Frontpage of today’s Herald: ‘Record Queues For Christmas Food’.
… More than 100 people were lined up on Hobson St and round a corner into a neighbouring lot yesterday, some since 5am, to receive charity – Christmas food parcels and donated gifts for children.
The majority did not want to appear in the newspaper. “Maybe if I had won something or it was something lucky,” a woman said.
Ms Robertson said the mission’s clients were struggling with unemployment and entitlement cuts. “They’re losing options.”
And the continuing recession was adding people to the queue as those on low incomes fell into the same poverty cycle as beneficiaries.
“As an agency we really try to get people off benefits and employed – make life better than it’s been,” Ms Robertson said. “But right now we’re just alleviating poverty, because there’s no place to go.”…
That’s appalling. John Key, Bill English, Paula Bennett – this is the result of your ‘tax switch’ and benefit restructuring… don’t say no-one told you at the time. I guess the government ministers have disappeared for their summer hols so aren’t seeing this. A twitter bombardment so they can take a look may be in order methinks.
And those politicians’ salaries are being backdated by months! They’re on Cloud 9 looking down on the ants below.
A quote I’ve read applies. Timothy Noah has written The Great Divergence: America’s inequality crisis and what we can do about it, reviewed by the Listener 18/8/2012.
Noah says that although America was an angrier place in the 1960s, when it was riven by conflict over issues like civil rights and the Vietnam War, “It’s meaner today. There are quieter resentments at work in our society today, a deeper, quieter estrangement.”
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film The Dictator has led to the praise typical of movie reviewers for corporate publications. Baron Cohen, according to most of these reviewers, is something of a maverick: an iconoclastic outsider, an unorthodox entertainer, an erstwhile rebel, a genius provocateur. None of these superlatives is accurate.
What is Baron Cohen, then? Lots of descriptors work: a gifted role-player, an excellent self-promoter, a potty-mouthed prankster, a religious zealot, a white male who uses his privileges of race and gender to exploit people who cannot access those privileges.
There is one descriptor that is too infrequently applied to him: Zionist shill. Plenty of writers have noted Baron Cohen’s ardent Zionism, but few have suggested that his Zionism should cast him in a negative light (“Before ‘The Dictator’ and ‘Borat’, friends recall, Sacha Baron Cohen was a very nerdy, very funny, Israel-oriented guy,” The Times of Israel, 11 May 2012). Even fewer have examined how that Zionism visibly influences his thematic choices and public role-playing.
His commitment to Zionism is troublesome for numerous reasons: it supports the historical and current dispossession of Palestinians, situates him as an advocate of militaristic state power, calls into question his ethical commitments, and places him in Hollywood’s safest political space, that of fealty to Israel, a space in which the title of maverick loses all significant meaning.
It isn’t difficult to find evidence of Baron Cohen’s politics in his invented characters. While there are obvious iterations of Zionism in the dictator, Shabazz Aladeen, tomfoolery on behalf of Israel is also evident in earlier characters Brüno and Borat. Through both characters, Baron Cohen engaged in questionable behavior, what can accurately be called outright exploitation.
With Borat, for example, Baron Cohen named an actual country, Kazakhstan, when the concept behind that movie could have accomplished the same comic purpose with a made-up nation. Even with a made-up nation, however, Borat’s appearance as a stupid, swarthy, sexist Muslim conflated the Third World with pre-modern sensibilities, a feat that could be accomplished only through an unspoken juxtaposition of whiteness and modernity.
Sad, Morrisey. You attack Populuxe for not backing up his assertions, then go into epic fail mode yourself when accusing Sacha Baron Cohen of support for mass murder. Buck up your ideas fella.
Mozza’s comment yesterday:
“That guy’s not funny. He’s even unfunnier when you look at his actual (not “satirical” or “ironic”) support for the mass murder perpetrated by his favorite real-life regime.”
If you defiantly assert your support for a state that is engaging in mass murder, and heaping ridicule on the victims, you are ergo supporting mass murder.
Read the article, my friend. You say it’s not proof that Baron Cohen is a militant supporter of Israel? You obviously have not read it. Please do so as soon as you can.
Then you can read more, of course, or you can keep pretending that this vile buffoon does not have a nasty agenda.
I will keep you posted over the next few days—but I should not really need to.
So no evidence at all? You’ve been looking for 24 hours and have found … nothing. Why don’t you just apologise for your hyperbole and move on? It’d be the mature thing to do.
Oh, I see your tactic, you’re just going to continue your defiance, and steadfastly refuse to look into the telescope.
You keep doing that if you want, Te Reo, but people who have an earnest desire to learn something will read that article, as well as the ones I will post up over the next few days.
Yeah, you’re still a-flailing and a-failing Mozza. Really disapointed that you could spend a couple days moaning about Populuxe not providing proof of an assertation, then failing so spectacularly when you are asked to do the same. Your credibility obviously doesn’t mean much to you.
Hence why I generally just skip Morrissey’s comments.
I don’t believe for a moment that you skip my comments.
I can, however, understand why you want to have a go at me. I recall you making a huge song and dance over a transcript I did last year of a particularly incompetent Hekia Parata interview, where most of what she said was “ummm, ahhh, errrrr, aaaaaahhhhhmmmm”. Hilariously, at one point she even used the immortal phrase “a variety of various variables”. Ms. Parata was apparently trying to play the role of a Minister of the Crown, but anybody who tuned in late would have thought she was a particularly dim, uneducated talkback caller.
Your stated “objection” was that my transcript, which I did from memory five minutes after the broadcast, was not one hundred percent verbatim. Your real objection was that she was trying to defend a corrupt and destructive government “policy” that you, for some unconvincing reason, support. For those who enjoy seeing a second-rate mind o’er-taxed, here’s that remarkable Parata performance again, followed by Lanthanide’s complaint, and a pettifogging performance by our friend Te Reo Putake, then operating under his English moniker…
Thanks for reminding me, Moz, I would have thought you would have learned from that spanking, but apparently not. Still, you at least got one thing correct:
“All right, Voice of Reason, I must concede that, strictly speaking, you are right.”
SBC is an actor supported by Hollywood which is used to sell *stories*, it also does a pretty good job at bullying governments, or lets say using their tools inside of governments to give them favours, a la Warners, John Key.
Selling stories, read branwashing the simple minded while they are incapable of defending the limited thoughts they do have, then become shaped into what the programming arm woops I mean Hollywood, want you to relate to.
Of course SBC is being used, just like almost any named politician, *official*, actor and so on, you could name….
Edit Lanthanide, were you being ironic when saying you skip over others posts, jog along!
Te Reo, you’ll note that I stressed you were correct, “strictly speaking”, as in, yes, I posted Ms. Parata’s cretinous utterances from memory, rather than from a tape recording. You yourself had to admit I got it right, however—even if I missed out several lines of “ummmmm”, “ahhhhhh” and “aaahhhhhhhhm” from this floundering embarrassment who enjoys the full support of the Prime Minister.
