Just heard Joyce on RNZ dancig on a pin trying to justify the removal of the Kiwishare from Chorus when Telecom is split into a lines and retail company. Yesterday it was the youth minimum wage down to $10. Before that Kiwisaver and asset sales, We’re in the run-up to an election and just about every day there’s another piece of news that shows this NAct government has no regard for the well-being of the great majority of New Zealanders. If this is what they think they can get away with prior to an election we really will be in a deep hole if they get re-elected.
For 25 years we’ve been hearing the same old neo-liberal spin about leaving things to the market and every year that goes by things just get worse for all but the very few wealthy elite. What a greedy manipulative bunch of self-serving sycophants this NAct government and their hollow men are.
Stripping the lines (Chorus) from Telecom and there is nothing to share but a poxy sales / marketing / billing entity. The Kiwishare was based upon getting value from a tangible assets, aka exchanges, telephone network, the copper which is now the fibre. In effect this is the final stripping of any NZ return from Telecom.
I wonder how many of those who have screamed the loudest for pay cuts for our young people benefited from jobs for life at award wages when they were young.
Yesterday in parliament Trevor threw down the gauntlet and announced that all contracts the govt enters into based on the Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill/Act will be subject to review upon a change of govt, and most importantly that changes deemed necessary will not be compensated for.
Any of Joyce’s mates lining up to fleece the public purse have now been warned. Excellent call.
Hey, Lanthanide, you are closer to the issue than me. Would I be right in thinking that the suburbs that are likely to be abandoned are primarily in Labour held electorates? I’ve got a feeling they are, for the most part. I can’t help thinking that if it was Fendalton or Merrivale under threat King Gerry would be only too happy to be open and engaging with the affected residents, because they’re his kind of people.
The phrases George Bush and New Orleans keep popping into my head for some reason, too.
What do you mean ? “posing as trade me users”? I AM a trade me user. I also do not make terrible anythings anywhere. I also have not posted on the CHCH forum there. So you are none for 3, as usual. You are just doing the usual troll dance of the uninformed, and ill advised. Yep a NACT troll crying that someone has beaten them to the idea.
Losing its second-biggest employer is another kick in the guts for Waipukurau, which is still trying to recover from the April storm that trashed coastal farms.
“We’ve got our own little Christchurch here,” Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Peter Butler said of the proposed closure of the 26-year-old Ovation boning plant in Waipukurau.
A closure would result in up to 304 job losses, with a final decision due in two weeks after consultation.
Most able-bodied people wouldn’t have a clue about the challenges and difficulties disabled people face on a daily basis. It’s not just the physical barrier that the disabled need to overcome; people’s attitudes are often as great a barrier to achieving independence. There’s a fantastic program called Attitude that helps to promote and enable the participation of the disabled in society as full and equal citizens. The appropriately named show helps to break down the barriers that inhibit equality within New Zealand.
Branson was on news, said free market were hold up the price because of speculators.
He didn’t do into detail about why he should get the benefit of lower oil prices at the expense of the speculators.
Nor did he call the environmental movement out for its bad news story but essentially that’s what he means. Those damn speculators telling everyone that prices will rise the moment the gap demand outstrips supply.
But realistically China will be able to buy all the cheap stuff, so Branson would still have
to pay more, Duh. China will build more storage capacity and fill them up, storing real assets as opposed to buy the junk that passes as investment in most markets (due to its reliance on valuations based on oil plateau – which Branson just blow out of the water in his comments).
Mid day news. Branson said he thought fuel prices should be much lower and
speculators were the problem. Key must have cringed had he saw it, being
a speculator was how he made his money. Its the dichotomy between the
business entrepreneur and the fiscal speculator that is changing, before they
were bedfellows, now the ones that create real worth loath the speculators
running off with profits. We need a real business party in NZ.
you can almost hear the first calls of ‘save our stadiums’ ‘save the sacred Rugby grounds’
i wonder if the TAB has odds on the stadiums getting a cheque before any residents
National Radio “Nine to Noon”
Friday 17 June 2011
Gemma Gracewood’s ignorant endorsement of “caring” Anthony Weiner
Every Friday on National Radio’s Nine to Noon programme, the last ten minutes before midday are taken up with two comedians commenting on the news of the week. Usually this is excellent—the comedians are not only wittier, but usually more astute and more thoughtful than most specialist political commentators.
This morning the comedians were DAI HENWOOD and GEMMA GRACEWOOD. Dai Henwood was fine—he made several pertinent and interesting comments, without straining things by trying to be too funny.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Gemma Gracewood. Her first contribution was about the ludicrous Anthony Weiner’s disgrace and resignation. Gracewood was calling from New York, so it would be reasonable to expect her comments about the fall of a New York City congressman to be well-informed.
Not so, however. This is what she said: “Weiner was one of the better, hard-working, more caring people in Congress.” That’s not true. Weiner is infamous in Washington for harrying and haranguing his subordinates, and smashing up office furniture during his rages; he has had a higher turnover of staff than anyone else in Congress.
Weiner’s harassment of staff might have been justified if he had achieved anything—even ONE thing—as a result of it. In fact, he achieved nothing. From 1999 until this year, Weiner was the primary sponsor of 191 Bills, not one of which was enacted. Maybe this record of bullying and wasting prodigious amounts of Congressional time are what led Gracewood to say Weiner was “hard-working”. Or, more likely, Gemma Gracewood did not know what she was talking about.
How is Weiner one of the (in Gemma Gracewood’s words) “more caring people in Congress”? Well, his record speaks volumes. In 2002, he supported the vote to give Bush a free hand to attack Iraq. Much worse than his willingness to act as a stooge for the scofflaw Republican regime, however, is his record as an extreme supporter of Israel’s brutal occupation of the West Bank and its depredations in Gaza, and his unending stream of Soviet-style verbal assaults on Israel’s victims. In May 2006, Weiner attempted to bar entry by the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations. He claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not represent the PLO, and implied that this was because the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Weiner further stated that the delegation “should start packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags.” He went on to claim that Human Rights Watch, the New York Times and Amnesty International were biased against Israel.
