See also….
No. 12: UK Min. of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of …the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question”
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” /open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013)
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
Once again, where is your evidence that the drones have not saved lives?
Obviously, killing people is costing a life. But on the flip-side, if you don’t kill a terrorist, they may go on to kill many many other people later on. Obviously the US believes they have evidence that this is the case.
Now, you’re free to call him a liar, but equally I am free to call you on that and ask for the evidence upon which you make that accusation. Without any evidence provided on your part, myself and others will have to judge your claim as simply a matter of “he-said she-said”.
Finally, I see that you use Barack Obama’s full name, including his middle name Hussein, when you have not done so for anyone else on your list, including the previous mention of Obama. I can only presume you’re trying to highlight his surname for the same sorts of reasons that nutbag righties do in the US.
who is which and who is what? Who kills the most people? Who kills the most civilians? Who has the biggest bombs? Who has the most weapons? Who has set off the most and biggest bombs? Who is an occupying force? Who has let off nuclear bombs? Which countrys populations are most at risk?
One “Lanthanide” is indulging herself, and no doubt irritating the rest of us, with her vile little games of cod-logic….
“Obviously, killing people is costing a life.”
But that is not so obvious, according to what you go on to assert, as you obediently channel the president of the United States.
“But on the flip-side, if you don’t kill a terrorist, they [sic] may go on to kill many many other people later on.”
You mean, if you don’t kill a Pakistani child, it may go on to kill many many other people later on. Following your logic, when these remotely operated drones kill an entire wedding party, as they have on several occasions in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, they are saving (using your obscene multiplier) hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Ergo, the more of them we kill, the more of us (times five or six) we save.
The math is irrefutable! Madam, you are a cut-price A.C. Grayling! You are a Kiwi Christopher Hitchens! You are an Antipodean Alan Dershowitz! You should join the Sensible Sentencing Trust immediately; they think just like you.
“If you don’t kill a Pakistani, he or she may go to kill many many other people later on.” You could, of course, say the same thing about killing an American child. So why don’t you?
““If you don’t kill a Pakistani, he or she may go to kill many many other people later on.” You could, of course, say the same thing about killing an American child. So why don’t you?”
Ah you sad, straw man manipulating boobie – Lanth said “terrorist”, not “Pakistani”. Most of us understand those to be separate categories even if the sets overlap.
Ah you sad, straw man manipulating boobie – Lanth said “terrorist”, not “Pakistani”.
The Professor made it clear that he was translating Lanthanide’s weasel words into plain English.
Most of us understand those to be separate categories even if the sets overlap.
The sets overlap far more substantially and far more obviously when they are sets labelled “Terrorists” and “Americans”; using Lanthanide’s way of thinking, we should be sending unmanned drones into the mountains of West Virginia and the poorest parts of Texas, from where many of the young men carrying out things like the following are drawn…..
“No evidence”? “No evidence” of WHAT? Are you saying there is “no evidence” that the United States has killed, and continues to kill, civilians in these countries with unmanned drones?
You’re making a habit of this.
I make a point of correcting your silly and invalid complaints. That’s a chore, not a habit.
Also no hint as to why you suddenly changed tradition and mention Obama’s middle name.
Ahhhh…. we have a conspiracy theory! The ol’ “Mention the Middle Name” trick! Do you think I’m working for the Tea Party folks, perhaps? Or is it Donald Trump? Maybe I’m a Mossad operative! Whatever, it’s sinister, all right. No doubt about it….
I mean duh. You called him a liar, where’s the evidence that he’s lying. Where is the evidence that him saying “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.” is a lie?
Ahhhh…. we have a conspiracy theory! The ol’ “Mention the Middle Name” trick! Do you think I’m working for the Tea Party folks, perhaps? Or is it Donald Trump? Maybe I’m a Mossad operative! Whatever, it’s sinister, all right. No doubt about it….
So no explanation as to why you did it then. Obviously you must have had a reason, or you wouldn’t have done it. Unless you just do things for no reason at all, like call people liars.
Poor, desperate Lanthanide is choking on conspiracy theory overload. Better watch yourselves, fellow Standardistas, for we have a master of semiotics on the case, deconstructing every suspicious move we make….
Obviously you must have had a reason, or you wouldn’t have done it.
Let us know when the Space Shuttle returns to Planet Earth, will you, Lanthanide? Then we can send you off on your next assignment: parsing the suspicious way that John Key dresses…. http://static.stuff.co.nz/1233108507/577/246577.jpg
That exceptionally dark charcoal suit. That eggshell blue necktie—and did you notice how it’s suspiciously off-centre? Just a little bit, but there’s obviously a reason for it. And you’re JUST THE PERSON to ferret out the ugly truth!
Agree, felix. I saw Moz’s comment this morning but ignored it because it was so dull and obvious. But I’m really glad that Lanth pointed out the Tea Partyish use of the middle name, which I hadn’t spotted. Says a lot about Morrissey that he’s too chicken to defend himself for using a right wing meme. Because I’m charitable, I imagine it was an unthinking use of that tired old racist dog whistle.
And accusing others of conspiracy theories? Pot, meet world’s most self deluded kettle. That’s almost as funny as Moz saying the other day that he takes care to be accurate in his contributions.
Anyhoo, Moz. I’m keen to hear the answers to Lanth’s perfectly reasonable questions. Over to you.
Morrissey why won’t you put Lanth’s criticism to rest by putting up your evidence?
You and Lanthanide both know there is ample evidence that U.S. drones, operated in perfect safety by young men sitting in air-conditioned offices in Colorado, have killed and continue to kill, hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. You say I can “put Lanth’s criticism to rest” by posting up evidence of something she and everybody else on this forum knows is widespread and irrefutable. Has she heard of the word “Google”, perchance?
Filibustering is not criticism. Our dear friend is merely trying to take some control of this exchange by having me waste my time looking up links which are known and understood. Her tactic is as ridiculous as it is reprehensible.
Agree, felix. I saw Moz’s comment this morning but ignored it because it was so dull and obvious.
Good, you recognize that reminding people that Pres. Hopey Changey is a liar was a reiteration of the obvious. The rather mean “dull” slur is a matter of opinion; I’ll leave others to judge how much they respect yours on this matter.
But I’m really glad that Lanth pointed out the Tea Partyish use of the middle name, which I hadn’t spotted.
“Hadn’t spotted”!?! Oh, come ON, Te Reo! Is it drink? Have you been “mixing your medications”? Oh my God, please tell me you’re not experimenting with that marihuana!
While we’re on the topic of you not spotting things, you also failed to spot my use of a Sarah Palin zinger. Come ON, Te Reo!
Says a lot about Morrissey that he’s too chicken to defend himself for using a right wing meme. Because I’m charitable, I imagine it was an unthinking use of that tired old racist dog whistle.
Yep, as I pointed out to Lanthanide yesterday, I might be a Mossad spy as well. Be very afraid, Te Reo. And Lanthanide, I’d change my daily routine for the next fortnight or so, just to be safe….
L, forgive me, but you’re a bore. A Beltway bore. Dispositionally you and Morrissey are light years apart. Don’t let it worry you so. Seems Morrissey don’t give a fuck. Emulate that.
more Morrisey sock puppets … fuck you Breen you turd.
[lprent: nope, and don’t speculate. Next person I see doing it gets a weeks ban, and I will double it for each successive instance. I am tired of writing these notes. ]
Not sure how I’m a beltway bore, living in CHCH and having nothing more to do with politics than posting on this blog and voting in elections…
And yes, I realise Morrissey is much better in the words and thoughts department than I am – I freely admit it. But that doesn’t mean he gets to spout nonsense wherever he likes and then get away without backing up any of this thoughts or words with a skerrick of evidence.
Not sure how I’m a beltway bore, living in CHCH and having nothing more to do with politics than posting on this blog and voting in elections…
I don’t think you’re a bore, Lanthanide. In fact I find your posts to be interesting and very well argued, usually.
And yes, I realise Morrissey is much better in the words and thoughts department than I am – I freely admit it.
Actually, I don’t think you are being fair on yourself. I have never, ever thought that I am superior to you; if I had thought that, I would not bother to argue with you like I occasionally do.