Thanks for the advice, McFliper. I WILL take that walk!
Lanthanide, thanks for reading me so attentively. I appreciate and enjoy your comments, even when we disagree occasionally.
It’s really way worse than that, strip the ‘growth’ currently occurring in Christchurch out of the figures and we have a 2 step economy which allows the Slippery National Government to claim an annual 2% growth for the total economy,
The ‘reality’ is that ‘the rest’ of the economy shrank over the year by 2%, it then becomes easy to see why there are lines of people lining up around the block in Auckland looking to receive Christmas charity,
The effects of the high New Zealand dollar can be said to have had a large negative effect upon the overall New Zealand economy with the rest of the -2% GDP ‘growth’ being ‘owned’ by the idiot from Dipton who has been running deliberate depressive economics,
I have been watching as the figures unfold and have had cause to think, ( i know, dangerous), that the village idiot from down Dipton way has been deliberately depressing the overall economy so as to have the Christchurch re-build occur while keeping inflation within the Reserve Bank’s inflation target band,
I take issue with the fact that the Christchurch rebuild is being classed in the GDP figures as ‘growth’ at all, ‘growth’ it obviously isn’t as that rebuild is in terms of bean counting the recovery of a loss of ‘growth’ that has previously occurred in the economy,
From a ‘human’ point of view, (as opposed to dry bean counting), if the village idiot is in fact ‘proved’ to have been deliberately suppressing economic activity in the wider New Zealand economy so as that ‘re-build’ does not breach the inflation target band i am getting the rope out of the shed and over the holidays will begin the tedious task of fashioning a noose,
There’s one hell of a load of human misery inherent in a 2% slide in over-all GDP and to think this may be occurring for no other reason than to make the village idiot from Dipton look good makes the blood boil….
Don’t forget we now need to take growth out of the economy to restock EQC coffers…
…then there is all the restrengthening and rebuilding poor design systemic to buildings,
public and private, up and down the country.
Its like kiwi kids are not taught the for-want-of-a-horse-the-battle-was-lost. Since the
higher up the totem poll a person gets, the more disinclined they are to admit error and
resign, the mor likely they build CTV building, or Pike River Mines, or roads in the
wrong place (or of the wrong design for peak oil, or not invest in flat straight low energy
rail lines), or think leaky homes are cool looking, or that climate change impacts never
happen even if we weren’t globally forcing the biosphere with huge forces (from tarmac to
digging up prehistoric carbon and burning it).
If you build a road, don’t get pathetic and make the pedestrians walk around flower beds
to cross doubling their time through the intersection, the list goes on on poor social
design in NZ. For want of a nail, the horse shoe was not ?clod?, for want of the horse
the king could not lead the army, for want of a king the battle was lost, for want of
victory the kingdom was lost, all for one nail.
“I’m fairly happy with how things have gone in the past year”.
That is from John Key on RNZ just now.
And he has every reason to feel that way. The polls have National in the same positions as at the elections of 2008 and 2011. Labour are back at the same position they had when they lost in 2008 and where they were for most of the time under Phil Goff.
Key should feel satisfied, despite multiple screw-ups by his very second rate team.
Key is getting this result because Labour has not changed it’s strategy in that time. If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result.
The galling frustration of being a Labour supporter at this time is watching the leadership repeat the same strategy that failed us under Phil.
The strategy of trying to get high personal ratings for the Leader (Goff/Shearer) involved suppressing the better front bench people. That has proven to be a failed failed failed failed strategy for the past four years.
Had they allowed each spokesperson space to perform we would have been stronger on a wider front. A wider connection between the Caucus and the Public would emerge. Much of the membership’s unease about the current “kitchen cabinet” would not have arisen. And the feckless macho demotion of Cunliffe would not have happened.
And we woukd be at 40%+ .
The political comment on radionz was that Key is seen as blokey, cheery sort and he’s advancing that image as when yesterday he was on some radio program doing something that appeals to the pub crowd, dancing and singing maybe. Meanwhile back in parliament, they are enjoying a ‘well-earned’ holiday, and government has to bump and grind its way through its problems. Gather round everybody, smile, cheeeese!
Fucknuckle of the week award must go to Gerry Brownlee.
The Court of Appeal has just upheld a previous High Court decision that he acted unlawfully in changing urban boundaries using his CERA powers. The Court said it was invalid because he failed to consider whether or not he should use other more democratic powers to achieve the same end. Details are at http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8104262/Court-rules-Brownlees-actions-unlawful.
Radio NZ has just reported (no link yet) that Brownlee had criticised the Court by saying that in his affidavit he did say that he had considered using the alternative powers. He said that the Court should have contacted him before making the decision to clarify matters and darkly that he was considering his legal options.
What a doofus. He really thinks that he lives or ought to live in a banana republic.
I also heard that Radio NZ report – and was dumbfounded by Brownlee’s comment as reported and bolded in your comment in terms of court process. Power really has gone to Brownlee’s head – not unsurprisingly.
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Yourself, Lonely, Struggle
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Back, Long, Enough
Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Stationary orbit locked over southern seas.
Launching probe. HLM, you’re all go on green.
Commence your scan for intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Tell me, what do you see?
Do you see anything? Or anyone?
Make sure they receive on all frequencies?
Breaking from orbit, lighting the upper skies.
Extend your search. HLM, Keep that eye on the prize.
Continue with plan to find intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? If you please. Broadcast for me.
If you hear anything, anyone.
We’re making first contact. I come in peace. Is there anyone home?
First you have to believe, I come in peace. I’m here to save the world.
Confirm you receive. M class planet diseased.
‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, you’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.
Descending through climate over the Northern Isle.
Remember they’re hurt HLM, you’ll get quite a surprise.
Implement logic for inferior life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Good luck, friend. Now bring them to me.
If you love anything, or anyone.
I’m making first contact. I come in peace. Please just pick up the phone.
I’m not here to deceive. I come in peace. We can save the world.
Please, confirm you receive. Confirm you receive.
‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, we’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.
And you must. You are us.
I been eating a lot of sandwiches these past two weeks D. ; luncheon and chippies are my favourite on my budget along with a lot of avocado or salmon on Burgen toast, but then, thats our egalitarian society for ya 🙂
(I read that patronage, and punctuality, of Ak rail services are down D. reminds me of Alice and the Conductor; is your memory as good as mine 🙂 )
still, what does not kill ya certainly makes ya stronger (and comparitively famous literary wise in H.B)
see ya see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya (just a wee Jokerman)
Today on RNZ mid-day news. Report by Treasury that states Charter Schools would be worse and more expensive than public schools AND a similar report from the Ministry of Education.
So this disgraceful regime is more ideologically extreme than Treasury. In any country that took politics seriously, John Banks would be serving time in prison now; instead he is given free rein to slash and rip at our education system.
