I have some respect for Roy Morgan’s poll results, but its commentary sucks.
The commentary on the latest results says “continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party” even though it is down to 45.5%. Support for Key’s Coalition partners has apparently changed little even though the Maori Party has lost 25% of its support (1.5%) and ACT at 1% still needs National’s generosity to be relevant. United Future at 0.5% remains a haircut away from oblivion.
Support for Labour Party has increased 0.5% to 31% but 3.5% since last November’s election. The Greens are down a bit to 11.5%, (down 1.5%), New Zealand First is at 6% which is up from the last result but down from the election result, Mana is up slightly to 1% and who knows who the others are.
Confidence Rating is down 6 points to 127 — with 57% (down 4%) of New Zealanders saying New Zealand is “heading in the right direction” compared to 30% (up 2%) that say New Zealand is “heading in the wrong direction.” I predict that these particular statistics will continue to worsen over the next few months.
Over all,
NACT + MP + UF = 48.5%
L + G + NZF + M = 49.5%
So the “continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s Party” actually looks pretty flimsy. Someone should tell Gary Morgan.
I guess technically they are correct insofar as 45.5% vs 31% is still a large gap (though narrowing steadily). Actually I think Roy Morgan deserve some credit for at least attempting to gauge the relative position of the two potential governing blocs. Most of the NZ pollsters still insist on looking at their polls through the prism of FPP. At any rate Gary Morgan concludes his remarks with this statement:
“Overall support for the full National-led Government has dipped to 48.5% (down 0.5%), trailing the Opposition Parties (51.5%, up 0.5%). Worryingly for Key, this is the lowest level of support his broad-based Coalition has received since being elected to Government in November 2008.”
MS – Serious question. Do you believe that the state of NZ politics, as it reflects global politics, is in any way capable of turnin a sinking NZ around, and should people waste their time buying into the political system, which is blatantly defunct, and serving interests other than NZ?
If a few 10k more people had voted for the opposition rather than National, we wouldn’t be having asset sales discussions (or they would be radically different, if MP went ahead with them).
Of course I do. I would not be involved in politics otherwise. Although I agree that there are reasons to despair at the inertia and at the self serving behaviour of some of our fellow MPs.
Do you believe that the state of NZ politics, as it reflects global politics, is in any way capable of turnin a sinking NZ around, and should people waste their time buying into the political system
Doing work at the local body or community level may turn out to be more important. And pressuring central government from that level to get its shit together re: transport systems and energy systems will be crucial.
The problem I see at central government level is that it only takes the Tories half the time to dismantle anything that the left tries to build. Knocking stuff down and cancelling stuff is always quicker than trying to build stuff up.
The other dynamic is that in national politics, a huge amount of time and energy is spent just trying to maintain, administer and manage a highly complex status quo. In a lot of ways that investment is a dead investment because the complex status quo today is completely unfit for the purpose that we will need it for in just a few years.
Not sure Lanth. In the past 5 months using Roy Morgan figures the nats have shed 10 percentage points. If you look at the graph there is a noticeable and sustained dip. If I was them I would be more than a little afraid …
Watched Bruce Robertson on tv re smoking , just triggered a question- what had happened to the drinking age? That was all go pre last years election and I have heard nothing since
I think the bill is still making its way through Parliament, and is due to be voted on this year sometime.
I dont drink that much myself, but it seem to be that the force behind the proposed changes seems to be more of a view that only those who are over 45, male and in the upper income bracket can hold their drink, and it needs to be made harder for everyone else to buy alcohol. The moral panic around ball season binge drinking springs to mind.
Thanks for that
It appears another case where big business will direct social policy all for a $. I am sure that this will be a great distraction surprised it has not been promoted with the asset sales and the lack of public support over the govts blind at all cost following their ideology
Still think it is funny that we can currently drink at 18 but are unable to go to the casino until 20.
Our good wowser mate Dunne will be happy to raise the drinking age to 20….of course the kids will save all their money and buy shares in state assets instead of alcohol.
Phil, he was at Uni, prick would not invest in a beer chiller for Steins….he then went to ALAC, always “Mr Moral”. I reckon if he has been in the pockets of the alcohol and fags industries as you state he must be the ultimate two faced “me firster” I take him to be.
Very bad form and typical of some of the stories coming from Ch’ch.
TVNZ, TV3 and Sky New Australia all cross live at 8 am for the commencement of the earthquake memorial service.
And nothing for 25 minutes. People on stage obviously ready for an 8 am start and no dignitaries. They didn’t arrive until 8:25.
I could only imagine people swearing in the Sydney newsroom that a 24 hour news channel was forced to broadcast what effectively was 25 minutes of music from the Army Band.
Who f’d up?
Worse for those watching TVNZ. 25 minutes of fill from Corin Dan. 25 uninterrupted minutes for Corin to talk shit.
Who f’d up?
All the broadcasters would be cursing at the loss of revenue from planned commercial breaks that were replaced with 25 minutes of the Army Band.
Couldn’t even give the right time to the media. Symbolic of the recovery?
Sure. Lets time everything to suit the media in future. If real world circumstances conspire to fuck it up, then hell, we’ll, we’ll….do something to teach that real world a lesson it will never forget. While we’re at it, lets stop the world spinning for the ad breaks. Wouldn’t want to miss any of that live action now, would we?
It’s not about pandering to the media. It’s about doing your job and doing it efficiently.
For an event like this, that you want broadcast to NZ and all those interested and concerned, then you either setup you own television network for which you call the shots (obviously out of the question) or you enter into a symbiotic relationship with the broadcaster in which you have to consider their needs.
Somebody didn’t do their job.
Jeez, William, no need to blow a foo foo valve. The ceremony was delayed to allow the many, many buses full of Chch citizens to get to Latimer Square. Normally, transport wouldn’t be a problem, but they had an earthquake down there a while ago which has made things a bit awkward for them. Sorry they let you down and I’m sure the mayor will make a formal apology to you in due course.
No need to be rude (or an ass for that matter).
“Jeez, William, no need to blow a foo foo valve.” – inferring an attitude not in evidence. I was passing comment that some had fucked up (which they had) and the implication for the broadcasters (which there were a number) and I said absolutely nothing about the implications on me (of which there were none). All of which makes your post thoroughly pointless.
In response to your patronising comment “they had an earthquake down there a while ago”, all things considered, (including earthquakes and moving people) planning should do just that, i.e. consider all things. If you can’t get people there on time then, in the planning stage, you push back the time and let the relevant parties know. Both of which they didn’t. Ergo, someone f’d up.
BTW, that little problem with the earthquake you mention, didn’t happen yesterday nor was this event unanticipated.
Word of advise, before you launch into conceited posts full of misplaced sarcasm you should take the time to read what is posted instead of making inferences, the evidence for which only exists in your head.
William, I’m glad you get it now and I hope you think before writing such drivel again in the future. Or at least do some fact checking first. In this case, it wouldn’t have been hard because the reason for the delay was announced at the time.
