Having moved away from a no-fault welfare system, to playing workers off against those on benefit (even though most of them have worked to pay for their own assistance and if they haven’t their parents have) we now move into the notion of deserving beneficiaries versus undeserving:
I thought you wanted people whose kids were older to go to work?
I thought you hated those who breed for a business? Inter-generational breeding must be a business right? Pop out a kid for yourself and another or Mum? Keep the family business going!
I feel dirty typing those words and the right doesn’t need me portraying their arguments but I’d much rather grandparents raising grandchildren make a stand against the marginalising of all beneficiaries and understand that any issue with their own particular niche (lobby) group is as result of the attack on the whole system.
In suggesting their group should be treated differently than anyone else raising a child they just buy into the whole deserving / undeserving concept.
Anyone raising a child is deserving of support to do so.
+1
It seems the media is “OK” sending those mother bitches back to work…they brought it upon themselves! But for anyone else DOING THE EXACT SAME JOB they appear sympathetic. Truly sickening how this country places different levels of acceptability depending on who is doing the raising.
Is this the same grandparents’ group that a few months back was holding hands with Paula Bennet and smiling out from the pages of the media? I seem to remember discussion on ts about it only being a matter of time before Bennett stabbed them in the back.
There are also all the cases where benefits are cut when they shouldn’t be due to an over-rigourous application of the rules borne out of all the excitement whipped up within Work and Income by all the “get tough on beneficiaries” ranting from the right. It’s easy for Bennett to come out and say this shouldn’t be happening in any particular individual case but the same problems are happening all over the country and never get fixed. Tell the likes of Bennett about it and she’ll say “I need individual cases”. Leaving the majority of widespread failure to get things right suit Bennett and their agenda.
The global war against humanity by the fossil fuel companies and government quislings around the world heats up. (literally)
Scientists have confidently predicted that the permanent ice shelf of the high arctic will completely disappear during the Northern summer, from 2054 to 2058 on.
Good News for the Fossil Fuel criminals……
…….melting in this area would improve access to minerals on the ocean bed, increase fishing and create ice-free shipping lanes.
But, good news for the oil companies, is bad news for everyone else.
Previous work has estimated that more than a trillion tonnes of methane lie under the shelf, trapped inside lattices of ice known as hydrates, at depths as shallow as 20 metres. Concern about a possible eruption has grown since 2010, when research cruises over the shelf by Natalia Shakhova and Igor Semiletov, both now at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, found plumes of methane as much as a kilometre wide bubbling to the surface……
But we won’t have to wait for 40 years for this to happen.
The pair calculated that a release of 50 billion tonnes would be possible within a decade, through known areas of melting and geological faults. Since methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide, such a scenario would trigger a “climate catastrophe”, they say, increasing the methane content of the planet’s atmosphere twelve-fold, and raising temperatures by 1.3 ˚C……
……. A release of 50 billion tonnes of methane would bring forward by 15 to 35 years the date at which global temperature rise exceeds 2 ˚C above pre-industrial levels, the model shows, with most of the damage in the poorer parts of Africa, Asia and South America. The largest costs envisaged include loss of crops to heat and drought, coping with sea level rise and worsening tropical storms.
To bring on this catastrophe the New Zealand government and state is mobilising all the forces it can. A harsh crackdown, aided by broad spectrum surveilliance of the general population. From just merely arresting and fining anti arctic drilling protesters like Lucy Lawless. With harsh new legislation enabled targetting protesters, the New Zealand state will begin jailing anti-mining and drilling protesters for two years and fining them $50 thousand dollars each. If they refuse or unable to pay the fine they could be held in jail for much longer than two years. This could see a huge rise the in the permanent number of political prisoners in this country.
Will our opposition parties speak up. Or will they keep their silence?
Al, if you are a Labour Party member, you could ask that your Party issue a belated congratulations to the USA President Barack Obama congratulating him on the launch of his “War On Coal”. As the EU, the UN, the UK government and our own Green Party, and others have done.
Do you know a Labour MP personally? if not, don’t worry, your local Labour MP will do. Approach them, make an appointment if necessary, and ask them if they would ever consider supporting a private members bill, calling for, (in a world first, and as an example for our ANZAC partner), the end of all coal exports as a deadly threat to the future of humanity.
Without revealing their identity let us know their response.
With your friends, agitate inside your LEC for them to agree to write to the parliamentary caucus asking them to give the LEC their guarantee that there will be no deep sea oil wells off our coasts under a Labour/Green government.
Demand that action against climate change be made an election issue.
If you are shouted down, closed down, or ignored. Leave the Labour Party and join the Greens. Make the same demands of the Greens.
Finally as well as all that. Join your local anti coal mining, anti-fracking ,or anti-deep sea oil drilling activist group.
English is perhaps the most vacuous trougher of all amongst the National party, what has he achieved during his time in politics apart from filling his and his brothers bank accounts.
Santi, if you believe the words you write, as if it was not obvious enough already, you are a troollip!
English has no understanding of basic economic concepts, or finance, and has shown that over and over again with his bumbling language, while he attempts to convey the messages he is is given to repeat!
Add this his enjoyment of fragrant ripping off the public purse, and you have the makings of someone who will be remembered in the 2 lines of the history books, as an incompetent crook!
As for Fran, she is in the position she is in, because, like Hooton et al, she is a paid agent, paid to speak against the interest of NZ, and it’s peoples!
I would ask you a question, Santi, but you have shown yourself incapable of answering, even the most simple questions, which would account for why you’re enamoured by the performance of English!
Well, it does show the sociopathy of our CEOs. They think that this government is doing well while the majority of people are worse off while they get tax cuts.
I started to read the Mood of the Boardroom supplement attached to Granny Herald this morning – totally agree North, and the rest was just as sad and depressing. Got my day off to a pretty bad start. Some of the quotes attributed to these CEOs were simply disgusting.
Fran is hopeless and exemplifies why New Zealand is still so reliant on Primary Industry exports, she, like our CEO’s lacks imagination, brains and creativity. The only thing English has done is hold back spending, which has contracted the economy so that our interest rates have stayed low and as the economy has come back to normal post GFC, back into surplus. Any monkey could have done what he has done. To Fran, the poor and vulnerable don’t count, they are irrelevant.
What a horrible, dumb and unproductive cow she is…if she was a real cow she would have been sent to the works long ago
It’s difficult to stand out as especially stupid in the desperately mediocre world of New Zealand radio. But listeners to (or sufferers of) Radio NZ National have over the last few months probably noticed the increasing frequency of one Susie Ferguson, formerly of the BBC and ITN. Ferguson is yet another Irish voice on Radio New Zealand National; her Ulster inflections provide a complement to Noelle McCarthy’s Cork accent. But while Noelle McCarthy has a high degree of urbanity and sophistication, and obviously reads and thinks a great deal, the same cannot be said for Susie Ferguson. Her interviews stand out for their lack of empathy, or basic understanding of an issue; her style is often confrontational and downright rude.
For this morning’s show, the producers of Morning Report gave her an easy assignment: interview someone about the minor furore that has blown up about the film Maniac, starring Elijah Woods. This Festival movie has been bizarrely attacked by the New Zealand Chief Censor. In his wisdom, he has decreed that it can be shown only to Film Festivals and tertiary study classes. The producers no doubt trusted that even Susie Ferguson would be capable of getting a few straight, even interesting, comments from Neil Foley, of the distributor Monster Films. But no, even that simple assignment was beyond her; she succeeded in flabbergasting Foley, and no doubt any sentient listeners, by asking one of the stupidest questions of the year, not counting any press conference involving Television One’s Andrew Saville.
Neil Foley explained to Ferguson that, while the violence is graphic, it is supposed to be from the serial killer’s point of view, and that this is an established horror convention. Ferguson, though just did not get it….
SUSIE FERGUSON: If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again? NEIL FOLEY:[snorts in derision] You could say that about any film. These are conventions.
The rest of the interview went nowhere. Susie Ferguson used to work for the BBC. That tells you a lot about that organization.
I think you are being overly harsh on Ms Ferguson. Her interview with Helen Kelly last week was one of the best I have heard on National Radio. She didn’t but in and cut Helen off during her answers. As well, she listened to what Helen said and asked the next question accordingly. A really refreshing change.
hush now, with that mistrust, it’s an accurate transcript…
It is, actually, in this case. Even this writer, i.e. moi, isn’t going to blow it with a mere two-line transcript. Where I get myself into trouble is when I start condensing thirty minutes of dull inanity into twenty or thirty lines of Neil Simon-quality dialogue.
And, of course, whether she’s from Scotland or Ulster doesn’t affect what she said.
Except you did blow it. These words you wrote are not the actual words spoken. Some you have made up. Some you have omitted.
You, of course, will provide us with a verbatim transcript, so that you can back up your allegation.
And the “snorts in derision” is entirely imaginary.
