…Iannucci shows us everything that is going on- all the pants-sh*tting, the swearing, the horrible moments of truth, the contemplating of living with mind-curdlingly daft compromises, the panic, the inspired moments, the haranguing, the small wins, the palaver and also he gets quite a few laughs for it.

I wouldn’t act that way, says Bill English. I actually believe him.

Incidentally, Grant McDougall was just at a Dunedin North “meet the candidates” event, and Michael Woodhouse MP told the audience he “did not condone” civil servants’ information being leaked.

Also, this morning’s Morning Report item, where gallery…

Well, interesting you asked that question. How’s joining the race to the bottom working…

Judith Collins confirms resignation letter a hoax..

But of more interest...

"Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Cheryl Gwyn said she would be instituting an inquiry into allegations the SIS might have released official information to Slater, regarding briefings provided to the then Leader of the Opposition, for political purposes."…

http://www.radiolive.co.nz/Judith-Collins-resigns---really/tabid/674/articleID/52713/Default.aspx

And in a total aside I've been quite bemused today due to this blog bunfight that I am no longer able to tweet about media muppetry…

Yes, that's what I thought

The other thing that takes the shine off that claim is the fact that government debt has skyrocketed during…

There, I fixed it.

I'd say the disabling of comments was a technical thing rather than a political thing.

I think the Fijian rugby players would be thoroughly pissed off to be likened to Slater.

I sense a bit of a conspiracy theory building about the Herald comments. As far as I can tell after a scout around their site, comments only seem to be open on “opinion” pieces rather than “news” pieces.

I’m not sure if this is…

I've been surprised no one has mentioned it,…

Hello!

And he points out that Slater took credit card numbers too .... that's got to resonate with the Nat's…

Unless she's threatened him with mutually assured destruction.

Interesting that WhaleOil has stopped casual readers from being able to browse members comment history...

Wonder if you've just found the media their line of questioning for the day? Lots of potential questions there about integrity, judgement, and suitability for office.

I'd like to think so. But Key and National have a problem here: they went so hard with the "nothing to see here" and "dissolving before his eyes" response to Hager's book, that Key is…

There is something vulnerable and helpless about her, and I have this soft spot for women like her in a kitten or puppy rescue kind of way.

Wow. All class. By "class" I mean pathetic misogynist.

Or as Tricky Dick Nixon once put it, "it's not illegal when the President's doing it."

Judith Collins does not have a political future on planet earth. Her reputation is…

far too often

Good point. You're very probably right.

Would that she see the connection and offer herself up as the first proof that the policy might actually work?

At the end where there was about 15 minutes left, Jim asked what they were thinking about recently. Chris…

about that....now there was a 'leak' of somewhat mythical proportions....

The whole thing had a stench about it....IMHO, FWIW,

Casting my mind back a few weeks, Michelle Boag was on The Panel.

When asked "" what was on her mind"....answered, along the lines of...

I wonder what Nicky Hager is going to release before the election....?

Bucket! I knew I'd need it....

"“Our new anti-cyber bullying proposals protect victims and hold perpetrators to account. No one should ever be subject to this kind of cowardly attack – now with the right support and modern laws in place, victims will no longer have to suffer,” Ms Collins says."

https://www.national.org.nz/news/news/media-releases/detail/2013/04/03/time's-up-for-cyber-bullies

No because it was my laptop in front of the fire an' then I had to mop up some sick...
Ne'er mind I have a bucket now for such faux pas in the future,…

Put these lines in your /etc/hosts file and you'll never look back.

Yeah look sorry about that. I had intended to leave a warning, but kinda forgot when I ran out of time and had to run for the bus.

Sofie Bribiesca: Yep, I hit it for 5 secs then

You hit.. your desk with your head? :)

Sometimes, though, enough fuckery is more than enough.

Had my fill many years ago.

No — but it actually requires work because cynicism is a much less painful and prolonged default than expecting better, holding people to account, and even dealing with the…

No its not. But is this all we (I mean us with no influence, outside of casting a vote) can expect? Global warning is a fact. Yet we are lumbered with short-sighted self-serving people who just like being in charge and, it…

I've always suspected you were in the pocket of Big Bean, Robyn.

