I’ve made my opinion of this sublime broadcaster known before in comments on thePaepae.com. I think she’s one of the very best in the business. I’m not alone apparently …
Photo from NZ Herald
Discomfort and resistance about the ‘cup of tea’ deal …
Click to watch video from The Nation at 3News.co.nz
Security footage of a burglary?
Authorities have released an image from security camera footage of one of the [alleged] perpetrators of an electoral ‘dirty-deal’ sealed in Auckland yesterday.
Natiional Party leader (and ACT's greatest electoral asset) John Key leaving the scene of the 'crime'. (Pic: Peter Aranyi) UPDATED with explanatory note for Cameron Slater.
Anyone with knowledge of the incident, carried out in front of about 40 journalists* and cameramen, should um … well, they should, er … gee … well, what can they do?
* I was one of them:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Or link to MP3 file.
You see, John Key’s “clear signal” to Epsom National Party supporters to ‘vote tactically’ and cast their electorate vote for ACT’s (cough) candidate John Banks is NOT ACTUALLY ILLEGAL (nor even immoral in my view) … despite shrieks of outrage from some of National and ACT’s opponents about ‘rorting the system’.
But personally, it doesn’t strike me as particularly authentic either.
A nod is as good as a wink. ACT Epsom candidate John Banks receives National Party leader John Key's imprimatur. (Pic: Peter Aranyi)
Not their finest hour.
– P
Oh, wow. Enjoy
I like these optical illusions … it’s NOT moving.
Click to enlarge. (source: http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html)
Even more here at www.ritsumei.ac.jp
Thanks to Jeremy Parkinson.
– P
Being the medium
Mana Party top list candidates. 'Everyone of them has convictions' leader Hone Harawira joked.
Sorry, I’ve been a bit busy to post. Over the weekend, on Saturday I covered the Mana Party campaign launch at Otara — an upbeat, good-humoured event which spouted talk of revolution and smashing/overthrowing the system. Invigorating rap songs and anthems bookended passionate speeches from this country’s radical literati — living treasures of the left-wing and Maori ‘radical’ movement.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Annette Sykes and Matt McCarten and attended a post-launch media conference with the ‘top table’ and then Hone Harawira. All good stuff.
Then yesterday, Sunday, I covered a NZ First meeting in Kelston — about half the number of people and a very different demographic — where Winston Peters announced NZ First’s post election position that they will NOT go into coalition with any other party, but would aim to be an ‘effective Opposition’ … if they get back into Parliament. (ahem)
Winston Peters arrives to speak at Kelston.
Fair enough.
Take that as preamble. Here’s what I wanted to share:
Winston Peters’ speech yesterday ranged over three key issues he says are of grave and historic concern to all New Zealanders. For the purposes of this conversation it doesn’t actually matter what they are but they are these: The Treaty of Waitangi (secretly) being used as the basis of our constitution in behind-closed-doors discussion, the Foreshore & Seabed legislaton (race-based) and state asset sales.
So, that was his “unholy trinity” and after railing against them, he effectively ruled out working with any other party, and said no party should rule alone.
After his speech, and Q&A, we (the media) approached Peters at the back of the stage for a ‘stand up’… that’s an impromptu media conference where we each ask him questions and listen to each other’s questions and the newsmaker’s answers.
And here’s my point:
Rebecca Wright: telling a politician he's out of date as if her opinion actually counts? Hmmm.
The delightful Rebecca Wright (right) from 3 News asked Peters if the issues he raised (constitutional issues, the treaty and asset sales) weren’t ‘yesterday’s issues‘ … sparking this very interesting interchange about the role of the news media, listen: (mp3 1min 45 secs)
Link to the MP3 file here
What I ask you to do is allow the public to know what we’re saying …
You’re entitled to your view, but please don’t present your view to the public. We’re a political party, I’d like you to present our views to it. That’s what is called ‘being the medium’. — Winston Peters speaking to reporter Rebecca Wright of 3 News.
