The group’s founder, Zainah Anwar, said on its website: “I find the burqa really disturbing.
“There is enough literature to show that the face veil is not a requirement in Islam.
“In a conservative, patriarchal Muslim context, face veiling really symbolises women’s invisibility and inferior status.
“That a woman should not be seen and heard, and should she venture into the public space she must be as invisible as possible, is an affront to human dignity.”
As I tried to point out in an earlier thread, this kind of dress code is more cultural than religious. It is not a question of ‘religious freedom’.
I think I heard about a religious sect where the men wear some sort of bag over their heads to prevent strangers from seeing their face which would diminish their life force. Oh I have a doubt, I think it was a line by a stand up comedian.
Epsom electorate nudges, winks and open arrangements, have been called undemocratic. That’s nonsense. Parties should be free to arrange whatever they want to. Voters decide for themselves what they like and who they will vote for.
It will happen in other electorates. Maori and Mana are open about trying to arrange electorate versus party votes – and Maori electorates have been quite successful at it in past elections.
Epsom electorate nudges, winks and open arrangements, have been called undemocratic. That’s nonsense. Parties should be free to arrange whatever they want to.
But SS you ignore the background. ACT once was a distinct separate proud political party albeit with really weird ideas. Then National decided that it probably would not make the 50% level of support in the election and that it needed partners.
It looked to its right and saw that ACT was on its death bed. Its leader, a supposed perk buster, had turned out to be a huge rorter of public money and its law and order spokesperson had stolen the identity of a dead baby. The party was clearly mysoginist and its deputy leader was bullied. Its newest member was and remains really weird. It was and is a bunch of hypocritical mysoginist misfits.
So National did what all good corporates do, it staged a takeover. With the help of money and paid operatives it installed its ex leader as the new leader and an ex National cabinet member as ACT’s Epsom candidate. None of the ACT members complained, self preservation does that to people without principle.
Don’t you think that the use of money and power in this way is appalling? And don’t you think that National’s setting up of a patsy party on the right to increase its own power is utterly undemocratic?
You’re making a lot of assumptions and accusations. You must have proof of all that or you wouldn’t be making the claims? Have your got legal advice on that?
Or maybe you need to see your paranoia doctor a bit more often.
Democracy is parties doing what they want, how they want, and voters making their own choices.
Meh, point me to one electorate any where in the country where LAB is doing anything of the sort.
LAB is going to fight this election fair and is going to fight in every electorate tooth and nail.
You are full of shit and now the one making plenty of “assumptions and accusations”. Hypocritical apparatchik that you are, I knew you would be qualified for the job.
CV – if Labour could I’m sure they would, it’s just that every other party senses blood in the red water and are preying on picking up votes from the entrails. So it’s unlikely Labour has anyone willing to do deals.
Your first two paragraphs, allowing for a bit of dramatic license, are in the ball park.
“None of the ACT members complained”
That’s wrong. I saw Act members complaining plenty.
The rest, unless you have any proof of it, I don’t buy, sounds most like a desperate conspiracy theory. And I think if you had any proof you wouldn’t just be bouncing it around this blog, where frequent and excessive over the top claims render it’s credibility very suspect. I’ve seen enough here to be very skeptical of anything that has no proof.
Why don’t you get some legal help, put together a demonstrable accusation, and go to the media with it? If it’s as you claim it could be a big story. But parties can, within the law, operate as they want to.
You are right. I should have said that none of the ACT MPs complained. I am glad that you acknowledged that the first part which was most of what I said was correct.
And the rest? Well google Simon Lusk and see what you come up with. And you should realise that information concerning Simon has come from unusual sources. Just ask Trevor.
Legal help? Nah I am fine thank you. But thinks for caring …
They can use the old dog whistle Brash to soften nationals image but without this big majority they,ve been cruising toward it could back fire . and the soft middle could dessert them
On a side note i was thinking this yesterday; are the maori wards detrimental to having truly democratic representation in parliament?
Bear with me on this one….
OK, take the following three mainstream electorates – Rotorua, WBOP and East Coast.
Rotorua was Steve Chadwick’s after a long time as a Nat (Max Bradford) seat. It takes in the very deprived Kawerau and Kaingaroa Village, where people are predominantly Maori and are on the maori roll. In the last election Rotorua ended up with the awful waste of space Todd McClay. Needless to say he has done nothing for those communities, so by having an electorate MP (main roll) who is primarily voted in by white middle class Maori shoot themselves in the foot by being on the Maori roll.
Places like Te Puke end up with Ryall and the East Coast Tolley – both areas which have big Maori populations. Makes you think.
The big Labour names contesting Wigram to compete head on with Anderton:
2008 Erin Ebborn-Gillespie – third on 15.15% (Labour 40.19%)
2005 Paul Chalmers – third on 19.12% (Labour 47.95%)
2002 Mika Mora – 2nd on 26% (Labour 45%)
Labour got the help of two Progressive seats in 2002, just Anderton since then.
The Labour candidate this year is Megan Woods, ranked 47th on Labour’s list.
ps not that I think Labour do want to, or even that they should.
As you say, parties can make whatever arrangements they like and people can vote accordingly. I also believe that if parties try to make arrangements to provide outcomes not favoured by the electorate in question, they’ll be punished on polling day.
