That’s shocking as. Housing crisis to blame? Lack of motels maybe?
Why on earth put up guards at a Hotel, sick of it, sick of the overspending and mismanagement of NZ’s finances at the hands of the outgoing national government.
2 million !! Imagine the good that kind of money could have done rather than giving it all to a local hotel. I wonder if the national government needs some budgeting advice? Sick of them wasting money, enough is enough.
Cinny
Yes, exactly right. This is part of the National Party neolib adventure which promises business that it will sell, often quite cheaply, all its service performance requirements to them. Businesses are working to attach their suckers to every available entry in the government fabric.
Leeches are cleaners, useful insects when used in medicine. Private enterprise used sometimes is useful, but not when NZ is getting a third carve-up, first Maui, second the colonial rush, and third the neo lib nasties.
Bad medicine. Will this period be known as The Age of the Locusts?
This is now the third article by experienced independent journalists denouncing the propaganda being fed to the Western public,
This article is worth reporting in detail.
Why is it ok to bomb Mosul but not Aleppo?
Assad and his allies have carried out war crimes. But so have the rebels
by Peter Oborne
British news-papers have been informing their readers about two contrasting battles in the killing grounds of the Middle East.
For the past few weeks, One is Mosul , in northern Iraq, where western reporters are accompanying an army of liberation as it frees a joyful population from terrorist control. The other concerns Aleppo, just a few hundred miles to the west.This, apparently, is the exact opposite.
Here, a murderous dictator, hellbent on destruction, is waging war on his own people.
Both these narratives contain strong elements of truth. There is no question that President Assad and his Russian allies have committed war crimes, and we can all agree that Mosul will be far better off without Isis. Nevertheless, the situations in Mosul and Aleppo are fundamentally identical. In both cases, forces loyal to an internationally recognised government are attacking well-populated cities, with the aid of foreign air power. These cities are under the control of armed groups or terrorists, who are holding a proportion of their population hostage.
In Mosul, fewer than 10,000 Isis fighters control about a million people. In eastern Aleppo, it is estimated that about 5,000 armed men, the majority linked to al–Qaeda, dominate a population of about 200,000. In each case the armed groups use the zones they occupy to attack government areas with rockets, mortars and other weapons.
So Prime Minister al-Abadi in Iraq and President Assad in Syria face the same dilemma. Should they do nothing for fear of killing civilians? Or do they take air action and eliminate the so-called rebels, but at terrible cost in innocent blood as they wage merciless war against ruthless insurgents?
In both cases, enormous bloodshed could be prevented if the terrorist groups let the civilian population leave. Last month the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, pleaded with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Qaeda, but now decoupled and rebranded) to do just that: ‘One thousand of you are deciding the destiny of 270,000 civilians.’ He pointedly used the word ‘hostage’ to describe the way these civilians were being held by the rebels and not by Assad.
This episode highlighted the double standard about western reporting of these terrible problems.
In Mosul, western reporters travelling with the invading Iraqi army publish pictures of joyful populations liberated from the jihadists. In Aleppo, the attempt to free the city from al-Qaeda control is portrayed as a remorseless attack on the civilian population.
A further double standard concerns the reporting of Russian and Syrian atrocities. Much has — rightly — been made of the so-called barrel bombs dropped on Aleppo by the Russians. Yet rebel commanders in eastern Aleppo use equally hideous weapons. Last April, fighters from Jaish al-Islam, backed by Saudi Arabia and considered moderate enough that American diplomats retain relations with them, admitted to using chemical weapons against the Kurds in Aleppo. This attack received almost no attention from the media, and failed to generate the faintest outrage in Britain.
Yet another double standard applies to the destruction of hospitals. When I was in Aleppo, I interviewed Mohamad El-Hazouri, head of the department of health, at the Razi hospital. He told me that when rebel groups entered the city they put six of the 16 hospitals out of service, as well as 100 of the 201 health centres, and wiped out the ambulance service.
There is a wider pattern at work here. When opponents of the West try to reclaim urban areas from terrorists, they are denounced. When our allies do the same — think of Israel in Gaza or the Saudis in Yemen — we defend them. We judge Assad by one set of rules, and ourselves and our own allies by another.
Right at the end of the discussion, Stephen Cohen lost all patience with Roth, and dealt to him….
STEPHEN COHEN: That’s not talking with Putin; that’s putting pressure on Putin.
KENNETH ROTH: And talk to him, too. And we never objected to the ongoing debate, the ongoing conversation, but it shouldn’t be in lieu of the kind of pressure, which is all that Putin listens to these days.
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, for God’s sake. That’s all he listens to. And you base that on what? Your careful study—
KENNETH ROTH: I’m watching—I’ve watched—
STEPHEN COHEN: Your careful study of Putin? Your following of Russian politics?
KENNETH ROTH: I’ve watched two—yeah, I’ve watched—let me answer. Let me answer.
STEPHEN COHEN: Look, at some point, let’s be fact-based, OK?
KENNETH ROTH: I’ve watched him for two years—
STEPHEN COHEN: You simply don’t know what you’re—oh.
KENNETH ROTH: —talk and talk and talk with Kerry and Lavrov.
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, oh.
KENNETH ROTH: And he just continued with the atrocities.
STEPHEN COHEN: You watched it, or you listened to what he said? Or you listened—you read it?
KENNETH ROTH: The only way to ratchet up—the only way he has made any—
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, for God’s sake.
KENNETH ROTH: —change in Syria is when the pressure mounts.
STEPHEN COHEN: We’re back to Syria now.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to leave it there. We’re going to have to leave it there, but I want to thank you both for being a part of this discussion. Stephen Cohen is professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at Princeton and New York University. And Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we look at Trump’s pick to be the secretary of energy, Rick Perry. Stay with us.
The only incoherent person in that studio was Kenneth Roth. Professor Cohen rightly pointed out that Roth knew virtually nothing and was a thoughtless megaphone for the State Department.
That you choose to call Professor Cohen’s challenging of that charlatan a “pointless interruption” tells us everything we need to know about how frivolous and insubstantial you are.
I had a look at the transcript on the site you linked to and I see Roth describing what’s happening and Cole obfuscating on behalf of the Russians. To you, that’s “frivolous and insubstantial,” but you always have plenty to say about how ignorant and unsophisticated other people are, usually while peddling some risible nonsense yourself, so I won’t be losing any sleep over it.
I had a look at the transcript on the site you linked to and I see Roth describing what’s happening and Cole [sic] obfuscating on behalf of the Russians.
If Roth had merely been “describing what’s happening”, Cohen would not have had to point out that he was merely repeating the most inflammatory State Department rhetoric. And you are deliberately misconstruing what Professor Cohen said.
The “frivolous and insubstantial” charge was directed at you.
This is now the third article by experienced independent journalists denouncing the propaganda being fed to the Western public…
Well, denouncing one side’s propaganda while propagating the other side’s, maybe.
And the headline “Why is it ok to bomb Mosul but not Aleppo?” must be one of the most cynical and disingenuous lines written about this conflict by someone not directly employed as a propagandist. No wonder you’re promoting it.
I don’t think you’ll find any of the above journalists are propagating one side.
They are simply pointing out that the corporate embedded message we are getting is extremely one sided.
So what? What is your point? That media is bias – well fuck me dead I never realised. //SARC
It seems like the – look at this disgusting porn which I have now watched for 3 hours non-stop to see how bad it is. War/propaganda porn is as damaging and delusional.
I get that Paul – is it the questioning of the narrative that is your main point.
Some of us never accept the narrative even if it is all over the MSM – you know that right. Some of us know that it is propaganda AND that still, in 2017, people are getting slaughtered – whether by this creed or that one – you know that right. Some of us are SO far away from the murders and atrocities that we realise ANY of our conclusions derived from some information from there, is always bias to our own preconceived ideas, ideals, and ethos, and we accept that.
Thanks Karen – I just find the fundamentalist “I know what is happening on the other side of the world and you don’t” line so arrogant, let alone false.
why don’t you piss off morrie – your snide digs show what an inadequate little prat you are – go send another email dissing Kim Hill why don’t you you pompous freak.
you know you’re a turd morrie – sure, a pretentious one who has a very inflated and puffed up view of his own intelligence and insight and that is your right. Try doing some wider and deeper reading if you want your piglet to fly.
marty mars
You would have more credibility if you didn’t erupt so violently and emotionally. It seems to happen quite often. Why waste words, just a few are more cutting. Morrissey grows faster with this sort of manure.
I get some enjoyment from using words/sentences – good for my scrabble too. I don’t think I erupted at all, from an unprovoked and nasty snide attack on me after I asked a question of Paul. I like the fact that some find me too ’emotional’ but I think it is too far and quite rude to call me violent 🙂 I do get that I swear a lot – sorry for those you don’t like swearing – they are just words…
It’s kind of funny that you’re on here every day posting propaganda from regime sympathisers while also claiming to be outraged about “media bias.” Your peddling of propaganda on behalf of Russia, Iran and their client Assad is an object lesson in bias.
As to the links you provide, the lack of civilian-casualty stories from Mosul isn’t a reflection of western media bias, it’s a reflection of the fact that the place is held by Da’Esh. It’s also a reflection of the fact that Mosul hasn’t been subjected to massive, indiscriminate aerial bombardment. Your and others’ efforts at false equivalence can’t alter those things.
As to the links you provide, the lack of civilian-casualty stories from Mosul isn’t a reflection of western media bias, it’s a reflection of the fact that the place is held by Da’Esh.
I claimed the lack of news reports in western media about civilian casualties in Mosul is a reflection of the place being held by Da’Esh. Not because there aren’t any civilian casualties (there’ll be plenty) but because the only stories Da’Esh is interested in supplying to western media are about the western prisoners they’re holding, the gruesome executions they’re carrying out, or the obnoxious bluster their spokesmen churn out.
Robert Fisk, Peter Oborn and Patrick Cockburn are not regime sympathisers nor do they peddle propaganda on behalf of Russia, Iran and their client Assad.
The Washington Post, al Jazeera, the BBC and the Guardian do promote an agenda, just as Press TV, RTV and others promote the other side.
Paul get real mate. Robert Fisk lives in South Lebanon. His narrative on Syria is largely from the Hezbollah perspective, nothing wrong with that per se but to pretend the guy is some neutral observer is just asinine. Your sources are just as biased as those you criticise.
You are aware of these three journalists impeccable credentials, aren’t you?
Yet you believe the establishment puppets.
Did you believe this one as well?
wayne mapp, bill english and Key were spreading the same lies and supporting war here in NZ …..
” In the leadup to the Iraq war, National MPs were howling for New Zealand to back the US and get involved. Then Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wayne Mapp complained that we had questioned US intelligence on WMDs (I bet he feels stupid now) and demanded that we “stand firm with [our] traditional friends and allies” by supporting a second resolution authorising the war. The party complained that we had supported the international consensus of demanding solid evidence before invading another country. When the war began, Bill English demanded that NZ troops be sent immediately …. ” http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=wayne+mapp%2Bwar
Mark Mitchell was part of the “mission accomplished” from that illegal war/invasion …. if any present mp in NZ has expertise on creating the conditions that empowers and grows groups like ISIS it would be him. ….
Patrick Oliver Cockburn ( born 5 March 1950) is an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent for The Independent. He has also worked as a correspondent in Moscow and Washington and is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.
He has written three books on Iraq’s recent history. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize in 2006, the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2009,Foreign Commentator of the Year (Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards 2013), Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year (British Journalism Awards 2014), Foreign Reporter of the Year (The Press Awards For 2014). Seymour Hersh has described him as the “best western journalist at work in Iraq today.”
Robert Fisk (born 12 July 1946) is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. He has been Middle East correspondent intermittently since 1976 for various media; since 1989 he is correspondent for The Independent, primarily based in Beirut. Fisk holds more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent and has been voted British International Journalist of the Year seven times. He has published a number of books and reported on several wars and armed conflicts.
What’s your point Paul? So you go googling to find some references that back up your argument and quote only those that do. Wow, that’s novel.
In the process of said googling you would undoubtedly have been presented with numerous other references that questioned your precious ‘impeccable credentials’ but of course you blithely ignore all those and see only what you want to see.
Fisk is well known to have good relations with Hezbollah, they wouldn’t let him live there if he didn’t. On the Syrian issue the other side won’t talk much with him, they know who he is. Most of his sources will be from the Hezbollah/Assad perspective and his reporting on Syria will reflect that.
Paul’s point is that he has an awesome argument from authority because the people he reads are trustworthy, objective experts in the field like, er, Eva Bartlett, which means Paul, by reading their stuff, is likewise brilliantly well-informed on the subject, whereas you are a mere dupe of western media bias. And also argument from authority is totally not a logical fallacy.
And the third journalist in Assad and Russia’s camp…..
Peter Alan Oborne (born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist. He is the associate editor of The Spectator and former chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class, and, with Frances Weaver, the pamphlet Guilty Men.
