Someone in Labour is trying to make mischief in an election year, according to Garner. If that’s true, they should be kicked out of the Party. Actually, the big mistake Cunliffe has made since getting leadership is that he kept the useless neolib clutter in the Party instead of chucking them all out.
Cunliffe is very popular with his team. He may have had one of two issues this year with delivery of key messages but the team is in behind him 100%.
Don’t believe what you hear from Farrar, Garner, Whale or Gower. They are all part of the National Party propoganda machine trying to hide the true state of the nation from its workers.
I am hard core Green supporter, but from my close range observation there is no sign of any unrest. Think back to when Shearer was in charge. We are miles away from that scenario
Everyone in Labour has to make do with what they’ve got: Cunliffe has to make do with a caucus full of under-performing deadwood, and the deadwood has to make do with Cunliffe as leader.
we-ell that’s one perspective, I guess.
To me it simply looks like a shifting of the blame by people who thought it was Shearer’s fault and that cunliffe would at least see some improvement in the polls. Well, they were wrong, so it must be “deadwood” (i.e. “people who don’t do/say exactly what I want”).
The fact is that things aren’t going great for labour, but that just means they’re doing things that piss off the corporates (the fmr business rort-table complaining about jones criticising supermarkets in parliament is typical, and looked like jones quotes were cherry-picked to fit a narrative). But more often than not the only regular poll says nats will be out come the election – and I reckon the opposition (especially the greens) will campaign well this year.
I was interested by someone’s theory yesterday that greens vs labour booth returns seem to mirror lab v liberals back in the 1920s. Intriguing if true, but unlike the libs I think under MMP minor parties will have a place rather than moving to extinction.
i think i have synthesised/rendered-down labours’ perception-problems into one sentence:..
“..us punters/voters look at all the labour faces..and just see the clark govt..lightly warmed-over/stirred..and a certain weariness sets in..”
(..and save for a wholesale clearout of those faces..which i don’t see labour doing..
..their only other option as i see it..
..is a wholesale mea culpa/repudiation of those neo-lib policies..
..and a brace of new game/sea-changing/poverty-ending/environment-cleaning policies..to offer as appeasement..
..without either of those ..labour will continue to slump in the polls..
..and i don’t think the greens should be too worried about dotcom starting a party..
..it is labour who should be licking their lips in nervousness..
..as much of that soft/over-them vote that can’t stomach voting national..
..could well flock to dotcom..if only for freshness/newness/new-ideas reasons..
..and a heads-up! to labour/greens/mana..!
..if dotcom follows his libertarian-leanings..i am expecting a full legalisation of cannabis (the colorado-model)..policy from dotcom..
..and there is at least 5% just there..for him..for that..(in fact..i think a reasoned/coherent-policy could well draw more than 5%..and especially from that group labour claims to be targeting (?)..the young/politically-uninvolved..
..they will queue around the block to vote for that one..
..and another heads-up..now that obama has authorised the banking industry to handle the legal-states’ pot-money..with no fear of federal prosecution..
..i am picking that just after his mid-term congressional-elections this year..
..that obama will end prohibition at the federal level..
..and leave it to individual states to decide their own policies..
..so..given that timing..we will have our ‘progressive’ lab/grn/mana parties going into the campaign proper..all dancing nervously around the idea of medical-marijuana..
..and dotom going for full legalisation..able to point at america..and go..’see!’..
..he will hoover up all of that vote for himself..
..and irony of ironies..should the greens still pussy-foot around the issue..(and not plump for that colorado-model..)
..those votes they will lose..will be those people who got them over the top/into parliament for the first time..the end-cannabis-prohibition voters..
..now it seems those voters will now do that same favour for dotcom..
..is this really what lab/grns/mana really want..?
I think you’ll find that because of the ridiculous writing style you persist in using, that most people can’t be bothered trying to read what you write, most of the time.
Think how many it could be if people didn’t have to be stoned to read it…
edit: when you say “subscribers”, do you mean site visits, registered users, commenters, RSS/email subscribers, or what?
Because you have very few comments from people other than yourself on the site linked to your pseudonym. You seem to be averaging about one comment a day from someone other than yourself.
@ McFlock: “I was interested by someone’s theory yesterday that greens vs labour booth returns seem to mirror lab vs liberals back in the 1920s. Intriguing if true, but unlike the libs I think under MMP minor parties will have a place rather than moving to extinction.”
I was that very “someone”.
I should clarify, though, that I wasn’t suggesting the Greens 2005-2011 electoral rise occurred in precisely the same polling booths as the fledgling Labour Party’s rise through the 20s. It wasn’t about a specific parallel polling booth pattern, but rather the broader point that Labour slowly but surely superseded the Liberals (and their successor parties, National (1925 Election) and United (1928-1931 Elections) ) as the party of progressive politics in big city and provincial city New Zealand through the 20s and that Labour’s decline and the Greens advance in so many metropolitan and provincial city booths 2005-2011 reminded me very much of that inter-war dynamic.
In 2011, the Green party-vote nationally represented little more than 40% of Labour’s party-vote, but there were plenty of urban booths where the Green vote comprised more than two-thirds and, in some cases (especially in Wellington and Dunedin Cities) actually superseded, Labour support. Very rare to find that in 2005 or before (the utterly unique Aro Valley being a conspicuous exception that proves the rule).
And I was also arguing that it was a generational thing. Just as the young Labour Party derived disproportionate support from younger voters (particularly the young single male working-class – although the Party certainly expanded well beyond that core base through the 20s), so today’s Greens are, of course, especially strong among the under 35s (more broadly, the under 45s), raising at least the possibility that there may be some sort of inevitability about their on-going rise, albeit – as with Labour in the 20s – a somewhat faltering rise: two steps forward, one step back.
I should also say the Libs didn’t so much “move to extinction” as merge with the right-wing Reform Party to create a Party we all know and love to this very day – The Dear Old Fucking Tories.
Yep Labour always has to be relevant and forward looking and there is a tension with the Greens although I think there is a lot in common and in an MMP environment the considerations are different in that there is room to cooperate. To see what Labour is and should be capable of have a look at this …
Cheers for that, swordfish – it’s interesting how parties evolve and change, almost like a garden. The Liberals were the ones who gave women suffrage, and as you point out a hundred years later were part of the legacy of the tory government of the day.
And the old “conservatives” (independent opponents to the liberals) created a party named the “Reform Party”, eventually to be the other partner in the formation of the national party.
I sometimes wonder if the Greens and Mana and maybe another left party not yet formed or prominent will grow, and the last <10% remnant of “Labour” ends up in coalition with the tories. Not as an “ABC/splitter” sort of thing, just in a few decades as the political landscape changes like an unkempt garden with different plants sprouting up over the same sort of ground, a few become trees then eventually fall.
Interesting how Garner phrases and pronounces the words at the start of his speech at 00:13. Is it just has mangled speech or is he trying to tell us who the member of the party is that spoke to him?
I know I am getting paranoid but could be
Someone in Labour is trying to make mischief in an election year, according to Garner. If that’s true, they should be kicked out of the Party. Actually, the big mistake Cunliffe has made since getting leadership is that he kept the useless neolib clutter in the Party instead of chucking them all out.
Someone in Labour is trying to make mischief in an election year, according to Garner. If that’s true, they should be kicked out of the Party.
Typical of the ABC club – they’d rather spend another three years stuffing themselves at Bellamy’s rather than do real work. They’d rather have the rest of New Zealand suffer the NACT mob than lose their meal tickets. Let’s name them: Goff, King, Mallard, Hipkins, Robertson, Curran…
They’ve got to go. They’re vainglorious parasites that are putting themselves above not only the party, but the people of the country.
Investors may start seeing profit growth outstrip dividend growth, as listed firms start to gear up to invest during a stellar year for the economy.
Analysts say New Zealand stocks have been paying strong dividends in the last two years, in an effort to reward shareholders at a time of low interest rates.
That has been reflected in a golden period for the NZX top 50 index, which grew 44.6 per cent over 2012 and 2013
Otago Chamber of Commerce president Peter McIntyre said there was a general consensus of 2014 being a ”boom year” driven by three things: growth in Auckland, the Christchurch rebuild and the prosperity of the rural sector.
The GST is essential because it is such an efficient tax. Can you name the countries in the world with no GST, VAT, or broad based consumption tax? Qatar, Bhutan?
It is efficient, it can’t be evaded. There is no alternative.
Just because you are incapable of conceiving of an alternative, doesn’t mean there aren’t any. GST/VAT is not impossible to evade if you buy online, or can chalk it up to company &/or trust expenses.
GST/ VAT free Counties/ Territories:
USA (though “Most states charge a sales tax on products. The US Federal government doesn’t.”) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax#Countries_and_territories_VAT_free
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
Kuwait
Bahrain
Oman
Libya
Brunei
Bahamas
Maldives
Hong Kong
Macao
San Marino
Vatican City
British Virgin Islands
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Anguilla
Gibraltar
Turks and Caicos Islands
Jersey
Guernsey
The prevalence of tax havens in the list demonstrates how easy it is for the wealthy to structure their finances to avoid GST thus reinforcing my point that; “GST/VAT is not impossible to evade”. As far as; “New Zealand become a tax haven for the wealthy to use”, we’re well on the way to that already.
I see this rather as an argument for a Tobin (/ Hone Heke/ Robin Hood) tax on financial transactions. Alongside a more progressive income tax system; this will balance the reduction of GST, and eventually the institution of a UBI.
Just some of the alternatives that Slands is incapable of recognising through his zealous genuflections to TINA; the phantasmal deity of monetarism.
The Tobin Tax and the Financial Transaction Tax are two different things. The Tobin Tax is a tax set on the movement of money out of the country while the FTT applies to every transaction.
For starters, very few captains of industry pay retail for any of their consumables.
They purchase their goods from their mates’ warehouses – a whole lot of quid pro quo – so they get items on a cost plus basis.
So in figures that you might understand. Item costs 100 at the factory and 150 in the shop.
15% of 100 is $15.
15% of 150 is $22.5
And the self employed.? Yeah well the “company” purchases most of
their stuff and they claim any GST back.
So, “It is inefficient, it can be evaded. There are alternatives.”
FIFY.
Agreed. Come on Labour, have courage and stand alongside Hone. Mana is the only party supporting a FTT and the scrapping of GST. Time you went large on this Labour!!!
Rosie
Your positive ideas are the sort of thinking that will win Labour votes. Keep the comments up, I look for something positive and lately haven’t found much.
I am getting pissed off with the growing numbers of people blogging here that are spreading ideas of loss causing apathy about Labour in the next election. Too many rw ‘gremlins’ and I think they are putting off commentators here, you blog watchers.
Pete George is an apprentice compared to them. It was a case of pushing a party affiliated to then, now its a negative idea to a style of political and economic thinking and advocating and envisaging a death spiral approach like kamikaze trainers expecting their students to go down in the water.
Labour’s never going to scrap GST. Just like Labour is never going to bring back penalty rates for working overtime.
Be pro-Labour by all means, but don’t rationalise your support for the party with ideas which are disconnected from the reality of what the party is and what the party is actually capable of doing.
Rob
Do you know what you are talking about? Or care?
CV
I see you are being pragmatic. I can’t see why Labour should scrap GST but I do see why it should be reduced. It’s a flat tax T\to be used to roger us all,. and okay it does ensure that most people are paying tax where they should. Few wiggle their way out.
And people who go on about tax being theft are just stupidly repeating a chance remark by someone from a past century which of all the things that have ever been said, is remembered because it’s a great moan about personally having to cough up towards something. I think originally it was when royalty kept wanting to go to war to bolster their own interests rather than the country’s, and requested all the landed gentry to come up with the army and materiels.
Of course governments need the money they get from taxes to run. And as people get more of it, they should pay more taxes to maintain and improve the various projects that have assisted the country progress to achieve their incomes.
Of course governments need the money they get from taxes to run.
No that is merely current monetary convention. After all, the government is the only issuer of NZ Dollars; why should it need taxes to get supplies of the very thing that it itself issues?
Sticking with the current tax system however, GST raises a massive amount of money. It is very difficult to get that money from somewhere else without radical change – eg a FTT, asset/land tax, radically higher corporate and income tax, etc.
One that introduces workable taxes under the present one. Less GST say 10%
etc, CGT, FTT .
Then perhaps a crawling peg or something that settles our exchange rate a little less than the high points of the market. Then leaves it there.
Next time takes it a bit lower.
And then makes it hard for foreign owners to buy NZ land.
Then perhaps look at borrowing money internally for things. Government raises whatever, creates the rest. Hires in NZ mostly, and then pays back the borrowed stuff. Would everyone be happy then?
Crikey Warbly. I feel a little sheepish. There are many commenters with far more well thought through, intellectual, based- in- theory idea’s than I can ever have! I am just a mere shop girl, well have reverted back to the reality that is my fall back career option after finding out no one is interested in my health psyche diploma.
I can whinge and moan with the best of them too!
Re the GST. I am super hot about GST, because it is a problem for many of us. I supported a group back in ’08 who wanted to see GST removed from food. I think it was at this point that Hone Harawira took up the idea. But the idea faded, sadly.
You would also be surprised at the lack of support and in fact, derision from supposedly Left leaders (both inside and outside of party politics)in regard to the idea of removing GST. I won’t name them but I do hope those individuals have had a chance to reconsider their previous positions knowing what they know now about our shameful rates of poverty and inequality.
Removing GST off ALL products and services would alleviate the burden it creates for households. It’s only one part of solving the problem of poverty but it would a step in the right direction.
(Your own personal budget may be freed up to the point where you could have a treat, such as a coffee out! How exciting! And it would be $3.40 instead of $4!)
Are we too scared to tax the rich? To introduce a FTT? Would the sky really fall in if we did?
And positivity – it’s essential for winning. We have far too much at stake to indulge in despair. The time for naval gazing is over just imo.
That does appear to be the case and it’s a fear that we don’t need to have. If the government was the sole creator of money then capital flight would never be a threat that the rich could hold over us (Which would be a major reason why they get all antsy when it’s suggested – they know how much power they would lose overnight if that became reality).
Rosie. Bah! Nothing wrong with being sheepish as long as we don’t get the wool pulled over our eyes.
But GST is useful at a lowered level, it helps more than burdens. It brings in constant money from everybody – harder to arrange your personal spending to avoid tax than income.
And I have other ideas for GST as a measure for distribution that would help regional areas to get jobs, employment, less poverty. In my government! I would have it area coded, and areas trying to up their financials, enterprise and infrastructure would receive a percentage of GST arising from their area back from government. The level would be open to negotiation, but it would ensure that if an area worked hard to get business, say to get a lift in a regional or tourist area, they would get back some of those extra $ earned in GST tax. They could then upkeep amenities better, create more, and add some to other grants they managed to get.
The regions get starved of spending look at Gisborne. I remember the beach area of Whangamata so popular with holiday makers. It complained how small it was and yet these visitors descended on it from other areas bringing their needs for public infrastructure that the locals were expected to pay for.
There is a known dynamic in development studies – that the larger areas that are developing faster tend to drag finance from the quieter ones. They get run down and the money gets sucked out of them to the bigger towns and cities, and to other countries as well. It’s the dynamic that supermarkets, Walmart and any big box store a few kms from town utilise. People flock for the advantages the bigger outfit can provide. And the smaller locals get by-passed and can’t compete, eventually closing down and lose their investment in the store.
Scotland is an example of this dynamic, they noticed it with London growing increasingly as the financial centre in the UK. One reason why they are trying to get more autonomy.
SSLands, if English promoted a Tobin tax tomorrow, you’d be all for it, and probably using the same words. In your mind, there is no alternative to living on your knees and worshipping your Tory dogs. You are a perfect little puppet for an authoritarian government. Why don’t you take up trainspotting instead?
Higher education is for the rich only, despite being essential for a decent standard of living. Both daughters have tried to juggle appalling work conditions, ridiculous transport costs, ever increasing food/rental costs AND study under what seem to be power style corporate style universities.
We have years ahead of supporting them through a masters aswell, educational inflation means if want any chance of getting a job to pay back student loan, you need one.
The only way I can cheer them up is saying that it’s only while these disgusting people are running the country, and once they are gone, decency will return.
And when you factor in no student allowances for post grad so the students are borrowing! to finance the productive research that they undertake and that other’s benefit off for free – gives a whole new meaning to R & D funding doesn’t it.
And the degree in Auckland that sacked all the top level teachers so that they could bring in industry tutors with no particular skill at all – we now have students borrowing to fund corporate training.
Make sure your kids vote and get them to get their friends to vote too or there will interest on the loans or no loans. Scare them otherwise it will be a Nact reality. They have not promised to leave them interest free you know.
Has anyone else noticed how high gas and power bills are this year? I am sure I am paying $100 more this year than I was this time last year, if this carries on into winter our power/gas bill could be in the vicinity of $500 a month.
I just got my power bill yesterday $126.78 for the month, that is for 2 adults. What are you doing wrong to have a big power bill? I rented my house out for a couple of years and the tenants put energy efficient light bulbs in and the showers have a fine spray that does not waste a lot of water.