I’ve had to publicly call you out only the other day for your propensity to overstate your case. “Entirely imaginary” is of the same extreme order as your claim that Chris Trotter did not deliver a windy lecture about the need to respect lynch law in the Deep South. When you overstate your case, felix, it renders suspect everything else that you say.
If anything he chuckles.
You have in your previous sentence just claimed that it was “entirely imaginary”. Now you have, carelessly, invalidated that claim. I will for the sake of civility do you the favour of conceding that Neil Foley chuckled derisively at Susie Ferguson’s foolish question—but I’m sure anyone who heard it will recognize my rendition of his reaction is more accurate and honest than yours.
1. I don’t need to provide a transcript Mozz, the audio is available to anyone who cares and anyone who listens to it will be rewarded with the knowledge that it does not match your transcript.
This is doubly disturbing because in your comment above you assured us all that in spite of your previous lapses of concentration, errors of omission, inventions, flights of fancy, misquotes, and extremely liberal use of artistic license, this time you’d finally got one right.
And you still hadn’t.
2. Trotter didn’t say what you claimed he said, and not in the context you claimed. Again the audio is available to all so I’m not going to play silly games with you.
“need to respect the lynch law”?? FFS do you ever read your own words before you post them? He said nothing of the sort.
3. I’ve invalidated nothing. It’s not my fault you don’t know the difference between a derisive snort and a hearty chuckle.
“I’m sure anyone who heard it”
I’m not convinced that you actually go back and listen after you write your impressions. If you did, you’d never be here defending their accuracy like the black knight.
1. I don’t need to provide a transcript Mozz, the audio is available to anyone who cares and anyone who listens to it will be rewarded with the knowledge that it does not match your transcript.
You keep saying that, possibly in the hope nobody will actually check. I stand by the substance of what I wrote; there might well be the odd “um” I have either missed or gratuitously inserted, but what I wrote, whether or not it technically qualifies as a “transcription”, was accurate and fair.
This is doubly disturbing because in your comment above you assured us all that in spite of your previous lapses of concentration, errors of omission, inventions, flights of fancy, misquotes, and extremely liberal use of artistic license,
Your language is extreme and prosecutorial; once again you have chosen to go out on a limb with your carping and trivial allegations. You know perfectly well by now what the intention of my transcripts is: it is to catch the zeitgeist of the often foolish and sometimes depraved stuff that surrounds us on the air. Do I always get it word-perfect? No, of course not—I have no BASF tapes currently operable, and my shorthand is imperfect. You choose to focus on that and make an issue of it; I stand by my interpretation of Foley’s reaction to Susie Ferguson’s utterly stupid question; you may choose to pretend he “chuckles” indulgently. Such cockeyed generosity is not surprising in light of your indulgent view of Trotter’s fustian oratory on behalf of that Florida lynch-mob.
…this time you’d finally got one right. And you still hadn’t.
I got it exactly right. You are the one who claimed that Mr. Foley’s derisive snorts were “entirely imaginary” and then in the very next sentence quibbled about the description of those snorts: “If anything he chuckles.”
2. Trotter didn’t say what you claimed he said,
He said it in the way I showed it. I didn’t get his immortal words down perfectly, but he DID deliver an absurdly self-important lecture to his inferiors (that’s clearly the way he thinks of most people) about the need to “respect” the decision of that Florida jury. If anything, I modified the extreme pomposity of his delivery.
…and not in the context you claimed.
The others on the Panel all expressed disdain and horror at that obscene travesty; Trotter decided he’d deliver a lecture about the need to respect any jury decision, no matter how harebrained or unjust it might appear to be. That was the context; are you trying to suggest something else was going on in that studio? What “context” did we miss?
Again the audio is available to all…
Then you will provide a transcript of the bit that shows Trotter did NOT deliver a windy and self-important caution to his fellow Panelists.
…so I’m not going to play silly games with you.
That’s a bit late, I’m afraid. You are playing silly games, and so far you have not done very well at all. Putting up that word-perfect transcript might help your case.
“need to respect the lynch law”?? FFS do you ever read your own words before you post them? He said nothing of the sort.
Of course Trotter did not use those words. But that’s exactly what he meant.
3. I’m not convinced that you actually go back and listen after you write your impressions. If you did, you’d never be here defending their accuracy like the black knight.
You are correct there, felix.
I’ll wager you were the doyen of the debating crowd back in the day.
Oh no, no, no. My idea of debating “back in the day” consisted of pontificating to my long-suffering compañeros in the public bar of the King’s Arms. Still does, pretty much.
Documentary on Helen Clark was on TV3 last night at 9:30, covers her entry into politics, up to winning the 1999 election and becoming the first elected female PM. Has heaps of archive film footage, interviews with Helen, Jim Bolger, Jim Anderton, Roger Douglas and others.
Quite well done, and interesting. The only disturbing part of it came when her dad was proudly listing all the movers and shakers Helen mixes with. “She’s got contacts all over the world,” he beamed. “Um, Blair, Gordon Brown, uh, Clinton. She knows them all.”
The poor old fellow seemed to approve of his daughter being involved with those blood-soaked criminals.
Yes, how silly it is for the leader of the nation to have contact with the heads of NZ’s major trading partners.
They are criminals, every one of them. They should all be in prison. At least Clark, as vacillating as she was, had the courage to speak out, however guardedly, against the crimes of the first two.
Yeah well…….my mother (born 1918 – first job at 13 in a greengrocer’s in Onehunga) used to proudly cluck her lovely Old Labour self to sleep after I’d call “on tolls” from Wellington to relate my often ginned-up late-night progress office to office through the corridors of Parliament commencing early 70s. Mike Moore, Roger Douglas, Bassett et al……….look how those pricks turned out !
That’s parents for you. Completely understandable. Thank Christ it took that woman’s son only a decade and a half to stop being a slimey little Soymin Brudges wankfest !
Ah what refreshing prose, both Morrissey and North together and firing on all cylinders all we need now is erudite Prof Longhair to join the conflagration and one’s life is complete.
Ah what refreshing prose, both Morrissey and North together and firing on all cylinders all we need now is erudite Prof Longhair to join the conflagration and one’s life is complete.
Hmmmmmm…. Just what are you allegitating there, “sockpuppet”?
sockpuppet
What about you getting your own blog. Are you a forerunner of RWNJs we are going to ‘enjoy’ in the run up to the election, putting your tainted little toes in a left wing pond to gauge how warm it is. Back home, nearer to hell it’s really warm, you probably would be more comfortable there.
Yeah, same. I think it was a product of trying to cram such a long period of time into a single episode.
If the whole series was 4 shows rather than 2, they could devote 2 episodes to the early years, and 2 episodes to her PMship, and that’d be a good amount of depth I think.
Would love to have heard more dirt about her time in opposition and the issues and events of the day. The older footage was pretty interesting.
I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but I might be able to fill in some of the dirt prior to… and in the first three years of her time in opposition. Lprent can probably fill in the rest. Will watch it this evening. Thanks for link Lanthanide.
John Key’s comments amused me. “She lived and breathed politics 24 hrs a day.” She no more lived and breathed politics 24/7 than he does now.
Jane Clifton’s comment re- the death stare. I was the recipient once when she was still just the candidate for Mt. Albert. At a campaign meeting I decided to play the role of devil’s advocate to see how she would handle it. Never again.
There is a little known aspect to that candidate selection that Helen Clark won. During the long lead up to the selection meeting there were two local factions. One faction supported Helen Clark and another supported the electorate chairman, Keith Elliott. It seemed like the two groups were roughly equal in support. But a third faction appeared about two months before the scheduled meeting and they were pushing for Malcolm Douglas – Roger Douglas’ brother. Malcolm was a young lawyer, personable and articulate. The hope was Helen and Keith would cancel each other out and Malcolm would come through the middle. They conducted a campaign that was largely under the radar and quite dirty in content. (Won’t go into details here.) It could have succeeded if it wasn’t for the fact that Helen made such an outstanding speech on the night, nobody else got a look-in.
Years later most of that third faction ended up in ACT and I don’t think they ever forgave Helen for giving their candidate a thrashing.
Thanks for the link Lanthanide.
I found the doco really interesting, and to be honest, I had kind of hoped that when I opened TS this morning I’d find that one of our wonderful writers had written a review. There were many things that I’d be interested to know others’ views on.
I was also chilled when Clark’s father proudly proclaimed his daughter’s “friendships” with those particular culprits. But it’s worth remembering that family loyalty and paternal pride aside, Clark’s Dad was and is an arch conservative and that list probably represents leaders that he has great respect for, and may not reflect HC’s attitudes. I’d certainly like to think not.
It seemed to me that Anderton was strongly suggesting that Clark was a social dmocrat and that her actual politico/economic views were more aligned to the Alliance policy than to Labour’s.
Clark’s Dad was and is an arch conservative and that list probably represents leaders that he has great respect for, and may not reflect HC’s attitudes. I’d certainly like to think not.
