Open mike 19/12/2013

91 comments on “Open mike 19/12/2013 ”

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1. tc 1

   19 December 2013 at 6:55 am

   With hosking being given a prime time soapbox for his shock jock ways and rnz’s robertson making way the MSM is making ready for an election year.
   • Paul 1.1

     19 December 2013 at 7:15 am

     And Paul Henry.
     The elite need 3 more years to gut New Zealand and these paid puppets will be paid serious money to achieve the goal.
     Sadly many NZers can’t see the wood for the trees on this.
   • alwyn 1.2

     19 December 2013 at 9:31 am

     Who is Rnz’s Robertson?. It is a new name to me, except for a Catherine Robertson who sometimes appears on Jim Mora’s panel.
2. Pascal's bookie 2

   19 December 2013 at 7:16 am

   Not the best day for Bitcoin evangelists. We don’t need your stinking reserve bank, etc
   • Ennui 2.1

     19 December 2013 at 2:18 pm

     Actually Pascal, it is a good thing in my book: the price is down so I will increase my holdings and look at it monthly.
3. Tiger Mountain 3

   19 December 2013 at 7:23 am

   TV Studios and airwaves will be befouled by not only one transferred dirty right winger but two.
   Nasty nancy boy Hosking on One will be joined by bullying oaf Paul Henry every week night on Three. They will likely not have been hired to talk about the weather.
   Direct action is called for with flying carpark demos to let these two prize pricks know their efforts are not universally appreciated.

   Who knows at RNZ? A combative Kim Hill type is needed, though her best days were the fag end of the 90s when she took on every duplicitous politician going in the pre blog days.
   • Paul 3.1

     19 December 2013 at 7:27 am

     RNZ being slowly neutered.
     Mora’s programme an example of how libertarian viewpoints getting far more of the limelight than their share of the electorate. Some people within the hierarchy there obviously want neoliberal ideas to be heard a lot.
     • Ron 3.1.1

       19 December 2013 at 8:51 am

       Does no one ever notice the number of right wing fanatics that pop up on Mora’s show. People like Ludemann who is Regional Chair Southern for National who not only invades National Radio but is also on ZB.
       We need commentators that can express intelligent comment without having to resort to party line but unfortunately these are few on any MSM in NZ
       • Tat Loo (CV) 3.1.1.1

         19 December 2013 at 9:42 am

         Mora is such a shit, vacuous interviewer. Instead of pursuing to the heart of the matter to gain real insight, he’d ask shit like, so, at the Nelson Mandela event, were the seats comfortable? You know, because we’ve all had the challenge of sitting on uncomfortable seats for a long time, and it certainly could detract from the proceedings, if the seats werent sufficiently comfortable.

         Its WTF interviewing.
   • Puckish Rogue 3.2

     19 December 2013 at 8:19 am

     Yeah its a shame when other peoples political views get an airing, should be a law against it 🙂
     • Tiger Mountain 3.2.1

       19 December 2013 at 8:47 am

       There is a law against it “Mora’s Law”–Bomber Bradbury banned from RNZ but Hooton and all manner of failed ACT and entrepreneurial types stay on.
     • One Anonymous Knucklehead 3.2.2

       19 December 2013 at 8:55 am

       Did you get the point? That a tiny minority viewpoint dogma is being over-represented? Normally when that happens you start shrieking about political correctness gone mad. Is this particular tiny minority special to you in some way? Or perhaps the fact-free drivel they repeat like a mantra?

       In fact, publicly owned radio does not exist to promote crackpot ideology political views at all, let alone right wing extremism posing as Economics.
       • Puckish Rogue 3.2.2.1

         19 December 2013 at 10:26 am

         “In fact, publicly owned radio does not exist to promote crackpot ideology political views at all, let alone right wing extremism posing as Economics.”

