“Mr Key told the Herald last night that it was good to end the year in a strong position. “That reflects the growing economic confidence and the acknowledgement by voters that we’ve steered the ship on a very deliberate and accurate course to economic prosperity.”
What??? “very deliberate and accurate course to economic prosperity”
Is that what he calls the $40 billion Christchurch Earthquake??? Is that what he calls the record Dairy pay out this year, its a commodity John…nothing to do with your inept National Party…
”Not in the same league”, so says Auckland City Councilor Cameron Brewer in this morning’s Herald-online over the GIFT of a trip to Australia’s Gold Coast from the news organization Media-Works which this Auckland City Councilor after calling on the Mayor Len Brown to resign over undeclared gifts has admitted to not declaring,
Utter HYPOCRISY is my opinion and Brewer should follow His own advice and resign from the Auckland Council…
Another day, another round of editorial Len–bashing by the Herald, arrogantly claiming to speak on behalf of Auckland residents the majority of whom couldn’t even be bothered to get off their chuffs and vote in the local elections.
I have been a customer of Genesis Energy (on and off due to changing personal circumstances) since 2003, and in the past couple of months, I have noticed that they are getting more hard-nosed in pursuing payment.
Up until the start of spring, they used to send a reminder that you have missed your payment after the due date of your bill, then 7 days after that, followed it up with a letter warning that you would get your power disconnected. Then you would ring up and get an extentsion of a week or two, and then some breathing space, of course then you could get away with not paying the full amount, as credit action seemed to cease after the next bill came in.
Now they threaten disconnection if you miss the due date. And if you get an extension, they chase you if you dont pay what you promise to pay by that date.
Fortunately, I am in a position where I can scrape together the money to pay the bill and have never been in serious danger of being disconnected (though not the case with a lot of other people).
I have no plans to switch though, as I have objections to the way the power market is set up (There was nothing wrong with getting the power from your local power board or council MED), plus there have been scores of botched switches.
I think Genesis are doing this as it gears up for privatisation for next year…
I mean, if they’re being rude and intimidating, that’s out of order. But a reminder your bill is due and a week or two grace period is how it should really work. Just ignoring on following up on unpaid bills is business incompetence whether you’re a private company or an SOE.
And I’m not trying to undermine your circumstances or people less well off. Fuel poverty shouldn’t be happening in New Zealand. But that’s not Genesis’s job. That’s the government’s job.
While overseas I missed a payment with Trustpower. When discovered I paid with days short of disconnection. They charged me an extra $25 and $40 for their trouble.
I am with Genesis. And I pay my power bill by Direct Credit this splits the bill into manageable chunks, and better still, they NEVER bitch about the state of your bill. Mines about 600 in the red, but as long as the DC is running, no moans, and more importantly no threats to be cut off .
Mines with Powershop, i am something like 5 or 600 dollars in credit having had a automatic payment of 20 dollars running for the past 3 years and taking advantage of every ‘special’ and buying power months ahead when the future price is lower than their retail packs,
It’s all transacted on-line and i do the meter read for them twice a week, this week i cut the auto-payment down to 15 dollars a week as the rebates for power i have bought but didn’t use have piled up the cash in my account to 400 dollars,
i used on-line banking to alter the auto-payment which occurred without a hitch and thinking about the ease with which i can now manage my power and bank accounts i have to wonder when all the Government departments are going to leave Primitive for the annuls of history and get with the digital age…
I like the headline: Maori Party holds key to government. As if!
It’s standard practice to assume minor parties retain current electorates, if any. That’s all made clear in the main story, and the main point the piece makes is that National + Maori would have enough to govern, if things pan out according to the poll – though the text also acknowledges that the Maori Party will be facing a severe challenge.
• National – 46.8% (+3.1%)
• Labour – 35.4% (-2.3%)
• Greens – 10.8% (-0.5%)
• NZ First – 3.9% (-0.5%)
• Maori Party – 1.3% (+0.5%)
• Mana – 0.9% (+0.2%)
• Act – 0% (-0.1%)
• United Future – 0% (Same)
• Conservatives – 0.7% (-0.3%)
• Legalise Cannabis – 0.1% (Same)
Obviously, like all polls, it is fairly useless, as it is very difficult to predict how the minor parties will play out. Maori might have 3,2 or 1. Mana might have 1, 2 or 3. United Future, ACT should might cease to exist. Winston, surely, will get above 5% again.
I think I recall some posters predicting Cunliffe + Greens would be pushing the 50% mark. Might be grimly amusing to dig those predictions up.
I also assume retention of current seats when I convert the Roy Morgan polls to seats via the electorate calculator, lurgee. But that’s to establish a conservative base line (ie, the best the right can expect). The problem for the Nats in this poll is that it’s the one that most consistently overestimates their support.
So, if the best they can do is hope the MP still have 3 seats, then they are gone.
ps, anybody remember the Conservative Party? Just a few weeks ago, they were going to be National’s life support system, now they’re nowhere and the MP are their only hope. As Bad12 points out, Key’s weird attack on Hone Harawira now makes some sense.
Key’s attack on Hone made perfect sense if you read the comments on the stuff story when it was first announced Hone was going to South Africa.
Huge amount of racial-divisive hate-speech all voted to +20 and +30 within minutes.
Obviously Hone has said a lot of polarising things in the past, and it seems some segment of the population really really detest him, and not because of his politics.
I’m not sure I get the logic of this. Sure Key might be playing to his base but why? They vote for him anyway and they do get out and vote. Maybe National is seeing some slippage of this demographic to Labour? On the other hand, in attacking Hone he risks pissing off voters in the Maori Electorates who don’t have a great record at turning out to vote and getting them energized enough to go to the polling booth. Surely if National is going to win next year they need the so-called ‘missing million’ to sit out another election.
I get that Lanth but I’m still inclined to think the prime motivation for attacking Hone was Key’s own wounded ego. He knows that he handled the whole delegation and the trip poorly and he hated being reminded of his weasel words around his stance on the ’81 tour. He looked small and petty and his instinct was to throw some shit at someone else as a diversion.
Agreed. And based on this poll Winston only needs another 1 percent (or thereabouts) to get back in. You’d be mad not to assume he’s well capable of achieving that.
I dunno, if Craigs gifted a seat then there might be a few cross-over votes from winstonFirst to the Conservatives on the basis that it won’t be a wasted vote
..and what recent announcements were there from labour..?
..that’s right..!..that standover-threat/promise from neo-lib poster-boy parker..
..that labour would kick their constituents in the guts..again/still..
..by either raising the pension age..or raising g.s.t..
..parker invited punters to take their pick..which poisoned-chalice did they prefer..
..and for why..?..(i hear you ask..)
..because..as parker told us…t.i.n.a..
..eh..?
..and funny story..!..i am currently compiling the whoar-awards..
..and i am giving zinger of the year..to one i have relentlessly shredded all year..
..bill english..
..a week or so ago..he noted that the problem with labour..
..is that they don’t know where they stand..
..and when you have a party talking out of one side of their mouth about getting back those lost 800,000 voters..
..and out of the other promising to make them work for two years longer before getting the pension..
..(with many/most maori dying much earlier than pakeha..good one..!..eh..?..)
..it is hard not to agree with english..
.and when you add to parkers’ brain-fart-threat the refusal of labour to speak of the real poverty in this land..(they will only talk about the ‘working-poor’..haven’t you noticed..?..)
..it is clear that ideological-confusion/war is rampant in labour..
..and as the polls confirm..
..they are fooling/convincing nobody..
..especially not those ‘lost’ 800.000+ voters they claim to be reaching out to..
There is a fresh Herald-Digipoll in today’s Herald-online, pretty much a large Yawn showing us all what we already know that the 2014 election is going to be very tight,
The Herald-Digipoll, or to be more precise, the analysis that comes with it is claiming the Maori Party will be the key to who forms the next Government,
Really, on my reading of the tea-leaves the Maori Party next year will cease to exist in any meaningful form without any representation in the Parliament, which would leave the equation needed for a Government of the left to need more than one Mana Party MP,(the electoral battle between Annette Sykes and Te Ururoa Flavell for the Waiariki electorate may well be a crucial one and my advice to the Green and Labour Parties would be to consider that electorate seat vary carefully)…
PS: easy to see why Slippery the PM has taken to attacking Mana Party leader Hone Harawira…
Which one do you Predict the Maori Party to win Lanth, i base a lot of my thinking around the swing TO the Mana Party that was evident in the Te Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election coupled with the not inconsiderate fact that if it’s ‘hard’ out there then it’s doubly so for Maori who will reflect this in their votes,
Sharples seat of Tamaki-Makarau i would suggest is going back to Labour based on the by-elections swing against the Maori Party easily wiping Sharples 2000 vote margin into history,
Waiariki held by Flavell with a wafer-thin 1000 vote majority???, on the evidence of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election again the Maori Party is but a bad memory,(what Labour and the Green Party ‘do’ in this electorate tho could alter that),
Te Tai Hauauru is the electorate i find hardest to ‘read’, Aunty Tariana isn’t standing so personal loyalty to Her isn’t a consideration, considering the above oft mentioned ‘swing’ and the (probably of more import), fact that in the final analysis this is the Rohe of Ratana who at their most recent of annual Hui have told the faithful their preference is for a Labour-Green Government, this far South the Mana Party isn’t that strong, i pick Labour will have this electorate back as well…
Great news – the cow cockies are experiencing boom times after the drought.
