British Labour MP shot dead

Written By: - Date published: 6:14 am, June 17th, 2016 - 118 comments
Categories: uk politics - Tags: , , ,

In The Herald:

British Labour MP Jo Cox dies after being shot three times and repeatedly stabbed

A British Labour MP has died after she was shot three times and repeatedly stabbed in a shocking attack as she arrived at her constituency surgery.

Mother-of-two Jo Cox, 41, was rushed to hospital after a gunman opened fire on her in Birstall near Leeds.

Witnesses said the man was at the office before she arrived and shot her three times, once in the head, before stabbing her as she lay on the ground.

A 53-year-old – named locally as Tommy Mair – has been arrested by police and his house is currently being searched by police forensics experts.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “Jo was universally liked at Westminster, not just by her Labour colleagues, but across Parliament.

Aamir Tahir, of The Dry Clean Centre, said the gunman was heard shouting: “Britain first.”

What a horrifying attack. Condolences to Jo Cox’s friends and family.

118 comments on “British Labour MP shot dead ”

  1. Pasupial 1

    If the witness (Tahir) is accurate, then the best way to punish the murderer would be to vote against the Brexit.

    • Southern Man 1.1

      Hmm, it never occurred to me that Crosby Textor might be involved.

    • Rosie 1.2

      Both leave and remain camps have suspended campaigning as a result on the murder of Jo Cox

      “Vote Leave and Remain have both suspended campaigning in the EU referendum in light of the attack.”

      http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/306584/british-mp-fatally-shot-in-street-attack

      I think the most respectful thing to do now, for the victim and her family would be to hold the referendum off for a year. It would only be right to get some distance between this atrocity and the vote.

      • AsleepWhileWalking 1.2.1

        Waiting a year seems a costly move. Surely a few weeks delay would be respectful enough.

        • Rosie 1.2.1.1

          This is a horrific murder of an MP in public and in daylight. On RNZ midday news there was talk of Tommy Mair’s connections with far right extremest groups. This is a shocking rift that has opened up in modern British Society that will take time to heal.

          There’s needs to be plenty of distance between the time of the crime and the public vote, to do the vote justice and to show respect for Jo Cox and her family. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine going through all the hooha of the referendum, which isn’t far away, less than a fortnight I think, and knowing (potentially at this stage) that their beloved died for this.

    • Chooky 1.3

      It is guns and males that are the problem…as they were in Florida

      • Liberal Realist 1.3.1

        While I agree with the guns part, please don’t make this (Florida + the murder of Jo Cox) a gender issue just because the psychopaths that committed these horrendous crimes are male.

        If anything the atrocities committed in Florida and the vile murder of Jo Cox correlates with fascist ideology and hate, not gender.

        • Li 1.3.1.1

          There is definitely a gender aspect to the issue.

          • Liberal Realist 1.3.1.1.1

            Do you care to explain why you think that, therein backing your statement?

            • Chooky 1.3.1.1.1.1

              It is a complex mix …but males and guns ( or war machines) are the point of no return…they turn problem issues into tragedy ( what gives males the God given right to kill people they disagree with?…religious fundamentalism? )

              ( does fascism = male fundamentalism/authoritarianism?)

              … and it is usually women and gays and those of another religious or cultural belief that are the victims of their violence

              http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/06/17/so-when-will-the-right-start-blaming-the-killer-of-jo-cox-on-christianity/ )

              …there are points of similarity in this tragedy with the Orlando tragedy

              ‘Orlando massacre’

              CrossTalking with Philip Giraldi, Fred Fleitz, and Omar Baddar.

              https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/346714-orlando-massacre-islam-gays/

              A tragedy difficult to comprehend: The Orlando massacre again brings into stark focus a number of highly contentious issues – immigration, the nature of Islam, gay rights, America’s foreign wars and gun control. What went so terribly wrong?

              CrossTalking with Philip Giraldi, Fred Fleitz, and Omar Baddar.

              • stunned mullet

                The only thing more daft than your comments are the links within.

                Martyn contorts himself into some other dimension trying to smear whatever he dislikes while ignoring anything unsavoury that’s to his political liking and RT as usual appears to be playground or far right and far left loons so looney that in fact one can’t tell what part of the political spectrum they come from anymore.