However if you’re suggesting that Anderton – who has won and held the same seat under two different electoral systems and at least three different political parties – is somehow not the genuinely preferred representative of the voters of Wigram…
…or that his situation is analogous to ACT, who only exist in parliament because National step aside for them…
Anderton most likely would have won Wigram from a strong Labour challenge – but we’ll never know because it never happened. It was convenient for Labour to just leave it to Anderton.
And in another handy arrangement, Anderton retires and hands Wigram to Labour.
Then I guess you can’t paint Megan as a no-hope patsy candidate anymore, seeing as you think the voters of Wigram are going to welcome her to represent them.
She can’t be both.
Rather inconvenient for your conspiracy theory about the previous Labour candidates too.
Which means you still haven’t explained how Anderton and ACT are analogous, seeing as how ACT only exist because National step aside for them whereas Jim has been continuously selected by his electorate since 1984.
And according to you, he’s so popular in Wigram that whoever he anoints will be the next MP, despite them being a low-ranked no-hope patsy earlier this morning.
S.S. thinks Wigram is equivalent to the situation where we saw Rodney Hide “resign” from Epsom to retire after many long years of service, gracefully “handing over” the electorate (and the party) to Brash and Banks.
Anderton most likely would have won Wigram from a strong Labour challenge
Bullshit. There have been a series of good candidates in that electorate who have never made much traction against a competent incumbent MP. Electorates will tend to support an incumbent local MP over multiple elections if they work the electorate. Look at Peter Dunne (how many years has he been fighting off both Labour and National after that seat?) or Winston Peters (until he annoyed his electorate).
But that is quite different to Epsom where the only thing that has been keeping a Act MP in there was complicity from National with a series of useless candidates.
Anderton retires and hands Wigram to Labour.
You mean because the Progressives decided to drop their party?
But I guess you prefer your dumbass explanations that have bugger all to do with reality..
I just looked at your list of the past three candidates for the seat from Labour. Personally I don’t bother with much of the politics or the people. But two of them are pretty damn high profile inside Labour that I know (and I ignore most people). One is a political operator and not someone you’d waste in a seat as a candidate if you could use them as a campaign organizer.
What your statements do reveal is that your comments are the result of self-obsessed politics. Long on self-congratulation at getting imaginary results, short on analysis of technique because no-one else assists, and with a complete lack of appreciation of the advantages of practice in the real world over navel gazing.
Or in short – the splattered excreta of a political wanker…
So Act may agree to stand down in National marginals
On the face of it this may seem like gaming the system to assist NAct in gaining extra seats.
However, this ignores the fact that under MMP it’s the party vote that determines the make-up of Parliament – not the number of Electorate seats. Act standing down in marginals does nothing to increase the total NAct party vote – in fact quite the contrary it may well decrease that total vote for the following reasons:
1) No Act canditate in some electorates to campaign for them
2) Soft National and undecided voters not liking the game playing and somewhat too cosy relationship with Act.
3) Hard right Act voters being hacked off for them being too cosy with National.
4) Draw out more of the centre left vote in those marginals to keep NAct out
Of course under FPP this sort of game-playing would work so it seems NAct have just highlighted another very good reason for keeping MMP.
As usual the squirrel choses (or refuses) to read what was written before comitting nonsense to keyboard. Perhaps you’ll be able to throw in a few irrelevant links as well, as you did the other day when debating? English’s crap numbers.
Yes, in the electoral calculus, this move ultimately hurts their total seat majority.
The total party vote determines the number of seats you get in parliament, and both Labour and National always get multiple list votes to top up their electorate winnings. Purely in terms of seats, winning more electorates for Labour or National just means fewer list members.
Act need to do everything possible to increase their party vote, especially when they’re under the 5% threshold, as it effectively goes towards creating an overhang (in their favour) in parliament. Standing people in marginal electorates may cause National to lose them (which doesn’t ultimately affect their seat total one jot), but it would also have the effect of increasing Act’s profile and hopefully gaining them more party votes than they would otherwise. Party votes are what Act needs, so having them not stand in these electorates ultimately isn’t in their best interests, except where they can make deals over it (Brash gets a good ministerial position, instead of just a lame associate one, for example).
Israeli spies – call me cynical, is this a manufactured Key diversion, takes the debate well away from economics, cost of living and CGT and focuses on him in the US as our great I can fix everything leader? maybe we should let this drop and bring the debate back to real issues.
Inorth – It is intriguing (literally) though isn’t it, this thing about the Israeli travellers. Radionz talked to the father of a young man who lost his life. The father must be well off with lots of contacts and pull if he could find a group of experts to drop their business so they could travel here on his behalf, and who paid their travel and accommodation bill? Did he or they pay out of their huge bank accounts and the goodness of their hearts? It seemed necessary he said as we appeared slow and incompetent compared to other countries.
