Oh wow! In case you missed it, there are reports circulating that Mark Osbourne presided over $700,000 worth of losses in his role as general manager of the Te Ahu centre.
I thought National was supposed to be the party of business expertise and financial competency?
Fourteen million dollars of ratepayer money went into funding the centre. Under Osbourne, it’s lost five percent of that straight up. That’s running-into-the-ground territory.
And what does Osbourne have to say for himself when asked to front up and explain to Northlanders whee their money’s gone?
Apparently, that National candidates shouldn’t be interviewed before by-elections.
Given his abominable performance on Q&A on Sunday, this gagging shouldn’t come as any surprise.
But seriously. Between this and Mark Sabin’s alleged offending (which by now pretty much everyone seems to know about one way or another), I’m left open-mouthed and asking the quite pertinent question … with all these skeletons dancing out of each man’s closet, WHO THE BLOODY HELL IS IN CHARGE OF THE VETTING PROCESS FOR NATIONAL’S NORTHLAND CANDIDATES?!
All of this is, of course, going to do absolutely no harm whatsoever to Winston’s chances.
As a result, i’m in the hella-weird position of agreeing totally with Patrick Gower’s analysis.
So get out there and LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN!
Looks like ‘bullet head’ Marko is a not smarter than he looks….!!!
Don’t want to be mean………….. Yes I do, time to stick it to bloody National….We’ve had a gut full of there crap. Bloated wasters same old same old.
I know this is trivial, but does no-one in NZ know the difference between ‘their’ and ‘there’?
It’s called “whole language”Dennis. An education language teaching philosophy/technique developed in NZ by one Dame Marie Clay. It revolutionized the teaching of English in NZ and it doesn’t work and has led to several generations who have been told that grammar and spelling don’t matter when teaching English. It is the cornerstone of the dumbing down of our population.It is to the teaching of English what neo liberal economics is to the stability and sustainability of our societies.If people cannot read and write properly they cannot comprehend and cannot understand the machinations of their masters. Historical example of the value of reading our language being the revolution in reading and human development brought on by the printing press etc etc.
Actually, it’s no one on the internet knows the difference. You also forgot “they’re” which is also almost always spelled “there”. Netizens just spell words phonetically nowadays, relying entirely on spellcheckers to have save them. Unfortunately, “their”, “there” and “they’re” are all spelled correctly but don’t mean the same thing.
“Your”, more than than not used in place of “you’re”, is another one.
Aye we doth speakath th’ goodlie Englishe to wicth we is knowne fore.
Doth is 3rd person singular, Katipo, It goeth with he, she, or it, but not with we.
Not anymore, Dennis. I was horrified to learn that my kids don’t even get taught the difference between a noun, a verb and an adjective anymore — or so they tell me. I guess it doesn’t matter when you’ve got a fancy iPad or smartphone to do all your spelling and grammar for you.
Yes that’s right. I had to learn it all from scratch when I had to start teaching EFL (English as a Foreign Language). I vaguely knew what a noun and verb were, but otherwise I didn’t have a clue!
Sorry Dennis, I do (sometimes)……..But feel it is a left over from Colonial pedantic-ness …………. I know a lot of people say write the queens english but I’m not a fan of her or that whole set up. Some people would say I should get a chip to put on the other shoulder for balance and their/there probably right…….
But not “they’re?”
“.But feel it is a left over from Colonial pedantic-ness ”
The Americans are heavily into to this pedantic-ness – and they barely speak English as we know it…;-)
What about “they’re” Dennis? I use Alan Cooper’s Homonyms (or is it Homophones?)
Alan Cooper’s Homonyms
From The Standard?
ghostwhowalksnz 6
24 March 2015 at 5:33 pm
Looking at the figures for the Trust, its not really a cash flow problem.
Depreciation is their biggest expense. In 2013 they got a $300,000 council payment which they dont get this year. Not sure why.
Plus the Board of Trustees looks like a good mix of local worthies so I cant see anything wrong there.
Osbourne isnt included , his job seemed to be only oversight of the building stage for the council ( his employer).
Theres is not really a problem in the running of the centre, which Osbourne isnt connected to anyway.
The building phase maybe the place to look for Osbournes role and effects of his oversight
R A
It seems disingenuous to quote that one comment on TS (from a hard right spinner), but not provide a link to the post itself:
http://thestandard.org.nz/osborne-dodging-questions-over-review/
Nor the commenters who could be bothered to reply to gwwnz:
R A
It seems disingenuous to quote that one comment on TS (from a hard right spinner), but not provide a link to the post itself:
Sorry M8 thought you would be able to find it, + i tried to add a link but failed (
I don’t give a rats arse if these guys are right left or whatever, it just sounded like a good point.
