Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step right up to the mike…
Meanwhile, the real news is that ShonKey doesnt see any conflict of interest in keeping Banks in Parliament for that crucial one vote on the SkyCity bill:
“The woman at the centre of the Len Brown sex scandal says she felt pressured to reveal the affair by a member of his right-wing rival John Palino’s election team – and is now sorry she went public.”
The way this has been manipulated by members of Palino’s group does not make this a good look for such low life who use people to benefit their own political position.
So John Palino’s henchman Luigi Wewege is revealed as a common, lowly coward and a dishonorable cad who doesn’t even have the guts to admit his relationship with Bevan Chuang.
It is funny how suddenly the two Johns – Slater and Palino – have no knowledge of the sex life of Bevan Chuang when it suits them. We’ve seen this sort of right wing selective memory just yesterday with another John – John Banks – in the Auckland High Court and we now know what the judicial system thinks of that.
I think we can take these examples of the cavalier wide-boy approach to the memory and the truth as symptomatic of the poisonous cess pit that is the political culture of the right in Auckland. The Slaters. John Banks. John Palino. Luigi Wewege. Cameron Brewer. Denise Krum. Sounds like Halloween has come early this year in Auckland. What a vile and appalling bunch!
But I am inclined to think that Auckland mayor Len Brown has a strong case if he wants to sue Cameron Slater, Stephen Cook, and perhaps even Bevan Chuang, for invasion of his privacy in their reporting about his affair with Chuang.
I’m not saying that he should sue, or that he’s likely to. Just that the elements of a claim are probably made out.
“Baby I have everything set up people are just waiting for you.”
People ?
Wonder whom ?
The Mad Right really are filth are they not ?
Particularly SlaterPorn. Whose facility to fuck around is a matter of public knowledge – judgment of Judge David Harvey in the Harrassment Act appplication made against Sperling – former connection of Mad Michael Laws.
Hey…….ShonKey Python…….sure love the “higher standards” in your Flying Circus.
Very disturbed. Lenny Boy runs Auckland very well for them, so I’m not surprised. What Brown basically does is keep a lid on the left, while actually helping them with the wharf and GI.
Len is the cad – he is the one who has had an affair. Do not forget that. If his political opponents seek to take advantage of that, they cannot be criticised for making the most of the ammunition that Len has given them. He knew before the election that his affair was about to be exposed. He knew that he could not be sure that people would vote for him if they were aware of his affair. He decision to say nothing was dishonourable and political suicide.
Len is the cad – he is the one who has had an affair. Do not forget that. If his political opponents seek to take advantage of that, they cannot be criticised for making the most of the ammunition that Len has given them.
Hey John.
Did you just say that we should hold Len publicly accountable for actions he took in his private life, but the people now attacking Len with sleazy political ammunition, we should give the attackers a complete pass, free of criticism?
1.Brown cheated on his wife
2.Brown instigated this affair
3.This woman is a total bunny boiler and Brown demonstrated that he thinks with his dick not his head.
4. Of course they’d want her to come out, Brown the good Christian man was rooting around behind his wifes back while trading on a happy family, good Christian morals platform.
If this had come out before the election, Brown would have been fucked.
Can we just park the usual tendency to misogyny at least on this site please?
It looks like she’s been ruthlessly exploited by the right, and her opinion of Len Brown according to Cameron Slater is a tissue of lies. Just when I thought my opinion of Cameron Slater could not possibly go lower, it does.
Now as Russell Brown says follow the money – who paid Stephen Cook to write the story?
Ruthlessly exploited, yeah right
Oh that poor simple woman, how could those mean men be so nasty.
She knew what she was doing, she’s only decided to flip flop around because she isn’t liking the way it’s all gone and has got cold feet.
Too late for that, she let all the gory details out in that signed affidavit, did she honestly think it was going to blow over in a day or two and then it’s back to normal, maybe even a job in the media trading on that new found fame.
Just when I thought my opinion of Cameron Slater could not possibly go lower, it does.
Why so surprised? Whale (to quote James Stewart in Shenandoah) “is the only person I know who started at the bottom and went downhill”.
follow the money – who paid Stephen Cook to write the story. True but who made the whole story possible? Why Len of course. If he was silly enough to hang his balls out on the block some passing cetacean was bound to cut the off. Silly prick (quite literally).
So to Len, a safe pair of hands for the “Left”? If he could keep his own hands around his own privates maybe.
Lolz, BM, and the involvement, proved in today’s Herald, of the Palino camp in the belated outing of this affair between Brown and Chuang, plus the ongoing pressure put on Chuang to out the affair befor the election will do what for any future Palino challenge,
Lover boy Luigi’s denial of ever having shared the bed with Chuang, ‘He hardly in His words knew the woman’, does what to Palino’s denial of knowing anything of what was being attempted to drop Len in His own mess right in the middle of the campaign,
For any damage done to Len Brown by the exposure of what is essentially His private life, you can expect, as the real story continues to unfold, an equal, if not greater amount of damage to be inflicted upon the Citizens and Ratpayers ticket….
As hard as you lefties try to shoot the messenger, Brown is fucked, once this term is over he’s gone.
And in the mean time, he’s a dead duck, he won’t achieve anything, all those great lefty dreams for Auckland, down the toilet where they belong.
Lolz BM, your latest is what i term dragging defeat out of the jaws of victory, it’s a long long road to the next Council elections and it will be my pleasure to read your whinging, whining and wailing about this issue for the next 3 years,
Hate to further burst your bubble, but, you seem to forget that we have a General Election next year, right now i would say it’s 60/40 that after that, unless Lolz, National can score 50% of the vote, David Cunliffe will be the next Prime Minister of the first Labour/Green Government,
While that little scenario obviously fills ‘wing-nuts’ like you with terror it simply adds laughter to what you say about Len Brown being unable to achieve ‘anything’ in His current term as Mayor,
i would say that the incoming Labour/Green Government will be only to happy to either fund Brown’s Auckland transport plans OR through Legislation, provide Browns Council with the tools necessary to gather the necessary capital to have such capital works well under way,
Suck it up BM, across the political spectrum ‘the right’ have lost all traction, Losers in other words, a descriptive, on the odd occasion i have cause to think about you, which is easily able to be fitted to your dog collar…
What the fuck is a bunny boiler? And what does it have to do with the price of fish?
Among the people who have a right to comment on Len’s peccadilloes are his family. Some of them have come out to support him, so you and the rest of the fake moralistic right should just get back to your porn and shut up.
What is happening at NBR. I have heard a rumour from an impeccable source that long time reporter Jock Anderson has been fired for writing a pro Len Brown editorial.
Hmm I was getting an access denied message and now I get a 404 page not found message. Someone must have hit the delete button. Wonder what they are trying to hide?
Come on Matthew. If this is true then an issue arises as to the independence of the fourth estate. Surely it is in the public interest for there to be disclosure of what has happened and discussion on this?
Do opinion writers with the NBR have a degree of freedom around the line they take, or is it quite locked down in your contracts to stick to the editorial lines of the publisher? Or are they freelance articles that the NBR can take or leave?
Auckland, like all cities around the globe is tightly controlled.
From time to time, we get to see into the filth that allows the criminal elements to control the resources, and in NZ we are really scraping the bottom levels.
Wewege and Chuang are from a “future leaders” style of group, which brings into question what exactly that group is designed for!
Cameron Brewer has slipped off rader for the time being, very quiet cameron – fill his inbox people, his council email is public record, do is the contact via his blog site.
Chuang, the Dragon Baby Mamma, is calculating and conniving, just like those she is involved with!
how sad and how terrible to think that just exposing someone to advance their own career is the right moved. Especially that person is your own girlfriend. let this be the lesson to him, and how sad, because this guy, Luigi Wewege will never learned and found true love. He was even regard as the future leader, serious, what the exposure and creating a future leader turn up to creating a future monster….disguising. By the way, you are still young, and one day when you have your own daughter, seriously……best luck….
Well, at least some good news today with the climate change skeptics bailing on their appeal against NIWA. Seems they don’t even understand their own court case.
The dispute centred on readings from the seven-station series – stations in Auckland, Masterton, Wellington, Nelson, Hokitika, Lincoln and Dunedin – used by Niwa for temperature records.
