Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
I only know why I personally care as I reflected on whether it would have made a difference to who I voted for if they had been found to have behaved in this manner … and it would have.
You don’t have to care, but the mayor of AK can’t be trusted or taken as a man of his word, which may or may not be of some importance to voters in his electorate.
Take a European leaf mate, this shit happens, it happens A LOT, and spouses need to figure out together what they want to do next and if its worth continuing.
CV +1…and they don’t need the interference of 1) the Moral Majority( outmoded Christian fascists) or 2)prissy frustrated Catholics( you know that hypocritical Church of sexist Papists and perverts with a direct line to God)..or 3)wannabe Mana Party Mayors like John Minto, who would never get in as Mayor anyway, and who does a better hatchet job on Brown on National radio than the vested interests and right wingers who set Brown up in the first place)
Brown should stay…and he should be judged on what he has done as a Mayor for Auckland ( He was elected in with a huge majority …remember).
His family should stick together, if that is their will…and not let the ‘moral’ mud -slingers cause a family tragedy.
The Europeans are far more sophisticated then the Americans on this…We live in New Zealand not USA….let us make up our own minds and give Brown a chance…( and btw…who would replace him?)
Exactly CV and Chooky. It’s interesting that we come over all uppity on the moral high ground and recover some long lost religious type outrage about Len Brown having an affair when we can turn a blind eye to the immorality of say, the way beneficiaries have been treated under the Bennett regime.
If this had happened to a poli in France, no body would have raised an eyebrow, but as it happens you could have mistaken Cameron Slater for some hick being interviewed for Fox news, if last nights new was anything to go by. This is Little America now, so maybe we take on their fake morals too, and this is reflected in the media coverage this situation is receiving. Or maybe NZer’s are so small minded that they want to be scandalised by something like this.Either way, it’s hardly news worthy.
His affair is for him and his family to deal with. It’s nobody’s business but theirs. The only time you need to be concerned about affairs is if and when it happens to you.
CV, this “grod” entity of whom you speak…….does he too whip into other mens “virgin” wifes in order to start a religion? Was he watching Len? Who can we trust?
No, you’re his defender, you tell us how a man who lies to his wife for two years can keep a level of trust amongst the wider community in the job of mayor and all it entails?
Here’s the thing. If Len has nicked some money from the public purse, even a hundred dollars, he’s be gone before breakfast because the ‘trust’ would be gone forever. Of that we must all agree, regardless of how one eyed we are being for the team.
Interesting then that a two year deceit is viewed as less bothersome by an elected official as pinching a hundy.
If an elected official misappropriates funds, trust is not involved.
It is professional misconduct and should be detected by standard accounting practises, and directly affects the organisation’s ability and reputation for being able to fulfil its role.
Sticking your dick in a consenting adult might be shit for your personal life, but it is not misconduct and does not affect the organisation’s ability to fulfil its role.
It’s all about trust and now Len doesn’t have any.
Defend him, mitigate and minimise if you must, but it won’t change a thing.
ps You can always have a mini stalk-a-thon until you think you;ve won, but I’m at work til later, so don’t be offended if I don’t come rushing in with a snap back 😉
Why is being an elected official “all about trust”?
If they don’t do the job, they get overruled by their colleagues. If they do really badly, they get voted out. Simple. Don’t project more onto the relationship than actually exists. Like ’em, then vote for ’em. Don’t like ’em, don’t vote for ’em.
ps: I get to work with a broadband connection, lucky me 😉
I dunno, that’s alot of time he could have been spending working for auckland or with his family, or are we only talking a couple of minutes each time.
@ Tracey…what you call a “quickie”…Bill Clinton specialised in them…..provides stress relief on the job!
( But politicians should beware!….especially Left politicians….Somehow they always seem more vulnerable….and the Right always seems better able to shrug the scandals off or sweep them under the carpet….Maybe the difference is that the Left does not have the equivalent of the ruthless hunters and scandal mongers like Slater et al))
Tracey
It is important that politicians don’t get fat and have heart disease and die before their time like Norm Kirk. Brown was actually using his time well – working out in a very effective and satisfactory way. Getting sweaty and relieving tension at the same time.
Thinking about working more efficiently, ways of multi-tasking – I’ve forgotten how many minutes it has been calculated that we spend waiting at traffic lights in our lifetime. Time which could be used for neck massage relieving stress and preparing for the next round of talks with central government partners.
And while driving to and from work, he could probably run through all the points he wants to make on the agenda for both the morning’s and afternoon’s meetings. I understand that some of those beamers in Wellington have massage units built in to the seats – so many ways of enhancing sharpness of mind and work effectiveness.
Sex is only a small part of being trustworthy. It’s naive to expect complete morality from any human being. If you want to continue expecting that from your pollies…
Some people will always wonder if someone can lie to their wife and others around them for 2 years, what else do they lie about. If we dont expect higher standards from our pollies we will continue to get lower standards.
CV and I have disagreed on this before, and will again I am sure.
Mission accomplished though, Banks is off the front pages.
“Both National and Labour MPs have had extramarital affairs. And they run the whole country!!!”
Could go a long way to explain the current state of “affairs” in this country… a country shaped by self centred people lacking self discipline and ethics. 😉
@ Tracey @ The Allen….Lets just get the Catholic Church to run the country ….. as they used to do during the Inquisition….they are celibate and they dont have extramarital affairs do they?!….
I’m not a god squad kind of man, so the pious angle is wasted on me.
I’m coming at it straight from political perception not the immaculate conception. I’m not part of any moral minority and have no vested interest, I don’t even live in Auckland so have no voter rights or sensibilities to be offended or cajoled.
Should Brown resign and there be a new ballot, for me, yes and yes.
I neither care if you agree or disagree, if trust your pollies or not, or even if you appease and excuse the mayor of the countries largest city having a secret two year long affair, each to their own and all that, but it does show a real lack of judgement on his part, and an insight into his character that isn’t pleasant to see in anyone.
Whether trust is transitive or not, his lack of respect for his family probably is, especially as far as the wider community is concerned. Unscientific as they are, all the web polls I’ve seen so far seem to support this theory.
@The Allen…Loosen up!!!! ….ok you wouldnt do it….I wouldnt do it….lots of people wouldn’t do it……( not on the job and not in that way…we would be too cautious, or have too much loyalty, or be too sensible, or have too much self control)…..But does that make us better people?…Would that make us better Mayors?.
….no one is perfect….and there are far worse things…what he did was consensual and it sounds like he was ‘set up’ ….. and he never had any intention of leaving his wife…he broke it off!
The issue is was he a good Mayor?…an overwhelming number of voters said “YES” ……just leave it at that….otherwise it becomes a moral witch hunt…and it wont do his family any good
Al1en, How do you know the Browns don’t have an open marriage, and all he’s done that requires an apology is not having told his wife earlier, or carried it on too long?
Judging by the tv interview I’d guess no to the notion of open marriage, but hope that poor lady doesn’t read these pages if not, it would just compound her hurt. Last night there were comments like she might have had an affair herself :rolledeyessofartheycamebacktheotherway:
Allen, had Brown denied the affair he would be run out of office not because of having the affair but because of lying about it.
Brown needs to stay to fight the dirty tricks because this is what is behind the affair coming out. Any dirty tricks on Browns part e.g. were he involved in any intimidating or harrassing txts I would throw him to the wolves because I would find this to be unacceptable from an elected mayor.
It is not illegal to have an affair, neither is it illegal to deny having had an affair.
I get it when you say that being able to trust an elected high profile politician is important to you. It comes down to the individual person on what breaches the trust for them. For some it is an affair when married, for others it is denying the affair, for others it would be being involved in intimidating or harrassing txts (the latter is unproven to date).
I do not like double standards e.g. two years ago a security guard who worked for the council got sacked because of having sex on council premises. However there was not a dirty tricks brigade behind the secuirty guards job.
Brown having sex on council premises maybe an employment issue and he has himself to blame. When it comes to the dirty tricks brigade they never play fair because it is about a grab for power and innocent people get hurt and you never know how or who they are.
Trust has nothing to do with being a representative.
Look, I used to be responsible for securing items of value. A shit system would have relied on me being trustworthy. As it was, trust never came into it because the system was designed with checks, balances and audit trails. Not only did I behave properly in my role, I was seen to behave properly in my role. Have I always behaved properly in my personal life? No. But the systems in that job were set up to make it very difficult for me to behave improperly, even if I had wanted to.
Democracy has councillors, legal frameworks, and voters who can challenge the mayor if he behaves improperly in his role (not mentioning the 4th estate as it’s been on holiday for the last decade or two).
Trying to discern professional integrity from someone’s personal life is unreliable at best, and an excuse for fetishistic voyeurism and public harassment at its worst.
“but the mayor of AK can’t be trusted or taken as a man of his word, which may or may not be of some importance to voters in his electorate.”
Trust isn’t transitive. Being untrustworthy in one’s marriage doesn’t mean that one is untrustworthy in one’s job. One of course can be untrustworthy in both, but they’re not necessarily related in the way you imply.
Aha Weka, the good old selective morality argument…we can compartmentalize? Of course my mother told me tales of leopards and spots, and she is a very wise woman. And some prior seer asked those without sin to throw the first stone. I suppose if we are all sinners the question becomes “do we genuinely seek redemption?”
“Aha Weka, the good old selective morality argument”
No, that is a different thing. The issue was whether someone was trustworthy, not whether they were moral or not.
Google “trust is not transitive”, read the article on airplane pilots, and come back and tell me if when you fly in a plane you want the pilot to be someone who doesn’t cheat on their spouse, or someone who is very good at flying planes safely, and whether those two things are related.
Perhaps you could tell me what you are on about? I replied to someone else about trust not being transitive. You brought up selective moralilty, but haven’t clarified why.
That’s okay, I’m not suggesting you’re not allowed to trust Len any more, just saying I don’t because he’s proven to be very untrustworthy over a sustained period.
How has Len proven to be untrustworthy over a sustained period? Were questions over this affair put to him during the campaign? Did he mislead us about that? Has he lied to Aucklanders at any point about this affair? The fact is (to paraphrase Simon) you didn’t trust him from the start. And if it’s poison in politics you’re after well the ashen face of Key at his stand-up today might be a good place to look.
Or to put it another way, if trust were transitive, then someone lying at work would mean their spouse could no longer trust them in their marriage. Doesn’t make sense though, does it.
because our leaders represent the very best of humankind?
because he is Christian, or some other religion with rules about fidelity?
because if he is subject to the whims of the devil then how can we trust him to do the right thing for the community?
none of the above?
you shouldn’t care at all and most people don’t. Because most political leaders are very very average people who do the same things as the rest of us and have no more brains or pieces of wisdom in their heads about anything at all.
One of the real issues here is that now ALL politicians personal lives could be up for severe scrutiny. As a country do we really want to go down that “News of the Screws” road? My guess is that a lot of people in positions of power will be somewhat apprehensive over the latest turn of events. To quote Henry KIssinger, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Slater has opened a Pandora’s Box here.
Agreed. I could personally out ‘dirt ‘ on three National MPs. With a little effort I could get affidavits on their extramarital affairs/sexploits. It’s a small country we live in and secrets are hard to keep.
get your affidavits, have them delivered by a process server to Slater and see if he publishes them… when he doesn’t, make the story about him, not the MPs.
From my point of view the worst part of this was his choice of skanky partner. Rating your lover 4/10 when it was your own choice to stay with them for two years. Ugghers. Signing a sworn affidavit that crassly describes sexual acts that, if we are honest, go on in offices all over the country.
I wonder how much of this was threatened by her during the campaign just to put pressure on Len Brown – and didn’t he cope well! I think she is the real issue here and I really hope the media look very closely into her background. No doubt a trail of pissed off ex-lovers are just dying to talk about how the bitch manipulated them.
That language is unnecessary mate. My sense is she is going to end up thoroughly screwed by her right wing “friends” and is as much a victim of WO. Her campaign manager described her as “ambitious”. However her ethnic community cred is now fucked, and if she is unelectable by her own base, sayonara to any political career.
not the same scrutiny for slater… and then there’s Slater taking “credit” for stephen cook’s work? No one comes out of this smelling of roses…
NOT
Brown
Chuang
Slater
Cook
Herald online has nothing noticeable of a man who holds the balance of power in NZ in Court for a serious allegation of undermining the rules of democracy….
She says she wasnt politically motivated but I am unsure what other motivation she had unless she is angry and bitter at it ending? She mentioned his catholicism but didnt let this stop her screwing him for two years. I agree if she had really wanted to hurt him she would have released BEFORE the election, but thenit wouldn’t have saved Banks further publicity.
Jabba the Whale on TV didnt do himself any favours, imo, he looked like Jabba the Hut, salivating over the salacious gossip he tried to seriously look like was in the interests of the country. While giddingly lapped up by his followers I am not sure everyday NZers would see him as some kind of champion of truth.
Did he give Len 24-48 hours to break it to his family before he published? He could still have had his scoop but preserved some aspect of the innocent’s pain.
It all gets very murky once you know Jabba’s father ran the campaign for Palino.
While she is not an innocent victim (such as Mrs brown and the kids) she will be feeling like one this morning I sispect.
Seeing she hangs around with right wingers, 4/10 was probably a significant improvement. I heard from the voices in my head that her combined score for Slater, Lusk and Simon Bridges didn’t even manage to beat Lenny boy all on his own.
You should care because people love to project themselves onto other people and situations. They like to see our political leaders as people with higher standards, greater character, finer wisdom, superior understanding. They need to do this to make them feel better. People need leaders.
You should care because this affair shatters that projection by people. It shows how exposed humanity is to itself. That there are no great defenders of some higher order. There is just us. You should care because such disillusionment is not good for society – we need higher beings and Len and lady have shown that they do not exist (in any useful number)
Quite, but my point was that humans are herd animals and need leaders. Currently, society’s leaders tend to be the political kind, for better or worse. P Ure should care because this type of act is an attack at this base human requirement for upstanding leadership. Nothing to do with caring for Len or lady, it is about caring for the requirements for good human existence, one of which is good leadership, even if it is a front.
vto, can you point out any decision, any negative effect on the management of Auckland as a city that Len’s little dalliance has caused, were the cities secrets revealed in the ‘pillow talk’, one section of Auckland society favored over other’s because of Lens wayward ways???,
If there were NO negative effects n the functioning of the Mayoralty i find what are in essence the private lives of politicians as big a yawn as their sexuality…
You’re quite right bad12 but I think you miss the point that people imo need leaders, whether it is in transiting across the Serengeti, inside the Vatican or playing a team sport. As I said, even if it is a front, people still need leaders. Humans need their leaders to be stronger, faster, wiserer, clevererer, someone to look up to.
The issue is that when a leader lets a people down it is a dint in the side of the community.
This is the case (whether it should be or not). This is why P Ure should care.
This is a nonsense which has been “learnt”, it is not the case, even less so these days\.
What people need, is not own up and accept that they are already a leader, of themselves, because like heck anyone else is going to look out for you, we all know that.
I’m not advocating every man/woman for themselves, but there is nothing higher than man/woman in this earth, so stop searching for something/someone to look up to, admire, or follow!
So no, we should not care about it, its par for the course we have all been put on, and Len has walked straight into the oldest trick in the book!
Looks like John Boehner just scuttled another plan to end the U.S. stand-off.
A visibly angry Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, summarized the mood when he said John Boehner had killed the momentum that had gathered behind their bipartisan deal.
“We’re at the 11th hour. The train to avoid default was smoothly heading down the tracks and picking up speed, and at the last minute, speaker Boehner decides to throw a log on those tracks. Enough already.”
“I am so disappointed. I am not disappointed in my Senate Republican colleagues. I think many of them understand the danger and want to help.”
If one of the Auckland city council managers got caught rooting some woman in the Ngati Whatua room would he still have a job.
Or do different rules apply to the Mayor, is he untouchable?,
Does he have some sort of employment contract? or can he do fairly much what ever he wants as long as he doesn’t break the law?
Common sense would tell you the mayor is an elected official, so most likely there are different employment rules and they are accountable to different people.
IF he was in her direct employment line, line manager etc then yes, it would be an employment issue, particularly if he threatened her or advanced her career. No evidence of that so far.
Those work places where I have been aware of an affair (married person/s with someone other than partner/spouse) it has always been hierarchical not on the same level. It causes HUGE problems employment wise. Staff morale plummets, especially if lower ranked one throws weight around, awkwardness of staff social functions when partners are present.
So, BM if Mark Thingy (Ford??) was having an affair with someone immediately below him in line management and it was impacting staff, yup I would call for resignation,
Interesting thing. Stuff currently has a vote on it. I usually think Stuff’s unscientific polls lean to the right/conservative side pf politics. I was expecting to find a massive vote for Brown resigning. Instead, the vote is slightly in favour of Brown not resigning – by just over 50%.
