So political pressure was applied to Immigration NZ to allow Kim Dotcom to STAY in New Zealand even though they knew at the time of the FBI investigation …
I think you will find that nice, honest Mr Key is just a victim of all these people who keep letting him down. The herald waiting til he was away on hols is a coincidence.
Or Key’s sudden decision to go off the NZ grid to Hawaii now explained? When Key’s holiday was suddenly in the news, I wondered what might be coming up.
You seriously think the Prime Minister has gone on vacation to Hawaii because of (yet another) media installment on KDC? Could you say it again so I can be gob smacked again?
Kiwiri
Its amazing jusr how many holidays this playboy PM has ,all in his mansions and classy flats.
When one realises that we in Aotearoa have thousands of homeless and people living in garages it’s an insult to have this PM hoping around the world and staying in houses big enough to accomodate at least four families. What ever happened to our decent fair society .
“The SIS tried to block Kim Dotcom’s residency application but dropped their objection 90 minutes after being told there was “political pressure” to let the tycoon into New Zealand, secret documents from the spy agency reveal.” http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11293403
And the Minister in Charge of the SIS is ……John Key
Labour’s associate NZSIS spokesman, Grant Robertson, said the claims of political pressure were “extraordinary”.
“I’ve never heard of a situation like this before. Political pressure means politicians.
“There are serious questions about what John Key knew and when.”
Hmm, indeed, ShonKey’s ‘misremembering’ of when he first knew of Kim Dotcom is going to be revisited. He is the minister of NZSIS. Well sort of, when it suits him.
Was it easier or harder for the FBI to launch its extradition of DotCom if he had PR in NZ? At least with PR he would stay in NZ, and they could target him with a helpful NZ Minister in charge of all things skullduggeryish?
A few weeks ago I posted something my brother had told me about the high roller categoiry and why he thought KDC was SO pissed off with NZ govt, including Banks, namely the Nats had used him as their highroller pin up boy for their new and hurried 2009 policy… but when he wanted a mattress they ran for the hills and colluded with the US.
The article,and papers released to Fisher, also appear to validate KDC’s claims that the lifting of NZSIS opposition to his application for permanent residency in Oct 2010 was tied to knowledge of the impending FBI/NZ Police operations etc – and that the NZSIS head, Warren Tucker, knew. (KDC made the latter claim in a brief tweet in later 2013).
And Key still claims he did not know about KDC until a day before the raid in Jan 2012? I feel a Tui Ad coming on.
I am confused by Laila Harre’s comments in the Herald article (and in her interview on Morning Report about half an hour ago) and cannot yet figure out where she is coming from. IIRC at the time she was appointed as Leader of the IP, she said something to the effect that she would not be getting involved in KEC’s legal issues, but here she is commenting … Could be some interesting discussions KDC/Harre when they start their Internet MANA road trip with Hone Harawira today in the far north.
PS – if anyone missed it, last week KDC’s extradition hearing was again delayed until 16 Feb 2015.
I DID miss it. It was going to be prior tot he election wasn’t it?
Laila Harre is commenting on allegations of a government not following its on constitutional process. She also says she would have denied Mr DotCom PR on the basis of the SIS block. For her to not say something on an important issue such as constitutional abuse would give more pause. IMO.
The extradition hearing was due to start in the North Shore District Court Monday last week, July 7, but all indications from the other legal proceedings currently underway were that a delay was likely. Also KDC took his children to Queenstown about July 4 for 10 days’ holiday so was not ‘in town’ for July 7 – another indicator. (Mona also went to Queenstown – and KDC tweeted a lot of pictures of them all, including Mona’s birthday celebrations there. Apparently, friends still but no reconciliation.)
Other ongoing legal proceedings cover the release of KDC’s computer contents etc, compensation sought by KDC et al, the release of KDC’s assets, and the newer civil claims by Hhollywood moguls to seize his assets. All very confusing and complicated, but there is a hearing on one or other of these due on July 30. Will see what I can dig out in terms of links if I have time later today.
Re Laila Harre’s comments, now I am a bit more awake, I think you are right – she is commenting on the lack of following due process etc and silence would have caused more speculation. This approach is also probably with KDC’s agreement etc.
I agree. Whether you believe it or not, she has today, by implication, stated she is not a DotCom puppet. Guyon struggled with the concept a bit.
Like many he can’t imagine how you can be paid to do something by someone and NOT do everything that person wants you to do, AND assumes that because DotCom bankrolled it he would want to tell Harre what she can and can’t talk about, and enforce it.
From memory, KDC brought this up himself at the CGSB meeting in Auckland town hall. His point was not about whether or not he should be allowed permanent residence, but that the speed with which the decision was made suggested, in hindsight, that he had been set up for all that followed. So I don’t think he would have a problem with Harre’s saying what she has said.
I think you are right about KDC saying that at the GCSB meeting; and I also seem to recall him tweeting about it and/or mentioning it in other interviews etc. Re Harre’s remarks, I was still half asleep when I first read the Herald article, and now agree with Karol etc re Harre’s comments.
Thanks for re-posting that link. It seems consistent to me that the leader of a party opposed to cronyism should stand up for the principles that constrain governments rather than KDC himself, and I think he would agree with that. Harre is depicted as being in a “tricky position” because she is not acting as the National Party would under equivalent circumstances. Instead of trying to put her finger on the scales in her mate’s favour, as they would, she is looking at how those scales are supposed to work.
xox
Police manipulate the crime data. Is this not a crime? I.e if an engineer, doctor or an accountant did that they would be …. probably promoted. Hey this is wild west noo zeeland! What other government stats can we trust? Health, education, poverty, housing, growth, river polution, foreign ownership ….. There is no corruption in NZ! We are top of the Transparency International non corruption stakes! Doesn’t say much about the standard around the west.
Phillip. I know your dual lifestyle interests are important to you, but with respect, I have to say, it’s a bit much hearing about it every single morning on Open Mike.
I’m not discrediting some of the valid points you raise, but asking if you have considered what it’s like for readers who get the vegan n’ drug news roundup of the day, every day? It’s bordering on the evangelical comrade.
OK phil. That is the response I was expecting, so no surprises there.
I would have thought your own site would be adequate for the promotion of your views and posting of news, so I’m not sure why you feel the need such frequent vegan n drug themed posts here. Nothing stopping you of course. I’ll just continue to scroll on by to the tune of walk on by when you are posting on those two topics.
As for Rodel, he/she has been around for some time, you just haven’t noticed.
Ta Rosie.
I’m sometimes hesitant and potentially embarrassed to recommend to friends that they should read ‘The Standard’ as a left leaning blog site when it’s dominated by people who are focussed on veganism, marihuanism and fuckenism in incoherent language, obsessions which have little to do with what I believe is the main intent of the site.
And yes I usually skip by but was impressed by your kind, considerately worded and respectful rebuke.
Lols Rodel. Go right ahead and proudly recommend TS to your friends! Your friends will quickly come to realise that phil is unique and once they see the almighty rows he has with people that don’t meet his expectations or agree with him, they’ll get the picture, understand that he’s a man going along on his own buzz and not be put off.
Phil and I have had these chats before, so it’s nothing new. I just got a bit annoyed by all the dominant discussion about GE vegan milk over the last few days so felt I had to air that annoyance. Usually I would just ignore it but the soapbox was taking up all the room.
My main issue is with people telling people how to live their lives, and not respecting the choices that others make. Education and gentle encouragement of those of wanting to make healthy changes in their lives is helpful but preaching isn’t – (hence the evangelical reference).
In saying all that I do believe phil has a fine sense of humour and a quick wit. I like the way he delivers his words, once you get past the formatting of them (and when they’re not angry spiteful words) – It’s just those swings into fanaticism that get in the way.
Some posts require zen like amounts of self restraint, but I do try to remember that ultimately we’re all on the same side, brothers and sisters, even when one of us chooses to be the problem child for the day 🙂
A gibbering weirdo Phillip, you are being eloquent today, tho i do fear that you were looking in the mirror when that thought was provoked by the crashing together of your remaining two working neurons,
The ‘proof’, apparently from a study in dear old England, has been published, the misuse of Marijuana over a long term gives you brain damage,(very much evident from the digital scribble you produce),
..which is unusual for a pot-bashing/prohibition-supporting rag like that..
“..Dr Peter McCormick, from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) school of pharmacy, said THC’s anti-cancer properties have been known for some time – but the study had identified the receptors responsible for fighting tumours.
“Our findings help explain some of the well-known but still poorly understood effects of THC at low and high doses on tumour growth,” he said…”
Heartwarming to see the support for Palestinians at The Standard yesterday, and while some of the apologists happily squawk ‘points of order’ as people (ie Palestinians) die; the international tide does seem to be turning on the Israeli apartheid state.
Show public solidarity;
Rally for all victims of Israeli brutality
Auckland, Saturday July 19, 2pm Aotea Square
Key branded as “a rouge currency trader, applying his shyster traits running Government.” Don’t ya love the thought of Key in the dock, they should charge him with treason.
The actual laws that the charges were brought under were mentioned in the original charges. Essentially, IIRC, it amounts to aiding and abetting Banks in his crime.
A small number of us around the country chatted about conducting a people’s “mock trial” of John Key, broadcast around the country via the internet and Youtubed, that can be launched before the general election.
