What if? Dunedin notes:
Dunedin City Councillors have now lost control of DCHL, Delta, and all the other subsidiary companies. Now, your Dunedin City Council is manipulated and run to ground by DCHL chairman Graham Crombie.
Cr Richard Thomson and DCHL’s Graham Crombie should Resign immediately.
Read on.
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Received from Cr Lee Vandervis
Tue, 2 Aug 2016 at 6:48 p.m.
From: Lee Vandervis
Date: Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:01:53 +1200
To: Chris Morris [ODT]
Conversation: Yaldhurst
Subject: Re: Yaldhurst
The Mayor and DCHL have stood by and done nothing as DELTA did massive Noble subdivision work costing over $13 million through 2010 to 2013 without getting so much as a progress payment.
DELTA have already written off more than $11 million owed in interest payments and invested a further $3+ million in buying mortgage shares in the ill-fated subdivision in 2013, but this was disguised and Councillors [word deleted] by Chair Crombie and by Mayor Cull despite my specific questioning about the supposed ‘just a bad debt’.
The now $24+ million loss for which DELTA has only a 67% first mortgage as a lever, to get some millions owed paid, has resulted in a 6-years-too-late knee-jerk from DCHL and Mayor Cull to rid itself of the whole mess, the disgusting details of which I am not permitted to divulge because the deed was done in a public-excluded meeting, without being allowed to question the responsible DELTA CEO Cameron or to see the requested valuations and contracts.
Like the Jacks Point/Luggate DELTA subdivision $7-$9 million losses, the same DELTA, some of the same directors, same Project Management company and same DCHL ‘oversight’ have done over Dunedin ratepayers again, this time for even more millions than what resulted when they failed at Jacks Point/Luggate.
[ends]
****
[What if? Dunedin : We said DCC could make Real money – now What if? hears that Mr Crombie told reporter Chris Morris that ‘no money is changing hands’. Very few people including most Councillors have any idea of what is truly happening, except that three accountants are writing or was that ‘deciding'(?) the deal, and then this rubbish release from Mr Crombie. OMG]
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Dunedin City Council – Media Release
Update on Yaldhurst subdivision debt recoveryThis item was published on 02 Aug 2016
Dunedin City Holdings Limited (DCHL) and its company Delta Utility Services Limited (Delta) can now start to make progress towards recovering money associated with a Canterbury development.
The Dunedin City Council yesterday supported a recommendation from DCHL relating to the Yaldhurst Village subdivision. Delta has an outstanding debt of more than $13 million for infrastructure work it carried out for the development over four years.
DCHL Chairman Graham Crombie says the decision means Delta is authorised to enter a new loan agreement with a potential purchaser of the Yaldhurst subdivision, to replace the existing $13.4 million debt owed to Delta by Noble Investments Limited. Mr Crombie says, “We can now start to make some progress towards recovering this outstanding debt.”
The decision authorises Delta to refinance its outstanding debt with the potential new purchaser, on settlement of the purchaser’s offer to Gold Band Finance Ltd, the first mortgagee.
Gold Band Finance put the Yaldhurst subdivision to tender late last year in a mortgagee sale process. The mortgagee sale is still subject to conditions. When the mortgagee sale process is concluded, Delta will provide a further update on the outcome.
During 2009-2013, Delta provided infrastructure services for the Yaldhurst subdivision through its now closed civil construction business in Christchurch. Delta’s role was as a contractor providing infrastructure services to the developer, Noble Investments Limited. Recovery of the outstanding debt has been held up by a longstanding dispute between the developer and neighbouring properties that has delayed titles being issued for the subdivision.
Mr Crombie says Delta remains fully focused on recovering the outstanding debt owed by the original developer and has mortgage securities in place for the amount owing.
Note: The Dunedin City Council owns Dunedin City Holdings Ltd, which in turn owns seven subsidiary companies being:
● Aurora Energy Ltd
● Delta Utility Services Ltd
● City Forests Ltd
● Dunedin City Treasury Ltd
● Taieri Gorge Railway Ltd
● Dunedin Venues Limited
● Dunedin Venues Management Limitedand a 50% share in Dunedin International Airport Ltd.
Contact Chairman , Dunedin City Holdings Ltd on 03 477 4000.
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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr
Election Year. This post is offered in the public interest.
What if? Dunedin... 
