And a school that was reportedly sheltering people fleeing Aleppo! Further glory to great savior Putin, whose crimes do not count because he is not Western.
‘I oppose war crimes especially those targeting civilians and the medical infrastructure that supports civilian populations in a war zone. People who do these things are war criminals who should be tried in court and should lose the support of anyone who claims to be of the left’.
Keep looking Moz, it’s there somewhere. If you haven’t found it by this evening get back to me and I promise to take action. I’ve got the night shift at trp towers on standby just in case. They’re big fans of your work.
I wonder what they’re excuse will be. The US at least told a large part of the truth when it slaughtered innocents at a hospital . . .
. . . A U.S. airstrike that mistakenly killed 30 people at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last month was, in part, the result of military personnel inadvertently aiming at the wrong target — the hospital compound — instead of a suspected nearby site, from which Taliban fighters were firing, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday . . .
As an internationalist, does it grind against your allegiance to accept that the USA and the UK are directly responsible for the very existence of ISIS ?
The fact that Putin fights like this, as has been known since Grozny, is why I don’t support him. The same reason I didn’t support what was done by Bush in Iraq and Kissinger in SE Asia.
I realise that other people do support Putin on the basis he is not Western though, I get that.
Putin is far from alone in the use of cluster bombs, although he is less likely to be breaking his own law than Obama is . . .
Human Rights Watch released a report Sunday providing new indications that Saudi Arabia has fired American-made cluster munitions, banned by international treaty, in civilian areas of Yemen, and said their use may also violate United States law.
The report included photographs from Yemen purporting to show unexploded but potentially lethal remnants of American cluster weapons, suggesting that they had failed legally required reliability standards . . .
“Good on Joycey for front-footing it!”
Is Hillary Barry auditioning for a future rôle as parliamentary head-nodder? Paul Henry, TV3, Tuesday 16 February 2016
Shortly after 6 o’clock news, the eponymous host and his two slaves engage in a discussion about the major news story of the last 24 hours: John Oliver’s coverage of the dildo attack on Steven Joyce at Waitangi. After Henry mentions that Joyce had quipped “Might as well send it straight to John Oliver and get it over with,” there’s a brief clip of Labour leader Andrew Little contending that this is no longer a laughing matter, and New Zealand is now an international laughing stock. Cut to news-reader slave Hilary Barry frowning at that killjoy, then expressing her North Korean level of support for the regime. “Good on Joycey,” she intones fervently, “for front-footing it!”
There is no longer even the slightest pretense of political objectivity on this show. That Key regime bail-out of Media Works a few years back is really paying off.
BREEN PREDICTS:
In a few years, look for National M.P. Hillary Barry to fill the vital parliamentary head-nodding rôle currently occupied by another old television hack, Maggie Barry and her understudies Louise Upston and Tim McIndoe.
Still think that hatchet job of the smelly TPP protesters was the lowest they’ve gone. Courtesy of Garner and du Plessis.
We should remember who were the enablers for the elite.
Joyce got a lot more than he wished for, mocked the crap out of. Key and his pet flag project copped it also. Teflon John can hardly blame anyone else but his lead snake oil salesman Joyce for really bringing the dildo saga to a worldwide audience.
Not the brightest dildo in the toy box, but certainly the biggest. Be a couple of angry hobbits in the House today. Keep it coming team teflon, laughter will make a change to the booing you have been getting lately.
I am no fan of Joyce but I actually think he has handled this as well as he possibly could. He had no control over getting smacked in the face with a big dick. Did he go full on offensive? no he actually pushed the humorous side of it. May have been un wise to goad Oliver but I wonder if John really could have avoided pulling the piss out of the guy who said that the NACT adds were “pretty legal”.
Audrey Young pens an odd piece together leading with John Key’s honeymoon is over than drops in the small crowd nonsense booing him at the BDO.
One thing is clear Natcorp are panicked. Last week they conducted polling in Northland & Whangarei electorates seeking information about do you know the candidates from the last election and who would you vote for if an election was held tomorrow? Monitoring Shane Reti’s popularity closely, given the likelihood that Shane Jones could make his comeback in the Whangarei seat. Interesting Peters was saying Whangarei will fall to NZF next.
the first comment is interesting, the Lady complaining that Winz appointments are weeks away, that the National MP for the electorate is not helpfull, and Unions were not allowed on the site.
Oh shucks. NZ is waking up from the beauty slumber of the last few years.
“A 70-year-old eco-warrior has been left bruised and battered after being beaten in a “cowardly” attack outside his Shannon home in the dead of night.
As they left the men commented on who had sent them. However, the Horowhenua Chronicle will not identify them as police are investigating the assault.
Mr Andrews is an environmental activist and spent Friday and Saturday prior to the attack, dealing with an issue to do with Shannon’s Sewerage Treatment Plant where he and Shannon councillor Ross Campbell filmed what they believed to be raw sewage being pumped into the nearby Otauru Stream (Standsell drain) which then poured into the nearby Mangaone Stream, which feeds the Manawatu River.”
The Horror Phew Enema city council is hopeless. I have been on at them for 2 years to do some proper recycling, but no. Everything still goes into the landfill.
Long term effects?
Blenheim 1999- 35 shops empty after nine years of National. Personally counted.
Come forward to 2011 after 9 years of Labour and three years of National.
Blenheim 15 shops empty.
After 7 years of National, in 2015
Blenheim 20 shops empty.
After 8 years of National in 2016?
Blenheim 29 shops empty. Double that of five years ago.
Figures from the Marlborough Express.
I wonder how other regional economies are faring under National? Was this neglect apparent in Northland and reflected in the message given recently to National by the election of Winston Peters in preference to a National lackey?
National seems to be lacking the key to economic growth.
as i posted yesterday, one of my real estate customers is really happy that the asian investors (her term not mine) are finally recieving their IRD numbers and sales in Auckland will pick up again and prices should raise accordingly.
don’t you feel the rockstar economy? All drugs rock n roll and early death?
Even the chief of the dairy industry says the government got it wrong while Goff lays out the differences in the public consultation process during the China agreement and the TPP. This highlights to me just why Labour moved away from the so called bi-partisan relationship – because the current government had abandoned the inclusive consultation process adopted by the more publicly responsible Labour government.
Farrer can whinge all he likes about the change in attitude by Labour but the real change in attitude was by Tim Groser and his paranoid, do-nothing department.
look it was a really funny video, and friends of mine from overseas really think that our government is worse than theirs, at least as one friend put it, they can keep it in their pants :
lol..
bwhahahahahahahahaha Dildo Baggins. Awesome comedy. Can you see the Honorable Mr. Joyce go and meet and greet dignitaries overseas…..Gentlement and Ladies….Dildo Bagg….err Steven Joyce Minster of something from NZ.
It doesn’t matter, that statement comes down right near the end which means the narrative has already been planted in the readers mind so when they get to the bottom (IF they get to the bottom) the idea that Little is humourless is already stuck there.
Whereas the first two paragraphs are:
“The Leader of the Opposition has expressed his concern over a skit which made fun of a government minister being hit with a sex toy.”
“Labour leader Andrew Little questioned minister Steven Joyce’s invitation for a comedian to poke fun at the incident which occurred a couple of weeks ago.”
I mean seriously can you really not see the issue here?
Whoever is running the media for Andrew Little should be all over this
You are a liar. You’ve made an argument that Little has no sense of humour and you’ve quoted some bits from a newspaper article to back that up and then left out the bit where they’ve said he was finding the whole thing funny. Hence you lied.
Or, you didn’t actually watch Little or read the whole article, which makes you stupid.
You must have liked the phrase John Oliver used at the beginning of the video regarding previous coverage of New Zealand and “their ridiculous Prime Minister .”
I know I did, even though I felt embarassed, it was such a relief to hear someone in the media speak the truth!
If the political left think that pushing a Twerking for a “Pervy PM” angle against “dirty old man” John Key is going to help prevent a 4th term for National, it has another think coming.
Good question, although another one might be ‘What would ensure a first term left wing coalition govt?’
In terms of preventing National getting a 4th term, I think the recording of and discussion about the PM of NZ being a disgrace of a PM (separate from his other sins) is useful.
I also think the TPPA is going to be a big thorn in their side if the protest momentum can be kept going.
But ultimately I think the problem isn’t that National are good, it’s that we need Labour to present as competent and then the left wing parties to present as a govt in waiting. No amount of dealing to National will make up for that if it’s missing.
In terms of preventing National getting a 4th term, I think the recording of and discussion about the PM of NZ being a disgrace of a PM (separate from his other sins) is useful.
– No it won’t, the majority of voters don’t seem to care
I also think the TPPA is going to be a big thorn in their side if the protest momentum can be kept going.
– It will be a big thorn but that thorn will be for Labour (you don’t think Key will go hard on Littles support but not really support for the TPPA?)
But ultimately I think the problem isn’t that National are good, it’s that we need Labour to present as competent and then the left wing parties to present as a govt in waiting. No amount of dealing to National will make up for that if it’s missing.
My theorising is that National and John Key are still high in the polls and Labours stagnating and I bet that the next round of polls will see a slight lift for National and a slight dip for Labour
We don’t need the majority of voters to care, we just need enough voters to vote on the left. The right didn’t win by a huge margin last time.
“My theorising is that National and John Key are still high in the polls and Labours stagnating and I bet that the next round of polls will see a slight lift for National and a slight dip for Labour”
Sure, but how do you tie that into “the majority of voters don’t seem to care” about Key as PM supporting rape culture? I’m not talking about the next poll, I’m talking about a steady shift within the culture in NZ over time. The next poll could be influenced by a rugby game or any other event, I don’t see how you could pull out the influence of a dynamic happening over a year or so.
– Heres what the Left needed to win last time:
Labour + Green + NZFirst + Maori Party + UF + Act
and heres what National could have done
National + MP or National + UF or National + Act
You are assuming that the left wouldn’t pick up any additional votes, so that doesn’t make sense.
Because if the voters did care, and more pertinently believed what the left were saying, then Nationals and John Keys numbers would be getting close to Labours and Littles
“You are assuming that the left wouldn’t pick up any additional votes, so that doesn’t make sense.”
