I’m in two minds, on the one hand National staying in power would really annoy the posters on here but on the other if Labour gain power then Shearer is safe for a few years and that would annoy the posters even more because Cunliffe would be even further from power
The soul you were trying to tell me about the other week.
Would your old fella be happy with that attitude?
I foresee lots of sore knees in your future š
Which is why I didn’t say sore wrists. Those ligaments and muscles must be like granite.
Come your personal judgement day, I don’t know how you’ll reconcile the attitude as displayed in your first post to saving souls, but if you try it on, good luck.
Maybe hypocrites are on the list.
The departure of Chauvel and immanent clearance and reacceptance of Jones, together with (I predict) the demotion of Cunliffe supporters like Dalziell, make a post-reshuffle shadow cabinet like this:
1. Shearer
2. Robertson. Environment.
3. Parker. Finance. Attorney General.
4. King. Housing. (Probably no longer going for Wellington Mayor)
5. Arden
Rn. Social Welfare. Youth.
6. Maori. Economic Development.
7. Goff. International Affairs and Trade.
8. Mallard. Tertiary Education. Conservation. Sport.
9. Twyford. Transport. Auckland.
Good hard edged balance that could take them on, yes?
Was stuck with health. Who would you recommend?
Parker is the only lawyer now and he already looked overloaded for Justice.
Also presuming Dalziell gets the signal so who covers Christchurch.
Also who would want Immigration? Ew!
CT: You must be out of your mind, sorry, but I have no other comment to this.
Re wrongly spelled Ardern, I fed her some highly explosive info late last year, she was too ignorant and passive to even realise it, so nothing ever came of it. She rather went on about “privacy breaches” and WINZ “helping” unemployed get a ticket and job in Australia.
Excuse me, that is to me total incompetence and idiocy.
There are so ruthless welfare reforms before Parliament, endless stories of injustice, but do we ever hear anything from her addressing this???
And do not get me started on King for “housing” (lost cause long ago), on Mallard (should resign for good), and well, the “leader” the Shearer, omg.
I fear that some here continue living in lala land.
I had some small hope for Ardern, but after her reaction to the introduction of secret bedroom sniffer squads and prison for partners, I have given up totally on her. She is hopeless.
Frankly Matt, I’m confused. Two polls ago (can’t remember their names) Shearer was reported to be closing the gap, the next one reported Key suddenly gaining three points to put Shearer in the shade, and the one you link to is suddenly promising for Shearer.
It’s enough to give me angina if I was that emotionally involved. There is also the suspicion of being toyed with given your employment by the National Party.
Key is no longer the young, bubbly, and endearingly incoherent politico he was in the first term.
Today, that’s Shearer.
Even before his near-death experience in a Christchurch restaurant Key was noticeably starting to lose his spark, his enthusiasm for the job. People can read body language.
Today he is more detached, there are suddenly grey flecks around his temples, and he must be assessing the personal cost-benefits of staying in this position. Mortality can do that.
The strongest line of inquiry is probably to ask if he will be standing against Shearer.
To be clear, it was not a criticism, this is the kind of thing which shows why it’s critical to have a capable team in any political endeavour. Your line of inquiry is good, however the detail of the wording might be more like:
“Have you decided to stand for another term as Prime Minister, in 2014?”
Hey Hoots why weren’t you up at 6 in the morning a couple of days ago, typing up a comment saying that National was at its highest Colmar Brunton polling in a year?
Because you know just like i do that that particular poll has a continuous track record of polling the National Party higher than it’s actual support by 2-3%,
To do that of course means that that poll has to poll other Party’s 2-3% lower than their actual support, depends how creative they get with the margin of error right???…
Anyone else notice the media training that has been going on for government ministers.
Parata and Key both, when asked a challenging question, start with
“So … and then proceed with a prepared statement line and in fact do not address the question
at all.
And then there is “Mr Fixit” Tina Joyce who just bores the listener with his rambling delivery. And this morning on Morning report, suggests that “reasonable people might take a different view …”
of the report into the Sky City convention centre bid. What arrogance!
I’ve noticed that, but why should anyone be surprised ? There are many ex-journalists setting up ‘media training’ companies.
Re āreasonable people might take a different view ā¦ā .. intellectually patronising and refusing
to engage in reasoned democratic debate. There was once a quaint notion that you have to take people with you ..
Muldoon did a good line in that (and that long slow laugh “heh … heh … heh”)
which seemed to disarm the critical faculties of the journalists at the time.
One interesting snippet is that he did his accounting degree (by correspondence ?)
while taking part in the Italian campaign during WWII.
Joyce is in charge of a ‘super-ministry’, has to get across a range of material, and
although made his money in radio, does not have the explanatory skills of a trained
and experienced teacher. We all have our limitations ..
Re āreasonable people might take a different view ā¦ā .. intellectually patronising and refusing
to engage in reasoned democratic debate. There was once a quaint notion that you have to take people with you ..
I think it’s what passes for political panache these days. Muldoon had a certain style and timing, Lange had good quips, even Cullen could mercilessly take the piss from an unwary journalist or opponent, but most of parliament are more Adam Sandler’s B roles than an Oscar Wilde or Dorothy Parker.
wassername – Gentner from the Greens might have a bit of kick. Will take a while to develop the style and get the media focus, though.
Well spotted, logie. I made a similar observation last year in a thread about Shearer’s communications difficulties. Thankfully he’s improved tremendously since then!
Not only do the Nats refuse to debate live on radio or TV, because it gives credilbilty to the opposition, the ‘so’ response has been drilled into them from the first term (by Crosby Textor? Hooters?).
There’s a documentary called Spin that shows that that is exactly what politicians are taught to do when asked a question. Basically, it’s that they ignore the question and spout the spin that they want people to repeat.
As I noted the other day, the “so” is to imply that the question has been listened to and is about to receive a reasoned response.
It’s a device for skipping the reasoning entirely and jumping straight to the conclusion. But when we hear the “so” we’re supposed to believe that the reasoning has already occurred,
Exactery! And what’s worse is that its a phenomenon that everyone is picking up on. From my perspective, it’s a symptom of ‘I don’t actually care what you or anybody else thinks’ (the so ….. I mean), this is what I (me,me,me,me) thinks.
The good think is it’s becoming so pervasive that its becoming meaningless: even the supermarket checkout operator said to me yesterday
“so ….. try swiping your card” (instead of inserting it).
It’s the new “going forwid”
Reminds me of another one to watch out for…. whenever someone says “I just think …” it meaans they haven’t actually thought properly at all. The “just” word carries out the same function as “So” in that it implies a degree of thought and consideration that simply doesn’t exist.
The other one that Key and Joyce and others have been taught is “The reality is…” which is almost always followed by a description of a parallel universe.
Not always vto. It seems to have become some kind of pc political ‘play it safe’ byword -which I suppose is the same thing
I heard Jacinda Ardern saying it on the TV news tonight. She was responding to the latest bit of govt. bene bashing (smokescreen distraction from Sky City Convention Centre rort) and she preceded her answers with “I think“. I yelled at her you don’t think woman you know, so why don’t you bloody well say so. I don’t think she heard me.
hi xtasy,
I was meaning she should drop the “I think” and say it how it is. I’m getting fed up with Labour pollies (and Greens too sometimes) who seem too scared to categorically state a situation or make an accusation they know to be true… without prefacing their words with I think. That immediately removes some of the impact of what they are saying.
I agree though, sometimes she doesn’t appear to have thought something through, but she’s not alone there of course.
Is the NZ Herald ownership about to undergo a change? The details of who owns what shares, and who is the manager/owner of this or that bit tend to make my non-business head spin. But it seems all is not well with Granny’s APN owners:
The New Zealand assets of APN News & Media, including the New Zealand Herald, are more likely than ever to be divided up and sold after its Australia-based chief executive, chairman and independent directors resigned.
The boardroom stoush leading to the resignations exposes the difficulties the media company’s board, management and shareholders are grappling….
Chenoweth and the board members said their position was “untenable” and stepped down yesterday, with only Luscombe remaining on the board until his planned resignation date of April.
APN is now without a chief executive or a strategy to reduce debt, both issues likely to be raised when the company reports its annual results tomorrow.
Speculation has grown that APN director Vincent Crowley – currently chief executive of [irealnd based Independent News and Media] INM – will return to APN as CEO after more than a decade’s absence.
Other names in the mix include former Fairfax CEO Brian McCarthy who took an advisory role at APN last year.
The company yesterday appointed long-serving board member Peter Cosgrove as its chairman.
Cosgrove, who has been on the board for more than nine years, has strong ties to APN’s largest shareholder INM.
It is all about more profits being needed or wanted for shareholders, that is why this happened. Also the digitatlisation and user pay section for internet access are due to be pushed. Prepare for paying for every article you want to read. I told you all before, but stop dreaming, this is the future of “media”, sadly!
You will have to register, pay and read in future, that is with few exceptions.
This will provide exactly for the further social AND knowledge DIVISION in society, where the better earners, and elitists, who can “afford” to pay subscriptions, will be “informed” and maybe “educated”, the rest will become ignorant “riff raff”!
Again, this is NO joke, it is taking place gradually day by day, just look around, and one day, you will be disenfranchised as “odd ball” “dissenters”, “problematic social elements” and the likes, as most (the dumbed down and brainwashed) will take up what they are offered!
A boost for Labor over the ditch: Gillard naming the election date early has apparently freaked out new Greens leader Christine Milne. She has bizarrely announced the end of the parliamentary relationship between the two parties, while also saying the Greens would still support Labor in parliament.
Well, losing 45-55 on the two party preferred, which is the relevant figure in the weird Aussie system. But no question Gillard is in trouble and Rudd is quietly smiling in the background. Short of a miracle, he’s likely to be leading Labor soon. Question is, before or after the election?
The news media is muttering about the backbenchers muttering about putting Rudd back in. I think their stories are almost totally fabricated. The Aussie media makes the Kiwi media seem fair and balanced. Most of their least partisan journalists could ghostwrite columns using Michael Laws’s name and no one would notice the difference.
David Shearer gave an excellent interview this morning on Morning Report: clear, forceful, didn’t stutter, mumble or bumble his way through it at all, and on the complicated issue of the AG report on Sky City and rebutting National and Joyce’s spin on it.
Pretty much a standard interview with a politician, and better than any average interview with Key (with his poor diction, slurring, folkism and reliance on catch-phrases).
*This* is what we need to see from him, and I certainly hope he keeps it up!
Agree – Shearer was smooth and on the ball throughout that segment. My observations:
1) Shearer seems to feel much more comfortable talking about commercial due process and commercial best practice.
2) The report that the interview centres around has done most of the thinking and analysis for Shearer – he is pulling out pertionent points and observations from it.
I think you do him a bit of disservice with your #2: the analysis and thinking might be there, but he is making an interpretation of what is there, in contrast to the interpretation that Joyce and co are spewing every chance they get. Now whether he did this himself or it was prepared by someone else isn’t a huge deal at this point, since his stumbling block has always been the delivery of his point, which he (finally) aced.
Yes, I was well impressed with his delivery during that interview, it was chalk and cheese. Shearer when he has been at his best has been noticeably improving in that regard over the last 6 months.
That was an excellent performance by Shearer. Stayed on point, deftly rebutted the interviewers’ attempts to get him to say the officials were at fault (the poor sods are always at risk of being restructed out of their jobs if they become inconvenient), kept calm, didn’t mumble or fumble, sounded persuasive and on top of the relevant details. He needs to be able to do that every time, on telly, and in Parliament.
