Another piece of utter propaganda in the Herlad.
Could have been written by some our RWNJs who visit this site…
Claire Trevett sucking up to Key again.
‘Little’s a jinx and Key’s a curse – just don’t tell ABs’
This excerpt is particularly appalling
‘Labour did try to justify its breach of the jinx rules by claiming it was simply because Little was optimistic and upbeat. If so it was the only thing he has been optimistic about of late.
Some things justify it – the detainees in Christmas Island, for example. But Little has griped about everything from the TPP, the economy and the surplus to the flag referendum and pandas. It should not have come as a surprise that he went to just 8 per cent in the recent Colmar Brunton poll.’
Standing up to the TPP, being concerned about the state of our economy, questioning the distractions Key discusses to keep people distracted equals griping!
And she even repeats Key’s 8% meme.
And ignores 32 + 11 + 9.
Trevitt lives up nationals butt shilling their memes and normally goes on shonkys junkets to advance their cause. Pretty poor standard of writing also imo given her intent as theres no subtelty just obvious bias.
Trevitt is repulsive. Labour should do the opposite of any of her advice, Little are on 8% because of the rumours Labour’s support TPP. Trevitt is probably on the Natz pay roll as their patsy, nothing new there.
From Wikipedia, some research for Catherine Beard below.
”The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) is a think tank based in New Zealand. It is non-profit incorporated society and was established in 1958. Directors have included Alan Bollard and Brian Easton. Ron Trotter was a chair.’
Tips for her as a journalist.
Check your sources.
If the NZIER say the investor state clauses aren’t a threat, that doesn’t make it a fact. It is an opinion.
Who funds them?
Who are members?
Do they have vested interests?
Trevett, like the Herald‘s rugby writers, probably knows little or nothing about rugby, but even she will be aware that the All Blacks’ highly controversial status as RWC champions has nothing to do with any jinx by any politician, but has everything to do with the refusal of Craig Joubert to stop the All Black forwards—especially but not only McCaw, Hore, and Kaino—from repeatedly and flagrantly cheating and killing nearly every contest for the ball.
My view is pretty much the same as everyone else’s, apart from the few sad people like Keith Quinn and Brendan “Chainsaw” Laney, who have felt compelled to defend the indefensible.
Morrissey, the ABs have been on the receiving end of some howlers and they’ve been the recipients of some howlers as well, its just the price to pay for having one referee on the field
The All Blacks didn’t simply receive the benefit of a few “howlers” by Craig Joubert in the 2011 final, they “benefited”—if you can use that word for a pyrrhic victory—from a referee who blatantly and systematically refused to do his job.
When have the All Blacks ever suffered from a display comparable to what we witnessed in 2011?
1995 rugby world cup final v south Africa when the pass to Jonah Lomu was ruled forward when it clearly wasn’t
That’s a fair call. But then, of course, South Africa shouldn’t have even been in that final; France was robbed in the semi-final.
2007 rugby world cup quarter final v France when the French through [sic] a forward pass and it wasn’t called
In the first half, McAlister scored a try following a forward pass by Dan Carter. Why did you not mention that?
Bad calls happen all the time
They happen occasionally. The problem with Joubert in 2011 was his refusal to make any call at all, not just in a single case but repeatedly. Just have a look at the disbelief and despair on the faces of the French players as, time after time, he does nothing to stop the All Blacks destroying the match.
Not even talking about the forward pass, even though it was so far forward it should have been impossible to miss, i’m talking about the completely lob sided penalty count. The All Blacks awarded only 2 penalties, and none at all in the second half despite constant infringing at the breakdown. The AB’s had complete territorial domination with rucks and mauls, but were not awarded a bunch of penalties that they should have been.
Sure, the AB’s should never have let it get to that, but in sport sometimes these things happen. Error’s occur on both sides, and for you to say that the AB’s should not have won the last world cup, is to put it lightly, complete bollocks.
It happened at great speed, and while armchair critics like you and me saw it, not one of the All Blacks saw it or complained about it. Similarly, not one of the French players complained about the forward pass that led to McAlister’s try in the first half.
2.) The All Blacks awarded only 2 penalties, and none at all in the second half despite constant infringing at the breakdown.
The French did not infringe at all; that’s why they were not penalised. More than any other team in the world, they have been victimised by whistle-happy referees; I recommend you watch a video of the 1999 RWC final some time.
3.) The AB’s had complete territorial domination with rucks and mauls, but were not awarded a bunch of penalties that they should have been.
You are imagining things. You cannot point to one example of the French infringing, let alone “a bunch of penalties”. I don’t like that negative, fearful, defence-based football any more than others do, but it is based on staunch discipline—not something one automatically associates with the French, I know.
4.) Sure, the AB’s should never have let it get to that…
What do you mean by that? Surely the Tricolors should “never have let it get to that”. The fact is: the French got their noses in front and then effectively closed the game down. They did not infringe; that orchestrated litany of allegations only started with Bob Howitt’s pisspoor biography of Graham Henry in 2012. Nobody—except you, evidently—takes those claims seriously.
5.) Error’s [sic] occur on both sides, and for you to say that the AB’s should not have won the last world cup, is to put it lightly, complete bollocks.
Maybe the All Blacks would have won the last World Cup if it had been refereed fairly. We’ll never know, sadly.
Breen elaborately, grandly, peels kid glove from his left hand
northshoredoc: 3rd rate sports pundit.
MORRISSEY BREEN: W-w-what?!!??!?!? [With a well-honed backhand flicking action, he slaps northshore doc across the face with the kid glove] You, sir, are a cad.
Trevett is getting worse by the day – trying to be clever and failing utterly – who would actually PAY to read this crap? The paywall idea is getting funnier by the day – My mother is 87 and gets the Herald delivered – she read what Trevett wrote and said “She must really think the entire population are a bunch of morons, I won’t be renewing my subscription at Christmas!”
October 20th, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Off the chart Radiation in Cities across America due to Pacific current release
Normal Radiation is 5 to 20 CPM. [6]
1962 CPM, 392.4 Times Normal, Billings, MT Gamma, Beta.
1853 CPM, 370.6 Times Normal, Louisville, KY Gamma, Beta
1645 CPM, 329 Times Normal, Pierre, SD Gamma, Beta.
1545 CPM, 309 Times Normal, San Diego, CA Inactive 10 -15
1496 CPM, 299.2 Times Normal, Lexington, KY Gamma, Beta
1425 CPM, 285 Times Normal, Miami, FL. Gamma, Beta.
1422 CPM, 284.4 Times Normal, Portland, ME Last Reading
1393 CPM, 278.6 Times Normal, Navajo Lake, NM Gamma, Beta.
1355 CPM, 271 Times Normal, Mason City, IA Gamma, Beta.
1347 CPM, 269.4 Times Normal, Denver, CO. Gamma, Beta.
1311 CPM, 262.2 Times Normal, Rapid City, SD. Gamma, Beta.
1311 CPM, 262.2 Times Normal, Spokane, WA. Gamma, Beta.
1261 CPM, 252.2 Times Normal, Little Rock, AR Gamma, Beta.
1234 CPM, 246.8 Times Normal, Kansas City, KA, Gamma, Beta.
1228 CPM, 245.6 Times Normal, Fresno, CA Gamma, Beta.
1221 CPM, 244.2 Times Normal, Idaho Falls, ID Gamma, Beta.
1214 CPM, 242.8 Times Normal, Fresno, CA. Gamma, Beta.
1214 CPM, 242.8 Times Normal, Kearney. NE Dead Inactive Oct2015
1213 CPM, 242.6 Times Normal, Harrisburg, VA. Gamma, Beta.
1205 CPM, 241 Times Normal, New York City, NY Gamma, Beta.
1203 CPM, 240.6 Times Normal, Charleston, WV. Gamma, Beta.
1171 CPM, 234.2 Times Normal, Bakersfield, CA Gamma, Beta.
1166 CPM, 233.2 Times Normal, Tulsa, OK Gamma, Beta.
1159 CPM, 231.8 Times Normal, Concord, NH Gamma, Beta.
1145 CPM, 229 Times Normal, Bismark, ND. Gamma, Beta.
1130 CPM, 226 Times Normal, Worcester, MA. Gamma, Beta.
1121 CPM, 224.2 Times Normal, El Paso, TX. Gamma, Beta.
1121 CPM, 224.2 Times Normal, Tucson, AZ Gamma, Beta.
1116 CPM, 223.2 Times Normal, Memphis, TN Gamma, Beta.
1115 CPM, 223 Times Normal, Tallahassee, FL. Gamma, Beta.
1095 CPM, 219 Times Normal, Jefferson City, MO Gamma, Beta.
1088 CPM, 217.6 Times Normal, Champaign, IL Gamma, Beta.
1083 CPM, 216.6 Times Normal, Richmond, VA Gamma, Beta.
1081 CPM, 216.2 Times Normal, Atlanta, GA. Gamma, Beta.
1071 CPM, 214.2 Times Normal, Laredo, TX. Gamma, Beta.
1056 CPM, 211.2 Times Normal, Hartford, CT Gamma, Beta.
1030 CPM, 206 Times Normal, Wichita, KA. Gamma, Beta.
1029 CPM, 205.8 Times Normal, Riverside, CA. Gamma, Beta.
1028 CPM, 205.6 Times Normal, Phoenix, AZ Gamma, Beta.
1010 CPM, 202 Times Normal, Pittsburgh, PA, Gamma, Beta.
1009 CPM, 201.8 Times Normal, Oklahoma City, OK. Gamma, Beta.
372 CPM, 74.4 Times Normal, Washington, DC. Gamma, Beta.
Normal Radiation is 5 to 20 CPM. [6]
Googled and found this. This content has been posted in multiple places so I’m not sure the ‘origin’ of it.
