Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
—Jim Mora, Radio NZ National, The Panel, Monday 14 October 2013
I am sorry to report that, far from responding to such nonsense, guest Panelists Matt Nippert and Josie Pagani maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.
hogwash, n.1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill. hypocrisy, n.1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More hogwash….
No. 3 JOHN KERRY: “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private.” http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
@ Morrissey Agreed …often ( but not always)find Jim Mora and his panel hard to listen to ..(.staus quo crap.)..without getting brain numbed, angry and switching off ….. or feeling I have been forced to swallow something non-nutritious, even at times, sickie sweet…(.toxic untruths or half truths)
I’m afraid I agree with Te Reo, Paul. I would love to think that those arch-criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al. were involved but there is simply no evidence to support that. Like Norman Finkelstein, I accept that Dick Cheney is a criminal, a draft-dodger, a coward, a liar and a moral reprobate, but there is nothing to show he orchestrated or was involved in any way in the 9/11 attacks.
WT7 housed the financial evidence which was going to be needed when Rumsfeld at al had to explain where $2.3T disappeared to, along with the Pentagon, receiving its miraculous hit, directly to the accounts department.
Take a look at which agencies had presence in WT7, and what else was housed in there – “Pull it”!
The study by Stanford Law School and New York University’s School of Law calls for a re-evaluation of the practice, saying the number of “high-level” targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — about 2%.
[…]
TBIJ reports that from June 2004 through mid-September 2012, available data indicate that drone strikes killed 2,562 – 3,325 people in Pakistan, of whom 474 – 881 were civilians, including 176 children. TBIJ reports that these strikes also injured an additional 1,228 – 1,362 individuals,” according to the Stanford/NYU study.
Tuesday 15 October 2013 – heading off shortly to Auckland airport to pick up Graham McCready for the adjourned hearing of oral evidence from Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer, plus the CEO of Sky City, which should confirm that the DEFENDANT John Banks KNEW that donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City’s CEO were NOT anonymous.
We should be at the Auckland District Court (Albert St) before 9.30am
‘Her Warship’ 😉
PS: on the 6th Anniversary of the Urewera ‘Terror’ Raids, Vince Siemer will be in the Auckland High Court, giving evidence which proves how he and his wife were subjected to alleged unlawful detention, search and seizure by Police…..
Can’t be in 2 places at once – but if anyone can go to the High Court to support Vince and Jane today – that would be GREAT!
“NEED BETTER WORK STORIES?
A 7-day trial in the Auckland High Court began Monday, 14 October, against 14 men in blue concerning the dawn 2008 raid on the offices of Spartan News Limited and home of Vince and Jane Siemer. A fifteenth defendant is the deputy registrar of the District Court who signed the undated police search warrant.
No one was charged as a result of the raid, which was postulated on Vince Siemer publishing the suppressed police affidavit used to hold, without bail, 18 New Zealand citizens in the infamous October 2007 Tuhoe raids (4 of the 18 were eventually convicted of various weapons charges; charges were dropped on the other 14).
Kim Dotcom has an extremely similar case against Police scheduled for trial in February 2014.
Defence Counsel Austin Powell, of the “Constitutional and Human Rights Team” within Crown Law, will first cross-examine Vince Siemer Tuesday on the events of 21 February 2008 before the 14 police defendants tell their work stories. Two weeks ago that was expected to concern the twelve pages of items Police seized but never accounted for on the day. However, the week before trial, the police conceded they have been withholding evidence of examination reports on the 5 cell phones they seized, had taken 183 photos inside the home not previously accounted for and cannot find the data the police cloned from three computers they seized.
Crown counsel Powell could only reply in a 7 October email, “I am not able to give priority to any more questions about discovery of documents. We are now a week out from the fixture and there is a great deal of preparation to do. I will attend to this and any other requests if time permits.”
Then-Solicitor General David Collins approved the raids on Tuhoe in 2007 and against the Siemers in 2008 but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2011 he could not be sued by Siemers and Spartan News. Mr Collins was appointed a High Court judge in 2012.
In addition to all phones and computers, the police seized tax and business accounts, cameras and even printers. The police claim their active investigation ceased three years ago but admit to still holding unspecified property. The biggest return of items to date was more than 4 years after the raid, on 21 September 2012.
The public are encouraged to attend to catch a rare glimpse of the work stories behind the badges. ”
If business wants convention centres, then business can pay for them. I find it incredibly rude that they even consider asking elderly ratepayers to pay for their business.
Rude, don’t care who foots the bill as long as it is not them. Rude. And out of line.
Arise Quidditch players prepare for the Game in the House. Represent and defend your constituents, the people and not just those in business. Look out for the Golden Snitcher.
phillip ure..(.on another topic) You are a Vegan?……what do Vegans eat to keep healthy?….my son is a vegetarian and now is considering Veganism!…request info
..congratulations on having such an evolved offspring/fruit of the loins..
..as far as his healthy-longevity/making a serious effort to both help the planet..and stop the wholesale suffering..(from both animals..and consumers of them.. is concerned..going vegan will be the best decision of/in his life..
..and having myself been vegan for about 15 yrs..and vegetarian for 15 before that..
..(and knowing people who have been vegan for 30 + yrs..)
..has all necessitated/evolved into the gathering of necessary information/data..
..there you will get all the recipies you will need..(mm!!..gourmet japanese/thai etc vegan..)
..plus the all-important nutritional information..
..it is pretty much a primer on the subject..(and the compilation of it some of the work i am most ‘proud of’..it is an agit=prop tool of some potency..
..i would (not so) humbly submit..
..and as an aside to current vegetarians..
.you get my utmost respect..for being where you are..
..especially if done for the ‘right’ reasons..(ie..animal-welfare/personal health/save the planet etc..
..but where you are..(and i was for 15 yrs..)..is a way-station on yr journey..
..a halfway house..
..and for the following reasons..
..personal health:..the fact is that eating animal bye-products is almost as bad for you as eating the actual animal flesh..(this increasingly confirmed by current/new research..u will find evidence-links to all my claims made here..in the archive..)
..animal welfare:..eating animal bye-products sustains/financially supports the wholesale horrors of the factory-farms/charnel-houses..so if vego for animal welfare reasons..?..
..mental-health:..it is common for vegetarians to feel better within themselves..when they stop eating animal-flesh..
..and personally..my/any expectation of ‘feeling netter’ from taking that vegan-step were minimal..
..silly me..!..i can testify to those long-time vegetarians that the feeling-better factor takes a giant leap..
..(in crude/blunt-terms..it is like ripping off another dietary-scab..(much as stopping meat was for you..eh..?..)
..saving the planet:..the well documented ‘costs’ of from humans farming/eating animals/animal bye-products..if you stop..you stop feeding that beast..
(and as a berm-aside:..never mind the berms..stop mowing yr fucken lawns..!..eh..!..
..kilo for kilo..the lawnmower is one of the dirtiest machines on the planet..
..and if you crunch the numbers..
you will see that if we all went vegan..and ended our anal-obsession with all lawns having a number-one cut..
..we could all drive s.u.v.’s ..
..with utter environmental-impunity..
..(sez it all really..eh..?..)
..and yes..my heart does sink a tad..
..when i see ‘green-leaders’..strutting around clad in the skins of butchered animals..
..and wiping the animal-grease/fat from their lips..
..with the backs of their hands..
..all the while claiming to be there ‘to save the planet’..eh..?
..eh..?
..but anyway chooky..the word-up to you wd be to join yr son on his journey..
..you too will share in all those benefits..
..that he has to look forward to..
..and if you actually nut it all out..with an open mind..
Thanks so much!!!!….you are convincing!!!!!…(sigh)…Will check out site and point son in the direction of it.
I know being a meat eater is a beastly habit and isn’t nice . ( If I had to kill it myself instead of picking up a little pack in the super market…soul already departed …I would be a vegetarian.).
Did try to be a vegetarian years ago myself but beans and rice all the time wound my energy levels down over 6 months…However just love Indian vegetarian food …so there is hope!!!!
@ tc…thanks for info….actually for lunch I had a wrap with chillie beans, brown rice ,salad and Indian mango chutney ..it was yuuummm!!!!!…yesterday we had lentil samosas…..so it isn’t so difficult to be a Vegan…(.but I have always put it off until the next incarnation)….we will see….maybe a semi Vegan? …cant see myself becoming a strict one. ha ha…but it is probably very good for one’s health…quite apart from the ethical considerations
Snacking throughout the day on live food (sprouts), seeds (sesame, pumpkin and sunflower) and nuts tend to help with the energy levels.
Also, you will tend to eat a lot more food (volume) so regular snacking helps to space it out.
Movements will be healthier and regular as clockwork.
Living as a vegetarian requires a bit of research, some thought and changes to your shopping habits but your body (and thus your mind) will thank you for it.
..the fact/nugget of information that five years ago made me foreswear the lawnmower/lawn-mowing..
..is that..depending on the vehicle you drive..
..one hours’ use of a lawnmower..
..is the same environmental footprint..
..as driving a vehicle between a low of 250 kms..to a high of 650 kms..
..fucken whoar..!
..eh..?
..something for those who are trying to heed the ever-more-urgent/compelling change-or-die!-messages..and those who urge others to ‘go green’..
..yet who still mow themselves..
..a question to ask themselves in front of the bathroom mirror/when overcome by that urge to give their lawns a number one..
..and they can reinforce that logical/rational decision..
..while walking past the flesh/dairy-sections @ the supermarket..
..and funny story..!..my walked-down lawns..after five years..have turned already good soil into super-soil..
..and my mini-eco system has recenttly sprouted swan-plants everywhere..and they have trunks like broom-handles..
..and so now i/we have monarch butterflies etc..fluttering around..
..(and the sound of/from those wings flapping..are far more pleasing on the ear/soul..than the discordant clatter of a wheezing/belching lawn-mower..eh..?..)
..the birds also love our yard/’lawn’…so we get lots of bird-action..
..and really..from this p.o.v…the action of cutting lawn/collecting the clippings..making a pile of them..
..turning them into compost..to then spread back on the soill..
..is an act of utter/pointless group-madness..
..it’s already programmed to do that itself..eh..
..if we just leave well alone..
..and in the process..
..both help the environment..
..and reclaim a large chunk of our lives that are currently wasted in this self-imposed sisyphian-task..
..of doing battle with/trying to tame/control nature..
And we could have become a true Banana republic complete with Russian weapons. If only Key had been in charge.
Now there’s a scary thought Key with a Russki Nuc (presumably with Missiles intact) sub tied up feeding Ak’s power.
David H
Tanks for the memory eh! Instead we got Lada cars, they got butter for their larders. Hah good one!
As for rubles, I think we would have preferred rubies.
But the flexible nature of trade allowed us to keep trading with this, then, pariah country. Perhaps we should keep the spirit of multi-lateralism or whatever, alive and not sign up to constraining TPPA with it’s flashy front billboard of free trade, and dirty little dealers behind the scenes selling their real agendas.
oh how times have changed. (had a wee bright yellow Lada when I was 20, and a bright orange VW) anyway, been fortunate today, cycled into town to do errands (food for the worms) and was able to be home before it fair poured down.
Tomorrow, in the Appeal Court in Wellington (pdf), Justices Harrison, French and Miller will hear argument in the case of the NZ Climate Science “Education” Trust (NZCSET) versus the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), in the continuing effort of the cranks to litigate away warming in New Zealand over the last 150 years. According to the man who kicked off the whole process, Richard Treadgold of the “Climate Conversation” web site, the NZCSET bases its appeal on two main points:
The focussed grounds are that all three NIWA temperature series resulted from serious mistakes of fact, which impugned the rationality of the Crown Entity’s decisions.
This seems somewhat surprising, given that the judge in the original case was so scathing of the NZCSET’s expertise in his judgement delivered a year ago. One wonders how the Appeal Court will react to any attempt to relitigate the original decision, given Justice Venning’s findings. But then perhaps the whole appeal has rather more to do with the second basis for appeal:
The Coalition is also seeking reversal of the High Court’s costs order.
Must have been edited Karol “leading” is missing in my current view. Armstrong’s position (tory supplicant) is well known and illustrated further by quoting Hollow Man Hooten in his ‘go easy on her’ Parata suckup.
And the bit I got out of hearing comment from the Minimum of Education was that they had planned a new ground-breaking experiment in Christchurch to test a new approach in schooling.
Their action was not to attend to the needs of children unsettled or traumatised by the loss of their normal daily life, the feeling of security and safety, the tipping over of many into the precariat, the loss of housing and local society, the loss of services even to having a toilet, the hardship for families without any fat to cushion the blows.
And on top of that the knowledge that the comfortably off didn’t really care, didn’t think kindly towards them, saw them as a problem to be dealt with some time at the convenience of the planners and finance holders. Left to themselves without annoying questions about action, the powers that be will proceed at their own pace with little empathy it seems.
I remember reading about how long it took Southern Italian authorities to provide for their poor people after a major earthquake destroyed their homes long established in an ancient slum area.
Originally a hard life, precarious but settled into a known culture that was livable, to totally miserable with whole families being poked into small hotel rooms for years. This was outlined in Thomas Belmonte’s great book of his time in Naples ‘The Broken Fountain’. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gables/hiv/mem/belmonte.html
Yesterday I commented on Radionz item on this woman who has written a book that goes straight to the heart of NZ’s problems with poverty in its business thinking.
However, economist and professor Mariana Mazzucato argues that the state has a huge part to play in bringing new goods and services to market.
Peter Day discusses her thought-provoking thesis with her. Her latest book is The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking public vs. private sector myths. She tweets on @MazzucatoM
Today I want to highlight that she says that all countries that advance do so on the back of government involvement. The big innovations in the USA have been done on the back of government research and development. Left to the private sector, little new stuff happens.
It is too costly for private companies to spend much on research because so much comes to nothing! But new things are needed to advance into the future with useful stuff, and to develop new ways of coping with whatever is happening, likely to happen – think green technology for instance.
I’m reading the book ATM, it’s the one I’ve been quoting over the last few days. It is rather enlightening about where the actual innovation has come from, who supported it and who benefited.
DTB
Keep on quoting. There is so much to learn to get out of the mre we are in. I sometimes think that the only people doing any important learning and thinking are on TS. Silly really. But it’s just an impression I get.
And a bit of whimsy. Do keep dropping pieces of smart thinking from her and similar others onto TS from time to time. They may be like the crumbs from Hansel and Gretel which we can follow leading to a good destination.
