Yes I like Iain, he is an accessible Labour electorate MP (one of the few “provincial” Labour ones around at the moment), and he has been doing a great job of building the Palmerston North electorate back up as a well organised Labour stronghold.
“National’s strategy could disrupt Labour’s efforts to maximise the party vote, given that the survival of those MPs could hinge on them campaigning for the electorate vote instead to keep their political careers afloat. ”
Um, isn’t the risk that National’s strategy could disrupt their own efforts to maximise their own party vote? See what happens when journalists recycle press releases; their critical faculties wither and die. They become husks of their former selves, mere jonolists.
Vance: “Key will use his speech tomorrow to make the first of a series of policy announcements between now and the election campaign proper getting under way, when National is expected to start rolling out policy at the rate of one a day. ”
One a day? Dump at that rate and they will all end up in the dump – unread!
They’ll just be bullet pointed sheets of A4 that even the dumbest idiots will be able to read. It’s not as if they’ll have facts or logic to back them up – just ideology.
Justice Secretary Andrew Bridgman – ‘‘People see the broader vision and the strategy … but they don’t see how the plan connects them in their day to day activity. That’s why they don’t see the ministry succeeding and they don’t feel valued how they want to be valued.’’
How about – “people don’t feel valued because all they see is spin……..they DON’T see any broader vision nor any strategy…….” ?
I can confirm that working conditions at the Ministry are terrible. Personally, I can’t see why anyone would work there given the poor pay and patronizing management style.
The PSA reps really earn their money, it would be much worse without their heroic efforts.
Dunedin Green Party Campaign Launch today 3pm at the railway station. Candidates; Metiria Turei (Dn Nth), Shane Gallagher (Dn Sth) & Chris Ford (List) will be speaking, plus musicians, photobooth, and afternoon tea.
Even if you haven’t RSVPd, it’s a fairly big space so there should be room for anyone who happens to be in town this avo (and isn’t just coming along to disrupt the event).
Phillip, you’re slipping, there’s a newspaper poll out that favors dope decriminalization, i would have thought you would have been onto it first thing…
..but believe it or not..i consider our govt aiding in the butchering of entirely innocent of anything men/women/children at the behest of the fucken americans..
..to be a more important issue than dope-reform..
..and it actually horrifies me that i see the prospect of a lab/green govt continuing to have a hand in those killings/murders..
..to my mind..that would be..by any definition..’evil’..
..(and would..you’d think..?..
..have the likes of keith locke spinning in his retirement..)
I don’t think it would be too difficult to have good relations with USA but at the same time be more independent and preserving our freedom and sovereignty at the same time. Like so many countries are able to do at present. Whole scale snooping as revealed by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange should definitely be stopped while legitimate warranted security oversight could be allowed as long as they are with legally approved by legislation and judiciary.
Your Labour/green bashing is as laughable and boringly predictable as those on the right. Congratulation if you wanted to be seen as the whaleoil of the lunatic left – You won.
Write to the party leaders, ask their stances and report back here.
More of the same vitriol and invective will just confirm the suspected.
You should have highlighted this part of the quote too…
“though if I had to, I’d be quite capable of getting my hands bloody, if it were ultimately either me or them, I’d eat fluffy wuffy kittens and puppy tail stew”
“i don’t need to write to them to know the answers”
That’s why I called bs smear artist, thanks for backing me up.
So … you have questions that “you feel need addressing” – so much so you post them in two separate Open Mikes – but you also “don’t need to write to them to know the answers to those questions”?
It looks like you just want to be constantly associating Labour and the Greens with drone strikes, which pretty much fills the criteria for a smear campaign.
Sorry Phillip, but if you cannot discern the obvious relevance to your statement I quoted, maybe there are more important questions like why do you feel so qualified to cast judgement on such complex issues?
I am not going to enter a prolonged debate on this so don’t expect a reply to your reply, but if you really need the thing laid out for you, here it is.
If no-one inside or outside of Government made the effort to change policy, it is fair to assume that policy would not change.
to your refusal to ask those who would be making the policies;
If when given the means and opportunities to ask those who are in a position to change their policies, you refuse to accept, how do you expect them to be aware that you feel the policy is in need of change?
@phillip Key’s whole life is a dream. Something to do with being relaxed all the time, he doesn’t have anything to dream about when he actually goes to sleep.
The words signifying nothing came to mind. I find on google it’s from Macbeth and the quotes from it are all so descriptive and apt for either Key and/or the NACTS!
Shakespeare was brilliant, very knowing and had writing skills and vocabulary par excellence! http://www.william-shakespeare.info/quotes-quotations-play-macbeth.htm
Here are some. The first applies if his support did aid drone strikes. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” Macbeth Quote (Act II, Sc. II).
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself, and falls on the other.” – ( Quote Act I, Scene VII).
“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.” Macbeth Quote (Act I, Scene V).
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. – ( Quote Act I, Scene I).
“I bear a charmed life”. Macbeth Quote (Act V, Sc. VIII).
and
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Macbeth Quote (Act V, Scene V).
@phillip
You and I can fight and chew gum at the same time better than those others and while balancing our beers on our heads.
To the bridge Horatius — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatius_Cocles! There is a picture here of a Horatius that I don’t match up to, so hope you do.
Savage words traded P.Ure and T.Allen…….well……a bit o’ The Bard kindly tossed in by ‘Warbler……happy ending.
We are united. Dedicated to throwing off the cloak of falseness and foulness which pervades governance. In ShonKey Python land.
Our Sydney-based spin doctor William Shakespeare exposes it seminally…….“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.” Macbeth Quote (Act I, Scene V).
Well done ‘Warbler getting all that together. Entertaining on top of soooo true !
@North
You have got me thinking – ‘our Sydney based’ – would Fred Dagg still take an interest in our little farm? We must seem pretty funny from over in OZ. Should we send him a new black singlet, for nostalgic wearing and tell him we love him and would like to hear from him. See what he says? Anyone know his feelings on this?
Fred Dagg could do a passable lampooning of ShonKey Python actually. Especially the ‘global statesman’ persona the big wank tries to affect after a week affixed kissing gourami-like to Obama’s arse. Heard him simpering on in the TVOne News about the “inner sanctum” of the “kitchen cabinet”……..which is apparently where the decision re The Colon will be made. What a pretensious ponce !
Closet tokers and dopers all, and, if Jackie Blue the ex-National MP is to be considered ”run of the mill” there’s quite a bit of family ”biffo” occurring in the feral upper-class of the National Parties ranks…
i must admit Phillip to not having given the issue much thought at all recently, along with alcohol, dope is off the menu here at the Mansion,
Obviously i favor a simple blanket decriminalization of Marijuana be that growing for personal use or possession for personal use,
The codicil to that would have to be some pretty harsh penalties imposed upon anyone who for whatever reason allowed/caused those under 18 to get their hands on the ‘stash’,
My view is the responsibility for youngsters not getting stoned befor a legal age would have to rest upon the adult who legally possessed the supply, even to the point where it could be shown that the kids had sussed the stash and half inched all or part of it,
As a non-smoker who possesses quite a body of knowledge surrounding plant growth and also possesses a pile of 600’s along with an array of other stuff that some would describe as a comprehensive kit i am supremely relaxed as to the time-frame a Law change could be conceivably seen in this country…
Lolz Phillip, i reckon you are my friend about half a decade too late, if you search the records back about there you will find tales of a million dollar tinny house being busted in Porirua,
Despite malicious rumors spread by my many enemies i (laughingly) deny any involvement what-so-ever in having ever been any part of the supply chain all or in part for this particular enterprise,
My innocence shines not quite as brightly as the winter sun does upon this very fine Winter’s day but shine it does,
Your offer Phillip of 50/50 as part of such a business relationship is also ludicrous, given Legislation that allowed such legal production i would have to be entirely dull not to have sufficient skills to be able to both grow and retail the product,
My best offer in a situation where production was legalized would have to be a discount rate of minus fifty dollars on the accepted current price of a bulk buy in terms of O’s…
Your pricked ego Phillip simply results in you posting of the dull as attempted wit, your marketing skills are questionable to say the least,
IF you have a million viewers over there at your ‘attention whore’ web-page without the income to justify the effort i would suggest said marketing skills are zero,
Of course as in the dope world ‘quality’ of writing in the case of your website would tend to be the benchmark of the ability to produce revenue from ones efforts but even the Herald manages to generate some revenue from its efforts so i would doubt your possession of satisfactory skills in either area,
Given such a failure on your part i hardly need concern myself with your ego-centric notions of being some form of marketing guru and should i wish to indulge myself in the pursuit we have previously been discussing i can assure you that one text invitation to coffee to one individual from among a number of individuals on my phone list,(which for the life of me doesn’t appear to exist in this particular house-hold) would remove from my presence within the hour any amount i would care to produce…
Lolz CV, spose i could have just printed a terse bullshit instead, however i do like to drag those i am in conversation with into the byzantine alleyways of my mind in the hope that they too might catch a dose of what ails me,
We all would then be said to be conversing from the benefit of a level playing field…
i fail to ascertain a mood swing of any sort evident in my writing this day Phillip, perhaps the shit you have been spewing forth has somewhat clouded the crystal ball you seem to be using to divine my mood,
Well no must be the answer to your second question, i was always at the time pretty drunk,
You could tho test your theory of my ugliness by buying me a 40oz Black Label and then hanging about whilst i imbibed of the whole container…
BOYCOTT it, the NZHerald that is, if you have a subscription, cancel it, convince your friends and relatives to either cancel their subscriptions or not to buy the vicious piece of rubbish from the gas station or wherever their habit has them doing so,
Complaining to the press council or sending emails to the Herald itself is a pointless exercise, as one commenter showed us yesterday when the contents of an email were repeated here and ‘the Editor’, obviously taking the piss, spat back at the complaint referring to an ”un-sourced” code of journalistic ethics,
My opinion says that the whole Liu/Labour non-donations fiasco was deliberate, people who with deliberation spread such lies as propaganda are never going to apologize or retract their lies and we all are simply pissing into the wind if we have any expectation that they will,
PUNISH them, hit the NZHerald where it will hurt, Boycott the utter garbage gutter rag that it is and convince everyone you know to do the same,
The up-coming Labour Party Conference should spread that message throughout the membership, the time for complaining is over, give the NZHerald a message it cannot fail to understand, Hit them in the pocket, do not buy the product….
Mr Liu may feel like he’s lost quite a bit of face due to the way labour has used him for political point scoring.
So hardly surprising,he’s after a bit of utu.
Also, if the herald is going behind a pay well, the majority of its subscribers will be of a blue shade so it would make sense to target their stories at the people who buy/subscribe to their publication.
Stupidly, you seem to hold to a belief that the Herald possesses some form of comprehensive statement from Liu that details 100,s of thousands of dollars of donations to Labour,
Your refusal to entertain the notion that the Herald may have been the one to ”Inflate” a small donation,(to a rowing club), into that claim of 100’s of 1000’s is charming yet childishly lacking in intelligence,
The latest sum arrived at by the Herald is now $38,000, the claim is that this is a revised figure from further information given by Liu to the Herald,
i have no belief that Liu has given the Herald any ”further” information as i have little belief that the Herald is in possession of a comprehensive statement from Liu which details such supposed gifts,
My belief until such time as the Herald provides ”Proof”, as in the printing of these supposed statements from Liu to the Herald, is that a Journalist, or, Journalists have simply concocted this whole sordid mess of lies with deliberation….
It keeps on coming … they seem to have a direct line from Liu or someone who speaks English or someone who speaks for him … how else could they possibly know he has hired Paul Davison QC to lead “a team of advisers” to ward off any fight with Labour ? This does threaten death by a thousand cuts … and I hope Blip is reading .. just heard Key on The Nation say all he said in US was that there was a donation of $38,000! oh dear .. ruined my morning and I had to turn him off.
Key is a craven coward! Happy to dish as much dirt as he can but scuttles away like a cockroach to hide under the nearest log when he is caught out in his lies and smears against people who he deems to be his enemy, then creeps out with a different persona which he uses until the crap that he created dies down. I don’t remember him quoting a figure of $38,000.00. That figure has only just been come to by the mathematical geniuses at nz herald, from alleged information quoting revised figures. He mentioned $15,000.00 for a book that now never gets mentioned. He also said he knew there was a lot more to come, smirk, smirk. Now he says he doesn’t know any details of Liu’s alleged donations and never has. Mr Liu must realise that all this distraction has been engineered by key and his sycophantic invertebrates to discredit Cunliffe as this is the ONLY way he has any chance of winning the next election. Dirty tricks is all he knows.
Mr Liu may feel like he’s lost quite a bit of face due to the way labour has used him for political point scoring.
Labour never used him for political point scoring – they just pointed out that National were taking bribes and he was one of the people who seemingly tried to bribe National.
Also, if the herald is going behind a pay well, the majority of its subscribers will be of a blue shade so it would make sense to target their stories at the people who buy/subscribe to their publication.
Yep, it’s going to turn into an echo chamber on a par with WhaleOil. No journalistic integrity and stories made up out of whole cloth.
Because in the 10 years in which New Zealand has been lobbying for this position, the way the country sees itself has changed radically. We were once treated with caution by the US; now we enjoy favoured status. We were champions of neutrality and balance; we’re now reversing that once-cherished aloofness.
The question is, which New Zealand will be turning up in New York should our [security council] bid be successful? Not just New Zealanders, but citizens of other countries too, have a right to know.
The first comment on the article is right on the button too, imo.
I’ve noticed how the NActs have lately taken any opportunity to mention Labour began this process. It’s like they’re not keen to take credit for the cost on an allmighty failure themselves.
As I wrote to Dita, she is lucky to be able to tell what John Key thinks NZ’s Foreign Policy is. His opinion keeps changing according to who his audience is. Shifty?
Interesting call from Hilary Clinton today giving Australia a slap for expecting the US to defend it but at the same time giving China considerable preferences. Any simularities to NZ??!! Key has the same feet on separating icebergs. What happens on D-Day?!
That first comment was spot on. I’m kinda hoping that a lot of people are waking up to the fact that we’re losing our way just so that Key and, by association, National can kiss US president arse.
FYI
8:15 Kent Greenfield RNZ NAT
Kent Greenfield is Professor of Law and Law Fund Research Scholar at Boston College Law School. He is the author of the 2011 book, The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits (Biteback Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-84954-307-1).
