On open mike this morning I’d like to bring up daylight bloody saving. Day 2 getting up now at what was 5 am. Bloody annoying, why can’t we split the difference and leave it all year. twice a year I get my work routine interrupted. it’s annoying and tiring. Right now I’m 3 weeks into a major order. Now I got to go to work being sharp as but tired as. It’s just not right.
All year? I’m afraid getting up an hour earlier down here in the south in the middle of winter with frosts and worse to contend with would not be in the interests of public safety.
Edit: Internal Affairs page on daylight saving history says in 1868 our time was set 11 1/2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. TRP is right, it was set to 12 hours in the war and confirmed by the Time Act in the 1970s.
I so agree. Personally I love the light early mornings, run on the beach with the dogs and watch the sunrise – it somehow makes the day go so much better. But now I’m back to setting the alarm and getting up in the dark for the next 4 weeks. So much nicer being woken by bellbirds. The adjustment period to summer/winter time is about 2 weeks – it stuffs my body clock and makes me grumpy. Half an hour difference between the two and all year round would be great!
While I missed my first meetings yesterday and today due to getting up later than everyone else so I am inclined to agree with you (I’m not a morning person 🙂 ), there is a certain irony in making a comment against getting up earlier when you were quite obviously the first person up for the day 🙂
I’d be absolutely cool with the same time setting all year round. I’m crap at adjusting to the summer hours, it takes me weeks. It’s really bad when you’re an insomniac like me.
I was aghast when daylight savings time was extended back in 2006 (07?) Part of that change was Peter Dunne’s fault. He was largely behind the push, along side the mayor for Nelson, at the time.
@phillip .. please accept a gold star for ‘the ever-oleaginous Dunne’ .. thank u !
and did you notice the dweeb from Epsom said even though he not leader of Act, he would be accepting the Leader’s budget in Parliament because that’s how the law is written !!! ( oink, oink, oink .. with apologies to piggies everywhere)
Seymour will go down in history somehow if only for most egregious grovelling.
Phillip .. why do you think Key is being so free and generous while he already holds a majority ? He sure is buying something from Dumb and Dumber.
Is it solely for number guarantees pushing through TPPA ?
the dweeb on tv this morn saying:.(while being asked about his half a million dollars a year work-experience gig..and a reference to hides (faux as it turned out) perk-busting..)
.’act is against big government…”
..and i swear he managed to say it po-faced..
(not even a lip twitch..but when on their own..how he/they must laugh..eh..?..)
..and what a great deal for the taxpayers..!
..instead of a backbenchers-salary a national mp in epsom wd have earned..
..we have the not so salutary experience of seeing the work-experience dweeb being given a half a million plus trough..
..from/upon which to gorge..
..what a sick fucken joke..
..and in answer to yr question..i think key is just looking to 2017..
..he wants them there..in case he needs them..
..and he is like a pimp with his whores..
..doen’t like to loose/loosen his control over his ‘bitches’…
Oh dear.
Maybe a psyco doctor could offer an opinion.
Why the pure hatred ?
Why the venom ?
Do you really think you advance our argument with stuff like,
“the dweeb.”
“the pimp and his whores.”
“his bitches”
Make a salient point if you can, thats one thing, but this sort of invective
just turns most people off.
This puke talk is just counterproductive phillip.
It may help you feel better personally but does our cause no good at all.
People read this. People who do not bother to post opinions make judgements.
Please try harder, or….
just STFU
you’r not helping.
Get it ?
Oh FO and Cry Cry Cry somewhere else Cricko ! Nothing wrong with PU’s colourful diction. Essential to efficient making of his valid point actually. Maybe it’s you should STFU Mr Bland. Let yourself down a little bit with the “STFU”……according to your own ‘standards’ that is.
The best to you….and THANK YOU for all you do…I live in the US, and a charming KIWI told me about your site, and now you are my first stop every morning….”
There has been an overly frequent use/abuse of “at the end of the day” across the parties. Disappointing to hear Cunliffe say it, but even more curious was a candidate for one of the Maori seats speaking on Kowhiri 14 on Maori TV (apologies, can’t remember who) that used the phrase a record number of times, so much that, that phrase completely overshadowed any point he was trying to make.
They could try something more poetic…..perhaps “when dusk falls”, “when the gloaming comes” etc.
Key started it though. His line could be (after a sucking in of air through the teeth) “at beer o clock……….”
David Cunliffe gave very good accounts of himself on both Campbell Live and The Paul Henry Show last night. He seems to me to be “in a good place” with regard to why he is going into battle for the Leadership of the Party.
Kia kaha David.
I don’t know whether I’d be able to stomach a conversation with Paul Henry. That is above and beyond the call of duty. He is an oxygen thief.
Didn’t see Henry but on Campbell live he blamed his caucus and said that some could argue that the election result was a sign that Labour was turning around the decline. More denial, this time bordering on delusion, while the first point is terrible for a leader to say. He is tearing the party apart.
I would put the blame more on some members of the caucus to rush to judgement within 48 hours of the election pitting the blame on the result solely on Cunliffe and demanding he resign, then rush to vote in their own whip showing disunity and disloyalty to the party bringing it into disrepute. Wrong and hasty moves. Complete stupidity.
I saw the reaction of caucus as a whole against David coming not from the result itself but his reaction to the result which was horribly poor.
In those moments straight after New Zealanders need to hear that Labour had heard what they were saying and they were not getting that from the leader.
What’s more he has lost the support of the best performing MP in the caucus, David Parker, via his awful attempt to muzzle him.
That was an indictment on his leadership and should be a message to the party not to return this guy because he is simply has very poor personal skills.
He might be good at speaking to loyal members, but non-members are turned off by him.
Whenever I’ve spoken to any potential Labour voter who’s heard Robertson speak, they’re always impressed, and that’s what we need.
Its ridiculous to go into blame mode and focus on the leadership question when the party itself is out of touch with the voters it traditionally represents and its failure to hold this national govt to account on the social issues that National is poaching Labours policies on with the govt providing nothing more than lip service and false data on the real state of the nations ability to address real poverty .
This national govt will use its majority in the house to further side step the truth about what they will do about the environment, social services,R&D, and what it is giving away on TTPA , let alone what is already been decided before the election on our coerced commitment to the US foreign policy thru 5 eyes Also the lack of diversity in our export income because this govt will not provide incentive for a living wage because it is too bloody tight like most right wing capitalist
We need to push all the economic priorities to the fore to get the truth on how National is going to direct this country in the next 3 years and not listen to the carrot and stick bullshit which is how National runs its economics for the masses while protecting the those who pay the National Party to be the govt
I would agree, but I think the first move in the counter direction as made by Cunliffe on election night and that has forced caucus and Robsertson’s hand to prevent something even more damaging. I wanted Cunliffe over Robertson because I though he was the best chance of winning, now we desperately need Grant because there will be nothing left of this party if Cunliffe remains. All or best talent lies with those who either oppose or do not support Cunliffe.
I would say that someone who failed miserably to win the Leadership race last time, yet is putting himself up for it again, could be said to be the one tearing the party apart. Grandiose ideas about oneself which don’t mirror reality and public perception could be said to be a sign of a selfish person. David Cunliffe is confident and ambitious sure, but that confidence comes from having the presence and intellectual grunt to completely revamp the party. Is John Key not ambitious, was Helen Clark not ambitious – since when is ambition a dirty word? Some people have the right stuff to be a leader and some people do not – people who are totally forgettable will never become Prime Ministers!
Ambition is a problem when it’s partnered, or fueled, with delusion and conceit. And as for Robertson failing miserably last time, isn’t that exactly what just happened to Cunliffe?
I agree with you, I thought it was one of Campbells better interviews. He didn’t let Cunners get away with too much of his spin and bullshit. Cunners came across as totally delusional.
[lprent: As gregj states below, an explanation of why someone should click on a link is generally going to not attract suspicion of astroturfing / click-baiting / link-whoring (and my attention).
This is an opinion piece in The Press about why it’d be a bad idea to abandon our current flag for a sporting symbol. ]
+100 …agreed!….he is no friend of the Left…he deserves contempt and repulsion for his spin for the corrupt and undemocratic oligarchy and right wing agenda( it is a reflection of his own Self) ….he does not deserve acknowledgment …he gets enough of this on Radio New Zealand!
…he tries to appear a friend of the Left because it suits his PR business purposes and right wing agenda spin
( there I am balanced …what I have to say is valuable to all New Zealanders and the Left spectrum as well!..i will put this endorsement by the Standard on my CV …I am a very important and valuable commentator!…even the left acknowledges this)
…Hooton is a wolf in sheep’s clothing…and a particularly dangerous one
Yeah – I find Hooton on today’s Open Mike a bit silly too.
Meanwhile – the Herald are running a poll this morning on who should be Labour’s Leader. Last time I looked Jacinda (inexperienced Jacinda) was in the lead for goodness sake ! Here’s the link
My choice sorry. I try to mix up the pictures to provide a bit of variety and to attract attention. Looks like this is working although not for the right reasons …
Thanks to whoever put up the Rimmer/Seymour picture the other day.
I found a website with all episodes of Red Dwarf, and have had quite a few vintage belly laughs out of the retrospective.
Jenny Kirk, why are you surprised everybody wants the lovely Jacinda for leader ….. almost 1 in 3 of us wanted the lovely Key for leader.
This is twice since Sept 20 that evidence has been shown that the average voter doesn’t know anything like they should about politics and leadership – they think it is all about the smile ffs/ Idiots. This is what people do. They voted in H1tler too don’t forget.
Reality? Get real. It is all about the perception.
actually i find Nanaia Mahuta way more attractive than the “lovely Jacinda” ( whose chompers are so big…they remind me of a rabbit relative of the March Hare’s)
Nanaia Mahuta would be a fantastic deputy to Cunliffe…she has the voter form ( very popular)…she is loyal and has the smarts ….AND she is attractive to the woman vote ( 50% of the population) …and the Maori and Polynesian vote ( an important part of Labour’s core constituency)
Nanaia Mahuta would go well head to head against Paula Bennett on Social Welfare ( crucial to win Labour’s turnout and vote)
Labour is already comfortably ahead in the female and the polynesian / Maori vote. there isn’t any need to go out of our way to appeal to those groups. Neither Mahuta or Ardern really strike me as good choices. Neither has much fire in their belly and both will look suspiciously like token picks.
Cunliffe-Shearer might be a stroke of genius. Cunliffe would get the backing of a significant rival and Shearer would have the chance to build up support, and present himself as a unifier, for a future contest with Robertson.
A bit of a myth that gets regularly regurgitated on the blogosphere. The most the Nazis ever got in a free Election was 37% (less than 14 million out of 37 million votes cast / 230 out of 608 Reichstag seats) . By the time Hitler seized power (in a series of manoeuvres akin to a constitutional coup d’état), the Nazi vote was sliding back towards 30%.
Indeed. The splits in the left between hardline uncompromising fanatics and soft social democrats was a fatal error.
Might there be a lesson for us there?
(Though I imagine whatever camp people place themselves in, they will assume the compromise has to come from the other side. That’s not compromise, people, it’s insisting on unconditional surrender.)
“The splits in the left between hardline uncompromising fanatics and soft social democrats was a fatal error.”
Not so. While there was considerable bad blood between the two camps, it was the KPD that sought a united front with the SDP. It was the SPD that rejected the chance to work together.
And re: the other bit of revisionism, while it’s true that the Hitler never ‘won’ an election, his party was the most popular in the two years prior to the coup. The voting for Hitler thing is no less important because of the inaccuracy of the tagline; you only have to look next door at modern day France to see how his idealogical successors there have legitimised themselves at the ballot box.
Ah, no, swordfish, you misread me. I agree with you. The revisionism is the “widespread misconception that a large majority of Germans voted Hitler into power.” There’s a similar misconception about Key’s popularity round these parts, too!
Wasn’t it Cher herself – that font of wisdom – who said If I could turn back time, if I could find a way, I’d take back those words that hurt you, and you’d stay ?
You missed the bit about Stalin calling the SPD social fascists and claiming that they were as much the enemy as the actual fascists. After that, fighting the fascists together became much harder.
No, I didn’t miss it, Murray. By the time of the 1932 and ’33 federal elections, the Comintern had moved on from that sectarian position due to the stark reality of fascism and the KPD’s Thalmann proposed working with the SDP in early ’33 only to be rebuffed. As I noted, there was considerable bad blood between them, so it was not a surprise that a united front could not be organised until it was too late, but it was definitely the SDP that were ‘uncompromising’ (as swordfish put it).
@vto
It’s a wonder they didn’t vote in that Herald poll for Poorer Benefit not realising that they are supposed to be thinking about a Labour leader. Poorer looks so nice, the smile adjusted photogenically, quite upmarket. Reminds me of the disparaging comment made by someone meeting Pamela Ayres in the flesh , “Goodness, I didn’t recognise you. They did you up good for the telly.”
If you haven’t heard about this – there is a protest Hikoi against Statoil undertaking deep sea drilling off Northland’s coast.
Today is the chance for Aucklander’s to join this important movement in defence of our oceans by joining the Hikoi at 12 Noon at Britmart for the March up Queen St to the NZ Oil conference at SkyCity – today, Tuesday 30 Sept.
John Key admits that NZers like him because he sounds thick:
Asked why he is so often described as like somebody New Zealanders know from their local rugby club, he explains it is because “my vocabulary is so poor; or my elocution is.”
Ovid very true, John Key is a very shrewd politician who knows that he is more likeable if he comes across as an ordinary bloke. The left continue to under estimate him.
The gloss of Key will wear off. Cunliffe beat him easily in all the debates. Next election there will be no Dot Com to steal the oxygen. Gotta drop the rise in pension age but. I know it makes sense fiscally but its electoral poison.