         – Well it supports the left
         • framu 3.2.2.1.1

           19 December 2013 at 12:38 pm

           what do you mean exactly?
           • fender 3.2.2.1.1.1

             19 December 2013 at 1:05 pm

             He has no idea. He’s an idiot so anti left he’s content to spin in an clockwise motion permanently.
           • weka 3.2.2.1.1.2

             19 December 2013 at 7:56 pm

             What he means is it panders to that part of the middle and professional classes who like to think of themselves as Good People. Once upon a time in NZ that meant voting on the left or being socially liberal. Now it means that they want to feel good about themselves, but are unwilling to jeopordise their lifestyle if that’s what it takes to help other people. Mostly they have very little idea of the reality of life outside their own class. Or, they don’t want to know.
             • KJT …

               20 December 2013 at 10:41 am

               If you live somewhere like Mapua, or Orewa, it is not visible, and easy to believe in National’s “economic recovery” and the bennie bashing propaganda.
               When you live somewhere like Whangarei and see the effects of ACT type policies first hand, for yourself, it is much harder to be complacent.

               They are not bad people. Just been fed endless propaganda like the 10 myths about welfare. http://werewolf.co.nz/2011/02/ten-myths-about-welfare/
               If you tell them about the plight of an individual they will reply ;of course I am happy to pay more taxes to help ‘that’ person”. And they generally are. It is not just left wingers who support a living wage.

               We need to get the truth across. That the low paid and those on welfare are ‘that’ person. And ‘that person’ is you or me given a bit of bad luck or an extended period of ill health.

               Time that we got past many living in poverty so that a very few can have great wealth.

               For a period in our history just about every New Zealander was “middle class”.
               Few were very poor or very rich.

               If we can do it once we can do it again.
         • Paul 3.2.2.1.2

           19 December 2013 at 1:11 pm

           So droll
   • phillip ure 3.3

     19 December 2013 at 8:26 am

     “..though her best days were ..”

     ..hardly…hill is in a field of her own..

     ..with no-one else coming within coo-ee..

     ..and i would like to see her back on the telly..

     ..doing what she does so well on radio..

     ..the longform interview..

     ..at that she excels….

     ..phillip ure..
     • Bearded Git 3.3.1

       19 December 2013 at 8:54 am

       Hill did a stint during this year on Morning Report and was as good and clever as ever.

       The real problem will be if they axe Scary-Mary from Checkpoint. If this happens RNZ really is a goner. Watch this space…..
     • Ron 3.3.2

       19 December 2013 at 8:57 am

       I don’t share your love affair with Hill at all. Good researchers on RNZ staff as one would expect but I would sooner have the researcher and forget Hill who seems to me to be an advert for ennui.
       We can do so much better for interviewers. Despite his wacky view on politics imo Perigo was a way better interviewer.
       • Pascal's bookie 3.3.2.1

         19 December 2013 at 9:11 am

         Fair enough. Kim Hill is rated by her peers internationally as being a top flight interviewer though.

         And she’s also rated very highly by her ‘researchers’ too.
       • Bearded Git 3.3.2.2

         19 December 2013 at 11:28 am

         Finlay McDonald would be good to replace Laidlaw or Mora if he ever gives it away (unlikely)
         • phillip ure 3.3.2.2.1

           19 December 2013 at 3:33 pm

           @ bearded git..

           ..yeah..mcdonald and the oirish-lass must be the front-runners..

           ..surely..?

           ..but i also like the person who subs on nine to noon..

           ..she has that rare skill of drawing the interviewee out..letting them speak..

           ..of all interviewers..she is perhaps the one who it is least about them..

           ..it’s a rare quality..

           ..and yeah..scary mary is sometimes too ‘scary’/unrelenting/smashing butterflies with sledgehammers/kicking at corpses..

           ..but i would rather have her there than some milk-sop..

           ..phillip ure..
           • Tim 3.3.2.2.1.1

             19 December 2013 at 5:59 pm

             Lynne Freeman
             (should have got the nine to noon gig in the first place – she doesn’t have isssyoooz either)
   • Che'sCrushedSkull 3.4

     19 December 2013 at 8:31 am

     “……Direct action is called for with flying carpark demos to let these two prize pricks know their efforts are not universally appreciated….”

     Provoke them?
   • Rosie 3.5

     19 December 2013 at 8:44 am

     “Direct action is called for with flying carpark demos to let these two prize pricks know their efforts are not universally appreciated”.

     Seriously, TM, thats not a bad idea. Silence conveys acceptance. There may need to be some level of organisation round demonstrating that Henry will not be tolerated by thinking and caring people.