– I’m assuming you’re referring to the missing million voters? If so you’re falling into the trap that thinks all those voters are left wing voters and if Labour just went more left all the voters would flock to it
“Because if the voters did care, and more pertinently believed what the left were saying, then Nationals and John Keys numbers would be getting close to Labours and Littles”
Only if things were really simple and people thought about voting in such simplistic ways. We’ve both agreed that the lefts polling isn’t going to move much until Labour look more competent, so there may be people upset at Key who still won’t say Labour until Labour change, but when Labour change they will jump easily. This is why the timeframes are important. It’s a long time until the next election and I can’t see Key improving his record in that time.
“– I’m assuming you’re referring to the missing million voters? If so you’re falling into the trap that thinks all those voters are left wing voters and if Labour just went more left all the voters would flock to it”
No, I’m not. I’m assuming that because in the past more NZers have voted on the left they can do so again. That might be part of the non-vote, it might be swing voters. It might be poor RW turnout, or centrist voters wanting to give Labour a chance. Your arguments are superficially tempting to some but the reality is more complex.
well hmm, the voters that booed at him both at the rugby game and the bgo might disagree with you. but in saying that, i agree that a lot of voters would not see it and hence not know about it.
tppa, hmm at the moment it is key’s thorn, and it will be labours thorn when they get to form a coalition government, but they will by then supported and restrained by the Greens (which is good in my eyes) and i think Winston Peters will have a thing to say or two.
again i agree that Labour needs to do better, and so do the Greens and NZ First if they want to be the grand coalition. They all need to up their game and play MMP instead of what evs.
However, reading the article about the Meatworkers that are not working because their chinese overlords are not ready yet (linked to the stuff article in Open Mike), and reading the comments, there are a lot of smaller lesser known National MP’s that are not getting good creds for doing their work, WINZ is not getting good cred for helping these people that are not pulling a wage for a few weeks and all points to the complete lack of care of the National MP’s in their electorate, and the National Governed Ministry that should help these people. I am guessing that nothing much is going to change over the next year, and if National voters get upset enough they might simply abstain from voting if they can’t be seen voting for any of the other parties.
So frankly i think at this day and age, everything is possible, and John Key has more to loose then any of the other parties.
I also think the TPPA is going to be a big thorn in their side if the protest momentum can be kept going.
That’s going to guarantee a 4th term
In terms of preventing National getting a 4th term, I think the recording of and discussion about the PM of NZ being a disgrace of a PM (separate from his other sins) is useful.
Only in lefty world is the PM considered a disgrace, so there’s no win there, if anything it’s costing the left votes.
Seriously, go have a look at John Keys face book page and read some of the offensive comments left wingers have made under pictures of John Key talking and interacting with peoples kids.
Lots and lots of pissed off parents having what is a nice experience ruined by some left wing wankers.
Absolute voter poison for the left, especially Labour.
So you say. I’m finding the whole CT mantra-repeating ‘National will win, the left will lose’ thing without any political substance boring. We need better RWNJs.
A poll last year, fwiw, showed that something like 60% of NZers are against the TPPA, 34% for and the rest undecided. Of the National party voters only 22% are in favour.
Had a quick scroll through of a couple of those, it doesn’t look full of rapid left wingers destroying people’s family time. It looks mostly like Key fans posting applause and a few other people dropping in either political comments or angry insulting ones (and not necessarily lefties, not sure why you categorise them all that way). Par for the course for FB.
I don’t agree with calling Key a paedophile, mostly because I think we are really bad in NZ at dealing with rape culture and throwing round accusations like that makes things murkier not clearer. But I think you underestimate how many people in NZ will be feeling uncomfortable about the growing number of times Key demonstrates at the least poor judgement when it comes to issues close to sexual violence. Even of the people who are good with Key’s politics there will be some who are uncomfortable with how he is on this.
A poll last year, fwiw, showed that something like 60% of NZers are against the TPPA, 34% for and the rest undecided. Of the National party voters only 22% are in favour.
And Labour can’t even get their shit together to interpret from that what they should do with regards to the TPP.
An absolute vote winning position on the TPP staring them right in the face and instead they choose to side with the corporates and transnational financial interests.
Yeah but rememeber there was also a lot of opposition to the partial sell down of shares in the power companies and it didn’t stop National then
The thing the left to recognize is theres a difference between a government enacting a policy that’s unpopular and a enacting a policy that will see you lose an election
This is an unpopular policy but its not going to cost the election for National but when protestors block of roads of people going to work then that will cost votes for the left
And all your doing pal is trying to tag these halfwits you talk about to Labour. We all know Key accused Mana and the Greens of being the small group who disrupted the GDO. You have to get in the real world, the likelihood of a fourth term is remote. For every 10 policies the Bats have put forward 1 or 2 will be met with disapproval, as the years roll by and more disapproving policies come with the years, some voters reach the tipping point. The TPPA, the flag change are big voter slippage, add more as we close in on the 2017 election and it is over for the incumbent. Happened to Clark and it will happen to Key. That is political life cobbah.
Not all voters think FPP not in Epsom as you know and not in Northland as you also know. It has taken a while for the opposition party’s to get their head around strategic voting but the whole country sat up and took notice when Peters took a seat that was regarded as a safe national stronghold. There are countless seats that the same result can happen. Especially in the forgotten regions.
Winston is a good man, an honest man, honest as the day is long, that is why so many Kiwis like the man and his party, his MP’s are solid too. Will be delighted when he can find time from his busy schedule to joins me on a friends super yacht for some much needed r & r with a wee celebration of a tidy donation to his party.
“Seriously, go have a look at John Keys face book page and read some of the offensive comments left wingers have made under pictures of John Key talking and interacting with peoples kids.”
You have a lot of faith in people online, actually being who and what they say they are.
I will give you my opinion from someone who has tagged a few hits on Key and his cronies over the years.
Start now with theme’s that the public can relate to. Highlight their association with corporations, address them as National Corporation or Natcorp, it is clearly evident Kiwis distrust the sweet deal the multi national corporations are getting if the TPPA comes to pass. Use the Tories own trick that this government is tired out of fresh idea’s and use the time for change meme. All this stuff is basic but it will get the desired result.
Yes, i like to point out the changes to the welfare system since our National Led Government started. It is interesting to see how many people actually don’t know that you have no more Widowers benefits, no more Sickness Benefit, etc. That all those people now are on the JobSeekers benefit.
And so on and so on. Nope this did not happen under Labour, these were changes that came about under John Key and his National Party led Government.
Any issues, please contact your local National MP. 🙂
Sabine, the difficulty of pointing out National’s changes to the welfare system is Labour hasn’t committed, or even made mention, they would overturn them.
Use the Tories own trick that this government is tired out of fresh idea’s and use the time for change meme. All this stuff is basic but it will get the desired result.
– That is not a bad idea but the problem for Labour (specifically) is that Labour doesn’t look like its rejuvenated as much as National have, as an example National have two hold overs from the 80s whereas Labour has three but the real problem is that those three from Labour get a lot of air time (King, Goff and Mallard) whereas Williamson and McCully don’t get as much (in Williamsons case far too much but I digress)
Of course yes National could lose it and the opposition could win it but National are still keeping a reasonably tight lid on its internal struggles whereas Labour is still leaking like a sieve
Yes we’re in an MMP environment but the voting public still sees it as Labour + support partners as no one seriously considers that the Greens will ever be more then a support partner so if the left wing block are to take power then Labour MUST be seen to be a credible option for running the country
At the moment National haven’t had any major howlers and Labour hasn’t had any significant hits
If the language kept basic most kiwis (who are not political junkies) soon start following like sheep. “Time for a change this lot have had a good trot of 9 years and if the failed flag change was John Key’s legacy time to move on and let another regime have a go.”
It may be as simple as that or a few attachments may be required? Sold us out to multi national corporations, foreign speculators are changing the kiwi life as we use to know it.
Because National, though looking a bit frayed around the edges, is still preferable to a Labour/Green coalition
That will change in the future of course but at the moment theres no real appetite for change (the TPPA is not as big a deal as the left would like to think it is) and, in the voters minds, theres no other opposition worth giving a go to
Of course the Greens will take another hit, I mean whats one more when you’ve spent over 25 years in the wilderness
“Theres a good Green party you just roll over and lie on your back and let Labour rub your belly once again while Winston laughs at you, because its for the greater good don’t you know”
You’re still thinking about things like bills passed and policies. I’m talking about the much bigger influence the Greens have had and your still in denial about it. You can spin all you like, but the success of the GP doesn’t get defined by people like yourself that don’t understand what they do, or value it. Try and remember that when Climate Change gets really uncomfortable for you personally.
I think the real problem for the Labour Party, who must do well if National are displaced, is simply that they are continuously negative.
The editorial in the February 13 Listener illustrated their problem.
I can’t seem to link to it on-line. Sorry.
The editorial was about changing the flag. They start by pointing out that Labour, in a policy they wish to be forgotten, were in favour of a change.
As Mallard said before the last election “The time has come for a change and it is right for the issue to be put to the public”.
The article then goes on to say “Why has Labour spent the last few months sullenly resisting a proposal that it embraced less than two years ago”.
Then they explain it as “Labour is suffering from a severe case of sour grapes”. This is followed by “The party appears incapable of rising above its dislike of the Prime Minister, even fighting him on policies with which it might be expected to agree”
They also quote Labour man Nick Leggett that “People vote for hope, optimism and the promise of something better” and that Little should “stop barking at passing cars”.
The final part continues “what better time than now for Little to drop the curmudgeonly resistance” and concludes that Labour “need to stop sulking and get on board”
Why can’t Labour accept that an idea isn’t automatically unclean because Key supports it? Is the whole of Labour policy to be asking what John Key thinks and then simply spout it back after prefacing the words “We are opposed”.
I suspect that if John Key announced a policy of free tertiary education tomorrow Labour would do an immediate about turn and respond that they are opposed to the idea. They are never going to be the Government with their current we hate John Key attitude.
Labour doesn’t look like they’re even remotely ready to govern NZ.
Combine that with the left government having to consist of three good sized parties and maybe one or two small parties and you’ve got a recipe for instability and chaos.