Cunners is the one who talks to everyone as if they are stupid, I said key comes across as an ordinary bloke, Not arrogant, smarmy, and thinking he is better smarter than everyone else like Cunners
It’s pretty obvious he’s fooled you. That says something about your personality, and I have a strong suspicion it’s not good. I think it’s something to do with you imagining yourself in his shoes, so that when he evades a question and gets away with an evasive answer, you think it was you fooling people. In reality, he’ll fool fewer as time goes by until, at the end of the day……..
he was parachuted in to play a role and relies on the trickery that got him to the top of currency trading and merril lynch. the nats have produced a sound strategy to make what he is wanted… the two track strategy is clever and highly duplicitous, just like Key.
“We do ourselves no favours if we think John Key is dumb.”
I don’t think that was Lanthanide’s point.
John Key was responding to a question about why, in effect, he was seen to be like an ordinary New Zealander. He then said it was because he spoke as if he didn’t have a good vocabulary or his speech wasn’t comprehensible.
In effect, he was saying that he was taken as being an ordinary New Zealander because he sounded a bit slow. That suggests that he thinks ordinary New Zealanders don’t sound very intelligent.
None of that is the same as claiming that John Key – in fact, rather than in perception – is dumb.
Oh, look what has pooped out under OIA for Jared Savage at the Herald …. what Williamson really got up to for Donghua Liu .. who still awaits the court decision of whether he can vacate his guilty please on senselessly bashing both his ‘wife/partner’ and mother.
Note the using of John Key’s name referring to when opened one of Liu’s properties in these letters to our Ministers .. tacit approval from Jason Ede’s boss !!! Such a fine special criminal class of immigrant, supported by Key et al.
CORRUPTION and they are getting away with it, all over again.
More awful truths about Pike River and further corruption shame on Key’s govt:
Pike River ‘had the worst of everything
Being part of the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry was “one of the most difficult things” Stewart Bell has ever done.
Now he and Australian mining expert Mark Parcell are presenting the commission’s findings on the disaster for a series of work safety seminars around the country.
In Westport yesterday, Bell documented the events leading to Pike River coal mine exploding, killing 29 miners and contractors, on November 19, 2010.
“Right from the initial concept of Pike, things were going wrong,” he told the audience, which included Solid Energy employees and Mines Rescue Service staff.
He detailed the failings the commission had found in the running of the mine, especially with the management of methane in the underground mine.
“That is the worst gas monitoring system I’ve ever seen . . . and I’ve seen a lot of gas monitoring systems all over the place. What surprised us was that the explosion hadn’t happened earlier.”
Because of the difficult environment Pike River Coal was mining in, Bell said the operation needed “the best of everything”.
“Management, equipment, data . . . arguably, it had the worst of everything.
“We were lucky we didn’t lose more people.”
Given the level of failures, Bell said he was surprised there were no prosecutions.
“We were lucky we didn’t lose more people.”
Given the level of failures, Bell said he was surprised there were no prosecutions.
Former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall faced 12 charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, but those charges were dropped last December.
“If that series of events had taken place in a Queensland mine [where Bell is mine safety commissioner], we would have prosecuted.”
Given the level of failures, Bell said he was surprised there were no prosecutions.
I’m not. Once you have an aristocracy, as our societies worship of the rich and powerful has made them, then those aristocrats will never be held accountable for their criminal actions. We see this in the fact that the entire National government isn’t presently facing charges for corruption.
“Middle New Zealand” is a term used by David Shearer, Stuart Nash and Chris Trotter recently. I feel uncomfortable with it. It smells of “Mainstream New Zealand” as spoken by Don Brash.
What are they trying to achieve by using this language? Who do they have in mind when they refer to it?
Who do they thinks are NOT in middle New Zealand?
The term “middle New Zealand” is worrying to me because it suggests those who are assumed to be on the comfortable side of the fault-line between the haves and have-nots. Which in turn suggests moving further in the direction of the one-party state, where differences lie only in branding. Coke versus Pepsi, Spark versus Vodafone, etc.
In fact I think that the media/political circle outlined in Dirty Politics extends beyond dishing the dirt – it also serves to determine who gets to play in the sandpit with those-in-the-know, creating blurred lines between National, Labour and the political media. The screeching that has followed David Cunliffe (Ferguson this morning kept saying 24% over and over again like a talking bird) has the tone of a tribe or flock defending itself against an intruder or opponent. And the statements made by some of the so-called left, both MP’s and others, seem to signal over the heads of their listeners to the same tribe.
The issue to me is whether this tribe gets to determine Labour’s direction, or whether the members and affiliates are able to have a real say. If the latter, it will involve the scary business of standing up to them, and suffering the inevitable vitriol. Which will in turn demand fighting back, rather than appeasement. I favour the latter, for the sake of both democracy and social justice. For this reason I will vote for Cunliffe to continue.
Cunliffe too has said that the party has to move to attract the middle New Zealand.
To me, that is the pragmatic thing to do to win an election because 50% of the vote is essential to form a government. In reality, the majority ARE the middle NZ. People in that bracket are earning fairly good incomes/combined incomes in the modern world. A major party can only ignore them at their own peril. Most of these middle NZ are also fair minded decent ordinary well educated folk who will nevertheless support socially just, environmentally sound and economically smart policies as long as they are not made to bear the major brunt of the costs.
Most of the Labour policies, with some adjustments, will draw those middle NZ back into its fold from the other RW or Centrist parties such as National, NZF and even the Cons.
Leave the specific often extremist looking taxation/environmental policies/programmes to the Greens who have a reasonably large core constituency in its support. Mana/IMP too has an important place in the mix though with a smaller support base.
Labour can not try to be National or Greens or Mana. Let Labour be Labour: the heart, brains and caring conscience of the people and the country.
I do not mean for one minute that such people should be ignored. After all, many Labour Party members are just such people. But I do not like to see the term used as code for business-as-usual, and top-down rule.
It’s like all of you have forgotten that Labour’s mid 30% up to ~37% ratings late last year came on the back of Cunliffe’s “real red” Labour Party languaging and promises.
Not some watered down bullshit appeal to the top 20% ~$60K pa plus crowd.
Yes, that bump in the polls after a leadership contest in which the media highlighted Cunliffe’s appeal to the left/red side of Labour certainly shows that it is not a complete turn off to the electorate.
Of course, it could also have been relief that Shearer was no longer leader.
But in either case, it suggests that left rhetoric (certainly if ‘left’ is understood economically) is not a problem for a lot of New Zealanders.
It’s probably the sense that the Labour Party doesn’t know what it stands for and can’t get its act together that turns some people off who otherwise would return to support it.
…as long as they are not made to bear the major brunt of the costs.
The problem being that we can’t actually afford the rich and, yes, that is who you’re actually describing although I know a few people who are definitely underclass who think of themselves as middle class. We can afford for everyone to be reasonably well off but we cannot afford for even a large minority to be bloody well off.
Mana/IMP too has an important place in the mix though with a smaller support base.
Two things:
1. Mana is, ATM, in the IMP alliance. The other party to the IMP is the Internet Party.
2. They actually need a far bigger support base if we want to save our society.
[“We can afford for everyone to be reasonably well off but we cannot afford for even a large minority to be bloody well off”]
What was ‘reasonably well off’ in 1980 is much different today considering the cost of living, house prices etc. we need to keep them in Labour and not drive them away with their back pockets. Reasonable taxes and services for them and greater services and avenues for those in the lower economic brackets. It is the ‘bloody well off’ that is the problem. They are the new real beneficiaries. Drive them off to NATS, CONS and ACT.
[“Two things:
1. Mana is, ATM, in the IMP alliance. The other party to the IMP is the Internet Party.2. They actually need a far bigger support base if we want to save our society”]
True. Mana’s policies do symbolise ‘applied Christianity’. Labour needs to allow Mana/IMP to do their own thing, gather strength and support it well when in government or coalition.
[“Labour is the slightly softer face of National’]
That is just a fashionable silly framing. Completely wrong. Key/National copied a few of the social justice policies of the last Labour government of Clark/Cullen in order to fool the population to seem reasonable and respectable, steal votes off labour and to remain in power longer to do RW nasty selfish stuff to the country in favour of the wealthy and the very wealthy. Open your eyes!
What was ‘reasonably well off’ in 1980 is much different today considering the cost of living, house prices etc.
That’s a meaningless sentence. In 1980 the average family couldn’t afford a PC, now even poor families can. But even that doesn’t address the reality that today having a computer in the home is essential and average house prices should never be above 3 or 4 times average household income.
The price of food in NZ should be so low as to almost free instead we get to, seemingly, pay slightly more than what the farmers international customers are willing to pay.
That is just a fashionable silly framing.
Nope. As long as Labour keeps to the neo-liberal/classical economic paradigm, and they’re showing no sign of shifting from it, then it’s juts a slightly less blue National.
BTW: I see, and applaud, your attempts to make your replies slightly more readable but may I suggest the use of simple HTML.
It’s this approach that has failed Labour since 1984. Since then Labour has had only nine years in government, and that was pure luck that it had a leader who happened to be popular. It wasn’t Labour’s policies that gave it power in those nine years. It was in spite of them. Labour hasn’t had a caring, inclusive, participatory and citizen-based set of policies since before the mid-1980s. Even Muldoon’s approach to social policy was more left-wing than Labour’s under Clark. In the absence of a likeable leader Labour will remain in opposition. In the meantime it needs learn how to be a labour party again.
Of course, that’s right. Gee, it’s so easy to dismiss that period as being a Tory government. I wonder why? The point remains, however, which is that ever since Labour lost its way it’s relied solely on the popularity of its leader – nothing more.
The answer, I think is in Nash saying that Labour needs to stop being hard left and returning more to the right. It’s something Hooton says, although it’s not surprising given Nash, Odgers, Hooton, Slater, Farrar are all cut from the same cloth. You know Labour’s in dire trouble when someone who is part of this filth-mob is one of its MPs.
When Cunliffe wins then the traitors who ran an electorate campaign have to be purged. Robertson Goff, Mallard. Cosgrove, Shearer have to be first. Either a by election or deselected.
That was on the back of strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour Party. Not some watered down drift to the mythical centre of the top 20%.
“That was on the back of strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour Party. Not some watered down drift to the mythical centre of the top 20%”
Do you think the vote fell from 30% plus to 24% because Cunliffe drifted to the ‘mythical centre’ during the campaign? I doubt that.
The strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour, not a watered down light blue one, didn’t turn off new member sign up. It didn’t turn off TV coverage of the leadership race. It didn’t turn off the polls.
In fact, it pushed the polls up there, all the way to the mid/upper 30-something percent range.
John Ralston Saul has an interesting view on the middle class:
“Societies have shapes. A middle-class democracy hopes to be shaped like a diamond standing on its point, you know like that, a little bit of rich at the top, unfortunately some really poor at the bottom that you’re always trying to deal with but you never manage to deal with at all, and then most of it are there in the middle.
The 19th century pure capitalist model of society was a pyramid, concentrations of enormous wealth in a small group at the top, a not very big middle-class in the middle, and an enormous percentage of the population in the bottom part of the pyramid. And the job of the not too big middle-class was to sort of act as a go-between, on the one hand carrying money back up to the top and orders down to the bottom.
By allowing economics to move back into leadership in our societies we began a process which would take us away from this attempt at the diamond standing on a point, towards the pyramid. And indeed whenever you see those numbers that say income disparities growing, middle-class shrinking, all those numbers they’re all about taking a diamond and turning it into a pyramid. That’s what’s happening to us.
We’re moving away from our social victory, towards the disaster which we avoided earlier in this century”
So those who think postioning for the middle class vote are in fact relying on a rapidly decreasing sector.
What some people don’t realise is that everyone – even the top 10% – has been going backwards compared to the top 1% to 2%. And inequality in the top 1% to 2% is actually utterly massive.
This presentation from the RSA opened my eyes to a few basic facts.
We’re not turning into a “pyramid” in terms of wealth and income distribution. We’re turning into a pyramid with a massively high but needle thin Sky Tower structure built on top of it.
the middle are being led round by the nose by the seriously wealthy, when the shit hits the fan again, and it will, the seriously wealthy will be just fine…
This sounds serious.
Where can we set up the guillotine in Wellington?
I wonder if Midland Park, fairly near to Parliament is suitable?
If we want to put it close to the GG’s residence it would have to be on the Basin Reserve.
I shall be getting out the knitting needles in anticipation.
I thought it was pretty much in line with Colonial Viper’s comment on people swinging (he means hanging if you don’t understand it) from lamp posts.
Still if you are upset I suppose all I can suggest is “diddums!”
Not upset at all except that I suspect you are trying to insert suggestions of violence into this blog, so that they can be pointed at later by the right. CV was talking about history. You understand exactly what you are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had Blubber Boy on speed dial. Stick your diddums where the sun don’t shine.
Don’t be so thick. The guillotine and the knitting were two hundred years ago.
If Colonial Viper is upset I will withdraw the remark. You, I will in future, totally ignore.
IMO, those on greater than $60k per year individual income. They really don’t seem to be able to comprehend that the majority of people have less income than that.
“Stuart Nash – who won Napier after his opponent resigned and a Conservative Party candidate split the right-wing vote – is offering to tour the country teaching other Labour candidates how to win electorates.”
Such a humble and helpful man. I wonder if the other Labour candidates will have the support of Simon Lusk too?
It’s just unbelievable after all that’s gone on with Labour – its lurch to the right, leadership disasters, destroying Mana, handing a resuscitated Maori Party to John Key, election trouncing, ongoing public internal warring – that the only thing that’s come out if it is a decision to adopt a filth strategy taken straight out of what Hager exposed Key and his mates were up to in his book Dirty Politics. I wonder what else Odger’s mate Nash has planned for Labour? Things just get better and better!!!
