Neither Farrar nor the slithery one have any posts on last night’s debate. Could it be that they agree that Goff won handsomely but cannot bring themselves to say this?
It was that convincing a win I thought we would see a “Guyon Espinar is a member of the Labour Party” theme develop.
Phil Goff had the details and the studio craft, but after a nervous start John Key had the authority. It’s one of the things that a Prime Minister gains simply by going into work every day – and Key got the tone right to edge Goff in tonight’s debate. Not that the legacy of his night’s work won’t have ramifications.
To me Key didn’t show authority but a disdain for opposition, democratic debate and open discussion. This disdain to me is based in an authoritarian tendency (a feature of Key’s tenure in government).
So I’m curious as to what seemed very evident to me as weakness in Key, should be read as someone else s a strength? Maybe it dpends in how aware one is of body language and non-verbal communication? And Key’s was appalling in the debate. He looked like he had no patience with democratic process.
But Key kept is cool with a measured, clam performance.
Nice analogy – cold, hard, closed, slimy, lives in the darkness……
But seriously, for those who don’t already see through Key (yet), this debate won’t have changed anything imo. I don’t know how it’s even possible to penetrate the wall of lies, malicious innuendo, and misinformation that he puts up. To even seriously try in a debate like that would probably be counter-productive. I’ve never seen any politician use the strategy of telling so many lies, that meaningful discussion is impossible. It doesn’t seem like it should work. But sadly, it does, and did last night imo.
Of course you saw a convincing win. You probably think Labour can win on Saturday.
Farrar was busy on Back Benches.
The TVNZ text poll favoured Key (about 2/3). I think most people will have seen what they wanted in the debate, I doubt it will have converted many votes.
I don’t rate polls like that, I couldn’t be bothereds looking up the actual figures. I don’t know if text polls that cost have been analised, but people who respond could range from rich pricks who have money to waste to beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste.
Most voters don’t watch debates or follow politics, they vote based on hard to explain inclinations towards a party or a leader.
No you werre not
I have facebooked this comment and it is now in the process of showing the Dunedin people exactly what you really stand for.
o the power of the Internet 🙂
“to beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste.”
WTH? Bang went any remote chance of my ever voting for UF… You nasty POS… You have joined the list of people on whom I wish beneficiary status, along with the silly bitch I was arguing with yesterday on FB, the married ‘lady’ who thinks all women with children and a broken relationship should starve with their kids or work at what she called a “gas station”…
And yet National cheerleader Tacy Watkins, gives the debate to Goff…. well kinda… she first says Goff scored the “knock-out punch” when he dropped in the question about National secretely planning to cut police numbers. But in Watkins’ final line she calls it “an even match”.
PG, the Most common comment I read on the #leadersdebate & #oneness twitter feeds was you g people stating the poll was a farce cause none of them could afford or were prepared to spen the 75c to txt in. They seemed pretty clear in their belief that the poll played to the rich Nat supporters advantage.
But I keep forgetting, you like the nats are caught in that 19th century thinking…
Key’s body language was appalling. He rarely could look Goff in the eye and the dead eyes and downturned mouth when Goff was speaking was extremely defensive and closed. The hand wringing was also a sign of discomfort. Shifty and uncomfortable would how I’d describe Key.
And how many times did Key start his answers with “So, let me tell you what we’re doing” or similar? He’d learnt the script but where was the passion?
John Johannsen shamed Key on the STV lie – shame no-one picked him up on the others.
P.S. Clare Robinson’s face as JJ laid into Key was a beautiful television moment.
Yes it did seem strange to have the two commentators there only to give them a couple a minutes at the end but I guess the debate overran and they’re working within the constraints of commercial television.
Having said that, exposing Key telling porkies again and clarifying the problems with STV is far from non-sensical. More a very useful contribution to the democratic process.
They did have another go at 10:30 with a repeat of JJ indignation over Key/MMP v SM.
Don’t like the way though that JJ says that this election is really a setting up for 2014 saying that this one is lost for Labour. It ain’t over yet.
Anyone who recognised Key’s scolded petuant school boy act as “authority” has spent too much time in corporates. Those with organisational authority might behave like that, but it’s the behaviour of arrogant insecure two-faced liars and schemers. If any more proof was needed to see that Key has never intended to debate anything, last night was the grossest display. Key behaved like many people I’ve met professionally behave and that is the problem. They will see themselves and vote accordingly. This election may just be a measure of how far NZs people have become degraded.
Well said, uturn: I was astonished when I read that Key’s performance was seen as authoritative when what I mostly saw was the facial expression of the bitchy girl in one of those high school dramas. I am also interested in your suggestion that “This election may just be a measure of how far NZs people have become degraded.” Last night I watched Michael Sandel’s lecture on Rawls, which really showed up the limits of our current mode of debate. In such a small country, treating poverty & privation as something to we will get round to addressing when we can afford it rather than something immediate and compelling, is by itself evidence of degradation. Especially where it is accompanied by an enthusiastic interest in life-styles.
The real authority is John Armstrong. He saw John Key displaying gravitas! Bless my soul if I had one. Gravitas? John Key? Perhaps Armstrong writes in jest.
The idea that poverty is a concern only once we can afford it was also presented during the documentary on TV3 a few nights ago. It used 3/4 of the story to show what a mistake it is to interpret the economy as a thing which the people serve, rather than a by-product of the way people live, then promptly finished up by convincing viewers that solutions were all about saving money. Yep, seems that even when people stare the obvious in the face they have difficulty knowing what they’re looking at.
People have forgotten, and this is primarily the fault of the economists who have also forgotten, what the economy is and what it’s for. These days people see the economy as the movement of money and that it’s solely there to make a profit. Hence why the growth in GDP is seen as the be all, end all of the economy (increased movement of money), why we celebrate people who have lots of it (making a large profit), scorn those who don’t and then blame their circumstances upon them instead of questioning our socio-economic systems that actively create the poverty.
That line Steve Keen is almost right. The bit that he got wrong is that economists don’t even have a model of the economy. What they have is a hypothesis of how they think the economy works (which they may or may not understand) that they’re not changing despite all the evidence that that is not how the economy works.
Nah, I think that’s exactly what he’s getting at, he says we may progress in economics, one funeral at a time. Their Model being their Hypothesis, or more specifically in my mind, their FAITH!
Have you all noticed this “so, let me just tell you” is how all Nats start each sentence, Nikki K was very pronounced with this on Backbenchers against Jacinda. All got the same coach eh!
Nah, Nikki has just been doing personal studies of John Key’s debate performances. Probably watches them two or three times a day to get the talking points down pat.
And Farrar has been very quiet like nothing for a few days on the Herald or Stuff. From what I saw of the debate last night Phil showed John up for the nasty psycopath he is. And now his police force have ‘collected all the evidence’ including the tea tape copies now how long for these to either go missing or get corrupted some how. I hope someone has a copy or 2 hidden away for insurance
What I saw was a very slimy sneering PM who had the slogans but not the actual coal face knowledge, Goff sucker lunched him on the police numbers issue and generally showed a much better grasp…. No surprises there.
Gluon finds a backbone on some issues finally and pinned Key down but too little to late methinks, just shows he can but never bothered till now.
Wouldnt a nat greens coalition with Act gone be fascinating, no asset sales and a toned down right wing approach…..bet they wouldn’t bleat about that but bang on about Winnie.
Yep. I’m wondering about that one too Adrian. I think it is to do with… a drug investigation… a p lab… and a politician called John Banks who has been running an anti-drug campaign for years. The key word is “hypocrisy”.
So we have two police investigations we know of, where the police are being used (I assume willingly) in an effort to withhold information from the public that would do a lot of damage to the re-election chances of the National and ACT parties.
My estimation of the police has plummeted to an unprecedented level.
Fuck how disgraceful… There is going to be riots when people get hold of all the info held back from them during this election… And just now on the news – the ACT ballot papers seem to be promoting National and ACT. How fast we have become a banana republic..
The FTSE 100 has fallen for eight consecutive days, shedding £104 billion from the value of the UK’s most valuable companies, as a disastrous auction of German 10-year bonds ignites contagion fears…
Wonder how much of Shonkeys portfolio looks risky? Does he really want to win an election? Could explain the missing Mr Niceguy persona.
“John Key looking sheepish as people stare and point while he waits for is unemployment benefit interview.”
Oh how wonderful that would be! (I had mine today, for my “re-application”, and discovered that they’ve changed the rules again (within the last 3-6 months, the WINZ woman said). It’s now a 3 stage process, with a week between each stage. That would be terrible for people who were starving… Luckily, I have saved the $$ I earned during the past 6 weeks…
If John Key ended up living here, in a boarding house maybe, and I spotted him at our ‘local’.. what a glorious mental picture!
Key is worried latte loving NZ will fall
apart when he fails to get re-elected.
Russia invasion plan uncovered, sell
our assets, banks to Australians so they
aren’t captured! Its the sensible thing to do.
Govt spending needs to come down, because the
private debt problem is so huge that shrinking
government debt will have some effect. Ding-Don,
it took Key three years to run it up, and
both parties say they will drop it back in no time,
so no wonder Key was downgraded when Don
says its a government debt problem.
Shit in shit out, NZ economy fails because
the right claim to competence on the economy
is never questioned by the media.
As a rule reporters place expensive microphones when politicians give speaches, and politicians and their handlers have a duty surely to return said property. As anyone who sits down in a cafe, the cleanliness, a clear empty table is a sign of a well run establishment. So reasonably, the PM would have known microphones were there, that he would be giving further speaches ‘after the chat’, and that reasonably any left over baggage remaining on the table should have been removed by him or his staff (if they also recognized the claim of privacy). The fact that the Police have been called, chills press freedom and is unjustice in my opinion. If Key is caught on camera looking at the package then he made a decision to not have it removed, that was consent in my opinion, as he would have been all to aware of the many miriad of packages left in his path (like background recorders to help the technicians to clean up the audio shit).
John Key was interviewed by Katherine on 9 to noon Yesterday. He seldom answered questions and rambled and hummed and hawed a lot. He is supposed to be the PM and have answers ready!
Phil Goff was interviewed by Katherine on 9 to noon today. He answered every question and placed hits on Key/National. He covered a lot of ground and packed in a huge amount of information. Most has been heard before but that is the nature of interviews at this time.
Thanks for, greatly appreciated 😎
and DTB nice to hear that there is an extreme load given what is at risk in a few days time. Best that people tick from an informed base.
I’ve asked that question as well, H. Apparently there is an issue somewhere, but I assume LP is a bit busy helping score the greatest upset in NZ political history to fix it. That’s fine by me!
Here is an interview I did with US War veteran and ex banker and senior editor of Veterans today Gordon Duff thanks to Vinny Eastwood, Auckland internet radio host:
Thanks for doing this Travellerev. Bit of a coup I would say-congrats. Couldn’t hear the recording as my head phones just broke,blast, but I could see the value of your questioning from that one comment Gordon D. emailed you regarding “his tasking”, which sounds scarily ‘evil’.
So want the truth to come out about Key. I loathe lies.
An interesting thing about the weather, we just need to look out the window to see what it’s like. In contrast, we have no idea about how many people are voting on election day, and what way they are voting.
You can mention the weather but you can’t do so in relation to the election. You also cannot tweet about the election. Specifically, you can’t tweet in such a way as to look like you may be trying to influence the way anyone votes. I think blogs may be exempt but I can’t recall precisely – I suggest erring on the side of caution.
And that article is a load of bollocks. Report the weather and it’s forecast and then leave it to people to make up their own minds about when they go to the voting booth. They don’t need a weatherperson telling them.
You’re allowed to encourage people to vote, as long as it’s done in a non partisan way.
So it’s acceptable to say “all that sunny weather out there should help get people out to vote!”. But you’re not allowed to say “all that terrible rainy weather out there will be stopping people from voting”.
With the obsession about lies on here I thought you may be interested in another big lie – one from Phil Goff when he says that he said he knows of no other developed country that has GST on healthy food/fresh food and vegetables.
Well he must be lying becasue he’s obviously looked at the issue and missed the fact that plenty of countries tax food. Japan, one of our biggest trading partners and last time I looked a reasonably developed country, is like us in taxing food at the standard VAT rate.