He WAS an arch conservative just saying. Indeed back in the 1970s he and Helen had many rows which became so heated that Helen’s mother banned all talk of politics. They were estranged for a number of years, but when she became the candidate for Mt.Albert her father swallowed his pride and her parents’ wholly supported her. They eventually joined the Labour Party and became enthusiastic members. That was my understanding anyway.
“King Charles had his head cut off, but there have never been any problems associated with the name King George. … The couple don’t like conformity.”
London correspondent Gavin Gray, speaking about the naming of George Alex Louis, Prince of Cambridge, NewstalkZB, 7:10 a.m.
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the least professional, most insulting, shoddiest journalism from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
For those who’re being driven quietly around the bend by a particularly gross earworm – here’s the antidote: (nsfw)
Ask first
No way to know I want it
No way to know I want it
Unless I say I want it
Ask first
Cause if you grab me
I’ll get nasty
I’ll break your fucking knees
When China slows down, its demand for minerals drops and Australia will suffer. If our two largest trading partners are faring poorly, then it is not going to be good for NZ.
China’s slowdown is bad for our finances but good for our real environment. Its also good for China’s real environment. Less consumption, less energy use, less GHGs.
That’s the paradox we’ve locked ourselves into, in this current system.
Because in a slowing Chinese economy, the Chinese will cut back on building new factories, not on buying their children baby milk. (By slowdown they mean economic growth of 7% rather than 10%)
A slowdown in Australia would be of more concern, however every year they are becoming less and less dependant as China becomes more important.
If we had our economy rationalised it wouldn’t really matter what the economies of our trading partners were doing as they’d only be a minor part of our economy.
Yep. I find it amazing that the know that they’ll be dropping 35 workers before they’ve finished the review. This would indicate that the review was nothing but validation for the predetermined loss of jobs.
Does anyone know anything about who the contractors are who will receive many thousands of dollars from WINZ for placing ex beneficiaries in work ? So peculiar imho.
Jami-Lee Ross meets his nemesis
David Shearer keelhauls a National backbench head-nodder Back Benchers, Prime TV, Wednesday 24 July 2013, 10:40 p.m.
Hosted by WALLACE CHAPMAN and DAMIAN CHRISTIE
Politicians: David Shearer (Labour), Jami-Lee Ross (National), Russell Norman (Green).
There was a real energy discernible in tonight’s program, an “Auckland Special” filmed in the Britomart Country Club. I was impressed by the performances of Len Brown, Ngarimu Blair, David Shearer and Russell Norman. I was deeply unimpressed by Jami-Lee Ross and the glib, weaselly Wallace Chapman. And viewers of the program were introduced to an unpleasant new phenomenon, albeit one that will not last: the moronic Moonie-like disciples of right wing restaurant-fixer John Palino.
The program began with a diverting little travelogue of some of Auckland’s lesser-known spots. Hosts Chapman and Christie were entertaining and informative. A little later, Ngarimu Blair wittily upbraided Damian Christie for using only Pākehā names instead of the original Māori names; Christie riposted quite well: “I did say Rangitoto though!”
Mayor Len Brown was relaxed, affable and confident. And, surprisingly and most gratifyingly, so was Labour leader David Shearer. He was at ease and in command throughout the program; in fact he was likable. He did not stammer or forget what he was saying, and he spoke clearly. When he smiled, it was a genuine smile, not the anxious forced rictus grin we have seen too often. Late in the program, he provided the highlight of the evening when he pulled rank and firmly squashed National lightweight Jami-Lee Ross.
Jami-Lee Ross was exactly how he always is: smarmy, nasty, arrogant and bumptious. But worst of all—and this proved to be his undoing—he was disrespectful. Throughout the hour, he referred to Shearer as “this guy”, and to Shearer and Norman as “these guys”. To compound this display of offhand disrespect, every sentence he uttered started with “Look”. I was impressed with the way Shearer handled himself in this difficult situation; not only did he have to deal with Ross’s vexatious and ridiculous comments, but he also had to contend with Chapman’s offensive and partial behavior. While Chapman’s childishness was something he just had to put up with, he did not have to let Ross go unchallenged. Twice during the early part of the program, he effectively refuted Ross’s nasty comments, then at the end he put Ross firmly in his place—right at the bottom of the pecking order.
Russell Norman was urbane and convincing as always, especially considering that he, like Shearer, was constantly being undermined by the rodentine Wallace Chapman. Idiotically, Chapman tried to taunt Norman about being Australian, and about being brought up in Brisbane.
I am increasingly concerned by the behavior of Chapman. I have already commented on his pathetic behavior on TV1’s Good Morning show [1]. Earlier this year he also acted as a guest host for some ostensibly serious discussion on Radio NZ National; due to his antics the program was rendered utterly banal and more or less a waste of time. Tonight, he decided to pander to a sizable coterie of loud, drunken ACT, National and Palino groupies, who occasionally managed to rouse themselves to bellow out moronic right wing slogans, like “Who’s gonna PAY for it?” At one point in the program, Russell Norman was talking about a rational transport policy for Auckland. Suddenly Chapman interrupted him….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: It sounds like a Green Party PIPE DREAM! [mimics smoking a joint] NATIONAL SUPPORTERS: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s right!
A little later, Chapman again tried to play to those drunken yobbos….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: How many people used public transport to go to work today? [Many hands go up all over the venue] Not very many. DAMIAN CHRISTIE: Actually it’s about fifty-fifty.
Another thing that many people must have noticed was that Chapman let Jami-Lee Ross talk on and on, often making little sense, without interrupting him. In stark contrast, whenever Russell Norman or David Shearer spoke, Chapman rang a bell to stop him.
Halfway through the evening, Chapman poked his microphone in front of Ngarimu Blair, who announced a new Ngati Whatua-run housing scheme. This was quite a coup for the program; Mayor Brown seemed ecstatic about it, and so did the audience. (The ACT-National-Palino morons were silent—they had nothing to contribute, not even the normal vacuous snickering that they indulged in for the rest of the time.)
After that major piece of excitement, the intellectual and moral tone of the evening took a precipitous dive: Chapman interviewed a Palino supporter. The young man had amassed over $100,000 in savings; this pointless piece of information was apparently supposed to impress us. It certainly impressed Wallace Chapman, who might have been interviewing a Nobel Prize winner rather than a complacent rich kid who is dumb enough to think John Palino knows anything more than how to organize the interior decoration and menu for a small cafeteria.
After that, it’s back to the politicians. Jami-Lee Ross makes a swingeing personal attack on Shearer, who is about to thrash him for a third time when Chapman cuts him off. See, he has a really important issue to go onto….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: What we want to know is this: Are Aucklanders just JAFAs?
For the next five excruciating minutes, we see video of Chapman approaching people on Auckland streets and asking them: “Are Aucklanders wankers?” He goes up to a couple of young girls and asks, “Are Aucklanders UP THEMSELVES?” This terrible, witless segment seems to go on forever, but eventually, mercifully, it is time for the Quiz. This is won by David Shearer, but what it will be remembered for is the way he dispatched Jami-Lee Ross to the boundary straight after it….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: And the winner of the Back Benchers Quiz is DAVID SHEARER!
….[Good natured applause from the crowd, including the drunken ACT-NAtional-palino contingent]….
JAMI-LEE ROSS: One competition he’s won.
….[Silence, and a slight pause]….
DAVID SHEARER: This guy is sad. You’ve been sitting next to Chris Finlayson way too long, I think.
The laughter is probably ringing in poor Jami-Lee Ross’s ears even now.
It is, largely, I agree. But the sight of David Shearer hanging, drawing and quartering that snide National moron last night made for great television.
