I asked the GCSB recently if I was one of the 88 kiwis that it may have illegally spied on.
My specific request stated:
“I note the GCSB is alleged to have illegally spied on 88 New Zealanders over the past few years. The allegation is contained in the Kitteridge report which somehow was recently leaked to the media.
I can’t imagine why but I wondered if I was one of the 88. So pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 and/or the Privacy Act 1993 can you tell me if I am on that list and if so what information you obtained about me?”
I have now received my response and it is quite bizarre. They refused to confirm or deny if they had information about me. The section they are relying on says they don’t have to release information if disclosure would, amongst other things, be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.
It is likely (unless I am indeed an enemy of the State) that this will be their stock response but I am wondering if anyone has had a different response? Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
So Standardnistas, did anyone else ask for information about them and get a different response?
Well, now your slightly elevated sense of paranoia seems to be catching đ in the USA authorities attempt to record every single electronic communication. Who knows what the full capabilities of systems like Echelon really are. Its only a matter of time before they implement the same philosophy here. Meh.
Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
mickysavage
For your decidedly left views. Micky you are definitely one of them. If you ever do get your file, it will no doubt reveal that the illegal invasion of your privacy by the DCSB, to be quite extensive. Extending to family members, your friends, your work colleagues.
After all, people like you, are a threat to the whole pyramid of money and power that sustains our well paid secret police snoops. And you must be watched very carefully.
But don’t worry, this extensive criminal offending will end soon. It will soon be legal. Just like it was in East Germany.
I was talking to Captain Blackadder because I was concerned about the same thing Mr Savage, my turnip and I might have raised the ire of the powers that be.
He told me not to worry as even though the intelligence services are a bit of an oxymoron they probably aren’t so retarded as to be spying on smelly primates.
I must admit that made me feel quite relieved.
[lprent: That last statement got me worried – what exactly did you relieve yourself on? đ ]
For those who have not seen Hadfield’s video from outer space of Bowie’s Space Oddity, it is a Must See. It was the only thing that brightened my day yesterday.
“The red carpet was out last night at the glittering X Factor VIP party at the SkyCity Grand Hotel. Dress to impress was the theme and salubrious guests didn’t disappoint”
“Hilary Barry (a not-so-secret fan of the show) rubbed shoulders with Sam Hayes, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree and the cast from The Almighty Johnsons.
Stars from the company’s radio division were present too, including resident shock jocks Jono Pryor and Dom Harvey”
“Dominic Bowden – Matafeo ”
Yep, NZ’s got talent. The C list to beat them all.
Good work back slappers.
You’re throwing a massive party. You want it to be cool….
YOU WANT: Richie McCaw, Anna Paquin, David Farrier, Jacinda Ardern, Russell Crowe, John Key, Jim Mora, Mary Lambie, Jane Clifton, Vicky Hyde, Cameron Slater, Raybon Kan, Brian Edwards, Stan Walker, Sir Robert Jones, Lorraine Downes, the Masterchef judges, Kim Hill, Mark Cubey, Ruby Frost, Natasha Bedingfield, and the Aussie comedian who plays “Chopper”.
YOU’D SETTLE FOR: Peter Dunne, Aaron Gilmore, David Farrar, Tau Henare, Queen of Thorns, Lyn Prentice, The Mad Butcher, “millsy”, weka, Rosemary McLeod, Wendy Petrie, Martin Devlin, Daniel Bedingfield, Michele A’Court, the unsuccessful Masterchef contestants, Claudette Hauiti, Deb Webber, Kelvin Cruikshank, Rebecca Gibney, John Banks, Willie and J.T., Rachel Glucina, Karl du Fresne, Matt Nippert and Don “Brethren Cash” Brash.
YOU END UP WITH: Hilary Barry, Sam Hayes, David Parker, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, the Almighty Johnsons cast, Murray Deaker, David Slack, Christine “Spankin'” Rankin, Gary McCormick, Don Donovan, Barry Corbett, Jono Pryor, Dominic Bowden, Te Reo Putake, Morrissey Breen, Populuxe1, Colonial Viper, Irish Bill, Brett Dale, Felix and Draco T Bastard.
A. Lyn doesn’t want to get married and I suspect that taking my surname is going to be low on her list of priorities even if we did. She likes being named after a canine. So getting Lyn Prentice to anything will be difficult. There are none in the country that I am aware of.
B. You could be referring to me – Lynn Prentice. However getting me to any party or event would be a coup in it’s own right. I find invariably find them intensely boring. Lyn usually winds up going to the ones she attends with friends.
C. But it would be a meaningless result. I turn up at particular events where I want to get a read on something – once… Because there are no photos of me around the net, even those who know of me usually won’t know who I am.. This is intentional.
I join you, Clockie, cast out into the ‘exterior darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ We probably don’t even rate as a ‘stranger at the gate.’
No. 2: Colin Craig: âOh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.â (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: âMargaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.ââš
To news that the government is planning changes to state/social housing in the Budget comes the old movie saying – “I have a bad feeling about this”.
Extending income related rents to those in community housing is, in principle, an OK idea, but this government will chop something to pay for it (ie state housing, welfare, etc).
And this government has a hostility to public provision of anything, so I doubt that council tenants will be eligible for this.
It’s funny how he thinks he keeps his personal opinions out of his columns, and that because some rabid hard right-wingers call him a Labour lackey this makes him balanced and middle-of-the-road.
1. On February 25, 2013, a lawfully constituted Common Law Court of Justice found Elizabeth Windsor, Queen of England and Head of State of Canada and its churches, guilty as charged of Crimes against Humanity in Canada and of engaging in a Criminal Conspiracy to conceal Genocide. The same verdict found Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper guilty of the same offenses.
But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
When the jailer informed them, with tears,
Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
As the pig had been dead for some years.
Is preventative surgery of that sort available in the public system in NZ, or anywhere? Unless you’re paying for it yourself it seems like radical surgery when you do not in fact have cancer, would be a big ask.
No indication that it was not done on the public’s dime.
I don’t know one way or the other, but I suspect it would be covered in NZ for very high-risk patients, because it’s cheaper in the long-run than waiting for the breast cancer to develop. Not just in terms of the treatment itself, but for the individual: they can schedule time off work and get the operation done when it is convenient for them, rather than getting a cancer diagnosis and having to drop everything with short notice.
Was interviewed for Radio NZ Morning Report (played on air at 8am Wednesday 15 May 2013) on the failure of the GCSB to ‘confirm or deny’ whether I was one of the 88 New Zealanders unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
I heard that, Penny. You were clear and very persuasive, as was Valerie Morse. I was concerned by the wording used by the 8 o’clock news on Radio NZ National this morning to describe the GCSB’s criminal activities. Noting that this organization has been spying on New Zealand citizens, the newsreader intoned: “It is currently illegal.”
Next time someone shoots a policeman, I look forward to hearing the news-readers inform us that “murder is currently illegal.”
Yeah, you were solid Penny – “Show me the bloody filing cabinet and give me five minutes……” – (more or less what you said, agreed ?) – Great soundbite !
Haven’t heard from BM or that fulla whose name starts with G. Must have been like a good blast from a can of Raid to the likes of them. On their backs…….Bzzzzzz.
g888. The Oz Fed Govt has written a fiscally tight budget in order to gain confidence.
Gain the confidence of whom is always the unasked question. Certainly not of the unemployed or the median worker.
It is always pandering to the banksters, the investing class, the ratings agencies. It appears that they are the only true constituency Oz Labour responds to. They have no alternative thinking framework or vision.
On a bigger scale, a massive reorganisation of our political economy is needed – paid employment and economic growth are things transitioning into the past. Energy depletion and the limits of our debt based money system which we have now reached has made sure of that.
I’d be very surprised if private investors will lose out should the power grid get damaged. They will of course expect the taxpayer to pay for repairs, expect the company to borrow for repairs or just sell their 49% quick as possible. Money for nothing ‘investors’ only like to ‘gamble’ on a sure thing with a rigged deck.
A senior Airways Corporation manager who won her job back after she was sacked for a boozy night when she got “lippy” with staff and gave one of them “the finger” has been awarded $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs.
…
She was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed and the company was ordered to reinstate her, although she was not awarded any payment due to her contribution to the situation.
Today, Mr Dumbleton ordered the company to pay Ms Dumble $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs and a further $385 for administration costs.
I wonder whether Gilmore has read this? And Riches, as employment law is one of his specialities.
And here’s another gem – more relevant to Aaron Gilmore perhaps.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers – An award should go to the West Jet gate attendant in Kelowna, British Columbia for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was cancelled after West Jet’s 737 had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS”.
