Open mike 24/09/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:21 am, September 24th, 2013 - 107 comments
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Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the link to Policy in the banner).

Step right up to the mike…

107 comments on “Open mike 24/09/2013 ”

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  1. BLiP 1
    24 September 2013 at 6:32 am

    ‘

    Nothing like a bit of energising music with a message to help get ready for another day at the salt mine.

    Then again, maybe some of you are coming off night shift and need something a little more ska-like.

    • Ennui 1.1
      24 September 2013 at 8:54 am

      “Lord, I am so tired, how long can this go on?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms79633njIg
      (Devo from back in the Jurassic when I was younger)….

      • Rosie 1.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 9:09 am

        Smiles. Excellent, relevant musical medley start to the morning. Thank you.

      • Rogue Trooper 1.1.2
        24 September 2013 at 10:02 am

        “Unlock the secret voice
        Give in to ancient noise…
        The ape regards his tail
        He’s stuck on it
        Repeats until he fails
        Half a goon and half a god
        A man’s not made of steel”

        -Use Your Freedom of Choice.

    • Rogue Trooper 1.2
      24 September 2013 at 9:50 am

      Lydon’s calling;
      -they “want to stop the economy”
      and
      -“give more power to the unions” -John Key from the UK on Labour under Cunliffe.

      • fender 1.2.1
        24 September 2013 at 10:38 am

        “….give more power to the unions….”

        Any half decent reporter would then have asked if he supported treating ALL workers fairly, or was he still only interested in increasing the wealth of the rich?

        Then: Did you gift the Queen some Meridian shares?

        And: Did she let you buy 49% of Balmoral ?

  2. risildowgtn 2
    24 September 2013 at 7:12 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/9200082/Key-in-honest-broker-pitch-to-UN

    HONEST???

    hahahahahahhaahhaahahahahaha written by Tracey wino Watkins

    • Jenny Kirk 2.1
      24 September 2013 at 7:29 am

      Not only that, but on their online site, Stuff has a pic of the smiling Shonkey above the headline “Honest Broker”. Ridiculous. Sorry – Couldn’t copy it.

      • Pascal's bookie 2.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 7:39 am

        This is nails it though:

        New Zealand’s pitch is as the “honest broker” of world diplomacy. “We genuinely are that well-liked small country with an independent foreign policy, an honest broker . . . I reckon there are a lot of countries that like that and there are a lot of countries that fundamentally want to give us our turn.”

        The reputation as an independent broker was built on the back of New Zealand’s anti-nuclear position, and also former Labour leader Helen Clark’s refusal to follow our traditional allies into Iraq. The extent to which it could survive a “Syria” under National is yet to be tested.

        Our honest broker rep isn’t based on the idea that we reckon ‘the west’ should be able to do end runs around the sec council when we don’t get our way.

        • McFlock 2.1.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 11:21 am

          Between his love of the TPPA, KDC and skynet, international credibility is yet another area where national is squandering the benefits built up by labour (and opposed at the time by national).

    • Ugly Truth 2.2
      24 September 2013 at 9:14 am

      “We’re playing it the old-fashioned way, which is we’re a good, honest broker, [with] sound independent foreign policy and we’re worth voting for,” Key said.

      Sound independent foreign policy my arse. Key said that he supported Obama’s drive for military action against Syria.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1
        24 September 2013 at 2:07 pm

        That’s one point I’ll agree with. We’re not all that independent anyway and with National in charge we’re getting less so.

    • Sosoo 2.3
      24 September 2013 at 11:50 am

      Wino?

      Is she a booze hound? I’d never heard that.

  3. North 3
    24 September 2013 at 7:28 am

    Nil media take-up of Shouty Hooton’s meltdown on Nine to Noon yesterday ?

    Felix is right then – everyone (except RNZ) thinks Shouty’s an arrogant dickhead who let the side down ?

    http://thestandard.org.nz/hooton-please-apologise/#comment-700588

    • yeshe 3.1
      24 September 2013 at 7:44 am

      North .. I did see an online headline about it late yesterday .. but can’t find it now on either herald or stuff search .. wonder if they chose belatedly to not repeat the libel and removed it ? that would be fun !