Yep, all you have to do is be like Nash – just get a well known CCCP member in there to contest with National.
Preferential voting is essential to electorates if we don’t get rid of electorates altogether. If we had that then Nash could be put rightfully in his place.
“..Stuart Nash – who won Napier after his opponent resigned and a Conservative Party candidate split the right-wing vote – is offering to tour the country teaching other Labour candidates how to win electorates.”
step one:..find a well-known reactionary…
step two:..get them to stand against yr national party opposition..
step three:..this will split the rightwing vote…
..and so will enable you to come thru the middle..
n.b..and get this..!..you will win the seat by getting only the same amount of votes as the last time you stood…when you lost..how cool is that..!
(now..this is how nash won napier..if he tries to tell you any different..he is bullshitting..
..and i dunno why nash has to tour around telling people..how he won napier..
..it’s dead simple really..
..couldn’t he just send out a group-email worded roughly like the above..?
..you’d think..?
..and i wd like to find out if garth mcvicar..nashs’ vote-splitter ..if he has yet received a thank you note from nash..
[lprent: More than a “hmm..” is required on links. Explain why someone should click on it. Otherwise it gets viewed as link-whoring. Too much of it and it gets viewed as suitable for a banning. A sentence explaining why you think that someone should click on it usually suffices. ]
And? Sua is quoted as speaking to media in the plural. Yet nobody else reported any “insinuation”. In fact, the only insinuation is the article itself.
I reckon the NZ dairy industry is approaching a crisis situation and this may behind the RBNZ intervening in the currency. The dairy industry are so worried about where the Whole Milk Powder market is currently sitting (USD$2700 per tonne) that they seem to have gone into a state of denial and have priced the Fonterra dairy payout to dairy farmers at $5.35, which amazingly assumes an underlying price of Whole milk Powder of USD $3500 by March of 2015, very brave. One thing I know about commodities is that they are nearly impossible to forecast, not one bank economist forecast this current crisis…they conveniently are blaming it on Ukraine/Russia situation but in fact most of this crisis has been created by an increase in supply from USA and Europe, which bank economists should have been able to factor in.
If the international dairy market stays around USD$2700 for WMP then according to Con William (ANZ, the only bank economist worth listening too currently) the dairy payout should be around $4.30 to $4.50…which is crisis, not only for our dairy farms but also the regions that rely on dairy.
If Labour can pull their act together, there will be more material to work with in election 2017…our economy is about to go through some very tough times, hence why I reckon RBNZ are doing what they are doing.
“KDC knows how to; shame you and yr ilk have so poisoned the chalice so we all have to choke on it.”
Do you think NZ companies should get involved in what might well be criminal activities so they can get shut down by the FBI.
You sound like Munter Bradbury, have you forgotten to take your meds?
BM, Naki man .. you know nothing of his innovative business genius. You are poisoned by your own harpoons.
This is a man who founded a business that carried 4% of all internet traffic. Let’s accept that criminality is alleged; accepted by some, refuted by others. But regardless, he founded and managed a business taking 4% of ALL internet traffic.
KDC has created now an encrypted series of systems including video, proved by appearance of Edward Snowden at Town Hall.
KDC has been forced to create and run his LEGAL businesses from outside of NZ due to NSA/USA interferences.
KDC wanted and wished to co-fund a new cable for NZ .. never going to happen because of NSA etc.
Personally, I would have preferred he was able to work with us us, for us, as he intended.
Other than denying NSA access, I cannot see how criminality could possibly concern the NZ govt. ( That is kind of a very big joke isn’t it !!! Don’t know if you’ll get it though.)
Especially if you put all your effort into dairy farming. There is no diversification, there is no strategic approach, all we have is more and more farms, more and more pollution and a more unstable economy.
I agree, it’s never a good idea to be solely reliable on one income stream.
I think one of the main issues we face with dairy farms is that the farms are grossly over valued which has lead to massive intensification.
Without that intensification a lot of farms wouldn’t be financially viable, the problem though is that the land can’t cop with the added inputs which is causing massive issues with water quality.
We’re doing what Nauru did with phosphate. Maybe Oz will be happy to set up detention centres all over the countryside once dairy has wrecked it completely?
Nats strategy to double exports, mainly via Dairy doesnt look good…just dropped $6b in a year. labour will encourage value add, in fact this is exactly what David Cunliffe specialised in when he was with BCG.
No magic needed – just decent government funded research and development similar to what the US government does for its industry. Do that and we would soon be world leaders in:
1. IT
2. Manufacturing
3. Arts
4. Diverse agriculture
Works well for the US and has done so for some decades. The UK and other countries are trying to copy it now but aren’t doing quite so well because, IMO, they’re relying too much on the private sector.
I’m sure the voter will see the positives of funds being redirected from hospitals and schools to NZ’s space exploration program.
I like it, put me down for a $20, Kiwis in Spaaaaaaaaaace.
Moron, who else do you think we rely on? I know the rich want you to think it’s them but it’s not – the resources we use belong to NZ and not the rich.
I’m sure the voter will see the positives of funds being redirected from hospitals and schools to NZ’s space exploration program.
And why would we do that? Much better to redirect those resources from, as an example, McDs and Burger King.
We need to pick and choose Draco, and the emphasis needs to go on infrastructure and societal systems which will take us through climate change, fossil fuel depletion and de-globalisation.
the currency intervention was indeed to offset drops in prices by lowering of dollar. currency traders LIVE off inside information, especially from federal reserves,,, ce tral banks.
I thought Mahuta-Coyle on Q and A was a demented shree, Dickhead Gavin Ellis thought she was great. This is the sort of shit we are up against. God help me.
I want to inform everybody here that the Facebook page known as John Key has disappointed New Zealand is back up and running as per yesterday evening. They must have had an awful lot of complaints for that to have happened but it is good to know that Facebook is still working for people who need a place to gather and organize for political goals. Go John Key has let down New Zealand!
I just heard Phil Goff answer a question on whether he thought David Cunliffe should have resigned.
Goff said that he resigned in 2011 when he lost the General Election and that he believes he did the right thing.
So what did Goff do? He worked with a small clique to install Parker as leader. When Parker bombed in a TV debate with Cunliffe, Goff and Robertson pulled Parker and pushed Shearer to the front. Shearer had not been in Parliament for a full term and had been totally invisble in that time.
Is that what Phil Goff calls doing the right thing? Shame on you Phil.
The Press Editorial – interestingly – thinks that Cunliffe resigning and then putting himself forward again is actually the right thing for him to have done.
My point is that Goff in part created the current mess by firstly trying to ordain a leader without wider consultation and secondly by picking a totally unsuitable candidate like Shearer.
The Labour party is no longer a party of the working man, but one for beneficiaries and social engineers. The battle for a 40 hour week has been won, and lost again by choice as people chase the consumer society dream. Weekend trading means more hours of work available to more people and from the looks of the crowds at Mitre 10, Pak n Save and the Warehouse on the weekend, the consumers are enthusiastically looking to consume.
[lprent: Off topic and not for the first time now I look at it. Banned 16 weeks because you look like a stupid troll and I find you need a robust warning. Moved to OpenMike. I suggest you read the policy if you want to avoid my personal attention. ]
Come on man, how about a serious comment? One with a bit of guts to it. The Labour Party as a political party for beneficiaries? What a joke. The biggest state beneficiaries in NZ are corporations. The NZ underclass are barely represented by the NZ Labour Party.
As for your “Social engineers” comment lol. It’s funny when right wingers say things which point straight to themselves. “Social engineering” is what neoliberalism has done to this once fine nation, firstly through Rogernomics then Ruthanasia. Turned it into a country full of ravenous consumers. Which you seem so proud of. You social engineer you.
The Gormless Fool formerly known as Oleolebiscuitbarrell 26.2
Be interesting to see if other posts by Ronnie can be sourced to the same article. Well, when I say interesting, I mean pretty dull.
I often base posts on my blog on stuff I’ve said here, and base stuff I say here on comments I’ve made on my blog. I don’t see why I should have to be clever and find two ways of saying the same thing if I’ve already said it once quite well.
But this looks more like deliberate spamming with (presumably) someone else’s branes.
EDIT – I checked another of Chow’s posts. Guess what! You’ll never guess! It came from the same source! Whoddathunked it?
Well spotted! (I’d say hours of reading political blogs have given us all pretty finely-tuned bullshit detectors. Thank god those hours weren’t in vain! ;))
Google busting a few more of Ronnie Chow’s posts is bemusing. Most of his / her posts are quotes. Whaleoil seems to be a recent thing. Other sources include The Beverley Hill Billies, the Art of War and a character study of Dick Cheney. Some at least seem to have some vague attempt to make themselves relevant to the post, but it looks very much like someone playing with quotes in an effort to look cunning.
Picking holes in National’s selections should be the least of your priorities.
How about choosing a leader who actually represents NZ workers? Labour hasn’t had a leader like that in decades (although Helen Clark made a good job of faking it).
How about policies that put ordinary NZers first instead of your union paymasters?
For example, why can’t we experiment more in education? Oh, that’s right – it might upset two of our biggest unions.
Why can’t you have a united caucus?
Why is the Labour party so desperately and tragically out of touch.
I remember when everyone knew our local Labour MP by name. He was part of the community, but too many Labour MPs (thankfully, not all) parachute in for surgery and to drum up votes during elections.
Get your house in order and I might even think about supporting you and even making a donation – but pull your head out of the sand, use this election defeat as an opportunity to make serious reforms.
[lprent: 16 week ban for deliberately going off topic. ]
the only thing hes nailed is his idiocy to a post for all to see
———————-
“How about choosing a leader who actually represents NZ workers? ”
umm . john key? don brash? bill english? – and in the future – collins? bennet? joyce?
———————
How about policies that put ordinary NZers first instead of your union paymasters?
nat and act policy? – nat and act paymasters?
———————
“Oh, that’s right – it might upset two of our biggest unions.”
the education unions arent opposed to good policy – they are opposed to the corporatisation of education – something they have been clear and consistant about, have provided other solutions to address the issue and have been utterly ignored, yet again, by national
———————
“Why is the Labour party so desperately and tragically out of touch. ”
Why does the national party need to stage manage their leaders profile? Surely someone that in touch doesnt need PR?
———————
“but too many Labour MPs (thankfully, not all) parachute in for surgery and to drum up votes during elections.”
helensville – john key – and thats just a freebie, theres more
———————
Maybe the pair of you could argue beyond a slogan? Theres plenty of topics to choose – but it seems boorish sniping and binary simplistic black/white arguments is all you can muster
totally agree Fats, but dont expect any common sense to prevail on this blog, the vast majority are beating the same drum that will keep them in opposition for the next 2 terms minimum.
meanwhile the nats look to grow the economy and their support base, which by the way is substantial.
Problem for Labour is they have no options for leader, imagine them having a mandate to run the country, they cant even run their own Caucus!
With milk prices down looking is as far as they’ll get, especially as their policies will reduce the median wage further as house and power prices inflate.
because farrar and slaters blogs are paid for and used by national and act these folk assume this is bought and paid and used by labour… they base these assumptions on their own standards of behaviour…
ahh yes its all coming back now the lovely brochures with unsullied bush and mountain ranges. labours message that we could have our environmental cake and eat it too. without all that messy regulatory stuff. in hindsight (ahh a lovely luxury) an unbroken rodgernomic policy. just how far back does labours unravelling go?
JC: Hold on a sec. You are a leader, and you are a bright man. Why didn’t they vote for you?
DC: I think at the end of the day, people wanted stability. They wanted prosperity. They saw the current government, for now, delivering that for them, and they weren’t prepared to take what they saw as some kind of risk for a change.
Yep National Cunliffe all right, fear someone else might replace him! 🙂
“I happen to actually support the view that the Governor has that the exchange rate is over valued, so if they have intervened, it would be a matter for them, but it would seem fairly logical,” Key told reporters this afternoon.
“I think at the level we’re at, [US]78 odd cents, we’re still at very high levels.”
Asked what the correct level would be, Key indicated it was much lower than it is today.
“In the end, the Goldilocks rate, not too high, not too low, just about right, I don’t know, [US]65 cents maybe, certainly … lower than it is today,” Key said.
Didn’t Helen Clark get in trouble for similar comments?
Something about undermining the independence of the Reserve Bank I believe…
Edit: Ugh apparently Farrar already pointed this out & it was Cullen
Did anyone see Prime News @5.30pm last night?
There was a news item stating there is concern over the health of the Hauraki Gulf because there is a large increase in pollution in the Gulf caused by the runoffs from the dairy farms on the Hauraki Plains.
It looks as if the Rock Star Economy is about to turn to custard now the price of the overproduced milk powder has collapsed (funny how that snippet of news was kept until after the election) along with our clean green image. Also, this once, fair minded beautiful and ” safe” country may turn out to be not so safe now Fucking Key like that prat Abbott in Oz, with his nose right up Obama’s arse has stated that he may (will) support the yanks with ground forces in their latest adventure.
His argument of Grant Robertson being somehow better because he’s a little younger is pretty ridiculous.
Also, he has a problem with this: “You ran for leader and lost, then destabilised the elected leader.” when David Cunliffe does it. But it’s acceptable when Grant Robertson, David Shearer, Trevor Mallard and friends destabilise the leader.
I think he needs to come up with some more solid reasons for not liking David Cunliffe than ‘he lost’. Because Robertson would have lost too.
Kinda like your comments @ 2 @7am above represent Labours opinion ?
Maybe it would give David Parker a handle on how nasty hate ridden myopic deviants
such as yourself think.
As long as we have hate filled silly billies like you just screaming out invective we will never get anywhere except to invite derision.
Reasoned, thoughtfull argument from the likes of David Parker will trump the screamed hatefull, personal spite your type can’t resist and will eventually prevail.
