At risk of looking like a mutual admiration society, today I’m grateful for these comments from someone whose non-partisan analysis and writing I admire.
Homepaddock
A rural perspective with a blue tint by Ele Ludemann
Recent Comments
Kiwi Blog- High Court quashes Waitangi Tribunal summons
- Literature and Males
- Should media practice what they preach?
- Is the Commerce Commission for consumers or suppliers
- Two Ministers lose portfolios
- An awful idea
- General Debate 24 April 2024
- Meet a (Won’t be a striker at all) – former Third Striker # 1
- Call for Support: Has the Time Come for a Wellington Ratepayer Activist Group?
- A good win for Newsroom
- Inquiring Mind
- ANZAC Day 2024: Wilfred Owen – Anthem for Doomed Youth read by Sean Bean
- Anzac Day 2024: Oh! What A Lovely War | I’ll Make A Man Of You
- ANZAC Day 25 April 2025
- Midnight Mystery: P.D.James – Cover Her Face – Adam Dalgleish mystery – with Roy Marsden – #3/6
- Jeeves and Wooster | Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie | #5 – S01 E05: Will Anatole Return To Brinkley Court?
- Wednesday Night is Mahler Night: Kubelik – Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – Symphony No. 6
- Classic Comedy: Dad’s Army – #47 – S05 E07 – The King Was In His Counting House
- Classic Crime Drama: Between The Lines – S03 E10 – End User 2
- Red Dwarf – #12 – S02E06: Parallel Universe
- Outnumbered – #4 – S01 E04 – Hugh Dennis, Claire Skinner
- No Minister
- PointOfOrderNZ
- At a time of media turmoil, Melissa had nothing to proclaim as Minister – and now she has been demoted
- Some advice from our tertiary history for the University Advisory Group
- Still no prudential regulation case around climate change
- How National can neutralise serious allegations of corruption should the “Fast Track” Bill become law
- RMA reforms aim to ease stock-grazing rules and reduce farmers’ costs – but Taxpayers’ Union wants even more changes
- In many ways the media that the experts wanted, turned out to be the media they have got
- The Waitangi Tribunal Summons; or the more things stay the same
- The media were given a little list and hastened to pick out Fast Track prospects – but the Treaty aspect is fascinating, too
- The Government’s new fast-track invitation to corruption
- Maori push for parallel government structures
- Lindsay Mitchell
- Babies and benefits - no good news
- The case for cultural connectedness
- Welfare: Just two timid targets from the National government
- Cuts will only scratch the surface
- What media bias looks like
- Is real change on the cards?
- Child poverty - complex or simple?
- National needs to go further
- Labour hid developing welfare crisis
- A terrible trend in desperate need of turning
- Cactus Kate
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Valerie Davies
- Oamaru Life
- Dawn over Oamaru Harbour
- The Night Sky in North Otago
- Another New Oamaru Attraction Opens
- Fire and canapés awaiting our guests.
- Whitestone City Opens in Oamaru
- New Book on Oamaru and the Waitaki Released
- The Town Bike Opens for Business
- So Much is New in Oamaru!
- First Annual Great North Otago Potato Race
- Oamaru’s Pen-y-bryn Lodge on TV
- Karl du Fresne
- Howling at the moon
- The case for objectivity in journalism
- My little spat with Philip Matthews
- The John Campbell question
- The striking outpouring of media empathy for Golriz Ghahraman
- The Crewe murders revisited
- An epic display of dummy-spitting
- A grotesque irony in the honours list
- The gentle whirring of ebikes on the Timber Trail
- Peter Bush: one of the greatest of a great generation
- Stephen Franks
- Who’s calling the shots on co-governance? Lawyers or MPs? Will the Court of Appeal order disclosure?
- How to repeal Labour/Green entrenchment of Water Services control by iwi elite
- Outcomes of the Parliamentary occupation
- Vax resistance and the snobbery of the PMC
- Free Speech Union against name suppression for alleged Wanaka escapees
- Are “local boards” and “community boards” real democracy?
- Continuous Disclosure Folly
- Two good judgments for our times
- Is voluntary reduction of Councillor pay prohibited?
- Minister of Health gets it right – with MTB trip
- Bassett Brash & Hide
- JOHN RAINE: Refocusing our Universities on Excellence
- DON BRASH: MORE ABOUT AUKUS
- MICHAEL BASSETT: MAORI PUSH FOR PARALLEL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURES
- ROBERT MacCULLOCH: Have 308 People in the Education Ministry's Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60 page document of nothingness?
- LINDSAY MITCHELL: Babies and benefits - no good news
- DON BRASH: WHY NOT AUKUS?