But that doesn’t mean he gets to spout nonsense wherever he likes and then get away without backing up any of this thoughts or words with a skerrick of evidence.
I think you should look at my posts again, and then think again about whether I don’t back up what I write. I’m sure that what you say holds true in many instances, but in respect to what we’ve been disputing over the last few days, I think you’re being a little harsh.
Mana has shown the way small parties can successfully operate in government. Building a large campaign about an issue that they care about, both inside and outside parliament to pressure the main parties.
This pattern of operation is one that the Green Party has followed in their campaign against the partial privatisation of state assets. Which in my opinion has put the Nats programme under a lot of pressure.
National, in introducing their programme to “Feed the Kids”, were forced to address the question of childhood poverty under pressure from Mana and their allies, inside and outside parliament.
It is not a state run programme that Harawira outlined in his private members bill, (due to come up in July), being instead based on private and corporate charity rather than government aid. But still it is a major concession.
This is how with few MPs and little money, Rod Donald’s campaign for MMP won through, against a powerful and well funded conservative lobby with millions of dollars behind them.
The other strategy that small parties can adopt. Is the one followed by the Alliance and the Maori Party. That is trading principals away for influence, and so called, “seats at the top table”.
Your fundamental mistake is believing that CB and Reid reflect reality. They don’t, they reflect Tory wishful thinking (and in the last two elections, wish fulfilment). Labour and the Greens will be the next Government.
It’s not hope, it’s fact. Reid and CB always overestimate the right and minimise the left. The intention is to convince voters that elections are a ‘done deal’ so they don’t threaten the status quo. Sorry to see you buying in to it. The only poll that is even close to correct is the Roy Morgan and in recent months that has shown that a change is coming. Over to you now. Are part of the movement for change or are you just concern trolling?
Hmm, I don’t really think so. You’re basically saying that these media outlets go out of their way to commission a dodgy poll. I don’t think they do.
It doesn’t have to be blatant or outlandish manipulation. Anything from wording of the questions, to time of day calls are made, to areas called, will skew poll results. Also changing criteria for which responses might be kept and which might be discarded.
Notice how none of these polling companies release a detailed methodology of how each poll was actually conducted.
CV & Co,
Forget the semantics.
Stop the nit picking who/how of Pollsters.
Labour is doing no better under Shearer and Robertson that they did under Goff and King.
Labour cannot get over 33% with the current leadership coterie.
Many gigs people in the party are working hard on the policy and organisation change plans.
The public, the active voters and the lapsed voters will “like” some of our policies but never vote for Labour or vote at all al long as the leadership is seen to be playing a safe centrist “beltway” strategy rather than being strong gutsy leaders of the PAYE worker, the Maori, the Islanders, the new immigrants, the alienated and dispossed and the environmentalists.
As opposed to a statement that is completely correct (but only if we ignore those 2x% results for labour in the first half of the term, and the 34-35% labour results in the second half).
Reid polling in particular gives all the impression of simply reflecting the wishes of the National party acolyte that owns that particular polling organization,
National will have the numbers to govern alone is the ongoing constant message from Reid, the underlying ‘massage’ being that for those not wanting a National Party Government it’s a waste of time turning up at the polling booths on election day,
How well such ‘messaging’ works in the minds of those subjected to such ‘conditioning’ via their televisions is a matter of opinion,
I would this far out from November 2014 dare suggest that National’s chances of a third term of Government will be reliant upon the whim of NZFirst who themselves are hardly guaranteed 5% of the vote in 2014…
Pretty much – like their graph of poll results.
All through 2010/2011Reid put National at well above 50%. But for me the indicator of intentional bias is the chart itself – stops in feb 2013 as nats raise just above 50% on a slow decline since the election.
The last couple of results have been below 50%, haven’t they? Yet the chart on their website looks like they’re on an upswing. And the page has been like that for a while.
Shearer is lurching to the left to appease party activists (and keep his position) and is trying out a political civil union with a red headed Aussie.
The net effect of this you have Labour, Greens, Mana dancing around in the far left corner chasing the same votes.
This leaves the soft left and center voters drifting back into the Nats camp and keeping the Nats consistently high in the polls.
If Shearer wants to head further left that is fine. It is the same sex marriage with Norman that is killing Labour – every fruit loop pronouncement by Norman and Turei is seen as being automatically endorsed by Shearer.
This is scary for voters who are looking for economic stability and growth not a lurch to the luddite left.
Clark didn’t keep the Greens in a far and distant corner for no reason.
Careful. When the “far Left” win the election and the sky fails to fall on our heads, and in fact people start to prosper more (you must have heard that Labour-led governments always make a better job of the economy, according to the facts that is – debt down productivity up etc etc), they’ll start to say to themselves “this far Left business isn’t the hell Jimmie said it would be”.
The same sentiments were made prior to 2008 & 2011 – didn’t affect the outcome.
2014 looks to be heading the same way as the left can’t acknowledge that their policies are irrelevant to the current world economic climate.
Voters will vote for parties that cut their cloth to economic reality – not a harking back to a perceived golden yester year or uncontrollable social spending.
This is what is shown in the polls and Shearer would be better off to present an alternative policy platform that reflects this.
The GFC was to political economics what 9-11 was to the military – terrorist outlook, a game changer that needs to be factored in by political parties.
Aaah the right, constantly trying to make the GFC into a war type conflict, if that is the case, where are the war criminals that allowed it to happen?
No, Jimmie. You don’t get to change the reasons people vote one way or another. People (for the most part) vote for the party they feel will leave them better off. That’s why NZPower is such a vote winner: it will leave the vast majority better off – and the boost to the economy will even lift dullards like you.
Oh, and reality check, Labour = lower public debt, so blithering about “cutting the cloth” or whatever witless excuse for austerity you’re pushing this week won’t help you.
National are shit economic managers and the lying Prime Minister is dead meat.
The GFC was proof positive that mainstream economists have HFI WTF they’re talking about. Hell, the idiots couldn’t even predict excessive debt while it was happening in front of their eyes.
The ‘far left’, as you label the politics you fear, doesn’t ‘do’ parliamentary politics Jimmie. And last time I looked, the Greens, Labour and Mana were all making a tilt at being parliamentary representatives.
You are amusing, ”economic stability and growth”???, you mean the game of smoke and mirrors that the Member from Dipton is currently playing with the Government accounts is economic security,????, borrowing billions of dollars of monies in fiscal year 2011/2012 which will be spent into 2015/1016 is your view of ‘economic stability’,???
The only growth in the system is brought about by the earthquake recovery and the ongoing Auckland housing inflation which despite all the Member from Dipton’s weasel words is set to continue unabated and the blind among us have their heads buried in the sand over this National Governments ‘growth’ of an 80 odd billion dollar debt mountain…
Spot on, its all about keeping people out of the booths in 2014, a tactic that allowed them a very narrow victory in 2011 using a cup of tea and plenty of consistent MSM themes run by granny, tvnz and joyces former employ mediawonks radio live and tv3.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 5
Gormless you missed the results when that specific question was asked.
According to Paddy Gower when asked “Do you support the Labour/Greens policy to reform the power market?” a clear majority, 54 percent, said yes. Thirty-nine percent said no. The rest didn’t know.
Early days. See how it plays out. Getting all excited or despondent about polls in the middle of an electoral cycle is a fools game. But you asked a rhetorical question above: “Time to question the up-until-now unquestioned assumption that nationalising the power is electoral gold? “, in reply to which I pointed out that nearly a third of Nationals own supporters thought that, actually, NZ Power is electoral gold..
Here is a lift from Gowers commentary on the poll you reference.
Asked “Do you support the Labour/Greens policy to reform the power market?” a clear majority, 54 percent, said yes. Thirty-nine percent said no. The rest didn’t know.
But out of National voters, 29 percent said yes, supporting the Opposition’s policy.
So with these silly house value increases that are going on……
where has all the extra money come from to pay for this?
… let’s say 500,000 houses in Auckland alone, average value $500,000, equals $250,000,000,000 (that’s $250billion). And let’s say they have increased 10% in value = $2.5billion.
