Open mike 18/08/2019
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7:00 am, August 18th, 2019 - 75 comments
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- Real Kiwis Say Welcome
One day there will come a timeWhen the person you are named after diesAnd all of a sudden, you're the only one leftSong: The Smith Street BandThis headline jumped out at me yesterday: Racism fallout at North Shore Hospital after patient request to avoid Asian staff.The article is sparse in ...34 mins ago - A better way of living
Nicola Willis and her boss have been peddling a fake short history of the previous government that runs as follows:They spent and spent, they had nothing to show for it and that is not how you grow the economy, because You can't tax yourself to prosperity.There is a sort of ...5 hours ago - The End of the Beginning of a Curate’s Egg: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episode 8...
There’s a bad taste in my mouth. And it has nothing to do with dinner. The Rings of Power season two – undoubtedly a massive improvement on season one – has concluded on a mixed note. It’s not season one bitterness, in that parts of this episode were indeed excellent, ...9 hours ago - Join the Protest 23-October
This is a live page and will be updated with updates and resources.Facebook page: No to Privatisation by StealthSigns ...15 hours ago - If the Rain Comes
If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.They might as well be dead,If the rain comes, if the rain comes…Can you hear me that when it rains and shines,It's just a state of mind,Can you hear me, can you hear me?Song: Lennon-McCartneyIt’s been quite a week for Dunedin ...1 day ago - Up and down
1 day ago - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head: Dunedin Flooding
I noted a few days ago that the Hospital protest happened to coincide with favourable weather. Well, it was a very happy coincidence, because the past twenty-four hours have been rather wet in this part of the world. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/weather-pictures-dunedin-flooded-as-state-of-local-emergency-declared/HNOB5YIEWFCUXNWXYIWGICZ6ZU/ In terms of sheer amount of rain, it’s one of those ...2 days ago - Is the New Zealand’s Retirement Strategy Sustainable?
Today’s mañana strategy will lead to a crisis for the oldest elderly.It is said that the only certainties are death and taxes, but a lack of each causes uncertainties. As longevity increases, the pressures on state spending increase. A reluctance to increase taxation means the pressures on the elderly increase.The ...2 days ago - Taking the piss
When cancer minister Casey Costello convinced Cabinet to give her mates at Philip Morris a $216 million tax cut, she did so in the face of departmental advice that there would be no benefits and that Philip Morris' "heated tobacco products" were more cancerous and toxic than cigarettes. But she ...2 days ago - National’s democratic suppression fails
Last week, National rammed its destructive offshore gas-drilling legislation through to select committee under urgency, and then gave submitters only four working days to have a say on it. The goal was clearly to stifle opposition, but it appears to have failed spectacularly: Despite being given only 3½ working ...2 days ago
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- The new winning face of the Government
Yesterday’s NZME “Mood of the Boardroom” survey should be a wake-up call for the Government. This annual survey polls a wide range of private and public sector business leaders. Respondents to the survey rated their confidence in the New Zealand economy at 3.23 out of five, the highest score for optimism ...2 days ago
- The Farcical Casey Costello Saga
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4 days ago - A private matter
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The word “blow-out” is such a politically loaded term. It carries a strong whiff of extravagance and incompetence. In fact, and with public health budgets in particular, going “over budget” is a sign that reality has finally caught up with what – from the outset – was always a budget ...5 days ago
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Reader Pete Hodgson was in touch after Saturday’s edition to offer his speech notes from the Dunedin rally. They are excellent, they deserve the widest audience. My name is Pete Hodgson, and I chaired or served on the governance group of the new hospital for 6 years until last Xmas. ...6 days ago - Climate Change: The end of coal in the UK
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..Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.National Party leader (current), Christopher Luxon, speaking at a public meeting in Gore, in January last year:“Now lets be clear, Dunedin Hospital, started under a National Government, mucked around under a Labour Government for ...6 days ago - A tipping point?