It is very easy to reduce you power bill if you want, I know what it is like to have teen age girls that sit in the shower until the hot water cylinder is empty. A flow restrictor before the shower rose fixes that problem and they don’t even notice the difference. I know I fitted one for a friend.
Yes true CV, the likes of the commenter above who you address leapt about screaming blue murder, ”Nanny State”, ”Nanny State” when the last Labour Government in a nod to the Greens proposed banning everything but energy efficient light-bulbs and new builds would have to have energy efficient shower heads,
Fools all of them, the ‘wing-nuts’ folly is encapsulated in Naki’s comment above…
Hot water doesn’t use that much power, as network companies turn it on and off remotely.
It is heating (dryer/heater) that is a large part of your power bill.
That is what I have noticed anyway. Before I got a smart meter put in I used to manage my consumption based on how fast the disk on my meter was spinning when I had something on.
Gives a whole new meaning to living off the tenants. Trust they charged you for the bulbs since they were kind enough to leave them not put your cheap ones back in and give theirs to Granny.
“Has anyone else noticed how high gas and power bills are this year? I am sure I am paying $100 more this year than I was this time last year, if this carries on into winter our power/gas bill could be in the vicinity of $500 a month.”
Well you are lucky that we have such cheap electricity generated by our efficient market. If you lived in Australia you would be worse off. Plus you would need to power those pesky air conditioners. If you moved to Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, or Norway, you would also be paying much more for your electricity.
You could of course move to France. They have cheap power generated by those awesome nuclear plants.
“Our “market” system has delivered us close to the most expensive electricity in the developed world.”
How so?
Looks like NZ prices are in the second quartile. All the countries I listed have more expensive residential power, including most of the Australian states.
That’s a comparison of energy prices in NZ dollars. Now show us how much residential electricity in NZ and elsewhere costs in terms of a proportion of people’s incomes. (actually, DTB has already done that.)
hint: NZ is a relatively low wage economy compared with the likes of Aussie, Germany, etc.
To be fair, it’s not the electricity generators fault we’re poor. If they can produce it at a globally comparable unit cost, they’re doing OK. It’s someone (everyone) else’s fault we’re poor.
Globally comparable price? A completely irrelevant criteria.. How do you export electricity from a country so far away from other markets.
NZ has large amounts of capacity to produce cheap power and that is what we are doing. Even with the costs of maintaining a long grid in a sparsely populated country, it is also power that is cheap to deliver.
The cost of sales, bloated fat in the sales bodies, and profit of a pseudo-market semi-monopoly is what makes it “comparable” to somewhere that has expensive to generate power. That is the problem.
Effectively over the past 20 years having rentiers in the government demanding grossly excessive dividends so that it makes the privatised companies have less of a problem with their dividends has pushed us from having cheap power to having “globally comparable unit costs”. Trying to produce a “competitive” market structure has just added a whole layer of extra costs to make sales, and made essentially no customer side efficiencies compared to prior to the change to the electricity system back in the 90s.
The nett effect has been to stifle most of the rest of the NZ economy to pay for a pointless uncompetitive sales model and a rentiers profit margin.
I simply can’t see any point in trying to run the electricity sector in NZ as anything other than a simple infrastructure system. Perhaps you can tell what you think is one? All I see is extra bloat and a distinct lack of innovation (like the decades delayed grid upgrades) on a relatively simple system.
Exactly. All profits extracted from our electricity system and shipped offshore is, to the dollar, exactly how much the citizens of this nation have been overcharged for power by the rentier capitalists.
Yep 100% Iprent. Costing electricity at the cost of the highest marginal producer is absolute bullshit. Its not a free market in electricity…Labour/Greens have decided to stop pretending that it is. NZ Power makes perfect sense.
I simply can’t see any point in trying to run the electricity sector in NZ as anything other than a simple infrastructure system
The best way to run the system is to hand it over to a bunch of engineering nerds who want nothing more than a big toy to play with. That way they’ll spend all their energies and talents delivering the most renewable, reliable and cost-effective system in the world.
And they’ll do it just for the sheer fun and pleasure of it – as long as you keep the managerial suits and marketing spivs out of their faces.
Uses a 2010 NZ dollar comparison. The information is influenced by the comparative economies of the countries and does not really show how affordable or sustainable it is for people in those countries. I’d think the EA could provide better.
I’d like to see other analysis and comparisons before concluding that our power prices are reasonable. eg What percentage of peoples income goes on power in each of the countries. That could produce quite different results.
Who cares what they pay overseas. If we can generate cheap power that should be to the benefit of all here and a comparative & competative advantage to our whole economy. Thought the right understood that – they are always bleating on about cheaper off shore sourcing.
Straight out lies, SSlands. In Brisbane, we run the airconditioning quite often and have never got to $140/month. In winter, out bills are generally less than $70/month, and they went up by about 20% once your mates took over the state government. My daughter in Wellington pays much more for power than I do.
Well you are lucky that we have such cheap electricity generated by our efficient market. If you lived in Australia you would be worse off. Plus you would need to power those pesky air conditioners. If you moved to Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, or Norway, you would also be paying much more for your electricity.
I wasn’t comparing the price we are paying for power now to what they pay in other countries, I was comparing the price we’re paying now to what we were paying this time last year. We are not doing anything different yet our bill is nearly 50% more, which is why I was wondering if anyone has noticed a similar extortionate rise in what they are paying for their power/gas.
Even with a slanted Right wing poll, with NZ First support National is guaranteed to remain in power.
The Left need to face this reality and plan their strategy accordingly. There is no point in burying our head in the sand and carrying on BAU electoral politics. Some real soul searching needs to be done, and done urgently, if we are to get National out.
with [highly unreliable condition] National is guaranteed to remain in power.
If ACT were on 5%, I’d be concerned. But NZ1? It’s up to the fates and the whims of winston.
And who knows where labgrn will be at the start of the campaign, let alone the finish? As soon as the media sense blood, they’ll skew the vote that way. Just like with Shearer. They want to support the nats, but when the disconnect gets too great they’ll put the bite in like everyone else.
Labour will win with the help of the Greens and Winnie and Mana
( NACT is on the ropes and DESPERATELY SPINNING!!!!!)
…their only partner ACT is a “dead horse”….and Colin is trying to be a “Man for all Seasons” …but looks like ” Road Runner ” on a treadmill….His legs are spinning in all directions but he aint going anywhere fast…
Horror. There are 2,500 Buy orders for PM Labour in Ipredict. Someone from the Left with a spare $1,500 is manipulating the market. It is vast left wing conspiracy to manipulate ipredict. I demand an inquiry.
New Zealand isn’t a free market economy. It’s a mixed market economy. The market isn’t the only factor. There’s employment laws and so on that do factor in on what would be left solely to the market to determine in a free market economy.
So your salary isn’t dictated by just the market if you work in New Zealand.
I jolly well hope you’re not an economist or you are overpaid.
Ausryland 5 eyed f/wit.
Maybe if you could make up your mind.
Like you make up your serial lies .
I could stop laughing .
Australia relies on coal for 80% of its electricity way more expensive than rain and prepaid dams that NZ taxpayers have already paid for and are Now paying again under the market model where cartels are Now forcing prices up like in banking groceries fuel etc.
Antitrust laws need to be brought in like teddy Roosevelt a republican did in the US.
Huh? You really are clueless. Here is the order book:
Current Top 10 Buy Orders
Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
27 $0.3606
30 $0.3605
2 $0.3601
2,477 $0.3600
7 $0.3576
25 $0.3575
1 $0.3553
1 $0.3552
1 $0.3548
1 $0.3547
Current Top 10 Sell Orders
Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
10 $0.3854
25 $0.4000
7 $0.4011
10 $0.4012
10 $0.4013
10 $0.4172
10 $0.4173
10 $0.4173
10 $0.4174
10 $0.4333
Yes, it’s pretty obvious that a single trader with $2500 to spare is trying to fix the price of the Labour PM stock at $0.36. This single trader is buying a volume of shares far in excess of any other traders, and therefore could easily dominant all trades for that stock. It pretty much shows the ipredict price is a joke – even if you believe that ‘rational traders’ can predict the likely result of the general election, the volumes traded are so low that the price can be determined by a single person with a bit of money to spare (rather than a collective ‘prediction’).
Whether or not it is a ‘left wing conspiracy’ or more likely some RWNJ like srylands himself trying to set a low price for the ipredict stock is left as an exercise for the reader. (A trader trying to push a left-wing conspiracy would of course be buying at a much higher price to push the stock price up).
I hope they stick with it, because it is the only significant policy that is on the correct track. The next National PM will make sure it happens anyway.
Try cutting back on ‘corporate welfare’ to make more money available for ‘social welfare’ .
Open the books!
Cut out the consultants and private sector contractors, unless a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis proves that services cannot be provided more cheaply and effectively ‘in-house’.
I for one, am TOTALLY opposed to the age for superannuation eligibility being raised.
My recollection is they had reversed their policy from 2011 and will now keep the elegibility age at 65.
The policy to increase the age was daft (notwithstanding the fact some on here like r0b supported it).
A workers party should never support silly austerity polcies like this. If affordability is an issue then we look to the increase income. We do not look to cut costs.
It is critical that KiwiSaver is made universal as soon as possible. That is Labour policy, along with steadily increasing the retirement age to 67 to make it more affordable.
You have to wonder who gets paid for this crap. Fortunately it would appear to be private money being used in this case.
I am sure that the process is that a spark causes an explosion and then that’s about it.
One big bang before it’s gone forever. Unless things have been getting a bit damp, then there is a whole lot of smoke and you’re left with a fizzer.
SM ‘ geez those numbers aren’t flash, the auditors/shareholders will be onto us if we spin them and we still haven’t addressed any of our core problems like archaic systems, processes and of course our overpaid managers who add no value…Amy’s all sweet though ‘
KR’ leave it with me, something sparkly and bright to draw attention away, those are very serious concerns mouto’
SM ‘ sheesh Kev I was joking, nobody here gives a F I wasn’t brought back to actually do anything but hey that sounds great, how much do you need…’
“…Yep stoners and even medical use advocates get ranked beneath beneficiaries, disabilities, and special needs kids in most political parties priorities…?
why doesn’t everyone support some sanity around our cannabis laws..?
I suspect that most people do. It’s the politicians and probably business interests getting in the way. I understand from a documentary that I watched a while back that linen made from the cannabis plant is softer, finer more durable, and cheaper than that made from cotton. With that in mind it would take very little to bring clothing manufacture from growing to final product back to NZ.
As you say, better laws for growing cannabis are needed ASAP.
Hemps a super fibre it has huge applications im sure I read somewhere in times long past that its demonisation was driven by the cotton industry.
You can legally crop it here as the fibre strains aren’t psychoactive but you get subjected to battery of tests for thc content and regular police visits just in case you’re growing a mixed crop. Makes it to much hassle when compared with maize etc
With the 50 week no foul sacking period, making it easier to sack new hires, you would think that the employers would be satisfied, apparently not.
It seems that more brutality and humiliation is to be visited on job seekers.
Lie detector tests for job applicants
Telling the odd fib may be OK but would you lie to your potential boss to get a job?
Polygraph, or lie detector, tests are now being offered to New Zealand companies and recruitment agencies for use in pre-employment checks. The test is part of a growing industry in background checking of new staff, as employers become more aware of the need to make sure they are hiring the correct person.
But critics claim the data collection – which can include checks into a person’s ACC history, with their permission – are excessive and take advantage of desperate job seekers.
Resume Check owner James Sutherland, whose company offers comprehensive background check packages – including research into a person’s ACC history, immigration status and credit rating – said most candidates were accepting of the process. Well they would be wouldn’t they, being completely at the employer’s mercy.
James Adonis describes the reason that many job seekers may want to hide their past employment record from their new employer, being fired for instance:
Being fired automatically implies you’ve done something wrong – you failed to meet targets, ripped the company off, harassed a colleague – that kind of thing.
There’s little acknowledgement that sometimes people are fired for other reasons that have little to do with the person whose employment has been terminated such as personality clashes, poor leadership, or retaliation for whistle blowing.
The reason for the sacking often matters less than the simple reality the employee was sacked. And while that stain lingers on an employee’s job history, the chances of being rehired significantly drop. Very quickly, the stain turns into a scar, one that’s increasingly difficult to hide.
One option is to keep the sacking a secret by leaving it off the résumé, extending the duration of your previous employment, and desperately hoping no one finds out.
Or you can try the honest route and hope the recruiter will care to listen without premature bias as you explain why you were fired, what you’ve learned, and how you’ve changed for the better. Neither option is risk free.
Because of recent law changes employers can demand that workers give a urine sample before a job interview, and there are vultures who make a living collecting urine and peering at people’s genitals while they piss.
One person I know, unemployed for months and denied a benefit because their partner is working, was required to give a urine test before her job interview. Arriving at the prospective employer adress she saw in the forbidding looking test van in the company carpark. On entering the van and showing her ID she was given a breathalyser test, and then was asked for a urine sample. With the van sliding door open and very little privacy and with the piss collector staring at her genitals to make sure she was not palming a false sample, and a queue of other job seekers in the carpark, she understandably found it very hard to give a sample no matter how hard she strained. The piss police officer suggested that she go in to the company cafetaria and drink some water and come back. “I will be here for 1 hour, you have 1 hour to perform this test” After three quarters of an hour drinking glass after glass of water in the workers canteen while employees came and went, the piss police officer came into the lunch room demanding that she stop. “You must stop that, or you will water down the sample, you must give a sample right now.”
Again entering the van in the carpark she again strained to give a sample till she felt ill trying, and still nothing. “You can’t do the job interview” said the piss police officer. “I have to leave now, to go to my next job”.
“Where are you going? Can I follow you there in my car and try again?”
“No” said the Piss police.
Jenny, the lie detector test for prospective employee’s is an appalling new low. I thought polygraphs were unreliable as a person can, with practice, control their heart rate and on the other hand completely innocent people can feel anxious and their heart rate can increase.
A job interview now days can be like an interrogation process,guilty until proven innocent – that’s without the piss test! What your acquaintance went through was degrading and for some that whole process could have been frightening. There is no dignity in what she had to endure. Shame on employers who force prospective employer’s to undergo such a belittling experience.
and potential employees cannot find out how many people the boss gropes, that the boss has convictions for assault, major traffic offences and is the subject of protection orders from several women plus has had to settle a number of employment court grievances, oh and has a poor credit history so your chances of getting paid are not great.
Good for the Greens to step up. Of course we know Labour will start on the rail loop the next day after taking office. Catch 22 really, first you need the votes and too much talking up the rail loop allows National to spin too much shit. Plenty of car dependent Jaffa’s are rattled their rates will ballon. Best not to cause Labour vote leakage.
Boring old Whylands with his questions setting the agenda for discussion. Pity the RWNJs seem to be filling up the screen with their moving belt of faces to which we fire mudballs.
Shane Jones is sounding good. He is making good points and showing how he can be really useful to Labour, and vice versa.
These are his positions in the shadow cabinet –
Shane Jones Labour List MP
Spokesperson for Economic Development
Spokesperson for Māori Affairs
Spokesperson for Forestry
Spokesperson for Building & Construction
Associate Spokesperson on Fisheries
Associate Finance Spokesperson
I think he should be put into Associate Spokesperson for Trade with Phil Goff.
And Associate Spokesperson for Small Business with David Clark, Dunedin.
He can add spice to Labour’s stew, keep it bubbling. He’s got the sound of a person who has worked in the real job, hands-on, cleaning up-the dusty, dirty or gritty sector, and not just chair- bound direct from university.
a comic about free trade & the tppa , some very interesting ideas, especially about the bs trickle down theory that we were bombasted with in the 80s. (‘trickle up’ more like)
Trouble is phillip your writing style tends to lead me to skip over it. Sometimes convention is worthwhile when it comes to reading. About 30 years ago there was a move to do away with all punctuation and to eliminate all capital letters. Guess how long that lasted.
So guess why your having it “up” was missed by many?
phillip. It might have been perhaps 50 years ago that a few books were published promising a new age of punctuation-free print. After all this time I have no idea which and what but we found it hard to read and the publications ceased. At about that time I started learning Esperanto as a new age of the world having a common language but that faded as well. Bonan Targon Senoro phillip.
I agree ianmac – must be the education background, but some comments are very hard to read. Apart from the rule that ellipses should be three dots, phillip appears to have a lot of constructive comments but they are not easy to read/scan and lead to being skimmed over.
However chacun a son gout.
Pretty scarey stuff idlegus! But well worth the time. Especially in regard to the implications TPPA which our Government Leaders say that there is nothing to worry about as they know best.
I do hope everyone gets the time to read your link.
Nutella is actually quite solid when in the jar, you’d probably need to put some decent effort to get it in. I suppose the worst bit is when you put the jar back in the pantry.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned the latest Roy Morgan Poll (unusual since the writers here at the Standard often hold this poll up as one to recognise. So just to remind your loyal readers,
Gary Morgan says:
“Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows National (48%, up 1%) with its largest lead over a potential Labour/ Greens alliance (42%, down 2%) since July 2013. The rise in support for National comes after Prime Minister John Key enjoyed the festivities at Auckland’s ‘Big Gay Out’, a traditional left-wing constituency, even playing a game of beer pong.