Parata was working on the Charter School Scam with Rodger Douglas and Heather Roy in NActs first term of office, now she’s trying to ram the scam through. I agree with you re Banks.
How was it that teacher salaries were paid for15-20 years without major hassle, and then the NACT party changed to Novopay. Why the need for change you might ask!
Did I get it right that John Banks sold his shares in the company just before the change was implemented? Conflict of interest?
Reasons no one should trust the Grauniad
Reason No. 94: The Grauniad fears and resents dissenters
Bradley Manning was declared the Guardian‘s ‘person of the year’ in 2012. He beat Pussy Riot to win this accolade. The Guardian then published a tiny article to celebrate the fact, while carefully including the following ‘sour grapes’ comment:
‘The Guardian‘s 2012 person of the year vote has concluded and the winner, after some rather fishy voting patterns that belied earlier reader comments on the poll, is Bradley Manning, the US whistleblower on trial for leaking state secrets.’
No further article was commissioned in memory of Manning, and nothing was said about his torture and incarceration by the Obama administration. The editorial staff had obviously decided to throw the most muted celebration imaginable.
Contrast Manning’s poor editorial treatment with a recent piece of stenography on Pussy Riot by Dorian Lynskey:
‘Pussy Riot were the Band of 2012’ [title appears on front page of the Guardian]
It seems the US State Department were not happy with the final results of the original poll, hence the need for this trashy piece of churnalism. On the positive side: most of the comments are against the article and most of the commentators seems to understand the pernicious agenda of the editorial staff. All of which is rather refreshing – don’t you think?
Unfortunately, muzza, the persecution of Assange and Manning is all too real. As is the cooperative attitude of the “liberal” media like the Grauniad and the British State Broadcasting Corporation.
Hi Morrissey, and can you confirm how you would know the stories to be genuine?
The way I see it that the bigger the resources available, the easier it is to create big lies. Actors, script writers, directors, producers etc, the wonders of *Hollywood*
Indicated when you write about the BBC, Guardian etc, and your post today (sat) on the festival protest, you believe that Hollyood is a type of Zionist propagana machine, which it clearly is, I agree.
Following on from this, to me anyway makes it all very easy that due to resources, all of them, (take a look at how the occupy/arab uprisings, got front footed and taken over, re-directed/snuffed out etc). How does that happen, well its called creating the debate, and when resources are so plentiful and professionally employed, then not only can events be front footed, they can be created, played out and killed off with ease, while giving the illusion of *revolution* , or what ever it might be referred as. By the time the technology has been used against these *uprisings*, there is little likelihood that any genuine situation/movement that might have existed, will see the light of day!
What is wrong with Wellington International Airport LTD? Do they get the WTF award of the day or what?
“Airport fire service manager Daniel Debono confirmed that the appliances had been ordered last month from the Austrian manufacturer but declined to answer questions on the contract or tender process, citing commercial sensitivity…………”
The article goes on to quote Martin Simpson of Fraser Engineering in Lower Hutt who said “Their price had been lower than 2.8 million ( the price the contract has reportedly gone for), their tender had fully complied with the specifications and also included the first five years of maintenance”
So do you cite ‘commercial sensitivity’ when you know your decision is daft and that you have shafted NZ workers and businesses and know at some level that it is wrong but you don’t have the guts to face up to it?
Hi Rosie, one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships, but there will be a clear reason why the foreign firm was selected, and it will have nothing to do with process or proceedure, and everything to do with influence!
Shame, this is really just another shame, hidden behind *commercial sensitivty*
“one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships…………” Indeed……..
Infratil owns over 66% in Wgtn airport, the council own the rest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infratil
Infratil also own airports in the UK and previously owned 90% of one in Germany. The “fingers in pies” scenario possibly comes into play and my guess its to do with Infratil’s influence rather than the Wgtn City Council. One things for sure, they don’t have any morals or any intention to repair their damaged reputation they have in Wgtn.
Yeah as soon as I saw the Infratil link, that was about where the effort to unravel the relationships ended, and will be the reason why the production went off-shore…
The real reasons are that the owners of the companies behind the Infratils of the world, have big foundations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, among others,and while the real puppet masters will be domiciled elsewhere, they are loyal to their own patch, NZ is nothing to them but another island to have control over, to be milked
So you’re right to say the Council will have had nothing to do with it.
It may be a high hope but we can only hope that Labour’s new ‘hands on’ approach to the economy will signal to all and sundry that IF it can be done here at the same or lower cost than elsewhere then HERE is where it’s done,
Infratril should in the new year perhaps seek a new company name, SCUM seems appropriate…
Kids! Thinking of doing drugs this Xmas? Just say NO! :
“Mr Key also rated the Government’s handling of a number of issues, giving Pike River 9, the Bain case 8, Dotcom 5, and their handling of the economy 7.”
Did someone slip Slippery some truth drug or something, what the Slippery little shyster is saying is that He and His Government have FAILED on most of the big issues of the year,
This Governments legacy will be seen as nothing but a puke stain across the fabric of New Zealand society….
Just listened to an ‘interesting’ discussion on RadioNZ National’s Afternoon with Jim Moron, where one of His commenter’s blames ‘lifestyle’ choices for the hundreds of people lined up at the Auckland City Mission hoping for Christmas charity,
I beg to differ, it is not lifestyle choices, it is in fact LIFE, those who earn a decent salary make as many wrong choices in life as does the average beneficiary, it is a natural part of being human and we all at times make wrong choices,
The difference??? those getting a decent living wage when they make a wrong choice usually have the discretionary income to gloss over their previous mistakes,(some even have enough coin coming in to allow them that mistake over and over),
Those living upon benefits have no such luxury, a mistake made by a beneficiary may lead to weeks, months and even years of negative repercussions simply because the benefit system is carefully costed as the bare minimum requirement of the individual or family….
Aha, i have recently decided to switch off the afternoon offering from RadioNZ National,(nine to noon is also frequently suffering the same fate),
I only listened this afternoon as the topics were advertised befor-hand, the Auckland City Missioner put that egg firmly in His place except for the fact that His preconceived notions about beneficiaries and others lining up round the block for a charity Christmas made Him deaf to what She had to say…
I do realise that teacher’s pay is reasonably complex … but there is nothing new or difficult about pay systems. They’ve been around for decades and it’s impossible in this day and age to be getting it this wrong.
But is there anyone else listening to the endless litany of absurd errors thrown up by the Novapay debacle beginning to think that this might be a deliberate attempt to ‘break the education system’?
Anytime a cock-up is seemingly so bad , to do with what is a well known set of processes/systems, by a company with a “reasonable” track record, and it breaks the way it allegedly has, then its deliberate.
You can’t accidentally make this many errors
Apply the same to the ACC leaks, deliberate attempt to break down ACC.