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35,000 strong march in Dunedin to protest Government hospital cuts - showing us how it’s done. Thank you Dunedin!IN PICTURES Photo Credits : RNZ, ODT, Debunking Conspiracies Aotearoa, BHN, NZH, Stuff Related Reading:Bye Bye Health Verrall to Levy: "Health NZ NDAs are North Korean - Get rid of it."Lester Levy ...1 week ago - Stranded in paradise
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Education Minister Erica Stanford still can’t confirm when the Government will deliver the $2 billion worth school upgrades she cut earlier this year. ...2 days ago - Release: Govt failing NZ’s manufacturing sector
Labour acknowledges the hundreds of workers today losing their jobs as the Winstone Pulp mill closes and what it will mean for their families and community. ...3 days ago
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In Budget '24, the National Government put aside $216 million to pay for a tax cut which mainly benefitted one company: global tobacco giant Philip Morris. Instead of giving hundreds of millions to big tobacco, National could have spent the money sensibly, on New Zealand. ...3 days ago
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Te Whatu Ora’s financials from the last year show the Government has manufactured a financial crisis to justify making cuts that are already affecting patient care. ...3 days ago
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The end of free Rapid Antigen Tests today is another sign the Government is giving up on the challenge of protecting the community from Covid-19. ...6 days ago
- Release: Government breaks promise on ferry plan
Time has run out for Nicola Willis who has failed to keep her promise to deliver a solution to replace the Interislander ferries by today. ...6 days ago
- Release: Labour supports marches for better health
Labour supports Buller and Dunedin communities who are marching today and calling on the Government to act urgently to fix the health crisis. ...6 days ago
- Raising speed limits will cost our communities
The Government’s move to disregard all evidence and increase speed limits will result in serious harm. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Buller community
The Green Party stands in solidarity with the Buller community in its silent protest for better healthcare. ...1 week ago
- Release: Proposed job losses devastating for Timaru
News that the Smithfield meatworks could close is devastating for the hundreds of people who work there, Timaru and the wider region. ...1 week ago
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The Government is taking tertiary education down a worrying path with new reporting finding that fourteen of the country’s sixteen polytechnics couldn’t survive on their own,” Labour’s tertiary education spokesperson Dr Deborah Russell says. ...1 week ago
- TPM issues warning to Govt: Back down or prepare for the wrath of the million Māori
Today the government announced a $30m cut to Te Ahu o Te Reo Māori- a programme that develops te reo Māori among our kaiako. “This announcement is just the latest in an onslaught of attacks on te iwi Māori,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. ...1 week ago
- Govt set to break promise on Dunedin Hospital
The Green Party is calling on the Government to honour its promise to Dunedin and build its new hospital to full capacity. ...1 week ago
- Release: Dunedin Hospital d-listed by Government
The non-announcement in Dunedin today had Ministers leaving broken promises and a likely severely diluted hospital build in their wake. ...1 week ago
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The Government has shown its true intentions for the public service and economy – it’s not to get more public servants back to the office, it’s more job losses. ...1 week ago
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The National Government is hiding the gaps in the health workforce from New Zealanders, by not producing a full workforce plan nearly a year into their tenure. ...1 week ago
- Release: Government cuts fair pay for bus drivers
The Government has cut funding for bus drivers to get paid fairly for the work they do, Labour transport spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...1 week ago
- Crown Minerals Bill Advances Colonisation
Today, the Crown Mineral Amendment Bill was read for the first time, reversing the ban on oil exploration off the coast of Taranaki. It was no accident that this proposed law change was read directly after the Government started to unravel the ability of iwi and hapū Māori to have ...2 weeks ago
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Proposed cuts to Kāinga Ora reflect a failure to fully commit to fixing the housing crisis. ...2 weeks ago
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Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Justice, Tākuta Ferris, has hit out at the Government, demanding the Crown prove its rights to the foreshore, following the Marine and Coastal Area Amendment Bill, passing its first reading. "Māori rights to the foreshore pre-exist the Declaration of Independence, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and ...2 weeks ago
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The Government must immediately help evacuate New Zealanders and Lebanese whanau caught up in the current conflict unfolding across south Lebanon. ...2 weeks ago
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Gun lobbyist Nicole McKee and her conflict of interest has struck again, this time removing safety regulations from shooting clubs and ranges in New Zealand. ...2 weeks ago
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The real problem in the public sector is ongoing job losses and cuts to the front line. ...2 weeks ago
- Government undermines public service with WFH crackdown
The Green Party says the Government’s retrograde move to tighten up on Work from Home arrangements is the latest in a series of blows to the Public Service. ...2 weeks ago
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The National Government is oblivious to the impact cuts to services will have on New Zealanders who are doing the hard yards caring for mentally ill family members. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Public service set up to fail under National
Nicola Willis has set up the public service to fail to pay for reckless tax cuts for landlords and the tobacco industry. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Coalition cooking up costly RMA replacement
National continues to dismantle environmental protections in the interests of rushing through unsustainable development that will ultimately cost communities. ...2 weeks ago
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- Strong support for NZ minerals strategy
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- Human rights recommendations accepted
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ExKiwiForces this would interest you.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018709193/kriv-stenders-the-battle-of-long-tan
Kriv Stenders: The Battle of Long Tan Listen duration 10′ :04″
From Sunday Morning, 7:23 am today
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This Sunday marks the day in 1966 in South Vietnam where a company of Australian and New Zealand soldiers in a rubber plantation called Long Tan fought to hold off a force of two thousand Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. Kriv Stenders has made a movie about the men of D Company who had to battle against the odds for four hours in torrential rain. The film is Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.
