Posts by Ross Francis
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Then when you got your chance as leader, you led Labour a party that was polling in the mid-30’s to one that sits firmly in the mid-20’s. There is no place for you in this party anymore.
Actually at the time Shearer stepped down, he was polling around 31% and his poll rating had fallen. To believe that Shearer would have performed any better than Cunliffe is naive in the extreme.
The fact you want Cunliffe out of Parliament (if he loses) makes no sense. It's curious you make no mention of the work Cunliffe did while he was Minister.
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However, I won't be part of a party that you lead. Not because I don’t like you, but because I simply don’t want to lose again.
I'm guessing that Cunliffe wasn't too rapt with losing. Your feelings are shared by many others. Helen Clark endured 6 years as Opposition leader before she became PM. In comparison, Cunliffe has been in the job a short time.
National might have "won" but it could turn out to be a pyrrhic victory. Labour can do without that sort of win.
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The Labour Party isn’t a vehicle for you to indulge your fantasy of being Prime Minister.
What a weird comment. You've made it clear that you support Robertson but I'm not sure why you felt the need to go off the rails.
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It seems Banks lobbied his mate Maurice Williamson for Dotcom to be able to purchase the Coatesville property. Williamson approved the deal but subsequently changed his mind after Simon Power vetoed it. No doubt John Key will say that Banks wasn't in Parliament at the time, so there's no issue.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10802626
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Hard News: #JohnDotBanks and all, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Dotcom would presumably have mentioned any such donation...unless he's holding back.
Banks should be sacked for mangling the English language! His repeated description of Dotcom as a "donater" last night on TV3 made me cringe.
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Hard News: #JohnDotBanks and all, in reply to Hebe,
That solution might see the Greens stuffed for a while. I'm not sure their supporters want to see them getting into bed with National.
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Hard News: #JohnDotBanks and all, in reply to Russell Brown,
Interestingly, the same story suggests that Dotcom asked for Banks' assistance following his arrest and Banks was unhelpful. It seems that sometimes money doesn't talk.
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We could even put aside the arguments and just discuss the facts.
Well, Keith, your book does discuss the facts, at length. And you've already mentioned that several people who are au fait with boats said that Ben and Olivia were dropped off at a ketch. Then there were those who saw a man acting inappropriately towards women. He was never identified but clearly bore no resemblance to Watson. These and many other facts about the case should give us cause for concern. Of course, some people hold the belief that the police and justice system are never wrong.
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Hard News: The war over a mystery, in reply to HORansome,
we have a rigorous appeal system which requires you to go through substantive hoops
Is that meant to inspire confidence? Legal counsel for David Bain found the hoops too onerous but as soon as they travelled to the other side of the world they discovered that Bain had been the victim of a "substantial miscarriage of justice".The Privy Council made the same point that I made earlier - it's not up to the Court of Appeal to decide the merits of any new evidence, that's a job for jurors. I note that Peter Ellis has also found the appeals process too onerous, despite clear and compelling evidence that he was wrongly convicted. When you have a retired Judge (Thorp) suggesting that we need a CCRC, you have to admit that the current set-up needs improving.
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Hard News: The war over a mystery, in reply to Russell Brown,
Keith Hunter actually said on the Media7 recording tonight that he believed the Watson case embodied a greater miscarriage of justice than that suffered by Thomas.
Russell, is that interview available online and when will it be screened on TV7?
I tend to agree with Hunter, though I was fairly young at the time of the Thomas case and didn't know the details very well. My impression of the Watson case, like that of Ellis, is that the justice system stubbornly refuses to accept the possibility of a miscarriage of justice. Maryanne Garry, pyschology lecturer and one of the founders of the Innocence Project here, made a comment some years back arguing that in the US it was widely understood and recognised that wrongful convictions happened, but that wasn't the case here (maybe by the wider public but not by those with the power to correct miscarriages). Hunter has made a similar point, saying that we have some growing up to do. It's quite disappointing because several years ago retired judge Sir Thomas Thorp published research on miscarriages and found the system to be far from infallible. He has been strongly critical of the Justice Ministry which has obstructed attempts to establish a Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body that exists in the UK to examine possible miscarriages.