Perhaps now she will realise that Sir Peter Leitch is the type of person that Labour used to represent – a man who has never forgotten his working class roots, and who gives unstintingly of his time and energy for those less well off
It just goes to show how much Labour has alienated its support base.
What is it about the liberal-left and its pathological loathing of freedom of speech and open debate? Rather than vilifying Sir Peter, Labour should be asking how they can win his support back.
At least she has finally apologised and withdrawn (whether of her own volition or not) yet Campbell Larsen and a number of others commenting on this site maintain their vitriol towards Peter.
I prefer not to use the Sir. Dont care what anybody says, or what his politics are Leitch is a fantastic bloke. He does for his community with actions, not words. We should all applaud him for what he is.
On that note it sets a bad precedent to criticise people who state their preferences in the public arena, if he was to come out for Labour he would probably get attacked from the other end. Better to not go there.
I call bullshit on the last few words in your comment Bored.
Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark – visit his museum in Mangere and you’ll still see pictures of her proudly displayed by the Butch. “The other end” never said a bad word about that relationship.
Whats the problem Joe, I think Peter Leitch a great guy, I dont think he or anybody else should be judged for stating a personal political preference.
For the record I think his preference Shonkey is a total pillock, but hey there are a few ABs Graham Henry prefers to my choices……of course I am right and he is wrong.
Your a total cock!!! Sir Peter is everything you and your ilk will never be.An outstanding New Zealander that will go down in history as a real working class hero!
Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark
I call bullshit on that Joe Bloggs. Sure, he was happy to be seen associating with her when she was the prime-minister but he never claimed to support her politically. Indeed he is on record at the time saying (and I paraphrase) “I prefer not to talk about the politics” Well, he reneged on his word by politically endorsing Key so perhaps Mr. Leitch owes an apology too.
Fenton has said that her reaction was impulsive and silly. A small concession to be sure, but it’s evident from Butch’s reaction that Fenton has not picked up the phone and apologised to him.
Here’s a clue – an apology is an expression of one’s regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, or wronged another.
A fulsome apology might sound something like this: “I’m sorry Butch. I apologise for my pig-ignorance and vilification of your character. I’m truly remorseful for the distress I’ve caused you.”
As for Larsen? Wishing death on the Butch – then whining when someone tells his agent??? Oh grow me some balls, boy! He’s just another piece-of-shit example of how out of touch Labour and its liberal-left supporters are with mainstream New Zealand.
I post a few words in defense of Sir Peter and you imply that I have no concerns about child poverty, undermining the rule of law, environmental devastation, and ratings downgrades????
Well good on you for parading your own moral and socio-political virtue by being seen to express the “right” thoughts on every subject under the sun.
Now back to reality – will Fenton apologise to the Butch?
Whether or not you want to take advice from Mickey, I really think you two really should look up Arkell, it’s still the best response to a lawyer ever formulated.
You guys are an irony and hypocrisy recognition free zone. Wailing and complaining about hate speech and then engaging in attempted character assassination.
You do realise that it is being hypocritical … don’t you?
Sir Peter Leitch himself has clearly indicated why some of us are pissed off by what he has said.
;”I’ve done nothing with John Key that I didn’t do with Helen Clark – I’ve been a little bit more vocal.
;
So whilst he may have supported Labour, he never went on TV rabbiting on about how “John Key was the man to sort out ChCh” (especially when he clearly isn’t).
Of course this sort of story deflects from Blinglish’s financial incompetence, the lack of sensible policies and the smile and wave approach.
Cry me a river Joe. I have never shied away from genuine attempts at discussion and I believe that those that have actually participated in this one, rather than just throwing insults and schoolyard taunts around, are wiser for having taken part.
The questions remain:
Is celebrity endorsement of political leaders a good thing?
Doesn’t this just led us down the path of American style personality politics? Is this what we want?
When does ‘news’ become electioneering? is it a problem? If so how should we respond?
‘Butch’ may very well have been innocently doing what he has always done, selling stuff on tv, but an election is not a sausage. I am convinced by others reports that he is a very generous and well meaning fellow – unfortunately the same cannot be said of Jonkey – the man he supports.
Campbell Larsen said ‘are wiser for having taken part.’
I’ll agree with that, having learned that Peter Leitch has on’sold’ his business to his daughter, pocketed the money in trusts, and with no capital gains tax to reduce that, keeps a huge amount of money that he now helps out the less fortunate blue collars on their $13 per hour wages, if they have a job that is.
Key doesn’t want a CGT; Goff does. There’s a good reason for wanting to get Key back in right there.
What business wouldn’t want to get alongside any PM to advertise their wares and get more huge tax cuts. Look at Matthew Ridge.
Sure Leitch is probably a nice guy. But, he’s not a saint; he’s a businessman who gets tax concessions and helped people with cheap meat, thereby earning him huge advertising for free.
I also heard him say when asked who he supported at the 2008 election; he said he was not telling. That’s a given admission that he already supported Key but did not want to upset his business progress. He said that when in the company of Clark.
Once more; if he has used his cancer card to push voter choice for Key, then he has earned my contempt.
.
Farrrk, Phil Goff agrees with me! I’m doomed with the kiss of death!!
Labour leader Phil Goff said today he did not agree with Ms Fenton’s comments about Sir Peter. “I’m a real Warriors fan. I’ve been going to their matches for years and have caught up with the Mad Butcher many times. He is a great guy and a great ambassador for rugby league. He is absolutely entitled to express whatever opinion he likes.”
Just a pity that Butch has to go to that vile place Red Alert to read Fenton’s apology – instead of receiving a contrite phone call from her directly…
Phil Goff said that another person has a right to say what he likes.
We all accept that. That’s why we all state on here what we like, and the moderators then decide if that is okay or not because it is their site, and I e.g. say Peter Leitch is using his public persona to influence voting, and if he is using his cancer card to do that, that is reprehensible, lowers him in my estimation, and earns him my contempt.
Funny that you don’t want to hear what we have to say, which makes you a fascist.
Go ahead, knock yourself out Jum – say what you like – tar yourself with the same brush as that piece of shit Larsen.