We are happy for anybody who has the network and contacts to run with this. (Need to check this will be ok with electoral laws.)
If you had read his biography, you would realise he was not a rouge currency trader. They usually end up in prison – although I don’t think you mean rouge ones.
Also, can you please explain which element of the treason provisions you see him being charfed with?
i would say all of these count if you include economic war under the war category
b) levies war against New Zealand; or
(c) assists an enemy at war with New Zealand, or any armed forces against which New Zealand forces are engaged in hostilities, whether or not a state of war exists between New Zealand and any other country; or
(d) incites or assists any person with force to invade New Zealand; or
(e) uses force for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of New Zealand; or
(f) conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in this section.
Srylands, yes it woud be ideal but even the most extreme optimists among us can’t hope for prison. He will probably just head back to his philosophical Homeland.
Climate Voter group to take Electoral Commission to court ( 3′ 9″ )
06:45 A group of environmental organisations are taking the Electoral Commission to court over a decision that would require their “Vote for the Climate” initiative to be subject to electoral rules.
and again – a longer version
Climate campaigners go to high court over classification ( 4′ 49″ )
07:40 A group of climate change campaigners are going to the High Court after their website was ruled an election advertisement.
Their natural lowbrow habitats, drumroll, Slater & Farrar might get SS and Gosman down after a while so The Standard is a refreshing change for them at least.
More than 40,000 people call on BBC to reflect reality of Gaza’s occupation
July 14, 2014
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger and Ken Loach are among more than 40,000 signatories who have signed an open letter to the BBC calling on its journalists to reflect the reality of Gaza’s occupation while reporting on Israel’s current assault.
MPs have also signed the letter which will be delivered to the BBC tomorrow (15th July) during a protest outside its Portland Place, London, headquarters.
The letter reminds the BBC that Israel is bombing a refugee population which is being held under occupation and siege. It is a population which has no army, navy or air force with which to defend itself against the fourth largest military power in the world.
Sarah Colborne, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which will be delivering the letter, said: “These are simple facts, none of which have been present in any of the BBC’s coverage so far of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
“However, they are vital facts and their absence results in BBC coverage which is unbalanced and lacking in context. Their omission allows the BBC to present Israel’s assault as a retaliation to Palestinian rockets rather than as an enforcement of its occupation and siege.
“Truly unbiased journalism would allow its consumers to consider both options instead of presenting them with just one viewpoint, as the BBC is doing.”
Protests took place outside BBC studios in Nottingham and Manchester on 10th July, and in Bristol on 11th July, demanding balanced reporting from BBC journalists.
Tuesday’s protest at Portland Place will call on the BBC to report the truth about Israel’s occupation and siege on Gaza, instead of concealing facts from its audiences. It will take place from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
I agree with you, Phillip—the television presenters on both channels seem to be sympathetic to the aggressors and indifferent to the victims. I presume that is because they are ignorant rather than vicious. Even when they try to say something intelligent and/or humane, they betray their ignorance by calling the killings “disproportionate”, which implies there is a “proportionate” number of Palestinian civilians that they may kill.
However, on the positive side, I must say I was astonished to hear Susan Wood on the notoriously right wing, pro-Israel, pro-Communist China, pro-any-repressive-regime NewstalkZB last night; she was clearly shocked and disgusted by the Israeli actions.
Yeah. It was a problem over the weekend. However Lyn passed on a head cold that had been carefully nurtured by one of her nieces, so I didn’t fix it. Got it yesterday morning.
There still seemed to be the odd dup message later yesterday afternoon. But they were all from Gosman, and I suspect from a cached bad copy of some of the javascript (Shift+Refresh or Shift+F5 is your friend).
Basically, I’d expect any electorate MP to argue for their electorate first in public, the caucus, and parliament. That is their job.
I’d also expect that on the odd occasion that they will cross the floor for their electorate as Damien O’Conner and another Labour MP recently did.
But they’d better have a damn good argument for the caucus room if they do the latter.
In this case, Labour’s policy is to do what I think should happen. The worst points in the current road should be progressively fixed rather throwing a unneeded extension in. First priority amongst them should be getting rid of that bloody useless set of lights at Wellsford, preferably by bypassing the town. Same at Wellsford. That gets rid of half of the weekend congestion problem straight. Secondly fix the known bad corners and straighten the road. Thirdly provide a better way to get up the steep and windy bluff.
But Matt L at transport blog will have a better list.
Yes, provided link to Matt L at transport blog. They have been pretty good there at documenting inconsistencies in Nationals’s planning and previous cost/benefit calculations.
I understand Davis standing up for his electorate, but the assumption that any spending remains good just because it is in the electorate is dubious and naive at best.
Northland would benefit from targeting spending – yes – I agree. But from targeted spending on roads, not so much.
There are always going to be conflicts between electorate MPs and society wide party policies. I’d prefer that they are reasonably open about it, but making damn clear that they are their personal preference
The trouble with that is that it ends up looking like waffle, or even worse for the electorate candidates it looks to their voters like they’re lying about what they’ll actually do.
But it’s happening on enough random policies that a case can be made that Labour electorate candidates are electorate representatives before party apparatchiks. List MPs can push the official party line, but electorate candidates need their local support.
I agree. It really is a hell of an ask for a electorate MP/candidate to commit suicide for the party. Usually there are only a few issues like that in specific electorates.
In this case Davis could easily have said that the upgrades that Labour will do will achieve what Northland needs while costing less and being done quicker. That way he would have been onside with his potential constituents and fully backing Labour’s policy.
Thing is, the only reason he wouldn’t do that is because of ignorance which really doesn’t help show that he’d be a good electorate MP.
not when his constituents are telling him they want that road because the current one keeps getting washed out. It would look like he gets asked a question about a specific need for the region and responds with party waffle. Which is a problem that list-only candidates don’t really face, as they can pivot any specific complaint to a wider issue.
What he did manage to do was talk about Northland mayors being involved in an integrated regional transport plan, which spreads the responsibility and maybe provides an acceptable alternative if the highway isn’t built to the nactoid schedule.
It would look like he gets asked a question about a specific need for the region and responds with party waffle.
Or he could respond with facts. The most important being that National’s Holiday Highway isn’t going to help them anymore than the faster and cheaper upgrades will.
We’re not talking about “facts” here.
We’re talking about the perceptions and desires of voters in his electorate.
And his position [edit:typolol @ “potion”] won’t change a thing either way: if JK is PM in november, the highway gets fast-tracked. If Cunliffe is PM, it won’t.
So Davis can support something knowing that if he’s in a position to oppose it then it won’t go through anyway because his cabinet colleagues will nuke it, and then use that support as a pivot for another issue (in this case local government joining together to form a regional transport plan).
Or he can oppose something his electorate want (for better or worse), and then get bogged down in the hustings arguing about a fucking road that will be constructed or not regardless of electorate outcome.
Frankly, I think his comment was a good move for both his campaign and Labour. Rather than Little or O’Conner just being dicks, it’s become standard Labour practise for electorate MPs to (shock horror) represent their electorates.
These Labour candidates need to weigh up the effect that their comments have on the party vote aswell as their electorate- because they are not working solely for their electorate they are in a nationwide party. If they don’t want to think about such matters then I suggest they choose to be independents.
I, for one, am getting tired of the unclear/conflicting stance these electorate politicians are taking toward their own party policies – this gives me the ‘perception’ that Labour are going to have difficulty with internal harmony in government. I wonder how many others are responding like myself?
The type of discussion that Kelvin and co are raising with the media/public – needs to be had internally first and then a decision needs to be made so that a united message is given to the general public.
Conversely Kelvin &co have the option to stand as an independents – of course it is unlikely that they choose this option because politicians such as Kelvin get a lot of pay-offs for being involved in the 2nd biggest party in New Zealand. If, however, politicians from Labour continue to present a non-united and accordingly unclear message then they won’t belong to the 2nd biggest party in NZ after-all because less and less people will trust that Labour are capable of working in a competent and harmonious fashion.
If the electorate candidates were in conflict with the bulk of Labour policy, I agree: they shouldn’t be Labour candidates.
But when there’s conflict between party policy and one or two issues within an electorate, it’s not a problem. The impact on the party vote would be minimal within the electorate (the voter already dislikes the policy). Outside the electorate, people can understand the conflict the electorate MP faces.
It’s easy to have a consistent message if your policy is meaningless waffle. But people with different geographic perspectives have different priorities, and Davis and the West Coast MPs made it clear they were working in what they felt were the interests of their electorates.
Whereas Little playing to his “afraid to be alone with a woman” base did damage, in my opinion, because it was a local comment about a country-wide issue. He should have kept to a local comment about a local issue.
This issue for me is something that may well stop me voting for Labour.
You assume that ‘people understand’ the conflict. No sorry, I don’t and won’t be putting effort into understanding it – because I doubt people who spend less time and have less interest in politics than myself will; so why would I bother?
i.e. It is up to Labour to present themselves in a manner where less doubt creeps in; it is not for me, you or anyone else to take time to ‘understand’ the poor wee conflicted dears. This is a discussion that needs to be discussed amongst themselves and addressed internally so that they can present a united and clear message as a party.
I was forgiving of a few random comments but this is starting to be a pattern with Labour and as I have already relayed I can only assume that if I react with impatience to such a very clear show of lack of discipline others will.
