they have all earlier sessions recorded and available on the page, youtube is happening as we speak,
i am downloading as i go and recording on audiotape
yeah, He is quietly sitting there with his translator, whom he hardly uses, busy explaining the framework required to build a case to take a lot of very powerful people to International Court, and then continues to lay out the best way to make it happen.
It was an incredible first day. The quality of the speakers is well balanced with the considered time they each get to present. The long Q&A sessions from the panel and the audience, including on line contributions, are already showing their worth.
Standard, please get the Weekend column up earlier, we want to discuss gardening and such like with my RWNJ annd LWNJ horticultural mates. Plus the rugger head stuff.
I want to ask that someone who has a lead into what sounds like an awesome firework display for tonight in Auckland to post it, in the Weekend fun column.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
I shall be doing my level best to avoid it, but man it’s difficult! Some person has decided that Mt Albert (where I have the misfortune to live) has “adopted” the USA as “our team” and the suburb is festooned with the flag I least like to see… There are a million questions – not least, who decided that “we” care?
Our good friend Ianupnorth clambered up high on his high horse, looked down on the plebs (he sneeringly dismisses them as “red necks”) and disdainfully opined that rugby football is “played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.”
It’s really just too silly and pathetic to merit much comment, but one thing in Ian’s Olympian dismissal of the game demands clarification: in what way is France a colonial nation?
I am interested in the treatment of “Taugate” by the left and the right.
On the left a few comments, no posts in any of the major left blogs that I know of and a couple of tweets.
On the right an attack by the slithery one on the complainant backed up by one of those echo posts by Farrar, you know the ones where Slater does the disgusting stuff and Farrar “only” reports that Slater has reported it.
Is this that different to the speeding cop car that Helen was not actually driving but which provided RWNJs with years of abuse and conspiracy theories on here?
Does the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting whereas the right just relish the opportunity to attack?
There’s been a mixture of attacks and support for Henare on KB.
And if you think “the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting” then you mustn’t actually read anything in posts or comments here, or you must suffer from severe blinkeritis..
In my own narrow experience here I’ve been attacked by numerous people sometimes based only on the presumption I must be bad because I’ve been active on “bad” blogs, or as someone admitted recently, based on attacks on me they’ve seen by people like you.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Have I ever done that? I thought from the start you were a fan of the coiffured one rather than a CT clone. The attacks on you are a response to the quality of your comments more than anything else.
Ehm in one of them I accused Herodotus of having the CT songbook out. I accused you of linkwhoring, not understanding the country’s financial state, taking the piss, trolling, being a waste of bandwidth, walking around with your wyes deliberately closed, and always insisting on having the last word.
In the other one I asked if you had “[b]een going to “how to muck up a thread” lessons with CT?” because you show an unusual ability to do so.
Not really. Your search is quite inefficient use – @author. It shows Mickey using it occasionally with long intervals between. Your search in it’s first page went back to mid 2010. If you looked at the squirrel in his several identities and ran queries on moderate or balance or centre you’d find he was eternally repetitive on those in the short time he has been here.
And that is back to mid 2010 on about half the total number of comments..
Basically you can get largish numbers of the same phrase for anyone who leaves large numbers of comments. If you left more then I could analyze your phrases as well. I suppose I could look at the IPs….
Essentially you’re just being a bit of irritating dickhead – roughly the intelligence level of the drunken ugly rugby louts staggering somewhere outside my house. Noisy, loud and stupid…
Snippet in Business news on RNZ this morning about building consents at their lowest since World War 2. This is doing a time of major housing crisis and a year after of major earthquakes. Of course not picked up as a story to investigate (let alone asking the minister for some accountability).
A month of BBC and Al J me thinks. NZ media now inhabits a parralell universe where nothing but a bunch of gladiators running round a paddock after a ball exists.
Yep, noticed that. In fact a closer inspection would reveal that there is less building going on than any time since the 1970s. Down 24% on last year – that is a colossal drop.
That is really something major. It tells a big story about what the people of NZ are doing at the moment.
It is also worth noting another example in tourism. On the west coast this year numbers are down well below 50% of last years. And last years were dismally down on the previous too.
It is like we have run off a cliff like a road runner cartoon and are currently suspended in mid-air in realisation of the drop about to occur …..
National are not a business party with the interests of NZ business at heart.
They are second hand salesman, they talk up and then sell cheap.
They reflect the NZ economy and culture. If you can do it now for
next to nothing then best get it done because there’s no come back,
and everyone is doing it so where would they start with anyway.
If you want a world class economy we need a world class parliament.
Limiting our nation to 100 MPs and no upper chamber, is the bottle
neck. If you want better policy you need to pay for more people to
produce better policy.
A month ago there was a little bit of media coverage concerning the wage difference between males and females in New Zealand. The impetus for that reporting was to highlight the defunct thought process of Alasdair Thompson who was dismissed from the EMA for his sexist remarks. Although slowly declining, wage inequality is still a problem that disproportionately attributes wealth based on a male dominated hierarchical system…
It may pay for Goff to refrain from commenting on what should be happenning in Christchurch until such time as he and Labour have worked out what they think should be happenning in Christchurch.