But before you crawl down to that level, take a moment to remind yourself that it was the Butch who got on the BBQ and fed every mourner at David Lange’s funeral. And very grateful we all were for his efforts.
Like I said, the man’s a businessman; there’s nothing like a funeral to advertise…
Nah, I like the guy really, but to make out he’s some sort of national hero is quite frankly bizarre.
I’ll even let him join my cancer club if he stops trying to influence voters.
There’s nothing worse.
Oh yes there was – John Key giving extra money for herceptin, just before the 2008 election, a drug unproven to produce any greater result over a longer period, yet cunningly expected to con women into voting for him. I didn’t like him before the 2008 election knowing he was one of The manipulative Hollow Men, but even I was gobsmacked to find that he had used women’s illnesses to gain extra votes.
The man has no shame. Those who associate with him will eventually be tainted by the brand.
Maybe those herceptin women are the guinea pigs; do they know? That’s the history of New Zealand by men – don’t inform the women you are experimenting on them.
So, since Key used the illness card in 2008, and it proved very successful with women, voting-wise, using the cancer card is being tried again. I hope not; I can’t believe Peter Leitch would do what Key did. I can believe it of Key – not of Leitch, at least I hope not.
No. What she said was mild, it was nothing… Don’t exaggerate! The Mad Butcher (who has the squickiest radio jingle in creation, btw) needs to grow a thicker skin.
Once more; if he has used his cancer card to push voter choice for Key, then he has earned my contempt.
Cheers Jum: on the button. I didn’t have feelings one way or the other about Peter Leitch until he used his cancer as a political tool – and don’t anyone pretend he didn’t because he bloody well did! He plummeted in my estimation as a result. Darien Fenton’s response was fair enough.
Nuance is lost on you isn’t it LS?
There is an important difference between celebrities supporting policies and taking a stance on issues vs celebrities simply endorsing the leader of a party on a superficial basis – you don’t seen to have grasped it yet so I will let you ponder it some more.
What the Hell, why don’t we just do away with elections and instead appoint whichever party can line up the most celebrities? After all if they were on TV a few times, or played rugby, or gave to charity they must be much more important and worthy than that silly old democratic principle of one person, one vote.
Unfortunately, Campbell, your second paragraph has already come to pass. How do you think Key got in in 2008? Taking two sportsmen around the pacific people during the election campaign so they all thought – gee if these two pacifica people like Key, he must be okay. No thoughts about the policies or the mask of Key.
It worked so well in 2008, he’s doing it again, but rarking it up somewhat with visuals from Matthew Ridge and rotundtable financiers and what I once thought were reputable public personalities i.e. Leitch who in 2008 would not say whom he was voting for but in 2011 is happy to.
If people fall for a con once, that’s okay; if they fall for it twice they deserve the fallout.
It was reported that many of the people that voted for National had been told that they would still get Helen Clark as Prime Minister.
Gullible enough to believe anything a NAct campaigner would say is a worry, but far too many people are still too trusting of this government and they will continue to vote for Key for what is basically – nothing.
Sorry,l I honestly don’t see where what Darien Fenton said was so bad! She simply said she wasn’t going near him again, but never said that anyone else should follow suit…
We are classy people at The Standard, because we actually care about what is happening to our beloved country New Zealand and the Kiwis that live here.
Ranged against us are greedy people that will make a huge pile of money out of betraying everything this country stands for or once stood for; an egalitarian style of living.
Too much greed was once a disease, not a career choice.
Then we got Douglas, then we got Richardson – we slowed down with Clark and then we got Key AND Douglas.
Heh. That was a amusing. I popped out to see who you were talking to to find myself looking at two separate moderation notes.
Of course I seldom look at who or what people are responding to because of the nature of the moderation queue. In this case a newbie saying something daft, and millsy walking too close to the edge :twsted:
Mad Butcher, you are dirty stinking flithy traitor……….. Now if that ain’t hate speech, I think you Millsy could teach them a thing or 2………….not good form!!!!!!!
Growth may lag for years, whoopee. There will be middle class angst, hand wringing, wailing and a great gnashing of teeth. That which is held real and precious will become a distant dream.
Guys, even if the MSM cant write it up as it really is get used to the idea, long term growth economics is mortally wounded. prepare forthe new reality of solid state resource limited economics.
Your thoughts please on the impartiality (racism/old boy network/power of the sponsors) of the IRB
Samoan player wears MOUTHGUARD which has an ‘unauthorised sponsors logo’ – fined $10000 – the wearing of such item breaches ‘contracts’ but not ‘the laws of the game’. Player feels it in the pocket.
England trainers (and their most respected/well known player) deliberately change the ball being used for the conversion, breaching the laws of the game (on more than one occasion) – result the trainers are told not to be at Eden park for the next game (one game ban) – nil for the player asking for the ball, nil for the team that cheated, nil for the opposition.
#3 really is true, though. Imagine if all of the depositors at banks all over the world did actually ask for their money back. It would actually be impossible to liquidate everything that represented that money, and what would everyone do with the money anyway? Buy some of the assets? It would just be a huge money-go-round.
I’ve actually had similar thoughts about the concentration of wealth in the hands of the minority – it effectively works as a great big dampener on inflation by preventing money from circulating in the economy.
So listening to Morning Report this morning, it turns out with this cigarette ban in prisons that the prisons now give out patches and nicotine lozenges to prisoners whenever they ask for it, without any restrictions or limitations on consumption. Some prisoners have been spotted wearing 2-3 patches at a time, and others have been going through lozenges “like they were mints”.
These nicotine replacement therapies are paid for by the taxpayer, where previously cigarettes were paid for by the prisoners.
I’ll note just before the ban came into effect 3 months ago there was a nice little story going around about how prisoners were going to be enrolled in singing classes and given carrots as a way to prevent nicotine withdrawal. It seems that that news report was entirely PR spin from the government to make them look “tough on criminals”, when the reality is that they can get all the nicotine they want from the therapies. I expect the prisoners probably prefer the new regime because they aren’t paying for it and may be able to get more nicotine than they used to, and I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of them actually preferred these alternatives over cigarettes (I’ve heard quite a few smokers say they don’t really enjoy it, but just do it because they’re addicted).