How do you even reach an agreement?, let alone pitch this sort of scenario to the NZ voter.
Until one party on the left makes into the late 30’s, early 40’s the left will always be struggling to win.
The only chance the left has is if NZ falls completely apart and the voters feels like they’ve got nothing to lose.
Do you really think Labour is going to get over 30% in 2017?
I totally struggle to envisage a scenario where that is going to happen.
I am still picking them coming in at +/-3% of their 2014 result = 22% to 28%.
There are Labour supporters I know who are dead sure that Labour will deliver well over 30% next year.
Like I said, I cannot visualise it, excepting perhaps Key self destructing on live TV. Calling a snap election with an almost empty glass of scotch in one hand while tugging on the reporters pony tail should do it.
The thought of another 3 years is grim, still plenty of water to go under the bridge CV. From what I saw at Waitangi the usual suspects are still circling. I could have flogged the lot of them out of the party if I had a bull whip.
Moving on… I prefer operating as a free agent, have for a while now, quite close with First & Green crews and met a pleasant couple of new hopes within the old party. I still believe the Teflon is coming apart, thanks to the hardcore who are doing the heavy work trying to tear the system down.
Primary definition of “many” according to the Merriam/Webster dictionary
“consisting of or amounting to a large but indefinite number”
Do you really think 2 is a large number. Really truly?
The last 4 term Government left office in late 1972, or about 43 years ago. That seems a very short 2 generations to me rather than the grandiose claim of “many generations”.
i don’t think that the ‘left’ is underestimating Key.
they don’t like him, they abhor him and his posse. I frankly find the man to be as disgusting as one can find a man disgusting, but that is simply the female talking that had to deal many many times with managers like him. They are disgusting horrible little men. They win usually by walking over bodies and abusing everyone around them until either the leave or give up.
But CV, the ones that i count more dangerous like Key are people like you.
Disillusion, bitter and angry, and just too happy to cry constantly about how those that have wronged you are wrong no matter what they do. No matter that the wrong you are crying about are several decades old, that the people that have wronged you are maybe not even in the party any more or may have been young at the time. No you want a personal apology, back tracking and what nots. YOU want, you you you you you.
You, and man and women like you, are the ‘left’ biggest enemy.
And you have no alternative to offer, in fact you don’t want an alternative, you just want to beat your chest and whine.
But frankly we don’t need your saviour who will never show up, but if we want to stop the sell out of this country, literally and figuratively, than the left will have to work together.
And frankly I don’t care if Labour comes in with 30%, or the Green Party or NZ First, as long as the parties of the opposition understand that they each have a role to play in bringing this country back to its people.
You however should have a good look in the mirror and ask yourself why you actually pretend to care about the left.
The Political Left in NZ is dead in the water, Sabine.
The biggest party of the “Left” wants to stay in the TPP, thinks that NZ Super is unaffordable, and voted for the bene bashing as well as the anti-terrorism and spying legislation that National put up on behalf of the NSA.
No you want a personal apology, back tracking and what nots. YOU want, you you you you you.
You, and man and women like you, are the ‘left’ biggest enemy.
Then do what the Left has always been good at, witch hunt out the enemy.
Have you noted that’s how Labour has always behaved, since the days of John A Lee?
And its exactly how Labour treated Cunliffe and Cunliffe’s supporters?
NB I don’t want a single thing more from the Labour Party because I know that they are incapable of holding firm to any worthwhile policy long enough to actually deliver it.
As for apologies etc. from Labour, who are you kidding. Many in there still think Rogernomics was necessary and the couldn’t even bring themselves to properly congratulate Corbyn on his victory in the UK.
Now your being silly and quiet surprised you have lowered yourself to turn to kaka’s that is abit childish I must say.
Anyway before you go have your forced afternoon nap answering your flippant opinion. In the end the electorate just want the incumbent gone burger, having finally woken up to the deceitful lies and awful mismanagement of our economy.
“In the end the electorate just want the incumbent gone burger, having finally woken up”
Do you actually think the electorate feels that way Skinny or is it just you and your friends. There doesn’t seem to be any such feeling being exhibited in the polls.
Alwyn I think you know about the little number I done the other week, deliberately planned for the day after the big anti TPPA protest in Auckland. My debriefing analysis showed Peters and to a lesser degree Labour and Greens gained some shift support, both their speakers spoke very well too.
Over 100,000 (now 160.000)) watched either live or afterwards on mainly the NZH fb feed, tho other media like tv1news were there but i never watched we were celebrating out for dinner. A truck load of comments and thousands of shares of the video. There were many comments who had voted National they were openly saying they had lost their vote, most were saying Winston was getting their viote next year, some it was the Greens or Labour. Looking at their profiles and friends suggested they were genuine. Crude but good enough as a guide. It will still up if you want to go look, I have moved on to the next little number planned in my head.
I assume that NZH fb means FaceBook.
From a link weka posted the other day it appears that to look at it you need a FaceBook persona.
That I will not do. I dislike FaceBooks mode of operation and refuse to have anything to do with it.
If I’ve interpreted you wrongly, or the bit about a persona on FB, or indeed if you published elsewhere please let me know. Otherwise I will have to give it a miss.
Just for you alwyn since you make a stand against the ever worsening Face Book.
If you use a search engine type Politicians voice concern over TPP at rally NZ Heard, this new item and a couple of video clips should be on there. I can not cut and paste on here for some reason.
You know how the right-wing have always told us that opening up more land for housing would lower prices?
Well, it seems that that doesn’t work:
The second is that greenfield land supply is not necessarily a solution for house price inflation. Tauranga is less than one-tenth the size of Auckland and its house prices are already high relative to local incomes. Adding greenfield land supply hasn’t prevented or reversed previous price increases. In larger cities, where fringe locations are much less of a substitute for desirable central locations, it’s likely to be even less effective.
well, if you think about it terms of ‘what comes around goes around’ what else was to be expected.
If, a big IF, cashed up Aucklanders are moving to Tauranga and other such nice places to buy there (now, that even with all the money they received from selling their property in AKL, that they can’t afford a property in Auckland anymore) they are running up prices in that market as they come with Cash that no one in Tauranga has.
And the same happens in other places. So essentially the housing crisis is carried from one town to the next, leaving ordinary citizens that only want to buy a house to live in out of a chance to ever buy, and leaving more and more properties waiting for that cashed up speculator to buy. Why sell your house, if keeping it empty will increase its value. Heck, why work 🙂
Anyone who could not see this happening needs to adjust their glasses, as that was a consequence quite a few of us have warned of.
Apologies about the loss of the mobile version. Looks like it turned off on Friday.
There was an update to wp-touch mobile theme that had a fix in it to deal with multi-site systems like The Standard (even though we have never used it in public). By the look of it, it deactivated the local website activation that was on.
I haven’t spent much time on the site for a few days, and none at all on mobile so I didn’t notice (bad Lynn…)
Just in case you’re interested the new Microsoft Edge browser is having terrible issues with caching.
Every link you click on serves a cached version, you then have to reload the page to get the latest version.
What the browsers are meant to do is to cache pages for a set period of time. But on a refresh, they are meant to request the page passing details of their cached version. If it is up to date, then the server returns just use that again. If it isn’t, then it returns a freshly generated page. There is a certain amount of caching going on at all sides. It is how the caching is handled that will be at fault.
It sounds like it is over interpreting the caching hints being passed to it and never bothering to go back to the server. In which case I probably need to tell edge never to cache for
He really doesn’t need to descend to that level (who does). He has neither the push to duty that a few have in that position nor the blatant egoistical need to be at the centre of attention nor the lust for power nor the rent grabbing of some of the political professionals.
It is quite apparent that he just has an arrogant regard for his own abilities and he has a track record that he values to back it up. I don’t think that he really gives a shit about what you and other members of the tall poppy brigade like you think.
Why would he bother to become an MP? It’d constrain his ability to say what he thinks.
He has neither the push to duty that a few have in that position nor the blatant egoistical need to be at the centre of attention nor the lust for power nor the rent grabbing of some of the political professionals
– Yes hes a shrinking violet who avoids the limelight
It is quite apparent that he just has an arrogant regard for his own abilities and he has a track record that he values to back it up. I don’t think that he really gives a shit about what you and other members of the tall poppy brigade like you think.
– I’m a member of the tall poppy brigade because I think hes spinning like a top?
Why would he bother to become an MP? It’d constrain his ability to say what he thinks.
Might help reign in some of his ideas.
Sort of an oxymoron as that reign is royal not the horse-controlling kind. Probably a very apt choice of words PR.
Well, at least it was an interesting explanation of things from his point of view.
I think his assessment is flawed, though: as a commenter pointed out, the imperfect information distributed through the “crowd” was simply that his priority was personal advantage in access, rather than public access.
But the other problem is that he’s assuming that minimising the purchase price is even a priority for the people who donated (who weren’t him). I didn’t donate to that campaign (because fundage), but I do donate on occasion. When I do, my attitude is that the money is sunk – I’m not looking for any return. So really, if they overpay to ensure public ownership, who gives a damn? Any overpayment is simply insurance against a gazumper at the post.
Tomorrow 9:10 AM I will be on Aaron’s Raglan Radio morning show.
We will be talking about the Global banking crisis, the Kiwi saver scam/scheme and the “Open bank resolution” which enables banks to confiscate deposits from small banking depositors if and when a bank fails and which was accepted by New Zealand in 2013.
Quote: “Perhaps you’ve had an experience in our health system recently?
I know a man who sat in a hospital some 18 months ago. He spent a week sitting in a ward, a man in his 40s, with a severely broken leg. It was a mess. And I think it took 8 days for him to have surgery. Short-staffed. Not enough operating theatre space anyway. And so he fasted every day until early afternoon, and then they told him he wouldn’t have surgery that day. Every day. For 8 days.
Our health needs aren’t reducing, they’re increasing. The only way to make cuts for many DHBs will be to staff.
We’re struggling with issues of unmet need, we’re struggling with the issues triggered by the diabetes and obesity epidemics — and so I really feel for our health workers right now.”
