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Open mike 17/08/2011

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, August 17th, 2011 - 66 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

66 comments on “Open mike 17/08/2011 ”

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  1. Herodotus 1
    17 August 2011 at 6:47 am

    Interesting comment re the riots in England from a scotish and welsh perspective: why are the riots being reported as UK or British when they relate only to a few cities in ENGLAND

    • Pete George 1.1
      17 August 2011 at 7:10 am

      Maybe this sort of sentiment is assumed:
      “With gratitude for the past and confidence in the future we range ourselves without fear beside Britain. Where she goes, we go; where she stands, we stand.”

      • Colonial Viper 1.1.1
        17 August 2011 at 8:11 am

        Meh, my Scottish and Irish mates are laughing their asses off at the English falling apart. They always knew it would happen.

        • Vicky32 1.1.1.1
          17 August 2011 at 4:45 pm

          Meh, my Scottish and Irish mates are laughing their asses off at the English falling apart

          🙁 That’s why I have a problem with Scottish and Irish people – especially the Irish. Schadenfreude is their thing! (My Scottish-descended mother made my English father’s life hell – I used to pray that he would divorce her, when I was a child. Not to mention her constantly rubbing in that she came from a higher social class than he did)

          • Ianupnorth 1.1.1.1.1
            17 August 2011 at 5:10 pm

            Vicky, I am a Scot; whenever a Scot wins a medal at the Olympics, they are a Brit, when they are English, they are, simply, English.
            If Andy Murray ever wins Wimbledon, he’ll be British, but as he continues to flop, he’ll continue to be Scottish.
            Whenever England football fans riot, they are British, when they behave they mysteriously become British.
            It should also be noted that generally speaking the first ‘cannon fodder’ in both world wars were from where?

            • Bill 1.1.1.1.1.1
              17 August 2011 at 5:39 pm

              Had to laugh my arse off the other day when I read the Labour Party in Scotland (having been trounced in recent Scottish elections for being out of touch and arrogant….jeez, that’s a familiar refrain for Labour Parties that, innit?) was having a go at the SNP for daring to point out that the riots were English. Not Scottish. Not British. Just English. And further, that Scottish society was very different to English society.

              As a commentator in one of the Scottish papers pointed out (paraphrasing) the underclass in Scotland …or any class, bar the public school class of whatever year class… would baulk at being seen to be taking directions from English sources.

  2. Pete George 2
    17 August 2011 at 7:28 am

    Were they responsible in the first place?

    Ani Katipa, whose daughter Jada is 2, said many young parents could manage their own lives and did not need outside agencies to take over.

    “I think it’s rude to take that responsibility away. If it was proven that they can’t control their money, then maybe.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10745555

    Many teenage girls getting pregnant and relying on a benefit have not exactly excelled in self control, self management and responsibility.

    Yes, state welfare has to fork out so they can live.
    No, it shouldn’t automatically be a free pass with no responsibilities or requirements.

    • The Voice of Reason 2.1
      17 August 2011 at 7:31 am

      Morning Pete, two consecutive comments so far today that make no sense. Are you going to go for the trifecta?

      • Colonial Viper 2.1.1
        17 August 2011 at 8:10 am

        I hope so. Although the TAB payout is so minimal I should still earn myself a hot chocolate with the bet.

    • rosy 2.2
      17 August 2011 at 8:49 am

      Hi Pete just a brief summary from the Wiki article on teenage pregnancy.

      How about you have a read and then get back on the notion of “responsibility”…

      1. Poverty is associated with increased rates of teenage pregnancy

      2. Women exposed to abuse, domestic violence, and family strife in childhood are more likely to become pregnant as teenagers, and the risk of becoming pregnant as a teenager increases with the number of adverse childhood experiences

      3. Studies have also found that boys raised in homes with a battered mother, or who experienced physical violence directly, were significantly more likely to impregnate a girl

      4. Studies have also found that girls whose fathers left the family early in their lives had the highest rates of early sexual activity and adolescent pregnancy. Girls whose fathers left them at a later age had a lower rate of early sexual activity, and the lowest rates are found in girls whose fathers were present throughout their childhood

      5. Low educational expectations have been pinpointed as a risk factor.

      6. Teenage pregnancy is also attributed the occurrence of adolescent pregnancy to a breakdown of communication between parents and child and also to inadequate parental supervision