Be nice to see Labour ask some questions on this in parliament.
Sitting down to a coffee and ciggy for relaxation is enjoyable for a while but it soon palls.
It palled for me when I became aware in a hospital bed with a foreign body stuffed in a artery, and Lyn stating that I’d smoked my last cigarette because she wasn’t going through the trauma of keeping me alive again.
Seven months off the tobacco now after 30 years smoking. But I’d have to say for me it was definitely a straight addiction that I wasn’t getting too much pleasure from….
Coffee is a lot less of an addiction. I can and have stopped using that easily, something that was incredibly difficult with cigarettes
Although it might make life more boring. I’m a big fan of QALY (quality-adjusted life years) when it comes to alcohol, cigars, and avoiding rabbit food 🙂
When my dad was in hospital after his heart attack, he said to my mum “well at least I don’t have to quit smoking!”. They got some rather puzzled looks from other people (patients/nurses) in the room – he had to explain that he never smoked.
Seven months off the tobacco now after 30 years smoking. But I’d have to say for me it was definitely a straight addiction that I wasn’t getting too much pleasure from….
Good on you, and if I were in your position I would probably do the same. The problem is that absent any of the stuff I’ve been told will happen to me, (none of it has), I have no motivation to quit – I know better than to believe that anti-smoking campaigners actually give a monkey’s about the ‘health’ of anyone! They’re simply authoritarians, who will actually have far more credibility with me, (and others!) when they have a word to say against alcohol misuse, air-pollution etc. I used to be on the periphery of a social circle that had at its core several dozen hard-core ASH members. Every one of them drank more alcohol (in the form of expensive wine!) in an evening than I’ve drunk in a lifetime, and than the average non-middle class kiddie would have in a year! I looked on and thought “hello hypocrites!”
I truly believe a lot of it is a class thing…
I’ll note just before the ban came into effect 3 months ago there was a nice little story going around about how prisoners were going to be enrolled in singing classes and given carrots as a way to prevent nicotine withdrawal. It seems that that news report was entirely PR spin from the government to make them look “tough on criminals”, when the reality is that they can get all the nicotine they want from the therapies. I expect the prisoners probably prefer the new regime because they aren’t paying for it and may be able to get more nicotine than they used to, and I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of them actually preferred these alternatives over cigarettes (I’ve heard quite a few smokers say they don’t really enjoy it, but just do it because they’re addicted).
I take it you don’t smoke and never have, Lanth… What on earth good were
‘singing classes and carrots’ supposed to do? My son worked at CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug Support) in 2008, and although he’s a fanatical anti-smoker, he was sensible enough to agree with CADS policy – they don’t insist that people trying to deal with alcoholism and P addiction, quit cigarettes. It’s too much to cope with. You can’t force someone to give up anything and expect them to do it. They have to want to themselves!
You’re also either very naive or very authoritarian, if you believe that patches and gum actually come even close to actually supplying “all the nicotine they want”. (I’ve tried the patches, and I assure you that even though I smoke a fraction of the amount that some others do, I barely notice that I have a patch!) Crazy old Tariana came up with the idea of making prisoners all stop smoking, and the “let’s hate on crims” brigade all immediately orgasmed over the prospect of punishing “crim’nals” some more. Very vicious, very authoritarian, just plain nasty. I recommend you read the book ‘Face to face with evil’, written by a psychologist who spent years interviewing Ian Brady (one of the Moors murderers) about his life in a “secure hospital”. He’s 73 now, has been banged up there for 46 years… and periodically gets ‘given the bash’ which I believe is the NZ term… On top of it all, they declared that the secure hospitals (equivalent of the Mason Clinic) would become Smoke Free from 2008. Just lovely!
I really haven’t the words to express how angry I feel about this issue. My anger is just exacerbated by all these news stories invited the Garth McVicar types (and the anti-smoking hysterics) to cream their jeans and laugh at the stupid crims…
Given the Credit Rating downgrade I expected that the Herald would have large headlines. And commentary on why so.
Fraid not. The Mad Butcher having his feelings hurt is much more important.
NO sign of Hooten, though I bet he is snooping around (or does he do that in the early hours)? Not such good news today Matthew regarding the credit rating – seem to remember Joky Hen wouldn’t implement some measure a couple of months back on the grounds that it might affect our AAAAAA+++ standing. Seems the agencies have done it anyway so he might just as well have implemented the change.
Jon Stephenson clarified the role of SAS troops in Afghanistan on Morning Report today
He made the point that the soldiers (especially the dead ones) had a right to be acknowledged for the actual role they are playing. He was not kind about John Key’s continuing claims that their role is ‘mentoring’ and argued that it amounted to using the soldiers deaths to support the PR spin and, consequently, misrepresenting the brave, individual efforts they were putting in to their role.
Wish I was surprised. I’m really starting to get my head around the death of the Labour movement. I’ve been talking about it for a while, but that didn’t mean I’d accepted it.
It scares the shit out of me cos there’s this big vacuum on the left, at the worst possible time, and no way of knowing what, if anything, will takes its place. I realise Labour hasn’t been anything like Labour for yonks, and that was never going to be sustainable. We couldn’t pretend forever. The financial crisis has just brought things to a head. And Labour turned further right/authoritarian because there just wasn’t enough Labour left in Labour.
Hope you’re proud of yourselves, Labour parliamentarians (and the likes of John Pagani). The Opposition (must give you a wry laugh when we call you that), putting the last nails in the coffin, kicking the working class in the teeth.
There’s no doubt that climate change is one of the biggest issues we’ve ever faced, and that the planet is warming, mostly due to human activity.
Despite unequivocal evidence that we’re responsible, those most able to make changes to reduce emissions are failing to act. Some openly deny that climate change exists while others have a vested interest in allowing polluting industries to continue their destructive practices…
Joky Hen – talk about political interference and friends in high places. There used to be a programme on BBC TV hosted by Jimmy Saville – it was called “Jim’ll fix it.”
Hey nobody has picked up on John Boscawen complaining that life as an MP was “too” hard”.
what a softcock he turned out to be. All those priniciples and all the rest weren’t wortha tin of it when it came down to his personal comfort.
