008 and left with his party in the high 40s the other was knifed in the back by his own party (though wouldn’t Labour love to have shearers numbers)
Their careers may be quite different Pucky but Shearer’s previous job was one you had to have cajones of steel for plus a rough lifestyle in arid conditions and seriously dangerous situations – he may not have been cut out for political life and that’s not such a bad thing considering its rife with corruption, dirty politics and other unsavoury things, he is better off out of it. You cannot compare the positions of the two but I know which is more admiring of and its not the selfie obsessed ex PM.
He will be as far away from the UN as he can possibly be, away from the machinations that go on there. His job out there will be to help the people of South Sudan where his life will constantly be in danger – Key never had the bottle for anything like that – Pucky you never give up – Key was a selfish me me me person, he never gave a jot for this country and the fact that so many people thought the sun shone out of his ass is a terrible indictment of the morals and ethics of such a lot of people. How has it come about that there are still so many fogged up and their antennae all skewed and could not see through this sham of a man. It was staring all of us in the face so plainly – go back Pucky and watch John Campbell’s programme “Meet the Leaders” and see how much he bothered with his wife on the programme, it was shameful – JC saw it but then he has his antennae right in tune. The man is a shallow hollow man – get used to it.
Hes an intelligent, erudite and a complete troll. When he states how he thinks Labour will sweep to power, despite the abundance of polls and polling that suggest otherwise, he’s doing it because he knows he’ll get a reaction
Actually I come for the humour, for the education (yes I do listen to some people), to get a different viewpoint, to pass the working day, for all types of things
and what I’ve noticed is that most of the posters here probably have a lot more in common then there are differences
Bryan Gould was the most left wing contender for the leadership of UK Labour in the mid 1990’s. So I guess for him a centrist like John Key is a hardline neo-liberal (or “dedicated ideologue”). That also seems to be the default setting of most commenters on this site.
However, if that is how Labour is going to try and position National, they will fail. It hasn’t worked for 8 years and it won’t work for the next election.
But MMP will provide an opening. Winston is likely to hold the balance of power and will therefore decide the next government.
If National is quite close to 50% it might be hard for him to ignore the public legitimacy that confers, especially if Labour is below 30%. On the other hand if that is the case he can pretty much demand Labour give him the PM ship for the first two years as the price of power.
I wonder where Bryan stands in relation to Jeremy Corbyn. He must know him quite well since they spent more than 10 years in the Hose of Commons together. Does he think Jeremy is the answer, or not?
How about debating the issue rather than shooting the messenger.
‘It is John Key’s politics, not his personality, that have produced these intended outcomes. They have been produced not by a relaxed middle-of-the-roader but by a dedicated ideologue. ‘
The political attitudes of people tend to influence their opinions. None of us are immune to that.
Bryan’s writings over the years show he is a man of the left, so what I perceive as the centre, will be for him hard right, the product of a “dedicated ideologue”.
Nothing wrong in pointing that out.
Pat, I see no evidence that John Key was anything other than moderate right of centre. If Standardnista’s want to believe the something different, fine, but don’t expect it to go uncontested.
The policies of Key would have been far right of most National and Conservative parties of the 70s. Then he would have been seen as an extremist.
But, thanks to relentless propaganda from right wing think tanks and willing politicians like yourself, the Overton window has moved far to the right.
John Key was totally chameleon and “blokey” in his behaviour.
English and Bennett haven’t got any chance of keeping that up. If their honeymoon lasts until the New Year they will be lucky. After that it will all turn to custard.
I said Labour now “appear” far left, not Andrew. His job is to inform and engage those voters that flee at the mere suggestion of social policies as being on the verge of a communist dictatorship. Not easy, in this highly reactive, tribal, sensation seeking climate.
Special investigation: How Mt Eden’s private prison went from golden child to a misfit
A week, they say, is a long time in politics. A few months can be swift and brutal.
April, 2015, Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga stands in Parliament to face questions about the private prison operator, Serco.
“In the last prison performance table, might I just add, Serco’s Mt Eden Corrections Facility was the most exceptional prison,” he tells the House.
Serco Mt Eden: the golden child.
July, 2015, Lotu-Iiga is back on his feet in Parliament.
“I am appalled at the images that were shown in the last week that have come out of our corrections facilities,” he says, in reference to the YouTube footage of Mt Eden Fight Clubs.
Sam has always been a scape goat. Now he is standing down from his portfolio as well as not seeking re-election. Once again we hear the excuse of ‘family reasons’ for his decision, frequently used excuse of late.. ‘family reasons’
There should be an early election, all these Nat MP’s simply giving up, how many now.. seven or so of them about to quit, but hanging in there until next election, using the excuse of not wanting the tax payer to foot out for a by-election, while they continue to get a salary for a job they are no longer interested in.
Get some guts Bill and see if the people really want you and your party that is falling apart to lead NZ. This is NOT what many voted for, your government is wasting our tax payer money by paying salaries for quitters.
Early Election
Judith I’d say you will have some questions to address today.
Part of me has always felt a bit sorry for Sam. He, along with Alfred Ngaro, was an obviously uncomfortable “fiapalagi” prop to Keydashian’s widely and pridefully bugled election-time swings through South Auckland. The two of them by their presence purporting to verify a picture of Keydashian as the deserving beneficiary of Polynesian “fa’aaloalo ma talitonuina” (respect and trust).
A total crock of course but nothing like a spot of triennial smiling/anagram/sliming when someone has something you want. Going by what I’ve observed during long and close association with various mature and well-established members of Sam’s own aiga indeed, there was always lots of private tittering about that whole carry-on. For the rank bullshit of it. As bullshitty and insulting as Sam’s assertion on TV a couple of years ago that saving-up the 20% deposit on a $650,000 house is reasonably do-able by ordinary people.
I’ve seen no more heartfelt regard for Keydashian than for Tuilaepa. Tune in to Auckland’s Samoan talkback radio some time.
Judith hailed Serco’s entry into Mt Eden prison but Sam has got the chop. let’s wait and see where he pops up. National always reward those they use to make themselves look like “clearing out” with plumb, well paid jobs. Mike Sabin anyone?
A crap interview by Espiner he got his come up ins this morning from Winston
and the interview with Blinglish was even worse the day before rather weak to say the least it was a save our funding interview in other words we wont ask the hard questions he might cut our funding again even worse he might get rid us like they got rid of Campbell
Oh dear. Did he drop another cigarette onto his pin-striped, double breasted, booze sodden suit and set himself alight again?
He really needs someone with him at all times to keep him from harm.
I listened to that interview and its quite amazing stream of consciousness ramblings. As always he reverted to talking about the Wine Box affair, the highlight of his life, at least in his own failing memory.
Winston today was best summed up by a little item in the introduction to the book of “Yes Minister” episodes.
Talking about Sir Humphrey it says –
” …. before the advancing years, without in any way impairing his verbal fluency, disengaged the operation of his mind from the content of his speech.”
Sums the old fellow up beautifully doesn’t it? It will be a sad loss when he stumbles out of the House for the last time.
I’ve noticed in the last week or so that all these barbs being shot at Winston. It’s like something happened so that right-wing criticism about alcohol use suddenly became ok – it’s almost as if there is no around to take a hit on the return volley.
The last two times Winston has gone into coalition it has always been with the largest party, will you still say the same thing when Winston (most likely) goes with National?
Good call. Winston believes the tide is turning on this and has stated his position. Bill must be freaking out right now having forgotten what it’s like to be in the top job.
Good to see your bitter arse paining Alwyn. Your reason for taking breath having fucked off. Poor diddums……left all alone in Jonestown. Hurt hard troll !
Are you still around?
I thought you had gone back to your Kindergarten and left the adults to talk.
You still owe me an apology by the way. Remember?
Or is you memory like Winnies?
“Child Poverty Action Group: The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, proving that any Government efforts to reduce the impact of poverty on children are insignificant.
That the numbers remain so persistently high demonstrates that poverty among New Zealand children is enduring and long-term. Policies have made little to no change for the better for many children.”
If we review the Key years, the trends are unmistakable. Business interests have been given top priority, social and environmental issues have been increasingly relegated to the second or third rank. Public assets have been privatised and the public sector and public spending have been subject to constant cuts, the law has been changed when required to suit the interests of overseas corporations.
Workers’ rights have been reduced, employers have been given more power. Child poverty, and poverty more generally, has increased and life on benefits is tougher. The rich have enjoyed tax cuts. Homelessness has re-appeared in our midst and owning their own home is now beyond many young Kiwis; those already owning their own homes and property speculators in particular have made fortunes from soaring house prices.
“The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, proving that any Government efforts to reduce the impact of poverty on children are insignificant.”
Which can also be re-written as:
“while there have been improvements in the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, even in light of a Global Financial Crisis, more need to to be done to make further significant improvements”
There you go, same content, drop the negativity, add context and make your point.
Also: “The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty”
I would have thought that a near 50% reduction in cases if SUDI, approx 40% drop in deaths from conditions with a social gradient, >50% reduction in deaths from assault, neglect or maltreatment, and an approx 20% reduction in hospitalisations due to assault, neglect or maltreatment would be classed as significant…
Child Poverty Action Group – I am free if you would like people to actually read and think more in depth about what you are saying, rather than just immediately switching off to the negativity. Hell, you may even get the Government to buy into your message.
I didn’t vote Internet Mana because I’m a strategic voter. Never voted Labour because there’s always been something to the left (apart from the first time I voted and then I voted an independent). I’d vote for Harre in a flash in the electorate vote, and could easily see her in either Labour or the Greens. She’d be a great asset as a left wing MP in any party, which is the point you seem to be deliberately trying to obscure.
Righties trying to make out they know what left wing voters want, lolz.
Well Robert I think I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one, people will see Liala and think KDC
However I maybe attempting a double bluff and secretly I’m scared of Laila coming back…so it might best if Laila if Laila goes for an electorate seat maybe even a really high profile seat so everyone knows Lailas with Labour 🙂
It wasn’t public money so I don’t know what you’re so upset about. Unlike National of course who aren’t shy about using public money to give sub 1% parties a leg up into parliament.
I’m not but I’m pointing out that even with the colossal amount of money and free publicity Laila Harre couldn’t get a seat especially given how highly you rate her
Laila didn’t stand for Mana. She was the leader of the Internet Party. Yes I understand there was an alliance, but giving Laila credit for increasing Mana’s vote is a very long stretch.
Where did say she had nothing to do with them? I was simply pointing out she can’t be given any credit for Mana’s increase in vote. In fact, given the influence of the IP, Hone did incredibly well to get any votes.
My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges,
and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.
Helen Keller
Brownlee is a failure in Defence, the auditor general was not impressed with his department. Maybe his health is hindering his performance, probably more like a lack of skills and experience in that role is the problem.
“I was disappointed to note that the Defence Force did not adequately assess material changes in the fair value of its assets on a timely basis. Without enough assurance on this matter, both the Defence Force and my appointed auditor had to carry out substantial additional work, which led to significant delays. This is unacceptable. I stress that it is important for entities to prepare accounts in a timely manner and to an appropriate level of quality.”
Another area of interest is housing and the value of government owned housing especially in regards to their ongoing search for community buyers in order to create the much opposed sale of state owned assets…. outgoing government likes those house prices to be kept high, it makes their asset base appear more inflated.
Having trouble finding buyers? Why not offer some of the properties to first home buyers at a good rate, sure you won’t make the massive profit that you accounted for, but hey looks like you want to flick them off below value anyway, zero deposit rent to own, that would give many a bit more of a chance at living, after all they are just sitting empty, wasting away during a housing crisis excuse me building boom lolz
“The valuation of the Government’s investment in its social housing portfolio (primarily held by Housing New Zealand) is based on the highest and best use and on comparable market sales data for each individual property. In the year ended 30 June 2016, the value of the social housing stock increased by $3.2 billion, largely as a result of increases in the value of Auckland properties.