The attendant replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: “May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please,â she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, clenched his teeth and said, “F….You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”
I found in Jingo that Terry Pratchett has envisaged a strapped-for-cash economy in Ankh-Morpork. To a question of how that could be, ‘Don’t we pay our taxes?’ Lord Vetinari notes –
Guild of Assassins – Gross earnings in the last year: AM$13,207,048. Taxes paid in the last year: AM$47.22 pence, and
The Guild of Accountants – gross earnings AM$7,999,011. Taxes paid: nil. But, ah yes, I see they applied for a rebate of AM$200,000.’
(I have left out the matter of the Hershebian half-dong as irrelevant.)
And was Terry thinking of NZ perhaps? He writes that Lord Vetinari made the analogy – ‘Taxation gentlemen is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo.’
‘Are you telling us that Ankh-Morpork is bankrupt?’ says one of the nobles.
‘Of course. While, at the the same time, full of rich people.’
Yes Terry Pratchett’s scenario has a lot of vision for us, if we care to study and absorb it. Makes
more sense than much of the words around today.
Yesterday vto raised the perceived issue of some people talking about the treaty being accused of racism. S/he referred to a Natrad panel discussion on Constitutional review. Turns out the person that asked the question that vto was interested in was John Ansell, and Ansell asked the question in a hijacking for his own agenda kind of way. Which is probably why the panelists refused to answer.
Sorry vto, but I feel that not only did you misrepresent what happened in the panel discussion, but you misled us in the conversation yesterday. Was that intentional? We talked about being explicit about our politics, but I don’t feel like you were. Now the question for me becomes, do you align yourself with Ansell, and is that the background context I need to understand your comments about Te Tiriti and racism in this country?
Thanks for following this up weka. It sounded pretty strange yesterday – I thought maybe someone had cracked a weak joke and thus it is so – ansell is a weak joke and I’d be pretty disappointed if vto was a follower of his. I think a list of what vto wants to discuss regarding Te Tiriti may be a good option and I hope vto provides one. We need to keep conversing about the subject but somehow with some people it ends up being a too-ing and fro-ing around issues that aren’t issues at all, except for them.
vto I hope you reply. My view of your view vto is that you think,
1 the Treaty is historical and a new one needs to be drafted to take into consideration the multicultural aspect of NZ society.
2 too much emphasis (money) is on tangata whenua and that they have received enough emphasis (money)
3 MÄori were the first here and that could be called indigenous but it is irrelevant in today’s world
4 MÄori are inherently violent and warlike
5 No one represents the ‘white man’ who gets abuse and derision when they say something that others perceive as racist
6 Non-MÄori who talk about race get accused of being racist
7 MÄori are racist to ‘white people’
8 Celts were here before MÄori and taught them everything of what they know until MÄori killed them all
9 The chinese bought slave-wives here to breed with MÄori
10 Barry Brailsford doesn’t talk shit
I know, there is one joke one, but which one…
Anyway that list isn’t a dig at you vto – it’s to show that I listen to what you say/write.
Three oil giants â Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC and Norwayâs state-controlled Statoil ASA â on Tuesday confirmed that their offices had been raided in connection with the probe.
Oil-pricing agency Platts is also under investigation. Platts, a unit of McGraw Hill Financial Inc., is the custodian of the Brent crude contract, the de facto world benchmark for oil prices and base for the hundreds of billions of dollars of futures contracts that trade off it. Crude oil prices in turn influence the price of gasoline and other fuels.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-country European Union, confirmed the probe but did not identify the companies by name. Nor did it specify how many companies were under investigation, leading to speculation that the probe may widen.
The inspections took place in two European Union member states and one non-EU country, the EC said.
“The Commission has concerns that the companies may have colluded in reporting distorted prices to a price reporting agency to manipulate the published prices for a number of oil and biofuel products,” it said.
The EC also said companies may have prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices.
Statoil said the suspected violations were related to the Platts price assessment process and may have been ongoing since 2002.
The probe will shine a light on the methodology designed by Platts for daily assessments on the physical oil markets, used to close deals worth billions of dollars.
[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]
“[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]”
Mate, you got the suck up blues bad, or you’re on commission, or both đ
Great recovery Labour, eighteen more months and you might be on what Clark got in 08.
You rock, monsters of politics.
If a National Election were held now this New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows that it would be too close to call, although an Opposition Labour/ Greens/ NZ First alliance would be slightly favoured.
“Too close to call” is viewed through your shit-coloured spectacles to read “nowhere near victory”.
Fuck you’re hilarious McFlock. You are overconfident on Labour/Shearer and I expect you to be softening up and backpedaling on them big time next year. Btw where was Labour in the Roy Morgan 12-18 months before the last election? That’s the obvious comparison you’ve avoided.
The Roymorgan poll at the start of 2007 that had 41%? True.
The one at the end of 2007 that had 34.5%? Also true – beaten once, equalled twice this year.
In 2007 Labour was going down.
In 2013 Labour is going up.
And what were the Greens getting in that period, compared to now?
The difference is that in 2007 this was the assessment from the pollster:
âSupport for Helen Clarkâs Labour Government remains weak with the Nationals lead remaining at 13%.
Always nice to see an optimistic viewpoint. The NZLP is pretty much bouncing along in the 30-35% range. Just as they have for every period since the 2008 election except for a couple of months prior to the 2011 election and in the honeymoon just after the 2008 election..
Since 2008, the Greens and NZ First have risen. National has descended from their 2009 highs. A few National coalition partners have been rediscovering what oblivion means. The Labour caucus is doing bugger all compared to the same time in the last election cycle – and they bloody well lost that one. Look at the graph again.
The Labour caucus hasn’t made any discernible traction compared to this time (mid-2010) in the last electoral cycle. Indeed their polling performance looks like a repeat of mid-2010. No real hits on National.
The best that you can say is that they have managed to reverse their 2011 slide towards oblivion. On an more optimistic note, they seemed to have finally managed to stop having dickhead scandals from oversized egos making fools of themselves that were pissing me off so much from 2009-2011. I think that most of the self-inflicted injury fools are now gone (apart from Shane Jones).
But the caucus seems to be both uninspired, uninspiring, intensely reactive and don’t seem to understand the concept of preparedness strategy (ie looking at how to sell the damn things). The kiwibuild policy was curiously unfinished and like the Nats seems to have ignored the realities of the Auckland environment (where the biggest systemic housing issues are). Basically we don’t need more 3 bedroom homes on a section or shoebox central city student apartments here. What we need is to provide the types of housing that gets the ever increasing numbers of elderly, couples with no kids, and singletons out of family homes into something more suitable – which is where the housing shortage is. What we got was a policy that looked ok for Wellington where it may be possible to build a 3 bedroom house on section for $300k within 10 kilometres of the CBD.
The power purchasing policy was better. But they appear to have not thought through the obvious downstream implications of such a policy shift, and they wound up backing away from it – which really was a bit of a disaster.
Yep, having started from a low base, the LP, under Shearer, is doing better than average. Anything above 35% on polling day means a change of Government (assuming the Greens maintain double figures), so a consistant 30% plus is a good platform to launch an election campaign from.
If Shearer can maintain polling in the low to mid thirties till the election and the party membership can fight for more progressive policies such as NZPower and Kiwibuild to be the centrepoint of Labour’s election platform, I see no reason why we won’t have a terrific result on election day.
As an aside, I think Labour may not ever go above the 30’s again. That’s due to MMP and the effective job the Greens are doing keeping their vote at around 10%. That’s actually not a problem at all, because the right may never be able to muster a majority again, particularly now that they have effectively destroyed the Conservative Party’s chances by opting not to lower the 5% threshold.
McFlock: I accept that given the strength of the Government’s recent performances, the outstanding economic and employment growth the nation is experiencing, the satisfaction people have with the status quo, and the lack of confidence sapping scandals within National, it is of course going to be difficult for Labour to poll much above 32% or so.
If only we had a National Government which truly sucked at governing and which demonstrated a venal and short sighted nature to everything they did, Labour would have a chance of gaining more traction in the polls.
It’s such a shame that the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party.
No.
Just pointing out that if you were half as good at influencing labour as you expect labour to be at influencing the polls, this debate would have ended months ago.
why is that a lol?
If you know what it takes to win the votes of more than a million people, surely you can persuade a few thousand. Or a couple of dozen.
“the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party."
Can't believe you write that stuff. I'm not picking on you, just find it hard when you mention political incompetence and still back Labour and Shearer.
if you guys could do any better than the current caucus, why haven’t you managed to get Labour to sing to your songsheet? Why are you gnashing your teeth here, rather than your advice being adopted as the Labour playbook?
“If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?”
What bit don’t you understand? He’s a shit leader, he’s got a shit shadow front bench, and he shits on Labour’s core values.
That’s not a recipe that fills me with confidence, in fact, the way he’s gone about the job for 18 months, it should be filling with fear and dread every hardcore lefty voter, well those that haven’t bloated themselves with false hope that is.
McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.
But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.
And I like coalition governments. It means there’s no point in developing saviour obsessions over a single politician. Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.
“But if theyâre too incompetent to win, thereâs nothing to fear.”
Like you’ve pointed out, despite a truly horrible government, Labour may be able to form a government. This mathematical possibility doesn’t make them winners, nor does it suggest they will form a competent, cohesive force.
“Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.”
From messiah to fuhrer in two evenings of debate.
No doubt tomorrow you’ll be fixating on Diablo.
“Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldnât go as far as the devil â I merely think he is human.”
Though to be fair, read back and I mention cunliffe once at the end of the exchange, with a smiley. You bring up him or the notion of saving politicians more than any one on here.
That’s a little odd.
“Thatâs why I like MMP. Itâs like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.”
I dispute that in this exchange, and I dispute in others on the standard, some I’ve not even been party to.
I suggest you’re far more occupied with DC than I am with DS.
“After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad itâd âend the party as a political force for good.â
See point one in response to the name cunliffe.
“Not really. Otherwise he wouldnât have needed a cup of tea.”
Now that’s just silly, seeing how minority Labour would be in government. Like was pointed out, we know how mmp works, that’s why we voted to keep it.
Key is in charge of the government. Who is is in charge of the opposition?
Any one is free to to look through this thread and deduce which time you went on about saviours and fuhrers and when I mentioned Cunliffe with a smiley, in an exchange with CV that was about you being a lost cause. Post up the findings here and it’s a done deal.
They could also, should they be so enthused, go check comments in other topics, including ones where I have not even commented. There they will find the mere mention of ds being shit, is met somewhat awkwardly by comments about messiahs and deities.
I’m not a researcher, or that petty, but it’s all there in black and white should any one feel the need.
I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t truthful or I could be caught out.
Some call it integrity, I, self preservation.
In reply to my mate
“McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership heâs relying on the Greens to provide.”
Actually in this instance, it was my you’ll hurray for cunliffe that sparked the fuhrer jibe, despite never once proving a link between a competent would be leader and peoples (my) support and belief in his industry being any form of demagoguery, but you concede from previous form, I’m correct on point two. đ
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.
But ANY obsessional faith in ANY political leader gives me the willies, no matter how benign the person they place their trust in might apparently be. Because it usually ends rather messily, and as far as I know no utopia has ever come out of it.
To be absolutely explicit, I was not calling Cunliffe a demagogue.
I was calling you an obsessional follower. And as soon as our political support is guided by passions rather than rational assessments of the people and issues, that’s when bad things can happen.
So it’s lucky that MMP necessitates cooperation between parties and their alphas.
“Donât get me wrong, I definitely think that your âsupport and belief in his industryâ has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labourâs only hope, to the degree that youâve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, âwith Shearer in chargeâ â the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.”
Quoted for posterity.
One day they’ll look back at this post and say, now that’s what I call insight. đ
in ten five years it’ll be as relevant as Clive Matthewson.
But I tell you what, if Labour get elected with Shearer as leader, do another round of asset sales and plummet to single-digit popularity, I’ll buy you a beer.
Lost cause mate. Labour’s core support has settled at somewhere around 30% or so.
That number isn’t changing significantly in either direction and the rest of the population doesn’t give a fuck about Labour, either because they never have or because they’ve given up.
We all know the definition of madness – doing same old, expecting different.
There is no point expecting anything new from the polls, because nothing new is happening.
1) Government continues to fuck up and/or piss people off, whether on serious matters (MRP, GCSB) or headline-making trivia (Aaron Gilmore, Key’s brain farts).
2) Leader of the opposition continues to say “Oh, look, bottom line is, the government – in terms of fucking off – er, up – it is pissing – Labour is – National in terms of Labour is – I mean, look, they are …” (continues until audience dies screaming).
It dosn’t matter how many times National drop the ball, Shearer can’t pick it up. He doesn’t have it, we all know this, and the only rebuttal is “yes, but let’s pretend and hope”. So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.
Not much point debating which of the two will happen. One is based on daily evidence we can all see, the other is based on horoscopes, or something.
We have a by-election soon. What plans do Labour greens etc have for getting out the vote? I know by- elections are usually poorly attended but wouldn’t it make a good practice run for 2014? So many non voters to be enticed?
“So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.”
Do you really think that the few loyal labour supporters that are left, are going to have the patience to see if Shearer dies in a metaphorical ditch, and then what, Parker? Robertson?? jumps in the saddle, and lets the polls carry on their flat line?
The way they’re rushing all this makes me think of a desperate garage sale. Next up, an old lamp, used underwear and some family photos. Oh, and NZ’s soul.
Particularly liked the last two sentences in the final quote..
âWell itâs certainly bold,â he said. âI mean itâs an extremely impressive policy and I think itâs something that a lot of people have been holding out for. But I just canât fathom why any government would ever want to repeal a previous one. It leaves them with no one to blame.â
I do not know whether this was mentioned before, but since yesterday, TV3 news seem to have entered a war of arguments between Unite Union and McDonalds, where a lasting employment dispute about wages, hours and minimum wage payment requirements is ongoing.
Naturally like most MSM stupid and crap media like to focus on, the REAL issues are NOT reported on at all. Somehow a comment by senior Unite leader Mike Treen and others seems to have caught their main focus now. Some comments that the police breaking up a picket line outside the McDonald’s restaurant on Queen St may have been to ensure clientele to enter the fast food restaurant, seems to have been taken issue with.
The police now dispute that their intervention was to ensure discounted burgers or other food for themselves, and they have little else to say. Treen though made clear that a picket is there of right by protesting and striking workers, so that allows them to perhaps discourage clientele to go and enter McDonald’s.
The police have another story, of course, and they deny having interfered for cheap discounted food. Naturally I would think the police are correct on that, but they have a dismal point of justification, facing new media coverage on TV3 tonight and yesterday, proving police and certain other professional groups get heavily discounted services all the time.
So we have cops that start on a “starting wage” at 50 k per annum, that have low waged, soon underpaid (new minimum wage earners at youth rates) workers at McDonald’s “enhance” their lifestyles, to get all kinds of cheap perks they can.
NO wonder these cops largely vote National, and some of them have the bloody audacity to complain, leave the country and work for higher paid jobs in Australia and the UK!
Maori and Pasifica, same as others affected, will bear this in mind, that they are beaten up, locked up and treated like shit by an elite force of mercenaries, that even deny workers a fair pay. So much for foot soldiers and mercenaries, to protect McDonalds and others from the deserved voice and power of workers they rely on. SHAME ON THIS, NZ!-
Back in 2016, the Portuguese government announced plans to stop burning coal by 2030. But progress has come much quicker, and they're now scheduled to close their last coal plant by the end of this year: The Sines coal plant in Portugal went offline at midnight yesterday evening (14 ...
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery: As anybody with the intestinal fortitude to brave the commentary threads of local news-sites, large and small, will attest, the number of Trump-supporting New Zealanders is really quite astounding. ITâS SO DIFFICULT to resist the temptation to be smug. From the distant perspective of New Zealand, ...
RNZ reports on continued arbitrariness on decisions at the border. British comedian Russell Howard is about to tour New Zealand and other acts allowed in through managed isolation this summer include drag queen RuPaul and musicians at Northern Bass in Mangawhai and the Bay Dreams festival. The vice-president of the ...
As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop focusing on our managed isolation and quarantine system and instead protect the elderly so that they can ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that â…one of New Zealandâs COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the countryâ Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished âat least, we got rid of Muldoonâ, a response which tells us that then, and today, oneâs views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement:Â More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âWHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: âTheyâre here already! Youâre next! Youâre next! Youâre next!âOstensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dĂ»r. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhowerâs inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been âleaders of the free worldâ. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to âdrain the swampâ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the cityâs available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story â read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trumpâs behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. Itâs a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about todayâs global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind â the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONALâS Bill English who accurately described New Zealandâs prisons as âfiscal and moral failuresâ. On the same subject, Labourâs Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. Weâd studied Shakespeareâs King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I donât know TaupĆ well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, Iâm always on the way to somewhere else. Usually TaupĆ means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 â the virus that causes COVID-19 â leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection â this has been dubbed âlong COVIDâ. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK â following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi.  A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititiâs successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. Thereâs a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, hereâs a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
Bay Conservation Cadets launched with first intake Supported with $3.5 million grant Part of $1.245b Jobs for Nature programme to accelerate recover from Covid Cadets will learn skills to protect and enhance environment Environment Minister David Parker today welcomed the first intake of cadets at the launch of the Bay ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. âFollowing confirmation of the Cook Islandsâ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. âOur top priority continues ...
