Not a witch hunt Ed just msm getting their money’s worth from a topical story.
That so many commenters and authors here have moaned that it is a hit job,dirty politics etc is also somewhat trite in that if the shoe was on the other foot there would have been a number of authors here more than happy to put the boot in.
This will be a salutory lesson to the new MPs in parliament that their past and present will always be there for the public to pick over.
Bullsh*t, Stunned mullet. This business is nothing more than nasty mud-throwing. “Topical story” it is not; Ed is correct. It’s a witch hunt. In this day and age. Shameful.
…and yet there was an article here and in the msm not so long ago about a nat member of Chinese origin that sparked considerable bigotry and howling from sections of the commenteriat.
We are lucky in Nz that most of the population don’t really bother too much with politics as the partisan hackery displayed at this and other blogs is reminiscent of the shambolic political partisan hypocrisy on display daily in the USA.
There was and remains a major question about said MP of Chinese origin caused by his concealment of his relationship with China’s spying apparatus: if it comes to a question of a conflict between China’s interests and New Zealand’s interests, where will his loyalties and priorities really lie?
In contrast, the hit on Ghahraman is that she didn’t go out of her way to highlight some aspects of her past work that simpletons with a reactionary view of how justice should work would find objectionable. She didn’t conceal those facts, she simply didn’t highlight them. So far there has been nothing come up to raise a question about her loyalties or integrity.
See eds comment at 3.1 below, re Kirsty Johnston reported on Twitter.
To clear things up: I interviewed @golrizghahraman about six weeks before the election, we openly discussed her time in Rwanda as a defence intern. It (like much of her story) didn’t make my final story due to space. ’
To my mind, being open about it in an interview falls in the category of not concealing. When the story came out without those bits and Ghahraman didn’t ask for a correction or supplement to give those facts the same prominence, that falls in the category of not highlighting.
Can you imagine what would happen if a person went to a newspaper and said “I don’t believe you talked enough about this aspect of my life – I want you to give me the space so that it can be reported on”.
The newspaper would rightly say – “it’s out decision what goes into the newspaper, if you want your say then consider an ad and we may run it.”. (After they have finished laughing their heads off.)
Consider the jam-packed life this women has lead – how could she know which aspect of it that has been left out is going to be bought up by RWNJ’s.
And if Kirsty Johnson can’t say what is going to be newsworthy then who can? There must be few people who could outskill her.
In this specific instance, had Ghahraman gone back to Johnson with something like “I really think it’s important that a story like that includes the fact I was working for the defence, so it doesn’t appear I’m hiding something unsavoury that can get turned into a political attack”, I’d be surprised if that request didn’t get favourable consideration.
But really, she had already put the information out there in enough places for anyone to find if they cared to look. So any criticism of Ghahraman based on the idea she tried to hide her work for the defence is utter bullshit in my opinion. Particularly since she appears to have been forthright in her answers when asked. In stark contrast to most politicians questioned on a potentially uncomfortable topic.
…the hit on Ghahraman is that she didn’t go out of her way to highlight some aspects of her past work that simpletons with a reactionary view of how justice should work would find objectionable.
Thank you. So succinctly and accurately summed up that I nicked it for my own blog (with link to the original).
…and yet there was an article here and in the msm not so long ago about a nat member of Chinese origin…
…who used to work for Chinese military intelligence and for all we know still does; who is still a member of the Chinese Communist Party; and who spent half his maiden speech praising the Chinese government. I find those compelling reasons for suspicion that the bloke is actually representing the Chinese government rather than National voters. The only bigotry and howling in evidence is about a human rights lawyer, not a spook.
Poll:
Do you think that Newshub is peopled by idiots?
Will they have one like that? Their poll is sort of bewildering, stunning, unbelievable, inexplicable, dumb, stupid, negative, vacuous, destructive. And bleak.
Also another poll, “should the Herald be put to sleep due to being too ancient to be relevant to the NZ public apart from to Brash types.” (ACT now on 1%).
That so many commenters and authors here have moaned that it is a hit job,dirty politics etc is also somewhat trite in that if the shoe was on the other foot there would have been a number of authors here more than happy to put the boot in.
If the boot was on the other foot? I wonder how that would even happen. First, the Greens would have to be running a dirty politics operation; second, National would need a human rights lawyer among its MPs. Chances of either of those approximate to 0.
Nope. It’s a hit job.
Garner and Richardson and similar types hate her because she’s smart, left-wing, female, non-white, articulate and wants to do good in the world. The last one really winds them up because it shows up their own shallow, self-interested wallowing in comfort.
And they are also horribly internally conflicted because she’s attractive at the same time and they find themselves hating something they fancy. This makes them even more idiotic and irrational.
I regard them as like a t*rd that won’t flush away – obscene and embarrassing.
The media ceases to be your friend when you’re in government. This is only the start of the media fun and games. BM is right, a better strategy is needed than just crying wolf about “Dirty Politics”.
Are you kidding me? The media habitually fellate the nats inside or outside government. Tories need to be overwhelmingly incompetent before the media start to feed on them. As in Brash incompetent. But if they don’t get a leftie scalp every year or so, the media get pissy.
And the fact that the nats had a well-established conduit from their leader’s office, through supposedly independent bloggers and into the msm… one wonders where they got this latest lie from.
McFlock you are totally correct about media fellating the natz in or out of government. I have noticed a trend recently. If labour is looking at making fairly major political decisions, the article nearly always adds a response from blinglish, as if his input validates or is more valid than the new governments. They just have to keep as much of the spotlight on him as they can!
Journalists should seek and publish contrary opinions next to one another.
Too often they simply re-publish press releases without seeking rebuttal at all.
So, for example, we get Steven Joyce running his mouth, presented as though what he says can be trusted, and the journalist involved doesn’t so much as pick up a calculator, let alone ask for third-party corroboration.
This laziness does them no favours: “Finance Minister cannot do sums” makes a far better story than “Finance Minister says opposition cannot do sums.”
Seriously?! The media were on crusade to get National at the end. It was a never ending series of “got ya” attempts.
I am seeing a parallel with Key and Ardern. Both started off as media darlings. The media loved Key at the beginning but turned on him in the end. The same will happen with Ardern. Other politicians are fair game from the get go though.
For ever gotcha attempt against the nats (and those were mostly the result of national infighting) in the final year, there were two against Labour and/or the greens – and it’s funny how tory bloggers and commenters always had an inkling that someone on the leftish was going to have difficulties. Maybe a post by slater parroted by one of his lickspittles who comment here, usually the previous evening to prime the pump.
Ardern is not a “media darling”. The media hype that up to make it look like she’s getting a free ride, but it’s damning with shallow praise while inventing shortcomings in substance. So far they’ve got nothing, so they repeat things like “gosh, they repeated exactly what they initially said, so they’re backtracking on the number of trees”-style lies.
You reckon? Key was getting it with both barrels with the “Dirty Politics” non-event. Key’s self-inflicted stupidity with his hair pulling episode also saw some serious heat. Arderns ride has been gentle at best in comparison. The media have yet to go to town on her, which they will rightly or wrongly.
Key got some criticism from the MSM for dirty politics came out, but that’s how hard he had to try to get stick from them: it required a book that documented, step by step, the full dirty politics machine coming from the Beehive (and then the cops turning over the author’s place) simply to get bad emough that he had to throw a minion under the bus.
Similarly, the media were pissed when the cops executed search warrants over the audio recording of a public cup of tea.
Key had to work to get media criticism. Ardern simply just has to give an update on how a policy is going, and the farcical allegations of backtracking are dutifully reported.
To Garibaldi @ 6:43
“Dirty Politics” ended up being a non-event as Joe/Jane public got sick & bored of the MSM ramming it down people’s throats 24/7. Add the Fat German to the mix and all it achieved was to shake complacent Nats to the polls securing outright victory on the night. These days, shouting “Dirty Politics” at everything is on the same level as Trump shouting “Fake News” at everything.
His positioning is that it’s ok to to attack the government because Labour did it too. The corollary is that it’s ok for Labour to use dirty politics, stats manipulation, public service hit-jobs, and to obfuscate the transparency of government because that’s what National did.
I expect to hear only messages of congratulations from BM and other RWNJs if and when this happens.
this is what National copped for the last nines years
No it’s not.
1. The MSM were most definitely cheer-leading for National
2. Nothing that was levelled against National was a made up smear as this is
3. Dirty Politics shows that made up smears is National’s Modus Operandi
The left needs to put on its big boy/big girl pants…
Actually, that would be National and other RWNJs having to own up to their smear machines – or held to account and jailed.
So Why is there no Poll asking people about J Key’s lies about the American spy programme being finished and replaced. That continued for a year!! A whopper!!
Papers have just been “discovered” But the silence is deafening!! It is all “Look at this fudging by a green.”
Very selective. What about the Nat DHB Waikato chief executive debacle?
It’s more we need a better kind of media – hence the need to RNZ+.
Also, basically, the government need to start leading the news agenda in their own way – with more positive, honest stories, that will engage the general public in a democratic way.
What would a ‘democratic media’ in NZ look like Ed? How would it work?
How do you create a ‘democratic media’ in a country like NZ without using authoritarian, essentially undemocratic methods to bring it into existence? e.g. preventing private ownership of media platforms (I presume that this is what you mean when you refer to it not being owned by the finance industry) – which raises the question as to how it would be funded?
…essentially undemocratic methods to bring it into existence? e.g. preventing private ownership of media platforms…
Private ownership is anti-democratic itself due to its effect of removing power and wealth from the people.
In fact, it’s authoritarian and even dictatorial.
– which raises the question as to how it would be funded?
The government, being the issuer of the NZ$, can afford all resources in the country. In fact, they already own all the resources in the country.
It’s really not a question of funding at all. It never has been. It’s a question of the lies told to make people believe that all wealth flows from the rich.
“Deputy PM suing journalist for something they repeated which was true. Is this what the msm is going to be like under this government?”
It may have been true but how did these “journalists” become privvy to Peters’s private information? That’s the point you’re missing.