2.47
As part of the Social Housing Reform Programme, the Government announced that it is taking steps towards transferring ownership of some Housing New Zealand houses and tenancies to registered community housing providers. This has raised some specific accounting issues.
2.48
We identified this matter because of the judgement involved in determining the appropriate accounting treatment for social houses proposed to be transferred to community housing providers, either sold or redeveloped as part of the Government’s social housing reform programme.”
Jacinda Ardern is considering Mt Albert. She will humiliate in that seat the next token minority National puts up.
Perhaps National will dig up a gay, climate-change denying Ethiopian refugee as the face of their campaign in a desperate attempt to appear relevant and diverse.
It’s an impressive sustained rise by NZFirst there.
Would expect National to go even higher on the back of the dominant media coverage surrounding both the Kaikoura earthquakes and the leadership change.
There’s very, very little space for Labour or other Opposition figures in the media until February 2017.
Also very hard to see significant %% of voters switching away from National into 2017.
Wow, how impressive was the nose dive that Cunliffe took Labour on! I haven’t look at his term as leader of the opposition like that before.
Based on Shearer having Labour in the mid-30’s, and Cunliffe taking Labour to the low 20’s, I now completely agree with Andrew Little and a number of commentators here, Labour should ignore the center and move further left.
Sure, I used to be in the Coromandel electorate (1999 and 2002) when Jeanette Fitzsimons was the local MP. I thought she was a brilliant, straight up local MP and I was still in a FPP mind set so gave both of my votes to her.
2005 I opposed Labour’s interest free student loans (even though I had a huge student debt at that point), and didn’t like Don Brash’s racially divisive tactics, so I held my nose and voted Winston First.
2008 – 2014 I voted National. I was sick of politics by this stage, but John Key’s move to work with Helen Clark and Sue Bradford on the ‘anti-smacking’ legislation, plus his centrist policy platform and general pragmatism leading up to the election lead me to vote National, and I haven’t seen a viable alternative since (except maybe The Greens again at the last election).
I had been considering TOP at the next election until they ruled out pushing the Big Kahuna in their first term.
I keep coming back here as my interest in politics has increased since becoming a Dad, and I found I am nowhere near as far right as Whaleoil or Kiwiblog commenters.
EDIT: I do miss seeing comments from Lanthanide and CV recently, they generally seemed to be the most closely aligned with my own beliefs
There’s a weird spritzer-gulping species that does take a holiday from National and vote Green from time to time. Met quite a few. Influenced principally by their freeholding, maybe even cross-lease, in the well-leafed suburbs in which they reside. It’s a ‘pro-test’. Real hard out bastards. On the ramparts. “Patu Squad” and all that. Hehehehe.
Yes, there are a few like the above, CV, Lanthanide, Ad, and David Farrar who simply and blindly hate Labour. They skirt around Labour to the left and right but can’t explain why.
“They skirt around Labour to the left and right but can’t explain why.”
Why would anyone vote Labour? If you want a neo-liberal party you vote National, if you want a party with social and environmental conscience vote Greens. Labour sort of sits in between tinkering without thinking of consequences of their actions (see WFF, Interest Free student loans, Seabed and Foreshore etc.), at least National are open about what they are and The Greens stick to their principles.
Ha, well I don’t fit that mold North, try a ‘brown bottle’ beer drinking renter, living in Otahuhu which is pretty far from a ‘well-leafed suburb’!
In fact, you couldn’t have gotten it any more wrong!
Wonder why Key liked him so much.
His impartiality?
“And can I make one special thank you to the best pollster in New Zealand — and don’t charge us more for it — David Farrar, who got his numbers right!”
The biggest news that dwarfs all other news.
We need a thread to discuss what is going on in the Arctic.
Parts of the Arctic were an average of 11 degrees Celsius warmer than they were in the late 20th century as the region experienced “extreme record temperature anomalies”, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has said.
The report found the average annual air temperature over land areas was the “highest in the observational record” at 3.5C above 1900. Sea ice levels also fell to the lowest since satellite records began in 1979.
These are both likely to indicate the warmest Arctic weather for tens of thousands of years.
The Arctic has a considerable effect on the northern hemisphere’s weather with some experts saying the rapid warming of the region – more than twice the global average – could produce “catastrophic” extreme weather events
for much of the planet.
“For Arctic researchers, communicating the impacts of our discoveries has taken on an unprecedented urgency in the face of environmental change that – in many instances – is outpacing our ability to understand and explain the changes we are witnessing,” the report said.
Professor Peter Wadhams, the head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at Cambridge University and author of the book, A Farewell to Ice, warned the loss of snow cover, which has hit a record low, and sea ice was speeding up global warming.
“I calculate that between them they are causing the effective heating of the planet to be 50 per cent higher than would be caused by the added greenhouse gases alone – entirely due to snow and ice retreat,” he told the Independent in an email.
Professor Wadhams suggested that Arctic sea ice was “well and truly set on a collapse”.
And this, he warned, could have a dramatic and sudden effect on global temperatures.
“The warm sea water melts the offshore permafrost, which releases methane trapped in the sediments below,” Professor Wadhams said.
“There is potential for a catastrophic methane pulse which cause immediate warming of up to 0.6C , according some calculations which we did in [the journal] Nature a couple of years back.
Problem is PR Labour is not the party of the rich and powerful. They can’t pay them off or find them a good little lurk somewhere among the pile of quangos and other such bodies.
Jilted MPs who don’t get looked after have a habit of turning on their former pollie masters. The political landscape is full of them.
Puhlease….the Nats and Labour are both past masters at lining up current and former MPs with diplomatic postings, appointments to boards and appointments to such nebulous rorts as the film and literature review office and ltes not talk about the bipartisan annual rort that is the speakers tour.
You are correct. Both parties fill diplomatic postings etc. with their own people. They would be crazy to do otherwise. I’m not talking about those sort of positions. Now what’s the name of that National Party trust? Ahhh, that’s right, its called the Waitemata Trust…
I suspect Foss is in a sulk now his ex squash partner is gone, and he now intends to work full time on his investment portfolio that he’s so damnably proud of.
Craig Foss to step down, another National Party MP resigns for ‘family reasons’ and does not want to stand down until next year to avoid a by election.
Told ya’s the National Party is falling apart, most of their MP’s hearts aren’t in the job, but they are happy to collect the salary until next year using the excuse of ‘avoiding the tax payer the cost of a by election”
FFS THE CITIZENS OF NZ DEMAND AN EARLY ELECTION!!
WHERE ON EARTH HAS OUR DEMOCRACY GONE ?
1. John Key – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
2. Hekia Parata – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
3. Craig Foss – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
4. Sam Lotu-liga – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
5. Chester Borrows – want;s to do something different, awaiting the courts in regards to a careless driving causing injury charge.
6. Jono Naylor – quits after one term in parliament
7. Lindsay Tisch – quits for family reasons
8. Murray McCully (standing down in his electorate MAY stay on the list instead)
9. English is the same (quitting his electorate for the list),
That’s quite a number of Nat MP’s. No wonder they don’t want an early election, they’ve much work to do.
As for the general public as suggested I’ve been asking around, many National supporters feel let down that English is PM.
Why is everyone leaving for ‘family reasons’ ? Is it because the National Party is a toxic environment at present? These events scream instability to me
What would be interesting is looking at the average length of tenure across the MPs of the 3 (4) major parties.
I’m thinking there would be little difference between Labour and National with third place going to NZ (with the Winnie outlier discounted) and the Green party being the most rejuvenated over the last ten years or so.
WTF? He taught the lesson. It was English who first tried to brand the National Party as more of a centrist, caring party between the hard-line Shipley and Brash periods.
Ho Ho Santa Claus I’ve bigger fish to fry than spending time conducting polls, I’ll just keep listening to the people, and seeing this is an amazing tourist town, there will be plenty of them to converse with. People tend to open up to me, not sure why, but one learns so much by listening.
Crikey you never know, might take a wander around some camping grounds with my note book in hand, ALL walks of life come here for summer.
Where the tourist are from kinda of depends on what day it is.. during the week this last month you will find most shopping in the supermarket have accents.
During the weekend it’s different, many NZer’s flock to Motueka and many more are coming, already the main road is congested, it’s that time of year when one ditches the car for the bike around town, it’s quicker and easier.
Nothing is more fun on a holiday than having a political person coming around the campground with a notebook interrupting family time. Especially when you start trotting out your “outgoing government” and “Alpha Andy” sayings.
I’ve this one comment that is a sure fire conversation starter, simple interesting, and all one has to do is listening after saying it.. goes like this..
“Gosh I was shocked last week when John Key resigned”
And it’s all the encouragement people need, everyone has an opinion on his resignation.
Seeing Hosking pop up is an absurd departure from those rules. People seem to be annoyed by different aspects of his character: his incessant pen-clicking, his vacuum cleaner fetish, his short attention span, his tendency to talk over female co-hosts, his unshakeable certainty on complex topics he seems to know little about, his smug, intolerant, I’m-alright-Jack approach to the world.
But for everyone, there’s something about the man that grates. I’ve yet to meet anyone who was an unqualified fan of the man (although I’ve never met Kate Hawkesby, who I assume must think he’s alright, and I’ve never met Hosking, which isn’t surprising as he’s never agreed to an interview with this organisation in my memory). For me, it’s all of the above. But I can (and do) avoid him. But now I can’t.
The saving grace is that Hosking’s role in the in-flight video is to sit in his flash car in a traffic jam, looking annoyed.
But in reality, Hosking’s part in the Air NZ video is of course, to show that the Great Mike can have a good old laugh at himself. And of course, as we’ve seen over and over again in his pompous Seven Sharp sermons, he can’t.
Many of Air NZ’s repeat customers have sat through Dagg’s one-note rap on multiple occasions with commendable restraint, never once ripping the screen from the seat in front.
Whether they can survive multiple views of the Hosk is less certain.
Air NZ safety ad – brown(ish?) really is the new black……but of course living and working in the Bay of Islands/Hokianga I already knew that, as to the real brown at least. Can’t withhold the lament that it’s a pity the racists/classists who skitter nervously by the Kaikohe District Court, nostrils clenched shut (metaphorical me), don’t appreciate that. Also…….can’t for the life of me imagine why anyone thought a cameo by scarecrowishly slight, grimacing, impatient, entitled, mutton-as-lamb, white dork Hosking…….that this works for the safety of any fucking thing. It’s Judge Judy in skinny jeans on meth’. Must have been some special ‘tatou tatou bro’ going on down in Aux when this got made.
An absolutely fantastic piece by Stephanie Rodgers has been published in Overland today. The subject is “Solidarity” and is essential reading for those on the left IMO.
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Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
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This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
What seems to be the common theme in the US, NZ, Argentina and places like Italy under their respective rightwing governments is what I think of as “the politics of cruelty.” Hate-mongering, callous indifference in social policy-making, corporate toadying, political bullying, intimidation and punching down on the most vulnerable with ...
If you are confused, check with the sunCarry a compass to help you alongYour feet are going to be on the groundYour head is there to move you aroundSo, stand in the place where you liveSongwriters: Bill Berry / Michael Mills / Michael Stipe / Peter Buck.Hot in the CityYesterday, ...
Shane Jones announced today he would be contracting out his thinking to a smarter younger person.Reclining on his chaise longue with a mouth full of oysters and Kina he told reporters:Clearly I have become a has-been, a palimpsest, an epigone, a bloviating fossil. I find myself saying such things as: ...
Warning: This post contains references to sexual assaultOn Saturday, I spent far too long editing a video on Tim Jago, the ACT Party President and criminal, who has given up his fight for name suppression after 2 years. He voluntarily gave up just in time for what will be a ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is global warming ...
Our low-investment, low-wage, migration-led and housing-market-driven political economy has delivered poorer productivity growth than the rest of the OECD, and our performance since Covid has been particularly poor. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty this ...
