Open mike 29/05/2013

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, May 29th, 2013 - 150 comments
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150 comments on “Open mike 29/05/2013”

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  1. Paul 1
    29 May 2013 at 6:13 am

    Tracy Watkins asks……How long before Labour asks whether David Shearer is the solution or the problem?http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8728086/Shearers-invisible-cloak-thinning
    Some on the site have been asking this for a while.

    • Matthew Hooton 1.1
      29 May 2013 at 6:25 am

      Yes, surely he must go now. The detailed poll results are at http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/8728030/National-leaving-Labour-in-its-wake

      • r0b 1.1.1
        29 May 2013 at 6:40 am

        Right wingers bash left wing leader. Should I be surprised?

        Hooton on Shearer:

        Open mike 20/02/2013

        Another good poll for David Shearer: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8325609/National-no-longer-a-sure-winner-poll

        Didn’t I always tell you he’d be prime minister? Didn’t I?

        • Matthew Hooton 1.1.1.1
          29 May 2013 at 6:46 am

          Yep, I was wrong. But how was anyone to know he would be this hopeless?

          • felix 1.1.1.1.1
            29 May 2013 at 6:49 am

            No, you were lying. Just like we all said you were.

            • RedLogix 1.1.1.1.1.1
              29 May 2013 at 7:06 am

              No. No-one lies all the time. Shearer is hopeless.

              But by dumping him now the Labour caucus would be hopelessly divided and broken. Just in time for the next election.

              I’m resigned to Key being Prime Minister for two or three more elections.

              • TheContrarian …
                29 May 2013 at 9:22 am

                Maybe one more, but I doubt two.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  29 May 2013 at 9:33 am

                  There is a reasonable chance on one more term for Slippery (I say this mainly because of the TV debates), but I suspect that Key will want to slit his own wrists before putting up with the pain of a 4th lame duck term in office.

                  However the polls are right – Labour are in with a chance but I believe that chance relies entirely on either Winston, or on the Greens hitting no less than 14% to 15%. One question which no done has answered for me: will Labour be brave enough to include Hone in the next coalition, in Cabinet. Or will they try and hold the radical extreme left maori guy that the middle class thinks is fringe and dangerous, out at arms length.

                  • TheContrarian …
                    29 May 2013 at 9:39 am

                    Shearer is going to need a lot of training if he is to succeed in the debates.
                    Also if the economy doesn’t tank or if power prices remain static then Key will have a ‘told you so’ angle so yeah, a third term is highly possible.

                    My general feeling is the public generally want to change after 9 years, no matter who is in charge which is why I couldn’t see a 4th term IMO.

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      29 May 2013 at 10:30 am

                      Shearer is going to need a lot of training if he is to succeed in the debates.

                      Sometimes, no amount of training can make up for an innate skill deficit.

                  • Rodel …
                    29 May 2013 at 9:47 am

                    CV
                    Surely the only answer in a democracy is. “We must and will, work with whoever the people vote for..Hone, Winston,……… (gulp).. Banks.

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      29 May 2013 at 10:31 am

                      Actually, in a democracy, the answer is to let the people decide and not dictate from on high. What we have in our parliamentary system is the latter.

              • Murray Olsen …
                29 May 2013 at 5:10 pm

                Dumping Shearer now is the only sane course of action. The Labour caucus is divided and broken. The sooner the broken parts are swept aside, the better. One of the worst things that I can see happening would be for the present front bench to run the country, which they’d do in much the same way Key is. That would be the death knell of the parliamentary left for a generation. Mana and the Greens are not yet in a position to fully take over and, even though parliament is largely a sideshow, it is a highly visible one.

                They have some inspiring people. Give them a chance. If Cunliffe is on top of a bus talking, at least workers are in the street listening. When Shearer mumbles and makes excuses, who can be bothered listening? What do Mallard and Hipkins stand for except themselves? What do they have to say about the invasion of the Urewera that happened on their watch? Pffft. Let them go. Make them go.

            • One Anonymous Knucklehead 1.1.1.1.1.2
              29 May 2013 at 7:28 am

              A Fairfax poll? Would that be the same Fairfax that in September 2011 gave the National Party 54%?

            • David H 1.1.1.1.1.3
              29 May 2013 at 9:22 am

              He should rename that trash he calls an article in the NBR to Hootens Horseshit, All the lies that are current!!

          • Socialist Paddy 1.1.1.1.2
            29 May 2013 at 6:52 am

            You and all the other righties backed Shearer over Cunliffe from the start of Labour’s leadership campaign. You did this because you were afraid of Cunliffe and you knew the right’s best chance of success was to have Shearer in charge.

            Now when you think it is too late to change you are dumping on Shearer.

            You are so predictable Hooton.

          • Paul 1.1.1.1.3
            29 May 2013 at 6:53 am

            Little bit skeptical Mr Hooton.
            I think you always knew he’d be:
            a) hopeless
            b) in favour of the neo-liberal project your puppet masters benefit from.
            Isn’t that why you encouraged him to go for the job at that bbq?
            Labour are in a mess because they have a poor leader.
            Isn’t this what you always wanted?

          • Morrissey 1.1.1.1.4
            29 May 2013 at 6:54 am

            Yep, I was wrong. But how was anyone to know he would be this hopeless?

            You were lying, and everyone knows it.

            • McFlock 1.1.1.1.4.1
              29 May 2013 at 2:15 pm

              Not at all – it’s amazing how the situation has completely turned on its head in only three months.

              • emergency mike …
                29 May 2013 at 2:25 pm

                “Its amazing”

                You mean “I’m amazed” right McFlock?

                • McFlock …
                  29 May 2013 at 4:18 pm

                  Everyone is amazed – I’m sure even hoots is amazed how the circumstances have changed so much that he had to completely reverse a weeks-old assessment.

                  Or maybe things have merely altered in their own, gradual way, passing no major threshold or “tipping point” one way or the other, and hoot’s reversal is simply the result of his natural spin cycle. In which case I reckon it does not cause amazement for anyone 🙂

                  • emergency mike …
                    29 May 2013 at 6:18 pm

                    Ah so you were being sarcastic about Hooten’s sudden ‘abandon the Shearer ship’ call after months of talking him up on this blog. Fair enough.

      • Morrissey 1.1.2
        29 May 2013 at 6:53 am

        A contemptibly cynical stirrer writes….

        Yes, surely he must go now.

        It’s not so long ago you and every other National Party operative in the country was praising Shearer, and lobbying for his appointment as Labour leader as enthusiastically as anybody in his official team.

