...many seem to think he has done a reasonable job to date...

Yes his spending habits needed scrutiny and addressing, but not in public.

His performance as a Minister and electorate MP is irrelevant, it's his continuing to divert public money to his own private benefit after repeat warnings, both…

He won the Whangarei electorate with 64% of the vote. Perhaps his approach to Fisheries and Housing is not to the liking of the left, but many seem to think he has done a reasonable…

They must also be "reasonable for the circumstances and able to withstand taxpayers' scrutiny".

So don't issue the damn credit cards in the first place, cause unless they're paying off the national debt (yes, on credit), that's not possible. Oh, guess that would be double dipping.

But documents issued yesterday show Mr Heatley was warned on several…

Trying to make sense of the story, Marty at Te Standard speculates that if Heatley had fessed up to general credit card misuse then Brownlee would have had to go as well.

Yeah, well I expect the Sub-Standardistias to get as thoroughly weird and paranoid about this as the most…

remarkable prescience

Given Heatley's dodgy relationship with the distinction between public and private spending had been in the news since last year – and that Key's office released the figures to the DominionPost – I'm sure the situation was hardly a surprise. Though Key's scramble back from Chch suggests the…

That's right, Sacha — nobody else is talking about any of these subjects, right? Also showed remarkable prescience of Heatley to lay the ground work for such an exquisite weapon of mass distraction.

No, not prescient, because while using the credit card was his choice, making a meal of it…

nobody else is talking about any of these subjects, right?

Not on the 6pm tv bulletins last night, no.

And didn't it work a treat on the tv news last night? Both channels. As if ACC changes, tax rises, unemployment, Canterbury water, mining national parks, education standards, RNZ funding, etc, weren't going on at all.

That's right, Sacha — nobody else is talking about any of these subjects, right?…

Of course nothing else of any significance is happening either here or overseas.

And didn't it work a treat on the tv news last night? Both channels. As if ACC changes, tax rises, unemployment, Canterbury water, mining national parks, education standards, RNZ funding, etc, weren't going on at all.

If you want some nice wine (more accurately, nice drug) with your dinner, fuckin fork out for it yourself.

I believe that's what his staff had been telling him for some time. Still, entitled masters of the universe like this current crop can be rather hard of hearing.

Must be…

It is a no-brainer to me that there is no public interest argument for any politician using a Ministerial credit card within a hundred miles of a party conference. None, Zip, Nada.

And yet here we are debating it. Screw the media. Off we go poppy hunting with a bazooka.…

I fail to understand why the taxpayer has to pay for any MP's booze.

If you want some nice wine (more accurately, nice drug) with your dinner, fuckin fork out for it yourself.

Jennifer@30 on Colin Espiner's blog, come on down:

How do you then justify McCully spending nearly $600,000 on overseas travel in calendar year 2009, or the corner Groser spending nearly…

Frankly, I couldnt care whether the minister chose a liquid meal...

What I want to know is how "Minister + spouse- dinner" (as shown on TV)…

In any case, the amount of money involved is a secondary issue. The primary issue is about "do as I say, not as I do", after making noises about pledge card overspending.

Well, Red, that's a legitimate point but I was thinking more about this. Both this government and the…

Also, "Why are so Many Christchurch Women Brutally Murdered?". My daughter read it and laughed, she thought it must be a joke.

The moment I spotted that cover, the words "uncovered meat" immediately sprang to mind.

us having some large prisons from which people get released into Chch no matter where they originated from.

Did it provide any proof that these releases added to the crime figures (i.e. "these murders were perpetrated by people recently released from the prisons around Christchurch"), or was it just something…

It'd cause much the same reaction from me as this week's Listener cover did

That was the "Why are Christchurch women dying" cover? Haven't read the article yet, but I presume it shows no proof in terms of statistical evidence that Christchurch women are more at risk of murder than…

Family is not a fair target

I'd add that lack of family is not a fair target either. I bet Helen Clark doesn't miss being snarked at because of her lack of descendants.

Still, Sir Roger's "entitlement" is the big Daddy of the lot.

Still, pretty epic judgement fail for a Minister of the Crown.

Just from the news story on stuff, it didn't seem like resign as minister material to me, but maybe they're looking to not give the opposition any traction.

yellow card, red card,
ya wouldn't credit it card
Plonkers plonk – $175
Road trip – $1000
Currying favour with your credit card...
Priceless!

When Phil tried to fudge his expenses
'coz just wine and no food dulls the senses
Key's first little scandal
Became too hot to handle
Now the minister's on the back benches

Phil is genuinely a nice guy and he doesn't deserve to be double bunking with Philip Field. Still, pretty epic judgement fail for a Minister of the…

I'm fairly sure that, in these troubled times, the bottle is the only answer.

Aha so that's why my 6 month old went off the breast. The news was getting him down.

2. get a case

3. what lucy said

4. the back benches

5. no becuase it's all a grand lefty conspiracy

The answer to number 2 is the bottle.
Showgirls is the answer to all other questions.

I'm fairly sure that, in these troubled times, the bottle is the only answer.

1: afternoons wouldn't change

None taken.

4: "I'm rich and you're not"
5: well there's Rodney but he's a little too into ballroom dancing, besides cabinet ministers pissing them selves is so, well, last administration

2. Tell them you're just pleased to see them.

3. Ummmm... a garden gnome? Oooh, no, this one, this one!

4. Sell shares in Cauldron Energy. Buy shares in Shell

5. See #1.

3. If you want to know, watch Lord of the Rings. There were nine of them.

5. Yes, and he lives on a volcano in the Hauraki Gulf.

3. Muzza as an Uruk-hai. If Hobbiton is a tourist attraction clearly our Minister of Tourism also wants to destroy valleys with deep pits in order to recreate the defiled Isengard and Mordor.

2. Showgirls is officially designated Auckland City's – Adjunct Consultative Centre for Administration of Transitional Authority. Watercare is paying your bill.

3. a 2nd hand Aleksei Stakhanov .

4. ''I'm going to Maui, where are you going?''

5. Anywhere in Epsom.

NSFW
http://www.showgirls.co.nz/

Edit – Showgirls is the answer to all questions.

2/ "Don't you know who I am?!" Ah, feck I love doing that.

3/ It…

2) The bottle. But only if I can claim it against some rent I pay to my family trust or something.

3) A pile of rubble.

4) "I don't want to go to Copenhagen." [My edit – I just reread the question. Duh.]

5) Surprisingly,…

1. Kwiblog who?

2. Either. Some guy said 'the drinks are on the house'.

3. Knock knock. 'Stat you bro?' No, it's Dr Pita Sharples, actually.

4. What Amy said.

5. Winston Peters.

You mean "yo mama"?

No, I mean "your mum". This is not America!

2. Glass. Bottle price may be over the audit threshold.

3. The subject of a previous, unsold statue.

4. "Eff off povo". Too easy.

5. You can't catch me out that easily.…

2: The lap dancers loins make it impossible for you to access your card but your not worried as Rodney said he'd put it all on his .

3: A-hole

4: Its code for wife and partner…

The answer to number 2 is the bottle.
Showgirls is the answer to all other questions.

Beautiful.

Q. How many politicians would it take to fill a bath tub with multi-coloured machine tools?

A. A chocolate fish.

Mauhauhauhau! Pictures, exclusively, @7.

5. Your mum.

You mean "yo mama"?

2 Lets get a crate

3” Nothing more to see here, move on”.

4 Same as "I off to skiing, don't contact me if there is an
earthwakes"

5 Don't we…

4. What does our Prime Minister mean when he says: ''I'm going to Maui, where are you going?''

It's spelt "Mau", and I assume you're selling pictures.

2. The bottle. Provided you don't live in Auckland.

3. Just like the guardians of Gondor. Key on one side of a previously unspoiled south-westland river. Muzza on the other.

4. b ... I assume.

5. Will the NZH notice, and launch an…