‘Anne 1.1.1.1.2
30 September 2011 at 7:21 pm said,
in reply to Joe Bloggs saying ‘Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark’
“I call bullshit on that Joe Bloggs. Sure, he was happy to be seen associating with her when she was the prime-minister but he never claimed to support her politically. Indeed he is on record at the time saying (and I paraphrase) “I prefer not to talk about the politics” Well, he reneged on his word by politically endorsing Key so perhaps Mr. Leitch owes an apology too.” ‘
@ Anne
I heard him say that he did not get involved with the politics when asked if he supported Helen Clark.
I am beginning to be a little concerned for Peter Leitch now. If Leitch is so adored by the blue collars and they are usually the ones to be laid off when greed for profit becomes the catchcry of NAct, will they thank him later for helping Key to get back in to put into practice everything he needed to wait for the second term to do, everything that erodes still further the working rights their fathers and grandfathers fought to obtain. I doubt it.
Damned right Leitch owes an apology; it is patently obvious that he did not support Helen Clark politically but was happy to use that connection to his own advantage. If he did support Helen Clark he would have said so then, just as he is saying now that he supports John Key.
Court Game set and match against Peter Leitch. Apology please, Peter Leitch.
“blue collars”????
You arogant arse.
I’m a “blue collar” & don’t vote left…..just re-read the bile your spewing.
If it was posted by someone from the right you lot would be all over them.
It’s called the Right for a reason, so get your head out of your arse!!!!
I have no interest in how you vote; the term ‘blue collars’ was used by another blogger from the rightwing (small r) i.e. the sewer, your neck of the woods, a couple of threads ago.
I just recycled it.
So get your facts right and then return to the sewer – kiwiblog – from whence you came.
Latest Roy Morgan is out. It happened at the time of the RWC launch. National down 6%, Labour up 4.5%, Greens at 11%, all that I would like to say in a self conscious restrained way is …
Yeah, baby! You bet me by a nano-second, MS, I just checked in an idle moment and there ya have it. A top start to the weekend and I sniff a change in the media’s attitude to Key in the last couple of weeks too.
Wow down 1.5% to 1%, and the bad part of the result is that confidence is up …. How can this be … The country and the world are facing huge problems and kiwis think that she will be right …
I wonder however if Key finally jumped the shark today. For the sake of my country I hope so …
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This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
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. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
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. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
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. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
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 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
RNZ News A group of academic staff at New Zealand’s largest university have expressed concern at the administration’s move to block a protest encampment that was planned to take place on campus calling for support for the rights of Palestinians. This week, the University of Auckland warned that while it ...
Genterwocky After a hard days marching, Sir Doocey calls in at the Village Tavern For a pint of ale and a pork pie. The grim villagers stare at him. “Do not be travelling on the forest road,” warns a crusty old beak. “And why is that, antique peasant?” Grins Sir ...
Political conferences after a party returns to power are usually a chance for some healthy, even unhealthy backslapping. Yet National Party president Sylvia Wood’s address to its mainland representatives on Saturday hardly contained the unalloyed delight that one might have expected following National’s escape from the wilderness of opposition. Yes, ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
I didn’t know books could open you back up; that there were books that stayed with you, where reading was like a chemical event. I knew nothing.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Not too long ago, I was listening to the American ...
Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
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At last, MSM attention has been focused on Darien Fenton’s hate speech.
Perhaps now she will realise that Sir Peter Leitch is the type of person that Labour used to represent – a man who has never forgotten his working class roots, and who gives unstintingly of his time and energy for those less well off
It just goes to show how much Labour has alienated its support base.
What is it about the liberal-left and its pathological loathing of freedom of speech and open debate? Rather than vilifying Sir Peter, Labour should be asking how they can win his support back.
At least she has finally apologised and withdrawn (whether of her own volition or not) yet Campbell Larsen and a number of others commenting on this site maintain their vitriol towards Peter.
I prefer not to use the Sir. Dont care what anybody says, or what his politics are Leitch is a fantastic bloke. He does for his community with actions, not words. We should all applaud him for what he is.
On that note it sets a bad precedent to criticise people who state their preferences in the public arena, if he was to come out for Labour he would probably get attacked from the other end. Better to not go there.
I call bullshit on the last few words in your comment Bored.
Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark – visit his museum in Mangere and you’ll still see pictures of her proudly displayed by the Butch. “The other end” never said a bad word about that relationship.
Whats the problem Joe, I think Peter Leitch a great guy, I dont think he or anybody else should be judged for stating a personal political preference.
For the record I think his preference Shonkey is a total pillock, but hey there are a few ABs Graham Henry prefers to my choices……of course I am right and he is wrong.
Your a total cock!!! Sir Peter is everything you and your ilk will never be.An outstanding New Zealander that will go down in history as a real working class hero!
Calm down, dale – take a pill, breathe, and use your words…
Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark
I call bullshit on that Joe Bloggs. Sure, he was happy to be seen associating with her when she was the prime-minister but he never claimed to support her politically. Indeed he is on record at the time saying (and I paraphrase) “I prefer not to talk about the politics” Well, he reneged on his word by politically endorsing Key so perhaps Mr. Leitch owes an apology too.
mad butcher fairweatrher friend just like glenn.H’ell back any horse so long as he thinks its a winning one.Working class hero he has shown he is not
Apologise? Not really.
Fenton has said that her reaction was impulsive and silly. A small concession to be sure, but it’s evident from Butch’s reaction that Fenton has not picked up the phone and apologised to him.
Here’s a clue – an apology is an expression of one’s regret, remorse, or sorrow for having insulted, or wronged another.
A fulsome apology might sound something like this: “I’m sorry Butch. I apologise for my pig-ignorance and vilification of your character. I’m truly remorseful for the distress I’ve caused you.”
As for Larsen? Wishing death on the Butch – then whining when someone tells his agent??? Oh grow me some balls, boy! He’s just another piece-of-shit example of how out of touch Labour and its liberal-left supporters are with mainstream New Zealand.
Typical RWNJ’s. Child poverty, undermining the rule of law, environmental devastation, ratings downgrades, pwah and who cares.
