Posts by Kyle Matthews
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
But they've known it was coming for ages. Surely someone thought to go around the ex-ministers and say "what was the worst you put on your credit card?" One of many bottles of wine and dinners and hotels I can imagine wouldn't have come up.
Porn? Surely the first thing Goff is going to be saying to Jones is "what the fuck were you thinking and how the hell didn't I know it weeks ago"? That could have been managed 10 times better.
-
Just saw an advert for the very good Generation Kill miniseries, by the makers of The Wire. Coming soon. Well worth watching.
-
BTW, would it be unreasonable to suggest that any current or past Minister who thinks the coverage of their expenses is inaccurate or unbalanced has exactly the same recourse to the Press Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority as anyone else? No more, but certainly no less.
I suspect it would be a case of front page for the original story, minor retraction for the Press Council finding. Damage still largely done.
I'm surprised that Labour didn't get out in front of this. They must have known this was going to be released this week. Why weren't some ministers making releases a couple of weeks ago so that they could control the story better? This has been awfully played.
-
(Bear in mind I'm still not allowed to tell Kyle who won the Stanley Cup in 2009).
Always the funny with you!
Since I discovered iraqgoals.net, I actually saw the winning game live.
-
If they're racking up more than 10,000 per trip on daily expenses, then clearly they have a different idea or 'reasonable expenditure' than I do.
These cards aren't just for ministers. They'll often travel with staff. One card might be paying for three or more people in hotels, meals, some entertaining, taxis etc. That's going to get pretty high after a week or two. The idea that anyone should have to carry that on their personal card ain't realistic.
-
As you might expect, I think this is fairly reasonable.
My first reaction is "well I don't mind the taxpayer picking up the tab for all you to have dinner, and I don't mind there being some bottles of wine on the table for everyone to have a glass or two. But $120/bottle? That's a dinner that should top out at $800."
But I do realise that this is relatively small fry in the big scheme of things.
-
I know someone who just bought a Dunedin house with a GV of 660 which they got for 370. Needs some work, but still, overvalued much?
-
These card are administered by Ministerial Services, but the bill goes to the applicable ministry.
That's interesting, I presumed this was all paid for by ministerial services. What do they do if the travel is for two ministries? Or they are a minister for something that doesn't have a ministry? Does the same thing apply to ministerial housing etc - is that paid by their ministry?
Presumably ordinary MPs costs while travelling etc are covered by parliamentary services?
-
Cheers David, enjoyed your posts.
-
I think someone needs to hit back against the strong "OMG porn" element in the story.
The idea that MPs, like everyone else in the world, shouldn't enjoy what was presumably ordinary old porn movies while travelling but not having work to do, is a bit dated. Shane Jones is free to do whatever he likes in the evening when not working, as long as it's legal.
Yes the fact that the taxpayer was charged it is wrong. The chances of having a mature discussion in the media about porn, slim however.