                • One Two

                  The links are there

                  So are the alleged shooters links to ‘military intelligence’

                  Same story repeated

      • Kelly-Ned 1.3.2

        Whilst I would like to think it wasn’t a gender issue, being male myself, I can’t help thinking that it is.
        Can anyone recall an attack like this or in the US school atrocities that wasn’t perpetrated by a male?
        I can’t think of one.
        Maybe it is indicative of a significant (?) number of males not coping with modern life/environments/opportunities etc etc.
        Is it a societal issue that has affected males much more severely that females?

  2. Colonial Viper 2

    What kind of firearm was used. Much more unusual to have a shooting homicide in the UK.

    • Puckish Rogue 2.1

      Is it important to know the type? I’m curious as to why you think its important.

    • te reo putake 2.2

      Less unusual than we might think,CV. The number of murders using guns has increased in recent years, though thats mainly gang related. However, that might mean that the black market in guns is also growing.

      Anyway, just a sad, sad death. The cynic in me is wondering whether Cameron will use this as an excuse to can the referendum and save his own job.

      • D'Esterre 2.2.1

        Te reo uptake: ” Anyway, just a sad, sad death…”

        Indeed. Whatever the motivation, it’s a tragedy, and an ugly event in beautiful west Yorkshire. Condolences to all those closest to her.

    • Puckish Rogue 2.3

      http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11658121

      From witnesses so take it with a grain of salt but:

      “According to witnesses, the gun he was using appeared to be either antique or modified. “It looked like a gun from, I don’t know, the First World War or a makeshift, handmade gun,” eyewitness Hichem Ben Abdallah told Sky News.

      “It’s not sort of like the kind of gun you see normally.”

      • Colonial Viper 2.3.1

        Thanks. I wondered whether it was a more ‘pro’ hit or whether it was someone who had nicked a weapon from their uncle’s collection. Just as deadly unfortunately of course.

        • Puckish Rogue 2.3.1.1

          I want to say just another nutter but saying “just” seems…wrong, like minimising what happened

      • joe90 2.3.2

        “It’s not sort of like the kind of gun you see normally.”

        Hmm..

        According to records obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center Mair was a dedicated supporter of the National Alliance (NA), the once premier neo-Nazi organization in the United States, for decades. Mair purchased a manual from the NA in 1999 that included instructions on how to build a pistol.

        Mair, who resides in what is described as a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead Estate in Birstall, sent just over $620 to the NA, according to invoices for goods purchased from National Vanguard Books, the NA’s printing imprint. Mair purchased subscriptions for periodicals published by the imprint and he bought works that instruct readers on the “Chemistry of Powder & Explosives,” “Incendiaries,” and a work called “Improvised Munitions Handbook.” Under “Section III, No. 9” (page 125) of that handbook, there are detailed instructions for constructing a “Pipe Pistol For .38 Caliber Ammunition” from components that can be purchased from nearly any hardware store.

        https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/06/16/alleged-killer-british-mp-was-longtime-supporter-neo-nazi-national-alliance

    • Richardrawshark 2.4

      2 shot in levenshume just outside mosside Manchester in one year. had a dead person found stabbed outside my doorstep and I woke to cops knocking and police tape everywhere, and having to explain how I heard nothing. Yardies running round with sub machine guns, old police specials and shotguns available for about 50 quid in most dodgy pubs in the UK.

      Yeah, not much gun violence there CV../sarc

      but certainly nothing like the states, but far worse than here, though I don’t know about todays UK culture.

  3. Greg 3

    What a brave guy attacking a defenseless women.
    Right wing facist loons are no worse than Daesh.

    • Pat 3.1

      the closing of the circle……extremism begets extremism

    • BM 3.2

      Just as likely it was a disgruntled left winger, angry with Labour for opening the immigration flood gates to the UK.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/6418456/Labour-wanted-mass-immigration-to-make-UK-more-multicultural-says-former-adviser.html

      • joe90 3.2.1

        Or a vulnerable unwell man who took to heart the racist rhetoric of Farage and his ilk.

        Despite being born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, a decade-old website posting identified Mair as a subscriber to S. A. Patriot, a South African magazine that was published by the pro-apartheid group, the White Rhino Club.

        The club describes the magazine’s editorial stance as being against “multi-cultural societies” and “expansionist Islam”. A blog post attributed to the group, dated January 2006, described Mair as “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of S. A. Patriot.”