Labour have to understand and work through the conflicts themselves internally and present a much clearer and united message to us all externally than they have been recently because there are plenty of other parties to vote for.
I think your comment re ‘thinking before they speak’ is becoming the most appropriate response to this increasing trend of Labour candidates/MPs coming out with statements that are inharmonious toward and/or fudging of their own policies. I had initially thought it was an issue over how their statements were being reported – but now, no – there is something wrong with Labour’s messaging skills.
I would have thought the one thing that is very important that Labour convey is that they are working together with a single-minded focus – both internally and externally i.e. that they are cooperative and harmonious amongst themselves and also toward potential coalition partners. This would convey that they will be an effective, stable and competent government.
The other important factor is clear communication.
Neither of these have been soundly achieved recently.
I am strongly supportive of Mr Cunliffe due to the strong support he gained from the Labour party members and the unions – and this is a strong factor that makes Labour an option for my vote – however I am getting fed up with the inconsistent and inharmonious manner the Labour party politicians are presenting the message of their party policies and in the manner they show support (or lack of it) for other like-minded parties.
Surely the most important goal for Labour politicians is to achieve a consistent and clear message of what they represent? The amount of reports coming out about Labour politicians contradicting and/or making unclear statements about their own policies is getting beyond the pail.
I am losing patience with this phenomena. Are Labour politicians completely unable to display some discipline in their messaging or do they simply not see the importance of conveying a clear and consistent message to the general public?
So Kelvin Davis wants the road projects in Northland but the Labour party wants to scrap them?
Kelvin Davis said today: “The Government needs to step up and help local councils fix infrastructure problems highlighted by the recent Northland storms. The bad weather has amplified how susceptible the North really is at times like this. Our roading infrastructure is a major source of concern. This weather event has shown that when the main road in and out of the north fails” Link is here http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1407/S00262/call-for-government-to-step-up-in-north.htm
It seems as the the roading projects are necessary and vital for jobs and economic development in the north but Labour doesn’t want them?
Hi stupid dickhead. The Labour position is in the NZ Herald article that someone else linked to.
Instead of the gold-plated RONS gift for holiday makers, Labour simply wants to fix the existing road. That is something that should have been started 5 years ago. Instead National dumped that for their Road Of Significance for National.
This upgrade is a hell of a lot cheaper, will happen a lot faster, and actually have a return on investment that doesn’t require dubious projections to justify.
So why do you think we should waste a billion plus dollars of taxpayers money for something that could be as easily be done by simply fixing the existing road for a few hundred million.
Wow so that was offensive. If I had made that insult then I would have been kicked off this site quick-smart. No need to get personal.
It is better in this case to do the whole job. Fixing bits and bobs along the road will not fix the underlying problems: travel speeds and wash outs. Both of these are vital for commerical certainty and business growth.
Rather than patching up the existing winding mess that is the current road (a second-world patch up job) as you propose, I believe it is better to do a real first-world job on it. If we want to be a first world country, we need the infrastructure to back it up.
Wow so that was offensive. If I had made that insult then I would have been kicked off this site quick-smart. No need to get personal.
Good. That was the intent. It helps to get fools curled up in a catatonic fetal balls sucking their fingers to pay attention to things outside their own head.
Tick 1 – trolling standard response when challenged. Whine about politeness.
If you act like a stupid arsehole making dumb fact free assertions, then I’ll treat you as one. I find that it helps lazy shitheads like yourself learn to be more cautious and to use google before wasting my time reading your rather obvious lack of attention. Since I read most of the comments on this site you can guarantee if you keep being lazy then I will notice and give you a kick to improve your standard of commenting.
Read the policy. With a few relatively rare exceptions I as a moderator couldn’t give a damn about personal insults, unless they were pointless, or you were off topic, or it was clear that someone was deliberately trying to kick off a flamewar.
Since I do most of the moderation around here, your statement has the ring of a idiot trying to dig himself in deeper in quicksand.
It is better in this case to do the whole job. Fixing bits and bobs along the road will not fix the underlying problems: travel speeds and wash outs. Both of these are vital for commerical certainty and business growth.
Why? We’re only talking between Puhio and Wellsford. Not between Wellsford and Whangarei where much of the washout areas are.
The washouts only happen in a couple of locations up to Wellsford.
The amount of commercial traffic is minimal compared to the number of cars clogging the roads and almost all of it happens in only a few places. What causes issues are congestion problems at a couple of locations with cars which don’t require a whole new road to be built.
Moreover if what you were saying was true, then it would show up immediately on the economic cost benefit analysis. Which it does not because the dickheads from NZTA haven’t published one (which suggests that it is far worse then slender 1.2 for the Wellington Basin reserve flyover).
Moreover they’re projecting a average annual 4.4% growth in traffic to north of Warkworth. However they chose a measurement site inside the Warkworth ‘urban’ area which does show a annual 4.1% growth – of people driving around town. When you measure north of Warkworth on the open road, there is no growth.
So over 9 years there has been a pipsqueak of traffic growth north of Warkworth. So why exactly are we spending a billion plus for this road? To cure a economic problem that doesn’t exist?
I don’t think that there is any economic benefit apart from a few congestion issues for cars going to baches. Most of which can be fixed with a few much easier and cheaper improvements. This road appears to have more to do with National wanting to help their favourite donating property developers than for any economic benefits for the north.
Basically you should probably read the posts about this topic this link over at transportblog. Then you might sound less like a ignorant doofus.
I don’t think Wreckingball has the whole picture. The holiday highway which the Nat Govt intends spending billions on is only going as far as Wellsford (and will take probably a decade or so to build).
It won’t solve the problems Kelvin Davis is talking about – which are : that the road – the State Highway One for gawds sake – north of Whangarei is a mess, its unreliable, it gets flooded too easily and breaks up (as can be seen just south of Kawakawa right now where it is impassable) – and the alternative routes are really non-existent – unless you take the very long old Russell Road out towards Paihia and Opua – adding another couple of hours onto your journey.
The current side roads which traffic is using – such as the Ruapekapeka Road – are now crumbling and disintegrating under the unaccustomed traffic because they are “side roads” – unsealed, narrow, winding, and not built for major traffic use.
So the proposed govt billion-dollar spend on the “holiday highway” is NOT going to do much good for the mid-to Far North. Th e govt needs to spend some serious money on making sure State Highway One from Whangarei to Cape Reinga is well built, well maintained, and has reliable alternative routes around it, if needed in extreme weather events as has just happened – and are likely to happen in the future.
Yeah, the Puhio to Wellsford road will largely only have regular heavier traffic for the foreseeable future to Warkworth. Most will be cars going there on weekends. Wellsford on holidays.
Truck traffic increasing will be bugger all. They have a pretty good port up north, so why would they move the heavy export stuff out of anywhere apart from the port. The population is static or declining so there isn’t a massive need to increase that.
Tourism really doesn’t have an issue apart from the usual Auckland holiday outpouring.
In the meantime the roads up north are getting torn to pieces through a lack of maintenance and upgrades.
Manipulating online polls. No wonder David Farrar is pushing online voting!
Glen Greenwald’s latest gem:
“The secretive British spy agency GCHQ has developed covert tools to seed the internet with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, “amplif[y]” sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be “extremist.” The capabilities, detailed in documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, even include an old standby for pre-adolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in a call.”
I’ve been fuming all morning while listening to RadioLive’s Sean Plunket’s talkshit (I know, I know…) where he shat all over Labour’s policies and tried to minimise the Dotcom scandal evolving. And then he decided to ‘break’ a Whaleoil story about Mike Rowley (who?) who alleges that David Cunliffe promised him a favour in exchange for some dirt on Steven Joyce and his involvement with the Exclusive Brethren. Anyway, he got hoisted by his own petard. The guy proved a total fraud and serves them all right when they take any crap from WhaleSoil as a Gospel.
that is no solution at all.
wailshte is a blot on the country.
a man with no conscience, principles, ethics or morals at all.
this man needs to be exposed for the complete rotten egg that he is.
its seems like he has had two black eyes already this week.
somebody should finish him off with a good kick in the balls.
Computerworld – What if half the men in science, engineering and technology roles dropped out at midcareer? That would surely be perceived as a national crisis. Yet more than half the women in those fields leave — most of them during their mid- to late 30s.
It’s an interesting article but I was most taken by this bit and it’s solution:
The third thing is that, for many women, the career path is all very mysterious because they don’t have mentors or sponsors or folks looking out for them. Some of them can’t begin to map what the career ladder looks like. This mystery adds to the sense of stalling, of being stuck and not knowing where to go or how to get there.
What practical steps should CIOs take to keep women from leaving? It’s the most standard solution in the world: You’ve just got to get mentors to pair with the young talent.
Which, IMO, is where our education system, especially tertiary, is failing. It’s not providing that support and people are left with a What next? It’s not that people choose to fail but that most people don’t have the information and support to choose any other option.
People coming out of tertiary education with IT or commerce degrees aren’t going to graduate prepared to answer questions on what next to do with their lives once they turn 40. Try something in philosophy, theology or the other humanities instead.
A bit testy there Philip, you got withdrawal symptoms my old chum? Benefit day tomorrow, so not long to wait now until the tinny house is open.
Five days at the end of a campaign, when most people have already decided who to vote for, will do nothing to change the political landscape, revelation or not.