10% increase in value equals $25 billion (not 2.5). Let’s say 10% of houses sell each year. That equals $2.5 billion extra – where has all of that come from?
It’s mostly all mortgage debt created money. The amount of money released into the community is the same as the debt generated in the same instant. Of course, that debt starts accumulating interest immediately…basically we have a monetary system that our economy can never keep up with, and which we have to continuously grow just to keep still.
Just keep kicking that can down the road…with more money printing, bail outs, austerity for the poor, monetizing of debt, raising debt ceilings, treating debt as collateral you can loan more against, etc
The banks simply print it then lend it to you, as they hold an asset against it, your house is collateral.
Of-course they can only now lend out 5 times the money they have on deposit, so they must attract deposits, increasing the amount of money in circulation will work as people will cash up assets and put money in the bank later in life, around and around it goes, what a scam.
Of-course they can only now lend out 5 times the money they have on deposit, so they must attract deposits
Almost…my understanding is that they can lend as much as they want NOW, but have to go out and find the reserves required by regulations to sustain that lending within a month or two.
Hence occasionally you get the banks putting up posters saying Limited time only 90 days term deposits special rates!!! Because they are meeting some short term reserves shortfall.
What this means in practical terms is that if the private banks are short then the reserves are made up by the RB. That’s what the Overnight Rate (OCR) is all about. The banks will never be short on reserves ergo there is no limit to their lending.
So national party fixer Simon Lusk in yestrerdays SST has only just discovered the sort of people he is dealing with.
Lowbrow atavistic thugs. People with no ethcis, morals, principles or scruples.
Nobodies with money who want to be somebody.
People who need money to beat up on others.
They would prefer it if the law allowed them free reign with no comebacks but fortunately we live in a society governed by the rule of law.
Lusks cronies whaleoil and feeder hav self evident personality disorders such as avarice, gluttony and projecting their own foul desires on to others.
Its time to get shot of them and their party and the sooner the better.
Put dear DS up on a roof with a paintbrush and let him find out what real work is about. And make it a beneficiaries house he is painting but first clean the rust and old paint off by hand and brush, not high pressure water, and then he will have personally done some real good work in this world. The UN stuff was mainly for m-t-a (more than adequate) pay.
You should have said “there may be dead beat parents out there but FFS we are talking about 5 and 6 year old kids. We owe it to them to make sure they have enough food to at least be able to get an education at school. And if they are not being fed at home then we will get their home situation checked out. But how could you refuse to feed a 6 year old kid? What have they done to deserve this?”
On a more serious note, as lprent has alluded to…every soft Nat voter you gain this way, you’ll get a hardcore Labour voter stay at home or go to Greens/Mana.
It’s the leaking sieve strategy of electoral math.
Listening to RNZ radio political spot this morning. Matthew Hooton expounded, clearly and succinctly, the concerns expressed by many here re-the new GCSB legislation. He is now on record calling for an independent investigation as per that requested by Labour and the Greens.
I found their old website hard to navigate and confusing, and I’m a long-time netizen. I guess there’s a reason MSM websites look the way they do – because it’s functional.
hmmm, I think it’s less accessible, but maybe I was just used to the old site. To get to today’s Nine to Noon audio takes how many clicks? And having to manualy search through a whole page of programmes A to Z is pretty daft.
“I thought ipads, phones etc accessed different versions of websites.”
Only if the website designer has specifically made alternative versions of their websites (many cut-down ‘automatic’ mobile sites are terrible and people prefer to use the full site). This can add quite a bit of expense. It’s easier just to design a site that is mobile-friendly up-front and then not have the added expense of having to make a whole different one for mobile.
This site works fine on a iPad and my nexus7 in normal mode. But it is bloody difficult to make it work on any phone smaller than those oversized samsungs. I think that currently for anything with high text content, you do need a two modes.
‘Re-imaging’.
Nothing wrong with the old format – actually I preferred it. And the redevelopment was necessary (not) at a time when they’re tight on funds.
Sometimes I wonder who is running the place these days.
Once again the polls have shown, that parties that move to far from the centre will lose every election, labour and the greens are digging their own grave by playing the type of politics that they have over the past few months.
This is the most centred National government there has been in my life time. Labour and the greens are moving more to the left every day. They are making the same mistake the gop did in the usa election, trying to appeal to the extremists.
They should leave all extremist crap to united and act and TeMana.
Once again the polls have shown, that parties that move to far from the centre will lose every election, national are digging their own grave by playing the type of politics that they have over the past few months.
THE NEXT CANDIDATE for King Johnkey’s “Fuck you, I do what I want” dictatorial legislation?
Can they resist the urge to simply validate unlawful Legal Aid practises with a “nga nga nga can’t take me to court” act under urgency? Is anyone dumb enough to take bets on that?
Justice Tipping – 26 years as a judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court. Look at what he had to say about this government’s fucking around with legal aid:
TV3 poll shows that 66% of National supporters are in favour of the Mana Movement precipitated Food for Kids programme the government is introducing, ShonKey Python cares to deny that Cabinet was split over the move. But good on that 66%.
34% of National Party supporters are OPPOSED ON PRINCIPLE.
Shonkey Python – “I can understand………that point of view” – or words to that effect.
Say that again – opposed to feeding starving kids – ON PRINCIPLE !
Karma, karma, karma, please, please, please deal to those bastards and their FUCKING PRINCIPLES in the cruellest fashion !
I wonder how many of the 34% delight in turning up at church on Sunday for their weekly wank ?
curiously, the same percentage 26% that were opposed to this is also the same percentage 26% that were opposed to legalising marijuana in that tv3 Vote programme last week.
Are these the same people?
Is it a solid immoveable core, sitting on their couch shaking their monstrous head saying “nope, not listening, don’t care, you’re wrong, I know, go away and get a real job.”
Yes North I agree – they have principles all right the bastards – the principle of moaning when something affects them otherwise everyone else can just fuck off.
In short, fuckwits, hardheads, no brains, “done well” white trash, scum really notwithstanding their ludicrous pretensions to style and class.
I so well recall a glowing sense of satisfaction, a sense that it was all so poetic, a sense that it was so just, when the Ceaucescus got theirs.
And this 34% are the societal apes who mouth cruelly against beneficiaries, denying this “underclass” human status. History has their travel well mapped.
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After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Tonight’s news suggests the coronavirus outbreak may have originated from pangolins. Details are very sketchy, almost nothing at all beyond a claim of high similarity. My impression is this claim comes from a press release by South China Agricultural University. Initial discussion online suggests this is a more likely candidate ...
by Susanne Kemp The Fire and Emergency service (FENZ) has recently asked firefighters in Auckland Areas 3, 4 and 5 to take on an additional duty that has rather ominous implications. Namely, to collect names and addresses of everyone on the premises of fires they attend. The firefighters’ union, the ...
Part of the story of the Nazis' rise to power in Germany was the willingness of mainstream right-wing parties to work with them to keep out the left. Because of this, one of the fundamental rules of postwar German politics has been "do not work with Nazis". As a result, ...
There has long been a truism in public broadcasting: don't mess with Concert FM. The theory was that although the station has been in a long-term audience decline, and that audience is steadily ageing out, it has powerful establishment support – and any threat to it would provoke a fury.As ...
This is a re-post from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists The heat absorbed in Earth’s oceans reached a new record in 2019, found a recent study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences. Despite the fact that this has been the case for almost every year over the past decade, this information ...
We are confronted with the spectre of Simon Bridges making clear he cannot, will not, trust Winston Peters – the oft-cited “King Maker” in New Zealand politics.Supporters are lauding it as a master stroke, naturally, because in their eyes, it prevents him being the tail that wags the dog. ...
by Don Franks Under a government claiming empathy with the fine arts, Radio New Zealand ( RNZ) is poised to cut back its classical music station, RNZ Concert. The plan is replacing it on FM radio with music “for a younger audience” as part of a new multimedia music brand. ...
More Thwaites This past week we heard disturbing news about Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier. Helping to fill in the longer term history of Thwaites' behavior and especially helpful in interpreting results of the recent drilling project and what it may say about the future of this unstable mass of ice is Revealing the ...