      • karol 3.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 7:59 am

        Vance’s article is still there.

        Funny that she labels Hooton a “Lobbyist”. Why then is RNZ using him as a commentator to debate political issues from the right?

        • phillip ure 3.1.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 8:11 am

          ‘aye!’ to the ‘why?’…

          phillip ure..

        • yeshe 3.1.1.2
          24 September 2013 at 8:20 am

          hi karol .. i thought it was another headline away from vance .. but may be wrong.

        • Paul 3.1.1.3
          24 September 2013 at 5:13 pm

          Solution. Lobby RNZ to get rid of him?

          • karol 3.1.1.3.1
            24 September 2013 at 5:20 pm

            I did actually email 9-to-noon yesterday. Mainly because I was appalled at the way Hooton shouted Ryan & Williams down and didn’t allow anyone to respond to his repetition of Liar, Liar, liar.

            Martyn Bradbury has also posted about the lack of RNZ consistency, in comparison with the lifetime ban he was given for being critical of John Key – at least Bomber didn’t shout anyone else down over it – even though he can be quite loud.

            It wouldn’t surprise me if we never hear MH again in that slot.

      • Pascal's bookie 3.1.2
        24 September 2013 at 7:59 am

        Wee bit in fairfax’s today in politics briefs. usually on line after about 0900;

        Cunliffe not bothered by lobbyist’s jibes

        Fresh scrutiny of Labour leader David Cunliffe’s CV came yesterday after lobbyist Matthew Hooton disputed his claims to have worked on the formation of Fonterra.

        Mr Cunliffe said that as management consultant for Boston Consulting Group “in the late 1990s” he analysed different merger models for the New Zealand Dairy Board. “Mr Hooton hasn’t bothered to ask me, he’s gone out in public making a claim which is factually incorrect.”

        ‘Hooton, smear merchant’ is pretty much the takeaway from that.

        He can explain why working on the models that led to the formation of Fonterra isn’t working on the formation of Fonterra all day. But he’ll be losing.

        • phillip ure 3.1.2.1
          24 September 2013 at 8:25 am

          the headline should be..

          “hooten gets attack of the vapors..live on national radio.”

          (with the sub-heading:..)

          “…show-compere has to administer smelling-salts..gets hooten ‘to have a wee lie-down’..in the studio..”

          ..phillip ure..

          • phillip ure 3.1.2.1.1
            24 September 2013 at 11:39 am

            and a solution for rnz..

            ..would be to give hoot the boot..

            ..keep mike williams to continue speaking/aplogising for the right..

            .and get someone else to speak for the left..

            ..problem solved..!

            ..phillip ure..

        • karol 3.1.2.2
          24 September 2013 at 9:45 am

          Stuff’s today in politics.

          Farming Show, attacks on Cunliffe all wrong.

          Labour leader David Cunliffe says a critic has got it wrong with attacks on his credibility.

          Right-wing columnist and PR man Matthew Hooton’s challenged Mr Cunliffe saying he wasn’t involved in the formation of dairy giant Fonterra.

          But Mr Cunliffe says when he worked for the Boston Consulting Group in the late 1990s he was assigned to a preparatory case at the New Zealand Dairy Board that analysed different merger models.

          “The particular role I played was analysing the impact of the merger on research and development.

          “Mr Hooton hasn’t bothered to ask me, he’s gone out in public making a claim which is factually incorrect.”

  4. yeshe 4
    24 September 2013 at 7:39 am

    Here’s a fight to be intensely aware of and support across every town and city and district:

    Slippery via Amy Adams easing their path for Monsanto etc under TPPA and Auckland councillors say “NO” ! ( along with other diligent councils round the country.)

    This people are SO corrupt to the point of treason.

    “Auckland Council and the Government are on a collision course over rules for genetically modified crops after councillors decided to propose stricter rules on GM trials in the region – despite the environment minister warning them not to.