Worth a listen.
Sorry folks – audio not yet up at the time of this comment
Blubber boy has apparently asked for time out while he grows a leg to stand on,(there is also no truth to the rumor that It has been forced to find a new kindergarten to attend having been excluded from attending because of a number of violent incidents)…
Which contains the following: “Labour Party general secretary Tim Barnett confirmed that a lawyer for the party had contacted Liu’s legal counsel but was yet to receive a substantive reply.
“The Labour Party has no dispute with Mr Liu because we have seen no evidence that he has published false information about us.””
And this is the output of the editor of investigative reporting?
I don’t really think the Liu is the problem. He doesn’t have his own publishing company – that I know of.
The error is entirely the result of the Herald journalists and editors that wrote and allowed such unsubstantiated information to be published – time and again – without providing the information necessary to Labour to investigate those claims.
I was interested to see that article as what it indicates IMO is that possibly legal action is being contemplated by Labour – by the party management, keeping Cunliffe out of it.
However, I agree that the Herald (rather than Jared Savage per se) just aren’t quitting, as evidenced by their editorial yesterday (now with over 300 comments, most scathing of the Herald).
In the Editorial, reference is made to further clarification this weekend on Lui’s statement (cannot remember the exact wording) which appeared to signal that The Herald has not given up.
This is possibly reinforced by a tweet from Tim Murphy about 6pm last night
“Donghua Liu – seems like some premature claims of the story ‘unravelling’ have been going on …”
But isn’t the unravelling about what had already been printed last week? The damage to the Labour Party was done with unsubstantiated allegations centred around 2007. The complaint is not with Mr Liu is it? It is with whoever planted the story with the Herald and the Herald for printing it.
Correct. Deflections on to Liu are completely misguided. He’s merely another private citizen. It’s the media institution of the NZ Herald which needs to be held to account.
I agree with you, that the real complaint should be with whoever planted the story etc, rather than Liu per se.
However, imo it could be well impossible (and possibly very disasterous) at this point to try to take a complaint of any sort, including legal action, against the Herald, or the National Party.
Liu could well be the weak link – in light of the statements he is purported to have made (although we have yet to see the hard copy) that he has donated equally to Labour and National – and that he is not liking being a political pawn in the battle between the two (cannot remember the exact words).
Pure speculation on my part, but putting pressure on Liu could lead to disclosures as to what (and who) influenced him to make his original early May statement, how this statement apparently found its way to Key shortly thereafter, and finally to the Herald some weeks later. Any such disclosures could then allow action to be taken against these other parties.
Of course they haven’t given up. They’ve lost a lot of cred and they need to get something on Labour now or they are toast.
But anything they publish from now on needs to have iron-clad proof or they will be laughed off the newstands.
This could go one of two ways – either the HOS has something tomorrow (that’s where they dump all the legally dodgy stuff) or they will actually attempt to verify whatever rubbish they are being fed and will attack again when they are ready.
It’s beginning to get irritating, can’t even read the weekend ‘paper in peace now. The Herald reporters are still persisting with the sly insinuations about David Cunliffe
Savage added this bit….
“The Herald last week revealed Mr Cunliffe wrote a letter for Liu’s residency application, despite previous denials.”
(did he even deny that… don’t recall him being asked that exact question)
Armstrong just had to add these sly digs when talking about Parker…
“David Parker’s authority and influence as Labour’s deputy leader and finance spokesman has been on the rise as much as David Cunliffe’s has been on the wane.”
And…
“He will be able to blame a combination of factors for that, ranging from the current pick-up in economic growth being of huge electoral benefit to National to Cunliffe’s string of mistakes.”
Neither story was even about David Cunliffe and they still put the boot in. WTF is wrong with these people?
Labour policy pushes back against employers importing cheap labour to undercut Kiwis
Bloody good move, Red Team.
“To address that Labour will require employers bringing in overseas workers to pay a living wage (after accommodation deductions) where the job offer forms part of the reason the application is accepted. This does not apply for the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) or Pacific quota migrants.
“We will also ensure RSE workers are paid at the rate of at least the minimum wage plus $1.25 an hour, with accommodation provided in addition to wages. Employers in industries with skills shortages and low pay will be required to be involved in implementing training plans before they are given the right to bring in workers from overseas.
I was doing seasonal work around 1999-2000 and was pretty shocked how much rent was being charged by orchard owners to workers coming in from other districts – it had gone from free rent years earlier, to charging fairly standard amount (from memory, around $80 per room at that time) however this was for a shared room with at least one other person this seemed like a real rort being conducted by orchard owners. it severely undercut the affordability of doing the job and quality of life while doing it – which for shed-work was at the very minimum wage. It was with a great deal of frustration that I heard about the schemes introduced a few years later (or perhaps it was around that same time) of importing cheap labour. Glad to hear that Labour are addressing an erroneous and damaging approach that I suspect they introduced. As the press release conveys importing cheap labour obviated the need to address the wage levels and rorts being conducted by the owners of orchards and fairly well pushed job opportunities away from New Zealanders.
Glad to hear that Labour are addressing an erroneous and damaging approach that I suspect they introduced.
They did introduce them and it is good to see them now realising that they were badly implemented and need fixing. This is possibly the first thing that they’ve actually got right so far.
Yes and there will be tens of thousands just like the lady non voter interviewed that are going to vote this time because she wants a new PM/Government.
Key being interviewed by Gower ended on John Key saying 2015 is about changing the New Zealand flag. It wouldn’t surprise if he decides on a new star spangled banner design. How can people take this guy serious when the changing of the flag is important to him. If he was a real leader he would first drop the British monarchy and call for our independence and change the flag as part of the deal..
Only need 75,000 of those missing voters to turn up and vote LAB/GR/IMP, while 75,000 NAT voters decide to stay home. That would be a decisive win for the Left.
The vindictive Principal of St John’s College? Can you punish a lad for winning the right to his hair style?
“But the school put its foot down and told Lucan he wouldn’t be attending the school ball, and when he showed up with his boots for first XV rugby practice earlier this week, he was told he couldn’t train. ” http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/10209394/Lucans-hair-battle-hits-ball-plans
It is obvious that the Ministry of Education must step in to this affray, first drawing up a specific code surrounding hair that all schools must adhere to,(exclusion from any school activity being outlawed),and second, having provision to remove Principals for breaching any kids basic human rights,
Disgust is the best descriptive i can muster here without leaving a trail of abuse where the Principal in question has in effect shown His or Her contempt for the Court by devising what can only be seen as further punishments for the kid in question for the parents decision to dare to question the power this particular Principal wields in His/Her particular little Potentate,
There is NO evidence that the length or style of a students hair has any negative effect on their ability or their class’s ability to learn…
I heard that there are class photos from the school from the 1970’s – with boys who have even longer hair. Basically, the school administration needs to get on with doing its job of providing education, not punishment.
My guess is that the new Principal wanted to set a standard of no nonsense boss-ship and boxed himself into a corner and is now trying to regain the lost face. And probably support the teacher who sent the lad to the Principal in the first place.
This is exactly what I thought – especially given the school earlier trying to claim that his long hair was a cause of “disruption”. Nope, the school being inflexible wankers about a trivial rule is what’s causing the disruption.
Wonder how much it cost the school to lawyer-up to defend its master-of-the-universe bullshit ? Who’s the shitty little punk here ?
I’ll put my money on it being the solipsistic “School (me) WILL be obeyed !” principal. Not the kid. The more I see the more I applaud him and his family. Piss off immature and spiteful principal man/boy. And the self important social climbing wannabes on your board.
“No you can’t go to the ball…….no you’re not welcome at training……so there !”
Soooo Ugly-Step-Sister ! Reminds me of the idiot big-fish-little-pond bully, the headmaster at my own school ……..50 years ago.
There’s been a bit of this lately. The git state school principal in Whangarei who thought it unremarkable to stigmatise pupils whose parents hadn’t met school charges by excluding them from their classes. “Sit in the hall like on detention boys…..this is for your own good….”
It’s high school… such a meaningless thing to get up in arms about but probably seems really important when you are there and trying to assert your individuality within those constraints like uniforms and all that, it becomes such a silly concern when you leave.
Better parents would have advised the kid to balance a meaningless assertion of individuality with the reality that it would disrupt a huge part of his school year.
Also could have been better handled by the school, ball and 1st XIV should have been used off the bat instead of suspension (as the judge suggested).
And the hypocritical dick who used to have long hair at the same school, but who is now on the Board of Trustees and who chaired the disciplinary committee, he definitely shouldn’t be there. Lameass.
Hooton on The Nation could be edited and played as a political advert for National. Hooton watch the replay and read the minds of what the rest of the panel are thinking in your final lines of spin.
Backing up Joyce’s snake oil about many of the non voters in National seats last time were actually National voters is total crap. If you were a left voter in one of these safe seats your hardly inspired to turn up to vote as ya not going to roll the electorate candidate are you? Labour done themselves no favours by not running a ‘strongly focused party vote strategy.’ Don’t worry our mate McCarten will see to the party vote messaging this time. Now go down a triple shot java to wake your delusional head up on how to come across credible.
Yep. The labour get out the vote effort tends to happen in strong labour seats or marginal seats. For instance in Tamaki there is a rich vein of labour support in Glen Innes but the local party struggles to get them out. Those people must be really put off voting by the apparent overwhelming sign of National’s strength in the area and I am not surprised that they did not vote last time.
Yeah, Glen Innes / Point England / Panmure seem to comprise a little blob of Red in a vast sea of East Auckland Blue. Also perhaps (to a somewhat lesser extent) nearby Edgewater in the far west of Williamson’s Pakuranga seat – orange in 2005, light blue in 08 and 11, but that’s in a deeply dark blue seat.
I’ve noticed in my research a few Labour enclaves (surrounded by suburbs as blue as a new tattoo) where turnout seems to have declined markedly. Among the deeply Tory northern suburbs of Whangarei, for instance, is a little oasis of Red – the (presumably state house and strongly maori) little suburb of Otangarei (almost cut off from its inherently Tory neighbours by a bend in the river that surrounds the suburb on three sides). In 2005 Labour won 150 votes out of a total of 213. In 2011 it received 60 out of 114. The Nat vote, meanwhile, barely changed – a grand total of 11 votes in 2005 and 10 votes 2011.
A pack of jackals at a National Party conference two facedly smiling everywhere working for squeezing themselves the better part of the wealth of New Zealand from the pockets of the working class…
Full of shadowy, shady representatives of the cabinet club there to lean on their puppets in power. Making sure their ‘so called donations’ are repaid ten fold with lucrative political favours.
Nationals 2014 election campaign slogan should be;
Hang about – does that ‘better New Zealand’ refer to one of improving conditions or rather is it poor English for referring to a New Zealand that is good for people who bet – speculators?
Considering National’s political approach that would have to be option b – a New Zealand that advantages speculators.
That might be o.k for those who already have capital (hence the smiles – high on making money on money) – but it is disastrous for the functioning of a healthy society or of any hope of social mobility -i.e. getting out of ruts. The rich get richer the poor get poorer and the middle go backwards under National. Vote left to stop this rort.
FizzyAnus you really should have a day off from The Standard and apply yourself where you’re most needed. At the Crooks’ Convention flogging off FizzyAnus Kits to the insufficiently fizzy anused. Most of whom can be identified by that compulsive tick, that helpless flashing of cocktail party grimaces you call smiles.
Without checking that sounds very much like (a) the denial of the society of the school to a member of that society on the grounds that he has challenged (and won). That MUST be wrong if not actually unlawful, and (2) a public gesture of contempt for Justice Collins’ ruling.
I heard again the song Money Money from Cabaret this morning on Radionz with Liza Minelli and Joel Grey and it is such a sharply satirical clever tuneful song that it would be excellent to have a recording of it that someone should start playing at every NACT gathering before they can throw you out. (Health warning – watch out for Gerry Brownlee, Chief Bouncer but all NACTs would be able at attack positions and feints whether male or female.)
Here is youtube – very good performance by both of them and funny. Money Money
Money makes the world go around
…the world go around
…the world go around.
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go ’round.
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
…a buck or a pound
…a buck or a pound.
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound…
Can make the world go ’round
If you happen to rich
And you feel like a night’s entertainment
You can pay for a gay escapade.
If you happen to be rich and alone
And you need a companion
You can ring (ting-a-ling) for the maid.
If you happen to be rich
And you find you are left by your lover,
And you moan and you groan quite a lot
You can take it on the chin,
Call a cab and begin to recover
On your 14-karat yacht! WHAT!?
Money makes the world go around….
Of that we both are sure… rasberry sound on being poor!
Money money money money…
When you haven’t any coal in the stove
And you freeze in the winter
And you curse to the wind at your fate.
When you haven’t any shoes on your feet,
Your coat’s thin as paper,
And you look 30 pounds underweight
When you go to get a word of advice
From the fat little pastor,
He will tell you to love evermore.
But when hunger comes to rap,
rat-a-tat rat-a-tat at the window
knock knock (at the window)
Who’s there? (hunger) oh, hunger!!
See how love flies out the door…
For, money makes the world go around….
The clinking, clanking sound of…
Get a little, get a little
Money money money money…
Mark, a yen, a buck or a pound,
That clinking, clanking, clunking sound,
Is all that makes the world go ’round,
It makes the world go ’round!
Key is a craven coward! Happy to dish as much dirt as he can but scuttles away like a cockroach to hide under the nearest log when he is caught out in his lies and smears against people who he deems to be his enemy, then creeps out with a different persona which he uses until the crap that he created dies down. I don’t remember him quoting a figure of $38,000.00. That figure has only just been come to by the mathematical geniuses at nz herald, from alleged information quoting revised figures. He mentioned $15,000.00 for a book that now never gets mentioned. He also said he knew there was a lot more to come, smirk, smirk. Now he says he doesn’t know any details of Liu’s alleged donations and never has. Mr Liu must realise that all this distraction has been engineered by key and his sycophantic invertebrates to discredit Cunliffe as this is the ONLY way he has any chance of winning the next election. Dirty tricks is all he knows.
Key himself proudly announced a little while ago, that he keeps a chunk of dirty tricks material in his top drawer to be unleashed at a later time. An admission like that, coming from a prime minister, is so very shameful. He has tried to make our democracy, politics, way of life pretty mean and dirty.
