Or more precisely, it employs the sort of clumsy, generalist, quasi-offensive colonial Euro-centric perspective of an "Asian" "other" which you may well be conditioned to come to expect from a young, globe-trotting banker.

Not at all. You may well be right about what the job involved, but even if it was limited to the major markets of East and Southeast Asia, that's still more than one time zone, and the markets of the Middle East and…

Most likely he’s talking about being the head of a desk that had responsibility for executing those types of trades through the times that the Asian markets were open before passing it off to the…

Yet if anything the hacks are a painful document of what many political observers knew to be true. This is still a small country. People talk. The National Party are hated by…

But that just doesn't make any sense! At all! Or do these banker types live in an entirely different world with all its geography creatively rearranged?

Interesting to note that National's Alastair Scott has a similar background to Key:
"In 1994 I transferred to Tokyo and joined the global…

Yet another example of the "same-same" line being arrant nonsense. When Clark was PM she was asked this question by media constantly. One David Farrar blogged about it…

I'm hoping at least one bloody journalist will push Key on whether he intends to see out…

My chess game has improved quite a bit since I started attempting to apply military tactical thinking to it, for what that's worth (I'm…

I may have taken an earlier remark of yours the wrong way. Sorry if that was the case.

Trouble for him is Putin is no slouch at the long-term game, either.

Back in NZ, I think Key's lack of strategic smarts is starting to show, and that gives me…

Yep that. And the stress face. I was going to peg it as cognitive dissonance but have not got any more than a sketchy understanding…

Well Russia would certainly be improved if Kasparov were elected, instead of being (quite rightly) too scared to return.

Did Cunliffe fire back with ".."
He might have, but…

Yes! The lack of chess players at the higher levels of politics is generally quite worrying. Key certainly is not one, and for that I am glad.

“It’s not my job to talk about Labour’s stupid policy…”

Did Cunliffe fire back with…

Which is actually really quite poor strategy. He could be talking about National's policy, if there was anything to talk openly about. This is pretty much allowing Labour to set the agenda.

"It's not my job to talk about Labour's stupid policy..."
No, it's not, but he's been talking about nothing else all day.

All of which is agreed. But it's…

The man is a con artist. Those types have the ability to con vince you that they care. They are artists at convincing you they know the answer to your needs. They convince…

Nor would I call that stupidity. What you described is a kind of intelligence. I certainly wouldn't turn to the prime minister for a discussion on ethics or history, but he has a kind of smarts and he's good at what he does. Gotta be…

Some people are street-smart, self-focussed, and quick to leverage every opportunity for their own benefit. I wouldn't call that hyper-intelligence.

Never make the mistake of thinking he is stupid. He cultivates the persona, as tussock so eloquently points out. But you don’t get as high up in Merrill Lynch…

It's still simmering, Graham.

I have accidentally talked to right wing Americans about the UN ... man ... step back from the crazy person ...

So yeah UN gets a LOT of haters

Sec Gen of the UN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1LLsw1lcuA

Well, we just got back from her Doctor who has to come out to the car because Stella wont go in there and it seems she is still ok. She isn't in pain yet. so ,off North this weekend for r and…

Digress away Sofie its like I am trying to looking at this huge picture byzantine in its complexity, then a dog walks through the picture. Perfect.

Live Now: Laila Harré Reddit AMA

Yes we do. Just a bit further down. And the digression is good for my soul at least and others can just skip over it.

On the other hand, the Internet was still a military research…

So I'm now hoping you live in the same St as us. She has a few friends and…

I love the way she just wanders around the end of our street as if she owns the place. Happy to interact with people, but not obsequious. Just checking out her domain

Coincidentally, the architect of the cathedral, Basil Spence, was brought in to design the Beehive (though the story goes that he did a few drawings and the MoW did most of the work).

Stella is the best lil’ dog in the whole wide world ;)
Shes just getting older. I like to think wiser .And yes you are right Bart, she's relevant.

;- )

...and let's…

And don't forget all the wonderful ska that came from there .....

Also, tenders are evil when you’re a buyer.
I agree Izogi -…

http://networkonnet.wordpress.com/2014/09/03/the-ministry-of-education-and-whale-oil-an-introduction/

I think that we have here the opposite of the "big lie" (of which "someone" once said, if it's a big enough lie then no one will believe you could have told such an un-truth, and so they'll believe you)---we have the "big truth"...it's…

A family member – educated and socially liberal – and I were comparing notes about our quake insurance “stuff” when we strayed into politics and the chance of a government change and whether it would help our…

A family member — educated and socially liberal — and I were comparing notes about our quake insurance "stuff" when we strayed into politics and the chance of a government change and whether it would help our…

Of course the comparison should be rent less interest on your deposit (or whatever equity you put in at the start that is presumably in your bank now) vs mortgage +…

Here’s a fun game. Look at the current polls with National around 48% and Labour 27% and shuffle those numbers.

At the end of it there’s probably about 5-7% sitting in National…

Looking around Wellington (mostly northern/western) as a buyer, there are some…

no it isn't.

Stella is a character.

As for the words, I momentarily confused two with unfortunately similar sounds.

Nah Dismal. Our move is at the wishes of t'others Mum really. We wanted to do what was right. We have taken a sabbatical for winter to slob around instead of being puppets in our own land. summer tho' outta Aux. Stell was born in the small st we are…

But Ostrichism is alive and well...

Three famous words from John Steinbeck probably sum it up: temporarily embarrassed millionaires. And later on, his spiritual successor Bruce Springsteen echoed, "poor man wanna be…

Respect to the Creator,,,, ;-)

I don't really care for the housing market as an investment, but we've been looking for our own home for…

Me too, but am I alone in also experiencing the occasional bout of excitement and hope? I think that this whole process will ultimately be cleansing (to some degree). As the old saying goes,…

Chris I'm thinking there is a lot of pissed off people at the mo and if a word is derogatory to some ,it's another meaning to others. I really don't see words as always being anti Semitic. It's really hard to please everyone all…

Oh Sophie, so sorry to hear this. :(

Thank you Bart. THIS!!

The housing market for me, if I can be of any help, is this. We got a house so landlords couldn't say I can't have my dog.…

I enjoyed Campbell Live's "Pie Graph' Dinner Party format round robin this evening, very civilised and affable.
Couldn't easily find the online continuation,…

It’s hard to shift voters right voters left.

That ,I haven't seen b4 but wondered if it did.
I got no understanding how anyone couldn't believe that all of these revelations are true. But it's so and I shake…

I was just thinking on Russell’s post and how painful it must have been.

I just saw the way Hanover marketed themselves and even at the time felt sick. To see savings wiped out twice in my lifetime…

It's entirely likely that Shakespeare named his character "Shy-lock" and not "Abraham" or Isaac for precisely that reason. A Wikipedia says:

"Shylock" is not a Jewish name, nor is it…

You bet !
Willful ignorance and denial have been part of the human story forever.
Fear turns our eyes away from abuse and dis-ease
As Bruce Springsteen sang
Fear, its a powerful thing. It will turn heart black you can trust

Can we avoid that word, please? It's caused enough trouble already this election. First time round I found it very hard to believe that anybody would not have known it's an anti-semitic slur, it caused enough fuss back then I don't see how anybody has any excuse…

Aye that they could. But being resigned to having your party corrupted by some seriously selfish individuals isn't all that flash a position either.

I get that Key and his cronies don't really represent most National party members let alone…

If National's internal polling matches this (and Collins' falling on her sword suggests it does) Key might have to widen the scope of the inquiry to be seen to be doing something.