Labour has completely failed in not coming up with a Christchurch policy. Speaking about it merely highlights that lack of policy. Is this not simple politics?
I think they’re in a position where they don’t want to make any promises, especially anything that National could rake them over the coals with (which they surely would).
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality. So the timing of policy releases is pretty important and I would say there is very little point releasing anything till the thugby finishes, because it’ll be swamped by the RWC coverage. In short, expect a short, sharp campaign from Labour starting immediately after the final, with actual policies and plans for the future.
And, anyway, isn’t a policy free zone like United Future a strange place to be complaining from? The last 4 elections, UF’s only go has been to grovel for a job from whoever is best placed to form a Government.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality.
Labour stalwarts seem to be convinced of that, but few give them a show.
UnitedFuture have openly published a wide range of policies so people have a chance to check them out in plenty of time rather than trying a risky last minute last hope onslaught.
Gee, sorry if I wasn’t clear, Pete. Despite being in various parties and Governments for what feels like forever, Dunne has failed to implement anything other than his vision of himself sitting in the back seat of a ministerial limo. Is that better?
You are dead right that UF have a website with ‘policy’ on it. So did that party you were a member of a month ago, as I recall. It’s the ability to translate that policy into action that counts and Dunne has failed miserably to achieve anything other than personal enrichment and regular hair, scalp and ego massaging.
Also on the United Future website is the Successes section. The only “success” (sic) listed over the last three years appears to be signing a confidence and supply agreement with National. Whoopee!
So, TVOR, if Labour lose the election, it will be because the Nats personality won, not a rejection of Labours policies? And as soon as the public stops falling for ther JK smile and wave act all will be right (well, left) because the current polling has absolutly nothing to do with Labours policies and all with JK!?!?!?!?
Know where you’re coming from Sweetd, but it would be fair to say that Labour cannot win a personality contest, so it has to be superior policies that get them over the line. And I don’t think the public has rejected Labour’s previous policies, anyway. National simply adopted them and put up a fresh face to spruik for them.
This time around though, there will be a more substantial difference between the left and right and I hope that the debate will be about which direction NZ goes in, not who’d be more fun at a BBQ.
Agreed, its MMP applied; that is the main parties fight for the middle ground, and whoever holds the middle ground becomes govt, therefore the main parties end up looking very similar in terms of policies.
So just what are the National / ACT policies, Pete George?
Further up there is talk about building consents being at a record low – is that consistent with getting Christchurch going again? Or have all the builders left to help out Queensland after their floods?
What is National / ACT doing about the building sector?
I think I might jump in and mention that the South African Rugby Board offered to have neutral referees in the 1976 series but the NZ Rugby Union declined. Apparently ‘Pole’ Whiting retired on the spot when he was told that.
Anything has to be an improvement on the Nats policy- demolish the CBD and two suburbs, bleed the EQC dry, blame everything on the earthquake….
There is plenty to criticize in this shameful display of disaster politics and no reason to be quiet about it.
Just read over on Red Alert on the question of unemployment, “They told us there was to be absolutely no discussion of anything to the media. If anyone spoke to the media it could be a code of conduct issue,” an employee told the Taranaki Daily News on condition of anonymity. Penalties for breaching the code of conduct could include being sacked, they said.
Could this be true? Ominous. Reminds me of the news blackout during the wharfies strike in the 50s.
I wish that Owen Glenn would just piss off – nakedly partisan PR bullshit puffery and the dirty money that he is trying to bribe the country with has no place in NZ Politics
where would national be? and labour and the whole lot of them
its the richest who decide elections cos they harp on and on and on re their spin until people believe it and they have the $ to back em up
The elections of old are long gone
this election like the last one esp in nationals case is that clown key is the only thing they have apart from brash hahahahha
this is about image rather than substance or policies
wot an eyesore the rwc is and then election following behind it full of smile and mince
Owen had a couple of things that drove him. He wanted respect, ergo the desire to have a diplomatic passport and be a mover and shaker, and he just wanted to be loved.
In some respects he is a very simple man. Give someone like this a few billion dollars and this is what you get.
yeah pity people like him didnt actually stay in the country and invest those few billion and create a few jobs BUT NO………………………
but nah
frakers like him, seem to think we owe them something cos they’re rich??
C L – On Owen Glenn – Might have been better to give him the consul’s job that he so wanted – get him out of our hair. He might have used up his money at European casinos instead of playing roulette wheel with us.
Capill was released weeks ago. I saw him walking through the underpass between the Beehive and Bowen House. Question is, who in government was he visiting?
On the Stuff news web site yesterday there was an intriguing story headed “NZDF may have covered up abuse allegations- Ferguson.” It was from an interveiw with former head of the NZDF, Bruce Ferguson screened on Media 7 last night. Ferguson had admitted that whistleblowing by Kiwi soldiers about the prisoner abuse in Afghanistan could have been covered up by their superiors on his watch.
