Poor (and rather pathetic) Bomber

Written By: - Date published: 9:52 pm, December 8th, 2014 - 109 comments
Categories: admin, blogs, labour, The Standard - Tags:

I’d leave this over at The Daily Blog,  but I  have had problems getting comments published there that even suggest that Martyn Bradbury leads the left from the behind.

In an otherwise rather reasonable rant against media outlets, he said:-

The Standard is currently searching for a new direction as that voice of the Left, but their pathetic and limp criticism of Labour selling out on 24 hour surveillance shows that the leash around their neck from head office has tightened.

Yeah right. It is no secret that I think Martyn Bradbury has a fragile ego, is a teeny bit inexperienced at blogging and politics. No doubt he will harden up over the coming decades.

But it gets irritating when he doesn’t even read who the author of the post he referring to was.  That was a well written guest post by a long-time commenter. It got bounced around as a think piece in the author’s forums before it got posted for our commenters to have a look at. We like to have a look at different ideas before we have the usual post election review and get wound up for another 3 years of campaigning.

And us as a poodle of Labour?  This coming from the person who looked like being the paid mouthpiece of Internet Mana throughout the election? FFS…. They got even less than my low estimate. But for some reason, Martyn appears to think that he is the only legitimate voice of the left.

We’ve been getting complaints from Labour figures for the few last years. Because many authors and commenters have not nice in our opinions about them, with bloody good reason. Their performances haven’t been up to the standard we expect of them.

I did take some actions to prevent my opinions interfering in the NZLP’s leadership election. That was simply courtesy for the staff on the sharp end of the complaints during a very constrained time period of the leadership campaign.

But as it happens I’d just informed Tim Barnett on Friday evening that I’d be dropping my membership of the Labour party at the end of the year. I’d already told most of the authors that when I wrote a unpublished post “Is my membership of the NZLP effective?” on the 16th of November. That started with this..

As a side note, and largely as a direct result of the various whining and complaints from inside Labour party from people who haven’t read our about, I’ve decided that my duties in running this site and being a NZLP member are incompatible. It leads to the perception that this is a Labour party site rather than a labour movement site.

It has been quite clear for some time that the Labour party and some of its members have little or no idea about how social media operates in practice. As evidenced by some of the strange (and dislocated in time) people inside Labour who spent the leadership contest giving Tim Barnett grief by trying to complain to the NZ council about my opinions.

So I’ve decided that I will be soon dropping my membership of the Labour party to concentrate on this site and other social media work for the left. Hopefully it will help those complainants to start dealing with a changing world.

Besides, I’ve found over the years that most effective way to change the NZLP culture is to simply build systems that cause them to change in self-defense. I think that not being a member of the NZLP will allow me to do more for them and any other parties of the left – even when they don’t understand the need.

While that decision distressed Mike Smith, I think that it is a necessary step. Running this site with limited time, I can’t be bothered with wasting my time dealing with the egos of fools being punctured by people having opinions about them. Just as I can’t be bothered too much about the fragile ego of Bomber and his similar problems.

But back to the Bomber’s strange opinions…

With Scoop about to collapse next month,  The Standard, Public Address and Pundit are about to lose their largest revenue streams.

Oh dear, Bomber really has no idea how our site operates. Or how any of these sites operate. We haven’t really depended on advertising for most of the last year. I’d guess that nor has either of the other sites.

That Scoop has financial problems has been obvious for some time. Bomber gloating about it is a tad.. disgusting….

Personally I like dropping the size of the nut – the dollars and effort involved in running the site. It comes from my operations background. Rather than grandiose plans for expansion, I concentrate on figuring out how to run a bigger site with less effort and less money.

But since 2010, work has been interfering with my time to work on the site. So we wound up with increasing costs on running the site, which is why we allowed advertising. My personal objective has been to drop having any dependency on it at all.

In July, I finally wound up with several months of holiday pay after finishing my last job and before the next one. So our server costs dropped as I wangled the bugs out of the site and shifted to cheaper network bandwidth cost. The site went from costing close to $700 in July, to about $330 on election month (when our page views, visitor numbers and users doubled over the July figures) to $270 last month. It should hit $240 this month and my target is under $200.

So now we have an ability to triple the site volume without costing an extra cent. The bandwidth step went from 300GB/month (which we’d occasionally exceed post bug fixes) to 1000GB/mo.

Why $200/month? It is within the range that we were sustaining with personal donations back in 2009/10. Or by raising $3k from GetALittle a year seems trivial after some of the campaigns going on recently. And at that level, I could easily maintain the site myself without financial stress.

That isn’t Ad’s guest vision, but it is mine. They aren’t even incompatible visions.

Cost saving and developing social structure inside the site is a lot easier and a damn sight more interesting to me than being bothered running around raising money to go pro. If someone else wants to do it, then I’d probably help bootstrap it just as we did for many left blogs – including The Daily Blog.

But either way, I suspect that we’ll keep pushing our audience upwards. I’d also expect that Bomber will keep carping from his strange world.

109 comments on “Poor (and rather pathetic) Bomber ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Ray 1
    8 December 2014 at 10:38 pm

    Well if you need money ask,as I for one would be quite happy to offer financial support as there needs to be a strong voice for the Left in the blog world
    Something Bomber ( despite his fantasies ) will never provide, it being all about him which is not how the Progressive future will unfold

    • lprent 1.1
      8 December 2014 at 11:45 pm

      If we need, then I will.

      Just at present I’m using the incentive of paying for it myself to scrape those last few $20 off the monthly bill.

      I should have a spare week over xmas/new year by the look of it.