But find a leftie who used a couple of not very nice words about an old guy and there is hell to play …
troll alert!
I post a few words in defense of Sir Peter and you imply that I have no concerns about child poverty, undermining the rule of law, environmental devastation, and ratings downgrades????
Well good on you for parading your own moral and socio-political virtue by being seen to express the “right” thoughts on every subject under the sun.
Now back to reality – will Fenton apologise to the Butch?
JB to you and Lowerstandard can I suggest that you adopt the action proposed in the case of Arkell v Pressdram?
MS – I would rather ‘place my John Thomas in the hands of a madman with a meat cleaver’ than take the advice from NZ’s answer to Lionel Hutz.
Priceless!
Higher Standard
Thats a bit below the belt.
I understand Lionel Hutz is much better thought of in the legal profession than MS
Whether or not you want to take advice from Mickey, I really think you two really should look up Arkell, it’s still the best response to a lawyer ever formulated.
Will do.
You guys are an irony and hypocrisy recognition free zone. Wailing and complaining about hate speech and then engaging in attempted character assassination.
You do realise that it is being hypocritical … don’t you?
Her comment
; is far removed from Campbell’s death wish.
Sir Peter Leitch himself has clearly indicated why some of us are pissed off by what he has said.
;
So whilst he may have supported Labour, he never went on TV rabbiting on about how “John Key was the man to sort out ChCh” (especially when he clearly isn’t).
Of course this sort of story deflects from Blinglish’s financial incompetence, the lack of sensible policies and the smile and wave approach.
So whilst he may have supported Labour,
He never said he supported Labour. He was happy to support Helen Clark when she was prime-minster but he never endorsed her politically!
Sorry, but in some respects at least, he’s a home grown Owen Glenn.
Cry me a river Joe. I have never shied away from genuine attempts at discussion and I believe that those that have actually participated in this one, rather than just throwing insults and schoolyard taunts around, are wiser for having taken part.
The questions remain:
Is celebrity endorsement of political leaders a good thing?
Doesn’t this just led us down the path of American style personality politics? Is this what we want?
When does ‘news’ become electioneering? is it a problem? If so how should we respond?
‘Butch’ may very well have been innocently doing what he has always done, selling stuff on tv, but an election is not a sausage. I am convinced by others reports that he is a very generous and well meaning fellow – unfortunately the same cannot be said of Jonkey – the man he supports.
Frankly I don’t give a flying fuck for you or your thoughts on having ‘become wiser’
“The questions remain:
Is celebrity endorsement of political leaders a good thing?”
Well according to you ‘yes’ if they are on your team and ‘no’ if they’re on the opposition team.
Now back off to your latte with the luuuuuuurvies.
Oh and by the way……. MACBETH.
Campbell Larsen said ‘are wiser for having taken part.’
I’ll agree with that, having learned that Peter Leitch has on’sold’ his business to his daughter, pocketed the money in trusts, and with no capital gains tax to reduce that, keeps a huge amount of money that he now helps out the less fortunate blue collars on their $13 per hour wages, if they have a job that is.
Key doesn’t want a CGT; Goff does. There’s a good reason for wanting to get Key back in right there.
What business wouldn’t want to get alongside any PM to advertise their wares and get more huge tax cuts. Look at Matthew Ridge.
Sure Leitch is probably a nice guy. But, he’s not a saint; he’s a businessman who gets tax concessions and helped people with cheap meat, thereby earning him huge advertising for free.
I also heard him say when asked who he supported at the 2008 election; he said he was not telling. That’s a given admission that he already supported Key but did not want to upset his business progress. He said that when in the company of Clark.
Once more; if he has used his cancer card to push voter choice for Key, then he has earned my contempt.
What a muppet thing to say by Fenton.
Some people need to be media managed.
.
Farrrk, Phil Goff agrees with me! I’m doomed with the kiss of death!!
Labour leader Phil Goff said today he did not agree with Ms Fenton’s comments about Sir Peter. “I’m a real Warriors fan. I’ve been going to their matches for years and have caught up with the Mad Butcher many times. He is a great guy and a great ambassador for rugby league. He is absolutely entitled to express whatever opinion he likes.”
Just a pity that Butch has to go to that vile place Red Alert to read Fenton’s apology – instead of receiving a contrite phone call from her directly…
Yes Joe Bloggs,
Phil Goff said that another person has a right to say what he likes.
We all accept that. That’s why we all state on here what we like, and the moderators then decide if that is okay or not because it is their site, and I e.g. say Peter Leitch is using his public persona to influence voting, and if he is using his cancer card to do that, that is reprehensible, lowers him in my estimation, and earns him my contempt.
Funny that you don’t want to hear what we have to say, which makes you a fascist.
Go ahead, knock yourself out Jum – say what you like – tar yourself with the same brush as that piece of shit Larsen.
But before you crawl down to that level, take a moment to remind yourself that it was the Butch who got on the BBQ and fed every mourner at David Lange’s funeral. And very grateful we all were for his efforts.
joe bloggs, crawl? No.
Like I said, the man’s a businessman; there’s nothing like a funeral to advertise…
Nah, I like the guy really, but to make out he’s some sort of national hero is quite frankly bizarre.
I’ll even let him join my cancer club if he stops trying to influence voters.
There’s nothing worse.
Oh yes there was – John Key giving extra money for herceptin, just before the 2008 election, a drug unproven to produce any greater result over a longer period, yet cunningly expected to con women into voting for him. I didn’t like him before the 2008 election knowing he was one of The manipulative Hollow Men, but even I was gobsmacked to find that he had used women’s illnesses to gain extra votes.
The man has no shame. Those who associate with him will eventually be tainted by the brand.
Maybe those herceptin women are the guinea pigs; do they know? That’s the history of New Zealand by men – don’t inform the women you are experimenting on them.
So, since Key used the illness card in 2008, and it proved very successful with women, voting-wise, using the cancer card is being tried again. I hope not; I can’t believe Peter Leitch would do what Key did. I can believe it of Key – not of Leitch, at least I hope not.