Many do so at a reduced rate but they still tax it. http://www.worldtaxpayers.org/stat_vat.htm. only five countries -Australia, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom – apply a zero rate to certain food items.
If he didn’t actually know then it’s not a lie. Of course, he probably should have known and WTF is it about NZ that we constantly refer our decisions to what other countries do?
Just judging Goff by the low standard you and many other Standardistas have applied to Key. I wouldn’t go so far as saying his inability to accept he might be wrong on issues is a sign of sociopathy though.
Agreed on your latter point though. One of my big bugbears: ‘what will it do to our reputation?’ Answer: Sweet FA.
only five countries -Australia, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom – apply a zero rate to certain food items.
Your worldtaxpayers site conveniently left out several states in the USA. California does not add on sales tax on many food items that a consumer purchases at a market.
Totally correct “insider”
Just another example of Mr Goff ignoring the facts, and preferring a faulty [Towers?] sound-bite.
One has to wonder, is he fed this rubbish, or does he dream it up all on his own?
Either way, another fail.
Also a fail by MsM who seem assume their man is always right.
Certainly shades of Winstone, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good sound bite.
Good to hear Sean Plunkett take it to him this morning re Police intakes;
hopefully these false-hoods will lead the TV News at 6:00.
Another own goal by Labour.
This is proving to be an enjoyable election to-date; keep up the good work Labour.
Insider, from the debate link you quoted that Phil said… “no other developed country in the world that I know of has a GST on healthy food like that”
From your own link (pre- the NZ 15% GST rate) it appears Phil is right – other countries don’t tax healthy food “like that”… i.e. as NZ does at the standard rate of 15% GST. Japan, for example taxes food at the full rate, but that rate is only 5%. Other countries that have higher GST on food than we do tax food at less than the usual rate.
So yeah other developed countries don’t tax healthy food as NZ does, at the standard rate, unless the standard rate is less than 15%. In the context of a debate it’s pretty hard to create a lie out of that statement.
BTW I find it interesting that our ‘pure’ GST system is the only one that lists an exemption for financial services. The neo-lib agenda-pushers have a lot to answer for.
This is the type of shit that keeps us from making rational decisions about the economy:-
It’s blatantly obvious that rail is dead in the water. Billions and billions of dollars have been thrown at it over the years in this country and it’s still on he slippery slope to oblivion.
It’s a big, long, rant that’s not based in any sort of logic, goes against the facts and some people actually agree with him. Thankfully more seem to be disagreeing with him.
I posted two comments but only one got past the moderators. The one linking to this post didn’t make it.
Ok, that post is now through. It just took few hours longer.
[lprent: Depends when one of us has a look at the queue. I suspect that I’m the same as the others. Queue checking happens when we have a break in our work. ]
Wasn’t talking about The Standard but the NZH. My second comment had got through the moderators before my first one (by several hours in fact) and so I had assumed that it had been binned. My reply to my comment was to acknowledge that it had now gone through.
That’s a good ad. Not voting Labour myself, but I think many to my right (and that’s almost everyone unfortunately), would be given pause to think if they were to watch it right through.
Why did they leave this calibre advertising until the bitter end?
As I have pointed out many times, with what is on the horizon and about to hit in a matter of months (maybe weeks) whoever DOESN’T get the poisoned chalice will probably be happy.
‘The following are 17 quotes about the coming global financial collapse that will make your hair stand up….
#1 Credit Suisse’s Fixed Income Research unit: “We seem to have entered the last days of the euro as we currently know it. That doesn’t make a break-up very likely, but it does mean some extraordinary things will almost certainly need to happen – probably by mid-January – to prevent the progressive closure of all the euro zone sovereign bond markets, potentially accompanied by escalating runs on even the strongest banks.”
#2 Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup: “Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months — it could be weeks, it could be days — before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it.”
#3 Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank: “If you don’t think Merkel’s tone will change then our investment advice is to dig a hole in the ground and hide.”
#4 David Rosenberg, a senior economist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto: “Lenders are finding it difficult to finance their day-to-day operations with short-term funding. This is a lot like 2008 but with more twists.”
#5 Christian Stracke, the head of credit research for Pimco: “This is just a repeat of what we saw in 2008, when everyone wanted to see toxic assets off the banks’ balance sheets”
#6 Paul Krugman of the New York Times: “At this point I’d guess soaring rates on Italian debt leading to a gigantic bank run, both because of solvency fears about Italian banks given a default and because of fear that Italy will end up leaving the euro. This then leads to emergency bank closing, and once that happens, a decision to drop the euro and install the new lira. Next stop, France.”
#7 Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group: “More and more, we are hearing anecdotal comments from individual and professionals that this is the most difficult environment they have ever experienced as the market is like a fish flopping around after being taken out of the water.”
#8 Bob Janjuah of Nomura International: “Germany appears to be adamant that full political and fiscal integration over the next decade (nothing substantive will happen over the short term, in my view) is the only option, and ECB monetisation is no longer possible. I really think it is that clear and simple. And if I am wrong, and the ECB does a U-turn and agrees to unlimited monetisation, I will simply wait for the inevitable knee-jerk rally to fade before reloading my short risk positions. Even if Germany and the ECB somehow agree to unlimited monetisation I believe it will do nothing to fix the insolvency and lack of growth in the eurozone. It will just result in a major destruction of the ECB‟s balance sheet which will force an ECB recap. At that point, I think Germany and its northern partners would walk away. Markets always want short, sharp, simple solutions.”
#9 Dan Akerson, CEO of General Motors: “The ’08 recession, which was a credit bubble that manifested itself through primarily the real estate market, that was a serious stress….This is much more serious.”
#10 Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman Sachs: “Pressures on Euro area sovereign bond markets have progressively intensified and spread like a wildfire.”
#11 Jim Rogers: “In 2002 it was bad, in 2008 it was worse and 2012 or 2013 is going to be worse still – be careful”
#12 Dr. Pippa Malmgren, the President and founder of Principalis Asset Management who once worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bush: “Market forces are increasingly determining what the options are and foreclosing on options policymakers thought they had. One option which is now under discussion involves permitting a country to temporarily leave the Euro, return to its native currency, devalue, commit to returning to the Euro at a better debt to GDP ratio, a better exchange rate and a better growth trajectory and yet not sacrifice its EU membership. I would like to say for the record that this is precisely the thought process that I expected to evolve,but when I proposed this possibility back in 2009, and again in September 2010, I had a 100% response from clients and others that this was “impossible” and many felt it was “ridiculous”. They may be right but this is the current state of the discussion. The Handelsblatt in Germany has reported this conversation, but wrongly assumes that the country that will exit is Germany. I think that Germany will have to exit if the Southern European states do not. Germany’s preference is to stay in the Euro and have the others drop out. The problem has been the Germans could not convince the others to walk away. But, now, market pressures are forcing someone to leave. Germany is pushing for that someone to be Italy. They hope that this would be a one off exception, not to be repeated by any other country. Obviously, though, if Italy leaves the Euro and reverts to Lira then the markets will immediately and forcefully attack Spain, Portugal and even whatever is left of the already savaged Greeks. These countries will not be able to compete against a devalued Greece or Italy when it come to tourism or even infrastructure. But, the principal target will be France. The three largest French banks have roughly 450 billion Euros of exposure to Italian debt. So, further sovereign defaults are certainly inevitable, but that is true under any scenario. Growth and austerity will not do the trick, as ZeroHedge rightly points out. Ultimately, I will not be at all surprised to see Europe’s banking system shut for days while the losses and payments issues are worked out. People forget that the term “bank holiday” was invented in the 1930’s when the banks were shut for exactly the same reason.”
#13 Daniel Clifton, a policy strategist with Strategas Research Partners on the potential for more downgrades of U.S. debt: “We would expect further downgrades, a first downgrade from Moody’s and Fitch and possibly a second downgrade from S&P.”
#14 Warren Buffett on the problems in the eurozone: “The system as presently designed has revealed a major flaw. And that flaw won’t be corrected just by words. Europe will either have to come closer together or there will have to be some other rearrangement because this system is not working”
#15 David Kostin, equity strategist for Goldman Sachs: “The wide range of possible outcomes on both the super committee process and the unstable political economy in Europe drives our view that investors should assume the worst while hoping for the best.”
#16 Mark Mobius, the head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management: “There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner”
#17 Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute: “The whole system is going down. Pull your money out your Fidelity account, your Scwhab accout, and your ETFs.”
Assuming the polls are not rigged, NZers will get the quality of non-leadership they ask for. And will pay the price.
[lprent: And that looks like nothing to do with the post you dumped it into. Moved to OpenMike. Don’t make a habit of this. Eventually I’ll just trash and ban. ]
I completely agree and had a similar conversation with my father only the other night. The “poisoned chalice” was exactly the conclusion we both came to. Thanks for your post, puts it all nicely (all-be-it scarily) into perspective.
Funny thing with Cassandras like AFKTT and myself is that we don’t always agree on the detail but pick the trends. Unlike yourself and your father most people are too frightened by what is coming down the track so they go into denial and ignore it. And vote to stay at the party.
This years election is a poison chalice big time, given we have a government (and a large chunk of the opposition) whose world view does not include:
1. Climate change.
2. Peak oil.
3. The great financial contagion that will make the Great Depression look like childs play.
4. The creeping corporatisation of the world that will result in a “New Order” reminiscent of a previous going by the same name.
I am going to vote BUT I suspect that within my lifetime that I will be voting for a very different set up that will replace the current (whose credibility and authority is questionable now and getting worse).
National 51.5%
Labour 27%
Greens 9%
NZ First 4.4%
Act 2.6%
Maori 2.5%
Mana 1%
Conservatives 1%
Other 1%
Probably have the Maori party a bit high.
Electorates:
Possible swing seats
Auckland Central – Nikki Kaye retains
Christchurch Central – Brendon Burns retains and higher vote than last time
Epsom – Banks takes it. Just.
Maungakiekie – Sam Paseta Lotu-Inga will take it far more easily than last time
New Plymouth – Young increases his lead from 2008
Ohariu – Dunne retains. National will take the seat in 2014
Otaki – Guy increases his lead from 2008
Palmerston North – Lees-Galloway narrowly loses his seat and likely to be out of parliament
Waimakariri – Cosgrove will lose the seat. Expect to see Labour and Cosgrove do very well in Kaiapoi but Rangiora and Christchurch suburbs turning out for National and Kate Wilkinson
Waitakere – Bennett retains
Wellington Central – Robertson increases his support from 2008 and this electorate will have highest turnout.
West-Coast Tasman – Auchinvole to just retain the seat and as I suspect O’Connor won’t contest again the seat should become more assured for National.
Decreased support for National
Bay of Plenty
Rangitikei
Rodney
Increased support for National
Botany
Clutha-Southland
Coromandel
East Coast (expect this electorate to be a possible swing in 2014)
East Coast Bays
Hamilton East
Hamilton West
Hunua
Ilam
Invercargill
Kaikoura
Napier
Nelson
North Shore
Northcote
Northland
Pakuranga
Papakura
Rangitata
Rotorua
Selwyn
Tamaki
Taranaki-King Country
Taupo
Wairarapa
Waitaki
Whanganui
Whangarei
Decreased support for Labour
Dunedin North
Dunedin South
Hutt South
Mana
Manukau East
Manurewa
Mt Albert
New Lynn
Port Hills
Rimutaka – Hipkins support will plummet but will retain
Increased support for Labour
Christchurch East
Mangere (Taito Philip Field split some of the vote there in 2008)
Mt Roskill
Rongotai
Wigram and Maori electorates
Wigram – Labour to take this easily. Am disappointed National has not even tried for this seat.
Hauraki-Waikato – Mahuta increases her lead from 2008
Ikaroa-Rawhiti – Horomia retains with slight increase.
Tamaki Makaurau – Sharples wins again but the lead from 2008 is down considerably
Te Tai Hauauru – Turia takes it again with lower support and this electorate reverts back to Labour in 2014
Te Tai Tokerua – Harawira retains. Davis will be gone from parliament
Te Tai Tonga – Labour will retake this seat from Katene
Waiariki – Te Ururoa Flavell just retains this seat with what may be the smallest lead in any electorate.