(San Francisco) Oct 17 2015 – An unacknowledged nuclear event swept through the Upper Midwest in the United States in September 2015. No terrorist organization, nuclear capable corporation, government agency or organized military has taken credit for the event.
In a nutshell, here’s what happened: A powerful nuclear pulse was created somewhere in the upper Midwest and spread a radioactive wave front outward hundreds of miles across America’s Heartland. The pulse was recorded at the few active and published radiation stations with an unmistakable signature.
This all seems very unlikely. Any ‘powerful radiation wavefront’ would have caused large scale occurrence of radiation sickness. Chinese and Russian satellites would also have picked it up.
Yeah, i think some universities would have been publishing about it (as they did in the aftermath of Fukushima), not some anonymous ‘radiation stations’.
It would be picked up by countries other than the US as well, obviously Canada, but it would reach Europe / Asia after a few days, just as there was a detected increase in radiation on the west coast of the US a few days after Fukushima.
There have been always been radioactive spikes all over the world whenever we get volcanic eruptions, solar flares, nuclear tests, and the odd meltdown. The problem with virtually everything I ever read on these kinds of scare articles is that they don’t bother giving any sense of real scale, like what difference it is compared to living in a valley with a granite geology.
Consequently I don’t take any notice of the idiots promulgating them any more.
FFS: They can’t even use measurements that are meaningful.
It is essentially bullshit. Especially when expressed as counts per minute (does whoever compiled it live in the 1950s with an antique Geiger counter?) rather than a more useful measure like micro seiverts.
CPM basically measures alpha and more weakly the beta and pretty well ignores the more dangerous gamma radiation (which incidentally makes a mockery of his list – where is the link for that anyway).
In other words it responds well to smoke alarms in most households with their wee dollop of radioactive test far better than it responds to serious leaks in nuclear power plants most of the way around the world. It also responds very well to solar flares.
But the really ridiculous thing about that “quote” is that there is no such thing as a “Normal Radiation”. That is a complete and outright lie. Background radiation varies all over the place
Geology alone tells you that. There are many places in the world (Deccan traps, Turkey, Siberia) where the background radiation level is in the order of 100x that of a sedimentary plain because they are sitting on large basalt or granite rocks with outgassing of Radon or other radioactive breakdowns. For instance the granite intrusion area in the Coromandel is way higher for radioactivity compared to living on the Canturbury plains.
Consequently, humans like all other species on earth have a reasonably high resistance to varying levels of radiation.
But Robert’s list is completely useless without knowing what the average and range of background radiation was in each of those cities. All cities are radioactive well above natural background levels.
I’d class Robert’s comment and whatever unlinked source he copied it from as just being stupid scare bullshit written by fools who had no idea what they were writing about. It should be simply ignored as not adding anything to the debate.
It’d be nice if someone wrote something that is a bit more useful and rational about what is worth watching for with radiation. In particular with a comparison to living in different areas with their natural background radiation. Like the polar regions for instance.
Or is that just your opinion which you don’t need to back up with evidence…the rules change around here so often it’s difficult to keep up.
Well that certainly explains a lot about what you do in debates.
In general, you can express any opinion you like. However once you state something as fact, there is an onus to back it up if it seems farfetched or bullshit or maligns someone etc.
Al Jazeera “news” is a farrago of politically biased cant.
Its “journalists” have clearly been told to crank up the displays of contempt for official enemies
These impressions are from a selection of just a few minutes of viewing for a couple of items, but it’s typical of what is said on this official outlet for the Qatari dictatorship, on the hour, every hour…
1.) Al Jazeera News, Wednesday 21 October 2015, 8:25 p.m. (NZ)
The Chinese president is in Britain. Of course, when any Chinese or Iranian or Russian leader meets with a human rights champion such as David Cameron, or Binyamin Netanyahu, or Prince Harry, or Queen Elizabeth, the subject of human rights HAS to be mentioned by the state media. This time, after showing an anti-Chinese protest outside the official reception, the reporter notes archly that Xi Jinping is now “at the state banquet, where human rights is unlikely to be the topic of conversation.” (cue picture of Xi Jinping clinking glasses with Queen Elizabeth)
A few minutes later, Rory Challands seems offended by the fact that President Assad is having talks with Pres. Putin in Moscow.
2.) Al Jazeera news, 10 p.m., Wednesday 21 October 2015
For the first item, there’s only one possible choice: the outrageous meeting of two Bond villains. Autocue reader Jane Dutton frowns and tries to look as grave as she can. Her harsh South African accent serves to enhance the minatory effect she is working so hard to achieve….
JANE DUTTON: Syria’s president makes an UNANNOUNCED VISIT to Moscow to be with Vladimir Putin!
Keeping up the grim, glowering expression, she crosses live to the even grimmer looking Moscow correspondent. He’s been practising his troubled, sour demeanour for the last hour and a half….
JANE DUTTON: What are the PLANS now, Rory?
RORY CHALLAND:[snorts contemptuously] Huh! That’s a very good question! They’ll be talking about the bombing of FRIENDLY groups, MODERATE groups, groups that have been trying to get rid of President al Assad and that the west has been supporting…..
Nah, they wouldn’t dare. That’d see them totally screwed internationally and they know it. Notice that they never attack Assad’s forces directly themselves? They’ve talked about it but never done it.
They can’t even afford to supply their “moderate” rebel friends with anti-aircraft missiles so someone else could maybe do it – in case the missiles wind up being used against their own aircraft the way things go over there.
If the US wanted to do it, they would have done it..they would have known about trip well in advance — thanks to Mossad (who seem to know everything, apparently)
Assad is not a enemy of the West, he is a secular leader who was attacked by ISIL and other rebels of dubious back-grounds. The Americans and the West have backed the wrong side in Syria and the refugee crisis is the result. The Russians have picked up a mess, but do not underestimate their resolve in Syria or their understanding of Islam. Putin has and will continue to make America and Europe look stupid and impotent in the Middle East.
Assad is the enemy of every refugee/displaced person in Syria or who has fled Syria. Assad’s leadership is untenable in the long term.
The way I see Syria is:
1. Saudi Arabia want Assad gone.
2. The Kurds seem to be able to defend their territory, they require more weapons to be more effective.
3. The opposition fighters want Assad gone.
4. Assad does not have an army to defeat Isil.
5. Assad needs to make up his mind who the biggest enemy in Syria is and to defeat them with the help of Russia and the USA, then to unite all the different religions and nationalties.
6. Putin could not do any worse than the USA, (Russia took on Afganistan in the 1990s and Putin has not interfered in the 2000 invasion by the USA in Iraq and Afganistan).
7. Turkey will fall apart on the shared border unless there is stability in Syria.
The suffering is clear to see on the faces of those who have fled Syria, Iraq and Afganistan..
Stalin did a u – turn in WW2, Putin is no fool.
For all I know the USA could already be working with Russia in Syria.
Yes, infused, it is a fair comment to observe that RT cleaves pretty closely to the Russian government’s line, just as the ABC parrots Canberra’s line and the BBC is a megaphone for the British political elite.
But it’s not fair or accurate to say that RT is “the same” as Al Jazeera; it’s not a simple case of one being as bad as the other. Both of them have some excellent documentaries, and some excellent reporting, but both of them also have some extremely dodgy, almost comically bad programmes too.
On RT, Jesse Ventura’s son fronts a simply absurd program which varies little from the paranoid tone of his father’s commentaries. Al Jazeera has some truly brilliant programmes, but they also give an inordinate amount of time to dolts like Mehdi Hassan and Kamahl Santamaria.
Yes, RT’s commentary needs to be regarded just as skeptically as any other outlet’s, but I would challenge you to find anything on an RT news broadcast as unashamedly partisan and biased and dishonest as Rory Challand’s comments last night.
Oh that Andrew little would deal more definitively with the obtuse, dunderhead types like Suzie Ferguson on Morning Report just now.
On the question of Jacinda Ardern and the Labour deputy leadership dear Suzie started off with the pejorative – in as many words – ‘Mr Little, you’ve just despatched Ardern as useless.’ “No no no…..” says Little.
Not good enough for the obtuse Suzie. Two or three more times, different words, same question, same pejorative. I wish Little would deal with the unartful like Ferguson a little more in the nature of Winston – “Didn’t you hear what I just said Suzie ?”
Frustrating ! Ferguson’s one of the worst at it and deserves a good smacking. Who TF does she think she is with this childish gnawing on the construct bone of her own making ?
Susie Ferguson 10 seconds ago on Labour’s polling-“it is 31% which hasn’t moved at all from the election.”
err no Susie. Labour’s vote is up 24% on the election (25 to 31). She then went on to try and posit some sort of leadership challenge by Ardern. err no Susie, it’s not happening.
She is biased. She is useless. Get rid of her Radio NZ.
Disgusting, I have my beef’s with Labour’s confusion on policy in particular TPP, but the journo’s are openly discriminating and manufacturing rubbish to Labour and the opposition’s faces. It is actually bullying when it is at that level.
Decent Journo’s are being sacked and dumb propaganda and outright lies are being used in these nauseating ‘interviews’ by journo nobodies with the journo just telling some manufactured line over and over during the interview. Not only does it mean no useful information comes out of the interview but it is hard for the interviewee to look good. In contract the nauseating fawning over the Natz makes me sick.
I actually have stopped watch most TV, radio and so forth. Have to get my info off the internet and selected journo’s who still have some integrity of whom you can now count on one hand.
I’m thinking it’s probably time for Labour’s MPs to all get some media training from Winston Peters. Winston really does probably have the best way to deal with these dense or biased kinds of reporters.