    • Bunji 1.2
      9 December 2014 at 11:19 am

      Donations towards running costs through the Donate button (on the right, just under Log In) are always appreciated…

      The rest of us authors don’t want to overdo the demands on what Lynn puts into the site… He does an amazing amount with the time he puts into it, without demanding his money as well…

  2. Chooky 2
    8 December 2014 at 10:39 pm

    Hmmm…well imo, as a relative newcomer, this is a very good thought provoking Left blog site and a very well set out and user friendly site and i hope it continues

    ….i like the range of views….and even find the tr..ls entertaining …I also appreciate how much work must go into it…so thanks! (x million)….and hope it continues to flourish

    ….as for Bomber Bradbury….well i enjoy his sparky site too…but the Daily Blog isnt as user friendly and there are not the range of contributors from the flaxroots

    … imo both sites are VERY IMPORTANT for the Left voice and NZ democracy to counter the right wing corporate control of the msm and black ops PR blogs …so hope they can keep co-existing…

    (the Left is like families… you either love each other or hate each other but you are still family and generally you get over it…..also Bomber and Mana/Int have had a big hit over the Election so there are bound to be very bruised egos there…and of course the Labour Party also took a big hit…so more bruised egos…imo sometimes valuable contributions to the Left can be done outside party membership )

    • Colonial Rawshark 2.1
      8 December 2014 at 11:57 pm

      imo sometimes valuable contributions to the Left can be done outside party membership )

      Yep you get it exactly

      IMO the role of the Left Movement is to make sure that the Parliametary Left get some proper backbone (lol) and don’t sell the people out to the capitalists at the first intersection – as both “democratic socialist” and “socialist” parties have done all too often in France, Spain, Greece, Italy, UK, etc.

      • greywarshark 2.1.1
        9 December 2014 at 12:49 pm

        @ Colonial rawshark
        The ‘vertebrate’ left is to be conserved, and bred, the invertebrate type become a failed Darwinian experiment. The invertebrate type will die out owing to its failure to adapt to its changing environment, becoming gradually more odd and grotesque as the sports arise but crumble early because of mutation and partly, their unreconstructed condition.

    • greywarshark 2.2
      9 December 2014 at 12:36 pm

      @ Chooky
      (the Left is like families… you either love each other or hate each other but you are still family and generally you get over it…
      I don’t much like your view of the left – if we are at loggerheads with love/hate relationships it weakens us.

      Understanding of differing view points is needed and people who are obssessed with a purist view of one aspect need to be talked down from the top of the building. Discussion and amelioration of extreme views, and willingness to bolster worthy but not strongly lobbied views, and attention to basic practical needs buried under emotional rhetoric will get diverse people and opinions close enough to make good policy.

      There shouldn’t be an attempt at consensus – that can be a way of repressing democratic opinion in an effort to effect a decision, rather than find one that has extra clauses in it to meet people’s reasonable concerns.

    • Kenat 2.3
      9 December 2014 at 7:42 pm

      I’ve been highly critical of the failed IMP experiment on The Daily Blog and Bradbury (or someone) has resorted to deleting my comments without a word. No ad hom or other abuse required, just make a political argument that Bradbury doesn’t like and you risk being silenced. Frank Macskasy, if you’re reading this, I didn’t break off our recent debate, I was cut off because Bradbury just doesn’t want you to hear my arguments any more. That’s beyond pathetic. Someone that does that is no good for democracy.

  3. Red delusion 3
    8 December 2014 at 10:41 pm

    Bombers nuts would not waste my time on his ranting nor the Labour Party.

  4. greywarshark 4
    8 December 2014 at 11:03 pm

    That’s something to think about. Sounds strong, viable, and with the opportunity of new initiatives while keeping the format we know and love. Watch this space!

  5. batweka 5
    8 December 2014 at 11:13 pm

    “but their pathetic and limp criticism of Labour selling out on 24 hour surveillance shows that the leash around their neck from head office has tightened”

    Not only is that disappointing to hear coming from Bradbury, it’s really fucking stupid. The line that the standard is controlled by the Labour party is now part of the Dirty Politics narrative that all blogs are the same, everyone does it, so there can’t be that much wrong with Slater or the SST etc.

    • lprent 5.1
      8 December 2014 at 11:39 pm

      Yep.

      I’m rather tired of it from any source. I’m extremely disappointed in fools inside the NZLP who seem to think it is true. Why else would anyone run a complaint to the Labour party hierarchy. In that case I was willing to stand aside (twice) temporarily because TimB asked and it was a pretty critical time for the NZLP.

      It won’t happen again.

      I guess those are the kinds of fools that Slater tries to blackmail has had correspondence from.

      • batweka 5.1.1
        9 December 2014 at 12:01 am

        Do you mean you chose not to post on ts at that time, or chose not to be involved with party things?

        • lprent 5.1.1.1
          9 December 2014 at 12:27 am

          I chose to put a post in private and to hide a note where I was pretty blunt.

          The complaints (to me) appeared to be part of a deliberate campaign to use TS to disrupt the progress of the leadership election. Since I didn’t want to have the site used in that way, I pulled them back temporarily until after the campaign.

          I also considered that the same dickheads inside the NZLP would be likely to try the same thing again at some later date, and what my response should be.

          My instinct (as I’m sure most readers are aware) is to metaphorically eviscerate such perpetrators attacking the integrity and purpose of this site. These clowns managed to bring my membership of the NZLP into direct conflict with my duties running this site.

          Since I haven’t been involved organisationally inside of Labour since 2009, and haven’t volunteered for them since 2011 (just helped out a few individuals with their volunteer work), there really wasn’t any point in leaving a leverage point open for fools. Terminate the membership at the end of the year after warning the people who needed to know about it earlier.

          Since Bomber chose to be a idiot, a public announcement seemed prudent before the silly fool went off on one of his myth making rants.

    • Chooky 5.2
      9 December 2014 at 10:24 am

      @ batweka …quite frankly I DO think Labour sold out New Zealanders on UNWARRANTED 24 hour surveillance !