Here is probably on the best movies made on the conflict in Vietnam, and considered by many to be one of the best war movies overall….personally I would give that credit to Elem Klimov's Come and See (1985).
La 317ème section, Pierre Schoendoerffer (1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6W9gPk00Cw&list=PL7c2UdvNJusR4-jy6BSap03_8A1VuJ5dn
Come and See – (1985)
Haven't seen these two and thank you for the heads up.
Cheers for the link, I'll listen to it when I'm out bush this week during my downtime while tidying up yard after the ministry of finance (wife) wanted a new flushing thunder box or in between fighting bush fires.
I'm hoping to catch the movie on the big screen when it comes to Darwin and not put it off as I did with movie "6 Days" a few yrs ago. From what I'm hearing atm the movie is pretty good from all accounts and it has impressed the yank movie critics etc.
It's a damn shame old Maurice Stanley the Kiwi FOO (Forward Observer Officer is not around anymore as he's after battle presentation on the Battle of Long Tan is worth listening too incl the lessons learnt from the Battle of Long Tan. Without him and his two signallers Willie Walker from the RNZAC and Murray Broomhall RNZA as Harry Smith's link back to the Dat and the Kiwi BC (battery Commander) incl his staff of NZ 161Bty in which ran/ Co-Ord all the Fire support and, Close Air support missions and the aerial resupply during the lull in the battle. They now without the Kiwi's it would've been a very different story for D Coy 6RAR and possible for the rest of the 1ATF at the Dat as the field defences of 1ATF hadn't been completed yet and wasn't fully up to strength IRT manpower either.
Heck even the US General Westmoreland and his staff were shitting bricks at was happening during the Battle of Long Tan from what I've read and have been told from a few vets of the Battle of Long Tan.
It was a very close run indeed.
Hearing about what training for political life is availabe to MPs was a bracer for me.
7.32 The House http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house
When MPs first turn up to Parliament they are often surprised at the incredibly varied demands of their jobs. And as their careers progress the skill demands change and increase. So who trains them to do those jobs? Parliamentary programme The House looks at new moves to upskill the people running the country.
Katherine Rich, Chair of the Parliamentary Education Charitable Trust and Girol Karacaoglu, head of the Victoria University School of Government Photo: VNP / Phil Smith
Audio for above https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/the-house/audio/2018708709/mps-head-back-to-school
Hi everybody – lovely day in Nelson though cool. I am putting up some interesting things from Radionz that are good.
This was interesting. It is wise to build relationships with China and build good business there, and at the same time ease off from the USA as we can.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018708828/disappearing-students-how-nz-is-wasting-opportunities-with-our-chinese-graduates
Thank you grey.
Fighting on the streets in Queenstown at 3 am. What is the bet that these had been drinking alcohol in bars? If they had been sitting in bars drinking coffee and listening to music and chatting or singing it would have been unlikely to end like this.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396937/two-injured-in-serious-assault-in-queenstown
This is NZ hypocrisy exposed, once again. Big on drugging really, and that is why it is hard to get appropriate controls on drugs, every time there must be some precious political time consumed deciding whether synthetic cannabis is all right but not something else. Always with alcohol being pushed. People allowed, almost encouraged to become addicted with RTDs being high alcohol. Just cut the hours for the bars down – make them get used to it, both the drinkers and the bars, normal closing at 11.30 and emptied by 12.30 am.
And they must have to apply for special licences limited to two a year or six for the area, to stay open till 1 am and be empty by 2.00 a.m. Moans and groans and concerns about lots of people milling about being more likely to become unmanageable will only happen rarely then.
This will save police and hospital time and safety and taxpayers paying out for the stupid and foolish and dissolute.
Fighting in the streets of London at 3am.
Owen Jones targeted by the far right
Perhaps we should all avoid being out at 3 am which seems to be the good time for violence! Trouble is that bring that down to 2 am – for this sort of premeditated attack any time at night would be good for the perps. To mount an attack they must be nearby sitting in a car/van and have someone follow the guy or gal in and monitor them and text or buzz when they move out. So a nasty feeling of background hate all the time if you are sensitive to that stuff.
so they came for the immigrants, now they're going for the columnists.