Fleetstreet Hacks present their new hit-piece single
Tell Them Lies,
take it away guys ……
Each time you turn the page
you swear that we’ve rearranged just a line or two
Close them, close them, close those eyes
But when we find a way
to twist the truth then sure we deceive you too
Tell them, tell them, tell those lies
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
(Tell them lies, tell them, tell them lies)
Read it all it’s between the lines
(we can hide, we can really hide)
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
Although it’s in the plans
I hope that you understand
there’s a reason why
Close them, close them, close those eyes
So much to report on
But we get off making it up
as we go along
Tell them, tell them, tell them lies
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
(Tell them lies, tell them, tell them lies)
Read it all it’s between the lines
(we can hide, we can really hide)
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
Were my eyes deceiving me today while watching “The Nation”? Tony Ryall was interviewed and was shown to have a decidedly elongated and “pointed” noggin! Was a trick camera being used, maybe stolen from a travelling carnival? I’ve never seen his head look like that before. It was really really strange, we were laughing so much we didn’t hear one word he said – no worries, I’m sure we didn’t miss much! Anyone else see it?
WANT BLAIR GONE AS “PEACE ENVOY”?
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
Friday 27th June 2014 will mark the seventh year that Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East. This is an urgent call to end this insult to the region’s people by having him sacked as the so-called “Peace Envoy.”
SEVEN REASONS FOR SEVEN YEARS
To mark the occasion, here are seven reasons to #SackBlair for the seven years he has been in the role.
1) War = Peace?! Tony Blair and George W Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq destroyed an entire Middle Eastern society.
2) Pro-Israeli bias Both as Prime Minister and Envoy, Blair has shown a consistent and blatant bias towards Israel.
3) 7 years bad luck for Palestine The last seven years have shown Blair either incapable or unwilling to achieve anything meaningful for the Palestinian people.
4) Conflict of interest? The way Blair works, it is often unclear where his envoy role ends and his business interests begin.
5) Peace Envoy = Warmonger?! Since his appointment Blair has repeatedly called for yet more Middle Eastern wars – in Iran, Syria and now Iraq again.
6) Living like a V.I.P. – on our V.A.T. As Envoy Blair has luxuriated in Jerusalem’s poshest hotel at the taxpayer’s expense, while families in the Occupied Territories struggle to feed their children.
7) Advising autocrats Alongside his envoy role, Blair has been hiring himself out to tyrants with histories of human rights abuses.
THIS IS OUR TIME
With Tony Blair’s outrageous comments and Iraq in flames across the news, there’s no better time than now to launch this campaign.
Professor Chomsky, British MPs from both major parties and three former UK ambassadors to the Middle East already support our campaign. Now it’s your turn….
+100%. The Guardian has all the gruesome details today of his current conflicts of interest… a crook beyond imagining in fact. Chief fomenter in fact if you follow the dots.
Yep. Even made membership of Parliamentary Labour Friends of Israel compulsory for any Labour MP who wanted to make it to high office back in the late 90s / early-mid zeros.
Astounding that this piece of shit was ever allowed to become leader.
Narayan’s battery uses water and organic compounds called quinones (oxidized organic compounds) for its electroactive part. Quinones are naturally occurring, energy-storing compounds found in plants, animals and bacteria and are used in photosynthesis and cellular respiration. The battery specifically uses an adapted version of benzoquinone that can be dissolved in water.
Sounds good. This is the type of innovation we need.
But the secret of their success?
The battery is still in the lab phase, and USC is funding its research in part with a grant, awarded last year, from the Department of Energy’s early-stage high-risk ARPA-E. program.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful especially in the home solar panel industry. Some installers suggest having a storage system as well as an overflow back to the grid. But lead batteries? Mmm!
From Mother Jones a hint that Catholic church rules about birth control and gay marriage etc may be revisited by the Vatican. Probably little would change in Western societies but….
“On Pope Francis’ orders, the Vatican will convene an urgent meeting of senior clerics this fall to reexamine church teachings that touch the most intimate aspects of people’s lives….The run-up to the synod has been extraordinary in itself, a departure from usual practice that some say is a mark of the pope’s radical new leadership style, and a canny tactic to defuse dissent over potential reforms.
….Within a few months of his election last year, Francis directed every diocese in the world to survey local attitudes on family and relationships and report back to the Vatican, a canvassing of a sort that few of the faithful can recall previously..
….Taking the public temperature also brings tactical advantages. Nobody at the Vatican will be surprised to learn that vast numbers of Catholics disobey its ban on premarital sex and birth control, or that some are in gay partnerships. Setting down those realities irrefutably on paper, however, could strengthen a bid by Francis to soften the church’s official line and put pressure on bishops inclined to resist, including some in the United States and many in Asia and Africa, conservative areas where the church has been growing….” http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/pope-francis-convenes-vatican-synod-family-and-sex
This is a few years old now but still relevant – especially the bit about how selling state assets has left us worse off.
Those foreign asset sales and the foreign borrowing through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are now expressing themselves in a continual leeching of dividends and interest payments that have essentially stalled per capita growth in income domestically.
Essentially, any GDP growth since 2003 has been gobbled up by interest payments and dividends. We are essentially now borrowing to pay the interest on previous debt and the rent on foreign-owned assets. We have passed the point of no return.
If we want to make our society better then we need to return our economy to full NZ ownership.
“If we want to make our society better then we need to return our economy to full NZ ownership.”
First nz economy has never been in full NZ ownership, so we cannot return to such a place given that we were never there.
Perhaps you could then request say to David Cunliffe tomorrow that as a suggested policy all the funds from nz super, EQC, ACC and other govt investment funds to be solely invested in nz as a start – good luck there.
Instead which is increasing in frequently here, when challenged attack those who challenge instead why not put up and justify your position. You made a statement back it up.
A quick refresher: In 1995, after winning a majority in the House for the first time in forty years, one of the first things the new Republican House leadership did was gut Congress’s workforce. They cut the “professional staff” (the lawyers, economists, and investigators who work for committees rather than individual members) by a third. They reduced the “legislative support staff” (the auditors, analysts, and subject-matter experts at the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional Research Service [CRS], and so on) by a third, too, and killed off the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) entirely. And they fundamentally dismantled the old committee structure, centralizing power in the House speaker’s office and discouraging members and their staff from performing their own policy research. (The Republicans who took over the Senate in 1995 were less draconian, cutting committee staff by about 16 percent and leaving the committee system largely in place.) Today, the GAO and the CRS, which serve both House and Senate, are each operating at about 80 percent of their 1979 capacity. While Senate committee staffs have rebounded somewhat under Democratic control, every single House standing committee had fewer staffers in 2009 than in 1994. Since 2011, with a Tea Party-radicalized GOP back in control of the House, Congress has cut its budget by a whopping 20 percent, a far higher ratio than any other federal agency, leading, predictably, to staff layoffs, hiring and salary freezes, and drooping morale.
Counties boy here, from way back. Saw it when it came out. Captured the people and lifestyle beautifully… and a side of Pukekohe rarely seen. The reggae was cool as too bro
Just under the surface running through the whole fillim, countless stereotypes of a negative nature, the only thing absent a KFC or Macca’s, along with a whole violin concert of touchy feelies to signify nobility,
Good to see the brown brothers in fillim tho, despite my criticism, the next one on is more topical,but, the thugby is going to interrupt,
Did Bob even visit the Marae out at Puke, i know of one He had a great time at down here, even playing His favorite game wif the kids out on the road well into the night…
Dam! Just heard that Peter Fry finishes next Saturday night. What a shame. We have now lost so many announcers that could speak in voices that everyone could understand with a measured pace and without the frenetic pace that announcers are now required to speak. I would be surprised if Peter was wanting top leave more likely the station is determined to remove every trace of intelligent great sounding people.
Only one left as far as I know.
This is a real loss. Peter Fry is a wonderful presenter. Surely he wasn’t forced to leave? If so something is very wrong at RNZ.
Peter Fry’s tone is one of kindness and he takes a genuine interest in the requests, dedications, and messages, often to elderly and sick listeners. A real public service.
Don’t know what happened to “weekend social”, but this is stuff worth noting, Selena, bombastic singer and talent, sadly killed too early by bullets from some acquaintance, or so, years ago:
This was her LAST concert, a friend recommended it, and I find it good, but it is not “revolutionary”, to be honest. But culture and passion deserve recognition, whether revolutionary or less so, enjoy!
Salvador Allende, murdered by his own soldiers or security services, paid for by the CIA, the murder of a nation, you can say.
Disgusting, it is, what happened in many countries in Latin America, like in Chile, and the people were denied a voice, there with a military raid, we have not got there yet, we are “just manipulated”. But the threat and danger is the SAME, we are seized, corrupted and “bought” by forces of global scale “multinationals”, and their servant power player, one John Key.
It is time for Kiwis to bloody wake up, I mean the wider public, to the corruption, the manipulation and selling out of what this country supposedly stands for. It is a corrupt society here, I have ample information, that reaches even into the levels of supposed “Offices of Parliament”, like the Office of Ombudsmen, the Privacy Commissioner, the Health and Disability Commissioner, they are ALL compromised and CORRUPTED by the system in place.
YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHTS HEARD AND MET under this corrupt system that abounds and rules in this rotten country. You are misled and dumbed down, to believe this is a “democracy” and that this place follows the “rule of law”. NO, learn another thing, this is a lying system, with old boys and girls networks, it is no less corrupt than many countries in Latin America. I know!
I have taken issues to said offices, for myself and others, and they all “strangely” do not even follow natural justice, they use “discretion” to degrees, it is a FARCE, the law applied here. To really get “justice”, you are forced to go to the High Court and swear you pay thousands of dollars if you lose your claim and proceedings. You are “fucked” in this rotten country, and if you believe this is a just” and “honest” society, you are brainwashed and an IDIOT!
Sorry to be so damned blunt, that is NZ Aotearoa RAW, and even Labour will NOT change the truth, that is why I will NOT vote them.
It is time for a damned waking up and a revolution in this docile place, if only some would have the bloody courage, it is a total disgrace, how manipulated and bought this country and society has become under one John Key, a TRAITOR of principles and human values.
Make a damned difference, dear readers, wake the hell up, and vote this bastard OUT, and his gang of corrupt and manipulative self serving business players. Thank you, RIP.
The artists themselves are only part of the problem here. Many of them are acting in good faith, making what they want to make and then selling it. But at least some of them are complicit, catering to a new breed of hungry, high-yield risk-averse buyers, eager to be part of a rapidly widening niche industry. The ersatz art in which they deal fundamentally looks the way other art looks. It’s colloquially been called Modest Abstraction, Neo-Modernism, M.F.A. Abstraction, and Crapstraction. (The gendered variants are Chickstraction and Dickstraction.) Rhonda Lieberman gets to the point with “Art of the One Percent” and “aestheticized loot.” I like Dropcloth Abstraction, and especially the term coined by the artist-critic Walter Robinson: Zombie Formalism.
Why is the Left in NZ so damned shy to not shout it out, we want JUSTICE, EQUALITY and WORKERS’ RIGHTS, what is so damned “embarrassing” about all this???
Is there a “left” remaining in this country???
Or is this all about the “last fire sale” of what is “left” nailed here???
PASSION, is not found easily, not in NZ, I am afraid:
Revolution requires ready minds and souls and bodies, we have NONE of it here, they are mostly easily “bought” for favours, forget it, forget election 2014, it is a LOST game, with lost souls and lost players.
Bah, bah, bah, is the message, commercial advertising is sending the messages, no doubt here, hand over your brain at the counter, you may get a discount for picking it up in a “pickled” state. Best of luck, you do NOT deserve it, lazy brains.
It must be frustrating to see National ride so high in the polls. It must mean people are thick. Wrong.• National values are as follows
Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as
Head of State
• National and personal security
• Equal citizenship and equal opportunity
• Individual freedom and choice
• Personal responsibility
• Competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement
• Limited government
• Strong families and caring communities
• Sustainable development of our environment
Now that deserves over 50%.
I took a taxi after the Nat conference and convinced the Somalian taxi driver to change his vote from Labour to National in just ten minutes. Someone has lied to him that national hated the poor.
National do hate the poor. National claiming to have those values is as big a lie as when you said Cunliffe had promised labour would be on more than 40% by the election
Hilarious. The only thing on the list that National are doing is the “limited government” bit, though not the sense of “limited” that you thought of when you typed it. The rest they are either ignoring, or doing the opposite.
LABOUR’S PRINCIPLES SET OUT MORE CLEARLY than Nat’s abstract sound bite BS:
The Labour Party accepts the following democratic socialist principles:
All political authority comes from the people by democratic means including universal suffrage, regular and free elections with a secret ballot.
The natural resources of New Zealand belong to all the people and these resources, and in particular non-renewable resources, should be managed for the benefit of all, including future generations.
All people should have equal access to all social, economic, cultural, political and legal spheres, regardless of wealth or social position, and continuing participation in the democratic process.
Co-operation, rather than competition, should be the main governing factor in economic relations, in order that a greater amount and a just distribution of wealth can be ensured.
All people are entitled to dignity, self-respect and the opportunity to work.
All people, either individually or in groups, may own wealth or property for their own use, but in any conflict of interest people are always more important than property and the state must ensure a just distribution of wealth.
The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand and that the Treaty should be honoured in government, society and the family.
Peace and social justice should be promoted throughout the world by international co-operation and mutual respect.
The same basic human rights, protected by the State, apply to all people, regardless of race, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religious faith, political belief or disability.
Now that deserves 100%!
I would like to meet that Somalian taxi driver of yours to see what propaganda, spin, lies and BS you peddled to him in your sound bites in just 10 minutes of the highway ride.
He told me that he would convince his entire extended family to change to the party that is giving him free doctors visits for under 13’s, literacy classes, insulated homes, pensions at 65 and wages rising twice faster than inflation. That’s actually 6 Labour votes now voting National. He pledged his word and we shook on the deal.
You do realise most of those are actually Labour ‘s socialist policies stolen by your RWN job National crooks to fool the gullible, while continuing with their agenda to be the party that really works for the benefit of the wealthy, right?
The usual generalised sound-bites there. I don’t think this government has been for strong families and caring communities at all. This government policy has been to fragment low income families and keep wages low. They’ve said as much in public. It’s “good” for the economy.