      7. Foster care youth are more likely than their peers to become pregnant as teenagers.

      8. Teens exposed to the most sexual content on TV are twice as likely as teens watching less of this material to become pregnant before they reach age 20

      9. More than 80% of teen pregnancies are unintended

      10. There is little evidence to support the common belief that teenage mothers become pregnant to get benefits, welfare, and council housing. Most knew little about housing or financial aid before they got pregnant and what they thought they knew often turned out to be wrong

      11. A UK study found that 70% of women who gave birth in their teens had experienced adolescent domestic violence.

      12. Teenage girls who are pregnant or mothers are more likely to commit suicide than girls who aren’t pregnant or mothers

      13. One study in 2001 found that women who gave birth during their teens completed secondary-level schooling 10–12% as often as those who didn’t, and pursued post-secondary education 14–29% as often as women who waited until age 30 to have children.

      14. Teenage Motherhood may actually make economic sense for young women with less money, some research suggests. For instance, long-term studies by Duke economist V. Joseph Hotz and colleagues, published in 2005, found that by age 35, former teen moms had earned more in income, paid more in taxes, were substantially less likely to live in poverty and collected less in public assistance than similarly poor women who waited until their 20s to have babies

      15. What appears crucial to success is that adolescents know where they can go to obtain information and services, can get there easily and are assured of receiving confidential, non-judgmental care, and that these services and contraceptive supplies are free or cost very little. In addressing high rates of unplanned teen pregnancies, scholars agree that the problem must be confronted from both the biological and cultural contexts.

      I’m sure there is plenty more ‘real’ research out there, if you were interested in looking, but I guess your prejudices suit you just fine.

      • Puddleglum 2.2.1
        17 August 2011 at 8:28 pm

        Now that’s the kind of information people need to know. 

        Good stuff rosy! 

        • rosy 2.2.1.1
          18 August 2011 at 6:58 pm

          Thanks, Puddlegum. A diverse lot aren’t we? (women who have children while teenagers, that is).

          I can’t believe I forgot the one that got me started on the whole ‘responsibility’ thing…

          A review of California’s 1990 vital statistics found that men older than high school age fathered 77 percent of all births to high school-aged girls (ages 16–18), and 51 percent of births to junior high school-aged girls (15 and younger). Men over age 25 fathered twice as many children of teenage mothers than boys under age 18, and men over age 20 fathered five times as many children of junior high school-aged girls as did junior high school-aged boys. A 1992 Washington state study of 535 adolescent mothers found that 62 percent of the mothers had a history of being raped or sexual molested by men whose ages averaged 27 years

          Anyway, I guess this post has gone in the into PeteG’s ‘do not reply’ bucket.

    • millsy 2.3
      17 August 2011 at 10:06 am

      Jeez, Squirrel boy, thats rather nasty of you…

      The best way to mitigate teenage pregnancy is to ensure that those at risk are properly engaged in the school system rather than fall through the cracks.

      In addition, it might piss off the god botherers (their way only causes misery and hatred) , but having increased access to contraceptives and abortion on demand can help here as well. Bob McCroskie can jump of a bridge for all I care.

      For those that do make mistakes, funding teen parent units in every school, and alternative schools for those unsuited to the mainstream system would be good as well.

      The school system needs to play a big part here. IMO they are too busy trying to attract international students and focusing on their top students to give a shit about those at the bottom.

      • Vicky32 2.3.1
        17 August 2011 at 4:54 pm

        In addition, it might piss off the god botherers (their way only causes misery and hatred)

        An unnecessary sneer. You were doing well up until then, but I presume you couldn’t resist dishing out some hatred yourself.

        • Ianupnorth 2.3.1.1
          17 August 2011 at 5:11 pm

          I dunno, I quite like that expression – how about happy clappies or fish badge on the car people?

  3. The Voice of Reason 3
    17 August 2011 at 7:28 am

    It’s not getting any better for the Murdochs as the reporter jailed for admitting hacking members of the Royal family dobs in the former NOW editor Andy Coulson and leaves the Murdochs’ evidence in Parliament looking weak at best and outright lies at worst.

    • Bored 3.1
      17 August 2011 at 7:46 am

      The whole edifice is rotten. The rotten Murdochs will be called to answer to a rotten parliament. Credibility minus for all parties…..more riots to come in reaction to further rotten powers given to a rotten police force.