Todayâs deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. âThe deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. âABAC helps ensure that APECâs work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Governmentâs prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealandâs local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. âGiven the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, itâs clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. âThe Battle at Te Ruapekapeka PÄ, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. âThe new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. âThe past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Yearâs Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. âWe are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Yearâs Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Governmentâs investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. âCOVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
Dairy prices increased by 3.9% across the board at the latest Fonterra global auction. The lift followed rises of 1.3% and 4.3% in the December auctions which took dairy prices to their highest level in 11 months, defying those analysts who believed Covid-19 had disrupted dairy markets. In the latest ...
America's Cup team American Magic has spoken publicly after their boat Patriot capsized when on its way to their first win of the Challenger Selection Series yesterday. Patriot dramatically capsized yesterday, becoming temporarily airborne before crashing back into the water and tipping. The boat, helmed by New Zealander Dean Barker, could not be ...
It’s a seemingly age old question: why do Auckland’s beaches become unswimmable after every single downpour? Stewart Sowman-Lund investigates.Ah, the beach. A staple of the New Zealand summer. Unless, of course, you’re based in Auckland and it’s raining. The start of 2021 has been a lot like every other New ...
We have opened a book, among members of the Point of Order team, on how long it will be before the PM offers to sort out the land dispute at Wellingtonâs Shelly Bay and (to win the double) how much the settlement will cost taxpayers. Just a few weeks ago ...
Breakfast TV news is back for 2021, and Tara Ward got up early to watch. “Thank god it’s almost Christmas,” John Campbell said during the opening minutes of Breakfast’s premiere episode of the year. “2021’s been rough so far. I’m buggered”. We’re all buggered, to be fair, but I’m worried that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Pearson, Professor of Journalism and Social Media, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University, Griffith University The blame for the recent assault on the US Capitol and President Donald Trumpâs broader dismantling of democratic institutions and norms can be ...
Despite a popular and unifying leader of the governing party, divisions both in policy and culture will test the progressive movement, writes Peter McKenzie.‘I think we’re confused.” Marlon Drake is an organiser for the Living Wage Movement. His job takes him all over Wellington, trying to convince businesses to increase ...
Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins says vaccinations should be available to the public by the middle of the year, but other countries are prioritised. ...
It’s as true now as it ever has been: nowhere else offers an education experience like that of Dunedin. But rather than resting on their laurels, the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic have plans to make the city an even more inspiring place for students.From high in the summit ...
Haggis, neeps and tatties and whisky may not be a traditional spread for a summer gathering in NZ, but trust Auckland city councillor and Kiwi-Scot Cathy Casey on this one. Gie it laldy! Rule one: Hold it on (or near) January 25Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759. Since the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University It could be argued artificial intelligence (AI) is already the indispensable tool of the 21st century. From helping doctors diagnose and treat patients to rapidly advancing new drug discoveries, itâs our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Through recent natural disasters, global upheavals and a pandemic, Australiaâs political centre has largely held. Australians may have disagreed at times, but they have also kept faith with governmental norms, eschewing the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Seale, Associate professor, UNSW Health workers are at higher risk of COVID infection and illness. They can also act as extremely efficient transmitters of viruses to others in medical and aged care facilities. Thatâs why health workers have been prioritised to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jim Orchard, Adjunct Lecturer, Monash University Last week, somewhat overshadowed by the events in Washington, the Democrats took control of the US Senate. The Democrats now hold a small majority in both the House and the Senate until 2022, giving President-elect Joe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mittul Vahanvati, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University Heatwaves, floods, bushfires: disaster season is upon us again. We canât prevent hazards or climate change-related extreme weather events but we can prepare for them â not just as individuals ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mandie Shean, Lecturer, School of Education, Edith Cowan University Starting school is an important event for children and a positive experience can set the tone for the rest of their school experience. Some children are excited to attend school for the first ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Spark, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queensland University of Technology Leadership is a human universal. It can even be seen in other species, which suggests it may be an evolutionarily ancient process. A common personality trait of ânaturalâ leaders is a higher than ...
Some families in emergency housing are reporting their children are becoming emotionally distressed because of their living conditions. Demand for emergency accommodation has escalated this past year with the number of emergency housing grants increasing by half. Data showed nearly 10,000 people were given an Emergency Housing Special Needs Grant between ...
Summer reissue: Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden are back for a second season of On the Rag, and where better to start than with the mysterious, exhausting world of wellness?First published June 23, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is ...
With few Covid-19 infections and negiligible natural immunity, New Zealand faces being a victim of its own success when it is left till last to get the vaccines, argues Dr Parmjeet Parmar. ...
Steve Braunias reports on a literary cancelling. The Corrections department has refused to allow Jared Savage's best-selling book Gangland inside prison on the grounds that it "promotes violence and drug use". An inmate at Otago Corrections Facility in Dunedin was sent a copy of the book â but it was ...
New data from the CTUâs annual work life survey shows a snapshot of working peopleâs experiences and outlook heading out of 2020 and into the new year. Concerningly 42% of respondents cite workplace bullying as an issue in their workplace - a number ...
An international player, selector and self-confessed cricket stats nerd, Penny Kinsella has now played a hand in recording the rich history of the women's game in New Zealand. Penny Kinsellaâs cricketing career was perched on the cusp of change for the White Ferns. âMy first tour to Australia, we ...
The dramatic capsize of American Magic brought out the best in the America's Cup sailing fraternity. But, Suzanne McFadden asks, what does it mean to the crippled New York Yacht Club campaign and to the Prada Cup? It was a scene as unreal as it was calamitous. Right at the moment the ...
The current number of members of parliament is starting to get too low for the job we expect them to do, argues Alex Braae. As a general rule, with the possible exception of their families, nobody likes backbench MPs. But it’s nevertheless time we accepted that parliament should have more of ...
The experience in the Brazilian city of Manaus reveals how mistaken, and dangerous, the herd-immunity-by-infection theory really is. As families around the world mourn more than two million people dead from Covid-19, the Plan B academics and their PR industry collaborator continue to argue that the New Zealand government should stop ...
As New Zealand gears up to fight climate change, experts warn that we need to actually reduce emissions, not just plant trees to offset our greenhouse gases. ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. âThe recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
âLast year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at IhumÄtao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didnât think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bayâ says ACT Leader David Seymour. âThe prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago â some 124 days â since MÄâohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planetâs lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governorâs apology and claim he will âown the issueâ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayersâ Union said: âItâs been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools â from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing â have transformed the way we work. In many respects theyâve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. âWe ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on Englandâs Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called âfounding fathersâ of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country â this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. âIt is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealandâs Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, itâs not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authorityâs Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If youâve ...
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.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
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RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
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*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his âbaseâ, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
I asked the GCSB recently if I was one of the 88 kiwis that it may have illegally spied on.
My specific request stated:
“I note the GCSB is alleged to have illegally spied on 88 New Zealanders over the past few years. The allegation is contained in the Kitteridge report which somehow was recently leaked to the media.
I can’t imagine why but I wondered if I was one of the 88. So pursuant to the Official Information Act 1982 and/or the Privacy Act 1993 can you tell me if I am on that list and if so what information you obtained about me?”
I suggested on an open mike (http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-12042013/#comment-617654) that others may want to do the same.
I have now received my response and it is quite bizarre. They refused to confirm or deny if they had information about me. The section they are relying on says they don’t have to release information if disclosure would, amongst other things, be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand.
It is likely (unless I am indeed an enemy of the State) that this will be their stock response but I am wondering if anyone has had a different response? Is my slightly elevated sense of paranoia justified?
So Standardnistas, did anyone else ask for information about them and get a different response?
Well, now your slightly elevated sense of paranoia seems to be catching đ in the USA authorities attempt to record every single electronic communication. Who knows what the full capabilities of systems like Echelon really are. Its only a matter of time before they implement the same philosophy here. Meh.
For your decidedly left views. Micky you are definitely one of them. If you ever do get your file, it will no doubt reveal that the illegal invasion of your privacy by the DCSB, to be quite extensive. Extending to family members, your friends, your work colleagues.
After all, people like you, are a threat to the whole pyramid of money and power that sustains our well paid secret police snoops. And you must be watched very carefully.
But don’t worry, this extensive criminal offending will end soon. It will soon be legal. Just like it was in East Germany.
I was talking to Captain Blackadder because I was concerned about the same thing Mr Savage, my turnip and I might have raised the ire of the powers that be.
He told me not to worry as even though the intelligence services are a bit of an oxymoron they probably aren’t so retarded as to be spying on smelly primates.
I must admit that made me feel quite relieved.
[lprent: That last statement got me worried – what exactly did you relieve yourself on? đ ]
My fatigues, Captain Adder said at least it saves on the starch rations.
Thanks for this info, micky. A worrying response, reinforcing the lack of public accountability by the GCSB.
Ground control to the Labour top
Your leader is floating in a most peculiar way
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10883699
Nice to know someone’s listening đ
…Planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…..