The reasoned thoughtful comments are what got us into the present mess and are taking us to ecological collapse. It was revolution and not being all that reasonable that got us out of feudalism and into democracy, got us the 40 hour week, the minimum wage and good working conditions. Being reasonable over the last 30 years has lost us a lot of those and is about to lose even more of them.
I think it’s time to stop being fucken reasonable.
You know something’s seriously FUBAR when Ron Paul is the voice of reason. And on the issue of ISIS and in this interview Ron Paul is a very good. I disagree with his economics, but I agree with most his analysis on this issue. And were going to be willing participants in this stupidity. Long live FEAR! Fear is the mind killer.
Have you seen any US TV of late joe90. My guess is not much. My point and I’m sorry I did not spell it out correctly, is, if in the US Ron Paul is the voice of reason, we’re in a very FUBAR situation!
Went looking for source of Tariana Turia’s ridiculous comment about beaten wives and as expected it was a supporters brain fart but this comment, wow, says it all really.
Tanenuiarangi Harawira (Part 1 of 2) I know I am sounding like a broken record whanau but I agree with your sentiments Dion. This is because as we all should know Left or Right, there is not that much practical difference in terms of outcomes for us. Stepping back for a minute, if you think about it, in 1984-1987 the Labour government planted the seeds of the impoverishment that of many of our people, especially in isolated rural communities, have been consigned to through inter-generational welfare dependancy, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence. Those seeds have been watered and nutured by the policies of successive governments Left and Right over a generation. They did this by implementing corporatisation then privatisation of the former government departments and agencies like Post, Forests, Coal, Works, Electricity and mainstreaming in terms of Maori Affairs. National then carried it on from 1990 to 1999. Most of these departments and ministries employed thousands of Maori mostly in rural communities. When they all lost their jobs – because it was cheaper for the government to pay the benefit than wages – that policy gutted our communities. To add insult to injury the SOEs in the power space then put up their prices, for example almost by 70% under the Helen Clark government’s watch. These policies also disabled our isolated rural communities by shutting down vital infrastructure like Post Offices and Banks. Do you remember when we used to even have a functioning post office at Te Kaha?
+100 joe 90 and adam…a very good historical overview ( needs a special place..so people can refer to it and be reminded)
…this is why i would like to see Nanaia Mahuta as Deputy of a Labour Party which goes back to its roots pre Roger Douglas and the corporatisation and privatisation Neolib virus that hit Labour
….and tries to redress all the wrongs done since the early 1980s
…if Labour can not do this …it will be up to other parties eg. Internet /Mana and the Greens and NZF
Great! Just what we need a three year debate on who gonna be the Best Leader of Labour. Another bout of lets blame the MSM, crap Pollsters, the MMP system, demographic analyis of A,B,C etc etc: So lets not talk shite about things we cant change!Do you really think by changing the figurehead will induce people to Vote Labour? Do you think that will connect and electrify nearly one million people whom felt that disenfanchised from the political process, they stayed at home and prefered 3 yrs more of A National Kicking to Voting Labour.
It’s not about who’s face is the Leader, it cant be!
It has to be how we reflect peoples hopes, dreams, fears and not project our ideas onto them! We need to engage these people not talking about introducing a CGT, Latte Tax or some sort of bollocks…yet Social Housing, Health, Education, Employment.
We need to disengage ourselves from The Green Party. They have good intentions, yes, Yet…it confuses people, Green/Labour or Labour/Green. Labour with Green Spots. Its confuses the electorate and hands the Right Wing Fascists free ammunition. Labour should announce to all, their intention in three years time is too form a majority government, no if’s, no buts, no alliances, no pacts, no tactical voting end of. And let The Green Party, with no hard feelings fly solo and stand on their own two feet.
I don’t want Labour to be consigned to a dusty section of a political history book. I want Labour reflect views, to engage, to connect with the missing million. If we can do that Comrades. It wont matter if Krusty The Bloody clown is Labours Leader…Get The Policies Right and those people next time, will feel more inclined to get off the sofa, switch off the tv, go to the polling station and Vote Labour.
Just like another last call, it means nothing at all,
You either kiss a lot of ass, or tear the clock off the wall,
Another warning ignored another sign of the times,
They say the sky is gonna fall, so why not drink till your blind
So when the company wants another company-man,
Or when the company wants another 1,000 year plan
You’ll let your boot go up the road you cannot possibly trust,
Till the screaming hits the ceiling and you ask:
Your policies and direction are part of the total and positioning across the spectrum should fluctuate stealing if one must a little on the right ,the underlying principles must be set before or after the internal vote then drop the leader on the record and let him dance ..more fool me for listening to mischievous nonsense . A sensible vibrant renewal plan would resonate with my desires for a rising domestic economy i guess voting for personality blinds maybe the average kiwi votes with there pockets realizing or not the fleecing will be ripped in the next step johns average kiwi voters open to the dictations, i can slag jk as much i like but really its the overriding policies of the right , as the next election approaches a strong leader is a must ..the choice is easy ..really the economy is not bursting and probably is one tank feeding the other and the back again ,the gloss is nothing but gloss, more structure for growth let it manifest or etch in our dumb minds …
And the Herald keeps being a loyal servant with its choice of headlines. FFS, there’s nothing bizarre about anything reported here. This is once again the technique of defining things by naming them.
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Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
“The ACT Party can’t be bothered putting an MP on one of the Justice subcommittees hearing submissions on their own Treaty Principles Bill,” Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Korolev, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, UNSW Sydney The United States and Russia agreed to work on a plan to end the war in Ukraine at high-level talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Ukrainian and European representatives were pointedly ...
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A closer look at some of the homegrown talent currently commanding television screens around the globe. The new season of The White Lotus hit our screens this week, and with it a familiar face in New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly. To secure a role in one of the world’s most ...
"This is a crisis of the Government’s own making and the unit is another sign of desperation," said PSA acting national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons. ...
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Backbench MPs reached new levels of patsy questions in an extraordinarily dull question time on Tuesday. Echo Chamber is The Spinoff’s dispatch from the press gallery, recapping sessions in the House. Columns are written by politics reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Wellington editor Joel MacManus. “MPs ask questions to explore key issues ...
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On open mike this morning I’d like to bring up daylight bloody saving. Day 2 getting up now at what was 5 am. Bloody annoying, why can’t we split the difference and leave it all year. twice a year I get my work routine interrupted. it’s annoying and tiring. Right now I’m 3 weeks into a major order. Now I got to go to work being sharp as but tired as. It’s just not right.
That’s my moan for today over.
I wish we would all go on the same weekend ! I now have a larger gap to factor in till the Oz states that do DST move, thats a pain.
Oddly, Richard, we already do have it all year; if I remember correctly, we’ve had a permanent half hour of daylight saving since world war two.
Richard- me too.
W.A. and Queensland rejected DST; opposition mainly from country folk who already get up at the crack of dawn.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-05-16/wa…reject-daylight-saving/1685358
Many Queenslanders thought that the extra hour of sunlight would fade their curtains too much.
Half hour permanently is right TRP. Sun zenith is at 12:30 and needs a slight deviation if tracking direction by your watch when your GPS is broken.
All year? I’m afraid getting up an hour earlier down here in the south in the middle of winter with frosts and worse to contend with would not be in the interests of public safety.
Edit: Internal Affairs page on daylight saving history says in 1868 our time was set 11 1/2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. TRP is right, it was set to 12 hours in the war and confirmed by the Time Act in the 1970s.
I so agree. Personally I love the light early mornings, run on the beach with the dogs and watch the sunrise – it somehow makes the day go so much better. But now I’m back to setting the alarm and getting up in the dark for the next 4 weeks. So much nicer being woken by bellbirds. The adjustment period to summer/winter time is about 2 weeks – it stuffs my body clock and makes me grumpy. Half an hour difference between the two and all year round would be great!
plus 1
While I missed my first meetings yesterday and today due to getting up later than everyone else so I am inclined to agree with you (I’m not a morning person 🙂 ), there is a certain irony in making a comment against getting up earlier when you were quite obviously the first person up for the day 🙂
Completely legitimate moan Richard.
I’d be absolutely cool with the same time setting all year round. I’m crap at adjusting to the summer hours, it takes me weeks. It’s really bad when you’re an insomniac like me.
I was aghast when daylight savings time was extended back in 2006 (07?) Part of that change was Peter Dunne’s fault. He was largely behind the push, along side the mayor for Nelson, at the time.
I am the 6%
http://www.dia.govt.nz/Daylight-Services-Survey
Hope things improve with your crappy boss soon.
q:..who is the highest-paid work-experience employee in nz..?
a:..that dweeb from act..at a half a mill a year..
q..who is king-trougher..?
a:..that would be the ever-oleaginous dunne..
..4,500 party votes..(half the number of votes of the aotearoa legalise cannabis party..)
..and also on over a half a mill. a year..
..(seems fair..eh..?..
..and of course..!..thank you green party (on behalf of dunne)..
..for splitting the vote in ohariu..and thus gifting this trough to dunne..
..care to tell us why the fuck you just couldn’t not stand a candidate in ohariu..?
..and thus guarantee dunnes’ defeat..?
..and yep..!..get used to it..
..i am going to be banging on about this..at regular intervals..for the next three yrs..
..i dunno how else to stop you from doing it/the same braindead thing again.. in 2017…)
@phillip .. please accept a gold star for ‘the ever-oleaginous Dunne’ .. thank u !
and did you notice the dweeb from Epsom said even though he not leader of Act, he would be accepting the Leader’s budget in Parliament because that’s how the law is written !!! ( oink, oink, oink .. with apologies to piggies everywhere)
Seymour will go down in history somehow if only for most egregious grovelling.
Phillip .. why do you think Key is being so free and generous while he already holds a majority ? He sure is buying something from Dumb and Dumber.
Is it solely for number guarantees pushing through TPPA ?
the dweeb on tv this morn saying:.(while being asked about his half a million dollars a year work-experience gig..and a reference to hides (faux as it turned out) perk-busting..)
.’act is against big government…”
..and i swear he managed to say it po-faced..
(not even a lip twitch..but when on their own..how he/they must laugh..eh..?..)
..and what a great deal for the taxpayers..!
..instead of a backbenchers-salary a national mp in epsom wd have earned..
..we have the not so salutary experience of seeing the work-experience dweeb being given a half a million plus trough..
..from/upon which to gorge..
..what a sick fucken joke..
..and in answer to yr question..i think key is just looking to 2017..
..he wants them there..in case he needs them..
..and he is like a pimp with his whores..
..doen’t like to loose/loosen his control over his ‘bitches’…
Oh dear.
Maybe a psyco doctor could offer an opinion.
Why the pure hatred ?
Why the venom ?
Do you really think you advance our argument with stuff like,
“the dweeb.”
“the pimp and his whores.”
“his bitches”
Make a salient point if you can, thats one thing, but this sort of invective
just turns most people off.
This puke talk is just counterproductive phillip.
It may help you feel better personally but does our cause no good at all.
People read this. People who do not bother to post opinions make judgements.
Please try harder, or….
just STFU
you’r not helping.
Get it ?
@ crico..
..you are advocating for a neo-lib labour to continue..
..and that is just wrong..
..and i will argue all i can against that..
..and yes..i do think seymour is an archetype dweeb..
..and i do think the national/act and national/dunny..
..are like a pimp/whore relationship..
..how can it not be..
…so..yr point is..?
..wd you rather i called a spade a digging-implement..?
..and called dunne/seymour courtesans..?
..ladies of the night..?
..those who ‘rely on the kindness of strangers’..?
..which offends you least..?
Oh FO and Cry Cry Cry somewhere else Cricko ! Nothing wrong with PU’s colourful diction. Essential to efficient making of his valid point actually. Maybe it’s you should STFU Mr Bland. Let yourself down a little bit with the “STFU”……according to your own ‘standards’ that is.
With a bit of luck in 2017 Act will be gone and the Conservatives will be in.
Delusional and Fruity
still interested on whether you think marriage equality leads to a higher youth crime rate
Yeah really sickening that two people can get that kind of consideration from so few voters
whoar.co.nz..(a fan-letter..how ‘charming’..)
“..CharmingBilly says:
30/9/2014 at 3:34 am.
The best to you….and THANK YOU for all you do…I live in the US, and a charming KIWI told me about your site, and now you are my first stop every morning….”
…w…
…h…
…o…
…a…
…r…
…!…
Thanks for sharing.
at the end of the day..today is the day cunnliffe stands down as leader..
..so maybe this morning on telly was the last time we have heard him say ‘at the end of the day’..for awhile..anyway..
..i hope you all treasured it/the moment..
..(and can i suggest a new rule for labour..for them to consider in their review..?
..that no labour person shall ever ever say:
..’at the end of the day’…)
There has been an overly frequent use/abuse of “at the end of the day” across the parties. Disappointing to hear Cunliffe say it, but even more curious was a candidate for one of the Maori seats speaking on Kowhiri 14 on Maori TV (apologies, can’t remember who) that used the phrase a record number of times, so much that, that phrase completely overshadowed any point he was trying to make.
They could try something more poetic…..perhaps “when dusk falls”, “when the gloaming comes” etc.
Key started it though. His line could be (after a sucking in of air through the teeth) “at beer o clock……….”
@ rosie..
..that is part of my objection..
..key already owns it..
..let it be his linguistic-dead-albatross…
Said in a deep voice..
When the cycle ends, turns to legend and then to myth and is forgotten when it comes round again…
Although, I don’t think any of our pollies could manage a deep voice.
😀
At the end of the day as sure as night follows the day, Key will run of to his one true love, Hawaii US of A. I predict should start bets on that.
“……..when all is said and done……………..”