”If people on benefits want to access Working for Families payments they should get a job”, those words the reason i couldn’t watch the ‘Helen years’ on the TV,
Those words which after years of being a staunch Labour supporter through even the abuses of Sir(spit)Roger Douglas inflicted upon us all lead to my abandonment of that party,
On a lighter note tho i did have a watch of ‘Backbenchers Auckland edition’ featuring leaders Dave Shearer, Russell Norman and what’s best described as a ‘nasty piece of work’ National’s Jamie Lee Ross who spent the entire time of the show making snide comments to both Shearer and Norman out of the side of His mouth like some b grade movie actor in a cheap American gangsta flick,
Any public bar that i have ever mis-spent too many hours in subjected to such snivelling, snide, vindictive drivel, Ross would have ended the night prone on the floor attempting to extract the silver spoon from a badly broken jaw,
Shearer tho was almost eloquent to the point where i imagined another 6 or 8 half-pints of the brown stuff would have had the bloke waxing positively lyrical, His last bit tho, a barracking Parliamentary style shouting of support for the way under-payed cleaning staff of the nation came across as forced, shouting at the TV camera just not a good look,
Russell Norman looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else except that close to National’s Ross and i am sure had the show gone on for any longer we all might have been privy to an exhibition of Russell tossing up His dinner,
During the ad breaks i did a runner over to Maori TV’s Native affairs, missed earlier in the week, and got treated to a piece of theater which knowing the ‘actors’ was a great joy to behold,
Native Affairs was doing a piece on Wellington’s efforts to curb begging in the City, and although i didn’t catch all of this piece appeared to be in the vein of ‘woe are these poor homeless people’,
This little comic narrative unfolded into ‘the homeless couple’ being interviewed, first Her, in words barely intelligent to the average human babbling on about nothing in particular, (believe me you fully understand Her when She is after a cigarette, and the abuse that follows should you ignore Her),
Then Him, babbling away about some long ago day, then a quick switch along with some crocodile tears that wouldn’t quite flow barely able to tell the camera about His war service,(well not quite His, i know who’s war service He was borrowing for the event),
Yeah i know these two well, He begs along Courtney Place, ”please sir have you got a dollar”, an 1800’s London street urchin could not have mustered a better tone of forlorn supplication,
Meanwhile She is sitting in the pokies bar attached to a well known strip club and brothel owned by a pair of brothers known nation-wide, feeding the machine, when He arrives back having done a circuit of Courtney Place ”please sir have you got a dollar”, She gets a break for a ciggy while He baby sits that nights pokie machine of choice,
LOLZ, this little show goes on all night, most nights and when these two destitute beggars finish the night they catch a taxi home,
Maori television tho have scored a coup in discovering these two, they would make an excellent unscripted comedy routine, give them 30 minutes and tell them the topic and i reckon they would have audiences in fits of laughter, a huge waste of talent ‘begging’ on Wellington’s streets….
New Zealand’s Prime Minister John Key is facing prosecution in court after it was revealed his department spied on more than 80 New Zealanders illegally.
Haven’t seen it anywhere else yet but it’s going to be interesting if true.
The guy pursuing Key is an obnoxious litigant whose chances are nil. Just a person seeking publicity for no other reason than enjoying his name out there.
After losing I hope he is asked to pay costs. That would teach him.
Interestingly enough, while he might be a jerk McCready can boast one or two successes in this area. About as good a score against MPs as the police prosecutor, anyway.
And it does seem that an illegal interception did indeed take place.
So really, it comes down to whether Key as minister was responsible for the actions of his department.
Sounds like a top bloke to me, Slippery IS the minister in charge of our spy agencies and ‘accountability and responsibility’ would strongly suggest as the Minister in Charge it is the Prime Minister who must carry the can for His agents illegal spying upon New Zealand citizens…
Try reading Judge Mills in the Wellington District Court judgement giving the go ahead to prosecute John Banks.
It is not the character of the person making the allegation but the quality of the allegation itself. Fancy legal way of saying play the ball and not the man.
Please Santi do try to understand the difference.
Actually he’s starting to look like not such a bad bloke.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 16.2
according to a reid research poll when asked ‘who do you trust, john key or kim dotcom’ 52% believed kim dotcom & 34% believed john key, & bear in mind this same poll has national on 47% !!! on tv3 news…
I am at the Auckland anti GCSB and the Mt Albert hall is packed. There must be 600 people here and the crowd is spilling out into the foyer. The sense of anger is palpable. Thomas Beagle has put the case very well. If the Government wants to take away our rights it should justify this and it has not done this.
I saw this in an email. Does the Benefit woman know about anything to do with the real world? Hon. Paula Bennetts statements that ‘feminism is out of fashion’ and ‘out of step with modern times’ are not true, except for a certain class.
Well this is a stunning article. Shelley Bridgeman writing about how she was caught short at the supermarket and had to choose between the hummus and the filled pasta, so now she has an insight into how the other 99.5% live.
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). 2024 has been a series of bad news for climate change. From scorching global temperatures leading to devastating ...
Ríu Ríu ChíuRíu Ríu Chíu is a Spanish Christmas song from the 16th Century. The traditional carol would likely have passed unnoticed by the English-speaking world had the made-for-television American band The Monkees not performed the song as part of their special Christmas show back in 1967. The show's ...
Dunedin’s summer thus far has been warm and humid… and it looks like we’re in for a grey Christmas. But it is now officially Christmas Day in this time zone, so never mind. This year, I’ve stumbled across an Old English version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: It has a population of just under 3.5 million inhabitants, produces nearly 550,000 tons of beef per year, and boasts a glorious soccer reputation with two World ...
Morena all,In my paywalled newsletter yesterday, I signed off for Christmas and wished readers well, but I thought I’d send everyone a quick note this morning.This hasn’t been a good year for our small country. The divisions caused by the Treaty Principles Bill, the cuts to our public sector, increased ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30 am include:Kāinga Ora is quietly planning to sell over $1 billion worth of state-owned land under 300 state homes in Auckland’s wealthiest suburbs, including around Bastion Point, to give the Government more fiscal room to pay for tax cuts and reduce borrowing.A ...
Hi,It’s my birthday on Christmas Day, and I have a favour to ask.A birthday wish.I would love you to share one Webworm story you’ve liked this year.The simple fact is: apart from paying for a Webworm membership (thank you!), sharing and telling others about this place is the most important ...
The last few days have been a bit too much of a whirl for me to manage a fresh edition each day. It's been that kind of year. Hope you don't mind.I’ve been coming around to thinking that it doesn't really matter if you don't have something to say every ...
The worms will live in every hostIt's hard to pick which one they eat the mostThe horrible people, the horrible peopleIt's as anatomic as the size of your steepleCapitalism has made it this wayOld-fashioned fascism will take it awaySongwriter: Twiggy Ramirez Read more ...
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
This morning’s six standouts for me at 6.30am include:Rachel Helyer Donaldson’s scoop via RNZ last night of cuts to maternity jobs in the health system;Maddy Croad’s scoop via The Press-$ this morning on funding cuts for Christchurch’s biggest food rescue charity;Benedict Collins’ scoop last night via 1News on a last-minute ...
A listing of 25 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 15, 2024 thru Sat, December 21, 2024. Based on feedback we received, this week's roundup is the first one published soleley by category. We are still interested in ...
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
ACT would like to dictate what universities can and can’t say. We knew it was coming. It was outlined in the coalition agreement and has become part of Seymour’s strategy of “emphasising public funding” to prevent people from opposing him and his views—something he also uses to try and de-platform ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with members from our team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Are we heading ...
So the Solstice has arrived – Summer in this part of the world, Winter for the Northern Hemisphere. And with it, the publication my new Norse dark-fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens at Eternal Haunted Summer: https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/issues/winter-solstice-2024/as-our-power-lessens/ As previously noted, this one is very ‘wyrd’, and Northern Theory of Courage. ...
The Natural Choice: As a starter for ten percent of the Party Vote, “saving the planet” is a very respectable objective. Young voters, in particular, raised on the dire (if unheeded) warnings of climate scientists, and the irrefutable evidence of devastating weather events linked to global warming, vote Green. After ...
The Government cancelled 60% of Kāinga Ora’s new builds next year, even though the land for them was already bought, the consents were consented and there are builders unemployed all over the place. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political ...
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on UnsplashEvery morning I get up at 3am to go around the traps of news sites in Aotearoa and globally. I pick out the top ones from my point of view and have been putting them into my Dawn Chorus email, which goes out with a podcast. ...
Over on Kikorangi Newsroom's Marc Daalder has published his annual OIA stats. So I thought I'd do mine: 82 OIA requests sent in 2024 7 posts based on those requests 20 average working days to receive a response Ministry of Justice was my most-requested entity, ...
Welcome to the December 2024 Economic Bulletin. We have two monthly features in this edition. In the first, we discuss what the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update from Treasury and the Budget Policy Statement from the Minister of Finance tell us about the fiscal position and what to ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi have submitted against the controversial Treaty Principles Bill, slamming the Bill as a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and an attack on tino rangatiratanga and the collective rights of Tangata Whenua. “This Bill seeks to legislate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles that are ...
I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
Our economy has experienced its worst recession since 1991. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, December 20 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above and the daily Pick ‘n’ Mix below ...
Twas the Friday before Christmas and all through the week we’ve been collecting stories for our final roundup of the year. As we start to wind down for the year we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and new year. If you’re travelling please be safe on ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the year’s news with: on climate. Her book of the year was Tim Winton’s cli-fi novel Juice and she also mentioned Mike Joy’s memoir The Fight for Fresh Water. ...
The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...
Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment:Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...
“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...
Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...
One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...
It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...
This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...
Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...
Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...
String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...
Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...
Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...
This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...
The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...
The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...
We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...
Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Kiwis planning a swim or heading out on a boat this summer should remember to stop and think about water safety, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop and ACC and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “New Zealand’s beaches, lakes and rivers are some of the most beautiful in the ...
The Government is urging Kiwis to drive safely this summer and reminding motorists that Police will be out in force to enforce the road rules, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This time of year can be stressful and result in poor decision-making on our roads. Whether you are travelling to see ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
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Having moved away from a no-fault welfare system, to playing workers off against those on benefit (even though most of them have worked to pay for their own assistance and if they haven’t their parents have) we now move into the notion of deserving beneficiaries versus undeserving:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8959919/Grandparent-carers-forced-back-to-work
I thought you wanted people whose kids were older to go to work?
