A BBC Online article about the life of Israeli settlers breached editorial guidelines on accuracy, the BBC has ruled.
The article focused on two British men who had chosen to go and live in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank with their families.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) wrote to the BBC to question why it had run a feature on settlers, living on internationally recognised Palestinian land, without interviewing a single Palestinian about the impact of settlements and settlers on their lives.
Detectives reinvestigating the disappearance of Luana Deborah Laverne Williams 27 years ago have interviewed a former prison officer who claims Williams told her she was a police informant and gave sexual favours to disgraced former detective Brad Shipton.
Shipton and a second detective – who Williams allegedly claimed also had sex with her – later headed the investigation into her disappearance.
[…]
Bowen claimed Williams had suggested that crimes “such as drug dealing were minimised by certain police in Tauranga in return for sexual favours”.
[…]
The Herald understands that she gave further details, including that one of five telephone numbers Williams put forward for authorisation was checked by Wellington police and found to be a private police number.
Bowen claims Williams said the number was Shipton’s.
Shipton was interviewed by police last year as part of an “expanded” inquiry ordered by Police Commissioner Peter Marshall after complaints to the Independent Police Complaints Authority by Williams’ family and Bruce.
The other officer Bowen says Williams named was Detective Inspector Phil Seaman. Seaman and Shipton took over the inquiry into Williams’ disappearance. Police initially treated it as a missing persons inquiry, but upgraded it to a murder inquiry in 1994.
Seaman concluded Williams had committed suicide. He committed suicide in 2009 after becoming ill.
[…]
Shipton’s lawyer, Bill Nabney, did not respond in time for this article, but in August, Shipton emphatically denied knowing Williams before or during her time in prison and said the first time he became aware of her was when he was asked to investigate her disappearance.
This is about the bad ones, Lyn. The focus has to stay on the wrong-doers. The fact is that a significant minority of the police force in this country is out of control. And a lot of the “good cops” have turned a blind eye to their crimes.
Yes and it is the ‘blind eye’ of those in the force who are NOT the perpetrators of criminal acts which needs be addressed as this ‘blind eye’ is the key to the culture within Police that has figuratively and perhaps literally allowed the criminal element within to get away with murder,
This ‘blind eye’ which allowed a Wellington constable to break a ‘party-goers’ neck with a baton and escape charge or conviction simply because the ‘blind eye’ allowed all the other police lining the hall of the ‘party house’ to claim they did not see the blow struck,
My view is the Police Complaints authority must be given the means and control of prosecuting all wrong-doing Police where they are subject to complaint and where the ‘blind eye’, the culture of silence is shown to be operating the Law must be changed so as to facilitate the charging of all the officers in a group, just as criminal gangs are charged, where it is shown that some or all must have seen or known of the offending by a colleague but chose to maintain the code of silence…
Julia Hartley Moore used her time to speak on the Panel to say she knew of a lot of abusive conduct within the police, including policewomen being told to sleep with senior officers if they wanted promotion. Disturbing.
Even more disturbing was that she used the rest of her time to scold environmental protestors and enthusiastically voice approval of Nevil Breivik Gibson’s foam-flecked denunciations of them.
Yes, Morrissey, good point.
Mora’s failure to challenge Gibson when he rolled his eyes as Abel connected the Philippines to change was a shameful moment for a public broadcaster.
It was actually Finlay Macdonald. He’s as spineless and craven as Mora, unfortunately. He not only guffawed approvingly as Gibson and Hartley-Moore expressed their contempt for the protestors in Russia and New Zealand, but added his own disparaging comments.
You do realize there’s around 8500 police officers.
When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching?.
I’d say fairly well, with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
You do realize there’s around 8500 police officers. When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching? I’d say fairly well….
Your comment is one of the more foolish ones to be posted here in the last year. You obviously have no idea about anything.
….with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
Why not, you never hear anything on this site about teachers sexually and physically abusing kids yet there are regular postings about how bad the police are even though its a very small percentage
Interested in all opinions if they are supported by evidence.
My issue with your contributions here are that they are comments without back up,and when people debate the issue with you , you dodge the actual discussion.
You’re a proud Tory, so debate using real arguments, not slogans,
I think the left supporting posters on this site see the police as a tool of the right which means their influence needs to be weakened at every opportunity using whatever excuse they can no matter how weak it is
whereas
the teachers are part of the left which means a blind eye can be turned to whatever abuses the teachers and teacher unions commit while agreeing with and reinforcing whatever notion the teachers unions come up with
Abuses by one profession is regularly discussed and its members vilified while abuses by another profession are not mentioned and its members supported
I try to link to an article when making an affirmative statement, as I did with my comment about Fran O’Sullivan.
I don’t see you doing this. Be honest Chris, you’re here to make mischief, not to debate.
you do “hear anything on this site about teachers [priests, coaches and health ‘professionals’] sexually and physically abusing” children, ackshully. ‘chris’
@BM 2.3
Or ‘occupations’ such as company directors and CEOs if you want to talk dodgy behaviour. The difference with the blue bellies is that they are sworn operatives and meant to set higher standards for the community. So even one bent copper should be of some concern and dealt with by the IPCA and sent on for standard court attention as the rest of us would be.
Police assaulting, harassing, raping, and helping themselves to the odd line of seized coke goes on largely unbothered by sanction due to the three monkeys or “blind eye” culture as bad12 said.
Cops are part of the state forces and as such are able to use lethal force as well as physical restraint, arrest, incarceration and intimidation against citizens.
So damn right there needs to be some of them locked up and very close scrutiny kept on the rest. They still obscure or fudge their ID numbers fer crissakes (e.g. by a group of officers wearing the same number) for the sole purpose of being unaccountable. And something to think about–a lot of their work could be done by unsworn civilians with training. Gruesome car crashes and lost trampers could all be dealt with by your average towie or pig hunter if paid accordingly.
Why they swear an oath like the defence forces is that they are needed to enforce the ruling class political will and protect private property which as many who have been burgled would realise does not necessarily include your private house or flat. No it means corporate property and strategic government sites.
Gruesome car crashes and lost trampers could all be dealt with by your average towie or pig hunter if paid accordingly.
Well if you looked a little closer you would see that both functions are the responsibility of specialist police officers whose primary task is to coordinate outside resources, eg your towies and volunteer searchers.
However both jobs also entail the high probability of dead bodies; which is always a police matter.
is that they are needed to enforce the ruling class political will and protect private property which as many who have been burgled would realise does not necessarily include your private house or flat.
Largely a matter of priorities. Double the number of police and yes the burg of your flat will get more attention.
In fact while your particular break-in doesn’t get much attention, it is the pattern of similar ones in an area, and the statistical analysis of them, plus the usual plod work with fences, informants and second-hand dealers that invariably catches up with your crim.
While it seems that a lot of crime goes unsolved, a cop once explained to me that in the long-run they actually finish up convicting close to 100% of career criminals one way or another.
And that heap of files in the Masterton Police Station would likely have mouldered a lot less if there had been four or five officers assigned to it rather than one … who kept of being dragged off to other more ‘urgent’ matters.
Still should we not be careful what we ask for here? Could we double or triple the number of police and thus vacuum clean society free from all it’s ills….
imo, and experience, much offending by The Criminal Kind is less overt, and more sophisticated now than previously in NZ; Omerta has become more established, such a small village, and the ‘net. Otherwise, despite the heralding of ‘this’ drug-bust and ‘that’ sexual offending, would there be so many tinnie houses remaining un-touched, and I’m talking for more than eight years, that I am aware of; managed often by people with very responsible employment or community roles. The analysis by the Left, generally, is that the Offences Stats are being massaged (and that’s not all, lol) while the MSM and pathetic programmes like Police 10-7 fuel the stereo-typing of the ‘typical’ offender. Every time there is a relatively minor drug operation success locally, the freakin’ editor makes it Front Page News (aarrrgh!).
Just reflecting, I have been privileged, or damned, to engage intimately with people right across the s-e-o spectrum, and it is far from Black, White, or Blue. (hence why I do not trust the po-po).
Just reflecting, I have been privileged, or damned, to engage intimately with people right across the s-e-o spectrum, and it is far from Black, White, or Blue.
No quibble. I’m just a little wary of reflexive cop-bashing when they are really just a part of us … Good, Bad or Ugly.
When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching?.
I’d say fairly well, with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
Why do you say fairly well? Got any basis for a comparison apart from your own experience? Do you think that there are the same numbers of teachers raping or blackmailing/forcing students into having sex with them and we just don’t know about it?
“the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces”
What, like some of the NZ citizens they deal with having vaginas and such?
Yep or penises or both if they’re that way inclined.
Heaps of hard arse female crims that would offer up the goods if they thought there was a chance they may get off being dragged in front of the courts.
Right, so when a cop looks at another human being who has a vagina or a penis or both, they can’t help themselves? How on earth do men who aren’t cops cope?
“Heaps of hard arse female crims that would offer up the goods if they thought there was a chance they may get off being dragged in front of the courts.”
Not sure what that has to do with this conversation. Are you saying that because some women are ok with trading favours, that all women should be? Or are you saying that because some women are ok with trading favours, that the police are confused and can no longer tell the difference between choice and force? Doesn’t that render them incompetent to do the job they’re employed to do?
I’ve come across plenty of cases of cops letting it be known that, if the “goods were offered up” they’d be willing takers. Pretty much falls into the category of coercion. I’ve known one or two cases where female crims had sex willingly with detectives, but they were informants anyway. I can’t speak for the people you know, Bloody Moron.
Oh ffs BM and chris73, only a tiny percentage of the population pull armed robberies.
The vast majority of people just do their banking and shopping without ever pulling a sawn-off, but it’s no surprise that a few of us do when you consider the enormous temptation of all that free money.
But hey, it’s only a handful of people really so no big deal. Well done all the non armos I say.
Fascinating fight for NACT party nomination in Kaikoura. Incumbent Colin King is a nice enough guy but seen to be ineffectual on local issues. He does what Head office says. Missing in action on issues such as the local hospital worries. Sat with Aaron Gilmore at the back of the back benches.
At least one challenger: Stuart Smith with a reputation as a mover and shaker in the wine industry. Supported by a group of Marlborough businessmen who want a higher Marlborough profile in Parliament.
National membership numbers have soared. The traditional Nactoids are getting the blue-rinse brigade out in force.
Wednesday night is decision time I understand. The role of Head office will be interesting.
I feel a bit sorry for Colin. His influence seems to be largely confined to his lovely family. He looks a bit startled when faced with the wider Electorate problems. Whenever he puts in a newspaper column usually about what his family is doing I say nice chap, but a pity National are not interested in using resources in a very safe seat.
How the Left is less numerate at MMP than the Right
Yeah that’s what I’ve been saying. But no, let’s not change a thing and play straight into National’s game plan instead.
The problem in Epsom was that the Labour Party (and many Labour voters) simply lacked the numeracy-nous to shut-out Act. (The Green Party equally lacked such nous in 2005; hence Keith Locke’s near-naked stroll through Newmarket.)
Why would anyone vote for a non-contestant (meaning anyone destined to come third or lower) when they could use their vote to actually influence the result?
Because some (many) people don’t see this as a zero-sum game. This line of reasoning only works if you treat voters as too dumb to know what’s good for them. Green electorate-seat voters in Ohariu knew damn well that their chances of not having Dunne as their MP would be maximised by voting for Chauvel. Labour electorate-seat voters in Epsom knew damn well their chances of throwing out Act would be maximised by voting Goldsmith.
There’s an argument to be made, certainly, that running Parker in Epsom was stupid because it seemed to send a signal that Labour view the seat as winnable. But everything else is just political nerds having a whinge that not everyone votes along purely utilitarian lines (and implying that it’s because they’re ignorant).
And the GP voters in the Waitakere electorate vote? How would we know how many left voters are voting knowledgeably and how many are voting relatively cluelessly?
The only way to stop the shear stupidity of the present electoral voting system is to make it a preferential vote. Have people vote for the top three choices minimum and we’ll actually get their most preferred candidate.
We won’t have to screw our democracy up by giving the political parties the power to choose who’s going to win by making deals.
