Open mike 23/11/2015

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 23rd, 2015 - 60 comments
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60 comments on “Open mike 23/11/2015 ”

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  1. Atiawa 1
    23 November 2015 at 6:49 am

    Why would Goff stand for the Auckland mayoralty as an independent candidate considering his life-long commitment to the Labour Party?

    • tc 1.1
      23 November 2015 at 7:02 am

      Possibly tactical given the dirty politics that will continue to be played.

      goffs experience with that aspect of nationals campaigning during the 2011 election will serve him well, all the best phil.

      • Atiawa 1.1.1
        23 November 2015 at 7:16 am

        Tactical! How would that be considering his holding cabinet positions along with leadership of NZ’s oldest political party?
        Are you suggesting he wants to distance himself from his past? Or does Labour want to distance itself from Goff’s past?

        • te reo putake 1.1.1.1
          23 November 2015 at 8:58 am

          Generally speaking, the major political parties don’t stand candidates under the party name in local government elections. National have C&R in Ak and Labour have endorsed various coalitions and independents over the years.

          • Lanthanide 1.1.1.1.1
            23 November 2015 at 12:17 pm

            I believe that’s changing though, particularly with recent news that National are starting to organise in Auckland for council seats etc.

          • Ad 1.1.1.1.2
            24 November 2015 at 8:42 am

            That seriously needs to change.

            In the Whau Ward last election, the incumbent piece of Tory sludge was beaten by Ross Clow.

            Ross proudly stood under a Labour brand. That meant he could call on all the ground troops from New Lynn, Mt Roskill, and Kelston to get those voting papers in.

            In the final week that papers were due, they went door to door. They got those papers to the libraries.

            Ross Clow won by around 100 votes.

            Labour works. Team Labour wins local elections.

    • Tracey 1.2
      23 November 2015 at 9:30 am

      Cos he isnt really a Left wing politician… and this way the right and left voters can both think he is neutral…

      I for one think it is more honezt than he has been for years. Now if he would just resign from parliament too.

  2. Tory 2
    23 November 2015 at 7:06 am

    Oh dear, another bad nights sleep for the left after so much expectation……..
    http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/national-still-ahead-in-polls-despite-rapist-remarks-2015112217#axzz3sFF10RuJ

    • b waghorn 2.1
      23 November 2015 at 7:13 am

      Have you ever built a dam of sand and watched it , first I drip ,then a trickle, then the front collapses in a flash.

    • mickysavage 2.2
      23 November 2015 at 7:16 am

      Why? Polling would have been conducted over 10 days or so and if historical patterns were followed would have finished last Wednesday. Few of the people polled would have seen Key’s appalling behaviour. Given other recent events the poll results ought to have National very afraid.

      • Sabine 2.2.1
        23 November 2015 at 7:36 am

        it does not matter at all this poll, like the last one does not matter
        But interestingly enough, the last Poll had the National Party down, and this Poll has the Leader of the National Party down.
        By the time the next poll arrives, and I am sure of this, John Key will have found another group to insult and malign, as he can’t help himself. He seems to me to be a very unpleasant fellow and seems to get more and more unpleasant by the day. Higher Office does not suit him.

        In the meantime, drip drip drip…..and the buckets gets fuller by the day. Its gonna be a fun time till 2017.

        • Chooky 2.2.1.1
          23 November 2015 at 9:04 am

          +100…polls are not worth worrying about at this stage ….and they are deeply sus

        • Puckish Rogue 2.2.1.2
          23 November 2015 at 10:10 am

          Its gonna be a fun time till 2017. I think you’ll find it’ll be 2020 🙂

          • Sabine 2.2.1.2.1
            23 November 2015 at 12:23 pm

            first we do 2017 and then 2020. Never celebrate before you have won PR, you might find humblepie not to your liking.
            So why not just lean back and enjoy the spectacle 🙂 after all its just our country that is done over, so really no hard feelings ey 🙂

    • galeandra 2.3
      23 November 2015 at 7:42 am

      Oh dear, schadenfreude.
      Except Tory won’t join us here for the celebration when NZ finishes turning on the worm he so admires.

    • DoublePlusGood 2.4
      23 November 2015 at 7:56 am

      A bad night’s sleep for the country – as long as people like you are willing to wreck it.

