Will serve as a wake-up call to naïve New Zealand media. 10 Nov 2017  -  The Washington Post piece claiming that the Jacinda Ardern – led coalition is a rightwing conspiracy will have the positive effect of persuading at last the legacy media in New Zealand to cease accepting anything in the Washington Post or in its attitudinal sister the New York Times as if their observations were holy-writ. The unquestioning devotion to these two dailies by the old media and by the New Zealand foreign service apparatus has only recently been demonstrated as a perilous path simply because it…

Fading of established church ushers in new druidic epoch believes Mediaeval era authority. Antiquity authority Gordon Strong points out that the current surge of accelerated ethical mass hysteria centred now on an extended Hollywood – Westminster axis amounts to nothing more than an electronic replication of such collective expressions of righteousness in ancient times. The main difference between such outbreaks in the pre-media age and the current version is that now it is an underclass seeking to diabolise a superior or over-class. In the current and resurgent trans-Atlantic outbreak this targeted superior strata is represented by those in power in…

Foes become best of enemies sharing the applied Utu of the United States entertainment industry. Question. What do the National Party and Kim Dotcom have in common apart from both being domiciled in New Zealand, and both being each other’s nemesis? Answer. They are both targets of the entertainment industry’s determination to demonstrate the power and the long reach of its copyright enforcement. Kim Dotcom was arraigned in New Zealand at the behest of the United States entertainment industry on the grounds that his gigantic computerised transit warehouse was being used to handle US entertainment products. The National Party was…

Now the fun begins on US late night talk shows. For the National Party, trouble does not travel alone. The Eminem verdict against the National Party gives United States late-night talk show hosts still another opportunity to immerse themselves in the New Zealand broadcasting argot in which for example there is the fush und chups cuisine the Puntucth camera along with the rapper himself described here as Im’n’im. The use of the track in the 2014 campaign was though no joke for the copyright holders of the riff who lawyered up the moment they heard the National Party election version…

DIY defeat in which Blindness to symbols blended with analysis-induced paralysis. Political buffs everywhere will refer to the fall in 2017 of the National Government as an example of how flourishing terms of trade and other positive economic indicators are insufficient to compensate for a failure to quickly get on top of emotive domestic issues. The National Government fell through becoming paralysed by its own over-analysis. It could never get a clear vision of its overriding objective which was to stop its older adherents bolting to Winston Peters and his New Zealand First alternative party. Similarly, National had to lock…

Victim of Zavos Syndrome New Zealand’s National Party slipped into reverse gear after winning its third mandate, one in which it did not require even any coalitions such was the scope of its victory. The hand on this reverse gear was none other than prime minister John Key whose touch until then had been considered so sure that nobody questioned his judgment. The first sign of this new and uncertain touch was Mr Key’s personal campaign to install a revised version of the New Zealand flag. This had the effect off peeling off National Party adherents of the type that…

Locals had been led to believe Baywa AG was expanding Hawkes Bay apple juice company T&G Foods faces an uncertain future as the owner the gigantic Munich trading house Baywa AG tries to sell it into an unreceptive market Local fabricators had tooled up anticipating the expansion of the old Turners & Growers business and now they find themselves contemplating the possibility that the business, big by New Zealand standards, but tiny by Baywa’s might simply shut its doors. Several years ago that The Munich-based company BayWa AG acquired over 100 per cent of the third largest apple producer in…

Labour Party Grandees Considered to have a Matchmaking role The long duration of the New Zealand government’s post general election coalition negotiations indicate that the New Zealand First Party minority but tie-breaking faction will coalesce with the Labour Party. The main reason is that New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters MP, the one who unilaterally calls the shots, has two key policies that blend with Labour’s. They are:- New Zealand First’s immigration policy which amounts to cutting back intakes only to those with essential skills. The re-entry to the abandoned Pike River mine which entombs the bodies of the brave…

Cloture regime must be imposed to stop endless coalition “negotiations” Several weeks after its general election New Zealand remains rudderless under what is now officially described as a “caretaker” government. A minority party, New Zealand First, will dictate the makeup of the government that will eventually take power. The impression internationally is of an unstable nation, more of a Latin one than a Westminster one. There is in existence no statute defining for example the limit of the post-election coalition deliberation duration. There is for example no statute which promulgates an incentive to an early conclusion of negotiations such as…

Many believe that New Zealand’s Hollywood suburb Miramar, is in fact Miramax   Beleaguered show business mogul Harvey Weinstein remains the foreigner whose influence detonated the most extraordinary and unexpected New Zealand commercial development of the last century. The film industry Lugubrious, ponderous, quick tempered, and impulsive, it was Mr Weinstein who backed the film that launched the third, and ultimately successful wave of New Zealand film making. This was The Piano with its all -star global cast and subsequent global take up. So successful was it that Mr Weinstein was to use the piano theme again, in Beautiful Girls.…

Victoria University – Chicago Survey still remains the last word We are told by former prime minister Jim Bolger among select others that what Winston Peters MP really wants is “respect.” Yet what precisely is respect these days and who exactly has it? One thing is obvious and it is that the Right Honourable Winston Peters MP PC does not believe that he has enough of it. Otherwise he would not be so actively seeking more of this elusive commodity. Our starting point to putting flesh on the bones of the elusive respect is what became known as the “Congalton”…