Open mike 18/04/2010

29 comments on “Open mike 18/04/2010 ”

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1. prism 1

   18 April 2010 at 9:09 am

   On Chris Laidlaw Nat Radio this a.m. discussions on fishing quota system and its inherent tendency to cause waste of by-catch because of the deemed value that catchers have to pay out of earnings heavily depleted by paying quota holders and rising costs. Interesting. I wouldn’t trust the Fish Managers running the system, which does not receive any government money apparently, despite government receiving money. How responsible is that with an important food and export source?

   Later there is discussion on economics of happiness with one academic noting that wealthy countries are not happier, and there are other commentators and approaches. Should be interesting. It would be good to have a goal for a direction and approach in this country leading to a more satisfying life and also some options on coping after the oil downturn
   • Fisiani 1.1

     18 April 2010 at 9:11 pm

     The latest political poll has recorded National retaining high levels of support.

     The TVNZ/Colmar Brunton poll put National support on 54 percent and Labour on 33 percent.

     A series of polls over the past year have recorded National with around a 20 percentage point lead over Labour.

     Even bigger lead by 2011 methinks.
2. h1 2

   18 April 2010 at 10:39 am

   No words for this…… http://nmvsite.com/terrorism-thats-personal

   btw, a warning, this will wind the misanthropy off the dial.
3. Olwyn 3

   18 April 2010 at 10:47 am

   This link does draw attention to Rodney Hide’s personal life, which I know many think should be above discussion, but it seems to me to highlight the callous form of liberalism that those on the right often seem to find acceptable.

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10639142

   Don Brash, Richard Prebble, Rodney Hide. They all seem to exploit the understanding we show toward the grand passion or the breakdown of a relationship in a callous, egocentric exercise of trading up or trading in. And in at least two of these examples, the woman has been persuaded to leave her country and family by these men, to ultimately find herself dumped. Furthermore, the sexologist’s advice to Rodney’s ex, “Never diss your ex-husband, darling – remember that you married him.” reflects the pre-feminist line of “never disagree with your husband in public.”
   • Rex Widerstrom 3.1

     18 April 2010 at 3:46 pm

     … in at least two of these examples, the woman has been persuaded to leave her country and family by these men, to ultimately find herself dumped

     Well Hide met his wife at university, presumably in NZ, so she’d already made the decision. Don’t know anything about Brash’s wife other than what I’ve read in the MSM (so, in other words, absolutely nothing reliable) but I certainly can’t imagine Nancy Prebble as the naive ingenue you seem to assume these women are.

     On another note entirely, though still one of manners, nice to see from that article that David Garrett is still his polite, well-cultured self.
   • Pascal's bookie 3.2

     18 April 2010 at 4:20 pm

     Furthermore, the sexologist’s advice to Rodney…

     And she said Hide “should practise some of the grace he learned on Dancing With the Stars”.

     … is some quality snark considering he dropped his dance partner on her head.

     None of our business, family values etc.

     That said, I seem to recall that Brash had an excuse about that letter sent to the dean of the ChCh Cathedral complaining that he shouldn’t have let Helen Clark speak there on account of her ‘atheism’ and lack of respect for the ‘institution of marriage’.

     Excuse was that he didn’t write it, Steven Joyce did.

     Now that’s an obviously shit excuse. It was over Brash’s signature, end of story. If he wants to let Joyce write things in his name that’s his lookout.

     This ‘institution’ though. And the respect. It’s a funny business. Marriage has changed. Was a time when it was fundamentally about property and inheritance rights. Illegitimate children and such. And coverture of course. That’s what marriage useda be, The coverture. A married couple was one person, and that person was the male. Right there is why spouses couldn’t be asked to testify agin each other, they were the same person. Just a domestic, not unrelated.

     These are family values of a sort, and an institution too.