“Ohariu – Dunne retains. National will take the seat in 2014”
What’s that based on? The idea that UF voters will all choose to vote National next election?
Dunne only beat Chauvel by 1,006 votes in 2008 (down from a majority of 7,702 in 2005). It’s not going to take much of a swing Labour’s way to collect the seat, especially if those who voted for Dunne previously choose to vote National instead – that would likely leave room for Chauvel to slip through.
My fingers are crossed this happens this year, though. Not in 2014. We can live without another three years of Dunne blocking meaningful law reform with regard to the War On Drugs.
“My fingers are crossed this happens this year, though. Not in 2014. We can live without another three years of Dunne blocking meaningful law reform with regard to the War On Drugs.”
Even without National at the helm and UF gone-burgers, I don’t think there’s going to be sufficient apetite in parliament to make much progress on drugs.
I think the polls are dodgy as they never count the undecided voters. And the Nats are getting quite shrill about votes being ‘crucial’ and bashing everyone in sight instead of being relaxed this week, so I expect they know something the TV poll munters don’t. And while I’m Greens all the way, some of their soft vote will go back to Aunty Labour on the day. Winston will get the pissed off grumpy git vote, there’s enough of those to get over the line. As for Maori, they’ll keep most of their seats but people see them as largely irrelevant for party vote, so 2% is about right.
Seriously, I think the maori party will do really well, people have a lot of respect for
them. Apart from Hone their party list is just extreme leftists, and I mean extreme, Skyes makes Bradford and Minto look like Bill Oreilly.
The obsequious gargoyle Farrar currently on RNZ is a travesty of ‘balance’ and more importantly an illustration of tory media swamping. As is his presence at the Herald and Stuff, fer crissakes he already has blogs and research outlets. What next a mandatory ‘free’ 24hr feed to each household?
It was not coincidence that Bomber Bradbury was expunged before the election.
Go Whangaz! The Keyster abandoned his planned rally in Whanganui this arvo because he didn’t get enough arselicking from the locals. 300 turned up to Majestic square to tell him to piss off and he took the hint.
Ha! Always good to see the fear in the opponents eyes, eh. It was a homegrown turnout apparently, some Labour supporters with hoardings, but just too many locals who might ask awkward questions about job losses for Key’s liking. So off he beetled.
I see the driver got a bollocking for having the temerity to talk to the press. Open and transparent my hairy arse.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, they’re showing us how it ought to be done. Their government is currently considering whether to join the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the US-driven treaty designed to inflict American-style intellectual property laws (such as the hated s92A) on the rest of the world. But to do so, they require the permission of their Parliament. Which has just said that it will not even consider the matter unless all negotiation texts and advice on them are published:
Good on the Netherlands government for doing this, passing policy that hasn’t been seen, never mind vetted, by the populace is undemocratic and needs to be expunged from our political system. Now, will government/parliament do the same or will it roll over and do what the US tells them to?
russell norman just said on radio new zealand that john key asked mathew hooton if he would google how much he would get for selling the states assets.
wow!
The Smile and Wave party won’t have enough party vote to rule alone.
% of party vote mid to high 40%
The Greens and Labour combined will sit in the mid 40s%.
Labour low 30s% and Greens low teens.
Banks loses Epsom and ACT exits parliament
Dunne loses Ohariu and exits parliament
Maori Party gets 2 to 3 MPs
Mana Party gets 2 to 3 MPs.
Winston back or close to being back.
Something like perhaps:
Smile and Wave 46%
Labour 32%
Greens 12%
Winston First 4%
Maori 2%
Mana 2%
ACT 1% (won’t matter as exited from parliament)
Conservatives 1%
Something weird has happened with Epsom’s voting papers. Apparently ACT’s and National’s voting areas are more prominent. I suspect this will get a lot more attention. New Zealand’s electoral system needs to be scrupulously fair.
I do not believe it. ACT and National get the benefit of an empty line after their party vote line. Their names are clearer and easier to ascertain and the extra space suggests that they are somehow better.
Perhaps they did not want to rub shoulders with the others and insisted on having more space.
But this is appalling. The form gives them an advantage.
Easily proven if this is an anomaly review past voting papers from various electorates and see if this is consistent if it is then accept that this is merely a coincidence, and if so then file it under yet another example of poor reporting by the media, and not a media organisation looking for retribution for the tea and scone episode.
None of that explanation offered by the very sincere official explains the need for selectively spaced variances in the ballot.
I watched his explanantion half a dozen times. I am confident we all understand that the way the list is presented on the ballot has random elements and we are willing to submit to the whimsy of chaos, freely giving benefit of the doubt as to how the final order eventuated.
I am sure that is not in dispute by anyone.
Why there are physical spaces only under the two Parties in question, has not been answered.
Yes it has? The candidates are listed in alphabetical order on the right. The box for the party then goes next to the candidate standing in that seat.
If the independents running (Penny Bright and Matthew Goode) had parties they would be listed in those gaps. Every other candidate has a party hence no other gaps.
Every ballot in the country is laid out in exactly the same way.
Funny I had one today from Tim Groser. He was claiming credit for the New Lynn Train upgrade which is a bit of a hoot. David Cunliffe did all of the work on this. I hope Groser is paying for each call …
Brett, you’ve crossed to the other side! A question directed to left wing voters you have answered. Oh, Joy! Oh, Celebration! Kill the fatted calf! The prodigal has returned!
Predictions please. Someone asked me at work how best to split their votes tactically for labour, left, greens in Te tai Tonga to get the maximum impact. Any ideas?
They should give their electorate vote to the Labour candidate as the Labour candidate is in a fight with Rahui Katene for the seat. The party vote could be given to either the Greens or Labour depending which party they prefer. I don’t think it matters which of them gets given the vote.
They could vote the Mana party. With enough votes they may well bring in 1-2 other MPs beside Hone Harawira but there is a risk that Mana don’t get enough party votes for another MP and thus you could technically find the vote given to the National party. As wasted votes are given to those parties that have made it to parliament and distributed percentage wise.
Researchers say the public should be worried about how often politicians push through legislation under urgency with no good reason. (6′02″)
It was based on research conducted looking at use of urgency from FPP days to present (1987-2010). Urgency was used a lot under FPP, but declined between 1999-2008, and it was thought that MMP was a system that worked against such abuse. But since 2008 it has been used as much, if not more than FPP days.
Prof Elizabeth McLeay said that she had recommended changes to standing orders to prevent such abuses, but only some of the recommendatons are being implemented in the next term.
The 2008 election campaign had NACT billboards and politicians decrying the volume of Kiwis crossing the ditch and the likes of Espiner hammered Labour over it.
Move forward to this evening on Jim-I’m-a-close-friend-of-The-Penguin-and-the-Right-Mora. Who did he have on? None other than Farrar and what were Farrar and Mora talking about? The natural movement of people out of NZ. And then to rub salt in, Farrar was given a couple of minutes at the end of the programme to explain his, and the PM’s, preference for voting systems and dissing MMP.
The November 22-23 survey finds parties with the following Definite Voter party vote shares:
Latest horizon poll
ACT New Zealand
2.7%
Conservative Party of New Zealand
5.2%
Green Party
12.4%
Labour Party
28.6%
Mana Party
2.8%
Maori Party
1.1%
National Party
33.4%
New Zealand First Party
10.8%
United Future
0.9%
Other party
0.7%
Choose not to vote
0.0%
Don’t Know
1.3%
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The State of National Emergency to help stop the spread of COVID-19 has been extended for a further seven days, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare said. The initial declaration on March 25 lasted seven days and can be extended as many times as necessary. “Since we went into isolation ...
New Zealand’s ability to go hard and go early in the fight against COVID-19 has been underpinned by strong Government finances and the growing economy heading into this global pandemic, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown financial statements for the eight months to the end ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says 36 new intensive care beds at Christchurch Hospital’s new Hagley building are being fast tracked so they are available for treatment of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health is working with contractor CPB and Canterbury DHB to enable access to the hospital’s ICU, ...
The Government has fast-tracked up to $1 million to help Air New Zealand move urgent freight to and from New Zealand, with the first flight to Shanghai leaving tonight, Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says it’s crucial that trade in vital goods such as medical supplies and ...
New Zealand will temporarily remove tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said today that the New Zealand Customs Service will apply tariff concessions to all diagnostic reagents and testing ...
Minister of Finance Grant Robertson has clarified that the changes to the wage subsidy scheme announced yesterday mean that employers should be passing on the full subsidy to workers, except in the case where the person’s normal income is less than the level of the subsidy. “We still want employers ...
Medical face masks from the national reserve supply are now being distributed to District Health Boards, while at the same time local production is being ramped up. Yesterday more than 640,000 masks were sent to DHBS – that is an immediate two week supply, with more to follow in coming ...
The Government has made modifications to the wage subsidy scheme to ensure people don’t lose their jobs during the national lockdown. These changes will soften the impact of COVID-19 on workers, families and businesses, and position them to exit the lockdown and look to recovery, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. ...
Farmers whose herds were culled in response to the outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis will be able to minimise the tax treatment of their income in some circumstances. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says Cabinet has agreed to change the law. It means farmers may be eligible to spread their income over ...
A $27 million dollar package, effective immediately, is being provided to social sector services and community groups to ensure they can continue to provide essential support to communities as we stay at home as a nation to stop the spread of COVID-19, Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni announced. “At ...
“The guilty plea today will provide some relief to the many people whose lives were shattered by what happened on March 15,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. “These guilty pleas and conviction bring accountability for what happened and also save the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured, ...
The Prime Minister is holding daily press conferences to update New Zealanders on the Government's response to COVID-19. Links to videos and transcripts of these updates below. These transcripts also include All of Government press conferences led by Director Ministry of Health's Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. 25 March: Live update from the Prime ...
Frontline Police numbers have broken through the 10,000 mark for the first time in history as officers step forward to keep the community safe during the COVID19 lockdown. “Two Police graduations in Auckland and Wellington in the past week have been conducted in unprecedented circumstances,” Police Minister Stuart Nash said. ...
Urgent legislation has been passed to support the package of economic and social measures needed to recover from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. “The COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Bill will cushion New Zealanders from the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Revenue Minister ...
From tomorrow, Government support for farmers and growers affected by drought will be expanded and extended across the country, with access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPS) available throughout the North Island, parts of the South Island and the Chatham Islands, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced. “These challenging conditions have ...
Parliament has passed amendments to legislation that give the Secretary of Education stronger powers to act in the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “They are part of a suite of changes passed under the COVID-19 Response (Urgent Management Measures) Legislation Bill,” Chris ...
Canada, Australia, Chile, Brunei and Myanmar have joined forces with New Zealand and Singapore by committing to keep supply chains open and remove any existing trade restrictive measures on essential goods, especially medical supplies, in the face of the Covid-19 crisis. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker today welcomed ...
Immediate freeze on rent increases Tenancies will not be terminated during the lock-down period, unless the parties agree, or in limited circumstances Tenants who had previously given notice can stay in their if they need to stay in the tenancy during the lock-down period Tenants will still be able to ...
As New Zealand unites to lock-down in the fight against COVID-19, the Finance Minister is urging all businesses and workers to stay connected over the next four weeks. “We understand the extreme pressure many businesses are under right now. I know most business owners think of their workers as family ...
A State of National Emergency has been declared across the country as the Government pulls out all the stops to curtail the spread of COVID-19. “Today we put in place our country’s second ever State of National Emergency as we fight a global pandemic, save New Zealanders’ lives and prevent ...
Mr Speaker I wish to make a Ministerial Statement under Standing Order 347 in relation to the recent declaration of a State of National Emergency. Having considered the advice of the Director Civil Defence Emergency Management, the Minister of Civil Defence declared a State of National Emergency for the whole of ...
People needing to travel on domestic flights, trains and Cook Strait ferries to get home before the country moves into level 4 lock-down tomorrow night will be able to continue using the passenger services until midnight on Friday, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. Domestic passenger services, particularly ferries, have ...
The Government, retail banks and the Reserve Bank are today announcing a major financial support package for home owners and businesses affected by the economic impacts of COVID-19. The package will include a six month principal and interest payment holiday for mortgage holders and SME customers whose incomes have been ...