I thought you hated those who breed for a business? Inter-generational breeding must be a business right? Pop out a kid for yourself and another or Mum? Keep the family business going!
I feel dirty typing those words and the right doesn’t need me portraying their arguments but I’d much rather grandparents raising grandchildren make a stand against the marginalising of all beneficiaries and understand that any issue with their own particular niche (lobby) group is as result of the attack on the whole system.
In suggesting their group should be treated differently than anyone else raising a child they just buy into the whole deserving / undeserving concept.
Anyone raising a child is deserving of support to do so.
+1
It seems the media is “OK” sending those mother bitches back to work…they brought it upon themselves! But for anyone else DOING THE EXACT SAME JOB they appear sympathetic. Truly sickening how this country places different levels of acceptability depending on who is doing the raising.
Is this the same grandparents’ group that a few months back was holding hands with Paula Bennet and smiling out from the pages of the media? I seem to remember discussion on ts about it only being a matter of time before Bennett stabbed them in the back.
Yep, QoT wrote a post about it
http://thestandard.org.nz/when-paula-bennett-is-positive-about-a-group-of-beneficiaries-be-suspicious/
Heh
https://ideologicallyimpure.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/oh-look-diane-vivian-paula-bennett-did-come-for-you/
There are also all the cases where benefits are cut when they shouldn’t be due to an over-rigourous application of the rules borne out of all the excitement whipped up within Work and Income by all the “get tough on beneficiaries” ranting from the right. It’s easy for Bennett to come out and say this shouldn’t be happening in any particular individual case but the same problems are happening all over the country and never get fixed. Tell the likes of Bennett about it and she’ll say “I need individual cases”. Leaving the majority of widespread failure to get things right suit Bennett and their agenda.
The global war against humanity by the fossil fuel companies and government quislings around the world heats up. (literally)
Scientists have confidently predicted that the permanent ice shelf of the high arctic will completely disappear during the Northern summer, from 2054 to 2058 on.
Good News for the Fossil Fuel criminals……
But, good news for the oil companies, is bad news for everyone else.
But we won’t have to wait for 40 years for this to happen.
To bring on this catastrophe the New Zealand government and state is mobilising all the forces it can. A harsh crackdown, aided by broad spectrum surveilliance of the general population. From just merely arresting and fining anti arctic drilling protesters like Lucy Lawless. With harsh new legislation enabled targetting protesters, the New Zealand state will begin jailing anti-mining and drilling protesters for two years and fining them $50 thousand dollars each. If they refuse or unable to pay the fine they could be held in jail for much longer than two years. This could see a huge rise the in the permanent number of political prisoners in this country.
Will our opposition parties speak up. Or will they keep their silence?
Dammit, Jenny !
What would you have us do ?
She hasn’t yet figured out that politicians are followers, not leaders.
Some are, some aren’t.
Al, if you are a Labour Party member, you could ask that your Party issue a belated congratulations to the USA President Barack Obama congratulating him on the launch of his “War On Coal”. As the EU, the UN, the UK government and our own Green Party, and others have done.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-27062013/#comment-654365
Do you know a Labour MP personally? if not, don’t worry, your local Labour MP will do. Approach them, make an appointment if necessary, and ask them if they would ever consider supporting a private members bill, calling for, (in a world first, and as an example for our ANZAC partner), the end of all coal exports as a deadly threat to the future of humanity.
Without revealing their identity let us know their response.
With your friends, agitate inside your LEC for them to agree to write to the parliamentary caucus asking them to give the LEC their guarantee that there will be no deep sea oil wells off our coasts under a Labour/Green government.
Demand that action against climate change be made an election issue.
If you are shouted down, closed down, or ignored. Leave the Labour Party and join the Greens. Make the same demands of the Greens.
Finally as well as all that. Join your local anti coal mining, anti-fracking ,or anti-deep sea oil drilling activist group.
Goodness knows there are a lot of them.
Here’s some
http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/what-is-coal-action-network-aotearoa/
http://aucklandcoalaction.org/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-The-Mining-Of-Northland-New-Zealand/142311012454431
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-deep-sea-oil-drilling-in-NZ-waters/279823005402277
http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/support-us/save-denniston-plateau
https://www.facebook.com/StopFrackingNZ
Last and most importantly of all.
Get ready to protest.
Dear Old Boardroom Trout Fran O’Sullivan……..in overdrive and sucking cock !
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10902592
Well sometimes an apparent crudity conveys more than a lengthy earnest essay.
It doe doesn’t it! 🙂
correct me but i always thought a crudite was bright fresh crunchy turgid and healthgiving……..
A balanced article on the level-headed Mr English, whose economic performance during the crisis cannot be faulted. All power to him.
He’s no David Shearer !
English is perhaps the most vacuous trougher of all amongst the National party, what has he achieved during his time in politics apart from filling his and his brothers bank accounts.
It doe doesn’t it! 🙂
Santi, if you believe the words you write, as if it was not obvious enough already, you are a troollip!
English has no understanding of basic economic concepts, or finance, and has shown that over and over again with his bumbling language, while he attempts to convey the messages he is is given to repeat!
Add this his enjoyment of fragrant ripping off the public purse, and you have the makings of someone who will be remembered in the 2 lines of the history books, as an incompetent crook!
As for Fran, she is in the position she is in, because, like Hooton et al, she is a paid agent, paid to speak against the interest of NZ, and it’s peoples!
I would ask you a question, Santi, but you have shown yourself incapable of answering, even the most simple questions, which would account for why you’re enamoured by the performance of English!
Santi — is it morning on your planet or a different time of day ? Do you have a 24 hour cycle like we do ?
Groan. Not you again panties.
Must…eliminate….all….doubleplusbad…perspectives.
Must…eliminate….all….doubleplusbad…perspectives.
Err, what? By drawing attention to them?
Well fucking said as always North
No I didn’t need that…. North
Well, it does show the sociopathy of our CEOs. They think that this government is doing well while the majority of people are worse off while they get tax cuts.
I started to read the Mood of the Boardroom supplement attached to Granny Herald this morning – totally agree North, and the rest was just as sad and depressing. Got my day off to a pretty bad start. Some of the quotes attributed to these CEOs were simply disgusting.
Fran is hopeless and exemplifies why New Zealand is still so reliant on Primary Industry exports, she, like our CEO’s lacks imagination, brains and creativity. The only thing English has done is hold back spending, which has contracted the economy so that our interest rates have stayed low and as the economy has come back to normal post GFC, back into surplus. Any monkey could have done what he has done. To Fran, the poor and vulnerable don’t count, they are irrelevant.
What a horrible, dumb and unproductive cow she is…if she was a real cow she would have been sent to the works long ago
Nope, if he’d done that then we wouldn’t be looking at our highest levels of government debt ever.
Mediocrity Watch
No. 1: SUSIE FERGUSON
It’s difficult to stand out as especially stupid in the desperately mediocre world of New Zealand radio. But listeners to (or sufferers of) Radio NZ National have over the last few months probably noticed the increasing frequency of one Susie Ferguson, formerly of the BBC and ITN. Ferguson is yet another Irish voice on Radio New Zealand National; her Ulster inflections provide a complement to Noelle McCarthy’s Cork accent. But while Noelle McCarthy has a high degree of urbanity and sophistication, and obviously reads and thinks a great deal, the same cannot be said for Susie Ferguson. Her interviews stand out for their lack of empathy, or basic understanding of an issue; her style is often confrontational and downright rude.
For this morning’s show, the producers of Morning Report gave her an easy assignment: interview someone about the minor furore that has blown up about the film Maniac, starring Elijah Woods. This Festival movie has been bizarrely attacked by the New Zealand Chief Censor. In his wisdom, he has decreed that it can be shown only to Film Festivals and tertiary study classes. The producers no doubt trusted that even Susie Ferguson would be capable of getting a few straight, even interesting, comments from Neil Foley, of the distributor Monster Films. But no, even that simple assignment was beyond her; she succeeded in flabbergasting Foley, and no doubt any sentient listeners, by asking one of the stupidest questions of the year, not counting any press conference involving Television One’s Andrew Saville.
Neil Foley explained to Ferguson that, while the violence is graphic, it is supposed to be from the serial killer’s point of view, and that this is an established horror convention. Ferguson, though just did not get it….
SUSIE FERGUSON: If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?
NEIL FOLEY: [snorts in derision] You could say that about any film. These are conventions.
The rest of the interview went nowhere. Susie Ferguson used to work for the BBC. That tells you a lot about that organization.
I think you are being overly harsh on Ms Ferguson. Her interview with Helen Kelly last week was one of the best I have heard on National Radio. She didn’t but in and cut Helen off during her answers. As well, she listened to what Helen said and asked the next question accordingly. A really refreshing change.
That’s good to hear. Are you sure it was Susie Ferguson?
“her Ulster inflections provide a complement to Noelle McCarthy’s Cork accent.”