The trust claimed unscientific methods used created an unrealistic indication of climate warming.
But last year, High Court Justice Geoffrey Venning ruled against the group and ordered it to repay court costs. The group decided to challenge the ruling in the Court of Appeal, but this week withdrew the appeal.
Barry Brill, who acted as solicitor for the trust, said his clients could not see a way forward after coming upon a procedural issue. The judges had noted two scientists involved in the reports were not cross-examined – something his clients were unaware could be done during the earlier court process.
Congratulations to Eleanor Catton on her Man Booker win – must read the book, covering a topic of close personal interest, history and locale.
However, her comments on nat radio yesterday were a little disturbing in trying to use gold in pakeha society and pounamu in maori society as metaphors for their respective features. Seriously lacking imo. So many New Zealanders have lost a sense of their history and cultural and societal mores from pre-WWII. There is little understanding of many parts of society from before that time. Perhaps she should stick to writing. But then, maybe I should read the book first (which most certainly will) and then re-assess what she was trying to say yesterday.
Drones, the Media and Malala’s Message
by PETER HART, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, 15 October 2013
Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai’s visit to the United States was widely covered in the media, including interviews with ABC’s Diane Sawyer (10/11/13), CNN’s Christiane Amanpour (10/14/13) and Jon Stewart of the Daily Show (10/8/13). She was selected as ABC’s “Person of the Week” on October 11, and was considered a serious contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
And for good reason; just one year ago, Malala was attacked by the Taliban for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of educational equality, surviving a an attack where she was shot in the head.
But one part of her message didn’t seem to penetrate the corporate media.
During her October 11 visit to the White House, Yousafzai told Barack Obama that his administration’s drone strikes were fueling terrorism. As McClatchy’s Lesley Clark (10/11/13) reported:
In a statement released after the meeting, Malala said she was honored to meet with Obama, but that she told him she’s worried about the effect of US drone strikes. (The White House statement didn’t mention that part.) “I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,” she said in the statement. “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education, it will make a big impact.”
This exchange, for some reason, didn’t register ….
On another matter the all whites now face mexico home and away to reach WC 2014.
This will not be easy as mexico are going for 6 straight WC’s and have been hot/cold through their qualification so lets hope we get the cold ‘El Tri’ as the hot one is a class above us.
Yes CONCACAF is alot tougher than facing an asian team. This team boasts Rafael Marquez (ex barca centre half), Manyoo’s hernandez up front and technically gifted players that can do the unexpected
We may find out the hard way what an awesome on field leader and defender the retired Ryan Nelson was. Hope we don’t but 2 WC’s in a row is long odds for us now.
Qatar is getting interesting with the major clubs (via the leagues/associations) waking up to the fact they’ll be shipping their employees off to the oven for that summer.
Maggots, despite our current cultural view on them, play a vital role in the cycle of life. Can’t say the same about Slater. I think the cartoon is an insult to insects everywhere and is inherently accurate. The cartoonist implies that despite our abhorrence for Slater, we really need him. He’s wrong.
Interesting interview with local entrepreneur Selwyn Pellet on Nights on National Radio last night (Wednesday 16 Oct) – purportedly about “How curiosity helps to build better business” but in fact more interesting in the way Selwyn talks through experience about how well New Zealand IT businesses do under the present environment. Particularly interesting is how he says the IT industry has in the short term the ability to actually provide greater net wealth for New Zealand than the dairying industry, but our reliance on the commodity market (especially dairy) actually influences interest rates and the value of the New Zealand dollar to the detriment of our IT exports
Well I’m thinking they might have opened themselves up to questioning, which I sincerely hope they don’t. Keep the humour going with Two minute noodle Len as long as possible but the kids shouldn’t be involved…
Journalists can ask anyone questions. It’s what they do. Can’t see what questions his kids would have to answer, and I doubt any serious journalist would either.
Your sick boy mate whose lines you keep trotting out is having a crack at them, but that’s cause he’s a fuckwit, not cause he’s a journalist.
I guess thats why hes got a popular website, gets interviewed on radio and TV more then anyone else on here put together
But who cares about getting your message across to the widest audience eh 🙂
[lprent: Perhaps you should reread the about. We’re unconcerned with getting the widest audience. Basically we’re also not a narcissistic egotistical failures like Cameron Slater who appears to have failed at everything in his life apart from titillating the lowest common denominator on the net.
The reason that we don’t get interviewed is mostly because we don’t want to be talking heads. It isn’t what we do for a living. For instance I’m a c++ programmer working on our exporting bleeding edges. r0b is a professor at a major university. Mike Smith is semi-retired, but used to run the Labour party. The people under pseudonyms past and present are pretty damn successful at whatever they can do. This is one of the reasons why many of the authors here write using a pseudonym – we don’t want the shallowness of the media to interfere with what we really value.
Personally, I’ve turned down all except one or two of the dozens of interview requests I’ve had over the last six years including those from the left media like Bomber. Generally I only get a couple per year these days. You also can’t find images of me on the net.
Offhand I think that the only other person from here who has been on the media was Clinton Smith before he went to work for politicians, and Jenny has been on The Nation once when she was working on Cunliffe’s election team. Currently we have no-one volunteering to be a talking head.
Basically your comment reveals far more about your lack of knowledge about this site than it does about us. However if you wish to continue in this vein, then I will be happy handing out a long ban in accordance with our policies on people trying to tell us how we should run this site.
You have a weeks ban now so you have time to read these links. ]
His puppeteers (like Daddy, Lusk, Collins etc.) must have been successful in getting that Tea Party money to fund their backfiring engine, pity (judging by the abode he was filmed in on Tuesday) he’s not getting any ‘trickledown’.
But it’s great he’s happy floating around with turds.
Sam writes beautifully: I have been critical but she hit us right between the eyes with the “first stone”. Thanks Sam, over and out, no more comments. So some wisdom from Francis (abridged):
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be understood, as to understand;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
New allegations are that Len Brown wrote references for Bevan Chaung for a job she was applying for.
How is that different from John Key giving a GCSB job to his mate? Who says they haven’t been having sex?
Chuang has also said brown was one of 5 referees on her CV for the job, and she didn’t think he got the job because of Brown. Although, I guess she wants to show she got the job fairly.
Just a reminder about a lecture on a topic close to our hearts- for Wednesday 30th.
2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture:
Sir Edmund Thomas –
Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause
The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned.
A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result. Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened.
The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails. The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas will deliver the 2013 lecture on Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm, at the Maidment Theatre (bar opens at 5.30pm).
I’ll try to remember to publicise it during the weekend by which time there may be some room left on the site for something other than scurrilous gossip.
To fix the issues facing New Zealand’s economy, the public sector needs to call on the expertise of the private financial sector, Finance Minister Bill English says.
The private financial sector caused the GFC, The Great Depression, increasing poverty and looks to be increasingly corrupt. About the only thing we should be doing is telling them to fuck off while jailing a large proportion of them.
IPCA says the cops can’t even investigate themselves properly
Party broken up, allegations of excessive force, complaints laid, a three year internal investigation that exonerates all officers involved, and – guess what? The IPCA says the investigation took too long, reached the wrong conclusions, and the only reason individual officers haven’t been charged is that the ones who swung the batons couldn’t be identified (gotta love the riot gear and tiny badge numbers – if they haven’t been removed).
Who knows, RT. For instance, the worst case scenario, a re-election, might actually favour the left now Palino’s and Brewer’s team have been shown to be somewhat murky as well.
personally, while this whole drama is regrettable, and sad, I’m not for pressuring the man out, however, he’s chosen a hard road to hoe, (and with a little benefit-of-hindsight, not an unexpected one). Some of these ‘powerful’ folks appear to get a little carried away with themselves, and foolishness follows.
ironically, this proverb, or one similar, was on WOBH one day (in the not-too-distant past)
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares;” 1:20
later, (in the same book)
“For the lips of an adulteress (-er) drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword…” 5:3, and plenty more follows in the same vein. Another day perhaps, anyway, the St Francis prayer that Ennui notes covers all the Remedy (Black Crows circling, yet they keep the Vultures at bay).
Whilst lesser “lites” like Len and Whale have been centre stage here on our biggest (and perhaps the worlds smallest) stage…other things of greater import have been happening out in the big wide world.