They end up busting a blood vessel while he just cruises off laughing.
Yes I’m sure it gives a few sad folk a thrill.
But after TWO DECADES Winston is still being asked the same question – which of the two parties will you put on the Treasury benches?
If you don’t consider that a valid question I would suggest it may well be you who’s a tad obtuse and biased.
It says a lot about Kiwi culture that one of the neoliberal protagonists (Winnie) of the 1990s is a hero for many, including those who actually follow politics, because he’s good with a put-down.
@ North: I am not sure what sort of response Andrew Little should take to this sort of nonsense but I do know that I am utterly sick of it. To start with, why is the deputy leadership of the LP suddenly a source of excitement? And why, when there are about 34 Labour MP’s, must it be a choice between two of them? Your phrase, “gnawing on a construct bone” is an apt one. Soap opera writers rely on the suspension of disbelieve to make us care about their constructed cliff hangers. It wears thin rather quickly when soap opera writing is so frequently offered as a stand-in for news.
Got your crazy meter a bit overtuned there Fan Club…..try to pitch that as an exhortation to physical violence you might as well try to fly to the moon. Have you no familiarity with prosaic metaphor ? Seems not. Makes you look like an illiterate mug. Your burden.
So you express your disapproval of a woman’s professional work though the metaphor of giving them “a good smack”? Classy!
I don’t think anyone expected you were personally going to deliver this smack. Online cowards never do. But oh well, keep fantasising about using physical violence to overcome your frustration at your political impotence!
Obviously you’ll believe (and impose) whatever you want to believe (and impose) Fan Club. Ever heard of an interviewee “owning” an idotic interviewer, one debater “slapping down” another, so and so getting a “smacking” in a verbal exchange” ?
In respective order that would be to rejoice in slavery, violence, and violence I suppose.
+100 North…spankings , paddywhacks, brickbats…for Morning Report ( they have all got well padded bums …bigger than their heads…and their heads are too big for their boots )
…a little bit of metaphorical ,colloquial light chastisement never hurt anyone
Bro I was a strong supporter of the anti-smacking law because we have a huge problem with violence in New Zealand and bullshit excuses like this are part of why kids and women “get a good smack” and noone mans up and says it’s not ok.
Do you guys ever wonder why this space is so toxic to women?
Do you guys ever wonder why this space is so toxic to women?
You ever wonder why you are such an idiot? And how could you possibly know that? I suspect that you are simply deliberately lying and pulling ‘facts’ out of your arse.
FYI, we started getting estimates for male/female reader ratios back in March last year when Google analytics turned it on for “sessions” for the people where google knew their gender.
Since April 2014 to September 2015 we have had measurements of 1,582,138 sessions which is 56.24% of our total sessions.70.03% male and 29.97% female. The latter number is a very high percentage for a mainstream political blog.
After starting around 27% in April/May 2014, it peaked in September 2014 at 33% during election month. In April 2015 it was 31%. It has consistently been higher as a percentage this year compared to last year if you ignore months close to the elections. Last month it was 30%.
This year it has bounced around between 28% and 32%, lower when we have less traffic, and higher when we have more traffic. It’d be nice to figure out a way to increase faster overall. However there has been a discernible slow increase over the 18 months.
It pisses me off when I see lazy fuckwit critics like you outright lying about this site, and I’m liable to take offense.
Next time I’d suggest that you express it as an opinion rather than asserting a fact.
And this place is indeed an uncomfortable place for women.
Or you would see more of them here.
I know plenty of women working as volunteers for political organisations, but they avoid Internet political discussion because of the aggressive males who frequent such places spoiling for a fight. And this is no exception.
Personally I’m tired of what seems to happen whenever someone makes a statement about someone else, who happens to be female, others automatically assume the author was being sexist.
If they had said that Guyon needed a smacking, would you have been jumping up and down about sexism? Or would you have not said anything at all.
Who said anything about sexism bro? I said that if you want to hit female journos cause you don’t like there work maybe you should think about how you relate to women.
Maybe if society wasn’t so sexist you wouldn’t hear so much about it? If you’re sick of hearing about sexism why don’t you step up and do something about it.
You’re dishonest Fan Club. There were no ‘ifs’ in anything you said to me. You accused of outright threat of violence. Then upped the ante with your “coward” shit. Which is wickedly indulgent of course. You don’t know shit about me or my relationships with women.
Sadly common sense rules of interpretation often fall under the runaway truck of ‘immaculate zealotry’.
@ The Fan Club….The Standard aint toxic to women( some of the big girls are scary though)…and you deserve a good spanking for that porkie ( Nursies remedy for telling porkies)
Nursie: If you weren’t quite so big, it would be time for Mr and Mrs Spank to pay a short sharp trip to Bottieland.
Crosby Textor in overdrive drumming up “stories” about Labour…..deflecting from Keys flaccid flag pole.
Creating a Ardern v King for deputy is desperate, and we are doing pretty well if that’s the biggest “dirt” they can splash.
This piece on rabble.ca captures the flaws in the victory of the Liberals, notably that a proportionally representative electoral system would have produced a more progressive minority government, and the Liberals aren’t actually promoting any practical steps to not sign the TPP or environmental issues like export pipelines, tar sands and fracking.
She doesn’t get to break the law with impunity, she could have easily stopped the sale at any time even target, when using kids, stopped short the kids buying cigarettes because that would have broken the law
Just because the ratings are tanking she decides to try to create some controversy and try to create a link to the shootings in the USA
You still struggling with the difference between public interest and personal interest PR?
If HDPA had stopped short of actually buying the gun then fair enough, like how on Target they’d get schoolkids to go into shops to buy cigarettes but wouldn’t actually any, she’d have a point
But she can’t go and complain how easy it is to buy a gun by lying on the documents and then say she shouldn’t be charged
If i went out and put incorrect information on my driving licence and started driving an HT truck would that make it ok because I’m showing the loophole?
Law expert says Heather Du Plessis-Allan would lose against Gun City millionaire
Gun shop owner likely to go ahead with a private prosecution
“Although technically [Gun City] might not have broken any laws or regulations, it has shown that [their] processes which are in place are shonky at best, or at least very easily evadable.”
(I find the use of the phrase millionarie interesting because assuming HDPA and her husband own a house then she’d be classed as a millionaire as well)
But what does his financial status have to do with anything, is it that hes a millionaire therefore he must be in the wrong?
I’d suggest that Mr and Mrs HDPA probably own a home or two in auckland which would make her a millionaire as well but I didn’t see anything like millionaire journalist HDPA
Irrespective of your opinion that the seller wasn’t at fault, that doesn’t answer the question “why did the seller not know that the police ID was fake?” (I’m not asking who was at fault).
Actually, in this case, she does as she used the act to highlight to the public that it was happening and that the government and the police needed to review their present processes and legislation.
Well no, she still broke the law, and does not have something like diplomatic immunity that would actually allow her to ‘break the law with impunity’ (and even diplomatic immunity is more theoretical, as we saw with the Malaysian diplomat who is now facing his crimes despite having diplomatic immunity).
The police have discretion in who they charge for law breaking, and what specific charges they choose to lay.
She can be, and probably will be, charged. But once in court she has the defense of Public Interest which, IMO, will hold. What she found is most definitely in the public interest to know.
The police probably don’t like getting egg on their face over this but such mistakes are how you learn.
Is it though or is it because the ratings are poor and they’re trying to desperately link this to american shootings because controversy creates cash (or in this case rating?
Firstly the rates of deaths via frearms is thankfully low (could be lower of course)
Secondly rates of crime involving guns is also low
Thirdly if a crim wants a gun there are less trackable ways of buying a gun
Is it though or is it because the ratings are poor and they’re trying to desperately link this to american shootings because controversy creates cash (or in this case rating?
Just because they’re trying to up ratings doesn’t mean that it’s not in the public interest. One does not negate the other.
Firstly the rates of deaths via frearms is thankfully low (could be lower of course)
Secondly rates of crime involving guns is also low
This has nothing to do with the discussion so why bring it up?
Thirdly if a crim wants a gun there are less trackable ways of buying a gun
Actually, I suspect that there isn’t a less trackable way than this. False name, false license, false police officer, false address, legitimate gun.
Remember, even legitimate guns aren’t registered any more.
I brought it up because the program is trying to scare people into thinking theres a flood of illegal weapons out there and crims are running around armed to the hilt and they’re arn’t
I mean I’d have thought the people on the left would have been aghast about the blatent attempt by the media to scare people because when people are scared they want tougher laws in place or, because Greg O’Connor seems to be involved, arming the police
I brought it up because the program is trying to scare people into thinking theres a flood of illegal weapons out there and crims are running around armed to the hilt and they’re arn’t
Then you should probably have started another thread about that then rather than placing it in a thread about something else.
OUR RESEARCH INDICATES ABOUT 28% OF VOTERS CONSIDERED VOTING GREEN AT THE LAST ELECTION. And that’s on top of the 10.7% of voters who did give the Greens their party vote.
from a Green Party email from Jeanette Fitzsimons. They’re going to hire a campaign manager in Jan as part of the drive to increase the actual vote.
Even allowing for the vagueness of what ‘considered’ means, those are impressive numbers. Which begs the question of why people don’t vote Green, esp people on the left. I think the reasons are varied, but it does seem like there is still this hesitancy and I don’t quite get what it’s about. I think the whole they’re amatuers who shouldn’t be in govt thing is well behind them, so what is it?
btw, they’re asking for donations to help with the campaign. This is one easy way for well off lefties to support a left wing government. Donations can be made here,
“it does seem like there is still this hesitancy and I don’t quite get what it’s about”
I don’t understand it either. My only assumption is people have bought into the right-wing fear-mongering, and that once the Greens actually get into power they will show that they really aren’t crazies, they are competent, and their vote share will rise from there.