It’s well known that Obama hates Charlotte for letting the Hornets franchise move to New Orleans. Never cross POTUS over Bball, the man is serious about his sport.
Auckland’s population has grown by 110,000 people to 1.42 million people since the last census seven years ago, data published this morning shows.
Census night data showed that all 21 local board areas in Auckland increased in population, and Waitemata, Upper Harbour, Rodney, Howick and Franklin were the fastest-growing areas.
The population of Christchurch has dropped by almost 7000 since the devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquake sequence – but the number of people living in the Canterbury region has jumped by 17,000.
New census figures out today provide the first snapshot into the population shift since the quakes.
The Christchurch city population has gone from 348,456 in 2006 to 341,469 this year – a drop of 2 per cent.
The Canterbury region numbers have gone from 521,0832 in 2006 to 539,433 this year.
Outlying areas experienced huge growths.
Selwyn District has experienced the largest population growth in the country, up nearly a third to 44,595 people.
Waimakariri is up 17 per cent to 49,989.
Will be watching how this info is processed by the media.
…Their sloppy cronyism approach ends up costing more than any anticipated benefits.
Why? Short-termism gone mad? Why would nearly 50% of voters affirm a party this dysfunction on its core issue? the economy! Shonkey is not a good manager, he’s a fly boy pant sniffer type.
yet still 50% of the voting public voted for inanity. How does the Herald do it? I mean its so right wing (the wrong kind) and so actively deranged in its appeals to poor managing solutions.
We need a tax system that targets the wealthy less we forget what happens when a few own and control the super majority of the nation.
Did you see Collins, her eyebrow was a shocker, like she was some deranged bag lady invited on Q&A to an opinion that no credible minister could.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
Because my point wasnt the source, it was the fact that its a non story, and noones business
apart from his wife. Yet over on the TM boards, people are all up in arms.
I heard a rumour that Brett lives in a gingerbread house and masturbates while drowning kittens, but I don’t believe it so if any of you haters out there repeat it, I’d disapprove. /sarc
And you’re also saying the media shouldn’t be reporting it, but are real keen to talk about it yourself, adding your little bit to the hype, which is what makes them report things.
“and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing”
Who has called for his firing brett? A link to the comment from an extreme leftie would be good and luckily for you it isn’t six months down the track. Or is it more of the same made up bullshit that you so often spread.
If its such a non-story why are you spreading it so much, if it’s noones business why are you spreading it so much – does it make you feel good brett. imo those that break a story are one thing but those who spread it while trying to pretend to have the moral high-ground are worse, as in an animal poos and the flies spread it around – you brett are a fly.
You’re the one saying he’s right. I’d be pretty sceptical about the whole thing, and worried for his source. This guy makes Ian Wishart look principled.
Please, those on the left and right who dont like len, will be saying he should resign, my point is, I dont care what he does with his penis, he should keep his job, thats the point im trying to make.
Far out…all the Nats have anger problems…Nick Smith is spitting while doing his best Key/Bridges impersonation, his colleagues should have worn their raincoats…
These farmers should be forced to get their drinking water below their farms or from the stream they are putting the shit into – record fine lol put a zero on it I say.
Maybe the fine should be a % of the business’ turnover? And yep to the drinking water.
“Council’s investigation manager Patrick Lynch said it was “unbelievable” a farmer would choose to deliberately pump raw effluent straight into a waterway.”
Funny that Mr Bridges was far more subdued in answering in Question Time today, than he was during his hyperactive shouting display last night on Campbell Live. Perhaps he had taken his ritalin today?
The most well known political leaders from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Lange have had extra-marital affairs. Grow up and learn a little bit about real life.
It was hard to type that with a straight face true 🙂 but I bet if you replaced Len Brown with John Key you lefties would all over it like white on rice
Plus theres the small matter of the threatning text she got, that puts it into a completely different catergory…
Also shows how much of a typical leftie he really is: good at throwing around other peoples money but buys his mistress cheap knickers
Rooting on the job is bad form, especially if it’s a junior employee (almost like incest).
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing. Guess Banksie won’t get the firing squad though?
Mate, it’s regarded as “in the family”. Why do you think the Army guy in being charged? You can’t take advantage of employees – who knows what pressures have been placed on them?
If Len Brown had spent on his Council credit card entertaining this woman, took her on Council paid trips, got her promotions etc, then that’s definitely relevant to his conduct on the job.
The rest of this is BS. Two grown up consenting adults getting it on, yaaawn.
sure but when it is a superior who may or may not hold hiring and firing in his/her hands it can be different cv. NOT that that is suggested here.
Ah yes there may be a case to be answered in situations where coercive pressure was being applied through seniority and hiring firing power.
but so far there is no evidence of coersion, it appears the woman herself has spoken to someone about it but n suggestion f misuse of power by Brown I suppose it might yet be made.
IIRC the Navy guy is being charged for lying about it on security vetting forms and alleged abusing his authority to intimidate his subordinate when she tried to end it.
nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality.
incest is a crime. speaking of crimes. Slater knows no bounds to th depths he will stoop. I bet he knows of a number of dirty secrets of right wing MP’s and he will die before revealling them.
” A journalist sacked by the Herald on Sunday has been ordered to pay his former employer $7500 costs for an Employment Relations Authority hearing he lost.
The newspaper was justified in sacking assistant editor Stephen Cook, who was being investigated as part of a police inquiry into drug dealing, authority member Rosemary Monaghan ruled last December.
Cook was dismissed in December 2008 because he would not tell his newspaper bosses why he was under suspicion.
They responded by saying they had lost trust and confidence in him, which made his position untenable.
Cook’s work car had been seen outside an Auckland property under surveillance by the police drugs squad.
Ms Monaghan said that in failing to provide material which could have cleared his name, Cook fed the suspicion that he was not being open and honest about his activities.
She found Cook’s dismissal was justified, not because he was dishonest or had something to hide, but rather his reactions to his employer “reasonably” suggested that he did.
Today she released a cost determination ordering Cook to pay $7500 to Herald on Sunday proprietor APN New Zealand Limited as a contribution to its costs.
APN, in its memorandum of costs, pointed to the need to address Cook’s inclusion of irrelevant and prejudicial material. It also cited delay and disruptions resulting from unavailability of counsel for Cook, including two delays in starting and the scheduling of a further part-day to address matters Cook had raised at the last moment. “
“….nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality..”
I presume that was a typo????????
Actually, from what I saw on the news, the high ranking defense guy is up on fairly major charges to do with the defense of the realm as well as sexual abuse.
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing
Except it’s not, because in that case the accused was blackmailing her into sex and using his position to threaten her partners continued employment in the military.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc etc. pathetic really.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc. pathetic really.
you want an author to right about whether or not the mayor of auckland has been extra maritally screwing an employee? There’s a few things I’ve wanted them to write about, so I could comment, but they didn’t.
Why dont you write it and submit is as a guest post.
(Complaining about Herald staff anonymity, that is).
[lprent: Nope because…
1. They truly are anonymous on editorials and Staff Reporter. Just like our Notices and Features when we’re doing the routine OpenMikes except they put in news content and opinion.
2. The Gosman rule applies to assertions made here about people here. Just as I cannot police the Herald, I don’t police people making comments about the Herald either there or here (unless they cause legal issues or overstep the bounds of taste here).
3. The rules are there to make this site easier to use. I’m not an ideologue and I don’t presume to demand how people should act off this site. I may merely comment on it ]
“People using a pseudonym to comment who then claim that other people commenting/posting anonymously (or any words construed to mean that) will have their own comments treated as being anonymous. Since this site does not allow anonymous comments, they will receive an immediate long ban.”
You’re right – technically – as an anonymous outside article isn’t a “post” or a “comment”.
[lprent: “Since this site does not allow anonymous comments…” is also a dead giveaway. ]
wow you are onto it. First pointing out no one has posted an article about Brown and now a violation of the rules (possibility thereof). A fine eye for detail.
The bit that you missed was that the NZHerald has run articles that attacked the “anonymous” authors on The Standard while hypocritically publishing anonymous articles.
Hardly a hanging offence if true, but he should have been sacked by the voters for not supporting the wharfies, “Lenslide” may now be “Lenslider” and joins the boardroom bonker club of various other randy old goat politicians–Worth, insert other names here……. etc.
You are right CV. Mayor of Auckland “porks the payroll” is not something that any Aucklander, other than the prurient working class filth that read the Truth, should be interested in.
I haven’t followed all the comments on the Len Brown matter but he has just issued a statement confirming he had a two year affair with a woman who was working on some project linked to the Council. She was not a Council employee.
Since it’s come from the sleaziest blogger in the business, can someone locate the story which appeared a year or two ago detailing a story of an extra marital indulgence by the self same blogger who released this story. From memory he never denied it. Anyone else remember it? If it can be found lets give it another airing…
What ‘Truth’ is that, do you mean the one the ex Editor/Manager a true piece of filth in anyone’s books managed in a few short months to run into the ground,
Lolz Blubber-boi the dysfunctional head case with the un-functional newspaper what a f**king loser that waste of space really is in the real world…
Last November the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was exhumed for an autopsy to determine if he was poisoned. Sadly, it appears that he was:
“Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of the radioactive agent polonium on the clothing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, supporting the possibility he was poisoned.”
Give me a break, just received my insurance bill for my property in CHCH 50% increase on top of last years 20% increase.
You just gotta love that free market at work, about all thats free in this market is there right to screw you when your down, can’t find another company to reinsure with so take it or leave it Jack, the people of CHCH are being walked all over by greedy insurance companies along with this government, roll on election day.
The Right are good at this stuff, and the MSM falls for it pavlovian like every time. Mind you, this is a good wee reminder of how dirty the NATs are going to fight next year.
I have political criticisms of Brown’s performance. I think his private behaviour probably has hurt others, especially the women involved. The sleazemongers don’t care about the latter.
Meanwhile, there’s some significant political issues that don’t get enough in-depth attention.
It looks like ‘the other woman’ went to sleazebag herself and has given him their text conversations. Seems Len Brown ended the affair month or two ago. She claims she received anonymous threatening messages.
Well, an intelligent and mature woman would go to the police if it is true, not spill the beans in what looks to me like a spiteful vendetta.
Yes the right are good at making lefties make tits on themselves, I can just see the RWNJ setting Len up with a two year sting operation timed to go off after the election
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
Had Brown lost there would be no story. This is why it did not come out prior to the election. Who ever is now behind Brown’s demise feel confident enough that Brown being elected mayor will become untenable.
How hard are those who want Brown gone going to push?
Interesting. Just been looking at the real time analytics after getting a threshold CPU alert.
I normally only get those if the database jams or a Labour leader resigns or is elected or we are having an election…
What is going on with the Simon Bridges post? Way higher than anything else right now and a hell of a lot of people piling on at once. Looks like facebook.
We get those enough that the pattern is predictable. Just gives little bumps. This was a social media jump and started at ~1:30PM according to the CPU log rather than the 3:56PM start for bryce’s post. We just had a big spike in the last 15 minutes when it started going viral.
Maybe also because I put the link to the Youtube video of the interview in the post? the video’s gone from one or two views this morning to over 450 views this afternoon.
Consensual sex is not an issue for me. Having sex at the office during working hours is not in the job description, nor is using the credit card for personal use in a relationship appropriate.
I want to know:
1. Was the sex during office hours on council premises?
2. Was the mayoral credit card used for personal use as part of the relationship e.g gifts, dining?
3. Was the other willing party silenced, bullied or threatened?
that too. I often reflect on how “the old lady” became our term of reference at home; hardly respectful, but then, you know how it is -“the old man” (Down The Road)
Slater is pushing for a re-election Maybe he should be careful what he wishes for – a proper campaign just for Mayor, with high profile media attention encouraging people to vote?
Made that point five minutes ago CV. Gone into moderation. Second time in 24 hrs???
In essence I’ve suggested a vendetta by the ‘other woman’. An intelligent and mature person would go to the police… not spill the beans to a sleazebag!
I’m also in moderation, saying Brown has to go and what a let down he’s proven himself to be.
Don’t expect to be agreed with, but it’s not like it’s a momentary indiscretion, it’s a two year long deceit. In politics, once you lose trust, you have nothing.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man, and if he tries to sit tight until the media storm blows itself out, it will only emphasise this further.
If he cries on Campbell live, says he’s sorry and begs forgiveness, it’s more bullsh*t weakness.
Gift horse to the tories when they were so under the cosh. No excuses, just get out.
Fu*k, I dislike weak politicians.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man,
On that basis, we would hardly have any politicians left. Some might say that would be a good thing.
Btw, it’s been going on in high places since God made little apples. Secretaries and parliamentary bunnies are usually the primary sources.
I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me, just like I don’t expect politicians to be whiter than white and anything other than human like the rest of us, but when caught out, they have to do the decent thing and walk away and not wait for the polls or results of focus groups to see how much they can get away with.
But using your logic, it should be acceptable for all our elected representatives to be like Berlusconi.
Just remember that while no-one is clean this all started because of Len Brown, he instigated it, he continued it, its completely his fault so stop trying to spread the blame around
Oh. Yeah. Brown has not behaved well. He is the best of the standing candidates for Mayor. But I care more about democracy. And WO and co. and all thier supporters try to undermine it. That is far more despicable. I’m not spreading anything. SleazeOil does it all on his own.
I would stand down if it were me, though it wouldn’t be me because I can keep it in my pants and even as a dumb middle aged bloke, know these things rarely ever stay secret.
What on earth was he thinking? He’s old enough to be her dads older brother. :grrrross:
For goodness sake – Len made a mistake, or was a hu(man) , call it what you will – its personal. Its not a hanging matter. And its not something that will interfere with his ability to be Mayor or to be political or to be a manager – all qualities he needs as Mayor. And he fronted up to his wife before this became public, which is saying something positive about him, her, and their family.
No wrath or scorn here, nor judgement on his moral failing, but at the very least a rerun of the vote is needed. If he’s brazen enough to run again and wins, then fair fight fair result.
The worshipful mayor of Auckland is a complete and utter skeevy idiot who has played into the hands of gleeful rightwingers. Did he think he wouldn’t be found out with the blubbery whale sniffing around for any kind of scandal? It shouldn’t matter what people get up to in their private lives, but to most people it will look very bad. Especially shagging in his office. I am intrigued by the timing of this though, wouldn’t it have been more effective for the blubbery one to go public before the election?
Brown’s behaviour is not commendable. But repeating my comment from above, given WO had the info about a month ago.
