The decline of the Herald

Written By: - Date published: 10:03 am, September 27th, 2015 - 103 comments
Categories: journalism, Media, newspapers, spin, you couldn't make this shit up - Tags: , ,

The New Zealand Herald has always been essentially a cheerleader for the right.  Its right wing dominated pages were however subject to the occasional burst of clearness and light provided by the likes of Brian Rudman and Dita di Boni.  It also had writers capable of careful analysis such as John Drinnan and Fran O’Sullivan.  But judging by political commentary in the paper this morning the clearness and light and careful analysis is a thing of the past.

The word “bloodbath” has been used repeatedly to describe what has happened following NZME’s announcement of redundancies at the Herald earlier this year.  Apparently over 100 redundancies were expected from the restructuring NZME was putting the Herald through.  The proposal was to create a “world class integrated media room” involving NZME’s different media but the clear impression is that NZME is shedding some talented writers in an effort to save money.  Some of the major talent being lost includes Drinnan, Rudman, Michele Hewitson and Alan Perrott.  Over recent months other writers deemed surplus to requirements included Paul Casserly, James Griffin, Dita De Boni, Jock Anderson and Peter Calder.

News of John Roughan’s redundancy were apparently unfortunately premature.  Although the likes of Anderson will not be missed others made the Herald readable.

It is not a peculiarly Herald problem.  Fairfax Media has also recently lost some senior respected reporters.

If you want to see the repercussions look no further than this morning’s Herald.  The article initially purported to be written by Patrice Gaffaney who is a travel writer.  What a travel writer was doing writing about politics I do not know.  But then something amazing happened.  The article changed to record the author as being Heather du Plessis-Allan (h/t Maria Sherwood).

I really thought that a part time travel writer had written the article such was the quality of its analysis and this was to be the essence of this blog post.  If this is du Plessis-Allan’s writing we still have a problem because she is clearly amongst the large array of National cheerleaders we have in the midst of our media.

She starts off by accusing Labour of being sad sacks and that we should be all so proud because a right wing Australian leader thinks John Key is a great guy.  The depth of this social analysis I have not witnessed since I was a young teenager at school.  Being friends with the cool kid is clearly still important for some.

Then she blames Labour for the flag referendum fiasco.

Possibly [Andrew Little’s] biggest mistake though was playing politics with the flag referendum. Forget what Labour was saying publicly about wanting to get Red Peak on the ballot. They didn’t want that.

Sure, Red Peak being included was egg on Key’s face. The Prime Minister tried so hard to ignore it. But, it would have been much, much better for Labour if Red Peak was excluded. That way, more of us would have got angry, packed a tanty and voted instead to keep the current flag. It’d be a whole carton of eggs on Key’s face if his precious flag change failed.

That’s why Labour mucked around and that’s why the Greens and National outmanoeuvered it. Labour was more interested in embarrassing the Prime Minister than making sure we hand the right flag on to our grandkids.

So according to her Labour should have rolled over and agreed to what ever National demanded.  Although even then National would have found a reason to not agree.  If anyone was playing politics with the issue it was National.

Then she chips at Labour about pandas.

How do you turn a story about panda bears into something negative? Here’s how.

It sounds increasingly like our biggest trading partner might hook us up with a couple of cute – but admittedly expensive to keep – YouTube favourites.

If you’re Little, you don’t use this as a chance to show your sense of humour and crack a few panda puns or display your understanding of the tourism the bears generate.

Instead, you say there are better things to spend money on. There are always better things.

The reason lefties get grumpy about this sort of game playing is that being in charge of a country is an important task.  And there are many important issues that we face, some of them like climate change threaten our future.  And child poverty, the refugee crisis, the lack of a vision for our economic future, the housing crisis …

Our leader fluffing around trying to change the appearance of a particular flag and trying to get a couple of animals into one of our zoos for a photo opportunity  should be treated by ridicule by a political writer in our major daily newspaper.  It is a shame that it appears the Herald no longer has the calibre of writer who will say this.

103 comments on “The decline of the Herald ”

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  1. tc 1
    27 September 2015 at 10:20 am

    Outlets such as granny now exist to sell the masters message having ditched jornalism many years ago. Note the management ranks and remunerations as a sign they arent serious about cost cutting.

    Murdochs leaked financials show how poor a viable business the mastheads are these days but they survive as they play a messaging role crucial in herding the masses.

