Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Punk'd?

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  • LegBreak,

    How would you know?

    =)

    Batman told me.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1162 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    How would you know?

    =)

    Indeed. To paraphrase a great philosopher of our time, it's one of the best cloak-and-dagger disguises there is - nobody would ever suspect Mike Williams of trying to appear inconspicuous and discreet.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Isn't there a political LARP game these people could play, while adults get on with, y'know, running a country?

    Politics is a LARP, at least for a considerable number of people, playing "the Game". Too much time insulated from the real world for some of these people, especially those who became activists at university and have been plugged into the machine ever since.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Having now heard Ryan's interview with Key, I can't quite reconcile a couple of things Key said. On the one hand he claims to be best able to manage the NZ economy, uniquely experienced as a trader. But on the other, he claims he was oblivious to his colleagues dodgy dealings even though Elders was a small firm and they were all mates.

    I don't know that Key's dodgy, but he seems pretty consistently (conveniently?) ignorant of the stuff going on around him. So he didn't care about the Tour, he was courting his wife and drinking with his mates. So he didn't do a deal with the Brethren, that was Don. Nor did he mean to break Standing Orders over his rail dealings.

    If all those things are true, that's poor form but not a hanging offence. But if all those things are true, he can't also claim to be The One.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Too much time insulated from the real world for some of these people, especially those who became activists at university and have been plugged into the machine ever since.

    I'll take umbrage when I stop laughing.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    Politics is a LARP, at least for a considerable number of people, playing "the Game".

    Damn, I just lost.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • andrew llewellyn,

    But on the other, he claims he was oblivious to his colleagues dodgy dealings even though Elders was a small firm and they were all mates.

    Um... was it that small? I worked for them in the late 80s/early 90s & we had 4 floors of Elder's House (now something else - that place with a big head outside in Victoria St) in Wellington, as well as an AUckland office & subsidiaries - all reporting back to HQ somewhere in Oz.

    Since Nov 2006 • 2075 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I'll take umbrage when I stop laughing.

    HEH!

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Ian MacKay,

    Paul said:I don't know that Key's dodgy, but he seems pretty consistently (conveniently?) ignorant of the stuff going on around him.
    My point elsewhere on this point is that because John talks in imprecise terms, is forgetful of detail, and does the three point turn to avoid difficult questions, cause doubts to form. It is not surprising that some people doubt him as a future PM.
    "Mr President umm. I am sure that we um decided to join you in that war you started in 2005 but I can't quite remember what umm. Now lets take a step back and talk about um how to make pancakes. Hey Come back Mr um Pres..."
    Good post from Nicky Hager on Pundit:
    http://www.pundit.co.nz/content/theres-actually-only-one-john-key-just-not-the-one-on-show#comment-251

    Bleheim • Since Nov 2006 • 498 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Williams,

    Lew, I don't actually know. My reference was based on what Key said in the interview. He even commented that he'd been lunching with the chap who was involved in the scandal - or at least the cleaning-up... obviously the lunch wasn't to celebrate windfall gains from corporate theft... (now I know that's a gratuitous smear but I couldn't resist it...)

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Litterick,

    Damn, I just lost.

    That you did: you got 404'd.

    The Game is Mornington Crescent for /b/tards.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1000 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Where in any of Labour's manifesto in 1984 were the details of their biggest moves - the massive sale of state assets?

    Unmandated changes by an incoming government in a climate of crisis. Sounds worryingly familiar.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Kennedy,

    Hands up who knows what a "sham foreign exchange transaction" is. ....

    If I did I'd be a very rich tax lawyer now, instead of... whatever the hell I am.

    I thought it was some coded reference to Sham 69, considering the title of the post

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Russell wrote:

    I'd love to know exactly who has been shopping this story around.

    I don't know if Vernon Small in the __DomPost today is going to leave you any the wiser...

    Labour strategist Pete Hodgson said "Mr Anonymous" first contacted the party last year, but never alleged any wrongdoing by Mr Key. He sent some documents to "a colleague" - thought to be Hutt South MP Trevor Mallard.

    "We started hesitatingly looking, he rang the Labour research unit, and we became more and more interested," Mr Hodgson said.

    Mr Williams got involved and it soon became obvious the party needed to look at the court documents in Melbourne. Mr Williams returned from Australia this week with 24 kilograms of photocopied documents, which the party is still examining. It is understood Mr Williams was chosen to go to avoid any suggestion that the trip was taxpayer-funded.

    Investigations by Fairfax Media have revealed initial Labour suspicions that Mr Key's signature was on one H-fee cheque and several dealer slips to be unfounded. The signatures, extraordinarily similar to Mr Key's, were of another Elders dealer, Maxwell Nichols.

    The Dominion Post started receiving documents about a month ago relating to Mr Key and the H-fee trials. They were sent anonymously to a reporter by someone who called himself Batman.

