Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Need to Know

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  • Paul Williams,

    Meanwhile, looking away from the sideshow, National has just set itself up to claim a financial crisis if elected as a way around Labour's fiscal poison pill. So, we'll get 1990 all over again - marvellous. I guess we'll get to see whether MMP is any safeguard against this sort of behaviour...

    This was clearly evident in English's approach and although Cullen argued that the fiscal position precluded only tax cuts, Key won't budge on that front so unless there's a money (non-inflationary) tree hiding somewhere...

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Labour's fiscal poison pill

    Silly buggers will probably swallow it themselves going by current performance.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Paul: but is it a "crisis" if the money has simply been prespent on things you don't wan tto spend it on, and which are politically very difficult to unravel? OK, for the donors and cronies, yes, but for the rest of us...?

    Sacha: they already are. It means for example that they have no money for pre-election promises like last time. Though we could always hope they rise to the occasionand follow Rutherford's line: "we don't have any money, so we're going to have to think".

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Idiot Savant,

    Paul: it's also worth notingthat Key could simply structure Labour's existing tax cuts differently. But that will raise obvious points about favouring the rich...

    Palmerston North • Since Nov 2006 • 1717 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Paul: but is it a "crisis" if the money has simply been prespent on things you don't wan tto spend it on, and which are politically very difficult to unravel? OK, for the donors and cronies, yes, but for the rest of us...?

    Indeed. Bloody salaries for cleaners and the Police is what I heard, as if they need more money!

    Paul: it's also worth notingthat Key could simply structure Labour's existing tax cuts differently. But that will raise obvious points about favouring the rich...

    Seriously, I suspect that Key's capital in caucus doesn't allow this. His capitulation on WfF will be the most low-income earners can hope for I suspect.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    We have not seen much of TT since she made this allegation.

    Turia doesn't do 'Pakeha' media on the fairly sensible grounds that we don't vote for her. I'm told she's highly visible in the Maori media and she puts in a lot of legwork visiting various Marae.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    I agree Danyl, but surely Maori media have as much interest in investigating her allegations of corruption as anyone else does? Or they should do.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Turia doesn't do 'Pakeha' media on the fairly sensible grounds that we don't vote for her.

    Actually, the more I think about this, the more it's problematic. She's set to be the leader of the 4th largest party in Parliament ... and she won't speak to the general media. She doesn't even pretend to be accountable to, or representative of, the public ... only a select ethnicity.

    Do National talk to the Maori media despite receiving bugger-all support in the Maori seats?

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • LegBreak,

    I’ve got a major problem with it DC.

    I also don’t like the implication in all of this that this Maori media do not need to apply the same kind of rigour in their questioning.

    I’m not saying that’s the case, but the inference is there for those who may want to exploit it.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I reckon the quality of interviewing on Marae, Native Affairs and others pisses all over the pakeha media.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Eye to bloody Eye, on the other hand...

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    I’ve got a major problem with it DC.

    I also don’t like the implication in all of this that this Maori media do not need to apply the same kind of rigour in their questioning.

    I’m not saying that’s the case, but the inference is there for those who may want to exploit it.

    Yes, Leggie, that's exactly what I was trying to say ... albeit not very eloquently.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    There would have been a by-election. Clarkson is an electorate candidate, he'd have lost his electorate seat. National would be one person down while waiting for the by-election, and would have stayed one-person if they'd lost the by-election.

    So basically, the list/electorate balance is never revisited after the election?

    Which means also that if a party (as might have happened) misses threshold and has no MPs, then one of their members gets elected at a byelection somehow, they only get the electorate MP, not the list ones.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    How would one say "the first Mrs Rochester" in Te Reo?

    Te wahine Hoheta tuatahi (to mangle the transliteration)? :P

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Te wahine Hoheta tuatahi (to mangle the transliteration)? :P

    PA System: ask and you shall receive.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    "Ko te wahine tuatahi Rohekita"
    in this person's tribal (Kai Tahu) transliteration device...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Michael Savidge,

    Might be a douche but can be pretty funny at times...

    Gareth, there's good linguistic change afoot. Consider reconsidering.

    Somewhere near Wellington… • Since Nov 2006 • 324 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Turia doesn't do 'Pakeha' media on the fairly sensible grounds that we don't vote for her.

    Thank you Governor Palin. :) Meanwhile, I'd be quite happy with that if the Maori Party caucus stopped voting on legislation that affects we tauiwi. To be quite cynical about it, I suspect Pita Sharples fronts the "Pakeha" media because he's not prone to moment of barking moon-battery.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Meanwhile, I'd be quite happy with that if the Maori Party caucus stopped voting on legislation that affects we tauiwi.

    Heh, New Zealand's own version of the West Lothian Question?

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Heh, New Zealand's own version of the West Lothian Question?

    Oh, goody, something else that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to my tiny little brain. :) But seriously, I really do think Sharples fronts the MSM more than Turia for a pretty obvious reason -- he's media savvy, personable and doesn't come across as a barking moonbat. (Before anyone brings up Hone Harawira -- the only way you're managing him is with a taser. As a viable media strategy, its legally and medically problematic.)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • 81stcolumn,

    Peters can go live in Milton Keynes for all I care and a few others can join him.

    But these quotes nicked verbatim from the herald tell me more about Owen Glenn than I would want to know.

    Two rounds of press and then the privileges committee and we get lines like this.

    “He's a trifle subservient.”

    “rather surprised to be attacked by Labour ministers”

    “I'm not cheering for Labour any more, there's not much to cheer about if they abandon you and turn the dogs on you”

    “she already knew that, Mike Williams would have told her”

    “and I was expendable”

    “She said 'well look it might be best to let it lie and let's not at this stage stir the pot'.”

    Do I hear the sound of someone who didn’t get his bauble - License to distribute Ferrero Rocher, right to carry a diplomatic passport and access to a very exclusive Millionaire club ?

    In fact I sentence him to be locked in a ships hold with…. Michael Cullen I get the feeling they deserve each other “he’s a bully” now that’s choice.

    Wishart impression finished....

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Do I hear the sound of someone who didn’t get his bauble

    I don't think so, but politics is full of people who've been very successful in one sphere and (how to put it politely?) find they on a whole new food chain -- and not at the top. To be blunt, if Clark is willing to very publicly humiliate personal friends and political allies like Ruth Dyson and Lianne Dalziel when needs must, what the hell made Glenn think he was that special?

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    o be blunt, if Clark is willing to very publicly humiliate personal friends and political allies like Ruth Dyson and Lianne Dalziel when needs must, what the hell made Glenn think he was that special?

    With respect, Craig, that's ridiculous - Dyson and Dalziel humiliated themselves through drink-driving and lying, respectively.

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    With respect, Craig, that's ridiculous - Dyson and Dalziel humiliated themselves through drink-driving and lying, respectively.

    I don't disagree with you, and I'm certainly not saying Clark was wrong to give them the sack. (Though I'm not sure I'd have had them back but that's a whole other sidebar.) But I think it was a wee bit naive of Glenn to think that Labour wouldn't distance itself from him if he ever became a liability. Shabby and unpleasant, yes. But particularly surprising? Shouldn't be. Glenn himself has given a vivid case study that he wasn't too sentimental when it came to defending his honesty and/or mental acuity.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    And for anyone who doesn't get the print version of the New Zealand Herald, I think the only sane and decent response to Rod Emmerson's effort today is to quote John Waters: "One must remember that there is such a thing as good bad taste and bad bad taste."

    Today, I suspect Rod might even have grossed out the Pope of Trash. And that's nothing to be proud of.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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