This whole thing was a Dirty Politics smear and it was facilitated by those so-called journalists. That is what an undemocratic media looks like James if you need a comparison.
@James That was a Dirty Trick that cost the Nats the election…..despite all the howls from journalists saying Peters is threatening freedom of speech by investigating how the pension leak got out, I think the NZ public has a right to know what transpired here……doubtless English and Joyce were up to their neck in it.
Deputy PM suing journalist for something they repeated which was true.
That doesn’t mean that they should have repeated it. It was private information and not in the Public Interest.
Then there was the fact that it was WINZ’ mistake which wasn’t made clear or even hinted at. In fact, IIRC, it was made out to be Winston purposefully rorting the system.
And at that point there it becomes a calculated smear.
Now, I happen to think that people who engage in a calculated smear, especially to influence an election, should be held to account.
“Peters is doing that for her – suing journalist for something they repeated which was true.”
On that note then answer this;
Do you believe everything journalist say do you???
You asked “Is this what the msm is going to be like under this government?”
As to the jouranists he is suing;
In this case they pejured themselves by soliting “private documents”
Do you believe in our human rights to privacy?
You are a National supporter, we note, and I guess you believe it was fundermentally right for John Key to allow us all to be exposed to wide ranging survielllence by a back door system to the foriegn NSA as he did allow this, so you maybe have no concerns for privacy rights for all then???
Don’t call bigots “rednecks”. The most vicious bigots in New Zealand are people like Garth “The Knife” McVicar, Don Brash, Leighton Smith, Mike Hosking, and John Ansell—other than the Knife Man, they’ve never done a day of hard work in the sun between them.
Yes if he – a Law Commissioner – could not see that how an International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda run by the UN would involve Judges, Prosecutors, and Defence….then he is not fit to be a Law Commissioner.
The statement on the Green web site was entirely accurate. It was he and his ilk who are the ones being duplicitous.
That’s a fair comment in his case, he normally is pretty reasonable, and on occasion some people in my opinion do react disproportionately to what he says simply because of who he was.
But he tried to overegg what was basically a reasonable description on a party bio page. He also overegged comments people made here about Turei as being “completely uncritical”. And he’s been commenting here long enough to know that anyone referring to a dataserver as a conscious entity risks a ban.
And if Macro significantly misrepresented what Wayne said (I don’t think they did), it was far less significant than the degree to which wayne misrepresented the party bio issue. As far as I am aware, nobody has presented a single interview where she in any way concealed what her various roles were. Literally the only instances I’ve seen tories present were her brief party bio paragragph (which is at worst ambiguous, but she probably did authorise the final version), and news articles that use their own words and own shoddy editing to describe what she did. The raw material she provided them, however, was open, honest, and explicit.
He has a history of posting reasonably, and I agree he gets attacked for who he is and what his politics are. But in the past four or five months something changed, and now he often comes across as trolling or astroturfing. That’s what he was doing the other day when he got banned. If we wants to align himself with the Dirty Politics crowd he’ll need to be more careful in how he expresses himself.
The issue is not whether Golriz Ghahraman can defend criminals, even of the very worst kind. It is whether she represented herself correctly on the Green website and on various interviews. Giving an impression, or indeed saying directly that she was motivated to prosecute the worst human rights offenders, when that is not in fact the whole truth is bound to lead to difficulty. That is especially so when defending the oppressed has been virtually her whole reason to become an MP.
my bold
By saying that she was not represented herself correctly is in effect saying that the statement on the website is duplicitous. This representation of the statement by Mapp can only be construed as such if this statement was in anyway untrue
Her studies at Oxford, and work as a lawyer for the United Nations and in New Zealand, have focused on enforcing human rights and holding governments to account. Golriz has lived and worked in Africa, The Hague and Cambodia putting on trial world leaders for abusing their power, and restoring communities after war and human rights atrocities, particularly empowering women engaged in peace and justice initiatives.
Indeed in Cambodia she acted for the prosecution.
Her work in Africa and The Hague and Cambodia was under the auspices of the UN. In Rwanda under the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The need for defence advocates in criminal proceedings is well understood and should be obvious to a Law Commissioner. So his call that the statement was duplicitous was itself duplicitous. The Green website statement was entirely factual and calling it ambiguous was simply false (and he would have known that).
Soper tells us “…Well a series of photos have been sent to me,…”
Who by Bazza? Quinn? Farrar? Slater? What a complete prick. He is abusing his position to shameless launder dirty politics into the Herald. The old bastard really has no excuse. He is as dirty as Slater and twice as compromised.
Soper should Google Mervyn Thompson, and pray modern young woman are not as radical as their mums and aunts.
It wouldn’t be interesting to find out what information compromises Soper so much that he can be relied on to so reliably write hit pieces for his owners.
And make du Plessis Allen toe the part line as well.
Soper in his workplace has displayed extreme temper tantrums worse than a two year old. Thoroughly nasty individual. For him to be doing character assassinations on others is total hypocrisy.
Well maybe (applying Soper’s own standards) we should ask his former partners what they think of him.
But even though he isn’t, we’re above all that yes?
I’m just watching Garner’s aggressive and disrespectful inquisition of Golriz now. His demeanour has been cold and harsh throughout. What a contrast with his adulation yesterday of that shepherd-killing coke snorting groper.
Fuck! How time flies. A fairly accurate description then as it is now.
But we should watch out. Tuff guy PQ has taken to Twitter, and before you know it, the poor ‘widdle’ MAN will be accusing ebery1 of bullying blub de blub blub blub
Agree 200% Morrisey I saw this disgusting inquisition, It is a pity that prat Garner does not show the same “gotcha” enthusiasm with English over the Todd Barclay affair and the Chinese Spy they have in the National party. Just two items that come to mind. I am sure there are many more if they wanted to get stuck into something.
Last week it was the Refugees on Manus and the offer to resettle 150 per year here. This week it’s to be Golriz..
What piece of vile, redneck hatred, bias, and bile will they dream up for next week?
It sounds like they are at least reliable in their standard of choice for subject and method. So good to check on to see the latest visceral sacrifice and blood letting. Drs Noooooo.
Absolutely spot on there Ed (1). It is a witch hunt and a vicious one at that, against a strong successful woman. Golriz and others like her it seems, is for some reason deemed a threat by middle aged/old, bigoted white men!
Next, the ducking stool will be brought out, demonstrating how backwards NZ is becoming in its mindset!
Mary_A…….”[Golriz] deemed a threat by middle aged/old, bigoted white men!” Add ‘narcissistic’. That’s why I try very hard to avoid both Garner and Hosking……their appalling narcissism.
The thing to remember about Soper, Garner, Richardson, Hoskings etc is their influence is in freefall. No one listens or reads them who isn’t looking for confirmation bias. The Murdoch press in alliance with the Blairite chattering classes couldn’t stop Corbyn and here the constant barrrage of attacks on Labour didn’t stop them being able to form the government after the last election.
Under FPP systems old and angry white men and what they represent have clung on to their influence because they can still command pluralities in marginal electorates. Under MMP the last election exposed their electoral bankruptcy in NZ. The National party strategy of driving NZ First and the Greens out of parliament so casually racist white folk can rule unimpeded by pesky upstart refugee lawyers from Iran didn’t work and will never work as demographics change.
But the old white men’s bile becomes more concentrated and more charged as time goes on. If they explode some day, watch out, the effects will be destructive.
Kirsty Johnston reported this on Twitter.
She doesn’t seem impressed by her editors.
‘The story was supposed to be part of a pre-election series, but we used it when she was elected. Call me naive but I assumed getting defence experience was normal, not a big deal, and there were other more relevant things to include’
‘To clear things up: I interviewed @golrizghahraman about six weeks before the election, we openly discussed her time in Rwanda as a defence intern. It (like much of her story) didn’t make my final story due to space. ’
Genocide was committed by both sides in Rwanda. Genocide was done by the USA in Vietnam. Genocide is being done in many places, such as Myanmar and Palestine and with the Kurds. Yet it is such an emotive word it is avoided when the narrative doesn’t suit the West.
This Golriz business is a superb example of DP at work. A storm in a tea cup is inflated into a major confrontation by well coordinated media dickheads without a brain between the lot of them. Shame on them and their employers.
They, the media dickheads, have brains all right, the problem is that they are diseased, in an advanced state of breakdown and so presenting skewed thoughts.
Peters, aged 72, is also alleging in an unorthodox draft Statement of Claim filed with the High Court at Auckland that prominent Newshub political reporter Lloyd Burr is a “National Party political activist”.
…
He also wants money from one of the country’s top civil servants, the head of the Ministry of Social Development, Brendan Boyle.
…
In the draft Statement of Claim filed on Monday, Peters seems to be challenging the legality of the past (and previous) governments’ ‘No Surprises’ policy where civil servants were expected to brief ministers on politically controversial matters.
He calls “unlawful” the actions of Boyle, in telling two ministers about Peters’ super overpayment. He claims Boyle “knew or was reckless if he did not know” that the two ministers Anne Tolley and Paula Bennett “would utilise the intended plaintiff’s private MSD information for political purposes including discrediting the intended plaintiff in the forthcoming general election”.
“If”, Peters’ draft claim goes on, “the no surprises policy is lawful” then Boyle breached it in any case.
…
Peters calls the group of National ministers and staffers, which also included Steven Joyce, English’s chief of staff Wayne Eagleson and party communications officer Clark Hennessy, by a made-up title, the National Party Re-election Committee and gives it the acronym NPRC throughout his document.
He claims this “NPRC”, once informed by Boyle, would attempt to use what Peters has previously labelled a “mystery” error to “discredit him with the intent of reducing [Peters’] party vote to below five percent and to prevent him from winning the electoral seat of Northland”.
…
On the media’s reporting of the story, Peters alleges the “NPRC” arranged to leak the fact of his overpayment “to the media by use of journalists who were part-of and/or sympathetic to the National Party campaign to be re-elected — or alternatively would be reckless as to their obligations” when they knew of the payments.
Sir John Key’s story of how and why he canned a “mass surveillance” programme are at odds with official papers detailing development of the “Speargun” project.