- KARL du FRESNE: Howling at the Moon
- CITIZEN SCIENCE: Matt Doocey doubles down on trans “healthcare”
- LINDSAY MITCHELL: The case for cultural connectedness
- HENRY ERGAS: ‘Truth-telling’ crusade abandons history for morality
- Not PC
- #CountdownToAnzacDay: On “the last afterglow of the most radiant cultural atmosphere in human history”
- What's a Corporation?
- "...the Minister for Broadcasting has been silent. She has been criticised for this approach. In my view she should be applauded."
- Israel + Gaza: What Would Thatcher Do Today? (WWTDT?)
- Advice to would-be freedom activists
- "The line isn't Left vs Right. It's 'the truth matters' versus 'the truth is what we need it to be'."[UPDATED]
- "Under a better Resource Management system [sic], there would be no need for fast-track approval processes."
- Paying bureaucrats is not a stimulus programme
- "The capitalist system was termed 'capitalism' not by a friend of the system, but by Karl Marx" [updated]
- A question for you all on those sackings [updated]
- WHatSheSaidNZ
- Nobody said it would be easy.
- My toddler will break me before you do.
- Listen to your farmers New Zealand.
- You know you have a toddler 2.0…
- Why I’m ALWAYS late
- There is no Perfect, only Perspective
- 5 Things To Consider Before Going Back To Work…
- Family Planning Anxiety
- Does thinking positively actually work?
- Let’s talk about our mental health
- No Punches Pulled
- Croaking Cassandra
- Barbar’s meaty issues
- Project will identify marketing potential of regenerative agriculture
- Decades of dietary advice misguided
- Meat industry continues to do a superb job
- Long way from being out of the woods yet
- Time for sector to find united voice
- Falling co-product prices prompt changes
- Regulation risks hindering innovation
- Taste Pure Nature one year on
- ANZCO achieves a huge turnaround
- Agility and innovation essential for meat exporters
- Rivetting Kate Taylor
- Uptown Farm
- Barrie Saunders
- NZTA does not know how much it spends on cones
- Utopia and government
- TV layoffs not a threat to democracy
- Reading deal – rare media bouquet
- Treaty Principles – will the ACT Bill achieve its objectives?
- Labour one of two election losers
- The Australian paradox
- The Australian shows us how.
- How to exit an ethnic rabbit hole – contrast with Australia
- Lobbyists – specific regulation?
- Quoteunquotenz
- Blog the Globe
- The Queen Charlotte Track – New Zealand
- Biking the West Coast Wilderness trail
- Salmon fishing at its best
- Panning for gold
- Stopover in Dubai or Oman and arrive in Europe fresh and ready to go
- An active relaxers guide to Arrowtown, NZ
- Sydney – what to do in 48 hours?
- ‘Alps to Ocean’ 5 day cycle
- Secrets you need to know before visiting Tuscany
- Geraldine – boutique accommodation in the old Vicarage
- Armstrong on Politics
- The Democrats’debacle: some lessons from Donald Trump’s triumph and Hillary Clinton’s humiliation
- Australia’s 60 Minutes; one long hour of tabloid trash
- Gareth Morgan’s Opportunities knocks
- Pheonix rising? Part One. Same old Aussies, always cheating.
- A Little goes the wrong way
- A man in a big hurry
- Craig comes an awful cropper (twice); National counts its blessings it never struck a deal with the Conservatives’ flawed leader
- Something’s in the water; something’s astray in the Bay
- Fox on the run: Marama miscues
- Auckland housing Part One: Not everything is big in Texas
- Breaking Views
- Mike Butler: Maori wards basic facts
- Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 24/4/24
- David Farrar: Is the Commerce Commission for consumers or suppliers
- Hon Chris Bishop, Hon Todd McClay, Hon Andrew Hoggard: RMA Bill
- David Farrar: Two Ministers lose portfolios
- Sir Bob Jones: Reefton - The new Paris
- Cam Slater: Labour – The Party for Crims
- Professor Robert MacCulloch: How National Can Neutralize Serious Allegations of Corruption
- Professor John Raine: Refocusing our Universities on Excellence
- Mike's Minute: The moral question around advertising on social media
- Agrarian
- 5 Ways To Sell Your Sales Team on CRM
- The One Critical Missing Ingredient That Is Robbing You Of Real Rural Sales Success
- Why Are You Watering The Concrete?
- “We Don’t Focus on Our Competition…”
- 10 Reasons Why The Traditional Sales Training Industry Is Broken & How You Fix It
- Elevate Rural Sales: It’s Not What You Sell, But How You Sell
- The 5 Most Effective Ways To Retain Your Top Rural Sales Talent
- 7 Red Flags That Show You Can’t Trust Your Sales Trainer
- Why your rural marketing is failing to reach its potential
- 7 Techniques Sales Trainers Taught Your Rural Business That Are Very Wrong
- Offsetting Behaviour
- Despair - construction consenting edition
- Reader mailbag: really long tunnels edition
- Clarifying the absurdity
- Net tax
- Afternoon roundup
- Afternoon roundup
- Net zero means net negative?
