Open Mike 28/10/2018

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, October 28th, 2018 - 111 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 …

111 comments on “Open Mike 28/10/2018 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. WeTheBleeple 1
    28 October 2018 at 7:12 am

    “Since 2009, flood risk has been covered on every LIM report for an Auckland home.”

    “”Homeowners need to know that if a risk is not mitigated or is unable to be, then their policy could change.”

    Change in weather patterns looks to be enough excuse to leave lives in limbo.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12149949

    Earthquake, flood… Insurance companies will do their best to let you down.

    • Jenny 1.1
      28 October 2018 at 8:23 am

      Not much about insurance problems in this article, but well worth a read.

      ….They’re Not Abandoning Their Beloved Cape Cod. Lifelong residents are building higher with each flood….
      Meera Subramanian – Insideclimate News, October 26, 2018

      “The new top of the foundation will probably be about here,” he says, shifting his hand to 3 feet above the flood mark, indicating a spot level with the door knocker, about shoulder-height. REEF Design & Build is raising the foundation not only for Matt’s replacement house, but for many of the coastal houses the company is already building. Construction companies like his are responding to local building regulations, which are in turn responding to the most recent flood maps issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

    • SaveNZ 1.2
      28 October 2018 at 9:30 am

      The councils buckle to pressure of rich litigators, aka they have had engineering that shows that Omaha will defiantly suffer substantial flood damage, but when they went to put it on the LIMs all the lawyers and big wigs who have holiday homes there threatened to litigate the council because their house prices would fall if the truth was put on the LIMS. So it was never put on the LIMS. Win win for the rich, because no doubt when the big flood happens they will litigate the council anyway for not putting it on! Rich win with no information, rich win without the information. Meanwhile if it’s folks with leaky buildings or what have you, no real interest in ensuring it never happens again.

      Apparently 1 in 195 council workers at Auckland city are on over $200,000 pa, my guess is not many of them are planners or building inspectors, (while the council cry about the worker shortages and need foreign workers now to do those roles) but plenty of other council workers on $200k+ are lawyers and managers who shock doctrine style come and litigate AFTER the problems are well known but no money put spent where it should have been.

      • Dukeofurl 1.2.1
        28 October 2018 at 11:20 am

        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10405893

        The story seems to say it was major error to combine all the possible risks to happen at once.
        ‘ the idea rising sea levels would combine with an extreme weather event, a nasty weather pattern with a super-spring tide, was ridiculous. ‘

        Its not saying there was no increased risk- they say 3.8m not 5m, which would only affect a few properties

        The Piha situation was an actual extreme weather event . I tell people I know who live in Bush clad areas near streams or along winding roads in Waitakeres that its coming around to 100 years since the last major weather catastrophe hit the whole ranges. Sell up and leave now.
        The Piha flood was from a storm in a small area, the rest of the Waitakeres were lucky…that time.

  2. toad 2
    28 October 2018 at 7:43 am

    There is absolutely no truth to the rumour that the National Party’s internal review of its culture is being conducted by former National MPs Roger McClay and Grahame Thorne.

  3. bwaghorn 3
    28 October 2018 at 8:08 am

    https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/108083727/doc-asked-to-control-seals-to-save-muttonbirds

    Is it really about cultural practices . Or is it about money . ?

  4. WeTheBleeple 4
    28 October 2018 at 8:23 am

    Why do you have an issue with Tribes making money off traditional resources? Is it only OK for white people to do?

    Kaitiakitanga is a system of sustainable harvest and environmental observation. If they’re saying the seals are becoming too numerous locally I’d be inclined to believe it.

    Conservationists want to see NZ like the good old days. Despite the fact everything’s changing and adaptations are required for most anything to ‘remain the same’.

    What I’d like to know about all this is whether these species natural predators have been decimated, which would necessitate eventual culls of these protected species.

    If we’ve broken the food chain, we need to step in till prey numbers actually bring predators back from functional extinction. We need to be the faux predators. Or the seals will collapse other species populations.

    Counting overall numbers and calling them low works for an accountant, for individual islands it’s a nonsense.

    Practical and proper beats pious and preening any day.

    • Gabby 4.1
      28 October 2018 at 9:35 am

      Don’t suppose the humans could lay off the muttonbirds for a bit.

    • bwaghorn 4.2
      28 October 2018 at 10:01 am

      So your fine with Japanese whaling using bloody great ships . ?
      For it to be cultural practised surely it should be carried out in the old way . So maybe they should grab a few seals for the pot as well ,but stop selling mutton birds?

      • WeTheBleeple 4.2.1
        28 October 2018 at 12:48 pm

        The issue is not really about the mutton bird harvest. It is about the sustainability of their populations, and of rising seal populations, within this small island system.

        While conservation of the seals is admirable, the observation that their continued growth within this area can impact mutton bird populations is worth noting. We see plenty of roll on effects like this in conservation efforts where rise or fall of certain species leads to the rise or fall of others.

        There is a seal carrying capacity for those islands. What is it?

        Are the predators (shark/orca?) intact?