     ‘swhy I always sharpen my eyes when someone starts blathering to me about traditional family values.
   • felix 3.3

     18 April 2010 at 5:34 pm

     If you listen closely you can hear a swooshing sound. It’s the sound of the women of Epsom turning their backs on Rodney Hide. Forever.
4. outofbed 4

   18 April 2010 at 10:58 am

   A week is a long time in politics
   http://i.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01618/ADAMS180410_1618459c.jpg
   The Lib Dems are on level pegging with the Tories and New lab but may only get 15% of the seats because of FPP
   This would be a great result for the MMP campaign here in New Zealand
   • ianmac 4.1

     18 April 2010 at 11:45 am

     Remember Outofbed when under FPP if you lived in a true blue (or pink, or red) electorate, that your vote was worthless. I once voted for a really obscure candidate/party in protest at a wasted vote.
5. the pinkpostman 5

   18 April 2010 at 3:16 pm

   Who saw the interview with Nick Smith regarding the dismisal of the Christchurch council (TV3 news last night) ?
   I could not believe that a Minister could make such insulting comments towards Ruby Fowler regarding her stand over this undemocratic dismisal of a lawfull elected council. What next have this lot in store for us?
   However I have no doubt that Ruby a Labour Party ex-councilor will be more than a match for this creepy MP.
   • ianmac 5.1

     18 April 2010 at 3:38 pm

     Yes saw that. And he might have inflamed many further during his rave by saying that “the Councils had written asking for it.” The Councils were not asked nor involved. It was just the 10 or so mayors who each no doubt had a different agenda. Otherwise why else wouldn’t they have put the concerns before their councils? As far as I can tell the only real concern was that water rights were not being dished out fast enough from a hard pressed water resource.
     Good on yer Ruby. Grey Power rulz!
6. outofbed 6

   18 April 2010 at 3:22 pm

   Nick Smith really is mad as a meataxe
   He will explode one day and tiny droplets of madness will rain down
   It will be called “acid rain”
   • the sprout 6.1

     18 April 2010 at 3:50 pm

     so true. it seems like there are very many PSI pushing out from within his knarled wee skull.
   • Kevin Welsh 6.2

     18 April 2010 at 4:47 pm

     He’s madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year’s Mr Madman competition. (Blackadder, of course… who else?)
7. rod 7

   18 April 2010 at 4:55 pm

   The Tory BRAT PACK are alive and well. Nothing changes.
8. Draco T Bastard 8

   18 April 2010 at 7:48 pm

   QTR linked an article over on Red Alert an article that has the US government finally admitting that all the IP infringement numbers used over the last few years are complete bogus.
9. Brett Dale 9

   18 April 2010 at 8:36 pm

   I wouldnt vote for Hyde for a million dollars, but this is jounralism at its worse.
10. The Baron 10

    18 April 2010 at 8:38 pm

    Aw, no post yet criticising the “rogue poll” on one tonight?

    Perhaps a bit unfair of me – 2 hours isn’t really enough time to work out a positive spin on why both Labour and the Greens are moving backwards, despite their howls of outrage at nearly everything the Govt. does.

    Oh well, I await with baited breath. Marty, surely you can whip up a snazzy wee graph to show me how dramatic changes in polling are just around the corner (Whoops, done that already); or Eddie can tell us how word on the street is that Key is losing his gloss (oh no, done that too!); or maybe one of the other commenters can work out a way to spin some weak anecdote into desperate evidence of the National government’s popularity…

    What would be more fun to watch is the feeding frenzy that I reckon is about to start, as the left starts tearing strips out of each other in sheer desperation. So who do you think should replace the failed waste of space that is Phil Goff, team? See, I can make predictions too!
    
    [lprent: Sigh. Why not be a good troll, wait for one of the authors to get interested.

    We seldom post on polls unless they have a significant movement (or we’re coming up to an election). I think that the last two posts were looking at NZ First in the Roy Morgan, and the confidence in the government in Roy Morgan.

    So you’re banned for a week. Read the last part of the about to figure out why. ]
    • r0b 10.1

      18 April 2010 at 9:25 pm

      I guess this is the only kind of big poll that TB gets to wave about, so we lefties shouldn’t begrudge him his vicarious excitement. And neither should we fret unduly, it’s still a long time until the next election, and events in England show us just how quickly a seemingly insurmountable Tory lead can melt away…
    • Armchair Critic 10.2

      18 April 2010 at 10:02 pm

      The website doesn’t even comment on the trends, which says a lot about the quality of journalism at TV One.
      How exciting for you, TB, a mid-term poll with National well in the lead. I sincerely hope this brings you the same amount of joy in 18 months time, even when the polls at the time show something different. Did you just take the poll at face value, or do you know what the trends are? Care to comment on the trends? I’ll give you a clue, or maybe two, it ain’t all rosy. May the government continue to reap the benefits of crapping all over itself and NZ for the next 18 months.
11. Nick C 11

    18 April 2010 at 9:02 pm

    Speaking of polls:

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3594840/Poll-shows-National-support-remains-high

    It seems that no matter how much authors at the standard moan about mining national parks and benefit cuts and whales, Kiwis want a government which isnt going to bankrupt the country. If the British return Labour to power they will get what they deserve.
    