    Auckland councillors voted to introduce new standards in the region’s draft planning document which were designed to increase protection for food-producing regions and vineyards and protect local government from the potential costs of a genetically modified organism (GMO) outbreak.”

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11128918

    NB This was front page Herald online late last night, but completely absent this morning wtf ?? and why is it a business story ?? there’s a tell, if ever there was.

    • muzza 4.1
      24 September 2013 at 8:18 am

      This people are SO corrupt to the point of treason.

      Depends on the legal documents which define what most of us understand New Zealand to be, and who the agents masquerading as representatives, actually operate on behalf of.

      Corrupt, without a doubt, treasonous, perhaps we will never know!

  5. AsleepWhileWalking 5
    24 September 2013 at 7:45 am

    Wellington Rape Crisis urges as many people as possible to make submissions to SCI on funding of sexual abuse services.

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1309/S00253/people-urged-to-submit-to-select-committee-inquiry.htm

    – there are shortages of services throughout NZ, with wait lists in major centers
    – treatment is most effective when delivered soon after the event

  6. dv 6
    24 September 2013 at 7:50 am

    Here are two articles from Stuff and herald today

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9200104/Being-homeless-hits-children-hard

    new Otago University study has used 2006 census data to provide the first measure of homelessness, finding that 34,000 people suffer “severe housing deprivation

    At many low-decile schools, this could lead to a yearly student turnover of more than 50 per cent as families flitted from house to house.

    These children usually did not have a doctor and could spend long periods not attending school as they moved, he said.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11128998

    Schools where children are failing exams could be taken over by the Government as the Education Minister warns staff need to be held accountable for students’ performance.

    So putting commissioners will fix the problem.
    bizarre

    • bad12 6.1
      24 September 2013 at 8:15 am

      ”Must i get a witness for all this misery, there’s no need to brother, anyone can see”, the Clash,

      Heres the Neo-liberal recipe that leads to the results found by the Otago study of the 2006 census,

      *1980’s population 3.3 million,
      *75,000 State Houses,

      *2013 population 4.2 million,
      *67,000 State Houses,

      *Shortage of State Houses based upon population 30,000,
      *Number of homeless from study of 2006 census 34,000,

      The number of State Houses peaked at 75,000 in the early 1980’s and has steadily declined by 8000 houses since then while the population has increased by 1,000,000 people in that period,

      The % of ‘poor’ people in the economy has remained the same as the % of poor people in the 1980’s economy leading to an increase in the actual numbers of those ‘most in need’…

  7. karol 7
    24 September 2013 at 8:08 am

    Joyce fail on spending to attract overseas students.

    Crown agency Education New Zealand spent $7.7 million on marketing campaigns in 2012-13, up from $3.5m the year before.

    Despite the spending, the number of fee-paying international students fell by more than 3 per cent last year, and the number of students applying for a visa for the first time fell by 8.6 per cent.

    In March, Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce announced a $40m boost for marketing and promotion of New Zealand as an education destination over the next four years, with hopes of doubling the value of the industry to $5 billion by 2025.

    English New Zealand chairman Darren Conway said Education NZ’s focus on marketing was “excessive”, and the money would be better spent on advocating for better policies for the industry.

    Go for it, Chippy!

    • phillip ure 7.1
      24 September 2013 at 8:17 am

      does anyone know the specific name for that..?

      ..that making of a nickname by extracting/combining letters from the nicknamees’ actual name..?

      ..as in ‘chippy’ hipkins..’jonkey’ etc etc..

      phillip ure..

      • yeshe 7.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 8:25 am

        phillip … humbly, I suggest it could be an ‘acromonium’ until something better turns up ! 🙂

        • phillip ure 7.1.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 8:33 am

          then of course there are those nicknames that have no connection at all with the name..

          ..as in :..bill ‘visitor from dipton’ english..

          ..does that sub-genre have its’ own moniker..?

          ..phillip ure..