In the light of Hagar’s revelations, I made a point of watching the interview. I heard no such admission. In case I missed it, I also watched it online a short time later. Now, one of two things must have happened:
a) my cognitive abilities were not the best at the time (?) or
b) the segment containing that admission was removed before it went on air.
If it was the latter, then it has to be concluded that an instruction was sent to TVNZ (probably from the PM’s Office) to remove the segment from the interview. Surely politicians – or an official on their behalf – are not allowed to interfere with day to day programming like that?
The Stuff item was still online an hour or so ago.
The Stuff story gave the impression it was included in the on air interview.
I had a few dealings with Bruce Ferguson back in the days when he was a RNZAF Squadron Leader. He came across to me as a well rounded, highly intelligent and astute person. I have no qualms in believing him when he says he knew nothing about the mistreatment of the prisoners for example. In fact, he was a very good choice by the Labour Govt. to lead the Defence Forces during that period.
It’s bullshit that the CHch rebuild will give a boost to the building industry. Even if as many as 30,000 houses are to be rebuilt at say 6000 a year ( conservative ) it will still not take the number a houses built in the country to anywhere near the average starts per annum for the last 20 years. We don’t need imported labour from Ireland or anywhere else for that matter. Why was this fuckwit idea floated, because indentured labour is strike proof and can be easily ripped and if you complain about anything you’re on the next plane out of here. Wasn’t the Irish building boom built by Poles and Czechs ?
One of New Zealand’s richest families have denied they are profiting from the elderly in a move which could net them more than $5 million.
A group of pensioners at Perrinpark near Hamilton are fighting the Perry Foundation, a charitable trust and owner of Te Kowhai retirement village, over freeholding of land.
and
If the Perrys collected an average $75,000 for each section, the trust would be $5.4 million richer, she said. “I wonder where they are taking all the money they’re getting from the village?”
An idea. May have been proposed before on The Standard, I don’t know.
Among the various resources we squander in New Zealand is “waste”.
In most cities, shit not only undergoes an expensive treatment process to render it benign but is discarded by pumping the filtered sewage into the sea. (A few places try to recycle: I believe they do or did create biogas for council vehicles at the Chch sewage works.) This is a crazy waste of money and of a valuable resource. People in China, Africa, and other places, would simply shake their heads and wonder why we do all this.
The alternative system would be for each home – where practical – to have a small biogas plant. Essentially a biogas digestor would be similar to the old-school septic tank, but have several side-benefits: producing gas for heating and cooking, and compost for the garden.
In this way, we would (a) save society sewage treatment costs; (b) save households on energy costs; (c) make households more food self-sufficient; (d) avoid the need for industrial gas extraction like “fracking” (banned in the EU, but coming to a NZ town near you, real soon!).
Thanks Ianupnorth. Sounds like an excellent scheme, although it still involves expensive centralised infrastructure. Here are some pull quotes from the link:
“If successful, a full-scale plant in Rotorua could initially remove thousands of tonnes of biosolid waste going to landfill each year, and ultimately achieve cost reduction and value creation of around $4 million per year for the council and community,” says Rotorua District Council chief executive Peter Guerin.
…
The technology has applications beyond sewage biosolids… “The growing waste streams from expanding industries such as pulp and paper, agriculture, dairy, meat and fruit processing represent a tremendous potential resource for New Zealand that can be tapped into by environmental technologies like those developed through the Waste 2 Gold biosolids research programme.
“Also, greenhouse gas emissions and the risk of contaminating leachates arising from organic wastes will be substantially reduced,” says Dr Parker.
It has been noted on this site recently that as you scan Fairfax’s media offerings the widespread use of comments is always more interesting for what articles qualify for the opportunity of public response and which fall short. No prizes this weekend if guessing which topics are muted. There are over a dozen well aligned 9/11 articles on Stuff this weekend but only the riveting Gwenyth Paltrow piece has comments switched on, and that single article has not been updated since Thursday.
Just saying is all
NZ times for Toronto Hearings Day2 (note: schedule was accurate on Day One)
10/09/11 nzt
01:00 – 01:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Jay Kolar: The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
02:45 – 04:00 Paul Zarembka: Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11
04:00 – 04:35 Barbara Honegger:
Eyewitnesses and Evidence of Explosions at the Pentagon
4:35 – 6:10 Richard Gage: Evidence of the Demolition of WTC:
An Overview
06:30 – 07:45 Michel Chossudovsky: Global Consequences of 9/11
07:45 – 08:25 Cynthia McKinney: Attempts to Raise Questions about 9/11
08:45 – 9:30 Audience Question and Answer
Good luck if we’re in the finals 😀 This symbolically is like the practice run just as it was for the ABs tonight, the more serious stuff has yet to come.
It’s a big exciting event so going beyond capacity of public services is too be expected for the latecomers etc, but it’s pretty shitty how they are getting all draconian now and advising people not to join the party in whatever area. I remember being in London and no matter how busy public transport got ‘from people excited about some sporting/whatever thing’ but the public servants never really tried to put the dampners on it in real time like this, we’d simply get neutral reports and updates on the delays to expect using whatever forms of public transport, and let people make decisions for themselves, like adults do.