In other words, Weiner is a bully, a chicken-hawk and a hypocrite. The recent revelations of his Clinton-like sexual shenanigans are the least of it.
A few minutes after ignorantly praising the “caring” Weiner, Gracewood condemned some Auckland Councillors for their “heinous and disgraceful verbal attacks” on a couple of schoolgirls who had made a verbal presention to the Council. Whatever those Councillors did and said, they are a collection of Albert Schweitzers compared to Anthony Weiner.
Not that Gemma Gracewood would know enough to judge.
Actually, D-D-D-Damn !, that apparent support is wafer-thin. It’s obviously easy to get Congressmen and Senators to sign pieces of paper, as we saw with the recent hastily organised U.S. petition against Pharmac. And compared to AIPAC, the medical companies are reserved and civilised lobbyists.
It’s always easier to opt for a peaceful life and sign whatever AIPAC petition you are told to—-especially when you know that the alternative is an unceasing barrage of abuse and defamation.
That’s because he didn’t sponsor sell out bills to get Republican support.
Weiner is one of the few Democrats who actually pushed for and spoke for universal healthcare even when every other Democratic representative was running for cover and running from President Obama.
Weiner spent more time abusing Palestinian children for getting in the way of American-supplied bombs and White Phosphorus than he did “pushing for” healthcare.
Good riddance to him; the contempt and ridicule he experienced at his resignation announcement is going to haunt him forever.
Clayton Weatherston has lost his bid for something by alleging provocation caused him to kill his girlfriend, over and over again. Well he is an economist. They can reorder reality to suit their preferred theory. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5157279/Clayton-Weatherstons-appeal-dismissed
Hearing about this creates a vicious circle. Now I feel vicious and want to go out and knife various economists who I find very provoking. For instance many of the comments under Monopolies on The Standard 15/6 – 253 comments. Some of the economists there have only been saved from being aerated by the recent change in the law against provocation.
To describe them there is a great selection of alternative nouns in Roget’s thesaurus under 922 Contempt in the Morals section. (Possible winners, scorn, superiority, superciliousness, ridicule.) Then move on to 481 Misjudgement under Results of Reasoning. An interesting duality – are economists reasoning beings mainly or immoral dabblers in financial and number manipulation attempting to alter financial systems to match their predilections and predictions?
“Clayton Weatherston has lost his bid for something by alleging provocation caused him to kill his girlfriend, over and over again.”
Well, Bruce Emery successfully invoked provocation and got a ludicrously light sentence for the same offence. Clayton Weatherston quite reasonably thought he could get the same discount. There’s an inconsistency in the two sentences.
Look for an announcement in the next few days by the the Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar: he is going to come out in support of Weatherston, in the same way he supported Emery.
Morrissey – Perhaps is was the 200 knife thrusts by Clayton Weatherston. Perhaps that was considered excessive and in bad taste by the court. Provocation as an excuse has been definitely carried to excess in the Justice system. I don’ know if it was intended to be used only by a lesser, weaker person against a stronger person as in battered spouses, children etc.
Bruce Emery stabbed a tagger to death.
The Herald found the task of reporting on this court case so onerous that four reporters were needed to cover it. In one part of the item someone is giving a brief sketch of the defendant and finds his ordinariness surprising. This is deep thinking for these days. (The four with bylines Andrew Koubaridis, Beck Vass, Chris Barton and Phil Taylor.) I didn’t read it all as I didn’t think I couldn’t be bothered wading through the verbiage to get the facts.
I wondered the other day what I would get if I caught two cyclists coming at me at speed on the footpath as I weeded it. What if I jumped on them and kicked them in the ribs. I definitely felt provoked to do this. I felt like stabbing them but then thought that this might be excessive.
Incidentally have you noticed how many men in their forties are committing crimes? At one time it was the under 25’s and then they settled down and presumably used their spare time to mow the lawns. Now the age rage has gone up. I think higher home ownership is needed with lawns and gardens to look after. The answer lies in the soil!
Coincidentally, these men in their forties were early in their working careers when they faced the high unemployment and shock changes of Rogernomics and Ruthanasia, and the general destruction of the NZ they had grown up in..
No, he stabbed a fifteen-year-old boy to death, after chasing him with a knife for 300 metres.
2.) The Herald found the task of reporting on this court case so onerous that four reporters were needed to cover it. In one part of the item someone is giving a brief sketch of the defendant and finds his ordinariness surprising. This is deep thinking for these days.
The Herald‘s coverage was, and continues to be, a disgrace. The reason people like you are referring to it as the “tagger case” is in large part due to the prejudicial and distorted coverage by the Herald and, in an even more virulent and sustained form, by the hosts at NewstalkZB. And this organised assault on the memory of the dead boy was amplified by the demeaning comments about the victim and his family by Emery’s lawyer Chris Comeskey.
Their “finding” that the killer was ordinary is not “deep thinking”, as you proclaim, it’s a banal observation which could be made of 99 per cent of murderers. The only reason the Herald even mentioned it was to engender sympathy for the killer and to diminish and trivialize the killing of the boy.
3.) I didn’t read it all as I didn’t think I couldn’t be bothered wading through the verbiage to get the facts.
You need to read the coverage again, this time in a serious and critical spirit. You seem to have been persuaded by the spin of Chris Comeskey and his faithful media megaphones.
Before you do your reading, though, have a look at these two clips:
Here’s the dead boy’s grieving mother Leanne Cameron being interviewed outside the court. This is the footage that so enraged NewstalkZB host Kerre Woodham that she scolded Mrs Cameron in her Herald on Sunday column for being “weak”….