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...
By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News in Brisbane Refugees and asylum seekers in Brisbane have begun daily protests urging for their release after doctors and human rights lawyers flagged fears that a repurposed hotel could become a coronavirus infection hotspot. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the UN Human ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...
Welcome back to Papercuts, our monthly books podcast hosted by Louisa Kasza, Jenna Todd and Kiran Dass.Well, we’ve all said we wish we had more time to read and now we’ve got what we wished for. Jenna, Kiran and Louisa delve into some book news (that’s not too heavy for ...
The prime minister says she expects the health minister to continue doing his job, including media interviews, after he broke the lockdown rules last week to go mountain biking. ...
There have been calls for major institutions like Auckland Art Gallery to do better in identifying queer or queer-associated artists. New Auckland Art Gallery director Kirsten Paisley believes it’s ‘a conversation that needs to happen’. Writer Samuel Te Kani digs into the complications below the surface of the erasures of ...
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...
Netflix’s four-part series Unorthodox traces a woman’s escape from a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn. Emily Writes considers the lessons we can all learn from her journey. There was a moment watching Netflix’s miniseries Unorthodox when I felt like I was actually in Berlin, where much of the show is ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
By RNZ Pacific The number of people with Covid-19 in the Pacific continues to climb with French Polynesia hitting 40 cases, Guam now over 90 and the US state of Hawai’i suffering its third coronavirus death. In the past day, another person tested positive for Covid-19 in French Polynesia. ...
We needed a reasonable period of time to allow the recent surging wave of highly geared first home buyers to get financially comfortable. We didn’t get it, writes David Hargreaves of interest.co.nz.You know, I was really beginning to think (as well as hope) that we might just get away with it.By ‘it’ ...
Being stuck inside all day might be wearing you and your kids down, but there’s never been a better time to encourage them to pick up their musical instrument and get stuck into writing songs. Mike Chunn from Play It Strange explains how. Mums and dads and households with teenage children. ...
Siouxsie Wiles on the vitriolic correspondence she’s received since the Covid-19 outbreak struck, and the realities of communicating evidence.I recently received an email and text from someone telling me they are planning to email my boss, the University of Auckland vice chancellor. They are going to ask for me to ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, five of New Zealand’s best writers chronicle the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, Fiona Farrell.There’s a sign sticky-taped to the bakery window. Closed Until Further Notice. Stay Safe NZ and Be Kind. We will get through this!We all know where the words ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Former editor of the Woman's Weekly, Nicky Pellegrino, bids farewell to the magazine that brought information and fun to generations of New Zealand women. All those stories. Gone. Stories about our politics, our health, our education, our aspirations. Stories about the houses we lived in and the gardens we grew, ...
As small businesses fight for their survival in the Covid-19 lockdown, it seems one of the country’s biggest retail landlords is not keen to share the pain. On the one side, you have Jonathan*. Jonathan runs a small business out of South Auckland’s Sylvia Park - New Zealand’s biggest mall. ...
With no Covid-19 cases and its economy desperate to restart, the Chathams is keen to go fishing again, writes Jim Kayes.It shouldn’t really be a surprise. They are, after all, ahead of New Zealand by 45 minutes.And though they are part of Wellington’s Rongotai electorate, the fiercely ...
Covid-19 is a real threat to older people, but these Central Otago seniors are embracing technology, experiencing no FOMO, and finding new ways to connect and share, finds Jill Herron When the full lockdown began on March 25 it meant the end of going for a swim, spa or to ...
On Friday night, the government quietly laid down some lockdown rules via a legal order under the Health Act. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains what it means for all of us (including David Clark). As the first week of level four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was ...
The health and wellbeing of people working and being held inside our prisons needs to be a priority, writes JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead. Kelvin Davis’s interview on The Hui last weekend made it clear that precautions taken by Corrections to stop the spread of Covid-19 will create an unprecedented restriction ...
Like countless New Zealanders stranded overseas, Wellingtonian Rosie O’Hagan will be braving authorities, airlines, airports and uncertainty to make it back from the other side of the world, writes Jim Kayes.Rosie O’Hagan hadn’t stepped outside for three weeks.When she finally did – around midnight on Friday ...
PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY:By David Robie A rather beautiful Guåhan legend is rather poignant in these stressed pandemic times. It is one about survival and cooperation. In ancient times, goes the story, a giant fish was eating great chunks out of this western Pacific island. The men used muscle ...
Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford, raises good questions about Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some of them seem germane to this country’s response. Wren-Lewis posted his critique on his Mainly Macro blog under the heading Following the Science or a ...
Alex Casey speaks to a dream expert about why so many people are suddenly remembering their vivid and often horrible dreams. As the days begin to blur together and the only thing we get between sleeps is unimaginably horrible news and an embarrassing tootle around the block, it’s no surprise ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference. These may vary from the full day's numbers released in the Ministry of Health's spreadsheet of ...
Medical centres across the country are condensing services, moving online, and ushering in pandemic plans. Josie Adams assesses what it’s like to access and provide essential medical care under alert level four.On Monday, Sandra Russell woke up before dawn and drove to Milford to get her blood tested. She has ...
In our new series The Lockdown Letters, some of New Zealand’s best writers tell us what they’ve been up to in the days of Covid-19 alert level four. Today, writer and doctor Glenn Colquhoun, with the second of his Letters to Hone Tūwhare and his Travelling Band of Constant Companions. ...
ANALYSIS:By Haiqing Yu of RMIT University and Michael Keane of Curtin University China has gradually emerged out of its shadow of despair as the epicentre where the coronavirus pandemic started. Now, there is face saving required – as well as agenda-setting in the global power play. China played ...
Tech giant Google has released a giant global data set which shows how different countries are locking down, and which NZ regions are most compliant with its lockdown.A giant set of reports released by Google, created using its anonymised cellphone location data reveals the scale of human behaviour change the ...
Comedian Penny Ashton writes on the necessity of the arts, especially during lockdown.On March 22, everyone’s favourite fiscal bloodhounds, the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union, sent out a tweet in response to Creative New Zealand’s announcement that it will dedicate an emergency response package to helping New Zealand’s artists, in the ...
Wellington writer Philippa Swan’s new novel TheNight of All Souls is an homage to Pulitzer-winning and all-round fabulous American writer Edith Wharton. Wharton died in 1937 but, Swan writes, she’s very much of the moment. Nobody does social distancing like Wharton did. While Wharton was still comparatively young, she created the ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level four. The country is shut down, apart from essential services. For updated official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The ...
Normally heaving year-round, Queenstown has ground to an eerie halt as Covid-19 cases rise and tourism income plummets, reports Paul Taylor. On a hill behind Queenstown's coronavirus Covid-19 community testing centre, the resort's iconic Skyline gondola sits motionless. More than 17 million people are estimated to have ridden the gondola ...
Are we drinking more in the lockdown? Hard to know, writes David Slack, but we’re certainly having to get creative about it. Almost every phone call I’ve answered this week has begun the same way: “You still off the drink, then?” Fair question. What a time to be not drinking. ...
Kiwi clinical psychologist Desiree Dickerson is stuck with her family in Spain and has written a guide in Nature: "Seven tips to manage your mental health and well-being during the Covid-19 outbreak." It’s Day 17 of the Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. In a small village on the Mediterranean coast, about ...
"Will our ills be cured? Will our feet carry us? For how long?": a short story set in Henderson by West Auckland writer Serie Barford.I learned to drive a tractor when I was a kid feeding out hay with my cousins on a dairy farm down the line. I ...
Without active testing in the community our Covid-19 picture isn’t complete, an epidemiologist says. David Williams reports. There are worse places to be self-isolating than Whakatāne, in the Bay of Plenty, says Bridget Robson, who lives on a two-acre block and keeps chickens. “We live in a beautiful part of ...
How do you hold a funeral service with the country in lockdown? Where there’s a will – and a tech-savvy uncle – there’s a way, Erin Kavanagh-Hall discovered.I was floating somewhere in the Cook Strait when I heard my grandfather’s funeral had been cancelled.I should elaborate. It was a Monday, ...
‘Stay in your bubble’ didn’t exist 100 years ago, but our ancestors would want us to know how essential it is to do so, says Jai Breitnauer.It was a warm but slightly grey January day in 2019 when I pulled the car over to the side of SH1, just south ...
David Clark’s misadventure in mountain biking was a stupid, but ultimately forgivable offence. The bigger problem is the continued uncertainty around what is and isn’t appropriate activity in lockdown, as Sam Sachdeva writes. Given the pressure he and his Cabinet colleagues are under, it is little surprise Health Minister David ...
Assessing the economic impact of Covid-19 requires a new approach to a problem economists have not encountered in modern times, writes Dr Kirdan Lees Covid-19 has presented quite a problem for economists. Containment policies that seek to flatten the Covid-19 curve or eliminate the virus, restrict economic activity. All governments ...
Every day at 1pm New Zealand’s Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield announces precise figures on the number of confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 in the country. He is working on the best information available, and during this week the level of community transmission was put at around ...
Most of New Zealand's MPs are in lockdown just like the rest of us, confined to their neighbourhoods and stuck in their bubbles. Checkpoint called a few to ask them what they're doing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Deery, Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, University of Melbourne “Stupid coronavirus!” I heard my six-year-old mumble while talking in her sleep. Earlier that day her swimming and basketball lessons were cancelled, a birthday party postponed, and she had to race with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & CyberSecurity, Griffith University “Zoombombing” in case you haven’t heard, is the unsavoury practice of posting distressing comments, pictures or videos after gatecrashing virtual meetings hosted by the videoconferencing app Zoom. With hundreds of millions ...
Analysis - A leading epidemiologist says health authorities 'really have no idea' of the extent of community spread, Parliament's Epidemic Response Committee gets its teeth into what's going on during the lockdown and the horrendous economic imp ...
The fifth in our new series of charts, graphics and data visualisations by Chris McDowall, covering the Covid-19 epidemic within New Zealand. We’ll publish the latest set each day on The Spinoff.This work is entirely funded by the generosity of The Spinoff MembersInformation about confirmed and probable cases of Covid-19 ...
The Finance Minister says struggling companies will be able to put some debt into hibernation, under new legislation unveiled today. Watch the latest government update here. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Lund, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation Editor’s note: The following is current as at April 3, 2020. Things are changing quickly so best to keep an eye on the latest information from WA Health, as well as the federal government.This article ...
During the challenges associated with lockdown, the Māori Party are congratulating Ngāti Ruanui and South Taranaki on the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling What does the COVID-19 pandemic sound like? For this episode, Dallas Rogers – a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney – asked academic colleagues from all over ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sven Gallasch, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion,” wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (published in 1776), “but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the ...
Environment Minister David Parker has directed officials to find ways to fast-track consents for infrastructure and development projects. He says his goal is to help create a pipeline of projects so that some can start immediately once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted “so people can get back into work as fast ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Spain and Switzerland top cases, countries converging. Chart by Keith Rankin.Of the larger European countries, Italy is now in third place for known cases per person in the population. Spain has overtaken Switzerland for ...
Contact tracing is a crucial part of the Covid-19 puzzle and technology might prove essential to scaling up New Zealand's tracing capacity, Marc Daalder reports With the lockdown reducing physical contact between members of the public and testing ramping up, the only missing piece of the Covid-19 puzzle is contact tracing. ...
Insolvency laws will be temporarily changed to allow troubled companies to trade while technically insolvent Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced changes to the Companies Act to allow companies to put their debts into "hibernation". Robertson said companies facing liquidity problems would have "safe harbour" from their normal insolvency duties ...
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui and Te Kaahui o Rauru are celebrating the decision of the Court of Appeal, announced today, to stop Trans-Tasman Resources plans for risky seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. The Court of Appeal found that there ...
Bernard Hickey talks to Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr about a massive spike in US jobless claims, and they talk about an inspiring Kiwi app to fight Covid-19 globally. Guest, Pie Funds chief executive Mike Taylor also joins them to talk about the massive market swings and hopes for recovery. Bernard zooms out ...