    • Tracey 2.5
      23 November 2015 at 9:31 am

      Given your adherence to polls, when will you call for National to not ratify the TPP given only 35% want it?

      • Srylands 2.5.1
        23 November 2015 at 9:44 am

        Tracey most people are not competent to have a view on the merits of the TPP. Of course New Zealand will ratify it. There is alternative. You are deluded for thinking otherwise.

        • Draco T Bastard 2.5.1.1
          23 November 2015 at 11:06 am

          Actually, I’m pretty sure that most people are and the people who say that most people aren’t are the people who aren’t competent enough to have a say.

        • savenz 2.5.1.2
          23 November 2015 at 12:28 pm

          The Natz are the least competent managers ever! 7 budget deficits in a row, 11 million is Saudi bribes and the million dollar Sky City convention centre corporate welfare, the list is so extensive of incompetence so long, I can not be bothered repeating…

  3. Jenny Kirk 3
    23 November 2015 at 7:43 am

    Yes – from a high of mid-40s, ShonKey’s rating has been dripping downwards …. and its not anything much that Labour is doing – plodding along quietly and gaining traction – but its ShonKey’s own behaviour . Maybe people are finally waking up to his sycophantic fawning and getting tired of it.

    • Sabine 3.1
      23 November 2015 at 8:32 am

      In the last few days i have heard of two people being diagnosed with cancer. One is early stage and with a mastectomy there is a chance of survival the other one is a stage 4 terminal cancer. I am sure all their families will appreciate to know that their loved ones are still expected to find a job in order to get a ‘benefit’, lest they abuse the system.

      It is these little tweaks to the welfare state that went under the radar and seem to be bubbling up now. People having to raise funds for cancer treatment, as there is no guarantee anymore here in NZ that a. they will get timely help with waiting lists and the like, and b. that they will be allowed to die in dignity without have to eat humble pie every four weeks in front of a dis-interested WINZ drone. Eventually all the cuts to services and welfare benefits will come home to people that previously would have never thought that they might be in need of these services and/or benefits.

      Drip drip drip. And then the bucket is full.

      • Smilin 3.1.1
        25 November 2015 at 2:44 pm

        Yeah it like watching another McDonalds go up at about 1.5 mil and you think of where that money could have gone to alleviate the suffering caused by all the crap in their low grade plastic food
        The immorality of it really is beyond redemption

    • Tracey 3.2
      23 November 2015 at 8:38 am

      and perhaps the media are getting bored and want a new game?

      • Sabine 3.2.1
        23 November 2015 at 9:04 am

        nope, the bubble heads that are the media know that their pay cheque depends on them not being too interested in anything but to be good stenographers.

        I really believe that a lot of the cuts that were supposed to only hit the un-deserving ‘welfare blugers’ are now hitting those that consider themselves to be deserving of welfare.
        I.e. the terminally ill that have to go to their doctors and prove they are still dying.
        the ‘Solo’ Parents that have lost their partners in mine accidents, road accidents, and to illness to just name a few and that are now learning that there is no widowers benefit anymore, and they too need to get a job – somewhere – so they can pay for child care and maybe get a benefit, bugger the welfare of the children.
        The ones that need knee surgery but can’t get it because of our underfunded Health system, and that eventually get bumped of the waiting list altogether.
        The ones that have to watch their children trying to find jobs and houses elsewhere because they can’t afford houses in AKL and certain other places in NZ. They are no waking up because the kids moving away means they are not only loosing out on the kids, but also the grand children. Suddenly the ‘if they can;t afford it they can just move away’ is not that sexy anymore.

        I have been hearing a lot of that lately. What goes around comes around. And it is now hitting the nicer suburbs, and it is hitting those that have jobs and pay taxes. And it hits and hurts them just as much.

  4. vto 4
    23 November 2015 at 8:03 am

    The USA really is an extremist state heading rapidly towards full blown fascism along the lines of 1930’s Germany.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/74291560/us-presidential-hopeful-trump-would-absolutely-bring-back-waterboarding

    Ignore at your peril

    Like so many in Europe and the UK did in the 1930s.

    Eh.

    Not really happening is it.

    Like it wasn’t happening in 1930s Germany. Nup

  5. Penny Bright 5
    23 November 2015 at 8:33 am

    Beware the ‘weasel words’?

    Where does current Labour Party MP – ‘Independent’ 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate Phil Goff stand on Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) – particularly for water services?