..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.As far as major government announcements go, a Three Ministers Event is Big. It can signify a major policy development or something has gone Very Well, or an absolute Clusterf**k. When Three Ministers assemble ...
One of those blasts from the past. Peter Dunne – originally neoliberal Labour, then leader of various parties that sought to work with both big parties (generally National) – has taken to calling ...
Completed reads for January: I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson The Black Spider, by Jeremias Gotthelf The Spider and the Fly (poem), by Mary Howitt A Noiseless Patient Spider (poem), by Walt Whitman August Heat, by W.F. Harvey Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White The Shrinking Man, by Richard Matheson ...
Do its Property Right Provisions Make Sense?Last week I pointed out that it is uninformed to argue that the New Zealand’s apparently poor economic performance can be traced only to poor regulations. Even were there evidence they had some impact, there are other factors. Of course, we should seek to ...
Richard Wagstaff It was incredibly jarring to hear the hubris from the Prime Minister during his recent state of the nation address. I had just spent close to a week working though the stories and thoughts shared with us by nearly 2000 working people as part of our annual Mood ...
Odd fact about the Broadcasting Standards Authority: for the last few years, they’ve only been upholding about 5% of complaints. Why? I think there’s a range of reasons. Generally responsible broadcasters. Dumb complaints. Complaints brought under the wrong standard. Greater adherence to broadcasters’ rights to freedom of expression in the ...
And I said, "Mama, mama, mama, why am I so alone"'Cause I can't go outside, I'm scared I might not make it homeWell I'm alive, I'm alive, but I'm sinking inIf there's anyone at home at your place, darlingWhy don't you invite me in?Don't try to feed me'Cause I've been ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ star is on the rise, having just added the Energy, Local Government and Revenue portfolios to his responsibilities - but there is nothing ambitious about the Government’s new climate targets. Photo: SuppliedLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
It may have been a short week but there’s been no shortage of things that caught our attention. Here is some of the most interesting. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at public transport ridership in 2024 On Thursday Connor asked some questions ...
The East Is Red: Journalists and commentators are referring to the sudden and disruptive arrival of DeepSeek as a second “Sputnik moment”. (Sputnik being the name given by the godless communists of the Soviet Union to the world’s first artificial satellite which, to the consternation and dismay of the Americans, ...
Hi,Back on inauguration day we launched a ridiculous RFK Jr. “brain worms” tee on the Webworm store, and I told you I’d be throwing my profits over to Mutual Aid LA and Rainbow Youth New Zealand. Just to show I am not full of shit, here are the receipts. I ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump over Gaza and Ukraine.Health expert and author David Galler ...
In an uncompromising paper Treasury has basically told the Government that its plan for a third medical school at Waikato University is a waste of money. Furthermore, the country cannot afford it. That advice was released this week by the Treasury under the Official Information Act. And it comes as ...
Back in November, He Pou a Rangi provided the government with formal advice on the domestic contribution to our next Paris target. Not what the target should be, but what we could realistically achieve, by domestic action alone, without resorting to offshore mitigation. Their answer was startling: depending on exactly ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest David Patman and ...
I don't like to spend all my time complaining about our government, so let me complain about the media first.Senior journalistic Herald person Thomas Coughlan reported that Treasury replied yeah nah, wrong bro to Luxon's claim that our benighted little country has been in recession for three years.His excitement rose ...
Back in 2022, when the government was consulting internally about proactive release of cabinet papers, the SIS opposed it. The basis of their opposition was the "mosaic effect" - people being able to piece together individual pieces of innocuous public information in a way which supposedly harms "national security" (effectively: ...
With The Stroke Of A Pen:Populism, especially right-wing populism, invests all the power of an electoral/parliamentary majority in a single political leader because it no longer trusts the bona fides of the sprawling political class among whom power is traditionally dispersed. Populism eschews traditional politics, because, among populists, traditional politics ...
I’ve spent the last week writing a fairly substantial review of a recent book (“Australia’s Pandemic Exceptionalism: How we crushed the curve but lost the race”) by a couple of Australian academic economists on Australia’s pandemic policies and experiences. For all its limitations, there isn’t anything similar in New Zealand. ...
Mr Mojo Rising: Economic growth is possible, Christopher Luxon reassures us, but only under a government that is willing to get out of the way and let those with drive and ambition get on with it.ABOUT TWELVE KILOMETRES from the farm on the North Otago coast where I grew up stands ...
You're nearly a good laughAlmost a jokerWith your head down in the pig binSaying, 'Keep on digging.'Pig stain on your fat chinWhat do you hope to findDown in the pig mine?You're nearly a laughYou're nearly a laughBut you're really a crySongwriter: Roger Waters.NZ First - Kiwi Battlers.Say what you like ...
This is a re-post from the Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler Climate denial is dead. Renewable energy denial is here. As “alternative facts” become the norm, it’s worth looking at what actual facts tell us about how renewable energy sources like solar and wind are lowering the price of electricity. As ...
SIR GEOFFREY PALMER is worried about democracy. In his Newsroom website post of 27 January 2025 he asserts that “the future of democracy across the world now seems to be in question.” Following a year of important electoral contests across the world, culminating in Donald Trump’s emphatic recapture of the ...
The Government hasn’t stopped talking about growth since the Prime Minister made his “yes” speech at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce last week. But so far, the measures announced would seem hardly likely to suddenly pitch New Zealand into the fast-growth East Asian league. The digital nomad announcement hardly deserved ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to stand firm and work with allies to progress climate action as Donald Trump signals his intent to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords once again. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has hailed a drop in the domestic component of inflation, saying it increases the prospect of mortgage rate reductions and a lower cost of living for Kiwi households. Stats NZ reported today that inflation was 2.2 per cent in the year to December, the second consecutive ...
Two new appointed members and one reappointed member of the Employment Relations Authority have been announced by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden today. “I’m pleased to announce the new appointed members Helen van Druten and Matthew Piper to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) and welcome them to ...
Health NZ's CEO has resigned, but frontline healthworkers are sceptical that installing new leadership will make any difference to a system grappling with problems. ...
Gail Duncan, Chairperson of the St Peter’s on Willis Social Justice Group, one of the organisations invited to submit on the Bill, says the Government’s actions are unprecedented. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amani Kasherwa, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland In late January, a rebel group that has long caused mayhem in the sprawling African nation of Democratic Republic of Congo took control of Goma, a major city of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Monash University An ad falsely depicting independent candidate Alex Dyson as a Greens member.ABC News/Supplied The highly pertinent case of a little-known independent candidate in the Victorian seat of Wannon has exposed a gaping ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Nik/Unsplash You might have heard that eating too many eggs will cause high cholesterol levels, leading to poor health. Researchers have examined the science behind this myth again, and ...
Everything you missed from the third day of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard four hours of oral submission. Read our recaps of day one of the hearings here, and day two here. Parliament was quiet on Friday for the third day of hearings on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thomas Jeffries, Senior Lecturer in Microbiology, Western Sydney University Tijana Simic/Shutterstock The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jens Blotevogel, Principal Research Scientist and Team Leader for Remediation Technologies, CSIRO Mino Surkala, Shutterstock Lithium-ion batteries are part of everyday life. They power small rechargeable devices such as mobile phones and laptops. They enable electric vehicles. And larger versions store ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edith Jennifer Hill, Associate Lecturer, Learning & Teaching Innovation, Flinders University Netflix Netflix’s new limited series, Apple Cider Vinegar, tells the story of the elaborate cancer con orchestrated by Australian blogger Annabelle (Belle) Gibson. The first episode opens with Gibson’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University Greece’s government has just declared a state of emergency on the island of Santorini, as earthquakes shake the island multiple times a day and sometimes only minutes apart. The “earthquake swarm” is also affecting other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Western Australian state election will be held on March 8. A Newspoll, conducted January 29 to February 4 from a sample ...
She’s back behind the wheel, and this time, she wants to find out what it is that makes us tick. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. After a prolific career on stage and screen, 83-year-old Miriam Margolyes is on the road again. ...
A new poem by Jordan Hamel. Real Poet Every word earned its place and so did he, so should you. Real poet lives in the capital but writes himself into the Mackenzie country golden hour, man of the paper land, he neglects to mention his pollen ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail (Wai Ako Press, $25) No better time to get ...
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There is more than one truth to tell in the awful story of Aleppo
Robert Fisk
Joe90 and others regurgitating Jihadi and US propaganda – please read.
Western media lies about Syria exposed (Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett)
Why Everything You Hear About Aleppo Is Wrong
It’s bloody concerning how they did the pamphlet drop and have now herded up the people into one area, and the events that have followed over the last few days.
Such as Syrian government going into houses, executing people, and as a result of them being so trigger happy many women and children have died.
Now the army are grabbing any men that head into the ‘protected area’ where the rest of the ‘herd’ are, then giving them a gun and telling them they are now in the Syrian Army.
ALJazeera are now doing almost continuous live coverage of these events.
Did you read Robert Fisk’s article?
Al Jazeera is not a reliable source on Syria.
Al Jazeera’s controversies and criticism
Al Jazeera reporter resigns over “biased” Syria coverage
Al Jazeera: From Media Power To Laughing Stock
Thanks for the info, that’s sad about AJs apparent dodgy agenda re Syria.
AJ is the only news channel i have on my tv so i do watch a bit of it, love the listening post.
I wonder where is a reliable independent non aligned middle eastern news provider?
And thanks so much for all the links you have provided on Syria, it’s much appreciated Paul. Cheers for that.
I don’t think is a reliable independent non aligned middle eastern news provider.
However there are some freelance independent non aligned journalists.
Patrick Cockburn.
The rebels of Aleppo will fight on, but Assad is taking their last power base in Syria
This is why everything you’ve read about the wars in Syria and Iraq could be wrong
Robert Fisk
There’s one key difference between the Second World War and the Syrian conflict – the rebels of Aleppo are no heroes
Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley (both linked above by Paul) have been providing good info. One problem, (and Eva Bartlett touched on it in the vid link above) is that the non-mainstream left media has been going with the same narrative as the mainstream liberal media. That means their first hand accounts get no oxygen from the likes of ‘Democracy Now’ and other reasonably well regarded outlets. So less well regarded outlets are used.
Which then leads to the charge that they are right wing conspiracy nuts.
But you know, even just reading the Guardian with half a brain engaged would allow anyone to figure we’ve been fed a tsunami of bullshit. Mosul is the same situation as Aleppo, and yet the reporting could hardly be any more different. (Mosul seems to have dropped off the pages now – too difficult to square that circle I guess).
Look at the sources used by The Guardian and others. Always voices purporting to come from within non-government areas and always (it seems) filtered through Syrian Rights Observatory (a one man operation based in England), or footage and claims made by the ‘White Helmets’ (created by an ex-military Englishmen with historical links to Blackwater and other such orgs) being picked up on and reported on with no accompanying critical thought or analysis.
Never interviews with people who have sought the safe haven of government held areas. Never interviews with people who have been subjected to mortar attack in Western Aleppo. Never any video footage from there either.
And as Fisk points out, in the words of ‘our’ media terrorists ‘retake’ cities while cities ‘fall’ to the government.
And so it goes.
Thankfully, and at last, the tsunami of bullshit may be breaking. And thanks for the comments/postings Paul.
Thanks Bill as well for your info, and Paul I’ll look towards where both you fellas directed, really appreciate both of your comments and insight.
For example, let’s look at RNZ’s news today.
Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations’ Dr Zaidoun al-Zoabi told Morning Report the situation is “the worst ever”.
“These are the most terrifying times humanity’s seen, if there is anything called humanity.”
