TODAY’S TOP SCOOPS
Scoop Is In The House - Today's Q&A
Sludge Report: We Need Maori Seats & Maori Rates
Keith Rankin: Shipley Tilting At MMP
Unemployment Lowest For 13 Years
Winston Backs Gary's Campaign Against Towie Mafia
Clark Ordered Rankin Out
Increased Defence Budget Is Just Spin
Supercomputer Weather: Where Is That Rain Headed, And Why?
Report Recommends Against Routine HRT Use In Postmenopausal Women
Scoop Arts: Cloudboy Return For One Nite Only
TVNZ Charter Must Enshrine Editorial Independence
Half Baked Southern Turkeys Back CHP – Correctives
TV2 Laugh Festival: Tonight’s Laugh Co-ordinates

TOP SCOOPS

Scoop Is In The House - Today's Q&A

– Today's questions of the day concerned: Budget Blow Out – Sealord Fishing Boats – Ross Armstrong And TVNZ News – Unemployment – Air Force Redundancies – Thermal Power Stations – Army Air Combat Training – Indonesia – DHB Budgets – NZ Music – Violent Crime – Modern Apprenticeships - Cannabis Inquiry. SCP HOUSE: Questions Of The Day – 10 May [1] . For yesterday's questions of the day see... SCP HOUSE: Questions Of The Day – 9 May [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00067.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00059.htm

Sludge Report: We Need Maori Seats & Maori Rates

- Sludge has long been a critic of the Treaty Settlement programme. Not because it is “separatist” or “racist” as critics from the right currently damning moves in the Bay of Plenty to establish Maori council seats would assert, but because it is fundamentally mean spirited, and because ultimately it will fail. See... Sludge #62: Tino-Rangitiratanga = Maori Rates [1] MORE ON MAORI COUNCIL SEATS: - Local Govt Commentator David Thornton - Binding Public Referendum Needed On Maori Seats [2] - ACT - Govt Moves To Separatism With BoP Decision [3] - NZ First - Electoral Apartheid Disastrous Step Backwards [4] - Nats - Nats Oppose BoP Maori Council Seats Bill [5]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00065.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00066.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00222.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00220.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00203.htm

Keith Rankin: Shipley Tilting At MMP

- Jenny Shipley's Electoral Options Referenda Bill has been drawn from the private members' ballot. Tilting at windmills, Mrs Shipley wants, or claims to want, “the people” to decide whether to fix an electoral system that ain't broke. See... Keith Rankin: The Shipley Bill [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00062.htm

Unemployment Lowest For 13 Years

- The March 2001 quarter seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent, according to Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey, the official measure of unemployment. The unemployment rate is the lowest recorded since June 1988. See... Unemployment Rate 5.4 Per Cent [1] REACTION: - Govt - Employment Growth Continues [2] - ACT - Time To Review Measurement Of Unemployment [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0105/S00070.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00227.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00231.htm

Winston Backs Gary's Campaign Against Towie Mafia

- New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, today applauded the efforts of entertainer Gary McCormick for standing up to the Wellington Towing Company which removed and impounded his car recently, following an unfortunate mechanical breakdown on a busy Wellington thoroughfare. See... Towing Companies To Become A Target For Attention [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00235.htm

Clark Ordered Rankin Out

- The ACT Party believes the real reason the Prime Minister is refusing to answer questions on the merger of WINZ and the Ministry of Social Policy - and other Ministers are covering up for her - is because it’s the Prime Minister who ordered that Mrs Rankin not be re-appointed. See... Helen Clark Ordered Rankin’s Sacking [1] and Helen Clark Has No More Excuses To Avoid Questions [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00213.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00208.htm

Increased Defence Budget Is Just Spin

- Once again the Coalition Government has put a spin on its announcements - this time trying to dupe New Zealanders into believing that it is increasing defence spending, ACT Defence Spokesman Owen Jennings said today. See... More Spin Covering The Facts [1] and Defence Spend A Sham [2] MORE: - Jim Anderton - Defence Spending [3] - Max Bradford - PM spin misleads public [4] - Jenny Shipley - PM misleads in attempt to justify Skyhawk decision [5] Full defence debate coverage on the JUST POLITICS FEATURE PAGE [6]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00218.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00236.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00223.htm
[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00214.htm
[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00212.htm
[6] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/features/?s=justpolitics

Supercomputer Weather: Where Is That Rain Headed, And Why?

- Depending on which Supercomputer weather model you look at, rain presently headed south over the country, may bring a few more precious millimetres of rain to the South Island’s parched East Coast. Or it might not. See... Supercomputer Weather: Much Rain, But Where & Why? [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0105/S00063.htm

TVNZ Charter Must Enshrine Editorial Independence

- The government must make it absolutely clear to the Board of TVNZ that it will not tolerate political interference in any aspect of TVNZ news and current affairs, Green Party Broadcasting spokesperson Sue Kedgley said today. See... TVNZ Charter Should Support Independent News [1] - Heavy-Handed Political Interference In TVNZ - Nats [2] - Way To Go Ross - NZ First [3]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00219.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00200.htm
[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0105/S00230.htm

Report Recommends Against Routine HRT Use In Postmenopausal Women

- A New Zealand guideline launched on 10 May shows that Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is not recommended for routine use in postmenopausal women. Indeed, the guideline team reports that many women do not require or seek treatment at menopause or later in life. See... No Evidence For Routine Use Of HRT [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/GE0105/S00029.htm

Scoop Arts: Cloudboy Return For One Nite Only

- When avant-pop group Cloudboy commenced their nationwide tour at the end of March, Noel Meek of LOOP posed a question: "Many may ask why Cloudboy were cooped up in a venue the size of BATS when there were people turned away at the door every night and their sound is potentially stadium-filling. Utterly unmissable a second time." See... Cloudboy Return For One Performance Only [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/CU0105/S00036.htm

Half Baked Southern Turkeys Back CHP – Correctives

- “The Corrective Party today confirmed its suspicions about who or what is sponsoring the Christian Haemorrhoids when we noted that the party in question attacked Pizza Hut, a fast-food brand.” Sister Vomitoria SM, diet nun, today revealed. See... Correctives: Half-Baked Turkeys And Bad Brands!!! [1] and Boycott On Pizza Hut [2]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00053.htm
[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00046.htm

TV2 Laugh Festival: Tonight’s Laugh Co-ordinates

- Vick’s Boy: An outrageous comedy about sex, blackmail and naked ambition. See... TV2 Laugh Festival Line Thurs 10 May [1]

[1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/CU0105/S00035.htm

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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