Haven’t heard THAT one for awhile
https://www.facebook.com/cunliffeforleader
David Cunliffe gave very good accounts of himself on both Campbell Live and The Paul Henry Show last night. He seems to me to be “in a good place” with regard to why he is going into battle for the Leadership of the Party.
Kia kaha David.
I don’t know whether I’d be able to stomach a conversation with Paul Henry. That is above and beyond the call of duty. He is an oxygen thief.
henry did say to cunnliffe..after cunnliffe had successfully parried a couple of probing henry questions..(i paraphrase..)
“..you’re getting quite good at doing this..aren’t you..?’..
Paul Henry …courtesy of the UK…appeals to the lowest common denominator…Cunliffe must be doing well!
Henry is a Cretan. *Someone who is an idiot and lacks gravitas…* Courtesy of you tube.
All Cretans are liars. Ask one.
Didn’t see Henry but on Campbell live he blamed his caucus and said that some could argue that the election result was a sign that Labour was turning around the decline. More denial, this time bordering on delusion, while the first point is terrible for a leader to say. He is tearing the party apart.
I would put the blame more on some members of the caucus to rush to judgement within 48 hours of the election pitting the blame on the result solely on Cunliffe and demanding he resign, then rush to vote in their own whip showing disunity and disloyalty to the party bringing it into disrepute. Wrong and hasty moves. Complete stupidity.
See the interviews here:
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/cunliffe-open-to-robertson-as-deputy-2014092920#disqus_thread
http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/paulhenryshow/cunliffe-gutted-by-election-result-2014092923
I saw the reaction of caucus as a whole against David coming not from the result itself but his reaction to the result which was horribly poor.
In those moments straight after New Zealanders need to hear that Labour had heard what they were saying and they were not getting that from the leader.
What’s more he has lost the support of the best performing MP in the caucus, David Parker, via his awful attempt to muzzle him.
That was an indictment on his leadership and should be a message to the party not to return this guy because he is simply has very poor personal skills.
He might be good at speaking to loyal members, but non-members are turned off by him.
Whenever I’ve spoken to any potential Labour voter who’s heard Robertson speak, they’re always impressed, and that’s what we need.
Its ridiculous to go into blame mode and focus on the leadership question when the party itself is out of touch with the voters it traditionally represents and its failure to hold this national govt to account on the social issues that National is poaching Labours policies on with the govt providing nothing more than lip service and false data on the real state of the nations ability to address real poverty .
This national govt will use its majority in the house to further side step the truth about what they will do about the environment, social services,R&D, and what it is giving away on TTPA , let alone what is already been decided before the election on our coerced commitment to the US foreign policy thru 5 eyes Also the lack of diversity in our export income because this govt will not provide incentive for a living wage because it is too bloody tight like most right wing capitalist
We need to push all the economic priorities to the fore to get the truth on how National is going to direct this country in the next 3 years and not listen to the carrot and stick bullshit which is how National runs its economics for the masses while protecting the those who pay the National Party to be the govt
I would agree, but I think the first move in the counter direction as made by Cunliffe on election night and that has forced caucus and Robsertson’s hand to prevent something even more damaging. I wanted Cunliffe over Robertson because I though he was the best chance of winning, now we desperately need Grant because there will be nothing left of this party if Cunliffe remains. All or best talent lies with those who either oppose or do not support Cunliffe.
I would say that someone who failed miserably to win the Leadership race last time, yet is putting himself up for it again, could be said to be the one tearing the party apart. Grandiose ideas about oneself which don’t mirror reality and public perception could be said to be a sign of a selfish person. David Cunliffe is confident and ambitious sure, but that confidence comes from having the presence and intellectual grunt to completely revamp the party. Is John Key not ambitious, was Helen Clark not ambitious – since when is ambition a dirty word? Some people have the right stuff to be a leader and some people do not – people who are totally forgettable will never become Prime Ministers!
Ambition is a problem when it’s partnered, or fueled, with delusion and conceit. And as for Robertson failing miserably last time, isn’t that exactly what just happened to Cunliffe?
I agree with you, I thought it was one of Campbells better interviews. He didn’t let Cunners get away with too much of his spin and bullshit. Cunners came across as totally delusional.
first day on the job – first john key-lie..
john key:..’seymour from act did not ask to be a minister..’
seymour:..’yes..i did ask to be a minister’..
(he must learn to get ‘on message’..that seymour..
..and does key ever tell the fucken truth..?..)
The name for a pathological liar is mythomania. A mental disorder.
‘
Black Flag
[lprent: As gregj states below, an explanation of why someone should click on a link is generally going to not attract suspicion of astroturfing / click-baiting / link-whoring (and my attention).
This is an opinion piece in The Press about why it’d be a bad idea to abandon our current flag for a sporting symbol. ]
worth reading about our flag and Shonkey’s distraction tactics, if only for this comment by one Ian Dalziel …
Or as the old saying (almost) goes:
With fronds like this who needs enemas?
(apologies to Denis Norden)
@yeshe
Is it fronds. If so I’ll have to start thinking why.
fern refs from flag story in Pat’s link ?
Pat – perhaps a bit more explanation along with the link? I’m not a fan of clicking on links without some context – it encourages “click baiting”.
Thanks.
I don’t like the picture of Hooton on this section. It is pointless. We should ignore him.
+100 …agreed!….he is no friend of the Left…he deserves contempt and repulsion for his spin for the corrupt and undemocratic oligarchy and right wing agenda( it is a reflection of his own Self) ….he does not deserve acknowledgment …he gets enough of this on Radio New Zealand!
…he tries to appear a friend of the Left because it suits his PR business purposes and right wing agenda spin
( there I am balanced …what I have to say is valuable to all New Zealanders and the Left spectrum as well!..i will put this endorsement by the Standard on my CV …I am a very important and valuable commentator!…even the left acknowledges this)
…Hooton is a wolf in sheep’s clothing…and a particularly dangerous one
Yeah – I find Hooton on today’s Open Mike a bit silly too.
Meanwhile – the Herald are running a poll this morning on who should be Labour’s Leader. Last time I looked Jacinda (inexperienced Jacinda) was in the lead for goodness sake ! Here’s the link
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm…
My choice sorry. I try to mix up the pictures to provide a bit of variety and to attract attention. Looks like this is working although not for the right reasons …
Thanks to whoever put up the Rimmer/Seymour picture the other day.
I found a website with all episodes of Red Dwarf, and have had quite a few vintage belly laughs out of the retrospective.
An inspired pick, that one.
I will take credit for the choice although whoever created it deserves a pat on the back!
Alien, I had a real giggle at Seymour as Rimmer. It was prefect. Made my morning.
Jenny Kirk, why are you surprised everybody wants the lovely Jacinda for leader ….. almost 1 in 3 of us wanted the lovely Key for leader.
This is twice since Sept 20 that evidence has been shown that the average voter doesn’t know anything like they should about politics and leadership – they think it is all about the smile ffs/ Idiots. This is what people do. They voted in H1tler too don’t forget.
Reality? Get real. It is all about the perception.
actually i find Nanaia Mahuta way more attractive than the “lovely Jacinda” ( whose chompers are so big…they remind me of a rabbit relative of the March Hare’s)
http://campaign.labour.org.nz/team
Nanaia Mahuta would be a fantastic deputy to Cunliffe…she has the voter form ( very popular)…she is loyal and has the smarts ….AND she is attractive to the woman vote ( 50% of the population) …and the Maori and Polynesian vote ( an important part of Labour’s core constituency)
Nanaia Mahuta would go well head to head against Paula Bennett on Social Welfare ( crucial to win Labour’s turnout and vote)
Labour is already comfortably ahead in the female and the polynesian / Maori vote. there isn’t any need to go out of our way to appeal to those groups. Neither Mahuta or Ardern really strike me as good choices. Neither has much fire in their belly and both will look suspiciously like token picks.
Cunliffe-Shearer might be a stroke of genius. Cunliffe would get the backing of a significant rival and Shearer would have the chance to build up support, and present himself as a unifier, for a future contest with Robertson.
Labour isn’t ahead on the female vote. And plenty of Maori are still voting for the Maori party.
“They voted in Hitler too don’t forget”
A bit of a myth that gets regularly regurgitated on the blogosphere. The most the Nazis ever got in a free Election was 37% (less than 14 million out of 37 million votes cast / 230 out of 608 Reichstag seats) . By the time Hitler seized power (in a series of manoeuvres akin to a constitutional coup d’état), the Nazi vote was sliding back towards 30%.
Indeed. The splits in the left between hardline uncompromising fanatics and soft social democrats was a fatal error.
Might there be a lesson for us there?
(Though I imagine whatever camp people place themselves in, they will assume the compromise has to come from the other side. That’s not compromise, people, it’s insisting on unconditional surrender.)
“The splits in the left between hardline uncompromising fanatics and soft social democrats was a fatal error.”
Not so. While there was considerable bad blood between the two camps, it was the KPD that sought a united front with the SDP. It was the SPD that rejected the chance to work together.
And re: the other bit of revisionism, while it’s true that the Hitler never ‘won’ an election, his party was the most popular in the two years prior to the coup. The voting for Hitler thing is no less important because of the inaccuracy of the tagline; you only have to look next door at modern day France to see how his idealogical successors there have legitimised themselves at the ballot box.
Ahh, so the historical facts = some sort of suspect “revisionism”, do they TRP ?
I’m simply trying to scotch this apparently widespread misconception that a large majority of Germans voted Hitler into power.
Ah, no, swordfish, you misread me. I agree with you. The revisionism is the “widespread misconception that a large majority of Germans voted Hitler into power.” There’s a similar misconception about Key’s popularity round these parts, too!
Fair enough, TRP.
Wasn’t it Cher herself – that font of wisdom – who said If I could turn back time, if I could find a way, I’d take back those words that hurt you, and you’d stay ?
Why Yes, I think it was.
You missed the bit about Stalin calling the SPD social fascists and claiming that they were as much the enemy as the actual fascists. After that, fighting the fascists together became much harder.
No, I didn’t miss it, Murray. By the time of the 1932 and ’33 federal elections, the Comintern had moved on from that sectarian position due to the stark reality of fascism and the KPD’s Thalmann proposed working with the SDP in early ’33 only to be rebuffed. As I noted, there was considerable bad blood between them, so it was not a surprise that a united front could not be organised until it was too late, but it was definitely the SDP that were ‘uncompromising’ (as swordfish put it).
and jfk’s majority was only about 100,000 votes…
@vto
It’s a wonder they didn’t vote in that Herald poll for Poorer Benefit not realising that they are supposed to be thinking about a Labour leader. Poorer looks so nice, the smile adjusted photogenically, quite upmarket. Reminds me of the disparaging comment made by someone meeting Pamela Ayres in the flesh , “Goodness, I didn’t recognise you. They did you up good for the telly.”
So, who would be the winner in an hour long TV debate Jacinda Ardern vs Paula Bennett.
Yeah, so that settles that.
@colonial viper
I guess that You are backing Jacinda Ardern for the long race and that Poorer would only shine in a short sprint and then…poof.
I think you’ve got it the wrong way round …
I suspect a single “zip it sweetie” would end it very quickly.
So, who would be the winner in an hour long TV debate Jacinda Ardern vs Paula Bennett.
Yeah, so that settles that.
If you haven’t heard about this – there is a protest Hikoi against Statoil undertaking deep sea drilling off Northland’s coast.
Today is the chance for Aucklander’s to join this important movement in defence of our oceans by joining the Hikoi at 12 Noon at Britmart for the March up Queen St to the NZ Oil conference at SkyCity – today, Tuesday 30 Sept.
The Economist has an article covering the NZ Election.
http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21620198-popularity-new-zealands-prime-minister-survives-nasty-election-campaign-puzzle
John Key admits that NZers like him because he sounds thick:
We do ourselves no favours if we think John Key is dumb. You don’t win three elections by being a fool. He’s a very shrewd politician.
Ovid very true, John Key is a very shrewd politician who knows that he is more likeable if he comes across as an ordinary bloke. The left continue to under estimate him.
The gloss of Key will wear off. Cunliffe beat him easily in all the debates. Next election there will be no Dot Com to steal the oxygen. Gotta drop the rise in pension age but. I know it makes sense fiscally but its electoral poison.
they continue to attempt to reveal him, there is a small difference.
we all know that – but how do you feel about JK thinking your thick?
Cunners is the one who talks to everyone as if they are stupid, I said key comes across as an ordinary bloke, Not arrogant, smarmy, and thinking he is better smarter than everyone else like Cunners
It’s pretty obvious he’s fooled you. That says something about your personality, and I have a strong suspicion it’s not good. I think it’s something to do with you imagining yourself in his shoes, so that when he evades a question and gets away with an evasive answer, you think it was you fooling people. In reality, he’ll fool fewer as time goes by until, at the end of the day……..
he was parachuted in to play a role and relies on the trickery that got him to the top of currency trading and merril lynch. the nats have produced a sound strategy to make what he is wanted… the two track strategy is clever and highly duplicitous, just like Key.
“We do ourselves no favours if we think John Key is dumb.”
I don’t think that was Lanthanide’s point.
John Key was responding to a question about why, in effect, he was seen to be like an ordinary New Zealander. He then said it was because he spoke as if he didn’t have a good vocabulary or his speech wasn’t comprehensible.
In effect, he was saying that he was taken as being an ordinary New Zealander because he sounded a bit slow. That suggests that he thinks ordinary New Zealanders don’t sound very intelligent.
None of that is the same as claiming that John Key – in fact, rather than in perception – is dumb.
Key isn’t dumb. The people who vote for him are.
David Cunliffe all the way!
+1
Oh, look what has pooped out under OIA for Jared Savage at the Herald …. what Williamson really got up to for Donghua Liu .. who still awaits the court decision of whether he can vacate his guilty please on senselessly bashing both his ‘wife/partner’ and mother.