What is the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations?
http://www.uossm.org/who_we_are
http://www.uossm.us/history
Mosul is the same situation as Aleppo…
This is part of that “tsunami of bullshit” you mention. A few differences between Mosul and Aleppo:
1. Mosul actually is occupied by Da’Esh, unlike Aleppo.
2. The rebels in Aleppo are part of an uprising against a brutal dictatorship, while the people occupying Mosul are part of an uprising against secularism, democracy, human rights and anything else that’s good about the modern world.
3. The forces attacking Mosul aren’t carrying out indiscriminate aerial bombing of civilian neighbourhoods, unlike the forces attacking Aleppo.
4. The forces attacking Mosul haven’t deliberately destroyed every hospital available to the people trapped there. This and 3 above are the main explanation for the different media coverage of the two battles.
5. The forces attacking Mosul aren’t rejecting out of hand cease-fire requests from the defenders, unlike those attacking Aleppo. (True, they might reject cease-fire requests if Da’esh were to make any, but no such requests will be made – another difference.)
You really do need to do some reading PM.
btw. Just on number 5.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/13/deal-reached-to-evacuate-rebels-and-civilians-from-aleppo
And here’s the thing. This is the tactic of the Syrian government as voiced by Assad (make of that what you will). Promise safe passage for armed foreign terrorists out of populated areas. Then re-engage with the intention of driving them out of Syria.
You, Paul and Morrissey always declare me poorly-informed, as though I’d surely develop an enthusiasm for illiberal authoritarian nationalism if only I read up on it a bit more. It’s almost comical.
In the Syrian civil war, there is no ideological superiority to be had – it’s not objectively worse for western countries and the Gulf states to support the Syrian rebels than it is for Russia and Iran to support the Assad regime. The reign of terror that Assad is about to start in east Aleppo will be a terrible crime against humanity, but probably won’t be hugely different from the one that rebel groups would embark on if they’d won.
Those things don’t make Assad and Russia the villains of media reporting on this conflict. What makes them the villains is their campaign of aerial bombardment against the civilian population, emergency workers and hospitals of east Aleppo. No amount of energetic false-equivalence finger-pointing by illiberal authoritarians on this blog or elsewhere can alter that.
RNZ news reporting on Syria at 12 May as well be renamed ‘The Voice of Saudi Arabia’ given its unremitting bias.
This stream of discussion shows just how disconnected from the mainstream some of the commenters on this site are.
How many people are you going to convince that the actions of the western coalition against ISIS are as bad as Assad’s forces?
I would suggest virtually no-one.
I would also note that Fisk does not help his case by his vitriol against the current British PM. It makes him look like an Assad puppet.
ISIS would be pretty quick to say that hospitals and schools are the targets of the western coalition if they could do so.
In contrast bombing hospitals seems to be the modus operandi of Assad and his Russian helpers.
In short, you are up against it trying to portray Assad as the noble liberator of his people.
I regard the views of Patrick Cockburn and Robert Fisk way above the new writers on , RNZ, Fairfax and NZME.
For someone who was once a poltician, you appear hopelessly ill-informed.
Fisk and Cockburn are not ‘ trying to portray Assad as the noble liberator of his people.’ Clearly you have not read the articles, yet feel comfortable commenting on them.
Typical Tory. Willfully ignorant.
You need to do a lot more reading on the subject.
Fisk and Cockburn are not ‘ trying to portray Assad as the noble liberator of his people.’
No, Paul, they aren’t, and wouldn’t. That’s the task you and other regime apologists have taken on, which is presumably why Wayne pointed it out.
Show me where I have done that.
Wayne, one of the things Frisk might be angry about is the British PM off selling arms to the Saudis.
Now if you have talked to any US or British vets you will know the one thing they hate above all the bureaucratic BS, is fighting guys who are using weapons made by them. I was a dinner a while a go with some Yanks, and they got quite upset talking about finding terrorist’s with brand new US equipment. Also some of the pome’s I’ve talked to have said the same thing, in one case worse, because the jihadist’s had some ammunition they could not get.
So from a purely military view point, it does seem some of the politicians are right tossers when it comes to making a buck selling arms. I’m not sure the British PM selling arms to the Saudi’s is going to endear her to her own troops.
Keep up the good work Paul and adam. The western propaganda is slowly being exposed but sadly the damage is done and the incorrect beliefs are now ingrained in so many westerners. We must all realize that in war truth is the first casualty, but the blind acceptance of either sides version is still prevalent( on both sides).
As with the Vietnam war when the truth finally comes out it certainly exposes the bullshit the west promulgates . Nothing has changed.
Thanks garibaldi
Many have forgotten the lies behind weapons of mass destruction.
It should be noted that only 2 Arabian/Persian Gulf States use beheading as a form of execution – Saudi Arabia and (Assad’s & Iraq’s) ally Iran (although last used in 2001). Benin and Yemen are the only 2 other states that use beheading as a legal form of execution. As an aside Iran executes twice as many people a year than Saudi (although it has twice the population), About 45% are for drug offences (which is roughly the same proportion as in Saudi).
It’s interesting how we in the “West” now seem to resile at beheading over other forms of execution (as if the death penalty is acceptable in any other form) however France used beheading for execution up to 1981 (last execution in 1977), Sweden executed its second to last criminal – mass murderer Johan Filip Nordlund – by a manual cleaver in 1900, replacing it with a guillotine, which was then used for the first and only time in 1910 (death penalty abolished there in 1921). Beheading by guillotine survived in West Germany until 1949 and in East Germany until 1966 (also 40,000 Germans were legally executed under the Nazi regime, most of them by guillotine).
We may have got there before some of the rest of the world in finding beheading as an unacceptable form of execution but not by that much.
I’m sure that Key will receive a knighthood for services to private businesses in enabling exploitation of migrant workers for cheap labour http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11766210
Arise, Slur John Key.
ñìçě1
From smiling assassin to SirJohn the welfare dissecting surgeon
Part of the ‘brighter future’ he promised.
That and tax dodging multi-nationals.
Tax dodging multinationals
Can immigrant workers join a union in NZ? Does anyone know please?
I assume so because I found this page…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNEMIG Union Network of Migrants
Union Network of Migrants is a network of migrant workers within FIRST Union. FIRST UNEMIG is migrant led, non-profit and non-sectarian.
UNEMIG aims to protect the rights and welfare of migrant workers in New Zealand.
http://firstunion.org.nz/unemig
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you for that much appreciated
I don’t think he will receive a knighthood in New Zealand at all. He will get a well deserved award of the Order of New Zealand. He deserves it a great deal more that many of the hacks who have got it in the past.
The Queen on the other hand may make him the third New Zealand member of the Knights of the Garter.
” He will get a well deserved award of the Order of New Zealand. ”
for what? doing his job?
i get that thats how many are handed out now – but explain why it would be well deserved
“for what? doing his job?”
It is the reason that David Lange, Mike Moore, Jim Bolger and Helen Clark got it.
I think, although I may be in a minority among those who contribute here, that he was at least the equal of any of that group.
On the other hand he is vastly more significant that Sonja Davies, Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan and Jonathon Hunt ever were. How they got into the top 20 living New Zealanders at any time is beyond me.
I believe, for all his faults, Lange would have run rings around Key.
Question time would have been fun, wouldn’t it?
It wouldn’t have mattered which one was the Prime Minister and which the Leader of the Opposition.
Geez imagine a leaders debate between Lange and Key, that’d be a ratings winner
Lange would probably win but he’d have to be on the top of his game
Key can’t handle it when under pressure.
Far too used to a compliant media.
Cracks when really questioned.
“Key can’t handle it when under pressure.
Far too used to a compliant media.
Cracks when really questioned.”.
You are living in a dream world Paul.
Just the way Helen Clark did before the first Leader’s debate in 2008.
Just as John Campbell did before his session with Key on the GCSB.
In both cases Key took them apart.
You, like them, forget what Key’s profession was before he went in for politics. People in the Forex dealers profession have no nerves. They simply don’t crack under pressure. They cannot do the job if they don’t have that characteristic.
he deserves nothing just like he hasn’t given nothing
He gave massive tax cuts to the rich and the corporations.
They’ll thank him for that.
He delivered what Wall St wanted so he is guaranteed of a gong.
@ amirite (2) .. Yep spot on there. And don’t forget the treason, selling NZ off bit by bit, interfering with our sovereignty by attempting to change the flag, then trying to really sell us down the river with the (now failed) TPPA.
Qualifications for a knighthood indeed. Seems most of the confidence tricksters get one eventually.
New Year honours coming up. The title Sir (John Key) should have some pathetic clout with his Hollywood mates, Wall St and the likes! They go for anything with a bit of fancy decoration to it, even if it does stink to high heaven through the shit sticking to it. It’s all about facade and that’s what Key has been the past 8 years, a facade, fabricated by Crosby/Textor, much to the detriment of NZ!
Recommended reading for Puckish Rogue:
“Finally, Key made his way, waving, down the steps of Parliament, as he was greeted and applauded by every suck-up loser he’d ever seen or worked with in the capital. He hated most of them, but he shook their hands and hugged them anyway.
“You’ll fail,” he whispered in Bill English’s ear, before hopping into his crown car, and disappearing into the foggy wilderness of our memories.”
The Civilian dismisses Key, elegantly.
Lalalalala I can’t hear you
In a decade or so we’ll look back at the time of Slur John Keys leadership as a highpoint in our democracy 🙂
Yes, a real high point when your leader abuses young women.
Even his sycophants could see that.
Today I’m embarrassed John Key is Prime Minister
I know and it explains perfectly why National slumped to the high 40s, oh wait they didn’t because most of NZ saw it for what it was, a political hit job manufactured by Bradbury
Sorry to see you support sexual abuse.
Just as long as the polls are high, eh?
Anything to support the Dear Leader.
Contemptible.
Why bother ranting about Key…in case you didn’t notice he’s resigned.
in case you hadn’t heard his replacement wants to continue the same agenda.
..and why wouldn’t he when the Nats are cruising in the high 40s.
First rule of politics heading into an election…if you are in power and have strong support avoid doing anything that might spook the horses.
odd…I thought the first rule of politics was there are no rules?
…..horses are looking pretty jittery , but don’t worry, bubbly Paula will calm them down.
I see Tracy Watkins talking up Bennett on stuff as NZ most famous westie? What a load of shit! maybe in her head but more like NZ most loathed westie.
must say i love reading that, it sure does not get old… Resigned, Key has resigned. Gives me a sense of great happiness and optimism.
“Sorry to see you support sexual abuse.”
What sexual abuse?
“Just as long as the polls are high, eh?”
Its certainly a better gauge of how the voting public then posting in an echo chamber
“Anything to support the Dear Leader.”
Helen Clark left the building awhile ago, also around the same time Labour had any chance of winning an election
“Contemptible.”
You really are a dreary and, worst of all, boring person
Pulling someone’s pony tail against their stated wishes is sexual abuse.
No it isn’t
Assault, I’d have thought. Certainly became an international embarrassment for Key. Bet he wishes he’d taken his wife’s advice and grown up a little, kept his hands to himself and behaved as a Prime Minister should.
Careful Robert, that didn’t sound over the top, in fact that sounded reasonable so you better watch yourself or you’ll be accused of being a Key lover
I would call it sexual harassment. Which is serious enough. It’s also physical assault, and abuse of positional/institutional power.
+1
there is bullying involved too.
yep.
Describe what Key did then to the waitress.
Sexual abuse? Wow. That escalated quickly.
Describe what Key did then to the waitress.
He pulled her pony tail, would a pat on the arm also be sexual abuse. mild assault at best and yes abuse of power but sexual abuse, get real
So you condone sexual harassment and physical assault if it doesn’t affect poll ratings?
+1
Sexual abuse?
It is hyperbole like this which explains a lot about why we are languishing at record low poll levels
Describe what Key did then to the waitress.
For Pukish Rogue, Enough is Enough, and Sam C the following is the link to the account by the waitress of key’s treatment of her.