No. What she said was mild, it was nothing… Don’t exaggerate! The Mad Butcher (who has the squickiest radio jingle in creation, btw) needs to grow a thicker skin.
Once more; if he has used his cancer card to push voter choice for Key, then he has earned my contempt.
Cheers Jum: on the button. I didn’t have feelings one way or the other about Peter Leitch until he used his cancer as a political tool – and don’t anyone pretend he didn’t because he bloody well did! He plummeted in my estimation as a result. Darien Fenton’s response was fair enough.
Nuance is lost on you isn’t it LS?
There is an important difference between celebrities supporting policies and taking a stance on issues vs celebrities simply endorsing the leader of a party on a superficial basis – you don’t seen to have grasped it yet so I will let you ponder it some more.
What the Hell, why don’t we just do away with elections and instead appoint whichever party can line up the most celebrities? After all if they were on TV a few times, or played rugby, or gave to charity they must be much more important and worthy than that silly old democratic principle of one person, one vote.
Campbell Larsen,
Unfortunately, Campbell, your second paragraph has already come to pass. How do you think Key got in in 2008? Taking two sportsmen around the pacific people during the election campaign so they all thought – gee if these two pacifica people like Key, he must be okay. No thoughts about the policies or the mask of Key.
It worked so well in 2008, he’s doing it again, but rarking it up somewhat with visuals from Matthew Ridge and rotundtable financiers and what I once thought were reputable public personalities i.e. Leitch who in 2008 would not say whom he was voting for but in 2011 is happy to.
If people fall for a con once, that’s okay; if they fall for it twice they deserve the fallout.
Key got in via the 2008 election because the swing voters wanted to vote Helen and Labour out – you really are in Lala land you naughty teletubby.
No higherstandard(who is slipping as we blog).
It was reported that many of the people that voted for National had been told that they would still get Helen Clark as Prime Minister.
Gullible enough to believe anything a NAct campaigner would say is a worry, but far too many people are still too trusting of this government and they will continue to vote for Key for what is basically – nothing.
MACBETH
higherstandard,
get thee behind me you wicked warlock and take your damned ghosts with you – crosby and textor to go by the modern titles.
Sorry,l I honestly don’t see where what Darien Fenton said was so bad! She simply said she wasn’t going near him again, but never said that anyone else should follow suit…
Hate speech? RWNJ’s really do have thin skin.
Seems that the right can dish it out, but they cannot take it.
I see right wingers dish out hate speech galore, especially on kiwiblog.
And Peter Leitch is a fat idiot. So what if he ‘donates to charity’. Charites always pick and choose who they help anyway.
Darien should have stood by her comments. The world needs more people like her, who would stick it to the powerful in the name of the powerless.
Mad Butcher, you are dirty stinking flithy traitor.
[lprent: You are getting very close to the bounds of deliberate flame starting. I would suggest modifying the style in a hurry. ]
Wow classy people at this site.
[lprent: Is that a question?
We don’t segregate by class or anything else part from behaviors.
Read the policy if you want to figure out what we allow from commentators (and where we would interfere) ]
Yes bemused.
We are classy people at The Standard, because we actually care about what is happening to our beloved country New Zealand and the Kiwis that live here.
Ranged against us are greedy people that will make a huge pile of money out of betraying everything this country stands for or once stood for; an egalitarian style of living.
Too much greed was once a disease, not a career choice.
Then we got Douglas, then we got Richardson – we slowed down with Clark and then we got Key AND Douglas.
Greed and selfishness is now a career choice.
Heh. That was a amusing. I popped out to see who you were talking to to find myself looking at two separate moderation notes.
Of course I seldom look at who or what people are responding to because of the nature of the moderation queue. In this case a newbie saying something daft, and millsy walking too close to the edge :twsted:
Right wingers hate speech??????
Mad Butcher, you are dirty stinking flithy traitor……….. Now if that ain’t hate speech, I think you Millsy could teach them a thing or 2………….not good form!!!!!!!
Comments yesterday on the MSMs inability to say anything that reflects reality (as opposed to the interest driven orthodoxy)…and in this mornings New York Times we see more front page fantasy.. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/business/global/even-if-europe-averts-crisis-growth-may-lag-for-years.html?_r=1&hp
Growth may lag for years, whoopee. There will be middle class angst, hand wringing, wailing and a great gnashing of teeth. That which is held real and precious will become a distant dream.
Guys, even if the MSM cant write it up as it really is get used to the idea, long term growth economics is mortally wounded. prepare forthe new reality of solid state resource limited economics.
Your thoughts please on the impartiality (racism/old boy network/power of the sponsors) of the IRB
Samoan player wears MOUTHGUARD which has an ‘unauthorised sponsors logo’ – fined $10000 – the wearing of such item breaches ‘contracts’ but not ‘the laws of the game’. Player feels it in the pocket.
England trainers (and their most respected/well known player) deliberately change the ball being used for the conversion, breaching the laws of the game (on more than one occasion) – result the trainers are told not to be at Eden park for the next game (one game ban) – nil for the player asking for the ball, nil for the team that cheated, nil for the opposition.
Gin swilling gits.
IRB = International Racist Board
Perfectly consistent. One hits their income stream, the other merely drags the integrity of the game closer to stadium wrestling.
Although they should probably remove “rugby” from their name, otherwise they’ll eventually run foul of fair trading act.
Fractional reserve banking is a great system because.:
1. It fuels economies.
2. Makes heaps of money for banks.
3. Works because depositors will never all ask for their money back at the same time.
What was number 3 again?
Oh dear!
#3 really is true, though. Imagine if all of the depositors at banks all over the world did actually ask for their money back. It would actually be impossible to liquidate everything that represented that money, and what would everyone do with the money anyway? Buy some of the assets? It would just be a huge money-go-round.
I’ve actually had similar thoughts about the concentration of wealth in the hands of the minority – it effectively works as a great big dampener on inflation by preventing money from circulating in the economy.
If the 5% or less who own 95% of the deposits asked for their money………
Indeed – will be interesting to see how the Australian banks weather the oncoming storm.
Bank run
It seems that which will never happen has happened quite often.
I don’t recall any bank runs in which every single person in the world took out all of their money at the same time. Which is what I said.
