Misa's broader point stands – that Bennett has traded on…

She might not have connected with her Maori side until then but the statements in:

She'd been determined to reject that "victim stuff", to not be that "poor, uneducated Maori…

Are we reading different articles?

Could you tell me WTF Bennett's supposed racial authenticity (as determined by the melanin and estrogen-light columns of the Herald) have to do with anything? And if Ms. Misa thinks nice 'middle-class' homes are automatically relaxed with teen pregnancy, I've got a bridge to sell…

So, STFU you class and race traitor?

Are we reading different articles?

Bennett didn't connect with her Maori side till university. She was the rebellious but indulged only daughter of a comfortable "middle New Zealand" family (dad had owned his own business, mum was a librarian). She didn't lack self-belief; her family…

PM announces House of Lords. Comments worth a look too.

Hum... won't hold my breath waiting for Phil Twyford to get tapped on the shoulder for services to comedy...

Er, Hunt was Speaker of the House; in the UK, that's pretty much an automatic peerage

Seems to be the case here, too...
...past Speakers are a BeKnighted lot!
aside from Margaret Wilson who got the new Knight-Lite DCNZM – ain't nothin' like a Dame!…

Yep, bugger the mothers. Unpaid, 24 hour…

Knight him by all means. Just don't give him an honour…

Make him a Sir, but one of a group of only twenty living New Zealanders? Please.

Well, it isn't that daft. Speaker is up with G-G, PM, Chief Justice. It's not undistinguished, which was your assertion. I do think it was a bit over the top, but it isn't much.

I understand there are all sorts of reasons why people might choose to accept or reject a title. Sadly I'm confident that…

Isn't the line supposed to be that they recognise service to the community?

Indeed and thanks David. I've supported two honours. Both individuals are remarkable for their commitment to community development. One, a 68 year old man remains one of the most inspring individuals I know.

Sacha, I'm not sure…

I tried to work out what Sir Michael Fay was knighted for.

Wikipedia also had very little to say about what three-term Labour MP Margaret Shields did for her soon-to-be Damehood.

or doing the same thing again when it didn't work for you the first time

Mind you when does that count as persistence?

I think you're overlooking the word "or" Graeme – it's achievement or service.

Sure, but not community service. Service to the Crown or Nation. Community Service is the QSO/QSM.

Isn't the line supposed to be that they recognise service to the community?

No. That's the Queen's Service Order.

The New Zealand Order of Merit (the one which comes with the Knighthoods at its upper levels) is:

__"for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service…

Somewhat ridiculous when professional athletes and businesspeople get recognised for merely doing their jobs, rather than for contributing above and beyond…

Isn't the line supposed to be that they recognise service to the community?

a sirtainty

Brilliant.

REFUSED NEW TITLE:

* Sir Ivor Lloyd Richardson, judge
* Dame Silvia Rose Cartwright, former Governor-General
Leonard Ramsey Castle, potter
Witi Ihimaera-Smiler, novelist
Sam Neill, actor
Vincent O'Sullivan, writer and poet
Ranginui Walker, academic, writer
Joy Cowley, writer
Patricia Grace, novelist
Sister Patricia Mary Hook, community worker
Penelope Ann Jamieson,…

the whole system is set up to make you feel guilty and unworthy as a human being

Quite. Seems the only folk who feel they deserve an ongoing sense of entitlement are long-in-the-tooth politicians.

There is a hierarchy of benefits with the DPB at the bottom.

What, worse than the in-valid one? How hard could it really have been to change that name over the last decade.

I'm trying to recall if the beneficiary-bashing was as prevalent or as vehement in the early 1990s.

David, you obviously weren't on the DPB then. There has always been beneficiary bashing, particularly of DPB recipients.Some of us remember Bert Walker, the ungenerous and sexist Minister of Social Welfare in the…

Sorry man, no can do. I don't do that shit any more.

'Stimulus', 'party' or 'big'?

Enquiring minds and all...

we can all have a big 'stimulus' party

Sorry man, no can do. I don't do that shit any more.

I think his departure from the scene will be good for the economy. Both in that he won't have his hands anywhere near it, and we can all have a big 'stimulus' party.

But will that party be bigger than the ongoing cost of replacing all those TVs?

That's GDP,…

So you'e saying that Douglas' knighthood is good for the economy then?

I think his departure from the scene will be good for the economy. Both in that he won't have his hands anywhere near it, and we can all have a big 'stimulus' party.