Sunday WTH? Moment
UN report claims "dozens" of NZers seeking asylum. The mind boggles.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396928/new-zealanders-seeking-asylum-abroad-un-report
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/insight/audio/2018705590/can-new-zealand-s-mental-health-crisis-be-cured
Maybe new New Zealanders who didn't feel like being honourkilled.
Isn't one of them Suzie Dawson?
Well, who wouldn't seek asylum if they had holes appearing their ceiling.
Holy crap! I am sheltered, apparently
Right o, so WTF went on here then….
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396938/retraction-and-apology-to-donghua-liu-for-untrue-statements
“The article claimed that Mr Liu had fled to New Zealand from China and that he was returning to face corruption charges there, for which he could be executed and his organs harvested.
RNZ accepts that none of these statements were true.”
Everything about this guy just gets couriouser and couriouser
Before CGI film makers were clever.
https://twitter.com/silentmoviegifs/status/1161281250650480643
That is brilliant, you can be sure no one is going to be looking back on all the CGI that structures half the movies we see today with any kind of wonder.
I really wish someone of influence could get to Peter Jackson and say to him..'just because you can, doesn't mean you should ' before he ruins any more classic's with his appalling over the top CGI..yuk.
Further sadness re the planet and animals.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/396929/famous-dugong-dies-after-eating-plastic
They are similar to manatees which also are having a hard time.
https://phys.org/news/2019-07-manatee-deaths-watercraft-pace-florida.html
Anyone else at the All Blacks game last night, notice the chorus of boos that went out when our PM was announced. Not sure if those at home could hear it on the television, but I thought it was disgraceful. Never heard that for previous PMs, I do note however that she handled the handshake with far more competence than a certain previous PM…
I was there and heard it.
Got to say – don’t like her and think that this government is a joke – but the booing behaviour was unacceptable.
Yeah, lots of right wing nut jobs in the crowd.
Interesting that you'd comment on it here…
Amusingly – you assume people booed because of their political views as opposed to their views on Jacinda.
More amusing that you find it interesting that I would comment on it in a political blog.
I guess you are just easily impressed.
You'll find I wasn't talking to you. I try not to.
But just what are you trying to say?
That the rabid right were booing the PM not because of their political views, but because they don't like her? What has she done outside politics that has made them so angry? Been successful? Had a baby?
Wearing your England shirt last night, were you?
If it was only the “rabid right” booing Ardern, the left is in serious trouble. Because from what I witnessed last night, they must have made up roughly 70% of the crowd. And as for your comment about me mentioning this here, where else am I meant to mention it, this is open mic.
You're claiming 70% of a 48K crowd were booing the Prime Minister? An event which didn't make the news.
Delusional.
You're right, it was probably only 68%…I dont know if you were there or not, but I was, and it was frankly embarrassing. I get some dislike Ardern, but acting like toddlers and booing someone representing us and doing her job is pathetic. You want her gone, vote for the other guy.
This obviously confirms that Ardern is the most despised PM we've had in modern times…
Obv that’s not the case (yet) but could be representative of the reason her popularity has dropped so much since April to July.
Biccymoyle I'd imagine a labour pm would get a similar reception at a fair few places full of welloff drunks.
guessing they booed her because they don’t like what her government is doing.
At a guess. As for their political views – who knows only a moron would assume the views of an entire 50,000 person crowd (you being a perfect example of being said moron)
I would agree with MB that it was a very large %age of the crowd booing her.
I think you and Mickey Boyle imagined it, and if there was booing it was just you and your boof-head friends.
That's right facts dont matter when they hurt your feelings. Ardern got booed by thousands, I think it was out of line and embarrassing and I was there. It was all over talk back this afternoon. I suppose you're a flat earther too? Since you havent actually seen the earth from space right moron?
Simon Bridges was at the rugby on Saturday night. He was constantly ridiculed and made fun of. Stuff like "Hoi Soimun" and "where's ya Slushy Soimun". His wife looked a bit embarrassed, but drunken rugby buffheads will always take the piss.
You were there and saw this ?
I assume that you would be ok with people talking to Jacinda in the same manner ?
Yes I was there and saw this.
No, verbal abuse is never ok. You should know that James.
i do. That’s why I didn’t boo Jacinda along with the 000’s of people who did.
James, the head of your pin is very small.