And here’s the killer’s lawyer Chris Comeskey weaving his cynical web of disparagement and disinformation….
Morrissey – I don’t know if you understand everything as well as you think. You certainly can’t sort out irony in comment. When I referred to the reportage on Emery’s ordinariness as deep for these times, it was irony, meaning it was facile and cliched.
Seeing you know all about it – why did Emery stab the teenager? You say the teenager wasn’t tagging. Did Emery think he was tagging?
And I don’t believe everything grieving parents have to say to the media. You don’t necessarily get the facts from them as they have their own bias and their shock affecting the way they tell their stories.
1.) You certainly can’t sort out irony in comment. When I referred to the reportage on Emery’s ordinariness as deep for these times, it was irony, meaning it was facile and cliched.
Fair enough. You and I are in agreement about that, then. And maximum respect for your neo-Swiftian irony!
2.) Seeing you know all about it – why did Emery stab the teenager? You say the teenager wasn’t tagging.
I never said that. Where on earth do you get that notion from?
3.) Did Emery think he was tagging?
Of course he did. Then he decided to kill the boy, instead of doing what a rational person would do—either call the police or run and punch the boy. No one would complain about that; but do you really think there is some justification for a man killing a fleeing boy with a knife?
4.) And I don’t believe everything grieving parents have to say to the media.
What did Mrs Cameron say that was not true? Do you agree with Kerre Woodham of NewstalkZB that the mother of a murdered child has no right to display her grief? Do you support Chris Comeskey’s derogatory comments about the dead boy’s family?
5.) You don’t necessarily get the facts from them as they have their own bias and their shock affecting the way they tell their stories.
This has nothing to do with the facts, which are known by everyone. What it does have to do with is why these media organizations took Chris Comeskey’s lead and engaged in a relentless campaign of belittlement of the dead boy and his family, and a concomitant and equally cynical campaign of excusing and “understanding” the boy’s killer.
So the boy was tagging. Yes. Knifing him was certainly a terrible thing to do. Yes.
I’ll just leave it at that. Thank you for giving me some background Morrisey.
I just came across this lecture from Michael Parenti again and thought I’d share it with you:
Dr. Michael Parenti On The “Stupidity” Of Our Leaders
“They’re not stupid. You’re stupid if you think they’re stupid. You’re stupid if you think your enemies are stupid. All of North America is full of liberal intellectuals who love to say how stupid their leaders are. In the U.S. I can tell you, everybody is making jokes about how stupid George Bush is. I tell my fellow country men and women, I say, you know, we keep electing these stupid leaders, does this have any reflection on our intelligence?” […] “You hear this all the time… ladies and gentleman, it’s time we give less emphasis to how stupid these people supposedly are, and give more attention to how vicious and relentless and uncompromising they are.”
Here is the link to the entire lecture. Enjoy!!
Like people who say Brian Tamaki has a cult – no he doesn’t, he has a successful business ripping of Maori and PI people with false promises and deluded dreams.
today i read somewhere where John Keys is cosying up to brian tamaki and the density cult.Firstly Brian Tamaki is not a bishop. He has neverbeen ordained in an anglican church and he has never obtained a degree at a recognised sminary. secondly he is a theologaster. i.e. a shallow and paltry theologian and a pretender and smatterer of theology. thirdly he maintains a blackshirt force of shock troops. To pretend that he is bringer of the word of god to people is just a risible fantasy. He humiliates and repressess people by guilt and this is the same tactics that national uses to bash beneficiaries.
Brian Tamaki has no more direct connection to the holy city and God than I do.
and john key is an atheist!
what the f*ck is going on here between those two.
Apparently the electoral agent for Rotorua’s National MP Todd McClay (him with the father Roger who double dipped, claiming his travel costs from charities whilst having the state pay these) has resigned and will be standing against him in the forthcoming election for ACT!
Mike McVicker is a former cop and a current (redneck) Rotorua District councillor, and like most, is a local business proprietor.
We should all know by now that climate change will affect crops that we humans rely on for sustenance. Changing seasons and fluctuating weather patterns could be devastating for food production, which is essential to maintain current population levels. The side effects of unchecked industrialisation could grow further in scope with diseases, viruses and bacteria all finding more favourable conditions under a warmer and unstable climate. So what is the answer to this threat?
Well first we must make sure the workers of the future, the young don’t get their fair wage so they can when they grow older be generous fair minded citizens too. Oh, wait, no, that’s the proto fascist policy.
Any publicity is good publicity. Including stupid ones.
One of his forthcoming wankey media appearances will be an X-rated demo of how he will assist Nats with asset stripping. Starting with his own. Except he will reveal his are liabilities, even to himself.
A problem with who is driving the new Technologies.
Okay, so I am getting older. But it would seem to me that, because the 20 to 30’s are the development engineers and entrepreneurs within the IT industry and the call centres are managed by the same age group, we are to be subjected to their whims and tastes.
The family has recently changed to a new ISP and have therefore been doing a fair share of voice contact with operators to handle the teething problems. Now the operators have been brilliant and great to work with. I envy them their knowledge. However the ones who are managing their systems make no allowance for who is a subscriber.
I am talking about the F..king crap music that I am subjected to while on hold, notwithstanding the initial queuing system. This pap muzak in the form of a wailing female or male wannabe singer
You cannot risk putting the phone down to shut the sound out because you may miss the operator connection and then have to requeue for 30 minutes, so you put the receiver on “speaker” and, because of the quality of the “speaker” on the phone, the sound is even more painful. What’s wrong with a bit of Bach or Vivaldi or Mozart – particularly as you are probably in a slightly frustrated state given that you are needing to phone a Help centre anyway – the f..king music can raise the blood pressure even more.
In fact this goes for all 0800 services (banks, electricity, utilities) in general.