Roger Douglas I think we can justify simply on the basis of the number of televisions that will not have solid objects thrown at them, let alone any wider social benefit.

So you'e saying that Douglas' knighthood is good for the economy then?

Roger Douglas I think we can justify simply on the basis of the number of televisions that will not have solid objects thrown at…

Someone compile a list of likely suspects and everyone gets three knives... er I mean votes.

Sir Michael Fay
Sir William Birch
Sir Robert Muldoon (do the deceased count?)

You might well need to assent of the Sovereign before it passes...

So we get rid of her too. She can take her prerogatives back to England where they belong.

The fact that everybody is entitled to accomodation supplement, tax credits, plus the $60 in work payment if you work 20hrs (single) or 30 hrs (partnered)? And that DPBers are required to work 15 hours a week – that income

Not quite. Only those who are not on benefits get…

Any chance of adding Michael Fay to your Bill?

No no no. No adding personal "favourites".

Someone compile a list of likely suspects and everyone gets three knives... er I mean votes.

(I wonder if I can draft a member's bill for that...?)

Any chance of adding Michael Fay to your Bill?

(I wonder if I can draft a member's bill for that...?)

You might well need to assent of the Sovereign before it passes...

You want to lay off Rodney's hero – he might do more than publicise your benefits.

'S cool. I've long been resigned to the fact that I don't stand a chance of ever getting a job in a privatised prison.

Yesterday's man, who never quite marched in step with the times.

The fact that he's (I agree Danielle) an arsehole who should be run out of the country by a random selection of people that he's screwed over the years, doesn't mean he's not entitled to be an arsehole in this particular regard.

Does anyone else wonder how this man retains…

There is a good argument for not granting knighthoods with out requiring a medical check. The man has lost his marbles.

There is a good argument for revoking Douglas's knighthood entirely. The man is a criminal, not a hero.

(I wonder if I can draft a member's bill for that...?)

. . . should be run out of the country by a random selection of people that he's screwed over the years . . .

There's a few he didn't screw, though not for want of trying. For example, the manager of his failed pig farm, who testified at the…

And yes Graeme is right, I'm bitching about the old scheme and calling it the current one. I couldn't tell you what the current one entails I hate the old one from when I heard about it as a kid so much

David Farrar had an explanation. Basically it's now…

Additionally, Craig, I really fuckin' hate that guy. So there's that. :)

I'd never have guessed, you cold blooded Vulcan you. :)

I can, because his whole political raison d'etre is privatise, cut government spending, blahdeblah. You'd think as a matter of principle he'd want to put his money where his mouth is.

I think he views it as part of his pension. Rightly or wrongly (I'm going to come down on…

The ongoing free air travel is a horrendous benefit for doing a job for... 9 years I think. Douglas is just doing what many other ex-MPs do, he's just got called on it because he happens to be a current MP.

I can't get up in arms about Douglas, but…

Oh, balls.

Additionally, Craig, I really fuckin' hate that guy. So there's that. :)

...justification for spouses traveling on the public purse

I still remember the manager at The Bondi Lifesaver (in Sydney, natch!) telling the band that their girlfriends/partners couldn't be put on the door list because : **"Get real, this is a job sonny, you don't take your wife…

I can, because his whole political raison d'etre is privatise, cut government spending, blahdeblah. You'd think as a matter of principle he'd want to put his money where his mouth is.

Oh, balls. As Kyle pointed out, there are plenty of current and former MPs who were quite happy to…

I can't get up in arms about Douglas

I can, because his whole political raison d'etre is privatise, cut government spending, blahdeblah. You'd think as a matter of principle he'd want to put his money where his mouth is.

The ongoing free air travel is a horrendous benefit for doing a job for... 9 years I think. Douglas is just doing what many other ex-MPs do, he's just got called on it because he happens…

Do these people just overlook the fact that ...

Yes Kerry, sadly, I think a great many of those who would criticise those two women do just overlook those facts — even when they are personally in receipt of the very benefits you listed.

Lord forbid any talkback host would…

I'm surprised he hasn't demanded the ius primae noctis yet.

Whatever his excesses, Douglas never really had a reputation as a trouser man, though there's a subsection of the blogosphere who constantly wax homoerotic at the mention of his name. He's shown a certain restraint by not demanding ownership of…

And I still can't believe Roger Douglas using words like "entitlement" and "right" when it comes to getting to taxpayer to pay for his holidays! How can he be serious?