A British politician’s outrageous lies are given pride
of place in a BBC report; why does TVNZ go along with this farce?
Television One News, Tuesday 16 February 2016
There is a shameful history of disinformation and black propaganda— i.e., outright lies —by the Americans, the French, the Saudis, the Israelis and the British in the Middle East; most infamously, after the U.S.-U.K. ally Saddam Hussein of Iraq used poison gas to kill thousands of Kurdish civilians in Halabja in 1988, the United States blamed Iran for the massacre. More recently, the scofflaw Obama regime tried to blame the Syrian government for using chemical weapons which were actually used by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated “rebels” backed by the United States and Britain.
It is by no means reliable, and it is quite possibly a fabrication, but one of the major stories in today’s news is of the bombing of two Syrian hospitals by Russia. Anyone familiar with Television One’s dire, face-pulling, unfunny-joke-cracking, smirking, fist-pumping “news team” will not have been at all surprised to see that they decided to simply buy into the propaganda, without making even a gesture of due diligence.
Their “report” of the hospital bombings was not by any credible, independent, respected journalist of the stature of, say, New Zealand’s world-renowned Jon Stephenson. Instead, they went for one James Robbins, yet another robotic product of the BBC’s production line of robotic mediocrity; his “report” of the bombings was nothing more than a highly loaded, partisan denunciation of Britain’s official enemy, Russia. It was so lacking in any sense of balance, so lacking even the slightest sense of skepticism, it might as well have been written by someone at the Foreign Office. Farcically, but appropriately for this Pythonesque effort, Robbins’ “report” ended with a harried-looking British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond, who wearily reiterated his patently false talking points: “Russia could stop this tomorrow, if it started bombing terrorists and stopped bombing the moderate opposition.”
Never, not even during the era of its reprehensibly biased reporting on Ireland in the 1980s under Thatcher’s draconian restrictions, has the BBC been more politically controlled, nor has it has it ever been more untrustworthy than it is now. That TVNZ routinely goes to the BBC, when it is so discredited, and so patently an arm of the British state, is depressing beyond measure.
At the end of this deplorable little propaganda exercise, Simon Dallow read a few closing remarks from his script, his eyes swiveled hard to the right in an apparent attempt to indicate moral disapproval of the evil bastards who bomb hospitals. Chiming in a few seconds later was Wendy “Fist Pumper” Petrie, who obviously felt obliged to follow suit and indicate her own sense of moral outrage at those dastardly Russians; she did this by pausing meaningfully and looking as doleful as she could, before moving on to the next item.
All your life is Time magazineI read it tooWhat does it mean?PressureI'm sure you'll have some cosmic rationaleBut here you are with your faithAnd your Peter Pan adviceYou have no scars on your faceAnd you cannot handle pressureSongwriter: Billy Joel.Christopher Luxon is under pressure from all sides. The reviews are ...
After seeing yet-more-months of political debate and policy decisions to ‘go for growth’ by pulling the same old cheap migration and cheap tourism levers without nearly-enough infrastructure, or any attempt to address the same old lack of globally conventional tax incentives for investment, I thought it would be worth issuing ...
The plans for the buildings that will replace the downtown carpark have been publicly notified giving us the first detailed glance at what is proposed for one of the biggest and best development sites in the city centre. The council agreed to sell the site to Precinct Properties for $122 ...
With the Reserve Bank expected today to return the Official Cash Rate to where it was in mid-2022 comes a measure of how much of a psychological impact the rate has. Federated Farmers has published its latest six-monthly farm confidence survey, which shows that profit expectations have fallen and risen ...
Kiwis Disallowed From Waiting Lists Based on Arbitrary MeasuresWellington hospital are now rejecting patients from specialist waiting lists due to BMI (body mass index).This article from Rachel Thomas for The Post says it all (emphasis mine):A group of Porirua GPs are sounding alarm bells after patients with body mass indexes ...
The Prime Minister says he's really comfortable with us not knowing the reoffending rate for his boot camp programme.They asked him for it at yesterday’s press conference, and he said, nah, not telling, have to respect people's privacy.Okay I'll bite. Let's say they release this information to us:The rate of ...
Warning 1: There is a Nazi theme at the end of this article related to the disabled community. Warning 2: This article could be boring!One day, last year, I excitedly opened up a Substack post that was about how to fight back, and the answer at the end was disappointing ...
This may be rhetorical but here goes: did any of you invest in the $Libra memecoin endorsed and backed by Argentine president and darling of the global Right Javier Milei (who admitted to being paid a fee for his promotion of the token)? You know, the one that soared above ...
Last week various of the great and good of New Zealand economics and public policy trooped off to Hamilton (of all places) for the annual Waikato Economics Forum, one of the successful marketing drives of university’s Vice-Chancellor. My interest was in the speeches delivered by the Minister of Finance and ...
The Prime Minister says the Government would be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine if a ceasefire was reached. The government has announced a $30 million spend on tourism infrastructure and biodiversity projects, including $11m spent to improve popular visitor sites and further $19m towards biodiversity efforts. A New Zealand-born ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler “But what about when the sun doesn't shine?!” Ah yes, the energy debate’s equivalent of “The Earth is flat!” Every time someone mentions solar or wind power, some self-proclaimed energy expert emerges from the woodwork to drop this supposedly devastating truth bomb: ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission.In this article I look into data on how well the rail network serve New Zealanders, and how many people might be able to travel by train… if we ran more than a ...
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Now that the US has ripped up the Atlantic alliance, Europe is more vulnerable now than at any time since the mid-1930s. Apparently, Europe and Ukraine itself will not have a seat at the table in the talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin that will ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Annette Kroen, Research Fellow Planning and Transport, RMIT University The cleanup is underway in northern Queensland following the latest flooding catastrophe to hit the state. More than 7,000 insurance claims have already been lodged, most of them for inundated homes and other ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Subha Parida, Lecturer in Property, University of South Australia Carl Oberg/Shutterstock Houses and fire do not mix. The firestorm which hit Los Angeles in January destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings and forced 130,000 people to evacuate. The 2019–20 Australian megafires destroyed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania Tasmania has been burning for more than two weeks, with no end in sight. Almost 100,000 hectares of bushland in the northwest has burned to date. This includes the Tarkine rainforest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Martin Loosemore, Professor of Construction Management, University of Technology Sydney This week, the Productivity Commission released its much-awaited report into productivity growth in Australia’s housing construction sector. It wasn’t a glowing appraisal. The commission found physical productivity – the total number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pascale Lubbe, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Ecology, University of Otago Royal spoonbills are among several new species that have crossed the Tasman and naturalised in New Zealand. JJ Harrison/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA When people arrived on the shores of Aotearoa ...
Stats NZ’s head is stepping down over the agency’s failure to safeguard census data, and more officials may soon be in the firing line, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘absolutely unacceptable’ failure Stats NZ chief ...
Health NZ is under greater government scrutiny, with the new health minister setting up a unit he says will "drive greater accountability and performance". ...
Manurewa Marae acknowledges should have done better at handling completed census forms, following an inquiry into steps government agencies took to protect data. ...
Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, the Independent Police Conduct Authority says. ...
Comment: Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are making it easier for people to invest in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum without having to handle digital wallets or private keys. These allow investors to buy and sell cryptocurrency through their regular brokerage accounts.This has opened the door for billions of dollars ...
Two long-awaited reports into alleged personal data misuse, centred on census collection and Covid-19 vaccination efforts at Manurewa Marae, were released yesterday. Here’s what you need to know.“Very sobering reading” was how public service commissioner Sir Brian Roche described his organisation’s long-awaited report into the alleged misuse of census ...
Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
The New Zealand Government says the Cook Islands must share more information about the deals it has signed with China, following the release of an ‘action plan’ in the face of protests in the Pacific nation’s capital.The Cook Islands government has also revealed plans to spend $3 million on a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 19 February appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Comment: The recent attack by Destiny Church front groups on a Drag science show at Te Atatū library crossed a line. This wasn’t the first time that Brian Tamaki, the multimillionaire self-appointed ‘apostle’, has ordered acts of aggression against the queer community. Last year, Drag Story Time events were targeted, ...
Martina Salmon is well versed in the fast-paced action on a netball court, but even she was caught by surprise with the speed at which her career changed tack last year.Staying in the fast lane is only part of her drive this season.Fresh off a nine-day camp in Sydney with ...
Last night I may as well have been in Taihape. Or, closer to home, for me at least, somewhere in the Wairarapa. Or Tūrangi, even – which is near where we used to spend the summer when I was a child. For there was that same gorgeous small town feeling ...
Having Auckland’s food scraps dumped onto your rural backyard sounds scandalous, but in the North Island town of Reporoa there’s no fuss about the thousands of tonnes carted here every week.From the same site as one truck drops the waste, another truck picks up fertiliser to spread on local sheep ...
Negotiating rights over freshwater in Treaty settlement negotiations could have extended negotiations a decade, a Ngāi Tahu leader says.Tribal leaders, and its umbrella body, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, have taken the Attorney-General to court in a bid to have the Crown recognise its rangatiratanga (chiefly authority) over wai māori ...
Analysis: Poor safeguarding of New Zealanders’ data could be a widespread practice within the public service and certainly within the health system, according to the findings of an independent inquiry into allegations of misused census and Covid-19 vaccination information.The Public Service Commission’s review, led by consultant Pania Gray and former ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Stone, Principal Research Fellow, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Having dense breasts is a clear risk factor for breast cancer. It can also make cancers hard to spot on mammograms. Yet you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The National Anti-Corruption Commission will finally investigate whether six people referred to it by the royal commission into Robodebt engaged in corrupt conduct. This follows an independent reconsideration by former High Court judge Geoffrey ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Last week in Europe, the United States sent some very strong messages it is prepared to upend the established global order. US Vice President JD Vance warned a stunned Munich ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank cut official interest rates on Tuesday, the first decrease in four years, saying inflationary pressures are easing “a little more quickly than expected”. However, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Reserve Bank has delivered the expected modest rate cut of a quarter of a percentage point, and we’re set for the predictable frenzy of speculation about an April election. The cut is unlikely to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Allan Fels, Professor Allan Fels, Professor of Law, Economics and Business at the University of Melbourne and Monash University., The University of Melbourne Australia is creeping towards adding a divestiture power to its Competition and Consumer Act. Under such a law, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arjen Vaartjes, PhD Student, Quantum Physics, UNSW Sydney Dmitriy Rybin / Shutterstock What makes something quantum? This question has kept a small but dedicated fraction of the world’s population – most of them quantum physicists – up at night for decades. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Anne Kenny, Associate Professor, School of Law, Murdoch University Australia’s minister for home affairs announced on Sunday that the federal government has struck a deal with Nauru to “resettle” three non-citizens from what’s come to be known as the “NZYQ cohort”. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matt Fitzpatrick, Professor in International History, Flinders University (From left to right): Neville Chamberlain, Édouard Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano before signing the Munich Agreement, which gave the Sudetenland to Germany.German Federal Archives/Wikimedia Commons Ukraine ...