The issue blew up in the final days of the 2014 election with Key claiming the programme was long-dead and had been replaced by a benign cyber-security system called Cortex.
Key always claimed the Speargun project to tap New Zealand’s internet cable was stopped in March 2013.
But new documents show development of Speargun continued after the time he had said he ordered a halt – apparently because the scheme was “too broad”.
Instead, they show Speargun wasn’t actually stopped until after Key was told in a secret briefing that details were likely to become public because they could be in the trove of secrets taken by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Wow, geez am so glad he quit being PM, is such a liar, and with stories like this coming out, once again one wonders what were his real reasons for quitting, because the… resigning for family reasons or health is such a bogus excuse, used often by Catholic priests when they have committed heinous crimes.
“The NZ Herald has found – after three years of refusals and information going missing – that the former Prime Minister’s version of events doesn’t match that of documents created at the time.”
His ‘Sir’ needs to be removed ASAP and he probably needs to be jailed for lying to the people of NZ as a public servant (Unfortunately, that latter doesn’t appear to be a crime despite it being immoral).
Brent Edwards was talking about freedom of the Press on Morning Report today. I I agree with him that freedom of the Press is important to a healthy democracy but so are journalists not being agents of Dirty Politics and the media not engaging in hatchet jobs and witch hunts.
Absolutely agree G A. That is just what I said to my husband when I heard this, this morning. Our so called media is getting too precious by half.Why do they think that they can print any unsubstantiated and highly inflammatory garbage they like and not get pulled up on it. Key has gone. Time they realized it and learned how to be real journalists and not just purveyors of their own opinions.
A wife pushes her husband, he falls, and dies.
Coroner and others accept her version of events, no charges are laid.
Five years later, the guilt is too much and the wife confesses.
The wife (Susan Mouat), is now appealing her sentence of home detention.
It gets curiouser, Susan Mouat had 16 convictions, mostly for violence and threatening against her husband, Bruce Mouat.
Unless he was violent when he was drunk… often family violence results in convictions of the abused as well as abuser as they file charges against each other.
From personal ‘at-the-coal-face’ observations throughout the years since Home D was introduced, the availability of Home D is more impacted by how well off you are than by gender. Generally the well off can propose a Home D address which ticks all the Corrections/Police boxes. The poor so frequently can’t. “Off to jail with you poor person!” Same applies to electronically monitored bail.
The Labour and national spokesman on breakfast look like they were having a good debate before going on camera. I no I’m not using my Maori spelling correctly but ha everyone gets it I already had a lecture from my wife . We got 2 mokos for 2 days I take my hat off to you Lady’s for all the hard work in razeing our mokos they keep me busy. Ka pai
Wikipedia is again calling for money, and suggesting to me that you might just give $3 which if everyone did would provide all they need for yonks. I don’t know just what it costs, but it must cost a lot in hardware, software, and particularly time, and they do a hell of a good job.
Those of us who treasure the ability to have open facts easily accessible, which are moderated and checked by people with integrity who care for high standards of information and clear thinking, please give them some dough. And we should do it regularly. I can’t afford much but if I keep pumping in some then this boon to us all will keep going. Also with The Standard.
We have to do what we say, we want democracy, we support democracy, we can’t just sit at a keyboard and say so, we can’t just demonstrate and protest, we need all of our input of those who will do more than just lift a finger to a key and drop it.
We need ongoing commitment, money, etc. to keep the good institutions, entities formed going, have to keep them from dropping away. They are hard to start, to build, to refine, to nip and tuck, expand here limit there, fit for purpose, they must be treasured and kept running. We need respect for each other, disagree and discuss, learn and amend, with some backslapping and congratulations, praise now and then. And we should always keep in mind and know, that always we will be a minority. Keep the yeast working in the loaf etc. Let’s do it.
Today at the Swiss Press Club in Geneva, 21st Century Wire Associate Editor Vanessa Beeley presented a dossier on the dubious UK-backed NGO known as the ‘White Helmets’ which included up-to-date information on their links to al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, as well as exposing the western propaganda organisation’s many bogus claims, including having ‘saved 99,220 lives‘ since the western-funded construct based in Turkey was created in late 2013.
Despite the efforts of alleged ‘free speech’ advocate NGO Reporters Without Borders to shut this event down, Swiss Press Club head Guy Mettan went ahead as scheduled. Reports Without Borders even went as far as to draft a formal complaint demanding the event be cancelled, alongside protestations by UK-based ‘Syrian opposition’ group Syria Campaign.
Cripes who to believe these days? I saw an image of white helmets supposedly doing good and thought positively about them, now it sounds as if they are a plant or a device to appear and be well regarded.
Then the Reporters without Borders – what are they? Are they like the one I looked at yesterday the Veritas outfit in the USA, so busy trying to prove wrongdoing in the media, that they will use wrongdoing to get quotes that they can manipulate for their own ends.
Do lots of young-ish people think that you can make up morality and ethics as you go along simply based on expediency at the time?
I don’t think it is necessarily the youngish people at fault, but those with an agenda, i.e. NATO, Israel, Saudi, UK, US.
“In 2007 the IAEA promoted false information about Israel’s bombing of a supposed nuclear reactor in Syria, burying clear evidence that the site was in fact not a reactor. Claims that a sarin gas attack last April was carried out by the Assad regime are similarly dubious. Just as the false claims of “weapons of mass destruction” against Iraq were used to initiate a war that destroyed Iraq, these claims seem aimed at taking down two more of Israel’s perceived enemies, Syria and Iran.”
Oh, and you’re awfully charitable to Project Veritas. Right-wing sliming operation is closer to the mark. They get their videos and then very selectively edit them to create the appearance of something that just isn’t there.
Personally, I tend towards suspicion of any of these alternative sources. If it looks like they’ve actually got an interesting story, then I’ll go to the effort to research the source, and start looking for corroboration from other more reliable sources.
So to take the White Helmets story as an example, the people making allegations about close links between the White Helmets and terrorists pretty much all trace back to RT (Russian government propaganda), Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley (in turned linked to RT and InfoWars) etc. They make claims that appear to have been reliably debunked (such as claiming that a number of rescue videos showing a child named Aya are actually staged using the same child, debunked by closely looking at the child who is clearly different). The alternative view, that the White Helmets are more or less what they claim to be (with a layer of glossing themselves up on top), appears to be corroborated by the likes of Medecins sans Frontieres, so I find that view a fair bit more credible.
On the relatively rare occasions one of the likes of NYT, WaPo, TheGuardian, CNN etc really do get a major story badly wrong (such as Iraq WMDs in 2003), one or more of the others will be presenting the counterview (in 2003 that was the reports of Hans Blix the UN weapons inspector working in Iraq, carried by most of those outlets at the same time).
Should ban it outright. Foreign investment is just another word for future profits going offshore. I’d like to see a maximum percentage (say 15%) only of assets in any area being owned offshore from commercial property to forestry.
Also a yearly tax on those holding assets offshore but sure under the trade agreements that’s not possible because they are all designed to keep the neoliberal model going and not worry about trifle’s like local jobs or wealth or smaller countries becoming banana republics.
Should ban it outright. Foreign investment is just another word for future profits going offshore. I’d like to see a maximum percentage (say 15%) only of assets in any area being owned offshore from commercial property to forestry.
Should ban foreign ownership outright as it just makes the people of NZ serfs to foreign owners.
Also a yearly tax on those holding assets offshore but sure under the trade agreements that’s not possible because they are all designed to keep the neoliberal model going and not worry about trifle’s like local jobs or wealth or smaller countries becoming banana republics.
True as we’ve been informed many times that FTAs prevent the banning of foreign ownership. Which means that these FTAs are all about forcing trade rather than free-trade.
Hey if we could become a banana republic we might get somewhere. We might have animals and pohutukawas die off with changes from climate and multi million people movement, but when it gets warmer we could start growing our own bananas and have another export crop. We wouldn’t be able to sell them to each other because that would upset the import business of some monopoly foreign corporation but hey you can’t have everything. When you are as small as NZ on the world stage, we can always find a dear little mousehole to creep into, so to speak.
To all the people out there that are trying to give up smoking here is some information on our human anatomy when one has high blood pressure this is a result of the food we eat the stresss that we have in our lives and a oppressed culture in my view. So what happens is high blood pressure puts more strain on one’s blood vessels and what happens when a system is under pressure well something burst and that is not good if one of your blood vessels bust in your brain that is a stroke and if you survive that you could be in a state of being totally immobile someone will have to wash you everything you do now will have to be done by a care worker.
So I say again look at your mokos and no that you are the only one who will care and teach your mokos right from wrong
E.C.T.Go to the doctors and get your blood pressure checked an get the medication to lower your blood pressure to safe levels. I have had to dubble my blood pressure medication because of all the wasted attention that they are giving me. I notice that with my blood pressure back down to normal levels I’m not sweating no were as much as I use to
And I feel a lot better high blood pressure can cause a lot of health problems I no a lot of people who do not go to a doctor and a few that have passed that are of the same era as me and thats not good Ka pai
Neighbour died early because of emphysema. Was sucking in little ‘sips’ of air at the end. The lungs are so important and we take them for granted I reckon.
BP is one of the most important health measures (as long as you measure it regularly and don’t freak out just because you had a spike that day).
Years ago, when I was still young, I was working 80 or hundred hour weeks for a short period. Had a few hours off, so watched that night’s episode of buffy. Felt a drip-drip-drip, had a spontaneous nosebleed. Veins popping in my head is not good, thinks I, so go to the doctor. The nose was fine. But my 180/120 blood pressure was very close to being hospitalised out of general principle. After lots of tests, the nephrology folk decided that although my lifestyle wasn’t pristine, the main reason my blood pressure was high was “well, it just is”.
So that was the first thing to break as I aged and, frankly, modern medicine is about the only reason I’m alive today. Although I do find it fascinating what drives it up and down at each visit to the doc.