Bear in mind he does fancy himself to be the saviour of the country. I'm surprised he hasn't demanded the…

And I still can't…

I watched Douglas and Harawera defend their expenses on One last night and was disgusted at their arrogance and sense of entitlement when their political parties and half the country seems to be vilifying the two solo mums for getting the benefits they were entitled to.

And MP's don't actually…

I have never understood this particular perk in perpetuity (90% of all overseas travel expenses for life!!), and see no reason for it to continue.

I imagine there's some impediment of legal principle that makes it difficult to scrap this. Okay then, how about a campaign to get all those…

climbing the social ladder then taking the ladder with them.

The fundamental delusion is that they built the ladder themselves with their own "hard work" so of course it's theirs to take.

Wasn't already leaning against that wall behind the gate, your honour. Daddy never gave me the key, and…

Hypocrisy to the power of 1E6.

Has Internet Explorer assumed moral proportions now? Sorry, couldn't resist.

I seem to recall dobbing-in being fairly common in the 90s.

It's still common – the 0800 dob in a bennie line is listed in the phone book – one can call anonymously. The Benefit Fraud Squad is a pretty scary outfit – you're guilty until you can prove yourself…

As I previously mentioned, climbing the social ladder then taking the ladder with them.

Hah! That's quite priceless.

Not that it has ever been vaunted in talkbackland..

Lawhs yesterday was diabolical over the hair extensions – one of her ex-neighbours called to declare that "she thought she was better than us" and Lawhs nearly wet himself with excitement that this guy might have some real dirt ... I…

There is a good argument for not granting knighthoods with out requiring a medical check. The man has lost his marbles.

Like "Sir" Robert Muldoon, Douglas, and "Sir" Geoffrey Palmer, effectively knighted themselves when it was in their power to do so.

Steven, that is one of the most depressing things I've ever heard. I wonder what percentage of our population consists of disgusting busybody weasels?

I seem to recall dobbing-in being fairly common in the 90s.

I had a bizarre situation where an acquaintance who played in a band and was…

Somebody dob me in.

Steven, that is one of the most depressing things I've ever heard. I wonder what percentage of our population consists of disgusting busybody weasels?

This whole week has left me rather despairing. It seems as though as a country we've lost the ability to even pay…

There is nothing more "smarmier" than a right of centre self-made man/woman who then enters parliament a la John Banks, Paula Bennett and…

I wrote about it here at the time. The idea was to morally contract all parents via the law (and even stipulate that they must love their children), but the only proposed sanction was the withdrawal of benefits.

The most notable…

The media can be a pretty vicious thing when one gets into the middle of it, and I suppose those women are seeing that now in quite how it has been.

Um, is it me, or does this essentially translate as: 'I taught these women what it's like to be…

What the UK MPs found (and I hope ours will find the same) is…

Why it should be surprising that the Leader of the Opposition has the greatest expenses of any non-Minister, I don't know*.

Also, why every headline and associated photo was of Goff and not McCully.

*rhetorically speaking

Why is every news outlet reporting that Goff topped the list of MPs' expenses? As far as I can tell, this is not true. Anyone got a link to the actual data?

Here's the ministerial one.

Here's MPs.

Phil Goff is the most expensive MP because MP and Ministerial have…

__Here she comes, here she comes,
Here…

Taxes

Socialist!

But why out the other women for not living out of dumpsters?

Because it works, apparently.

And another piece of the jigsaw, from yesterday's Question Time:

Hon Annette King

What was the “lesson” that the Minister…

Do's anyone remember the dob in a dodgy dole bludger campaign that ran on the TV around ten years ago?

No I don't, as I was elsewhere. Can you provide a wee bit more info please?

But how do I make money out of you being a citizen?

Taxes.
;-)

Fuck them. Why can't I just be a good citizen?

Sacha kinda beat me to it. What I was going to say was,
"cos the bad citizens will take advantage of you're goodness"

The web was also nicer before it filled up with people who consider a web site pointless if it can't be monetised. The unhappy legacy of economic rationalism has been the attitude that all actions are transactions.

Fuck them. Why can't I just be a good citizen?

In retaliation – there is no more appropriate description – Ms Bennett obtained the totality of the women's benefits, including their child support, from staff in her office and made the information public, without the…

Tony Parker – you're teaching in my home town. I'm an ex-Colenso pupil from waaay back. Always read your posts with interest.