That minor effort to actually find out what was going would have stopped you jumping to dumbarse conclusions like ‘someone f’d up’. As it turns out, that someone was you.
Do you have a reading comprehension problem? Some sort of learning impairment I need to know about?
Are you not able to read what has been posted?
Or is it that once you take up an opposing position (and despite having been soundly corrected) you not capable of seeing the error in your reasoning?
– “William, I’m glad you get it no” – not the case. You have yet to show that I am in error.
– “Or at least do some fact checking first” – already done before I first posted. On the ccc website. So, again you make inferences from incorrect assumptions. Check it yourself. The announced schedule was that John Key et al would arrive at 7:50 am. That makes them 35min late. Are there other facts that I should be aware off. You know, the ones that exist in reality and not your congested imagination.
– “the reason for the delay was announced at time“. If you mean “announced this morning” than all I can say to you is “Thank you for demonstrating my point” [William takes a bow midst thunderous applause]. MY POINT EXACTLY! If it was announced this morning then it shows poor planning hence leaving the media with time to fill. Which, if I am not mistaken, (and I most certainly am not) was my original post.
– “That minor effort to actually find out what was going would have stopped you jumping to dumbarse conclusions like ‘someone f’d up’. As it turns out, that someone was you.”
This para shows that it is you who has jumped to a “dumbarse conclusion”
Dude, I heard it on the radio at about 10 minutes past 8. It’s not my problem that you leapt to a particularly stupid conclusion without bothering to find out what was going on. This was not the RWC transport fiasco, just a lot of Chch people wanting to show their respects, which caused a short delay that only you are the least bit upset about. And which you would have known if you’d bothered to check.
And by your friends, ye shall be known. When V32 comes to your defence, you’ve gotta know you have well and truly f’d up!
I have taken too much time to make my point perfectly clear and you still have been unable to refute it with anything other than some radio broadcast that just goes to prove my point.
Take a deep breath and re-read the posts.
If you’re still unhappy then go tell Oprah, she cares. Better still try Dr Phil – I’m sure he can help you.
William, I’m glad you get it now and I hope you think before writing such drivel again in the future. Or at least do some fact checking first
You may have changed your name, but your attitude to disagreement is as foul as ever! Your vicious, scarcastic little wank of a post disgusts me. You are thoroughly in the wrong here, and not for the first or the last time. Your ego gets in the way of your common sense. 🙁
I’m having a bad day so I’ll “take the bait” on this one.
So, my moniker is William Joyce. That is what you know for certain.
What you do not know is whether that is my real name or a pseudonym. To assume one way or the other (without evidence) is, what those in the industry call, an “assumption”.
Error number 1
Someone in history, who was blessed with the name William Joyce, was a mouthpiece for a fascist regime. Therefore, anyone with a similar name must also be a fascist.
Error number 2
Reacting to someone because of the moniker they use….
Error number 3.
“Hardly surprising…” – was a response to Vicky32 as though she was responding to me. Rather I & Te Reo Putake think V32 was responding to Te Reo Putake. (I hope I have read this right, V32, as I can not see any number for posts)
Error number 4
Ok, time for bed, where I can dream of a world where rich financiers, economic technocrats, and artificial-humans (known as corporations) do not rule the world.
“I will treat corporations as pseudo-human beings when Texas executes one”
I wasn’t refereing to Joyce being a mouthpiece for a fascist regime (hmmm – works for the Nats too), but for his hyperbolic trolling the allied troops -something that seems to accommodate your ignorant tirades rather nicely.
Just listened to Key speak at the Chch commemorations. Now it could be me (I can hardly bear to listen to him at the best of times) but on radio at least his delivery seemed pretty flat, monotone and detached. Is he getting as tired of it all as some are suggesting?
“…In an article titled “Still No End to ‘Too Big to Fail,’” William Greider wrote in The Nation on February 15th:
“Financial market cynics have assumed all along that Dodd-Frank did not end “too big to fail” – but instead created a charmed circle of protected banks labeled “systemically important” – that will not be allowed to fail – no matter how badly they behave.”
That may be, but there is one bit of bad behavior that Uncle Sam himself does not have the funds to underwrite:
– the $32 trillion market in credit default swaps (CDS).
Thirty-two trillion dollars is more than twice the U.S. GDP and more than twice the national debt.
CDS are a form of derivative taken out by investors as insurance against default.
According to the Comptroller of the Currency, nearly 95% of the banking industry’s total exposure to derivatives contracts is held by the nation’s five largest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs.
The CDS market is unregulated – and there is no requirement that the “insurer” actually have the funds to pay up.
CDS are more like bets – and a massive loss at the casino could bring the house down.
It could, at least, unless the casino is rigged.
Whether a “credit event” is a “default” triggering a payout is determined by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) –
– and it seems that the ISDA is owned by the world’s largest banks and hedge funds.
That means the house determines whether the house has to pay…”
Which simply means that when Greece defaults completely and takes bck their country , that the banks will fall like dominoes, as the CDS kick in , which then can’t be paid.
Someone (in the feedback) made a good point on Campbell Live this week about a NZ father dealing recovering his child after parental child abduction.
Our authorities are so quick and aggressive to do the bidding of the US when corporate copyright interests are at stake but are “do nothing” when comes to one of our own who has rights under the Hague Convention to recover his child.
The drive to get workplace injuries down actually used to be part of the Fonterra permanent employees KPI, as it related to their performance bonues…it may not longer be the case, but it certainly was. You can see the conflict of interest there!
Obviously it just leads to less reporting, which in turn allows the company to have undeserved health and safety status!
Michael Laws utterly unable to defend his extreme comments
Radio Live, Wednesday February 22, 2012
If you were so bored and stupid that you listened to Michael Laws this morning, you may have detected that he was more than a little distracted. Possibly because at the same time that he was raving about the need to sterilize “feral Māori”, he was engaging in an epistolary
exchange with this writer, i.e., moi….
1.) 9:36 AM
Dear Michael,
Why don’t you provide a lead for the Māori “ferals” and have yourself sterilized?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
2.) Michael Laws ml…@mediaworks.co.nz
9:50 AM
Because i don’t kill my children you wanker!
3.) 10:03 AM
Really? You were, and no doubt still are, a vituperative advocate of the mass killing of children in Palestine.
Yours in honest disclosure,
Morrissey
4.) Michael Laws ml…@mediaworks.co.nz
10:07 AM
Do you enjoy living on the sickness benefit with your mental condition or are you just FITH?
5.) 10:11 AM
Not a clever reply, my friend. No doubt you intimidate lots of people with personal attacks like that, just like you dismissed poor old “Walter” before the News.
But back to the point under discussion: how can you pretend to be an advocate for Maori children when you have such a filthy record of anti-Palestinian bigotry?