You're quite right — good work is good work. But while The Booker Effect is one…

+1

Yep, I hit it for 5 secs then ran as fast as I could. I have never been there before and now I feel unwashed .

Oh God Stephen, warnings please! For everyone else, it links directly to Whaleoil.

There was one judge in the blog category, Deborah Hill Cone. Unsure as to expertise. She apparently wrote that she had to hold her nose in order to give it to him.

(I may be a bit jaundiced, because in my profession the award generally gets collected by…

There's ligging out there if you're prepared to hassle for it though, and kudos for not doing so. SWIM who…

Assume you just mean this set of awards, or do you mean the concept of awards in general?

Why? Because people miss out on some free booze and a backslapping opportunity?

Worse than that, he gets the money but someone else ghostwrites for him.

I've been blogging for over 18…

Content to remain part of the problem, I guess.

Meanwhile, Farrar on The Panel this afternoon. I don't even.

You'd have thought we'd be due a decision by now?

I'm wondering if Slater gave evidence that he didn't take payment for stories.…

Maybe. I think Slater's days of influence are numbered.

Blogger Cameron Slater should be able to claim the mantle "journalist" to protect his sources in a defamation case, the…

It seems the fuse that Hager lit has elevated into a political bushfire, with or without the Left egging it on.…

And not in an amusing way where you laugh at how horrible it all was post-game.

__Braunias did ask whether she’d paid much attention to her minor role in noted gossip Nicky Hager’s new book, Dirty Politics. No, she hadn’t read it, and she’d never met…

No shit Sherlock! ;)

Oh I don't know....I found it wonderfully helpful in clarifying exactly the kind of mindset at work here.

One of the things that comes up often in talking about horrendous acts of misogyny is that the perpetrators assume that everyone believes and behaves they way…

Whaleoil blogger Cameron Slater has described his man in the Beehive as "squeamish" and "gutless" for not fronting up to the media and talking about their relationship.

And:

Slater said his style of politics differed from many others. "I play politics like Fijians play rugby.…

Actually, no, I can't in this case. Certainly according to the statistics, I can't claim any special knowledge, but I can say that at least I've been informed by the effect of rape that I have seen on close friends that…

I thought his performance was laughable and typical of his brush it off as if nothing untoward was going on approach, particularly his…

I cleaned out my chookhouse yesterday.

Evidence of rats everywhere, chooks scared to go into the nesting boxes and do their thing.

So....pulled out the nesting boxes, the space behind was literally packed solid with ratshit, a few eggshells, and a mumified rat.

Didn't see any…

The book gives no indication that…

This is all damage control after the Hager torpedo took out the front of Key's Ship of Fools....

We may have to leave the wreck of the National Party's Golden Barge on the reef it…

As a reporter, it's not his role to apologise, even for a total screaming fuckup like that. It's…

Key could be very specific and confine it to what JC has admitted doing, and that would be perfectly feasible to run in parallel with his fanciful planet Key denunciations…

The longer an online discussion goes on with me involved, the greater the probability that numpties will try to divert it and make it about me rather than the topic – and blame that diversion on me.

Have either…

Fair point Russell, I shouldn’t…

There are at least two problems for the National Party with sacking…

Likewise, I'll believe it when I see it and in the meantime take this 'moral awakening' with a pinch of salt, the Red Sea and a large…

Which is really just a morally elevated way of saying “everyone does it”.

Oh,…

There's a risk of further criminal…

John Key says no disciplinary action will be taken against the Justice Minister because the action pre-dated the final warning he gave Ms Collins over the Oravida scandal.

Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Collins-unwise-to-pass-information-to-Slater/tabid/1607/articleID/357494/Default.aspx#ixzz3AntvYGuy

How did that discussion go?