Aha, here too, havn’t wanted to comment on what seems best described as ‘Hekia’s revenge’ befor as other than ‘the sense’ of the absurd continuous teachers pay ‘f**k-up’ there’s no evidence of it being deliberate,
It’s not just teachers that are effected, the no-pay debacle effects the schools as well as payments come straight out of the individual schools budgets…
Light rain fall.
End of hillside workshops.
People gathered in memorial.
MPs in the three, union flags a flutter,
I stood silently and grim.
Old dear friends deepest red greeted.
Last three stood and chatted, not leaving till the end.
Now another bastion lost.
Time to take a stand.
Will it be feb or in 2014.
Take a stand united together strong, divide we beg.
Jordan Williams tries, and mostly fails, to run amok on the Panel
The Panel, National Radio, Friday 21 December 2012
Panelists: Jim Mora, Bernard Hickey, Jordan Williams
There are any number of nasty, unsympathetic and smug right-wing commentators infesting public discourse in this country. One of the nastiest is Jordan Williams. People like him thrive when they are allowed to state their extreme views without being called to explain or defend them. Jordan Williams got away with it at the start of the programme, but was then called out by a fellow Panelist (Bernard Hickey) and a guest. As usual, Jim Mora did nothing, other than an embarrassing, wandery rant at halftime about the Mayan calendar….
After what seemed an eternity of petty and dull opening pleasantries, host Jim Mora brought up the first topic for discussion: the steep increase in poverty in Auckland, as advised by aid and welfare agencies. Jordan Williams immediately poured scorn on the idea that there was any poverty in this country. Mora said that the idea there was no poverty was the Rodney Hide position. Williams snorted and said, “That’s not what Rodney says.”
But it is “what Rodney says”, and both Mora and Hickey knew that. However, neither of them uttered a word of contradiction to that barefaced lie. Williams then went on to spend the next ten minutes scoffing at the Auckland City Mission’s Diane Robertson. Outrageously, he claimed that the stingy welfare payments to the poor are “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
This time, Hickey did not stay silent.
“Our taxes being used to pay welfare for the poor is ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’?” he said, slowly, mockingly, in tones of rising exasperation.
Williams, defiant, refused to modify or explain his statement. Sadly, Mora did not insist on his responding to Hickey’s challenge. He was allowed to carry on with his assault on Diane Robertson.
Later in the programme, Williams had a go at feminist campaigner Denise Ritchie, who is in the news today for her condemnation of the crude and sexist regime run by the CEO of Air New Zealand, Rob Fyfe. When she told Williams of the extreme and brutal hate comments directed at women following a series of demeaning advertisements, and of the harassment faced by female employees on Air New Zealand flights, he was forced to back down.
It’s a pity more people don’t take on smug right-wing bullies like this in similar fashion to Denise Ritchie.
At one point when he made an insinuation “that poverty may be about not enough income or lifestyle choices … but he didn’t know which” .. I said to my partner right there and then “I’d ban someone from the The Standard” for that kind of behaviour.
It was perfectly clear he was dog-whistling what he really believed, but was too gutless to own it.
It’s just a pity that Mora lacked the presence of mind to call him to account. The contrast with his carping, nit-picking, skeptical attitude toward liberal or left wing commentators is telling.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855577
Chief executive of Australian company Talent2 John Rawlinson said there was no reason for staff to go unpaid because they could get cash advances from their individual schools who would be reimbursed..
We as a family who has just experienced no pay yesterday – I should ring: Talent2? No, MOE ? No The school. And who is the innocent party in this group and they are the one to fix the issue. So our local headmaster has to spend their Christmas eve fixing my problem ? And as most schools have spent their budgets that these payments are to made out of. And on TV1 news an MOE official made the statement that in her opinion it will take 26 pay cycles (1 year) for confidence in the system to be established.
Rawlinson is correct in one aspect “there was no reason for staff to go unpaid” Shouldn’t that be a given and isn’t that what his company is paid to deliver?
I work in schools and was at one today and found Admin staff (who are supposed to be on holiday) at work trying to fix Payroll problems, asked how it was going I was told that Novopay was not accepting phone calls now and problems had to be emailed in, no response today so they will have to come in on Christmas eve to check, if no response back again the day after boxing day and on and on it ******* goes WTF
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Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855446
Frontpage of today’s Herald: ‘Record Queues For Christmas Food’.
… More than 100 people were lined up on Hobson St and round a corner into a neighbouring lot yesterday, some since 5am, to receive charity – Christmas food parcels and donated gifts for children.
The majority did not want to appear in the newspaper. “Maybe if I had won something or it was something lucky,” a woman said.
Ms Robertson said the mission’s clients were struggling with unemployment and entitlement cuts. “They’re losing options.”
And the continuing recession was adding people to the queue as those on low incomes fell into the same poverty cycle as beneficiaries.
“As an agency we really try to get people off benefits and employed – make life better than it’s been,” Ms Robertson said. “But right now we’re just alleviating poverty, because there’s no place to go.”…
emboldening mine
That’s appalling. John Key, Bill English, Paula Bennett – this is the result of your ‘tax switch’ and benefit restructuring… don’t say no-one told you at the time. I guess the government ministers have disappeared for their summer hols so aren’t seeing this. A twitter bombardment so they can take a look may be in order methinks.
Poverty? What poverty? Salaries have gone up. Like $7790.
And those politicians’ salaries are being backdated by months! They’re on Cloud 9 looking down on the ants below.
A quote I’ve read applies. Timothy Noah has written The Great Divergence: America’s inequality crisis and what we can do about it, reviewed by the Listener 18/8/2012.
http://www.listener.co.nz/current-affairs/economy/americas-income-inequality-crisis/
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/12/18/government-can-reduce-inequality-but-chooses-not-to/
Sacha Baron Cohen: a buffoonish ideologue, at Israel’s service
by STEVEN SALAITA The Electronic Intifada 25 May 2012
http://electronicintifada.net/content/sacha-baron-cohen-buffoonish-ideologue-israels-service/11333
Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest film The Dictator has led to the praise typical of movie reviewers for corporate publications. Baron Cohen, according to most of these reviewers, is something of a maverick: an iconoclastic outsider, an unorthodox entertainer, an erstwhile rebel, a genius provocateur. None of these superlatives is accurate.
What is Baron Cohen, then? Lots of descriptors work: a gifted role-player, an excellent self-promoter, a potty-mouthed prankster, a religious zealot, a white male who uses his privileges of race and gender to exploit people who cannot access those privileges.
There is one descriptor that is too infrequently applied to him: Zionist shill. Plenty of writers have noted Baron Cohen’s ardent Zionism, but few have suggested that his Zionism should cast him in a negative light (“Before ‘The Dictator’ and ‘Borat’, friends recall, Sacha Baron Cohen was a very nerdy, very funny, Israel-oriented guy,” The Times of Israel, 11 May 2012). Even fewer have examined how that Zionism visibly influences his thematic choices and public role-playing.