        There’s a football analogy for this nasty manipulation of the unwitting. Back in 1966 the All Blacks pulled off a similar coup over the management of the touring British Lions. Whenever journalists asked anyone in the All Blacks who impressed them the most in the tourists, they always said “the captain, Campbell-Lamerton”. They made sure to praise Campbell-Lamerton with special fervour and generosity after every test, when the Lions were disconsolately licking their wounds. Of course, anyone with any nous knew that Campbell-Lamerton was not up to the task of playing test football. The All Blacks wanted the Lions to keep selecting him in the test team, where he was repeatedly outclassed, indeed destroyed, by the Meads brothers, Waka Nathan, Kel Tremain and the rest of the formidable NZ pack, as the Lions lost all four tests.

        Maybe someone should appoint you to a football team somewhere, Mr Hooton. After all, you couldn’t possibly be as controversial a choice as the war criminal that came down here in 2005 as the “manager” of the British & Irish Lions.

        • Saarbo 1.1.2.1
          29 May 2013 at 7:11 am

          Interesting. Its a very simple strategy and worked well then, has worked well again for National and the right.

        • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.2
          29 May 2013 at 7:15 am

          Rob/Felix/SP/Paul/Morrissey/Saarbo: It wasn’t like that at all. I had no preference of Shearer over Cunliffe until, yes, Shearer turned up to my post-election party and Cunliffe didn’t, after both were invited by – small country we live in – Martyn Bradbury. And Shearer impressed all the politicos there that day – from memory, as well as Martyn and some of his crowd like Phoebe Fletcher, there was Willie & JT, Matt McCarten, Sean Plunket, Fran O’Sullivan, John Pagani, Andrew Campbell from the Greens, Chris Trotter …. So it really wasn’t a right-wing conspiracy (in fact, Slater and Farrar refused to show up in protest that Martyn was invited) . What happened is that we all just thought Shearer would do a good job – “50 million lives vs 50 million dollars” etc – and wrote columns and did radio and TV stuff accordingly.

          There is probably a lesson here – parties should listen to their own members rather than the media talking heads. It would be interesting to look back to 2003, and I think most of the talking heads thought Brash was too dangerous for National and supported the moderate Bill English. In that case, the party membership, especially in the North Island, demanded Brash and the caucus followed (just). And, for all Brash’s awkwardness and ultimate failure, he certainly turned the polls around more than English ever could have (until now it seems thanks to his economic management).

          • Morrissey 1.1.2.2.1
            29 May 2013 at 7:24 am

            “the moderate Bill English”

            ?!!!?????!!???

            • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.2.1.1
              29 May 2013 at 7:26 am

              Compared with Brash, English was the moderate candidate in 2003.
              It shows how far National has shifted left under Key that English is now seen as the bold reformer within the government.

              • Pascal's bookie …
                29 May 2013 at 7:33 am

                Four words missing from your memory there :

                no no brash cash

                It’s no secret why Brash got the nod from caucus.

                • Matthew Hooton …
                  29 May 2013 at 7:51 am

                  The “no brash no cash” speech was never given.

                  • felix …
                    29 May 2013 at 7:58 am

                    Who said anything about a speech? oops.

                    • Matthew Hooton …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:02 am

                      Well, its a line made famous in the Hollow Men. There was a speech written for Brash to give to the caucus that referenced the line and much was made of that, but it was never given by Brash. “No Brash No Cash” was a theme but it was as much about ordinary party members deciding whether or not to go to $40 party fundraisers as the bigger donations.

                    • felix …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:03 am

                      Again, who said it was a speech?

                    • Pascal's bookie …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:09 am

                      Laugh.

                      It was all just a big coincidence and $40 donations that made National flush and caused ACT to have to go selling itself to climate denial loons and the SST mob.

              • Paul …
                29 May 2013 at 12:28 pm

                Key ….left wing ….you must try to stop those porkies Mr Hooton.

              • emergency mike …
                29 May 2013 at 1:41 pm

                “Compared with Brash, English was the moderate candidate”

                Compared with nuclear weapons, cluster bombs aren’t so terrible.

          • mickysavage 1.1.2.2.2
            29 May 2013 at 7:34 am

            Come on Hooton you were engaging in sabotage of Cunliffe well before election day. This was calculated on your part and on the part of Farrar et al. I bet you even had a media strategy behind it.

            There is a lesson here. The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.

            But don’t think that you have succeeded. This Government is that appalling that there is this grim determination on the part of the left to get rid of it. And this will happen whoever the leader of the Labour Party is, be it Shearer, Cunliffe, Robertson or anyone else.

            • One Anonymous Knucklehead 1.1.2.2.2.1
              29 May 2013 at 7:35 am

              +1

            • felix 1.1.2.2.2.2
              29 May 2013 at 7:37 am

              “The left should never, ever follow your advice. In fact the left should most of the time do the exact opposite.”

              No mickey. the left should take no regard. Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?

              • Pascal's bookie …
                29 May 2013 at 8:10 am

                +1. The man is a worthless blight on the discourse. Active poison to the demos, etc.

                • Matthew Hooton …
                  29 May 2013 at 8:12 am

                  You should raise this matter with lprent. He may or may not agree that the discourse here would be improved without alternative views.

                  • Pascal's bookie …
                    29 May 2013 at 8:16 am

                    I was talking about here Hooton, but in the nation in general.

                    And I’m not saying you should be silenced, I’m saying people would be wise to discount your views to zero. You add nothing of value to anyone’s understanding because you are a bullshit artist.

                    You are an unreliable narrator in the novel of life, as it were.

                  • emergency mike …
                    29 May 2013 at 2:06 pm

                    The way I understand it alternative views are welcome here, but tr0lls get banned.

                  • lprent …
                    29 May 2013 at 2:26 pm

                    He may or may not agree that the discourse here would be improved without alternative views.

                    We (as in the site) like people who can express their own clear opinions with intelligence, articulation, and support when they rely on specific facts.

                    We tend to restrict the mindlessly repetitive, those who can’t express a clear opinion or assert facts without support, and those who are needlessly argumentative. That is because they tend to add nothing to the debate apart from boring the crap out of me us.

                    Both you and Pascal’s Bookie do it pretty well in all of the important criteria. Of course none of those things mean that we have to be particularly polite to each other. I never try for that lofty standard myself, I usually just go for the mutually exclusive (with politeness) objective of clarity.