     Maybe some kind of online campaigning aimed towards TV3 backed up by demo’s outside the studio’s.
     • Tiger Mountain 3.5.1

       19 December 2013 at 8:55 am

       I am sure the online campaigns will start once Henry particularly turns on his mic, but just the occasional unexpected non confrontational creative placard gathering as the Jag convert (Henry) and Maserati (Hosking) start up or arrive could be part of the mix. They did not like the ‘Dikshit’ protests so maybe will opt for cabs.
       • Rosie 3.5.1.1

         19 December 2013 at 9:00 am

         Indeed. No doubt a plan can be formulated closer to the time as they go to air.

         As an aside, are the TV 1 studio’s and TV 3 studio’s in close proximity? (haven’t been in Akld for awhile so can’t really remember where they are)
         • Tiger Mountain 3.5.1.1.1

           19 December 2013 at 9:18 am

           3 is spread about a bit but will prob be in Auckland–http://www.3news.co.nz/Home/Contact.aspx

           Most TVNZ stuff (1 & 2) happens at 100 Victoria St W, central Auckland
   • lurgee 3.6

     19 December 2013 at 9:35 am

     “Direct action is called for with flying carpark demos to let these two prize pricks know their efforts are not universally appreciated.”

     I think they would quite enjoy that, and TV3 would love the extra controversy. They’re deliberately jerking your wire, stop reacting the way they want. Do not feed the trolls!

     I don’t think this is a deliberate ploy to win the 2013 election for national. I doubt TV3 really cares that much. I think it is just hiring two well known controversial figures to boost ratings and hence ad revenue. Don’t invent conspiracies.

     I think they will be largely irrelevant, and not many people will heed them. They’ll convince dim Nat voters to be dim Nat voters. Then Paul Henry will say something stupid and get himself fired, which will be the only time the public at large really notices the show.
4. philj 4

   19 December 2013 at 7:51 am

   xox
   RNZ is terminal. ‘Afternoons’ is looking /sounding mora like 7 Sharp. Cats and silly “What’s the world talking About? ” At least Kathryn Ryan attempts to be balanced and fails.
   No surprise really , as Dick Griffin and fellow Board members work to undermine it’s independence and quality. Chris Laidlaw was a mature, intelligent presenter – goner. Geoff Robinson. RNZ is in serious decline. The last, and only, independent, non commercial public Broadcaster is on life support. Where is Labour on the proper establishment of a quality public Broadcaster, TV and radio? Speak up, stand up, and front up, Labour . Paul, above, I tend to agree with your comments. We are not alone. Kia kaha
   • Paul 4.1

     19 December 2013 at 8:01 am

     I know how to access independent non corporate media sources .
     Sadly too many people don’t have the time, knowledge or awareness to do so.
     It is a concern that they will be manipulated.
     To quote Malcolm X:
     “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
     • phillip ure 4.1.1

       19 December 2013 at 3:28 pm

       @ paul..yeah..i know of one of those ‘independent non corporate media sources’ ..

       ..it’s not hard to ‘access’..

       ..it’s called http://whoar.co.nz/

       ..and based in ak..

       ..eh..?

       ..and that malcom x quote you use is one of the main reasons i expend that energy..

       phillip ure..
   • Ron 4.2

     19 December 2013 at 9:02 am

     We still have Scary Mary on checkpoint, though for how long one wonders
   • lurgee 4.3

     19 December 2013 at 9:49 am

     I really find the paranoid strain developing around here worrying. Everything is a conspiracy to defeat the left. Give Jim Mora a break. He has a 4 hour show, which has to cover all sorts of territory to appeal to a broad range of listeners. Remember, we are not representative of New Zealand as a whole. We’re sad, leftwing political obsessives. People who are Not Like Us don’t want to listen to politics all afternoon. What The World Is Talking About is a humorous 10 minute segment. Why get uptight about it? The Panel – though a bit stale, with the same guests reappearing as ‘experts’ on days when they aren’t guests – is still a decent attempt at a ‘Beyond the headlines’ segment. I think the range of guests he offers is broadly balanced – and the leftier guests generally come across as saner and less hysterical than the right. But the show is a) hamstrung by a very small talent pool who are – I imagine – appearing for free, and b) needs to reflect New Zealand as a whole, and you may have noticed that a lot of them do tend to vote National. An hour of Introductory Dialectics, pronouncement on pig iron production, and occasional stirring renditions of Ode to A Tractor would be very nice, but I don’t think many non-Standardistas would listen. And Radio New Zealand would be failing as a public service broadcaster.