Isn’t she Scottish?
hush now, with that mistrust, it’s an accurate transcript…
hush now, with that mistrust, it’s an accurate transcript…
It is, actually, in this case. Even this writer, i.e. moi, isn’t going to blow it with a mere two-line transcript. Where I get myself into trouble is when I start condensing thirty minutes of dull inanity into twenty or thirty lines of Neil Simon-quality dialogue.
And, of course, whether she’s from Scotland or Ulster doesn’t affect what she said.
it does tend to suggest that you don’t always accurately interpret what you hear, though.
it does tend to suggest that you don’t always accurately interpret what you hear, though.
Good point. Though I’m sure I’m not the only one to have mistaken Susie Ferguson’s for an Ulster accent.
“It is, actually, in this case. Even this writer, i.e. moi, isn’t going to blow it with a mere two-line transcript.”
Except you did blow it. These words you wrote are not the actual words spoken. Some you have made up. Some you have omitted.
And the “snorts in derision” is entirely imaginary. If anything he chuckles.
[snorts in derision] much lols
[snorts in derision] much lols
Poor Susie Ferguson did not laugh out loud. She was clearly mortified by Neil Foley’s contemptuous reaction.
Except you did blow it. These words you wrote are not the actual words spoken. Some you have made up. Some you have omitted.
You, of course, will provide us with a verbatim transcript, so that you can back up your allegation.
And the “snorts in derision” is entirely imaginary.
I’ve had to publicly call you out only the other day for your propensity to overstate your case. “Entirely imaginary” is of the same extreme order as your claim that Chris Trotter did not deliver a windy lecture about the need to respect lynch law in the Deep South. When you overstate your case, felix, it renders suspect everything else that you say.
If anything he chuckles.
You have in your previous sentence just claimed that it was “entirely imaginary”. Now you have, carelessly, invalidated that claim. I will for the sake of civility do you the favour of conceding that Neil Foley chuckled derisively at Susie Ferguson’s foolish question—but I’m sure anyone who heard it will recognize my rendition of his reaction is more accurate and honest than yours.
1. I don’t need to provide a transcript Mozz, the audio is available to anyone who cares and anyone who listens to it will be rewarded with the knowledge that it does not match your transcript.
This is doubly disturbing because in your comment above you assured us all that in spite of your previous lapses of concentration, errors of omission, inventions, flights of fancy, misquotes, and extremely liberal use of artistic license, this time you’d finally got one right.
And you still hadn’t.
2. Trotter didn’t say what you claimed he said, and not in the context you claimed. Again the audio is available to all so I’m not going to play silly games with you.
“need to respect the lynch law”?? FFS do you ever read your own words before you post them? He said nothing of the sort.
3. I’ve invalidated nothing. It’s not my fault you don’t know the difference between a derisive snort and a hearty chuckle.
“I’m sure anyone who heard it”
I’m not convinced that you actually go back and listen after you write your impressions. If you did, you’d never be here defending their accuracy like the black knight.
1. I don’t need to provide a transcript Mozz, the audio is available to anyone who cares and anyone who listens to it will be rewarded with the knowledge that it does not match your transcript.
You keep saying that, possibly in the hope nobody will actually check. I stand by the substance of what I wrote; there might well be the odd “um” I have either missed or gratuitously inserted, but what I wrote, whether or not it technically qualifies as a “transcription”, was accurate and fair.
This is doubly disturbing because in your comment above you assured us all that in spite of your previous lapses of concentration, errors of omission, inventions, flights of fancy, misquotes, and extremely liberal use of artistic license,
Your language is extreme and prosecutorial; once again you have chosen to go out on a limb with your carping and trivial allegations. You know perfectly well by now what the intention of my transcripts is: it is to catch the zeitgeist of the often foolish and sometimes depraved stuff that surrounds us on the air. Do I always get it word-perfect? No, of course not—I have no BASF tapes currently operable, and my shorthand is imperfect. You choose to focus on that and make an issue of it; I stand by my interpretation of Foley’s reaction to Susie Ferguson’s utterly stupid question; you may choose to pretend he “chuckles” indulgently. Such cockeyed generosity is not surprising in light of your indulgent view of Trotter’s fustian oratory on behalf of that Florida lynch-mob.
…this time you’d finally got one right. And you still hadn’t.
I got it exactly right. You are the one who claimed that Mr. Foley’s derisive snorts were “entirely imaginary” and then in the very next sentence quibbled about the description of those snorts: “If anything he chuckles.”
2. Trotter didn’t say what you claimed he said,
He said it in the way I showed it. I didn’t get his immortal words down perfectly, but he DID deliver an absurdly self-important lecture to his inferiors (that’s clearly the way he thinks of most people) about the need to “respect” the decision of that Florida jury. If anything, I modified the extreme pomposity of his delivery.
…and not in the context you claimed.
The others on the Panel all expressed disdain and horror at that obscene travesty; Trotter decided he’d deliver a lecture about the need to respect any jury decision, no matter how harebrained or unjust it might appear to be. That was the context; are you trying to suggest something else was going on in that studio? What “context” did we miss?
Again the audio is available to all…
Then you will provide a transcript of the bit that shows Trotter did NOT deliver a windy and self-important caution to his fellow Panelists.
…so I’m not going to play silly games with you.
That’s a bit late, I’m afraid. You are playing silly games, and so far you have not done very well at all. Putting up that word-perfect transcript might help your case.
“need to respect the lynch law”?? FFS do you ever read your own words before you post them? He said nothing of the sort.
Of course Trotter did not use those words. But that’s exactly what he meant.
3. I’m not convinced that you actually go back and listen after you write your impressions. If you did, you’d never be here defending their accuracy like the black knight.
You are correct there, felix.
Oh well spruiked Morrissey !
What wit….. I’ll wager you were the doyen of the debating crowd back in the day.
Oh well spruiked Morrissey!
Thanks, buddy!
What wit…..
THANK you!
http://www.hdwallpapers.in/walls/i_love_you_teddy_bear-wide.jpg
I’ll wager you were the doyen of the debating crowd back in the day.
Oh no, no, no. My idea of debating “back in the day” consisted of pontificating to my long-suffering compañeros in the public bar of the King’s Arms. Still does, pretty much.
Documentary on Helen Clark was on TV3 last night at 9:30, covers her entry into politics, up to winning the 1999 election and becoming the first elected female PM. Has heaps of archive film footage, interviews with Helen, Jim Bolger, Jim Anderton, Roger Douglas and others.
Available on demand here: http://www.tv3.co.nz/DOCUMENTARY-Helen-Clark-Part-1/tabid/3692/articleID/94222/MCat/2955/Default.aspx
There’s a 2nd part that covers her prime ministership next week.
Quite well done, and interesting. The only disturbing part of it came when her dad was proudly listing all the movers and shakers Helen mixes with. “She’s got contacts all over the world,” he beamed. “Um, Blair, Gordon Brown, uh, Clinton. She knows them all.”
The poor old fellow seemed to approve of his daughter being involved with those blood-soaked criminals.
Did they mention Clark’s staunchly marxist ideological beliefs?
Well, yes of course they did, her dads mention of the contacts, Blair/Brown, more than enough!
Yes, how silly it is for the leader of the nation to have contact with the heads of NZ’s major trading partners.
Yes, how silly it is for the leader of the nation to have contact with the heads of NZ’s major trading partners.
They are criminals, every one of them. They should all be in prison. At least Clark, as vacillating as she was, had the courage to speak out, however guardedly, against the crimes of the first two.
Yeah well…….my mother (born 1918 – first job at 13 in a greengrocer’s in Onehunga) used to proudly cluck her lovely Old Labour self to sleep after I’d call “on tolls” from Wellington to relate my often ginned-up late-night progress office to office through the corridors of Parliament commencing early 70s. Mike Moore, Roger Douglas, Bassett et al……….look how those pricks turned out !
That’s parents for you. Completely understandable. Thank Christ it took that woman’s son only a decade and a half to stop being a slimey little Soymin Brudges wankfest !
Ah what refreshing prose, both Morrissey and North together and firing on all cylinders all we need now is erudite Prof Longhair to join the conflagration and one’s life is complete.
Ah what refreshing prose, both Morrissey and North together and firing on all cylinders all we need now is erudite Prof Longhair to join the conflagration and one’s life is complete.
Hmmmmmm…. Just what are you allegitating there, “sockpuppet”?
Nothing more than that this fine site could only benefit from such contributors continuing ….. nay increasing their wondrous commentary.
………. or perhaps …..dare we say it one of them starting their own blog perhaps funded under the fine auspices of daisycutter sports ?
sockpuppet
What about you getting your own blog. Are you a forerunner of RWNJs we are going to ‘enjoy’ in the run up to the election, putting your tainted little toes in a left wing pond to gauge how warm it is. Back home, nearer to hell it’s really warm, you probably would be more comfortable there.
