The search is moving north. Bits and pieces have been found.

Flotsam. But no Jetsam.

Yes.

Events take weeks to show up in polls. That's more likely to reflect Labour's relative lack of action over summer after a strong start by their new leader before that..

Yes, that seems plausible.

Perhaps someone should remind the Prime Minister that there is a difference between ordinary and noxious weeds.

It appears the greater electorate has "moved on" as shown by the drop for Labour in the polls – failure to launch and a…

I suspect Labour are interested to see if indeed Oravida get something too and just what that sort of cronyism will do to the rest of us.

Very little has been made about her presence at a private dinner, though…

Think a little further than your perception seeing as there are many ways to unravel a story that has had the usual, "nothing to see here, move along" responses from Collins and…

She makes the point that they wouldn't let a female pay , but even as a male in china it can require subterfuge if you want…

Oh I don't disagree Matthew, I was just pointing out the aspect of who actually paid may be a non-story.

Well I'm over wondering who paid for dinner , can't they at least ask more relevant questions ?

But John Key thinks it is time to move on.

"I think we sort of dealt with those issues. The Labour Party's sort of down in the weeds going through various aspects of…

Of course, and not causing offence to one's hosts is always good practice, but if that's the case, say so! And if it's going to cause offence to say who paid, perhaps it's best to…

Over on WhaleOil Cactus K makes the point that there could be cultural mores in place around who pays for what at a dinner.

Marinkovich in his 80s heyday sported the kind of red-framed face-furniture of the type later favoured by Jim Hopkins. One decade's off-the-shelf bold statement of cutting-edge individuality became the next's must-have accessory for cracking jokes to rest home audiences.

Indeed,…

I know, I know,
drawers-dropping
ruins the cadence...
;- )

... you’d expect a little botulism scare to be a piss in the hand for an advertising legend...
Indeed, and there is…

From a logical standpoint, most of his doomsday predictions have so far never come to pass.

God. I'd forgotten how spectacularly the Stellar Trust would routinely get it wrong.

only when he's being silly

now there's a billboard series

Transparency! Excellent! So there'll be no problem with telling us who paid for your dinner, minister?

The official announcement on the beehive site:

“New Zealand consistently ranks as one of the least corrupt countries in the world,” Ms Collins says.

“I look forward to speaking to the Academy about our experience in building an accountable,…

John Key pulls out

I'm sure he has encountered farming metaphors before :)

And back full circle to Canterbury plains.Adams want water for her cows which in turn produces milk powder which in turns helps Collins and Co to produce milk products which in turn helps Orivida. Percieved interest much? With another…

(... This is attending a conference.
... This is attending a conference on drugs. ... Any questions? )

To be expected if we already ship our NZ cows over and allow training of our farming technique. Plus show and sell our farms. What do we expect? They must think we are gullible.…

Anything to do with this?

Baby-milk makers on edge
Rumours fly of Chinese plans to limit number of importers as audit of NZ facilities looms.

Judith Collins failed to recognise the conflict of interest in having dinner with a Chinese border official and the CEO and director of the Oravida company on which her husband is a director. An equally…

I notice Winston Peters raised the issue of Oravida's Chinese Customs problem in the House today.

This would seem to have a way to go yet.

Her October trip was to attend a conference on corruption.

And access to power. I'm guessing here.

And yeah, sorry, I got your point, just I replied rather incompetently.

It was October 23, presumably around the time Oravida was having shipments knocked back.

My point is really that there are plenty of places in the world with a reasonably cow-friendly climate and undeveloped dairying.

I know Chris Trotter isn't too popular around these parts but he has a timeline of sorts

Well, as you can see, it does well enough with lists and technical terms – the kinds of things for which there is a direct correlation between words in L1 and L2, but even then "Jiashibaoba pasteurized" probably is better rendered as "Jiashibao [because product name -…

AQSIQ announced in December 2013 the entry of substandard food, cosmetics information displayed by the Food Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou City Ruimu 19 batches of imported new 西兰嘉仕堡巴 pasteurized milk were found to fail, there is a major The problem is that the quality of substandard, illegal…

What was the date of Collins' China trip?