Please excuse me but heaps of people in the South Island are at an unacceptable heavy risk of death and injury this morning so this needs re-posting.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15022016/#comment-1133459
Have you drawn this to the attention of whoever is Minister of Transport, vto ?
Probably a bit useless trying to get a response from the puppet who is Minister of “Tourism.
Aleppo, cluster bombs.
I see the Russians have struck a significant blow against terrorism overnight, taking out three MSF field hospitals. That’ll learn ’em!
And a school that was reportedly sheltering people fleeing Aleppo! Further glory to great savior Putin, whose crimes do not count because he is not Western.
Te Reo,
I can find no evidence of your expressing any outrage at the sustained bombing of Kunduz Hospital in Afghanistan last year.
I condemned it, as I condemn this. Because I support things based on what’s done, not on who does it. How about you?
Wonder if you can find similar outrage about Fallujah and Odessa.
You’ll find it from me, but to reiterate,
‘I oppose war crimes especially those targeting civilians and the medical infrastructure that supports civilian populations in a war zone. People who do these things are war criminals who should be tried in court and should lose the support of anyone who claims to be of the left’.
Keep looking Moz, it’s there somewhere. If you haven’t found it by this evening get back to me and I promise to take action. I’ve got the night shift at trp towers on standby just in case. They’re big fans of your work.
‘
I wonder what they’re excuse will be. The US at least told a large part of the truth when it slaughtered innocents at a hospital . . .
As an internationalist, does it grind against your allegiance to accept that the USA and the UK are directly responsible for the very existence of ISIS ?
holy fuck is that what cluster bombs do?
heinous
Here is a timeline of their use.
It seems we should be condemning a lot of countries for their inhumane use.
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/en-gb/cluster-bombs/use-of-cluster-bombs.aspx
Indeed we should. I am, that’s why I posted it.
The fact that Putin fights like this, as has been known since Grozny, is why I don’t support him. The same reason I didn’t support what was done by Bush in Iraq and Kissinger in SE Asia.
I realise that other people do support Putin on the basis he is not Western though, I get that.
‘
Putin is far from alone in the use of cluster bombs, although he is less likely to be breaking his own law than Obama is . . .
“Good on Joycey for front-footing it!”
Is Hillary Barry auditioning for a future rôle as parliamentary head-nodder?
Paul Henry, TV3, Tuesday 16 February 2016
Shortly after 6 o’clock news, the eponymous host and his two slaves engage in a discussion about the major news story of the last 24 hours: John Oliver’s coverage of the dildo attack on Steven Joyce at Waitangi. After Henry mentions that Joyce had quipped “Might as well send it straight to John Oliver and get it over with,” there’s a brief clip of Labour leader Andrew Little contending that this is no longer a laughing matter, and New Zealand is now an international laughing stock. Cut to news-reader slave Hilary Barry frowning at that killjoy, then expressing her North Korean level of support for the regime. “Good on Joycey,” she intones fervently, “for front-footing it!”
There is no longer even the slightest pretense of political objectivity on this show. That Key regime bail-out of Media Works a few years back is really paying off.
BREEN PREDICTS:
In a few years, look for National M.P. Hillary Barry to fill the vital parliamentary head-nodding rôle currently occupied by another old television hack, Maggie Barry and her understudies Louise Upston and Tim McIndoe.
Apparently Key gave an audience to Henry the day before.
The Dear Leader was glorified by his media slaves.
Still think that hatchet job of the smelly TPP protesters was the lowest they’ve gone. Courtesy of Garner and du Plessis.
We should remember who were the enablers for the elite.
Joyce got a lot more than he wished for, mocked the crap out of. Key and his pet flag project copped it also. Teflon John can hardly blame anyone else but his lead snake oil salesman Joyce for really bringing the dildo saga to a worldwide audience.
Not the brightest dildo in the toy box, but certainly the biggest. Be a couple of angry hobbits in the House today. Keep it coming team teflon, laughter will make a change to the booing you have been getting lately.
I am no fan of Joyce but I actually think he has handled this as well as he possibly could. He had no control over getting smacked in the face with a big dick. Did he go full on offensive? no he actually pushed the humorous side of it. May have been un wise to goad Oliver but I wonder if John really could have avoided pulling the piss out of the guy who said that the NACT adds were “pretty legal”.
How to grief the death of a river
http://americanindiansandfriends.com/news/how-do-we-grieve-the-death-of-a-river-written-by-winona-laduke
That’s very interesting including the connection to NZ.
Can’t help but think we outsource our disasters though.
of course we do.
But what goes around comes around, and now it’s our time.
Sabine, who needs cluster bombs?
Audrey Young pens an odd piece together leading with John Key’s honeymoon is over than drops in the small crowd nonsense booing him at the BDO.
One thing is clear Natcorp are panicked. Last week they conducted polling in Northland & Whangarei electorates seeking information about do you know the candidates from the last election and who would you vote for if an election was held tomorrow? Monitoring Shane Reti’s popularity closely, given the likelihood that Shane Jones could make his comeback in the Whangarei seat. Interesting Peters was saying Whangarei will fall to NZF next.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11590131
Given her recent praise the Lord Key pieces, this one by Audrey has a plaintive tone, like when she discovered that Father Christmas was a fraud.
“With the greatest respect, TPP is not a gay and lesbian issue,” so says JK.
Foreign ownership is good for us, and what have Unions ever done for us.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/76912197/prime-range-meats-boss-gutted-for-130-workers-after-processing-suspended
the first comment is interesting, the Lady complaining that Winz appointments are weeks away, that the National MP for the electorate is not helpfull, and Unions were not allowed on the site.
Oh shucks. NZ is waking up from the beauty slumber of the last few years.
‘
Horowhenua District Council doing its bit for 100% Pure New Zealand . . .
And, strangely, this….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11590284
“A 70-year-old eco-warrior has been left bruised and battered after being beaten in a “cowardly” attack outside his Shannon home in the dead of night.
As they left the men commented on who had sent them. However, the Horowhenua Chronicle will not identify them as police are investigating the assault.
Mr Andrews is an environmental activist and spent Friday and Saturday prior to the attack, dealing with an issue to do with Shannon’s Sewerage Treatment Plant where he and Shannon councillor Ross Campbell filmed what they believed to be raw sewage being pumped into the nearby Otauru Stream (Standsell drain) which then poured into the nearby Mangaone Stream, which feeds the Manawatu River.”
Shit, as they say, just got real.
To be fair, this particular issue isn’t new. The Mangaore Stream was an open sewer even in the early 80s.
The Horror Phew Enema city council is hopeless. I have been on at them for 2 years to do some proper recycling, but no. Everything still goes into the landfill.
The wheels on the bus are falling off.
Someone who knows more than I might know what the long term effect of having 2.2% growth entirely due to immigration, while real growth lies at zero.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11590214
Long term effects?
Blenheim 1999- 35 shops empty after nine years of National. Personally counted.
Come forward to 2011 after 9 years of Labour and three years of National.
Blenheim 15 shops empty.
After 7 years of National, in 2015
Blenheim 20 shops empty.
After 8 years of National in 2016?
Blenheim 29 shops empty. Double that of five years ago.
Figures from the Marlborough Express.
I wonder how other regional economies are faring under National? Was this neglect apparent in Northland and reflected in the message given recently to National by the election of Winston Peters in preference to a National lackey?
National seems to be lacking the key to economic growth.
as i posted yesterday, one of my real estate customers is really happy that the asian investors (her term not mine) are finally recieving their IRD numbers and sales in Auckland will pick up again and prices should raise accordingly.
don’t you feel the rockstar economy? All drugs rock n roll and early death?
-Phil Goff
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/296628/lobbyists-at-odds-over-tpp-consultation
Even the chief of the dairy industry says the government got it wrong while Goff lays out the differences in the public consultation process during the China agreement and the TPP. This highlights to me just why Labour moved away from the so called bi-partisan relationship – because the current government had abandoned the inclusive consultation process adopted by the more publicly responsible Labour government.
Farrer can whinge all he likes about the change in attitude by Labour but the real change in attitude was by Tim Groser and his paranoid, do-nothing department.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/76837125/Can-John-Key-pull-off-a-fourth-term-Here-are-the-reasons-why-he-might?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Well here’s a reason why he’ll get a fourth term:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/76925005/labour-leader-andrew-little-on-john-olivers-dancing-dildos
I mean seriously who’s advising him?
“So we kind of asked for it, but what we got was absolutely full on,” he said.
“Once you had the dancing dildos and the full on hallelujah chorus, it goes beyond something where we’re just laughing at ourselves.”
I mean if you want to show NZ you have no sense of humour then well done he has certainly nailed it
3/10. Must try harder Puckish.
Little has a perception in wider NZ of being a humourless union appointee so when theres a chance to show that he has a sense of humour what does do?
Come off like hes po-faced whereas Joyce tweets it was quite funny so who do you think will resonate with the majority of voters?
look it was a really funny video, and friends of mine from overseas really think that our government is worse than theirs, at least as one friend put it, they can keep it in their pants :
lol..
bwhahahahahahahahaha Dildo Baggins. Awesome comedy. Can you see the Honorable Mr. Joyce go and meet and greet dignitaries overseas…..Gentlement and Ladies….Dildo Bagg….err Steven Joyce Minster of something from NZ.
bhwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I can see it more then I can see someone from Labour because Labour would have to be in a position of power first
Labour in power in before 2020 bhwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
You’re a liar PR.