“…the Government’s long-term rental contracts were a “double A rated, Government guaranteed investment product” which most investors would “climb over broken glass” for.”
In 2013 this guy first made the news. With his $18,000 deposit for a home, a plan, living rent free at parents home, accountant job… all designed to show that if you really want a home you can get one. Or 3. Or 7.
Interestingly in February 2013 he was 24 years old. Two and a half years later Stuff tells us, he is only 25. A small thing, perhaps. But an error or inaccuracy nonetheless.
Anyway, it reads, to me, as an Advertorial. Seems little reason to repeat it, especially as it is Australian based. Slow news day? Low staff means news needs to be recycled or a piece of paid advertising but undisclosed?
We really need to jump on this habit of elevating bludging to heights of respectability that the MSM has. these bludgers are why we have poverty, inequality and a poor innovation culture.
How much does he owe the banks? That is what I would like to know.
Unless and until all the properties are paid in full he owns squat diddly do other then an arsefull of debt.
What would happen to posterboy if the market tanks, he looses his job, one of his buildings is a leaky or otherwise shoddy build and he suddenly can’t service the bills?
So he might own the mortgages for 8 buildings, but the banks owns him, all of him until he pays them their dues.
The Serious Fraud Office says Auckland’s property market and the scale of commercial developments is a ‘key environmental risk’.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating large-scale mortgage fraud in the Auckland property market involving developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers.
“Auckland’s property market and the scale of impending commercial developments represent a key environmental risk,” the SFO said in its 2015 annual report released this week.
“We have invested significant resources into investigating a large-scale mortgage fraud involving highly organised teams of property developers, shell company directors, property valuers and lawyers.”
The SFO, which aims to reduce the impact of serious financial crime on both the economy and the public, said the investigation is ongoing and declined further comment.
You trembled like you’d seen a ghost
And I gave in
I lacked the things you need the most,
You said where have you been?
You wasted all that sweetness to run and hide
I wonder why
I remind you of the days you poured your heart into
But you never tried
I’ve fallen from grace
Took a blow to my face
I’ve loved and I’ve lost
I’ve loved and I’ve lost
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
It will never be the same
You left my soul bleeding in the dark
So you could be king
The rules you set are still untold to me
And I’ve lost my faith in everything
The nights you could cope,
Your intentions were gold
But the mountains will shake
I need to know I can still make
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
And as the floods move in
And your body starts to sink
I was the last thing on your mind
I know you better than you think
‘Cause it’s simple darling, I gave you warning
Now everything you own is falling from the sky in pieces
So watch them fall with you, in slow motion
I pray that you’ll find peace of mind
And I’ll find you another time
I’ll love you, another time
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
Poetry comes from the heart, true poetry is written from the heart, with inspiration, and it always comes from instincts, intuition, feeling and beauty, whether that beauty is born from sadness or happiness, it doesn’t matter but it always comes from the heart.
You can’t just write crap and make it rhyme, you are ‘budget’.
Much as I’d like,
To meet the Tory goad,
He offers nothing for his part,
No prime examples of this art,
Nor wit, nor wisdom,
I’ll depart,
From his neglected road.
Now oab I try not to grip,
But it looks like that for today blue boy has stayed away from the pipe.
I say the proggresives should allow him the chance
To free his mind to dance.
The best thing to do
With the Boy who is Blue
May be to ignore
Or to boot out the door
But the job is not mine
So I won’t waste more time
Going on about that
I’ll just smile at the prat
🙂
Oh look, C&R Auckland (that conduit of national or ACT depending on what time of year it is) is breaking the intent if not the letter of the law in the Auckland Energy Trust elections.
1. Wall St Journal “TPP Is Surprising Vote of Confidence in Globalization”
“Despite limits on sovereignty, political support for trade pact is strong—except in the U.S.”
“Every country will bear some political price. Thousands have taken to the streets in New Zealand to protest potentially higher drug prices and the threat of lawsuits by multinational companies claiming discrimination. Australians have similar concerns. Japanese farmers complain of betrayal. Yet in all three, as in Canada, opposition parties back the agreement, though this is contingent on the still-unreleased text rather than the principles agreed to in Atlanta on Oct. 5.”
Meanwhile in nzherald we have Catherine Beard writing : “Dispute provisions in TPP to protect New Zealand’s sovereignty” without having read the fine print. If the chance of ISDS threat was so low, Catherine, then why was it necessary to carve out Tobacco from using it? Getting a RW think tank to “research” ISDS is a joke.
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
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While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
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On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
The unidentified foreign intelligence operation discussed in a scathing report by New Zealand’s Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) last week appears to be a controversial United States intelligence system. The IGIS report said the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) decision to host a foreign system from 2012-2020 was “improper” ...
Another piece of utter propaganda in the Herlad.
Could have been written by some our RWNJs who visit this site…
Claire Trevett sucking up to Key again.
‘Little’s a jinx and Key’s a curse – just don’t tell ABs’
This excerpt is particularly appalling
‘Labour did try to justify its breach of the jinx rules by claiming it was simply because Little was optimistic and upbeat. If so it was the only thing he has been optimistic about of late.
Some things justify it – the detainees in Christmas Island, for example. But Little has griped about everything from the TPP, the economy and the surplus to the flag referendum and pandas. It should not have come as a surprise that he went to just 8 per cent in the recent Colmar Brunton poll.’
Standing up to the TPP, being concerned about the state of our economy, questioning the distractions Key discusses to keep people distracted equals griping!
And she even repeats Key’s 8% meme.
And ignores 32 + 11 + 9.
Tory propagandist, Trevett.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11532921
Trevitt lives up nationals butt shilling their memes and normally goes on shonkys junkets to advance their cause. Pretty poor standard of writing also imo given her intent as theres no subtelty just obvious bias.
Trevitt is repulsive. Labour should do the opposite of any of her advice, Little are on 8% because of the rumours Labour’s support TPP. Trevitt is probably on the Natz pay roll as their patsy, nothing new there.
We can add Catherine Beard to the propaganda touting list.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11532902
From Wikipedia, some research for Catherine Beard below.
”The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) is a think tank based in New Zealand. It is non-profit incorporated society and was established in 1958. Directors have included Alan Bollard and Brian Easton. Ron Trotter was a chair.’
Tips for her as a journalist.
Check your sources.
If the NZIER say the investor state clauses aren’t a threat, that doesn’t make it a fact. It is an opinion.
Who funds them?
Who are members?
Do they have vested interests?
etc etc
The NZ MSM is just so mediocre and so biased.
Another far right wing lobby group hiding behind the ‘think tank’ moniker.
That is such crap. They are a mainstream economic consultancy with a public interest provision in their charter.
There are no “far right” lobby groups in New Zealand!
The relentless negativity here is appalling.
your relentless self righteousness is tiring
The provisions are there to protect and uphold the interests of New Zealand exporters and that of international corporates.
Catherine Beard works with government and other key decision makers on issues of concern to exporters.
Could this be part of National’s charm offensive?
It would be good to see the opposition commissioning reports to counter such arguments being put forward by Beard.
Trevett, like the Herald‘s rugby writers, probably knows little or nothing about rugby, but even she will be aware that the All Blacks’ highly controversial status as RWC champions has nothing to do with any jinx by any politician, but has everything to do with the refusal of Craig Joubert to stop the All Black forwards—especially but not only McCaw, Hore, and Kaino—from repeatedly and flagrantly cheating and killing nearly every contest for the ball.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7C6bTHyC0U
What about Joubert’s refereeing of the Scotland vs Australia match?
Your view?
My view is pretty much the same as everyone else’s, apart from the few sad people like Keith Quinn and Brendan “Chainsaw” Laney, who have felt compelled to defend the indefensible.
Morrissey, the ABs have been on the receiving end of some howlers and they’ve been the recipients of some howlers as well, its just the price to pay for having one referee on the field
The All Blacks didn’t simply receive the benefit of a few “howlers” by Craig Joubert in the 2011 final, they “benefited”—if you can use that word for a pyrrhic victory—from a referee who blatantly and systematically refused to do his job.
When have the All Blacks ever suffered from a display comparable to what we witnessed in 2011?
2007
2007? How so?
1995 rugby world cup final v south Africa when the pass to Jonah Lomu was ruled forward when it clearly wasn’t
2007 rugby world cup quarter final v France when the French through a forward pass and it wasn’t called
Bad calls happen all the time
1995 rugby world cup final v south Africa when the pass to Jonah Lomu was ruled forward when it clearly wasn’t
That’s a fair call. But then, of course, South Africa shouldn’t have even been in that final; France was robbed in the semi-final.
2007 rugby world cup quarter final v France when the French through [sic] a forward pass and it wasn’t called
In the first half, McAlister scored a try following a forward pass by Dan Carter. Why did you not mention that?
Bad calls happen all the time
They happen occasionally. The problem with Joubert in 2011 was his refusal to make any call at all, not just in a single case but repeatedly. Just have a look at the disbelief and despair on the faces of the French players as, time after time, he does nothing to stop the All Blacks destroying the match.
Not even talking about the forward pass, even though it was so far forward it should have been impossible to miss, i’m talking about the completely lob sided penalty count. The All Blacks awarded only 2 penalties, and none at all in the second half despite constant infringing at the breakdown. The AB’s had complete territorial domination with rucks and mauls, but were not awarded a bunch of penalties that they should have been.
Sure, the AB’s should never have let it get to that, but in sport sometimes these things happen. Error’s occur on both sides, and for you to say that the AB’s should not have won the last world cup, is to put it lightly, complete bollocks.