He's got it the wrong way around, hence his hippy-hoppity behaviour.
James, you aren’t virtue-signalling, are you?
No.
Thanks for asking.
Have you condemned right wing shock jock Alan Jones for his misogynistic rant the other day?
I love how when people say things about Jacinda what lefties don’t like – they run right to the misogynistic card.
Predictable and weak.
Those people you mention, James: any of them say misogynistic things?
Alan Jones, does he say misogynistic things, do you know?
not necessarily Robert.
And I haven’t read the full Alan Jones column- I know it was far from complementary but have no idea if it was misogynistic or not.
I do think he has a point about the holier then thou “woke” comments however.
Perhaps muttonbirdbrain could point out the misogynistic comments he takes offence to?
"muttonbirdbrain"?
I see where you're coming from, James.
There are coloured swings and slides there and rubber safety-matting.
He's a bit of a pizzlenoggin though isn't he jimbo.
Jones said Scott Morrison should "shove a sock down the throat" of Jacinda Ardern.
Several advertisers have pulled sponsorship from his show. His employer, Macquarie Media, has issued a final warning about such comments. Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull have both condemned Jones, Turnbull calling him an "appalling misogynist" whose use of violent language against female politicians was disgraceful. Jones himself has been forced to apologise on air and in writing to the Prime Minister. Even Fiji hard-man, Frank Bainimarama, has slammed Jones.
Turnbull again, "I mean this is appalling language – and at a time when we are doing everything we can as a national priority to stamp out violence against women and children, you have this broadcaster who uses the language of violence against women as part of his regular rhetoric".
Yet this all seems to mean nothing to you, James, who is ever so quick to point the finger at commenters for not standing up to unacceptable speech. Or perhaps such speech directed at Jacinda Ardern is fine with you.
According to your own logic, you not condemning Jones the way politicians, advertisers and media both sides of the ditch and all over the Pacific have done means you endorse and agree with the latest utterances of that decrepit, far-right, woman hater.
With respect to a culture of violence against women, you sir appear to be part of the problem.
James has used the, "you didn't condemn x-behaviour/person, so that means you endorse/condone blah, blah" so many times that I find myself cheering Muttonbird on for his careful demolition of James's behaviour.
Robert – indeed I do do this – but I think you will find that I do this in regard to specific comments in a thread. – not normally to do with third party links
Very well said, cleanly, fairly, accurately.
You did see where I clearly said I hadn’t read it right?
So you want me to condem comments I haven’t read?
You must have read Muttonbird’s comment that you’re responding to yet you missed your opportunity to speak out and condemn the comments that Muttonbird was referring to!? Instead, you act all defensive and like a victim. BTW, your defence is pathetic IMHO.
Hippity-hoppity.
Jones needs to take his cock out of his mouth IMHO.
That sounds analogous to a Möbius strip in some kind of very disturbingly weird way.
Wasn't there a thing where John Key walked around a rugby field and got booed by the crowd, then got surroiunded by suckups in the corporate box?
Call that walking?
This might create a real upset. One Nation will oppose ScoMo cash ban
Insulting, although well intended. They are aware of the WEAG report that recommended IMMEDIATE increase to benefits. But part of the answer is a very National sounding "budget advice".
"As part of our work on homelessness we are expanding the Sustaining Tenancies programme. It ensures that tenants who may be at-risk of losing their tenancy receive practical support to help them get back on track."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/115087754/government-annouces-54-million-for-homelessness-initiatives
Let’s imagine….you are a landlord, your tenant is behind in rent but pleads with you to hold back on giving them notice because they are getting budgeting advice. Pleeze. They are out on their ear because they are too poor and too stressed to home. Any landlord with a modest level of experience will know it is far easier to get someone else in rather than set themselves up to be owed thousands more in arrears.
They get a lot of ridicule and not much in the way of praise but the RNZAF deserve a big hand for their work in the Pacific.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/08/air-force-orion-s-chance-encounter-saves-18-lives.html
This search/rescue/patrol capability is vital and I think a core duty of New Zealand as a developed economy in the region.
The P8s should help establish an important presence for us in our region of responsibility.
Here's a RNZ news link on the RNZAF's C130 Hec's and yes its amazing that the Erk's/ techo's have managed to keep flying or from falling out of the sky.
And yes "They get a lot of ridicule and not much in the way of praise but the RNZAF deserve a big hand for their work in the Pacific."
BZ, 40SQN and to 5SQN.