“The additional good news for Key this week is that New Zealand Government Confidence has increased to 140pts (up 1pt) – the highest it has been since July 2010 while today’s ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Rating of 133.0 is only just below its highest level since 2007 – prior to the Global Financial Crisis.
“In recent weeks Key has also refused to outline whether National will enter coalition with smaller right-wing parties including Act NZ and the Conservatives, leaving that decision until closer to the election. If the trend of the past few weeks continue, National may win enough seats to govern in its own right.”
The issue Labour has is that the thin veneer of polish that Labour had with the appointment of Cunliffe has tarnished and dulled very quickly. Quite simply he is not a likeable person and New Zealand have not warmed to him in any way. Labour support is at its baseline levels. Labour continue to be incessantly negative when the majority do not feel such negativity is warranted.
Here is a summary of what Middle NZ feel (Lefties wont like this so feel free to look away)
1. John Key and National are doing a great job
2. John Key is a likeable person who the country does trust
3. Labour is still split by negativity and infighting (although generally suppressed)
4. Labour have not articulated what they will do for NZ except offer more welfare
5. Labour will need to form a government with the Greens and the Greens cannot be trusted in terms of economic management
6. Why put all the hard effort and gains of the two National Terms at risk
7. Labour Leader Cunliffe is not a nice person and we don’t trust him.
8. Labour have no vision except more welfare, higher taxes, and subsidised jobs. Labour are unable to articulate how they will actually give industry the confidence to create jobs as Government do not create jobs)
It is going to be a very hard road for Labour to win the 2014 election. They are saddled with MPs that should have resigned / retired (King Goff Mallard Fenton come immediately to mind) years ago.
The Roy Morgan poll was commented briefly on OM 20/Feb at 19.
You make a good set of points that Labour should look at and digest Monty. If they just turned all that positive stuff on themselves spoken confidently, happily and with a follow us, we know whether we are going, it would change the trend that may be plateauing to sharper upwards.
If you are right with your points and you very possibly are, then no amount of facts and discussion will change the ingrained bias. The river will go back to its old course even if diverted temporarily.
But positivity and addressing the welfare problem through opening up education, child care assistance, and courses for parents as priority before progressing NCEA levels, help with small business, co-operative enterprises, volunteer projects and work for beneficiaries.
And assistance in growing small business, encouragement, ideas, etc. The country is ready to be ‘sparked’ to go off like fireworks in creative enterprises, enthusiasm, what can be imagined and sold. That would dry up much of the unemployment, and it would become assistance before getting into the next project. Busy, busy NZ, catering and excitement for tourists, and spending outlets for the fatneck, fatwallets.
We want the voters to be arguing that good things aren’t going to work, and then others can step in and question their motives and challenge them to meet the ideas with other positive ones. And make the point that the current approach is to allow the country to slip away into permanent depression, both economic and mental and NZs who love their country want a better future.
The problem for Labour is that all I ever hear from them is whining. No matter the suggestion from National its bad. TPP for example and the demand by the left to release the transcripts when Goff whe was involved in the negotiations knows that release is impossible. Labour have not really come out loud and clear saying we support the TPP because it will lead to more jobs. Instead they try to create some sort of conspiracy.
On any effort to free up the Labour Market, (such as removing barriers of cost ) Labour oppose such measures rather than say well maybe an unskilled 17 year old is going to struggle to get a job because of price.
In the 2008 election, John Key consistently talked about how he would implement his vision for a better New Zealand. He ignored Labour, and starved them of Oxygen. He did barely engaged in the negative politics that Labour constantly indulge in.
Labour moan, but offer no solutions. They promote policies which are ill-conceived and then open themselves up to strong criticism.
Labour do not have an MP (or prospective MP) who can match John Key in any way. To Beat John Key Labour Need a politician that NZ can love. Norman Kirk, and David Lange were the last PM who had that ability. Clark was good, extremely smart, but never loved or admired right across the political spectrum.
As a staunch right wing supporter long may that continue. I love watching the lefties cry into their miserable gruel as National support is close to 50% after two terms and the third terms looks a distinct reality. but saying that I would like to see what Labour can actually offer, more than a whining slogan that puts off side the middle classes who one person called on this blog a bunch of leeches. That is just the wrong bitter attitude for a group that wants the treasury benches.
Monty
So you’re one of these time-wasting RW gremlins?
I made a mistake thinking that you appeared to be thinking on lines that supported Labour.
Or cared about the good of all NZs.
Attutude is everything. It has long been a problem to name call anyone from the right as you have done here (gremlins) just pathetic that the left seem incapable of engaging in issues rather that actually being able to engage in constructive debate.
And for the record I care deeply about New Zealand and its future. I had other options of where to live 25 years ago. I came back to New Zealand and have built by life here and raised (raising) my family. I work bloody hard as does my wife and as a result of that hard work I am one of the 12% paying the 75% of the income tax. I don’t take any welfare bar the odd visit to the doctor and the education for my three children.
And therein lies for the problem for the left. You hate the middle class such as I represent. You hate us because we are happy and successful and we criticise the Labour and the Green economic policy which would hurt NZ more than it will ever help it. Break away from your warped view of John Key and National and try and understand what the right are doing so well and then try and improve upon that rather that the constant negativity and your lives might be better for it.
We made you happy and successful. Do you think you would have had a decent education without the Left? Or A health service?
All you right wingers ever do is pull the ladder up behind you.
For the record, the historical record that is, not your propagandised fantasies, the New Zealand economy consistently performs better when the Left is in government and has done so since there was a Labour Party.
Just quietly, the reason people don’t like you is that you tell lies.
There is a question of whether it was “sustainable growth” though.
You can make an economy grow easy. It’s a case of whether it’s sustainable.
Note: I actually think that on the whole, most growth achieved by left-wing NZ governments has been sustainable. But to simply say “the economy consistently performs better” is a simplification.
Wow – that was a 100% pure Key sandwich: indicate doubt about the reliability of the statement n question, indicate that it’s probably true in your opinion, though, then reinforce the original doubt.
You’ve now managed to appear to say something intelligent, while all the time actually saying nothing.
Oh, and as for your children, it wasn’t the left that shat in all the rivers you swam in at their age, nor was it the left that wrecked the weather. Dream on.
And therein lies for the problem for the left. You hate the middle class such as I represent. You hate us because we are happy and successful and we criticise the Labour and the Green economic policy which would hurt NZ more than it will ever help it.
You appear to have made the classic mistake of assuming that everyone on “the left” is unemployed or otherwise poor. This is not the case.
You’ve also left a rather large question going begging, but that’s hardly surprising given the apparently willful ignorance you’ve already displayed.
I note also that you decry “name-calling” but you have no trouble in ascribing some quite nasty motives to people that you otherwise have no clue about. Your sentence “I love watching the lefties cry into their miserable gruel” says more about you than you might have cared to admit.
Montykins is back. Do you feel the need for some Standard readers love?
Poor people pay taxes too. One is known as GST. It is time to retire the “small numbers of higher income people pay the most income tax” stuck record. High earners are the biggest users of trusts and accountants that siphon off estimated billions per year that should be going into social spending.
A larf a minute Monty, your Roy Morgan is simply the same old lies of the last election cycle where ”National have the numbers to Govern alone was the ‘wing-nuts’ mantra”,
In terms of the current far right wing agenda being pushed by National it is far from the Govern alone of the pre-election polls of the last cycle, and in fact is lucky in terms of the slow moving wheels of justice in relation to John Banks to have a Governable majority at all,
Had Banks got His just deserts earlier in the piece and Dunne been sacked from the Cabinet then National would have been left to Govern at the whim of it’s lapdog the Maori Party which would then have bared the fangs of a rabid pit-bull,
Slippery the Prime Minister is in fact the only plus that National have going into this election and the past two, without the master used car salesman National would be back to being a 20% Party again, at some point in time the shyster will lose the power to bullshit His way out of any corner just as Prime Ministers have done befor Him,
If you do not like the taxes you pay why not fuck off to a place like Vanuatu, they charge little in the way of taxes…
Instead of slinging at the right perhaps it would be better to address the elephant in the room. Support for Labour under Cunliffe has dropped nearly 20% – from 37% after Cunliffe became leader to 30%.
Surely this is something that is far worthier of discussion – i.e. how to fix it. Or does everyone prefer a snap election instead. Can only imagine that the poll TVNZ is conducting this week is not going to be much better.
Well, a snap election would see all labour and green policy announced in a very short period and they’ll hit the ground running.
Not a bad idea.
Boredom will hurt the left, imo. The nats have been plinking away on individual character assassinations, the left have been plinking away on policy. I reckon the left have a firmer ground than the nats for the campaign.
Cunliffe is where he is because of the activists, who defied the prevailing media narrative. Did you think they’d just roll over?
Elections can be won by grass roots effort. If you expect the prevailing mainstream media narrative to go along with that, in this place, in this time, I have bad news for you.
The Left can win this election comfortably, but we won’t. We’ll squabble and barely scrape through if we’re lucky, and despite that, govern this country a damn sight better than the best the bought party can muster, like we always do.
I work bloody hard as does my wife
and as a result of that hard work
I am one of the 12% paying the 75% of the income tax.
I don’t take any welfare
bar the odd visit to the doctor
and the education for my three children.
Could anyone set these lines of RWNJ cliche and truism to music?
It would be a classic for today. We have had There is no Depression in New Zealand.
Call it Lullaby for the Smug.
I work bloody hard as does my wife
and as a result of that hard work
I am one of the 12% paying the 75% of the income tax.
I don’t take any welfare
bar the odd visit to the doctor
and the education for my three children.
And the roads.
And the hospitals
And the rule of law.
The parliament that gives me tax cuts
and the libraries
And the fire brigade
and the ACC
and the low-waged workers who deliver everything I require to survive.
I find their trends somewhat interesting, but my blood pressure couldn’t stand it if they were the emotional roller-coaster for me that they seem to be for some folk.
Let’s take a couple of Monty Burns’ 8 Iron-Laws of Public Opinion (10:19 am comment):
“2. John Key is a likeable person who the country does trust.”
and
“7. Labour leader Cunliffe is not a nice person and we don’t trust him.”
Monty Burns clearly bases this on the detailed findings of the latest Fairfax Poll. Problem is: he’s got it wrong. In terms, for instance, of the public’s dislike and distrust of the two main leaders, the difference is a statistically insignificant 4-7 percentage points. The proportion disliking / distrusting Key is in the late 30s, while for Cunliffe it’s in the early-mid 40s. For Monty, this means we all love Key and hate Cunliffe. Go figure.
Spark for Telecom. Right from the start Tcom were insensitive and profit-focussed in every way.
Now Spark. What bright spark thought that up. Bloody stupid name and insensitive to today’s realities.
I think in this era of droughts, gale winds and fires destroying countryside, houses, animals and people and irreplaceable damage, it is not a good word. It wouldn’t go down well in Australia for instance. A spark from a grass cutter working on the roadsides starts off a fire that can rage over 100 hectares and houses. Recently someone with a leaking gas bottle in his vehicle was blown up, and why? Probably from a small spark from the automatic light from the car’s electricity. A word full of foreboding. And feared all round.
From the same wine-soaked brainstorming session that brought you Wheedle FFS!
phillip ure
You cetainly have been sparked off on much creative thinking that will no doubt be resource material for future PR efforts with name changes.
This National/ACT Government is VERY vulnerable, in my considered opinion, on matters relating to corrupt corporate cronyism, particularly involving Sky City.
So much for getting into surplus and the Rockstar economy, NZ govt deficit exceeds forecast.
But you won’t hear Garner or the Goblin yelling about it today all over the media.
Yes true the Rock-Bottom economy races toward the wall and the engineer is not around to apply the brakes having leapt off mouthing f** this s**t,
Current massive bleeding hole in the National Governments books= 1.79 billion dollars, that 2009 tax switch sure as hell was fiscally neutral right,(psst lets just push that ‘surplus’ out another year and prime the organizations of propaganda to repeat over and over ‘rock-star economy’),
Gross Government debt 82.95 Billion bucks, shhhh, do not whatever you do say those numbers in public, it might wake more than a few of the punters from their dreams,(psst, i have a plan, lets prime the organizations of propaganda to repeat over and over rock-star economy),
PAYE and GST take off those who have no means of avoidance and evasion up 5%, Rock-star economy, Rock-star economy,
$179 Million dollar shortfall in the business tax payments for the 6 month period, Shhhh, bury this really deep in the business pages, don’t want the peasants paying all the tax to click on to the fact that ‘Biz’ has just avoided and/or evaded another couple of hundred million bucks of their responsibilities,
Best to keep up the mantra, spread by the organizations of propoganda, Rock-Bottom economy, Rock-bottom economy, and, for gods sake don’t let them think what the tax losses and the debt is going to look like after another 3 if National get another term,
100 billion bucks of Government debt anyone???, now what was the IMF’s number again…
The IMF is totally relaxed about Crown debt and the deficit reduction path. So I suggest you relax and give away the moonbat act. Indeed I’d bet they will be way more relaxed in the next consultation. Or is there a right wing neoliberal conspiracy to manipulate the IMF?
You are being hyperbolic and dishonest. Low income earners (or peasants as you call them – what is up with that?) do not pay all the tax (or any in most cases).
SSLands, i see you do not deny that Government debt will hit 100 billion dollars if Slippery’s National Government is given a third term in office,
What ”deficit reduction path” is this you speak of SSLands, the same old Lies year after year and still the Government books bleed red ink to the tune of hundreds of millions every six months,
Of course the IMF are supremely ”relaxed” about the Government heading toward a 100 billion dollars of Government debt in a little over 3 years time while the current inability for the IRD, through staff cutback by the same Government, has left the States revenue gatherer unable to police its own tax laws allowing evasion/avoidance to run rampant in a sea of red ink for the Government,
After all the IMF were supremely relaxed as the World Banking industry pulled off the crime of the century in 07/08/09, also known as the Global Financial Crisis,
Such relaxation among the IMF also resulted in the likes of Ireland and Greece both with Swiss cheese tax systems akin to our own to face bankruptcy only solved by taking even more off of those with the least, even their pensions,
The simple fact is SSLands that the IMF is simply akin to a firm of company receivers only having an impact ”after” the s**t has hit the fan big time and it is then that IMF moves in on behalf of the creditors to asset strip whatever is left of value belonging to the Government,(in other words, the people), so, you bet the IMF is relaxed about a Government that will not or cannot balance its books, and, relaxed about a Government living on the sugar rush of credit,
After all the only fun the IMF ever get is when they are able to, on behalf of a countries creditors, don the Jackboots under the suits and loot a debt ridden country unable to cough up to those creditors…
SSLands,please do not ask me questions about a lie you have formulated having not comprehended what is in plain black and white right in front of your eyes,
The ”peasants” as i have used the term in my comment above refers to ALL those who are paying GST and PAYE with no means of evading/avoiding such taxation as opposed to those who choose through trusts and business operations to practice that evasion and avoidance of the responsibility to pay tax,
i see low income earners did not get mentioned in that particular comment, you obviously have bad eyes, stop wanking that might improve the situation…
Frozen foods with best before September 2015. This is the sort of queer extension of keeping times into long life product that must mean adulteration of food, or require high energy requirements if its frozen. Kiwi and Mellow products are being recalled with this date on.
The rich and corrupt that ran Venezuela for years (with Uncle Sam’s endorsement) want it back. The gains (for the poor and impoverished) of the Chavez era need to be rolled back and if that means civil war so be it.
Pretty much how I see it, GR. The people who are so worried about democracy since Chavez got into power had never thought to mention it in the previous 500 years when they were at the top of the pyramid. Now that the pyramid is being levelled out a bit, they’re screaming. Maduro’s government is being very lenient and civilised in its treatment of them.
Lenient is certainly the word! Maduro needs to immediately parade the CIA plant Lopez and squash him like the slug he is, as a very public message to the neoliberal cabal. That fate should also befall all those who have been agitating on behalf of the USA and the 1%. If he can do that, then you never know, the 99% may well wake up globally, and rid the world of the cancer of the 1%.