Tucked in the side columns of todays Dom……In Rome Pope Francis has dismissed Cardinal Bertone, the man who acted as Richelieu for Pope Benedict. During his watch the scandals involving children went unanswered, there were Papal bank fraud issues go unchallenged, and the appointment of a Holocaust denying British bishop. Vatileaks scandal followed.
The Pope thanked Bertone for confronting his setbacks with courage and patience. “There were so many,” he added, damning him with faint praise. Francis appears to be the real deal.
LOL at Blinglish in attempting to attack the Greens during the debate on Banks right now, claims Cunliffe is getting some of their support and doing better than his predecessor…. then changes tack realising he’s praising Labour too much for improving it’s support!
Another scoop from whale: he’s caught out some Herald staff blatantly colluding together in a plan to write a ‘series’ of ‘stories’ in their ‘newspaper’.
No uptick for Key either which you might have expected while he was gallivanting around on the world stage. That must be a concern for National. Dunne and UFP have dropped to 0%, Banks and ACT can’t be far behind.
Oh dear Labour and the Greens still going UP, this time the bump is in the Green Party vote, Better start composing my dear John note for Slippery,
In all honesty at the 2008 election i would have picked Slippery to lead National to 3 terms, hasn’t ‘the fall from grace’ been hard and fast tho, and, i wonder when Collins will make Her move, has to be soon, if She goes into the 2014 election not being the Prime Minister the best She can hope for is a couple of terms as Opposition Leader befor they rid themselves of Her,
Yes i am being mischievous, whichever way it’s looked at there’s another 9 in the sin bin coming for National, perhaps Collins sees a point in letting Bill from Dipton lead the team in the first 3 years of Opposition and then rolling Him a year out from the second term ending…
Watched a bit of the TICS committee stage 4. Government ministers not standing to defend it. Curran, Goff & Robertson say there’s not enough checks and balances to protect people’s rights, and the Human Rights Commission have criticisms that the government should heed.
Lucky for some, other families in NZ only have the green-fee figure to survive on every week. But he will fix that….one of these years…..just vote for him….and guarantee your seat on the brighter future train….
Not good timing for an article that shows the stark contrast between Key and the majority of NZ.
Mr Key said he avoided the new Nevis bungy jump… He said his political staff did not think an image of him “diving off a bridge screaming” would be great footage in case he ever had a big dip in the polls.
Queenstown and Omaha – full of average Kiwis, sure. Good places for him to be quarantined with his diplomatic protection squad and leave the rest of the country for the rest of us.
A senior National Business Review journalist has lost his job in the wake of the Len Brown sex scandal.
National Business Review publisher Todd Scott in a brief statement today said: “We do not comment on internal employment issues but I can confirm Mr Jock Anderson was dismissed yesterday for failing to comply with specific instructions to treat coverage of the Len Brown affair in an impartial and unbiased manner.”
Mr Anderson had filed copy on NBR ONLINE yesterday morning purporting to be the NBR’s stance on the controversy. His copy was headed “Editorial” and called for Mr Brown to stay on as mayor. His copy was removed shortly after it was posted.
Mr Scott said NBR’s news coverage of the ongoing scandal would remain strictly neutral. There would be no restriction on NBR’s regular columnists to analyse events as they unfolded.
Don’t the NBR do ‘warnings’ or was Jock Anderson’s filing of ‘copy on NBR ONLINE yesterday morning purporting to be the NBR’s stance on the controversy. (his copy was headed “Editorial” and called for Mr Brown to stay on as mayor)’ – SERIOUS MISCONDUCT?
Who remembers Dove Myer Robinson’s trysts – he was apparently quite legendary and it didn’t harm his mayoral job at all. Mostly heard it from my parents and their friends – I was a bit too young to really take it in, but my partner heard it resurface on the radio today.
I knew a bit about other mayors as well, but I’m not even going to name them. It had nothing to do with how they ran or misran the city.
I heard a lot of stories about Banks which had nothing to do with sex, but can’t produce evidence. I’m just ecstatic that he might finally be crashing and burning.
I made the mistake of watching Citizen A tonight with guests Colin Craig and Matthew Hooton. So Hoots reckons if we had a better police force, Helen Clark would have been prosecuted for her many criminal activities (election spending etc), and would never have lasted 3 terms.
David Cunliffe is further left than any social democrat country int he world (or is it Europe) – he’s gone VERY far left. People in the National Party thought Simon Brudges was excellent on Campbell Live and he’s a potential leader of Nats.
I watched Citizen A too and was commenting out loud how restrained Matthew Hooten was, but then he let fly at the end about the Police and their lack of prosecutions re Helen Clark and how terrible it will be if we elect a Mana/Green/Labour [his order], he then said Labour/Green/Mana. I also wanted to wreck our TV when he carried on about Simon Bridges on Campbell Live – sheesh a potential leader of the Nats, spare me. I suppose he was being serious, but he had that bloody smirk on his dial which tells me he’s just stirring. Oh, and for David Cunliffe and Labour espousing far left policies – yep he’s just stirring.
a switcheroo from the “once he’s in he’ll drag the party to the centre / right” narrative the tory scribes and talking heads ran with following his election as party leader; Yes , you, RW lurkers, are so transparent it’s a wonder you spend as much time grooming as you do.
The best thing about 3D printing in high density materials is that it’s going to be very cheap to set up which means that any country will be able to manufacture anything they choose and with that you can kiss goodbye to long distance trade.
We (NZ) really, really, really need to get on the R&D with this and that means government funding. We will not get it any other way.
The real inefficiency in foundries is energy, excluding materials the loss of other inputs is particularly high – casting sand losses were at 20% and more, being around half of total losses.
…everything is recycled and reused in any decent foundry.
Apart from a bit of skim with the burnt off refractories, oxides and the like. Even those are usually blocked and sent back to the scrap metal people..
I can’t find the reply button, but I feel terribly slighted*:
“r0b is a professor at a major university. Mike Smith is semi-retired, but used to run the Labour party. The people under pseudonyms past and present are pretty damn successful at whatever they can do. This is one of the reasons why many of the authors here write using a pseudonym – we don’t want the shallowness of the media to interfere with what we really value.”
I’m a senior research fellow at the university rated 90th in the world. I received an Outstanding Referee Award from the American Physical Society. I saw one metric that put me in the top 4% of active physicists in the world. I think that’s reasonably successful. I’m all over google. Not bad for someone who has been accused of not understanding Newton’s Laws 🙂
I don’t use a pseudonym because I’m terminally ill and don’t give a fuck. What can anyone do to me that I haven’t done to myself? I make no judgement either way about people who do.
“Offhand I think that the only other person from here who has been on the media was Clinton Smith before he went to work for politicians, and Jenny has been on The Nation once when she was working on Cunliffe’s election team. Currently we have no-one volunteering to be a talking head.”
I’ve been interviewed by New Scientist Magazine, newspapers in Australia, and radio stations on both sides of the Tasman. I am not volunteering to be a talking head.
*Not actually slighted at all, just saying this to ram down the illiterate right wingers’ throats that there’s more talent to be found around here than in all the RWNJ hate blogs of the world combined.
[lprent: The reply button disappears when the comments are indented 10.
I was just confining it to some of the outed authors. Even then I forgot a lawyer (hi Mickey!), Jenny – PR, and probably many others..
Don’t get me started on the commenters who seem to range over everything… ]
Watching Joyce speak in the house reminds me of the penguin in Batman movies. Left hand thrusting up and down like an energy charged banker..or something rhyming. They are so ridiculous. I despair at where my taxes are going.
So Eleanor Catton, Man Booker prize winner (well done), says on the one hand …” I don’t see that my age has anything to do with what is between the covers of my book, any more than the fact that I am right-handed. It’s a fact of my biography, but it’s uninteresting.”
And then with a straight face and the other hand claims some of her reviewers are themselves driven by factors of gender and age…
“People whose negative reaction has been most vehement have all been men over about 45.”
.
Sheesh, some people.
Will have to hunt down a few more of her gems for daytime giggles (like the one she punched out yesterday about gold and pounamu, maori and pakeha).
It seems age is a major determinant in her verbal ravings, given the level of naivety shown.