        Sustainable systems require biological and ecological knowledge, not someone in an office calling shots. Kaitiakitanga is ahead of current agricultural practice with regards to earth care and future care.

        It’s worth listening we pale folk might learn something.

        • bwaghorn 4.2.1.1
          28 October 2018 at 1:07 pm

          My pick is the mutton birds invaded the seal areas in the 1800s when the seals were hunted out and now they are coming back to their old areas

  5. Jenny 5
    28 October 2018 at 8:42 am

    Is Syria approaching its own Year Zero?

    After a devastating drought followed by political unrest, and knowing no other method of rule, could the system of genocidal kleptocracy even futher refined by the Assad Regime during the civil war, be a possible distopian strategy for other nation states faced with the twin challenges of climate change and collapse?  
     

    Assad will fall
    Dick Gregory – News Of The Revolution In Syria, October 25, 2018

    The following is an insight into how the Assad regime survives on the destruction of its economy, its productive base, and the massacre and expulsion of its people. And why this will ultimately lead to regime’s inevitable collapse.

    ……In late 2012, looking at the reporting of an Assadist counter-offensive in Aleppo, I noticed that when the régime advanced, there was no return of the population to their homes. Clearly there was a large section of the population, predominantly Sunni Muslims but including anyone who might be suspected of opposition to Assad, that he intended to kill or induce to flee…..

    ….. ‘ “By now, it is estimated that 90 % of those arrested by the regime or régime militias had nothing to do with the revolution,” says Amer, a former officer in the Syrian military. Free rein when it comes to arrests is one of the ways in which the régime renders it possible for various parts of its security apparatus to enrich themselves……

    …….Assad’s state is more than a sectarian military dictatorship. It is a torture-rape kleptocracy that profits from the destruction of the society it rests upon. As such it is the most unstable state in the world, a black hole that constantly destabilises the world around it as it fights to maintain its existence. There have been other states that resemble it in some ways. Only one government had ever bombed its own cities before – though it is time to stop calling a ruling party a government when it eschews government in favour of murder so blatantly – General Somoza’s in Nicaragua. The only state I can think of that so systematically murdered the professional classes of the population was Pol Pot’s Kampuchea. Neither lasted for more than a few years after they began to destroy the foundations of their society……

    …… The régime is left with very immediate threats of violence as its governing strategy, and cannot step back to a more consensual method. Because those who carry it out the arrests, rape torture and extortion, those who profit from it, are the core of the state. Individual militias can sometimes be disbanded by the Russians, but the nature of the state relying on extreme violence for profit cannot be changed while the state remains……

    ……. To prevent themselves being carted off the Hague, the state from Assad at the top to the torturers and looters at the bottom don’t just need to protect themselves against actual threats. They need an excuse to avoid facing up to justice. They need the war to continue so that they can claim to be stopping chaos. Even if all military activity against them ended, the claim that they were still fighting terrorism would never end. The arrest and torture to suppress all opposition and provide opportunities for profit would never end. Once all opposition eyes were removed from the country, it would likely increase. Because that’s what violently sadistic people do when their violent sadism seems to have produced results……

    • Dukeofurl 5.1
      28 October 2018 at 11:23 am

      Assad will fall?

      They said that 5 years ago, His position is even stronger now than then.

    • reason 5.2
      28 October 2018 at 8:58 pm

      violently sadistic ???? …… ” The supposed outrage is not connected to any concern for human rights, it is merely a foreign policy propaganda trick. And the main priority for people in the west should be to stop the crimes being committed, or abetted, by their own governments.”

      Nelson Mandela …. “: “If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the USA. They don’t care for human beings.”

      Nelson Mandela was referring to the illegal invasion of Iraq … but no doubt would denounce the violently sadistic actions against Libya and Syria and Yemen, Afghanistan etc etc.

      If Martin Luther King was alive and able to repeat these quotes to jenny ….. in relation to Syria, or Libya,… or Iraq, or Afghanistan etc … “We again fell victim to the deadly Western arrogance that has poisoned the international atmosphere for so long,” … “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government”.

      Would she call Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Assadists? .

      Both Nelson Mandela & Martin Luther King were correct …. as the sadistic violent actions never stop …

      ” Disgusted, Von Sponeck resigned as UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Iraq. His predecessor, Denis Halliday, an equally distinguished senior UN official, had also resigned. “I was instructed,” Halliday said, “to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that has effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults.”

      A study by the United Nations Children’s Fund, Unicef, found that between 1991 and 1998, the height of the blockade, there were 500,000 “excess” deaths of Iraqi infants under the age of five.”

      Present day….. There is a deliberate genocide taking place right now …. “The cause is well known: the Saudi-led coalition’s bombardment and blockade of the country, with the full support of the US and UK”

      ” The issue is that the West is directly responsible for the tragedy in Yemen. Western companies supply the weapons, western military advisors are involved in the intelligence work and the selection of targets, US airplanes are refuelling Saudi (and coalition) jets as they carry out their savage bombings in Yemen.”

      https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/05/the-1-5-billion-campaign-to-whitewash-genocide-in-yemen/

      The Syrian people ….. the bulk of whom support their state …. are up against ‘ “The greatest purveyors of violence in the world.”

