Duncan Garner

For once Duncan Garner has got something right.

I’ve been lucky to get a reasonably good insight into what goes on in our schools in recent years.

In many ways I’ve had a front row seat in the classroom, and I’m not sure it’s always been a privilege.

And that’s not because we have bad teachers and poor schools, not at all.

What I’m talking about is the huge and ever-increasing demands that are being piled upon our teachers.

My wife is a teacher-aide at a decile 4 school. I hear stories that could regularly lead news bulletins.

Schools have become more than a learning environment, they’re now a one-stop welfare agency without the corresponding resources required.

And I blame, among other things, bad or absent parents, stress, drugs, poverty, alcohol and general societal breakdown.

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The Media party are right into the “Jacinda” phenomenon and are pushing and agitating their own agenda. Personally, I think they know Andrew Little can’t win so are foisting their luvvie mate onto the party.

Duncan Garner isn’t just drinking the Koolaid, he is fair gargling it too:

I’ve never been a believer in “circuit breakers” or “silver bullets” in politics.

But perhaps Jacinda Ardern comes close. Perhaps.

Not because she’s a policy heavyweight and not because she’s destroyed a conga line of National Cabinet ministers.

She hasn’t. She’s hardly laid a finger on any of them. And Bill English is right – she is untested at the top.

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A business in Auckland is enforcing its property rights by wheel clamping cars illegally parked on their property.

Newshub, and Duncan Garner, took it upon themselves to start a vigilante action on social media, starting this hit job on Story. A hit job which outright intimates the owner is a snob and she should let anyone park where they want.

If you’re looking for insight into Auckland’s brewing class war, a virtual conflict unfolding online is a great place to start.

Following the expose on Story last night about its harsh car clamping campaign, Ponsonby’s posh Bashford Antiques has had its Facebook page hit with several negative reviews and critical comments.

But if you think these fine sirs and madams would stand by quietly as the angry rabble made ghastly comments about their ever-so-fabulous business, you are gravely mistaken.

No, no, no, my dear. These sorts of outrageous attempts to besmirch good folk by the lower classes must be dealt with in the best way possible.

With hilariously snooty comments.    Read more »

Duncan Garner writes an op-ed about the All Blacks.

You don’t have to be a big rugby fan to be fascinated by the All Blacks taking on Wales tonight.

‘Succession planning’ is a big buzzword in business these days – and it’s as applicable on a rugby field as it is in a boardroom.

It’s arguably the biggest test Steve Hansen has faced as a coach: this is not about inheriting and tweaking Graham Henry’s world conquering squad.

This is about replacing a bevy of gritty, hardened champions such as Richie McCaw, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith and building for the future.

Regardless, we expect the All Blacks to win and win well tonight. This is not only the most successful rugby team on the planet – it is also the best and most consistent international sports team in the world.And even if Kieran Read’s blokes get into a dark place at Eden Park tonight, and it becomes a messy arm-wrestle, we still expect them to prevail.

First tests of the season are never pretty for the All Blacks, but we’ll win tonight.

Of course we shouldn’t under-estimate this Welsh side and the All Blacks have paid them all manner of of compliments in the lead up to this test.

Wales are hugely experienced and we have lost more than 800 caps with the retirement of our six most senior players.

But we’re better, faster, more skilled and supremely prepared.

The All Blacks should be vulnerable tonight, a new captain with just 88 tests and a new midfield – but none of us really think they are. That’s how good they really are.

That’s why we expect Hansen’s men to win most of the time (I’m told Wayne Smith is pivotal to the success too.)

Hansen’s team have lost just three times in 52 matches. This All Black team wins more than 90 per cent of its games.

Hansen is easily our most successful coach. He’s also a brilliant selector. He doesn’t pick many duds.

He’s loyal and consistent and the players react to that. They know where they stand.

The team culture appears to be a genuine brotherhood. They want to perform for each other.

is truly the best sports side, both on and off the field.

They have seriously embraced rugby professionalism as it enters just its 21st year.

The All Blacks have a 76 per cent winning record since 1903. We have won 413 of 538 games over that period.

Only five nations have ever beaten us.

Hansen’s world-class record even stands above that. But there’s something else that has been created under this Graham Henry/Steve Hansen reign.

It’s about these All Blacks being good men. They appear genuinely humble guys. Bad buggers, difficult men, don’t make the cut.

I look at young blokes like Liam Squire, Elliot Dixon, Ardie Savea, Lima Sopoaga, Charlie Ngatai and Damian McKenzie and they carry the hopes and dreams of our rugby nation in the years ahead.