      …what is wrong with getting a warrant and accountability? …..this is a violation of New Zealanders’ rights!…. and it bodes ill for the future imo…sets NZ up for a stazi political police state

      “disappointing to hear coming from Bradbury”…give us a BREAK!….anyone who defends this core John Key rushed through policy is decidedly sus imo

      …Labour will Not be getting either of my votes because of this issue

      • Manuka AOR 5.2.1
        9 December 2014 at 12:48 pm

        @chookster

        Yes. Andrew should not have compromised on that. He will get far more respect across all of NZ when he stands up to those who have this sick obsession with spying on Kiwis. When individuals stalk and spy on people, we can still clearly identify that behaviour as a disease, the product of sick minds. We should not be legitimising it for anyone at all. Andrew has to start saying “No.”

  6. adam 6
    9 December 2014 at 12:21 am

    I thought it was polite to leave aside attacks on the labour party whilst they were having their leadership debate. If for no other reason, why hand the nut bar Right a chance to put the knife in. Indeed why fan the flames and make life simple for the nut bars on the right wing of politics?

    Boomer was confusing through the election for me – On one hand, yes he did seem to support Internet Mana a lot, but he also had a bromance with Cunliffe. He also seemed somewhat uncomfortable with sections of Mana.

    Post election he’s got stranger – one one hand the digs you see this week from him, and supporting the line the standard does dirty politics for labour. And another odd fish calling Mana dead. That one is strange – the Internet Mana Waka is well and truly dead, it died a natural death 6 weeks after the election. A failed experiment, shit happens. Personally I thought it could have been good, if it had worked -it did not. So goodbye.

    Mana seems to me to be very much alive – they have returned to planning and organising. Seems someone is listening to what you said Lprent, about starting organising for the next election, just after the last one. Mana still has good membership numbers, and I personally think being out of parliament will be good for them. And for Hone in particular.

    • lprent 6.1
      9 December 2014 at 12:45 am

      Yeah, Mana is an interesting party because it does seem to have a ground level organisation in winnable electorates.

      The problem in Waiariki is that either Sykes or Labour’s candidate could probably win against national’s Maori party candidate Flavell, but not while the other is there. I suspect that Flavell only got in because of a split vote against him.

      Similarly the Maori party electorate vote in Te Tai Tokerau is the winning margin between Davis and Harawira

      If they can keep those organisations going until the next election and slowly campaign all of the time then it could get interesting.

      The Internet party seems pretty dead

      • phillip ure 6.1.1
        9 December 2014 at 5:07 am

        “..I suspect that Flavell only got in because of a split vote against him..”

        correct…

        ..that and other mmp-realities are under consideration..

        ..but those predicting the demise of mana..

        ..are being a tad ‘premature’..

    • The Al1en 6.2
      9 December 2014 at 8:34 am

      Did Bradbury finally get one right? Mana are like nz1st minus Winston’s ‘appeal’ and nothing without their main man. If hh went there’d be nothing left but a few die hard try hards and lots of wishful thinking.

      Still, they have three years to turn around and re-build that ‘movement’, to connect with more than 1.5% of voters they have and hope other parties gift hh his old seat back next election.
      Never say never and all that.

      • batweka 6.2.1
        9 December 2014 at 9:55 am

        You think Annette Sykes is a die hard try hard? 🙄

        • The Al1en 6.2.1.1
          9 December 2014 at 10:05 am

          Oh okay, if you like – A few die hard try hards… And Annette Sykes.

          But personally, I don’t think much of her at all.

          • adam 6.2.1.1.1
            9 December 2014 at 10:32 am

            What the hell his hh the al1en? Is that the new white power way of addressing another human being? No wonder the left can’t work together. I always though some of your comments had racist undertones – now I really think you are.

            • The Al1en 6.2.1.1.1.1
              9 December 2014 at 11:49 am

              “What the hell his hh the al1en? Is that the new white power way of addressing another human being?”

              Nothing white power about me or that statement, so piss off with the guilt by association rubbish.
              hh is hone, like dc is david cunliffe, ds is david shearer or jk john key. How hard was that to work out? And really it’s not very offensive, like calling someone a racist for no reason.

              “I always though some of your comments had racist undertones – now I really think you are.”

              Then you were wrong and still very much are.
              Seriously, where’s the racism in what I’ve wrote? I think you’re slinging shit in the hope some of it sticks. I won’t let that happen, obviously, because being falsely labelled racist by an internet fuckstick is one thing, having it spread about unchallenged is another.

              Looking forward to your response.

              • adam …
                9 December 2014 at 12:50 pm

                Who’s this Hone you’re talking about?

                Hone Hohepa writes some good stuff

                The Hone Heke tax is a good idea.

                Or would you been meaning Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira?

                • The Al1en …
                  9 December 2014 at 1:10 pm

                  I gave you the chance to respond sensibly and point out where I was racist. If your false claim is based on my using hh instead of hone harawira, then fuck off, you’re a knob mangler and not worth further discourse. I, as have many people here use acronyms all the time. If you weren’t, as I suspect, one of those die hard try hards it wouldn’t even register.

                  So I think mana is shit. It’s allowed, I can still even be left wing and say it. It’s politics. Unless you’re going to spring to the defence of dc, ds or jk, then yeah, piss off, knobster. And you call racism 🙄

                • The Al1en …
                  9 December 2014 at 1:33 pm

                  “Who’s this Hone you’re talking about?”

                  I did a search of hone in the search bar up the top of this page. I gave up scrolling after after five pages, so I don’t know the total number of comments made by loads of different yet quite familiar names, but it seems there’s quite a few.
                  Seems hone, on the standard, is generally accepted as meaning hh, as hh is universally also (almost) taken to mean hone harawira.

                  Shall I wait for you to start a campaign of race ‘outing’ on all those who don’t use the full name? Or is it only white Englishmen you have it in for?
                  Wanker.

                  http://thestandard.org.nz/?s=hone&isopen=none&search_posts=true&search_comments=true&search_sortby=date

                  • greywarshark …
                    9 December 2014 at 2:09 pm

                    the allen
                    Don’t be so sensitive. A simple I’m not a racist would have been enough. I think it might have been a moan about using initials and acronyms – it’s too common.