Watch Mary Poppins and you’ll see what happens when people ask for what is rightfully theirs.
So listening to Morning Report this morning, it turns out with this cigarette ban in prisons that the prisons now give out patches and nicotine lozenges to prisoners whenever they ask for it, without any restrictions or limitations on consumption. Some prisoners have been spotted wearing 2-3 patches at a time, and others have been going through lozenges “like they were mints”.
These nicotine replacement therapies are paid for by the taxpayer, where previously cigarettes were paid for by the prisoners.
I’ll note just before the ban came into effect 3 months ago there was a nice little story going around about how prisoners were going to be enrolled in singing classes and given carrots as a way to prevent nicotine withdrawal. It seems that that news report was entirely PR spin from the government to make them look “tough on criminals”, when the reality is that they can get all the nicotine they want from the therapies. I expect the prisoners probably prefer the new regime because they aren’t paying for it and may be able to get more nicotine than they used to, and I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few of them actually preferred these alternatives over cigarettes (I’ve heard quite a few smokers say they don’t really enjoy it, but just do it because they’re addicted).
Be nice to see Labour ask some questions on this in parliament.
That’s how I was for quite some time before I gave up. Sitting down to a coffee and ciggy for relaxation is enjoyable for a while but it soon palls.
Sitting down to a coffee and ciggy for relaxation is enjoyable for a while but it soon palls.
It palled for me when I became aware in a hospital bed with a foreign body stuffed in a artery, and Lyn stating that I’d smoked my last cigarette because she wasn’t going through the trauma of keeping me alive again.
Seven months off the tobacco now after 30 years smoking. But I’d have to say for me it was definitely a straight addiction that I wasn’t getting too much pleasure from….
Coffee is a lot less of an addiction. I can and have stopped using that easily, something that was incredibly difficult with cigarettes
The good news is after cessation of smoking your risk decreases quite sharply over time – as should your insurance costs.
Haven’t noticed the latter yet. I should investigate because as I get older the rates go up.
True enough.
Although there’s still a measurable long term effect.
Indeed – Never starting to smoke is one of the best things you can do for your health.
Although it might make life more boring. I’m a big fan of QALY (quality-adjusted life years) when it comes to alcohol, cigars, and avoiding rabbit food 🙂
Good on you Lyn, first sensible thing you’ve said for a while. More power to you.
And I didn’t know that you cared… 😈
Yeah well, we’re all human (sort of)
it took me 20 years to knock the habit. I wish someone had told me that nicotine was more addictive than heroin 🙁 🙁 when I first started smoking…
So like I said more power to you…
But that’s no reason to get all cosy with me – I’m also a reformed liberal 😆
When my dad was in hospital after his heart attack, he said to my mum “well at least I don’t have to quit smoking!”. They got some rather puzzled looks from other people (patients/nurses) in the room – he had to explain that he never smoked.
Good on you, and if I were in your position I would probably do the same. The problem is that absent any of the stuff I’ve been told will happen to me, (none of it has), I have no motivation to quit – I know better than to believe that anti-smoking campaigners actually give a monkey’s about the ‘health’ of anyone! They’re simply authoritarians, who will actually have far more credibility with me, (and others!) when they have a word to say against alcohol misuse, air-pollution etc. I used to be on the periphery of a social circle that had at its core several dozen hard-core ASH members. Every one of them drank more alcohol (in the form of expensive wine!) in an evening than I’ve drunk in a lifetime, and than the average non-middle class kiddie would have in a year! I looked on and thought “hello hypocrites!”
I truly believe a lot of it is a class thing…
I take it you don’t smoke and never have, Lanth… What on earth good were
‘singing classes and carrots’ supposed to do? My son worked at CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug Support) in 2008, and although he’s a fanatical anti-smoker, he was sensible enough to agree with CADS policy – they don’t insist that people trying to deal with alcoholism and P addiction, quit cigarettes. It’s too much to cope with. You can’t force someone to give up anything and expect them to do it. They have to want to themselves!
You’re also either very naive or very authoritarian, if you believe that patches and gum actually come even close to actually supplying “all the nicotine they want”. (I’ve tried the patches, and I assure you that even though I smoke a fraction of the amount that some others do, I barely notice that I have a patch!) Crazy old Tariana came up with the idea of making prisoners all stop smoking, and the “let’s hate on crims” brigade all immediately orgasmed over the prospect of punishing “crim’nals” some more. Very vicious, very authoritarian, just plain nasty. I recommend you read the book ‘Face to face with evil’, written by a psychologist who spent years interviewing Ian Brady (one of the Moors murderers) about his life in a “secure hospital”. He’s 73 now, has been banged up there for 46 years… and periodically gets ‘given the bash’ which I believe is the NZ term… On top of it all, they declared that the secure hospitals (equivalent of the Mason Clinic) would become Smoke Free from 2008. Just lovely!
I really haven’t the words to express how angry I feel about this issue. My anger is just exacerbated by all these news stories invited the Garth McVicar types (and the anti-smoking hysterics) to cream their jeans and laugh at the stupid crims…
Given the Credit Rating downgrade I expected that the Herald would have large headlines. And commentary on why so.
Fraid not. The Mad Butcher having his feelings hurt is much more important.
I was listening to morning report at 7:30 and they were saying “it’s only just come out” and so the markets hadn’t had much time to react.
So the print edition will have nothing on it. Online will probably doing some scrambling to get stories out, too. I’d expect more this afternoon.
NO sign of Hooten, though I bet he is snooping around (or does he do that in the early hours)? Not such good news today Matthew regarding the credit rating – seem to remember Joky Hen wouldn’t implement some measure a couple of months back on the grounds that it might affect our AAAAAA+++ standing. Seems the agencies have done it anyway so he might just as well have implemented the change.
Too busy sucking up to the Chinese, and working out how to ensure our ports wind up in their hands.
Someone should remind him that they actually hanged Petain. They didnt give him a pat on the back,
Elvis says hi.
Tramp The Dirt Down – for NZ PM John Phillip Key.
Lprent – has the WYSIWYG interface got screwed; things like the blockquote button are misbehaving.