You can keep your other statements but don’t try to say low income communities have been supported by this government’s policies.
by John Edmundson The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) have recently reposted a February article, by Romany Tasker-Poland, explaining ISO’s position in the “trans rights” debate. It is available on their website and on their Facebook Page. The article sets out to explain why “socialists support trans rights”. It reads more ...
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Media Statement for Immediate Release 16th October 2019 “Fake News” from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers Despite comments from Auckland City Council CCOs Board Chairs re pay and performance bonuses for top managers—Herald Newspaper Tuesday Oct 15th–there is very little evidence ...
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by The Council of Disobedient Women In a press release today Massey University announced it has decided to rebrand and reorientate after struggling to be a University for grown-ups. For some time the University has wanted to be a safe play space for wee-woke-misogynists who have been really badly triggered ...
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I came across this song quite by accident. If it isn't one of Greta Thunberg's favourites - it should be.Video courtesy of YouTube.This post is exclusive to Bowalley Road. ...
Last month, NZDF's shoddy coverup of what it knew about civilian casualties in Operation Burnham began to fall apart, with the revelation that a report on the matter, which NZDF claimed not to have, had been sitting in an NZDF safe for the past nine years. Yesterday, the man responsible ...
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An essay by Judith Collins MP reported on Carbon News yesterday seems to show an alarming shift in attitude within the National Party. Collins argues against the Zero Carbon Bill, the Paris Agreement, and downplays the magnitude of climate impacts. The Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015 and ratified ...
When they were running for election, Labour promised to overhaul the Employment Relations Act and introduce fair pay agreements to set basic pay and conditions on an industry level, preventing bad employers from undercutting good ones. They followed this up by establishing a working group, which reported back in January ...
A list of indicators of bad science – many of these are found in articles promoted by anti-fluoride activists. Anti-fluoride activists have been pouring money into a scaremongering campaign warning pregnant women not to drink fluoridated water. They claim fluoride will lower the IQ of their future child. Fluoride ...
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The Royal Commission on abuse in care is very significant for the disability community. For many decades last century, thousands of disabled children, and adults who managed to survive, were locked away from families and communities. This was not for anything they had done, but for the perceived threat their ...
With an unfair voting system, uneven electorates and an un-elected upper house, the UK's "democracy" is barely worthy of the name. But now the government wants to make it worse:The government has been accused of suppressing voters’ rights with the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of people after plans ...
Back in the 90's and early 2000's, the building industry was building leaky homes which should never have been granted consent. Now it turns out they've been building dodgy office blocks as well:New imaging technology has revealed hundreds of major buildings nationwide have defective or missing concrete or reinforcing steel. ...
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How could government evolve over the next decades? Reports of democracy’s imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. However, satisfaction with political systems in many countries is low, so there is much to do for governments of all political stripes to improve relevance and trust. Digital technologies are seen as one ...
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Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
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The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
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by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is predicting a hard Brexit for the United Kingdom, as he believes British Prime Minister Boris Johnson won’t be able to negotiate terms before the October 30 deadline. The Minister, who was one of the first to publicly come out and predict British voters would leave ...
Speaking at the Council of Trade Unions' (CTU) biennial conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters told unionists that any future attacks on the Government won't work. "Now, we are being attacked by the union movement in this country. You can have your views but I'm here to say standing ...
We want every New Zealander to be happy, safe, and healthy. To do this, we need to support strong, safe communities, and a robust and efficient health system. ...
Defence Minister Ron Mark has used his powers to overrule a noise complaint ruling against Whenuapai airbase on the grounds of "national security". The Environment Court last month released a ruling in favour of a private developer, declaring the Auckland airbase had to comply with noise restrictions when it performs ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has opened fire against "unreconstructed morons" after NZ First MP Shane Jones was photographed on holiday holding an AR-15 rifle. Mr Peters is defending Mr Jones, telling Magic Talk host Peter Williams that his MP was just having fun "like most people do". "The ...
New Zealand First Deputy Leader and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau was in attendance during the morning blessing of the Rotorua Lakefront development project. Around 60 people gathered on the shores of Lake Rotorua, including city mayor Steve Chadwick and deputy Dave Donaldson. The Lakefront development is a ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Government Ministers today welcomed the release of a marine environment report highlighting the four key issues affecting our oceans, estuaries and coastlines. The release underlines the importance of government proposals to combat climate pollution, ensure clean freshwater, protect biodiversity, make land use more sustainable, and reduce waste and plastic. Environment ...
The Government has approved funding for a new acute mental health facility for Waikato which will provide better care and support to people with mental health and addiction issues. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister Dr David Clark announced the $100 million project to replace the aging Henry Rongomau ...
The Government is making progress on its goal to integrate te reo Māori into education by 2025, with over 500 teachers and support staff already graduating from Te Ahu o te Reo Māori, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Kelvin Davis made the announcement at an awards ceremony in Waikanae today, for ...
Statistics Minister James Shaw has welcomed the first release of 2018 Census data. The first release of data today, 23 September, includes key data on population, regional growth, the number of homes and the size of different ethnic groups in New Zealand. Data from the 2018 Census will support the ...
Minister for Statistics James Shaw today announced a public consultation on a proposed algorithm charter for government agencies. The charter has been developed by the Government Chief Data Steward in response to growing calls for more transparency in government use of data. Computer algorithms – procedures or formulas for solving ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, Climate Change Minister James Shaw and visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte co-hosted a business roundtable in Auckland this morning focused on working together to address climate change. “The Netherlands is an important partner for New Zealand. We share a strong agricultural history. Sustainable agribusiness and ...
The Government is taking action to build an inclusive economy where more of us receive our fair share at work and businesses can compete on great products and services, not undercutting wages and conditions, Immigration and Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. Two consultations launched today seek feedback ...
The future for New Zealand’s threatened indigenous freshwater fish looks brighter with the passing of the Conservation (Indigenous Freshwater Fish) Amendment Bill in Parliament today said Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “Until now, our freshwater fish legislation has been 20 years out of date. We have lacked effective tools to ...
At 1.30pm tomorrow, hundreds of thousands of Kiwis will join about 65 million people around the globe in ShakeOut, the world’s biggest earthquake drill. The annual drill is to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake which is to Drop, Cover, Hold, and to practise their ...
Kiwis are benefiting from higher wage growth and low inflation under the Coalition Government. Stats NZ data out today shows the rise in the cost of living remains low, as annual Consumers Price Index (CPI) inflation fell to 1.5% in September from 1.7% in June. “The low inflation comes as ...
New Zealand’s economic strength and resilience has been recognised in a major update on the state of the global economy. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook released overnight shows a reduced global growth forecast over the next two years as issues like the US-China trade war and Brexit take hold. ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little has today introduced a new Bill to prevent terrorism and support the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill gives the New Zealand Police the ability to apply to the High Court to impose control orders on New Zealanders who ...
A Bill that proposes targeted changes to simplify the processes for Māori land owners when engaging with the Māori Land Court has had its First Reading today. “The approach taken by the Government is to ensure that the protection of Māori land remains a priority as we seek to improve ...
Let me first thank all the new unionists and members in the room. There is nothing more important to improving people’s working lives than people making the decision to care, to get on board and help, to take up the reins and get involved. Congratulations to you. You bring the ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark has signed a certificate exempting the activity of engine testing at Whenuapai Airbase from the Resource Management Act 1991. The Act gives the Minister of Defence the power to exempt activities for the purposes of national security. The certificate will mean the recent Environment Court ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced New Zealand will join the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action while attending APEC meetings in Chile. The objective of the 39 member Coalition is to share information and promote action to tackle climate change. It was formed in April this year, in ...
Ladies and gentlemen, NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff, members of respective unions – thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. This might be preaching to the choir, but the importance of trade unions in New Zealand’s historical arch is difficult to understate. And it is my belief that ...
"Let’s start by acknowledging that it has been a huge year. " Police Association Annual Conference James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel Wellington Nau mai, haere mai. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, ka nui te mihi, ki a koutou katoa. President of the Police Association, Chris Cahill; Members of the Association and ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters and Minister of Defence Ron Mark have announced the New Zealand Government’s decision to again deploy a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 (P-3) maritime patrol aircraft to support the implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions imposing sanctions against North Korea. New ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand continues to have serious concerns for peace and stability in north-east Syria. “Recent reports that hundreds of ISIS-affiliated families have fled from a camp are deeply concerning from a humanitarian and security perspective”, Mr Peters says. “While we acknowledge Turkey’s domestic security ...
Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor is warning travelling Kiwis to be vigilant as the high-season for the crop-eating brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is under way. “We’re on high alert to stop BMSB arriving in NZ. The high season runs until April 30 and we’ve strengthened our measures to stop stink ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Clayton Mitchell denies accusations around a night out, food insecurity on the rise, and UK PM Boris Johnson secures deal with dubious prospects.NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell has got himself in a spot of late night bother in a Tauranga ...
As the rugby world wrestles with the new reality that players can, and will, be dismissed for accidental contact with an opponent’s head it's worth pondering the fate of three All Blacks not selected for the Ireland quarterfinal. ...
A new exhibition in Raetihi offers a rare opportunity to see early, colonialism-focused works by Wellington artist Barbara Strathdee, writes Pat Baskett. ...
Italy's Ambassador to New Zealand Fabrizio Marcelli responds to Newsroom stories - and The Detail podcasts - questioning the price of imported tinned tomatoes in light of reports of slave labour in the industry in his home country. ...
A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it. ...
The big shock of the results in the weekend’s local elections was the unseating of Justin Lester as Wellington mayor. We invited him to pen a sort-of-valedictory.My three years as the mayor of Wellington ended on Sunday and I will forever remain grateful for the experience.I’m also acutely aware of ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Alex Braae reviews a night spent on the Intercity overnight sleeper bus getting from Wellington to Auckland.The most important thing to understand about long haul bus travel is that it’s all about getting exactly ...
Britain and the EU have agreed new terms for divorce. But with the Conservatives’ Northern Irish support party unimpressed, can the British prime minister at last put an end to the interminable shitstorm?At last, a deal! A palpable deal! A path out of the endless brain-melt!“Where there is a will, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Government sources insist shock jock Alan Jones didn’t drive Thursday’s announcement of a cash payment to drought-striken farmers about to be turfed off their household support because they’d reached the four year time limit. They ...
The proposition that global warming driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a risk that needs to be dealt with has achieved a large measure of agreement among policymakers. The proposition that it has to be dealt with right now and at great cost has no such consensus.One point ...
A bill to improve the pastoral care of students living in halls of residence has flown through its first reading in Parliament, thanks to cross-party support. ...
In this week's MediaRoom column: could MediaWorks close its TV operations altogether? And the Herald restructures its newsroom to remove a layer of management and shake up its investigative team. ...
Twenty-five young people who represent the future of the Asia-New Zealand relationship have been acknowledged as ‘ones to watch’, by the Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono. ...
The taboo that surrounds immigration and our refugee qouta, are two issues rising in New Zealand that need to start being given attention to challenge the fruit loops of the far left. ...
Winston Peters has been ordered to answer questions about whether he received a letter from MSD asking him to check details of his living arrangements, three years before discovering he'd been overpaid. ...
To celebrate 10 years since the start of New Zealand’s Next Top Model, our reality TV podcast The Real Pod is going to recap it week by week. Here are 10 of the most incredible revelations from the very first episode. 1) Colin Mathura-Jeffree was an emo kidThis was the moment ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Terrorism bill Lydia Lewis and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Security expert backs new terror law proposal ...
Occupiers of the disputed land at Ihumātao have been shut out of talks with the government about finding a resolution, saying they haven’t had any direct contact with ministers in more than a month, writes RNZ‘s Te Aniwa Hurihanganu and Meriana Johnsen.The Māori King announced in September mana whenua had ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Fancourt, Adjunct Research Fellow, University of New England Feral cats are wreaking havoc on our native wildlife, eating more than a billion animals across Australia every year. But managing feral cats and reducing their impacts on our threatened species is challenging, ...
Later this month, the national commemoration of the New Zealand Wars, known as Te Pūtake o Te Riri, is to be held in Taranaki. Local community activist Vivian Hutchinson looks at how a history of conflict has shaped our sense of citizenship and describes how some people in Taranaki are ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
New Zealand First MP Clayton Mitchell is demanding an apology from security guards who booted him out of a Tauranga bar on Saturday night, describing them as politically-motivated "buffoons". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jerry Zhou, Lecturer, School of Medicine, Western Sydney University If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.Does chewing gum stay inside you for years? – Olivia, aged 12, Australia. Great question, Olivia! ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Elphick, Adjunct Research Fellow, Law School, University of Western Australia In March last year, Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In her acceptance speech, she drew attention to the female nominees in the room and left them with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peggy Kern, Associate professor, University of Melbourne The Portal follows six individuals who undergo a personal transformation from trauma and struggle to calmness, self-acceptance, and compassion towards others. These personal changes are intertwined with contemplations about the broader struggles facing humanity and ...
Many hill country farmers could be locked into low-return agriculture by government policy, with little chance of breaking the cycle, according to the main meat producers' lobby, Beef + Lamb New Zealand. ...
The Southern DHB has apologised and pledged to change practices after a report into a young woman’s complaint about treatment which included being stripped naked and left unattended in seclusion for 12 hours. Here she tells her story.I’d forgotten the Health and Disability Commission was about to publish its report. ...
In the Chief Ombudsman’s latest Annual Report, contacts for advice increased 29 percent, while more use was being made of guidance material, including the 23 new or updated guides that were published in the 2018/19 year. ...
Fletcher's new offsite home manufacturing facility could be producing two homes a day within a couple of years. But for the moment this high-tech factory is underwhelming. ...
National's leader Simon Bridges says his party will pull its support for the new anti-terrorism legislation if the minister doesn't meet with them next week and start negotiating in good faith. ...
For the latest episode of On the Rag, notorious prude Alex Casey enlisted the help of sex toy expert and pleasure therapist Teddy Curle. It sounds a bit like ingredients for an avant-garde stir-fry recipe. Cauliflower. Kūmara. A jar of Vegemite. But what it actually is, sex toy expert Teddy Curle ...
It is deeply concerning that the state of our marine environment has not improved in the last three years. Resilient coasts and oceans are essential to New Zealanders' health and wealth, so urgent action is needed to address the decline. ...
