Heard something about some extracting the cream then adding cheaper fats to make up for it – palm oil, probably. No evidence to offer…

Take your pick. Top result, organised complaints over abusive conditions. If it's anything like the slaves on the fishing boats the government will deport them the day after it makes the 6 o'clock news.

The usual trick is to pay them minimum wage for less hours than they really…

Maybe it's a Southern phenomenon that's headed that way. Some old farming acquaintances I caught up with in the lower NI in December 2012 remarked on the recent influx of 'foreign' workers, but didn't seem too clued as to their nationalities.

I have no idea of total numbers, but from the two I've had the privilege of…

We had to give up on that, the "local" farmer got a bit greedy and was charging the same or more than supermarkets, so since it was already an hour's drive north, it wasn't affordable…

We drink that every day – collected weekly from the…

That's not how I understand it. I believe (and feel free to correct me Farmer Green) that almost all of the milk you buy in supermarkets is reconstituted: water removed, turned into milk powder, stored, water added for retail…

Back in the ‘60s, when the A&P Show was in Addington,
if ya got up early one could bike from Sydenham
and get a billy filled with fresh milk direct from source,
I…

You are correct Rich. Under the old Milk Regs. this was known as toned milk. It manifests today as Trim or Low Fat.

But there are still low fat milks that are not toned with powder etc.

Ecofarm Low Fat…

and when that dries up will it be followed by the Age of Fish Pieces?

I can see why a Zodiac would be useful, just for getting around on all that water, and fishing and stuff….

;- )

But I'd recommend Zany Zeus,…

Right ...Tiny Tim's ancient global warming anthem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dkEjN-fPLo

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but are you saying that the liquid…

Next we have a duopoly with the supermarkets. A cute term that describes when monopoly power is allowed to both of them. They like their profits. For instance, you pay them for shelf space, position priority, time on…

;- )

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/irrigators-rapt-green-light-irrigation-schemes-ch-162918

ETA: and doesn't work :)

Nah , it's just having an acute episode . The problem is chronic , and it was there before Fonterra was formed .

In fact the poor sustainability of the two big co-operatives , NZCDC and Kiwi Co-op was the…

She's a big river.

seed no evil
herd no evil
spike no evil

ends up with heirless apes...

http://www.xcheque.com/blogs/item/5664-why-australia-wants-flat-milk-production

I think that by now , the environmental and social effects are pretty damned obvious.

There were spirits in the air.

29 Diamonds for a chunk of coal,
29 Diamonds for a chunk of coal,
No matter what they say,
The company don't care,
Broke a townships soul,
Flash of red 29 dead for…

I honestly shudder how statistics are used in politics. It was tight.

Labour looked after its non-voters very well in their last two administrations,…

John Lennon.1980.

That’s the bloody point Craig! How about they let Labour do their job without them all…

And what news value is there either, Sofie –

1) John Key gets standing ovation at crowded and indecently cheerful National caucus meeting, followed by photo ops on the…

To be fair, I’m sure that caucus room is leaking like a sieve just a little more subtly and a lot more off the record than it has over the last couple of days. I just decline to clutch my…

Is it "exclusive" because she only interviewed her own typewriter?

Jolisa should put a call in to Messers Sue, Grabbit and Runne because I'm sure Jolisa knows full well the Pythia were prone to... let's just say, a high degree of strategic ambiguity in a very dangerous…

And uses his apology to call Cunliffe as many names as his thesaurus could spit out.

Honestly that was appalling.

Exclusive: Labour leader said to be taking a break to think about his future as caucus trembles on the brink of open revolt.

Half of that is "no shit, Sherlock" and the other absurdly melodramatic. "Trembles on the…

Welcome to PAS.

Most journos – other than the utterly empty-headed…

WE must use any situation like this to figure out what not to do again. Pike is an opportunity to understand what went wrong. It's fit to get in. International advice says it's good enough. Our own friggin' report says good to go. Let's try eh?Excuses like…

It's been done, there is a way. Now that's Science. Go to. the report says yes.