  6. Sanctuary 6
    28 October 2018 at 9:40 am

    Check out this guy – he has turned a fifty point vote for Trump district into a highly marginal race – and wonder what party would he fit into here in New Zealand – my guess is his natural home would be NZ First, not Labour.

    Such a glum assessment kinda sums up how NZ Labour is now a party of liberal elites who embrace the current late capitalist paradigm and do little more than tinker with the system to chip the worst off the edges, not a reforming party for the working Joe.

    Labour ought to thank it’s lucky stars that a guy like this hasn’t emerged in New Zealand First. Instead, NZ First looks set to promote the pompous, elitist and widely unpopular Shane Jones to it’s leader. The promotion of Jones to the leadership (should it happen) would be fundamental strategic misunderstanding of nature of NZ First’s supporters, and would prolong the neoliberal hegemony in NZ’s two major parties.

    If NZ First ever got a guy with the same sort of message as Ojeda, I reckon Labour would suffer the fate of the Dutch Labour party, whose support has fallen by 80%.

    Hell, I’d vote for an Ojeda rather than a Jacinda in a heartbeat!

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-democrat-trump-country-richard-ojeda-west-virginia-0918-story.html

    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/02/richard-ojeda-west-virginia-blue-army-one-217217

  7. cleangreen 7
    28 October 2018 at 9:51 am

    We went down the North Carolina coastal “outer banks” and down to ‘Jekyll island’ strips where many home owners were inundated with previous flooded properties and we saw homes being moved or lifted with another set of stilts placed under them so their homes were set higher again.

    https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-carolina/articles/2018-03-05/flooding-closes-main-road-on-north-carolina-outer-banks

    This is the true effect of today’s increasing raising of the global sea levels that many don’t see or comprehend is facing them until now – sadly.

  9. alwyn 9
    28 October 2018 at 10:35 am

    What the hell is Lees-Galloway up to?
    Someone who comes here using another persons passport.
    The goes in for a bit of drug dealing.
    Was described by the Parole Board convener as giving manifestly untruthful responses.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108155476/jailed-drugdealer-escapes-deportation-as-govt-grants-him-nz-residency-behind-bars

    But the Minister thinks he is a great chap to allow to stay in New Zealand.
    I wonder if he has donated anything to one of the coalition Government parties?
    And will Lees-Galloway take responsibility for the guys actions in the future and resign the next time he gets into a little bit of bother with the Police?
    Perhaps all the people who are calling for JLR’s health problems to be made public will start demanding that Lees-Galloway start explaining exactly what it is that caused him to make this decision?
    Or not, as the case may be. After all, that might embarrass the Coalition of Fools.

    • Warren Doney 9.1
      28 October 2018 at 10:51 am

      It’s almost certain Lees-Galloway was acutely aware of the negative publicity it would get, so I’m picking there must be a credible reason he has let the guy stay. That reason might be that he has a bloody good lawyer, but it could also be that it’s very likely he would be killed if he returned to his country of origin. We don’t condemn people to death.

      It’s almost certain Lees-Galloway would tell us the details if he could too.

      • Naki man 9.1.1
        28 October 2018 at 12:15 pm

        The last thing this country needs is more fucking lawyers or drug dealers,
        There is no credible reason to import crims we have more than enough already. Deport the prick.

      • Infused 9.1.2
        28 October 2018 at 8:54 pm

        Who gives a shit deport him

    • Dukeofurl 9.2
      28 October 2018 at 11:10 am

      “people who are calling for JLR’s health problems to be made public ”

      being detained by police at the instigation of National party leaders office , isnt ‘treatment’. What the Doctors do is.
      Paula Bennetts role in organising a media story base on complaints from women working ‘in national partys leaders office’ should be made public. A National party woman MP role in in getting back at her former lover using the leaders office/Bridges and Bennett should be made public.

      • alwyn 9.2.1
        28 October 2018 at 12:24 pm

        “being detained by police at the instigation of National party leaders office”
        And your evidence for this far-fetched claim is what, precisely?
        Apart from your overactive imagination that is.

        • Dukeofurl 9.2.1.1
          28 October 2018 at 4:48 pm

          Bridges Chief of staff – the puppet on strings being pulled by Soimun.

          It was all his doing.
          Are you saying the Police were just out for a drive Saturday night and they ‘found’ an Auckland Mp in The Waikato ….hello hello …

          What seems to be the circumstances was in yesterdays Herald, and the day before and last week when National issued a statement Sunday night that confirmed their knowledge of the police involvement …..hahaha

    • SaveNZ 9.3
      28 October 2018 at 11:16 am

      @ Alwyn – disgusting and despicable decision by Lees-Galloway

      No wonder our drug use is increasing when our government is actively giving drug dealers residency , I guess for $100k donation he can get the order of merit too (from both parties in power).

      What a joke, I don’t care if the guy is an informant for what the crap he pulled out of the bag, he should not be staying here, he’s got the EU to go back too. Get rid of him.