                    • The Al1en …
                      9 December 2014 at 2:19 pm

                      I don’t believe I’m being overly sensitive responding to

                      “I always though some of your comments had racist undertones – now I really think you are.”

                      For using hh. And if it were about acronyms, which it obviously isn’t

                      “I think it might have been a moan about using initials and acronyms – it’s too common.”

                      adam shouldn’t really have opened with

                      “Is that the new white power way of addressing another human being?”

                      At the moment I think adam is a stroker, yet I’m happy to wait for his retraction and subsequent apology. I won’t hold my breath though. He doesn’t appear to have the class to accept he got it badly wrong.

                      I wouldn’t mind if he calls me for being a bore or an arsehole or whatever he can imagine for fun, it’s part of the internet way of life, but tagging others as racist without any form of insight or proof is just cowardly and cheap, and in my opinion, diminishes the good work done by anti groups all over the world.

                      So yeah, over to adam.

                    • adam …
                      9 December 2014 at 2:55 pm

                      I do believe that grewarshark is right. A simple rebuttal would have serviced the issue dead. Me does think he protests too much.

                      You got the white power rib because, you talked like a glib know it all. Which is what oh so many of that type are like. Are your sore, because I pulled you up for your wee bit cultural imperialism? So harden up, it’s politics – you like to play hard – just remember you have to take it too. I don’t care if you hate mana, I don’t care if you are/not in love with social credit and I really don’t care for who you love in politics. One line, was all it took.

                      As for you request for a reasonable discussion – reasonable discussion does not begin with expletives.

                    • The Al1en …
                      9 December 2014 at 3:44 pm

                      “I do believe that grewarshark is right. A simple rebuttal would have serviced the issue dead. Me does think he protests too much.”

                      I disagree. Crap comments like yours need a strong rebuttal. Especially when asked for proof and none is forthcoming.

                      “You got the white power rib because, you talked like a glib know it all.”

                      That’s your slant on it, and it’s still wrong to claim white power or race have one single thing to do with it. Using that logic it’s okay to call you a paedophile kiddie fiddler because you’re post shit like a dickhead. See how that doesn’t work yet?

                      “Are your sore, because I pulled you up for your wee bit cultural imperialism?”

                      Do you read what you post before you press submit? That’s just bollocks. Show me any cultural imperialism or stop implying there’s shit there when there isn’t. That’s twice now you’ve let your own inferiority complex get in the way of reasonable debate.

                      “So harden up, it’s politics – you like to play hard – just remember you have to take it too.”

                      Yeah, all fair in love and war and all that, except when you make shit up, then it’s just wankers having a wank fest. I’m all for the rough and tumble of the game and don’t cry and run off home with the ball when the game goes against me.
                      Ultimately In politics if you lie you lose. The end, loser.

                      “As for you request for a reasonable discussion – reasonable discussion does not begin with expletives.”

                      You had your chance at reasonable discussion and you blew it. You can now kiss my arse for all I care.
                      You’re on the defensive and changing goalposts as you go. If there’s one thing to be taken from your unfounded and as yet un-backed up accusation, I hope it’s how disingenuous and untrustworthy and unreliable a commenter you are, though I fear the no smoke without fire angle will unfairly taint me.

                      So to be clear then. I didn’t post anything racist at all, even though you said I did, and I was exhibiting cultural imperialism even though I wasn’t, and I’m probably still a racist because I defended myself with rightful passion.

                      Like I wrote, you don’t have the class to apologise for getting it wrong.
                      What a wanker.

                    • adam …
                      9 December 2014 at 6:20 pm

                      I saw you talking rubbish and called you on it.

                      I believe what you said had a racist bent to it. I still do. You called the people in Mana a ” few die hard try hards and lots of wishful thinking”.

                      You also begrudgingly accepted Weka’s criticism, and then dissed Annette – out of hand. You still felt you could belittle all the other leaders in the Mana movement – out of hand. No constructive debate from you – just a dismissal – you will forgive me if I’m tired of that approach to Maori and Maori issues. It’s everywhere – why do you feel I have to put up with that level of political debate?

                      Indeed to fall into the same criticism I hear coming out of the right of this country ie: seat gifting, is just – well, you think it sounds reasonable, and that is what worried me.

                      Finally, You used names for everyone else, but Hone Harawira. In effect, It was the way you said it. Saying it’s a common acronym is soft excuse, in context. Why did you not use them all the way through, why only an acronym for the Maori Activist?

                      Look, language matters – and No I do not think you’re a racist. I do believe how you said it was, casually racist – An ingrain type of language, and rhetoric that’s so bloody everyday, it’s a pain in the ass. Popular culture carries this rubbish on. Try reading the Herald on Maori issues – it’s not pleasant.

                      So I’ll apologize if you think I called you a racist. I do not, nor and any moment do I believe you are a racist.

                      And I hope you feel you’re not a racist, because you’re not. Not even close.

                      Because, John Ansell there is a racist.

                    • The Al1en …
                      9 December 2014 at 6:42 pm

                      Clearly you’re just a mana fan boy, die hard try a little. You have no right to lay racism at my door and your begrudging apology I’ll leave hanging, thanks.

                      I also think nz1st are shit, and the nats and act are shit and what is it? 2/3 of labour’s caucus. So what? You going to cry over it? I doubt it.

                      Adam, KMA. And if you need the acronym explained, tough shit.

  7. Murray Rawshark 7
    9 December 2014 at 2:10 am

    Bumbler is all about the role he thinks he has in history. He can’t write for shit and is basically a gossip columnist. He replaces analysis with wishful thinking and convinces himself of the reality of his delusions. I also hate the way TDB repeats the first paragraph.