I think I’m on record for saying EVERY politician is a liar.
Winston was doing it this morning, when he praised Kiwi Saver.
Basing it on the adage of “In politics, appearance is everything”, which National delighted in while the media crucified Cunliffe over nothing at all, then it seems highly likely that their chickens are coming home not only to roost, but to smear their names in shit all over the walls and shout “I’m a dirty birdy!”
Refusing to allow National candidates to be interviewed before the by-election, while facing a new scandal, reeks of fear. This looks bad for them, and it doesn’t matter if it comes from The Standard- Cunliffe’s whipping came predominantly from the NZH, after all, which has its own poor reputation for overt partisanship. Middle NZ won’t be fussing over who first told the story – They’ll be muttering under their breaths about whether they’d want him at their bbq, given that apparently that is the basis for choosing National MP’s these days.
Complacency. The Nats will pay the price for complacency .
They viewed Northland as a holiday rest home for under motivated MP’S.
Like a run down , off – season camping ground where the manager rises sleepily at 10.00 am,….see’s the lawn needs mowing and lazily goes back to bed for ‘ just another five minutes ‘…
Now juxtapose this with an energetic , seasoned campaigner ….who isn’t afraid to muck in and get amongst the ruck and maul , who relishes speaking out, who is a son of the North…..
This no namer Osbourne soon becomes apparent as a poor second choice.
Vote Winston for Northland.
I voted on Sunday. I think most of the locals up here have figured out National don’t really care about Northland, and although Willow-Jean Prime may be a prime candidate who really cares, she can’t take the seat of National. Winston is about the only politician who could pull that off in this old grey conservative seat.
Northland is a funny place. This community is so divided you can almost see the fence lines. You have Maori on the Maori roll, and on the general roll an ageing population who own most of the property and business. They’ve done rather well off National’s tax cuts, they vote in their best interests.
I’ve heard some truly horrible racist things come out of the mouths of these old white folk, and a fair bit out of the mouths of younger white folk up here too. The racism is so thick you could spread it on your toast every morning. I think this is why Winston may be the man to take the seat off National.
Winston should win if smaller parties don’t spoil it , Labour step back your turn will come, but not if you don’t use strategy missing in last election,if you take votes that could put Winston over the line you will be very unpopular to Northlanders.
As to Mark Osbourne National preferred another candidate butJohn Carter lobbied for Osbourne. so Osbourne is second best in Nationals eyes.
Carters motivation for lobbying for Osbourne seems to be to put a Natz ‘ YES’ man in position….however its backfired on them big time – and they know it.
John Carter lobbied for Sabin as well ,as he so rightly says Northland is his seat ,he is a decent bloke and Northland voted for him for over twenty years, but this time we want Winston to dispense with National we have had enough of them.
Carter is an ignorant racist self serving moronic plonker . he did nothing for Northland did heaps for his mates heaps for Kerikeri / Bay of Islands . He allowed and facilitated the economic sabotage of Kaitaia and Kaikohe. He is an environmental vandal .
Only second best, they must be lacking in choice.
As opposed to Winston and his litany of funding controversies where YES appears to mean NO. Osbourne may be incompetent but at least he’s not corruptly so.
[Unsubstantiated charges of corruption from an anonymous writer; attacking an opponant of the government is not something we normally encourage. I will let this comment pass, unedited. Any future allegations of a similar nature, from anonymous writers, unsubstantiated, will be treated as election propaganda and dumped. – ScarletMod ]
So one of Osbourne’s supporters say he’s incompetent.
Northland dosnt need incompetence we need Winston to take back Northland from neglect by National.
Seems the Natz have their fair share of lies, corruptions, illegalities , mate…
Remember just a short while before the election when Key states there was never any surveillance of NZ residents and citizens?
And then was forced to admit that spying had taken place – after he was caught out lying – yet again. Hell…that wasn’t good enough , he even commanded the SIS to drag out classified documents to try and prove his point …which implicated him even more and was irrelevant anyway.
Tell that to Mr Kim Dotcom – and the 88 others who were spied on. And to add a cherry to the pie ,…
The Snowden releases that showed Key was lying about XKEYscore. And the debacle over spying on Pacific govt’s. And the embassy fitted with monitors . And the spying on the WTO .