“People whose negative reaction has been most vehement have all been men over about 45” is a fact about their biographies. It’s uninteresting. Where does she say they’re driven by factors of gender and age?
no defence whatsoever weka, you can do better than that.
Not having a dig at her talents or good works, merely highlighting a common trait in some highly talented and well know people who think their talents extend beyond what they are recognised for. Other examples include Sam Neil and Bono.
Seems strange that National don’t want to drug-test the police, nor does the police association despite often calling for a gun on every hip. They should have tested the overly angry officer who broke the neck of Jakob Christie with a batton in 2009, and be thankful he wasn’t carrying the much lauded gun on every hip.
Police and poaka are both words that start with P. Funny that, because it drives people into uncontrollable rages as well. In São Paulo, a lot of the police sell and/or use cocaine, especially right in the centre of the city. It does wonders for their emotional stability and they are heavily armed. People die.
Hi,Before we get into Hayden Donnell’s new column about how yes, Donald Trump is definitely the Antichrist, I wanted to touch on something feral that happened in New Zealand last week.Members of Destiny Church pushed and punched their way into an Auckland library, apparently angry it was part of Pride ...
Despite delays, logjams and overcrowding in our emergency departments, funding constraints are limiting the numbers of nurses and doctors being trained. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, February 18 are:A NZ Herald investigation ...
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
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 ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
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. ...
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 ...
Almost 40% of those departing NZ long-term are aged 18 to 30. What sort of country will they leave behind, asks Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Young people leading the charge out the door Last year saw ...
New Health Minister Simeon Brown is presiding over a list of resignations from high-ranking health officials that some say is a "bloodbath". What's going on? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Rickerby, Lecturer, School of Product Design, University of Canterbury The Poly-1. MOTAT , CC BY-NC Some 45 years ago, a team of staff and students at Wellington Polytechnic designed and built a desktop computer with an operating system customised for ...
The Forum has raised concerns regarding the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, which, if enacted, will radically undermine existing human rights protections, Indigenous rights, and constitutional safeguards ...
The passage of time hasn’t been kind to Ngāi Tahu.When its High Court hearing over wai māori (freshwater) commenced last week, 52 months after the claim was filed, the tribe mourned the loss of two named first plaintiffs – Bishop Richard Wallace, of Makaawhio, and Theo Bunker, of Wairewa – ...
Margie Apa, Nicholas Jones, Diana Sarfati, the board of Health New Zealand … and will Lester Levy be next?The biggest names in our health service are tumbling like dominos.It’s been called a bloodbath and a crisis.What’s going on?Every day there’s a new story about shortages, patients having to wait for ...
Opinion: The coalition Government’s recent revisions to the business investor visa, officially the Active Investor Plus but commonly known as the ‘golden visa’, has put pay-for-residency back in the headlines. While many object to the commodification of citizenship implicit in this policy, questions should be asked about its potential as ...
One Christmas, to thank him for helping me hugely with my writing (on a mentor scheme), I sent Michael King a dark blue cashmere scarf. I chose it with the awful knowledge that he was battling cancer, and I somehow thought it might keep him warm and make him feel ...
Comment: Readers may recall the commentaries from academics that appeared on these pages as well as on many media outlets, alarmed and appalled by the disbanding of the Marsden panels for humanities and the social sciences.The Marsden Fund is a “blue skies” initiative established by Simon Upton in the 1990s. ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard seven hours of submissions. Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.An “insult to every one of our tīpuna” was the first advice the Justice Committee heard on the Treaty principles bill ...
The same councillors who decry excessive spending on pet projects just voted to pump millions of dollars into a greenhouse for flowers. On Thursday last week, Wellington City Council voted to consult on repairing Begonia House, the greenhouse for exotic flowers in Wellington Botanic Garden. The options for repairs range ...
It’s important to respect people’s right to free speech and peaceful assembly, but how much political deference is due when it isn’t peaceful? Commenting on Destiny Church members storming a children’s event at the Te Atatū library and community centre on Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon said it’s important to ...
Comment: US is capitulating to Moscow’s demands before negotiations over Ukraine even begin The post The day the West died appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Well well well, the plot thickens:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141316
Meanwhile, the real news is that ShonKey doesnt see any conflict of interest in keeping Banks in Parliament for that crucial one vote on the SkyCity bill:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-sure-of-numbers-despite-Banks-blow/tabid/1607/articleID/317532/Default.aspx
Which bring us to a conclusion that it is absolutely vital to vote the fuckers out.
The Plot Stews
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141735
(looking further into the Onion, the Gristle, Peas and Q’s)
From the Herald today
“The woman at the centre of the Len Brown sex scandal says she felt pressured to reveal the affair by a member of his right-wing rival John Palino’s election team – and is now sorry she went public.”
The way this has been manipulated by members of Palino’s group does not make this a good look for such low life who use people to benefit their own political position.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141316
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141316
So John Palino’s henchman Luigi Wewege is revealed as a common, lowly coward and a dishonorable cad who doesn’t even have the guts to admit his relationship with Bevan Chuang.
It is funny how suddenly the two Johns – Slater and Palino – have no knowledge of the sex life of Bevan Chuang when it suits them. We’ve seen this sort of right wing selective memory just yesterday with another John – John Banks – in the Auckland High Court and we now know what the judicial system thinks of that.
I think we can take these examples of the cavalier wide-boy approach to the memory and the truth as symptomatic of the poisonous cess pit that is the political culture of the right in Auckland. The Slaters. John Banks. John Palino. Luigi Wewege. Cameron Brewer. Denise Krum. Sounds like Halloween has come early this year in Auckland. What a vile and appalling bunch!
Yep.
Whale is a piece of shit who will say or do anything, and the fact that people work with him is a scandal in and of itself.
Can Len Brown sue for invasion of privacy?
I’m of the opinion that he should.
Probably won;t for the same reasons you don’t sue Wishart. It’s expensive, very public, and there’s little to gain.
Probably but I think it’s important as it would help set boundaries.
Oh I know, isn’t it exciting! Wonder what the next plot twist will be…like cheap john grisham knock-off 🙂
Who says local body politics is boring 🙂
Text message Wewege to Chuang 31/8/13 –
“Baby I have everything set up people are just waiting for you.”
People ?
Wonder whom ?
The Mad Right really are filth are they not ?
Particularly SlaterPorn. Whose facility to fuck around is a matter of public knowledge – judgment of Judge David Harvey in the Harrassment Act appplication made against Sperling – former connection of Mad Michael Laws.
Hey…….ShonKey Python…….sure love the “higher standards” in your Flying Circus.
is anyone else mildly disturbed how the likes of key/lee-ross have so swung in behind their ‘len’..?
..just saying..!
phillip ure..
Very disturbed. Lenny Boy runs Auckland very well for them, so I’m not surprised. What Brown basically does is keep a lid on the left, while actually helping them with the wharf and GI.
Len is the cad – he is the one who has had an affair. Do not forget that. If his political opponents seek to take advantage of that, they cannot be criticised for making the most of the ammunition that Len has given them. He knew before the election that his affair was about to be exposed. He knew that he could not be sure that people would vote for him if they were aware of his affair. He decision to say nothing was dishonourable and political suicide.
I reckon they can be criticised for apparently bullying someone into revealing intimate details which were then pasted all over the internet.
Especially when one of them should know better, having already lost one job over similar behaviour..
Hey John.
Did you just say that we should hold Len publicly accountable for actions he took in his private life, but the people now attacking Len with sleazy political ammunition, we should give the attackers a complete pass, free of criticism?
The facts of the matter are still.
1.Brown cheated on his wife
2.Brown instigated this affair
3.This woman is a total bunny boiler and Brown demonstrated that he thinks with his dick not his head.
4. Of course they’d want her to come out, Brown the good Christian man was rooting around behind his wifes back while trading on a happy family, good Christian morals platform.
If this had come out before the election, Brown would have been fucked.
“…This woman is a total bunny boiler…”
Can we just park the usual tendency to misogyny at least on this site please?
It looks like she’s been ruthlessly exploited by the right, and her opinion of Len Brown according to Cameron Slater is a tissue of lies. Just when I thought my opinion of Cameron Slater could not possibly go lower, it does.
Now as Russell Brown says follow the money – who paid Stephen Cook to write the story?