And, as an Auckland voter, who voted for Brown, I want my vote to stand. There is no way I want one of the SleazeOil benefactors on the right to take office.
Now can we get back to the really pressing issues local and government politicians should be dealing with?
I think Dragecivich might be the idiot I came across in 1987 out at Waitemata City when I was looking for information about council building codes. He was extremely rude, an absolute prick, and refused to answer any questions. He told me about four times to get back to school teaching, but scuttled back into his office when I told him I hadn’t been teaching at all, but had been in prison for criminal assault (I hadn’t. I have no convictions for violent offences.) The photo could well be him, thirty years on. Such was the disfunctionality of the Waitemata Council with Shadbolt as Mayor. If the stories about his mayoral antics ever came out, they’d make Brown look like a choirboy, but Invercargill seem to like him as Mayor. Just like Auckland, it’s not WhaleSpew Blubber Boy who gets to choose. Thank god and all her angels.
I was just looking at yesterday’s site stats. So with the whole trooling frenzy over Len as a result of sleazeoil and his sewer rats, it would perhaps be understandable that TS had an unusually high number of hits. But most surprisingly hits for “Angry Simon Implodes on Campbell Live” seemed to have gone through the roof, in contrast with the number of hits posts usually get in a day.
So, I guess there’s more online interest in the implosion of Nat Crosby Textor failure Simon Bridges, than in sleazoil and his sewer rats’ smear campaign?
Marbleless. ( You’re Never Alone When You’re A Schizophrenic ), something I’ve had brief understandings of. I have an uncle, lovely, bright man,(I’m fairly certain he associated with some members of Shihad ), two years older than me, who has lived with those challenges since he was in his late teens. Very sad really, and that becomes one’s life. It’s a mystery at times.
I think Simon had watched Shonkey v Campbell and thought he could do the same volume voice over trick his master uses….Campbo learnt from Shonkers technique…never fight the next war with the last ones tactics, the enemy learns quickly how to counter.
The Graham McCready vs John Banks case is waiting for the Judges’s decision today Wednesday 16 October 2013 at 2.15pm, in the Auckland District Court, as to whether or not it will go to trial.
What came out loud and clear in Court yesterday, was that John Banks DID know that the donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City were NOT anonymous. But because he had (lawfully???) delegated the responsibility of compiling his candidate’s returns (including donations) to a third party, who purportedly DIDN’T know the donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City were NOT anonymous, they were recorded as such.
If this third party was not present at the meetings with Kim Dotcom and Sky City, at which it was clear these donations were NOT anonymous, then how was it correct for him to record these donations as anonymous?
It was stated in Court that it was effectively the ‘custom and practice’ in the 2010 and previous John Banks Mayoral campaigns to deliberately keep financial details, particularly about donations, separate from the Mayoral candidate.
So how could John Banks, in all honesty, ask this third party who had prepared his candidate’s returns if the information was true and correct, before signing them, if the knowledge of the John Banks as Mayoral candidate, and this third party were not one and the same regarding donations?
What dodgy ‘sleight of hand’ is being perpetrated here, by the (now) Leader of the ACT Party – the Party which supposedly upholds the principles of both ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘one law for all’?
How can ANY candidate for public office, sign their candidate’s returns without first PERSONALLY double-checking that the information is correct???
In my considered opinion as someone who was a Mayoral candidate both in 2010 (and 2013), this case SHOULD go to trial.
Today – fellow Public Watchdog / Judicial Whistle blower Vince Siemer is in the Auckland HIGH Court (Waterloo Quadrant) , where at 10am he will be cross-examining Detective SuperIntendent Lovelock over his role in organising the Police raid/invasion of the Siemer’s home in February 2008 where they took heaps of stuff (unlawful search and seizure) and still have not returned some of it. It’s a BIG deal and Vince deserves support! So folks – if you can come to the High Court today at 10am I think you will find this VERY interesting!
WHEN YOUR RIGHTS ARE UNDER ATTACK – STAND UP – FIGHT BACK!
So even at the far ends of the earth the global Tea Party agenda is reduced to smearing filth. Desperation, you see. A black president, a socialist pope – neck minnit even all-powerful Granny is reduced to publishing pictures of Len’s daughters.
Carry on, chaps. Your thirty-year hiatus is closing. Back in the sewer, old boy.
On-air display of dumb insolence by Jim Mora’s producer.
But who can blame her? The Panel, Radio NZ National, Tuesday 15 October 2013
Jim Mora, Graham Bell, Mai Chen
JIM MORA: We’ll be discussing these sensational revelations about Len Brown after 4 o’clock, but first Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about! JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is a plan to deliver books in Australia by drone! JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! MAI CHEN: What if they run out of batteries? GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho! JESSICA MADDOCK: Two kilos, I think, is the most they can carry. MORA:[urgently] Can they carry two kilograms?!?!!??
…..Significant pause……
JESSICA MADDOCK:[significant pause] Mmmmm. MORA: Mmm-kay. What else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that when you watch advertisements on TV when you are eating something, you subconsciously mouth the brand names. GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho! MAI CHEN: I believe it! MORA: Hang on! So when you watch TV and eat you are subconsciously mouthing the brand names?
…..Significant pause……
MORA: Mmmmm. MORA: What else have you got for us? JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that children who go to bed earlier behave better. MAI CHEN: You reckon? GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho! MORA: Okay, so it’s like a scientific confirmation of conventional wisdom isn’t it.
….. Extended silence……
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, another study shows that using plastic items, like water-bottles, can lead to miscarriages! MAI CHEN: Good grief! JESSICA MADDOCK: And it can also lead to a decrease in male fertility! GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho! MORA: Okay, we’ve got thirty seconds. Anything else? JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, there is this item is about the rediscovery of seventeenth century beauty practices. For example, the use of tobacco ash will whiten your teeth. MORA: Tobacco ash?
….Silence…..
MORA: Tobacco ash will whiten your teeth? JESSICA MADDOCK: Mmmm, hmmmm.
Thankfully for Jim Mora, the news rescues him from any more dumb insolence by his producer. This writer missed the rest of the program. Perhaps it improved….
Morrissey, do you have any actual consistent or objective measurement for what constitutes a “significant pause” or “extended silence” compared to “pause” or “silence”?
As far as I can tell he doesn’t even distinguish between ‘devastatingly pregnant pause’ and the ordinary ending of one sentence followed by the beginning of another.
Hey Rogue. I believe that you would equal the Guiness Book of World Records which claimed that a letter exchange between two angry writers had the shortest well thought out response.
The second to last letter had nothing on the page but “!”
The last letter had nothing on it but “.”
Well done that man!
you are very kind, and it’s a bit of an off day. No rhyme or reason, (well, that would not be entirely true at all)., however, it’s getting better. An excellent therapeutic intervention in my opinion, gardening, so I’ve put in some Kamo Kamo plants, which are generally very productive, and you can koha them around joint.
Morrissey, do you have any actual consistent or objective measurement for what constitutes a “significant pause” or “extended silence” compared to “pause” or “silence”?
Come on Lanthanide, both you and I are perfectly aware of what constitutes an awkward, pregnant or extended silence, and all the other points on the continuum. I wouldn’t like to attempt to chart them scientifically, of course, but they are real, and undeniable.
Carry on Morrissey, you make me laugh whether it is accurate or not. You get the gist right most of the time so regardless of the criticism around here I will treat it as Gonzo, and something slightly more amusing than the dry balls stone faces comments.
“JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that when you watch advertisements on TV when you are eating something, you subconsciously mouth the brand names.
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho!
MAI CHEN: I believe it!
MORA: Hang on! So when you watch TV and eat you are subconsciously mouthing the brand names?”
Moz, you’ve got this arsebackwards. Maddock correctly said that the study shows that eating in the cinema STOPS people subconsiously mouthing the brand names. Presumably she was quoting the Guardian article, or one of many other news reports on the finding:
Your misunderstanding/mishearing of what Maddock said also means that the words you attribute to Bell, Chen and Mora were not actually spoken by them. And what they did discuss was the exact opposite of what you claim.
As I suggested the other day, if you listen to the show a second time, you are far less likely to get things like this wrong.
The only grey areas are what was said, who said what, how they said it and what they meant.
You’re quibbling over exact details. Yes, I made a mistake as to the actual findings of a no-account study in the Grauniad, but I got the dynamics of that dreadful conversation just right. As you would know if you had listened to the show.
Word of advice, my friend: avoid such puerile antics. It makes you look like a teenager—and not a very bright one.
quibbling exact details like the diametric opposite of what they actually said.
As I’ve already pointed out, the substance of my post was about the vacuity and foolishness of the chit-chat infesting our public radio. The actual details of the trivial subject being discussed are not really important. You know that, of course, perfectly well.
Given that you’ve previously argued that your “transcripts” are “pretty close to word-perfect”, arguing that the details of what was said (like whether they said something completely different) makes you a fucking joke.
We’re all friends around here, buddy. Except for Brett Dale.
Given that you’ve previously argued that your “transcripts” are “pretty close to word-perfect”….
They pretty much are. That’s not an “argument”, that’s a fact. And you know it.
….arguing that the details of what was said (like whether they said something completely different)
What they said was not the point. How they reacted to one another—-especially the way Jessica Maddock reacted to Jim Mora—-was the point.
…makes you a fucking joke.
Ha! A little bit of swearing just to intimidate, huh? I’m sure that works for you in real life situations, but here in cyberspace it only makes you look foolish.
… except when they say the exact opposite of what actually took place.
I have explained with perfect clarity what the point of my post was. It was to highlight the vacuity of that fifteen minutes of excruciatingly poor quality radio chit-chat. Your quibbles about my slip-up over an incidental detail are utterly spurious.
Of course, that suits your purpose perfectly well: after all, your aim is not serious discussion, but to assail my integrity. Are you Whaleoil? You certainly write like him.
It doesn’t matter that your transcripts are grossly inaccurate.
Another wild, swingeing statement by you. My transcripts are pretty much on the money always, and you know it. You are going after me (ineptly) not because you are worried about anything that happened on that awful radio show yesterday, but because I have in the past targeted dishonest people and corrupt organisations that you have, foolishly, chosen to parrot.
My transcripts are pretty much on the money always, and you know it.
Bullshit. They’re bunk.
You are going after me (ineptly) not because you are worried about anything that happened on that awful radio show yesterday, but because I have in the past targeted dishonest people and corrupt organisations that you have, foolishly, chosen to parrot.
Bullshit. You’re making shit up (again). I’d quite like your transcripts if they were accurate, or satire, but they can’t be both. You’re ego’s writing cheques that your recollection can’t cash.
See, I had to transcribe some quotes from an interview today. It was easy: I pressed “play” for a few words, then “pause”, wrote it down, replayed that section to make sure I was word perfect in something other than my imagination. It transcribing is how you get your rocks off, it’s not that difficult.
Your [sic] are all either mischievous or mistaken.
“All”? In case you haven’t noticed, a small clique of my ideological enemies are following a strategy of quibbling about nothing of consequence, in order to attack my credibility. Fortunately, I can simply cite my substantial body of work on the internet, both here and elsewhere, and am happy to put my credibility up against that of people who parrot the lies of people and organisations that have been shown repeatedly to be dishonest and even fraudulent.
Morrissey’s renditions are always accurate and telling representations, he is truly a Shakespeare of our times.
I can just read your transcript and imagine the opposite.
As we saw last year with your strident and unashamed support for the most obviously nonsensical and bizarre official lies, you are adept at imagining the very opposite of reality to be the truth.
Life, say what you will about it you cant like it…..I think that is what marvin said but hell it is a bit hazy, many years since. Still thats what he meant.
You mean Marvin the Paranoid Android. He really doesn’t want to know because he knows that if he ever does find out he will be even feel more depressed.
Moz, you’ve got this arsebackwards. Maddock correctly said that the study shows that eating in the cinema STOPS people subconsiously mouthing the brand names. Presumably she was quoting the Guardian article, or one of many other news reports on the finding:
Thanks for that, my eagle-eyed, bat-eared friend. Accuracy, that’s the thing! I’ve GOT to up my game!
Your misunderstanding/mishearing of what Maddock said also means that the words you attribute to Bell, Chen and Mora were not actually spoken by them. And what they did discuss was the exact opposite of what you claim.
The point of my post, and I’m sure you realise this as well as anybody, was not to critique another vacuous study published in the ever-vacuous Grauniad, but to highlight the vacuous nature of the chit-chat that has been allowed to take over National Radio. Yes, as you so helpfully point out, I did get the earth-shatteringly important findings of that study “arsebackwards”, but that was not really significant. What is significant is: (a) the faux jollity of Graham Bell, (b) the obvious boredom of Mai Chen, who must have been wondering (yet again) why the hell she bothers with this program, (c) just how incredibly vacuous and annoying Jim Mora is, and (d) the contemptuous silences and curt replies by Jessica Maddock.
” … another vacuous study published in the ever-vacuous Grauniad …”
If you can’t even read what I wrote, what’s the point of you? I said it was in the Guardian and many other news sites. Which google will confirm. It’s not the Guardian’s study, it’s peer reviewed research from academics at Cologne university and it has major implications for advertising on both the big screen and the one your reading this on.
Y’know, it’d be great if you could just say, ‘cheers, I got that wrong’ instead of offering vacuous piffle to try and excuse yourself instead.
Indeed, Moz, you are the Jim Mora of the interwebs.
Y’know, it’d be great if you could just say, ‘cheers, I got that wrong’
Errrr, that’s exactly what I did do.
….instead of offering vacuous piffle to try and excuse yourself instead.
I explained the purpose of my post, and you understand it perfectly well, of course. Instead of acknowledging that, you instead focus on a minor failure to get all the details correct. It’s like picking holes in Citizen Kane because Welles used stock footage in some of the scenes with less than due care and attention.
Indeed, Moz, you are the Jim Mora of the interwebs.
Holy fuck, did you just compare yourself to Orson Welles???
Outstanding
Well, he had his failures too, don’t forget. I myself have never been so down and out that I have been reduced to providing a voiceover for something as dire as the Future Shock movie.
At one stage about ten months ago, I was banned from Whaleoil, Brian Edwards and The Standard, all at the same time. But I tell ya now, my friend, despite such low-points, I can say with hand on heart that I’ve never been as desperate as this….
And the response was simply exactly the same as the previous response.
Orson Welles could have advertised vibrators in supermarket ads while wearing a leapordskin onesy, it still wouldn’t excuse the pure-distilled narcissism that let you compare yourself with him.
Orson Welles could have advertised vibrators in supermarket ads while wearing a leapordskin [sic] onesy, it still wouldn’t excuse the pure-distilled narcissism that let you compare yourself with him.
so grateful to live in quiet, provincial New Zealand.(although, there is representation here, The ‘A’ Team , can be quite serious stuff, and people know people…), and, Napier has elected the Mayor they suit.
Napier has elected a mayor with a mandate to oppose being tied to the corpse 20km away on the Heretaunga plains with every tool available. As a born and bred Napier boy from a well-established family, all I can say that is a good fight! If National plans a forced amalgamation of Napier and Hastings, they can kiss goodbye to the Napier electorate for two generations… Perhaps that is why Tremain is bailing?
it doesn’t bother me, I have heard Bill Dalton on Bay FM, so I understand. I’m not sure what Labour’s policy is on these amalgamations (not being a rate-payer, apologies). Maybe someone can enlighten us (slow day today). You are correct however, there is significant feeling in letters and op-eds to HBT (which I no longer read much).
You may be aware, I grew up in the ‘nui, yet was quite socially mobile for many years, so met families with mates and daughters, students at Lindisfarne,, St John’s etc. Briefly dated, and remained friends with, the Dux of Sacred Heart.
It appears the Growers Action Group candidates have been elected to the HBRC, so that’s gonna be interesting. Personally, I support water collection, but not the RWSS.
how a stage is negotiated influences subsequent stage outcomes. much is determined, hence I’m on the cusp and always ready to return.whoooooo, glad that ride is over. Cups of
Tea all round. Choysa round.
Apologies if someone mentioned this already and I missed it through all the panty-sniffing about sex lives above:
Groser admits MPI underresourced.
Who knew – apparently if you gut a public service of its staff, it might not be able to handle individual or multiple crises when they eventually arise.
that would be an advantageous strategy. Maybe the National Party is finding that the “types of material we want”, are not the materials they need, Hence , Minister for A Lot, S. Joyce.
Esquire’s Coffee Shop, Lorne Street. In one corner, a television shows Jeremy Kyle, a segment called “Is my porn addict husband a cheat?” At a corner table beneath the television set, a furtive couple lurks in the shadows; the man is moustachioed and wears a fedora tilted low over his head, his overcoat collar pulled up to further hide his face.
YOUNG WOMAN: Shall I play mother? Milk — and sugar?
MAN: Thank you. [looks around nervously] You know what’s happened, don’t you?
….[TELEVISION: “It’s an addiction. I need to get help for it.”]….