And while were at it..how about the false accusations about ‘ donations ‘ to the Labour party?…totally fabricated.
Then we find out that it was NATIONAL who was getting the funding.
So much for a $ 100, 000 bottle of wine , eh , champ?
And unlike your subjective opinions about Peters ‘ controversies’ simply because you are a Nat supporter , or at the very least a neo liberal fanboy…
What I’m talking about is ALL FACTS .
FACTS , mate!
This is THE MOST dangerous and corrupt govt this country has ever had the supreme misfortune to ever have to endure.
Vote Winston Peters for Northland.
Osborne not corrupt. . . THAT is laughable. This whole government and all of its stooges are corrupt, . . .all they care about are their own pockets and slimy, tattered ego’s.
Apologies.
Here are some sources from his own Wikipedia in regards to a 100,000 dollar ‘gift’.
“Under parliamentary rules any gift to MPs over the value of $500 must be relinquished. Peters denied knowing about the source of the money but this was not corroborated by his lawyer Brian Henry and Glenn contradicted Peters’ denial.[40]”
” Jones confirmed that he had paid the money to the Spencer Trust and was asked by Winston Peters to make the donation.[41] Peters denies that he had asked Jones for a donation to the party.[42] The donation was not declared to the Electoral Commission as required by law.[43]
The Privileges Committee returned a report on 22 September recommending that Peters be censured for “knowingly providing false or misleading information on a return of pecuniary interests”.[46][47]
And if I supported Osbourne why would I label him incompetent?
I simply don’t support a populist party who has campaigned on nationalist policies including attacking asian immigrants and vowing to repeal Sue Bradfords wonderful anti beating kids bill. The same populist party that would ally with National if they promised Winston more power than Labour. The same populist party that cannablises Labours vote.
Sometimes the enemy of my enemy is not my friend.
Then lets start looking at the appallingly long list of lies and anti democratic illegalities of the current govt – and in particular its leader – who has barely been around in this country to call himself a New Zealander.
Yes exactly.
And yet we are being encouraged to vote for someone who has a far worse record.
The problem in doing this is that how many of those votes and how much of that support will come back.
Face it, when you look at National MP’s you do not see talent. You just see slobbering and/or arrogant vegetables run by John Key and Stephen Joyce with a bit of input from Brownlee and attack dogs like Collins and Bennet.
It has become apparent even to the most ardent National supporters, something is wrong. The country is being sold off and private individuals and corporations seem to be profiting.
There does not appear to be any due diligence or competence in the fire sale of NZ.
The current Nat line up reminds me of Muldoon’s dreadful cortège of lick spittlers in the early ‘eighties.
The TPP is a criminal trade scam and john key is trying to put us in it to be rorted by the corporations,surely nat supporters can see this, where is the governor general, he should be dismissing john key as a traitor because surely anyone wanting to hand us over to corporations to take our soveriengty off us is a traitor.Key is only interested in his own future prospects as an American,he is not a kiwi.
I heard about the Te Ahu centre issue yesterday and Osborne’s involvement as general manager.
Surprisingly TV3 ran with the story last evening on its 6pm news bulletin, with Patrick Gower saying it’s not looking good for the Natsies up there at the moment in Northland and this one is only making things worse for them! GOOD!
Not surprisingly however, the NZ Herald has the story, half way down its front page. Not so obvious, so that if you blinked you’d miss it! But hey the (bloody) cricket takes the headlines. Cricket is the big news, so to hell with anything else, particularly that might put FJK in a bad light, such as the Osborne/Te Ahu centre funding “review” (read investigation)!
As for the selection of Northland candidates. Seems they are selected from the dregs of a stinking septic tank!
Yes but the cricket was fanstastic and we won just as Winston will unless Nats play sinister games.
It depends who can tap into the feel good vibe from the cricket. Normally this sort of thing benefits the government of the day but if anyone can steal that vibe and attach it to himself it’s Winston.
Plus that Nats candidate, who’s name I can never remember, really does look a bit wet behind the ears
@ ELLE – I’m sure right now, given as things in the Northland byelection are going for the Natsies, which isn’t good for them, there will be sinister plans afoot. Of that I can guarantee.
Oops! Sorry folks.
“As for the selection of Northland candidates. Seems they are selected from the dregs of a stinking septic tank!”
My final comment in a previous post further back, was referring to Northland’s Natsy candidates, not the candidates in general.
