Peters refuses to answer your questions

37 comments on “Peters refuses to answer your questions ”

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1. Robinsod 1

   6 June 2008 at 1:10 pm

   And yet he’d talk to talkback callers??? I’m canceling my greypower membership…
2. higherstandard 2

   6 June 2008 at 1:20 pm

   Despite the fact I’d like to slap Winston he does provide a laugh, I caught some of his commentary on ZB while at lunch yesterday the man has more cheek than a bull elephant that’s had a bottom enlargement.
3. Stephen 3

   6 June 2008 at 1:48 pm

   Heh. No sign yet of the Key interview, or did I miss it?
4. Patrick 4

   6 June 2008 at 1:58 pm

   I think John Key’s answers must be in the same folder as his policy…

   Oh man, these John Key jokes are just too easy.

   Did anyone see the piece in the DomPost about him being torn a new one by 17 year olds about his blatantly stupid broadband plan?

   http://www.stuff.co.nz/4574557a10.html
5. r0b 5

   6 June 2008 at 2:08 pm

   Interesting link Patrick. It seems that some can see that the Emperor has no clothes! And — to mix my metaphors somewhat — out of the mouths of babes too. (No offence teens!)
6. Pascal's bookie 6

   6 June 2008 at 2:13 pm

   From Patrick’s link:

   Ms Gellen said Mr Key’s visit had been excellent and the students had got a lot from it. “They are now more aware of who he (Mr Key) is.

   “Some said they weren’t going to vote before, but now they are going to go away and have a look at some of the other parties’ policies.”
   

   Heh. The kids are alright.
7. higherstandard 7

   6 June 2008 at 2:23 pm

   Isn’t the voting age 18 in NZ or has it been amended down ?
8. Pascal's bookie 8

   6 June 2008 at 2:28 pm

   Yep, it’s still 18 HS.

   The election is most likely to be in November. Most kids in what we used to call the 7th form, turn 18 sometime this year.
9. Vanilla Eis 9

   6 June 2008 at 2:28 pm

   hs: I was able to vote before I finished highschool (and did so). I imagine some of these kids will be 18 before October as well.
10. Patrick 10

    6 June 2008 at 2:37 pm

    Also, once you turn 17 you are able to provisionally enroll to vote, this means that when you turn 18 you are automatically on the electoral roll. From (vague) memory, they handed out electoral packs to everyone in 7th form at my high school, even though most of us were 17.

    I’m just so happy that these kids (well, young adults) are able to think critically and realise that being able to download a movie in seven seconds might not be the best usage of $1.5 billion.
11. higherstandard 11

    6 June 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Pat

    Perhaps if the kids thought more critically they might be able to visualise the benefits to education, medicine and the business community of state of the art broadband apart from just downloading movies.
12. higherstandard 12

    6 June 2008 at 2:52 pm

    And Pat at 17 one may have the body of an adult however for most there’s still a lot of growth that needs to take place both emotionally and mentally.
13. randal 13

    6 June 2008 at 3:00 pm

    why do you want to slap winston for hs? I dont think it would be agood idea as he has two large body guards.
14. Lew 14

    6 June 2008 at 3:02 pm

    I’m inclined to side with HS here. While I dislike Key’s plan for broadband (for reasons I’ve explained elsewhere) $1.5b disappears when you pour it into the main health or education slush funds, while if targetted at broadband it could fundamentally change the way businesses operate in NZ. There’s particularly good evidence to suggest that genuinely high-speed broadband internet can via various kinds of telecommuting reduce expenditure on fuel, electricity, resources and such which are required when people physically commute to work. There’s an obvious environmental side to this, as well as savings in congestion, wasted hours stuck in traffic, health and wellbeing improvements from more leisure time, etc. Just imagine being able to work in a high-flying, well-paid job from a house by the beach – it’s the NZ dream.

    Aside from which, I spent years living in a country with actual proper high-speed internet (100mbit, full-duplex, unmetered, for US$30/month) and it’s an indignity to have to put up with the evilness, expense and shitty service of the virtual duopoly we have in Wellington.

    L

    Captcha: `braless regatta’.
15. Patrick 15

    6 June 2008 at 3:02 pm

    I’m sorry HS, but I simply can’t agree with your sweeping generalisations. These young adults have well thought out views backed up by sound logic. I find it insulting that you’re attempting to totally dismiss them and silence their criticism based on their age.