    • rosy 3.2
      17 August 2011 at 7:48 am

      Yep. Big mistake letting someone go to prison for you and not honouring the dishonourable agreement you made with him. Big, big mistake.

    • Colonial Viper 3.3
      17 August 2011 at 8:05 am

      How can all this be? Old man Murdoch’s apology in front of the committee was so sincere and moving. He had truly seen the light.

      /sarc

    • Bill 3.4
      17 August 2011 at 5:42 pm

      Their lawyers have turned on them too having been released from the client privilege thingy.

  4. Lazy Susan 4
    17 August 2011 at 8:31 am

    Today, from the UK, comes another shining example of what happens when you privatise strategic assets such a power companies.

    Note the comment further down the article from RWE npower’s Cheif Commercial Officer Kevin Miles

    Miles pointed out that npower’s price increases were significantly below the tariff increases of between 10% and 19% on gas and electricity introduced by its rivals .

    Of course, all of it’s so called rivals are also privately owned.

    • millsy 4.1
      17 August 2011 at 10:07 am

      And in a privately owned power system, there are ticket clippers galore.

      • Bored 4.1.1
        17 August 2011 at 1:05 pm

        And behind the privatised state assets are the rich, the ma and pa investors and the pension fund owners who live amongst us…all holding shares in our servitude. We rub shoulders with our malefactors daily.

  5. Arthur 5
    17 August 2011 at 8:51 am

    Does anyone have any idea as to when the plague of locusts might be due?

  6. Sammo 6
    17 August 2011 at 9:27 am

    Anybody know what the ‘unnamed bill’ is?
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/82682/parliament-in-urgency
    Newstalk ZB this morning: Simon Power’s office refuses to say what it is, other that it is not related to new policy. Newstalk understands it as being ‘sensitive’ and correcting legislation passed by former Labour Govt…

  7. Morrissey 7
    17 August 2011 at 9:58 am

    Dame Lesley Max on “Eight Months to Mars”
    Afternoons with Jim Mora, Monday August 15, 2011

    Take yourself back two and a half years. You’re listening to NewstalkZB, around 11.30 p.m., on Sunday, January 4th, 2009. The internationally condemned Israeli assault on Gaza is at its bloodiest point, and the host Oliver Driver has, unusually for a radio talkback host, been making some intelligent comments about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Showing what happens if there’s a host with a few clues, the standard of talkback this evening has been of an exceptionally high standard. But at 11:30, the calibre, temper and tone of the discussion plummet catastrophically.

    A particularly harsh and adamant woman, identifying herself as “Lesley”, is on the line. She is having none of this namby-pamby so-called sympathy for the victims.

    LESLEY: These people are terrorists and they deserve everything that is happening to them. I’ve just come back from Israel, and I can tell you the Arabs are happy. These people in Gaza are terrorists!
    OLIVER DRIVER: But the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations say the people killed are almost entirely women and children.
    LESLEY: Nonsense! I’ve just come back from Israel.
    OLIVER DRIVER: Human Rights Watch and B’tselem have condemned Israel, and they unequivocally call it a massacre.
    LESLEY: Absolute nonsense! I have just come back from Israel, and I saw NOTHING that suggested there was ANY trouble at all!
    OLIVER DRIVER: So let me get this right, Lesley. You’re saying that the Red Cross, and all of the the U.N. observers, and Human Rights Watch, and Doctors Without Borders, and the doctors and nurses from the hospitals in Gaza, and all those reporters—they’re all wrong?
    LESLEY: [snarling] Yes they are WRONG! All of them! You see, these people are TERRORISTS….

    Cue ten minutes more of uninterrupted hateful ranting. Finally, the host decides enough is enough….

    OLIVER DRIVER: Okay. Thank you very much for your call, Lesley.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    Oliver Driver, clearly shaken and disturbed by that call, gave no indication that he knew the identity of “Lesley”. He would no doubt have been surprised to learn that she was in fact a prominent member of the Auckland social scene, and a recipient of royal honours for her charity work with disadvantaged children.

    The caller was none other than Dame Lesley Max, who lives a bizarre double life, balancing out the good work she does—urban tree-planting and running a children’s charity—by obsessively monitoring talkback radio and barking out intolerant rants as in the example above. If you suffer from insomnia some time, tune in to NewstalkZB or Radio Live for a few minutes: chances are pretty good that you’ll hear Dame Lesley shouting her crazed and unconditional support for Israel over the airwaves.