You beat me to it, I was just hauling over the link, The Alien.
A very clever caricature.
And you know it’s just going whoosh, as it comets right over their heads.
‘Your circuitâs dead, thereâs something wrong,
And the papers want to know who’s shirt you wear……
Never mind about policy, opinion, or your way forward just the shirt brand thanks.
At least, from the front, he’s kinda leaning (floating) left (I think). Perhaps. Maybe.
Or right…depending on your perspective…
Brilliant cartoon – and so true.
For those who have not seen Hadfield’s video from outer space of Bowie’s Space Oddity, it is a Must See. It was the only thing that brightened my day yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/video.cfm?c_id=2&gal_objectid=10883695&gallery_id=132791
Give the man another 6 months. He’s made of the right stuff.
thats quite something
Yep.
Give the man another 6 months. Heâs made of the right stuff.
Who’s got the job of rebuilding him with more of the left stuff?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10883692
“The red carpet was out last night at the glittering X Factor VIP party at the SkyCity Grand Hotel. Dress to impress was the theme and salubrious guests didn’t disappoint”
“Hilary Barry (a not-so-secret fan of the show) rubbed shoulders with Sam Hayes, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree and the cast from The Almighty Johnsons.
Stars from the company’s radio division were present too, including resident shock jocks Jono Pryor and Dom Harvey”
“Dominic Bowden – Matafeo ”
Yep, NZ’s got talent. The C list to beat them all.
Good work back slappers.
And Rachel Glucina calls them âcelebritiesâ. Obviously to her.\
Unbelievable
You’re throwing a massive party. You want it to be cool….
YOU WANT: Richie McCaw, Anna Paquin, David Farrier, Jacinda Ardern, Russell Crowe, John Key, Jim Mora, Mary Lambie, Jane Clifton, Vicky Hyde, Cameron Slater, Raybon Kan, Brian Edwards, Stan Walker, Sir Robert Jones, Lorraine Downes, the Masterchef judges, Kim Hill, Mark Cubey, Ruby Frost, Natasha Bedingfield, and the Aussie comedian who plays “Chopper”.
YOU’D SETTLE FOR: Peter Dunne, Aaron Gilmore, David Farrar, Tau Henare, Queen of Thorns, Lyn Prentice, The Mad Butcher, “millsy”, weka, Rosemary McLeod, Wendy Petrie, Martin Devlin, Daniel Bedingfield, Michele A’Court, the unsuccessful Masterchef contestants, Claudette Hauiti, Deb Webber, Kelvin Cruikshank, Rebecca Gibney, John Banks, Willie and J.T., Rachel Glucina, Karl du Fresne, Matt Nippert and Don “Brethren Cash” Brash.
YOU END UP WITH: Hilary Barry, Sam Hayes, David Parker, Ben Boyce, Colin Mathura-Jeffree, the Almighty Johnsons cast, Murray Deaker, David Slack, Christine “Spankin'” Rankin, Gary McCormick, Don Donovan, Barry Corbett, Jono Pryor, Dominic Bowden, Te Reo Putake, Morrissey Breen, Populuxe1, Colonial Viper, Irish Bill, Brett Dale, Felix and Draco T Bastard.
A. Lyn doesn’t want to get married and I suspect that taking my surname is going to be low on her list of priorities even if we did. She likes being named after a canine. So getting Lyn Prentice to anything will be difficult. There are none in the country that I am aware of.
B. You could be referring to me – Lynn Prentice. However getting me to any party or event would be a coup in it’s own right. I find invariably find them intensely boring. Lyn usually winds up going to the ones she attends with friends.
C. But it would be a meaningless result. I turn up at particular events where I want to get a read on something – once… Because there are no photos of me around the net, even those who know of me usually won’t know who I am.. This is intentional.
D. So trying to get me to go anywhere is fraught…
If you want to save the world, you get me, Sir Richard, Mike and Ricky.
Story of my life:
Sob
I join you, Clockie, cast out into the ‘exterior darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.’ We probably don’t even rate as a ‘stranger at the gate.’
Bugger the “in crowd”! I didn’t want to go to their stupid party anyway..
cry if you want to. Yeah, Nah!
Beautiful People?
Not! basket weaving
đ
No Contrarian?
Man, I am a hoot at parties. You don’t what your missing.
“I am a hoot at parties.” You do Matthew impersonations?
The C list to beat them all.
That was an F list.
more like a Z list.
Dude, I’m not even on the Z list, I’m on the z list đ
Burn the list! (said with vigour of thought, and warmth of affection, of course; wouldn’t want to break out in waves of passion now, would we). đ
Nothing more vivifying than multiple waves of passion, my friend!
see Aus Budget commentary below ground.
btw, My Immortal, Bring Me To Life.
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/ed-finallyat-last-the-mainstream-media-economics-experts-start-to-hold-the-intellectualyfactual-total-discrediting-of-jeyenglishs-austerity-mantra-up-to-the-light/
(reason for posting this link..this is an original comment on the key/english destroying news..
..news that seems to have passed most bye..(except @ whoar..)
..and i am gobsmacked that this news has been so ignored by most here in new zealand..
..given the key-govt-destabalising possibilities it holds..)
phillip ure..
LIARS OF OUR TIME
âšNo. 7: Nigel Morrison, Sky City CEO
MARY WILSON: How tough has the government been in these negotiations?
NIGEL MORRISON Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.
Radio New Zealand National Checkpoint, Monday 13 May 2013, 5:40 p.m.
See also….
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulationsâyouâre reading New Zealandâs best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: ââŠa FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.â
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: âThe X-Factor. Nah, nah, thereâs some GREAT talent there!â
No. 3: John Key: âYeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.â
No. 2: Colin Craig: âOh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.â (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
No. 1: Barack Obama: âMargaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.ââš
To news that the government is planning changes to state/social housing in the Budget comes the old movie saying – “I have a bad feeling about this”.
Extending income related rents to those in community housing is, in principle, an OK idea, but this government will chop something to pay for it (ie state housing, welfare, etc).
And this government has a hostility to public provision of anything, so I doubt that council tenants will be eligible for this.
Oh well, just over 24 hours to go.
See you all after the budget…
“Objectivity is paramount, says John Armstrong”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10883716
funniest thing I have read in ages,
will keep a smile on the dial as i head off to play with chainsaws for the day
It’s funny how he thinks he keeps his personal opinions out of his columns, and that because some rabid hard right-wingers call him a Labour lackey this makes him balanced and middle-of-the-road.
Ah well, he’s good for laugh, at least.
From the symbolim is often useful file:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/12/bush-convicted-of-war-crimes-in-absentia/
‘symbolism’
damn coffee deficiency
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/23/bush.iraq/
Also this from ITCCS:
1. On February 25, 2013, a lawfully constituted Common Law Court of Justice found Elizabeth Windsor, Queen of England and Head of State of Canada and its churches, guilty as charged of Crimes against Humanity in Canada and of engaging in a Criminal Conspiracy to conceal Genocide. The same verdict found Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper guilty of the same offenses.
‘No, no!’ said the Queen. ‘Sentence firstâverdict afterwards.’
But their wild exultation was suddenly checked
When the jailer informed them, with tears,
Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,
As the pig had been dead for some years.
Good on Angela for getting the double mastectomy: http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/8673976/Pitt-praises-heroic-Jolie
It’s a pity such preventative surgery and follow up reconstructive surgery isn’t available to 95% of Americans.
Is preventative surgery of that sort available in the public system in NZ, or anywhere? Unless you’re paying for it yourself it seems like radical surgery when you do not in fact have cancer, would be a big ask.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/i-d-rather-alive-double-mastectomy-patient-5437153
No indication that it was not done on the public’s dime.
I don’t know one way or the other, but I suspect it would be covered in NZ for very high-risk patients, because it’s cheaper in the long-run than waiting for the breast cancer to develop. Not just in terms of the treatment itself, but for the individual: they can schedule time off work and get the operation done when it is convenient for them, rather than getting a cancer diagnosis and having to drop everything with short notice.
Hi folks!
Heard this?
Was interviewed for Radio NZ Morning Report (played on air at 8am Wednesday 15 May 2013) on the failure of the GCSB to ‘confirm or deny’ whether I was one of the 88 New Zealanders unlawfully spied upon by the GCSB.
(As was Val Morse – who got the same GCSB reply).
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2555103/gcsb-refuses-to-tell-people-if-they've-been-illegally-spied-on.asx
Her Warship đ
Penny Bright
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Sailing the Se7en CSBees
I heard that, Penny. You were clear and very persuasive, as was Valerie Morse. I was concerned by the wording used by the 8 o’clock news on Radio NZ National this morning to describe the GCSB’s criminal activities. Noting that this organization has been spying on New Zealand citizens, the newsreader intoned: “It is currently illegal.”