  2. sabine 2
    27 September 2015 at 10:40 am

    why bother read the Herald, that paper is not even good enough to line a litter box.

    seriously, i pity the trees that are felled so that this type of rubbish can be printed.

    Do not buy the Herald. simple as that.

    • Paul 2.1
      27 September 2015 at 12:49 pm

      I don’t.
      It has become the most dreadful rag, pimping for Key and his death cult.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.2
      27 September 2015 at 1:15 pm

      +1

    • Visubversa 2.3
      27 September 2015 at 1:19 pm

      I do find it is perfectly designed to line a litter box. However, that is its only function in this household and I never pay for it.

    • Hami Shearlie 2.4
      27 September 2015 at 1:22 pm

      The Herald is a FANTASTIC newspaper – I mean all that newsprint is EXCELLENT to put under the bark in your new bark garden!! Why pay for weedmat when you can use the NZ Herald? And its also great to keep your fish and chips nice and hot and crispy!!

  3. sabine 3
    27 September 2015 at 10:42 am

    as for blaming Labour? Is that not a sort of Volkssport here in NZ, that no matter what, why, and whom Labour does it to, and did it first, so its all Labours fault?
    What else is new?

    • Keith 3.1
      27 September 2015 at 11:06 am

      Yep, its like last years “Tricky” campaign on David Cunliffe. Say the lie over and over enough and it becomes true!

  4. Grey Area 4
    27 September 2015 at 10:59 am

    I wasted several minutes of my life this morning skimming through this piece of appalling rubbish masquarading as political comment. (Interestingly initially on the Herald mobile app there was no byline). I expect nothing less from the National Herald these days but the degree of bias and shallowness in this piece were still gobsmacking.

    Little got it dead right in his comment about Turnbull’s estimation of Key. It is sick-making to be told we should have been fist pumping because Turnbull rated Key’s “achievements” so highly, and this particular comment is either cynical or shallow – or both.

  5. Keith 5
    27 September 2015 at 11:04 am

    It’s amazing isnt it. This shitty negative flag campaign is all John Key from start to finish, the flags chosen, the manipulation, the reason it is even happening but one thing is for sure, he can turn what should be a positive project (if it was run by anyone else but this government) and generate a blame game that somehow gets publicised as being anyone elses but his fault for its complete list of short comings.

    It has become the sum of everything that is wrong with the John Key National government, decitful and divisive!

    If Little had not mentioned a word on the subject he’d still be the medias strawman!

    And now its all Labours fault. Turn the record over!

  6. dukeofurl 6
    27 September 2015 at 11:09 am

    “News of John Roughan’s redundancy were apparently unfortunately premature”

    Whats the bet he called in a favour from his mate Key ?

    Hasnt Roughan been the ‘ deputy editor since’ way back when Clark was PM, hes been bypassed for the top job a couple of times, so hes not moving up in the hierarchy, and yet survives a culling of their senior writers ?

    Go figure ?

    • Sacha 6.1
      27 September 2015 at 12:06 pm

      They have not made final decisions yet about who keeps their job.

      • dukeofurl 6.1.1
        27 September 2015 at 1:16 pm

        Lucky for him then that he hes got’ digital future” written all over him and can write click bait stories with the best of them.- ? yeah nah !

        Then there was the recent MTV ‘restructure’
        “High-profile Maori Television executives Julian Wilcox and Carol Hirschfeld have been demoted from their jobs in a restructure process announced to staff at the station today.-” Herald facebook

        Funny isnt it how those critical of the government are the ones ‘restructured out’ yet the people who sunshine and joy in everything Key & co do survive?

        • tc 6.1.1.1
          27 September 2015 at 1:25 pm

          Been quiet over at MTV as maxwell goes about nationals business, last ripple was Forbes departure from memory.

    • Paul 6.2
      27 September 2015 at 12:50 pm

      Roughan’s hagiography of Key ensured he kept his job.

  7. Anne 7
    27 September 2015 at 11:16 am

    ‘Madame’ is a thirty-something married to the ZB News go to boy, Barry Soper. That’s an observation worthy of suspicion in the first place. Her political allegiance was suspect from the start.

    So, people who are concerned about child poverty, poor government economic performances, the ever-increasing chasm between rich and poor, honesty and integrity in government, being wise and worldly citizens and above all… tackling the looming disaster of Climate Change makes us sad sacks does it Heather? A judgement that highlights your profound ignorance and lack of mature intelligence.

