The Privacy Commission based its ruling on an earlier decision by Judge Helen Winkelmann during Kim Dotcom’s civil case against the…

I'm similarly unimpressed

Conservative middle aged white male Jim Mora has two conservative middle aged white men currently on his panel, one of whom (of course) starts the show by complaining about democracy, talking about a leaders debate neither of…

Campbell also questioned if Henry was biased in his appraisal, which he denied. but yeah t'was rather obvious. Who…

The @CampbellLive tweet last night making it clear the debate was a news and current affairs gig and that Campbell Live had no input into the selection of panelists was interesting.

Exclusive Brethrens don't vote either for the same reasons.

Them too. My overall point is the out-of-stepness and tiredness of most of the commentariat. Most of them only talk to each other, in small…

And Bryan Gould's major qualification for providing post-debate commentary on National Radio seems to be that he directed UK Labour's failed '87 election campaign. I'm hardly surprised he…

With any luck the boys in blue have paid our old friend Mr Lhaws a visit.

Exactly, Hebe. Why the hell would anyone want Henry on a serious election analysis...oh, right.
Is Maori TV going to have a special show?

Let's run a PA vote on the channels' proposed panels. Henry is the most revolting man, so that rules out TV3 for me. Shame because…

As I was flicking through the dial
I heard a man who was truly vile
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away

When I listened to my set at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I flicked…

Not there again today.Good.

Yes.

We’ve been talking alot of election politics this last couple of weeks at work, and today I asked one of our teaching students if she was going to vote (she’s 18), and she told me that…

Thank Christ for that.

(sorry for any offence, but I couldn't resist)

Totally. Truth to power is the paid job of both media and opposition.

I thought he was a bit obtuse with his opening, though. A week of giving Key the well-deserved grilling that he's not had for the last five years doesn't mean the last five years of complaining wasn't justified.
One reason I…

The irony is, nor do the Exclusive Brethren – but that didn't stop them attempting to bad-mouth the Greens or bankrolling Brash and co in the 2005 election.

I'm thinking that's a short sighted view of some of the lowest parts of NZ politics.

I'm in the news business, not the law business, and if a politician says something of political significance in private but isn't prepared to front up and say it publicly then I'll call them on it every time. I'm a journalist,…

Labour certainly has that advantage at local level. If only it were enough to win elections.

Or, if they haven't given him enough space, he could just shorten it to:

Dick

Wonder what Mikey puts on his forms under occupation if it isn't 'Journalist'?

Talk about yer classic psychological self-hatred projection...

compared with who? did she elaborate?

Shoosh! People will talk.

we chatted, she was door knocking, great chat, wide ranging and she gave me some very informed options, which I needed.
What a breath of…

good summary of the problem.

From National. Look at the success of the narrative that were it not for National being in charge right now, we'd be really in the poo. That they inherited books that were in a shocking state, and it's only by their good management…

Today John Key got a patsy interview with number one fan Paul Holmes, whilst Goff and Peters got Guyon Espiner.

I would bet my house that was arranged before Key would agree to appear. When Key has spent the last three years doing…

The grapevine spinners. Say it often enough.....

I've been seriously wondering about that myself.

I'm not so sure about that, and wouldn't even confidently say it meets any legal bar for incitement. But as I pointed out, it has a nasty whiff when journalists are being murdered for doing their jobs.…

I'd say a few others in the chamber did too, hence the yelps from more than one mouth. And thank goodness the security guy and bystanders up in the viewing area stopped him.

That's the number of journalists killed this year alone because of their professional activities, according to Reporters Without Frontiers.

Radio Live might want to think about that before giving a troll a live mic.