You ever heard of rubbing salt into a wound? A clue, it’s like the possum question you won’t answer.
At happy-hour drinks, he and other teachers complained that the legislators who wrote No Child Left Behind must never have been near a school like Parks. He felt as if he and his colleagues were part of a nationwide “biological experiment” in which the variables—the fact that so many children were hungry and transient, and witnessing violence—hadn’t been controlled. David Berliner, the former dean of the school of education at Arizona State University, told me that, with the passage of the law, teachers were asked to compensate for factors outside their control. He said, “The people who say poverty is no excuse for low performance are now using teacher accountability as an excuse for doing nothing about poverty.”
Is see Duncan Garner and his soul mate Cameron Slater are continuing their campaign re: Labour MPs jumping ship.
They cite Trevor Mallard (although I can’t see any evidence he’s departing from the party line), Kelvin Davis, a raw newbie in the Shane Jones mould (we know what a team player Shane is), and Damien O’Conner who made a stand on trees, apparently with the blessing of the caucus.
Mallard and O’Conner have done nothing out of the ordinary which leaves the raw Davis to make some noise that will perversely only resonate with the idle Remuera/Omaha rich set.
That’s right, he wants to go ahead with the holiday highway.
I know that road well. Several hundred million dollars has just been thrown at the East Coast Bays to Puhoi section in the form of a toll road which all ordinary Northlanders are paying for the privilege of using whenever they need to come to Auckland using their own vehicles or by way of increased costs on the goods they have to buy locally, for instance we know petrol is more expensive in Northland. The Puhoi to Wellsford section (lets read Puhoi to Omaha, because that’s what the holiday highway really is about) is not busy at all in normal weekday usage when the bulk of goods travel, it’s just not.
If Kelvin did his homework he’d be able to see that the only bit that needs fixing in the short/medium term is the Warkworth, and perhaps Wellsford, bypasses (something planned by Labour and cancelled by National IIRC). The rest is just the Remuera elite having a bit more road to open up their Audis upon.
Looking further in New Zealand’s case I see Bill English’s brother in 2009, then head of Federated Farmers wanted the the Waterview Connection to be surface only instead of tunnel/surface, the savings of which he proposed be put into irrigation schemes to benefit farmers.
For the love of Christ, how much more do farmers want?
I agree Weepus Beard – Kel Davis needs a bit more info on the holiday highway – its not going to solve the problems of roading north of Whangarei. See my comment at 16.1.1. above.
Meanwhile the gummint grinds on grinding down the fine society we had into ashes which they will later spread surreptitiously somewhere inconsequential.
On the My Thinks blog boonman has announced there is shock at the agreement of the Education and Science Select Committee to allow a Bill to pass so that the government can control the teachers body, the Teachers Council.
Just to clarify what this means: Every single member of the board responsible for the registration and disciplining of teachers across New Zealand is going to be appointed by Hekia Parata….
At present the Teachers’ Council is a partly appointment, partly elected body. When the bill is passed this will be a totally appointed body – a body whose sole aim will be the destruction of the teaching profession (don’t believe me? Have a look at what is happening to professional teaching organisations and unions in the United States). Once you have a subservient profession, then you can mould and manipulate to your heart’s content.
Of course, if National don’t manage to cobble together their various has-beens into a coalition of the desperately willing, then we may not be forced to endure the ignominy of having our profession deconstructed in this way.
Campbell Live doing an expose on Stonewood Homes in Christchurch.
Cowboys in a cowboy country with few regulations.
There is a shortage of builders …due to a lack of planning by our government.
We live in a country where the buck seems to stop anywhere…..
KDC got a good solo run though on TV 3 news. Having JK away might be backfiring
as there was no competing narrative to challenge Dotcom’s. Still thoroughly gutless though. Hopefully John will be having another crisis similar to the one Roughan cited where Key’s fear of losing gives him existential cramps. That will teach him to believe in Neo Darwinist winner takes all bs.
It was always going to happen. Relying upon agriculture to be the driver of an economy has, and always will, result in a country being poor. It doesn’t cost that much to do and every other country can do it for themselves.
As BIS General Manager Jaime Caruana stated when presenting the Annual Report in Basel, “financial booms have led to severe resource misallocation in many economies”. According to Mr Caruana, these booms have also masked an erosion of growth potential while rising private and public debt has created a range of vulnerabilities. To use his words, “as debt increases, the ability of borrowers to repay becomes progressively more sensitive to drops in income and to interest rate rises. Thus, higher debt translates into greater financial fragility and financial cycles that may become increasingly disruptive”.
And yet no country in the world is doing anything to stop growth through the rise in debt despite the lessons of the GFC. Lessons obviously not learned.
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
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So political pressure was applied to Immigration NZ to allow Kim Dotcom to STAY in New Zealand even though they knew at the time of the FBI investigation …
Wow, just wow …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11293403
hmmm, and all the way from the top.
*jaws theme plays 😉
I think you will find that nice, honest Mr Key is just a victim of all these people who keep letting him down. The herald waiting til he was away on hols is a coincidence.
“I know you know” ?
😀 +1 Kiwiri
“I know you know”. That was a great line and now the chickens have come home to roost…
Or Key’s sudden decision to go off the NZ grid to Hawaii now explained? When Key’s holiday was suddenly in the news, I wondered what might be coming up.
You seriously think the Prime Minister has gone on vacation to Hawaii because of (yet another) media installment on KDC? Could you say it again so I can be gob smacked again?
You’re right, it’s probably just (yet another) coincidence of Key being home in Hawaii whenever bad news is expected.
You are familar with the OIA process are you not?
Come now karol, only the naive believe nothing is planned and bad news coming out when Key is out of the country is just coincidence.
snap!
spooky
And what now Mr Brainfade Key? Do you still not remember a larger than life millionaire in your own electorate?
Collins has her “oops”, and now this, and all while johnny is on holiday… coincidence?
Time and time again, this government conveniently goes on holiday.
Kiwiri
Its amazing jusr how many holidays this playboy PM has ,all in his mansions and classy flats.
When one realises that we in Aotearoa have thousands of homeless and people living in garages it’s an insult to have this PM hoping around the world and staying in houses big enough to accomodate at least four families. What ever happened to our decent fair society .
“The SIS tried to block Kim Dotcom’s residency application but dropped their objection 90 minutes after being told there was “political pressure” to let the tycoon into New Zealand, secret documents from the spy agency reveal.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11293403
And the Minister in Charge of the SIS is ……John Key
http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/cabinet/portfolios/new-zealand-security-intelligence-service
Labour’s associate NZSIS spokesman, Grant Robertson, said the claims of political pressure were “extraordinary”.
“I’ve never heard of a situation like this before. Political pressure means politicians.
“There are serious questions about what John Key knew and when.”
Hmm, indeed, ShonKey’s ‘misremembering’ of when he first knew of Kim Dotcom is going to be revisited. He is the minister of NZSIS. Well sort of, when it suits him.
Was it easier or harder for the FBI to launch its extradition of DotCom if he had PR in NZ? At least with PR he would stay in NZ, and they could target him with a helpful NZ Minister in charge of all things skullduggeryish?
A few weeks ago I posted something my brother had told me about the high roller categoiry and why he thought KDC was SO pissed off with NZ govt, including Banks, namely the Nats had used him as their highroller pin up boy for their new and hurried 2009 policy… but when he wanted a mattress they ran for the hills and colluded with the US.
Wow indeed.
The article,and papers released to Fisher, also appear to validate KDC’s claims that the lifting of NZSIS opposition to his application for permanent residency in Oct 2010 was tied to knowledge of the impending FBI/NZ Police operations etc – and that the NZSIS head, Warren Tucker, knew. (KDC made the latter claim in a brief tweet in later 2013).
And Key still claims he did not know about KDC until a day before the raid in Jan 2012? I feel a Tui Ad coming on.
I am confused by Laila Harre’s comments in the Herald article (and in her interview on Morning Report about half an hour ago) and cannot yet figure out where she is coming from. IIRC at the time she was appointed as Leader of the IP, she said something to the effect that she would not be getting involved in KEC’s legal issues, but here she is commenting … Could be some interesting discussions KDC/Harre when they start their Internet MANA road trip with Hone Harawira today in the far north.
PS – if anyone missed it, last week KDC’s extradition hearing was again delayed until 16 Feb 2015.
I DID miss it. It was going to be prior tot he election wasn’t it?
Laila Harre is commenting on allegations of a government not following its on constitutional process. She also says she would have denied Mr DotCom PR on the basis of the SIS block. For her to not say something on an important issue such as constitutional abuse would give more pause. IMO.
The extradition hearing was due to start in the North Shore District Court Monday last week, July 7, but all indications from the other legal proceedings currently underway were that a delay was likely. Also KDC took his children to Queenstown about July 4 for 10 days’ holiday so was not ‘in town’ for July 7 – another indicator. (Mona also went to Queenstown – and KDC tweeted a lot of pictures of them all, including Mona’s birthday celebrations there. Apparently, friends still but no reconciliation.)
Other ongoing legal proceedings cover the release of KDC’s computer contents etc, compensation sought by KDC et al, the release of KDC’s assets, and the newer civil claims by Hhollywood moguls to seize his assets. All very confusing and complicated, but there is a hearing on one or other of these due on July 30. Will see what I can dig out in terms of links if I have time later today.