His commitment to Zionism is troublesome for numerous reasons: it supports the historical and current dispossession of Palestinians, situates him as an advocate of militaristic state power, calls into question his ethical commitments, and places him in Hollywood’s safest political space, that of fealty to Israel, a space in which the title of maverick loses all significant meaning.
It isn’t difficult to find evidence of Baron Cohen’s politics in his invented characters. While there are obvious iterations of Zionism in the dictator, Shabazz Aladeen, tomfoolery on behalf of Israel is also evident in earlier characters Brüno and Borat. Through both characters, Baron Cohen engaged in questionable behavior, what can accurately be called outright exploitation.
With Borat, for example, Baron Cohen named an actual country, Kazakhstan, when the concept behind that movie could have accomplished the same comic purpose with a made-up nation. Even with a made-up nation, however, Borat’s appearance as a stupid, swarthy, sexist Muslim conflated the Third World with pre-modern sensibilities, a feat that could be accomplished only through an unspoken juxtaposition of whiteness and modernity.
Read more…..
http://electronicintifada.net/content/sacha-baron-cohen-buffoonish-ideologue-israels-service/11333
Sad, Morrisey. You attack Populuxe for not backing up his assertions, then go into epic fail mode yourself when accusing Sacha Baron Cohen of support for mass murder. Buck up your ideas fella.
Mozza’s comment yesterday:
“That guy’s not funny. He’s even unfunnier when you look at his actual (not “satirical” or “ironic”) support for the mass murder perpetrated by his favorite real-life regime.”
Proof supplied by Mozza so far:
er, nothing.
Agreed. Bad debating form.
Are you feeling all right, “ad”? You appear to be out of your depth. What on earth are you talking about?
If you defiantly assert your support for a state that is engaging in mass murder, and heaping ridicule on the victims, you are ergo supporting mass murder.
Read the article, my friend. You say it’s not proof that Baron Cohen is a militant supporter of Israel? You obviously have not read it. Please do so as soon as you can.
Then you can read more, of course, or you can keep pretending that this vile buffoon does not have a nasty agenda.
I will keep you posted over the next few days—but I should not really need to.
However, horse, water, and all that.
So no evidence at all? You’ve been looking for 24 hours and have found … nothing. Why don’t you just apologise for your hyperbole and move on? It’d be the mature thing to do.
Oh, I see your tactic, you’re just going to continue your defiance, and steadfastly refuse to look into the telescope.
You keep doing that if you want, Te Reo, but people who have an earnest desire to learn something will read that article, as well as the ones I will post up over the next few days.
I read the article, but so what? I asked you to back up your lie about Baron Cohen and you have failed miserably. Facts, man. Give us some facts!
I read the article,
Did you really?
…but so what?
I don’t think you did read it!
Yeah, you’re still a-flailing and a-failing Mozza. Really disapointed that you could spend a couple days moaning about Populuxe not providing proof of an assertation, then failing so spectacularly when you are asked to do the same. Your credibility obviously doesn’t mean much to you.
Hence why I generally just skip Morrissey’s comments.
Hence why I generally just skip Morrissey’s comments.
I don’t believe for a moment that you skip my comments.
I can, however, understand why you want to have a go at me. I recall you making a huge song and dance over a transcript I did last year of a particularly incompetent Hekia Parata interview, where most of what she said was “ummm, ahhh, errrrr, aaaaaahhhhhmmmm”. Hilariously, at one point she even used the immortal phrase “a variety of various variables”. Ms. Parata was apparently trying to play the role of a Minister of the Crown, but anybody who tuned in late would have thought she was a particularly dim, uneducated talkback caller.
Your stated “objection” was that my transcript, which I did from memory five minutes after the broadcast, was not one hundred percent verbatim. Your real objection was that she was trying to defend a corrupt and destructive government “policy” that you, for some unconvincing reason, support. For those who enjoy seeing a second-rate mind o’er-taxed, here’s that remarkable Parata performance again, followed by Lanthanide’s complaint, and a pettifogging performance by our friend Te Reo Putake, then operating under his English moniker…
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30082011/#comment-369467
Thanks for reminding me, Moz, I would have thought you would have learned from that spanking, but apparently not. Still, you at least got one thing correct:
“All right, Voice of Reason, I must concede that, strictly speaking, you are right.”
Chillax, M, and take a look out the window.
Go for a walk in a park.
We all need to be reminded to do that, on occasion.
“I don’t believe for a moment that you skip my comments.”
LOL! Get over yourself!
SBC is an actor supported by Hollywood which is used to sell *stories*, it also does a pretty good job at bullying governments, or lets say using their tools inside of governments to give them favours, a la Warners, John Key.
Selling stories, read branwashing the simple minded while they are incapable of defending the limited thoughts they do have, then become shaped into what the programming arm woops I mean Hollywood, want you to relate to.
Of course SBC is being used, just like almost any named politician, *official*, actor and so on, you could name….
Edit Lanthanide, were you being ironic when saying you skip over others posts, jog along!
Te Reo, you’ll note that I stressed you were correct, “strictly speaking”, as in, yes, I posted Ms. Parata’s cretinous utterances from memory, rather than from a tape recording. You yourself had to admit I got it right, however—even if I missed out several lines of “ummmmm”, “ahhhhhh” and “aaahhhhhhhhm” from this floundering embarrassment who enjoys the full support of the Prime Minister.
Thanks for the advice, McFliper. I WILL take that walk!
Lanthanide, thanks for reading me so attentively. I appreciate and enjoy your comments, even when we disagree occasionally.
So …
How is everyone’s end of the world day going?
I think we’ll still be here at the end of the day ! We’d better be – I’m looking forward to a Christmas Day with a toddler grandson ………
“Knock knock”
Who’s there?”
“Death”
“Death h…”
(Rowan Atkinson)
David Shearer’s still leader of Labour, John Key still runs the country, I mean it’s not the end of the world is it?
You have a question to answer, on thread 2, above.
Good. I can definitely sense a change in the air. It;s like all the molecules are jiggling to a different dance…. anyone else feel it?
That might be the heroin, v.
ha ha, I think now it is due to the lunchtime beeeeeeerrr
Oh, I forgot. Thanks for the reminder micky. Better do the Xmas supermarket shop today. Tomorrow might be too late!
Talking of predictions, Imperator Fish’s predicts. for 2013 are worth a read.
http://www.imperatorfish.com/
Busy organising Januarys’ diary…………….