I guess Israelis are used now to getting things their own way. Their leader goes to the United States and addresses a large group which gives him a standing ovation. I wonder whether ours will get a few smiles and nods. This link gives a youtube video of his 24 May 2011 speech to congress and you can see the sycophantic response to his every remark. Then when you’re tired of the repetition of hand clapping you can read the transcript below. USA and Israel
can you imagine how long it would take Key to say that speech
“I speak (looks down, reads, looks up) on behalf of the (looks down, reads, looks up) Jewish people and (looks down, reads, looks up) the Jewish state (looks down, reads, looks up) when I say to you”
Can’t agree Ianupnorth. To manufacture a spy scandal as a diversion would be fraught with problems. To start with, your intelligence and defence agencies would cease to trust you with information. Anyway, his initial response suggests he was taken by surprise and tried to wriggle out by using his stock answer “it’s not in the National Interest for me to comment”. What he means of course is that it’s not in his interest to comment. 😉
Either way, Anne’s analysis stands. It’s not the kind of distraction that’s helpful to Key whether he instigates it or not, there’s just too many ways he can come out of it looking bad. Too risky.
The distractions Key likes are all about him winning and laughing, not about him being connected in any way to the murky world of espionage.
‘In a three-hour hearing, committee member Adrian Sanders invoked the 2001 collapse of Enron, asking whether the Murdochs were familiar with the term ”wilful ignorance”. ”It states that if there is knowledge that you could have had and should have had but chose not to have, you are still responsible,” he said.’
Is John Key guilty of ‘wilful ignorance’ in that as a moneytrader working in America with a spider’s web of networks that he continued to return to visit during his latest sojourn to New Zealand, he never warned New Zealanders that there was a huge financial collapse that would endanger New Zealand fiscally, because if he didn’t know then his credibility as a financial whizz is shot to hell. He’s back there now getting his latest instructions and selling off New Zealand’s sovereignty with his rush to push the TPPA through.
No wonder he and his mates tried to bully Labour into giving tax cuts and thereby seeking to make our financial position suicidal instead of just uncomfortable.
No wonder the business fraternity under his guidance and Phil O’Reilly’s spin, sought to sack workers (bringing some back at lower wages and no benefits) soon after winning the election and reducing workers’ rights to fair treatment.
Their current plan to sell off assets New Zealanders already own to foreignors or rich business interests would have carried even less weight than it does now. They could only seek to do that by refusing to fund coach building in New Zealand by New Zealanders because that would empower Kiwis. They could only seek to do that by making New Zealanders poorer or insecure.
Apply this thinking to many of this government’s ridiculous and disloyal decisions and you will begin to understand their reasoning.
Key is America’s man, not ours.
He is not worthy of New Zealanders’ trust. After this election if he gets back in, New Zealand is gone.
“The working classes may be injuriously degraded and oppressed in three ways:
1st When they are neglected in infancy
2nd When they are overworked by their employer, and are thus rendered incompetent from ignorance to make a good use of high wages when they can procure them.
3rd When they are paid low wages for their labour “. (Robert Owen , 1818)
Thursday 21 July 2011
Some questions about media “coverage” of the Israeli spy story
1.) Why was the Israeli spy story only on Page 2 of the New Zealand Herald this morning?
2.) Why did both TV1 and TV3 reporters (including even the normally excellent Patrick Gower) both refer to Israel by the erroneous black propaganda term “the Jewish state”?
3.) Why did TV1 and TV3 autocue readers both say “the Jewish community” is “outraged” by the New Zealand police committing these “attacks” on Israel?
4.) Why did both TV1 and TV3 autocue readers both quote and show inflammatory, absurd headlines from the extreme right-wing Jerusalem Post and not report or show anything from the liberal and internationally respected Haaretz?
5.) Why did neither TV1’s CloseUp nor TV3’s Campbell Live spend even one second on this story tonight?
6.) Could NewstalkZB have found three more grossly biased or lamentably ill-informed people to discuss this scandal than Larry Williams, Bill Ralston and Jock Anderson?
LOL. That guy (Keiser) needs to be head of Treasury
I think a day a week will get the job done just fine. (Don’t know what the hell all those neoliberal office rats are doing there now Mon-Fri except no good)
It was excellent to see Justice being intelligent; yes, there was nothing to stop Hannah Tamaki from pursuing a presidency over the Maori Women’s Welfare League but don’t bother to use the votes from the ten ring in groups.
Destiny are nothing if not cunning. The canny Maori Women’s Welfare League are nothing if not caring of all their people. I hope they get what they want, not what agenda Brian Tamaki wants.
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Hi,I woke up feeling nervous this morning, realising that this weekend Flightless Bird is going to do it’s first ever live show. We’re heading to a sold out (!) show in Seattle to test the format out in front of an audience. If it works, we’ll do more. I want ...
From the United-For-Now States of America comes the thrilling news that a New Zealander may be at the very heart of the current coup. Punching above our weight on the world stage once more! Wait, you may be asking, what New Zealander? I speak of Peter Thiel, made street legal ...
Even Stevens: Over the 33 years between 1990 and 2023 (and allowing for the aberrant 2020 result) the average level of support enjoyed by the Left and Right blocs, at roughly 44.5 percent each, turns out to be, as near as dammit, identical.WORLDWIDE, THE PARTIES of the Left are presented ...
Back in 2023, a "prominent political figure" went on trial for historic sex offences. But we weren't allowed to know who they were or what political party they were "prominent" in, because it might affect the way we voted. At the time, I said that this was untenable; it was ...
I'm going, I'm goingWhere the water tastes like wineI'm going where the water tastes like wineWe can jump in the waterStay drunk all the timeI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayI'm gonna leave this city, got to get awayAll this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure ...