Still waiting for an intelligent answer…
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
6.) 10:19 AM
Ditto: how do you justify killing Maori kids??
7.) 10:34 AM
I don’t. I think it’s terrible, but unlike you, I really mean that. Now when will you condemn the government-sponsored killing of Palestinian children?
Still waiting….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
8.) 10:36 AM
I don’t care about kids in another country, you moron, when its the kids here getting killed? YOU are part of the problem wasting your few mental resources on mad people half a world away.
9.) 10:42 AM
You “don’t care about kids in another country”? Then why did you so vociferously champion their destruction in January 2009?
Calling murdered children “mad” is not an intelligent answer, so could you have another, serious, attempt at an explanation?
Still waiting….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
10.) 10:43 AM
Actually if the Israelis had taken you out, I’d have cheered too
11.) 10:54 AM
Still not a serious or credible answer, my friend. You’re not making uneasy sycophants laugh in a Dunedin cafetaria now; you’re expected to back up your attitude with some kind of argument. So far you’ve said nothing of intelligence.
By the way, I thought it was amusing to hear you assert that you “don’t like people who make up history”; I remember the wandery, disconnected and confused potted history of Israel you gave on air at the bloodiest point of the massacre. You obviously got your “history” from a fantasy source—was it Joan Peters by any chance?
Still waiting, mate….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
12.) 10:58 AM
False name false FB profile = fraud
13.) 11:03 AM
Jokes, personal attacks, now threats. You’ve really gone to the well, haven’t you?
Is a false Facebook profile as bad a crime as uttering?
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
14.) 11:08 AM
You’re just a wanker: anonymous wanker hiding behind false identity. Sicko.Now fuck off …
15.) 11:13 AM Quod erat demonstrandum.
Thanks, mate. Your programme’s a winner, and your callers are all as informed and intelligent as you. Well done, my friend.
Hilarious.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
16.) 11:18 AM
FRAUD
17.) 11:29 AM
“Fraud”? Really? Using a pseudonym on the internet is an accepted and almost universal practice. It’s hardly fraudulent. Forging documents when you’re an elected public figure is fraud.
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
18.) 11:29 AM
FRAUD
19.) 11:37 AM
Seriously Michael, we try to resist inferring from the way in which you bawl into the microphone that you’re not very bright, but your tendentious and abusive e-mail correspondence just confirms it.
What will you do if you lose your radio spot?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
20.) 11:38 AM
FRAUD
21.) 11:50 AM
Shouting like that doesn’t really enhance your credibility, old chap. It’s easy to berate callers, and cut them off when you can’t mount a coherent argument against them, but in epistolary form like this, you end up just making yourself look kind of …. well, daft.
I do expect better than you’ve shown this morning—but then again, I’ve rarely heard you in better form. Which is a disappointment.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
22.) 11:50 AM
FRAUD
23.) 12:03 PM
Dear Alan Partridge,
A convicted utterer accusing someone of fraud. Kind of awesome.
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
Nice one, Morrisey. Laws cuts a sad, lonely figure around Whanganui these days. Ignored in the council, laughed at in the local media and deleted from the phone contacts of most of his former allies. As for his shouty problems, Aqualung might be a good nickname for him now, because he looked a lot like the dero on the cover of the Tull album last time I saw him.
The Environment Southland Council were provided with an opposing view of Lignite Mining today and while commercial interests get extended time to promote their projects we were initially allotted ten minutes. Considering the lignite projects will increase our carbon emissions by 20 million tons a year (from our current level of 70 million) this is no small issue and commercial interests should not be given preference over environmental concerns. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/lignite-presentation-to-environment.html
Is Mr Shearer still leader of the Labour Party?
I haven’t heard him utter anything lately.
If this is his way of doing things differently, I don’t like it…
It was a lapse in judgement and there are consequences. However, it is seems to be the same problem people like him face.
The days when you could have a Ralph Nader presenting facts, and catching the forces of reaction by surprise, has gone.
The forces of the right, “special interest”, reaction, are well funded and resourced in their merciless and unethical dealings. There are a myriad of “think tanks” which don’t use their brain power to think about the facts but to think about ways to obfuscate, mislead, misdirect, misinform.
It leaves people like Peter Gleick with the temptation to cross the line to redress the power imbalance.
Ultimately, he repented of his action and confessed. If the position was reversed, the guilty think tank member would not confess but get booked on Fox News so he could attack “the liberals”, further muddy the waters and promote his new book.
Hells Bells Barry. Can you hear the applause from those whose support for National standards has been “Teachers should obey the Government. Teachers are just trying to protect poor teachers. etc ”
Just imagine what will happen once Key and Banks get to enact such a disgraceful program as described in your New York link. No wonder USA are steadily slipping down international scores.
Makes me sick to think that Min Ed Hekia Parata, who is going to introduce competition between teachers, will make the New York disaster our disaster.
The Radio Network, which broadcasts Newstalk ZB, ZM and Radio Sport, has been referred to police by the Electoral Commission over election programmes for Peter Dunne’s United Future Party.
The programmes aired on October 25, just over a month out from the general election last year.
The Commission said it believed the broadcasts breached section 70 of the Broadcasting Act because broadcasters were prohibited from airing election programmes outside of the election period, which was October 26 to November 25, last year.
Whoops, someone at UF must have got their dates wrong.
Occupying Government of Greece
These days are going to vote for a bill that will be the last nail in the coffin of the Greek.
A bill to return the country to a totalitarian rule.
To bring the country and its people in absolute poverty.
We will not allow another misery to the Greek people.
We demand your resignation immediately, and elections.
We demand not paid a cent to moneylenders ‘friends’ you.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of the IMF from Greece.
The Justice Department was only a small sample of what we’re capable of doing
Even you have not seen the full wrath of Anonymous.
CV even conservative MP’s in the UK are advocating for Greece to default and set up their own currency again.Otherwise as these Conservative MPs have pointed out Greece will never recover!
They are saying Greece will just keep getting worse and not better.
Why aren’t our Con artistive Trolls backing their opinion!
Where have all the Trolls gone!
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Homelessness in Auckland has risen by 53% in 4 months - that’s 653 peopleliving in cars, on streets and in parks.The city’s emergency housing numbers have fallen by about 650 under National too - now at record lows.Housing First Auckland is on the frontlines: There is “more and more ...
A growing consensus holds that the future of airpower, and of defense technology in general, involves the interplay of crewed and uncrewed vehicles. Such teaming means that more-numerous, less-costly, even expendable uncrewed vehicles can bring ...
Only two more sleeps to the Government’s Jamboree Investor Extravaganza! As a proud New Zealander I’m very much hoping for the best: Off-shore wind farms! Solar power! Sustainable industry powered by the abundant energy we could be producing!I wonder, will they have a deal already lined up, something to announce ...
After decades of gradual decline, Australia’s manufacturing capability is no longer mission-fit to meet national security needs. Any whole-of-nation effort to arrest this trend needs to start by making the industrial operating environment more conducive ...