        […]

        In 2011, Mair spoke of how he had volunteered to work as a groundsman at the nearby Oakwell Hall County Park, which had helped ease his mental health problems.

        He told a local newspaper: “I can honestly say it has done me more good than all the psychotherapy and medication in the world. “Many people who suffer from mental illness are socially isolated and disconnected from society, feelings of worthlessness are also common mainly caused by long-term unemployment.

        “All these problems are alleviated by doing voluntary work. Getting out of the house and meeting new people is a good thing, but more important in my view is doing physically demanding and useful labour.

        http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/16/jo-cox-mp-everything-we-know-so-far-about-thomas-mair/

        An anti-migrant poster unveiled by Nigel Farage has been reported to the police with a complaint that it incites racial hatred and breaches UK race laws. On Thursday night, the Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, said he had written to the Metropolitan police about the poster, which shows a queue of mostly non-white migrants and refugees with the slogan “Breaking point: the EU has failed us all.”

        http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants

        • RedLogix 3.2.1.1

          Or a vulnerable unwell man who took to heart the racist rhetoric of Farage and his ilk.

          Yes .. that is sort of my point joe. I probably didn’t express that well, but damaged people like Mair are indeed terribly vulnerable to this kind of exploitation.

          You and I can listen to the likes of Trump and Farage and can parse out the rhetorical bullshit. Even if hypothetically we intellectually agreed with their politics, we’d still understand the difference between hyperbole and reality.

          But as I said above, every society has a layer of people (an ‘underbelly’ if you are being unkind about them) of damaged and toxic individuals who can’t tell the difference. And they’re the ones who’ll turn rhetoric into action.

          • mauī 3.2.1.1.1

            Its impossible we will ever know, I’m more just asking the question, but if he was more supported in his volunteer work from the state or whoever then maybe he never shows an interest in extreme politics and violence. What if the state provides your basic needs and assists with how you want to live your life (within reason).

      • Richardrawshark 3.2.2

        I have to agree BM, Mentally unwell, blaming the Labour government for it.

        I am a centre left I suppose but Blair was no labourite, more a Tory plant.

        People are real pissed with him.

      • the pigman 3.2.3

        You are a dear and treasured fixture among the Standard’s regular opponents of the Left, BM, but don’t you think your shit-stirring might be a little inappropriate given the subject matter?

    • Daveosaurus 3.3

      Daesh are right-wing fascist loons.

  4. Puckish Rogue 4

    Well hopefully the strongest possible sentence under British law is handed down to the person that did this

    • save nz 4.1

      “strongest possible sentence under British law”

      Is that rendition to be tortured without trial like in the Mr Belhaj case?

      • Puckish Rogue 4.1.1

        Um no its the hope that the person responsible for this gets the strongest possible sentence allowed under British law

        • Richardrawshark 4.1.1.1

          I would prefer he got the justice he deserves, and if he is a seriously mentally unwell person you and your baying ilk don’t hang him from the nearest tree.

          Again quick to judge with little facts and the ones you do have supplied by a hysterical click bait media.

          Sometimes the standards like a hang out for pre schoolers seriously..

    • McFlock 4.2

      well, surely he should get the most appropriate sentence under British law?

      That might not be the strongest sentence available. Hell, depending on how disturbed he is/was he might just be sent to hospital.

      • Puckish Rogue 4.2.1

        Fine then, the strongest and most appropriate sentence under British law which may or may not involve incarceration in a mental hospital

        Everyone happy now?

        • McFlock 4.2.1.1

          not really, you’re still conflating “strongest with “most appropriate”.

  5. RedLogix 5

    This is why the behaviour of our political leaders matters; their rhetoric becomes a sociopath’s action.

    • weka 5.1

      Can you explain that more? I don’t understand.

      • RedLogix 5.1.1

        Every society has an underbelly of angry, dysfunctional, potentially dangerous sociopaths. For the most part they are held in check, moderated by civil society.

        But every nation has it fault lines, cultural, religious and economic. When a politician chooses to exploits them with rhetoric and immoderate language … the sociopath is emboldened. “At last someone appreciates me!”.

        The danger is that one small atrocity then triggers another in response. Then quite rapidly a society can unzip from the bottom up. I don’t expect it will happen in the UK now, but it did happen in our lifetime in former Yugoslavia. It’s not what Trump might do that worries me, it’s his more rabid supporters that are the danger.