Enjoyed it, although was a bit superficial. Guess it has to cater for a mainstream television audience, no just politicos inside the beltway.
Would love to have heard more dirt about her time in opposition and the issues and events of the day. The older footage was pretty interesting.
Yeah, same. I think it was a product of trying to cram such a long period of time into a single episode.
If the whole series was 4 shows rather than 2, they could devote 2 episodes to the early years, and 2 episodes to her PMship, and that’d be a good amount of depth I think.
Yeah, two hours is far too short for a Prime Minister.
Thought the whole U.N. thing was pretty pointless too.
I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but I might be able to fill in some of the dirt prior to… and in the first three years of her time in opposition. Lprent can probably fill in the rest. Will watch it this evening. Thanks for link Lanthanide.
John Key’s comments amused me. “She lived and breathed politics 24 hrs a day.” She no more lived and breathed politics 24/7 than he does now.
Jane Clifton’s comment re- the death stare. I was the recipient once when she was still just the candidate for Mt. Albert. At a campaign meeting I decided to play the role of devil’s advocate to see how she would handle it. Never again.
There is a little known aspect to that candidate selection that Helen Clark won. During the long lead up to the selection meeting there were two local factions. One faction supported Helen Clark and another supported the electorate chairman, Keith Elliott. It seemed like the two groups were roughly equal in support. But a third faction appeared about two months before the scheduled meeting and they were pushing for Malcolm Douglas – Roger Douglas’ brother. Malcolm was a young lawyer, personable and articulate. The hope was Helen and Keith would cancel each other out and Malcolm would come through the middle. They conducted a campaign that was largely under the radar and quite dirty in content. (Won’t go into details here.) It could have succeeded if it wasn’t for the fact that Helen made such an outstanding speech on the night, nobody else got a look-in.
Years later most of that third faction ended up in ACT and I don’t think they ever forgave Helen for giving their candidate a thrashing.
Thanks for the link Lanthanide.
I found the doco really interesting, and to be honest, I had kind of hoped that when I opened TS this morning I’d find that one of our wonderful writers had written a review. There were many things that I’d be interested to know others’ views on.
I was also chilled when Clark’s father proudly proclaimed his daughter’s “friendships” with those particular culprits. But it’s worth remembering that family loyalty and paternal pride aside, Clark’s Dad was and is an arch conservative and that list probably represents leaders that he has great respect for, and may not reflect HC’s attitudes. I’d certainly like to think not.
It seemed to me that Anderton was strongly suggesting that Clark was a social dmocrat and that her actual politico/economic views were more aligned to the Alliance policy than to Labour’s.
He WAS an arch conservative just saying. Indeed back in the 1970s he and Helen had many rows which became so heated that Helen’s mother banned all talk of politics. They were estranged for a number of years, but when she became the candidate for Mt.Albert her father swallowed his pride and her parents’ wholly supported her. They eventually joined the Labour Party and became enthusiastic members. That was my understanding anyway.
But I love her accent. Leave Susie alone.
I don’t mind Hillary Clinton’s accent. It’s what she says that horrifies me. Similarly, I don’t mind Susie Ferguson’s accent..
Fair comment, Santi, but please click on the “Reply” button at the bottom right of the comment to which you are replying.
I think it’s a different time of day on Santi’s planet .. maybe the lights haven’t come on yet ?
Mediocrity Watch
No. 2: GAVIN GRAY
“King Charles had his head cut off, but there have never been any problems associated with the name King George. … The couple don’t like conformity.”
London correspondent Gavin Gray, speaking about the naming of George Alex Louis, Prince of Cambridge, NewstalkZB, 7:10 a.m.
Mediocrity Watch aims to keep you informed of—or, to quote the epically mediocre Simon Dallow, to be “right across”—the least professional, most insulting, shoddiest journalism from all over the world, but especially New Zealand. It is produced by DeakerWatch®, a division of Daisycutter Sports Inc.
See also….
No. 1 Susie Ferguson: “If, as you say, this has all been done before, why do it all again?”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25072013/#comment-667846
Not sure they thought through the initials though .. Prince GAL ? hmmmmmm
(Actually, George Louis Alexander Michael would have been great fun gifting us .. Prince GLAM !!)
YESHE: Not sure they thought through the initials though .. Prince GAL ? hmmmmmm
JIM MORA: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
NOELLE McCARTHY: He he he he he he he!
JOCK ANDERSON: Hrrumph!
YESHE: Actually, George Louis Alexander Michael would have been great fun gifting us .. Prince GLAM !!
JIM MORA: Hur, hur, hur, hur! “Prince Glam.” That’s very good!
GLAW means rain in Welsh. The W is for Wales, which is the surname. Eventually the bubba will be the Prince of Wales.
I realise the initials are GALW and I got distracted by them being changed by yeshe.
For those who’re being driven quietly around the bend by a particularly gross earworm – here’s the antidote: (nsfw)
Ask first
No way to know I want it
No way to know I want it
Unless I say I want it
Ask first
Cause if you grab me
I’ll get nasty
I’ll break your fucking knees
What kind of perverse logic is this?
Brian Fallow: China’s slowdown may be good for NZ
When China slows down, its demand for minerals drops and Australia will suffer. If our two largest trading partners are faring poorly, then it is not going to be good for NZ.
China’s slowdown is bad for our finances but good for our real environment. Its also good for China’s real environment. Less consumption, less energy use, less GHGs.
That’s the paradox we’ve locked ourselves into, in this current system.
Because in a slowing Chinese economy, the Chinese will cut back on building new factories, not on buying their children baby milk. (By slowdown they mean economic growth of 7% rather than 10%)
A slowdown in Australia would be of more concern, however every year they are becoming less and less dependant as China becomes more important.
If we had our economy rationalised it wouldn’t really matter what the economies of our trading partners were doing as they’d only be a minor part of our economy.
Hullo, WINZ getting restructured now? This looks interesting:
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/18140721/claims-winz-to-undergo-staff-restructure/
Yep. I find it amazing that the know that they’ll be dropping 35 workers before they’ve finished the review. This would indicate that the review was nothing but validation for the predetermined loss of jobs.
This will be necessary in response to the reforms.
There will be some WINZ staff who know it is inhumane to place added pressure on jobless people to find work that isn’t out there.
They will need to be culled.
Does anyone know anything about who the contractors are who will receive many thousands of dollars from WINZ for placing ex beneficiaries in work ? So peculiar imho.
Jami-Lee Ross meets his nemesis
David Shearer keelhauls a National backbench head-nodder
Back Benchers, Prime TV, Wednesday 24 July 2013, 10:40 p.m.
Hosted by WALLACE CHAPMAN and DAMIAN CHRISTIE
Politicians: David Shearer (Labour), Jami-Lee Ross (National), Russell Norman (Green).
There was a real energy discernible in tonight’s program, an “Auckland Special” filmed in the Britomart Country Club. I was impressed by the performances of Len Brown, Ngarimu Blair, David Shearer and Russell Norman. I was deeply unimpressed by Jami-Lee Ross and the glib, weaselly Wallace Chapman. And viewers of the program were introduced to an unpleasant new phenomenon, albeit one that will not last: the moronic Moonie-like disciples of right wing restaurant-fixer John Palino.
The program began with a diverting little travelogue of some of Auckland’s lesser-known spots. Hosts Chapman and Christie were entertaining and informative. A little later, Ngarimu Blair wittily upbraided Damian Christie for using only Pākehā names instead of the original Māori names; Christie riposted quite well: “I did say Rangitoto though!”
Mayor Len Brown was relaxed, affable and confident. And, surprisingly and most gratifyingly, so was Labour leader David Shearer. He was at ease and in command throughout the program; in fact he was likable. He did not stammer or forget what he was saying, and he spoke clearly. When he smiled, it was a genuine smile, not the anxious forced rictus grin we have seen too often. Late in the program, he provided the highlight of the evening when he pulled rank and firmly squashed National lightweight Jami-Lee Ross.
Jami-Lee Ross was exactly how he always is: smarmy, nasty, arrogant and bumptious. But worst of all—and this proved to be his undoing—he was disrespectful. Throughout the hour, he referred to Shearer as “this guy”, and to Shearer and Norman as “these guys”. To compound this display of offhand disrespect, every sentence he uttered started with “Look”. I was impressed with the way Shearer handled himself in this difficult situation; not only did he have to deal with Ross’s vexatious and ridiculous comments, but he also had to contend with Chapman’s offensive and partial behavior. While Chapman’s childishness was something he just had to put up with, he did not have to let Ross go unchallenged. Twice during the early part of the program, he effectively refuted Ross’s nasty comments, then at the end he put Ross firmly in his place—right at the bottom of the pecking order.
Russell Norman was urbane and convincing as always, especially considering that he, like Shearer, was constantly being undermined by the rodentine Wallace Chapman. Idiotically, Chapman tried to taunt Norman about being Australian, and about being brought up in Brisbane.