Next time someone shoots a policeman, I look forward to hearing the news-readers inform us that “murder is currently illegal.”
Yeah, you were solid Penny – “Show me the bloody filing cabinet and give me five minutes……” – (more or less what you said, agreed ?) – Great soundbite !
Haven’t heard from BM or that fulla whose name starts with G. Must have been like a good blast from a can of Raid to the likes of them. On their backs…….Bzzzzzz.
Australian Budget
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/8672592/?
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/5/15/economy/aust-needs-immense-adjustment-garnaut?
http://www.trust.org/item/20130514100022-j5ac6/?source=search
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=23907
“serial liars”
g888. The Oz Fed Govt has written a fiscally tight budget in order to gain confidence.
Gain the confidence of whom is always the unasked question. Certainly not of the unemployed or the median worker.
It is always pandering to the banksters, the investing class, the ratings agencies. It appears that they are the only true constituency Oz Labour responds to. They have no alternative thinking framework or vision.
On a bigger scale, a massive reorganisation of our political economy is needed – paid employment and economic growth are things transitioning into the past. Energy depletion and the limits of our debt based money system which we have now reached has made sure of that.
3 x class flares on the sun and a cme in one day.
http://www.spaceweather.com/images2013/13may13/cme_anim2.GIF?PHPSESSID=tov4qiab2jpfhf7qm4lohulqj0
Not a good time to have investments in energy or telecommunications.
Interesting; I was just saying to my friend over Chardie yesterday why I collect hard-copy lit. and sounds; always.
I would not have much confidence in reliance on either wireless or mobile communications,this risks are very high for 4g.
As an aside I wonder if there is much importance in the spectrum sales in the budget.
at present the Interplanetary Magnetic field is in its southern aspect ie shields down.
http://spaceweather.com/glossary/imf.html
I think its a mistake we no longer have wind up gramaphones…independent of power cuts, internet hiccups and hard drive corruption.
Fragile complex systems
I’d be very surprised if private investors will lose out should the power grid get damaged. They will of course expect the taxpayer to pay for repairs, expect the company to borrow for repairs or just sell their 49% quick as possible. Money for nothing ‘investors’ only like to ‘gamble’ on a sure thing with a rigged deck.
We’re not all like that, some of us are in for the long run as well as proactively ensuring the assets stay in NZ hands.
Glad to hear there’s one who won’t mind foregoing their dividends if the grid gets whacked, how many others would I wonder.
“ensuring the assets stay in NZ hands.”
Just as long as they’re not in the hands of those who already owned them before they were stolen by the greedy.
Spanish poaching
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/world/europe/as-crime-rises-spains-farmers-patrol-their-land.html?_r=0
More on the role of “religion” , to come.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-to-punish-men-for-converting-woman-to-christianity-8613463.html
Well – what recent events does this case remind you of?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10883787
A senior Airways Corporation manager who won her job back after she was sacked for a boozy night when she got “lippy” with staff and gave one of them “the finger” has been awarded $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs.
…
She was found to have been unjustifiably dismissed and the company was ordered to reinstate her, although she was not awarded any payment due to her contribution to the situation.
Today, Mr Dumbleton ordered the company to pay Ms Dumble $7000 as a contribution to her legal costs and a further $385 for administration costs.
I wonder whether Gilmore has read this? And Riches, as employment law is one of his specialities.
The names changed to protect the record I imagine?
LOL – I did not even notice the similarity etc. But no, no name changes.
Here is the actual determination from the link in the Herald article
http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201320/2013_NZERA_Auckland_169.pdf
And here’s another gem – more relevant to Aaron Gilmore perhaps.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers – An award should go to the West Jet gate attendant in Kelowna, British Columbia for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was cancelled after West Jet’s 737 had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers.
Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, “I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS”.
The attendant replied, “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll be happy to try to help you, but I’ve got to help these people first, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: “May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please,â she began – her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. “We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14.”
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, clenched his teeth and said, “F….You!”
Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) “I’m sorry, sir, but you’ll have to get in line for that, too.”
Wonderful self possession and sense of humour. Brilliant Jenny.
Mr Dumbleton ? Ms Dumble ? about a case that showed her the Dumbledore then :-))
I found in Jingo that Terry Pratchett has envisaged a strapped-for-cash economy in Ankh-Morpork. To a question of how that could be, ‘Don’t we pay our taxes?’ Lord Vetinari notes –
Guild of Assassins – Gross earnings in the last year: AM$13,207,048. Taxes paid in the last year: AM$47.22 pence, and
The Guild of Accountants – gross earnings AM$7,999,011. Taxes paid: nil. But, ah yes, I see they applied for a rebate of AM$200,000.’
(I have left out the matter of the Hershebian half-dong as irrelevant.)
And was Terry thinking of NZ perhaps? He writes that Lord Vetinari made the analogy – ‘Taxation gentlemen is very much like dairy farming. The task is to extract the maximum amount of milk with the minimum of moo. And I am afraid to say that these days all I get is moo.’
‘Are you telling us that Ankh-Morpork is bankrupt?’ says one of the nobles.
‘Of course. While, at the the same time, full of rich people.’
Yes Terry Pratchett’s scenario has a lot of vision for us, if we care to study and absorb it. Makes
more sense than much of the words around today.
Yesterday vto raised the perceived issue of some people talking about the treaty being accused of racism. S/he referred to a Natrad panel discussion on Constitutional review. Turns out the person that asked the question that vto was interested in was John Ansell, and Ansell asked the question in a hijacking for his own agenda kind of way. Which is probably why the panelists refused to answer.
Here’s the conversation http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14052013/#comment-632878
The bit about Ansell is here http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-14052013/#comment-633276
Sorry vto, but I feel that not only did you misrepresent what happened in the panel discussion, but you misled us in the conversation yesterday. Was that intentional? We talked about being explicit about our politics, but I don’t feel like you were. Now the question for me becomes, do you align yourself with Ansell, and is that the background context I need to understand your comments about Te Tiriti and racism in this country?
Thanks for following this up weka. It sounded pretty strange yesterday – I thought maybe someone had cracked a weak joke and thus it is so – ansell is a weak joke and I’d be pretty disappointed if vto was a follower of his. I think a list of what vto wants to discuss regarding Te Tiriti may be a good option and I hope vto provides one. We need to keep conversing about the subject but somehow with some people it ends up being a too-ing and fro-ing around issues that aren’t issues at all, except for them.
vto I hope you reply. My view of your view vto is that you think,
1 the Treaty is historical and a new one needs to be drafted to take into consideration the multicultural aspect of NZ society.
2 too much emphasis (money) is on tangata whenua and that they have received enough emphasis (money)
3 MÄori were the first here and that could be called indigenous but it is irrelevant in today’s world
4 MÄori are inherently violent and warlike
5 No one represents the ‘white man’ who gets abuse and derision when they say something that others perceive as racist
6 Non-MÄori who talk about race get accused of being racist
7 MÄori are racist to ‘white people’
8 Celts were here before MÄori and taught them everything of what they know until MÄori killed them all
9 The chinese bought slave-wives here to breed with MÄori
10 Barry Brailsford doesn’t talk shit
I know, there is one joke one, but which one…
Anyway that list isn’t a dig at you vto – it’s to show that I listen to what you say/write.
The plot thickens.
or curdles.
Why is Fa’afoi not asking questions of Tolley?
Isn’t that his gig as police spokesperson and isn’t he an ex hard nosed journo/press sec extraordinaire?
Sitting there grinning like a churlish baboon isn’t a good look eh!…it’s bloody tolley for fucks sake.
Hardly the sharpest hammer in the shed…
http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/18501
Major oil companies raided as part of an investigation into price fixing.
After the Libor bank manipulations, it’ll be interesting to see where this investigation goes.
From the Globe & Mail:
Al Jazeera:
Innocent til proven guilty….will be watching.
Latest Roy Morgan bounces again. Labour up 0.5% to 32% and Greens up 1% to 12, National down to 44%. According to this it is all locked up …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/national-party-now-dead-level-with-labour-greens-201305150221
[lprent: added charts. Don’t like that GCR. ]
A consistent downward trend for the National Party. Get the tiny violins out đ
Well, locked up not putting NZ1 in either camp.
[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]
“[Oh noes – only half a percent recovery! Labour isn’t going anywhere! I just shit my pants! Another 50 years of neoliberalism unless Shearer resigns NOW! /sarc]”
Mate, you got the suck up blues bad, or you’re on commission, or both đ
Great recovery Labour, eighteen more months and you might be on what Clark got in 08.
You rock, monsters of politics.
33.99%?
Beaten that three times this year. Up from zero times last year. But labour’s obviously going nowhere in the polls…
And not reaching them now is a good thing, how?
Just take the medicine and no more blues (see what I did there?)