Oborne is known for his acerbic commentary on the hypocrisy and apparent mendacity of contemporary politicians.
On 17 February 2015, Oborne resigned from The Daily Telegraph. In a letter posted to the online news website, open Democracy, Oborne criticised his former employer for the allegedly unscrupulous relationship between their editorial and commercial arms. Specifically, Oborne outlined how the paper would suppress negative stories and drop investigations into the HSBC bank, a major source of their advertising revenue, which, in his opinion, compromised their journalistic integrity calling it a “form of fraud on its readers”.
There’s nothing I can say that will enlighten you Paul. You’ve got your view and nothing will will shake you from it.
When two opposing sides present their own version of events the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. The message being sent to you here, Paul, is that’s how most neutral people likely see the Syrian debacle. Both sides are lying propagandists, both are truth tellers. You choose to take a side, stop assuming that everyone else does.
Yet you believe the establishment puppets.
Did you believe this one as well?
It’s also kind of funny that you can spot propaganda when it’s from people you don’t like, but are happy to publish propaganda and defend it as objective reporting when it’s from people you do like.
So what are your sources psycho? I shall genuinely look at them.
Your nom de plume seems apt given the violent outbursts I receive for publishing contrarian viewpoints to the establishment narrative. Any chance you could tone down the aggro?
Absolutely. All that’s needed is for you to stop posting apologia for war crimes and then claiming the people who object to it are ill-informed.
As to my “sources,” I don’t have any impeccably-qualified authorities to spin logical fallacies from. I read things and watch the news, and am thereby no less ill-qualified to express opinions on this subject than you or Morrissey, who likewise read stuff and watch the news. None of us are experts on this subject, we’re people with opinions blathering on blog comments threads. If you could grasp that concept, you’d find fewer replies from me under your comments.
Right on Paul and Morrissey. PM and DH are suckers for Western propaganda. Sad thing is, so are most Westerners. We have had nothing but bullshit since half way through WW2 from Western interests, and still these suckers fall for every word.
Obectivity seems to be an impossible ask.
DH“His narrative on Syria is largely from the Hezbollah perspective,”
Ummm, no.
If there’s been one aspect over the last 2 decades where Fisk has come in for criticism from progressive scholars/writers/analysts on Lebanon … it’s that he was too closely aligned with the Hariri-block and with his friend Walid Jumblatt. And that, hence, Fisk was far too predisposed to regurgitate some of the more banal US-Israeli propaganda specifically on Hezbollah.
That’s a critique from experts who otherwise have a great deal of time for the high quality and integrity of his journalism.
All of which suggests – as Paul and Morrissey have already pointed out – that you really don’t have too much of a clue.
As anyone who has visited The Standard regularly over the last five years or so could tell you, actually, yes, swordfish does know what he’s talking about when it comes to Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
And, as is painfully obvious, you know next to nothing.
Although I’m all for robust debate, I’m not sure I’d even bother with these Clintonistas, Paul. They’re a smug, preening, pompous little band of Stewie Griffins. Not a great deal of honesty, integrity or backbone. (you’ll look in vain for any critique of US foreign policy, for instance. Not in their interests. Where the New York Times and Washington Post go … they quickly follow – as fast as their little legs will carry them)
All you’re ever gonna get from these wonderfully droll wannabe hipsters are increasingly desperate attempts at erudite little bon mots. Such are the unquenchable depths of their self-delight.
An interesting article by Danyl McLaughlan – about how John Key’s expertise in finance trading gave him an understanding of how to play other complex systems – like politics – and “win” at the “game”. Means he was a conservative who favoured incremental change, but failed to deal with the most pressing issues facing the country.
He was a conservative who believed in incremental improvements rather than radical reform, and if that happened to benefit him and his caucus, and the parties membership and donor-class… well, that’s just politics, right?
This isn’t the worst way you can govern a country, as I suspect the various western democracies voting radical authoritarians into power are about to find out. But it did mean that most of the serious problems facing New Zealand, which could only be addressed by large-scale reform, never got fixed under his watch.
It’s frustrating, given Key’s obvious political genius, that he only addressed it to winning at the superficial elements of politics: raising money, winning elections, mocking the opposition as it self-destructed, getting good coverage, being popular. Understanding the game and then beating it. To me the most quintessential Key policy is his reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme: Key and his Trade Minister found a brilliant way to rort the international carbon trading system, buying hundreds of millions of dollars of quasi-legal Russian and Ukrainian carbon credits. It was an ingenious way to prevent New Zealand from having to reduce our carbon emissions, which would have lead to all sorts of reforms and costs that might have compromised Key’s popularity.
It may not be the absolute worst way to run a country – but that’s a very low bar. It certainly hasn’t helped the country, and it’s been very bad for the least well-off.
“To me the most quintessential Key policy is his reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme: Key and his Trade Minister found a brilliant way to rort the international carbon trading system, buying hundreds of millions of dollars of quasi-legal Russian and Ukrainian carbon credits. It was an ingenious way to prevent New Zealand from having to reduce our carbon emissions, which would have lead to all sorts of reforms and costs that might have compromised Key’s popularity.”
“brilliant, rort,ingenious?…..that says more about the author than it does about Key……the entire article needs to read with that as its foundation.
Like any day trader, he maximised short term profits (for himself and cronies) and left social destruction for others to clean up ( housing, immigration, super, tax havens, debt levels, etc). It does not require huge skills to asset strip a country over 8 years, but it does require skills to avoid detection and deflect blame).
I think he will go down as one of the worst PM’s we have ever had, once the books get opened. He’s a Muldoon – leaving a big mess for others.
It seems worth comparing McLaughlan’s It may not be the absolute worst way to run a country – but that’s a very low bar. It certainly hasn’t helped the country, and it’s been very bad for the least well-off. with Gould’s …the battle was not one of personality politics, but real politics…The personality was merely the means by which a deadly serious re-making of New Zealand – along ideological lines – was being undertaken.
By McLaughlin’s account, Key focused on winning and paid scant attention to the plight of the least well off. By Gould’s account he was a man on a mission who employed a winning strategy. I find Gould’s account the more plausible. When people are being kicked out of houses for fabricated reasons, and being plunged into huge debts that they will never be able to pay, and the architects of that scheme are elevated as Key’s anointed heirs, then it all looks more deliberate than accidental. In fact it is almost worth asking them if they hope, following in the footsteps of nineteenth century colonists, that the least wealthy 20-30% will either bugger off or gradually die out. It is what their actions suggest.
Edit: I should also have mentioned our overflowing prison population.
I found Gould’s account more realistic too, Olwyn. Key was parachuted in to do a job (for unknown others), he’s done it, and he’s flown out again – leaving an exploited demoralised country behind him.
If the appearances of a leader are taken on trust by influential commentators and the general populace, then mythology will prevail. History will be fabricated rather than examined. The three widely propagated myths about John Key are; that he was not really ideological, he occupied the political centre and that he left no legacy.
Its my last day of work for the year so might even be getting an early knock off so hopefully everyone has a good a Christmas as I’m going to or preferably even better!
Merry Christmas PR, enjoy your break, have a great time with friends and family and come back refreshed and ready to go for election year! (someone needs to remind these guys that NZ polls are generally accurate!)
We really do live in one of the best countries in the world, I mean sure theres no white Christmas but I think warm weather is better for festivities anyway
Beside the only the only poll that counts is on election day 😉
Not allowed to use the computer at home, Pucky?
Rules with an iron fist, does she? 🙂
Could be though, that you have self-discipline. If that’s the case, respect.
You are often the mustard on an otherwise great sandwich, (with a tendency towards vinegar) but sour taste and all, there is sometimes a moment when you provide the perfect note.
For that reason, (and not for the boasting of early holidays, you just can’t help yourself can you?) – enjoy your break.
Hey, Pucky – I was sequestered in the council chamber yesterday and not free to play the blogs, so missed your Christmas message and the opportunity to give you a ribbing. Have a good break, play fair and be kind to your people. Spend some time too, reflecting on aspects of your personality that are holding you back; your tendency to adore duplicitous authority figures, your habit of repeating nonsense ad nauseum, that sort of thing 🙂
In any case, see you in the New Year, by which time you’ll have realised what has happened and how parlous National’s position post-Key and you’ll have lost your puckiness, but there’ll still be a place here for you, in your depleted state.
Merry Christmas, Puck.
Go away Max, your dad has, time for you to do the same. If you really have let go of your ego, what’s with this professionally filmed self promotion? NZ is over it, go and promote yourself in Hawaii.
As for the Herald, wtf are you promoting? A washed up ex PM’s attention seeking son, jeepers you must be desperate for stories
a real man… does not ride a woman, a real man satisfies a woman by letting her ride him. Too much information? Nah just reality, something that boy Max needs a dose of. lololz
you do have redeeming attributes for a rightie – that is true – at least you are coherent in your rightieness and you do have a sense of humour which I find rarely in righties.
How about a real Kiwi Man? It appears PR may have left the building.. but in the spirit of Kiwi Men and Christmas giggles, i just gotta contribute more than words.. dun dun dunnnn taa da..
“Hidden due to low comment rating.”
How Kiwiblog’s sensitive souls are spared having to read my posts.
Yesterday (Thursday 15/12/16) I achieved some kind of record over on Kiwiblog. Seven—-count ’em, SEVEN—of my posts on just one discussion thread were accorded the grim accolade of “Hidden due to low comment rating.” This stern notice of exclusion is followed by the invitation: “Click here to see”, which rather defeats the purpose.
Now, I fancy myself as a bit of an amateur psychologist, and I reckon that’s the approximate equivalent to the old “sealed section” that magazines like Cleo used to entice readers back when people used to read magazines.
Well it is and it isn’t, Cinny. The forcing of my posts into that “naughty corner” is indeed a kind of censorship, but it’s not total censorship. David Farrar is far more tolerant, and intelligent, than Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, who has banned me forever more.
Mind you, I was always headed for disaster over at Whaleoil, right from my very first post, which reminded the guys at Whaleoil that Todd McLay’s father Roger, the ex-National M.P. and persecutor of Peter Ellis, was in prison….
Oh, it’s happened all right. Things really got bad the day I muscled in on a thread administered by the formidable Queen of Thorns. It led to the Mother of All Bollockings……
Ha! The posters on Kiwiblog are currently lionizing one Bill English, who brazenly stole money from taxpayers in a notorious housing rort [1] which would have driven anyone with a conscience to resign in disgrace.
The rest of the time they spend praising one John Key, whose sub-zero respect for the law was laid bare in Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics. [2]
Yet YOU claim that these moral paragons routinely heap the vilest personal abuse on a woman because they respect the law. Do you realise the irony of what you are saying?
I have defended my lawful rights as a citizen to find out exactly where ratepayers and citizens’ public monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
Feel rather vindicated, following the unprecedented verdict last Friday (9 December 2016 – International Anti-Corruption Day) in the Auckland High Court, by Justice Sally Fitzgerald, of bribery and corruption charges against a senior Auckland Transport manager and contractor.
The bribes over a 7 year period between those two amounted to $1.2 million.
(Sentencing will be on 22 February 2017).
I predict a ‘blue collar’ sentence for these two ‘white collar’ criminals.
That this is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ regarding corruption in the NZ roading industry, is the subject of a five page investigative article in today’s NBR (print version).
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.
I was not directly involved in the SFO prosecution of the corrupt contractor and corrupt Auckland Transport senior manager.
However, I have been involved now for some years ‘blowing the whistle’ and ‘making a fuss’ against the lack of transparency in the spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.
seems they rate you the same as many here – ‘oh dear – ego under attack – must think of pompous pretend intelligent reply’ – you’ve been lambasted here by some fine fellows and fellowesses over the years for inaccurate, nay made up ‘transcripts’ yet that water off your duck back is yellowish – none so blind eh morrie the minor.
You have a point to make in that flood of bile, marty, but it gets lost in the clumsy verbiage. greywarshark counseled you earlier today on the need to be concise; you should have listened.
About what? That lots of Kiwiblog’s commenters don’t like you? That seems to be the standard reason for down-ticking a comment over there. Shouldn’t you be pleased rather than offended that the Angry White Men of Kiwiblog don’t like your comments?
I’m afraid that since I was banned from the Daisycutter Sports Inc. following the 2005 Christmas party, my access to the young women and men who used to back me up so vociferously on nz.general and rec.sport.rugby.union has pretty much dried up.
Some people think that I’ve created the hapless “Psycho Milt” as a scapegoat sock puppet, but I can assure you that he puts those idiotic words up there by himself.
I think the government is losing Auckland in a big way and the opposition really needs to make sure voters know there is an alternative. One of governance and planning rather than a wild west free for all.
Yep. The ministry, which have denied there is a problem, has 500 teachers from England ready to go, apparently.
Where are they going to live? How are they going to get to work?
I can guarantee you those mythical 500 teachers from England will be shocked by the state of transport infrastructure and housing if they ever make it to Auckland.