I am increasingly concerned by the behavior of Chapman. I have already commented on his pathetic behavior on TV1’s Good Morning show [1]. Earlier this year he also acted as a guest host for some ostensibly serious discussion on Radio NZ National; due to his antics the program was rendered utterly banal and more or less a waste of time. Tonight, he decided to pander to a sizable coterie of loud, drunken ACT, National and Palino groupies, who occasionally managed to rouse themselves to bellow out moronic right wing slogans, like “Who’s gonna PAY for it?” At one point in the program, Russell Norman was talking about a rational transport policy for Auckland. Suddenly Chapman interrupted him….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: It sounds like a Green Party PIPE DREAM! [mimics smoking a joint]
NATIONAL SUPPORTERS: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! That’s right!
A little later, Chapman again tried to play to those drunken yobbos….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: How many people used public transport to go to work today? [Many hands go up all over the venue] Not very many.
DAMIAN CHRISTIE: Actually it’s about fifty-fifty.
Another thing that many people must have noticed was that Chapman let Jami-Lee Ross talk on and on, often making little sense, without interrupting him. In stark contrast, whenever Russell Norman or David Shearer spoke, Chapman rang a bell to stop him.
Halfway through the evening, Chapman poked his microphone in front of Ngarimu Blair, who announced a new Ngati Whatua-run housing scheme. This was quite a coup for the program; Mayor Brown seemed ecstatic about it, and so did the audience. (The ACT-National-Palino morons were silent—they had nothing to contribute, not even the normal vacuous snickering that they indulged in for the rest of the time.)
After that major piece of excitement, the intellectual and moral tone of the evening took a precipitous dive: Chapman interviewed a Palino supporter. The young man had amassed over $100,000 in savings; this pointless piece of information was apparently supposed to impress us. It certainly impressed Wallace Chapman, who might have been interviewing a Nobel Prize winner rather than a complacent rich kid who is dumb enough to think John Palino knows anything more than how to organize the interior decoration and menu for a small cafeteria.
After that, it’s back to the politicians. Jami-Lee Ross makes a swingeing personal attack on Shearer, who is about to thrash him for a third time when Chapman cuts him off. See, he has a really important issue to go onto….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: What we want to know is this: Are Aucklanders just JAFAs?
For the next five excruciating minutes, we see video of Chapman approaching people on Auckland streets and asking them: “Are Aucklanders wankers?” He goes up to a couple of young girls and asks, “Are Aucklanders UP THEMSELVES?” This terrible, witless segment seems to go on forever, but eventually, mercifully, it is time for the Quiz. This is won by David Shearer, but what it will be remembered for is the way he dispatched Jami-Lee Ross to the boundary straight after it….
WALLACE CHAPMAN: And the winner of the Back Benchers Quiz is DAVID SHEARER!
….[Good natured applause from the crowd, including the drunken ACT-NAtional-palino contingent]….
JAMI-LEE ROSS: One competition he’s won.
….[Silence, and a slight pause]….
DAVID SHEARER: This guy is sad. You’ve been sitting next to Chris Finlayson way too long, I think.
The laughter is probably ringing in poor Jami-Lee Ross’s ears even now.
[1] http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08062013/#comment-645516
The whole program is unwatchable stuff, bollocks.
The whole program is unwatchable stuff, bollocks.
It is, largely, I agree. But the sight of David Shearer hanging, drawing and quartering that snide National moron last night made for great television.
”If people on benefits want to access Working for Families payments they should get a job”, those words the reason i couldn’t watch the ‘Helen years’ on the TV,
Those words which after years of being a staunch Labour supporter through even the abuses of Sir(spit)Roger Douglas inflicted upon us all lead to my abandonment of that party,
On a lighter note tho i did have a watch of ‘Backbenchers Auckland edition’ featuring leaders Dave Shearer, Russell Norman and what’s best described as a ‘nasty piece of work’ National’s Jamie Lee Ross who spent the entire time of the show making snide comments to both Shearer and Norman out of the side of His mouth like some b grade movie actor in a cheap American gangsta flick,
Any public bar that i have ever mis-spent too many hours in subjected to such snivelling, snide, vindictive drivel, Ross would have ended the night prone on the floor attempting to extract the silver spoon from a badly broken jaw,
Shearer tho was almost eloquent to the point where i imagined another 6 or 8 half-pints of the brown stuff would have had the bloke waxing positively lyrical, His last bit tho, a barracking Parliamentary style shouting of support for the way under-payed cleaning staff of the nation came across as forced, shouting at the TV camera just not a good look,
Russell Norman looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else except that close to National’s Ross and i am sure had the show gone on for any longer we all might have been privy to an exhibition of Russell tossing up His dinner,
During the ad breaks i did a runner over to Maori TV’s Native affairs, missed earlier in the week, and got treated to a piece of theater which knowing the ‘actors’ was a great joy to behold,
Native Affairs was doing a piece on Wellington’s efforts to curb begging in the City, and although i didn’t catch all of this piece appeared to be in the vein of ‘woe are these poor homeless people’,
This little comic narrative unfolded into ‘the homeless couple’ being interviewed, first Her, in words barely intelligent to the average human babbling on about nothing in particular, (believe me you fully understand Her when She is after a cigarette, and the abuse that follows should you ignore Her),
Then Him, babbling away about some long ago day, then a quick switch along with some crocodile tears that wouldn’t quite flow barely able to tell the camera about His war service,(well not quite His, i know who’s war service He was borrowing for the event),
Yeah i know these two well, He begs along Courtney Place, ”please sir have you got a dollar”, an 1800’s London street urchin could not have mustered a better tone of forlorn supplication,
Meanwhile She is sitting in the pokies bar attached to a well known strip club and brothel owned by a pair of brothers known nation-wide, feeding the machine, when He arrives back having done a circuit of Courtney Place ”please sir have you got a dollar”, She gets a break for a ciggy while He baby sits that nights pokie machine of choice,
LOLZ, this little show goes on all night, most nights and when these two destitute beggars finish the night they catch a taxi home,
Maori television tho have scored a coup in discovering these two, they would make an excellent unscripted comedy routine, give them 30 minutes and tell them the topic and i reckon they would have audiences in fits of laughter, a huge waste of talent ‘begging’ on Wellington’s streets….
Wonder how the defence force heads will react in private to Abbott’s proposal.
http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/07/25/military-reshuffle-abbotts-operation-sovereign-borders/
Simon B. challenges
RedGreenpeacehttp://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/18143002/oil-company-didnt-ask-for-law-changes/
NZ Prime Minister facing prosecution for spying
Haven’t seen it anywhere else yet but it’s going to be interesting if true.
The guy pursuing Key is an obnoxious litigant whose chances are nil. Just a person seeking publicity for no other reason than enjoying his name out there.
After losing I hope he is asked to pay costs. That would teach him.
Interestingly enough, while he might be a jerk McCready can boast one or two successes in this area. About as good a score against MPs as the police prosecutor, anyway.
And it does seem that an illegal interception did indeed take place.
So really, it comes down to whether Key as minister was responsible for the actions of his department.
Sounds like a top bloke to me, Slippery IS the minister in charge of our spy agencies and ‘accountability and responsibility’ would strongly suggest as the Minister in Charge it is the Prime Minister who must carry the can for His agents illegal spying upon New Zealand citizens…
Try reading Judge Mills in the Wellington District Court judgement giving the go ahead to prosecute John Banks.
It is not the character of the person making the allegation but the quality of the allegation itself. Fancy legal way of saying play the ball and not the man.
Please Santi do try to understand the difference.
Actually he’s starting to look like not such a bad bloke.
Isn’t that the fucking nutty fraudster accountant who sued Mallard and is suing Banks?
He really needs a hobby.
Yeah – and won against mallard (or at least got a reduced plea, rather than being out on his ear and declared vexatious).
Yes it is and it seems that he’s got one – holding our corrupt politicians to account.
More like a full time job than a hobby.
I wish him luck. I hope I can find some way to contribute. In a worthwhile democracy, the Police would be prosecuting Key for this.
Round one to Mann.
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/07/michael-mann-defamation-national-review-cei
Praise the Lord. There must be a God after all.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8963054/Destiny-charter-school-bid-rejected
according to a reid research poll when asked ‘who do you trust, john key or kim dotcom’ 52% believed kim dotcom & 34% believed john key, & bear in mind this same poll has national on 47% !!! on tv3 news…
I am at the Auckland anti GCSB and the Mt Albert hall is packed. There must be 600 people here and the crowd is spilling out into the foyer. The sense of anger is palpable. Thomas Beagle has put the case very well. If the Government wants to take away our rights it should justify this and it has not done this.
I saw this in an email. Does the Benefit woman know about anything to do with the real world?
Hon. Paula Bennetts statements that ‘feminism is out of fashion’ and ‘out of step with modern times’ are not true, except for a certain class.
Well this is a stunning article. Shelley Bridgeman writing about how she was caught short at the supermarket and had to choose between the hummus and the filled pasta, so now she has an insight into how the other 99.5% live.