     I don’t think you can really ask for much more than we get in terms of a mainstream, public radio station. It’s not realistic.
     • Draco T Bastard 4.3.1

       19 December 2013 at 10:17 am

       Give Jim Mora a break. He has a 4 hour show, which has to cover all sorts of territory to appeal to a broad range of listeners.

       Well, if he finds it too hard perhaps he should quit – you know, for his health.
       • logie97 4.3.1.1

         19 December 2013 at 11:18 am

         “People who are Not Like Us don’t want to listen to politics all afternoon.”
         Agreed, but when there is a political slot i.e. “The Panel” they expect to hear balance. And Balance there ain’t. It is the Right in spades plus!!!
         • lurgee 4.3.1.1.1

           19 December 2013 at 9:01 pm

           It isn’t a political slot, but current affairs / behind the news, which is a bit different. Nine-to-Noon has a dedicated politics slot, where they do strive to allow sanctimonious blow-hards from the left and right to hold forth.
     • bad12 4.3.2

       19 December 2013 at 2:53 pm

       You might be right lurgee, i have taken to giving Jim Mora that very ‘break’ that you have suggested, my radio goes off at one o’clock and stays thus until five…
5. Paul 5

   19 December 2013 at 9:01 am

   And Campbell Live
   • Tiger Mountain 5.1

     19 December 2013 at 9:13 am

     aka “Campbells Island”, how long will they keep him on? He is the closest thing NZ has to an Edward Murrow type–(“Good night and good luck” starring George Clooney).
6. tricledrown 6

   19 December 2013 at 9:26 am

   Bernard Hickey was on Moras show the other day all hosts including the the right whinging deluded agreed with his pointing out that the picking of red carpet photo op opotunities over an overall properly researched economic policy is Stupid.
   Mora overode them all .
   And started waffling on about the movies.
   • Paul 6.1

     19 December 2013 at 9:27 am

     Mora allows a lot of neoliberal myths to be spouted without challenge.
     • lurgee 6.1.1

       19 December 2013 at 9:50 am

       Not actually true. he tries – in his own nice, easy going manner – to challenge most of his commentators.
       • phillip ure 6.1.1.1

         19 December 2013 at 10:38 am

         untrue..lurgee..

         ..that is perhaps the biggest criticism of mora that can be made..

         ..that he allows so many of his guests to just spout proven lies..invariably lies pushing the rightwing agenda of the govt funding them..

         ..and those in control of the station..

         ..it is not all moras’ fault..in that sense..

         ..but..still..

         ..he could do more..

         ..phillip ure..
         • lurgee 6.1.1.1.1

           19 December 2013 at 9:11 pm

           I’ve exchanged emails with Jim Mora a few times over the years (he’s even name checked me on his show a couple of times, which is almost as good as the time Matinee Idol read out a WHOLE EMAIL I sent them!). I think he feels he can’t always challenge his guests as rigorously as he would like to, because they are often doing the show for free, and it would be a bit rude to give someone a hard time when they are essentially doing you a favour. It also wouldn’t fit the tone of the show, which is not meant to be hard out politics, investigative journalism and confrontational interviews. You get that at 5pm, courtesy of the excellent Mary Wells. Afternoons is meant to be a bit more laid back and easygoing.

           Again, I think people are assuming the rest of the country wants to hear the sort of stuff WE want to hear. I think people need to be a bit more realistic in their expectations of an afternoon magazine programme aimed at non-political, middle New Zealand.

           Or must everything be viewed through the lense of the class war? “Right, Yvonne, the wine to go with that, it has to be RED, of course, we don’t serve any other sort … And today’s feature album, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy, by Billy Bragg, who has been our featured artist for the last three weeks …”
           • Paul 6.1.1.1.1.1

             19 December 2013 at 9:20 pm

             You seem in denial about the power of the corporate media.
             Have you seen this film?
             