    Late-night and early-morning talk radio is not her only outlet, though. In January 2002, during another time of escalated Israeli aggression, this time in the occupied West Bank, Dame Lesley was the guest of Chris Laidlaw on his Sunday morning show. Throughout the interview, she refused to call the victims “Palestinians”, and insisted on calling them “terrorists”—in fact, she managed to use the word “terrorists” no less than TWENTY times. (I counted.) Laidlaw never once pulled her up, or challenged her use of language.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

    It was with considerable interest, therefore, that I learned Monday’s guest for the “Eight Months to Mars” segment on Jim Mora’s programme was to be Dame Lesley Max. “Eight Months to Mars” is supposed to be whimsical and lighthearted, but I just knew that Dame Lesley would not forsake the opportunity to slip in a little pro-Israel propaganda if she could possibly get away with it. And in the affable and indulgent Jim Mora, she had the perfect vehicle….

    JIM MORA: And who, Dame Lesley Max, would you like to accompany you on this voyage to Mars?
    DAME LESLEY MAX: Oh! There are so MANY! Let me see. I would have Lady Diana Cooper, Bill Clinton (LOVE that Southern accent!), Theodore Dalrymple—
    MORA: Oh yes! Isn’t he amazing!
    DAME LESLEY: He’s just lovely! I spent a simply entrancing afternoon with him once. [1]
    MORA: He’s just a brilliant man!
    DAME LESLEY: I would also have to have along with me Dr Zoe During, Charles Dickens, Kathryn Ryan!
    MORA: Oh yes. Ha ha ha ha ha!
    DAME LESLEY: Boris Johnson, Stephen Fry, and Richard Burton—as long as he doesn’t bring along his cigarettes!
    MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! But what a voice he had!
    DAME LESLEY: What I like about these people is the breadth of their minds, and the wit of their conversation. Did you see Boris Johnson on Who Do You Think You Are?, Jim?
    MORA: No.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
    MORA: Let’s talk about you, now. What makes you such a humanitarian worker?
    DAME LESLEY: My mother was very empathetic.
    MORA: You had a happy, idyllic North Shore childhood?
    DAME LESLEY: I was a voracious reader. So I knew early on that all the world was not like my home in Milford, I was fully aware that children get killed. I guess that desire for protecting the vulnerable is just embedded in me, in my DNA. I dunno.
    MORA: Interesting you’d take Dalrymple to Mars because he laments the providential role of the state.
    DAME LESLEY: Mmmmmm.
    MORA: So you are trying to AWAKEN the human spirit.
    DAME LESLEY: Mmmmm. Definitely.
    MORA: And what keepsakes would you take with you? See, these are the little things that fascinate me.
    . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
    MORA: If an alien asked you to describe the planet Earth, what would you say?
    DAME LESLEY: Oh, I would say that it was full of plenty, beauty, happiness, starvation, misery, oppression. [2] All of those things.
    MORA: What would you miss about Earth?
    DAME LESLEY: Gardens, trees [3], grass, water [4], hills.
    MORA: What would you be glad to leave behind?
    DAME LESLEY: News of babies being kicked to death. Distortion and malice arising from journalistic malpractice. I’m thinking here of those poor, defamed Israeli victims of the earthquake.
    MORA: You’re finding anti-Semitism everywhere, more and more?
    DAME LESLEY: [carefully] No, I wouldn’t like to call it anti-Semitism. But there was an unholy glee in the media. It was like a cat bringing a dead mouse into the house and batting it about to see if it can get a bit more out of it.
    MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! That’s a GREAT analogy! All right, let’s go to your last musical choice.
    DAME LESLEY: This is Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti singing a duet from Rigoletto.
    MORA: All the best with your work, Dame Lesley. It’s SO important.

    [1] Obviously Dame Lesley hasn’t actually READ much of Dalrymple….
    http://www.democratsdiary.co.uk/2008/02/enlightenment-or-unreason-william.html
    [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wd_1PEtAF8
    [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjLGeZ2q6Ac
    [4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qbRSPN3RJg

    Tell Jim Mora (politely but clearly) what you think of his providing an uninterrupted forum to people like Dame Lesley Max. His email address is….
    afternoons@radionz.co.nz

    • higherstandard 7.1
      17 August 2011 at 10:39 am

      I’ve made a point to email Jim to ask him for more people like Lesley to appear on his show in future.