Presumably Paula will be expecting WINZ to recover those advances she was to quick to offer.
Green peace hammered in the court.
What a year to look forward to , every things looking up and the icing on the cake is when these extremist environmentalists are put in their place.
Corporate bludgers like green peace should be banned from our shores, bring on the oil and gas.
Let’s give National a real mandate at the next election and really see progress.
more printed money?
more debt issued?
more shit in the rivers?
more oil on the beaches?
more miners killed dead?
more forestry workers killed dead?
still being unable to support a family on a decent days work?
more lies from Key?
more lies from Banks?
more of NZ owned by foreigners?
More money printed = green policy
more debt = good management, that’s why we still can pay benefits to the needy.
rivers =National spending $100 million
More oil on beaches =WHERE ??
More miners killed =pike river =environmentalist and labour
Forestry deaths = national employing 30 site inspectors
Still unable to Support family’s = unemployment going down, looking better
Key = what lies
Bank’s = who cares , good riddance
Foreign owners = who cares, they can’t take it away and will ultimately will sell it back.
As I said , things are looking great and the greens continue to poison labours chances ,even better.
‘Plus over the next few years the new wealth will “trickle down” to the poor, removing the need for any minimum wages’. You must be very young and naive Srylands. 30 years of ‘jam tomorrow’ and you still believe this neoliberal bullshit.
“More money printed = green policy”
Not at all – policy of Nat-type govts in UK and USA and Japan and everywhere. It is also what banks do whenever a loan is issued. Just printed.
” more debt = good management, that’s why we still can pay benefits to the needy.”
Total bullshit. For paying for tax cuts and the shortfall created by asset sales.
” rivers =National spending $100 million”
More bullshit. The shit is flowing into the rivers more today than it was yesterday. Same again tomorrow.
” More oil on beaches =WHERE ??”
Bay of Plenty, fool.
” More miners killed =pike river =environmentalist and labour”
Fuck you arsehole. Your demented philosophies killed 29 dead men. Stay away from the coast cunt.
” Forestry deaths = national employing 30 site inspectors”
Same again. National’s religion still led to these deaths. Everything can be priced? – brainless
” Still unable to Support family’s = unemployment going down, looking better”
Wake up idiot. I referred to being unable to support a family when employed. It is even more impossible when unemployed.
” Key = what lies”
Liar yourself
” Bank’s = who cares , good riddance”
He is an indicator of your people
” Foreign owners = who cares, they can’t take it away and will ultimately will sell it back.”
*slowly shakes head*
rich the other. you are 100% on the money
who knows what planet vto, bad12 and Flip are living on
their heads are firmly up their ARSE
I hope green peace get smashed with costs
I dont know what planet youre living on, but I would like a live on a planet with clean air, and water, and no toxic waste dumps?
You, on the other hand would sit by and let tonnes of toxic waste fill our rivers if it meant an extra few dollars.
It is amazing isnt it. A homey smashes a few windows and it is lablled vandalism. An oil company poisons a whole river and it is called wealth creation.
As for printing money, that is exactly what the government should be doing while taking away that power from the private banks. Money should not be loaned into existence bearing interest.
If “progress” to you means thick smog enveloping our cities, rivers chocked with toxic waste and open cast mines scarring our national parks, then you can shove it right up your jaxy.
And the way things are set up, the oil companies will just suck our oil and gas dry, and take it, and the profits off shore. We will have nothing but a big mess to clean up and royalties pissed away on tax cuts.
rich the other … seeing as how you don’t think the environment is important to you, perhaps you should try holding your breath while you count your money ?
Graham McCready, He who ensured Banks gets whats coming to Him is going to have a busy New Year if news reports are anything to go by,
RadioNZ is this morning reporting that Graham will be seeking to prosecute Auckland Mayor Len Brown,(exactly what for the news report failed to provide enlightenment of),
David Cunliffe, Peter Whittal, Len Brown, and will we now see Cameron Brewer added to Grahams ‘list’…
Yeah with every announcement of a new prosecution target the soundtrack to ‘Fame’ goes off in my nut,
Having had a conversation with the bloke about His abilities to perform in the High Court vis a vis the Bank’s prosecution i think over-stretching considering His abilities better describes His situation,
Still if any of those He is set to privately prosecute have broken the law and the relevant authorities refuse to prosecute i can only say ‘good luck with that’ and help Him out financially if i agree with the prosecution,(as i did with the Banks matter)…
Dick Quax on Len Brown being a repeat offender (RNZ 9am News Bulletin, 20 Dec 13):
“It’s deja vu – all over again”.
Amusing. Far less amusing is the high-handed politicking from the likes of him. Moral indignation should be reserved for more important things in life.
RNZ reported this morning that we can expect a Royal visit in April next year.
I had the memory that there was a convention that Royal Visits would not occur in an election year.
Can someone with better recall than me please comment.
It seems to me that a Royal Visit in April would tie in quite nicely with an Election called for around July 12. Get in quick whilst the populace are entranced with the ‘pretty baby’ etc.
No but he is Royal Family and represents then whilst in the country otherwise why bother coming. I don’t think conventions said only the Queen/King could not come I understood it would be any family member would not be invited during election year.
John key was reported on RNZ last month as saying
“The Prime Minister says there may be a visit to New Zealand by members of the royal family in 2014.
John Key says he can’t say whether a visit will take place, or who might be coming, but it doesn’t matter that it is an election year.
He says established protocols are in place and a visit would not happen close to a general election without support from both the main parties” http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/226726/pm-sees-no-problem-with-royal-visit-in-election-year
Obvioulsy Key saw it as a possible breach of protocol then and said it could be avoided by getting agreement among other parties and that it not be held close to an election.
Of course a visit in April would not be considered close to a November election by Key he could then a month later decide to hold an early election.
As quoted above a visit would not happen close to an election. I consider any date in 2014 as being close to an election.
So what I was asking just what are the protocols
I think the convention is that royal visits don’t happen within 3 months of an election? William visited in March 2011 (after the Chch quake) which of course was also an election year.
You know how, according to the RWNJs, private is always better and thus charter schools will be better? Well, in Sweden:
When one of the biggest private education firms in Sweden went bankrupt earlier this year, it left 11,000 students in the lurch and made Stockholm rethink its pioneering market reform of the state schools system.
Oops
While it is difficult to say how, or even whether, private involvement and falling standards are linked, the NAE says there are indications the market-driven reforms have contributed to widen the gaps in school performances.
Que surprise
“I think we have had too much blind faith in that more private schools would guarantee greater educational quality,” said Tomas Tobé, head of the parliament’s education committee and spokesman on education for the ruling Moderate party.
Exactly
The opposition Green Party – like the Moderates long-time supporters of privately run schools but now backing the clamp-down – issued a public apology in a Swedish daily last month headlined “Forgive us, our policy led our schools astray”.
At least one of their political parties is willing to take responsibility for their actions.
“The machine of destruction does not stop for one day”
Israeli historian ILAN PAPPE interviewed for Le Mur a Des Oreilles
Recorded 22 October 2013
LMaDO: Ilan, you are an historian, you’ve published numerous books, amongst them the famous and controversial for some people Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine in 2006. In 2007 you moved to England where you are currently teaching history at the Exeter University. You are part of what is called by some people “the new historians” who give a new analysis and narrative of the history of Zionism and the history of the creation of Israel. You’ve taken some radical positions against the state of Israel. Why and when did you decide to stand on the Palestinians’ side? And what were the consequences for you being Israeli?
ILAN PAPPE: Changing point of view on such a crucial issue is a long journey, it doesn’t happen in one day and it doesn’t happen because of one event. I’ve tried in one of my books called Out of the Frame to describe this journey out of Zionism to a critical position against Zionism. If I had to choose a formative event that really changed my point of view in dramatic way, it would be the attack of the Israelis on Lebanon in 1982. For us who grew up in Israel, it was the first non-consensus war, the first war that obviously was a war of choice: Israel was not attacked, Israel attacked. Then the first Intifada happened. These events were eye openers in many ways for people like myself who already had some doubts about Zionism, about the historical version we learned at school.