Anyone here prepared to start a campaign…
I have an idea. When the salesman arrives at the door offering a far superior, all singing bells and whistles system, demand a section on the contract that asks you what type of music you want their Help Desk to play and if they cannot give you that option, tell them to get on their bike – you will wait for an ISP that will provide that option.
You’ve just given me a great idea which I shall rapidly patent and become a capitalist!!
When you get through top the call centre you input your date of birth, gender and ethnicity and it then picks a tune for you to listen to when on hold; example
you say age 25, male and maori, you get Katchafire
you say 50, female and European, you get some crooning male opera type
you say 17, female and PI and you get Stan Walker.
ian … NNnnoooooooaaahhhhhh!!!! I give you an idea for a guaranteed retirement income and by way of a thank you you might have included my tastes as an example of some real classical meditation music – good for the soul stuff. (You see your demographic stops at the 50 year old – they’re not the ones who are most likely to succumb to the salesman offering a new system – it’s the 60 plus group who are struggling. You haven’t been reading Brian Edwards’ blog by any chance have you…?
For some reason Housing NZ’s hold music is, and has been for years, a looped version of Tim Finn’s “Fraction Too Much Friction”, which I’ve always felt is scarily appropriate, as I phone HNZ if and and only if friction has happened or is about to…
WINZ hold music has permanently put me off NZ music of the 70s and 80s. Whaling, Victoria, Six Months in a Leaky Boat, and the entire back catalogue of Crowded House and Split Enz… It makes me wonder who they think their callers are? I commented once to a StudyLink woman about the hold music (which call centre staff can’t hear), and asked her to mention to the higher ups that 90% of people phoning StudyLink are between 18-25 and would have no clue who Andrew Fagan is! Ah well, IMO Justin Timberlake would be infinitely worse. One blessed day Studylink did have Bach! (Ironically, StudyLink are unusually helpful and competent.)
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Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
The infamous over-the-suit T-shirt worn by the PM at a Parliament barbecue has gone on sale to raise funds for children living in poverty, in a TradeMe auction. ...
MONDAYSheriff Seymour rode slowly down the main street of Dodge on his faithful white horse Atlas Network.He liked what he saw.Children were being fed free lunches prepared by kind people who collected the scraps from an offal rendering plant.“Very strongly flavoured liver, such as ox liver, can be soaked overnight ...
Once upon a time it was all about being an astronaut, a firefighter or doctor; but these days kids have their sights set on becoming vloggers or YouTubers.That’s according to a 2019 study by Lego that surveyed 3000 children between the ages of eight to 12 from the US, the ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. From the moment I started high school and realised almost every other girl in my year was at least partially interested in what the boys were up to, I realised that I would be single for life. The feeling wasn’t one of ...
The Pacific profiles series shines a light on Pacific people in Aotearoa doing interesting and important work in their communities, as nominated by members of the public. Today, Selina Alesana Alefosio.All photos by Geoffery Matautia.On a bright Sunday morning from her grandparent’s home in Pito-one, I spoke with ...
The White Lotus star reflects on her life in TV, including the local ad reference that doesn’t work in Australia, and her bananas co-star on Neighbours.Morgana O’Reilly was scrolling her phone next to her sleeping son on an idle Saturday morning when she got the call confirming that she ...
Claire Mabey explores the pros and cons of puff quotes on book covers.In January, Publishers Weekly put out an article by Sean Manning – publisher of Simon & Schuster’s flagship US imprint – in which he said he’d “no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books”.The ...
New Zealand’s Entomological Society is hosting its annual bug of the year contest. Here are some of the insects in the running. For some reason – perhaps humans’ inherent competitiveness, the idealisation of democracy, the need to demarcate winners and losers – one of the best ways to get people ...
A journey along the border, with words and illustrations by Bob Kerr.The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members.The Sunset Limited leaves Union Station New Orleans on time at nine in the morning. We ...
Neville Peat is the 2024 recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in nonfiction. He’s written 56 books, mostly on natural history; this excerpt is from The Falcon and the Lark: A New Zealand High Country Journal, first published in 1992. The falcon wintering on the Rock and ...
It was a light-hearted gesture Greta Pilkington will be forever grateful for – thanks to an Aussie rival who jumped in when the Olympic sailor couldn’t be at her own graduation.Pilkington, then 20, had been leading a double life – while qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics in the ILCA ...
I was born in the back of my grandfather’s ute, by an overgrown windbreak in a remote place called Wahi-Rakauyou can’t find on a map. I was born a girl but given the man’s name Harvey, as my dad always wanted a violent-minded boy to one day help him ...
“We’re not here to interfere in people’s property rights,” Ngāi Tahu’s Te Maire Tau has told the High Court.Tau, a historian, Upoko (traditional leader) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and a university professor of history, is the lead witness in a case designed to force the Crown to recognise the tribe’s rangatiratanga ...
Pacific Media Watch Trump administration officials barred two Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering White House events this week because the US-based independent news agency did not change its style guide to align with the president’s political agenda. The AP is being punished for using the term “Gulf of Mexico,” ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Presenter/Bulletin editor France’s top diplomat in the Pacific region says talks around the “unfreezing” of New Caledonia’s highly controversial electoral roll are back on the table. The French government intended to make a constitutional amendment that would lift restrictions prescribed under the Nouméa Accord, which ...
By bringing these global voices to the fight for free expression in New Zealand, we’ll continue to protect and expand our culture of free speech, says Nathan Seiuli, the Free Speech Union's Events Manager. ...