              • halfcrown …
                29 May 2013 at 7:46 pm

                “Frankly I wouldn’t even let him comment here. What good can it possibly serve to invite a vampire into your house?”

                Got to disagree with you there Felix. I like to see him here, spouting his lying bullshit This way it can get dissected and revealed for what it is, and answered. Otherwise he will regurgitate (throw up, spew) his right wing crap on radio where he does his utmost to talk down any opposition, or write in the pathetic excuses we have as newspapers, We need good opposing arguments to his crap, otherwise he and his mates from the right will start to believe the crap he expounds that this is how the real world should work.

            • James 1.1.2.2.2.3
              29 May 2013 at 9:11 am

              I laugh that you guys think Farrar, Slater, Hooten etc have such a huge impact on who ended up leader of labour – and your your own members cannot make the same impact.

              cracks me up.

          • felix 1.1.2.2.3
            29 May 2013 at 7:35 am

            Who said anything about Cunliffe, Matthew? Gave the game away with that comment mate.

            No, the truth is you backed Shearer because he was a mug, knowing that later you could attack him for being a mug.

            It was obvious then, it’s obvious now, we all said all along that this is exactly what you would do, and you fooled no-one.

            (Except the Labour hierarchy and front bench of course, but hey…)

            • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.2.3.1
              29 May 2013 at 7:37 am

              Mickey/Felix/One Anon: No, that’s not the truth. That is your constructed view of reality.

              • mickysavage …
                29 May 2013 at 7:48 am

                And now you are taking the piss Matthew.

                Can I urge everyone to take steps to prevent Hooton’s lot from remaining in power because the future of your country depends on it.

                If you want to join the Labour Party go to http://www.labour.org.nz/join

                If you want to donate go to http://www.labour.org.nz/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=8

                If you want to join the Greens go to https://my.greens.org.nz/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=17

                And if you want to donate go to https://my.greens.org.nz/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=19

                • Matthew Hooton …
                  29 May 2013 at 7:53 am

                  Don’t understand what you are trying to say?? Are you really saying there was a right-wing conspiracy, led by or at least involving me and also people like Chris Trotter, to impose Shearer as Labour leader because he was known to be hopeless??? I wish the NZ right was that good!

                  • felix …
                    29 May 2013 at 8:06 am

                    Why are you trying to make out that conspiracies are required?

                    You backed Shearer because he’s a lemon. And now you’re attacking him because he’s a lemon.

                    Where’s the conspiracy?

                    • Matthew Hooton …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:10 am

                      No, I backed him (and many others did) because I thought he would make a great leader and prime minister. Now I have learned he is a lemon and I (and many others) were totally wrong. This is embarrassing and Mickey is right – don’t take my advice on Labour’s leader ever again! I am not close enough to the individuals to make a good assessment (although I did get to work with Cunliffe over the carpark tax issue and found he was much better to deal with and switched on than I had thought).

                    • felix …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:27 am

                      The more you say it the more ridiculous it sounds.

                      Keep talking.

                    • BLiP …
                      29 May 2013 at 8:42 am

                      ‘

                      Amusing, and, at the same time, annoying, isn’t it? Watching Hooten’s lies spill out so easily is the fun part, but the Aaron Gilmore level of arrogance in thinking he will get away with is, oh, I dunno, just aggravating.

                    • felix …
                      29 May 2013 at 1:46 pm

                      Yeah, he’s just smart enough to be devious but still dumb enough to let his ego get the better of him and tell everyone what he’s up to.

                    • emergency mike …
                      29 May 2013 at 2:04 pm

                      Ladies and germs, one of New Zealand’s elite rightwing spin geniuses political commentators, Matthew “No Spin Here” Hooten.

                      Why don’t you just accept that your credibility here is zero? No one swallowed your weak concern tr0ll shit before, why do you think we’ll suddenly give you the benefit of the doubt?

                      I recommend a story for you call ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ it’s a good one. It’s about a boy who thinks it’s funny to fool people, until nobody believes anything he says. Usually it’s to help small children grasp this point, but you’re a big boy who can’t figure it out.

                      Maybe try logging in under a different name so you can commence bagging Shearer more freely? How about ‘Mud’?

              • One Anonymous Knucklehead …
                29 May 2013 at 7:58 am

                Whatever Matthew. Our amateur view of reality is nothing compared to the one you’ve been paid to construct.

              • Pascal's bookie …
                29 May 2013 at 8:11 am

                Like you give a flying fuck about the truth Hoots.

            • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.2.3.2
              29 May 2013 at 7:45 am

              Felix, I mentioned Cunliffe because those are the two Labour MPs Martyn invited to my party because they had appeared on the iPredict TV show in the week or so before the election. That’s why Tim Groser was invited too – I think he did the iPredict show the Friday before the election. This really was just a party, hosted by me and Busted Blonde, to drink the Veuve Clicquot she had won from the NBR (which reminds me, Ellen Read from the NBR, now Fairfax, was also there, which led to Shearer getting good coverage in the NBR over the following week or so – not that that would have mattered much. Also, while Farrar and Slater boycotted the party on political grounds, Cactus Kate showed up for reasons discussed in the previous sentence). You would do better understanding political developments if you look Freud’s advice – sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

              • phillip ure …
                29 May 2013 at 7:48 am

                don’t you righties know as/call shearer ‘the insurance-policy’..?

                phillip ure..

              • felix …
                29 May 2013 at 7:52 am

                Matthew you protest too much.

                No-one cares about your party or your mates. You’ve done exactly what everyone said you would do, more or less to the day.

                A cigar is just a cigar indeed.

          • ak 1.1.2.2.4
            29 May 2013 at 8:19 am

            Brash…. he certainly turned the polls around

            Nup. Blatant and deliberate racist hatemongering did that: aided, abetted, planned and delivered by the very same clique that delivered and now fetes this latest poll.

            A poll of 863 by landline with an undisclosed several thousand who refused to participate.

            Lets panic. Until the next Roy Morgan. Yawn.

            • Colonial Viper 1.1.2.2.4.1
              29 May 2013 at 9:25 am

              Next Roy Morgan will be released in 24 hours or so. You won’t have long to wait. Big bounce back up for Labour to 35% or 36% you reckon?

          • Saarbo 1.1.2.2.5
            29 May 2013 at 10:03 am

            Well if you are right Matthew, and the Labour leader was chosen mainly because he was endorsed by a number of commentators at a piss up, it pretty much explains why the decision has turned out to be a major fuck up for Labour.

