Author Archive
John Key’s flying pig falls to earth
David Fisher took literally years to shed even a little light on how Teflon John Key misled New Zealanders about a mass surveillance system on our internet his government was commissioning for the Americans. The whole very carefully, diplomatically written article is worth reading: John Key, mass surveillance and what really happened when Edward Snowden […]
Murky PR update: ‘The Bloggers Club’
Alex Casey at The Spinoff had some emails leaked to her which revealed a behind-the-scenes attempt at opinion manipulation via news media. See ‘Mum’s the word’: The online influencers secretly paid to go on 1News Two prominent online “influencers” appeared in a 1News story about Kmart without having disclosed payments from a PR company acting […]
Facebook is not the devil
Hey, don’t get me wrong, I have been terribly troubled by Facebook’s ‘surveillance economy’ model: the way it tracks and analyses its users’ social graph and extrapolates a map of their ‘interests’ and demographic information before delivering them (the users) and their privacy up like lambs to the slaughter on the altar of commerce and, […]
Styling Dr Who
The character Dr Who has always displayed a wide palette when it comes to styling. The idiosyncratic Time Lord’s sartorial ‘look’ has allowed viewers to enjoy projecting or interpreting the asynchronous and anachronistic elements. Capes, long coats, quirky hats and long scarves, steampunk gizmos etc. With the upcoming first regeneration as a woman, the gates […]
“Let’s put aside the obviously cynical nature of [Simon] Bridges’ faux-outrage …”
Best line I’ve read all week. From a delightful column by Andrew Geddis at Pundit: ‘Simon Bridges thinks that Simon Bridges is eroding parliamentary democracy‘. Seriously, it’s a lovely column. Go and read it if this stuff appeals to you. With bonus Edglering in the comments. Bravo to all concerned. Even my Tory mates think […]
Hey kids. Be smart. Be like Todd Barclay. Don’t talk to the police.
Fairfax NZ reports today No charges from Todd Barclay re-investigation – police Former National Party MP Todd Barclay will not be prosecuted by police after he once again refused to speak to them. Police reopened an investigation into allegations Barclay, the former MP for Clutha-Southland, illegally recorded a staff-member after it emerged in July that […]
Facebook is holding ‘your’ readers captive
A little while ago I helped a mate extinguish his Facebook profile. He’d had enough of it. In my own case, I run a very limited profile there and often wince when people (‘friends’) post material which refers to me. I see that as adding data points to the humungous conglomerated information that the rapacious […]
Kicking off for the swimming season
First swim of the season at ‘my’ beach this morning … brrr! But totally worth it.
Insulting people in print
Perhaps contrary to appearances, I endeavour to keep my criticism of people in the spotlight here on topic, and confined to a recounting of facts (to the best of my knowledge) and then express my opinions and conclusions. I don’t set out to ‘destroy’ people but rather, to give them some feedback. And occasionally express […]
Is undisclosed, paid PR the new normal in politics?
It’ll be no surprise to readers of ThePaepae.com that I despise behind-the-scenes, subterfuge public relations and opinion shifting efforts, especially if they’re funded in a non-transparent way. By coincidence, if you examine the tags dirty PR and dirty politics on this blog, the same cast of characters keeps on appearing. Over time that can make me […]
If you can keep your head …
Joni Mitchell, from her 2007 album Shine, which was (initially) distributed through a deal with Starbucks Coffee chain – I bought my copy there, like, in person – but of course now it’s on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. I find this track ‘If’, based on the poem by Rudyard Kipling (now derided […]
Peters: “New Zealand First intends to tip their trough upside down.”
Presented without comment today, Friday, before coalition negotiations to form the next New Zealand government begin in earnest. (I’ve left it out of blockquote style to aid legibility.) Rt Hon Winston Peters New Zealand First Leader Member of Parliament for Northland 18 November 2016 National Never Out of the Trough It seems as though the National Party […]
Carrick Graham and Slater Jnr’s PR attack blog smear campaign inches towards court – with Katherine Rich attached
I mentioned in an earlier post, Most Defamed Man Ever Jordan Williams to appeal ruling, that NZ Food and Grocery Council Inc lobby group head, former National Party MP and bright young hopeful Katherine Rich, had been ‘joined’ to a defamation action against dirty PR operator Carrick Graham and his glove puppet Cameron Slater. This […]