Waitangi Day is a time to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and stand together for a just and fair Aotearoa. Across the motu, communities are gathering to reflect, kōrero, and take action for a future built on equity and tino rangatiratanga. From dawn ceremonies to whānau-friendly events, there are ...
Subscribe to Mountain Tūī ! Where you too can learn about exciting things from a flying bird! Tweet.Yes - I absolutely suck at marketing. It’s a fact.But first -My question to all readers is:How should I set up the Substack model?It’s been something I’ve been meaning to ask since November ...
Here’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s political economy on politics and in the week to Feb 3:PM Christopher Luxon began 2025’s first day of Parliament last Tuesday by carrying on where left off in 2024, letting National’s junior coalition partner set the political agenda and dragging ...
The PSA have released a survey of 4000 public service workers showing that budget cuts are taking a toll on the wellbeing of public servants and risking the delivery of essential services to New Zealanders. Economists predict that figures released this week will show continued increases in unemployment, potentially reaching ...
The Prime Minister’s speech 10 days or so ago kicked off a flurry of commentary. No one much anywhere near the mainstream (ie excluding Greens supporters) questioned the rhetoric. New Zealand has done woefully poorly on productivity for a long time and we really need better outcomes, and the sorts ...
President Trump on the day he announced tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China, unleashing a shock to supply chains globally that is expected to slow economic growth and increase inflation for most large economies. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 9 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 3Politics: New Zealand Government cabinet meeting usually held early afternoon with post-cabinet news conference possible at 4 pm, although they have not been ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s move to increase speed limits substantially on dozens of stretches of rural and often undivided highways will result in more serious harm. ...
In her first announcement as Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis chose to loosen restrictions for digital nomads from other countries, rather than focus on everyday Kiwis. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
A new monthly podiatry clinic has been launched today in Wairoa and will bring a much-needed service closer to home for the Wairoa community, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.“Health New Zealand has been successful in securing a podiatrist until the end of June this year to meet the needs of ...
The Judicial Conduct Commissioner has recommended a Judicial Conduct Panel be established to inquire into and report on the alleged conduct of acting District Court Judge Ema Aitken in an incident last November, Attorney-General Judith Collins said today. “I referred the matter of Judge Aitken’s alleged conduct during an incident ...
Students who need extra help with maths are set to benefit from a targeted acceleration programme that will give them more confidence in the classroom, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Last year, significant numbers of students did not meet the foundational literacy and numeracy level required to gain NCEA. To ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced three new diplomatic appointments. “Our diplomats play an important role in ensuring New Zealand’s interests are maintained and enhanced across the world,” Mr Peters says. “It is a pleasure to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
Ki te kahore he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te Iwi – without a vision, the people will perish. The Government has achieved its target to reduce the number of households in emergency housing motels by 75 per cent five years early, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The number of households ...
The opening of Palmerston North’s biggest social housing development will have a significant impact for whānau in need of safe, warm, dry housing, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. The minister visited the development today at North Street where a total of 50 two, three, and four-bedroom homes plus a ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced the new membership of the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control (PACDAC), who will serve for a three-year term. “The Committee brings together wide-ranging expertise relevant to disarmament. We have made six new appointments to the Committee and reappointed two existing members ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora, good morning, talofa, malo e lelei, bula vinaka, da jia hao, namaste, sat sri akal, assalamu alaikum. It’s so great to be here and I’m ready and pumped for 2025. Can I start by acknowledging: Simon Bridges – CEO of the Auckland ...
The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
Human rights advocates must uphold human dignity, rights and justice, while rejecting the discriminatory tactics we oppose, writes Taimor Hazou.Two weeks ago the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) launched a campaign inviting New Zealanders to call a hotline if they suspected an Israel Defence Force (IDF) soldier that had ...
Immigration New Zealand figures shows more people have been looking at the ETA and visitor visa pages on the website, however fewer people have applied to come or to extend their stay. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kirsten Banks, Lecturer, School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology Debris on the surface of Mars from the Perseverance mission, captured on April 19 2022. NASA/JPL-Caltech In his inauguration speech in January, United States President Donald Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alix Woolard, Senior Research Fellow, The Kids Research Institute Australia Stock Unit/Shutterstock Have you ever asked someone how their day was, or been chatting casually with a friend, only to have them tell you a horrific story that has left you ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Quentin Grafton, Australian Laureate Professor of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Roper RiverChris Ison/Shutterstock Water is now a contested resource around the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fight playing out over the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Graeme Turner, Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies, The University of Queensland Matej Kastellic/ Shutterstock As we head towards the federal election, both sides of politics are making a point of criticising universities and questioning their role in the community. ...
Alex Casey examines the perils of having your period at a music festival. It was right after Clairo’s swooning set that Sarah* knew it was time. She was on the second day of her period at Auckland’s Laneway festival, and braved the portaloos to empty her menstrual cup and change ...
A battle between health officials and local councils is heating up, as one government party seeks to change the rules. The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund explains. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
A global consultancy will lead the government's review of electricity markets, with a local firm offering advice and two groups of experts providing quality assurance. ...
New Public Service Minister Judith Collins is calling for a culture of saying 'yes', but being honest enough with ministers to "reconcile the vision with reality". ...
The future of nearly a third of all huts and tracks managed by the Department of Conservation is in limbo, as the agency faces a 30 percent shortfall in funding to maintain them. ...