YOUNG WOMAN: Yes. Yes I do. You’ve been reduced to wearing a false moustache and a fedora.
MAN: No, no, no. What’s happened is: I’ve fallen in love with you.
YOUNG WOMAN: [rolls eyes heavenward] Yes, I know.
MAN: Tell me honestly — please tell me honestly — what I believe is true.
YOUNG WOMAN: What do you believe?
MAN: That it’s the same with you. That you’ve fallen in love, too.
….[TELEVISION: Jeremy Kyle: “Are you going to pass the lie-detector test?”]….
YOUNG WOMAN: It – it sounds so silly.
MAN: Why?
YOUNG WOMAN: I know you so little.
….TELEVISION: “If you fail this lie-detector, she says she’s gone. Are you gonna pass?”….
MAN: It is true, though, isn’t it?
YOUNG WOMAN: Yes, it’s true.
MAN: [relieved] Oh, B____.
YOUNG WOMAN: No, L__, please. Please. We must be sensible. Please help me to be sensible. We must forget we’ve said what we’ve said and done what we’ve done. Done in the Ng_t_ Wh_t__ Room.
MAN: [nostalgically/lasciviously] And the L_ngh_m. And the H_lt_n. And Sk_ C_t_.
YOUNG WOMAN: [shuddering] Urrrrrrgghhh! Oh God! I feel like Monica Lewinsky! I want OUT of this NOW!
MAN: Not yet. Not quite yet.
….TELEVISION: “We asked, Did you steal the money from your mother’s stockings on Christmas Eve?”….
YOUNG WOMAN: But we must. Don’t you see? Because the security guards know! They’ve known about the pair of us ever sin—–
…..[Suddenly she sits up and waves. A bulky, oily, menacing male figure approaches]…..
MAN: Oh FUCK! Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! It’s C_m_r_n fucking Sl_t_r ! Do you fucking KNOW him?
YOUNG WOMAN: Of course! He’s an old N_t__n_l Party friend! Just pull your fedora down a bit further. He’ll NEVER suspect it’s you.
MAN: [whimpering and cowering in terror] I’m fucking DOOMED!
[The YOUNG WOMAN turns to the interloper and beams a warm smile]
YOUNG WOMAN: Hey, C_m_r_n! How are you? Have you met my friend, errrrr, uhhhh, “Neil”?
Short version – invasion of yuppies + the continuation of Thatcher’s attack on social housing is pricing people on low incomes out of London, including Brixton, which is probably going to erode a good deal of local culture.
Seriously, you can’t see the differences? Circumstances might change, but at the moment:
The possibility of up to two years in prison. Brown NO Banks YES
The fact that it was allegedly done so people would not know when he was acting in a conflict of interest (all that “I’ll be able to help you” crap he bailed on). Brown NO Banks YES
The fact that the allegations pertain directly to his duties as a public representative, such as filling in declarations truthfully. Brown NO Banks YES
Q: Seagoon, which way is South America?
A: It all depends where you are standing!
Yes I can see this from a number of places. And it all has the same leopard spots despite the different silhouettes. Do I trust Banks not to be criminal? Certainly not! Do I trust Brown to be honest and honorable? Ask his wife.
So to cut to the chase: why defend Brown and attack Banks on trustworthiness? And remember we are debating trustworthiness, not any particular deed criminal or personal. I would suggest that you are being decidedly partisan which is fine by me. You have valid reasons for not trusting Banks….might you not agree I have valid reasons for not trusting Brown?
That good old “internationally experienced high flying CEO” (and associated multi-million $ package) bit….I feel a little botulism coming on. I need an …..expert.
HYPOCRISY WATCH!
Compassionless people lecture about lack of empathy The Panel, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 16 October 2013
Jim Mora, Steve McCabe, Gordon McLauchlan
JIM MORA: It’s quarter to four: time for Susan Baldacci and what the WOOOOOOORLD’s talking about! SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, first up is this modern phenomenon of giving children names that can contribute to them becoming narcissists. JIM MORA: Oh yes? Ha ha ha ha! SUSAN BALDACCI: Jean Twenge, psychologist and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic, notes that a remarkable number of people have turned naming their babies into opportunities to show off — a sign of our culture’s increasing vanity. GORDON McLAUCHLAN:[sagely] Ha ha ha ha! STEVE McCABE:[thoughtfully] Hmmmmmm…. SUSAN BALDACCI: Yes, there is an ever increasing incidence of names such as Messiah, King, Prince, Greatness. There are even sixteen girls called Beautifull—with two Ls. JIM MORA: You’d have to be beautiful, with a name like that! SUSAN BALDACCI: Well it reflects a growing narcissism in society. You know, a lack of feeling, a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….
At that point, I was simply unable to continue listening to the idle chatter any longer. I’m sure I was not the only one to pick up on the exquisite, canting hypocrisy of Ms. Baldacci’s words. Messrs McCabe and McLauchlan were too polite to mention it, but Susan Baldacci and Jim Mora are the last people in the country who should be pontificating about a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….
Felix let’s himself down, and gives himself away by lowering to such puerile comments, which if truth be known, I find some of the cats comments to be entertaining and witty, so clearly a level of intelligence there, cross pollinated with something slightly unsavory!
TRP – The follower, easily lead, also a handbag thrower!
How’s project Onan coming on Muz? And pointing out that Morassey regularly makes stuff up is not stalking, it’s a public service. The irony is that he accuses others, but can’t see the mote in his own eye.
Ha ha ha ha ha! How will Muzza recover from THAT one?
And pointing out that Morassey
“Morassey”. Oh I see what you’re doing there!
….regularly makes stuff up is not stalking, it’s a public service.
I make up nothing in my transcripts. I don’t get them word-perfect all the way through because, sadly, I have never learned shorthand beyond a rudimentary few dozen words. But I make up nothing. You are the one who has made nonsensical claims, like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.
“Oh look the tr0lls are out stalking Morrissey again, a more hapless pair of wannabees the blogosphere has never seen.”
I don’t give a damn about Morrissey and I don’t imagine TRP does either. We do both share this habit of mocking obvious bullshit though, and it does tend to annoy the feeble.
I don’t give a damn about Morrissey and I don’t imagine TRP does either.
Now that must be about the funniest dishonest statement made in this country in the last 24 hours. It’s possibly even more funnier and dishonest than either the Prime Minister’s assertion that “John Banks is a thoroughly credible and trustworthy individual” or John Boscawen’s solemn pronouncement that the ACT party was in great shape.
We do both share this habit of mocking obvious bullshit though, and it does tend to annoy the feeble.
You are not “mocking bullshit” at all; the pair of you have shown yourselves to be assiduous recyclers of the most malicious black propaganda; if we were able to send you back to a more suitable milieu for your talents, we’d zap you back fifty years to Red China, where you could enthusiastically denounce dissenters and truth-tellers and ridicule satirists to your dark hearts’ content.
“dissenters and truth-tellers and ridicule satirists”
You’re none of those things, Moz. You’re just someone with comprehension difficulties who thinks making things up and attributing them to others is acceptable. On the upside, your intellectual laziness is matched by your pomposity and self delusion.
….still waiting for you to show where I defended Trotter as you allege.
On July 19th I transcribed Trotter’s grandiloquent declamation on behalf of the Florida jury in the Trayvon Martin travesty. I might have omitted his windy “ummms” and “ahhhs”, but I got the pretentious and intellectually vacant tone of Trotter’s bloviating just right.
Instead of chiding me for minor inaccuracies, which would have been a reasonable and fair thing to do, you foolishly claimed I had made it all up…..
You said I made it up. That implies Trotter did not defend that lynch mob. He did, in the most pretentious manner possible.
edit: here’s your made up claim again:
There you go again! I made up nothing. There are (necessarily) some ellipses and some accidental transpositions of vacuous laughter. I made up nothing, and you know I did not. You are acting just like you did when you were parroting the most scurrilous official lies against Julian Assange last year, i.e., you’re prepared to say anything at all. That’s a very unwise course to embark on, my friend, and one you would be well advised to reconsider.
“…like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.”
“…like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.”
That’s exactly what he did, as you know.
This, as best as I can transcribe, it what trotter said in relation to Zimmerman’s juror’s lives being forever changed:
T: Yes, and I can’t help thinking that the system we have here which really protects jurors [um] from the attentions of the news media, and in fact as far as I know prohibits jurors from discussing [ah] any case that they have judged, I think that’s by far th-the most sensible approach to take. The idea that having delivered their collective verdict they come out as individuals and muddy the waters in the way that this person has, I mean especially in a case as controversial as this
N: and as fraught as this
T: yeah I I I think it’s most unfortunate
N: Were you surprised that only three of the jurors were said to have thought that this man was not guilty?
[1 second pause]
T: Oh, I think you have to be in the courtroom, in the jury box to judge any case. Ah, I think the information people don’t have, even if the news media is covering a trial, y’know, to the very best of it’s ability is so huge that that you really should trust jurors, I think – even in this case it would seem that the tragedy, ah notwithstanding, y’know, there were, um, items of evidence which would raise reasonable doubt I think in most people’s minds
[1-2 second pause before N starts a standard bridge to the next topic
Whether that counts as a ” pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law”, I’ll let others decide.
But unless Mozz has a link to a different piece that he was actually transcribing, it’s interesting to compare it with Moz’ near-word-perfect, extremely accurate transcription:
CHRIS TROTTER: [very slowly, mustering all the pomp and gravitas he can] I think all this talk about the jury is most unfortunate. You have, even in this case I think, to trust the jury. In any trial, there are always items of evidence that we do not know about, even in this case I think.
….[Long, extremely uncomfortable pause]….
NOELLE McCARTHY: [doggedly positive] One thing the whole world is talking about, Zoe Ferguson, is the royal birth!
Well I think your snookered there Morrissey. Why not just say it is satire I don’t get why you are holding so tightly to this word perfect get the feel transcript stuff – heads up – no one cares – haven’t you seen the positive comments about your satire – that is your skill – so just say it and then all this would be over.
Still waiting to see where I defend Trotter, Moz. Have a think about what I said about Trotter and let me know whether that’s a defence or an attack.
“You actually let people like Trotter off the hook by making up quotes, when the real words he used should be damning him.”
Should be damning him.
Does that sound like I was defending Trotter? Nooooo, just the opposite, you goose! I actually had some small sympathy for your position, though not in the weird way you expressed it today (Deep South make excellent ice cream btw).
I thought Trotter missed the point that day. On the evidence, I think you miss the point every day.
Thanks for transcribing that, McFlock. I can see that I missed a lot, and you have a valid point in disagreeing with my interpretation of Trotter’s comments. I did render his words a little more pointedly than they actually were. However, I think that even when you compare my admittedly imperfect rush “transcript” to your word-perfect transcript, I have captured the essential pomposity of his speaking style and the gist of his admonition to the lesser mortals in the studio to respect that outrageous verdict in Florida. Trotter was speaking slowly and sententiously, as if he was defending the Western system of justice; what he was actually doing was defending a grievous miscarriage of justice. His suggestion that there were “items of evidence which would raise reasonable doubt I think in most people’s minds” was not backed up at all, and disappointingly, Noelle McCarthy failed to demand he did so.
You are right to time the silences; they’re not as long as I recalled them in my mind, but they are significant nonetheless. Noelle McCarthy was, I believe, genuinely lost for words after listening to that. So was I.
oh fuck off.
So let’s say you “captured” trotter’s pompousness (personally, I think you overstated it). That means that you are (at best) a dadaesque caricaturist of discourse.
So are all the claims as to near word perfect accuracy simply self-delusion, or are you trying to mimic Sacha baron Cohen’s immersion satire?
Someone from a wealthy country chooses to sail somewhere in a yacht for fun and adventure. It goes missing and any country nearby is asked to conduct searches for it.
Tongan fishermen getting food or money for their families drift for a month or die, refugees from hard regimes, or cruel ones, or wars, or starvation are going into the water probably every day in their efforts to find land and a living and instead find dying.
Probably because of the actions of the forces from the country the yacht came from. Who gets looked for and cared about?
Has Tim Groser gone rogue on his own government? His comments around the under-preparedness of MPI and its subsequent reactions to all the recent food safety crises we’ve had are quite extraordinary.
If y’all can get past the Auckland mayor letting it all hang out something which in Europe people more or less expect their politicians and “leaders” to do with all of them being Apha personalities and all here is what else those same people do behind the scenes and that pesonally has me way more worried that an alpha male midlife crisis: Jason Burmas from Loose Change shines a light in the shade where the cockroaches of Bilderberg reside. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Shade, enjoy!
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Buzz from the Beehive We haven’t exhaustively put this proposition to the test, but we suspect there’s just one thing Nanaia Mahuta has mentioned more often than “sanctions” in her press statements. That would be “three waters”. Mahuta has popped up in the latest batch of Beehive press statements to ...
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Air pollution kills, and dirty diesel vehicles are a major source of it. Cleaning them up has enormous social benefits in avoided deaths and hospitalisations. How much? Billions of dollars: A report quietly released by the Ministry of Transport in July shows tighter regulation of vehicle imports for air ...
Via one of my lovely Twitter sources, the sardonic and interesting @johubris … the following ‘poll question’ has been recently distributed: “Thinking about your life and your country now, what is the most important issue that you want to see the New Zealand Government addressing?” This qualifies as push-polling, which ...
On Tuesday night, former Forestry Minister Stuart Nash was sacked for corruption, after the Prime Minister discovered he had disclosed confidential cabinet discussions to his donors. Its since emerged that Jacinda Ardern's office knew of this disclosure, but didn't act on the obvious breach of the Cabinet manual, and didn't ...
Buzz from the Beehive Whoa, there – we can’t keep up! Suddenly, the PM’s ministerial team has unleashed a slew of press statements. Sixteen announcements have been posted on the Beehive website since our last check. This burst of activity (we wondered) might be the result of them responding positively ...
Big transport news today with the government beginning public engagement on options for the Waitemata Harbour Connections project. This project has had an incredibly long history, with previous versions somehow managing to be incredibly expensive, detrimental to most of the transport outcomes we are trying to achieve in Auckland, and ...
If ever there was an example of complacency about corruption and integrity in New Zealand politics it’s the fact that the Prime Minister’s Office knew back in 2021 that Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash was feeding privileged Cabinet information to business donors but did nothing about it. This is one of ...
Open access notables "Despite the potential for positive methane–climate feedbacks from global wetlands, most Earth System Models (ESMs) and Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs) that informed the last Assessment Report of the IPCC do not directly incorporate this process."Publishing in Nature Climate Change, Zheng et al. unpack the implications of this ...
Among its ‘go slow’ on climate measures, the Government chose to delay tighter regulation of vehicle imports for air pollution for six years because it would have increased vehicle purchase costs. Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government continues to backtrack on moves to reduce emissions, with three news items ...
Stuart Nash’s downfall appears to have had its beginnings with one of the players from the “Dirty Politics” scandals of 2014. Simon Lusk, a close associate of Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, one of the key figures in Nicky Hagar’s “Dirty Politics” expose, has been associated with Stuart Nash. Lusk has ...
Worried if this election will be shellacked by “the culture war”? That arrived ages ago. And, one side is definitely in panic mode, even if that’s not being admitted right now. Because of that, they’re reverting yet again to straight up… culture wars. Yes, fellow traveler, the Party who ...
All About Climate is a Youtube channel dedicated to communicating climate science and combating misinformation about global warming. It is run by Roshan Salgado D'Arcy - or 'Rosh' for short. He is a geology graduate with an MSc in climate change and is currently reading for a PhD in the communication of ...
ChatGPT is an interesting little beastie. I have only really started experimenting with it recently – not because I have any interest in using it for my own writing projects, but because I enjoy pushing and prodding the AI in strange directions. I have spent an inordinate amount of ...
The science of climate change is clear: we need to stop burning fossil fuels as quickly as possible, and we cannot burn even a fraction of those already discovered. So naturally, Labour is offering oil companies more exploration permits: The Government is offering companies another opportunity to search for ...
There are two keyboards in my office. I hammer at one a lot more than the other.But some days — today, for instance, after a few days of steeping myself in toxicity —that other keyboard can really come into its own.I learned to play the piano as a kid, went ...
Is the government imploding? Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has had to sack one of his more effective (and likeable) ministers, while another (from the Green Party) has insulted many of the adult population. For his part, Hipkins had appeared to be shaping up well since he took over the ...
Mobbed! As Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s (Posie Parker’s) opponents surged forward, her only protecters were a handful of burly security guards who surrounded their client and began forcing a path through what was now a howling mob. At least one video recording shows the diminutive Keen-Minshull, a terrified rag-doll, eyes dulled by ...
Buzz from the Beehive It looks like Marama Davidson must revile white sis males – or some other group of our population – three more times before she gets the heave-ho as one of Chris Hipkins’ ministers. That’s the conclusion to be drawn from the PM’s treatment of Stuart Nash, ...
