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.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
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International audiences are starting to discover what New Zealand already knew about After the Party.When After the Party aired in New Zealand last year, the response was fast and furious. In his preview for Rec Room, Duncan Greive said it was a “gritty, wrenching and highly confronting” series. By ...
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Claire Mabey reviews the haunting and sexy debut novel from Sinéad Gleeson, who is about to touch down in Aotearoa for a string of live events.When Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson was in Aotearoa in 2018 with her spectacular collection of essays, Constellations, she told me she was working on ...
PNG Post-Courier Bougainville Affairs Minister Manasseh Makiba has described the Post-Courier’s front page story yesterday regarding a meeting between Bougainville and national government leaders as “sensationalised” and without substance. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (AGB) had warned it might use “other avenues to gain its independence” should the PNG government “continue ...
Where some saw the worst press conference given by the government to date, Anna Rawhiti-Connell recognised girl maths game.Nicola Willis, recently exasperated by comparisons to Ruth Richardson, said she was “a bit sick of being compared with every female finance minister that’s ever been out there.”Some think that’s ...
The March results are reported against forecasts based on the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update 2023 (HYEFU 2023), published on 20 December 2023 and the results for the same period for the previous year. ...
Jamie Arbuckle, the district councillor who became an MP but decided to keep getting paid for both roles, will instead donate one salary to charity. ...
Adding gender to the Human Rights Act would simply make the implicit explicit. So why is it so controversial? Paul Thistoll explain. At present, Aotearoa’s 1993 Human Rights Act (HRA) includes sex, marital status, religious belief, ethical belief (meaning a lack of religious belief), colour, race, ethnicity or national origin, ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, an 18-year-old who’s studying and working in hospo shares their approach to spending and saving. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Transmasc Age: 18 Ethnicity: Pākehā/Māori Role: Student, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kelsey, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Resources Minister Shane Jones has reportedly asked officials for advice on whether oil and gas companies could be offered “bonds” as compensation if drilling rights offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Gleeson, Associate Professor of Law, Macquarie University Shutterstock The Albanese government is weighing up the costs of delivering an election promise to protect religious people from discrimination in Commonwealth law. Such protections were relatively uncontroversial when included in state anti-discrimination ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University Pexels/Andrea Piacquadio Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Bush, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Adam Calaitzis/Shutterstock I met with a friend for a walk beside Merri Creek, in inner Melbourne. She had lived in the area for a few years, and as we walked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie University Arts companies and individual artists in Australia are supported by government arts agencies, philanthropists, industry bodies, private donors and patrons. However, it is frequently overlooked that a major source of support for the arts ...
Harm Reduction Coalition Aotearoa, a new incorporated society dedicated to ending harmful drug policies, officially launched today, seeks a new fit-for-purpose drug law for Aotearoa New Zealand, rooted in science, experience and evidence. ...
The Corrections Minister admits he "muddied the water" after he and the Prime Minister repeatedly provided incorrect information about a $1.9 billion prison spend-up. ...
It took a post-post-cabinet statement to confirm that 810 new beds will be built at Waikeria, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
Lili Tokaduadua was only 15 when she left her family in Fiji to pursue her netball dream in New Zealand. She’d been playing the sport for 10 years and was offered a netball scholarship at Auckland’s Howick College. Now, in her first year out of high school, the 19-year-old defender ...
The beloved local grocers lost a legal challenge to stop a new cycleway outside their store. Joel MacManus reports. In the annals of New Zealand legal history, there are a few brave people who have dared to stand up to the powers that be, no matter how bleak the odds ...
How what we produce and what we eat connects us to the world beyond our shores, visualised. Walking around a supermarket or vege shop, it might be obvious that everything on the shelves came from somewhere. But you might ...
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Professor Jemma Geoghegan, of the University of Otago, Otakou Whakaihu Waka, co-leads a Te Niwha project aimed at understanding how and where avian influenza could affect Aotearoa New Zealand, as the highly infectious H5N1 virus spreads globally. The virus has now spread to all continents except Oceania and was recently ...
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Opinion: Last week, important recommendations for our criminal justice system were made by the international community. Every five years, each member of the United Nations has its human rights practices reviewed. This rolling event – the Universal Periodic Review – is the culmination of a government reporting on its human ...
Highly pathogenic avian influenza – H5N1, or bird flu – has been flying around the world since the late 1990s. New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands are so far free of it, but now it’s been discovered in mainland Antarctica and scientists say it’s only a matter of time ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,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, Tuesday 7 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The following interview with auto electrician and former caver Stu Berendt, 68, of Charleston on the West Coast, came about because he was part of the caving team that found the rare and amazing fossil remains of the giant Haast eagle, the subject of one of the year’s best books, ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
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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.