Ruthlessly exploited, yeah right
Oh that poor simple woman, how could those mean men be so nasty.
She knew what she was doing, she’s only decided to flip flop around because she isn’t liking the way it’s all gone and has got cold feet.
Too late for that, she let all the gory details out in that signed affidavit, did she honestly think it was going to blow over in a day or two and then it’s back to normal, maybe even a job in the media trading on that new found fame.
Just when I thought my opinion of Cameron Slater could not possibly go lower, it does.
Why so surprised? Whale (to quote James Stewart in Shenandoah) “is the only person I know who started at the bottom and went downhill”.
follow the money – who paid Stephen Cook to write the story. True but who made the whole story possible? Why Len of course. If he was silly enough to hang his balls out on the block some passing cetacean was bound to cut the off. Silly prick (quite literally).
So to Len, a safe pair of hands for the “Left”? If he could keep his own hands around his own privates maybe.
1. None of your business.
2. None of your business.
3. Oh look, right-wing mysogynist scum are turning on their own.
4. And yet you chose to release the info after the election.
1. She used him as a reference
2. He hasn’t ruled out other affairs
3. Theres still the issue of the threatening text
4. I can’t wait for the next bombshell
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAS4CSLAiyY
5. See Felix’s 3.
Take it back to the sewer, will you?
Hi Chris.
My bullet points were each a direct response to BM’s bullet points. I have no idea what yours are.
(except an attempt to discredit this site by spreading sexist, misogynist shit all over it)
ps you mean the “threatening texts” that Slater sent from a burner phone?
re: 4: pull your pants up, your tumescent anticipation wouldn’t intimidate a gnat.
There is no way known to science to tell if a right winger is stricken by priapism.
Kiaora Murray
There is no way known to science to tell if a right winger is stricken by priapism.
Science may not provide an answer but common sense says ‘they leak to the right’
Lolz, BM, and the involvement, proved in today’s Herald, of the Palino camp in the belated outing of this affair between Brown and Chuang, plus the ongoing pressure put on Chuang to out the affair befor the election will do what for any future Palino challenge,
Lover boy Luigi’s denial of ever having shared the bed with Chuang, ‘He hardly in His words knew the woman’, does what to Palino’s denial of knowing anything of what was being attempted to drop Len in His own mess right in the middle of the campaign,
For any damage done to Len Brown by the exposure of what is essentially His private life, you can expect, as the real story continues to unfold, an equal, if not greater amount of damage to be inflicted upon the Citizens and Ratpayers ticket….
Not a chance.
As hard as you lefties try to shoot the messenger, Brown is fucked, once this term is over he’s gone.
And in the mean time, he’s a dead duck, he won’t achieve anything, all those great lefty dreams for Auckland, down the toilet where they belong.
😈 😈 😈
Weird, I thought your concerns were for the sanctity of marriage and public office.
Quelle surprise.
whenever a tory expresses concern or moral outrage, always do a quick check to see if there’s a tent in their pants
Lolz BM, your latest is what i term dragging defeat out of the jaws of victory, it’s a long long road to the next Council elections and it will be my pleasure to read your whinging, whining and wailing about this issue for the next 3 years,
Hate to further burst your bubble, but, you seem to forget that we have a General Election next year, right now i would say it’s 60/40 that after that, unless Lolz, National can score 50% of the vote, David Cunliffe will be the next Prime Minister of the first Labour/Green Government,
While that little scenario obviously fills ‘wing-nuts’ like you with terror it simply adds laughter to what you say about Len Brown being unable to achieve ‘anything’ in His current term as Mayor,
i would say that the incoming Labour/Green Government will be only to happy to either fund Brown’s Auckland transport plans OR through Legislation, provide Browns Council with the tools necessary to gather the necessary capital to have such capital works well under way,
Suck it up BM, across the political spectrum ‘the right’ have lost all traction, Losers in other words, a descriptive, on the odd occasion i have cause to think about you, which is easily able to be fitted to your dog collar…
Lolz, after the latest Roy Morgan out today i wish to change my odds of the next Government being a Labour/Green one to 70/30 in favor…
Palino doesn’t look set to have much of a future, nor does anyone who WO supports.
WO should be made to wear a sign around his neck that says, “Trust me at your Peril!”
What the fuck is a bunny boiler? And what does it have to do with the price of fish?
Among the people who have a right to comment on Len’s peccadilloes are his family. Some of them have come out to support him, so you and the rest of the fake moralistic right should just get back to your porn and shut up.
A Close Up Fatal
Attraction
Wewege, palino, chuang.
Welcome to nz, thanks for your contribution to making it better for everyone!
To say nothing of the local handlers!
Who are all these people, really!
You forgot Norman 😉
exactly what are you trying to say?
im sure its some moronic barb about him being an commie or something, but do please put in the extra effort to actually make sense
Not so much the commie bit (not that it helps) but being another foreigner coming over and making the country all the worse for it
What is happening at NBR. I have heard a rumour from an impeccable source that long time reporter Jock Anderson has been fired for writing a pro Len Brown editorial.
The page is still there at http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/editorial-len-brown-needs-stay-job-ja-p-147196 but access has been denied. Someone with greater skill with Google Cache may be able to retrieve it.
Can this be true? And if so what happened to freedom of the press? Perhaps regular contributor Matthew Hooton would like to comment.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.nbr.co.nz%2Farticle%2Feditorial-len-brown-needs-stay-job-ja-p-147196
Behind the paywall.
Not sure what the point is of inviting Hooten to lie about it though.
Hmm I was getting an access denied message and now I get a 404 page not found message. Someone must have hit the delete button. Wonder what they are trying to hide?
Not anymore it isn’t, anyone got a cached version they can publish here? Ah! Thanks!
Where Sanctuary?
No comment.
Come on Matthew. If this is true then an issue arises as to the independence of the fourth estate. Surely it is in the public interest for there to be disclosure of what has happened and discussion on this?
No comment.
Can you confirm Matthew that the editorial was initially hidden but then deleted?
No comment.
The man with an opinion on everything suddenly has nothing to say.
NZ Power didn’t crash the share-market, it’s sHootons voice-box that’s crashed…
Do opinion writers with the NBR have a degree of freedom around the line they take, or is it quite locked down in your contracts to stick to the editorial lines of the publisher? Or are they freelance articles that the NBR can take or leave?
Nobody at NBR or Metro has ever told me what to write, or what angle to take.
As if they’d ever have to.
What about telling Jock Anderson what to write or disciplining him for something he wrote?
From Martyn Bradbury:
And that’s the Right Wing control of the MSM and all its journos in action, as a warning to all.
Time for the CEO to explain the NBRs anti-journalistic practices.
Herald 4:33 apparently confirms it …
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141779
Question is whether we’ll hear his ramblings on “The Panel” – what say you now Gentleman Jim?
Distant Drums calling, He’ll Have To Go
eww fat slug Slater is on breakfast….
Hell I heaved my brekkie n then some
fat slug is rattling on about morals
Are they asking him about his own affairs?
Nope
Not a word
Rawdumb was nearly salivating..
Slater Seniors actual nickname – “Slug”.
Auckland, like all cities around the globe is tightly controlled.
From time to time, we get to see into the filth that allows the criminal elements to control the resources, and in NZ we are really scraping the bottom levels.
Wewege and Chuang are from a “future leaders” style of group, which brings into question what exactly that group is designed for!
Cameron Brewer has slipped off rader for the time being, very quiet cameron – fill his inbox people, his council email is public record, do is the contact via his blog site.
Chuang, the Dragon Baby Mamma, is calculating and conniving, just like those she is involved with!
Future leaders, piffle!
(can i just note that/how questiontime has become a total farce/abrogation of democracy..)
http://whoar.co.nz/2013/john-armstrong-a-question-of-when-an-answer-is-really-an-answer-comment-as-one-who-does-commentaries-on-questiontime-i-totally-agree-with-the-concerns-voiced-by-armstrong-essentially/
phillip ure..
how sad and how terrible to think that just exposing someone to advance their own career is the right moved. Especially that person is your own girlfriend. let this be the lesson to him, and how sad, because this guy, Luigi Wewege will never learned and found true love. He was even regard as the future leader, serious, what the exposure and creating a future leader turn up to creating a future monster….disguising. By the way, you are still young, and one day when you have your own daughter, seriously……best luck….