Today I’ve had a bit on. I’m living in a 23.4 metre tug off the coast of Samoa and have been for a few weeks now. I’m on a top-secret mission to help save the planet from another potential environmental disaster.I’m currently tasked with looking out the window and making ...
The ‘loneliness epidemic’ is apparently spreading around the world, but what does it look like here in New Zealand? Rachel Judkins reports. It’s a beautiful summer evening in Cornwall Park, with families scattered on the grass and a live band playing a backing track to their laughter. Sprawled on a ...
The Act leader gets a telling-off from the principal and prime minister Christopher Luxon loses his cool in a heated question time. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. ...
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Opinion: It was the 10th anniversary of UNESCO’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science this week, the theme being ‘Unpacking STEM Careers: Her Voice in Science’. It is 2025, but we still need a lot more of her voices in science.In New Zealand, a 2021 survey found that ...
NewsroomBy Dr Jennifer Kruger and Dr Kelly Burrowes
A Government proposal to axe the only two jobs in New Zealand’s health sector of people who were working on a national strategy for palliative care has angered those in the sector, which is already under immense strain.It’s put another wedge between those who want terminally ill patients to live ...
The High Court isn’t the appropriate place to solve a South Island iwi’s claims over freshwater, the Crown says.Ngāi Tahu leaders, and the collective Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, are taking legal action against the Attorney-General, demanding to be involved in decision-making over freshwater. Iwi want the Crown to recognise ...
COMMENTARY:By Sawsan Madina I watched US President Donald Trump’s joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week in utter disbelief. Not that the idea, or indeed the practice, of ethnic cleansing of Palestine is new. But at that press conference the mask has fallen. Recently, fascism ...
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Analysis - Christopher Luxon's attempts to turn the tables back on the Opposition at Question Time today went down like a lead balloon, Jo Moir writes. ...
Well this is interesting.
As I tried to point out in an earlier thread, this kind of dress code is more cultural than religious. It is not a question of ‘religious freedom’.
Nor do most Muslims either wear damn things.
I think I heard about a religious sect where the men wear some sort of bag over their heads to prevent strangers from seeing their face which would diminish their life force. Oh I have a doubt, I think it was a line by a stand up comedian.
Epsom electorate nudges, winks and open arrangements, have been called undemocratic. That’s nonsense. Parties should be free to arrange whatever they want to. Voters decide for themselves what they like and who they will vote for.
It will happen in other electorates. Maori and Mana are open about trying to arrange electorate versus party votes – and Maori electorates have been quite successful at it in past elections.
But I’m sure we will keep hearing about Epsom assaults on democracy.
Epsom electorate nudges, winks and open arrangements, have been called undemocratic. That’s nonsense. Parties should be free to arrange whatever they want to.
But SS you ignore the background. ACT once was a distinct separate proud political party albeit with really weird ideas. Then National decided that it probably would not make the 50% level of support in the election and that it needed partners.
It looked to its right and saw that ACT was on its death bed. Its leader, a supposed perk buster, had turned out to be a huge rorter of public money and its law and order spokesperson had stolen the identity of a dead baby. The party was clearly mysoginist and its deputy leader was bullied. Its newest member was and remains really weird. It was and is a bunch of hypocritical mysoginist misfits.
So National did what all good corporates do, it staged a takeover. With the help of money and paid operatives it installed its ex leader as the new leader and an ex National cabinet member as ACT’s Epsom candidate. None of the ACT members complained, self preservation does that to people without principle.
Don’t you think that the use of money and power in this way is appalling? And don’t you think that National’s setting up of a patsy party on the right to increase its own power is utterly undemocratic?
You’re making a lot of assumptions and accusations. You must have proof of all that or you wouldn’t be making the claims? Have your got legal advice on that?
Or maybe you need to see your paranoia doctor a bit more often.
Democracy is parties doing what they want, how they want, and voters making their own choices.
You’ve now gained enough points to apply for the resident Right Wing apparatchik position
Maori Party are right wing? Mana Party are right wing? The Anderton Party is right wing?
If you think Labour wouldn’t make electorate arrangements to try and give themselves a way of cobbling together a coalition you’re as nuts as micky.
Meh, point me to one electorate any where in the country where LAB is doing anything of the sort.
LAB is going to fight this election fair and is going to fight in every electorate tooth and nail.
You are full of shit and now the one making plenty of “assumptions and accusations”. Hypocritical apparatchik that you are, I knew you would be qualified for the job.
CV – if Labour could I’m sure they would, it’s just that every other party senses blood in the red water and are preying on picking up votes from the entrails. So it’s unlikely Labour has anyone willing to do deals.
Oh, so they’re all as bad as each other, Labour’s just slightly more incompetent?
SS, if everywhere you look in the world is self-centred and malevolent, perhaps you’re simply projecting a little bit?
ss I thought you had all the nuts. Are you sharing them out now.
AAaaarrrrggghhhh
PeteG you are in trolling mode.
Try googling “david garrett dead baby identity court” and see what you come up with. Then argue the accuracy of my comment.
Your posts are really spaced out this morning. Calm down and slow down.
A new definition of trolling – upsetting ms before he’s taken his meds.
What David Garret did some time last century is behind this right wing plot?
Thank you for reminding me. My little cocktail of beta blockers, aspirin, and the like nearly got forgotten this morning..