Well what an end to the year in NZ politics. key gone, gnat mps gone, other mps gone, english and the fakewestieladderpuller in. Whew!!! I am LOVING it. Meanwhile the shit the system (and it’s little helpers) do, continues and the disadvantaged and less able continue to get shat on from a great height.
I sense a change in the centre of balance – I’m feeling a movement beginning (sorry potty humour).
Those who support left values are going to have to dig deep next year to take advantage of these changes. The pressure must be maintained and increased. The dumbarse gnat ministers must be hounded and continually asked the hard questions and their lies scrutinised and illuminated.
For left activists like me there are some very big decisions to make.
I can’t support Mana if they go with The MP
I can’t voter for labour or the Greens while they target the mythical middle
I will not support the agenda of morgan or winnie
The right are going down the gurgler and I don’t know who my precious vote will be going to to keep them going down.
Bring on the New Year – I’ll keep fighting the fight for the disadvantaged and those who struggle within our society and I’ll do it with or without a political party.
“Bring on the New Year – I’ll keep fighting the fight for the disadvantaged and those who struggle within our society and I’ll do it with or without a political party.”
You haven’t been interpreting Andrew Little’s comments about “the mythical middle” correctly, marty mars. He has said that wherever he goes people he talks to about their problems – housing, jobs, health, education – all consider themselves “middle NZ” – so its a very broad concept, not a narrow swinging vote in the centre of the left-right divide.
If it’s such a broad concept, why is it called “middle”? – this term seems to me to be derived from the long term US Democrat focus on the “middle class” – because, apparently no-one considers themselves working class or under class any more.
But where did that idea come from? – seems to me it’s the result of neoliberal propaganda, denying the existence or significance of the struggling working class and precariat.
Basically, it’s colluding with right wing spin. It becomes circular. Everyone considers themselves “middle” because that is what the media and third way pollies have been telling them for a couple of decades. It’s time to break the cycle.
“I can’t support Mana if they go with The MP
I can’t voter for labour or the Greens while they target the mythical middle
I will not support the agenda of morgan or winnie
The right are going down the gurgler and I don’t know who my precious vote will be going to to keep them going down.”
I’m with you on all four points there marty mars…and I’ve been accused of setting too high a standard…demanding an unreasonable level of integrity from the recipients of my two votes.
With the departure of Catherine Delahunty from the GP I fear that party is heading irretrievably almost centre right…when Jan Logie hands in her notice…
Oh well.
On the upside, next winter’s firewood is just about stacked under cover, the two water tanks are full to overflowing and the septic tank and it’s drainage field are still functioning as they ought. All we have to sort out is a generator(or alternate to grid power supply) so we can pump the water from our tanks and keep the freezer frozen and we’ll be right when the shit hits the fan.
I got a super nasty letter when I was a student, from ANZ bank, demanding I pay my $1000 interest free overdraft back even though I was still a student. Anyway I got rid of my ANZ bank account overdraft, closed my account and never returned to them and just the other day got an unsolicited letter from ANZ asking for my business again, which I will not be taking up.
Also have huge nightmare when someone used my identity to police for a fine, but after a lot of paperwork, declarations and huge amount of work, managed to prove I was overseas and could not have done it!
Very generally, with Key it’s a case of the golden times being over and the hard work was ahead – he couldn’t face the hard work.
With Henry, I just think he couldn’t stand being the person he is. He genuinely hates himself for the things he feels he has to say to maintain popularity.
He believed it, just that he hated himself for having to say it for money. He banged on about NZ being paradise but then tore strips off the most vulnerable citizens in that paradise. Unconscionable really.
His talk was pub talk and while pub talk is fine, it is only fine in a pub, if you know what I mean.
Just wondering… how much has Bridges spent on luring Oil Barons here to drill? Looks like that was a waste of money.
Maybe the Oil Barons realise that there will be a change of government here very soon and as a result don’t want to invest? Suits me.
Hey Government, instead of shelling out who knows how much to entertain oil giants, how about… funding science to get the whole country on free energy? Here’s an idea, how about an electric car manufacturing plant? Maybe a solar panel production factory? Hotels, helicopters and caviar instead with our tax dollars huh?
“I am underlining how important this is by creating the New Economy portfolio. Labour is committed to growing wealth in the economy through greater innovation and productivity.”
In other changes Michael Wood will be the spokesperson for Consumer Affairs, Ethnic Communities and Revenue.
Chris Hipkins adds all the associate delegations of Tertiary Education held by David Cunliffe to his overall Education duties.
“Education is a crucial area for Labour because of the funding freeze on schools and declining performance, and we’ll be increasing pressure on the Government on this. Chris will be focusing all his energies on this important area and so will be stepping down from the Senior Whip role. I will be nominating Kris Faafoi to be the new Senior Whip with the vote taking place at the first Caucus of 2017. Chris will retain the Shadow Leader of the House role.”
David Parker also takes over Foreign Affairs from David Shearer. Stuart Nash gains State Owned Enterprises and will also be the new spokesperson for Innovation and Science, and Research and Development.
Iain Lees-Galloway will be the new Defence spokesperson. Dr Megan Woods adds State Services to her duties while Clare Curran takes over ICT and moves into the Shadow Cabinet.
Where is CV? I have to agree with him on Clare Curran. Surely someone must be better?????
I still remember Clare Curran on FB with some voter trying to reach out to her in a really nice way, over TPPA, she just ignored them. But maybe she has changed her ways.
We can look at how well that Labour party blog went for evidence of Curran’s IT nous.
Still she probably knows more than whoever the dingbats were that had no idea what Uber was all about.
maui
What about going down to see Robert Guyton? He is more of a people person than I think Thoreau was. Our very own ‘wild man’. I think he would laugh at that, seemingly good-natured.
And marty mars
You are right about cherish. It is a word that hasn’t been spoiled by some dissonance. Some words seem to be 3D I think, stand clear of the page.
“We Miskitu women have a special relationship with our land – that sacred space that cannot be sold or divided up. For Indigenous People, land is community. It is living in harmony with Mother Earth. Our collective identity and sense of belonging is embedded in the land and so too our legal, political, economic and social systems.
And it is not just Miskitu women. Indigenous women all over the world have this special relationship with land and territory. We are transmitters of knowledge, persevering our cultures, systems and the ways our Indigenous Nations and Peoples organize.”
“Recently, members of the Yaqui tribe in Loma de Bácum won a moratorium against the construction of the pipeline. According to local media, however, Mexican authorities have announced that pipeline construction will continue because “one community” cannot stop “a project that will benefit future generations.””
“The United Nations has condemned the wave of violence and observed that “75% of the homicide victims were carrying out their activities in rural environments, and that the methods of the killings and assassination attempts show a high level of sophistication to conceal the intellectual authors.”
Responsibility for many of the attacks has been claimed, however, by paramilitary groups including the Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles), the Rastrojos, and the Urabeños; groups that developed out of the right-wing paramilitary Self-Defence Forces (AUC) following their partial demobilisation between 2003-2006.”
“All over the world today, Indigenous Peoples are confronting the destructive practices of industry—leading the charge against climate change while defending the lakes, forests and food systems that all of us depend on. At the same time, they are blocking governments from weakening basic rights and freedoms and turning to the courts of the world to correct over 500 years of historical wrongs. And all the while, Indigenous Peoples are breathing new life into the biocultural legacies that have the potential to sustain the entire human race until the sun goes nova.”
If you want to support indigenous struggles that are happening right now, all around the world, go to Intercontinentalcry.org – the wealth of information there is unsurpassed, the depth of the struggles is immediate, and the knowledge that NOW is just a continuation of THEN – the struggles for indigenous peoples against the juggernaut are enduring and ongoing and have been for generations.
If only the early hippies had listened to that 1962 song, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. Because it is at times apocalyptic, it paints visions of hell and despair (a dozen dead oceans), certainly not love and happiness. How did all of the new born love generation miss that? Nor was that the only one of his early songs, and it’s almost eery to see how many Dylan songs everyone knows that were written in just a few years time in the early 60s when he was just out of his teen years.
Robert Zimmerman always knew where he came from, but even more where his music came from. And he never stopped paying his respects.
Like the 7 year older Leonard Cohen, bless his soul, who I think should have gotten the Nobel before Dylan, just so Bob could have gotten it seven years later, Dylan’s songs are replete with images sourced from mythology and biblical texts. Both ‘recycle’ images that Carl Jung would have said are engraved in our minds.
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
“And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it…”
I’m one of the hippy generation that did pay attention to songs like that – and it just wasn’t about a potential nuclear mutual destruction. I think many others also paid attention to such songs.
And it is even more relevant now – good choice of song.
It’s just that such songs got swamped with the shifts from above, in right wing propaganda, the video revolution, etc, along with the consumerist mantras.
Many of us protested at the time…. but still the neoliberal tanks rolled all over everywhere.
I won’t read it but I see a Herald headline about young Keydashian. His father gradually being out of a permanent presence in the headlines certainly won’t stop his regular appearances.
He is of no more importance than any other citizen. If he is being foisted on me for crap, nothing reasons and events it is fair to consider I am being treated with contempt. I will take that as the okay to reciprocate.
It’s all coming out in the wash. Those real estate companies which have enriched the lives of a select few National party voters have been found to be corrupt.
Still, between 4 companies, 5% commission on the average Auckland house equals just 50 houses each sold to pay for this fine. A slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket.
Remember it is the National government under which these people are conducting their corrupt business practice.
They defrauded TradeMe and passed fee increases on to buyers. Nice people in that industry. One bunch of ticket clippers ripping off another. I wonder if the affected buyers get refunded from any of those penalties?
Time to nationalise the whole real estate industry, it’s a bloated parasite
Fascinating. This sort of behaviour is something we in New Zealand thought happened in new and third world countries. Yet under their government police corruption is happening right under our noses!
It will be an election issue next year. The New Nats refuse to do anything about it and this opens the door for the opposition to really canvas affected voters like they did in Mt Roskill.
Incredible. Not one person from authority fronted on this issue. As I said on another thread, Bennett and co will not have Paul Henry to stroke them next year. Bill’s not a great fit on The Rock, or More FM, so perhaps they’ll not show up anywhere???
The Serious Fraud Office has announced that it is investigating the Labour Party over donations it received in 2017. Which means the three largest parties in Parliament are all now either being investigated or prosecuted for donation fraud. The only parties who aren't are the Greens and ACT. As ...
Dr Kim Handley, University of AucklandJust how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...
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Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...
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During a recent public consultation on the future of Archives New Zealand, a key report was suppressed. The Ombudsman has ruled that the refusal was unjustified. Sadly, the consultation was over by the time of the the decision has been made. However, the law on the use of the ...
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Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...
Back in April, I wrote about trials in Iran of a fixed-dose combination of two existing anti-viral drugs used to treat hepatitis C – sofosbuvir and daclatasvir – that could point to an effective treatment for Covid-19 symptoms.At the time, data from those trials was not available outside the hospitals ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Anja Mizdrak, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerThe pandemic-related lockdown is possibly the most dramatic public health intervention in NZ history. It helped achieve the elimination of community transmission of the COVID-19 virus in NZ. But it was also associated with 548 fewer total ...
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...
As the debate over assisted dying rages in the run-up to the referendum at the election on September 19, a persistent problem continues to dog the discussions. That is to say, a prominent spokesperson for a particular group takes a strong public stand in opposition without acknowledging that they don’t ...
No Other Suspects? The mainstream news media was willing to print and broadcast harsh Opposition criticism of the Government, even though they knew that the source of the leaked information was a National Party MP. Even though, by pushing the story up towards the top of every news bulletin they were ...
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The East is Rent: The consequences of unleashing the young against the old; of elevating ideological rigor above reasoned debate; and of setting the present against the past; was a decade of unprecedented social stress and tension, interspersed with explosions of murderous mob violence and tragic material destruction. More than ...
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One of the challenges of working on illegal wildlife markets, is you don’t really have scope to talk about your research into illegal wildlife markets. There is some stuff though that willbe coming out on Asiatic black bears in China, and before Covid19, I was delving more into rhinos. Which ...
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...
Michelle Boag - Former National Party PresidentWhen Todd Muller decided not to discipline Hamish Walker for his horribly racist press release last week, you had to wonder if his lack of proper leadership had something to do with a shared belief system? After all, the whiteness of the blue “team” ...
On Twitter today, lawyer Felix Geiringer asked a good question: why are MP's exempt from the Privacy Act? The Act imposes its obligations on "agencies", and s8 of the 2020 Act states that this term does not include... a member of Parliament in their official capacity The 1993 Act, ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat was the climate and sea level like at times ...
So now we know, beyond all doubt. The National party has no interest in joining the “team of five million” in our fight against the pandemic but its priority is to take every opportunity it can to damage the government. The cynicism is breathtaking. It was prepared to leak the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters The massive dust storm that formed over the Sahara Desert in mid-June invaded the southeastern U.S. June 25-28, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution, low visibility, and colorful sunsets. The air pollution event over parts of Texas and the Gulf ...