Anyone ever think of emulating Peter J. and getting into the movie bizz, need to find someone quick for that role of shady, sleazy character, you know the one, hangs about the public toilets or the kids playground wearing a long dirty overcoat stained down the front with drivel barely able to be suppressed,
No need to puff up the cushions on the casting couch, lock up the liquor cabinet, you wont have to ply those you wish to shoehorn into such a despised role with strong drinks in order to gain their assent,
Found on Campbell live last night was one who could in the blink of an eye fill the role admirably, yes Steven Joyce putting on a show of the tongue flicking drool that would be Oscar winning as the dirty pervert outside the local public toilets,
Barely able to express His lip licking drool Joyce, with the compliance, the enablement if you will,of a barely questioning Campbell, with only the filthy trench-coat absent gave us all a perverse display worthy of any toilet loitering pervert acting the part befor Him,
According to the barely able to suppress that drool Joyce it is the teachers fault that No-No-Pay is such a f**ked example of computer technology used to provide the wages for the nations teachers,
Hardly a millimeter above a cardiac arrest brought about by the sheer unadulterated joy Joyce was obviously feeling at having Campbell sit there and smile as the slime slid from His lips Joyce went on to explain that if the teachers would only simply let Him strip them of any and all allowances contained in their collective agreement No-No-Pay would work perfectly,
Begs a couple of questions don’t it, is the current round of No-No as far as Pay goes from No-No-Pay simply more of the same from such a service that has been faulty from the get go, or, is the current round of mistakes in the teachers pay the result of politics,
The other question, did someone with a spare one of those rubber rings they apply to the balls of male lambs so as to make them drop off, their balls that is, apply it to Campbell’s set one night when He was comatose with the piss…
No Lanthanide. When I worked on an Air Force base (civilian on base) I was told by an Air Force officer about the ability of intelligence gathering groups to be able to remotely log in to someone’s computer and set up ongoing coverage of everything the owner of the computer was doing. They could also manipulate the same computer from a remote location in any way they chose. It was gobsmacking stuff.
That was the early 1990s too and I’m sure modern technology has made them capable of doing even more nowadays. Bullying and harassing someone by ‘interfering’ with their PC activities is likely to become more and more frequently the norm…
To take over ones computer it requires one of two things, Either someone has to physically access the PC by entering the building where it is located and leave either a hardware or software bug on the computer
Alternatively they need to force software onto the computer remotely which then allows them to watch everything you do at the PC and even take over your keyboard, camera or whatever. This is usually done by sending someone an email that users click onto something in the email and it will then secretly download the software to allow takeover.
Of course if you are the NSA there are other alternatives by making use of software already embedded in PC by the so called reliable computer manufacturers. I dobt if such access would be available to people outside of USA intelligence.
If you want to play safe and defeat that kind of bugging, then just disconnect your PC from the Internet.
If people want to listen to all your private conversations there are ways. Look up Infinity Transmitter. Lovely device easily obtained and works wonders
That was the early 1990s too and I’m sure modern technology has made them capable of doing even more nowadays. Bullying and harassing someone by ‘interfering’ with their PC activities is likely to become more and more frequently the norm…
Thanks Ron. Interesting stuff. It fits in with what I was told 20 years ago. I’m not concerned for myself. Couldn’t care less because I know nothing. 🙂
I was replying to Lanthanide who seemed to doubt the present day ability of agencies/groups with the right equipment to spy on people through their PCs, and to use the same equipment to covertly harass them. I think you might find that the five eyes grouping would also have access to this sophisticated equipment. After all it would be in the NSA’s interest for them to be able to access PCs of interest within their respective borders. Dotcom knows all about it!
Lanth didn’t strike me as questioning the ability, more the paranoia factor.
For the record, I’m half and half on it – doubt all of them are intelligence surveillance, one or two might be.
Hi McFlock.
Yes, I realised Lanth was talking about the paranoia factor.
Agree re-intelligence agencies. They sometimes get suspected when they were probably not responsible. For instance, during the Cold War years (up until the 1980s) the police were doing some of it. In their case, I suspect there were political connotations. Another story which might come out one day.
… and sometimes it’s a hotel burglar, and sometimes it’s just a guy at the next table playing Angry Birds, or a chap trying to pick up another chap in Rio, or some random teen hacker.
This guy had more of a plausible reason than many do for maybe being a target of surveillance, but who knows?
Nope, but it makes me wonder, why she is getting so much hate from aussies on twitter? She is the victim here, also the media shouldnt down play sexual assault and call it boob grabbing.
Fender, Im not your pa, type in sarah hyland in Twitter and you will get a ton
of news outlets calling it boob grabbing, and groping, and not what it is, sexual assault.
The whale oil has just put up a topic in relation to the supermarket saga, inferring that government supermarkets are in the pipeline. To me, if that IS true, then it IS good news!
I made the following post there:
Well, if that does happen, it can only be very good news! It will increase competition and bring some prices down and give some power back to the people. Free market, remember?…And oh, you don’t HAVE to shop there, if you don’t want to! If your report is correct, at last, some sanity, fairness and REAL competition coming to fight the crooked capitalists and the price gauging powerful mafia style monopolies and duopolies! Kiwi Bank, Kiwi Super, Kiwi Assure, Kiwi Market, Kiwi Power, Kiwi Fair Deal, Kiwi Way! Bring it on, I say!
OMG there is now a 2,000 BUY order for “PM Labour” One of you rich pricks is manipulating the market to force the price up. After all a fuckwit with a few dollars to spare in one trade is all it takes.
To all those contributors here who sully your minds/screens/hard drives/caches and cookies by visiting the sewers for the rest of us – a big heart felt thank you. You risk damage to yourselves for the benefit of others of us who do not wish to read the squalid muck that masquerades as serious comment. It is such a shame that one of them gets recognition as worthy by making frequent guest visits to The Panel.
Cheers again
ps. has anyone established why Bomber was really banned – you know just asking because we have an investigation currently trying to establish editorial bias in the public broadcasting arena?
this is a good question, from this comic http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/ its asks why can’t americans buy medication from canada, where its cheaper?, the ‘freedom of trade’.
How many supporters of The Standard, will show consistency in opposition to corrupt corporate cronyism, particularly when it involves Sky City?
How many will join the LEN BROWN – STAND DOWN march, tomorrow, Saturday 22 February 2014?
Assemble 11.30am Britomart
March starts 12 noon from Britomart
March ends at Airedale Street
I’ll be one of the speakers at the end of the march, focusing on how I think Auckland Mayor Len Brown crossed the line when he accepted undisclosed gifts from Sky City during a time that Sky City was an ‘item of business’ before Auckland Council, and Len Brown was supporting Sky City.
Also I’ll be exposing how the Ernst and Young Report, did NOT follow the ‘due process’ as outlined in the Auckland Council Code of Conduct, s8 – Compliance:
The governing body shall constitute a Conduct Review Independent Panel. The members of the Panel will be selected from a list of persons with appropriate skills and knowledge, to be recommended by the Chief Executive. The Independent Panel is not a Committee of the governing body and its sole function is to investigate those matters referred to it and to make recommendations on those matters to the governing body/local board. Up to three members on the list will be deemed to be ‘convenors’ who will be the Council’s primary contact in relation to convening a panel when required. ‘Convening’ a panel includes chairing that panel. A convenor may appoint other convenors to a panel.
8.6. Procedures of the Conduct Review Independent Panel
The Independent Panel will establish and notify standard procedures, fair to both complainants and respondents, which it will apply to the investigation and consideration of all complaints referred to it.
8.7. Governing Body/Local Board Consideration
In considering the Panel’s recommendation, the matter shall be considered with neither the complainant nor the respondent being entitled to participate in that item.
8.8. Responses to Breaches of the Code
To avoid doubt, a breach of the Code of Conduct does not constitute an offence under the Local Government Act 2002. The exact nature of the action the governing body/local boardmay take depends on the nature of the breach and whether there are statutory provisions dealing with the breach.
Where there are statutory provisions:breaches relating to members’ interests may render members liable for prosecution by the Auditor-General under the Local Authority (Members’ Interests) Act 1968;
breaches which result in the Council suffering financial loss or damage may be reported on by the Auditor-General under the Local Government Act 2002, which may result in the member having to make good the loss or damage;
breaches relating to the commission of a criminal offence may leave the elected member liable for criminal prosecution.
In these cases the governing body or local board may refer an issue to the relevant body, any member of the public may make a complaint to that body, or the Auditor-General or Police may take action of their own initiative.
Where there are no statutory provisions, the governing body or local board may take the following action:censure;
removal of the elected member from representative type bodies;dismissal of the elected member from a position as Chair or Deputy Chair of a committee.
A decision to apply one or more of these actions requires a resolution to that effect.
……………..”
Why did (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay, not follow this process?
Upon what lawful authority did (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay, effectively make up his own process, and appoint his own people?
(His statutory duties are enshrined in the Local Government Act 2002, s42
(1)A local authority must, in accordance with clauses 33 and 34 of Schedule 7, appoint a chief executive.
(2)A chief executive appointed under subsection (1) is responsible to his or her local authority for—
(a)implementing the decisions of the local authority; and
(b)providing advice to members of the local authority and to its community boards, if any; and
(c)ensuring that all responsibilities, duties, and powers delegated to him or her or to any person employed by the local
authority, or imposed or conferred by an Act, regulation, or bylaw, are properly performed or exercised; and
...........................
That’s why I have made a formal complaint to Auckland Police, alleging ‘Contravention of Statute’, (s107 Crimes Act 1961), against (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay.
This complaint is currently being assessed by an Inspector attached to Auckland CIB.
There will be more (but not much time – only got 4 minutes! 🙂
But – will be making time to include this little gem – that the Auditor-General, Lyn Provost is a SHAREHOLDER in Sky City!
Yep – could only happen here in ‘clean, green, corruption-free’ New Zealand ……..
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The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Someone in Labour is trying to make mischief in an election year, according to Garner. If that’s true, they should be kicked out of the Party. Actually, the big mistake Cunliffe has made since getting leadership is that he kept the useless neolib clutter in the Party instead of chucking them all out.
http://www.radiolive.co.nz/GARNER-Labour-MPs-are-worried-about-David-Cunliffes-performance/tabid/506/articleID/40741/Default.aspx
In another news WhaleSpew won a Netguide award for best blog. Great to see racism, mysoginy, class hate and psychopathy awarded.
Gee Cunliffes not popular with his own team, well theres a surprise.
Cunliffe is very popular with his team. He may have had one of two issues this year with delivery of key messages but the team is in behind him 100%.
Don’t believe what you hear from Farrar, Garner, Whale or Gower. They are all part of the National Party propoganda machine trying to hide the true state of the nation from its workers.
“but the team is in behind him 100%”
Even the most hard-core labour supporter would have to be laughing at that
I am hard core Green supporter, but from my close range observation there is no sign of any unrest. Think back to when Shearer was in charge. We are miles away from that scenario
agreed.
There might still be divisions, but I don’t think anybody wants rid of cunliffe
It’s too late to change from Cunliffe.
Everyone in Labour has to make do with what they’ve got: Cunliffe has to make do with a caucus full of under-performing deadwood, and the deadwood has to make do with Cunliffe as leader.
Beautiful phrasing, Lanth.
we-ell that’s one perspective, I guess.
To me it simply looks like a shifting of the blame by people who thought it was Shearer’s fault and that cunliffe would at least see some improvement in the polls. Well, they were wrong, so it must be “deadwood” (i.e. “people who don’t do/say exactly what I want”).
The fact is that things aren’t going great for labour, but that just means they’re doing things that piss off the corporates (the fmr business rort-table complaining about jones criticising supermarkets in parliament is typical, and looked like jones quotes were cherry-picked to fit a narrative). But more often than not the only regular poll says nats will be out come the election – and I reckon the opposition (especially the greens) will campaign well this year.
I was interested by someone’s theory yesterday that greens vs labour booth returns seem to mirror lab v liberals back in the 1920s. Intriguing if true, but unlike the libs I think under MMP minor parties will have a place rather than moving to extinction.
i think i have synthesised/rendered-down labours’ perception-problems into one sentence:..
“..us punters/voters look at all the labour faces..and just see the clark govt..lightly warmed-over/stirred..and a certain weariness sets in..”
(..and save for a wholesale clearout of those faces..which i don’t see labour doing..
..their only other option as i see it..
..is a wholesale mea culpa/repudiation of those neo-lib policies..
..and a brace of new game/sea-changing/poverty-ending/environment-cleaning policies..to offer as appeasement..
..without either of those ..labour will continue to slump in the polls..
..and i don’t think the greens should be too worried about dotcom starting a party..
..it is labour who should be licking their lips in nervousness..
..as much of that soft/over-them vote that can’t stomach voting national..
..could well flock to dotcom..if only for freshness/newness/new-ideas reasons..
..and a heads-up! to labour/greens/mana..!
..if dotcom follows his libertarian-leanings..i am expecting a full legalisation of cannabis (the colorado-model)..policy from dotcom..
..and there is at least 5% just there..for him..for that..(in fact..i think a reasoned/coherent-policy could well draw more than 5%..and especially from that group labour claims to be targeting (?)..the young/politically-uninvolved..
..they will queue around the block to vote for that one..
..and another heads-up..now that obama has authorised the banking industry to handle the legal-states’ pot-money..with no fear of federal prosecution..
..i am picking that just after his mid-term congressional-elections this year..
..that obama will end prohibition at the federal level..
..and leave it to individual states to decide their own policies..
..so..given that timing..we will have our ‘progressive’ lab/grn/mana parties going into the campaign proper..all dancing nervously around the idea of medical-marijuana..
..and dotom going for full legalisation..able to point at america..and go..’see!’..
..he will hoover up all of that vote for himself..
..and irony of ironies..should the greens still pussy-foot around the issue..(and not plump for that colorado-model..)
..those votes they will lose..will be those people who got them over the top/into parliament for the first time..the end-cannabis-prohibition voters..
..now it seems those voters will now do that same favour for dotcom..
..is this really what lab/grns/mana really want..?
..have they really thought this one thru..?
..’cos from where i’m sitting..
..they are all on the wrong side of history..
..and this is going to ‘hurt’ them..
..all three of them..
..phillip ure..
That would be why the ALCP was the kingmaker in the last few elections – oh, wait…
sneer away..mcflock..sneer away..
..one of us will be correct..eh..?
..phillip ure..
you haven’t made a claim that can be “correct” yet.
Are you picking 6% for the internet party? But only if they go for legalisation?
i said what i said mcflock..
..go read it again if unsure..
phillip ure..
I think you’ll find that because of the ridiculous writing style you persist in using, that most people can’t be bothered trying to read what you write, most of the time.
really..?
(can i console myself after yr attack on my creative/word-using skills..
..by thinking about my 21,000 subscribers @ whoar..?
..d’ya reckon..?
..so..it’s yr unsubstantiated claim..vs..those subscribers..
..i reckon i’ll go with the latter..
..eh..?
phillip ure..
Think how many it could be if people didn’t have to be stoned to read it…
edit: when you say “subscribers”, do you mean site visits, registered users, commenters, RSS/email subscribers, or what?
Because you have very few comments from people other than yourself on the site linked to your pseudonym. You seem to be averaging about one comment a day from someone other than yourself.
rss..(source:..zeald website audit..)
phillip ure..
actually surprised.
..as was i..
..pleasantly..tho’..
..and they have to like it..
..if not it would be like a spam-attack every day..
(..seeing as i usually post/link/point to 40-50 stories each/every day..)
..and they would unsubscribe..toot suite..!
..they also told me that 20,000+ other websites around the world point at me/have whoar on their favoured-website lists..
..double-surprise..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
takes all sorts, I guess.
and i am certain yr grace and charm..
..is only outdone by yr vibrant good-looks..
..eh..?.
phillip ure..
@ McFlock: “I was interested by someone’s theory yesterday that greens vs labour booth returns seem to mirror lab vs liberals back in the 1920s. Intriguing if true, but unlike the libs I think under MMP minor parties will have a place rather than moving to extinction.”
I was that very “someone”.
I should clarify, though, that I wasn’t suggesting the Greens 2005-2011 electoral rise occurred in precisely the same polling booths as the fledgling Labour Party’s rise through the 20s. It wasn’t about a specific parallel polling booth pattern, but rather the broader point that Labour slowly but surely superseded the Liberals (and their successor parties, National (1925 Election) and United (1928-1931 Elections) ) as the party of progressive politics in big city and provincial city New Zealand through the 20s and that Labour’s decline and the Greens advance in so many metropolitan and provincial city booths 2005-2011 reminded me very much of that inter-war dynamic.
In 2011, the Green party-vote nationally represented little more than 40% of Labour’s party-vote, but there were plenty of urban booths where the Green vote comprised more than two-thirds and, in some cases (especially in Wellington and Dunedin Cities) actually superseded, Labour support. Very rare to find that in 2005 or before (the utterly unique Aro Valley being a conspicuous exception that proves the rule).
And I was also arguing that it was a generational thing. Just as the young Labour Party derived disproportionate support from younger voters (particularly the young single male working-class – although the Party certainly expanded well beyond that core base through the 20s), so today’s Greens are, of course, especially strong among the under 35s (more broadly, the under 45s), raising at least the possibility that there may be some sort of inevitability about their on-going rise, albeit – as with Labour in the 20s – a somewhat faltering rise: two steps forward, one step back.
I should also say the Libs didn’t so much “move to extinction” as merge with the right-wing Reform Party to create a Party we all know and love to this very day – The Dear Old Fucking Tories.
Yep Labour always has to be relevant and forward looking and there is a tension with the Greens although I think there is a lot in common and in an MMP environment the considerations are different in that there is room to cooperate. To see what Labour is and should be capable of have a look at this …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dLguFjpYr8
Cheers for that, swordfish – it’s interesting how parties evolve and change, almost like a garden. The Liberals were the ones who gave women suffrage, and as you point out a hundred years later were part of the legacy of the tory government of the day.