        It’s a folly to predict where or when we might step over the trigger line next, but looking about at events in general, you have to think we are stumbling about blindly very close to it.

        • weka 5.1.1.1

          Do you mean that the murderer felt he could act because he’s been emboldened by listening to Trump (or the local equivalent)?

          We don’t know that he’s a sociopath. The thing that concerns me more is that non-sociopathic people are being socialised into hatred and that acting on that is legitimate.

          • RedLogix 5.1.1.1.1

            Here’s Polly Toynbee to my rescue:

            This attack on a public official cannot be viewed in isolation. It occurs against a backdrop of an ugly public mood in which we have been told to despise the political class, to distrust those who serve, to dehumanise those with whom we do not readily identify.

            http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/16/mood-ugly-mp-dead-jo-cox

            • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1.1.1

              We’ve been told to despise the political class? In the main, I think that they have honestly earnt their reputation. Perhaps not individually but certainly in their support of a system which has been sending society (and the planet) down a dead end.

              • RedLogix

                I tend to view it as a fundamentally flawed system … in which people of all characters both good and bad, are eventually compromised or even corrupted.

                Some more willingly than others. And those who resist the most, like Jo Cox, are the ones who seem to attract fate.

              • Richardrawshark

                I’ve always said exactly the same CV, and weka and red.

                System is stuffing us all up, I don’t think it running as intended. simply put.

            • weka 5.1.1.1.1.2

              Yep, I agree with that bit quoted. I get where CV is coming from, and I think there are politicians who have actively promoted the kind of society that creates this ugly mood. I don’t think all MPs fit into that though, and it does raise the issue of what happens when a privileged class becomes a target (unlike in say Orlando).

              • aerobubble

                exactly, a cyclist has more momentum, will avoid collision as it causes them more harm, and is aware there are blind peoole who dont see them, so only a politician would criminalize the activity where the harm from an accident is greater to the cylist. But then we are talking about councilors whose shop owners dont want cyclists hogging public footpaths as they want to with dangerous street furtniture and hot coffee spillages.

          • aerobubble 5.1.1.1.2

            Violence breeds violence. Bush invades Iraq. Routine drone bombing. Agitated stressed sociopath join social chat. Rightwing and Muslim terrorists find equal benefit to destroyingxisting natiins. Brexit, a laughable excuse of the right to diferientiate themselves gets picked up by a UK PM looking for a distraction.
            Wavy hand guessing breeding more noise. Spiral begins. Polticians failure to reiterate societial norms in case of being tagged as politically correct, as framing setup by big media likes to push rughtwing agendas.

            The decline began with the rise of Thaterism, it fed off declining energy prices that had nothing to do with neolibs yet the growth was claimed to mean less govt, less regulation, oversight was just political correctness.

            Welcome to the age of ignorance is power.

        • Ad 5.1.1.2

          Red, the logical progressions are very simple.
          Right now you can see Brexit/isolationist logic in full blood in Austria, Turkey, Poland, Hungary and the U.S.

          Really easy to break any union up, Euro or U.s: just dogwhistle up the rage, and accept no responsibility for any consequences.

    • save nz 5.2

      +1 RedLogix – inequality, unfair legislation and lack of power balance is fuelling the rise of people becoming unbalanced and desperate and global instability from divided people and nations. Increasingly in the West, this instabality within the nation’s themselves. Ie USA, Britain are divided and looking at two very different and radical ways to level it out.

      Economists and experts have been warning that inequality was going to have this outcome. It is happening.

      That is why there needs to be ways to preserve a reasonable standard of living for all such as UBI or working social welfare.

      TPPA and the like are going to make inequality a lot worse. They are not fair agreements and are depriving people of hard won rights and their right to justice.

      • Draco T Bastard 5.2.1

        Economists and experts have been warning that inequality was going to have this outcome. It is happening.

        And the governments, especially those in the West like the one we have now, have been putting in place policies that increase the inequality and deprivation that helps drive people to these extreme actions.

      • Chooky 5.2.2

        +100 save nz and DTB

    • McFlock 5.3

      minor quibble: “sociopath” is not a catch-all for all varieties of mental impairment or illness.

      This guy might well have been affected by UKIP bullshit to the degree that it merged with his personal circumstances to produce a unique delusion.