"Judith, consider yourself lucky that your lies…

No matter how hard they try, Te Standard and Te Daily Blog seem to be confined to the ‘beltway’. So what does WhaleOil have that TS & TDB don’t? If it’s not about money, then it’s probably…

That's wishful thinking on my part, but a good start would be for the Press Gallery to make it SOP to open visits from politicians with "This is all on the record and attributable." I expect…

John Key looked a lot more composed this morning on Firstline with a much more coherent sounding story (although still the same flimsy talking points as ever). Bill English is distancing himself (although I'm not sure he can really…

Not sure if Chris Trotter would agree that this is necessary – apparently it's to be expected and accepted, going by his column today:

__But the choice is not – with all due respect…

How many senior Nat party people are currently doing those sums, do you think?

If Collins doesn’t have a secret dirt file on her own leader,…

see the flaw in that piece of moral 'reasoning'?

I think Keir may have been trying to make an artful point, but I deleted the comment. It was unnecessary and inappropriate.

I feel kind of icky agreeing with Pete (sorry, Mr. George) but if our baseline is "not as bad as Whaleoil" that's a depressingly low bar you can clear…

Why shouldn't I confront any level of venality and vindictiveness? We should be prepared to confront dirt at any level, surely?

Russell's post is titled "We can do…

Endnote 40 (p 146) for Chapter 4 says: "Slater gave various stories to the journalist David Fisher in that period [early 2012] including the Labour Party data story. They later fell out when Fisher wrote…

Oh, Jesus... Could you take a moment and really think about what you…

Dismissing dirt as 'not as dirty as Slater' sets an awfully poor standard – especially alongside another post there today titled Left wing blogs aren’t “the same” – if they want to criticise some…

Sorry, Russell, but that’s bullshit. They choose to and I thought grown-ups were expected to be honest about, and accountable for, their actions in this sad and sorry world. At least, that sounds an…

Fixed it for you.

I too would love to hear John Key asked "Why haven't you read the book ?", and when he trots out the…

Maybe the moderators are busy but I've…

And that’s true as far as it goes, but these damn things don’t just magically appear Harry Potter-style. Not for the first time, I have to wonder if the media in this country is magically assembled by elves when everyone…

Better late than never but there's significant damage been done in the meantime. As far as enough goes, Ede should have already been dealt to publicly as well.

Anyway, yeah, I think Collins is heading for the exits, but I don’t know if that’s enough now.

Is that a bus I see coming?

I guess they were running out of colleagues who could pull that off. :)

Asked if it was OK for Collins to seek revenge on his behalf, he said he had not sought revenge. He had taken action over the accommodation issue five years ago, dropping his accommodation claim after public criticism.

It…

If English were simply unimpressed he’d have said something like “oh that’s a matter for Judith, I’m not going to…

he has only said that *he* wouldn't

I think it's reasonably significant. He makes it pretty clear Collins is Key's responsibility.

Me neither. But I certainly wouldn't say he's denouncing his colleagues who have.

Compared to what? It's less than murder, I suppose. But this is NZ, not Syria.

English said it was not his style to leak to Slater and he wouldn't do it.
"It's not a style I like," English said.

"I don't participate in it. I wouldn't do it – it's not…

Yes, I completely agree.

(Also, yes, I can't see English throwing civil servants under the bus.)

that would be grand, yes.

Not to her behaviour in being a judge without disclosing a direct conflict of interest by being a friend of one of the candidates. Nobody forces people to lower their ethical standards like that. Depression certainly doesn't.

Really can we actually do better than this?

Because I'm feeling down today, too many people I know with bad things happening, I guess I'm also feeling particularly cynical.

But it seems to me that we now have a country that shrugs its collective shoulders when yet another…

This is never going to happen. The Collins stuff is pretty weak and she has done the hard yards…

The judge who was responsible for that award was apparently Deborah Hill-Cone. It might only be relevant for sensitivity's sake, but she [[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11310184|has very recently written a piece about the…

Oh yes they can, Pete. They do every day of the week – a very long time ago,…

Hopefully.

Funny, isn't it, how some of us Pakeha look to Maori telly for 'decent' investigative journalism....and now, thanks to Media Take, commentary on the media itself.

I wonder why?

it's his blog.
stop trying to minimise things.