That’s interesting on why the job has not been taken. One reason could be lack of advertising or nowadays with so much insecure work, many are reluctant to move their lives away because anyone can lose their job within 90 days… or get no compensation if anything goes wrong.
Lessons for NZ deforesting (Landcorp selling off land into foreign ownership as we speak as well as clearing for dairy), damming for irrigation for Dairy in drought areas, continuing pollution of our lakes and rivers and giving water away virtually for free across conservation land to be sold offshore.
“The Amazon effect: how deforestation is starving São Paulo of water
A drought two years ago triggered fighting, looting and official ‘states of calamity’ across the metropolis, with the army preparing to send in troops. Now, new warnings suggest it could happen again – and point to a surprising culprit”
I have already told the story of how my teeth got accidentally knocked out with a hammer while someone was killing a opposum. Well here’s another story on my first day at high school Yes I made it to high school I had to sow up some old pants and the uniform was a bit small I had plastic wing tip shoes and purple socks I did not know my socks were purple I found out from this elder girl who called me captain purple an said my socks were purple lol I told her we’re to go as I did not no I was colour blind and still though they were blue later on that day someone was trying to bull me while I was swimming in the school pool and when I told him we’re to go I spat my teeth out in the pool I got a m8 to help me find they but the bell rang and he went to class so 1 hour later I found my teeth and joined him I class. We fast forward a couple of years and my crew m8 made a mistake on a fishing boat I ended up in the drink the skipper just about had a heart attack as they turn around to pull me out of the sea I said a couple of foul words and spat my teeth out lol never going to find those. Ka pai
Big claim coming up next year. The analysis and information on this one will be epic – what was lost will be found, will be shared and will move us toward tino rangatiratanga.
Below from fbook.
KAUPAPA INQUIRY 2018
The Mana Wahine claim is set down to be heard by the Waitangi Tribunal in early 2018 as per the memorandum issued on 16 November 2017 by Chief Judge Issac.
“Claims alleging prejudice to Māori women arising from Crown Treaty breaches have been set down for separate inquiry in the kaupapa programme. The claims relate mainly to the status and treatment of wāhine Māori, in both historical and modern times. The claims allege that the Crown has failed to protect the rangatiratanga of Māori women and their right to non-discrimination on grounds of gender, with serious prejudicial consequences for their social, economic, cultural and spiritual well-being and their access to leadership roles”
One possible claim would be hard to deal with. I remember hearing about this Maori woman of standing who took a pakeha husband. She married him and her ancestral land went with her, and became her husband’s estate under pakeha law at that time. When he divorced her, he owned all her people’s lands and their resources at his disposal. This was about the time of the whaling so must have been early on. Anyway the tribe lost much. It would be sad if it was true and it did happen. How to recover that or reasonable compensation?
Interesting because The Economist is the neoliberal’s Pravda:
(They insist on calling it ‘liberalism’, which is in economic history, more or less correct, but it gets wrongly associated with liberal social progressivism when in fact it’s a monoculturalist, assimilationist ideology… but that’s another story)
The very elites that have devoted so much energy to rigging the system for their own advantage did little to address Britain’s fundamental problems, and have frequently compounded them. A disproportionate share of Britain’s wealth goes into feeding the housing industry rather than into starting businesses. A third of British firms have seen no growth in productivity since 2000. The north-east and Wales are some of the poorest regions in northern Europe. No wonder 52% of the British population took the chance offered by the referendum to give the finger to their betters.
One wonders whether any of the nat’s very own blue dragon donors received any warnings.
Turnbull government ministers have questioned the loyalty of the strife-prone Labor senator Sam Dastyari to Australia after a report that he tipped off a Chinese political donor that his phone was probably being tapped by security agencies.
Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday that Dastyari had warned the Chinese Communist party-linked political donor Huang Xiangmo last year that his phone was probably tapped by government agencies, including the US government.
Some pundits have Nikki Kaye as a possible future National leader. I think she has the key attributes.
Today in the House the answer to her prime question showed what a smart-arse she is.
Mind you, trying to turn something like whether kids can start school before they’re 5 into the issue of the century, is a challenge. Except to those who think saying kids can’t start before they’re 5 is the crime of the century.
If you saw Ms Kaye you might understand.
“Hon NIKKI KAYE to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by his statement in relation to changing the age at which children can start school that it is “not unusual for a Minister or Government to state its intention” on an issue before going through the Cabinet process; if so, why?”
She was trying to be smart and continue the implication to cretins that Hipkins was up to no good, was out of order and consequently not up to the job.
The initial answer was that Kaye as Minister had done the same thing with a $37million announcement which hadn’t gone through the due process she thinks Hipkins should have used.
The ‘list’ would only have to say “Something serious and meaningful not mindless politicking which merely accentuates the dumb things National did and the way they acted in Government and the churlish childish state they are in now.”
Witness witless Simon Bridges today (and just about every day) too.
Thank you. I was astounded at Ms Kaye’s performance. I can understand her wanting to hold Hipkins to account and have him justify his approach but to do it and so openly expose herself?
I read there’s 8000 odd Air BNBs booked in Auckland for the summer period. Queenstown has moved to restrict temporary Air BNB providers because these places are sitting idle all year when families could be living in them.
I’d be very happy if this government threw Air BNB out of the country altogether until such time as we had enough houses for people and until such time as we moved away from amateur landlordism as a vehicle to retirement.
My read was that many houses were empty for 10 months of the year in the middle of an accomodation problem. That and the obvious lobbying from the hotel industry in Queenstown wanting Air BNB providers to be treated the same as hotel accomodation providers.
It’s the same argument for Uber. The model is unsustainable, in Uber’s case because only students and part timers will be able to drive for those low wages and are they able to meet transport regulation requirements? In AirBNB’s case because it takes too much housing off the market, empty for 10 months of the year.
I used Uber a couple of times in Chiang Mai – THB100 instead of THB300 for a tuktuk which is fine. Uber drivers wouldn’t pick up in tourist areas though.
I used Air BNB once in Sydney for my family (I didn’t go). They were in an apartment block in Freshwater Beach and had to pretend they were family members if questioned by other members of the community. Hardly a pleasant experience.
The point is when you have providers doing business (in AirBNB’s case) which affects the housing stock and the neighbours then you’re always going to get problems.
My question: Is Lloyd Burr a National Party activist? He was certainly privy to information delivered by senior National Party ministers and/or senior government aligned public service officials in the formation of his story.
Nothing wrong with a scapegoat.
It will serve as a message to the other National Party activists working in the media; Garner, Hosking, Soper, du Plessis Allen, Richardson, Trevett, ……
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
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Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
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New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
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Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
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The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
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New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
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Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
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The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
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In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
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The witchhunt continues.
What a revolting media we have. Shall not watch how bully boys Garner and Richardson handle the story.
There is a nasty underbelly to this country.
‘Poll: Do you think Golriz Ghahraman and the Green Party have misled the public about her past role as a human rights lawyer?’
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2017/11/poll-do-you-think-golriz-ghahraman-and-the-green-party-have-misled-the-public-about-her-past-role-as-a-human-rights-lawyer.html
Not a witch hunt Ed just msm getting their money’s worth from a topical story.
That so many commenters and authors here have moaned that it is a hit job,dirty politics etc is also somewhat trite in that if the shoe was on the other foot there would have been a number of authors here more than happy to put the boot in.
This will be a salutory lesson to the new MPs in parliament that their past and present will always be there for the public to pick over.
Bullsh*t, Stunned mullet. This business is nothing more than nasty mud-throwing. “Topical story” it is not; Ed is correct. It’s a witch hunt. In this day and age. Shameful.
…and yet there was an article here and in the msm not so long ago about a nat member of Chinese origin that sparked considerable bigotry and howling from sections of the commenteriat.
We are lucky in Nz that most of the population don’t really bother too much with politics as the partisan hackery displayed at this and other blogs is reminiscent of the shambolic political partisan hypocrisy on display daily in the USA.
Do you mean the man who trained spies? How were discussions around that a witch-hunt? What bigotry was shown?
There was and remains a major question about said MP of Chinese origin caused by his concealment of his relationship with China’s spying apparatus: if it comes to a question of a conflict between China’s interests and New Zealand’s interests, where will his loyalties and priorities really lie?
In contrast, the hit on Ghahraman is that she didn’t go out of her way to highlight some aspects of her past work that simpletons with a reactionary view of how justice should work would find objectionable. She didn’t conceal those facts, she simply didn’t highlight them. So far there has been nothing come up to raise a question about her loyalties or integrity.
To my mind, being open about it in an interview falls in the category of not concealing. When the story came out without those bits and Ghahraman didn’t ask for a correction or supplement to give those facts the same prominence, that falls in the category of not highlighting.
Your categories may vary.
Can you imagine what would happen if a person went to a newspaper and said “I don’t believe you talked enough about this aspect of my life – I want you to give me the space so that it can be reported on”.
The newspaper would rightly say – “it’s out decision what goes into the newspaper, if you want your say then consider an ad and we may run it.”. (After they have finished laughing their heads off.)
Consider the jam-packed life this women has lead – how could she know which aspect of it that has been left out is going to be bought up by RWNJ’s.
And if Kirsty Johnson can’t say what is going to be newsworthy then who can? There must be few people who could outskill her.
And if Kirsty Johnson can’t say what is going to be newsworthy then who can? There must be few people who could outskill her.”
+1000000
As a general comment, I reckon you’re spot on.
In this specific instance, had Ghahraman gone back to Johnson with something like “I really think it’s important that a story like that includes the fact I was working for the defence, so it doesn’t appear I’m hiding something unsavoury that can get turned into a political attack”, I’d be surprised if that request didn’t get favourable consideration.
But really, she had already put the information out there in enough places for anyone to find if they cared to look. So any criticism of Ghahraman based on the idea she tried to hide her work for the defence is utter bullshit in my opinion. Particularly since she appears to have been forthright in her answers when asked. In stark contrast to most politicians questioned on a potentially uncomfortable topic.
…the hit on Ghahraman is that she didn’t go out of her way to highlight some aspects of her past work that simpletons with a reactionary view of how justice should work would find objectionable.