- Afternoon roundup
- In a structural deficit, the only real tax cut is a spending cut
- Things I'd have hoped we could all agree on
- Autism & Oughtimsms
- My New Blog: Sounding Out Dyslexia
- So long, and thanks for all the clicks :)
- Five (or Six) Diagnoses, Two Woo-tastic Communities, and an Eight Year Old Under a Pohutukawa Tree
- Drowning in Need: Autism and Swimming in New Zealand
- “Choose Your Battles” (and dealing with those who didn’t get their copy of the battle plan)
- Understanding the cuts to IDEA autism services * UPDATED *
- Revelations
- What to look for when choosing a school for a child with special needs, in NZ
- We Stand Together, or We Fall Apart
- Seclusion versus Time Out, and Alternatives
- visible hand
- What is an ATAR and what does this have to do with income?
- Pandemic preferences – the case of housing
- New Year, New Steam Sale
- How did our 2023 forecasts go?
- Where have all the good Boxing Day sales gone
- Unrealised losses, high interest rates, and financial market distress
- What can a new lawnmower tell us about labour markets?
- Cost of job loss: Wage scarring
- Was the New Zealand 2023/24 Budget inflationary?
- How much does benefit abatement influence labour supply?
- Stats Chat
- United Rugby Championship Predictions for Week 15
- Top 14 Predictions for Round 22
- Super Rugby Predictions for Week 10
- Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 16
- NRL Predictions for Round 8
- AFL Predictions for Week 8
- Super Rugby Predictions for Week 9
- NRL Predictions for Round 7
- AFL Predictions for Week 7
- Super Rugby Predictions for Week 8
- Macdoctor
- Finding the best solicitors in Sydney
- The importance of insurance for small businesses in New Zealand
- What you need to keep in mind before hiring family lawyers in Sydney
- High-Quality Screen Repairs for Samsung Phones
- What Makes Tax Accountants Important in Every Small Business?
- 4 Major Reasons Why New Businesses Fail
- You Can Heal Anything: You Are the New Medicine
- How to Organize Your Medicine Cabinet
- NZ’s Got Talent
- My Work Here Is Done - by Mark Weldon
- Self-indulgent Spoiled Brats of the World Unite! - by V for Verity Johnson
- Out There In The Arena - an exclusive extract from Diane Foreman's Biography
- What About Me? - by Jeeves Clifton
- Alex Hazlehust: You've Never Been Loved - by The City of London
- At Least I Am Not on Ashley Madison - by Alex Hazlehurst
- Singing Home The Whale - a Children's book by Nicky and Mandy Hager
- I Will Return - by Dita De Boni
- I Don't Have a Penis, Hear Me Raw - by Rachel Smalley
- Mike's Minute (transcript) - by Mike Hosking
- interest.co.nz
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Bowalleyroad
- The Folly Of Impermanence.
- Apposite Quotations.
- No Longer Trusted: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
- In Whose Best Interests?
- Something Important: The Curious Death of the School Strike 4 Climate Movement.
- Fair Enough!
- The Missing Body.
- National’s Governing For (Crony) Capitalists – Not Capitalism.
- Rapture and Rage.
- Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
- Dim Post
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Election results
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Story People
- Exercise 2: 5 Days of Practicing Love (for the Real World)
- 5 Days of Practicing Love (for the Real World): Exercise 1
- It's the Middle Things
- Stuff We Just ... Say
- Ingredients of Writing
- Getting That Namaste Going
- Healing Our Creativity
- Buy Like There's a Tomorrow (and it's magical)
- What The Cool Kids Are Doing
- Talking about Peace without Shouting
- Liberty Scott
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion is a fundamentally low-grade, Orwellian anti-liberal project
- Wellington is in a funk
- It might be farewell Newshub, but intelligent TV news disappeared over 30 years ago
- Mining companies, white supremacy, Zionism, neo-colonialism, libertarianism and education vouchers: The fascist programme to establish a racist, oppressive state that will wreck the planet
- A Revelation
- New Zealand politics in 2024
- Some questions for those protesting for Palestine
- Let's talk about international law, Hamas and Israel
- The tolerance for hatred from some MPs
- 2023 General Election what you wont hear
- Open Parachute
- What happens after the war – Mariupol
- In journalism facts should be verifiable
- Elections in Russia and Ukraine
- Why has journalism, and Tucker Carlson, become so controversial?
- RIP Gonzalo Lira
- How could this happen?