Back in October 2022, Restore Passenger Rail hung banners across roads in Wellington to protest against the then-Labour government's weak climate change policy. The police responded by charging them not with the usual public order offences, but with "endangering transport", a crime with a maximum sentence of 14 years in ...
Luxon’s popularity continues to fall, and a new survey shows voters rank fixing the health system as the top priority. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: National’s pollster finds Christopher Luxon has fallen behind Chris Hipkins as preferred PM for the first ...
The CTU is calling for an apology from Nicola Willis after her office made a false characterisation of CTU statements, which ultimately saw him blocked from future Treasury briefings. New data shows that Māori make up 83% of those charged under new gang laws. Financial incentives are being offered to ...
Australia’s cyber capabilities have evolved rapidly, but they are still largely reactive, not preventative. Rather than responding to cyber incidents, Australian law enforcement agencies should focus on dismantling underlying criminal networks. On 11 December, Europol ...
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The Australian government has prioritised enhancing Australia’s national resilience for many years now, whether against natural disasters, economic coercion or hostile armed forces. However, the public and media response to the presence of Chinese naval ...
It appears that Auckland Transport is finally set to improve Auckland’s busiest non-frequent bus route, the 120. As highlighted in my post a month ago on Auckland’s busiest bus routes, the 120 is the busiest route that doesn’t already run frequently all day/week and carries more passengers than many other ...
Economists have earned their reputation for jargon and tunnel vision, but sometimes, it takes an someone as perceptive as Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub to identify something simple and devastating. As he pointed out recently, the coalition government is trying to attract foreign investment here to generate economic growth, while – ...
Opinion & AnalysisSimeon Brown, left, and Deloitte partner David LovattIn September 2024, Deloitte Partner David Lovatt, was contracted by the National Government to help National ostensibly understand “the drivers behind HNZ’s worsening financial performance”.1 i.e. deficit.The report shows the last version was dated December 2024.It was formally released this week ...
This cobbled-together government was altogether more the beneficiary of Labour getting turfed out than anything it managed to do itself. Even the worthless cheques they were writing didn't buy all that much favour.How’s it all looking now?Shall we take a look at a Horizon poll?The Government’s performance is making only ...
There's horrible news from the US today, with the Trump regime disappearing Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student, for protesting against genocide in Gaza. Its another significant decline in US human rights, and puts them in the same class as the authoritarian dictatorships they used to sponsor in South ...
Yesterday National announced plans to amend the Public Works Act to "speed up" land acquisition for public works. Which sounds boring and bureaucratic - except its not. Because what "land acquisition" means is people's homes being compulsorily acquired by the state - which is inherently controversial, and fairly high up ...
Contenders: The next question after “Will Luxon really go?” is, of course, “Will that work?” The answer to that question lies not so much in the efficacy of Luxon’s successor as it does in the perceived strength of the Centre-Left alternative.AT LEAST TWO prominent political commentators are alluding publicly to the ...
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In my post last Thursday I offered some thoughts on changes that should be initiated by the government in the wake of the Governor’s surprise resignation. (Days on we still have no real explanation as to why he just resigned with no notice, disappearing out the door and (eg) leaving ...
In late February a Chinese navy flotilla including a cruiser, a frigate and a replenishment ship began to circle Australia, conducting a live fire exercise in the Tasman Sea along the way. The Strategist featured ...
China’s deployment of a potent surface action group around Australia over the past two weeks is unprecedented but not unique. Over the past few years, China’s navy has deployed a range of vessels in Australia’s ...
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy this morning: Within months and before Parliamentary approval is obtained, the Government plans to strip non-Maori landowners of the right to use the Environment Court to stop compulsory acquisition for fast-track projects and big new motorways.The Government also wants to buy off landowners ...
Hi,When I was 16 (pimples, braces, painfully awkward) — I applied for a job at Video Ezy.It’s difficult to describe how much I wanted this job. Video Ezy was my local video shop in Tauranga, and I’d spend hours of my teenage life stalking through those aisles, looking at the ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 2, 2025 thru Sat, March 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...
The title of this post comes from Albert Wohlstetter’s 1976 seminal essay Moving Towards Life in a Nuclear Armed Crowd. In that essay he contemplated a world in which several nations had nuclear weapons, and also the strategic logics governing their proliferation, deployment and use (mainly as a deterrent). For ...
Adrian Orr resigned unexpectedly and immediately on Wednesday, giving no explanation for departing three years before the end of his second term. File Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: David Seymour’s lunch programme came under increasing scrutiny;Adrian Orr resigned unexpectedly after clashing with Nicola Willis ...
You've got to live, lady liveDo the tongue rollGive me joyBut don't kiss me too fastSong: Th’ Dudes.Good morning, all. After another heavy week of less-than-positive news, it’s time for something silly: the old standby of memories and questions.I can’t face writing about any more terrible people this week. I usually ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Greenland losing land ice? Data from satellites and expeditions confirm Greenland has been losing land ice at an accelerating rate for decades. ...
After the Reserve Bank’s appearance on 20 February at the Finance and Expenditure Committee (the Governor, his macro deputy Karen Silk, and his chief economist Paul Conway) on the previous day’s Monetary Policy Statement, I wrote a post here about it, focused on a number of areas in which Orr, ...
Beijing deployed a naval task group to the waters around Australia for three related reasons. First, to demonstrate the reach and potency of Chinese sea power and to put Australia on notice that it is ...
That's the price that we all payAnd the value of destiny comes to nothingI can't tell you where we're goingI guess there was just no way of knowingSongwriters: Bernard Sumner / Gillian Lesley Gilbert / Peter Hook / Stephen Eric Hague / Stephen Paul David Morris.What an eventful week it’s ...
In what might have been the longest presidential address to Congress in American history—an hour and forty minutes without intermission—President Donald Trump delivered a performance on Tuesday night that was simultaneously grandiose, confrontational, optimistic and ...
Peter Frankopan’s The Earth Transformed: An Untold History is a compelling account of the interaction between humans and the environment. We would be unwise to ignore it. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Oxford professor of history Peter Frankopan was initially widely admired. But critics point ...
The United States shocked the world last week with President Donald Trump’s very public rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This was followed by a US pause on military aid and some intelligence sharing with ...
International Women’s Day (IWD) serves as both a celebration of progress and a reminder of the ongoing challenges women face worldwide. Across national security, diplomacy, human rights and digital spaces, women continue to break barriers. ...
The Green Party is disappointed the Government voted down Hūhana Lyndon’s member’s Bill, which would have prevented further alienation of Māori land through the Public Works Act. ...
The Labour Party will support Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill which would allow sanctions against Israel for its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territories. ...
The Government’s new procurement rules are a blatant attack on workers and the environment, showing once again that National’s priorities are completely out of touch with everyday Kiwis. ...
With Labour and Te Pāti Māori’s official support, Opposition parties are officially aligned to progress Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in Palestine. ...