Well, at least some good news today with the climate change skeptics bailing on their appeal against NIWA. Seems they don’t even understand their own court case.
They were always going to lose this one.
Isn’t that something their solicitor should have told them about at the time?
Maybe they just decided “withdrawing on a technicality” is better for their snake oil sales than “arses handed to them on a plate”
Yep
Congratulations to Eleanor Catton on her Man Booker win – must read the book, covering a topic of close personal interest, history and locale.
However, her comments on nat radio yesterday were a little disturbing in trying to use gold in pakeha society and pounamu in maori society as metaphors for their respective features. Seriously lacking imo. So many New Zealanders have lost a sense of their history and cultural and societal mores from pre-WWII. There is little understanding of many parts of society from before that time. Perhaps she should stick to writing. But then, maybe I should read the book first (which most certainly will) and then re-assess what she was trying to say yesterday.
Bit rich of Slater to be so moralistic is it not?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10813552
It’s absurd. Only the truly delusional can exist in such a position.
Drones, the Media and Malala’s Message
by PETER HART, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, 15 October 2013
Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai’s visit to the United States was widely covered in the media, including interviews with ABC’s Diane Sawyer (10/11/13), CNN’s Christiane Amanpour (10/14/13) and Jon Stewart of the Daily Show (10/8/13). She was selected as ABC’s “Person of the Week” on October 11, and was considered a serious contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
And for good reason; just one year ago, Malala was attacked by the Taliban for her outspoken advocacy on behalf of educational equality, surviving a an attack where she was shot in the head.
But one part of her message didn’t seem to penetrate the corporate media.
During her October 11 visit to the White House, Yousafzai told Barack Obama that his administration’s drone strikes were fueling terrorism. As McClatchy’s Lesley Clark (10/11/13) reported:
In a statement released after the meeting, Malala said she was honored to meet with Obama, but that she told him she’s worried about the effect of US drone strikes. (The White House statement didn’t mention that part.) “I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,” she said in the statement. “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education, it will make a big impact.”
This exchange, for some reason, didn’t register ….
http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/10/15/drones-the-media-and-malalas-message/
Are you really surprised? The US and it’s empire doesn’t allow criticism.
She’s probably a Taliban – Al’Qaeda – Iranian – Wahabi plant, you see.
On another matter the all whites now face mexico home and away to reach WC 2014.
This will not be easy as mexico are going for 6 straight WC’s and have been hot/cold through their qualification so lets hope we get the cold ‘El Tri’ as the hot one is a class above us.
New Zealand 4, Mexico 0.
Wednesday July 20, 1980.
We might as well not bother showing up now. Mexico will take us apart. Its like Argentina playing the All Blacks.
Yes CONCACAF is alot tougher than facing an asian team. This team boasts Rafael Marquez (ex barca centre half), Manyoo’s hernandez up front and technically gifted players that can do the unexpected
We may find out the hard way what an awesome on field leader and defender the retired Ryan Nelson was. Hope we don’t but 2 WC’s in a row is long odds for us now.
Mexico soccer commentator cheers for the usa, after they score the equalizer, thus keeping Mexico in the world cup.
For the good of the game here, NZ should follow Australia into the Asian confederation.
Can someone please tell Qatar to stop stadium workers from being over worked and dying.
And fifa from awarding competitions dependant on the size of the backhanders on offer.
Agree Allen on going through Asia.
Qatar is getting interesting with the major clubs (via the leagues/associations) waking up to the fact they’ll be shipping their employees off to the oven for that summer.
The bill payers V those who get their bills paid.
the allen
But if that happens though, our age groups teams would never qualify for their world cups.
Auckland mayor leading the way.
A bit harsh on Whaleoil don’t you think?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11141285
Ummmm…. thinking ….. No.
Maggots, despite our current cultural view on them, play a vital role in the cycle of life. Can’t say the same about Slater. I think the cartoon is an insult to insects everywhere and is inherently accurate. The cartoonist implies that despite our abhorrence for Slater, we really need him. He’s wrong.
Hell no!
Not harsh at all. Flattering in my opinion.
Interesting interview with local entrepreneur Selwyn Pellet on Nights on National Radio last night (Wednesday 16 Oct) – purportedly about “How curiosity helps to build better business” but in fact more interesting in the way Selwyn talks through experience about how well New Zealand IT businesses do under the present environment. Particularly interesting is how he says the IT industry has in the short term the ability to actually provide greater net wealth for New Zealand than the dairying industry, but our reliance on the commodity market (especially dairy) actually influences interest rates and the value of the New Zealand dollar to the detriment of our IT exports
http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/2573058
yey hey well all very groovy dude.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141320
– I don’t think thats a good idea, they’ve brought themselves into the spotlight…but then 4/10 Len does need to keep up the family man image I suppose
Written on behalf of Sam, Olivia and Victoria
How nasty is that, did they even know about this article?
Dragging his family back into this turd heap to try and save his job, what a weasel.
Fuck. you’re dense, BM. It was written by Sam on behalf of all three. The words at the top of the article kinda give that away:
By Sam Brown, daughter of Auckland mayor Len Brown.
Well I’m thinking they might have opened themselves up to questioning, which I sincerely hope they don’t. Keep the humour going with Two minute noodle Len as long as possible but the kids shouldn’t be involved…
How does it “open them up to questioning”?
Is this more of the trade marked right wing personal responsibility theory that says whatever right wingers do, it’s the fault of those they do it to?
Naah more like they’ve stated some opinions so now some journalists could now ask them some questions…
Journalists can ask anyone questions. It’s what they do. Can’t see what questions his kids would have to answer, and I doubt any serious journalist would either.
Your sick boy mate whose lines you keep trotting out is having a crack at them, but that’s cause he’s a fuckwit, not cause he’s a journalist.
He never said hes a journalist
nor did I.
Fuck racism, PR. You can do better than that. Probably.
Hows thats racist?
I take back the ‘probably’. You obviously can’t do better than that.
LOL
Hey BM and Puckish Rogue….look at your leader!
No such thing as bad publicity 🙂
He’s got to be happy with that.
Go the Whale.
I’m sure aspiring National party candidates will be lining up around the block to pay for Lusk’s thoughts on how to run political campaigns yep.
Glad you are honest and don’t deny he’s your leader.
When the bad publicity can’t get any worse, beggars can’t be choosers eh 😀
I guess thats why hes got a popular website, gets interviewed on radio and TV more then anyone else on here put together
But who cares about getting your message across to the widest audience eh 🙂
[lprent: Perhaps you should reread the about. We’re unconcerned with getting the widest audience. Basically we’re also not a narcissistic egotistical failures like Cameron Slater who appears to have failed at everything in his life apart from titillating the lowest common denominator on the net.
The reason that we don’t get interviewed is mostly because we don’t want to be talking heads. It isn’t what we do for a living. For instance I’m a c++ programmer working on our exporting bleeding edges. r0b is a professor at a major university. Mike Smith is semi-retired, but used to run the Labour party. The people under pseudonyms past and present are pretty damn successful at whatever they can do. This is one of the reasons why many of the authors here write using a pseudonym – we don’t want the shallowness of the media to interfere with what we really value.
Personally, I’ve turned down all except one or two of the dozens of interview requests I’ve had over the last six years including those from the left media like Bomber. Generally I only get a couple per year these days. You also can’t find images of me on the net.
Offhand I think that the only other person from here who has been on the media was Clinton Smith before he went to work for politicians, and Jenny has been on The Nation once when she was working on Cunliffe’s election team. Currently we have no-one volunteering to be a talking head.
Basically your comment reveals far more about your lack of knowledge about this site than it does about us. However if you wish to continue in this vein, then I will be happy handing out a long ban in accordance with our policies on people trying to tell us how we should run this site.
You have a weeks ban now so you have time to read these links. ]
His puppeteers (like Daddy, Lusk, Collins etc.) must have been successful in getting that Tea Party money to fund their backfiring engine, pity (judging by the abode he was filmed in on Tuesday) he’s not getting any ‘trickledown’.
But it’s great he’s happy floating around with turds.