Re Laila Harre’s comments, now I am a bit more awake, I think you are right – she is commenting on the lack of following due process etc and silence would have caused more speculation. This approach is also probably with KDC’s agreement etc.
I think Harre is also taking a step to proactively present herself as being independent of Dotcom re- his legal and extradition cases.
I agree. Whether you believe it or not, she has today, by implication, stated she is not a DotCom puppet. Guyon struggled with the concept a bit.
Like many he can’t imagine how you can be paid to do something by someone and NOT do everything that person wants you to do, AND assumes that because DotCom bankrolled it he would want to tell Harre what she can and can’t talk about, and enforce it.
Actually, Harre’s statements don’t mean in practice she’s totally independent of KDC, just that she is intentionally presenting herself in that way.
She seems fully briefed on all the back evidence of the KDC case, and quick off the mark with a statement.
“Whether you believe it or not…”
That’s probably because he, seemingly, expects everyone to be a puppet of someone rich and powerful.
From memory, KDC brought this up himself at the CGSB meeting in Auckland town hall. His point was not about whether or not he should be allowed permanent residence, but that the speed with which the decision was made suggested, in hindsight, that he had been set up for all that followed. So I don’t think he would have a problem with Harre’s saying what she has said.
..@olwyn..
..+ 1..
I think you are right about KDC saying that at the GCSB meeting; and I also seem to recall him tweeting about it and/or mentioning it in other interviews etc. Re Harre’s remarks, I was still half asleep when I first read the Herald article, and now agree with Karol etc re Harre’s comments.
Chris Keall has now posted an article on NBR which I have linked to and commented on at the dedicated post, which covers Harre’s comments and is worth reading.
http://thestandard.org.nz/national-wanted-dotcom-to-stay-in-nz/#comment-849038
Thanks for re-posting that link. It seems consistent to me that the leader of a party opposed to cronyism should stand up for the principles that constrain governments rather than KDC himself, and I think he would agree with that. Harre is depicted as being in a “tricky position” because she is not acting as the National Party would under equivalent circumstances. Instead of trying to put her finger on the scales in her mate’s favour, as they would, she is looking at how those scales are supposed to work.
Thanks VV. I also missed that info about Dotcoms extradition hearing being delayed until Feb 2015
I think we have nailed the bastard now. This will roll on into the campaign and Key will be faced with continuous questions of why he is a liar.
After nearly 300 documented lies what makes you think that Key will suddenly face questions as to why he lied?
xox
Police manipulate the crime data. Is this not a crime? I.e if an engineer, doctor or an accountant did that they would be …. probably promoted. Hey this is wild west noo zeeland! What other government stats can we trust? Health, education, poverty, housing, growth, river polution, foreign ownership ….. There is no corruption in NZ! We are top of the Transparency International non corruption stakes! Doesn’t say much about the standard around the west.
“..Scientists reveal how THC – found in cannabis – ‘could slow cancer tumour growth’..
New study from University of East Anglia reveals important details of marijuana’s ‘poorly understood’ anti-cancer properties..”
(cont..)
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/scientists-reveal-how-thc–found-in-cannabis–could-slow-cancer-tumour-growth-9605219.html
Ah Phillip, playing the ‘other string’ on your two stringed violin today are we…
Phillip. I know your dual lifestyle interests are important to you, but with respect, I have to say, it’s a bit much hearing about it every single morning on Open Mike.
I’m not discrediting some of the valid points you raise, but asking if you have considered what it’s like for readers who get the vegan n’ drug news roundup of the day, every day? It’s bordering on the evangelical comrade.
Heh, ‘Open Phil’ (TRP) or ‘The Phil ’n’ Bad Show’?
Over exposure can lead to unexpected outcomes as the actor said to the Bishop.
Once Pete George was gone it was all on for the Phil n’ Bad show (or breakfast with Phil n’ Bad).
I admit the show is entertaining, but it is however just one aspect of the morning vegan n’ drug round up.
if on my morning rounds..i find a story proving the cancer-preventing causes of cannabis..i will post it..
..if i don’t nobody will..
..so..y’know..!..stick in in yr pipe..eh..?..rosie..and others..
Rosie
……………..Hear
…………………… hear!
gee rodel..!
..yr name is not at all familiar..
..have you ever said anything here of the slightest fucken interest..?..to anyone..?
..care to link it to us..
..or do you just whine on cue..?
..and that that weirdo bad..and his gibbering sidekick choose to follow me around..
..is not really down to me..
..so..you can just ‘pipe it’ too..eh..?
..and don’t take offence if i now studiously avoid you..
..as you of course can do with my comments..
OK phil. That is the response I was expecting, so no surprises there.
I would have thought your own site would be adequate for the promotion of your views and posting of news, so I’m not sure why you feel the need such frequent vegan n drug themed posts here. Nothing stopping you of course. I’ll just continue to scroll on by to the tune of walk on by when you are posting on those two topics.
As for Rodel, he/she has been around for some time, you just haven’t noticed.
Ta Rosie.
I’m sometimes hesitant and potentially embarrassed to recommend to friends that they should read ‘The Standard’ as a left leaning blog site when it’s dominated by people who are focussed on veganism, marihuanism and fuckenism in incoherent language, obsessions which have little to do with what I believe is the main intent of the site.
And yes I usually skip by but was impressed by your kind, considerately worded and respectful rebuke.
Lols Rodel. Go right ahead and proudly recommend TS to your friends! Your friends will quickly come to realise that phil is unique and once they see the almighty rows he has with people that don’t meet his expectations or agree with him, they’ll get the picture, understand that he’s a man going along on his own buzz and not be put off.
Phil and I have had these chats before, so it’s nothing new. I just got a bit annoyed by all the dominant discussion about GE vegan milk over the last few days so felt I had to air that annoyance. Usually I would just ignore it but the soapbox was taking up all the room.
My main issue is with people telling people how to live their lives, and not respecting the choices that others make. Education and gentle encouragement of those of wanting to make healthy changes in their lives is helpful but preaching isn’t – (hence the evangelical reference).
In saying all that I do believe phil has a fine sense of humour and a quick wit. I like the way he delivers his words, once you get past the formatting of them (and when they’re not angry spiteful words) – It’s just those swings into fanaticism that get in the way.
Rosie
Your self restraint is commendable.
I don’t think the word ‘wit’ is fully appropriate but I admire your therapeutic perspective and persistence.
Some posts require zen like amounts of self restraint, but I do try to remember that ultimately we’re all on the same side, brothers and sisters, even when one of us chooses to be the problem child for the day 🙂
A gibbering weirdo Phillip, you are being eloquent today, tho i do fear that you were looking in the mirror when that thought was provoked by the crashing together of your remaining two working neurons,
The ‘proof’, apparently from a study in dear old England, has been published, the misuse of Marijuana over a long term gives you brain damage,(very much evident from the digital scribble you produce),
i will try and hunt out a link later…
i see the herald is now carrying this story..
..which is unusual for a pot-bashing/prohibition-supporting rag like that..
“..Dr Peter McCormick, from the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) school of pharmacy, said THC’s anti-cancer properties have been known for some time – but the study had identified the receptors responsible for fighting tumours.
“Our findings help explain some of the well-known but still poorly understood effects of THC at low and high doses on tumour growth,” he said…”
Heartwarming to see the support for Palestinians at The Standard yesterday, and while some of the apologists happily squawk ‘points of order’ as people (ie Palestinians) die; the international tide does seem to be turning on the Israeli apartheid state.
Show public solidarity;
Rally for all victims of Israeli brutality
Auckland, Saturday July 19, 2pm Aotea Square
+1 Tiger Mountain.
Key branded as “a rouge currency trader, applying his shyster traits running Government.” Don’t ya love the thought of Key in the dock, they should charge him with treason.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11293264
I cannot for the life of me see what law he is supposed to have broken here?
The actual laws that the charges were brought under were mentioned in the original charges. Essentially, IIRC, it amounts to aiding and abetting Banks in his crime.
how long has key been using heavy-make-up..?
..are you saying since his early days as a money-trader..?
..whoar..!
..who knew..?
@Phillip LOL
A small number of us around the country chatted about conducting a people’s “mock trial” of John Key, broadcast around the country via the internet and Youtubed, that can be launched before the general election.
We are happy for anybody who has the network and contacts to run with this. (Need to check this will be ok with electoral laws.)
If you had read his biography, you would realise he was not a rouge currency trader. They usually end up in prison – although I don’t think you mean rouge ones.
Also, can you please explain which element of the treason provisions you see him being charfed with?
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM328520.html
Or are you being absurd for entertainment?
“Or are you being absurd for entertainment?”
And take your job? God forbid.
“charfed”, is that olde english?
no its just moranspeak!
you know.
tories who think they are erudite but the more they open their mouths the more they mangle the language.
history will judge him as a disgrace to the human race.
no matter what he is charfed with!
you mean keys hagiography?
hardly likely to say hes anything but leigt is it
i dont know whats stupider – that you seem to believe such nonsense or that you thought it would carry any weight with… anyone but the love struck
i would say all of these count if you include economic war under the war category
b) levies war against New Zealand; or
(c) assists an enemy at war with New Zealand, or any armed forces against which New Zealand forces are engaged in hostilities, whether or not a state of war exists between New Zealand and any other country; or
(d) incites or assists any person with force to invade New Zealand; or
(e) uses force for the purpose of overthrowing the Government of New Zealand; or
(f) conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in this section.