Political commentators from the left and right sides of the political divide are questioning the powers being exercised by police during the nation-wide “lockdown”. The Asian Invasion 2019 blog draws attention to the warning sounded by former UK Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Sumption when he challenged Covid-19 actions by British ...
Pacific Media Watch The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week as a ‘dangerous’ opening to target and kill anyone in a public space. “We are raising the alarm in the international community on President ...
The Reserve Bank looks set to start buying council bonds as well as Government bonds to unfreeze financial markets and allow councils to defer rates and jointly invest in infrastructure with the central Government, Dileepa Fonseka reports In what would be another unprecedented move to calm financial markets and help ...
Four PhD students engaged a clinical psychologist to help them navigate an uncertain time in their studies. They share their findings here.As four PhD students from Massey University’s Joint Centre for Disaster Research we, like many others, can’t stop reading and talking about the unfolding events that have gripped our ...
The SpinoffBy Ashleigh Rushton, Lisa McLaren, Marion Tan & Sara Harrison
Covid-19 testing of the wider population is on the cards as World Health Organisation research shows people are most contagious within their first few days of being infected Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says Covid-19 carriers are highly infectious when they show few signs of carrying the virus. People were ...
Z Energy is the latest company to cut its dividend payout and start talking to its banks about strengthening its finances. Chief executive Mike Bennetts said the company, the largest fuel retailer in the country, had been battered by a range of issues over the past 18 months, and was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Melissa Kang, Associate professor, University of Technology Sydney Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. According to the Department of Health, there are now more cases in Australia among people aged 20 – 29 years than any ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Pattinson, Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Getting a good night’s sleep can be difficult at the best of times. But it can be even harder when you’re anxious or have something on your mind – a global pandemic, for example. ...
Journalist and Great Barrier Island resident Lindsay Wright reflects on outer gulf pandemic preparedness. Hardy locals can tough it out but Auckland bach owners and boaties should keep their distance. Aotea Great Barrier, the easternmost island in the Hauraki Gulf, are undergoing a Covid-19-inspired population flood. Great Barrier has scenery that makes ...
The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand is delighted that the government has moved quickly to provide an initial financial support package for pharmacy. The $15 million package was paid this week to pharmacy contract holders. Pharmaceutical Society president ...
How is Covid-19 spreading within the country? Newsroom is collating information as it's available to paint a picture of what's happening.The following charts are based on numbers shared at the daily press conference and are "as of 9am" of the day. There were 71 new cases of Covid-19 in ...
A new poem by Wellington poet and bookseller Ash Davida Jane. washed up! it gets tiring pushing the fire alarm every nightbut things keep catching on fireor sometimes ...
Open mike 24/11/2011 
As the world economy slides rapidly towards deep recession there are growing calls for a Universal Benefit coming from some leftists and rightists. Now Finance Minister Grant Robertson is saying it is on the table. This article by a French party Workers Struggle provides analysis of various forms of universal ...4 hours ago
This is the advice from the very top of the anti-fluoride movement – Paul Connett, director of the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). Don’t worry about reading up on all the scientific information “You only have ... 6 hours ago
. . April 4: Day 10 of living in lock-down… I wake up to a fine Saturday morning which normally would be like an early Christmas. But it’s Day 10 of Level 4 Lock Down. What will my fellow New Zealanders be doing on a day like this – staying ...10 hours ago
Comfortably, in the very first round, with an impressive 56% of the votes.I wonder, did members of the Shadow Cabinet start tweeting their resignations during Starmer's victory speech, or is that only a trick the right pull?It is odd how all the talk of how the next leader "needs to ...11 hours ago
One of the key voices in this extraordinary time in which we live is that of University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Philip Matthews did an an excellent job this weekend of capturing the way he became the man for this moment in a profile for The Press.But one ...11 hours ago
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern addressed the nation today about the decline in daylight New Zealand has been experiencing over the previous few months. She said “As many of you will notice, our attempts to stem the dwindling of the daylight over the last few months have been completely ...1 day ago
As the first week of Level Four lockdown unfolded, mounting questions grew as to just what was (and was not) allowed under its “rules”. Partly these were driven by some apparently contradictory messages from different authority figures and explanations carried in the media. Partly they reflected a somewhat sketchy legal basis ...1 day ago
We must root out the traitors among us! ...2 days ago
In order to meet our 2050 carbon target and do our bit to avoid making the Earth uninhabitable, New Zealand needs to decarbonise our economy, replacing fossil fuels with electricity in the energy, industrial and transport sectors. The good news is that it will mean cheaper power for all of ...2 days ago
As Aotearoa enters week two of lockdown, it’s clear we’re all still working out what our “bubbles” look like and how to stay in them to stop the spread of Covid-19. New to the government’s Covid-19 website is some good guidance for people living in apartment blocks. Recent decades have ...3 days ago
Resuming Normal Service: The Republican Party's nominee for in 1920, Warren Harding, promised the American people: “not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration”. If she wishes to remain our prime minister, then Jacinda Ardern will offer New Zealanders the same.HOW EDUCATED AMERICA snickered when the ...3 days ago
I haven’t done a huge amount in the last few days. I’m reading The Poppy War and I’ve sort of poked at a couple of games – I started SOMA but I’m a wimp and I quit while in the first room after the brain scan. I might try it ...3 days ago
46 Articles Physical science of global warming & effects Global response of evapotranspiration ratio to climate conditions and watershed characteristics in a changing environment Greenhouse effect: the relative contributions of emission height and total absorption Observations & observational methods of global warming & effects Climate change induced a ...4 days ago
Image credit: Diamond Harbour School Blogs I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or ... 4 days ago
The Covid-19 saga will no doubt produce many twists and turns for us before it is finally brought to an end. But one thing it has shown us – and what comfort it should bring us – is that our country’s government is in good hands. I am not thinking ...5 days ago
The following statement was released on March 28 by the National Network on Cuba, a coalition of 40 groups, based in the United States. In recent weeks, Cuba has deployed hundreds of medical providers to over a dozen countries in Europe, Asia, as well as to their neighbors in Latin ...5 days ago
Yesterday, New Zealand recorded its first Covid-19 related death on the West Coast. Unfortunately this is unlikely to be the only fatality, with the virus now being found in every region of the country.However despite the significant danger, people are still unfortunately breaching lockdown rules.There’s really only one main very ...6 days ago
The CV-19 (COVID) pandemic has seen the imposition of a government ordered national quarantine and the promulgation of a series of measures designed to spread the burden of pain and soften the economic blow on the most strategically important and most vulnerable sectors of society. The national narrative is framed ...1 week ago
Society-wise, aside from the specific morbidity shall we say of the medically-oriented aspects of this COVID-19 crisis, what is unfolding before the world is in more than one way an instructive study of humanity and reactions to a high intensity, high stress environment in real time. Friends, we are at ...1 week ago
Right now low waged and insecure workers are feeling the economic brunt of the looming #Covid19 Recession. In response legal advocate Toby Cooper* and hospitality and worker’s rights advocate Chloe Ann-King, are putting together a series of legal blogs about your employment rights: In this legal blog we outline some ...1 week ago
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Government has striven to provide calm, clear and consistent communication, including daily press conference updates from the Prime Minister. ...4 hours ago
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says getting New Zealanders back home and other travellers out of the country is "a nightmare for our embassies, consuls, and staff around the world". Speaking to NewstalkZB's Mike Hosking, the Foreign Minister said that he gave a clear message to people travelling overseas that they ...2 days ago
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The scale of what we face right now is unlike anything we have ever seen before. Overcoming it is our common purpose. ...2 weeks ago
The Government will be introducing legislation to make changes to the Companies Act to help companies facing insolvency due to COVID-19 to remain viable and keep New Zealanders in jobs. The temporary changes include: Giving directors of companies facing significant liquidity problems because of COVID-19 a ‘safe harbour’ from insolvency ...2 days ago
By Jane Patterson, political editor of RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. At today’s media briefing, Ardern was reluctant to draw too many conclusions from ...2 hours ago
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's too early to claim success against the spread of Covid-19 but 11 days into lockdown, New Zealand has made a good start. ...4 hours ago
Sam Brooks, a lifelong Studio Ghibli fan, presents a guide to the Japanese studio’s animated films, including which ones to show your kids when.Just heard ‘Let It Go’ for the billionth time? Sick of those class-traitor dogs that make up the cast of Paw Patrol? Look no further than the ...5 hours ago
Alan Simmons co-leader of the NZ Outdoors Party says tensions are at breaking point around New Zealand. “I cannot keep up with the calls and messages from New Zealanders who are extremely stressed, distressed and frustrated by dramatic changes imposed ...5 hours ago
Ardern says the role of planning for moving out of lockdown is not the Government's alone Businesses should plan how they will operate in an environment where intensive contact tracing would be needed post-lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Government was working on additional guidance for the move to Level 3 ...7 hours ago
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Neither Farrar nor the slithery one have any posts on last night’s debate. Could it be that they agree that Goff won handsomely but cannot bring themselves to say this?
It was that convincing a win I thought we would see a “Guyon Espinar is a member of the Labour Party” theme develop.
Curiously, Tim Watkin at Pundit, gives the debate to Key.
http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/final-tv-one-leaders-debate-my-first-impressions
To me Key didn’t show authority but a disdain for opposition, democratic debate and open discussion. This disdain to me is based in an authoritarian tendency (a feature of Key’s tenure in government).
So I’m curious as to what seemed very evident to me as weakness in Key, should be read as someone else s a strength? Maybe it dpends in how aware one is of body language and non-verbal communication? And Key’s was appalling in the debate. He looked like he had no patience with democratic process.
I quite liked this typo from Tim:
But Key kept is cool with a measured, clam performance.
Nice analogy – cold, hard, closed, slimy, lives in the darkness……
But seriously, for those who don’t already see through Key (yet), this debate won’t have changed anything imo. I don’t know how it’s even possible to penetrate the wall of lies, malicious innuendo, and misinformation that he puts up. To even seriously try in a debate like that would probably be counter-productive. I’ve never seen any politician use the strategy of telling so many lies, that meaningful discussion is impossible. It doesn’t seem like it should work. But sadly, it does, and did last night imo.
😆
Those people who see him as a “leader” will defend him no matter what he does.
Watkins: “It’s one of the things that a Prime Minister gains simply by going into work every day…”
lolz, since when has Key gone to work every day?
Pfft felix, he works 19 hours a day 7 days week, everyone knows that!
And does it all for free, donating all his miserly salary to a charity that he’s too modest to name!
Of course you saw a convincing win. You probably think Labour can win on Saturday.
Farrar was busy on Back Benches.
The TVNZ text poll favoured Key (about 2/3). I think most people will have seen what they wanted in the debate, I doubt it will have converted many votes.
Yes PG, that utterly scientific text poll was certainly a completely accurate representation of how NZ feels…
I don’t rate polls like that, I couldn’t be bothereds looking up the actual figures. I don’t know if text polls that cost have been analised, but people who respond could range from rich pricks who have money to waste to beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste.
Most voters don’t watch debates or follow politics, they vote based on hard to explain inclinations towards a party or a leader.
::but people who respond could range from rich pricks who have money to waste to beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste.””
Excuse me??
who the hell do you think you are?
this is why you are your stupid leader wont get back in
why dont you just give up trying and trolling and focus on getting a real job instead of this sort of crap
“…beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste…”
You mean like Double-Dipton and Summer-Holiday Hide?
…forgot to mention Warner Brothers and all the other corporate beneficiaries.
75c a text,
give up almost half a litre of milk to push the propoganda of a media company, i think not
Yep kept me quiet I got better things to but with my money like formula for my 6 month old.
ahem… Freudian slip in there somewhere Pete?
No, I was referring to two extremes.
Some rich people waste money. Some beneficiaries waste money (many don’t).
In my opinion anyone who participates in text polls is wasting their money.
As a beneficiary yourself Pete, do you consider your benefit to be “other people’s money”, or your own?
why have you added a qualifier Pete? you said ‘beneficiaries’, now its ‘some beneficiaries’
realising your ad hominem attacks are unwarranted and ignorant?
No, not that Pete… That’s not how you spell analysed…
No you werre not
I have facebooked this comment and it is now in the process of showing the Dunedin people exactly what you really stand for.
o the power of the Internet 🙂
Well, the polls probably haven’t but the people who text into them certainly have 😈
Ah, and the bene bashing comes out from the UF representative.