      • Morrissey 7.1.1
        17 August 2011 at 10:49 am

        I’ve made a point to email Jim to ask him for more people like Lesley to appear on his show in future.

        I have no problem with him talking to anybody, even a canting hypocrite like Dame Lesley Max. What I object to is his failure to challenge or to even demur at some of the outrageous and offensive things people like her say.

        In this case, it was Mora himself who made the ridiculous and cranky charge that investigating Israelis is anti-Semitism. Dame Lesley was smart enough to resile from the statement, and make herself seem sensible and restrained.

        She must have been very pleased that Mora had done the crude defamatory work for her, and let her, on this occasion, seem to rise above it.

      • mik e 7.1.2
        17 August 2011 at 12:30 pm

        It won’t be a problem Lower standard Joyce will privatize it to so we will hear only what they want us to hear no independent point of view .Fox news i suspect oh no my emails are being hacked as we speak

        • freedom 7.1.2.1
          17 August 2011 at 1:02 pm

          I sent a short but polite email off to afternoons@radionz.co.nz after Monday’s panel. The complete fabrication of data they discussed regarding the Iowa Straw Poll is a telling portent of our coming Election. Perhaps, just perhaps if the community presents them with requests for the most basic journalistic integrity, then they will at least reduce the fabrication, even if it does not lead to any more balance in the content.

          I include the email below
          I would sincerely accept criticism or comment as a basis towards understanding viewpoints of National Radio broadcasting standards at this time, especially leading up to is expected to be the most socially radical and economically pivotal election in decades.

          ” To whom it may concern

          I have been increasingly worried by many of the views recently
          expressed on the panel. It is a rare day i hear anything attempting to portray a factual, an
          honest or even a balanced view of the current political and financial
          situation in New Zealand or abroad.

          Today though i was simply disgusted by the tragically innacurate
          statements made earlier regarding the Iowa Straw Poll. That later
          paled with the arrogant and ignorant comments broadcast by a panelist
          in regards to food costs. I respectfully ask that you please remind
          your panelists 3/4 of New Zealand do not live in Auckland. Not
          everyone has access to a farmer’s market.

          The elitist attitude being fomented by your panel is progressively
          costing you listeners. I have been a listener of the show for many years and I personally
          know a dozen people or more who no longer listen and i find myself not
          listening more often. More basic research, honest journalism and less
          parroting of press releases might go a long way to reversing the
          trend.

          As a State-owned broadcaster, there are responsiblities aligned
          with your privilidged positions, the most demanding must be to
          accurately broadcast information.
          I posit you are failing your responsibilties

          sincerely
          (name witheld)”

        • Morrissey 7.1.2.2
          17 August 2011 at 5:37 pm

          In the meantime, mik e, you should tell Jim Mora (politely but clearly) what you think of his providing a propaganda forum for the likes of Dame Lesley Max. His email address is….
          afternoons@radionz.co.nz

          • mik e 7.1.2.2.1
            17 August 2011 at 7:14 pm

            Yeah he’s lets his guests waffle on about any thing they like but he also has Bernard Hickey Cris Trotter Bomber Bradbury .But he is a right whinger because soon as they have finished he denigrates them ever so subtlely.

    • Vicky32 7.2
      17 August 2011 at 5:05 pm

      I have stopped listening to Jim Mora these days, he just gets on my nerves more and more!
      Just a question – what earthquake was she referring to?

      • uke 7.2.1
        17 August 2011 at 5:17 pm

        Christchurch, Feb 2011. The Israelis were the suspected Mossad agents.

        • Vicky32 7.2.1.1
          17 August 2011 at 5:59 pm

          Christchurch, Feb 2011. The Israelis were the suspected Mossad agents.

          Oh thanks, I had misunderstood…

      • Morrissey 7.2.2
        17 August 2011 at 5:41 pm

        I have stopped listening to Jim Mora these days, he just gets on my nerves more and more!

        Well then, you need to tell him that, politely of course. You might like to mention your disgust at the way he encourages people like Dame Lesley Max and Stephen Franks and Dr. Michael Bassett, instead of challenging them….
        afternoons@radionz.co.nz

    • D-D-D-Damn! 7.3
      17 August 2011 at 5:08 pm

      Lesley Max has a chapter all to herself in a book on the New Zealand Jewish community published a few years back. Needless to say, she spends an inordinate amount of space on New Zealanders’ supposed “misconceptions” about “poor old Israel”.