    Penny Bright

    Genuinely and fiercely INDEPENDENT 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

  6. joe90 6
    23 November 2015 at 9:33 am

    Cynical fuck says terror attacks a positive development.

    AdamWeinstein

    This Rubio gaffe is not a gaffe, but the consequence of habitually treating terrorism & natsec as spectator sports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92YInDPydnk&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop …

    https://twitter.com/AdamWeinstein/status/668503088131608576

  7. Morrissey 7
    23 November 2015 at 10:13 am

    “He’s just very very upset with what’s going on at the moment.”
    The Pope’s highly selective, therefore propagandist, expression of Christmas gloom
    Morning Report, RNZ National, Monday 23 November, 8:45 a.m.

    There have been terrible atrocities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa recently. Apparently they make Pope Francis “very very upset”. Oddly, however, when he recently sermonized about the atrocities that make him “very very upset”, he offered as examples the killings in Paris, Lebanon and Mali. He apparently forgot to mention the sustained bombing of Kunduz Hospital, the daily terror inflicted on the people in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and the massive, illegal, flagrant programme of drone killings carried out in Yemen and Afghanistan.

    However, when you consider the insalubrious company he’s been keeping recently [1] and recall his highly questionable behaviour during the Argentine dictatorship [2] perhaps it should come as no surprise that His Holiness has chosen to speak so selectively. …..

    SUSIE FERGUSON: With Christmas little more than a month away, the Pope has sounded a gloomy note, describing this year’s Christmas celebrations as “empty”. Even as the Christmas tree was being erected at the Vatican, the Pope said lights, parties and nativity scenes of the season were a charade, with so much war and hate. With us now is our Rome correspondent Sabina Castelfranco. Hi there Sabina.

    SABINA CASTELFRANCO: Hello there. He’s called it a “charade” during a sermon this week in which he reflected on the recent atrocities in the world. Uh, what happened in Paris, what happened in, uh, Lebanon, what happened in, ahh, in Mali, he’s just very very upset with what’s going on at the moment.

    SUSIE FERGUSON: So some of these, ahhh, some of these comments that he actually made, uh, seeming very very downbeat. Is that in itself a surprise?

    SABINA CASTELFRANCO: You know what, it isn’t a real surprise. I think this is a Pope that’s very frank about how he feels, and he’s really saying, y’know, this is not going to be a Christmas of lights, and a Christmas of enjoyment and a Christmas of entertainment. You know, he said we should ask for the grace to weep for this world, uh, which doesn’t recognise the path to peace. Umm, he said God is weeping and Jesus is weeping and he said this at his morning mass at Santa Marta which is the mass he holds every morning inside the Vatican, so he’s very concerned about the situation and he thinks that this is not going to be a Christmas like other Christmases, basically.

    SUSIE FERGUSON: Now as for how these comments then have been received, what are people saying?

    SABINA CASTELFRANCO: Well I think people in St Peter’s Square are saying that they’re seeing a lot of security and they’re feeling comforted by the security, ummm, y’know, there’s two thousand extra policemen on the road, extra security guards, including army, in Rome. So people are feeling comforted about this but, y’know, something can happen any time, I mean this is a very difficult time in Rome, at the Vatican, and I think people just don’t know what’s gonna happen but want to try and lead their lives as if nothing were different.

    SUSIE FERGUSON: Thank you very much for your time, Sabina Castelfranco, joining us from Rome.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201779831/pope-denounces-christmas-charade

    [1] http://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2015_39/1233356/150922-pope-arrival-412p_a63f3a713caad910ccb8667fbd1d5122.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000.jpg

    [2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/14/pope-francis-argentina-military-junta

    • Ad 7.1
      23 November 2015 at 10:56 am

      Morrissey what is your point?
      The Pope isn’t gloomy enough?
      Should recite a more complete list of atrocities in the world?
      Or you want him to lighten up and down the egg nog?
      What would you like?

      • Morrissey 7.1.1
        23 November 2015 at 11:13 am

        1.) Morrissey what is your point?

        You know perfectly well what my point is, Ad.

        2.) The Pope isn’t gloomy enough?

        My problem is with his highly political choice of atrocities.

        3.) Should recite a more complete list of atrocities in the world?

