Hard News: Do these people even talk?
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And as Finlay Macdonald acidly observed on The Panel yesterday, wouldn't it be nice if we could get as OUTRAGED over ... the Government ... borrowing like a P-head with a ravenous King Kong-sized monkey on its back?
Quite. If we stand in the queue with our hats on, we can borrow a few million more, apparently. Echoes of Muldoon indeed!
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Wow, that was a tawdry little précis Craig!
Outraged of Brooklyn
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That's certainly the impression I've gained. TVNZ management seem to have a very different perspective on how how things went.
Is that a polite way of saying someone is lying their arses off but you're not sure who (which is unforgivable), or that there's room to think they're looking at the same events and seeing what they want to (which is understandable but infuritating)?
Personally, the more I hear the murkier it all becomes. And I'm rapidly running out of sympathy for anyone in this farce.
And for the better late than never file, nice to see someone in the MSM casting a sceptical eye over Sharples' role -- as opposed to 'the poor victim of a racist plot'. I have enormous respect for the man, but that respect also includes believing he's an adult with a Ministerial Warrant who is fully accountable for his behaviour.
This really knocks him down a few pegs in my estimation:
And when Dr Coleman asked Dr Sharples about the bid, he dissembled, saying he didn't know much about it.
Well, that smells like a fresh pork pie to me -- and I recall Helen Clark putting Lianne Dalziel on the naughty backbench for a time out when she was a little economical with the truth. If you want to talk about "mana enhancement", looking a Cabinet colleague in the eye and "dissembling" is a damn queer way to go about it.
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So we appear to have
- a collosal fuck-up by DHB/Health Ministry (oversight) on the LabTests contract
- government appearing to make policy up on the hoof re RWC television bidding
- Maori Party ducking & diving on their attempt to put up a pre-emptive RWC broacasting bid
- Johnathan Coleman outed as a lightweight
- ACC being used as a means of clawing back tax breaks while also trying to garner more funds to keep itself afloat until a privateer comes along
- National Party MP rorting the tv-fundingand what sort of a fuss is the Labour Party creating about all this? Not nearly enough by my reckoning. If Labour were in power the Nats would be all over this like a rash, shouting "government incompetence" from the rooftops.
Good on ya, Craig, for being willing to diss your own team when the situation merits it.
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Quite. If we stand in the queue with our hats on, we can borrow a few million more, apparently.
Apprently, you could go inside and dry off for a week if the banks put as much effort into paying their taxes as they do into avoiding them.
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So the outcome of the Rugby World Cup fiasco is a reversion to sanity – one bid only, involving Maori Television, TVNZ and TV3. In order to preserve the mana of the Maori Party, Maori Television will reportedly ‘lead’ that bid. Offshore of course, the IRB can still choose to accept or reject the offer to be put on the table - in a context where it is now on the public record (thanks Pita Sharples) that this bid has the potential to be upped, by calling in more money from iwi authorities, or from government ...
... Sharples and Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Coleman owe everyone an apology ( Key included ) for creating this debacle. Sharples for trying to do a runner around TVNZ/TV3 and thinking he could get away with it – and then feigning injured innocence when reality caught up with him. And Coleman for being asleep on the job. TVNZ management, which is routinely under pressure from government over its financial performance, must be rolling its eyes about the behaviour of its Minister on this one.
I must say, it was a relief when Paul Norris came on The Panel yesterday with some actual know-ing-what-he-was-talking-about mojo. Until then, it had all been about the terrible injury done to MTS, big mean gummint, etc.
It appeared to be news to Jim and Finlay when Norris pointed out that it was actually MTS which rejected a joint bid in the first place, because it thought it could put one over on TVNZ.
But I'd have to say that Sharples' golden touch with the media continues. In the news (rather than informed commentary), he's emerged from all this far better than he deserves to.
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Until then, it had all been about the terrible injury done to MTS, big mean gummint, etc.
And would you agree that the racist card was being dealt out with an ease the facts don't really support?
by calling in more money from iwi authorities
No public scrutiny or accountability needed? If folks are outraged that TPK money is being poured down this hole, are some questions going to asked about whether iwi authorities could find better ways to use their resources that have a direct and tangible impact on people who are, still, too often on the wrong end of every negative social indicator?
I've got my doubts, but would LOVE to be proved wrong. Perhaps Native Affairs could show some spine and balls and put the hard questions to their own management?
Good on ya, Craig, for being willing to diss your own team when the situation merits it.
It's like a family -- you love the stupid bastards, ultimately you'll stand by them, but damn they do insist on making you work for it. :)
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And would you agree that the racist card was being dealt out with an ease the facts don't really support?