“Most voters don’t watch debates or follow politics, they vote based on hard to explain inclinations towards a party or a leader.”
Code words for “sensible people vote UF”, I guess.
“to beneficiaries who have other people’s money to waste.”
WTH? Bang went any remote chance of my ever voting for UF… You nasty POS… You have joined the list of people on whom I wish beneficiary status, along with the silly bitch I was arguing with yesterday on FB, the married ‘lady’ who thinks all women with children and a broken relationship should starve with their kids or work at what she called a “gas station”…
And yet National cheerleader Tacy Watkins, gives the debate to Goff…. well kinda… she first says Goff scored the “knock-out punch” when he dropped in the question about National secretely planning to cut police numbers. But in Watkins’ final line she calls it “an even match”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/6023331/Goff-saves-best-till-last-in-TV-debates
National may win by a huge margin, but I just hope ACT and United Future are consigned to history…
Yes, that’s the consolation prize for this election.
Until they rebuild and start again A new party but the same old faces and backers.
PG, the Most common comment I read on the #leadersdebate & #oneness twitter feeds was you g people stating the poll was a farce cause none of them could afford or were prepared to spen the 75c to txt in. They seemed pretty clear in their belief that the poll played to the rich Nat supporters advantage.
But I keep forgetting, you like the nats are caught in that 19th century thinking…
Key’s body language was appalling. He rarely could look Goff in the eye and the dead eyes and downturned mouth when Goff was speaking was extremely defensive and closed. The hand wringing was also a sign of discomfort. Shifty and uncomfortable would how I’d describe Key.
And how many times did Key start his answers with “So, let me tell you what we’re doing” or similar? He’d learnt the script but where was the passion?
John Johannsen shamed Key on the STV lie – shame no-one picked him up on the others.
P.S. Clare Robinson’s face as JJ laid into Key was a beautiful television moment.
The post debate discussion was nonsensical, why did they bother, a 30 second sound bite was all they could fit it.
Yes it did seem strange to have the two commentators there only to give them a couple a minutes at the end but I guess the debate overran and they’re working within the constraints of commercial television.
Having said that, exposing Key telling porkies again and clarifying the problems with STV is far from non-sensical. More a very useful contribution to the democratic process.
They did have another go at 10:30 with a repeat of JJ indignation over Key/MMP v SM.
Don’t like the way though that JJ says that this election is really a setting up for 2014 saying that this one is lost for Labour. It ain’t over yet.
Anyone who recognised Key’s scolded petuant school boy act as “authority” has spent too much time in corporates. Those with organisational authority might behave like that, but it’s the behaviour of arrogant insecure two-faced liars and schemers. If any more proof was needed to see that Key has never intended to debate anything, last night was the grossest display. Key behaved like many people I’ve met professionally behave and that is the problem. They will see themselves and vote accordingly. This election may just be a measure of how far NZs people have become degraded.
Well said, uturn: I was astonished when I read that Key’s performance was seen as authoritative when what I mostly saw was the facial expression of the bitchy girl in one of those high school dramas. I am also interested in your suggestion that “This election may just be a measure of how far NZs people have become degraded.” Last night I watched Michael Sandel’s lecture on Rawls, which really showed up the limits of our current mode of debate. In such a small country, treating poverty & privation as something to we will get round to addressing when we can afford it rather than something immediate and compelling, is by itself evidence of degradation. Especially where it is accompanied by an enthusiastic interest in life-styles.
The real authority is John Armstrong. He saw John Key displaying gravitas! Bless my soul if I had one. Gravitas? John Key? Perhaps Armstrong writes in jest.
It’s Armstrong’s term for Key’s sullen face. He has no idea what gravitas actually means.
The idea that poverty is a concern only once we can afford it was also presented during the documentary on TV3 a few nights ago. It used 3/4 of the story to show what a mistake it is to interpret the economy as a thing which the people serve, rather than a by-product of the way people live, then promptly finished up by convincing viewers that solutions were all about saving money. Yep, seems that even when people stare the obvious in the face they have difficulty knowing what they’re looking at.
People have forgotten, and this is primarily the fault of the economists who have also forgotten, what the economy is and what it’s for. These days people see the economy as the movement of money and that it’s solely there to make a profit. Hence why the growth in GDP is seen as the be all, end all of the economy (increased movement of money), why we celebrate people who have lots of it (making a large profit), scorn those who don’t and then blame their circumstances upon them instead of questioning our socio-economic systems that actively create the poverty.
And so, we continue to claim growth at the hands of our GDP obcession, and ignore the Real economy, at our peril.
I still like Steve Keen’s line best, “economists don’t understand the economy, they understand A model of the economy”
That line Steve Keen is almost right. The bit that he got wrong is that economists don’t even have a model of the economy. What they have is a hypothesis of how they think the economy works (which they may or may not understand) that they’re not changing despite all the evidence that that is not how the economy works.
Nah, I think that’s exactly what he’s getting at, he says we may progress in economics, one funeral at a time. Their Model being their Hypothesis, or more specifically in my mind, their FAITH!
Have you all noticed this “so, let me just tell you” is how all Nats start each sentence, Nikki K was very pronounced with this on Backbenchers against Jacinda. All got the same coach eh!
Nah, Nikki has just been doing personal studies of John Key’s debate performances. Probably watches them two or three times a day to get the talking points down pat.
And Farrar has been very quiet like nothing for a few days on the Herald or Stuff. From what I saw of the debate last night Phil showed John up for the nasty psycopath he is. And now his police force have ‘collected all the evidence’ including the tea tape copies now how long for these to either go missing or get corrupted some how. I hope someone has a copy or 2 hidden away for insurance
What I saw was a very slimy sneering PM who had the slogans but not the actual coal face knowledge, Goff sucker lunched him on the police numbers issue and generally showed a much better grasp…. No surprises there.
Gluon finds a backbone on some issues finally and pinned Key down but too little to late methinks, just shows he can but never bothered till now.
Wouldnt a nat greens coalition with Act gone be fascinating, no asset sales and a toned down right wing approach…..bet they wouldn’t bleat about that but bang on about Winnie.
So what’s happened to this BIG story about Banks or Brash and the meth investigation?
What big story are you talking about?
Yep. I’m wondering about that one too Adrian. I think it is to do with… a drug investigation… a p lab… and a politician called John Banks who has been running an anti-drug campaign for years. The key word is “hypocrisy”.
So we have two police investigations we know of, where the police are being used (I assume willingly) in an effort to withhold information from the public that would do a lot of damage to the re-election chances of the National and ACT parties.
My estimation of the police has plummeted to an unprecedented level.
Ahh… so that was Banks.
Seems like The Sprout was teasing about the knowledge of the story but didn’t have the details or inclination to ‘leak’ it themselves.
Fuck how disgraceful… There is going to be riots when people get hold of all the info held back from them during this election… And just now on the news – the ACT ballot papers seem to be promoting National and ACT. How fast we have become a banana republic..
From the Telegraph this morning:
The FTSE 100 has fallen for eight consecutive days, shedding £104 billion from the value of the UK’s most valuable companies, as a disastrous auction of German 10-year bonds ignites contagion fears…
Wonder how much of Shonkeys portfolio looks risky? Does he really want to win an election? Could explain the missing Mr Niceguy persona.
John Key looking sheepish as people stare and point while he waits for is unemployment benefit interview.
Priceless.
“John Key looking sheepish as people stare and point while he waits for is unemployment benefit interview.”
Oh how wonderful that would be! (I had mine today, for my “re-application”, and discovered that they’ve changed the rules again (within the last 3-6 months, the WINZ woman said). It’s now a 3 stage process, with a week between each stage. That would be terrible for people who were starving… Luckily, I have saved the $$ I earned during the past 6 weeks…
If John Key ended up living here, in a boarding house maybe, and I spotted him at our ‘local’.. what a glorious mental picture!
This is how Rounini framed it succinctly on twitter…
“EZ in recession & even core sov bond markets seized; US investment & consumption down in Oct; China bus conditions at 32mt low.Perfect Storm”
Don Brash on RNZ trying to present himself as representing the left. Hilarious
Key is worried latte loving NZ will fall
apart when he fails to get re-elected.
Russia invasion plan uncovered, sell
our assets, banks to Australians so they
aren’t captured! Its the sensible thing to do.
Govt spending needs to come down, because the
private debt problem is so huge that shrinking
government debt will have some effect. Ding-Don,
it took Key three years to run it up, and
both parties say they will drop it back in no time,
so no wonder Key was downgraded when Don
says its a government debt problem.
Shit in shit out, NZ economy fails because
the right claim to competence on the economy
is never questioned by the media.
As a rule reporters place expensive microphones when politicians give speaches, and politicians and their handlers have a duty surely to return said property. As anyone who sits down in a cafe, the cleanliness, a clear empty table is a sign of a well run establishment. So reasonably, the PM would have known microphones were there, that he would be giving further speaches ‘after the chat’, and that reasonably any left over baggage remaining on the table should have been removed by him or his staff (if they also recognized the claim of privacy). The fact that the Police have been called, chills press freedom and is unjustice in my opinion. If Key is caught on camera looking at the package then he made a decision to not have it removed, that was consent in my opinion, as he would have been all to aware of the many miriad of packages left in his path (like background recorders to help the technicians to clean up the audio shit).
John Key was interviewed by Katherine on 9 to noon Yesterday. He seldom answered questions and rambled and hummed and hawed a lot. He is supposed to be the PM and have answers ready!
Phil Goff was interviewed by Katherine on 9 to noon today. He answered every question and placed hits on Key/National. He covered a lot of ground and packed in a huge amount of information. Most has been heard before but that is the nature of interviews at this time.
How come Name and mail have to be reentered for each comment?
they said the other day if you log in, it’s all good, and it is!
Thanks for, greatly appreciated 😎
and DTB nice to hear that there is an extreme load given what is at risk in a few days time. Best that people tick from an informed base.
Lynn had to turn off a couple of features so that the server could handle the present load. That was one of them.
I’ve asked that question as well, H. Apparently there is an issue somewhere, but I assume LP is a bit busy helping score the greatest upset in NZ political history to fix it. That’s fine by me!
Here is an interview I did with US War veteran and ex banker and senior editor of Veterans today Gordon Duff thanks to Vinny Eastwood, Auckland internet radio host:
http://aotearoaawiderperspective.wordpress.com/2011/11/24/interview-with-gordon-duff-from-veterans-today-about-john-key-and-what-he-will-do-to-new-zealand-for-his-banking-mates/
Thanks for doing this Travellerev. Bit of a coup I would say-congrats. Couldn’t hear the recording as my head phones just broke,blast, but I could see the value of your questioning from that one comment Gordon D. emailed you regarding “his tasking”, which sounds scarily ‘evil’.
So want the truth to come out about Key. I loathe lies.
He lost me when he seemed to say Angela Merkel was a communist.
On Election day are you allowed to blog or post on blogs about the election? or does that break some sort of electoral law.
Pretty much no. We turn all comments off.
This is a joke right? You cant mention the weather.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6023924/Weather-off-the-radar-on-Saturday
Unfortunately not, the country has gone full retard as it often does around elections.
An interesting thing about the weather, we just need to look out the window to see what it’s like. In contrast, we have no idea about how many people are voting on election day, and what way they are voting.
You can mention the weather but you can’t do so in relation to the election. You also cannot tweet about the election. Specifically, you can’t tweet in such a way as to look like you may be trying to influence the way anyone votes. I think blogs may be exempt but I can’t recall precisely – I suggest erring on the side of caution.
And that article is a load of bollocks. Report the weather and it’s forecast and then leave it to people to make up their own minds about when they go to the voting booth. They don’t need a weatherperson telling them.
You’re allowed to encourage people to vote, as long as it’s done in a non partisan way.
So it’s acceptable to say “all that sunny weather out there should help get people out to vote!”. But you’re not allowed to say “all that terrible rainy weather out there will be stopping people from voting”.
With the obsession about lies on here I thought you may be interested in another big lie – one from Phil Goff when he says that he said he knows of no other developed country that has GST on healthy food/fresh food and vegetables.