When you’ve read it you will be able to do as Paul suggests, and describe what key did to her.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/04/22/exclusive-the-prime-minister-and-the-waitress/
You’re welcome.
Sorry Brigid but I don’t read The Daily Blog, its so unbalanced and unreliable you can’t take anything on there (except Chris Trotter) seriously
So the waitress’s account of what key’s interaction with her was, is unbalanced and unreliable. How do you know that?
You are just too afraid to read it aren’t you.
Sorry Brigid but I don’t read The Daily Blog, its so unbalanced and unreliable you can’t take anything on there (except Chris Trotter) seriously
Oh good, everyone can stop reading your comments now too.
Hi Weka
I thought I’d take a play out of the lefts playbook
“that commentator/website/newspaper is on the right therefore I won’t read it which means your argument is invalid”
Its a good one isn’t it 😉
It might be if left wing people actually did that. But since they don’t, you’re talking shit 🙂
(myself, I don’t avoid WO and KB because they’re right wing, I avoid them because they neoliberal, neo-fascist, dangerous bullies. Which is a different thing entirely).
Pukish Rogue has the name John Key stamped on his backside so has difficulties recognizing the former prime minister as a pervert. No wonder his two children have issues.
I think I have No Entry on my backside but that’s beside the point. What issues does John Keys kids have pray tell?
It’s not hyperbole.
it’s not but the term is wrong. It’s sexual harassment and physical assault.
+1 Weka.
OK,, I take your point.
So pr and others are happy to condone sexual harassment and physical assault as long as it doesn’t damage the polls.
Yep. Typical of Authoritarian Followers. They will always defend their leaders no matter how despicable their leaders actions are.
Draco, I find their actions and words repulsive and contemptible.
Good for you Paul if it makes you feel better
“So pr and others are happy to condone sexual harassment and physical assault as long as it doesn’t damage the polls.”
Pretty much.
“Sexual abuse?
It is hyperbole like this which explains a lot about why we are languishing at record low poll levels”
Very true E is E, clearly your judgement is NOT clouded by KDS.
“…a political hit job manufactured by Bradbury.”
Do you have evidence to support this statement or are you making shit up?
Of course he does not.
pr is a troll.
My understanding is that there is a lot of political gaming involved.
Regardless of that – JK pulled the ponytail. So in this case he was his own worse enemy. It would only be a political hit job if he HAD NOT pulled it.
Thus – no hit job, just gaming with the release of the info, which lets face it every political party would do.
However – the majority of people dont see it as the big sexual assault that some on here would like to make it out to be.
“some on here would like to make it out to be.”
what do you call a grown adult male, repeatedly, over several months, seeking out a young woman and pulling her hair?
A miss understanding of familiarity and stupid
Stupid for sure – sexual assault – nope.
Not just stupid, but sexual harassment, physical harassment, abuse of his position of power, and bullying.
Some above were confusing ‘sexual abuse’ with ‘sexual harassment/physical assault’, but that doesn’t mean that what Key did was merely an error of judgement. It had real world impacts on the person he was harassing.
Absolutely it is sexual harassment. A clearer example you couldn’t find in the form you sign as part of a work contract.
Although I seem to remember he tried to mitigate the intent by saying he’d pull a man’s ponytail too!
Anyway. The creep has gone, and that is something everyone should be celebrating.
It is instructive (and concerning) that this issue is even being discussed.
As if men can’t sexually harass men 😉
Martyn Bradbury has all the subtlety of a landmine. He doesn’t really do “hit jobs” and Machiavellian scheming really isn’t his MO. A waitress had been repeatedly harassed by the PM, and he reported it. It was hardly some vast conspiracy to destabilise the government by smearing John Key. Key smeared himself by acting like an ill-disciplined, testosterone-addled teenage boy. And those desperate to protect Key from the consequences of his own, frankly bizarre, actions, hauled her over the coals accordingly. Shame on the whole damn lot of them.
“Martyn Bradbury has all the subtlety of a landmine. ”
its how he got the name bomber in the first place wasnt it?
Just wanted to mention that all the kids know about johns creepy ponytail pulling, seriously it has and did create much talk between them, especially it created discussion among the parents of girls, such is the legacy he leaves behind for the children. Well at least it brought up the narrative of good and bad touching so I will give him that.
When i was a kid it was Piggy Muldoon, but what Key is now known for by kiwi children is far more sinister. JS
You’re decent enough to add the mad smiley face at the end of your comment @ 3.1 PR. Tipping that you’re just taking the piss with that comment. If not mate, sorry, but you’re fucked. Close to Jonestown. But nah you’re not there. You give it away with “Slur” John Key.
He put the smiley face because he copied ‘Slur’ off Robert Guyton. Don’t be too generous…
Mayor Phil Goff has granted me speaking rights at tomorrow’s Auckland Council Governing Body meeting.
(WHEN : Thursday 15 December 2016.
TIME: 9.30am
WHERE: Auckland Town Hall
Reception Lounge Level 2
(Open to the public – support welcome 🙂
My subject matter is as follows:
1) The unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict involving Auckland Council Controlled Organisation, Auckland Transport, announced on Friday 9 December 2016 (on ‘International Anti-Corruption Day’) has provided evidence which supports what I have been saying for some time.
Namely, that you cannot have transparency or accountability, without proper written records available for public scrutiny.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11763963
“Claims the relationship between Noone and Projenz was informal and verbal-only during the seven-year duration of the relationship – explaining the total lack of documentation – “defies common sense,” Justice Fitzgerald said.”
In my considered opinion, seven years of a ‘verbal-only’ /’informal’ relationship between this Auckland Transport senior manager and private contractor, also clearly ‘defies’ the statutory obligations arising from the Public Records Act 2005, s.17:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2005/0040/latest/DLM345729.html
17Requirement to create and maintain records
(1)Every public office and local authority must create and maintain full and accurate records of its affairs, in accordance with normal, prudent business practice, including the records of any matter that is contracted out to an independent contractor.
(2)Every public office must maintain in an accessible form, so as to be able to be used for subsequent reference, all public records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised by or under this Act or required by or under another Act.
(3)Every local authority must maintain in an accessible form, so as to be able to be used for subsequent reference, all protected records that are in its control, until their disposal is authorised by or under this Act.
How on earth did this happen?
What was the ‘systems flaw’ that allowed this total lack of documentation to occur for SEVEN years?
Where was the auditing – internal and external – that failed to pick up this total lack of documentation for SEVEN years?
How widespread is this lack of documentation, regarding ‘relationships’ between those who award contracts, and those who receive contracts?
Not just at Auckland Transport, but across Auckland Council and all CCOs?
2) In my view, as an ‘Anti-Corruption Public Watchdog’, it is now more necessary than ever, to instruct the CEO of Auckland Council, and the Boards of all Auckland Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) to comply with the statutory requirements of the Public Records Act 2005, and make the following information about awarded contracts, available and easily accessible for public scrutiny, by publishing them on the front page of Auckland Council and all CCO websites under ‘Procurement – Awarded Contracts’:
a) The unique contract number.
b) The name of the consultant/contractor.
c) A brief description of the scope of the contract.
d) The contract start and finish dates.
e) The exact dollar value of each and every contract, including those subcontracted.
f) How the contract was awarded – by direct appointment or public tender.
2) FYI, here is the above-mentioned decision of Justice Sally Fitzgerald on 9 December 2016, in the Auckland High Court:
CRI-2015-044-001286 [2016] NZHC 2971 THE QUEEN v STEPHEN JAMES BORLASE MURRAY JOHN NOONE
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/judgments/high-court
(Linked directly to the decisions here:)
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/r-v-borlase-verdicts-and-summary-of-reasons/@@images/fileDecision
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/r-v-borlase-reasons/@@images/fileDecision
In my view, in order to learn the lessons from this unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict, both this decision, in full, plus the full transcript of evidence, should be made available for public perusal on the websites of both Auckland Council and Auckland Transport.
3) For Auckland Council to comprehensively and thoroughly investigate the cost-effectiveness of the underpinning private procurement model for Council (and CCO) services, when significant international research has proven that contracting out is actually ‘bad business’, and twice as expensive as in-house service provision.
http://www.pogo.org/our-work/reports/2011/co-gp-20110913.html?referrer=https://www.google.co.nz/
“Bad Business: Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Wasted on Hiring Contractors”
What this above-mentioned unprecedented bribery and corruption verdict has revealed, in my opinion, is not just that ‘contracting out’ is BAD business, but it can and has bred corruption.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’
How many votes did you get in the election Penny ?
Don’t be such a killjoy SM – good luck Penny – you sock it to them about the bribery and corruption that is going on with the council and the rorters who get away with overseas trips etc – its hard enough to keep up with our rates up here in Auckland so we need more like you Penny – mores the pity that people like Stunned Mullet don’t get off their asses and try to do more for exposing corruption on the council.
The Public Records Act does not control making records available or publishing them. That’s the role of the LGOIMA as you have been repeatedly told, you mental midget.
Will there be refreshments to justify going
Bryan Gould nails it.
Bryan Gould: Labour Party never really knew what they were dealing with in John Key
Agreed:
The Opposition, and the Labour Party in particular, always underestimated John Key. What they saw was no more than a genial glad-hander and a seat-of-the-pants chancer – at best, a populist adept at winning the centre ground. It was only a matter of time, they thought, before he came unstuck.
What they missed was a sharp political intelligence and a clear ideological commitment. The result – they were always fighting the wrong battle.
Good we agree.
John Key was hard right, not the mushy centrist that is always propounded.
No we do not. I think it would be educational if a true right wing political party took power a couple of years just to show you what it would really be like.
Partial sell down of assets, nope it’d be back to Rogernomics and sell everything off
Partial increase for benes, the first time in something like 40 years, nope it’d be slashing the benefits and there’d be a maximum amount of time on the benefit
WFF, nope nothing.
Interest free loans, nope the interest would come back and you wouldn’t be able to leave the country until they’re paid
You think the msm is bad now, well get ready for a crackdown on political websites criticising the government
Voluntary trade unionism, get ready for banning of trade unions
90 day fire at will, too soft it’ll be no reason needed at any time
You’ve got no idea of what would really happen if right wing (forget hard right) party really took charge, you sit there in your nice, safe, comfortable little corner of the world and think (hope) this is a hard right party
And you would love it.
I like John Keys centrist government and, in hindsight, Helen Clarks centrist government.
The only enjoyment I would get out of a hard right government being sworn in is you finally experiencing a hard right government and what that actually entail.
I believe most people in NZ want either a centre left or centre right party, they (the majority of voters) do not want a hard right or hard left party.
They (we) want something near the middle
“The only enjoyment I would get out of a hard right government being sworn in is you finally experiencing a hard right government and what that actually entail.”
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-12122016/#comment-1274147
But I’ll do a copy and paste….
Bill ‘the lizard’ English now has licence to continue his ‘social investment’ plan to rid the country of what he calls….
“”this big hard lump of long-term waste of human potential….large long-term liability.””
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10644993
He was a little worried that government entities like the Ministry of Social Development and Housing New Zealand were not doing enough to reduce numbers accessing expensive services…
“”it’s a bit hard to tell if they are trying hard enough. We don’t know a lot about what happens in some of these fairly big outfits so we are always arguing internally between myself and Treasury about whether we need to step in or not.”
English says the process of examining the big cost-drivers is called the responsibility model because it throws the responsibility back.
“The traditional view of the public service is when things get tight, Treasury and the Minister of Finance are responsible. We are saying ‘no it’s you, you’re the chief executive, you’re responsible’.””
Well, Bill as you ascend to the throne…kinda like a congratulatory gift, the inquest is being heard at the moment into the death of Wendy Shoebridge.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/87347930/Aggressive-prosecution-focus-at-MSD-preceded-womans-death-inquest-told
“Shoebridge, a 41-year-old mother, was found dead in Lower Hutt on April 3, 2011.