Obviously, we need to update treason to include:
Working with a foreign nation against the best interests of New Zealand
But as it stands we could probably find something under Part 6.
john oliver has done a piece on inequality…
..well worth the watch…
http://www.alternet.org/video/video-john-oliver-rants-brilliantly-about-income-inequality-and-deluded-american-dream
He is doing a great job making people aware of issues……….
I clicked on the dotcom topic and was redirected to the following link. Is it legit?
__http://freevouchers2014.com/prot/nz/WSD1RE3_index.php?lb=1&engsec=5&keyword=thestandard.org.nz
Shouldn’t have done that unless you accidentally clicked on an advert instead.
From my wireless, the World Health Organization has declared the Ebola Virus ‘out of control’ in Central Africa…
Srylands, yes it woud be ideal but even the most extreme optimists among us can’t hope for prison. He will probably just head back to his philosophical Homeland.
Tory child abuse whistleblower: ‘Margaret Thatcher knew all about underage sex ring among ministers’
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-child-abuse-whistleblower-margaret-
this whole Fernbridge, Fairbank & Yewtree situation in the UK is getting pretty serious
John Lydon talks about Jimmy Saville and his ‘seediness’ during an interview recorded for BBC radio
looks like rotten knew what was going on !
Your Thatcher link doesn’t work.
http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/tory-child-abuse-whistleblower-margaret-3849172
There are allegations there but no substantiated evidence.
Jerry Sadowitz.
Call in Jimmy Savile. You can’t afford to fuck about – bring in an expert. He may have fooled you, not fucking me.’
Interesting radionz this am.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport
Climate Voter group to take Electoral Commission to court ( 3′ 9″ )
06:45 A group of environmental organisations are taking the Electoral Commission to court over a decision that would require their “Vote for the Climate” initiative to be subject to electoral rules.
and again – a longer version
Climate campaigners go to high court over classification ( 4′ 49″ )
07:40 A group of climate change campaigners are going to the High Court after their website was ruled an election advertisement.
srylands and gosman
The odd couple. Where would we be without them?
In a less frowny brow place?
Their natural lowbrow habitats, drumroll, Slater & Farrar might get SS and Gosman down after a while so The Standard is a refreshing change for them at least.
More than 40,000 people call on BBC to reflect reality of Gaza’s occupation
July 14, 2014
Noam Chomsky, John Pilger and Ken Loach are among more than 40,000 signatories who have signed an open letter to the BBC calling on its journalists to reflect the reality of Gaza’s occupation while reporting on Israel’s current assault.
MPs have also signed the letter which will be delivered to the BBC tomorrow (15th July) during a protest outside its Portland Place, London, headquarters.
The letter reminds the BBC that Israel is bombing a refugee population which is being held under occupation and siege. It is a population which has no army, navy or air force with which to defend itself against the fourth largest military power in the world.
Sarah Colborne, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which will be delivering the letter, said: “These are simple facts, none of which have been present in any of the BBC’s coverage so far of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
“However, they are vital facts and their absence results in BBC coverage which is unbalanced and lacking in context. Their omission allows the BBC to present Israel’s assault as a retaliation to Palestinian rockets rather than as an enforcement of its occupation and siege.
“Truly unbiased journalism would allow its consumers to consider both options instead of presenting them with just one viewpoint, as the BBC is doing.”
Protests took place outside BBC studios in Nottingham and Manchester on 10th July, and in Bristol on 11th July, demanding balanced reporting from BBC journalists.
Tuesday’s protest at Portland Place will call on the BBC to report the truth about Israel’s occupation and siege on Gaza, instead of concealing facts from its audiences. It will take place from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
PSC’s letter to the BBC can be viewed here:
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/sign-open-letter-bbc/
It will be addressed to the BBC’s Director General, Lord Hall.
The letter will remain on the website after Tuesday, allowing more people to sign. New signatures will be delivered to the BBC next week.
here..tvones’ coverage is shocking..in its’ bias..
..on a day of innocent men/women/children being blown to smithereens by the israelis while trapped in their ghetto..
..peter williams repeatedly plays footage of/murmers sympathetic words about the ‘poor israelis’..being bothered by sirens etc..
..and that far-right/capital-punishment-supporting business-trout nadine whoever..
..uses the words ‘the israel government’ in the most respectful tones..
..and the words ‘palestinian-militants’ wih a lip-smacking disdain/contempt so strong u cd almost bottle it..
..so biased she should be carrying a placard…
I agree with you, Phillip—the television presenters on both channels seem to be sympathetic to the aggressors and indifferent to the victims. I presume that is because they are ignorant rather than vicious. Even when they try to say something intelligent and/or humane, they betray their ignorance by calling the killings “disproportionate”, which implies there is a “proportionate” number of Palestinian civilians that they may kill.
However, on the positive side, I must say I was astonished to hear Susan Wood on the notoriously right wing, pro-Israel, pro-Communist China, pro-any-repressive-regime NewstalkZB last night; she was clearly shocked and disgusted by the Israeli actions.
Fixed the Feeds tab
Thanks. TS is running much more smoothly for me today. None of the “no data received” and duplicate notices.
Yeah. It was a problem over the weekend. However Lyn passed on a head cold that had been carefully nurtured by one of her nieces, so I didn’t fix it. Got it yesterday morning.
There still seemed to be the odd dup message later yesterday afternoon. But they were all from Gosman, and I suspect from a cached bad copy of some of the javascript (Shift+Refresh or Shift+F5 is your friend).
Kelvin Davis is either an easy target for Herald reporters – or he doesn’t think before speaking – even on topics that have a wealth of information supporting Labour’s policy stances.
Herald article today: Labour MP backs ‘holiday highway’
I’m always waiting for the boot to drop when watching him on TV.
Basically, I’d expect any electorate MP to argue for their electorate first in public, the caucus, and parliament. That is their job.
I’d also expect that on the odd occasion that they will cross the floor for their electorate as Damien O’Conner and another Labour MP recently did.
But they’d better have a damn good argument for the caucus room if they do the latter.
In this case, Labour’s policy is to do what I think should happen. The worst points in the current road should be progressively fixed rather throwing a unneeded extension in. First priority amongst them should be getting rid of that bloody useless set of lights at Wellsford, preferably by bypassing the town. Same at Wellsford. That gets rid of half of the weekend congestion problem straight. Secondly fix the known bad corners and straighten the road. Thirdly provide a better way to get up the steep and windy bluff.
But Matt L at transport blog will have a better list.
Yes, provided link to Matt L at transport blog. They have been pretty good there at documenting inconsistencies in Nationals’s planning and previous cost/benefit calculations.
I understand Davis standing up for his electorate, but the assumption that any spending remains good just because it is in the electorate is dubious and naive at best.
Northland would benefit from targeting spending – yes – I agree. But from targeted spending on roads, not so much.
There are always going to be conflicts between electorate MPs and society wide party policies. I’d prefer that they are reasonably open about it, but making damn clear that they are their personal preference
The trouble with that is that it ends up looking like waffle, or even worse for the electorate candidates it looks to their voters like they’re lying about what they’ll actually do.
But it’s happening on enough random policies that a case can be made that Labour electorate candidates are electorate representatives before party apparatchiks. List MPs can push the official party line, but electorate candidates need their local support.
I agree. It really is a hell of an ask for a electorate MP/candidate to commit suicide for the party. Usually there are only a few issues like that in specific electorates.
In this case Davis could easily have said that the upgrades that Labour will do will achieve what Northland needs while costing less and being done quicker. That way he would have been onside with his potential constituents and fully backing Labour’s policy.
Thing is, the only reason he wouldn’t do that is because of ignorance which really doesn’t help show that he’d be a good electorate MP.
not when his constituents are telling him they want that road because the current one keeps getting washed out. It would look like he gets asked a question about a specific need for the region and responds with party waffle. Which is a problem that list-only candidates don’t really face, as they can pivot any specific complaint to a wider issue.
What he did manage to do was talk about Northland mayors being involved in an integrated regional transport plan, which spreads the responsibility and maybe provides an acceptable alternative if the highway isn’t built to the nactoid schedule.
But, as has been pointed out, that particular road won’t help with that.
Or he could respond with facts. The most important being that National’s Holiday Highway isn’t going to help them anymore than the faster and cheaper upgrades will.
We’re not talking about “facts” here.
We’re talking about the perceptions and desires of voters in his electorate.
And his position [edit:typolol @ “potion”] won’t change a thing either way: if JK is PM in november, the highway gets fast-tracked. If Cunliffe is PM, it won’t.
So Davis can support something knowing that if he’s in a position to oppose it then it won’t go through anyway because his cabinet colleagues will nuke it, and then use that support as a pivot for another issue (in this case local government joining together to form a regional transport plan).
Or he can oppose something his electorate want (for better or worse), and then get bogged down in the hustings arguing about a fucking road that will be constructed or not regardless of electorate outcome.
Frankly, I think his comment was a good move for both his campaign and Labour. Rather than Little or O’Conner just being dicks, it’s become standard Labour practise for electorate MPs to (shock horror) represent their electorates.