I strongly believe there are times when the media just has to get out of the way, and serve as an as-neutral-as-possible soapbox or a noticeboard, amplifier or megaphone for the views of those upon whom we are reporting. Providing a clear channel, not editorializing. No matter what our own opinions.
What do you think?
– P
Where to post
(click to enlarge)
Priceless. The question “Are you in a bar?” reminded me instantly of Cactus Kate.
WIth thanks to Mathew Ingram.
– P
Naff
I like Gin Wigmore. I already done said it.
But that idea of using a picture of yourself with a red background on one side and blue one on the other?
Publicity shot of Gin Wigmore promoting her new album Gravel & Wine (via NZ Herald - click)
Well, that’s just naff.
– P
Time for some more Leonard Cohen
Breathe in, breathe out …
– P
Just the sort of endorsement a political journalist doesn’t need
Cameron Slater already knows I think he’s a blinkered, partisan, irrationally aggressive National Party mouthpiece/toady/apologist/rottweiler. He knows because I told him. I guess it’s possible he may also have a bad side?*
But it intrigued me this morning to see Cameron’s (cough) selective re-tweets of a couple of political journos’ “reviews” of the Goff/Key press.co.nz leaders debate last night.
My own review is superfluous to requirements, but here it is: I watched it and thought it was pretty even. It occurred to me that I could see exactly why Mr Key had limited his exposure to such interchanges, and I observed Mr Key deploy his (Crosby|Textor’s?) talking point about an [alleged] ‘hole’ in Labour’s figures … classic electioneering. (Hasn’t our wee lad developed? He’s virtually just like a real, grown-up politician.)
We’ll hear more of that line, I’m sure, given the breathless credulity finely balanced and nuanced consideration of commentators like these two (below). In fact Gerry Brownlee was slipping it into a Radio NZ news story on Labour’s EQC policy this morning. What a coincidence. They’ll hammer it. And fair enough.
Birds of feather? Makes you wonder, dunnit? Cameron Slater likes them. Ooh-err.
But, for some reason, Cameron hasn’t ‘pumped’ this review from the Otago Daily Times … (although it was the top story on the Google News feed when I checked this morning…
Funny, I kinda saw it pretty much the same as the ODT did. (click)
Never mind. People will make their own minds up without being ‘told’ who they liked more.
Final note about the debate:
Much better format than the claustrophobic, ADHD atmosphere of the TVNZ offering earlier in the week. Unlike Monday’s debate, the leaders were largely left unmolested to develop their arguments. The stage set was far superior to TVNZ’s which needlessly emphasized the role of their nearly gravitas-free Guyon Espiner. The off-stage antics were far fewer. And the lively audience added a lot. (Still, not a patch on Muldoon-era [1980s] brawls and debates. If you don’t mind me saying.)
– P
* with apologies to Hunter S. Thompson.
Winston Peters – comeback kid? Again?
I said this about Winston Peters in A voice in the wilderness? Or reclaiming the Grey Power mantle? in April:
This man has come back from the dead before. (Just sayin’.)
Don’t underestimate his political instincts and populism.
Winston Peters. The closest thing we have to a natural politician. Loathed by many in the National Party and by others who seem to think some votes shouldn't count.
Since then, Peters has continued to cause a ‘disturbance in the Force’ and ruffled a few feathers among some in the political intelligentsia who thought (wished?) Peters was finished.
To the horror of all sorts of people, Peters is once again being talked about as a ‘kingmaker’.
Personally, I see that label as almost an anti-MMP attack line. We discussed that campaign’s fixated, Don Quixote-esque flexi-bendy-elasti treatment of truth and democratic fact (i.e. in my view winning 13% of the vote earns you some clout) earlier.
We’ll see.
I stand by this comment from 2009:
“… I was alerting readers that Peters — who I still regard as arguably the most naturally talented politician of his generation — was a complex operator, and a man of many shades. Someone to watch.”
Yeah. That hasn’t changed either.
– P
Is it OK for Don Brash to call a journo ‘a deceitful bastard’?
ACT leader Don Brash 'not talking' to TV3's Patrick Gower (click to watch video)
Is it OK for ACT leader Don Brash to call a journalist ‘a deceitful bastard‘ and refuse to be interviewed by him?