      Or he could just be a massive dick who also has some mental health issues.

      • marty mars 5.3.1

        I’d add, as someone who works in mental health, that too many terms are bandied around as if they mean something. I am not saying that some sort of mental illness isn’t related to these events but it is not a given – sociopath, nutter, crazy, psycho, mental, da da da dah are meaningless terms in the way they are used to ‘classify’ by some.

        • Richardrawshark 5.3.1.1

          I’d agree Marty, I think there has to be some special alignment of circumstances for most mental health incidents.

          Like the impulsive types being one of the worst at controlling their actions but not the most blatantly mentally unbalanced at first sight.

          I’ve always found the statement that the voiceless and disempowered have the least to lose, and the most to gain from political activism.

          When I see groups in society rapidly declining or under pressure I know somewhere a kettles boiling, sooner or later the tops going to come off.

        • KJT 5.3.1.2

          O its OK. Just another nutter!

          Good. We don’t need to look at our dog eat dog, unequal, overly aggressive and uncaring society, as a cause.

          Ignoring the fact that most violent crime, proportionately, is committed by non-nutters. Including the serial child abuse committed by our politicians.

          • RedLogix 5.3.1.2.1

            I think everyone here has some sense of the links between an unequal, violence prone and uncaring materialistic society … and the impacts on human mental health.

            Coming off the back of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary study one of the most powerful conclusions they reach is that in the debate between ‘nature and nurture’, the answer is almost always BOTH. Virtually all behaviour can be modeled as a underlying pre-disposition of some type, combined with an environmental trigger.

            This leads us down the path of acrimonious debates parsing out whether the root cause lies with the individual or the society they live in. This is an enormously unhelpful reductionist habit that prevents us from properly understand behaviour in the whole.

            The point is, we ALL live in the same unequal, violent and uncaring society … but only a few of us pop out to murder our local MP. Equally as you say there are many mentally unwell people who are far more of a risk to themselves than anyone else. These two observable facts demonstrate that in neither social conditions nor mental health in isolation lie the root causes.

            Understanding these disturbing and frightening events demands a more sophisticated model.

  6. save nz 6

    Shocking. The nutters always seem to target the nicest most moderate people, apparently she was a former charity worker. Absolute condolences.

    • RedLogix 6.1

      Phil Twyford quoted in the Herald this morning:

      “She was just a huge amount of fun to work with, and had a great sense of humour. She was very proud of her working class background in Yorkshire.”

      Mr Twyford said he had followed his former colleague’s career with interest.

      “She was a great advocate for social justice and internationalism, and by all accounts was universally liked in the British parliament and rated as a rising star.”

      I don’t know what more can be said … those who knew her well will be devastated and will mourn deeply, and those like me who only just read of her this morning will feel a chill sense of forlorn loss. And a reminder that doing right is not enough; sometimes you have to be courageous as well.

    • Bill 6.2

      …she joined Oxfam in 2002. There she worked as head of the EU office until 2005, of policy and advocacy until 2007, and of humanitarian campaigning until 2009. In these posts she acquired a view of international politics that would inform the rest of her life….Subsequently she worked for Save The Children and the NSPCC, and was founder and chief executive of UK Women (2013-14).

      http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/jo-cox-obituary

      My initial suspicion was that her murder might have come about because of something personal, but then he apparently spouted some ‘Little englander’ shit according to (I think) unverified verbal accounts, and also attacked others according to some eye witnesses. The attacking of others suggests it wasn’t a straight up political thing.

      My brain’s categorising it as fucking fucked up shit at the moment

      http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/jo-cox-killing-shooting-mp-birstall-west-yorkshire

      • Colonial Viper 6.2.1

        Do the authorities know if the two of them have had appointments or contact in that office before.

  7. Ovid 7

    Via Reddit

    Local here, street away from the murderer and down the road from the amazing Jo Coxs surgery.

    Sadden and shocked. I know it’s trotted out on every one of these horrific incidents but the man was genuinely a loner who was batshit mad.

    He used to go to a mental health course thing that really helped him a year or so ago, after the elections it got discontinued and he sort of blamed her for it. Saw was giving too much to Europe and everywhere but locally which is just completely incorrect (her amazing Syria & anti slavery work etc). She cared a great deal about her constituency and she walked around Birstall as a local, not a shipped in MP. He was a lunatic with a grudge and that is a dangerous combo.