For a serial offender like Stuart Nash, it was inevitable that another skeleton would emerge from his closet, and end his ministerial career. This one though, was a whopper. Previously, Nash had tried to tell the Police how to do their job. He had also tried to tell the courts ...
Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash was sacked last night for violating Cabinet Collective Responsibility rules, when it was revealed he disclosed sensitive Government information to business supporters who had donated money to him. The breach of the Cabinet Manual was enough to land him in trouble, but the fact that it ...
Some good news last week with the Council confirming that Te Hā Noa – Victoria St Linear Park will go ahead and with construction starting on 11 April – though with a few fishhooks. Te Hā Noa, a renewed Victoria Street, is the next big project in Auckland Council’s Midtown ...
Stuart Nash’s assurances to Prime Minister Chris Hipkins that there were no further examples of him breaching the Cabinet Manual became meaningless with the release of emails from Nash sharing Cabinet discussions with business people. The Prime Minister had no choice but to sack Nash as a Minister with immediate ...
Hi,Just a quick online-only update after yesterday’s newsletter, How Michael Organ Weaponised the Family Court... and Sean Plunket. First up — wow. Thanks for all the support, and to all those who shared their own personal stories in the comments. And welcome to any new Webworm readers.I just wanted ...
Let that sink in for a moment - Christopher Luxon, who has spent the last year demonising Māori, wants Marama Davidson to apologise to white men.You will likely have seen the video, or read about it. Marama Davidson rushing along Princes St on Saturday evening, the road that runs between ...
Stuart Nash, the great-grandson of former Prime Minister Sir Walter Nash, has lost his political career. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Stuart Nash was sacked for telling donors what happened in Cabinet. Wellington’s City and Regional Councils are going cold on light rail plans. Wayne Brown is under ...
NZ First Leader Winston Peters is sympathising with Stuart Nash and defending him but dodging questions on whether he would be welcome in New Zealand First. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins last night sacked Nash from the Cabinet after an email he had sent to two of his campaign donors ...
So, after interfering with the police, and then interfering with immigration decisions, Stuart Nash has finally been sacked: Stuart Nash has been sacked as a minister, after Stuff revealed he had emailed business figures, including donors, detailing private Cabinet discussions. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the people Nash emailed ...
Nearly 25% of mortgages in Auckland are deemed at risk in a 1-in-100 year flood event. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Once a year, every year, from now on, in our not-so-slow-cooking climate crisis, there will be a moment when the most important number in Aotearoa’s own personal, national ...
Item One: About a confected crisis Please bear with me for a moment, readers outside Auckland, I wish to sound the klaxon. Auckland, we have until 11pm today to have our say. About what? About this, as copied and pasted from Pippa Coom’s Facebook page:The "austerity" budget is built on ...
Buzz from the Beehive Yet again, the statement we were looking for could not be found on the Beehive website. Nor was it on the Scoop or Green Party websites. But – come to think of it – we are probably wasting our time by searching. Our quest is for the ...
The following is from a speech given by Arundhati Roy at the Swedish Academy on March 22, 2023, at a conference called Thought and Truth Under Pressure and reprinted from Literary Hub. I thank the Swedish Academy for inviting me to speak at this conference and for affording me the privilege ...
After almost two decades of racism, Australia is finally getting off its "stop the boats" bullshit. But don't worry, racists - Michael Wood has your back!The Government wants to increase the time it can detain without a warrant people seeking asylum en masse from four days to 28 ...
Last year, the Education and Workforce Committee recommended that the government legislate for pay transparency to prevent employers from secretly discriminating. This ought to be a bread and butter issue for Labour - discrimination sees women (and particularly Māori and Pasifika women) paid significantly less than men. But since then ...
Thomas Cranmer writes – ———— An unruly mob in Albert Park has catapulted New Zealand into the global headlines with ugly images that may become iconic in the debate about the dangers of transgenderism. ———— Bravo Kellie-Jay Keen. She did the job that needed to be done. For all the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global warming is melting the Arctic ice cap, and that’s having unforeseen effects on the world’s weather — even thousands of miles away from the North Pole. Some climate scientists have begun to link increasingly common heat waves in Europe to what is ...
Hot on the heels of the demotion of former police Minister Stuart Nash for breaching the Cabinet Manual, Radio New Zealand has revealed the close links between lobbyists and politicians- an area of New Zealand politics that is completely unregulated. The evidence in Guyon Espiner’s series Mate, Comrade, Brother, the ...
At the Auckland Transport board meeting today a series of papers really highlight the cost of sprawl. For the last few years, the Supporting Growth work has been looking at designing the strategic transport networks for future greenfield areas in the South, Northwest, North (around Dairy flat) and in Warkworth. ...
Hi,Today’s newsletter is something I’ve wanted to report for ages, but I have been waiting on a New Zealand judge to make a ruling. That ruling has been made — so here we go.Enjoy.A scene from Mister Organ.Two Police Officers Knock on My DoorOn November 4 last year, I was ...
Only three days after Nanaia Mahuta had dinner with China’s Foreign Minister, New Zealand’s intelligence chiefs were talking about state actors interfering in New Zealand politics and using ethnic communities here for espionage purposes. Neither GSCB Director (and new SIS director) Andrew Hampton nor acting SIS CEO Phil McKee ...
Over a million New Zealanders will receive a little extra to help with the cost of living as a result of our 1 April changes. Around the world, inflation is causing costs to rise and we’re feeling it here at home. In tough times, we need to support those who ...
With benefit changes coming into effect tomorrow, the Green Party is calling on the Government to lift benefits to liveable levels to make sure everyone has what they need to thrive. ...
Following decades of work by the Green Party alongside the organics sector, people will finally be able to be confident that products labelled organic have met standards. ...
The Green Party supports immediate Government action to close the pay gap as called for in an open letter released today by the Human Rights Commission and 50 other organisations. ...
The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Government’s waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return scheme for beverage containers. ...
The Government’s decision to introduce ‘mass arrivals’ legislation goes against the values we all share of Aotearoa as a place where all people are treated fairly, the Green Party says. ...
MINISTER DAVIDSON MUST RESIGN AFTER 'VIOLENCE' COMMENTS Marama Davidson should stand down as ‘Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence’ for the clear and outrageous statement she made at the Posie Parker protest that ‘white straight men’ are the cause of violence. Her offensive, racist, and sexist remarks ...
In response to Newshub and Amelia Wade’s obvious and ham-fisted attempt at a typical and predicted political hit job. As any politically aware reporter would know, any Cabinet subcommittee has a duty and obligation as a part of any government to respond to any UN declaration, in this case ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
“This is it; 2023 will be the last opportunity New Zealand has to get a government that will confront the climate emergency with the urgency it demands,” says the Green Party’s co-leader and climate change spokesperson, James Shaw. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
A secure facility that will house protected information for a broad range of government agencies is being constructed at RNZAF Base Auckland (Whenuapai), Public Service, Defence and GCSB Minister Andrew Little says. The facility will consolidate and expand the government’s current secure storage capacity and capability for at least another ...
From today, 1.8 million flu vaccines are available to help protect New Zealanders from winter illness, Minister of Health Ayesha Verrall has announced. “Vaccination against flu is safe and will be a first line of defence against severe illness this winter,” Dr Verrall said. “We can all play a part ...
Associate Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Willow-Jean Prime has congratulated Professor Rangi Mātāmua (Ngāi Tūhoe) who was last night named the prestigious Te Pou Whakarae o Aotearoa New Zealander of the Year. Professor Mātāmua, who is the government's Chief Adviser Mātauranga Matariki, was the winner of the New Zealander ...
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta has announced further sanctions on political and military figures from Russia and Belarus as part of the ongoing response to the war in Ukraine. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Alekseevna Lvova-Belova ...
A new public housing development planned for Whangārei will provide 95 warm and dry, modern homes for people in need, Housing Minister Megan Woods says. The Kauika Road development will replace a motel complex in the Avenues with 89 three-level walk up apartments, alongside six homes. “Whangārei has a rapidly ...
New Zealand welcomes the substantial conclusion of negotiations on the United Kingdom’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “Continuing to grow our export returns is a priority for the Government and part of our plan to ...
Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and the Crown initial Taranaki Maunga collective redress deed Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and the Crown have today initialled the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Deed, named Te Ruruku Pūtakerongo, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little says. “I am pleased to be here for this ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Barbara Edmonds has announced the 2023 Pacific Language week series, highlighting the need to revitalise and sustain languages for future generations. “Pacific languages are a cornerstone of our health, wellbeing and identity as Pacific peoples. When our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated, our communities thrive,” ...
880,000 pensioners to get a boost to Super, including 5000 veterans 52,000 students to see a bump in allowance or loan living costs Approximately 223,000 workers to receive a wage rise as a result of the minimum wage increasing to $22.70 8,000 community nurses to receive pay increase of up ...
Over 8000 community nurses will start receiving well-deserved pay rises of up to 15 percent over the next month as a Government initiative worth $200 million a year kicks in, says Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. “The Government is committed to ensuring nurses are paid fairly and will receive ...
Tākiri mai ana te ata Ki runga o ngākau mārohirohi Kōrihi ana te manu kaupapa Ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea Tihei mauri ora Let the dawn break On the hearts and minds of those who stand resolute As the bird of action sings, it welcomes the dawn of a ...
The Government is introducing a scheme which will lift incomes for artists, support them beyond the current spike in cost of living and ensure they are properly recognised for their contribution to New Zealand’s economy and culture. “In line with New Zealand’s Free Trade Agreement with the UK, last ...
New Zealand is welcoming a decision by the United Nations General Assembly to ask the International Court of Justice to consider countries’ international legal obligations on climate change. The United Nations has voted unanimously to adopt a resolution led by Vanuatu to ask the ICJ for an advisory opinion on ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 59 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. “The graduation for recruit wing 364 was my first since becoming Police Minister last week,” Ginny Andersen said. “It was a real honour. I want to ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met with Vanuatu Foreign Minister Jotham Napat in Port Vila, today, signing a new Statement of Partnership — Aotearoa New Zealand’s first with Vanuatu. “The Mauri Statement of Partnership is a joint expression of the values, priorities and principles that will guide the Aotearoa New Zealand–Vanuatu relationship into ...
The Government has passed new legislation amending the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) levy regime, ensuring the best balance between a fair and cost effective funding model. The Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Levy) Amendment Bill makes changes to the existing law to: charge the levy on contracts of ...
The Government has passed the Organic Products and Production Bill through its third reading today in Parliament helping New Zealand’s organic sector to grow and lift export revenue. “The Organic Products and Production Bill will introduce robust and practical regulation to give businesses the certainty they need to continue to ...
The Digital Identity Services Trust Framework Bill, which will make it easier for New Zealanders to safely prove who they are digitally has passed its third and final reading today. “We know New Zealanders want control over their identity information and how it’s used by the companies and services they ...
The full Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Taskforce has met formally for the first time as work continues to help the regions recover and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle. The Taskforce, which includes representatives from business, local government, iwi and unions, covers all regions affected by the January and February floods and cyclone. ...
Changes have been made to legislation to give subcontractors the confidence they will be paid the retention money they are owed should the head contractor’s business fail, Minister for Building and Construction Megan Woods announced today. “These changes passed in the Construction Contracts (Retention Money) Amendment Act safeguard subcontractors who ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has unveiled five scenarios for one of the most significant city-shaping projects for Tāmaki Makaurau in coming decades, the additional Waitematā Harbour crossing. “Aucklanders and businesses have made it clear that the biggest barriers to the success of Auckland is persistent congestion and after years of ...
The Government has passed new legislation that ensures New Zealand’s civil aviation rules are fit for purpose in the 21st century, Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan says. The Civil Aviation Bill repeals and replaces the Civil Aviation Act 1990 and the Airport Authorities Act 1966 with a single modern law ...
A Bill aimed at helping to reduce delays in the coronial jurisdiction passed its third reading today. The Coroners Amendment Bill, amongst other things, will establish new coronial positions, known as Associate Coroners, who will be able to perform most of the functions, powers, and duties of Coroners. The new ...
The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to conduct a review into communications between Stuart Nash and his donors. The review will take place over the next two months. The review will look at whether there have been any other breaches of cabinet collective responsibility or confidentiality, or whether ...
The new Recovery Visa to help bring in additional migrant workers to support cyclone and flooding recovery has attracted over 600 successful applicants within its first month. “The Government is moving quickly to support businesses bring in the workers needed to recover from Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods,” Michael ...
Bills to ensure non-teaching employees and contractors at schools, and unlicensed childcare services like mall crèches are vetted by police, and provide safeguards for school board appointments have passed their first reading today. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No. 3) and the Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill have now ...
Wānanga will gain increased flexibility and autonomy that recognises the unique role they fill in the tertiary education sector, Associate Minister of Education Kelvin Davis has announced. The Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.3), that had its first reading today, proposes a new Wānanga enabling framework for the three current ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta will travel to Vanuatu today, announcing that Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further relief and recovery assistance there, following the recent destruction caused by Cyclones Judy and Kevin. While in Vanuatu, Minister Mahuta will meet with Vanuatu Acting Prime Minister Sato Kilman, Foreign Minister Jotham ...
The Government is backing Police and making communities safer with the roll-out of state-of-the-art tools and training to frontline staff, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said today. “Frontline staff face high-risk situations daily as they increasingly respond to sophisticated organised crime, gang-violence and the availability of illegal firearms,” Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government has provided Police with more tools to crack down on gang offending with the passing of new legislation today which will further improve public safety, Justice Minister Kiri Allan says. The Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Bill amends existing law to: create new targeted warrant and additional search powers ...
The Government today announced far-reaching changes to the way we make, use, recycle and dispose of waste, ushering in a new era for New Zealand’s waste system. The changes will ensure that where waste is recycled, for instance by households at the kerbside, it is less likely to be contaminated ...
New legislation passed by the Government today will make it harder for gangs and their leaders to benefit financially from crime that causes considerable harm in our communities, Minister of Justice Kiri Allan says. Since the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 came into effect police have been highly successful in ...
This evening I have advised the Governor-General to dismiss Stuart Nash from all his ministerial portfolios. Late this afternoon I was made aware by a news outlet of an email Stuart Nash sent in March 2020 to two contacts regarding a commercial rent relief package that Cabinet had considered. In ...
Legislation to enable more build-to-rent developments has passed its third reading in Parliament, so this type of rental will be able to claim interest deductibility in perpetuity where it meets the requirements. Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods, says the changes will help unlock the potential of the build-to-rent sector and ...
A law passed by Parliament today exempts employers from paying fringe benefit tax on certain low emission commuting options they provide or subsidise for their staff. “Many employers already subsidise the commuting costs of their staff, for instance by providing car parks,” Environment Minister David Parker said. “This move supports ...
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Closer Economic Relations (CER), our gold standard free trade agreement between New Zealand and Australia. “CER was a world-leading agreement in 1983, is still world-renowned today and is emblematic of both our countries’ commitment to free trade. The WTO has called it the world’s ...
The Government is making procedural changes to the Immigration Act to ensure that 2013 amendments operate as Parliament intended. The Government is also introducing a new community management approach for asylum seekers. “While it’s unlikely we’ll experience a mass arrival due to our remote positioning, there is no doubt New ...
The Government welcomes progress on public sector pay adjustment (PSPA) agreements, and the release of the updated public service pay guidance by the Public Service Commission today, Minister for the Public Service Andrew Little says. “More than a dozen collective agreements are now settled in the public service, Crown Agents, ...
The Government has introduced the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation Bill to further support the recovery and rebuild from the recent severe weather events in the North Island. “We know from our experiences following the Canterbury and Kaikōura earthquakes that it will take some time before we completely understand the ...
Further assistance is now available to businesses impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, with Customs able to offer payment plans and to remit late-payments, Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri has announced. “This is part of the Government’s ongoing commitment to assist economic recovery in the regions,” Meka Whaitiri said. “Cabinet has approved the ...
Bard Billot on the booted out broadcasterSpartans, prepare for glory! The hardy army of Today FM Spartans Camps out on the harsh lands of talk radio. The long months of the campaign Have worn down their resolve, For though they have loyally broadcast Their snappy banter and hot ...
The danger of National's policy is that it undoes much of an informal pact with Labour to depoliticise education at a time of real struggleOpinion: The National Party’s recently released education policy narrowly channels nearly every tired and cliched right-wing approach to schooling. If you have been in education for ...
A refurbished, expanded and more earthquake-proof building is a still few years away. Can it live up to the impeccable postmodernist vibes of its predecessor?A long time ago, my non-Wellington then-boyfriend was visiting the windy city and asked the barber what he recommended in town. “Dunno mate,” the barber ...
Doing the cryptic crossword isn’t simply a hobby. It’s a way of life, a love affair – even a full-blown obsession. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations by Asia Martusia King. Clue: Mafia boss consumed first dish free of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The rout of the Liberals in Aston is a disaster for Peter Dutton. The party has defied history – in the worst possible way. This is the first time in more than a century ...