1.) …should have been impossible to miss
It happened at great speed, and while armchair critics like you and me saw it, not one of the All Blacks saw it or complained about it. Similarly, not one of the French players complained about the forward pass that led to McAlister’s try in the first half.
2.) The All Blacks awarded only 2 penalties, and none at all in the second half despite constant infringing at the breakdown.
The French did not infringe at all; that’s why they were not penalised. More than any other team in the world, they have been victimised by whistle-happy referees; I recommend you watch a video of the 1999 RWC final some time.
3.) The AB’s had complete territorial domination with rucks and mauls, but were not awarded a bunch of penalties that they should have been.
You are imagining things. You cannot point to one example of the French infringing, let alone “a bunch of penalties”. I don’t like that negative, fearful, defence-based football any more than others do, but it is based on staunch discipline—not something one automatically associates with the French, I know.
4.) Sure, the AB’s should never have let it get to that…
What do you mean by that? Surely the Tricolors should “never have let it get to that”. The fact is: the French got their noses in front and then effectively closed the game down. They did not infringe; that orchestrated litany of allegations only started with Bob Howitt’s pisspoor biography of Graham Henry in 2012. Nobody—except you, evidently—takes those claims seriously.
5.) Error’s [sic] occur on both sides, and for you to say that the AB’s should not have won the last world cup, is to put it lightly, complete bollocks.
Maybe the All Blacks would have won the last World Cup if it had been refereed fairly. We’ll never know, sadly.
“The French did not infringe at all; that’s why they were not penalised”
ha ha, you keep telling yourself that. Sorry, i thought you were talking about the 2007 quarter final. It must be another game you are talking about.
Just as I suspected, you have not watched the game.
You need to, and soon.
I didn’t mention because it wasn’t worth mentioning, the ABs get good calls for them and they get bad calls against them
Its just how sports is
2nd rate stenographer
3rd rate sports pundit
northshoredoc: 2nd rate stenographer.
MORRISSEY BREEN: Eh?
Breen elaborately, grandly, peels kid glove from his left hand
northshoredoc: 3rd rate sports pundit.
MORRISSEY BREEN: W-w-what?!!??!?!? [With a well-honed backhand flicking action, he slaps northshore doc across the face with the kid glove] You, sir, are a cad.
Did she mention ‘relentless negativity’? That seems to be the phrase of the week.
Trevett is getting worse by the day – trying to be clever and failing utterly – who would actually PAY to read this crap? The paywall idea is getting funnier by the day – My mother is 87 and gets the Herald delivered – she read what Trevett wrote and said “She must really think the entire population are a bunch of morons, I won’t be renewing my subscription at Christmas!”
October 20th, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Off the chart Radiation in Cities across America due to Pacific current release
Normal Radiation is 5 to 20 CPM. [6]
1962 CPM, 392.4 Times Normal, Billings, MT Gamma, Beta.
1853 CPM, 370.6 Times Normal, Louisville, KY Gamma, Beta
1645 CPM, 329 Times Normal, Pierre, SD Gamma, Beta.
1545 CPM, 309 Times Normal, San Diego, CA Inactive 10 -15
1496 CPM, 299.2 Times Normal, Lexington, KY Gamma, Beta
1425 CPM, 285 Times Normal, Miami, FL. Gamma, Beta.
1422 CPM, 284.4 Times Normal, Portland, ME Last Reading
1393 CPM, 278.6 Times Normal, Navajo Lake, NM Gamma, Beta.
1355 CPM, 271 Times Normal, Mason City, IA Gamma, Beta.
1347 CPM, 269.4 Times Normal, Denver, CO. Gamma, Beta.
1311 CPM, 262.2 Times Normal, Rapid City, SD. Gamma, Beta.
1311 CPM, 262.2 Times Normal, Spokane, WA. Gamma, Beta.
1261 CPM, 252.2 Times Normal, Little Rock, AR Gamma, Beta.
1234 CPM, 246.8 Times Normal, Kansas City, KA, Gamma, Beta.
1228 CPM, 245.6 Times Normal, Fresno, CA Gamma, Beta.
1221 CPM, 244.2 Times Normal, Idaho Falls, ID Gamma, Beta.
1214 CPM, 242.8 Times Normal, Fresno, CA. Gamma, Beta.
1214 CPM, 242.8 Times Normal, Kearney. NE Dead Inactive Oct2015
1213 CPM, 242.6 Times Normal, Harrisburg, VA. Gamma, Beta.
1205 CPM, 241 Times Normal, New York City, NY Gamma, Beta.
1203 CPM, 240.6 Times Normal, Charleston, WV. Gamma, Beta.
1171 CPM, 234.2 Times Normal, Bakersfield, CA Gamma, Beta.
1166 CPM, 233.2 Times Normal, Tulsa, OK Gamma, Beta.
1159 CPM, 231.8 Times Normal, Concord, NH Gamma, Beta.
1145 CPM, 229 Times Normal, Bismark, ND. Gamma, Beta.
1130 CPM, 226 Times Normal, Worcester, MA. Gamma, Beta.
1121 CPM, 224.2 Times Normal, El Paso, TX. Gamma, Beta.
1121 CPM, 224.2 Times Normal, Tucson, AZ Gamma, Beta.
1116 CPM, 223.2 Times Normal, Memphis, TN Gamma, Beta.
1115 CPM, 223 Times Normal, Tallahassee, FL. Gamma, Beta.
1095 CPM, 219 Times Normal, Jefferson City, MO Gamma, Beta.
1088 CPM, 217.6 Times Normal, Champaign, IL Gamma, Beta.
1083 CPM, 216.6 Times Normal, Richmond, VA Gamma, Beta.
1081 CPM, 216.2 Times Normal, Atlanta, GA. Gamma, Beta.
1071 CPM, 214.2 Times Normal, Laredo, TX. Gamma, Beta.
1056 CPM, 211.2 Times Normal, Hartford, CT Gamma, Beta.
1030 CPM, 206 Times Normal, Wichita, KA. Gamma, Beta.
1029 CPM, 205.8 Times Normal, Riverside, CA. Gamma, Beta.
1028 CPM, 205.6 Times Normal, Phoenix, AZ Gamma, Beta.
1010 CPM, 202 Times Normal, Pittsburgh, PA, Gamma, Beta.
1009 CPM, 201.8 Times Normal, Oklahoma City, OK. Gamma, Beta.
372 CPM, 74.4 Times Normal, Washington, DC. Gamma, Beta.
Normal Radiation is 5 to 20 CPM. [6]
Can you provide a link from a reliable source ?
Googled and found this. This content has been posted in multiple places so I’m not sure the ‘origin’ of it.
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/10/17/your-radiation-this-week-no-26/
This all seems very unlikely. Any ‘powerful radiation wavefront’ would have caused large scale occurrence of radiation sickness. Chinese and Russian satellites would also have picked it up.
Yeah, i think some universities would have been publishing about it (as they did in the aftermath of Fukushima), not some anonymous ‘radiation stations’.
It would be picked up by countries other than the US as well, obviously Canada, but it would reach Europe / Asia after a few days, just as there was a detected increase in radiation on the west coast of the US a few days after Fukushima.
What about rusted containers or a battle ship leaking radiation previously dumped at sea?
There have been always been radioactive spikes all over the world whenever we get volcanic eruptions, solar flares, nuclear tests, and the odd meltdown. The problem with virtually everything I ever read on these kinds of scare articles is that they don’t bother giving any sense of real scale, like what difference it is compared to living in a valley with a granite geology.
Consequently I don’t take any notice of the idiots promulgating them any more.
FFS: They can’t even use measurements that are meaningful.
@ Robert Atack …interesting!…but what does it mean?…and what are the stats for New Zealand?
It is essentially bullshit. Especially when expressed as counts per minute (does whoever compiled it live in the 1950s with an antique Geiger counter?) rather than a more useful measure like micro seiverts.
CPM basically measures alpha and more weakly the beta and pretty well ignores the more dangerous gamma radiation (which incidentally makes a mockery of his list – where is the link for that anyway).
In other words it responds well to smoke alarms in most households with their wee dollop of radioactive test far better than it responds to serious leaks in nuclear power plants most of the way around the world. It also responds very well to solar flares.
But the really ridiculous thing about that “quote” is that there is no such thing as a “Normal Radiation”. That is a complete and outright lie. Background radiation varies all over the place
Geology alone tells you that. There are many places in the world (Deccan traps, Turkey, Siberia) where the background radiation level is in the order of 100x that of a sedimentary plain because they are sitting on large basalt or granite rocks with outgassing of Radon or other radioactive breakdowns. For instance the granite intrusion area in the Coromandel is way higher for radioactivity compared to living on the Canturbury plains.
Consequently, humans like all other species on earth have a reasonably high resistance to varying levels of radiation.
But Robert’s list is completely useless without knowing what the average and range of background radiation was in each of those cities. All cities are radioactive well above natural background levels.
I’d class Robert’s comment and whatever unlinked source he copied it from as just being stupid scare bullshit written by fools who had no idea what they were writing about. It should be simply ignored as not adding anything to the debate.
It’d be nice if someone wrote something that is a bit more useful and rational about what is worth watching for with radiation. In particular with a comparison to living in different areas with their natural background radiation. Like the polar regions for instance.
Hes copied off a list on a pseudo science blog,which in turn has extrapolated data (and added several orders of magnitude) from a quasi monitor site.
http://www.netc.com/
Yep my bullshitometer was altered as soon as it was posted – bit like the anti vaccination drivel that’s posted here on occasion.