          • yeshe 7.1.1.1.1
            24 September 2013 at 8:54 am

            make one up as I did with the first one !! maybe a microacromonium ?

            (this is more fun than the race right now !)

    • ianmac 7.2
      24 September 2013 at 8:22 am

      The Government’s endless denigration of NZ schools/teachers/unions have no doubt caused loss of confidence in potential international students. Clever ploy?

    • stargazer 7.3
      24 September 2013 at 1:11 pm

      if he had spent that money on the educational institutions themselves, particularly in more staff & resourcing rather than buildings, then that would be better than any marketing campaign.

      • Tracey 7.3.1
        24 September 2013 at 1:25 pm

        here’s the question, how many additional students have they got as a direct result of this money?

        • Murray Olsen 7.3.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 3:21 pm

          Too many. The quality of education has suffered immensely since profit became the main motive. Both teaching and research have gone downhill – teaching because anyone who can pay gets in, almost regardless of merit, and then makes demands on the teachers’ time which mean they end up ignoring students who could benefit. Research suffers because teaching for profit becomes the main focus and leaves little time or funding for anything else.

          What also happens is that the university administrations insist on passing students who don’t meet any reasonable criteria, seemingly on the basis that they’ve paid, so that degrees at Kiwi institutions become devalued. On a similar basis, they are reluctant to punish cheating. Eventually the degrees are worthless, the rich foreigners stop coming, and Kiwis are left with a gutted educational system.

  8. muzza 8
    24 September 2013 at 8:12 am

    Updated version of the board game Monopoly, sub name, Empire!

    The game is dominated by representing major corporate brands Empire, which is telling!

    Will people see through it, or are the kids simply, too indoctrinated!

  9. tracey 9
    24 September 2013 at 8:19 am

    Dv… beat me to it

    “What a lovely property you have” the nz prime minister cooed to the queen of england.

    “How are things in new zealand ” she asked

    ” things are going real well. When can I see the bonny baby because i must go to paris and new york. Do you have any cake?”

    Meanwhile at home

    “These are low-income working families that can only get accommodation in a garage or in a shed. It leads to terrible outcomes for children.”And while homeless people were more likely to be unemployed, the study shows about half were working or studying. About one in five were unable to afford a home, despite working fulltime.Otago University researcher Kate Amore, who headed the study, said New Zealand did not keep a good watch on its homeless and had only recently defined the term. “We identified many severely deprived people who are usually statistically invisible because they are not living in permanent private dwellings,” she said.She estimated that between 12,000 and 21,000 extra affordable homes were needed to accommodate the homeless.”

    ” a cream scone with the queen and a seat on the un security council will soon solve all that.” The pm smiled and waved at the queen as his car rolled down the long drive at balmoral.

    • Janice 9.1
      24 September 2013 at 12:03 pm

      You forgot about the royal visit of Will, Kate and George next year. I thought there were protocols about royal visits in election year, but no doubt this will be ignored like all the other protocols if Johnny boy can get more photo ops.

      • Tracey 9.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 12:07 pm

        Dont forget this is the UN Security Council the US thinks is so weak it was going to bomb without it…

        Key is ensuring if Nats lose in 2014 he will be given a knighthood directly by the Queen.

        I still cant believe he gave a greatest living New Zealander to Philip.

        • thatguynz 9.1.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 3:47 pm

          You really sure you can’t believe that Tracey? 😉 Unfortunately I can…

        • Chooky 9.1.1.2
          24 September 2013 at 4:08 pm

          Well I dont think she should knight him if he trashes the QEII National Trust

          …I will have to have a word with Charles

  10. Chooky 10
    24 September 2013 at 8:34 am

    Question for the environmental law experts and Labour Party:

    What is the current legal status of the QEII National Trust? …. Is it safe ?

    This national trust under the name of HRH Queen Elizabeth II….was set up 36 years ago to very tightly legally safeguard unique natural, historic and geological spaces, landscapes and features on private land in New Zealand, in perpetuity for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

    With over 3,600 covenants now registered, the QEII National Trust is a unique partnership between private landowners, often farmers , and the Crown to preserve special places for conservation.