      The message that NZ sends to the world, is criminals welcome… commit crimes here but don’t worry your residency application is assured… bring your criminal mates, NZ is open for business, any business, we turn a blind eye even if you are caught. wink. wink.

      As long as you are not Maori you will get off and prosper here if you engage in criminal activity.

      Crims come to NZ, free residency and welfare with every crime! Any story will do, to get off!

      • Herodotus 9.3.1
        28 October 2018 at 11:34 am

        We have a range of valid skill shortages, didn’t know that criminals were part of this shortage
        As we are told it costs us $100k to house someone in prison, then reward them with Citizenship.
        We have “Member of wealthy wine family has drug charges overturned”
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/108005567/Member-of-wealthy-wine-family-has-drug-charges-overturned
        But don’t worry at least our justice system is working for all BUT …. Maori and victims 🤫

      • bwaghorn 9.3.2
        28 October 2018 at 11:43 am

        Reading between the lines I would say he’s probably in mortal danger if he gets sent home . I would have no problem shipping him out but the laws of our country might.

        • SaveNZ 9.3.2.1
          28 October 2018 at 1:24 pm

          Rubbish, the EU could protect him better than we could. We don’t want him. If that’s the caliber of people who get residency, aka sob story the their criminal gang connections back home are a danger so they need to stay in NZ and commit crimes here instead??? The politicians needs to get some perspective, who is at risk – back Kiwis safety NOT people like him and his connections to the underworld who could kill him here if they wanted anyway. Pathetic logic as usual.

          • joe90 9.3.2.1.1
            28 October 2018 at 1:33 pm

            He’s likely been promised residency as part of an agreement to roll on his associates.

      • Pete 9.3.3
        28 October 2018 at 5:16 pm

        Any story will do.

        Peter Thiel.

    • marty mars 9.4
      28 October 2018 at 1:12 pm

      Yeah why aren’t we more like Saudi or somewhere where we just destroy his life rather than send him back for others to do it. Why are we so soft on these absolute scum that deserve all the retribution we can heap on them for bringing drugs in for other people to buy. We don’t want no drugs in this country.

      //sarc

      • Rosemary McDonald 9.4.2
        28 October 2018 at 1:34 pm

        “We don’t want no drugs in this country.”

        And no sick or disabled either. //no sarc

        http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/departments/closerlook/000577.html

        “Deaf NZ child — ‘a burden on the state’ — is murdered; father charged
        http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/departments/news/000564.html

        Thanks to REO reader Rita Maria LeDrew for alerting us to this story…

        In Auckland, New Zealand, a deaf girl is murdered, and her father has been charged. In the investigation, it comes out that the family was upset because they were told by the NZ immigration authorities that they’d likely be denied residency because their daughter was deaf and would be “a burden on the state.”

        From the New Zealand Star:

        The Immigration Service requires immigrants to prove they or their dependents will not be a burden on health services and applicants have to answer medical questions, including whether they have hearing difficulties.

        Deaf children are considered a potential burden because of the need for surgery and cochlear implants.

        Read story from the Sunday Star Times.

        Posted on October 24, 2005″

        At least be consistent. And please note the date.

        • marty mars 9.4.2.1
          28 October 2018 at 1:40 pm

          I assume youre talking to me – How could I be consistent rosemary? If you think there is a group of disadvantaged people in this country that i dont care about put the links and evidence up.

        • SaveNZ 9.4.2.2
          28 October 2018 at 3:58 pm

          What are you trying to say Rosemary, that these murdering parents should have the right to stay in NZ… these are the criminal types that are attracted to migrating here these days. Oh gosh, one of our kids might hold up our application, lets murder them. That’s the caliber of our recent migration applicants.

          It did not used to be like that, we used to have real rules and quality migrants coming here. It was not some ponzi business scheme trying to get the worst types here with few skills (last five years the skills have dropped for migration in NZ and more criminals coming to light as well as continual scams).

          • Rosemary McDonald 9.4.2.2.1
            28 October 2018 at 5:34 pm

            Oh dear. Please read the articles I linked to at raggededge. Now raggededge is a disability magazine that’s been around for decades and quite often publishes articles which require readers to be up for an intellectual challenge. Sometimes requires thinking differently and having an open mind. Quite often the context is not necessarily explicit…

            But no, I don’t think murdering parents should have the right to stay in NZ.

            But I do think that if our Czech friend can be accommodated despite his proven criminal tendencies and with his known gang associates heightening the risk of violence around him then at the very least a family’s application for NZ residency should not be rejected merely because of health or disability.

            Many countries have similar rules….only the fittest and the most perfect are welcome to immigrate…and I found it interesting that those articles from raggededge (Ragged Edge when it was printed) popped up on the first page when googling ‘rejected for residency on grounds of disability’.

            Good old Godzone…world famous for all the wrong reasons.

            But no surprises for those NZ citizens living with disability or permanent debilitating illness….chances are that the gummint spends more per year on the criminal than it does on the invalids….and taxpayers seem quite ok with that.

    • James 9.5
      28 October 2018 at 3:58 pm

      He sounds like a labour voter perhaps that’s all that’s needed these days.