Something’s crowning this Christmas, and it isn’t King Richard of Aldovia in his favourite tiara. Tara Ward looks at what Netflix’s new movie A Christmas Prince: A Royal Baby could mean for us all. Yesterday Netflix announced they’re about to give birth to the third instalment in the legendary series A Christmas ...
In a new initiative, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence is celebrating and recognising the careers of three Māori leaders and visionaries, who have a long history of bringing about major social change ...
The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) has welcomed the publication by the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ of Our Marine Environment 2019 , the latest in the reports on the state of our environment. The report is available here . ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Brown, CEO of PredictHQ.This week we talk to Campbell Brown, the CEO ...
The Government has today released its discussion paper ‘ Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System ’ providing detail of what proposed law for Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) could include. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Associate Professor in Sociology and Co-Director of The Policy Lab, University of Melbourne The polls were wrong in the last US and Australian federal elections. Hillary Clinton was favoured to win at a margin of 85% to Donald Trump’s 15%. ...
Today is World Ecolabel Day and to mark the occasion New Zealand’s premier ecolabel has released a study showing the powerful environmental effect of ecolabelled products. ...
Family First's continued fight against attempts by the government's Charities Registration Board to deregister them is set to continue in the Court of Appeal in Wellington next week (Tues & Wed 22-23 Oct). In a significant development, the Charity Law ...
The actions of New Zealanders on land are increasingly harming the ocean’s ability to sustain life. Alex Braae looks at a worrying new government paper on the marine environment.What’s all this then?A new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ has sounded alarming warning about state of ...
Farmers for Positive Change (F4PC) congratulates environmental, recreation and public health groups for coming to a united position on the Government’s freshwater reform and finds significant areas of agreement with the Healthy Water, Healthy Future joint ...
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Open mike 28/06/2014 
Open mike is your post.
Jo Swinson is doing even worse at this Being Sensible lark that I'd thought. I've just become aware of the following utterance
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LOL. Go for it, John!
Do the left a favour, for at least 3 out of four of these. I think Ian Lees Galway has been doing a good job, though.
Yes I like Iain, he is an accessible Labour electorate MP (one of the few “provincial” Labour ones around at the moment), and he has been doing a great job of building the Palmerston North electorate back up as a well organised Labour stronghold.
“National’s strategy could disrupt Labour’s efforts to maximise the party vote, given that the survival of those MPs could hinge on them campaigning for the electorate vote instead to keep their political careers afloat. ”
Um, isn’t the risk that National’s strategy could disrupt their own efforts to maximise their own party vote? See what happens when journalists recycle press releases; their critical faculties wither and die. They become husks of their former selves, mere jonolists.
And that’s assuming that their “former selves” were anything to write about in the first place.
Vance: “Key will use his speech tomorrow to make the first of a series of policy announcements between now and the election campaign proper getting under way, when National is expected to start rolling out policy at the rate of one a day. ”
One a day? Dump at that rate and they will all end up in the dump – unread!
I suspect that “unread” is exactly the way National prefer their policies.
They’ll just be bullet pointed sheets of A4 that even the dumbest idiots will be able to read. It’s not as if they’ll have facts or logic to back them up – just ideology.
Look at this bullshit spin……
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10208604/Grim-times-at-justice-ministry
Justice Secretary Andrew Bridgman – ‘‘People see the broader vision and the strategy … but they don’t see how the plan connects them in their day to day activity. That’s why they don’t see the ministry succeeding and they don’t feel valued how they want to be valued.’’
How about – “people don’t feel valued because all they see is spin……..they DON’T see any broader vision nor any strategy…….” ?
Remind me…….who’s the minister ?
I can confirm that working conditions at the Ministry are terrible. Personally, I can’t see why anyone would work there given the poor pay and patronizing management style.
The PSA reps really earn their money, it would be much worse without their heroic efforts.
@ North Sounds like management speak as taught in some university course.
Dunedin Green Party Campaign Launch today 3pm at the railway station. Candidates; Metiria Turei (Dn Nth), Shane Gallagher (Dn Sth) & Chris Ford (List) will be speaking, plus musicians, photobooth, and afternoon tea.
Even if you haven’t RSVPd, it’s a fairly big space so there should be room for anyone who happens to be in town this avo (and isn’t just coming along to disrupt the event).
https://www.facebook.com/GreenPartyDunedin2014
Cool. Hope it goes well.
(apologies for the double-posting – this from the fag-end of yesterdays’ epic-thread..
..but i feel these are questions that need addressing..both by labour..and the greens..)
so..all those drone-killings targeted from waihopai..
..means the blood of all those innocent-of-anything civilians/men/women/children is on keys’ hands..
..(i hope he has strong soap/disinfectant/dream-suppressors..he won’t get away with that one..)
..and he is doing it all..in our name..as our ‘leader’..
..will cunnliffe do any different..?
..or will he still allow the americans to use waihopai to help target their drone-strikes..?
..and will green-ministers be in cabinet-solidarity with that..?
..whoar..!
..eh..?
..what price that bmw..?
Phillip, you’re slipping, there’s a newspaper poll out that favors dope decriminalization, i would have thought you would have been onto it first thing…
ha! Next time stamp 7:54am
@ bad..heh..!..snap..!
..but believe it or not..i consider our govt aiding in the butchering of entirely innocent of anything men/women/children at the behest of the fucken americans..
..to be a more important issue than dope-reform..
..and it actually horrifies me that i see the prospect of a lab/green govt continuing to have a hand in those killings/murders..
..to my mind..that would be..by any definition..’evil’..
..(and would..you’d think..?..
..have the likes of keith locke spinning in his retirement..)
Labour is definitely opposed to it. I am pretty sure Greens and InternetMANA are too.
This is what Mr Cunliffe said about it. He is very clear about the issue you have raised. Listen to it from about 04:00 onwards:
http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/no-evidence-donations-david-cunliffe-video-6009562
thank you for that clem..some of that was reassuring..
..but useless journo that she is..woods never asked him about five-eyes spooking all over us..and our (admitted by key) role in those drone-strikes..
..and then at 8 mins cunnliffe went on at some length on our ‘good’ relationship with america..
..but the fact is merica wd consider it very unfriendly of nz to pull back from giving them the full-support they have enjoyed with (satrap) key..
..so the questions are still unanswered..i feel..
I don’t think it would be too difficult to have good relations with USA but at the same time be more independent and preserving our freedom and sovereignty at the same time. Like so many countries are able to do at present. Whole scale snooping as revealed by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange should definitely be stopped while legitimate warranted security oversight could be allowed as long as they are with legally approved by legislation and judiciary.
And Philip’s election smear campaign against Labour and the Greens continues unabated. 🙄
what you call ‘smear-campaign’..i call valid-questions..
..i take it you wd be happy/’relaxed’ with green-ministers getting this blood on their hands..?
..in yr name..?
..them being ministers is more important..?
If I said you were like a cracked record, you’d probably try to smoke it.
Just far too one dimensional to be taken seriously.
If you’re not smearing and really want the answers, write to DC and MT/RN and ask.
well..as i haven’t raised this subject before..hardly’ cracked-record’..
..and i think these are questions that should be asked/answered in the public domain..
..’cos as far as i can see..
..internet/mana are the only contender in this election..
..with a policy of tearing up that five-eyes spying agreement..
..and ending our role in these killings..
..and i think that will matter to many new zealanders..
..i think many are horrified at what john key has been doing in our name/to the detriment of our international reputation..
..and in secret..
..and that many labour/green supporters wd be as horrified as me at the idea of ‘their’ parties in government..
..just continuing our role in this killing at the behest of america..
..(and no..to ‘smoking it’..my crack-days are long gone..long unlamented..)
Your Labour/green bashing is as laughable and boringly predictable as those on the right. Congratulation if you wanted to be seen as the whaleoil of the lunatic left – You won.
Write to the party leaders, ask their stances and report back here.
More of the same vitriol and invective will just confirm the suspected.
Contact details:
Email: david.cunliffe@parliament.govt.nz
Email: metiria.turei@parliament.govt.nz
Email: russel.norman@parliament.govt.nz
i don’t need to write to them to know the answers to those questions..
..cunnliffe will continue to support ‘our important relationship with america’..
..and has made no mention of ending that five-eyes arrangement..
..and the greens will be bound by cabinet-solidarity..
..so the killings will continue..
..what else do you need to know..
(and i know how adept you are at ignoring uncomfortable-facts..yr ‘but i only eat them’ response to the facts of flesh-consumption yesterday..
..highlighted that..)
You should have highlighted this part of the quote too…
“though if I had to, I’d be quite capable of getting my hands bloody, if it were ultimately either me or them, I’d eat fluffy wuffy kittens and puppy tail stew”
“i don’t need to write to them to know the answers”
That’s why I called bs smear artist, thanks for backing me up.
yawn..!..see ya..!
Philip, DC is doing a q&a here, do you want me to link to your question to him, or are you going to be asking it yourself?
…I see you have already asked, but a bit of a bottle job with the phrasing…. whoar…eh?…
So … you have questions that “you feel need addressing” – so much so you post them in two separate Open Mikes – but you also “don’t need to write to them to know the answers to those questions”?
It looks like you just want to be constantly associating Labour and the Greens with drone strikes, which pretty much fills the criteria for a smear campaign.
‘constantly’..?
..get a grip..!
..i mentioned it last nite..and today..
..and you don’t think it is a valid question..?
..you don’t care if the drone killings continue or not..?
..and yes..i will keep asking..until we get the answers…
“i don’t need to write to them to know the answers to those questions..”
phil, I have read and wandered on past your prolific and monotonous postings of late, but seriously dude!
Are you now claiming a David Carter inspired prescience ?
lol
didn’t Carter take the skill from phil?
no..just a reading of what has happened up until now..
..do you think i am wrong..?
Up until NZ banned nuclear warships, we allowed nuclear warships.
So Phillip, maybe directing a couple of questions to those you are so willing to admonish, is not really that unreasonable of a suggestion.
sorry..i don’t get/understand the relevance of yr nuke-ships reference..
..and these are not personal/idiosyncratic-questions..
..they are questions with a high public-interest to many on the left..
..i just happen to be asking the questions..
Sorry Phillip, but if you cannot discern the obvious relevance to your statement I quoted, maybe there are more important questions like why do you feel so qualified to cast judgement on such complex issues?
I am not going to enter a prolonged debate on this so don’t expect a reply to your reply, but if you really need the thing laid out for you, here it is.
If no-one inside or outside of Government made the effort to change policy, it is fair to assume that policy would not change.
to your refusal to ask those who would be making the policies;
If when given the means and opportunities to ask those who are in a position to change their policies, you refuse to accept, how do you expect them to be aware that you feel the policy is in need of change?
way to attack the messanger..eh..?
..you another one who doesn’t give a fuck if we are killing for america..?
..and go look at the cunnliffe-thread..
..the questions are asked there..
..and stop being a total fucken wanker..
..while you are at it..eh..?
..and i see you swerve from the question..
‘….do you think i am wrong..?..’
..are these questions that should not be asked of an incoming govt..?
..in yr mind..?
..and what will make these questions even more urgent..
..is that i am picking the upcoming snowden-dump will reflect as poorly on the clark govt..as it will on key..
..and that the stance of any future labour govt. will come sharply into focus..
..after that snowden-spook-dump..
..so no..i won’t shut-up/stop asking publicly..for public answers…
(and colour me dumb..
“..Up until NZ banned nuclear warships, we allowed nuclear warships..”
..but no..i can’t see the reading you are putting on the above fact’..as per it being at all relevant to what i am asking..)
..and yr chosen moniker is ‘freedom’..eh..?..that’s funny..!..
..quite selective..yr ‘freedom’ advocacy..eh..?
..innocent drone-strike victims don’t quite make the grade..?
..eh..?
“And Philip’s election smear campaign against Labour and the Greens continues unabated.”
Not to worry, Jenny is back.
I don’t deny the commitment isn’t laudable, but in this case, that’s about it.
@phillip Key’s whole life is a dream. Something to do with being relaxed all the time, he doesn’t have anything to dream about when he actually goes to sleep.
The words signifying nothing came to mind. I find on google it’s from Macbeth and the quotes from it are all so descriptive and apt for either Key and/or the NACTS!
Shakespeare was brilliant, very knowing and had writing skills and vocabulary par excellence!
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/quotes-quotations-play-macbeth.htm
Here are some. The first applies if his support did aid drone strikes.
“Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” Macbeth Quote (Act II, Sc. II).
“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself, and falls on the other.” – ( Quote Act I, Scene VII).
“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.” Macbeth Quote (Act I, Scene V).
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. – ( Quote Act I, Scene I).
“I bear a charmed life”. Macbeth Quote (Act V, Sc. VIII).
and
“Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Macbeth Quote (Act V, Scene V).
warbler..!
..yr introducing kultcha into the bar-room brawl that is open-mile..
..we’ll all have to pull our socks up now..
@phillip
You and I can fight and chew gum at the same time better than those others and while balancing our beers on our heads.
To the bridge Horatius —
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatius_Cocles! There is a picture here of a Horatius that I don’t match up to, so hope you do.
Savage words traded P.Ure and T.Allen…….well……a bit o’ The Bard kindly tossed in by ‘Warbler……happy ending.
We are united. Dedicated to throwing off the cloak of falseness and foulness which pervades governance. In ShonKey Python land.
Our Sydney-based spin doctor William Shakespeare exposes it seminally…….“Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under ‘t.” Macbeth Quote (Act I, Scene V).
Well done ‘Warbler getting all that together. Entertaining on top of soooo true !
@North
You have got me thinking – ‘our Sydney based’ – would Fred Dagg still take an interest in our little farm? We must seem pretty funny from over in OZ. Should we send him a new black singlet, for nostalgic wearing and tell him we love him and would like to hear from him. See what he says? Anyone know his feelings on this?
Fred Dagg could do a passable lampooning of ShonKey Python actually. Especially the ‘global statesman’ persona the big wank tries to affect after a week affixed kissing gourami-like to Obama’s arse. Heard him simpering on in the TVOne News about the “inner sanctum” of the “kitchen cabinet”……..which is apparently where the decision re The Colon will be made. What a pretensious ponce !
there is an interesting poll in the herald on cannabis law reform..showing a seachange of sorts in attitudes to that issue..
