The Daily Blog Open Mic – Monday 1st February 2016

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openmike

 

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

 

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5 COMMENTS

  1. More evidence national are deliberately killing rail in NZ as they are deliberately starving other transport options for freight transport and the options to access cheaper cleaner options to move their products’ safety for saving the Export producing provinces, I pity what National are leaving for our children and grandchildren besides Auckland commuter rail improvements.

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11582181

    • I also pity what Natzis are leaving for the next generation.
      EKshully ….. I came across a map of various railways in NZ – how they developed over time.
      Some things struck me when I discovered what was, AND what could be a future rail network, and means of transport within regions.
      Given appropriate rolling stock (both for freight and passenger)…
      Firstly, there’s the bleeding obvious – links to airports and how close many rail links exist or could relatively easily be achieved.
      (Especially Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin – ChCh either via a northern route, or via the West – or perhaps even a loop; Dunedin, how close to the airport existing infrastructure already exists)
      Secondly, I’d no idea our forefathers had gotten so close to Queenstown; or how close the Nelson route had gotten to Murchison,,,,then on to the West Coast – there are a number of such links where rail could FAR FAR FAR better any freight ( and probably passenger) options.
      Thirdly, the number of places where (with the appropriate rolling stock) links could better road options. New Plymouth/Stratford; Tauranga/Te Puke (and onwards); Auckland/Hamilton; Wellington/Masterton; Christchurch/Rolleston, and then Northward; Christchurch/Lyttleton with stops on the way; Auckland northward; Whangarei/southward – and aside from freight options.
      THe potential really is endless (and probably eventually inevitable)
      But then Short Termism really is a feature in NZ of the political elite.
      It’s SO fucking short term, there’s no protection given to protecting existing (mothballed, deleted, etc.) routes that have been deemed unprofitable, but which will (in some cases already) be either profitable or necessary in future.
      And here’s me, not even one of those nutty trainspotter types.

      Resurrecting that Gisborne link btw is A NO BRAINER ….. I’d even go further and look at the potential for pushing northward – they got half way to Tauranga in days gone by when things were a fucking sight harder to achieve than they are today

  2. ‘Goldman Sachs executive takes ‘personal leave’ amid Malaysian fund corruption probes’

    https://www.rt.com/business/330665-goldman-leissner-malaysia-corruption/

    “Tim Leissner, chairman of Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia’s operations, has taken a “personal leave” amidst corruption scandals associated with Malaysia’s state-owned 1MDB fund, with which Goldman worked closely.

    President of Goldman’s Singapore operations since 2006 and chairman of its Southeast Asia operations since 2014, Leissner oversaw the bank’s operations in Malaysia, where it became the top international bank with a 20.3 percent market share since 2010.

    Leissner was seen as a “key player” in cultivating the bank’s very profitable relationships with Kuala’ Lumpur’s banking and government elite, including Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the Financial Times reports….

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