”On another planet with you”, fact usually just as strange as fiction sees both Fran O,Sullivan and John Armstrong voicing their approval for David Cunliffe’s assertion that the Government must pay the Court ordered compensation to the Pike River miners families,
This follows on from an editorial earlier in the week where the editor of the NZ National Party NZ Herald also gave Cunliffe it’s backing on this issue,
O’Sullivan goes so far as to tell Slippery the Prime minister that He must change His stance on the payment of the compensation befor the next election,(or suffer???),
Armstrong i get the distinct feeling was laboring under ‘orders’ from on high when He produced His piece which while supporting Cunliffes stance was full of the snide abuse we have come to expect and disrespect this particular producer of ‘advertorials’ for the National Party to cause to come into print,
It took David Cunliffe a while to get around to saying the a Government He leads would pay this Court ordered compensation which now proves to have support for those high and low in the great scheme of things,
i would go further tho and simply tax the share-market $1 for every $100 of shares either bought or sold and create a fund to provide for any such future payments,(preferrably called the Pike River Memorial Fund with transactions recorded as such each time a dollar was paid just to remind the directors and shareholders of their ongoing ‘responsibilities’)…
The beginnings of a financial transaction tax. Make it 5c on every $100 transacted, and have it apply to every NZD credit card, money transfer, foreign exchange and EFTPOS transactions over a NZD$250 level.
It should help tamp down market speculation on the NZD as well.
Don’t find i have any disagreement with that proposal, there would need be a mechanism to detect multiple payments under the thresh-hold by the one entity in any given period attempting to rort the system is my only codicil…
Brazil had a transaction tax on everything. It was originally imposed to help pay for the health system, although it’s debatable how it was actually spent. I never noticed that I was paying it, unlike income tax and student loan interest.
Being the director of at least 3 companies, do you use tax minimization?
Are you paying your fair share, Mr CV?
After you outed yourself, I jumped onto the companies register and had a look, you’re certainly involved in a diverse range of businesses.
The thing I don’t understand is why you’re wasting your time with Labour, National seems like a much better fit?
They’d love to have a candidate with all your skills and experience also you’d help add a bit of diversity to the National line up, you’d be a shoe in for selection.
I actually was really impressed with the mans skills and what he’s involved in, I was actually under the impression that he spent his day bludging off his rich in laws.
CV would have to be one of the most business savy guys within the labour party,.
PS: I should have put a smiley face at the end of the second line, to demonstrate that I was joking.
The critical thing for an economy IMO is for money to circulate through communities and SMEs (which is the business sector I am involved with). The velocity of money concept. And for SMEs to see reasonable profits in order to encourage grass roots investment in local businesses.
I see Labour as the party which understands this. National on the other hand, despite its reputation as the party for business, is really the party for big (corporate) business. We’re in a situation now (both in NZ and globally) where corporate businesses and their profits are protected by governments to the detriment of not just ordinary workers and citizens (who in theory governments are supposed to be serving), but SME’s and SME owners.
For instance – as an SME owner, higher broadband costs (due to subsidising Chorus) and higher power prices (due to electricity market privatisation and lack of a buying scheme like NZ Power) are highly damaging to the bottom line. Not to mention things like bank fees and small business loan costs from banks.
In summary – corporates don’t just thieve from communities and ordinary consumers but charging more and delivering less – they are thieving from SMEs as well.
Having said that, there are major problems with how Labour is perceived in the SME sector, and National is still the preferred party of many business owners for good reason.
Not the I’m involved in the National party, but I do agree they’re more geared up for big business.
The reason being is probably because most of the mps careers have being involved in big business, it’s what they know, not a lot of National mps come from SME sector.
Someone with your skills and experience would do well in the National party and could really make a difference for small business owners.
Something to think about?
I’m just heading outside to weed the garden(fun times) so if you reply It may be a while before you get a response.
I have been previously approached about standing for National, which I found a fascinating occurrence. Sadly I had to politely decline further discussions 😈
The boundary expansion is a challenge but I’ve got a high level of confidence in David Clark vis a vis the North electorate of Dunedin. He’s already been active and visible up that way.
Problem for you though CV is that you’re not a teacher,social worker or unionist. That fairly much rules you out.
Also you’ve a Man, so you’re really up against it, honestly I’d say the chances of you getting picked are up there with Trevor Mallard being made deputy leader.
BM it’s interesting how you think that National helps SME’s. National’s overall approach results in a dividing society with very disparate situations (it’s ok, you lot probably don’t fully appreciate that this is the outcome of you MO atm. It will come.).
Most all business does better when everyone is closer together in terms of economic situation, not further apart.
As such, left wing policies result in better outcomes for sme’s.
Someone with your skills and experience would do well in the National party and could really make a difference for small business owners.
No he wouldn’t as all those people from the big corporate world would expect him to kiss their arse (authoritarian mindset) and CV doesn’t seem like the arse kissing type.
Ultimately the only difference I ever observed was in their internal quality of leadership.
Plus the public sector organisation effectively passed it’s productivity gains back onto all it’s customers (ie tax and rate payers) while the private corporate gains were pretty much all captured by it’s shareholders.
I found the complete opposite. Split my working career between govt. and private and found govt frustratingly festooned with petty rules, paucity of innovation and bureaucratic nightmares.
It could mean less taxes, but a shift on how they’re paid. A well designed one would be unavoidable, unlike income or capital gains taxes, or even GST, which can be evaded by spending overseas. I don’t expect Tories to like the idea. You guys prefer taxing paper boys and girls, or beneficiaries who make an extra $20 a week. You actually love more taxes, as long as you don’t pay them.
Fran O’Sullivan is starting to criticise this appalling government.
Here are some key quotes from her article in the Herald today.
Govt must pay for Pike tragedy
“A failure to do so invites the observation that the Key Government was prepared to take the limelight during the harrowing and symbolic mass mourning that has taken place on the coast and that Key and his Cabinet, having politically elevated the disaster to a national tragedy, prefer to stay absent from the fray and refuse to take a moral stance when political leadership is required.
“Their failure to do so has of course given Cunliffe an opening and enabled him to paint Key’s Government as a heartless lot. ”
“Rod Emmerson’s brilliant cartoon (Key Lorde-ing it up) in yesterday’s Herald underscored that in contrast to Pike River, the Government has given a $30 million subsidy to the Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter.”
“Not surprisingly, the Labour leader’s tactics are raising eyebrows in corporate circles, particularly among directors who are starting to feel they will have to factor in an element of political risk (on top of the blindingly complex commercial risks that now exist) if there is a change of government after next year’s election.”
But the real issue for Key and his Government is how its stance plays out in the political arena.
“But the Pike River disaster shocked New Zealanders to their core. It exposed unbelievable negligence by the Labour Department and the Pike River company. It was especially shocking as this negligence was on a scale that might be expected in a Third World country, not New Zealand.
Cunliffe is right: The Government should fill the breach and pay the $3.41 million to the families.”
When Tories like O’Sullivan speak, do Key and his crony government listen?
The Key government is rather caught out. They are adamant that the Government should not pay out to the families. If they changed that position then it is because David Cunliffe forced him to. (Can’t have that!) If Key does not change his stance he will be constantly reminded about the contrast of $30million for Rio Tinto but nothing for the families. (Miserable buggers!)
Well played that man Cunliffe.
It is suggested in The Grip of Death (a book about monetary reform) that both Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were both assassinated on behalf of the bankers, who were concerned that both presidents were trying to control the money supply.
This week referendum papers start arriving in voters mailboxes.
While many think the outcome is foregone conclusion and some, such as our inept Prime Minister believe that the outcome is well known it is vitally important to still tick “NO” on the referendum.
Ticking NO sends a message to not just the government, but to the people and the media that despite not campaigning on Asset Sales, contrary to popular opinion, making a hash of the offerings and spending more than expected on selling even just 49% of our assets to the 1%, New Zealanders are against asset sales.
With over 70% in recent polls voicing their opposition to asset sales, a subsequent corresponding turnout in the postal vote will have serious ramifications.
Unfortunately, if local body turnout is any indicator, it is highly probable that fewer than 30% will return their ballots.
Should the NO vote be around 20% of that, the media will trumpet it as indicative of an overwhelming indicator of support for the assets being sold off.
So what can we do?
1) Talk to your colleagues and encourage them to vote to “send a message”
2) Get your neighbours to vote to “send a message”
3) Your local networks in sport, community or volunteer groups – vote to “send a message”
In perspective, the first year of loss income earnings could have covered the costs (in a single year) of;
– Pike River Compensation (3.4M)
– Adult Education Classes (23M)
– Feed the Kids Bill (100M)
– Paying Parliamentary Cleaners a living wage (25M)
– Paying out 100% land value for Red Zoned residents – up from the 50% offered (around 15M)
That’s a total of $166.4M, with $82.6M remaining.
Remember, nearly 20M of those figures are one off costs.
For the sake of ideology and feathering the nests of the few, dividends of $249M each year would have covered key issues that this government refuses to acknowledge as issues in getting New Zealand back on the road to becoming a society of participation, and creating a fair society.
Voting NO in this referendum sends a clear message to the government that they are treading dangerous ground.
If even a 50% turnout can be achieved with a 45% response rate of NO – with 50% of voter turnout sending a message that asset sales are not to be ignored, will leave the media playing a dangerous game if they try to frame it as an “us against them” viewpoint, which really when you think about it, is the entire point.
But let them try because if you try to turn “us” against “them” WE will win everytime.
Xox
Good post James. Puts things into a different frame. How many mates has John Key got to vote in this referendum? Re. Police accountability. I have had my eyes open to police abuse etc and now see them as in Need of serious independent oversight if we are not to find ourselves in a grim police state. I was pulled over the other day, for no reason but to check my warrant and seat belt. If you own an old car, are a young male, or brown, you will be pulled over all the time. Oh and if your female….! This is bullying harassment and intimidation, and must cease, after a public apology from the chief of police. Haha
Passable. Interesting study in political economy for the tweeny set. Looking forward to Ender’s now, although I think it won’t beat the writing by Orson Scott Card.
I’ve read a large portion of his collected writings and would have to say that most of it is terrible writing that doesn’t benefit from the rosy-tinted glasses that Ender’s Game engenders.
The moment I realized that all his writing is from the libertarian Mormon fantasy mindset (didn’t investigate his beliefs prior to my initial foray in to his work), it spoils every story because you have a good idea of what any developments will be. Give me a good Heinlein any day.
Ender’s Game is probably his best and, yeah, his libertarian/religion psyche comes through really strong. In fact, when you get down to it, that can be said of a lot of fantasy/fiction. You really do see a lot of authoritarian societies with free-markets with the rich as the good guys.
I’m still choosing not to read SF, although Bank’s culture novels are calling…”they keep calling me” and Fantasy, got an eye-full of that looking for James Tiptree Jr. at the library this week. *sigh*
I’ve basically come up with a “know the author, know the story” philosophy regarding my sci-fi/fantasy reading. I will make myself knowledgeable about the author before starting on the first book and then if it hasn’t surprised me in the least by the end of it I will proceed to not read the rest of their works because if they aren’t able to step outside of their own bounds, how can I expect them to transport me out of mine?
@weka – I get the importance of what the Bechdel Test is there to point out but, for myself, a lot of the sci-fi I tend to read is of the short story variety because I am there for the interesting ideas, not for geek/nerd writers to prove how poorly they sometimes understand simple social interaction
And, in all honesty, I cannot think of many novels that I have read that would pass the Bechdel Test because the closest I have come to standard literature tends to have been the Kurt Vonnegut’s and Joseph Heller’s of the world (Slaughterhouse 5 and Catch-22 being all-time faves).
And when I think of literature *in general*, I can’t easily think of any that would.
I don’t think that the Bechdel Test is in itself a measure of quality or even of ideological worth – Dr Strangelove could easily be appropriated as a feminist text precisely because of its depiction of hypermasculinity leading to disaster.
However, I do think that the test is something that every creative artist should keep in mind now. If you are going to exclude women, as women with their own subjectivity and intersubjectivity, one must ask why, because that’s not how the real world works. Even satire has to keep up with the times – especially satire, actually.
As for Orson Scott Card, while one might try to separate his weirdly extreme homophobia “outside” of his fiction (and more than a few have speculated about self-loathing and repression…), um, well, fuck it, that’s just trying too hard. SF is meant to be speculative, but speculation along the lines of “lets suppose that, you know, just as an incidental detail that no-one ever mentions but is implicitly ever-present that there were no people were ever, you know… in the shower… um… well, lets’ not…”
Well, that sort of undermines the real ethos of SF, which I always thought was to honestly confront real issues or real possibilities, not reel out silly fantasies about midichloridians and colourful space battles.