    Bumbler is all about the role he thinks he has in history. He can’t write for shit and is basically a gossip columnist. He replaces analysis with wishful thinking and convinces himself of the reality of his delusions. I also hate the way TDB repeats the first paragraph.

    Having said that, there are some people there whose stuff I like to read. John Minto always, I wish he’d write here, and Keith Locke most of the time. A lot of the others seem to be latté socialists like Bumbler, too young and inexperienced to yet realise they’ll get things wrong from time to time.

    I hope Mana gets rid of him. I think he may have been the mover behind the Dotcom thing, which I suspect was designed to get a radio station for himself.

    As for TS, it has always been pretty obvious to me that it’s not a Labour Party vessel. I wouldn’t be here if it were.

    • TheContrarian 7.1
      9 December 2014 at 9:04 am

      ^This…..in particular, this: “Bumbler is all about the role he thinks he has in history. He can’t write for shit and is basically a gossip columnist. He replaces analysis with wishful thinking and convinces himself of the reality of his delusions.”

      So true

      • Chooky 7.1.1
        9 December 2014 at 9:56 am

        disagree…Bomber can fucking write, and better than most bloggers imo, and he is often VERY to the point …he brings a fresh , no pomposity, perspective ….he goes for the jugular and is not afraid of the blood splatter…he is NOT establishment…he is NOT careful and calls bullshit on the Right and hypocrisy of some on the Left

        …sure he isnt always fair to the Left …he is competitive like a younger sibling …he is no angel ( get over it…ignore it)

    • Morrissey 7.2
      9 December 2014 at 9:29 am

      You think Bomber’s blog is full of latté socialists? Hell, they’re all Greenwalds and Pilgers compared to the complacent twerps over at Russell Brown’s blog. Just last year, they were being manipulated in masterful fashion by the most cynical, and cleverest, right wing operant in the country…..

      http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-31122013/#comment-751356

      • Chooky 7.2.1
        9 December 2014 at 9:47 am

        +100 Morrissey…so TRUE!…..and I like Bombers short sparky no holds barred anti-establishment anti right wing Nactional John Key pieces …they are not always fair and i don’t always agree with them but often they are spot on!

        …he reminds me of a younger sister …super sharp, competitive and always out to ridicule pomposity , bullshit, call out lies and hypocrisy ….and poke the borax and undermine older siblings… this person may be annoying but nevertheless they are FUN and they have a very important role to play in Left wing journalism

        ( imo if you dont like him and his criticisms of the Left ignore him!..he has a lot to offer in the critique of the Right)

        …i will be very pissed off if I have to choose between the Standard and the Daily Blog…they both have their role …they should NOT be in competition

      • batweka 7.2.2
        9 December 2014 at 9:57 am

        yeah and the standard is fully of loonies and conspiracy theorists.

        So much for the idea of building a pan left movement then.

        • Morrissey 7.2.2.1
          9 December 2014 at 10:07 am

          yeah and the standard is fully [sic] of loonies and conspiracy theorists.

          There are some of those people here, of course, but they are few and far between. If you’re looking for loons and conspiracy theorists, you need to go to that discredited blog run by Blubberguts, and the equally discredited blog run by David Farrar.

          So much for the idea of building a pan left movement then.

          Internecine squabbling is a speciality of the left, as I’m sure you’re well aware.

          • batweka 7.2.2.1.1
            9 December 2014 at 10:23 am

            So Bomber does something stupid and some people here feel the need to point out in detail that him and his blog are useless. That’s not internecine squabbling, that’s just returning the stupid.

            TDB has an important partty to play in the left blogosphere. Sometimes they get things wrong. This week Bomber did something stupid. Let’s not turn this into a snarkfest about someone who is actually an ally.

            There are some of those people here, of course, but they are few and far between. If you’re looking for loons and conspiracy theorists, you need to go to that discredited blog run by Blubberguts, and the equally discredited blog run by David Farrar.

            Ok, so PA is full of middle class wankers, TDB is pompous, poorly written and run by an egomaniac, but the standard is full of intelligent lefties doing good works for all.

            Mote in one’s eye and all that.

            • tracey 7.2.2.1.1.1
              9 December 2014 at 10:25 am

              Plus 1

              Challenging and correcting his wrong statements is one thing but dow e really need a pissing contest?

              Let him do his thing. TS does its thing. And correct and challenge each other as needed.

            • lprent 7.2.2.1.1.2
              9 December 2014 at 10:36 am

              TDB has an important partty to play in the left blogosphere. Sometimes they get things wrong. This week Bomber did something stupid. Let’s not turn this into a snarkfest about someone who is actually an ally.

              Oh I agree with that. That is why they have their own tab on the feed (like Scoop politics). The sites that have somewhat less content and are of interest to the left are on the main feed, like Public address or Pundit.

              It is just that Bomber has a bad habit of running off with a bullshit theme and using it over and over again *unless* he gets pulled up hard and early. Bloody headstrong and inclined to think that myths are reality.

              But that is a lot easier for both of us than the next level of action. Getting him to unlearn a rote set of expressions could be very painful. For both of us.

              • batweka …
                9 December 2014 at 12:24 pm

                It makes sense to pull him up on that. I was just annoyed by the comments that were using it to have a general go at him. Seems unnecessary and counter productive.

            • Morrissey 7.2.2.1.1.3
              9 December 2014 at 10:45 am

              Nicely put, mon ami.

        • rhinocrates 7.2.2.2
          9 December 2014 at 3:00 pm

          TS has many “rough diamonds” I’d say, which is why I like it – it means a broad appeal and an open door, which is what debate on the left needs, not carefully massaged and filtered media branding. Being called loonies by the likes of the idiotic “Iagreewithmatthew” Williams and his idol should be a mark of honour.

          I’m missing Queen of Thorns and Ghost Rider/Rogue Trooper – I hope that you’re doing well, wherever you are.

          The cliquey and navel-gazing complacency of a certain blog means that I have no interest in it any more.