Note the using of John Key’s name referring to when opened one of Liu’s properties in these letters to our Ministers .. tacit approval from Jason Ede’s boss !!! Such a fine special criminal class of immigrant, supported by Key et al.
CORRUPTION and they are getting away with it, all over again.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11333676
sigh
More awful truths about Pike River and further corruption shame on Key’s govt:
Pike River ‘had the worst of everything
Being part of the Pike River Royal Commission of Inquiry was “one of the most difficult things” Stewart Bell has ever done.
Now he and Australian mining expert Mark Parcell are presenting the commission’s findings on the disaster for a series of work safety seminars around the country.
In Westport yesterday, Bell documented the events leading to Pike River coal mine exploding, killing 29 miners and contractors, on November 19, 2010.
“Right from the initial concept of Pike, things were going wrong,” he told the audience, which included Solid Energy employees and Mines Rescue Service staff.
He detailed the failings the commission had found in the running of the mine, especially with the management of methane in the underground mine.
“That is the worst gas monitoring system I’ve ever seen . . . and I’ve seen a lot of gas monitoring systems all over the place. What surprised us was that the explosion hadn’t happened earlier.”
Because of the difficult environment Pike River Coal was mining in, Bell said the operation needed “the best of everything”.
“Management, equipment, data . . . arguably, it had the worst of everything.
“We were lucky we didn’t lose more people.”
Given the level of failures, Bell said he was surprised there were no prosecutions.
“We were lucky we didn’t lose more people.”
Given the level of failures, Bell said he was surprised there were no prosecutions.
Former Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall faced 12 charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act, but those charges were dropped last December.
“If that series of events had taken place in a Queensland mine [where Bell is mine safety commissioner], we would have prosecuted.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/better-business/10558804/Pike-River-had-the-worst-of-everything
I’m not. Once you have an aristocracy, as our societies worship of the rich and powerful has made them, then those aristocrats will never be held accountable for their criminal actions. We see this in the fact that the entire National government isn’t presently facing charges for corruption.
brownlee cut the ribbon…
The Herald helping choose the Labour leader, I do not think so.
“Middle New Zealand” is a term used by David Shearer, Stuart Nash and Chris Trotter recently. I feel uncomfortable with it. It smells of “Mainstream New Zealand” as spoken by Don Brash.
What are they trying to achieve by using this language? Who do they have in mind when they refer to it?
Who do they thinks are NOT in middle New Zealand?
The term “middle New Zealand” is worrying to me because it suggests those who are assumed to be on the comfortable side of the fault-line between the haves and have-nots. Which in turn suggests moving further in the direction of the one-party state, where differences lie only in branding. Coke versus Pepsi, Spark versus Vodafone, etc.
In fact I think that the media/political circle outlined in Dirty Politics extends beyond dishing the dirt – it also serves to determine who gets to play in the sandpit with those-in-the-know, creating blurred lines between National, Labour and the political media. The screeching that has followed David Cunliffe (Ferguson this morning kept saying 24% over and over again like a talking bird) has the tone of a tribe or flock defending itself against an intruder or opponent. And the statements made by some of the so-called left, both MP’s and others, seem to signal over the heads of their listeners to the same tribe.
The issue to me is whether this tribe gets to determine Labour’s direction, or whether the members and affiliates are able to have a real say. If the latter, it will involve the scary business of standing up to them, and suffering the inevitable vitriol. Which will in turn demand fighting back, rather than appeasement. I favour the latter, for the sake of both democracy and social justice. For this reason I will vote for Cunliffe to continue.
Cunliffe too has said that the party has to move to attract the middle New Zealand.
To me, that is the pragmatic thing to do to win an election because 50% of the vote is essential to form a government. In reality, the majority ARE the middle NZ. People in that bracket are earning fairly good incomes/combined incomes in the modern world. A major party can only ignore them at their own peril. Most of these middle NZ are also fair minded decent ordinary well educated folk who will nevertheless support socially just, environmentally sound and economically smart policies as long as they are not made to bear the major brunt of the costs.
Most of the Labour policies, with some adjustments, will draw those middle NZ back into its fold from the other RW or Centrist parties such as National, NZF and even the Cons.
Leave the specific often extremist looking taxation/environmental policies/programmes to the Greens who have a reasonably large core constituency in its support. Mana/IMP too has an important place in the mix though with a smaller support base.
Labour can not try to be National or Greens or Mana. Let Labour be Labour: the heart, brains and caring conscience of the people and the country.
I do not mean for one minute that such people should be ignored. After all, many Labour Party members are just such people. But I do not like to see the term used as code for business-as-usual, and top-down rule.
” But I do not like to see the term used as code for business-as-usual, and top-down rule”
I don’t believe that either Cunliffe or Robertson will do that.
This is all ridiculous.
It’s like all of you have forgotten that Labour’s mid 30% up to ~37% ratings late last year came on the back of Cunliffe’s “real red” Labour Party languaging and promises.
Not some watered down bullshit appeal to the top 20% ~$60K pa plus crowd.
exactly.
i think middle nz is just a catchall for people who swing betw nats and labour. ..
‘Not some watered down bullshit appeal to the top 20% ~$60K pa plus crowd”
Labour proposed an increase of 3 c/$ from the present 33% to 36% for incomes above $150,000 while the Greens wanted 40% above $140,000.
Which do you prefer? or do you have a different idea?
Yes, that bump in the polls after a leadership contest in which the media highlighted Cunliffe’s appeal to the left/red side of Labour certainly shows that it is not a complete turn off to the electorate.
Of course, it could also have been relief that Shearer was no longer leader.
But in either case, it suggests that left rhetoric (certainly if ‘left’ is understood economically) is not a problem for a lot of New Zealanders.
It’s probably the sense that the Labour Party doesn’t know what it stands for and can’t get its act together that turns some people off who otherwise would return to support it.
+1
The problem being that we can’t actually afford the rich and, yes, that is who you’re actually describing although I know a few people who are definitely underclass who think of themselves as middle class. We can afford for everyone to be reasonably well off but we cannot afford for even a large minority to be bloody well off.
Two things:
1. Mana is, ATM, in the IMP alliance. The other party to the IMP is the Internet Party.
2. They actually need a far bigger support base if we want to save our society.
Labour is the slightly softer face of National.
[“We can afford for everyone to be reasonably well off but we cannot afford for even a large minority to be bloody well off”]
What was ‘reasonably well off’ in 1980 is much different today considering the cost of living, house prices etc. we need to keep them in Labour and not drive them away with their back pockets. Reasonable taxes and services for them and greater services and avenues for those in the lower economic brackets. It is the ‘bloody well off’ that is the problem. They are the new real beneficiaries. Drive them off to NATS, CONS and ACT.
[“Two things:
1. Mana is, ATM, in the IMP alliance. The other party to the IMP is the Internet Party.2. They actually need a far bigger support base if we want to save our society”]
True. Mana’s policies do symbolise ‘applied Christianity’. Labour needs to allow Mana/IMP to do their own thing, gather strength and support it well when in government or coalition.
[“Labour is the slightly softer face of National’]
That is just a fashionable silly framing. Completely wrong. Key/National copied a few of the social justice policies of the last Labour government of Clark/Cullen in order to fool the population to seem reasonable and respectable, steal votes off labour and to remain in power longer to do RW nasty selfish stuff to the country in favour of the wealthy and the very wealthy. Open your eyes!
That’s a meaningless sentence. In 1980 the average family couldn’t afford a PC, now even poor families can. But even that doesn’t address the reality that today having a computer in the home is essential and average house prices should never be above 3 or 4 times average household income.
The price of food in NZ should be so low as to almost free instead we get to, seemingly, pay slightly more than what the farmers international customers are willing to pay.
Nope. As long as Labour keeps to the neo-liberal/classical economic paradigm, and they’re showing no sign of shifting from it, then it’s juts a slightly less blue National.
BTW: I see, and applaud, your attempts to make your replies slightly more readable but may I suggest the use of simple HTML.
Thanks.
It’s this approach that has failed Labour since 1984. Since then Labour has had only nine years in government, and that was pure luck that it had a leader who happened to be popular. It wasn’t Labour’s policies that gave it power in those nine years. It was in spite of them. Labour hasn’t had a caring, inclusive, participatory and citizen-based set of policies since before the mid-1980s. Even Muldoon’s approach to social policy was more left-wing than Labour’s under Clark. In the absence of a likeable leader Labour will remain in opposition. In the meantime it needs learn how to be a labour party again.
can you explain why you havent included 1984 to 1990…
making it 15 years since 1984?
Of course, that’s right. Gee, it’s so easy to dismiss that period as being a Tory government. I wonder why? The point remains, however, which is that ever since Labour lost its way it’s relied solely on the popularity of its leader – nothing more.
The answer, I think is in Nash saying that Labour needs to stop being hard left and returning more to the right. It’s something Hooton says, although it’s not surprising given Nash, Odgers, Hooton, Slater, Farrar are all cut from the same cloth. You know Labour’s in dire trouble when someone who is part of this filth-mob is one of its MPs.
David Cunliffe rose to the high 30% in Sep-Oct 2013.
He will go higher with a good team of caucus and supporters.
When Cunliffe wins then the traitors who ran an electorate campaign have to be purged. Robertson Goff, Mallard. Cosgrove, Shearer have to be first. Either a by election or deselected.
That was on the back of strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour Party. Not some watered down drift to the mythical centre of the top 20%.
“That was on the back of strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour Party. Not some watered down drift to the mythical centre of the top 20%”
Do you think the vote fell from 30% plus to 24% because Cunliffe drifted to the ‘mythical centre’ during the campaign? I doubt that.
The strong languaging and imagery around a ‘real red’ Labour, not a watered down light blue one, didn’t turn off new member sign up. It didn’t turn off TV coverage of the leadership race. It didn’t turn off the polls.
In fact, it pushed the polls up there, all the way to the mid/upper 30-something percent range.
But the caucus has already been decided and there’s no way it will be united under Cunliffe.
Correct, this caucus appears to have made that decision.
has nash sent flowers to mcvicar or is he still pretending he secured a great and compelling victory?
He’s too busy plotting with Odgers.
John Ralston Saul has an interesting view on the middle class:
“Societies have shapes. A middle-class democracy hopes to be shaped like a diamond standing on its point, you know like that, a little bit of rich at the top, unfortunately some really poor at the bottom that you’re always trying to deal with but you never manage to deal with at all, and then most of it are there in the middle.
The 19th century pure capitalist model of society was a pyramid, concentrations of enormous wealth in a small group at the top, a not very big middle-class in the middle, and an enormous percentage of the population in the bottom part of the pyramid. And the job of the not too big middle-class was to sort of act as a go-between, on the one hand carrying money back up to the top and orders down to the bottom.
By allowing economics to move back into leadership in our societies we began a process which would take us away from this attempt at the diamond standing on a point, towards the pyramid. And indeed whenever you see those numbers that say income disparities growing, middle-class shrinking, all those numbers they’re all about taking a diamond and turning it into a pyramid. That’s what’s happening to us.
We’re moving away from our social victory, towards the disaster which we avoided earlier in this century”
So those who think postioning for the middle class vote are in fact relying on a rapidly decreasing sector.
Correct.
What some people don’t realise is that everyone – even the top 10% – has been going backwards compared to the top 1% to 2%. And inequality in the top 1% to 2% is actually utterly massive.
This presentation from the RSA opened my eyes to a few basic facts.
We’re not turning into a “pyramid” in terms of wealth and income distribution. We’re turning into a pyramid with a massively high but needle thin Sky Tower structure built on top of it.
thanks for this…
the middle are being led round by the nose by the seriously wealthy, when the shit hits the fan again, and it will, the seriously wealthy will be just fine…
History shows that when the real shit hits the real fan, people end up swinging from lamp posts.
This sounds serious.
Where can we set up the guillotine in Wellington?
I wonder if Midland Park, fairly near to Parliament is suitable?
If we want to put it close to the GG’s residence it would have to be on the Basin Reserve.
I shall be getting out the knitting needles in anticipation.
Have you sent the link to this comment to all your RWNJ mates? What a ridiculous load of rubbish.
I thought it was pretty much in line with Colonial Viper’s comment on people swinging (he means hanging if you don’t understand it) from lamp posts.
Still if you are upset I suppose all I can suggest is “diddums!”
Not upset at all except that I suspect you are trying to insert suggestions of violence into this blog, so that they can be pointed at later by the right. CV was talking about history. You understand exactly what you are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had Blubber Boy on speed dial. Stick your diddums where the sun don’t shine.
Don’t be so thick. The guillotine and the knitting were two hundred years ago.
If Colonial Viper is upset I will withdraw the remark. You, I will in future, totally ignore.
IMO, those on greater than $60k per year individual income. They really don’t seem to be able to comprehend that the majority of people have less income than that.
From the Dim Post:
“Stuart Nash – who won Napier after his opponent resigned and a Conservative Party candidate split the right-wing vote – is offering to tour the country teaching other Labour candidates how to win electorates.”
Such a humble and helpful man. I wonder if the other Labour candidates will have the support of Simon Lusk too?
It’s just unbelievable after all that’s gone on with Labour – its lurch to the right, leadership disasters, destroying Mana, handing a resuscitated Maori Party to John Key, election trouncing, ongoing public internal warring – that the only thing that’s come out if it is a decision to adopt a filth strategy taken straight out of what Hager exposed Key and his mates were up to in his book Dirty Politics. I wonder what else Odger’s mate Nash has planned for Labour? Things just get better and better!!!
Yep, all you have to do is be like Nash – just get a well known CCCP member in there to contest with National.
Preferential voting is essential to electorates if we don’t get rid of electorates altogether. If we had that then Nash could be put rightfully in his place.