True, the hesitancy was far less evident. So it seems he can do cerebral on clearly delineated issues. But he needs to be able to present stuff that arises from passion or ‘the gut’. And he can’t and won’t because he ain’t got anything there (except for when he percieves a threat to himself and his standing at which point his alpha male response is reckless and over the top) And he needs to do the ‘on the feet’ stuff. And he can’t and won’t for much the same reason…no passion, ideology or vision to work from.
Actually, I’m not sure that’s true. Jonkey is steadily getting up more and more people’s noses for his quick smartass quip responses that smell of smokescreening and make him look like a puerile schoolboy. They just further damage his already well-dented credibility with the non-National voters who will decide the next election.
Shearer may actually do better to adopt a less passionate, more personably analytical style. He’s battling Jonkey – who thinks and talks in slogans – no depth of knowledge about anything but money marketing. What Shearer mustn’t do is waffle. He should tackle Jonkey on facts. Jonkey doesn’t understand facts.
Shearer used one excellent rebuttal in Parliament today when he replied to Jonkey’s claim he was exonerated by the AG report. Shearer’s reply – “he wasn’t vindicated, he was implicated”. TV One news picked that one up straight away. Very good, I thought. A few more clever responses like that will go a long way. They are memorable.
Seriously, its an interview, it makes no difference, Shearer is still a plant!
Any Labour lead govt is going to continue on the same track the last one left for National to continue, and which NACT have progressed, why do people so badly want to believe the system is going change..
The system , might change when people do what is necessary to create change, voting for the LP, will no achieve that.
Polls are meaningless distractions for stupid people, which should be very clear then the first post today on open mike is Matthew Hooten talking about polling and Shearer..
Its a game, its too complex for you to understand, I get that.
While its playing out, of course there will be, positive, negative, and neutral impacts, of the journey, but the destination remains the same, its not going to reverse the trending, by tinkering around the fringes.
One Tane Huna,
What part of Muzza’s comment was “banal, simplistic or delusional”?
And why the š with no justification?
I don’t think your š was not very fair particularly not providing justification It serves to make you appear much as you are accusing others of.
What part of Muzza’s comments are you objecting to?
That any Labour lead govt is going to continue on the same track the last one left?
Seems to be about what has happened up until now, although I would exchange the word “same” for “similar”.
That “the system might change when people do what is necessary to create change”
Seems like basic commonsense to me.
“voting for the LP, will not achieve that”
A matter of opinion, although linking this with the first statement indicates the reasoning behind it.
“Polls are meaningless distractions for stupid people, which should be very clear then the first post today on open mike is Matthew Hooten talking about polling and Shearer..”
Dunno about the “stupid people” bit, however polls most-likely are meaningless distractions….Although there is room for debate on this one; I guess it depends whose interests are going to benefit from the opinion being swayed by reading them, as to how “meaningless” one perceives them to be.
Let’s assume the bits you quoted were reasonable. What was left out:
Seriously, its an interview, it makes no difference, Shearer is still a plant!
Oooo yay – a conspiracy theory, right off the bat.
[lab6 will be identical to lab5] and which NACT have progressed, why do people so badly want to believe the system is going change..
Firstly, the system has already changed, Key is a very different leader to Holyoake. Why wouldn’t it change back?
Second, it’s a claim of total futility. If no change is possible, then why bother worrying?
Wakey Wakey
Yay – muzz is “awake” and has hidden knowledge that those who are “asleep” cannot see because of their own stupidity. Given Muzz’ track record, much rolly eyes at that. More likely, muzz is just tripping again. That’s assuming that they’re using words according to an actual commonly accepted meaning, rather than just stringing funny words together to sound profound.
That is fair enough, McFlock, because you have put up an argument, some reasoning.
(…and I have to say, I would have gone back and added the bit about NACT, however the editing function wasn’t working…sorry about that, I did realise it was a mis-quote and would come across as cherry picking.)
My point being that there was enough commonsense statements in Muzza’s comment, and some provision of reasoning, that I think it a bit “off” simply to be replied to as a š and then when asked for some justification, simply ad hominem attacks were supplied.
I have no problem with someone who is stating some well repeated unthought-out meme (especially if they are right-wing memes…heh) getting the š however, I am objecting to the š treatment on the grounds that Muzza’s comment showed some critical analysis with reasoning provided.
Muzza specialises in salting their comments with a few points that, on the face of it, are reasonable comments, but upon closer inspection they’re either trite truisms or just camouflage for more nutty conspiracism.
Oh, and pointing out the differences between the ECA and ERA etc does not constitute a personal attack. Nor does characterisation of Muzza’s comments as stupidity, or delusions, or banal, since it is the comments being described, not the tiresome cretin himself. Calling him a tiresome cretin, now that’s a personal attack. You see the difference?
lol, because Shearer controls my opinions, and therefore I must agree with everything he says, assuming your version of what he said is anything other than a self-serving distortion, that is.
But hang on – last week you were pointing to other people to support your unsubstantiated allegation that I was homophobic, yet now that approach lacks validity? Well, I will accept your changed view because that is what I said to you – who cares what other people’s opinions are. Good to see you come around.
And further, your reason for alleging I was homophobic rested solely on my disagreement with the current marriage equality bill. That “evidence” is clearly invalid in the mind of the leader of one of NZ’s two main political parties. A party that you are a member of, I think.
Nope, my opinion rests on your claiming membership of a tiny minority group who want to keep marriage all to themselves (otherwise known as bigots), oh, and now I come to think of it, your remark about Chris Findlayson on 14.12.12.
sheesh, vto – someone might think that your obsession with banging the “against same-sex marriage” peg into the “not being homophobic” hole is beginning to get a wee bit extreme and irrational…
finlayson was clearly a joke, but it helps for bigots like yourself who shove their hollow opinions onto whatever’s going doesn’t it. Wanna evaluate that one as well to see if you manage to stack up again? You should be careful though as you will end up in the same pile of doo doo that you are sitting in now.
Nope, my opinion rests on your claiming membership of a tiny minority group who want to keep marriage all to themselves (otherwise known as bigots), oh, and now I come to think of it, your remark about Chris Findlayson on 14.12.12.
But just for fun, I’m going to let you dig yourself a deeper hole, vto.
Explain to me why it’s so “funny” that “Queen’s Council” and “queer cunt” have the same initial letters, so that we can all have a little giggle, and acknowledge that you’re just a terrifically witty comedian.
But I think I may have seen the light – “queer cunt” is funny like “front bum” – you only see the funny side if you’re a, oh now, what’s the word? It’s on the tip of my tongue…
actually been busy, but the term “front bum” as expressed by John Tamihere and the ancient and in fact endearing term (prior to new meanings arising since December) “queer cunt” have absolutely no relation to each other. Except in simple minds of dubious intention.
You need to learn some understanding of people outside your world.
and marty mars shut up. Talk about digging holes ….
Shearer also gave a good sound-bite on the issue on TV1 News the night befor, no stumbles, no fumbles, no stopping to self edit in mid sentence, nary an um or ah in sight,
He actually came across as being quite forceful even to the point of letting a bit of anger show in His voice, give the bloke a +1…
“Two million disabled people face new benefits test”
“Any disabled person capable of walking a measly 20 metres is set to lose their mobility payments when the Tories scrap the disability living allowance (DLA) on 1 April.
It is set to be replaced by the new personal independence payment (PIP). But this will push thousands of people off the higher rate of mobility support.
This helps pay for everything from wheelchairs and mobility scooters to specially adapted cars. “
Got some links today, which may be relevant in a way. They have there and here (in NZ) previously heavily relied on GPs to do “examinations”, do “assessments”, to fill in forms for work capacity fitness and so forth, but are GPs really that competent and qualified, some ask:
There are other research findings, that prove that GPs often over value their competencies and abilities, to know about “all” health issues. Most are anyway physicians, and some are specialised, but tell me, few, if any, are in NZ qualified (post grad qual. or else) to be “experts” say in mental health and addiction treatment and diagnosis.
So why and how can MSD and WINZ claim their chosen doctors (almost all GPs) and other health and disablity advisors (mostly non registered nurses) know all about the applicants and beneficiaries on sickness and invalids benefits and their health, plus their ability to work.
This is proving that they know f all and lead all you on, who rely on their biased doctors.
Bennett will see to it, John, that if you can walk to the letter box, you can bloody work. It is all a BS agenda anyway, that is what insiders know. It is all just designed to save the government money by reducing costs, by cutting benefit entitlements. All the talk about extra health care and support is BS too, as I have ample info that proves, that according to their “Rising to the Challenge” plan for mental health and addiction, strangely published just before Xmas, delivers NADA for extra expenses and services to actually assist such people into any form of work! Read it yourself, you will see it. Peter Dunne is the other traitor to us, who announced it (Associate Minister for Health, the Bastard).
Google ‘Rising to the Challenge’, the plan from the Ministry, and you can read details. I actual fact, the blunty state that sufferers have to use the resources and “help themselves”. That is what NZ health policy is about now.
This is stuff that most politicians do not even bother reading. That is why NZ is in a SHIT situation, it is being let down even by a hopeless opposition, that does not even do its job.
It is close to becoming suicidal, when you wake up to what really goes on in NZ. It is damned horrible.
Good night, and take your time to digest it, as otherwise you will yourself get sick!
By the way, I want people to spread that info and the links I presented above around as much as possible, as it is so highly important. Please consider taking that action, for other people’s well being’s sake! X
Is anyone listening to Radionz while Sir James Dyson (think vacuum cleaners et al) talks about inventing and engineering and manufacturing. He is pure gold for good practical opinions. Listen up NZ politicians and alert and pragmatic citizens.
How does Gerry Brownlee get away with putting the reason for not offering full payment to red zone bare land owners in Chch down to their lack of insurance when it is not possible to get that insurance he says is needed?
He refuses to acknowledge and recognise this.
It is this type of conduct which leads to politicians being ranked the lowest of the low.
I agree, but it seems National politicians get ranked on their ability to bully and Brownlee is one of their best. Why voters aren’t turned off by this I’ll never know, maybe they misinterpret bullying as being assertive, confident and knowledgeable.
fenerviper
lolz I think you are right about NZ attitudes. Ask a group of ordinary NZs to dredge their heads for ideas about anything (not being asked to criticise or complain) and very little will come out. Then someone who is assertive will take over and the whole process is master minded by his/her views. I
I’ve seen it happen and its dispiriting to me as I believe that we have been educated to take a place in a society living by reasoned decisions. I have never conducted an experiment where people are taught brain-storming, encouraged to bring up ideas first and then all examine them for how they could be utilised for practical results. I think with some time and effort at a thinking session, individuals would come up with valuable ideas. Then there is no place for loud-mouths and put-downs by a steam-roller with more mouth than brain over-riding the shyer, diffident members so frequently seen in our society.
Things go from bad to worse for top pommy toff David Cameron. Not only does he have bad polls and Boris Johnson to worry about, he’s also accidently got Mozza and Johnny Marr agrreing on something for the first time in decades:
I made a mistake in placing a comment under an ‘old’ one, and it might get lost. I thought it was an appropriate time to introduce the old song You’ve got to Accentuate the Positive. (And mess with mister in-between refers to supportr needing to be full.)
Youāve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Donāt mess with Mister In-Between
Youāve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemoniumās
Liable to walk upon the scene
This is the point I made at NoseViper (The Nose knows) ā¦
20 February 2013 at 10:58 am on Reshuffle for Unity and see the whole lyrics of the song also good retro you tube vocal.
Yes it gets to the point where the destructive force of pressing for change mounts higher as it continues and what is being destroyed is Labourās chances to do anything because it doesnāt get elected. So I think keep working for change (limitation of terms or?). And push for more positives rather than blanket disapproval and increase the positives.
Yep, they’ll go on about everybody taking personal responsibility but won’t say or do a damn thing when it becomes obvious that they have a responsibility they need to accept.