            • Matthew Hooton 1.1.2.2.5.2
              29 May 2013 at 10:30 am

              yes, that is my theory

              • Clockie …
                29 May 2013 at 10:50 am

                If this is the way politics and by extension public policy gets done in this country, then I spit on the lot of you. Political operators are a pack of contemptible lizard brained psychopaths.

                • emergency mike …
                  29 May 2013 at 2:12 pm

                  The interesting thing about psychopaths is that they have the ability to choose to believe their own lies. That’s what makes them such good liars. They also genuinely believe they are doing nothing wrong.

      • freedom 1.1.3
        29 May 2013 at 8:39 am

        No mention of a margin of error, wow what a surprise.
        No mention of the methods of polling, wow what a surprise.
        And of course, no mention of the actual questions asked.

        How can you defend the publication of fraudulent statistics?

        oh that’s right, you are paid to.

        • James 1.1.3.1
          29 May 2013 at 9:15 am

          and the other two polls this week that also showed labour looking poorly ????

          rouges as well?

          • bad12 1.1.3.1.1
            29 May 2013 at 9:27 am

            Yes we know, it just makes us all want to not vote for Labour or the Green Party’s in 2014,

            Snigger, the Slippery slope National are now on is known to the present Government best illustrated by the Slippery Prime Minister brushing crumbs off of the Tory table of over abundance in the direction of kiwi kids that do not have the income directed at them so as to guarantee their nutritional needs…

            • James 1.1.3.1.1.1
              29 May 2013 at 11:03 am

              Shows just how one-eyed and blind you are. The poll results hardly point to a slipery slope for national and to think it does just beggars belief.

              Makes you sound more like a cult than a rational person.

              • bad12 …
                29 May 2013 at 2:24 pm

                Rational??? who me ??? around these parts i am known as anything but rational, cult doesn’t quite ascribe a correct descriptive either,

                But enough about ‘i’, the fact that you base your view of the electoral cycle on polling data that has continually in the face of reality loudly proclaimed to all and sundry that National have the numbers to ‘govern alone’ makes yours the voice of the rational does it ???,

                Any Government that bounces up and down 4 whole % points between polls barely a month apart is in my opinion on the Slippery slope, Slippery the PM of course also knows this and He is operating with the added bonus of a damned sight better data source than little old ‘i’ can manage, (which of course is why the Shyster has managed to swallow such a large dead rat and pretend to unveil a comprehensive ‘food in schools program’,

                i do of course except you critique of the one eyed nature of my political view which extends as far as holding a belief that the National Government’s suffered by this country are usually made up of well practiced liars and in some cases outright scum,

                Perhaps you would care to post a comment, any comment, which would tend to offer a re-education to me changing my overall view of the present National Government, at the least you will be providing the readers with a much needed dose of mirth at the effort…

          • freedom 1.1.3.1.2
            29 May 2013 at 11:06 am

            James, who mentioned rogues?

            All I stated are simple facts. The polls are fraudulently represented statistics and have repeatedly been published as such for about two years now.

            Not including the statement of methodology and the margin of error are deliberate exclusions that skew any data they purport to represent.

            • James 1.1.3.1.2.1
              29 May 2013 at 11:36 am

              “All I stated are simple facts. The polls are fraudulently represented statistics and have repeatedly been published as such for about two years now.”

              says it all really. Everyone is against us. Its a conspiracy of all the polling companies.

              Not simply facts – more the rantings of somebody who has lost the plot.

              • freedom …
                29 May 2013 at 11:59 am

                Polls have a margin of error, Y or N ?
                Has this margin of error been reported, Y or N ?

                Polls have a methodology of data collection Y or N ?
                Has this methodology been reported Y or N ?

                are you a pavlovian reactionary with the comprehension skills of an innebriated mollusc
                Y or N ?

                p.s. I made no such accusation of conspiracy against the polling companies as they are not the vehicle with which the information was made public. I merely stated that the basics of poll data reporting i.e: margin of error and method are no longer reported to the public. I am convinced both of those items would have been supplied to the publishers and it is the news services themselves that decided to publish the polls sans that particular information.

              • McFlock …
                29 May 2013 at 2:21 pm

                jeez, james – even hoots thinks the polls are biased…

      • weka 1.1.4
        29 May 2013 at 11:25 am

        Is Hooten not yanking on the collective Open Mike chain today?

        • bad12 1.1.4.1
          29 May 2013 at 2:57 pm

          Gee i thought you meant the other anking word beginning with the letter W…

    • Saarbo 1.2
      29 May 2013 at 6:39 am

      I also noticed that Mike Williams (on nine to noon on Monday) was rather negative on Shearer, up to now he has been one of his strong supporters. I expect to see more of Shearers supporters squirming away from him as his poll rating and performance continues to languish. The unfortunate thing is it is probably too late to change leaders now, whoever takes over will be accepting a hospital pass.

      If Labour don’t win in 2014 there needs to be a serious cleanout of deadwood. And you don’t have to be a politics graduate to realise that Labour has a very low chance of winning with Shearer as Leader.

      What a crappy but predictable situation Labour has found itself in!

      • Olwyn 1.2.1
        29 May 2013 at 9:10 am

        It is not too late provided that a change of leader also means a genuine change of tactics, but it is far too late for another round of “let’s put in x and urge everyone to love x,” especially when the people doing the urging have diminished credibility. However, the longer they fail to rattle National from the opposition benches, the more confident National becomes and the more ground they lose.

      • just saying 1.2.2
        29 May 2013 at 11:44 am

        I’ve had a quick look up the page, and I haven’t seen anyone else question this.
        In the highly unlikely event of the leadership challenge against Shearer, does the membership get a vote?
        I only ask because the Labour caucus does tend to feverishly enslave itself to the will of the MSM, and the MSM does seem to be actively on the hunt for a new scalp….. and Shearer does seem to be the one they ‘prepared earlier’, so to (cooking show) speak…..

        Wouldn’t it be ironic if the only reason that the Labour Leadership would be willing to buck the msm was that doing so might allow the rest of the membership to participate democratically.

        • Olwyn 1.2.2.1
          29 May 2013 at 12:30 pm

          Well, if Tracey Watkins and Matthew Hooton are now questioning Shearer’s leadership, so much for pandering to the media. I am not sure about the rules of voting in the case of a leadership challenge. With the vote of confidence, Shearer needed at least 40% support and did manage to get it, arguably helped by Hipkins being included among the vote-counters. If he had not got that level of support the vote would have gone to the members. Given that, in the absence of a resignation, it would take over 50% against him to end his leadership, you would think that the members would get to vote, but I am not sure that is so.