Inaccuracies are very common in scientific paper abstracts. Image credit:Science in the Abstract: Don’t Judge a Study by its Cover I have come to accept anti-fluoride campaigners will never stop cherry-picking research and findings ...
“The scene is set, the players met…”. And what players they are in this farce of an Election coming up in the United States this year. There is a multi-faceted anger in the broader situation the world finds itself in, in which the false promises of so-called “moderates” find themselves ...
A few years ago, a company lowballed a contract to dispose of toxic waste from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. So, they dumped it in a disused paper mill in Mataura, then went into liquidation - effectively dumping the problem on local councils. The waste is dangerous - it releases ...
Unhappy with the demonisation of Iran in Western media, I was fortunate to have the Australian Institute of International Affairs invite me to write an alternative analysis for their on-line journal Australian Outlook. I did, and they serialised it into two parts. The essays are short, so I did not ...
Over on The Good Society, Max Rashbrooke suggests that its time to start directly taxing wealth:A wealth tax would be levied on net wealth – that is, the value of people’s assets once their debts have been subtracted. Such a tax would be highly redistributive. Levied at 1% on wealth ...
The quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has dropped to 4%. There are now 111,000 unemployed - 15,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Its not the performance we had under Clark (when unemployment was ~3.3%), but its still a reasonable improvement over prevailing conditions under National. ...
Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick Wilson, Louise Delany, Prof Richard Edwards, Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanThe current national measles epidemic in New Zealand is amongst the largest we have experienced in the last 40 years. It can be linked to the problems created by long-term erosion and fragmentation of national public health ...
I’m about to start teaching science communication to tertiary students, which is equally hilarious and terrifying to me. (Hi to my students who have Googled me and found this post.) I loved English at high school, but we spent most of our time reading The Outsiders, discussing the differences between metaphors and ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
Applications are now open for the fifth round of the Regional Culture and Heritage Fund Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Grant Robertson announced today. “I am delighted to open this year’s fund which has some $7 million available to support performing arts venues, galleries, museums and whare ...
The Minister of Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta today congratulated Associate Professor Amokura Kawharu on her appointment as the next President of the Law Commission. “Amokura Kawharu will be a standout in her new role, leading in an innovative and forward looking approach to the law reform process. She will ...
Auckland University legal academic Amokura Kawharu has been appointed as the next President of the Law Commission, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Associate Professor Kawharu will take up her new appointment on 11 May 2020. “I would like to congratulate Associate Professor Kawharu on her appointment,” Andrew ...
A programme for employers to help them engage effectively with younger employees was launched today by Minister of Employment, Willie Jackson. The Youth Ready Employer Programme contains a range of on-line templates that employers can easily access to help with employing and retaining young people in their businesses. The programme ...
Budget 2020 will be delivered on Thursday 14 May, Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced today. “This year’s Budget will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also preparing the economy for the future. “Those challenges and opportunities cannot be resolved in one budget, ...
I move, That this House place on record its appreciation and thanks for the devoted and distinguished service to New Zealand by the late Rt Hon Michael Kenneth Moore, member of the Order of New Zealand, a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, an Honorary Member of the ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has today classified the drought conditions in Northland as an adverse event for the primary sector, unlocking $80,000 in Government support. “This is recognition that the extreme and prolonged nature of this dry spell is taking its toll on our farmers and growers and additional support ...
The Minister of Police says an operation to smash a trans national drug smuggling ring today will make a significant impact on the methamphetamine trade fuelling harm in our communities. Police have announced 10 arrests and the seizure of up to five million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs after an ...
The Government’s books are in a strong position to withstand global headwinds, with the accounts in surplus and expenses close to forecast, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. The Treasury today released the Crown accounts for the six months to December. The operating balance before gains and losses (OBEGAL) was above ...
Race courses can improve safety with this year’s second round of funding from the Racing Safety Development Fund. Minister for Racing Winston Peters has announced the second funding round of 2019/20 is open with $347,875 available for distribution. “The racing industry is integral to the economic and social fabric of ...
The Government is committing $300,000 to fund research to update behavioural information to make sure HIV and STI prevention services are targeted appropriately in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson made the announcement at today’s Big Gay Out in Auckland. “There is much talk about ...
The Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media has announced work will begin on a business case to assess the viability of forming a new public media entity. “The Government must ensure New Zealanders have a strong independent public media service for decades to come, which means ensuring public ...
Minister of Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare announced today that the Government will contribute $100,000 to the Southland regional Mayoral Relief Fund, to support communities impacted by the recent flooding in Southland. Mr Henare says this week’s flooding has caused significant disruption to communities in the lower South Island. ...
Heritage buildings throughout New Zealand will benefit from the $1.1 million in Heritage EQUIP funding grants announced today. “These grants for seismic strengthening projects help private building owners get the advice they need to start building work or to get the work completed,” Grant Robertson says. “Timaru’s Grosvenor Hotel has ...
A new survey has found New Zealand’s game development sector has grown beyond expectations and is on track to becoming a billion dollar industry in 2025, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says. “New Zealand’s interactive media sector grew by 42 per cent in last financial year to $203.4 million, according ...
Te Tii, the lower marae at Waitangi, is among more than 70 marae now connected to broadband internet thanks to the Provincial Growth Fund’s marae connectivity scheme, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said today. In February 2019, the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) allocated $21 million to connect rural towns ...
The West Coast has had a funding injection of over $1.2 million from the Provincial Growth Fund, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced at Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika today. The PGF projects announced are: $800,000 to Development West Coast for a Grey District Regional Digital Hub ...
By Meriba Tulo in Port Moresby Over the past month, the Autonomous Bougainville Government has made known its intention to put forward several proposed amendments to the Bougainville House of Representatives. These amendments include a provision to allow for a president to serve for more than two terms – ...
New Zealand’s Catholic bishops are concerned that unborn babies will lose their existing tenuous legal rights if Parliament passes the Abortion Legislation Bill in the form proposed by a select committee. And unborn babies with a fetal disability ...
Younger voters are being encouraged to take time now to make sure they are enrolled and ready to vote in this year’s election and referendums. The Electoral Commission’s enrolment teams will be at orientation events at universities, polytechnics and wānanga ...
FIRST Union’s Real Work Real Jobs campaign is expanding its focus to include ‘gig economy’ workers like Uber drivers and dependent contractors, with the public release of the union’s submission on the Government’s Better Protections for Contractors ...
Linda Burgess climbs the eternal staircase at the Opera House in Wellington to watch the virtuoso actor. At the interval her legs are aching. But in the second half, magic happens.There’s one person wearing a face mask, just the one, and it turns his face into a disposable nappy with ...
National Party leader Simon Bridges says the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the New Zealand First Foundation adds weight to calls for Winston Peters to be stood down. ...
Tutors at Northtec have begun strike action this week, action that will be disruptive for the institution and students. “Tutors never want to affect their students in negative ways, but they want their employer to show respect and put a decent pay ...
Dairy prices have fallen again in the latest global dairy auction, as the coronavirus outbreak takes its toll on trade. The average price at the overnight auction fell by almost 3 percent to $US3176 a tonne. Following a 4.7 percent fall at the previous auction two weeks ago, it was ...
Motorists are now able to offset their carbon emissions when they fuel up at Z Energy stations. A new feature in the Z app called Carbon Count will show drivers the carbon impact of each fill, then give them the option to offset that. There will be a per-fill option ...
Growth in bank sector profits stalled last year after years of seemingly unstoppable development. Business advisory firm KPMG's annual sector report showed the industry's collective profits fell just under 1 percent to $5.7 billion, with a growth in lending, while margins were squeezed slightly, costs rose markedly, and bad debts ...
After years of swearword-emblazoned book covers, are readers all out of fucks to give about bad language?Since Adam Mansbuch’s 2011 bestseller, Go the Fuck to Sleep, book titles have been swearing profusely to grab audience attention. The author followed up on the winning formula with You Have to Fucking Eat ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will keep his Ministerial portfolios as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigates the New Zealand First Foundation. ...
Here's how the Government could force you to sell your house for state housing; and impact of drought, coronavirus could lead to recession - economist. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s contentNZ First donations scandal Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern right to let Winston Peters’ keep his head over donations ...