    Btw, intelligence and a ‘mature’ sense of humour are invariably bed-mates. Think on that dear before you go off half-cock again.

  8. RedBaronCV 8
    27 September 2015 at 11:27 am

    Looks like a preloaded set of positive comments were wating to be flooded against this story in waves. When lately, has the Herald really had any positive commnents underneath for this type of story

  9. Reddelusion 9
    27 September 2015 at 11:37 am

    Yes Ann “dear” your moralising, constant negativity and I know best is exactly why the average punter just turn off when your ilk including angry andy just humerously prattle on. I suggest why jacindern adern has some popularity as she at least comes across as happy, with a bit of humour and less grim, not much else however

    • Paul 9.1
      27 September 2015 at 12:52 pm

      Whereas you can only speak in soundbites and catchphrases.
      Just the usual shallow pointless comment from you, adding nothing.

      • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1
        27 September 2015 at 1:21 pm

        Whereas you can only speak in soundbites and catchphrases.

        And only C/T created ones at that.

  10. DC Sheehan 10
    27 September 2015 at 11:49 am

    It’s one of the most brazen pieces of spin I’ve read. It’s Foxian in its wilful ignoring of the truth. The difference is that Fox doesn’t purport to be anything but a right wing shill.

    Seriously, this reads like a National Party ad. All it’s missing is an ‘Authorised by’ statement.

  11. Mrs Brillo 11
    27 September 2015 at 12:19 pm

    Don’t vent here – send your comment in to the Herald under the article in question.
    Then let’s see how many of them end up getting published.

    Tip: criticise the writer, not the paper. Few of my comments criticising the Herald ever get published.

    And sometimes they delay for a day (or in one case three days) before putting any comments at all under a piece which receives a lot of criticism.

    They are gaming their own comments system, but that’s no reason not to tell them exactly what you think.

    • Rae 11.1
      27 September 2015 at 12:56 pm

      Ah so you’ve noticed the tardiness of publishing online comment as well. I have been suspicious for some time, as articles such as anything pointing out the downsides of the TPPA or land sales to foreigners etc. get buried somewhere in the middle of the day, so that those of us who work don’t see them till later on, then whatever comment you make never shows up. My last comment in the Herald according to my profile was made on Thursday. I have noticed this increasingly over the last couple of months.

      • Paul 11.1.1
        27 September 2015 at 12:57 pm

        And comments are closed when there is almost universal dissent with the writer.

        • Death Row 11.1.1.1
          27 September 2015 at 1:16 pm

          Bye bye green eye.

          When Blue Eye succeeds with the case – you are dead.

          Oh well…….happy days.

      • Mrs Brillo 11.1.2
        27 September 2015 at 4:13 pm

        My comment has not been published. (Perhaps I should not have told her that this was a very shabby effort. )

        But some individuals have numerous comments published which are a lot worse written and reasoned than mine was. Several under the same story.
        And the ultra right wing commenters that look like part of a National attack squad are there every time, sometimes multiple comments of theirs published.

        A lot of new nicks turned up today under this story. I think the person who suggested the Herald (or Mr and Mrs Soper) had pre-prepared comments ready to publish as soon as the piece appeared, was right on the money.

        So I’ll make a remark here which if I sent it to the Herald, they would not publish:

        Heather DPA is an immature apology for a writer who does not understand politics and is in the wrong job. Her lack of judgement is an embarrassment. Once again TV3 have fallen for style over substance, but there is no reason for Granny to do the same.

        She would make a really cute weather girl, though – imagine, Heather on the Weather. Light as a feather.

    • Clemgeopin 11.2
      27 September 2015 at 1:13 pm

      <i."Don’t vent here – send your comment in to the Herald under the article in question.Then let’s see how many of them end up getting published"

      I did, at 10 am this morning. It has been published now. Here is my comment there:

      “What is amazing is that Key has managed to fool so many people for so long and so very easily. Turnbull is the latest gullible fool who has fallen for his charm. I agree with the point Andrew Little was making”

      Clemgeopin – New Zealand – 12:36 PM Sunday, 27 Sep 2015

  12. Clemgeopin 12
    27 September 2015 at 12:25 pm

    That appalling article shows one thing clearly : That the author has a very low IQ, childish analytical skills and an extremely poor grasp of issues.

    or that she is just another biased right wing rogue agent masquerading as a fourth estate ‘journalist’.