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
I am fascinated that WO has been sitting on this story for some time. I remember a story way back of a High commissioner or someone similar of some country bonking his secretary on the table of the High commission. It wasn’t Clinton. Can someone please refresh my memory.
The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!
success breeds success (being a Towns van Zandt sorta’ guy)
I’d give up my Bad Habits , yet, then I would not be the man you see before you. (everyone is better off if I’m out of it).
I passed on my Red and Glo Butane, and now I dodge the Hammer of dawn.
No synths and everyone is better off if I’m not out of it (except poor old Al1).
@ Dan1…it was the guy who held up the sausages in parliament wasn’t it ? ( no not Shearer…he held up the fish) ….McClay?…I could be wrong
…everyone in NZ was gobsmacked at both sausages and table incidents …..didnt know whether to laugh or howl….but then he rapidly took off to Britain to be High Commissioner ( the perfect Nat solution)… .overseas and respectability ….the mirth was all over …all forgotten…almost…..not quite
The allegations were about John Collinge High commissioner in London and past National party president. I believe the next High commissioner replaced the table.
Story is at bottom of this link
Jim Mora calls U.S. “a bulwark against totalitarianism”
Another very bad day for The Panel
Radio NZ National, Monday 14 October 2013
Jim Mora, Matt Nippert, Josie Pagani
JIM MORA: Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about! JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is Richard Branson! He’s living permanently in the British Virgin Islands now, and he denies it has anything to do with a tax dodge! MORA: Hurr, hurr, hurr, hurr! JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger. JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, since he gives all the money he makes now to charity I guess he thinks it probably all balances out. JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger! MORA: Ahhhh, he would say that he can use the money BETTER, wouldn’t he. JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a TAX DODGER!!
[Awkward silence for several seconds.]
MORA: Okay, what else have you got? JESSICA MADDOCK: Well this is an unusual one! A man has died from guzzling mince! MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! He died from guzzling mince? JESSICA MADDOCK:[voice betraying a slight edge of irritation] Y-y-y-yes.
[A short discussion about the dangers of guzzling mince, then on to the next topic: self drive cars….]
JESSICA MADDOCK: Not only the big car companies, but also Google is getting in on the act! But a British survey shows that only 29 per cent of people would buy one and a mere 21 per cent would feel safe in one. MORA: Ah yeah, watch that change though. I’d like the NSA to be in charge of it! Ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, what else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Prince William and Princess Kate are breaking with tradition and choosing their friends from university for the christening of Prince George. MORA: Oh really? JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, the godparents will be chosen from their closest friends, who include Emilia d’Erlanger, Fergus Boyd, Hugh van Cutsem, Alasdair Coutts-Wood, and Alicia Fox-Pitt.
[Lengthy silence]
MORA: Hmmmmm…. JOSIE PAGANI: Those are not really names of ordinary people, are they? MORA: No they’re aristocratic names! All right, anything else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, a feminist has accused Lorde of racism in her song “Royals”. MORA: W-w-what??!!??!? JOSIE PAGANI: Surely not. JESSICA MADDOCK: Veronica Bayetti Flores says that Lorde lambasts things like gold teeth, Maybach cars and diamonds—all accoutrements of black rappers. She asks why Lorde doesn’t attack golf or polo or Central Park East. JOSIE PAGANI: Good Lord! It’s SILLY, isn’t it! MORA: It’s a questionable thesis that gold teeth and Maybach cars are the preserve of rappers, surely. All right, anything else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Plasma televisions will soon be a thing of the past. MORA: So plasma TV will soon be a thing of the past? JESSICA MADDOCK:[voice betraying real irritation] Y-y-yeah…
1.) Penny Hulse skillfully deals with a series of bumptious and ridiculous questions from Mora. Somehow she maintains her equanimity throughout.
2.) Josie Pagani launches into a wandery, poorly informed potted history of the Rwandan genocide, during which she makes the highly contentious statement that “Rwandans absolutely HATE Kofi Annan”.
3.) A professor of dentistry scolds Jim Mora for approvingly quoting Kevin Milne’s braindead suggestion that people defraud dentists.
[After the 4:30 news and weather, a welcome blast from the past, Neil Diamond’s “They’re coming to America”. This is by way of introducing the next once-over-lightly….]
MORA: China’s official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands of a hypocritical nation with a dysfunctional government.
[Long pause….]
MATT NIPPERT Huh! MORA: Heaping criticism and caustic ridicule on Washington, the Xinhua news agency called the US a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs, and said the ‘Pax Americana’ was a failure on all fronts. JOSIE PAGANI:[snorting] What on EARTH—- MORA: So what are we to MAKE of this? America has always been a bulwark against totalitarianism….
It has to be noted that neither Josie Pagani nor Matt Nippert challenged this foolish propaganda statement, nor uttered even a murmur of dissent.
faaaaaaaaaaark! now that’s out of the system, gr8t piece Morrissey, especially the bit from the you-know-what news agency. Ha! (Maybachs, now, if I were still a petroleum-head, yet an old , mid-80’s SL500 would be about all I could afford). Did I ever tell you about the Merc diesel ambulance imported by a German dental technician that I remedied after it was erroneously filled with petrol…and the wonderful gig with a live band we enjoyed (Christina and I) held in his consulting rooms, just off Taranaki Street). no, guess not. 😀
If we’re going to have a “Resign-athon”, with much sound and fury, then I suggest we start with those who have betrayed the public. Not their private partners.
If Brown goes, and Banks remains, we all lose.
If Key is faithful to his wife, but unfaithful to his country, does he keep his job, while half the mayors and MPs must lose theirs, because of their private lives?
I don’t defend Brown, or like him much, but I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.
I think he’s a more competent person for the job than John Palino, who I trust to give ratepayers’ money to his best mates, oops, business contacts.
Am I disappointed in Brown? Yes, it’s all so cliched and sordid. Does it affect his ability to run the city? It may do – it all depends on who (if anyone) he’s compromised to keep the affair quiet.
Otherwise, this is something for his family to work through. If it has affected relationships that reduce his ability to do his job, then the public should be concerned. Otherwise, outside of his personal relationships, it’s just info that Brown and the consenting adult he slept with, are two more flawed human beings.
I’ll add this to the other info I know about him when I do the compare and contrasts with other politicians looking to impress.
Don’t think much of that woman sticking herself into Len Brown’s marriage. So many women seem to just go and do this type of thing? Do they not think of their fellow women and the misery they cause?
silly eggs. just trying to balance up the comments which so typically and heavily imbalancedly point the naughty finger at the guy rather than the girl, who usually comes across as squeaky clean and pressed against her will into the arms of the typically despicable man. rolly eyes..
+1vto….except that maybe she thought it was just a fling and would never come out….certainly not come out this way
I feel sorry for his wife….but then again who knows….maybe she has had flings before also…and if not she may certainly be contemplating them for the future
so then one feels sorry for the kids….but it is life and sometimes it is best to be prepared rather than kept in a cocoon
Maybe everyone needs an overseas holiday until it all blows over !!!
ooops ….the plot thickens……on more information ……seems like the girlfriend may have let it out of the bag herself! ..and to Whaleoil!..in which case Len definitely should Not resign!….but take an overseas holiday with wifee and kids….
There seems to be a few regular commenters, whose recent comments have gone into auto-moderation. I’m reluctant to release them, before Lynn can check why it’s happening.
Edit: ah, there they are.
[lprent: Just have a lock on the Len Brown against flooding coming in from some of the usual trolls. Releases are pretty fast (except when I’m travelling home of course). ]
he hooked up with a young Asian women probably fulfilling some fantasy of his (especially if you read her account of the affair) and treats her pretty shabbily, she breaks it off and she then gets sent threatening texts
Yeah I’m sure Len Brown had nothing to do with it, him being a paragon of virtue and all
As opposed to John Palino and his Chinese girlfriend, 20 years younger? (yes, she is)
Her age and ethnicity are irrelevant to me, but obviously it matters to you, so I guess Palino’s ruled out too. Who’s next for your vote, Minto or Penny?
I was referring to the bit about Brown being a cliche, middle age white man scoring a young Asian women is a cliche but its only a cliche because it happens so often
The problem for Len is that she wasn’t his girlfriend (like John Palino) but she was his mistress
Yeah I know its difficult to defend the indefensible but remember he bought it all on himself
and it is OK with you that Slater and his mates roll out the whole affair in front of the Nation without caring one iota for his wife and children…as I said what goes around…
You mean as much care that Len had for his own family?
Heres the thing, 4/10 Len is a very public figure and he knows it, he knows hes being watched and yet he still decided to carry own with his mistress, the guy even had the balls to introduce her to movers and shakers (surely people who knew he was married to someone else) hes the person that brought his own family into this
Unfortunately Dirty Lens family is caught in the crossfire but again thats because of Lens own actions, if Len didn’tt wanted this to happen he shouldn’t have pursued the women
As I said before, if it is proven that it was Brown that sent the threatening texts, then that would be serious misconduct, and he should step down, but so far there is no proof that he sent the txts.
There’s a problem with the threatening texts so we probably find out who sent them rather than assume that it was Len Brown.
I bet that if this happened to a right wing politician you lot (all you lefties I mean) would be baying for blood
Nope and you can check my comments here about the Labour MP that watched porn.
In fact, the only people I know that get really upset about people having sex is the RWNJs. It’s the politics of envy – their not getting laid and they’re jealous.
Seven Sharp (no never watch it but they signalled it in advance) had a poll. Overwhelmingly in favour of Len Brown resigning. Metro editor said he wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised either but for a different reason. Slater, Lusk and co. would have set their bush telegraph on high alert and lined up the moral Right in large numbers.
Maybe, but I think this is just as much a “sink John Campbell” exercise. The super soft interview by Campbell would have been predicted. Just wait for tomorrow and more info on the “threats” will emerge. An embarrassment to Campbell (who ignored that issue) as much as Brown (who is dead meat anyway).
Aha. Thanks for that gobsmacked. Like father like son. Remember hearing about Slater senior back in the 80s. I think he was the chairman of the Auckland branch of the National Party at the time. Rather a nasty piece of work from all accounts. Didn’t he and Slater junior try to smear the current Nat. Party Chairman, Goodfellow after he ousted Slater senior?
Edit: Yes they did and it’s always to do with sex. Couple of slimeballs both of them. And how about Palino? He must have known about it and approved their actions!
Slater What a sleazy loser..Loved Len Brown’s performance on Campbell…Masterful.I was moved to tears of compassion.
Much better than Shagger Brash’s performance. Even better than Lange’s misedemeanours.
Mine pale by comparison but who cares? Watch Len Brown’s popularity polls rocket like Clinton’s.
Hey why do people get so exited about sex…Its the economy stupid!
God I love the dramas that TV celebrities and slime bloggers can drag up.Campbell’s pietism was a bit overdone though.
I can’t wait for Slater’s mosquito (I mean slug) attacks on Cunliffe.Should be worth a lot of votes.
Yep those cunning righties, the way they tricked Brown into instigating the affair and then how they manipulated him into continuing it for two years…will they stoop to nothing?
Blurred boundaries and dirty tricks. The woman Brown had the affair with is the meat in the sandwhich and she may end up being fodder and she has to be so careful.
Or maybe they should just have revealed the affair during/before the elction campaign, then people could have had the choice to vote for Brown or someone else?
Timing smells of a cynical ploy.
Nats just seem to hate democracy.
And Bevan Chaung was standing on the Cits & Rats ticket – politically aligned to the Nats and Palino.
from Bevan Chuang of the Chinese Community Centre but without letting the audience know Bevan is a National Ltd™-linked candidate in the up-coming local board elections.
Would it have been brown that instigated the affair?
Bevan Chuang – Google+
plus.google.com
Bevan Chuang – The Burlesque Dancing Superwoman – Member of Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel, Auckland Council – Auckland Council – Hong Kong – Auckland
Communities and Residents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Auckland Communities and Residents Incorporated, known as Communities and Residents (C&R), is an established right-leaning local bodyticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It formed in 1937 as Citizens & Ratepayers with a view to control the Auckland City Council and prevent the left-leaning Labour Pa…
Yes, that affair is wrong and the Auckland people can decide for themselves, but BlubberOil bringing down a whole family publically is no laughing matter either. What goes around Cameron.
I suspect that there was no change in his actions towards his family and thus the consequences to his family are the result of the affair being made public which it wasn’t by him or his family.
+1 …and some have been blackmailed into sticking with or marrying the ‘ honey trap’ in all probability…or suffered the consequences of not doing so……..
The source and content of the txts will be crucial to the case.
It is not acceptable to intimidate or harass a person.
There needs to be some sort of investigation to determine whether or not the txts are genuine. Hell we may never get to see them, recall the emails between Dunne and Vance.
Will Key get involved in a city council matter, recall what he has said about Banks when he was mayor and how Key says he is not Banks leader.
OK, I know people have busy lives and can’t always check out the background details, but for those trying to follow this grubby business, here are the basic facts:
1) The Right wanted to defeat Brown (not sure why they’d bother, but never mind, that’s what they wanted)
2) Various candidates were canvassed, none were credible, Nobody could win at the ballot box.
3) Palino stood as a token Rightie. But obviously couldn’t win.
4) Slater (father, son, who cares?) got dirt on Brown. BUT their problem was … Palino’s private history is even more “colourful”. So they couldn’t run with “Saint versus Sinner”.
5) So their best option (in their warped thinking) was to wait until Brown had won, and then hit him.
Therefore, the choice NOW (see all media parrots) is not “Who do you vote for Mayor?’ but “Should the Mayor resign”?. That’s a crucial difference. It’s not Brown versus fallible alternative, its Brown versus nobody.
The aim is to change to a narrative they think they can win (i.e. Dump Brown), not one they would lose (i.e. Vote Palino).
And – this is classic SOP for these guys – they try to win a dirt-fight in the media, not a straight fight at the ballot box. Hence the references to ‘online polls”, instead of real ones. The problem with real votes is that they can be counted. Whereas astroturf and noise can’t be.
We’ve got to get wise to their Rove tactics, and not take them at face value ever. It’s gonna be a lot worse next year.
There’s a lot that is very strange about this. When it all goes tits up, Slater and a few others are not going to enjoy finding out how expendable they are.
Basic Facts
Well maybe Len should have shagged the help if he didn’t want it out in the open.
And that covers points 1 to 5
Next please, but try harder
Surely set ups, schemes and political machination are totally a different matter as to whether LB can ever be a trustworthy sort of guy again, let alone trusted mayor of our biggest city.