I don’t want to be a Dunedin City ratepayer any more.
This deal was done to save Cameron and Crombie. Let us hope it does not save “Cull de Mayor”
Tue, 2 Aug 2016
ODT: Delta response lacking – Calvert
Dunedin city councillor Hilary Calvert was scathing in her response over the way councillors came to a decision over the recovery of $13.3 million in bad debt. “You would have not lent $10,000 to your brother-in-law with this information,” Cr Calvert said after a decision over the debt owed to council-owned company Delta was made at a closed door meeting yesterday. Her comments come as details about the decision, which relates to debt from infrastructure work Delta carried out for a Christchurch subdivision, remained under wraps yesterday.
Wed, 3 Aug 2016
ODT: Deal designed to help Delta’s bad debt woes
A deal designed to help Delta recover a $13.4million bad debt from a stalled Christchurch subdivision is expected to take years to realise and comes with no guarantees, it has been revealed. […] [The] $13.4million bad debt owed to Delta by Noble Investments Ltd [is] to be transferred to the unnamed potential buyer as a loan, to be repaid over the next few years […] That was conditional on the potential buyer also reaching a settlement with Gold Band Finance Ltd, as the subdivision’s first mortgagee.
Deal to enable Delta to ‘dig itself out of a hole’. Cull steadfastly stands by DCHL directors and management, relying on him/them to “bring home the bacon”. But what is it that must not be revealed to councillors? Crs Calvert and Vandervis tabled a number of reasonable queries but were met with blanket refusals, suggesting that Crombie and Cameron had the matter in hand. Mayor Cull is part of this “conspiracy” to conceal, obfuscate and “kick the can down the road”. Nothing good can come of neutering the councillors in this manner as they are the people’s representatives. Mayor Cull has failed abysmally both his fellow councillors, and most of all the people who elected him to lead by example.
For their part, the councillors, except Calvert and Vandervis, failed to measure up to the calls of their position to protect the citizens and deserve to be expelled come October.
It is patently clear that these devious tactics are designed to buy time, by which it seems is to personally extricate the main players in this disaster. By then they hope to have created their defences and have personally moved on. More crooks for Wanaka, Queenstown and Tarras to join the many already there.
The ones left to pick up the ruins will be the forever “screwed” ratepayer/citizens.
“For their part, the councillors, except Calvert and Vandervis, failed to measure up…”, so why? Do they all believe Cull is so outstandingly wise that whatever he says or does, he’s right? Do they seriously not notice the way he treats people who question him and the people he favours? Are they True Disciples, or are they afraid of how they’ll be treated if they don’t toe the line? And there’s only one True Line, eh? His line?
By the way do the DCC and Council have policies about bullying in the workplace?
There’s no full time crooks in Tarras. Only part time.
It will be hilarious beyond belief if the prospective new owner is the former Newton’s Coachways.
Or it’s bought with honest earnings of hard toil – what else would anyone imagine – and renamed Swann’s Way.
Without detracting from this $13.4m debt to Delta (Us), due to their own/DCHL mismanagement, it starts to pale a little against the $20m plus a year that the stadium sucks out of the ratepayers’ purse.
Lest We Forget.
We are about to lose Our Shirts at Noble to very litigious bastards. CD and Colin Stokes have been at pains in their posts to say by how much and why. $13.4m is not even the half if it. You have to look at who Mr Crombie is serving and eats cake with.
That’s debts $25m as at Feb 2016.
Delta is just “chasing $13.3m” of it.
With all the secrecy that surrounds this, we would have to assume that ALL the greater Dunedin councillors supported the resolution.
Richard Thomson’s parting shot to the Greater knuckleheads and DCC generally before he troughs fully at SDHB. Ohhh, at “SDHB” with Mr Cream Sponge Crombie.
Count the dissenting voices raised at any stage, asking questions (and being roundly handbagged for daring to ask for the facts, figures and faces behind the Listen With Mayory stories considered fit for them to hear.
You’ve run out of fingers? No, didn’t think you would.
And then some, Simon. 15 Councillors (including Cull de Mayor) minus I’m guessing Crs Calvert and Vandervis, minus the conflicted Cr Hall (no vote?), minus the +Graters (Cull, Thomson, Staynes, Jinters, Wilson + Hawkins, ‘Pope Benson’, Peat), leaves Crs that suddenly lost their backbones and Credibility for the pleasure of NO Due Diligence. May they rot in hell like all turncoats and incompetents.