“However, Little himself couldn’t stop grinning as he spoke about it.”
It doesn’t matter, that statement comes down right near the end which means the narrative has already been planted in the readers mind so when they get to the bottom (IF they get to the bottom) the idea that Little is humourless is already stuck there.
Whereas the first two paragraphs are:
“The Leader of the Opposition has expressed his concern over a skit which made fun of a government minister being hit with a sex toy.”
“Labour leader Andrew Little questioned minister Steven Joyce’s invitation for a comedian to poke fun at the incident which occurred a couple of weeks ago.”
I mean seriously can you really not see the issue here?
Whoever is running the media for Andrew Little should be all over this
Amateur hour is what it is
You are a liar. You’ve made an argument that Little has no sense of humour and you’ve quoted some bits from a newspaper article to back that up and then left out the bit where they’ve said he was finding the whole thing funny. Hence you lied.
Or, you didn’t actually watch Little or read the whole article, which makes you stupid.
I’m good with either.
mate, its all good.
I can see it MP / future PM Dildo Baggins, National Party….bwhahahahahaha
no matter what mate, this guy is all yours.
Joycie wasn’t so twerpy on twitter last night. That is because he knew he put his boot to his own head. Oh the joy of watching parliament later today!
pass the popcorn 🙂
Expect the opposition party’s to join in a chorus of booing when either Key or Joycie lose the plot and turn into angry hobbits 😂
bwhhahahahahahahaha
but would angry hobbits not be something more akin to Trolls?
2pm http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/about-parliament/see-hear/ptv
@puckish rogue
You must have liked the phrase John Oliver used at the beginning of the video regarding previous coverage of New Zealand and “their ridiculous Prime Minister .”
I know I did, even though I felt embarassed, it was such a relief to hear someone in the media speak the truth!
Colonial Viper:
So what would prevent a 4th term for national?
Good question, although another one might be ‘What would ensure a first term left wing coalition govt?’
In terms of preventing National getting a 4th term, I think the recording of and discussion about the PM of NZ being a disgrace of a PM (separate from his other sins) is useful.
I also think the TPPA is going to be a big thorn in their side if the protest momentum can be kept going.
But ultimately I think the problem isn’t that National are good, it’s that we need Labour to present as competent and then the left wing parties to present as a govt in waiting. No amount of dealing to National will make up for that if it’s missing.
In terms of preventing National getting a 4th term, I think the recording of and discussion about the PM of NZ being a disgrace of a PM (separate from his other sins) is useful.
– No it won’t, the majority of voters don’t seem to care
I also think the TPPA is going to be a big thorn in their side if the protest momentum can be kept going.
– It will be a big thorn but that thorn will be for Labour (you don’t think Key will go hard on Littles support but not really support for the TPPA?)
But ultimately I think the problem isn’t that National are good, it’s that we need Labour to present as competent and then the left wing parties to present as a govt in waiting. No amount of dealing to National will make up for that if it’s missing.
– On this we’re in complete agreement
“– No it won’t, the majority of voters don’t seem to care”
Citation needed, or at least some credible theorising.
We don’t need the majority of voters to care, we just need enough voters to vote on the left. The right didn’t win by a huge margin last time.
My theorising is that National and John Key are still high in the polls and Labours stagnating and I bet that the next round of polls will see a slight lift for National and a slight dip for Labour
We don’t need the majority of voters to care, we just need enough voters to vote on the left. The right didn’t win by a huge margin last time.
– Heres what the Left needed to win last time:
Labour + Green + NZFirst + Maori Party + UF + Act
and heres what National could have done
National + MP or National + UF or National + Act
“My theorising is that National and John Key are still high in the polls and Labours stagnating and I bet that the next round of polls will see a slight lift for National and a slight dip for Labour”
Sure, but how do you tie that into “the majority of voters don’t seem to care” about Key as PM supporting rape culture? I’m not talking about the next poll, I’m talking about a steady shift within the culture in NZ over time. The next poll could be influenced by a rugby game or any other event, I don’t see how you could pull out the influence of a dynamic happening over a year or so.
– Heres what the Left needed to win last time:
Labour + Green + NZFirst + Maori Party + UF + Act
and heres what National could have done
National + MP or National + UF or National + Act
You are assuming that the left wouldn’t pick up any additional votes, so that doesn’t make sense.
Because if the voters did care, and more pertinently believed what the left were saying, then Nationals and John Keys numbers would be getting close to Labours and Littles
“You are assuming that the left wouldn’t pick up any additional votes, so that doesn’t make sense.”
– I’m assuming you’re referring to the missing million voters? If so you’re falling into the trap that thinks all those voters are left wing voters and if Labour just went more left all the voters would flock to it
“Because if the voters did care, and more pertinently believed what the left were saying, then Nationals and John Keys numbers would be getting close to Labours and Littles”
Only if things were really simple and people thought about voting in such simplistic ways. We’ve both agreed that the lefts polling isn’t going to move much until Labour look more competent, so there may be people upset at Key who still won’t say Labour until Labour change, but when Labour change they will jump easily. This is why the timeframes are important. It’s a long time until the next election and I can’t see Key improving his record in that time.
“– I’m assuming you’re referring to the missing million voters? If so you’re falling into the trap that thinks all those voters are left wing voters and if Labour just went more left all the voters would flock to it”
No, I’m not. I’m assuming that because in the past more NZers have voted on the left they can do so again. That might be part of the non-vote, it might be swing voters. It might be poor RW turnout, or centrist voters wanting to give Labour a chance. Your arguments are superficially tempting to some but the reality is more complex.
The funny thing is I actually agree with most of what you’re saying, the only real difference is the time frame
I think National will win in 2017 and lose in 2020
You gotta be kidding mate.
Paula Bennett versus Grant Robertson 2020
There is only one possible outcome from that stoush.
well hmm, the voters that booed at him both at the rugby game and the bgo might disagree with you. but in saying that, i agree that a lot of voters would not see it and hence not know about it.
tppa, hmm at the moment it is key’s thorn, and it will be labours thorn when they get to form a coalition government, but they will by then supported and restrained by the Greens (which is good in my eyes) and i think Winston Peters will have a thing to say or two.
again i agree that Labour needs to do better, and so do the Greens and NZ First if they want to be the grand coalition. They all need to up their game and play MMP instead of what evs.
However, reading the article about the Meatworkers that are not working because their chinese overlords are not ready yet (linked to the stuff article in Open Mike), and reading the comments, there are a lot of smaller lesser known National MP’s that are not getting good creds for doing their work, WINZ is not getting good cred for helping these people that are not pulling a wage for a few weeks and all points to the complete lack of care of the National MP’s in their electorate, and the National Governed Ministry that should help these people. I am guessing that nothing much is going to change over the next year, and if National voters get upset enough they might simply abstain from voting if they can’t be seen voting for any of the other parties.
So frankly i think at this day and age, everything is possible, and John Key has more to loose then any of the other parties.
That’s going to guarantee a 4th term
Only in lefty world is the PM considered a disgrace, so there’s no win there, if anything it’s costing the left votes.
Seriously, go have a look at John Keys face book page and read some of the offensive comments left wingers have made under pictures of John Key talking and interacting with peoples kids.
Lots and lots of pissed off parents having what is a nice experience ruined by some left wing wankers.
Absolute voter poison for the left, especially Labour.
“That’s going to guarantee a 4th term”
So you say. I’m finding the whole CT mantra-repeating ‘National will win, the left will lose’ thing without any political substance boring. We need better RWNJs.
A poll last year, fwiw, showed that something like 60% of NZers are against the TPPA, 34% for and the rest undecided. Of the National party voters only 22% are in favour.
Link to the FB convos or they didn’t happen.
https://www.facebook.com/pmjohnkey/posts/10153901670390429
https://www.facebook.com/pmjohnkey/posts/10153898014080429
https://www.facebook.com/pmjohnkey/posts/10153897587335429
-any photo with Key
This shit is what’s sinking the left
Had a quick scroll through of a couple of those, it doesn’t look full of rapid left wingers destroying people’s family time. It looks mostly like Key fans posting applause and a few other people dropping in either political comments or angry insulting ones (and not necessarily lefties, not sure why you categorise them all that way). Par for the course for FB.
I don’t agree with calling Key a paedophile, mostly because I think we are really bad in NZ at dealing with rape culture and throwing round accusations like that makes things murkier not clearer. But I think you underestimate how many people in NZ will be feeling uncomfortable about the growing number of times Key demonstrates at the least poor judgement when it comes to issues close to sexual violence. Even of the people who are good with Key’s politics there will be some who are uncomfortable with how he is on this.
And Labour can’t even get their shit together to interpret from that what they should do with regards to the TPP.
An absolute vote winning position on the TPP staring them right in the face and instead they choose to side with the corporates and transnational financial interests.
That’s why National will get a 4th term.
So you hope.
Yeah but rememeber there was also a lot of opposition to the partial sell down of shares in the power companies and it didn’t stop National then
The thing the left to recognize is theres a difference between a government enacting a policy that’s unpopular and a enacting a policy that will see you lose an election
This is an unpopular policy but its not going to cost the election for National but when protestors block of roads of people going to work then that will cost votes for the left
Civil resistance is going to cause inconvenience, no doubt about it.
But the real problem for the left is that there is no alternative political economic agenda being presented to the people.
Merely mild tweaking of the current agenda.
And in that case, why on Earth would you vote for fake vanilla when you can have real vanilla?
You can. Vote Mana.
And all your doing pal is trying to tag these halfwits you talk about to Labour. We all know Key accused Mana and the Greens of being the small group who disrupted the GDO. You have to get in the real world, the likelihood of a fourth term is remote. For every 10 policies the Bats have put forward 1 or 2 will be met with disapproval, as the years roll by and more disapproving policies come with the years, some voters reach the tipping point. The TPPA, the flag change are big voter slippage, add more as we close in on the 2017 election and it is over for the incumbent. Happened to Clark and it will happen to Key. That is political life cobbah.