These Labour candidates need to weigh up the effect that their comments have on the party vote aswell as their electorate- because they are not working solely for their electorate they are in a nationwide party. If they don’t want to think about such matters then I suggest they choose to be independents.
I, for one, am getting tired of the unclear/conflicting stance these electorate politicians are taking toward their own party policies – this gives me the ‘perception’ that Labour are going to have difficulty with internal harmony in government. I wonder how many others are responding like myself?
The type of discussion that Kelvin and co are raising with the media/public – needs to be had internally first and then a decision needs to be made so that a united message is given to the general public.
Conversely Kelvin &co have the option to stand as an independents – of course it is unlikely that they choose this option because politicians such as Kelvin get a lot of pay-offs for being involved in the 2nd biggest party in New Zealand. If, however, politicians from Labour continue to present a non-united and accordingly unclear message then they won’t belong to the 2nd biggest party in NZ after-all because less and less people will trust that Labour are capable of working in a competent and harmonious fashion.
If the electorate candidates were in conflict with the bulk of Labour policy, I agree: they shouldn’t be Labour candidates.
But when there’s conflict between party policy and one or two issues within an electorate, it’s not a problem. The impact on the party vote would be minimal within the electorate (the voter already dislikes the policy). Outside the electorate, people can understand the conflict the electorate MP faces.
It’s easy to have a consistent message if your policy is meaningless waffle. But people with different geographic perspectives have different priorities, and Davis and the West Coast MPs made it clear they were working in what they felt were the interests of their electorates.
Whereas Little playing to his “afraid to be alone with a woman” base did damage, in my opinion, because it was a local comment about a country-wide issue. He should have kept to a local comment about a local issue.
This issue for me is something that may well stop me voting for Labour.
You assume that ‘people understand’ the conflict. No sorry, I don’t and won’t be putting effort into understanding it – because I doubt people who spend less time and have less interest in politics than myself will; so why would I bother?
i.e. It is up to Labour to present themselves in a manner where less doubt creeps in; it is not for me, you or anyone else to take time to ‘understand’ the poor wee conflicted dears. This is a discussion that needs to be discussed amongst themselves and addressed internally so that they can present a united and clear message as a party.
I was forgiving of a few random comments but this is starting to be a pattern with Labour and as I have already relayed I can only assume that if I react with impatience to such a very clear show of lack of discipline others will.
Labour have to understand and work through the conflicts themselves internally and present a much clearer and united message to us all externally than they have been recently because there are plenty of other parties to vote for.
Um, LOL?
As much as we like to think that we’re all powerful Mother Nature will surely do whatever She pleases to whatever we build.
@ Molly,
I think your comment re ‘thinking before they speak’ is becoming the most appropriate response to this increasing trend of Labour candidates/MPs coming out with statements that are inharmonious toward and/or fudging of their own policies. I had initially thought it was an issue over how their statements were being reported – but now, no – there is something wrong with Labour’s messaging skills.
I would have thought the one thing that is very important that Labour convey is that they are working together with a single-minded focus – both internally and externally i.e. that they are cooperative and harmonious amongst themselves and also toward potential coalition partners. This would convey that they will be an effective, stable and competent government.
The other important factor is clear communication.
Neither of these have been soundly achieved recently.
I am strongly supportive of Mr Cunliffe due to the strong support he gained from the Labour party members and the unions – and this is a strong factor that makes Labour an option for my vote – however I am getting fed up with the inconsistent and inharmonious manner the Labour party politicians are presenting the message of their party policies and in the manner they show support (or lack of it) for other like-minded parties.
Surely the most important goal for Labour politicians is to achieve a consistent and clear message of what they represent? The amount of reports coming out about Labour politicians contradicting and/or making unclear statements about their own policies is getting beyond the pail.
I am losing patience with this phenomena. Are Labour politicians completely unable to display some discipline in their messaging or do they simply not see the importance of conveying a clear and consistent message to the general public?
So Kelvin Davis wants the road projects in Northland but the Labour party wants to scrap them?
Kelvin Davis said today: “The Government needs to step up and help local councils fix infrastructure problems highlighted by the recent Northland storms. The bad weather has amplified how susceptible the North really is at times like this. Our roading infrastructure is a major source of concern. This weather event has shown that when the main road in and out of the north fails” Link is here http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1407/S00262/call-for-government-to-step-up-in-north.htm
It seems as the the roading projects are necessary and vital for jobs and economic development in the north but Labour doesn’t want them?
Hi stupid dickhead. The Labour position is in the NZ Herald article that someone else linked to.
Instead of the gold-plated RONS gift for holiday makers, Labour simply wants to fix the existing road. That is something that should have been started 5 years ago. Instead National dumped that for their Road Of Significance for National.
This upgrade is a hell of a lot cheaper, will happen a lot faster, and actually have a return on investment that doesn’t require dubious projections to justify.
So why do you think we should waste a billion plus dollars of taxpayers money for something that could be as easily be done by simply fixing the existing road for a few hundred million.
Perhaps the question should be – can you think?
Wow so that was offensive. If I had made that insult then I would have been kicked off this site quick-smart. No need to get personal.
It is better in this case to do the whole job. Fixing bits and bobs along the road will not fix the underlying problems: travel speeds and wash outs. Both of these are vital for commerical certainty and business growth.
Rather than patching up the existing winding mess that is the current road (a second-world patch up job) as you propose, I believe it is better to do a real first-world job on it. If we want to be a first world country, we need the infrastructure to back it up.
Good. That was the intent. It helps to get fools curled up in a catatonic fetal balls sucking their fingers to pay attention to things outside their own head.
Tick 1 – trolling standard response when challenged. Whine about politeness.
If you act like a stupid arsehole making dumb fact free assertions, then I’ll treat you as one. I find that it helps lazy shitheads like yourself learn to be more cautious and to use google before wasting my time reading your rather obvious lack of attention. Since I read most of the comments on this site you can guarantee if you keep being lazy then I will notice and give you a kick to improve your standard of commenting.
Read the policy. With a few relatively rare exceptions I as a moderator couldn’t give a damn about personal insults, unless they were pointless, or you were off topic, or it was clear that someone was deliberately trying to kick off a flamewar.
Since I do most of the moderation around here, your statement has the ring of a idiot trying to dig himself in deeper in quicksand.
Why? We’re only talking between Puhio and Wellsford. Not between Wellsford and Whangarei where much of the washout areas are.
The washouts only happen in a couple of locations up to Wellsford.
The amount of commercial traffic is minimal compared to the number of cars clogging the roads and almost all of it happens in only a few places. What causes issues are congestion problems at a couple of locations with cars which don’t require a whole new road to be built.
Moreover if what you were saying was true, then it would show up immediately on the economic cost benefit analysis. Which it does not because the dickheads from NZTA haven’t published one (which suggests that it is far worse then slender 1.2 for the Wellington Basin reserve flyover).
Moreover they’re projecting a average annual 4.4% growth in traffic to north of Warkworth. However they chose a measurement site inside the Warkworth ‘urban’ area which does show a annual 4.1% growth – of people driving around town. When you measure north of Warkworth on the open road, there is no growth.
So over 9 years there has been a pipsqueak of traffic growth north of Warkworth. So why exactly are we spending a billion plus for this road? To cure a economic problem that doesn’t exist?
I don’t think that there is any economic benefit apart from a few congestion issues for cars going to baches. Most of which can be fixed with a few much easier and cheaper improvements. This road appears to have more to do with National wanting to help their favourite donating property developers than for any economic benefits for the north.
Basically you should probably read the posts about this topic this link over at transportblog. Then you might sound less like a ignorant doofus.
You take yourself far too seriously. You think your bitter communist raving has the effect of causing people to be become fetal?
I see that you are avoiding the intent of the comment.
I guess that is because you are probably a bit too stupid to understand it. Right?
After all traffic patterns are hard data and a ineffectual theorist like yourself can’t handle actual facts.
I don’t think Wreckingball has the whole picture. The holiday highway which the Nat Govt intends spending billions on is only going as far as Wellsford (and will take probably a decade or so to build).
It won’t solve the problems Kelvin Davis is talking about – which are : that the road – the State Highway One for gawds sake – north of Whangarei is a mess, its unreliable, it gets flooded too easily and breaks up (as can be seen just south of Kawakawa right now where it is impassable) – and the alternative routes are really non-existent – unless you take the very long old Russell Road out towards Paihia and Opua – adding another couple of hours onto your journey.
The current side roads which traffic is using – such as the Ruapekapeka Road – are now crumbling and disintegrating under the unaccustomed traffic because they are “side roads” – unsealed, narrow, winding, and not built for major traffic use.
So the proposed govt billion-dollar spend on the “holiday highway” is NOT going to do much good for the mid-to Far North. Th e govt needs to spend some serious money on making sure State Highway One from Whangarei to Cape Reinga is well built, well maintained, and has reliable alternative routes around it, if needed in extreme weather events as has just happened – and are likely to happen in the future.
Yeah, the Puhio to Wellsford road will largely only have regular heavier traffic for the foreseeable future to Warkworth. Most will be cars going there on weekends. Wellsford on holidays.
Truck traffic increasing will be bugger all. They have a pretty good port up north, so why would they move the heavy export stuff out of anywhere apart from the port. The population is static or declining so there isn’t a massive need to increase that.