BTW, they also hold the record for the shortest possible landing at Dili Airport. in Timor Leste by a C130 and 40SQN hold's a number of other 1st places IRT to the C130 operations incl finding a Sub during a Fincastle Comp in-conjunction with the 5SQN boys when their P3 went tits up and the funny thing is that 5SQN ending up wining the Comp as well which piss off the other Commonwealth Crews.
A wee bit of useless information if you get bored or stumped for a silly question for Trivial night.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396934/hercules-fleet-it-s-amazing-they-ve-managed-to-keep-them-flying
Check out this Twitter thread about a LL who asked to look through the tenants current property (not owned by LL, inspecting prior to accepting them as a tenant)
https://twitter.com/becs355/status/1162494593285230592
that's pretty fucked up. #culturechange
Exposing Australia's housing crisis | 60 Minutes Australia, screened this last week.
Because the world financial system is entering unknown territory, and our housing status isn't far from that in Australia, this 16 minute video makes for interesting viewing.
Boorish and the best lot of hogwash you have heard in a long time. With a background of angels and promises to high heaven.
https://www.indy100.com/article/brexit-news-latest-boris-johnson-vision-for-britain-video-reaction-9062441
And dissolution of Parliament rather than proroguing it is a real possibility in the Tory's minds according to this article. Boorish the Rogue should be his nom-de-gloom. Gina Miller 18/8/19 businesswoman and transparency activist writing for The Guardian.
MPs won’t be forgiven if they fail to stop Boris Johnson’s Brexit ploy
…Unsaid in the letter, but streaming through it like shafts of light through a broken roof, Johnson’s plan of action – doubtless guided by the arch-Brexiter svengali Dominic Cummings – is clearly to call an election and dissolve parliament as soon as the beginning of next month, with polling at some point after the existing Brexit day of 31 October.
He is gambling everything on Jeremy Corbyn’s unpopularity and a public which, at that point, will have yet to experience the full force of no-deal economic headwinds. He may even hold a pre-Brexit budget to lull the public into a false sense of security, bribing them with their own money, through a splurge of new spending promises and tax cuts funded by an increase in the national debt…
Our unwritten constitution has always been based on the assumption that no one as unscrupulous as Johnson or his chief adviser would ever come to reside in 10 Downing Street, but that is what we now have to face up to. A general election on their terms and timetable would guarantee their sacred no-deal Brexit, and assure him five years in office in which to turn the UK into a laboratory for experimenting with the most extreme rightwing ideology we have ever seen.
Brexit is their cloak to disguise political ambitions to change our country. Surrounded by individuals set on putting a torch to the old order, they are using propaganda to set the people against parliament and create chaos out of which will emerge a survivalist economy…
Poll after poll has shown that a no-deal Brexit is emphatically not what the public wants – whatever the Leave campaign-staffed No 10 press office may tell lobby correspondents. For all Dominic Raab’s protests, it was never the way Brexit was sold in the referendum of 2016. And keep in mind these two statistics: Johnson came into office with his talk of “do or die” Brexit on the back of just 92,153 Tory members’ votes. By contrast, more than 6.1 million citizens have signed a petition calling for Article 50 to be revoked.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/18/boris-johnson-brexit-ploy-extreme-rightwing-ideology-gina-miller
What could possibly go wrong with this pair at the helm.
https://twitter.com/brexit_sham/status/1162817313189576704
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-08-16/brexit-architect-cummings-has-radical-no-deal-plans
heh
https://twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1162718929485205504
There was a saying that a UK person's home was their castle. Which was apparently about security of tenure and respect for the individual's property. What about your face? Does that belong to you? Would you allow people to have a mask of your face and wear it wherever they and you go, you could get trouble coming to you that they caused. Facial recognition is rife in the UK and has been for some time, done in secret and by private companies rather than official authorities.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/18/facial-recognition-is-now-rampant-implications-for-our-freedom-are-chilling
Stephanie Hare 18/8/2019 The Guardian
Cracking cover.
Rod Oram considers Fonterra.
"If Fonterra wants to recover from this low point in its history and thrive it needs a bold new and practical strategy, not a tidy up of its failed one. The obvious opportunity is to become one of the world’s leading exponents of dairy farming that’s healthy for the planet, while producing dairy nutrition that’s healthier for people.
Currently, that’s an oxymoron. Dairying is an extractive industry that always damages the climate, and often land and water too, unless it is done exceptionally well. But dairy farmers mustn’t feel picked on. Many ways we produce food globally are as damaging or worse, as a growing body of research details."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/08/18/756988/fonterra-last-chance#