I'm putting some thought into TC as a post-grad option and teaching history or english/media studies maybe – and a sideways jump into art if I can. The…

I'm putting some thought into TC as a post-grad option and teaching history or english/media studies maybe – and a sideways jump into art if I can. The…

With equal and apposite reactionaries..

Sacha, it was the thread that wouldn't die that actually prompted me to take the new media paper

Thats my learning style, for which I was in the minority.

There should be room for any/many learning styles. My son, 16, hasn't been to a secondary school at all, he's enrolled at one but does work by correspondence. He prefers to work in booklets, but does writing on Word…

Are we headed for the kind of system the Japanese are moving away from?

Not sure about Japan but the Brits have found that setting standards and all that went with hasn't worked and are moving away from it. Means nothing to Tolley though. My concern is what is further…

and THAT is the iniquity- thinking of joy-begot goods…

And poetry/art are *despised* in this country – unless they bring in money-

The web was also nicer before it filled up with people who consider a web site pointless if it can't be monetised. The unhappy legacy of economic rationalism has been the attitude that all actions are transactions.…

Sure you can't eat it remotely.

yeah, but!! you can't touch it, smell it, play with it ... all those tactile responses that are soooo important. I couldn't paint without slurping my fingers in it, whiffing up the pungent scent of turps and oils ...it's a vital part of it.…

Its just like poetry Kerry – i can (I know! I've done it frequently!)…

the slid projectors from the old school history lectures, will they end up as found objects art in the future. I know they will, but who will be the attending audiences? art history students?

media history students??

I listened to Bryan Crump talking to Emma Someone, curator of Artspace, last…

you CANNOT LEARN FOOD

Sure you can't eat it remotely. However, this Campbell Live story on creating a sunday roast was both instructive and entertaining – and who knew Hamish Keith had that string to his bow?

the whole body language thing that is lost online

Not with decent broadband that supports high resolution real-time video rather than just typed text. Maurice Williamson still has a lot to answer for that we are so far behind.

You can learn recipes – but you CANNOT LEARN FOOD.

Thought we'd get a whole post in CAPS from you, Islander...heehee.

Same with practical art – I learnt alongside practising…

Back to online learning for a moment, it seems there's meaningful consideration given to what can and should be learned online, not just an faddish, cost-saving approach (and often the cost savings aren't great). People in my line talk…

No could someone explain what that means... that in the future we'll all be laughing at postmodernists... how long do I have to wait?

Bearing in mind that Hayles is far from dismissive of Postmodenism overall, I think the future she describes in relation to that particular contention of hers…

future generations will be stupified by "the postmodern orthodoxy that the body is primarily, if not entirely, a linguistic and discursive construction

No could someone explain what that means... that in the future we'll all be laughing at postmodernists... how long do I have to wait?

I can understand all the above if you want to be an academic or a critic- but – screaming again

ART IS PRACTISE
and you cant be a good teacher of art unless you've been there & done that-

may I add cooks into the broth?

Thats a bit like decaffeinated coffee, why would anyone sign up for that?

I think the extramural enrolments outnumber the internals already. A lot of history papers are extramural, some exclusively, and plenty of English papers are extramural now. Better interactive online forums make it more viable – and 2-3…

that's my kinda thinking! Thanks for the antidote.

My poor old brain struggles to encompass it and I constantly critique it for loss of necessary human ways of being.

May I suggest hitting these people on the head with Katherine Hayles' How We Became Posthuman? The hardcover edition has really sharp corners.

I'd point out all the limitations and caveats if it weren't for my reliance on regular paychecks.

Heh. Don't mind me, I've come under the influence of New Media evangelists this semester – it's like Mark Harris on steroids – all this talk of clouds processing, cyborgs etc. My poor…

And perhaps my comments better reflect what's happening in Australia. I've got a kid about to start school, a good public school, but I…

Wee closed shop there e Kerry-

yeah, I think you might be right about that. And from what a lecturer was saying the other day, Massey is looking to ramp up the online extramural thing. maybe ditch actual internal classes (for Arts papers) in the not-too-distant?

Do you think there will be a substantial move to on-line learning? Seems quite a sensible idea to me (glories of new media etc), but I figure that won't go down too well with those who view schools as glorified holding pens.

The federal Australian government is certainly working towards…

when I started my degree I was planning on doing the post grad journo year, with an eye on sub-editing

Pity. The Herald could use a sub-editor. Or at least someone to tell them that [[when I started my degree I was planning on doing the post grad journo year,…

All these enrichment programs are victims to the back-to-basics drive of the last few years (in NZ and elsewhere).