I would.
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I have changed my opinion about the appropriateness of MTS to bid for the RWC. When the news first broke, I argued that it wasn't within the cultural brief of MTS to pursue exclusive rights to global sporting events. In wake of the dishonest shenanigans of Nat politicians (McCully et al), I now reckon they have a moral right to do so--especially if we experience a spirit of cooperation between channels.
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how Labtests could be given a five hundred and sixty million dollar contract to be the sole provider of essential lab services, when it seems nobody carried out due diligence on their ability to deliver?
That is an excellent question Craig.
Meanwhile, where the hell is the public outrage about the $4.4 million (at least -- the patch was initially 'cost neutral' ) DHBs are going to have to stump up with?
Oh wait! I think it's all taken care of...
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how Labtests could be given a five hundred and sixty million dollar contract to be the sole provider of essential lab services, when it seems nobody carried out due diligence on their ability to deliver?
Well, we do, actually, know the answer to that but I fear a gagging order.
Of course there was no conflict of interest was there?. -
Of course there was no conflict of interest was there?.
I'm not sure I want to go there, Steve, but wouldn't it be nice if Audrey Young bothered?
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- ACC being used as a means of clawing back tax breaks while also trying to garner more funds to keep itself afloat until a privateer comes along
I have been thinking about this since Nact stole the election.
Last time the Nats were in they privatised ACC and what a stink happened there. "Here, have a free insurance company with locked in policy holders chaps and buy yourselves an airplane each while you're at it"
This latest rort is going to be even worse. By making the corporation self funding the pile of cash is going to be huge and I can guarantee this asset rich monopoly will be flicked off sooner rather than later.
We are, once again, being taken for suckers. As for the motorcyclists. Who is it that causes the most motorcycle accidents?
car drivers. And those bloody cyclists... -
We are, once again, being taken for suckers. As for the motorcyclists. Who is it that causes the most motorcycle accidents?
car drivers. And those bloody cyclists...In an ideal world, ACC vehicle premiums would be weighted against truckies and suburban assault vehicles. But no, the RTF et al make doubly sure it'll never happen.
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anth,
Who is it that causes the most motorcycle accidents?
car drivers.According to the page you linked to the other driver is at fault 62% of the time in the 67% of motorcycle accidents that involve another vehicle. That suggests that the other driver is at fault in 41.5% of motorcycle accidents, which isn't quite "most". That isn't to say that the motorcyclist is responsible for all of the other 58.5% though.
Still, some of the extra ACC costs for motorcyclists should be covered by the other drivers, just as one persons car insurance permiums don't increase if that car is hit by another and the other driver's insurance company pays for the damage.
As for cyclists the number of injuries and even deaths is meaningless in terms of ACC, the important figure is how much those injuries cost. I've not been able to find this, though AA says that motocycles are 2% of vehicles but 17% of ACC costs.
Cyclists are in a better position to argue that most accidents involving them aren't their fault:
http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Motorcycle-Crash-Factsheet.pdf
http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/Documents/Cyclist-Crash-Factsheet.pdf -
Kyle: Do you think that this might raise some issues that are slightly more important than a spite fuck? I don't have any time for Trevor Mallard, but I wouldn't have wished this on him.
Actually, I can happily be gleeful at the prospect of him having to spend his time fixing stuff rather than breaking shit. Keep his hands busy and all that. Besides:
It appears my sympathy for McCully may have been misplaced.
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Grrr Cyclist shouldn't be on the road, they should be on cycle ways.
But hey with the total subsidy given to Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles leaves little room for sensible modes of mobility.
Remeber a traffic jam is anything but, mobility. -
Grrr Cyclist shouldn't be on the road, they should be on cycle ways.
Reading this, I can't tell whether you're cyclist arguing for dedicated cycleways, or a driver fulminating against those annoying cyclists. Either way, I'm leaving this one well alone.
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I'm guilty of being both.
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Just heard Nick Smith said something to the effect of:
- If he was given 30 days to live he'ld throw himself under a train on the 29th day so his family would be paid out by ACC.
I'm all kinds of angry about that.
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I'm all kinds of angry about that.
Smith shouldn't go giving his family ideas like that.
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Either way, I'm leaving this one well alone.
I thought this was actually a wind up. Y'know, for the likes of Jack and Slack :)
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There's more cyclists than us on here, you know. Just that some of them are still in the closet.
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There's more cyclists than us on here, you know. Just that some of them are still in the closet.
See, now that's where I blame the lycra. ;)
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See, now that's where I blame the lycra. ;)
Yes, I often wonder what is inherently difficult about the idea of lycra that actually looks cool.
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