I thought there was no "I" in team...

...but five eyes in #teamkey.

And , Team Key.... wha? No story for them eh? Quietly, slowly planning the next lie.

I still think you can't go in there unless science let's you.

The first clear chance for years to differentiate themselves, to renounce austerity and commit to a genuine Labour manifesto, sod the Mail, renationalise, reunionise, tax the rich, protect the…

There is a huge smell of circular logic there.

And again – half of those who voted favoured National – that is not half of TVNZ audience note…

Yup. But if that is your measure then you are an entertainer and not a journalist. It seems to me that some people want the prestige of one and the rewards of the other.

I guess our definitions of excellence will have to differ because I thought this parting shot from Bowron was so full of irony someone should get mining rights...

The real loser on the night was democracy with only 77 per cent of the electorate…

Not I. I'd rather our reporters stopped chasing people around trying to badger them into saying the perfect soundbite.

It seems to me, he says naively, that sometimes just the…

No worries. While at the moment I'm conscious that I'm stressed and quite grumpy I hope I don't cross that line. But if I do please call me on it.

That point about the guys being worse than the gals was Russell's not mine. I did see these reporters and thought the did themselves no favours, for sure.

I didn’t say that everyone was reading/watching the main news outlets, just that the way they frame the story still drives the national conversation.

And I’d still happily…

One would hope someone is doing that, and asking the question "why did you wait until after the election for that announcement?"

Sorry – dont buy that. Seen the circulation figures for the Herald in South Auckland? Seen the declining figures on TV News?. For the news interested, one of…

If people were more collaborative and less competitive and combative, the journalists could have worked together to share the watch (after all no one is…

The framing of the six o'clock news and the daily papers drives the understanding of almost everything for everyone…

Did you not see Tova O'Brien with Winston Peters and Rebecca Wright with Laila Harre on Saturday night?

Having the party members rank the list and requiring electorate MPs to move aside if their seat doesn't reflect their list…

As Keir points out, he and his proxies have also done it in the past. There is no contender with completely clean hands.

"But the collective culture (especially with male journalists) is quite often about the pursuit of the weakened."

Jane Bowron wrote this excellent article;

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/10527142/Death-throes-low-blows-election-night-had-it-all

And similarly, I think she was quite uncomfortable with some of the low blows. Journalists shouldn't…

And Nicky Hager isn't exactly rolling in dosh and wearing the sharp suits now is he?

Success can be measured in different ways, and possibly if…

And I'm sure they're…

Mary Wilson did that on Sunday morning.

Sorry about that.

Well no, they are actively and purposefully damaging to the party. They are 'not at all helpful' as a deliberate strategy. But Cunliffe made them do it, by being popular with the membership and the…

It's only…

Anonymous briefings to the press and other attempts at destabilisation are not at all helpful. This is true whether the leader is Phil Goff, David Shearer, or David Cunliffe. David Cunliffe, in particular, has significant form undermining Labour leaders who are…

In my view, the release of Dirty Politics was only the start, and it'll likely be a slow burner like Watergate was in the 1970s. There's still David…

I think I know what you mean. More Finbarr Saunders and his Double Entendres (fnar fnar!) than Buster Gonad and his Unfeasibly Large…

Coverage of Dirty Politics in the media was generally pretty good-a little focused on gotcha moments rather than structural issues, sure, but it made headlines for weeks.

But voters now have more opportunities than ever to filter out the information they're…

Metaphorically so,though.

I find Patrick Gower quite endearing, sometimes (not so much recently), but he always looks to me like his face belongs in the pages of Viz magazine.

The way some media were reporting it, I was expecting to see blood seeping under the door and MPs carried away in body bags.