It is all about trust, and as a politico, if you lie you lose it. Hard to see how outside the walls of a one eyed blogosphere he can maintain credibility, whether ultimately it’s a private matter (which of course it’s not, he’s the mayor) or just an ego flattering sex thing. If he can lie to his missus for two years, then what’s he prepared to do to us? And so it will go, etc…
Anyway, I’ve said my bit now, so no need to fall out with anyone, especially over a guy that can’t keep to his vows.
“I’m leavin’ it up to you who who…” (fast, maybe you have fibre; I despaired and finally connected up a gifted computer, as anybody who is interested can tell).
Knock yourself out, (figuratively speaking of course).
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Help Wanted Column:
Long-term Green Party member, likes the cut of DC’s jib and the direction the party seems headed, seeks advice on how to decide between GP and LP for party vote. Any well-researched thoughts on the key policy differentiators?
But previously, House Republicans had made a small but hugely consequential move to block them from doing it.
Here’s the rule in question:
When the stage of disagreement has been reached on a bill or resolution with House or Senate amendments, a motion to dispose of any amendment shall be privileged.
In other words, if the House and Senate are gridlocked as they were on the eve of the shutdown, any motion from any member to end that gridlock should be allowed to proceed. Like, for example, a motion to vote on the Senate bill. That’s how House Democrats read it.
But the House Rules Committee voted the night of Sept. 30 to change that rule for this specific bill. They added language dictating that any motion “may be offered only by the majority Leader or his designee.”
So unless House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wanted the Senate spending bill to come to the floor, it wasn’t going to happen. And it didn’t.
ooh, whose ‘insane’ now. oh dear, how sad, Nevermind (‘cept for all the folks back home missing out on the American Dream).What would Ralph Waite’s character say.
ps, only 18 more # comments to go, but I gotta go watch a movie
and kill some Slugs
The truth comes out “First home buyers, shut out of the market by new restrictions to lending rules, are better off not owning a home at all rather than purchasing one to find it’s no longer worth what they’ve paid, Prime Minister John Key says.”
So those wanting to buy a house are better of renting are they Key?
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With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhy do people still think climate change isn’t real?David ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
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Open mike 15/10/2013 
Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
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The Hall of Hogwash
Exhibit No. 4: JIM MORA
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“The United States has been a bulwark against totalitarianism, hasn’t it.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—Jim Mora, Radio NZ National, The Panel, Monday 14 October 2013
I am sorry to report that, far from responding to such nonsense, guest Panelists Matt Nippert and Josie Pagani maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity.
hogwash, n. 1. Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense. 2. Garbage fed to hogs; swill.
hypocrisy, n. 1. the practice of professing standards, beliefs, etc., contrary to one’s real character or actual behaviour, esp. the pretence of virtue and piety 2. an act or instance of this
More hogwash….
No. 3 JOHN KERRY: “The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private.”
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-prolongs-trip-set-to-meet-Abbas-in-Ramallah-320386
No. 2 DAVID CAMERON: “We never support, in countries, the intervention by the military.”
No. 1 BARACK OBAMA: “Madiba’s moral courage…people standing up for what’s right….aaaahhhh, the yearning for justice and dignity…”
on nipperts’ last appearance on that show..
..he derided any ideas about there being anything wrong/untoward with the new zealand justice system..
..does he not claim to be a ‘journalist’..?
..that nippert..?
..if so..w.t.f..!
..eh..?
..need i reel off the litany of current/past names..?
..from thomas to pora..?
..that comment from nippert is on my shortlist for brain-fart-of-the-year..(award-winning journalist sub-section..)
..and no..of course nippert was not ‘called’ on it..
..the stench was allowed to just float out on the airwaves..
..unquestioned/un-whiffed at..
..by anyone involved..
..phillip ure..
@ Morrissey Agreed …often ( but not always)find Jim Mora and his panel hard to listen to ..(.staus quo crap.)..without getting brain numbed, angry and switching off ….. or feeling I have been forced to swallow something non-nutritious, even at times, sickie sweet…(.toxic untruths or half truths)
I didn’t know that Jim Mora went in for irony or being devil’s advocate! Way to go Jimmy boy.
Interesting things they keep off the News
No. 2: U.S. drones have killed more than 2,500 Pakistanis
Half of those killed in U.S. drone strikes are women and children.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10870
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336905/Ex-drone-operator-says-hes-haunted-carnage-caused-cover-screen.html
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/28/life-us-drone-operator-artist
See also….
No. 1: Guantanamo Bay captives
John Lennon…Just Gimme Some Truth!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlzrNKN3rZI
Do you want suggestions for this series or are you loaded with ideas already?
I have lots of ideas lined up, but I appreciate any suggestions, Paul.
WTC7 something very interesting not in the news
Right wing fantasies aren’t always news, Paul. Thankfully.
I’m afraid I agree with Te Reo, Paul. I would love to think that those arch-criminals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz et al. were involved but there is simply no evidence to support that. Like Norman Finkelstein, I accept that Dick Cheney is a criminal, a draft-dodger, a coward, a liar and a moral reprobate, but there is nothing to show he orchestrated or was involved in any way in the 9/11 attacks.
Here’s Noam Chomsky on the subject….
Good Man!
Voice, showing your inner weakness again bro!
Don’t conflate the discussion points.
WT7 housed the financial evidence which was going to be needed when Rumsfeld at al had to explain where $2.3T disappeared to, along with the Pentagon, receiving its miraculous hit, directly to the accounts department.
Take a look at which agencies had presence in WT7, and what else was housed in there – “Pull it”!
Hey, you’re a coincidence theorist!
From an earlier post.
Tuesday 15 October 2013 – heading off shortly to Auckland airport to pick up Graham McCready for the adjourned hearing of oral evidence from Kim Dotcom, his bodyguard and lawyer, plus the CEO of Sky City, which should confirm that the DEFENDANT John Banks KNEW that donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City’s CEO were NOT anonymous.
We should be at the Auckland District Court (Albert St) before 9.30am
‘Her Warship’ 😉
PS: on the 6th Anniversary of the Urewera ‘Terror’ Raids, Vince Siemer will be in the Auckland High Court, giving evidence which proves how he and his wife were subjected to alleged unlawful detention, search and seizure by Police…..
Can’t be in 2 places at once – but if anyone can go to the High Court to support Vince and Jane today – that would be GREAT!
“NEED BETTER WORK STORIES?
A 7-day trial in the Auckland High Court began Monday, 14 October, against 14 men in blue concerning the dawn 2008 raid on the offices of Spartan News Limited and home of Vince and Jane Siemer. A fifteenth defendant is the deputy registrar of the District Court who signed the undated police search warrant.
No one was charged as a result of the raid, which was postulated on Vince Siemer publishing the suppressed police affidavit used to hold, without bail, 18 New Zealand citizens in the infamous October 2007 Tuhoe raids (4 of the 18 were eventually convicted of various weapons charges; charges were dropped on the other 14).
Kim Dotcom has an extremely similar case against Police scheduled for trial in February 2014.
Defence Counsel Austin Powell, of the “Constitutional and Human Rights Team” within Crown Law, will first cross-examine Vince Siemer Tuesday on the events of 21 February 2008 before the 14 police defendants tell their work stories. Two weeks ago that was expected to concern the twelve pages of items Police seized but never accounted for on the day. However, the week before trial, the police conceded they have been withholding evidence of examination reports on the 5 cell phones they seized, had taken 183 photos inside the home not previously accounted for and cannot find the data the police cloned from three computers they seized.
Crown counsel Powell could only reply in a 7 October email, “I am not able to give priority to any more questions about discovery of documents. We are now a week out from the fixture and there is a great deal of preparation to do. I will attend to this and any other requests if time permits.”
Then-Solicitor General David Collins approved the raids on Tuhoe in 2007 and against the Siemers in 2008 but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2011 he could not be sued by Siemers and Spartan News. Mr Collins was appointed a High Court judge in 2012.
In addition to all phones and computers, the police seized tax and business accounts, cameras and even printers. The police claim their active investigation ceased three years ago but admit to still holding unspecified property. The biggest return of items to date was more than 4 years after the raid, on 21 September 2012.
The public are encouraged to attend to catch a rare glimpse of the work stories behind the badges. ”
Vince Siemer
It is about time that business paid its way.
If business wants convention centres, then business can pay for them. I find it incredibly rude that they even consider asking elderly ratepayers to pay for their business.
Rude, don’t care who foots the bill as long as it is not them. Rude. And out of line.
What part of the country is this?
Queenstown? Where business does want to buit a convention centre, but the council don’t want them to, they want to use ratepayer funds instead.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/273674/convention-centre-backed-rival-developer-firm
Seems to be happening all over the bloody country. Probably ignorant councils following the governments lead.
And how much councils are ‘representing’ business too.
Arise Quidditch players prepare for the Game in the House. Represent and defend your constituents, the people and not just those in business. Look out for the Golden Snitcher.
Tory council with a Tory mayor in Queenstown. To be expected.
mmm!!!..it’s cunnliffe vs. key day…
..let combat commence..!
..(i’m sharpening quills..as we speak..)
..phillip ure..
phillip ure..(.on another topic) You are a Vegan?……what do Vegans eat to keep healthy?….my son is a vegetarian and now is considering Veganism!…request info
(from shocked meat eater and dairy consumer)
hi chooky..
..congratulations on having such an evolved offspring/fruit of the loins..
..as far as his healthy-longevity/making a serious effort to both help the planet..and stop the wholesale suffering..(from both animals..and consumers of them.. is concerned..going vegan will be the best decision of/in his life..
..and having myself been vegan for about 15 yrs..and vegetarian for 15 before that..
..(and knowing people who have been vegan for 30 + yrs..)
..has all necessitated/evolved into the gathering of necessary information/data..
..this archive can be all found @ http://whoar.co.nz/?s=vegan
..there you will get all the recipies you will need..(mm!!..gourmet japanese/thai etc vegan..)
..plus the all-important nutritional information..
..it is pretty much a primer on the subject..(and the compilation of it some of the work i am most ‘proud of’..it is an agit=prop tool of some potency..
..i would (not so) humbly submit..
..and as an aside to current vegetarians..
.you get my utmost respect..for being where you are..
..especially if done for the ‘right’ reasons..(ie..animal-welfare/personal health/save the planet etc..
..but where you are..(and i was for 15 yrs..)..is a way-station on yr journey..
..a halfway house..
..and for the following reasons..
..personal health:..the fact is that eating animal bye-products is almost as bad for you as eating the actual animal flesh..(this increasingly confirmed by current/new research..u will find evidence-links to all my claims made here..in the archive..)
..animal welfare:..eating animal bye-products sustains/financially supports the wholesale horrors of the factory-farms/charnel-houses..so if vego for animal welfare reasons..?..
..mental-health:..it is common for vegetarians to feel better within themselves..when they stop eating animal-flesh..
..and personally..my/any expectation of ‘feeling netter’ from taking that vegan-step were minimal..
..silly me..!..i can testify to those long-time vegetarians that the feeling-better factor takes a giant leap..
..(in crude/blunt-terms..it is like ripping off another dietary-scab..(much as stopping meat was for you..eh..?..)
..saving the planet:..the well documented ‘costs’ of from humans farming/eating animals/animal bye-products..if you stop..you stop feeding that beast..
(and as a berm-aside:..never mind the berms..stop mowing yr fucken lawns..!..eh..!..
..kilo for kilo..the lawnmower is one of the dirtiest machines on the planet..
..and if you crunch the numbers..
you will see that if we all went vegan..and ended our anal-obsession with all lawns having a number-one cut..
..we could all drive s.u.v.’s ..
..with utter environmental-impunity..
..(sez it all really..eh..?..)
..and yes..my heart does sink a tad..
..when i see ‘green-leaders’..strutting around clad in the skins of butchered animals..
..and wiping the animal-grease/fat from their lips..
..with the backs of their hands..
..all the while claiming to be there ‘to save the planet’..eh..?
..eh..?
..but anyway chooky..the word-up to you wd be to join yr son on his journey..
..you too will share in all those benefits..
..that he has to look forward to..
..and if you actually nut it all out..with an open mind..
..save for desiring to eat flesh/fats..
..there are very few reasons not to go vegan.
..’tis the way of the future..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Thanks so much!!!!….you are convincing!!!!!…(sigh)…Will check out site and point son in the direction of it.
I know being a meat eater is a beastly habit and isn’t nice . ( If I had to kill it myself instead of picking up a little pack in the super market…soul already departed …I would be a vegetarian.).
Did try to be a vegetarian years ago myself but beans and rice all the time wound my energy levels down over 6 months…However just love Indian vegetarian food …so there is hope!!!!
many fantastic vegan cookbooks like ‘veganomicon’ that go beyond beans/rice.
Personally enjoy Tempeh V Tofu and using ingredients like Tamarind with other spices to layer the flavour.
Consider the oils like coconut, hemp and avacado also. we’re blessed down here with all the necessaries.
yes, coconut oil. Handy.
@ tc…thanks for info….actually for lunch I had a wrap with chillie beans, brown rice ,salad and Indian mango chutney ..it was yuuummm!!!!!…yesterday we had lentil samosas…..so it isn’t so difficult to be a Vegan…(.but I have always put it off until the next incarnation)….we will see….maybe a semi Vegan? …cant see myself becoming a strict one. ha ha…but it is probably very good for one’s health…quite apart from the ethical considerations
Snacking throughout the day on live food (sprouts), seeds (sesame, pumpkin and sunflower) and nuts tend to help with the energy levels.
Also, you will tend to eat a lot more food (volume) so regular snacking helps to space it out.
Movements will be healthier and regular as clockwork.
Living as a vegetarian requires a bit of research, some thought and changes to your shopping habits but your body (and thus your mind) will thank you for it.
on the Way
thanx Naturesong…..will try to do
Cheers, Phillip. I’ve been contemplating switching to a more vegan based diet and you’ve given me some, um, food for thought.
chrs to all above..
..and as a berm-footnote..
..the fact/nugget of information that five years ago made me foreswear the lawnmower/lawn-mowing..
..is that..depending on the vehicle you drive..
..one hours’ use of a lawnmower..
..is the same environmental footprint..
..as driving a vehicle between a low of 250 kms..to a high of 650 kms..
..fucken whoar..!
..eh..?
..something for those who are trying to heed the ever-more-urgent/compelling change-or-die!-messages..and those who urge others to ‘go green’..
..yet who still mow themselves..
..a question to ask themselves in front of the bathroom mirror/when overcome by that urge to give their lawns a number one..