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 Morgan Hancock/AAP With 44% of enrolled voters counted in today’s Aston federal byelection, the ABC has Labor expected to win ...
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 Morgan Hancock/AAP With 44% of enrolled voters counted in today’s Aston federal byelection, the ABC has Labor expected to win ...
Analysis - When is a cabinet minister not a cabinet minister? The faulty logic of Stuart Nash has landed him and Labour in a heap of trouble but opened the door to serious reform of the Official Information Act, Tim Watkin writes. ...
Jubi News in Jayapura Indonesia’s Papua police chief Inspector-General Mathius D Fakhiri has called for action to ensure that “security disturbances” in the Puncak Jaya highlands do not widen in the face of escalating attacks by pro-independence militants. “For Puncak, we will take immediate action,” he said. According to General ...
What are you going to be watching this month? We round up everything coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ+. The biggies Party Down (all seasons on TVNZ+ from April 1) Thirteen years is a long time between drinks and ...
Ginny Andersen has landed a hot-potato portfolio and has been in Cabinet less than two months - the opposition will be eager to test her mettle this election year. ...
The executive producer of Modern Family has issued an incendiary claim about New Zealanders cheering and clapping in public. Hayden Donnell gets to the bottom of things.The sitcom Modern Family is remembered as a “warm-hearted story about the unbreakable bonds of family”; a tale of radically different people overcoming ...
As rain kept falling across January, February and into March, all band members cold do was sit at home cancelling festivals and posting sad Facebook messages to fans. The first post landed on January 3. As wild weather began hitting the country, campers around Northland packed up their tents ...
Because pro-social behaviour emerges so often after disaster, community empowerment should be central to disaster mitigation and recoveryOpinion: Cyclone Gabrielle caused major damage across the North Island. This unprecedented climate event created great uncertainty. People are wondering if, or when, they can return to their homes, the extent to ...
"We, women, loving you; you, men, finding new women to love": a Francophile love story in NZ Louis woke up and found out Marine was not lying next to him in bed. He checked his phone – 5:30am. The aurora shone a bright gold on the windows of the detached ...
Every weekday, The Detail makes sense of the big news stories. This week, we looked at how co-governance really works, Labour's record on climate action, what the new AUKUS nuclear submarine deal means for New Zealand, Posie Parker's visit to Auckland and the free speech debate, and the damage processed foods are ...
The radio workers were caught by the unexpected speed of the decline of NZ's consumer economy, since Christmas – and they won't be the last. Jonathan Milne reports. When broadcaster Tova O’Brien uttered the resounding words, "they’ve f***ed us", they resonated beyond the 1 percent audience share of a small talk radio operation ...
A New Zealand Battery Project centred on Lake Onslow in Central Otago is up against a cheaper North Island alternative Studies into whether a massive pumped-hydro scheme at Lake Onslow is New Zealand’s best bet for a secure energy future may have only four more months to run. While the ...
This is The Detail's Long Read - one in-depth story read by us every weekend. This week, it's Jungle Warfare, written by Ellen Rykers and published in New Zealand Geographic's March/April 2023 edition. You can find the full article, with photos by Adrian Malloch, here. Hundreds of pest plant species—many of them garden escapees—run rampant in ...
The Red, White & Brass star talks spectacle, honouring family sacrifices and his debut lead role over a Tongan lunch in Otāhuhu.Name a creative pursuit and 28-year-old Tongan New Zealander John-Paul Foliaki will give it a go. That is, if he hasn’t already. Foliaki plays the lead role, Maka, ...
To mark 100 years since the great short story writer’s death, books editor Claire Mabey marathonned her collected works – these are the top 20.Reader, I did it. I read all of Katherine Mansfield’s short stories. Confession: I haven’t always been a fan. I have tedious memories of ...
In her first season as an ANZ Premiership captain, Ameliaranne Ekenasio was nervous about filling the shoes of the legendary Magic captains before her. But, as Merryn Anderson writes, the quiet leader has the full respect of the side who voted her in. When the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic created history ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Ordway, Associate Professor Sport Management and Sport Integrity Lead, University of Canberra Lawyers for Australian 800-metre star Peter Bol say allegations the runner engaged in doping should be dropped after two independent labs found no evidence he used a banned substance. ...
Vanuatu’s Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Trading Post Ltd, the owner of the VanuatuDaily Post newspaper, BUZZ FM96 and other media outlets, in a case against the government’s refusal to renew the company’s former media director’s work permit. Dan McGarry, who served as a director of the ...
Balclutha-based farmer Stephen Jack has been selected by local party members as National’s candidate in Taieri for the 2023 General Election. “Taieri is my home and I’m incredibly excited to have the opportunity to campaign for a National Government ...
Analysis - The Stuart Nash scandal has the potential to damage Labour's election chances, Marama Davidson creates controversy and Auckland's second harbour crossing to be built earlier than expected. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare JM Burns, Assistant Professor and Non-executive Director, Bond University Shutterstock The story of the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, whose name and marketing misled thousands of customers into believing it was Indigenous owned and run, is a stark example of ...
It’s the biannual reminder to tamper with that pesky analogue clock you still have in your kitchen for some reason (or at the least your microwave/car stereo). This Sunday at 3am, we will all gain an hour of sleep as the clocks roll back ahead of winter. Get ready for ...
The chief ombudsman has elected to reopen his investigation into an email from former minister Stuart Nash to a pair of donors back in 2020. The email, which only came to light this week, quickly triggered Nash’s dismissal from cabinet. But in bad news for the prime minister Chris Hipkins, ...
Last week we celebrated The Bulletin’s fifth birthday with Spinoff members and staff at The Spinoff’s offices in Auckland. The Bulletin launched in March 2018 seeking to curate news and great journalism and email that to people for free each weekday morning. That hasn’t changed and it’s still going strong. ...
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so..the mayor has had an affair..
..could someone remind me..
..why i should care..?
phillip ure..
I don’t know why have you chosen to post about it ?
um..!..tinfoil..yr sentence can be read with two meanings..
..cd u plse clarify..?
..phillip ure..
I don’t know why you personally should care ?
I only know why I personally care as I reflected on whether it would have made a difference to who I voted for if they had been found to have behaved in this manner … and it would have.
You don’t have to care, but the mayor of AK can’t be trusted or taken as a man of his word, which may or may not be of some importance to voters in his electorate.
“You don’t have to care, but the mayor of AK can’t be trusted or taken as a man of his word”
In that case, thank grod I’m not married to him.
I’d have his balls in a jar and a lawyer drawing up the papers.
Take a European leaf mate, this shit happens, it happens A LOT, and spouses need to figure out together what they want to do next and if its worth continuing.
CV +1…and they don’t need the interference of 1) the Moral Majority( outmoded Christian fascists) or 2)prissy frustrated Catholics( you know that hypocritical Church of sexist Papists and perverts with a direct line to God)..or 3)wannabe Mana Party Mayors like John Minto, who would never get in as Mayor anyway, and who does a better hatchet job on Brown on National radio than the vested interests and right wingers who set Brown up in the first place)
Brown should stay…and he should be judged on what he has done as a Mayor for Auckland ( He was elected in with a huge majority …remember).
His family should stick together, if that is their will…and not let the ‘moral’ mud -slingers cause a family tragedy.
The Europeans are far more sophisticated then the Americans on this…We live in New Zealand not USA….let us make up our own minds and give Brown a chance…( and btw…who would replace him?)
Exactly CV and Chooky. It’s interesting that we come over all uppity on the moral high ground and recover some long lost religious type outrage about Len Brown having an affair when we can turn a blind eye to the immorality of say, the way beneficiaries have been treated under the Bennett regime.
If this had happened to a poli in France, no body would have raised an eyebrow, but as it happens you could have mistaken Cameron Slater for some hick being interviewed for Fox news, if last nights new was anything to go by. This is Little America now, so maybe we take on their fake morals too, and this is reflected in the media coverage this situation is receiving. Or maybe NZer’s are so small minded that they want to be scandalised by something like this.Either way, it’s hardly news worthy.
His affair is for him and his family to deal with. It’s nobody’s business but theirs. The only time you need to be concerned about affairs is if and when it happens to you.
CV, this “grod” entity of whom you speak…….does he too whip into other mens “virgin” wifes in order to start a religion? Was he watching Len? Who can we trust?
🙂 it’s a bloody butchers business, this game of politics.
Gangs of New York 😉
spare the rod
“..a man of his word..”
um..!..reality-check here for you..
..he is a politician..eh..?
..so..by his very nature..etc..
..i repeat..so fucken what..?
..i cd criticise brown all day long..for his incrementalist-approach to the urgencies we confront..
..i just don’t see what this (moralistic) fuss is all about..
..i mean..do people really believe what politicians say to them..?
..i know i fucken don’t..
..phillip ure..
He’s a politician, what a cop out argument.
Used on here last night a few times excusing his deceit.
There’s nothing moralistic about it. It is about politicians being trusted.
You don’t need that from your pollies, okay, good on ya.
perhaps you could define for us allen..
..just how/where browns’ affair..
..has any impact on his abilities to do his job..?
..and..how are you not outing yrslf as a moralistic-bluestocking..?
..and as a comparison-marker..
..how wd you rate yr outrage over banks’ dodgy-dealings around political-donations..?
..mm..?
..phillip ure..
No, you’re his defender, you tell us how a man who lies to his wife for two years can keep a level of trust amongst the wider community in the job of mayor and all it entails?
Re Banks: Fuck off and do your research.
“Re Banks: Fuck off and do your research”
Why so nasty ? He only asked for you to rate your outrage level.
Because it’s leading, and it’s typical as it’s shit.
so..allen..u r all 4 politicians being totally open about their sex-lives..?
..how far do you take it..?
..should brown interrupt press-conferences on say..whatever..to confess to present reporters..
..that while in the shower that morning..
..he committed infidelity with his hand..?
..(and in this case – it is a multi-faceted/nuanced exhortation..
..but..get a bloody grip..!..eh..?..)
..and re yr banks-reaction..?
..heh..!..eh..?
..no untoward penises to be seen there..eh..?..
phillip ure..
Here’s the thing. If Len has nicked some money from the public purse, even a hundred dollars, he’s be gone before breakfast because the ‘trust’ would be gone forever. Of that we must all agree, regardless of how one eyed we are being for the team.
Interesting then that a two year deceit is viewed as less bothersome by an elected official as pinching a hundy.
If an elected official misappropriates funds, trust is not involved.
It is professional misconduct and should be detected by standard accounting practises, and directly affects the organisation’s ability and reputation for being able to fulfil its role.
Sticking your dick in a consenting adult might be shit for your personal life, but it is not misconduct and does not affect the organisation’s ability to fulfil its role.
What A Great Cuntry?
It’s all about trust and now Len doesn’t have any.
Defend him, mitigate and minimise if you must, but it won’t change a thing.
ps You can always have a mini stalk-a-thon until you think you;ve won, but I’m at work til later, so don’t be offended if I don’t come rushing in with a snap back 😉
Why is being an elected official “all about trust”?
If they don’t do the job, they get overruled by their colleagues. If they do really badly, they get voted out. Simple. Don’t project more onto the relationship than actually exists. Like ’em, then vote for ’em. Don’t like ’em, don’t vote for ’em.
ps: I get to work with a broadband connection, lucky me 😉
phillip ure….lol
Rogue
🙄
@phillip…
I don’t have any outrage.
I don’t care if Lenny has been dipping his wick all over town. What I WOULD care about is, has it impacted on his ability to do his job ? A: NO
And the only drawback is he will waste a lot of time talking to the deaf and blind idiots that are our MSM.
I dunno, that’s alot of time he could have been spending working for auckland or with his family, or are we only talking a couple of minutes each time.
@ Tracey…what you call a “quickie”…Bill Clinton specialised in them…..provides stress relief on the job!
( But politicians should beware!….especially Left politicians….Somehow they always seem more vulnerable….and the Right always seems better able to shrug the scandals off or sweep them under the carpet….Maybe the difference is that the Left does not have the equivalent of the ruthless hunters and scandal mongers like Slater et al))
Tracey
It is important that politicians don’t get fat and have heart disease and die before their time like Norm Kirk. Brown was actually using his time well – working out in a very effective and satisfactory way. Getting sweaty and relieving tension at the same time.
Thinking about working more efficiently, ways of multi-tasking – I’ve forgotten how many minutes it has been calculated that we spend waiting at traffic lights in our lifetime. Time which could be used for neck massage relieving stress and preparing for the next round of talks with central government partners.
And while driving to and from work, he could probably run through all the points he wants to make on the agenda for both the morning’s and afternoon’s meetings. I understand that some of those beamers in Wellington have massage units built in to the seats – so many ways of enhancing sharpness of mind and work effectiveness.
Sex is only a small part of being trustworthy. It’s naive to expect complete morality from any human being. If you want to continue expecting that from your pollies…
Yeah, the same he’s a politician cop out.
NZ, you can do a lot better.
Some people will always wonder if someone can lie to their wife and others around them for 2 years, what else do they lie about. If we dont expect higher standards from our pollies we will continue to get lower standards.
CV and I have disagreed on this before, and will again I am sure.
Mission accomplished though, Banks is off the front pages.
Shall we have a clean out of Parliament then? Both National and Labour MPs have had extramarital affairs. And they run the whole country!!!
No, this is a very bad US politics road to go down, there are zero redeeming features to it.
I understand your view point, but down this road lies madness.
“Both National and Labour MPs have had extramarital affairs. And they run the whole country!!!”
Could go a long way to explain the current state of “affairs” in this country… a country shaped by self centred people lacking self discipline and ethics. 😉
Yesterday Slater acted as a mirror.
Let’s agree to disagree fella?
Sure thing…
Tracey: On the money as I see it.
@ Tracey @ The Allen….Lets just get the Catholic Church to run the country ….. as they used to do during the Inquisition….they are celibate and they dont have extramarital affairs do they?!….
I’m not a god squad kind of man, so the pious angle is wasted on me.
I’m coming at it straight from political perception not the immaculate conception. I’m not part of any moral minority and have no vested interest, I don’t even live in Auckland so have no voter rights or sensibilities to be offended or cajoled.
Should Brown resign and there be a new ballot, for me, yes and yes.
I neither care if you agree or disagree, if trust your pollies or not, or even if you appease and excuse the mayor of the countries largest city having a secret two year long affair, each to their own and all that, but it does show a real lack of judgement on his part, and an insight into his character that isn’t pleasant to see in anyone.
Whether trust is transitive or not, his lack of respect for his family probably is, especially as far as the wider community is concerned. Unscientific as they are, all the web polls I’ve seen so far seem to support this theory.
@The Allen…Loosen up!!!! ….ok you wouldnt do it….I wouldnt do it….lots of people wouldn’t do it……( not on the job and not in that way…we would be too cautious, or have too much loyalty, or be too sensible, or have too much self control)…..But does that make us better people?…Would that make us better Mayors?.
….no one is perfect….and there are far worse things…what he did was consensual and it sounds like he was ‘set up’ ….. and he never had any intention of leaving his wife…he broke it off!
The issue is was he a good Mayor?…an overwhelming number of voters said “YES” ……just leave it at that….otherwise it becomes a moral witch hunt…and it wont do his family any good
Al1en, How do you know the Browns don’t have an open marriage, and all he’s done that requires an apology is not having told his wife earlier, or carried it on too long?
Should he still resign?
To be fair they said yes without knowing he was a love cheat.
Judging by the tv interview I’d guess no to the notion of open marriage, but hope that poor lady doesn’t read these pages if not, it would just compound her hurt. Last night there were comments like she might have had an affair herself :rolledeyessofartheycamebacktheotherway:
They’re not eyes….they’re little lights that blink…
Meaney O’Br1an
They’re not rose tinted, that’s for sure 😉
“Mission accomplished though, Banks is off the front pages.” Tracey
precisely .
TA – Politicians can’t be trusted, wake up, it’s not new, what are you on about!
This is how the system works, its arms up backs, and threats, plain and simple!
The fact that the system has turned on one of it “brothers” is interesting though!
Indeed, and when they’re caught out they should go.
Allen, had Brown denied the affair he would be run out of office not because of having the affair but because of lying about it.
Brown needs to stay to fight the dirty tricks because this is what is behind the affair coming out. Any dirty tricks on Browns part e.g. were he involved in any intimidating or harrassing txts I would throw him to the wolves because I would find this to be unacceptable from an elected mayor.
It is not illegal to have an affair, neither is it illegal to deny having had an affair.
I get it when you say that being able to trust an elected high profile politician is important to you. It comes down to the individual person on what breaches the trust for them. For some it is an affair when married, for others it is denying the affair, for others it would be being involved in intimidating or harrassing txts (the latter is unproven to date).
I do not like double standards e.g. two years ago a security guard who worked for the council got sacked because of having sex on council premises. However there was not a dirty tricks brigade behind the secuirty guards job.