Cunliffe doesn;t make his caucus opponents do what they do. he isn't responsible for them talking to Watkins off…

Yes. That is true. But you have to accept there is a deep level of frustration that those people are not doing the job some of us want them to do. They proudly say they are journalists but when we want Cronkite they deliver something less.…

And that is where our Media have failed then. How is it democracy if it comes via press releases that are not fact checked and…

Sadly, with a few notable exceptions (Patrick Gower is not one of them), my dominant thought for journalists is less than charitable.

I'm certain most journalists enter the profession with dreams of being a source of knowledge and information for the public. But…

OK, I have to put a penny in the swear-jar for using the phrase but it was almost the textbook “Beltway issue”. And I’m not…

The abuse piled on those in the news media is sometimes shocking – ask the people who are tasked with managing the social media feeds for various outlets, it's almost a…

Why did Richard Worth have to go as a Minister?

1. Most people haven't read the book and, because they don't follow politics, didn't understand…

Absolutely so. National was almost totally invested in the "John Key's National" meme. NZ First has always been the Party of Winston. And the Conservatives had nothing except Earnest Colin Craig's Eyes.Those were the three parties whose vote share went up.

Why even argue about how they’re behaving when we know at least some of them are puppets?

While I understand why Nicky Hager chose not to name…

The election was run in a presidential style. Had National lost then people would have said, rightly, that John Key lost the election, because his influence was overwhelming. He set the tone for his ministers and almost…

But they *are* talking. Despite Cunliffe telling them not to.

Extremely likely — I'm sure everyone in the Press Gallery was loading up on Red Bull and No-Doze for a return season of…

No it's the media fault for not sorting the Dirty Politics shit out for us. The corrupt government that has had 4 days of frilly bullshit stories. just as they like it. Wouldn't want to burn any bridges now that…

And it would be nice to see "scrutiny and criticism" being applied more consistently to ... oooh, you know, the actions of and processes…

Honestly, Red, all anyone knows about "why Labour lost" is that National got a lot more…

Because it was about the only time that style of questioning was actually called for.

(Although resident intellectual Raymond A Francis seems to think it was some…

OK, Sofie, I think everyone well and truly gets it that you don't accept the outcome of the election…

That’s where the problem sits , with the editors, news-editors, producers etc who are driving this hyper sensational reporting. They want dramatic tensions, characters -heros and villains, plots, excitement, tragedy and Poetic Justice.…

No, those are reasonable words. Having Shearer running around…

Because he had questions to answer that cut directly to the heart of government, and gave evasive and disingenuous answers for weeks.…

Two notable exceptions: Mike Hosking & Paul Henry.

Yes it was. He as leader of a corrupt Government was doing his best to lie to us yet again and avoid telling us any truth about his staff. we pay their wages The…

Yesterday's caucus meeting was not run of the mill in any sense. Nor was it disciplined. Cunliffe's leadership and authority was being directly challenged before the meeting even happened. You could gauge…

Yes, "when he was knocked off balance". The issue hasn't gone away, but as he's no longer off balance he's not being grilled. This is…

Actually it kinda is a job where they need to be accountable to the public. And the Party. And MPs. And that's why it's a really hard job, and why people who…

Well said Russell, and captures the discomfort I've felt, and my subsequent disengagement exactly. They lost, they have to make changes, but no need to kick a man when he's down.

Yes, that was ok, because the actions of Judith Collins (which I expect you are referring to) did need some sort of…

Oh, what a load of bullshit. Unless I’ve missed…

Except that thanks to Dirty politics, we've seen that that is not the case.

There's absolutely no such thing as unbiased reporting. Every journalist (or media boss, whatever) carries their own opinions and experiences around with…

On their election night coverage it got a bit tiresome. Trying to get the scoop from the party leaders as they walked in to give their speech didn't really add anything…

Sure the last hour of that meeting should have been dedicated to…

Labour is right to…

I'm sure the past few weeks have been very taxing on some of those in the media... but buggered if I'm going to give them any sympathy

Journalists are not, with a few exceptions, biased in a partisan sense. But the collective culture…