    Prime Minister Helen Clark distanced herself yesterday from the investigation into Mr Key's past, with the Beehive describing it as "Mike's crusade". Miss Clark said: "I've been aware that he believes there are questions to be answered for some time. I make no judgment at all about the merits of it one way or another."

    But the National Party questioned how he could have gone off on a sleuthing mission in the final weeks of the election campaign without her approval. Mr Williams declined to comment yesterday.

    How stupid do they really think we are -- very very stupid indeed, I suspect.

    And if you're saying the election is all about trust, this you need like the proverbial hole in the head:

    It emerged yesterday that Labour used its taxpayer-funded research unit to trawl through the documents, and also that its chief campaign strategist, senior MP Pete Hodgson, was also working on the story with Williams.

    Williams told TVNZ last night that the Labour Party had funded his trip to Australia a claim at odds with Clark's version of events.

    Clark told reporters in Christchurch yesterday that Labour had "absolutely not" paid for Williams' trip, and that the money had come from his own pocket.

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

  • Rich of Observationz,

    some coded reference to Sham 69

    North Shore Boys, North Shore Boys, thousand dollar suits and million dollar toys!

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

  • Tony Kennedy,

    North Shore Boys, North Shore Boys, thousand dollar suits and million dollar toys

    Living each day outside the law :-)

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 225 posts Report Reply

  • JohnAmiria,

    I'd have a hard time getting too worried about a 20 year old transaction by a 26 year old John Key in any case. Even if completely true, it would be right up there with Benson-Pope's tennis ball.....so old and moldy (and the alleged perp now much older and hopefully wiser) that it's irrelevant.

    Agreed ... kindof. I was actually still aggrieved about what BP did even if it only came out many years later, because that kind of behaviour is intolerable. It's not OK. Ever.
    As for Key - he forgot the precise date he left a job 20 years ago? Sheesh. I've forgotten women I dated 20 years ago. (And vice versa, no doubt).

    The signatures, extraordinarily similar to Mr Key's, were of another Elders dealer, Maxwell Nichols.

    Aha! So Key was forging Nichols' signature was he? The plot thickens.

    National Radio

    I could only listen to 30 minutes of yesterdays interview with Key. I found Catherine Whassername very combative and wondering if she'd give the same treatment to Clarke.

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I thinks that Labor broke even on that gamble. They've raised the old " taxpayers money",My money chanting, from the marauding mobs. But, Nice Mr Key, might be the big bad wolf? It's more insidious.

    Which was different from last week exactly how? I wouldn't confidently predict that we're going to look back and say "there was the moment Labour lost", but what a cluster fuck. This was supposed to be Brethren-gate Redux, and it wasn't. That simple.

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

  • Sacha,

    I've forgotten women I dated 20 years ago.

    Too busy focusing on rugby tours, perhaps.. :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I found Catherine Whassername very combative and wondering if she'd give the same treatment to Clarke.

    Know what it sounded like. However, first journo I've heard ask follow up questions properly and not just accept the vanilla evasiveness. I actually reckon Helen would get the same treatment if she behaved that way with Ms Ryan. Basic professional pride, perhaps?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • JohnAmiria,

    I've forgotten women I dated 20 years ago.

    Too busy focusing on rugby tours, perhaps.. :)

    No, that was 27 years ago, when I was out most Saturdays, marching against the Tour, alongside women so staunch I wouldn't dare have asked "Is that a breastplate under your jumper, or are you just pleased to see me?"

    or "Maybe after the march we could go back to my place for a little baton charge of our own"

    or "I know you want me, your nipples are harder than Ross Meurant's PR 24"

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Too busy focusing on rugby tours, perhaps.. :)

    And how many Boomer hack and commentators have been rather shocked that while the Springbok Tour was their Les Mis moment, there's one or two people around who don't really care. Or don't have the expected Pavolvian reflux at the very mention of the name of the Demoness Ruth Richardson.

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

  • Craig Ranapia,

    What has changed, is that the picture of Key, The multi millionaire currency trader, that associates with white collar crimes, has been getting a good re-rendered, for free.

    Well, we shall see. But as I said right from the beginning, Labour already has those who banker rhymes with wanker, and John Key is both. Undecided and swing voters? I think they've got more pressing concerns that who paid for Key's lunch twenty years ago. Labour had been hyping up Brethren-gate Redux for months, and it didn't deliver. Entirely self-inflicted credibility damage at the worse possible moment.

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

  • Sacha,

    The Demoness Allegra Geller, prehaps?

    I suppose a smaller-caliber pistol would have to fire baby teeth.

    I'd find some video if only embedding were working for me..

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    And I agree with Craig that Labr already had those for whom banker rhymes with voting for the other guys. Genuine undecideds are more likely to have been put off by the unseemly scrabbling for dirt. Own goal.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

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