    • Red Rosa 1.3
      29 May 2013 at 6:42 am

      +1

    • mickysavage 1.4
      29 May 2013 at 6:51 pm

      Shearer will be breathing a big sigh of relief at the latest Roy Morgan. National down to 41%, Labour up to 35% and the Greens on 12% …

      Of course what the reality is is something that we can only speculate on.

      http://www.roymorgan.com/findings/new-zealand-voting-intention-may29-201305290604

      [lprent: charts – still not happy with the GCR.
      Amidst all of the random spiking and slumping, Labour has a slight trend upwards. National has a stronger long-term trend downwards. At present with the usual fortune shifts towards the election, I suspect that Winston would be the decider. I wonder how Key will like the replaying of those 2008 statements about Winston? Of course the National caucus could just dump Key and put in someone without that baggage…

      BTW: National should sack Brownlee as I suspect that his mishandling of Christchurch is not helping them. Of course I personally hope that they do not. He is so useful at educating Christchurch residents on National party attitudes.. ]


  2. Morrissey 2
    29 May 2013 at 7:04 am

    LIARS OF OUR TIME
    No. 15: Donald Rumsfeld

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
    “I did not lie… Colin Powell did not lie.”

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    —-U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, speaking in Atlanta, Friday May 5, 2006.

    * * * * Coming soon: Look for our Matthew Hooton feature! * * * *

    See also….
    No. 14: Colin Powell: “a post-9/11 nexus between Iraq and terrorist organizations…connections are now emerging…”
    No.13: Barack Obama: “Simply put, these strikes have saved lives.”

    Open mike 27/05/2013


    No. 12: U.K. Ministry of Defence: “Protecting the Afghan civilian population is one of ISAF and the UK’s top priorities.”
    No. 11: Brendan O’Connor: “Australia’s approach to refugees is compassionate and generous.”
    No. 10: Boris Johnson: “Londoners have… the best police in the world to look after us and keep us safe.”
    No. 9: NewstalkZB PR dept: “News you NEED! Fast, fair, accurate!”
    http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-21052013/#comment-635850 No. 8: Simon Bridges: “I don’t mean to duck the question” http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-20052013/#comment-635343

    No. 7: Nigel Morrison: “Quite frankly, they’ve been VERY tough.”
    
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-15052013/#comment-633295
    
No. 6: NZ Herald PR dept: “Congratulations—you’re reading New Zealand’s best newspaper.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632598
    
No. 5: Rawdon Christie: “…a FORMIDABLE replacement, it seems, is Claudette Hauiti.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13052013/#comment-632594

    No. 4: Willie and J.T.: “The X-Factor. Nah, nah, there’s some GREAT talent there!”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628803

    No. 3: John Key: “Yeah we hold MPs to a higher standard.”
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-06052013/#comment-628703
    
No. 2: Colin Craig: “Oh, I have a GREAT sense of humour.” (TV3 News, 24 April 2013) http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25042013/#comment-624381
    
No. 1: Barack Obama: “Margaret Thatcher was one of the great champions of freedom and liberty.”
    
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-19042013/#comment-621738

    • Paul 2.1
      29 May 2013 at 7:13 am

      Yes please make your series more contemporary.
      Focusing on Messrs Hooton, Farrar and Slater would be a more relevant area today.

      • Morrissey 2.1.1
        29 May 2013 at 7:18 am

        Yes please make your series more contemporary.
        Focusing on Messrs Hooton, Farrar and Slater would be a more relevant area today.

        Fair point, Paul. I was going to put up a choice lie from Hooton—there are so many to choose from—but I had to put in the Rumsfeld thing to reinforce yesterday’s Colin Powell obscenity. The Powell-Rumsfeld lies were always a twofer, and work most effectively when they are put together like that. They’re funnier (in a black kind of way) when they’re back to back.

        Hooton will keep, as will Michelle Boag and Bill English….

  3. Jenny 3
    29 May 2013 at 7:21 am

    Colin Espiner on ‘Feed The Kids’

    Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, who came up with the original idea, has criticised the Government’s scheme because it involves the private sector. He claims that while corporates may be prepared to bankroll the programme now, they could walk away if times got tough.

    First, big ups to Harawira for essentially railroading the Government into adopting his idea. It’s an unfortunate political reality that governments of all hues pinch the best ideas opposition parties come up with. It would have been a nice gesture if Key could have used Harawira in the programme in some way (and who knows, the pair may yet need each other).

    But Harawira can rest assured that Fonterra and Sanitarium are not going to walk away from this scheme for all the milk powder in China. You can’t buy better publicity for your brand than umpteen thousand grateful children chowing down on the sponsor’s product each morning.

    And even if they did pull the pin, the Government would simply cast around for a new sponsor, which isn’t going to be hard to find given the nature of the cause.

    In my opinion Espiner is wrong in thinking;“It’s an unfortunate political reality that governments of all hues pinch the best ideas opposition parties come up with.”

    Harawira actively lobbied all parties to take up his idea.

    (Though not as comprehensive as what he sought he has achieved a hell of a lot for a party pretty much isolated with only one MP. And he can count this as a success, and hungry children who would not be fed will now will be.)

    When political parties refuse to forward good solutions to pressing problems facing their constituents and the country, because they fear their opponents will take them, then you know that they are being run by sectarian careerists who put their narrow sectarian interests before helping solve society’s most pressing problems.

    I hope I never again hear such an argument put forward for keeping a political party’s policies under wraps.

    You may say that there are other reasons why politicians, oft time argue not announce their party’s policies to the last minute. But what are they? Is it because they have none? Is it because they have none that are different to their erstwhile opponents? Is it because they have policies that are so close to their opponent’s policies, that they need to ambush their members and supporters at the last minute?

    The other reason of course is to limit democratic discussion within a political party to just a few at the top, asking their membership to take them on trust.

    When a political party says that they are holding off their policy announcements until closer to the election then you know that they have seriously lost their way.

    • Pascal's bookie 3.1
      29 May 2013 at 7:35 am

      Exactly. Parties are policy delivery devices, no more.

      When a party that is normally useless to you, is ‘stealing’ policies from a party that usually delivers what you want, it’s a win.

  4. Paul 4
    29 May 2013 at 7:22 am

    Hone Harawira just on RNZ actually sounding like a real opposition when talking about this governments priorities on spending. Maybe Shearer and the Labour Party could listen to that interview.
    It’s called standing up for the people.