Tourism really doesn’t have an issue apart from the usual Auckland holiday outpouring.
In the meantime the roads up north are getting torn to pieces through a lack of maintenance and upgrades.
Manipulating online polls. No wonder David Farrar is pushing online voting!
Glen Greenwald’s latest gem:
“The secretive British spy agency GCHQ has developed covert tools to seed the internet with false information, including the ability to manipulate the results of online polls, artificially inflate pageview counts on web sites, “amplif[y]” sanctioned messages on YouTube, and censor video content judged to be “extremist.” The capabilities, detailed in documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, even include an old standby for pre-adolescent prank callers everywhere: A way to connect two unsuspecting phone users together in a call.”
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/07/14/manipulating-online-polls-ways-british-spies-seek-control-internet/
There’s a difference between online polls and online voting. Most notably the fact that the former is anonymous and the latter isn’t.
I’ve been fuming all morning while listening to RadioLive’s Sean Plunket’s talkshit (I know, I know…) where he shat all over Labour’s policies and tried to minimise the Dotcom scandal evolving. And then he decided to ‘break’ a Whaleoil story about Mike Rowley (who?) who alleges that David Cunliffe promised him a favour in exchange for some dirt on Steven Joyce and his involvement with the Exclusive Brethren. Anyway, he got hoisted by his own petard. The guy proved a total fraud and serves them all right when they take any crap from WhaleSoil as a Gospel.
I like Whale – But I would have to agree the current post on this seems (more than) a little thin.
Will be interesting to see if there is more to come (which is often the way of the Whale).
If there isnt – then this will (quite rightly) die. In fact it should not have been done at all.
However – if there is more – some form of evidence or a sworn statement, then it might have to be replied to.
What do you think about all the disgusting creepy innuendo Cameron (Jason) has been feeding and encouraging re: Tania Billingsley?
Some very, very ugly stuff going on there. Horrible to think this guy is so close to our PM.
Radio Live has a 7day audio library here
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Audio.aspx
Tuesday 15/7/ 11:30 am for the item mentioned by amirite above
Solution
Don’t listen to talk hate radio.
that is no solution at all.
wailshte is a blot on the country.
a man with no conscience, principles, ethics or morals at all.
this man needs to be exposed for the complete rotten egg that he is.
its seems like he has had two black eyes already this week.
somebody should finish him off with a good kick in the balls.
Why women quit technology careers
It’s an interesting article but I was most taken by this bit and it’s solution:
Which, IMO, is where our education system, especially tertiary, is failing. It’s not providing that support and people are left with a What next? It’s not that people choose to fail but that most people don’t have the information and support to choose any other option.
+1 DTB
People coming out of tertiary education with IT or commerce degrees aren’t going to graduate prepared to answer questions on what next to do with their lives once they turn 40. Try something in philosophy, theology or the other humanities instead.
“We Have the Right to Defend Ourselves”
No. 1 ….
http://floridamemory.com/fpc/reference/rc11499.jpg
They can delete…
http://web.archive.org/web/20120825163554/http://www.fpif.org/articles/the_fruits_of_racism_in_israel-palestine
https://archive.today/SSdbv
a funny pisstake of that song ‘happy’…
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/14/weird_al_releases_first_of_8_new_videos_tacky_a_parody_of_pharrells_hit_happy/
the dotcom-harawira-harre roadshow kicks off in kaitaia 2nite..
..@ 6pm @ the community centre..
..and 2morrow nite in kaikohe..
dotcom has hired the ak town hall for 5 days before the election..
..where he is promising ‘yo drop the bomb’ on key..
..and will release ‘the hard evidence’ that key has lied to parliament..and the nz people…
..woo-hoo..!
Yawn, if he has anything he should release it now.
I’m guessing it’s a fizzer, rather than a banger, if he’s only going to play with it for five days.
your intrinsic dumbness…is as wide as it is long..isn’t it..?
..clearly proven by yr inability to appreciate that timing..
..dumb as a sack of fucken doorknobs…eh..?
A bit testy there Philip, you got withdrawal symptoms my old chum? Benefit day tomorrow, so not long to wait now until the tinny house is open.
Five days at the end of a campaign, when most people have already decided who to vote for, will do nothing to change the political landscape, revelation or not.
You ever heard of rubbing salt into a wound? A clue, it’s like the possum question you won’t answer.
The end of bacon jokes is nigh, but don’t count your chickens just yet 😉
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11293858
Teacher accountability – the magic bullet.
/
At happy-hour drinks, he and other teachers complained that the legislators who wrote No Child Left Behind must never have been near a school like Parks. He felt as if he and his colleagues were part of a nationwide “biological experiment” in which the variables—the fact that so many children were hungry and transient, and witnessing violence—hadn’t been controlled. David Berliner, the former dean of the school of education at Arizona State University, told me that, with the passage of the law, teachers were asked to compensate for factors outside their control. He said, “The people who say poverty is no excuse for low performance are now using teacher accountability as an excuse for doing nothing about poverty.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/07/21/140721fa_fact_aviv?currentPage=all&mobify=0
Is see Duncan Garner and his soul mate Cameron Slater are continuing their campaign re: Labour MPs jumping ship.
They cite Trevor Mallard (although I can’t see any evidence he’s departing from the party line), Kelvin Davis, a raw newbie in the Shane Jones mould (we know what a team player Shane is), and Damien O’Conner who made a stand on trees, apparently with the blessing of the caucus.
Mallard and O’Conner have done nothing out of the ordinary which leaves the raw Davis to make some noise that will perversely only resonate with the idle Remuera/Omaha rich set.
That’s right, he wants to go ahead with the holiday highway.
I know that road well. Several hundred million dollars has just been thrown at the East Coast Bays to Puhoi section in the form of a toll road which all ordinary Northlanders are paying for the privilege of using whenever they need to come to Auckland using their own vehicles or by way of increased costs on the goods they have to buy locally, for instance we know petrol is more expensive in Northland. The Puhoi to Wellsford section (lets read Puhoi to Omaha, because that’s what the holiday highway really is about) is not busy at all in normal weekday usage when the bulk of goods travel, it’s just not.
If Kelvin did his homework he’d be able to see that the only bit that needs fixing in the short/medium term is the Warkworth, and perhaps Wellsford, bypasses (something planned by Labour and cancelled by National IIRC). The rest is just the Remuera elite having a bit more road to open up their Audis upon.
re roads..this is from today..
..and relevant to the above..
..(as in just who are ‘the roads of national significance’ being built for..?..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2014/how-america-built-its-highways-to-serve-the-wealthy-and-white-ed-and-of-course-locally-this-case-is-made-with-the-holiday-highway-eh/
Fascinating. Thanks Phillip.
Looking further in New Zealand’s case I see Bill English’s brother in 2009, then head of Federated Farmers wanted the the Waterview Connection to be surface only instead of tunnel/surface, the savings of which he proposed be put into irrigation schemes to benefit farmers.
For the love of Christ, how much more do farmers want?
Link-whore bypass
lol that deserves a steak
I agree Weepus Beard – Kel Davis needs a bit more info on the holiday highway – its not going to solve the problems of roading north of Whangarei. See my comment at 16.1.1. above.
Meanwhile the gummint grinds on grinding down the fine society we had into ashes which they will later spread surreptitiously somewhere inconsequential.
On the My Thinks blog boonman has announced there is shock at the agreement of the Education and Science Select Committee to allow a Bill to pass so that the government can control the teachers body, the Teachers Council.
Just to clarify what this means: Every single member of the board responsible for the registration and disciplining of teachers across New Zealand is going to be appointed by Hekia Parata….
At present the Teachers’ Council is a partly appointment, partly elected body. When the bill is passed this will be a totally appointed body – a body whose sole aim will be the destruction of the teaching profession (don’t believe me? Have a look at what is happening to professional teaching organisations and unions in the United States). Once you have a subservient profession, then you can mould and manipulate to your heart’s content.
Of course, if National don’t manage to cobble together their various has-beens into a coalition of the desperately willing, then we may not be forced to endure the ignominy of having our profession deconstructed in this way.
Campbell Live doing an expose on Stonewood Homes in Christchurch.
Cowboys in a cowboy country with few regulations.
There is a shortage of builders …due to a lack of planning by our government.
We live in a country where the buck seems to stop anywhere…..
who saw the two government members on telly tonight looking tragic.
KDC got a good solo run though on TV 3 news. Having JK away might be backfiring
as there was no competing narrative to challenge Dotcom’s. Still thoroughly gutless though. Hopefully John will be having another crisis similar to the one Roughan cited where Key’s fear of losing gives him existential cramps. That will teach him to believe in Neo Darwinist winner takes all bs.
LPRENT called it.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-11/milk-output-expansion-poised-to-spur-5-year-world-surplus.html?_ga=1.106995911.432890989.1404940857
It was always going to happen. Relying upon agriculture to be the driver of an economy has, and always will, result in a country being poor. It doesn’t cost that much to do and every other country can do it for themselves.
Bank of International Settlements (BIS) calls for an end of debt-driven growth
And yet no country in the world is doing anything to stop growth through the rise in debt despite the lessons of the GFC. Lessons obviously not learned.
of course, “learning lessons” is not the point, growing profits and maintaining elite privilege is.