    At what point do you make this distinction? I can think of plenty of ‘adults’ who have been in the news simply because they need to do a lot of emotional and mental growth (the guy who throws hedgehogs, the one attempting to blind ferry pilots with lasers…)

    So your only real criticism of their views is that there might be benefits to education, medicine and business through state of the art broadband? Surely you wouldn’t be referring to the fiber network that already exists in most of our CBDs, often extending to hospitals and schools? Or do you simply own Telecom shares and you’re excited by the prospects of National propping up their flagging monopoly once again?

    captcha: lagging Wireless – I think they’re getting by just fine in Waitara.
16. randal 16

    6 June 2008 at 3:07 pm

    al we hear is radio goo goo and radio ga ga
17. T-rex 17

    6 June 2008 at 3:11 pm

    I’m with Lew/HS. While I haven’t compared Nationals broadband plan to Labours I think it’s hugely simplistic to say “investment in broadband infrastructure is bad use of money because downloading movies is less important than hip operations”.
18. Ari 18

    6 June 2008 at 3:24 pm

    Patrick- great story, it’s awesome to hear young people being so politically astute even without explicit political education in our schools. Rock on, young things 😉

    While I agree that investing in broadband architecture is important and has social benefits as well as economic ones, I don’t think it’s $1.5 billion of dollar-for-dollar investment important. And if we’re going to be sinking that kind of public money into broadband, the private companies that are benefitting should be fronting up more than just matching our investment like Key suggests.

    Incidentally, I should point out that telecommuting only has an environmental benefit if the technologies involved are relatively green- for instance, the power infrastructure, the infrastructure laid, and the hardware used all need to be environmentally sound. While certainly better than one person taking their car for a 9-5 job and cruising through traffic, it’s not necessarily going to be perfect either unless our wider environmental policy is rigorous. 😉
19. higherstandard 19

    6 June 2008 at 3:35 pm

    Ari

    ……Even without explicit political education in our schools ….. shudder God forbid.

    Patrick

    You might understand my position on high school kids and their need for emotional and mental growth when you reach my age.
20. Patrick 20

    6 June 2008 at 4:03 pm

    So my problem is that I’m not a jaded old bastard?

    Do you work for Mainland? Are you actually making Key’s blocks of cheese?
21. Rex Widerstrom 21

    6 June 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Damian Edwards from his office promptly replied that Peters would be answering no questions from political blogs.

    [unashamed trumpet-blowing]

    When I ran NZF’s online efforts back in 1995 (so long ago that when the kids mentioned in the Key story (wee bit off topic there, methinks) were at kindergarten), the Party was widely hailed as being the best at engaging in online debate both via it’s own website and the nz.politics newsgroup.

    No less a lefty luminary than Russell Brown had some very kind things to say about my efforts in that respect.

    [/unashamed trumpet-blowing]

    But the point is, Winston – though he didn’t understand the technical side of stuff at all – genuinely appreciated and understood that here was a relatively new but very powerful tool that allowed him to communicate directly with people.

    Considering his deep distrust of most of the MSM and his ability to charm even the otherwise dubious when given the chance to connect with them in person, he knew instinctively that, like talkback radio, the Internet could become one of his more powerful channels.

    The inevitable conclusion – Winston is now being advised by dickheads.
22. Felix 22

    6 June 2008 at 4:44 pm

    There’s always one isn’t there?
    And it’s usually Winston isn’t it?

    Bless him.
23. Matthew Pilott 23

    6 June 2008 at 4:51 pm

    I know this is inviting the obvious from your cheeky RWNJ, but one of the best political videos (not to mention best powed Ballad ever) has to be the Scorpions’ Wind of Change.

    I will brook no criticism of this.
24. higherstandard 24

    6 June 2008 at 5:16 pm

    Patrick

    Your problem appears to be that you’re an impressionable youth with little life experience with an apparent tendency to look for the worst in anything that Key does
25. Pascal's bookie 25

    6 June 2008 at 5:20 pm

    Hey you kids! get off of my lawn! Grrrr.

    HS Perhaps if the kids thought more critically they might be able to visualise the benefits to education, medicine and the business community of state of the art broadband apart from just downloading movies.

    There are many good arguments to be made for investment in broadband, and I’m sure that these kids know that. However these kids were respondimg to what John Key told them.

    From the above linked article:

    Mr Key spent a good chunk of his talk in Waitara pushing his party’s plan to spend a billion dollars on “superfast broadband.”
    He said this would allow students to access his Bebo and Facebook page at a fraction of the speed, and download movies in seven seconds.
    Mr Key stressed the seriousness of his party’s commitment to speedy Internet by saying the National Party did not want New Zealand to be a “world leader in climate change, but in ultrafast broadband”. Emphasis mine.

    You slag them for not thinking critically, assuming that all they could think about was downloading movies. Key treated them with the same contempt, and they responded by mocking the argument that he made to them.

    I think they deserve some credit for seeing through what was a pretty condescending line taken by Key.
26. Steve Pierson 26

    6 June 2008 at 5:28 pm

    Ah Damian Edwards. When you were my politics tutor in first year, what were the odds that some day you would be refusing comment on behalf of a party leader to questions from my political blog?

    Turns out they were only 5 to 1. still, made myself a tidy proft.
27. higherstandard 27

    6 June 2008 at 5:38 pm

    pascal

    I haven’t seen a full transcript of Key’s speech I would have thought he might have mentioned some of the advantages of a fast broadband other than the sound bite that the reporter latched on to.