..and they can reinforce that logical/rational decision..
..while walking past the flesh/dairy-sections @ the supermarket..
..and funny story..!..my walked-down lawns..after five years..have turned already good soil into super-soil..
..and my mini-eco system has recenttly sprouted swan-plants everywhere..and they have trunks like broom-handles..
..and so now i/we have monarch butterflies etc..fluttering around..
..(and the sound of/from those wings flapping..are far more pleasing on the ear/soul..than the discordant clatter of a wheezing/belching lawn-mower..eh..?..)
..the birds also love our yard/’lawn’…so we get lots of bird-action..
..and really..from this p.o.v…the action of cutting lawn/collecting the clippings..making a pile of them..
..turning them into compost..to then spread back on the soill..
..is an act of utter/pointless group-madness..
..it’s already programmed to do that itself..eh..
..if we just leave well alone..
..and in the process..
..both help the environment..
..and reclaim a large chunk of our lives that are currently wasted in this self-imposed sisyphian-task..
..of doing battle with/trying to tame/control nature..
..just let it go..!..people..!
..phillip ure..
And we could have become a true Banana republic complete with Russian weapons. If only Key had been in charge.
Now there’s a scary thought Key with a Russki Nuc (presumably with Missiles intact) sub tied up feeding Ak’s power.
They must have owed us a Lot of Rubles
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9282669/Russia-offered-MiGs-tanks-to-settle-NZ-debt
Damn, should have taken the MiGs and a couple of diesel subs.
David H
Tanks for the memory eh! Instead we got Lada cars, they got butter for their larders. Hah good one!
As for rubles, I think we would have preferred rubies.
But the flexible nature of trade allowed us to keep trading with this, then, pariah country. Perhaps we should keep the spirit of multi-lateralism or whatever, alive and not sign up to constraining TPPA with it’s flashy front billboard of free trade, and dirty little dealers behind the scenes selling their real agendas.
oh how times have changed. (had a wee bright yellow Lada when I was 20, and a bright orange VW) anyway, been fortunate today, cycled into town to do errands (food for the worms) and was able to be home before it fair poured down.
In case you missed it on the Feeds:
http://hot-topic.co.nz/the-last-refuge-of-scoundrels/ (Or how to waste government money)
Tomorrow, in the Appeal Court in Wellington (pdf), Justices Harrison, French and Miller will hear argument in the case of the NZ Climate Science “Education” Trust (NZCSET) versus the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), in the continuing effort of the cranks to litigate away warming in New Zealand over the last 150 years. According to the man who kicked off the whole process, Richard Treadgold of the “Climate Conversation” web site, the NZCSET bases its appeal on two main points:
The focussed grounds are that all three NIWA temperature series resulted from serious mistakes of fact, which impugned the rationality of the Crown Entity’s decisions.
This seems somewhat surprising, given that the judge in the original case was so scathing of the NZCSET’s expertise in his judgement delivered a year ago. One wonders how the Appeal Court will react to any attempt to relitigate the original decision, given Justice Venning’s findings. But then perhaps the whole appeal has rather more to do with the second basis for appeal:
The Coalition is also seeking reversal of the High Court’s costs order.
What God of coincidence leads to people having names like Treadgold (climate denial),
Richwhite (for you guess)? Just pondering.
smile.
How low can you go? Not much lower in John Armstrong’s case. A truly rancid piece.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11140059
Interesting how Armstrong quotes NZ “leading political commentator” in support of his views.
Must have been edited Karol “leading” is missing in my current view. Armstrong’s position (tory supplicant) is well known and illustrated further by quoting Hollow Man Hooten in his ‘go easy on her’ Parata suckup.
It was my sarc reference to this on Hooton’s company page.
And the bit I got out of hearing comment from the Minimum of Education was that they had planned a new ground-breaking experiment in Christchurch to test a new approach in schooling.
Their action was not to attend to the needs of children unsettled or traumatised by the loss of their normal daily life, the feeling of security and safety, the tipping over of many into the precariat, the loss of housing and local society, the loss of services even to having a toilet, the hardship for families without any fat to cushion the blows.
And on top of that the knowledge that the comfortably off didn’t really care, didn’t think kindly towards them, saw them as a problem to be dealt with some time at the convenience of the planners and finance holders. Left to themselves without annoying questions about action, the powers that be will proceed at their own pace with little empathy it seems.
I remember reading about how long it took Southern Italian authorities to provide for their poor people after a major earthquake destroyed their homes long established in an ancient slum area.
Originally a hard life, precarious but settled into a known culture that was livable, to totally miserable with whole families being poked into small hotel rooms for years. This was outlined in Thomas Belmonte’s great book of his time in Naples ‘The Broken Fountain’.
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gables/hiv/mem/belmonte.html
Parata and Hooten, up a tree, H.A.N.G.I.N.G.
(engaging writing by Armstrong though).
Yesterday I commented on Radionz item on this woman who has written a book that goes straight to the heart of NZ’s problems with poverty in its business thinking.
However, economist and professor Mariana Mazzucato argues that the state has a huge part to play in bringing new goods and services to market.
Peter Day discusses her thought-provoking thesis with her. Her latest book is The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking public vs. private sector myths. She tweets on @MazzucatoM
Today I want to highlight that she says that all countries that advance do so on the back of government involvement. The big innovations in the USA have been done on the back of government research and development. Left to the private sector, little new stuff happens.
It is too costly for private companies to spend much on research because so much comes to nothing! But new things are needed to advance into the future with useful stuff, and to develop new ways of coping with whatever is happening, likely to happen – think green technology for instance.
I’m reading the book ATM, it’s the one I’ve been quoting over the last few days. It is rather enlightening about where the actual innovation has come from, who supported it and who benefited.
DTB
Keep on quoting. There is so much to learn to get out of the mre we are in. I sometimes think that the only people doing any important learning and thinking are on TS. Silly really. But it’s just an impression I get.
And a bit of whimsy. Do keep dropping pieces of smart thinking from her and similar others onto TS from time to time. They may be like the crumbs from Hansel and Gretel which we can follow leading to a good destination.
…as Jacques Ellul wrote about 50 years ago. (The Technological Society)
Amen!
Ok then. All y’all truthers have convinced me, as Obama is busted in prepping a black flag op:
http://www.thetotalcollapse.com/obama-ousts-top-officers-after-nuke-explodes-in-ocean-instead-of-charleston/
2,500 facebook likes, can’t argue with that.
*grin* awesome….
It’s well known that Obama hates Charlotte for letting the Hornets franchise move to New Orleans. Never cross POTUS over Bball, the man is serious about his sport.
Census stats released.
Was embargoed til 10.45am today.
NZ Herald is running a story on it and updating.
Will be watching how this info is processed by the media.
informative karol
JohnDotBanks in court
http://www.3news.co.nz/Dotcom-Banks-wanted-donation-kept-anonymous/tabid/423/articleID/317264/Default.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
And reported in the Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11140346
A bit unexpected really given the Herald/Banks support system.
I’m interested to see if the cabbage boat man will take the stand. Seem to recall he hinted he would.
His statement to the police was never released because he told the police not to, so it will be interesting to see if:
What he says in court stacks up against what he said in public.
Whether the police mention he has a swon statement saying other than what he says in court.
…Their sloppy cronyism approach ends up costing more than any anticipated benefits.
Why? Short-termism gone mad? Why would nearly 50% of voters affirm a party this dysfunction on its core issue? the economy! Shonkey is not a good manager, he’s a fly boy pant sniffer type.
yet still 50% of the voting public voted for inanity. How does the Herald do it? I mean its so right wing (the wrong kind) and so actively deranged in its appeals to poor managing solutions.
We need a tax system that targets the wealthy less we forget what happens when a few own and control the super majority of the nation.
Did you see Collins, her eyebrow was a shocker, like she was some deranged bag lady invited on Q&A to an opinion that no credible minister could.
So Len Brown allegedly had sex with no condom with someone that isnt his wife at the auckland town hall, he shouldnt lose his job over this. A written warning and a divorce lawyer for his wife. The media should report news, not sleaze.
Thanks for the snifter from the sewer, Brett.
aroused moi
Viper:
Thats my point, its no ones busines but his wife’s, he should be allowed to keep his job.
Got a link for that “story”, or did you have another wet-dream?
Fender:
The sleazo whale oil reported it.
So why didn’t you preface it with “Here’s some bullshit that Slater/Lusk made up”?
Felix:
Because my point wasnt the source, it was the fact that its a non story, and noones business
apart from his wife. Yet over on the TM boards, people are all up in arms.
So why rush in here to talk about it?
Pascal:
Because its going to be a topic for discussion on why people should think he should be fired, and im saying he shouldnt be fired.
You said it was nobody’s business at the same time you were telling everybody….
boy oh boy, you fullas have some funny thinking in your heads
Brett Dale so clever, repeating sexual smears, then saying – hey don’t repeat this!
I heard a rumour that Brett lives in a gingerbread house and masturbates while drowning kittens, but I don’t believe it so if any of you haters out there repeat it, I’d disapprove. /sarc
Nah. Weren’t you were saying people shouldn’t be talking about it? That it shouldn’t e a topic of discussion?
Pascal:
Im saying he shouldnt be fired, Slater on the extreme right and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing.
And you’re also saying the media shouldn’t be reporting it, but are real keen to talk about it yourself, adding your little bit to the hype, which is what makes them report things.
“and people here on the extreme left shouldnt be calling for his firing”
Who has called for his firing brett? A link to the comment from an extreme leftie would be good and luckily for you it isn’t six months down the track. Or is it more of the same made up bullshit that you so often spread.
If its such a non-story why are you spreading it so much, if it’s noones business why are you spreading it so much – does it make you feel good brett. imo those that break a story are one thing but those who spread it while trying to pretend to have the moral high-ground are worse, as in an animal poos and the flies spread it around – you brett are a fly.
marty mars
Im a McFly!
on a Cetacean’s Hide
rogue:
Nice poem, but not my point.
close, but no cigar. 😉
it’s not a story just cos bloated posted it. Some people dont even know who bloated is, so no harm done.
So when its proved correct you’ll admit you were wrong and he was right?
Stephen Cook has an awesome history.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3398209/Sacked-journalist-Stephen-Cook-ordered-to-pay-costs
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Woman_disclosed_by_newspaper_in_sex_tape_found_dead
https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/pdf/jdo/fb/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/9e48f7de-38c8-4336-8cd3-2bd6fb4cece3/9e48f7de-38c8-4336-8cd3-2bd6fb4cece3.pdf
News of the World would be ashamed of him
Hes a dick no doubt about it but in this instance is he wrong?
You’re the one saying he’s right. I’d be pretty sceptical about the whole thing, and worried for his source. This guy makes Ian Wishart look principled.
he was right about it not being a story you mean?
Oh its a story all right 🙂
Fender:
Nope my dreams like that arent about len brown, maybe about anna paquin on a hoverboard, saying “Ive here to take you to the garth brooks concert”
You poor sad bastard……
Bullshit. Everyone knows Len only screws wharfies.
lol
The media should report news, not sleaze.
… says the dude who just described said sleaze in far more detail than was necessary.
QOT:
Please, those on the left and right who dont like len, will be saying he should resign, my point is, I dont care what he does with his penis, he should keep his job, thats the point im trying to make.
Woosh!!!
Parata is on the ropes big-time, good work Hipkins, even the speaker found her answers “less than helpful”.
😀
What Len Brown should say
Far out…all the Nats have anger problems…Nick Smith is spitting while doing his best Key/Bridges impersonation, his colleagues should have worn their raincoats…
Has Whaleoil just jumped the Shark?
Either he’s right and the Mayor of Auckland is damaged by the allegations, or Whaleoil is about to have his ass sued off him.
[karol: moved this comment from the “This is how it’s done thread – off topic. Tried to tidy things up by moving the replies, too.]
[lprent: That’s correct. I have a SQL script for doing it as well at home. ]
What does that have to do with Cunliffe’s press conference today?
It doesn’t so move it to open mike. No one will mind if you accidentally lose it.
Done, DTB. Looks like it was successful. It was an expendable comment to try the move out on.
4/10 Len, now thats a burn
These farmers should be forced to get their drinking water below their farms or from the stream they are putting the shit into – record fine lol put a zero on it I say.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9285515/Record-114-000-Waikato-dirty-dairying-fine
Should have been forfeiture of the farms – especially the second one.
Maybe the fine should be a % of the business’ turnover? And yep to the drinking water.
“Council’s investigation manager Patrick Lynch said it was “unbelievable” a farmer would choose to deliberately pump raw effluent straight into a waterway.”
Where’s he been for the past few decades?
Funny that Mr Bridges was far more subdued in answering in Question Time today, than he was during his hyperactive shouting display last night on Campbell Live. Perhaps he had taken his ritalin today?
Am in the international Koru lounge in Auckland watching David Farrars phone run hot.
This Len Brown thing looks like it might have legs.
cos farrar couldnt possibly be working on something else.
You know New Zealand is fucked when the fat turd’s gossip is taken as absolute truth by the MSM.
Fucking NZ Herald. I guess their editors see a market gap left by Truth.
What do you mean “left by Truth”? It’s more like the Truth was driven out of business by the NZHerald moving in to its bailiwick.
I also see that the NZ Herald article has been courageously penned by “New Zealand Herald staff”.
Is it that much to expect our leaders to keep it in their pants?
Oh fuck off.
The most well known political leaders from Eisenhower to Kennedy to Lange have had extra-marital affairs. Grow up and learn a little bit about real life.
As Larry Flynt said about Bill Clinton – “at least we have a President who fucks”
“cigars” all round
It was hard to type that with a straight face true 🙂 but I bet if you replaced Len Brown with John Key you lefties would all over it like white on rice
Plus theres the small matter of the threatning text she got, that puts it into a completely different catergory…
Also shows how much of a typical leftie he really is: good at throwing around other peoples money but buys his mistress cheap knickers
Len has never been my cup-of-tea; yet Auckland gets what Auckland gets
To be fair, I’m looking at Brown in a different way now – I didn’t think he had it in him.
Rooting on the job is bad form, especially if it’s a junior employee (almost like incest).
I see there’s a high ranking defence force guy up on Court Marshall for the same thing. Guess Banksie won’t get the firing squad though?
grumpy:
Like incest?? are you nuts, she was 32 years old and a consenting adult,
the only person who is allowed to be pissed off is lens wife.
Yeah it’s like incest. I mean. WTF.
The woman is supposedly 32. She hasn’t just left high school. She can make her own choices in life can she not.