             • lurgee …

               20 December 2013 at 7:20 am

               You seem to be more than necessarily paranoid about why Afternoons is an easy going show.
           • logie97 6.1.1.1.1.2

             19 December 2013 at 10:31 pm

             … if it is just News behind the News, then how come one of his permanent panels is Edwards/Boag.
             • lurgee …

               20 December 2013 at 7:16 am

               Because they were the first guests on the first panel, I believe, so they’ve been kept together ever since. Which is a miserable fate for Bryan.
7. Papa Tuanuku 7

   19 December 2013 at 9:40 am

   When they replace Robinson on Radio NZ, can we ensure it’s someone with a NZ accent?
   • Bearded Git 7.1

     19 December 2013 at 10:17 am

     So you are ruling out a quarter of the population born overseas? (See latest census). That is brilliant, just brilliant. (Irony alert)
   • bad12 7.2

     19 December 2013 at 2:59 pm

     i know how you feel, there’s a pommy Dame,(yeah apparently a real one),who is also a Jonolist making a regular appearance on Nine to Noon who when-ever i have the displeasure to listen to Her talk about Herself,(which She does on most appearances),in Her Plum up the B** and Silver Spoons firmly lodged hoity toity voice puts my humble old radio firmly on the endangered species list,

     Why not someone with some relevance, surely RadioNZ can find one person from New Zealand living in the land of the Poms to give us their take on what it’s like over there compared to New Zealand…
   • lurgee 7.3

     19 December 2013 at 9:02 pm

     Someone who ‘looks like a New Zealander,’ surely?
8. Bearded Git 8

   19 December 2013 at 9:52 am

   Hone takes Key to pieces here:

   http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11174681
   • karol 8.1

     19 December 2013 at 10:24 am

     Thanks BG. Excellent repost from Hone!
   • vto 8.2

     19 December 2013 at 10:44 am

     Yes that is very good.

     The pen is mightier than the sword – keep it up Hone
     • Puckish Rogue 8.2.1

       19 December 2013 at 11:53 am

       Shame he can’t be bothered to turn up to parliament though
       • chrissy 8.2.1.1

         19 December 2013 at 12:07 pm

         pr

         Why would Hone or anyone bother turning up at Parliament, especially at question time. National never answer questions and just use the time to show off their inferior repartee and wit. Embarrassing bunch.
         • Puckish Rogue 8.2.1.1.1

           19 December 2013 at 12:22 pm

           “Why would Hone or anyone bother turning up at Parliament”

           – Cause its part of his job?
       • Paul 8.2.1.2

         19 December 2013 at 1:13 pm

         Why do you hate the left so much?
         Did some event in your childhood scar you so that you now so,angry?
         There are courses to help.
         • Puckish Rogue 8.2.1.2.1

           19 December 2013 at 1:45 pm

           I don’t hate the left specificially just the lazy, wasteful, bludging, whining types and its just that you tend to find more of them on the left 🙂
           • Draco T Bastard 8.2.1.2.1.1

             19 December 2013 at 2:29 pm

             All the characteristics you mention exist in your imagination and as RWNJs – you being an example of all them.
           • KJT 8.2.1.2.1.2

             19 December 2013 at 3:27 pm

             Funny, I found most of them at Chamber of Commerce meetings.
           • Paul 8.2.1.2.1.3

             19 December 2013 at 9:08 pm

             Have you read your own comments?
             Whining is quite a good description.
       • David H 8.2.1.3

         19 December 2013 at 4:06 pm

         And Key and English are also missing on Thursday’s.
   • bad12 8.3

     19 December 2013 at 3:15 pm

     Lolz, that was a good Dear John from Hone to Slippery the Prime Minister and an interesting piece of news about the latest of Whakapohane* delivered from the PM to Maori Party leader Pita Sharples,

     i can see Lapdog as a Moko etched into the face of Sharples every time i have the displeasure of again watching Him in a more than weak attempt at justifying the Maori Party’s coalition with National while all about Him the members abandon the Waka in disgust,but, is the man a masochist as well,

     Sharples being told ‘you get to stay out-side’ by Slippery at the official ceremony says it all as far as National see the Maori Party, taken for a ride and ditched in the rain is the no frills version of that,

     It is tho par for the course and reminds me well of a story Sharples told, i think, the Maori Party AGM, where Sharples explained Slippery’s habit of walking off without a word of explanation when Sharples was trying to make one or another serious point to Him,

     Pita at the time speaking English didn’t care to translate such ‘action’ in the Prime Ministers ‘song’ into Maori so i did it for Him and ‘Whakapohane’* is what i saw,

