__It's time to shut down – or rather shut up – the ragtag bunch of malcontents who are giving their lives meaning by…

And as a more general principle, I’d like to see a New Rule: If you get it wrong on the front page (or in…

Just to be clear, the original, now removed, story was by Lincoln Tan. But the decision on the correction was made at a senior editorial level.

Then there's no need to hold back. Anything to call bollocks on this show of new yellow journalism.

I'm tempted to complain on the Consulate's behalf. Pursuit of a political vendetta that drags in a sovereign nation's diplomatic mission? That's pretty despicable, even by…

Standard operational bullshit isn’t it – get it wrong above the fold on the front page, correct at the bottom of page five in the finest of fine print unless you’ve got a lawyer (or order from a court or regulator) twisting your arm…

If there's only one thing we should borrow from the Scandinavians, it's their media regulation model.Then again, it also helps that their…

It was written so as to obscure the fact that the prospective protests were not about Brown at all, but about whaling. And then buried on page five.

As far as I can tell, the correction was so half-arsed and passive-aggressive voiced it was almost meaningless. I don’t think this is…

Now the Japanese consulate is dragged in to…

Bloody oath – “man not only fails to bite dog, said dog happily pees on a bush and takes a nap."

The sure have a funny way of showing it. When they insist on occupancy targets for rail before they'll commit to funding something that's going to be needed to allow additional train services before they're prepared to even start its construction,…

More to the point, that's a story about absolutely nothing. It's just embarrassing.

All the more so, because AKL still has FPP local body…

Your idealism is admirable but…

Yes – and anyone who thinks any Mayor has ever gone to Wellington and left with a blank cheque really needs to get their heads into this universe. That would be the universe where anyone…

Brown absolutely “has influence on meaningful change…

Oh come on. The guy had a legitimate excuse for smoking crack with gang bangers, he was drunk at the time.

On top rating stations, even.

Kerre McIvor: Come out of hiding Mr Mayor.

I can understand why he would want to steer clear of questioning about his sordid affair but when it comes to presenting his vision for Auckland's future he has a responsibility to answer questions.

What will the projects cost…

And a…

ANYBODY?

If so – I suggest you have a look at the following websites?

www,dodgyjohnhasgone.com
www.occupyaucklandvsaucklandcouncilappeal.org.nz
www.stopthesupercity.org.nz
www.pennybright4mayor.org.nz
www.pennybright4epsom.org.nz

(I use the electoral process to help make a fuss about the issues – it's proven to be quite effective? Polled fourth with nearly 12,000…

Those last two words speak a lot to the irrationality of your position. Brown is a mid-size fish in a very, very large pool, one where the biggest fish are parochial buffoons like Joyce, English and Brownlee.…

OK, this might be borderline trolling but someone…

I'm not sure what you think about what I think. However, your point about intensification is directly related to urban planning in NZ, which shares direct similarities with Australia. The financial distortions…

It would be closer to say he's viciously…

But not in the way you probably think. Our planning rules make basic urban intensification all but impossible. You wouldn't be allowed to make non-garaged streets like most of Ponsonby's these days, let alone terraced housing or low-rise…

There seem quite a few of those who oppose his handling of the Ports of Auckland dispute. He's really quite centrist.

Cameron Brewer is claiming vindication, but this doesn't back up his…

What are you suggesting he should have done, held a press conference to explain why he could no longer campaign as a family man? The hypocrisy charge against Len may…

I'm 100% sure the Japanese consulate not only never received any threats related to a possible appearance by Len Brown at Japan Day, but that the consulate's contact with police did not relate in any way to prospective anti-Brown protests.…

In's interesting that they're still insisting the consulate contacted the police on being advised of a likely protest, because the mayor's…

No, not particularly, although he probably played up the family angle more for some audiences than others. It really hasn't been a significant element of either campaign.

But you cannot be seriously suggesting that is the fault of the Mayor?

weak and expensive public transport

And he is having to deal with a central government which holds the purse strings and also has an irrational…

John Banks should be sufficient to settle that

ew

Yes – because I’m the kind of crank who thinks the media and self-appointed morals cops don’t get to overturn free, fair and credible elections. That doesn't mean anyone is beyond scrutiny and criticism, but it's rather naive to pretend we haven't crossed…

Not so much that he's revered, but that the campaign against him has been so sordid and wasteful of resources that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

For all his faults, quite a lot. Simon Wilson’s Metro feature last year is a useful overview.

Basically, Brown inherited a structure and a set of appointed CCO boards that was not…

Why don't you ask that question of yourself? Because if any of Len Brown's dodgy actions can be considered corrupt, he's only just barely at the kindergarten level of political corruption. And besides, he's already been called out on his behaviour. Why the…

Is Len Brown really worth the effort? FFS, if you put yourself in a public position and screw up, would you expect anything different? If LB were the sales rep for DB and receiving upgrades and was having it off…

Oh, well – perhaps Shayne Currie might decide to put his big boy editor pants on if he gets a phone call from the Japanese Ambassador asking that they be left right out of…

At least Dick Quax replied, and promptly. I've had no response whatever from Ms Stewart. She's paid $44K pa…

Which is particularly sad when you consider that Denise Krum, from Tamaki, is newly-elected in place of the very long-serving Richard Northey. She won, as best I could see (as a resident of the ward), on the back of the…

I'm not sure you can describe a campaign that is supported by the Herald, the NBR and Kiwiblog as "very marginal".

