Archive for November, 2011
« Previous Entries Next Entries »Contemptuous cuppa?
Friday, November 18th, 2011Is it a contempt of court to discuss cuppagate now that it’s heading to court? John Banks and Steven Joyce seem to be suggesting that now that the issue is heading to court they are somehow precluded from commenting. Wrong. It can be a contempt to cause prejudice to an upcoming trial – especially a […]
Dean reads the tea leaves
Friday, November 18th, 2011Dean Knight has posted on cuppagate. He’s particularly interested in the declaration application. He explains the hurdles faced by the applicant (judicial reluctance to grant declarations when issues are still in dispute and where criminal proceedings can sort things out), and says he thinks the judge should grant one anyway (to protect the integrity of […]
VFC press release even more misleading than their ad
Thursday, November 17th, 2011My complaint As I’ve mentioned, I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority against anti-MMP group Vote for Change’s advertising. I thought it was misleading. VFC changes its advertising Also, as I’ve mentioned, VFC fairly quickly changed its advertisting to address some of its misleading statements. In particular, it added an arrow on its diagram to […]
Sneaky devices 3
Thursday, November 17th, 2011The cameraman in the middle of cuppagate, Bradley Ambrose, is reportedly seeking a court declaration that he committed no crime because the recorded conversation wasn’t private. (That is, that the conversation did not occur in circumstances in which any party ought reasonably to expect that the communication may be intercepted by some other person not having the express […]
Searching inquiries
Thursday, November 17th, 2011I’ve just stepped off the plane back from Melbourne to find that the police are following up a complaint from the Prime Minister by executing search warrants against the media in what could be seen as an attempt to prevent the publication of material that might embarrass him shortly before an election. I’m just wondering […]
Conflict of interest
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011John Key has “stormed” out of a press conference, refusing to answer questions about the teapot tapes. Actually it was more of a scuttle (scroll down for video). But before that he was pushing the familiar line that New Zealanders are more interested in the economy and the serious policies that matter. Now, I’m all with […]
Billboard “vandals”
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Let’s put aside the law for a moment. No doubt the Police can come up with some charges – even if it’s just billsticking – against those who doctored hundreds of National Party billboards by adding the phrases “The Rich Deserve More” and “Drill it, Mine it, Sell it”. There is no general defence of “freedom […]
Of sneaky devices 2
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011I see Andrew Geddis has weighed in on Teapotgate (has anyone else called it that yet? Am I first?) He (and others) see another possible defence in the argument that the occasion was so inherently public and the wodge of journalists so close by that Key and Banks “ought reasonably to [have expected] that the […]
Vote for Change Changes Pamphlet
Monday, November 14th, 2011I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority last week about Vote For Change’s pamphlet advocating SM. I thought it was badly misleading in several respects. Graeme Edgeler explains one problem with it here (where he also has a copy of the one side of the original pamphlet). Another was that it tried to cash in on […]
Of sneaky devices
Sunday, November 13th, 2011John Key’s cunning plan to send a signal to the troops by sitting down for a cuppa with Act’s John Banks may have come undone by another sneaky device. It seems that the conversation was recorded and may contain “game-changing” comments, according to the Herald on Sunday. The paper says a freelance cameraman was stopped from […]
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