Now you were saying?
Oh dear Bludger has got his knickers in a twist over nothing yet again. Spin little squirrel spin
Squirrel
What David Garret did some time last century is behind this right wing plot?
Ah so you can google. Care then to reconcile my comment about him with your comment
You’re making a lot of assumptions and accusations. You must have proof of all that or you wouldn’t be making the claims?
Sure do. So is what I said about Garret correct or not? If it is correct then identify what other statements I made that are incorrect.
Go on …
You’re spaced out again.
Not according to Garrett:
http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2011/07/general_debate_21_july_2011.html#comment-854525
I’m well aware of Garrett’s passport stuff. It doesn’t mean he is printing money to fund National operatives to take over the party he belongs to.
You are such a crack up squirrel. Tell me do you actually think that anything you say is true or are you just on one big piss take?
Performance art?
You’re the one making bizarre accusations.
And yes, taking the micky isn’t very difficult.
Telling the truth about bizarre people and events is not the same thing as making bizarre accusations.
What is it that mickey wrote that you think is a bizarre accusation?
Have you been living in a cave for the last couple of years?
Go on SS point out one mistake, just one, any one will do.
Your first two paragraphs, allowing for a bit of dramatic license, are in the ball park.
“None of the ACT members complained”
That’s wrong. I saw Act members complaining plenty.
The rest, unless you have any proof of it, I don’t buy, sounds most like a desperate conspiracy theory. And I think if you had any proof you wouldn’t just be bouncing it around this blog, where frequent and excessive over the top claims render it’s credibility very suspect. I’ve seen enough here to be very skeptical of anything that has no proof.
Why don’t you get some legal help, put together a demonstrable accusation, and go to the media with it? If it’s as you claim it could be a big story. But parties can, within the law, operate as they want to.
What brand of Kronik do you smoke?
“None of the ACT members complained”
You are right. I should have said that none of the ACT MPs complained. I am glad that you acknowledged that the first part which was most of what I said was correct.
And the rest? Well google Simon Lusk and see what you come up with. And you should realise that information concerning Simon has come from unusual sources. Just ask Trevor.
Legal help? Nah I am fine thank you. But thinks for caring …
What, is ACT about to recycle another has been old white guy?
It’s not a mode.
They can use the old dog whistle Brash to soften nationals image but without this big majority they,ve been cruising toward it could back fire . and the soft middle could dessert them
On a side note i was thinking this yesterday; are the maori wards detrimental to having truly democratic representation in parliament?
Bear with me on this one….
OK, take the following three mainstream electorates – Rotorua, WBOP and East Coast.
Rotorua was Steve Chadwick’s after a long time as a Nat (Max Bradford) seat. It takes in the very deprived Kawerau and Kaingaroa Village, where people are predominantly Maori and are on the maori roll. In the last election Rotorua ended up with the awful waste of space Todd McClay. Needless to say he has done nothing for those communities, so by having an electorate MP (main roll) who is primarily voted in by white middle class Maori shoot themselves in the foot by being on the Maori roll.
Places like Te Puke end up with Ryall and the East Coast Tolley – both areas which have big Maori populations. Makes you think.
Obvvously you never saw Jim Anderton “party” as anything underhand then?
Seems a severe case of pots calling kettles black.
You’ll need to explain how they’re similar examples.
Jim won his seat when he was a member of the Labour Party.
When he left the party he continued to win the seat.
Who ever had to step aside for him to get into parliament?
The big Labour names contesting Wigram to compete head on with Anderton:
2008 Erin Ebborn-Gillespie – third on 15.15% (Labour 40.19%)
2005 Paul Chalmers – third on 19.12% (Labour 47.95%)
2002 Mika Mora – 2nd on 26% (Labour 45%)
Labour got the help of two Progressive seats in 2002, just Anderton since then.
The Labour candidate this year is Megan Woods, ranked 47th on Labour’s list.
You think Labour could take the seat off Anderton?
By running who, exactly?
Whereas National could take Epsom back any time they like.
ps not that I think Labour do want to, or even that they should.
As you say, parties can make whatever arrangements they like and people can vote accordingly. I also believe that if parties try to make arrangements to provide outcomes not favoured by the electorate in question, they’ll be punished on polling day.
However if you’re suggesting that Anderton – who has won and held the same seat under two different electoral systems and at least three different political parties – is somehow not the genuinely preferred representative of the voters of Wigram…
…or that his situation is analogous to ACT, who only exist in parliament because National step aside for them…
…then you’re Pete George.
Anderton most likely would have won Wigram from a strong Labour challenge – but we’ll never know because it never happened. It was convenient for Labour to just leave it to Anderton.
And in another handy arrangement, Anderton retires and hands Wigram to Labour.
“I will be throwing my support firmly behind Labour’s Megan Woods in my current seat of Wigram.”
http://www.progressive.org.nz/latestnews/files/7edbf6342cc3ae907fc7a04d1bb0598a-187.html
Then I guess you can’t paint Megan as a no-hope patsy candidate anymore, seeing as you think the voters of Wigram are going to welcome her to represent them.
She can’t be both.
Rather inconvenient for your conspiracy theory about the previous Labour candidates too.
Which means you still haven’t explained how Anderton and ACT are analogous, seeing as how ACT only exist because National step aside for them whereas Jim has been continuously selected by his electorate since 1984.