“But labourâs obviously going nowhere in the polls⊔
Yeah, and going nowhere near victory either.
I see what you did, and it’s stupid.
I’ll take your:
and add a dose of reality from roymorgan:
“Too close to call” is viewed through your shit-coloured spectacles to read “nowhere near victory”.
You feel that groundswell of Labour support gripping the nation?
Every change of government has one. Where’s Yours and David’s?
You hope more than you say anything with genuine confidence.
Nope.
I think the polls show that voters are slowly regaining trust in labour and keeping trust in the greens.
I expect the momentum to build with the campaign period as the climax.
I think you interpret based on hope, not the word on the street.
23% before the 2011 election.
32% now.
Three out of ten voters, given the shocking government we have, is hardly worth boasting about.
Yes, because everyone in nz follows politics as closely as you or I.
Sarcasm aside, who’s boasting? I just think that fuck all to “too close too call” in half a term isn’t cause for dismay.
Fuck you’re hilarious McFlock. You are overconfident on Labour/Shearer and I expect you to be softening up and backpedaling on them big time next year. Btw where was Labour in the Roy Morgan 12-18 months before the last election? That’s the obvious comparison you’ve avoided.
not avoided at all.
Where were the greens?
Where had Labour come from in 2008?
Contrast with now.
you better remind yourself of what Labour got in the Roy Morgan in 2007, the year before elections, if you want to compare apples with apples.
And no, Shearer Labour hasn’t beaten that 3x so far.
The Roymorgan poll at the start of 2007 that had 41%? True.
The one at the end of 2007 that had 34.5%? Also true – beaten once, equalled twice this year.
In 2007 Labour was going down.
In 2013 Labour is going up.
And what were the Greens getting in that period, compared to now?
The difference is that in 2007 this was the assessment from the pollster:
Always nice to see an optimistic viewpoint. The NZLP is pretty much bouncing along in the 30-35% range. Just as they have for every period since the 2008 election except for a couple of months prior to the 2011 election and in the honeymoon just after the 2008 election..
Since 2008, the Greens and NZ First have risen. National has descended from their 2009 highs. A few National coalition partners have been rediscovering what oblivion means. The Labour caucus is doing bugger all compared to the same time in the last election cycle – and they bloody well lost that one. Look at the graph again.
The Labour caucus hasn’t made any discernible traction compared to this time (mid-2010) in the last electoral cycle. Indeed their polling performance looks like a repeat of mid-2010. No real hits on National.
The best that you can say is that they have managed to reverse their 2011 slide towards oblivion. On an more optimistic note, they seemed to have finally managed to stop having dickhead scandals from oversized egos making fools of themselves that were pissing me off so much from 2009-2011. I think that most of the self-inflicted injury fools are now gone (apart from Shane Jones).
But the caucus seems to be both uninspired, uninspiring, intensely reactive and don’t seem to understand the concept of preparedness strategy (ie looking at how to sell the damn things). The kiwibuild policy was curiously unfinished and like the Nats seems to have ignored the realities of the Auckland environment (where the biggest systemic housing issues are). Basically we don’t need more 3 bedroom homes on a section or shoebox central city student apartments here. What we need is to provide the types of housing that gets the ever increasing numbers of elderly, couples with no kids, and singletons out of family homes into something more suitable – which is where the housing shortage is. What we got was a policy that looked ok for Wellington where it may be possible to build a 3 bedroom house on section for $300k within 10 kilometres of the CBD.
The power purchasing policy was better. But they appear to have not thought through the obvious downstream implications of such a policy shift, and they wound up backing away from it – which really was a bit of a disaster.
In the first 18 months from 2008 there are half a dozen or so mid to high twenties in your 30-35% range.
And they started in the mid thirties.
This election period, the picture is quite different. But you need to move through 32 to get from 27 to 38 or 40.
Yep, having started from a low base, the LP, under Shearer, is doing better than average. Anything above 35% on polling day means a change of Government (assuming the Greens maintain double figures), so a consistant 30% plus is a good platform to launch an election campaign from.
If Shearer can maintain polling in the low to mid thirties till the election and the party membership can fight for more progressive policies such as NZPower and Kiwibuild to be the centrepoint of Labour’s election platform, I see no reason why we won’t have a terrific result on election day.
As an aside, I think Labour may not ever go above the 30’s again. That’s due to MMP and the effective job the Greens are doing keeping their vote at around 10%. That’s actually not a problem at all, because the right may never be able to muster a majority again, particularly now that they have effectively destroyed the Conservative Party’s chances by opting not to lower the 5% threshold.
McFlock: I accept that given the strength of the Government’s recent performances, the outstanding economic and employment growth the nation is experiencing, the satisfaction people have with the status quo, and the lack of confidence sapping scandals within National, it is of course going to be difficult for Labour to poll much above 32% or so.
If only we had a National Government which truly sucked at governing and which demonstrated a venal and short sighted nature to everything they did, Labour would have a chance of gaining more traction in the polls.
It’s such a shame that the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party.
One of the tragic mysteries of history, no doubt.
Yeah it’s a shame, but you’re ok with it.
well, you know my philosophy – get the fuck over it, assess the situation, work with what you have.
I mean, it’s not as fun as railing against the injustices of the weather, but the end result is usually better for everyone.
“assess the situation, work with what you have.”
Missed this first time around with all the lolling.
At least 68% in that poll have, and thought fuck off with that.
Yes.
Because MMP encourages coalitions. That’s how it works.
National has no friends. At best they have the vagaries of Peters.
Understanding that this is not an excuse for weak ass performance and policy.
Too close to call, that
“National has no friends. At best they have the vagaries of Peters.”
Another way of saying that is ‘At best they have enough friends to trounce Labour and the Greens and Mana.’
Best not think about it like that though. Let’s just pretend Winston will gracefully bow out too.
No.
Best just say “too close to call”.
lolz.
yeah just remember that the current Labour leadership ain’t no force of nature
And yet the railing here seems as effective as if it were.
Why is that? Might you not be quite so familiar with political realities as you think?
Condescension? Oh I guess you’ve really hurting my feelings now.
No.
Just pointing out that if you were half as good at influencing labour as you expect labour to be at influencing the polls, this debate would have ended months ago.
Those that can’t, criticise, I guess.
Even more condescension? Now you’re just being a little prick.
Btw “influencing Labour” lol
why is that a lol?
If you know what it takes to win the votes of more than a million people, surely you can persuade a few thousand. Or a couple of dozen.
“the people who know with such certainty how labour could have been at <50% in the polls by now do not have the political competence to achieve that popularity within their own party."
Can't believe you write that stuff. I'm not picking on you, just find it hard when you mention political incompetence and still back Labour and Shearer.
It's a lolfest sometimes.
Yep, you missed the point, which was:
if you guys could do any better than the current caucus, why haven’t you managed to get Labour to sing to your songsheet? Why are you gnashing your teeth here, rather than your advice being adopted as the Labour playbook?
I missed nothing, just ignored the meaningless.
Labour can do one. I don’t trust them, at all.
I fear a Shearer government will be so bad, they’ll end the party as a political force for good.
It’s close already.
If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?
Lol – this has been fun, but I’m off for a few hours.
“If they are too politically incompetent to win in 2014, why do you fear it?”
What bit don’t you understand? He’s a shit leader, he’s got a shit shadow front bench, and he shits on Labour’s core values.
That’s not a recipe that fills me with confidence, in fact, the way he’s gone about the job for 18 months, it should be filling with fear and dread every hardcore lefty voter, well those that haven’t bloated themselves with false hope that is.
McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership he’s relying on the Greens to provide.
I won’t give up on him.
Deep down he’s a green vote and/or a hurray for Cunliffe.
He just doesn’t know it yet đ
But if they’re too incompetent to win, there’s nothing to fear.
And I like coalition governments. It means there’s no point in developing saviour obsessions over a single politician. Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.
A completely unprovoked, unforced self Godwin. Awesome.
Nah.
I just have trust issues putting that much faith in one politician.
Especially one who’s said he’ll serve out the term on the back bench.
Your trust issues are why you made a Nazi Germany reference?
Can you think of a better example of people putting faith in the future of a nation on one person ?
I’d like it if all parties went the coleader route, frankly. Maybe even coprime ministers.
“But if theyâre too incompetent to win, thereâs nothing to fear.”
Like you’ve pointed out, despite a truly horrible government, Labour may be able to form a government. This mathematical possibility doesn’t make them winners, nor does it suggest they will form a competent, cohesive force.
“Too easy to make a fuhrer, sort of thing.”
From messiah to fuhrer in two evenings of debate.
No doubt tomorrow you’ll be fixating on Diablo.
“Can you think of a better example of people putting faith in the future of a nation on one person ?”
đ @ the Elephant with offshore accounts in the room.
Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldn’t go as far as the devil – I merely think he is human.
That’s why I like MMP. It’s like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.
“Yes, I do think your fixation on a single politician is unhealthy.
But I wouldnât go as far as the devil â I merely think he is human.”
Though to be fair, read back and I mention cunliffe once at the end of the exchange, with a smiley. You bring up him or the notion of saving politicians more than any one on here.
That’s a little odd.
“Thatâs why I like MMP. Itâs like a miniature separation of powers, so no one person is in sole charge.”
That’ll be news to JK
After you bring up Cunliffe.
After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad it’d “end the party as a political force for good.”
Not really. Otherwise he wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea.
“After you bring up Cunliffe.”
I dispute that in this exchange, and I dispute in others on the standard, some I’ve not even been party to.
I suggest you’re far more occupied with DC than I am with DS.
“After saying you are afraid that a shearer government would be so bad itâd âend the party as a political force for good.â
See point one in response to the name cunliffe.
“Not really. Otherwise he wouldnât have needed a cup of tea.”
Now that’s just silly, seeing how minority Labour would be in government. Like was pointed out, we know how mmp works, that’s why we voted to keep it.
Key is in charge of the government. Who is is in charge of the opposition?
Oh, you dispute it? That’s just super.
Any specifics, like linking to the comment where I mentioned Cunliffe in this thread before you did?
“Oh, you dispute it? Thatâs just super.”
Any one is free to to look through this thread and deduce which time you went on about saviours and fuhrers and when I mentioned Cunliffe with a smiley, in an exchange with CV that was about you being a lost cause. Post up the findings here and it’s a done deal.
They could also, should they be so enthused, go check comments in other topics, including ones where I have not even commented. There they will find the mere mention of ds being shit, is met somewhat awkwardly by comments about messiahs and deities.
I’m not a researcher, or that petty, but it’s all there in black and white should any one feel the need.
I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t truthful or I could be caught out.
Some call it integrity, I, self preservation.
smiley shmiley.
Many a
truehonest word is said in jest.You brought him into the debate.
edit: and if you’re petty enough to make the claim, you should be petty enough to back it up.
In reply to my mate
“McFlock is lost in a world of mediocre is good enough because it will probably get over the line. The resulting quality of government and leadership heâs relying on the Greens to provide.”
Actually in this instance, it was my you’ll hurray for cunliffe that sparked the fuhrer jibe, despite never once proving a link between a competent would be leader and peoples (my) support and belief in his industry being any form of demagoguery, but you concede from previous form, I’m correct on point two. đ
“petty”
For writing
“Deep down heâs a green vote and/or a hurray for Cunliffe.” đ
Did I call cunliffe a demagogue?
Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that your “support and belief in his industry” has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labour’s only hope, to the degree that you’ve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, “with Shearer in charge” – the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.
But ANY obsessional faith in ANY political leader gives me the willies, no matter how benign the person they place their trust in might apparently be. Because it usually ends rather messily, and as far as I know no utopia has ever come out of it.
To be absolutely explicit, I was not calling Cunliffe a demagogue.
I was calling you an obsessional follower. And as soon as our political support is guided by passions rather than rational assessments of the people and issues, that’s when bad things can happen.
So it’s lucky that MMP necessitates cooperation between parties and their alphas.
“Donât get me wrong, I definitely think that your âsupport and belief in his industryâ has escalated to unhealthy levels of Cunliffe being labourâs only hope, to the degree that youâve suggested that a 2014 labour victory without Cunliffe as leader (sorry, âwith Shearer in chargeâ â the elephant in the room being who would replace shearer) would permanently destroy labour as a political force.”
Quoted for posterity.
One day they’ll look back at this post and say, now that’s what I call insight. đ
nope.
in
tenfive years it’ll be as relevant as Clive Matthewson.But I tell you what, if Labour get elected with Shearer as leader, do another round of asset sales and plummet to single-digit popularity, I’ll buy you a beer.
Lost cause mate. Labour’s core support has settled at somewhere around 30% or so.
That number isn’t changing significantly in either direction and the rest of the population doesn’t give a fuck about Labour, either because they never have or because they’ve given up.
Maybe.
If so, that just leaves more room for the Greens and Mana.
“maybe”
No fucking maybe about it. There’s tumble weeds blowing through caucus.
Then that just leaves more room for the greens and mana.
And a growing irrelevance for Labour. Good of you to agree that expectations are low.
Learn to read.
Oh and yeah, one more rogue poll to add to the list.
Nope. Another datapoint to add to the trend.
Nope. Consistent evidence of inability to capitalise.
0.5% is a bounce now?
Can’t set the bar too high.
Be fair CV, they’ve only been at it for a term and a half. Give them another six months eh?
We all know the definition of madness – doing same old, expecting different.
There is no point expecting anything new from the polls, because nothing new is happening.
1) Government continues to fuck up and/or piss people off, whether on serious matters (MRP, GCSB) or headline-making trivia (Aaron Gilmore, Key’s brain farts).
2) Leader of the opposition continues to say “Oh, look, bottom line is, the government – in terms of fucking off – er, up – it is pissing – Labour is – National in terms of Labour is – I mean, look, they are …” (continues until audience dies screaming).
It dosn’t matter how many times National drop the ball, Shearer can’t pick it up. He doesn’t have it, we all know this, and the only rebuttal is “yes, but let’s pretend and hope”. So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.
Not much point debating which of the two will happen. One is based on daily evidence we can all see, the other is based on horoscopes, or something.
Voters are definitely leaving National. And they’re definitely not choosing Labour/Shearer.
We have a by-election soon. What plans do Labour greens etc have for getting out the vote? I know by- elections are usually poorly attended but wouldn’t it make a good practice run for 2014? So many non voters to be enticed?
Doesn’t need a practice run, minimise the spend on it, just enough effort to win.
edit – Greens might want a practice run, Labour can competently do this kind of thing in its sleep.
“So Labour will bounce around in the polls, going nowhere much until the campaign proper gets under way, in 2014. Then the PM-in-waiting will either (a) fall apart or (b) rise to the occasion.”
Do you really think that the few loyal labour supporters that are left, are going to have the patience to see if Shearer dies in a metaphorical ditch, and then what, Parker? Robertson?? jumps in the saddle, and lets the polls carry on their flat line?
New chair is another sign the gummint will be hocking off Air NZ soon.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10883668
The way they’re rushing all this makes me think of a desperate garage sale. Next up, an old lamp, used underwear and some family photos. Oh, and NZ’s soul.
http://boingboing.net/2013/05/13/53-years-of-nuclear-tests-as-e.html
after watching this presentation,
no-one could blame you for wanting off this deranged little world
Good news! Labour proposes repeal of National government
LOL!
Particularly liked the last two sentences in the final quote..
âWell itâs certainly bold,â he said. âI mean itâs an extremely impressive policy and I think itâs something that a lot of people have been holding out for. But I just canât fathom why any government would ever want to repeal a previous one. It leaves them with no one to blame.â
Excellent speech from Hone in today’s General Debate – slams the Maori Party for supporting the Charter Schools Bill:
That’s what the fuss is all about.
I do not know whether this was mentioned before, but since yesterday, TV3 news seem to have entered a war of arguments between Unite Union and McDonalds, where a lasting employment dispute about wages, hours and minimum wage payment requirements is ongoing.
Naturally like most MSM stupid and crap media like to focus on, the REAL issues are NOT reported on at all. Somehow a comment by senior Unite leader Mike Treen and others seems to have caught their main focus now. Some comments that the police breaking up a picket line outside the McDonald’s restaurant on Queen St may have been to ensure clientele to enter the fast food restaurant, seems to have been taken issue with.
The police now dispute that their intervention was to ensure discounted burgers or other food for themselves, and they have little else to say. Treen though made clear that a picket is there of right by protesting and striking workers, so that allows them to perhaps discourage clientele to go and enter McDonald’s.
The police have another story, of course, and they deny having interfered for cheap discounted food. Naturally I would think the police are correct on that, but they have a dismal point of justification, facing new media coverage on TV3 tonight and yesterday, proving police and certain other professional groups get heavily discounted services all the time.
So we have cops that start on a “starting wage” at 50 k per annum, that have low waged, soon underpaid (new minimum wage earners at youth rates) workers at McDonald’s “enhance” their lifestyles, to get all kinds of cheap perks they can.
NO wonder these cops largely vote National, and some of them have the bloody audacity to complain, leave the country and work for higher paid jobs in Australia and the UK!
Maori and Pasifica, same as others affected, will bear this in mind, that they are beaten up, locked up and treated like shit by an elite force of mercenaries, that even deny workers a fair pay. So much for foot soldiers and mercenaries, to protect McDonalds and others from the deserved voice and power of workers they rely on. SHAME ON THIS, NZ!-