    • dukeofurl 12.1
      27 September 2015 at 1:38 pm

      From her 7 Sharp days

      “On Seven Sharp du Plessis-Allan did some pretty dreadful stuff. There was the time she dressed up as a park ranger and pretended to stop people entering a park in Wellington for a story that made no sense at all. She was sent to chat up old men in a pub to make a non-newsworthy point about the pension age. She jogged around the capital with the speaker David Carter. She introduced the world to John Key’s office toilet.”

      http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/70857862/The-real-Heather-du-Plessis-Allan

      I understand these sort of shows, the reporters mostly bid their own story ideas for the producers. What was she thinking ?

      • Clemgeopin 12.1.1
        27 September 2015 at 9:19 pm

        Don’t these idiot journalist even realise how embarrassingly inept and hollow they are?

        • Paul 12.1.1.1
          27 September 2015 at 9:22 pm

          They don’t care as long as they can acquire the trappings of success.
          Money, fame, stuff…..

          • Puddleglum 12.1.1.1.1
            27 September 2015 at 10:03 pm

            Bingo – sadly I think that’s pretty much the sum of it.

            The ability to think seems to get you nowhere in mainstream political journalism today.

            The only ‘analysis’ allowed seems to be over a politician’s ‘image’ (never analyse policies or important social issues – a big ‘no-no’). And even that analysis has to be trivial, caricatured and simplistic in order to pass muster.

            Have you noticed how any in-depth analyses (e.g., feature articles) are never written by these ‘prominent’ political journalists?

            I get the distinct impression that the Garners, Gowers – and, now, du Plessis-Allans – of the journo world are simply there to do the intellectual equivalent of prancing about making god-awful spectacles of themselves.

            Perhaps they really don’t understand how incredibly shallow what they do is? Maybe the saddest interpretation is that they really think they’re doing something substantive.

            On the evidence of this column it seems that that week surfing with Key’s Press Secretary has either had the desired effect or was simply a case of birds of a feather:

            “The couple [Soper and du Plessis-Allan] have just spent a week surfing in Hawaii with Sia Aston, the Prime Minister’s new chief press secretary.“

            • Paul 12.1.1.1.1.1
              27 September 2015 at 10:08 pm

              Literally and metaphorically embedded journalists.

            • Draco T Bastard 12.1.1.1.1.2
              27 September 2015 at 11:02 pm

              Perhaps they really don’t understand how incredibly shallow what they do is? Maybe the saddest interpretation is that they really think they’re doing something substantive.

              I suspect that they probably think that they’re being sophisticated but are actually too stupid and shallow to realise that they’re being arses.

              • ropata …
                28 September 2015 at 12:32 am

                Agreed, I can’t imagine how anyone with a smattering of intellect or self-awareness could possibly lower themselves to such a trivial sideshow. Unless they are a smug narcissist who is star-struck by wealth and glamour, and thinks they are a part of it…

                http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/20/broadcasters-mouthpieces-of-elite-balanced-news-journalists

                Those entrusted to challenge power are the loyalists of power. They rage against social media and people such as Russell Brand, without seeing that the popularity of alternatives is a response to their own failures: their failure to expose the claims of the haut monde, their failure to enlist a diversity of opinion, their failure to permit the audience to see that another world is possible. If even the public sector broadcasters parrot the talking points of the elite, what hope is there for informed democratic choice?

  13. Ad 13
    27 September 2015 at 12:29 pm

    I went to a funeral in Dunedin last week.
    200 people.
    Mostly good bourgeoisie, small business people, farmers, late middle aged, reasonably well off.

    Not a positive thing to say about Key, the flag, the economy, the government, farming, the military, Dunedin, the regions.
    Nothing.

    • BM 13.1
      27 September 2015 at 1:34 pm

      Christ, what did you expect.
      it’s Dunedin the home of Labour and the misery guts capital of NZ.

      • weka 13.1.1
        27 September 2015 at 2:03 pm

        Did you get divorced in Dunedin BM, or went to uni or something? Such a downer on the place.

      • lprent 13.1.2
        27 September 2015 at 2:07 pm

        And also the only independent large newspaper in NZ. It is still as reactionary as it was when I was there decades ago. But unlike the NZ Herald, it is still worth reading because it still tends to concentrate on reporting news.

        Besides, there are two seats in Dunedin. Hardly a large voting population.

    • infused 13.2
      27 September 2015 at 9:01 pm

      Dunners is a cold shit hole. No wonder people are unhappy. Fuck my life if I ever have to live there.