    With the John Key Nact government’s trashing of the Resource Management Act (RMA)…..is the QEII Act also affected? (If so…..what would Her Majesty have to say about this?)

    If the QEII National Trust gets in the way of corporate irrigation schemes, fracking, digging oil wells or mining for minerals….. will it be run over by a bulldozer and trashed like the RMA?

    1.) What is Labour Party Policy on whether they will keep QEII National Trust legal integrity and inviolability ?…..

    2.) Will Labour completely restore Resource Management Act back to what it was ….before Nact trashed it?

    3.) Will Labour completely restore democracy to the people of Canterbury to vote for their own ECAN? ( which Nact so shamefully annexed)

  11. tracey 11
    24 September 2013 at 8:39 am

    Is mccully contradicting his leader. Is this a rift?

    Key says New Zealand is doing OK so far – we’ve got about 100 votes and we need about 127.McCully says vote numbers are not talked about. “There’s a huge amount of work to be done; the Australian experience was the final three or four months were critical.”

    • Pascal's bookie 11.1
      24 September 2013 at 8:45 am

      Not a rift, just a pointy haired boss in the top slot.

      • Tracey 11.1.1
        24 September 2013 at 12:08 pm

        NO, I am pretty sure if you arent on the same page as a member of your caucus it’s a rift, and a major division within the party which will undermine your effectiveness.

  12. srylands 12
    24 September 2013 at 8:50 am

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11128933

    “Hundreds toil on rival bids for nation’s biggest roading job”

    It is pleasing that we have two such high quality consortiums bidding for Transmission Gully.

    What is novel, and which I am sure will annoy some commentators (“more free money for corporate mates”) is that (according to this AFR article) the Government will reimburse the development costs for the losing bidder, and acquire the intellectual property. It shows the Government is adopting innovative tendering practices to lift value for money.

    http://www.afr.com/p/australia2-0/new_bidding_model_draws_contractors_JloNUfPyhiBqrY8nUo3lbP

    “The New Zealand government is also reimbursing costs on its first road PPP, the $1 billion Transmission Gully project, a 27-kilometre highway that will connect Wellington to the North Island’s west coast [sic]. Nick Miller, managing director of New Zealand’s Fulton Hogan, a privately owned construction group shortlist­ed on Transmission Gully, said reimbursing bids would help smaller contractors compete against larger ones.

    “It makes playing at the table slightly more palatable when you’re a regional contractor,” Mr Miller said, adding reimbursement helped cover the costs of hiring bankers and other advisors.”

    _____________

    I think this is an excellent approach. Hopefully it will be the first of many PPP funded large roading and other infrastructure projects in New Zealand. I hope the usual opponents of PPPs (especially on the left) can put aside their animosity and applaud the Government’s innovation.

    • Pascal's bookie 12.1
      24 September 2013 at 9:00 am

      Shocked you don’t point out the moral hazards there srylands.

      Or do they only apply when it’s a policy about feeding hungry kids?

    • vto 12.2
      24 September 2013 at 9:00 am

      Dreamer.

      People make only a very small proportion of their life’s decisions on the basis of cost.

      You need to change your thinking model to one reflecting reality.

      • srylands 12.2.1
        24 September 2013 at 9:08 am

        You need to get a job.

        • vto 12.2.1.1
          24 September 2013 at 9:23 am

          Oh right, good one. You got that wrong too.

          And no answer then to your “everything can be priced” mantra which underpins all your theories and understandings and musings and postings? People are just a commodity aren’t they.

          btw, I saw plastic buckets on sale at mitre 10 last week for just $1.21. Immediately thought of you and surmised that such is evidence that your theories are working…… go the plastic buckets!

