Posts by simon g
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Hard News: Dirty Politics, in reply to Alfie,
Just like Mark Mitchell, whose non-action was featured prominently on Stuff. Taken at face value, for no good reason.
How stubbornly impervious to understanding does a journalist (editor?) have to be, not to grasp when they are being played, when the playing manual has just been published for them to read in bite-sized chunks? Mitchell will "consider" legal action ... which means nothing. At all. He is running down the clock, an old and predictable tactic.
I despair, I really do. They might as well be wearing T-shirts saying "See what I did there?".
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"Mr Key's personal popularity is up 3 points to 67.8 per cent."
I hereby retract all comments I made during the Presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, all smug and mocking, along the lines of "Only in America ..."
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When considering polls, I think it's a useful exercise to compare current predictions with past performance.
At the same stage of the last election campaign, a Herald DigiPoll had National 7% higher than the 47% they got in the election.
To be fair, they weren't alone in overestimating National's support (and often, Labour's too). Every single published poll in 2011 - yes, all of them - said that National would be able to govern alone. They couldn't.
Polls are useful guides, but they are only as good as the reporting of them - which usually leaves a lot to be desired. For example, see tomorrow's Herald (sadly, their form is such that I can confidently say this before Friday's edition is even published).
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Hard News: Never mind the quality ..., in reply to Russell Brown,
Plunket has apologised to Gower on air this morning. Says he "was out of line".
"I then questioned him about [false claims] live on air without having any evidence whatsoever to support the claims. These claims were based on comments from listeners that I did not check and I have since discovered there is no basis for the claims."
Talkback listener makes false allegations, which are not checked, but repeated - by a guy who cheerfully slags off Nicky Hager for not providing evidence. Yes, it's pretty clear who has the higher professional standards here.
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He launched a personal assault with what I believed were threats of violence and created an atmosphere in which I was personally and professionally denigrated. Those who post comments on his website made awful slurs. It is as horrible an online environment as you will find anywhere.
Among the slurs were claims my behaviour showed I was suffering withdrawal symptoms associated with alcohol and drug addiction.
The Key/Farrar line (both use the same phrase repeatedly, surely no coincidence) is to describe Slater as "a force of nature". To Radio Live and Newstalk ZB, he is merely a political commentator, a regular guest.
How did we sink so low?
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Every 3 years there's a repeated ritual in NZ elections: the minor party lists are ignored before polling day, and then afterwards the media are all amazed to discover that Larry Baldock or David Garrett or Brendan Horan is now an MP.
Given the events of recent days, I reckon it's time to check out list numbers 5 + for Internet-Mana, and into double figures for NZ First. They're likely to be a lot more relevant than Jamie Whyte, who gets in the news every day, even though he'll disappear in a puff of yellow smoke on Sept 21.
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Hard News: Never mind the quality ..., in reply to Pete George,
I think this sums it up pretty well:
I won’t be told what to do by anyone.
and
I am happy to swear under oath what happened
Feel free to take Slater - or anyone else - at their word, that's your prerogative, but don't expect the rest of us to fall into line.
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I'm usually no fan of Newstalk ZB, but they're really doing their job on this one:
Newstalk ZB also has Ombudsmen correspondence, between its office and the SIS, relating to release of information regarding the matter. It clearly states Dr Tucker had a discussion with the Prime Minister.
What next? Tucker and Key both claim memory lapse?
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So if we take both Key and Tucker at face value (which I don't), then the nation's security and intelligence services have been overseen by a Minister who doesn't want to know and a Director who can't write.
Don't tell the enemy ...
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Both Newstalk ZB and Morning Report (RNZ) have today reported a direct contradiction between Warren Tucker and John Key. Tucker says he told the PM about Slater's OIA, Key says he didn't.
Until now, I've felt that Key (and Collins) could ride this out, albeit clumsily. But if this latest story is true, then he really is in trouble.
Edit: link to the document on Twitter -