Well he must be lying becasue he’s obviously looked at the issue and missed the fact that plenty of countries tax food. Japan, one of our biggest trading partners and last time I looked a reasonably developed country, is like us in taxing food at the standard VAT rate.
Many do so at a reduced rate but they still tax it. http://www.worldtaxpayers.org/stat_vat.htm. only five countries -Australia, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, and the United Kingdom – apply a zero rate to certain food items.
If he didn’t actually know then it’s not a lie. Of course, he probably should have known and WTF is it about NZ that we constantly refer our decisions to what other countries do?
Just judging Goff by the low standard you and many other Standardistas have applied to Key. I wouldn’t go so far as saying his inability to accept he might be wrong on issues is a sign of sociopathy though.
Agreed on your latter point though. One of my big bugbears: ‘what will it do to our reputation?’ Answer: Sweet FA.
insider writes
Your worldtaxpayers site conveniently left out several states in the USA. California does not add on sales tax on many food items that a consumer purchases at a market.
Care to retract, insider?
California is not a country last time I looked, happy. Goff talked about countries, I listed countries, you went off on a tangent.
Totally correct “insider”
Just another example of Mr Goff ignoring the facts, and preferring a faulty [Towers?] sound-bite.
One has to wonder, is he fed this rubbish, or does he dream it up all on his own?
Either way, another fail.
Also a fail by MsM who seem assume their man is always right.
Certainly shades of Winstone, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good sound bite.
Good to hear Sean Plunkett take it to him this morning re Police intakes;
hopefully these false-hoods will lead the TV News at 6:00.
Another own goal by Labour.
This is proving to be an enjoyable election to-date; keep up the good work Labour.
Insider, from the debate link you quoted that Phil said…
“no other developed country in the world that I know of has a GST on healthy food like that”
From your own link (pre- the NZ 15% GST rate) it appears Phil is right – other countries don’t tax healthy food “like that”… i.e. as NZ does at the standard rate of 15% GST. Japan, for example taxes food at the full rate, but that rate is only 5%. Other countries that have higher GST on food than we do tax food at less than the usual rate.
So yeah other developed countries don’t tax healthy food as NZ does, at the standard rate, unless the standard rate is less than 15%. In the context of a debate it’s pretty hard to create a lie out of that statement.
BTW I find it interesting that our ‘pure’ GST system is the only one that lists an exemption for financial services. The neo-lib agenda-pushers have a lot to answer for.
if the weather is piss poor then its nationals fault.
vote labour.
This is the type of shit that keeps us from making rational decisions about the economy:-
It’s a big, long, rant that’s not based in any sort of logic, goes against the facts and some people actually agree with him. Thankfully more seem to be disagreeing with him.
I posted two comments but only one got past the moderators. The one linking to this post didn’t make it.
Ok, that post is now through. It just took few hours longer.
[lprent: Depends when one of us has a look at the queue. I suspect that I’m the same as the others. Queue checking happens when we have a break in our work. ]
Wasn’t talking about The Standard but the NZH. My second comment had got through the moderators before my first one (by several hours in fact) and so I had assumed that it had been binned. My reply to my comment was to acknowledge that it had now gone through.
This is way more helpful than anything else I’ve looked at.
Labour’s closing address. Get it on your networks, people!
Yes. Watched it VOR. Brilliant. On Facebook from lunchtime. Friday night TV.
Friendly yet full of past and future. Technically excellent production.
That’s a good ad. Not voting Labour myself, but I think many to my right (and that’s almost everyone unfortunately), would be given pause to think if they were to watch it right through.
Why did they leave this calibre advertising until the bitter end?
As I have pointed out many times, with what is on the horizon and about to hit in a matter of months (maybe weeks) whoever DOESN’T get the poisoned chalice will probably be happy.
‘The following are 17 quotes about the coming global financial collapse that will make your hair stand up….
#1 Credit Suisse’s Fixed Income Research unit: “We seem to have entered the last days of the euro as we currently know it. That doesn’t make a break-up very likely, but it does mean some extraordinary things will almost certainly need to happen – probably by mid-January – to prevent the progressive closure of all the euro zone sovereign bond markets, potentially accompanied by escalating runs on even the strongest banks.”
#2 Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup: “Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months — it could be weeks, it could be days — before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it.”
#3 Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank: “If you don’t think Merkel’s tone will change then our investment advice is to dig a hole in the ground and hide.”
#4 David Rosenberg, a senior economist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto: “Lenders are finding it difficult to finance their day-to-day operations with short-term funding. This is a lot like 2008 but with more twists.”
#5 Christian Stracke, the head of credit research for Pimco: “This is just a repeat of what we saw in 2008, when everyone wanted to see toxic assets off the banks’ balance sheets”
#6 Paul Krugman of the New York Times: “At this point I’d guess soaring rates on Italian debt leading to a gigantic bank run, both because of solvency fears about Italian banks given a default and because of fear that Italy will end up leaving the euro. This then leads to emergency bank closing, and once that happens, a decision to drop the euro and install the new lira. Next stop, France.”
#7 Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group: “More and more, we are hearing anecdotal comments from individual and professionals that this is the most difficult environment they have ever experienced as the market is like a fish flopping around after being taken out of the water.”
#8 Bob Janjuah of Nomura International: “Germany appears to be adamant that full political and fiscal integration over the next decade (nothing substantive will happen over the short term, in my view) is the only option, and ECB monetisation is no longer possible. I really think it is that clear and simple. And if I am wrong, and the ECB does a U-turn and agrees to unlimited monetisation, I will simply wait for the inevitable knee-jerk rally to fade before reloading my short risk positions. Even if Germany and the ECB somehow agree to unlimited monetisation I believe it will do nothing to fix the insolvency and lack of growth in the eurozone. It will just result in a major destruction of the ECB‟s balance sheet which will force an ECB recap. At that point, I think Germany and its northern partners would walk away. Markets always want short, sharp, simple solutions.”
#9 Dan Akerson, CEO of General Motors: “The ’08 recession, which was a credit bubble that manifested itself through primarily the real estate market, that was a serious stress….This is much more serious.”
#10 Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman Sachs: “Pressures on Euro area sovereign bond markets have progressively intensified and spread like a wildfire.”
#11 Jim Rogers: “In 2002 it was bad, in 2008 it was worse and 2012 or 2013 is going to be worse still – be careful”
#12 Dr. Pippa Malmgren, the President and founder of Principalis Asset Management who once worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bush: “Market forces are increasingly determining what the options are and foreclosing on options policymakers thought they had. One option which is now under discussion involves permitting a country to temporarily leave the Euro, return to its native currency, devalue, commit to returning to the Euro at a better debt to GDP ratio, a better exchange rate and a better growth trajectory and yet not sacrifice its EU membership. I would like to say for the record that this is precisely the thought process that I expected to evolve,but when I proposed this possibility back in 2009, and again in September 2010, I had a 100% response from clients and others that this was “impossible” and many felt it was “ridiculous”. They may be right but this is the current state of the discussion. The Handelsblatt in Germany has reported this conversation, but wrongly assumes that the country that will exit is Germany. I think that Germany will have to exit if the Southern European states do not. Germany’s preference is to stay in the Euro and have the others drop out. The problem has been the Germans could not convince the others to walk away. But, now, market pressures are forcing someone to leave. Germany is pushing for that someone to be Italy. They hope that this would be a one off exception, not to be repeated by any other country. Obviously, though, if Italy leaves the Euro and reverts to Lira then the markets will immediately and forcefully attack Spain, Portugal and even whatever is left of the already savaged Greeks. These countries will not be able to compete against a devalued Greece or Italy when it come to tourism or even infrastructure. But, the principal target will be France. The three largest French banks have roughly 450 billion Euros of exposure to Italian debt. So, further sovereign defaults are certainly inevitable, but that is true under any scenario. Growth and austerity will not do the trick, as ZeroHedge rightly points out. Ultimately, I will not be at all surprised to see Europe’s banking system shut for days while the losses and payments issues are worked out. People forget that the term “bank holiday” was invented in the 1930’s when the banks were shut for exactly the same reason.”
#13 Daniel Clifton, a policy strategist with Strategas Research Partners on the potential for more downgrades of U.S. debt: “We would expect further downgrades, a first downgrade from Moody’s and Fitch and possibly a second downgrade from S&P.”
#14 Warren Buffett on the problems in the eurozone: “The system as presently designed has revealed a major flaw. And that flaw won’t be corrected just by words. Europe will either have to come closer together or there will have to be some other rearrangement because this system is not working”
#15 David Kostin, equity strategist for Goldman Sachs: “The wide range of possible outcomes on both the super committee process and the unstable political economy in Europe drives our view that investors should assume the worst while hoping for the best.”
#16 Mark Mobius, the head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management: “There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner”
#17 Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute: “The whole system is going down. Pull your money out your Fidelity account, your Scwhab accout, and your ETFs.”
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/17-quotes-about-the-coming-global-financial-collapse-that-will-make-your-hair-stand-up
Assuming the polls are not rigged, NZers will get the quality of non-leadership they ask for. And will pay the price.
[lprent: And that looks like nothing to do with the post you dumped it into. Moved to OpenMike. Don’t make a habit of this. Eventually I’ll just trash and ban. ]
I completely agree and had a similar conversation with my father only the other night. The “poisoned chalice” was exactly the conclusion we both came to. Thanks for your post, puts it all nicely (all-be-it scarily) into perspective.
Funny thing with Cassandras like AFKTT and myself is that we don’t always agree on the detail but pick the trends. Unlike yourself and your father most people are too frightened by what is coming down the track so they go into denial and ignore it. And vote to stay at the party.
This years election is a poison chalice big time, given we have a government (and a large chunk of the opposition) whose world view does not include:
1. Climate change.
2. Peak oil.
3. The great financial contagion that will make the Great Depression look like childs play.
4. The creeping corporatisation of the world that will result in a “New Order” reminiscent of a previous going by the same name.
I am going to vote BUT I suspect that within my lifetime that I will be voting for a very different set up that will replace the current (whose credibility and authority is questionable now and getting worse).
Good luck Saturday
I’m hoping for online voting with policies decided by referendum, resource use decided by vote and the total eradication of money.
Maybe the oncoming disaster is the reason that Key is so fearful and sullen?
Prediction time:
National 51.5%
Labour 27%
Greens 9%
NZ First 4.4%
Act 2.6%
Maori 2.5%
Mana 1%
Conservatives 1%
Other 1%
Probably have the Maori party a bit high.
Electorates:
Possible swing seats
Auckland Central – Nikki Kaye retains
Christchurch Central – Brendon Burns retains and higher vote than last time
Epsom – Banks takes it. Just.
Maungakiekie – Sam Paseta Lotu-Inga will take it far more easily than last time
New Plymouth – Young increases his lead from 2008
Ohariu – Dunne retains. National will take the seat in 2014
Otaki – Guy increases his lead from 2008
Palmerston North – Lees-Galloway narrowly loses his seat and likely to be out of parliament
Waimakariri – Cosgrove will lose the seat. Expect to see Labour and Cosgrove do very well in Kaiapoi but Rangiora and Christchurch suburbs turning out for National and Kate Wilkinson
Waitakere – Bennett retains
Wellington Central – Robertson increases his support from 2008 and this electorate will have highest turnout.
West-Coast Tasman – Auchinvole to just retain the seat and as I suspect O’Connor won’t contest again the seat should become more assured for National.
Decreased support for National
Bay of Plenty
Rangitikei
Rodney
Increased support for National
Botany
Clutha-Southland
Coromandel
East Coast (expect this electorate to be a possible swing in 2014)
East Coast Bays
Hamilton East
Hamilton West
Hunua
Ilam
Invercargill
Kaikoura
Napier
Nelson
North Shore
Northcote
Northland
Pakuranga
Papakura
Rangitata
Rotorua
Selwyn
Tamaki
Taranaki-King Country
Taupo
Wairarapa
Waitaki
Whanganui
Whangarei
Decreased support for Labour
Dunedin North
Dunedin South
Hutt South
Mana
Manukau East
Manurewa
Mt Albert
New Lynn
Port Hills
Rimutaka – Hipkins support will plummet but will retain
Increased support for Labour
Christchurch East
Mangere (Taito Philip Field split some of the vote there in 2008)
Mt Roskill
Rongotai
Wigram and Maori electorates
Wigram – Labour to take this easily. Am disappointed National has not even tried for this seat.