I always had troubles with it any way. So now I just use regular style.
I tend to post then edit in tags afterwards. But then at work I also prefer to programme directly, rather than using the project GUIs 🙂
Spreading with at least 52 cities in America occupied or organizing.
http://occupytogether.org/
You know you can have all the huffington posts and michael moore web sites you like, until the MSM start giving this coverage it wont work.
brett dale,
a citizen class action against the NZ media might bring some notice.
The action would be that foreign-owned media are actively trying to rort a fair election in New Zealand.
What would it cost to take it to court and how many people would be interested in funding it?
Are you in some kind of a competition with Trav ?
Jon Stephenson clarified the role of SAS troops in Afghanistan on Morning Report today
He made the point that the soldiers (especially the dead ones) had a right to be acknowledged for the actual role they are playing. He was not kind about John Key’s continuing claims that their role is ‘mentoring’ and argued that it amounted to using the soldiers deaths to support the PR spin and, consequently, misrepresenting the brave, individual efforts they were putting in to their role.
An interesting observation.
Labour sells out – again.
Yeah Draco,
Wish I was surprised. I’m really starting to get my head around the death of the Labour movement. I’ve been talking about it for a while, but that didn’t mean I’d accepted it.
It scares the shit out of me cos there’s this big vacuum on the left, at the worst possible time, and no way of knowing what, if anything, will takes its place. I realise Labour hasn’t been anything like Labour for yonks, and that was never going to be sustainable. We couldn’t pretend forever. The financial crisis has just brought things to a head. And Labour turned further right/authoritarian because there just wasn’t enough Labour left in Labour.
Hope you’re proud of yourselves, Labour parliamentarians (and the likes of John Pagani). The Opposition (must give you a wry laugh when we call you that), putting the last nails in the coffin, kicking the working class in the teeth.
Slow clap.
United States is a Joke
There’s no doubt that climate change is one of the biggest issues we’ve ever faced, and that the planet is warming, mostly due to human activity.
Despite unequivocal evidence that we’re responsible, those most able to make changes to reduce emissions are failing to act. Some openly deny that climate change exists while others have a vested interest in allowing polluting industries to continue their destructive practices…
Joky Hen – talk about political interference and friends in high places. There used to be a programme on BBC TV hosted by Jimmy Saville – it was called “Jim’ll fix it.”
Rushed Visas
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/5684460/Michael-Luck-Junior-may-get-help-from-PM
The wheels have been put in motion for a fast-tracked passport but there is a backup plan, with rugby league and Warriors ambassador Sir Peter Leitch calling upon his mate Key for help in the event of any glitches in the process.
Coronation Street schedules.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/john-key-pledges-fight-coro-switch-4428912
He said he would talk to “someone important” at TVNZ about the change of timeslot.
Suggest all the unemployed write to him in person – god knows what he’ll turn up for you.
Hey nobody has picked up on John Boscawen complaining that life as an MP was “too” hard”.
what a softcock he turned out to be. All those priniciples and all the rest weren’t wortha tin of it when it came down to his personal comfort.
‘Anne 1.1.1.1.2
30 September 2011 at 7:21 pm said,
in reply to Joe Bloggs saying ‘Sir Peter came out for years in support of Helen Clark’
“I call bullshit on that Joe Bloggs. Sure, he was happy to be seen associating with her when she was the prime-minister but he never claimed to support her politically. Indeed he is on record at the time saying (and I paraphrase) “I prefer not to talk about the politics” Well, he reneged on his word by politically endorsing Key so perhaps Mr. Leitch owes an apology too.” ‘
@ Anne
I heard him say that he did not get involved with the politics when asked if he supported Helen Clark.
I am beginning to be a little concerned for Peter Leitch now. If Leitch is so adored by the blue collars and they are usually the ones to be laid off when greed for profit becomes the catchcry of NAct, will they thank him later for helping Key to get back in to put into practice everything he needed to wait for the second term to do, everything that erodes still further the working rights their fathers and grandfathers fought to obtain. I doubt it.
Damned right Leitch owes an apology; it is patently obvious that he did not support Helen Clark politically but was happy to use that connection to his own advantage. If he did support Helen Clark he would have said so then, just as he is saying now that he supports John Key.
Court Game set and match against Peter Leitch. Apology please, Peter Leitch.
@ JUM
“blue collars”????
You arogant arse.
I’m a “blue collar” & don’t vote left…..just re-read the bile your spewing.
If it was posted by someone from the right you lot would be all over them.
It’s called the Right for a reason, so get your head out of your arse!!!!
Kenelle,
I have no interest in how you vote; the term ‘blue collars’ was used by another blogger from the rightwing (small r) i.e. the sewer, your neck of the woods, a couple of threads ago.
I just recycled it.
So get your facts right and then return to the sewer – kiwiblog – from whence you came.
what ever………..
Which just proves that you’re a stupid RWNJ voting against your interests.
i’m stupid…..yeah thats right….
No, you just have a bit of difficulty with punctuation, capitalisation, and basic political comprehension.
who asked you
Nobody asked me, because Who is outside talking to Somebody.
McFlock,
LOL.
Kenelle,
Maybe we can start again – have a truce maybe? I always prefer a conversation not a slanging match.
Latest Roy Morgan is out. It happened at the time of the RWC launch. National down 6%, Labour up 4.5%, Greens at 11%, all that I would like to say in a self conscious restrained way is …
FCUK YEAH!
Yeah, baby! You bet me by a nano-second, MS, I just checked in an idle moment and there ya have it. A top start to the weekend and I sniff a change in the media’s attitude to Key in the last couple of weeks too.
One question though. Where’s Winny?
Wow down 1.5% to 1%, and the bad part of the result is that confidence is up …. How can this be … The country and the world are facing huge problems and kiwis think that she will be right …
I wonder however if Key finally jumped the shark today. For the sake of my country I hope so …
Keep everything crossed for the next eight weeks mates. 😀
Anne,
Done.
My eyes rolled when I heard on TV 3 news that English wants people to pay off personal debt and save. Yeah right, don’t do as the government does.
Saving would be nice, many can’t feed their kids!