It is a long journey and once you take it, you are facing your own society, you are even facing your own family and it is not a nice position to be in. People who know Israel know that it is an intimate and vibrant society so if you are against it, you feel it in every aspect of your life. I think this is one of the reasons why it takes a bit longer for the people like me to come to the point where you say there is no return: you have to subscribe to these views whatever the repercussions are.
Hypocrite of the Year Awards
No. 3: CAMERON BREWER
Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer, who has been baying for Mayor Len Brown’s blood for not declaring gifts, has admitted not declaring a four-day junket to the Gold Coast.
Mr Brewer yesterday admitted taking free air tickets and accommodation paid for by MediaWorks, which runs TV3. The right-wing councillor said he made a declaration of interests in 2011, but not in 2012, which would cover the period he went to Queensland.
Major holidays during summer are fine, so you can get away in nice weather and have a hassle free break from it all. Colonial cultural impositions that are detached from any traditional roots…dump ’em. If Christians wish to celebrate Christmas, then fine. And they can do that whenever they want – it’s not any of my business or concern. But this New Year in the middle of summer? To me, that’s offensive bullshit.
Could. But an extended holiday in winter would be kinda meh. Scrub the Xmas stat days and replace with a floating stat day or two that people can nominate for according to their religion or whatever.
And meld any N. European NY celebrations with matariki and transfer the stat days from end Dec/beginning Jan to whatever time in June is agreed to be the new, sensible and rooted mark of NY.
A visit to a Hamilton Library. Should be renamed. People chattering. Taking phone calls. More social center than place for reading and reflection. Has Hamilton Council taken money from copyright holders so that libraries can play background music, which has the consequence, that people don’t fell the need any longer to be quiet. Is this internet? people do all their quiet work online at home?
The Library, as a refuge to a young person to read and get away from the family home, is dying.
(Quietly) use libraries all the time, and I disagree. Libraries have an opportunity to be a place of real learning, and community discourse if managed well. The opportunity to access (via library card) books of such diverse subject matter and perspective gives the library user access to the last truly free education in public service.
If done respectfully, getting people to engage – and dare I mention – putting coffee machines or services in place – could create a vibrant discussion place for all.
Some Auckland libraries have closed off reading soundproofed rooms specifically for those “quiet users”. I think this is a good solution.
Of course, university libraries – often used as private study facilities – have different uses and would benefit from the traditional silent approach.
Libraries have become a joke, In Aucklands main Library you cannot move for people sitting on the floors their laptops plugged into power outlets and shouting at the laptop, in foreign languages usually, whilst they use the libraries free wifi to conduct video conversations to family/friends overseas.
I would imagine the majority of these people dot even have a library card all the want is the free video links and free power to recharge their laptops.
The free computers provided by library are taken up by children playing computer games.
Hardly anyone uses the library for the purpose of reading maybe because there is no room left for people to sit.
I would like to remove all the electronic gizmos from library and return to it being a repository of books, music etc
If people want to use computers/wifi/video etc let them go to any number of video cafes around town. They are not very expensive and everyone there expects to be doing the same thing so no problem upsetting the other users.
Yeah, I don’t get that at all. Why not use libraries to have free wifi outside of hours and outside of the building???? There are a huge number of rooms, in schools, churches, with power available, and soon to have a fast broadband. And well the internet is replacing a lot of the stuff you find in a library anyway…
…oh wow, you mean you have all these young backpackers, and they aren’t using the local fast food burger shop because the wifi there is so crap. Its called capitalism, where are they, where have they been for the last thirty years. Thatcher socialist for the rich.
Could a mod please enlighten me as to why this racist fascist arse is still allowed to comment here after many, many comments comprised of nothing but bigoted filth?
The largesse of the Federal Reserve over the past five years has amounted to one of the largest ever subsidies to the American wealthy—fueling record fortunes, record numbers of new millionaires and billionaires, and an unprecedented shopping spree for everything from Ferraris to Francis Bacon paintings. The prices of the assets owned by the wealthy, and the things they buy, have gone parabolic, bearing little relationship to the weak, broader economy.
That’s exactly what a lot of us have been saying about the US QE since it started.
Wonder how the USA would a fared if the QE had been directed at householders, industry, infrastructure and workers, as it was in the “New Deal” instead of to the bankers.
If the success of the “New Deal” and similar polices in the 30’s, in NZ, are any indication, a lot better.
“It’s interesting too at Mediaworks, it’s a sisterhood running it and I’m just writing up my affidavit now and reflecting on it, it’s amazing, it’s back to the future with Helen and co.”
IIRC, he was calling it the MediaWorks Whanau when he was stood down and now it’s a sisterhood because he’s been effectively fired. He really is a misogynist and definitely should not be on air in any form.
Tracey I would be very curious to know why you would remotely think that, and further, if you could provide any evidence to support such a weak brainwibble…….
We trust this company to manage our prisons. Anyone watching here ?
From the Guardian, Serco forced to repay 68 million British pounds for non-existent criminals on electronic tagging release ….
“The scale of overcharging – which included invoicing for the tagging of offenders who were not being monitored, some of whom were already back in prison or had died – is several times larger than previously thought. The original figure was believed to be £15m-£20m for the contracts held by both Serco and the security company G4S; the latter has yet to reach agreement on how much it will repay.
Both contracts are now the subject of criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).”
people like grumpy say that is not a proven lie so it doesn’t count and presumably doesnt bear the time for further scrutiny. It’s only your politician views that enable you to see it as misleading or lying. Now, if it turns out he has slept with anyone who is not his wife, grumpy will be baying for his blood. I think Slater will be investigating this and any other right wing politicians private life for such proof, so it’s only a matter of time.
Nick Paterson
General Manager
Fraud and Corruption
NZ Serious Fraud Office
Julie Read
CEO / Director
NZ Serious Fraud Office
‘Open Letter’
FYI
“The New Zealand Private Prosecution Service Limited (“The Service”) gives notice that if the SFO refuses to investigate the complaint of corruption against Mayor Len Brown under Section 105(1) of the Crimes Act the Service will file a Private Prosecution without further notice to the proposed defendants. The names proposed defendants are Len Brown and the CEO of Sky City
Graham Mc Cready
Agent for NZPPS Ltd
…………………
…………………
Please be advised that I, Penny Bright have worked with the agent for NZ Private Prosecution Services Ltd, Graham McCready on other matters, specifically the private prosecution of John Archibald Banks for alleged electoral fraud, for which he has been committed to trial in the Auckland High Court for a defended hearing set down for 19 May 2014.
(As the ‘process server’, I personally served the witness summonses which got Kim Dotcom, his lawyer and bodyguard, and the CEO of Sky City to the Auckland District Court to give oral evidence on 15 October 2013. )
Both Lisa Prager and myself do hope that this will not be necessary and look forward to the NZ Serious Fraud Office ‘doing your job’, as the ‘lead agency’ in New Zealand tasked with investigating bribery and corruption complaints.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
……………..
Lisa Prager
……………….
_____________________________________________________________________________
( A copy of this above-mentioned complaint to the NZ Serious Fraud Office is available here:
The Commerce Commission has laid charges against Carter Holt Harvey and one of its senior managers over alleged price-fixing in the Auckland timber market.
The proceedings were filed in the High Court today alleging Carter Holt Harvey entered into an understanding with Fletcher Distribution Ltd to fix the prices of structural timber sold to commercial customers in Auckland.
The alleged offending occurred during the latter part of 2012 and early 2013.
“The commission has also filed proceedings against a Carter Holt Harvey manager, Mr Dean Dodds, for his involvement in the understanding,” the commission said in a statement.
Drumroll… you will shortly announce you will stand again for the Mayoralty.
Where your vision for the Auckland Plan, Unitary Plan, housing areas, and the actual development of Auckland will be your first priority.
Oh wait … nope, your focus will be on a sustained internal witch hunt that destroys thousands of careers, grinds the entire administration to a halt, and, once you’ve achieved your aims and are standing on the rubble of a permanent of cycle of internal restructuring, delivers actual power in Auckland straight back to National.
“He’s been admitted to a mental hospital”.
Cue extended hilarity on the Panel
Radio NZ National, Friday 20 December 2013
Jim Mora, Joe Bennett, Duncan Webb
Just before 4 p.m. ….
JIM MORA: Ummmmm, what’s happened to the interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service?
JOE BENNETT: He heeeeeeeeeeeeee!
SUSAN BALDACCI:[drily] He’s been admitted to a mental hospital.
…… [Much snickering, snorting and hilarity ensues] ……
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! ….. [snort, snicker] ….. Susan Baldacci, thank you very much! Back with the Panel after the news!
I am sure this writer, i.e. moi, was not the only listener to feel there was something deeply wrong and immoral about these fools laughing their heads off like this. I sent the ring-leader the following email…..
Why are you laughing at the plight of that sign language man?
Dear Jim,
I am concerned that you and your Panel guests seemed to be greatly amused at the sign language impostor’s being committed to a mental hospital.
You have on several occasions expressed disdain and amusement at Mr Jantjie’s antics, but have not uttered one word about the supreme hypocrisy of having Barack Obama, that harsh and implacable enemy of dissenters and human rights activists, “lead the mourning”.
Yours in disgust at the hijacking of a real hero’s memory,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Keep listening, fellas! He often reads out my little bon-bons.
Do you know if there’ll be a Matinee Idle this season? If they had any sense RNZ could save themselves a lot of money and extend its run throughout the year!
As usual, nothing in Moz’s misremembering took place, with the exception of a small laugh from Bennett, which may actually be a cough. It’s hard to tell, it was that brief.
Moz, have you ever considered applying for the post of North Korean Revolutionary People’s Historical Record Airbrusher? Yours is the only kind of revisionism they respect.
As usual, nothing in Moz’s misremembering took place,
There you go again with another extreme statement. You know, if you attempted to comment on my work proportionately and fairly, you might have a point; my posts are not always perfect and I am more than willing to listen to considered and intelligent criticism. Unfortunately, your hectoring is neither considered nor intelligent. You seem to have only one setting: scoffing disrespect. Could I remind you that this is not your local Labour Party branch and you cannot simply shout me or anyone else into silence.
….with the exception of a small laugh from Bennett, which may actually be a cough. It’s hard to tell, it was that brief.
He laughed in exactly the same way as he did when the subject of Mayor Rob Ford’s “great finesse” comes up. You can pretend that it was just a cough if you like.
MEMO FELLOW STANDARDISTI: I urge you to listen to Joe Bennett laughing, and then tell this bloke Te Reo Putake, who avers he was actually coughing, what you think of his perception skills.
My dashed-off transcript was faithful to the mood of levity and hilarity in the studio. I didn’t get all their immortal wit, however, so here’s the missing treasure….
SUSAN BALDACCI: He was actually DUE to attend a mental health checkup on the day of the memorial for Mandela when he did all the crazy— he was actually supposed to go to the doctor that day. MORA:[amused] Oh REALLY? SUSAN BALDACCI: The mental health doctor. And he just said, No maybe I’ll go to the memorial instead! JOE BENNETT: Am I the only one who thinks this was made up after the event? MORA: How do you mean? JOE BENNETT: Oh I don’t believe this! MORA: Oh, okay! No time to discuss this now. It’s five o’clock!
My transcript, as pretty much all my transcripts do, caught the mood in that studio perfectly—and you know it. You object to my pinning down these vacuous commentators because they share many of your prejudices, and laugh at some of the same victims of black propaganda campaigns that you do.
Moz, have you ever considered applying for the post of North Korean Revolutionary People’s Historical Record Airbrusher? Yours is the only kind of revisionism they respect.
Ha! If anyone on this forum repeatedly acts like a North Korean fanatic, it is you, whether you are jumping on someone who backs the wrong Labour Party candidate or, more brutally, when you echo the lies told by the people who defame and persecute political dissenters and journalists.
23:15 …. and there goes 23 years of probably the most inoffensive, oft-times clever, sometimes informative free-to-air television late night news and ditzy bits – staffed by people whose egos weren’t the driving force. All knobbled by the commercial imperative and the vacuous admen.
Wheel in Paul Henry (aided by a forklift to lift the weight of his ego)
See how he runs. If Kiwis are smart – it’ll be a Channel 10 rerun.
Nightline – by no means perfect, but never an entrant in the race to the bottom
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
Stuff’s Political Editor Luke Malpass - A Fellow at New Zealand IniativeLast week I half-joked that Stuff / The Post’s Luke Malpass1 always sounded like he was auditioning for a job at the New Zealand Initiative.Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. For a limited time, subscriptions are 20% off. Thanks ...
At a funeral on Friday, there were A4-sized photos covering every wall of the Dil’s reception lounge. There must have been 200 of them, telling the story in the usual way of the video reel but also, by enlargement, making it more possible to linger and step in.Our friend Nicky ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is methane the ...
The Government’s idea is that the private sector and Community Housing Providers will fund, build and operate new affordable housing to address our housing crisis. Meanwhile, the Government does not know where almost half of the 1,700 children who left emergency housing actually went. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong ...
Oh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youOh, home, let me come homeHome is wherever I'm with youSongwriters: Alexander Ebert / Jade Allyson CastrinosMorena,I’m on a tight time frame this morning. In about an hour and a half, I’ll need to pack up and hit the road ...
This is a post about the Mountain Tui substack, and small tweaks - further to the poll and request post the other day. Please don’t read if you aren’t interested in my personal matters. Thank you all.After oohing-and-aahing about how to structure the Substack model since November, including obtaining ...
This transcript of a recent conversation between the Prime Minister and his chief economic adviser has not been verified.We’ve announced we are the ‘Yes Government’. Do you like it?Yes, Prime Minister.Dreamed up by the PR team. It’s about being committed to growth. Not that the PR team know anything about ...
The other day, Australian Senator Nick McKim issued a warning in the Australian Parliement about the US’s descent into fascim.And of course it’s true, but I lament - that was true as soon as Trump won.What we see is now simply the reification of the intention, planning, and forces behind ...
Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
Boarded up homes in Kilbirnie, where work on a planned development was halted. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 5 are;Housing Minister Chris Bishop yesterday announcedKāinga Ora would be stripped of ...
This week Kiwirail and Auckland Transport were celebrating the completion of the summer rail works that had the network shut or for over a month and the start of electric trains to Pukekohe. First up, here’s parts of the press release about the shutdown works. Passengers boarding trains in Auckland ...
Through its austerity measures, the coalition government has engineered a rise in unemployment in order to reduce inflation while – simultaneously – cracking down harder and harder on the people thrown out of work by its own policies. To that end, Social Development Minister Louise Upston this week added two ...
This year, we've seen a radical, white supremacist government ignoring its Tiriti obligations, refusing to consult with Māori, and even trying to legislatively abrogate te Tiriti o Waitangi. When it was criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, the government sabotaged that body, replacing its legal and historical experts with corporate shills, ...
Poor old democracy, it really is in a sorry state. It would be easy to put all the blame on the vandals and tyrants presently trashing the White House, but this has been years in the making. It begins with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the spirit of Gordon ...
The new school lunches came in this week, and they were absolutely scrumptious.I had some, and even though Connor said his tasted like “stodge” and gave him a sore tummy, I myself loved it!Look at the photos - I knew Mr Seymour wouldn’t lie when he told us last year:"It ...
The tighter sanctions are modelled on ones used in Britain, which did push people off ‘the dole’, but didn’t increase the number of workers, and which evidence has repeatedly shown don’t work. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, ...
Catching you up on the morning’s global news and a quick look at the parallels -GLOBALTariffs are backSharemarkets in the US, UK and Europe have “plunged” in response to Trump’s tariffs. And while Mexico has won a one month reprieve, Canada and China will see their respective 25% and 10% ...
This post by Nicolas Reid was originally published on Linked in. It is republished here with permission. Gondolas are often in the news, with manufacturers of ropeway systems proposing them as a modern option for mass transit systems in New Zealand. However, like every next big thing in transport, it’s hard ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkBoth 2023 and 2024 were exceptionally warm years, at just below and above 1.5C relative to preindustrial in the WMO composite of surface temperature records, respectively. While we are still working to assess the full set of drivers of this warmth, it is clear that ...
Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
Trump being Trump, it won’t come as a shock to find that he regards a strong US currency (bolstered by high tariffs on everything made by foreigners) as a sign of America’s virility, and its ability to kick sand in the face of the world. Reality is a tad more ...
A listing of 24 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, January 26, 2025 thru Sat, February 1, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
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A global consultancy will lead the government's review of electricity markets, with a local firm offering advice and two groups of experts providing quality assurance. ...
New Public Service Minister Judith Collins is calling for a culture of saying 'yes', but being honest enough with ministers to "reconcile the vision with reality". ...
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The Act leader gets a telling-off from the principal and prime minister Christopher Luxon loses his cool in a heated question time. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. ...
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175412
“Mr Key told the Herald last night that it was good to end the year in a strong position. “That reflects the growing economic confidence and the acknowledgement by voters that we’ve steered the ship on a very deliberate and accurate course to economic prosperity.”
What??? “very deliberate and accurate course to economic prosperity”
Is that what he calls the $40 billion Christchurch Earthquake??? Is that what he calls the record Dairy pay out this year, its a commodity John…nothing to do with your inept National Party…
The only thing National is good at is SPIN.
National PLANNED the earthquakes? Have they got some Diabolical Machine that causes tectonic rupture?
Can we use it to sink Australia?
Everyone knows Bob Parker engineered the earthquakes: http://bobparkerengineeredthechchquake.blogspot.co.nz/
it was a plot worthy of sideshow-bob..
phillip ure..
”Not in the same league”, so says Auckland City Councilor Cameron Brewer in this morning’s Herald-online over the GIFT of a trip to Australia’s Gold Coast from the news organization Media-Works which this Auckland City Councilor after calling on the Mayor Len Brown to resign over undeclared gifts has admitted to not declaring,
Utter HYPOCRISY is my opinion and Brewer should follow His own advice and resign from the Auckland Council…
Review of Guy McPherson’s book on Climate change and human extinction,. ‘Going Dark’
http://redrave.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/review-of-going-dark.html
Another day, another round of editorial Len–bashing by the Herald, arrogantly claiming to speak on behalf of Auckland residents the majority of whom couldn’t even be bothered to get off their chuffs and vote in the local elections.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11175347
Xox
Some altered lyrics to an old Kiwi classic song re. Cam Brewer. “There is no corruption in New Zealand”
Nah, just utter hypocracy
I have been a customer of Genesis Energy (on and off due to changing personal circumstances) since 2003, and in the past couple of months, I have noticed that they are getting more hard-nosed in pursuing payment.
Up until the start of spring, they used to send a reminder that you have missed your payment after the due date of your bill, then 7 days after that, followed it up with a letter warning that you would get your power disconnected. Then you would ring up and get an extentsion of a week or two, and then some breathing space, of course then you could get away with not paying the full amount, as credit action seemed to cease after the next bill came in.
Now they threaten disconnection if you miss the due date. And if you get an extension, they chase you if you dont pay what you promise to pay by that date.
Fortunately, I am in a position where I can scrape together the money to pay the bill and have never been in serious danger of being disconnected (though not the case with a lot of other people).
I have no plans to switch though, as I have objections to the way the power market is set up (There was nothing wrong with getting the power from your local power board or council MED), plus there have been scores of botched switches.
I think Genesis are doing this as it gears up for privatisation for next year…
Must keep cashflow looking good for prospective buyers…
Really, though, they should be doing that anyway.
I mean, if they’re being rude and intimidating, that’s out of order. But a reminder your bill is due and a week or two grace period is how it should really work. Just ignoring on following up on unpaid bills is business incompetence whether you’re a private company or an SOE.
And I’m not trying to undermine your circumstances or people less well off. Fuel poverty shouldn’t be happening in New Zealand. But that’s not Genesis’s job. That’s the government’s job.
While overseas I missed a payment with Trustpower. When discovered I paid with days short of disconnection. They charged me an extra $25 and $40 for their trouble.
I am with Genesis. And I pay my power bill by Direct Credit this splits the bill into manageable chunks, and better still, they NEVER bitch about the state of your bill. Mines about 600 in the red, but as long as the DC is running, no moans, and more importantly no threats to be cut off .
Mines with Powershop, i am something like 5 or 600 dollars in credit having had a automatic payment of 20 dollars running for the past 3 years and taking advantage of every ‘special’ and buying power months ahead when the future price is lower than their retail packs,
It’s all transacted on-line and i do the meter read for them twice a week, this week i cut the auto-payment down to 15 dollars a week as the rebates for power i have bought but didn’t use have piled up the cash in my account to 400 dollars,
i used on-line banking to alter the auto-payment which occurred without a hitch and thinking about the ease with which i can now manage my power and bank accounts i have to wonder when all the Government departments are going to leave Primitive for the annuls of history and get with the digital age…
Another grim poll for the Nats: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175412
I like the headline: Maori Party holds key to government. As if!
Snap, lolz…
Great minds etc!
It’s standard practice to assume minor parties retain current electorates, if any. That’s all made clear in the main story, and the main point the piece makes is that National + Maori would have enough to govern, if things pan out according to the poll – though the text also acknowledges that the Maori Party will be facing a severe challenge.
• National – 46.8% (+3.1%)
• Labour – 35.4% (-2.3%)
• Greens – 10.8% (-0.5%)
• NZ First – 3.9% (-0.5%)
• Maori Party – 1.3% (+0.5%)
• Mana – 0.9% (+0.2%)
• Act – 0% (-0.1%)
• United Future – 0% (Same)
• Conservatives – 0.7% (-0.3%)
• Legalise Cannabis – 0.1% (Same)
Obviously, like all polls, it is fairly useless, as it is very difficult to predict how the minor parties will play out. Maori might have 3,2 or 1. Mana might have 1, 2 or 3. United Future, ACT should might cease to exist. Winston, surely, will get above 5% again.
I think I recall some posters predicting Cunliffe + Greens would be pushing the 50% mark. Might be grimly amusing to dig those predictions up.
I also assume retention of current seats when I convert the Roy Morgan polls to seats via the electorate calculator, lurgee. But that’s to establish a conservative base line (ie, the best the right can expect). The problem for the Nats in this poll is that it’s the one that most consistently overestimates their support.
So, if the best they can do is hope the MP still have 3 seats, then they are gone.
ps, anybody remember the Conservative Party? Just a few weeks ago, they were going to be National’s life support system, now they’re nowhere and the MP are their only hope. As Bad12 points out, Key’s weird attack on Hone Harawira now makes some sense.
Key’s attack on Hone made perfect sense if you read the comments on the stuff story when it was first announced Hone was going to South Africa.
Huge amount of racial-divisive hate-speech all voted to +20 and +30 within minutes.
Obviously Hone has said a lot of polarising things in the past, and it seems some segment of the population really really detest him, and not because of his politics.
I’m not sure I get the logic of this. Sure Key might be playing to his base but why? They vote for him anyway and they do get out and vote. Maybe National is seeing some slippage of this demographic to Labour? On the other hand, in attacking Hone he risks pissing off voters in the Maori Electorates who don’t have a great record at turning out to vote and getting them energized enough to go to the polling booth. Surely if National is going to win next year they need the so-called ‘missing million’ to sit out another election.
Reminding everyone how much they hate Hone taints Mana’s electoral partners: Greens and Labour.
Vote Labour, get Hone.
I get that Lanth but I’m still inclined to think the prime motivation for attacking Hone was Key’s own wounded ego. He knows that he handled the whole delegation and the trip poorly and he hated being reminded of his weasel words around his stance on the ’81 tour. He looked small and petty and his instinct was to throw some shit at someone else as a diversion.
Yip, NZFirst getting over 5% changes the whole picture dramatically.
Agreed. And based on this poll Winston only needs another 1 percent (or thereabouts) to get back in. You’d be mad not to assume he’s well capable of achieving that.
The poll suggests that “Colin Craig – news story” and “Conservative Party vote” are 2 completely separate entitities.
(small sample and all that, but still).
I dunno, if Craigs gifted a seat then there might be a few cross-over votes from winstonFirst to the Conservatives on the basis that it won’t be a wasted vote
On behalf of the opposition, I implore John Key to try and “gift” Colin Craig a seat.
It’s a gift that would keep on giving …
re ‘grim toll for national’..
..how so..?
..nats have gone up..labour/grns have slumped..
..and what recent announcements were there from labour..?
..that’s right..!..that standover-threat/promise from neo-lib poster-boy parker..
..that labour would kick their constituents in the guts..again/still..
..by either raising the pension age..or raising g.s.t..
..parker invited punters to take their pick..which poisoned-chalice did they prefer..
..and for why..?..(i hear you ask..)
..because..as parker told us…t.i.n.a..
..eh..?
..and funny story..!..i am currently compiling the whoar-awards..
..and i am giving zinger of the year..to one i have relentlessly shredded all year..
..bill english..
..a week or so ago..he noted that the problem with labour..
..is that they don’t know where they stand..
..and when you have a party talking out of one side of their mouth about getting back those lost 800,000 voters..
..and out of the other promising to make them work for two years longer before getting the pension..
..(with many/most maori dying much earlier than pakeha..good one..!..eh..?..)
..it is hard not to agree with english..
.and when you add to parkers’ brain-fart-threat the refusal of labour to speak of the real poverty in this land..(they will only talk about the ‘working-poor’..haven’t you noticed..?..)
..it is clear that ideological-confusion/war is rampant in labour..
..and as the polls confirm..
..they are fooling/convincing nobody..
..especially not those ‘lost’ 800.000+ voters they claim to be reaching out to..
..phillip ure..
[deleted]
[lprent: currently banned. ]
There is a fresh Herald-Digipoll in today’s Herald-online, pretty much a large Yawn showing us all what we already know that the 2014 election is going to be very tight,
The Herald-Digipoll, or to be more precise, the analysis that comes with it is claiming the Maori Party will be the key to who forms the next Government,
Really, on my reading of the tea-leaves the Maori Party next year will cease to exist in any meaningful form without any representation in the Parliament, which would leave the equation needed for a Government of the left to need more than one Mana Party MP,(the electoral battle between Annette Sykes and Te Ururoa Flavell for the Waiariki electorate may well be a crucial one and my advice to the Green and Labour Parties would be to consider that electorate seat vary carefully)…
PS: easy to see why Slippery the PM has taken to attacking Mana Party leader Hone Harawira…
I think it’s reasonable to expect MP to win 1 seat. That’s my default prediction, anyway.
Which one do you Predict the Maori Party to win Lanth, i base a lot of my thinking around the swing TO the Mana Party that was evident in the Te Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election coupled with the not inconsiderate fact that if it’s ‘hard’ out there then it’s doubly so for Maori who will reflect this in their votes,
Sharples seat of Tamaki-Makarau i would suggest is going back to Labour based on the by-elections swing against the Maori Party easily wiping Sharples 2000 vote margin into history,
Waiariki held by Flavell with a wafer-thin 1000 vote majority???, on the evidence of the Ikaroa-Rawhiti by-election again the Maori Party is but a bad memory,(what Labour and the Green Party ‘do’ in this electorate tho could alter that),
Te Tai Hauauru is the electorate i find hardest to ‘read’, Aunty Tariana isn’t standing so personal loyalty to Her isn’t a consideration, considering the above oft mentioned ‘swing’ and the (probably of more import), fact that in the final analysis this is the Rohe of Ratana who at their most recent of annual Hui have told the faithful their preference is for a Labour-Green Government, this far South the Mana Party isn’t that strong, i pick Labour will have this electorate back as well…
The knives will be sharpening for Cunliffe…hasn’t made the impact he was selected for
Get back to us when you wake up, PR.
Great news – the cow cockies are experiencing boom times after the drought.
Presumably Paula will be expecting WINZ to recover those advances she was to quick to offer.
paula won’t need to..i’m sure they will also ‘offer’..
..i am sure they would not like to be seen painting themselves as bludging-beneficiaries..
..eh..?
..(how does it work again..?
..oh..!..that’s right..!
..in the good yrs you profit/trouser it..
..and in the bad years we pay..
..eh..?
..that’s how you roll..eh..?..)
..phillip ure..
Green peace hammered in the court.
What a year to look forward to , every things looking up and the icing on the cake is when these extremist environmentalists are put in their place.
Corporate bludgers like green peace should be banned from our shores, bring on the oil and gas.
Let’s give National a real mandate at the next election and really see progress.
DEFINITELY, a mandate to spend another 9 parked up on the Opposition Benches should just about fix what ails National…
what progress?
more printed money?
more debt issued?
more shit in the rivers?
more oil on the beaches?
more miners killed dead?
more forestry workers killed dead?
still being unable to support a family on a decent days work?
more lies from Key?
more lies from Banks?
more of NZ owned by foreigners?
you don’t know what progress is, you shallow fool
VTO ,Try opening your eves.
More money printed = green policy
more debt = good management, that’s why we still can pay benefits to the needy.
rivers =National spending $100 million
More oil on beaches =WHERE ??
More miners killed =pike river =environmentalist and labour
Forestry deaths = national employing 30 site inspectors
Still unable to Support family’s = unemployment going down, looking better
Key = what lies
Bank’s = who cares , good riddance
Foreign owners = who cares, they can’t take it away and will ultimately will sell it back.
As I said , things are looking great and the greens continue to poison labours chances ,even better.
i suggest a name change, ‘Rich another delusional’ would obviously be a far better descriptive of you…
[deleted]
[lprent: currently banned. ]
‘Plus over the next few years the new wealth will “trickle down” to the poor, removing the need for any minimum wages’. You must be very young and naive Srylands. 30 years of ‘jam tomorrow’ and you still believe this neoliberal bullshit.
You seem to be both ignorant and nasty…
“More money printed = green policy”
Not at all – policy of Nat-type govts in UK and USA and Japan and everywhere. It is also what banks do whenever a loan is issued. Just printed.
” more debt = good management, that’s why we still can pay benefits to the needy.”
Total bullshit. For paying for tax cuts and the shortfall created by asset sales.
” rivers =National spending $100 million”
More bullshit. The shit is flowing into the rivers more today than it was yesterday. Same again tomorrow.
” More oil on beaches =WHERE ??”
Bay of Plenty, fool.
” More miners killed =pike river =environmentalist and labour”
Fuck you arsehole. Your demented philosophies killed 29 dead men. Stay away from the coast cunt.
” Forestry deaths = national employing 30 site inspectors”
Same again. National’s religion still led to these deaths. Everything can be priced? – brainless
” Still unable to Support family’s = unemployment going down, looking better”
Wake up idiot. I referred to being unable to support a family when employed. It is even more impossible when unemployed.
” Key = what lies”
Liar yourself
” Bank’s = who cares , good riddance”
He is an indicator of your people
” Foreign owners = who cares, they can’t take it away and will ultimately will sell it back.”
*slowly shakes head*
ignoramus extremis
rich the other. you are 100% on the money
who knows what planet vto, bad12 and Flip are living on
their heads are firmly up their ARSE
I hope green peace get smashed with costs
I dont know what planet youre living on, but I would like a live on a planet with clean air, and water, and no toxic waste dumps?
You, on the other hand would sit by and let tonnes of toxic waste fill our rivers if it meant an extra few dollars.
It is amazing isnt it. A homey smashes a few windows and it is lablled vandalism. An oil company poisons a whole river and it is called wealth creation.
And you’re as delusional as rich the other. Must be living on Planet Key.
Everything you listed there is wrong. As you believe it to be true this means that you’re delusional.
And here’s a list of John Key’s lies for you.
As for printing money, that is exactly what the government should be doing while taking away that power from the private banks. Money should not be loaned into existence bearing interest.
Progress?
If “progress” to you means thick smog enveloping our cities, rivers chocked with toxic waste and open cast mines scarring our national parks, then you can shove it right up your jaxy.
And the way things are set up, the oil companies will just suck our oil and gas dry, and take it, and the profits off shore. We will have nothing but a big mess to clean up and royalties pissed away on tax cuts.
And absolutely no wealth (resources) left to maintain our society.
@ Rich the other
Icing a ‘sh*! cake’ still tastes like ‘sh*!’. Hopefully those making it get to eat it.
rich the other … seeing as how you don’t think the environment is important to you, perhaps you should try holding your breath while you count your money ?
Graham McCready, He who ensured Banks gets whats coming to Him is going to have a busy New Year if news reports are anything to go by,
RadioNZ is this morning reporting that Graham will be seeking to prosecute Auckland Mayor Len Brown,(exactly what for the news report failed to provide enlightenment of),
David Cunliffe, Peter Whittal, Len Brown, and will we now see Cameron Brewer added to Grahams ‘list’…
The man is seriously over-exposing himself.
Yeah with every announcement of a new prosecution target the soundtrack to ‘Fame’ goes off in my nut,
Having had a conversation with the bloke about His abilities to perform in the High Court vis a vis the Bank’s prosecution i think over-stretching considering His abilities better describes His situation,
Still if any of those He is set to privately prosecute have broken the law and the relevant authorities refuse to prosecute i can only say ‘good luck with that’ and help Him out financially if i agree with the prosecution,(as i did with the Banks matter)…
Dick Quax on Len Brown being a repeat offender (RNZ 9am News Bulletin, 20 Dec 13):
“It’s deja vu – all over again”.
Amusing. Far less amusing is the high-handed politicking from the likes of him. Moral indignation should be reserved for more important things in life.
Yet no expenses disclosure from him last year. Glass house, Mr Quacks.
RNZ reported this morning that we can expect a Royal visit in April next year.
I had the memory that there was a convention that Royal Visits would not occur in an election year.
Can someone with better recall than me please comment.
It seems to me that a Royal Visit in April would tie in quite nicely with an Election called for around July 12. Get in quick whilst the populace are entranced with the ‘pretty baby’ etc.
Royal visits by the monarch.
William isn’t King.
No but he is Royal Family and represents then whilst in the country otherwise why bother coming. I don’t think conventions said only the Queen/King could not come I understood it would be any family member would not be invited during election year.
John key was reported on RNZ last month as saying
“The Prime Minister says there may be a visit to New Zealand by members of the royal family in 2014.
John Key says he can’t say whether a visit will take place, or who might be coming, but it doesn’t matter that it is an election year.