..and the surprise/takeaway for me was that 45% of national party voters support decriminalisation/legalisation of pot..(!)
..well..!..knock me over with a big-bud..eh..?
Closet tokers and dopers all, and, if Jackie Blue the ex-National MP is to be considered ”run of the mill” there’s quite a bit of family ”biffo” occurring in the feral upper-class of the National Parties ranks…
and that cross-ideological support for law-change..must strengthen the hand of the internet party –
..you’d think..?
..as that wd tap into that cross-ideological support..
..and win them more votes than a wishy-washy pot-policy will..
..and cd well draw support/votes from ‘soft’-nattys..who wd never take that step too far..of voting green…
i must admit Phillip to not having given the issue much thought at all recently, along with alcohol, dope is off the menu here at the Mansion,
Obviously i favor a simple blanket decriminalization of Marijuana be that growing for personal use or possession for personal use,
The codicil to that would have to be some pretty harsh penalties imposed upon anyone who for whatever reason allowed/caused those under 18 to get their hands on the ‘stash’,
My view is the responsibility for youngsters not getting stoned befor a legal age would have to rest upon the adult who legally possessed the supply, even to the point where it could be shown that the kids had sussed the stash and half inched all or part of it,
As a non-smoker who possesses quite a body of knowledge surrounding plant growth and also possesses a pile of 600’s along with an array of other stuff that some would describe as a comprehensive kit i am supremely relaxed as to the time-frame a Law change could be conceivably seen in this country…
when the law does change..we should go into business..
..you can grow a high-quality boutique-brand…’bad’ wd be a good name for it..(‘nz-bad’..?..)
..and i’ll take care of the branding/marketing/retail end of things..
..and we’ll go 50/50..
..whaddayareckon..?
Lolz Phillip, i reckon you are my friend about half a decade too late, if you search the records back about there you will find tales of a million dollar tinny house being busted in Porirua,
Despite malicious rumors spread by my many enemies i (laughingly) deny any involvement what-so-ever in having ever been any part of the supply chain all or in part for this particular enterprise,
My innocence shines not quite as brightly as the winter sun does upon this very fine Winter’s day but shine it does,
Your offer Phillip of 50/50 as part of such a business relationship is also ludicrous, given Legislation that allowed such legal production i would have to be entirely dull not to have sufficient skills to be able to both grow and retail the product,
My best offer in a situation where production was legalized would have to be a discount rate of minus fifty dollars on the accepted current price of a bulk buy in terms of O’s…
Your skills are not in doubt good sir, its always a question of level of motivation and interest 😉
As a good Socialist the question here is usually about Needs,(not necessarily always personal)weighed against Risks…
ah well..it’s a roadside-stall for you then..
..i was thinking on a somewhat grander scale..
..and i think/hope the retail price will drop significantly when those blackmarket-pressures ease..
.and that control the grower currently has..will end..
..and the competition will be fierce..(with ‘quality on its’ own becoming a ‘given’..)
..which means branding/marketing etc will come into its’ own importance..
..but..a stall it is…
“which means branding/marketing etc will come into its’ own importance”
That’s right, and why The Al1en’s triangular Trichome space cakes are out of this world.
“that control the grower currently has..will end”
Nope, because unlike your posts, quality always trumps quantity. 😉 😆
Your pricked ego Phillip simply results in you posting of the dull as attempted wit, your marketing skills are questionable to say the least,
IF you have a million viewers over there at your ‘attention whore’ web-page without the income to justify the effort i would suggest said marketing skills are zero,
Of course as in the dope world ‘quality’ of writing in the case of your website would tend to be the benchmark of the ability to produce revenue from ones efforts but even the Herald manages to generate some revenue from its efforts so i would doubt your possession of satisfactory skills in either area,
Given such a failure on your part i hardly need concern myself with your ego-centric notions of being some form of marketing guru and should i wish to indulge myself in the pursuit we have previously been discussing i can assure you that one text invitation to coffee to one individual from among a number of individuals on my phone list,(which for the life of me doesn’t appear to exist in this particular house-hold) would remove from my presence within the hour any amount i would care to produce…
gosh bad12 you must learn to address pertinent points without ‘beating around the bush’! 😈
Lolz CV, spose i could have just printed a terse bullshit instead, however i do like to drag those i am in conversation with into the byzantine alleyways of my mind in the hope that they too might catch a dose of what ails me,
We all would then be said to be conversing from the benefit of a level playing field…
have you always had these radical mood-swings..?
..and were you an ugly-drunk..?
i fail to ascertain a mood swing of any sort evident in my writing this day Phillip, perhaps the shit you have been spewing forth has somewhat clouded the crystal ball you seem to be using to divine my mood,
Well no must be the answer to your second question, i was always at the time pretty drunk,
You could tho test your theory of my ugliness by buying me a 40oz Black Label and then hanging about whilst i imbibed of the whole container…
pass..!
So what are you waiting for?
People don’t effect change by sitting back and whining; they effect change by getting up and working.
BOYCOTT it, the NZHerald that is, if you have a subscription, cancel it, convince your friends and relatives to either cancel their subscriptions or not to buy the vicious piece of rubbish from the gas station or wherever their habit has them doing so,
Complaining to the press council or sending emails to the Herald itself is a pointless exercise, as one commenter showed us yesterday when the contents of an email were repeated here and ‘the Editor’, obviously taking the piss, spat back at the complaint referring to an ”un-sourced” code of journalistic ethics,
My opinion says that the whole Liu/Labour non-donations fiasco was deliberate, people who with deliberation spread such lies as propaganda are never going to apologize or retract their lies and we all are simply pissing into the wind if we have any expectation that they will,
PUNISH them, hit the NZHerald where it will hurt, Boycott the utter garbage gutter rag that it is and convince everyone you know to do the same,
The up-coming Labour Party Conference should spread that message throughout the membership, the time for complaining is over, give the NZHerald a message it cannot fail to understand, Hit them in the pocket, do not buy the product….
re herald:..just go online for it..stop buying it..!
..and i always feature anything they may have that is worth reading/of note..anyway..
..(or just worthy of a serious slagging..c.f…hewitsons’ dismal interview of harre..today..
..i just posted the headline..and then just ripped into it..
..really really dire..even for her..and that is saying something..
..you walk away from it with the sum total of yr human-knowledge increased not a jot..)
Mr Liu may feel like he’s lost quite a bit of face due to the way labour has used him for political point scoring.
So hardly surprising,he’s after a bit of utu.
Also, if the herald is going behind a pay well, the majority of its subscribers will be of a blue shade so it would make sense to target their stories at the people who buy/subscribe to their publication.
Stupidly, you seem to hold to a belief that the Herald possesses some form of comprehensive statement from Liu that details 100,s of thousands of dollars of donations to Labour,
Your refusal to entertain the notion that the Herald may have been the one to ”Inflate” a small donation,(to a rowing club), into that claim of 100’s of 1000’s is charming yet childishly lacking in intelligence,
The latest sum arrived at by the Herald is now $38,000, the claim is that this is a revised figure from further information given by Liu to the Herald,
i have no belief that Liu has given the Herald any ”further” information as i have little belief that the Herald is in possession of a comprehensive statement from Liu which details such supposed gifts,
My belief until such time as the Herald provides ”Proof”, as in the printing of these supposed statements from Liu to the Herald, is that a Journalist, or, Journalists have simply concocted this whole sordid mess of lies with deliberation….
It keeps on coming … they seem to have a direct line from Liu or someone who speaks English or someone who speaks for him … how else could they possibly know he has hired Paul Davison QC to lead “a team of advisers” to ward off any fight with Labour ? This does threaten death by a thousand cuts … and I hope Blip is reading .. just heard Key on The Nation say all he said in US was that there was a donation of $38,000! oh dear .. ruined my morning and I had to turn him off.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283405
More slime from Slippery, the quote from the Amerikan sojourn was that the donations from Liu to Labour were six figure sums…
Key is a craven coward! Happy to dish as much dirt as he can but scuttles away like a cockroach to hide under the nearest log when he is caught out in his lies and smears against people who he deems to be his enemy, then creeps out with a different persona which he uses until the crap that he created dies down. I don’t remember him quoting a figure of $38,000.00. That figure has only just been come to by the mathematical geniuses at nz herald, from alleged information quoting revised figures. He mentioned $15,000.00 for a book that now never gets mentioned. He also said he knew there was a lot more to come, smirk, smirk. Now he says he doesn’t know any details of Liu’s alleged donations and never has. Mr Liu must realise that all this distraction has been engineered by key and his sycophantic invertebrates to discredit Cunliffe as this is the ONLY way he has any chance of winning the next election. Dirty tricks is all he knows.
Labour never used him for political point scoring – they just pointed out that National were taking bribes and he was one of the people who seemingly tried to bribe National.
Yep, it’s going to turn into an echo chamber on a par with WhaleOil. No journalistic integrity and stories made up out of whole cloth.
There is a man in our parliament whose name sounds exactly like “camcorder” and no-one ever makes fun of it.
Sometimes I’m embarrassed to be a New Zealander.
that’s ‘cos it’s old/retro-tech..
…which makes it even funnier!!
While all the smearing in the Herald is going on, Dita De Boni has something important to say about how New Zealanders see themselves in the world.
The first comment on the article is right on the button too, imo.
i think that if key in his role of eager-satrap/wingman to obamas’ imperial-adventures..
..thinks this has gone un-noticed by those third world countries essential to nz getting a seat on the security council..
..i think he is dreaming..
..and i will be very surprised/having to admit ‘i wuz wrong!’..
..if we do get that placement..
I agree with you.
I’ve noticed how the NActs have lately taken any opportunity to mention Labour began this process. It’s like they’re not keen to take credit for the cost on an allmighty failure themselves.
As I wrote to Dita, she is lucky to be able to tell what John Key thinks NZ’s Foreign Policy is. His opinion keeps changing according to who his audience is. Shifty?
Key’s and National’s foreign policy has always been to kiss US arse.
Interesting call from Hilary Clinton today giving Australia a slap for expecting the US to defend it but at the same time giving China considerable preferences. Any simularities to NZ??!! Key has the same feet on separating icebergs. What happens on D-Day?!
That first comment was spot on. I’m kinda hoping that a lot of people are waking up to the fact that we’re losing our way just so that Key and, by association, National can kiss US president arse.
FYI
8:15 Kent Greenfield RNZ NAT
Kent Greenfield is Professor of Law and Law Fund Research Scholar at Boston College Law School. He is the author of the 2011 book, The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits (Biteback Publishing, ISBN: 978-1-84954-307-1).
Worth a listen.
Sorry folks – audio not yet up at the time of this comment
The Myth of Choice: Personal Responsibility in a World of Limits Amazon link
Sounds like an interesting book.
Does any one know what has happened to slatters court case?
There has be nothing reported for a while.
Blubber boy has apparently asked for time out while he grows a leg to stand on,(there is also no truth to the rumor that It has been forced to find a new kindergarten to attend having been excluded from attending because of a number of violent incidents)…
Not his long hair?
Decision reserved I believe and will be released in due course.
and in similar vein, does anyone know what happened at Liu’s sentencing on his domestic violence charges guilty please ? thx
Rumor has it that He will apply for diversion after making an anonymous six figure donation to the victim…
Sentencing has not yet taken place and is scheduled for 22 August, according to TVNZ.
Sorry for the long Google link; must re-educate myself how to shorten these.
http://www.google.co.nz/url?url=http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/businessman-linked-appears-in-court-5996668&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ei=L1urU6CcIoapkAXc_YH4Bg&ved=0CBYQFjAA&sig2=WdwvsfqWaf-JMcGR1U50wA&usg=AFQjCNFoz5CxXXVOVKWSwtRa7GS0r1HYDA
PS – I actually replied to your earlier query on this on 26 June with this link as I was also interested as to when sentencing was due.
thx VV .. I missed yr first one.
Jared Savage just doesn’t quit does he? Today’s article Lui hires QC to deal with any action from Labour.
Which contains the following:
“Labour Party general secretary Tim Barnett confirmed that a lawyer for the party had contacted Liu’s legal counsel but was yet to receive a substantive reply.
“The Labour Party has no dispute with Mr Liu because we have seen no evidence that he has published false information about us.””
And this is the output of the editor of investigative reporting?
Would it not be cheaper for Liu just to release his Herald statement to Lab?
I don’t really think the Liu is the problem. He doesn’t have his own publishing company – that I know of.
The error is entirely the result of the Herald journalists and editors that wrote and allowed such unsubstantiated information to be published – time and again – without providing the information necessary to Labour to investigate those claims.
I was interested to see that article as what it indicates IMO is that possibly legal action is being contemplated by Labour – by the party management, keeping Cunliffe out of it.
However, I agree that the Herald (rather than Jared Savage per se) just aren’t quitting, as evidenced by their editorial yesterday (now with over 300 comments, most scathing of the Herald).
In the Editorial, reference is made to further clarification this weekend on Lui’s statement (cannot remember the exact wording) which appeared to signal that The Herald has not given up.
This is possibly reinforced by a tweet from Tim Murphy about 6pm last night
“Donghua Liu – seems like some premature claims of the story ‘unravelling’ have been going on …”
So, watch this space.
But isn’t the unravelling about what had already been printed last week? The damage to the Labour Party was done with unsubstantiated allegations centred around 2007. The complaint is not with Mr Liu is it? It is with whoever planted the story with the Herald and the Herald for printing it.
Correct. Deflections on to Liu are completely misguided. He’s merely another private citizen. It’s the media institution of the NZ Herald which needs to be held to account.
I agree with you, that the real complaint should be with whoever planted the story etc, rather than Liu per se.
However, imo it could be well impossible (and possibly very disasterous) at this point to try to take a complaint of any sort, including legal action, against the Herald, or the National Party.
Liu could well be the weak link – in light of the statements he is purported to have made (although we have yet to see the hard copy) that he has donated equally to Labour and National – and that he is not liking being a political pawn in the battle between the two (cannot remember the exact words).
Pure speculation on my part, but putting pressure on Liu could lead to disclosures as to what (and who) influenced him to make his original early May statement, how this statement apparently found its way to Key shortly thereafter, and finally to the Herald some weeks later. Any such disclosures could then allow action to be taken against these other parties.