Is subliminal advertising illegal or legal in New Zealand?
I nearly choked on my tea the other day. The leery face of John Key popped out at me, taking up most of the television screen. He added nothing to the item I was watching and therefore fulfilled the criteria of subliminal advertising. It happened again tonight. A split second.
Everyone is commenting that whenever they turn on the tv all they get is John Key. Is this the new criminal activity that NAct is indulging in without using campaign monies.
John Key may find that this sort of behaviour may achieve the opposite result.
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Scottish appeal court judges have declared that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament in the run-up to the October Brexit deadline is unlawful. The three judges, chaired by Lord Carloway, Scotland’s most senior judge, overturned an earlier ruling that the courts did not have the powers to interfere in the prime ...
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...
I understand there's some stuff going round about how the SIS "was removed from the list of public offices covered by the Public Records Act in 2017". The context of course being their records derived from US torture, which will be disposed of or sealed. The good news is that ...
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ...
Australia is burning down again, and meanwhile its natural disaster minister is denying climate change:Australia’s minister responsible for drought and natural disasters, David Littleproud, has said that he doesn’t “know if climate change is manmade”. Clarifying earlier comments that the question is “irrelevant” when considering the Coalition government’s response to ...
Auckland Philippines Solidarity is excited to host Professor Judy Taguiwalo for a speaking tour of NZ in September. She is a well-known activist in the Philippines and was a political prisoner under the Marcos dictatorship. Professor Taguiwalo briefly served as a Cabinet member under President Duterte but was forced from ...
This open letter to the Green Party was penned after an opinion piece by Jill Abigail, a feminist and founding member of the party, was censored by the Greens’ leadership. (Redline has reprinted her article here).The intolerance of the Green Party leaders and their acceptance of the misogyny of gender ...
Today is a Member's day, and David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill continues its slow crawl through its committee stage. They're spending the whole day on it today, though the first hour is likely to be spent on voting left over from last time. After that they'll move on ...
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...
During my time in the Pentagon I had the privilege of sitting down with military leaders and defence and security officials from a variety of Latin American nations. Sometimes I was present as a subordinate assistant to a senior US defence department official, sometimes as part of a delegation that ...
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
It has been two years since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called climate change her generation's nuclear free moment. And on Monday, against a backdrop of global climate protest, she will give the opening speech at the United Nation's climate ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is under intense scrutiny. New figures show economic growth has slowed to levels not seen for six years. And he has chosen not to answer questions about when he heard about serious allegations of a sexual assault cover-up ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...
Covering Climate Now:Dietary Requirements is The Spinoff’s monthly podcast in which we eat, drink and talk about it too, with special thanks to Freedom Farms. This month, we go crazy for crickets in a climate week special.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. ...
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...
The history of tattoo art in Japan is deep-rooted and complex – and so is the cultural aversion to tattooed bodies, explains Brian Ashcraft, the author of a book on subject.Tonight, when the All Blacks take the field, they’ll be covering up. In order not to run afoul of Japanese ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Victoria University of Wellington This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. For three years in a row, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Thousands of school students across Australia are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney The budget was for practical purposes in neither deficit nor in surplus in 2018-19, the final figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday reveal. The underlying cash deficit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...
It's not a risk assessment, but it's a start: an instruction manual for the experts who'll be writing New Zealand's first national climate risk report for the government was released on Thursday. ...
Open mike 09/09/2011 
. . Just when you thought Simon Bridges couldn’t sink any lower – he has. After the March 15th Christchurch terror attack, the (current) Leader of the National Party issued strong committments to support urgently needed gun law reform; “We will be ready and prepared to be constructive and to ...22 hours ago
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...1 day ago
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...2 days ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...2 days ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...2 days ago
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...2 days ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...2 days ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...2 days ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...3 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...3 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...4 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...4 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...4 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...6 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...6 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...6 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...7 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 2 weeks ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...2 weeks ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...2 weeks ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...2 weeks ago
On Newshub Nation: Simon Shepherd Interviews The New Zealand Initiative's Executive Director Oliver Hartwich ...18 hours ago
Opening up a skid pad, create more housing for single people and make the central city dog friendly: policies from Christchurch's lesser-known mayoral candidates. ...7 hours ago
Josie Adams, Hayden Donnell, and Alice Webb-Liddall read thousands of policy statements to find the climate change deniers, fudgers, prevaricators (and believers) running in our local elections.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here.One of the problems ...16 hours ago
The paintings of Colin McCahon convey dissonance and uncertainty, writes Shannon Te Ao. So what does this say about us? And why are we maintaining this Pākehā male narrative at the expense of more inclusive representation?Colin McCahon would have turned 100 on August the 1st. If you keep one eye ...20 hours ago
Amanda Thompson spends a day with the New Zealand men’s roller derby squad as they prepare for next year’s world champs in the US.Let’s play a word game. Let’s list some contact sports and the top teams in those codes.Say rugby. Are you thinking about the All Blacks yet? What ...21 hours ago
To mark International Day of Peace, Dr Rebecca Dudley of the New Zealand Red Cross explores the role that New Zealanders play in the global story of war and peace. Personal stories about war almost always begin with a memory.A humid afternoon in South Sudan.A calm Wednesday evening in Beirut.A bustling ...22 hours ago
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http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
Todays remaining sessions at the Toronto Hearings in NZ time
05:00-06:30 David Ray Griffin: Inadequacies of the 9/11 Commission’s Report
06:30-08:30 Kevin Ryan: Inadequacies of the Reports by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology
08:15-09:00 Audience Question and Answer
Cheers, You beat me to it!!! LOL
For those of you wanting to hear earlier testimonies they are posted on the same page.