Mate, it’s regarded as “in the family”. Why do you think the Army guy in being charged? You can’t take advantage of employees – who knows what pressures have been placed on them?
Sure, no one in a work place ever screwed a colleague or work mate before.
I feel your grief……..but he is the head honcho, sort of a higher standard sort of thing.
sure but when it is a superior who may or may not hold hiring and firing in his/her hands it can be different cv. NOT that that is suggested here.
If Len Brown had spent on his Council credit card entertaining this woman, took her on Council paid trips, got her promotions etc, then that’s definitely relevant to his conduct on the job.
The rest of this is BS. Two grown up consenting adults getting it on, yaaawn.
Ah yes there may be a case to be answered in situations where coercive pressure was being applied through seniority and hiring firing power.
….but in the Council Chambers????? Just think of the poor minimum pay cleaners………where is Helen Kelly on this?
lol grumpy yeah its too much for my gentle sensibilities
Brown’s statement. A personal and family issue
nothing to see here – move on
Doug Mackay doesn’t seem to see it as an employment issue.
Time for the sleaze-mongers to return to the sewer.
puh leaze, do not bring Helen (paragon of virtue) into this debacle, we plead.
(no condom, no mess).
but so far there is no evidence of coersion, it appears the woman herself has spoken to someone about it but n suggestion f misuse of power by Brown I suppose it might yet be made.
There is a report of a “threatening text” – oh goody – popcorn……..
Shes already had a threatening text sent to her
Yeah, and who knows where it came from.
IIRC the Navy guy is being charged for lying about it on security vetting forms and alleged abusing his authority to intimidate his subordinate when she tried to end it.
Not an act of consensual sex.
nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality.
incest is a crime. speaking of crimes. Slater knows no bounds to th depths he will stoop. I bet he knows of a number of dirty secrets of right wing MP’s and he will die before revealling them.
” A journalist sacked by the Herald on Sunday has been ordered to pay his former employer $7500 costs for an Employment Relations Authority hearing he lost.
The newspaper was justified in sacking assistant editor Stephen Cook, who was being investigated as part of a police inquiry into drug dealing, authority member Rosemary Monaghan ruled last December.
Cook was dismissed in December 2008 because he would not tell his newspaper bosses why he was under suspicion.
They responded by saying they had lost trust and confidence in him, which made his position untenable.
Cook’s work car had been seen outside an Auckland property under surveillance by the police drugs squad.
Ms Monaghan said that in failing to provide material which could have cleared his name, Cook fed the suspicion that he was not being open and honest about his activities.
She found Cook’s dismissal was justified, not because he was dishonest or had something to hide, but rather his reactions to his employer “reasonably” suggested that he did.
Today she released a cost determination ordering Cook to pay $7500 to Herald on Sunday proprietor APN New Zealand Limited as a contribution to its costs.
APN, in its memorandum of costs, pointed to the need to address Cook’s inclusion of irrelevant and prejudicial material. It also cited delay and disruptions resulting from unavailability of counsel for Cook, including two delays in starting and the scheduling of a further part-day to address matters Cook had raised at the last moment. “
“….nothing like incest. assuming it was consensual there is no wrong doing other than people’s perception of orality..”
I presume that was a typo????????
a slip of the tongue
🙂
Gold!
ha!
you are welcome, all donations gratefully received
Actually, from what I saw on the news, the high ranking defense guy is up on fairly major charges to do with the defense of the realm as well as sexual abuse.
Except it’s not, because in that case the accused was blackmailing her into sex and using his position to threaten her partners continued employment in the military.
Why do you want mayors to be celibate?
Does that mean that councillors are allowed to receive digital relief once a month?
Maybe Shane Jones was onto something? 🙂
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc etc. pathetic really.
Not at all, but you’d expect grown ups in positions of responsibility like this to behave with some decorum and not go around rooting all and sundry. Honestly what is it about men of a certain age acting in this way……. Clinton, Lange, Brash etc. pathetic really.
oh and i do feel very sorry for his wife and kids and the woman who he appears to have treated so poorly.
Doubtful. Nice line regurgitation, though. Very dedicated.
?
FFS he has a wife – how much non celibacy do you want?
Little black books usually have more than one page.
Good point.
avoid drinking and dialling, it often ends in tears down the road
Celibacy or lack thereof is irrelevant to the role of mayor. But it does seem to excite the tories.
Good observation. Some patterns there.
as opposed to Key who is screwing the country
Come on – support the guy’s policies or not – it’s not good enough.
Not telling them how to do their job but it would be good if one of the authors could put a post up about it soon (whatever their take).
you want an author to right about whether or not the mayor of auckland has been extra maritally screwing an employee? There’s a few things I’ve wanted them to write about, so I could comment, but they didn’t.
Why dont you write it and submit is as a guest post.
Is this a violation of the Gosman Ruling?
(Complaining about Herald staff anonymity, that is).
[lprent: Nope because…
1. They truly are anonymous on editorials and Staff Reporter. Just like our Notices and Features when we’re doing the routine OpenMikes except they put in news content and opinion.
2. The Gosman rule applies to assertions made here about people here. Just as I cannot police the Herald, I don’t police people making comments about the Herald either there or here (unless they cause legal issues or overstep the bounds of taste here).
3. The rules are there to make this site easier to use. I’m not an ideologue and I don’t presume to demand how people should act off this site. I may merely comment on it ]
Nope.
Just checked:
“People using a pseudonym to comment who then claim that other people commenting/posting anonymously (or any words construed to mean that) will have their own comments treated as being anonymous. Since this site does not allow anonymous comments, they will receive an immediate long ban.”
You’re right – technically – as an anonymous outside article isn’t a “post” or a “comment”.
[lprent: “Since this site does not allow anonymous comments…” is also a dead giveaway. ]
too much time on your hands, hopefully
wow you are onto it. First pointing out no one has posted an article about Brown and now a violation of the rules (possibility thereof). A fine eye for detail.
The bit that you missed was that the NZHerald has run articles that attacked the “anonymous” authors on The Standard while hypocritically publishing anonymous articles.
not technically, actually.
Texts up now.
Well the Herald spewspaper has a story too
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140517
Hardly a hanging offence if true, but he should have been sacked by the voters for not supporting the wharfies, “Lenslide” may now be “Lenslider” and joins the boardroom bonker club of various other randy old goat politicians–Worth, insert other names here……. etc.
ba na na na dee dee dee di didit, ba na na na dee didit dee
ma na ma na na na na na.
You are right CV. Mayor of Auckland “porks the payroll” is not something that any Aucklander, other than the prurient working class filth that read the Truth, should be interested in.
lol you still at it mate
If mild mannered Len was shagging at work one can only imagine what Banksie was up to in the back seat of the Bentley…..
“prurient working class filth that read the Truth” That would be Mr Slater and the folks at his blog when he was editor?
I haven’t followed all the comments on the Len Brown matter but he has just issued a statement confirming he had a two year affair with a woman who was working on some project linked to the Council. She was not a Council employee.
Since it’s come from the sleaziest blogger in the business, can someone locate the story which appeared a year or two ago detailing a story of an extra marital indulgence by the self same blogger who released this story. From memory he never denied it. Anyone else remember it? If it can be found lets give it another airing…
Pot, kettle and all that.
Not an employee according to Brown;
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1310/S00612/statement-from-mayor-len-brown.htm
Brown confirmed the woman was not a council employee but served on a council advisory board and stood in this year’s election for a local board.
Ends , however, men and their dicks aye. Nothing new under the sun.
Can somone ban this fuckwit please?
C’mon, he adds humour – try it.
What ‘Truth’ is that, do you mean the one the ex Editor/Manager a true piece of filth in anyone’s books managed in a few short months to run into the ground,
Lolz Blubber-boi the dysfunctional head case with the un-functional newspaper what a f**king loser that waste of space really is in the real world…
From the sidebar
Last November the body of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was exhumed for an autopsy to determine if he was poisoned. Sadly, it appears that he was:
“Swiss radiation experts have confirmed they found traces of the radioactive agent polonium on the clothing of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, supporting the possibility he was poisoned.”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/10/arafat-was-poisoned.html
Give me a break, just received my insurance bill for my property in CHCH 50% increase on top of last years 20% increase.
You just gotta love that free market at work, about all thats free in this market is there right to screw you when your down, can’t find another company to reinsure with so take it or leave it Jack, the people of CHCH are being walked all over by greedy insurance companies along with this government, roll on election day.
Robbery and no morals from your insurer.
…maybe don’t insure?…unless you want to sell it
Yahoo!!!!! Whale is now posting the text messages. Very much not a good look!
Seems like she is younger – and Asian. Who would have thought?
“yahoo”? get your hand off it. Jesus wept.
Come on, you guys had great fun with Brash, surely you remember how great that felt?
cite for comments like “yahoo”?
I remember people saying brash was a hypocrite, and he was. I don’t remember much panty sniffing though.
He did indeed, still, as I may have mentioned earlier, Len tells them (the fortune cookie script) they want to hear.
What an arse! Does he have no concern for the woman’s privacy.
That’s sexual harassment in my book!
Where do you think he got them from? Certainly not Len – maybe Nicky Hager?
I don’t care where he got them – from the woman or not. It’s not acceptable. Sleaze is as sleaze does.
Brash – different situation.
And Brown’s wife and family? It’s already bad enough for them. They’ve been dealing with it.
“….Brash – different situation.”
Yep, he was National…..
Brash was a serial offender – had affairs with married women. Twice had affairs with another women while married to someone else.
That isn’t uncommon. My partner is 16 years younger than me.
Younger women going out with older men must be some kind of new, news-worthy phenomenon. Never seen it happening before myself.
this is not going to end well
Comment of the day……
too kind, however, a majority of over 50,000 (a cultural endorsement).
XKCD has a cartoon for everything.
“somewhere, at the (limits) of the Bell Curve, is the girl for me” 😀
Simon Bridges under fire….Banksie in court, JK not getting much media attention. MSM probably chasing SB & JB for evening TV news……what does WO do?
The Right are good at this stuff, and the MSM falls for it pavlovian like every time. Mind you, this is a good wee reminder of how dirty the NATs are going to fight next year.
I have political criticisms of Brown’s performance. I think his private behaviour probably has hurt others, especially the women involved. The sleazemongers don’t care about the latter.
Meanwhile, there’s some significant political issues that don’t get enough in-depth attention.
It looks like ‘the other woman’ went to sleazebag herself and has given him their text conversations. Seems Len Brown ended the affair month or two ago. She claims she received anonymous threatening messages.
Well, an intelligent and mature woman would go to the police if it is true, not spill the beans in what looks to me like a spiteful vendetta.
Yes the right are good at making lefties make tits on themselves, I can just see the RWNJ setting Len up with a two year sting operation timed to go off after the election
Poor Len, he never stood a chance…
and, just how chummy are you with Cameron…
Never met the guy but sent him some links to his web page, a youtube clip about a guy that made a double barrel pump action shot gun as I recall
handy, alas, not allowed a firearms license, for obvious reasons, however, crossbows are another target altogether, especially when compounded.
Nah – more like WO sits on stuff and then choices the timing to release it.
Maybe I should rephrase that?
nope.
WhaleSpew’s best work is released when he’s sitting.
Actually, 3 News said, WO got the info about a month ago. And Chuang signed the affadavit this morning.
What took so long for the release?
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
How cynical and undemocratic is that?
Had Brown lost there would be no story. This is why it did not come out prior to the election. Who ever is now behind Brown’s demise feel confident enough that Brown being elected mayor will become untenable.
How hard are those who want Brown gone going to push?
Len Brown is left wing? Nah, he’s strictly centrist.
Interesting. Just been looking at the real time analytics after getting a threshold CPU alert.
I normally only get those if the database jams or a Labour leader resigns or is elected or we are having an election…
What is going on with the Simon Bridges post? Way higher than anything else right now and a hell of a lot of people piling on at once. Looks like facebook.
Oh – ~600 likes.
Bryce Edwards linked to it and a couple of other TS posts this afternoon here.
Thank goodness blogs like The Standard (and WO) have no relevance to the MSM 😈
who has the time
We get those enough that the pattern is predictable. Just gives little bumps. This was a social media jump and started at ~1:30PM according to the CPU log rather than the 3:56PM start for bryce’s post. We just had a big spike in the last 15 minutes when it started going viral.
Maybe also because I put the link to the Youtube video of the interview in the post? the video’s gone from one or two views this morning to over 450 views this afternoon.
You have to feel for his Wife.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/113640/mayoral-candidate039s-wife-has-throat-cancer
yes, however, how women get their hair to look like large poodles remains a mystery to the average kiwi bloke.
Sometimes it’s just the hair’s choice – mine has a mind of it’s own.
as above, so below 😀
Marine Le Pen’s NF Party Now The Largest in France
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-10-13/marine-le-pen-s-national-front-wins-french-local-by-election
(she threatens to sue if described as “extreme right”).
hmmm, and the Greeks wish for the repayment of a loan to the NSDAP
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/threat.jpg
– Heres one of the texts Dirty Len (yes its an Eastenders reference) sent to her, makes things different I feel
unsurprising
Why would you send that text, Chris? It’s a bit low, even for you.
Consensual sex is not an issue for me. Having sex at the office during working hours is not in the job description, nor is using the credit card for personal use in a relationship appropriate.
I want to know:
1. Was the sex during office hours on council premises?
2. Was the mayoral credit card used for personal use as part of the relationship e.g gifts, dining?
3. Was the other willing party silenced, bullied or threatened?
and, did they both orgasm
3 News said she’s been getting threatening txts from an anonymous number since Brown broke it off a few weeks’ back.
it’ll all come out in the wash; freakin’ sex aye, who wuld a thunk it.
Just for a second stop focusing on the sex act and then you may see what the substance is.
for instance
See 1., 2., 3., @34.
This story will grow legs.
of course; it will Bloom
Perhaps you meant this one?
that too. I often reflect on how “the old lady” became our term of reference at home; hardly respectful, but then, you know how it is -“the old man” (Down The Road)
Slater is pushing for a re-election Maybe he should be careful what he wishes for – a proper campaign just for Mayor, with high profile media attention encouraging people to vote?
And the Right thinks by-elections and referenda are wastes of money…
What sort of voting process did Auckland use to elect the council?
Postal – FPtP
Well, they are. Look at what happened to the smacking one.
The woman cannot ignore threatening txts. People are going to think that the mayor is involved in these txts.
Agreed. So let us choose a suggested course of action for the woman.
1) Go to the police.