        • bad12 12.2.1.2
          24 September 2013 at 9:24 am

          SSLands, you need to answer the question i put to you in Open Mike on 22 September, you also need to work a damn sight harder so as to be able to pay for Bill from Dipton and Paula Benefit’s latest piece of (wonderful), social welfare…

          • vto 12.2.1.2.1
            24 September 2013 at 9:43 am

            she is a full blown troll bad12

          • Te Reo Putake 12.2.1.2.2
            24 September 2013 at 10:06 am

            I’m pretty sure Srylands isn’t paying for anything this side of the Tasman, bad12, especially not taxes. I suspect his lifestyle is funded from NZ, though.

            And while we’re on the Clash tip:

            All over people changing their votes
            Along with their overcoats
            If Adolf Srylands flew in today
            They’d send a limousine anyway

            • Rogue Trooper 12.2.1.2.2.1
              24 September 2013 at 10:25 am

              ‘She said, “Balls to you Big Daddy” – she ain’t never coming Back!

            • bad12 12.2.1.2.2.2
              24 September 2013 at 10:32 am

              Lolz, Te Reo, only if you care to believe the little fantasy that SSLands has trotted out for us here at the Standard,

              My intuition says that one is a minor counter of other peoples rich’s for a firm of Wellington tax lawyers,(am i breaching the rules by speculating here,please delete if so),

              Simply a minor cog being averagely paid in a boring job pushing the heavy wheel of capitalism which leads ‘it’ to fantasize about being above ‘its’ real position in life,

              Ah the Clash, i can honestly say, the band that produced in my head that ‘life changing WTF moment’,

              First heard via the old Radio Hauraki, in a Pare Max cell where the screws controlled the volume,which meant the ear-hole pressed against the speaker in the wall,

              Listening to them in the late 1970’s was listening to the songs which told of what was to come,(it’s still at the stage of drugs and things, but they are all looking round)…

              • Te Reo Putake …
                24 September 2013 at 11:33 am

                I don’t think that’s speculation, Bad12, because Srylands once claimed to commute from up the coast to a very specific Terrace address that is home to just the kind of economic non-contributers you mention. My feeling is that it lives over the ditch, based on when it starts posting each day. Usually about breakfast time in the Eastern states. Hardly matters, given Sryland is a fact and credibility free zone. May as well be a bot.

                Interesting story about your intro to The Only Band That Matters. That’s got to have a tad more street cred than my listening to late night shows on ZM and Hauraki coming through in glorious scratchy mono via my Dad’s multi band radio connected to a 40 ft mast in the back yard. Once I discovered reggae (via a bloke I’m pretty sure became the Hallelujah Picasso’s Bobbylon – but that’s a whole other story), Marx and the NME, a worldview was formed that has never left me.

                When the two sevens clash, it dread!

                • bad12 …
                  24 September 2013 at 11:42 am

                  Lolz, at the time ‘they’ allowed us record players,(if they had radios we had to pay them to disable them), definitely a quantum leap from old Hendrix and Led Zep records to ‘the Clash’…

                • Rogue Trooper …
                  24 September 2013 at 11:42 am

                  was at school with DLT; we from the same ‘hood. Hence my association with the dogs…last night, for example…yet, that’s another story (suffice to say, hearts not as black as they are painted, it’s the Cracks in the finish that are concerning).

                  I still have all the important vinyl bad12, some from the original purchases; London Calling, Sabbath, Zep, Tull, JD etc (all the original NZ-released JD albums and some eps on vinyl).

                  • bad12 …
                    24 September 2013 at 12:09 pm

                    Lolz RT, figured from your handle and a couple of previous comments your ‘connection’,

                    Am of P Town origins so know and am known to those in the hood, and alas, my vinyl never survived the madness,badness,and sadness of the 70,s and 80,s despite a couple of attempts at rebuilding…

                    • Rogue Trooper …
                      24 September 2013 at 1:02 pm

                      plenty of P Town bottom rockers around the Bay, including the next-door-neighbours’ 😎 (it’s a whanau thing). and I learnt in a recent sesh that a Chrome kraut-lid I kept from the bad ol’ days, gifted to a local member, is now a prized possession of the Wgtn Prez… and so the wheel turns.