He says established protocols are in place and a visit would not happen close to a general election without support from both the main parties”
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/226726/pm-sees-no-problem-with-royal-visit-in-election-year
Obvioulsy Key saw it as a possible breach of protocol then and said it could be avoided by getting agreement among other parties and that it not be held close to an election.
Of course a visit in April would not be considered close to a November election by Key he could then a month later decide to hold an early election.
As quoted above a visit would not happen close to an election. I consider any date in 2014 as being close to an election.
So what I was asking just what are the protocols
Here’s what Kiwiblog says: http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2013/11/making_shit_up.html
Which confirms that there is a convention but not that it is 3 months or just close (whatever that is)
Gee Cunliffes making stuff up again…no big surprise there
I think the convention is that royal visits don’t happen within 3 months of an election? William visited in March 2011 (after the Chch quake) which of course was also an election year.
Tony Ryall is a nasty bit of work. Check this out:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/9534274/Ryall-questioned-over-top-board-posts
I guess this is par for the course for this cabinet.
You know how, according to the RWNJs, private is always better and thus charter schools will be better? Well, in Sweden:
Oops
Que surprise
Exactly
At least one of their political parties is willing to take responsibility for their actions.
More.
http://www.thelocal.se/20130116/45628
“The machine of destruction does not stop for one day”
Israeli historian ILAN PAPPE interviewed for Le Mur a Des Oreilles
Recorded 22 October 2013
LMaDO: Ilan, you are an historian, you’ve published numerous books, amongst them the famous and controversial for some people Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine in 2006. In 2007 you moved to England where you are currently teaching history at the Exeter University. You are part of what is called by some people “the new historians” who give a new analysis and narrative of the history of Zionism and the history of the creation of Israel. You’ve taken some radical positions against the state of Israel. Why and when did you decide to stand on the Palestinians’ side? And what were the consequences for you being Israeli?
ILAN PAPPE: Changing point of view on such a crucial issue is a long journey, it doesn’t happen in one day and it doesn’t happen because of one event. I’ve tried in one of my books called Out of the Frame to describe this journey out of Zionism to a critical position against Zionism. If I had to choose a formative event that really changed my point of view in dramatic way, it would be the attack of the Israelis on Lebanon in 1982. For us who grew up in Israel, it was the first non-consensus war, the first war that obviously was a war of choice: Israel was not attacked, Israel attacked. Then the first Intifada happened. These events were eye openers in many ways for people like myself who already had some doubts about Zionism, about the historical version we learned at school.
It is a long journey and once you take it, you are facing your own society, you are even facing your own family and it is not a nice position to be in. People who know Israel know that it is an intimate and vibrant society so if you are against it, you feel it in every aspect of your life. I think this is one of the reasons why it takes a bit longer for the people like me to come to the point where you say there is no return: you have to subscribe to these views whatever the repercussions are.
Read more……
http://lemuradesoreilles.org/2013/12/18/conversation-with-ilan-pappe/
Hypocrite of the Year Awards
No. 3: CAMERON BREWER
Auckland councillor Cameron Brewer, who has been baying for Mayor Len Brown’s blood for not declaring gifts, has admitted not declaring a four-day junket to the Gold Coast.
Mr Brewer yesterday admitted taking free air tickets and accommodation paid for by MediaWorks, which runs TV3. The right-wing councillor said he made a declaration of interests in 2011, but not in 2012, which would cover the period he went to Queensland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175444
More hypocrisy…..
1.) Mora & co. (plus some amusingly demented comments by a trio of hapless Standardisti)….
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-16102013/#comment-711105
2.) Obama the human rights champion (WARNING: this one is really offensive)….
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/jul/01/barack-obama-nelson-mandela-robben-island-video
Looks the Brewer used a bit too much yeast.
Interesting that I did not see any coverage of the Brewer dishonesty on TV3. Wonder why?
I think its dumb to celebrate Christmas, a winter festival, in the Summer. See I said it.
Dumber now most NZ are non-religious.
Worse, the opportunity of having a winter holiday for Saudi’s to come over to at the hottest time of their year.
And then their the cultural recognition, renewal. I mean Maori is now a national language, but not their most important festival?
AGREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Christ (if he existed) wasnt even born at this time of the year
Outside of Christian biblical texts there is not any physical evidence that Jesus ever existed.
Worth reading this http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm
Yep, would much prefer to have our major holiday season during Matariki.
Major holidays during summer are fine, so you can get away in nice weather and have a hassle free break from it all. Colonial cultural impositions that are detached from any traditional roots…dump ’em. If Christians wish to celebrate Christmas, then fine. And they can do that whenever they want – it’s not any of my business or concern. But this New Year in the middle of summer? To me, that’s offensive bullshit.
We could always have two major holiday seasons.
Could. But an extended holiday in winter would be kinda meh. Scrub the Xmas stat days and replace with a floating stat day or two that people can nominate for according to their religion or whatever.
And meld any N. European NY celebrations with matariki and transfer the stat days from end Dec/beginning Jan to whatever time in June is agreed to be the new, sensible and rooted mark of NY.
A visit to a Hamilton Library. Should be renamed. People chattering. Taking phone calls. More social center than place for reading and reflection. Has Hamilton Council taken money from copyright holders so that libraries can play background music, which has the consequence, that people don’t fell the need any longer to be quiet. Is this internet? people do all their quiet work online at home?
The Library, as a refuge to a young person to read and get away from the family home, is dying.
Agree absolutely. The behaviour at libraries is often terrible. That includes university libraries.
especially university libraries!
dunedin library has a big screen tv blaring away right next to the news papers & scifi/fantasy section! isnt that nuts.
(Quietly) use libraries all the time, and I disagree. Libraries have an opportunity to be a place of real learning, and community discourse if managed well. The opportunity to access (via library card) books of such diverse subject matter and perspective gives the library user access to the last truly free education in public service.
If done respectfully, getting people to engage – and dare I mention – putting coffee machines or services in place – could create a vibrant discussion place for all.
Some Auckland libraries have closed off reading soundproofed rooms specifically for those “quiet users”. I think this is a good solution.
Of course, university libraries – often used as private study facilities – have different uses and would benefit from the traditional silent approach.
Libraries have become a joke, In Aucklands main Library you cannot move for people sitting on the floors their laptops plugged into power outlets and shouting at the laptop, in foreign languages usually, whilst they use the libraries free wifi to conduct video conversations to family/friends overseas.
I would imagine the majority of these people dot even have a library card all the want is the free video links and free power to recharge their laptops.
The free computers provided by library are taken up by children playing computer games.
Hardly anyone uses the library for the purpose of reading maybe because there is no room left for people to sit.
I would like to remove all the electronic gizmos from library and return to it being a repository of books, music etc
If people want to use computers/wifi/video etc let them go to any number of video cafes around town. They are not very expensive and everyone there expects to be doing the same thing so no problem upsetting the other users.
Yeah, I don’t get that at all. Why not use libraries to have free wifi outside of hours and outside of the building???? There are a huge number of rooms, in schools, churches, with power available, and soon to have a fast broadband. And well the internet is replacing a lot of the stuff you find in a library anyway…
…oh wow, you mean you have all these young backpackers, and they aren’t using the local fast food burger shop because the wifi there is so crap. Its called capitalism, where are they, where have they been for the last thirty years. Thatcher socialist for the rich.
That’s what happens when you give the darkies and homeless free reign.
Lefties have created this situation, so suck it up chaps.
Could a mod please enlighten me as to why this racist fascist arse is still allowed to comment here after many, many comments comprised of nothing but bigoted filth?
+1
QE: The greatest subsidy to the rich ever?
That’s exactly what a lot of us have been saying about the US QE since it started.
Wonder how the USA would a fared if the QE had been directed at householders, industry, infrastructure and workers, as it was in the “New Deal” instead of to the bankers.
If the success of the “New Deal” and similar polices in the 30’s, in NZ, are any indication, a lot better.
Yes, it’s truly amazing what a society can become when you make everyone a little better off rather than making a few at the top much better off.
Tamihere is off to court in search of an income stream to replace his lost salary.
I am wondering if he and vto are the same person?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175767
IIRC, he was calling it the MediaWorks Whanau when he was stood down and now it’s a sisterhood because he’s been effectively fired. He really is a misogynist and definitely should not be on air in any form.
he really does have a very dated view of the world and a seemingly bordeline pathological dislike of women in decision-making positions.
Tracey I would be very curious to know why you would remotely think that, and further, if you could provide any evidence to support such a weak brainwibble…….
you really need to learn to distinguish between defence of self and attack of other. You are confused.
Interesting article here about key’s statement… “”Anyone who is innocent has nothing to fear.” operating in practice
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175860
We trust this company to manage our prisons. Anyone watching here ?