        Yes. His Holiness focused on a select few, ignoring the far more numerous atrocities inflicted by, funded by, and diplomatically supported by, the United States and the United Kingdom.

        4.) Or you want him to lighten up and down the egg nog?
        What would you like?

        I’d like a Pope who spoke forthrightly and honestly, and didn’t tailor his message in order to avoid political condemnation by the right wing media attack machine.

        • Lanthanide 7.1.1.1
          23 November 2015 at 12:21 pm

          1.) Morrissey what is your point?

          You know perfectly well what my point is, Ad.

          IMO Morrissey should receive a moderation warning for this. This silly style of ‘cat and mouse’ refusing to answer simple straight forward questions only leads to flaming.

        • Pat 7.1.1.2
          24 November 2015 at 4:24 am

          and his target audience was?

    • pwmcm 7.2
      23 November 2015 at 11:19 am

      Perhaps it might be worth going back to a more detailed report of what the pope said. It seems to me that he was doing more than condemning “useless slaughters.”

      To quote the man himself: “What shall remain? Ruins, thousands of children without education, so many innocent victims: and lots of money in the pockets of arms dealers. Jesus once said: ‘You can not serve two masters: either God or riches.’ War is the right choice for him, who would serve wealth: ‘Let us build weapons, so that the economy will right itself somewhat, and let us go forward in pursuit of our interests. There is an ugly word the Lord spoke: ‘Cursed!’ Because He said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers!.’ The men who work war, who make war, are cursed, they are criminals. A war can be justified – so to speak – with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piecemeal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere – there is no justification – and God weeps. Jesus weeps.”
      http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-the-lord-weeps-for-the-sins-of-a-worl

      As for Palestine… sometimes pictures say more than words…..
      https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fshalomrav.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F05%2F2014-05-25t114931z_505521652_gf2ea5p0w.jpg&f=1

      • Morrissey 7.2.1
        23 November 2015 at 11:29 am

        You’ve made some very good points, my friend. I am probably being overly harsh in my judgement of the Pope. No matter what he says, his words are going to be either ignored or distorted by the de facto government media in the United States. The same thing happened to Nelson Mandela and Malala Yousafzai,

  8. Draco T Bastard 8
    23 November 2015 at 11:17 am

    Lessons from HBOS: why we need new types of banks

    These ‘stakeholder banks’ are owned by the members (cooperatives) or held in public trust (savings banks). They aim to support their customers and the regions where they lend rather than deliver double digit returns to their shareholders.

    Academic research shows that stakeholder banks maintained their lending during the 2007-08 crisis in contrast to shareholder banks. It was the shift towards meeting the needs of shareholders over stakeholders that led banks into increasingly risky activities such as mortgage securitisation.

    Shareholders = bludgers

    And these bludgers are destroying our economy and our world so as to get unearned income.

    • Chooky 8.1
      23 November 2015 at 12:07 pm

      +100 Draco…and get rid of those Aussie Banks fleecing New Zealand and taking the profits out of New Zealand

      KiwiBank gives far better deals as do other NZ Banks….why anyone would bank with an OZ bank is beyond me

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/73626116/qa-are-australian-banks-really-rorting-new-zealanders

      http://m.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10687194

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10571272

    • Sabine 8.2
      23 November 2015 at 12:32 pm

      well maybe we need a second ‘illegal’ banking system like China has one?

      http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-police-reveal-busted-illegal-banking-operation-1448030259

      Quote: BEIJING—Chinese police announced a crackdown on an illegal foreign-exchange network that it said handled up to $64 billion in transactions.

      According to a report by police in Jinhua, a city of five million people in eastern Zhejiang province, the network involved hundreds of people in eight separate “gangs” working out of more than two dozen “criminal dens.” The operation routed money through hundreds of accounts held at financial institutions in China and Hong Kong to evade restrictions on moving currency outside the country, it said.

      According to recent state media accounts and a detailed police report released Friday, police launched its crackdown on the network on Dec. 15, 2014, after months of investigation. It was unclear why the clampdown was only being disclosed now.

      The official People’s Daily newspaper said 69 people had been criminally charged and another 203 people had been given administrative sanctions.

      The amount of money involved, up to 410 billion yuan ($64.25 billion) in cross-border transactions, raised questions among some analysts about China’s supervision of money outflows. “The fact that multiple real banks were involved raises questions about oversight. They’ve just allowed $64 billion to leave the country without knowing,” said Fraser Howie, coauthor of “Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China’s Extraordinary Rise.”