Turns out National’s policies triggered a double-dip recession in 2010
It’s really way worse than that, strip the ‘growth’ currently occurring in Christchurch out of the figures and we have a 2 step economy which allows the Slippery National Government to claim an annual 2% growth for the total economy,
The ‘reality’ is that ‘the rest’ of the economy shrank over the year by 2%, it then becomes easy to see why there are lines of people lining up around the block in Auckland looking to receive Christmas charity,
The effects of the high New Zealand dollar can be said to have had a large negative effect upon the overall New Zealand economy with the rest of the -2% GDP ‘growth’ being ‘owned’ by the idiot from Dipton who has been running deliberate depressive economics,
I have been watching as the figures unfold and have had cause to think, ( i know, dangerous), that the village idiot from down Dipton way has been deliberately depressing the overall economy so as to have the Christchurch re-build occur while keeping inflation within the Reserve Bank’s inflation target band,
I take issue with the fact that the Christchurch rebuild is being classed in the GDP figures as ‘growth’ at all, ‘growth’ it obviously isn’t as that rebuild is in terms of bean counting the recovery of a loss of ‘growth’ that has previously occurred in the economy,
From a ‘human’ point of view, (as opposed to dry bean counting), if the village idiot is in fact ‘proved’ to have been deliberately suppressing economic activity in the wider New Zealand economy so as that ‘re-build’ does not breach the inflation target band i am getting the rope out of the shed and over the holidays will begin the tedious task of fashioning a noose,
There’s one hell of a load of human misery inherent in a 2% slide in over-all GDP and to think this may be occurring for no other reason than to make the village idiot from Dipton look good makes the blood boil….
Don’t forget we now need to take growth out of the economy to restock EQC coffers…
…then there is all the restrengthening and rebuilding poor design systemic to buildings,
public and private, up and down the country.
Its like kiwi kids are not taught the for-want-of-a-horse-the-battle-was-lost. Since the
higher up the totem poll a person gets, the more disinclined they are to admit error and
resign, the mor likely they build CTV building, or Pike River Mines, or roads in the
wrong place (or of the wrong design for peak oil, or not invest in flat straight low energy
rail lines), or think leaky homes are cool looking, or that climate change impacts never
happen even if we weren’t globally forcing the biosphere with huge forces (from tarmac to
digging up prehistoric carbon and burning it).
If you build a road, don’t get pathetic and make the pedestrians walk around flower beds
to cross doubling their time through the intersection, the list goes on on poor social
design in NZ. For want of a nail, the horse shoe was not ?clod?, for want of the horse
the king could not lead the army, for want of a king the battle was lost, for want of
victory the kingdom was lost, all for one nail.
“I’m fairly happy with how things have gone in the past year”.
That is from John Key on RNZ just now.
And he has every reason to feel that way. The polls have National in the same positions as at the elections of 2008 and 2011. Labour are back at the same position they had when they lost in 2008 and where they were for most of the time under Phil Goff.
Key should feel satisfied, despite multiple screw-ups by his very second rate team.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4847/
Key is getting this result because Labour has not changed it’s strategy in that time. If you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result.
The galling frustration of being a Labour supporter at this time is watching the leadership repeat the same strategy that failed us under Phil.
So I guess Labour will do the same thing with the same people and the same leader, and woo-hoo, get the same result as last time.
May nobody say we are grateful for 33%.
The strategy of trying to get high personal ratings for the Leader (Goff/Shearer) involved suppressing the better front bench people. That has proven to be a failed failed failed failed strategy for the past four years.
Had they allowed each spokesperson space to perform we would have been stronger on a wider front. A wider connection between the Caucus and the Public would emerge. Much of the membership’s unease about the current “kitchen cabinet” would not have arisen. And the feckless macho demotion of Cunliffe would not have happened.
And we woukd be at 40%+ .
The political comment on radionz was that Key is seen as blokey, cheery sort and he’s advancing that image as when yesterday he was on some radio program doing something that appeals to the pub crowd, dancing and singing maybe. Meanwhile back in parliament, they are enjoying a ‘well-earned’ holiday, and government has to bump and grind its way through its problems. Gather round everybody, smile, cheeeese!
Fucknuckle of the week award must go to Gerry Brownlee.
The Court of Appeal has just upheld a previous High Court decision that he acted unlawfully in changing urban boundaries using his CERA powers. The Court said it was invalid because he failed to consider whether or not he should use other more democratic powers to achieve the same end. Details are at http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/8104262/Court-rules-Brownlees-actions-unlawful.
Radio NZ has just reported (no link yet) that Brownlee had criticised the Court by saying that in his affidavit he did say that he had considered using the alternative powers. He said that the Court should have contacted him before making the decision to clarify matters and darkly that he was considering his legal options.
What a doofus. He really thinks that he lives or ought to live in a banana republic.
Morning MS.
I also heard that Radio NZ report – and was dumbfounded by Brownlee’s comment as reported and bolded in your comment in terms of court process. Power really has gone to Brownlee’s head – not unsurprisingly.
Its weird. Surely Brownlee must check himself. His flies are done up, right. So why wouldn’t he dot the power grab when he makes it. Pure doofus.
Right, thats enough from you lot for the year.
Don’t spend all your dole money over the christmas break at once.
King Kong
Apropos the line about gorillas reading Nietzsche but not understanding it – here is a link to some of his best quotes which you can imbibe over Christmas and spew out next year.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/friedrich_nietzsche.html
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Yourself, Lonely, Struggle
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Back, Long, Enough
Ah, women. They make the highs higher and the lows more frequent.
Friedrich Nietzsche
On Red Alert, in CC Two minutes silence thread – Your comment is awaiting moderation
It didn’t make it 😆
“For the record, I don’t want my personal details released”
Maybe tomorrow I’ll upload the song I wrote and sent to CC when months ago, she censored me for the first time.
But for now, third song from my album Human (R)evolution @ http://www.al1en.org
First contact – I come in peace.
Stationary orbit locked over southern seas.
Launching probe. HLM, you’re all go on green.
Commence your scan for intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Tell me, what do you see?
Do you see anything? Or anyone?
Make sure they receive on all frequencies?
Breaking from orbit, lighting the upper skies.
Extend your search. HLM, Keep that eye on the prize.
Continue with plan to find intelligent life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? If you please. Broadcast for me.
If you hear anything, anyone.
We’re making first contact. I come in peace. Is there anyone home?
First you have to believe, I come in peace. I’m here to save the world.
Confirm you receive. M class planet diseased.
‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, you’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.
Descending through climate over the Northern Isle.
Remember they’re hurt HLM, you’ll get quite a surprise.
Implement logic for inferior life forms.
Logic machine Al1, do you read? Good luck, friend. Now bring them to me.
If you love anything, or anyone.
I’m making first contact. I come in peace. Please just pick up the phone.
I’m not here to deceive. I come in peace. We can save the world.
Please, confirm you receive. Confirm you receive.
‘Cause you’ve got it so wrong, and before too long, we’ll fade away to dust.
And you need to hold on and be very strong to make the change you must.
And you must. You are us.
Just in case you were having difficulty in deciding what’s for lunch.