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cecelia Cmielewski, Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steve Turton, Adjunct Professor of Environmental Geography, CQUniversity Australia Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia is bearing down on the northwest coast of Australia and is likely to make landfall early Friday evening. It’s a monster storm of great concern to Western Australia. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danielle Ireland-Piper, Associate Professor, ANU National Security College, Australian National University A Victorian government decision to allow dingo culling in the state’s east until 2028 has reignited debate over what has been dubbed Australia’s most controversial animal. Animals Australia, an animal welfare ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Deakin University Overnight, Robert F. Kennedy Jr was confirmed as the secretary of the US Health and Human Services Department. Put simply, this makes him the most influential figure in overseeing the health and wellbeing of more ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor & Principal Fellow in Urban Risk & Resilience, The University of Melbourne Juris Teivans/Shutterstock In Australia, fatal road crashes are climbing again, especially since the pandemic, and despite years of attempts to reduce road trauma, the numbers ...
In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
A new poem by Freya Turnbull. Hunger Song – After Kaveh Akbar (Untitled With Hunger And Matcheads) I hold my age in ripped fishnet hold an empty vessel oldyoung body cracks like gunshot like killa i was a father ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station.NASA Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found ...
Just heard Joyce on RNZ dancig on a pin trying to justify the removal of the Kiwishare from Chorus when Telecom is split into a lines and retail company. Yesterday it was the youth minimum wage down to $10. Before that Kiwisaver and asset sales, We’re in the run-up to an election and just about every day there’s another piece of news that shows this NAct government has no regard for the well-being of the great majority of New Zealanders. If this is what they think they can get away with prior to an election we really will be in a deep hole if they get re-elected.
For 25 years we’ve been hearing the same old neo-liberal spin about leaving things to the market and every year that goes by things just get worse for all but the very few wealthy elite. What a greedy manipulative bunch of self-serving sycophants this NAct government and their hollow men are.
Stripping the lines (Chorus) from Telecom and there is nothing to share but a poxy sales / marketing / billing entity. The Kiwishare was based upon getting value from a tangible assets, aka exchanges, telephone network, the copper which is now the fibre. In effect this is the final stripping of any NZ return from Telecom.
I wonder how many of those who have screamed the loudest for pay cuts for our young people benefited from jobs for life at award wages when they were young.
Yesterday in parliament Trevor threw down the gauntlet and announced that all contracts the govt enters into based on the Telecommunications (TSO, Broadband, and Other Matters) Amendment Bill/Act will be subject to review upon a change of govt, and most importantly that changes deemed necessary will not be compensated for.
Any of Joyce’s mates lining up to fleece the public purse have now been warned. Excellent call.
Video here: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/9311
How many of you stooges are posing as trademe users and making terrible, “Vote Labour” posts in the Christchurch Earthquake forum over there?
Yeah, it’s all a big conspiracy. It’s not like people in CHCH have any reason for voting against National this coming election… none at all.
Hey, Lanthanide, you are closer to the issue than me. Would I be right in thinking that the suburbs that are likely to be abandoned are primarily in Labour held electorates? I’ve got a feeling they are, for the most part. I can’t help thinking that if it was Fendalton or Merrivale under threat King Gerry would be only too happy to be open and engaging with the affected residents, because they’re his kind of people.
The phrases George Bush and New Orleans keep popping into my head for some reason, too.
I am sure the people of Christchurch are more then happy to be used as political pawns coming up to the next election. /sarc
What do you mean ? “posing as trade me users”? I AM a trade me user. I also do not make terrible anythings anywhere. I also have not posted on the CHCH forum there. So you are none for 3, as usual. You are just doing the usual troll dance of the uninformed, and ill advised. Yep a NACT troll crying that someone has beaten them to the idea.
Probably Curran again, after her last failed attempt.
More rural job losses:
Losing its second-biggest employer is another kick in the guts for Waipukurau, which is still trying to recover from the April storm that trashed coastal farms.
“We’ve got our own little Christchurch here,” Central Hawke’s Bay Mayor Peter Butler said of the proposed closure of the 26-year-old Ovation boning plant in Waipukurau.
A closure would result in up to 304 job losses, with a final decision due in two weeks after consultation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/national-news/5155584/Another-kick-in-the-guts-for-rural-NZ
Of course all they need to do is pull their socks up and get another job. There’s plenty out there especially in places like Waipukurau.
No doubt the market will provide.
Hero of the Week Award – Cameron Leslie
Most able-bodied people wouldn’t have a clue about the challenges and difficulties disabled people face on a daily basis. It’s not just the physical barrier that the disabled need to overcome; people’s attitudes are often as great a barrier to achieving independence. There’s a fantastic program called Attitude that helps to promote and enable the participation of the disabled in society as full and equal citizens. The appropriately named show helps to break down the barriers that inhibit equality within New Zealand.
Branson was on news, said free market were hold up the price because of speculators.
He didn’t do into detail about why he should get the benefit of lower oil prices at the expense of the speculators.
Nor did he call the environmental movement out for its bad news story but essentially that’s what he means. Those damn speculators telling everyone that prices will rise the moment the gap demand outstrips supply.
But realistically China will be able to buy all the cheap stuff, so Branson would still have
to pay more, Duh. China will build more storage capacity and fill them up, storing real assets as opposed to buy the junk that passes as investment in most markets (due to its reliance on valuations based on oil plateau – which Branson just blow out of the water in his comments).
Link?
Mid day news. Branson said he thought fuel prices should be much lower and
speculators were the problem. Key must have cringed had he saw it, being
a speculator was how he made his money. Its the dichotomy between the
business entrepreneur and the fiscal speculator that is changing, before they
were bedfellows, now the ones that create real worth loath the speculators
running off with profits. We need a real business party in NZ.
Branson in Miami:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/branson-calls-for-greater-oil-trader-regulation-2011-06-16
Branson shames all NZ by attack speculators, our PM is a supreme specimen of breed.
Key says he is there for Business. But the greatest business men loath speculators!
Oh, the tarnished National branding, that National know what businesses need.
Branson wants more regulation. I can hear Douglas whince from here.
Wow! Amazing. This must be the kind of ‘Brownlee recovery’ and National Government’s approach to rebuilding Christchurch:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10731926
i smell a bailout appeal
you can almost hear the first calls of ‘save our stadiums’ ‘save the sacred Rugby grounds’
i wonder if the TAB has odds on the stadiums getting a cheque before any residents
They’ll be right, there’s 170K new jobs coming, treasury said so.
Fun facts: those jobs are all in New South Wales.
;D
ianupnorth : getting a bit naive there, pal. Remember David Carter said who really promised the jobs…
National Radio “Nine to Noon”
Friday 17 June 2011
Gemma Gracewood’s ignorant endorsement of “caring” Anthony Weiner
Every Friday on National Radio’s Nine to Noon programme, the last ten minutes before midday are taken up with two comedians commenting on the news of the week. Usually this is excellent—the comedians are not only wittier, but usually more astute and more thoughtful than most specialist political commentators.
This morning the comedians were DAI HENWOOD and GEMMA GRACEWOOD. Dai Henwood was fine—he made several pertinent and interesting comments, without straining things by trying to be too funny.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Gemma Gracewood. Her first contribution was about the ludicrous Anthony Weiner’s disgrace and resignation. Gracewood was calling from New York, so it would be reasonable to expect her comments about the fall of a New York City congressman to be well-informed.
Not so, however. This is what she said: “Weiner was one of the better, hard-working, more caring people in Congress.” That’s not true. Weiner is infamous in Washington for harrying and haranguing his subordinates, and smashing up office furniture during his rages; he has had a higher turnover of staff than anyone else in Congress.
Weiner’s harassment of staff might have been justified if he had achieved anything—even ONE thing—as a result of it. In fact, he achieved nothing. From 1999 until this year, Weiner was the primary sponsor of 191 Bills, not one of which was enacted. Maybe this record of bullying and wasting prodigious amounts of Congressional time are what led Gracewood to say Weiner was “hard-working”. Or, more likely, Gemma Gracewood did not know what she was talking about.
How is Weiner one of the (in Gemma Gracewood’s words) “more caring people in Congress”? Well, his record speaks volumes. In 2002, he supported the vote to give Bush a free hand to attack Iraq. Much worse than his willingness to act as a stooge for the scofflaw Republican regime, however, is his record as an extreme supporter of Israel’s brutal occupation of the West Bank and its depredations in Gaza, and his unending stream of Soviet-style verbal assaults on Israel’s victims. In May 2006, Weiner attempted to bar entry by the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations. He claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not represent the PLO, and implied that this was because the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Weiner further stated that the delegation “should start packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags.” He went on to claim that Human Rights Watch, the New York Times and Amnesty International were biased against Israel.
In other words, Weiner is a bully, a chicken-hawk and a hypocrite. The recent revelations of his Clinton-like sexual shenanigans are the least of it.
A few minutes after ignorantly praising the “caring” Weiner, Gracewood condemned some Auckland Councillors for their “heinous and disgraceful verbal attacks” on a couple of schoolgirls who had made a verbal presention to the Council. Whatever those Councillors did and said, they are a collection of Albert Schweitzers compared to Anthony Weiner.
Not that Gemma Gracewood would know enough to judge.
True. Mind you, Morrissey, when it comes to ultra-sycophantic Israeli apologetics pretty much the same could be said of 95 % of the US Congress.
Actually, D-D-D-Damn !, that apparent support is wafer-thin. It’s obviously easy to get Congressmen and Senators to sign pieces of paper, as we saw with the recent hastily organised U.S. petition against Pharmac. And compared to AIPAC, the medical companies are reserved and civilised lobbyists.
It’s always easier to opt for a peaceful life and sign whatever AIPAC petition you are told to—-especially when you know that the alternative is an unceasing barrage of abuse and defamation.
Weiner’s 191 bills did not get enacted?
That’s because he didn’t sponsor sell out bills to get Republican support.
Weiner is one of the few Democrats who actually pushed for and spoke for universal healthcare even when every other Democratic representative was running for cover and running from President Obama.
Weiner spent more time abusing Palestinian children for getting in the way of American-supplied bombs and White Phosphorus than he did “pushing for” healthcare.
Good riddance to him; the contempt and ridicule he experienced at his resignation announcement is going to haunt him forever.
Clayton Weatherston has lost his bid for something by alleging provocation caused him to kill his girlfriend, over and over again. Well he is an economist. They can reorder reality to suit their preferred theory. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5157279/Clayton-Weatherstons-appeal-dismissed
Hearing about this creates a vicious circle. Now I feel vicious and want to go out and knife various economists who I find very provoking. For instance many of the comments under Monopolies on The Standard 15/6 – 253 comments. Some of the economists there have only been saved from being aerated by the recent change in the law against provocation.
To describe them there is a great selection of alternative nouns in Roget’s thesaurus under 922 Contempt in the Morals section. (Possible winners, scorn, superiority, superciliousness, ridicule.) Then move on to 481 Misjudgement under Results of Reasoning. An interesting duality – are economists reasoning beings mainly or immoral dabblers in financial and number manipulation attempting to alter financial systems to match their predilections and predictions?
“Clayton Weatherston has lost his bid for something by alleging provocation caused him to kill his girlfriend, over and over again.”
Well, Bruce Emery successfully invoked provocation and got a ludicrously light sentence for the same offence. Clayton Weatherston quite reasonably thought he could get the same discount. There’s an inconsistency in the two sentences.
Look for an announcement in the next few days by the the Sensible Sentencing Trust chairman Garth McVicar: he is going to come out in support of Weatherston, in the same way he supported Emery.
Garth McVicar = Sensible Sentencing Trust = bunch of eejits who can’t read research = people who don’t believe in sociological research = ACT voters
Morrissey – Perhaps is was the 200 knife thrusts by Clayton Weatherston. Perhaps that was considered excessive and in bad taste by the court. Provocation as an excuse has been definitely carried to excess in the Justice system. I don’ know if it was intended to be used only by a lesser, weaker person against a stronger person as in battered spouses, children etc.
Bruce Emery stabbed a tagger to death.
The Herald found the task of reporting on this court case so onerous that four reporters were needed to cover it. In one part of the item someone is giving a brief sketch of the defendant and finds his ordinariness surprising. This is deep thinking for these days. (The four with bylines Andrew Koubaridis, Beck Vass, Chris Barton and Phil Taylor.) I didn’t read it all as I didn’t think I couldn’t be bothered wading through the verbiage to get the facts.
I wondered the other day what I would get if I caught two cyclists coming at me at speed on the footpath as I weeded it. What if I jumped on them and kicked them in the ribs. I definitely felt provoked to do this. I felt like stabbing them but then thought that this might be excessive.
Incidentally have you noticed how many men in their forties are committing crimes? At one time it was the under 25’s and then they settled down and presumably used their spare time to mow the lawns. Now the age rage has gone up. I think higher home ownership is needed with lawns and gardens to look after. The answer lies in the soil!
Coincidentally, these men in their forties were early in their working careers when they faced the high unemployment and shock changes of Rogernomics and Ruthanasia, and the general destruction of the NZ they had grown up in..
1.) Bruce Emery stabbed a tagger to death.
No, he stabbed a fifteen-year-old boy to death, after chasing him with a knife for 300 metres.
2.) The Herald found the task of reporting on this court case so onerous that four reporters were needed to cover it. In one part of the item someone is giving a brief sketch of the defendant and finds his ordinariness surprising. This is deep thinking for these days.
The Herald‘s coverage was, and continues to be, a disgrace. The reason people like you are referring to it as the “tagger case” is in large part due to the prejudicial and distorted coverage by the Herald and, in an even more virulent and sustained form, by the hosts at NewstalkZB. And this organised assault on the memory of the dead boy was amplified by the demeaning comments about the victim and his family by Emery’s lawyer Chris Comeskey.
Their “finding” that the killer was ordinary is not “deep thinking”, as you proclaim, it’s a banal observation which could be made of 99 per cent of murderers. The only reason the Herald even mentioned it was to engender sympathy for the killer and to diminish and trivialize the killing of the boy.
3.) I didn’t read it all as I didn’t think I couldn’t be bothered wading through the verbiage to get the facts.
You need to read the coverage again, this time in a serious and critical spirit. You seem to have been persuaded by the spin of Chris Comeskey and his faithful media megaphones.
Before you do your reading, though, have a look at these two clips:
Here’s the dead boy’s grieving mother Leanne Cameron being interviewed outside the court. This is the footage that so enraged NewstalkZB host Kerre Woodham that she scolded Mrs Cameron in her Herald on Sunday column for being “weak”….
And here’s the killer’s lawyer Chris Comeskey weaving his cynical web of disparagement and disinformation….
Morrissey – I don’t know if you understand everything as well as you think. You certainly can’t sort out irony in comment. When I referred to the reportage on Emery’s ordinariness as deep for these times, it was irony, meaning it was facile and cliched.
Seeing you know all about it – why did Emery stab the teenager? You say the teenager wasn’t tagging. Did Emery think he was tagging?
And I don’t believe everything grieving parents have to say to the media. You don’t necessarily get the facts from them as they have their own bias and their shock affecting the way they tell their stories.
1.) You certainly can’t sort out irony in comment. When I referred to the reportage on Emery’s ordinariness as deep for these times, it was irony, meaning it was facile and cliched.
Fair enough. You and I are in agreement about that, then. And maximum respect for your neo-Swiftian irony!
2.) Seeing you know all about it – why did Emery stab the teenager? You say the teenager wasn’t tagging.
I never said that. Where on earth do you get that notion from?
3.) Did Emery think he was tagging?
Of course he did. Then he decided to kill the boy, instead of doing what a rational person would do—either call the police or run and punch the boy. No one would complain about that; but do you really think there is some justification for a man killing a fleeing boy with a knife?
4.) And I don’t believe everything grieving parents have to say to the media.
What did Mrs Cameron say that was not true? Do you agree with Kerre Woodham of NewstalkZB that the mother of a murdered child has no right to display her grief? Do you support Chris Comeskey’s derogatory comments about the dead boy’s family?
5.) You don’t necessarily get the facts from them as they have their own bias and their shock affecting the way they tell their stories.
This has nothing to do with the facts, which are known by everyone. What it does have to do with is why these media organizations took Chris Comeskey’s lead and engaged in a relentless campaign of belittlement of the dead boy and his family, and a concomitant and equally cynical campaign of excusing and “understanding” the boy’s killer.
So the boy was tagging. Yes. Knifing him was certainly a terrible thing to do. Yes.
I’ll just leave it at that. Thank you for giving me some background Morrisey.
Thank you, prism, and good night.
I just came across this lecture from Michael Parenti again and thought I’d share it with you:
“They’re not stupid. You’re stupid if you think they’re stupid. You’re stupid if you think your enemies are stupid. All of North America is full of liberal intellectuals who love to say how stupid their leaders are. In the U.S. I can tell you, everybody is making jokes about how stupid George Bush is. I tell my fellow country men and women, I say, you know, we keep electing these stupid leaders, does this have any reflection on our intelligence?” […] “You hear this all the time… ladies and gentleman, it’s time we give less emphasis to how stupid these people supposedly are, and give more attention to how vicious and relentless and uncompromising they are.”
Here is the link to the entire lecture. Enjoy!!
Like people who say Brian Tamaki has a cult – no he doesn’t, he has a successful business ripping of Maori and PI people with false promises and deluded dreams.
Yep!
today i read somewhere where John Keys is cosying up to brian tamaki and the density cult.Firstly Brian Tamaki is not a bishop. He has neverbeen ordained in an anglican church and he has never obtained a degree at a recognised sminary. secondly he is a theologaster. i.e. a shallow and paltry theologian and a pretender and smatterer of theology. thirdly he maintains a blackshirt force of shock troops. To pretend that he is bringer of the word of god to people is just a risible fantasy. He humiliates and repressess people by guilt and this is the same tactics that national uses to bash beneficiaries.
Brian Tamaki has no more direct connection to the holy city and God than I do.
and john key is an atheist!
what the f*ck is going on here between those two.
They’re both rich from exploiting others and they want to keep in place the system that allows them to do that.
Reminds me of GW Bush converting Blair to a new religion. Under the guise of waging a new crusade in the middle east.
Apparently the electoral agent for Rotorua’s National MP Todd McClay (him with the father Roger who double dipped, claiming his travel costs from charities whilst having the state pay these) has resigned and will be standing against him in the forthcoming election for ACT!
Mike McVicker is a former cop and a current (redneck) Rotorua District councillor, and like most, is a local business proprietor.
Gosh, I miss having a leader who had real authority and actually got things done.
An Excuse for GE
We should all know by now that climate change will affect crops that we humans rely on for sustenance. Changing seasons and fluctuating weather patterns could be devastating for food production, which is essential to maintain current population levels. The side effects of unchecked industrialisation could grow further in scope with diseases, viruses and bacteria all finding more favourable conditions under a warmer and unstable climate. So what is the answer to this threat?
Well first we must make sure the workers of the future, the young don’t get their fair wage so they can when they grow older be generous fair minded citizens too. Oh, wait, no, that’s the proto fascist policy.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5156648/Destiny-battling-for-control-of-Maori-womens-league
So that’s what those fuckers are up to.
Hey thats a nice $250 hair-do Hannah Tamaki is wearing. Where did that money come from?
I knew the Royals often overindulged, and that Obama had a penchant for Guinness… but this is ridiculous!
Friday Fun with Photos #5
ha!excellent humour
Justice Wilson defends his case on the Court Report.
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/3602661.xhtml
Fascinating, and very illuminating.
Watching Cameron Slater on TV
My god…. what a creep!
I’m ashamed to be a member of the same species as him (it)…Hopefully I’m not…
Still laughing at the ridiculous Peter Dunne and his bow tie on Close Up – what a lemon.
I know. I was waiting for it to start spinning around. Clown shoes.
Any publicity is good publicity. Including stupid ones.
One of his forthcoming wankey media appearances will be an X-rated demo of how he will assist Nats with asset stripping. Starting with his own. Except he will reveal his are liabilities, even to himself.
A problem with who is driving the new Technologies.
Okay, so I am getting older. But it would seem to me that, because the 20 to 30’s are the development engineers and entrepreneurs within the IT industry and the call centres are managed by the same age group, we are to be subjected to their whims and tastes.
The family has recently changed to a new ISP and have therefore been doing a fair share of voice contact with operators to handle the teething problems. Now the operators have been brilliant and great to work with. I envy them their knowledge. However the ones who are managing their systems make no allowance for who is a subscriber.
I am talking about the F..king crap music that I am subjected to while on hold, notwithstanding the initial queuing system. This pap muzak in the form of a wailing female or male wannabe singer
You cannot risk putting the phone down to shut the sound out because you may miss the operator connection and then have to requeue for 30 minutes, so you put the receiver on “speaker” and, because of the quality of the “speaker” on the phone, the sound is even more painful. What’s wrong with a bit of Bach or Vivaldi or Mozart – particularly as you are probably in a slightly frustrated state given that you are needing to phone a Help centre anyway – the f..king music can raise the blood pressure even more.
In fact this goes for all 0800 services (banks, electricity, utilities) in general.
Anyone here prepared to start a campaign…
I have an idea. When the salesman arrives at the door offering a far superior, all singing bells and whistles system, demand a section on the contract that asks you what type of music you want their Help Desk to play and if they cannot give you that option, tell them to get on their bike – you will wait for an ISP that will provide that option.
You’ve just given me a great idea which I shall rapidly patent and become a capitalist!!
When you get through top the call centre you input your date of birth, gender and ethnicity and it then picks a tune for you to listen to when on hold; example
you say age 25, male and maori, you get Katchafire
you say 50, female and European, you get some crooning male opera type
you say 17, female and PI and you get Stan Walker.
ian … NNnnoooooooaaahhhhhh!!!! I give you an idea for a guaranteed retirement income and by way of a thank you you might have included my tastes as an example of some real classical meditation music – good for the soul stuff. (You see your demographic stops at the 50 year old – they’re not the ones who are most likely to succumb to the salesman offering a new system – it’s the 60 plus group who are struggling. You haven’t been reading Brian Edwards’ blog by any chance have you…?
http://brianedwardsmedia.co.nz/2011/06/from-the-website-that-gave-you-the-solution-to-kiwi-unemployment-how-to-fix-the-international-economy/#more-5411
(I can put up with Katchafire despite my age (my daughter left her cds and I have loaded them into iTunes – good tastes she has).
Still if you get this up and running, will you recruit some of us older ones into your call centre? Will you give us share options …?
For some reason Housing NZ’s hold music is, and has been for years, a looped version of Tim Finn’s “Fraction Too Much Friction”, which I’ve always felt is scarily appropriate, as I phone HNZ if and and only if friction has happened or is about to…
WINZ hold music has permanently put me off NZ music of the 70s and 80s. Whaling, Victoria, Six Months in a Leaky Boat, and the entire back catalogue of Crowded House and Split Enz… It makes me wonder who they think their callers are? I commented once to a StudyLink woman about the hold music (which call centre staff can’t hear), and asked her to mention to the higher ups that 90% of people phoning StudyLink are between 18-25 and would have no clue who Andrew Fagan is! Ah well, IMO Justin Timberlake would be infinitely worse. One blessed day Studylink did have Bach! (Ironically, StudyLink are unusually helpful and competent.)