Sorry LPrent but you do have a ‘wise’ audience, but I know you meant ‘widest’ 😀
[lprent: typo fixed…. Thx. ]
Sam writes beautifully: I have been critical but she hit us right between the eyes with the “first stone”. Thanks Sam, over and out, no more comments. So some wisdom from Francis (abridged):
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be understood, as to understand;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
LOOKING AT POLL RESULTS IT LOOKS LIKE NO ONE IS FOOLED BY FISH OILS PLOY:
http://www.seek.co.nz/job/25325726
You looking for a job?
the question is was she a good r**t or was it just a sporting f*ck?
Stick to gardening or seafaring hook.
How would you know in 2 minutes?
New allegations are that Len Brown wrote references for Bevan Chaung for a job she was applying for.
How is that different from John Key giving a GCSB job to his mate? Who says they haven’t been having sex?
Of course, Brown was a referee and not the employer, which makes it rather less messy than Key giving his dinner buddy our top spy job…
amirite, it’s different because Len wasn’t in a position to appoint anyone and didn’t appoint anyone.
Are you being serial?
Chuang has also said brown was one of 5 referees on her CV for the job, and she didn’t think he got the job because of Brown. Although, I guess she wants to show she got the job fairly.
Having thought about this, I should add to what I wrote above that I agree that he shouldn’t have provided a reference for her.
It’s a far cry from what amirite compares it to, but it’s still wrong.
Please! I do not want to picture Key having sex. Brown is bad enough!
C’mon we had to endure the image of Rortney so you should be immune by now.
Even that immunity is challenged by the equivalent image of SlaterPorn. Yuk !
Just a reminder about a lecture on a topic close to our hearts- for Wednesday 30th.
2013 Bruce Jesson Lecture:
Sir Edmund Thomas –
Reducing Inequality: A Strategy for a Cause
The speaker, a Distinguished Fellow at the Law School at The University of Auckland, argues that the gross inequality in income and wealth which besets New Zealand is the outcome of the neo-liberal economic measures of the mid-1980s and early 1990s and the culture of liberal individualism and unfettered free market ideology which it spawned.
A breakdown in social cohesion and a sense of community is the result. Reforms to counter this inequality are widely mooted. But increasing focus and discussion on the topic is confronted by a plethora of mantras and myths purveyed by the rich and powerful. The stimulus for change is deadened.
The speaker advances a strategy designed to provide a coherent impetus to reduce the rank inequality that now prevails.
The Rt Hon Sir Edmund Thomas will deliver the 2013 lecture on Wednesday 30 October, 6.30pm, at the Maidment Theatre (bar opens at 5.30pm).
I’ll try to remember to publicise it during the weekend by which time there may be some room left on the site for something other than scurrilous gossip.
“We Need A Plan” from Dipshit
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9294007/NZ-must-stick-to-economic-plan-English
FML
The private financial sector caused the GFC, The Great Depression, increasing poverty and looks to be increasingly corrupt. About the only thing we should be doing is telling them to fuck off while jailing a large proportion of them.
ha ha, exactly DtB. Fancy calling on the biggest leaches in our system as if they somehow know anything other than self-enrichment by any means.
English is a sick joke in suggesting this.
Amazing amount of good satire around at the moment.
IPCA says the cops can’t even investigate themselves properly
Party broken up, allegations of excessive force, complaints laid, a three year internal investigation that exonerates all officers involved, and – guess what? The IPCA says the investigation took too long, reached the wrong conclusions, and the only reason individual officers haven’t been charged is that the ones who swung the batons couldn’t be identified (gotta love the riot gear and tiny badge numbers – if they haven’t been removed).
What a crock.
Police are as scary as the military and not to be trusted in these types of common circumstances
oooh, Doug McKay to announce a Brown inquiry
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11141735
(still not ending well, breakin’ up is so hard to do). 😀
Who knows, RT. For instance, the worst case scenario, a re-election, might actually favour the left now Palino’s and Brewer’s team have been shown to be somewhat murky as well.
personally, while this whole drama is regrettable, and sad, I’m not for pressuring the man out, however, he’s chosen a hard road to hoe, (and with a little benefit-of-hindsight, not an unexpected one). Some of these ‘powerful’ folks appear to get a little carried away with themselves, and foolishness follows.
ironically, this proverb, or one similar, was on WOBH one day (in the not-too-distant past)
“Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares;” 1:20
later, (in the same book)
“For the lips of an adulteress (-er) drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword…” 5:3, and plenty more follows in the same vein. Another day perhaps, anyway, the St Francis prayer that Ennui notes covers all the Remedy (Black Crows circling, yet they keep the Vultures at bay).
First Campbell, then Rudman. Now for the heavy guns…..
Whilst lesser “lites” like Len and Whale have been centre stage here on our biggest (and perhaps the worlds smallest) stage…other things of greater import have been happening out in the big wide world.
Tucked in the side columns of todays Dom……In Rome Pope Francis has dismissed Cardinal Bertone, the man who acted as Richelieu for Pope Benedict. During his watch the scandals involving children went unanswered, there were Papal bank fraud issues go unchallenged, and the appointment of a Holocaust denying British bishop. Vatileaks scandal followed.
The Pope thanked Bertone for confronting his setbacks with courage and patience. “There were so many,” he added, damning him with faint praise. Francis appears to be the real deal.
“(Parata’s) faux consultation narrative and her inherent inability to listen to the community were always going to end in tears” (also)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/christchurch-earthquake/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502981&objectid=11138222
Why are the Right getting ever nastier? What on earth could have caused this lurch to the desperate and dirty? Here’s a clue …
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5243-new-zealand-voting-intention-october-17-2013-201310170151
That’s half a dozen polls in over a month, all telling the same story.
Tick tock, tick tock …
They will start lashing out like cornered feral cats now, not caring who they damage in their fear and anger.
+1
They really don’t like it when they’re out of power or heading that way.
LOL at Blinglish in attempting to attack the Greens during the debate on Banks right now, claims Cunliffe is getting some of their support and doing better than his predecessor…. then changes tack realising he’s praising Labour too much for improving it’s support!
Spilt Milk (powder) cost Danone 500M
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11141683
-which they are seeking to recover
Suck On This!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11141262
suggests the government’s NZ Trade and Enterprise
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11141262
Another scoop from whale: he’s caught out some Herald staff blatantly colluding together in a plan to write a ‘series’ of ‘stories’ in their ‘newspaper’.
as True as an Aesop Fable , Frogs Who Desire a King.
Morgan, all.
‘Piers to have faltered at the third hand-made rail.
+8
I quite like the headline in the latest Roy Morgan: A Labour/Green alliance would easily win election.
http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/5243-new-zealand-voting-intention-october-17-2013-201310170151
ps Confidence dropping like a stone.
No uptick for Key either which you might have expected while he was gallivanting around on the world stage. That must be a concern for National. Dunne and UFP have dropped to 0%, Banks and ACT can’t be far behind.
Oh dear Labour and the Greens still going UP, this time the bump is in the Green Party vote, Better start composing my dear John note for Slippery,
In all honesty at the 2008 election i would have picked Slippery to lead National to 3 terms, hasn’t ‘the fall from grace’ been hard and fast tho, and, i wonder when Collins will make Her move, has to be soon, if She goes into the 2014 election not being the Prime Minister the best She can hope for is a couple of terms as Opposition Leader befor they rid themselves of Her,
Yes i am being mischievous, whichever way it’s looked at there’s another 9 in the sin bin coming for National, perhaps Collins sees a point in letting Bill from Dipton lead the team in the first 3 years of Opposition and then rolling Him a year out from the second term ending…
Watched a bit of the TICS committee stage 4. Government ministers not standing to defend it. Curran, Goff & Robertson say there’s not enough checks and balances to protect people’s rights, and the Human Rights Commission have criticisms that the government should heed.
Slater has just been grilled by Mary Wilson on Checkpoint. She made him squirm. He tried to blame other people.
Apparently Jock Anderson has been fired from the NBR for publishing an editorial supporting Len Brown,.
Bizarre or what?
John key – just an average Kiwi guy – like one you’d meet at the local pub or BBQ.
Lucky for some, other families in NZ only have the green-fee figure to survive on every week. But he will fix that….one of these years…..just vote for him….and guarantee your seat on the brighter future train….