And according to you, he’s so popular in Wigram that whoever he anoints will be the next MP, despite them being a low-ranked no-hope patsy earlier this morning.
S.S. thinks Wigram is equivalent to the situation where we saw Rodney Hide “resign” from Epsom to retire after many long years of service, gracefully “handing over” the electorate (and the party) to Brash and Banks.
Don’t you mate.
Don’t be so dopey, you get a bit carried away with your bullshit expansions.
Epsom and Wigram are quite different – but they are both examples of one party accommodating another for mutual benefits.
“you get a bit carried away with your bullshit expansions”
Instead of just replying to my comment with venom and repetition, how about showing why it’s factually inaccurate. ‘Cos you haven’t yet.
Anderton most likely would have won Wigram from a strong Labour challenge
Bullshit. There have been a series of good candidates in that electorate who have never made much traction against a competent incumbent MP. Electorates will tend to support an incumbent local MP over multiple elections if they work the electorate. Look at Peter Dunne (how many years has he been fighting off both Labour and National after that seat?) or Winston Peters (until he annoyed his electorate).
But that is quite different to Epsom where the only thing that has been keeping a Act MP in there was complicity from National with a series of useless candidates.
Anderton retires and hands Wigram to Labour.
You mean because the Progressives decided to drop their party?
But I guess you prefer your dumbass explanations that have bugger all to do with reality..
“bugger all to do with reality”
I thought for a minute you were revealing Labour’s new election slogan.
I just looked at your list of the past three candidates for the seat from Labour. Personally I don’t bother with much of the politics or the people. But two of them are pretty damn high profile inside Labour that I know (and I ignore most people). One is a political operator and not someone you’d waste in a seat as a candidate if you could use them as a campaign organizer.
What your statements do reveal is that your comments are the result of self-obsessed politics. Long on self-congratulation at getting imaginary results, short on analysis of technique because no-one else assists, and with a complete lack of appreciation of the advantages of practice in the real world over navel gazing.
Or in short – the splattered excreta of a political wanker…
“Long on self-congratulation”
I’m tempted to comment on that, but best left as it is.
Felix “Whereas National could take Epsom back any time they like.”
National already have.
Good point.
So Act may agree to stand down in National marginals
On the face of it this may seem like gaming the system to assist NAct in gaining extra seats.
However, this ignores the fact that under MMP it’s the party vote that determines the make-up of Parliament – not the number of Electorate seats. Act standing down in marginals does nothing to increase the total NAct party vote – in fact quite the contrary it may well decrease that total vote for the following reasons:
1) No Act canditate in some electorates to campaign for them
2) Soft National and undecided voters not liking the game playing and somewhat too cosy relationship with Act.
3) Hard right Act voters being hacked off for them being too cosy with National.
4) Draw out more of the centre left vote in those marginals to keep NAct out
Of course under FPP this sort of game-playing would work so it seems NAct have just highlighted another very good reason for keeping MMP.
Yes, I agree that using MMP (“game playing” it) is a good reason to keep MMP, there are more party and voter options.
I wrote
i.e. under MMP it does not work
As usual the squirrel choses (or refuses) to read what was written before comitting nonsense to keyboard. Perhaps you’ll be able to throw in a few irrelevant links as well, as you did the other day when debating? English’s crap numbers.
Yes, in the electoral calculus, this move ultimately hurts their total seat majority.
The total party vote determines the number of seats you get in parliament, and both Labour and National always get multiple list votes to top up their electorate winnings. Purely in terms of seats, winning more electorates for Labour or National just means fewer list members.
Act need to do everything possible to increase their party vote, especially when they’re under the 5% threshold, as it effectively goes towards creating an overhang (in their favour) in parliament. Standing people in marginal electorates may cause National to lose them (which doesn’t ultimately affect their seat total one jot), but it would also have the effect of increasing Act’s profile and hopefully gaining them more party votes than they would otherwise. Party votes are what Act needs, so having them not stand in these electorates ultimately isn’t in their best interests, except where they can make deals over it (Brash gets a good ministerial position, instead of just a lame associate one, for example).
Israeli spies – call me cynical, is this a manufactured Key diversion, takes the debate well away from economics, cost of living and CGT and focuses on him in the US as our great I can fix everything leader? maybe we should let this drop and bring the debate back to real issues.
Inorth – It is intriguing (literally) though isn’t it, this thing about the Israeli travellers. Radionz talked to the father of a young man who lost his life. The father must be well off with lots of contacts and pull if he could find a group of experts to drop their business so they could travel here on his behalf, and who paid their travel and accommodation bill? Did he or they pay out of their huge bank accounts and the goodness of their hearts? It seemed necessary he said as we appeared slow and incompetent compared to other countries.
I guess Israelis are used now to getting things their own way. Their leader goes to the United States and addresses a large group which gives him a standing ovation. I wonder whether ours will get a few smiles and nods. This link gives a youtube video of his 24 May 2011 speech to congress and you can see the sycophantic response to his every remark. Then when you’re tired of the repetition of hand clapping you can read the transcript below.
USA and Israel
can you imagine how long it would take Key to say that speech
“I speak (looks down, reads, looks up) on behalf of the (looks down, reads, looks up) Jewish people and (looks down, reads, looks up) the Jewish state (looks down, reads, looks up) when I say to you”
“I’m akshully speaking for behalf the Jew, people and the state, vis a vis I’m having said that I say it to you. I love lamp.”