I been eating a lot of sandwiches these past two weeks D. ; luncheon and chippies are my favourite on my budget along with a lot of avocado or salmon on Burgen toast, but then, thats our egalitarian society for ya 🙂
(I read that patronage, and punctuality, of Ak rail services are down D. reminds me of Alice and the Conductor; is your memory as good as mine 🙂 )
still, what does not kill ya certainly makes ya stronger (and comparitively famous literary wise in H.B)
see ya see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya (just a wee Jokerman)
meanwhile, night slowly closes in.
TODAY – FRIDAY 21 DECEMBER 2012 – FINAL DAY FOR SUBMISSIONS ON LOCAL ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL!!!
Help to stop the dodgy John Banks electoral debacle ever happening again.
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/SC/MakeSub/3/d/a/50SCJE_SCF_00DBHOH_BILL11821_1-Local-Electoral-Amendment-Bill-No-2.htm
Penny Bright
‘anti-corruption campaigner’
http://www.dodgyjohnhasgone.com
Today on RNZ mid-day news. Report by Treasury that states Charter Schools would be worse and more expensive than public schools AND a similar report from the Ministry of Education.
So this disgraceful regime is more ideologically extreme than Treasury. In any country that took politics seriously, John Banks would be serving time in prison now; instead he is given free rein to slash and rip at our education system.
Parata was working on the Charter School Scam with Rodger Douglas and Heather Roy in NActs first term of office, now she’s trying to ram the scam through. I agree with you re Banks.
How was it that teacher salaries were paid for15-20 years without major hassle, and then the NACT party changed to Novopay. Why the need for change you might ask!
Did I get it right that John Banks sold his shares in the company just before the change was implemented? Conflict of interest?
She worked for David Lange, too, where she no doubt picked up a lot of his contempt for teachers.
Morrissey
David Lange ushered in Tomorrows Schools didn’t he? Not a complete success. What did he do that showed he didn’t like teachers?
Reasons no one should trust the Grauniad
Reason No. 94: The Grauniad fears and resents dissenters
Bradley Manning was declared the Guardian‘s ‘person of the year’ in 2012. He beat Pussy Riot to win this accolade. The Guardian then published a tiny article to celebrate the fact, while carefully including the following ‘sour grapes’ comment:
‘The Guardian‘s 2012 person of the year vote has concluded and the winner, after some rather fishy voting patterns that belied earlier reader comments on the poll, is Bradley Manning, the US whistleblower on trial for leaking state secrets.’
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/dec/10/bradley-manning-guardian-person-of-the-year-2012
No further article was commissioned in memory of Manning, and nothing was said about his torture and incarceration by the Obama administration. The editorial staff had obviously decided to throw the most muted celebration imaginable.
Contrast Manning’s poor editorial treatment with a recent piece of stenography on Pussy Riot by Dorian Lynskey:
‘Pussy Riot were the Band of 2012’ [title appears on front page of the Guardian]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/20/pussy-riot-activists-not-pin-ups
It seems the US State Department were not happy with the final results of the original poll, hence the need for this trashy piece of churnalism. On the positive side: most of the comments are against the article and most of the commentators seems to understand the pernicious agenda of the editorial staff. All of which is rather refreshing – don’t you think?
First published by zemblan in Media Lens.
Actually Morrissey, for mine I happen to think that the Bradley Manning, as well as the Julian Assange stories are just that, stories.
I don’t actually believe that there is anything behind them, and they are effectively *staged*!
Total control – Thats the MSM!
Unfortunately, muzza, the persecution of Assange and Manning is all too real. As is the cooperative attitude of the “liberal” media like the Grauniad and the British State Broadcasting Corporation.
Hi Morrissey, and can you confirm how you would know the stories to be genuine?
The way I see it that the bigger the resources available, the easier it is to create big lies. Actors, script writers, directors, producers etc, the wonders of *Hollywood*
Indicated when you write about the BBC, Guardian etc, and your post today (sat) on the festival protest, you believe that Hollyood is a type of Zionist propagana machine, which it clearly is, I agree.
Following on from this, to me anyway makes it all very easy that due to resources, all of them, (take a look at how the occupy/arab uprisings, got front footed and taken over, re-directed/snuffed out etc). How does that happen, well its called creating the debate, and when resources are so plentiful and professionally employed, then not only can events be front footed, they can be created, played out and killed off with ease, while giving the illusion of *revolution* , or what ever it might be referred as. By the time the technology has been used against these *uprisings*, there is little likelihood that any genuine situation/movement that might have existed, will see the light of day!
From the company that brought you Unnecessary and Unoriginal Placename Sign That Pisses Off Locals
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1343346440/323/7362323.jpg
comes another Genuis!! moment in the form of Taking Business Offshore In A Time Of Recession and Unemployment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/local-papers/the-wellingtonian/8102573/2-8m-fire-engine-deal-goes-offshore
What is wrong with Wellington International Airport LTD? Do they get the WTF award of the day or what?
“Airport fire service manager Daniel Debono confirmed that the appliances had been ordered last month from the Austrian manufacturer but declined to answer questions on the contract or tender process, citing commercial sensitivity…………”
The article goes on to quote Martin Simpson of Fraser Engineering in Lower Hutt who said “Their price had been lower than 2.8 million ( the price the contract has reportedly gone for), their tender had fully complied with the specifications and also included the first five years of maintenance”
So do you cite ‘commercial sensitivity’ when you know your decision is daft and that you have shafted NZ workers and businesses and know at some level that it is wrong but you don’t have the guts to face up to it?
Hi Rosie, one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships, but there will be a clear reason why the foreign firm was selected, and it will have nothing to do with process or proceedure, and everything to do with influence!
Shame, this is really just another shame, hidden behind *commercial sensitivty*
Hi Muzza:-)
“one would needless have to pick the way through the complex mesh of relationships…………” Indeed……..
Infratil owns over 66% in Wgtn airport, the council own the rest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infratil
Infratil also own airports in the UK and previously owned 90% of one in Germany. The “fingers in pies” scenario possibly comes into play and my guess its to do with Infratil’s influence rather than the Wgtn City Council. One things for sure, they don’t have any morals or any intention to repair their damaged reputation they have in Wgtn.
Yeah as soon as I saw the Infratil link, that was about where the effort to unravel the relationships ended, and will be the reason why the production went off-shore…
The real reasons are that the owners of the companies behind the Infratils of the world, have big foundations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, among others,and while the real puppet masters will be domiciled elsewhere, they are loyal to their own patch, NZ is nothing to them but another island to have control over, to be milked
So you’re right to say the Council will have had nothing to do with it.
Anyways Rosie, have a good one, and be well.