And the old “conservatives” (independent opponents to the liberals) created a party named the “Reform Party”, eventually to be the other partner in the formation of the national party.
I sometimes wonder if the Greens and Mana and maybe another left party not yet formed or prominent will grow, and the last <10% remnant of “Labour” ends up in coalition with the tories. Not as an “ABC/splitter” sort of thing, just in a few decades as the political landscape changes like an unkempt garden with different plants sprouting up over the same sort of ground, a few become trees then eventually fall.
Interesting how Garner phrases and pronounces the words at the start of his speech at 00:13. Is it just has mangled speech or is he trying to tell us who the member of the party is that spoke to him?
I know I am getting paranoid but could be
Someone in Labour is trying to make mischief in an election year, according to Garner. If that’s true, they should be kicked out of the Party.
Typical of the ABC club – they’d rather spend another three years stuffing themselves at Bellamy’s rather than do real work. They’d rather have the rest of New Zealand suffer the NACT mob than lose their meal tickets. Let’s name them: Goff, King, Mallard, Hipkins, Robertson, Curran…
They’ve got to go. They’re vainglorious parasites that are putting themselves above not only the party, but the people of the country.
What!
Excuse me?
And the good news, just keeps on coming. (For some)
ASB drives NZ profits up – 3 News
Westpac NZ profits up 9% – Yahoo
ANZ NZ profits up 40% – NZ Herald
Anyone for a Financial Transactions Tax?
Anyone?
Anyone at all
Harawira calls for 1% financial transaction tax to replace GST
“The rich need to pay their fair share” – Harawira
The GST is essential because it is such an efficient tax. Can you name the countries in the world with no GST, VAT, or broad based consumption tax? Qatar, Bhutan?
It is efficient, it can’t be evaded. There is no alternative.
And if you were in india you would have no electricity bill at all. Dont you know how lucky you are?
Of course in India you would not have an electricity bill – you would not have any electricity.
Yup.
srylands is a neoliberal zealot – you can tell by its absolute certainty in rubbish, nonsense statements.
Ignorant, racist comment. India’s economy is booming, it’s literally the next China. Educate yourself mate.
GST efficiently takes the tax burden off of the rich and puts it on the poor.
Exactly Draco
It should be one of the key planks in Labour’s tax policy this year that English’s GST reform will be reversed from 1 April 2015.
I would say GST should be scrapped and replaced with a truly porgressve tax system but I doubt Labour would ever have the balls to do that.
E is E and Drax: + a gazillion
GST is an injustice against the majority of us.
DTB
That seems to be what Slands means by “efficient”.
Efficient beats fair or deserved in srylands world of imaginary jobs and colleagues who think he is hilarious.
Slands
Just because you are incapable of conceiving of an alternative, doesn’t mean there aren’t any. GST/VAT is not impossible to evade if you buy online, or can chalk it up to company &/or trust expenses.
GST/ VAT free Counties/ Territories:
USA (though “Most states charge a sales tax on products. The US Federal government doesn’t.”)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax#Countries_and_territories_VAT_free
Saudi Arabia
Qatar
United Arab Emirates
Kuwait
Bahrain
Oman
Libya
Brunei
Bahamas
Maldives
Hong Kong
Macao
San Marino
Vatican City
British Virgin Islands
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Anguilla
Gibraltar
Turks and Caicos Islands
Jersey
Guernsey
That list isn’t that great at proving your point.
I mean a good 40% of the list are tax havens. Are you suggesting that New Zealand become a tax haven for the wealthy to use?
You know we already have Tax Haven Status, right?
+1
DG
The prevalence of tax havens in the list demonstrates how easy it is for the wealthy to structure their finances to avoid GST thus reinforcing my point that; “GST/VAT is not impossible to evade”. As far as; “New Zealand become a tax haven for the wealthy to use”, we’re well on the way to that already.
I see this rather as an argument for a Tobin (/ Hone Heke/ Robin Hood) tax on financial transactions. Alongside a more progressive income tax system; this will balance the reduction of GST, and eventually the institution of a UBI.
Just some of the alternatives that Slands is incapable of recognising through his zealous genuflections to TINA; the phantasmal deity of monetarism.
The Tobin Tax and the Financial Transaction Tax are two different things. The Tobin Tax is a tax set on the movement of money out of the country while the FTT applies to every transaction.
Actually Rylands, you are deluded.
For starters, very few captains of industry pay retail for any of their consumables.
They purchase their goods from their mates’ warehouses – a whole lot of quid pro quo – so they get items on a cost plus basis.
So in figures that you might understand. Item costs 100 at the factory and 150 in the shop.
15% of 100 is $15.
15% of 150 is $22.5
And the self employed.? Yeah well the “company” purchases most of
their stuff and they claim any GST back.
So, “It is inefficient, it can be evaded. There are alternatives.”
FIFY.
@ logie..
1..
it is a total rort..
..the rich evade/play the system..
..the poor have to pay every cent..
..and if labour came out with a coherent financial transaction tax on the banksters..
..that would enable the scrapping of g.s.t..
..(and thus be a major poverty-relieving tool..not the only one needed..but on the way..)
..their support would go thru the roof..
..but i fear they lack both the intelligence and the courage..
..to so thoroughly renounce their deep/enduring neo-lib roots/recent behaviour..
..phillip ure..
GST =-
Def: Government Sanctioned Theft and it needs to go…..
Agreed. Come on Labour, have courage and stand alongside Hone. Mana is the only party supporting a FTT and the scrapping of GST. Time you went large on this Labour!!!
The relief to NZ households would be immense!
+100 Rosie and phillip ure …et al
+1
Yes less tax, we are all in agreement.
Less taxes on the bottom 80%, more taxes on the top 5% especially corporations
Nope. More appropriately targeted tax and a highly progressive income tax is what we need.
Rosie
Your positive ideas are the sort of thinking that will win Labour votes. Keep the comments up, I look for something positive and lately haven’t found much.
I am getting pissed off with the growing numbers of people blogging here that are spreading ideas of loss causing apathy about Labour in the next election. Too many rw ‘gremlins’ and I think they are putting off commentators here, you blog watchers.
Pete George is an apprentice compared to them. It was a case of pushing a party affiliated to then, now its a negative idea to a style of political and economic thinking and advocating and envisaging a death spiral approach like kamikaze trainers expecting their students to go down in the water.
Labour’s never going to scrap GST. Just like Labour is never going to bring back penalty rates for working overtime.
Be pro-Labour by all means, but don’t rationalise your support for the party with ideas which are disconnected from the reality of what the party is and what the party is actually capable of doing.
So you mean that the Labour you think you are supporting is actually very diferent in reality to the Labour you are actually supporting?
Rob
Do you know what you are talking about? Or care?
CV
I see you are being pragmatic. I can’t see why Labour should scrap GST but I do see why it should be reduced. It’s a flat tax T\to be used to roger us all,. and okay it does ensure that most people are paying tax where they should. Few wiggle their way out.
And people who go on about tax being theft are just stupidly repeating a chance remark by someone from a past century which of all the things that have ever been said, is remembered because it’s a great moan about personally having to cough up towards something. I think originally it was when royalty kept wanting to go to war to bolster their own interests rather than the country’s, and requested all the landed gentry to come up with the army and materiels.
Of course governments need the money they get from taxes to run. And as people get more of it, they should pay more taxes to maintain and improve the various projects that have assisted the country progress to achieve their incomes.
No that is merely current monetary convention. After all, the government is the only issuer of NZ Dollars; why should it need taxes to get supplies of the very thing that it itself issues?
Sticking with the current tax system however, GST raises a massive amount of money. It is very difficult to get that money from somewhere else without radical change – eg a FTT, asset/land tax, radically higher corporate and income tax, etc.
Well CV
So a 2-stage recovery.
One that introduces workable taxes under the present one. Less GST say 10%
etc, CGT, FTT .
Then perhaps a crawling peg or something that settles our exchange rate a little less than the high points of the market. Then leaves it there.
Next time takes it a bit lower.
And then makes it hard for foreign owners to buy NZ land.
Then perhaps look at borrowing money internally for things. Government raises whatever, creates the rest. Hires in NZ mostly, and then pays back the borrowed stuff. Would everyone be happy then?
Yup. Just like National.
Crikey Warbly. I feel a little sheepish. There are many commenters with far more well thought through, intellectual, based- in- theory idea’s than I can ever have! I am just a mere shop girl, well have reverted back to the reality that is my fall back career option after finding out no one is interested in my health psyche diploma.
I can whinge and moan with the best of them too!
Re the GST. I am super hot about GST, because it is a problem for many of us. I supported a group back in ’08 who wanted to see GST removed from food. I think it was at this point that Hone Harawira took up the idea. But the idea faded, sadly.
You would also be surprised at the lack of support and in fact, derision from supposedly Left leaders (both inside and outside of party politics)in regard to the idea of removing GST. I won’t name them but I do hope those individuals have had a chance to reconsider their previous positions knowing what they know now about our shameful rates of poverty and inequality.
Removing GST off ALL products and services would alleviate the burden it creates for households. It’s only one part of solving the problem of poverty but it would a step in the right direction.
(Your own personal budget may be freed up to the point where you could have a treat, such as a coffee out! How exciting! And it would be $3.40 instead of $4!)
Are we too scared to tax the rich? To introduce a FTT? Would the sky really fall in if we did?
And positivity – it’s essential for winning. We have far too much at stake to indulge in despair. The time for naval gazing is over just imo.
That does appear to be the case and it’s a fear that we don’t need to have. If the government was the sole creator of money then capital flight would never be a threat that the rich could hold over us (Which would be a major reason why they get all antsy when it’s suggested – they know how much power they would lose overnight if that became reality).
Rosie. Bah! Nothing wrong with being sheepish as long as we don’t get the wool pulled over our eyes.
But GST is useful at a lowered level, it helps more than burdens. It brings in constant money from everybody – harder to arrange your personal spending to avoid tax than income.
And I have other ideas for GST as a measure for distribution that would help regional areas to get jobs, employment, less poverty. In my government! I would have it area coded, and areas trying to up their financials, enterprise and infrastructure would receive a percentage of GST arising from their area back from government. The level would be open to negotiation, but it would ensure that if an area worked hard to get business, say to get a lift in a regional or tourist area, they would get back some of those extra $ earned in GST tax. They could then upkeep amenities better, create more, and add some to other grants they managed to get.
The regions get starved of spending look at Gisborne. I remember the beach area of Whangamata so popular with holiday makers. It complained how small it was and yet these visitors descended on it from other areas bringing their needs for public infrastructure that the locals were expected to pay for.
There is a known dynamic in development studies – that the larger areas that are developing faster tend to drag finance from the quieter ones. They get run down and the money gets sucked out of them to the bigger towns and cities, and to other countries as well. It’s the dynamic that supermarkets, Walmart and any big box store a few kms from town utilise. People flock for the advantages the bigger outfit can provide. And the smaller locals get by-passed and can’t compete, eventually closing down and lose their investment in the store.
Scotland is an example of this dynamic, they noticed it with London growing increasingly as the financial centre in the UK. One reason why they are trying to get more autonomy.
Yep – Labour, if you have any belief in the name of your party, you have to jump on board here.
Mickey or any other insiders – any chance of this happening?
SSLands, if English promoted a Tobin tax tomorrow, you’d be all for it, and probably using the same words. In your mind, there is no alternative to living on your knees and worshipping your Tory dogs. You are a perfect little puppet for an authoritarian government. Why don’t you take up trainspotting instead?
Higher education is for the rich only, despite being essential for a decent standard of living. Both daughters have tried to juggle appalling work conditions, ridiculous transport costs, ever increasing food/rental costs AND study under what seem to be power style corporate style universities.
We have years ahead of supporting them through a masters aswell, educational inflation means if want any chance of getting a job to pay back student loan, you need one.
The only way I can cheer them up is saying that it’s only while these disgusting people are running the country, and once they are gone, decency will return.
And when you factor in no student allowances for post grad so the students are borrowing! to finance the productive research that they undertake and that other’s benefit off for free – gives a whole new meaning to R & D funding doesn’t it.
And the degree in Auckland that sacked all the top level teachers so that they could bring in industry tutors with no particular skill at all – we now have students borrowing to fund corporate training.
Make sure your kids vote and get them to get their friends to vote too or there will interest on the loans or no loans. Scare them otherwise it will be a Nact reality. They have not promised to leave them interest free you know.
Has anyone else noticed how high gas and power bills are this year? I am sure I am paying $100 more this year than I was this time last year, if this carries on into winter our power/gas bill could be in the vicinity of $500 a month.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/9747954/Councils-solar-farm-ready-to-feed-grid
Solar power is the way to go alright…….
I just got my power bill yesterday $126.78 for the month, that is for 2 adults. What are you doing wrong to have a big power bill? I rented my house out for a couple of years and the tenants put energy efficient light bulbs in and the showers have a fine spray that does not waste a lot of water.
It is very easy to reduce you power bill if you want, I know what it is like to have teen age girls that sit in the shower until the hot water cylinder is empty. A flow restrictor before the shower rose fixes that problem and they don’t even notice the difference. I know I fitted one for a friend.
Shower flow restricters? Commie nana state sympathiser!!!
Yes true CV, the likes of the commenter above who you address leapt about screaming blue murder, ”Nanny State”, ”Nanny State” when the last Labour Government in a nod to the Greens proposed banning everything but energy efficient light-bulbs and new builds would have to have energy efficient shower heads,
Fools all of them, the ‘wing-nuts’ folly is encapsulated in Naki’s comment above…
“that is for 2 adults….”
Oh c’mon, since when have we been able to dignify you with the descriptor ‘adult’?
Hot water doesn’t use that much power, as network companies turn it on and off remotely.
It is heating (dryer/heater) that is a large part of your power bill.
That is what I have noticed anyway. Before I got a smart meter put in I used to manage my consumption based on how fast the disk on my meter was spinning when I had something on.
Gives a whole new meaning to living off the tenants. Trust they charged you for the bulbs since they were kind enough to leave them not put your cheap ones back in and give theirs to Granny.
“Has anyone else noticed how high gas and power bills are this year? I am sure I am paying $100 more this year than I was this time last year, if this carries on into winter our power/gas bill could be in the vicinity of $500 a month.”
Well you are lucky that we have such cheap electricity generated by our efficient market. If you lived in Australia you would be worse off. Plus you would need to power those pesky air conditioners. If you moved to Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, the United Kingdom, or Norway, you would also be paying much more for your electricity.
You could of course move to France. They have cheap power generated by those awesome nuclear plants.
Ah, more lies from SSLands. Our “market” system has delivered us close to the most expensive electricity in the developed world.
“Our “market” system has delivered us close to the most expensive electricity in the developed world.”
How so?
Looks like NZ prices are in the second quartile. All the countries I listed have more expensive residential power, including most of the Australian states.
http://tinyurl.com/pf9xv5n
Ha! Neat trick, ryland.
That’s a comparison of energy prices in NZ dollars. Now show us how much residential electricity in NZ and elsewhere costs in terms of a proportion of people’s incomes. (actually, DTB has already done that.)
hint: NZ is a relatively low wage economy compared with the likes of Aussie, Germany, etc.
To be fair, it’s not the electricity generators fault we’re poor. If they can produce it at a globally comparable unit cost, they’re doing OK. It’s someone (everyone) else’s fault we’re poor.
Globally comparable price? A completely irrelevant criteria.. How do you export electricity from a country so far away from other markets.
NZ has large amounts of capacity to produce cheap power and that is what we are doing. Even with the costs of maintaining a long grid in a sparsely populated country, it is also power that is cheap to deliver.
The cost of sales, bloated fat in the sales bodies, and profit of a pseudo-market semi-monopoly is what makes it “comparable” to somewhere that has expensive to generate power. That is the problem.
Effectively over the past 20 years having rentiers in the government demanding grossly excessive dividends so that it makes the privatised companies have less of a problem with their dividends has pushed us from having cheap power to having “globally comparable unit costs”. Trying to produce a “competitive” market structure has just added a whole layer of extra costs to make sales, and made essentially no customer side efficiencies compared to prior to the change to the electricity system back in the 90s.
The nett effect has been to stifle most of the rest of the NZ economy to pay for a pointless uncompetitive sales model and a rentiers profit margin.
I simply can’t see any point in trying to run the electricity sector in NZ as anything other than a simple infrastructure system. Perhaps you can tell what you think is one? All I see is extra bloat and a distinct lack of innovation (like the decades delayed grid upgrades) on a relatively simple system.
Exactly. All profits extracted from our electricity system and shipped offshore is, to the dollar, exactly how much the citizens of this nation have been overcharged for power by the rentier capitalists.
+11111
Damn well said.
Yep 100% Iprent. Costing electricity at the cost of the highest marginal producer is absolute bullshit. Its not a free market in electricity…Labour/Greens have decided to stop pretending that it is. NZ Power makes perfect sense.