    • Chooky 7.3
      9 December 2014 at 10:03 am

      @ Murray Rawshark ….totally disagree!…Bradbury is certainly NOT a “gossip columnist”!….he can write and better than most…his arguments are generally ( not always) concise and provocative …he gets to the nub of issues FAST….love or loathe what he has to say he is damned good !

      …those who say he is all about himself should take a good long hard look in the mirror and think about themselves and those mediocre wannabes they support

      …and btw I supported Mana and the Internet Party. I think Dotcom has been shafted by the right wing corporate bought msm and a sycophantic John Key Nactional Government to monopolistic Hollywood/USA corporate copyright takeover interests…if you cant see that you are a FOOL

      • Tiger Mountain 7.3.1
        9 December 2014 at 10:41 am

        Bomber is an interesting one alright, I would say to Martyn–be as bombastic and ‘once over lightly’ as you like–but don’t be surprised when others react accordingly.

        And to continue with the trivial, the TBD first para repeat (easily fixed) as described by Murray Rawshark drives me spare too.

        TBD has a good spread of writers and the one stop shop concept is too good to be sidelined by Bomber’s shenanigans. The writing is unrestrained and hardly ever boring as so many neat as a pin blogs are.

      • Murray Rawshark 7.3.2
        9 December 2014 at 6:06 pm

        If you think the posts I have made in defence of Dotcom against his railroading mean I can’t see that he’s been shafted, it’s not me that’s the fool.

        • Chooky 7.3.2.1
          9 December 2014 at 10:50 pm

          @ Murray Rawshark re “I hope Mana gets rid of him [Bradbury]. I think he may have been the mover behind the Dotcom thing, which I suspect was designed to get a radio station for himself.”

          Disagree!…imo a spurious attack on Bradbury’s motives! ….and there were other reasons why the Mana/Int…Dotcom “thing” did not come off…and it was nothing to do with Bradbury!….one of the main reasons was the concerted campaign by the msm against Dotcom and another was Labour joining with the Nacts to oust Harawira and thereby Mana/Int’s chances

          …no wonder Bradbury is mad at Labour

          • Murray Rawshark 7.3.2.1.1
            10 December 2014 at 12:28 am

            He’ll get over it. He’ll have more trouble getting over himself, like when he raved so enthusiastically about the appointment of Matt McCartney ensuring a Labour win in 2014.

            • Chooky 7.3.2.1.1.1
              10 December 2014 at 10:00 am

              i prefer optimism and enthusiasm to a deadening cynicism…and a kicking down of those who have tried …

              Bradbury and Harawira and Mana played political high stakes with Dotcom and Harre and the Internet Party on board ….it was an intelligent, audacious and bold move for a Mana Party which represents the most disadvantaged and those with the least voice in New Zealand society …it raised Mana’s profile and respect enormously…and they almost won!

              …. it was downed of course by the scurrilous right wing msm attacks on Dotcom and Harawira …and Labour’s disgraceful collusion with John Key Nactional to oust Hone Harawira from his seat.

              …nevertheless NZ is the better for having the likes of Bradbury, Dotcom, Harawira and Harre….and the teleconference with Amsterdam, Assange, Snowden and Greenwald was brilliant…it spoke of core issues of privacy from right wing spy network surveillance, internet freedom and democracy, and monopolistic corporate attempts to control copyright and the internet……issues which not only confront New Zealand but the world

              Bradbury is to be congratulated for being at the forefront of endorsing this public debate… and promoting the Mana/Internet Party.

          • tricledrown 7.3.2.1.2
            10 December 2014 at 9:50 pm

            Dotcom was the master of his own downfall no one else every time he opened his mouth the whole left took a hit.
            Dotcom was well out of his depth politicaly.
            Hone’s was also the master of his own demise as well,His car accident flipancy etc along with Dotcom became toxic to swing voters!
            Nations TV ads hit the mark like a lazer guided bomb.
            While Labours ads were decidly amateur.
            The greens ad’s were better..
            National were able to create doubt with their wobbly dinghy ad’s Dotcom,Hone,Labour ‘s dithering,Peter’s track record!
            All played into National ‘s narrative.
            Had the left parties had a combined strategy,cooperated with similar policies,the election would have been different!

  8. burt 8
    9 December 2014 at 7:37 am

    A delusional lefty – I bet as well as trying to tell everyone else how to run their operation he also believes that even when socialism fails everywhere it’s tried that one more chance is all it needs and he knows how to make it work this time.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1
      9 December 2014 at 7:42 am

      The Scandinavian nations – among others – are way ahead of him.

    • felix 8.2
      9 December 2014 at 7:51 am

      If we just persist with capitalism and its associated values a little bit longer it’s bound to start producing a fair and just society where the abundant resources of the earth are shared equally among its equal inhabitants.

      Just a little more hoarding and we promise, this time it will trickle down.

      • burt 8.2.1
        9 December 2014 at 8:14 am

        Good you acknowledge the failure of dogmatic adherence to an ideology that’s been proven to fail over and over again.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 8.2.1.1
          9 December 2014 at 8:18 am

          Social democracy hasn’t failed, and isn’t an ideology.

        • felix 8.2.1.2
          9 December 2014 at 10:33 am

          Sad that you still don’t, burt.

        • tricledrown 8.2.1.3
          10 December 2014 at 10:05 pm

          Burt the dogwhistling dogmatic hypocrit!
          Dogma is not confined to the left Ironic aye Burt.
          Capitalist fundamentalism is no more sucessful than fundamentalist communism they end up being identical!

    • tracey 8.3
      9 December 2014 at 10:17 am

      Kind of like Douglas and Richardson who believe that their policies didnt work as well by way of trickle down, cos they werent given the chance to fully implement them…

    • adam 8.4
      9 December 2014 at 10:37 am

      Please burt put down the cracker pipe. If you can’t be bothered to realise socialism does work, and rather well actually. Or if you’re to lazy to read about the real world and real world results – like say MOST OF SOUTH AMERICA. then sorry for you burt, sorry for you.