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If the government has not lined up behind a "Yes" vote in this year's cannabis referendum the way some reformers would have liked, one entirely laudable thing it did do was commission some science around the public's choice.That science landed today, in the form of the report from an expert ...
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This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections House Democrats have released a comprehensive report showing how – if they control the White House and both the Senate and the House of Representatives – they might move forward on climate change. Their “Climate Crisis Action Plan,” released June 30 by the ...
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...
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Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
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Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
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Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Stephen Clark, Māori Land Court Judge of Hamilton has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to be based in Hamilton, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Judge Clark graduated with an LLB from Auckland University in 1988 and was admitted to the Bar in the same year. ...
The Crown will provide a loan to Hawke’s Bay Airport to ensure it can trade through COVID-19 economic impacts, support the region’s recovery and protect up to 200 jobs. The Crown has a 50 percent shareholding in Hawke’s Bay Airport Limited (HBAL), with Napier City Council holding 26 percent and ...
Four celebrated Māori and Pasifika events will receive up to $100,000 each in funding from the new Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. The four events that were successful in the inaugural funding round are: Kia Mau Festival, Wellington Māoriland Film Festival, Otaki ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio is pleased to announce the inaugural launch of Kiribati Language Week as part of the 2020 Pacific language Weeks programme. “I am so pleased that this year we are able to provide resourcing support to the Kiribati community in Aotearoa which will ...
Wildlife institutions affected by a loss of visitor revenue during the COVID-19 lockdown are set to receive government support with nearly $15 million of funding available announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage. “Eco-sanctuaries, zoos, aquariums, wildlife parks, and wildlife rescue, hospital and rehabilitation facilities provide crucial support for the recovery ...
The Government is expanding and accelerating frontline mental health and wellbeing services at tertiary education institutes (TEI) to help students manage ongoing stresses related to COVID-19. “The lockdown has been hugely disruptive for students. Many of them have had to relocate and move to online learning, isolating them from their ...
The Minister of Police says a major operation against the Mongrel Mob in Waikato will make a big dent in drug harm and violent offending linked to organised crime networks. “Senior leadership of the Waikato Mongrel Mob has been taken out as a result of Operation Kingsville, which resulted in ...
The Government is extending the border exception criteria to enable some offshore victims and support people of the Christchurch mosque attacks to attend the sentencing of the accused beginning on 24 August2020, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. “We want to support our valued Muslim brothers and sisters who were directly ...
A project to support volunteer efforts to look after streams and rivers is getting a boost thanks to support from DOC’s Community Conservation Fund announced Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “The government is backing efforts to look after waterways with $199,400 for the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust from ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter today announced that funding for the COVID-19 Community Fund for women and girls will be doubled, as the first successful funding applications for the initial $1million were revealed. “Women and girls across the country have suffered because of the effects of COVID-19, and I ...
The Government’s books were better than forecast with a higher GST take as the economy got moving again after lockdown, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Crown Accounts for the 11 months to the end of May indicate the year end results for tax revenue will be stronger than forecast. ...
A plan to revitalise New Zealand’s strong wool sector and set it on a new, more sustainable and profitable path was unveiled today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. The newly-released report - Vision and Action for New Zealand’s Wool Sector - was developed by the Wool Industry Project Action Group ...
Community efforts to create a Predator Free Whangārei will receive a $6 million boost, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. The new funding, through Government company Predator Free 2050 Ltd, will create around 12 jobs while enabling the complete removal of possums over ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that the New Zealand Government is reviewing the settings of its relationship with Hong Kong. “China’s decision to pass a new national security law for Hong Kong has fundamentally changed the environment for international engagement there,” Mr Peters said. “New Zealand remains deeply ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced details of a multimillion-dollar investment in Whangārei for infrastructure projects that will help it recover from the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created through the $26 million investment from the Government’s rejuvenation package ...
Following a second incident in which a person escaped from a managed isolation facility, security is being enhanced, including more police presence onsite, Minister Megan Woods said. “The actions of some individuals who choose to break the very clear rules to stay within the facilities means that more resourcing is ...
Waste reduction and recycling programmes in Kaipara are set to get a boost with Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage today announcing a $361,447 grant from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) Sustainable Kaipara. “The new funding will allow Sustainable Kaipara to partner with local schools, kura, community ...
The Government will support the Southland economy in the wake of multinational mining company Rio Tinto’s decision to follow through with its long signalled closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. “This day has unfortunately been on the cards for some time now, but nevertheless the final decision is a ...
New tools being developed to help boost Aotearoa’s Predator Free 2050 effort were unveiled today by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau. A new rat poison, a camera with predator recognition software to detect and report predators, a new predator lure and a ...
The Coalition Government has approved the purchase of a fleet of Bushmaster vehicles to replace the New Zealand Army’s armoured Pinzgauers, Defence Minister Ron Mark has announced today. The new fleet of 43 Australian-designed and built Bushmaster NZ5.5 will provide better protection for personnel and improved carrying capacity. “The age ...
The Government’s three prevention frameworks to reduce family violence in Aotearoa were launched this week by Associate Minister for Social Development Poto Williams. The frameworks were developed in partnership with communities around New Zealand, and build on the work the Government has already begun with its new family violence prevention ...
The Government is pleased to confirm funding for improvements to radiology and surgical services at Hawke's Bay DHB, Health Minister Chris Hipkins says. "The Minister of Finance the Hon Grant Robertson and former Health Minister Dr David Clark approved funding for Hawke's Bay DHB’s redevelopment of their radiology facilities ...
• New funding for four beds at Napier’s Springhill Residential Addiction Centre • A new managed withdrawal home and community service, and peer support before and after residential care at Tairāwhiti DHB • A co-ordinated network of withdrawal management services throughout the South Island • Peer support in Rotorua and ...
Introduction, seafarers and POAL Good morning everyone, I am delighted to be online with you all today. Before I begin, I have to acknowledge that COVID-19 has disrupted the maritime sector on an unprecedented scale. The work of seafarers and the maritime industry is keeping many economies around the world ...
A $13 million investment from Government will create jobs and improve the resilience of the rail connection between Christchurch and the West Coast, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones and Regional Economic Development Under-Secretary Fletcher Tabuteau say. The funding comes from the tagged contingency set aside in Budget 2020 for infrastructure projects ...
The Government is investing $761 million to assist local government upgrade under-pressure water services across the country, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The announcement was made at the site of the water bore that was found to be the source of the fatal ...
Recognised Seasonal Employers and migrant seasonal workers stranded in New Zealand will be able to continue working and supporting themselves with more flexible hours and roles, says Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway. The time-limited visa changes are: Stranded RSE workers will be able to work part-time (a minimum of 15 hours ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
National MP Amy Adams has apologised for wrongly claiming one of her party's candidates is Chinese. Catherine Chu was born and raised in Christchurch and her parents are from South Korea. ...
Pacific Media Watch Host Oscar Perress talked to contributing editor of Pacific Media Watch Sri Krishnamurthi today about Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government rejecting a licence for the country’s biggest radio and TV network ABS-CBN. Its 25-year-old franchise expired in May but the majority of legislators refused to renew in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Jensen, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra “Fake news” is not just a problem of misleading or false claims on fringe websites, it is increasingly filtering into the mainstream and has the potential to be ...
Around the world, western governments are re-calibrating their foreign policy, strategic and economic settings to China. Tomorrow the British Cabinet will review and probably revoke an earlier decision to allow Huawei Technologies Co into the next 5G network over security concerns. NZ and Australia have already taken this step. Over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Senior Research Fellow, University of Sydney From next year, access to e-cigarettes and related products containing liquid nicotine will require a doctor’s prescription. This is to ensure liquid nicotine is handled like the poisonous, addictive substance it is and not ...
The new TVNZ On Demand political comedy relies on great performances to paper over a wafer-thin story, writes Jean Sergent.The set-up is simple: Darren Bellows (Tom Sainsbury), a Colin Craig-esque political loser, is being blackmailed by his dominatrix (Kathleen Burns). The stakes are high for Darren as the leader of ...
One in eight retail businesses are struggling to negotiate rent relief and want government-assisted arbitration to help them resolve their plight, a survey shows. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kris Gledhill, Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology The sentencing of the Christchurch mosque killer was always going to be tense. Having admitted his guilt in March, his declaration that he would now represent himself at the hearing on August 24 ...
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating donations made to the Labour Party in 2017 Donations to the Labour Party in 2017 are now under the microscope of the Serious Fraud Office, the corruption watchdog said in a statement. The SFO declined to release any further details about the investigation. This ...
National Party stalwart Michelle Boag gave officials her private email address when asked where best to send a daily list of Covid-19 patients, the Director General of Health says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kerrie Davies, Lecturer, School of the Arts & Media, UNSW Review: A Room Made of Leaves, Text Publishing Some time ago, during the renovation of a historic house in Sydney, a tin box, sealed with wax and wrapped in oiled canvas, ...
Whakamā refers to a state of personal or collective embarrassment and shame. Unabated shame can corrode the soul. Tikanga can fix and prevent it, writes Tainui Stephens.This story contains descriptions of racism and racist language.It seems to me some radio talkback hosts suffer from an empathy bypass: a quixotic condition ...
Today’s news that the mosque shooter will represent himself at his sentencing next month has raised fears he plans to use it as a platform for his hateful views. But the judge may have other ideas, write Otago University professors Danica McGovern and Andrew GeddisIn March of this year, the ...
The Say Nope To Dope campaign is slamming the government for its voting pack on the cannabis referendum, and is seeking legal advice. “We’ve been contacted by a number of families who believe that the government pamphlet is putting their own ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is throwing shade on the Green Party’s new policies to install solar panels on state houses and subsidise them for private residences, which would cost taxpayers $806,000,000 over three years. Taxpayers Union spokesperson ...
Latest from the Beehive – One of the less challenging jobs for a Minister of the Crown is dipping into a trough within his ministerial gift and hoping for favourable headlines by dishing out grants. Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford – who has fallen short of counting Kiwbuild and Auckland ...
People from immigrant backgrounds often struggle to find work in New Zealand, despite their qualifications. So why is the Office of Ethnic Communities looking for people to do its work for free, asks former race relations commissioner Joris de Bres.Last week, the Office of Ethnic Communities announced on Facebook that ...
New Zealanders can’t get enough of The Chase, so why can’t we have our own version? And what would a homegrown version of the quiz show look like anyway? If The Chase were a pandemic, we’d all have herd immunity by now. The British TV quiz show has never been ...
In less than a week, Auckland Council will vote on an emergency budget that looks set to deliver severe cuts to facilities and services across the city. And still pleas for a commitment on shovel ready projects go unheeded by government, writes councillor Desley Simpson.As a country we can feel ...
The gunman of the Christchurch mosque attacks has chosen to represent himself at his sentencing next month. In March, Brenton Tarrant made a late guilty plea to 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one under the Terrorism Suppression Act. He is due to be sentenced on 24 ...
A road freight industry representative says a new announcement that negotiations will be extended - again - is further confirmation that something is not right with the project An announcement that a new cash payout will extend negotiations and 'winter works' even further than first thought is being heralded as a sign ...
By Hamish Cardwell, RNZ News Grey Power is enraged by what it says is the “stupid and dangerous” behaviour of people fleeing managed isolation facilities, and says they need the book thrown at them. A person broke a window and absconded from an Auckland hotel on Friday, the fourth such ...
Crowd entertainment at sports games is a hard task, but please let’s stick to T-shirt cannons and on-field japes instead of watching strangers smooch, eh?Funny kiss cam footage is a key element of any viral fail video compilation. A “she’s my sister” sign pulled out of a pocket as the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Clarke, Director, Monash Drone Discovery Platform, and Senior Lecturer in Ecology, Monash University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jess Marsh, Research fellow at the Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Lintermans, Associate professor, University of Canberra This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s bushfire tragedy. Explore ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after last summer’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Matisoo-Smith, Professor of Biological Anthropology, University of Otago How did the Polynesian peoples come to live on the far-flung islands of the Pacific? The question has intrigued researchers for centuries. Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl brought the topic to public attention when ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University New research on disadvantage in Australia has found the gap between rich and poor is very wide in Sydney, while much of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Peters, Associate Professor of Wildlife Health and Pathology, Charles Sturt University This article is part of Flora, Fauna, Fire, a special project by The Conversation that launched this week. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and animals after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wee Tiong Seah, Associate Professor in Mathematics Education, University of Melbourne On Sunday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced government school students in prep to Year 10 in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will learn from home for term three. The remote ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Phillippa Carnemolla, Senior Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney The stated purpose of the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program is to stimulate the economy and create construction jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research shows home improvements could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Davidson, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, UNSW Suddenly, the idea of a “job guarantee” is back in vogue. Lawyer, academic, land rights activist and founder of the Cape York Institute Noel Pearson has come out of it favour of it, University of Newcastle ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ann Kayis-Kumar, Senior Lecturer and Tax Clinic Director, School of Taxation & Business Law, UNSW For some people tax time will result in no tax paid this year, and if past years are anything to go by, about 50 of them will ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip C. Almond, Emeritus Professor in the History of Religious Thought, The University of Queensland From the 11th century onwards, the Legend of Barlaam and Josaphat enjoyed a popularity in the medieval West attained perhaps by no other legend. It was available ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Investors still betting massive money-printing, despite growing fears of second wave lock-downs in America, India and Brazil, and as Australian cases spike ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Self-inflicted story puts National on the defensive, another escape attempt from managed isolation, and a series of party events ahead of election.There’s a convention in journalism called Betteridge’s law of headlines. Basically what it means is that headlines that end in ...