    A shocking day we won’t forget. I can’t imagine what her husband and kids are going through. My heart bleeds for them.

    If we have more people like Jo Cox in the world will be a different place in 100 years. Take a leaf from her book in your forward steps. Rest in peace.

    The commenter goes on to say:

    … He spent months resenting her apparently according to the estate grapevine. I didn’t know him personally but knew off him and saw him occasionally. Not a drinker or a lout like so many here, but he did seem a bit of an oddball. Very reserved.

    After the incident he calmly walked to the bus stop and sat down. He normally walks back up Field Head lane hill but to “make a quick getaway” he waited for a bus before panicking and venturing further afield on foot before being stopped. I think that speaks volumes about his state of mind.

    She grew up locally, i voted for her. She seemed genuinely nice and was a breath of fresh air from the previous candidates and politicians we’ve had in these parts – not just Batley/Spen but other local areas too. Losing her is a blow to UK politics and the greater Batley community. I don’t believe in god, but I hope wherever she is resting she is at peace. She deserves that.

    • joe90 7.1

      When I heard the news on the way home this morning Russell John Tully came to mind.

    • weka 7.2

      And I’ve read accounts from others in the neighbourhood who say he was quiet, did voluntary work, helped out in their gardens etc.

      I think we have to be very careful here not to conflate mental illness with violence. I think anyone who commits murder has to be in a mental state that is outside the human norm, but that’s a different thing than having a history of mental illness. Calling someone batshit crazy confuses mental illness with crazy actions. They’re not the same thing. People do crazy actions without having a history of mental illness.

      We have no way of knowing what the murderer’s mental health history was, not in what ways it was relevant or irrelevant. If he hadn’t had problems would he still ahve been capable of killing? We know that there are plenty of killers without mental health histories. If we want to blame mental illness, what do we see the solutions as? How much of his motivation was pressures from society?

      • Bill 7.2.1

        I think anyone who commits murder has to be in a mental state that is outside the human norm…

        That kind of reinforces ideas of violence being to some degree ‘batshit crazy’. There’s nothing really abnormal about people doing terrible shit. It’s fairly normal.

        Not that we like that idea – that such acts can be committed by people just like us. So we ‘other’ them as ‘abnormal’ or ‘batshit crazy’ – and then we carry on.

        • Pat 7.2.1.1

          “Not that we like that idea – that such acts can be committed by people just like us. So we ‘other’ them as ‘abnormal’ or ‘batshit crazy’ – and then we carry on.”

          ….except for the ones that are “batshit crazy” of course.

          • weka 7.2.1.1.1

            I think the point is that any of us could end up being batshit crazy given the right circumstances.

            • Pat 7.2.1.1.1.1

              think that goes with out saying….however “any of us ” don’t as a rule.

          • Bill 7.2.1.1.2

            What I’m trying to get at Pat is that if we create a given social environment, then all behaviours that take place within that environment are normal…there are no batshit crazies/we’re all batshit crazies.

            • Pat 7.2.1.1.2.1

              I had taken from your post that “insanity” was something you didn’t ascribe to….consider how those at the tweeted trump rally may view a “liberal tolerant’ position?……it is all relative, but at some point behaviour becomes damagingly aberrant.

              • Rae

                Anarchy
                -archy means rule or government
                an- without, as in androgyny, anaerobic
                Anarchy – without rule.
                It could be peaceful or it could be chaotic, it is not exclusively either.

            • Pat 7.2.1.1.2.2

              do you think we have created such a social environment?……or are those crazies outliers?

              • Bill

                I believe we’ve created such an environment. There are no ‘outliers’.

                • Colonial Viper

                  Caged animals in a very unpleasant zoo.

                • Pat

                  then we have anarchy and no need of laws

                  • Bill

                    No Pat. It would mean we have chaos and a desperate need for anarchy. (You might want to have a look at what anarchy actually is in organisational/governmental terms)

                    • Pat

                      know what anarchy is in both governmental and societal terms…..not a pretty picture in either form as both forms involve human beings

                    • Colonial Viper

                      anarchy = localised democratic organisation disempowering central authorities

                      will be one of the better futures that we can hope for.

                    • Pat

                      “anarchy = localised democratic organisation disempowering central authorities”

                      thats an oxymoronic definition of anarchy Ive not come across before…unsurprisingly.