  14. Ralf Crown 14
    27 September 2015 at 12:31 pm

    It is not only a peculiarly Herald problem, no, it is a problem of arrogance, stupidity and navel gazing. I know for sure that the Herald has repeatedly been offered services from very competent and skilled kiwi journalists stationed overseas, for instance in China. They could write with highest competence about China as it really is, but the Herald could not be bothered to even answer. Besides that, The Herald don’t want to publish unless they are allowed to snoop around in the writers private life and register his home address and other personal data. If the journalist is living in China for instance, that is now a criminal offense. You see the same media arrogance in for instance EU, and journalists are wholesale dumped as a result. Don’t buy the Herald, don’t patronize their advertisers.

  15. mac1 15
    27 September 2015 at 1:08 pm

    How can you give credibility to a serious opinion piece or to its publisher when they write this about her?

    “Heather du Plessis-Allan is a thirty something year old trying very hard to avoid growing up. So far it’s working, except for the husband, the mortgage and the proper job. Since moving to central Wellington, she’s doing all she can to act more metropolitan than a girl who grew up down the road from an onion field outside of Auckland.”

  16. maui 16
    27 September 2015 at 1:52 pm

    Here there do Panda see Sellin

  17. Tory 17
    27 September 2015 at 3:19 pm

    It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like. Shouldn’t you be reading the Socialist Worker for your daily dose of propaganda rather than reading Fairfax?

    • Paul 17.1
      27 September 2015 at 3:23 pm

      Settle down.
      You need to take your angry pills, Tory.

    • Reddelusion 17.2
      27 September 2015 at 5:25 pm

      Spot on Tory, if there is such a thirst for a socialist left wing rag why don’t the likes of Paul and friends simply put their money where their mouth is and get publishing Pent up demand is huge by their reckoning, they can’t loose, instead we get them demanding a private company do their bidding ( Should not be a surprise I guess as socialist MO) If they don’t like the herald, stop fkn reading it, simple. I suspect sub consciously they love the herald as they love bleating and moaning as a distraction from their own inadequacies.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 17.2.1
        27 September 2015 at 7:27 pm

        The only way you can get ahead is by lying. It’s pathetic.

      • Peter 17.2.2
        28 September 2015 at 8:51 am

        ….. fine if the Herald owned up publicly to its own right wing tag tendencies ….. but they don’t preferring to mislead the gullible with a veneer of balance as New Zealand’s most awarded publication ……. what we really need is two national papers whose left and right bias is known and accepted ( Guardian v’s Times)

    • One Anonymous Bloke 17.3
      27 September 2015 at 6:30 pm

      They are (allegedly) journalists, and can no more write “anything they fuckin like” than you can write anything substantive.

      I appreciate the only way Dear Leader can get elected is by lying, and journalism still isn’t your toy.

      Choke on it.

    • Draco T Bastard 17.4
      27 September 2015 at 7:08 pm

      It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like.

      Actually, they can’t. They’re not allowed to publish lies for instance and that article does appear to be a bunch of lies.

    • half crown 17.5
      27 September 2015 at 7:12 pm

      “It’s a privately owned company, they can write anything they fuckin like. Shouldn’t you be reading the Socialist Worker for your daily dose of propaganda rather than reading Fairfax?”

      We are all fully aware that the bourgeoisie media can write what they like Comrade Tory, but it is the insult to one’s intelligence when they expect us to believe the shit.
      Personally I don’t read any of the excuses for shit house paper that are out there
      Ah, come back The Daily Worker all is forgiven.

    • Paul 17.6
      27 September 2015 at 7:32 pm

      The airwaves that they use are in the public arena and have been stolen.

  18. Im Right 18
    27 September 2015 at 4:52 pm

    Well looks like my posts are deleted?, typical ‘democracy’ and ‘discussion’ that the left love ohhh wait!, am I deleted? I did discuss the post theme, but not your side of the fence eh?

    [lprent: Nope. It is most likely that because at some point in time you were a behavioral arsehole on this site. So you got a ban and were put into autospam. Obviously if there was an expiry on it, that hasn’t happened yet.

    Looking at the auto-spam list, it appears that you made an assertion here. You were challenged on it, and then you promptly disappeared like a child caught deliberately piddling on the carpet because it was “funny”. Clearly you didn’t like that little spanking. You didn’t want to “discuss” that did you?

    It is apparent that you are clearly gutless, inaccurate, and way way too stupid to comment on this site.