Or the similar twin towers. Or the right wing drivel that you promulgate (while being a medical parasite). Or the junk about population air spraying.
I really don’t care that much unless it interferes with the site, ie escapes from OpenMike / Daily Review and causes diversions in the other posts.
Lprent – what ‘right wing drivel’ ? What is a ‘medical parasite ?’
Or is that just your opinion which you don’t need to back up with evidence…the rules change around here so often it’s difficult to keep up.
I think you might be getting back a bit of what you [unfairly] dish out to others sometimes.
@anne – all you seem to dish out is luke warm bile.
Ah, we’re at the projection stage of the conversation.
Have you brought the projector ?
given that Anne would be one of the least abusive people here I can only assume you are going off on one.
yep Anne is a strong, interesting and not abusive commenter – the best to have around imo
given that Anne would be one of the least abusive people here
Agreed. NSD you can do better than this.
Or is that just your opinion which you don’t need to back up with evidence…the rules change around here so often it’s difficult to keep up.
Well that certainly explains a lot about what you do in debates.
In general, you can express any opinion you like. However once you state something as fact, there is an onus to back it up if it seems farfetched or bullshit or maligns someone etc.
Meet the gang cos the boys are here. The boys to entertain you..
are you drunk?
Thank-you marty mars, weka and mickeysavage for the kind words.
Must confess I was angling for a negative riposte. Nice of NSD to confirm the point I was making. 🙂
Al Jazeera “news” is a farrago of politically biased cant.
Its “journalists” have clearly been told to crank up the displays of contempt for official enemies
These impressions are from a selection of just a few minutes of viewing for a couple of items, but it’s typical of what is said on this official outlet for the Qatari dictatorship, on the hour, every hour…
1.) Al Jazeera News, Wednesday 21 October 2015, 8:25 p.m. (NZ)
The Chinese president is in Britain. Of course, when any Chinese or Iranian or Russian leader meets with a human rights champion such as David Cameron, or Binyamin Netanyahu, or Prince Harry, or Queen Elizabeth, the subject of human rights HAS to be mentioned by the state media. This time, after showing an anti-Chinese protest outside the official reception, the reporter notes archly that Xi Jinping is now “at the state banquet, where human rights is unlikely to be the topic of conversation.” (cue picture of Xi Jinping clinking glasses with Queen Elizabeth)
A few minutes later, Rory Challands seems offended by the fact that President Assad is having talks with Pres. Putin in Moscow.
2.) Al Jazeera news, 10 p.m., Wednesday 21 October 2015
For the first item, there’s only one possible choice: the outrageous meeting of two Bond villains. Autocue reader Jane Dutton frowns and tries to look as grave as she can. Her harsh South African accent serves to enhance the minatory effect she is working so hard to achieve….
JANE DUTTON: Syria’s president makes an UNANNOUNCED VISIT to Moscow to be with Vladimir Putin!
Keeping up the grim, glowering expression, she crosses live to the even grimmer looking Moscow correspondent. He’s been practising his troubled, sour demeanour for the last hour and a half….
JANE DUTTON: What are the PLANS now, Rory?
RORY CHALLAND: [snorts contemptuously] Huh! That’s a very good question! They’ll be talking about the bombing of FRIENDLY groups, MODERATE groups, groups that have been trying to get rid of President al Assad and that the west has been supporting…..
….ad nauseam…
Of course it was unannounced; we wouldn’t want Assad’s plane to be accidentally shot down by a US F-16, would we?
Nah, they wouldn’t dare. That’d see them totally screwed internationally and they know it. Notice that they never attack Assad’s forces directly themselves? They’ve talked about it but never done it.
Good point…but having forced down the Ecuadorean president’s plane over the Snowden affair you never know…
They can’t even afford to supply their “moderate” rebel friends with anti-aircraft missiles so someone else could maybe do it – in case the missiles wind up being used against their own aircraft the way things go over there.
If the US wanted to do it, they would have done it..they would have known about trip well in advance — thanks to Mossad (who seem to know everything, apparently)
Assad is not a enemy of the West, he is a secular leader who was attacked by ISIL and other rebels of dubious back-grounds. The Americans and the West have backed the wrong side in Syria and the refugee crisis is the result. The Russians have picked up a mess, but do not underestimate their resolve in Syria or their understanding of Islam. Putin has and will continue to make America and Europe look stupid and impotent in the Middle East.
Assad is the enemy of every refugee/displaced person in Syria or who has fled Syria. Assad’s leadership is untenable in the long term.
The way I see Syria is:
1. Saudi Arabia want Assad gone.
2. The Kurds seem to be able to defend their territory, they require more weapons to be more effective.
3. The opposition fighters want Assad gone.
4. Assad does not have an army to defeat Isil.
5. Assad needs to make up his mind who the biggest enemy in Syria is and to defeat them with the help of Russia and the USA, then to unite all the different religions and nationalties.
6. Putin could not do any worse than the USA, (Russia took on Afganistan in the 1990s and Putin has not interfered in the 2000 invasion by the USA in Iraq and Afganistan).
7. Turkey will fall apart on the shared border unless there is stability in Syria.
The suffering is clear to see on the faces of those who have fled Syria, Iraq and Afganistan..
Stalin did a u – turn in WW2, Putin is no fool.
For all I know the USA could already be working with Russia in Syria.
RT is the same, yet keeps getting posted.
Yes, infused, it is a fair comment to observe that RT cleaves pretty closely to the Russian government’s line, just as the ABC parrots Canberra’s line and the BBC is a megaphone for the British political elite.
But it’s not fair or accurate to say that RT is “the same” as Al Jazeera; it’s not a simple case of one being as bad as the other. Both of them have some excellent documentaries, and some excellent reporting, but both of them also have some extremely dodgy, almost comically bad programmes too.
On RT, Jesse Ventura’s son fronts a simply absurd program which varies little from the paranoid tone of his father’s commentaries. Al Jazeera has some truly brilliant programmes, but they also give an inordinate amount of time to dolts like Mehdi Hassan and Kamahl Santamaria.
Yes, RT’s commentary needs to be regarded just as skeptically as any other outlet’s, but I would challenge you to find anything on an RT news broadcast as unashamedly partisan and biased and dishonest as Rory Challand’s comments last night.
Oh that Andrew little would deal more definitively with the obtuse, dunderhead types like Suzie Ferguson on Morning Report just now.
On the question of Jacinda Ardern and the Labour deputy leadership dear Suzie started off with the pejorative – in as many words – ‘Mr Little, you’ve just despatched Ardern as useless.’ “No no no…..” says Little.
Not good enough for the obtuse Suzie. Two or three more times, different words, same question, same pejorative. I wish Little would deal with the unartful like Ferguson a little more in the nature of Winston – “Didn’t you hear what I just said Suzie ?”
Frustrating ! Ferguson’s one of the worst at it and deserves a good smacking. Who TF does she think she is with this childish gnawing on the construct bone of her own making ?
Susie Ferguson 10 seconds ago on Labour’s polling-“it is 31% which hasn’t moved at all from the election.”
err no Susie. Labour’s vote is up 24% on the election (25 to 31). She then went on to try and posit some sort of leadership challenge by Ardern. err no Susie, it’s not happening.
She is biased. She is useless. Get rid of her Radio NZ.
+100 North and Bearded Git…Ferguson is pretty biased and hopeless…I really enjoyed it when Kim Hill was in her place for a short period recently
It is a soft, nact government biased, smoochy self satisfied programme …short on sharp questions and professionalism
Not going anywhere with the nact stacked RNZ upper levels as designed.
Disgusting, I have my beef’s with Labour’s confusion on policy in particular TPP, but the journo’s are openly discriminating and manufacturing rubbish to Labour and the opposition’s faces. It is actually bullying when it is at that level.
Decent Journo’s are being sacked and dumb propaganda and outright lies are being used in these nauseating ‘interviews’ by journo nobodies with the journo just telling some manufactured line over and over during the interview. Not only does it mean no useful information comes out of the interview but it is hard for the interviewee to look good. In contract the nauseating fawning over the Natz makes me sick.
I actually have stopped watch most TV, radio and so forth. Have to get my info off the internet and selected journo’s who still have some integrity of whom you can now count on one hand.
+ 1 well put
I’m thinking it’s probably time for Labour’s MPs to all get some media training from Winston Peters. Winston really does probably have the best way to deal with these dense or biased kinds of reporters.
They end up busting a blood vessel while he just cruises off laughing.
Yes I’m sure it gives a few sad folk a thrill.
But after TWO DECADES Winston is still being asked the same question – which of the two parties will you put on the Treasury benches?
If you don’t consider that a valid question I would suggest it may well be you who’s a tad obtuse and biased.
It says a lot about Kiwi culture that one of the neoliberal protagonists (Winnie) of the 1990s is a hero for many, including those who actually follow politics, because he’s good with a put-down.
@ North: I am not sure what sort of response Andrew Little should take to this sort of nonsense but I do know that I am utterly sick of it. To start with, why is the deputy leadership of the LP suddenly a source of excitement? And why, when there are about 34 Labour MP’s, must it be a choice between two of them? Your phrase, “gnawing on a construct bone” is an apt one. Soap opera writers rely on the suspension of disbelieve to make us care about their constructed cliff hangers. It wears thin rather quickly when soap opera writing is so frequently offered as a stand-in for news.
I understand that Little has been told that he must have a female deputy, to conform with policy.
There are more than two women in the Labour caucus.
“Ferguson’s one of the worst at it and deserves a good smacking”
maybe lay off the threatening female journos you don’t like with physical violence? it makes you look like a thug
Got your crazy meter a bit overtuned there Fan Club…..try to pitch that as an exhortation to physical violence you might as well try to fly to the moon. Have you no familiarity with prosaic metaphor ? Seems not. Makes you look like an illiterate mug. Your burden.