Not good timing for an article that shows the stark contrast between Key and the majority of NZ.
Queenstown and Omaha – full of average Kiwis, sure. Good places for him to be quarantined with his diplomatic protection squad and leave the rest of the country for the rest of us.
Jock Anderson dismissed from NBR over ‘Lengate’!
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/nbr-journalist-dismissed-147312
NBR journalist dismissed
NBR Staff | Thursday October 17, 2013
A senior National Business Review journalist has lost his job in the wake of the Len Brown sex scandal.
National Business Review publisher Todd Scott in a brief statement today said: “We do not comment on internal employment issues but I can confirm Mr Jock Anderson was dismissed yesterday for failing to comply with specific instructions to treat coverage of the Len Brown affair in an impartial and unbiased manner.”
Mr Anderson had filed copy on NBR ONLINE yesterday morning purporting to be the NBR’s stance on the controversy. His copy was headed “Editorial” and called for Mr Brown to stay on as mayor. His copy was removed shortly after it was posted.
Mr Scott said NBR’s news coverage of the ongoing scandal would remain strictly neutral. There would be no restriction on NBR’s regular columnists to analyse events as they unfolded.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Far out!
Sounds a bit harsh?
Don’t the NBR do ‘warnings’ or was Jock Anderson’s filing of ‘copy on NBR ONLINE yesterday morning purporting to be the NBR’s stance on the controversy. (his copy was headed “Editorial” and called for Mr Brown to stay on as mayor)’ – SERIOUS MISCONDUCT?
What do others think?
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
Who remembers Dove Myer Robinson’s trysts – he was apparently quite legendary and it didn’t harm his mayoral job at all. Mostly heard it from my parents and their friends – I was a bit too young to really take it in, but my partner heard it resurface on the radio today.
I knew a bit about other mayors as well, but I’m not even going to name them. It had nothing to do with how they ran or misran the city.
I heard a lot of stories about Banks which had nothing to do with sex, but can’t produce evidence. I’m just ecstatic that he might finally be crashing and burning.
I made the mistake of watching Citizen A tonight with guests Colin Craig and Matthew Hooton. So Hoots reckons if we had a better police force, Helen Clark would have been prosecuted for her many criminal activities (election spending etc), and would never have lasted 3 terms.
David Cunliffe is further left than any social democrat country int he world (or is it Europe) – he’s gone VERY far left. People in the National Party thought Simon Brudges was excellent on Campbell Live and he’s a potential leader of Nats.
Alternative universe really.
I watched Citizen A too and was commenting out loud how restrained Matthew Hooten was, but then he let fly at the end about the Police and their lack of prosecutions re Helen Clark and how terrible it will be if we elect a Mana/Green/Labour [his order], he then said Labour/Green/Mana. I also wanted to wreck our TV when he carried on about Simon Bridges on Campbell Live – sheesh a potential leader of the Nats, spare me. I suppose he was being serious, but he had that bloody smirk on his dial which tells me he’s just stirring. Oh, and for David Cunliffe and Labour espousing far left policies – yep he’s just stirring.
“David Cunliffe is further left than any social democrat country int he world (or is it Europe)”
No. He’s not.
In Hooten and Colin Craig’s little universe he is.
That’ll be where Planet Key is then
a switcheroo from the “once he’s in he’ll drag the party to the centre / right” narrative the tory scribes and talking heads ran with following his election as party leader; Yes , you, RW lurkers, are so transparent it’s a wonder you spend as much time grooming as you do.
it’s a Marvel universe karol
3D printophiles rejoice.
Amaze is a loose acronym for Additive Manufacturing Aiming Towards Zero Waste and Efficient Production of High-Tech Metal Products.
[…]
Amaze researchers have already begun printing metal jet engine parts and aeroplane wing sections up to 2m in size.
These high-strength components are typically built from expensive, exotic metals such as titanium, tantalum and vanadium.
Using traditional casting techniques often wastes precious source material.
Additive manufacturing – building parts up layer-on-layer from 3D digital data – produces almost “zero waste”.
“To produce one kilo of metal, you use one kilo of metal – not 20 kilos,” says Esa’s Franco Ongaro.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24528306
The best thing about 3D printing in high density materials is that it’s going to be very cheap to set up which means that any country will be able to manufacture anything they choose and with that you can kiss goodbye to long distance trade.
We (NZ) really, really, really need to get on the R&D with this and that means government funding. We will not get it any other way.
Which is BS of course – everything is recycled and reused in any decent foundry.
Not in the one I worked in CV where barring spills and mishaps a materials loss at 3.0% to 10% was tolerable because of the inefficiency of recovery.
Fair nuff
The real inefficiency in foundries is energy, excluding materials the loss of other inputs is particularly high – casting sand losses were at 20% and more, being around half of total losses.
Apart from a bit of skim with the burnt off refractories, oxides and the like. Even those are usually blocked and sent back to the scrap metal people..
I can’t find the reply button, but I feel terribly slighted*:
“r0b is a professor at a major university. Mike Smith is semi-retired, but used to run the Labour party. The people under pseudonyms past and present are pretty damn successful at whatever they can do. This is one of the reasons why many of the authors here write using a pseudonym – we don’t want the shallowness of the media to interfere with what we really value.”
I’m a senior research fellow at the university rated 90th in the world. I received an Outstanding Referee Award from the American Physical Society. I saw one metric that put me in the top 4% of active physicists in the world. I think that’s reasonably successful. I’m all over google. Not bad for someone who has been accused of not understanding Newton’s Laws 🙂
I don’t use a pseudonym because I’m terminally ill and don’t give a fuck. What can anyone do to me that I haven’t done to myself? I make no judgement either way about people who do.
“Offhand I think that the only other person from here who has been on the media was Clinton Smith before he went to work for politicians, and Jenny has been on The Nation once when she was working on Cunliffe’s election team. Currently we have no-one volunteering to be a talking head.”
I’ve been interviewed by New Scientist Magazine, newspapers in Australia, and radio stations on both sides of the Tasman. I am not volunteering to be a talking head.
*Not actually slighted at all, just saying this to ram down the illiterate right wingers’ throats that there’s more talent to be found around here than in all the RWNJ hate blogs of the world combined.
[lprent: The reply button disappears when the comments are indented 10.
I was just confining it to some of the outed authors. Even then I forgot a lawyer (hi Mickey!), Jenny – PR, and probably many others..
Don’t get me started on the commenters who seem to range over everything… ]
Wow, Murray, and it’s an honour to be engaging with your wit.
PR, you say Lynn…
Watching Joyce speak in the house reminds me of the penguin in Batman movies. Left hand thrusting up and down like an energy charged banker..or something rhyming. They are so ridiculous. I despair at where my taxes are going.
So Eleanor Catton, Man Booker prize winner (well done), says on the one hand …” I don’t see that my age has anything to do with what is between the covers of my book, any more than the fact that I am right-handed. It’s a fact of my biography, but it’s uninteresting.”
And then with a straight face and the other hand claims some of her reviewers are themselves driven by factors of gender and age…
“People whose negative reaction has been most vehement have all been men over about 45.”
.
Sheesh, some people.
Will have to hunt down a few more of her gems for daytime giggles (like the one she punched out yesterday about gold and pounamu, maori and pakeha).
It seems age is a major determinant in her verbal ravings, given the level of naivety shown.
“People whose negative reaction has been most vehement have all been men over about 45” is a fact about their biographies. It’s uninteresting. Where does she say they’re driven by factors of gender and age?
why mention gender or age?
Because everyone else was?
no defence whatsoever weka, you can do better than that.
Not having a dig at her talents or good works, merely highlighting a common trait in some highly talented and well know people who think their talents extend beyond what they are recognised for. Other examples include Sam Neil and Bono.
Seems strange that National don’t want to drug-test the police, nor does the police association despite often calling for a gun on every hip. They should have tested the overly angry officer who broke the neck of Jakob Christie with a batton in 2009, and be thankful he wasn’t carrying the much lauded gun on every hip.
Police and poaka are both words that start with P. Funny that, because it drives people into uncontrollable rages as well. In São Paulo, a lot of the police sell and/or use cocaine, especially right in the centre of the city. It does wonders for their emotional stability and they are heavily armed. People die.