Are you recording? I missed the first hours and would love to see them. I’ll send you my Skype contact!
they have all earlier sessions recorded and available on the page, youtube is happening as we speak,
i am downloading as i go and recording on audiotape
Ferdinando Imposimato calling for an International Tribunal to investigate 9/11 was astounding
The Italian judge?
yeah, He is quietly sitting there with his translator, whom he hardly uses, busy explaining the framework required to build a case to take a lot of very powerful people to International Court, and then continues to lay out the best way to make it happen.
It was an incredible first day. The quality of the speakers is well balanced with the considered time they each get to present. The long Q&A sessions from the panel and the audience, including on line contributions, are already showing their worth.
Day two starts 1am tomorrow nzt
“The Italian judge?”
Yes and the honest one know-doubt!
Kevin Ryan discussing NIST report ‘innaccuracies’ till 8:30am NZT
Standard, please get the Weekend column up earlier, we want to discuss gardening and such like with my RWNJ annd LWNJ horticultural mates. Plus the rugger head stuff.
LOL,That sounds soo cute!
I want to ask that someone who has a lead into what sounds like an awesome firework display for tonight in Auckland to post it, in the Weekend fun column.
I will be playing on my cycle in the countryside from this evening and have no desire to participate in watching a minority sport developed at a public (toff’s) school, by people who couldn’t play proper football, played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.
There, got that off my chest!
🙂
I shall be doing my level best to avoid it, but man it’s difficult! Some person has decided that Mt Albert (where I have the misfortune to live) has “adopted” the USA as “our team” and the suburb is festooned with the flag I least like to see… There are a million questions – not least, who decided that “we” care?
Our good friend Ianupnorth clambered up high on his high horse, looked down on the plebs (he sneeringly dismisses them as “red necks”) and disdainfully opined that rugby football is “played by colonial nations and appealing to farmers and red necks.”
It’s really just too silly and pathetic to merit much comment, but one thing in Ian’s Olympian dismissal of the game demands clarification: in what way is France a colonial nation?
I am interested in the treatment of “Taugate” by the left and the right.
On the left a few comments, no posts in any of the major left blogs that I know of and a couple of tweets.
On the right an attack by the slithery one on the complainant backed up by one of those echo posts by Farrar, you know the ones where Slater does the disgusting stuff and Farrar “only” reports that Slater has reported it.
Is this that different to the speeding cop car that Helen was not actually driving but which provided RWNJs with years of abuse and conspiracy theories on here?
Does the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting whereas the right just relish the opportunity to attack?
You must ne kidding.
There’s been a mixture of attacks and support for Henare on KB.
And if you think “the left actually weigh up the seriousness of an incident before commenting” then you mustn’t actually read anything in posts or comments here, or you must suffer from severe blinkeritis..
In my own narrow experience here I’ve been attacked by numerous people sometimes based only on the presumption I must be bad because I’ve been active on “bad” blogs, or as someone admitted recently, based on attacks on me they’ve seen by people like you.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
“Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?”
I personally find these sorts of allegations, no matter who they’re levelled at, pretty pathetic.
It’s like the worst thing in the world a primary school kid can come up with: “I’m going to tell my mum on you!”.
Did you weigh up anything before accusing me of working for CT or the Beehive?
Have I ever done that? I thought from the start you were a fan of the coiffured one rather than a CT clone. The attacks on you are a response to the quality of your comments more than anything else.
You frequently throw the CT squeak here MS. Eg:
Ehm in one of them I accused Herodotus of having the CT songbook out. I accused you of linkwhoring, not understanding the country’s financial state, taking the piss, trolling, being a waste of bandwidth, walking around with your wyes deliberately closed, and always insisting on having the last word.
In the other one I asked if you had “[b]een going to “how to muck up a thread” lessons with CT?” because you show an unusual ability to do so.
Which, BTW, you are doing right now.
herm… /?s=mickysavage+CT&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
Case closed.
Not really. Your search is quite inefficient use – @author. It shows Mickey using it occasionally with long intervals between. Your search in it’s first page went back to mid 2010. If you looked at the squirrel in his several identities and ran queries on moderate or balance or centre you’d find he was eternally repetitive on those in the short time he has been here.
but I also looked for myself using an occasional phrase of jerk…
/?s=Centre+%40Author%22Pete+George%22&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date
And that is back to mid 2010 on about half the total number of comments..