The ACT party held its campaign launch in Auckland on Sunday and unveiled new policies, with a new team it hopes will bring a return to the days when it was more than a one man band. Mark Jennings reports. If the number of people paying to attend a political ...
Nicky Pellegrino and Stacy Gregg continue their podcast interview series with popular New Zealand writers. This week: Amy McDaid, the author of Fake Baby. Auckland’s Amy McDaid is an exciting new talent on our literary scene. Her debut novel, Fake Baby, strikes an elegant balance between dark comedy and compassion. ...
Is it finally time for Pacific rugby to come in from the cold in a new Super Rugby competition? Jim Kayes says it's time to believe. In Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot, the two lead characters wait on a country road, by a tree, for Godot’s arrival. He never ...
A broken foot threatened to derail sailor Alex Maloney's second Olympic campaign. But she's back on track, with a little help from her brother and his America's Cup team-mates. From now on, Alex Maloney will always seek a second opinion. Without it, the Rio Olympics sailing silver medallist saw her ...
How authoritarian rule is applied to Hong Kong may make New Zealanders question whether closer interactions with China are necessarily desirable, writes Catherine Churchman Get ready for some in-your-face political repression, New Zealand. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has just extended its draconian rules on free speech and freedom ...
Using technology remotely to care for patients can go way beyond Zoom calls or basic telehealth measures. Professor Simon Malpas explains how tech can start to even out inequity in healthcare. Imagine you live in Ahipara, Northland. You also have early stage heart failure. It’s a 90-minute drive to your ...
Stephen Hoadley on how Donald Trump has moved the US from its decades-old role of international leadership, and why it might not be easy for a President Biden to restore that mantle. US elections and the resulting presidencies can be geopolitical turning points, whether reflecting them or causing them. Successive ...
With an election now less than 10 weeks away, the National Party is confronting the very real prospect of a crushing defeat, writes Pattrick Smellie for BusinessDesk.Only two things can now save Todd Muller and the National Party from the growing likelihood of a crushing defeat at the September 19 ...
It’s long past time we officially recognised the Māori new year on Māori land, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira.In May, Jacinda Ardern said more public holidays for Kiwis to experience Aotearoa New Zealand is among a number of things the government is “actively considering” to encourage domestic tourism.With many small businesses ...
The Kiwi nurse working in conflict zones, helping war-wounded, and improving hospital systems was forced to do a major pivot when Covid-19 hit Afghanistan. Gail Corbett tells Laura Walters about living her life in some of the world’s most dangerous places, and what keeps her going back. Gail Corbett was ...
This is a story about a Chinese shipwreck, the Māori guardians of the bones, and the documentary maker who' has upset two cultures with his efforts to tell the tale. Is a shipwreck with the bones of 499 Chinese miners a sacred gravesite or a part of history that should be ...
From RNZ Mediawatch New Zealand children use a lot less Kiwi media than they used to. New research shows its Netflix, YouTube and TikTok engaging their eyeballs big time these days. If our kids screen out our local media, what does the future hold for them? The news media seized ...
The Tahr Foundation has released a short video that shows just what Himalayan tahr mean to Kiwis and why so many people are fighting so hard to maintain them in New Zealand. The video is a powerful reminder of the extent that tahr are now woven into ...
Introduction Thank you very much. Elections in New Zealand – like everywhere - are a very special tradition, because they are driven by you. They’re an opportunity to change your future. If you think about it, the Government doesn’t do much. It ...
“This election and Covid-19 present New Zealanders with an opportunity to change their future and create a fair, modern employment insurance scheme,” says ACT’s Employment Spokesperson, and third-ranked candidate, Nicole McKee. “Covid-19 has ...
“A new approach to mental health and addiction will reduce bureaucracy, improve patient choice, and empower New Zealanders,” says ACT’s Deputy Leader and Health Spokesperson Brooke van Velden. “Each year, the government spends about $2 billion ...
"Working people have signaled their commitment to do more to address the most pressing issue of our time; climate change. The energy policies that the Green Party have launched today provide a meaningful contribution to addressing climate change," ...
Open Mike 16/12/2016 
The Serious Fraud Office has announced that it is investigating the Labour Party over donations it received in 2017. Which means the three largest parties in Parliament are all now either being investigated or prosecuted for donation fraud. The only parties who aren't are the Greens and ACT. As ...6 hours ago
Read our latest newsletter here ...7 hours ago
Dr Kim Handley, University of Auckland Just how do cyanobacteria live in their natural habitat, and how do they coexist with other bacteria and microbial life forms? And what difference will knowledge on this bacteria have on maintaining New Zealand’s water quality? One of the consequences of declining water quality ...11 hours ago
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Climate Feedback Article Review... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Global temperatures could exceed crucial 1.5 C target in the next five years In this aerial view ...11 hours ago
National has a problem. And it’s time they said it out loud. It can’t be dismissed as a one-off anymore or excused because ‘everyone does it’. No, it cuts deeper than that. National has an ethics problem. Especially when it comes to privacy and using ordinary people as pawns in ...1 day ago
The Council of Disobedient Women There is a regular segment in the Speak Up For Women podcasts called “Absolutely Blasted Mad Moment of the Week”. Each podcast the speaker and the host discuss a recent event that is the most insane thing they have seen in the gender critical space ...2 days ago
Todd Muller - Dishonest National Party leaderIt seems that dishonest Todd Muller is, like many right-wing politicians, entirely morally bankrupt. I mean just look at the National Party’s leaking omni-shambles over the last week or so. They’ve imploded in a spectacular display of backfiring dirty politics, the likes of which ...2 days ago
TUESDAY JULY 14Yorkshire Airport (Prime, 7.30pm). Bloomin’ ’eck, behind the scenes at Leeds Bradford Airport. Apparently, there is plenty of “northern charm”, although reaction in the UK ranged from “brilliant” to “patronising”. It is narrated by Hugh Dennis, whose middle name might be “Arch”.WEDNESDAY JULY 15Queen: Live at Wembley (Prime, ...2 days ago
Simon Bridges must be the unluckiest person in New Zealand politics. When he was elected as leader of the National party, he also became Leader of the Opposition – a position, he was entitled to assume, that would require him to “oppose”. But the government he set out to oppose ...3 days ago
Check out Speak Up For Women’s new podcasts: Episode 3 In this episode Speak Up For Women spokeswoman Ani O’Brien (@aniobrien) is joined by Beth Johnson (@beth_nosnhoj) to discuss the proposal from Statistics NZ to change standard data collection policy to “gender by default” rather than sex. They discuss why the ...3 days ago
Transcript: National Party policy announcement on roads – 8 July, 2020 Muller: Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming. Reporter 1: Is Hamish Walker a racist? Muller: Hang on… you haven’t even said good afternoon to me yet. Reporter 1: Good afternoon Mr Muller. Is Hamish Walker a racist? ...4 days ago
Today’s content Tiwai Point to close Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government subsidising practically everything plays hardball with Rio Tinto (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Sudden closure of aluminium smelter worst outcome for jobs, consumers and the environment Brian Fallow (Herald): Tiwai closure sad news – and an opportunity for the environment (paywalled) Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rio ...4 days ago
Reprehensible: There is much that could be said about Michael Woodhouse, but what would be the point? Any man who willingly involves himself in a situation as reprehensible as the one depicted in the above photograph has already vouchsafed all that decent people need to know about his character. That there have ...4 days ago
Some are surprised at this sudden brain implosion on the part of both Michelle Boag, former National Party President, and the National Party in general, in exposing the private, confidential details of COVID patients. Others…? Let’s be blunt: not so much. Too many of that Party have long operated with ...5 days ago
We're keeping New Zealand moving, one progress-packed week at a time. Read below to find out how we're creating jobs, protecting the environment, looking out for the health of New Zealanders', and upgrading our critical infrastructure - and that's only this week. ...8 hours ago
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At least 2 million bucks and counting for Corrections to put prison guards into hotels as they clean up the Serco mess at Mt Eden.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320549/mt-eden-prison-guards-put-up-in-4-1-2-star-hotel
That’s shocking as. Housing crisis to blame? Lack of motels maybe?
Why on earth put up guards at a Hotel, sick of it, sick of the overspending and mismanagement of NZ’s finances at the hands of the outgoing national government.
2 million !! Imagine the good that kind of money could have done rather than giving it all to a local hotel. I wonder if the national government needs some budgeting advice? Sick of them wasting money, enough is enough.
Bet Scenic Hotels is not complaining.
Scenic Hotels? The same Scenic Hotels owned by a certain Earl Hagaman? What an astoundingly fortuitous coincidence.
Cinny
Yes, exactly right. This is part of the National Party neolib adventure which promises business that it will sell, often quite cheaply, all its service performance requirements to them. Businesses are working to attach their suckers to every available entry in the government fabric.
Leeches are cleaners, useful insects when used in medicine. Private enterprise used sometimes is useful, but not when NZ is getting a third carve-up, first Maui, second the colonial rush, and third the neo lib nasties.
Bad medicine. Will this period be known as The Age of the Locusts?
This is now the third article by experienced independent journalists denouncing the propaganda being fed to the Western public,
This article is worth reporting in detail.
Why is it ok to bomb Mosul but not Aleppo?
Assad and his allies have carried out war crimes. But so have the rebels
by Peter Oborne
Why is it ok to bomb Mosul but not Aleppo?
Peter Oborne is supported by Robert Fisk
There is more than one truth to tell in the terrible story of Aleppo
And Patrick Cockburn
Compare the coverage of Mosul and East Aleppo and it tells you a lot about the propaganda we consume
And Eva Bartlett
And Vanessa Beeley
And by Stephen Cohen, who ripped that sleazy and dishonest servant of Washington, Kenneth Roth, a new one on Democracy Now yesterday….
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/14/slaughter_or_liberation_a_debate_on
Right at the end of the discussion, Stephen Cohen lost all patience with Roth, and dealt to him….
STEPHEN COHEN: That’s not talking with Putin; that’s putting pressure on Putin.
KENNETH ROTH: And talk to him, too. And we never objected to the ongoing debate, the ongoing conversation, but it shouldn’t be in lieu of the kind of pressure, which is all that Putin listens to these days.
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, for God’s sake. That’s all he listens to. And you base that on what? Your careful study—
KENNETH ROTH: I’m watching—I’ve watched—
STEPHEN COHEN: Your careful study of Putin? Your following of Russian politics?
KENNETH ROTH: I’ve watched two—yeah, I’ve watched—let me answer. Let me answer.
STEPHEN COHEN: Look, at some point, let’s be fact-based, OK?
KENNETH ROTH: I’ve watched him for two years—
STEPHEN COHEN: You simply don’t know what you’re—oh.
KENNETH ROTH: —talk and talk and talk with Kerry and Lavrov.
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, oh.
KENNETH ROTH: And he just continued with the atrocities.
STEPHEN COHEN: You watched it, or you listened to what he said? Or you listened—you read it?
KENNETH ROTH: The only way to ratchet up—the only way he has made any—
STEPHEN COHEN: Oh, for God’s sake.
KENNETH ROTH: —change in Syria is when the pressure mounts.
STEPHEN COHEN: We’re back to Syria now.
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to leave it there. We’re going to have to leave it there, but I want to thank you both for being a part of this discussion. Stephen Cohen is professor emeritus of Russian studies and politics at Princeton and New York University. And Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we look at Trump’s pick to be the secretary of energy, Rick Perry. Stay with us.
Your transcript just shows an incoherent person pointlessly interrupting someone.
The only incoherent person in that studio was Kenneth Roth. Professor Cohen rightly pointed out that Roth knew virtually nothing and was a thoughtless megaphone for the State Department.
That you choose to call Professor Cohen’s challenging of that charlatan a “pointless interruption” tells us everything we need to know about how frivolous and insubstantial you are.
I had a look at the transcript on the site you linked to and I see Roth describing what’s happening and Cole obfuscating on behalf of the Russians. To you, that’s “frivolous and insubstantial,” but you always have plenty to say about how ignorant and unsophisticated other people are, usually while peddling some risible nonsense yourself, so I won’t be losing any sleep over it.
I had a look at the transcript on the site you linked to and I see Roth describing what’s happening and Cole [sic] obfuscating on behalf of the Russians.
If Roth had merely been “describing what’s happening”, Cohen would not have had to point out that he was merely repeating the most inflammatory State Department rhetoric. And you are deliberately misconstruing what Professor Cohen said.