The Council of Licenced Firearms Owners is calling on Police Minister Stuart Nash to front up and explain, after releasing new figures showing that since 2011, Police employees have been caught 244 times for unauthorised use of confidential and sensitive ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute Young Australians are abandoning private health insurance in droves. And the overall decline in the percentage of the population with private coverage is continuing. New data for the three months to the end of 2019, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne As the brutal reality of climate change dawned this summer, you may have asked yourself a hard question: am I well-prepared to live in a warmer world? There are many ways we can ready ...
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LIARS OF OUR TIME
No. 13: Barack Hussein Obama
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
—President Hopey Changey defends the use of unmanned drones in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/23/obama-drones_n_3327094.html
See also….
No. 12: UK Min. of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of …the UK’s top priorities.”
No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question”
No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.” /open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013)
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
Once again, where is your evidence that the drones have not saved lives?
Obviously, killing people is costing a life. But on the flip-side, if you don’t kill a terrorist, they may go on to kill many many other people later on. Obviously the US believes they have evidence that this is the case.
Now, you’re free to call him a liar, but equally I am free to call you on that and ask for the evidence upon which you make that accusation. Without any evidence provided on your part, myself and others will have to judge your claim as simply a matter of “he-said she-said”.
Finally, I see that you use Barack Obama’s full name, including his middle name Hussein, when you have not done so for anyone else on your list, including the previous mention of Obama. I can only presume you’re trying to highlight his surname for the same sorts of reasons that nutbag righties do in the US.
.
terrorist
guerilla
freedom fighter
resistance
opposition forces
defence forces
attack forces
coalition forces
who is which and who is what? Who kills the most people? Who kills the most civilians? Who has the biggest bombs? Who has the most weapons? Who has set off the most and biggest bombs? Who is an occupying force? Who has let off nuclear bombs? Which countrys populations are most at risk?
One “Lanthanide” is indulging herself, and no doubt irritating the rest of us, with her vile little games of cod-logic….
“Obviously, killing people is costing a life.”
But that is not so obvious, according to what you go on to assert, as you obediently channel the president of the United States.
“But on the flip-side, if you don’t kill a terrorist, they [sic] may go on to kill many many other people later on.”
You mean, if you don’t kill a Pakistani child, it may go on to kill many many other people later on. Following your logic, when these remotely operated drones kill an entire wedding party, as they have on several occasions in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, they are saving (using your obscene multiplier) hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Ergo, the more of them we kill, the more of us (times five or six) we save.
The math is irrefutable! Madam, you are a cut-price A.C. Grayling! You are a Kiwi Christopher Hitchens! You are an Antipodean Alan Dershowitz! You should join the Sensible Sentencing Trust immediately; they think just like you.
“If you don’t kill a Pakistani, he or she may go to kill many many other people later on.” You could, of course, say the same thing about killing an American child. So why don’t you?
Grayling. sigh
Dershowitz. deeper sigh.
““If you don’t kill a Pakistani, he or she may go to kill many many other people later on.” You could, of course, say the same thing about killing an American child. So why don’t you?”
Ah you sad, straw man manipulating boobie – Lanth said “terrorist”, not “Pakistani”. Most of us understand those to be separate categories even if the sets overlap.
Ah you sad, straw man manipulating boobie – Lanth said “terrorist”, not “Pakistani”.
The Professor made it clear that he was translating Lanthanide’s weasel words into plain English.
Most of us understand those to be separate categories even if the sets overlap.
The sets overlap far more substantially and far more obviously when they are sets labelled “Terrorists” and “Americans”; using Lanthanide’s way of thinking, we should be sending unmanned drones into the mountains of West Virginia and the poorest parts of Texas, from where many of the young men carrying out things like the following are drawn…..
http://morallowground.com/2012/04/18/us-82nd-airborne-soldiers-posed-for-photos-with-body-parts-of-dead-afghan-resistance-fighters/
So no evidence then, Morrissey. You’re making a habit of this.
Also no hint as to why you suddenly changed tradition and mention Obama’s middle name.
So no evidence then, Morrissey.
“No evidence”? “No evidence” of WHAT? Are you saying there is “no evidence” that the United States has killed, and continues to kill, civilians in these countries with unmanned drones?
You’re making a habit of this.
I make a point of correcting your silly and invalid complaints. That’s a chore, not a habit.
Also no hint as to why you suddenly changed tradition and mention Obama’s middle name.
Ahhhh…. we have a conspiracy theory! The ol’ “Mention the Middle Name” trick! Do you think I’m working for the Tea Party folks, perhaps? Or is it Donald Trump? Maybe I’m a Mossad operative! Whatever, it’s sinister, all right. No doubt about it….
Evidence that he is lying, obviously.
I mean duh. You called him a liar, where’s the evidence that he’s lying. Where is the evidence that him saying “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.” is a lie?
So no explanation as to why you did it then. Obviously you must have had a reason, or you wouldn’t have done it. Unless you just do things for no reason at all, like call people liars.
Poor, desperate Lanthanide is choking on conspiracy theory overload. Better watch yourselves, fellow Standardistas, for we have a master of semiotics on the case, deconstructing every suspicious move we make….
Obviously you must have had a reason, or you wouldn’t have done it.
Let us know when the Space Shuttle returns to Planet Earth, will you, Lanthanide? Then we can send you off on your next assignment: parsing the suspicious way that John Key dresses….
http://static.stuff.co.nz/1233108507/577/246577.jpg
That exceptionally dark charcoal suit. That eggshell blue necktie—and did you notice how it’s suspiciously off-centre? Just a little bit, but there’s obviously a reason for it. And you’re JUST THE PERSON to ferret out the ugly truth!
🙄
Morrissey why won’t you put Lanth’s criticism to rest by putting up your evidence?
Until you do, the criticism stands.
Agree, felix. I saw Moz’s comment this morning but ignored it because it was so dull and obvious. But I’m really glad that Lanth pointed out the Tea Partyish use of the middle name, which I hadn’t spotted. Says a lot about Morrissey that he’s too chicken to defend himself for using a right wing meme. Because I’m charitable, I imagine it was an unthinking use of that tired old racist dog whistle.
And accusing others of conspiracy theories? Pot, meet world’s most self deluded kettle. That’s almost as funny as Moz saying the other day that he takes care to be accurate in his contributions.
Anyhoo, Moz. I’m keen to hear the answers to Lanth’s perfectly reasonable questions. Over to you.
Morrissey why won’t you put Lanth’s criticism to rest by putting up your evidence?
You and Lanthanide both know there is ample evidence that U.S. drones, operated in perfect safety by young men sitting in air-conditioned offices in Colorado, have killed and continue to kill, hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Yemen. You say I can “put Lanth’s criticism to rest” by posting up evidence of something she and everybody else on this forum knows is widespread and irrefutable. Has she heard of the word “Google”, perchance?
Anyway, since I always like to be obliging, even for people trying to irritate and fluster me, I’ll provide her with a few links. I know you’re already on top of this one, felix, but you might like to refresh your knowledge of this scandalous issue as well….
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/mit-s-noam-chomsky-obama-s-running-global-assassination-campaign
http://tribune.com.pk/story/555117/unhcr-chief-profoundly-disturbed-on-use-of-armed-drones-in-pakistan/
As a bonus, here’s a clip on the issue by one of the few rock bands with any conscience or intelligence….
And, not that they count, of course, but here’s what those towel-heads think about their country being targeted by remote-controlled robot planes….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/24/how-pakistanis-reacted-to-obamas-speech-on-drones/
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57586008/angry-pakistanis-fight-to-end-u.s-drone-strikes/
Until you do, the criticism stands.
Filibustering is not criticism. Our dear friend is merely trying to take some control of this exchange by having me waste my time looking up links which are known and understood. Her tactic is as ridiculous as it is reprehensible.
Agree, felix. I saw Moz’s comment this morning but ignored it because it was so dull and obvious.
Good, you recognize that reminding people that Pres. Hopey Changey is a liar was a reiteration of the obvious. The rather mean “dull” slur is a matter of opinion; I’ll leave others to judge how much they respect yours on this matter.
But I’m really glad that Lanth pointed out the Tea Partyish use of the middle name, which I hadn’t spotted.
“Hadn’t spotted”!?! Oh, come ON, Te Reo! Is it drink? Have you been “mixing your medications”? Oh my God, please tell me you’re not experimenting with that marihuana!
While we’re on the topic of you not spotting things, you also failed to spot my use of a Sarah Palin zinger. Come ON, Te Reo!
Says a lot about Morrissey that he’s too chicken to defend himself for using a right wing meme. Because I’m charitable, I imagine it was an unthinking use of that tired old racist dog whistle.
Yep, as I pointed out to Lanthanide yesterday, I might be a Mossad spy as well. Be very afraid, Te Reo. And Lanthanide, I’d change my daily routine for the next fortnight or so, just to be safe….
himself*, his*, etc.
L, forgive me, but you’re a bore. A Beltway bore. Dispositionally you and Morrissey are light years apart. Don’t let it worry you so. Seems Morrissey don’t give a fuck. Emulate that.
more Morrisey sock puppets … fuck you Breen you turd.
[lprent: nope, and don’t speculate. Next person I see doing it gets a weeks ban, and I will double it for each successive instance. I am tired of writing these notes. ]
Not sure how I’m a beltway bore, living in CHCH and having nothing more to do with politics than posting on this blog and voting in elections…
And yes, I realise Morrissey is much better in the words and thoughts department than I am – I freely admit it. But that doesn’t mean he gets to spout nonsense wherever he likes and then get away without backing up any of this thoughts or words with a skerrick of evidence.
Not sure how I’m a beltway bore, living in CHCH and having nothing more to do with politics than posting on this blog and voting in elections…
I don’t think you’re a bore, Lanthanide. In fact I find your posts to be interesting and very well argued, usually.
And yes, I realise Morrissey is much better in the words and thoughts department than I am – I freely admit it.
Actually, I don’t think you are being fair on yourself. I have never, ever thought that I am superior to you; if I had thought that, I would not bother to argue with you like I occasionally do.
But that doesn’t mean he gets to spout nonsense wherever he likes and then get away without backing up any of this thoughts or words with a skerrick of evidence.
I think you should look at my posts again, and then think again about whether I don’t back up what I write. I’m sure that what you say holds true in many instances, but in respect to what we’ve been disputing over the last few days, I think you’re being a little harsh.
Congratulations to Hone Harawira and the Mana Party are due. They have wrung a major concession from the Nacts.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8719431/Food-in-schools-programme-imminent-PM
Mana has shown the way small parties can successfully operate in government. Building a large campaign about an issue that they care about, both inside and outside parliament to pressure the main parties.
This pattern of operation is one that the Green Party has followed in their campaign against the partial privatisation of state assets. Which in my opinion has put the Nats programme under a lot of pressure.
National, in introducing their programme to “Feed the Kids”, were forced to address the question of childhood poverty under pressure from Mana and their allies, inside and outside parliament.
It is not a state run programme that Harawira outlined in his private members bill, (due to come up in July), being instead based on private and corporate charity rather than government aid. But still it is a major concession.
This is how with few MPs and little money, Rod Donald’s campaign for MMP won through, against a powerful and well funded conservative lobby with millions of dollars behind them.
The other strategy that small parties can adopt. Is the one followed by the Alliance and the Maori Party. That is trading principals away for influence, and so called, “seats at the top table”.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
What is Labour doing differently under Shearer that is any different from what it did under Goff?
National 48% on average between Colmar Brunton and Reid Polls.
Labour 33%.
No change.
Since 2008.
Your fundamental mistake is believing that CB and Reid reflect reality. They don’t, they reflect Tory wishful thinking (and in the last two elections, wish fulfilment). Labour and the Greens will be the next Government.
Tedium: TRP saying the same thing over and over again and hoping the polls are wrong.
It’s not hope, it’s fact. Reid and CB always overestimate the right and minimise the left. The intention is to convince voters that elections are a ‘done deal’ so they don’t threaten the status quo. Sorry to see you buying in to it. The only poll that is even close to correct is the Roy Morgan and in recent months that has shown that a change is coming. Over to you now. Are part of the movement for change or are you just concern trolling?
“The intention is to convince voters that elections are a ‘done deal’ so they don’t threaten the status quo. ”
Hmm, I don’t really think so. You’re basically saying that these media outlets go out of their way to commission a dodgy poll. I don’t think they do.
Also, the latest Roy Morgan is in line with the current results from Reid and CB, yet was taken before the budget.
It doesn’t have to be blatant or outlandish manipulation. Anything from wording of the questions, to time of day calls are made, to areas called, will skew poll results. Also changing criteria for which responses might be kept and which might be discarded.
Notice how none of these polling companies release a detailed methodology of how each poll was actually conducted.
CV & Co,
Forget the semantics.
Stop the nit picking who/how of Pollsters.
Labour is doing no better under Shearer and Robertson that they did under Goff and King.
Labour cannot get over 33% with the current leadership coterie.
Many gigs people in the party are working hard on the policy and organisation change plans.
The public, the active voters and the lapsed voters will “like” some of our policies but never vote for Labour or vote at all al long as the leadership is seen to be playing a safe centrist “beltway” strategy rather than being strong gutsy leaders of the PAYE worker, the Maori, the Islanders, the new immigrants, the alienated and dispossed and the environmentalists.
‘coterie’; it’s an ‘in’ word.
8-D
Hi Elizabeth
+1
http://www.roymorgan.com/morganpoll/new-zealand/voting-intention-summary
You naughty Roman TRP, the Roy Morgan figures show how National has been consistently on 44-47% while Labour has been between 30% and 33%.
You seem to take a Cosby-Textor approach to reiterating a false statememt hoping it will become an accepted “fact”.
Naughty boy.
As opposed to a statement that is completely correct (but only if we ignore those 2x% results for labour in the first half of the term, and the 34-35% labour results in the second half).
You wait to meet your Roy Morgan maker this week, McFlock.
🙂
Phew 🙂
Heh, Labour at 35% nice winning figure
In mmp, yes.
Hence the nats now being “well behind”. They are short of friends.
hey once the Greens are closer to 20% the winning figure for Labour can drop to 30%
I’m happy either way. Lab30 grn15 mana10 even merrier
Solipsism: do not adjust your perception, reality is at fault.
Reid polling in particular gives all the impression of simply reflecting the wishes of the National party acolyte that owns that particular polling organization,
National will have the numbers to govern alone is the ongoing constant message from Reid, the underlying ‘massage’ being that for those not wanting a National Party Government it’s a waste of time turning up at the polling booths on election day,
How well such ‘messaging’ works in the minds of those subjected to such ‘conditioning’ via their televisions is a matter of opinion,
I would this far out from November 2014 dare suggest that National’s chances of a third term of Government will be reliant upon the whim of NZFirst who themselves are hardly guaranteed 5% of the vote in 2014…
Pretty much – like their graph of poll results.
All through 2010/2011Reid put National at well above 50%. But for me the indicator of intentional bias is the chart itself – stops in feb 2013 as nats raise just above 50% on a slow decline since the election.
The last couple of results have been below 50%, haven’t they? Yet the chart on their website looks like they’re on an upswing. And the page has been like that for a while.
Lots of things different.
Shearer is lurching to the left to appease party activists (and keep his position) and is trying out a political civil union with a red headed Aussie.
The net effect of this you have Labour, Greens, Mana dancing around in the far left corner chasing the same votes.
This leaves the soft left and center voters drifting back into the Nats camp and keeping the Nats consistently high in the polls.
If Shearer wants to head further left that is fine. It is the same sex marriage with Norman that is killing Labour – every fruit loop pronouncement by Norman and Turei is seen as being automatically endorsed by Shearer.
This is scary for voters who are looking for economic stability and growth not a lurch to the luddite left.
Clark didn’t keep the Greens in a far and distant corner for no reason.
Careful. When the “far Left” win the election and the sky fails to fall on our heads, and in fact people start to prosper more (you must have heard that Labour-led governments always make a better job of the economy, according to the facts that is – debt down productivity up etc etc), they’ll start to say to themselves “this far Left business isn’t the hell Jimmie said it would be”.
And bang! Your bubble bursts and it’s empty. 😀
The same sentiments were made prior to 2008 & 2011 – didn’t affect the outcome.
2014 looks to be heading the same way as the left can’t acknowledge that their policies are irrelevant to the current world economic climate.
Voters will vote for parties that cut their cloth to economic reality – not a harking back to a perceived golden yester year or uncontrollable social spending.
This is what is shown in the polls and Shearer would be better off to present an alternative policy platform that reflects this.
The GFC was to political economics what 9-11 was to the military – terrorist outlook, a game changer that needs to be factored in by political parties.
Aaah the right, constantly trying to make the GFC into a war type conflict, if that is the case, where are the war criminals that allowed it to happen?
No, Jimmie. You don’t get to change the reasons people vote one way or another. People (for the most part) vote for the party they feel will leave them better off. That’s why NZPower is such a vote winner: it will leave the vast majority better off – and the boost to the economy will even lift dullards like you.
Oh, and reality check, Labour = lower public debt, so blithering about “cutting the cloth” or whatever witless excuse for austerity you’re pushing this week won’t help you.
National are shit economic managers and the lying Prime Minister is dead meat.
2008?
I think your mind is playing tricks on you.
The GFC was proof positive that mainstream economists have HFI WTF they’re talking about. Hell, the idiots couldn’t even predict excessive debt while it was happening in front of their eyes.
NFI
Yeah, yeah, typos happen.
😛
rarer when you type with two fingers in the air. 😀
Can you how spending more money on health, and keeping hospitals open is uncontrollable social spending?
What hospitals do you want to close?
Would you close hospitals to cut taxes?
What do you think of the US health system?
The ‘far left’, as you label the politics you fear, doesn’t ‘do’ parliamentary politics Jimmie. And last time I looked, the Greens, Labour and Mana were all making a tilt at being parliamentary representatives.
You are amusing, ”economic stability and growth”???, you mean the game of smoke and mirrors that the Member from Dipton is currently playing with the Government accounts is economic security,????, borrowing billions of dollars of monies in fiscal year 2011/2012 which will be spent into 2015/1016 is your view of ‘economic stability’,???
The only growth in the system is brought about by the earthquake recovery and the ongoing Auckland housing inflation which despite all the Member from Dipton’s weasel words is set to continue unabated and the blind among us have their heads buried in the sand over this National Governments ‘growth’ of an 80 odd billion dollar debt mountain…
LOL
All the changes that we’ve seen has come from the left. The conservatives want what was in the past.
It’s not the political-left that are the Luddites, it’s the political-right.
yes, that is what ‘conservatism’ is about. Lord, we need new stripped nuts!
Spot on, its all about keeping people out of the booths in 2014, a tactic that allowed them a very narrow victory in 2011 using a cup of tea and plenty of consistent MSM themes run by granny, tvnz and joyces former employ mediawonks radio live and tv3.
Time to question the up-until-now unquestioned assumption that nationalising the power is electoral gold?
http://www.reidresearch.co.nz/TV3+POLL+RESULTS.html
Gormless you missed the results when that specific question was asked.
According to Paddy Gower when asked “Do you support the Labour/Greens policy to reform the power market?” a clear majority, 54 percent, said yes. Thirty-nine percent said no. The rest didn’t know.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Poll-Labour-Greens-close-gap-on-National/tabid/1607/articleID/299191/Default.aspx#ixzz2UQssagj6
Well, it won’t matter if they never get elected.
But it will if they do. What is your point exactly?
My point, exactly, is that people do not like Labour and, therefore, will not vote for them.
I see you’ve ignored the result I’ve referenced below that nearly a third of National supporters think NZ power is a good idea.
But what does that matter, Clockie if, as a result, this will not induce them to vote for the Labour Party?
You’re absolutely right. The Left will implement the policy only after winning the election.
Early days. See how it plays out. Getting all excited or despondent about polls in the middle of an electoral cycle is a fools game. But you asked a rhetorical question above: “Time to question the up-until-now unquestioned assumption that nationalising the power is electoral gold? “, in reply to which I pointed out that nearly a third of Nationals own supporters thought that, actually, NZ Power is electoral gold..
Oh and by the way Gormless I left a reply on OM26/5 re your comment about Act and Mana.
“My point, exactly, is that people do not like Labour and, therefore, will not vote for them.”
And some people do like Labour, and do vote for them. What was your point again?
So isn’t that a damnation on Shearer that voters still prefer National despite supporting Shearer’s flagship policy?
Seen the Pundit poll of polls? Familiar with the concept of a “trend”?
Keep up the smug confidence Toryboys, but get ready to spend election night sobbing in a corner.
Here is a lift from Gowers commentary on the poll you reference.
Asked “Do you support the Labour/Greens policy to reform the power market?” a clear majority, 54 percent, said yes. Thirty-nine percent said no. The rest didn’t know.
But out of National voters, 29 percent said yes, supporting the Opposition’s policy.
“Shearer, Shearer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBQf7prs9EM
Nice
How about this one
That works…
Or this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViizSNV3fgs
Empty self out
“Culture sucks down words
Itemise loathing and feed yourself smiles
Organise your safe tribal war
Hurt maim kill and enslave the ghetto.”
Beautiful song marty.
So true mate one of my favorites.
“Life lies a slow suicide
Orthodox dreams symbolic myths
From feudal serf to spender
This wonderful world of purchase power”.
So with these silly house value increases that are going on……
where has all the extra money come from to pay for this?
… let’s say 500,000 houses in Auckland alone, average value $500,000, equals $250,000,000,000 (that’s $250billion). And let’s say they have increased 10% in value = $2.5billion.
Where has that $2.5 billion come from?
oops, me numbers are a bit up the buhai…
10% increase in value equals $25 billion (not 2.5). Let’s say 10% of houses sell each year. That equals $2.5 billion extra – where has all of that come from?
It’s mostly all mortgage debt created money. The amount of money released into the community is the same as the debt generated in the same instant. Of course, that debt starts accumulating interest immediately…basically we have a monetary system that our economy can never keep up with, and which we have to continuously grow just to keep still.
Yep. The world’s largest ponzi scheme.
If it is unsustainable, which it is, then where and when will it all end? And what happens to our savings? And what happens to our assets?
And why do our politicians never ever address this fatal flaw in our system, driving itself straight off the cliff?
Just keep kicking that can down the road…with more money printing, bail outs, austerity for the poor, monetizing of debt, raising debt ceilings, treating debt as collateral you can loan more against, etc
The banks simply print it then lend it to you, as they hold an asset against it, your house is collateral.
Of-course they can only now lend out 5 times the money they have on deposit, so they must attract deposits, increasing the amount of money in circulation will work as people will cash up assets and put money in the bank later in life, around and around it goes, what a scam.
Almost…my understanding is that they can lend as much as they want NOW, but have to go out and find the reserves required by regulations to sustain that lending within a month or two.
Hence occasionally you get the banks putting up posters saying Limited time only 90 days term deposits special rates!!! Because they are meeting some short term reserves shortfall.
The Reserve Bank is the lender of Last Resort.
What this means in practical terms is that if the private banks are short then the reserves are made up by the RB. That’s what the Overnight Rate (OCR) is all about. The banks will never be short on reserves ergo there is no limit to their lending.
Because anything with QE2 in it is suspect:
So national party fixer Simon Lusk in yestrerdays SST has only just discovered the sort of people he is dealing with.
Lowbrow atavistic thugs. People with no ethcis, morals, principles or scruples.
Nobodies with money who want to be somebody.
People who need money to beat up on others.
They would prefer it if the law allowed them free reign with no comebacks but fortunately we live in a society governed by the rule of law.
Lusks cronies whaleoil and feeder hav self evident personality disorders such as avarice, gluttony and projecting their own foul desires on to others.
Its time to get shot of them and their party and the sooner the better.
hookie, wheres da missing link. 😉
UK “6 hours of gas left in the country” shortage was artificial: corporates held back gas inventories and let prices double
Who would’ve thought eh.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/24/energy-suppliers-held-back-gas-uk
No, surely not.
The free market is always self-correcting and equilibrialising. Isn’t it?
Or is this yet another example of free market deregulation religious orthodoxy being completely blown apart?
Like Pike River, dairy farming, the NZX, housing, leaky housing, financial system, … what else is left?
It’s capitalism producing monopolies and oligopolies and cartels that remove power from the people and put it in private hands.
More proof that Labour is right-wing:
Pretty sure I’ve heard similar from National and National supporters as well, definitely heard it from Dunne.
FFS. Basically it’s Labour and National in lockstep. Same perspective, same framing, same assumptions.
Put dear DS up on a roof with a paintbrush and let him find out what real work is about. And make it a beneficiaries house he is painting but first clean the rust and old paint off by hand and brush, not high pressure water, and then he will have personally done some real good work in this world. The UN stuff was mainly for m-t-a (more than adequate) pay.
I think there is something wrong with your brain, Draco.
Thinking that the first place, the first opportunity, for children to be feed is at home during breakfast time is a right-wing position? Wow.
I agree.
Or at least I would if your comment bore any relation whatsoever to what Draco quoted.
Dear David Shearer
You should have said “there may be dead beat parents out there but FFS we are talking about 5 and 6 year old kids. We owe it to them to make sure they have enough food to at least be able to get an education at school. And if they are not being fed at home then we will get their home situation checked out. But how could you refuse to feed a 6 year old kid? What have they done to deserve this?”
Triangulating on bigots will not work Labour.
Must…convert…National voters…must…
On a more serious note, as lprent has alluded to…every soft Nat voter you gain this way, you’ll get a hardcore Labour voter stay at home or go to Greens/Mana.
It’s the leaking sieve strategy of electoral math.
Len Brown is a fucking cunt !
[lprent: make a point to explain the abuse. Otherwise I tend to start making a moderators point about pointless abuse. ]
go away
Credit where credit is due:
Listening to RNZ radio political spot this morning. Matthew Hooton expounded, clearly and succinctly, the concerns expressed by many here re-the new GCSB legislation. He is now on record calling for an independent investigation as per that requested by Labour and the Greens.
Thanks Anne, but I don’t think I articulated it very well. Prefer this summary of the issues: http://www.nbr.co.nz/report
Anne I do hope you are right in this, and that it wasn’t a mistake of communication because of his de-reticulated articulation.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8719374/Couples-800-debt-spirals-into-70-000
Money lenders are exactly like drug dealers – get people hooked and when they can’t keep up move in and take all their shit.
They use the exact same strategy writ large on whole countries these days.
Yep, and with conservatives in power the country laps up the debt.
What has happened to RNZ’s website?
Looking more like an MSM website…. curious.
‘choo not pleased with the ‘new look’ karol?
I’m pleased with the access to content. The bright colours are a bit hard on my eyes – a bit tacky looking on my monitor.
I found their old website hard to navigate and confusing, and I’m a long-time netizen. I guess there’s a reason MSM websites look the way they do – because it’s functional.
Yes. The navigation has improved on the new look site. I also like their bit on transparency about audience research.
hmmm, I think it’s less accessible, but maybe I was just used to the old site. To get to today’s Nine to Noon audio takes how many clicks? And having to manualy search through a whole page of programmes A to Z is pretty daft.
Why are they not using drop down menus?
Their search engine still sucks majorly.
Don’t mind the actual look though 🙂
Drop down menus (especially hover-over ones) suck for touch-based devices.
Do you mean the drop down is not user friendly, or that they get in the way (so you can’t just ignore them)?
I thought ipads, phones etc accessed different versions of websites.
“I thought ipads, phones etc accessed different versions of websites.”
Only if the website designer has specifically made alternative versions of their websites (many cut-down ‘automatic’ mobile sites are terrible and people prefer to use the full site). This can add quite a bit of expense. It’s easier just to design a site that is mobile-friendly up-front and then not have the added expense of having to make a whole different one for mobile.
This site works fine on a iPad and my nexus7 in normal mode. But it is bloody difficult to make it work on any phone smaller than those oversized samsungs. I think that currently for anything with high text content, you do need a two modes.
Yes I find it difficult to use on my wee phone – so I stick to the laptop where the recent comments show.
Yeah. Drop down menu are kind of dead in a touch based world. I get irritated with the ones in the back end of WordPress.
But does that mean you can just ignore them? Or do they get in the way?
If the site is designed so that you *must* use the drop-down menus to do anything, then it basically becomes unusable with a touch-screen device.
If the drop-down menus simply speed things up, then if you can’t use them, you must logically do things the ‘slow way’ instead – which is irritating.
They should use sphinx search. That really works well for search…
‘Re-imaging’.
Nothing wrong with the old format – actually I preferred it. And the redevelopment was necessary (not) at a time when they’re tight on funds.
Sometimes I wonder who is running the place these days.
Once again the polls have shown, that parties that move to far from the centre will lose every election, labour and the greens are digging their own grave by playing the type of politics that they have over the past few months.
National must be grinning ear to ear.
you wish.
“Once again the polls have shown, that parties that move to far from the centre will lose every election,”
How do you explain the current government then?
This is the most centred National government there has been in my life time. Labour and the greens are moving more to the left every day. They are making the same mistake the gop did in the usa election, trying to appeal to the extremists.
They should leave all extremist crap to united and act and TeMana.
This is the most centred National government there has been in my life time.
IDIOT.
The guys an emotional infant, so maybe he’s speaking the truth.
FIFY
Why do I get the feeling, on every single Brett Dale post, that he knows nothing about ANYTHING?
cos you are discerning Morrissey
“pay rates rising slower than a year ago, job growth still down” etc etc
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8722531/Wages-up-job-down-growth-still-down
THE NEXT CANDIDATE for King Johnkey’s “Fuck you, I do what I want” dictatorial legislation?
Can they resist the urge to simply validate unlawful Legal Aid practises with a “nga nga nga can’t take me to court” act under urgency? Is anyone dumb enough to take bets on that?
Nope, and nope.
Justice Tipping – 26 years as a judge of the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court. Look at what he had to say about this government’s fucking around with legal aid:
http://my.lawsociety.org.nz/news/justice-andrew-tippings-final-sitting-speech
TV3 poll shows that 66% of National supporters are in favour of the Mana Movement precipitated Food for Kids programme the government is introducing, ShonKey Python cares to deny that Cabinet was split over the move. But good on that 66%.
34% of National Party supporters are OPPOSED ON PRINCIPLE.
Shonkey Python – “I can understand………that point of view” – or words to that effect.
Say that again – opposed to feeding starving kids – ON PRINCIPLE !
Karma, karma, karma, please, please, please deal to those bastards and their FUCKING PRINCIPLES in the cruellest fashion !
I wonder how many of the 34% delight in turning up at church on Sunday for their weekly wank ?
Overall, 74% say yes to Breakfast in Schools.
meanwhile, we have a massive crisis with suicide rates, youth suicide rate highest in the developed world.- Peter Dunne.
and, with the dollar climbing against the Aussie, our export sector relatively weak (Ganesh Nana) and interest rates on the rise to 7%…
they better be on their knees.
as OAK reminds us, “careful what you wish for”. 😎
curiously, the same percentage 26% that were opposed to this is also the same percentage 26% that were opposed to legalising marijuana in that tv3 Vote programme last week.
Are these the same people?
Is it a solid immoveable core, sitting on their couch shaking their monstrous head saying “nope, not listening, don’t care, you’re wrong, I know, go away and get a real job.”
Don’t forget the ’10 people’ ending their lives every day part, wonder why?
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1305/S00150/unemployed-kiwi-youth-rate-no-cause-for-celebration.htm
Yes North I agree – they have principles all right the bastards – the principle of moaning when something affects them otherwise everyone else can just fuck off.
In short, fuckwits, hardheads, no brains, “done well” white trash, scum really notwithstanding their ludicrous pretensions to style and class.
I so well recall a glowing sense of satisfaction, a sense that it was all so poetic, a sense that it was so just, when the Ceaucescus got theirs.
And this 34% are the societal apes who mouth cruelly against beneficiaries, denying this “underclass” human status. History has their travel well mapped.