“..Stuart Nash – who won Napier after his opponent resigned and a Conservative Party candidate split the right-wing vote – is offering to tour the country teaching other Labour candidates how to win electorates.”
step one:..find a well-known reactionary…
step two:..get them to stand against yr national party opposition..
step three:..this will split the rightwing vote…
..and so will enable you to come thru the middle..
n.b..and get this..!..you will win the seat by getting only the same amount of votes as the last time you stood…when you lost..how cool is that..!
(now..this is how nash won napier..if he tries to tell you any different..he is bullshitting..
..and i dunno why nash has to tour around telling people..how he won napier..
..it’s dead simple really..
..couldn’t he just send out a group-email worded roughly like the above..?
..you’d think..?
..and i wd like to find out if garth mcvicar..nashs’ vote-splitter ..if he has yet received a thank you note from nash..
..it’d only be polite..eh..?..)
Sweet, I can win Wellington Central if I can convince John Morrison to stand for the Conservatives there?
@ dpg..
..that is the nash-template..
So simple a zombie could do it 😈
has he said how he will arrange a third person to split the vote for them…
So Cunliffe pulls out the gay card on Robertson… this will end well.
citation please
it reveals more about copter…
This is completely untrue.
No one will play it – that would be dumb and bigoted and we are better than that,
Su’a William Sio has already basically said that without using the words gay or homosexual. But of course, that is because he’s a bigot.
Hmmm, sounds like complete bollocks to me, DoublePlusGoodtrybutfoolingnoone.
http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/2/article_15799.php
Hmm…
[lprent: More than a “hmm..” is required on links. Explain why someone should click on it. Otherwise it gets viewed as link-whoring. Too much of it and it gets viewed as suitable for a banning. A sentence explaining why you think that someone should click on it usually suffices. ]
And? Sua is quoted as speaking to media in the plural. Yet nobody else reported any “insinuation”. In fact, the only insinuation is the article itself.
I reckon the NZ dairy industry is approaching a crisis situation and this may behind the RBNZ intervening in the currency. The dairy industry are so worried about where the Whole Milk Powder market is currently sitting (USD$2700 per tonne) that they seem to have gone into a state of denial and have priced the Fonterra dairy payout to dairy farmers at $5.35, which amazingly assumes an underlying price of Whole milk Powder of USD $3500 by March of 2015, very brave. One thing I know about commodities is that they are nearly impossible to forecast, not one bank economist forecast this current crisis…they conveniently are blaming it on Ukraine/Russia situation but in fact most of this crisis has been created by an increase in supply from USA and Europe, which bank economists should have been able to factor in.
If the international dairy market stays around USD$2700 for WMP then according to Con William (ANZ, the only bank economist worth listening too currently) the dairy payout should be around $4.30 to $4.50…which is crisis, not only for our dairy farms but also the regions that rely on dairy.
If Labour can pull their act together, there will be more material to work with in election 2017…our economy is about to go through some very tough times, hence why I reckon RBNZ are doing what they are doing.
This link from Rod Oram’s SST in the weekend is scary for NZ and Nationals aspiration around dairy farming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1dfg10N3DQ
NZ urgently needs more than dairy commodities to drive our economy, which was a big part of Labours policy.
You can’t just magic up new industries.
KDC knows how to; shame you and yr ilk have so poisoned the chalice so we all have to choke on it.
KDC is just a larger version of the mono rail guy from the Simpsons.
Don’t be so gullible.
continuing with the simpsons theme/analogies..
..is key monty burns..or mayor quimby..?
..or a mix of the two..?
“KDC knows how to; shame you and yr ilk have so poisoned the chalice so we all have to choke on it.”
Do you think NZ companies should get involved in what might well be criminal activities so they can get shut down by the FBI.
You sound like Munter Bradbury, have you forgotten to take your meds?
BM, Naki man .. you know nothing of his innovative business genius. You are poisoned by your own harpoons.
This is a man who founded a business that carried 4% of all internet traffic. Let’s accept that criminality is alleged; accepted by some, refuted by others. But regardless, he founded and managed a business taking 4% of ALL internet traffic.
KDC has created now an encrypted series of systems including video, proved by appearance of Edward Snowden at Town Hall.
KDC has been forced to create and run his LEGAL businesses from outside of NZ due to NSA/USA interferences.
KDC wanted and wished to co-fund a new cable for NZ .. never going to happen because of NSA etc.
Personally, I would have preferred he was able to work with us us, for us, as he intended.
Other than denying NSA access, I cannot see how criminality could possibly concern the NZ govt. ( That is kind of a very big joke isn’t it !!! Don’t know if you’ll get it though.)
Hey, look at that – a leading question from a RWNJ as can be expected because they fail to have an actual argument.
And then followed by an ad hominem.
it helps when naki man has no memory of who bent the rules to bring kdc and dongliu into NZ
Labour gave dongliu residency and the government didn’t bend the rules to let kdc in however I agree that in hindsight it was a huge mistake.
Actually, all indications are that National outright broke the rules to let KDC in.
you mean like kdc and dongliu, both bought to us courtesy of the lack of ethics of the national party??!?
Especially if you put all your effort into dairy farming. There is no diversification, there is no strategic approach, all we have is more and more farms, more and more pollution and a more unstable economy.
Our strengths are primary goods.
There is more to NZ than just dairy farming though.
There should be but a strategy of just increasing dairy output could end in tears if the market keeps moving against us.
I agree, it’s never a good idea to be solely reliable on one income stream.
I think one of the main issues we face with dairy farms is that the farms are grossly over valued which has lead to massive intensification.
Without that intensification a lot of farms wouldn’t be financially viable, the problem though is that the land can’t cop with the added inputs which is causing massive issues with water quality.
Ends in tears for us but taking comfort from knowledge that milk helps those countering tear gas effects.
+1
I see protestors in HK using plastic film wrap to protect their bodies from the tear gas particulates. (Tear gas is not a gas)
soak a bandanna or any other cloth in apple-cider vinegar or lemon juice
and wear swimming goggles
Yep also a rain coat or similar is useful in preventing contamination of your clothes by ‘tear gas dust.’
like forestry?
We’re doing what Nauru did with phosphate. Maybe Oz will be happy to set up detention centres all over the countryside once dairy has wrecked it completely?
Nats strategy to double exports, mainly via Dairy doesnt look good…just dropped $6b in a year. labour will encourage value add, in fact this is exactly what David Cunliffe specialised in when he was with BCG.
No magic needed – just decent government funded research and development similar to what the US government does for its industry. Do that and we would soon be world leaders in:
1. IT
2. Manufacturing
3. Arts
4. Diverse agriculture
etc, etc
Yeah, that’s the secret formula right there.
Works well for the US and has done so for some decades. The UK and other countries are trying to copy it now but aren’t doing quite so well because, IMO, they’re relying too much on the private sector.
So we need to be relying on the tax payer.?
I’m sure the voter will see the positives of funds being redirected from hospitals and schools to NZ’s space exploration program.
I like it, put me down for a $20, Kiwis in Spaaaaaaaaaace.
Moron, who else do you think we rely on? I know the rich want you to think it’s them but it’s not – the resources we use belong to NZ and not the rich.
And why would we do that? Much better to redirect those resources from, as an example, McDs and Burger King.
🙄
lowerstandard proves himself.
🙄
We need to pick and choose Draco, and the emphasis needs to go on infrastructure and societal systems which will take us through climate change, fossil fuel depletion and de-globalisation.
We can do everything we desire to do – we have the resources available.
the currency intervention was indeed to offset drops in prices by lowering of dollar. currency traders LIVE off inside information, especially from federal reserves,,, ce tral banks.
we are left to wonder how much key would have made thru his blind ( yeah, right!) aldgate and whitechapel trusts.
he would be the penultimate inside trader as he proved with his tranzrail shares. and i bet he has made millions through being pm.
A spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent.
/
http://petapixel.com/2014/09/29/china-blocks-instagram-hong-kong-protest-photos-roll/
Milk, among a few things, would be good to counter the effects of tear gas and pepper spray.
Hong Kong pre-democracy marchers should be supported by the supply of more NZ milk powder 😐
“Divisions within the Labour Party are widening”
National Radio’s lead on the midday bulletin. Can’t imagine what ZB led with.
Everyone knows National Radio is a right-wing corporate funded entity with ties to Cameron Slater so best just to ignore it
I thought the official line was that they were a mix of corporate shills, 1 percenters and class traitors.
Thats why we need public media, because you can’t trust those capitalist running dogs!
I thought Mahuta-Coyle on Q and A was a demented shree, Dickhead Gavin Ellis thought she was great. This is the sort of shit we are up against. God help me.
She’s a fiery wee thing.
I like her.
” wee thing”
they’re called women, you know half of the population and all that…
you call your wife that, your “wee thing” ?
Absolutely.
I was thinking that “wee thing” was more appropriate for a man!
His wife returns the favour.
Whereas calling her a ‘demented shrew’ is okay?
@ marksman..
“.. thought Mahuta-Coyle on Q and A was a demented shree..”
+ 1..
I want to inform everybody here that the Facebook page known as John Key has disappointed New Zealand is back up and running as per yesterday evening. They must have had an awful lot of complaints for that to have happened but it is good to know that Facebook is still working for people who need a place to gather and organize for political goals. Go John Key has let down New Zealand!
I just heard Phil Goff answer a question on whether he thought David Cunliffe should have resigned.
Goff said that he resigned in 2011 when he lost the General Election and that he believes he did the right thing.
So what did Goff do? He worked with a small clique to install Parker as leader. When Parker bombed in a TV debate with Cunliffe, Goff and Robertson pulled Parker and pushed Shearer to the front. Shearer had not been in Parliament for a full term and had been totally invisble in that time.
Is that what Phil Goff calls doing the right thing? Shame on you Phil.
But David Cunliffe has resigned.
The Press Editorial – interestingly – thinks that Cunliffe resigning and then putting himself forward again is actually the right thing for him to have done.
My point is that Goff in part created the current mess by firstly trying to ordain a leader without wider consultation and secondly by picking a totally unsuitable candidate like Shearer.
The Labour party is no longer a party of the working man, but one for beneficiaries and social engineers. The battle for a 40 hour week has been won, and lost again by choice as people chase the consumer society dream. Weekend trading means more hours of work available to more people and from the looks of the crowds at Mitre 10, Pak n Save and the Warehouse on the weekend, the consumers are enthusiastically looking to consume.
[lprent: Off topic and not for the first time now I look at it. Banned 16 weeks because you look like a stupid troll and I find you need a robust warning. Moved to OpenMike. I suggest you read the policy if you want to avoid my personal attention. ]
Come on man, how about a serious comment? One with a bit of guts to it. The Labour Party as a political party for beneficiaries? What a joke. The biggest state beneficiaries in NZ are corporations. The NZ underclass are barely represented by the NZ Labour Party.
As for your “Social engineers” comment lol. It’s funny when right wingers say things which point straight to themselves. “Social engineering” is what neoliberalism has done to this once fine nation, firstly through Rogernomics then Ruthanasia. Turned it into a country full of ravenous consumers. Which you seem so proud of. You social engineer you.
Thanks, Ronnie.
[lprent: Ummmph.. ]
And that has what to do with David Parker’s elevation?
[lprent: My thought as well. ]
Stop making comments on political blogs then. That’s social engineering right there. Thoughtcrime!
Cactus Kate, is that you?
I tried getting a handle of who you are/your politics and all google turned up was your hundreds of comments on WhaleOil.
I’d say that says it all.
If you hadn’t already checked, the post is a c & p from Whaleoil. Unclear if Ronnie Chow is the actual author on WO.
http://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2014/09/guest-post-thoughts-labour/
Be interesting to see if other posts by Ronnie can be sourced to the same article. Well, when I say interesting, I mean pretty dull.
I often base posts on my blog on stuff I’ve said here, and base stuff I say here on comments I’ve made on my blog. I don’t see why I should have to be clever and find two ways of saying the same thing if I’ve already said it once quite well.
But this looks more like deliberate spamming with (presumably) someone else’s branes.
EDIT – I checked another of Chow’s posts. Guess what! You’ll never guess! It came from the same source! Whoddathunked it?
Well spotted! (I’d say hours of reading political blogs have given us all pretty finely-tuned bullshit detectors. Thank god those hours weren’t in vain! ;))
Google busting a few more of Ronnie Chow’s posts is bemusing. Most of his / her posts are quotes. Whaleoil seems to be a recent thing. Other sources include The Beverley Hill Billies, the Art of War and a character study of Dick Cheney. Some at least seem to have some vague attempt to make themselves relevant to the post, but it looks very much like someone playing with quotes in an effort to look cunning.
Haha, so more like an advanced RW spambot? At least the Gormless Fool was tickled…
Google-busters!
is my memory false or was pike river labours poster child for the extractive pillage industry.
You were right first time.
laughed out loud.
[lprent: Why? Moved to Open Mike as probably being off topic. ]
It was my honest response to the news that Parker and king had taken over.
yeah..that’s a vision for the future..
..a labour party led by parker..with king as deputy..
..the/a neo-lib re-treads coupling..
“..the/a neo-lib re-treads coupling..”
LOL! Very funny!
On 12 March 2004, Minister of Conservation Chris Carter approved the access arrangement for Pike River Coal Ltd……. wikipedia what do they know anyway
but they didnt have power when it opened or when it was failing its employees in favour of profit.
with your logic you will be saying nats economic management was only possible due to labours surplus and paying down of debt
Picking holes in National’s selections should be the least of your priorities.
How about choosing a leader who actually represents NZ workers? Labour hasn’t had a leader like that in decades (although Helen Clark made a good job of faking it).
How about policies that put ordinary NZers first instead of your union paymasters?
For example, why can’t we experiment more in education? Oh, that’s right – it might upset two of our biggest unions.
Why can’t you have a united caucus?