It may be a high hope but we can only hope that Labour’s new ‘hands on’ approach to the economy will signal to all and sundry that IF it can be done here at the same or lower cost than elsewhere then HERE is where it’s done,
Infratril should in the new year perhaps seek a new company name, SCUM seems appropriate…
Kids! Thinking of doing drugs this Xmas? Just say NO! :
“Mr Key also rated the Government’s handling of a number of issues, giving Pike River 9, the Bain case 8, Dotcom 5, and their handling of the economy 7.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855506
Did someone slip Slippery some truth drug or something, what the Slippery little shyster is saying is that He and His Government have FAILED on most of the big issues of the year,
This Governments legacy will be seen as nothing but a puke stain across the fabric of New Zealand society….
Stay away from whatever he’s on…
Is these MPs were in the private sector eh’d be giving them all and of year bonuses then.
Just listened to an ‘interesting’ discussion on RadioNZ National’s Afternoon with Jim Moron, where one of His commenter’s blames ‘lifestyle’ choices for the hundreds of people lined up at the Auckland City Mission hoping for Christmas charity,
I beg to differ, it is not lifestyle choices, it is in fact LIFE, those who earn a decent salary make as many wrong choices in life as does the average beneficiary, it is a natural part of being human and we all at times make wrong choices,
The difference??? those getting a decent living wage when they make a wrong choice usually have the discretionary income to gloss over their previous mistakes,(some even have enough coin coming in to allow them that mistake over and over),
Those living upon benefits have no such luxury, a mistake made by a beneficiary may lead to weeks, months and even years of negative repercussions simply because the benefit system is carefully costed as the bare minimum requirement of the individual or family….
That commentator was one JORDAN WILLIAMS, one of the nastiest and most ideologically rigid of the new wave of rightists in this country.
Did you note that Jim Mora did not once challenge anything that Williams said?
Aha, i have recently decided to switch off the afternoon offering from RadioNZ National,(nine to noon is also frequently suffering the same fate),
I only listened this afternoon as the topics were advertised befor-hand, the Auckland City Missioner put that egg firmly in His place except for the fact that His preconceived notions about beneficiaries and others lining up round the block for a charity Christmas made Him deaf to what She had to say…
I do realise that teacher’s pay is reasonably complex … but there is nothing new or difficult about pay systems. They’ve been around for decades and it’s impossible in this day and age to be getting it this wrong.
But is there anyone else listening to the endless litany of absurd errors thrown up by the Novapay debacle beginning to think that this might be a deliberate attempt to ‘break the education system’?
RL – Upstairs for thinking…
Anytime a cock-up is seemingly so bad , to do with what is a well known set of processes/systems, by a company with a “reasonable” track record, and it breaks the way it allegedly has, then its deliberate.
You can’t accidentally make this many errors
Apply the same to the ACC leaks, deliberate attempt to break down ACC.
Many other examples I’m sure, so fire away!
Aha, here too, havn’t wanted to comment on what seems best described as ‘Hekia’s revenge’ befor as other than ‘the sense’ of the absurd continuous teachers pay ‘f**k-up’ there’s no evidence of it being deliberate,
It’s not just teachers that are effected, the no-pay debacle effects the schools as well as payments come straight out of the individual schools budgets…
Light rain fall.
End of hillside workshops.
People gathered in memorial.
MPs in the three, union flags a flutter,
I stood silently and grim.
Old dear friends deepest red greeted.
Last three stood and chatted, not leaving till the end.
Now another bastion lost.
Time to take a stand.
Will it be feb or in 2014.
Take a stand united together strong, divide we beg.
Jordan Williams tries, and mostly fails, to run amok on the Panel
The Panel, National Radio, Friday 21 December 2012
Panelists: Jim Mora, Bernard Hickey, Jordan Williams
There are any number of nasty, unsympathetic and smug right-wing commentators infesting public discourse in this country. One of the nastiest is Jordan Williams. People like him thrive when they are allowed to state their extreme views without being called to explain or defend them. Jordan Williams got away with it at the start of the programme, but was then called out by a fellow Panelist (Bernard Hickey) and a guest. As usual, Jim Mora did nothing, other than an embarrassing, wandery rant at halftime about the Mayan calendar….
After what seemed an eternity of petty and dull opening pleasantries, host Jim Mora brought up the first topic for discussion: the steep increase in poverty in Auckland, as advised by aid and welfare agencies. Jordan Williams immediately poured scorn on the idea that there was any poverty in this country. Mora said that the idea there was no poverty was the Rodney Hide position. Williams snorted and said, “That’s not what Rodney says.”
But it is “what Rodney says”, and both Mora and Hickey knew that. However, neither of them uttered a word of contradiction to that barefaced lie. Williams then went on to spend the next ten minutes scoffing at the Auckland City Mission’s Diane Robertson. Outrageously, he claimed that the stingy welfare payments to the poor are “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
This time, Hickey did not stay silent.
“Our taxes being used to pay welfare for the poor is ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’?” he said, slowly, mockingly, in tones of rising exasperation.
Williams, defiant, refused to modify or explain his statement. Sadly, Mora did not insist on his responding to Hickey’s challenge. He was allowed to carry on with his assault on Diane Robertson.
Later in the programme, Williams had a go at feminist campaigner Denise Ritchie, who is in the news today for her condemnation of the crude and sexist regime run by the CEO of Air New Zealand, Rob Fyfe. When she told Williams of the extreme and brutal hate comments directed at women following a series of demeaning advertisements, and of the harassment faced by female employees on Air New Zealand flights, he was forced to back down.
It’s a pity more people don’t take on smug right-wing bullies like this in similar fashion to Denise Ritchie.
Yes I was listening to Jordan myself.
At one point when he made an insinuation “that poverty may be about not enough income or lifestyle choices … but he didn’t know which” .. I said to my partner right there and then “I’d ban someone from the The Standard” for that kind of behaviour.
It was perfectly clear he was dog-whistling what he really believed, but was too gutless to own it.
It’s just a pity that Mora lacked the presence of mind to call him to account. The contrast with his carping, nit-picking, skeptical attitude toward liberal or left wing commentators is telling.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10855577
Chief executive of Australian company Talent2 John Rawlinson said there was no reason for staff to go unpaid because they could get cash advances from their individual schools who would be reimbursed..
We as a family who has just experienced no pay yesterday – I should ring: Talent2? No, MOE ? No The school. And who is the innocent party in this group and they are the one to fix the issue. So our local headmaster has to spend their Christmas eve fixing my problem ? And as most schools have spent their budgets that these payments are to made out of. And on TV1 news an MOE official made the statement that in her opinion it will take 26 pay cycles (1 year) for confidence in the system to be established.
Rawlinson is correct in one aspect “there was no reason for staff to go unpaid” Shouldn’t that be a given and isn’t that what his company is paid to deliver?
I bet Talent2 isn’t going short paid this holiday season.
I work in schools and was at one today and found Admin staff (who are supposed to be on holiday) at work trying to fix Payroll problems, asked how it was going I was told that Novopay was not accepting phone calls now and problems had to be emailed in, no response today so they will have to come in on Christmas eve to check, if no response back again the day after boxing day and on and on it ******* goes WTF