No court action sure, a front page apology should suffice 🙂
VV@11.2.1.2. 100+
Of course they haven’t given up. They’ve lost a lot of cred and they need to get something on Labour now or they are toast.
But anything they publish from now on needs to have iron-clad proof or they will be laughed off the newstands.
This could go one of two ways – either the HOS has something tomorrow (that’s where they dump all the legally dodgy stuff) or they will actually attempt to verify whatever rubbish they are being fed and will attack again when they are ready.
It’s beginning to get irritating, can’t even read the weekend ‘paper in peace now. The Herald reporters are still persisting with the sly insinuations about David Cunliffe
Savage added this bit….
“The Herald last week revealed Mr Cunliffe wrote a letter for Liu’s residency application, despite previous denials.”
(did he even deny that… don’t recall him being asked that exact question)
Armstrong just had to add these sly digs when talking about Parker…
“David Parker’s authority and influence as Labour’s deputy leader and finance spokesman has been on the rise as much as David Cunliffe’s has been on the wane.”
And…
“He will be able to blame a combination of factors for that, ranging from the current pick-up in economic growth being of huge electoral benefit to National to Cunliffe’s string of mistakes.”
Neither story was even about David Cunliffe and they still put the boot in. WTF is wrong with these people?
They’re putting the boot in trying to influence the election in National’s favour.
Labour policy pushes back against employers importing cheap labour to undercut Kiwis
Bloody good move, Red Team.
https://www.labour.org.nz/media/policy-focuses-high-skills-high
Ah that is very good to hear, thanks CV
I was doing seasonal work around 1999-2000 and was pretty shocked how much rent was being charged by orchard owners to workers coming in from other districts – it had gone from free rent years earlier, to charging fairly standard amount (from memory, around $80 per room at that time) however this was for a shared room with at least one other person this seemed like a real rort being conducted by orchard owners. it severely undercut the affordability of doing the job and quality of life while doing it – which for shed-work was at the very minimum wage. It was with a great deal of frustration that I heard about the schemes introduced a few years later (or perhaps it was around that same time) of importing cheap labour. Glad to hear that Labour are addressing an erroneous and damaging approach that I suspect they introduced. As the press release conveys importing cheap labour obviated the need to address the wage levels and rorts being conducted by the owners of orchards and fairly well pushed job opportunities away from New Zealanders.
They did introduce them and it is good to see them now realising that they were badly implemented and need fixing. This is possibly the first thing that they’ve actually got right so far.
Thanks for confirming that
the nation has done a worthwhile piece on the missing-million voters…
Yes and there will be tens of thousands just like the lady non voter interviewed that are going to vote this time because she wants a new PM/Government.
Key being interviewed by Gower ended on John Key saying 2015 is about changing the New Zealand flag. It wouldn’t surprise if he decides on a new star spangled banner design. How can people take this guy serious when the changing of the flag is important to him. If he was a real leader he would first drop the British monarchy and call for our independence and change the flag as part of the deal..
Only need 75,000 of those missing voters to turn up and vote LAB/GR/IMP, while 75,000 NAT voters decide to stay home. That would be a decisive win for the Left.
The vindictive Principal of St John’s College? Can you punish a lad for winning the right to his hair style?
“But the school put its foot down and told Lucan he wouldn’t be attending the school ball, and when he showed up with his boots for first XV rugby practice earlier this week, he was told he couldn’t train. ”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/10209394/Lucans-hair-battle-hits-ball-plans
It is obvious that the Ministry of Education must step in to this affray, first drawing up a specific code surrounding hair that all schools must adhere to,(exclusion from any school activity being outlawed),and second, having provision to remove Principals for breaching any kids basic human rights,
Disgust is the best descriptive i can muster here without leaving a trail of abuse where the Principal in question has in effect shown His or Her contempt for the Court by devising what can only be seen as further punishments for the kid in question for the parents decision to dare to question the power this particular Principal wields in His/Her particular little Potentate,
There is NO evidence that the length or style of a students hair has any negative effect on their ability or their class’s ability to learn…
I heard that there are class photos from the school from the 1970’s – with boys who have even longer hair. Basically, the school administration needs to get on with doing its job of providing education, not punishment.
My guess is that the new Principal wanted to set a standard of no nonsense boss-ship and boxed himself into a corner and is now trying to regain the lost face. And probably support the teacher who sent the lad to the Principal in the first place.
This is exactly what I thought – especially given the school earlier trying to claim that his long hair was a cause of “disruption”. Nope, the school being inflexible wankers about a trivial rule is what’s causing the disruption.
Chris Miller at The Little Pakeha has a great post about the case:
http://www.thelittlepakeha.net/2014/06/27/hair/
it cd be worthwhile tracking down teenage photos of that now principal..
..to see just how long his hair was in the 70’s…
..but first..he should be fired..
Wonder how much it cost the school to lawyer-up to defend its master-of-the-universe bullshit ? Who’s the shitty little punk here ?
I’ll put my money on it being the solipsistic “School (me) WILL be obeyed !” principal. Not the kid. The more I see the more I applaud him and his family. Piss off immature and spiteful principal man/boy. And the self important social climbing wannabes on your board.
“No you can’t go to the ball…….no you’re not welcome at training……so there !”
Soooo Ugly-Step-Sister ! Reminds me of the idiot big-fish-little-pond bully, the headmaster at my own school ……..50 years ago.
There’s been a bit of this lately. The git state school principal in Whangarei who thought it unremarkable to stigmatise pupils whose parents hadn’t met school charges by excluding them from their classes. “Sit in the hall like on detention boys…..this is for your own good….”
he has to be short-listed for wanker-of-the-year..
Caption under photo: “HAIRLINE FRACTURE: An old photograph showing St John’s College board of trustees member, Byron Fergus (back row, middle), with long hair while he was a student at the school in 1988.
Oops. So the rules have changed have they? Possibly.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11283669
thanks 4 that..i am laughing like a drain here..
..and have thrown it up on whoar..
..what a wanker…!
..(he ‘won’t comment’ on the photo..understandable really..eh..?
..what cd he fucken say..?.
..heh..!..)
It’s high school… such a meaningless thing to get up in arms about but probably seems really important when you are there and trying to assert your individuality within those constraints like uniforms and all that, it becomes such a silly concern when you leave.
Better parents would have advised the kid to balance a meaningless assertion of individuality with the reality that it would disrupt a huge part of his school year.
Also could have been better handled by the school, ball and 1st XIV should have been used off the bat instead of suspension (as the judge suggested).
Actually, this oppressive rule shouldn’t even be there.
And the hypocritical dick who used to have long hair at the same school, but who is now on the Board of Trustees and who chaired the disciplinary committee, he definitely shouldn’t be there. Lameass.
Hooton on The Nation could be edited and played as a political advert for National. Hooton watch the replay and read the minds of what the rest of the panel are thinking in your final lines of spin.
Backing up Joyce’s snake oil about many of the non voters in National seats last time were actually National voters is total crap. If you were a left voter in one of these safe seats your hardly inspired to turn up to vote as ya not going to roll the electorate candidate are you? Labour done themselves no favours by not running a ‘strongly focused party vote strategy.’ Don’t worry our mate McCarten will see to the party vote messaging this time. Now go down a triple shot java to wake your delusional head up on how to come across credible.
Yep. The labour get out the vote effort tends to happen in strong labour seats or marginal seats. For instance in Tamaki there is a rich vein of labour support in Glen Innes but the local party struggles to get them out. Those people must be really put off voting by the apparent overwhelming sign of National’s strength in the area and I am not surprised that they did not vote last time.
Yeah, Glen Innes / Point England / Panmure seem to comprise a little blob of Red in a vast sea of East Auckland Blue. Also perhaps (to a somewhat lesser extent) nearby Edgewater in the far west of Williamson’s Pakuranga seat – orange in 2005, light blue in 08 and 11, but that’s in a deeply dark blue seat.
I’ve noticed in my research a few Labour enclaves (surrounded by suburbs as blue as a new tattoo) where turnout seems to have declined markedly. Among the deeply Tory northern suburbs of Whangarei, for instance, is a little oasis of Red – the (presumably state house and strongly maori) little suburb of Otangarei (almost cut off from its inherently Tory neighbours by a bend in the river that surrounds the suburb on three sides). In 2005 Labour won 150 votes out of a total of 213. In 2011 it received 60 out of 114. The Nat vote, meanwhile, barely changed – a grand total of 11 votes in 2005 and 10 votes 2011.
This river you mention: Are you sure it’s not a moat?
at a packed National conference with smiling faces everywhere. National is working for a better New Zealand.
Wait – a “better New Zealand”? Did the “Brighter” one already turn up? For whom?
A pack of jackals at a National Party conference two facedly smiling everywhere working for squeezing themselves the better part of the wealth of New Zealand from the pockets of the working class…
+111
Full of shadowy, shady representatives of the cabinet club there to lean on their puppets in power. Making sure their ‘so called donations’ are repaid ten fold with lucrative political favours.
Nationals 2014 election campaign slogan should be;
“Who pays the piper calls the tune”
Hang about – does that ‘better New Zealand’ refer to one of improving conditions or rather is it poor English for referring to a New Zealand that is good for people who bet – speculators?
Considering National’s political approach that would have to be option b – a New Zealand that advantages speculators.
That might be o.k for those who already have capital (hence the smiles – high on making money on money) – but it is disastrous for the functioning of a healthy society or of any hope of social mobility -i.e. getting out of ruts. The rich get richer the poor get poorer and the middle go backwards under National. Vote left to stop this rort.
FizzyAnus you really should have a day off from The Standard and apply yourself where you’re most needed. At the Crooks’ Convention flogging off FizzyAnus Kits to the insufficiently fizzy anused. Most of whom can be identified by that compulsive tick, that helpless flashing of cocktail party grimaces you call smiles.
Without checking that sounds very much like (a) the denial of the society of the school to a member of that society on the grounds that he has challenged (and won). That MUST be wrong if not actually unlawful, and (2) a public gesture of contempt for Justice Collins’ ruling.
I heard again the song Money Money from Cabaret this morning on Radionz with Liza Minelli and Joel Grey and it is such a sharply satirical clever tuneful song that it would be excellent to have a recording of it that someone should start playing at every NACT gathering before they can throw you out. (Health warning – watch out for Gerry Brownlee, Chief Bouncer but all NACTs would be able at attack positions and feints whether male or female.)
Here is youtube – very good performance by both of them and funny. Money Money
Lyrics
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/l/lizaminnelli20267/moneymoney538511.html
Money…Money
Money makes the world go around
…the world go around
…the world go around.
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go ’round.
A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
…a buck or a pound
…a buck or a pound.
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound…
Can make the world go ’round
If you happen to rich
And you feel like a night’s entertainment
You can pay for a gay escapade.
If you happen to be rich and alone
And you need a companion
You can ring (ting-a-ling) for the maid.
If you happen to be rich
And you find you are left by your lover,
And you moan and you groan quite a lot
You can take it on the chin,
Call a cab and begin to recover
On your 14-karat yacht! WHAT!?
Money makes the world go around….
Of that we both are sure…
rasberry sound on being poor!
Money money money money…
When you haven’t any coal in the stove
And you freeze in the winter
And you curse to the wind at your fate.
When you haven’t any shoes on your feet,
Your coat’s thin as paper,
And you look 30 pounds underweight
When you go to get a word of advice
From the fat little pastor,
He will tell you to love evermore.
But when hunger comes to rap,
rat-a-tat rat-a-tat at the window
knock knock (at the window)
Who’s there? (hunger) oh, hunger!!
See how love flies out the door…
For, money makes the world go around….
The clinking, clanking sound of…
Get a little, get a little
Money money money money…
Mark, a yen, a buck or a pound,
That clinking, clanking, clunking sound,
Is all that makes the world go ’round,
It makes the world go ’round!
That wouldn’t be the bully-thug Gerry Brownlee who bashed up on some really old protestor fulla at some National Party do some years ago ?
I like these songs coming out, thanks – we could fill a whole album 🙂
force a front page rewrite
Key is a craven coward! Happy to dish as much dirt as he can but scuttles away like a cockroach to hide under the nearest log when he is caught out in his lies and smears against people who he deems to be his enemy, then creeps out with a different persona which he uses until the crap that he created dies down. I don’t remember him quoting a figure of $38,000.00. That figure has only just been come to by the mathematical geniuses at nz herald, from alleged information quoting revised figures. He mentioned $15,000.00 for a book that now never gets mentioned. He also said he knew there was a lot more to come, smirk, smirk. Now he says he doesn’t know any details of Liu’s alleged donations and never has. Mr Liu must realise that all this distraction has been engineered by key and his sycophantic invertebrates to discredit Cunliffe as this is the ONLY way he has any chance of winning the next election. Dirty tricks is all he knows.
Key himself proudly announced a little while ago, that he keeps a chunk of dirty tricks material in his top drawer to be unleashed at a later time. An admission like that, coming from a prime minister, is so very shameful. He has tried to make our democracy, politics, way of life pretty mean and dirty.
Plus Matthew Hooton last week spraying a figure of $300,000 that would soon ‘come to light’ around teh internet. Not so much these days.
Fleetstreet Hacks present their new hit-piece single
Tell Them Lies,
take it away guys ……
Each time you turn the page
you swear that we’ve rearranged just a line or two
Close them, close them, close those eyes
But when we find a way
to twist the truth then sure we deceive you too
Tell them, tell them, tell those lies
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
(Tell them lies, tell them, tell them lies)
Read it all it’s between the lines
(we can hide, we can really hide)
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
Although it’s in the plans
I hope that you understand
there’s a reason why
Close them, close them, close those eyes
So much to report on
But we get off making it up
as we go along
Tell them, tell them, tell them lies
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
(Tell them lies, tell them, tell them lies)
Read it all it’s between the lines
(we can hide, we can really hide)
Tell them lies
Tell them sweet little lies
-apologies to Fleetwood Mac-
+1 Cool!
Great! Did you come up with this? OK for all and sundry to use as satire?
yup
there was more but some of it was a bit personal
(note: any song satire i put up is my own work unless stated otherwise)
just realised that answer might not be entirely clear…
yes, it is my work, use it however you wish.