The “frivolous and insubstantial” charge was directed at you.
This is now the third article by experienced independent journalists denouncing the propaganda being fed to the Western public…
Well, denouncing one side’s propaganda while propagating the other side’s, maybe.
And the headline “Why is it ok to bomb Mosul but not Aleppo?” must be one of the most cynical and disingenuous lines written about this conflict by someone not directly employed as a propagandist. No wonder you’re promoting it.
I don’t think you’ll find any of the above journalists are propagating one side.
They are simply pointing out that the corporate embedded message we are getting is extremely one sided.
Just look at the bias served to us by our media.
Aleppo
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11751073
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11720721
Mosul
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11762531
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11716068
Can’t you see it???
So what? What is your point? That media is bias – well fuck me dead I never realised. //SARC
It seems like the – look at this disgusting porn which I have now watched for 3 hours non-stop to see how bad it is. War/propaganda porn is as damaging and delusional.
fuck me dead I never realised
Sadly, some of your recent comments confirm that to be true, marty.
It is clear many people do take the news they consume at face value.
Simply questioning the narrative over Mosul and Aleppo has ensured a lot of flak.
I get that Paul – is it the questioning of the narrative that is your main point.
Some of us never accept the narrative even if it is all over the MSM – you know that right. Some of us know that it is propaganda AND that still, in 2017, people are getting slaughtered – whether by this creed or that one – you know that right. Some of us are SO far away from the murders and atrocities that we realise ANY of our conclusions derived from some information from there, is always bias to our own preconceived ideas, ideals, and ethos, and we accept that.
+1 Marty.
As usual, you sum up my view exactly.
Thanks Karen – I just find the fundamentalist “I know what is happening on the other side of the world and you don’t” line so arrogant, let alone false.
+2
why don’t you piss off morrie – your snide digs show what an inadequate little prat you are – go send another email dissing Kim Hill why don’t you you pompous freak.
Thanks! That’s a classic demonstration of indignatio.
May I use it for an upcoming playlet I’m working on?
you know you’re a turd morrie – sure, a pretentious one who has a very inflated and puffed up view of his own intelligence and insight and that is your right. Try doing some wider and deeper reading if you want your piglet to fly.
marty mars
You would have more credibility if you didn’t erupt so violently and emotionally. It seems to happen quite often. Why waste words, just a few are more cutting. Morrissey grows faster with this sort of manure.
I get some enjoyment from using words/sentences – good for my scrabble too. I don’t think I erupted at all, from an unprovoked and nasty snide attack on me after I asked a question of Paul. I like the fact that some find me too ’emotional’ but I think it is too far and quite rude to call me violent 🙂 I do get that I swear a lot – sorry for those you don’t like swearing – they are just words…
exactly !
from you that is a compliment – thank you x
The war and the lies are what’s “damaging and delusional”
Highlighting and exposing the lies are necessary…until the day the lies and war and evil has been stopped
No rest until that time comes!
Just look at the bias served to us by our media.
It’s kind of funny that you’re on here every day posting propaganda from regime sympathisers while also claiming to be outraged about “media bias.” Your peddling of propaganda on behalf of Russia, Iran and their client Assad is an object lesson in bias.
As to the links you provide, the lack of civilian-casualty stories from Mosul isn’t a reflection of western media bias, it’s a reflection of the fact that the place is held by Da’Esh. It’s also a reflection of the fact that Mosul hasn’t been subjected to massive, indiscriminate aerial bombardment. Your and others’ efforts at false equivalence can’t alter those things.
Now you are defending ISIS. Amazing!
Er, what?
You claimed the lack of civilian casualties in Mosul is a reflection of the place being held by ISIS.
I claimed the lack of news reports in western media about civilian casualties in Mosul is a reflection of the place being held by Da’Esh. Not because there aren’t any civilian casualties (there’ll be plenty) but because the only stories Da’Esh is interested in supplying to western media are about the western prisoners they’re holding, the gruesome executions they’re carrying out, or the obnoxious bluster their spokesmen churn out.
The US is supporting ISIS in Syria.
The Lizard People are supporting chem trails in the atmosphere.
Are you aiming for a competition to fill the thread with idiotic assertions?
I just don’t understand why you repeat western propaganda.
And get so angry the whole time.
Robert Fisk, Peter Oborn and Patrick Cockburn are not regime sympathisers nor do they peddle propaganda on behalf of Russia, Iran and their client Assad.
The Washington Post, al Jazeera, the BBC and the Guardian do promote an agenda, just as Press TV, RTV and others promote the other side.
Paul get real mate. Robert Fisk lives in South Lebanon. His narrative on Syria is largely from the Hezbollah perspective, nothing wrong with that per se but to pretend the guy is some neutral observer is just asinine. Your sources are just as biased as those you criticise.
You are aware of these three journalists impeccable credentials, aren’t you?
Yet you believe the establishment puppets.
Did you believe this one as well?
Another lie that was spread by the media to sell an an illegal war.
Did you believe this one?
wayne mapp, bill english and Key were spreading the same lies and supporting war here in NZ …..
” In the leadup to the Iraq war, National MPs were howling for New Zealand to back the US and get involved. Then Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wayne Mapp complained that we had questioned US intelligence on WMDs (I bet he feels stupid now) and demanded that we “stand firm with [our] traditional friends and allies” by supporting a second resolution authorising the war. The party complained that we had supported the international consensus of demanding solid evidence before invading another country. When the war began, Bill English demanded that NZ troops be sent immediately …. ”
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/search?q=wayne+mapp%2Bwar
Mark Mitchell was part of the “mission accomplished” from that illegal war/invasion …. if any present mp in NZ has expertise on creating the conditions that empowers and grows groups like ISIS it would be him. ….
Despite Mitchells expertise in dog bites there is no link between him and abu ghraib https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisoner_abuse#/media/File:AbuGhraib13.jpg
http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=8560
I enjoy Pauls links and think he supports peace …. not war.
Thanks Paul ….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uap0GwBYdBA
Impeccable credentials? By whose standards Paul, their fan clubs?
I’m with Marty. Your inference that we’re all stupid and only you know the real truth is irritating.
Good enough for you??
Patrick Oliver Cockburn ( born 5 March 1950) is an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent for The Independent. He has also worked as a correspondent in Moscow and Washington and is a frequent contributor to the London Review of Books.
He has written three books on Iraq’s recent history. He won the Martha Gellhorn Prize in 2005, the James Cameron Prize in 2006, the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2009,Foreign Commentator of the Year (Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards 2013), Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year (British Journalism Awards 2014), Foreign Reporter of the Year (The Press Awards For 2014). Seymour Hersh has described him as the “best western journalist at work in Iraq today.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Cockburn
Good enough for you??
Robert Fisk (born 12 July 1946) is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. He has been Middle East correspondent intermittently since 1976 for various media; since 1989 he is correspondent for The Independent, primarily based in Beirut. Fisk holds more British and international journalism awards than any other foreign correspondent and has been voted British International Journalist of the Year seven times. He has published a number of books and reported on several wars and armed conflicts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fisk
What’s your point Paul? So you go googling to find some references that back up your argument and quote only those that do. Wow, that’s novel.
In the process of said googling you would undoubtedly have been presented with numerous other references that questioned your precious ‘impeccable credentials’ but of course you blithely ignore all those and see only what you want to see.
Fisk is well known to have good relations with Hezbollah, they wouldn’t let him live there if he didn’t. On the Syrian issue the other side won’t talk much with him, they know who he is. Most of his sources will be from the Hezbollah/Assad perspective and his reporting on Syria will reflect that.
Paul’s point is that he has an awesome argument from authority because the people he reads are trustworthy, objective experts in the field like, er, Eva Bartlett, which means Paul, by reading their stuff, is likewise brilliantly well-informed on the subject, whereas you are a mere dupe of western media bias. And also argument from authority is totally not a logical fallacy.
And the third journalist in Assad and Russia’s camp…..
Peter Alan Oborne (born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist. He is the associate editor of The Spectator and former chief political commentator of The Daily Telegraph, from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of The Rise of Political Lying and The Triumph of the Political Class, and, with Frances Weaver, the pamphlet Guilty Men.
Oborne is known for his acerbic commentary on the hypocrisy and apparent mendacity of contemporary politicians.
On 17 February 2015, Oborne resigned from The Daily Telegraph. In a letter posted to the online news website, open Democracy, Oborne criticised his former employer for the allegedly unscrupulous relationship between their editorial and commercial arms. Specifically, Oborne outlined how the paper would suppress negative stories and drop investigations into the HSBC bank, a major source of their advertising revenue, which, in his opinion, compromised their journalistic integrity calling it a “form of fraud on its readers”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Oborne
Not stupid; just opinionated on a subject you are ill-informed about.
And you are ‘informed’ aye Paul. We’re all just gullible fools but you, well… you’re the worlds leading authority.
I refer to their credentials.
Who are your sources so I can become more enlightened?
There’s nothing I can say that will enlighten you Paul. You’ve got your view and nothing will will shake you from it.
When two opposing sides present their own version of events the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. The message being sent to you here, Paul, is that’s how most neutral people likely see the Syrian debacle. Both sides are lying propagandists, both are truth tellers. You choose to take a side, stop assuming that everyone else does.
Yet you believe the establishment puppets.
Did you believe this one as well?
It’s also kind of funny that you can spot propaganda when it’s from people you don’t like, but are happy to publish propaganda and defend it as objective reporting when it’s from people you do like.
So what are your sources psycho? I shall genuinely look at them.
Your nom de plume seems apt given the violent outbursts I receive for publishing contrarian viewpoints to the establishment narrative. Any chance you could tone down the aggro?
Absolutely. All that’s needed is for you to stop posting apologia for war crimes and then claiming the people who object to it are ill-informed.
As to my “sources,” I don’t have any impeccably-qualified authorities to spin logical fallacies from. I read things and watch the news, and am thereby no less ill-qualified to express opinions on this subject than you or Morrissey, who likewise read stuff and watch the news. None of us are experts on this subject, we’re people with opinions blathering on blog comments threads. If you could grasp that concept, you’d find fewer replies from me under your comments.
You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about, DH.
Fisk and Cockburn – propagandists for Putin.
What a joke.
Right on Paul and Morrissey. PM and DH are suckers for Western propaganda. Sad thing is, so are most Westerners. We have had nothing but bullshit since half way through WW2 from Western interests, and still these suckers fall for every word.
Obectivity seems to be an impossible ask.
DH “His narrative on Syria is largely from the Hezbollah perspective,”
Ummm, no.
If there’s been one aspect over the last 2 decades where Fisk has come in for criticism from progressive scholars/writers/analysts on Lebanon … it’s that he was too closely aligned with the Hariri-block and with his friend Walid Jumblatt. And that, hence, Fisk was far too predisposed to regurgitate some of the more banal US-Israeli propaganda specifically on Hezbollah.
That’s a critique from experts who otherwise have a great deal of time for the high quality and integrity of his journalism.
All of which suggests – as Paul and Morrissey have already pointed out – that you really don’t have too much of a clue.
And you do of course… have too much of a clue that is.
Pompous git.
See my comment below, sweet pea.
You seem to be projecting.
Your comment below speaks for itself and says a lot about you. I’ll let that lie where it falls, I don’t need to respond to it.
As anyone who has visited The Standard regularly over the last five years or so could tell you, actually, yes, swordfish does know what he’s talking about when it comes to Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
And, as is painfully obvious, you know next to nothing.
Although I’m all for robust debate, I’m not sure I’d even bother with these Clintonistas, Paul. They’re a smug, preening, pompous little band of Stewie Griffins. Not a great deal of honesty, integrity or backbone. (you’ll look in vain for any critique of US foreign policy, for instance. Not in their interests. Where the New York Times and Washington Post go … they quickly follow – as fast as their little legs will carry them)
All you’re ever gonna get from these wonderfully droll wannabe hipsters are increasingly desperate attempts at erudite little bon mots. Such are the unquenchable depths of their self-delight.
That’s quite a personality assessment. For what it’s worth, I haven’t any thoughts or opinions about you.
An interesting article by Danyl McLaughlan – about how John Key’s expertise in finance trading gave him an understanding of how to play other complex systems – like politics – and “win” at the “game”. Means he was a conservative who favoured incremental change, but failed to deal with the most pressing issues facing the country.
It may not be the absolute worst way to run a country – but that’s a very low bar. It certainly hasn’t helped the country, and it’s been very bad for the least well-off.
“To me the most quintessential Key policy is his reform of the Emissions Trading Scheme: Key and his Trade Minister found a brilliant way to rort the international carbon trading system, buying hundreds of millions of dollars of quasi-legal Russian and Ukrainian carbon credits. It was an ingenious way to prevent New Zealand from having to reduce our carbon emissions, which would have lead to all sorts of reforms and costs that might have compromised Key’s popularity.”
“brilliant, rort,ingenious?…..that says more about the author than it does about Key……the entire article needs to read with that as its foundation.