Yes. Absolutely. Damn right it is.
Is it smart?
No.
In an election campaign?
Even less so.
Never mind.
This (below) is how I prefer to see Don Brash.
Much better. This Don Brash is an electoral asset. That guy under pressure on TV3? Not so much.
– P
Peter Shirtcliffe’s campaign against MMP (MkII)
I watched Sandra Grey of the Keep MMP group pretty much wipe the floor with Dr Who’s faithful assistant Jordan Williams (right) in a brief discussion panel/debate about the MMP referendum compèred by Sean Plunket on TV3’s The Nation on the weekend. (video here) Poor Jordan ducked and dived, bobbed and weaved. He didn’t want to disclose how his ‘group’ (cough) decided SM (FPP in lipstick) was their ‘preferred option’ in the upcoming referendum on NZ’s electoral system. No, of course he didn’t.
And since then I have observed the cherubic puppet, blow up doll proxy repeatedly trying to pick a fight with Winston Peters — even, apparently, attending the NZ First launch on Sunday to ‘challenge’ Peters to a debate, then unleash multiple desperate whimpering ‘Media releases’ against Peters pleading to be noticed. (groan)
What a clumsy effort, Jordan. And yet, here I am, talking about it. (Why, the boy’s a genius! ) Peters responded to the [reportedly] Peter Shirtcliffe-driven campaign’s intended use of Peters’ name and image in yet another of the anti-MMP group’s negative attack ads on politicians this way:
Mr Peters dismissed [the anti-MMP group] as the epitome of elitism. “They only have 250 members, it’s appalling that they get so much publicity without the plausibility of membership. This is a disgrace in a democracy.”
Asked if he would debate with Mr Williams, Mr Peters replied: “You have got to be joking. They desperately need some respectability and I don’t intend to give it to them.”
… and I tend to agree with Peters on that point in bold.
So much for integrity?
Remember the anti-MMP group’s apparently dubious ‘Pledges to New Zealand‘? (Claims of ‘Integrity’ in the anti-MMP Campaign accompanied by smear tactics) The ‘No negative campaigning‘ flimsy fig leaf dropped from Mr Shirtcliffe’s sleazy anti-MMP campaign pretty early on, as previously demonstrated. Same with the ‘Play the ball not the man‘. I’m not calling them liars, but in my view the people behind this campaign are not only showing their true colours, they’re revealing their paucity of ideas … and relevance. Really. Why make the ‘Pledges’ only to break them so egregiously?
The focus on Winston Peters as their latest MMP bogeyman (“Should one man decide who is Prime Minister?”) seems desperate, vacuous and intellectually dishonest, in my personal view. I’m not a Winston Peters supporter (he’s likable though), but left in the dust of Jordan the Boy Wonder’s (scripted-for-him?) spin and rhetoric is this inconvenient fact:
In 1996 NZ First won 13% of the vote and 17 seats in Parliament. Thirteen percent. So, yeah, Jordan, Simon, Cameron, Ralph, Mr Shirtcliffe, if that ‘one man’ happens to be the leader of a Party that attracts that much popular support when ‘Neither of the two traditional major parties (National and Labour) had enough seats to govern alone, and only New Zealand First had enough seats to become a realistic coalition partner for either’(Wikipedia) well, guess what? Continue reading →
Watchdog issues warning about Sean Wood Property Tutors enterprise
UPDATE: This situation has developed further. See Property Tutors’ Sean Wood is ‘not of good character’ – according to Authority & Judge 26 April 2012
—
Remember this?: Calling all gullible gamblers!
Prize draw'? Marketing for 'investors'?
Here’s the latest badge of honour …
FMA names Sean Wood company in warning (click)
And how it’s being reported …
interest.co.nz (click)
It’s also covered in the NZ Herald. Something else to add to the demonstrated track record of Sean Wood and his business partner Steve Goodey. Spruikers, if you ask me.
– P
PS How sweet to see that expert in financial hyperbole Dean Letfus putting in an emailed plug for Steve Goodey recently.