Thank you. So succinctly and accurately summed up that I nicked it for my own blog (with link to the original).
…and yet there was an article here and in the msm not so long ago about a nat member of Chinese origin…
…who used to work for Chinese military intelligence and for all we know still does; who is still a member of the Chinese Communist Party; and who spent half his maiden speech praising the Chinese government. I find those compelling reasons for suspicion that the bloke is actually representing the Chinese government rather than National voters. The only bigotry and howling in evidence is about a human rights lawyer, not a spook.
Poll:
Do you think that Newshub is peopled by idiots?
Will they have one like that? Their poll is sort of bewildering, stunning, unbelievable, inexplicable, dumb, stupid, negative, vacuous, destructive. And bleak.
And the saddest thing it is what we now expect.
+1 Pete.
Also another poll, “should the Herald be put to sleep due to being too ancient to be relevant to the NZ public apart from to Brash types.” (ACT now on 1%).
Or even another:
Do you think our commercial media, subsidised through mechanisms such as the platinum fund, are doing the public a service?
Your comment is shameful.
And unsurprising.
That so many commenters and authors here have moaned that it is a hit job,dirty politics etc is also somewhat trite in that if the shoe was on the other foot there would have been a number of authors here more than happy to put the boot in.
If the boot was on the other foot? I wonder how that would even happen. First, the Greens would have to be running a dirty politics operation; second, National would need a human rights lawyer among its MPs. Chances of either of those approximate to 0.
Nope. It’s a hit job.
Garner and Richardson and similar types hate her because she’s smart, left-wing, female, non-white, articulate and wants to do good in the world. The last one really winds them up because it shows up their own shallow, self-interested wallowing in comfort.
And they are also horribly internally conflicted because she’s attractive at the same time and they find themselves hating something they fancy. This makes them even more idiotic and irrational.
I regard them as like a t*rd that won’t flush away – obscene and embarrassing.
No, it’s a witch hunt designed to undermine our duly elected government. Basically, typical Dirty Politics from the RWNJs.
For fucks sake man, this is what National copped for the last nines years, it’s part of being in government, it comes with the territory.
The left needs to put on its big boy/big girl pants and deal with it otherwise it’s one term if they’re lucky.
Rubbish drongo the gnats NEVER had to put up with this bullshit.
This is dirty politics run by dirty smearers. You cannot handle how fucken scummy your side is – deal with it loser.
The media ceases to be your friend when you’re in government. This is only the start of the media fun and games. BM is right, a better strategy is needed than just crying wolf about “Dirty Politics”.
Are you kidding me? The media habitually fellate the nats inside or outside government. Tories need to be overwhelmingly incompetent before the media start to feed on them. As in Brash incompetent. But if they don’t get a leftie scalp every year or so, the media get pissy.
And the fact that the nats had a well-established conduit from their leader’s office, through supposedly independent bloggers and into the msm… one wonders where they got this latest lie from.
McFlock you are totally correct about media fellating the natz in or out of government. I have noticed a trend recently. If labour is looking at making fairly major political decisions, the article nearly always adds a response from blinglish, as if his input validates or is more valid than the new governments. They just have to keep as much of the spotlight on him as they can!
Journalists should seek and publish contrary opinions next to one another.
Too often they simply re-publish press releases without seeking rebuttal at all.
So, for example, we get Steven Joyce running his mouth, presented as though what he says can be trusted, and the journalist involved doesn’t so much as pick up a calculator, let alone ask for third-party corroboration.
This laziness does them no favours: “Finance Minister cannot do sums” makes a far better story than “Finance Minister says opposition cannot do sums.”
Seriously?! The media were on crusade to get National at the end. It was a never ending series of “got ya” attempts.
I am seeing a parallel with Key and Ardern. Both started off as media darlings. The media loved Key at the beginning but turned on him in the end. The same will happen with Ardern. Other politicians are fair game from the get go though.
Lol you are dreaming buddy and trying to rewrite history. Key is a joke comparred to Jacinda. He is not even in the same league.
Key never had it as bad as Ardern has it now.
For ever gotcha attempt against the nats (and those were mostly the result of national infighting) in the final year, there were two against Labour and/or the greens – and it’s funny how tory bloggers and commenters always had an inkling that someone on the leftish was going to have difficulties. Maybe a post by slater parroted by one of his lickspittles who comment here, usually the previous evening to prime the pump.
Ardern is not a “media darling”. The media hype that up to make it look like she’s getting a free ride, but it’s damning with shallow praise while inventing shortcomings in substance. So far they’ve got nothing, so they repeat things like “gosh, they repeated exactly what they initially said, so they’re backtracking on the number of trees”-style lies.
“Key never had it as bad as Ardern has it now”
You reckon? Key was getting it with both barrels with the “Dirty Politics” non-event. Key’s self-inflicted stupidity with his hair pulling episode also saw some serious heat. Arderns ride has been gentle at best in comparison. The media have yet to go to town on her, which they will rightly or wrongly.
To McGrath @ 3:53…..”Non event”? You’re obviously still on planet Key .Read the book .
Key got some criticism from the MSM for dirty politics came out, but that’s how hard he had to try to get stick from them: it required a book that documented, step by step, the full dirty politics machine coming from the Beehive (and then the cops turning over the author’s place) simply to get bad emough that he had to throw a minion under the bus.
Similarly, the media were pissed when the cops executed search warrants over the audio recording of a public cup of tea.
Key had to work to get media criticism. Ardern simply just has to give an update on how a policy is going, and the farcical allegations of backtracking are dutifully reported.
To Garibaldi @ 6:43
“Dirty Politics” ended up being a non-event as Joe/Jane public got sick & bored of the MSM ramming it down people’s throats 24/7. Add the Fat German to the mix and all it achieved was to shake complacent Nats to the polls securing outright victory on the night. These days, shouting “Dirty Politics” at everything is on the same level as Trump shouting “Fake News” at everything.
BM is definitely a loser for trying to justify RWNJs disgraceful behaviour while in opposition.
His positioning is that it’s ok to to attack the government because Labour did it too. The corollary is that it’s ok for Labour to use dirty politics, stats manipulation, public service hit-jobs, and to obfuscate the transparency of government because that’s what National did.
I expect to hear only messages of congratulations from BM and other RWNJs if and when this happens.
To Muttonbird:
touché
No it’s not.
1. The MSM were most definitely cheer-leading for National
2. Nothing that was levelled against National was a made up smear as this is
3. Dirty Politics shows that made up smears is National’s Modus Operandi
Actually, that would be National and other RWNJs having to own up to their smear machines – or held to account and jailed.
or held to account and jailed.
Lol, you’re such a clown.
More of a dunderwhelp I’d say.
Why?
These people are always saying that people should take responsibility for their actions.
In this case their actions happened to be a calculated smear that’s actually illegal (defamatory) and has legal consequences.
So Why is there no Poll asking people about J Key’s lies about the American spy programme being finished and replaced. That continued for a year!! A whopper!!
Papers have just been “discovered” But the silence is deafening!! It is all “Look at this fudging by a green.”
Very selective. What about the Nat DHB Waikato chief executive debacle?
Key’s no longer in politics, it’s like dredging up dirt on Helen Clark.
Both, yesterdays people who no longer hold the publics interest.
Demographics Ed, they’re playing to their sports jock red neck audience.
The smears are working, as they keep it in the limelight, so they’ll not stop anytime soon.
It’s what happens when there’s no enforceable regulations fining broadcasters for this irresponsible behaviour.
Richardson’s role is to play himself, a misogynist egocentric opinionated ex sports jock.
There are really lovely people out there…..
Sure are Ed and they mostly don’t watch these egotists on tv3.
Curran needs to bring the hammer down on the MSM as it’s cowboys and shills are negatively impacting open discourse.
Yes we need a democratic media,not one owned by the finance industry.
It’s more we need a better kind of media – hence the need to RNZ+.
Also, basically, the government need to start leading the news agenda in their own way – with more positive, honest stories, that will engage the general public in a democratic way.
The airwaves are part of the commons.
Take them back from the finance industry.
What would a ‘democratic media’ in NZ look like Ed? How would it work?
How do you create a ‘democratic media’ in a country like NZ without using authoritarian, essentially undemocratic methods to bring it into existence? e.g. preventing private ownership of media platforms (I presume that this is what you mean when you refer to it not being owned by the finance industry) – which raises the question as to how it would be funded?
Private ownership is anti-democratic itself due to its effect of removing power and wealth from the people.
In fact, it’s authoritarian and even dictatorial.
The government, being the issuer of the NZ$, can afford all resources in the country. In fact, they already own all the resources in the country.
It’s really not a question of funding at all. It never has been. It’s a question of the lies told to make people believe that all wealth flows from the rich.
Peters is doing that for her – trying to get monies from journalists for publishing the details of hisbover payments.
Deputy PM suing journalist for something they repeated which was true. Is this what the msm is going to be like under this government?
“Deputy PM suing journalist for something they repeated which was true. Is this what the msm is going to be like under this government?”
It may have been true but how did these “journalists” become privvy to Peters’s private information? That’s the point you’re missing.
This whole thing was a Dirty Politics smear and it was facilitated by those so-called journalists. That is what an undemocratic media looks like James if you need a comparison.
@James That was a Dirty Trick that cost the Nats the election…..despite all the howls from journalists saying Peters is threatening freedom of speech by investigating how the pension leak got out, I think the NZ public has a right to know what transpired here……doubtless English and Joyce were up to their neck in it.
That doesn’t mean that they should have repeated it. It was private information and not in the Public Interest.
Then there was the fact that it was WINZ’ mistake which wasn’t made clear or even hinted at. In fact, IIRC, it was made out to be Winston purposefully rorting the system.
And at that point there it becomes a calculated smear.
Now, I happen to think that people who engage in a calculated smear, especially to influence an election, should be held to account.
James, think of some of the things I could* repeat about you which are true, which nonetheless might breach your privacy.
Imagine if I were to do this with malice. Would you consider that a crime? Are you cuddling up to crims, James?