Good point. yes. I do feel a uncomfortable about the element of worshiping Key’s (alleged) genius.
Like any day trader, he maximised short term profits (for himself and cronies) and left social destruction for others to clean up ( housing, immigration, super, tax havens, debt levels, etc). It does not require huge skills to asset strip a country over 8 years, but it does require skills to avoid detection and deflect blame).
I think he will go down as one of the worst PM’s we have ever had, once the books get opened. He’s a Muldoon – leaving a big mess for others.
hmm.., at least muldoon left a bit of a legacy.
the hydro electric dams.
good point about the day trader.
It seems worth comparing McLaughlan’s It may not be the absolute worst way to run a country – but that’s a very low bar. It certainly hasn’t helped the country, and it’s been very bad for the least well-off. with Gould’s …the battle was not one of personality politics, but real politics…The personality was merely the means by which a deadly serious re-making of New Zealand – along ideological lines – was being undertaken.
By McLaughlin’s account, Key focused on winning and paid scant attention to the plight of the least well off. By Gould’s account he was a man on a mission who employed a winning strategy. I find Gould’s account the more plausible. When people are being kicked out of houses for fabricated reasons, and being plunged into huge debts that they will never be able to pay, and the architects of that scheme are elevated as Key’s anointed heirs, then it all looks more deliberate than accidental. In fact it is almost worth asking them if they hope, following in the footsteps of nineteenth century colonists, that the least wealthy 20-30% will either bugger off or gradually die out. It is what their actions suggest.
Edit: I should also have mentioned our overflowing prison population.
Agreed. Very good contrast and analysis.
Olwyn
Happy Christmas and New Year and 2017 on and on.
Always enjoy reading your thoughtful stuff. Like a tonic you are.
Thanks grey – I look out for what you have to say also 🙂
I found Gould’s account more realistic too, Olwyn. Key was parachuted in to do a job (for unknown others), he’s done it, and he’s flown out again – leaving an exploited demoralised country behind him.
I agree, Olwyn – Gould’s analysis seems more accurate than Mclauchlan’s.
I also think Giovanni’s Tiso’s piece is very good.
https://overland.org.au/2016/12/the-man-without-a-legacy/
Yes I read that too and thought it was very good; very insightful.
This new article by Wayne Hope is also very good – on the myths the MSM promotes about John Key.
Its my last day of work for the year so might even be getting an early knock off so hopefully everyone has a good a Christmas as I’m going to or preferably even better!
Laters
Merry Christmas PR, enjoy your break, have a great time with friends and family and come back refreshed and ready to go for election year! (someone needs to remind these guys that NZ polls are generally accurate!)
We really do live in one of the best countries in the world, I mean sure theres no white Christmas but I think warm weather is better for festivities anyway
Beside the only the only poll that counts is on election day 😉
Merry Christmas
Seasons Greetings, happy Solstice PR. Enjoy your holidays.
I’ve always said the posters on here have more in common then differences 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Don’t let the tinsel covered door hit your arse on the way out.
Hopefully this will make you feel better
http://giphy.com/gifs/dog-sad-puppy-l5vObij2fAx8Y
Can we assume from your farewell post earlier that you will not be posting after today for the remainder of the year?
You won’t be hearing from me after today (I’m hoping to be knocked off at lunchtime but we’ll see) until January
But I’ll be watching…I’m always watching
Not allowed to use the computer at home, Pucky?
Rules with an iron fist, does she? 🙂
Could be though, that you have self-discipline. If that’s the case, respect.
“Rules with an iron fist, does she?”
I like strong, intelligent women, always have and always will 🙂
Laila it is then!
I’m thinking more…
Post-Pucky party!
Sad that we haven’t got Key to slag off, him having slunk off ‘n all.
Still, there’s Bill! Plenty of clods in that paddock!
Have a good break, I look forward to normal service being resumed next year.
Merry Christmas PR.
You are often the mustard on an otherwise great sandwich, (with a tendency towards vinegar) but sour taste and all, there is sometimes a moment when you provide the perfect note.
For that reason, (and not for the boasting of early holidays, you just can’t help yourself can you?) – enjoy your break.
Heres something you 🙂
http://giphy.com/gifs/disney-tangled-alice-in-wonderland-xbkgB7VYTsOGY
PR. You don’t know me at all.
More this: https://media.giphy.com/media/sUzZwE9AgI8iA/giphy.gif
🙂
This is accurate
Hey, Pucky – I was sequestered in the council chamber yesterday and not free to play the blogs, so missed your Christmas message and the opportunity to give you a ribbing. Have a good break, play fair and be kind to your people. Spend some time too, reflecting on aspects of your personality that are holding you back; your tendency to adore duplicitous authority figures, your habit of repeating nonsense ad nauseum, that sort of thing 🙂
In any case, see you in the New Year, by which time you’ll have realised what has happened and how parlous National’s position post-Key and you’ll have lost your puckiness, but there’ll still be a place here for you, in your depleted state.
Merry Christmas, Puck.
“I was sequestered in the council chamber yesterday ”
Well that doesn’t sound enjoyable at all
I’ll think about what you said, but no promises 🙂
Merry Christmas to you and everyone else
Go away Max, your dad has, time for you to do the same. If you really have let go of your ego, what’s with this professionally filmed self promotion? NZ is over it, go and promote yourself in Hawaii.
As for the Herald, wtf are you promoting? A washed up ex PM’s attention seeking son, jeepers you must be desperate for stories
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11768085
A real man………
a real man… does not ride a woman, a real man satisfies a woman by letting her ride him. Too much information? Nah just reality, something that boy Max needs a dose of. lololz
A legend in his own mind if you ask me – and I agree with you about what makes a real man Cinny.
I humbly disagree, this is a real mans man
It’s now 11:47. You said you were off at mid-day. 13 minutes left!
yay – now only 9
Somehow I don’t think pukish rogue will be able to keep his/her end of the bargain.
Would you really want me to 😉
4 to go!!! I’m hoping, but righties aren’t known for sticking to their word – I hope the puck that puck will puck up the courage.
We all know the truth :-)https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder489/500x/54125489.jpg
Desperate to get in a few punches before a self imposed ban, he/she posts a broken link.
)https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder489/500x/54125489.jpg
Couldn’t script it better.
you do have redeeming attributes for a rightie – that is true – at least you are coherent in your rightieness and you do have a sense of humour which I find rarely in righties.
LMFAO !!! ROFL !!!!!!!!!!!!
How about a real Kiwi Man? It appears PR may have left the building.. but in the spirit of Kiwi Men and Christmas giggles, i just gotta contribute more than words.. dun dun dunnnn taa da..
“Hidden due to low comment rating.”
How Kiwiblog’s sensitive souls are spared having to read my posts.
Yesterday (Thursday 15/12/16) I achieved some kind of record over on Kiwiblog. Seven—-count ’em, SEVEN—of my posts on just one discussion thread were accorded the grim accolade of “Hidden due to low comment rating.” This stern notice of exclusion is followed by the invitation: “Click here to see”, which rather defeats the purpose.
Now, I fancy myself as a bit of an amateur psychologist, and I reckon that’s the approximate equivalent to the old “sealed section” that magazines like Cleo used to entice readers back when people used to read magazines.
What do Standardistas think about this?
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2016/12/hosking_on_the_pike_protesters.html/comment-page-1#comment-1837884
‘hidden due to low comment rating’ I consider that to be their form of censorship, used when someone does not fall into line with the Kiwiblog agenda.
Well it is and it isn’t, Cinny. The forcing of my posts into that “naughty corner” is indeed a kind of censorship, but it’s not total censorship. David Farrar is far more tolerant, and intelligent, than Cameron “Whaleoil” Slater, who has banned me forever more.
Mind you, I was always headed for disaster over at Whaleoil, right from my very first post, which reminded the guys at Whaleoil that Todd McLay’s father Roger, the ex-National M.P. and persecutor of Peter Ellis, was in prison….
This was swooped on by the great man himself. …
From then on, my card was marked.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2012/12/whaleoil-awards-best-electorate-mp-2/
You got banned for shit stirring? Man, that would never happen on a blog as tolerant and inclusive as The Standard.
Agree. You are still here.
Oh, it’s happened all right. Things really got bad the day I muscled in on a thread administered by the formidable Queen of Thorns. It led to the Mother of All Bollockings……
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/01/general_debate_11_january_2013.html#comment-1076252
you have a long way to go to achieve the level of opprobrium generated by Penny Bright on KB.
A lot of the brutal comments directed at her are simply because she’s a woman.
That won’t bother her, PB just goes around the blogs to spam her latest 3000 word missive & never follows up
Yes, I’ve noticed that. She doesn’t really engage with anyone.
The brutal comments are directed at her because she steals from ratepayers and has zero respect for the law.
Ha! The posters on Kiwiblog are currently lionizing one Bill English, who brazenly stole money from taxpayers in a notorious housing rort [1] which would have driven anyone with a conscience to resign in disgrace.
The rest of the time they spend praising one John Key, whose sub-zero respect for the law was laid bare in Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics. [2]
Yet YOU claim that these moral paragons routinely heap the vilest personal abuse on a woman because they respect the law. Do you realise the irony of what you are saying?
[1] http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/2711246/Bill-English-defends-taxpayer-cash-for-house
[2] https://dirtypoliticsnz.com/
There’s no answer that David C can give to that.
Except I will stop trolling on this site.
Great to know you’ll be stopping your trolling on this site Paul.
Paul, I’m afraid that poor “David C” is akin to a Samantha Power speech—i.e., completely devoid of any sense of the absurd.
Really?
I have defended my lawful rights as a citizen to find out exactly where ratepayers and citizens’ public monies are being spent on private sector consultants and contractors.
Feel rather vindicated, following the unprecedented verdict last Friday (9 December 2016 – International Anti-Corruption Day) in the Auckland High Court, by Justice Sally Fitzgerald, of bribery and corruption charges against a senior Auckland Transport manager and contractor.
The bribes over a 7 year period between those two amounted to $1.2 million.
(Sentencing will be on 22 February 2017).
I predict a ‘blue collar’ sentence for these two ‘white collar’ criminals.
That this is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ regarding corruption in the NZ roading industry, is the subject of a five page investigative article in today’s NBR (print version).
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.
Were you involved in the case?
I was not directly involved in the SFO prosecution of the corrupt contractor and corrupt Auckland Transport senior manager.
However, I have been involved now for some years ‘blowing the whistle’ and ‘making a fuss’ against the lack of transparency in the spending of public monies on private sector consultants and contractors.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-privatisation / anti-corruption Public Watchdog’.
seems they rate you the same as many here – ‘oh dear – ego under attack – must think of pompous pretend intelligent reply’ – you’ve been lambasted here by some fine fellows and fellowesses over the years for inaccurate, nay made up ‘transcripts’ yet that water off your duck back is yellowish – none so blind eh morrie the minor.
You have a point to make in that flood of bile, marty, but it gets lost in the clumsy verbiage. greywarshark counseled you earlier today on the need to be concise; you should have listened.
well done you DID it
well done you did, IT
WELL, done you, did it?
well? DONE. you did it
well done YOU, did it
He’s having a go at humour now. Hmmmm….
https://cafedessports.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/h-20-1089739-1201429391.jpg
Thanks for that, marty. You’re back in the Breen good books now.
What do Standardistas think about this?
About what? That lots of Kiwiblog’s commenters don’t like you? That seems to be the standard reason for down-ticking a comment over there. Shouldn’t you be pleased rather than offended that the Angry White Men of Kiwiblog don’t like your comments?
Shouldn’t you be pleased rather than offended that the Angry White Men of Kiwiblog don’t like your comments?
Some of my posts garner a lot of upticks. The posters there are not as monolithic as you appear to think they are. It all depends on what I post up.
“Some of my posts garner a lot of upticks.”
How many sock puppets are you running these days Moz ?
I’m afraid that since I was banned from the Daisycutter Sports Inc. following the 2005 Christmas party, my access to the young women and men who used to back me up so vociferously on nz.general and rec.sport.rugby.union has pretty much dried up.
Some people think that I’ve created the hapless “Psycho Milt” as a scapegoat sock puppet, but I can assure you that he puts those idiotic words up there by himself.
More evidence the current government policy is hurting the children of Auckland voters.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320543/housing-costs,-traffic-blamed-for-worsening-akl-teacher-shortage
I think the government is losing Auckland in a big way and the opposition really needs to make sure voters know there is an alternative. One of governance and planning rather than a wild west free for all.
Even the wealthy are getting miffed as they start to miss their air flights.
Watch out when little Benjamin’s private school can’t find a teacher.
or no-one to serve the latte
Nah, just import 1000 baristas from Bangladesh @ 10c /hour. That’s how we do “business” in NZ
Yep. The ministry, which have denied there is a problem, has 500 teachers from England ready to go, apparently.
Where are they going to live? How are they going to get to work?
I can guarantee you those mythical 500 teachers from England will be shocked by the state of transport infrastructure and housing if they ever make it to Auckland.