Brown having sex on council premises maybe an employment issue and he has himself to blame. When it comes to the dirty tricks brigade they never play fair because it is about a grab for power and innocent people get hurt and you never know how or who they are.
It’s not a cop out argument.
Trust has nothing to do with being a representative.
Look, I used to be responsible for securing items of value. A shit system would have relied on me being trustworthy. As it was, trust never came into it because the system was designed with checks, balances and audit trails. Not only did I behave properly in my role, I was seen to behave properly in my role. Have I always behaved properly in my personal life? No. But the systems in that job were set up to make it very difficult for me to behave improperly, even if I had wanted to.
Democracy has councillors, legal frameworks, and voters who can challenge the mayor if he behaves improperly in his role (not mentioning the 4th estate as it’s been on holiday for the last decade or two).
Trying to discern professional integrity from someone’s personal life is unreliable at best, and an excuse for fetishistic voyeurism and public harassment at its worst.
+1 McFlock …. you make a lot of sense
“O what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive” (Scotty). 😀
“but the mayor of AK can’t be trusted or taken as a man of his word, which may or may not be of some importance to voters in his electorate.”
Trust isn’t transitive. Being untrustworthy in one’s marriage doesn’t mean that one is untrustworthy in one’s job. One of course can be untrustworthy in both, but they’re not necessarily related in the way you imply.
Aha Weka, the good old selective morality argument…we can compartmentalize? Of course my mother told me tales of leopards and spots, and she is a very wise woman. And some prior seer asked those without sin to throw the first stone. I suppose if we are all sinners the question becomes “do we genuinely seek redemption?”
well, if you watch a mechanic rebuild enough engines, in time, you’ll know where the starter goes. 😀
“Aha Weka, the good old selective morality argument”
No, that is a different thing. The issue was whether someone was trustworthy, not whether they were moral or not.
Google “trust is not transitive”, read the article on airplane pilots, and come back and tell me if when you fly in a plane you want the pilot to be someone who doesn’t cheat on their spouse, or someone who is very good at flying planes safely, and whether those two things are related.
I always trust the pilot, regardless of his/her morals….killing yourself is fairly self selective, the passengers don’t really come into the equation.
And yet we know that there are pilots that drink and fly for instance, so their sense of self-preservation is not really the issue.
Do we know? I don’t or I would not fly. It is going to look really good as I burst into the cockpit prior to take off to demand an answer though.
wearing a towel.
Perhaps you could tell me what you are on about? I replied to someone else about trust not being transitive. You brought up selective moralilty, but haven’t clarified why.
That’s okay, I’m not suggesting you’re not allowed to trust Len any more, just saying I don’t because he’s proven to be very untrustworthy over a sustained period.
In politics that’s poison.
That’s fine because that is how you feel and only you get to speak for you.
Leopard spots and personal choice!
How has Len proven to be untrustworthy over a sustained period? Were questions over this affair put to him during the campaign? Did he mislead us about that? Has he lied to Aucklanders at any point about this affair? The fact is (to paraphrase Simon) you didn’t trust him from the start. And if it’s poison in politics you’re after well the ashen face of Key at his stand-up today might be a good place to look.
+1.
Or to put it another way, if trust were transitive, then someone lying at work would mean their spouse could no longer trust them in their marriage. Doesn’t make sense though, does it.
We should all be super-human paragons of grace and enlightenment?
Yeah, apparently.
because our leaders are people to look up to?
because our leaders represent the very best of humankind?
because he is Christian, or some other religion with rules about fidelity?
because if he is subject to the whims of the devil then how can we trust him to do the right thing for the community?
none of the above?
you shouldn’t care at all and most people don’t. Because most political leaders are very very average people who do the same things as the rest of us and have no more brains or pieces of wisdom in their heads about anything at all.
that is why you shouldn’t care
One of the real issues here is that now ALL politicians personal lives could be up for severe scrutiny. As a country do we really want to go down that “News of the Screws” road? My guess is that a lot of people in positions of power will be somewhat apprehensive over the latest turn of events. To quote Henry KIssinger, “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Slater has opened a Pandora’s Box here.
Agreed. I could personally out ‘dirt ‘ on three National MPs. With a little effort I could get affidavits on their extramarital affairs/sexploits. It’s a small country we live in and secrets are hard to keep.
get your affidavits, have them delivered by a process server to Slater and see if he publishes them… when he doesn’t, make the story about him, not the MPs.
So strange from the side that abhors politics of personality, negative tactics and smears.
From my point of view the worst part of this was his choice of skanky partner. Rating your lover 4/10 when it was your own choice to stay with them for two years. Ugghers. Signing a sworn affidavit that crassly describes sexual acts that, if we are honest, go on in offices all over the country.
I wonder how much of this was threatened by her during the campaign just to put pressure on Len Brown – and didn’t he cope well! I think she is the real issue here and I really hope the media look very closely into her background. No doubt a trail of pissed off ex-lovers are just dying to talk about how the bitch manipulated them.
That language is unnecessary mate. My sense is she is going to end up thoroughly screwed by her right wing “friends” and is as much a victim of WO. Her campaign manager described her as “ambitious”. However her ethnic community cred is now fucked, and if she is unelectable by her own base, sayonara to any political career.
This Young lady has not thought through her dealings with the Family Slater. Her google history is forever tainted.
The Herald already has a couple of old articles about her wanting a Dragon baby, and in light of current events its all a bit creepy for her.
Not much career prospects at all I am afraid.
not the same scrutiny for slater… and then there’s Slater taking “credit” for stephen cook’s work? No one comes out of this smelling of roses…
NOT
Brown
Chuang
Slater
Cook
Herald online has nothing noticeable of a man who holds the balance of power in NZ in Court for a serious allegation of undermining the rules of democracy….
Agreed.
She says she wasnt politically motivated but I am unsure what other motivation she had unless she is angry and bitter at it ending? She mentioned his catholicism but didnt let this stop her screwing him for two years. I agree if she had really wanted to hurt him she would have released BEFORE the election, but thenit wouldn’t have saved Banks further publicity.
Jabba the Whale on TV didnt do himself any favours, imo, he looked like Jabba the Hut, salivating over the salacious gossip he tried to seriously look like was in the interests of the country. While giddingly lapped up by his followers I am not sure everyday NZers would see him as some kind of champion of truth.
Did he give Len 24-48 hours to break it to his family before he published? He could still have had his scoop but preserved some aspect of the innocent’s pain.
It all gets very murky once you know Jabba’s father ran the campaign for Palino.
While she is not an innocent victim (such as Mrs brown and the kids) she will be feeling like one this morning I sispect.
Seeing she hangs around with right wingers, 4/10 was probably a significant improvement. I heard from the voices in my head that her combined score for Slater, Lusk and Simon Bridges didn’t even manage to beat Lenny boy all on his own.
You should care because people love to project themselves onto other people and situations. They like to see our political leaders as people with higher standards, greater character, finer wisdom, superior understanding. They need to do this to make them feel better. People need leaders.
You should care because this affair shatters that projection by people. It shows how exposed humanity is to itself. That there are no great defenders of some higher order. There is just us. You should care because such disillusionment is not good for society – we need higher beings and Len and lady have shown that they do not exist (in any useful number)
That is why you should care.
Politicians as paragons? I don’t think that’s the consensus view, somehow.
Quite, but my point was that humans are herd animals and need leaders. Currently, society’s leaders tend to be the political kind, for better or worse. P Ure should care because this type of act is an attack at this base human requirement for upstanding leadership. Nothing to do with caring for Len or lady, it is about caring for the requirements for good human existence, one of which is good leadership, even if it is a front.
vto, can you point out any decision, any negative effect on the management of Auckland as a city that Len’s little dalliance has caused, were the cities secrets revealed in the ‘pillow talk’, one section of Auckland society favored over other’s because of Lens wayward ways???,
If there were NO negative effects n the functioning of the Mayoralty i find what are in essence the private lives of politicians as big a yawn as their sexuality…
You’re quite right bad12 but I think you miss the point that people imo need leaders, whether it is in transiting across the Serengeti, inside the Vatican or playing a team sport. As I said, even if it is a front, people still need leaders. Humans need their leaders to be stronger, faster, wiserer, clevererer, someone to look up to.
The issue is that when a leader lets a people down it is a dint in the side of the community.
This is the case (whether it should be or not). This is why P Ure should care.
@ vto..
..re yr ‘leaders’ contention..
..we don’t need ‘leaders’..
..we need good ideas..and people with the skills to implement them..
..yr whole ‘leader’-thesis is misguided..a fantasy..
..all ‘leaders’ are also humans..with the faults/flaws shared by most..
..and..all politicians lie to attain office..
..and just one example is both brown..and the ‘green’ mayor of wellington..
..who..before their initial election-victory..
..both promised to help the homeless..if elected..
..both have done just the opposite..
..introducing legislation to remove the beggars/homeless from the city centres..
..personally..i find that promise-breaking/persecution of the weakest..
..far more fucken obscene..
..than silly old man brown having a bit on the side..eh..?
..phillip ure..
People know this about their leaders and happily turn a blind eye to their averageness unless it is shoved in their face like this.
People know this but that is immaterial to humanity’s requirement for leadership. imo.
People do not need “leaders”.
This is a nonsense which has been “learnt”, it is not the case, even less so these days\.
What people need, is not own up and accept that they are already a leader, of themselves, because like heck anyone else is going to look out for you, we all know that.
I’m not advocating every man/woman for themselves, but there is nothing higher than man/woman in this earth, so stop searching for something/someone to look up to, admire, or follow!
So no, we should not care about it, its par for the course we have all been put on, and Len has walked straight into the oldest trick in the book!
Do you really think so muzza? I would have thought that just about all of human history indicates that leadership is always at the forefront.
Sure, people are their own sovereign entities but the idea that there is no inbuilt requirement for leadership just seems off the planet….
you shouldn’t. I don’t even care if he owns a Harley Davidson.
tho’..i am enjoying the humour..
..that rightwing business-trout on tvone breakfast..
..has her knickers knotted up to her neck..
..over this one..
..wholesale corporate/elite-looting..?
..said ‘expert’ is far more relaxed/loose-knickered over/about that one..
..eh..?
..i think it has something to do with her bowing to the demands of the ‘acceptable-gatekeeper’ role she so hungers for..
..eh..?
(and..heh..!..the female co-compere…stretched/strove for a suitable simile/metaphor..
..and the only (ever-so-tenuous)penis-connection she could come up with..
..was andrew williams peeing on a tree..(heh..!)
..utter dumbness…as cheap entertainment..
..eh..?..)
..phillip ure..
Looks like John Boehner just scuttled another plan to end the U.S. stand-off.
Now, that’s a dangerous game.
Not sure Boehner is able to call it off, there is some speculation that’s its not on him!
Any case, this is completely staged, and not what it looks like at all!
So you don’t think Boehner and his team have gone rogue then? Even the Koch brothers are a bit antsy about this one.
Expect the majority of the system has been rogue for quite some period of time!
This is theatre!
If one of the Auckland city council managers got caught rooting some woman in the Ngati Whatua room would he still have a job.
Or do different rules apply to the Mayor, is he untouchable?,
Does he have some sort of employment contract? or can he do fairly much what ever he wants as long as he doesn’t break the law?
Common sense would tell you the mayor is an elected official, so most likely there are different employment rules and they are accountable to different people.
“Common sense”? Remember who you are replying to here.
IF he was in her direct employment line, line manager etc then yes, it would be an employment issue, particularly if he threatened her or advanced her career. No evidence of that so far.
Those work places where I have been aware of an affair (married person/s with someone other than partner/spouse) it has always been hierarchical not on the same level. It causes HUGE problems employment wise. Staff morale plummets, especially if lower ranked one throws weight around, awkwardness of staff social functions when partners are present.
So, BM if Mark Thingy (Ford??) was having an affair with someone immediately below him in line management and it was impacting staff, yup I would call for resignation,
So, apart from the voters the mayor answers to no one.
He can do whatever he wants along as he doesn’t do anything bad enough to be imprisoned?
Apart from voting once every three years there’s no way you can get rid of the mayor if he doesn’t want to leave?
Bloody democracy, who needs it eh?
Maybe you could get him on misusing council resources for personal gain?
*shrug*
Interesting thing. Stuff currently has a vote on it. I usually think Stuff’s unscientific polls lean to the right/conservative side pf politics. I was expecting to find a massive vote for Brown resigning. Instead, the vote is slightly in favour of Brown not resigning – by just over 50%.
And, as an Auckland voter, who voted for Brown, I want my vote to stand. There is no way I want one of the SleazeOil benefactors on the right to take office.
Now can we get back to the really pressing issues local and government politicians should be dealing with?
Kind of like a PM who either has alzheimers or is a liar. He gets to stay too.
Yeah, but you keep telling him to resign.
Q: Who is John Dragecivich?
A:__________
Q: Why does Auckland Council condone/endorse bullying?
A:__________
Q: Does corporate council or the elected members have a “no affairs” policy, or a “no affairs” code of conduct?
A:__________
Good questions. You wont get them answered while media is focused on “sex and the super city” headlining.
I think Dragecivich might be the idiot I came across in 1987 out at Waitemata City when I was looking for information about council building codes. He was extremely rude, an absolute prick, and refused to answer any questions. He told me about four times to get back to school teaching, but scuttled back into his office when I told him I hadn’t been teaching at all, but had been in prison for criminal assault (I hadn’t. I have no convictions for violent offences.) The photo could well be him, thirty years on. Such was the disfunctionality of the Waitemata Council with Shadbolt as Mayor. If the stories about his mayoral antics ever came out, they’d make Brown look like a choirboy, but Invercargill seem to like him as Mayor. Just like Auckland, it’s not WhaleSpew Blubber Boy who gets to choose. Thank god and all her angels.
This is awesome be great to something done similar here
http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2?g=2
The New Economics Foundation has a similar visualisation for the UK
http://www.neweconomics.org/blog/entry/why-inequality-isnt-just-about-fairness
Yes, it would be interesting to see the responses in NZ.
I was just looking at yesterday’s site stats. So with the whole trooling frenzy over Len as a result of sleazeoil and his sewer rats, it would perhaps be understandable that TS had an unusually high number of hits. But most surprisingly hits for “Angry Simon Implodes on Campbell Live” seemed to have gone through the roof, in contrast with the number of hits posts usually get in a day.
So, I guess there’s more online interest in the implosion of Nat Crosby Textor failure Simon Bridges, than in sleazoil and his sewer rats’ smear campaign?
One would hope so karol!
Brian Edwards attempts to limit Bridges damage after storm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11140640
What a load of shit Edwards, stay away from Boag…she’s rubbing off on you old boy.
Nice T-Shirt, A Sailor’s Dream (sunken chest)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11140646
ooh, double 7’s, ag’in. That’s my Lucky Number
Oh please I’ve just had breakfast!
That guy has no neck!
lol, light breakfast for moi (can get too many little green apples in the summertime, sigh, still, something more natural is going to help) 😉
Don’t splash that on yourself, the harpoon operator will be on your trail in a case of mistaken identity..
” cos it’s in ‘im and he’s gotta let it out…let that boy boogie woogie”
Boogie Chillen
Marbleless. ( You’re Never Alone When You’re A Schizophrenic ), something I’ve had brief understandings of. I have an uncle, lovely, bright man,(I’m fairly certain he associated with some members of Shihad ), two years older than me, who has lived with those challenges since he was in his late teens. Very sad really, and that becomes one’s life. It’s a mystery at times.
marbleless?
Here’s a version with more balls
Very Good; I have an a tape with J-L in various ensembles, a similar one by B.B King. see ZZ Top do ‘Hey Joe’ on the sidebar.
marbles? – self-deprecation, and curious things regularly appear around the section.
I think Simon had watched Shonkey v Campbell and thought he could do the same volume voice over trick his master uses….Campbo learnt from Shonkers technique…never fight the next war with the last ones tactics, the enemy learns quickly how to counter.
SEEMS EVEN THE UK’S RIGHT WING POLITICIANS CARE MORE ABOUT DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS THAN OURS DO:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/oct/14/conservative-peer-spying-gchq-surveillance?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2&et_cid=52753&[email protected]&Linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardian.com%2fuk-news%2f2013%2foct%2f14%2fconservative-peer-spying-gchq-surveillance
UPDATES!
GRAHAM McCREADY vs JOHN N BANKS + VINCE SIEMER!!
The Graham McCready vs John Banks case is waiting for the Judges’s decision today Wednesday 16 October 2013 at 2.15pm, in the Auckland District Court, as to whether or not it will go to trial.
What came out loud and clear in Court yesterday, was that John Banks DID know that the donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City were NOT anonymous. But because he had (lawfully???) delegated the responsibility of compiling his candidate’s returns (including donations) to a third party, who purportedly DIDN’T know the donations from Kim Dotcom and Sky City were NOT anonymous, they were recorded as such.