The day before, she opened a letter saying she was to be referred for prosecution over an alleged $22,000 benefit fraud.”
An investigator from WINZ was under unbearable pressure to send this letter…he didn’t want to, or at least he wanted to deliver it in person as he was concerned about her…she was slowly recovering from severe depression.
But no…his boss, obviously acting under instructions from Much Higher UP…ordered the letter sent.
” After her death, that amount fell to about $5500.”
And in an update tonight…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/87469253/shakeup-at-msd-after-woman-died-and-manager-was-accused-of-abusing-staff
…we read that this manager
“was accused of firing a staple gun at staff she didn’t like, and calling one a “f…tard” in front of colleagues, an inquest has heard.
The inquest in Wellington into the death of Wendy Shoebridge heard allegations of a dysfunctional Ministry of Social Development office in which the prosecution of suspected benefit fraud was a major priority.
The manager has not had the chance to respond to the latest claims, and the inquest on Monday also heard suggestions the manager was herself under pressure. The hearing was told last week that a quota system for prosecuting beneficiaries was in operation in 2011, when Shoebridge died.”
Well, Bill…this is why you have that smirky, twisted little smile on your face. You might want to have a wee think before you see your promotion as an affirmation that there is widespread approval for your social investment model.
You see…this Coroner has the MSD in her sights, just as the Judge did in the Ashburton Shooting case…http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/87258487/msd-convicted-after-judge-says-staff-felt-unsafe-in-ashburton-office
…and although the court can’t actually fine a Ministry…there was harsh condemnation….
How many deaths, Bill???”
THIS is what “hard right” looks like PR…its here in NZ, and has been for the past seven years.
I could link to other posts where I and others have highlighted cases where Kiwis from “the middle” have been subjected to appallingly inhumane treatment by WINZ when applying for a benefit to support themselves and their families while undergoing cancer treatment.
You see PR…when ‘middle NZ’ fall upon hard times and have to go down to WINZ to access supports they are entitled to and encounter shit treatment like that….borne out of rabidly right directives from the government…it increases the numbers of those who have been dehumanised by the state, and those people in turn come to a fuller appreciation of the way the ‘system’ has alienated those who have had to interact with it for many years. This is called “sympathy”…a foreign emotion to the sociopaths who sit on the government benches.
Like it or not there IS a rising tide of compassion in “middle” New Zealand for those Bill the Lizard calls the “large liability”….simply because there have been a huge number of people across all strata who have been impacted directly or indirectly by these draconian policies.
I disagree with you but I respect and appreciate the effort you’ve put into this
Is that the best you’ve got PR?
No pithy, cryptic one-liners to demonstrate your superior knowledge and insight?
The government you claim has been benignly ‘centrist’ has instituted an offensive against the most vulnerable of New Zealanders, and unfortunately for this government the negative impacts have splattered way beyond those people Bill the Lizard targeted openly in 2010.
Now, if this translates in a reduction of support for National depends on whether opposition parties can drag their arses off the spike that seems to lock them into a ‘centre’ position.
I simply disagree with you because you’ve highlighted a couple of incidences over 7 years so really it doesn’t prove anything but I do appreciate the effort
…this Coroner has the MSD in her sights, just as the Judge did in the Ashburton Shooting case…
Be careful what you wish for. The judge was punishing MSD for not putting sufficient barriers between its staff and the nation’s social welfare beneficiaries. MSD management know what the judge is telling them:
“… it was estimated by MSD chief executive Brendan Boyle that the cost of outfitting its offices with bulletproof glass and guards could be up to $200 million.
MSD has already placed guards at offices and has been trialling a new layout at offices in Wellington and Levin.”
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1612/S00138/work-and-income-limit-access-through-forced-id-checks.htm
Back in 1979 while signing up for a job on a Student Work scheme I was sent to apply for an emergency benefit. The benefit department was just like a bank. Long counter with glass/perspex shields between client and staff.
Conversations were, by necessity, held fortissimo…so the poor sod recently discharged from Tokanui had to tell his story for all of us assembled to hear.
Ah, the good old days.
This was in Hamilton….don’t know if it was like this elsewhere.
Spot on PR, first sign of hard right or left countries, blogs like the standard don’t exist Paul however finds meaning in raging against the machine, no matter what that machine if he was in a hard left country he would be hard right
You need to educate yourself about your country’s history.
Here’s a start for you.
Like many here Paul, when you start with “You need to educate yourself” normally followed by a barrage of left wing links and videos I don’t go any further as I have seen what it has done to you
Trite slur from a closed mind. You would probably enjoy the documentary because you would get great satisfaction from cheering the Baddies while learning nothing.
You are absolutely correct Paul, J Key is the chairman of the International Democratic Union – a hard right think tank of international businessmen, bankers etc who gather in different places in the world and get up to no good. It does’t get much of a mention over here in sleepy ol’ New Zealand but is worth looking the IDU up to see what its all about. He played with us here and he did it very well indeed. Tinfoil hat wearers probably agree he was sent here to do a hatchet job on this country, I have no idea why he came here other than collecting handshakes, selfies, big noting and meeting world leaders. He has a job lined up somewhere after his holiday in Maui I have no doubt, IMF maybe but most certainly in the US.
Isn’t it a paradox, he flies out to a Hawaiian holiday as quick as he can bugger off – shouldn’t he still be here – isn’t the House sitting for another week – the ultimate indulgence and Mr Shearer is off to the “shittiest place on the planet” Paul Henry’s words – to try and stabilize South Sudan – how different can two men be. I didn’t know Paul Henry had been an on the ground reporter in South Sudan but he said South Sudan was the quote above on today’s morning show.
“how different can two men be”
Well one has been leader of the country since 2008 and left with his party in the high 40s the other was knifed in the back by his own party (though wouldn’t Labour love to have shearers numbers)
So yeah different I guess
Their careers may be quite different Pucky but Shearer’s previous job was one you had to have cajones of steel for plus a rough lifestyle in arid conditions and seriously dangerous situations – he may not have been cut out for political life and that’s not such a bad thing considering its rife with corruption, dirty politics and other unsavoury things, he is better off out of it. You cannot compare the positions of the two but I know which is more admiring of and its not the selfie obsessed ex PM.
“considering its rife with corruption, dirty politics and other unsavoury things”
You do know hes gone back to working with the UN
He will be as far away from the UN as he can possibly be, away from the machinations that go on there. His job out there will be to help the people of South Sudan where his life will constantly be in danger – Key never had the bottle for anything like that – Pucky you never give up – Key was a selfish me me me person, he never gave a jot for this country and the fact that so many people thought the sun shone out of his ass is a terrible indictment of the morals and ethics of such a lot of people. How has it come about that there are still so many fogged up and their antennae all skewed and could not see through this sham of a man. It was staring all of us in the face so plainly – go back Pucky and watch John Campbell’s programme “Meet the Leaders” and see how much he bothered with his wife on the programme, it was shameful – JC saw it but then he has his antennae right in tune. The man is a shallow hollow man – get used to it.
It’s part of pr’s job to sell the lie that Key and English are centrist.
I much more respect the opinion of Brian Gould.
Of course because not biased at all either
Gould is not a troll.
Hes an intelligent, erudite and a complete troll. When he states how he thinks Labour will sweep to power, despite the abundance of polls and polling that suggest otherwise, he’s doing it because he knows he’ll get a reaction
So yes he’s a troll
And you come to this site as a troll.
Actually I come for the humour, for the education (yes I do listen to some people), to get a different viewpoint, to pass the working day, for all types of things
and what I’ve noticed is that most of the posters here probably have a lot more in common then there are differences
What in God’s name is that last sentence supposed to mean, PR? If you are going to troll, please at least make your meaning clear.
bang on the money…..as Monbiot has said, we should know it by its name.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot
Bryan Gould was the most left wing contender for the leadership of UK Labour in the mid 1990’s. So I guess for him a centrist like John Key is a hardline neo-liberal (or “dedicated ideologue”). That also seems to be the default setting of most commenters on this site.
However, if that is how Labour is going to try and position National, they will fail. It hasn’t worked for 8 years and it won’t work for the next election.
But MMP will provide an opening. Winston is likely to hold the balance of power and will therefore decide the next government.
If National is quite close to 50% it might be hard for him to ignore the public legitimacy that confers, especially if Labour is below 30%. On the other hand if that is the case he can pretty much demand Labour give him the PM ship for the first two years as the price of power.
I wonder where Bryan stands in relation to Jeremy Corbyn. He must know him quite well since they spent more than 10 years in the Hose of Commons together. Does he think Jeremy is the answer, or not?
How about debating the issue rather than shooting the messenger.
‘It is John Key’s politics, not his personality, that have produced these intended outcomes. They have been produced not by a relaxed middle-of-the-roader but by a dedicated ideologue. ‘
Paul,
The political attitudes of people tend to influence their opinions. None of us are immune to that.
Bryan’s writings over the years show he is a man of the left, so what I perceive as the centre, will be for him hard right, the product of a “dedicated ideologue”.
Nothing wrong in pointing that out.
Pat, I see no evidence that John Key was anything other than moderate right of centre. If Standardnista’s want to believe the something different, fine, but don’t expect it to go uncontested.
The policies of Key would have been far right of most National and Conservative parties of the 70s. Then he would have been seen as an extremist.
But, thanks to relentless propaganda from right wing think tanks and willing politicians like yourself, the Overton window has moved far to the right.
And what you perceive as centre is also to the Right because you want to seem centrist despite being quite right-wing.
still pushing the moderate line hey Wayne…..that weight of contrary evidence must be getting quite heavy.
all depends who dictates the fulcrum? Key has shifted it so far to the right, of course Labour now APPEAR to be “far left” too easy.
No-one has suggested Andrew Little is far-left. That is not how Labour is generally described.
But there is no doubt that Bryan Gould was on the left of his party – he would readily admit that.
John Key was totally chameleon and “blokey” in his behaviour.
English and Bennett haven’t got any chance of keeping that up. If their honeymoon lasts until the New Year they will be lucky. After that it will all turn to custard.
Already wobbly.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/watch-jack-tame-catches-nzs-evasive-new-deputy-pm-unprepared-questions-kiwi-kids-in-severe-poverty
I said Labour now “appear” far left, not Andrew. His job is to inform and engage those voters that flee at the mere suggestion of social policies as being on the verge of a communist dictatorship. Not easy, in this highly reactive, tribal, sensation seeking climate.
Your link was broken, here it is again
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11765941
Special investigation: How Mt Eden’s private prison went from golden child to a misfit
Special investigation: How Mt Eden’s private prison went from golden child to a misfit.
Sam has always been a scape goat. Now he is standing down from his portfolio as well as not seeking re-election. Once again we hear the excuse of ‘family reasons’ for his decision, frequently used excuse of late.. ‘family reasons’
There should be an early election, all these Nat MP’s simply giving up, how many now.. seven or so of them about to quit, but hanging in there until next election, using the excuse of not wanting the tax payer to foot out for a by-election, while they continue to get a salary for a job they are no longer interested in.
Get some guts Bill and see if the people really want you and your party that is falling apart to lead NZ. This is NOT what many voted for, your government is wasting our tax payer money by paying salaries for quitters.
Early Election
Judith I’d say you will have some questions to address today.
Part of me has always felt a bit sorry for Sam. He, along with Alfred Ngaro, was an obviously uncomfortable “fiapalagi” prop to Keydashian’s widely and pridefully bugled election-time swings through South Auckland. The two of them by their presence purporting to verify a picture of Keydashian as the deserving beneficiary of Polynesian “fa’aaloalo ma talitonuina” (respect and trust).
A total crock of course but nothing like a spot of triennial smiling/anagram/sliming when someone has something you want. Going by what I’ve observed during long and close association with various mature and well-established members of Sam’s own aiga indeed, there was always lots of private tittering about that whole carry-on. For the rank bullshit of it. As bullshitty and insulting as Sam’s assertion on TV a couple of years ago that saving-up the 20% deposit on a $650,000 house is reasonably do-able by ordinary people.