      • Muttonbird 9.5.1
        28 October 2018 at 5:04 pm

        He doesn’t sound like a voter at all.

        And, as for granting residency to drug dealers, the Nats were experts at that having opened the immigration gates to the worst characters China has to offer.

        • bwaghorn 9.5.1.1
          28 October 2018 at 5:13 pm

          Only the ones with money

        • James 9.5.1.2
          28 October 2018 at 6:22 pm

          Like Bill Liu for example.

          Oh wait – that was labour again.

          • Muttonbird 9.5.1.2.1
            28 October 2018 at 7:32 pm

            I’m bemused about the Nats’ war on P when they at the same time invited all the low lives from China who import the ingredients.

            Seems a bit counter productive to me…

          • Stuart Munro 9.5.1.2.2
            28 October 2018 at 11:47 pm

            Funny how hard he worked for the Gnats though.

            He was every inch the wretched foreign crim Dotcom got blamed for being.

            Never seen you denounce him either.

            It’s all good so long as he’s your lying scumbag eh.

      • reason 9.5.2
        29 October 2018 at 7:57 am

        John Key and Judith collins pulled one of their first ‘dirty politics’ hit jobs for the biggest drug Lords in NZ …

        Doug myers : “The chequebooks always ready for political parties ….as long as they get the things right”

        “We spend about $85 million per week on alcohol, thats why they don’t want you to understand its a drug”- Sgt Alastair Lawn ”

        “there was mounting evidence that MDMA was one of the safest intoxicants around, especially when compared with alcohol.” https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/69680287/ed-doctor-john-key-needs-to-do-his-homework-on-mdma

        The dangers of ecstasy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2oDLPcYc5k

    • OnceWasTim 9.6
      28 October 2018 at 3:59 pm

      “But the Minister thinks he is a great chap to allow to stay in New Zealand.”
      Who says he thinks that other than you Alwyn? Hemay even think the guy is a complete fukwit.

      When, under the previous junta, an immigration policy structure was implemented that bonded immigrants to employers (and the consequential opportunity for exploitation as the norm – let alone the other ‘side effects’ such as driving down wages and all that went with it); when it was designed to get a 4 or 5 or 6 billion dollar earn from attracting overseas students to come and indulge in worthless tertiary study and tik-a-box certification (often meaning incredible debt in their home country they may never be free from, and where some are having to sell land if they haven’t yet committed chop suey, AND even that’s aside from more important considerations such as educational standards ); when that policy sent the message to opportunists and any other arsehole that NZ was an easy touch), then I think you can probably rest assured that the decision allowing this little munter PR has been made judiciously.

      I think even the pox-faced, pompous Woodhouse will be in despair because growing numbers now realise the whole tertiary-study/work visa croc of shit is being exposed and that the fleeced are beginning to leave in droves (AND sending the message to others who have any notion of coming to lil ole Nu Zull because its a caring and sharing place to be).

      I’d be more concerned about others who’ve been granted PR and Citizenship by lying and cheating and not living up to the promises they’d made. A Peter Thiel immediately springs to mind.

    • reason 9.7
      28 October 2018 at 10:02 pm

      This ugly immigrant had tried to cut his english wifes throat before arriving in NZ.

      Since here he’s killed two women ….. and got manslaughter convictions each time.

      He was paroled under National …… why did we not boot him back to England ?

      Any ideas you cynical political point scorer …. Alwyn ????

      https://hellbeasts.com/malcolm-alan-francis/

  10. Tricledrown 10
    28 October 2018 at 10:53 am

    He could be an informant as well

    • Dukeofurl 10.1
      28 October 2018 at 6:20 pm

      That’s the most likely background.
      Could be he was secret witness in a mjor trial that saw major figures jailed.

  11. veutoviper 11
    28 October 2018 at 10:56 am

    Sometimes, our minds wander from one thing to another just from simple little triggers such as a name, date, event etc. without any conscious rationale for doing so.

    This morning someone here mentioned Mandy Hager. Here it is – reason on Duped

    https://thestandard.org.nz/duped/#comment-1543097

    The mention of Mandy’s name took me back to the wonderful serialisation of her award-winning (2015) young adult’s novel “Singing Home the Whale” on RNZ’s Nine to Noon from 1 Oct – 18 Oct.

    Listening to this became mandatory for me over that period as it offered a complete opposite to the cynicism and negativity related with what was going on in our political scene with JLR’s sending on health leave, and the ongoing revelations etc .

    The mention of Mandy’s name led me to finding the RNZ link to the audio recordings which are now permanently in their Listen Anytime Library collection. I highly recommend listening to this adaptation or reading the book as an anecdote to negativity etc

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/collections/readings/singing-home-the-whale-by-mandy-hager

    Just by coincidence, as I was doing this, Wallace Chapmen on his RNZ Sunday Morning programme began an interview with this wonderful woman:

    10.30 Dr Ingrid Visser: Orca spotter extraordinaire

    Dr Ingrid Visser* has dedicated most of her life to following, documenting, helping and protecting orca. She’s an international expert on the species and is part of an body of advocates pushing to free captive orca all over the world. Ingrid explains her passion for animals means she has missed weddings, family events and stood up boyfriends. Her work features in the opening episode of a new television series, Ocean Predators**, hosted by Kina Scollay. It premieres Sunday night, October 28 at 7.30pm on Prime.