                • Tracey …
                  24 September 2013 at 12:17 pm

                  it’s not that he posts 7am australia time, it’s that he is always ready to go with his version of reality with an article…

                  either he read it the night before and saved it for us OR he is in NZ, in Wellington, being paid to pretend to be people online. I hope that’s not true though, cos the concept is worse than sad.

                • felix …
                  24 September 2013 at 1:23 pm

                  Don’t know what part of the country you’re in TRP, but there’s an HPs reunion gig at the King’s Arms on Labour weekend.

        • felix 12.2.1.3
          24 September 2013 at 10:29 am

          “You need to get a job”

          Maybe vto could apply for one of those pretend jobs you made up a few weeks ago.

          They must be paying about a million bucks an hour by now.

          • McFlock 12.2.1.3.1
            24 September 2013 at 11:33 am

            Nah, the jobs were cold-calling senile pensioners for sithland’s finance company.

            It’s now gone bust and all the depositors’ life savings have disappeared. Sithlands sincerely regrets any hardship experienced by depositors, but as a wealth creator he cannot reimburse them because he is penniless, as his classic cars and australian mansion are actually all owned by a family trust. Besides, reimbursing even a fraction of what the depositors lost would just encourage risky investing and destabilise the economy. It’s for their own good, you know.

            Oh, and because the jobs were minimum wage plus a commission to be paid later, all the sales staff are unsecured creditors and fucked.

          • Tracey 12.2.1.3.2
            24 September 2013 at 12:15 pm

            touche

    • tc 12.3
      24 September 2013 at 9:08 am

      More corporate welfare spun as innovation….tendering is a cost of business, just so happens that in major civil works only 2-3 companies get all the work in NZ.

      You know those great ‘too big to fail ‘ , ‘ scale of economy’ arguments that allow FH / Downer/ Fletchers etc to swallow up their competition with a CommComm rubber stamp.

      Spot the opportunity for smaller mates to suck off the taxpayers tit, nice trolling shoutlands.

    • mickysavage 12.4
      24 September 2013 at 10:12 am

      All roads are PPPs. The Government proposes and the corporations tender for the work. So there is nothing new here.

      Buying the IP is also something that has happened for a few years. This is nothing new.

      What is new is building a motorway with such a shocking BCR. This road will lose money as well as cannibalise users of the train system and making PT in Wellington more expensive to run.

      If you are referring to PPPs for funding then there are many examples in Australia which show that they always perform worse than the proposers suggest.

    • mickysavage 12.5
      24 September 2013 at 10:12 am

      All roads are PPPs. The Government proposes and the corporations tender for the work. So there is nothing new here.

      Buying the IP is also something that has happened for a few years. This is nothing new.

      What is new is building a motorway with such a shocking BCR. This road will lose money as well as cannibalise users of the train system and making PT in Wellington more expensive to run.

      If you are referring to PPPs for funding then there are many examples in Australia which show that they always perform worse than the proposers suggest.

    • Tracey 12.6
      24 September 2013 at 12:14 pm

      Transmission Gully? That’s Kapiti way where you pretend to live when you are not pretending to be in Melbourne.

      yes, reimbursing bids will mean a small contractor will get the job. Actually it means we are subsidising small businesses so that the govt can give fulton hogan the contract with clean hands.

    • Murray Olsen 12.7
      24 September 2013 at 3:28 pm

      Wow, SSlands, that’s how they do things in 3rd world banana republics. Even failed capitalists must be rewarded. I thought one of the things they used to justify profits was risk. Will they be building this stupid road on a cost only basis?

  13. Rogue Trooper 13
    24 September 2013 at 10:33 am

    Take some Kingston Advice, “In these days, We have slavery under government…
    Be, hunted down, like a scarcity”. 😎

  14. Rogue Trooper 14
    24 September 2013 at 11:19 am

    Housing Estate Plans, and Pavlovian Nimbys

    Auckland Public Transport Patronage Down 3.3%
    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11128992

    and, Todays IPCC weather forecast (geo-engineering gets a plug muzza).

