The Green/Labour bloc manufactured a manufacturing crisis and on Monday thy released their “report” in the matter. It was more of a strategic withdrawal after   figures and statistics proved they had manufactured the crisis and that manufacturing is in fact on the rise.

Another report also pours scorn on the Green/Labour bloc’s manufactured crisis.

Another survey has dented claims by Opposition political parties that New Zealand’s exporting manufacturing industries are in a state of crisis.

Labour leader David Shearer and economic development spokesman David Clark were hot on the case yesterday, claiming the Government had its head buried when it came to the state of the manufacturing industries.

However, the annual DHL Export Barometer – which canvassed 277 firms in the manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and professional services sectors – found 59% of companies were confident export orders would increase in the next 12 months, up from the record low of 51% in last year’s survey.

Fifty-four percent of exporters were expecting profitability to rise over the same period, despite the strong currency.  Read more »

The woman I blogged about attempting to prove you can live on light has apparently found out that you can’t.

This woman is so blindingly stupid she should be locked up to protect others. I bet she votes Green.

Naveena Shine, the Eastside woman testing whether she could live just on sunshine, is calling it quits Wednesday, on what would be Day No. 47, after losing 20 percent of her body weight.

After dropping about 20 percent of her body weight, Naveena Shine, the 65-year-old Eastside woman who got worldwide publicity for trying to live on just light and no food, is calling it quits with her grand experiment.

Monday was Day No. 45 of no food, just water and tea “with a splash of milk.”

Shine had dropped to 126 pounds from her original weight of 159 pounds on her 5-foot, 4-inch frame.

She says she’s quitting on Wednesday in part because she’s run out of money, and in part because of the public reaction.  Read more »

Sydney urban sprawl

Policy Parrot says:

Len Brown has been stating off and on over the last few months that we – the people of Auckand – don’t want our city Auckland to sprawl and and become like Los Angeles.

His words ‘we don’t want Los Angeles sprawl’.

That has made this parrot laugh hysterically and fall of one’s perch because Auckland will NEVER become a city sprawled like Los Angeles.

Does Len even know how big our little wee city is?

The answer is – very small. A gnats arse if we are frank with ourselves. Comparably to other cities in the world our city is one of the smallest.

Auckland is 580 sq km. It is the 178th largest city in the world by area land mass. Even Adelaide is bigger at 729 sq km.

Sydney – our nearest international comparison – is 1687 sq km and is ranked 25th. Sydney is 3.5 times bigger.   Read more »

Great song, another of my favorites that I find relaxing which is why I’ve chosen it for today’s mental health break.

I found it interesting to hear Labour’s Police spokesman Kris Faafoi backing Trevor Mallard’s bullying of senior police officers at select committee.

Labour certainly pulled no punches when David Garrett questioned prison officers about their suitability for the job.

In fact Clayton Cosgrove took it so seriously he laid a privileges complaint against Garrett:

RNZ - Sept 04 2009 - ACT MP David Garrett says he is not surprised the Speaker of the House has decided not to uphold two privileges complaints against him. In the first complaint, Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove accused Mr Garrett of bullying submitters at a Parliamentary select committee…    Read more »

The privileges complaint against Mallard (and the subsequent kicking he got from the Greens) proves once again that Labour will use and abuse public servants in a desperate bid for attention.

As if that wasn’t enough, Mallard’s dealings with David Fisher over this affair – and Fisher’s taping of a private family funeral, without permission, raise all kinds of questions.

Then on Moaning Report we have Labour’s supposed Police spokesperson, Kris Faafoi, defending Mallard, saying that in Select Committees “we are there to ask hard questions and we are not scared to do that”.  Read more »

Lianne Dalziel will resign as MP for Christchurch East if she wins the mayoralty, forcing a by-election.

Sources inside Labour HQ are saying that Labour are flat broke and are struggling to fund the current by-election, donors don’t like Shearer, and Moira Coatesworth is tits at fundraising.

From sources inside Labour’s caucus there is disgust that they are now being asked to personally fund the pending Christchurch East by-election with a tax on MPs by HQ.  Read more »

The case of Person “A” is getting interesting:

The person known only as “A” in relation to a legal challenge to the Paula Rebstock-led inquiry into the unauthorised release of sensitive Cabinet documents came into contact with the documents in a clerical role, the Appeal Court has heard.

Heavy suppression orders previously barred media from even reporting the person’s gender but the court agreed today that reporting A’s duties would not jeopardise those orders.

It has also been reported since the original suppression order that A is male.   Read more »

According to The Press Bob Parker has Moira Coatesworth’s problem.

He doesn’t like asking for money.

‘‘I don’t like that side of the game. I don’t like asking people for things and I certainly don’t like asking them for money,’’ said Parker, who paid for most of the $60,000 he spent on his last campaign.  Read more »