After reading the well constructed article by Chris Morris. It would appear the buck for this whole debacle should stop, with those who have let this mess get out of control at a cost of million to the ratepayers. The DCHL board and its chairman.
Yeah GC not a tasty roast chicken, but neither is our young Mr Grady Cameron (the other GC) who led us here long before the current DCHL Board – and then, Alar
ums…. Mr Stuart McLauchlan on Delta’s Board. He like Grady is the thread common to 1. Luggate 2. Jacks Point 3. Noble Yaldhurst. It’s like he married three times, oh wait. Deep innit up to his bloody eyeballs.In case ODT don’t post my comment:
Resident stakeholders (caveators) had and have an offer on the table that’s multiple millions better for Dunedin ratepayers.
Gold Band and Noble enticed Delta to invest ratepayers money by agreeing to give Delta first-ranking first mortgages ahead of Gold Band’s thinly spread first mortgage. These amounted to $17.6m first ranking on top of Delta’s $5m second mortgage ($23.3m security). Registering these mortgages only required providing the prior interests of residents who gave up their land to Noble in return for the interests (Noble reneged).
Gold Band (and Noble’s) tender lapse Delta’s caveats that protect this $17.6m additional security. Noble’s related party Southpac’s subordinate caveats don’t lapse.
Delta should be recovering ALL the “first” money up to their full $25m debt, not just $13.3m of it over years. However DCC refused to hear the caveators’ proposal for this.
Noble’s partner Gold Band only own 32.5% of the first mortgage (now approx. $2.7m). Delta bought the majority 67.5% (now approx. $5.7m). This is separate to the above.
Delta also control Gold Band under these agreements to first mortgage “Security Sharing” agreements. Why then is Delta/DCC permitting this subordination; and where’s Delta’s $5.7m share in the first mortgage?
“In case ODT don’t post my comment:” – yes Colin, it’s a tricky choice, keep your bessy pals happy or keep your product relevant to readers.
Surely the moral of this is that if a bloke with a fake tan and a headful of plastic teeth comes up to you and offers to swap actual title for your land for a handful of vague promises of big profits tomorrow it’s probably not a good decision to sign up. Ditto e-mails addressing you as ‘dear friend’ and saying that they’ve robbed the estate banks of Nigeria, and want to put it in your bank account.
True enough Rob. However the bloke with the fake tan and plastic teeth signed a further agreement promising he’d provide the exact specific thing he’d promised six years earlier, and further, that if you don’t sign over your land in advance of this specific thing assured he’ll sue you for $50 million for holding up the whole subdivision.
Damned if you do Damned if you don’t.
The same fake bloke done over another person at Styx who agreed to his deal. The fake bloke sued the person for accepting his deal claiming the person should have tried to get a better deal. The fake bloke took this poor victim all the way to the Privy Council where the Lords told the fake bloke that his claim “was a staggering one which offends both equity and common sense. Their Lordships have no hesitation in rejecting it.”
Delivered 7 July 2003
Your bloke with fake tan and plastic teeth was Tom Kain and those around him are of the same ilk … but yes, if I and others could turn back the clock and choose to defend the $50 million claim all the way to the highest Court available maybe we would.
The moral of this story from living in its pages is that the justice system works as a weapon for those corrupt that want to use it to screw people whether they do as agreed or not.
{Comment updated – with the court reference supplied. -Eds}
The cost of going to the Privy council at around $200,000 per day or per week, I can’t remember the details, just might have stopped you Colin. I know it did me.
Not only that but she who would be king abolished the rights of kiwis to go to the privy council thus locking in the rights of the New Zealand judicial system to systemically and systematically screw you the taxpayer, ratepayer or landowner out of your supposed freehold title. For one of the greatest acts of theft in kiwi history lead by the black queen, google and see the “Glenharrow case”
And here it is, not only Glen Harrow, but harrowing reading for those who wrongly believe in “justice”
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/glenharrow-holdings-ltd-v-commissioner-of-inland-revenue/at_download/fileDecision
Cute, isn’t it. Justice, health and education. The proportion of population that can’t afford them is growing, as more and more of the previous middle class slip downhill, and society divides into a decreasing number who own an increasing amount of the world’s wealth, and The Others.