I simply can’t see any point in trying to run the electricity sector in NZ as anything other than a simple infrastructure system
The best way to run the system is to hand it over to a bunch of engineering nerds who want nothing more than a big toy to play with. That way they’ll spend all their energies and talents delivering the most renewable, reliable and cost-effective system in the world.
And they’ll do it just for the sheer fun and pleasure of it – as long as you keep the managerial suits and marketing spivs out of their faces.
Uses a 2010 NZ dollar comparison. The information is influenced by the comparative economies of the countries and does not really show how affordable or sustainable it is for people in those countries. I’d think the EA could provide better.
I’d like to see other analysis and comparisons before concluding that our power prices are reasonable. eg What percentage of peoples income goes on power in each of the countries. That could produce quite different results.
Edit: SNAP Karol
The question now, S Rylands, is:
When you compared apples with oranges, were do you doing so out of error or duplicity?
Which is it, a mistake, or a deliberate lie?
The EA is a right wing haunt creating a market nightmare.
Who cares what they pay overseas. If we can generate cheap power that should be to the benefit of all here and a comparative & competative advantage to our whole economy. Thought the right understood that – they are always bleating on about cheaper off shore sourcing.
Straight out lies, SSlands. In Brisbane, we run the airconditioning quite often and have never got to $140/month. In winter, out bills are generally less than $70/month, and they went up by about 20% once your mates took over the state government. My daughter in Wellington pays much more for power than I do.
srylands
21 February 2014 at 8:02 am
I wasn’t comparing the price we are paying for power now to what they pay in other countries, I was comparing the price we’re paying now to what we were paying this time last year. We are not doing anything different yet our bill is nearly 50% more, which is why I was wondering if anyone has noticed a similar extortionate rise in what they are paying for their power/gas.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9746336/National-continues-poll-lead
I do wish the MSM would stop publishing polls from right-leaning pollsters 🙂
Even with a slanted Right wing poll, with NZ First support National is guaranteed to remain in power.
The Left need to face this reality and plan their strategy accordingly. There is no point in burying our head in the sand and carrying on BAU electoral politics. Some real soul searching needs to be done, and done urgently, if we are to get National out.
If ACT were on 5%, I’d be concerned. But NZ1? It’s up to the fates and the whims of winston.
And who knows where labgrn will be at the start of the campaign, let alone the finish? As soon as the media sense blood, they’ll skew the vote that way. Just like with Shearer. They want to support the nats, but when the disconnect gets too great they’ll put the bite in like everyone else.
It’s probably an accurate poll. It’s been pretty obvious for about a year that National will win the election by a few seats. The dumbos strike again.
Sosoo?!….nup ( you are being sarcastic I hope)
Labour will win with the help of the Greens and Winnie and Mana
( NACT is on the ropes and DESPERATELY SPINNING!!!!!)
…their only partner ACT is a “dead horse”….and Colin is trying to be a “Man for all Seasons” …but looks like ” Road Runner ” on a treadmill….His legs are spinning in all directions but he aint going anywhere fast…
I don’t think so.
The people who matter in NZ have decided otherwise and will make it so. Have you watched the news lately?
Horror. There are 2,500 Buy orders for PM Labour in Ipredict. Someone from the Left with a spare $1,500 is manipulating the market. It is vast left wing conspiracy to manipulate ipredict. I demand an inquiry.
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=PM.2014.LABOUR
Or the alternative explanation for sane people:
Someone has decided that PM Labour is underpriced at 0.36 and is looking to profit.
Whatever job you do in real life you are overpaid.
“Whatever job you do in real life you are overpaid.”
No I am not. Whatever I am paid is determined by the market. So by definition it is the efficient price. Good for me. Good for New Zealand.
Straight up pal – You’re a Dick!
Nz comes last in your answer of course. Srylands of the “me first” party.
I’m sorry, but you don’t understand basic economics. It’s a shame really.
Actually, no.
New Zealand isn’t a free market economy. It’s a mixed market economy. The market isn’t the only factor. There’s employment laws and so on that do factor in on what would be left solely to the market to determine in a free market economy.
So your salary isn’t dictated by just the market if you work in New Zealand.
I jolly well hope you’re not an economist or you are overpaid.
Now you’ve done it!
It’s worse than that. He doesn’t understand the Second Best Theorem.
It’s even worse than that – he’s an Australian.
Its worse than that… he measures stuff by efficiency.
But mrs srylands what are you complaining about, I was “efficient”
Mrs s ” oh? Are we done?”
Ausryland 5 eyed f/wit.
Maybe if you could make up your mind.
Like you make up your serial lies .
I could stop laughing .
Australia relies on coal for 80% of its electricity way more expensive than rain and prepaid dams that NZ taxpayers have already paid for and are Now paying again under the market model where cartels are Now forcing prices up like in banking groceries fuel etc.
Antitrust laws need to be brought in like teddy Roosevelt a republican did in the US.
Still praying that the temple of Market Utopia?
The market deems it so, therefore we know that the dictats of the market are blessed!
LOL
and i am so simple
Huh? You really are clueless. Here is the order book:
Current Top 10 Buy Orders
Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
27 $0.3606
30 $0.3605
2 $0.3601
2,477 $0.3600
7 $0.3576
25 $0.3575
1 $0.3553
1 $0.3552
1 $0.3548
1 $0.3547
Current Top 10 Sell Orders
Quantity (Stocks) Price Per Share
10 $0.3854
25 $0.4000
7 $0.4011
10 $0.4012
10 $0.4013
10 $0.4172
10 $0.4173
10 $0.4173
10 $0.4174
10 $0.4333
Yes, it’s pretty obvious that a single trader with $2500 to spare is trying to fix the price of the Labour PM stock at $0.36. This single trader is buying a volume of shares far in excess of any other traders, and therefore could easily dominant all trades for that stock. It pretty much shows the ipredict price is a joke – even if you believe that ‘rational traders’ can predict the likely result of the general election, the volumes traded are so low that the price can be determined by a single person with a bit of money to spare (rather than a collective ‘prediction’).
Whether or not it is a ‘left wing conspiracy’ or more likely some RWNJ like srylands himself trying to set a low price for the ipredict stock is left as an exercise for the reader. (A trader trying to push a left-wing conspiracy would of course be buying at a much higher price to push the stock price up).
Any updates on Labour’s position about the super age? Is the Labour caucus still keen to increase the super age? How might that be a vote winner?
I hope they stick with it, because it is the only significant policy that is on the correct track. The next National PM will make sure it happens anyway.
Bollocks.
Try cutting back on ‘corporate welfare’ to make more money available for ‘social welfare’ .
Open the books!
Cut out the consultants and private sector contractors, unless a ‘cost-benefit’ analysis proves that services cannot be provided more cheaply and effectively ‘in-house’.
I for one, am TOTALLY opposed to the age for superannuation eligibility being raised.
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner.
I am looking but cant seem to find it.
My recollection is they had reversed their policy from 2011 and will now keep the elegibility age at 65.
The policy to increase the age was daft (notwithstanding the fact some on here like r0b supported it).
A workers party should never support silly austerity polcies like this. If affordability is an issue then we look to the increase income. We do not look to cut costs.
Nope:
Still shafting workers.
Straight up pal – You’re a dick!
I know the years seem shorter as you get older, but it’s hard to believe it’s April 1 already.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/9748213/Telecom-to-change-name-to-Spark
Isn’t Kevin Roberts still on the board……. looks like the kind of hair brained waste of money he’d come up with to line his own pockets.
Apparently so: https://www.telecom.co.nz/content/0,8748,200652-1548,00.html
You have to wonder who gets paid for this crap. Fortunately it would appear to be private money being used in this case.
I am sure that the process is that a spark causes an explosion and then that’s about it.
One big bang before it’s gone forever. Unless things have been getting a bit damp, then there is a whole lot of smoke and you’re left with a fizzer.
SM ‘ geez those numbers aren’t flash, the auditors/shareholders will be onto us if we spin them and we still haven’t addressed any of our core problems like archaic systems, processes and of course our overpaid managers who add no value…Amy’s all sweet though ‘
KR’ leave it with me, something sparkly and bright to draw attention away, those are very serious concerns mouto’
SM ‘ sheesh Kev I was joking, nobody here gives a F I wasn’t brought back to actually do anything but hey that sounds great, how much do you need…’
Heard that on the radio this morning and was thinking well, that’s another reason why I won’t be buying services from Telecom.
how to save the economies of northland/east cape etc etc..
“..Colorado’s Legal Pot Market – Far Exceeds Tax Revenue Expectations!..”
“..Tax proceeds from pot sales of $98 million –
have crushed the initial estimation given to voters..”
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/colorados-legal-pot-market-far-exceeds-tax-revenue-expectations
this is such a no-brainer..
..why doesn’t everyone support some sanity around our cannabis laws..?
..why aren’t political parties queuing up to promote/trumpet this policy..?
..phillip ure..
“….why aren’t political parties queuing up to promote/trumpet this policy..?”
……….because it’s political suicide ?
…eh….. ?
“…Yep stoners and even medical use advocates get ranked beneath beneficiaries, disabilities, and special needs kids in most political parties priorities…?
@ tiger..i didn’t realise it was an either/or..
..and could one (or more)of those prohibition-advocates please list for us..(bullet-points will be fine..)
..the actual factual/rational-reasons cannabis prohibition should remain in force..
..(aside from that (false) ‘political-suicide’ meme..)
.this is a serious question/request..
.i think it would be a worthwhile exercise to list the reasons ‘for’ prohibition..
..and/against those ‘for’ full-legalisation..(the ‘colorado-model’..for want of a better-term..)
..to clear all the ‘smoke’ away from the issue..eh..?
..a calm/rational look at all the issues/arguments surrounding this issue..
..all in one place..
..as i said..i think this would be a useful exercise to undertake..
..so if a/the prohibitionists could kick it off..?
..that would be much appreciated..
..chrs..
.phillip ure..
philip…i so love your comments….btw….how is your vegan Sausage?
@.chooky..
..surely that is too much information 4 punters..?
..phillip ure..
Phillip I think you need to tell us ASAP as apparently they are truing to serve us sausages that are not very appealing !!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/food-news/9749225/Poo-sausage-Its-a-thing#comments
perhaps i should also shield you from the acceptable levels of various shudder-inducing nasties..
..in yr pre-packaged etc meaty/dairy-food etc..eh..?
..i have the grisly details @ whoar..
..and it is certainly not for the squeamish flesh/fat-eater to consider..
..y’know..!..those people who are far too sensitive/caring to catch fish/hunt and kill animals..
..but who are ‘quite relaxed’ about eating the butchered final product..
..it could well turn them off meat/dairy altogether..
..and we couldn’t have that..
..could we..?
..phillip ure..
I suspect that most people do. It’s the politicians and probably business interests getting in the way. I understand from a documentary that I watched a while back that linen made from the cannabis plant is softer, finer more durable, and cheaper than that made from cotton. With that in mind it would take very little to bring clothing manufacture from growing to final product back to NZ.
As you say, better laws for growing cannabis are needed ASAP.
Hemps a super fibre it has huge applications im sure I read somewhere in times long past that its demonisation was driven by the cotton industry.
You can legally crop it here as the fibre strains aren’t psychoactive but you get subjected to battery of tests for thc content and regular police visits just in case you’re growing a mixed crop. Makes it to much hassle when compared with maize etc
With the 50 week no foul sacking period, making it easier to sack new hires, you would think that the employers would be satisfied, apparently not.
It seems that more brutality and humiliation is to be visited on job seekers.
This sort of practice needs to be made illegal.
Resume Check owner James Sutherland, whose company offers comprehensive background check packages – including research into a person’s ACC history, immigration status and credit rating – said most candidates were accepting of the process. Well they would be wouldn’t they, being completely at the employer’s mercy.
James Adonis describes the reason that many job seekers may want to hide their past employment record from their new employer, being fired for instance:
Nothing to fear?
Because of recent law changes employers can demand that workers give a urine sample before a job interview, and there are vultures who make a living collecting urine and peering at people’s genitals while they piss.
One person I know, unemployed for months and denied a benefit because their partner is working, was required to give a urine test before her job interview. Arriving at the prospective employer adress she saw in the forbidding looking test van in the company carpark. On entering the van and showing her ID she was given a breathalyser test, and then was asked for a urine sample. With the van sliding door open and very little privacy and with the piss collector staring at her genitals to make sure she was not palming a false sample, and a queue of other job seekers in the carpark, she understandably found it very hard to give a sample no matter how hard she strained. The piss police officer suggested that she go in to the company cafetaria and drink some water and come back. “I will be here for 1 hour, you have 1 hour to perform this test” After three quarters of an hour drinking glass after glass of water in the workers canteen while employees came and went, the piss police officer came into the lunch room demanding that she stop. “You must stop that, or you will water down the sample, you must give a sample right now.”
Again entering the van in the carpark she again strained to give a sample till she felt ill trying, and still nothing. “You can’t do the job interview” said the piss police officer. “I have to leave now, to go to my next job”.
“Where are you going? Can I follow you there in my car and try again?”
“No” said the Piss police.
Jenny, the lie detector test for prospective employee’s is an appalling new low. I thought polygraphs were unreliable as a person can, with practice, control their heart rate and on the other hand completely innocent people can feel anxious and their heart rate can increase.
A job interview now days can be like an interrogation process,guilty until proven innocent – that’s without the piss test! What your acquaintance went through was degrading and for some that whole process could have been frightening. There is no dignity in what she had to endure. Shame on employers who force prospective employer’s to undergo such a belittling experience.
More and more NZ becomes a fascist state.
and potential employees cannot find out how many people the boss gropes, that the boss has convictions for assault, major traffic offences and is the subject of protection orders from several women plus has had to settle a number of employment court grievances, oh and has a poor credit history so your chances of getting paid are not great.
+1
The field is tilted in favour of the dictators.
Good article by Brian Rudman on Auckland transport needs here from today’s Herald.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11206593
It looks like if you want to have a sensible public transport policy for Akl the only option is to vote Green.
Good for the Greens to step up. Of course we know Labour will start on the rail loop the next day after taking office. Catch 22 really, first you need the votes and too much talking up the rail loop allows National to spin too much shit. Plenty of car dependent Jaffa’s are rattled their rates will ballon. Best not to cause Labour vote leakage.
Boring old Whylands with his questions setting the agenda for discussion. Pity the RWNJs seem to be filling up the screen with their moving belt of faces to which we fire mudballs.
Shane Jones is sounding good. He is making good points and showing how he can be really useful to Labour, and vice versa.
These are his positions in the shadow cabinet –
Shane Jones Labour List MP
Spokesperson for Economic Development
Spokesperson for Māori Affairs
Spokesperson for Forestry
Spokesperson for Building & Construction
Associate Spokesperson on Fisheries
Associate Finance Spokesperson
I think he should be put into Associate Spokesperson for Trade with Phil Goff.
And Associate Spokesperson for Small Business with David Clark, Dunedin.
He can add spice to Labour’s stew, keep it bubbling. He’s got the sound of a person who has worked in the real job, hands-on, cleaning up-the dusty, dirty or gritty sector, and not just chair- bound direct from university.
Greywarbler +100…Shane Jones is doing well!!!!….Cosgrove also gets good sound bites and sounds really good!
There need to be other changes in Labour ‘s front shock troops however….some are just not performing at all
Chooky
Yay!
http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/
a comic about free trade & the tppa , some very interesting ideas, especially about the bs trickle down theory that we were bombasted with in the 80s. (‘trickle up’ more like)
aye !..idlegus..
..’tis a good comic..
(ahem..!..)..and if i could just have a shane-jones-moment..and dickwave for a bit..
….um..!..i had that up @ whoar way back on the 20th..
..eh..?
..so often first with the best..eh..?
..that whoar..
..21,000+ subscribers/20,000+ other websites ‘pointing’..
.. can’t be wrong..
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Trouble is phillip your writing style tends to lead me to skip over it. Sometimes convention is worthwhile when it comes to reading. About 30 years ago there was a move to do away with all punctuation and to eliminate all capital letters. Guess how long that lasted.
So guess why your having it “up” was missed by many?
ah yes..ianmac..i am not for all tastes..
..your call..
..eh..?
..and i don’t recall that ‘move’ from 30yrs ago..do you have a link..?
..and punctuation/word-use is surely an ever-evolving process..?
..if not..at which point in time would you ‘freeze’ it..?
..just yesterday i noted to myself how the writing styles of most have evolved here @ the standard in recent times..
..remember when everyone used to write in paper-shortage-style..?..in blocks..?
..but now most give each sentence/idea it’s due..with a double-space between sentences/ideas..
..i wonder who started doing that..?
..and that … — thing..?
..who started doing that..?
..and seriously..there..ianmac..having eschewed them for some time..i now find the capital letter both brutish in architecture..
..and shouting in nature..
…all in all..an ugly/unlovable-beast..
..phillip ure..
ure invented the em-dash?
…One lives and learns… /sarc
go and find someone using it before me..
..i am presuming some of the 21,000 suscribers i have..over 96 countries..are media people..
..and i’m not that certain..
..but i haven’t seen anyone else using it/them as i do..
..and now it is becoming widespread/more common..