I’ve seen no more heartfelt regard for Keydashian than for Tuilaepa. Tune in to Auckland’s Samoan talkback radio some time.
spot on, cinny.
i, too, reckon corrections was a hospital pass.
ms collins needs to bear some responsibility as serco is her vision.
Judith hailed Serco’s entry into Mt Eden prison but Sam has got the chop. let’s wait and see where he pops up. National always reward those they use to make themselves look like “clearing out” with plumb, well paid jobs. Mike Sabin anyone?
Peters: I want to be first to re-enter Pike River.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=201827628
A quite repulsive interview by that right wing hack Espiner.
Missing Kim Hill already.
A crap interview by Espiner he got his come up ins this morning from Winston
and the interview with Blinglish was even worse the day before rather weak to say the least it was a save our funding interview in other words we wont ask the hard questions he might cut our funding again even worse he might get rid us like they got rid of Campbell
Winston was really on fire! Support of the miners and criticism of the system long and loud.
“Winston was really on fire”.
Oh dear. Did he drop another cigarette onto his pin-striped, double breasted, booze sodden suit and set himself alight again?
He really needs someone with him at all times to keep him from harm.
I listened to that interview and its quite amazing stream of consciousness ramblings. As always he reverted to talking about the Wine Box affair, the highlight of his life, at least in his own failing memory.
Winston today was best summed up by a little item in the introduction to the book of “Yes Minister” episodes.
Talking about Sir Humphrey it says –
” …. before the advancing years, without in any way impairing his verbal fluency, disengaged the operation of his mind from the content of his speech.”
Sums the old fellow up beautifully doesn’t it? It will be a sad loss when he stumbles out of the House for the last time.
I’ve noticed in the last week or so that all these barbs being shot at Winston. It’s like something happened so that right-wing criticism about alcohol use suddenly became ok – it’s almost as if there is no around to take a hit on the return volley.
For: alwyn
Nice to hear a person like Winston say it the way it is, no wonder you are so upset Alwyn;-)))
The last two times Winston has gone into coalition it has always been with the largest party, will you still say the same thing when Winston (most likely) goes with National?
Not when Winston says he will not form a coalition with the party that seals Pike River Mine.
Good call. Winston believes the tide is turning on this and has stated his position. Bill must be freaking out right now having forgotten what it’s like to be in the top job.
For once I agree with you alwyn. Winston is showing tell tale signs of losing the plot.
Good to see your bitter arse paining Alwyn. Your reason for taking breath having fucked off. Poor diddums……left all alone in Jonestown. Hurt hard troll !
Are you still around?
I thought you had gone back to your Kindergarten and left the adults to talk.
You still owe me an apology by the way. Remember?
Or is you memory like Winnies?
You can keep on stroking for as long as you like Alwyn Troll. Not ultimately dependable as pain relief though. Jonestown is fucked. Own it!
“Child Poverty Action Group: The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, proving that any Government efforts to reduce the impact of poverty on children are insignificant.
That the numbers remain so persistently high demonstrates that poverty among New Zealand children is enduring and long-term. Policies have made little to no change for the better for many children.”
Bryan Gould: Key was a concealed ideologue
“The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, proving that any Government efforts to reduce the impact of poverty on children are insignificant.”
Which can also be re-written as:
“while there have been improvements in the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty, even in light of a Global Financial Crisis, more need to to be done to make further significant improvements”
There you go, same content, drop the negativity, add context and make your point.
Also: “The Child Poverty Monitor results reveal no significant improvement for the lives of children in New Zealand experiencing the effects of poverty”
I would have thought that a near 50% reduction in cases if SUDI, approx 40% drop in deaths from conditions with a social gradient, >50% reduction in deaths from assault, neglect or maltreatment, and an approx 20% reduction in hospitalisations due to assault, neglect or maltreatment would be classed as significant…
Child Poverty Action Group – I am free if you would like people to actually read and think more in depth about what you are saying, rather than just immediately switching off to the negativity. Hell, you may even get the Government to buy into your message.
Rex Tillertson for US Secretary of State.
Quite a choice there by President-Elect Trump.
More great news for National 🙂
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/exclusive-laila-harre-rejoins-labour-party-sets-her-sights-standing-in-election
“The veteran campaigner says she does regret her four months with the Internet Party because of the damage it did to her reputation.”
Naah Laila I’m sure everyones forgotten that, it’ll be fine so you really should run for a seat 🙂
funny u should say that, pr.
laila would damn near secure my vote for labour.
Same here.
so Greens or the communist party minus two, Labour plus two, yes that will make a massive difference.
🙂
Did you vote for the Internet party when she was their leader.
Or the Greens when she was there.
Or Alliance when she was there..
Or Labour, or New Labour….
Hell she will prob be with Act next if she thought there was a seat in it for her.
But yeah – to the voting public – she will always be the face of the internet party.
Which one of these is not like the other?
IP
Greens
ACT
Alliance
Labour
🙄
I didn’t vote Internet Mana because I’m a strategic voter. Never voted Labour because there’s always been something to the left (apart from the first time I voted and then I voted an independent). I’d vote for Harre in a flash in the electorate vote, and could easily see her in either Labour or the Greens. She’d be a great asset as a left wing MP in any party, which is the point you seem to be deliberately trying to obscure.
Righties trying to make out they know what left wing voters want, lolz.
Yep million dollar, aspirational mt Albert voters are just crying out for Lialliance representation
Liala’s loveable. Voters will love her.
Paula’s lo… hang on!!
Well Robert I think I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one, people will see Liala and think KDC
However I maybe attempting a double bluff and secretly I’m scared of Laila coming back…so it might best if Laila if Laila goes for an electorate seat maybe even a really high profile seat so everyone knows Lailas with Labour 🙂
To: Puckish Rogue
Fabricate much?
Only those who would never vote for Harre or Dotcom.
So about 99.9% of the voting public?
Sorry, I meant 98.58% 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_general_election,_2014
Yeah, but funnily enough – Harre does not need body guards to walk down the street…
When no one knows who you are you don’t really need protecting do you
You seem to know who she is – you were so eager to bring the topic up. Backpedalling much?
Yet more than the Maori Party. More than twice ACT, and 7 times United Future.
She also raised Mana’s vote by 0.34% while ACT lost 0.37% under Seymour. UF dropped a similar amount under Dunne.
Imagine what Laila Harre could do for ACT!
and yet no seats even after all that money was spent
It wasn’t public money so I don’t know what you’re so upset about. Unlike National of course who aren’t shy about using public money to give sub 1% parties a leg up into parliament.
I’m not but I’m pointing out that even with the colossal amount of money and free publicity Laila Harre couldn’t get a seat especially given how highly you rate her
When it comes to spending public money National still have a lot to learn from Labour: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_election_funding_controversy
No. The ones like you, so about 47% of society, which still leaves a majority
Laila has tanked every political group she has ever been associated with (and the list of her associations is quite long)
She is preferable compared to Penny Bright
Wrong, she lifted the Mana popular vote by a third. Not her fault Hone couldn’t win his seat.
Laila didn’t stand for Mana. She was the leader of the Internet Party. Yes I understand there was an alliance, but giving Laila credit for increasing Mana’s vote is a very long stretch.
Was she or was she not representing the Mana Party that had joined with the Internet Party to become Internet Mana?
Yes. Mana retained it’s own leader. The Internet Party flopped, and likely it’s influenced reduced the chances of Mana.
Good, glad we have cleared that up. She was coleader of the party you said she had nothing to do with.
Where did say she had nothing to do with them? I was simply pointing out she can’t be given any credit for Mana’s increase in vote. In fact, given the influence of the IP, Hone did incredibly well to get any votes.
Shes great, and will absolutely destroy any newbie nitwit put up against her.
I agree, she really should go for a really well known, highest profile seat she can, think of all the free publicity she’d receive 🙂
Good thing you don’t work in political strategy.
Couldn’t be worse then what Labour are doing 🙂
Labour, Labour, Labour!!!
Oi, Oi, Oi!
That’s it – PR comes from Kath and Kim.
The Third day of Christmas on Friendship:
Brownlee is a failure in Defence, the auditor general was not impressed with his department. Maybe his health is hindering his performance, probably more like a lack of skills and experience in that role is the problem.
“I was disappointed to note that the Defence Force did not adequately assess material changes in the fair value of its assets on a timely basis. Without enough assurance on this matter, both the Defence Force and my appointed auditor had to carry out substantial additional work, which led to significant delays. This is unacceptable. I stress that it is important for entities to prepare accounts in a timely manner and to an appropriate level of quality.”
http://www.oag.govt.nz/2016/central-government?utm_source=subs&utm_campaign=cg1-2016&utm_medium=subs
Another area of interest is housing and the value of government owned housing especially in regards to their ongoing search for community buyers in order to create the much opposed sale of state owned assets…. outgoing government likes those house prices to be kept high, it makes their asset base appear more inflated.
Having trouble finding buyers? Why not offer some of the properties to first home buyers at a good rate, sure you won’t make the massive profit that you accounted for, but hey looks like you want to flick them off below value anyway, zero deposit rent to own, that would give many a bit more of a chance at living, after all they are just sitting empty, wasting away during a housing crisis excuse me building boom lolz
“The valuation of the Government’s investment in its social housing portfolio (primarily held by Housing New Zealand) is based on the highest and best use and on comparable market sales data for each individual property. In the year ended 30 June 2016, the value of the social housing stock increased by $3.2 billion, largely as a result of increases in the value of Auckland properties.
2.47
As part of the Social Housing Reform Programme, the Government announced that it is taking steps towards transferring ownership of some Housing New Zealand houses and tenancies to registered community housing providers. This has raised some specific accounting issues.
2.48
We identified this matter because of the judgement involved in determining the appropriate accounting treatment for social houses proposed to be transferred to community housing providers, either sold or redeveloped as part of the Government’s social housing reform programme.”
http://www.oag.govt.nz/2016/central-government/part2.htm
Interesting reading
Jacinda Ardern is considering Mt Albert. She will humiliate in that seat the next token minority National puts up.
Perhaps National will dig up a gay, climate-change denying Ethiopian refugee as the face of their campaign in a desperate attempt to appear relevant and diverse.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/politics/jacinda-ardern-confirms-bid-for-mt-albert-seat-2016121411
Well you can only flog a dead horse so many times before you learn the electorate don’t want you 🙂
PR.
Happy to condone sexual harassment and physical assault as long as it doesn’t damage the polls.
You seem a bit fixated on this, is it giving you funny feeling in your tummy?
You seem unwilling to answer the question.
Do you condone John Key’s sexual harassment and physical assault of the waitress?
Yes or no.
I simply don’t want to be part of your sordid fantasy, I have no issues with whatever turns you on but don’t include me in them
“Sorry to see you support sexual abuse.”
What sexual abuse?
Your words at 3.1.1.1.1.2
Look Paul to shut you you up and on behalf of the average kiwi, stupid yes, sexual assault, no mild assault over familiarity, yes
” On behalf of the average kiwi”
You speak on behalf of people as usual – how arrogant of you.
Don’t worry Paul his almighty exleader in law used the same kind of talk.
Very presumptuous of them.
he finds tales of pony tails slightly exciting
Your hero John Key certainly does.
Thus we have two, maybe start a pony club
Ok so trigger warning, here’s Curias polls for the last 3 years so if you have a delicate constitution (or vote Labour) you may not want to look at it
Surprisingly its not bad for the Greens, they’re quite steady
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/12/november_2016_polls.html
It’s an impressive sustained rise by NZFirst there.
Would expect National to go even higher on the back of the dominant media coverage surrounding both the Kaikoura earthquakes and the leadership change.