Paul I don't entirely agree with this with regards to NZ education. I would say the back to basics drive here started as soon as National were voted in and they…

Despite loud noises by the outgone prez of NZSA, the Authors' Lending Fund is still below what it was 2 years ago...

books DO bring people & $$$ to ANZ! As art does!
It's not anywhere as large or spectacular…

All these enrichment programs are victims to the back-to-basics drive of the last few years (in NZ and elsewhere). It's what I meant when, in response to Paul Litterick, I said "residualised" public sector. The schools of last resort.

Do you think there will be a substantial move to on-line…

And one more thing they've ditched in education: Artists in Schools

My sister, who's a high school art teacher, is working hard on a campaign to save this.

Bennett meant this to happen, she meant to discredit, she must have known . . .

Well yes, assuming that Bennett's her own woman. I don't believe that's the case, any more than Brash as leader was his own man. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume…

Thanks David. How'd you arrive at that page?

Don't know about him, but I make heavy use of the sidebar. Click on "questions for oral answer" in the frontpage "Quick Links", which takes you to the list, then click on it again (either at the top of the page, or…

What sickens me is PB claiming regret at the backlash. PB and the rest of her kind know very well that women on the DPB are the witches of our age, easy targets for anyone with a gutful of bitterness.

Well put Kerry. Bennett meant this to happen, she meant…

I think that the response of a proportion of the population cannot be characterised as anything other than "why aren't those beneficiaries suffering? How dare they live decent lives?".

Spot on. Reminds me of Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning, talking about his father's attitude to Blacks: "If I'm not better…

Bennett says:

As I have said numerous times, I certainly did look at those ministerial guidelines. I made a judgment call based on them, and I am quite willing to stand by that.

She will indeed. Or fall of course. Whereas yesterday…

But we don't want imaginative, independent, associative thinkers, do we?

Now did anyone listen to Question Time to hear what the Minister said about her access to the SWIFTT database?

Nope – had a busy day. but it should be up on the website soon.

I would also like to know how many students with special needs are educated privately.

I don't have any data, just know that my niece goes to a private (pre) school for this reason, and she isn't the only one.

I am lost. Somebody tell me the right answer.

My answer:
Total: Public students receive ~4x the amount of money Private students do
"Operational funding": Private students receive ~10% more money than Public

__- There is some concern over whether the respective "operational funding" buckets are directly comparable
– This…

well you know it's a private boys school trying to hard to be am English Public School – that's its 'special character'

Ooooh Ooooh can I be a consultant.....

Even if supporting private schools represents a saving for the Government (which I still doubt) the schools must also be supported by parents through fees; of course only a small proportion of parents can afford those fees; so it is a subsidy for the rich.

Agreed, it's a cost shift.…

I am lost. Somebody tell me the right answer.

I thought Graeme had done that on the basis of the data he's reviewed i.e. that the increase for private schools while substantial, doesn't mean per pupil funding for private schools is anything like it is for public.

He (and I)…

And yet I know of one recent case locally of a private school trying to drive out kids with special needs, largely I think because they feel they will be targets for bullying

Cart. Horse. WTF?
That's up there with the…

Make that 11.7% state-integrated, and $19.30 public funding of private schools.

What is the funding per student? Of course state schools will get more than private, because there are many more students in public education.

To know the funding per student, you need to know the numbers of students. I don't.

But you don't need to know the number of students…

Apples and pears. What is the funding per student? Of course state schools will get more than private, because there are many more students in public education.

Yes and students in public schools receive funding for more than operational expenses.

I don't know the answer to your question Paul, however…

(I'll take a different line to Graeme and suggest operational funding for each may be the same things across both (given that it's a pretty specific…

I think that the response of a proportion of the population cannot be characterised as anything other than "why aren't those beneficiaries suffering?…

it was $36.8m in 1999.

Hang on a bit there Graeme – those numbers are 2008 – given the budget boost stated, private school funding has doubled.

Certainly. Still a fair way short of three times, however. I believe it just caught them up with inflation, after the funding was run down over the nine…

From the Herald article "Jury retires in Phillip Field case:
Field has been remanded in custody while the jury deliberates.

It's the Herald, need I say more?
Sounds much more betterer than "Field waits for verdict in comfy chair" I'm surprised the "reporter" didn't ask why we don't have younger…