    * http://www.orcaresearch.org/index.php/research/our-team

    ** https://www.primetv.co.nz/-/mk_prime_oceanpredators

    The RNZ interview has only just finished, but I will put the link to the interview up here when it is available. And she mentioned Mandy and her book, LOL.

    Now know what I will be doing this evening – Prime TV!

      • Rosemary McDonald 11.1.1
        28 October 2018 at 12:30 pm

        A few weeks ago we were sitting fishing on a wharf when a huge bull orca surfaced mere metres off the edge of the wharf…and us! Peter damn near leapt from his wheelchair the big fellow was so close.

        Two smaller orca (we assumed they were females) and two youths appeared and proceeded to go hunting as the tide reached its peak.

        Only the bull came close to the wharf, but the others were well visible as they rounded up the rays in the shallows.

        A family up the harbour in their boat watched spellbound as the two young ones threw a couple of sharks back and forth.

        They remained inside the harbour until the tide began retreating and gave those at the harbour entrance a real treat as the hunt continued on the last of the tide.

        Not the first time we’ve had the privilege of such a close cetacean encounter, but this time there were other witnesses. An awesome event shared.

        🙂

        • veutoviper 11.1.1.1
          28 October 2018 at 1:35 pm

          Wonderful, Rosemary. Thank you for sharing. Where was that?

          • Rosemary McDonald 11.1.1.1.1
            28 October 2018 at 1:48 pm

            Up north.

            Some of those harbours have very shallow sandbanks and narrow channels.

            I confess to having been concerned on more than one occasion seeing large dolphins come up in the channel and indulge in a mass feeding frenzy in the shallows that a mass stranding was imminent. Silly me…these feeding sessions happen all the time with few cases of actual strandings. These fellows are in their element and know which end is up.

            Which makes the cases of actual mass cetacean strandings all the more tragic and worthy of investigation. There’s something else going on….

  12. Incognito 12
    28 October 2018 at 12:20 pm

    This is one reason why I read Sciblogs: Why New Zealand needs alternatives to 1080.

    https://sciblogs.co.nz/guestwork/2018/10/26/why-new-zealand-needs-alternatives-to-1080/

    • JC 12.1
      28 October 2018 at 9:46 pm

      This recent Sciblogs post is balanced and of relevance also.

      “The scientists and conservation workers that I know look forward to the time when reliable, equally-effective alternatives become available – but that time is still, realistically, years away and frankly, our native ecosystems can’t wait that long. We definitely need to keep talking about this issue, and we need to improve the way we do that.”

      https://sciblogs.co.nz/bioblog/2018/09/18/science-1080/

      Zip are doing some leading edge research looking at ways to improve delivery, and outcomes!

      “ZIP is attempting to develop a modified technique for the aerial application of 1080 to completely remove possums and rats from large mainland areas. If we are successful, and we also successfully develop techniques to prevent possum and rat invaders from re-establishing, then the large-scale repeated application of aerial 1080 may no longer be necessary to protect New Zealand’s biodiversity.”

      http://zip.org.nz/findings/2017/11/1080-to-zero-trial-in-south-westland

      You can even watch the (short) vid here:

      http://zip.org.nz/updates/2018/5/the-perth-valley-project-what-is-it-all-about

  13. Tricledrown 13
    28 October 2018 at 12:31 pm

    Ian les Galloway has put strict conditions on his residency not told in the sensationalised media headlines.

  14. marty mars 14
    28 October 2018 at 1:07 pm

    Great images that show the problem.

    “Images provided by Biosecurity New Zealand show the threat wilding pines present to New Zealand landscapes.
    The images show the unchecked spread of pines at Mid Dome, Upper Tomogalak catchment, in Southland from 1998 to 2015.”

    https://www.odt.co.nz/rural-life/rural-life-other/threat-wilding-pines-highlighted-biosecurity-nz-images

  15. Sanctuary 15
    28 October 2018 at 1:12 pm

    Let me see. A chemical-laden truck overturned north of Wellington and caused absolute traffic chaos just before Labour weekend. At the same time, two trucks collided and blocked the Rimutaka hill road. Today, a truck caught fire and has blocked the Waikato expressway at Rangiriri for a full day. Driving through the North Island a coule of times recently I’ve noticed trucks are more numerous, look more badly maintained and are being driven quite recklessly.

    How long until someone joins the dots between a corrupt National party being in the pocket of the trucking industry, and the quite deliberate defunding of various government agencies tasked with enforcing roading regulations on trucking companies including police road enforcement, the on-going scandals around shonky vehicle inspectors and the skyrocketing numbers of truck accidents causing huge disruptions?

    • SaveNZ 15.1
      28 October 2018 at 3:33 pm

      Well apparently not only do we have truck filled roads but we also have fake licences. and dodgy maintenance to boot.