Te Pāti Māori extends our deepest aroha to the 500 plus Whānau Ora workers who have been advised today that the govt will be dismantling their contracts. For twenty years , Whānau Ora has been helping families, delivering life-changing support through a kaupapa Māori approach. It has built trust where ...
Labour welcomes Simeon Brown’s move to reinstate a board at Health New Zealand, bringing the destructive and secretive tenure of commissioner Lester Levy to an end. ...
This morning’s announcement by the Health Minister regarding a major overhaul of the public health sector levels yet another blow to the country’s essential services. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill that will ensure employment decisions in the public service are based on merit and not on forced woke ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ targets. “This Bill would put an end to the woke left-wing social engineering and diversity targets in the public sector. ...
Police have referred 20 offenders to Destiny Church-affiliated programmes Man Up and Legacy as ‘wellness providers’ in the last year, raising concerns that those seeking help are being recruited into a harmful organisation. ...
Te Pāti Māori welcomes the resignation of Richard Prebble from the Waitangi Tribunal. His appointment in October 2024 was a disgrace- another example of this government undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi by appointing a former ACT leader who has spent his career attacking Māori rights. “Regardless of the reason for ...
Police Minister Mark Mitchell is avoiding accountability by refusing to answer key questions in the House as his Government faces criticism over their dangerous citizen’s arrest policy, firearm reform, and broken promises to recruit more police. ...
The number of building consents issued under this Government continues to spiral, taking a toll on the infrastructure sector, tradies, and future generations of Kiwi homeowners. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Prime Minister to rule out joining the AUKUS military pact in any capacity following the scenes in the White House over the weekend. ...
The Green Party is appalled by the Government’s plan to disestablish Resource Teachers of Māori (RTM) roles, a move that takes another swing at kaupapa Māori education. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
The Government’s levies announcement is a step in the right direction, but they must be upfront about who will pay its new infrastructure levies and ensure that first-home buyers are protected from hidden costs. ...
After months of mana whenua protecting their wāhi tapu, the Green Party welcomes the pause of works at Lake Rotokākahi and calls for the Rotorua Lakes Council to work constructively with Tūhourangi and Ngāti Tumatawera on the pathway forward. ...
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. This week we've made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand.Winston representing New ZealandWinston Peters is overseas this week, with stops across the Middle East and North Asia. Winston's stops include Saudi Arabia, the ...
Green Party Co-Leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
At this year's State of the Planet address, Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick announced the party’s plans to deliver a Green Budget this year to offer an alternative vision to the Government’s trickle-down economics and austerity politics. ...
The Government has spent $3.6 million dollars on a retail crime advisory group, including paying its chair $920 a day, to come up with ideas already dismissed as dangerous by police. ...
The Green Party supports the peaceful occupation at Lake Rotokākahi and are calling for the controversial sewerage project on the lake to be stopped until the Environment Court has made a decision. ...
ActionStation’s Oral Healthcare report, released today, paints a dire picture of unmet need and inequality across the country, highlighting the urgency of free dental care for all New Zealanders. ...
As the world marks three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced additional sanctions on Russian entities and support for Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction. “Russia’s illegal invasion has brought three years of devastation to Ukraine’s people, environment, and infrastructure,” Mr Peters says. “These additional sanctions target 52 ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced the Government’s plan to reform the Overseas Investment Act and make it easier for New Zealand businesses to receive new investment, grow and pay higher wages. “New Zealand is one of the hardest countries in the developed world for overseas people to ...
Associate Health Minister Hon Casey Costello is traveling to Australia for meetings with the aged care sector in Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney next week. “Australia is our closest partner, so as we consider the changes necessary to make our system more effective and sustainable it makes sense to learn from ...
The Government is boosting investment in the QEII National Trust to reinforce the protection of Aotearoa New Zealand's biodiversity on private land, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says. The Government today announced an additional $4.5 million for conservation body QEII National Trust over three years. QEII Trust works with farmers and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carolina Quintero Rodriguez, Senior Lecturer and Program Manager, Bachelor of Fashion (Enterprise) program, RMIT University Jay Hirano/Shutterstock Motorsport fans are getting their first taste of racing this year, with the opening grand prix of the 2025 Formula One (F1) season starting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brian Tweed, Senior lecturer, Institute of Education, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University Laiotz/Shutterstock Since the start of this year, all New Zealand schools have been required to use structured literacy to teach reading and writing – including the country’s ...
Deep in native bush, Paula Griffin carefully reaches into a burrow and deftly extracts a kiwi. Back on the netball court, she’s honing her two-point shot.The 15-test Silver Fern shooter, who first made the national squad as an 18-year-old, is now an accredited kiwi handler, working fulltime to protect our ...
The Wellington mayor is sick of being the government’s punching bag. Tory Whanau has criticised prime minister Chris Luxon’s character in an interview with The Spinoff, saying, “I don’t think he’s a nice person”. It comes after Luxon called Wellington’s councils “pretty lame-o” for not submitting a proposal for a ...
Ditching the ‘woke’ guidelines was in the NZ First coalition agreement so not unexpected, but the lack of any replacement has teachers and health advocates concerned.The Ministry of Education has removed relationship and sexuality teaching guidelines, with no replacement in sight – a move that has been labelled a ...
Just weeks after one offshore wind developer pulled out of New Zealand entirely, another told the Government it was pausing its activities The post Second firm halts plans for offshore wind farms appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Supermarket giant Woolworths is expanding its job restructuring in New Zealand with a new proposal that will impact management across the country.Woolworths New Zealand is owned by its ASX-listed namesake Woolworths Group, which employs 201,000 staff across Australia and New Zealand.Just weeks ago, the parent company announced restructuring and job ...
It’s the story that keeps getting regurgitated.The revamped, slimmer, cost-cut school lunch scheme has provided a daily diet of bad news stories, and there’s talk that it should be re-evaluated.The architect of the shrunken lunch deal, Associate Education Minister David Seymour, says suggestions it’s being run down deliberately with the ...
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I have some respect for Roy Morgan’s poll results, but its commentary sucks.
The commentary on the latest results says “continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s National Party” even though it is down to 45.5%. Support for Key’s Coalition partners has apparently changed little even though the Maori Party has lost 25% of its support (1.5%) and ACT at 1% still needs National’s generosity to be relevant. United Future at 0.5% remains a haircut away from oblivion.
Support for Labour Party has increased 0.5% to 31% but 3.5% since last November’s election. The Greens are down a bit to 11.5%, (down 1.5%), New Zealand First is at 6% which is up from the last result but down from the election result, Mana is up slightly to 1% and who knows who the others are.
Confidence Rating is down 6 points to 127 — with 57% (down 4%) of New Zealanders saying New Zealand is “heading in the right direction” compared to 30% (up 2%) that say New Zealand is “heading in the wrong direction.” I predict that these particular statistics will continue to worsen over the next few months.