      In your RNZ rendition (above), she appears wonderfully ignorant of not only ‘Theodore Dalrymple’s’ strong criticism of Israel (and of Conrad Black’s bias in this regard), but also of Stephen Fry’s membership of the British Independent Jewish Voices – a group, of course, strongly critical of mainstream Jewry’s Israel-Right-Or-Wrong default setting.

      • Morrissey 7.3.1
        17 August 2011 at 5:54 pm

        …she spends an inordinate amount of space on New Zealanders’ supposed “misconceptions” about “poor old Israel”.

        She’s a fanatic, and that’s exactly what we would expect of her.

        The really disturbing thing about her appearance on Mora’s show was when Mora asked her, in apparent seriousness: “You’re finding anti-Semitism everywhere, more and more?”

        That’s nonsense, of course, and Mora knows it perfectly well. But he still said it. He therefore released Dame Lesley from her fanatic’s duty of saying just that, and allowed her to pose as a moderate: “No, I wouldn’t like to call it anti-Semitism…”

        Of course she wouldn’t like to call it anti-Semitism—she didn’t have to, because her infinitely obliging and understanding host did it for her.

        It’s irresponsible and a betrayal of his listeners.

        You, and others who care about decency and standards, should email Jim and tell him what you think of his behaviour….
        afternoons@radionz.co.nz

  9. freedom 9
    17 August 2011 at 2:07 pm

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/business/5455771/Cost-of-SCF-collapse-still-uncertain

    “Finance Minister Bill English said he had not seen the detail of the sale yesterday and it was yet to be seen if the cost to the Government would increase further.

    ”We have been focused very much on reducing cost to tax-payers through this whole exercise,” he said. ”

    quick question Bill, how does one focus on something one has no details of?

  10. belladonna 10
    17 August 2011 at 3:10 pm

    Shame that Oliver Driver has moved to the right. He was an interesting talk back host a few years ago but now his show is not worth listening to.

    • Morrissey 10.1
      17 August 2011 at 6:01 pm

      I don’t think he’s moved to the right in his own head, but he has grown intellectually flabby. I think he’s like Jim Mora in many ways—in spite of his misgivings, he bends over backwards to be “impartial”. That means he lets right wing callers have their say, and he will usually try to find common ground with them. I noticed on last Sunday night’s show that he was repeating idiotic far right slogans about the London riots, and didn’t seem to have the courage to say what he no doubt really thinks.

      A few years ago, crazed callers like “Lesley” (actually Dame Lesley Max) would at least know they were in for an argument with Oliver, but now, sadly, he seems to have been tamed by the NewstalkZB machine.

    • mik e 10.2
      17 August 2011 at 7:18 pm

      Thats the only way you can get a job on talk back these days!being a redneck jerk

      • Morrissey 10.2.1
        19 August 2011 at 5:02 pm

        Thats the only way you can get a job on talk back these days!being a redneck jerk

        You mean, I think, “being a bigoted jerk.” Please don’t use the term “redneck” as a substitute for “bigot”. That’s a slur on working people and farmers. The worst, most pitiless bigots in this country are not “rednecks” but pampered, privileged, complacent businessmen (think Alisdair Thompson) and right-wing commentators (Stephen Franks, Garth George, Paul Holmes, Michael Laws, Christine Rankin, Leighton Smith).

  11. gobsmacked 11
    17 August 2011 at 3:37 pm

    The Press has a story on New Zealand’s own Leonardo da Vinci … the artist formerly known as John Key.

    You know that guy in your office who has a job title and a suit and a desk, but you find yourself wondering what he does all day? Apparently, “he does a lot of doodles” …

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/press-communities/5459157/Spot-the-difference

    Enjoy the gallery of Key “originals”.

    • The Voice of Reason 11.1
      17 August 2011 at 5:13 pm

      Obviously, they’re all fakes. If they were genuine they’d have an arrow pointing North with ‘Hawaii this way’ written on it.