    [lprent: That is only vaguely on topic. Moved to OpenMike. ]
    • Marty G 11.1

      18 April 2010 at 9:09 pm

      At odds with the Roy Morgans. Will be interesting to see where next week’s RM is.
    • gobsmacked 11.2

      18 April 2010 at 9:13 pm

      Actually, Nick, in poor poll results the NZ Labour Party still has a higher share of support than the UK Labour Party, who look like being returned to power.

      So you’ll be campaigning to keep MMP, then?
    • Armchair Critic 11.3

      18 April 2010 at 10:26 pm

      This poll says the proverbial ship is still afloat, but polling trends show it is clearly sinking. The only question is – will it remain afloat until the next election? You’d better pray your corrupt heroes can plug the leaks for another 18 months.
12. Armchair Critic 12

    18 April 2010 at 9:48 pm

    With one hand they giveth, a year later they taketh away. A rise in course fees, another reason for NZ-trained medical professionals to head to Australia, the UK or USA.
13. gingercrush 13

    19 April 2010 at 12:56 am

    Oh surprise surprise the lefties are in mass denial about a poll result (well ok 1 or 2). Predictably a poll you lot don’t agree with is quickly denounced. If you want to talk about trends how about the fact Goff’s rating is going no where. Or how about the constant polls that show Labour + Greens 20 points behind National. Or that more people were optimistic about the economy than pessimistic. Those are real trends.

    Of course thing could turn around in 18 months. I read many threads and hundreds of comments by the same lefties prior to the election. You lot were wrong. How about just facing the fact that while Labour isn’t technically losing ground and National isn’t gaining (has actually slightly fallen on the whole from where it was earlier this term). The signs aren’t good.

    Sure if you want to be optimistic in 18 months time many may dislike this government. But as we’ve seen in Great Britain a government can do terrible (and be full of scandals etc) and yet still win the election and become government again (we’re yet to see it but looking at it could well be the case). National could lose the election in 2011 but is Labour going to win it?

    I don’t think so. Not when you have a leader that isn’t gaining traction. That performs well for a few weeks then disappears losing whatever momentum he might have had. Brings out one good policy i.e. changes to the Reserve Bank and then follows that with a policy that says the PM should be highest paid in government? When other members are more concerned about petty matters in the house than real issues to Labour voters. Or better yet just attack John Key even if that completely failed the first time. Not content with attacking John Key but lets go attack the Maori Party. Brilliant strategy. Of course how any of that will get South Aucklanders and Maori to go out and vote is beyond me. (you won 2005 precisely because those people actually voted).
    • felix 13.1

      19 April 2010 at 1:19 am

      I’ve been enjoying your analysis lately ginge. Keep it up.
    • lprent 13.2

      19 April 2010 at 1:32 am

      1. I consider C-B polls to be markedly inaccurate. R-M (as far as I can tell) tend to be more accurate. There is some significant difference in their methodologies.

      2. This C-B poll from the numbers people have been plastering about, is roughly the same as previous C-B polls given a error of +/- 3.5%. In that it agrees with the R-M polls which haven’t been showing significant movement in political support either.

      3. The only people who seem to think the fact that polls aren’t moving mid-term as being significant, are the idiots who have been dropping it through the posts here. These right supporters seem to be wetting their knickers about how exciting that is. So much so, that I’ve been picking up their comments in the wrong posts all night and moving them (which I find irritating). I had to ban The Baron for pissing in his panties like a child trying to tell us what we should be writing about. I just wish you’d all learn some bladder control.

      4. The only poll figures that I’ve found interesting recently, ie showing movement, has been the Roy Morgan poll on confidence in the direction of the country is taking. I’m wanting to see the next R-M poll to see if that is sustained. To me, that is the interesting poll result at present because it effectively measures uncertainty – and tends to presage political shifts

      5. Please stop being a dickhead and talk about something that isn’t largely meaningless. Talking about the significance of infinitesimal changes in polls mid-term is like divination by chicken entrails, and makes you (and others) look like a political fools. That is the only surprise that I see. You’re starting to look like a one of the talking heads on the idiot box (or a DPF desperate to find something to waffle about).

Links to post

1. Bogus bullshit on the costs of copy and counterfeit « The Standard: posted on 19 April 2010 at 8:03 am

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