What I absolutely hate about a lot of SF is that it presents a universe of indulgence without permanent and complex consequences – even the later Ender sequels avoid that.
Card’s a thoroughly disgusting individual, but at least a competent writer. Those of his books I’ve read, I’ve borrowed, or bought second hand, in order that he sees no actual money from them. Donaldson, on the other hand, was the first writer I recall having read whose work invoked the Eight Deadly Words, it was so utterly boring.
+ Darwin Award. PVC is a pretty high toxicity plastic and iirc is an endocrine disruptor with serious implications for human fertility.
The stupidity, on so many levels, of importing plastic housing from China make my brain hurt. Technically we don’t have a shortage of houses in NZ (pretty sure the number of unoccupied houses is in excess of people needing a home). What we have is an economy being run for profit rather than the good of the people.
You say ‘serious implications for human fertility’ like they’re bad things. Considering that this planet is already grossly overpopulated, and that sea level rise has been locked in for at least the next couple of generations (with consequent loss of coastal land), I’d consider infertility one of today’s least pressing problems.
I completely agree (although I doubt the effect on fertility will be large enough, soon enough to be of any benefit). It was more a passing comment that humans should be given the Darwin Award as a species.
Unfortunately endocrine disruptors don’t just affect homo sapiens 🙁
“It acts without action, does without doing, finds
flavour in what is flavourless,
Can make the small great and the few many,
Requites injuries with good deeds,
Deals with the hard while it is still easy,
With the great while it is still small.
In the governance of [nation] everything difficult
must be dealt with while it is still easy,
Everything great must be dealt with while it is still small.”
As DoC have their flag-pole cut, Possums rise on the ‘mast’.
I listened to Geoffrey Palmer’s interview on Kim Hill this morning with growing astonishment. The pompous git spent his whole time bemoaning the state of our democracy without once seeming to realise the reforms he championed are more than anything else responsible for it. He seems to completely lack empathy or connection, he analyses the past as if he had nothing to do with it. He is one seriously off the planet guy, so crazy he is almost sane.
And to top it off, when David Lange – the only one in the entire asylum that was the fourth Labour government to retain his moral compass or sanity – stood up to the crazies like Douglas, Prebble and Palmer and canned even more radical reforms like the flat tax, Palmer criticises Lange for not following correct procedure:
“…Prime Minister David Lange was the main culprit. He canned the newly elected government’s notorious economic package of December 1987, a dramatic lurch to the Right based on a flat income tax and sweeping privatisation.
Lange’s unilateral decision was something “that you can’t do”, Sir Geoffrey says. “And that’s why it all fell apart…”
What the fuck? Geoffrey Palmer is the guy at Isandlawana who wouldn’t hand out the ammo unless the soldier had the right requistion order. What is wrong with him?
Palmer has a very ordered legal mind. He is a detail person who wants all the forms signed in the right place. He certainly would have been the stores clerk denying munitions, or the officer commanding Ghurka enlisted men to leave their defensive line in the Officer’s Club in Singapore. It always seemed to me that he was incapable of seeing the big picture. He always reminded me of Frasier in Cheers, running around with a pair of scissors to prove he was a dangerous rebel. A fucking weirdo is as good as any description I’ve ever seen of him.
I’m glad you had the fortitude to keep listening. I had to give up. I’d always thought of Palmer as quite a reasonable sort of fella – things like expiration on legislation etc.
Today he showed me just what an out of touch pompous git he actually is.
Decrying Lange for example for calling for a cup of tea on the basis that people were really beginning to hurt. Palmer thought Lange should have carried on.
You’e correct Sanctuary – one pompous git
He was in this ‘phase’ when I saw him at the Westpac Stadium in Christchurch with Patti Smith. Only international artists I have seen of note, yet sufficient for me: Too many people at concerts like Sabbath and AC/DC. I’d love to meet Johnette Napolitano though! .
No I hadn’t, ‘swinging gate’ comes from the tao. Amazing serendipity (or not 😉 ) though. Wotta day, and ‘straight’ as dray too. Wonders never cease 😀 Thanx fender, ‘request’ me some time.
yes, the Dylan set was muddled by the acoustics of the venue. Tom Petty, say no more!
or,
“It didn’t feel like Sunday
Didn’t feel like June
When he met his silent partner in that lonely corner room
That overlooked the marquee (Moon) 😉
Of the Plaza all-adult
And he was not lookin’ for romance – just someone he could trust.
And it wasn’t no way to carry on
It wasn’t no way to live
But he could put up with it for a little while
He was workin’ on Something Big
Sympathise with the Petty experience Naturesong, but as he states in Chronicles volume 1
“I’d been on an eighteen month tour with Tom Petty. It would be my last. I had no connection to any kind of inspiration. Whatever was there to begin with had all vanished and shrunk. Tom was at the top of his game and I was at the bottom of mine. I couldn’t overcome the odds. Everything was smashed. My own songs had become strangers to me, I didn’t have the skill to touch their raw nerves, couldn’t penetrate the surfaces. It wasn’t my moment of history anymore. There was a hollow singing in my heart and I couldn’t wait to retire and fold the tent. One more big payday with Petty and that would be it for me. I was what they called over the hill. If I wasn’t careful I could end up ranting and raving in shouting matches with the wall. The mirror had swung around and I could see the future- an old actor fumbling in garbage cans outside the theatre of past triumphs.
I had written and recorded so many songs, but it wasn’t like I was playing many of them. I think I was only up to the task of about twenty or so. The rest were too cryptic, too darkly driven, and I was no longer capable of doing anything radically creative with them. It was like carrying a package of heavy rotting meat. I couldn’t understand where they came from. The glow was gone and the match had burned right to the end. I was going through the motions. Try as I might, the engines wouldn’t start.”
But beginning with his 1997 album Time Out of Mind he has released 5 great albums that prove an “over the hill” artist can certainly experience a renaissance when the creative juices start flowing again.
“Love is the ghost haunting your head
Love is the killer you thought was your friend
Love is the leech, sucking you up
Love is a vampire, drunk on your blood
Love is the beast that will tear out your heart
Hungrily lick it and
Painfully pick it apart
Former believers, they beg for release
As Love looking down on them
Smiles and picks his teeth
Hearteningly, in my ongoing daily dealings with cops what I hear is unbridled contempt for cops who abuse their role for personal advanatge of whatever description. In my not limited experience the broad cop mindset, which is unsurprisingly distinct in numerous aspects, does not extend to tolerance or rationalisation of corrupt acts.
I well recall a sergeant rightly identified as a hardarse with whom I’ve had long term dealings, vocally disgusted when a senior cop on trial in the High Court turned up at trial in police uniform. In this sergeant’s view the guy on trial was smearing his personal shit all over the uniform and the police generally by turning up uniformed. His view didn’t change when the guy was acquitted of rape. In other words he didn’t accept the acquittal as the end of it. There are many cops like that.
Sorry folks. Just realised that my comment above should be placed with those at 2 above. Got interrupted by the water tank running dry. $275 for 13,000 litres just delivered by tanker. Lucky I had the readies.
If I hadn’t, and going by their usual rants, I guess I’d be a ready target for Piss73 and Bowel Motion and SS-lands denouncing me as hopeless feral underclass who deserved it all for his bad choices.
Ah……….such Masters Of The Looniverse those hatefilled carping old pricks !
Well I assumed you must have been drunk to post this:
North 31.1.1
22 November 2013 at 11:01 pm
You’re a nutter Piss73. Give the missus a serious seeing to when she got home late with the Maccers dinner and no dipping sauce didya ? You being too bone idle or unartful to peel some spuds while ya waited, as you related yesterday or the day before ? Walked home for that matter while you drove to and from work in the Grandly asprayshinul Vitara angling at the stylish Maori Land Bruiser VX, as you also related yesterday or the day before ?
Ake ake ake……obviously don’t know or care to know about the zoo of Judge Judy’s current colleagues but certainly there are many former colleagues in Auckland who always saw her as a self promoting baggage and a not too gifted one at that.
Well X73, you’re eager to hand it out, but you get all huffy and indignant when you get a taste of your own medicine and you still haven’t got the point of that. Keep showing how thick you are… but beware that that’s all you’re doing.
Another word of advice: if you’re going to cling to your dignity, then first you must show some, but don’t confuse it with pomposity.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, being held at The Hilton Sydney, from Tuesday 26 – Thursday 28 November 2013.
Below are the details of your registration; please check the information carefully, including your name and address details. If any of your details require changes, please notify ICE Australia via email at apsaccreg@iceaustralia.com as soon as possible. Alternatively you can amend your details online by entering your access key TIJCZXVYH into the Attendee Login on the Conference Registration page. This facility will be available until Tuesday, 29 October 2013, at which time all changes must be sent to the Registration Manager at apsaccreg@iceaustralia.com
Please find your tax invoice attached as a PDF file to this email. If you are part of a bulk registration your invoice will be sent to the first person registered.
Name: Ms Penny Bright
Position: ‘Anti-Corruption /anti-Privatisation Whistle-Blower’
Organisation: Public Watchdog
Country: NEW ZEALAND
Please find important conference information, in addition to a summary of your registration, below.
Venue
The Hilton Sydney
488 George Street, Sydney
NSW, 2000
____________________________________________________________________________
who campaigned against ‘corrupt corporate control’ of the Auckland region, I look forward to discussing with international anti-corruption EXPERTS, the following ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and corporate welfare
I’m sure there will be a lot of interest in the recent complaint made by Lisa Prager and myself to the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO), against Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Sky City (Auckland) for alleged bribery and corruption:
It is my intention to raise the question of how New Zealand can continually maintain the status of being the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ (together with Denmark and Finland, according to Transparency International’s 2012 ‘Corruption Perception Index’
I’m sure a number of anti-corruption experts, and hopefully significant Australian media, will be interested in the fact that the NZ International Convention Centre Act 2013, was effectively railroaded through the NZ Parliament, without ‘due diligence’ against the increased risk of money-laundering being carried out by the supposedly ‘lead agency’ – OFCANZ (organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ), the NZ Prime Minister John Key, Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce, Auckland Council, or Auckland Central Police.
So – there may be some interest in the fact that the NZ Auditor-General, Lyn Provost, has confirmed that she will consider my request for an investigation into the failure of OFCANZ to carry out ‘due diligence’ on the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the NZ International Convention Centre Act 2013 ( or as prefer to call it – the ‘Sky City money-laundering’) Act:
As during the Auckland Mayoral campaign, I will explain why I am making a stand in defence of the public’s right to ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable local government, which cannot be ignored – ie my refusal to pay rates, until ‘the books’ are open and the public are given the ‘devilish detail’, which shows EXACTLY where rates monies are being spent on consultants and private contractors.
You see, gutless anonymous ‘Manolo’ and ‘Big Bruv’, unlike your bleating sheepish selves, I’m an active and effective ‘anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’, who actually ‘gets things done’?
PS: For those who kindly made donations to help get me over the ditch and registered at this 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference – THANKS!
In the end, my sister loaned me $1500 in order to make sure I could get there.
I’d REALLY appreciate not being left in the financial poo here folks – so if you haven’t yet made a donation to help out, you still can:
KIWIBANK PM Bright 38 9010 0725719 00
That’s 150 people donating $10
75 people donating $20
I support a few ’causes’, being interviewed for board-membership of a disability trust next week, and can always do with some cash! 😀 (All donations Gr8fully invested). 😎
Not a UN Agenda 21 supporter by any chance are you ‘Ad’?
I’m not.
So ‘Ad’ – you’re not opposed to corruption, ‘white collar’ crime or ‘corporate welfare’?
I am.
You’ll be disappointed to know that a number of people DO support the (voluntary, self-funded) work I do and what I stand for – otherwise I wouldn’t have got nearly 12,000 votes and polled 4th in the Auckland Mayoral election, and wouldn’t be flying out to Sydney tomorrow morning?
12,000 wasted votes from yet another futile and wasted campaign. You are in fact harder right than Rodney Hide; you rebel against nothing of note, stand for nothing, and seek to destroy everything you touch.