     *Whakapohane is said to be the most grievous of ritual Maori insults and is accomplished by baring ones buttocks while haughtily walking away from a speaker…
9. karol 9

   19 December 2013 at 9:55 am

   Picked this article up from a tweet by Sue Bradford, which said:

   Fyi activists out there: cool article on ‘fourth-wave’ feminism & linkages across movements, incl welfare, jobs … http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/fourth-wave-feminism-rebel-women …

   The article from The Guardian, 10 December, by Kira Cochrane, ‘The fourth wave of feminism: meet the rebel women’

   Like Bradford, I am particularly interested in the linkages that include welfare, jobs, struggling with multiple pressures from the social, economic, cultural and power inequalities that have been intensified by “neoliberalism”, bankster scams etc. There’s a lot to digest in the article and it’s large amount of linked web pages. Some extracts from the article.

   The campaign for women’s liberation never went away, but this year a new swell built up and broke through. Since the early summer, I’ve been talking to feminist activists and writers for a short book, All The Rebel Women, and as I tried to keep up with the protests, marches and talks, my diary became a mess of clashing dates.
   […]
   You could have joined one of the country’s 149 local grassroots groups, or shared your experience of misogyny on the site Laura Bates, 27, started in April 2012. Her Everyday Sexism Project has proved so successful that it was rolled out to 17 countries […] The project embodies that feminist phrase “the personal is political”, a consciousness-raising exercise that encourages women to see how inequality affects them, proves these problems aren’t individual but collective, and might therefore have political solutions.

   […]
   Welcome to the fourth wave of feminism. This movement follows the first-wave campaign for votes for women, which reached its height 100 years ago, the second wave women’s liberation movement that blazed through the 1970s and 80s, and the third wave declared by Rebecca Walker, Alice Walker’s daughter, and others, in the early 1990s. That shift from second to third wave took many important forms, but often felt broadly generational, with women defining their work as distinct from their mothers’. What’s happening now feels like something new again. It’s defined by technology: tools that are allowing women to build a strong, popular, reactive movement online. Just how popular is sometimes slightly startling.
   […]

   Southall Black Sisters protested outside the offices of the UK Border Agency against racist immigration laws and propaganda –

   […]
   The majority of activists I speak to define themselves as intersectional feminists –[…] The theory concerns the way multiple oppressions intersect, […] today’s feminists generally seem to see it as an attempt to elevate and make space for the voices and issues of those who are marginalised, and a framework for recognising how class, race, age, ability, sexuality, gender and other issues combine to affect women’s experience of discrimination
   […]
   There are women and men of all ages involved in this movement –
   […]
   But the feminist consciousness of the fourth wave has also been forged through the years of the financial crash and the coalition government, and many activists have been politicised and influenced by other movements, particularly the student campaign against fees, but also the wider campaign against cuts and the Occupy movement.

   Just wow! It’s great to see an apparent revival in a truly left wing activist feminism.
   • Chooky 9.1

     19 December 2013 at 6:32 pm

     Yes great ..Karol…thanks….see also the nascent FEMEN movement started in Russia ..

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMEN

     .FEMEN describes itself as “radical feminism”[70] and it claims to be “fighting patriarchy in its three manifestations – sexual exploitation of women, dictatorship and religion”.[18] FEMEN has pledged to fight the sex industry, the Church and its stance against abortion[71][72] and patriarchal society, as well as those who oppose equal rights for the LGBT community.[4] FEMEN has expressed opposition against Islamism,[73] “Sharia law”[74] and spoken against the practice of FGM.[75] On its official website FEMEN states: “FEMEN – is sextremism serving to protect women’s rights, democracy watchdogs attacking patriarchy, in all its forms: the dictatorship, the church, the sex industry”.[6][7]
     • Murray Olsen 9.1.1

       19 December 2013 at 9:31 pm

       I am extremely dubious about FEMEN, for a number of reasons, but have a look at this:

       http://feministcurrent.com/7963/femen-was-founded-and-is-controlled-by-a-man-exactly-zero-people-are-surprised/
       • Chooky 9.1.1.1

         20 December 2013 at 9:09 am

         @ Murray Olsen….not what Wiki says ie the founder is Anna Hutsol ( a Russian economist) .