      • nadis 8.4.1
        9 December 2014 at 6:16 pm

        which countries in “most of south america”would you regard as working rather well actually?

        • Matthew Hooton 8.4.1.1
          9 December 2014 at 8:00 pm

          And which have histories of socialism? Chile? Argentina?

          • Colonial Rawshark 8.4.1.1.1
            9 December 2014 at 8:02 pm

            Nah, the US military/CIA fucked all of those. Killed quite a few South American leaders in the process.

  9. Puckish Rogue 9
    9 December 2014 at 8:31 am

    I guess the difference is different views (even views from the right) are allowed on this site whereas on TDB dissent will not be tolerated!

    • Chooky 9.1
      9 December 2014 at 10:50 am

      on the Daily Blog ..there is not the scope for commentator interaction and debate and squabbling …in this regard The Standard is a vastly superior site technologically speaking…and flaxroots democratically speaking ( thanks LPRENT for your skills )

      …on the Daily Blog …you can make a comment on the Post and agree/or disagree with another comments……plus you can do a thumbs up or down….but all comments are very much directed at the lead Post …so interaction is far more limited ( DTB is much more teacher/pupil style than on the Standard which is anarchistic wide ranging debate)

  10. ianmac 10
    9 December 2014 at 8:50 am

    Sometimes I watched Bombers panel discussions and thought that they were pretty good. Much better than Jim’s Panel anyway. Seems a pity that he has slipped off the pace.
    As a daily reader of The Standard I would certainly pay a sub instead of a newspaper sub. As a Superannuant I chose carefully and really appreciate the effort that Iprent puts in.

  11. Ad 11
    9 December 2014 at 8:54 am

    Cheers for the defence.

    Fully agree with your (restrained) response to Bomber.
    Personally I find his site too bitsy and jumbly to invite me. Plus the dialogue here seems to run with fluidity.

    I prefer the graphic and headline balance of Salon to the The Atlantic, for example.

    Taking a couple of months to fix programming bugs is heroic.
    I am very grateful for everything you do for this site LP.

  12. Jenny Kirk 12
    9 December 2014 at 9:02 am

    Like Chooky at (2) above, I’m a relative newcomer to this site, but as a Labour member and activist I’ve found it incredibly helpful in picking up on information I had no previous knowledge of, or in additional reasoning on why certain Labour policies (eg raising age of super) were unwarranted.

    As well as reinforcing my own ideas and opinions (which has been an extraordinarily useful and encouraging thing to happen in an age when it has appeared Labour could not shake off its neo-liberal approach to life in NZ).

    But I have NEVER looked on this as a Labour Party site – the range of views is too diverse, too critical of actions/views of certain Labour MPs – and I am surprised to find (if I understand Lprent correctly) that Labour people (MPs ?) have complained to the Party secretary about the site. I would have thought it obvious that this is a site entirely separate from the Party. The language is different for one thing …. ! And the diversity of opinion (including those of trolls) another !

    Long may it last ! and thanks to all who started it and keep it going.

  13. Marty 13
    9 December 2014 at 9:20 am

    Does size matter? It seems some think that audience size is proportional to being effective. I’m not sure this is the case. Let’s resist the urge to fix what isn’t actually broken. As for Bomber, it amazes me that there is anyone left that feels he is due any credibility after fouling his own nest so comprehensively. Picking fights with TS is yet another idiotic move.

  14. tracey 14
    9 December 2014 at 10:19 am

    Perhaps next time the media or hooton or slater suggest this is a WO for the left, lprent can release one of the LP hierarchies complaint letters tot he press…

  15. oarSum 15
    9 December 2014 at 10:20 am

    It’s high time the Left was ‘officially’ dissociated from Bradbury and his fragile yet astonishly, annoyingly persistent ego.
    I’ts a sad indictment of the mainstream media that they continue to exploit the sensationlist drivle from a spoilt, juvenile brat hiding inside an aging 40 year-old

    • Chooky 15.1
      9 December 2014 at 10:40 am

      …actually …sorry to disappoint all right wing tr..ls…i think Bomber Bradbury has quite a following on the left of the Left…i count myself as one

      • Maisie 15.1.1
        11 December 2014 at 12:51 am

        What exactly makes him ‘left of the left’? The fact that he mindlessly trumpets revolution as the solution to everything? I’m merely ‘left’ (no right wing troll me) but regard Bradbury as a worrying embarrassment.

  16. ghostwhowalksnz 16
    9 December 2014 at 10:40 am

    If you keep this up, Bomber will end up as the ‘lefts columnist” in the Sunday Herald.

    Havent replaced Matt Mccarten since he went to work for Cunliffe ( and Little)

  17. oarSum 17
    9 December 2014 at 11:07 am

    Bomber … is actually an ally
    In the battle for the biggest sound bite, pehaps
    Surely there are more important issues for the Left

    • lprent 17.1
      9 December 2014 at 12:31 pm

      I’d agree. There are bigger issues. However the art of meme and myth making is pretty damn clear as well. That is what he was doing.

      However when anyone makes stupid comments about our site, regardless who the fool is, then they have a tendency to receive the savage side of my fingers. I have found that if I don’t call fools asserting incorrect ‘facts’ about the site, then I find that I have to waste more time later on dealing with them as they try to spread it.

      So I start escalate directly to harsh personal opinions to make the point penetrate foolish heads. Adding in a semi-random and completely over the top progression, because I’m not that interested in playing other people’s silly games. They take the risk on what happens to them when they make statements about the site that they cannot support.

      Bomber knows that, so I have to assume it was a deliberate attack. If he’d actually wanted to know, then all he had to do was email.

      Being polite about dumbarses intent on making myths with no basis in fact about others is something that there no point in being polite about.