                    • Pat

                      and when you’ve finally agreed what form your “anarchy” will take (if ever) what do you propose to do with those that oppose it?

                      Yes anarchy is the answer…..if you exclude human involvement.

                      Good luck with that one.

        • weka 7.2.1.2

          True, but that wasn’t what I meant, although I agree that normal people do terrible things, which was kind of my point. We don’t have to make out that he was mentally ill and therefore killed someone. He’s the guy down the road as far as I can tell.

          By outside the human norm, I meant that to stab someone or pull a trigger, you have to have a certain kind of thing going on in your brain and physiology at the time that is outside the day to day norm. I don’t mean that’s it abnormal, we have changes in our brains and physiology all the time. I mean that generally people who commit murder aren’t in an everyday frame of mind, something else is going on. That’s not the same thing as having a mental health history.

          And most humans don’t murder others, so it’s an act that is outside the cultural norm in most societies. Where it becomes the norm, there are specific things going on in that culture.

          My objection to the reddit comment was the conflation of mental illness with murderous mindset. I just don’t think they are the same thing as we run a number of risks when we talk about these situations as if the person were batshit crazy (i.e. a murderer) because he was mentally ill in the past.

          • Bill 7.2.1.2.1

            It’s not that I disagree with you per-se, but…

            Many, many things depend on being in a certain state of mind that might be said to be “outside the day to day norm” (Admittedly, I’m scratching my head at the whole concept of a “norm”). In the end, there is no “outside (of) the day to day norm”. The “norm”, if such a thing exists, is anywhere within a range of behaviours demarcated by the sum total or aggregate of all behaviours.

            Some of those behaviours will be generally viewed as positive and some negative. My question would revolve around our acceptance of an environment that creates a given range of behaviours if and when many of those behaviours are a bit fucked up.

            It’s an old argument. But put a pile of monkeys in a cage and watch the neurotic and/or destructive behaviours flourish. I don’t know why we act all surprised at fucked up (undesirable) behaviours being exhibited by people in societies when those societies, in so many ways, are like having been popped into a pressure cooker and the lid screwed down by some now departed ‘great chef in the sky’.

            Disclaimer: I do not believe in any sky chef. We have the wherewithal, if we choose, to stop stuffing one another into the pot 😉

            • Pat 7.2.1.2.1.1

              “We have the wherewithal, if we choose, to stop stuffing one another into the pot 😉”

              although in theory I agree we do have that capacity, sadly I think the reality is we don’t….too many crazies.

            • weka 7.2.1.2.1.2

              (Admittedly, I’m scratching my head at the whole concept of a “norm”)

              Let’s use a different word then, because I think that’s getting the in the way of understanding what I meant.

              When someone goes to pull the trigger to kill someone, I think there are a whole ranges of processes going on physiologically that we might call or say affect the mental health of that person in that moment. If we took a snapshot of those processes of everyone in NZ today, I think we would find that there was a bell-curve where a big chunk of people had similarities and there were people in smaller numbers who had different kinds of processes going on (all those are normal btw, being on the outer of the edge is normal too).

              So at the point that someone commits murder their physiology/mental state changes (IMO). You don’t kill someone from a normal everyday state, something else is happening. In that sense that person could be ‘batshit crazy’, but not have any previous history of mental illness.

              It would probably help if I said that I don’t think that mental illness is a discrete thing that is separate from mental health with a dividing line in between. I’m talking about a whole range of mental states, some of which we call mental illness. Unfortunately the ones we label mental illness get stigmatised, and when we then associate violence with mental illness we stigmatise further.

              My point above was about the time period when the murder occurs. I agree with the general points being made about putting humans in intolerable situations and them then acting ‘batshit crazy’.

              The irony here is that many people with mental illness are in the situation they are in because they too have been put in intolerable situations.

              • KJT

                Good on you Weka.

                So many people reinforce the idea that those with mental illness are automatically dangerous.
                If anything the stigma makes people less likely to seek help.

                Some one with a diagnosed mental illness is statistically less likely to harm some one else than the general population. Several times more likely to harm themselves, unfortunately.

                Mentally ill people have the same variations in conscience, regard for others as everyone else.
                I would say many have more compassion and empathy, after knowing what it is like to have been through the ringer themselves.