Apart from your little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement. Here’s what you need to do Penny: go occupy a job.
“12,000 wasted votes from yet another futile and wasted campaign. You are in fact harder right than Rodney Hide; you rebel against nothing of note, stand for nothing, and seek to destroy everything you touch.
Apart from your little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement. Here’s what you need to do Penny: go occupy a job.”
______________________________________________________________________
Gosh ‘Ad’ – can you show me some EVIDENCE where Rodney Hide has campaigned against the ‘corrupt corporate control’ of the Auckland region?
Can you show me some EVIDENCE ‘Ad’ – where Rodney Hide has exposed who is really running Auckland – http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz membership – as I did in my 150 word Auckland Mayoral candidate statement which went out to 1.4 million Auckland voters?
(Maybe you’re just a little bit inexperienced politically ‘Ad’ , and simply don’t know what the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ are supposed to stand for?
Although since the neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ reforms were introduced by the 1984 – 1987 ‘Labour Government’, ‘left’ vs ‘right’ is arguably no longer really very politically meaningful ?
Personally, I prefer to look at the fundamental political divide as ‘corporate minority’ vs ‘public majority’? (1% vs the 99% – sort of thing 🙂
My ‘little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement’, as a Named Respondent and an Appellant in my own name, working together with pro-bono lawyer for Occupy Auckland Ron Mansfield, resulted in a significant win against corporate-controlled Auckland Council.
That this obviously upsets people such as yourself, gives me considerable satisfaction.
(Meant of course, in a caring way 😉
FYI – Occupy Auckland, to date, has been the only organisation to ever endorse the ‘principle’ of such an ‘ACTION PLAN’.
I look forward to as many people/ organisations / political parties / as possible, endorsing, advocating for such an ACTION PLAN, or as many parts of it as possible.
‘Where the people lead – the politicians will follow’ ?
PS: ‘Ad’ – do you support UN Agenda 21?
Given your rather semi-hysterical response, it seems to me that you probably do?
So sorry my budget for ‘intervention’ is currently being used to try and leverage the ‘Hairdo’ outta that electorate,
Plus i coughed a decent wad of used 20’s into G, Mac’s efforts at giving Banks a spanking, $320 a week with flatmates and a freehold house,(tell us more), sounds like you should have been able to save up to fund your own holiday, oops i mean conference across the ditch…
“Just need another 149 folks to do what you’re going to – and all will be well!”
And what will the donations bring? What outcomes will be achieved? Will you be open and honest with your donations? What will the donations be spent on?
PS: For those who kindly made donations to help get me over the ditch and registered at this 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference – THANKS!
In the end, my sister loaned me $1500 in order to make sure I could get there.
I’d REALLY appreciate not being left in the financial poo here folks – so if you haven’t yet made a donation to help out, you still can:
KIWIBANK PM Bright 38 9010 0725719 00
That’s 150 people donating $10
75 people donating $20
Not a big ask?
Have a GREAT day!
Cheers
Penny Bright
PS: I would not have been able to draw up this ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and ‘corporate welfare’, had I not attended the 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, and 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference – listened to and questioned the speakers, collected and read the material, then applied what I learned to New Zealand.
It’s little wonder so many sociopaths end up in positions of power: power attracts the ruthless unencumbered by empathy. No wonder the phrase ‘pathology of power’ resonates: The Federal Reserve and the Pathology of Power (November 18, 2010).
There is an ontological darkness in centralized power, and it flows from the disconnect between authority, responsibility and consequence. A leader with vast centralized powers–a president, an emperor, a dictator–has the authority to send young citizens into combat in distant lands, but he does not carry an equal responsibility to ensure their lives are not lost in the vain glories of Empire. The consequences of his decisions do not fall on him; he is far from the combat and the loosed dogs of war. His concern is the domestic political squabbles of the Elites who support his centralized power.
All centralized power carries the same pathology: those with the authority are never exposed to the consequences of their authority, nor do they have any responsibility for the consequences. The president who launches an unwinnable war that chews up the nation’s youth and treasure leaves office to fund-raise for his self-glorification, i.e. a presidential library.
The CEO whose strategies fail to revive the corporation and indeed send it to the brink of insolvency leaves with a “golden parachute” worth tens of millions of dollars.
I have just been listening to Stephen Sackur BBC Hard Talk. What an interrupting, opinionated yob. He interrupts, states something as a question then interrupts the explanation. He’s been with the BBC since 1986 apparently. Your time is up Sackur, sacking time. Time to move on to… the USA perhaps. They have quite a thing for clipped British accents.
“I also know Allan Titford. I’ve met him twice for long chats in the company of his new partner and small son. They struck me as a loving couple and there was certainly nothing in his partner’s behaviour to suggest that she was a victim of abuse.
In view of the fraud being perpetrated by the state over the Treaty, and in view of the numerous instances of police corruption that litter recent New Zealand history, I’m going to give Allan the benefit of the doubt until I’ve seen the evidence presented against him.
If he is guilty of these crimes, then he deserves everything that’s coming to him.
But I’m not going to see an innocent man rot in prison and a lovely little boy grow up without his dad if that evidence is as flimsy as I suspect it is.
I am certainly not going to accept that he is guilty of decades of sexual slavedriving based on the televised tearjerking of an ex-wife with a vested interest in his conviction.
Let us see the evidence. Already the 24 year sentence is evidence of a judge who rates Allan as deserving of a longer sentence than all but a few murderers.
Why?”
That’s John Ansell, architect of National’s 2005 election campaign, under Don “Iwi/Kiwi” Brash. They must be proud.
some of these attitudes are quite mainstream. Wonder what went wrong with their socialization to limit their brain development. Not much better than ill-bred animals trapped in a cage.
The blog comments are on the left of the page link.
Ansell’s is (currently) the 4th one down. But all the comments are worth reading, to see what these people are like – and bearing in mind that their group includes the likes of Muriel Newman (ex-ACT MP) and others who pop up as pundits in the mainstream media.
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Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
BBC upholds complaint about settler article
A BBC Online article about the life of Israeli settlers breached editorial guidelines on accuracy, the BBC has ruled.
The article focused on two British men who had chosen to go and live in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank with their families.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) wrote to the BBC to question why it had run a feature on settlers, living on internationally recognised Palestinian land, without interviewing a single Palestinian about the impact of settlements and settlers on their lives.
http://www.palestinecampaign.org/settlerarticle/
So, the police telling even more, worser work stories:
Story on on Stuff: Cop Meyer using his uniform & rank to coerce women sexually.
Story 2 on NZ Herald: the return of Brad Shipton.
Sickening! Feel for the good cops but this has to be addressed.
This is about the bad ones, Lyn. The focus has to stay on the wrong-doers. The fact is that a significant minority of the police force in this country is out of control. And a lot of the “good cops” have turned a blind eye to their crimes.
Yes and it is the ‘blind eye’ of those in the force who are NOT the perpetrators of criminal acts which needs be addressed as this ‘blind eye’ is the key to the culture within Police that has figuratively and perhaps literally allowed the criminal element within to get away with murder,
This ‘blind eye’ which allowed a Wellington constable to break a ‘party-goers’ neck with a baton and escape charge or conviction simply because the ‘blind eye’ allowed all the other police lining the hall of the ‘party house’ to claim they did not see the blow struck,
My view is the Police Complaints authority must be given the means and control of prosecuting all wrong-doing Police where they are subject to complaint and where the ‘blind eye’, the culture of silence is shown to be operating the Law must be changed so as to facilitate the charging of all the officers in a group, just as criminal gangs are charged, where it is shown that some or all must have seen or known of the offending by a colleague but chose to maintain the code of silence…
+ 1
Julia Hartley Moore used her time to speak on the Panel to say she knew of a lot of abusive conduct within the police, including policewomen being told to sleep with senior officers if they wanted promotion. Disturbing.
Even more disturbing was that she used the rest of her time to scold environmental protestors and enthusiastically voice approval of Nevil Breivik Gibson’s foam-flecked denunciations of them.
Yes, Morrissey, good point.
Mora’s failure to challenge Gibson when he rolled his eyes as Abel connected the Philippines to change was a shameful moment for a public broadcaster.
It was actually Finlay Macdonald. He’s as spineless and craven as Mora, unfortunately. He not only guffawed approvingly as Gibson and Hartley-Moore expressed their contempt for the protestors in Russia and New Zealand, but added his own disparaging comments.
You do realize there’s around 8500 police officers.
When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching?.
I’d say fairly well, with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
Well done, the people in blue.
You do realize there’s around 8500 police officers. When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching? I’d say fairly well….
Your comment is one of the more foolish ones to be posted here in the last year. You obviously have no idea about anything.
….with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
You are obviously blind and deaf.
Lol,That’s pretty rich coming from you.
The amount of diarrhea that pours from your key board is quite unbelievable.
Morrissey highlights some of the issues with a corrupt mainstream corporate media.
You simply shill for the elite.
Your comment is one of the more foolish ones to be posted here in the last year. You obviously have no idea about anything.
– ok so why is it foolish?
You are obviously blind and deaf.
– Rather then insult why not explain
Good to hear you lecturing others, Chris.
You always turn up on this site to reason using evidence, don’t you?
Why not, you never hear anything on this site about teachers sexually and physically abusing kids yet there are regular postings about how bad the police are even though its a very small percentage
Turning a blind eye to anything is not good
Interested in all opinions if they are supported by evidence.
My issue with your contributions here are that they are comments without back up,and when people debate the issue with you , you dodge the actual discussion.
You’re a proud Tory, so debate using real arguments, not slogans,
Fine
I think the left supporting posters on this site see the police as a tool of the right which means their influence needs to be weakened at every opportunity using whatever excuse they can no matter how weak it is
whereas
the teachers are part of the left which means a blind eye can be turned to whatever abuses the teachers and teacher unions commit while agreeing with and reinforcing whatever notion the teachers unions come up with
Abuses by one profession is regularly discussed and its members vilified while abuses by another profession are not mentioned and its members supported
Discuss
Could you provide some links to provide evidence that “posters on this site see the police as a tool of the right.”?
You need to stop making vacuous, unsubstantiated arguments.
Of course the good ol’ “links or its not true” argument…it can’t possibly be true unless theres a link to it somewhere
You spout off your opinions I spout off mine, yours are no less valid then mine (and vice versa)
Can you provide evidence that a similar abuse of the system that the police get away with happens in teaching?
^this
The thing about teachers is that usually they are charged at around the time complaints are made.
This doesn’t seem to happen so often with the police complaints in the media.
Police – “shoe-shine boys (and girls) for the capitalist classes”; nannies for the Baby Boomers. ok, that’s a little hyperbolic…yet… 😀
I try to link to an article when making an affirmative statement, as I did with my comment about Fran O’Sullivan.
I don’t see you doing this. Be honest Chris, you’re here to make mischief, not to debate.
you do “hear anything on this site about teachers [priests, coaches and health ‘professionals’] sexually and physically abusing” children, ackshully. ‘chris’
Morrissey, BM is trying a diversion onto teachers and away from the police.
@BM 2.3
Or ‘occupations’ such as company directors and CEOs if you want to talk dodgy behaviour. The difference with the blue bellies is that they are sworn operatives and meant to set higher standards for the community. So even one bent copper should be of some concern and dealt with by the IPCA and sent on for standard court attention as the rest of us would be.
Police assaulting, harassing, raping, and helping themselves to the odd line of seized coke goes on largely unbothered by sanction due to the three monkeys or “blind eye” culture as bad12 said.
Cops are part of the state forces and as such are able to use lethal force as well as physical restraint, arrest, incarceration and intimidation against citizens.
So damn right there needs to be some of them locked up and very close scrutiny kept on the rest. They still obscure or fudge their ID numbers fer crissakes (e.g. by a group of officers wearing the same number) for the sole purpose of being unaccountable. And something to think about–a lot of their work could be done by unsworn civilians with training. Gruesome car crashes and lost trampers could all be dealt with by your average towie or pig hunter if paid accordingly.
Why they swear an oath like the defence forces is that they are needed to enforce the ruling class political will and protect private property which as many who have been burgled would realise does not necessarily include your private house or flat. No it means corporate property and strategic government sites.
Gruesome car crashes and lost trampers could all be dealt with by your average towie or pig hunter if paid accordingly.