  12. uke 12
    17 August 2011 at 5:13 pm

    While David Cameron and co. attempt to pin the recent London riots on some slide in morality, they ignore the historical background – as outlined in this highly illuminating article – that this city has been the traditional site for radical protest and rioting by the English poor for centuries:
     

    “The ‘London mob’ has been an object of fear for London’s wealthy almost since the city was founded. The size and nature of London made it repeatedly open to radicalization. Large groups of people lived and worked together and developed ideas against authority in a way which there was much less opportunity to do in rural areas or small towns. As a seat of government, London was the natural centre of protest against monarchy and then parliament.
    The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 ended in London when the citizens opened the gates of the capital and allowed tens of thousands of peasants led by John Ball and Wat Tyler to enter (and ransack) the City. They burnt down John of Gaunt’s palace at the Savoy and executed the Lord Chancellor as part of their protest at the poll tax. They broke open the most notorious prisons in the City. Then, as now, some innocents (in this case Flemish cloth traders perceived as commercial rivals) were victims. The peasants forced the King to grant them their freedom until the leaders of the revolt were tricked by Richard II and routed at Smithfield. But the revolt burnt itself into the mind of the aristocracy and the poll tax was effectively abolished….”
     

  14. Vicky32 14
    17 August 2011 at 6:09 pm

    Once again, an item about expensive lambs being killed by hypothermia on NZ farms…
    The thing is, it happens every year! And every year the news media come over all surprised…. I don’t know why lambing always takes place in winter, and why NZ farmers don’t keep livestock in barns, and afaik never have! When my father came here in 1951, he had been told that NZ was “tropical” – he soon learned different! (It’s got colder every year, yet the farmers pretend surprise as every year their lambs die.)

  15. Ianupnorth 15
    17 August 2011 at 6:22 pm

    I’ve recently bough the album ‘Infected’ by The The ($7.99 in the bargain bin at The Warehouse) – my emphasis on notable lines!
    Considering this was released in the early 1980’s, how poignant are the lyrics of the song Heartland to the UK riots?

    Beneath the old iron bridges, across the victorian parks,
    & all the frightened people running home before dark,
    Past the Saturday morning cinema–
    that lies crumbling to the ground,
    & the piss stinking shopping centre in the new side of town.
    I’ve come to smell the seasons change, & watch the city,
    as the sun goes down again.

    CHORUS
    Here comes another winter, of long shadows & high hopes,
    Here comes another winter, waitin for utopia,
    waitin for hell to freeze over.

    This is the land, where nothing changes,
    the land of red buses & blue blooded babies,
    This is the place, where pensioners are raped,

    & the hearts are being cut, from the welfare state,
    Let the poor drink the milk, while the rich eat the honey,
    Let the bums count their blessings, while they count the money.

    So many people, can’t express what’s on their minds,
    Nobody knows them & nobody ever will,
    Until their backs are broken & their dreams are stolen,
    & they can’t get what they want, then they’re gonna get angry!
    Well it ain’t written in the papers, but its written on the walls
    The way this country is divided to fall,
    So the cranes are moving on the skyline–
    Trying to knock down–this town
    But the stains on the heartland, can never be removed,
    from this country, that’s sick, sad, and confused.

    CHORUS

    The ammunition’s being passed, and the lords been praised,
    But the wars on the televisions will never be explained,
    All the bankers gettin sweaty, beneath their white collars,
    As the pound in our pocket, turns into a dollar.

    This is the 51st state–of the U. S. A.
    (Repeat and fade.)

  16. Colonial Viper 16
    17 August 2011 at 7:06 pm

    Jeremy Grantham fund manages over US$100B

    And this is what he has to say:

    the U.S. continues its odd and long history of flowing all economic gains
    to corporations and the very rich and basically none to the average hour worked.

    Therefore, it should come as no surprise that we are facing weak demand. For 30 years to the year 2000, consumers compensated for their lack of progress in hourly wages partly by working harder and longer and in greater numbers (i.e., a higher participation
    rate) and partly by borrowing. But in the 10 years after 2000, the participation rate in the workforce has dropped dramatically (see Exhibit 2) and hours worked per person has flattened so that the only way for individuals to grow their consumption more recently was by borrowing even more and, to some extent, by speculating in housing.

    …

    Today the artifi cial sugar-coating of increasing debt has been removed and we must live with the reality that an average hour’s work has not received a material increase for 40 years (see Exhibit 3). Without increased debt and without gains in hourly wages, how can there be sustained broad gains in consumption? Only Chanel suits, Hermes scarves, BMWs, and their ilk have very strong sales, and these top-end items are just too small a fraction to carry the day.