Why is the Labour party so desperately and tragically out of touch.
I remember when everyone knew our local Labour MP by name. He was part of the community, but too many Labour MPs (thankfully, not all) parachute in for surgery and to drum up votes during elections.
Get your house in order and I might even think about supporting you and even making a donation – but pull your head out of the sand, use this election defeat as an opportunity to make serious reforms.
[lprent: 16 week ban for deliberately going off topic. ]
Why do you hate freedom of expression and association? Are you a Quisling, or just a cretin?
I vote Green, by the way, and I can still notice when a fool is talking shit about the Labour party.
“How about policies that put ordinary NZers first instead of your union paymasters?
For example, why can’t we experiment more in education? Oh, that’s right – it might upset two of our biggest unions.”
why do people like you come here and repeat the same tired ignorant mistakes?
Excellent post Fats
You nailed it. These guys hate the truth. Denial and blaming the media is so much easier.
“Union paymasters”
The touchstone of Fats’ facile fatuous flailing is a transparent smear.
Union of what, exactly?
Why do you hate New Zealanders, trash? Please do it within my earshot and arms’ reach sometime.
the only thing hes nailed is his idiocy to a post for all to see
———————-
“How about choosing a leader who actually represents NZ workers? ”
umm . john key? don brash? bill english? – and in the future – collins? bennet? joyce?
———————
How about policies that put ordinary NZers first instead of your union paymasters?
nat and act policy? – nat and act paymasters?
———————
“Oh, that’s right – it might upset two of our biggest unions.”
the education unions arent opposed to good policy – they are opposed to the corporatisation of education – something they have been clear and consistant about, have provided other solutions to address the issue and have been utterly ignored, yet again, by national
———————
“Why is the Labour party so desperately and tragically out of touch. ”
Why does the national party need to stage manage their leaders profile? Surely someone that in touch doesnt need PR?
———————
“but too many Labour MPs (thankfully, not all) parachute in for surgery and to drum up votes during elections.”
helensville – john key – and thats just a freebie, theres more
———————
Maybe the pair of you could argue beyond a slogan? Theres plenty of topics to choose – but it seems boorish sniping and binary simplistic black/white arguments is all you can muster
totally agree Fats, but dont expect any common sense to prevail on this blog, the vast majority are beating the same drum that will keep them in opposition for the next 2 terms minimum.
meanwhile the nats look to grow the economy and their support base, which by the way is substantial.
Problem for Labour is they have no options for leader, imagine them having a mandate to run the country, they cant even run their own Caucus!
keep them in opposition… so you voted against the left but claim you support a party for workers… no wonder key owns you lot
With milk prices down looking is as far as they’ll get, especially as their policies will reduce the median wage further as house and power prices inflate.
But but but but Lllllaaaabbbboooouuurrrr!
“but dont expect any common sense to prevail on this blog, the vast majority are beating the same drum that will keep them in opposition”
didnt realise the standard was in govt these days
keep it up steve – your a shinning beacon of intellect
“nats look to grow the economy
HEY Steve
Noticed the current Debt
NZ$ 93,047,494,243
yeah you sound like someone who voted Left, but not for Labour…
good god. ..
Shouldn’t you address these concerns to Labour, this is ‘the standard’ and IMO this house is in tip top working order.
because farrar and slaters blogs are paid for and used by national and act these folk assume this is bought and paid and used by labour… they base these assumptions on their own standards of behaviour…
ahh yes its all coming back now the lovely brochures with unsullied bush and mountain ranges. labours message that we could have our environmental cake and eat it too. without all that messy regulatory stuff. in hindsight (ahh a lovely luxury) an unbroken rodgernomic policy. just how far back does labours unravelling go?
JC: Hold on a sec. You are a leader, and you are a bright man. Why didn’t they vote for you?
DC: I think at the end of the day, people wanted stability. They wanted prosperity. They saw the current government, for now, delivering that for them, and they weren’t prepared to take what they saw as some kind of risk for a change.
Yep National Cunliffe all right, fear someone else might replace him! 🙂
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/10557837/RBNZ-in-521m-currency-intervention
Didn’t Helen Clark get in trouble for similar comments?
Something about undermining the independence of the Reserve Bank I believe…
Edit: Ugh apparently Farrar already pointed this out & it was Cullen
but this is different…
Did anyone see Prime News @5.30pm last night?
There was a news item stating there is concern over the health of the Hauraki Gulf because there is a large increase in pollution in the Gulf caused by the runoffs from the dairy farms on the Hauraki Plains.
It looks as if the Rock Star Economy is about to turn to custard now the price of the overproduced milk powder has collapsed (funny how that snippet of news was kept until after the election) along with our clean green image. Also, this once, fair minded beautiful and ” safe” country may turn out to be not so safe now Fucking Key like that prat Abbott in Oz, with his nose right up Obama’s arse has stated that he may (will) support the yanks with ground forces in their latest adventure.
yes and sooooo interesting what is emerging post election
http://publicaddress.net/9490
– You won’t die wondering what this guy thinks
His argument of Grant Robertson being somehow better because he’s a little younger is pretty ridiculous.
Also, he has a problem with this: “You ran for leader and lost, then destabilised the elected leader.” when David Cunliffe does it. But it’s acceptable when Grant Robertson, David Shearer, Trevor Mallard and friends destabilise the leader.
I think he needs to come up with some more solid reasons for not liking David Cunliffe than ‘he lost’. Because Robertson would have lost too.
“..6 terrifying reasons why it’s time to stop eating meat..
..From disgusting slaughterhouse conditions –
– to devastating health consequences –
– the evidence keeps piling up..”
(cont..)
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/29/6_horrifying_reasons_why_its_time_to_stop_eating_meat_partner/
heh..!..parker just said on nat-rad that he/labour wd like to ‘reach out to the people..to see what they think about labour’..
..can i suggest they take the shortcut of reading the comment-threads @ the standard..?
..that should give them a fair idea..eh..?
It would be a good place to start in order to canvass opinions from the self important and the down right deluded.
On top of that they also get to read comments from the Left as well.
😆
Kinda like your comments @ 2 @7am above represent Labours opinion ?
Maybe it would give David Parker a handle on how nasty hate ridden myopic deviants
such as yourself think.
As long as we have hate filled silly billies like you just screaming out invective we will never get anywhere except to invite derision.
Reasoned, thoughtfull argument from the likes of David Parker will trump the screamed hatefull, personal spite your type can’t resist and will eventually prevail.
Do us a favour and STFU phillip.
@ crico..
..can i suggest the ingestion of a (vegan) kit-kat..?
..or maybe a cup of tea and wee lie-down..?
..i’m not feeling the love..eh..?
..and i had a look at comment two..
..are you a green..?
..or a dunne-fan..?..(what we know as ‘a dunny’..)
and if you are ‘a dunny’..
..cd u contact doc..?
..they have you down as an endangered species..
The reasoned thoughtful comments are what got us into the present mess and are taking us to ecological collapse. It was revolution and not being all that reasonable that got us out of feudalism and into democracy, got us the 40 hour week, the minimum wage and good working conditions. Being reasonable over the last 30 years has lost us a lot of those and is about to lose even more of them.
I think it’s time to stop being fucken reasonable.
Farragoblog and the MSM are the “reasonable” face of the right wing corporate takeover. Gonna take some loud shouting to shake NZ from its slumber.
why are the media so wetting their collective-knickers over this labour leadership contest..?
..throwing words like ‘ugly’..’disasterous for labour party’..
..and assorted hysterical bullshit..
..these drama-queens need to get a grip..
..it’s a contest..not a tea-party..
..and when the dust settles..a labour leader will emerge..
..it’s just the way things are done..
..of course..it’s different in national..
..a small power-clique in the party just imposes their choice on the national party sheepies..
..and they all ‘baa!’ on cue..
..i’ve never seen media collective knicker-wetting over that..
..and this is the best/only choice for labour..
..a good old-fashioned contest of ideas..
..what’s wrong with that..?
..caucus imposing robertson on the party/unions..
..would just see their support melt away…
..so that was no option..
..and it is a right vs. left contest..
..robertson the person pushing the same neo-lib line that has got them to this place..
..and cunnliffe..a progressive voice..
..promising root and branch reform..
..and the discarding of those neo-lib dictates..
..it’s a clear choice for those voting..
..vote for the past..
..or vote for the future..
Phillip if so many did not buy into the propaganda and lies, we’d just carry on.
You know something’s seriously FUBAR when Ron Paul is the voice of reason. And on the issue of ISIS and in this interview Ron Paul is a very good. I disagree with his economics, but I agree with most his analysis on this issue. And were going to be willing participants in this stupidity. Long live FEAR! Fear is the mind killer.
Meh, fuck Ron Paul.
These blokes are the voices of reason.
http://ibishblog.com/
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/14149-killing-mosquitos-rather-than-draining-the-swamp
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/oct/09/pillars-arab-despotism/
Have you seen any US TV of late joe90. My guess is not much. My point and I’m sorry I did not spell it out correctly, is, if in the US Ron Paul is the voice of reason, we’re in a very FUBAR situation!
I like the links you posted by the way.
Went looking for source of Tariana Turia’s ridiculous comment about beaten wives and as expected it was a supporters brain fart but this comment, wow, says it all really.
Tanenuiarangi Harawira (Part 1 of 2) I know I am sounding like a broken record whanau but I agree with your sentiments Dion. This is because as we all should know Left or Right, there is not that much practical difference in terms of outcomes for us. Stepping back for a minute, if you think about it, in 1984-1987 the Labour government planted the seeds of the impoverishment that of many of our people, especially in isolated rural communities, have been consigned to through inter-generational welfare dependancy, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence. Those seeds have been watered and nutured by the policies of successive governments Left and Right over a generation. They did this by implementing corporatisation then privatisation of the former government departments and agencies like Post, Forests, Coal, Works, Electricity and mainstreaming in terms of Maori Affairs. National then carried it on from 1990 to 1999. Most of these departments and ministries employed thousands of Maori mostly in rural communities. When they all lost their jobs – because it was cheaper for the government to pay the benefit than wages – that policy gutted our communities. To add insult to injury the SOEs in the power space then put up their prices, for example almost by 70% under the Helen Clark government’s watch. These policies also disabled our isolated rural communities by shutting down vital infrastructure like Post Offices and Banks. Do you remember when we used to even have a functioning post office at Te Kaha?
continues-
https://www.facebook.com/MaoriParty/posts/850798964931258?comment_id=851057371572084&offset=0&total_comments=26
Hey Iprent the link Joe 90 just put up is a very good reading – it’s long, but it deserves not to be buried at the bottom Open Mike. 🙂
+100 joe 90 and adam…a very good historical overview ( needs a special place..so people can refer to it and be reminded)
…this is why i would like to see Nanaia Mahuta as Deputy of a Labour Party which goes back to its roots pre Roger Douglas and the corporatisation and privatisation Neolib virus that hit Labour
….and tries to redress all the wrongs done since the early 1980s
…if Labour can not do this …it will be up to other parties eg. Internet /Mana and the Greens and NZF
Great! Just what we need a three year debate on who gonna be the Best Leader of Labour. Another bout of lets blame the MSM, crap Pollsters, the MMP system, demographic analyis of A,B,C etc etc: So lets not talk shite about things we cant change!Do you really think by changing the figurehead will induce people to Vote Labour? Do you think that will connect and electrify nearly one million people whom felt that disenfanchised from the political process, they stayed at home and prefered 3 yrs more of A National Kicking to Voting Labour.
It’s not about who’s face is the Leader, it cant be!
It has to be how we reflect peoples hopes, dreams, fears and not project our ideas onto them! We need to engage these people not talking about introducing a CGT, Latte Tax or some sort of bollocks…yet Social Housing, Health, Education, Employment.
We need to disengage ourselves from The Green Party. They have good intentions, yes, Yet…it confuses people, Green/Labour or Labour/Green. Labour with Green Spots. Its confuses the electorate and hands the Right Wing Fascists free ammunition. Labour should announce to all, their intention in three years time is too form a majority government, no if’s, no buts, no alliances, no pacts, no tactical voting end of. And let The Green Party, with no hard feelings fly solo and stand on their own two feet.
I don’t want Labour to be consigned to a dusty section of a political history book. I want Labour reflect views, to engage, to connect with the missing million. If we can do that Comrades. It wont matter if Krusty The Bloody clown is Labours Leader…Get The Policies Right and those people next time, will feel more inclined to get off the sofa, switch off the tv, go to the polling station and Vote Labour.
The ALCP to UF: What about us Mr. Shipman?
Just like another last call, it means nothing at all,
You either kiss a lot of ass, or tear the clock off the wall,
Another warning ignored another sign of the times,
They say the sky is gonna fall, so why not drink till your blind
So when the company wants another company-man,
Or when the company wants another 1,000 year plan
You’ll let your boot go up the road you cannot possibly trust,
Till the screaming hits the ceiling and you ask:
“What About Us?
Your policies and direction are part of the total and positioning across the spectrum should fluctuate stealing if one must a little on the right ,the underlying principles must be set before or after the internal vote then drop the leader on the record and let him dance ..more fool me for listening to mischievous nonsense . A sensible vibrant renewal plan would resonate with my desires for a rising domestic economy i guess voting for personality blinds maybe the average kiwi votes with there pockets realizing or not the fleecing will be ripped in the next step johns average kiwi voters open to the dictations, i can slag jk as much i like but really its the overriding policies of the right , as the next election approaches a strong leader is a must ..the choice is easy ..really the economy is not bursting and probably is one tank feeding the other and the back again ,the gloss is nothing but gloss, more structure for growth let it manifest or etch in our dumb minds …
And the Herald keeps being a loyal servant with its choice of headlines. FFS, there’s nothing bizarre about anything reported here. This is once again the technique of defining things by naming them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11334067