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hutsol

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEMEN

         ….of course there will be detractors ( just as there were and are for Germaine Greer and for all feminists since Lilith and before )…they are up against some very powerful enemies…. patriarchal religions and cultures, the male owned /controlled sexploitation of women… sex industry and prostitution …..and of course it takes courage for women to do what they are doing…. and the beautiful are probably less inhibited( because of male ridicule of ugly and older women)….but not all of their members have been beautiful …. and not all have been white eg the black Femen feminists protesting topless outside London’s City Hall to draw attention to “bloody Islamist regimes” and shouting “No Sharia” (Ch Ch Press, August 4, 2012) The Femen have had quite an influence in France calling for clients of prostitutes to be prosecuted…this is under serious consideration by French law makers

         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
10. Draco T Bastard 10

    19 December 2013 at 11:01 am

    An interesting take on digital money:

    There’s one last issue too.

    Every time Safaricom issues M-pesa, it effectively robs seigniorage revenue from the government. Seigniorage, being the difference between the true cost of issuing a currency in physical form and its monetary value. The more currency circulates and is transformed into M-pesa, the less physical banknote cash goes round in its place. Since it’s only the government that has the power to print banknotes — the volume of which is decided by the endogenous needs of the system itself — that undermines an important source of revenue for the state.

    That was just about one of the many digital “currencies” but the article stresses that it’s true about all of them.

    And then there’s The theory of money entanglement:

    In our previous post we argued that one of the reasons QE may have failed to perform as expected, especially when it comes to stimulating price levels and employment, is because the modern monetary system isn’t what many believe it to be. Or at the very least, money doesn’t work exactly the way many economists and analysts believe it does.

    Which is what those of us who want to prevent the banks from creating money have been saying for quite awhile.

    Both articles stress that the state needs to take full control of the money supply although it does hold back from saying that the government should be the sole issuer of money. I disagree with the latter.

    EDIT: You’ll need and FT login.
11. captain hook 11

    19 December 2013 at 12:42 pm

    I feel very sorry for blubberguts.
    imagine what it is like to wake up every morning look in the mirror and see THAT.
    No wonder he is so angry.
    • fender 11.1

      19 December 2013 at 1:10 pm

      That’s a bit harsh, Puckish Rogue and Chris73 both have a crush on him!
      • Puckish Rogue 11.1.1

        19 December 2013 at 1:37 pm

        Man crush maybe 🙂
12. phillip ure 12

    19 December 2013 at 2:25 pm

    3 comments lost this morn/today..so far..

    ..header/blank screen after pushing ‘publish’..

    ..will this be number 4..?

    phillip ure..
13. joe90 13

    19 December 2013 at 3:34 pm

    Shocked I am.
    /

    When one of the biggest private education firms in Sweden went bankrupt earlier this year, it left 11,000 students in the lurch and made Stockholm rethink its pioneering market reform of the state schools system.

    School shutdowns and deteriorating results have taken the shine off an education model admired and emulated around the world, in Britain in particular.

    “I think we have had too much blind faith in that more private schools would guarantee greater educational quality,” said Tomas Tobé, head of the parliament’s education committee and spokesman on education for the ruling Moderate party.

    […]

    Ahead of elections next year, politicians of all stripes are questioning the role of such firms, accused of putting profits first with practices like letting students decide when they have learned enough and keeping no record of their grades.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/10/sweden-schools-idUSL4N0JK32620131210
14. philj 14

    19 December 2013 at 5:32 pm

    We must copy all overseas failures, private gaols and charter Schools, asset sales. We are collectively stupid. Is there any other explanation?
15. joe90 15

    19 December 2013 at 6:35 pm

    Ouch.

    Greenspan’s new book is obviously intended to show that his errors were only partial and that he has found useful ways to correct them, and thus to refurbish his reputation as oracle-in-chief. It fails. His argument is thematically vague and analytically weak. In the end it sounds like the same old right-wing conviction that the unregulated or very lightly regulated market knows best.

    http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115956/alan-greenspans-map-and-territory-reviewed-robert-solow
    • joe90 15.1

      19 December 2013 at 7:31 pm

      The antidote.

      http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/how-janet-yellen-s-agenda-could-transform-washington-20131216
      • miravox 15.1.1

        19 December 2013 at 8:20 pm

        Gosh, the U.S. may have picked a good one there. A few neos will be working hard to prevent her confirmation.
      • joe90 15.1.2

        19 December 2013 at 9:10 pm

        Blocked under all the other presidents – 86 nominations, Obama nominations blocked – 82.

        http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/nov/22/harry-reid/harry-reid-says-82-presidential-nominees-have-been/
16. newsense 16

    19 December 2013 at 7:18 pm

    (Imagine this as John Clarke.)