Well if you looked a little closer you would see that both functions are the responsibility of specialist police officers whose primary task is to coordinate outside resources, eg your towies and volunteer searchers.
However both jobs also entail the high probability of dead bodies; which is always a police matter.
is that they are needed to enforce the ruling class political will and protect private property which as many who have been burgled would realise does not necessarily include your private house or flat.
Largely a matter of priorities. Double the number of police and yes the burg of your flat will get more attention.
In fact while your particular break-in doesn’t get much attention, it is the pattern of similar ones in an area, and the statistical analysis of them, plus the usual plod work with fences, informants and second-hand dealers that invariably catches up with your crim.
While it seems that a lot of crime goes unsolved, a cop once explained to me that in the long-run they actually finish up convicting close to 100% of career criminals one way or another.
can be a lot of casualties fall by the way-side on that “Long Run” of ‘priorities’ Red, imo.
See serial abusers, Wairarapa children for examples.
And that heap of files in the Masterton Police Station would likely have mouldered a lot less if there had been four or five officers assigned to it rather than one … who kept of being dragged off to other more ‘urgent’ matters.
Still should we not be careful what we ask for here? Could we double or triple the number of police and thus vacuum clean society free from all it’s ills….
imo, and experience, much offending by The Criminal Kind is less overt, and more sophisticated now than previously in NZ; Omerta has become more established, such a small village, and the ‘net. Otherwise, despite the heralding of ‘this’ drug-bust and ‘that’ sexual offending, would there be so many tinnie houses remaining un-touched, and I’m talking for more than eight years, that I am aware of; managed often by people with very responsible employment or community roles. The analysis by the Left, generally, is that the Offences Stats are being massaged (and that’s not all, lol) while the MSM and pathetic programmes like Police 10-7 fuel the stereo-typing of the ‘typical’ offender. Every time there is a relatively minor drug operation success locally, the freakin’ editor makes it Front Page News (aarrrgh!).
Just reflecting, I have been privileged, or damned, to engage intimately with people right across the s-e-o spectrum, and it is far from Black, White, or Blue. (hence why I do not trust the po-po).
Just reflecting, I have been privileged, or damned, to engage intimately with people right across the s-e-o spectrum, and it is far from Black, White, or Blue.
No quibble. I’m just a little wary of reflexive cop-bashing when they are really just a part of us … Good, Bad or Ugly.
No quibble – archaic 😉
When it comes to doing dodgy stuff how do the police stack up against up against other occupations such as teaching?.
I’d say fairly well, with the amount of scum they have to deal with on a daily basis and the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces I’m really quite impressed with the small amount of bad behavior that goes on within our police force.
Why do you say fairly well? Got any basis for a comparison apart from your own experience? Do you think that there are the same numbers of teachers raping or blackmailing/forcing students into having sex with them and we just don’t know about it?
“the amount of temptation that would waved in their faces”
What, like some of the NZ citizens they deal with having vaginas and such?
Yep or penises or both if they’re that way inclined.
Heaps of hard arse female crims that would offer up the goods if they thought there was a chance they may get off being dragged in front of the courts.
That says a bit more about the company you keep than it does about the police.
Right, so when a cop looks at another human being who has a vagina or a penis or both, they can’t help themselves? How on earth do men who aren’t cops cope?
“Heaps of hard arse female crims that would offer up the goods if they thought there was a chance they may get off being dragged in front of the courts.”
Not sure what that has to do with this conversation. Are you saying that because some women are ok with trading favours, that all women should be? Or are you saying that because some women are ok with trading favours, that the police are confused and can no longer tell the difference between choice and force? Doesn’t that render them incompetent to do the job they’re employed to do?
I’ve come across plenty of cases of cops letting it be known that, if the “goods were offered up” they’d be willing takers. Pretty much falls into the category of coercion. I’ve known one or two cases where female crims had sex willingly with detectives, but they were informants anyway. I can’t speak for the people you know, Bloody Moron.
Oh ffs BM and chris73, only a tiny percentage of the population pull armed robberies.
The vast majority of people just do their banking and shopping without ever pulling a sawn-off, but it’s no surprise that a few of us do when you consider the enormous temptation of all that free money.
But hey, it’s only a handful of people really so no big deal. Well done all the non armos I say.
there is more than a few filth
Fascinating fight for NACT party nomination in Kaikoura. Incumbent Colin King is a nice enough guy but seen to be ineffectual on local issues. He does what Head office says. Missing in action on issues such as the local hospital worries. Sat with Aaron Gilmore at the back of the back benches.
At least one challenger: Stuart Smith with a reputation as a mover and shaker in the wine industry. Supported by a group of Marlborough businessmen who want a higher Marlborough profile in Parliament.
National membership numbers have soared. The traditional Nactoids are getting the blue-rinse brigade out in force.
Wednesday night is decision time I understand. The role of Head office will be interesting.
I feel a bit sorry for Colin. His influence seems to be largely confined to his lovely family. He looks a bit startled when faced with the wider Electorate problems. Whenever he puts in a newspaper column usually about what his family is doing I say nice chap, but a pity National are not interested in using resources in a very safe seat.
Referendum done and in the post.
Mines in the same place next time i leave the house, a NO vote of course…
How the Left is less numerate at MMP than the Right
Yeah that’s what I’ve been saying. But no, let’s not change a thing and play straight into National’s game plan instead.
http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/11/22/dont-moan-about-mmp-disqualification-rules/
Sigh.
Why would anyone vote for a non-contestant (meaning anyone destined to come third or lower) when they could use their vote to actually influence the result?
Because some (many) people don’t see this as a zero-sum game. This line of reasoning only works if you treat voters as too dumb to know what’s good for them. Green electorate-seat voters in Ohariu knew damn well that their chances of not having Dunne as their MP would be maximised by voting for Chauvel. Labour electorate-seat voters in Epsom knew damn well their chances of throwing out Act would be maximised by voting Goldsmith.
There’s an argument to be made, certainly, that running Parker in Epsom was stupid because it seemed to send a signal that Labour view the seat as winnable. But everything else is just political nerds having a whinge that not everyone votes along purely utilitarian lines (and implying that it’s because they’re ignorant).
And the GP voters in the Waitakere electorate vote? How would we know how many left voters are voting knowledgeably and how many are voting relatively cluelessly?
The only way to stop the shear stupidity of the present electoral voting system is to make it a preferential vote. Have people vote for the top three choices minimum and we’ll actually get their most preferred candidate.
We won’t have to screw our democracy up by giving the political parties the power to choose who’s going to win by making deals.
”On another planet with you”, fact usually just as strange as fiction sees both Fran O,Sullivan and John Armstrong voicing their approval for David Cunliffe’s assertion that the Government must pay the Court ordered compensation to the Pike River miners families,
This follows on from an editorial earlier in the week where the editor of the NZ National Party NZ Herald also gave Cunliffe it’s backing on this issue,
O’Sullivan goes so far as to tell Slippery the Prime minister that He must change His stance on the payment of the compensation befor the next election,(or suffer???),
Armstrong i get the distinct feeling was laboring under ‘orders’ from on high when He produced His piece which while supporting Cunliffes stance was full of the snide abuse we have come to expect and disrespect this particular producer of ‘advertorials’ for the National Party to cause to come into print,
It took David Cunliffe a while to get around to saying the a Government He leads would pay this Court ordered compensation which now proves to have support for those high and low in the great scheme of things,
i would go further tho and simply tax the share-market $1 for every $100 of shares either bought or sold and create a fund to provide for any such future payments,(preferrably called the Pike River Memorial Fund with transactions recorded as such each time a dollar was paid just to remind the directors and shareholders of their ongoing ‘responsibilities’)…
The beginnings of a financial transaction tax. Make it 5c on every $100 transacted, and have it apply to every NZD credit card, money transfer, foreign exchange and EFTPOS transactions over a NZD$250 level.
It should help tamp down market speculation on the NZD as well.
Don’t find i have any disagreement with that proposal, there would need be a mechanism to detect multiple payments under the thresh-hold by the one entity in any given period attempting to rort the system is my only codicil…
Brazil had a transaction tax on everything. It was originally imposed to help pay for the health system, although it’s debatable how it was actually spent. I never noticed that I was paying it, unlike income tax and student loan interest.
Gee theres a surprise, more taxes
Taxes are a critical mechanism to drive the correct behaviours in society and to focus the private sector on specific sectors and activities.
Being the director of at least 3 companies, do you use tax minimization?
Are you paying your fair share, Mr CV?
After you outed yourself, I jumped onto the companies register and had a look, you’re certainly involved in a diverse range of businesses.
The thing I don’t understand is why you’re wasting your time with Labour, National seems like a much better fit?
They’d love to have a candidate with all your skills and experience also you’d help add a bit of diversity to the National line up, you’d be a shoe in for selection.
“Outed” himself?
No BM, it’s you who has just outed yourself as a creepy panty-sniffer like the Slater child.
As if we didn’t know.
Panty sniffer?
I actually was really impressed with the mans skills and what he’s involved in, I was actually under the impression that he spent his day bludging off his rich in laws.
CV would have to be one of the most business savy guys within the labour party,.
PS: I should have put a smiley face at the end of the second line, to demonstrate that I was joking.
Have you checked out my skid-marks BM? (better get in that garden before it rains btw).
Why, are they like a modern art masterpiece?, I’m not really that big on contemporary art so I’ll pass this time.
Probably more felixs thing, though.
Impressionism, or a Cubist then…although, likely a Classicist 😀 (definitely not Renaissance).
Just shows, BM, that you know fuck all about the Labour Party, or the National Party, or business of any sort.
Hardly surprising when all your info comes direct from the fetid worm Slater.
The critical thing for an economy IMO is for money to circulate through communities and SMEs (which is the business sector I am involved with). The velocity of money concept. And for SMEs to see reasonable profits in order to encourage grass roots investment in local businesses.
I see Labour as the party which understands this. National on the other hand, despite its reputation as the party for business, is really the party for big (corporate) business. We’re in a situation now (both in NZ and globally) where corporate businesses and their profits are protected by governments to the detriment of not just ordinary workers and citizens (who in theory governments are supposed to be serving), but SME’s and SME owners.
For instance – as an SME owner, higher broadband costs (due to subsidising Chorus) and higher power prices (due to electricity market privatisation and lack of a buying scheme like NZ Power) are highly damaging to the bottom line. Not to mention things like bank fees and small business loan costs from banks.
In summary – corporates don’t just thieve from communities and ordinary consumers but charging more and delivering less – they are thieving from SMEs as well.
Having said that, there are major problems with how Labour is perceived in the SME sector, and National is still the preferred party of many business owners for good reason.
edit – hi felix
Interesting.
Not the I’m involved in the National party, but I do agree they’re more geared up for big business.
The reason being is probably because most of the mps careers have being involved in big business, it’s what they know, not a lot of National mps come from SME sector.
Someone with your skills and experience would do well in the National party and could really make a difference for small business owners.
Something to think about?
I’m just heading outside to weed the garden(fun times) so if you reply It may be a while before you get a response.
I have been previously approached about standing for National, which I found a fascinating occurrence. Sadly I had to politely decline further discussions 😈
Still, could be a way to get Dunedin North 😉
Is sedition still a charge on the books?! 😀
No. It got removed abruptly after the police last used it.
Btw, as many of you would know, Dunedin North may not necessarily continue to be a safe Labour seat that it once was.
The boundary expansion is a challenge but I’ve got a high level of confidence in David Clark vis a vis the North electorate of Dunedin. He’s already been active and visible up that way.
Problem for you though CV is that you’re not a teacher,social worker or unionist. That fairly much rules you out.
Also you’ve a Man, so you’re really up against it, honestly I’d say the chances of you getting picked are up there with Trevor Mallard being made deputy leader.
Hmmm. Quick jot on the calculator, I figure a maximum of 24-25 males in the Labour caucus next year even if it’s a strong result for Labour.
Why sadly?
It would have been impolite to decline gleefully 😛
BM it’s interesting how you think that National helps SME’s. National’s overall approach results in a dividing society with very disparate situations (it’s ok, you lot probably don’t fully appreciate that this is the outcome of you MO atm. It will come.).
Most all business does better when everyone is closer together in terms of economic situation, not further apart.
As such, left wing policies result in better outcomes for sme’s.