There’s very, very little space for Labour or other Opposition figures in the media until February 2017.
Also very hard to see significant %% of voters switching away from National into 2017.
I think that there will be a drop off but it’ll mostly be of benefit to NZFirst
Wow, how impressive was the nose dive that Cunliffe took Labour on! I haven’t look at his term as leader of the opposition like that before.
Based on Shearer having Labour in the mid-30’s, and Cunliffe taking Labour to the low 20’s, I now completely agree with Andrew Little and a number of commentators here, Labour should ignore the center and move further left.
I assume you vote National or Act.
Depends on the election, I am not a member of any political party so I have voted The Greens, Winston First and National over the past 6 elections.
But never Labour.
Can I ask why you range from Green to National?
Sure, I used to be in the Coromandel electorate (1999 and 2002) when Jeanette Fitzsimons was the local MP. I thought she was a brilliant, straight up local MP and I was still in a FPP mind set so gave both of my votes to her.
2005 I opposed Labour’s interest free student loans (even though I had a huge student debt at that point), and didn’t like Don Brash’s racially divisive tactics, so I held my nose and voted Winston First.
2008 – 2014 I voted National. I was sick of politics by this stage, but John Key’s move to work with Helen Clark and Sue Bradford on the ‘anti-smacking’ legislation, plus his centrist policy platform and general pragmatism leading up to the election lead me to vote National, and I haven’t seen a viable alternative since (except maybe The Greens again at the last election).
I had been considering TOP at the next election until they ruled out pushing the Big Kahuna in their first term.
I keep coming back here as my interest in politics has increased since becoming a Dad, and I found I am nowhere near as far right as Whaleoil or Kiwiblog commenters.
EDIT: I do miss seeing comments from Lanthanide and CV recently, they generally seemed to be the most closely aligned with my own beliefs
Yes I too appreciate CV’s input.
There’s a weird spritzer-gulping species that does take a holiday from National and vote Green from time to time. Met quite a few. Influenced principally by their freeholding, maybe even cross-lease, in the well-leafed suburbs in which they reside. It’s a ‘pro-test’. Real hard out bastards. On the ramparts. “Patu Squad” and all that. Hehehehe.
Yes, there are a few like the above, CV, Lanthanide, Ad, and David Farrar who simply and blindly hate Labour. They skirt around Labour to the left and right but can’t explain why.
Perhaps it is Labour Derangement Syndrome.
“Yes, there are a few like the above, CV, Lanthanide, Ad, and David Farrar who simply and blindly hate Labour”
You do realise CV was a Labour member?
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2015/11/25/leaving-jiangxi-tat-loo-marches-out-of-the-labour-party/
“They skirt around Labour to the left and right but can’t explain why.”
Why would anyone vote Labour? If you want a neo-liberal party you vote National, if you want a party with social and environmental conscience vote Greens. Labour sort of sits in between tinkering without thinking of consequences of their actions (see WFF, Interest Free student loans, Seabed and Foreshore etc.), at least National are open about what they are and The Greens stick to their principles.
Ha, well I don’t fit that mold North, try a ‘brown bottle’ beer drinking renter, living in Otahuhu which is pretty far from a ‘well-leafed suburb’!
In fact, you couldn’t have gotten it any more wrong!
Rogue polls obviously.
Labours internal polling has them far higher than any of the rigged public polls.
Curia is not public.
Damn straight, better ignore it 🙂
Wonder why Key liked him so much.
His impartiality?
“And can I make one special thank you to the best pollster in New Zealand — and don’t charge us more for it — David Farrar, who got his numbers right!”
So – whats that got to do with anything? Are you thinking that perhaps its different to all the public ones – secretly with National on 20%?
The biggest news that dwarfs all other news.
We need a thread to discuss what is going on in the Arctic.
Arctic temperatures have hit levels last seen a ridiculously long time ago
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/87562998/craig-foss-to-step-down-from-cabinet-as-calls-for-rejuvenation-claim-another-victim
See Labour this is how rejuvenation is supposed to work, get rid of the dead wood and all that
Problem is PR Labour is not the party of the rich and powerful. They can’t pay them off or find them a good little lurk somewhere among the pile of quangos and other such bodies.
Jilted MPs who don’t get looked after have a habit of turning on their former pollie masters. The political landscape is full of them.
Spot on.
National Party MPs get rewarded with the revolving door – very corrupt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_door_(politics)
Puhlease….the Nats and Labour are both past masters at lining up current and former MPs with diplomatic postings, appointments to boards and appointments to such nebulous rorts as the film and literature review office and ltes not talk about the bipartisan annual rort that is the speakers tour.
You are correct. Both parties fill diplomatic postings etc. with their own people. They would be crazy to do otherwise. I’m not talking about those sort of positions. Now what’s the name of that National Party trust? Ahhh, that’s right, its called the Waitemata Trust…
I suspect Foss is in a sulk now his ex squash partner is gone, and he now intends to work full time on his investment portfolio that he’s so damnably proud of.
English no doubt gave Maxwell a call asking for a press release to begin the process.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/87548876/lift-nz-super-age-to-67-by-2034-retirement-commissioner-tells-politicians
Craig Foss to step down, another National Party MP resigns for ‘family reasons’ and does not want to stand down until next year to avoid a by election.
Told ya’s the National Party is falling apart, most of their MP’s hearts aren’t in the job, but they are happy to collect the salary until next year using the excuse of ‘avoiding the tax payer the cost of a by election”
FFS THE CITIZENS OF NZ DEMAND AN EARLY ELECTION!!
WHERE ON EARTH HAS OUR DEMOCRACY GONE ?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11766805
Its called removing the deadwood and what do you mean the citizens demand?
The majority of voters (the ones that’ve returned National to power the last three elections) do not want an early election.
So PR, Key, Foss, Parata, Lotu-Iiga etc are dead wood. then.
Slur John Key will get the newest created award of greatest ever kiwi, the rest are surplus to requirements so yes
Was the ‘deadwood’
1. John Key – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
2. Hekia Parata – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
3. Craig Foss – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
4. Sam Lotu-liga – quitting politics for ‘family reasons’
5. Chester Borrows – want;s to do something different, awaiting the courts in regards to a careless driving causing injury charge.
6. Jono Naylor – quits after one term in parliament
7. Lindsay Tisch – quits for family reasons
8. Murray McCully (standing down in his electorate MAY stay on the list instead)
9. English is the same (quitting his electorate for the list),
That’s quite a number of Nat MP’s. No wonder they don’t want an early election, they’ve much work to do.
As for the general public as suggested I’ve been asking around, many National supporters feel let down that English is PM.
Why is everyone leaving for ‘family reasons’ ? Is it because the National Party is a toxic environment at present? These events scream instability to me
John Key is leaving before the shit hits the fan.
You forgot Mike Sabin. He also resigned.
Who is Mike Sabin?
From Kiwiblog:
What is interesting is to look at the makeup of both National’s and Labour’s caucuses in terms of who is standing again. Of those standing in 2017
•Only 12% of Nats entered before 2005 and 21% of Labour MPs
•38% of remaining Nats entered from 2005 to 2010 and 45% of remaining Labour MPs
•50% of National’s remaining caucus entered in 2011 or later compared to 34% for Labour
Somehow National will look the fresher party at the next election
and near on 12% of current national party mp’s are quitting, the majority of which cite ‘family reasons’
Will National look fresher or simply inexperienced with a lack lustre leadership?
Jeepers when you think about it looking at your stat’s PR people in the Nat party don’t seem to stick around, wonder why that is?
“As for the general public as suggested I’ve been asking around, many National supporters feel let down that English is PM.”
I’m sure you have and I’m sure you have better idea than I do of what the average National voter is thinking 🙂
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Simon Power back now Key has scuttled off.
They couldn’t stand each other apparently.
What would be interesting is looking at the average length of tenure across the MPs of the 3 (4) major parties.
I’m thinking there would be little difference between Labour and National with third place going to NZ (with the Winnie outlier discounted) and the Green party being the most rejuvenated over the last ten years or so.
What might be worrying is who will be selected to replace them ? Could be even more hard-right types will get into Parliament under National.
Naah Bill has learnt his lesson, it’ll be centre right foe a wee while now
WTF? He taught the lesson. It was English who first tried to brand the National Party as more of a centrist, caring party between the hard-line Shipley and Brash periods.
FFS THE CITIZENS OF NZ DEMAND AND EARLY ELECTION!!
“You speak on behalf of people as usual – how arrogant of you.”
– Paul
I agree with you James.
One up for you Paul on consistency 😀
If I knew how to add a smiley face, I would.
We agree on that issue – be true to your principles.
ikr shame on me for voicing the opinions of others, by crikey it’s shocking how one thinks of others, better sort that out asap lolololol
I know I’ll start a polling company, maybe that would be more acceptable
As long as you publish your methodology its all good
Ho Ho Santa Claus I’ve bigger fish to fry than spending time conducting polls, I’ll just keep listening to the people, and seeing this is an amazing tourist town, there will be plenty of them to converse with. People tend to open up to me, not sure why, but one learns so much by listening.
Crikey you never know, might take a wander around some camping grounds with my note book in hand, ALL walks of life come here for summer.
Where are most of the tourists from these days ?
Where the tourist are from kinda of depends on what day it is.. during the week this last month you will find most shopping in the supermarket have accents.
During the weekend it’s different, many NZer’s flock to Motueka and many more are coming, already the main road is congested, it’s that time of year when one ditches the car for the bike around town, it’s quicker and easier.
Next week it will really start
People often tell you what they think what you want to hear not what they really think, just some thing to be aware of 😀
Maybe that is why the polls were so wrong re Trump for that very reason.
Would be an interesting experiment to dress casually and ask around, then dress in business clothes and ask the same questions.
Nothing is more fun on a holiday than having a political person coming around the campground with a notebook interrupting family time. Especially when you start trotting out your “outgoing government” and “Alpha Andy” sayings.
Nah i wouldn’t go about it like that, not my way.
I’ve this one comment that is a sure fire conversation starter, simple interesting, and all one has to do is listening after saying it.. goes like this..
“Gosh I was shocked last week when John Key resigned”
And it’s all the encouragement people need, everyone has an opinion on his resignation.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1612/S00190/police-pay-out-for-hager-raid.htm
Another payout to the Hagar family – from the police. Good.
Excellent news. That was a shocking way to treat a young woman. The psychological effects could be long lasting.
Air NZ: why subject us to more Mike Hosking?
Air NZ: why subject us to more Mike Hosking?
Here we agree Paul ANZ safety videos are nauseating
Thanks Red.
Better add Air NZ to the boycott list.
thats fairly easy as there are plenty other companies flying in and out of NZ and all of them cheaper.
Air NZ safety ad – brown(ish?) really is the new black……but of course living and working in the Bay of Islands/Hokianga I already knew that, as to the real brown at least. Can’t withhold the lament that it’s a pity the racists/classists who skitter nervously by the Kaikohe District Court, nostrils clenched shut (metaphorical me), don’t appreciate that. Also…….can’t for the life of me imagine why anyone thought a cameo by scarecrowishly slight, grimacing, impatient, entitled, mutton-as-lamb, white dork Hosking…….that this works for the safety of any fucking thing. It’s Judge Judy in skinny jeans on meth’. Must have been some special ‘tatou tatou bro’ going on down in Aux when this got made.
An absolutely fantastic piece by Stephanie Rodgers has been published in Overland today. The subject is “Solidarity” and is essential reading for those on the left IMO.
https://overland.org.au/2016/12/this-is-what-solidarity-looks-like/
Thanks!
Great to see you in Overland Stephanie!
Damn but that’s good. And thanks to Stephanie for the perfect antidote to the hate identity politics meme. Solidarity politics!
Newsflash dummies. Build a fucking rail service!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/87578963/auckland-airport-projects-cleared-for-takeoff-as-traffic-causes-further-frustration