    PS this man also gets resource depletion.

    http://www.gmo.com/websitecontent/JGLetter_Pt2_DangerChildrenatPlay_2Q11.pdf

  17. logie97 17
    17 August 2011 at 7:39 pm

    Anyone hear Joky Hen in The House today waxing lyrical from his prepared speech about the greatness of our current but retiring Governor General.

    Shame he didn’t recognise these qualities in the Gov.Gen. when he played along with Paul Henry’s racism on Breakfast TV last year.

    Cue for an Andy Williams 1958 classic here

    …Are you sincere, when you say, “I love you?”
    Are you sincere, when you say, “I’ll be true?” …

  18. jackal 18
    17 August 2011 at 7:57 pm

    The Trial Will Not Be Televised

    You might have heard that Hosni Mubarak’s trial is no longer going to be broadcast. He’s being tried for corruption and violence against the protesters in Tahrir Square and has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The consequences of justice not being done in this case are significant, but there are bigger implications to what is essentially state control of the media…

  19. Ianupnorth 19
    17 August 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Just thought I would mention this; I had morning tea with Tama Iti this morning. What a thoroughly pleasant and respectful bloke.
     
    Listened to a Tuhoe presentation on how they want to improve their community, which was totally clear, whanau focused and thinking long term. I hope many of their people stand for Mana.

    • millsy 19.1
      17 August 2011 at 10:21 pm

      Respectful bloke he may be, but as far as I’m concerned, hell can freeze over before his lot get the Urerewas.

      Remember, public ownership of our national parks is a core left issue.

  20. Ianupnorth 20
    17 August 2011 at 8:30 pm

    Anyone seen this?

    A woman who has lived in New Zealand for four years and left her abusive husband has been denied residency because of his convictions for crimes against her.
    The plight of Charmain Timmons and her children, who are now illegal immigrants, has outraged Women’s Refuge, which says the Paraparaumu family should not have to suffer twice because of his cruelty.
    “It’s wrong in so many ways,” said refuge chief executive Heather Henare. “She is being punished. She is someone who has come over here with the best of intentions to have a better life…and now she’s going to be sent back because she was unfortunate enough to be a victim of domestic violence.”
    Timmons, 37, has been granted the rights of a resident by some government departments, as she has had legal aid, a benefit and is enrolled to vote.

    and

    The couple needed to send in their passports and a $1050 fee but Timmons left her husband before the process was completed. As a result, she and the children were illegal immigrants, and she was told she had to leave the country.
    “I decided I had to get out of the relationship because it was becoming violent and abusive and it was psychologically and emotionally very damaging,” she told the Sunday Star-Times.
    He left New Zealand for eight months before returning this year on a two-year visitor’s permit.
    She said moving back to England would be a huge upheaval for the children, now aged seven and nine, who regarded themselves as New Zealanders.
    “They don’t want to be anywhere else. They know of England but their roots are here now. I haven’t done anything wrong. I just want to provide a safe, secure environment for my children.”
     

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/5331696/Govt-tries-to-deport-bashed-wife
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-deport-Charmain-Timmons-and-her-children/133369646758117?sk=wall

  21. Puddleglum 21
    17 August 2011 at 9:17 pm

    A messy attempt by Kate Wilkinson to tidy things up before the election.

    Why has it taken so long to act? A genuine question.

    And, why did Wilkinson claim in Parliament that the government would be waiting till after the Commission concluded to act on staffing of mines inspectors but knew at the time that a departmental review was looking into staffing and would report back prior to the Commission announcing its findings?

    And, why won’t Wilkinson admit that abolishing the mines inspectorate in the late 90s was a bad idea.

    Have a listen

    here

    but not for the answers … 

  22. jackal 22
    17 August 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Anybody who gives a damn about the environment should have a read of Idiot/Savant’s latest blog @ NRT. National is purposefully fucking the ETS up by overallocating subsidies. Effectively the public is paying polluters to pollute more, and thus discrediting the scheme entirely. Pisses me right off!

  23. Colonial Viper 23
    17 August 2011 at 10:32 pm

    France and Germany Propose Joint Financial Transactions Tax

    Surprise surprise high frequency bot traders and big banks don’t like it. I hope Merkel and Sarkozy push it through against the financial sector, and that this is not just a distraction or a feint.

    http://www.cnbc.com/id/44163841

  24. randal 24
    17 August 2011 at 10:49 pm

    what about no rumpty for randy rugby rooters till the a/b’s bring home the bacon.

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