Crime and civil unrest, how far will those have to increase before a forced decision to reverse policies – not this country alone either – and make it a priority to attain a playing field that while not a level plain is a comfortable slope? The current peak and chasm social landscape is dangerously antisocial.
Well put Hype. Justice is run by the elite as an industry to farm hard earned money from The Others, and actual justice has nothing to do with it.
Sorry, I gave you the second case which whilst abject theft by the IRD depended upon the first case, a summary herewith.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=3573810
I cannot find the original court notes which are the (glen) harrowing reading
The ODT after nine years of theft of ratepayers monies by Delta and the DCC on Jacks Point, Luggate and Yaldhurst have finally come to the conclusion that the company Delta needs oversight.
https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/editorial/time-transparency
“What if?” deserves a huge vote of thanks from Dunedin ratepayers for their continuous and continual expose.
Even in the above article weaselwords are included in saying that in “some years Delta has paid a dividend to the DCC”.
If a monopoly company with the advantages that Delta accordingly has CANNOT pay a dividend annually then there are only 3 reasons, none of them attractive to ratepayers and they are:
1. Staff being overpaid relative to performance
2. Theft
3. Poor judgement in contract negotiations (see 1.)
If any of these are true in any year, the board and senior management should either take a remuneration haircut, be fired or both.
One of the major issues of Delta is the culture and environment of the governance and management. First off, these guys are not operating in a true commercial environment. The company is 100% owned by the DCC and it has an inexhaustible supply of funds derived by ratepayers. If they lose money and the DCC decide to prop them up, then the rates go up. But far more importantly, if they operate in a way that does not maximise the return to the shareholder (the DCC and the ratepayer) then there is nothing really to stop them. The management and governance can pretend they are operating in the real world and get into all sorts of activities or standards of activities that they are not competent in. That was the situation with Luggate and Jacks Point and it is surely the case with Yaldhurst.
This climate leads inevitably to a belief by these directors and CEO that they really are super-smart businessmen. They aren’t. They are far from it. But this belief leads to a further climate where they really think that they need to be paid commensurate with these wrong beliefs. Hence Grady Cameron being paid half a million dollars for NOT achieving what his basic job is.
The other factor, noted many decades ago by Parkinson, is that the best way to ensure your high salary is to have lots of minions on high salaries under you. The pyramid is built. It could all be stopped by a strong Board and a strong DCHL and a strong DCC. But Dunedin has a weak Board in Delta, DCHL and the Council are largely a laughing stock.
The Delta losses in these 3 projects are well northwards of $30m and that money could have been well used by paying down city debt (incidentally caused by the debt-ridden stadium) and/or investing in infrastructure such as decent drainage in South Dunedin.
The answer to this mess is the sacking of the Boards of Delta and DCHL and a whole-sale cleanout of the ineffective useless Councillors along with the sacking of the Delta CEO and a review of all CCO salaries. Will it happen? Over to the ratepayers who use their right to vote.
How I love those words…..
“the Council are largely a laughing stock”
Dunedin, please (this month) nominate Worthy candidates for the October local body elections.
NO DREAMERS
Unfortunately all we will get will be a circle of dreamers. The Candidates Meeting hosted at the DCC a couple of weeks ago offered cold comfort. Bunnies asking questions that showed they had little understanding of why they were there or what was required of a councillor. Looked like many were fulfilling some job-prospecting criteria where they had to attend a meeting to finally earn a brownie point. I do not hold out much hope. I am doing what I can to draw attention to aspects of our local governance and following Hilary Calvert’s illuminating interview last weekend on Pulse Of Politics (Access Radio — OAR fm), I was invited back on to the programme by Neale McMillan to talk about aspects of the performance of the DCC. There are some contentious issues canvassed, many of them familiar to What if? readers and commentators, who may or may not find it interesting/inspiring/dull as the case may be. In any event it starts at 8pm and is repeated tomorrow at 8am and will be available on podcast. You don’t even have to leave your computer to hear it.
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{Thanks Richard.
Otago Access Radio – The Voice of Your Community | To listen http://oar.org.nz/ -Eds}
Richard, “Unfortunately all we will get will be a circle of dreamers.” Transform the city, fluffy kittens for every family… they want to make things better when what we need is people who will make the hard “no you can’t have it” decisions to keep Dunedin going further down the khazi
I’m looking for New Talent as Mayor,
Someone’s in the offing that I can kick the tyres of with confidence.