National has lost the battle for Auckland.
Charter school?
Well what an end to the year in NZ politics. key gone, gnat mps gone, other mps gone, english and the fakewestieladderpuller in. Whew!!! I am LOVING it. Meanwhile the shit the system (and it’s little helpers) do, continues and the disadvantaged and less able continue to get shat on from a great height.
I sense a change in the centre of balance – I’m feeling a movement beginning (sorry potty humour).
Those who support left values are going to have to dig deep next year to take advantage of these changes. The pressure must be maintained and increased. The dumbarse gnat ministers must be hounded and continually asked the hard questions and their lies scrutinised and illuminated.
For left activists like me there are some very big decisions to make.
I can’t support Mana if they go with The MP
I can’t voter for labour or the Greens while they target the mythical middle
I will not support the agenda of morgan or winnie
The right are going down the gurgler and I don’t know who my precious vote will be going to to keep them going down.
Bring on the New Year – I’ll keep fighting the fight for the disadvantaged and those who struggle within our society and I’ll do it with or without a political party.
“Bring on the New Year – I’ll keep fighting the fight for the disadvantaged and those who struggle within our society and I’ll do it with or without a political party.”
Woot woot !!! Kudos bro 😀
You haven’t been interpreting Andrew Little’s comments about “the mythical middle” correctly, marty mars. He has said that wherever he goes people he talks to about their problems – housing, jobs, health, education – all consider themselves “middle NZ” – so its a very broad concept, not a narrow swinging vote in the centre of the left-right divide.
perhaps, but I think I have heard and listened to them pretty well and my analysis is accurate
If it’s such a broad concept, why is it called “middle”? – this term seems to me to be derived from the long term US Democrat focus on the “middle class” – because, apparently no-one considers themselves working class or under class any more.
But where did that idea come from? – seems to me it’s the result of neoliberal propaganda, denying the existence or significance of the struggling working class and precariat.
Basically, it’s colluding with right wing spin. It becomes circular. Everyone considers themselves “middle” because that is what the media and third way pollies have been telling them for a couple of decades. It’s time to break the cycle.
“I can’t support Mana if they go with The MP
I can’t voter for labour or the Greens while they target the mythical middle
I will not support the agenda of morgan or winnie
The right are going down the gurgler and I don’t know who my precious vote will be going to to keep them going down.”
I’m with you on all four points there marty mars…and I’ve been accused of setting too high a standard…demanding an unreasonable level of integrity from the recipients of my two votes.
With the departure of Catherine Delahunty from the GP I fear that party is heading irretrievably almost centre right…when Jan Logie hands in her notice…
Oh well.
On the upside, next winter’s firewood is just about stacked under cover, the two water tanks are full to overflowing and the septic tank and it’s drainage field are still functioning as they ought. All we have to sort out is a generator(or alternate to grid power supply) so we can pump the water from our tanks and keep the freezer frozen and we’ll be right when the shit hits the fan.
I love your ‘On the upside’ Kia kaha!
Australian mum’s hilarious response to debt letter for a whopping 2 cents
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11767905
Sadly in NZ it is more likely to be 62,400 per year for a motel room, than 2 cents being demanded.
love it, saveNZ !
I got a nasty letter from the Justice Dept this week, demanding $130 and if I didn’t pay up I would be summoned to Court or arrested.
Apparently I got a traffic fine back in July but the cops had been sending mail to the wrong address the whole time. FFS!
I got a super nasty letter when I was a student, from ANZ bank, demanding I pay my $1000 interest free overdraft back even though I was still a student. Anyway I got rid of my ANZ bank account overdraft, closed my account and never returned to them and just the other day got an unsolicited letter from ANZ asking for my business again, which I will not be taking up.
Also have huge nightmare when someone used my identity to police for a fine, but after a lot of paperwork, declarations and huge amount of work, managed to prove I was overseas and could not have done it!
Scary shit — identity theft is a handy trick to get the cops off your back I guess.
(Also a massive growth industry)
Basically the burden of proof seems to be on you to prove you don’t owe the money not the other way around!
The foul-mouthed, tittie-ogling quitter has left the building.
Great Christmas present for decent people across New Zealand.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/87631676/paul-henrys-final-tv3-breakfast-show-this-is-it
There are quite a few right wingers of questionable character quitting of late.
Don’t think I’ve ever seen a mass exodus of right wingers from NZ like this before.
No tinfoil hat required to sense that something just doesn’t sit well, could the excuse of 2016 be ‘family reasons’?
Yes. It is a curious phenomenon. And puzzling. Not sure what to make of it.
Very generally, with Key it’s a case of the golden times being over and the hard work was ahead – he couldn’t face the hard work.
With Henry, I just think he couldn’t stand being the person he is. He genuinely hates himself for the things he feels he has to say to maintain popularity.
I don’t have any understanding of Henry as I tend to avoid his shows.
But surely he wouldn’t say much of what he says if he didn’t believe it?
He believed it, just that he hated himself for having to say it for money. He banged on about NZ being paradise but then tore strips off the most vulnerable citizens in that paradise. Unconscionable really.
His talk was pub talk and while pub talk is fine, it is only fine in a pub, if you know what I mean.
Just wondering… how much has Bridges spent on luring Oil Barons here to drill? Looks like that was a waste of money.
Maybe the Oil Barons realise that there will be a change of government here very soon and as a result don’t want to invest? Suits me.
Hey Government, instead of shelling out who knows how much to entertain oil giants, how about… funding science to get the whole country on free energy? Here’s an idea, how about an electric car manufacturing plant? Maybe a solar panel production factory? Hotels, helicopters and caviar instead with our tax dollars huh?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/87614697/only-a-fraction-of-new-zealands-oil-territory-sells-in-block-offer-2016
Labour Party reshuffle announced by Little.
”Clare Curran takes over ICT and moves into the Shadow Cabinet.”
shit cv will be having a fit
Where is CV? I have to agree with him on Clare Curran. Surely someone must be better?????
I still remember Clare Curran on FB with some voter trying to reach out to her in a really nice way, over TPPA, she just ignored them. But maybe she has changed her ways.
cv on ban until 28th or something
That’s a bit hard. Plus we have not had comments on…
Russia warns New Zealand after UN comments
link fyi
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2016/12/russia-warns-new-zealand-after-un-comments.html
disclaimer, under the fog of war, the first casualty is the truth
We can look at how well that Labour party blog went for evidence of Curran’s IT nous.
Still she probably knows more than whoever the dingbats were that had no idea what Uber was all about.
On the Fifth day of Christmas – On Friendship.
Nice – I love the word cherish
“to love, protect, and care for someone or something that is important to you”
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cherish
and in your quote above cherish ‘something that is important to another’ – very beautiful to be able to do that and be true to that.
maui
What about going down to see Robert Guyton? He is more of a people person than I think Thoreau was. Our very own ‘wild man’. I think he would laugh at that, seemingly good-natured.
And marty mars
You are right about cherish. It is a word that hasn’t been spoiled by some dissonance. Some words seem to be 3D I think, stand clear of the page.
Interesting guy Thoreau. Who doesn’t want to go and live in the woods with simplicity and solitude for a while. I have to read Walden sometime too.
Some stories not making the news
“We Miskitu women have a special relationship with our land – that sacred space that cannot be sold or divided up. For Indigenous People, land is community. It is living in harmony with Mother Earth. Our collective identity and sense of belonging is embedded in the land and so too our legal, political, economic and social systems.
And it is not just Miskitu women. Indigenous women all over the world have this special relationship with land and territory. We are transmitters of knowledge, persevering our cultures, systems and the ways our Indigenous Nations and Peoples organize.”
https://intercontinentalcry.org/access-land-indigenous-women-essential-condition-eradicating-gender-violence/
“Recently, members of the Yaqui tribe in Loma de Bácum won a moratorium against the construction of the pipeline. According to local media, however, Mexican authorities have announced that pipeline construction will continue because “one community” cannot stop “a project that will benefit future generations.””
https://intercontinentalcry.org/mexico-moves-ahead-controversial-pipeline-indigenous-land-despite-moratorium/
“The United Nations has condemned the wave of violence and observed that “75% of the homicide victims were carrying out their activities in rural environments, and that the methods of the killings and assassination attempts show a high level of sophistication to conceal the intellectual authors.”
Responsibility for many of the attacks has been claimed, however, by paramilitary groups including the Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles), the Rastrojos, and the Urabeños; groups that developed out of the right-wing paramilitary Self-Defence Forces (AUC) following their partial demobilisation between 2003-2006.”
https://intercontinentalcry.org/black-eagles-and-black-windows/
“All over the world today, Indigenous Peoples are confronting the destructive practices of industry—leading the charge against climate change while defending the lakes, forests and food systems that all of us depend on. At the same time, they are blocking governments from weakening basic rights and freedoms and turning to the courts of the world to correct over 500 years of historical wrongs. And all the while, Indigenous Peoples are breathing new life into the biocultural legacies that have the potential to sustain the entire human race until the sun goes nova.”
https://intercontinentalcry.org/15-indigenous-struggles-need-know/
If you want to support indigenous struggles that are happening right now, all around the world, go to Intercontinentalcry.org – the wealth of information there is unsurpassed, the depth of the struggles is immediate, and the knowledge that NOW is just a continuation of THEN – the struggles for indigenous peoples against the juggernaut are enduring and ongoing and have been for generations.
Beautiful review of Bob Dylan’s career, and the song he chose in lieu of a Nobel Prize acceptance speech (for literature)
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2016/12/a-dozen-dead-oceans/
“And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it…”
A modern-day prophet.
“And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it…”
I’m one of the hippy generation that did pay attention to songs like that – and it just wasn’t about a potential nuclear mutual destruction. I think many others also paid attention to such songs.
And it is even more relevant now – good choice of song.
It’s just that such songs got swamped with the shifts from above, in right wing propaganda, the video revolution, etc, along with the consumerist mantras.
Many of us protested at the time…. but still the neoliberal tanks rolled all over everywhere.
from the dreamtime.
God, talk about being slung back in time! We used to sing this at school…in the 60s in the UK and here in the 70s.
You know…being post Vietnam…we kinda hoped, like , you know, it might come true.
I won’t read it but I see a Herald headline about young Keydashian. His father gradually being out of a permanent presence in the headlines certainly won’t stop his regular appearances.
He is of no more importance than any other citizen. If he is being foisted on me for crap, nothing reasons and events it is fair to consider I am being treated with contempt. I will take that as the okay to reciprocate.
Those MSM chief editors probably having a hard time going cold turkey from their key spin cycles.
The Key kid is a DJ and promoting himself, and the papers love celebrity
It’s all coming out in the wash. Those real estate companies which have enriched the lives of a select few National party voters have been found to be corrupt.
Much like National party voters themselves.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11768413
Still, between 4 companies, 5% commission on the average Auckland house equals just 50 houses each sold to pay for this fine. A slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket.
Remember it is the National government under which these people are conducting their corrupt business practice.
Allo allo ‘allo… I see a national party donator there.. old Garth Barfoot.
“Justice Paul Heath today ordered Barfoot & Thompson to pay $2.575 million, Harcourts $2.575m, LJ Hooker $2.475m and Ray White $2.2m.
Bayleys was also subject to the agreement but that case was settled earlier this year after the firm agreed to pay a $2.2m penalty.”
More to follow says the Herald….
Maybe Nick Smith will resign for family reasons lololololoz how magical would that be?
They defrauded TradeMe and passed fee increases on to buyers. Nice people in that industry. One bunch of ticket clippers ripping off another. I wonder if the affected buyers get refunded from any of those penalties?
Time to nationalise the whole real estate industry, it’s a bloated parasite
A must see 3D video of Earths CO2 emissions
I spotted this….http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/accelerates-troop-deployment-poland-baltics-161214165133547.html the other night…and thought, ho hum,
and now this….http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11768380 “Swedish towns told to ‘make preparations regarding the threat of war and conflict’ with Russia”
Fake news?
Its getting a bit tight in here….
Fascinating. This sort of behaviour is something we in New Zealand thought happened in new and third world countries. Yet under their government police corruption is happening right under our noses!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/320595/corrupt-cop-convinced-driver-to-hand-over-cash
John Campbell on Checkpoint is ferocious on housing today.
It will be an election issue next year. The New Nats refuse to do anything about it and this opens the door for the opposition to really canvas affected voters like they did in Mt Roskill.
Housing story starts at 12:20 in the above RNZ clip
Incredible. Not one person from authority fronted on this issue. As I said on another thread, Bennett and co will not have Paul Henry to stroke them next year. Bill’s not a great fit on The Rock, or More FM, so perhaps they’ll not show up anywhere???
Hopefully some dire poll results will force Blinglish to take some damn responsibility for a change.
48:50 class action against insurance companies dodging earthquake payouts
Sadly follows it up with a promotion for ISIS by repeating BBC propaganda.
-1 spam. You’ve already posted that clip, and 59 others on this topic