- Free Gonzalo Lira!
- A neutral Ukraine would have prevented this mess
- All governments lie – so does the media. Who should you trust?
- Following the war in Ukraine – yeah, right
- Sciblogs
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Liberation
- Cartoons about Budget 2021
- Cartoons about public sector worker and CEO pay
- Cartoons about the National Party in 2021
- Cartoons about National Party leader Todd Muller
- John Moore: Podcast on the Politics of the Coronavirus crisis
- John Moore: Podcast on International Working Women's Day
- John Moore: Podcast on FGM
- Cartoons about the politics of law and order in NZ
- Cartoons about the NZ First donations scandal
- Cartoons about #MeTooLabour
- YourNZ
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Imperator Fish
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Life Behind the Iron Drape
- Signing off - My Last Blog Post | Nicky Hager; Heather Du Plessis-Allan; Deborah Hill-Cone; Giovanni Tiso - Individualism & the Tyranny of Each Other.
- National’s Anti-Money Laundering & Countering Financing of Terrorism Monster - iPredict the State Gulag
- Paris Has Changed Me – Logic Bombing the Left on Multiculturalism.
- Today’s Letter to the Editor | For Anthony Green, Muslim Association of Canterbury.
- I Have the Answer: Individualism … #Paris
- $1 Billion To Tinker With a Bit of Out-Of-The-Box Stasi Software | Women MPs Go Walk About
- If You Support The Voluntary Transactions of Capitalism, Avoid NZ Banks. #Privacy
- Today's Letter to the Editor - Christchurch Press | Euthanasia
- Mils Muliaina and Reversing the Burden of Proof in Sexual Assault Cases.
- Health Minister Jonathan Coleman Stand Down Please – Obesity to the Police State.
- PM of NZ
- Far North councils ready to waste ratepayers hard earnt taxes
- Well, that worked...
- NZ frigate to back Philippines?
- NZTA to give monthly updates on Brynderwyn bypass
- Te Reo Luxon misreads the room
- A random impertinent question...
- Bog Irish stand up for family values
- How's your TDS?
- Comment of the day...
- Air Farce to get new planes?
- Something Should Go Here
- The Ardern Files
- Crickets
- Labour chooses to be fair to beneficiaries
- Morgan Godfery, and the mystery of the inflated job title
- Fact Checkers
- Another church Farrier could raise concerns about
- David Farrier – “churches are the problem (and let me throw in some racism too)”
- No Right Turn – how disgusting that National defends me!
- Suspended from twitter
- Still Around
- Pundit
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- kiwipolitico
- Again, hate crimes are not necessarily terrorism.
- Arguing about a moot point.
- A moment of friction.
- Reminder: “Frenemies” are not friends.
- Unnoticed guests.
- Two offenders, different treatments.
- The boy is home.
- Another Brief on Intelligence Matters.
- An atheist finds his God.
- NZ on Hamas and Zionist Settlers.
- Watching Brief
- Stellar Cafe
- Oamaru Opera House
- Mad March
- A message from OoH Director
- What a Start!!!
- So this is Christmas...
- Aoraki Polytechnic Oamaru Campus Graduation
- Shows at The Oamaru Opera House in 2011
- Oamaru Victorian Heritage Celebrations Programme
- Trash n Treasure This Sunday!!
- Tim Beveridge at The Oamaru Opera House this Saturday night.
- The Great Trash n Treasure Garage Sale November 14th
- Keeping Stock
- Dave Gee life from right field
- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
- Latitude 44
Loaded Web
Statcounter
Homepaddock 
Here are some tips which might help improve the commenting behaviour on blogs everywhere…
http://thoughtcatalog.com/shahida-arabi/2016/06/20-diversion-tactics-highly-manipulative-narcissists-sociopaths-and-psychopaths-use-to-silence-you/
LikeLike
Good grief Tracey
LikeLike
Very good, Paranormal, very good.
LikeLike
By way of gratitude and admiration, I am reminded today that commenting is a privileged, one kindly and graciously extended on this blog.
The Green party blog have switched off their comments. They seem to be running away from peoples opinions. I will be interested to see if Green Party members are still encouraged to blog outside of the Greens blog. And I guess this can be easily gauged.
I am watching other political blogs with curiosity around censorship. .
I read blogs to understand the many views out there (in part). When they are comment censored, the views become far less.
For me this is still the most valuable blog on the block. The many views I read here support that value.
LikeLike
Paranoral,
Obviously suggestive there.
LikeLike
*Paranomal*
Sorry…..
LikeLike
Mr E, they’re just doing it differently, asking in their annual survey; “What makes you cringe about being a Green supporter?”
What makes me cringe is getting emails I never signed up for.
LikeLike