Don’t understand why you don’t support Lee Vandervis. He’s hard-working, intelligent, got background expertise in many practical fields (done hands-on work in them too) which gives him an advantage seeing anomalies and snags in paper-qualification-only staff brainfarts.
I’d have supported Hilary if she and Lee had a mutual agreement that she, not he, would go for mayoralty. They could work together for the benefit of the city. I’m definitely supporting Lee myself.
I’m not keen on a newcomer however glossy the cv. It’s too much like sacking city engineer etc then bringing in new contractors for every job, no institutional knowledge.
Wait and see.
Ultimately, I never declare who I vote for.
I support the race.
OTOH you have been consistent in stressing the need for a mayoral candidate to oppose Cull. Vandervis is an alternative thoroughly non-Greeny (though actually very sensible about non-wastefulness) so any other non-Cull-type candidate would split the vote.
Who you vote for, indeed whether you vote or not, is not my business. Where I feel I have legitimate concern is that it looks as if, perhaps in a quest for The Great Ideal Mayor, you seem to encourage splitting the vote between Vandervis and TGIM, result another term of Cull for mayor. A horrible thought IMO, but perhaps you are less appalled at the prospect than I.
Spot on Hype. Here’s a few “no you can’t have it decisions” for you:
No rates increase for 3 years;
Moratorium on community grants for 2 years;
No handouts at Annual Plan time;
No frills for George St/Octagon;
No further delays on South Dunedin infrastructure;
No denying other councillors’ democratic rights and therefore
NO disenfranchising of electors.
and while we’re at it. No Further Crap from Delta
and no further obfuscation from staff !!
Don’t get me started.
Elizabeth, I hear what you say about looking for New Talent as Mayor. Not sure I can agree at this point in time. The city has not been in such a precarious position on so many fronts on a long time. I think experience is the prime requirement, familiarity with the issues at hand, not someone (no matter how talented) who would justifiably take time to get to grips with the culture. By all means new talent, but please, a term or two at councillor a requisite. That’s why I believe Cr Vandervis is the man of the time. He is strong, experienced and understands the intricacies of the DCC DCHL /Delta ‘troika’ and the issues surrounding them. He has lived through the ‘Citifleet’ ‘burying under the rug’ saga, he is right up with the Stadium ‘rort’ of the ratepayers by rugby. He knows of the South Dunedin Flood issues, doesn’t buy into the laying it all at the feet of rising sea levels and groundwater. Most of all, he knows the financial debt laden city that it is and won’t be ‘flanneled’ by the DCC/ DCHL number crunchers and their ‘smoke and mirrors’ reports. He has the robust and strong shoulders to withstand the bullying tactics any ‘new boy’ would be subject to which is extremely important. At this time the city needs experience, strength of purpose and most of all an honesty and integrity to do what needs being done without the ‘tomfoolery’, populist actions with flagrant over spending of the past decade and a half.
In my mind Lee Vandervis ticks all those boxes, so let’s get him elected, he might not be everyone’s idea of a nice guy, but that is not the issue here. Saving the city and getting it on the road again is the only requirement at this time. For all those reasons he’s my man!!
Lee has yet to espouse his policy. Let’s not put words in his mouth.
I deliberately do not say what I mean by talent.
With all due respect Elizabeth, this is “not” a time for kicking tyres. The issues are serious as you know, and experience in the hot house is essential to hit the ground running. Much as I too would love capable new talent around the table but “new” in the chair? I don’t think so. “Lee has yet to espouse his policy.” It’s just nomination closing time, so I suspect that will follow soon enough.
I don’t think it is a time for new initiatives but rather a repair and maintenance time. It was all the “new initiatives” in the recent past that got the city into the predicament it is in. Dave has neglected to carry out his pledges of ‘transparency’, frugal spending and debt reduction. Instead we got more spending, ‘cycleways’ and diversion of DCHL dividends to cover up the funding disasters of the ‘big follies’ of conferences, stadium events and pandering to Aquatic Centre advocates. How do you frame them as ‘policies’ of popular persuasion?
Lee had been saying and demonstrating what he believes in for YEARS! Pre-election he should make some new ass-kissy improbable promises just like every DREAMER candidate?