I will clearly state when it is not my work
Were my eyes deceiving me today while watching “The Nation”? Tony Ryall was interviewed and was shown to have a decidedly elongated and “pointed” noggin! Was a trick camera being used, maybe stolen from a travelling carnival? I’ve never seen his head look like that before. It was really really strange, we were laughing so much we didn’t hear one word he said – no worries, I’m sure we didn’t miss much! Anyone else see it?
i saw that…!
..i couldn’t stop looking at it…
..he looked like an extra from that cone-head movie…
..and i had an urge to get some little hoops..and see if i could throw them..
..to land on the cone..
..and if he was in a scrum..he cd inflict some serious injuries..
‘my eye..! he poked out my eye with his cone..!’..
wow what a day at National Party conference. good news after good news and plans for even better news if we get three more years.
Well, you’re a demonstrated liar, so you would say that. Repeatedly. Obviously trying to convince yourself of something…
🙄
wow what a day at National Party conference. good news after good news—
Look out fellas—there’s a moron loose on the board.
Right Fis, you should get ten more years, in a maximum security institution for promoting economic and social vandalism…
@fishyanis
you wont get three more years,
two months and then you are goneburger.
byeeeeeee…
You need to add ‘only’ like in;
“If only we get three more years” which after Sept you will be saying;
If only we had gotten three more years.
Chin up chap Christmas is over!
Fisi you need to stop reading that tabloid rag “nz herald” it’s going to end in tears.
“house of cards” kevin spacey reminds me of teflon John
WANT BLAIR GONE AS “PEACE ENVOY”?
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
Friday 27th June 2014 will mark the seventh year that Tony Blair has served as the Quartet Representative to the Middle East. This is an urgent call to end this insult to the region’s people by having him sacked as the so-called “Peace Envoy.”
SEVEN REASONS FOR SEVEN YEARS
To mark the occasion, here are seven reasons to #SackBlair for the seven years he has been in the role.
1) War = Peace?! Tony Blair and George W Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq destroyed an entire Middle Eastern society.
2) Pro-Israeli bias Both as Prime Minister and Envoy, Blair has shown a consistent and blatant bias towards Israel.
3) 7 years bad luck for Palestine The last seven years have shown Blair either incapable or unwilling to achieve anything meaningful for the Palestinian people.
4) Conflict of interest? The way Blair works, it is often unclear where his envoy role ends and his business interests begin.
5) Peace Envoy = Warmonger?! Since his appointment Blair has repeatedly called for yet more Middle Eastern wars – in Iran, Syria and now Iraq again.
6) Living like a V.I.P. – on our V.A.T. As Envoy Blair has luxuriated in Jerusalem’s poshest hotel at the taxpayer’s expense, while families in the Occupied Territories struggle to feed their children.
7) Advising autocrats Alongside his envoy role, Blair has been hiring himself out to tyrants with histories of human rights abuses.
THIS IS OUR TIME
With Tony Blair’s outrageous comments and Iraq in flames across the news, there’s no better time than now to launch this campaign.
Professor Chomsky, British MPs from both major parties and three former UK ambassadors to the Middle East already support our campaign. Now it’s your turn….
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/ban-ki-moon-sack-tony-blair-as-the-middle-east-peace-envoy
+100%. The Guardian has all the gruesome details today of his current conflicts of interest… a crook beyond imagining in fact. Chief fomenter in fact if you follow the dots.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/27/tony-blair-conflict-interests-middle-east
Yep. Even made membership of Parliamentary Labour Friends of Israel compulsory for any Labour MP who wanted to make it to high office back in the late 90s / early-mid zeros.
Astounding that this piece of shit was ever allowed to become leader.
Clean storage: These scientists are making an organic, water-based battery for the power grid
Sounds good. This is the type of innovation we need.
But the secret of their success?
Yep, government funding.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful especially in the home solar panel industry. Some installers suggest having a storage system as well as an overflow back to the grid. But lead batteries? Mmm!
then there is the tofu-model..
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/breakthrough-in-solar-panel-manufacture-promises-cheap-energy-within-a-decade-9563136.html
From Mother Jones a hint that Catholic church rules about birth control and gay marriage etc may be revisited by the Vatican. Probably little would change in Western societies but….
“On Pope Francis’ orders, the Vatican will convene an urgent meeting of senior clerics this fall to reexamine church teachings that touch the most intimate aspects of people’s lives….The run-up to the synod has been extraordinary in itself, a departure from usual practice that some say is a mark of the pope’s radical new leadership style, and a canny tactic to defuse dissent over potential reforms.
….Within a few months of his election last year, Francis directed every diocese in the world to survey local attitudes on family and relationships and report back to the Vatican, a canvassing of a sort that few of the faithful can recall previously..
….Taking the public temperature also brings tactical advantages. Nobody at the Vatican will be surprised to learn that vast numbers of Catholics disobey its ban on premarital sex and birth control, or that some are in gay partnerships. Setting down those realities irrefutably on paper, however, could strengthen a bid by Francis to soften the church’s official line and put pressure on bishops inclined to resist, including some in the United States and many in Asia and Africa, conservative areas where the church has been growing….”
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/pope-francis-convenes-vatican-synod-family-and-sex
Really good mood at National Party today
lol
So everyone obviously failed to read the memo about overconfidence, then. Not suprising, given that tories are more likely to be morons.
By the way, did you think to ask your colleagues in the research unit for help finding evidence to back up your lie?
who fronted with the mogadons then?
Not surprising. They’re creaming at the expense of the young and the working poor, and getting away with it.
Must be blimming riveting, you seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time reporting on how happy you are. Bet you’re actually bored rigid.
@ fis…
..good quality cocaine..?
..the right just looove cocaine…
..it feeds directly into their omniscience/superiority-fantasies..
Remembering Bobby Womack.
chrs 4 that…
A playlist I’ve been listening to today.
This is a few years old now but still relevant – especially the bit about how selling state assets has left us worse off.
If we want to make our society better then we need to return our economy to full NZ ownership.
“If we want to make our society better then we need to return our economy to full NZ ownership.”
First nz economy has never been in full NZ ownership, so we cannot return to such a place given that we were never there.
Perhaps you could then request say to David Cunliffe tomorrow that as a suggested policy all the funds from nz super, EQC, ACC and other govt investment funds to be solely invested in nz as a start – good luck there.
Did you have anything intelligent to say?
Instead which is increasing in frequently here, when challenged attack those who challenge instead why not put up and justify your position. You made a statement back it up.
Supply-side economics … http://wpcomics.washingtonpost.com/client/wpc/nq/2014/06/26/
Plutocracy to Idiocracy.
.
A quick refresher: In 1995, after winning a majority in the House for the first time in forty years, one of the first things the new Republican House leadership did was gut Congress’s workforce. They cut the “professional staff” (the lawyers, economists, and investigators who work for committees rather than individual members) by a third. They reduced the “legislative support staff” (the auditors, analysts, and subject-matter experts at the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional Research Service [CRS], and so on) by a third, too, and killed off the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) entirely. And they fundamentally dismantled the old committee structure, centralizing power in the House speaker’s office and discouraging members and their staff from performing their own policy research. (The Republicans who took over the Senate in 1995 were less draconian, cutting committee staff by about 16 percent and leaving the committee system largely in place.) Today, the GAO and the CRS, which serve both House and Senate, are each operating at about 80 percent of their 1979 capacity. While Senate committee staffs have rebounded somewhat under Democratic control, every single House standing committee had fewer staffers in 2009 than in 1994. Since 2011, with a Tea Party-radicalized GOP back in control of the House, Congress has cut its budget by a whopping 20 percent, a far higher ratio than any other federal agency, leading, predictably, to staff layoffs, hiring and salary freezes, and drooping morale.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/junejulyaugust_2014/features/the_big_lobotomy050642.php?page=all
there is a cool movie on maori tv @ 7.30..’mt zion’..
..and reggae fans should take note..
Counties boy here, from way back. Saw it when it came out. Captured the people and lifestyle beautifully… and a side of Pukekohe rarely seen. The reggae was cool as too bro
i went to that marley concert..
Just under the surface running through the whole fillim, countless stereotypes of a negative nature, the only thing absent a KFC or Macca’s, along with a whole violin concert of touchy feelies to signify nobility,
Good to see the brown brothers in fillim tho, despite my criticism, the next one on is more topical,but, the thugby is going to interrupt,
Did Bob even visit the Marae out at Puke, i know of one He had a great time at down here, even playing His favorite game wif the kids out on the road well into the night…
chrs 4 that link..i hadn’t seen that footage before..
..and i’ll have to send it to my daughter..
..she was three yrs old when i took her to see marley @ western springs…
Dam! Just heard that Peter Fry finishes next Saturday night. What a shame. We have now lost so many announcers that could speak in voices that everyone could understand with a measured pace and without the frenetic pace that announcers are now required to speak. I would be surprised if Peter was wanting top leave more likely the station is determined to remove every trace of intelligent great sounding people.
Only one left as far as I know.
This is a real loss. Peter Fry is a wonderful presenter. Surely he wasn’t forced to leave? If so something is very wrong at RNZ.
Peter Fry’s tone is one of kindness and he takes a genuine interest in the requests, dedications, and messages, often to elderly and sick listeners. A real public service.
Don’t know what happened to “weekend social”, but this is stuff worth noting, Selena, bombastic singer and talent, sadly killed too early by bullets from some acquaintance, or so, years ago:
This was her LAST concert, a friend recommended it, and I find it good, but it is not “revolutionary”, to be honest. But culture and passion deserve recognition, whether revolutionary or less so, enjoy!
A tribute by Jennifer Lopez:
Reflections and thoughts from a friendly nation:
Salvador Allende, murdered by his own soldiers or security services, paid for by the CIA, the murder of a nation, you can say.
Disgusting, it is, what happened in many countries in Latin America, like in Chile, and the people were denied a voice, there with a military raid, we have not got there yet, we are “just manipulated”. But the threat and danger is the SAME, we are seized, corrupted and “bought” by forces of global scale “multinationals”, and their servant power player, one John Key.
It is time for Kiwis to bloody wake up, I mean the wider public, to the corruption, the manipulation and selling out of what this country supposedly stands for. It is a corrupt society here, I have ample information, that reaches even into the levels of supposed “Offices of Parliament”, like the Office of Ombudsmen, the Privacy Commissioner, the Health and Disability Commissioner, they are ALL compromised and CORRUPTED by the system in place.
YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHTS HEARD AND MET under this corrupt system that abounds and rules in this rotten country. You are misled and dumbed down, to believe this is a “democracy” and that this place follows the “rule of law”. NO, learn another thing, this is a lying system, with old boys and girls networks, it is no less corrupt than many countries in Latin America. I know!
I have taken issues to said offices, for myself and others, and they all “strangely” do not even follow natural justice, they use “discretion” to degrees, it is a FARCE, the law applied here. To really get “justice”, you are forced to go to the High Court and swear you pay thousands of dollars if you lose your claim and proceedings. You are “fucked” in this rotten country, and if you believe this is a just” and “honest” society, you are brainwashed and an IDIOT!
Sorry to be so damned blunt, that is NZ Aotearoa RAW, and even Labour will NOT change the truth, that is why I will NOT vote them.
It is time for a damned waking up and a revolution in this docile place, if only some would have the bloody courage, it is a total disgrace, how manipulated and bought this country and society has become under one John Key, a TRAITOR of principles and human values.
Make a damned difference, dear readers, wake the hell up, and vote this bastard OUT, and his gang of corrupt and manipulative self serving business players. Thank you, RIP.
Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?
Neo-liberalism and the 1% strike again.
WE are SCREAMING for justice, where is it in NZ Aoteaora???
Why is the Left in NZ so damned shy to not shout it out, we want JUSTICE, EQUALITY and WORKERS’ RIGHTS, what is so damned “embarrassing” about all this???
Is there a “left” remaining in this country???
Or is this all about the “last fire sale” of what is “left” nailed here???
PASSION, is not found easily, not in NZ, I am afraid:
Revolution requires ready minds and souls and bodies, we have NONE of it here, they are mostly easily “bought” for favours, forget it, forget election 2014, it is a LOST game, with lost souls and lost players.
Bah, bah, bah, is the message, commercial advertising is sending the messages, no doubt here, hand over your brain at the counter, you may get a discount for picking it up in a “pickled” state. Best of luck, you do NOT deserve it, lazy brains.
Hi xtasy, Sometimes you write well and sometimes you write.
Repeto, repeto:
WHEN DO PEOPLE HERE DAMNED GET IT????
It must be frustrating to see National ride so high in the polls. It must mean people are thick. Wrong.• National values are as follows
Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as
Head of State
• National and personal security
• Equal citizenship and equal opportunity
• Individual freedom and choice
• Personal responsibility
• Competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement
• Limited government
• Strong families and caring communities
• Sustainable development of our environment
Now that deserves over 50%.
I took a taxi after the Nat conference and convinced the Somalian taxi driver to change his vote from Labour to National in just ten minutes. Someone has lied to him that national hated the poor.
National do hate the poor. National claiming to have those values is as big a lie as when you said Cunliffe had promised labour would be on more than 40% by the election
Hilarious. The only thing on the list that National are doing is the “limited government” bit, though not the sense of “limited” that you thought of when you typed it. The rest they are either ignoring, or doing the opposite.
@ fisiani
LABOUR’S PRINCIPLES SET OUT MORE CLEARLY than Nat’s abstract sound bite BS:
The Labour Party accepts the following democratic socialist principles:
Now that deserves 100%!
I would like to meet that Somalian taxi driver of yours to see what propaganda, spin, lies and BS you peddled to him in your sound bites in just 10 minutes of the highway ride.
He told me that he would convince his entire extended family to change to the party that is giving him free doctors visits for under 13’s, literacy classes, insulated homes, pensions at 65 and wages rising twice faster than inflation. That’s actually 6 Labour votes now voting National. He pledged his word and we shook on the deal.
Some people will say anything to get a pushy ‘salesman’ type away from their front doorstep. I trust you have just been ‘had’ Fisiani.
You do realise most of those are actually Labour ‘s socialist policies stolen by your RWN job National crooks to fool the gullible, while continuing with their agenda to be the party that really works for the benefit of the wealthy, right?
The usual generalised sound-bites there. I don’t think this government has been for strong families and caring communities at all. This government policy has been to fragment low income families and keep wages low. They’ve said as much in public. It’s “good” for the economy.
You can keep your other statements but don’t try to say low income communities have been supported by this government’s policies.
It’s insulting.