      When you bring in people on $18 – $20 p/h to drive trucks because of our “skills shortages” – it’s fake – know an experienced truck driver and he had to quit the industry as he was expected to work for $18 p/h and he had a family to feed! He knew he was never going to see a pay rise in that industry and there was zero future in it for him.

      A few weeks ago an ex forestry worker who posts here, was saying after being made redundant a few times, he too quit the forestry industry… also an experienced worker…

      Don’t worry once getting residency, the migrants will quit too, if they can

      the Ponzi continues with everyone else paying the costs for poor practices and not getting to the root of why they can’t keep the Kiwis in the job.

      Same will happen to the doctors, the teachers and so forth. They will recruit more people, put more strain on existing people to train them, then the existing people will quit through the strain, the new teachers will quit eventually, and the Ponzi will continue with worse and worse teaching and conditions becoming the norm. Then the money they could have spent on the existing teachers will be spent on third party recruitment and incentives for overseas teachers to come here, rather than giving the incentives to the local teachers to stay in the job!

      Wake up. Why can’t they retain staff in NZ???

    • Ad 15.2
      28 October 2018 at 6:16 pm

      NZTA was given a rocket by the Minister of TRansport and the Board Chair a week ago.

      As a result the head of regulatory stuff at NZTA has been “let go” and new management brought in.

      All files for prosecutorial evaluation are now subbed out to Meredith Connell.

      It sure ain’t this government that’s asleep at the wheel.

  16. SaveNZ 16
    28 October 2018 at 3:43 pm

    What happens to the skilled migrants…

    “Signs of the underlying malaise do occasionally become apparent. Every now and then, highly trained and capable clinicians will throw up their hands and leave New Zealand, generating newspaper headlines such as “Top Specialist Quits in Disgust.”

    In mid-November, one such departure highlighted some of the issues behind the negative trends. Wellington Hospital lost its leading cardio-electrophysiologist, Dr Alejandro Jimenez Restrepo. Born in Colombia and trained in the US, Jimenez had arrived here in 2012 with his wife and young family, intending to settle permanently in New Zealand. Within two and a half years, he was gone.”

    http://werewolf.co.nz/2014/12/public-health-the-silent-crisis/

    • SaveNZ 16.1
      28 October 2018 at 3:48 pm

      The fake doctors seem to love it here though.

      Fake psychiatrist sentenced to more than four years prison

      I love how our taxes are being used to pay for fake doctors and then pay for their prison stays as well… in this case… they seem to have managed to deport him, but at a rough guess he cost NZ taxpayers $500,000+ dollars plus imagine the social costs of having these fakes in our health system. Could have bought a house for someone who needed it, with that money, or used it to train real doctors instead of leaving them with 6 figure student loans.

      https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/339641/fake-psychiatrist-sentenced-to-more-than-four-years-prison

  17. Ed 17
    28 October 2018 at 5:21 pm

    Frank Macskasy has done some detailed research.

    EXCLUSIVE: Some troubling questions about the Ross Affair

    Jami Lee Ross vs Simon Bridges

    Whatever drama is taking place before our eyes, one certainty should be borne in mind: this is not a story of Good vs Evil; Light vs Darkness; a lone battler for justice vs corruption in our highest political places. What we are seeing are two faces of the same coin at war with each other.

    One is motivated by revenge – for ambitions thwarted.

    The other is motivated by desperation – for pure political survival.

    Jami Lee Ross has been associated with a small cabal of far-right political activists; Simon Lusk, David Farrar, Judith Collins, Aaron Bhatnagar, and Cameron Slater. (There are others, but they are bit-players.) More on this shortly.

    Someone is lying. By now the Police probably have a good idea who.

    Perhaps not quite so “insignificant?

    All of which makes Bryce Edwards recent remarks questionable;

    “The extraordinary National Party scandal currently unfolding before our eyes is undoubtedly high drama. It has it all – leaks, anonymous texts, threats, secret recordings and explosive allegations… At its heart, however, the scandal is empty. It contains nothing of significance for democracy and society.”

    As a series of stories on Radio NZ’s Morning Report began to explore – whilst the prurient side-show of sex, tapes, and personality-plays dominated media headlines last week (15- 19 October) – the real issues of campaign donations is yet to play out.

    Ross’s allegations may be the critically-needed spark that reviews our party donation rules by casting the glare of public scrutiny over ways the Electoral Act has been, and is, being rorted.

    Read it all here.

    https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/10/25/some-troubling-questions-about-the-ross-affair/

  18. The Fairy Godmother 18
    28 October 2018 at 5:58 pm

    Judith Collins appears to be campaigning. She was at the Diwali celerations in Papatoetoe a few weeks back where she was introduced as a senior National Party mp. Today she appeared briefly at Kabbadi to get her photo taken
    . James if you want to meet your idol I would suggest keeping an eye out for these community events.