Voters still think in FPP terms, they hear/read someone doing something offensive at John Key, automatically think must be a left winger.
Biggest party on the left is Labour, must be a Labour voter.
Little hasn’t got a chance with these fuckwits running around spraying their shit every where.
Not all voters think FPP not in Epsom as you know and not in Northland as you also know. It has taken a while for the opposition party’s to get their head around strategic voting but the whole country sat up and took notice when Peters took a seat that was regarded as a safe national stronghold. There are countless seats that the same result can happen. Especially in the forgotten regions.
Counting on Winstons support before the trading begins and the votes have been counted is not really a good idea
Winston is a good man, an honest man, honest as the day is long, that is why so many Kiwis like the man and his party, his MP’s are solid too. Will be delighted when he can find time from his busy schedule to joins me on a friends super yacht for some much needed r & r with a wee celebration of a tidy donation to his party.
🙂
“Seriously, go have a look at John Keys face book page and read some of the offensive comments left wingers have made under pictures of John Key talking and interacting with peoples kids.”
You have a lot of faith in people online, actually being who and what they say they are.
I will give you my opinion from someone who has tagged a few hits on Key and his cronies over the years.
Start now with theme’s that the public can relate to. Highlight their association with corporations, address them as National Corporation or Natcorp, it is clearly evident Kiwis distrust the sweet deal the multi national corporations are getting if the TPPA comes to pass. Use the Tories own trick that this government is tired out of fresh idea’s and use the time for change meme. All this stuff is basic but it will get the desired result.
Yes, i like to point out the changes to the welfare system since our National Led Government started. It is interesting to see how many people actually don’t know that you have no more Widowers benefits, no more Sickness Benefit, etc. That all those people now are on the JobSeekers benefit.
And so on and so on. Nope this did not happen under Labour, these were changes that came about under John Key and his National Party led Government.
Any issues, please contact your local National MP. 🙂
Sabine, the difficulty of pointing out National’s changes to the welfare system is Labour hasn’t committed, or even made mention, they would overturn them.
Use the Tories own trick that this government is tired out of fresh idea’s and use the time for change meme. All this stuff is basic but it will get the desired result.
– That is not a bad idea but the problem for Labour (specifically) is that Labour doesn’t look like its rejuvenated as much as National have, as an example National have two hold overs from the 80s whereas Labour has three but the real problem is that those three from Labour get a lot of air time (King, Goff and Mallard) whereas Williamson and McCully don’t get as much (in Williamsons case far too much but I digress)
again in an MMP environment Labour is just one party. It needs to do well, granted, but it does not need to go it alone.
So you see, there is still some time to come for National to loose it, for the opposition to win it.
And I frankly look forward to the National Party of Pulls Her Benefit and the Crusher, as clearly D. Baggins might have issues in the future.
Of course yes National could lose it and the opposition could win it but National are still keeping a reasonably tight lid on its internal struggles whereas Labour is still leaking like a sieve
Yes we’re in an MMP environment but the voting public still sees it as Labour + support partners as no one seriously considers that the Greens will ever be more then a support partner so if the left wing block are to take power then Labour MUST be seen to be a credible option for running the country
At the moment National haven’t had any major howlers and Labour hasn’t had any significant hits
If the language kept basic most kiwis (who are not political junkies) soon start following like sheep. “Time for a change this lot have had a good trot of 9 years and if the failed flag change was John Key’s legacy time to move on and let another regime have a go.”
It may be as simple as that or a few attachments may be required? Sold us out to multi national corporations, foreign speculators are changing the kiwi life as we use to know it.
The list goes on….
Labour look old, broke and clapped out, that’s where your plan turns to poos.
Government in waiting, I don’t think so
so do National, which is where your argument turns to poos. NZers havent’ done 4 term govts in many generations, why would they start now?
Because National, though looking a bit frayed around the edges, is still preferable to a Labour/Green coalition
That will change in the future of course but at the moment theres no real appetite for change (the TPPA is not as big a deal as the left would like to think it is) and, in the voters minds, theres no other opposition worth giving a go to
It looks likely to be Labour and NZF with the Greens happy to sit on the cross benches or vice versa with NZF.
Of course the Greens will take another hit, I mean whats one more when you’ve spent over 25 years in the wilderness
“Theres a good Green party you just roll over and lie on your back and let Labour rub your belly once again while Winston laughs at you, because its for the greater good don’t you know”
I wouldn’t mind seeing that
The Greens are so good they’ve been getting NZ to change without even being in govt yet, and you’ve failed to notice lol
weka they get some table scraps thrown to them every now and then and only when it suits National
Act and Peter Dunne have had more of an effect on NZ then the Greens ever will until the Greens realise you get more done when in power
But hey if you’re happy the Greens staying outside government then that makes you, me, Winston and Helen all in agreement
You’re still thinking about things like bills passed and policies. I’m talking about the much bigger influence the Greens have had and your still in denial about it. You can spin all you like, but the success of the GP doesn’t get defined by people like yourself that don’t understand what they do, or value it. Try and remember that when Climate Change gets really uncomfortable for you personally.
I think the real problem for the Labour Party, who must do well if National are displaced, is simply that they are continuously negative.
The editorial in the February 13 Listener illustrated their problem.
I can’t seem to link to it on-line. Sorry.
The editorial was about changing the flag. They start by pointing out that Labour, in a policy they wish to be forgotten, were in favour of a change.
As Mallard said before the last election “The time has come for a change and it is right for the issue to be put to the public”.
The article then goes on to say “Why has Labour spent the last few months sullenly resisting a proposal that it embraced less than two years ago”.
Then they explain it as “Labour is suffering from a severe case of sour grapes”. This is followed by “The party appears incapable of rising above its dislike of the Prime Minister, even fighting him on policies with which it might be expected to agree”
They also quote Labour man Nick Leggett that “People vote for hope, optimism and the promise of something better” and that Little should “stop barking at passing cars”.
The final part continues “what better time than now for Little to drop the curmudgeonly resistance” and concludes that Labour “need to stop sulking and get on board”
Why can’t Labour accept that an idea isn’t automatically unclean because Key supports it? Is the whole of Labour policy to be asking what John Key thinks and then simply spout it back after prefacing the words “We are opposed”.
I suspect that if John Key announced a policy of free tertiary education tomorrow Labour would do an immediate about turn and respond that they are opposed to the idea. They are never going to be the Government with their current we hate John Key attitude.
Because there’s no alternative.
Labour doesn’t look like they’re even remotely ready to govern NZ.
Combine that with the left government having to consist of three good sized parties and maybe one or two small parties and you’ve got a recipe for instability and chaos.
How do you even reach an agreement?, let alone pitch this sort of scenario to the NZ voter.
Until one party on the left makes into the late 30’s, early 40’s the left will always be struggling to win.
The only chance the left has is if NZ falls completely apart and the voters feels like they’ve got nothing to lose.
“The only chance the left has is if NZ falls completely apart and the voters feels like they’ve got nothing to lose.”
Yes we obviously agree on that!
Do you really think Labour is going to get over 30% in 2017?
I totally struggle to envisage a scenario where that is going to happen.
I am still picking them coming in at +/-3% of their 2014 result = 22% to 28%.
There are Labour supporters I know who are dead sure that Labour will deliver well over 30% next year.
Like I said, I cannot visualise it, excepting perhaps Key self destructing on live TV. Calling a snap election with an almost empty glass of scotch in one hand while tugging on the reporters pony tail should do it.
But short of that…
The thought of another 3 years is grim, still plenty of water to go under the bridge CV. From what I saw at Waitangi the usual suspects are still circling. I could have flogged the lot of them out of the party if I had a bull whip.
Moving on… I prefer operating as a free agent, have for a while now, quite close with First & Green crews and met a pleasant couple of new hopes within the old party. I still believe the Teflon is coming apart, thanks to the hardcore who are doing the heavy work trying to tear the system down.
Primary definition of “many” according to the Merriam/Webster dictionary
“consisting of or amounting to a large but indefinite number”
Do you really think 2 is a large number. Really truly?
The last 4 term Government left office in late 1972, or about 43 years ago. That seems a very short 2 generations to me rather than the grandiose claim of “many generations”.
The Left are still seriously underestimating Key.
Yes, indeed.
Trotter had an interesting post on this some time ago.
At least at that time I don’t think he was.
i don’t think that the ‘left’ is underestimating Key.
they don’t like him, they abhor him and his posse. I frankly find the man to be as disgusting as one can find a man disgusting, but that is simply the female talking that had to deal many many times with managers like him. They are disgusting horrible little men. They win usually by walking over bodies and abusing everyone around them until either the leave or give up.
But CV, the ones that i count more dangerous like Key are people like you.
Disillusion, bitter and angry, and just too happy to cry constantly about how those that have wronged you are wrong no matter what they do. No matter that the wrong you are crying about are several decades old, that the people that have wronged you are maybe not even in the party any more or may have been young at the time. No you want a personal apology, back tracking and what nots. YOU want, you you you you you.
You, and man and women like you, are the ‘left’ biggest enemy.
And you have no alternative to offer, in fact you don’t want an alternative, you just want to beat your chest and whine.
But frankly we don’t need your saviour who will never show up, but if we want to stop the sell out of this country, literally and figuratively, than the left will have to work together.
And frankly I don’t care if Labour comes in with 30%, or the Green Party or NZ First, as long as the parties of the opposition understand that they each have a role to play in bringing this country back to its people.
You however should have a good look in the mirror and ask yourself why you actually pretend to care about the left.
The Political Left in NZ is dead in the water, Sabine.
The biggest party of the “Left” wants to stay in the TPP, thinks that NZ Super is unaffordable, and voted for the bene bashing as well as the anti-terrorism and spying legislation that National put up on behalf of the NSA.
Then do what the Left has always been good at, witch hunt out the enemy.
Have you noted that’s how Labour has always behaved, since the days of John A Lee?
And its exactly how Labour treated Cunliffe and Cunliffe’s supporters?
NB I don’t want a single thing more from the Labour Party because I know that they are incapable of holding firm to any worthwhile policy long enough to actually deliver it.