No he wouldn’t as all those people from the big corporate world would expect him to kiss their arse (authoritarian mindset) and CV doesn’t seem like the arse kissing type.
Indeed. Having said that, I’ve also done my share of work for a number of big corporates, both NZ ones and trans-national corporates.
Yeah, so have I which is why I know that privatisation and big corporates aren’t any better and are often worse than a government department.
Yep.
Same here… worked extensively in both sectors.
Ultimately the only difference I ever observed was in their internal quality of leadership.
Plus the public sector organisation effectively passed it’s productivity gains back onto all it’s customers (ie tax and rate payers) while the private corporate gains were pretty much all captured by it’s shareholders.
I found the complete opposite. Split my working career between govt. and private and found govt frustratingly festooned with petty rules, paucity of innovation and bureaucratic nightmares.
Yeah, thank god we have a Government who won’t raise GST. Oh, wait …
Petrol taxes, company rego fees,…
See what I mean, Chris.
You just pop up with little barbs and insults.
Make an actual argument for less taxes, with evidence.
Gee, there’s a surprise, a RWNJ complaining about having to pay the full cost of things.
gee there’s a surprise..
..chris 73 proffering yet another simplistic one-liner…
..(it must be a day ending in a ‘y’..)
..do you have rolling amnesia..?
..who was it who raised gst after promising not to..?
..remind us again..
..so..taxes on poorest ..good..
..taxes on share-traders..bad…
..eh..?
..and i wd like to propose another user-pays tax..
..it’s the rightwingers-oxygen-users tax..
..i call it the ‘rot’ tax..or if you prefer..the ‘rout’-tax..
..you like..?
..you pay at the start of each day..
..eh..?
..it’s a kind of a sin-tax..
..for being greedy/uncaring rightwing/randite-arseholes..
..eh..?
..should we call it the rand-tax..?
..or the ayn-tax..?
..phillip ure..
The Tories only have slogans.
It could mean less taxes, but a shift on how they’re paid. A well designed one would be unavoidable, unlike income or capital gains taxes, or even GST, which can be evaded by spending overseas. I don’t expect Tories to like the idea. You guys prefer taxing paper boys and girls, or beneficiaries who make an extra $20 a week. You actually love more taxes, as long as you don’t pay them.
Fran O’Sullivan is starting to criticise this appalling government.
Here are some key quotes from her article in the Herald today.
Govt must pay for Pike tragedy
“A failure to do so invites the observation that the Key Government was prepared to take the limelight during the harrowing and symbolic mass mourning that has taken place on the coast and that Key and his Cabinet, having politically elevated the disaster to a national tragedy, prefer to stay absent from the fray and refuse to take a moral stance when political leadership is required.
“Their failure to do so has of course given Cunliffe an opening and enabled him to paint Key’s Government as a heartless lot. ”
“Rod Emmerson’s brilliant cartoon (Key Lorde-ing it up) in yesterday’s Herald underscored that in contrast to Pike River, the Government has given a $30 million subsidy to the Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter.”
“Not surprisingly, the Labour leader’s tactics are raising eyebrows in corporate circles, particularly among directors who are starting to feel they will have to factor in an element of political risk (on top of the blindingly complex commercial risks that now exist) if there is a change of government after next year’s election.”
But the real issue for Key and his Government is how its stance plays out in the political arena.
“But the Pike River disaster shocked New Zealanders to their core. It exposed unbelievable negligence by the Labour Department and the Pike River company. It was especially shocking as this negligence was on a scale that might be expected in a Third World country, not New Zealand.
Cunliffe is right: The Government should fill the breach and pay the $3.41 million to the families.”
When Tories like O’Sullivan speak, do Key and his crony government listen?
The Key government is rather caught out. They are adamant that the Government should not pay out to the families. If they changed that position then it is because David Cunliffe forced him to. (Can’t have that!) If Key does not change his stance he will be constantly reminded about the contrast of $30million for Rio Tinto but nothing for the families. (Miserable buggers!)
Well played that man Cunliffe.
Kennedy, shot from behind in the head yet his head shunts backwards.
Trust the government? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trust the mainstream media like the Herald? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trust the official version? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trust Key when it comes to his ties to the US government? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trust Key when it comes to spying? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Trust any of them?
not on your nellie, and anyone who does is an outright fool worthy of only ridicule.
I agree
Yes, BM, Lee Harvey Oswald killed on his own.
You’ve got to be crazy to believe that.
Do you ever question the government’s story?
From November 2014, every word.
classic.
best to question every government.
can’t wait until November 2014 – can practice on a noo set ….. been a few years now.
I know Oswald didn’t kill Kennedy.
I’d go with the theory has was topped by the Israelis because he was trying to stop Israels Nuclear program.
i like the mob-hit theory..
..pappy kennedy promised the mob that if they got out the vote for his boy in the closely-fought/tight election..
..that a kennedy presidency would go easy on the mafia.mob..would leave them to get on with their business..
..the mob duly delivered on the day..kennedy just scraped in..
..and then ongoing war was declared on the mafia..
..with robert kennedy setting up/heading a special task-force targeting all aspects of the mob business model..
..my understanding of the world is that you don’t do that to people like that..
..they tend to kill you…if you do that sort of thing to them..
..eh..?
..those political facts/realities of that election are what lend me to the mob-hit theory..
..but oswald acting alone..?..
..yeah right..!
..phillip ure..
It is suggested in The Grip of Death (a book about monetary reform) that both Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln were both assassinated on behalf of the bankers, who were concerned that both presidents were trying to control the money supply.
f.y.i…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jfk-ten-unanswered-questions-about-the-assassination-of-john-f-kennedy-50-years-on-8955533.html
phillip ure..
This week referendum papers start arriving in voters mailboxes.
While many think the outcome is foregone conclusion and some, such as our inept Prime Minister believe that the outcome is well known it is vitally important to still tick “NO” on the referendum.
Ticking NO sends a message to not just the government, but to the people and the media that despite not campaigning on Asset Sales, contrary to popular opinion, making a hash of the offerings and spending more than expected on selling even just 49% of our assets to the 1%, New Zealanders are against asset sales.
With over 70% in recent polls voicing their opposition to asset sales, a subsequent corresponding turnout in the postal vote will have serious ramifications.
Unfortunately, if local body turnout is any indicator, it is highly probable that fewer than 30% will return their ballots.
Should the NO vote be around 20% of that, the media will trumpet it as indicative of an overwhelming indicator of support for the assets being sold off.
So what can we do?
1) Talk to your colleagues and encourage them to vote to “send a message”
2) Get your neighbours to vote to “send a message”
3) Your local networks in sport, community or volunteer groups – vote to “send a message”
What is the message we want to send?
That our assets were built by our grandparents and parents for all New Zealanders.
Selling off these assets will mean a higher cost of living for everyone.
The Government has lost $249million in income each year.
In perspective, the first year of loss income earnings could have covered the costs (in a single year) of;
– Pike River Compensation (3.4M)
– Adult Education Classes (23M)
– Feed the Kids Bill (100M)
– Paying Parliamentary Cleaners a living wage (25M)
– Paying out 100% land value for Red Zoned residents – up from the 50% offered (around 15M)
That’s a total of $166.4M, with $82.6M remaining.
Remember, nearly 20M of those figures are one off costs.
For the sake of ideology and feathering the nests of the few, dividends of $249M each year would have covered key issues that this government refuses to acknowledge as issues in getting New Zealand back on the road to becoming a society of participation, and creating a fair society.
Voting NO in this referendum sends a clear message to the government that they are treading dangerous ground.
If even a 50% turnout can be achieved with a 45% response rate of NO – with 50% of voter turnout sending a message that asset sales are not to be ignored, will leave the media playing a dangerous game if they try to frame it as an “us against them” viewpoint, which really when you think about it, is the entire point.
But let them try because if you try to turn “us” against “them” WE will win everytime.
Yuuuuss! Well said said James Thrace.
Since it’s the day after the anniversary of President Kennedy’s death, make sure you take 2 hours out and view Oliver Stone’s “JFK”.
Not for the conspiracy theories, but for the kind of leadership that we should expect and aspire to.
Xox
Good post James. Puts things into a different frame. How many mates has John Key got to vote in this referendum? Re. Police accountability. I have had my eyes open to police abuse etc and now see them as in Need of serious independent oversight if we are not to find ourselves in a grim police state. I was pulled over the other day, for no reason but to check my warrant and seat belt. If you own an old car, are a young male, or brown, you will be pulled over all the time. Oh and if your female….! This is bullying harassment and intimidation, and must cease, after a public apology from the chief of police. Haha
A Brighter Future? Plastic ‘Houses’ to Alleviate Housing Shortage
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11161508
fossil fuel melt down
Fake Plastic Trees ; How was the second ‘games’? – No pulling the Lego now. 🙂
Passable. Interesting study in political economy for the tweeny set. Looking forward to Ender’s now, although I think it won’t beat the writing by Orson Scott Card.
recommended reading for the USMC: Card, however, a Mormon opposes ‘Buggers’ (homosexuality) and same-sex marriage.
Aye, Card is a fantastic writer.
Read every single book of his a while ago (just before my Stephen R. Donaldson phase I think).
Some of his personal views though, particularly around homosexuality, are pretty abhorrent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card
Last time I described Card it was: Fantastic stories, boring style.
Thats fair.
I’ve read a large portion of his collected writings and would have to say that most of it is terrible writing that doesn’t benefit from the rosy-tinted glasses that Ender’s Game engenders.
The moment I realized that all his writing is from the libertarian Mormon fantasy mindset (didn’t investigate his beliefs prior to my initial foray in to his work), it spoils every story because you have a good idea of what any developments will be. Give me a good Heinlein any day.
Asimov will always be top of the list for me.
He was the one that challenged me to think about ethics and technology.
Reading the Foundation series as a teenager changed the way I think about society.
Carl Sagan
Ender’s Game is probably his best and, yeah, his libertarian/religion psyche comes through really strong. In fact, when you get down to it, that can be said of a lot of fantasy/fiction. You really do see a lot of authoritarian societies with free-markets with the rich as the good guys.
I’m still choosing not to read SF, although Bank’s culture novels are calling…”they keep calling me” and Fantasy, got an eye-full of that looking for James Tiptree Jr. at the library this week. *sigh*
I’ve basically come up with a “know the author, know the story” philosophy regarding my sci-fi/fantasy reading. I will make myself knowledgeable about the author before starting on the first book and then if it hasn’t surprised me in the least by the end of it I will proceed to not read the rest of their works because if they aren’t able to step outside of their own bounds, how can I expect them to transport me out of mine?
William Gibson is right up there for me 😛
ae, Gibson.seminal
Out of curiosity, how many of the above mentioned authors’ novels pass the Bechdel Test?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test
Probably none.
Thinking about it, I’d say even a lot of the books I’ve read that have been written by women don’t.
Try Jane Austen, George Eliot, Margaret Atwood… 😀
@weka – I get the importance of what the Bechdel Test is there to point out but, for myself, a lot of the sci-fi I tend to read is of the short story variety because I am there for the interesting ideas, not for geek/nerd writers to prove how poorly they sometimes understand simple social interaction
And, in all honesty, I cannot think of many novels that I have read that would pass the Bechdel Test because the closest I have come to standard literature tends to have been the Kurt Vonnegut’s and Joseph Heller’s of the world (Slaughterhouse 5 and Catch-22 being all-time faves).
And when I think of literature *in general*, I can’t easily think of any that would.
I don’t think that the Bechdel Test is in itself a measure of quality or even of ideological worth – Dr Strangelove could easily be appropriated as a feminist text precisely because of its depiction of hypermasculinity leading to disaster.
However, I do think that the test is something that every creative artist should keep in mind now. If you are going to exclude women, as women with their own subjectivity and intersubjectivity, one must ask why, because that’s not how the real world works. Even satire has to keep up with the times – especially satire, actually.
As for Orson Scott Card, while one might try to separate his weirdly extreme homophobia “outside” of his fiction (and more than a few have speculated about self-loathing and repression…), um, well, fuck it, that’s just trying too hard. SF is meant to be speculative, but speculation along the lines of “lets suppose that, you know, just as an incidental detail that no-one ever mentions but is implicitly ever-present that there were no people were ever, you know… in the shower… um… well, lets’ not…”
Well, that sort of undermines the real ethos of SF, which I always thought was to honestly confront real issues or real possibilities, not reel out silly fantasies about midichloridians and colourful space battles.