Hauraki-Waikato – Mahuta increases her lead from 2008
Ikaroa-Rawhiti – Horomia retains with slight increase.
Tamaki Makaurau – Sharples wins again but the lead from 2008 is down considerably
Te Tai Hauauru – Turia takes it again with lower support and this electorate reverts back to Labour in 2014
Te Tai Tokerua – Harawira retains. Davis will be gone from parliament
Te Tai Tonga – Labour will retake this seat from Katene
Waiariki – Te Ururoa Flavell just retains this seat with what may be the smallest lead in any electorate.
Your figures aren’t consistent gingercrush.
and?
and there’s therefore very little reason to read them. Or write them for that matter.
“Ohariu – Dunne retains. National will take the seat in 2014”
What’s that based on? The idea that UF voters will all choose to vote National next election?
Dunne only beat Chauvel by 1,006 votes in 2008 (down from a majority of 7,702 in 2005). It’s not going to take much of a swing Labour’s way to collect the seat, especially if those who voted for Dunne previously choose to vote National instead – that would likely leave room for Chauvel to slip through.
My fingers are crossed this happens this year, though. Not in 2014. We can live without another three years of Dunne blocking meaningful law reform with regard to the War On Drugs.
EDIT: Figures were wrong.
“My fingers are crossed this happens this year, though. Not in 2014. We can live without another three years of Dunne blocking meaningful law reform with regard to the War On Drugs.”
Even without National at the helm and UF gone-burgers, I don’t think there’s going to be sufficient apetite in parliament to make much progress on drugs.
National 51%
Labour 27%
Greens 9%
Maori 7%
NZfirst 3%
Act 1.5%
United 1 %
Mana .25%
Others .25%
Maori 7% and Mana 0.25%? You’re dreaming.
Meh, I’ll have a go to counter the utter bullshit above:
Nats 46%
Labour 34%
Greens 10%
Winston First 5%, just
United Future Gone
Act Gone
Conservatives 3%
Mana 2%
Maori 2%
Sookie:
Why the Maori party so low?
Because that’s what they’re polling?
Draco:
Yeash but she has Mana on the same, the Maori party will walk tasll and proud all over mana, because Mana is not really a party of Maori.
Conservatives at 3%?? We dont have that manyGlenn Becks do we??
Brett, the reason you’re confused is that everyone else is making predictions and you’re just saying what you’d like to see.
I think the polls are dodgy as they never count the undecided voters. And the Nats are getting quite shrill about votes being ‘crucial’ and bashing everyone in sight instead of being relaxed this week, so I expect they know something the TV poll munters don’t. And while I’m Greens all the way, some of their soft vote will go back to Aunty Labour on the day. Winston will get the pissed off grumpy git vote, there’s enough of those to get over the line. As for Maori, they’ll keep most of their seats but people see them as largely irrelevant for party vote, so 2% is about right.
Lanthanide:
haha. Bloody aussies.
Seriously, I think the maori party will do really well, people have a lot of respect for
them. Apart from Hone their party list is just extreme leftists, and I mean extreme, Skyes makes Bradford and Minto look like Bill Oreilly.
As a young New Zealander I think that the most important thing we can be doing this election is to vote for a zero carbon future.
Go to http://www.electwho.org.nz to find out what our politicians think about the number one issue that will affect our future.
Nga mihi nui
Lucy
The obsequious gargoyle Farrar currently on RNZ is a travesty of ‘balance’ and more importantly an illustration of tory media swamping. As is his presence at the Herald and Stuff, fer crissakes he already has blogs and research outlets. What next a mandatory ‘free’ 24hr feed to each household?
It was not coincidence that Bomber Bradbury was expunged before the election.
Go Whangaz! The Keyster abandoned his planned rally in Whanganui this arvo because he didn’t get enough arselicking from the locals. 300 turned up to Majestic square to tell him to piss off and he took the hint.
http://tvnz.co.nz/election-2011/key-heckled-goff-pressured-in-final-push-4568308
Excellent. ‘Megaphone man’ is obviously not on the endangered species list, unlike certain tory swine.
Ha! Always good to see the fear in the opponents eyes, eh. It was a homegrown turnout apparently, some Labour supporters with hoardings, but just too many locals who might ask awkward questions about job losses for Key’s liking. So off he beetled.
I see the driver got a bollocking for having the temerity to talk to the press. Open and transparent my hairy arse.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/6029124/Keys-staff-gag-bus-driver
How it should be done
Good on the Netherlands government for doing this, passing policy that hasn’t been seen, never mind vetted, by the populace is undemocratic and needs to be expunged from our political system. Now, will government/parliament do the same or will it roll over and do what the US tells them to?
russell norman just said on radio new zealand that john key asked mathew hooton if he would google how much he would get for selling the states assets.
wow!
Just seen the news Tv1 and some old dude had a go @ Key about answering the question.and showing some respect,.
Key did a runner
Considering how many people would have been watching it
Apparently in Pram (Parapauaumu) he also copped it as well
Wanaganui – http://tvnz.co.nz/election-2011/key-heckled-goff-pressured-in-final-push-4568308
Key then twitted tweeted whatever–
He tweeted this afternoon that he arrived to a “warm welcome” in Bulls and Wanganui.
http://tvnz.co.nz/election-2011/key-heckled-goff-pressured-in-final-push-4568308
stop LYING
nothing worse than a liar Key
people have wizened up to you
good kiwi hiphop for those who have a short memory of the last forty years
dedicated to gosman 🙂
speak truth to power and you will be stronger for it
link not working.
try this one
– i know i know, always check the link after posting, sorry folks
http://tvnz.co.nz/election-2011/asset-sales-ombudsman-blocks-release-papers-4568271
what the hell?????
The public have a right to know
Here is my rough prediction for Saturday.
The Smile and Wave party won’t have enough party vote to rule alone.
% of party vote mid to high 40%
The Greens and Labour combined will sit in the mid 40s%.
Labour low 30s% and Greens low teens.
Banks loses Epsom and ACT exits parliament
Dunne loses Ohariu and exits parliament
Maori Party gets 2 to 3 MPs
Mana Party gets 2 to 3 MPs.
Winston back or close to being back.
Something like perhaps:
Smile and Wave 46%
Labour 32%
Greens 12%
Winston First 4%
Maori 2%
Mana 2%
ACT 1% (won’t matter as exited from parliament)
Conservatives 1%
Something weird has happened with Epsom’s voting papers. Apparently ACT’s and National’s voting areas are more prominent. I suspect this will get a lot more attention. New Zealand’s electoral system needs to be scrupulously fair.
And here it is …
http://www.3news.co.nz/Early-voter-says-forms-are-biased/tabid/367/articleID/233954/Default.aspx
I do not believe it. ACT and National get the benefit of an empty line after their party vote line. Their names are clearer and easier to ascertain and the extra space suggests that they are somehow better.
Perhaps they did not want to rub shoulders with the others and insisted on having more space.
But this is appalling. The form gives them an advantage.
What is going on?
I will calm down now. It is because of section 150 of the Electoral Act 1993. It is all Penny Bright and Matthew Goode’s fault ; )
This is beyond appaling, its utterly terrible, criminal and unjust. What in the fuck is going on??
Mea culpa Salsy. Someone hand me a tinfoil hat please …
Easily proven if this is an anomaly review past voting papers from various electorates and see if this is consistent if it is then accept that this is merely a coincidence, and if so then file it under yet another example of poor reporting by the media, and not a media organisation looking for retribution for the tea and scone episode.
None of that explanation offered by the very sincere official explains the need for selectively spaced variances in the ballot.
I watched his explanantion half a dozen times. I am confident we all understand that the way the list is presented on the ballot has random elements and we are willing to submit to the whimsy of chaos, freely giving benefit of the doubt as to how the final order eventuated.
I am sure that is not in dispute by anyone.
Why there are physical spaces only under the two Parties in question, has not been answered.
Yes it has? The candidates are listed in alphabetical order on the right. The box for the party then goes next to the candidate standing in that seat.
If the independents running (Penny Bright and Matthew Goode) had parties they would be listed in those gaps. Every other candidate has a party hence no other gaps.
Every ballot in the country is laid out in exactly the same way.
I just had a phone call from that fucker Key…automated message. Invading my privacy. Anybody know his number? I need to return the call.
I had an unexpected landline call and was afraid it was Jonkey, so I didn’t get up to answer.
Funny I had one today from Tim Groser. He was claiming credit for the New Lynn Train upgrade which is a bit of a hoot. David Cunliffe did all of the work on this. I hope Groser is paying for each call …
I got one of them this evening. Initially I thought somebody was taking the piss. Initial reaction was merely confirmed.
i heard there was also a bunch of areas called after the debate , who is paying for all this ?
Tel-tech can be pricey to run short term projects on
Is the Electoral Commission going to have a busy week ahead?
Got a Key robocall earlier this evening.
Maori party will do way better than people think, I think.
Maybe. But 7%. LOL.
A question for left-wing/Labour voters. Do you think Labour has focused too much on asset sales at the expense of Labour’s other policies?
Of course they have gingercrush, its all been about assets.
Brett, you’ve crossed to the other side! A question directed to left wing voters you have answered. Oh, Joy! Oh, Celebration! Kill the fatted calf! The prodigal has returned!
Predictions please. Someone asked me at work how best to split their votes tactically for labour, left, greens in Te tai Tonga to get the maximum impact. Any ideas?
They should give their electorate vote to the Labour candidate as the Labour candidate is in a fight with Rahui Katene for the seat. The party vote could be given to either the Greens or Labour depending which party they prefer. I don’t think it matters which of them gets given the vote.
They could vote the Mana party. With enough votes they may well bring in 1-2 other MPs beside Hone Harawira but there is a risk that Mana don’t get enough party votes for another MP and thus you could technically find the vote given to the National party. As wasted votes are given to those parties that have made it to parliament and distributed percentage wise.
There was a very good report on Checkpoint this evening about the abuse of urgency by the government.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/20111124
It was based on research conducted looking at use of urgency from FPP days to present (1987-2010). Urgency was used a lot under FPP, but declined between 1999-2008, and it was thought that MMP was a system that worked against such abuse. But since 2008 it has been used as much, if not more than FPP days.
Prof Elizabeth McLeay said that she had recommended changes to standing orders to prevent such abuses, but only some of the recommendatons are being implemented in the next term.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1111/S00137/study-shows-parliaments-urgency-provisions-often-abused.htm
The 2008 election campaign had NACT billboards and politicians decrying the volume of Kiwis crossing the ditch and the likes of Espiner hammered Labour over it.
Move forward to this evening on Jim-I’m-a-close-friend-of-The-Penguin-and-the-Right-Mora. Who did he have on? None other than Farrar and what were Farrar and Mora talking about? The natural movement of people out of NZ. And then to rub salt in, Farrar was given a couple of minutes at the end of the programme to explain his, and the PM’s, preference for voting systems and dissing MMP.
The November 22-23 survey finds parties with the following Definite Voter party vote shares:
Latest horizon poll
ACT New Zealand
2.7%
Conservative Party of New Zealand
5.2%
Green Party
12.4%
Labour Party
28.6%
Mana Party
2.8%
Maori Party
1.1%
National Party
33.4%
New Zealand First Party
10.8%
United Future
0.9%
Other party
0.7%
Choose not to vote
0.0%
Don’t Know
1.3%
The Miami Model, a frightening video detailing the paramilitary style of policing on display at Occupy sites across the globe.
Ahdaf Soueif in Cairo: ‘By early evening it was clear that this was Revolution II’
“Eat a good breakfast. Take a rucksack with a gas mask and swimming goggles. Write your name on your arm. Write your details into a message on your mobile. And go to the Square.” The tweet appeared after three of the (at least) 38 people killed in the streets of Egypt over the last three days proved impossible to identify. It was picked up by the well-respected Egyptian daily al-Shorouk and published to #Tahrirsupplies – the hashtag that collates what you can bring in to the square if you want to help.