    • phillip ure 4.1
      29 May 2013 at 7:46 am

      harawira was also good on tv3 this morn..

      ..well worth the watch..

      ..phillip ure..

    • Olwyn 4.2
      29 May 2013 at 8:24 am

      I agree, he was clear, forthright and did not pull his punches.

      • prism 4.2.1
        29 May 2013 at 9:08 am

        Olwyn+1 and his swearing was appropriate if there was any. Certainly the message was most memorable and had the punch of an unwavering and sincere politician committed to NZ people, and particularly Maori and the low-income.

  5. phillip ure 5
    29 May 2013 at 7:52 am

    you most probably won’t get this from the mainstream media..

    ..but colorado has just become the first place in the world to sign into law a legalised/regulated/taxed pot-regime for adults..

    ..so there is our blueprint of how to do it..eh..?

    ..apparantly they are so onto it..the regulators are able to track from seed to end-product..

    ..phillip ure

  6. Winston Smith 6
    29 May 2013 at 8:06 am

    Must suck to be a Labour supporter right now (not as bad for the Greens) but don’t worry about the polls I’m sure they’re not indicitive of the massive groundswell of support building for Labour under the astute stewardship of David Shearer…at this rate Labour will be back in power by 2020 🙂

    • BLiP 6.1
      29 May 2013 at 8:47 am

      ‘

      Interesting poll, that Reid one. Of course, the sample is too small to justify your confidence but did you see that most National Ltd™ voters were in favour of the NZ Power solution to being rorted by the corporates? There’s a skerrick of hope for youse yet. Psychologically, I mean.

    • kiwicommie 6.2
      29 May 2013 at 9:17 am

      You actually put your reasoning on one poll a year out from election day? National doesn’t have that great a lead, and all these polls always write off NZ First and Mana, even though they have a strong following in their own way. I doubt even National’s inner circle believe you can know who will most likely win, till the months or weeks before election day.

    • bad12 6.3
      29 May 2013 at 9:20 am

      Snigger, we really really believe it when we are told constantly by the polls that National have enough support to govern alone,

      We all know this has to be true because for the past two election cycles the polls have been telling us this,

      There is of course only one small problem with that which in abbreviated terminology says, ”they didn’t and they still haven’t”

      Minus 1 or 2% in November 2014 and it’s haere ra National and who cares who the leader of the Labour Party is if He or She supports the stopping of the electricity rort with things like NZPower and intends to support a guaranteed living wage for ALL workers…

      • kiwicommie 6.3.1
        29 May 2013 at 9:30 am

        Minus 1 or 2% in November 2014 and it’s haere ra National and who cares who the leader of the Labour Party is if He or She supports the stopping of the electricity rort with things like NZPower and intends to support a guaranteed living wage for ALL workers…

        Well most of Europe right now has weak coalition governments (especially Germany – where NZ took it’s MMP system from), Australia really is no different, and the US is very much divided. It is doubtful that even if National wins again, it would have anything but a weak coalition, it can’t break international trends. 😉

    • Paul 6.4
      29 May 2013 at 12:32 pm

      Have you got anything better to do than trolling for comments?
      Constructive debate and discussion, maybe…

  7. Colonial Viper 7
    29 May 2013 at 9:43 am

    Peter Jackson takes to skies in $80M style

    So good to know that NZ tax payers money went to a good cause. Also, how about sparing an extra pittance or three so that NZ workers can have union protection just like the actors you hire from Australia and USA? Or in fact, just like you have yourself?

    The very definition of “rich prick”.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/8728148/Jackson-takes-to-skies-in-80m-style

    • Tim 7.1
      29 May 2013 at 10:07 am

      Well well. There’s a lesson for us all in that possums – something we can all ASPIRE to aye? (not)

      • Colonial Viper 7.1.1
        29 May 2013 at 10:11 am

        An economy for the elite that we can all expire to

        • Winston Smith 7.1.1.1
          29 May 2013 at 11:15 am

          Yes keep on attacking Sir Peter Jackson because its worked so well in the past.

          • lprent 7.1.1.1.1
            29 May 2013 at 1:54 pm

            …keep on attacking Sir Peter Jackson…

            Because he is a manipulative arsehole. What was your point?

            We aren’t politicians. We have sufficient rejects from real life for that task (you look quite good as a potential National candidate BTW). What happens here is that we express our opinions. And occasionally in my moderator role I’ll squash some cretinous fuckwit like yourself (see that is an opinion) who wants to insinuate that the site or the commentators are a political organisation.

            This is a “gentle” warning..

            • Winston Smith 7.1.1.1.1.1
              29 May 2013 at 2:58 pm

              I insinuated nothing, I said “keep attacking Sir Peter Jackson because its worked so well in the past” because this blog has had numerous attempts at smearing Sir Peter Jackson…as a rich prick, anti-union, lackey of Warner Bros etc etc

              Nothing to do with this site or the commentators being a political organisation or otherwise

              Bit touchy at the moment…

              • One Anonymous Knucklehead …
                29 May 2013 at 3:00 pm

                “…this blog has…”

                Sigh, and 😆

                • lprent …
                  29 May 2013 at 5:07 pm

                  Yeah, this winston has a problem with individualism. Seems like one of those conformist totalitarian dickheads to me… Obviously every author and commentator is “The Standard” – including himself.

                  After all he reads like just about every other right wing troll to me. Dispose of one and another duplicate pops up like a head at a fair’s shooting gallery with the same lame assertions about computer programs having opinions.

                  At least this one tries to reply and even attempts the difficult art of arguing rather than doing crapping an assertion and then immediately leave (like an incontinent poodle moving down a street).

                  • McFlock …
                    29 May 2013 at 5:13 pm

                    So, basically, he read the book and thought it was all about communism, so figured he would use the name as a pseudonym in his valiant, solitary struggle against the left.

                    • lprent …
                      29 May 2013 at 9:43 pm

                      Yeah. Of course as with many of the Orwellian novels it is often hard to figure out which brand of totalitarian conformist nutters he was parodying. He was after all a democratic socialist* with a distinct dislike of all brands of conformist totalitarianism.

                      But it is clear that if that was where he got his name from and why he took it, then he clearly hasn’t read to the end of the book. After the rat room the fictional Winston Smith become just another blob staring adoringly at the image of his leader with an inability to think. Just like this one I suspect…..