Over all,
NACT + MP + UF = 48.5%
L + G + NZF + M = 49.5%
So the “continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s Party” actually looks pretty flimsy. Someone should tell Gary Morgan.
I guess technically they are correct insofar as 45.5% vs 31% is still a large gap (though narrowing steadily). Actually I think Roy Morgan deserve some credit for at least attempting to gauge the relative position of the two potential governing blocs. Most of the NZ pollsters still insist on looking at their polls through the prism of FPP. At any rate Gary Morgan concludes his remarks with this statement:
“Overall support for the full National-led Government has dipped to 48.5% (down 0.5%), trailing the Opposition Parties (51.5%, up 0.5%). Worryingly for Key, this is the lowest level of support his broad-based Coalition has received since being elected to Government in November 2008.”
MS – Serious question. Do you believe that the state of NZ politics, as it reflects global politics, is in any way capable of turnin a sinking NZ around, and should people waste their time buying into the political system, which is blatantly defunct, and serving interests other than NZ?
If a few 10k more people had voted for the opposition rather than National, we wouldn’t be having asset sales discussions (or they would be radically different, if MP went ahead with them).
Hi Muzza
Of course I do. I would not be involved in politics otherwise. Although I agree that there are reasons to despair at the inertia and at the self serving behaviour of some of our fellow MPs.
Doing work at the local body or community level may turn out to be more important. And pressuring central government from that level to get its shit together re: transport systems and energy systems will be crucial.
The problem I see at central government level is that it only takes the Tories half the time to dismantle anything that the left tries to build. Knocking stuff down and cancelling stuff is always quicker than trying to build stuff up.
The other dynamic is that in national politics, a huge amount of time and energy is spent just trying to maintain, administer and manage a highly complex status quo. In a lot of ways that investment is a dead investment because the complex status quo today is completely unfit for the purpose that we will need it for in just a few years.
Actually I think “continuing strong support for Prime Minister John Key’s Party” is actually an accurate description of those figures.
Just because the supposed opposition bloc is 1 point above the governing bloc, doesn’t mean that the governing bloc doesn’t have strong support.
Do they ask people who did not vote to participate?
I would say that given the massive number that didn’t, citing support for either side of the same coin, is trite!
Not sure Lanth. In the past 5 months using Roy Morgan figures the nats have shed 10 percentage points. If you look at the graph there is a noticeable and sustained dip. If I was them I would be more than a little afraid …
Watched Bruce Robertson on tv re smoking , just triggered a question- what had happened to the drinking age? That was all go pre last years election and I have heard nothing since
I think the bill is still making its way through Parliament, and is due to be voted on this year sometime.
I dont drink that much myself, but it seem to be that the force behind the proposed changes seems to be more of a view that only those who are over 45, male and in the upper income bracket can hold their drink, and it needs to be made harder for everyone else to buy alcohol. The moral panic around ball season binge drinking springs to mind.
The levels of clinical and subclinical depression, and alcohol and other substance abuse in this society, are very very worrying.
Thanks for that
It appears another case where big business will direct social policy all for a $. I am sure that this will be a great distraction surprised it has not been promoted with the asset sales and the lack of public support over the govts blind at all cost following their ideology
Still think it is funny that we can currently drink at 18 but are unable to go to the casino until 20.
Our good wowser mate Dunne will be happy to raise the drinking age to 20….of course the kids will save all their money and buy shares in state assets instead of alcohol.
dunne a ‘wowser’..?
for years he has been a pimp for both the alcohol and tobacco companies..
..he isn’t known as peter dunhill for nothing..
phil@whoar.
Phil, he was at Uni, prick would not invest in a beer chiller for Steins….he then went to ALAC, always “Mr Moral”. I reckon if he has been in the pockets of the alcohol and fags industries as you state he must be the ultimate two faced “me firster” I take him to be.
So when did he give up Marajuana Bored.
Seconded!
Very bad form and typical of some of the stories coming from Ch’ch.
TVNZ, TV3 and Sky New Australia all cross live at 8 am for the commencement of the earthquake memorial service.
And nothing for 25 minutes. People on stage obviously ready for an 8 am start and no dignitaries. They didn’t arrive until 8:25.
I could only imagine people swearing in the Sydney newsroom that a 24 hour news channel was forced to broadcast what effectively was 25 minutes of music from the Army Band.
Who f’d up?
Worse for those watching TVNZ. 25 minutes of fill from Corin Dan. 25 uninterrupted minutes for Corin to talk shit.
Who f’d up?
All the broadcasters would be cursing at the loss of revenue from planned commercial breaks that were replaced with 25 minutes of the Army Band.
Couldn’t even give the right time to the media. Symbolic of the recovery?
Sure. Lets time everything to suit the media in future. If real world circumstances conspire to fuck it up, then hell, we’ll, we’ll….do something to teach that real world a lesson it will never forget. While we’re at it, lets stop the world spinning for the ad breaks. Wouldn’t want to miss any of that live action now, would we?
It’s not about pandering to the media. It’s about doing your job and doing it efficiently.
For an event like this, that you want broadcast to NZ and all those interested and concerned, then you either setup you own television network for which you call the shots (obviously out of the question) or you enter into a symbiotic relationship with the broadcaster in which you have to consider their needs.
Somebody didn’t do their job.
Jeez, William, no need to blow a foo foo valve. The ceremony was delayed to allow the many, many buses full of Chch citizens to get to Latimer Square. Normally, transport wouldn’t be a problem, but they had an earthquake down there a while ago which has made things a bit awkward for them. Sorry they let you down and I’m sure the mayor will make a formal apology to you in due course.
No need to be rude (or an ass for that matter).
“Jeez, William, no need to blow a foo foo valve.” – inferring an attitude not in evidence. I was passing comment that some had fucked up (which they had) and the implication for the broadcasters (which there were a number) and I said absolutely nothing about the implications on me (of which there were none). All of which makes your post thoroughly pointless.
In response to your patronising comment “they had an earthquake down there a while ago”, all things considered, (including earthquakes and moving people) planning should do just that, i.e. consider all things. If you can’t get people there on time then, in the planning stage, you push back the time and let the relevant parties know. Both of which they didn’t. Ergo, someone f’d up.
BTW, that little problem with the earthquake you mention, didn’t happen yesterday nor was this event unanticipated.
Word of advise, before you launch into conceited posts full of misplaced sarcasm you should take the time to read what is posted instead of making inferences, the evidence for which only exists in your head.
William, I’m glad you get it now and I hope you think before writing such drivel again in the future. Or at least do some fact checking first. In this case, it wouldn’t have been hard because the reason for the delay was announced at the time.
That minor effort to actually find out what was going would have stopped you jumping to dumbarse conclusions like ‘someone f’d up’. As it turns out, that someone was you.
Do you have a reading comprehension problem? Some sort of learning impairment I need to know about?
Are you not able to read what has been posted?