So you express your disapproval of a woman’s professional work though the metaphor of giving them “a good smack”? Classy!
I don’t think anyone expected you were personally going to deliver this smack. Online cowards never do. But oh well, keep fantasising about using physical violence to overcome your frustration at your political impotence!
That always ends well.
Obviously you’ll believe (and impose) whatever you want to believe (and impose) Fan Club. Ever heard of an interviewee “owning” an idotic interviewer, one debater “slapping down” another, so and so getting a “smacking” in a verbal exchange” ?
In respective order that would be to rejoice in slavery, violence, and violence I suppose.
Grow up !
+100 North…spankings , paddywhacks, brickbats…for Morning Report ( they have all got well padded bums …bigger than their heads…and their heads are too big for their boots )
…a little bit of metaphorical ,colloquial light chastisement never hurt anyone
The Fan Club is precious
LOL mate were you a supporter of the anti-smacking legislation?
No?
A bit late to get all precious about smacking now, isn’t it?
Bro I was a strong supporter of the anti-smacking law because we have a huge problem with violence in New Zealand and bullshit excuses like this are part of why kids and women “get a good smack” and noone mans up and says it’s not ok.
Do you guys ever wonder why this space is so toxic to women?
You ever wonder why you are such an idiot? And how could you possibly know that? I suspect that you are simply deliberately lying and pulling ‘facts’ out of your arse.
FYI, we started getting estimates for male/female reader ratios back in March last year when Google analytics turned it on for “sessions” for the people where google knew their gender.
Since April 2014 to September 2015 we have had measurements of 1,582,138 sessions which is 56.24% of our total sessions.70.03% male and 29.97% female. The latter number is a very high percentage for a mainstream political blog.
After starting around 27% in April/May 2014, it peaked in September 2014 at 33% during election month. In April 2015 it was 31%. It has consistently been higher as a percentage this year compared to last year if you ignore months close to the elections. Last month it was 30%.
This year it has bounced around between 28% and 32%, lower when we have less traffic, and higher when we have more traffic. It’d be nice to figure out a way to increase faster overall. However there has been a discernible slow increase over the 18 months.
It pisses me off when I see lazy fuckwit critics like you outright lying about this site, and I’m liable to take offense.
Next time I’d suggest that you express it as an opinion rather than asserting a fact.
+1 The Fan Club. Well said.
+1 The Fan Club.
And this place is indeed an uncomfortable place for women.
Or you would see more of them here.
I know plenty of women working as volunteers for political organisations, but they avoid Internet political discussion because of the aggressive males who frequent such places spoiling for a fight. And this is no exception.
Personally I’m tired of what seems to happen whenever someone makes a statement about someone else, who happens to be female, others automatically assume the author was being sexist.
If they had said that Guyon needed a smacking, would you have been jumping up and down about sexism? Or would you have not said anything at all.
Who said anything about sexism bro? I said that if you want to hit female journos cause you don’t like there work maybe you should think about how you relate to women.
Maybe if society wasn’t so sexist you wouldn’t hear so much about it? If you’re sick of hearing about sexism why don’t you step up and do something about it.
“I said that if you want to hit female journos cause you don’t like there work maybe you should think about how you relate to women.’
Maybe they need to think about how they relate to journalists.
Is my point.
Cool, got that. Smacking journalists is ok?
Did I say that? No, I did not.
You’re dishonest Fan Club. There were no ‘ifs’ in anything you said to me. You accused of outright threat of violence. Then upped the ante with your “coward” shit. Which is wickedly indulgent of course. You don’t know shit about me or my relationships with women.
Sadly common sense rules of interpretation often fall under the runaway truck of ‘immaculate zealotry’.
@ The Fan Club….The Standard aint toxic to women( some of the big girls are scary though)…and you deserve a good spanking for that porkie ( Nursies remedy for telling porkies)
Nursie: If you weren’t quite so big, it would be time for Mr and Mrs Spank to pay a short sharp trip to Bottieland.
http://www.thetop100.net/the-entertainment-zone/the-top-100-blackadder-quotes/list/z26l54.aspx
Toxic to women?
Give me a break.
4chan is toxic to women. Reddit is toxic to women. So it Kiwiblog and Whaleoil.
Crosby Textor in overdrive drumming up “stories” about Labour…..deflecting from Keys flaccid flag pole.
Creating a Ardern v King for deputy is desperate, and we are doing pretty well if that’s the biggest “dirt” they can splash.
If…
If they had more we would all know about it,ad nauseum
*Key’s flaccid flagpole* LOL!!
Bronagh must be distraught! LOL
Good progressive independent Canadian news site for anyone who wants to keep up with what is happening in that country politically – http://rabble.ca/
This piece on rabble.ca captures the flaws in the victory of the Liberals, notably that a proportionally representative electoral system would have produced a more progressive minority government, and the Liberals aren’t actually promoting any practical steps to not sign the TPP or environmental issues like export pipelines, tar sands and fracking.
http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/brent-patterson/2015/10/pushing-new-liberal-government-to-deliver-change-they-promise
Thanks esoteric. It certainly looks a good thoughtful blog, rabble is just a tongue-in-cheek name.
Israeli Prime Minister ACTUALLY blames Muslims for the Holocaust
http://revolution-news.com/israeli-pm-netanyahu-blames-muslims-for-sparking-holocaust/
Nice to see the German Chancellor rejects this and places the blame firmly with the Germans.
https://nz.news.yahoo.com/top-stories/a/29869736/criminal-investigation-opened-into-online-firearms-purchase/
Throw the book at her and Greg O’Connor must resign and if possible charges should be laid agianst him as well
TH police need to look check the mail order sales of the guns to see if they are all approiate.
She doesn’t get to break the law with impunity, she could have easily stopped the sale at any time even target, when using kids, stopped short the kids buying cigarettes because that would have broken the law
Just because the ratings are tanking she decides to try to create some controversy and try to create a link to the shootings in the USA
So how come the seller didn’t know the police details were fake?
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2015/10/dirtymedia-mediaworks-story-breaks-the-law-to-get-a-story/
Gun City owner David Tipple sent the form to Whaleoil so you can open it in clear conscience 😉
But basically under the Police Use Only section HDPA used a fake name but legit QID number
They invented the QID number which just happened to match an actual license holder.
Maybe (well probably) but I’m sure theres some law about falsely signing a document especially a police one
Ok great, she broke the law.
Now, what are we going to do about how easy it is to buy firearms illegally?
Firstly she (and her producer) should be charged of course because being a journalist doesn’t mean shes above the law
Secondly the police, in conjunction with gun retailers need to let the minister of police a simple way ensuring this can be ended
Althouh if I was a crim and i wanted to buy a firearm the last thing I’d do is leave any sort of a paper trail but thats just me
You feel this way about all Whaleoil’s actions too, right? Wilfully breaking the law for ratings/money?
You feel the same about the illegal hacking of his emails that was used in a certain book..?
But if Cameron Slater is found guilty in a court of law then the full weight of the law should be thrown at him
You still struggling with the difference between public interest and personal interest PR?
You still struggling with the difference between public interest and personal interest PR?
If HDPA had stopped short of actually buying the gun then fair enough, like how on Target they’d get schoolkids to go into shops to buy cigarettes but wouldn’t actually any, she’d have a point
But she can’t go and complain how easy it is to buy a gun by lying on the documents and then say she shouldn’t be charged
If i went out and put incorrect information on my driving licence and started driving an HT truck would that make it ok because I’m showing the loophole?
my comment was in relation to the difference between slaters motivation and hagers which, imo, you wrongly put on a par.
That doesn’t answer my question PR. Why did the seller not know that the police name was fake?
The gun seller is not at fault here (as more evidence comes to light that may change) the buyer is
You still haven’t answered my question.
No I just did, I’ll repeat it for you the gun seller is not at fault.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11533406
Law expert says Heather Du Plessis-Allan would lose against Gun City millionaire
Gun shop owner likely to go ahead with a private prosecution
“Although technically [Gun City] might not have broken any laws or regulations, it has shown that [their] processes which are in place are shonky at best, or at least very easily evadable.”
(I find the use of the phrase millionarie interesting because assuming HDPA and her husband own a house then she’d be classed as a millionaire as well)
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/68137227/Guns-good-to-Christchurch-dealer-David-Tipple
But what does his financial status have to do with anything, is it that hes a millionaire therefore he must be in the wrong?
I’d suggest that Mr and Mrs HDPA probably own a home or two in auckland which would make her a millionaire as well but I didn’t see anything like millionaire journalist HDPA
Irrespective of your opinion that the seller wasn’t at fault, that doesn’t answer the question “why did the seller not know that the police ID was fake?” (I’m not asking who was at fault).
Well Weka I really don’t know why not, I mean i’m not trying to be obtuse but I’m not the owner and i don’t work in the gun industry
i agree his financial status is irrelevant. his multiple gun law violations would have been a better focus.
“Well Weka I really don’t know why not, I mean i’m not trying to be obtuse but I’m not the owner and i don’t work in the gun industry”
If you can’t answer the question then how do you know he’s not at fault?
Actually, in this case, she does as she used the act to highlight to the public that it was happening and that the government and the police needed to review their present processes and legislation.
Well no, she still broke the law, and does not have something like diplomatic immunity that would actually allow her to ‘break the law with impunity’ (and even diplomatic immunity is more theoretical, as we saw with the Malaysian diplomat who is now facing his crimes despite having diplomatic immunity).
The police have discretion in who they charge for law breaking, and what specific charges they choose to lay.