    Your habit of making defamatory comments that appear to have been picked out of your arse (because they have no substantiation) makes you a liability for this site. Reading you chewing on your dick head doing all of those strange comments in auto-spam, I’d have to say that you add nothing to the political debate apart from being a good example of someone acting like a idiotic parrot repeating other peoples lines. Looking at their content, I will put you on a preventative and preemptive permanent ban.

    Bye bye idiot troll. ]

  19. Gemma 19
    27 September 2015 at 5:12 pm

    Du Plessis Allan’s Herald article is unbelievably shallow. Micky, you’re right – she’s functioning like someone in the schoolyard who wants to be in with the “cool” kids at any cost.

    Media have repeatedly criticised Labour for supposedly being a weak opposition… yet the media also criticise Labour for speaking out against National’s cynical, manipulative actions and decisions. It’s a no-win situation. We have a complicit media who are National lapdogs not watchdogs.

  20. stigie 20
    27 September 2015 at 5:26 pm

    If you lot think Heather du Plessis-Allan is a National cheerleader, there must be some full on arguments in the Soper household then, because i reckon ole Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour…?
    …

    • Gangnam Style 20.1
      27 September 2015 at 6:37 pm

      ” Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour” ahh, no he is not.

    • Paul 20.2
      27 September 2015 at 7:33 pm

      You are kidding, right??!!!

      • stigie 20.2.1
        27 September 2015 at 7:47 pm

        Soper, always known as the leftie hack.

        • maui 20.2.1.1
          27 September 2015 at 7:57 pm

          Yeah thats why the country’s most conservative radio station newstalk employ him lol.

        • Paul 20.2.1.2
          27 September 2015 at 8:57 pm

          Du Plessis’s hatchet job at the Moment of Truth.
          Quite the right wing puppet, serving her corporate masters.

          http://nzagainstthecurrent.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-insulting-behaviour-of-mike-hosking.html

          And Soper works at Newstalk ZB.
          A hot bed of left wing views.

        • Sanctuary 20.2.1.3
          27 September 2015 at 9:03 pm

          Soper is another well past his use by date NZ journalist that in any other country would have long ago been put out to pasture in a regional publication. Here however they use the dearth of competition to cling to their jobs well past the age that they should get out. Soper is completely embedded into the Wellington political circus, AKA the “establishment” and sees everything through the lens of everyone having fat salaries and horse race reporting. That automatically makes him an in lockstep neo-liberal cheerleader, since that is what makes up our establishment.

          Another example is that dreadful Listener columnist Jane Clifton, a cynical, simpering idiot whose best work was done 20 years ago. Soper, Clifton – they are part of the system, deeply embedded, cynical hacks in a circus they think is a giant leg pull on the public and completely devoid of any ideology or values beyond the “game”.

          Oh and could someone PLEASE tell Brian Edwards that everytime he is on the radio he diminishes his legend and he sounds like an dottery, complacent and rather absent minded old out of touch old man who appears to think it is funny to be bullied by Michelle Boag? JUST RETIRE YOU STUPID OLD BASTARD.

          • Paul 20.2.1.3.1
            27 September 2015 at 9:07 pm

            Yes, these people are all either pillars of the neoliberal establishment or are NZ’s equivalent of the Fox News ‘token Democrat.’

            Josie Pagani does this job as well.

    • Naki man 20.3
      27 September 2015 at 8:57 pm

      “If you lot think Heather du Plessis-Allan is a National cheerleader, there must be some full on arguments in the Soper household then, because i reckon ole Barry is a full on cheerleader for Labour…?”

      Have you listened to the women, she is left of John Campbell.
      What I don’t get is why she would marry someone more than twice her age.

  21. infused 21
    27 September 2015 at 9:06 pm

    I don’t think I ever read one thing positive on the standard. The article is pretty spot on with the left in general. bunch of winging, complaining, sad fucks.

    I thought whaleoil was bad with his bullshit, but this place is taking the cake these days.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 21.1
      27 September 2015 at 9:07 pm

      That’s a positive comment. Or perhaps it’s some lame whining from a flaccid hypocrite. Who can tell?

      • ropata 21.1.1
        28 September 2015 at 12:44 am

        The Herald will publish any old crap so that RW simpletons can drool over all the fawning JK articles and flag trivia and ignore what’s really happening to NZ.

        But dare to criticise the holy scripture of the NZH and the FJK mob will be attacking you like a horde of furious gnats.