*if I knew anything about you other than what I can read here.
James are you that gullible?
“Peters is doing that for her – suing journalist for something they repeated which was true.”
On that note then answer this;
Do you believe everything journalist say do you???
You asked “Is this what the msm is going to be like under this government?”
As to the jouranists he is suing;
In this case they pejured themselves by soliting “private documents”
Do you believe in our human rights to privacy?
You are a National supporter, we note, and I guess you believe it was fundermentally right for John Key to allow us all to be exposed to wide ranging survielllence by a back door system to the foriegn NSA as he did allow this, so you maybe have no concerns for privacy rights for all then???
Yes there are. You should get off the Internet and chat to more of them face to face.
Fortunately the people I chat to don’t speak about Golriz like you.
I only bump into such ghastly views here.
How do I speak about Golriz ?
…their sports jock red neck audience
Don’t call bigots “rednecks”. The most vicious bigots in New Zealand are people like Garth “The Knife” McVicar, Don Brash, Leighton Smith, Mike Hosking, and John Ansell—other than the Knife Man, they’ve never done a day of hard work in the sun between them.
I would add Mapp to that list – the mask definitely slipped yesterday.
Yes if he – a Law Commissioner – could not see that how an International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda run by the UN would involve Judges, Prosecutors, and Defence….then he is not fit to be a Law Commissioner.
The statement on the Green web site was entirely accurate. It was he and his ilk who are the ones being duplicitous.
You have completely misrepresented what Wayne Mapp said.
https://thestandard.org.nz/thank-you-golriz/#comment-1420071
It’s too late for Wayne. He didn’t read the rules.
i have no idea if he did or didn’t read the rules.
In my opinion he often posts quite reasonably and is often subjected to abuse by other commenters for no other reason than who he is.
That’s a fair comment in his case, he normally is pretty reasonable, and on occasion some people in my opinion do react disproportionately to what he says simply because of who he was.
But he tried to overegg what was basically a reasonable description on a party bio page. He also overegged comments people made here about Turei as being “completely uncritical”. And he’s been commenting here long enough to know that anyone referring to a dataserver as a conscious entity risks a ban.
And if Macro significantly misrepresented what Wayne said (I don’t think they did), it was far less significant than the degree to which wayne misrepresented the party bio issue. As far as I am aware, nobody has presented a single interview where she in any way concealed what her various roles were. Literally the only instances I’ve seen tories present were her brief party bio paragragph (which is at worst ambiguous, but she probably did authorise the final version), and news articles that use their own words and own shoddy editing to describe what she did. The raw material she provided them, however, was open, honest, and explicit.
He has a history of posting reasonably, and I agree he gets attacked for who he is and what his politics are. But in the past four or five months something changed, and now he often comes across as trolling or astroturfing. That’s what he was doing the other day when he got banned. If we wants to align himself with the Dirty Politics crowd he’ll need to be more careful in how he expresses himself.
This is what Mapp wrote:
my bold
By saying that she was not represented herself correctly is in effect saying that the statement on the website is duplicitous. This representation of the statement by Mapp can only be construed as such if this statement was in anyway untrue
Indeed in Cambodia she acted for the prosecution.
Her work in Africa and The Hague and Cambodia was under the auspices of the UN. In Rwanda under the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The need for defence advocates in criminal proceedings is well understood and should be obvious to a Law Commissioner. So his call that the statement was duplicitous was itself duplicitous. The Green website statement was entirely factual and calling it ambiguous was simply false (and he would have known that).
Yep. I get very offended by his spin and it disappoints me to see how low he is in his assertions of known and proven untruths.
And now bully boy Soper joins in.
There is now quite a long list of old rich men ready to put the boot in….
Such balanced coverage from our awful media.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11949313
This sooooooo smells of dirty politics.
“…This sooooooo smells of dirty politics…”
Soper tells us “…Well a series of photos have been sent to me,…”
Who by Bazza? Quinn? Farrar? Slater? What a complete prick. He is abusing his position to shameless launder dirty politics into the Herald. The old bastard really has no excuse. He is as dirty as Slater and twice as compromised.
Soper should Google Mervyn Thompson, and pray modern young woman are not as radical as their mums and aunts.
It wouldn’t be interesting to find out what information compromises Soper so much that he can be relied on to so reliably write hit pieces for his owners.
And make du Plessis Allen toe the part line as well.
Soper in his workplace has displayed extreme temper tantrums worse than a two year old. Thoroughly nasty individual. For him to be doing character assassinations on others is total hypocrisy.
I’ve heard Lloyd Burr is a preening gallery bully-boy in the parliament precincts also.
Well maybe (applying Soper’s own standards) we should ask his former partners what they think of him.
But even though he isn’t, we’re above all that yes?
Seems to me that it might be open season on high profile Green Party women.
I’m just watching Garner’s aggressive and disrespectful inquisition of Golriz now. His demeanour has been cold and harsh throughout. What a contrast with his adulation yesterday of that shepherd-killing coke snorting groper.
Transcript coming up.
Couldn’t bear to watch
Re Phil Quin, I had occasion to comment on that waste of space exactly one year ago….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-30112016/#comment-1267800
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15092015/#comment-1071091
Fuck! How time flies. A fairly accurate description then as it is now.
But we should watch out. Tuff guy PQ has taken to Twitter, and before you know it, the poor ‘widdle’ MAN will be accusing ebery1 of bullying blub de blub blub blub
Agree 200% Morrisey I saw this disgusting inquisition, It is a pity that prat Garner does not show the same “gotcha” enthusiasm with English over the Todd Barclay affair and the Chinese Spy they have in the National party. Just two items that come to mind. I am sure there are many more if they wanted to get stuck into something.
He’s got that ghoul Don Brash on after 8 o’clock. The contrast in tone will be instructive.
Last week it was the Refugees on Manus and the offer to resettle 150 per year here. This week it’s to be Golriz..
What piece of vile, redneck hatred, bias, and bile will they dream up for next week?
It sounds like they are at least reliable in their standard of choice for subject and method. So good to check on to see the latest visceral sacrifice and blood letting. Drs Noooooo.
Absolutely spot on there Ed (1). It is a witch hunt and a vicious one at that, against a strong successful woman. Golriz and others like her it seems, is for some reason deemed a threat by middle aged/old, bigoted white men!
Next, the ducking stool will be brought out, demonstrating how backwards NZ is becoming in its mindset!
Mary_A…….”[Golriz] deemed a threat by middle aged/old, bigoted white men!” Add ‘narcissistic’. That’s why I try very hard to avoid both Garner and Hosking……their appalling narcissism.
The thing to remember about Soper, Garner, Richardson, Hoskings etc is their influence is in freefall. No one listens or reads them who isn’t looking for confirmation bias. The Murdoch press in alliance with the Blairite chattering classes couldn’t stop Corbyn and here the constant barrrage of attacks on Labour didn’t stop them being able to form the government after the last election.
Under FPP systems old and angry white men and what they represent have clung on to their influence because they can still command pluralities in marginal electorates. Under MMP the last election exposed their electoral bankruptcy in NZ. The National party strategy of driving NZ First and the Greens out of parliament so casually racist white folk can rule unimpeded by pesky upstart refugee lawyers from Iran didn’t work and will never work as demographics change.
But the old white men’s bile becomes more concentrated and more charged as time goes on. If they explode some day, watch out, the effects will be destructive.
BUT she TOLD a reporter before the election of her involvement.
BUT it was edited out because of space requirements!!!!!
So who hid what??????
Kirsty Johnston reported this on Twitter.
She doesn’t seem impressed by her editors.
‘The story was supposed to be part of a pre-election series, but we used it when she was elected. Call me naive but I assumed getting defence experience was normal, not a big deal, and there were other more relevant things to include’
‘To clear things up: I interviewed @golrizghahraman about six weeks before the election, we openly discussed her time in Rwanda as a defence intern. It (like much of her story) didn’t make my final story due to space. ’
Thanks ed, for the reference. Could not find it again.
Genocide was committed by both sides in Rwanda. Genocide was done by the USA in Vietnam. Genocide is being done in many places, such as Myanmar and Palestine and with the Kurds. Yet it is such an emotive word it is avoided when the narrative doesn’t suit the West.
This Golriz business is a superb example of DP at work. A storm in a tea cup is inflated into a major confrontation by well coordinated media dickheads without a brain between the lot of them. Shame on them and their employers.
They, the media dickheads, have brains all right, the problem is that they are diseased, in an advanced state of breakdown and so presenting skewed thoughts.
Gosh, “dickheads”. I guess you don’t want to be leader either.
In every paper ?
HUH
It
her editors
It’s also on her publicly available online CV. Not exactly hard for anyone to find.
Interesting extra charges being brought by Peters against some Nats and Lloyd Burr, regarding his super over-payment.
Newsroom reports:
Whoa! NZ Herald’s David Fisher on John Key’s lies about the Moment of Truth, and still won the election that followed.
Wow, geez am so glad he quit being PM, is such a liar, and with stories like this coming out, once again one wonders what were his real reasons for quitting, because the… resigning for family reasons or health is such a bogus excuse, used often by Catholic priests when they have committed heinous crimes.
“The NZ Herald has found – after three years of refusals and information going missing – that the former Prime Minister’s version of events doesn’t match that of documents created at the time.”
So a good percentage of New Zealanders voted for a liar, and indeed worshipped those lies.
Something is deeply worrying about our society at a sociological level.
adam
+1
Agreed.
I’d posit that 100% of nzers who voted did so for a liar.
And you’d be wrong.
Most people don’t lie most of the time. They may be in error but that’s not the same as lying.
John Key, and many other National MPs, deliberately lied.
His ‘Sir’ needs to be removed ASAP and he probably needs to be jailed for lying to the people of NZ as a public servant (Unfortunately, that latter doesn’t appear to be a crime despite it being immoral).
Yes Draco exactly,
I stand in support to have Sir removed from this dispicable man as he has been proven to be untrustworthy and honest at every turn.
Defrock the man.
There is such a fuss made of our ‘free’press but as every arm of our media is an uncritical propaganda outlet for neoliberalism, how is it democratic?