If this third party was not present at the meetings with Kim Dotcom and Sky City, at which it was clear these donations were NOT anonymous, then how was it correct for him to record these donations as anonymous?
It was stated in Court that it was effectively the ‘custom and practice’ in the 2010 and previous John Banks Mayoral campaigns to deliberately keep financial details, particularly about donations, separate from the Mayoral candidate.
So how could John Banks, in all honesty, ask this third party who had prepared his candidate’s returns if the information was true and correct, before signing them, if the knowledge of the John Banks as Mayoral candidate, and this third party were not one and the same regarding donations?
What dodgy ‘sleight of hand’ is being perpetrated here, by the (now) Leader of the ACT Party – the Party which supposedly upholds the principles of both ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘one law for all’?
How can ANY candidate for public office, sign their candidate’s returns without first PERSONALLY double-checking that the information is correct???
In my considered opinion as someone who was a Mayoral candidate both in 2010 (and 2013), this case SHOULD go to trial.
___________________________________________________________
Today – fellow Public Watchdog / Judicial Whistle blower Vince Siemer is in the Auckland HIGH Court (Waterloo Quadrant) , where at 10am he will be cross-examining Detective SuperIntendent Lovelock over his role in organising the Police raid/invasion of the Siemer’s home in February 2008 where they took heaps of stuff (unlawful search and seizure) and still have not returned some of it. It’s a BIG deal and Vince deserves support! So folks – if you can come to the High Court today at 10am I think you will find this VERY interesting!
WHEN YOUR RIGHTS ARE UNDER ATTACK – STAND UP – FIGHT BACK!
Good on you Vince Siemer!
http://www.kiwisfirst.co.nz
Good on Graham McCready!
Cheers!
Penny Bright
Her Warship 😉
Thanks, Penny. I will be interested in the outcome. Justice may not be served, as it may rest on some fine legal point.
Have a read of the first decision that got the case this far. The Judge shrugged off, pretty easily, some of Bank’s legal teams arguments.
It’s not a “fine legal point” but a huge fucken loophole (Talking about Banks).
the legal question is whether his ego could fit through the loophole 🙂
So even at the far ends of the earth the global Tea Party agenda is reduced to smearing filth. Desperation, you see. A black president, a socialist pope – neck minnit even all-powerful Granny is reduced to publishing pictures of Len’s daughters.
Carry on, chaps. Your thirty-year hiatus is closing. Back in the sewer, old boy.
King Kong posted from Koru International lounge yesterday and then today this headline caught my eye
“Rat family found living on plane”
Coincidence?
Budgie smuggling
On-air display of dumb insolence by Jim Mora’s producer.
But who can blame her?
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Tuesday 15 October 2013
Jim Mora, Graham Bell, Mai Chen
JIM MORA: We’ll be discussing these sensational revelations about Len Brown after 4 o’clock, but first Jessica Maddock is here, with what the WOOOOOORLD is talking about!
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well first up is a plan to deliver books in Australia by drone!
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha!
MAI CHEN: What if they run out of batteries?
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho ho ho!
JESSICA MADDOCK: Two kilos, I think, is the most they can carry.
MORA: [urgently] Can they carry two kilograms?!?!!??
…..Significant pause……
JESSICA MADDOCK: [significant pause] Mmmmm.
MORA: Mmm-kay. What else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that when you watch advertisements on TV when you are eating something, you subconsciously mouth the brand names.
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho!
MAI CHEN: I believe it!
MORA: Hang on! So when you watch TV and eat you are subconsciously mouthing the brand names?
…..Significant pause……
MORA: Mmmmm.
MORA: What else have you got for us?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that children who go to bed earlier behave better.
MAI CHEN: You reckon?
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho!
MORA: Okay, so it’s like a scientific confirmation of conventional wisdom isn’t it.
….. Extended silence……
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, another study shows that using plastic items, like water-bottles, can lead to miscarriages!
MAI CHEN: Good grief!
JESSICA MADDOCK: And it can also lead to a decrease in male fertility!
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho!
MORA: Okay, we’ve got thirty seconds. Anything else?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, there is this item is about the rediscovery of seventeenth century beauty practices. For example, the use of tobacco ash will whiten your teeth.
MORA: Tobacco ash?
….Silence…..
MORA: Tobacco ash will whiten your teeth?
JESSICA MADDOCK: Mmmm, hmmmm.
Thankfully for Jim Mora, the news rescues him from any more dumb insolence by his producer. This writer missed the rest of the program. Perhaps it improved….
Morrissey, do you have any actual consistent or objective measurement for what constitutes a “significant pause” or “extended silence” compared to “pause” or “silence”?
I take it that’s a rhetorical question.
As far as I can tell he doesn’t even distinguish between ‘devastatingly pregnant pause’ and the ordinary ending of one sentence followed by the beginning of another.
.
Pfft that made me laugh…
Hey Rogue. I believe that you would equal the Guiness Book of World Records which claimed that a letter exchange between two angry writers had the shortest well thought out response.
The second to last letter had nothing on the page but “!”
The last letter had nothing on it but “.”
Well done that man!
you are very kind, and it’s a bit of an off day. No rhyme or reason, (well, that would not be entirely true at all)., however, it’s getting better. An excellent therapeutic intervention in my opinion, gardening, so I’ve put in some Kamo Kamo plants, which are generally very productive, and you can koha them around joint.
Morrissey, do you have any actual consistent or objective measurement for what constitutes a “significant pause” or “extended silence” compared to “pause” or “silence”?
Come on Lanthanide, both you and I are perfectly aware of what constitutes an awkward, pregnant or extended silence, and all the other points on the continuum. I wouldn’t like to attempt to chart them scientifically, of course, but they are real, and undeniable.
Carry on Morrissey, you make me laugh whether it is accurate or not. You get the gist right most of the time so regardless of the criticism around here I will treat it as Gonzo, and something slightly more amusing than the dry balls stone faces comments.
+1 🙂
Wee bit overly mean sometimes but what the hell…
Thank you, Ennui. I appreciate your support.
Agree with E & A!
Keep at it Moz, it’s entertaining.
phenomenally so.
“JESSICA MADDOCK: Well, a study shows that when you watch advertisements on TV when you are eating something, you subconsciously mouth the brand names.
GRAHAM BELL: Ho ho ho!
MAI CHEN: I believe it!
MORA: Hang on! So when you watch TV and eat you are subconsciously mouthing the brand names?”
Moz, you’ve got this arsebackwards. Maddock correctly said that the study shows that eating in the cinema STOPS people subconsiously mouthing the brand names. Presumably she was quoting the Guardian article, or one of many other news reports on the finding:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/13/eating-popcorn-cinema-advertisers
Your misunderstanding/mishearing of what Maddock said also means that the words you attribute to Bell, Chen and Mora were not actually spoken by them. And what they did discuss was the exact opposite of what you claim.
As I suggested the other day, if you listen to the show a second time, you are far less likely to get things like this wrong.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2572874/the-panel-pre-show-for-15-october-2013
No, TRP. Morrissey’s transcript, as always, is accurate.
The only grey areas are what was said, who said what, how they said it and what they meant.
The only grey areas are what was said, who said what, how they said it and what they meant.
You’re quibbling over exact details. Yes, I made a mistake as to the actual findings of a no-account study in the Grauniad, but I got the dynamics of that dreadful conversation just right. As you would know if you had listened to the show.
lol – quibbling exact details like the diametric opposite of what they actually said.
lol –
Word of advice, my friend: avoid such puerile antics. It makes you look like a teenager—and not a very bright one.
quibbling exact details like the diametric opposite of what they actually said.
As I’ve already pointed out, the substance of my post was about the vacuity and foolishness of the chit-chat infesting our public radio. The actual details of the trivial subject being discussed are not really important. You know that, of course, perfectly well.
I’m not you’re friend, buddy.
Given that you’ve previously argued that your “transcripts” are “pretty close to word-perfect”, arguing that the details of what was said (like whether they said something completely different) makes you a fucking joke.
I’m not you’re [sic] friend, buddy.
We’re all friends around here, buddy. Except for Brett Dale.
Given that you’ve previously argued that your “transcripts” are “pretty close to word-perfect”….
They pretty much are. That’s not an “argument”, that’s a fact. And you know it.
….arguing that the details of what was said (like whether they said something completely different)
What they said was not the point. How they reacted to one another—-especially the way Jessica Maddock reacted to Jim Mora—-was the point.
…makes you a fucking joke.
Ha! A little bit of swearing just to intimidate, huh? I’m sure that works for you in real life situations, but here in cyberspace it only makes you look foolish.
… except when they say the exact opposite of what actually took place.
Well, then. It doesn’t matter that your transcripts are grossly inaccurate.
… except when they say the exact opposite of what actually took place.
I have explained with perfect clarity what the point of my post was. It was to highlight the vacuity of that fifteen minutes of excruciatingly poor quality radio chit-chat. Your quibbles about my slip-up over an incidental detail are utterly spurious.
Of course, that suits your purpose perfectly well: after all, your aim is not serious discussion, but to assail my integrity. Are you Whaleoil? You certainly write like him.
It doesn’t matter that your transcripts are grossly inaccurate.
Another wild, swingeing statement by you. My transcripts are pretty much on the money always, and you know it. You are going after me (ineptly) not because you are worried about anything that happened on that awful radio show yesterday, but because I have in the past targeted dishonest people and corrupt organisations that you have, foolishly, chosen to parrot.
Bullshit. They’re bunk.
Bullshit. You’re making shit up (again). I’d quite like your transcripts if they were accurate, or satire, but they can’t be both. You’re ego’s writing cheques that your recollection can’t cash.
See, I had to transcribe some quotes from an interview today. It was easy: I pressed “play” for a few words, then “pause”, wrote it down, replayed that section to make sure I was word perfect in something other than my imagination. It transcribing is how you get your rocks off, it’s not that difficult.
Your are all either mischievous or mistaken.
Morrissey’s renditions are always accurate and telling representations, he is truly a Shakespeare of our times.
Your [sic] are all either mischievous or mistaken.
“All”? In case you haven’t noticed, a small clique of my ideological enemies are following a strategy of quibbling about nothing of consequence, in order to attack my credibility. Fortunately, I can simply cite my substantial body of work on the internet, both here and elsewhere, and am happy to put my credibility up against that of people who parrot the lies of people and organisations that have been shown repeatedly to be dishonest and even fraudulent.
Morrissey’s renditions are always accurate and telling representations, he is truly a Shakespeare of our times.
Thanks for that!
“As you would know if you had listened to the show.”
No need to, I can just read your transcript and imagine the opposite.
I can just read your transcript and imagine the opposite.
As we saw last year with your strident and unashamed support for the most obviously nonsensical and bizarre official lies, you are adept at imagining the very opposite of reality to be the truth.
So there.
Priceless.
When this ends I’ll know the Meaning of Lif.
Life, say what you will about it you cant like it…..I think that is what marvin said but hell it is a bit hazy, many years since. Still thats what he meant.
You mean Marvin the Paranoid Android. He really doesn’t want to know because he knows that if he ever does find out he will be even feel more depressed.
Moz, you’ve got this arsebackwards. Maddock correctly said that the study shows that eating in the cinema STOPS people subconsiously mouthing the brand names. Presumably she was quoting the Guardian article, or one of many other news reports on the finding:
Thanks for that, my eagle-eyed, bat-eared friend. Accuracy, that’s the thing! I’ve GOT to up my game!
Your misunderstanding/mishearing of what Maddock said also means that the words you attribute to Bell, Chen and Mora were not actually spoken by them. And what they did discuss was the exact opposite of what you claim.
The point of my post, and I’m sure you realise this as well as anybody, was not to critique another vacuous study published in the ever-vacuous Grauniad, but to highlight the vacuous nature of the chit-chat that has been allowed to take over National Radio. Yes, as you so helpfully point out, I did get the earth-shatteringly important findings of that study “arsebackwards”, but that was not really significant. What is significant is: (a) the faux jollity of Graham Bell, (b) the obvious boredom of Mai Chen, who must have been wondering (yet again) why the hell she bothers with this program, (c) just how incredibly vacuous and annoying Jim Mora is, and (d) the contemptuous silences and curt replies by Jessica Maddock.
” … another vacuous study published in the ever-vacuous Grauniad …”
If you can’t even read what I wrote, what’s the point of you? I said it was in the Guardian and many other news sites. Which google will confirm. It’s not the Guardian’s study, it’s peer reviewed research from academics at Cologne university and it has major implications for advertising on both the big screen and the one your reading this on.
Y’know, it’d be great if you could just say, ‘cheers, I got that wrong’ instead of offering vacuous piffle to try and excuse yourself instead.
Indeed, Moz, you are the Jim Mora of the interwebs.
Y’know, it’d be great if you could just say, ‘cheers, I got that wrong’
Errrr, that’s exactly what I did do.
….instead of offering vacuous piffle to try and excuse yourself instead.
I explained the purpose of my post, and you understand it perfectly well, of course. Instead of acknowledging that, you instead focus on a minor failure to get all the details correct. It’s like picking holes in Citizen Kane because Welles used stock footage in some of the scenes with less than due care and attention.
Indeed, Moz, you are the Jim Mora of the interwebs.
I’ll take that as a compliment.
Holy fuck, did you just compare yourself to Orson Welles???
Outstanding
Holy fuck, did you just compare yourself to Orson Welles???
Outstanding
Well, he had his failures too, don’t forget. I myself have never been so down and out that I have been reduced to providing a voiceover for something as dire as the Future Shock movie.
Ya reckon. You’d be delusional to even set it as a distant aspiration.
At one stage about ten months ago, I was banned from Whaleoil, Brian Edwards and The Standard, all at the same time. But I tell ya now, my friend, despite such low-points, I can say with hand on heart that I’ve never been as desperate as this….
second verse, same as the first
second verse, same as the first
Another lame failure to respond. You’re not looking too convincing, buddy.
I’m not your buddy, guy.
And the response was simply exactly the same as the previous response.
Orson Welles could have advertised vibrators in supermarket ads while wearing a leapordskin onesy, it still wouldn’t excuse the pure-distilled narcissism that let you compare yourself with him.
Orson Welles could have advertised vibrators in supermarket ads while wearing a leapordskin [sic] onesy, it still wouldn’t excuse the pure-distilled narcissism that let you compare yourself with him.
Ha! “Narcissism” is clearly the Word of the Day….
In non-political news, Eleanor Catton has won the Man Booker Prize for The Luminaries. Pleasing to see a Kiwi do well.
Excellent
a kiwi/canadian?
Alias, Grace
Dancing in the streets? Nationwide parades? Or just a day of gushing on RNZ?
Brilliant!
More irrelevance from Key (Armstrong, not so much just recently).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11140632
Hmmm… interesting. Armstrong no longer the total Key Shill.
been a couple along those lines recently. maybe some Integrity , as opposed to Despair
Integrity Vs. Despair. The senior developmental life span stage? Generativity Vs. Stagnation me.
same
anyway, Holy Shamoly, Queensland’s Plan For Bikie Prisons
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11140628
so grateful to live in quiet, provincial New Zealand.(although, there is representation here, The ‘A’ Team , can be quite serious stuff, and people know people…), and, Napier has elected the Mayor they suit.
Napier has elected a mayor with a mandate to oppose being tied to the corpse 20km away on the Heretaunga plains with every tool available. As a born and bred Napier boy from a well-established family, all I can say that is a good fight! If National plans a forced amalgamation of Napier and Hastings, they can kiss goodbye to the Napier electorate for two generations… Perhaps that is why Tremain is bailing?
it doesn’t bother me, I have heard Bill Dalton on Bay FM, so I understand. I’m not sure what Labour’s policy is on these amalgamations (not being a rate-payer, apologies). Maybe someone can enlighten us (slow day today). You are correct however, there is significant feeling in letters and op-eds to HBT (which I no longer read much).
You may be aware, I grew up in the ‘nui, yet was quite socially mobile for many years, so met families with mates and daughters, students at Lindisfarne,, St John’s etc. Briefly dated, and remained friends with, the Dux of Sacred Heart.
It appears the Growers Action Group candidates have been elected to the HBRC, so that’s gonna be interesting. Personally, I support water collection, but not the RWSS.
how a stage is negotiated influences subsequent stage outcomes. much is determined, hence I’m on the cusp and always ready to return.whoooooo, glad that ride is over. Cups of
Tea all round. Choysa round.
Indeed. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s all in how you ride that crazy little pony.
whisper a little discipline and honesty.
What Does Fran Have To Say?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=11140602
on China.What Liu Chang (Xinhua) had to say, and then a bit more. Trend you see, renminbi. 😀
Good Lord! These winds can’t be helpful
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11140625
Meet Fukuppy, the inadvertent Fukushima mascot…
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/15/fukuppy-fukushima-mascot-japan-fridge-egg-name
couldn’t put Humpty together again 😀
Lolz. Bridges explains himself: http://imperatorfish.com/2013/10/15/the-facts-of-the-matter/
Loved it!