        Is this the brave new world of media freedom and technology? A flood of mindless dross? Jesus wept.

    • Paul 21.2
      27 September 2015 at 9:10 pm

      So don’t come here.

  22. stigie 22
    27 September 2015 at 9:42 pm

    Once you think and talk doom and gloom, you will never get to Government.
    Talking down the economy day after day like Robertson does and some of the people on here, no wonder Labour are still in the late 20s or early 30s and Little with the charisma of a cardboard box with no address !

    • Paul 22.1
      27 September 2015 at 9:46 pm

      So says a neoliberal puppet.

    • Anne 22.2
      27 September 2015 at 9:58 pm

      And what do you think the Nats did between 2005 and 2008? Talked down the economy big time and the irony is the Labour govt. recorded surpluses every year they were in office. In English’s own words after the 2008 election “they left the books in good order.”

      Contrast that with the Nats deficits for the past 7 years which don’t look like they’re going to change any time soon. So much for the mantra National know how to manage the economy. Biggest con in the history of this country!

      • Clemgeopin 22.2.1
        27 September 2015 at 10:38 pm

        So much for the mantra National know how to manage the economy. Biggest con in the history of this country!”

        +1

        These nincompoops have accumulated a massive amount of debt, over106 billion dollars, ($106,000,000,000) in JUST 7 years of their misrule, for our kids and grand kids to pay off sometime in the future or to quietly become the economic slaves of USA, China, the World Bank, the IMF etc. The INTEREST alone on that debt is over $160 per second or $9,700 per minute or $586,600 per hour or over $14 million per day or $5 billion per year!

        We have a stupid government with sweet talking, dodgy, lying and cunning leaders in charge.

        Here is a prediction :
        This particular Government masterly manipulated by Key, English, Joyce and Crosby Textor will go down in the history of New Zealand as a vile, dishonest, inept, expensive, wasteful, untrustworthy, pro-wealthy, pro-corporate, anti-worker, unpatriotic, corrupt, harmful, valueless and a dirty one.

        Oh, by the way,
        KOF FOR NOW

  23. stigie 23
    27 September 2015 at 10:14 pm

    Anne, so much money sloshing around in the mid 2000s, probably once in a generation that a Bill and John party could have made surpluses and then the GFC hit our economy pretty hard along with other issues. We are slowly coming right and back on the right track as long as we stay focused and positive which this Government is doing.

    • Paul 23.1
      27 September 2015 at 10:16 pm

      Just another neoliberal puppet.

    • dukeofurl 23.2
      27 September 2015 at 10:42 pm

      All is lost then , since they are doing none of that:

      The PM seems to be some sort of retro Jumping Jack Flash.

      The finance minister has failed every goal he has set for himself, since 2008.

      The housing minister has made a fool of himself over land he doesnt own or has been promised to someone else, fat chance of affordable home s there.

      The economy outside Auckland and Christchurch is in decline and national will pay dearly when the NZ Country …. ops NZ First party cranks up its publicity machine.

      Per capita GDP is still stuck below what it was in 2008, and will likely decline as the best seems to have passed.

    • Clemgeopin 23.3
      27 September 2015 at 11:10 pm

      @stigie
      Cool story bro. Tell us another.

      Key had signaled tax cuts BEFORE the 2008 election and BEFORE the GFC and had also made a PROMISE not to increase GST.

      Then, IN SPITE of the recession, the idiots gave 2 BILLION dollars PER YEAR (and every year) of tax cuts that primarily and hugely helped the wealthy, while also increasing the GST to 15% that primarily and disproportionately hit the poor the most.

      The Christ Church earthquake cost the government about 15 billion dollars.

      How do you explain the 106 Billion dollars of accumulated debt for YOUR and ALL OUR future generations to pay off easily, and if they ever can?
      Think about it a little and wake up! Don’t fall for their porkies, stigie.

      And by the way,
      KOF FOR NOW

  24. ropata 24
    28 September 2015 at 12:52 am

    “Think positive”, I guess that’s what John Key and his mates on Wall street told the suckers as they sold them shitty derivatives and whatnot that crashed the world economy. Somehow I find it hard to trust the empty suits and their empty promises.

  25. Henry Filth 25
    28 September 2015 at 6:16 am

    So with the demise of the NZ Herald, what am I to read? Is there a decent NZ online newspaper?

    Please don’t tell me “Stuff”.