Except for some egs, as above: David Fisher; Kirsty Johnston.
Brent Edwards was talking about freedom of the Press on Morning Report today. I I agree with him that freedom of the Press is important to a healthy democracy but so are journalists not being agents of Dirty Politics and the media not engaging in hatchet jobs and witch hunts.
Morning Report
Absolutely agree G A. That is just what I said to my husband when I heard this, this morning. Our so called media is getting too precious by half.Why do they think that they can print any unsubstantiated and highly inflammatory garbage they like and not get pulled up on it. Key has gone. Time they realized it and learned how to be real journalists and not just purveyors of their own opinions.
Freedom of the press means freedom for the 1% to own the press,
I don’t want or need that freedom.
Something isn’t right, or I am missing something.
A wife pushes her husband, he falls, and dies.
Coroner and others accept her version of events, no charges are laid.
Five years later, the guilt is too much and the wife confesses.
The wife (Susan Mouat), is now appealing her sentence of home detention.
It gets curiouser, Susan Mouat had 16 convictions, mostly for violence and threatening against her husband, Bruce Mouat.
I can’t help but feel if the genders were reversed, home detention would not be the sentence imposed.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99305539
Home D is cheaper than jail, that’s the only reason I can think of.
Gender should have nada to do with sentencing, circumstances yes, but gender NO.
Unless he was violent when he was drunk… often family violence results in convictions of the abused as well as abuser as they file charges against each other.
That’s possible, no mention was made of any convictions against the husband.
Alcohol seems to be at the bottom of this story.
From personal ‘at-the-coal-face’ observations throughout the years since Home D was introduced, the availability of Home D is more impacted by how well off you are than by gender. Generally the well off can propose a Home D address which ticks all the Corrections/Police boxes. The poor so frequently can’t. “Off to jail with you poor person!” Same applies to electronically monitored bail.
Ironic quote of the day
“Having your photograph TAKEN with someone like that is not a good idea.”
—Dr. Don Brash, three A.M. show, 8:29 a.m.
http://www.indiannewslink.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/files/Don_Brash_proposes__Boscawen__Brash__Banks_624597890.jpg
More Don Brash photos…
https://static2.stuff.co.nz/1397090092/134/9926134.jpg
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/don-and-monty.jpg
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/9/k/i/1/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.19mp8t.png/1454656985775.jpg
How was Brash with Garner?
Was he frothing on about Waitangi?
The Labour and national spokesman on breakfast look like they were having a good debate before going on camera. I no I’m not using my Maori spelling correctly but ha everyone gets it I already had a lecture from my wife . We got 2 mokos for 2 days I take my hat off to you Lady’s for all the hard work in razeing our mokos they keep me busy. Ka pai
Wikipedia is again calling for money, and suggesting to me that you might just give $3 which if everyone did would provide all they need for yonks. I don’t know just what it costs, but it must cost a lot in hardware, software, and particularly time, and they do a hell of a good job.
Those of us who treasure the ability to have open facts easily accessible, which are moderated and checked by people with integrity who care for high standards of information and clear thinking, please give them some dough. And we should do it regularly. I can’t afford much but if I keep pumping in some then this boon to us all will keep going. Also with The Standard.
We have to do what we say, we want democracy, we support democracy, we can’t just sit at a keyboard and say so, we can’t just demonstrate and protest, we need all of our input of those who will do more than just lift a finger to a key and drop it.
We need ongoing commitment, money, etc. to keep the good institutions, entities formed going, have to keep them from dropping away. They are hard to start, to build, to refine, to nip and tuck, expand here limit there, fit for purpose, they must be treasured and kept running. We need respect for each other, disagree and discuss, learn and amend, with some backslapping and congratulations, praise now and then. And we should always keep in mind and know, that always we will be a minority. Keep the yeast working in the loaf etc. Let’s do it.
Good points greywarshark.
The truth will out.
Today at the Swiss Press Club in Geneva, 21st Century Wire Associate Editor Vanessa Beeley presented a dossier on the dubious UK-backed NGO known as the ‘White Helmets’ which included up-to-date information on their links to al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, as well as exposing the western propaganda organisation’s many bogus claims, including having ‘saved 99,220 lives‘ since the western-funded construct based in Turkey was created in late 2013.
Despite the efforts of alleged ‘free speech’ advocate NGO Reporters Without Borders to shut this event down, Swiss Press Club head Guy Mettan went ahead as scheduled. Reports Without Borders even went as far as to draft a formal complaint demanding the event be cancelled, alongside protestations by UK-based ‘Syrian opposition’ group Syria Campaign.
http://21stcenturywire.com/2017/11/28/vanessa-beeley-presents-new-white-helmets-expose-to-swiss-press-club-geneva/
Cripes who to believe these days? I saw an image of white helmets supposedly doing good and thought positively about them, now it sounds as if they are a plant or a device to appear and be well regarded.
Then the Reporters without Borders – what are they? Are they like the one I looked at yesterday the Veritas outfit in the USA, so busy trying to prove wrongdoing in the media, that they will use wrongdoing to get quotes that they can manipulate for their own ends.
Do lots of young-ish people think that you can make up morality and ethics as you go along simply based on expediency at the time?
I don’t think it is necessarily the youngish people at fault, but those with an agenda, i.e. NATO, Israel, Saudi, UK, US.
“In 2007 the IAEA promoted false information about Israel’s bombing of a supposed nuclear reactor in Syria, burying clear evidence that the site was in fact not a reactor. Claims that a sarin gas attack last April was carried out by the Assad regime are similarly dubious. Just as the false claims of “weapons of mass destruction” against Iraq were used to initiate a war that destroyed Iraq, these claims seem aimed at taking down two more of Israel’s perceived enemies, Syria and Iran.”
https://israelpalestinenews.org/false-claims-syria-lay-groundwork-destroy-israeli-targets/
Hey greywarshark, I recommend you do a bit of research on 21st Century Wire before deciding how much credibility you’re going to give their reports.
Really you have hit on the point I was making thank you Andre.
Oh, and you’re awfully charitable to Project Veritas. Right-wing sliming operation is closer to the mark. They get their videos and then very selectively edit them to create the appearance of something that just isn’t there.
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/28/reminder-james-okeefe-has-a-history-of-failing-to-discredit-journalists/
Personally, I tend towards suspicion of any of these alternative sources. If it looks like they’ve actually got an interesting story, then I’ll go to the effort to research the source, and start looking for corroboration from other more reliable sources.
So to take the White Helmets story as an example, the people making allegations about close links between the White Helmets and terrorists pretty much all trace back to RT (Russian government propaganda), Eva Bartlett and Vanessa Beeley (in turned linked to RT and InfoWars) etc. They make claims that appear to have been reliably debunked (such as claiming that a number of rescue videos showing a child named Aya are actually staged using the same child, debunked by closely looking at the child who is clearly different). The alternative view, that the White Helmets are more or less what they claim to be (with a layer of glossing themselves up on top), appears to be corroborated by the likes of Medecins sans Frontieres, so I find that view a fair bit more credible.
On the relatively rare occasions one of the likes of NYT, WaPo, TheGuardian, CNN etc really do get a major story badly wrong (such as Iraq WMDs in 2003), one or more of the others will be presenting the counterview (in 2003 that was the reports of Hans Blix the UN weapons inspector working in Iraq, carried by most of those outlets at the same time).
Believe independent media before the media owned by the finance industry.
More difficult for foreigners to buy farmland, https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/99349185/government-to-tighten-rules-around-foreign-farm-buyers-from-december-15, seems good
A.
Should ban it outright. Foreign investment is just another word for future profits going offshore. I’d like to see a maximum percentage (say 15%) only of assets in any area being owned offshore from commercial property to forestry.
Also a yearly tax on those holding assets offshore but sure under the trade agreements that’s not possible because they are all designed to keep the neoliberal model going and not worry about trifle’s like local jobs or wealth or smaller countries becoming banana republics.
Should ban foreign ownership outright as it just makes the people of NZ serfs to foreign owners.
True as we’ve been informed many times that FTAs prevent the banning of foreign ownership. Which means that these FTAs are all about forcing trade rather than free-trade.
Complete ban needed for our sovereignty.
And take back land sold to foreigners previously.
At the price they paid.
Hey if we could become a banana republic we might get somewhere. We might have animals and pohutukawas die off with changes from climate and multi million people movement, but when it gets warmer we could start growing our own bananas and have another export crop. We wouldn’t be able to sell them to each other because that would upset the import business of some monopoly foreign corporation but hey you can’t have everything. When you are as small as NZ on the world stage, we can always find a dear little mousehole to creep into, so to speak.
I reckon this guy should get LWOP: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99347887/the-man-with-402-burglary-convictions-gets-another-six-year-jail-term
Life without parole? For that?
Sure, he’s habitual, but they didn’t mention a single case of assault or stuff like that. Even the burglaries seem more pathetic than anything else.
The real problem is how we stop people ending up like him. And that answer isn’t to treat them like shit.
Have you apologised for your comments about Golriz yet?
https://scontent.fakl2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/24129812_1301998639934912_105814741450749955_n.jpg?oh=40887585ecbe2b4e645cfc97bc5f9d75&oe=5A9D5DA7
Not a chance!
To all the people out there that are trying to give up smoking here is some information on our human anatomy when one has high blood pressure this is a result of the food we eat the stresss that we have in our lives and a oppressed culture in my view. So what happens is high blood pressure puts more strain on one’s blood vessels and what happens when a system is under pressure well something burst and that is not good if one of your blood vessels bust in your brain that is a stroke and if you survive that you could be in a state of being totally immobile someone will have to wash you everything you do now will have to be done by a care worker.
So I say again look at your mokos and no that you are the only one who will care and teach your mokos right from wrong
E.C.T.Go to the doctors and get your blood pressure checked an get the medication to lower your blood pressure to safe levels. I have had to dubble my blood pressure medication because of all the wasted attention that they are giving me. I notice that with my blood pressure back down to normal levels I’m not sweating no were as much as I use to
And I feel a lot better high blood pressure can cause a lot of health problems I no a lot of people who do not go to a doctor and a few that have passed that are of the same era as me and thats not good Ka pai
Neighbour died early because of emphysema. Was sucking in little ‘sips’ of air at the end. The lungs are so important and we take them for granted I reckon.