From the Guardian, Serco forced to repay 68 million British pounds for non-existent criminals on electronic tagging release ….
“The scale of overcharging – which included invoicing for the tagging of offenders who were not being monitored, some of whom were already back in prison or had died – is several times larger than previously thought. The original figure was believed to be £15m-£20m for the contracts held by both Serco and the security company G4S; the latter has yet to reach agreement on how much it will repay.
Both contracts are now the subject of criminal investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).”
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/19/offender-electronic-tagging-serco-repay-68m-overcharging
John Key and National found out lying again.
people like grumpy say that is not a proven lie so it doesn’t count and presumably doesnt bear the time for further scrutiny. It’s only your politician views that enable you to see it as misleading or lying. Now, if it turns out he has slept with anyone who is not his wife, grumpy will be baying for his blood. I think Slater will be investigating this and any other right wing politicians private life for such proof, so it’s only a matter of time.
Looking forward to the SFO ‘doing their job’.
FYI
___________________________________________________________________________
20 December 2013
Nick Paterson
General Manager
Fraud and Corruption
NZ Serious Fraud Office
Julie Read
CEO / Director
NZ Serious Fraud Office
‘Open Letter’
FYI
“The New Zealand Private Prosecution Service Limited (“The Service”) gives notice that if the SFO refuses to investigate the complaint of corruption against Mayor Len Brown under Section 105(1) of the Crimes Act the Service will file a Private Prosecution without further notice to the proposed defendants. The names proposed defendants are Len Brown and the CEO of Sky City
Graham Mc Cready
Agent for NZPPS Ltd
…………………
…………………
_____________________________________________________________________________
This has been reported in mainstream media today as follows:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11175723
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/231441/threat-to-file-private-case-against-brown
Please be advised that I, Penny Bright have worked with the agent for NZ Private Prosecution Services Ltd, Graham McCready on other matters, specifically the private prosecution of John Archibald Banks for alleged electoral fraud, for which he has been committed to trial in the Auckland High Court for a defended hearing set down for 19 May 2014.
(As the ‘process server’, I personally served the witness summonses which got Kim Dotcom, his lawyer and bodyguard, and the CEO of Sky City to the Auckland District Court to give oral evidence on 15 October 2013. )
Both Lisa Prager and myself do hope that this will not be necessary and look forward to the NZ Serious Fraud Office ‘doing your job’, as the ‘lead agency’ in New Zealand tasked with investigating bribery and corruption complaints.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
……………..
Lisa Prager
……………….
_____________________________________________________________________________
( A copy of this above-mentioned complaint to the NZ Serious Fraud Office is available here:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
and this is some good news
The Commerce Commission has laid charges against Carter Holt Harvey and one of its senior managers over alleged price-fixing in the Auckland timber market.
The proceedings were filed in the High Court today alleging Carter Holt Harvey entered into an understanding with Fletcher Distribution Ltd to fix the prices of structural timber sold to commercial customers in Auckland.
The alleged offending occurred during the latter part of 2012 and early 2013.
“The commission has also filed proceedings against a Carter Holt Harvey manager, Mr Dean Dodds, for his involvement in the understanding,” the commission said in a statement.
I hope you are now having a go at Cameron Brewer, as well.
In the interests of impartiality, of course.
Drumroll… you will shortly announce you will stand again for the Mayoralty.
Where your vision for the Auckland Plan, Unitary Plan, housing areas, and the actual development of Auckland will be your first priority.
Oh wait … nope, your focus will be on a sustained internal witch hunt that destroys thousands of careers, grinds the entire administration to a halt, and, once you’ve achieved your aims and are standing on the rubble of a permanent of cycle of internal restructuring, delivers actual power in Auckland straight back to National.
“He’s been admitted to a mental hospital”.
Cue extended hilarity on the Panel
Radio NZ National, Friday 20 December 2013
Jim Mora, Joe Bennett, Duncan Webb
Just before 4 p.m. ….
JIM MORA: Ummmmm, what’s happened to the interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service?
JOE BENNETT: He heeeeeeeeeeeeee!
SUSAN BALDACCI: [drily] He’s been admitted to a mental hospital.
…… [Much snickering, snorting and hilarity ensues] ……
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha! ….. [snort, snicker] ….. Susan Baldacci, thank you very much! Back with the Panel after the news!
I am sure this writer, i.e. moi, was not the only listener to feel there was something deeply wrong and immoral about these fools laughing their heads off like this. I sent the ring-leader the following email…..
Why are you laughing at the plight of that sign language man?
Dear Jim,
I am concerned that you and your Panel guests seemed to be greatly amused at the sign language impostor’s being committed to a mental hospital.
Certainly it was a bizarre performance by Thamsanqa Jantjie; however, there were sinister and cynical impostors at that obscene charade in Johannesburg. Here’s the most notorious of them, waving his arm in the air….
http://cdn1.independent.ie/world-news/article29829821.ece/ALTERNATES/h342/PANews_bfce2d94-f4ec-4d75-b069-6d5218eab9d2_I1.jpg
You have on several occasions expressed disdain and amusement at Mr Jantjie’s antics, but have not uttered one word about the supreme hypocrisy of having Barack Obama, that harsh and implacable enemy of dissenters and human rights activists, “lead the mourning”.
Yours in disgust at the hijacking of a real hero’s memory,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
Keep listening, fellas! He often reads out my little bon-bons.
Do you know if there’ll be a Matinee Idle this season? If they had any sense RNZ could save themselves a lot of money and extend its run throughout the year!
As usual, nothing in Moz’s misremembering took place, with the exception of a small laugh from Bennett, which may actually be a cough. It’s hard to tell, it was that brief.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2580725/the-panel-pre-show-for-20-december-2013
Reality starts at about 11.10.
Moz, have you ever considered applying for the post of North Korean Revolutionary People’s Historical Record Airbrusher? Yours is the only kind of revisionism they respect.
As usual, nothing in Moz’s misremembering took place,
There you go again with another extreme statement. You know, if you attempted to comment on my work proportionately and fairly, you might have a point; my posts are not always perfect and I am more than willing to listen to considered and intelligent criticism. Unfortunately, your hectoring is neither considered nor intelligent. You seem to have only one setting: scoffing disrespect. Could I remind you that this is not your local Labour Party branch and you cannot simply shout me or anyone else into silence.
….with the exception of a small laugh from Bennett, which may actually be a cough. It’s hard to tell, it was that brief.
He laughed in exactly the same way as he did when the subject of Mayor Rob Ford’s “great finesse” comes up. You can pretend that it was just a cough if you like.
MEMO FELLOW STANDARDISTI: I urge you to listen to Joe Bennett laughing, and then tell this bloke Te Reo Putake, who avers he was actually coughing, what you think of his perception skills.
My dashed-off transcript was faithful to the mood of levity and hilarity in the studio. I didn’t get all their immortal wit, however, so here’s the missing treasure….
SUSAN BALDACCI: He was actually DUE to attend a mental health checkup on the day of the memorial for Mandela when he did all the crazy— he was actually supposed to go to the doctor that day.
MORA: [amused] Oh REALLY?
SUSAN BALDACCI: The mental health doctor. And he just said, No maybe I’ll go to the memorial instead!
JOE BENNETT: Am I the only one who thinks this was made up after the event?
MORA: How do you mean?
JOE BENNETT: Oh I don’t believe this!
MORA: Oh, okay! No time to discuss this now. It’s five o’clock!
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2580725/the-panel-pre-show-for-20-december-2013
Reality starts at about 11.10.
My transcript, as pretty much all my transcripts do, caught the mood in that studio perfectly—and you know it. You object to my pinning down these vacuous commentators because they share many of your prejudices, and laugh at some of the same victims of black propaganda campaigns that you do.
Moz, have you ever considered applying for the post of North Korean Revolutionary People’s Historical Record Airbrusher? Yours is the only kind of revisionism they respect.
Ha! If anyone on this forum repeatedly acts like a North Korean fanatic, it is you, whether you are jumping on someone who backs the wrong Labour Party candidate or, more brutally, when you echo the lies told by the people who defame and persecute political dissenters and journalists.
23:15 …. and there goes 23 years of probably the most inoffensive, oft-times clever, sometimes informative free-to-air television late night news and ditzy bits – staffed by people whose egos weren’t the driving force. All knobbled by the commercial imperative and the vacuous admen.
Wheel in Paul Henry (aided by a forklift to lift the weight of his ego)
See how he runs. If Kiwis are smart – it’ll be a Channel 10 rerun.
Nightline – by no means perfect, but never an entrant in the race to the bottom
Tim
Hard to believe that ‘they’ believe anyone wants to listen to Henry instead of the nightline presenters.
I won’t.
Me either.