Dairy farmers should be required to source their personal water downstream from their farm. I imagine that would sort the majority of cowshit pollution problems out quite quickly.
It’s easy to get very different views on the huge number of things going on and not going on in the city.
Some sectors and locations are going gang-busters and are bursting at the seams with excitement. Others are sagging and looking weak. It is a city of many tales now and a city of many and varied views on what is going on and where it will end up. To view the complete picture is like putting together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, which then gets turned into a slowly spinning kaleidoscope.
A big round view on where it is heading can be gained from looking at this governments approach and competency in completing its Blueprint projects etc. There is a strong element of “believe it when it happens” with this and many are simply waiting see the anchor projects come to fruition before going much further with the CBD. Of course the CBD is but one part of the puzzle.
Don’t mind my 2c on it, we are in the forgotten east and it is easy to get depressed about it all. I tell you one of the main factors depressing people imo is the loss of the CBD and all of its busyness and cosmopolitality and workers and tourists and funny locals and students and theatres restaurants museums big shops small shops on and on and on it goes. We have truly lost a city and I think that reality alone is one of the main depressing stresses.
You haven’t lost a city. You’ve lost the networks and communications, the community, that the city represents and now the authoritarians of this government are busily trying to recreate it in their image through disaster capitalism.
You’re taking the phrase ‘lost a city’ much too literally I suspect, and in doing so negating the validity of the psychological (and psychic) damage which has occurred.
I think you miss my point a bit a lot. The sense is that we really have lost a city. And we have. The loss of the buildings and the scape they created – the physical location is meaningless when it is empty dustbowls. And of course all of the society and community that lived and interacted within that built scape. That is gone. It has been lost. It has been destroyed and morphed into a different form of “population interaction”. We are now simply a bunch of suburbs. The city has been lost. There is no city of Christchurch, as defined by what we had before (being that cosmopolitan central city of density and activity etc).
I think I haven’t described it very well but hopefully you get my point.
Imagine, all you Wellingtonians, if central Wellington was lost. Gone. Flattened like Chch. Not there anymore. It is bizarre.
Hah. Hardly surprising that Gerry Brownlee would resort to deception. As I said earlier, it is a city of many tales, defined by specific geographical location more than anything else, which is what the writer also says. Pretty obvious really.
Here is something more to whet the appetite for those wanting to nail this govt lot – heavy rumours abound that red zoners and red stickered folk who remain in their homes are about to have sewer, water and other services chopped to force them out………..
These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them (got that down pat). For thay mouth empty boastful words and by appealing to the lustful desires of human nature they entice people who are escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves-for a person is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
Needs a shorter name, a smart charismatic speaker who really understands economics for a leader, needs to update its old social credit ideas to accomodate principles of environmental and resource depletion, needs a few standout policies which make other people look orthodox and conventional, and it needs some (lol) serious money backing it. Well, not that serious. $200K would do.
They made a commendable effort campaigning in 2011, I have to say, better than they’ve managed for quite some years.
There is a major problem there, which you’ve identified in the first line.
That’s when you say that the Social Credit leader needs to be someone who really understands economics. That’s like looking for a new Pope who doesn’t believe in God.
Do you really think a new party could campaign on only 200K and have any chance of getting into Parliament? The rules so strongly favour existing parties I wouldn’t have thought it possible. They wouldn’t get more than a risible amount of TV time, if any at all, and without being in Parliament they would have to pay their own travel costs. It was free travel for MPs after all, that made the Greens so desperate to get Nandor out and Russel into the house when Russel got elected leader. Without that the would have to have found the money to pay for Russel’s rambles during the election campaign. With him as an MP they had unlimited use of the taxpayer’s purse. Being able to speak in Parliament wasn’t of much importance at that stage of the electoral cycle.
I’d suggest that the goal for 2014 would not be to get into Parliament, it would be to get a solid 2% of the vote. Base building for a solid attempt at 2017.
There used to be a lot more of them, but I formed my (poor) opinion of them after talking to many of their supporters. It wasn’t their policies that I objected to. It was the religious fervour.
I’d point out that I have exactly the same reaction to the conservatives, many of the far left, most people who are fervently religious (ie want to tell me or anyone else how we should live our life rather than living their own life according to their precepts), and anyone who thinks computers can show any signs of intelligence.
I know one from years back, she was a committed Mormon.
There were also others of mixed backgrounds. Some of their ideas were very good, but once you learned the nitty gritty of who was involved for whatever purpose, it got me disinterested.
I am happy to “embrace” any nun, but I fear, most will not want to be embraced, even in friendship, also for that fear, often unreasonable, of being “abused”. Strangely many of their “brethren” faced issues that seem to be more to worry about.
Good night, nuns, non nuns, anarchists, socialists, social democrats, humanitarians, environmentally concerned friends, and all else who may care and want a better world.
The figures for his current consumption were quoted in the Dom/Post this morning. According to them he managed to drive from Paraparaumu to Otaki using 7.1 ltr/km in his Corolla. The car has an official consumption of 8.1 ltr/km.
That seems dreadful to me.
I have a car with an official overall consumption of 9.4 ltr/km. On a flat open stretch like that, travelling at the speed limit and with the air-con on I will routinely get 6.8 km/ltr so his claimed consumption doesn’t seem very good at all. Note that I am not trying to get spectacular figures and drive normally.
It also wasn’t at all clear how it would get any better. The claims do seem a bit like the claims that there is a carb that will let you get 150 mpg, except that the oil companies bought it up and are hiding it.
Just a question. Will lawyers be liable now that government has awarded land owners 50% of the unimproved water-gas-power-roaded lots value for not having informed their clients that they needed to improve their property otherwise they’d only get 50% of the value?
I mean, for sure, in future lawyers on purchase of empty land will have to tell clients to get out and put in a mail box or some improvement so they aren’t exposed to the Brownlee shakedown.
The Brownlee shakedown is where ‘he’s doing them a favor giving them 50% rather than the new now earthquake destroyed land estimate ??1%??.
Yeah I can see in the future some of this land coming back to market when better building technology appears.
“It’s an absolute insult to residents in existing communities for this Auckland Council to proceed with the proposal to ‘slummify’ numerous areas (32) with high-rise intensive housing, particularly housing 8 stories high in Glen Innes,” says Housing Lobby Spokesperson, Sue Henry.
“Over many years, practically every area earmarked for decimation, (for the benefit of property developers and speculators), has had resounding opposition from the residents currently living in them,” she continued.
“Are the Mayor and Councillors listening to the public, and communities opposing housing intensification in Auckland?
NO – they are not!”
“We would not like to see formal notification for the Auckland Draft Unitary Plan actioned in September 2013, with local body elections looming in October 2013.
It would be far more appropriate to wait for a newly-elected Auckland Council to settle in first.”
‘Open Letter’ to the Mayor and all Auckland Councillors:
Did YOU authorise this ‘directive’ from CEO Doug McKay – effectively ‘blocking’ fellow ‘anti-corruption
whistle-blower – Gary Osbourne?
Dear Mayor Len Brown,
Please confirm that you, either personally or collectively through a resolution passed by elected Auckland Councillors, authorised the Principal Administrative Officer (CEO) of Auckland Council, Doug McKay to issue the following ‘directive’, the effect being to block/ filter the emails of fellow ‘anti-corruption’ / ‘concerned citizen’ Gary Osbourne from reaching Auckland Council elected representatives.
Can you please reply – YES or NO?
If YES, upon what lawful basis?
Please be advised that I have the authority of Gary Osbourne to publicise the following ‘directive’ from Auckland Council CEO, Doug McKay
FYI – I read this ‘directive’ out today, Wednesday 20 February 2013, 11.45am -ish) on Radio Live, when the former Minister of Local Government, Rodney Hide was host.
I confirm my previous verbal advice that you are assigned to case manage Mr Gary Osbourne, and respond to any inquiry lodged with Auckland Council by telephone, email, in person or in writing by him.
Please ensure that Mr Osbourne, Customer Services (including all call centres) and the Mayor’s Office are aware of this directive.
As an ‘anti-corruption’ – ‘pro-transparency’ Public Watchdog, I am DEEPLY concerned at this action by Auckland Council CEO, Doug McKay.
Not only is Gary Osbourne a concerned citizen and ratepayer, he is also an ‘anti-corruption/ pro-transparency whistle-blower’.
Is this an attempt by Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay to effectively help ‘cover-up’ allegedly corrupt / non-transparent practices by Auckland Council, and/or Auckland Council CCOs?
Not only are there legal NO PROTECTIONS for New Zealand ‘whistle-blowing’ citizens and ratepayers – but Auckland Council at the highest levels are, in my opinion, engaging in what I consider to be an arguably corrupt form of local government ‘censorship’, and violating citizens lawful rights :
Please be reminded of the OATH you swore, upon obtaining your elected office:
“I, [full name of councillor], declare that I will faithfully and impartially, and according to the best of my skill and judgment, execute and perform, in the best interests of [name of region or district], the powers, authorities, and duties vested in or imposed upon me as a member of the [name of local authority] by virtue of the Local Government Act 2002, the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, or any other Act.”
NZ BILL OF RIGHTS ACT 1990
14. Freedom of expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.
_____________________________________
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2002
14Principles relating to local authorities
(1)In performing its role, a local authority must act in accordance with the following principles:
(a)a local authority shouldā
(i)conduct its business in an open, transparent, and democratically accountable manner; and
(ii)give effect to its identified priorities and desired outcomes in an efficient and effective manner:
(b)a local authority should make itself aware of, and should have regard to, the views of all of its communities; and
(c)when making a decision, a local authority should take account ofā
(i)the diversity of the community, and the community’s interests, within its district or region; and
(ii)the interests of future as well as current communities; and
(iii)the likely impact of any decision on the interests referred to in subparagraphs (i) and (ii):
(d)a local authority should provide opportunities for MÄori to contribute to its decision-making processes:
(e)a local authority should collaborate and co-operate with other local authorities and bodies as it considers appropriate to promote or achieve its priorities and desired outcomes, and make efficient use of resources; and
(f)a local authority should undertake any commercial transactions in accordance with sound business practices; and
(fa)a local authority should periodicallyā
(i)assess the expected returns to the authority from investing in, or undertaking, a commercial activity; and
(ii)satisfy itself that the expected returns are likely to outweigh the risks inherent in the investment or activity; and
(g)a local authority should ensure prudent stewardship and the efficient and effective use of its resources in the interests of its district or region; and
(h)in taking a sustainable development approach, a local authority should take into accountā
(i)the social, economic, and cultural interests of people and communities; and
(ii)the need to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment; and
(iii)the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.
(2)If any of these principles conflict in any particular case, the local authority should resolve the conflict in accordance with the principle in subsection (1)(a)(i).
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND MEETINGS ACT 1987
4Purposes
The purposes of this Act areā
(a)to provide for the availability to the public of official information held by local authorities, and to promote the open and public transaction of business at meetings of local authorities, in orderā
(i)to enable more effective participation by the public in the actions and decisions of local authorities; and
(ii)to promote the accountability of local authority members and officials,ā
and thereby to enhance respect for the law and to promote good local government in New Zealand:
(b)to provide for proper access by each person to official information relating to that person:
(c)to protect official information and the deliberations of local authorities to the extent consistent with the public interest and the preservation of personal privacy.
The MSM keeps promoting the lie that Sky City is doing us a favor by building a conference venue THEY will own.
The Auditor General’s report says a year before there was any discussion of more poky machines Sky had decided to build the venue. Sky would build it with OR WITHOUT the additional pokies.
Sky City is getting 30 pokies worth $193 million for free. The public gets NOTHING.
You can’t say this outside of Parliament, but it smells to high hell of bribery and corruption.
Can the PM state unequivocally that no National MP (personally or through a trust or nominee company) and no major financial contributor to National does not own any shares in Sky City?
No, he cannot. Because Sky contributed to National (and John Banks).
The Interim Climate Change Committee's report on Action on agricultural emissions: Evidence, analysis and recommendations was finally released today, and as you might guess from the title, it is recommending that we actually act, rather than let farmers keep ...
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Last month I talked about the no-fly movement: people who refuse to fly or limit it to absolute necessity to avoid destroying the climate. Now, that movement has a somewhat surprising new member: Dutch airline KLM:Dutch airline KLM has launched ...
In the 1960's, humanity faced a terrible threat: global thermonuclear war. Nuclear weapons were uniquely destructive and dangerous, and if more countries got them, the logic of MAD and the pre-emptive strike would put us on a hair-trigger to destruction. ...
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The discussion on the quality of economic advice, which we reported last week, has spilled over into a discussion about whether so many senior appointments should be of non-New Zealanders. Recall I discussed the failure to develop career paths within ...
When Nicky Hager revealed US footage of the Operation Burnham raid, obtained under the US Freedom of Information Act, one of the obvious questions was whether Ministers had seen it - and in particular, whether they'd been told that it ...
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There's a problem with "synthetic cannabis", and not just the one you think. It's the name.We're in the midst of a wave of news stories that link synthetic drugs to serious harm, through deadly road accidents and accidental overdoses (which ...
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When the Australian government passed a series of new spy laws over the last few years, they pinky-promised that they wouldn't use them to spy on journalists and subvert freedom of the press. They lied:The anti-encryption laws passed by the ...
From 1975 to 1989, the spy agencies of South America's right-wing military dictatorships cooperated in Operation Condor, a joint campaign of extermination against the continent's left. Roughly 400,000 people were imprisoned, 30,000 disappeared, and 60,000 murdered - kidnapped, tortured, executed, ...
When she was standing for office, Jacinda Ardern promised she would take abortion out of the Crimes Act. And to be fair, there was some early action on that, with an immediate referral of the issue to the Law Commission ...
When the government introduced the Zero Carbon Bill, people rightly asked what they planned to do to reduce transport emissions, which basicly had no policy at all other than the ETS. Today, they responded, announcing a "feebate" system which would ...
At almost every level, the problem with medicinal cannabis is a lack of good information. In the US, FDA regulations make it hard to research. Most doctors aren't familiar with what research there is and most patients don't know either. ...
Redline is critical of Corbyn for his political weaknesses, but he’s no anti-Semite. There is no substance to the McCarthyist witch-hunt being run by the right wing, and the pro-Israel lobby inside and outside the Labour Party in the UK. ...
The government's billion trees program is the sort of policy which could make a real difference to our emissions and the fight against climate change. But climate scientist Jim Salinger isn't convinced:The Forestry Minister Shane Jones' one billion trees won't ...
Last month the government was celebrating another surplus. Meanwhile, children are starving:One in five children are living in households where putting food on the table is a struggle, according to a new report from the Ministry of Health. It found ...
Show Me The Money! The alternative to state funding of infrastructure is, of course, to fund it by taking on massive amounts of private debt. On this issue, at least, Auckland mayoral challenger, Tamihere, has some solid points to make. ...
If we are to avoid making the earth uninhabitable, we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to practically nothing over the next decade. But that will still leave us with the problem of the carbon we have already emitted, which ...
Former Waikato DHB CEO Nigel Murray allegedly misused public funds, spending more than $120,000 of public money on unjustified travel. He was forced to resign and the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation. But despite the SFO finding that the ...
Jeremy Corbyn, we are told, is being advised – not least by his deputy (as well as by some of his would-be successors) – that he must come “off the fence” on the Brexit issue if he wants to bolster ...
The End of Life bill has been read a second time and is now heading for the House for further debate. Personally, I support the proposal. I don't ever epect to take advantage of the Bill's provisions myself, but as ...
Before the substantive issue which this column is about – whether there has been a deterioration in the economic advice given to the government – a paragraph about the budget leaks.read more ...
Below is a translation of the editorial in the June 24 round of weekly workplace bulletins issued all over France by the revolutionary workers’ organisation Lutte Ouvriere. Last Saturday, 8,000 people took to the streets of Belfort (eastern France) to ...
Why hasn't Parliament followed the lead set by our local authorities and declared a climate emergency? The answer is the National Party:The Prime Minister’s admission that she is open to the idea of declaring a climate change emergency is nothing ...
Back in May the government released its Zero Carbon Bill. While much of the bill was welcome, there was one big exception: it contained a secrecy clause, requiring the Climate Change Commission to maintain secrecy over practically everything it does. ...
by Phil Duncan This past week has marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Stonewall Inn riots in Christopher Street, New York, the event generally regarded as kicking off the gay liberation movement. Quite a few articles have ...
Southland - land of coal-burning dairy farmers - has become the first region in the country to explicitly vote against declaring a climate emergency. Their reason? They didn't want to "devalue" the word "emergency". Its an argument addressed powerfully in ...
New Zealand has a problem with police chases: officers going after fleeing drivers like rabid dogs, without any consideration for proportionality or public safety, often with fatal results. And according to an in-depth article in the Guardian today, the UK ...
Welcome to another heaping helping of research publications related to climate change drivers and mechanisms, the effects of climate change and how we might yet grope our way into systems approaches to dealing with the mess we're making, despite ourselves. ...
Holly Lawford-Smith is a senior lecturer in political philosophy at the University of Melbourne. She’s currently writing a book about radical feminism. This article appeared on Feminist Current Academics should be standing together in defence of universities’ fundamental values: the ...
The Otago Daily Times has an in-depth article about the future of wind energy in New Zealand, and it is looking bright:The news that wind will play the leading role in New Zealand’s energy future was put up in lights ...
If the sight of schoolkids striking for a future has been filling you with hope, good news: they want you to join them on September 27:Students will take to the streets again demanding action on climate change, and this time ...
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I have been working my way through a 47,000 document tranche of declassified US government communications related to Argentina and the “Dirty War” of 1976-83. I grew up in Argentina in the period leading up to the March 24, 1976 ...
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Teachers will have to wait until 11 September for pay increases won as part of their collective agreement negotiations settled in June, according to an update sent to schools today from Novopay. ...
July 16 (BusinessDesk) - Energy Minister Megan Woods says the government “won’t die in a ditch” if its goal of 100 percent renewable electricity generation isn't reached by 2035. ...
The Electricity Networks Association (ENA) is welcoming the Government’s response to the Interim Climate Change Committee (ICCC) Report released today. Graeme Peters, chief executive of the ENA, said one of the key recommendations, endorsed by the ...
An article* published this month in the Journal of Health Organization and Management raises questions over the way health board members are elected and whether the boards are even needed. ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa's kindergarten teacher members will vote on a proposed settlement to their collective agreement after four days of negotiations with the Ministry of Education and kindergarten employers. ...
Vector has today welcomed the ICCC’s report on Accelerated Electrification . Vector agrees that accelerating the electrification of transport and process heat will play a major role in reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. Initiatives to ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is calling on the Porirua City Council to cancel its underwriting of a proposed Canadian-led privately owned adventure park slated for public land after a similar project created a huge liability for Christchurch ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero welcome the Interim Climate Change Committee’s (ICCC’s) reports: Accelerated Electrification and Action on agricultural emissions ; which were finally released by the Government today, almost three months ...
Fish & Game New Zealand notes the announcement today that the Government and the intensive agriculture leadership have reached a ‘historic consensus’ and are exploring using a formal sector-government agreement instead of bringing agriculture ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report on Accelerated Electrification was released today by the Minister for Energy and Resources, Hon Dr Megan Woods. ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee’s report Action on agricultural emissions was released today by the Minister for Climate Change, Hon James Shaw and the Minister of Agriculture, Hon Damien O’Connor. ...
Please find attached embargoed copies of two media statements from the Interim Climate Change Committee http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/1907/Embargoed_Interim_Climate_Change_Committee_Accelerated_electrification_MEDIA_STATEMENT.pdf ...
Greenpeace Executive Director, Dr Russel Norman, has reacted with disbelief that the Government’s latest climate proposal includes an option for dairy to voluntarily deal with their emissions over the next six years. ...
This week’s “Youth Parliament” is an expensive waste of time that promotes taxpayer-funded junketeering, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . “We shouldn’t be training kids on the joys of the trough,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones admitted on Q+A tonight that the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure planning is “dismal” and the government needs to get on with building “rather than writing more reports about it.” ...
DairyNZ has released its submission on the Zero Carbon Bill and is calling on the Government to revise the methane target in the Bill to one that does not put at risk New Zealand’s world-leading dairy sector. Farm profit could ...
July 15 (BusinessDesk) - Foreign Minister Winston Peters will have bi-lateral meetings with two of US president Donald Trump's most hawkish defence and security advisers in a five day trip to Washington D.C. ...
Youth climate change campaigners Generation Zero are calling for Members of Parliament to show political courage as the Zero Carbon Bill goes through the crucial Select Committee process. ...
Annual net migration was provisionally estimated at 50,200 (± 800) in the year ended December 2018 compared with 52,600 in the previous year, Stats NZ said today. ...
New Zealanders have the opportunity to contribute to the government’s Review of Retirement Income Policies, including questions around Superannuation and KiwiSaver. Submissions are now open for the Review, being run by the Commission for Financial ...
Yesterday at Mataatua Marae the Tamaki Makaurau Electorate of the Māori party congratulated Rangi Mclean who was appointed to the Vice president Tāne role of the party nation-wide executive. ...
The funding crisis facing the disability sector has become more urgent following the disturbing news that the Ministry of Health will not increase contract prices for providers this year, the New Zealand Disability Support Network said today. ...
The growing number of working poor is an alarming indicator that the regulatory Minimum Wage does not cut it said Closing the Gap spokesperson Peter Malcolm. ...
Historic hui gives overwhelming agreement for a Māori Inquiry The inquiry into state run Oranga Tamariki will be led by whanau, kaimahi and Māori leaders. ...
Drug infiltration into our maximum security prisons is putting prisoners and staff at unnecessary risk, and one tool that would be of huge benefit is a full body scanner. ...
The Socialist Equality Group is hosting a protest rally in Cuba Street, Wellington (at the intersection with Left Bank) on Sunday 14 July at 2:30pm to oppose the persecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and to ...
Simon Shepherd: The National Party proposed its own medicinal cannabis scheme last year. Its Health Spokesperson, Michael Woodhouse, says it shouldn’t have been ignored. So I began by asking him what his problem is with the government’s proposed regime. ...
Countries around the world are also dealing with medicinal cannabis. Britain legalised it last year, but the uptake has been slow. Neurologist Professor Mike Barnes wrote the report that convinced UK lawmakers it was a good idea. He's coming here ...
Simon Shepherd: Green MP Chloe Swarbrick’s name has become synonymous with drug reform, so following years of campaigning for safe, public access to medicinal cannabis, what does she think of the government’s new plan? Well, Chloe Swarbrick joins me ...
Social Credit is calling for a Government enquiry into the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board over it's handling of the Sarah Preece attack in 2017 and its subsequent report. ...
An overwhelming response sees Māori from across the country pouring into Māngere today. The call for action came from Māori leadership concerned with the practice of tamariki removals by the state. Whānau, experts, and highly skilled Māori from ...
Responding the announcement of a $2.37 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund to a Northland berry farm, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “Why couldn’t this business get a loan from the bank? If no bank was ...
Multicultural NZ is delighted to congratulate former Gisborne Mayor, Meng Foon, who has been appointed as New Zealand’s Race Relations Commissioner. ...
Award-winning broadcaster, Waatea has been selected by North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to exclusively livestream the historic Māori-led Inquiry on Oranga Tamariki. ...
“The Peace Movement sends an urgent call to Winston Peters to reject any US demands for New Zealand participation in patrolling the Persian Gulf and Straits of Hormuz. New Zealand should have nothing to do with any war on the ...
More than 50 senior non-commissioned officers from militaries in the Asia-Pacific Region gathered this week in Auckland for a conference hosted by the New Zealand Army. ...
The addition of an absurd Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Plant Varieties Act raises the question whether “Maoridom” will claim royalties on new plant varieties, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today. ...
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Another good poll for David Shearer: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8325609/National-no-longer-a-sure-winner-poll
Didn’t I always tell you he’d be prime minister? Didn’t I?
I’m in two minds, on the one hand National staying in power would really annoy the posters on here but on the other if Labour gain power then Shearer is safe for a few years and that would annoy the posters even more because Cunliffe would be even further from power
Decisions, decisions…
The soul you were trying to tell me about the other week.
Would your old fella be happy with that attitude?
I foresee lots of sore knees in your future š
I foresee lots of sore knees in your future š
– no no I’m happily married š
“no no Iām happily married”
Which is why I didn’t say sore wrists. Those ligaments and muscles must be like granite.
Come your personal judgement day, I don’t know how you’ll reconcile the attitude as displayed in your first post to saving souls, but if you try it on, good luck.
Maybe hypocrites are on the list.
Umm could you remind me which post? I can’t recall off the top of my head anything about saving souls but I guess its possible…
Supermarket 12 items or less queues.
If I’ve got it wrong and connected you to a comment you didn’t make, then of course I withdraw.
If I remembered correctly š
Don’t recall anything like that…
Amusing interchange anyway. I enjoy some non-serious stuff for a change.
Nah, that was a differently numerated commenter: http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-07022013/#comment-586557
I withdraw and even apologise for my error.
The departure of Chauvel and immanent clearance and reacceptance of Jones, together with (I predict) the demotion of Cunliffe supporters like Dalziell, make a post-reshuffle shadow cabinet like this:
1. Shearer
2. Robertson. Environment.
3. Parker. Finance. Attorney General.
4. King. Housing. (Probably no longer going for Wellington Mayor)
5. Arden
Rn. Social Welfare. Youth.
6. Maori. Economic Development.
7. Goff. International Affairs and Trade.
8. Mallard. Tertiary Education. Conservation. Sport.
9. Twyford. Transport. Auckland.
Good hard edged balance that could take them on, yes?
Whos got health, justice and acc? Because I wouldn’t want to be fed to Ryall and Collins…
Was stuck with health. Who would you recommend?
Parker is the only lawyer now and he already looked overloaded for Justice.
Also presuming Dalziell gets the signal so who covers Christchurch.
Also who would want Immigration? Ew!
They’d have to be intelligent, well spoken and have patience…
Chris Hipkins seems to be doing a good job…
10. Hipkins. Education. Whip.
Agreed. Great hits.
Sorry 6 was Jones
Doesn’t look like much of a govt in waiting. More like a govt put out to pasture.
Mind you the Greens are good for about 25% of the seats on the left so presumably they’ll be looking for about 25% of the top ten cabinet posts.
greens caucus could be almost 50% the size of Labour’s eg
32% Labour result
15% greens result
Yeah, I was being conservative there. But at those numbers they wouldn’t be forming a govt, would they?
CT: You must be out of your mind, sorry, but I have no other comment to this.
Re wrongly spelled Ardern, I fed her some highly explosive info late last year, she was too ignorant and passive to even realise it, so nothing ever came of it. She rather went on about “privacy breaches” and WINZ “helping” unemployed get a ticket and job in Australia.
Excuse me, that is to me total incompetence and idiocy.
There are so ruthless welfare reforms before Parliament, endless stories of injustice, but do we ever hear anything from her addressing this???
And do not get me started on King for “housing” (lost cause long ago), on Mallard (should resign for good), and well, the “leader” the Shearer, omg.
I fear that some here continue living in lala land.
I had some small hope for Ardern, but after her reaction to the introduction of secret bedroom sniffer squads and prison for partners, I have given up totally on her. She is hopeless.
Frankly Matt, I’m confused. Two polls ago (can’t remember their names) Shearer was reported to be closing the gap, the next one reported Key suddenly gaining three points to put Shearer in the shade, and the one you link to is suddenly promising for Shearer.
It’s enough to give me angina if I was that emotionally involved. There is also the suspicion of being toyed with given your employment by the National Party.
Key is no longer the young, bubbly, and endearingly incoherent politico he was in the first term.
Today, that’s Shearer.
Even before his near-death experience in a Christchurch restaurant Key was noticeably starting to lose his spark, his enthusiasm for the job. People can read body language.
Today he is more detached, there are suddenly grey flecks around his temples, and he must be assessing the personal cost-benefits of staying in this position. Mortality can do that.
The strongest line of inquiry is probably to ask if he will be standing against Shearer.
That would be a gift question for Key: “with all the Labour leadership instability we’ve seen, who would know?”
That’s cool CV, I have never claimed infallibility. I’m just chucking out a few ideas
for the cognoscenti (that’s NOT a secret society).
To be clear, it was not a criticism, this is the kind of thing which shows why it’s critical to have a capable team in any political endeavour. Your line of inquiry is good, however the detail of the wording might be more like:
“Have you decided to stand for another term as Prime Minister, in 2014?”
Somebody should ask him to clarify the issue.
Hey Hoots why weren’t you up at 6 in the morning a couple of days ago, typing up a comment saying that National was at its highest Colmar Brunton polling in a year?
http://tvnz.co.nz/politics-news/national-bounces-up-in-poll-5343671
Because I wasn’t
Because you know just like i do that that particular poll has a continuous track record of polling the National Party higher than it’s actual support by 2-3%,
To do that of course means that that poll has to poll other Party’s 2-3% lower than their actual support, depends how creative they get with the margin of error right???…
CV – If you have nothing but “hooters” on your mind, you are unlikely to get far in life.
Labour is rising because of the corruption and general incompetence of John Key’s government.
If Labour had a leader that could string a coherent sentence together they would be in the 40s by now.
Deck chairs Matthew.
“Didn’t I always tell you he’d be prime minister? Didn’t I?
You sound like a parent reflecting on an arranged marriage when their first child is conceived.
Or saying “won’t they have beautiful babies?” when their four-year-old gets “married” to their best friend at kindy.
Anyone else notice the media training that has been going on for government ministers.
Parata and Key both, when asked a challenging question, start with
“So … and then proceed with a prepared statement line and in fact do not address the question
at all.
And then there is “Mr Fixit” Tina Joyce who just bores the listener with his rambling delivery. And this morning on Morning report, suggests that “reasonable people might take a different view …”
of the report into the Sky City convention centre bid. What arrogance!
I’ve noticed that, but why should anyone be surprised ? There are many ex-journalists setting up ‘media training’ companies.
Re āreasonable people might take a different view ā¦ā .. intellectually patronising and refusing
to engage in reasoned democratic debate. There was once a quaint notion that you have to take people with you ..
Muldoon did a good line in that (and that long slow laugh “heh … heh … heh”)
which seemed to disarm the critical faculties of the journalists at the time.
One interesting snippet is that he did his accounting degree (by correspondence ?)
while taking part in the Italian campaign during WWII.
Joyce is in charge of a ‘super-ministry’, has to get across a range of material, and
although made his money in radio, does not have the explanatory skills of a trained
and experienced teacher. We all have our limitations ..
Muldoon probably never would have cancelled support for night classes.
I think it’s what passes for political panache these days. Muldoon had a certain style and timing, Lange had good quips, even Cullen could mercilessly take the piss from an unwary journalist or opponent, but most of parliament are more Adam Sandler’s B roles than an Oscar Wilde or Dorothy Parker.
wassername – Gentner from the Greens might have a bit of kick. Will take a while to develop the style and get the media focus, though.
Well spotted, logie. I made a similar observation last year in a thread about Shearer’s communications difficulties. Thankfully he’s improved tremendously since then!
Not only do the Nats refuse to debate live on radio or TV, because it gives credilbilty to the opposition, the ‘so’ response has been drilled into them from the first term (by Crosby Textor? Hooters?).
There’s a documentary called Spin that shows that that is exactly what politicians are taught to do when asked a question. Basically, it’s that they ignore the question and spout the spin that they want people to repeat.
As I noted the other day, the “so” is to imply that the question has been listened to and is about to receive a reasoned response.
It’s a device for skipping the reasoning entirely and jumping straight to the conclusion. But when we hear the “so” we’re supposed to believe that the reasoning has already occurred,
Exactery! And what’s worse is that its a phenomenon that everyone is picking up on. From my perspective, it’s a symptom of ‘I don’t actually care what you or anybody else thinks’ (the so ….. I mean), this is what I (me,me,me,me) thinks.
The good think is it’s becoming so pervasive that its becoming meaningless: even the supermarket checkout operator said to me yesterday
“so ….. try swiping your card” (instead of inserting it).
It’s the new “going forwid”
Yep.
Reminds me of another one to watch out for…. whenever someone says “I just think …” it meaans they haven’t actually thought properly at all. The “just” word carries out the same function as “So” in that it implies a degree of thought and consideration that simply doesn’t exist.
So
Just
just so
The other one that Key and Joyce and others have been taught is “The reality is…” which is almost always followed by a description of a parallel universe.
lol
Not always vto. It seems to have become some kind of pc political ‘play it safe’ byword -which I suppose is the same thing
I heard Jacinda Ardern saying it on the TV news tonight. She was responding to the latest bit of govt. bene bashing (smokescreen distraction from Sky City Convention Centre rort) and she preceded her answers with “I think“. I yelled at her you don’t think woman you know, so why don’t you bloody well say so. I don’t think she heard me.
Dammit, it still won’t edit.
Should be ‘politically correct byword’
Anne – I can say with confidence, often she DOES NOT THINK!
hi xtasy,
I was meaning she should drop the “I think” and say it how it is. I’m getting fed up with Labour pollies (and Greens too sometimes) who seem too scared to categorically state a situation or make an accusation they know to be true… without prefacing their words with I think. That immediately removes some of the impact of what they are saying.
I agree though, sometimes she doesn’t appear to have thought something through, but she’s not alone there of course.
From the some would say play book.
Is the NZ Herald ownership about to undergo a change? The details of who owns what shares, and who is the manager/owner of this or that bit tend to make my non-business head spin. But it seems all is not well with Granny’s APN owners:
What are the political implications ?
Karol:
It is all about more profits being needed or wanted for shareholders, that is why this happened. Also the digitatlisation and user pay section for internet access are due to be pushed. Prepare for paying for every article you want to read. I told you all before, but stop dreaming, this is the future of “media”, sadly!
You will have to register, pay and read in future, that is with few exceptions.
This will provide exactly for the further social AND knowledge DIVISION in society, where the better earners, and elitists, who can “afford” to pay subscriptions, will be “informed” and maybe “educated”, the rest will become ignorant “riff raff”!
Again, this is NO joke, it is taking place gradually day by day, just look around, and one day, you will be disenfranchised as “odd ball” “dissenters”, “problematic social elements” and the likes, as most (the dumbed down and brainwashed) will take up what they are offered!
A boost for Labor over the ditch: Gillard naming the election date early has apparently freaked out new Greens leader Christine Milne. She has bizarrely announced the end of the parliamentary relationship between the two parties, while also saying the Greens would still support Labor in parliament.
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/doubts-over-end-to-greenslabor-alliance-20130219-2eplv.html
Labor definitely needs a boost; it’s sitting on the low 30% in the polls, and the backbenchers are muttering about putting Rudd back in.
Well, losing 45-55 on the two party preferred, which is the relevant figure in the weird Aussie system. But no question Gillard is in trouble and Rudd is quietly smiling in the background. Short of a miracle, he’s likely to be leading Labor soon. Question is, before or after the election?
The news media is muttering about the backbenchers muttering about putting Rudd back in. I think their stories are almost totally fabricated. The Aussie media makes the Kiwi media seem fair and balanced. Most of their least partisan journalists could ghostwrite columns using Michael Laws’s name and no one would notice the difference.
David Shearer gave an excellent interview this morning on Morning Report: clear, forceful, didn’t stutter, mumble or bumble his way through it at all, and on the complicated issue of the AG report on Sky City and rebutting National and Joyce’s spin on it.
Pretty much a standard interview with a politician, and better than any average interview with Key (with his poor diction, slurring, folkism and reliance on catch-phrases).
*This* is what we need to see from him, and I certainly hope he keeps it up!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2546936/labour-wants-convention-centre-process-stopped.asx
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2546936/labour-wants-convention-centre-process-stopped
Naah must have been a voice double
Agree – Shearer was smooth and on the ball throughout that segment. My observations:
1) Shearer seems to feel much more comfortable talking about commercial due process and commercial best practice.
2) The report that the interview centres around has done most of the thinking and analysis for Shearer – he is pulling out pertionent points and observations from it.
Just keep him away from anything to do with homophobia š (not that National would have noted it I’m sure)
Err, it was National who blogged the story.
I know, I was being sarcastic
Ah so.
I think you do him a bit of disservice with your #2: the analysis and thinking might be there, but he is making an interpretation of what is there, in contrast to the interpretation that Joyce and co are spewing every chance they get. Now whether he did this himself or it was prepared by someone else isn’t a huge deal at this point, since his stumbling block has always been the delivery of his point, which he (finally) aced.
Yes, I was well impressed with his delivery during that interview, it was chalk and cheese. Shearer when he has been at his best has been noticeably improving in that regard over the last 6 months.
That was an excellent performance by Shearer. Stayed on point, deftly rebutted the interviewers’ attempts to get him to say the officials were at fault (the poor sods are always at risk of being restructed out of their jobs if they become inconvenient), kept calm, didn’t mumble or fumble, sounded persuasive and on top of the relevant details. He needs to be able to do that every time, on telly, and in Parliament.
Sorry for typos – comment editor not working?
yeah that comment editor problem came to light yesterday, it’s on lprent’s list of things to sort.
Bloody irritating it is as well. Bounced off it this morning and no time during the day today.
True, the hesitancy was far less evident. So it seems he can do cerebral on clearly delineated issues. But he needs to be able to present stuff that arises from passion or ‘the gut’. And he can’t and won’t because he ain’t got anything there (except for when he percieves a threat to himself and his standing at which point his alpha male response is reckless and over the top) And he needs to do the ‘on the feet’ stuff. And he can’t and won’t for much the same reason…no passion, ideology or vision to work from.
Actually, I’m not sure that’s true. Jonkey is steadily getting up more and more people’s noses for his quick smartass quip responses that smell of smokescreening and make him look like a puerile schoolboy. They just further damage his already well-dented credibility with the non-National voters who will decide the next election.
Shearer may actually do better to adopt a less passionate, more personably analytical style. He’s battling Jonkey – who thinks and talks in slogans – no depth of knowledge about anything but money marketing. What Shearer mustn’t do is waffle. He should tackle Jonkey on facts. Jonkey doesn’t understand facts.
Shearer used one excellent rebuttal in Parliament today when he replied to Jonkey’s claim he was exonerated by the AG report. Shearer’s reply – “he wasn’t vindicated, he was implicated”. TV One news picked that one up straight away. Very good, I thought. A few more clever responses like that will go a long way. They are memorable.
Seriously, its an interview, it makes no difference, Shearer is still a plant!
Any Labour lead govt is going to continue on the same track the last one left for National to continue, and which NACT have progressed, why do people so badly want to believe the system is going change..
The system , might change when people do what is necessary to create change, voting for the LP, will no achieve that.
Polls are meaningless distractions for stupid people, which should be very clear then the first post today on open mike is Matthew Hooten talking about polling and Shearer..
Wakey Wakey
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Pull all the faces you like, it changes nothing, just like polls, and swapping the blue flag for a red one!
By reponsding, you are showing your fear, you know that right…
Guess not!
…and swapping the ECA for the ERA, and deficit for surplus, and no mining on Schedule 4 land, etc etc.
By pretending that makes no difference you are showing your stupidity, you know that right.
Its a game, its too complex for you to understand, I get that.
While its playing out, of course there will be, positive, negative, and neutral impacts, of the journey, but the destination remains the same, its not going to reverse the trending, by tinkering around the fringes.
You flatter yourself: your banal, simplistic delusions could never be described as “complex”.
One Tane Huna,
What part of Muzza’s comment was “banal, simplistic or delusional”?
And why the š with no justification?
I don’t think your š was not very fair particularly not providing justification It serves to make you appear much as you are accusing others of.
What part of Muzza’s comments are you objecting to?
That any Labour lead govt is going to continue on the same track the last one left?
Seems to be about what has happened up until now, although I would exchange the word “same” for “similar”.
That “the system might change when people do what is necessary to create change”
Seems like basic commonsense to me.
“voting for the LP, will not achieve that”
A matter of opinion, although linking this with the first statement indicates the reasoning behind it.
“Polls are meaningless distractions for stupid people, which should be very clear then the first post today on open mike is Matthew Hooten talking about polling and Shearer..”
Dunno about the “stupid people” bit, however polls most-likely are meaningless distractions….Although there is room for debate on this one; I guess it depends whose interests are going to benefit from the opinion being swayed by reading them, as to how “meaningless” one perceives them to be.
Let’s assume the bits you quoted were reasonable. What was left out:
Seriously, its an interview, it makes no difference, Shearer is still a plant!
Oooo yay – a conspiracy theory, right off the bat.
[lab6 will be identical to lab5] and which NACT have progressed, why do people so badly want to believe the system is going change..
Firstly, the system has already changed, Key is a very different leader to Holyoake. Why wouldn’t it change back?
Second, it’s a claim of total futility. If no change is possible, then why bother worrying?
Wakey Wakey
Yay – muzz is “awake” and has hidden knowledge that those who are “asleep” cannot see because of their own stupidity. Given Muzz’ track record, much rolly eyes at that. More likely, muzz is just tripping again. That’s assuming that they’re using words according to an actual commonly accepted meaning, rather than just stringing funny words together to sound profound.
That is fair enough, McFlock, because you have put up an argument, some reasoning.
(…and I have to say, I would have gone back and added the bit about NACT, however the editing function wasn’t working…sorry about that, I did realise it was a mis-quote and would come across as cherry picking.)
My point being that there was enough commonsense statements in Muzza’s comment, and some provision of reasoning, that I think it a bit “off” simply to be replied to as a š and then when asked for some justification, simply ad hominem attacks were supplied.
I have no problem with someone who is stating some well repeated unthought-out meme (especially if they are right-wing memes…heh) getting the š however, I am objecting to the š treatment on the grounds that Muzza’s comment showed some critical analysis with reasoning provided.
Muzza specialises in salting their comments with a few points that, on the face of it, are reasonable comments, but upon closer inspection they’re either trite truisms or just camouflage for more nutty conspiracism.
easier to just do the rolley-eyes thing.
What McFlock said.
Oh, and pointing out the differences between the ECA and ERA etc does not constitute a personal attack. Nor does characterisation of Muzza’s comments as stupidity, or delusions, or banal, since it is the comments being described, not the tiresome cretin himself. Calling him a tiresome cretin, now that’s a personal attack. You see the difference?
I see someone else has noticed your tendency to make allegations without justification.
I also note Shearer’s recent comment that it is possible to not agree with so-called marriage equality without being a homophobe.
lol, because Shearer controls my opinions, and therefore I must agree with everything he says, assuming your version of what he said is anything other than a self-serving distortion, that is.
But hang on – last week you were pointing to other people to support your unsubstantiated allegation that I was homophobic, yet now that approach lacks validity? Well, I will accept your changed view because that is what I said to you – who cares what other people’s opinions are. Good to see you come around.
And further, your reason for alleging I was homophobic rested solely on my disagreement with the current marriage equality bill. That “evidence” is clearly invalid in the mind of the leader of one of NZ’s two main political parties. A party that you are a member of, I think.
Got anything else?
Nope, my opinion rests on your claiming membership of a tiny minority group who want to keep marriage all to themselves (otherwise known as bigots), oh, and now I come to think of it, your remark about Chris Findlayson on 14.12.12.
lol
sheesh, vto – someone might think that your obsession with banging the “against same-sex marriage” peg into the “not being homophobic” hole is beginning to get a wee bit extreme and irrational…
dancing on a pin head equals fail.
finlayson was clearly a joke, but it helps for bigots like yourself who shove their hollow opinions onto whatever’s going doesn’t it. Wanna evaluate that one as well to see if you manage to stack up again? You should be careful though as you will end up in the same pile of doo doo that you are sitting in now.
Tee hee what a funny joke. Fuck off, bigot – that’s just a joke. Tee hee, you see how funny it is?
is that it oth? is that all you got? complete and total distortion and misrepresentation?
that’s pretty useless.
Nope, my opinion rests on your claiming membership of a tiny minority group who want to keep marriage all to themselves (otherwise known as bigots), oh, and now I come to think of it, your remark about Chris Findlayson on 14.12.12.
But just for fun, I’m going to let you dig yourself a deeper hole, vto.
Explain to me why it’s so “funny” that “Queen’s Council” and “queer cunt” have the same initial letters, so that we can all have a little giggle, and acknowledge that you’re just a terrifically witty comedian.
He’s gone quiet š
But I think I may have seen the light – “queer cunt” is funny like “front bum” – you only see the funny side if you’re a, oh now, what’s the word? It’s on the tip of my tongue…
lol – get prepared for the next barrage because vto doesn’t get it and doesn’t want to.
actually been busy, but the term “front bum” as expressed by John Tamihere and the ancient and in fact endearing term (prior to new meanings arising since December) “queer cunt” have absolutely no relation to each other. Except in simple minds of dubious intention.
You need to learn some understanding of people outside your world.
and marty mars shut up. Talk about digging holes ….
Explain how it’s funny, you terrifically witty comedian.
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Good on Shearer for doing his job to a competent standard this morning. Hopefully he can keep it up all day.
š
I am with Jesus, I can forgive anybody and everybody, if they repent.
Shearer also gave a good sound-bite on the issue on TV1 News the night befor, no stumbles, no fumbles, no stopping to self edit in mid sentence, nary an um or ah in sight,
He actually came across as being quite forceful even to the point of letting a bit of anger show in His voice, give the bloke a +1…
More about the U$K situation. Remember Key has said Cameron is a friend of his.
True, but given the right media circumstance Key would also say that Schwarzeneggar, Putin and Kate Middleton were friends of his.
Actually there is much which joins all those names up, circumstance has little to do with it!
More about the U$K situation.
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=30625
“Two million disabled people face new benefits test”
“Any disabled person capable of walking a measly 20 metres is set to lose their mobility payments when the Tories scrap the disability living allowance (DLA) on 1 April.
It is set to be replaced by the new personal independence payment (PIP). But this will push thousands of people off the higher rate of mobility support.
This helps pay for everything from wheelchairs and mobility scooters to specially adapted cars. “
I bet Ministerial BMWs (Jags?) will stay in the Budget.
Got some links today, which may be relevant in a way. They have there and here (in NZ) previously heavily relied on GPs to do “examinations”, do “assessments”, to fill in forms for work capacity fitness and so forth, but are GPs really that competent and qualified, some ask:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19478286
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951586/
There are other research findings, that prove that GPs often over value their competencies and abilities, to know about “all” health issues. Most are anyway physicians, and some are specialised, but tell me, few, if any, are in NZ qualified (post grad qual. or else) to be “experts” say in mental health and addiction treatment and diagnosis.
So why and how can MSD and WINZ claim their chosen doctors (almost all GPs) and other health and disablity advisors (mostly non registered nurses) know all about the applicants and beneficiaries on sickness and invalids benefits and their health, plus their ability to work.
This is proving that they know f all and lead all you on, who rely on their biased doctors.
johnm and others –
Bennett will see to it, John, that if you can walk to the letter box, you can bloody work. It is all a BS agenda anyway, that is what insiders know. It is all just designed to save the government money by reducing costs, by cutting benefit entitlements. All the talk about extra health care and support is BS too, as I have ample info that proves, that according to their “Rising to the Challenge” plan for mental health and addiction, strangely published just before Xmas, delivers NADA for extra expenses and services to actually assist such people into any form of work! Read it yourself, you will see it. Peter Dunne is the other traitor to us, who announced it (Associate Minister for Health, the Bastard).
http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/rising-challenge-mental-health-and-addiction-service-development-plan-2012-2017
http://www.nzno.org.nz/home/consultation/articletype/articleview/articleid/1350/rising-to-the-challenge–the-mental-health-and-addiction-service-development-plan-2012-2017
http://anzasw.org.nz/social_work_practice/topics/show/426-release-of-rising-to-the-challenge-the-mental-health-and-addiction-service-development-plan-2012-2017
http://www.psychology.org.nz/cms_show_download.php?id=1753
http://www.nzma.org.nz/sites/all/files/NZMA%20Submission%20on%20the%20Mental%20Health%20%26%20Addiction%20Service%20Development%20Plan%202012-2017.pdf
http://www.rnzcgp.org.nz/assets/documents/Standards–Policy/Submissions/2012.11.02-MoH-Rising-to-the-Challenge.pdf
Google ‘Rising to the Challenge’, the plan from the Ministry, and you can read details. I actual fact, the blunty state that sufferers have to use the resources and “help themselves”. That is what NZ health policy is about now.
This is stuff that most politicians do not even bother reading. That is why NZ is in a SHIT situation, it is being let down even by a hopeless opposition, that does not even do its job.
It is close to becoming suicidal, when you wake up to what really goes on in NZ. It is damned horrible.
Good night, and take your time to digest it, as otherwise you will yourself get sick!
X
By the way, I want people to spread that info and the links I presented above around as much as possible, as it is so highly important. Please consider taking that action, for other people’s well being’s sake! X
hmmm, interesting
Edit test.
Is anyone listening to Radionz while Sir James Dyson (think vacuum cleaners et al) talks about inventing and engineering and manufacturing. He is pure gold for good practical opinions. Listen up NZ politicians and alert and pragmatic citizens.
Yes I caught some of that, was very interesting especially his points about r&d and the necessity to keep investing in product development.
I look forward to seeing the tap and hand dryer all in one thing he described.
How does Gerry Brownlee get away with putting the reason for not offering full payment to red zone bare land owners in Chch down to their lack of insurance when it is not possible to get that insurance he says is needed?
He refuses to acknowledge and recognise this.
It is this type of conduct which leads to politicians being ranked the lowest of the low.
I agree, but it seems National politicians get ranked on their ability to bully and Brownlee is one of their best. Why voters aren’t turned off by this I’ll never know, maybe they misinterpret bullying as being assertive, confident and knowledgeable.
Works for the ABCs.
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sad but true CV
Sorry fenderviper got your name wrong at 9.1.2 but I’m not able to edit it. Edit box comes up empty. (Sort of an eejit box.)
fenerviper
lolz I think you are right about NZ attitudes. Ask a group of ordinary NZs to dredge their heads for ideas about anything (not being asked to criticise or complain) and very little will come out. Then someone who is assertive will take over and the whole process is master minded by his/her views. I
I’ve seen it happen and its dispiriting to me as I believe that we have been educated to take a place in a society living by reasoned decisions. I have never conducted an experiment where people are taught brain-storming, encouraged to bring up ideas first and then all examine them for how they could be utilised for practical results. I think with some time and effort at a thinking session, individuals would come up with valuable ideas. Then there is no place for loud-mouths and put-downs by a steam-roller with more mouth than brain over-riding the shyer, diffident members so frequently seen in our society.
Things go from bad to worse for top pommy toff David Cameron. Not only does he have bad polls and Boris Johnson to worry about, he’s also accidently got Mozza and Johnny Marr agrreing on something for the first time in decades:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/19/david-cameron-smiths-what-difference
Rather witty comments section, too!
I made a mistake in placing a comment under an ‘old’ one, and it might get lost. I thought it was an appropriate time to introduce the old song You’ve got to Accentuate the Positive. (And mess with mister in-between refers to supportr needing to be full.)
Youāve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Donāt mess with Mister In-Between
Youāve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
Have faith or pandemoniumās
Liable to walk upon the scene
This is the point I made at NoseViper (The Nose knows) ā¦
20 February 2013 at 10:58 am on Reshuffle for Unity and see the whole lyrics of the song also good retro you tube vocal.
Yes it gets to the point where the destructive force of pressing for change mounts higher as it continues and what is being destroyed is Labourās chances to do anything because it doesnāt get elected. So I think keep working for change (limitation of terms or?). And push for more positives rather than blanket disapproval and increase the positives.
Of course there was cow shit in the drinking water, what do you expect after the rain?
Welcome to NZ Inc, enjoy your stay.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8327280/New-well-for-Darfield-after-gastro-outbreak
Has Federated Farmers got anything to say about this?
Have the local dairy farms which caused this offered to clean up their mess? Including, the vomit of those people they caused sickness in?
I would suspect not …… what does that say about their attitudes to society and their immediate neighbours? Not much.
Yep, they’ll go on about everybody taking personal responsibility but won’t say or do a damn thing when it becomes obvious that they have a responsibility they need to accept.
Dairy farmers should be required to source their personal water downstream from their farm. I imagine that would sort the majority of cowshit pollution problems out quite quickly.
SOMEBODIES ripped a “Banksie” off the Poundland wall.
meanwhile the govt insurance payout offer on undeveloped ChCh sections is 50% of R.V.
a real gem from Bob Jones (one of the few i can recall); “people on boards are bludgers and parasites, boards are a joke.” (bit of an upper cut).
is JT dead from the open-collar up?
Janus, Flockie, a summing up.
Pr 13:10 Pride only breeds quarrels, yet wisdom is found in those who take advice.
If you were searching for a metaphor to describe the ChCh rebuild, would you go with:
a) A coiled spring building up tension before rapidly releasing energy.
or
b) Anything else.
sand always comes to mind (having lived there for Seven years; used to rip down Telegraph Road)
One of the better instances of rock opera
Sultan you (gonna take a long ride with me…through the Tunnel of Love, Juliet says, hey it’s Romeo, he’s underneath the window…)
c) a sagging sausage slowly sinking into soft sands sans sizzle, setting up a sorry city, sorry to say.
d) c) with a small weak shot of a).
Gerry Brownlee used ‘a’. Reported in NBR Property Investor.
Hopefully the liquifaction from this burst of pent up energy is a nice new city! Huzzah.
It’s easy to get very different views on the huge number of things going on and not going on in the city.
Some sectors and locations are going gang-busters and are bursting at the seams with excitement. Others are sagging and looking weak. It is a city of many tales now and a city of many and varied views on what is going on and where it will end up. To view the complete picture is like putting together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, which then gets turned into a slowly spinning kaleidoscope.
A big round view on where it is heading can be gained from looking at this governments approach and competency in completing its Blueprint projects etc. There is a strong element of “believe it when it happens” with this and many are simply waiting see the anchor projects come to fruition before going much further with the CBD. Of course the CBD is but one part of the puzzle.
Don’t mind my 2c on it, we are in the forgotten east and it is easy to get depressed about it all. I tell you one of the main factors depressing people imo is the loss of the CBD and all of its busyness and cosmopolitality and workers and tourists and funny locals and students and theatres restaurants museums big shops small shops on and on and on it goes. We have truly lost a city and I think that reality alone is one of the main depressing stresses.
You haven’t lost a city. You’ve lost the networks and communications, the community, that the city represents and now the authoritarians of this government are busily trying to recreate it in their image through disaster capitalism.
You’re taking the phrase ‘lost a city’ much too literally I suspect, and in doing so negating the validity of the psychological (and psychic) damage which has occurred.
The city, as a physical location, still exists. What has been lost is the social structure.
I think you miss my point a bit a lot. The sense is that we really have lost a city. And we have. The loss of the buildings and the scape they created – the physical location is meaningless when it is empty dustbowls. And of course all of the society and community that lived and interacted within that built scape. That is gone. It has been lost. It has been destroyed and morphed into a different form of “population interaction”. We are now simply a bunch of suburbs. The city has been lost. There is no city of Christchurch, as defined by what we had before (being that cosmopolitan central city of density and activity etc).
I think I haven’t described it very well but hopefully you get my point.
Imagine, all you Wellingtonians, if central Wellington was lost. Gone. Flattened like Chch. Not there anymore. It is bizarre.
Would that include the space between the Terrace and Molesworth St?
š
wouldn’t it be grand
Young fella from your way done got himself a writing space in teh Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10866637
Hah. Hardly surprising that Gerry Brownlee would resort to deception. As I said earlier, it is a city of many tales, defined by specific geographical location more than anything else, which is what the writer also says. Pretty obvious really.
Here is something more to whet the appetite for those wanting to nail this govt lot – heavy rumours abound that red zoners and red stickered folk who remain in their homes are about to have sewer, water and other services chopped to force them out………..
Mate.
Did you hear about the square sausages on TV 3 last night?
Makes a lot more sense than some Nat policy, at least the sausages cook evenly and do not roll over. I think they are skinless, so will save skining.
I’d like to “skin” someone, he goes by the abbreviation JK!
These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them (got that down pat). For thay mouth empty boastful words and by appealing to the lustful desires of human nature they entice people who are escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves-for a person is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
2 Pete (2:17)
Why isn’t the New Zealand Democratic Party for Social Credit more popular than it is?
Needs a shorter name, a smart charismatic speaker who really understands economics for a leader, needs to update its old social credit ideas to accomodate principles of environmental and resource depletion, needs a few standout policies which make other people look orthodox and conventional, and it needs some (lol) serious money backing it. Well, not that serious. $200K would do.
They made a commendable effort campaigning in 2011, I have to say, better than they’ve managed for quite some years.
There is a major problem there, which you’ve identified in the first line.
That’s when you say that the Social Credit leader needs to be someone who really understands economics. That’s like looking for a new Pope who doesn’t believe in God.
Do you really think a new party could campaign on only 200K and have any chance of getting into Parliament? The rules so strongly favour existing parties I wouldn’t have thought it possible. They wouldn’t get more than a risible amount of TV time, if any at all, and without being in Parliament they would have to pay their own travel costs. It was free travel for MPs after all, that made the Greens so desperate to get Nandor out and Russel into the house when Russel got elected leader. Without that the would have to have found the money to pay for Russel’s rambles during the election campaign. With him as an MP they had unlimited use of the taxpayer’s purse. Being able to speak in Parliament wasn’t of much importance at that stage of the electoral cycle.