..go figure..!
..and going way way back..it used to drive so many kiwiblogswamp denizens spare..
..my ‘dots’…trailing off at the end of sentences..
..as i said..now quite common..even found in headlines now…
..eh..?
..phillip ure..
Wow, how did you get them to include it in unicode for your exclusive use?
phillip. It might have been perhaps 50 years ago that a few books were published promising a new age of punctuation-free print. After all this time I have no idea which and what but we found it hard to read and the publications ceased. At about that time I started learning Esperanto as a new age of the world having a common language but that faded as well. Bonan Targon Senoro phillip.
nah..!..i never saw esperanto running..
..and that was then..this is now..
..for one thing..
..we no longer write in bricks/blocks of words..
..phillip ure..
His style is act quite easy to follow, well to me.
Dont change 😛
chrs..no danger of that..
phillip ure..
I agree ianmac – must be the education background, but some comments are very hard to read. Apart from the rule that ellipses should be three dots, phillip appears to have a lot of constructive comments but they are not easy to read/scan and lead to being skimmed over.
However chacun a son gout.
“..must be the education background..”
i’ve passed yr comment onto auckland university..
..phillip ure..
+1
Pretty scarey stuff idlegus! But well worth the time. Especially in regard to the implications TPPA which our Government Leaders say that there is nothing to worry about as they know best.
I do hope everyone gets the time to read your link.
it’s friday..
you probably need a good laff..
..this’ll do it..
“..18 Hilariously Bad Sex Tips for Men..”
“..Pop your chap in a jar of Nutella –
then present it to your lady..”
http://www.alternet.org/sex-amp-relationships/18-hilariously-bad-sex-tips-men
phillip ure..
Nutella is actually quite solid when in the jar, you’d probably need to put some decent effort to get it in. I suppose the worst bit is when you put the jar back in the pantry.
surely you’d buy two jars..?
..keep one next to the bed..?
..and of course warming the nutella to the correct temperature..
..would be an art/science in itself..
..one fraught with obvious dangers for the careless..
..phillip ure..
So, not 10 minutes on “High” then?
give it a go..and let us know..
phillip ure..
I don’t think anyone has mentioned the latest Roy Morgan Poll (unusual since the writers here at the Standard often hold this poll up as one to recognise. So just to remind your loyal readers,
Gary Morgan says:
“Today’s New Zealand Roy Morgan Poll shows National (48%, up 1%) with its largest lead over a potential Labour/ Greens alliance (42%, down 2%) since July 2013. The rise in support for National comes after Prime Minister John Key enjoyed the festivities at Auckland’s ‘Big Gay Out’, a traditional left-wing constituency, even playing a game of beer pong.
“The additional good news for Key this week is that New Zealand Government Confidence has increased to 140pts (up 1pt) – the highest it has been since July 2010 while today’s ANZ-Roy Morgan New Zealand Consumer Confidence Rating of 133.0 is only just below its highest level since 2007 – prior to the Global Financial Crisis.
“In recent weeks Key has also refused to outline whether National will enter coalition with smaller right-wing parties including Act NZ and the Conservatives, leaving that decision until closer to the election. If the trend of the past few weeks continue, National may win enough seats to govern in its own right.”
The issue Labour has is that the thin veneer of polish that Labour had with the appointment of Cunliffe has tarnished and dulled very quickly. Quite simply he is not a likeable person and New Zealand have not warmed to him in any way. Labour support is at its baseline levels. Labour continue to be incessantly negative when the majority do not feel such negativity is warranted.
Here is a summary of what Middle NZ feel (Lefties wont like this so feel free to look away)
1. John Key and National are doing a great job
2. John Key is a likeable person who the country does trust
3. Labour is still split by negativity and infighting (although generally suppressed)
4. Labour have not articulated what they will do for NZ except offer more welfare
5. Labour will need to form a government with the Greens and the Greens cannot be trusted in terms of economic management
6. Why put all the hard effort and gains of the two National Terms at risk
7. Labour Leader Cunliffe is not a nice person and we don’t trust him.
8. Labour have no vision except more welfare, higher taxes, and subsidised jobs. Labour are unable to articulate how they will actually give industry the confidence to create jobs as Government do not create jobs)
It is going to be a very hard road for Labour to win the 2014 election. They are saddled with MPs that should have resigned / retired (King Goff Mallard Fenton come immediately to mind) years ago.
The Roy Morgan poll was commented briefly on OM 20/Feb at 19.
You make a good set of points that Labour should look at and digest Monty. If they just turned all that positive stuff on themselves spoken confidently, happily and with a follow us, we know whether we are going, it would change the trend that may be plateauing to sharper upwards.
If you are right with your points and you very possibly are, then no amount of facts and discussion will change the ingrained bias. The river will go back to its old course even if diverted temporarily.
But positivity and addressing the welfare problem through opening up education, child care assistance, and courses for parents as priority before progressing NCEA levels, help with small business, co-operative enterprises, volunteer projects and work for beneficiaries.
And assistance in growing small business, encouragement, ideas, etc. The country is ready to be ‘sparked’ to go off like fireworks in creative enterprises, enthusiasm, what can be imagined and sold. That would dry up much of the unemployment, and it would become assistance before getting into the next project. Busy, busy NZ, catering and excitement for tourists, and spending outlets for the fatneck, fatwallets.
We want the voters to be arguing that good things aren’t going to work, and then others can step in and question their motives and challenge them to meet the ideas with other positive ones. And make the point that the current approach is to allow the country to slip away into permanent depression, both economic and mental and NZs who love their country want a better future.
The problem for Labour is that all I ever hear from them is whining. No matter the suggestion from National its bad. TPP for example and the demand by the left to release the transcripts when Goff whe was involved in the negotiations knows that release is impossible. Labour have not really come out loud and clear saying we support the TPP because it will lead to more jobs. Instead they try to create some sort of conspiracy.
On any effort to free up the Labour Market, (such as removing barriers of cost ) Labour oppose such measures rather than say well maybe an unskilled 17 year old is going to struggle to get a job because of price.
In the 2008 election, John Key consistently talked about how he would implement his vision for a better New Zealand. He ignored Labour, and starved them of Oxygen. He did barely engaged in the negative politics that Labour constantly indulge in.
Labour moan, but offer no solutions. They promote policies which are ill-conceived and then open themselves up to strong criticism.
Labour do not have an MP (or prospective MP) who can match John Key in any way. To Beat John Key Labour Need a politician that NZ can love. Norman Kirk, and David Lange were the last PM who had that ability. Clark was good, extremely smart, but never loved or admired right across the political spectrum.
As a staunch right wing supporter long may that continue. I love watching the lefties cry into their miserable gruel as National support is close to 50% after two terms and the third terms looks a distinct reality. but saying that I would like to see what Labour can actually offer, more than a whining slogan that puts off side the middle classes who one person called on this blog a bunch of leeches. That is just the wrong bitter attitude for a group that wants the treasury benches.
I suspect that that’s more your problem than theirs.
Here you go
The problem is with the “Here you go”. It is not working.
Odd, it works for me, although I’m not sure why it’s https.
The URL is https://www.labour.org.nz/issues/
The problem is with here you go SSLands is that you havn’t…
Did you see you are still famous today?
Did you see that your still a totally anonymous wanker today…
Monty
So you’re one of these time-wasting RW gremlins?
I made a mistake thinking that you appeared to be thinking on lines that supported Labour.
Or cared about the good of all NZs.
Attutude is everything. It has long been a problem to name call anyone from the right as you have done here (gremlins) just pathetic that the left seem incapable of engaging in issues rather that actually being able to engage in constructive debate.
And for the record I care deeply about New Zealand and its future. I had other options of where to live 25 years ago. I came back to New Zealand and have built by life here and raised (raising) my family. I work bloody hard as does my wife and as a result of that hard work I am one of the 12% paying the 75% of the income tax. I don’t take any welfare bar the odd visit to the doctor and the education for my three children.
And therein lies for the problem for the left. You hate the middle class such as I represent. You hate us because we are happy and successful and we criticise the Labour and the Green economic policy which would hurt NZ more than it will ever help it. Break away from your warped view of John Key and National and try and understand what the right are doing so well and then try and improve upon that rather that the constant negativity and your lives might be better for it.
We made you happy and successful. Do you think you would have had a decent education without the Left? Or A health service?
All you right wingers ever do is pull the ladder up behind you.
For the record, the historical record that is, not your propagandised fantasies, the New Zealand economy consistently performs better when the Left is in government and has done so since there was a Labour Party.
Just quietly, the reason people don’t like you is that you tell lies.
There is a question of whether it was “sustainable growth” though.
You can make an economy grow easy. It’s a case of whether it’s sustainable.
Note: I actually think that on the whole, most growth achieved by left-wing NZ governments has been sustainable. But to simply say “the economy consistently performs better” is a simplification.
Boom and bust and all that jazz.
Wow – that was a 100% pure Key sandwich: indicate doubt about the reliability of the statement n question, indicate that it’s probably true in your opinion, though, then reinforce the original doubt.
You’ve now managed to appear to say something intelligent, while all the time actually saying nothing.
Congratulations.
Oh, and as for your children, it wasn’t the left that shat in all the rivers you swam in at their age, nor was it the left that wrecked the weather. Dream on.
You appear to have made the classic mistake of assuming that everyone on “the left” is unemployed or otherwise poor. This is not the case.
You’ve also left a rather large question going begging, but that’s hardly surprising given the apparently willful ignorance you’ve already displayed.
I note also that you decry “name-calling” but you have no trouble in ascribing some quite nasty motives to people that you otherwise have no clue about. Your sentence “I love watching the lefties cry into their miserable gruel” says more about you than you might have cared to admit.
Short version: Fucking. Bullshit.
Oh, and don’t fall for Bill English’s voodoo maths, it makes you look ignorant.
Even if the figures were true (and they aren’t), all it would show is that monty and his pals pay most of the tax because they have most of the money.
Whoop-de-fuck.
Montykins is back. Do you feel the need for some Standard readers love?
Poor people pay taxes too. One is known as GST. It is time to retire the “small numbers of higher income people pay the most income tax” stuck record. High earners are the biggest users of trusts and accountants that siphon off estimated billions per year that should be going into social spending.
A larf a minute Monty, your Roy Morgan is simply the same old lies of the last election cycle where ”National have the numbers to Govern alone was the ‘wing-nuts’ mantra”,
In terms of the current far right wing agenda being pushed by National it is far from the Govern alone of the pre-election polls of the last cycle, and in fact is lucky in terms of the slow moving wheels of justice in relation to John Banks to have a Governable majority at all,
Had Banks got His just deserts earlier in the piece and Dunne been sacked from the Cabinet then National would have been left to Govern at the whim of it’s lapdog the Maori Party which would then have bared the fangs of a rabid pit-bull,
Slippery the Prime Minister is in fact the only plus that National have going into this election and the past two, without the master used car salesman National would be back to being a 20% Party again, at some point in time the shyster will lose the power to bullshit His way out of any corner just as Prime Ministers have done befor Him,
If you do not like the taxes you pay why not fuck off to a place like Vanuatu, they charge little in the way of taxes…
Instead of slinging at the right perhaps it would be better to address the elephant in the room. Support for Labour under Cunliffe has dropped nearly 20% – from 37% after Cunliffe became leader to 30%.
Surely this is something that is far worthier of discussion – i.e. how to fix it. Or does everyone prefer a snap election instead. Can only imagine that the poll TVNZ is conducting this week is not going to be much better.
Well, a snap election would see all labour and green policy announced in a very short period and they’ll hit the ground running.
Not a bad idea.
Boredom will hurt the left, imo. The nats have been plinking away on individual character assassinations, the left have been plinking away on policy. I reckon the left have a firmer ground than the nats for the campaign.
Cunliffe is where he is because of the activists, who defied the prevailing media narrative. Did you think they’d just roll over?
Elections can be won by grass roots effort. If you expect the prevailing mainstream media narrative to go along with that, in this place, in this time, I have bad news for you.
The Left can win this election comfortably, but we won’t. We’ll squabble and barely scrape through if we’re lucky, and despite that, govern this country a damn sight better than the best the bought party can muster, like we always do.
+1
Could anyone set these lines of RWNJ cliche and truism to music?
It would be a classic for today. We have had There is no Depression in New Zealand.
Call it Lullaby for the Smug.
It needs more lines:
I work bloody hard as does my wife
and as a result of that hard work
I am one of the 12% paying the 75% of the income tax.
I don’t take any welfare
bar the odd visit to the doctor
and the education for my three children.
And the roads.
And the hospitals
And the rule of law.
The parliament that gives me tax cuts
and the libraries
And the fire brigade
and the ACC
and the low-waged workers who deliver everything I require to survive.
Catchy.
FIFM Thanx OAB
Oh Monty wants to see what Labour can actually offer ‘Him’,in other words the self centered greedy little toe rag wants Labour to buy His vote…
Well, actually, being reasonably intelligent, I just ignore the polls.
I find their trends somewhat interesting, but my blood pressure couldn’t stand it if they were the emotional roller-coaster for me that they seem to be for some folk.
Let’s take a couple of Monty Burns’ 8 Iron-Laws of Public Opinion (10:19 am comment):
“2. John Key is a likeable person who the country does trust.”
and
“7. Labour leader Cunliffe is not a nice person and we don’t trust him.”
Monty Burns clearly bases this on the detailed findings of the latest Fairfax Poll. Problem is: he’s got it wrong. In terms, for instance, of the public’s dislike and distrust of the two main leaders, the difference is a statistically insignificant 4-7 percentage points. The proportion disliking / distrusting Key is in the late 30s, while for Cunliffe it’s in the early-mid 40s. For Monty, this means we all love Key and hate Cunliffe. Go figure.
Spark for Telecom. Right from the start Tcom were insensitive and profit-focussed in every way.
Now Spark. What bright spark thought that up. Bloody stupid name and insensitive to today’s realities.
I think in this era of droughts, gale winds and fires destroying countryside, houses, animals and people and irreplaceable damage, it is not a good word. It wouldn’t go down well in Australia for instance. A spark from a grass cutter working on the roadsides starts off a fire that can rage over 100 hectares and houses. Recently someone with a leaking gas bottle in his vehicle was blown up, and why? Probably from a small spark from the automatic light from the car’s electricity. A word full of foreboding. And feared all round.
From the same wine-soaked brainstorming session that brought you Wheedle FFS!
Radar quotes twitter idea – all corporate PR now to be dubbed Spark Plugs.
this telecom-to-spark thing is brilliant..
..and i think this meme deserves it’s own thread..
..’i’ll kick it off…
amp life insurance co..becomes..’death!’
..tax dept becomes ‘gotcha!’..
..winz becomes..’kick poor!’..
..medical-centre chain re-brands to ‘sick!’..
..dominion finance ..becomes..’vulture!’..
..treasury could become..’we guess!’..
..and the gcsb/spooks..become ‘boo!’..( or ‘doh!’..)
..kfc..becomes ‘fat!’..
..and fonterra..?..
..’cancer!’ will do for them..
..phillip ure..
and of course..’sparking’-up means to take a hit of drugs…
..i don’t think they have thought this one through..eh..?
..this is a ‘wheeze’ someone has successfully run..
..as always..follow the money..
..see who gets to earn from doing this..
..and what role they played in this decision..
..who is the big-earner from this $23 million ‘wheeze’..?
..and the braying-fools who approved this..
..should be shown to the door..
..phillip ure..
phillip ure
You cetainly have been sparked off on much creative thinking that will no doubt be resource material for future PR efforts with name changes.
chrs..
..and of course all public-relations companies/spin-doctors –
should just take on the generic-name..’bullshit’..
..we could then just number them..to differentiate..
..that’s a re-branding i could get behind..
..hooten could become ‘bullshit’- number 23..
..phillip ure..
moderation..?
phillip ure..
Well I threw up in my mouth – you just may too.
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/02/20/disturbing-video-pussy-riot-viciously-beaten/
this is bad
this is just as bad
https://www.tytnetwork.com/2014/02/20/cop-kills-teen-holding-wii-controller/
Oh and if you think the 1% are not a pack of b*&^tards – think again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNZAzRxIXk
Racist pseudo-history seems alive and well at Kiwiblog: http://readingthemaps.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/pseudo-history-at-zoo.html
That was a good read
I think you can find racist pseudo-anything at Kiwiblog.
The RWNJs are always trying to re-write history as the truth usually doesn’t conform to their delusions.
DTB
That should go into a collection of aphorisms on TS, which could at some time be featured.
This National/ACT Government is VERY vulnerable, in my considered opinion, on matters relating to corrupt corporate cronyism, particularly involving Sky City.
So is Auckland Mayor Len Brown.
Penny Bright
So much for getting into surplus and the Rockstar economy, NZ govt deficit exceeds forecast.
But you won’t hear Garner or the Goblin yelling about it today all over the media.
http://money.msn.co.nz/businessnews/8803173/nz-govt-budget-deficit-exceeds-forecast
the corporates seem to be getting away with paying much less tax than expected.