Can’t agree Ianupnorth. To manufacture a spy scandal as a diversion would be fraught with problems. To start with, your intelligence and defence agencies would cease to trust you with information. Anyway, his initial response suggests he was taken by surprise and tried to wriggle out by using his stock answer “it’s not in the National Interest for me to comment”. What he means of course is that it’s not in his interest to comment. 😉
I am not saying it’s necessarily made up, just handy and convenient to deflect the press from the inflation figures and assets sales.
Either way, Anne’s analysis stands. It’s not the kind of distraction that’s helpful to Key whether he instigates it or not, there’s just too many ways he can come out of it looking bad. Too risky.
The distractions Key likes are all about him winning and laughing, not about him being connected in any way to the murky world of espionage.
CitRats (National) councillor and all-round tory fuckwit George Wood has a solution to Auckland’s housing problem:
Trailer parks.
Not even kidding. http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/mnr/mnr-20110721-0726-councillor_offers_trailer_parks_as_solution_to_housing_shortage-048.mp3
That’s the tory vision in a nutshell: Them living in luxury and the rest of us in fucking trailer parks.
These dinosaur elitists have to go.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/rupert-murdoch/5318708/News-Corp-structure-questioned
‘In a three-hour hearing, committee member Adrian Sanders invoked the 2001 collapse of Enron, asking whether the Murdochs were familiar with the term ”wilful ignorance”. ”It states that if there is knowledge that you could have had and should have had but chose not to have, you are still responsible,” he said.’
Is John Key guilty of ‘wilful ignorance’ in that as a moneytrader working in America with a spider’s web of networks that he continued to return to visit during his latest sojourn to New Zealand, he never warned New Zealanders that there was a huge financial collapse that would endanger New Zealand fiscally, because if he didn’t know then his credibility as a financial whizz is shot to hell. He’s back there now getting his latest instructions and selling off New Zealand’s sovereignty with his rush to push the TPPA through.
No wonder he and his mates tried to bully Labour into giving tax cuts and thereby seeking to make our financial position suicidal instead of just uncomfortable.
No wonder the business fraternity under his guidance and Phil O’Reilly’s spin, sought to sack workers (bringing some back at lower wages and no benefits) soon after winning the election and reducing workers’ rights to fair treatment.
Their current plan to sell off assets New Zealanders already own to foreignors or rich business interests would have carried even less weight than it does now. They could only seek to do that by refusing to fund coach building in New Zealand by New Zealanders because that would empower Kiwis. They could only seek to do that by making New Zealanders poorer or insecure.
Apply this thinking to many of this government’s ridiculous and disloyal decisions and you will begin to understand their reasoning.
Key is America’s man, not ours.
He is not worthy of New Zealanders’ trust. After this election if he gets back in, New Zealand is gone.
After reading this http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/81961,people,news,jk-rowlings-multi-million-harry-potter-thank-you I was thinking maybe Mr. Key is expecting the same from Warners after The Hobbit comes out?
I agreed with Banks this morning, he said the country was flat broke. Someone from the right is finally telling the truth.
Historical quote….
For more common sense from nearly 200 years ago see http://www.robert-owen.com/extracts.html
He forgot to mention a fourth way….when the worker is denied a cycleway despite the promises of his political masters.
Very good 🙂
Amazing to think someone 200 years ago actually had a clue and actually wanted to help better people, especially the most disadvantaged.
Thursday 21 July 2011
Some questions about media “coverage” of the Israeli spy story
1.) Why was the Israeli spy story only on Page 2 of the New Zealand Herald this morning?
2.) Why did both TV1 and TV3 reporters (including even the normally excellent Patrick Gower) both refer to Israel by the erroneous black propaganda term “the Jewish state”?
3.) Why did TV1 and TV3 autocue readers both say “the Jewish community” is “outraged” by the New Zealand police committing these “attacks” on Israel?
4.) Why did both TV1 and TV3 autocue readers both quote and show inflammatory, absurd headlines from the extreme right-wing Jerusalem Post and not report or show anything from the liberal and internationally respected Haaretz?
5.) Why did neither TV1’s CloseUp nor TV3’s Campbell Live spend even one second on this story tonight?
6.) Could NewstalkZB have found three more grossly biased or lamentably ill-informed people to discuss this scandal than Larry Williams, Bill Ralston and Jock Anderson?
Love Max and Stacey:
Max: ‘… Marx predicted capitalists would sell themselves the noose to hang themselves’
Interesting interview about Bitcoin.
Can’t watch Keiser – his voice grates like fingernails across a blackboard.
LOL. That guy (Keiser) needs to be head of Treasury
I think a day a week will get the job done just fine. (Don’t know what the hell all those neoliberal office rats are doing there now Mon-Fri except no good)
Is it just me or do they both look really high?
It was excellent to see Justice being intelligent; yes, there was nothing to stop Hannah Tamaki from pursuing a presidency over the Maori Women’s Welfare League but don’t bother to use the votes from the ten ring in groups.
Destiny are nothing if not cunning. The canny Maori Women’s Welfare League are nothing if not caring of all their people. I hope they get what they want, not what agenda Brian Tamaki wants.
Bill nutshells it again: