Open mike 28/02/2019

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, February 28th, 2019 - 152 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

152 comments on “Open mike 28/02/2019”

  1. marty mars 1
    28 February 2019 at 7:20 am

    how come this shit still stands?

    metaphorically speaking of course cos I know everyone’s busy. This is the latest in a long line of these type of comments over months.

    “Tamati Tautuhi 2.1.1.1
    27 February 2019 at 8:27 pm
    Korean m8 all the gooks look the same anyway.

    You aren’t allowed to bash Chinese on this RWNJ’s will go AWOL.”

    “Tamati Tautuhi 2.1.1.1.1.1
    27 February 2019 at 9:51 pm
    James you whinging again like that other faggot Gosman, harden up you poof.”

    Is this our Standard community?

    • vto 1.1
      28 February 2019 at 7:32 am

      That is a sorry state marty mars I agree …

      I think it is worth letting this through to see the poorly types who still inhabit our fair lands, so they can be identified and winkled out…

      … which is slowly happening. Unfortunately, these are generational changes and take time. Remember, if I have it right, when you born (early 1960’s?) WWII had only just finished, so for our elders of that time the world was an entirely different place than it is today with respect to respect for diversity and the like. The poorly types of this generation will pass shortly.

    • Sacha 1.2
      28 February 2019 at 7:32 am

      Yep, that was disgusting to stumble across last night. Abusive comments like those stop other people being here.

      Moderators need to be prompt and consistent about making clear it is not ok. The standards we set are what we walk past.

      • marty mars 1.2.1
        28 February 2019 at 7:41 am

        It is indeed a shock to come across vile comments like that.

        • Sam 1.2.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 7:56 am

          Pfft, at the Burswood casino 6 white guys was getting bashed by 4 islander security. How about that.

        • Robert Guyton 1.2.1.2
          28 February 2019 at 7:56 am

          And here they are again today, on display. hung up on the line for another airing. Could the issue have been discussed without flapping the offending articles about, or, heaven forbid, let go to blow away on the breezes of time?

          • marty mars 1.2.1.2.1
            28 February 2019 at 8:13 am

            No point hiding it. Bit like outing naughty MPs eh.

          • The Al1en 1.2.1.2.2
            28 February 2019 at 8:23 am

            So you’re saying MM shouldn’t be asking for moderation for someone whose repeatedly using hate speech on here, and that he should just let it go and forget about it?

            That sort of attitude blew away on the breezes of time a long time ago. Now days we call out our racists and homophobes.

            Well done MM for fronting this on all our behalf.

            • James 1.2.1.2.2.1
              28 February 2019 at 8:30 am

              “Now days we call out our racists and homophobes.”

              Indeed we should.

              I pointed this out to muttonbird who was quite happy to ignore it because it was pointed at me

              His reply “meh”

              Ignoring it make them enablers of racism and homophobia at best and supporters at worse.

            • Robert Guyton 1.2.1.2.2.2
              28 February 2019 at 8:50 am

              The Al1en – “So you’re saying…”
              Nope. I’m saying re-presenting the offensive article is unnecessary and multiplies the effect of it’s original use. By all means call out the behaviour, though the mods are good at dealing with such without provocation, when they have the time.

            • Gabby 1.2.1.2.2.3
              28 February 2019 at 10:16 am

              You’re not tamtam then Al0on?

            • Ankerrawshark 1.2.1.2.2.4
              28 February 2019 at 11:36 am

              Yes well done MM

            • greywarshark 1.2.1.2.2.5
              28 February 2019 at 1:59 pm

              TA
              Empty talk concocting iterations of something to continually be scandalised by – like the looped vids of kittens jumping at an image of themselves in a mirror. Try to do better and stick to schtum when you have something worthless in mind. We try to entertain but really are thinking about politics for the future, if we have one.

              • The Al1en …
                28 February 2019 at 5:13 pm

                Funk the videos of kittens, if you think racism and homophobia is something you do for entertainment, and a left wing forum is the place to express it while expecting no one to be rightfully offended, then it really is a problem you have to be owning up to and seeking assistance to overcome.

                Talk about not being able to read the room.

          • James 1.2.1.2.3
            28 February 2019 at 8:27 am

            Would you just walk on by if someone was abusing someone like that in the street ?

            People like this need to be called out.

            • Sam 1.2.1.2.3.1
              28 February 2019 at 8:39 am

              Being nice all day is super difficult because there’s so much misery in the world. Let a bit in, it will consume you. Best to just pay the taxes and be done with it.

            • Ankerrawshark 1.2.1.2.3.2
              28 February 2019 at 11:39 am

              James I agree. People need to be called out. Well said

    • Adrian Thornton 1.3
      28 February 2019 at 8:16 am

      Yeh and Ed get a life time ban…go figure.

      [Disputing moderation. Banned for the rest of the month. TRP]

      • Drowsy M. Kram 1.3.1
        28 February 2019 at 12:28 pm

        Adrian Thornton’s been banned “for the rest of the month“. Does that mean he’ll be allowed back tomorrow?

        Thinking of taking a holiday.

      • Siobhan 1.3.2
        28 February 2019 at 12:29 pm

        Just found Adrian in the staff room muttering away…sounded like ” Flip you melon farmer” or something. Pretty sure he was talking about ‘TRP’.

        Now he’s accusing me of not wanting to get banned.

        I can get banned if I want to.

        Flip him.

    • James 1.4
      28 February 2019 at 8:25 am

      You missed him calling farrar a “faggot” as well.

      Also interesting how people like muttonbird are fine with abuse like that if it’s pointed at someone they don’t like.

      I know that the mods are busy – but this is the kind of thing that needs to be addressed.

      • Charlie 1.4.1
        28 February 2019 at 10:29 am

        Jimmy, you need to address the size of your underwear. I suspect they are a quite a few sizes on the small side. Over tight elastic in that region can cause all sorts of physical and mental stress. One known symptom is RWS (repetitive whinging syndrome)

        ffs

    • te reo putake 1.5
      28 February 2019 at 8:31 am

      Thanks, Marty. I’ll sort it out.

      And a quick message to those bleating that it wasn’t moderated at the time: this is a volunteer run site. The few of us that do moderation cannot be expected to read every comment, let alone do so live as they come in. Particularly so late at night.

      So, if comments like these get missed, members of the TS community can raise it as marty has done (preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) or email the site and the offending behaviour will be addressed.

      *Just a link to the original comment and a request for a mod to have a look should be enough.

      • James 1.5.1
        28 February 2019 at 8:43 am

        Not sure if people were bleeting as such. Just trying to make sure it got looked at when you were back in here.

        I hope we all appreciate that you have lives outside of the standard.

        Anyway – thank you for addressing.

      • Robert Guyton 1.5.2
        28 February 2019 at 8:44 am

        “(preferably without copying the offensive comment in full, because that makes it worse*) ”
        That’s the aspect I support. James uses this as a weapon; writing an offending word, repeatedly, and railing against its use. That’s so low brow it’s a moustache (could’ve said something else, didn’t).

        • James 1.5.2.1
          28 February 2019 at 8:49 am

          Perhaps is people had issue with the original comment then people wouldn’t make comments like that in the first place – then there is nothing to repeat.

          Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.

          Also read the thread last night and see how few people called him out on it.

          That’s says a lot.

          • Robert Guyton 1.5.2.1.1
            28 February 2019 at 8:54 am

            For some, walking on past is the best option. For some, picking up the offensive goop, running around poking it under other people’s noses, is their preferred option. You choose the latter, failing to realise you’re a poop-spreader.

            • James 1.5.2.1.1.1
              28 February 2019 at 9:04 am

              And you fail to understand that by walking pass you are accepting and enabling racist and homophobic comments.

              You are setting that that is an acceptable standard.

              It might be ok in your home – but it’s not in mine.

              • Robert Guyton …
                28 February 2019 at 9:09 am

                Walking past is not accepting, James, especially when you can see that others are attending to the issue. You seem always to jump in, even when the pool is full and delight in waving the offending article around with seeming glee. In some instances, you repeat the upsetting term or word over and over and over, rolling it around on your tongue, as if it gives you pleasure. Just saying’.

            • greywarshark 1.5.2.1.1.2
              28 February 2019 at 9:49 am

              Oh so truth-telling Robert.

          • Drowsy M. Kram 1.5.2.1.2
            28 February 2019 at 2:13 pm

            James’ racism and homophobia concerns do him credit. Has he also been working on his misogyny?

            Some context – on 1 December 2018, in Open Mike @11.1.1, our James made this observation about Anna Rose, Australian Geographic Conservationist of the Year (2014):

            “She sounds boring as all fuck. I wouldn’t have her at one of my bbqs.”

            “Better than just walking on past and ignoring it.” – James; look to your sins.

            Open Mike 01/12/2018

            • James 1.5.2.1.2.1
              28 February 2019 at 10:14 pm

              I call someone boring and you find that as offensive as racist and homophobic abuse?

              How snowflakish

              • Drowsy M. Kram …
                1 March 2019 at 11:39 am

                James, if you had simply said that you found Anna Rose to be boring, then IMO that would have been OK; your problem, but OK.

                Do you have a comprehension problem? Do you genuinely not understand why I found your comment offensive? You’re able to identify and document the offensive comments made by some others on this site, so why the blindspot?

                • James …
                  1 March 2019 at 7:13 pm

                  Hey. If you think this is the same as calling people faggots, poofs and gooks then you are a very sad person.

                  • Muttonbird …
                    1 March 2019 at 7:43 pm

                    Oh look, it’s the boy who cried wolf.

                    • James …
                      1 March 2019 at 9:06 pm

                      And his stalker the racist homophobic

                    • Drowsy M. Kram …
                      1 March 2019 at 9:35 pm

                      I’m lost – who is James calling ‘racist’ and ‘homophobic’ now?

                    • Muttonbird …
                      1 March 2019 at 9:43 pm

                      No one. James is the one flinging accusations around.

                      James does fit the racist, sexist, homophobe demographic though. Old, white, immigrant male.

                      But he pretends not to be.

                  • Drowsy M. Kram …
                    1 March 2019 at 9:22 pm

                    James, I think what you said about Anna Rose indicates that you are indeed a very sad person. And I’m sad about that.

                    James, I asked you three questions. You failed to answer any of them, and you are 100% responsible for that failure.

                    James, if you keep this up, I may be inclined to remind you of some more of your self-incriminating smears on this site. But I’d rather not, unless you insist/persist.

                    • James …
                      1 March 2019 at 11:00 pm

                      You’re not worth answering snowflake.

                    • Muttonbird …
                      1 March 2019 at 11:07 pm

                      You’re not worth answering snowflake.

                      Says the stale pale male who screamed and screamed because someone said old white man.

                    • Drowsy M. Kram …
                      2 March 2019 at 12:33 am

                      I’m a snowflake!?? James, you are literally unreal! And rather fond of using ‘snowflake’ to dodge simple questions.

                      I’m not equating misogyny with racism or homophobia, I’m simply saying that I found your casual comment about Anna Rose offensive. Surely even you can see that your comment is consistent with a misogynistic mindset. Only a misogynist wouldn’t get that.

                      James, no-one is perfect. Policing racist and homophobic comments on The Standard might be one route to self-improvement, but I respectfully suggest that you consider alternatives – each of us has only so much time.

      • marty mars 1.5.3
        28 February 2019 at 9:13 am

        Thanks. Sorry for reproducing – feel free to adjust my original comment.

    • mauī 1.6
      28 February 2019 at 9:07 am

      Tamati is a good man who cares about his country. His comments reflect some of the feeling of the white, heterosexual, working class male. These are human feelings and I don’t think we can tell humans that they are not allowed to feel like this, because that won’t work in the end anyway.

      The deeper issue at the heart of Thomas’s comment is that globalism, high immigration and the ensuing lower wages has failed the country. No wonder Trump got traction.

      • Sacha 1.6.1
        28 February 2019 at 9:20 am

        Abusing whole groups of people is not the same as having feelings. Get off the grass. And Chump was elected by culturally insecure tradies, not poor workers.

      • marty mars 1.6.2
        28 February 2019 at 10:06 am

        I hope things get better for you.

        • greywarshark 1.6.2.1
          28 February 2019 at 2:09 pm

          A fast count for No.1s amounts to 50. Started off by the complaint about language. Talk about stirring the muddy bottom of the pond. All the weeds rise to the top (myself among them). Meanwhile the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Perhaps draw attention to bad behaviour with Nos. and speak in tongues so the hoi polloi won’t understand. Marty mars – there must be a rude word in Maori – we could say ‘Mod – ‘rude word in Maori’ No. …. Name of thread date time.

          And save fifty comments like dead leaves that need composting.

      • James 1.6.3
        28 February 2019 at 10:15 pm

        His feelings represent his views only – don’t place his hate speech onto others.

  2. Sacha 2
    28 February 2019 at 7:40 am

    For anyone who doubted why this offence needed to be recognised separately: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12207929

    “Police have charged almost five people a day with strangling or suffocating their partners since a new family violence law came into force criminalising such acts in December.”

    • joe90 2.1
      28 February 2019 at 8:15 am

      John Mark Tanner and Paul Pounamu Tainui; two good reasons for why we should consider never releasing men who murder their intimate partners.

      .

      For two weeks he fronted up to police, the media and the public to deny any knowledge of his girlfriend’s whereabouts.

      John Tanner, with his long hair and pimples, played the concerned boyfriend and insisted that he last saw girlfriend Rachel McLean at the railway station in Oxford, where the 19-year-old was a student.

      But behind the elaborate stories he concocted for Police was a sinister truth – Tanner, 22, had strangled Rachel and hidden her body under the floorboards of her flat.

      […]

      Tanner, now 49, had violently assaulted his partner over a period of six months last year.

      In the first incident, the couple were staying at a motel in Whanganui central when Tanner became upset with the woman and they argued. She was brushing her teeth and he walked up behind her, dragged her out of the bathroom and threw her on the bed.

      He jumped on her and put his hands across her neck, restricting her breathing.

      In another incident, when the woman told Tanner she was leaving him he threatened to kill her.

      The worst of the violence happened when they argued at Tanner’s home in rural Pauri Road on the outskirts of Whanganui.

      Tanner held his partner down by the wrists and straddled her. He yelled at her to tell him about her ex-partner and then punched her in the head. She suffered a graze and bruising.

      The woman left the house and went to a motel. She sent Tanner a text that the relationship was over but he showed up and they argued. She cowered on the bed and he pulled her clothes off saying he wanted sex.

      The Crown says the woman was trying to get away and fell to the ground, where Tanner punched her several times around the head.

      She started to cry and Tanner said, “look what you made me do’”.

      https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/sunday-feature-kiwi-murdered-girlfriend-in-uk-now-nz-jail-after-new-assaults-v1?variant=tb_v_1

  3. Nic the NZer 3
    28 February 2019 at 8:11 am

    Two detailed posts on the ongoing scam at the core of neo-liberal economic policy.

    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=41690

    http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=41671

    This describes the reason NZ keeps a portion of the available workforce unemployed at all times (which in turn helps create a low wage sector). When it gets serious this will be one of the main ways the Green New Deal proposals are undermined in the US.

    • Sam 3.1
      28 February 2019 at 8:26 am

      How deep is your vision or purpose?

      A shallow one would be where you get lambos and get to party every day.
      A deep one would be where you solve some currently intractable problem affecting the entire world.

      The longer it takes to make a deal, the longer it takes to recover, the greater the required stimulus.

    • Gosman 3.2
      28 February 2019 at 9:00 am

      Except we have a lower unemployment rate that most other countries and certainly lower than nations who have far more left wing economic policies than we do (e.g. France).

      • Sam 3.2.1
        28 February 2019 at 9:09 am

        Just depends what is being stimulated. If it’s for productive purposes then prices will adjust. But if it’s just for importing skilled labour then duh.

        • Gosman 3.2.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 9:13 am

          You are missing the point. Most European nations have a far less ‘neoliberal’ economic policy setting than we do. Nations such as France and Spain and Italy all have massive State intervention either directly (Through State ownership of industry) or indirectly through subsidies and regulation. This is the opposite of Neoliberal policy. It is these nations that have the higher rates of unemployment than we do. If neoliberal economic ideas need a minimum level of unemployment to maintain low inflation how come countries that don’t have as neoliberal policies as us have higher unemployment?

          • Sam 3.2.1.1.1
            28 February 2019 at 9:16 am

            Meh. When you don’t have a price on pollution and you start paying polluters you know you’re on the wrong tram.

            • Gosman 3.2.1.1.1.1
              28 February 2019 at 9:20 am

              What???

              Sometimes I think you are on a different planet. What does that got to do with Nic the NZer’s view that Neoliberalism requires a level of unemployment ?

              • Sam …
                28 February 2019 at 9:31 am

                Marco economics can take a life time to learn. It’s the Reserve Banks full time job to manage, the Reserve Bank Govenor has probably forgotten more than I know about macro stuff.

                So, my personal opinion, based on just enough economics training to be dangerous, is “it depends.” You need to look at everything, do econometric studies, make carful observations and basically stay on your toes when making any free hand inflation calculation. And you’ll need the Reserve Bank. There are times for low inflation, sometimes higher inflation, times where you should flirt with deflation, and there is no simple rule for which is which. Each with its own iterations and byproducts, people who try to tell the Reserve Bank what to do without understanding the issues or research into the topic are dumbasses who do not know what they do not know.

                • Gosman …
                  28 February 2019 at 9:43 am

                  Wtf is Marco economics???

                  Do you mean Macroeconomics? If so, then it is not the Reserve Banks full time job to manage. The RBNZ manages monetary policy which is just one element of Macroeconomics. The RBNZ also manages the regulation of financial institutions which is almost microeconomics so it isn’t just involved in the macro side.

                  • Sam …
                    28 February 2019 at 9:47 am

                    If you want to be an ass about it. What’s micro economics got to do with most of fucken Europe. You nutter.

                    • Gosman …
                      28 February 2019 at 9:52 am

                      Do you have comprehension issues? You just tried to argue that the Reserve bank full time job is managing Marco economics (sic). I pointed out that is a massive over simplification.

                    • Sam …
                      28 February 2019 at 10:49 am

                      Sure, if you’re objective is to make people take out risky loans the reserve bank could just be a number for low investment IQ individuals to borrow against. I mean what ever.

                  • Nic the NZer …
                    28 February 2019 at 11:12 am

                    The only reason for the Reserve Bank to influence micro economic settings is for their effects on the macro economy. This is very obvious and should hardly need to be explained.

          • Nic the NZer 3.2.1.1.2
            28 February 2019 at 11:27 am

            Though its not accepted by mainstream modeling (which chooses to believe the economy is in equilibrium or rapidly approaching such a state), unless the state actively suppliments deficient demand then the unemployment rate will be higher than necessary at most times. This happens regardless of most economic policy settings.

            As i suggested a large part of the impact of this on inflation is fictional.

      • Nic the NZer 3.2.2
        28 February 2019 at 10:57 am

        Stick to the topic. The reserve bank today estimates the NAIRU is higher than the unemployment rate. The implication of this is that they will suggest contractionary economic policy in NZ while the unemployment rate could still be reduced. This policy advice is apparently based completely on fiction.

        • Gosman 3.2.2.1
          28 February 2019 at 11:09 am

          Yeah sure they will.

          • Sam 3.2.2.1.1
            28 February 2019 at 5:44 pm

            Government runs a surplus, takes money out of circulation. Reserve bank pumps money back in. How difficult is that to understand?

            • Nic the NZer 3.2.2.1.1.1
              1 March 2019 at 7:28 am

              That is not correct, the reserve bank controls interest rates for money but does not do the spending (which adds income) that treasury does. Monetary policy is relatively very weak at increasing circulation as to take effect it requires an investor.

              • Sam …
                1 March 2019 at 7:38 am

                What about commercial banks? They got to get there money from some where at a certain rate then pass it on to customers at a higher rate, surley.

                • Nic the NZer …
                  1 March 2019 at 8:17 am

                  Yes, via lending. Just as the reserve bank does. Prof Randy Ray once summed it up for me with a brilliantly terse comment (in the US context), the Fed lends, treasury spends.

                  Also note, commercial banks lending processes create bank deposit money (but not the reserve money they make final payments in) in the process.

                  • Sam …
                    1 March 2019 at 8:19 am

                    My wallet doesn’t have notes in it which is PROVE.

                    • Nic the NZer …
                      1 March 2019 at 8:40 am

                      Proof of what?

                    • Sam …
                      1 March 2019 at 8:42 am

                      Retail bows to reserve bank

                    • Nic the NZer []
                      1 March 2019 at 8:54 am

                      Most people spend according to their income, not the interest rate on their credit. You may be an exception. Businesses tend to invest based on the anticipated income from sales on the same basis.

                      Monetary policy does have some effect however.

                    • Sam …
                      1 March 2019 at 9:01 am

                      Pretty sure Adrian Orr is a little iffy about more long term bond buying while the NZX and wider economy is under reconstruction.

      • cleangreen 3.2.3
        28 February 2019 at 2:20 pm

        Trouble is that in NZ drugs are now available everywhere.

        So many are under ‘drug induced anger and rage now.’

        I see this on our roads when driving now, as no-one has any patience or consideration any more.

        Police must take control out there.

        https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/02/watch-horrifying-footage-of-reckless-near-miss-involving-three-large-trucks.html

  4. Adrian Thornton 4
    28 February 2019 at 8:21 am

    Here is a very good interview with Larry Wilkerson on the situation Venezuela for anyone who cares…

    “Trump promises “democracy and freedom” to Venezuela, delivered by Elliott Abrams who brought you illegal wars, coups, and support for dictatorships; and Mike Pompeo and VP Pence, both with deep ties to the Koch brothers who need Venezuelan heavy crude to feed their Texas refinery – Col. Larry Wilkerson joins TRNN’s Paul Jay”

    • Gosman 4.1
      28 February 2019 at 8:52 am

      If they NEED the Venezuelan oil why have they made it harder for them to actually get it? that makes no sense. It would have been much better for them to continue to buy oil (40% of the total oil exports of Venezuela) from the country. You aren’t thinking this through really.

  5. Adrian Thornton 5
    28 February 2019 at 8:28 am

    Sorry to just put up links, but I gotta get some work done, any way here is a really excellent piece that is well worth the time to read on propaganda and democracy from the ever reliable Media Lens….

    ‘We Don’t Do Propaganda’
    Media Lens
    27February2019
    http://medialens.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=896:we-don-t-do-propaganda&catid=57:alerts-2019&Itemid=252

  6. Gosman 6
    28 February 2019 at 8:51 am

    I think the comments by a number of people in the Daily Review yesterday evening should put paid to any derision at the comments on other blogs being “The sewer” in comparison to here.

  7. Observer Tokoroa 7
    28 February 2019 at 9:23 am

    The National Cruelty

    At the very time New Zealand wage earners have been told by Sir John Key and Sir Billy English that they will never be able to afford a home again, Simon Bridges is promising Tax Cuts to Wealthy people at the next Election.

    This is National trampling mercilessly on the people of New Zealand ! This is so cruel !. So wicked ! so Pagan!. So Rotten ! So God Dam Evil!

    It is the most Monstrous activity of the Nationals ever undertaken in this Country or in any other Democracy. Only done by Roger Douglas, John Key, Billy English, and in future by Simon Bridges.

    Not only that, the Wage earners of New Zealand can barely afford Rentals; or Food.

    They certainly cannot afford Heating. It is as organised by National Corruption: J.Key, B.English, Mrs P.Bennett, Simon Bridges.

    Therefore, Wage Earners must find ways to mercilessly Trample on National. John Key, Billy English and Simon Bridges. Wage Earners must trample on the Wealth of the Wealthy who have raped them so savagely and mercilessly. Their families, their assets, their future – turned into poverty as they have turned workers.

    Further, the wage earners must mercilessly Trample on the Media – TV and Press. To stop the low IQ splash around.

    The Present Government must keep an Eagle Eye on the Crime of National and the Wealthy.

    The Banks, Police and the Military must be advised by Government that all their energies must be exercised in favour of the wage earners and the Poor.

    National has made no attempt to run a Democracy or Equality.

  8. joe90 8
    28 February 2019 at 9:25 am

    Reading about the terrible and needles negligence that took the lives of Haki Hiha, David Eparaima and Soul Raroa has elevated today’s misanthropy levels.

    Love and sympathy to their families and friends.

    Kia kaha.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12207842

    • patricia bremner 8.1
      28 February 2019 at 3:05 pm

      A very sad situation for the families and other members of their work place.
      So sorry for your plight, and hoping you have love and support at this sad time.

  9. soddenleaf 9
    28 February 2019 at 10:49 am

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/110897710/funding-shortfall-threatens-hamilton-to-auckland-passenger-rail-service

    Stuff hamilton, extend the rail to Huntley, there is already a go bus from hamilton, the base, to Huntley. no need for massive investment, build a viable route with actual passengers and then extend it. And why the base, I mean shopping center are designed to slow up people, make it hard to get in and out,just look at the current infrastructure for buses it’s a maze. Stop the northern connector on the te rapa, in fact all the buses, and then if they want rail, demand they create a striaght path from said buses to the rail station, or better just move it further out and wire up the buses without their input.

    If you want a service to Auckland then don’t vote for any who talks about it, its really easy, connect the 21 bus to a rail connection at Huntley, and cut out the base, its slows the all buses down.

    • Ad 9.1
      28 February 2019 at 10:54 am

      Waikato Regional Council have failed to put any significant money towards passenger rail for decades.

      They are fully rentier Nats looking for anything to stick it to Twyford.

      If passenger rail is something that the people of the Waikato area really want, then local government elections are up in a few months.

      If not, Twyford has to smack NZTA around the head until it does what the government policy wants.

      • Wayne 9.1.1
        28 February 2019 at 8:32 pm

        It is the Government that wants the rail service to Hamilton. If they want it they should pay for it. Compared to the Regional Council the Government has heaps of money.

        • Sam 9.1.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 8:38 pm

          The Central Government has heaps of $$$ from the road tax for “roads.” Double emphases on “roads.” Any self respecting National MP past or present would have even a cursory knowledge of Nationals Roads of Bling and Significance.

        • Ad 9.1.1.2
          28 February 2019 at 8:40 pm

          They should listen to Bill Birch.

          He’s currently preparing to build a small town next to the Papakura-Pukekohe rail line, which is about to get electrified.

          Bill Birch knew how to deal with an impending energy crisis.

          The Nats used to know how to plan at scale.

          They’re just lost.

        • soddenleaf 9.1.1.3
          1 March 2019 at 12:29 pm

          just saying. ignore hamilton for now. extend to Huntley, then local express bus 21 at peak hours.

  10. greywarshark 10
    28 February 2019 at 2:13 pm

    Yuk, when i was a kid I said a rude word and was made to clean my mouth out with soap. Double yuk.

    Anyone making up this stuff needs to swallow a whole bar. Watching it would leave a mark on the soul I think, the picture is bad enough.
    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/383584/momo-character-popping-up-in-youtube-videos-encouraging-kids-to-self-harm

    • cleangreen 10.1
      28 February 2019 at 2:25 pm

      greywarshark, well said there;

      yes the carbolic soup tasted the worst when the teacher shoved “sunlight soap’ into my mouth after swearing at 7yrs old.

      • greywarshark 10.1.1
        28 February 2019 at 2:35 pm

        Hey join the Sunlight club (Sunlight Soap that is). We didn’t need physical punishment in those days eh. Just a picture of a piece of Sunlight and it was yes miss, no miss.

  11. cleangreen 11
    28 February 2019 at 2:30 pm

    So much for trucks paying “their fair share of road damages eh?

    http://www.sef.org.nz/papers/STCC%20overview.pdf

    3.4 How are costs distributed by vehicle type?
    The costs generated by vehicles differ according to size, type of fuel used etc. because of
    the wear and tear they inflict on the network and the pollution they cause.

    When the total charges (excluding rates) paid by users are allocated across the vehicle
    fleet according to type we find that:
    • cars directly pay 64% of their costs,
    • trucks directly pay 56% of their costs
    • buses directly pay 68% of their costs.
    Although trucks were sub-divided into four categories in the STCC, data limitations
    prevented the full average cost analysis from further disagreggating the allocation for
    trucks according to specific truck weights and/or types.

    • greywarshark 11.1
      28 February 2019 at 2:38 pm

      So we won’t know if the logging trucks and behemoths that flit around the country are paying their rightful amount. But then do they calculate payment according to each set of wheels- that would go somewhere to accurately meeting real costs.

  13. greywarshark 13
    28 February 2019 at 2:50 pm

    Being in UK Labour sounds as if it was a lot more fun then than now the way that Julie Walters tells it.

  14. greywarshark 14
    28 February 2019 at 3:25 pm

    I’ve been reading about the author Gerald Kersh. He had a strange life apparently and being pronounced dead at four and sitting up in his coffin at the funeral made a spectre-cular start.

    A quote –
    “In proper men there is hidden a light which darkness makes visible. I believe that the hope of mankind is in this buried glory; the spirit which makes true men hang on to the throats of their enemies at the very rim of the grave.”
    ― Gerald Kersh, Brain and Ten Fingers (GoodReads)

    In his life he became a war correspondent and was buried alive during bombing raids on three separate occasions. I think he was exaggerating a bit. Perhaps two!

    He wrote more than a thousand magazine pieces and more than a thousand short stories. He died at 57 in 1968. There are no books listed under his name on TradeMe – which to tell the truth is now dominated by dumps of new remaindered books from NZ sites, Australia and the UK. Thank goodness the USA haven’t bothered with us. A lifetime of hard graft – he deserves to be remembered.
    I hope that can be said about us on The Standard. We have much to do. As they said on Mission Impossible – Your mission; should you decide to accept it.

    • Ad 15.1
      28 February 2019 at 4:18 pm

      Yes!
      Public sector work pipeline damaged. multiple factors.

      Private sector destabilising through bank credit constraints + public policy instability + really late in market cycle.

      More big failures to come.

      Tens of thousands affected in the industry.

      • Graeme 15.1.1
        28 February 2019 at 5:37 pm

        “+ really late in market cycle.

        More big failures to come.”

        Yeah, look out, it’s coming. We’re 10 years out from the last bust which is a very long run in the New Zealand, or really any context except maybe modern China or post war Japan. We’re usually lucky to get 7 years between ooops.

        When I look around Queenstown it sends shivers down the spine looking at the big jobs coming along that depend on buyers settling on the due date or the principal having the cash left to pay the subbies at completion. There’s a lot of contenders.

        It’s not going to be pretty when the dominos start tipping over.

        But will free up heaps of capacity for a massive house building programme.

        • Ad 15.1.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 5:55 pm

          Sure hope so.

          We held off constructing in Wanaka last yeat because the qs was just stupid.

          • Graeme 15.1.1.1.1
            28 February 2019 at 6:24 pm

            Getting someone to do something is getting really hard, everyone is over-committed and just not interested in under-resourced, and productivity has gone out the window because of the above.

            I’m expecting a very different picture in 12 months, but the opportunities will be in buying rather than building as most of the builders will have gone broke. If you can find a solvent builder, or can do it yourself, there could be good times. We built a house in Frankton in 1988 for $54K, including land.

            • BM 15.1.1.1.1.1
              28 February 2019 at 6:30 pm

              Why do you reckon so many builders are going to tip over?

              • Graeme …
                28 February 2019 at 6:54 pm

                Past experience, I’ve seen enough of our economic cycles from within the construction industry to know that construction is a mugs game. The small finance the larger on up the chain, so when one goes the whole industry comes down like a pack of dominos.

                What I’m seeing around here gives me the shivers. I’m glad I’ve got sod all debt, heaps of equity, and what exposure I’ve got to the industry is in a cashed up position.

                • BM …
                  28 February 2019 at 7:09 pm

                  Are most builders working for companies? going by the amount of ridiculously oversized expensive new utes I see everywhere I got the feeling everyone’s their own boss?

                  • Graeme …
                    28 February 2019 at 8:02 pm

                    And therein lies the problem. The self employed financing the larger players. Tradies (probably sub sub tradies in reality) with million dollar mortgages on a mcmansion in Shotover Country doing work for someone who pays on contract milestones until they run out of cash. Then oh fuck.

        • BM 15.1.1.2
          28 February 2019 at 5:59 pm

          Building state houses or flooding the market with cheap new builds?

          Can’t really see the government doing the cheap new builds thing anymore, I get the feeling the penny may have dropped that it would be political suicide to push 1000’s upon 1000’s of taxpayer payer subsidised homes into a softening market.

          KIwibuild is going to be wound down and put on the shelf.

          • Graeme 15.1.1.2.1
            28 February 2019 at 6:42 pm

            In the 70’s there was a similar situation with housing affordability. The private sector (Neil, Keith Hay and Universal, and others) developed products that were quick and cheap and fitted the formula. Same thing is happening with KB, builders are coming on board. What got the thing going then was State Advances loans and capitalising the Family Benefit to assist the deposit at the bottom end. Got an awful lot of families out of hovels and garages into their own new home. Maybe there’s some opportunities for the government to do similar things with the finance / deposit.

            KB is about getting the capacity in place to do something about providing decent, affordable housing for everyone, rather than “assets” for a few, once there’s some slack in the industry, which is coming very soon.

  16. greywarshark 16
    28 February 2019 at 4:30 pm

    If the tourist business goes down then what? The report is that AirNz is down 34% on first half profit. However it is holding out crumbs to the regions to look as if it cares about servicing the country.
    (I don’t think anyone has got them to reveal the baseline for profit on each regional airport though.)
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12207937

    This firm started in 1984 and has become insolvent and had to stop and try and gather the pieces. The ambitious Queenstown air-tunnel project would have been a beggar to price. It seems that many construction firms have bitten off more than they can chew. Firms undercutting with tenders and trying to corner the market for new jobs has no doubt destabilised the industry, plus trying to access cheaper steel etc with faulty documentation as to its real quality!

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12208271
    Construction business Arrow International has gone into voluntary administration after a contractual dispute left it with insufficient cashflow to meet operating costs…

    Last week Foster told the NZ Herald the business had an issue with one Auckland job but was resolving that and altering its business model.

    “We’re trying to wind down the amount of tender work we do and doing more negotiated work,” Foster said on Friday.

    Arrow, one of this country’s larger builders with a national spread, works on retail, commercial, Government, tourism, education, retirement sports and recreation and residential work….

    Nick Hamlin, Arrow’s southern general manager, said today the business had been “downsizing” for the last year in his region.
    He had worked for Arrow for 19 years but said he left in the last week by mutual agreement. The Queenstown-based boss said the firm had bid and won jobs which some other firms refused to take on.

    “The southern area was running well and there were about 15 staff,” he said, telling how Arrow subcontracted work out to other firms. Construction of facilities for tourism, events, leisure and adventure were the firm’s speciality in Queenstown, he said.

    The iFly indoor skydiving building was one example in the sports and recreation field, he said. An 8m deep basement and wind turbines sit on top of the building. The turbines blow air around the building, into the basement and then project it up through the centre to create a flight chamber so clients can float on a column of air rising 5m.

    • Graeme 16.1
      28 February 2019 at 6:07 pm

      Tourism’s woes are the result of going into high volume, low yield markets that really can’t afford to come to New Zealand. The industry is dominated by the bums on seats brigade where the only metric is volume. AIA makes just as much from someone at the back of the plane as from the front, and with a lot of airlines there’s no difference anyway. Air New Zealand has been a repeat offender in this regard, their Korean adventures nearly took them, and a lot of the industry, out in 90’s

      And tourism cycles are really lucky to last 7 years. Post GFC tourism was really hard work (we’d just had to relocate our gallery so we did it hard) but was starting to get going again in 2010 / 11 when the Christchurch earthquakes hit and that was that for tourism in the South Island. It took a couple of years for new products to develop that didn’t include Christchurch and those have only just started to bed in over the last year or so wiht Wellington supplanting Christchurch as the second city on the tourist trail after Auckland. There’s about twice the airline capacity between Queenstown and Wellington as to Christchurch now, pre 2010 there wasn’t a direct flight.

      But now it’s just about done it’s dash, punters have lost interest, discovered they can get better value at lower cost destinations that are more in their price range, and operators can’t get the add-ons (commissions) that provide the profit. So the wheel goes ’round again.

      The higher yielding markets stay more constant, but are much smaller and more affected by external factors than what NZ tourism does, which carries most of the industry through. And the domestic market, which is around 50% of the industry depending on where in the cycle we are.

      • greywarshark 16.1.1
        28 February 2019 at 6:50 pm

        As I went on with this I got sourer and sourer. Sorry. But that’s how I feel about things as they are. I did a tourism course in my past and was impressed at how little the NZ tourist was considered or courted.

        I learned that a lot of the Australian industry was long weekends and family centred, low spenders per day. The Japanese and US markets were longer stayers and bigger spenders.

        The bums on seats attitude is just like the coarse bulk dried milk industry – a commodities market without much refinement or specialty effort.

        Really NZ finds its satisfactions at a low level. Puffing their chests out these businessmen strut. If they make a success of something they want to sell it to some foreign buyer. As far as i can see we prostitute ourselves, and don’t even aim at the highest price.

        And nothing in the country is fully planned. With the government being given the bums rush by business ‘We know what we are doing’, everything fragmented, poorly regulated or poorly monitored, we are a bunch of frauds trading on our scenic amenities. But when you look at the rest of the world, they have beaut places. And she’ll be right as ever we are busy killing off all the good things we have had with pollution, blame it on the freedom campers; unswimable rivers, blame it on the drought.

        Nobody is reliable except the firemen, their test is in how they do their job while everyone watches. You can see their excellence, or not. But all these pissy little businessmen full of alcohol and self-importance; I’ll never forget that little shit that went down with about six of our good scientists. Their partners should have sued the Department for lacking their duty of care in putting them on this third-rate charter. There are too many like him. I think he died along with the others near Christchurch. But others, if they fail they can always go into real estate they think.

        Business will be soon, if it isn’t now, like the scarifying Glengarry, Glen Ross.
        (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQPY4LlbJ4
        (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wezj1ctBVc0

        • Graeme 16.1.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 7:54 pm

          “And nothing in the country is fully planned”

          That caught my eye, tourism’s volume driven adventure was well and truly planned by the then government, with total buyin from major industry players. I would love to know how much the individual government members made on their AIA and Air NZ shares, along with other tourism related stocks. The volume strategy was the way it was going to be done and anyone who thought otherwise was destroyed. Smaller and value orientated players quickly learnt to keep their heads down.

          But quality and excellence isn’t our thing, or it’s been beaten out of us by the mediocre knuckle draggers. Toby Morris did an excellent piece on that subject today, ” In defence of giving a shit”

          https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/28-02-2019/the-side-eye-six-out-of-ten/

          • greywarshark 16.1.1.1.1
            28 February 2019 at 8:16 pm

            I thought that Toby Harris was very good. Totally agree. I have been pushed to the outer for not doing the groupthink. I think that is part of what he is saying.

            I liked this bit about people commenting with new ideas.

            You see it in the comments about articles on Capital Gains Tax, or about trans rights.
            You see it in the comments on Chloe Swarbrick’s posts, or on articles by Mad Chapman.
            They don’t attack the argument, they attack that the argument is being made at all.

            By th way who is Mad Chapman?

  17. ianmac 17
    28 February 2019 at 5:12 pm

    Simon Bridges will no doubt be saying, “I fully support Jenny Shipley. She is a great example of how a great Kiwi battler works hard to better her life and bring all those around her along for the ride.
    She represents the full aim of a National Government to support Kiwi battlers instead of those other losers who whine and complain about their bad commercial decisions.
    I say to those petty complaining subcontractors who lost millions of dollars, Get some guts! Vote National because we have the expertise to make money without fear or messing about with wishy washy morality.”

    • greywarshark 17.1
      28 February 2019 at 6:53 pm

      Do remember to put /sarc at the bottom. We have RW here who don’t know or want to know what satire is. They will quote you verbatim and say that you said
      ‘this’ quite truthfully. They will hoist you by your own petard. You have to watch out for the devious ones who have the answers pat in their mind to advance their points.

      • ianmac 17.1.1
        28 February 2019 at 7:01 pm

        Oh I thought I should apply for a job as spin-doctor for Simon. Predictible you see.

        • greywarshark 17.1.1.1
          28 February 2019 at 8:52 pm

          Good luck with that ianmac. But with your tongue in your cheek all the time they would think you had a tumour there. Anyway where is PR? He’s holding the ermine train of some lord or lady isn’t he? Perhaps he is guarding the Bridge of Sighs.

          In the link it is looking rather like a grey old bird – we are told it connects two prisons, and with Simon he connects two Parties. It has been up since 1600 and that is a terrific example of longevity for Simon. Just keep holding in there.
          https://europeforvisitors.com/venice/articles/bridge_of_sighs.htm

  18. Eco Maori 18
    1 March 2019 at 11:38 am

    Good electric Railways will be the best investment for Aotearoa or any country in the long run it is much cheaper stable prices and a very low carbon footprint to fright our WORLD class foods to the rest of the world its not good having good,s stuck in a traffic jam.
    To Eco Maori it looks like most westen countrys are following the ilogical road into big carbon prouducting highways WHY .The oil barron,s are using there MONEY to lead us down the wrong road that will give them billions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and in the long run turn the westen societys into 3 world nations you see what is best for TE billionass,s is not good for the Enviroment or the 99.90 % of people .
    This road of letting the billionasss make our policys will lead us into extinction
    Govt forced KiwiRail to backtrack on locomotives decision, documents show
    According to the Treasury, it’s the first time a state-owned enterprise has been directed by a minister to make a decision that didn’t stack up commercially.
    The State-Owned Enterprises Act said an entity’s principle objective was to be a successful business.
    In 2016, KiwiRail’s board decided to replace its 15 electric locomotives with diesel, arguing it would make the company more efficient and better able to take freight, and with less freight going by road, there’d be a positive environmental impact.
    On 30 October last year the government put a stop to the plan instead promising a $35 million cash injection to refurbish the electric locomotives.
    In a letter to Transport Minister Phil Twyford two weeks before the decision was announced, acting chief executive Todd Moyle made it clear KiwiRail didn’t have the money to refurbish the locomotives.
    “KiwiRail has no funding for these additional costs and is unable to recoup the investment and there is no uplift in revenue associated with this decision,” he wrote.
    But a Cabinet minute written the day before the government’s announcement, showed Cabinet agreed to use its powers under the State Owned Enterprises Act to direct the company to provide a non-commercial service.
    Mr Twyford said being a successful SOE was more than just about profit and loss for a particular year, and this government wanted to grow rail.
    He said previous governments had left KiwiRail on financial life support with no future vision.
    “That’s not how our government sees it, we’re committed to bringing rail into the heart of the transport system, instead of treating it as the poor cousin and drip-feeding it a little bit of money year after year and barely keeping it alive,” he said.
    KiwiRail uses electric locomotives on the main trunk line between Hamilton and Palmerston North.
    When it said it was going to switch to diesel, the Rail and Maritime Transport Union accused it of “environmental terrorism”.
    Mr Butson said that decision failed to consider the needs of a modern railway, which must have some level of variation in the types of locomotives and wagons it uses.
    Engineer Roger Blakeley said the decision to scrap the electrics was at odds with the Labour government’s target of getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and leader Jacinda Ardern’s claim that climate change was her generation’s “nuclear free moment”.
    “With the diesel locomotives, if KiwiRail went ahead with them, it would burn an extra 8 million litres of diesel fuel per year and add around 12,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere each year. That’s what would have been the implications of a switch back to diesels,” he said.
    The Palmerston North to Hamilton route was electrified in the 1980s and the plan then was to carry on and electrify the whole main trunk line from Wellington to Auckland. Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori tau toko,s our FUTURE,S
    It’s estimated completing the project now would cost around a billion dollars.

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/383578/govt-forced-kiwirail-to-backtrack-on-locomotives-decision-documents-show.

  19. Eco Maori 19
    1 March 2019 at 5:17 pm

    Elon Mus is one billionaire that is leading the world down the correct ROAD .
    Video below P.S Eco Maori say that youtube should pull the ad that implies that only WAHINE carry STD and everyone knows both sex carry and transmite STD not just WAHINE ANA TO KAI.

  20. Eco Maori 20
    1 March 2019 at 6:41 pm

    Kia ora Newshub the seaplane crash in Auckland would have been exciting for some exhilarating for the pilot he was in the seaplane by himself when it crashed on landing in the harbour.
    Lime E scooters getting cleared to be back on the streets in Auckland.
    Eco Maori says that the company system is a big fail if company’s like Arrow and Mainzeal construction companies can go bankrupt owing millions to subcontractors maybe they should be legerslated to pay subbies a deposit in a government account so if they go bankrupt the small tangata don’t get ripped off because that’s what it looks like to ECO Maori common people getting ripped off and that move would protect the common people.
    The big picture is the principle are not Cooperating with the government to solve the problems of a teacher shortages if they really need teachers they would work with them they are all national supporters. I can see my future and it includes good grass-fed Aotearoa meat and milk and eggs I have been eating more vegetables and cut back on the protein but I will not give it up totally.
    Another country’s leader being charged with fraud WTF.
    Celia the movies will be good she highlighted the plight on Wahine the justice system and poverty is it a coincidence that all the humane leaders die of CANCER.
    Ka kite ano P.S condolences to Celias whanau

  21. Eco Maori 21
    1 March 2019 at 7:20 pm

    Kia ora Wairangi & Storm
    Nice hairdo Wai Te Matatini was amazingly awesome and impressive as usual. Te whole Papatuanukue was treaded to OUR Tangata Whenua Cultures Haka Waiata with it being steamed live on the Internet . There is another awesome Waiata act in town but I will wait for the correct time before I dedicate him some Eco Maori words.
    Christin Cullen you are as gray as me I mite try some blond hair dye YEA NAR. lol green would suit Eco Maori better no offence Storm just one of my dumb jokes .
    Extreem Skying for a paraplegic is that correct good on them not much snow on Hukurangi
    for a East Coastie tangata whenua to practice skiing.
    Ka kite ano

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