BP is one of the most important health measures (as long as you measure it regularly and don’t freak out just because you had a spike that day).
Years ago, when I was still young, I was working 80 or hundred hour weeks for a short period. Had a few hours off, so watched that night’s episode of buffy. Felt a drip-drip-drip, had a spontaneous nosebleed. Veins popping in my head is not good, thinks I, so go to the doctor. The nose was fine. But my 180/120 blood pressure was very close to being hospitalised out of general principle. After lots of tests, the nephrology folk decided that although my lifestyle wasn’t pristine, the main reason my blood pressure was high was “well, it just is”.
So that was the first thing to break as I aged and, frankly, modern medicine is about the only reason I’m alive today. Although I do find it fascinating what drives it up and down at each visit to the doc.
Still no applicants for $150k adventure park job
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/11/still-no-applicants-for-150k-adventure-park-job.html
That’s interesting on why the job has not been taken. One reason could be lack of advertising or nowadays with so much insecure work, many are reluctant to move their lives away because anyone can lose their job within 90 days… or get no compensation if anything goes wrong.
Lessons for NZ deforesting (Landcorp selling off land into foreign ownership as we speak as well as clearing for dairy), damming for irrigation for Dairy in drought areas, continuing pollution of our lakes and rivers and giving water away virtually for free across conservation land to be sold offshore.
“The Amazon effect: how deforestation is starving São Paulo of water
A drought two years ago triggered fighting, looting and official ‘states of calamity’ across the metropolis, with the army preparing to send in troops. Now, new warnings suggest it could happen again – and point to a surprising culprit”
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/28/sao-paulo-water-amazon-deforestation
I have already told the story of how my teeth got accidentally knocked out with a hammer while someone was killing a opposum. Well here’s another story on my first day at high school Yes I made it to high school I had to sow up some old pants and the uniform was a bit small I had plastic wing tip shoes and purple socks I did not know my socks were purple I found out from this elder girl who called me captain purple an said my socks were purple lol I told her we’re to go as I did not no I was colour blind and still though they were blue later on that day someone was trying to bull me while I was swimming in the school pool and when I told him we’re to go I spat my teeth out in the pool I got a m8 to help me find they but the bell rang and he went to class so 1 hour later I found my teeth and joined him I class. We fast forward a couple of years and my crew m8 made a mistake on a fishing boat I ended up in the drink the skipper just about had a heart attack as they turn around to pull me out of the sea I said a couple of foul words and spat my teeth out lol never going to find those. Ka pai
eco maori
You’re no toothless warrior and definitely a survivor! Ka pai also
Eco maori, Greywarshark speaks true and has told ya!
All I’ll say is, keep fishing, catch the right fish one day, and there they’ll be, your clackers, right there on the plate. Ataatanui!
Big claim coming up next year. The analysis and information on this one will be epic – what was lost will be found, will be shared and will move us toward tino rangatiratanga.
Below from fbook.
KAUPAPA INQUIRY 2018
The Mana Wahine claim is set down to be heard by the Waitangi Tribunal in early 2018 as per the memorandum issued on 16 November 2017 by Chief Judge Issac.
“Claims alleging prejudice to Māori women arising from Crown Treaty breaches have been set down for separate inquiry in the kaupapa programme. The claims relate mainly to the status and treatment of wāhine Māori, in both historical and modern times. The claims allege that the Crown has failed to protect the rangatiratanga of Māori women and their right to non-discrimination on grounds of gender, with serious prejudicial consequences for their social, economic, cultural and spiritual well-being and their access to leadership roles”
One possible claim would be hard to deal with. I remember hearing about this Maori woman of standing who took a pakeha husband. She married him and her ancestral land went with her, and became her husband’s estate under pakeha law at that time. When he divorced her, he owned all her people’s lands and their resources at his disposal. This was about the time of the whaling so must have been early on. Anyway the tribe lost much. It would be sad if it was true and it did happen. How to recover that or reasonable compensation?
Seems an unlikely story as the land would need to have been in fee simple title rather than Maori title.
Yes will be amazing once some histories reach the general public – lots of tears coming…
Interesting because The Economist is the neoliberal’s Pravda:
(They insist on calling it ‘liberalism’, which is in economic history, more or less correct, but it gets wrongly associated with liberal social progressivism when in fact it’s a monoculturalist, assimilationist ideology… but that’s another story)
http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21731615-robert-peston-has-not-single-family-member-or-friend-who-voted-brexit-he-aims?fsrc=scn/fb/te/bl/ed/amemberoftheliberaleliteonhistribesfailingshairshirttime
The very elites that have devoted so much energy to rigging the system for their own advantage did little to address Britain’s fundamental problems, and have frequently compounded them. A disproportionate share of Britain’s wealth goes into feeding the housing industry rather than into starting businesses. A third of British firms have seen no growth in productivity since 2000. The north-east and Wales are some of the poorest regions in northern Europe. No wonder 52% of the British population took the chance offered by the referendum to give the finger to their betters.
One wonders whether any of the nat’s very own blue dragon donors received any warnings.
Turnbull government ministers have questioned the loyalty of the strife-prone Labor senator Sam Dastyari to Australia after a report that he tipped off a Chinese political donor that his phone was probably being tapped by security agencies.
Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday that Dastyari had warned the Chinese Communist party-linked political donor Huang Xiangmo last year that his phone was probably tapped by government agencies, including the US government.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/nov/29/sam-dastyaris-loyalty-to-australia-questioned-after-he-tipped-off-chinese-donor
If you have the time 15 minutes. This is quite disturbing video, the prosecution of the J 20.
who are the j20?
The j 20 refers to the date of the arrest, January the 20th.
https://theintercept.com/2017/10/25/trump-inauguration-protest-j20-trial/
Some pundits have Nikki Kaye as a possible future National leader. I think she has the key attributes.
Today in the House the answer to her prime question showed what a smart-arse she is.
Mind you, trying to turn something like whether kids can start school before they’re 5 into the issue of the century, is a challenge. Except to those who think saying kids can’t start before they’re 5 is the crime of the century.
Maybe you could give a list to the opposition on what it is you think is important enough to hold the govt to account on.
And they will have a guide to work with
If you saw Ms Kaye you might understand.
“Hon NIKKI KAYE to the Minister of Education: Does he stand by his statement in relation to changing the age at which children can start school that it is “not unusual for a Minister or Government to state its intention” on an issue before going through the Cabinet process; if so, why?”
She was trying to be smart and continue the implication to cretins that Hipkins was up to no good, was out of order and consequently not up to the job.
The initial answer was that Kaye as Minister had done the same thing with a $37million announcement which hadn’t gone through the due process she thinks Hipkins should have used.
The ‘list’ would only have to say “Something serious and meaningful not mindless politicking which merely accentuates the dumb things National did and the way they acted in Government and the churlish childish state they are in now.”
Witness witless Simon Bridges today (and just about every day) too.
I think you should read the Hansard for the last 25 odd years
This is hardly a new phenomenon
But I do agree it is rather pointless
Thank you. I was astounded at Ms Kaye’s performance. I can understand her wanting to hold Hipkins to account and have him justify his approach but to do it and so openly expose herself?
Agreed Pete,
Niiki Kaye is just another paper tiger tring to show teeth but the act is far less convincing than she thinks.
She should learn “softly sloftly catchie monkey” not the stupid bark of a rabbid dog; – like all her clan on that side of the house.
Rising rents is a huge problem.It seems increasing the accomodation supplement,just fuels a rise.Houses sitting empty,idle land banking,this Govt needs to address the issue,quickly.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11949430
I read there’s 8000 odd Air BNBs booked in Auckland for the summer period. Queenstown has moved to restrict temporary Air BNB providers because these places are sitting idle all year when families could be living in them.
I’d be very happy if this government threw Air BNB out of the country altogether until such time as we had enough houses for people and until such time as we moved away from amateur landlordism as a vehicle to retirement.
“Queenstown has moved to restrict temporary Air BNB providers because these places are sitting idle all year when families could be living in them.”
You sure about that? I thought they were just making people register as a business and pay higher rates.
My read was that many houses were empty for 10 months of the year in the middle of an accomodation problem. That and the obvious lobbying from the hotel industry in Queenstown wanting Air BNB providers to be treated the same as hotel accomodation providers.
It’s the same argument for Uber. The model is unsustainable, in Uber’s case because only students and part timers will be able to drive for those low wages and are they able to meet transport regulation requirements? In AirBNB’s case because it takes too much housing off the market, empty for 10 months of the year.
Are you an Uber and Air BNB user?
I used Uber a couple of times in Chiang Mai – THB100 instead of THB300 for a tuktuk which is fine. Uber drivers wouldn’t pick up in tourist areas though.
I used Air BNB once in Sydney for my family (I didn’t go). They were in an apartment block in Freshwater Beach and had to pretend they were family members if questioned by other members of the community. Hardly a pleasant experience.
The point is when you have providers doing business (in AirBNB’s case) which affects the housing stock and the neighbours then you’re always going to get problems.
It’s not all about getting cheap holidays.
Evict air BnB and Uber.
Companies that do not pay their fair share of tax are not welcome.
My question: Is Lloyd Burr a National Party activist? He was certainly privy to information delivered by senior National Party ministers and/or senior government aligned public service officials in the formation of his story.
Computer says, yes.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/11/winston-peters-told-to-stop-harassing-journalists.html
Lloyd Burr is a National Party activist.
In the event that that is true, his employer is still responsible for ensuring that his work is up to scratch. Peters is making a scapegoat.
Nothing wrong with a scapegoat.
It will serve as a message to the other National Party activists working in the media; Garner, Hosking, Soper, du Plessis Allen, Richardson, Trevett, ……
1000+ Ed. You missed Young though.