Basically you can get largish numbers of the same phrase for anyone who leaves large numbers of comments. If you left more then I could analyze your phrases as well. I suppose I could look at the IPs….
Essentially you’re just being a bit of irritating dickhead – roughly the intelligence level of the drunken ugly rugby louts staggering somewhere outside my house. Noisy, loud and stupid…
Snippet in Business news on RNZ this morning about building consents at their lowest since World War 2. This is doing a time of major housing crisis and a year after of major earthquakes. Of course not picked up as a story to investigate (let alone asking the minister for some accountability).
I must of missed it in between all the news about RWC. This is going to drive me to distraction …
+1
A month of BBC and Al J me thinks. NZ media now inhabits a parralell universe where nothing but a bunch of gladiators running round a paddock after a ball exists.
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
Yep, noticed that. In fact a closer inspection would reveal that there is less building going on than any time since the 1970s. Down 24% on last year – that is a colossal drop.
That is really something major. It tells a big story about what the people of NZ are doing at the moment.
It is also worth noting another example in tourism. On the west coast this year numbers are down well below 50% of last years. And last years were dismally down on the previous too.
It is like we have run off a cliff like a road runner cartoon and are currently suspended in mid-air in realisation of the drop about to occur …..
Never fear. A Mighty Minister Of Tourism is here!
National are not a business party with the interests of NZ business at heart.
They are second hand salesman, they talk up and then sell cheap.
They reflect the NZ economy and culture. If you can do it now for
next to nothing then best get it done because there’s no come back,
and everyone is doing it so where would they start with anyway.
If you want a world class economy we need a world class parliament.
Limiting our nation to 100 MPs and no upper chamber, is the bottle
neck. If you want better policy you need to pay for more people to
produce better policy.
Addressing the Imbalance
A month ago there was a little bit of media coverage concerning the wage difference between males and females in New Zealand. The impetus for that reporting was to highlight the defunct thought process of Alasdair Thompson who was dismissed from the EMA for his sexist remarks. Although slowly declining, wage inequality is still a problem that disproportionately attributes wealth based on a male dominated hierarchical system…
It may pay for Goff to refrain from commenting on what should be happenning in Christchurch until such time as he and Labour have worked out what they think should be happenning in Christchurch.
Labour has completely failed in not coming up with a Christchurch policy. Speaking about it merely highlights that lack of policy. Is this not simple politics?
I think they’re in a position where they don’t want to make any promises, especially anything that National could rake them over the coals with (which they surely would).
Afraid to mention policies?
If they had confidence in their policies they would put them out there.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality. So the timing of policy releases is pretty important and I would say there is very little point releasing anything till the thugby finishes, because it’ll be swamped by the RWC coverage. In short, expect a short, sharp campaign from Labour starting immediately after the final, with actual policies and plans for the future.
And, anyway, isn’t a policy free zone like United Future a strange place to be complaining from? The last 4 elections, UF’s only go has been to grovel for a job from whoever is best placed to form a Government.
Pete, it’s pretty obvious that Labour will win this election on policies, not personality.
Labour stalwarts seem to be convinced of that, but few give them a show.
UnitedFuture have openly published a wide range of policies so people have a chance to check them out in plenty of time rather than trying a risky last minute last hope onslaught.
VoR, you won’t look because you’e just trying to spread lies, but there’s plenty here: http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/our-policies/
Gee, sorry if I wasn’t clear, Pete. Despite being in various parties and Governments for what feels like forever, Dunne has failed to implement anything other than his vision of himself sitting in the back seat of a ministerial limo. Is that better?
You are dead right that UF have a website with ‘policy’ on it. So did that party you were a member of a month ago, as I recall. It’s the ability to translate that policy into action that counts and Dunne has failed miserably to achieve anything other than personal enrichment and regular hair, scalp and ego massaging.
Also, UF “policy” seemed to me to be more a collection of banal platitudes that could bend any way in any weather.
Hardly a declaration of goals.
Also on the United Future website is the Successes section. The only “success” (sic) listed over the last three years appears to be signing a confidence and supply agreement with National. Whoopee!
And which one has he even pushed in the years of sucking on the public teat??? Oh yes the so called Kronic law. What else??? big hair day?
So, TVOR, if Labour lose the election, it will be because the Nats personality won, not a rejection of Labours policies? And as soon as the public stops falling for ther JK smile and wave act all will be right (well, left) because the current polling has absolutly nothing to do with Labours policies and all with JK!?!?!?!?
Know where you’re coming from Sweetd, but it would be fair to say that Labour cannot win a personality contest, so it has to be superior policies that get them over the line. And I don’t think the public has rejected Labour’s previous policies, anyway. National simply adopted them and put up a fresh face to spruik for them.
This time around though, there will be a more substantial difference between the left and right and I hope that the debate will be about which direction NZ goes in, not who’d be more fun at a BBQ.