No person can do it alone because Council means committee votes and we all know what damage votes can do. A mayor has to have a majority behind him/her most often. And a strong knowledgeable Finance Chair. Who will Lee offer that role to IN ADVANCE OF THE ELECTIONS – openly, transparently, so we know what The People are buying.
Obviously, that’s a question for all Mayoral candidates – who are they backing as Committee chairs, Finance in particular, without DEALS – ON MERIT !!??
The Dunedin voting public have been Brain Dead for TOO LONG.
Don’t ask, Get Slaughtered by wide boys and girls.
Lee’s never been one to asslick and he doesn’t suffer fools gladly – qualities for which he has been criticised by people who prefer popularity-seekers.
So it’s hard for me to imagine him “backing as Committee chairs, Finance in particular” for reasons other than “ON MERIT”. He’s already had plenty years of enduring incompetents and he’s never looked like it was what he’d seek to replicate.
What if there are no suitable choices for Finance.
Planning. Imagine having to stitch a deal with the Parkside Hotel Benson-Popes of the world.
The Susie Staley promo at ODT is not the new talent I was referring to last night. Reaction to Susie darling…. at DCC this day was more akin to ‘not that awful woman’. I hope Ms Staley stays within her profession or starts a knitting group – Peggy squares for the homeless relief fund. I hear it’s a great way to lose weight and ego.
The ODT column refers to “another candidate” for the mayoralty. To whom I was indirectly referring last night and previously at this website. Who may announce on the last day for nominations – but hey, lots can happen in 5 working days – including chickening out.
It all makes things interesting. Campaign managers will be slogging now. Firebrand will be creatively fraught…. how to make Dave look open and transparent after Delta, localised South Dunedin climate change, Citifleet, Code of Conduct hearings, Stadium review et al.
Only the ghost of Dave floating off to White Island in perpetuity never to return would achieve the loose-weave gossamer required.
If there are no suitable choices for Finance does that mean Lee is an unsuitable candidate for Mayor,
or, Everyone on the planet is unsuitable to become Mayor,
or, Whoever becomes Mayor will have to work with an unsuitable Finance wallah?
Or, Elizabeth, the mysterious person you referred to in August 7, 2016 at 3:00 pm
“I’m looking for New Talent as Mayor,
Someone’s in the offing that I can kick the tyres of with confidence”
would amazingly overcome the lack of a suitable choice for Finance?
Dunedin City Council – nominations from Certificated Magicians urgently needed!
A fruit salad.
Couldn’t agree with you more, Calvin. There is No Alternative. If people want more of the same ineptitude, toady arse licking and sterile political discourse then vote for the status quo.
No candidate can offer peace on earth and goodwill to all men unless they are Jesus Christ in disguise in which case he has better things to do than become Mayor of Dunedin.
He was used to the chains which would scare me, along with the baby kissing.
I especially thank Alan Beck for this movie reference today:
New York Times | Movie Review:
In ‘Equity,’ No Room for Sisterhood Amid Gloves-Off Wall Street Warfare
By A. O. Scott – July 28, 2016 [Critic’s Pick]
“I like money,” says Naomi Bishop in an early scene in “Equity”. In 21st-century America — especially in the finance industry, where Naomi works — that hardly counts as a radical statement. But Naomi, speaking to a group of professional women, is making a point less about her own feelings than about the gender stereotypes and sexist assumptions that prevail in the business world. She contends that, although women have grown more comfortable asserting their ambitions, they haven’t fully embraced the competitive dynamic of modern capitalism.
Equity ….is bracing, witty and suspenseful, a feminist thriller sharply attuned to the nuances of its chosen milieu. In setting and mood, it bears some resemblance to J. C. Chandor’s “Margin Call”, which similarly infused sleek and sterile corporate spaces with danger and dread. But unlike that film or Adam McKay’s “The Big Short”, Ms. Menon’s movie is not about the system in crisis. It’s about business as usual. Which is to say about corruption, deceit and treachery, as well as sexism. There are plenty of men in the movie — not all of them bad guys, by any means — but, at heart, it is the story of three women. [A senior investment banker, her protégée and a government lawyer play a game of cat and mouse.]
Viewers seeking an ideologically reassuring ending — about the depredations of capitalism, the value of sisterhood or the glories of the free market — are likely to be frustrated, even shocked. {full review}
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The Guardian
Equity review: hotly toxic tale of women on Wall Street is a greedy treat
By Jordan Hoffman – Thu, 28 Jan 2016 [Sundance 2016 First look review]
4 / 5 stars
This accomplished finance drama feels fresh for its gender-switch dynamics – but did all the men need to be quite so dim?