Or is it that once you take up an opposing position (and despite having been soundly corrected) you not capable of seeing the error in your reasoning?
– “William, I’m glad you get it no” – not the case. You have yet to show that I am in error.
– “Or at least do some fact checking first” – already done before I first posted. On the ccc website. So, again you make inferences from incorrect assumptions. Check it yourself. The announced schedule was that John Key et al would arrive at 7:50 am. That makes them 35min late. Are there other facts that I should be aware off. You know, the ones that exist in reality and not your congested imagination.
– “the reason for the delay was announced at time“. If you mean “announced this morning” than all I can say to you is “Thank you for demonstrating my point” [William takes a bow midst thunderous applause]. MY POINT EXACTLY! If it was announced this morning then it shows poor planning hence leaving the media with time to fill. Which, if I am not mistaken, (and I most certainly am not) was my original post.
– “That minor effort to actually find out what was going would have stopped you jumping to dumbarse conclusions like ‘someone f’d up’. As it turns out, that someone was you.”
This para shows that it is you who has jumped to a “dumbarse conclusion”
Dude, I heard it on the radio at about 10 minutes past 8. It’s not my problem that you leapt to a particularly stupid conclusion without bothering to find out what was going on. This was not the RWC transport fiasco, just a lot of Chch people wanting to show their respects, which caused a short delay that only you are the least bit upset about. And which you would have known if you’d bothered to check.
And by your friends, ye shall be known. When V32 comes to your defence, you’ve gotta know you have well and truly f’d up!
I have taken too much time to make my point perfectly clear and you still have been unable to refute it with anything other than some radio broadcast that just goes to prove my point.
Take a deep breath and re-read the posts.
If you’re still unhappy then go tell Oprah, she cares. Better still try Dr Phil – I’m sure he can help you.
You may have changed your name, but your attitude to disagreement is as foul as ever! Your vicious, scarcastic little wank of a post disgusts me. You are thoroughly in the wrong here, and not for the first or the last time. Your ego gets in the way of your common sense. 🙁
Hardly surprising – he’s adopted the moniker of Lord Haw-Haw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Joyce
I’m having a bad day so I’ll “take the bait” on this one.
So, my moniker is William Joyce. That is what you know for certain.
What you do not know is whether that is my real name or a pseudonym. To assume one way or the other (without evidence) is, what those in the industry call, an “assumption”.
Error number 1
Someone in history, who was blessed with the name William Joyce, was a mouthpiece for a fascist regime. Therefore, anyone with a similar name must also be a fascist.
Error number 2
Reacting to someone because of the moniker they use….
Error number 3.
“Hardly surprising…” – was a response to Vicky32 as though she was responding to me. Rather I & Te Reo Putake think V32 was responding to Te Reo Putake. (I hope I have read this right, V32, as I can not see any number for posts)
Error number 4
Ok, time for bed, where I can dream of a world where rich financiers, economic technocrats, and artificial-humans (known as corporations) do not rule the world.
“I will treat corporations as pseudo-human beings when Texas executes one”
I wasn’t refereing to Joyce being a mouthpiece for a fascist regime (hmmm – works for the Nats too), but for his hyperbolic trolling the allied troops -something that seems to accommodate your ignorant tirades rather nicely.
Just listened to Key speak at the Chch commemorations. Now it could be me (I can hardly bear to listen to him at the best of times) but on radio at least his delivery seemed pretty flat, monotone and detached. Is he getting as tired of it all as some are suggesting?
He was going very very slow so as not to stumble all over himself while talking, but I think I still heard a few slip ups.
http://whoar.co.nz/2012/how-greece-could-take-down-wall-street/
“…In an article titled “Still No End to ‘Too Big to Fail,’” William Greider wrote in The Nation on February 15th:
“Financial market cynics have assumed all along that Dodd-Frank did not end “too big to fail” – but instead created a charmed circle of protected banks labeled “systemically important” – that will not be allowed to fail – no matter how badly they behave.”
That may be, but there is one bit of bad behavior that Uncle Sam himself does not have the funds to underwrite:
– the $32 trillion market in credit default swaps (CDS).
Thirty-two trillion dollars is more than twice the U.S. GDP and more than twice the national debt.
CDS are a form of derivative taken out by investors as insurance against default.
According to the Comptroller of the Currency, nearly 95% of the banking industry’s total exposure to derivatives contracts is held by the nation’s five largest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs.
The CDS market is unregulated – and there is no requirement that the “insurer” actually have the funds to pay up.
CDS are more like bets – and a massive loss at the casino could bring the house down.
It could, at least, unless the casino is rigged.
Whether a “credit event” is a “default” triggering a payout is determined by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) –
– and it seems that the ISDA is owned by the world’s largest banks and hedge funds.
That means the house determines whether the house has to pay…”
(cont..)
phil-at-whoar.
Which simply means that when Greece defaults completely and takes bck their country , that the banks will fall like dominoes, as the CDS kick in , which then can’t be paid.
yep..!
..kinda looks like that..
phil@whoar.
Mr Dotcom granted bail when more evidence comes to hand. Breaking news – Stuff.
Someone (in the feedback) made a good point on Campbell Live this week about a NZ father dealing recovering his child after parental child abduction.
Our authorities are so quick and aggressive to do the bidding of the US when corporate copyright interests are at stake but are “do nothing” when comes to one of our own who has rights under the Hague Convention to recover his child.
compete, compete….the usual story, of making people fight amongst themselves…
interesting to read along with jennys post on slavery.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10787221
And that should tell him that injuries aren’t being reported. There’s absolutely no way that no injuries are occurring.
Also interesting to note that the article ended with a smear of the union and PR for the port in what was an obvious change to its flow.
The drive to get workplace injuries down actually used to be part of the Fonterra permanent employees KPI, as it related to their performance bonues…it may not longer be the case, but it certainly was. You can see the conflict of interest there!
Obviously it just leads to less reporting, which in turn allows the company to have undeserved health and safety status!
Michael Laws utterly unable to defend his extreme comments
Radio Live, Wednesday February 22, 2012
If you were so bored and stupid that you listened to Michael Laws this morning, you may have detected that he was more than a little distracted. Possibly because at the same time that he was raving about the need to sterilize “feral Māori”, he was engaging in an epistolary
exchange with this writer, i.e., moi….
1.) 9:36 AM
Dear Michael,
Why don’t you provide a lead for the Māori “ferals” and have yourself sterilized?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
Northcote Point
2.) Michael Laws ml…@mediaworks.co.nz
9:50 AM
Because i don’t kill my children you wanker!
3.) 10:03 AM
Really? You were, and no doubt still are, a vituperative advocate of the mass killing of children in Palestine.
Yours in honest disclosure,
Morrissey
4.) Michael Laws ml…@mediaworks.co.nz
10:07 AM
Do you enjoy living on the sickness benefit with your mental condition or are you just FITH?