Most humble apologies to Willow Jean and Winston.
lol 🙂
@ Lara – racism is one way to separate people/communities and is actively encouraged by the neo-lib system (this government) and also the media here and worldwide. It works in their favour, ‘divide and conquer’.
Kim – Judging by your photo and name… 한국 사람 입니까, 내? 나는 키위 사람 입니다, 하지만 한국에 살아요, TDB 매일 읽해요.
Mods and others – No profanity or backstabbing or anything negative towards others in there. Just a simple question which he can answer if my assumptions are right.
And Kim, if they are, I’d be interested to see what you think of the current negotiations between NZ and here, and what you think of the current admin here. I don’t know much about them except she’s the daughter of a tyrant, and the apple doesn’t often fall too far from the tree.
Interestingly enough Kim this blog once took a principled stance against Winston Peters and his Nationalistic race baiting;
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2013/06/12/tv-review-campbell-live-winston-peters-asian-new-zealanders/
Until of course we gave a MP from that very party a soap box with which to garner support and ironically cannibalize the left vote.
Well iPredict has Winston firmly in front now, with a 71% chance of victory. https://www.ipredict.co.nz/app.php?do=contract_detail&contract=BE15.NTD.OTHER
His odds have been fairly steadily rising. Hopefully it happens, if for no other reason than to give the John Key a black eye.
TV3 and Gower presented one with 54 per cent for Peters, the Nat guy embarrasingly only above 30 something percent, and Labours admittedly good quality candidate now third on only 10 percent, because the message has got through. That is, get Winnie in, as that will remix the cards in Parliament something BIG, and Key will be castrated, in a sense, that is, because he and Nats will be politically dismembered.
You ask
WHO THE HELL DOES THE VETTING ON NATIONAL’S NORTHLAND CANDIDATES?!
I’d say Tony Soprano does .
” Every day’s a gift but does it have to be a pair of socks . ”
Without a shadow of doubt I can safely say that the only good person left alive in NZ politics is Metiria Turei . The rest are trash . Common , greedy trash . Fuck them all .
Hear hear Countryboy 🙂
Bring back Tim Shadbolt and his concrete mixer !!!!
“WHO THE HELL DOES THE VETTING ON NATIONAL’S NORTHLAND CANDIDATES?! ”
I’d put it down to the ghosts of Burke and Hare, myself. Especially Burke:
“From their acts came the now archaic British word “burking”, originally meaning to smother a victim or to commit an anatomy murder but which later passed into general use as a word for any suppression or cover-up.”
(Thanks, wikipedia)
The guy sounds like a Right Burke to be honest.
National had a $100 lunch in keri keri to meet the candidate, not many people turned up,now its free finger food to meet the candidate.might get a few takers but not to meet the candidate,they just like free things.
Please, please
Can you please use a larger font.
I have almost given up following this blog not because of the quality of the posts and comments,
But because of the tiny barely legible size of the bloody font!
And no,I am not an old blind geezer!
Please, please
Can you please use a larger font.
If using a PC try pressing ctrl and +.
…. and if Apple gear hasn’t also a means to increase display font, write a letter of complaint to Steven Job’s estate.
Apple is Command + to enlarge, Command – to reduce.
Who cares who does the vetting, they certainly made the “right” decision, as it will get Winston take the seat!!!
They could not have done better, getting a humpty dumpty backwater kind of guy, who looks better in shorts behind a BBQ than in a suit and a chair at Parliament.
Good on Winston, you will thrash them, as TV3 has indicated with 54 percent support in a poll.
Good riddance of that man, who got in by chance, simply because Sabin stuffed up. Stuff them all, the North Nats, they are stuffed now.
I think that Martyn did to some degree suggest the North is a bit like the Alabama of NZ. Maybe that explains the doings and failings of Mr Osbourne, one who bit off more than he can chew, certainly on a national scale.
“I’ve heard some truly horrible racist things come out of the mouths of these old white folk, and a fair bit out of the mouths of younger white folk up here too. The racism is so thick you could spread it on your toast every morning. I think this is why Winston may be the man to take the seat off National.”
And this is also why for the love of god we should not be giving the man who cultivates, nurtures and exploits that racism to succeed, let alone vote for him. It’s like voting for Marine Le Penn and the France National Front in order to attack the incumbent.
I kind of like the idea of New Zealand coming First for once to tell you the truth….
?…..its still awaiting moderation….strange?
Comments are closed.