She can be, and probably will be, charged. But once in court she has the defense of Public Interest which, IMO, will hold. What she found is most definitely in the public interest to know.
The police probably don’t like getting egg on their face over this but such mistakes are how you learn.
Is it though or is it because the ratings are poor and they’re trying to desperately link this to american shootings because controversy creates cash (or in this case rating?
Firstly the rates of deaths via frearms is thankfully low (could be lower of course)
Secondly rates of crime involving guns is also low
Thirdly if a crim wants a gun there are less trackable ways of buying a gun
Just because they’re trying to up ratings doesn’t mean that it’s not in the public interest. One does not negate the other.
This has nothing to do with the discussion so why bring it up?
Actually, I suspect that there isn’t a less trackable way than this. False name, false license, false police officer, false address, legitimate gun.
Remember, even legitimate guns aren’t registered any more.
I brought it up because the program is trying to scare people into thinking theres a flood of illegal weapons out there and crims are running around armed to the hilt and they’re arn’t
I mean I’d have thought the people on the left would have been aghast about the blatent attempt by the media to scare people because when people are scared they want tougher laws in place or, because Greg O’Connor seems to be involved, arming the police
but it isnt really like “terrorism” as the shop owner has suggested.
Then you should probably have started another thread about that then rather than placing it in a thread about something else.
The TPP’s intellectual property provisions – a blow for global health and access to medicines
http://www.healthypolicies.com/2015/10/the-tpps-intellectual-property-provisions-a-blow-for-global-health-and-access-to-medicines/
from a Green Party email from Jeanette Fitzsimons. They’re going to hire a campaign manager in Jan as part of the drive to increase the actual vote.
Even allowing for the vagueness of what ‘considered’ means, those are impressive numbers. Which begs the question of why people don’t vote Green, esp people on the left. I think the reasons are varied, but it does seem like there is still this hesitancy and I don’t quite get what it’s about. I think the whole they’re amatuers who shouldn’t be in govt thing is well behind them, so what is it?
btw, they’re asking for donations to help with the campaign. This is one easy way for well off lefties to support a left wing government. Donations can be made here,
https://contribute.greens.org.nz/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=19
“it does seem like there is still this hesitancy and I don’t quite get what it’s about”
I don’t understand it either. My only assumption is people have bought into the right-wing fear-mongering, and that once the Greens actually get into power they will show that they really aren’t crazies, they are competent, and their vote share will rise from there.
Yep, got that and donated this morning.
Auntie Paula tells Community Housing sector …
“…the Government’s long-term rental contracts were a “double A rated, Government guaranteed investment product” which most investors would “climb over broken glass” for.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11533295
Well, there you go.
A cup of TPP anyone?
The pinup boy for the property hoax
In 2013 this guy first made the news. With his $18,000 deposit for a home, a plan, living rent free at parents home, accountant job… all designed to show that if you really want a home you can get one. Or 3. Or 7.
http://www.smartpropertyinvestment.com.au/monthly-profile
Today stuff have reactivated his pinup boy status.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/73267537/meet-the-25yearold-with-eight-investment-properties
Interestingly in February 2013 he was 24 years old. Two and a half years later Stuff tells us, he is only 25. A small thing, perhaps. But an error or inaccuracy nonetheless.
Anyway, it reads, to me, as an Advertorial. Seems little reason to repeat it, especially as it is Australian based. Slow news day? Low staff means news needs to be recycled or a piece of paid advertising but undisclosed?
We really need to jump on this habit of elevating bludging to heights of respectability that the MSM has. these bludgers are why we have poverty, inequality and a poor innovation culture.
How much does he owe the banks? That is what I would like to know.
Unless and until all the properties are paid in full he owns squat diddly do other then an arsefull of debt.
What would happen to posterboy if the market tanks, he looses his job, one of his buildings is a leaky or otherwise shoddy build and he suddenly can’t service the bills?
So he might own the mortgages for 8 buildings, but the banks owns him, all of him until he pays them their dues.
he has been used twice now. 2013 and 2015. someones want people to chase the mytb. banks and/or real estate agents
For whom has this forced Auckland amalgamation been ‘$UPER’ ?
Yep – New Zealand ‘perceived’ to be the SECOND ‘least corrupt country in the world’ ….
________________________________________________________
‘Large scale’ Auckland mortgage fraud
Thursday, 22 October 2015
The New Zealand Herald
The Serious Fraud Office says Auckland’s property market and the scale of commercial developments is a ‘key environmental risk’.
The Serious Fraud Office is investigating large-scale mortgage fraud in the Auckland property market involving developers, company directors, property valuers and lawyers.
“Auckland’s property market and the scale of impending commercial developments represent a key environmental risk,” the SFO said in its 2015 annual report released this week.
“We have invested significant resources into investigating a large-scale mortgage fraud involving highly organised teams of property developers, shell company directors, property valuers and lawyers.”
The SFO, which aims to reduce the impact of serious financial crime on both the economy and the public, said the investigation is ongoing and declined further comment.
______________________________________________
Penny Bright
+100…GO PENNY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miOEmyjpLkU
“Explosions”
You trembled like you’d seen a ghost
And I gave in
I lacked the things you need the most,
You said where have you been?
You wasted all that sweetness to run and hide
I wonder why
I remind you of the days you poured your heart into
But you never tried
I’ve fallen from grace
Took a blow to my face
I’ve loved and I’ve lost
I’ve loved and I’ve lost
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
It will never be the same
You left my soul bleeding in the dark
So you could be king
The rules you set are still untold to me
And I’ve lost my faith in everything
The nights you could cope,
Your intentions were gold
But the mountains will shake
I need to know I can still make
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
And as the floods move in
And your body starts to sink
I was the last thing on your mind
I know you better than you think
‘Cause it’s simple darling, I gave you warning
Now everything you own is falling from the sky in pieces
So watch them fall with you, in slow motion
I pray that you’ll find peace of mind
And I’ll find you another time
I’ll love you, another time
Explosions…on the day you wake up
Needing somebody and you’ve learned
It’s okay to be afraid
But it will never be the same
WTF?
lol
Think that’s WTF? You should see Blue Boy in action over on the rugby post by Ad.
Appears to be a useless troll.
BlueBoy a challenge for you.
Step up and write your own stuff.
You don’t need other people.
Nor necessarily be rational – anyone here can dial a dialectic materialist.
Flow.
Become poetry.
Lyric is lithe; it entails efficiency of meaning and economy of movement.
Boil it down to a concentrate.
Ad, since your the expect……………….
Please, write a poem (yourself), show us how it is done?
Teach me.
Fatuous boring and Blue,
Copy-paste talentless too,
Tory epitome,
Parrot epiphany,
A stranger to anything true.
Your rhyming is childish.
Poetry comes from the heart, true poetry is written from the heart, with inspiration, and it always comes from instincts, intuition, feeling and beauty, whether that beauty is born from sadness or happiness, it doesn’t matter but it always comes from the heart.
You can’t just write crap and make it rhyme, you are ‘budget’.
Maybe Ad should have a go- he’s the expect.
Limerick offends
A shameless plagiarist
Hoist up own petard.
Heartfelt ridicule,
Meets querulous Tory boy,
Critical failure.
Desperate and totally budget.
I will give you a topic-
“Praying Mantis whacking his head against a brick wall.”
How’s that for ya?
Much as I’d like,
To meet the Tory goad,
He offers nothing for his part,
No prime examples of this art,
Nor wit, nor wisdom,
I’ll depart,
From his neglected road.
Me thinks ‘One Anonymous Bloke’ is going to fall in love one day.
😆
The knives are out,
Looks like his nerve’s been touched,
Tepid hero flays the air!
Jeez, ‘you’ are ALREADY in love.
Who would have thought?
Now oab I try not to grip,
But it looks like that for today blue boy has stayed away from the pipe.
I say the proggresives should allow him the chance
To free his mind to dance.
*sp … gripe. 🙂
The best thing to do
With the Boy who is Blue
May be to ignore
Or to boot out the door
But the job is not mine
So I won’t waste more time
Going on about that
I’ll just smile at the prat
🙂
The best thing to do
With the Boy who is Blue
May be to ignore
Or to boot out the door
Yes I kind of agree……Blue Boy ain’t no match for Blue Girl.
🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-3HUWXi83w
Oh look, C&R Auckland (that conduit of national or ACT depending on what time of year it is) is breaking the intent if not the letter of the law in the Auckland Energy Trust elections.
Whodda thunkit
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11533344
CIA director Brennan’s emails.
(the failure to redact personal info is bad form)
https://wikileaks.org/cia-emails/
TPP and Sovereignty: two different views:
1. Wall St Journal “TPP Is Surprising Vote of Confidence in Globalization”
“Despite limits on sovereignty, political support for trade pact is strong—except in the U.S.”
“Every country will bear some political price. Thousands have taken to the streets in New Zealand to protest potentially higher drug prices and the threat of lawsuits by multinational companies claiming discrimination. Australians have similar concerns. Japanese farmers complain of betrayal. Yet in all three, as in Canada, opposition parties back the agreement, though this is contingent on the still-unreleased text rather than the principles agreed to in Atlanta on Oct. 5.”
“This is why TPP’s significance lies not in its economic impact—modest for most signatories—but how it restricts its members’ domestic sovereignty.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/tpp-is-surprising-vote-of-confidence-in-globalization-1445446966
Meanwhile in nzherald we have Catherine Beard writing : “Dispute provisions in TPP to protect New Zealand’s sovereignty” without having read the fine print. If the chance of ISDS threat was so low, Catherine, then why was it necessary to carve out Tobacco from using it? Getting a RW think tank to “research” ISDS is a joke.
sigh