  18. Molly 18
    9 December 2014 at 11:34 am

    Don’t mind TDB, or Bomber’s writing style. Don’t need to agree with all his points to understand that he is writing with complete honesty on his opinions etc. The more variety of sources for the left to access the better IMO.

    Also, his contributing authors are often very specific on issues, and like The Standard, that diversity of opinion and experience is valuable to understanding.

    Will keep accessing both, and any other left leaning blog that comes my way.

    On a selfish note, I’m hoping the readership of both continues to increase so that conversations with others become much more informed.

    I know that since friends and family have started reading TS and TDB, our political discussions have become much more emphatic and informative, so I’m flying the flag for both.

  19. Capn Insano 19
    9 December 2014 at 1:16 pm

    Yes. I was a bit disappointed to see that snipe at this site in his article. I think it is unwarranted, particularly as I think it just adds to a public perception that the Left is fractious and dis-organised. Such public snipes like this could quite easily be latched onto by whalearse and co and possibly even certain tools in the media. So far it’s been my observation that within those keen to see National booted out there is quite a wide variety of personal beliefs and viewpoints so there is a challenge perhaps to bring it all together [that Herding Cats video springs to mind] but we should try and I think public petty attacks on another blog site don’t help.
    Personally I check both sites often and don’t have any particular preference [I do note the repetition thing on TDB though]. These sites are important to me for providing a narrative sorely missed on what passes for journalism in most of our mainstream media here at the moment and I’m very appreciative of the efforts involved in running them.

  20. greywarshark 20
    9 December 2014 at 2:17 pm

    Interesting talk on radionz regarding our media. Tertiary research has shown about 50% ownership by financial institutions and private equity firms. If we can keep costs low and avoid getting in the sharks’ bellies that would be good.

    Gavin Ellis and Kathryn Ryan –
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player/20160380

  21. esoteric pineapples 21
    9 December 2014 at 3:43 pm

    I like The Standard AND I like the Daily Blog – they come from somewhat different perspectives which is GOOD. Hard for the blogs to see eye-to-eye sometimes but good for us readers. Give me the facts and arguments, I’ll make up my own mind.

    Without the two and a few other favourite blogs, I’d feel like New Zealand is totally full of Loony Tunes.

  22. surferboy 2 22
    9 December 2014 at 6:40 pm

    I value TDB because Bomber has gone to the trouble of helping to share the insights of people like; Dr Wayne Hope, Proff Jane Kelsey, Chris Trotter, Marama Davidson, Selwyn Manning, Mathew Hooten(yuk), John Minto and many other worthy commentators on NZ politics. I think the negative comments on this thread are maybe one of penis envy and not based on reality.I also value very much TS so thank you for your important contribution to a lively NZ political discourse.

  23. Rodel 23
    9 December 2014 at 8:27 pm

    Some people can speak well. Some can write well. Few can do both.

    I enjoy Bradbury’s writings but when he speaks, to me it’s just ranting and I turn off.
    He sounds like a fool but he writes powerfully.

    Now Cameron is in a completely different category.He…oh ..never mind…

  24. Orthodoxia 24
    9 December 2014 at 9:12 pm

    I agree with iprent about keeping ts simple. Ad has good genuine points but is a little naive especially trying to get ts to be like Whaleoil. Ts is already of a higher standard in regards to layout, quality and quantity of posts and far more informed commentators (and for $200 a month!). I enjoy reading the uncluttered site compared to whaleoil which is poorly designed and who’s ads are pretty x-rated ( a sign they are in trouble).
    I think not being in the labour party is a wise move in maintaining ts with a independent voice.
    Perhaps like Wikipedia, each year ts has a fundraising drive then bases its next years budget on the result?
    Just a thought

  25. Orthodoxia 25
    9 December 2014 at 9:17 pm

    I also forgot to say that I have enjoyed the daily blog, but Bomber has set himself up as a bit of a pundit. He got his predictions so wrong over the election that it is going to take some hard work from him to rebuild some credibility.

  26. millsy 26
    9 December 2014 at 10:28 pm

    Bradbury can be a bit tedious and repetitive — kinda like a far left Mike Williams.

    Though his ideas about a Radio NZ 2 are interesting and deserve to be looked into further..

  27. SaveNZ 27
    10 December 2014 at 8:56 pm

    I like the daily blog. The more non MSM views the better in my mind. I also like his choices of guest bloggers because you sure as hell aren’t hearing from them in the MSM rags. Left of center blogs have to look at the big picture and stop attacking each other. You don’t want to do a Labour Leadership public fist fight which dilute the much more important message of alternative content and ideas.

    • lprent 27.1
      11 December 2014 at 7:12 am

      Left of center blogs have to look at the big picture and stop attacking each other.

      Yes and…

      The bigger picture for me is the preservation of *this* site, an open dialogue on the left, and a open discussion on news, policies, and directions. I’m not interested in silo mentalities, ideological carping, or the convenient manufacturing of myths.

      I will occasionally respond to bomber when he attacks this site with myths he has made up. The same way that I respond to other bloggers and MSM. I also escalate the language and style to be clearly more offensive each time I have to do such a response.

      If bomber doesn’t want me to explain his deficiencies in more and more detail over time, then he should avoid attacking this site with no cause. At least have something better than ‘he feels like it because his readership is dropping at present’ – which is what I expect happened. We’re not here for him to use as a ladder beyond what we are willing and generous enough to provide already.

      If he does have a legitimate criticism, then he should provide quotes and links to what he is objecting to, rather than lying with blanket unsubstantiated statements. If, as in this case, he directly parroted Whaleoil and claimed that this independent blog site is run by the Labour party then I would expect some more justification than him apparently picking it out of his arse and waving that as proof.

      I’m not someone who plays those kinds of games for readership. If someone attacks me or whatever I am protecting without cause, then they can expect to take severe personal damage in return.

      I find it makes the arseholes of this world think twice before they do anything so stupid again.

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