What I absolutely hate about a lot of SF is that it presents a universe of indulgence without permanent and complex consequences – even the later Ender sequels avoid that.
OK, rant over until the next cup of coffee.
Card’s a thoroughly disgusting individual, but at least a competent writer. Those of his books I’ve read, I’ve borrowed, or bought second hand, in order that he sees no actual money from them. Donaldson, on the other hand, was the first writer I recall having read whose work invoked the Eight Deadly Words, it was so utterly boring.
Velveteen Baby!
Yep, that’s another piece of modern society that will have to have reduced use and strict recycling.
“fossil fuel melt down”
+ Darwin Award. PVC is a pretty high toxicity plastic and iirc is an endocrine disruptor with serious implications for human fertility.
The stupidity, on so many levels, of importing plastic housing from China make my brain hurt. Technically we don’t have a shortage of houses in NZ (pretty sure the number of unoccupied houses is in excess of people needing a home). What we have is an economy being run for profit rather than the good of the people.
And that is why we have poverty. With greed and selfishness as the guiding principles it’s all we can get and it needs to change.
You say ‘serious implications for human fertility’ like they’re bad things. Considering that this planet is already grossly overpopulated, and that sea level rise has been locked in for at least the next couple of generations (with consequent loss of coastal land), I’d consider infertility one of today’s least pressing problems.
I completely agree (although I doubt the effect on fertility will be large enough, soon enough to be of any benefit). It was more a passing comment that humans should be given the Darwin Award as a species.
Unfortunately endocrine disruptors don’t just affect homo sapiens 🙁
“It acts without action, does without doing, finds
flavour in what is flavourless,
Can make the small great and the few many,
Requites injuries with good deeds,
Deals with the hard while it is still easy,
With the great while it is still small.
In the governance of [nation] everything difficult
must be dealt with while it is still easy,
Everything great must be dealt with while it is still small.”
As DoC have their flag-pole cut, Possums rise on the ‘mast’.
Cosmic Toaster :
note bene : Warsaw UN Climate talks unpact.
I listened to Geoffrey Palmer’s interview on Kim Hill this morning with growing astonishment. The pompous git spent his whole time bemoaning the state of our democracy without once seeming to realise the reforms he championed are more than anything else responsible for it. He seems to completely lack empathy or connection, he analyses the past as if he had nothing to do with it. He is one seriously off the planet guy, so crazy he is almost sane.
And to top it off, when David Lange – the only one in the entire asylum that was the fourth Labour government to retain his moral compass or sanity – stood up to the crazies like Douglas, Prebble and Palmer and canned even more radical reforms like the flat tax, Palmer criticises Lange for not following correct procedure:
“…Prime Minister David Lange was the main culprit. He canned the newly elected government’s notorious economic package of December 1987, a dramatic lurch to the Right based on a flat income tax and sweeping privatisation.
Lange’s unilateral decision was something “that you can’t do”, Sir Geoffrey says. “And that’s why it all fell apart…”
What the fuck? Geoffrey Palmer is the guy at Isandlawana who wouldn’t hand out the ammo unless the soldier had the right requistion order. What is wrong with him?
Palmer is a fucking wierdo.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9433705/The-Reluctant-Prime-Minister
Palmer has a very ordered legal mind. He is a detail person who wants all the forms signed in the right place. He certainly would have been the stores clerk denying munitions, or the officer commanding Ghurka enlisted men to leave their defensive line in the Officer’s Club in Singapore. It always seemed to me that he was incapable of seeing the big picture. He always reminded me of Frasier in Cheers, running around with a pair of scissors to prove he was a dangerous rebel. A fucking weirdo is as good as any description I’ve ever seen of him.
I’m glad you had the fortitude to keep listening. I had to give up. I’d always thought of Palmer as quite a reasonable sort of fella – things like expiration on legislation etc.
Today he showed me just what an out of touch pompous git he actually is.
Decrying Lange for example for calling for a cup of tea on the basis that people were really beginning to hurt. Palmer thought Lange should have carried on.
You’e correct Sanctuary – one pompous git
its all just a dream babe a vacuum a scheme babe that sucks you into feeling like this.
“…I can see that your head has been twisted and fed with worthless foam from the mouth…”
“…I used to care but – things have changed ….”
“It’s not dark yet, but it’s gettin’ There ” ; …[ Try ] to get to ‘heaven’ before they close the door…
+1 love it
….don’t even hear the murmur of a prayer..
“I’m 20 miles outa town in cold irons bound “
He was in this ‘phase’ when I saw him at the Westpac Stadium in Christchurch with Patti Smith. Only international artists I have seen of note, yet sufficient for me: Too many people at concerts like Sabbath and AC/DC. I’d love to meet Johnette Napolitano though! .
Have you seen this , he’s been making ‘gates’ recently.
Johnette Napolitano….even her name is wonderful.
No I hadn’t, ‘swinging gate’ comes from the tao. Amazing serendipity (or not 😉 ) though. Wotta day, and ‘straight’ as dray too. Wonders never cease 😀 Thanx fender, ‘request’ me some time.
Meh, I saw him with Tom Petty.
Petty was awesome, Dylan, not so much.
I’d give my eye teeth to see Patti Smith though.
yes, the Dylan set was muddled by the acoustics of the venue. Tom Petty, say no more!
or,
“It didn’t feel like Sunday
Didn’t feel like June
When he met his silent partner in that lonely corner room
That overlooked the marquee (Moon) 😉
Of the Plaza all-adult
And he was not lookin’ for romance – just someone he could trust.
And it wasn’t no way to carry on
It wasn’t no way to live
But he could put up with it for a little while
He was workin’ on Something Big
Sympathise with the Petty experience Naturesong, but as he states in Chronicles volume 1
“I’d been on an eighteen month tour with Tom Petty. It would be my last. I had no connection to any kind of inspiration. Whatever was there to begin with had all vanished and shrunk. Tom was at the top of his game and I was at the bottom of mine. I couldn’t overcome the odds. Everything was smashed. My own songs had become strangers to me, I didn’t have the skill to touch their raw nerves, couldn’t penetrate the surfaces. It wasn’t my moment of history anymore. There was a hollow singing in my heart and I couldn’t wait to retire and fold the tent. One more big payday with Petty and that would be it for me. I was what they called over the hill. If I wasn’t careful I could end up ranting and raving in shouting matches with the wall. The mirror had swung around and I could see the future- an old actor fumbling in garbage cans outside the theatre of past triumphs.
I had written and recorded so many songs, but it wasn’t like I was playing many of them. I think I was only up to the task of about twenty or so. The rest were too cryptic, too darkly driven, and I was no longer capable of doing anything radically creative with them. It was like carrying a package of heavy rotting meat. I couldn’t understand where they came from. The glow was gone and the match had burned right to the end. I was going through the motions. Try as I might, the engines wouldn’t start.”
But beginning with his 1997 album Time Out of Mind he has released 5 great albums that prove an “over the hill” artist can certainly experience a renaissance when the creative juices start flowing again.
“Love is the ghost haunting your head
Love is the killer you thought was your friend
Love is the leech, sucking you up
Love is a vampire, drunk on your blood
Love is the beast that will tear out your heart
Hungrily lick it and
Painfully pick it apart
Former believers, they beg for release
As Love looking down on them
Smiles and picks his teeth
(She knows all the secrets you don’t want to tell)
😎
+1 😎
but, but….Love can be fuel that gives you your drive…
Love can be air to keep you alive… 😉
I’m Left, a gape 😀 at the discerning drafting gate.
Hearteningly, in my ongoing daily dealings with cops what I hear is unbridled contempt for cops who abuse their role for personal advanatge of whatever description. In my not limited experience the broad cop mindset, which is unsurprisingly distinct in numerous aspects, does not extend to tolerance or rationalisation of corrupt acts.
I well recall a sergeant rightly identified as a hardarse with whom I’ve had long term dealings, vocally disgusted when a senior cop on trial in the High Court turned up at trial in police uniform. In this sergeant’s view the guy on trial was smearing his personal shit all over the uniform and the police generally by turning up uniformed. His view didn’t change when the guy was acquitted of rape. In other words he didn’t accept the acquittal as the end of it. There are many cops like that.
Sorry folks. Just realised that my comment above should be placed with those at 2 above. Got interrupted by the water tank running dry. $275 for 13,000 litres just delivered by tanker. Lucky I had the readies.
If I hadn’t, and going by their usual rants, I guess I’d be a ready target for Piss73 and Bowel Motion and SS-lands denouncing me as hopeless feral underclass who deserved it all for his bad choices.
Ah……….such Masters Of The Looniverse those hatefilled carping old pricks !
Shit, that’s expensive water, we usually pay $150 for 11000 litres.
Well I’m glad to see you’re up, hows the hang-over going?
Piss-Up73 kind of you to ask.
Well I assumed you must have been drunk to post this:
North 31.1.1
22 November 2013 at 11:01 pm
You’re a nutter Piss73. Give the missus a serious seeing to when she got home late with the Maccers dinner and no dipping sauce didya ? You being too bone idle or unartful to peel some spuds while ya waited, as you related yesterday or the day before ? Walked home for that matter while you drove to and from work in the Grandly asprayshinul Vitara angling at the stylish Maori Land Bruiser VX, as you also related yesterday or the day before ?
Ake ake ake……obviously don’t know or care to know about the zoo of Judge Judy’s current colleagues but certainly there are many former colleagues in Auckland who always saw her as a self promoting baggage and a not too gifted one at that.
Well X73, you’re eager to hand it out, but you get all huffy and indignant when you get a taste of your own medicine and you still haven’t got the point of that. Keep showing how thick you are… but beware that that’s all you’re doing.
Another word of advice: if you’re going to cling to your dignity, then first you must show some, but don’t confuse it with pomposity.
encouraging North
FYI – this comment was ‘awaiting moderation’ on Kiwiblog – so it must be HOT? 😉
“She never will, big bruv. Miss Dim is a corrupt individual, always ready to rip people off.
A blight, a parasite, a leech on society’s back.”
yawn…….
Any other Kiwibloggers registered and attending the Australian Public sector Anti-Corruption Conference?
____________________________________________________________________________
APSACC ID Number: 1094
…….
Dear Penny,
We look forward to welcoming you to the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, being held at The Hilton Sydney, from Tuesday 26 – Thursday 28 November 2013.
Below are the details of your registration; please check the information carefully, including your name and address details. If any of your details require changes, please notify ICE Australia via email at apsaccreg@iceaustralia.com as soon as possible. Alternatively you can amend your details online by entering your access key TIJCZXVYH into the Attendee Login on the Conference Registration page. This facility will be available until Tuesday, 29 October 2013, at which time all changes must be sent to the Registration Manager at apsaccreg@iceaustralia.com
Please find your tax invoice attached as a PDF file to this email. If you are part of a bulk registration your invoice will be sent to the first person registered.
Name: Ms Penny Bright
Position: ‘Anti-Corruption /anti-Privatisation Whistle-Blower’
Organisation: Public Watchdog
Country: NEW ZEALAND
Please find important conference information, in addition to a summary of your registration, below.
Venue
The Hilton Sydney
488 George Street, Sydney
NSW, 2000
____________________________________________________________________________
As the 4th highest polling Auckland Mayoral candidate, with 11,723 votes
http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/AboutCouncil/HowCouncilWorks/Elections/Documents/mayorfinalresults2013.pdf
who campaigned against ‘corrupt corporate control’ of the Auckland region, I look forward to discussing with international anti-corruption EXPERTS, the following ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and corporate welfare
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
I’m sure there will be a lot of interest in the recent complaint made by Lisa Prager and myself to the NZ Serious Fraud Office (SFO), against Auckland Mayor Len Brown and Sky City (Auckland) for alleged bribery and corruption:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/open-letter-request-for-nz-serious-fraud-office-to-conduct-an-urgent-inquiry-into-alleged-bribery-and-corruption-involving-auckland-mayor-len-brown-and-sky-city-auckland/
It is my intention to raise the question of how New Zealand can continually maintain the status of being the ‘least corrupt country in the world’ (together with Denmark and Finland, according to Transparency International’s 2012 ‘Corruption Perception Index’
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results ) when we haven’t even ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption?