Yes true the Rock-Bottom economy races toward the wall and the engineer is not around to apply the brakes having leapt off mouthing f** this s**t,
Current massive bleeding hole in the National Governments books= 1.79 billion dollars, that 2009 tax switch sure as hell was fiscally neutral right,(psst lets just push that ‘surplus’ out another year and prime the organizations of propaganda to repeat over and over ‘rock-star economy’),
Gross Government debt 82.95 Billion bucks, shhhh, do not whatever you do say those numbers in public, it might wake more than a few of the punters from their dreams,(psst, i have a plan, lets prime the organizations of propaganda to repeat over and over rock-star economy),
PAYE and GST take off those who have no means of avoidance and evasion up 5%, Rock-star economy, Rock-star economy,
$179 Million dollar shortfall in the business tax payments for the 6 month period, Shhhh, bury this really deep in the business pages, don’t want the peasants paying all the tax to click on to the fact that ‘Biz’ has just avoided and/or evaded another couple of hundred million bucks of their responsibilities,
Best to keep up the mantra, spread by the organizations of propoganda, Rock-Bottom economy, Rock-bottom economy, and, for gods sake don’t let them think what the tax losses and the debt is going to look like after another 3 if National get another term,
100 billion bucks of Government debt anyone???, now what was the IMF’s number again…
“now what was the IMF’s number again…”
The IMF is totally relaxed about Crown debt and the deficit reduction path. So I suggest you relax and give away the moonbat act. Indeed I’d bet they will be way more relaxed in the next consultation. Or is there a right wing neoliberal conspiracy to manipulate the IMF?
http://tinyurl.com/oc2zlkb
You are being hyperbolic and dishonest. Low income earners (or peasants as you call them – what is up with that?) do not pay all the tax (or any in most cases).
Of course they are as they’re part of the structure setup to gift the world to the capitalists and return us to feudalism.
SSLands, i see you do not deny that Government debt will hit 100 billion dollars if Slippery’s National Government is given a third term in office,
What ”deficit reduction path” is this you speak of SSLands, the same old Lies year after year and still the Government books bleed red ink to the tune of hundreds of millions every six months,
Of course the IMF are supremely ”relaxed” about the Government heading toward a 100 billion dollars of Government debt in a little over 3 years time while the current inability for the IRD, through staff cutback by the same Government, has left the States revenue gatherer unable to police its own tax laws allowing evasion/avoidance to run rampant in a sea of red ink for the Government,
After all the IMF were supremely relaxed as the World Banking industry pulled off the crime of the century in 07/08/09, also known as the Global Financial Crisis,
Such relaxation among the IMF also resulted in the likes of Ireland and Greece both with Swiss cheese tax systems akin to our own to face bankruptcy only solved by taking even more off of those with the least, even their pensions,
The simple fact is SSLands that the IMF is simply akin to a firm of company receivers only having an impact ”after” the s**t has hit the fan big time and it is then that IMF moves in on behalf of the creditors to asset strip whatever is left of value belonging to the Government,(in other words, the people), so, you bet the IMF is relaxed about a Government that will not or cannot balance its books, and, relaxed about a Government living on the sugar rush of credit,
After all the only fun the IMF ever get is when they are able to, on behalf of a countries creditors, don the Jackboots under the suits and loot a debt ridden country unable to cough up to those creditors…
SSLands,please do not ask me questions about a lie you have formulated having not comprehended what is in plain black and white right in front of your eyes,
The ”peasants” as i have used the term in my comment above refers to ALL those who are paying GST and PAYE with no means of evading/avoiding such taxation as opposed to those who choose through trusts and business operations to practice that evasion and avoidance of the responsibility to pay tax,
i see low income earners did not get mentioned in that particular comment, you obviously have bad eyes, stop wanking that might improve the situation…
Also, New Zealand Herald Making Shit Up Since Always
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11206710
Japanese consulate has been trying since yesterday afternoon to clarify to the Herald there has been no Len Brown threat.
Frozen foods with best before September 2015. This is the sort of queer extension of keeping times into long life product that must mean adulteration of food, or require high energy requirements if its frozen. Kiwi and Mellow products are being recalled with this date on.
Do they make that ice-cream that isn’t? As in, it’s made from Palm Oil.
I learnt a harsh lesson that day: don’t buy ice-cream that’s labelled “Frozen Dessert”, because it’s not made of milk. I still ate it though.
While the world focuses on Ukraine, Venezuela is burning…
http://caracaschronicles.com/2014/02/20/the-game-changed/
The rich and corrupt that ran Venezuela for years (with Uncle Sam’s endorsement) want it back. The gains (for the poor and impoverished) of the Chavez era need to be rolled back and if that means civil war so be it.
Pretty much how I see it, GR. The people who are so worried about democracy since Chavez got into power had never thought to mention it in the previous 500 years when they were at the top of the pyramid. Now that the pyramid is being levelled out a bit, they’re screaming. Maduro’s government is being very lenient and civilised in its treatment of them.
Lenient is certainly the word! Maduro needs to immediately parade the CIA plant Lopez and squash him like the slug he is, as a very public message to the neoliberal cabal. That fate should also befall all those who have been agitating on behalf of the USA and the 1%. If he can do that, then you never know, the 99% may well wake up globally, and rid the world of the cancer of the 1%.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/20/us-venezuela-protests-idUSBREA1J1BX20140220
and
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/19/venezuela-leopoldo-lopez-court
and
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/20/venezuelas-poor-protests-chavez-revolution
Anyone ever think of emulating Peter J. and getting into the movie bizz, need to find someone quick for that role of shady, sleazy character, you know the one, hangs about the public toilets or the kids playground wearing a long dirty overcoat stained down the front with drivel barely able to be suppressed,
No need to puff up the cushions on the casting couch, lock up the liquor cabinet, you wont have to ply those you wish to shoehorn into such a despised role with strong drinks in order to gain their assent,
Found on Campbell live last night was one who could in the blink of an eye fill the role admirably, yes Steven Joyce putting on a show of the tongue flicking drool that would be Oscar winning as the dirty pervert outside the local public toilets,
Barely able to express His lip licking drool Joyce, with the compliance, the enablement if you will,of a barely questioning Campbell, with only the filthy trench-coat absent gave us all a perverse display worthy of any toilet loitering pervert acting the part befor Him,
According to the barely able to suppress that drool Joyce it is the teachers fault that No-No-Pay is such a f**ked example of computer technology used to provide the wages for the nations teachers,
Hardly a millimeter above a cardiac arrest brought about by the sheer unadulterated joy Joyce was obviously feeling at having Campbell sit there and smile as the slime slid from His lips Joyce went on to explain that if the teachers would only simply let Him strip them of any and all allowances contained in their collective agreement No-No-Pay would work perfectly,
Begs a couple of questions don’t it, is the current round of No-No as far as Pay goes from No-No-Pay simply more of the same from such a service that has been faulty from the get go, or, is the current round of mistakes in the teachers pay the result of politics,
The other question, did someone with a spare one of those rubber rings they apply to the balls of male lambs so as to make them drop off, their balls that is, apply it to Campbell’s set one night when He was comatose with the piss…
Snowden author finds paragraphs in his PC manuscript “self deleting”
Just a few hints of what living in a totalitarian surveillance state looks like.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/20/edward-snowden-files-nsa-gchq-luke-harding
Sounds like paranoia to me.
No Lanthanide. When I worked on an Air Force base (civilian on base) I was told by an Air Force officer about the ability of intelligence gathering groups to be able to remotely log in to someone’s computer and set up ongoing coverage of everything the owner of the computer was doing. They could also manipulate the same computer from a remote location in any way they chose. It was gobsmacking stuff.
That was the early 1990s too and I’m sure modern technology has made them capable of doing even more nowadays. Bullying and harassing someone by ‘interfering’ with their PC activities is likely to become more and more frequently the norm…
To take over ones computer it requires one of two things, Either someone has to physically access the PC by entering the building where it is located and leave either a hardware or software bug on the computer
Alternatively they need to force software onto the computer remotely which then allows them to watch everything you do at the PC and even take over your keyboard, camera or whatever. This is usually done by sending someone an email that users click onto something in the email and it will then secretly download the software to allow takeover.
Of course if you are the NSA there are other alternatives by making use of software already embedded in PC by the so called reliable computer manufacturers. I dobt if such access would be available to people outside of USA intelligence.
If you want to play safe and defeat that kind of bugging, then just disconnect your PC from the Internet.
If people want to listen to all your private conversations there are ways. Look up Infinity Transmitter. Lovely device easily obtained and works wonders
Thanks Ron. Interesting stuff. It fits in with what I was told 20 years ago. I’m not concerned for myself. Couldn’t care less because I know nothing. 🙂
I was replying to Lanthanide who seemed to doubt the present day ability of agencies/groups with the right equipment to spy on people through their PCs, and to use the same equipment to covertly harass them. I think you might find that the five eyes grouping would also have access to this sophisticated equipment. After all it would be in the NSA’s interest for them to be able to access PCs of interest within their respective borders. Dotcom knows all about it!
Lanth didn’t strike me as questioning the ability, more the paranoia factor.
For the record, I’m half and half on it – doubt all of them are intelligence surveillance, one or two might be.
Hi McFlock.
Yes, I realised Lanth was talking about the paranoia factor.
Agree re-intelligence agencies. They sometimes get suspected when they were probably not responsible. For instance, during the Cold War years (up until the 1980s) the police were doing some of it. In their case, I suspect there were political connotations. Another story which might come out one day.
… and sometimes it’s a hotel burglar, and sometimes it’s just a guy at the next table playing Angry Birds, or a chap trying to pick up another chap in Rio, or some random teen hacker.
This guy had more of a plausible reason than many do for maybe being a target of surveillance, but who knows?
Thoughts with the great Sarah Hyland.
Shame on the fuckin media for making light of the incident, and calling it Just Boob Grabbing.
Guess that makes you a sensitive man Brett Dale.
Mary:
Nope, but it makes me wonder, why she is getting so much hate from aussies on twitter? She is the victim here, also the media shouldnt down play sexual assault and call it boob grabbing.
It’s accurately called assault at The Sydney Morning Herald
Can you link to the media calling it “boob grabbing” Brett, and not a wail-boil one..
Incidentally, regulars may notice the unfortunate similarity with the name Sarah Hyland and the appalling Srylands character.
go to news.google.com, type in sarah hyland.
Go to twitter type in sarah hyland and news organizations links have called it
boob grabbing.
You may be incompetent Brett, but at least you’re consistent.
Fender, Im not your pa, type in sarah hyland in Twitter and you will get a ton
of news outlets calling it boob grabbing, and groping, and not what it is, sexual assault.
After several attempts, I found this one. TMZ.com. I’m amazed that they let their journalistic standards fa- nah, can’t finish that sentence.
Brett, attributing TMZ comments to the entire media is just stupid.
mcFlock
If you had of been on twitter earlier today a today of media outlets were calling it this.
well, maybe you should have saved a fecking permalink then, rather than expecting everyone to take your word as gospel.
I totally got it on with this super hot girl in the holidays. Nah you don’t know her she goes to another school.
Brett Dale.
Or maybe it’s because you just like typing the words sexual and boob Brett Dale?
that had me chuckling 🙂
The whale oil has just put up a topic in relation to the supermarket saga, inferring that government supermarkets are in the pipeline. To me, if that IS true, then it IS good news!
I made the following post there:
Well, if that does happen, it can only be very good news! It will increase competition and bring some prices down and give some power back to the people. Free market, remember?…And oh, you don’t HAVE to shop there, if you don’t want to! If your report is correct, at last, some sanity, fairness and REAL competition coming to fight the crooked capitalists and the price gauging powerful mafia style monopolies and duopolies! Kiwi Bank, Kiwi Super, Kiwi Assure, Kiwi Market, Kiwi Power, Kiwi Fair Deal, Kiwi Way! Bring it on, I say!
https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=PM.2014.LABOUR
OMG there is now a 2,000 BUY order for “PM Labour” One of you rich pricks is manipulating the market to force the price up. After all a fuckwit with a few dollars to spare in one trade is all it takes.
Why do you hate the rich so much?
😈
Sad wanker probably raided the kids piggy banks and blew their money on the gamble so He had something slightly original to wail on about,
At least the Liar has stopped using that particular gamble as the wankers guide to the 2014 election result…
To all those contributors here who sully your minds/screens/hard drives/caches and cookies by visiting the sewers for the rest of us – a big heart felt thank you. You risk damage to yourselves for the benefit of others of us who do not wish to read the squalid muck that masquerades as serious comment. It is such a shame that one of them gets recognition as worthy by making frequent guest visits to The Panel.
Cheers again
ps. has anyone established why Bomber was really banned – you know just asking because we have an investigation currently trying to establish editorial bias in the public broadcasting arena?
this is a good question, from this comic http://economixcomix.com/home/tpp/ its asks why can’t americans buy medication from canada, where its cheaper?, the ‘freedom of trade’.
How many supporters of The Standard, will show consistency in opposition to corrupt corporate cronyism, particularly when it involves Sky City?
How many will join the LEN BROWN – STAND DOWN march, tomorrow, Saturday 22 February 2014?
Assemble 11.30am Britomart
March starts 12 noon from Britomart
March ends at Airedale Street
I’ll be one of the speakers at the end of the march, focusing on how I think Auckland Mayor Len Brown crossed the line when he accepted undisclosed gifts from Sky City during a time that Sky City was an ‘item of business’ before Auckland Council, and Len Brown was supporting Sky City.
Also I’ll be exposing how the Ernst and Young Report, did NOT follow the ‘due process’ as outlined in the Auckland Council Code of Conduct, s8 – Compliance:
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/SiteCollectionDocuments/aboutcouncil/governingbody/codeofconductelectedmembers.pdf
8.5. Conduct Review Independent Panel
The governing body shall constitute a Conduct Review Independent Panel. The members of the Panel will be selected from a list of persons with appropriate skills and knowledge, to be recommended by the Chief Executive. The Independent Panel is not a Committee of the governing body and its sole function is to investigate those matters referred to it and to make recommendations on those matters to the governing body/local board. Up to three members on the list will be deemed to be ‘convenors’ who will be the Council’s primary contact in relation to convening a panel when required. ‘Convening’ a panel includes chairing that panel. A convenor may appoint other convenors to a panel.
8.6. Procedures of the Conduct Review Independent Panel
The Independent Panel will establish and notify standard procedures, fair to both complainants and respondents, which it will apply to the investigation and consideration of all complaints referred to it.
8.7. Governing Body/Local Board Consideration
In considering the Panel’s recommendation, the matter shall be considered with neither the complainant nor the respondent being entitled to participate in that item.
8.8. Responses to Breaches of the Code
To avoid doubt, a breach of the Code of Conduct does not constitute an offence under the Local Government Act 2002. The exact nature of the action the governing body/local boardmay take depends on the nature of the breach and whether there are statutory provisions dealing with the breach.
Where there are statutory provisions:breaches relating to members’ interests may render members liable for prosecution by the Auditor-General under the Local Authority (Members’ Interests) Act 1968;
breaches which result in the Council suffering financial loss or damage may be reported on by the Auditor-General under the Local Government Act 2002, which may result in the member having to make good the loss or damage;
breaches relating to the commission of a criminal offence may leave the elected member liable for criminal prosecution.
In these cases the governing body or local board may refer an issue to the relevant body, any member of the public may make a complaint to that body, or the Auditor-General or Police may take action of their own initiative.
Where there are no statutory provisions, the governing body or local board may take the following action:censure;
removal of the elected member from representative type bodies;dismissal of the elected member from a position as Chair or Deputy Chair of a committee.
A decision to apply one or more of these actions requires a resolution to that effect.
……………..”
Why did (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay, not follow this process?
Upon what lawful authority did (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay, effectively make up his own process, and appoint his own people?
(His statutory duties are enshrined in the Local Government Act 2002, s42
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0084/latest/DLM171859.html
42 Chief executive
(1)A local authority must, in accordance with clauses 33 and 34 of Schedule 7, appoint a chief executive.
(2)A chief executive appointed under subsection (1) is responsible to his or her local authority for—
(a)implementing the decisions of the local authority; and
(b)providing advice to members of the local authority and to its community boards, if any; and
(c)ensuring that all responsibilities, duties, and powers delegated to him or her or to any person employed by the local
authority, or imposed or conferred by an Act, regulation, or bylaw, are properly performed or exercised; and
...........................
That’s why I have made a formal complaint to Auckland Police, alleging ‘Contravention of Statute’, (s107 Crimes Act 1961), against (former) Auckland Council CEO Doug McKay.
This complaint is currently being assessed by an Inspector attached to Auckland CIB.
There will be more (but not much time – only got 4 minutes! 🙂
But – will be making time to include this little gem – that the Auditor-General, Lyn Provost is a SHAREHOLDER in Sky City!
Yep – could only happen here in ‘clean, green, corruption-free’ New Zealand ……..
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
‘Anti-corruption / anti-privatisation’ campaigner.
2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate
(More background on this, and related issues can be found on http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz )
Just when I thought you had figured out less is more penny not so bright.
Boring people to death again.