OK, so who’s laying the complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority? Even by Laws’ easily tripped tipping point for hyperbolic twatcockery that’s…. well… extreme. I don’t want to engage in…

Yes please. I was happy to see the march on telly tonight. I hope something shifts
My problem is , nobody wants to rock the boat for fear of hurting fragile feelings, then the whole…

Now will the other 99% of Cantabrians do anything meaningful about it at the polls, or just give this…

I’m glad he’s being so honest,

“Honest” is not a word that I’d use in the same sentence as the name “Hooton”, ever. If he ever appears to honest, its because he’s found some raw material that he’s going to process, twist and transform and distract you…

ETA: “interception” is also pretty broad, being defined as: hear, listen to, record, monitor, acquire, or receive the communication. Which pretty much makes…

Thanks for that, Matthew. When I go to a cafe or a restaurant I take extra care to ensure that, if I am discussing anything delicate, I do…

I'm still waiting for an interviewer to invite Joyce to repeat various of his comments.

S216A(1)(a) Crimes Act 1961 is the precise point. Namely, that a “private communication” cannot occur __in circumstances in which any party ought reasonably to expect that the communication may be intercepted by some other…

Yes, that's true, but the facts of the case relate to Ambrose's intent. There's no dispute that Ambrose made a recording. The dispute is whether or not he intended to record…

It's entirely appropriate. The very possibility of charges being brought hinges on whether or not the chat qualifies as a "private communication" under the Act. To seek a statutory declaration is to validate or…

Apart from Muldoon, there's an even more infamous example across the ditch: Sir Joh's Queensland. He ran the state for 19 years…

Another reason some have found the lack of a useful challenge upsetting. Unprincipled scumbags will do whatever you let them get away with the last time they tried.

Unbridled power is no joke in NZ, as we should be aware with the recent back dated authorisation of the police taping, CERA, controversial policy passed under urgency and…

And Muldoon would have been a closer to home example. Berlusconi is innaccurate because- unless Key holds a whole whack of media shares in those blind trusts- Berlusconi really didn't…

we've had three years of government built on personal charisma and the absence of any real journalistic pressure apart from the BBC and when it does it's time to focus on trade? Not a chance.

Key's credibility, capability, ability to handle pressure and lead our country is the…

Many Americans were unaware that FDR spent much of his…

(ok, maybe if his only opponent was Lhaws. Think I'd go skiing on election day in that circumstance).

(As just one specific example of what happens when people take part in any society valuing any degree of conformity. Still, as you’d expect, it translates into fatalism and very low voter turnout – often as low…

love how they have words for it

Weren't you? I'd totally forgotten. But let me put it this way:…

I wouldn't know --- I wasn't there yet! But yeah, there was a fair bit of pragmatism (to put it mildly) floating around Wigram, and the mayoral election certainly showed that Labour's quite…

You can't say the tone on the ground in Wigram wasn't, er, somewhat more pragmatic in 2008. On the other hand, we were actually actively working to…

On the money Mr B.

Public servants can get quite belligerent when politicians try and drag them into their cesspit. Some rocket scientist thought…

I don't see quite how? At least at this stage...…

Not really, they're in the middle and have gone both ways. That's not at all what I'm suggesting. ACT will never go both ways, they will always align with National. Similarly with Anderton, there was never a question of him going to National.…

and like I say, the media and opposition's responses to that will tell us a lot about them.

The comparison is perhaps more United Future.

Quite.

For sure. Clark sought to enlist and demonstrate the support of the public over the Corngate interview — most notably by eagerly passing on the "little creep" comment.

She also pursued…

To nit-pick a little, Sacha, it's a line Labour could have run with more conviction if there wasn't so much tape of their leader being, shall we say, rather coy on the question himself. But I…

No but they were able to rely on Anderton on the left of them in much the same way as National has relied on ACT.

And my question was…

Obviously the two things are not precisely the same; that is why it is…

“There are one or two people in the media that need to do a little bit of self-assessment this weekend and…

That's Jonathan Coleman. Joyce is Communications (which is more about broader infrastructure).

Linger, perhaps I'm just more open to hearing them, but I thought they have been and for quite some time.

The ownourfuture theme and approach has been well thought through, the education policy was pretty…

L

Definitely, and I would argue that that is what National do not want, Joyce is minister for broadcasting after all and the way they have behaved towards the media,…

Totally. Should have been doing that well for the last couple of years, but some good campaign messages. Greens seem to be connecting better.

The National Government says it is…

If Labour had any oomph, they might have been running that line before now.

"The important thing isn't so much the electoral system, the lesson of the past in New Zealand is that you have to take the public along because if you don't, they ... shoot you through…

Better practised at grabbing our ankles.

Wealthy businessman becomes PM?
More obvious than some of the long bows drawn lately.

As to his general behaviour or taste for underage women, certainly…

like that raising taxes or minimum wages reduces economic growth.

No, Helen Clark isn't a scumbag. But if we're going to throw around terms like "affront to democracy", she wasn't upfront with Labour voters or the electors of Mount Albert was she?

And, guys, you're quite right Silvio Berlusconi isn't a Stalin or a Hitler (thought his ties with…

MMP entrenches parties as the prime political vehicles. In theory.

two former chief National party ministers
Banks would love you for…

Exactly what…

Er, I hate to say it, but as far as I can tell Labour aren't running any pseudo-parties, and haven't, ever.

*Never thought I'd be saying that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D6bx8j4d-Y&feature=share

Why let it stop there ?

Key Potty

No. Berlusconi is not anywhere near close to in the same league as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, and Mugabe is quite a different…

No, I am quite happy to maintain that the fictive nature of Act is similar — although, not, of course, exactly the same —…

Nope. Banks is always the same. You know what you get with him.Banks is Banks Key on the other hand is the "smiling one". Like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get. That's what I…

So did I – pretty sad seeing Muldoon and Lange after their return to the backbenches. And let’s face it you’re not going to do your best “screw you guys, I’m going home” Cartman during a campaign. But sauce, goose, gander and…

Hey, the election hasn't happened yet! :)

What makes me angry is…

You’re introducing nuance into this situation, shame on you!

That said, I still think that the ambiguity will likely cause the Police to determine no charge can be laid (that is if Ambrose’s own actons don’t resolve the matter).…

Oh, you mean (maybe) discussing the probability of a man who has epically failed to meet his own 15% benchmark being rolled? FFS, it would…

And I'm not pleased either, but I'm pretty good at being pissed off by more than one thing at a time.

I guess it's ideologically consistent that private funders should be able to make their pet party do whatever they want. Just no idea why even 2% would vote for it.

That's actually complete self-serving bullshit. I'm going to go vote tomorrow, and probably split my vote. Key is as entitled to solicit "strategic voting" as anyone else (and they do), but what I do tomorrow is not a "travesty of democracy" but "exercising…

The nuclear response began on Sunday with that psychotically aggressive press statement by Steven Joyce.

Another indication of Joyce being overly aggressive is his statement as if it’s fact that the taping was illegal. People with expertise are saying…

Actually, I wouldn't care if Key was an adulterer, a…

Again, true (sorry, I really don’t mean to seem patronising). Indeed, they do it because they like a good story because it sells copy, but I don’t care if the Turing Test applies. I don’t care what they think, if they think. If…

Actually, as a footnote, anecdotally, to illustrate perfectly the difference between the French and the Americans, Bill Clinton’s response to accusations of adultery with Monica Lewinsky was his infamous finger-wagging “I did not have sex with that woman” whereas Francois Mitterrand, when it was revealed that he had a…

Unless a politician is taking a public stance on the scanctity of marriage, it doesn't seem equivalent to more obviously political underhandedness and deceit.

This was not after all some private personal…

Yes, and yes. Many things that happened might not have…

Well, that's nice – media outlets don't make their editorial judgements by accident. That's not some airy-fairy abstraction but a simple reality I'm frankly sick of repeating. And I'm sure everyone else is sick of listening to…