    Still I s’pose it makes for an amusing article.
28. higherstandard 28

    6 June 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Politics at University SP … are you determined on a career in the beehive !
29. Steve Pierson 29

    6 June 2008 at 6:05 pm

    HS. my friend, most of Aro valley has a politics degree.. it’s pretty much a sleepwalk, least that was my experience but I’m a lazy so and so, and most often it doesn’t lead to a career in the game… it hasn’t for me 😉

    bit different from a medicial degree I suppose where most students do get practice for a career.
30. First time caller 30

    6 June 2008 at 6:28 pm

    Let’s see. What do you mean Peters refused to answer questions from a Labour mouthpiece blog? Did he ever agree to answering questions from the Standard?

    What sanctimonious crap. You are not a media organisation. You are a left-wing, Labour supported blog which will quite probably be ruled as a Labour Party election expense by the electoral commission. Several of your authors either work in the Beehive or the Labour Party Head Office, or for an organisation which is about to be determined by the electoral commission as being involved in the affairs of the Labour Party, as its largest constituent union. This is the same union which is attempting to run an anti-National campaign in unison with the Labour Party, despite it being unlawful under the Electoral Finance Act, which ironically the Standard was so keen to support.

    Did John Key ever agree to answering questions? Bet he didn’t, and there’s no reason he should. The standard thought they could hijack him by selecting so-called “neutral” questions. There’s no reason why Key should give any attention to a blog that serves as its primary purpose to afflict as many people as possible with Key Derangement Syndrome.

    Would Helen Clark answer questions from Kiwiblog? No, of course she wouldn’t. Nobody expected John Key to answer your questions, and I doubt he will.

    [lprent: I take it that you’re personally attacking me since I pay for and run this site.

    It is apparent that you haven’t read the About or Policy or bothered to exercise your brain. If you had. then you’d have found that there is no way of this blog being affected by the EFA. It doesn’t cost enough except in the minds of mathematically challenged dimwits such as yourself and Whale. Blogs are also specifically excluded by the Act – which you appear to have not read.

    You look like yet another trolling idiot with minimal levels of articulation. Looking at your comments, I could write a dumb program to replicate your behaviour with a phrase dictionary and minimal effort.

    So I’ll treat you as a spambot. I’m tossing you into moderation just on the off chance that there is a spark of intelligence there somewhere. I’ll review your comments to see if there is, but frankly I don’t hold out much hope. You have to be pretty moronic to deliberately offend a sysop.]
31. Felix 31

    6 June 2008 at 6:34 pm

    Oh come on First Time Caller, tell us how you really feel.
32. PhilBest 32

    6 June 2008 at 6:35 pm

    Hey, while we’re on the subject of songs, check out “Fidel’s Fantasy” by the amazing 1970’s funkmeisters, “WAR”.
33. alex 33

    6 June 2008 at 8:43 pm

    Winston is too cool for this blog.
34. Rex Widerstrom 34

    6 June 2008 at 9:28 pm

    First time caller suggests:

    Did John Key ever agree to answering questions?… there’s no reason he should.

    Yes there is. He wants to be PM of NZ. That means representing all NZers, not just those who agree with you. And from a political perspective it’s called “having the balls and the brains to engage with your opponents”.

    Would Helen Clark answer questions from Kiwiblog? No, of course she wouldn’t.

    Well she bloody should. See above.

    I managed the campaign (outside NZ) for a right wing MP who introduced Bill Birch-like anti-union reforms. I made him engage supporters and critics alike on a blog. We never deleted any comment provided it didn’t contain an obscenity. I also made sure he hosted a live chat at least once a week.

    We actually got emails from left wingers saying “since the left will never win in your electorate anyway, I’d actually vote for you if I lived there for having the courage to be this open”.

    Obviously Helen, John and Winnie wilt under pressure.

    lprent: huh? Helen?

    Steve: He’s a polisci lecturer? I consider my remark above proven.
35. r0b 35

    6 June 2008 at 11:12 pm

    Obviously Helen, John and Winnie wilt under pressure.

    Eh? Helen answered her questions here at The Standard.
36. Rex Widerstrom 36

    9 June 2008 at 3:45 pm

    Indeed she did.

    I’m sorry, I was commenting on First Time caller’s hypothetical refusal by Ms Clark to answer questions from Kiwiblog. I would hope that she would – not only do I see her as having a duty to do so, but a refusal be as gutless and Key and Peters, and got my morts thuddled.

    Or to put it another way: These bastards are all my employees and if you, Farrar or anyone else with a public platform asks them some questions on my behalf, then I expect any and all of them to at least assign a flunky to answer them and then pretend they wrote the damned thing themselves.

    Better? 🙂
37. James Kearney 37

    9 June 2008 at 10:17 pm

    That Hendrix clip, so awesome.

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