                      * A stream of political thought that encourages individualism – far more so than the daft conformity of the libertarians with their obsessive theology of toy collection. Or for that matter or almost any other political philosophy I have seen. Even the anarchists have this strange obsession at having to all agree (conformity) or they’ll dissolve into complete societies of one. The democratic socialist acceptance and even promotion of eccentricity amongst groups has always been a wonder to behold. And most importantly it fosters agreeing to disagree….

              • bad12 …
                29 May 2013 at 3:25 pm

                Yes you got something right, the anti union antics of the Warner Bros lackey have been well documented here and elsewhere…

              • Draco T Bastard …
                29 May 2013 at 3:43 pm

                Arsehole Peter Jackson smeared himself with his lies. All that happened on this blog was that those lies were pointed out.

                • Tim …
                  29 May 2013 at 3:55 pm

                  Indeed he did. But you know what’s more depressing? !!!!
                  It’s when someone (with a history of someone struggling in the industry, and having sampled the lowliest of the low – including serious jailtime as a result of Sth American totalitarian juntas) becomes so SO immune to the plight of ‘the film-maker’s community’ (i.e. his peers). That Petey isn’t such a bad bloke after all – AYE?.
                  I’m not exactly sure what the Paekak dak delivers – but it’s obviously pretty potent.

                • Winston Smith …
                  29 May 2013 at 4:20 pm

                  Thats Sir Peter Jackson to the likes of you

                  • McFlock …
                    29 May 2013 at 4:30 pm

                    Fucktard McSellout, more likely. Not everyone immediately cums at the thought of someone who bought a tin-plate title off a used currency salesman.

                  • Draco T Bastard …
                    29 May 2013 at 6:21 pm

                    Nope. If I was to even use the title “sir” (not going to happen because I’m not a brown noser like yourself) to someone it would be to someone I respect. I don’t respect liars.

                    • Morrissey …
                      29 May 2013 at 9:59 pm

                      “Sir” Graham Henry is another notorious liar.

                      Watch for him in my series Liars of Our Time….

    • millsy 7.2
      29 May 2013 at 11:19 pm

      Jackson is yesterday’s news.

      Game of Thrones is a much better watch than his dragged out travelogues.

      Season 3 was more anticipated in this household than the Hobbit was, and it will be the same for season 4.

      Movies are dead. High end TV series with a guaranteed pay TV audience are the future.

  8. Pascal's bookie 8
    29 May 2013 at 10:57 am

    lol.

    Peters asks Dunne (during an unrelated committee meeting) if it was him what leaked the Kitteridge report. Cue arguments about whether the question is in order or whatever nevermind Dunne ends up confirming that he’s been spoken to as part of the investigation into who leaked ouch. *laughs*

  9. Adrian 9
    29 May 2013 at 11:19 am

    With a few exceptions most forget ( or don’t want to acknowledge ) that poll proportions are a % of those who didn’t say fuck off( not of the general population. Therefore 45% may well be only 45% of 18-20% of those with a landline. That should leave at least 70% to be influenced by good policy and if that policy is telegraphed too early pale imitations or window-dressed versions of it will be stolen, and thats why we have a ( albeit better than nothing ) half-arsed ” Breakfast in Schools” programme.
    On Shearer/ Cuniliffe, be careful not to buy in and feed the MSM’s castigation of DS, if DC was leader the arseholes would be in paroxysms of red-baiting and thunderous editorials of communist takeovers and I’m sure that that buck-toothed idiot Gower would even come in his pants on a live cross to the Beehive over some concocted Stalinist bullshit.
    Remember Hooten et al are just doing what they are paid for.

  10. tracey 10
    29 May 2013 at 11:24 am

    Level the playing field for solar power in New Zealand!

    As an investor in a NZ solar company, I was shocked to discover that a careless change in the rules – requiring solar companies to use a particular inverter technology that hasn’t even been invented yet – could come into force any day now and stop our solar industry dead in its tracks. If this were the fossil fuel lobby, would we ever have to worry about something like this?

    Solar panels are not just a green technology, they’re also a great financial investment for New Zealand homes and businesses and a potentially huge source of economic growth. We should be pulling out all the stops to help the solar industry develop, not putting one obstacle after another in its path. Even John Key called for reducing “the Pacific region’s reliance on expensive fossil fuels for electricity” a few weeks ago.

    New Zealand has almost unlimited potential to generate clean energy from the sun. That’s why I’m calling on regulators — who have been asleep at the wheel — to roll up their sleeves and level the playing field for solar energy by creating a clear, nationally-enforced standard; reducing the soft costs for installing solar; and creating a nationwide financing scheme and easy way for people to sell back their extra solar power production with a net-metering law. These measures would give so many more people access to this smart, environmentally beneficial investment! Please add your name and tell all your friends, and I’ll make sure the law-drafters get our message loud and clear.

    Join us! Click below to sign the petition and forward to everyone:

    http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_New_Zealands_solar_industry_from_accidental_death/?bhNKcdb&v=25172

    With hope,

    Iain, Michelle, Scott and the whole Avaaz team

    PS: This petition was started by an Avaaz member on our Community Petitions site. It’s quick and easy to start a petition on any issue you care about, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/start_a_petition/?bgMYedb&v=25121

    • muzza 10.1
      29 May 2013 at 5:24 pm

      If people think that the (from the earth) fuel companies, will take solar heating lying down, I would be very surprised.

      The oil/banking cartel own the politicians, and are not going anywhere, as long as they can drill it from the earth!

      The other problem to deal with for the solar energy proponents, is that of global dimming, and the impact of geo-engineering on the amount of suns rays reaching the planets surface!

  11. Draco T Bastard 11
    29 May 2013 at 12:35 pm

    More cronyism from National:

    Former National MP Jackie Blue formally submitted her interest in a top government job more than a month after the closing date, documents show.

    The documents also show that in a briefing dated November 1, the Justice Ministry identified eight candidates. The paper recommended Collins indicate which candidates she wanted to have interviewed. Collins did not sign the paper.

    So, firstly the applicant didn’t apply in time and then the minister didn’t accept the candidates until she had the one she wanted in the list.

  12. lprent 12
    29 May 2013 at 1:25 pm

    The database server (and therefore the site) will be offline for a period late tonight.

    I need to adjust some of the settings and that will require it to be offline for up to 20 minutes.

  13. vto 13
    29 May 2013 at 2:20 pm

    unexpected earthquake observation # 432

    The Great Earth Monster shivers in the snow…

  14. Morrissey 14
    29 May 2013 at 5:18 pm

    S.S. thugs still getting free air time on public radio
    Will Kyle Chapman be next?