Agreed, its MMP applied; that is the main parties fight for the middle ground, and whoever holds the middle ground becomes govt, therefore the main parties end up looking very similar in terms of policies.
So which way is Dunne the wig gonna jump this election Pete?
Pete Dunno, kris.
So just what are the National / ACT policies, Pete George?
Further up there is talk about building consents being at a record low – is that consistent with getting Christchurch going again? Or have all the builders left to help out Queensland after their floods?
What is National / ACT doing about the building sector?
You could ask someone from National and ACt, or look at their websites, they both have some policies last time I looked.
If i was a super rich saffa who wanted to win the rubber wool cup. I’d pay a dodgy Tongan hit man to hobble Carter and McCaw…
…wouldn’t put it past those dodgy muthafuckas. Tongans and Saffas 🙂
yep, in fact if we get through this tournament without at least one controversial cheating incident then I will eat my chocolate hat.
saffa’s for sure. think ’76 referees in their pockets. think food poisoning in ’95.
there aint no rules.
I think I might jump in and mention that the South African Rugby Board offered to have neutral referees in the 1976 series but the NZ Rugby Union declined. Apparently ‘Pole’ Whiting retired on the spot when he was told that.
Chroist Porly, stop givin them oidears…finis and klaar.
Anything has to be an improvement on the Nats policy- demolish the CBD and two suburbs, bleed the EQC dry, blame everything on the earthquake….
There is plenty to criticize in this shameful display of disaster politics and no reason to be quiet about it.
Just read over on Red Alert on the question of unemployment, “They told us there was to be absolutely no discussion of anything to the media. If anyone spoke to the media it could be a code of conduct issue,” an employee told the Taranaki Daily News on condition of anonymity. Penalties for breaching the code of conduct could include being sacked, they said.
Could this be true? Ominous. Reminds me of the news blackout during the wharfies strike in the 50s.
I wish that Owen Glenn would just piss off – nakedly partisan PR bullshit puffery and the dirty money that he is trying to bribe the country with has no place in NZ Politics
+1
but then political parties be broke as us lol
where would national be? and labour and the whole lot of them
its the richest who decide elections cos they harp on and on and on re their spin until people believe it and they have the $ to back em up
The elections of old are long gone
this election like the last one esp in nationals case is that clown key is the only thing they have apart from brash hahahahha
this is about image rather than substance or policies
wot an eyesore the rwc is and then election following behind it full of smile and mince
pass
Owen had a couple of things that drove him. He wanted respect, ergo the desire to have a diplomatic passport and be a mover and shaker, and he just wanted to be loved.
In some respects he is a very simple man. Give someone like this a few billion dollars and this is what you get.
yeah pity people like him didnt actually stay in the country and invest those few billion and create a few jobs BUT NO………………………
but nah
frakers like him, seem to think we owe them something cos they’re rich??
C L – On Owen Glenn – Might have been better to give him the consul’s job that he so wanted – get him out of our hair. He might have used up his money at European casinos instead of playing roulette wheel with us.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/5592034/Graham-Capill-out-on-parole
Capill was released weeks ago. I saw him walking through the underpass between the Beehive and Bowen House. Question is, who in government was he visiting?
that **ucking ahole should not have been released
i do not like kid **ukers and society has no place for em
Surly he doesnt expect to have any Government job?
New rugby world cup mascot ?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/5593291/Seemingly-drunk-moose-found-stuck-in-tree
Tuis are known to get drunk on fermenting fruit. Saw a photo once of four tuis hanging in a row upside down on the branch of a tree.
Oh glorious! That really made me smile… 😀
“Johansson said the moose appeared to be sick, drunk or half-stupid.”
I wonder if the moose is available to stand in for John Key in question time?
Lol
Apparently not as he’s recently been seconded to the labour campaign strategy team.
On the Stuff news web site yesterday there was an intriguing story headed “NZDF may have covered up abuse allegations- Ferguson.” It was from an interveiw with former head of the NZDF, Bruce Ferguson screened on Media 7 last night. Ferguson had admitted that whistleblowing by Kiwi soldiers about the prisoner abuse in Afghanistan could have been covered up by their superiors on his watch.
In the light of Hagar’s revelations, I made a point of watching the interview. I heard no such admission. In case I missed it, I also watched it online a short time later. Now, one of two things must have happened:
a) my cognitive abilities were not the best at the time (?) or
b) the segment containing that admission was removed before it went on air.
If it was the latter, then it has to be concluded that an instruction was sent to TVNZ (probably from the PM’s Office) to remove the segment from the interview. Surely politicians – or an official on their behalf – are not allowed to interfere with day to day programming like that?
The Stuff item was still online an hour or so ago.
sorry, should have included link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5590432/NZDF-may-have-covered-up-abuse-allegations-Ferguson
Anne, the comments were made in an after show discussion, thankfully recorded though. Details here:
http://publicaddress.net/hardnews/towards-the-truth/
Aha… thanks for that Pb. Gripping stuff!
The Stuff story gave the impression it was included in the on air interview.