Equity is likely one of the more realistic financial sector films out there because I had no idea what the hell anybody was talking about. Well, that’s not exactly true. Director Meera Menon and her three leads, Anna Gunn, Sarah Megan Thomas and Alysia Reiner, extract the drama from Amy Fox’s screenplay while still leaving the jargon intact. I don’t know squat about IPOs (if I did, I’d be on my yacht) but I do know a juicy morality play when I see it, and Equity takes us inside modern Wall Street in a unique and gripping manner. […] The actual plot of Equity is, to a degree, less interesting than the keenly observed moments of the world of high finance. Bishop is a big shot banker who brings companies in on their initial public offerings. Again, I don’t precisely know how this works, but Menon makes every scene understandable to dunces like me who will never know the difference between buying stocks or playing roulette. Bishop’s last deal went bust because the client decided, at the last minute, that he didn’t trust her. The rumour is as simple as he didn’t like her dress. But this new company, a new social network run by an obnoxious pipsqueak in a hoodie (Samuel Roukin), is going to make everyone a zillion dollars. {continues}
Fresh Movie Trailers Published on Jun 29, 2016
EQUITY Movie TRAILER # 2 (Anna Gunn, Scandal Wall Street Drama – 2016)
The first female-driven Wall Street film, which follows a senior investment banker who is threatened by a financial scandal…
Olympics season *(official anthem) – Dunedin elections
words…………….
who with passionate belief in Dunedin enters the race and deserves to win
who
t h e ● r a c e …………. any language, any place
‘Perry’s inspirational new song “Rise” will be an an Olympic anthem and will be used by NBC throughout the network’s coverage of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.’
—
KatyPerryVEVO Published on Aug 4, 2016
Katy Perry – Rise
Official video for “Rise” directed by Paul Gore and produced by Matthew Ayriss, Danny Lockwood
I won’t just conform
No matter how you shake my core
‘Cause my roots they run deep, oh
Oh, ye of so little faith
Don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it
Victory is in your veins
You know it, you know it
And you will not negotiate
Just fight it, just fight it
And be transformed
Team USA Published on Jul 15, 2016
Katy Perry Helps The World Get Amped For The Rio 2016 Olympic Games
I am not sure Andrew Whiley has done himself any good with his comments about stepping aside for another unnamed/ unverified Mayoral candidate.
He seems to be saying they are better than him.
So far he has announced his own mayoral bid, withdrawn it, only to reinstate it before possibly withdrawing it again. Does Andrew know what he wants?
Probably the realisation he is out-ranked in business and can’t compete.
ODT on Channel 39 News tonight saying low number of nominations compared to this time last elections – that community boards may be hard to fill. Nominations close this Friday 12 August at 12 NOON if potential councillors want a cushy-enough stipend for three years.
A good positive of the low number of candidates may be a realisation that a council seat involves more than a lazy sinecure. Well, I hope so.
John Bezett may have done us a service when he said sitting on council wasn’t ‘fun’ any more.
Leaving a nomination to the last moment leaves the question of commitment and enthusiasm in doubt, I think. Or does it show last minute disorganisation?
Leaving nomination to the last minute may also indicate watchfulness and being prepared to adapt to circumstances, like who else is standing and what’s the mayor chain likely to adorn, and what the council is likely to be made up of. There is a certain oxygen thief level that’s too high for some people to contemplate spending hours of their life with per week for 3 years.
The current lot were too much for Hilary. One’s lifetime isn’t infinite.
Paul Pope, and Neil Johnstone, amongst others, have lodged their nominations for Dunedin City Council.
Good luck to them. From what l see they are practical men with some vision….not the starry-eyed dreamer variety. Even better if they don’t speak of ‘outcomes’ ‘moving forward’ etc. Had enough of that sterile bullshit.
Well said, Peter. Will be interesting to see how their individual campaigns run.
Scott Weatherall is another in that mould – standing for Council.
By late today, enough nominations had been received for Dunedin City Council to require an election.
Tis the season.
What potential candidates think about DCHL ???
and the subsidiary companies ???
– did we say D E L T A and A U R O R A –
Will be a stiff test for competencies.
This is going to be fun.