UNCAC in a nutshell – U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre
http://www.u4.no/…/uncac…united-nations-convention-against-corruption…/3…
Countries that have signed, but not yet ratified UNCAC: Barbados, Bhutan, Czech Republic, Germany, Guinea, Japan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and….
I’m sure a number of anti-corruption experts, and hopefully significant Australian media, will be interested in the fact that the NZ International Convention Centre Act 2013, was effectively railroaded through the NZ Parliament, without ‘due diligence’ against the increased risk of money-laundering being carried out by the supposedly ‘lead agency’ – OFCANZ (organised and Financial Crime Agency of NZ), the NZ Prime Minister John Key, Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce, Auckland Council, or Auckland Central Police.
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/SKY-CITY-OFCANZ-OIA-REPLY-NO-DUE-DLIGENCE-RE-MONEY-LAUNDERING-bright-penny-06-c211711-2-sent-reply.pdf
So – there may be some interest in the fact that the NZ Auditor-General, Lyn Provost, has confirmed that she will consider my request for an investigation into the failure of OFCANZ to carry out ‘due diligence’ on the increased risk of money-laundering arising from the NZ International Convention Centre Act 2013 ( or as prefer to call it – the ‘Sky City money-laundering’) Act:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/nz-auditor-general-lyn-provost-will-consider-my-request-to-conduct-an-urgent-investigation-into-ofcanz/
As during the Auckland Mayoral campaign, I will explain why I am making a stand in defence of the public’s right to ‘open, transparent and democratically-accountable local government, which cannot be ignored – ie my refusal to pay rates, until ‘the books’ are open and the public are given the ‘devilish detail’, which shows EXACTLY where rates monies are being spent on consultants and private contractors.
You see, gutless anonymous ‘Manolo’ and ‘Big Bruv’, unlike your bleating sheepish selves, I’m an active and effective ‘anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’, who actually ‘gets things done’?
(Meant of course in a caring way 🙂
You have a GREAT day!
Kind regards,
‘Her Warship’
________________________________________________________________________
PS: For those who kindly made donations to help get me over the ditch and registered at this 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference – THANKS!
In the end, my sister loaned me $1500 in order to make sure I could get there.
I’d REALLY appreciate not being left in the financial poo here folks – so if you haven’t yet made a donation to help out, you still can:
KIWIBANK PM Bright 38 9010 0725719 00
That’s 150 people donating $10
75 people donating $20
Not a big ask?
Have a GREAT day!
Cheers
Penny Bright
Why should people give you cash? You don’t support public transport, urban density, the Auckland Plan, or indeed anything at all.
I support a few ’causes’, being interviewed for board-membership of a disability trust next week, and can always do with some cash! 😀 (All donations Gr8fully invested). 😎
Not a UN Agenda 21 supporter by any chance are you ‘Ad’?
I’m not.
So ‘Ad’ – you’re not opposed to corruption, ‘white collar’ crime or ‘corporate welfare’?
I am.
You’ll be disappointed to know that a number of people DO support the (voluntary, self-funded) work I do and what I stand for – otherwise I wouldn’t have got nearly 12,000 votes and polled 4th in the Auckland Mayoral election, and wouldn’t be flying out to Sydney tomorrow morning?
Never mind.
You have a lovely day.
(I am 🙂
Cheers!
Penny Bright
12,000 wasted votes from yet another futile and wasted campaign. You are in fact harder right than Rodney Hide; you rebel against nothing of note, stand for nothing, and seek to destroy everything you touch.
Apart from your little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement. Here’s what you need to do Penny: go occupy a job.
I’m ‘friends’ with Penny, yet, that is funny! 😀 (unless you are implying I get a beard-cut too…)
Haircut at least
not much there now, and it’s getting greyer by the year.
What is a ‘real job’ in these times… “…now it’s time for you and me…”
“12,000 wasted votes from yet another futile and wasted campaign. You are in fact harder right than Rodney Hide; you rebel against nothing of note, stand for nothing, and seek to destroy everything you touch.
Apart from your little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement. Here’s what you need to do Penny: go occupy a job.”
______________________________________________________________________
Gosh ‘Ad’ – can you show me some EVIDENCE where Rodney Hide has campaigned against the ‘corrupt corporate control’ of the Auckland region?
I did.
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Can you show me some EVIDENCE ‘Ad’ – where Rodney Hide has exposed who is really running Auckland – http://www.committeeforauckland.co.nz membership – as I did in my 150 word Auckland Mayoral candidate statement which went out to 1.4 million Auckland voters?
(Maybe you’re just a little bit inexperienced politically ‘Ad’ , and simply don’t know what the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ are supposed to stand for?
Although since the neo-liberal ‘Rogernomic$’ reforms were introduced by the 1984 – 1987 ‘Labour Government’, ‘left’ vs ‘right’ is arguably no longer really very politically meaningful ?
Personally, I prefer to look at the fundamental political divide as ‘corporate minority’ vs ‘public majority’? (1% vs the 99% – sort of thing 🙂
My ‘little foray into the forgotten Aotea Square Occupy movement’, as a Named Respondent and an Appellant in my own name, working together with pro-bono lawyer for Occupy Auckland Ron Mansfield, resulted in a significant win against corporate-controlled Auckland Council.
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/?p=113
The following High Court documents, help expose how corporate-controlled Auckland Council is a ‘Supercity’ for the 1%.
http://www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/OCCUPY-AUCKLAND-APPEAL-APPLICATION-BY-APPELLANT-BRIGHT-TO-ADDUCE-NEW-EVIDENCE-pdf.pdf
Actually ‘Ad’ – I’m REALLY busy as a full-time, self-funded ‘anti-corruption / anti-privatisation Public Watchdog’.
This is what I stand for:
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
That this obviously upsets people such as yourself, gives me considerable satisfaction.
(Meant of course, in a caring way 😉
FYI – Occupy Auckland, to date, has been the only organisation to ever endorse the ‘principle’ of such an ‘ACTION PLAN’.
I look forward to as many people/ organisations / political parties / as possible, endorsing, advocating for such an ACTION PLAN, or as many parts of it as possible.
‘Where the people lead – the politicians will follow’ ?
PS: ‘Ad’ – do you support UN Agenda 21?
Given your rather semi-hysterical response, it seems to me that you probably do?
I don’t.
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
Really Penny, really?
Stumping for donations on The Standard for your own ends?
Jesus…
In about a year another general election will be held.
The next election is winnable for Labour and the Greens.
My top five issues to be addressed are:
Affordable housing.
Money for research and development.
Job creation.
Food in schools.
A Hikoi to show the importance of voting.
Anything on here you support ‘Tree top’ ?
To help ‘clip the wings’ of the corporate 1%?
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
Help yourself – that goes for anybody /everybody …
It’s a framework for GENUINE ‘transparency’ – a word that you’re seeing a lot of now.
(Like the “f” and “c” words – “FRAUD” and “CORRUPTION” ?)
Cheers!
Penny Bright
I support you Penny. I have just redone my budget for next week to donate $10.
Thank you ‘Treetop’.
Getting an income of just $320 per week myself (freehold house + flatmates) – I know how money is tight for a lot of us.
That’s why I’m asking folks to help ‘spread the load’ (as it were 🙂
Just need another 149 folks to do what you’re going to – and all will be well!
MUCH appreciated.
Cheers!
‘Her Warship 😉
Don’t stop the good fight. Someone has to do it and that someone is you and you need to be, and feel supported.
Certainly easier to make that $320 stretch when you refuse to pay rates.
Now now shes making a stand don’t you know
So sorry my budget for ‘intervention’ is currently being used to try and leverage the ‘Hairdo’ outta that electorate,
Plus i coughed a decent wad of used 20’s into G, Mac’s efforts at giving Banks a spanking, $320 a week with flatmates and a freehold house,(tell us more), sounds like you should have been able to save up to fund your own holiday, oops i mean conference across the ditch…
“Just need another 149 folks to do what you’re going to – and all will be well!”
And what will the donations bring? What outcomes will be achieved? Will you be open and honest with your donations? What will the donations be spent on?
So you would rather sit on your hands and do nothing.
errr…. did you miss this bit ‘The Contrarian’?
PS: For those who kindly made donations to help get me over the ditch and registered at this 2013 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference – THANKS!
In the end, my sister loaned me $1500 in order to make sure I could get there.
I’d REALLY appreciate not being left in the financial poo here folks – so if you haven’t yet made a donation to help out, you still can:
KIWIBANK PM Bright 38 9010 0725719 00
That’s 150 people donating $10
75 people donating $20
Not a big ask?
Have a GREAT day!
Cheers
Penny Bright
PS: I would not have been able to draw up this ACTION PLAN against ‘white collar’ crime, corruption and ‘corporate welfare’, had I not attended the 2009 Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, and 2010 Transparency International Anti-Corruption Conference – listened to and questioned the speakers, collected and read the material, then applied what I learned to New Zealand.
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ANTI-CORRUPTION-WHITE-COLLAR-CRIME-CORPORATE-WELFARE-ACTION-PLAN-Ak-Mayoral-campaign-19-July-2013-2.pdf
Got a considered opinion on how better to help ‘clip the wings’ of the corporate 1%
‘The Contrarian’ or ‘Ad’?
When you’re ready ……
Kind regards,
Penny Bright
http://www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
corruption never sleeps
Zerohedge: The Dark Heart of Centralised Power
I would recommend Hardt and Negri to you
Both Empire and Multitude. Empire is the best.
Southern glaciers retreating at 160m per year, some 5m a day!
In the Philippines, 4M people remain homeless following typhoon.
-Te Newz
I have just been listening to Stephen Sackur BBC Hard Talk. What an interrupting, opinionated yob. He interrupts, states something as a question then interrupts the explanation. He’s been with the BBC since 1986 apparently. Your time is up Sackur, sacking time. Time to move on to… the USA perhaps. They have quite a thing for clipped British accents.
Watch Sackur’s interview with John Key to get another perspective.
I think he’s a good interviewer, generally.
John Ansell has now added his comment to the Allan Titford story:
http://www.elocal.co.nz
“I also know Allan Titford. I’ve met him twice for long chats in the company of his new partner and small son. They struck me as a loving couple and there was certainly nothing in his partner’s behaviour to suggest that she was a victim of abuse.
In view of the fraud being perpetrated by the state over the Treaty, and in view of the numerous instances of police corruption that litter recent New Zealand history, I’m going to give Allan the benefit of the doubt until I’ve seen the evidence presented against him.
If he is guilty of these crimes, then he deserves everything that’s coming to him.
But I’m not going to see an innocent man rot in prison and a lovely little boy grow up without his dad if that evidence is as flimsy as I suspect it is.
I am certainly not going to accept that he is guilty of decades of sexual slavedriving based on the televised tearjerking of an ex-wife with a vested interest in his conviction.
Let us see the evidence. Already the 24 year sentence is evidence of a judge who rates Allan as deserving of a longer sentence than all but a few murderers.
Why?”
That’s John Ansell, architect of National’s 2005 election campaign, under Don “Iwi/Kiwi” Brash. They must be proud.
“If he is guilty….”
WTF!?
it’s a tragedy he lives in the same hemisphere as us!
I don’t think it’s worth engaging with these people, they are utterly immune to reason.
But it is important to know that they are out there, and not just on the wild fringe.
some of these attitudes are quite mainstream. Wonder what went wrong with their socialization to limit their brain development. Not much better than ill-bred animals trapped in a cage.
That elocal link doesn’t go to the text quoted, nor is the text turning up in a site search. Have they taken it down? Can’t find it on google either.
The blog comments are on the left of the page link.
Ansell’s is (currently) the 4th one down. But all the comments are worth reading, to see what these people are like – and bearing in mind that their group includes the likes of Muriel Newman (ex-ACT MP) and others who pop up as pundits in the mainstream media.
does it leave ya’ gobsmacked? 😀
I see my reply didn’t make it through. So clear to see where the site managers are coming from.
I expect Ansell doesn’t believe the arson evidence either. Or the using a document with intent to defraud evidence, or the perjury evidence.
Delusional person has delusions?
It’s a comment attached to one of the ongoing series of “Gangsta’s Stole My Land”
inflammatory drivelarticles.What a narrow scary world these people project.
Improved the search results fixing that damn date problem and putting in a few minor appearance enhancements.
I could do with a trim 😉