Apologies if someone mentioned this already and I missed it through all the panty-sniffing about sex lives above:
Groser admits MPI underresourced.
Who knew – apparently if you gut a public service of its staff, it might not be able to handle individual or multiple crises when they eventually arise.
Funny, the Dept of Education has said the same thing about their privacy lapse. It all got a bit busy and not enough people to handle the detail.
Back office people – what are they for, huh?
Even more telling is that it is Groser making the call on MPI staff resources.
It looks like Nathan Guy has been put in a box and told to shut-up.
that would be an advantageous strategy. Maybe the National Party is finding that the “types of material we want”, are not the materials they need, Hence , Minister for A Lot, S. Joyce.
That’s why we elect Political Supermen with Big Muscles and Very Little Brain. Pooh to you they say to every disaster in Their Way.
Oh please. It’s laugh material and not much more.
Reminds me of that scene with the mayor in The Wire. Someone should mail Len the DVDs.
[lprent: the more that this thread proceeds, the more that it seems to me that it should be in OpenMike as being unrelated to the topic of the post. ]
Sosoo 😆
+100
Frank Underwood also springs to mind.
On the subject of the Wire, wouldn’t you rather have a philandering Carcetti than a corrupt Clay Davis. Sheeeeeeeyitt!
Don’t you remember the scene where the guard walked in on Davis receiving a blow job?
That was Royce – Davis is above such antics
BRIEF ENCOUNTER
…..ACT ONE….
Esquire’s Coffee Shop, Lorne Street. In one corner, a television shows Jeremy Kyle, a segment called “Is my porn addict husband a cheat?” At a corner table beneath the television set, a furtive couple lurks in the shadows; the man is moustachioed and wears a fedora tilted low over his head, his overcoat collar pulled up to further hide his face.
YOUNG WOMAN: Shall I play mother? Milk — and sugar?
MAN: Thank you. [looks around nervously] You know what’s happened, don’t you?
….[TELEVISION: “It’s an addiction. I need to get help for it.”]….
YOUNG WOMAN: Yes. Yes I do. You’ve been reduced to wearing a false moustache and a fedora.
MAN: No, no, no. What’s happened is: I’ve fallen in love with you.
YOUNG WOMAN: [rolls eyes heavenward] Yes, I know.
MAN: Tell me honestly — please tell me honestly — what I believe is true.
YOUNG WOMAN: What do you believe?
MAN: That it’s the same with you. That you’ve fallen in love, too.
….[TELEVISION: Jeremy Kyle: “Are you going to pass the lie-detector test?”]….
YOUNG WOMAN: It – it sounds so silly.
MAN: Why?
YOUNG WOMAN: I know you so little.
….TELEVISION: “If you fail this lie-detector, she says she’s gone. Are you gonna pass?”….
MAN: It is true, though, isn’t it?
YOUNG WOMAN: Yes, it’s true.
MAN: [relieved] Oh, B____.
YOUNG WOMAN: No, L__, please. Please. We must be sensible. Please help me to be sensible. We must forget we’ve said what we’ve said and done what we’ve done. Done in the Ng_t_ Wh_t__ Room.
MAN: [nostalgically/lasciviously] And the L_ngh_m. And the H_lt_n. And Sk_ C_t_.
YOUNG WOMAN: [shuddering] Urrrrrrgghhh! Oh God! I feel like Monica Lewinsky! I want OUT of this NOW!
MAN: Not yet. Not quite yet.
….TELEVISION: “We asked, Did you steal the money from your mother’s stockings on Christmas Eve?”….
YOUNG WOMAN: But we must. Don’t you see? Because the security guards know! They’ve known about the pair of us ever sin—–
…..[Suddenly she sits up and waves. A bulky, oily, menacing male figure approaches]…..
MAN: Oh FUCK! Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! It’s C_m_r_n fucking Sl_t_r ! Do you fucking KNOW him?
YOUNG WOMAN: Of course! He’s an old N_t__n_l Party friend! Just pull your fedora down a bit further. He’ll NEVER suspect it’s you.
MAN: [whimpering and cowering in terror] I’m fucking DOOMED!
[The YOUNG WOMAN turns to the interloper and beams a warm smile]
YOUNG WOMAN: Hey, C_m_r_n! How are you? Have you met my friend, errrrr, uhhhh, “Neil”?
…..SOUNDTRACK: Ominous music plays…..
TO BE CONTINUED…..
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/are-yuppies-killing-london-and-will-people-riot-about-it
Short version – invasion of yuppies + the continuation of Thatcher’s attack on social housing is pricing people on low incomes out of London, including Brixton, which is probably going to erode a good deal of local culture.
This just in … John BANKS to stand trial.
Huge story (sorry, panty sniffers, this is about fraud, things that really matter) …
Tick tock tick tock!
John Banks is going to trial! YUSS!
Banksie versus Len for Auckland heavyweight “most trustworthy person” title…..come on McF, show us your hand. Tell us the difference as you see it.
Seriously, you can’t see the differences? Circumstances might change, but at the moment:
The possibility of up to two years in prison. Brown NO Banks YES
The fact that it was allegedly done so people would not know when he was acting in a conflict of interest (all that “I’ll be able to help you” crap he bailed on). Brown NO Banks YES
The fact that the allegations pertain directly to his duties as a public representative, such as filling in declarations truthfully. Brown NO Banks YES
I agree with post 22.1.1
“I agree with post 22.1.1”
Are you sure? There isn’t one….yet….shall I put one there ? What about: The Al1en is spacejunk 😀
ackshully, when The Al1en posted that, there was the corresponding post 22.1.1, I scrolled up, still, Believe It Or Not.
Q: Seagoon, which way is South America?
A: It all depends where you are standing!
Yes I can see this from a number of places. And it all has the same leopard spots despite the different silhouettes. Do I trust Banks not to be criminal? Certainly not! Do I trust Brown to be honest and honorable? Ask his wife.
So to cut to the chase: why defend Brown and attack Banks on trustworthiness? And remember we are debating trustworthiness, not any particular deed criminal or personal. I would suggest that you are being decidedly partisan which is fine by me. You have valid reasons for not trusting Banks….might you not agree I have valid reasons for not trusting Brown?
Only if you are a sexy woman Ennui. I think gender would indicate the ratio of trustworthiness.
I’m attacking neither on trustworthiness.
My criteria for attack are whether they performed their official functions to the required standard.
Brown has.
The main issue of Banks’ professional performance (signing declarations truthfully) is now set to be evaluated in a trial.
ps: nice Goon Show line 🙂
The ol’
“She’ll be awrite on the night approach ”
That good old “internationally experienced high flying CEO” (and associated multi-million $ package) bit….I feel a little botulism coming on. I need an …..expert.
Just for people who might be interested:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/10/effective_schools.html
Harvards report on schools provides food for thought
HYPOCRISY WATCH!
Compassionless people lecture about lack of empathy
The Panel, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 16 October 2013
Jim Mora, Steve McCabe, Gordon McLauchlan
JIM MORA: It’s quarter to four: time for Susan Baldacci and what the WOOOOOOORLD’s talking about!
SUSAN BALDACCI: Well, first up is this modern phenomenon of giving children names that can contribute to them becoming narcissists.
JIM MORA: Oh yes? Ha ha ha ha!
SUSAN BALDACCI: Jean Twenge, psychologist and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic, notes that a remarkable number of people have turned naming their babies into opportunities to show off — a sign of our culture’s increasing vanity.
GORDON McLAUCHLAN: [sagely] Ha ha ha ha!
STEVE McCABE: [thoughtfully] Hmmmmmm….
SUSAN BALDACCI: Yes, there is an ever increasing incidence of names such as Messiah, King, Prince, Greatness. There are even sixteen girls called Beautifull—with two Ls.
JIM MORA: You’d have to be beautiful, with a name like that!
SUSAN BALDACCI: Well it reflects a growing narcissism in society. You know, a lack of feeling, a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….
At that point, I was simply unable to continue listening to the idle chatter any longer. I’m sure I was not the only one to pick up on the exquisite, canting hypocrisy of Ms. Baldacci’s words. Messrs McCabe and McLauchlan were too polite to mention it, but Susan Baldacci and Jim Mora are the last people in the country who should be pontificating about a lack of empathy for the suffering of others….
Hi Morrissey.
Before I listen to the segment tonight, is your transcript “near word-perfect” or just “accurate”?
Or is it one of the ones where the actual words don’t matter at all?
It doesn’t matter. It’s the vibe, your honour. Mabo, etc.
Oh look the tr0lls are out stalking Morrissey again, a more hapless pair of wannabees the blogosphere has never seen.
Socko – Well put.
Felix let’s himself down, and gives himself away by lowering to such puerile comments, which if truth be known, I find some of the cats comments to be entertaining and witty, so clearly a level of intelligence there, cross pollinated with something slightly unsavory!
TRP – The follower, easily lead, also a handbag thrower!
Rule Qatar!
Dr Strangelove I presume 😀
How’s project Onan coming on Muz? And pointing out that Morassey regularly makes stuff up is not stalking, it’s a public service. The irony is that he accuses others, but can’t see the mote in his own eye.
Public Service – Um, yeah ok Mr Plod!
I prefer Mozzas commentary over your so called public service announcements, all day ref
That’s not to say you don’t make some witty comments from time to time, you do, they don’t go unappreciated, but the above ain’t one of them, IMO.
How’s project Onan coming on Muz?
Ha ha ha ha ha! How will Muzza recover from THAT one?
And pointing out that Morassey
“Morassey”. Oh I see what you’re doing there!
….regularly makes stuff up is not stalking, it’s a public service.
I make up nothing in my transcripts. I don’t get them word-perfect all the way through because, sadly, I have never learned shorthand beyond a rudimentary few dozen words. But I make up nothing. You are the one who has made nonsensical claims, like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.
Oh, do tell. When did I do that for Trotter?
Time to saddle up and roam wide. Adios.
“Oh look the tr0lls are out stalking Morrissey again, a more hapless pair of wannabees the blogosphere has never seen.”
I don’t give a damn about Morrissey and I don’t imagine TRP does either. We do both share this habit of mocking obvious bullshit though, and it does tend to annoy the feeble.
I don’t give a damn about Morrissey and I don’t imagine TRP does either.
Now that must be about the funniest dishonest statement made in this country in the last 24 hours. It’s possibly even more funnier and dishonest than either the Prime Minister’s assertion that “John Banks is a thoroughly credible and trustworthy individual” or John Boscawen’s solemn pronouncement that the ACT party was in great shape.
We do both share this habit of mocking obvious bullshit though, and it does tend to annoy the feeble.
You are not “mocking bullshit” at all; the pair of you have shown yourselves to be assiduous recyclers of the most malicious black propaganda; if we were able to send you back to a more suitable milieu for your talents, we’d zap you back fifty years to Red China, where you could enthusiastically denounce dissenters and truth-tellers and ridicule satirists to your dark hearts’ content.
“dissenters and truth-tellers and ridicule satirists”
You’re none of those things, Moz. You’re just someone with comprehension difficulties who thinks making things up and attributing them to others is acceptable. On the upside, your intellectual laziness is matched by your pomposity and self delusion.
You’re none of those things, Moz.
Oh really? Could you explain why I’m not a satirist? Maybe you missed this little gem from yesterday….
….or this little pearler from the more distant past….
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/nz.general/Ern1_QrFIw8
….or THIS one….
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/nz.general/morrissey$20breen$20$2B$20bush$20$2B$20blair/nz.general/sl3yTyT3Bec/s76OirkbI0IJ
…and don’t forget THIS one….
your intellectual laziness is matched by your pomposity and self delusion.
“Pomposity”? On the part of this writer?!?!???!??
I’m too bored with you to bothered with your linkwankery. Though still waiting for you to show where I defended Trotter as you allege.
….still waiting for you to show where I defended Trotter as you allege.
On July 19th I transcribed Trotter’s grandiloquent declamation on behalf of the Florida jury in the Trayvon Martin travesty. I might have omitted his windy “ummms” and “ahhhs”, but I got the pretentious and intellectually vacant tone of Trotter’s bloviating just right.
Instead of chiding me for minor inaccuracies, which would have been a reasonable and fair thing to do, you foolishly claimed I had made it all up…..
Link fail. Show me where I defended Trotter.
You claimed I made it up that Trotter had said that. I did not make any of it up, and you knew I did not.
Here is your claim, and my refutation of that claim….
Link fail. Show me where I defend Trotter.
edit: here’s your made up claim again:
“…like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.”
Link fail. Show me where I defend Trotter.
You said I made it up. That implies Trotter did not defend that lynch mob. He did, in the most pretentious manner possible.
edit: here’s your made up claim again:
There you go again! I made up nothing. There are (necessarily) some ellipses and some accidental transpositions of vacuous laughter. I made up nothing, and you know I did not. You are acting just like you did when you were parroting the most scurrilous official lies against Julian Assange last year, i.e., you’re prepared to say anything at all. That’s a very unwise course to embark on, my friend, and one you would be well advised to reconsider.
“…like claiming that the cuddly liberal icon Chris Trotter did not embark on a pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law.”
That’s exactly what he did, as you know.
Another day, another crock of lies from Morrissey.
You’ve still not quoted this supposed “defence of Deep South lynch law” that you made up.
And if you didn’t make it up, you’d be able to quote it.
But you did.
So you won’t.
Just to recap, the closest I could find was this bit of The Panel 18 July, from 6’14”.
This, as best as I can transcribe, it what trotter said in relation to Zimmerman’s juror’s lives being forever changed:
Whether that counts as a ” pompous and windy defence of Deep South lynch law”, I’ll let others decide.
But unless Mozz has a link to a different piece that he was actually transcribing, it’s interesting to compare it with Moz’ near-word-perfect, extremely accurate transcription:
Well I think your snookered there Morrissey. Why not just say it is satire I don’t get why you are holding so tightly to this word perfect get the feel transcript stuff – heads up – no one cares – haven’t you seen the positive comments about your satire – that is your skill – so just say it and then all this would be over.
Still waiting to see where I defend Trotter, Moz. Have a think about what I said about Trotter and let me know whether that’s a defence or an attack.
“You actually let people like Trotter off the hook by making up quotes, when the real words he used should be damning him.”
Should be damning him.
Does that sound like I was defending Trotter? Nooooo, just the opposite, you goose! I actually had some small sympathy for your position, though not in the weird way you expressed it today (Deep South make excellent ice cream btw).
I thought Trotter missed the point that day. On the evidence, I think you miss the point every day.
Thanks for transcribing that, McFlock. I can see that I missed a lot, and you have a valid point in disagreeing with my interpretation of Trotter’s comments. I did render his words a little more pointedly than they actually were. However, I think that even when you compare my admittedly imperfect rush “transcript” to your word-perfect transcript, I have captured the essential pomposity of his speaking style and the gist of his admonition to the lesser mortals in the studio to respect that outrageous verdict in Florida. Trotter was speaking slowly and sententiously, as if he was defending the Western system of justice; what he was actually doing was defending a grievous miscarriage of justice. His suggestion that there were “items of evidence which would raise reasonable doubt I think in most people’s minds” was not backed up at all, and disappointingly, Noelle McCarthy failed to demand he did so.
You are right to time the silences; they’re not as long as I recalled them in my mind, but they are significant nonetheless. Noelle McCarthy was, I believe, genuinely lost for words after listening to that. So was I.
oh fuck off.
So let’s say you “captured” trotter’s pompousness (personally, I think you overstated it). That means that you are (at best) a dadaesque caricaturist of discourse.
So are all the claims as to near word perfect accuracy simply self-delusion, or are you trying to mimic Sacha baron Cohen’s immersion satire?
Banks resigns !!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141129
/facepalm:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/two-schools-merge-in-christchurch-video-5650670
Someone from a wealthy country chooses to sail somewhere in a yacht for fun and adventure. It goes missing and any country nearby is asked to conduct searches for it.
Tongan fishermen getting food or money for their families drift for a month or die, refugees from hard regimes, or cruel ones, or wars, or starvation are going into the water probably every day in their efforts to find land and a living and instead find dying.
Probably because of the actions of the forces from the country the yacht came from. Who gets looked for and cared about?
Has Tim Groser gone rogue on his own government? His comments around the under-preparedness of MPI and its subsequent reactions to all the recent food safety crises we’ve had are quite extraordinary.
If y’all can get past the Auckland mayor letting it all hang out something which in Europe people more or less expect their politicians and “leaders” to do with all of them being Apha personalities and all here is what else those same people do behind the scenes and that pesonally has me way more worried that an alpha male midlife crisis: Jason Burmas from Loose Change shines a light in the shade where the cockroaches of Bilderberg reside. Ladies and gentlemen I give you Shade, enjoy!