I don't…

And Rich:

a Waikato type climate

Not Hebei. There are plenty of wetlands in the area, but it's bone dry from autumn through to spring, and the pollution....

Also, NZ has been exporting dairy cows to China…

That's the thing about the second-term Key Government: ethics and the lack of 'em. It's a trader's government: just the right side of the law (mostly) but ethically stinks like the Heathcote in flood.

Yes. And that's what I'm focusing on.

Yes, another dirty pair of hands.

Yes. I’ve just finished laboriously correcting myself on Twitter about that.

To be fair, she recommended an option less authoritarian than the one Cabinet decided on.

I can’t see how she didn’t have an interest in that decision.
Me neither.

Shorter stays in emergency departments, Improved access to elective surgery, Shorter waits for cancer treatment, Increased immunisation, Better help for smokers to quit, More heart and diabetes checks.

All of which are good things, but which don't…

Have a look at recommendation 18 to make your hair curl.

The section on "Human Rights" is astounding: basically this breaches international human rights law but wtf it has got to be done. Point 63: councils can get facts…

Amy Adams co-authored a paper to Cabinet a paper recommending an extension for eCan’s commissioners.

(Via No Right Turn)

I can’t see how she didn’t have an interest in that decision.

IIRC there were six priority measures implemented, all of which have done well. Are there measurements of the deprioritised areas? Interested to know what the tradeoffs have been for such a laser focus...

you mean by Ryall already, or if the Greens get some say over it in future?

This is quite unusual, and he’s been able to slide away with his halo relatively intact, despite quite serious questions about his decisions not to refer potential Southland DHB fraud to the…

Yes – at the expense of many other things. Accountants like Ryall prefer things they can measure easily.

But he hasn't really implemented a vision…

Get back under your bridge, Rich — can't be bothered today.

Deciding to leave after you've been announced as your electorate's candidate is strange.

I have to say this surprised me. I'm not a fan of National but I would say he's easily been the most effective minister throughout their two terms. Others get more publicity but that's been his success that he hasn't. I can't remember a…

Bridges displays all of the ambition but little of the necessary judgment or experience to be PM. He's in desperate need of a few years in Opposition (I also suspect he's an error away from being an also-ran).

I'm sure he was necessary for the Dinner they had but it was the brushing aside any attempt to know his business…

Key's off to China today ( to avoid being in the House tomorrow,but that is…

Link was munched. Fixed.

Bloody good point Sofie. She's the minister of Justice and moonlighting on ACC and Ethnic Affairs, what the hell was she doing there…

Wong actually paid for…

I wondered that, there may be an obvious reason but I've not looked for it. Perhaps others have?

... when I hear about Judith Collins and her conflict of interest I…

How about paying for her own friggin ticket?. She cancelled her husbands at the last minute but kept hers. I contributed toward that witches arse on…

Yes. And I'm surprised that the Greens (who advocate change in this area) don't. What…

That doesn't mean she shouldn't have found some…

In other big Business news...
Fletchers, having seemingly given up sticking feathers onto arrow shafts…

I would take that with a metric fucktonne of salt.

Switzerland at #7?

Singapore at #5?

Good point Ben , shit they will be wanting their nuclear armed ships in our ports next.

I'm not sure how innovative or sustainable flogging $20 milk is (milk that won't be exactly farm-fresh by the time it's been airfreighted, cleared customs…

It’s on some bizarro spectrum of cluelessness – I think what smacks people’s gobs about all three cases isn’t so much the events themselves, but the high levels of disingenuous cuteness…

I’m not, though. Labour’s long record of criticising the use of…

The political Alzheimers that miraculously lifted the instant it became clear the media weren't going to get bored and go away? Seems two faces of the same worthless coin to me, in that respect, and why we all need genuine transparency politicians can't…

Good point. The Bill Liu affair is just another reason for Shane Jones' colleagues to curse his name under their breaths.

He also produces an excellent product that can be bought locally at a substantially lower price than the competing Fonterra products. Which isn't…

Just so long as we're not drawing an equivalence between the quite legal but politically very stupid use of a trust to channel four donations for an internal party election,…

But suggesting we cut back on dairying for environmental reasons or stirring up the export business…