5.) 10:11 AM
Not a clever reply, my friend. No doubt you intimidate lots of people with personal attacks like that, just like you dismissed poor old “Walter” before the News.
But back to the point under discussion: how can you pretend to be an advocate for Maori children when you have such a filthy record of anti-Palestinian bigotry?
Still waiting for an intelligent answer…
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
6.) 10:19 AM
Ditto: how do you justify killing Maori kids??
7.) 10:34 AM
I don’t. I think it’s terrible, but unlike you, I really mean that. Now when will you condemn the government-sponsored killing of Palestinian children?
Still waiting….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
8.) 10:36 AM
I don’t care about kids in another country, you moron, when its the kids here getting killed? YOU are part of the problem wasting your few mental resources on mad people half a world away.
9.) 10:42 AM
You “don’t care about kids in another country”? Then why did you so vociferously champion their destruction in January 2009?
Calling murdered children “mad” is not an intelligent answer, so could you have another, serious, attempt at an explanation?
Still waiting….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
10.) 10:43 AM
Actually if the Israelis had taken you out, I’d have cheered too
11.) 10:54 AM
Still not a serious or credible answer, my friend. You’re not making uneasy sycophants laugh in a Dunedin cafetaria now; you’re expected to back up your attitude with some kind of argument. So far you’ve said nothing of intelligence.
By the way, I thought it was amusing to hear you assert that you “don’t like people who make up history”; I remember the wandery, disconnected and confused potted history of Israel you gave on air at the bloodiest point of the massacre. You obviously got your “history” from a fantasy source—was it Joan Peters by any chance?
Still waiting, mate….
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey Breen
12.) 10:58 AM
False name false FB profile = fraud
13.) 11:03 AM
Jokes, personal attacks, now threats. You’ve really gone to the well, haven’t you?
Is a false Facebook profile as bad a crime as uttering?
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
14.) 11:08 AM
You’re just a wanker: anonymous wanker hiding behind false identity. Sicko.Now fuck off …
15.) 11:13 AM
Quod erat demonstrandum.
Thanks, mate. Your programme’s a winner, and your callers are all as informed and intelligent as you. Well done, my friend.
Hilarious.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
16.) 11:18 AM
FRAUD
17.) 11:29 AM
“Fraud”? Really? Using a pseudonym on the internet is an accepted and almost universal practice. It’s hardly fraudulent. Forging documents when you’re an elected public figure is fraud.
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
18.) 11:29 AM
FRAUD
19.) 11:37 AM
Seriously Michael, we try to resist inferring from the way in which you bawl into the microphone that you’re not very bright, but your tendentious and abusive e-mail correspondence just confirms it.
What will you do if you lose your radio spot?
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
20.) 11:38 AM
FRAUD
21.) 11:50 AM
Shouting like that doesn’t really enhance your credibility, old chap. It’s easy to berate callers, and cut them off when you can’t mount a coherent argument against them, but in epistolary form like this, you end up just making yourself look kind of …. well, daft.
I do expect better than you’ve shown this morning—but then again, I’ve rarely heard you in better form. Which is a disappointment.
Yours sincerely,
Morrissey
22.) 11:50 AM
FRAUD
23.) 12:03 PM
Dear Alan Partridge,
A convicted utterer accusing someone of fraud. Kind of awesome.
Yours in amusement,
Morrissey
Well done Morrisey. Good to see someone taking it to Laws.
He can’t cut you off online—although his puerile chanting of “FRAUD” is the same kind of behaviour.
However, in print like this, his lack of integrity and his unwillingness to engage in debate are laid bare.
Nice one, Morrisey. Laws cuts a sad, lonely figure around Whanganui these days. Ignored in the council, laughed at in the local media and deleted from the phone contacts of most of his former allies. As for his shouty problems, Aqualung might be a good nickname for him now, because he looked a lot like the dero on the cover of the Tull album last time I saw him.
Is his wife still beating him?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8x_59EjZOs&feature=related
Here is the simple guide as to why Rangers FC are insolvent.
“Because we are the people” just about sums it up!
Classic, thanks Fisi.
The Environment Southland Council were provided with an opposing view of Lignite Mining today and while commercial interests get extended time to promote their projects we were initially allotted ten minutes. Considering the lignite projects will increase our carbon emissions by 20 million tons a year (from our current level of 70 million) this is no small issue and commercial interests should not be given preference over environmental concerns.
http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/lignite-presentation-to-environment.html
Is Mr Shearer still leader of the Labour Party?
I haven’t heard him utter anything lately.
If this is his way of doing things differently, I don’t like it…
And yet Labour continues to rise in the polls, strongly suggesting that other people do like his way of doing things. Funny old world, etc…
I’m a bit perturbed as well. Was about to ask the same question.
Oh dear………………..
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/peter-gleick-admits-to-deception-in-obtaining-heartland-climate-files/
It was a lapse in judgement and there are consequences. However, it is seems to be the same problem people like him face.
The days when you could have a Ralph Nader presenting facts, and catching the forces of reaction by surprise, has gone.
The forces of the right, “special interest”, reaction, are well funded and resourced in their merciless and unethical dealings. There are a myriad of “think tanks” which don’t use their brain power to think about the facts but to think about ways to obfuscate, mislead, misdirect, misinform.
It leaves people like Peter Gleick with the temptation to cross the line to redress the power imbalance.
Ultimately, he repented of his action and confessed. If the position was reversed, the guilty think tank member would not confess but get booked on Fox News so he could attack “the liberals”, further muddy the waters and promote his new book.
The future for NZ schools under National.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/feb/21/no-student-left-untested/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nybooks+%28The+New+York+Review+of+Books%29
Hells Bells Barry. Can you hear the applause from those whose support for National standards has been “Teachers should obey the Government. Teachers are just trying to protect poor teachers. etc ”
Just imagine what will happen once Key and Banks get to enact such a disgraceful program as described in your New York link. No wonder USA are steadily slipping down international scores.
Makes me sick to think that Min Ed Hekia Parata, who is going to introduce competition between teachers, will make the New York disaster our disaster.
Goldman Sacs involvement in getting Greece into EU, video for Gosman,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17108367
What programme was this?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6462211/Police-complaint-over-election-programme
Whoops, someone at UF must have got their dates wrong.
Anonymous gives the Greek Government an ultimatum
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/anonymous-hacks-greek-ministry-website-demands-imf-withdrawal-threatens-it-will-wipe-away-all-c
CV even conservative MP’s in the UK are advocating for Greece to default and set up their own currency again.Otherwise as these Conservative MPs have pointed out Greece will never recover!
They are saying Greece will just keep getting worse and not better.
Why aren’t our Con artistive Trolls backing their opinion!
Where have all the Trolls gone!
Crikey! What next. And a default might be the best for the people. At least they would all be in the mess together instead of just the vulnerable.
Yes, William, I was responding to him, not you! No reply button under yours so my current reply is out of order…