2) Go to Whaleoil.
Your pick?
Made that point five minutes ago CV. Gone into moderation. Second time in 24 hrs???
In essence I’ve suggested a vendetta by the ‘other woman’. An intelligent and mature person would go to the police… not spill the beans to a sleazebag!
(now lets see if it goes into mod again)
I’m also in moderation, saying Brown has to go and what a let down he’s proven himself to be.
Don’t expect to be agreed with, but it’s not like it’s a momentary indiscretion, it’s a two year long deceit. In politics, once you lose trust, you have nothing.
Oh fuck let’s not go down this road UNLESS Brown has spent rate payers money on this woman with gifts, trips, career favours etc.
Would you have thrown Eisenhower out of office? Kennedy? Lange? Clinton? And a bunch of others too???
Both options are just as bad.
Strike out 2. as Brown does not have a mayoral credit card.
Len Brown should resign.
He’s been exposed by his actions as a weak man, and if he tries to sit tight until the media storm blows itself out, it will only emphasise this further.
If he cries on Campbell live, says he’s sorry and begs forgiveness, it’s more bullsh*t weakness.
Gift horse to the tories when they were so under the cosh. No excuses, just get out.
Fu*k, I dislike weak politicians.
like leaky ships, Into Darkness , such is the Wrath of a Khan scorned.
Um, what makes you think that Len is from the left? Chris Trotter writes an excellent analysis of Len’s outlook and while he may have been or is a member of the labour party, Trotter asserts that’s it’s the labour party of Roger Douglas that he joined – http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/10/14/leaving-politics-at-the-door-len-brown-wins-a-second-term/
He showed how much he leans to the left during the wharfies dispute.
So if this is a gift to the tories, they can have it.
“what makes you think that Len is from the left?”
If you can’t quote, just make it up, right?
But if you’re asking, I think he’s a somewhat left centrist.
Len will only go kicking and screaming.
On that basis, we would hardly have any politicians left. Some might say that would be a good thing.
Btw, it’s been going on in high places since God made little apples. Secretaries and parliamentary bunnies are usually the primary sources.
I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me, just like I don’t expect politicians to be whiter than white and anything other than human like the rest of us, but when caught out, they have to do the decent thing and walk away and not wait for the polls or results of focus groups to see how much they can get away with.
But using your logic, it should be acceptable for all our elected representatives to be like Berlusconi.
I think if Brown goes now, Palino will become mayor, without an election. Looks like it’s been timed to attempt just that.
No-one is clean here, including WO’s team.
Let’s just wait and see how things play out.
I do not want a loser right wing Mayor by un-elected default.
Just remember that while no-one is clean this all started because of Len Brown, he instigated it, he continued it, its completely his fault so stop trying to spread the blame around
Oh. Yeah. Brown has not behaved well. He is the best of the standing candidates for Mayor. But I care more about democracy. And WO and co. and all thier supporters try to undermine it. That is far more despicable. I’m not spreading anything. SleazeOil does it all on his own.
Hey chris73, did Len Brown just get elected as Bishop of Rome?
No? Then wtf with the calls that his personal life is relevant to his office holding.
plot?
It would be a very bad outcome for Auk if Palino won by default and WO is a tabloid scummer in the worst tradition.
A new election is what I’d want as a voter.
Yep. If Brown’s conduct does require standing down, I want another election. I don’t think the evidence so far requires a stand down.
I would stand down if it were me, though it wouldn’t be me because I can keep it in my pants and even as a dumb middle aged bloke, know these things rarely ever stay secret.
What on earth was he thinking? He’s old enough to be her dads older brother. :grrrross:
For goodness sake – Len made a mistake, or was a hu(man) , call it what you will – its personal. Its not a hanging matter. And its not something that will interfere with his ability to be Mayor or to be political or to be a manager – all qualities he needs as Mayor. And he fronted up to his wife before this became public, which is saying something positive about him, her, and their family.
He’s shit, to be fair. No brownie points for Len’s two years too late admission, apology and regret.
Berluscon was /is in a different league altogether !
+1 Anne
No wrath or scorn here, nor judgement on his moral failing, but at the very least a rerun of the vote is needed. If he’s brazen enough to run again and wins, then fair fight fair result.
phaser was not directed at you
More captain’s log for everyone else
Like 😀 Yuletide
Quite
ab solved
The worshipful mayor of Auckland is a complete and utter skeevy idiot who has played into the hands of gleeful rightwingers. Did he think he wouldn’t be found out with the blubbery whale sniffing around for any kind of scandal? It shouldn’t matter what people get up to in their private lives, but to most people it will look very bad. Especially shagging in his office. I am intrigued by the timing of this though, wouldn’t it have been more effective for the blubbery one to go public before the election?
Brown’s behaviour is not commendable. But repeating my comment from above, given WO had the info about a month ago.
The timing is all. I thought Brown on Campbell Live tonight was suggesting that the timing of the release has been done to force him to stand down before he is inaugurated. Thus, I guess, the 2nd place candidate would be mayor without a new election?
How cynical and undemocratic is that?
Very undemocratic and cynical, though the two subjects don’t cancel each other out.
Not commendable 😆
I am fascinated that WO has been sitting on this story for some time. I remember a story way back of a High commissioner or someone similar of some country bonking his secretary on the table of the High commission. It wasn’t Clinton. Can someone please refresh my memory.
The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!
“The story sure takes the heat off the “young pup” from Tauranga!”
And the alleged fraudster representing the divs of Epsom.
Of course ! you are so right The Allen. WO was waiting for the moment to distract everyone from the NaAct’s misdoings.
Probably coincidence, who knows? But you may be in the right place for conspiracy theorists.
a Stardate then 😀
Nova on the first date
me and you, and a dog named Blue.
-“The boy said my name’s Johnny, and it might be a sin, but I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, cos….” 😉
’cause… You’re only as good as your last success
success breeds success (being a Towns van Zandt sorta’ guy)
I’d give up my Bad Habits , yet, then I would not be the man you see before you. (everyone is better off if I’m out of it).
I passed on my Red and Glo Butane, and now I dodge the Hammer of dawn.
No synths and everyone is better off if I’m not out of it (except poor old Al1).
@ Dan1…it was the guy who held up the sausages in parliament wasn’t it ? ( no not Shearer…he held up the fish) ….McClay?…I could be wrong
…everyone in NZ was gobsmacked at both sausages and table incidents …..didnt know whether to laugh or howl….but then he rapidly took off to Britain to be High Commissioner ( the perfect Nat solution)… .overseas and respectability ….the mirth was all over …all forgotten…almost…..not quite
The allegations were about John Collinge High commissioner in London and past National party president. I believe the next High commissioner replaced the table.
Story is at bottom of this link
stuff.co.nz
Thanks RB. Oh the trappings of power!
Yeh I think he used to tell them all that he would marry them. perhaps Len’s lady friend though she might be geeting a weeding as well.
@ Red Baron ….thanks …yes that was who it was …Collinge…but close on the heels of the sausage waving incident in parliament i think
Jim Mora calls U.S. “a bulwark against totalitarianism”
Another very bad day for The Panel
Radio NZ National, Monday 14 October 2013
Jim Mora, Matt Nippert, Josie Pagani
JIM MORA: Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about!
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is Richard Branson! He’s living permanently in the British Virgin Islands now, and he denies it has anything to do with a tax dodge!
MORA: Hurr, hurr, hurr, hurr!
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger.
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, since he gives all the money he makes now to charity I guess he thinks it probably all balances out.
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a tax dodger!
MORA: Ahhhh, he would say that he can use the money BETTER, wouldn’t he.
JOSIE PAGANI: He’s a TAX DODGER!!
[Awkward silence for several seconds.]
MORA: Okay, what else have you got?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well this is an unusual one! A man has died from guzzling mince!
MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! He died from guzzling mince?
JESSICA MADDOCK: [voice betraying a slight edge of irritation] Y-y-y-yes.
[A short discussion about the dangers of guzzling mince, then on to the next topic: self drive cars….]
JESSICA MADDOCK: Not only the big car companies, but also Google is getting in on the act! But a British survey shows that only 29 per cent of people would buy one and a mere 21 per cent would feel safe in one.
MORA: Ah yeah, watch that change though. I’d like the NSA to be in charge of it! Ha ha ha ha ha! Okay, what else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Prince William and Princess Kate are breaking with tradition and choosing their friends from university for the christening of Prince George.
MORA: Oh really?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, the godparents will be chosen from their closest friends, who include Emilia d’Erlanger, Fergus Boyd, Hugh van Cutsem, Alasdair Coutts-Wood, and Alicia Fox-Pitt.
[Lengthy silence]
MORA: Hmmmmm….
JOSIE PAGANI: Those are not really names of ordinary people, are they?
MORA: No they’re aristocratic names! All right, anything else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Yes, a feminist has accused Lorde of racism in her song “Royals”.
MORA: W-w-what??!!??!?
JOSIE PAGANI: Surely not.
JESSICA MADDOCK: Veronica Bayetti Flores says that Lorde lambasts things like gold teeth, Maybach cars and diamonds—all accoutrements of black rappers. She asks why Lorde doesn’t attack golf or polo or Central Park East.
JOSIE PAGANI: Good Lord! It’s SILLY, isn’t it!
MORA: It’s a questionable thesis that gold teeth and Maybach cars are the preserve of rappers, surely. All right, anything else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Plasma televisions will soon be a thing of the past.
MORA: So plasma TV will soon be a thing of the past?
JESSICA MADDOCK: [voice betraying real irritation] Y-y-yeah…
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 o’clock news………………………..
[After the break, the usual dispiriting crap……]
1.) Penny Hulse skillfully deals with a series of bumptious and ridiculous questions from Mora. Somehow she maintains her equanimity throughout.
2.) Josie Pagani launches into a wandery, poorly informed potted history of the Rwandan genocide, during which she makes the highly contentious statement that “Rwandans absolutely HATE Kofi Annan”.
3.) A professor of dentistry scolds Jim Mora for approvingly quoting Kevin Milne’s braindead suggestion that people defraud dentists.
[After the 4:30 news and weather, a welcome blast from the past, Neil Diamond’s “They’re coming to America”. This is by way of introducing the next once-over-lightly….]
MORA: China’s official news agency has called for the creation of a “de-Americanised world”, saying the destinies of people should not be left in the hands of a hypocritical nation with a dysfunctional government.
[Long pause….]
MATT NIPPERT Huh!
MORA: Heaping criticism and caustic ridicule on Washington, the Xinhua news agency called the US a civilian slayer, prisoner torturer and meddler in others’ affairs, and said the ‘Pax Americana’ was a failure on all fronts.
JOSIE PAGANI: [snorting] What on EARTH—-
MORA: So what are we to MAKE of this? America has always been a bulwark against totalitarianism….
It has to be noted that neither Josie Pagani nor Matt Nippert challenged this foolish propaganda statement, nor uttered even a murmur of dissent.
faaaaaaaaaaark! now that’s out of the system, gr8t piece Morrissey, especially the bit from the you-know-what news agency. Ha! (Maybachs, now, if I were still a petroleum-head, yet an old , mid-80’s SL500 would be about all I could afford). Did I ever tell you about the Merc diesel ambulance imported by a German dental technician that I remedied after it was erroneously filled with petrol…and the wonderful gig with a live band we enjoyed (Christina and I) held in his consulting rooms, just off Taranaki Street). no, guess not. 😀
If we’re going to have a “Resign-athon”, with much sound and fury, then I suggest we start with those who have betrayed the public. Not their private partners.
If Brown goes, and Banks remains, we all lose.
If Key is faithful to his wife, but unfaithful to his country, does he keep his job, while half the mayors and MPs must lose theirs, because of their private lives?
I don’t defend Brown, or like him much, but I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.
“I sure as hell don’t want to live in a country where sex is a bigger crime than fraud and treason.”
Exactly.
But you’d trust Len and take him at his word after keeping a two year affair secret?
I know I couldn’t.
The Allen – at least he told his wife before it broke in the media
Two years too late, but thankful she must be for that small mercy.
I think he’s a more competent person for the job than John Palino, who I trust to give ratepayers’ money to his best mates, oops, business contacts.
Am I disappointed in Brown? Yes, it’s all so cliched and sordid. Does it affect his ability to run the city? It may do – it all depends on who (if anyone) he’s compromised to keep the affair quiet.
Otherwise, this is something for his family to work through. If it has affected relationships that reduce his ability to do his job, then the public should be concerned. Otherwise, outside of his personal relationships, it’s just info that Brown and the consenting adult he slept with, are two more flawed human beings.
I’ll add this to the other info I know about him when I do the compare and contrasts with other politicians looking to impress.
Don’t think much of that woman sticking herself into Len Brown’s marriage. So many women seem to just go and do this type of thing? Do they not think of their fellow women and the misery they cause?
What a toad.
Of course, the guys are completely incapable of making decisions for themselves.
Correct! Stupid comment from vto
silly eggs. just trying to balance up the comments which so typically and heavily imbalancedly point the naughty finger at the guy rather than the girl, who usually comes across as squeaky clean and pressed against her will into the arms of the typically despicable man. rolly eyes..
+1vto….except that maybe she thought it was just a fling and would never come out….certainly not come out this way
I feel sorry for his wife….but then again who knows….maybe she has had flings before also…and if not she may certainly be contemplating them for the future
so then one feels sorry for the kids….but it is life and sometimes it is best to be prepared rather than kept in a cocoon
Maybe everyone needs an overseas holiday until it all blows over !!!
ooops ….the plot thickens……on more information ……seems like the girlfriend may have let it out of the bag herself! ..and to Whaleoil!..in which case Len definitely should Not resign!….but take an overseas holiday with wifee and kids….
There seems to be a few regular commenters, whose recent comments have gone into auto-moderation. I’m reluctant to release them, before Lynn can check why it’s happening.
Edit: ah, there they are.
[lprent: Just have a lock on the Len Brown against flooding coming in from some of the usual trolls. Releases are pretty fast (except when I’m travelling home of course). ]
Ah. I see. Thanks. Good way of handling it.
So Len Brown cheated on his wife.
Big deal. None of our business. He should be apologising to his wife, not everyone else. That is where the greasing should be focused.
I smell a right wing smear campaign.
Mayors should only forced from office because of serious misconduct. Having an affair is not serious misconduct.
So you don’t have a problem with the threatening texts sent to the young lady, interesting how the left wing think when it happens to one of their own
I bet that if this happened to a right wing politician you lot (all you lefties I mean) would be baying for blood
I do have a problem with threatening txts. Has it been proved who sent them? Or are you willing to convict on no evidence? Due process.