It has become a huge responsibility. They can become one-hit wonders or giants of the game.

I sense the way Hansen runs his team they will be the latter. Good luck tonight lads.

What would you expect the headline to be on this piece?  What photo should go along with it?  Read more »

Duncan Garner gobbed off that filthy foreigners were taking Kiwi jobs.

He should read a bit more widely.

A challenge caused by the industry’s expansion is the need for more infrastructure — more coolstores at ports, more transport and more reliable workers.

With more kiwifruit coming in the next few years, McBride says the industry, like the apple and wine industries, have come to rely heavily reliant on the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme under which workers from overseas – in particular the Pacific islands – harvest and package the crop. The industry could not grow without these workers.

“We also work with WINZ to help NZ folk find employment in our industry, but this is challenging because so many of the people we get are unreliable. One orchard I manage employed 72 people through WINZ, but only three made it,” he says. “A lot of plant and fuel got stolen. We tried really hard but… these people don’t really want to work.”

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The people who come to work here are already displaced from their homes, whereas someone who lives in Auckland is hardly going to say yes to a job that has them sharing a house with 18 other workers at the back of a winery while working for minimum wage and being in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do during the weekend.

So no, Duncan, they aren’t displacing New Zealand workers.

And now Little’s point about foreign workers taking Kiwi jobs rings true.

With 38,800 foreigners coming in on work visas over the last year, surely some of them are displacing New Zealanders who could do the job. Are we really that desperate for foreign workers?

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders remain out of work – yet there are jobs in rest homes, on farms and in orchards that we simply refuse to do or aren’t being hired to do?

Is it because we won’t work 18 days straight? Is it because we won’t work for the minimum wage?

All of those things. Mind you I have worked more than 18 days straight…when was the last time you did that Duncan.  Read more »

Duncan Garner pulls no punches in dealing with the stupid suggestion that tobacco taxes are racist.

What a load of garbage that the tax on tobacco is racist.

Researcher Marewa Glover says the latest rounds of tax hikes are discriminatory because the tax hits Maori the hardest as they are traditionally low income and they too often smoke.

What a pile of ‘academic gobbledygook.’ Does that also make GST racist? GST at 15 percent on all goods and services hits poor Maori communities the hardest too. So do petrol taxes. So do the taxes on the first $20,000 of income.

Who really supports this ‘discrimination and racist’ line anyway?

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With less than 1500 members Labour is trouble. Unlike the equally parlous labour movement there aren’t a lot of parties with which they can merge and others on the left would really rather Labour died so they can get on with leading the socialist rebellion.

Duncan Garner wonders whether Phil Twyford and Jacinda Ardern can save Labour.

Would Jacinda Ardern and Phil Twyford be a better leadership team? Both are from Auckland. Both have performed well this year. Both know the issues. But sources tell me this won’t happen.

The caucus is resigned to heading into the election with Little at the helm. There is a growing acceptance within that Little won’t lead them to victory.

My sources also tell me Little has failed to raise any money and that’s crucial. Also, who can even tell what Labour really stands for any more.

Not just Andrew Little, but also Nigel Haworth, who told the recent regional conference in Whanganui that he hadn’t raised a single cent. Labour supporters should be asking both Little and Haworth about fundraising, especially after their promises of a year ago.   Read more »

Duncan Garner examines (It’s word, I didn’t intend it to mean he worked hard on the issue) Labour’s hope that John Key is washed up.

John Key has finally fallen over. He’s at rock bottom.

It’s all over. He’s lost touch. He’s arrogant. The tide has turned. He’s toast.

I hear these things all the time. Oh, and one more. John Key is at his most unpopular/least popular. Only that last statement is true, of course.

Key was down just over 1 per cent, to 36.7 per cent, in Newshub’s poll this week.

Is it cause for concern and the alarmist headline that he’d “plunged to new depths”?

No. It’s true that the shine comes off after eight years and it has to a point with Key. The tread always comes off the tyres the longer you are in office.

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Duncan Garner explains why the Panama Papers were “a big fat flop”.

Are we a tax haven for foreigners? Probably.

If we are allowing some people in other countries to avoid paying tax in their country then that’s a tax haven, isn’t it?

But has the sky fallen in here? Nope.

Even the Government’s arch-enemy, Greens co-leader, James Shaw, says he’s seen nothing illegal. He doesn’t even think we need to scrap foreign trusts.

The Panama Papers have highlighted the scale of the issue but they’ve told us nothing new, yet.

It’s actually been a big, fat flop.

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