At the risk of sounding naive, public debate shouldn't generally be led by character assassination. Noone looks back at Tony Blair's…

Yes. He's not representing his constituents in any useful sense. He and the other four are basically deadweight on council.

I notice he doesn't actually deny having personal animosity. I think I would have been inclined to tell him "give it up Dick, you lost. Time to move on."

And apparently the consulate has been trying to communicate this to the Herald since yesterday afternoon.

This is just weird.

From the Mayor's office Twitter account this morning, they'll be asking for a retraction on the Japanese consulate threats story. Never happened according to the consulate...

Obviously it wouldn't be smart on LB's part to actually complain but surely there is a point where The Herald steps outside the boundaries of what is legal?

Anti-Brown hate mail raises fears

The Japanese consulate in Auckland has notified the police after receiving threats from anti-Len Brown protesters about his planned attendance at a festival this weekend.

The mayor has been the subject of protests over…

no, it's personal :) #dim

Ironically, Stewart has been busy today insisting to the TVNZ reporter that "this isn't political at all."

Except, of course, that Dick Quax is answering her emails for her.

Maybe he'll form a group...

This is getting even beyond fringe material now. Heck sake Standing Orders are that and Mr Splinter failed to meet them thus denied.

Public input was given in the December Governing Body where the Mayor…

Auckland resident Rick Splinter has had his request for speaking rights at the Governing Body meeting of 27 February 2014 declined. The request has been declined by Deputy Mayor, and Len Brown toady, Penny Hulse.

Affordable Auckland Leader Stephen…

That would depend on the number of legs...

Well, I'm not sure one could describe quite what appears as the majority of the comments on WO as the result of "thought", but I'll let it slide.
Your sacrifice is noted and appreciated.

Naturally, the only resident they seem to have spoken to is Councillor Sharon Stewart.

This is ridiculous.

Happily, they're coming around soon to interview me, so I actually get to say something.

I think we can fairly use the term Len Derangement Syndrome.

Well, no, if the substance of their arguments is to hold fringe beliefs about 9/11, vaccination, climate change, fluoridation and so on. It's a total waste of time engaging with…

Ignoring that you gave Steve Curtis the credit for my quote, I have concluded that it's a bad sign when any story on Auckland's governance/transport/planning/etc has Orsman's byline.

There is nothing tacit about it. Getting a story in the Dom that is critical of NZTA/the government is a miracle. When the Expressway was announced in Kapiti,…

Sharon Stewart is no doubt a highly sought after PR ninja – well played

Going by above comments, NZ's two biggest newspapers are fairly strongly right-leaning. So how does that square with the received wisdom that most journalists are lefties?

One day you are rabble rousers who dont deserve the time of day from from a news paper that isnt about the news.

Next week there is the…

That’s a good call, Russell, but I…

Questions were indeed raised, by one Bernard Orsman, and promptly discredited by Auckland Transport. But we can't forget that the questions were raised, and never mind the…

The Daily Mail, much?

Yup – David (who has been working in the rail industry for fifty years, and is now a planning officer with Transdev Auckland so what…

Beat-ups.

Good gawd to the Herald's lead. To the rest of New Zealand it's a WTF issue.

A right-leaning editorial team wouldn't be distracting from the real issues in an election year when there was an inconvenient doco on prime-time…

Has Wellington had any more of a slump that the rest of the country? Sure, the governments been doing its level best to destroy quality public service, and that's had a bit of an impact, but we have a lot of growth industries as well (most of them…

If someone said "Penny Bright is stupid…

It's a little different here. The Herald has done some great city coverage. Although I'm obviously not alone in thinking that Bernard Orsman's reporting seems unduly influenced by his own beliefs and that his coverage of…

ETA. Just read Russell’s reply. Fair enough, but it still might look a bit ad hominoid to newcomers.

Not quite, Graeme. Their arguments, such as they are, really have been kicked around here in exhaustive, and exhausting, detail. Do we all really have to hit the reset button…

No, it isn’t. We’ve been through the actual arguments at considerable length on this site.

The point here is that the protest lobby is very small and very marginal and…

Let me help. Like about a third of kiwis, Brown had an extra marital affair, this involved him telling some lies to some people. Unlike his opponents and The Herald I do not believe this constitutes a reason depose a democratically elected mayor. Nor do I…

There is much made by people who long for the days of their fourth form debating society about the fallacy of "argumentum ad hominem". There is, as I have mentioned in the past, no fancy Latin term for the fallacy of…

Between this obsession with trying to be a political party themselves and the constant cheerleading of the real estate market I can't figure out what the hell The Herald thinks is the role of a newspaper in society.

It must be a strange place to…

An entire post criticising the opponents of a politician without basically once addressing their arguments? Isn’t this textbook ad hominem?

As for the marginalised five they are slowly signing their own warrants in the next…

As I've said to you on Twitter, The Herald (and Bernard Orsman in particular) are little more than obsessive trolls where Brown is concerned. I'm really sorry they didn't manage to drive an elected Mayor out of…