As for apologies etc. from Labour, who are you kidding. Many in there still think Rogernomics was necessary and the couldn’t even bring themselves to properly congratulate Corbyn on his victory in the UK.
The political left blah blah blah. It would help if you stopped talking in steretypes and cliches.
Maybe you should join NZF.
Hey weka if you give me some specific examples, maybe I would have some idea of what you are talking about.
Now your being silly and quiet surprised you have lowered yourself to turn to kaka’s that is abit childish I must say.
Anyway before you go have your forced afternoon nap answering your flippant opinion. In the end the electorate just want the incumbent gone burger, having finally woken up to the deceitful lies and awful mismanagement of our economy.
“In the end the electorate just want the incumbent gone burger, having finally woken up”
Do you actually think the electorate feels that way Skinny or is it just you and your friends. There doesn’t seem to be any such feeling being exhibited in the polls.
Alwyn I think you know about the little number I done the other week, deliberately planned for the day after the big anti TPPA protest in Auckland. My debriefing analysis showed Peters and to a lesser degree Labour and Greens gained some shift support, both their speakers spoke very well too.
Over 100,000 (now 160.000)) watched either live or afterwards on mainly the NZH fb feed, tho other media like tv1news were there but i never watched we were celebrating out for dinner. A truck load of comments and thousands of shares of the video. There were many comments who had voted National they were openly saying they had lost their vote, most were saying Winston was getting their viote next year, some it was the Greens or Labour. Looking at their profiles and friends suggested they were genuine. Crude but good enough as a guide. It will still up if you want to go look, I have moved on to the next little number planned in my head.
I assume that NZH fb means FaceBook.
From a link weka posted the other day it appears that to look at it you need a FaceBook persona.
That I will not do. I dislike FaceBooks mode of operation and refuse to have anything to do with it.
If I’ve interpreted you wrongly, or the bit about a persona on FB, or indeed if you published elsewhere please let me know. Otherwise I will have to give it a miss.
Just for you alwyn since you make a stand against the ever worsening Face Book.
If you use a search engine type Politicians voice concern over TPP at rally NZ Heard, this new item and a couple of video clips should be on there. I can not cut and paste on here for some reason.
You know how the right-wing have always told us that opening up more land for housing would lower prices?
Well, it seems that that doesn’t work:
The right-wing: Wrong by ideology.
well, if you think about it terms of ‘what comes around goes around’ what else was to be expected.
If, a big IF, cashed up Aucklanders are moving to Tauranga and other such nice places to buy there (now, that even with all the money they received from selling their property in AKL, that they can’t afford a property in Auckland anymore) they are running up prices in that market as they come with Cash that no one in Tauranga has.
And the same happens in other places. So essentially the housing crisis is carried from one town to the next, leaving ordinary citizens that only want to buy a house to live in out of a chance to ever buy, and leaving more and more properties waiting for that cashed up speculator to buy. Why sell your house, if keeping it empty will increase its value. Heck, why work 🙂
Anyone who could not see this happening needs to adjust their glasses, as that was a consequence quite a few of us have warned of.
Tauranga is the Florida of NZ.
You get old, sell up and move to Tauranga, the weather is better and it’s not that far from Auckland.
Tauranga will always be in demand.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/11/miami-drowning-climate-change-deniers-sea-levels-rising
Apologies about the loss of the mobile version. Looks like it turned off on Friday.
There was an update to wp-touch mobile theme that had a fix in it to deal with multi-site systems like The Standard (even though we have never used it in public). By the look of it, it deactivated the local website activation that was on.
I haven’t spent much time on the site for a few days, and none at all on mobile so I didn’t notice (bad Lynn…)
😈
Just in case you’re interested the new Microsoft Edge browser is having terrible issues with caching.
Every link you click on serves a cached version, you then have to reload the page to get the latest version.
Ummm. Ok I will try it out somehow.
What the browsers are meant to do is to cache pages for a set period of time. But on a refresh, they are meant to request the page passing details of their cached version. If it is up to date, then the server returns just use that again. If it isn’t, then it returns a freshly generated page. There is a certain amount of caching going on at all sides. It is how the caching is handled that will be at fault.
It sounds like it is over interpreting the caching hints being passed to it and never bothering to go back to the server. In which case I probably need to tell edge never to cache for
No worries, I use chrome for 99% of my internetting, I’d just upgraded to windows 10 and I thought I’d give the edge browser a go
https://garethsworld.com/blog/economics/the-beach-the-monkey-and-rationality/
With this level of hubris he really should run for parliament
He really doesn’t need to descend to that level (who does). He has neither the push to duty that a few have in that position nor the blatant egoistical need to be at the centre of attention nor the lust for power nor the rent grabbing of some of the political professionals.
It is quite apparent that he just has an arrogant regard for his own abilities and he has a track record that he values to back it up. I don’t think that he really gives a shit about what you and other members of the tall poppy brigade like you think.
Why would he bother to become an MP? It’d constrain his ability to say what he thinks.
He has neither the push to duty that a few have in that position nor the blatant egoistical need to be at the centre of attention nor the lust for power nor the rent grabbing of some of the political professionals
– Yes hes a shrinking violet who avoids the limelight
It is quite apparent that he just has an arrogant regard for his own abilities and he has a track record that he values to back it up. I don’t think that he really gives a shit about what you and other members of the tall poppy brigade like you think.
– I’m a member of the tall poppy brigade because I think hes spinning like a top?
Why would he bother to become an MP? It’d constrain his ability to say what he thinks.
– Might help reign in some of his ideas
Might help reign in some of his ideas.
Sort of an oxymoron as that reign is royal not the horse-controlling kind. Probably a very apt choice of words PR.
Well, at least it was an interesting explanation of things from his point of view.
I think his assessment is flawed, though: as a commenter pointed out, the imperfect information distributed through the “crowd” was simply that his priority was personal advantage in access, rather than public access.
But the other problem is that he’s assuming that minimising the purchase price is even a priority for the people who donated (who weren’t him). I didn’t donate to that campaign (because fundage), but I do donate on occasion. When I do, my attitude is that the money is sunk – I’m not looking for any return. So really, if they overpay to ensure public ownership, who gives a damn? Any overpayment is simply insurance against a gazumper at the post.
Tomorrow 9:10 AM I will be on Aaron’s Raglan Radio morning show.
We will be talking about the Global banking crisis, the Kiwi saver scam/scheme and the “Open bank resolution” which enables banks to confiscate deposits from small banking depositors if and when a bank fails and which was accepted by New Zealand in 2013.
http://www.raglanradio.com/index.php/listen/listen-live
Rock Star Economy
Surplus
Tax Cuts 2017
4th term National Party led rationing of vital service – wow it sounds like we are “back to the USSR” to me 🙂
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/kpmg-early-edition/opinion/rachel-smalley-no-spin-can-hide-health-sector-cuts/
Quote: “Perhaps you’ve had an experience in our health system recently?
I know a man who sat in a hospital some 18 months ago. He spent a week sitting in a ward, a man in his 40s, with a severely broken leg. It was a mess. And I think it took 8 days for him to have surgery. Short-staffed. Not enough operating theatre space anyway. And so he fasted every day until early afternoon, and then they told him he wouldn’t have surgery that day. Every day. For 8 days.
Our health needs aren’t reducing, they’re increasing. The only way to make cuts for many DHBs will be to staff.
We’re struggling with issues of unmet need, we’re struggling with the issues triggered by the diabetes and obesity epidemics — and so I really feel for our health workers right now.”
Boo hoo, the bully suggests he’s being bullied
boo hoo, the bully Slater seems to be suggesting he is being bullied
A British politician’s outrageous lies are given pride
of place in a BBC report; why does TVNZ go along with this farce?
Television One News, Tuesday 16 February 2016
There is a shameful history of disinformation and black propaganda— i.e., outright lies —by the Americans, the French, the Saudis, the Israelis and the British in the Middle East; most infamously, after the U.S.-U.K. ally Saddam Hussein of Iraq used poison gas to kill thousands of Kurdish civilians in Halabja in 1988, the United States blamed Iran for the massacre. More recently, the scofflaw Obama regime tried to blame the Syrian government for using chemical weapons which were actually used by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated “rebels” backed by the United States and Britain.
It is by no means reliable, and it is quite possibly a fabrication, but one of the major stories in today’s news is of the bombing of two Syrian hospitals by Russia. Anyone familiar with Television One’s dire, face-pulling, unfunny-joke-cracking, smirking, fist-pumping “news team” will not have been at all surprised to see that they decided to simply buy into the propaganda, without making even a gesture of due diligence.
Their “report” of the hospital bombings was not by any credible, independent, respected journalist of the stature of, say, New Zealand’s world-renowned Jon Stephenson. Instead, they went for one James Robbins, yet another robotic product of the BBC’s production line of robotic mediocrity; his “report” of the bombings was nothing more than a highly loaded, partisan denunciation of Britain’s official enemy, Russia. It was so lacking in any sense of balance, so lacking even the slightest sense of skepticism, it might as well have been written by someone at the Foreign Office. Farcically, but appropriately for this Pythonesque effort, Robbins’ “report” ended with a harried-looking British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond, who wearily reiterated his patently false talking points: “Russia could stop this tomorrow, if it started bombing terrorists and stopped bombing the moderate opposition.”
Never, not even during the era of its reprehensibly biased reporting on Ireland in the 1980s under Thatcher’s draconian restrictions, has the BBC been more politically controlled, nor has it has it ever been more untrustworthy than it is now. That TVNZ routinely goes to the BBC, when it is so discredited, and so patently an arm of the British state, is depressing beyond measure.
At the end of this deplorable little propaganda exercise, Simon Dallow read a few closing remarks from his script, his eyes swiveled hard to the right in an apparent attempt to indicate moral disapproval of the evil bastards who bomb hospitals. Chiming in a few seconds later was Wendy “Fist Pumper” Petrie, who obviously felt obliged to follow suit and indicate her own sense of moral outrage at those dastardly Russians; she did this by pausing meaningfully and looking as doleful as she could, before moving on to the next item.
Yes, I’ve seen that little post-item ‘act’ by the Dallow/Petrie coupling on numerous occasions.