    So you know what’s bad?

    What?

    Nanny State.

    Right. What’s that?

    Well it’s where the government interfers in people’s lives, takes their freedom. It’s a bad thing.

    Right. So isn’t obesity also bad?

    It is Brian, it is. But why the government can’t do anything about it?

    Because they are lazy and can’t be bothered doing their jobs?

    No Brian. It’s because if the government got involved in healthy eating and advertised exercise schemes that would be nanny-state. It’d be impinging on the right of fast food companies to sell discount burgers to the poor and the poor to eat them. Also, Brian, being lazy, feckless and not doing jobs is not what the government does, it’s what the poor and unemployed do. You need to learn the difference.

    Sorry, sorry, I see. I suppose it would also mean raising taxes?

    Undoubtedly, Brian, undoubtedly. And this might lead to government ministers having to fire the nannys who cook the healthy dinners for their children and we couldn’t have that, could we Brian?

    So the government is just saying nanny-state as a way of dog-whistling and getting away with doing less than the last lot, when faced with a serious health epidemic?

    No, not at all Brian. I don’t know where you get these ideas from. (fade out)

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11173055
    • millsy 16.1

      20 December 2013 at 12:19 am

      Perhaps people eat fatty foods (burgers, etc) because they taste nice, and give a burst of energy?

      I dont know about anyone, but if I found that I couldnt buy anything except celery sticks, I would go nuts.
17. tricledrown 17

    19 December 2013 at 9:24 pm

    You forgot the part where if the peasants make to much noise we will offer them a few titbits to paper over the cracks bandaids if you like.
    • joe90 17.1

      19 December 2013 at 9:43 pm

      The best explanation ever.

      That’s what the neoliberal view reduces us to: men and women so confronted by the hassle of everyday life that we’re either forced to master it, like the wunderkinder of the blogosphere, or become its slaves. We’re either athletes of the market or the support staff who tend to the race.

      That’s not what the left wants. We want to give people the chance to do something else with their lives, something besides merely tending to it, without having to take a 30-year detour on Wall Street to get there. The way to do that is not to immerse people even more in the ways and means of the market, but to give them time and space to get out of it. That’s what a good welfare state, real social democracy, does: rather than being consumed by life, it allows you to make your life. Freely. One less bell to answer, not one more.

      http://coreyrobin.com/2013/12/10/socialism-converting-hysterical-misery-into-ordinary-unhappiness-for-a-hundred-years/
18. redrattler 18

    20 December 2013 at 6:30 am

    80s and 90s neoliberal boost to profits largely financial fiction | age of capitalism over | Michael Roberts Blog | http://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2013/12/19/the-us-rate-of-profit-extending-the-debate/
19. redrattler 19

    20 December 2013 at 6:51 am

    “The Syrian conflict blogger and munitions investigator Eliot Higgins, better known as Brown Moses, is set to launch a new website as a platform and resource for open, investigative journalism in early 2014.

    The as-yet-unnamed site will act as a hub for bloggers like Higgins to publish their work and background on how they approached the stories. As well as investigations based on open information – like user-generated content (UGC), public data and web tools – Higgins and other writers will explain the process of analysing and verifying such information, internet security techniques and how-to guides on the area.

    “It’s going to bring people together in a network to share their work,” Higgins told Journalism.co.uk, adding that it will share the stories and skills of “people who have a great deal of knowledge about specific subjects and use open-source information.””

    http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/brown-moses-to-launch-new-site-for-open-investigative-journalism/s2/a555422/

Links to post

1. The spirit of '81: Key's hypocrisy! - The Standard: posted on 19 December 2013 at 3:19 pm
2. The spirit of '81: Key's hypocrisy! - The Standard: posted on 19 December 2013 at 3:20 pm

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