I had a few dealings with Bruce Ferguson back in the days when he was a RNZAF Squadron Leader. He came across to me as a well rounded, highly intelligent and astute person. I have no qualms in believing him when he says he knew nothing about the mistreatment of the prisoners for example. In fact, he was a very good choice by the Labour Govt. to lead the Defence Forces during that period.
It’s bullshit that the CHch rebuild will give a boost to the building industry. Even if as many as 30,000 houses are to be rebuilt at say 6000 a year ( conservative ) it will still not take the number a houses built in the country to anywhere near the average starts per annum for the last 20 years. We don’t need imported labour from Ireland or anywhere else for that matter. Why was this fuckwit idea floated, because indentured labour is strike proof and can be easily ripped and if you complain about anything you’re on the next plane out of here. Wasn’t the Irish building boom built by Poles and Czechs ?
More rich listers ripping off the less fortunate
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10750402
and
35,000 are out on strike and marching in Sydney, due to NSW State Public Service cuts:
http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/this-is-just-the-start-strikers-warn-ofarrell-20110908-1jzz1.html
An idea. May have been proposed before on The Standard, I don’t know.
Among the various resources we squander in New Zealand is “waste”.
In most cities, shit not only undergoes an expensive treatment process to render it benign but is discarded by pumping the filtered sewage into the sea. (A few places try to recycle: I believe they do or did create biogas for council vehicles at the Chch sewage works.) This is a crazy waste of money and of a valuable resource. People in China, Africa, and other places, would simply shake their heads and wonder why we do all this.
The alternative system would be for each home – where practical – to have a small biogas plant. Essentially a biogas digestor would be similar to the old-school septic tank, but have several side-benefits: producing gas for heating and cooking, and compost for the garden.
In this way, we would (a) save society sewage treatment costs; (b) save households on energy costs; (c) make households more food self-sufficient; (d) avoid the need for industrial gas extraction like “fracking” (banned in the EU, but coming to a NZ town near you, real soon!).
There is work being done on this in Rotorua; they already make compost form poo and they are looking at some form of oil (http://www.rdc.govt.nz/YourCouncil/LatestNews/Innovative-technology-piloted-at-Rotorua.aspx)
Thanks Ianupnorth. Sounds like an excellent scheme, although it still involves expensive centralised infrastructure. Here are some pull quotes from the link:
So, you lose 44% of the companies value and get the biggest pay cheque ever ($5.2 million per annum, or $100K per week) because you have met short term and long term objectives? Go figure
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10750548
Can I get a job like that?
It has been noted on this site recently that as you scan Fairfax’s media offerings the widespread use of comments is always more interesting for what articles qualify for the opportunity of public response and which fall short. No prizes this weekend if guessing which topics are muted. There are over a dozen well aligned 9/11 articles on Stuff this weekend but only the riveting Gwenyth Paltrow piece has comments switched on, and that single article has not been updated since Thursday.
Just saying is all
torontohearings.org
live stream Day Two/ videos of Day One here
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thetorontohearings
NZ times for Toronto Hearings Day2 (note: schedule was accurate on Day One)
10/09/11 nzt
01:00 – 01:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
01:15 – 02:30 Jay Kolar: The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
02:45 – 04:00 Paul Zarembka: Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11
04:00 – 04:35 Barbara Honegger:
Eyewitnesses and Evidence of Explosions at the Pentagon
4:35 – 6:10 Richard Gage: Evidence of the Demolition of WTC:
An Overview
06:30 – 07:45 Michel Chossudovsky: Global Consequences of 9/11
07:45 – 08:25 Cynthia McKinney: Attempts to Raise Questions about 9/11
08:45 – 9:30 Audience Question and Answer
Then there’s this
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10750653
Good on her for being brave enough to stick up for herself against a dodgy employer.
And thanks to Helen Clark for jacking up the world cup.
Onya mate.
Auckland’s large scale event management plans fail:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/fan-central/5598538/Police-tell-rugby-fans-to-stay-out-of-CBD
Good luck if we’re in the finals 😀 This symbolically is like the practice run just as it was for the ABs tonight, the more serious stuff has yet to come.
It’s a big exciting event so going beyond capacity of public services is too be expected for the latecomers etc, but it’s pretty shitty how they are getting all draconian now and advising people not to join the party in whatever area. I remember being in London and no matter how busy public transport got ‘from people excited about some sporting/whatever thing’ but the public servants never really tried to put the dampners on it in real time like this, we’d simply get neutral reports and updates on the delays to expect using whatever forms of public transport, and let people make decisions for themselves, like adults do.
Is subliminal advertising illegal or legal in New Zealand?
I nearly choked on my tea the other day. The leery face of John Key popped out at me, taking up most of the television screen. He added nothing to the item I was watching and therefore fulfilled the criteria of subliminal advertising. It happened again tonight. A split second.
Everyone is commenting that whenever they turn on the tv all they get is John Key. Is this the new criminal activity that NAct is indulging in without using campaign monies.
John Key may find that this sort of behaviour may achieve the opposite result.