        • sabine 8.2.1.1
          24 November 2015 at 7:01 am

          i have no idea where it goes and i don’t actually care, i just find it hilarious that a totalitarian state like China gets bested by the banks.

          No matter how many they arrest, this will continue, and the speculators regardless of ethnicity will always find a way to park their money, it is up to he other countries of the world to implement rules and regulations to protect their countries.. Alas, our free market tosser is only getting up more rules and regulations for us.

          • Chooky 8.2.1.1.1
            24 November 2015 at 8:59 am

            Well quite frankly New Zealand political parties on the Left should care, as should ALL New Zealanders …when there is an acute housing shortage in New Zealand due to scarce New Zealand housing being bought off shore

            …. and there are many New Zealand families going homeless because of this housing shortage

            http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201779986/professor-housing-policy-is-failing-vulnerable-families

            …and yes “it is up to the other countries of the world to implement rules and regulations to protect their countries”

            ….but first we have to RECOGNISE THE PROBLEM and jonkey nactional must be called to account for creating the problem with a smiling face

            …thus far NZF and Labour have tried to do this but the Greens have rejected it as “crude racial profiling” ( buying into Nact framing)

            http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/70186455/Greens-accuse-Labour-of-crude-racial-profiling-on-housing-sales

            • Sabine 8.2.1.1.1.1
              24 November 2015 at 9:09 am

              I know all of this. But frankly the problem is not migrants that want to come here and live, for what its worth, the problem is that we have a government that does not want to regulate the flow of migrants into this country, the problem is that we allow people to migrate here on ‘purpose to invest’ but that then actually don’t live here, nor pay taxes, the problem is that we allow people to buy a ‘residence’ permit under rather ‘spurious’ investments schemes.
              The people that want to come and live and work here are not the problem, so pretending it is does not help.

              The main issue that I have with our current housing problem is that our current government is hellbent on selling state houses and / or letting them fall into disrepair to the point where knocking them down is the only option.
              The other issue that i have with our current and previous government is that they rather pay a ‘accommodation subsidy’ to Landlords instead of building new houses, or letting the market ‘regulate itself’.

              Keeping our existing State House Stock in good shape, building new State Houses to keep up with demand and doing away with the ‘Accommodation Benefits for Landlords’ would go a long way in addressing our Housing Issues. Non of these things have anything to do with Migrants.

              But then we can’t have the market regulate itself, that would be to the detriment of a handful of large scale landlord and Kiwi Mom and Pop Landlords, who, while they charge exuberant rent for their ‘investment’ properties, have yet to come to understand that they are pricing their children and grand children out of the market.

    • Chooky 8.3
      23 November 2015 at 10:32 pm

      @DTB…re banks … On the Keiser Report this is interesting….Max interviews chartered accountant, tax justice campaigner, professor and Jeremy Corbyn’s informal adviser, Richard Murphy

      https://www.rt.com/shows/keiser-report/322973-episode-max-keiser-839/

      In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the balance of payments crisis on the horizon as share buybacks trump capital expenditure and the income stream from privatized industries heads overseas.

      In the second half, Max interviews chartered accountant, tax justice campaigner, professor and definitely not Jeremy Corbyn’s paid adviser, Richard Murphy, about a town in Wales going ‘offshore’ as part of a tax campaign to force the government to make multinationals pay their share of taxes.

  9. te reo putake 9
    23 November 2015 at 9:04 pm

    And … we’re back. Cheers to whoever sorted out the problem!

    • mickysavage 9.1
      23 November 2015 at 9:17 pm

      All thanks to Rocky!

    • lprent 9.2
      24 November 2015 at 11:26 am

      Yeah I was in transit. Lyn was in Amsterdam. Looks like it was a hot day yesterday and the system didn’t like the temperatures in a locked up apartment.

      My time in Hong Kong consisted of running several kilometres to catch the connecting flight after the plane departed Frankfurt late due to de-icing. So I didn’t even get a chance to read my mail let alone the site.

      Thanks rocky….

      Now I need a shower and some clean clothes after nearly 36 hours of flying from Innsbruck and driving up from Italy. I don’t want to sit down. My arse feels like it has been glued to too many seats.

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