                This simply shows that desperate people do desperate things.

                “He used to go to a mental health course thing that really helped him a year or so ago, after the elections it got discontinued”

                We will get a lot more of this in New Zealand soon as our multiplying numbers of desperate people act out. Unfortunately it is often the nearest target, as in this case, not the right target.

      • Macro 7.2.2

        I think the answer lies is the comment quoted by Ovid above:

        He used to go to a mental health course thing that really helped him a year or so ago, after the elections it got discontinued and he sort of blamed her for it. Saw was giving too much to Europe and everywhere but locally which is just completely incorrect (her amazing Syria & anti slavery work etc).

        This would be the further cuts to the NHS and its consequences for mental health made by the torys . In the post election budget.
        The consequences of continual cuts which don’t heal, can be disastrous, and tragic.

    • Rosie 7.3

      Thanks Ovid

  8. mauī 8

    A tragedy. What an inspirational lady Jo Cox was.

  9. Enviro Gal 9

    Sympathy and love to Jo Cox’s family
    and condolences to the whole Labour movement people such as Jo are such gems.
    Gone too young, cause hatred.

  10. Rosie 10

    What a horrible week.

  11. joe90 11

    Aamir Tahir, of The Dry Clean Centre, said the gunman was heard shouting: “Britain first.”

    Britain First is the rump end of the remains of the BNP.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_First

    • Rosie 11.1

      Oh god, thats ugly. I guess the cops will be looking into Tommy Mair’s links with groups that promote extreme ideologies, in light of his exclamation.

    • Colonial Viper 11.2

      Not sure that will finally mean anything apart from something to yell out. The Orlando shooter said that he supported both ISIS and Hezbollah. Which is a nonsense since both are implacable enemies of the other and suggests he was properly confused about he was saying and why.

  12. Rocco Siffredi 12

    The UK needs more gun control.

  13. weka 13

    I think it’s safe to say by now that at least some people who murder publicly understand that if they shout out something political they will get a lot more attention.

    I think it would also be fair to say that there are people without direct political affiliations who feel shouting out something political has meaning for them anyway.

  14. NZJester 14

    The talk is the “Britain First” shout never happened and was some opportunists trying to use her death to further their cause in the upcoming vote.
    Witnesses said no such shout ever happened and it has come to light that the man was mentally unwell.

    • toad 14.1

      “The talk” originates from the far right Britain First website (no link provided, look it up yourself if you really want to go there) which quotes witnesses who did not hear Mair yelling “Britain First” and wrongly claims those are the same witnesses reported in the MSM as having heard this.

      That does not refute the accounts of those other witnesses who claim they did hear it.

      Also, it seems this guy had some pretty longstanding neo-Nazi links.

  15. Yossarian 15

    The cold blooded murder of Jo Cox MP is beyond comprehension. Thoughts go out to her husband, children & family, for a person whom only wished to help people in her role as an MP & previously in her roles with Oxfam, UNICEF etc. Due process has to follow & the alleged murderer brought to justice. Some have commented on his mental state & extreme right wing views to try & understand the murder of an innocent. As a current resident of the UK it’s hard to explain the mood of many with next Thursday’s EU referendum looming. However there seems to be a poisioness under current of fear & scaremongering at play. Both sides to a lesser or greater degree are guilty of this. From Remain The Establishment, Goverment & especially Cameron & Osborne running a message of if there is a vote to leave there will be everything from a massive recession, huge public sector cuts enforced by a punishment budget to even talk of an exit could lead to World War Three. The Brexit Campaign runs a meme of taking control back with very little details plus attaching himself to them is the racism of Farage & his band of little Englanders. Both sides are guilty of creating an envoirment of fear & it’s disgusting! This in no way excuses the action of the murder of an innocent. Yet where politicians have hurled such vile abuse & lies at one another, it sets the example that others may follow to the extreme. I recall the referendum in Scottish Indy referendum in 2014, yes the issue was very contentious and passionately fought yet it engaged people without hatred. It’s atmosphere was totally different to this current one of vile & denial. Both sides here now have an onus on them for the sake of hope to conduct this issue with dignity & to provide facts not fear. Rip Jo Cox MP

  16. Brian 16

    Deepest sympathies and condolences to family and friends.

  17. I guess popping off one person to swing idiot public opinion was a shit load better than say 3,000 on 911 ?

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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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