  15. amirite 15
    24 September 2013 at 11:27 am

    What is this farticle supposed to be? Satire? Parody? Lame attempt at humour?
    I’m pretty sure that Barry Sopper likes to think he’s a serious journalist but really, he’s just another jonolist like all of them.

    http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/opinion/political-report-24sept-2013

  17. North 17
    24 September 2013 at 5:04 pm

    Oh that Barry Soper fancies himself something awful !

    Going back to the day when the press were still enviously protesting Winnie’s ministerial warrant in Foreign Affairs – Soper tried to derail the joint press conference of Winnie and Senator McCain in Washington.

    Winnie took one look at the dishevelled thing barracking tastelessly from across the room and closed the press conference. Just closed it. Bang. Gone. !

    Well done Barry !

    Barry’s attempt to look the crusty seasoned news hound in front of the unfailingly polite Senator McCain landed him fair on his arse. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

    • Rogue Trooper 18.1
      24 September 2013 at 5:49 pm

      Good on ya!

    • Anne 18.2
      24 September 2013 at 7:07 pm

      I thought so too Chris 73. Sue Moroney did very well to bring up the 60,000 dollar question we all want answered – is Paula Bennett going to do something positive to help real people into real jobs? She didn’t answer the question but blathered on about people who break the law. You know… like inferring bennies are all law breakers. That reminds me, didn’t one time bennie, Paula Basher harbour a crim in her house a few years back?

  19. logie97 19
    24 September 2013 at 6:28 pm

    The Minister of Education has threatened schools, that fail children, will be taken over by the government. Sadly the school’s spokesmen have responded with defensive rhetoric.
    What about just replying to her with, “You. Go for it Hekia!”

    Apparently schools are failing about 20 percent of pupils – “the Tail”. That would seem to cover a heck of a lot of schools.

    The government wouldn’t have the manpower or expertise to even half address the problem but what a shambles they would create.

  20. joe90 20
    24 September 2013 at 6:36 pm

    The first Atlas Shrugged flopped so the producers are looking for a handout for the sequel.

    http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/atlasshrugged/atlas-shrugged-movie-who-is-john-galt

    • Armchair Critic 20.1
      24 September 2013 at 10:48 pm

      Gotta love that. The free market clearly and firmly rejected the idea of an Atlas Shrugged movie. I suspect the reason it flopped is that the story is complete shit, the writing is terrible, the characters are one-dimensional and all horrible, and the values it espouses repulse most of the population. Anyone referring to it as a magnum opus is misusing the word ‘magnum’, it’s more like a disjointed amphetamine-addled nightmare.

  21. Plan B 21
    24 September 2013 at 7:02 pm

    Private school subsidies.
    Private schools get state funding per pupil based on a formula that loosely tries to allocate a proportion of the average cost of a pupils education and gives that money to the private school in the mistaken belief that the state saves that amount of money. Of course if they wanted to base the payment on the savings to the state they should use marginal cost. The marginal cost of 1 more pupil to a school is zero so the subsidy should if not be zero then a number approaching zero. Never happen of course, and i have not explained it well enough. But there you are. I think it is average cost vs marginal cost and they are confused. Would love to know if I am right about this.

    My second plan is to have Auckland Grammar have 3 or more additional campuses around Auckland. All called Auckland Grammar. The state owns the name, the name has real value and each of them can share the name itself. It is a brilliant plan. The real estate values would be interesting to watch and more campuses can be built. as needed.

    • logie97 21.1
      24 September 2013 at 10:24 pm

      What a brilliant idea.
      But would the AGS Oldboys network like it?
      Would they dip into their corporate pockets to build pavilions bearing their names all over the City.

  23. big brother and the screw u co 23
    24 September 2013 at 10:28 pm

    The govt” We know that you wont know”
    When the GCSB is watching you and you wont know when the oil exploration is taking place or they start drilling
    FASCISM!!!!!!!!

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