    Nine to Noon, Radio NZ National, Wednesday 29 May 2013
    Host: Lynn Freeman

    First item up on Nine to Noon this morning was an interesting and learned discussion about the insane “Three Strikes” legislation. The guests were Hastings barrister Eric Forster and Victoria University criminology professor John Pratt. In contrast to many of the blowhards, maniacs and hypocrites who usually get air time on this issue, both of these men are learned and serious scholars of the law; both of them condemned the Three Strikes legislation as “insane”, and the consequence of a small number of ignorant politicians who believed in “magical thinking” being given a totally disproportionate amount of power. This discussion ended about 9:40 a.m.

    Just over two hours later, host Lynn Freeman felt compelled to read out a long and belligerent email in favour of Three Strikes. This email was written by the disgraced, discredited convicted grave-robber, doctor-assaulter, serial sexual harasser, former ACT MP, and S.S. man David Garrett. Poor old Lynn Freeman, who I know detests and despises David Garrett and his evil organization, read the email in a tone of obvious distress, as well as distaste.

    Then, incredibly, a few minutes later, just before the end of the programme, she read ANOTHER urgent email from the bowels of Hell. This time it was from the Grand Wizard of the S.S. himself, Garth “The Knife” McVicar. In contrast to the rabid David Garrett, the Grand Wizard’s email was written in a tone of wounded disappointment; the two experts, he whined, were “well known opponents of the legislation”. The entirely false display of emotion by this creep rendered that email even more offensive and insulting than Garrett’s.

    Surely, if any organization has thoroughly discredited itself and should not be indulged in any way, it is this vicious and hypocritical bunch of gangsters. I know that there is not one person at Radio New Zealand who feels anything other than loathing for the S.S. Trust and for David Garrett and Garth “The Knife” McVicar. Yet here we were, this morning, forced to listen to the thoroughly unedifying phenomenon of a fine broadcaster being forced to read out crass emails from not just one, but TWO personae non grata.

    I have no doubt that the receptionsists at Radio NZ National suffered a deluge of coordinated abuse, through telephone calls and emails, for the two hours before those two emails were read out.

    I wonder who made the decision to cave in to their hectoring; I know that it was not the journalists.

    • Grumpy 14.1
      29 May 2013 at 7:02 pm

      Sometimes, sunshine, I worry about you……..

      • Morrissey 14.1.1
        29 May 2013 at 8:24 pm

        Sometimes, sunshine, I worry about you……..

        Thanks, buddy! I’m feeling the love.

    • Penny Bright 14.2
      29 May 2013 at 10:48 pm

      Where are the ‘three strikes’ against ‘white collar’ crime and ‘white collar’ criminals?

      Penny Bright

      • Morrissey 14.2.1
        30 May 2013 at 6:52 am

        Where are the ‘three strikes’ against ‘white collar’ crime and ‘white collar’ criminals?

        For them, it’s three chances.

        Or, to use corporate-speak, three OPPORTUNITIES.

        Or more, if they need them.

    • millsy 14.3
      29 May 2013 at 11:20 pm

      Everytime I think of the SS Trust, I think of a bunch of hooded people standing round a lynched brown person.

      • Morrissey 14.3.1
        30 May 2013 at 7:08 am

        Everytime I think of the SS Trust, I think of a bunch of hooded people standing round a lynched brown person.

        Entirely understandable, millsy, but in reality it’s a bunch of intolerant people sitting in a radio studio (NewstalkZB) pouring scorn and abuse on a lynched brown person in South Auckland, and ridiculing his family. That’s what they did, day in, day out, session after session, hour after hour in 2008 and 2009, and still occasionally do whenever somebody mentions the word “tagger”.

    • Dv 14.4
      30 May 2013 at 7:51 am

      Wait until a two strikes offender kills a victum because he cant get his skateboard. What a fuss that will cause.

      I thought the most compelling argument was that those on 2 strikes dont really have the moral judgemnt needed to ‘obey’ the law.

      • Morrissey 14.4.1
        30 May 2013 at 8:56 am

        Something called “Dv” tried, unwisely, to be clever….

        Wait until a two strikes offender kills a victum because he cant [sic] get his skateboard.

        What possible precedent do you have to suggest such a scenario?

        What a fuss that will cause.

        Nonsense. Your dull fantasy lacks even the slightest plausibility.

        I thought the most compelling argument was that those on 2 strikes dont really have the moral judgemnt needed to ‘obey’ the law.

        Nor, as recent events have reinforced, do the people in the top echelons of the New Zealand police. And, as shown by their failures in Afghanistan, neither do the top brass in the New Zealand Defence Force.

        No doubt you will be calling for these people to be sent to jail for fifteen to twenty years. Or do you get ALL your opinions directly from talk radio?

  15. Tim 15
    29 May 2013 at 7:29 pm

    Am I correct in believing that a third guest (aside from Eric Forster and John Pratt) was invited to participate, but declined?
    The ‘trickle down’ effect does work! – at least at RNZ.

    • Morrissey 15.1
      29 May 2013 at 8:27 pm

      Am I correct in believing that a third guest (aside from Eric Forster and John Pratt) was invited to participate, but declined?

      Possibly that awful Ruth Money, who I see has become the main spokesghoul for the S.S. Trust.

      The ‘trickle down’ effect does work! – at least at RNZ.

      This comment has me intrigued. Could you explain what you mean?

  17. Penny Bright 17
    29 May 2013 at 10:46 pm

    The DEFENDANT – ‘dodgy’ John Banks is back in the Auckland District Court, (Albert St) Thursday 30 May 2013.

    As I understand it – this case will be stood down until 11.45am, because Private Prosecutor Graham McCready will not be able to attend before that time.

    It is my intention to have banners up outside the Court from 11am.

    Do come along if you are able! 🙂

    Being FINALLY held accountable in a Court of Law – has been a VERY long time coming for the DEFENDANT John Banks.

    The BIG question is – how come Prime Minister John Key has not yet stood down as Minister, the DEFENDANT, Minister of Regulatory Reform, Minister of Small Business, Associate Minister of Education and Associate Minister of Commerce – ACT MP for Epsom – the arguably ‘Not-So-Honorable’ John Banks?

    Former National MP Aaron Gilmore, was effectively forced to leave Parliament, yet he never faced charges in Court, unlike the DEFENDANT John Banks!

    Penny Bright
    ‘Anti-corruption/ anti-privatisation’ campaigner

    2013 Auckland Mayoral candidate

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