Oh please spare me
Len Browns a walking cliche:
he hooked up with a young Asian women probably fulfilling some fantasy of his (especially if you read her account of the affair) and treats her pretty shabbily, she breaks it off and she then gets sent threatening texts
Yeah I’m sure Len Brown had nothing to do with it, him being a paragon of virtue and all
“He hooked up with a young Asian woman”
As opposed to John Palino and his Chinese girlfriend, 20 years younger? (yes, she is)
Her age and ethnicity are irrelevant to me, but obviously it matters to you, so I guess Palino’s ruled out too. Who’s next for your vote, Minto or Penny?
I was referring to the bit about Brown being a cliche, middle age white man scoring a young Asian women is a cliche but its only a cliche because it happens so often
The problem for Len is that she wasn’t his girlfriend (like John Palino) but she was his mistress
Yeah I know its difficult to defend the indefensible but remember he bought it all on himself
Penny (well, John is cool, yet something is not adding up there according to QoT).
and it is OK with you that Slater and his mates roll out the whole affair in front of the Nation without caring one iota for his wife and children…as I said what goes around…
You mean as much care that Len had for his own family?
Heres the thing, 4/10 Len is a very public figure and he knows it, he knows hes being watched and yet he still decided to carry own with his mistress, the guy even had the balls to introduce her to movers and shakers (surely people who knew he was married to someone else) hes the person that brought his own family into this
Unfortunately Dirty Lens family is caught in the crossfire but again thats because of Lens own actions, if Len didn’tt wanted this to happen he shouldn’t have pursued the women
As I said before, if it is proven that it was Brown that sent the threatening texts, then that would be serious misconduct, and he should step down, but so far there is no proof that he sent the txts.
Give it time, the stories only just been broken…enough time for Len to go on everyones favourite lefty show and have good “poor me” session
Did Campbell ask him about the threatening texts?
There’s a problem with the threatening texts so we probably find out who sent them rather than assume that it was Len Brown.
Nope and you can check my comments here about the Labour MP that watched porn.
In fact, the only people I know that get really upset about people having sex is the RWNJs. It’s the politics of envy – their not getting laid and they’re jealous.
You can’t compare having a hand shandy over some tame porn to cheating on your wife and sending threatening texts to cover it up
you just accused LB of sending threatening texts.
Got a helping of evidence for that?
It seems I just did.
The problem isn’t the affair but societies damaging views on sex.
see Foucault; “too much made of sex” . (yes Cameron and David, that is why this site is The Standard ).
Yep – Millsy. It IS none of our business. and it doesn’t interfere with Len’s ability to be the Mayor.
It’s there in large neon lights.
Seven Sharp (no never watch it but they signalled it in advance) had a poll. Overwhelmingly in favour of Len Brown resigning. Metro editor said he wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised either but for a different reason. Slater, Lusk and co. would have set their bush telegraph on high alert and lined up the moral Right in large numbers.
Maybe, but I think this is just as much a “sink John Campbell” exercise. The super soft interview by Campbell would have been predicted. Just wait for tomorrow and more info on the “threats” will emerge. An embarrassment to Campbell (who ignored that issue) as much as Brown (who is dead meat anyway).
Seriously? Stop blaming the right and blame the 2 minute noodle mayor that couldn’t keep it in his pants
I know its a difficult concept to grasp but if he didn’t cheat on his wife and threaten the mistress then there wouldn’t have been a scandal
What is about the left that they seem incapable of owning up to their errors and always try to find someone else to blame…
John Palino was the Right’s candidate in Auckland. He came a distant second to Brown.
Palino’s campaign manager was … Slater’s dad.
Aha. Thanks for that gobsmacked. Like father like son. Remember hearing about Slater senior back in the 80s. I think he was the chairman of the Auckland branch of the National Party at the time. Rather a nasty piece of work from all accounts. Didn’t he and Slater junior try to smear the current Nat. Party Chairman, Goodfellow after he ousted Slater senior?
Edit: Yes they did and it’s always to do with sex. Couple of slimeballs both of them. And how about Palino? He must have known about it and approved their actions!
Slater What a sleazy loser..Loved Len Brown’s performance on Campbell…Masterful.I was moved to tears of compassion.
Much better than Shagger Brash’s performance. Even better than Lange’s misedemeanours.
Mine pale by comparison but who cares? Watch Len Brown’s popularity polls rocket like Clinton’s.
Hey why do people get so exited about sex…Its the economy stupid!
God I love the dramas that TV celebrities and slime bloggers can drag up.Campbell’s pietism was a bit overdone though.
I can’t wait for Slater’s mosquito (I mean slug) attacks on Cunliffe.Should be worth a lot of votes.
An inside job. Those behind wanting Brown gone did not want Palino associated with Brown’s indiscretion as this may have cost Palino votes.
They had to wait for the result as Brown may have lost. They will make Brown’s job untenable.
Brown’s vision of a city rail loop jeopardised by blurred boundaries. The right want Brown gone because there aint no money for his train set.
Yep those cunning righties, the way they tricked Brown into instigating the affair and then how they manipulated him into continuing it for two years…will they stoop to nothing?
Blurred boundaries and dirty tricks. The woman Brown had the affair with is the meat in the sandwhich and she may end up being fodder and she has to be so careful.
My advise to her is get your own legal advise.
I agree, shes a pawn in all this
Or maybe they should just have revealed the affair during/before the elction campaign, then people could have had the choice to vote for Brown or someone else?
Timing smells of a cynical ploy.
Nats just seem to hate democracy.
And Bevan Chaung was standing on the Cits & Rats ticket – politically aligned to the Nats and Palino.
All a bit dodgy.
Quoting BLiP from Karol’s link:
Would it have been brown that instigated the affair?
The plot thickens. Are Communities and Residents the old Cits & Rats, aka Auckland Council National Branch?
https://plus.google.com/108237597844137113671/posts
Bevan Chuang – Google+
plus.google.com
Bevan Chuang – The Burlesque Dancing Superwoman – Member of Ethnic People’s Advisory Panel, Auckland Council – Auckland Council – Hong Kong – Auckland
Yep. Something smells badly here, and it’s not a fragrant oriental blossom either:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_and_Residents
Communities and Residents – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org
The Auckland Communities and Residents Incorporated, known as Communities and Residents (C&R), is an established right-leaning local bodyticket in Auckland, New Zealand. It formed in 1937 as Citizens & Ratepayers with a view to control the Auckland City Council and prevent the left-leaning Labour Pa…
And then there’s this comment on TS from BLiP back in July.
Yes, that affair is wrong and the Auckland people can decide for themselves, but BlubberOil bringing down a whole family publically is no laughing matter either. What goes around Cameron.
I’m sure he knows the score and while its sad the family is involved its only involved because of Len (cheap knickers) Browns actions
If Len 4/10 Brown cared for his family as much as he’d like the public and media to care about his family we wouldn’t be having this discussion
I don’t see how having an affair can take away from caring for others.
Considering the consequences of his actions towards his family I’d suggest he cares two-fifths of f**k all towards his family especially his wife
I suspect that there was no change in his actions towards his family and thus the consequences to his family are the result of the affair being made public which it wasn’t by him or his family.
Ah so its not 4/10 Lens fault, good to know
If this affair is what I’m thinking, I hope someone ends up in prison for it. We’ll see.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10778625
Murray if half the stink around this girl comes out, it’s going to be messy!
a long drag on
Honey trap? Many a famous dignitary has fallen for that one.
2 years is quite a long time to run a honey trap…
Thought of that later.Too long for a honey trap. More like a set-up to bring Brown down and install Palino in his place.
If only there had been a way to stymie the plan…like, oh I don’t know, not having the affair?
+1 …and some have been blackmailed into sticking with or marrying the ‘ honey trap’ in all probability…or suffered the consequences of not doing so……..
Wont let me edit so:
… add anonymous threats but little ‘lady’ doesn’t go to the police. Interesting.
The source and content of the txts will be crucial to the case.
It is not acceptable to intimidate or harass a person.
There needs to be some sort of investigation to determine whether or not the txts are genuine. Hell we may never get to see them, recall the emails between Dunne and Vance.
Will Key get involved in a city council matter, recall what he has said about Banks when he was mayor and how Key says he is not Banks leader.
OK, I know people have busy lives and can’t always check out the background details, but for those trying to follow this grubby business, here are the basic facts:
1) The Right wanted to defeat Brown (not sure why they’d bother, but never mind, that’s what they wanted)
2) Various candidates were canvassed, none were credible, Nobody could win at the ballot box.
3) Palino stood as a token Rightie. But obviously couldn’t win.
4) Slater (father, son, who cares?) got dirt on Brown. BUT their problem was … Palino’s private history is even more “colourful”. So they couldn’t run with “Saint versus Sinner”.
5) So their best option (in their warped thinking) was to wait until Brown had won, and then hit him.
Therefore, the choice NOW (see all media parrots) is not “Who do you vote for Mayor?’ but “Should the Mayor resign”?. That’s a crucial difference. It’s not Brown versus fallible alternative, its Brown versus nobody.
The aim is to change to a narrative they think they can win (i.e. Dump Brown), not one they would lose (i.e. Vote Palino).
And – this is classic SOP for these guys – they try to win a dirt-fight in the media, not a straight fight at the ballot box. Hence the references to ‘online polls”, instead of real ones. The problem with real votes is that they can be counted. Whereas astroturf and noise can’t be.
We’ve got to get wise to their Rove tactics, and not take them at face value ever. It’s gonna be a lot worse next year.
Interesting WO April post about Bevan – why did he suddenly take up her cause?
What a bunch of physically degenerate toss pots…
I share your low opinion of the WhaleSpew suckups.
Um no Cameron Slater doesn’t have any time for them either but good try
From the link:
So ‘Bevan’ was happy to go to the police about an anti-Chinese leaflet drop but didn’t report recent anonymous threats to herself. A bit strange.
There’s a lot that is very strange about this. When it all goes tits up, Slater and a few others are not going to enjoy finding out how expendable they are.
QFT
Basic Facts
Well maybe Len should have shagged the help if he didn’t want it out in the open.
And that covers points 1 to 5
Next please, but try harder
So do you think Brown should resign?
And do you apply that to all elected reps?
Think for a moment before replying …
I don’t think he should resign because then the issue would go away
you are very forth-coming this evening, btw, we are at 330, let’s try for Four hundie aye.
(and it’s an aye aye to you too The Al1en, boldly going)
Well local body politics is normally so boring….
some truth to that, same old, same old.
Surely set ups, schemes and political machination are totally a different matter as to whether LB can ever be a trustworthy sort of guy again, let alone trusted mayor of our biggest city.
It is all about trust, and as a politico, if you lie you lose it. Hard to see how outside the walls of a one eyed blogosphere he can maintain credibility, whether ultimately it’s a private matter (which of course it’s not, he’s the mayor) or just an ego flattering sex thing. If he can lie to his missus for two years, then what’s he prepared to do to us? And so it will go, etc…
Anyway, I’ve said my bit now, so no need to fall out with anyone, especially over a guy that can’t keep to his vows.
have you my friend
Yes, I keep to my vows, and on this topic, yes, as saying extra won’t make me any more correct, and no-one like the guy that’s always right 😆
“The Man They Love To Hate”. 😉
And though he probably didn’y care too much
The girl she finally left him
Because she loved the man too much
How much can one Daemon achieve.
Let you know when I get the bill.
Be ready to leggit.
sounds like Mary, she’s quite contrary about her real estate, didn’t you know.
Nothing like Mary, more Mungo and Midge.
keeping me from my movie Captain Pugwash.
Who Made Who the ‘king hit”.
Just setting you up to hit the 400
You know you want to 😉
“I’m leavin’ it up to you who who…” (fast, maybe you have fibre; I despaired and finally connected up a gifted computer, as anybody who is interested can tell).
Knock yourself out, (figuratively speaking of course).
Ha! comment was all yours.
Result.
“Minute By Minute” man
Auckland has some super sized problems that only apply to Auckland. Will think about your questions.
a whimsical wending pseudonym
McFlock:
I wish i lived in a gingerbread house.
DIY would rot your teeth
Rogue:
But it would be yummy.
introduced a gingernut to #1 de-facto grand-daughter on the weekend; she loved it. Up your game, plenty of cavities for everyone
Not in Hamilton though they have fluoridation 🙂
don’t hide your light under a bushel; plurality plays out.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
Brett didn’t mention deny masturbatory kitten-drowning. However, anyone who spreads the rumour that he partakes in it is being grossly irresponsible, as we don’t know the truth of the matter.
been drinking? or merely thinking…
slow computer and double press of the button 🙂
McFlock:
I can honesty say, that i dont masturbate to drowning kittens.
well, that’s a relief
Already thinking about who to vote for in 2014…
Help Wanted Column:
Long-term Green Party member, likes the cut of DC’s jib and the direction the party seems headed, seeks advice on how to decide between GP and LP for party vote. Any well-researched thoughts on the key policy differentiators?
Thanks, Jim
Tricksy house goppits.
But previously, House Republicans had made a small but hugely consequential move to block them from doing it.
Here’s the rule in question:
In other words, if the House and Senate are gridlocked as they were on the eve of the shutdown, any motion from any member to end that gridlock should be allowed to proceed. Like, for example, a motion to vote on the Senate bill. That’s how House Democrats read it.
But the House Rules Committee voted the night of Sept. 30 to change that rule for this specific bill. They added language dictating that any motion “may be offered only by the majority Leader or his designee.”
So unless House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) wanted the Senate spending bill to come to the floor, it wasn’t going to happen. And it didn’t.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/the-house-gop-s-little-rule-change-that-guaranteed-a-shutdown
The demands.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/here-are-the-gops-debt-ceiling-demands-and-they-are-insane/280012/
ooh, whose ‘insane’ now. oh dear, how sad, Nevermind (‘cept for all the folks back home missing out on the American Dream).What would Ralph Waite’s character say.
ps, only 18 more # comments to go, but I gotta go watch a movie
and kill some Slugs
When is an election win, not a election win?
That’s some menu. Pity it doesn’t include the TPP.
when you are the first African-American POTUS
The truth comes out “First home buyers, shut out of the market by new restrictions to lending rules, are better off not owning a home at all rather than purchasing one to find it’s no longer worth what they’ve paid, Prime Minister John Key says.”
So those wanting to buy a house are better of renting are they Key?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9284357/Key-defends-loan-restrictions