I’d suggest that the goal for 2014 would not be to get into Parliament, it would be to get a solid 2% of the vote. Base building for a solid attempt at 2017.
There used to be a lot more of them, but I formed my (poor) opinion of them after talking to many of their supporters. It wasn’t their policies that I objected to. It was the religious fervour.
I’d point out that I have exactly the same reaction to the conservatives, many of the far left, most people who are fervently religious (ie want to tell me or anyone else how we should live our life rather than living their own life according to their precepts), and anyone who thinks computers can show any signs of intelligence.
I think they joined the alliance with the greens, then departed with Anderton.
Their leader got no votes in the electorate she stood in. That is correct. Zero.
A far cry from when Bruce Beetham had Rangitikei as his personal feifdom.
Most of the SC vote was a protest vote against the Muldoon government. When Muldoon was gone, its vote collapsed.
The 1987 election is rather forgotten, but it has the historical significance as the election in which in which they faded as a third party,
“It was the religious fervour.”
I know one from years back, she was a committed Mormon.
There were also others of mixed backgrounds. Some of their ideas were very good, but once you learned the nitty gritty of who was involved for whatever purpose, it got me disinterested.
I am happy to “embrace” any nun, but I fear, most will not want to be embraced, even in friendship, also for that fear, often unreasonable, of being “abused”. Strangely many of their “brethren” faced issues that seem to be more to worry about.
Good night, nuns, non nuns, anarchists, socialists, social democrats, humanitarians, environmentally concerned friends, and all else who may care and want a better world.
X
not parallel
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-new-born-puppy-knows-no-fear-of-a-tiger–north-korea-threatens-final-destruction-of-south-korea-during-debate-at-un-8501139.html
offering 30 pieces of 8
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/report-megachurches-thriving-in-tough-economic-times/2013/02/19/1d2f65c6-7add-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html
Interesting conversation going on on RadioNZ National right now about a Hydrogen booster kitset that a bloke in Paraparaumu has fitted to His car,
He expects to save 70 odd % of His fuel bill (petrol) by having this system, must have a look online to see what this entails…
The figures for his current consumption were quoted in the Dom/Post this morning. According to them he managed to drive from Paraparaumu to Otaki using 7.1 ltr/km in his Corolla. The car has an official consumption of 8.1 ltr/km.
That seems dreadful to me.
I have a car with an official overall consumption of 9.4 ltr/km. On a flat open stretch like that, travelling at the speed limit and with the air-con on I will routinely get 6.8 km/ltr so his claimed consumption doesn’t seem very good at all. Note that I am not trying to get spectacular figures and drive normally.
It also wasn’t at all clear how it would get any better. The claims do seem a bit like the claims that there is a carb that will let you get 150 mpg, except that the oil companies bought it up and are hiding it.
Just a question. Will lawyers be liable now that government has awarded land owners 50% of the unimproved water-gas-power-roaded lots value for not having informed their clients that they needed to improve their property otherwise they’d only get 50% of the value?
I mean, for sure, in future lawyers on purchase of empty land will have to tell clients to get out and put in a mail box or some improvement so they aren’t exposed to the Brownlee shakedown.
The Brownlee shakedown is where ‘he’s doing them a favor giving them 50% rather than the new now earthquake destroyed land estimate ??1%??.
Yeah I can see in the future some of this land coming back to market when better building technology appears.
John Armstrong, bites the hand that feeds:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10866493
“A banana republic without the bananas”
Good on John Armstrong.
URGENT!
FYI
20 February 2013
MEDIA RELEASE: “Stop Chicken Coop Housing!”
Housing Lobby Spokesperson Sue Henry
“It’s an absolute insult to residents in existing communities for this Auckland Council to proceed with the proposal to ‘slummify’ numerous areas (32) with high-rise intensive housing, particularly housing 8 stories high in Glen Innes,” says Housing Lobby Spokesperson, Sue Henry.
“Over many years, practically every area earmarked for decimation, (for the benefit of property developers and speculators), has had resounding opposition from the residents currently living in them,” she continued.
“Are the Mayor and Councillors listening to the public, and communities opposing housing intensification in Auckland?
NO – they are not!”
“We would not like to see formal notification for the Auckland Draft Unitary Plan actioned in September 2013, with local body elections looming in October 2013.
It would be far more appropriate to wait for a newly-elected Auckland Council to settle in first.”
Sue Henry
Spokesperson
Housing Lobby
Ph (09) 575 6344
FYI
WHO CONTROLS AUCKLAND COUNCIL?????
20 February 2013
‘Open Letter’ to the Mayor and all Auckland Councillors:
Did YOU authorise this ‘directive’ from CEO Doug McKay – effectively ‘blocking’ fellow ‘anti-corruption
whistle-blower – Gary Osbourne?
Dear Mayor Len Brown,
Please confirm that you, either personally or collectively through a resolution passed by elected Auckland Councillors, authorised the Principal Administrative Officer (CEO) of Auckland Council, Doug McKay to issue the following ‘directive’, the effect being to block/ filter the emails of fellow ‘anti-corruption’ / ‘concerned citizen’ Gary Osbourne from reaching Auckland Council elected representatives.
Can you please reply – YES or NO?
If YES, upon what lawful basis?
Please be advised that I have the authority of Gary Osbourne to publicise the following ‘directive’ from Auckland Council CEO, Doug McKay
FYI – I read this ‘directive’ out today, Wednesday 20 February 2013, 11.45am -ish) on Radio Live, when the former Minister of Local Government, Rodney Hide was host.
https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=18afffb768&view=att&th=13cf47c57f5d3f79&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P-I5Cd-lIWIP7LzmJSi9erv&sadet=1361320648353&sads=wWHEIzAYJ8yQ-KSNUtbRoOltpVg
_______________________________________________________________________________________
“Auckland Council MEMO 19 June 2012
To: Darryl Griffin, Manager Democracy Services
From: Doug McKay, Chief Executive
Subject: Case Management – Mr Gary Osbourne
Darryl,
I confirm my previous verbal advice that you are assigned to case manage Mr Gary Osbourne, and respond to any inquiry lodged with Auckland Council by telephone, email, in person or in writing by him.
Please ensure that Mr Osbourne, Customer Services (including all call centres) and the Mayor’s Office are aware of this directive.
Doug McKay
Chief Executive.
_____________________________________________________________________________
As an ‘anti-corruption’ – ‘pro-transparency’ Public Watchdog, I am DEEPLY concerned at this action by Auckland Council CEO, Doug McKay.
Not only is Gary Osbourne a concerned citizen and ratepayer, he is also an ‘anti-corruption/ pro-transparency whistle-blower’.
Is this an attempt by Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay to effectively help ‘cover-up’ allegedly corrupt / non-transparent practices by Auckland Council, and/or Auckland Council CCOs?
Not only are there legal NO PROTECTIONS for New Zealand ‘whistle-blowing’ citizens and ratepayers – but Auckland Council at the highest levels are, in my opinion, engaging in what I consider to be an arguably corrupt form of local government ‘censorship’, and violating citizens lawful rights :
Please be reminded of the OATH you swore, upon obtaining your elected office:
http://www.lgnz.co.nz/lg-sector/role/index.html
“I, [full name of councillor], declare that I will faithfully and impartially, and according to the best of my skill and judgment, execute and perform, in the best interests of [name of region or district], the powers, authorities, and duties vested in or imposed upon me as a member of the [name of local authority] by virtue of the Local Government Act 2002, the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, or any other Act.”
_____________________________________________________________________________
The LAW, which I believe applies in this situation:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM225513.html
NZ BILL OF RIGHTS ACT 1990
14. Freedom of expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.
_____________________________________
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0084/latest/DLM171810.html
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 2002
14Principles relating to local authorities
(1)In performing its role, a local authority must act in accordance with the following principles:
(a)a local authority shouldā
(i)conduct its business in an open, transparent, and democratically accountable manner; and
(ii)give effect to its identified priorities and desired outcomes in an efficient and effective manner:
(b)a local authority should make itself aware of, and should have regard to, the views of all of its communities; and
(c)when making a decision, a local authority should take account ofā
(i)the diversity of the community, and the community’s interests, within its district or region; and
(ii)the interests of future as well as current communities; and
(iii)the likely impact of any decision on the interests referred to in subparagraphs (i) and (ii):
(d)a local authority should provide opportunities for MÄori to contribute to its decision-making processes:
(e)a local authority should collaborate and co-operate with other local authorities and bodies as it considers appropriate to promote or achieve its priorities and desired outcomes, and make efficient use of resources; and
(f)a local authority should undertake any commercial transactions in accordance with sound business practices; and
(fa)a local authority should periodicallyā
(i)assess the expected returns to the authority from investing in, or undertaking, a commercial activity; and
(ii)satisfy itself that the expected returns are likely to outweigh the risks inherent in the investment or activity; and
(g)a local authority should ensure prudent stewardship and the efficient and effective use of its resources in the interests of its district or region; and
(h)in taking a sustainable development approach, a local authority should take into accountā
(i)the social, economic, and cultural interests of people and communities; and
(ii)the need to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment; and
(iii)the reasonably foreseeable needs of future generations.
(2)If any of these principles conflict in any particular case, the local authority should resolve the conflict in accordance with the principle in subsection (1)(a)(i).
_______________________________
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0174/latest/whole.html#DLM122283
LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL INFORMATION AND MEETINGS ACT 1987
4Purposes
The purposes of this Act areā
(a)to provide for the availability to the public of official information held by local authorities, and to promote the open and public transaction of business at meetings of local authorities, in orderā
(i)to enable more effective participation by the public in the actions and decisions of local authorities; and
(ii)to promote the accountability of local authority members and officials,ā
and thereby to enhance respect for the law and to promote good local government in New Zealand:
(b)to provide for proper access by each person to official information relating to that person:
(c)to protect official information and the deliberations of local authorities to the extent consistent with the public interest and the preservation of personal privacy.
______________________________________
I look forward to your prompt reply.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption campaigner’
2013 Auckland Mayoral Candidate
………………………………..
………………………………..
My website – covering my legal submissions as a ‘Named Respondent’ in the Occupy Auckland vs Auckland Council Appeal (CIV-2011-404- 8284) :
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OCCUPY-AUCKLAND-APPEAL-APPLICATION-BY-APPELLANT-BRIGHT-TO-ADDUCE-NEW-EVIDENCE-pdf.pdf
Gary Osbourne’s blog:
http://accountabilitynz.wordpress.com/
laughs.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/HstBldgs/History/Special/Language/d/8/8/d8896b2516084ed6bd87f0ae8da0982e.htm
Love it!
lol
Half of those seem to sum up our current PM
Timeless comedy gold, P’s B! And kudos to the hard working civil servant who compiled the list. Mint!
“His brains could revolve inside a peanut shell for a thousand years without touching the sides”
Tony Abott?
“Energy of a tired snail returning home from a funeral”
King Jerry?
“Could go down the Mount Eden sewer and come up cleaner than he went in”
Well, if it was the Parnell sewer …
Best laugh of the day Pb, cheers.
To David Shearer:
The MSM keeps promoting the lie that Sky City is doing us a favor by building a conference venue THEY will own.
The Auditor General’s report says a year before there was any discussion of more poky machines Sky had decided to build the venue. Sky would build it with OR WITHOUT the additional pokies.
Sky City is getting 30 pokies worth $193 million for free. The public gets NOTHING.
You can’t say this outside of Parliament, but it smells to high hell of bribery and corruption.
Can the PM state unequivocally that no National MP (personally or through a trust or nominee company) and no major financial contributor to National does not own any shares in Sky City?
No, he cannot. Because Sky contributed to National (and John Banks).