  19. eco maori 19
    29 October 2018 at 7:45 am

    Kia ora Newshub Duncan was that a good week off.
    Ka pai To the Prince & Duchess visit its cool that she talked in te reo and highlighted the suffering of wahine around the world and minority cultures .
    The Labyrinth was a cool move with Daved Bowie & Jennifer Connelly the hope the remake will be cool to.
    Mark humor is good for the wairua but not when your culture is the but of the joke
    The Simpson’s issues with Habu being canned.
    I totally disagree we need to legislate so wahine are on the boards that control OUR business . Why because men bully them and cheat to to keep wahine out of the top jobs these men think its there right to do this.
    Wet wipes my offspring can not get by with out the stuff in my day it was a wash able pack of cloths I say good advertising saying not to be flushed we have to do all we can to keep our water ways clean.
    Having a visit from The Prince & Duchess will give Aotearoa more positive publicity that money could buy that is good for Equality for all.
    Ka kite ano

  20. Morrissey 20
    29 October 2018 at 7:50 am

    Having a visit from The Prince & Duchess will give Aotearoa more positive publicity that money could buy that is good for Equality for all.

    Nonsense. He’s a criminal. He should be in prison.

    https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/05/murdering-rich-bastard-condemned-around.html

  21. eco maori 21
    29 October 2018 at 8:58 am

    I can smell some thing its smells like a payed troll are you and your m8 still link below
    Muppet I will just ignore your out dated words.

  22. eco maori 22
    29 October 2018 at 9:16 am

    Kia ora The cafe hows it going Mike you were a bit flush last week I quit like the cake .
    Eco see all.
    Big Buddy is a good organization that give young Tane a father’s role model its cool
    Eco know what it’s like not having parents as my true parent died when I was nine.
    Ka kite ano

  23. eco maori 23
    29 October 2018 at 9:45 am

    Here is a good nature loving bird rescue person Vicki and other’s are doing a wonderful job caring for injured birds

    Promiscuous penguins terrified of water, harried harrier hawks, clumsy kererū and greedy kea owe their lives to the growing cavalry of everyday Kiwis who are helping rehabilitate our injured wildlife, writes VICKI ANDERSON Ka kite ano link is below.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/108092661/bird-is-the-word–meet-the-everyday-kiwis-saving-feathered-lives

  24. eco maori 24
    29 October 2018 at 4:36 pm

    Eco Maori says Human Caused Global Warming is poking us in the eyes tornado are only seen in Aotearoa once and a while about 3 to 5 years apart not 10 in one year.
    A “massive” tornado that swirled over farmland east of Hamilton left observers stunned and sent one woman to hunker down in the toilet.Meanwhile motorists in Tauranga saw a giant tornado swirling above the harbour and threatening to touch down near the port’s tank farm . Ka kite ano link is below P.S Feel the thunder

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/108187888/funnel-cloud-touches-down-in-rural-waikato

  25. eco maori 25
    29 October 2018 at 5:00 pm

    Eco Maori says the best way to get one health on the UP and weight on the Down is to chuck all the added sugar out of the house no fizzys cut the beezzy down to once a month that’s full of sugar to no sugar at all I don’t have sugar now and I feel good . Like I have said before the big comapnys will sue the —– off anyone who points out the bad facts about sugar.
    And the way I see It the Big companys win in court most times It takes about 30 years for the truth to rise thru the Bigotry of Plutocracy that is running our world into the dirt. Ka kite ano link is below P.S Try and eat more vegtables but I back up no sugar one has to be strong for the Tamariki/ Moko’s.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/107676589/kiwis-have-normalised-childhood-obesity-says-expert

  26. eco maori 26
    29 October 2018 at 5:47 pm

    Kia ora tekaea Kasey and Karena are going to put on a mean Hakari for the Prince and Duchess when they visit Rotorua .
    I have allready given my opinion on Nga puhi I say settel and build a bright future for te mokopuna’s.
    Te whakatohea Mussel Waka is a good move mussle farming they do grow fast in Tangaroa around those ways they are sweet to.
    Ka kite ano P.S I say our tradition of providing ones guest with a mean Hakari has a lot of good thing that follow the feast everyone is happy

  27. eco maori 27
    29 October 2018 at 6:36 pm

    Kia ora Newshub That Lion Air plane that crashed is a tragedy it was only 2 month’s old condolences to the familys that have lost whano on that ??????plane.
    I see the Armys man of Brazil has won the presidency well see what he does.
    Just because simon says resign doesn’t mean anyone is going to listen to him .I like to have seen national sack a mp ex tobacco lobbyist.
    Leicester must be in shock to see a big figure there soccor club owner die in the chopper crash is some one putting bad parts on the market.
    Can you see it he’s a muppet trump that is.
    Ka pai Nigel Richards is a kiwi world best scrabble player thats not Eco forty Reading is tho.
    I say blind people should not be held back by short minded employers .
    Ka kite ano

  28. eco maori 28
    29 October 2018 at 7:19 pm

    Kia ora The Crowd Goes Wild James & Mulls
    I think the Couch is saying kicks keep it smart
    It will be good to get some of the young Rugby players a run together .
    Ka pai to the Fast 5 Netball team’s win.
    Mulls a American baseball puka puka.
    The Super bike man would have had to change some clothing after that flight.
    Ka kite ano P.S my thought to James global warming in Venice race