Posts by slarty
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Hard News: Criminalising Journalism, in reply to Sacha,
Why thank you Sacha. Now I need to get used to this new "reply" button!
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You know, a part of me is wondering if the police are effectively saying to Key: "You wanted a criminal investigation? This is a criminal investigation."
On the money Mr B.
Public servants can get quite belligerent when politicians try and drag them into their cesspit. Some rocket scientist thought this would mean JK had an excuse to refuse to discuss the matter...
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Catching up...
only because most of the people working in the film industry have no quarrel with their status as independent contractors.
I think you may find someone does have an issue with it... a blind eye can only be turned for so long.
If you can answer “yes” to most of the following questions, you are probably an employee.
• Do you have to do the work yourself, rather than hiring someone else to do it for you?
• Can someone tell you at any time what to do on the job, or when and how to do it?
• Are you paid at a set rate (for example, hourly, weekly, monthly, or per unit of production)?
• Can you get overtime pay or penal rates?
• Do you work set hours, or a given number of hours a week or month?
• Does someone else set the standards for the amount and quality of your sales or output?
• Do you work at the premises of the person you are working for, or somewhere that person decides?
• Are other people who do the same sort of job as you treated as employees?
• Are you under an employment contract (either individual or collective), or any law that says how your relationship with your “employer” should be run?
• Are you prevented from doing work for anyone else?
• Do you have to follow the rules or procedures of the person you are working for? -
Why do I have "I'm coming out" in my head at the moment...
Anyway, thanks for pointing this out - undoubtedly one of the most disturbing decisions I've seen in... months. We've had a stream of policy decisions and litigation tactics for some time now that do not bode well for the integrity of our legal system.
It's not particularly the fault of this government, although having a newbie Minister means some of the crazies are getting recommendations through that a more cynical politician would recognise for what they are...
My experience is that often that a request for an administrative power is generally the first choice of fix for incompetence in the public sector... can't get that pesky appeal dealt with in time bar? Get Govt. to give you longer through a nice simple Order in Council.
But most depressing for me: I would put money there are a number of senior Police, Security Service, Crown Law and other public servants quite aware that it was a simple stuff up that should be discretely managed away.
Each of them will be too frightened by the media hysteria (not to mention Political pressure - and not just from within NZ...) to do the rational thing. And their pawns will be sitting in meeting rooms assuming that they need to support the thrust, coming up with more and more hysterical tactics to persist with the insanity.
The group-think that goes on in such bureaucracies really is a spectacle to behold...
That rasping noise is just the steady erosion of your human rights. And the distant roaring noise is your taxes being burnt to warm egos...
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Per-diems are not the answer; they're legitimising the rort in the same way that national's tax cuts legitimised tax cheating.
Oh good grief. I won't dignify that shit about the tax cuts with a response. But the per diem?
Try it. No, really, just try being away from your family for 4 nights a week for a decent length of time. You may start out thinking that bumming around like a back-packer is cool, and hanging out with the young arty chicks in the local Hare Krishna joint is nice (and the food's tasty too!).
But it gets tiring. You can only do so much art and coolness a) because it all looks mightily the same after a while and b) they're all either shut or really quiet between 7pm when you stop work and 9pm when you collapse in bed.
Add up all the extra costs you incur - the fact you basically have to go to a pub if you want a beer (so no off-license prices), you have to go to a restaurant for dinner (or sit alone in your hotel room). Every time you buy even a tube of toothpaste it's from an expensive corner shop, not your local Pak'n'save.
And if you fancy watching a porn movie, well you just can't OK? Because you're a long way from your Sky subscription and the loving arms of your significant other.
Try leaving home at 5.30am and getting back at 10.30pm. And then listen to people telling you how exotic your life is, and how exciting it must be to get on a plane sooo often. And ooo look how dare you receive 12 Air dollars for that trip, that's public money that is. You should be ashamed. Enjoying your self like that, living off the pigs back.
The irritating thing about this shit is that not really that there are thousands of honest hard working public servants out there trying to make years of truly irrational policy work, despite being treated like a bunch of naughty children.
No, the thing that really depresses me is that there are hundreds of times as many ignorant, envious little fucks out there who will wank on for hours about this trivia as if it was important. But if you actually gave them the job they'd be whining about over-time and days off in lieu and compensation for cash costs and on and on.
And to rub salt into it, these are the ignorant 'string-em-up' half wits who clamour for the fucked-up policies in the first place.
Anyway, more importantly, I would be asking: what trash would you put out when you knew this story was about to hit the shelves?
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In the case of the foreign trips, that's actually a bloody big call for individual ministerial staff.
When I did this a lot (my girlfriend at the time said if I got any more airpoints I'd qualify for my own 737) we used a travel service that had accounts with a couple of the chains and billed us locally. Once you take the bed and breakfast off the expenses, anyone with a decent gold card can cope. And let's face it, generally if you're doing this stuff a lot you'll have a decent card.
Also, most public sector places (and I'm not making this up) will advance you folding cash in the foreign currency required so you can just walk in and put it on the counter. Getting a receipt of course.
In fact, I've found it is easier to get real cash than get a credit card expense claim signed off.
And we're not allowed per-diems (of course, that is the real answer - just a flat rate per day, spend it how you want, no receipts. But way too sensible... I've completely lost faith in the Wellington half-wits who administer this crap)
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Large numbers of us have had, used and abused company credit cards. Lots of us have been out on the town after the company Xmas bash and had our boss put a round of shots on the company card and then slide it past accounts next month
Oh yes. I vaguely recall turning up at Euro for lunch and departing after midnight, having had a variety of people pop in and out during the day. Reminds me of that never ending party in HHGTTG. And then there was the time at NZ Post where we'd just won this deal... about $8k I recall.. in the 90's... and then there were the Oysters couriered up from Bluff on the first day of the season...
So when I joined the Public Service I declined to have a card with my employers name on it. And they said:
"you have to. Because you might collect some reward points, and that is naughty and we'd have to give you a public spanking".
So I said I promised I'd never do such a dreadful thing. And have used my own card ever since. I am constantly baffled by anyone who would carry such a hand-grenade around in their wallet...
do you really think the responsible official would've looked through the bill, said "This, this, this, clearly OK, we'll pay them, that and that, a bit sus, need querying, and that is obviously outside the rules and we're not going to pay it
Actually, that's exactly what happens to me. I have the Spanish inquisition over every claim. In fact, I've stopped using my card wherever possible. This costs the taxpayer a significant amount of money (I get formal purchase orders raised, we buy from 'approved' [aka overpriced] suppliers) I estimate it adds about $100 per transaction to the cost. But I can't assume an understanding public.
Such is the price of integrity.
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I love this post. Thank you.
I am verbally compelling apparently.
And I need to restrain myself and save it for the important stuff. Which is a lesson I wish I had learned at about, oh, 16. Except for the stuff with girls, which is just fair game of course.
And the swearing... ah yes. I try to educate people how liberal use of the word fuck is actually an attack on the terrible class-based cultural oppression excreted by the Victorians etc.
But all the hear is Fuck blah blah blah fuck blah blah so it somewhat destroys the argument. It took a written complaint to the boss by a bunch of sad old god-bothery fuckers to make me realise that this didn't fit into the 'keep your powder dry' category either.
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Shameless...